Apple and Eve?
A beautiful person is one who thinks out of the box, is consistent and for who the means are just as important as the end. This person lives a rich and full life every moment. This is the Esrog-Beautiful-fruit personality.
The Apple Myth
What kind of fruit did Adam and Eve partake of? The Torah does not mention explicitly what tree it was from.
Most people are under the impression that it was an apple. The poor apple has been maligned for centuries as the fruit that brought misfortune to the world.
Actually, our sages of the Talmud and Midrash disagree about the identity of this “mystery” fruit. There are, in fact, four opinions recorded; but none of them mention the apple.
One Talmudic Sage states it was a fig tree (Berachos ) A second opinion maintains that it was a grapevine. A third view insists that it was a kernel of wheat (The Talmud asks: “Does wheat grow on a tree?”) Yet, another Sage in the Midrash contends that it was an Esrog (the lemon-like fruit that we bless on the Holiday of Sukkot).
No one, however, suggested that it might have been an apple. Where did the notion that it was an apple derive from?
The Kernel of Truth
Every myth has a kernel of truth in it. Likewise it has been suggested that the myth that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was an apple is based on a passage in the Talmud (Shabbos ) concerning the way the Jewish people accepted the Torah at Mount Sinai. Instead of asking to know what the Torah was all about before accepting it, the Jewish people said, “Na’aseh v’nihsma-We will do (accept) it and we will (then) hear (what it is all about).”
This approach, the Talmud likens to an apple tree, which produces its fruit before its leaves. This unconventional reversal of the normal way trees bear fruit, the Talmud explains, is illustrative of the unconventional order the Jews followed in accepting the Torah: to accept something before knowing what it is.
The Tosphos commentary (a collection of Talmudic research of the eleventh - fourteenth century of French and German rabbis, printed in every edition of the Talmud alongside Rashi’s running commentary) raises the obvious question: In fact, an apple tree is no different from any other tree that first grows its leaves and then its fruit!
The Tosphos commentary answers that the Talmud is not referring to an apple but to the Esrog, which is also named tapuach (Hebrew for apple. The word tapuach is cognate to the word that means “blown up or rotund, the shape of both an apple and a full grown Esrog).
An Esrog, which grows in all four seasons, can bear a fruit while next season’s leaves have not yet appeared.
Thus, we see that in Talmudic jargon an Esrog is also represented by the word tapuach, the word we normally translate as an apple.
The Unconventional Esrog
Of what significance is it that the forbidden fruit they partook of was an Esrog?
While an Esrog is a citrus fruit resembling a lemon, it possesses three unconventional characteristics:
a) The leaves appear after the fruit because: b) it thrives in all four seasons, c) the Esrog tree has the same taste as its fruit.
As stated, an Esrog’s growth is unconventional and reflects the unconventional fashion in which the Jews accepted the Torah.
The reason Adam and Eve failed their first test was precisely because they based their adherence to the commandment on their own understanding of it. They reasoned that the pros of eating the fruit would outweigh the cons. Rationally, that is a valid way of living. But, when it comes to G-d’s commandments, we must follow the example of the Esrog, to first commit ourselves totally to G-d’s will and then employ reason to better appreciate what we are doing.
For All Seasons and Moods
The Esrog also possesses another unique characteristic. The Talmud states (as mentioned above) that an Esrog thrives in all seasons. The symbolism is clear.
Our principles of Judaism are as applicable in one season as they are in another. The term “season” can be understood in a broader sense that it refers to the different moods we go through. There are times that we are naturally more receptive to certain modes of behavior, while in other times we lose interest and motivation to do the right thing. The serpent presumably tried to entice Adam and Eve at a time that he felt they were most vulnerable.
Had Adam an Eve paid attention to the nature of the Esrog tree that it thrives equally in all seasons—that its faithfulness does not waver and does not change with the changes of moods—they would not have succumbed.
The End does Not Justify the Means
A third characteristic that is unique to the Esrog is that the bark of the tree has the same taste as the fruit itself.
On one level the lesson here complements the preceding lesson of the Esrog thriving in all seasons. As stated, that is an expression of consistency, of ultimate truth and an indication of true loyalty.
Truth is also measured by the degree the means and the end match. When one compromises on the means to reach a valid end, it is incompatible with the ideal of emes, which is truth and consistency.
Had Adam and Eve understood this lesson he would have realized that no matter how high he could have soared by eating the forbidden fruit, no matter how many new dimensions of knowledge would have been opened for him, it did not justify the means—there was no justification to partake of the fruit G-d forbade him to eat.
Eating the Trees
This thought can shed light on the Midrashic explanation of the way G-d created the trees. Initially G-d commanded that the trees bear fruit, wherein both the bark of the tree and the fruit have the same taste. The fruit “disobeyed” G-d’s command and bore fruit with taste, but disregarded the order that the tree share that taste.
What exactly do our Sages mean when they say that the trees disobeyed? And what does it tell us?
In light of the above characterization of the Esrog as one of the only plants where the bark has the same taste as the fruit we can shed light on the statement that the tree disobeyed G-d’s command.
G-d wants a perfectly consistent world. But, G-d wants us to make it consistent. In order to achieve that goal, G-d informs us of His ultimate desire, and then proceeds to show us how He “sabotaged” His own plan. This He does, deliberately, so that we can correct it.
When Adam saw the Esrog and contrasted it with other trees he should have understood that it was meant as a challenge to him. On the one hand he knew that trees do not taste like their fruits, but the Esrog tree stood out and did taste like the fruit. This anomaly should have reminded him of his role in this world to perfect it with the consistent adherence to the proper values. He should have realized that G-d wanted him to make all of the world as consistent as the Esrog tree. By violating this law, Adam failed to learn the lesson of the Esrog.
The Correction
Our sages state that the experience of Sinai was intended to remedy the effects of Adam and Eve’s transgression. It was thus the role of the Jewish people at Mount Sinai to correct the indiscretion of Adam and Eve by heeding the message of the Esrog, to make their commitment to G-d come before their understanding, make the commitment for all seasons and circumstances, as well as to make sure that the means and the end are good and righteous s.
Sinai marked the beginning of the process of reversal. It was the time when the reversing of the reversal of Adam and Eve was to commence.
The Whole World will be One Big Esrog
The Messianic Age is when the world will finally realize the completion of this process. At that time, the entire world will follow the example of the Esrog. The very nature of the world will have its will conform to the Divine will. No longer will we have to struggle with our intellect and our need to accept G-d’s commands.
With this new awareness of G-d that will pervade the world, goodness and holiness will be a perpetual experience. Judaism with thrive in all of our seasons and moods. Judaism will be appreciated not just in spite of the different aspects of our personality, but the different shades and colors of our personality will each reflect the beauty of Torah in multifaceted ways.
Needless to say, in the Messianic Age, there will be no discrepancy between the “bark” and the “fruit,” between the means and the end, because every aspect of our life will be hadar, which means beautiful—the Biblical name for the Esrog.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Breishis by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
