Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses processes of wine production and sedimentation. According to some traditions, it was actually wine that was the forbidden fruit of theTree of Knowledge. Bereishis Rabbah (19:5) tells us that Chava squeezed a grape bunch and gave Adam to drink from it.

Note that the Midrash does not say, “gave him to eat from the grapes”, instead it says “squeezed the grapes and gave him to drink wine”. This shatters the idea that eating from the Tree of Knowledge was an impulsive act. It takes patience and planning to make wine. This Midrash also implies a symmetry between Adam and Noach, both were the origination point of humankind’s family tree, and both transgressed by drinking wine (Bereishis 9:20).

The Shalah (Toldos_Adam, Beis Dovid) reads even more depth to this Midrash with a beautiful metaphor. He says grapes are both inferior and superior to wine. They are inferior for the obvious reason that it does not have the quality of wine, a redolent and intoxicating drink. However it is superior to wine in that it has no sediments. Even so, the sediment is indeed inside those very grapes, though not manifest. But, ff one succeeds in producing and refining the wine, the product is pure and free of dregs. So too, prior to having the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam was both superior and inferior to his post-Eden life. In the Garden of Eden, Evil existed in potential, unexpressed, much as the impurities were inherent inside the grapes. However, Adam’s post-Tree of Knowledge existence allowed for moral choice, which created the distinction between good and evil. Just as squeezed grapes produce wine, Adam’s knowledge of Good and Evil thrust upon him the task of bringing Good out into the world.  

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)