Now, we have to understand why Adam complained about this gezeirah. Actually he should have accepted it with joy because he was being offered now an extraordinary opportunity. “You will eat grass of the field,” meant that grass would henceforth fulfill all the desires of man’s palate. And not only would man’s taste buds be satisfied, but grass would also provide him with all of the vitamins and minerals he needs. Our bodies would be accommodated to chewing vegetable fibers and our digestive properties would adjust to the task of deriving nourishment from grass.
That would have been a glorious opportunity for mankind! Adam is being offered now a life of leisure because it wouldn’t be necessary to toil for his sustenance. Grass you don’t have to plant; it’s supplied by Hashem. Like it states in the Chumash, ָך¿„ָּׂ̆¿ב בׂ∆̆≈ﬠ יּƒַָ̇̇נ¿ו – I’ll give grass in the fields (Devarim 11:15). That’s why grass is rhizomes; it grows from roots that remain over winter in the ground. It’s not seeds that you have to plant. Some grass grows from seeds but they fall in abundance and they lie in the ground and in the springtime it comes up by itself.
Grass is free and abundant. Nobody plants grass except the man who wants to have a fancy front yard – if you want it planted in a special place then you have to order it from the landscaper, but ordinarily, if you walk out into the fields, there’s plenty of grass.
And so, all men would be free to sit in kollel all day, and whenever his wife says to him, “What are we going to feed the children if you’re sitting with your books all day?”, so he says, “Let’s go.” And he takes her out in the backyard, “Here! Eat to your heart’s delight! All you want!”
