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The Legends of the Jews — Volume 1

by Louis Ginzberg · English · Gutenberg #1493 · 714,555 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Legends of the Jews — Volume 1

Author: Louis Ginzberg

Translator: Henrietta Szold


        
Release date: October 1, 1998 [eBook #1493]
                Most recently updated: February 3, 2022

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1493

Credits: Charles Keller


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS — VOLUME 1 ***




The Legends of the Jews

by Louis Ginzberg


TRANSLATED PROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY
HENRIETTA SZOLD


VOLUME I
BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS
FROM THE CREATION TO JACOB




To
MY BROTHER ASHER




Contents

 PREFACE

 I. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
 The First Things Created
 The Alphabet
 The First Day
 The Second Day
 The Third Day
 The Fourth Day
 The Fifth Day
 The Sixth Day
 All Things Praise the Lord.

 II. ADAM
 Man and the World
 The Angels and the Creation of Man
 The Creation of Adam
 The Soul of Man
 The Ideal Man
 The Fall of Satan
 Woman
 Adam and Eve in Paradise
 The Fall of Man
 The Punishment
 Sabbath in Heaven
 Adam's Repentance
 The Book of Raziel
 The Sickness of Adam
 Eve's Story of the Fall
 The Death of Adam
 The Death of Eve.

 III. THE TEN GENERATIONS
 The Birth of Cain
 Fratricide
 The Punishment of Cain
 The Inhabitants of the Seven Earths
 The Descendants of Cain
 The Descendants of Adam and Lilith
 Seth and His Descendants
 Enosh
 The Fall of the Angels
 Enoch, Ruler and Teacher
 The Ascension of Enoch
 The Translation of Enoch
 Methuselah.

 IV. NOAH
 The Birth of Noah
 The Punishment of the Fallen Angels
 The Generation of the Deluge
 The Holy Book
 The Inmates of the Ark
 The Flood
 Noah Leaves the Ark
 The Curse of Drunkenness
 Noah's Descendants Spread Abroad
 The Depravity of Mankind
 Nimrod
 The Tower of Babel.

 V. ABRAHAM
 The Wicked Generations
 The Birth of Abraham
 The Babe Proclaims God
 Abraham's First Appearance in Public
 The Preacher of the True Faith
 In the Fiery Furnace
 Abraham Emigrates to Haran
 The Star in the East
 The True Believer
 The Iconoclast
 Abraham in Canaan
 His Sojourn in Egypt
 The First Pharaoh
 The War of the Kings
 The Covenant of the Pieces
 The Birth of Ishmael
 The Visit of the Angels
 The Cities of Sin
 Abraham Pleads for the Sinners
 The Destruction of the Sinful Cities
 Among the Philistines
 The Birth of Isaac
 Ishmael Cast Off
 The Two Wives of Ishmael
 The Covenant with Abimelech
 Satan Accuses Abraham
 The Journey to Moriah
 The Akedah
 The Death and Burial of Sarah
 Eliezer's Mission
 The Wooing of Rebekah
 The Last Years of Abraham
 A Herald of Death
 Abraham Views Earth and Heaven
 The Patron of Hebron.

 VI. JACOB
 The Birth of Esau and Jacob
 The Favorite of Abraham
 The Sale of the Birthright
 Isaac with the Philistines
 Isaac Blesses Jacob
 Esau's True Character Revealed
 Jacob Leaves His Father's House
 Jacob Pursued by Eliphaz and Esau
 The Day of Miracles
 Jacob with Laban
 The Marriage of Jacob
 The Birth of Jacob's Children
 Jacob Flees before Laban
 The Covenant with Laban
 Jacob and Esau Prepare to Meet
 Jacob Wrestles with the Angel
 The Meeting between Esau and Jacob
 The Outrage at Shechem
 A War Frustrated
 The War with the Ninevites
 The War with the Amorites
 Isaac Blesses Levi and Judah
 Joy and Sorrow in the House of Jacob
 Esau's Campaign against Jacob
 The Descendants of Esau.




PREFACE


Was sich nie und nirgends hat begeben, das allein veraltet nie.

The term Rabbinic was applied to the Jewish Literature of post-Biblical
times by those who conceived the Judaism of the later epoch to be
something different from the Judaism of the Bible, something actually
opposed to it. Such observers held that the Jewish nation ceased to
exist with the moment when its political independence was destroyed.
For them the Judaism of the later epoch has been a Judaism of the
Synagogue, the spokesmen of which have been the scholars, the Rabbis.
And what this phase of Judaism brought forth has been considered by
them to be the product of the schools rather than the product of
practical, pulsating life. Poetic phantasmagoria, frequently the
vaporings of morbid visionaries, is the material out of which these
scholars construct the theologic system of the Rabbis, and fairy tales,
the spontaneous creations of the people, which take the form of sacred
legend in Jewish literature, are denominated the Scriptural exegesis of
the Rabbis, and condemned incontinently as nugae rabbinorum.

As the name of a man clings to him, so men cling to names. For the
primitive savage the name is part of the essence of a person or thing,
and even in the more advanced stages of culture, judgments are not
always formed in agreement with facts as they are, but rather according
to the names by which they are called. The current estimate of Rabbinic
Literature is a case in point. With the label Rabbinic later ages
inherited from former ages a certain distorted view of the literature
so designated. To this day, and even among scholars that approach its
investigation with unprejudiced minds, the opinion prevails that it is
purely a learned product. And yet the truth is that the most prominent
feature of Rabbinic Literature is its popular character.

The school and the home are not mutually opposed to each other in the
conception of the Jews. They study in their homes, and they live in
their schools. Likewise there is no distinct class of scholars among
them, a class that withdraws itself from participation in the affairs
of practical life. Even in the domain of the Halakah, the Rabbis were
not so much occupied with theoretic principles of law as with the
concrete phenomena of daily existence. These they sought to grasp and
shape. And what is true of the Halakah is true with greater emphasis of
the Haggadah, which is popular in the double sense of appealing to the
people and being produced in the main by the people. To speak of the
Haggadah of the Tannaim and Amoraim is as far from fact as to speak of
the legends of Shakespeare and Scott. The ancient authors and their
modern brethren of the guild alike elaborate legendary material which
they found at hand.

It has been held by some that the Haggadah contains no popular legends,
that it is wholly a factitious, academic product. A cursory glance at
the pseudepigraphic literature of the Jews, which is older than the
Haggadah literature by several centuries, shows how untenable this view
is. That the one literature should have drawn from the other is
precluded by historical facts. At a very early time the Synagogue
disavowed the pseudepigraphic literature, which was the favorite
reading matter of the sectaries and the Christians. Nevertheless the
inner relation between them is of the closest kind. The only essential
difference is that the Midrashic form prevails in the Haggadah, and the
parenetic or apocalyptic form in the pseudepigrapha. The common element
must therefore depart from the Midrash on the one hand and from
parenesis on the other.

Folklore, fairy tales, legends, and all forms of story telling akin to
these are comprehended, in the terminology of the post-Biblical
literature of the Jews, under the inclusive description Haggadah, a
name that can be explained by a circumlocution, but cannot be
translated. Whatever it is applied to is thereby characterized first as
being derived from the Holy Scriptures, and then as being of the nature
of a story. And, in point of fact, this dualism sums up the
distinguishing features of Jewish Legend. More than eighteen centuries
ago the Jewish historian Josephus observed that "though we be deprived
of our wealth, of our cities, or of the other advantages we have, our
law continues immortal." The word he meant to use was not law, but
Torah, only he could not find an equivalent for it in Greek. A singer
of the Synagogue a thousand years after Josephus, who expressed his
sentiments in Hebrew, uttered the same thought: "The Holy City and all
her daughter cities are violated, they lie in ruins, despoiled of their
ornaments, their splendor darkened from sight. Naught is left to us
save one eternal treasure alone—the Holy Torah." The sadder the life of
the Jewish people, the more it felt the need of taking refuge in its
past. The Scripture, or, to use the Jewish term, the Torah, was the
only remnant of its former national independence, and the Torah was the
magic means of making a sordid actuality recede before a glorious
memory. To the Scripture was assigned the task of supplying nourishment
to the mind as well as the soul, to the intellect as well as the
imagination, and the result is the Halakah and the Haggadah.

The fancy of the people did not die out in the post-Biblical time, but
the bent of its activity was determined by the past.

Men craved entertainment in later times as well as in the earlier, only
instead of resorting for its subject-matter to what happened under
their eyes, they drew from the fountain-head of the past. The events in
the ancient history of Israel, which was not only studied, but lived
over again daily, stimulated the desire to criticize it. The religious
reflections upon nature laid down in the myths of the people, the fairy
tales, which have the sole object of pleasing, and the legends, which
are the people's verdict upon history—all these were welded into one
product. The fancy of the Jewish people was engaged by the past
reflected in the Bible, and all its creations wear a Biblical hue for
this reason. This explains the peculiar form of the Haggadah.

But what is spontaneously brought forth by the people is often
preserved only in the form impressed upon it by the feeling and the
thought of the poet, or by the speculations of the learned. Also Jewish
legends have rarely been transmitted in their original shape. They have
been perpetuated in the form of Midrash, that is, Scriptural exegesis.
The teachers of the Haggadah, called Rabbanan d'Aggadta in the Talmud,
were no folklorists, from whom a faithful reproduction of legendary
material may be expected. Primarily they were homilists, who used
legends for didactic purposes, and their main object was to establish a
close connection between the Scripture and the creations of the popular
fancy, to give the latter a firm basis and secure a long term of life
for them.

One of the most important tasks of the modern investigation of the
Haggadah is to make a clean separation between the original elements
and the later learned additions. Hardly a beginning has been made in
this direction. But as long as the task of distinguishing them has not
been accomplished, it is impossible to write out the Biblical legends
of the Jews without including the supplemental work of scholars in the
products of the popular fancy.

In the present work, "The Legends of the Jews," I have made the first
attempt to gather from the original sources all Jewish legends, in so
far as they refer to Biblical personages and events, and reproduce them
with the greatest attainable completeness and accuracy. I use the
expression Jewish, rather than Rabbinic, because the sources from which
I have levied contributions are not limited to the Rabbinic literature.
As I expect to take occasion elsewhere to enter into a description of
the sources in detail, the following data must suffice for the present.

The works of the Talmudic Midrashic literature are of the first
importance. Covering the period from the second to the fourteenth
century, they contain the major part of the Jewish legendary material.
Akin to this in content if not always in form is that derived from the
Targumim, of which the oldest versions were produced not earlier than
the fourth century, and the most recent not later than the tenth. The
Midrashic literature has been preserved only in fragmentary form. Many
Haggadot not found in our existing collections are quoted by the
authors of the Middle Ages. Accordingly, a not inconsiderable number of
the legends here printed are taken from medieval Bible commentators and
homilists. I was fortunate in being able to avail myself also of
fragments of Midrashim of which only manuscript copies are extant.

The works of the older Kabbalah are likewise treasuries of quotations
from lost Midrashim, and it was among the Kabbalists, and later among
the Hasidim, that new legends arose. The literatures produced in these
two circles are therefore of great importance for the present purpose.

Furthermore, Jewish legends can be culled not from the writings of the
Synagogue alone; they appear also in those of the Church. Certain
Jewish works repudiated by the Synagogue were accepted and mothered by
the Church. This is the literature usually denominated
apocryphal-pseudepigraphic. From the point of view of legends, the
apocryphal books are of subordinate importance, while the
pseudepigrapha are of fundamental value. Even quantitatively the latter
are an imposing mass. Besides the Greek writings of the Hellenist Jews,
they contain Latin, Syrian, Ethiopic, Aramean, Arabic, Persian, and Old
Slavic products translated directly or indirectly from Jewish works of
Palestinian or Hellenistic origin. The use of these pseudepigrapha
requires great caution. Nearly all of them are embellished with
Christian interpolations, and in some cases the inserted portions have
choked the original form so completely that it is impossible to
determine at first sight whether a Jewish or a Christian legend is
under examination. I believe, however, that the pseudepigraphic
material made use of by me is Jewish beyond the cavil of a doubt, and
therefore it could not have been left out of account in a work like the
present.

However, in the appreciation of Jewish Legends, it is the Rabbinic
writers that should form the point of departure, and not the
pseudepigrapha. The former represent the main stream of Jewish thought
and feeling, the latter only an undercurrent. If the Synagogue cast out
the pseudepigrapha, and the Church adopted them with a great show of
favor, these respective attitudes were not determined arbitrarily or by
chance. The pseudepigrapha originated in circles that harbored the
germs from which Christianity developed later on. The Church could thus
appropriate them as her own with just reason.

In the use of some of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic writings, I
found it expedient to quote the English translations of them made by
others, in so far as they could be brought into accord with the general
style of the book, for which purpose I permitted myself the liberty of
slight verbal changes. In particulars, I was guided, naturally, by my
own conception of the subject, which the Notes justify in detail.

Besides the pseudepigrapha there are other Jewish sources in Christian
garb. In the rich literature of the Church Fathers many a Jewish legend
lies embalmed which one would seek in vain in Jewish books. It was
therefore my special concern to use the writings of the Fathers to the
utmost.

The luxuriant abundance of the material to be presented made it
impossible to give a verbal rendition of each legend. This would have
required more than three times the space at my disposal. I can
therefore claim completeness for my work only as to content. In form it
had to suffer curtailment. When several conflicting versions of the
same legend existed, I gave only one in the text, reserving the other
one, or the several others, for the Notes, or, when practicable, they
were fused into one typical legend, the component parts of which are
analyzed in the Notes. In other instances I resorted to the expedient
of citing one version in one place and the others in other appropriate
places, in furtherance of my aim, to give a smooth presentation of the
matter, with as few interruptions to the course of the narrative as
possible. For this reason I avoided such transitional phrases as "Some
say," "It has been maintained," etc. That my method sometimes separates
things that belong together cannot be considered a grave disadvantage,
as the Index at the end of the work will present a logical
rearrangement of the material for the benefit of the interested
student. I also did not hesitate to treat of the same personage in
different chapters, as, for instance, many of the legends bearing upon
Jacob, those connected with the latter years of the Patriarch, do not
appear in the chapter bearing his name, but will be found in the
sections devoted to Joseph, for the reason that once the son steps upon
the scene, he becomes the central figure, to which the life and deeds
of the father are subordinated. Again, in consideration of lack of
space the Biblical narratives underlying the legends had to be
omitted—surely not a serious omission in a subject with which
widespread acquaintance may be presupposed as a matter of course.

As a third consequence of the amplitude of the material, it was thought
advisable to divide it into several volumes. The references, the
explanations of the sources used, and the interpretations given, and,
especially, numerous emendations of the text of the Midrashim and the
pseudepigrapha, which determined my conception of the passages so
emended, will be found in the last volume, the fourth, which will
contain also an Introduction to the History of Jewish Legends, a number
of Excursuses, and the Index.

As the first three volumes are in the hands of the printer almost in
their entirety, I venture to express the hope that the whole work will
appear within measurable time, the parts following each other at short
intervals.

LOUIS GINZBERG.


NEW YORK, March 24, 1909




I
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

THE FIRST THINGS CREATED

In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth,
seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white
fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the
heaven which later was over the heads of the Hayyot; Paradise on the
right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary
directly in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the
Name of the Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, "Return, ye children
of men."[1]

When God resolved upon the creation of the world, He took counsel with
the Torah.[2] Her advice was this: "O Lord, a king without an army and
without courtiers and attendants hardly deserves the name of king, for
none is nigh to express the homage due to him." The answer pleased God
exceedingly. Thus did He teach all earthly kings, by His Divine
example, to undertake naught without first consulting advisers.[3]

The advice of the Torah was given with some reservations. She was
skeptical about the value of an earthly world, on account of the
sinfulness of men, who would be sure to disregard her precepts. But God
dispelled her doubts. He told her, that repentance had been created
long before, and sinners would have the opportunity of mending their
ways. Besides, the Temple service would be invested with atoning power,
and Paradise and hell were intended to do duty as reward and
punishment. Finally, the Messiah was appointed to bring salvation,
which would put an end to all sinfulness.[4]

Nor is this world inhabited by man the first of things earthly created
by God. He made several worlds before ours, but He destroyed them all,
because He was pleased with none until He created ours.[5] But even
this last world would have had no permanence, if God had executed His
original plan of ruling it according to the principle of strict
justice. It was only when He saw that justice by itself would undermine
the world that He associated mercy with justice, and made them to rule
jointly.[6] Thus, from the beginning of all things prevailed Divine
goodness, without which nothing could have continued to exist. If not
for it, the myriads of evil spirits had soon put an end to the
generations of men. But the goodness of God has ordained, that in every
Nisan, at the time of the spring equinox, the seraphim shall approach
the world of spirits, and intimidate them so that they fear to do harm
to men. Again, if God in His goodness had not given protection to the
weak, the tame animals would have been extirpated long ago by the wild
animals. In Tammuz, at the time of the summer solstice, when the
strength of behemot is at its height, he roars so loud that all the
animals hear it, and for a whole year they are affrighted and timid,
and their acts become less ferocious than their nature is. Again, in
Tishri, at the time of the autumnal equinox, the great bird ziz[7]
flaps his wings and utters his cry, so that the birds of prey, the
eagles and the vultures, blench, and they fear to swoop down upon the
others and annihilate them in their greed. And, again, were it not for
the goodness of God, the vast number of big fish had quickly put an end
to the little ones. But at the time of the winter solstice, in the
month of Tebet, the sea grows restless, for then leviathan spouts up
water, and the big fish become uneasy. They restrain their appetite,
and the little ones escape their rapacity.

Finally, the goodness of God manifests itself in the preservation of
His people Israel. It could not have survived the enmity of the
Gentiles, if God had not appointed protectors for it, the archangels
Michael and Gabriel.[8] Whenever Israel disobeys God, and is accused of
misdemeanors by the angels of the other nations, he is defended by his
designated guardians, with such good result that the other angels
conceive fear of them. Once the angels of the other nations are
terrified, the nations themselves venture not to carry out their wicked
designs against Israel.

That the goodness of God may rule on earth as in heaven, the Angels of
Destruction are assigned a place at the far end of the heavens, from
which they may never stir, while the Angels of Mercy encircle the
Throne of God, at His behest.[9]

THE ALPHABET

When God was about to create the world by His word, the twenty-two
letters of the alphabet[10] descended from the terrible and august
crown of God whereon they were engraved with a pen of flaming fire.
They stood round about God, and one after the other spake and
entreated, "Create the world through me!" The first to step forward was
the letter Taw. It said: "O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to
create Thy world through me, seeing that it is through me that Thou
wilt give the Torah to Israel by the hand of Moses, as it is written,
'Moses commanded us the Torah.'" The Holy One, blessed be He, made
reply, and said, "No!" Taw asked, "Why not?" and God answered: "Because
in days to come I shall place thee as a sign of death upon the
foreheads of men." As soon as Taw heard these words issue from the
mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, it retired from His presence
disappointed.

