Prof. Azzan Yadin-Israel—Temptation Transformed: How The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple (Zoom only)

In partnership with the Jewish Community Library, San Francisco

Although the apple is one of the most widely-recognized biblical symbols, the Book of Genesis does not identify the species of the Forbidden Fruit, nor do the earliest translations of the Hebrew Bible, not to mention that there were no apple trees in the biblical world. Moreover, early commentators who do identify the Forbidden Fruit cite a variety of candidates, including the fig, the vine, the pomegranate, and the citron, but almost never the apple. It is only in the High Middle Ages that the apple first appears and then establishes itself as the Forbidden Fruit par excellence. How did this change come about? Temptation Transformed pursues this mystery across art and religious history, uncovering where, when, and why the forbidden fruit became an apple.

Sunday, April 7 @ 2pm, on Zoom

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