GEN392 The inclination to deny responsibility for wrongs we have committed is deeply rooted.  Always try to acknowledge your responsibility and, above all, refrain from blaming others.  After all, if you deserve praise for the good you do, don’t you deserve criticism for the wrong?  It is also vital not to point out faults in whoever is rebuking you, since this is irrelevant.  It is also a common temptation.  Rabbi Tarfon noted how common it was for people to respond defensively: “If one says to another, ‘Remove the chip of wood from between your eyes,’ the other responds, “Remove the log from between your eyes’” Arachin 16b  TELVOL 1:393

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GEN393 The Rabbis taught: “Adam was an ingrate, as it is written: [This verse]. Avodah Zarah 5b  TEMIMAH-GEN 22

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GEN394 When you are criticized, reflect on what the other person has said. Even if you believe the criticism to be overstated, ask yourself: Is there some truth in her words? If so, think of a way to avoid that behavior in the future.   Train yourself to feel gratitude, not animosity, toward your critics (unless you have reason to believe that someone is being malicious, or is always criticizing and never praising you; such a person should be avoided or ignored). Rabbi Simcha Zieel Ziv taught that we are all willing to pay a doctor for trying to heal us; should we be any less grateful to one who helps to improve our character?  Rabbi Noach Weinberg expresses this with an even more concrete illustration: “Everyone is grateful to someone who tells him that in his carelessness he dropped his wallet with a large sum of money in it. That should be our attitude to constructive criticism.”  Because the only way to become a better person is to overcome our faults, you should appreciate it when someone points out ways you can improve.  A person who is interested in becoming wealthy will utilze any tips and suggestions he hears if he thinks they will be financially beneficial.  In the same way, utilize any tips and suggestions that can be spiritually beneficial” (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, Growth Through Torah, 378).  Refusing to listen to criticism cuts us off from the possibility of improvement.  As Maimonides taught: “One who hates admonition does not leave himself a path for repentance. Admonition leads to repentance” Laws of Repentance 4:2 Denial is a serious obstacle to repentance and self-improvement. TELVOL 1:393-4

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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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GEN396 In comparing rabbinic literature’s view of the lying and deception of Genesis different textual and ethical perspectives emerge. In the case of [this verse], the rabbis recognized that it was the serpent who deceived Eve and Adam, but the serpent is seen as only a precursor to the models of deception which the human being inherently contains. In fact, there is some evidence that the Rabbis wished to link the serpent and Adam In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sotah 9b, Sanhedrin 29a, Sifrei-Deuteronomy, edition L. Finkelstein, (New York: JTSA, 1969) 323.33, p 374, the serpent is called “haqadmoni” and in Sifra-Leviticus 5.17, Numbers Rabbah 10.2 and Genesis Rabbah 20.11 is also called “haqadmoni.” to explain how a serpent could deceive human beings. In one rabbinic source this point is developed into the idea that one can only deceive someone who [is] similar to you. Midrash HaGadol 1.87 The view that deception exists and is a recognizable part of human behavior is apparent in most of the rabbinic interpretations of the deceptions of Genesis. Concerning the Genesis 12, 20 and 26 “she is my sister” cycle, the rabbis harmonized elements for each section in order to remove disturbing elements of the deception of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in these accounts. In Genesis 12, for example, [] in their commentary on this event in Genesis Rabbah 40 – 41 the onus of the crime is put up on Pharaoh rather than the deceptions of Abraham and Sarah and Nachmanides in his commentary of Genesis 12.10 recognizes the deception of Abraham, he refers to Abraham’s sin not as deception but as a “lack of faith.” In general, the rabbis try to vindicate the Patriarchs from the clear deceptions apparent in the MT version of the text, but they do not always do so in the case of the Matriarchs. In addition, because they recognize that the MT text does contain these clear deceptions by the Patriarchs, certain rabbinic sources have developed this character flaw into an apparent ethical norm for justifiable lies and deceptions. The ethical norm is one which condones lying and deception in certain circumstances. Although this norm is not agreed upon by all rabbinic sources it seems to exist in different historical periods and in different segments of rabbinic argumentation from the early Mishnah through the late Talmudic period.