The Shin then stepped forward, and pleaded: "O Lord of the world,
create Thy world through me: seeing that Thine own name Shaddai begins
with me." Unfortunately, it is also the first letter of Shaw, lie, and
of Sheker, falsehood, and that incapacitated it. Resh had no better
luck. It was pointed out that it was the initial letter of Ra', wicked,
and Rasha' evil, and after that the distinction it enjoys of being the
first letter in the Name of God, Rahum, the Merciful, counted for
naught. The Kof was rejected, because Kelalah, curse, outweighs the
advantage of being the first in Kadosh, the Holy One. In vain did Zadde
call attention to Zaddik, the Righteous One; there was Zarot, the
misfortunes of Israel, to testify against it. Pe had Podeh, redeemer,
to its credit, but Pesha: transgression, reflected dishonor upon it.
'Ain was declared unfit, because, though it begins 'Anawah, humility,
it performs the same service for 'Erwah, immorality. Samek said: "O
Lord, may it be Thy will to begin the creation with me, for Thou art
called Samek, after me, the Upholder of all that fall." But God said:
"Thou art needed in the place in which thou art;[11] thou must continue
to uphold all that fall." Nun introduces Ner, "the lamp of the Lord,"
which is "the spirit of men," but it also introduces Ner, "the lamp of
the wicked," which will be put out by God. Mem starts Melek, king, one
of the titles of God. As it is the first letter of Mehumah, confusion,
as well, it had no chance of accomplishing its desire. The claim of
Lamed bore its refutation within itself. It advanced the argument that
it was the first letter of Luhot, the celestial tables for the Ten
Commandments; it forgot that the tables were shivered in pieces by
Moses. Kaf was sure of victory Kisseh, the throne of God, Kabod, His
honor, and Keter, His crown, all begin with it. God had to remind it
that He would smite together His hands, Kaf, in despair over the
misfortunes of Israel. Yod at first sight seemed the appropriate letter
for the beginning of creation, on account of its association with Yah,
God, if only Yezer ha-Ra' the evil inclination, had not happened to
begin with it, too. Tet is identified with Tob, the good. However, the
truly good is not in this world; it belongs to the world to come. Het
is the first letter of Hanun, the Gracious One; but this advantage is
offset by its place in the word for sin, Hattat. Zain suggests Zakor,
remembrance, but it is itself the word for weapon, the doer of
mischief. Waw and He compose the Ineffable Name of God; they are
therefore too exalted to be pressed into the service of the mundane
world. If Dalet had stood only for Dabar, the Divine Word, it would
have been used, but it stands also for Din, justice, and under the rule
of law without love the world would have fallen to ruin. Finally, in
spite of reminding one of Gadol, great, Gimel would not do, because
Gemul, retribution, starts with it.

After the claims of all these letters had been disposed of, Bet stepped
before the Holy One, blessed be He, and pleaded before Him: "O Lord of
the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing
that all the dwellers in the world give praise daily unto Thee through
me, as it is said, 'Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen.'" The
Holy One, blessed be He, at once granted the petition of Bet. He said,
"Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord." And He created His
world through Bet, as it is said, "Bereshit God created the heaven and
the earth." The only letter that had refrained from urging its claims
was the modest Alef, and God rewarded it later for its humility by
giving it the first place in the Decalogue.[12]

THE FIRST DAY

On the first day of creation God produced ten things:[13] the heavens
and the earth, Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, wind and water, the
duration of the day[14] and the duration of the night.[15]

Though the heavens and the earth consist of entirely different
elements,[16] they were yet created as a unit, "like the pot and its
cover."[17] The heavens were fashioned from the light of God's garment,
and the earth from the snow under the Divine Throne.[18] Tohu is a
green band which encompasses the whole world, and dispenses darkness,
and Bohu consists of stones in the abyss, the producers of the waters.
The light created at the very beginning is not the same as the light
emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars, which appeared only on the
fourth day. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have
enabled man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other.
Anticipating the wickedness of the sinful generations of the deluge and
the Tower of Babel, who were unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such
light, God concealed it, but in the world to come it will appear to the
pious in all its pristine glory.[19]

Several heavens were created,[20] seven in fact,[21] each to serve a
purpose of its own. The first, the one visible to man, has no function
except that of covering up the light during the night time; therefore
it disappears every morning. The planets are fastened to the second of
the heavens; in the third the manna is made for the pious in the
hereafter; the fourth contains the celestial Jerusalem together with
the Temple, in which Michael ministers as high priest, and offers the
souls of the pious as sacrifices. In the fifth heaven, the angel hosts
reside, and sing the praise of God, though only during the night, for
by day it is the task of Israel on earth to give glory to God on high.
The sixth heaven is an uncanny spot; there originate most of the trials
and visitations ordained for the earth and its inhabitants. Snow lies
heaped up there and hail; there are lofts full of noxious dew,
magazines stocked with storms, and cellars holding reserves of smoke.
Doors of fire separate these celestial chambers, which are under the
supervision of the archangel Metatron. Their pernicious contents
defiled the heavens until David's time. The pious king prayed God to
purge His exalted dwelling of whatever was pregnant with evil; it was
not becoming that such things should exist near the Merciful One. Only
then they were removed to the earth.

The seventh heaven, on the other hand, contains naught but what is good
and beautiful: right, justice, and mercy, the storehouses of life,
peace, and blessing, the souls of the pious, the souls and spirits of
unborn generations, the dew with which God will revive the dead on the
resurrection day, and, above all, the Divine Throne, surrounded by the
seraphim, the ofanim, the holy Hayyot, and the ministering angels.[22]

Corresponding to the seven heavens, God created seven earths, each
separated from the next by five layers. Over the lowest earth, the
seventh, called Erez, lie in succession the abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu,
a sea, and waters.[23] Then the sixth[24] earth is reached, the Adamah,
the scene of the magnificence of God. In the same way the Adamah is
separated from the fifth earth, the Arka, which contains Gehenna, and
Sha'are Mawet, and Sha'are Zalmawet, and Beer Shahat, and Tit ha-Yawen,
and Abaddon, and Sheol,[25] and there the souls of the wicked are
guarded by the Angels of Destruction. In the same way Arka is followed
by Harabah, the dry, the place of brooks and streams in spite of its
name, as the next, called Yabbashah, the mainland, contains the rivers
and the springs. Tebel, the second earth, is the first mainland
inhabited by living creatures, three hundred and sixty-five
species,[26] all essentially different from those of our own earth.
Some have human heads set on the body of a lion, or a serpent, or an
ox; others have human bodies topped by the head of one of these
animals. Besides, Tebel is inhabited by human beings with two heads and
four hands and feet, in fact with all their organs doubled excepting
only the trunk.[27] It happens sometimes that the parts of these double
persons quarrel with each other, especially while eating and drinking,
when each claims the best and largest portions for himself. This
species of mankind is distinguished for great piety, another difference
between it and the inhabitants of our earth.

Our own earth is called Heled, and, like the others, it is separated
from the Tebel by an abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters.

Thus one earth rises above the other, from the first to the seventh,
and over the seventh earth the heavens are vaulted, from the first to
the seventh, the last of them attached to the arm of God. The seven
heavens form a unity, the seven kinds of earth form a unity, and the
heavens and the earth together also form a unity.[28]

When God made our present heavens and our present earth, "the new
heavens and the new earth"[29] were also brought forth, yea, and the
hundred and ninety-six thousand worlds which God created unto His Own
glory.[30]

It takes five hundred years to walk from the earth to the heavens, and
from one end of a heaven to the other, and also from one heaven to the
next,[31] and it takes the same length of time to travel from the east
to the west, or from the south to the north.[32] Of all this vast world
only one-third is inhabited, the other two-thirds being equally divided
between water and waste desert land.

Beyond the inhabited parts to the east is Paradise[33] with its seven
divisions, each assigned to the pious of a certain degree. The ocean is
situated to the west, and it is dotted with islands upon islands,
inhabited by many different peoples. Beyond it, in turn, are the
boundless steppes full of serpents and scorpions, and destitute of
every sort of vegetation, whether herbs or trees. To the north are the
supplies of hell-fire, of snow, hail, smoke, ice, darkness, and
windstorms, and in that vicinity sojourn all sorts of devils, demons,
and malign spirits. Their dwelling-place is a great stretch of land, it
would take five hundred years to traverse it. Beyond lies hell. To the
south is the chamber containing reserves of fire, the cave of smoke,
and the forge of blasts and hurricanes.[34] Thus it comes that the wind
blowing from the south brings heat and sultriness to the earth. Were it
not for the angel Ben Nez, the Winged, who keeps the south wind back
with his pinions, the world would be consumed.[35] Besides, the fury of
its blast is tempered by the north wind, which always appears as
moderator, whatever other wind may be blowing.[36]

In the east, the west, and the south, heaven and earth touch each
other, but the north God left unfinished, that any man who announced
himself as a god might be set the task of supplying the deficiency, and
stand convicted as a pretender.[37]

The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the
foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah,[38] for the Holy
Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is
at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the
centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the
centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the
foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth.[39] Thence
issued the first ray of light, piercing to the Holy Land, and from
there illuminating the whole earth.[40] The creation of the world,
however, could not take place until God had banished the ruler of the
dark.[41] "Retire," God said to him, "for I desire to create the world
by means of light." Only after the light had been fashioned, darkness
arose, the light ruling in the sky, the darkness on the earth.[42] The
power of God displayed itself not only in the creation of the world of
things, but equally in the limitations which He imposed upon each. The
heavens and the earth stretched themselves out in length and breadth as
though they aspired to infinitude, and it required the word of God to
call a halt to their encroachments.[43]

THE SECOND DAY

On the second day God brought forth four creations, the firmament,
hell, fire, and the angels.[44] The firmament is not the same as the
heavens of the first day. It is the crystal stretched forth over the
heads of the Hayyot, from which the heavens derive their light, as the
earth derives its light from the sun. This firmament saves the earth
from being engulfed by the waters of the heavens; it forms the
partition between the waters above and the waters below.[45] It was
made to crystallize into the solid it is by the heavenly fire, which
broke its bounds, and condensed the surface of the firmament. Thus fire
made a division between the celestial and the terrestrial at the time
of creation, as it did at the revelation on Mount Sinai.[46] The
firmament is not more than three fingers thick,[47] nevertheless it
divides two such heavy bodies as the waters below, which are the
foundations for the nether world, and the waters above, which are the
foundations for the seven heavens, the Divine Throne, and the abode of
the angels.[48]

The separation of the waters into upper and lower waters was the only
act of the sort done by God in connection with the work of
creation.[49] All other acts were unifying. It therefore caused some
difficulties. When God commanded, "Let the waters be gathered together,
unto one place, and let the dry land appear," certain parts refused to
obey. They embraced each other all the more closely. In His wrath at
the waters, God determined to let the whole of creation resolve itself
into chaos again. He summoned the Angel of the Face, and ordered him to
destroy the world. The angel opened his eyes wide, and scorching fires
and thick clouds rolled forth from them, while he cried out, "He who
divides the Red Sea in sunder!"—and the rebellious waters stood. The
all, however, was still in danger of destruction. Then began the singer
of God's praises: "O Lord of the world, in days to come Thy creatures
will sing praises without end to Thee, they will bless Thee
boundlessly, and they will glorify Thee without measure. Thou wilt set
Abraham apart from all mankind as Thine own; one of his sons Thou wilt
call 'My first-born'; and his descendants will take the yoke of Thy
kingdom upon themselves. In holiness and purity Thou wilt bestow Thy
Torah upon them, with the words, 'I am the Lord your God,' whereunto
they will make answer, 'All that God hath spoken we will do.' And now I
beseech Thee, have pity upon Thy world, destroy it not, for if Thou
destroyest it, who will fulfil Thy will?" God was pacified; He withdrew
the command ordaining the destruction of the world, but the waters He
put under the mountains, to remain there forever.[50] The objection of
the lower waters to division and Separation[51] was not their only
reason for rebelling. The waters had been the first to give praise to
God, and when their separation into upper and lower was decreed, the
waters above rejoiced, saying, "Blessed are we who are privileged to
abide near our Creator and near His Holy Throne." Jubilating thus, they
flew upward, and uttered song and praise to the Creator of the world.
Sadness fell upon the waters below. They lamented: "Woe unto us, we
have not been found worthy to dwell in the presence of God, and praise
Him together with our companions." Therefore they attempted to rise
upward, until God repulsed them, and pressed them under the earth.[52]
Yet they were not left unrewarded for their loyalty. Whenever the
waters above desire to give praise to God, they must first seek
permission from the waters below.[53]

The second day of creation was an untoward day in more than the one
respect that it introduced a breach where before there had been nothing
but unity; for it was the day that saw also the creation of hell.
Therefore God could not say of this day as of the others, that He "saw
that it was good." A division may be necessary, but it cannot be called
good, and hell surely does not deserve the attribute of good.[54]
Hell[55] has seven divisions,[36] one beneath the other. They are
called Sheol, Abaddon, Beer Shahat, Tit ha-Yawen, Sha'are Mawet,
Sha'are Zalmawet: and Gehenna. It requires three hundred years to
traverse the height, or the width, or the depth of each division, and
it would take six thousand three hundred[37] years to go over a tract
of land equal in extent to the seven divisions.[38]

Each of the seven divisions in turn has seven subdivisions, and in each
compartment there are seven rivers of fire and seven of hail. The width
of each is one thousand ells, its depth one thousand, and its length
three hundred, and they flow one from the other, and are supervised by
ninety thousand Angels of Destruction. There are, besides, in every
compartment seven thousand caves, in every cave there are seven
thousand crevices, and in every crevice seven thousand scorpions. Every
scorpion has three hundred rings, and in every ring seven thousand
pouches of venom, from which flow seven rivers of deadly poison. If a
man handles it, he immediately bursts, every limb is torn from his
body, his bowels are cleft asunder, and he falls upon his face.[56]
There are also five different kinds of fire in hell. One devours and
absorbs, another devours and does not absorb, while the third absorbs
and does not devour, and there is still another fire, which neither
devours nor absorbs, and furthermore a fire which devours fire. There
are coals big as mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals as large
as the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones, and there are rivers of
pitch and sulphur flowing and seething like live coals.[60]

The third creation of the second day was the angel hosts, both the
ministering angels and the angels of praise. The reason they had not
been called into being on the first day was, lest men believe that the
angels assisted God in the creation of the heavens and the earth.[61]
The angels that are fashioned from fire have forms of fire,[62] but
only so long as they remain in heaven. When they descend to earth, to
do the bidding of God here below, either they are changed into wind, or
they assume the guise of men.[63] There are ten ranks or degrees among
the angels.[64]

The most exalted in rank are those surrounding the Divine Throne on all
sides, to the right, to the left, in front, and behind, under the
leadership of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.[65]

All the celestial beings praise God with the words, "Holy, holy, holy,
is the Lord of hosts," but men take precedence of the angels herein.
They may not begin their song of praise until the earthly beings have
brought their homage to God.[66] Especially Israel is preferred to the
angels. When they encircle the Divine Throne in the form of fiery
mountains and flaming hills, and attempt to raise their voices in
adoration of the Creator, God silences them with the words, "Keep quiet
until I have heard the songs, praises, prayers, and sweet melodies of
Israel." Accordingly, the ministering angels and all the other
celestial hosts wait until the last tones of Israel's doxologies rising
aloft from earth have died away, and then they proclaim in a loud
voice, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." When the hour for the
glorification of God by the angels draws nigh, the august Divine
herald, the angel Sham'iel, steps to the windows[67] of the lowest
heaven to hearken to the songs, prayers, and praises that ascend from
the synagogues and the houses of learning, and when they are finished,
he announces the end to the angels in all the heavens. The ministering
angels, those who come in contact with the sublunary world,[68] now
repair to their chambers to take their purification bath. They dive
into a stream of fire and flame seven times, and three hundred and
sixty-five times they examine themselves carefully, to make sure that
no taint clings to their bodies.[69] Only then they feel privileged to
mount the fiery ladder and join the angels of the seventh heaven, and
surround the throne of God with Hashmal and all the holy Hayyot.
Adorned with millions of fiery crowns, arrayed in fiery garments, all
the angels in unison, in the same words, and with the same melody,
intone songs of praise to God.[70]

THE THIRD DAY

Up to this time the earth was a plain, and wholly covered with water.
Scarcely had the words of God, "Let the waters be gathered together,"
made themselves heard, when mountains appeared all over and hills,[71]
and the water collected in the deep-lying basins. But the water was
recalcitrant, it resisted the order to occupy the lowly spots, and
threatened to overflow the earth, until God forced it back into the
sea, and encircled the sea with sand. Now, whenever the water is
tempted to transgress its bounds, it beholds the sand, and recoils.[72]

The waters did but imitate their chief Rahab, the Angel of the Sea, who
rebelled at the creation of the world. God had commanded Rahab to take
in the water. But he refused, saying, "I have enough." The punishment
for his disobedience was death. His body rests in the depths of the
sea, the water dispelling the foul odor that emanates from it.[73]

The main creation of the third day was the realm of plants, the
terrestrial plants as well as the plants of Paradise. First of all the
cedars of Lebanon and the other great trees were made. In their pride
at having been put first, they shot up high in the air. They considered
themselves the favored among plants. Then God spake, "I hate arrogance
and pride, for I alone am exalted, and none beside," and He created the
iron on the same day, the substance with which trees are felled down.
The trees began to weep, and when God asked the reason of their tears,
they said: "We cry because Thou hast created the iron to uproot us
therewith. All the while we had thought ourselves the highest of the
earth, and now the iron, our destroyer, has been called into
existence." God replied: "You yourselves will furnish the axe with a
handle. Without your assistance the iron will not be able to do aught
against you."[74]

The command to bear seed after their kind was given to the trees alone.
But the various sorts of grass reasoned, that if God had not desired
divisions according to classes, He would not have instructed the trees
to bear fruit after their kind with the seed thereof in it, especially
as trees are inclined of their own accord to divide themselves into
species. The grasses therefore reproduced themselves also after their
kinds. This prompted the exclamation of the Prince of the World, "Let
the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord rejoice in His
works."[75]

The most important work done on the third day was the creation of
Paradise. Two gates of carbuncle form the entrance to Paradise,[76] and
sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch over them. Each of these
angels shines with the lustre of the heavens. When the just man appears
before the gates, the clothes in which he was buried are taken off him,
and the angels array him in seven garments of clouds of glory, and
place upon his head two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, the
other of gold of Parvaim,[77] and they put eight myrtles in his hand,
and they utter praises before him and say to him, "Go thy way, and eat
thy bread with joy." And they lead him to a place full of rivers,
surrounded by eight hundred kinds of roses and myrtles. Each one has a
canopy according to his merits,[78] and under it flow four rivers, one
of milk, the other of balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of
honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls
hang from it, each of them shining like Venus. Under each canopy there
is a table of precious stones and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the
head of every just man, saying unto him: "Go and eat with joy of the
honey, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter
than honey, and drink of the wine preserved in the grape since the six
days of creation,[79] for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and
she is compared to wine." The least fair of the just is beautiful as
Joseph and Rabbi Johanan, and as the grains of a silver pomegranate
upon which fall the rays of the sun.[80] There is no light, "for the
light of the righteous is the shining light." And they undergo four
transformations every day, passing through four states. In the first
the righteous is changed into a child. He enters the division for
children, and tastes the joys of childhood. Then he is changed into a
youth, and enters the division for the youths, with whom he enjoys the
delights of youth. Next he becomes an adult, in the prime of life, and
he enters the division of men, and enjoys the pleasures of manhood.
Finally, he is changed into an old man. He enters the division for the
old, and enjoys the pleasures of age.

