ויאמר ה׳ אלקים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו…

1“And the L‑rd G‑d said: Behold, man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, etc.” There is room to ask: first, what is it that through the Tree of Knowledge their eyes were opened, to be like G‑d, knowing good and evil?

And also [we must understand] what the L‑rd G‑d said, “And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever” — why should this concern Him? After all, what He commanded him not to eat was also so that he would not die.

2Further, and this is the main [question]: from where did the serpent know of this — “that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened” — which in truth is so?

For Adam, who heard the command from the Holy One, blessed be He, did not recognize this, but [understood it] only according to its plain sense — that the L‑rd G‑d told him, “For on the day you eat from it you shall surely die”; and the serpent is not mentioned at all as having heard this command.

And even if it heard [it] when Adam was commanded, from where did it have extra understanding, to infer one thing from another, more than Adam himself? Unless we say that it is higher than man — and all this is astonishing.

Now, first let us explain what is said, “Man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” which is G‑d’s statement to the angels; and it implies that above they know good and evil, both of them.

Nevertheless, they are not mixed with one another, for it is revealed and known that this is good and this is evil, and the evil is separated from the good, even though good and evil are known there.

This is not so with the level of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the level of a mixture of the good with evil, where the evil draws nourishment from the good and the good from the evil, and they become one.

3Now this needs [explanation]: for the meaning of “the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil” is a term of knowing; if so, why did a mixture of good and evil come about because of the knowledge of good and evil? Above, too, good and evil are known!

But the difference here is the matter of the difference between the encompassing (makif) and the inner (pnimi): for the knowledge of good and evil above is only in the manner of the encompassing.

And therefore there can be a separation between good and evil, so that He knows the evil and yet will not exchange it nor substitute it for good, heaven forbid.

As in the matter of “The spider you can catch with the hands, yet it is in the king’s palaces”: even though it is in the king’s palaces, he knows it and recognizes that it is a spider.

4And there is a separation between good and evil, as the saying [goes], “Who separates between holy and profane.” That is, because He knows good and evil in the manner of encompassing them, they therefore do not mix together.

It is like the level of the pure frankincense among the eleven spices of the incense: the ten spices are ten sparks of holiness that are swallowed up in the kelipos, and the eleventh, the frankincense, is the level that encompasses them and does not become enclothed in their inner being.

(And the frankincense is also a life-force for them; but since this life-force by which it gives them life is only through its being solely encompassing over them, therefore it does not mix with them at all, and it is entirely good.)

Now, the encompassing [light] also repels the external forces, as is seen in the diagram of the Tree in the Pardes, in the encompassing and inner [lights], where the position and stance of the kelipos is with their backs toward the encompassing, etc. This is not so with the level of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the level of the inner, and then the good is actually mixed with the evil.

5This is [the meaning of] what is said, “Behold, man has become like one of us.” That is, he too became like one of us — meaning: just as in the level of oneness, that is, above, good and evil are known, so too was he, through having tasted from the Tree of Knowledge, which is mixed of good and evil.

But for him the matter is harmful, for man is of the level of the inner, and as soon as he knows of evil, through having tasted from the Tree of Knowledge, he will become mixed with it, and he will actually be mixed with evil.

Not as it is above, where, even though they also know the evil, nevertheless it is separated and distant from the good and has no closeness [to it], etc., because it is in the manner of the encompassing.

But man, who is of the level of the inner — when he too knows of the evil, then he too will actually become mixed with the evil.

For in the level of the inner it is impossible for the evil to be so separated, as explained above; and then it is very hard to separate out the evil, but rather it is a tremendous war, “and one nation shall be mightier than the other nation”: at times this one prevails, and at times its opponent prevails.

As we have found and seen in the souls of Israel from the first generations until now, that there have been many differing periods: at times, in one generation, there were souls of an exalted level who vanquished the evil,

6and in another generation there were great wicked men, in whom the evil prevailed greatly. This is because they all derive from Adam, the first man, and these changes were in him as well: at times he prevailed, and at times the evil prevailed over him.

