And the man said, “The wife that you gave me, she was the one who gave me of the tree and I ate.”
The Ohr Hachaim is bothered by this answer of Adam Harishon. How could he blame his own actions on someone else? He could have refused to eat of the tree, how could he blame his wife? Did he think Hashem would fall for this? This lack of responsibility is unbecoming of a person to his friend, and certainly to Hashem the King of Kings.
He also asks, why did he mention the words מִן הָעֵץ? Was that not the obvious topic of discussion? Chava did not mention the tree in her answer, she merely said וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִּשָה הַנָחָש הִּשִּיאַנִּי וָאֹכֵּל – and the lady said, “the snake persuaded me and I ate.”
The Ohr Hachaim explains that Adam claimed that he was not to blame at all. Hashem gave him a wife to help him, and he had no reason to believe that she would scheme against him. When she brought him food to eat, he could rest assured that she brought food that was good for him. Her entire purpose of living was to be of assistance to him, and he had no reason to believe that anything she did would be to his detriment. She was to be assumed to be doing the right thing, and he was permitted to eat it.
She gave him מִּן הָעֵּץ – from the tree. The Garden of Eden was filled with many different types of divine trees. When she gave it to him, his psyche changed when he realized that he was in a state of undress, and he suddenly realized his mistake. He learned, through his own new feelings of ‘knowledge of good and evil’, that the world had changed and he had eaten from the tree that taught him knowledge. At the time of eating, he trusted his wife.
Adam was not really punished, because he did not really sin, at least not purposefully. He made a mistake, not knowing he was eating from the forbidden fruit. It is likely that he was not only considered a shogeg – an inadvertent sinner, but rather an oness – someone who was forced to sin. He had no choice but to trust his wife regarding the food he ate, and he was still punished for this.
We indeed find that Adam himself was not punished, rather the earth was punished on his behalf. The possuk says וּלְאָדָם אָמַר כִּּי שָמַעְתָּ לְקוֹל אִּשְתֶּךָ וַתֹּאכַל מִּן הָעֵּץ אֲשֶר צִּוִּּיתִּיךָ לֵּאמֹר לֹא תֹאכַל מִּמֶנוּ אֲרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה בַעֲבוּרֶךָ בְעִּצָבוֹן תֹּאכְלֶנָה כֹּל יְמֵּי חַיֶיךָ - And to man He said, "Because you listened to your wife's voice and ate from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it', cursed is the ground on your account. Through painful labor you will eat of it all the days of your life." It is only the earth that was punished.
This Ohr Hachaim is making a frightening point. The Seforim, especially the Mekubalim, write that the job of mankind is to repair the aveira of Adam and Chava. If Adam’s sin was that weak, not even to be considered an unintentional sin, and we have to pay a price for eternity, how much more do we have to be careful from unintentional and intentional sins.
