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Original Sin Revisited

The Tree of Knowledge - What Really Happened?

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Original Sin Revisited: The Tree of Knowledge - What Really Happened?

Discover the mystical understanding and timeless significance behind the very first sin of man: eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

Audio:	Listen to Audio \| Download this MP3
Topics:	Garden of Eden, The Biblical, Bereishit, Tree of Knowledge, Sin of

By Mendel Kaplan

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan is the Spiritual Leader and Executive Director of Chabad Flamingo in Thornhill, Ontario, serving one of Canada’s most dynamic Jewish communities. He also serves as Chaplain of the York Regional Police Service. He is an active member of Toronto’s Vaad HaRabbanim (Council of Orthodox Rabbis), and a voting member of the COR Kashruth Council of Canada’s executive rabbinical board. Rabbi Kaplan is featured regularly on many local television and radio shows. He is a sought after speaker, with hundreds of lectures on Chabad.org. He and his wife, Faygie, are blessed with eight children. Artistically endowed, the rabbi enjoys drawing, sketching and creating charcoal portraits.

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20 Comments

Robert Mandel December 23, 2021

Metaphorically evident in Genesis 2:9, The Lord G-d caused to grow the tree of life (His Torah) in the middle of the garden (planet earth), and the tree of knowledge (of His commandments, laws, and mitzvot) was (awareness) of all good and evil at first breath.

If Adam and Eve’s had free will choice to eat from the forbidden tree and obtain His Torah commandments and before eating that they would obtain complete Torah knowledge but eventually suffer death, would this indicate that all humans are responsible for their actions?

Then with knowledge of His Torah commandments, Cain murdered Abel, the earth was flooded killing everyone except Noah and his progenitors of humanity, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and over the millennia holocausts perpetrated by many nations with full knowledge of G-d's Torah.

Would Hashem destroyed so many men, women and children who didn't have knowledge that they were committing evil in His sight? Reply

Janice Sapp home July 2, 2017

Lesson 1: Eden Recoded The concepts and ideas that Rebbi Kaplan teaches in this lesson helped me see (many, many things) the many choices humans have: we can either be unbroken and be direct or be broken and indirect. Bring more light in the world; most of us have a dark side; we are supposed to crush the negative voices and to redirect them into positive voices... What is so incredible to me is that this condition has been with us before the human was made into man and woman.... before we were created as a whole person in the form of man/woman and had a whole mind conditioned by society, we came with broken and unbroken parts or sides. I also love the faith that makes Eden tangible, yet it is not tangible in the physical sense. Being connected to the Godly, you are alive; when you are disconnected to the Godly, you are dead. Reply

Anonymous Mansfield December 6, 2015

Learned a lot Reply

Jorge Perez February 1, 2015

The best explanation and spiritual lesson I have ever heard in a long time. Humbling. Rabbi Kaplan has been given a gift, and I know it because he is able to give the gift. Thank you. Explanation of self is something I wish we could all hear and think on. Reply

katrin Germany June 30, 2013

Is the tree still there in Gan Eden or is it gone now? Reply

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan Thornhill, Ontario January 2, 2013

Achieving Perfection! the simple answer to your question is: all of the above! and, that is (one of) the (truest) meaning(s) of us being G-d's partners in creation… Reply

Anonymous Amersfoort via chabad.nl December 27, 2012

achieving perfection on our own I understand the answer you gave to Hilda Zeigler (I had the same question: is trusting on our own achievement not the same as idolatry).

but it seems to be a contradiction to what you said in the video..

who is gonna make the world perfect. we or God or Moshiach? Reply

Anonymous Garden City, Idaho April 2, 2011

G-d bring you blessings Here I thought all this time I was the only one who understood that getting to Heaven was a selfish goal. Thank you a thousand times for answering the call to give this lesson. Reply

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan (author) Thornhill, ON January 4, 2011

The Seven Day Week The notion of the 7 day week being a proof as to the Divine origins of certain scocietel norms and/or phenomenons is my own idea, and well be wrong or inconclusive (e.g. It's not Torah).

