In the beginning [Bereishit], that is the covenant [brit], about which the Tree of Life is mentioned. And behold, this is its explanation. But reversed, it is broken [tavir, which is composed of the same four letters as brit]. For it caused the breaking of Adam the first man, and that is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
That tree was good, that is what is written:And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and desirable to the eyes (Genesis 3:6), but its fruit was evil. To her, it was like its appearance, the way it appeared on the outside. This is like the mouth; it has words that are beautiful on the outside, but the heart is full of foul words on the inside. So that one did not know that a potion of death was inside of the fruit.
That is [the meaning of] what is written: and she took from its fruit and she ate, and she also gave to her husband, etc. — behold, it is the fruit of the tree, since death was there [the first three words of the verse include the letters that spell out death] (inside, which she ate, that caused it).