Sohar, Bereshit 43

1AND THE LORD GOD COMMANDED. According to our teachers, the word “commanded” here contains a prohibition of idolatry; “the Lord”, of blasphemy; “God”, of the perversion of justice; “the man”, of murder; “saying”, of adultery and incest; “from all the trees of the garden”, of robbery; “thou mayest freely eat”, of eating flesh from a living animal; and so we agree.

2OF ALL THE TREES OF THE GARDEN THOU SHALT SURELY EAT. This means that he was permitted to eat them all together, for, as we see, Abraham ate, Isaac and Jacob ate, and all the prophets ate and remained alive. This tree, however, was a tree of death, in so far that he who ate-it by itself was bound to die, since he took poison. Hence it says, IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALT SURELY DIE, because thereby he would be separating the shoots.

3R. Judah asked R. Simeon: ‘What is the meaning of the dictum of the teachers, that Adam drew his foreskin? ‘He said: ‘It means that he removed the holy covenant from its place; he abandoned the holy covenant and clung to the orlah and allowed himself to be seduced by the serpent.’

4The words OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE (Gen. 3, 3) signify the woman, of whom it is written, “Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of the nether world” (Prov. 5, 5). On this tree there was fruit, but not on a certain other.

5R. Jose said: ‘That tree which we mentioned was nurtured and fostered from above, and rejoiced thereat, as it says: “A river went forth from Eden to water the garden.” The “garden” designates woman; this river entered it and watered it, and up to this point there was complete unity, for it is from this point onward that there is separation, as it is written, “and from there it parted”.’