The Danger of Adding & the Difficulty of Transmission
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5776
The beauty of Torah learning is that there is always more to learn, new insights and ideas.
With that in mind, let us revisit a famous scene in this morning’s parsha – the conversation between the serpent and Eve.
בראשית פרק ג
א) וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ הָיָ֣ה עָר֔וּם מִכֹּל֙ חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה יְקֹוָ֣ק אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־הָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה אַ֚ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן
ב) וַתֹּ֥אמֶר הָֽאִשָּׁ֖ה אֶל־הַנָּחָ֑שׁ מִפְּרִ֥י עֵ֥ץ־הַגָּ֖ן נֹאכֵֽל
ג) וּמִפְּרִ֣י הָעֵץ֘ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּתוֹךְ־הַגָּן֒ אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים לֹ֤א תֹֽאכְלוּ֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְלֹ֥א תִגְּע֖וּ בּ֑וֹ פֶּן־תְּמֻתֽוּן
ד) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הַנָּחָ֖שׁ אֶל־הָֽאִשָּׁ֑ה לֹֽא־מ֖וֹת תְּמֻתֽוּן
1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
- And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
- But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.
- And the serpent said to the woman, surely you shall not die;
In verse 3 “woman” adds the prohibition of touching. Once she sees (Midrash) that she does not die when she touches the tree she is inclined to eat as well.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 29a) marshals this episode as the source for the rule “those who add actually detract!”
There is a danger in adding to protect because you lose focus of what is actually prohibited and what is not.
There is a lot that we can learn from there about the state and dangers of “stringency focused Judaism” that exists in orthodoxy today but that is only one piece of the puzzle.
Ask yourself the following question:
How did Eve know that she was not allowed to eat from the tree?
According to Rashi, she heard the command directly from Hashem and she added to the command herself.
Yet that is far from clear. If you look at the actual command (chapter 2) you find the command addressed to Adam.
בראשית פרק ב
טז) וַיְצַו֙ יְקֹוָ֣ק אֱלֹהִ֔ים עַל־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר מִכֹּ֥ל עֵֽץ־הַגָּ֖ן אָכֹ֥ל תֹּאכֵֽל
יז) וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכָלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת
- And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
- But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
That seems to indicate that the command was given to Adam and not Eve.
You could argue that Adam means both, except that Eve has not yet been created in chapter 2.
Adam is created in verse 7, the command is given in 16/17 and Woman is created in 21/22.
If the command is given to Adam, alone then how did Eve know? And what was she told?
The Midrash (Buber 3/3) suggests that the command is given to Adam alone and he transmits it to Eve and adds the prohibition of touching the tree in order to keep her even further from it. That addition is their ultimate undoing.
In this scenario the problem is not only one of adding stringency. It is also one of transmission. Adam is the only one who is aware of the original command. Eve believes that she knows what is commanded because Adam has told her. But she doesn’t, she has no idea what the actual command was, what the real word of God was.
The second lesson from this story, in addition to the danger of adding, is the importance of truth and accuracy in transmitting the word of God.
That responsibility now lies with the rabbinic community and the publishing houses. We must relay the word of God from both the written and oral law, truthfully and accurately. We may not embellish or teach people what we think that they should hear in order to protect them, because in doing so we pervert and corrupt the word of God!
