The Tree of Knowledge

This week we talked about creation and the sin of Adam and Chava. G-d told them that they could eat from all trees other than the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, and yet the serpent enticed Chava and she convinced Adam to eat from the tree. We talked about many, many, interesting concepts that brought up many questions which we discussed at length. However, as I was trying to decide which one of these topics I should cover, I realized that although the events concerning the sin of Adam and Chava were all because of the Tree, we didn't really discuss the Tree!

Some say that the tree and the garden and the whole story of Adam and Eve is some kind of metaphor, but let's say that this all happened. (Or if it is a metaphor, the question still aplies). What type of tree was this Tree of Knowledge? What kind of fruit did it grow? What fruit did Chava eat? I did some research, and I found that the Talmud cites three different opinions.

1) Rabbi Meir says that the Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine, because nothing causes more heartbreak than wine.

2) Rabbi Nehemiah maintains that it was a fig tree. The Torah tells us that after the sin, Adam and Eve "knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles."2 Rabbi Nehemiah maintains that "that which caused their downfall, was then used to rectify them."

3) Rabbi Judah says it was actually wheat stalks! He bases his contention on the fact that "a child knows not how to call out to his father and mother until he has tasted grain." As such, the Tree of Knowledge was actually grain.

Another opinion cited in the Midrash6 is that "G‑d did not disclose the identity of the tree's species, and He never will." This in order to protect the honor of a species that would otherwise be tarnished—through no fault of its own.

Which opinion do you like best? Do you think that it is important to know what type of tree the tree of knowledge was? Do you think it was a unique tree, and not one that we know or one that grows on earth? Do you think that the tree actually existed?

I hope this was interesting and that you too wanted to know more about the tree itself!

*sources from chabad