The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Bereishis 3:12, the Torah provides Adam's response to Hashem when asked about eating from the Etz HaDa'as wherein Adam states - וַיֹּ֖אמֶר הָֽאָדָ֑ם הָֽאִשָּׁה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָתַ֣תָּה עִמָּדִ֔י הִ֛וא נָֽתְנָה־לִּ֥י מִן־הָעֵ֖ץ וָֽאֹכֵֽל. The basic translation of the pasuk is that Adam said that the woman that You gave with me provided me from the tree and I will eat.
R' Frand noted the use of the future tense ("will eat") and quoted Rashi's explanation that Adam was stating that he had eaten and will continue to eat. Yet it is hard to understand how Adam could have the chutzpah so say to Hashem that he will continue to eat in the future (my father asked me the same question over Simchas Torah).
R' Frand answered the question by quoting from the Sefer Imrei Da'as who explains that Adam was not saying that he will eat. Rather this was an observation about human nature. If a person makes a mistake (even on a purpose) and when confronted with the error, owns up to his actions, he will be unlikely to continue that course of conduct in the future. However, is a person blames some external force (like Adam blaming his wife or even Hashem for giving him Chava), then he will continue to sin. In Adam's case, that would be continuing to eat.
R' Frand linked this to Kayin being confronted later in the parsha about the murder of his brother and the punishment meted out to the ground. The Torah states in Bereishis 4:11 that the ground will be punished, but the reason for the punishment is not immediately apparent. R' Frand tied this to the 70's Watergate incident. The crime was the burglary, but the bigger problem was the failure to admit the act and the attempted cover up. Had Kayin admitted that the murder was an act of passion, an action taken out of intense momentary anger, then perhaps the result could have been different. However, Kayin engaged in a cover up and for this reason the earth is punished for covering up the crime.
R' Frand also said a vort on man's punishment for eating from the tree in that man must work by the sweat of his brow to earn a living. R' Frand asked - why is the punishment characterized as sweat of the brow? This is an external manifestation, but in reality the work is done with the hands. Would it have been more accurate to say that the produce of the work of the hands (Y'giah Kapecha)?
R' Frand answered by quoting the sefer V'Lamedcha (not sure that is correct name) who writes that the sweat of the brow is not what results in a paycheck. This is only what a person needs to do in order to allow Hashem to work behind the scenes and provide a parnasah for a person. When a person works to earn a living, Hashem will provide, but not necessarily in the manner that the person expects as there is not always a direct correlation.
R' Frand told a story he had hear from R' CY Goldvicht (the KBY Rosh Yeshiva when I attended back in the late 80's). There was a man who owned a small five and dime in Israel when the British Mandate was in place. One day, a young girl stopped in and wanted to buy a notebook, The store owner had to climb a ladder to reach a high shelf where he moved things around until he found the 5 cent notebook. Immediately thereafter a British soldier entered and wanted to buy an expensive Parker pen. The store owner knew where the Parker pen was, because he had seen it when he was up on the ladder, rearranging the shelf to get the notebook. And by making the sale of the pen, he had covered his expenses for the store for the entire day.
The notebook was the sweat of the brow, and the pen was the resultant parnasah. Not the way that it was drawn up or intended by the store owner, but it often never is...
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