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 falsehood: through intellect alone. This faculty is represented by the Tree of Life, for truth and intellect are eternal. Man's eternal perfection depends on perfecting pure intellect; to the extent that he does not, he is merely another mortal animal. 

This profound idea lies at the heart of the Rambam's whole system of philosophy. 

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