<html>
<body>
RSRH writes the following in his commentary about the commandment of not
eating from the Etz Ha Das. I have bolded the last paragraph. YL<br><br>
Bereishis 2<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>16
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>And
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>commanded man [saying]:
From every tree of the garden you may indeed eat;<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>17
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>But from the tree of
knowledge of what is good and what is evil you shall not eat, for on the
day you eat from it, you must die.<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The command set forth
in verses 16 and 17 begins man’s training for<br>
his moral calling. It begins human history, and it shows all future
generations<br>
the path in which they are to walk. It is a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>prohibition</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, and it<br>
is </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>not
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>a <i>Mitzva Sichlius</i>,
a </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>rational
prohibition</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. On the
contrary, all the perceptive<br>
faculties given to man — taste, imagination, and intellect —<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>oppose
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>this prohibition. Man,
with his own intellect, would never have<br>
decreed upon himself such a prohibition. What is more: even after
the<br>
prohibition was given to him, he could find no reason for it — other<br>
than the absolute Will of God.<br><br>
This prohibition, then, is a classic example of a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Chok</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. Moreover, it is<br>
a </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>dietary
prohibition</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, and those
who were bound by it received it as an<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>oral
tradition</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. It was
communicated to Adam, yet Chavah and her descendants<br>
were commanded to obey it. This command, then, is a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Mitzvah lo Sa'asah,<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3> a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Chok</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, it prohibits
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Micholos
Isooros</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, and it was
transmitted as </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Torah
Sh'baal Peh</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.<br>
Thus, all the aspects of the future Torah of Israel at which the<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yetzer Harah</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(our sensual nature) and the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Oomos Haolam</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(the non-Jewish world)<br>
have always taken umbrage are contained in this command, with which<br>
God began man’s development.<br><br>
And this command was given
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>la daas tov va
rah</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>: Through this
command<br>
it will become known and revealed what is good for man, so that he<br>
should choose it, and what is bad for man, so that he should reject
it.<br>
The subordination of our nature to God’s Will is a basic condition<br>
for all morality, a condition that is inseparable from man’s moral
calling.<br>
Moral freedom is the foundation of man’s higher dignity, and there
can<br>
be no moral freedom without the ability to sin. Yet man cannot sin<br>
unless his senses are attracted to evil and repelled by goodness.
Otherwise, <br>
man, too, when choosing the good and shunning evil, would be<br>
acting only according to instinct, and he would cease to be man.
Man’s<br>
mastery over the urges of his senses, the subordination of his nature
to<br>
the Will of God — </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>that
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is the whole eminence of
man and the foundation<br>
of his whole education. The Educator of mankind laid down in<br>
His first command the first principle of education.<br><br>
<b>Things have not changed, and the same applies today: We all stand<br>
before the tree of knowledge, as did Adam and Chavah in their day.<br>
Faced with the demands of God’s moral law, we have to decide whether<br>
to obey bodily sensuality, the imagination of the sensual mind, the<br>
wisdom of instinctive animal life, or to be mindful of our higher
calling<br>
and to obey the voice of God. Today, too, we do not hear God’s voice<br>
directly, but rely on an oral tradition, just as the first command
was<br>
given to man as a tradition to be transmitted orally.<br><br>
</font></b></body>
</html>