The Tree of Knowledge: Haman’s Tree
Knowledge is not inherently evil. What’s evil is the glorification of knowledge above G-d and G-dly behavior. When knowledge is used to rationalize evil it too becomes sullied.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE: HAMAN’S
TREE
Where is Haman Mentioned in the Torah?
When Adam and Eve were confronted by G-d for having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, the expression G-d used was: “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
The Hebrew word that translates into “Have [you eaten] of” is “hamin.” When written without vowels—as is the case with any kosher Torah scroll—the word “hamin” is written precisely the same as the word Haman, the wicked Persian Prime Minister whose plot to annihilate all the Jews and his eventual downfall and salvation for the Jews gave us the joyous holiday of Purim.
The connection to Haman can be extended. The juxtaposition of the word hamin (read: Haman) to the word “tree” portended the way Haman would eventually hang on the tree on which he planned to hang Mordechai.
Now, one might think that the association between Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit and the wicked Haman is farfetched. In fact, the Talmud (Chullin 139b) makes precisely this association when it asks rhetorically: “Where is Haman hinted in the Torah?” And it answers that it is derived from this verse that expresses G-d’s outrage at Adam and Eve’s violation of His command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge.
This clearly begs for an explanation. How are these two disparate themes—G-d’s outrage with eating of the Tree of Knowledge and Haman—related?
The Heavenly Voice
One explanation is that Haman is both an evil historical figure and a heavenly voice that comes to us and demands of us: “What have you done? Why have you gone in the wrong direction? Why have you misused your G-d given talents? Why have you squandered an opportunity to do the right thing?”
When we see the Hamans of the world rear their ugly heads it is obvious that we must do whatever we can to fight that evil.
However, it is also a time for us to look inwards and ask ourselves, what is missing in our lives that we can correct.
In other words, while the historical Hamans were nothing less than vile and evil creatures, their appearance demands of us to look inward and remove the subtle forms of Haman that lurk beneath the surface of our being. This is one of G-d’s ways to remind us that we have to change.
The Sophisticated Haman
There is a deeper and more mystical way of understanding the association between Haman and the Tree of Knowledge. The fact that Haman was enamored with the idea of hanging Mordechai on a tree—not just any tree, but a tree that was fifty cubits high— suggests that Haman was into the symbolic nature of the tree.
There are two approaches to evil tyrants and their nefarious ways. There are those who are despicable low-lives, who possess the characteristics of animals. They do not find a need to justify their actions, for their rule is the rule of the jungle. They trample everything that stands in their way, and a human life has no more value to them than an annoying mosquito.
There is, however, a second type of tyrant, one who seeks justification for his actions. Frequently, these despots will use the most sophisticated philosophical arguments to support their evil actions. They can even be formidable intellectuals.
By discovering Haman’s name alluded to in the narrative concerning the Tree of Knowledge, our Sages sought to place Haman in the second category. Haman was a sophisticated spiritualist who built his evil ideology of genocide on the top of a tree. In Kabbalah the number fifty—the height of the tree—is associated with the highest levels of understanding.
In our own age, the accursed Nazis and communists used their philosophy to justify unprecedented and unspeakable cruelty and destruction.
What’s Wrong with Knowledge
This sheds light on what was the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. At first glance one is puzzled why the Tree of Knowledge was considered so evil. What can possibly be wrong with knowledge?
However, it is not the knowledge itself that is evil; it is the attitude of arrogance that people acquire when their advanced knowledge is not prefaced by G-dly foundations that put G-d ahead of their knowledge and desires.
According to the Midrash, had Adam waited a few hours until the onset of the Shabbat, he would have been permitted to partake of the “forbidden” fruit. It was not the fruit that was evil. Nor was it the knowledge one received from the fruit. Rather it was the placement of this acquisition of knowledge ahead of the principles of G-dly authority and commitment to eternal values. Glorifying one’s own ideology is the first step down a slippery slope that leads to depravity and destruction.
The Seventh Millennium
The first seven days of creation serve as a model for the seven millennia of our universe’s existence. Moreover, there is a principle of Kabbalah that “the end is wedged in the beginning.” In other words, what happened at the beginning of creation is somehow related to that which will happen in the end.
In the beginning the challenge was for Adam not to allow his thirst for knowledge take precedence over his respect for G-d’s authority. Unfortunately he failed.
In the end of days—the seventh millennium, when we will finally have dealt evil a fatal blow—we will readily appreciate the preeminent role of G-d over intellect; the challenge that Adam failed will be met.
Before that becomes a universal reality, however, one has to be vigilant about those whose ideology comes ahead of their reverence for G-d. One must be wary of those whose morality is based on human ingenuity or on secular values.
Similarly, one must be careful not to take Torah ideals and use them for one’s own selfish goals. While one might reach high—to the top of the fifty-cubit tree—one must never use that lofty view as a way of hanging Mordechai.
Only by fusing knowledge with humility, can we benefit from the acquisition of knowledge that will ultimately lead to the Messianic age when, in Maimonides’ words at the end of his Mishneh Torah:
“[T]here will be no famine or war, no jealousy and rivalry, for good will flow in great abundance and all the delights will be as plentiful as dust. The entire world will be preoccupied with the knowledge of G-d exclusively. Therefore, Israel will be great sages and will know the hidden matters, and will grasp the knowledge of their Creator to the full extent of human capacity, as it is stated: ‘the knowledge of G-d shall fill the earth as the sea is covered with water.’”
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Breishis by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