However, as you yourself note, whilst it is perfectly reasonable to assume that some (or even most) peoples or cultures would have chosen this system, that fact that virtually EVERYBODY has done so constitutes a very compelling hint that this "coincidence" is no accident.

So in the end the statistical impossibility of human kinds identical approach to time would be to be very meaningful even if not conclusive.

Hope that helps... Reply

Daniel Henry Thomas Alajuela, Costa Rica January 4, 2011

Origin of a seven day week... I immensely treasure this profound study... listen to it over and over again, as it progressively enlightens my soul.

I have no doubt in my heart that the hand of G-d is present in so many cultures, and this is why we find coincidences...

Nevertheless, in the specific case of the seven day week, one can think of another reason, besides the Torah, that other cultures may have chosen this number for the grouping of days: the cycles of the Moon.

Observing the moon, people from distinct and disconnected cultures may have coincidentally determined that it takes 28 days for our Moon to complete its cycle... then, it may have seemed logical to divide this 28 cycle in four sections... thus providing a seven day week...

I beg you to please forgive me if anyone deems my comment is disrespectful... again, I respect and fully admire Rabbi Mendel Kaplan indeed. Reply

John Nocera Puyallup, WA October 25, 2010

tree of life/tree of knowledge What a profound study. I wish all my fellow Christian pastors would listen to this.

Thank you Rabbi Kaplan Reply

Anonymous Windsor, Canada October 10, 2010

Rivers Is there a video about the rivers (interruption that was mentioned but wasn't elaborated on)? Reply

Maria Martinez Monte Vista, Colorado August 18, 2010

ORIGINAL SIN REVISITED Thank you so much Rabbi Kaplan for this wonderful lecture. I learned many new things. Reply

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan Thornhill, Ont. August 6, 2010

The Source of our Ego's The true essense of our ego actually stems from the only true reality: G-dliness. The reason our ego became toxic is because it was tainted by the "original sin." Moshiach's arrival will permenantly reverse that negativity. Hence the (new) Ego will simply be a reflection of G-d Himself... Reply

Hilda Zeigler Gales Ferry, CT August 5, 2010

Revisiitng Original Sin Why is achieving the return of perfected reality on our own a good thing? Is that not somehow glorifying the Ego? Reply

Anonymous Taipei, Taiwan July 19, 2010

Toda I am blessed deeply beyond words. Thank you. Reply

Anonymous Lodz, Poland April 21, 2010

properly named You are a sensitive soul. Thanks for opening windows. Reply

Anonymous US March 5, 2010

well done Thank you, Rabbi, for this inspiring and easy to follow lecture.

As a person who suffers from a mental illness, however, I want to suggest that your frequent use of that illness to illustrate poor decision making is somewhat stigmatizing. Many people have mental illnesses such as depression, neuroses and others, who are as able to make good choices as other people. Given that one in four people is likely to suffer from such an illness sometime in their lives, you can see that most of us are able to use rational judgment most of the time, just like everyone else.

Please consider using other language in future lectures. Ideally, it would be lovely if you could redo this lecture as well, but I realize that may not be possible.

With this one exception, I found your lecture riveting. Reply

Kelly Mattingly Minneapolis, MN/USA February 24, 2010

Thank You Rabbi Kaplan,
Thank you for another wonderful teaching of the Torah. As a gentile I cannot express my gratitude enough for the gift the Jewish people have given to me. My life before Torah was so empty and meaningless, and I thank you and the Chabad @ Flamingo family for making your teachings available online. One day I hope to be able to attend a teaching by Rabbi Friedman here in Minneapolis. Reply

Michal Brodsky via chabadflamingo.com February 23, 2010

The original Sin Dear Rabbi,

i watched the lecture abut the original sin and found it very informative and enlightening. i have been wondering for a long time about the EGO. one thing i've been struggling with is "love your neighbour as you love yourself".
if you love yourself so much, then you enter into the ego stage. and what is love and how are you supposed to love? what kind of love is it?
perhaps it would be possible to have a lecture around this topic it is a strong sentence yet very hard to understand...
i would really appreciate it if you could shed some light around this topic.

i thank you for having the opportunity to have been part of this lecture, Reply

Original Sin Revisited: The Tree of Knowledge - What Really Happened?

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