And the Serpent Was Cunning

437) “And the serpent was cunning.” The serpent is the evil inclination, who seduces to sin. The serpent was really a serpent, but indeed, it is all one because it was SAM and was seen riding a serpent. The shape of the serpent is Satan, the evil inclination, who seduces people to sin and then rises and slanders. Thus, it is all one. It can be said that the serpent is the evil inclination, and it can be said that it is a real serpent.

438) At that time, Angel SAM descended from the heaven and rode that serpent, and all the people saw his shape and fled from him. SAM and the serpent engaged in conversation with the woman and caused death to the world. Indeed, it is with wisdom that SAM brought curses upon the world, that he cunningly seduced them into sinning, and sabotaged the first tree that the Creator created in the world, Adam ‎HaRishon.

439) That matter depended on SAM, meaning on him robbing the Mochin ‎and the blessings from Adam ‎HaRishon ‎with his cunningness, making him sin with the tree of knowledge. Finally, the other holy tree came, Jacob, and took the blessings back from SAM, so Angel SAM—Esau’s minister—would not be blessed from above, and so that Esau would not be blessed below, since SAM and Esau were built by the ruin of Adam ‎HaRishon. Through the ruin of SAM and Esau, the Kedusha ‎is rebuilt, hence because SAM robbed the blessings from the Kedusha ‎with his cunningness, Jacob retook the blessings from SAM and from Esau with cunningness.

And the reason why it was specifically Jacob who grew strong in that, to return the theft that SAM stole from Adam ‎HaRishon, is that Jacob was similar to Adam ‎HaRishon. Jacob’s beauty was as the beauty of Adam ‎HaRishon, hence as SAM denied the blessings from the first tree, who is Adam ‎HaRishon, Jacob, who is similar to Adam ‎HaRishon, denied the blessings from SAM above, and from Esau below. Everything that Jacob took, he took from his own, which SAM stole from Adam ‎HaRishon. This is why it is written, “And a man struggled with him,” being SAM.

440) “And the serpent was cunning.” The serpent is the evil inclination; it is the angel of death. And because the serpent is the angel of death, it caused death to the whole world, seducing Eve to sin with the tree of knowledge. It is written, “The end of every flesh has come before Me,” meaning the angel of death, who puts an end to every flesh, taking the souls from every flesh and is called so, “the end of every flesh.”

441) The serpent started with Af [“although” but also “ire”], saying, “Although God said.” Thus, he brought with him ire and anger to the world. He said to the woman, “With this tree the Creator created the world,” since the world was created by the Nukva. “Therefore, indeed eat from it and you will be as God, knowing good and evil, and you, too, will be able to create worlds through the Nukva.”

ZA is Elokim [God]. His name, the Nukva, is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, if you eat from the tree of knowledge, which is his name, meaning they would adhere to the Nukva and to her abundance, then “you will be as God,” like ZA, and you’ll be able to create worlds like him.

442) However, the serpent did not say, “With this tree the Creator created the world.” Had He said so, it would have been good because the tree is like an ax in the hand of the one who carves with it, since the tree of knowledge is the Nukva of ZA. That is, had he said that ZA created the world through the Nukva, he would have been telling the truth because he is operating in the Nukva like an ax in the hand of the one who carves with it, for the Nukva has nothing of her own except that which ZA gives her. It follows that the operator is ZA, and this is certainly true.

However, the serpent did not say so. Rather, he said, “The Creator ate from this tree,” meaning that ZA received abundance from the Nukva, and then ZA created the world. Every craftsman hates his friend. Eat from the tree of knowledge and you, too, will be able to create worlds. But this is a complete lie because the Nukva receives everything from ZA, which is why he said, “Because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will open and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.” Because He knows that you will be as God and will create worlds like Him, He commanded you not to eat from it.

443) All his words were lies. He was lying even in the beginning of the words, as it is written, “Although God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden,’” it is not so because it is written, “From any tree of the garden you may eat,” so He permitted him everything.

444) Rabbi Yosi said, “The Creator commanded him on idol worship, on blessing the Creator, on the judgments, on bloodshed, and on incest.” But how many people were in the world of whom the Creator had to warn him? All those seven Mitzvot ‎were only on that tree, the tree of knowledge, since all those Mitzvot ‎cling to it.

