Adam seems to be placing the blame on his wife and on Hashem for facilitating the shidduch, matrimonial match. This creates a number of difficulties in understanding the meaning of the pasuk. First, why does he not take responsibility for his actions? After all, it is not as if Chavah fed him from the tree. Second, where is his sense of hakoras ha’tov, appreciation and gratitude, to Hashem for giving him a mate? Horav Chaim Mordechai Katz, zl, offers a practical explanation to Adam’s response. He first notes the verbosity of the pasuk. Adam says, “The woman whom You gave to be with me gave it to me.” Why could he not have simply said, “The woman gave it to me”? Is it necessary to emphasize that she was Hashem’s “gift”?
The Rosh HaYeshivah explains with an analogy. A man returns home from work late one night to find that his young sons have already retired for the night. If his wife is a simple woman, not very schooled in Jewish law, he will inquire if the boys davened Maariv before they went to sleep, if they washed and bentched, said Grace after the meal, and other similar questions. If, however, his wife is a learned woman, he will not ask her such questions, because he relies on her own knowledge and demands for his sons’ spiritual upbringing. One only raises questions if he is in doubt.
This is what Adam was implying when he said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me gave it to me.” He was intimating, “Why should I have questioned what my wife gave me to eat? After all, this was the woman who You gave to me. Could I have asked for anything more appropriate? I rely on her – for everything.”