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GEN398 See [[GEN324]] Genesis 2:23 said  BLOCH 148-9

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GEN397 From here it is to be derived that one does not furnish a defense for an instigator [in this case, the serpent]. Which defense could have been furnished? “The words of the Master [God], and the words of the disciple [the serpent] – whose words should be heeded?  Naturally, the Master’s!  Sanhedrin 29a  [Author’s note: The snake could have said that it is not to blame, as when there is a contradiction between the statement of the teacher and the statement of the student, whose statement should one listen to?  One should listen to the statement of the teacher.  Since God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve should have heeded God’s words and not those of the snake. Sefaria.org translation of Sanhedrin 29a] TEMIMAH-GEN 23

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GEN399 Perhaps the most striking instance of this divergence [between Jews and Christians in interpreting Scripture] is the role that the Paradise narrative in Genesis plays in both religions.  For traditional Christianity, the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden is of transcendental significant; indeed, the entire Christian drama of salvation would be inconceivable without it.  Basing himself primarily upon the narrative of Adam and Eve in Genesis, Paul enunciated the Christian drama of salvation: Adam and Eve, disobeying the Divine will and eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, were guilty of the primal sin. The Fall of Adam placed an ineradicable stain upon all his descendants, who are doomed to perdition.  God, however, in His infinite live, sent His son to redeem mankind from the consequences of the Fall by his suffering.  Only faith in the Savior and his sacrifice can save mankind from perdition.  This doctrine of innate evil in man was maintained by various sectarian groups in Judaism at the beginning of the Christian era, as is clear from the Book of Baruch and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The innovation of Christianity lay in the role of Jesus as Savior.  For traditional Christianity, the significance of Genesis is thus primarily theological.  Far less importance is attached to the Genesis narrative by normative Judaism.  For classical Judaism, the narrative reveals the strength of human weakness, the propensity to sin characteristic of men and women.  The transgression of Adam and Eve in disobeying God’s will is the first tragic illustration of this human trait, but Judaism finds no evidence in the text of Scripture that the sin in the Garden of Eden placed an eternal stain upon human nature.  It finds in Scripture a straightforward account of the punishment meted out upon all three sinners: the serpent, Eve, and Adam. … In sum, the snake is made to crawl upon its belly, woman must suffer pain in childbirth, and man must eke out his difficult existence by backbreaking toil.  Most important of all, by being driven out of the Garden of Eden, humanity loses access to the Tree of Life and thus is stripped of immortality, becoming subject to death.  [Genesis 3:22-23] In sum, the theological importance for normative Judaism of the Paradise narrative is comparatively slight and the divergence from the Christian view considerable.  For Christianity, man sins because he is a sinner; for Judaism, man becomes a sinner when he sins.  GORLAW 68-9

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GEN401 The Rabbis taught: “All who set their eyes upon what is not theirs, what they desire is not given them, and what they possess is taken from them. For so we find with this primal serpent, who set his eyes upon what was not his.  What he desired was not given him, and what he possessed was taken from him.  The Holy One Blessed be He said: ‘I said: “Be king over every beast and animal” – and now: you are more accursed than any beast and any animal of the field. I said: “Walk upright” – and now: walk upon your belly.  I said that he should eat the food of men – and now: let him eat dust.  He said: ‘I shall kill Adam and Eve’ – and now: I shall place hatred between you and the woman” Sotah 9b TEMIMAH-GEN 23

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GEN400 A parable: A king once met a desirer and an envier walking together on the road and said to them, “Let one of you ask for something and it will be given him, and the other will get twice as much.”  The envier did not want to ask first, envying his friend a double portion, and the desirer desired the double portion.  Finally, the desirer pressed the envier to ask first – whereupon he asked that they gouge out one of his eyes and both of his friend’s eyes!  How many evils proceed from envy! The primal serpent envied Adam and brought death to the world; and it was decreed upon him: “You shall walk upon your stomach and you shall eat dust.”  See also what happened to Cain, Korach, Bilam, Do’eg, Achitofel, Gechazi, Adoniah, Avshalom, and Uzziahu – who desired what was not theirs.  Not only did they not gain what they desired, but they lost what they possessed. Sotah 9b.  All of this should teach one to separate himself from envy and desire.  Let him reflect: If even what he has is not his, for on the morrow it may be gone, then what avails him, that is not his! Concerning this it is written Proverbs 27:1 “For you do not know what the day will bring.”  TZADIK 275

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