[Avodah] eitz hachaim

Lisa Liel lisa at starways.net
Mon Oct 16 00:51:28 PDT 2017


On 10/16/2017 12:41 AM, hankman via Avodah wrote:
> What exactly was the eitz hachaim all about. The simple pshat doesn't
> make any sense. If the purpose of the Gan was to serve Adam then when
> would (could) he make use of the eitz hachaim?   Kodem hacheit he was
> not a bar misah so he had no need of it, after the cheit he was
> prevented from accessing it! So when would  it ever be useful to Adam?

I don't understand the question.  He was prevented from accessing it
*because* of the cheit.  Had he not sinned, you say he would have had
no need for it, but who is to say that its only function was to make
him live forever.  Maybe that's just the function it has for a bar
mitah.  Or maybe that was its function, and that's *why* he wasn't a
bar mitah.  Because the eitz ha-chaim was there, and permissible for
him to eat.  It was only after he'd eaten from the eitz ha-daat that he
could no longer be permitted to live forever.  That what eating that
did to him made eternal life for him a Bad Thing.

Lisa


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