page_title: Bereshit (parashah)
section_title: Genesis chapter 3
hierarchical_section_title: Bereshit (parashah) / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Genesis chapter 3
caption_attribution_description: English: Genesis&#160;: God the Father forbids Eve to pick the fruit from the tree of good and evil; marble bas-relief on the left pier of the façade of the cathedral; Orvieto, Italy
context_page_description: Bereshit, Bereishit, Bereshis, Bereishis, B'reshith, Beresh't, Beresheet, or Bereishees is the first weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah consists of Genesis 1:1–6:8.
  In the parashah, God creates the heavens, the world, Adam and Eve, and Sabbath. A snake convinces Eve, who then invites Adam, to eat the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden to them. So God curses them and expels them from the Garden of Eden. One of their sons, Cain, becomes the first murderer, killing his brother Abel out of jealousy. Adam and Eve have other children, whose descendants populate the Earth. Each generation becomes more and more degenerate until God, despairing, decides to destroy humanity. Only one man, Noah, finds God's favor.
  The parashah is made up of 7,235 Hebrew letters, 1,931 Hebrew words, 146 verses, and 241 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it on the first Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in October, or rarely, in late September or early November.
context_section_description: Hezekiah noted that in Genesis 3:3, Eve added to God's words by telling the serpent that she was not even permitted to touch the tree. Hezekiah deduced from this that one who adds to God's words in fact subtracts from them.
  A Midrash explained that because the serpent was the first to speak slander in Genesis 3:4–5, God punished the Israelites by means of serpents in Numbers 21:6 when they spoke slander. God cursed the serpent, but the Israelites did not learn a lesson from the serpent's fate, and nonetheless spoke slander. God therefore sent the serpent, who was the first to introduce slander, to punish those who spoke slander.
  Judah ben Padiah noted Adam's frailty, for he could not remain loyal even for a single hour to God's charge that he not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, yet in accordance with Leviticus 19:23, Adam's descendants the Israelites waited three years for the fruits of a tree.
  Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman said in Rabbi Jonathan's name that we can deduce from the story of the serpent in Genesis 3 that one should not plead on behalf of one who instigates idolatry. For Rabbi Simlai taught that the serpent had many pleas that it could have advanced, but it did not do so. And God did not plead on the serpent's behalf, because it offered no plea itself. The Gemara taught that the serpent could have argued that when the words of the teacher and the pupil are contradictory, one should surely obey the teacher's (and so Eve should have obeyed God's command).
  A Baraita reported that Rabbi taught that in conferring an honor, we start with the most important person, while in conferring a curse, we start with the least important. Leviticus 10:12 demonstrates that in conferring an honor, we start with the most important person, for when Moses instructed Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar that they should not conduct themselves as mourners, Moses spoke first to Aaron and only thereafter to Aaron's sons Eleazar and Ithamar. And Genesis 3:14–19 demonstrates that in conferring a curse, we start with the least important, for God cursed the serpent first, and only thereafter cursed Eve and then Adam.
  Rabbi Ammi taught that there is no death without sin, as Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The soul that sins . . . shall die." The Gemara reported an objection based on the following Baraita: The ministering angels asked God why God imposed the death penalty on Adam (in Genesis 3). God answered that God gave Adam an easy command, and he violated it. The angels objected that Moses and Aaron fulfilled the whole Torah, but they died. God replied (in the words of Ecclesiastes 9:2), "There is one event [death] to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; . . . as is the good, so is the sinner." The Gemara concluded that the Baraita refuted Rabbi Ammi, and there is indeed death without sin and suffering without iniquity.
  Rabbi Joshua ben Levi taught that when in Genesis 3:18, God told Adam, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you," Adam began to cry and pleaded before God that he not be forced to eat out of the same trough with his donkey. But as soon as God told Adam in Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread," Adam's mind was set at ease. Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish taught that humanity is fortunate that we did not remain subject to the first decree. Abaye (or others say Simeon ben Lakish) observed that we are still not altogether removed from the benefits of the first decree, as we eat herbs of the field (which come forth without effort).
  Rabbi Hama son of Rabbi Hanina taught that Genesis 3:21 demonstrates one of God's attributes that humans should emulate. Rabbi Hama son of Rabbi Hanina asked what Deuteronomy 13:5 means in the text, "You shall walk after the Lord your God." How can a human being walk after God, when Deuteronomy 4:24 says, "[T]he Lord your God is a devouring fire"? Rabbi Hama son of Rabbi Hanina explained that the command to walk after God means to walk after the attributes of God. As God clothes the naked — for Genesis 3:21 says, "And the Lord God ma
caption: God admonishes Eve regarding the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (early 14th-century marble bas-relief by Lorenzo Maitani on the Orvieto Cathedral)
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart R707 (V01.00)d", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:06 17:00:21", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "244", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3534", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8945", "EXIF ExposureTime": "411/100000", "EXIF FNumber": "49/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF OECF": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:04:30 10:40:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:04:30 10:40:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "48515049", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1015/128", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1203/256", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "2261/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "2581/1000", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "D55", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2075", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1629", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3404", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "117", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 15, 0, 48, 48, 48, 48, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 55, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 56, ... ]", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2"}