445) Anyone who takes the tree of knowledge—the Nukva alone without her husband ZA—separates between ZA and Nukva. It follows that he takes her imparting in the masses below in the separated BYA, where there are the shells, which cling to the tree of knowledge.

By that, he takes upon himself the prohibitions of idol worship, bloodshed, and incest: 1) He breaches with idol worship in those appointed ministers to whom he extends the abundance from the tree of knowledge. It follows that he is working for the appointed, which is idol worship. 2) He breaches with bloodshed because the power of bloodshed depends on that tree, for it is on the left side, Gevura. By that, SAM, Esau’s minister was appointed. 3) He breaches with incest because the tree of knowledge is a woman. It is called “a woman,” Nukva of ZA, and it is forbidden to summon a woman alone, but together with her husband, so he will not be suspected of incest. The sin of the tree of knowledge is that he took the Nukva alone without her husband.

For this reason, in all seven Mitzvot, he was commanded with the prohibition of that tree, the tree of knowledge. Once he ate from it, he breached in all of them because they are all gripped to it.

446) Rabbi Yehuda said, “Of course the prohibition of the tree of knowledge is so, since it is forbidden to be alone with a woman unless her husband is with her.” What did that wicked one, SAM, do? He said, “But I have touched that tree and did not die. You too, come near and touch it with your hand and you will not die.” He added that of his own, for touching was not forbidden, but eating.

447) Promptly after she touched the tree of knowledge, it is written, “And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat.” Rabbi Yehuda said, “That tree was emitting fragrances, as it is written, ‘As the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.’ And because the scent was coming up from it, she coveted it, to eat from it.” Rabbi Yosi says, “Her seeing brought her the coveting to eat from the tree of knowledge, and not the smell, since it is written, ‘And the woman saw.’” Rabbi Yehuda told him, “But after the sin it is written, ‘And the eyes of both of them were opened.’ Thus, she did not obtain seeing until after the eating. But prior to the eating, she obtained only smelling.”

Rabbi Yosi told him, “That seeing prior to eating was in the measure of the tree, a female light, and that seeing brought her the coveting. But the seeing that she obtained after the eating was to a great extent in regard to the tree. This is why it is written, ‘And the eyes of both of them were opened,’ as it is written, ‘And the woman saw.’ The words ‘The woman’ are accurate, showing that the seeing was in the light of a female.”

448) “And the woman saw that the tree was good.” It is written, “...and took of its fruit.” She saw and she did not see that the tree was good. She saw that the tree was good but she could not decide, since it is written, “...and took of its fruit,” and it is not written “And she took from it,” from the tree, since she did not make up her mind that the tree was good.

By taking from its fruit and not from the tree, she clung to the place of death and caused death to the entire world, separating life from death because the Yesod, attached to the Nukva, is called “bearing fruit,” and the Nukva is called “fruit.” When the Nukva is alone, without the Yesod, she is death. And when she took from the fruit and not from the tree, it is found that she clung to the place of death, and separated the Yesod, which is life, from the Nukva, which is death, when she is separated from the Yesod.

That sin caused the separation of Nukva from her husband ZA, since the voice, ZA, and the speech, Nukva, never part, and one who parts the voice from the speech—ZA from Nukva—becomes mute and cannot speak. And when the speaking is denied of him, he is given to the dust. This is why he was told, “And unto dust you shall return.”

449) “I was mute silent; I held my peace from good,” said the Assembly of Israel, Nukva of ZA, during the exile. It is so because the voice, ZA, leads the speech, the Nukva. And since she is in exile, the voice is separated from her, and the speech—Nukva—is not heard. This is why the Nukva said, “I was mute silent” since “I held my peace from good,” meaning ZA, who is called “good,” and who is the voice. It turns out that the voice is not going with her.

At that time, Israel say, “Unto You are silence and praise.” “Silence” is the praise for David, since Nukva is called “praise” when she is in Gadlut. She becomes silence in the exile, she is muted, soundless. “Unto You,” Israel say to ZA, “For You is she silent and mute,” since the voice, ZA, has moved away from her.

450) “And she took of its fruit.” Eve squeezed grapes and gave it to Adam. By eating them, they caused death to the entire world because death resides in the tree of knowledge. It is the tree that governs in the night, the Nukva, as it is written, “The small light for the governances of the night.” It is written about her, “She rises while it is still night.” And when she governs at night, all the people in the world taste the taste of death, since sleep is one part of 60 of death.

