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Beit Midrash
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If one recited "Borei pri ha’etz" on something that requires "Borei pri ha’adama," he does not fulfill his obligation. Isn’t that obvious? Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: It is needed according to Rabbi Yehuda who said that wheat is a type of tree, as the baraita says: The tree that Adam ate from was what? Rabbi Meir said that it was a grape vine, as nothing gives reason for a person to be upset like wine, as occurred to Noach (Bereishit 9:21). Rabbi Nechemia says that it was a fig tree, for they used the object which caused their troubles to rectify their situation, as it says: "They tied fig leaves together" (Bereishit 3:7). Rabbi Yehuda says that it was wheat, as a small child does not call "Mother, father" before he has tasted wheat [Rashi- that is why it is called the Tree of Knowledge.]
Ein Ayah: There are three basic factors in a person’s personality that are likely to cause him to turn away from the straight path.
One is when his spiritual enjoyment goes in the direction of physicality. This occurs when one becomes attached to overindulging in wine. This is based on the idea that "wine makes the heart happy" (Tehillim 104:15). In fact, happiness is a spiritual enjoyment and desiring it is good when it is in good measure. However, when it goes beyond its proper boundaries, it can be destructive and specifically enslave the spiritual powers to be used for bad things, including for haughtiness, which is related to drunkenness (see Eruvin 65a).
Another problem is the desire of enjoyment in a manner that is not an important need of the body but is just a matter of indulgence. This encourages man to be interested only in fleeting pleasure, especially things that appeal to his senses such as taste. A third issue is the desire to overeat. When a person is taken by such a desire, he will not care if the food is tasty or attractively prepared. Such behavior will open up a person to everything lowly.
Rabbi Meir, who says that the Tree of Knowledge was a grape vine, sees wine, representing using the spiritual side for material desires, as the main root of mankind’s problems that cause tragedies. Rabbi Nechemia felt that it was the fig, which is a sweet fruit that does not have much other value. The word itself (te’eina) is related to the word for looking for an excuse, i.e., having the good taste without any real gain. Rabbi Yehuda posited that this alone would not lower man that much. Rather, it is the desire to eat normal foods beyond satiation that lowers a person. It is wheat that gives man wisdom, with which he does not need the instinct that animals have to stop eating when he does not need more. We say that an increase in knowledge causes an increase in pain because man who possesses wisdom loses instincts and may not have developed the mind enough to go only in the direction of good. Man combines goodness with evil, and while partaking in the food that he needs to survive, he also brings on physical and spiritual illnesses by overeating, to the point that it could cause him far-reaching disgusting characteristics.
Rabbi Yehuda is of the opinion that before the land was cursed to not produce food easily, a person would receive his food with great ease, and therefore wheat was a tree, as it will be in the time of Mashiach (Ketubot 11b). It would have been better that our sustenance would be achieved through natural instincts and that our wisdom would be reserved for the realm of the intellectual. According to Rabbi Meir, therefore, before the sin there was not a situation of spiritual enjoyment being used for physicality, which is what happened with wine only after the sin. According to Rabbi Nechemia, at that time one would not have been carried away by interest in the sweet and desirable. According to Rabbi Yehuda, the natural inclinations would not have been mixed in with wisdom. Rather he would harvest easily his main food, wheat, by plucking the fruits of the tree. Some even say that eventually the Tree of Knowledge would have become permitted, as once man would have learned how to balance between the needs of the body and those of the spirit, knowledge would have been used for good in an effortless manner, with effort to be reserved for more lofty purposes.
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