There are eighty myriads of trees in every corner of Paradise, the
meanest among them choicer than all the spice trees. In every corner
there are sixty myriads of angels singing with sweet voices, and the
tree of life stands in the middle and shades the whole of Paradise.[81]
It has fifteen thousand tastes, each different from the other, and the
perfumes thereof vary likewise. Over it hang seven clouds of glory, and
winds blow upon it from all four sides,[82] so that its odor is wafted
from one end of the world to the other. Underneath sit the scholars and
explain the Torah. Over each of them two canopies are spread, one of
stars, the other of sun and moon, and a curtain of clouds of glory
separates the one canopy from the other.[83] Beyond Paradise begins
Eden, containing three hundred and ten worlds[84] and seven
compartments for seven different classes of the pious. In the first are
"the martyr victims of the government," like Rabbi Akiba and his
colleagues;[85] in the second those who were drowned;[86] in the
third[87] Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples; in the fourth
those who were carried off in the cloud of glory;[88] in the fifth the
penitents, who occupy a place which even a perfectly pious man cannot
obtain; in the sixth are the youths[89] who have not tasted of sin in
their lives; in the seventh are those poor who studied Bible and
Mishnah, and led a life of self-respecting decency. And God sits in the
midst of them and expounds the Torah to them.[90]

As for the seven divisions of Paradise, each of them is twelve myriads
of miles in width and twelve myriads of miles in length. In the first
division dwell the proselytes who embraced Judaism of their own free
will, not from compulsion. The walls are of glass and the wainscoting
of cedar. The prophet Obadiah,[91] himself a proselyte, is the overseer
of this first division. The second division is built of silver, and the
wainscoting thereof is of cedar. Here dwell those who have repented,
and Manasseh, the penitent son of Hezekiah, presides over them. The
third division is built of silver and gold. Here dwell Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and all the Israelites who came out of Egypt, and the whole
generation that lived in the desert.[92] Also David is there, together
with all his sons[93] except Absalom, one of them, Chileab, still
alive. And all the kings of Judah are there, with the exception of
Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, who presides in the second division,
over the penitents. Moses and Aaron preside over the third division.
Here are precious vessels of silver and gold and jewels and canopies
and beds and thrones and lamps, of gold, of precious stones, and of
pearls, the best of everything there is in heaven.[94] The fourth
division is built of beautiful rubies,[95] and its wainscoting is of
olive wood. Here dwell the perfect and the steadfast in faith, and
their wainscoting is of olive wood, because their lives were bitter as
olives to them. The fifth division is built of silver and gold and
refined gold,[96] and the finest of gold and glass and bdellium, and
through the midst of it flows the river Gihon. The wainscoting is of
silver and gold, and a perfume breathes through it more exquisite than
the perfume of Lebanon. The coverings of the silver and gold beds are
made of purple and blue, woven by Eve, and of scarlet and the hair of
goats, woven by angels. Here dwells the Messiah on a palanquin made of
the wood of Lebanon, "the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom of
gold, the seat of it purple." With him is Elijah. He takes the head of
Messiah, and places it in his bosom, and says to him, "Be quiet, for
the end draweth nigh." On every Monday and Thursday and on Sabbaths and
holidays, the Patriarchs come to him, and the twelve sons of Jacob, and
Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and all the kings of Israel and of Judah,
and they weep with him and comfort him, and say unto him, "Be quiet and
put trust in thy Creator, for the end draweth nigh." Also Korah and his
company, and Dathan, Abiram, and Absalom come to him on every
Wednesday, and ask him: "How long before the end comes full of wonders?
When wilt thou bring us life again, and from the abysses of the earth
lift us?" The Messiah answers them, "Go to your fathers and ask them";
and when they hear this, they are ashamed, and do not ask their
fathers.

In the sixth division dwell those who died in performing a pious act,
and in the seventh division those who died from illness inflicted as an
expiation for the sins of Israel.[97]

THE FOURTH DAY

The fourth day of creation produced the sun, the moon, and the stars.
These heavenly spheres were not actually fashioned on this day; they
were created on the first day, and merely were assigned their places in
the heavens on the fourth.[98] At first the sun and the moon enjoyed
equal powers and prerogatives.[99] The moon spoke to God, and said: "O
Lord, why didst Thou create the world with the letter Bet?" God
replied: "That it might be made known unto My creatures that there are
two worlds." The moon: "O Lord: which of the two worlds is the larger,
this world or the world to come?" God: "The world to come is the
larger." The moon: "O Lord, Thou didst create two worlds, a greater and
a lesser world; Thou didst create the heaven and the earth, the heaven
exceeding the earth; Thou didst create fire and water, the water
stronger than the fire, because it can quench the fire; and now Thou
hast created the sun and the moon, and it is becoming that one of them
should be greater than the other." Then spake God to the moon: "I know
well, thou wouldst have me make Thee greater than the sun. As a
punishment I decree that thou mayest keep but one-sixtieth of thy
light." The moon made supplication: "Shall I be punished so severely
for having spoken a single word?" God relented: "In the future world I
will restore thy light, so that thy light may again be as the light of
the sun." The moon was not yet satisfied. "O Lord," she said, "and the
light of the sun, how great will it be in that day?" Then the wrath of
God was once more enkindled: "What, thou still plottest against the
sun? As thou livest, in the world to come his light shall be sevenfold
the light he now sheds."[100] The Sun runs his course like a
bridegroom. He sits upon a throne with a garland on his head.[101]
Ninety-six angels accompany him on his daily journey, in relays of
eight every hour, two to the left of him, and two to the right, two
before Him, and two behind. Strong as he is, he could complete his
course from south to north in a single instant, but three hundred and
sixty-five angels restrain him by means of as many grappling-irons.
Every day one looses his hold, and the sun must thus spend three
hundred and sixty-five days on his course. The progress of the sun in
his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song
alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid
the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of
praise hushed, the sun stood still.[102]

The sun is double-faced; one face, of fire, is directed toward the
earth, and one of hail, toward heaven, to cool off the prodigious heat
that streams from the other face, else the earth would catch afire. In
winter the sun turns his fiery face upward, and thus the cold is
produced.[103] When the sun descends in the west in the evening, he
dips down into the ocean and takes a bath, his fire is extinguished,
and therefore he dispenses neither light nor warmth during the night.
But as soon as he reaches the east in the morning, he laves himself in
a stream of flame, which imparts warmth and light to him, and these he
sheds over the earth. In the same way the moon and the stars take a
bath in a stream of hail before they enter upon their service for the
night.[104]

When the sun and the moon are ready to start upon their round of
duties, they appear before God, and beseech him to relieve them of
their task, so that they may be spared the sight of sinning mankind.
Only upon compulsion they proceed with their daily course. Coming from
the presence of God, they are blinded by the radiance in the heavens,
and they cannot find their way. God, therefore, shoots off arrows, by
the glittering light of which they are guided. It is on account of the
sinfulness of man, which the sun is forced to contemplate on his
rounds, that he grows weaker as the time of his going down approaches,
for sins have a defiling and enfeebling effect, and he drops from the
horizon as a sphere of blood, for blood is the sign of corruption.[105]
As the sun sets forth on his course in the morning, his wings touch the
leaves on the trees of Paradise, and their vibration is communicated to
the angels and the holy Hayyot, to the other plants, and also to the
trees and plants on earth, and to all the beings on earth and in
heaven. It is the signal for them all to cast their eyes upward. As
soon as they see the Ineffable Name, which is engraved in the sun, they
raise their voices in songs of praise to God. At the same moment a
heavenly voice is heard to say, "Woe to the sons of men that consider
not the honor of God like unto these creatures whose voices now rise
aloft in adoration."[106] These words, naturally, are not heard by men;
as little as they perceive the grating of the sun against the wheel to
which all the celestial bodies are attached, although the noise it
makes is extraordinarily loud.[107] This friction of the sun and the
wheel produces the motes dancing about in the sunbeams. They are the
carriers of healing to the sick,[108] the only health-giving creations
of the fourth day, on the whole an unfortunate day, especially for
children, afflicting them with disease.[109] When God punished the
envious moon by diminishing her light and splendor, so that she ceased
to be the equal of the sun as she had been originally,[110] she
fell,[111] and tiny threads were loosed from her body. These are the
stars.[112]

THE FIFTH DAY

On the fifth day of creation God took fire[118] and water, and out of
these two elements He made the fishes of the sea.[114] The animals in
the water are much more numerous than those on land. For every species
on land, excepting only the weasel, there is a corresponding species in
the water, and, besides, there are many found only in the water.[115]

The ruler over the sea-animals is leviathan.[116] With all the other
fishes he was made on the fifth day.[117] Originally he was created
male and female like all the other animals. But when it appeared that a
pair of these monsters might annihilate the whole earth with their
united strength, God killed the female.[119] So enormous is leviathan
that to quench his thirst he needs all the water that flows from the
Jordan into the sea.[119] His food consists of the fish which go
between his jaws of their own accord.[120] When he is hungry, a hot
breath blows from his nostrils, and it makes the waters of the great
sea seething hot. Formidable though behemot, the other monster, is, he
feels insecure until he is certain that leviathan has satisfied his
thirst.[121] The only thing that can keep him in check is the
stickleback, a little fish which was created for the purpose, and of
which he stands in great awe.[122] But leviathan is more than merely
large and strong; he is wonderfully made besides. His fins radiate
brilliant light, the very sun is obscured by it,[123] and also his eyes
shed such splendor that frequently the sea is illuminated suddenly by
it.[121] No wonder that this marvellous beast is the plaything of God,
in whom He takes His pastime.[124]

There is but one thing that makes leviathan repulsive, his foul smell:
which is so strong that if it penetrated thither, it would render
Paradise itself an impossible abode.[125]

The real purpose of leviathan is to be served up as a dainty to the
pious in the world to come. The female was put into brine as soon as
she was killed, to be preserved against the time when her flesh will be
needed.[126] The male is destined to offer a delectable sight to all
beholders before he is consumed. When his last hour arrives, God will
summon the angels to enter into combat with the monster. But no sooner
will leviathan cast his glance at them than they will flee in fear and
dismay from the field of battle. They will return to the charge with
swords, but in vain, for his scales can turn back steel like straw.
They will be equally unsuccessful when they attempt to kill him by
throwing darts and slinging stones; such missiles will rebound without
leaving the least impression on his body. Disheartened, the angels will
give up the combat, and God will command leviathan and behemot to enter
into a duel with each other. The issue will be that both will drop
dead, behemot slaughtered by a blow of leviathan's fins, and leviathan
killed by a lash of behemot's tail. From the skin of leviathan God will
construct tents to shelter companies of the pious while they enjoy the
dishes made of his flesh. The amount assigned to each of the pious will
be in proportion to his deserts, and none will envy or begrudge the
other his better share. What is left of leviathan's skin will be
stretched out over Jerusalem as a canopy, and the light streaming from
it will illumine the whole world, and what is left of his flesh after
the pious have appeased their appetite, will be distributed among the
rest of men, to carry on traffic therewith.[127]

On the same day with the fishes, the birds were created, for these two
kinds of animals are closely related to each other. Fish are fashioned
out of water, and birds out of marshy ground saturated with water.[128]

As leviathan is the king of fishes, so the ziz is appointed to rule
over the birds.[129] His name comes from the variety of tastes his
flesh has; it tastes like this, zeh, and like that, zeh.[130] The ziz
is as monstrous of size as leviathan himself. His ankles rest on the
earth, and his head reaches to the very sky.[121]

It once happened that travellers on a vessel noticed a bird. As he
stood in the water, it merely covered his feet, and his head knocked
against the sky. The onlookers thought the water could not have any
depth at that point, and they prepared to take a bath there. A heavenly
voice warned them: "Alight not here! Once a carpenter's axe slipped
from his hand at this spot, and it took it seven years to touch
bottom." The bird the travellers saw was none other than the ziz.[132]
His wings are so huge that unfurled they darken the sun.[133] They
protect the earth against the storms of the south; without their aid
the earth would not be able to resist the winds blowing thence.[134]
Once an egg of the ziz fell to the ground and broke. The fluid from it
flooded sixty cities, and the shock crushed three hundred cedars.
Fortunately such accidents do not occur frequently. As a rule the bird
lets her eggs slide gently into her nest. This one mishap was due to
the fact that the egg was rotten, and the bird cast it away carelessly.
The ziz has another name, Renanin,[135] because he is the celestial
singer.[136] On account of his relation to the heavenly regions he is
also called Sekwi, the seer, and, besides, he is called "son of the
nest,"[137] because his fledgling birds break away from the shell
without being hatched by the mother bird; they spring directly from the
nest, as it were.[138] Like leviathan, so ziz is a delicacy to be
served to the pious at the end of time, to compensate them for the
privations which abstaining from the unclean fowls imposed upon
them.[139]

THE SIXTH DAY

As the fish were formed out of water, and the birds out of boggy earth
well mixed with water, so the mammals were formed out of solid
earth,[140] and as leviathan is the most notable representative of the
fish kind, and ziz of the bird kind, so behemot is the most notable
representative of the mammal kind. Behemot matches leviathan in
strength, and he had to be prevented, like leviathan, from multiplying
and increasing, else the world could not have continued to exist; after
God had created him male and female, He at once deprived him of the
desire to propagate his kind.[141] He is so monstrous that he requires
the produce of a thousand mountains for his daily food. All the water
that flows through the bed of the Jordan in a year suffices him exactly
for one gulp. It therefore was necessary to give him one stream
entirely for his own use, a stream flowing forth from Paradise, called
Yubal.[142] Behemot, too, is destined to be served to the pious as an
appetizing dainty, but before they enjoy his flesh, they will be
permitted to view the mortal combat between leviathan and behemot, as a
reward for having denied themselves the pleasures of the circus and its
gladiatorial contests.[143]

Leviathan, ziz, and behemot are not the only monsters; there are many
others, and marvellous ones, like the reem, a giant animal, of which
only one couple, male and female, is in existence. Had there been more,
the world could hardly have maintained itself against them. The act of
copulation occurs but once in seventy years between them, for God has
so ordered it that the male and female reem are at opposite ends of the
earth, the one in the east, the other in the west. The act of
copulation results in the death of the male. He is bitten by the female
and dies of the bite. The female becomes pregnant and remains in this
state for no less than twelve years. At the end of this long period she
gives birth to twins, a male and a female. The year preceding her
delivery she is not able to move. She would die of hunger, were it not
that her own spittle flowing copiously from her mouth waters and
fructifies the earth near her, and causes it to bring forth enough for
her maintenance. For a whole year the animal can but roll from side to
side, until finally her belly bursts, and the twins issue forth. Their
appearance is thus the signal for the death of the mother reem. She
makes room for the new generation, which in turn is destined to suffer
the same fate as the generation that went before. Immediately after
birth, the one goes eastward and the other westward, to meet only after
the lapse of seventy years, propagate themselves, and perish.[144] A
traveller who once saw a reem one day old described its height to be
four parasangs, and the length of its head one parasang and a
half.[145] Its horns measure one hundred ells, and their height is a
great deal more.[146]

One of the most remarkable creatures is the "man of the mountain," Adne
Sadeh, or, briefly, Adam.[147] His form is exactly that of a human
being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel-string,
upon which his life depends. The cord once snapped, he dies. This
animal keeps himself alive with what is produced by the soil around
about him as far as his tether permits him to crawl. No creature may
venture to approach within the radius of his cord, for he seizes and
demolishes whatever comes in his reach. To kill him, one may not go
near to him, the navel-string must be severed from a distance by means
of a dart, and then he dies amid groans and moans.[143] Once upon a
time a traveller happened in the region where this animal is found. He
overheard his host consult his wife as to what to do to honor their
guest, and resolve to serve "our man," as he said. Thinking he had
fallen among cannibals, the stranger ran as fast as his feet could
carry him from his entertainer, who sought vainly to restrain him.
Afterward, he found out that there had been no intention of regaling
him with human flesh, but only with the flesh of the strange animal
called "man."[146] As the "man of the mountain" is fixed to the ground
by his navel-string, so the barnacle-goose is grown to a tree by its
bill. It is hard to say whether it is an animal and must be slaughtered
to be fit for food, or whether it is a plant and no ritual ceremony is
necessary before eating it.[150]

Among the birds the phoenix is the most wonderful. When Eve gave all
the animals some of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the phoenix was
the only bird that refused to eat thereof, and he was rewarded with
eternal life. When he has lived a thousand years, his body shrinks, and
the feathers drop from it, until he is as small as an egg. This is the
nucleus of the new bird.[151]

The phoenix is also called "the guardian of the terrestrial sphere." He
runs with the sun on his circuit, and he spreads out his wings and
catches up the fiery rays of the sun.[152] If he were not there to
intercept them, neither man nor any other animate being would keep
alive. On his right wing the following words are inscribed in huge
letters,[153] about four thousand stadia high: "Neither the earth
produces me, nor the heavens, but only the wings of fire." His food
consists of the manna of heaven and the dew of the earth. His excrement
is a worm, whose excrement in turn is the cinnamon used by kings and
princes.[152] Enoch, who saw the phoenix birds when he was translated,
describes them as flying creatures, wonderful and strange in
appearance, with the feet and tails of lions, and the heads of
crocodiles; their appearance is of a purple color like the rainbow;
their size nine hundred measures. Their wings are like those of angels,
each having twelve, and they attend the chariot of the sun and go with
him, bringing heat and dew as they are ordered by God. In the morning
when the sun starts on his daily course, the phoenixes and the
chalkidri[154] sing, and every bird flaps its wings, rejoicing the
Giver of light, and they sing a song at the command of the Lord.[155]
Among reptiles the salamander and the shamir are the most marvellous.
The salamander originates from a fire of myrtle wood[156] which has
been kept burning for seven years steadily by means of magic arts. Not
bigger than a mouse, it yet is invested with peculiar properties. One
who smears himself with its blood is invulnerable,[157] and the web
woven by it is a talisman against fire.[158] The people who lived at
the deluge boasted that, were a fire flood to come, they would protect
themselves with the blood of the salamander.[159]

