What Did the Tree of Knowledge Change in Adam?

Inbar asks: "I would like to understand, what did the Tree of Knowledge actually add to Adam? Before the sin, was Adam like a small child? Did eating from the Tree of Knowledge provide him with wisdom and a better understanding of reality?"

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Hello and blessings, Inbar, and thank you for your question.

There is a common mistake that is important to correct: Adam was in his greatest state before the sin, and only as a result of eating from the tree was his understanding diminished. As the sages of blessed memory said: "Rabbi Hoshaya said, at the time when Hashem created the first man, the ministering angels erred in him and wanted to say before him 'Holy'" (Genesis Rabbah 8:9), and they also recounted: "When Hashem came to create man, He consulted the ministering angels. He said to them, 'Let us make man.' They asked, 'What is the character of this man?' He replied, 'His wisdom exceeds yours.' He brought before them the animals, the beasts, and the birds and asked them, 'What are their names?' And they did not know. He passed them before Adam, and said to him, 'What are their names?' Adam replied, 'This one is called Ox, this one is called Donkey... and what is your name?' Adam replied, 'I am fitting to be called Adam, for I was created from the ground, and I, what is my name? He replied, 'You are fitting to be called Adon-ai, for You are Lord over all Your creations" (Genesis Rabbah 17:5).

To find evidence for this in the plain meaning of the text, all we need to do is check what is told about Adam before the sin, and thus we will know what exactly changed in him after the sin:

A. Before the sin, we see that Adam had a very high intellectual capacity: he knew how to speak and think independently, without having learned it from parents. He had the ability to name animals according to their characteristics - which requires a deep understanding of their nature. Moreover, he understood that the woman was intended for him: "For she was taken out of man" (Genesis 2:23). All these prove that Adam had a very high intellectual capacity to deduce one thing from another before the sin, and he was in no way like a "small child." As Ibn Ezra explains: "The command... see that he named all the animals and birds according to their nature and kind, behold he was very wise, and had he not been so, Hashem would not have brought His creations to him to see what he would call them..." (His commentary on Genesis 2:17). The woman also demonstrated this capability when she described to the serpent the command from Hashem not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

B. Even before the sin, we see that Adam had free choice between good and evil: for it is not applicable to command anything on a creature without choice. There is no doubt that both Adam and Eve had free choice to act according to desire ("it was pleasing to the eyes and desirable for obtaining wisdom") or according to moral reasoning to obey Hashem's command without compromise ("Hashem has said you shall not eat from it"). This is why Hashem asked the woman and Adam why they sinned, because they had the understanding to comprehend their actions and explain them. As Ibn Ezra writes (there): "Know that Adam (the first) was full of understanding, for Hashem does not command one who has no understanding..."

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C. Before the sin, we see that Adam and Eve saw no need for clothing: and the explanation for this is that shame originates from the evil inclination, from a selfish and immoral attraction to our exterior. We are not ashamed to drink water in front of our friends because drinking is a bodily necessity, and there is no lust in it. Yet an important person like a president would certainly be ashamed to eat a very tasty cake in front of others because the cake is sweet and not necessary for his health, and he does not want to appear outwardly as a glutton and lustful. In other words, we are ashamed of any characteristic that indicates our selfishness and is not done for a beneficial purpose. From this, we can understand that Adam and Eve before the sin did not view their exterior as unnecessary; all their actions were for the sake of heaven, and therefore they had no reason to be ashamed of their bodies. Only after they ate from the tree was it said about them: "The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Genesis 3:7), meaning that as a result of the sin, the evil inclination entered the hearts of Adam and Eve, and their exterior suddenly became important, a thing that tempts one to sin, and as a result, they were ashamed of their selfish desire and immediately sought to cover themselves. Thus Rashi explains this verse: "Even a blind person knows when he is nude, so what is 'and they knew they were naked'? One command they had, and they became stripped from it." Ibn Ezra also explains that the Tree of Knowledge added the external desires of the body in Adam and Eve.

From these, we can understand the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," true to its name: a tree that gave the knowledge - meaning the human awareness - to distinguish between good and evil. Before the sin, Adam only had concepts of truth and falsehood, but no imaginary concepts of ugliness and beauty, good and evil. Maimonides explained that Adam lost his great intellectual perception after eating from the Tree of Knowledge (Guide for the Perplexed Part 1, Chapter 2):

"Exposure of the nakedness, this was not disgraceful in his eyes (of Adam), and he did not comprehend the disgrace in it. When he rebelled (against the command of Hashem), deviating towards imaginary desires and physical delights, as it is said: 'the tree was good for food and delightful to the eyes' (Genesis 3:6) - he was punished by losing that intellectual perception. Therefore, he rebelled against the command he was given due to his intellect, and he became focused on reputational matters. He became engrossed in labeling things as disgraceful or beautiful. At that moment, he realized the value of what he lost, from which he was stripped and to what state he arrived. Therefore, it is said: 'You will be like Gods, knowing good and evil' (Genesis 3:5), and it is not said: 'knowing falsehood and truth' or 'understanding falsehood and truth.' Regarding the necessary, there are no good or bad at all, only falsehood and truth."

After the complete redemption and resurrection of the dead, soon with Hashem's help, we will return to the spiritual level that existed before the sin, and our understanding and perception of Hashem will be complete as in the days of the first human.