<P> In Jewish tradition, the Tree of Knowledge and the eating of its fruit represents the beginning of the mixture of good and evil together . Before that time, the two were separate, and evil had only a nebulous existence in potential . While free choice did exist before eating the fruit, evil existed as an entity separate from the human psyche, and it was not in human nature to desire it . Eating and internalizing the forbidden fruit changed this and thus was born the yeitzer hara, the Evil Inclination . In Rashi's notes on Genesis 3: 3, the first sin came about because Eve added an additional clause to the Divine command: Neither shall you touch it . By saying this, Eve added to YHWH's command and thereby came to detract from it, as it is written: Do not add to His Words (Proverbs 30: 6). However, In Legends of the Jews, it was Adam who had devoutly forbidden Eve to touch the tree even though God had only mentioned the eating of the fruit . </P> <P> In Kabbalah, the sin of the Tree of Knowledge (called Cheit Eitz HaDa'at) brought about the great task of beirurim, sifting through the mixture of good and evil in the world to extract and liberate the sparks of holiness trapped therein . Since evil has no independent existence, it depends on holiness to draw down the Divine life - force, on whose "leftovers" it then feeds and derives existence . Once evil is separated from holiness through beirurim, its source of life is cut off, causing the evil to disappear . This is accomplished through observance of the 613 commandments in the Torah, which deal primarily with physical objects wherein good and evil are mixed together . Thus, the task of beirurim rectifies the sin of the Tree and draws the Shechinah back down to earth, where the sin of the Tree had caused Her to depart . </P> <P> In Christian theology, consuming the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the sin committed by Adam and Eve that led to the Fall of man in Genesis 2 - 3 . </P> <P> In Catholicism, Augustine of Hippo taught that the tree should be understood both symbolically and as a real tree - similarly to Jerusalem being both a real city and a figure of Heavenly Jerusalem . Augustine underlined that the fruits of that tree were not evil by themselves, because everything that God created was good (Gen 1: 12). It was disobedience of Adam and Eve, who had been told by God not to eat of the tree (Gen 2: 17), that caused disorder in the creation, thus humanity inherited sin and guilt from Adam and Eve's sin . </P>

The tree of good and evil in the garden of eden