King Hezekiah owes his life to the salamander. His wicked father, King
Ahaz, had delivered him to the fires of Moloch, and he would have been
burnt, had his mother not painted him with the blood of the salamander,
so that the fire could do him no harm.[160]

The shamir was made at twilight on the sixth day of creation together
with other extraordinary things.[161] It is about as large as a barley
corn, and it possesses the remarkable property of cutting the hardest
of diamonds. For this reason it was used for the stones in the
breastplate worn by the high priest. First the names of the twelve
tribes were traced with ink on the stones to be set into the
breastplate, then the shamir was passed over the lines, and thus they
were graven. The wonderful circumstance was that the friction wore no
particles from the stones. The shamir was also used for hewing into
shape the stones from which the Temple was built, because the law
prohibited iron tools to be used for the work in the Temple.[162] The
shamir may not be put in an iron vessel for safe-keeping, nor in any
metal vessel, it would burst such a receptacle asunder. It is kept
wrapped up in a woollen cloth, and this in turn is placed in a lead
basket filled with barley bran.[163] The shamir was guarded in Paradise
until Solomon needed it. He sent the eagle thither to fetch the
worm.[164] With the destruction of the Temple the shamir vanished.[165]
A similar fate overtook the tahash, which had been created only that
its skin might be used for the Tabernacle. Once the Tabernacle was
completed, the tahash disappeared. It had a horn on its forehead, was
gaily colored like the turkey-cock, and belonged to the class of clean
animals.[166] Among the fishes there are also wonderful creatures, the
sea-goats and the dolphins, not to mention leviathan. A sea-faring man
once saw a sea-goat on whose horns the words were inscribed: "I am a
little sea-animal, yet I traversed three hundred parasangs to offer
myself as food to the leviathan."[167] The dolphins are half man and
half fish; they even have sexual intercourse with human beings;
therefore they are called also "sons of the sea," for in a sense they
represent the human kind in the waters.[163]

Though every species in the animal world was created during the last
two days of the six of creation,[169] yet many characteristics of
certain animals appeared later. Cats and mice, foes now, were friends
originally. Their later enmity had a distinct cause. On one occasion
the mouse appeared before God and spoke: "I and the cat are partners,
but now we have nothing to eat." The Lord answered: "Thou art
intriguing against thy companion, only that thou mayest devour her. As
a punishment, she shall devour thee." Thereupon the mouse: "O Lord of
the world, wherein have I done wrong?" God replied: "O thou unclean
reptile, thou shouldst have been warned by the example of the moon, who
lost a part of her light, because she spake ill of the sun, and what
she lost was given to her opponent.[170] The evil intentions thou didst
harbor against thy companion shall be punished in the same way. Instead
of thy devouring her, she shall devour thee." The mouse: "O Lord of the
world! Shall my whole kind be destroyed?" God: "I will take care that a
remnant of thee is spared." In her rage the mouse bit the cat, and the
cat in turn threw herself upon the mouse, and hacked into her with her
teeth until she lay dead. Since that moment the mouse stands in such
awe of the cat that she does not even attempt to defend herself against
her enemy's attacks, and always keeps herself in hiding.[171] Similarly
dogs and cats maintained a friendly relation to each other, and only
later on became enemies. A dog and a cat were partners, and they shared
with each other whatever they had. It once happened that neither could
find anything to eat for three days. Thereupon the dog proposed that
they dissolve their partnership. The cat should go to Adam, in whose
house there would surely be enough for her to eat, while the dog should
seek his fortune elsewhere. Before they separated, they took an oath
never to go to the same master. The cat took up her abode with Adam,
and she found sufficient mice in his house to satisfy her appetite.
Seeing how useful she was in driving away and extirpating mice, Adam
treated her most kindly. The dog, on the other hand, saw bad times. The
first night after their separation he spent in the cave of the wolf,
who had granted him a night's lodging. At night the dog caught the
sound of steps, and he reported it to his host, who bade him repulse
the intruders. They were wild animals. Little lacked and the dog would
have lost his life. Dismayed, the dog fled from the house of the wolf,
and took refuge with the monkey. But he would not grant him even a
single night's lodging; and the fugitive was forced to appeal to the
hospitality of the sheep. Again the dog heard steps in the middle of
the night. Obeying the bidding of his host, he arose to chase away the
marauders, who turned out to be wolves. The barking of the dog apprised
the wolves of the presence of sheep, so that the dog innocently caused
the sheep's death. Now he had lost his last friend. Night after night
he begged for shelter, without ever finding a home. Finally, he decided
to repair to the house of Adam, who also granted him refuge for one
night. When wild animals approached the house under cover of darkness,
the dog began to bark, Adam awoke, and with his bow and arrow he drove
them away. Recognizing the dog's usefulness, he bade him remain with
him always. But as soon as the cat espied the dog in Adam's house, she
began to quarrel with him, and reproach him with having broken his oath
to her. Adam did his best to pacify the cat. He told her he had himself
invited the dog to make his home there, and he assured her she would in
no wise be the loser by the dog's presence; he wanted both to stay with
him. But it was impossible to appease the cat. The dog promised her not
to touch anything intended for her. She insisted that she could not
live in one and the same house with a thief like the dog. Bickerings
between the dog and the cat became the order of the day. Finally the
dog could stand it no longer, and he left Adam's house, and betook
himself to Seth's. By Seth he was welcomed kindly, and from Seth's
house, he continued to make efforts at reconciliation with the cat. In
vain. Yes, the enmity between the first dog and the first cat was
transmitted to all their descendants until this very day.[172]

Even the physical peculiarities of certain animals were not original
features with them, but owed their existence to something that occurred
subsequent to the days of creation. The mouse at first had quite a
different mouth from its present mouth. In Noah's ark, in which all
animals, to ensure the preservation of every kind, lived together
peaceably, the pair of mice were once sitting next to the cat. Suddenly
the latter remembered that her father was in the habit of devouring
mice, and thinking there was no harm in following his example, she
jumped at the mouse, who vainly looked for a hole into which to slip
out of sight. Then a miracle happened; a hole appeared where none had
been before, and the mouse sought refuge in it. The cat pursued the
mouse, and though she could not follow her into the hole, she could
insert her paw and try to pull the mouse out of her covert. Quickly the
mouse opened her mouth in the hope that the paw would go into it, and
the cat would be prevented from fastening her claws in her flesh. But
as the cavity of the mouth was not big enough, the cat succeeded in
clawing the cheeks of the mouse. Not that this helped her much, it
merely widened the mouth of the mouse, and her prey after all escaped
the cat.[173] After her happy escape, the mouse betook herself to Noah
and said to him, "O pious man, be good enough to sew up my cheek where
my enemy, the cat, has torn a rent in it." Noah bade her fetch a hair
out of the tail of the swine, and with this he repaired the damage.
Thence the little seam-like line next to the mouth of every mouse to
this very day.[174]

The raven is another animal that changed its appearance during its
sojourn in the ark. When Noah desired to send him forth to find out
about the state of the waters, he hid under the wings of the eagle.
Noah found him, however, and said to him, "Go and see whether the
waters have diminished." The raven pleaded: "Hast thou none other among
all the birds to send on this errand?" Noah: "My power extends no
further than over thee and the dove."[175] But the raven was not
satisfied. He said to Noah with great insolence: "Thou sendest me forth
only that I may meet my death, and thou wishest my death that my wife
may be at thy service."[176] Thereupon Noah cursed the raven thus: "May
thy mouth, which has spoken evil against me, be accursed, and thy
intercourse with thy wife be only through it."[177] All the animals in
the ark said Amen. And this is the reason why a mass of spittle runs
from the mouth of the male raven into the mouth of the female during
the act of copulation, and only thus the female is impregnated.[178]
Altogether the raven is an unattractive animal. He is unkind toward his
own young so long as their bodies are not covered with black
feathers,[179] though as a rule ravens love one another.[180] God
therefore takes the young ravens under His special protection. From
their own excrement maggots come forth,[181] which serve as their food
during the three days that elapse after their birth, until their white
feathers turn black and their parents recognize them as their offspring
and care for them.[182]

The raven has himself to blame also for the awkward hop in his gait. He
observed the graceful step of the dove, and envious of her tried to
enmulate it. The outcome was that he almost broke his bones without in
the least succeeding in making himself resemble the dove, not to
mention that he brought the scorn of the other animals down upon
himself. His failure excited their ridicule. Then he decided to return
to his own original gait, but in the interval he had unlearnt it, and
he could walk neither the one way nor the other properly. His step had
become a hop betwixt and between. Thus we see how true it is, that he
who is dissatisfied with his small portion loses the little he has in
striving for more and better things.[163]

The steer is also one of the animals that have suffered a change in the
course of time. Originally his face was entirely overgrown with hair,
but now there is none on his nose, and that is because Joshua kissed
him on his nose during the siege of Jericho. Joshua was an exceedingly
heavy man. Horses, donkeys, and mules, none could bear him, they all
broke down under his weight. What they could not do, the steer
accomplished. On his back Joshua rode to the siege of Jericho, and in
gratitude he bestowed a kiss upon his nose.[134]

The serpent, too, is other than it was at first. Before the fall of man
it was the cleverest of all animals created, and in form it resembled
man closely. It stood upright, and was of extraordinary size.[185]
Afterward, it lost the mental advantages it had possessed as compared
with other animals, and it degenerated physically, too; it was deprived
of its feet, so that it could not pursue other animals and kill them.
The mole and the frog had to be made harmless in similar ways; the
former has no eyes, else it were irresistible, and the frog has no
teeth, else no animal in the water were sure of its life.[186]

While the cunning of the serpent wrought its own undoing, the cunning
of the fox stood him in good stead in many an embarrassing situation.
After Adam had committed the sin of disobedience, God delivered the
whole of the animal world into the power of the Angel of Death, and He
ordered him to cast one pair of each kind into the water. He and
leviathan together thus have dominion over all that has life. When the
Angel of Death was in the act of executing the Divine command upon the
fox, he began to weep bitterly. The Angel of Death asked him the reason
of his tears, and the fox replied that he was mourning the sad fate of
his friend. At the same time he pointed to the figure of a fox in the
sea, which was nothing but his own reflection. The Angel of Death,
persuaded that a representative of the fox family had been cast into
the water, let him go free. The fox told his trick to the cat, and she
in turn played it on the Angel of Death.[187] So it happened that
neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while all other
animals are.[188]

When leviathan passed the animals in review, and missing the fox was
informed of the sly way in which he had eluded his authority, he
dispatched great and powerful fish on the errand of enticing the truant
into the water. The fox walking along the shore espied the large number
of fish, and he exclaimed, "How happy he who may always satisfy his
hunger with the flesh of such as these." The fish told him, if he would
but follow them, his appetite could easily be appeased. At the same
time they informed him that a great honor awaited him. Leviathan, they
said, was at death's door, and he had commissioned them to install the
fox as his successor. They were ready to carry him on their backs, so
that he had no need to fear the water, and thus they would convey him
to the throne, which stood upon a huge rock. The fox yielded to these
persuasions, and descended into the water. Presently an uncomfortable
feeling took possession of him. He began to suspect that the tables
were turned; he was being made game of instead of making game of others
as usual. He urged the fish to tell him the truth, and they admitted
that they had been sent out to secure his person for leviathan, who
wanted his heart,[189] that he might become as knowing as the fox,
whose wisdom he had heard many extol. The fox said reproachfully: "Why
did you not tell me the truth at once? Then I could have brought my
heart along with me for King Leviathan, who would have showered honors
upon me. As it is, you will surely suffer punishment for bringing me
without my heart. The foxes, you see," he continued, "do not carry
their hearts around with them. They keep them in a safe place, and when
they have need of them, they fetch them thence." The fish quickly swam
to shore, and landed the fox, so that he might go for his heart. No
sooner did he feel dry land under his feet than he began to jump and
shout, and when they urged him to go in search of his heart, and follow
them, he said: "O ye fools, could I have followed you into the water,
if I had not had my heart with me? Or exists there a creature able to
go abroad without his heart?" The fish replied: "Come, come, thou art
fooling us." Whereupon the fox: "O ye fools, if I could play a trick on
the Angel of Death, how much easier was it to make game of you?" So
they had to return, their errand undone, and leviathan could not but
confirm the taunting judgment of the fox: "In very truth, the fox is
wise of heart, and ye are fools."[190]

ALL THINGS PRAISE THE LORD

"Whatever God created has value." Even the animals and the insects that
seem useless and noxious at first sight have a vocation to fulfil. The
snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up
its vitality, serves as a remedy for boils. The sting of a hornet is
healed by the house-fly crushed and applied to the wound. The gnat,
feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it, is a specific
against the poison of a viper, and this venomous reptile itself cures
eruptions, while the lizard is the antidote to the scorpion.[191] Not
only do all creatures serve man, and contribute to his comfort, but
also God "teacheth us through the beasts of the earth, and maketh us
wise through the fowls of heaven." He endowed many animals with
admirable moral qualities as a pattern for man. If the Torah had not
been revealed to us, we might have learnt regard for the decencies of
life from the cat, who covers her excrement with earth; regard for the
property of others from the ants, who never encroach upon one another's
stores; and regard for decorous conduct from the cock, who, when he
desires to unite with the hen, promises to buy her a cloak long enough
to reach to the ground, and when the hen reminds him of his promise, he
shakes his comb and says, "May I be deprived of my comb, if I do not
buy it when I have the means." The grasshopper also has a lesson to
teach to man. All the summer through it sings, until its belly bursts,
and death claims it. Though it knows the fate that awaits it, yet it
sings on. So man should do his duty toward God, no matter what the
consequences. The stork should be taken as a model in two respects. He
guards the purity of his family life zealously, and toward his fellows
he is compassionate and merciful. Even the frog can be the teacher of
man. By the side of the water there lives a species of animals which
subsist off aquatic creatures alone. When the frog notices that one of
them is hungry, he goes to it of his own accord, and offers himself as
food, thus fulfilling the injunction, "If thine enemy be hungry, give
him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."[192]

The whole of creation was called into existence by God unto His
glory,[193] and each creature has its own hymn of praise wherewith to
extol the Creator. Heaven and earth, Paradise and hell, desert and
field, rivers and seas—all have their own way of paying homage to God.
The hymn of the earth is, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we
heard songs, glory to the Righteous." The sea exclaims, "Above the
voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high
is mighty."

Also the celestial bodies and the elements proclaim the praise of their
Creator—the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and the winds, lightning
and dew. The sun says, "The sun and moon stood still in their
habitation, at the light of Thine arrows as they went, at the shining
of Thy glittering spear"; and the stars sing, "Thou art the Lord, even
Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all
that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
worshippeth Thee."

Every plant, furthermore, has a song of praise. The fruitful tree
sings, "Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy, before the
Lord, for He cometh; for He cometh to judge the earth"; and the ears of
grain on the field sing, "The pastures are covered with flocks; the
valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also
sing."

Great among singers of praise are the birds, and greatest among them is
the cock. When God at midnight goes to the pious in Paradise, all the
trees therein break out into adoration, and their songs awaken the
cock, who begins in turn to praise God. Seven times he crows, each time
reciting a verse. The first verse is: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle." The second verse: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King
of glory." The third: "Arise, ye righteous, and occupy yourselves with
the Torah, that your reward may be abundant in the world hereafter."
The fourth: "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!" The fifth: "How
long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy
sleep?" The sixth: "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open
thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread." And the seventh
verse sung by the cock runs: "It is time to work for the Lord, for they
have made void Thy law."

The song of the vulture is: "I will hiss for them, and gather them; for
I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have
increased"—the same verse with which the bird will in time to come
announce the advent of the Messiah, the only difference being, that
when he heralds the Messiah he will sit upon the ground and sing his
verse, while at all other times he is seated elsewhere when he sings
it.

Nor do the other animals praise God less than the birds. Even the
beasts of prey give forth adoration. The lion says: "The Lord shall go
forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He
shall cry, yea, He shall shout aloud; He shall do mightily against his
enemies." And the fox exhorts unto justice with the words: "Woe unto
him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth
him not his hire."

Yea, the dumb fishes know how to proclaim the praise of their Lord.
"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters," they say, "the God of glory
thundereth, even the Lord upon many waters"; while the frog exclaims,
"Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever."

Contemptible though they are, even the reptiles give praise unto their
Creator. The mouse extols God with the words: "Howbeit Thou art just in
all that is come upon me; for Thou hast dealt truly, but I have done
wickedly." And the cat sings: "Let everything that hath breath praise
the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."[194]




II
ADAM

MAN AND THE WORLD

With ten Sayings God created the world, although a single Saying would
have sufficed. God desired to make known how severe is the punishment
to be meted out to the wicked, who destroy a world created with as many
as ten Sayings, and how goodly the reward destined for the righteous,
who preserve a world created with as many as ten Sayings.[1]

The world was made for man, though he was the last-comer among its
creatures. This was design. He was to find all things ready for him.
God was the host who prepared dainty dishes, set the table, and then
led His guest to his seat. At the same time man's late appearance on
earth is to convey an admonition to humility. Let him beware of being
proud, lest he invite the retort that the gnat is older than he.[2]

The superiority of man to the other creatures is apparent in the very
manner of his creation, altogether different from theirs. He is the
only one who was created by the hand of God.[3] The rest sprang from
the word of God. The body of man is a microcosm, the whole world in
miniature, and the world in turn is a reflex of man. The hair upon his
head corresponds to the woods of the earth, his tears to a river, his
mouth to the ocean.[4] Also, the world resembles the ball of his eye:
the ocean that encircles the earth is like unto the white of the eye,
the dry land is the iris, Jerusalem the pupil, and the Temple the image
mirrored in the pupil of the eye.[5] But man is more than a mere image
of this world. He unites both heavenly and earthly qualities within
himself. In four he resembles the angels, in four the beasts. His power
of speech, his discriminating intellect, his upright walk, the glance
of his eye—they all make an angel of him. But, on the other hand, he
eats and drinks, secretes the waste matter in his body, propagates his
kind, and dies, like the beast of the field. Therefore God said before
the creation of man: "The celestials are not propagated, but they are
immortal; the beings on earth are propagated, but they die. I will
create man to be the union of the two, so that when he sins, when he
behaves like a beast, death shall overtake him; but if he refrains from
sin, he shall live forever."[6] God now bade all beings in heaven and
on earth contribute to the creation of man, and He Himself took part in
it. Thus they all will love man, and if he should sin, they will be
interested in his preservation.[7]

The whole world naturally was created for the pious, the God-fearing
man, whom Israel produces with the helpful guidance of the law of God
revealed to him.[8] It was, therefore, Israel who was taken into
special consideration at the time man was made. All other creatures
were instructed to change their nature, if Israel should ever need
their help in the course of his history. The sea was ordered to divide
before Moses, and the heavens to give ear to the words of the leader;
the sun and the moon were bidden to stand still before Joshua, the
ravens to feed Elijah, the fire to spare the three youths in the
furnace, the lion to do no harm to Daniel, the fish to spew forth
Jonah, and the heavens to open before Ezekiel.[9]

In His modesty, God took counsel with the angels, before the creation
of the world, regarding His intention of making man. He said: "For the
sake of Israel, I will create the world. As I shall make a division
between light and darkness, so I will in time to come do for Israel in
Egypt—thick darkness shall be over the land, and the children of Israel
shall have light in their dwellings; as I shall make a separation
between the waters under the firmament and the waters above the
firmament, so I will do for Israel—I will divide the waters for him
when he crosses the Red Sea; as on the third day I shall create plants,
so I will do for Israel—I will bring forth manna for him in the
wilderness; as I shall create luminaries to divide day from night, so I
will do for Israel—I will go before him by day in a pillar of cloud and
by night in a pillar of fire; as I shall create the fowl of the air and
the fishes of the sea, so I will do for Israel—I will bring quails for
him from the sea; and as I shall breathe the breath of life into the
nostrils of man, so I will do for Israel—I will give the Torah unto
him, the tree of life." The angels marvelled that so much love should
be lavished upon this people of Israel, and God told them: "On the
first day of creation, I shall make the heavens and stretch them out;
so will Israel raise up the Tabernacle as the dwelling-place of My
glory. On the second day, I shall put a division between the
terrestrial waters and the heavenly waters; so will he hang up a veil
in the Tabernacle to divide the Holy Place and the Most Holy. On the
third day, I shall make the earth put forth grass and herb; so will he,
in obedience to My commands, eat herbs on the first night of the
Passover, and prepare showbread for Me. On the fourth day, I shall make
the luminaries; so will he make a golden candlestick for Me. On the
fifth day, I shall create the birds; so will he fashion the cherubim
with outstretched wings. On the sixth day, I shall create man; so will
Israel set aside a man of the sons of Aaron as high priest for My
service."[10]

Accordingly, the whole of creation was conditional. God said to the
things He made on the first six days: "If Israel accepts the Torah, you
will continue and endure; otherwise, I shall turn everything back into
chaos again." The whole world was thus kept in suspense and dread until
the day of the revelation on Sinai, when Israel received and accepted
the Torah, and so fulfilled the condition made by God at the time when
He created the universe.[11]

THE ANGELS AND THE CREATION OF MAN

God in His wisdom hiving resolved to create man, He asked counsel of
all around Him before He proceeded to execute His purpose—an example to
man, be he never so great and distinguished, not to scorn the advice of
the humble and lowly. First God called upon heaven and earth, then upon
all other things He had created, and last upon the angels.

