An apple? Maybe… but our tradition offers a whole orchard of possibilities! The rabbis of the Midrash, in Bereshit Rabbah 15, really sink their teeth into this question.

Rabbi Meir, surprisingly, suggests it was wheat. Wheat! He argues that knowledge and intelligence are connected to eating wheat bread. "When a person does not have knowledge," he says, "people say: That person has never eaten wheat bread in all his days." It's a fascinating idea, isn't it? That the very grain that sustains us could also be the key to understanding. Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak even asks Rabbi Ze’eira, "Is it possible that it was wheat?" And Rabbi Ze’eira answers in the affirmative, explaining that the wheat in Eden grew to immense heights, like the cedars of Lebanon. So tall, it could be considered a tree!

This idea connects to a debate between Rabbi Neḥemya and the Rabbis, concerning the blessing over bread, "who brings forth [hamotzi] bread from the earth." Rabbi Neḥemya believes that finished bread grew directly from the ground in Eden, a bounty lost after the sin. The Rabbis, on the other hand, envision this happening in the Messianic future. As it says in Psalms 72:16, "There will be bread [pisat] from grain upon the earth." It’s a beautiful vision of abundance and ease.

Then there's the curious case of the lefet, which means turnip. Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak and Rabbi Shmuel bar Ami debate: Was the turnip once bread [lo pat]? Or will it be bread [lo pat] in the future? It's a playful, thought-provoking exploration of loss and redemption.

But wheat isn't the only contender. Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai puts forth grapes, citing Deuteronomy 32:32: "Their grapes are grapes of poison, clusters of bitterness for them" – those clusters brought bitterness to the world. A powerful image of the consequences of disobedience.

Rabbi Abba of Akko champions the citron. He points out that the Torah says the tree "was good for eating," implying the tree itself had a good taste. And, he asks, which tree has wood that tastes like its fruit? Only the citron! It’s a clever bit of reasoning.

And Rabbi Yosei? He suggests figs. His argument is contextual: Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover themselves after the sin. It's like the story of a prince's son who sins with a maidservant. No other maidservant would take him in except the one he had sinned with. Similarly, after the sin, only the fig tree offered its leaves to Adam. As Rabbi Berekhya says, "Here is the thief who deceived his Creator." The other trees wouldn’t allow him to use their leaves to clothe himself!

Rabbi Avin specifies the berat sheva species of fig, as it brought seven [sheva] days of mourning to the world – because the sin introduced death and mourning into the world. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, in the name of Rabbi Elazar, suggests the berat elita species, as it brought weeping [elita] to the world.

But the most intriguing idea comes from Rabbi Azarya and Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: that God never revealed, and never will reveal, the identity of that tree. Why? They bring up the law in Leviticus 20:16 about bestiality: the animal is killed so it won't be paraded through the marketplace, reminding everyone of the sin. If God is concerned about the dignity of descendants, how much more so is He concerned about the dignity of Adam himself!

So, we're left with a multitude of possibilities, and perhaps, ultimately, the question itself is more important than the answer. Maybe the point isn't what the fruit was, but what it represents: the human capacity for choice, the allure of forbidden knowledge, and the enduring consequences of our actions. What do you think?