GEN290 That which separates the human being from all other creatures in the universe is his ability to choose his own path in life.  … Just as only God has freedom in the universe, so does God grant freedom only to man, that is, in His image.  The first story in the Torah demonstrates man’s ability to choose.  God commands man not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but man defies Him and eats anyway.  AMEMEI 34

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GEN292 The Torah gives numerous clues about its attitude toward food.  The very first (negative) commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden involved food. They are permitted to eat of every fruit and vegetable except from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When the serpent tempted Eve and she and then Adam ate from this tree, they had to leave the Garden.  This act of eating changed the way man looked at the world.  Immediately after eating, “their eyes were opened,” and they realized they were naked. Genesis 3:7.  Eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil produced a new sense of good and evil in man.  Therefore, prior to eating the fruit itself, the association of food is with the commandment and with good and evil.  Thus, food had a moral quality form the beginning – eating either fulfilled or disobeyed God’s commandment.  Certainly, the result of the eating was a moral reaction.  Eating caused Adam and Eve to have a new sense of morality, or what was right and wrong.  Thus, this first Torah incident regarding food set the precedent for food in the rest of the Torah and in Judaism in general.  Food is associated in Judaism with a moral act.  AMEMEI 72

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GEN306 It is unnatural for a person to live without true friends or without seeking true friendships.  The person who truly does not want to have friends and does not seek friends does not live a normal existence.  Next to family, it is the most important human relationship a person can have. When God told man that it is not good that he remain alone, God meant that man needs a lifelong friend.  Hopefully, a spouse fulfills that role.  Sometimes, though, a friend can also act as a helpmate.  Ecclesiastes describes a friendship when he says that “two are better than one.”  Kohelet 4:9-12.  AMEMEI 78-9

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GEN347 At the beginning of time, God commanded the man to leave his parents and take a wife.  Thus, it is part of the nature of the human being to take a spouse of the opposite sex.  According to the Talmud Yevamot 62b a man without a wife is not complete, as he cannot experience true goodness and satisfaction.  The Midrash Genesis Rabbah 22:2 states that a man should not be without a wife, a woman should not be without a husband, and both together should not be without God.  AMEMEI 261

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GEN357 The first sin in history was brought about through the power of speech. Had not the serpent convinced Eve through words to eat of the fruit and then, later, had not Eve convinced Adam with words to similarly sin, the course of human history would have been very different, as the punishments of the serpent, woman, and man changed their natures forever. Midrash, Tanchuma, Genesis 8.  Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the tongue can control life and death, that is, through our use of speech.  Indeed, many of the most terrible killers in the history of mankind, such as Adolf Hitler, did not actually murder anyone with their own hands but used speech to inspire many others to kill.  AMEMEI 276

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GEN358 The first sin in the Torah involved incitement to commit wrongdoing, as the serpent provided Eve to sin by convincing her that there was nothing wrong with eating the fruit.  AMEMEI 118

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GEN367 That which separates the human being from all other creatures in the universe is his ability to choose his own path in life; only man has free choice.  This is what is meant by the Torah phrase “Man is made in God’s image.”  The first story in the Torah demonstrates man’s ability to choose. God commands man not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but man defies Him and eats anyway (Genesis 2:16-17).  Seforno commentary, cited in AMEMEI 34

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GEN380 See [[GEN292]] Genesis 2:17 shame AMEMEI 72

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GEN382 If we look into the Bible, from the very first we see that God monitors the actions of man.  After he sins man tries to hide from God, but to no avail, since God is aware of all the actions of Adam and Eve.  When Cain tries to “pay dumb” with God after killing Abel, God says that He hears Abel’s blood screaming from the ground. Genesis 4:9-10.  In Jeremiah 23:24, God asks rhetorically if it is possible for man to hide himself and for God not to know.  Psalms 44:22 says that God knows all secrets in man’s heart.  In his parting words to his son Solomon 1 Chronicles 28:9, King David admonishes his son to obey God fully because God knows all the emotions in man’s heart and all thoughts in man’s head.  One of the basic principles of Judaism, set forth by Maimonides, is that God is indeed aware of all of man’s actions and knows all the thoughts of each person. Principles of Faith #10.  Not only is God aware of man’s thought and actions, but these actions are recorded.  When a person dies, this “videotape” plays back man’s entire life, for him to be judged after death.  Taanit 11a.  It is clear, then, that the Jewish view is that God does indeed watch us always and is aware of our thoughts and deeds.  AMEMEI 84

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GEN395 Claiming that one was only following orders or that it is the inciter’s fault as Eve did is not deemed an adequate defense.  The fact is that Eve was still punished Genesis 14-15, demonstrating the doctrine that “there is no agency for sin.”  In addition, we see that both the inciter and the actual sinner are punished for the act, as both Eve and the serpent received retribution.  According to numerous opinions, this, the serpent’s action, is a form of inciting to worship idols since the serpent induced Eve to rebel against God.  AMEMEI 119

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