All this was because he is of the level of the inner dimension, and as soon as he knew of evil he became actually mixed with it; and if so, it is a great war and very hard to separate it, but rather [there is] a time [for] this and a time [for] that, as explained above.

7So too according to the plain [sense]: beforehand they were naked, and they engaged in marital relations to beget children and “they were not ashamed,” just as they would eat and drink,

for it was G‑d’s commandment, and they did not know at all that there is desire in this; but after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge and they knew that there is desire in this, then it is hard to withdraw, etc.

8Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, did not want man to taste from the Tree of Knowledge, for to him the matter is harmful, as explained above. He wanted him not to know of the existence of evil at all and to be entirely holy, and He did not want to bring him into this tremendous war.

But after he had already tasted from the Tree of Knowledge and become mixed with evil, then He said, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever.”

That is, He was further concerned, now that he had already become mixed with evil, [that he would] take also from the Tree of Life, whose root is from the level that is above the shattering — for it is from there that the beginning of death and the coming into being of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil came about, whereas what is above the shattering is the Tree of Life — and if he eats from it too, he will live forever.

That is: for in truth, of this level it is said, “If you are righteous, what do you give Him” (Job 35), “[and if] your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?” If so, even though he is mixed with evil, still, even “if your transgressions are many,” etc.,

he could “live forever”; and then the evil within him too would have existence forever, since he is of the level of the inner and the evil is mixed [in him], etc.,

and it is impossible for him to separate it from himself. If so, when he lives forever, the evil within him too will have existence forever.

9And this is the opposite of the intention, for there must be [the fulfillment of] “He will swallow up death forever,” that there be “you shall eradicate the evil,” as the saying [goes], “and all wickedness will vanish like smoke” — which will be in the days of Mashiach.

For the entire duration of the exile is the time of the refinements and of separating the evil; and this is through the level of Chochmah, for “through Chochmah they are refined,” to separate the evil from the good.

Therefore Chochmah is called judgment — not as the early Kabbalists imagined, that Chochmah is entirely kindness, since it is the source of Chesed.

The Chayat innovated that there is judgment in it as well, and the Arizal, of blessed memory, praised him, for so it is explained in the Zohar, in the Idra: “like wine that is still and settled on its lees,” etc.

For since there are refinements to separate the evil, and this is through gevuros, and of this it is said (Psalms 94), “Fortunate is the man whom You, Yah, chasten” — that the sufferings too, which serve to remove the evil, are from the level of Yah; and as is known, sufferings serve to separate the evil.

For the kelipos are likened to a leech, which, when it sucks blood, immediately dies; and this is [the meaning of] what is said (Proverbs 30), “The leech has two daughters.”

And this is also the matter of the goat that is sent away. So too, “And Jacob sent,” etc., “a gift to Esau his brother: two hundred she-goats,” etc. — for by giving him his portion he separates him.

So too, after man has already tasted from the Tree of Knowledge and become mixed with evil, there must be refinements until it is separated, by taking all the sparks of holiness in it, etc.

And all this is through Chochmah, for “through Chochmah they are refined,” since there is in it also the level of gevuros, so that there be “You, Yah, chasten,” and as it is written (Deuteronomy 8), “As a man chastens his son,” etc.

This is not so with the level of Keser, which is above Chochmah: it is simple mercy, and “darkness is like light.” Therefore [He said], “lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life,” and then “live forever,” since “if you are righteous, what do you give Him,” etc.

And since he is of the inner level, the evil is therefore bound and attached to him, and it too would have existence — and this is not the intention, as explained above.

10As it is stated in the Zohar concerning Rabbi Acha of Kefar Tarsha, who atoned with incense for a place where there was a plague, and they told him that it did not help, for “they are still found guilty.”

“It would be well if they had done teshuvah,” etc. Therefore, immediately, “He sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken.”

That is, the work of refinements through sowing, plowing and reaping; and afterwards, when he eats from it and says “One” and “You shall love,” he refines and elevates [it], etc.

11And then he must actually go upon the ground from which he was taken, and there he will eat, and there he will carry out the refinements.