However, those faithful ones hurry and give her their Nefashot [souls] as deposits, saying before they go to sleep, “In Your hand I commit my spirit.” And because the Nefashot are deposited in the Nukva during the governance of the taste of death, they are not harmed, and the Nefashot return to their places by morning, meaning to the bodies. It is written about it, “And Your faith in the nights,” for faith, the Nukva, rules at night.

451) “And the eyes of both of them were opened.” They were opened to know the evils of the world, which they did not know thus far. Once they know and their eyes were opened to know evil, it is written, “And they knew that they were naked,” for they lost the upper brightness that was hovering over them. It departed from them and they were left naked.

452) “And they sewed fig-leaves,” meaning they clung to cover in the shades of the tree from which they had eaten because the leaves of the tree cast shade beneath them. There is a shade from the Kedusha, as it is written, “In its shade I delighted to sit,” and there is a shade from the shell, as it is written, “God has made one opposite the other.” Once they sinned in the tree of knowledge, it cast upon them the shade of the tree of death, which is the shadow of death. And where they initially had the upper brightness, which was a canopy over them, they were now in the shade of the shell, called fig-leaves.

“And made themselves girdles.” Once they knew of this world and clung to it, they saw that this world was led by those leaves of the tree and made themselves strengthening by which to be strengthened in this world. It is so because prior to the sin, the world was led only by the Kedusha. By the sin of the tree of knowledge, they cast the Mochin ‎from the degrees of Kedusha, the shells ‎were filled by the ruin of the Kedusha, and the guidance was placed in the hands of the Sitra ‎Achra, as it is written, “The earth was placed in the hand of the wicked.”

It follows that along with the sin of the tree of knowledge, the fig-leaves, which are the shades of the Sitra ‎Achra ‎that dominated this world, were given power and governance. Then they know every kind of charm in the world and wish to gird arms because of those leaves of the tree to protect themselves.

453) Three entered the judgment‎ and were sentenced: the serpent, Adam, and Eve. The bottom world has been cursed and did not return to its state due to the filth of the serpent, until Israel stood by Mount Sinai. At that time, the filth stopped.

454) After the sin, the Creator clothed them in clothes that the skin enjoys and not the Nefesh, as it is written, “Garments of skin.” Initially, they had garments of light, which the upper ones would use on their way up, since high angels would come to Adam ‎HaRishon ‎to enjoy that light, as it is written, “You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty.” But now that they sinned, they were given garments of leather, which the skin enjoys, the body and not the soul.

455) Afterwards, they begot the first son, who was the son of the filth of the serpent. Two came over Eve, Adam and the serpent. She conceived from them and begot two, Cain and Abel. One came out to the side of its progenitor, and the other came out to the side of its progenitor. Their spirit was separated—one to the side of Kedusha ‎and one to the side of impurity. One resembles its phase, and the other resembles its phase, the side from which they emerged.

By heeding the advice of the serpent, he cast his filth in her, and the filth of the serpent mixed in Eve’s body. Later, Adam came up on her, and it is considered that she was impregnated from both, from the serpent’s filth and from Adam ‎HaRishon’s Kedusha. First emerged Cain, who was mixed with the serpent’s filth. Afterwards, once the filth had come out of Eve along with the birth of Cain, Abel came out in the Kedusha ‎of Adam ‎HaRishon.

456) All the sections of evil kinds, spirits, demons, and charmers come from Cain’s side. From Abel’s side more mercy is drawn out to the world, but not in completeness. It is like a good wine mixed with bad wine. The world was not corrected by him until Shet [Seth] was born and all the generations of the world’s righteous were related after him, and the world was established with him, while from Cain came all the insolent, sinners, and wicked of the world.

457) When Cain sinned, he feared because he saw before him various armed camps that came to kill him. When he repented, he said, “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden ... and whoever finds me will kill me,” for he feared the camps that came to kill him.

“From Your face I will be hidden” because he said, “I will be hidden and ruined from my structure,” since Cain was a husbandman, and once He drove him out of the land, his whole structure came apart and nothing was left for him in the world. Moreover, “From Your face I will be hidden,” as it is written, “And He did not hide His face from him.” It is also written, “And Moses hid his face.” Cain said about that, “From Your face I will be hidden,” saying, “I will be hidden from Your face so I am not noticed.” Hence, “Whoever finds me will kill me.”