If Odom HaRishon would have abstained from partaking of the fruit of the Eitz HaDaas his service of Hashem would not have been complete, because the ko’ach habechirah – the power of choice which governs the success of the person – would not have been operative.

Curiously, it is the fact that Odom HaRishon sinned that was effective in his attainment of true yiras Shamayim.  In truth, Odom HaRishon was an absolute servant of Hashem.  Had he chosen to do so, he could have eaten from the Eitz HaChaim – Tree of Life first, before he ate from the Eitz HaDaas – Tree of Knowledge  In that case, although he would have been transgressing the word of Hashem, he would nevertheless have lived.  However, Odom HaRishon did not do this because he chose to feel the yiras chet, the fear of sin.  

 At the time that Odom was still pure, and his nefesh was unsullied with aveiros, he opted to sin and eat from the Eitz HaDaas.  He did not wish, though, to defy Hashem and live forever.  Once he sinned, though, his punishment followed immediately, and he was expelled from Gan Eden.  This was for his benefit.  Once his nefesh had been debased, it was no longer certain that he would not conspire to eat from the Eitz HaChaim.  The posuk therefore states (Bereishis 3:22), “… and now lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life … so Hashem banished him from the Garden of Eden …”   

 This defines the change in Odom from the period before he did the chet, and after he sinned and ate from the Eitz HaDaas.   Until that time when Odom sinned, he limited himself with safeguardsand did not eat from the Eitz HaChaim which would ensure that he lived forever.  However, after he did the aveiroh and had become reckless, the warnings were no longer sufficient as he no longer had the wherewithal to abide by his own personal safeguards.

 Moreover, an individual who commits an aveiroh mistakenly believes that there is no longer any need for him to comply with these precautions.   But the contrary is true.  Once the person transgresses it becomes even more important for him to establish and obey the safety measures.  As the gemara states (Yuma 39a), Sin obstructs the heart of a person.”  It dulls his mind and the person no longer has the advantage of an untainted neshomoh that he had before he transgressed.  It becomes more difficult for him, because the aveiroh impairs his ability to think clearly.   However, as Koheles tells us (7:20), There is no man so wholly righteous on earth that he always does good and never sins.”  The limitations and boundaries that one sets for himself facilitate his abstinence from sin.

 The gemara teaches (Kiddushin 40a) that a person should never despair for there is always the capacity for teshuvah.  It is only when one abandons all the safeguards and removes all the controls and restraints,  that the difficulties present themselves.  This was the advantage that Odom HaRishon retained in   safeguarding the precaution of not eating from the Eitz  HaChaim when he partook of the Eitz HaDa’as.  And although he transgressed, he still was assisted from Shamayim to do teshuvah. 

 This is Chazal’s intention in the gemara in Chulin in expounding the precept of “odom u’beheimah toshi’a Hashem.”   People who have done an aveiroh like Odom HaRishon -- when he was not negatively affected by his aveiroh and still safeguarded the precautions he had set for himself -- Hashem will save them.  A person who does not establish any safeguardsdoes not get this same promise, as it states in Tehillim (119:155), “Salvation is far from the wicked, for they did not seek your laws.”    

 A group of young men from the Jewish community who had been drafted to fight in the army came to the Chofetz Chaim for a bracha.   As they were leaving, they began to cry and asked the Chofetz Chaim what will they do when there is nothing to eat but treif. 

 The Chofetz Chaim sensitively explained to them, “Then the halacha would require you to eat it.  But,” he advised, “from each portion that you eat  you should remove one teaspoon of food and throw it out in order not to forget the inyan of kashrus.