Bereishis: The Anatomy of a Sin

What is the process that leads man to sin? How can we overcome our corrupt desires? By examining the first sin of man, we can find the answers to these essential questions

Inspiration for this essay comes from my Rosh Yeshiva (Headmaster) and primary mentor, Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld.

Picture this: You're about to do something you know you shouldn't. Maybe it's reaching for that extra slice of cake when you're trying to eat healthy, or procrastinating on an important task by scrolling social media. In that moment, you feel an internal struggle between what you want to do and what you know you should do. Why do we repeatedly make choices that work against our best interests? What drives us to live below our potential? In short, why do we sin?

To unlock this mystery, we need to examine the very first instance of human weakness - the original sin in the Garden of Eden. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them their first commandment, and it wasn't what most people think. Contrary to popular belief (and most Christian interpretations), the first mitzvah in the Torah was actually to eat from ALL the trees in the garden (Bereishis 2:16¹). God wanted humans to have a rich, beautiful life, enjoying the magnificence of His creation. However, just like every sport has boundaries and fouls, a great life comes with restrictions. In the case of Adam and Eve, their restriction was to avoid eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.²

We know how the story ends. Eve, followed by Adam, couldn't resist the temptation. They ate the forbidden fruit, forever changing humanity's relationship with God and casting themselves out of paradise. But why? What made this fruit so irresistible that they would directly defy their Creator?

The Forbidden Fruit

Before we can answer that question, we need to address another mystery: what exactly was this fruit? If you're thinking "apple," you're not alone - but you'd be wrong. This common misconception comes from the Greek word for evil, "mali" (as in “Tree of Evil”), which sounds similar to "malus," meaning apple. The Talmud (Berachos 40A) presents three possibilities for the identity of this mysterious fruit:³

1. Grape

2. Fig

3. Wheat

Now, you might be thinking: "I've eaten all of these, and none of them triggered a paradigm-shifting, God-defying spiritual crisis.” Given this, we see clearly that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was actually none of these three. Rather, it was its own entity; a one-of-a-kind fruit only found in the Garden of Eden. So what about the answers given by the Talmud? The Maharal, the legendary Torah commentator and Kabbalist of 16th century Prague, explains that the three types of fruit proposed by the sages actually correspond to the three fundamental drives within a person - physical, emotional, and intellectual - body, heart, and mind. Fascinatingly, these three drives correspond to the three major schools of psychology in our generation:

1. Body - Freud: We're all just seeking physical gratification

2. Heart - Carl Rogers: We all want to feel accepted and worthy

3. Mind - Victor Frankl: We all want meaning

At this point, I'd like to challenge you to line up the three fruits with the three aspects of human motivation: how would you connect grapes, figs, and wheat with body, heart, and mind? 

Ok let's see how you did! The answer according to the Maharal is as follows:

1. Fig = Body - A Fig is the most sensual and succulent fruit, representing the highest level of physical gratification

2. Grape = Heart - Wine shuts down the mind and brings out emotions

3. Wheat = Mind - Wheat takes the most intelligence to process into food. Also, perhaps more than any other food, it represents nutritional value as opposed to sensual appeal.

So who was right? Which fruit was it? When learning Talmud, we understand that within an argument amongst the sages, each interpretation reveals one facet of a larger truth. Therefore, the forbidden fruit wasn't just one of these aspects - it embodied all three temptations. We see this play out in Eve's experience: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating (physical) and a delight to the eyes (emotional), and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom (intellectual), she took of its fruit and ate." (Bereishis 3:6).

The Anatomy of Sin

Incredible, right? But there's more. Why does the verse describe the development of Eve’s temptation from physical, to emotional, to intellectual?

