And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Does the word die in this phrase according to general consensus mean
A sampling from the commentaries of rishonim.
R. Saadia Gaon
It was the sentencing, but the actual carrying out of the punishment could occur any time.
אני אומר ביום אכלך הוא יום כפשוטו אלא שהפירוש של מות תמות הוא תהיה חייב מיתה כמו שציינתי בתרגום הפסוק והיות ואין מות תמות אלא הודעת העונש הראוי לו הרשות בידו להפרע ממנו מיד או לאחר זמן או לסלוח לו אם ישוב, שהרי אין זאת גזירה מוחלטת מאת הבורא שאין ממנה מנוס
No man of thinking ever said that if not for the sin they would have been immortal.
ואין אף אחד מבעלי העיון האומר שלולא אכל אדם מעץ הדעת לא היה מת באופן טבעי
R. Yosef Kara
It means that they would incur the death penalty, to be applied at some point.
אלא הכי פשוטו ביום אכלך ממנו אתה חייב מיתה על שעברת מצותי כמו מות יומת המכה רוצח הוא
Ibn Ezra
The decline towards death began.
ולפי דעתי שמאותו היום תחל למות כי כאשר יגיע האדם אל רוב כחו אז יחל שיחסר ויחלש וימותו אבריו יום יום
Bechor Shor
Loss of imortality.
כלומר דע כי סופך למות
Radak
Death came earlier than it would have.
תהיה נגזרת עליך מיתה יותר קרוב ממה שהיה ראוי לך
Chizkuni
Loss of immortality.
האדם לא נברא על מתכונת שימות אבל כשחטא נקנס למיתה
Ramban
Loss of immortality.
בעת שתאכל ממנו תהיה בן מות
R. Bachye
Loss of immortality.
אין הכוונה שימות ביום אכלו אלא שיהיה בן מות כי על דעת רז"ל לולא שחטא לא ימות לעולם אבל יהיה קיים נצחי כמלאכי השרת
Riva
Death within 1,000 years.
ואו' הר"ר אליקים דמה שכתוב ביום אכלך וכו' ר"ל ביום של הקב"ה שהוא אלף שנה
Tur
Loss of immortality.
פי' תהיה בן מות אבל אין הכונה שימות מיד אלא שיהיה בן מות
Ralbag
Loss of Divine Providence.
רוצה לומר תיפסק השגתך
The Woman's Curse
3:16 To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your anguish and your pregnancy. It will be with anguish that you will give birth to children. Your passion will be to your husband, and he will dominate you.'Man's Curse
3:17 To Adam He said, 'You listened to your wife, and ate from the tree regarding which I specifically gave you orders, saying, 'Do not eat from it.' The ground will therefore be cursed because of you. You will derive food from it with anguish all the days of your life.
3:18 It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the grass of the field.
3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread. Finally you will return to the ground, for it was from [the ground] that you were taken. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.'
— Kaplan's Translation, Genesis 3
Notice the last curse: "Finally you will return to the ground, …. You are dust, and to dust you shall return". This is clearly describing a physical death.
This is stated as a consequence of their sin, which implies that had they not sinned, they would not return to dust. I.e. they would not have been subject to death, or at least would have had the potential to live forever.
Because of their sin, Adam and Eve were physically changed, as indirectly were all their descendants. People were given a limited physical life span (though still much longer then than now), and as a result each of us will eventually experience a physical death and turn back into dust.
Since we, individually, did not exist then, it is perhaps not appropriate to think of this as a punishment on us for their sin. We are born with a limited life expectancy, so a short life is not something explicitly added to us personally, it is simply how we are created, what we are, and what we know to expect.
And certainly there is no implication, even if we are affected by their punishment, that we share any of the guilt or responsibility for their sin. (E.g. Catholic "original sin".)
"In addition aren't all of creation cursed men and women?"
It can't mean spiritual since that would be similar to Nachmanides' Christian interpretation. Nachmanides seemed to accept the Christian concept of Original Sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden when they eat the forbidden fruit. As a result, they were punished, along with their descendants, even though they did no wrong. This is contrary to Jewish thinking that children are not punished for their parent's misdeeds. According to the Christians, the Original Sin is wiped out by Jesus if the person has faith in him. Judaism also rejects this notion.