But we must understand: what was His original intention, may He be blessed, when man did not know of good and evil at all? Since there is the existence of evil in the world, how, then, would the refinements be refined, which must be done by man?

But the matter is that then it was in an entirely different manner, not by way of war, but in the manner of what is written, “And He placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it” — these are the 248 positive commandments — to draw the Infinite Light into the Garden of Eden; and through the abundant revelation of the light,

the sparks of holiness that fell and became mixed with evil would rise of themselves and be absorbed within the supernal lights that man would draw down, like a candle before a torch: if the torch is small, a candle close to it is absorbed in it,

but if it is moved a little away, it is not absorbed in it, because the torch is small. But if the torch is large, then even if the candle is far away, it is absorbed in it.

12It is like what was at the time when the Holy Temple stood. For our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Israel was exiled only so that converts would be added to them,” that is, to elevate sparks. What, then, would have happened had they not sinned and not been exiled?

Necessarily we must say that then the sparks were absorbed of themselves, like a candle before a torch — like Naamah the Ammonite; and so too all the nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and as is written of the Queen of Sheba, etc.

That is, because then there was a great torch, so to speak, the sparks were therefore absorbed in it of themselves; and had the Holy Temple continued so longer, they would all have been refined in this way,

as is written of the Time to Come (Zephaniah 3), “For then I will turn to the peoples a clear language,” etc., and “Nations shall walk by your light,” etc.

And so was the matter of man when he had not sinned: he was entirely holy, for his body too was taken from the place of the altar, and from it his 248 limbs were made, “mixed with oil,” etc.

He stood in the Garden of Eden, and there he would add lights, and of themselves the kelipos would cease to be, through the sparks of holiness ceasing from them; but the matter was not through war, etc.

This is not so after he sinned: then the refinements must be through labor and war — “the time of prayer is the time of battle” — as explained above; and he must go down to the place of the kelipos and refine them there. And this is “the ground from which he was taken.”

13With this we will also understand how the serpent knew of this. For Adam, the first man, himself, who was entirely holy, above the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, did not know of the existence of evil at all, as explained above.

But the serpent, which was itself taken from the level of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, knew of this; and it knew that [G‑d’s] commanding Adam not to eat from it was so that he would have no knowledge of evil at all, so that he would not need to enter into war with it at all.

And it was very vexed that they guard themselves so much from it — even not to know of it, so as not to stumble in it; and it took counsel in its soul that it would be better for it that man enter into this and there be a war, for then at times it too would prevail,

as is written (Ecclesiastes 8), “A time when man rules over man,” etc. — rather than that man not know of this at all, for then the good mixed in it would be absorbed into Adam like a candle before a torch, and it would die and perish entirely. So it came with cunning to Eve,

as is stated (in Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, ch. 13), “Samael came and rode upon the serpent,” etc. And it said, “For G‑d knows that on the day you eat from it,” etc., “and you will be like G‑d, knowing good and evil.”

And so it is according to the truth, and it did not speak a lie, as explained above; only it said this with cunning, for it said “and you will be like G‑d” as an advantage, but in truth this is a deficiency.

Even though he would know good and evil like G‑d — above, this is no blemish at all: even though good and evil are known, nevertheless the evil is separate, since above is the level of the encompassing; but if man, who is of the level of the inner, would know of good and evil, for him the matter would be harmful, as explained above.

14In Likkutei Torah of the Arizal, of blessed memory, the matter is explained that Adam, the first man, would walk through the chambers, for the level of Adam was higher even than Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, since he was of an entirely different order, for he was the handiwork of the Holy One, blessed be He.

Into the chambers of impurity he did not want to look at all; and the serpent enticed him that he should at least look at what is in them, and through this he stumbled and fell into desire for them.

So too I heard from the holy Rabbi Avraham, son of the Maggid, of blessed memory, on [the verse] “And Judah turned aside to an Adullamite man whose name was Chirah”: that because of the episode of Joseph, therefore “he turned aside.”

The explanation: “he turned aside” means that he inclined downward into the chambers of the kelipos, “to an Adullamite man,” in order to elevate sparks from there; and this is the matter of the intention of the falling on the face, etc.