(ט) וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃
(9) And from the ground Adonai our God caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.
(א) ויצמח מזונותיו שלא בצער:
(1) ויצמח, God made the food necessary for Adam sprout forth. The verse illustrates with what ease Adam could secure his requirements in Gan Eden.
(ב) נחמד למראה משמח ומרחיב הלב להכינו לקבלת השפע השכלי כאמרו והיה כנגן המנגן ותהי עליו רוח ה':
(2) נחמד למראה, looking at these trees resulted In the viewer experiencing intellectual stimulation both of his heart and his brain. He would thus be capable of “digesting” the additional intellectual insights granted him by God.
(ג) עץ הדעת משיא לתת לב אל הטוב והרע ומזה והאדם ידע נתן לב עליה ומזה נקרא הקרוב מודע כאמרו מודע לאישה שדרכו לתת לב לצרכי קרובו כאמרו ואח לצרה יולד:
(3) ועץ הדעת, a tree whose fruit results in those who eat from it gaining greater understanding of the relationship of good and evil. The word דעת, which appears here for the first time, helps us understand Genesis 4,1 והאדם ידע את חוה אשתו. Without this verse we would have been puzzled by the Torah telling us something that was so obvious. Who does not “know” his wife, especially when he had described her as “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” (2,23) In our verse we are told that the words ידע, דעת do not primarily refer to factual knowledge but to conceptual knowledge. This also helps us to understand why relatives, as in Ruth 2,1 are referred to as מודע לאישה, “someone whom her late husband had been intimate with, had been related to by blood.” It is normal for blood relations to be concerned with the physical and emotional needs of their kin. (compare Proverbs 17,17.)
(ד) טוב ורע לבחור הערב אעפ''י שיזיק ולמאוס הבלתי ערב אעפ''י שיועיל:
(4) טוב ורע, to choose that which appeared as appealing to the senses even though it would prove harmful, and to despise anything which did not appeal to his senses although he knew it to be useful to him.