Parashat Beraishis

What was the snake's endgame? Why did it care whether Adam or Chava ate from the tree of knowledge?  Rashi, quoting Chazal, addreses this question:

מאיזו סבה קפץ הנחש עליהם ראה אותם ערומים ועוסקים בתשמיש לעין כל ונתאוה לה

(רש"י, בראשית ג:א)

אתה לא נתכוונת אלא שימות אדם כשיאכל הוא תחלה ותשא את חוה ולא באת לדבר אל חוה תחלה אלא לפי שהנשים דעתן קלות להתפתות ויודעות לפתות את בעליהן לפיכך ואיבה אשית

(רש"י, בראשית ג:טו)

According to Rashi, the snake saw Chava naked and wanted to marry her.  But in order to marry Chava, the snake would first have to kill Adam.  So the snake schemed to kill Adam by having him eat from the tree of knowledge.  Of course, the snake knew that he could not coax Adam into eating from the tree.  Only Chava could do that.  So instead, the snake coaxed Chava, hoping that she in turn would coax Adam.  And after Adam would eat from the tree, the snake would be free to marry Chava.

The snake’s plan is the dumbest plan ever contrived.  Did the snake consider that Chava would also die once she ate from the tree?  With Adam dead and Chava widowed, the snake would be free to marry Chava.  But the snake’s plan would leave both Adam and Chava dead.

This uncovers a fundamental flaw in the snake’s plan.  Let’s break down the flaw, starting by outlining the various goals the snake's plan sought to achieve:

·         The snake began with an overall goal, to marry Chava.  Let’s call this the Primary Goal.

·         In order to achieve its Primary Goal, the snake also had to kill Adam.  Let’s call this the Secondary Goal.

·         In order to achieve the Secondary Goal, the snake had to coax Chava into feeding the fruit of the tree of knowledge to Adam.  Let’s call this the Tertiary Goal.

The snake recognized it was incapable of immediately achieving either the Primary Goal (since Chava was already married) or the Secondary Goal (since Adam could not be coaxed by anyone other than his wife), so it focused on achieving the Tertiary Goal.  But the snake did not realize that the Tertiary Goal undermined the Primary Goal.  By coaxing Chava, she would no longer be alive, and the snake could no longer marry her.

This is what Rashi means by the words “ונתאוה לה,” that the snake desired Chava.  This was not a rational desire.  And the schemes contrived by the snake to fulfill its desires were not rational schemes.  In fact, they were stupid and poorly contrived schemes.

The snake’s Primary Goal was fueled by its desires.  Therefore, as the snake’s desires intensified, the snake’s goals changed.  In the end, Rashi explains that the snake abandoned its plans of marrying Chava for a far baser goal:

כשנתן לה עצה לאכול מן העץ בא עליה

(רש"י, מס' שבת, דף קמו: ד"ה כשבא נחש על חוה)

At some point, the snake gave up on achieving its goal of marrying Chava.  The desire for Chava was just too strong.  Instead, the snake slept with Chava, settling for a quick fulfillment of its desires in lieu of an eternal marriage.

Consider a young man who sees a pretty woman.  The young man starts scheming about how he is going to marry that woman.  Of course, every scheme he contrives is the stupidest scheme ever.  The scheming leads to obsession, not marriage.  The snake is that young man.

In the end, the snake’s schemes lead to the deaths of Adam and Chava.  But it ends the worst for the snake, who is banished to eating dirt and having its skull crushed in by mankind.  That is what the pasuk means when it says והנחש היה ערום מכל, that the snake was most scheming of all.  Scheming has nothing to do with a well planned endgame.  In fact, things always end worst for the schemer.

 ערום מכל ארור מכל

(רש"י, בראשית ג:א)