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Podcast: The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton
Episode: S1, E17 The Tree of Knowledge, according to the Rambam
Description: The story of man eating from the Tree of Knowledge is the fundamental, foundational story of mankind, of humanity’s capacity for perfection or failure. It is the key for us to understand ourselves – but what does it mean? What would man be without knowing good and evil, and how does this knowledge lead to his downfall?
In the Rambam’s understanding, the crux of matter is the quality of man’s intellect. Instead of making decisions based on the value judgment of knowing good from evil, man could and should make decisions based on discerning truth from fal...