[Avodah] tree of knowledge of good and evil

[Minden]

RYHH wrote
> According to Hebrew grammar (semichut), the verse should properly read :
> "etz da'at tov vera" without a "heh" (and not : "etz hadaat..."). A parallel can be found in Bamidbar (34:2) "baim el haaretz -- (eretz) Canaan," and elsewhere. The author of Torah Temimah discusses this in his Tosefet Berachah.
>
> Another possibility is to vocalize it differently: "etz hoda'at tov vera." In fact, even without changing the vowels, "lada'at", to know, often is transitive and means "lehodi'a," to make known or promulgate; see Shemot (31:13) and Bamidbar (10:31) and frequently in Tanach. This is the meaning of the Serpent's statement "You shall be like elohim (judges) yode'ei tov vera."

I understood it similarly, even without a need to change hadda-as to houda-as, namely by understanding "touv vera" as an object rather than the second part of a smiches construction. This isn't common, but possible, I think, especially if you consider that da-as is (or is similar to) a verbal form. Compare the English equivalents - "tree of knowledge good and bad" doesn't work, but for a verbal form that doubles as a noun it works: "tree of the knowing of good and bad" = "tree of knowing good and bad".

(The other case "el ho-oretz kena-an" is different, I'd say, rather an apposition instead of the more common smiches construction.)


Lipman Phillip Minden
http://lipmans.blogspot.com