The angels were not all of one opinion. The Angel of Love favored the
creation of man, because he would be affectionate and loving; but the
Angel of Truth opposed it, because he would be full of lies. And while
the Angel of Justice favored it, because he would practice justice, the
Angel of Peace opposed it, because he would be quarrelsome.

To invalidate his protest, God cast the Angel of Truth down from heaven
to earth, and when the others cried out against such contemptuous
treatment of their companion, He said, "Truth will spring back out of
the earth."

The objections of the angels would have been much stronger, had they
known the whole truth about man. God had told them only about the
pious, and had concealed from them that there would be reprobates among
mankind, too. And yet, though they knew but half the truth, the angels
were nevertheless prompted to cry out: "What is man, that Thou art
mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" God
replied: "The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, what were they
created for? Of what avail a larder full of appetizing dainties, and no
guest to enjoy them?" And the angels could not but exclaim: "O Lord,
our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Do as is pleasing
in Thy sight."[12]

For not a few of the angels their opposition bore fatal consequences.
When God summoned the band under the archangel Michael, and asked their
opinion on the creation of man, they answered scornfully: "What is man,
that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest
him?" God thereupon stretched forth His little finger, and all were
consumed by fire except their chief Michael. And the same fate befell
the band under the leadership of the archangel Gabriel; he alone of all
was saved from destruction.

The third band consulted was commanded by the archangel Labbiel. Taught
by the horrible fate of his predecessors, he warned his troop: "You
have seen what misfortune overtook the angels who said 'What is man,
that Thou art mindful of him?' Let us have a care not to do likewise,
lest we suffer the same dire punishment. For God will not refrain from
doing in the end what He has planned. Therefore it is advisable for us
to yield to His wishes." Thus warned, the angels spoke: "Lord of the
world, it is well that Thou hast thought of creating man. Do Thou
create him according to Thy will. And as for us, we will be his
attendants and his ministers, and reveal unto him all our secrets."
Thereupon God changed Labbiel's name to Raphael, the Rescuer, because
his host of angels had been rescued by his sage advice. He was
appointed the Angel of Healing, who has in his safe-keeping all the
celestial remedies, the types of the medical remedies used on
earth.[12]

THE CREATION OF ADAM

When at last the assent of the angels to the creation of man was given,
God said to Gabriel: "Go and fetch Me dust from the four corners of the
earth, and I will create man therewith." Gabriel went forth to do the
bidding of the Lord, but the earth drove him away, and refused to let
him gather up dust from it. Gabriel remonstrated: "Why, O Earth, dost
thou not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, who founded thee upon the
waters without props or pillars?" The earth replied, and said: "I am
destined to become a curse, and to be cursed through man, and if God
Himself does not take the dust from me, no one else shall ever do it."
When God heard this, He stretched out His hand, took of the dust of the
ground, and created the first man therewith.[14] Of set purpose the
dust was taken from all four corners of the earth, so that if a man
from the east should happen to die in the west, or a man from the west
in the east, the earth should not dare refuse to receive the dead, and
tell him to go whence he was taken. Wherever a man chances to die, and
wheresoever he is buried, there will he return to the earth from which
he sprang. Also, the dust was of various colors—red, black, white, and
green—red for the blood, black for the bowels, white for the bones and
veins, and green for the pale skin.

At this early moment the Torah interfered. She addressed herself to
God: "O Lord of the world! The world is Thine, Thou canst do with it as
seemeth good in Thine eyes. But the man Thou art now creating will be
few of days and full of trouble and sin. If it be not Thy purpose to
have forbearance and patience with him, it were better not to call him
into being." God replied, "Is it for naught I am called long-suffering
and merciful?"[15]

The grace and lovingkindness of God revealed themselves particularly in
His taking one spoonful of dust from the spot where in time to come the
altar would stand, saying, "I shall take man from the place of
atonement, that he may endure."[19]

THE SOUL OF MAN

The care which God exercised in fashioning every detail of the body of
man is as naught in comparison with His solicitude for the human soul.
The soul of man was created on the first day, for it is the spirit of
God moving upon the face of the waters. Thus, instead of being the
last, man is really the first work of creation.[17]

This spirit, or, to call it by its usual name, the soul of man,
possesses five different powers. By means of one of them she escapes
from the body every night, rises up to heaven, and fetches new life
thence for man.[18]

With the soul of Adam the souls of all the generations of men were
created. They are stored up in a promptuary, in the seventh of the
heavens, whence they are drawn as they are needed for human body after
human body.[19]

The soul and body of man are united in this way: When a woman has
conceived, the Angel of the Night, Lailah, carries the sperm before
God, and God decrees what manner of human being shall become of
it—whether it shall be male or female, strong or weak, rich or poor,
beautiful or ugly, long or short, fat or thin, and what all its other
qualities shall be. Piety and wickedness alone are left to the
determination of man himself. Then God makes a sign to the angel
appointed over the souls, saying, "Bring Me the soul so-and-so, which
is hidden in Paradise, whose name is so-and-so, and whose form is
so-and-so." The angel brings the designated soul, and she bows down
when she appears in the presence of God, and prostrates herself before
Him. At that moment, God issues the command, "Enter this sperm." The
soul opens her mouth, and pleads: "O Lord of the world! I am well
pleased with the world in which I have been living since the day on
which Thou didst call me into being. Why dost Thou now desire to have
me enter this impure sperm, I who am holy and pure, and a part of Thy
glory?" God consoles her: "The world which I shall cause thee to enter
is better than the world in which thou hast lived hitherto, and when I
created thee, it was only for this purpose." The soul is then forced to
enter the sperm against her will, and the angel carries her back to the
womb of the mother. Two angels are detailed to watch that she shall not
leave it, nor drop out of it, and a light is set above her, whereby the
soul can see from one end of the world to the other. In the morning an
angel carries her to Paradise, and shows her the righteous, who sit
there in their glory, with crowns upon their heads. The angel then says
to the soul, "Dost thou know who these are?" She replies in the
negative, and the angel goes on: "These whom thou beholdest here were
formed, like unto thee, in the womb of their mother. When they came
into the world, they observed God's Torah and His commandments.
Therefore they became the partakers of this bliss which thou seest them
enjoy. Know, also thou wilt one day depart from the world below, and if
thou wilt observe God's Torah, then wilt thou be found worthy of
sitting with these pious ones. But if not, thou wilt be doomed to the
other place."

In the evening, the angel takes the soul to hell, and there points out
the sinners whom the Angels of Destruction are smiting with fiery
scourges, the sinners all the while crying out Woe! Woe! but no mercy
is shown unto them. The angel then questions the soul as before, "Dost
thou know who these are?" and as before the reply is negative. The
angel continues: "These who are consumed with fire were created like
unto thee. When they were put into the world, they did not observe
God's Torah and His commandments. Therefore have they come to this
disgrace which thou seest them suffer. Know, thy destiny is also to
depart from the world. Be just, therefore, and not wicked, that thou
mayest gain the future world."

Between morning and evening the angel carries the soul around, and
shows her where she will live and where she will die, and the place
where she will buried, and he takes her through the whole world, and
points out the just and the sinners and all things. In the evening, he
replaces her in the womb of the mother, and there she remains for nine
months.

When the time arrives for her to emerge from the womb into the open
world, the same angel addresses the soul, "The time has come for thee
to go abroad into the open world." The soul demurs, "Why dost thou want
to make me go forth into the open world?" The angel replies: "Know that
as thou wert formed against thy will, so now thou wilt be born against
thy will, and against thy will thou shalt die, and against thy will
thou shalt give account of thyself before the King of kings, the Holy
One, blessed be He." But the soul is reluctant to leave her place. Then
the angel fillips the babe on the nose, extinguishes the light at his
head, and brings him forth into the world against his will. Immediately
the child forgets all his soul has seen and learnt, and he comes into
the world crying, for he loses a place of shelter and security and
rest.

When the time arrives for man to quit this world, the same angel
appears and asks him, "Dost thou recognize me?" And man replies, "Yes;
but why dost thou come to me to-day, and thou didst come on no other
day?" The angel says, "To take thee away from the world, for the time
of thy departure has arrived." Then man falls to weeping, and his voice
penetrates to all ends of the world, yet no creature hears his voice,
except the cock alone. Man remonstrates with the angel, "From two
worlds thou didst take me, and into this world thou didst bring me."
But the angel reminds him: "Did I not tell thee that thou wert formed
against thy will, and thou wouldst be born against thy will, and
against thy will thou wouldst die? And against thy will thou wilt have
to give account and reckoning of thyself before the Holy One, blessed
be He."[20]

THE IDEAL MAN

Like all creatures formed on the six days of creation, Adam came from
the hands of the Creator fully and completely developed. He was not
like a child, but like a man of twenty years of age.[21] The dimensions
of his body were gigantic, reaching from heaven to earth, or, what
amounts to the same, from east to west.[22] Among later generations of
men, there were but few who in a measure resembled Adam in his
extraordinary size and physical perfections. Samson possessed his
strength, Saul his neck, Absalom his hair, Asahel his fleetness of
foot, Uzziah his forehead, Josiah his nostrils, Zedekiah his eyes, and
Zerubbabel his voice. History shows that these physical excellencies
were no blessings to many of their possessors; they invited the ruin of
almost all. Samson's extraordinary strength caused his death; Saul
killed himself by cutting his neck with his own sword; while speeding
swiftly, Asahel was pierced by Abner's spear; Absalom was caught up by
his hair in an oak, and thus suspended met his death; Uzziah was
smitten with leprosy upon his forehead; the darts that killed Josiah
entered through his nostrils, and Zedekiah's eyes were blinded.[23]

The generality of men inherited as little of the beauty as of the
portentous size of their first father. The fairest women compared with
Sarah are as apes compared with a human being. Sarah's relation to Eve
is the same, and, again, Eve was but as an ape compared with Adam. His
person was so handsome that the very sole of his foot obscured the
splendor of the sun.[24]

His spiritual qualities kept pace with his personal charm, for God had
fashioned his soul with particular care. She is the image of God, and
as God fills the world, so the soul fills the human body; as God sees
all things, and is seen by none, so the soul sees, but cannot be seen;
as God guides the world, so the soul guides the body; as God in His
holiness is pure, so is the soul; and as God dwells in secret, so doth
the soul.[25]

When God was about to put a soul into Adam's clod-like body, He said:
"At which point shall I breathe the soul into him? Into the mouth? Nay,
for he will use it to speak ill of his fellow-man. Into the eyes? With
them he will wink lustfully. Into the ears? They will hearken to
slander and blasphemy. I will breathe her into his nostrils; as they
discern the unclean and reject it, and take in the fragrant, so the
pious will shun sin, and will cleave to the words of the Torah"[26]

The perfections of Adam's soul showed themselves as soon as he received
her, indeed, while he was still without life. In the hour that
intervened between breathing a soul into the first man and his becoming
alive, God revealed the whole history of mankind to him. He showed him
each generation and its leaders; each generation and its prophets; each
generation and its teachers; each generation and its scholars; each
generation and its statesmen; each generation and its judges; each
generation and its pious members; each generation and its average,
commonplace members; and each generation and its impious members. The
tale of their years, the number of their days, the reckoning of their
hours, and the measure of their steps, all were made known unto
him.[27]

Of his own free will Adam relinquished seventy of his allotted years.
His appointed span was to be a thousand years, one of the Lord's days.
But he saw that only a single minute of life was apportioned to the
great soul of David, and he made a gift of seventy years to her,
reducing his own years to nine hundred and thirty.'

The wisdom of Adam displayed itself to greatest advantage when he gave
names to the animals. Then it appeared that God, in combating the
arguments of the angels that opposed the creation of man, had spoken
well, when He insisted that man would possess more wisdom than they
themselves. When Adam was barely an hour old, God assembled the whole
world of animals before him and the angels. The latter were called upon
to name the different kinds, but they were not equal to the task. Adam,
however, spoke without hesitation: "O Lord of the world! The proper
name for this animal is ox, for this one horse, for this one lion, for
this one camel." And so he called all in turn by name, suiting the name
to the peculiarity of the animal. Then God asked him what his name was
to be, and he said Adam, because he had been created out of Adamah,
dust of the earth. Again, God asked him His own name, and he said:
"Adonai, Lord, because Thou art Lord over all creatures"—the very name
God had given unto Himself, the name by which the angels call Him, the
name that will remain immutable evermore.[29] But without the gift of
the holy spirit, Adam could not have found names for all; he was in
very truth a prophet, and his wisdom a prophetic quality.[30]

The names of the animals were not the only inheritance handed down by
Adam to the generations after him, for mankind owes all crafts to him,
especially the art of writing, and he was the inventor of all the
seventy languages.[31] And still another task he accomplished for his
descendants. God showed Adam the whole earth, and Adam designated what
places were to be settled later by men, and what places were to remain
waste.[32]

THE FALL OF SATAN

The extraordinary qualities with which Adam was blessed, physical and
spiritual as well, aroused the envy of the angels. They attempted to
consume him with fire, and he would have perished, had not the
protecting hand of God rested upon him, and established peace between
him and the heavenly host.[33] In particular, Satan was jealous of the
first man, and his evil thoughts finally led to his fall. After Adam
had been endowed with a soul, God invited all the angels to come and
pay him reverence and homage. Satan, the greatest of the angels in
heaven, with twelve wings, instead of six like all the others, refused
to pay heed to the behest of God, saying, "Thou didst create us angels
from the splendor of the Shekinah, and now Thou dost command us to cast
ourselves down before the creature which Thou didst fashion out of the
dust of the ground!" God answered, "Yet this dust of the ground has
more wisdom and understanding than thou." Satan demanded a trial of wit
with Adam, and God assented thereto, saying: "I have created beasts,
birds, and reptiles, I shall have them all come before thee and before
Adam. If thou art able to give them names, I shall command Adam to show
honor unto thee, and thou shalt rest next to the Shekinah of My glory.
But if not, and Adam calls them by the names I have assigned to them,
then thou wilt be subject to Adam, and he shall have a place in My
garden, and cultivate it." Thus spake God, and He betook Himself to
Paradise, Satan following Him. When Adam beheld God, he said to his
wife, "O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the
Lord our Maker." Now Satan attempted to assign names to the animals. He
failed with the first two that presented themselves, the ox and the
cow. God led two others before him, the camel and the donkey, with the
same result. Then God turned to Adam, and questioned him regarding the
names of the same animals, framing His questions in such wise that the
first letter of the first word was the same as the first letter of the
name of the animal standing before him. Thus Adam divined the proper
name, and Satan was forced to acknowledge the superiority of the first
man. Nevertheless he broke out in wild outcries that reached the
heavens, and he refused to do homage unto Adam as he had been
bidden.[34] The host of angels led by him did likewise, in spite of the
urgent representations of Michael, who was the first to prostrate
himself before Adam in order to show a good example to the other
angels. Michael addressed Satan: "Give adoration to the image of God!
But if thou doest it not, then the Lord God will break out in wrath
against thee." Satan replied: "If He breaks out in wrath against me, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will be like the Most
High!" At once God flung Satan and his host out of heaven, down to the
earth, and from that moment dates the enmity between Satan and man.'

