Talmud reads Torah // Bereshit

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?” The man said, “The woman You put at my side—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done!” The woman replied, “The serpent duped me, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you did this, More cursed shall you be Than all cattle And all the wild beasts: On your belly shall you crawl And dirt shall you eat All the days of your life. I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your offspring and hers; They shall strike at your head, And you shall strike at their heel.” And to the woman He said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” To Adam He said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it All the days of your life: Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field; By the sweat of your brow Shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground— For from it you were taken. For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the LORD God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!” So the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken. He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Sages taught in a baraita in the Tosefta (4:16–19): The sota placed her eyes, fixed her gaze, on one who is unfit for her, i.e., another man, so this is her punishment: That which she desired, i.e., to be with her paramour, is not given to her, as she becomes forbidden to him forever. And that which she had, i.e., her husband, was taken away from her, as she is now forbidden to him as well. This teaches that anyone who places his eyes on that which is not his is not given what he desires, and that which he had is taken from him. And, so too, we found with regard to the primeval snake who seduced Eve, for he placed his eyes on that which was unfit for him, as he wanted to marry Eve. Consequently, that which he desired was not given to him, and that which was in his possession was taken from him. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: I initially said that the snake will be king over every domesticated animal and non-domesticated animal, but now he is cursed more than all the domesticated animals and all the non-domesticated animals of the field, as it is stated: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14). The baraita explains the elements of this curse. I said that the snake will walk upright, but now he shall go on his belly; I said that his food will be the same as the food eaten by a person, but now he shall eat dust. The snake said: I will kill Adam and marry Eve, but now: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15).

The primeval snake - He fixed his gaze on Eve and engaged in sex with her, as it is written "the serpent duped (Heb.: השיאני) me," a verb connoting sexual relations and marriage.

Moses spoke up and said, “But they will not believe me" (Exodus 4:1). At that moment Moses spoke unjustly. God told him "and they will listen to you" (Exodus 3:18) and he said "they will not believe me." God immediately answered him in kind, showing him miracles according to his claims. See what is written next: "The LORD said to him, 'What is that in your hand' And he replied, 'A rod.' To say that you should be afflicted by that which you are holding, since you defame my children who are believers sons of believers [...] Moses grasped the action of the serpent who defamed (לשון הרע) his creator, as it is written "but God knows" (Genesis 3:5). Just as the serpent was punished, so too will he eventually be punished. See what it written: "He said, “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground and it became a snake," since he (Moses) acted like the serpent, God showed him a snake, as if to say: "you have behaved like this."

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman says that Rabbi Yonatan says: From where is it derived that the judges do not advance a claim on behalf of an inciter? It is derived from the incident of the primordial snake who tempted Eve; he was the first inciter. As Rabbi Simlai says: The snake could have advanced many claims on its own behalf, but it did not claim them. And for what reason did the Holy One, Blessed be He, not advance these claims for it, deeming the snake exempt from punishment? Because the snake did not advance these claims itself. The Gemara asks: What could he have said? The Gemara answers: The snake could have said that he is not to blame, as when there is a contradiction between the statement of the teacher and the statement of the student, whose statement should one listen to? One should listen to the statement of the teacher.

God engaged with Adam and engaged with Eve, but did not engage with the serpent. He said to himself: "this wicked creature has answers. If I ask him why he did this, he will ask me why they disobeyed my commandment and were swayed by another." He therefore hurried and submitted his judgement. From here we learn that one does not plead for an inciter.

Ḥizkiyya says: From where is it derived that anyone who adds, subtracts? It is derived from a verse, as it is stated that Eve said: “God has said: You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it” (Genesis 3:3), whereas God had actually rendered prohibited only eating from the tree but not touching it, as it is stated: “But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it” (Genesis 2:17).

Rabbi Hiyya taught: You must not make the fence more than the principal thing, lest one fall and lose faith. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be, has said, "But of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you must not eat, for on the day you partake of it, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Eve did not say this, but rather, "You shall neither eat of it nor touch it" (Genesis 3:3). When the serpent saw her passing before the tree, he grabbed her and pushed her against it. "See, you haven't died," he told her. "Just as you did not die when touching it, so you will not die when eating from it."

Again [the snake] spoke to her and said: If you say the Holy Blessed One commanded us not to eat from the tree, look, I will eat from it and I will not die. And even you, if you eat from it you will not die. What did Eve think to herself? Since everything my master has told me so far has been lies – for in the beginning, Eve called Adam “my master,” so she took [the fruit] and ate it and gave it to Adam, and he ate, as it says (Genesis 3:6), “The woman saw that the tree was good for eating, for it was tempting to the eyes.”

The Sages taught with regard to the verse: “Who would give that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me, and keep all My commandments, that it might be good for them, and with their children forever” (Deuteronomy 5:26). At a later stage, Moses said to the Jewish people: Ingrates, children of ingrates! When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the Jewish people: “Who would give that they had such a heart as this always,” they should have said: You should give us a heart to fear You. The Gemara explains that Moses calls the Jewish people ingrates, as it is written that the Jewish people spoke disparagingly of the manna: “And our soul loathes this light bread” (Numbers 21:5), despite the fact it was the highest-quality food. Moses further called them children of ingrates, as it is written that after sinning and eating from the tree of knowledge, Adam said: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12).

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Adam the first man spanned from one end of the world until the other, as it is stated: “Since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other” (Deuteronomy 4:32), meaning that on the day Adam was created he spanned from one end of the heavens until the other. Once Adam sinned, the Holy One, Blessed be He, placed His hand on him and diminished him, as it is stated: “Behind and before You have created me and laid Your hand upon me” (Psalms 139:5) [...] Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Adam the first man was a heretic, as it is stated: “And the Lord called to the man and said to him: Where are you”? (Genesis 3:9), meaning, to where has your heart turned? indicating that Adam turned from the path of truth. Rabbi Yitzḥak says: He was one who drew his foreskin forward, so as to remove any indication that he was circumcised. It is written here: “And they like men [adam] have transgressed the covenant” (Hosea 6:7), and it is written there: “And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant” (Genesis 9:9). Rav Naḥman says: He was a denier of the fundamental principle of belief in God. It is written here: “And they like men [adam] have transgressed the covenant,” and it is written there: “He has broken My covenant,” and it is written in a third verse: “And then they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them” (Jeremiah 22:9).

Tobiah ben Eliezer, Germany, 11th century

"The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”" איכה means How did this happen to you? (איך היה לך), how did your mind change?

The text says "Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper" (Proverbs 28:13). Adam was he who concealed his sins as he said to God "the woman you put at my side" (Genesis 3:12). He did not wish to repent, as it is written "Now [...] what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!"(Genesis 3:22). Rabbi Aba Bar Kahana said: God told him to repent and he would say 'what if' (פן). The word ועתה now denotes repentance as it is written "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the LORD your God..." (Deut. 10:12). And פן only means no. That is the meaning of the verse "Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy." That is Cain, of whom it is written: "And Cain went out from the Lord’s presence" (Genesis 4:16)