I would like to know what the teachings have commented regarding the significance of the tree of knowledge bearing the forbidden fruit. My concern is how could seeking knowledge be presented in such a negative context?
Wow! Quite a question. Please know that we are discussing the most important single act ever done by a human being, the act that more than any other established the nature of the world we live in. That makes it hard to talk about, because all of our experience, everything we know, is about the world after they ate from the fruit of that tree. There has been a tremendous amount written about this; I can only touch on a few points.
Maimonides explains in Moreh Nevuchim (“The Guide for the Perplexed”) that the world is designed to be perfectly suitable for Man. Even now, he says, almost all the suffering of humanity is self-inflicted; a person could really have all of his essential needs met with a minimum of effort. How much more so, before the sin of Adam and Eve. They walked around naked, and there is nothing more harmful than that (I’m just quoting him), and it didn’t matter. Clothes are needed because we are not perfectly suited to the world in which we live. They didn’t need to worry about it at all – the world was just not a harmful place. They could devote their lives to thinking about things and growing spiritually.
After they ate from the fruit, they had turned part of their focus to making the physical primary in their lives. By focusing on it, they gave it power. They had gained the ability to know good and evil, to handle this world properly, but now they really needed to handle it properly. It was no longer their perfect servant, it could try to control them. They now needed clothes – protections against the world. For the rest of the history of humanity, until we are redeemed once and for all, our lives are a struggle to bring our physical natures into line with service to G-d.
There is so much more to talk about here, but I hope this is food for thought.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach