Defending Odom HoRishon

The Munkaczer Rav relates a tradition he received from his holy forebears that the Apta Rav once delayed significantly in the middle of davening. Afterward the Apta Rav explained that he had been teaching an explanation of the sin of Odom HoRishon that clears his guilt and shows why his error was much less severe. Odom HoRishon's transgression was committed without any previous experience or knowledge of commandments or of divine punishment. Being the first man, he had never seen or heard of the observance of any mitzvah, and he did not realize that a mitzvah must be observed literally. He had his reasons for disobeying and rationalized that the command did not apply to him. He did not understand that a command must be obeyed literally, by an action if it is a positive command or by abstention if it is a prohibition, as in his own case, where he was commanded not to eat. Never having seen mitzvos, he did not realize that a true action or abstention was bound up with obeying a command. After the Apta Rav had offered this explanation, Odom HoRishon himself appeared to him during davening to thank him for interceding on his behalf, and this caused the lengthy delay.