‫פרשת בראשית‬
'‫ (פרק ב‬...‫ ומעץ הדעת טוב ורע לא תאכל ממנו‬.‫ מכל עץ הגן אכל תאכל‬:‫ויצו ה' אלקים על האדם לאמר‬
)‫יז‬-‫טז‬
And Hashem G-d commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, you must not eat thereof;..."
Our pasukim introduce us to the first ‫ צווים‬in the Torah. Adam is given a positive command, to
eat from the trees of the garden and simultaneously given the negative commandment to
refrain from eating from the ‫עץ הדעת טוב ורע‬. Our Parshanim, heavily based on Talmud and
Medrash, "see" much more in these pasukim. In fact, Rabbeinu Bechaye, using the ‫גמרא‬
:‫סנהדרין נו‬, tells us that all seven Noachide laws can be found in ‫פסוק טז‬. (It is worthwhile
reading Rav Hirsch's elaboration on this.) The Haamek Davar is bothered by the seeming
awkwardness of ‫ויצו‬-‫על האדם‬-‫לאמר‬,the redundant ‫ אכל תאכל‬and the verbosity of ‫ומעץ הדעת‬
‫ טוב ורע לא תאכל ממנו‬as the pasuk could have been more concise and written ‫ומעץ הדעת טוב‬
‫ ורע לא תאכל‬or ‫ועץ הדעת טוב ורע לא תאכל ממנו‬. He therefore proposes, utilizing concepts that
he will repeatedly use throughout his Sefer, that ‫ ויצו‬implies a directive that has with it a ‫תורה‬
‫ שבעל פה‬aspect which requires elucidation on the part of the recipient and diligence in its
adherence. ‫ על האדם לאמר‬is implying that this will not be a one-time directive but rather will
be transmitted to future generations. The phrase ‫ אכל תאכל‬was used so that Adam would
understand that he was permitted to use these trees for other benefits besides nutrition, for
example as firewood. (For that reason Hashem told him ‫ מכל עץ הגן‬as opposed to saying ‫מכל‬
‫פרי עץ הגן‬.( And from the extra word ‫ ממנו‬that Adam heard he concluded that the ‫עץ הדעת‬
‫ טוב ורע‬also carried with it an ‫איסור הנאה‬-it should not consumed in any pleasure producing
manner. It is also therefore not unreasonable that Adam would warn his wife not to even touch
it, similar to rules we have with other ‫איסורי הנאה‬.
The Chasam Sofer quotes his Rebbe, Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz, the ‫בעל הפלא"ה‬, with an
insightful explanation of a pertinent ‫ גמרא‬in :‫ קידושין פב‬which quotes R' Shimon ben Elazar: "In
all my life I have never seen a deer that was a producer of dried figs, a lion that was a porter or
a fox that was a storekeeper. Rather, they sustain themselves without travail;... If these animals
who were created only to serve me, can sustain themselves without toil, then I, who was
created to serve my Master, should I not certainly be able to sustain myself without worry? But,
it is because I have corrupted my deeds and thereby forfeited my sustenance." The ‫הפלא"ה‬
explains as follows: Hashem established four divisions of creations. In ascending order: ‫דומם‬inanimate, ‫צומח‬-vegetation, ‫חי‬-living being, and ‫מדבר‬-(Man, who is a) speaker. Each of the
three lower levels yearns to raise itself by being productive and by literally being absorbed into
the next rank, ultimately becoming part of Man, and thereby serve Hashem. The ‫הפלא"ה‬
continues and says that when Hashem told Adam ‫מכל עץ הגן אכל תאכל‬, He was elevating even
our most mundane activities, such as eating, into a Mitzva; so that R' Shimon ben Elazar's
message was that if Man "did the right thing" this "circle of life" would proceed without
requiring his physical exertion. Each of the three lower levels would be overjoyed to avail itself
for Man's sustenance and be part of the mitzva cycle. However, since Man's "corruption" this
process was broken and Man is now forced to sustain himself from "the sweat of his brow."
The Meshech Chochma approaches our pasukim in a similar way. He feels that ‫ ויצו‬is
commanding Adam to utilize the garden's produce to subsist. And the repetitive ‫ אכל תאכל‬is
upgrading this to a Mitzva status. Adam however, failed to impress this upon his wife. She
understood his words as simply useful advice. Notice her word choice when she later )‫(פרק ג' ב‬
speaks with the ‫נחש‬: .‫ותאמר האשה אל הנחש מפרי עץ הגן נאכל‬/The woman said to the serpent,
"Of the fruit of any tree of the garden we may eat." She specifically does not use the double
worded phrase ‫ אכל נאכל‬for she does not realize that this was transmitted to them as a mitzva!
All she heard from her husband was ...‫ומפרי העץ אשר בתוך הגן אמר אלקים לא תאכלו‬/Of the
fruit of the tree which is in the center of the garden G-d has said, "You shall neither eat of it..."
i.e. a ‫מצות לא תעשה‬. He refers to the opinion of the ‫ רא"ה‬brought by the Ran in ‫מסכת ראש‬
‫ השנה‬who says that as long as one is aware that his action is a Mitzva, even if it was performed
under coercion and without the proper intention, it can attain the status of a Mitzva, albeit not
on its most hallowed level. According to this view, had Chava been made aware that eating
from the garden was a mitzva, she would have created a ‫ מצות עשה‬and a ‫ מצות עשה‬has the
power to protect from its corresponding ‫מצות לא תעשה‬. She would then have had the strength
to fend off the ‫ נחש‬i.e. ‫ יצר הרע‬and his enticements. I recall several years ago, Rav Berel Wein,
at his grandson Chananya Teitelbaum's bar mitzva celebration presenting a similar idea. The
parsha was ‫ כי תבוא‬and he focused on the fact that the pasuk uses the word ‫והשיגך‬/and
overtake you with regards to the blessing and curses that result from observing or transgressing
the Word of Hashem. The simple meaning is that Hashem can arrange for blessings to occur
even when logic and nature would indicate that they cannot happen. And unfortunately vice
versa for curses. Rav Wein explained that every religion espouses doing good deeds. And we all
feel better when we doing something nice. But doing a mitzva is much more than that. By
performing a mitzva we create a positive force, which has a physicality that can literally "grab
us" and prevent us from transgressing ‫עבירות‬. He highlighted this with a well known ‫גמרא‬
which relates how a pair of ‫ ציצית‬prevented a person from committing terrible indiscretions.
This take-home message was very important for the thirteen year olds to hear and remains
essential for all of us to facilitate.
‫לזכר נשמת אבי מורי ישראל מנחם בן ר' שלום ז"ל‬