Rejected Snake

The punishment of the serpent for giving Eve the forbidden fruit was, ועפר תאכל כל ימי חייך, that you will eat of the dust all of the days of your life.

Rabbi Twerski pointed out that this does not seem like a punishment if he will always have food available to him. Hashem seems to be telling the snake that he will never go hungry, because dust will always be available to him.

The answer to this question is that Hashem was making a statement of absolute rejection. He was saying, in essence, that while other creations, such as animals, pray to me for sustenance, you will not pray. You will always lick the dust, and you will not need to pray, because I don’t want your prayers.

A Chassidic rebbe once commented that he felt sorry for the wealthy. Their fortune gives them the false sense of security that they have it all. In a way, they are blocked from being able to pray.

The poor, on the other hand, have to suffer with poverty. Their consolation comes with the fact that Hashem reaches out to them and longs for their prayers. Feeling Hashem close to them, relieves the difficulty of being impoverished.

There can probably be no greater punishment than either being rejected by G-d, like the serpent, or being unable to pray because of being blocked like the wealthy man.