Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Etz HaDaas
עץ הדעת טוב ורע
The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Etz HaDaas)
The level where good and evil are mixed, so the external forces can draw from it, as against the Tree of Life. Eating from it mixed evil into man; in essence it is kelipas nogah.
The word Plainly, the tree in Eden whose fruit Adam ate (חטא עץ הדעת). The discourses use the name for a level, in the soul or above, where good and evil mix or the external forces can take hold; when it is paired with “Tree of Life” or with a sefirah or soul, the level is meant.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7, ¶5Above, evil is known in the manner of a makif and stays apart; but man is of the inner (pnimi) dimension, so once he tasted the tree mixed of good and evil, evil mixed into him. Separating it became a hard war in which first one side, then the other, prevails.
ומיד שידע הוא מן הרע ע״י שטעם מעה״ד הרי יתערב עמו ויהי׳ הוא ממש מעורב ברע
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7, ¶8The Tree of Knowledge came into being from the shattering of the vessels, the beginning of death; the Tree of Life is rooted above the shattering. Hence the concern that Adam, now mixed with evil, would eat of the Tree of Life and the evil in him would last forever.
שמשם הוא שהיה התחלת המיתה והתהוות עה״ד טו״ר משא״כ מה שלמעלה מהשבירה הוא עה״ח
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶23Suggests (“ואפשר”) that in man the Tree of Knowledge is the daas of the animal soul, which grasps this world and can also grasp G‑dliness, and the Tree of Life the Chochmah and daas of the G‑dly soul. Its essence is kelipas nogah, the source of the animal soul. Prayer, in which the animal soul’s mind and middos are nullified into the G‑dly soul’s, joins the Tree of Knowledge to the Tree of Life.
אבל עיקר עה״ד טו״ר ממש היא ק״נ שמשם נמשכה הנה״ב
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶22A level is called Tree of Knowledge not because it is evil but because the external forces can take hold of it, and evil descends from it. So the name Ban, love that comes from daas alone, is the Tree of Knowledge, for the shattering began in daas; the bittul above daas (Mah) is not.
נק׳ עה״ד טו״ר משום שיכולים החיצונים ליקח מהם ולהתאחז בהם משא״כ בבחי׳ עץ החיים
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶28When Malchus of Atzilus descends into kelipas nogah to refine it, it too is called the Tree of Knowledge, relative to Z’eir Anpin which does not descend. Once it has refined the good and raised it, it is “good and not evil.”
כשהמל׳ יורדת ומתלבשת לברר ק״נ אזי נק׳ גם היא בשם עה״ד טו״ר לגבי ז״א
Stated differently
Where the Tree of Knowledge begins in Atzilus: within Z’eir Anpin itself, from its chest down, or in Malchus, with Z’eir Anpin as the Tree of Life
בחזה דז״א מסתיים יסוד אימא שם מתחיל בחי׳ עה״ד טו״רThe Tree of Knowledge begins at the chest of Z’eir Anpin, where Yesod of Imma ends; the middos are from it and are refined by the mochin (also Balak 2:22: the revealed chasadim of Z’eir Anpin, from the chest down).
חטה היה מדרגה שלמטה ממנו בחי׳ מלכות דאצי׳ שנק׳ עץ הדעת לגבי ז״אZ’eir Anpin is called the Tree of Life, the root of Adam’s soul; the Tree of Knowledge is Malchus of Atzilus, a level below him, called so relative to Z’eir Anpin.
Whether the daas of the G‑dly soul is itself called the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil
שבחי׳ זו עצמה לא נתבררה עדיין בשלימות בהנשמה שלכך נק׳ בחינה זו עץ הדעת טוב ורעThe daas in the soul (neshamah), the lower, comprehended daas, is not yet fully refined, so the external forces can sometimes draw from it; therefore it is called the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and refinement must come from a level above daas.
הגם שבמ״א נתבאר שגם בנה״א שייך בחי׳ עץ הדעת וכמ״ש ע״פ מקושש עצים. מ״מ אינו נק׳ כלל עץ הדעת טוב ורע ח״וSuggests (“ואפשר”) that the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil is the daas of the animal soul; though an aspect of the Tree of Knowledge applies to the G‑dly soul, it is never called the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7, ¶5Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶25Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶28Likkutei Torah, Emor 4, ¶28Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12, ¶16
Where it appears
In 92 paragraphs of 56 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶25 ¶26 ¶28 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7 ¶1 ¶3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶22 ¶23 ¶24 ¶25 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶3 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶4 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶35
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶15 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶28 ¶30 ¶34 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶20 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶11 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Noach 4 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶19 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5 ¶5 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶17 ¶18 ¶19 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 7 ¶20
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6 ¶9 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 1 ¶6
Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.