God made mankind as the pinnacle of creation. He created us to aspire to do things beyond our reach, to learn about the world beyond our horizons and to change our environment.
Men and women are pre-programmed to seek out our purpose in relation to each other and to the world at large. This gives us the ability to either accomplish great good in the world or great evil.
And that’s where the lessons come in from Adam and Eve’s choice between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, recorded in the Torah reading רֵאשִׁ֖ית Beresheet (“in the beginning,” Gen. 1:1–6:8). We can learn from them to choose the path that leads to life, rather than the one that leads to death.