Noam Elimelekh

Now the human knew Chavah his wife, and she conceived and bore Kayin. At first glance, the word "knew" (yada) is unclear in its meaning, for Scripture could have said simply "and the human came to Chavah," etc. But the matter follows the pattern found with Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, who said, "Behold now, I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance." I heard that it is written in a certain sefer that because Avraham came to Egypt, where the people were steeped in licentiousness, their thoughts filled with lustful imaginings caused an imagining to enter even into his own heart regarding his wife — and this is why he said, "Behold now, I know," meaning he now had such an awareness that he had not had before. I heard this explained at length, but I have retained only the brief version.

For such is the way of the true tzaddik (righteous person): he has no thought, imagining, or desire at all, even toward his own wife. And even at the time when he is intimate with his wife, he must at that moment direct his thoughts to the upper worlds, and not be aware at all that he is with his wife.

And this is [the meaning of] "And the man knew Chavah his wife" — that is to say, he set his mind and knew that she was his wife at that moment of union [tashmish], and therefore "she conceived and bore Kayin," as it states in the Zohar, "the nest of impurity" [kina de-masavuta].

This is what is stated in the Gemara: "They ascended to the bed as two and descended as seven" — "bed" (mittah) is an allusion to an elevated rung, in the manner of "Behold, the bed (mittato) of Shlomo." And because he ascended to the elevated rung with "two," that is, with two thoughts — for his thought included also this world, as mentioned above — therefore "they descended as seven," meaning the seven elevated rungs, for through this he caused a descent to the seven elevated rungs. And the person who conducts himself in kedushah (holiness) elevates the seven elevated rungs. Understand this.