The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or so it said. Ah...the ubiquitous apple. This expression is used to denote the way that our behaviours reflect the things that we learned from our home environment. Nature or nurture, we have traits which originate from the previous generation. Like it or lump it, we're stuck with it. 

It is no accident, that this same fruit is the one borrowed by certain people - not of the Jewish persuasion - to express the rather depressing notion that we are condemned to be tainted by sin, just by being born in the physical world. The original Adam's 'apple' - stuck in the throat of the first human being (and as expressed through even the purest archetypal fairy-tale characters - think Snow White) means that we are born sinful, they say, redeemable only through a belief in 'he who must not be named', rather than actions. Yes, like it or lump it, it leaves a lump in our throats - literally and metaphorically. It is a distortion of Chazal's understanding of how Adam's error is really manifest and rectifiable.

The Gemoro which identifies that first fruit, mentions four possibilities - none of which is the apple - a probable mistranslation. But the apple still has its place in Midrashic and Talmudic literature. Let's explore some fascinating ideas in this mysterious area.