Apples makes me think of the Garden of Eden. Obviously, Adam and Eve’s sin did not include an apple; that is a decidedly Christian interpretation, based on Jerome’s Vulgate, which confuses (or puns on) the words mălum (evil) and mālum (apple). The Rabbis themselves offer a number of suggestions: wheat, figs, grapes, or (my personal favorite) an etrog – but that is a story for another time.
Still, despite the fact that this interpretation is definitively not Jewish, Jerome’s error teaches something profound. Apples originated in Central Asia, though not necessarily in edible form. Over time, they were cultivated as an edible fruit, grafted, and brought to Europe. Apples were bred to enhance its shape, color, and flavor, i.e., to make the familiar apple (which is obviously many different breeds) that we know and love today. By Jerome’s time, in 4th-5th centuries CE, the fruit was common enough that everyone knew what it was. This points to our distinct human characteristic of creating culture – in both the botanical and civilizational senses of the word. Humans took an inedible growth and made it the most recognizable fruit in the world.
Oh the irony, that while for Christians the apple is a symbol of man’s downfall, in reality the apple is one of man’s most famous and tastiest examples of fulfilling the task of civilizing the world.