WOMAN

When Adam opened his eyes the first time, and beheld the world about
him, he broke into praise of God, "How great are Thy works, O Lord!"
But his admiration for the world surrounding him did not exceed the
admiration all creatures conceived for Adam. They took him to be their
creator, and they all came to offer him adoration. But he spoke: "Why
do you come to worship me? Nay, you and I together will acknowledge the
majesty and the might of Him who hath created us all. 'The Lord
reigneth,'" he continued, "'He is apparelled with majesty.'"[36]

And not alone the creatures on earth, even the angels thought Adam the
lord of all, and they were about to salute him with "Holy, holy, holy,
is the Lord of hosts," when God caused sleep to fall upon him, and then
the angels knew that he was but a human being.[37]

The purpose of the sleep that enfolded Adam was to give him a wife, so
that the human race might develop, and all creatures recognize the
difference between God and man. When the earth heard what God had
resolved to do, it began to tremble and quake. "I have not the
strength," it said, "to provide food for the herd of Adam's
descendants." But God pacified it with the words, "I and thou together,
we will find food for the herd." Accordingly, time was divided between
God and the earth; God took the night, and the earth took the day.
Refreshing sleep nourishes and strengthens man, it affords him life and
rest, while the earth brings forth produce with the help of God, who
waters it. Yet man must work the earth to earn his food.[38]

The Divine resolution to bestow a companion on Adam met the wishes of
man, who had been overcome by a feeling of isolation when the animals
came to him in pairs to be named.[39] To banish his loneliness, Lilith
was first given to Adam as wife. Like him she had been created out of
the dust of the ground. But she remained with him only a short time,
because she insisted upon enjoying full equality with her husband. She
derived her rights from their identical origin. With the help of the
Ineffable Name, which she pronounced, Lilith flew away from Adam, and
vanished in the air. Adam complained before God that the wife He had
given him had deserted him, and God sent forth three angels to capture
her. They found her in the Red Sea, and they sought to make her go back
with the threat that, unless she went, she would lose a hundred of her
demon children daily by death. But Lilith preferred this punishment to
living with Adam. She takes her revenge by injuring babes—baby boys
during the first night of their life, while baby girls are exposed to
her wicked designs until they are twenty days old. The only way to ward
off the evil is to attach an amulet bearing the names of her three
angel captors to the children, for such had been the agreement between
them.[40]

The woman destined to become the true companion of man was taken from
Adam's body, for "only when like is joined unto like the union is
indissoluble."[41] The creation of woman from man was possible because
Adam originally had two faces, which were separated at the birth of
Eve.[42]

When God was on the point of making Eve, He said: "I will not make her
from the head of man, lest she carry her head high in arrogant pride;
not from the eye, lest she be wanton-eyed; not from the ear, lest she
be an eavesdropper; not from the neck, lest she be insolent; not from
the mouth, lest she be a tattler; not from the heart, lest she be
inclined to envy; not from the hand, lest she be a meddler; not from
the foot, lest she be a gadabout. I will form her from a chaste portion
of the body," and to every limb and organ as He formed it, God said,
"Be chaste! Be chaste!" Nevertheless, in spite of the great caution
used, woman has all the faults God tried to obviate. The daughters of
Zion were haughty and walked with stretched forth necks and wanton
eyes; Sarah was an eavesdropper in her own tent, when the angel spoke
with Abraham; Miriam was a talebearer, accusing Moses; Rachel was
envious of her sister Leah; Eve put out her hand to take the forbidden
fruit, and Dinah was a gadabout.[43]

The physical formation of woman is far more complicated than that of
man, as it must be for the function of child-bearing, and likewise the
intelligence of woman matures more quickly than the intelligence of
man.[44] Many of the physical and psychical differences between the two
sexes must be attributed to the fact that man was formed from the
ground and woman from bone. Women need perfumes, while men do not; dust
of the ground remains the same no matter how long it is kept; flesh,
however, requires salt to keep it in good condition. The voice of women
is shrill, not so the voice of men; when soft viands are cooked, no
sound is heard, but let a bone be put in a pot, and at once it
crackles. A man is easily placated, not so a woman; a few drops of
water suffice to soften a clod of earth; a bone stays hard, and if it
were to soak in water for days. The man must ask the woman to be his
wife, and not the woman the man to be her husband, because it is man
who has sustained the loss of his rib, and he sallies forth to make
good his loss again. The very differences between the sexes in garb and
social forms go back to the origin of man and woman for their reasons.
Woman covers her hair in token of Eve's having brought sin into the
world; she tries to hide her shame; and women precede men in a funeral
cortege, because it was woman who brought death into the world. And the
religious commands addressed to women alone are connected with the
history of Eve. Adam was the heave offering of the world, and Eve
defiled it. As expiation, all women are commanded to separate a heave
offering from the dough. And because woman extinguished the light of
man's soul, she is bidden to kindle the Sabbath light.[45]

Adam was first made to fall into a deep sleep before the rib for Eve
was taken from his side. For, had he watched her creation, she would
not have awakened love in him. To this day it is true that men do not
appreciate the charms of women whom they have known and observed from
childhood up. Indeed, God had created a wife for Adam before Eve, but
he would not have her, because she had been made in his presence.
Knowing well all the details of her formation, he was repelled by
her.[46] But when he roused himself from his profound sleep, and saw
Eve before him in all her surprising beauty and grace, he exclaimed,
"This is she who caused my heart to throb many a night!" Yet he
discerned at once what the nature of woman was. She would, he knew,
seek to carry her point with man either by entreaties and tears, or
flattery and caresses. He said, therefore, "This is my never-silent
bell!"[47]

The wedding of the first couple was celebrated with pomp never repeated
in the whole course of history since. God Himself, before presenting
her to Adam, attired and adorned Eve as a bride. Yea, He appealed to
the angels, saying: "Come, let us perform services of friendship for
Adam and his helpmate, for the world rests upon friendly services, and
they are more pleasing in My sight than the sacrifices Israel will
offer upon the altar." The angels accordingly surrounded the marriage
canopy, and God pronounced the blessings upon the bridal couple, as the
Hazan does under the Huppah. The angels then danced and played upon
musical instruments before Adam and Eve in their ten bridal chambers of
gold, pearls, and precious stones, which God had prepared for them.

Adam called his wife Ishah, and himself he called Ish, abandoning the
name Adam, which he had borne before the creation of Eve, for the
reason that God added His own name Yah to the names of the man and the
woman—Yod to Ish and He to Ishah—to indicate that as long as they
walked in the ways of God and observed His commandments, His name would
shield them against all harm. But if they went astray, His name would
be withdrawn, and instead of Ish there would remain Esh, fire, a fire
issuing from each and consuming the other.[48]

ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE

The Garden of Eden was the abode of the first man and woman, and the
souls of all men must pass through it after death, before they reach
their final destination. For the souls of the departed must go through
seven portals before they arrive in the heaven 'Arabot. There the souls
of the pious are transformed into angels, and there they remain
forever, praising God and feasting their sight upon the glory of the
Shekinah. The first portal is the Cave of Machpelah, in the vicinity of
Paradise, which is under the care and supervision of Adam. If the soul
that presents herself at the portal is worthy, he calls out, "Make
room! Thou art welcome!" The soul then proceeds until she arrives at
the gate of Paradise guarded by the cherubim and the flaming sword. If
she is not found worthy, she is consumed by the sword; otherwise she
receives a pass-bill, which admits her to the terrestrial Paradise.
Therein is a pillar of smoke and light extending from Paradise to the
gate of heaven, and it depends upon the character of the soul whether
she can climb upward on it and reach heaven. The third portal, Zebul,
is at the entrance of heaven. If the soul is worthy, the guard opens
the portal and admits her 'to the heavenly Temple. Michael presents her
to God, and conducts her to the seventh portal, 'Arabot, within which
the souls of the pious, changed to angels, praise the Lord, and feed on
the glory of the Shekinah.[49]

In Paradise stand the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, the
latter forming a hedge about the former. Only he who has cleared a path
for himself through the tree of knowledge can come close to the tree of
life, which is so huge that it would take a man five hundred years to
traverse a distance equal to the diameter of the trunk, and no less
vast is the space shaded by its crown of branches. From beneath it
flows forth the water that irrigates the whole earth,[50] parting
thence into four streams, the Ganges, the Nile, the Tigris, and the
Euphrates.[51] But it was only during the days of creation that the
realm of plants looked to the waters of the earth for nourishment.
Later on God made the plants dependent upon the rain, the upper waters.
The clouds rise from earth to heaven, where water is poured into them
as from a conduit.[52] The plants began to feel the effect of the water
only after Adam was created. Although they had been brought forth on
the third day, God did not permit them to sprout and appear above the
surface of the earth, until Adam prayed to Him to give food unto them,
for God longs for the prayers of the pious.[53]

Paradise being such as it was, it was, naturally, not necessary for
Adam to work the land. True, the Lord God put the man into the Garden
of Eden to dress it and to keep it, but that only means he is to study
the Torah there and fulfil the commandments of God.[54] There were
especially six commandments which every human being is expected to
heed: man should not worship idols; nor blaspheme God; nor commit
murder, nor incest, nor theft and robbery; and all generations have the
duty of instituting measures of law and order.[55] One more such
command there was, but it was a temporary injunction. Adam was to eat
only the green things of the field. But the prohibition against the use
of animals for food was revoked in Noah's time, after the deluge.
Nevertheless, Adam was not cut off from the enjoyment of meat dishes.
Though he was not permitted to slaughter animals for the appeasing of
his appetite, the angels brought him meat and wine, serving him like
attendants.[56] And as the angels ministered to his wants, so also the
animals. They were wholly under his dominion, and their food they took
out of his hand and out of Eve's.[57] In all respects, the animal world
had a different relation to Adam from their relation to his
descendants. Not only did they know the language of man,[58] but they
respected the image of God, and they feared the first human couple, all
of which changed into the opposite after the fall of man.[59]

THE FALL OF MAN

Among the animals the serpent was notable. Of all of them he had the
most excellent qualities, in some of which he resembled man. Like man
he stood upright upon two feet, and in height he was equal to the
camel. Had it not been for the fall of man, which brought misfortune to
them, too, one pair of serpents would have sufficed to perform all the
work man has to do, and, besides, they would have supplied him with
silver, gold, gems, and pearls. As a matter of fact, it was the very
ability of the serpent that led to the ruin of man and his own ruin.
His superior mental gifts caused him to become an infidel. It likewise
explains his envy of man, especially of his conjugal relations. Envy
made him meditate ways and means of bringing about the death of
Adam.[60] He was too well acquainted with the character of the man to
attempt to exercise tricks of persuasion upon him, and he approached
the woman, knowing that women are beguiled easily. The conversation
with Eve was cunningly planned, she could not but be caught in a trap.
The serpent began, "Is it true that God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree in the garden?" "We may," rejoined Eve, "eat of the fruit of
all the trees in the garden, except that which is in the midst of the
garden, and that we may not even touch, lest we be stricken with
death." She spoke thus, because in his zeal to guard her against the
transgressing of the Divine command, Adam had forbidden Eve to touch
the tree, though God had mentioned only the eating of the fruit. It
remains a truth, what the proverb says, "Better a wall ten hands high
that stands, than a wall a hundred ells high that cannot stand." It was
Adam's exaggeration that afforded the serpent the possibility of
persuading Eve to taste of the forbidden fruit. The serpent pushed Eve
against the tree, and said: "Thou seest that touching the tree has not
caused thy death. As little will it hurt thee to eat the fruit of the
tree. Naught but malevolence has prompted the prohibition, for as soon
as ye eat thereof, ye shall be as God. As He creates and destroys
worlds, so will ye have the power to create and destroy. As He doth
slay and revive, so will ye have the power to slay and revive.[61] He
Himself ate first of the fruit of the tree, and then He created the
world. Therefore doth He forbid you to eat thereof, lest you create
other worlds. Everyone knows that 'artisans of the same guild hate one
another.' Furthermore, have ye not observed that every creature hath
dominion over the creature fashioned before itself? The heavens were
made on the first day, and they are kept in place by the firmament made
on the second day. The firmament, in turn, is ruled by the plants, the
creation of the third day, for they take up all the water of the
firmament. The sun and the other celestial bodies, which were created
on the fourth day, have power over the world of plants. They can ripen
their fruits and flourish only through their influence. The creation of
the fifth day, the animal world, rules over the celestial spheres.
Witness the ziz, which can darken the sun with its pinions. But ye are
masters of the whole of creation, because ye were the last to be
created. Hasten now and eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of
the garden, and become independent of God, lest He bring forth still
other creatures to bear rule over you."[62]

To give due weight to these words, the serpent began to shake the tree
violently and bring down its fruit. He ate thereof, saying: "As I do
not die of eating the fruit, so wilt thou not die." Now Eve could not
but say to herself, "All that my master"—so she called Adam—"commanded
me is but lies," and she determined to follow the advice of the
serpent.[63] Yet she could not bring herself to disobey the command of
God utterly. She made a compromise with her conscience. First she ate
only the outside skin of the fruit, and then, seeing that death did not
fell her, she ate the fruit itself.[64] Scarce had she finished, when
she saw the Angel of Death before her. Expecting her end to come
immediately, she resolved to make Adam eat of the forbidden fruit, too,
lest he espouse another wife after her death.[65] It required tears and
lamentations on her part to prevail upon Adam to take the baleful step.
Not yet satisfied, she gave of the fruit to all other living beings,
that they, too, might be subject to death.[66] All ate, and they all
are mortal, with the exception of the bird malham, who refused the
fruit, with the words: "Is it not enough that ye have sinned against
God, and have brought death to others? Must ye still come to me and
seek to persuade me into disobeying God's command, that I may eat and
die thereof? I will not do your bidding." A heavenly voice was heard
then to say to Adam and Eve: "To you was the command given. Ye did not
heed it; ye did transgress it, and ye did seek to persuade the bird
malham. He was steadfast, and he feared Me, although I gave him no
command. Therefore he shall never taste of death, neither he nor his
descendants—they all shall live forever in Paradise."[67]

Adam spoke to Eve: "Didst thou give me of the tree of which I forbade
thee to eat? Thou didst give me thereof, for my eyes are opened, and
the teeth in my mouth are set on edge." Eve made answer, "As my teeth
were set on edge, so may the teeth of all living beings be set on
edge."[68] The first result was that Adam and Eve became naked. Before,
their bodies had been overlaid with a horny skin, and enveloped with
the cloud of glory. No sooner had they violated the command given them
than the cloud of glory and the horny skin dropped from them, and they
stood there in their nakedness, and ashamed.[69] Adam tried to gather
leaves from the trees to cover part of their bodies, but he heard one
tree after the other say: "There is the thief that deceived his
Creator. Nay, the foot of pride shall not come against me, nor the hand
of the wicked touch me. Hence, and take no leaves from me!" Only the
fig-tree granted him permission to take of its leaves. That was because
the fig was the forbidden fruit itself. Adam had the same experience as
that prince who seduced one of the maid-ser vants in the palace. When
the king, his father, chased him out, he vainly sought a refuge with
the other maid-servants, but only she who had caused his disgrace would
grant him assistance.[70]

THE PUNISHMENT

As long as Adam stood naked, casting about for means of escape from his
embarrassment, God did not appear unto him, for one should not "strive
to see a man in the hour of his disgrace." He waited until Adam and Eve
had covered themselves with fig leaves.[71] But even before God spoke
to him, Adam knew what was impending. He heard the angels announce,
"God betaketh Himself unto those that dwell in Paradise." He heard
more, too. He heard what the angels were saying to one another about
his fall, and what they were saying to God. In astonishment the angels
exclaimed: "What! He still walks about in Paradise? He is not yet
dead?" Whereupon God: "I said to him, 'In the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die!' Now, ye know not what manner of day I
meant—one of My days of a thousand years, or one of your days. I will
give him one of My days. He shall have nine hundred and thirty years to
live, and seventy to leave to his descendants."[72]

When Adam and Eve heard God approaching, they hid among the trees—which
would not have been possible before the fall. Before he committed his
trespass, Adam's height was from the heavens to the earth, but
afterward it was reduced to one hundred ells.[73] Another consequence
of his sin was the fear Adam felt when he heard the voice of God:
before his fall it had not disquieted him in the least.[74] Hence it
was that when Adam said, "I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was
afraid," God replied, "Aforetime thou wert not afraid, and now thou art
afraid?"[75]

God refrained from reproaches at first. Standing at the gate of
Paradise, He but asked, "Where art thou, Adam?" Thus did God desire to
teach man a rule of polite behavior, never to enter the house of
another without announcing himself.[76] It cannot be denied, the words
"Where art thou?" were pregnant with meaning. They were intended to
bring home to Adam the vast difference between his latter and his
former state—between his supernatural size then and his shrunken size
now; between the lordship of God over him then and the lordship of the
serpent over him now.[77] At the same time, God wanted to give Adam the
opportunity of repenting of his sin, and he would have received Divine
forgiveness for it. But so far from repenting of it, Adam slandered
God, and uttered blasphemies against Him.[78] When God asked him, "Hast
thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee thou shouldst not eat?"
he did not confess his sin, but excused himself with the words: "O Lord
of the world! As long as I was alone, I did not fall into sin, but as
soon as this woman came to me, she tempted me." God replied: "I gave
her unto thee as a help, and thou art ungrateful when thou accusest
her, saying, 'She gave me of the tree.' Thou shouldst not have obeyed
her, for thou art the head, and not she."[79] God, who knows all
things, had foreseen exactly this, and He had not created Eve until
Adam had asked Him for a helpmate, so that he might not have apparently
good reason for reproaching God with having created woman.[80]

As Adam tried to shift the blame for his misdeed from himself, so also
Eve. She, like her husband, did not confess her transgression and pray
for pardon, which would have been granted to her.[81] Gracious as God
is, He did not pronounce the doom upon Adam and Eve until they showed
themselves stiff-necked. Not so with the serpent. God inflicted the
curse upon the serpent without hearing his defense; for the serpent is
a villain, and the wicked are good debaters. If God had questioned him,
the serpent would have answered: "Thou didst give them a command, and I
did contradict it. Why did they obey me, and not Thee?"[82] Therefore
God did not enter into an argument with the serpent, but straightway
decreed the following ten punishments: The mouth of the serpent was
closed, and his power of speech taken away; his hands and feet were
hacked off; the earth was given him as food; he must suffer great pain
in sloughing his skin; enmity is to exist between him and man; if he
eats the choicest viands, or drinks the sweetest beverages, they all
change into dust in his mouth; the pregnancy of the female serpent
lasts seven years; men shall seek to kill him as soon as they catch
sight of him; even in the future world, where all beings will be
blessed, he will not escape the punishment decreed for him; he will
vanish from out of the Holy Land if Israel walks in the ways of
God.[83]

Furthermore, God spake to the serpent: "I created thee to be king over
all animals, cattle and the beasts of the field alike; but thou wast
not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt be cursed above all cattle and
above every beast of the field. I created thee of upright posture; but
thou wast not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt go upon thy belly. I
created thee to eat the same food as man; but thou wast not satisfied.
Therefore thou shalt eat dust all the days of thy life. Thou didst seek
to cause the death of Adam in order to espouse his wife. Therefore I
will put enmity between thee and the woman." How true it is—he who
lusts after what is not his due, not only does he not attain his
desire, but he also loses what he has!

As angels had been present when the doom was pronounced upon the
serpent—for God had convoked a Sanhedrin of seventy-one angels when He
sat in judgment upon him—so the execution of the decree against him was
entrusted to angels. They descended from heaven, and chopped off his
hands and feet. His suffering was so great that his agonized cries
could be heard from one end of the world to the other.[84]

The verdict against Eve also consisted of ten curses, the effect of
which is noticeable to this day in the physical, spiritual, and social
state of woman.[85] It was not God Himself who announced her fate to
Eve. The only woman with whom God ever spoke was Sarah. In the case of
Eve, He made use of the services of an interpreter.[86]

Finally, also the punishment of Adam was tenfold: he lost his celestial
clothing—God stripped it off him; in sorrow he was to earn his daily
bread; the food he ate was to be turned from good into bad; his
children were to wander from land to land; his body was to exude sweat;
he was to have an evil inclination; in death his body was to be a prey
of the worms; animals were to have power over him, in that they could
slay him; his days were to be few and full of trouble; in the end he
was to render account of all his doings on earth.

These three sinners were not the only ones to have punishment dealt out
to them. The earth fared no better, for it had been guilty of various
misdemeanors. In the first place, it had not entirely heeded the
command of God given on the third day, to bring forth "tree of fruit."
What God had desired was a tree the wood of which was to be as pleasant
to the taste as the fruit thereof. The earth, however, produced a tree
bearing fruit, the tree itself not being edible.[88] Again, the earth
did not do its whole duty in connection with the sin of Adam. God had
appointed the sun and the earth witnesses to testify against Adam in
case he committed a trespass. The sun, accordingly, had grown dark the
instant Adam became guilty of disobedience, but the earth, not knowing
how to take notice of Adam's fall, disregarded it altogether.[89] The
earth also had to suffer a tenfold punishment: independent before, she
was hereafter to wait to be watered by the rain from above; sometimes
the fruits of the earth fail; the grain she brings forth is stricken
with blasting and mildew; she must produce all sorts of noxious vermin;
thenceforth she was to be divided into valleys and mountains; she must
grow barren trees, bearing no fruit; thorns and thistles sprout from
her; much is sown in the earth, but little is harvested; in time to
come the earth will have to disclose her blood, and shall no more cover
her slain; and, finally, she shall, one day, "wax old like a
garment."[90]

When Adam heard the words, "Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth,"
concerning the ground, a sweat broke out on his face, and he said:
"What! Shall I and my cattle eat from the same manger?" The Lord had
mercy upon him, and spoke, "In view of the sweat of thy face, thou
shalt eat bread."[91]

The earth is not the only thing created that was made to suffer through
the sin of Adam. The same fate overtook the moon. When the serpent
seduced Adam and Eve, and exposed their nakedness, they wept bitterly,
and with them wept the heavens, and the sun and the stars, and all
created beings and things up to the throne of God. The very angels and
the celestial beings were grieved by the trans gression of Adam. The
moon alone laughed, wherefore God grew wroth, and obscured her light.
Instead of shining steadily like the sun, all the length of the day,
she grows old quickly, and must be born and reborn, again and
again.[92] The callous conduct of the moon offended God, not only by
way of contrast with the compassion of all other creatures, but because
He Himself was full of pity for Adam and his wife. He made clothes for
them out of the skin stripped from the serpent.[93] He would have done
even more. He would have permitted them to remain in Paradise, if only
they had been penitent. But they refused to repent, and they had to
leave, lest their godlike understanding urge them to ravage the tree of
life, and they learn to live forever. As it was, when God dismissed
them from Paradise, He did not allow the Divine quality of justice to
prevail entirely. He associated mercy with it. As they left, He said:
"O what a pity that Adam was not able to observe the command laid upon
him for even a brief span of time!"

To guard the entrance to Paradise, God appointed the cherubim, called
also the ever-turning sword of flames, because angels can turn
themselves from one shape into another at need.[94] Instead of the tree
of life, God gave Adam the Torah, which likewise is a tree of life to
them that lay hold upon her, and he was permitted to take up his abode
in the vicinity of Paradise in the east.[95]

Sentence pronounced upon Adam and Eve and the serpent, the Lord
commanded the angels to turn the man and the woman out of Paradise.
They began to weep and supplicate bitterly, and the angels took pity
upon them and left the Divine command unfulfilled, until they could
petition God to mitigate His severe verdict. But the Lord was
inexorable, saying, "Was it I that committed a trespass, or did I
pronounce a false judgment?" Also Adam's prayer, to be given of the
fruit of the tree of life, was turned aside, with the promise, however,
that if he would lead a pious life, he would be given of the fruit on
the day of resurrection, and he would then live forever.

Seeing that God had resolved unalterably, Adam began to weep again and
implore the angels to grant him at least permission to take
sweet-scented spices with him out of Paradise, that outside, too, he
might be able to bring offerings unto God, and his prayers be accepted
before the Lord. Thereupon the angels came before God, and spake: "King
unto everlasting, command Thou us to give Adam sweet-scented spices of
Paradise," and God heard their prayer. Thus Adam gathered saffron,
nard, calamus, and cinnamon, and all sorts of seeds besides for his
sustenance. Laden with these, Adam and Eve left Paradise, and came upon
earth.[96] They had enjoyed the splendors of Paradise but a brief span
of time—but a few hours. It was in the first hour of the sixth day of
creation that God conceived the idea of creating man; in the second
hour, He took counsel with the angels; in the third, He gathered the
dust for the body of man; in the fourth, He formed Adam; in the fifth,
He clothed him with skin; in the sixth, the soulless shape was
complete, so that it could stand upright; in the seventh, a soul was
breathed into it; in the eighth, man was led into Paradise; in the
ninth, the Divine command prohibiting the fruit of the tree in the
midst of the garden was issued to him; in the tenth, he transgressed
the command; in the eleventh, he was judged; and in the twelfth hour of
the day, he was cast out of Paradise, in atonement for his sin.

This eventful day was the first of the month of Tishri. Therefore God
spoke to Adam: "Thou shalt be the prototype of thy children. As thou
hast been judged by Me on this day and absolved, so thy children Israel
shall be judged by Me on this New Year's Day, and they shall be
absolved."[97]

Each day of creation brought forth three things: the first, heaven,
earth, and light; the second, the firmament, Gehenna, and the angels;
the third, trees, herbs, and Paradise; the fourth, sun, moon, and
stars; and the fifth, fishes, birds, and leviathan. As God intended to
rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath, the sixth day had to do double
duty. It brought forth six creations: Adam, Eve, cattle, reptiles, the
beasts of the field, and demons. The demons were made shortly before
the Sabbath came in, and they are, therefore, incorporeal spirits—the
Lord had no time to create bodies for them.[98]

In the twilight, between the sixth day and the Sabbath, ten creations
were, brought forth: the rainbow, invisible until Noah's time; the
manna; watersprings, whence Israel drew water for his thirst in the
desert; the writing upon the two tables of stone given at Sinai; the
pen with which the writing was written; the two tables themselves; the
mouth of Balaam's she-ass; the grave of Moses; the cave in which Moses
and Elijah dwelt; and the rod of Aaron, with its blossoms and its ripe
almonds.[99]

SABBATH IN HEAVEN

Before the world was created, there was none to praise God and know
Him. Therefore He created the angels and the holy Hayyot, the heavens
and their host, and Adam as well. They all were to praise and glorify
their Creator. During the week of creation, however, there was no
suitable time to proclaim the splendor and praise of the Lord. Only on
the Sabbath, when all creation rested, the beings on earth and in
heaven, all together, broke into song and adoration when God ascended
His throne and sate upon it.[100] It was the Throne of Joy upon which
He sate, and He had all the angels pass before Him—the angel of the
water, the angel of the rivers, the angel of the mountains, the angel
of the hills, the angel of the abysses, the angel of the deserts, the
angel of the sun, the angel of the moon, the angel of the Pleiades, the
angel of Orion, the angel of the herbs, the angel of Paradise, the
angel of Gehenna, the angel of the trees, the angel of the reptiles,
the angel of the wild beasts, the angel of the domestic animals, the
angel of the fishes, the angel of the locusts, the angel of the birds,
the chief angel of the angels, the angel of each heaven, the chief
angel of each division of the heavenly hosts, the chief angel of the
holy Hayyot, the chief angel of the cherubim, the chief angel of the
ofanim, and all the other splendid, terrible, and mighty angel chiefs.
They all appeared before God with great joy, laved in a stream of joy,
and they rejoiced and danced and sang, and extolled the Lord with many
praises and many instruments. The ministering angels began, "Let the
glory of the Lord endure forever!" And the rest of the angels took up
the song with the words, "Let the Lord rejoice in His works!" 'Arabot,
the seventh heaven, was filled with joy and glory, splendor and
strength, power and might and pride and magnificence and grandeur,
praise and jubilation, song and gladness, steadfastness and
righteousness, honor and adoration.

Then God bade the Angel of the Sabbath seat himself upon a throne of
glory, and He brought before him the chiefs of the angels of all the
heavens and all the abysses, and bade them dance and rejoice, saying,
"Sabbath it is unto the Lord!" and the exalted princes of the heavens
responded, "Unto the Lord it is Sabbath!" Even Adam was permitted to
ascend to the highest heaven, to take part in the rejoicing over the
Sabbath.

By bestowing Sabbath joy upon all beings, not excepting Adam, thus did
the Lord dedicate His creation. Seeing the majesty of the Sabbath, its
honor and greatness, and the joy it conferred upon all, being the fount
of all joy, Adam intoned a song of praise for the Sabbath day. Then God
said to him, "Thou singest a song of praise to the Sabbath day, and
singest none to Me, the God of the Sabbath?" Thereupon the Sabbath rose
from his seat, and prostrated himself before God, saying, "It is a good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord," and the whole of creation added,
"And to sing praises unto Thy Name, O Most High!"[101]

This was the first Sabbath, and this its celebration in heaven by God
and the angels. The angels were informed at the same time that in days
to come Israel would hallow the day in similar manner. God told them:
"I will set aside for Myself a people from among all the peoples. This
people will observe the Sabbath, and I will sanctify it to be My
people, and I will be God unto it. From all that I have seen, I have
chosen the seed of Israel wholly, and I have inscribed him as My
first-born son, and I sanctified him unto Myself unto all eternity, him
and the Sabbath, that he keep the Sabbath and hallow it from all
work."[102]

For Adam the Sabbath had a peculiar significance. When he was made to
depart out of Paradise in the twilight of the Sabbath eve, the angels
called after him, "Adam did not abide in his glory overnight!" Then the
Sabbath appeared before God as Adam's defender, and he spoke: "O Lord
of the world! During the six working days no creature was slain. If
Thou wilt begin now by slaying Adam, what will become of the sanctity
and the blessing of the Sabbath?" In this way Adam was rescued from the
fires of hell, the meet punishment for his sins, and in gratitude he
composed a psalm in honor of the Sabbath, which David later embodied in
his Psalter.[103]

Still another opportunity was given to Adam to learn and appreciate the
value of the Sabbath. The celestial light, whereby Adam could survey
the world from end to end, should properly have been made to disappear
immediately after his sin. But out of consideration for the Sabbath,
God had let this light continue to shine, and the angels, at sundown on
the sixth day, intoned a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, for
the radiant light shining through the night. Only with the going out of
the Sabbath day the celestial light ceased, to the consternation of
Adam, who feared that the serpent would attack him in the dark. But God
illumined his understanding, and he learned to rub two stones against
each other and produce light for his needs.[104]

The celestial light was but one of the seven precious gifts enjoyed by
Adam before the fall and to be granted to man again only in the
Messianic time. The others are the resplendence of his countenance;
life eternal; his tall stature; the fruits of the soil; the fruits of
the tree; and the luminaries of the sky, the sun and the moon, for in
the world to come the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold.[105]

ADAM'S REPENTANCE

Cast out of Paradise, Adam and Eve built a hut for themselves, and for
seven days they sat in it in great distress, mourning and lamenting. At
the end of the seven days, tormented by hunger, they came forth and
sought food. For seven other days, Adam journeyed up and down in the
land, looking for such dainties as he had enjoyed in Paradise. In vain;
he found nothing. Then Eve spoke to her husband: "My lord, if it please
thee, slay me. Mayhap God will then take thee back into Paradise, for
the Lord God became wroth with thee only on account of me." But Adam
rejected her plan with abhorrence, and both went forth again on the
search for food. Nine days passed, and still they found naught
resembling what they had had in Paradise. They saw only food fit for
cattle and beasts. Then Adam proposed: "Let us do penance, mayhap the
Lord God will forgive us and have pity on us, and give us something to
sustain our life." Knowing that Eve was not vigorous enough to undergo
the mortification of the flesh which he purposed to inflict upon
himself, he prescribed a penance for her different from his own. He
said to her: "Arise, and go to the Tigris, take a stone and stand upon
it in the deepest part of the river, where the water will reach as high
as thy neck. And let no speech issue forth from thy mouth, for we are
unworthy to supplicate God, our lips are unclean by reason of the
forbidden fruit of the tree. Remain in the water for thirty-seven
days."

For himself Adam ordained forty days of fasting, while he stood in the
river Jordan in the same way as Eve was to take up her stand in the
waters of the Tigris. After he had adjusted the stone in the middle of
the Jordan, and mounted it, with the waters surging up to his neck, he
said: "I adjure thee, O thou water of the Jordan! Afflict thyself with
me, and gather unto me all swimming creatures that live in thee. Let
them surround me and sorrow with me, and let them not beat their own
breasts with grief, but let them beat me. Not they have sinned, only I
alone!" Very soon they all came, the dwellers in the Jordan, and they
encompassed him, and from that moment the water of the Jordan stood
still and ceased from flowing.

The penance which Adam and Eve laid upon themselves awakened misgivings
in Satan. He feared God might forgive their sin, and therefore essayed
to hinder Eve in her purpose. After a lapse of eighteen days he
appeared unto her in the guise of an angel. As though in distress on
account of her, he began to cry, saying: "Step up out of the river, and
weep no longer. The Lord God hath heard your mourning, and your
penitence hath been accepted by Him. All the angels supplicated the
Lord in your behalf, and He hath sent me to fetch you out of the water
and give you the sustenance that you enjoyed in Paradise, and for which
you have been mourning." Enfeebled as she was by her penances and
mortifications, Eve yielded to the solicitations of Satan, and he led
her to where her husband was. Adam recognized him at once, and amid
tears he cried out: "O Eve, Eve, where now is thy penitence? How
couldst thou let our adversary seduce thee again—him who robbed us of
our sojourn in Paradise and all spiritual joy?" Thereupon Eve, too,
began to weep and cry out: "Woe unto thee, O Satan! Why strivest thou
against us without any reason? What have we done unto thee that thou
shouldst pursue us so craftily?" With a deep-fetched sigh, Satan told
them how that Adam, of whom he had been jealous, had been the real
reason of his fall. Having lost his glory through him, he had intrigued
to have him driven from Paradise.

When Adam heard the confession of Satan, he prayed to God: "O Lord my
God! In Thy hands is my life. Remove from me this adversary, who seeks
to deliver my soul to destruction, and grant me the glory he has
forfeited." Satan disappeared forthwith, but Adam continued his
penance, standing in the waters of the Jordan for forty days.[106]

While Adam stood in the river, he noticed that the days were growing
shorter, and he feared the world might be darkened on account of his
sin, and go under soon. To avert the doom, he spent eight days in
prayer and fasting. But after the winter solstice, when he saw that the
days grew longer again, he spent eight days in rejoicing, and in the
following year he celebrated both periods, the one before and the one
after the solstice. This is why the heathen celebrate the calends and
the saturnalia in honor of their gods, though Adam had consecrated
those days to the honor of God.[107]

The first time Adam witnessed the sinking of the sun be was also seized
with anxious fears. It happened at the conclusion of the Sabbath, and
Adam said, "Woe is me! For my sake, because I sinned, the world is
darkened, and it will again become void and without form. Thus will be
executed the punishment of death which God has pronounced against me!"
All the night he spent in tears, and Eve, too, wept as she sat opposite
to him. When day began to dawn, he understood that what he had deplored
was but the course of nature, and he brought an offering unto God, a
unicorn whose horn was created before his hoofs,[108] and he sacrificed
it on the spot on which later the altar was to stand in Jerusalem.[109]

THE BOOK OF RAZIEL

After Adam's expulsion from Paradise, he prayed to God in these words:
"O God, Lord of the world! Thou didst create the whole world unto the
honor and glory of the Mighty One, and Thou didst as was pleasing unto
Thee. Thy kingdom is unto all eternity, and Thy reign unto all
generations. Naught is hidden from Thee, and naught is concealed from
Thine eyes. Thou didst create me as Thy handiwork, and didst make me
the ruler over Thy creatures, that I might be the chief of Thy works.
But the cunning, accursed serpent seduced me with the tree of desire
and lusts, yea, he seduced the wife of my bosom. But Thou didst not
make known unto me what shall befall my children and the generations
after me. I know well that no human being can be righteous in Thine
eyes, and what is my strength that I should step before Thee with an
impudent face? I have no mouth wherewith to speak and no eye wherewith
to see, for I did sin and commit a trespass, and, by reason of my sins,
I was driven forth from Paradise. I must plough the earth whence I was
taken, and the other inhabitants of the earth, the beasts, no longer,
as once, stand in awe and fear of me. From the time I ate of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil, wisdom departed from me, and I am a fool
that knoweth naught, an ignorant man that understandeth not. Now, O
merciful and gracious God, I pray to Thee to turn again Thy compassion
to the head of Thy works, to the spirit which Thou didst instil into
him, and the soul Thou didst breathe into him. Meet me with Thy grace,
for Thou art gracious, slow to anger, and full of love. O that my
prayer would reach unto the throne of Thy glory, and my supplication
unto the throne of Thy mercy, and Thou wouldst incline to me with
lovingkindness. May the words of my mouth be acceptable, that Thou turn
not away from my petition. Thou wert from everlasting, and Thou wilt be
unto everlasting; Thou wert king, and Thou wilt ever be king. Now, have
Thou mercy upon the work of Thy hands. Grant me knowledge and
understanding, that I may know what shall befall me, and my posterity,
and all the generations that come after me, and what shall befall me on
every day and in every month, and mayest Thou not withhold from me the
help of Thy servants and of Thy angels."

On the third day after he had offered up this prayer, while he was
sitting on the banks of the river that flows forth out of Paradise,
there appeared to him, in the heat of the day, the angel Raziel,
bearing a book in his hand. The angel addressed Adam thus: "O Adam, why
art thou so fainthearted? Why art thou distressed and anxious? Thy
words were heard at the moment when thou didst utter thy supplication
and entreaties, and I have received the charge to teach thee pure words
and deep understanding, to make thee wise through the contents of the
sacred book in my hand, to know what will happen to thee until the day
of thy death. And all thy descendants and all the later generations, if
they will but read this book in purity, with a devout heart and an
humble mind, and obey its precepts, will become like unto thee. They,
too, will foreknow what things shall happen, and in what month and on
what day or in what night. All will be manifest to them—they will know
and understand whether a calamity will come, a famine or wild beasts,
floods or drought; whether there will be abundance of grain or dearth;
whether the wicked will rule the world; whether locusts will devastate
the land; whether the fruits will drop from the trees unripe; whether
boils will afflict men; whether wars will prevail, or diseases or
plagues among men and cattle; whether good is resolved upon in heaven,
or evil; whether blood will flow, and the death-rattle of the slain be
heard in the city. And now, Adam, come and give heed unto what I shall
tell thee regarding the manner of this book and its holiness."

