Misrepresenting the word of God can lead to tragedy. We learn this from Parshat Bereishit.
Everyone is familiar with the instruction given by Hashem to Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit. When the serpent approached Eve and tried to convince her to eat of the fruit, she said to the serpent,
“Amar Elokim,” – “God has said,”
“lo tochlu mimenu velo tichlu bo.” – “You may not eat of it. You can’t even touch it.”
Rashi points out that Eve was actually wrong. Hashem had instructed them not to eat the fruit. But on no occasion did Hashem mention touching it. It was Eve who said to the serpent, “God said we’re not even allowed to touch it.” So the Midrash explains what then happened.
The serpent, knowing this, purposefully pushed Eve onto the tree, and nothing happened to her. The serpent said, “You see! God told you not to touch it and you’ve touched it and nothing has happened to you!” In this way the serpent was able to convince Eve that she should eat the fruit as well.
But I have a question. Did Eve really do something which was wrong? Don’t we have a concept of ‘siyag laTorah’ – a fence around the Torah? So, for example, it is Torah law that we’re not allowed to purchase something on Shabbat. We have introduced muktza: we don’t even touch a coin on Shabbat to prevent us from then going on to do that which was wrong.
So Eve, therefore, said we shouldn’t even touch the tree in order that we won’t eat the fruit.
However, there is a difference, because what did Eve say to the serpent? “Amar Elokim” – God has said you cannot eat of this fruit, nor can you even touch it. She misrepresented the word of Hashem.
The Torah has been given to us to enrich our lives and it is our responsibility to safeguard the word of the Torah and in particular the word of Hashem. There is great value in ‘chumras’ – stringencies which we add. It’s important for us to have a ‘siyag laTorah’ – a fence around the Torah. However, unlike Eve, who purposefully misrepresented the word of God, let us always be true and responsible ambassadors of what it is that Hashem Himself said.
Shabbat shalom
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis