What does the Torah mean when it writes, "va'Yeide'u Ki Erumim Heim" (a fact that even a blind man knows)?
Rashi: This does not mean that they knew that they were naked, but rather that they realized that there is something wrong with it.
Seforno: They suddenly realized that some things are pleasant and enjoyable - and at the same time harmful; first and foremost the act of intimacy, which explains why they immediately made efforts to cover themselves. 1
Targum Yonasan: They saw that they had been stripped of the nail-covering with which they had been created, 2 and they stitched themselves fig-leaves as a replacement.
Oznayim la'Torah #1: It means that they realized that they were naked - both physically and spiritually - inasmuch as, not only had they situation not improved - to become like G-d, able to create worlds - as the Nachash had claimed - but that they were worse off than before, since they now realized that they were lacking clothes, a fact that had not bothered them previously.
Oznayim la'Torah #2 (citing his son - Rosh Yeshivah of Telz Yeshivah, and the Malbim): Before they sinned, Adam considered his Neshamah to be the Ikar, and his body, secondary. Whereas after the sin, he considered his body to be more important, and it needed to be covered.
Why did they stitch themselves specifically fig-leaves?
Rashi: Because the fruit that they ate was from a fig-tree 1 (as if to say that the tree that caused the sin was the one to repair the damage). 2
Rosh: Te'enah is like To'anah (it is blamed for bringing Aninus, (mourning) to the world).
Why does the Torah not publicize the name of the tree?
Rashi: Hashem declines to put any of His creations to shame; so that nobody should point a finger and accuse it of bringing punishment upon the entire world.
What are "Chagoros"?
Rashi (citing Targum Onkelos) and Targum Yonasan: Chagoros are 'belts'.
Peninim mi'Shulchan ha'G'ra (interpreting a Midrash): "Chagoros" refers to the Mitzvah of Tzitzis - which is the Gematriyah of 'Taryag'. 1 Before Adam and Chavah sinned, they did not require Mitzvos - in the same way as we do not require Tefilin on Shabbos - and when they sinned, they chose to live on a lower level of Kedushah and to keep Mitzvos to compensate the lack of Kedushah.
Refer to Bamidbar 15:39:1:1 & 2.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "The eyes of both of them were opened' - in terms of wisdom [and not in the literal sense]." What sort of wisdom did they now receive?
Mizrachi: Man had wisdom from when he was first created (see Rashi to 2:25). Their eyes were now opened to the fact that they were bereft of their one Mitzvah.
Gur Aryeh: Before their sin, they could only comprehend the good; such as contemplation of Hashem, and the world that He had created. Now, their eyes were opened to comprehend evil as well. They realized that they were bereft of their Mitzvah, and also that their bodies needed to be covered.
Rashi writes: "'They knew that they were unclothed' - ...They had one Mitzvah, and they were now bare of it."But later (3:11), Rashi interprets literally - that they now realized the shame in standing unclothed. Why doesn't he interpret this way here as well?
Mizrachi: We would then have to explain our verse as a contraction of, 'And they knew that they were unclothed, and they realized that it is shameful to stand thus...." [Verse 3:11 however leaves no room for an alternate explanation.]
Gur Aryeh: If they were already ashamed of being unclothed, they should have covered themselves [fully] immediately, and not sufficed with fig-leaves. Rather, the literal shame of being unclothed came only later, when standing before Hashem (3: 8-12). The shame they felt in this Pasuk was from losing their Mitzvah.
Rashi writes: "'They sewed fig-leaves' - ... The other trees withheld their leaves from them." Why didn't the fig tree refuse as well?