In Hebrew, the word for mind is "moakh," (מוֹחַ) heart is "lev" (לֵב), and body (really, loins) is "clayos" (כליות) - (literally, kidneys - the lower aspect of ourselves). Let's look at the three Hebrew words and pay close attention to the first letter of each:

• מוֹחַ    -    Moakh (Brain) - Mem (מ)                                                

• לֵב    -    Lev (Heart) - Lamed (ל)                                                      

• כליות    -    Klayos (Kidneys) - Khaf (כ)                                                

Putting the three first letters together, they spell melekh (מלך) - King. When your mind rules over your heart and body, you are a ruler over yourself - a king. If we look at the order of Eve's enticement to eat the fruit, we see why she sinned: she went from body, to heart, to mind. She let her lesser instincts drive her decision - she led with her physical desire instead of ruling over herself with her intellect. But, like in the case of Eve, when the body rules over the heart and the mind - when the Clayos rule over the Lev and the Moach, then the letters are flipped and you get either:

• Clum (כלום) - emptiness: Your efforts yield unsatisfying results because you chased after temporary gratification

• Kalem (כלם) - embarrassment: You failed to use the free will God gave you, and instead gave in to your lesser instincts.

We now understand the anatomy of sin: we let our intellect take a backseat to our lower desires, losing control of ourselves in the face of temptation.⁴ Drawing inspiration from "Atomic Habits," my favorite secular personal development book, here's how to apply this wisdom to your life:

1. Identify an area where you act compulsively

2. Analyze your decision process when temptation strikes

3. Make strategic decisions now to strengthen your future self-control:

   • Modify your environment to reduce triggers

   • Create meaningful rewards for maintaining discipline

   • Replace harmful habits with healthy alternatives that serve the same purpose (i.e. instead of relaxing by smoking, practice looking at nature and taking deep breaths)

The key with all impulse control is to become the king of your life, using your intellect to establish boundaries around your temptations. By understanding the structure of temptation and implementing these strategies, we can begin to reclaim control over our actions and live up to our highest potential.

Shabbat Shalom!

Avraham

1. ויצו יהוה אלהים על־האדם לאמר מכל עץ־הגן אכל תאכל

And God יהוה commanded the Human, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you shall surely eat”

2. "Knowledge" is a poor translation of the Hebrew word "Daas", which means for two to meld into one, which we see in the Torah the first time Adam and Eve were intimate - "Adam knew Eve." Therefore, we can more correctly translate "Knowledge of Good and Evil" as "Melding of Good and Evil." By melding good and evil, Adam and Eve cast the world into a moral darkness where one can convince himself or herself that doing a terrible sin is a mitzvah

3. אִילָן שֶׁאָכַל מִמֶּנּוּ אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר: גֶּפֶן הָיָה, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ דָּבָר שֶׁמֵּבִיא יְלָלָה עַל הָאָדָם אֶלָּא יַיִן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן הַיַּיִן וַיִּשְׁכָּר״. רַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה אוֹמֵר: תְּאֵנָה הָיְתָה, שֶׁבַּדָּבָר שֶׁנִּתְקַלְקְלוּ בּוֹ נִתַּקְּנוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה״. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: חִטָּה הָיְתָה, שֶׁאֵין הַתִּינוֹק יוֹדֵעַ לִקְרוֹת ״אַבָּא״ וְ״אִמָּא״ עַד שֶׁיִּטְעוֹם טַעַם דָּגָן. The tree from which Adam, the first man, ate, Rabbi Meir says: It was a vine, as nothing brings wailing and trouble upon man even today other than wine, as it is stated with regard to Noah: “And he drank from the wine and became drunk” (Genesis 9:21). Rabbi Neḥemya says: It was a fig tree, as with the object with which they were corrupted and sinned they were rehabilitated, as it is stated: “And they sewed together fig leaves and made for themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7). They must have taken the leaves from the tree closest at hand, the Tree of Knowledge. Rabbi Yehuda says: It was wheat, as, even today, the child does not know how to call his father and mother until he tastes the taste of grain.

4. Without going into too much detail, I will pique your interest by mentioning that there was another tree in the Garden - the Tree of Life. Every Jew who has been to Synagogue knows the famous verse we recite each time we return the Torah to the Ark - "Eitz Chaim hee lamachazikim bo" - "It is a Tree of Life to those who grasp it". The Tree of Life is the Torah. The purpose of the Torah is to put us back in the driver's seat of our lives. Through its many laws and the incredible intellectual rigor required to master it, the Torah demands that we become rulers over ourselves, never to be swayed by our lesser desires again. If we grasp the Tree of Life - our Torah - we'll become the Melekh over ourselves, capable of resisting the Tree of illusory temptation that seeks to entice our lower desires and pull us into sin.