What was the forbidden fruit the Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden? TB Berachot 40

If you read the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden by eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge closely and carefully, you will see that the Torah never identifies that fruit. So why do many people believe it was an apple? In Western Europe, the fruit was often depicted as an apple. This was possibly because of a misunderstanding of – or a pun on – mălum, a native Latin noun which means evil (from the adjective malus), and mālum, another Latin noun, borrowed from Greek μῆλον, which means apple.

 Clarifying whose opinion the Mishna on TB Berachot 40a reflects, we learn that the rabbis also tried to identify the tree of knowledge.

 We learned in the mishna: One who recited: Who creates fruit of the tree (בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָעֵץ), over fruits of the earth (and the correct blessing would be בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה), did not fulfill his obligation. The Gemara asks: That is obvious, as fruits of the earth do not fall under the rubric of trees. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: This ruling in the mishna is only necessary according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who said in another context that wheat is a type of tree, as we learned in a baraita: 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. (Sefaria.com translation)

All these attempts to name the fruit are futile because in the end of the matter, the Torah never identifies this fruit. Rashi in his commentary on Genesis 3:7 answers the question why this fruit is never identified. “And why was the name of the tree not publicized? For The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not desire to embarrass any creature. He therefore did not state explicitly the species of the tree by which they sinned so that people would not humiliated it, and say: ‘This is the one through which the world was stricken.’ And this is found in Midrash Rabbi Tanchuma (Vayera 14)” (Here is the actual citation from the Midrash cited by Rashi: The Holy One Blessed be He declared: Strive to act as I did, as though that were possible. When I fashioned the world I had no wish to bring grief to my creatures, and therefore did not disclose to the inhabitants of the world the tree from which Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Tanchuma Vayera 14 Sefaria.com translation)

The Torah teaches us an important lesson by not identifying the forbidden fruit. If God saves even an inanimate object from shame and embarrassment; how much more so should we try to save people who are created in God’s own image from shame and embarrassment! In this era of highly politicized divide, we definitely need to remember this lesson and watch the words that we say about each other.