Raziel, the angel, then read from the book, and when Adam heard the
words of the holy volume as they issued from the mouth of the angel, he
fell down affrighted. But the angel encouraged him. "Arise, Adam," he
said, "be of good courage, be not afraid, take the book from me and
keep it, for thou wilt draw knowledge from it thyself and become wise,
and thou wilt also teach its contents to all those who shall be found
worthy of knowing what it contains."

In the moment when Adam took the book, a flame of fire shot up from
near the river, and the angel rose heavenward with it. Then Adam knew
that he who had spoken to him was an angel of God, and it was from the
Holy King Himself that the book had come, and he used it in holiness
and purity. It is the book out of which all things worth knowing can be
learnt, and all mysteries, and it teaches also how to call upon the
angels and make them appear before men, and answer all their questions.
But not all alike can use the book, only he who is wise and
God-fearing, and resorts to it in holiness. Such an one is secure
against all wicked counsels, his life is serene, and when death takes
him from this world, he finds repose in a place where there are neither
demons nor evil spirits, and out of the hands of the wicked he is
quickly rescued.[110]

THE SICKNESS OF ADAM

When Adam had lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old, a sickness
seized him, and he felt that his days were drawing to an end. He
summoned all his descendants, and assembled them before the door of the
house of worship in which he had always offered his prayers to God, to
give them his last blessing. His family were astonished to find him
stretched out on the bed of sickness, for they did not know what pain
and suffering were.[111] They thought he was overcome with longing
after the fruits of Paradise, and for lack of them was depressed. Seth
announced his willingness to go to the gates of Paradise and beg God to
let one of His angels give him of its fruits. But Adam explained to
them what sickness and pain are, and that God had inflicted them upon
him as a punishment for his sin.[112] Adam suffered violently; tears
and groans were wrung from him. Eve sobbed, and said, "Adam, my lord,
give me the half of thy sickness, I will gladly bear it. Is it not on
account of me that this hath come upon thee? On account of me thou
undergoest pain and anguish."

Adam bade Eve go with Seth to the gates of Paradise and entreat God to
have mercy upon him, and send His angel to catch up some of the oil of
life flowing from the tree of His mercy and give it to his messengers.
The ointment would bring him rest, and banish the pain consuming him.
On his way to Paradise, Seth was attacked by a wild beast. Eve called
out to the assailant, "How durst thou lay hand on the image of God?"
The ready answer came: "It is thine own fault. Hadst thou not opened
thy mouth to eat of the forbidden fruit, my mouth would not be opened
now to destroy a human being." But Seth remonstrated: "Hold thy tongue!
Desist from the image of God until the day of judgment." And the beast
gave way, saying, "See, I refrain myself from the image of God," and it
slunk away to its covert.[113]

Arrived at the gates of Paradise, Eve and Seth began to cry bitterly,
and they besought God with many lamentations to give them oil from the
tree of His mercy. For hours they prayed thus. At last the archangel
Michael appeared, and informed them that he came as the messenger of
God to tell them that their petition could not be granted. Adam would
die in a few days, and as he was subject to death, so would be all his
descendants. Only at the time of the resurrection, and then only to the
pious, the oil of life would be dispensed, together with all the bliss
and all the delights of Paradise.[114] Returned to Adam, they reported
what had happened, and he said to Eve: "What misfortune didst thou
bring upon us when thou didst arouse great wrath! See, death is the
portion of all our race! Call hither our children and our children's
children, and tell them the manner of our sinning." And while Adam lay
prostrate upon the bed of pain, Eve told them the story of their
fall.[115]

EVE'S STORY OF THE FALL

After I was created, God divided Paradise and all the animals therein
between Adam and me. The east and the north were assigned to Adam,
together with the male animals. I was mistress of the west and the
south and all the female animals. Satan, smarting under the disgrace of
having been dismissed from the heavenly host, resolved to bring about
our ruin and avenge himself upon the cause of his discomfiture. He won
the serpent over to his side, and pointed out to him that before the
creation of Adam the animals could enjoy all that grew in Paradise, and
now they were restricted to the weeds. To drive Adam from Paradise
would therefore be for the good of all. The serpent demurred, for he
stood in awe of the wrath of God. But Satan calmed his fears, and said,
"Do thou but become my vessel,[117] and I shall speak a word through
thy mouth wherewith thou wilt succeed in seducing man."

The serpent thereupon suspended himself from the wall surrounding
Paradise, to carry on his conversation with me from without. And this
happened at the very moment when my two guardian angels had betaken
themselves to heaven to supplicate the Lord. I was quite alone
therefore, and when Satan assumed the appearance of an angel, bent over
the wall of Paradise, and intoned seraphic songs of praise, I was
deceived, and thought him an angel. A conversation was held between us,
Satan speaking through the mouth of the serpent:

"Art thou Eve?"

"Yes, it is I."

"What art thou doing in Paradise?"

"The Lord has put us here to cultivate it and eat of its fruits."

"That is good. Yet you eat not of all the trees."

"That we do, excepting a single one, the tree that stands in the midst
of Paradise. Concerning it alone, God has forbidden us to eat of it,
else, the Lord said, ye will die."

The serpent made every effort to persuade me that I had naught to
fear—that God knew that in the day that Adam and I ate of the fruit of
the tree, we should be as He Himself. It was jealousy that had made Him
say,[118] "Ye shall not eat of it." In spite of all his urging, I
remained steadfast and refused to touch the tree. Then the serpent
engaged to pluck the fruit for me. Thereupon I opened the gate of
Paradise, and he slipped in. Scarcely was he within, when he said to
me, "I repent of my words, I would rather not give thee of the fruit of
the forbidden tree." It was but a cunning device to tempt me more. He
consented to give me of the fruit only after I swore to make my husband
eat of it, too. This is the oath he made me take: "By the throne of
God, by the cherubim, and by the tree of life, I shall give my husband
of this fruit, that he may eat, too." Thereupon the serpent ascended
the tree and injected his poison, the poison of the evil inclination,
into the fruit,[119] and bent the branch on which it grew to the
ground. I took hold of it, but I knew at once that I was stripped of
the righteousness in which I had been clothed.[120] I began to weep,
because of it and because of the oath the serpent had forced from me.

The serpent disappeared from the tree, while I sought leaves wherewith
to cover my nakedness, but all the trees within my reach had cast off
their leaves at the moment when I ate of the forbidden fruit.[121]
There was only one that retained its leaves, the fig-tree, the very
tree the fruit of which had been forbidden to me.[122] I summoned Adam,
and by means of blasphemous words I prevailed upon him to eat of the
fruit. As soon as it had passed his lips, he knew his true condition,
and he exclaimed against me: "Thou wicked woman, what bast thou brought
down upon me? Thou hast removed me from the glory of God."

At the same time Adam and I heard the archangel Michael[123] blow his
trumpet, and all the angels cried out: "Thus saith the Lord, Come ye
with Me to Paradise and hearken unto the sentence which I will
pronounce upon Adam."[124]

We hid ourselves because we feared the judgment of God. Sitting in his
chariot drawn by cherubim, the Lord, accompanied by angels uttering His
praise, appeared in Paradise. At His coming the bare trees again put
forth leaves.[125] His throne was erected by the tree of life, and God
addressed Adam: "Adam, where dost thou keep thyself in hiding? Thinkest
thou I cannot find thee? Can a house conceal itself from its
architect?"[126]

Adam tried to put the blame on me, who had promised to hold him
harmless before God. And I in turn accused the serpent. But God dealt
out justice to all three of us. To Adam He said: "Because thou didst
not obey My commands, but didst hearken unto the voice of thy wife,
cursed is the ground in spite of thy work. When thou dost cultivate it,
it will not yield thee its strength. Thorns and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Thou
wilt suffer many a hardship, thou wilt grow weary, and yet find no
rest. Bitterly oppressed, thou shalt never taste of any sweetness. Thou
shalt be scourged by heat, and yet pinched by cold. Thou shalt toil
greatly, and yet not gain wealth. Thou shalt grow fat, and yet cease to
live. And the animals over which thou art the master will rise up
against thee, because thou didst not keep my command."[127]

Upon me God pronounced this sentence: "Thou shalt suffer anguish in
childbirth and grievous torture. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children, and in the hour of travail, when thou art near to lose thy
life, thou wilt confess and cry, 'Lord, Lord, save me this time, and I
will never again indulge in carnal pleasure,' and yet thy desire shall
ever and ever be unto thy husband."[128]

At the same time all sorts of diseases were decreed upon us. God said
to Adam: "Because thou didst turn aside from My covenant, I will
inflict seventy plagues upon thy flesh. The pain of the first plague
shall lay hold on thy eyes; the pain of the second plague upon thy
hearing, and one after the other all the plagues shall come upon
thee."[129] The serpent God addressed thus: "Because thou becamest the
vessel of the Evil One,[130] deceiving the innocent, cursed art thou
above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Thou shalt be
robbed of the food thou wast wont to eat, and dust shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life. Upon thy breast and thy belly shalt thou go, and
of thy hands and thy feet thou shalt be deprived. Thou shalt not remain
in possession of thy ears, nor of thy wings, nor of any of thy limbs
wherewith thou didst seduce the woman and her husband, bringing them to
such a pass that they must be driven forth from Paradise. And I will
put enmity between thee and the seed of man. It shall bruise thy head,
and, thou shalt bruise his heel until the day of judgment."[131]

THE DEATH OF ADAM

On the last day of Adam's life, Eve said to him, "Why should I go on
living, when thou art no more? How long shall I have to linger on after
thy death? Tell me this!" Adam assured her she would not tarry long.
They would die together, and be buried together in the same place. He
commanded her not to touch his corpse until an angel from God had made
provision regarding it, and she was to begin at once to pray to God
until his soul escaped from his body.

While Eve was on her knees in prayer, an angel came,[132] and bade her
rise. "Eve, arise from thy penance," he commanded. "Behold, thy husband
hath left his mortal coil. Arise, and see his spirit go up to his
Creator, to appear before Him." And, lo, she beheld a chariot of light,
drawn by four shining eagles, and preceded by angels. In this chariot
lay the soul of Adam, which the angels were taking to heaven. Arrived
there, they burnt incense until the clouds of smoke enveloped the
heavens. Then they prayed to God to have mercy upon His image and the
work of His holy hands. In her awe and fright, Eve summoned Seth, and
she bade him look upon the vision and explain the celestial sights
beyond her understanding. She asked, "Who may the two Ethiopians be,
who are adding their prayers to thy father's?" Seth told her, they were
the sun and the moon, turned so black because they could not shine in
the face of the Father of light.[133] Scarcely had he spoken, when an
angel blew a trumpet, and all the angels cried out with awful voices,
"Blessed be the glory of the Lord by His creatures, for He has shown
mercy unto Adam, the work of His hands!" A seraph then seized Adam, and
carried him off to the river Acheron, washed him three times, and
brought him before the presence of God, who sat upon His throne, and,
stretching out His hand, lifted Adam up and gave him over to the
archangel Michael, with the words, "Raise him to the Paradise of the
third heaven, and there thou shalt leave him until the great and
fearful day ordained by Me." Michael executed the Divine behest, and
all the angels sang a song of praise, extolling God for the pardon He
had accorded Adam.

Michael now entreated God to let him attend to the preparation of
Adam's body for the grave. Permission being given, Michael repaired to
earth, accompanied by all the angels. When they entered the terrestrial
Paradise, all the trees blossomed forth, and the perfume wafted thence
lulled all men into slumber except Seth alone. Then God said to Adam,
as his body lay on the ground: "If thou hadst kept My commandment, they
would not rejoice who brought thee hither. But I tell thee, I will turn
the joy of Satan and his consorts into sorrow, and thy sorrow shall be
turned into joy. I will restore thee to thy dominion, and thou shalt
sit upon the throne of thy seducer, while he shall be damned, with
those who hearken unto him."[134]

Thereupon, at the bidding of God, the three great archangels[135]
covered the body of Adam with linen, and poured sweet-smelling oil upon
it. With it they interred also the body of Abel, which had lain
unburied since Cain had slain him, for all the murderer's efforts to
hide it had been in vain. The corpse again and again sprang forth from
the earth, and a voice issued thence, proclaiming, "No creature shall
rest in the earth until the first one of all has returned the dust to
me of which it was formed."[136] The angels carried the two bodies to
Paradise, Adam's and Abel's—the latter had all this time been lying on
a stone on which angels had placed it—and they buried them both on the
spot whence God had taken the dust wherewith to make Adam.[137]

God called unto the body of Adam, "Adam! Adam!" and it answered, "Lord,
here am I!" Then God said: "I told thee once, Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return. Now I promise thee resurrection. I will awaken
thee on the day of judgment, when all the generations of men that
spring from thy loins, shall arise from the grave." God then sealed up
the grave, that none might do him harm during the six days to elapse
until his rib should be restored to him through the death of Eve.[138]

THE DEATH OF EVE

The interval between Adam's death and her own Eve spent in weeping. She
was distressed in particular that she knew not what had become of
Adam's body, for none except Seth had been awake while the angel
interred it. When the hour of her death drew nigh, Eve supplicated to
be buried in the selfsame spot in which the remains of her husband
rested. She prayed to God: "Lord of all powers! Remove not Thy
maid-servant from the body of Adam, from which Thou didst take me, from
whose limbs Thou didst form me. Permit me, who am an unworthy and
sinning woman, to enter into his habitation. As we were together in
Paradise, neither separated from the other; as together we were tempted
to transgress Thy law, neither separated from the other, so, O Lord,
separate us not now." To the end of her prayer she added the petition,
raising her eyes heavenward, "Lord of the world! Receive my spirit!"
and she gave up her soul to God.

The archangel Michael came and taught Seth how to prepare Eve for
burial, and three angels descended and interred her body in the grave
with Adam and Abel. Then Michael spoke to Seth, "Thus shalt thou bury
all men that die until the resurrection day." And again, having given
him this command, he spoke: "Longer than six days ye shall not
mourn.[139] The repose of the seventh day is the token of the
resurrection in the latter day, for on the seventh day the Lord rested
from all the work which He had created and made."[140]

Though death was brought into the world through Adam, yet he cannot be
held responsible for the death of men. Once on a time he said to God:
"I am not concerned about the death of the wicked, but I should not
like the pious to reproach me and lay the blame for their death upon
me. I pray Thee, make no mention of my guilt." And God promised to
fulfil his wish. Therefore, when a man is about to die, God appears to
him, and bids him set down in writing all he has done during his life,
for, He tells him, "Thou art dying by reason of thy evil deeds." The
record finished, God orders him to seal it with his seal. This is the
writing God will bring out on the judgment day, and to each will be
made known his deeds.[141] As soon as life is extinct in a man, he is
presented to Adam, whom he accuses of having caused his death. But Adam
repudiates the charge: "I committed but one trespass. Is there any
among you, and be he the most pious, who has not been guilty of more
than one?"[142]




III
THE TEN GENERATIONS

THE BIRTH OF CAIN

There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how
long-suffering is the Lord, for all the generations provoked Him unto
wrath, until He brought the deluge upon them.[1] By reason of their
impiousness God changed His plan of calling one thousand generations
into being between the creation of the world and the revelation of the
law at Mount Sinai; nine hundred and seventy-four He suppressed before
the flood.[2]

Wickedness came into the world with the first being born of woman,
Cain, the oldest son of Adam. When God bestowed Paradise upon the first
pair of mankind, He warned them particularly against carnal intercourse
with each other. But after the fall of Eve, Satan, in the guise of the
serpent, approached her, and the fruit of their union was Cain, the
ancestor of all the impious generations that were rebellious toward
God, and rose up against Him. Cain's descent from Satan, who is the
angel Samael, was revealed in his seraphic appearance. At his birth,
the exclamation was wrung from Eve, "I have gotten a man through an
angel of the Lord."[3]

Adam was not in the company of Eve during the time of her pregnancy
with Cain. After she had succumbed a second time to the temptations of
Satan, and permitted herself to be interrupted in her penance,[4] she
left her husband and journeyed westward, because she feared her
presence might continue to bring him misery. Adam remained in the east.
When the days of Eve to be delivered were fulfilled, and she began to
feel the pangs of travailing, she prayed to God for help. But He
hearkened not unto her supplications. "Who will carry the report to my
lord Adam?" she asked herself. "Ye luminaries in the sky, I beg you,
tell it to my master Adam when ye return to the east!" In that self
same hour, Adam cried out: "The lamentation of Eve has pierced to my
ear! Mayhap the serpent has again assaulted her," and he hastened to
his wife. Finding her in grievous pain, he besought God in her behalf,
and twelve angels appeared, together with two heavenly powers.[5] All
these took up their post to right of her and to left of her, while
Michael, also standing on her right side, passed his hand over her,
from her face downward to her breast, and said to her, "Be thou
blessed, Eve, for the sake of Adam. Because of his solicitations and
his prayers I was sent to grant thee our assistance. Make ready to give
birth to thy child!" Immediately her son was born, a radiant figure.[6]
A little while and the babe stood upon his feet, ran off, and returned
holding in his hands a stalk of straw, which he gave to his mother. For
this reason he was named Cain, the Hebrew word for stalk of straw.

Now Adam took Eve and the boy to his home in the east. God sent him
various kinds of seeds by the hand of the angel Michael, and he was
taught how to cultivate the ground and make it yield produce and
fruits, to sustain himself and his family and his posterity.[7]

After a while, Eve bore her second son, whom she named Hebel, because,
she said, he was born but to die.

FRATRICIDE

The slaying of Abel by Cain did not come as a wholly unexpected event
to his parents. In a dream Eve had seen the blood of Abel flow into the
mouth of Cain, who drank it with avidity, though his brother entreated
him not to take all. When she told her dream to Adam, he said,
lamenting, "O that this may not portend the death of Abel at the hand
of Cain!" He separated the two lads, assigning to each an abode of his
own, and to each he taught a different occupation. Cain became a tiller
of the ground, and Abel a keeper of sheep. It was all in vain. In spite
of these precautions, Cain slew his brother.[9]

His hostility toward Abel had more than one reason. It began when God
had respect unto the offering of Abel, and accepted it by sending
heavenly fire down to consume it, while the offering of Cain was
rejected.[10] They brought their sacrifices on the fourteenth day of
Nisan, at the instance of their father, who had spoken thus to his
sons: "This is the day on which, in times to come, Israel will offer
sacrifices. Therefore, do ye, too, bring sacrifices to your Creator on
this day, that He may take pleasure in you." The place of offering
which they chose was the spot whereon the altar of the Temple at
Jerusalem stood later.[11] Abel selected the best of his flocks for his
sacrifice, but Cain ate his meal first, and after he had satisfied his
appetite, he offered unto God what was left over, a few grains of flax
seed. As though his offense had not been great enough in offering unto
God fruit of the ground which had been cursed by God![12] What wonder
that his sacrifice was not received with favor! Besides, a chastisement
was inflicted upon him. His face turned black as smoke.[13]
Nevertheless, his disposition underwent no change, even when God spoke
to him thus: "If thou wilt amend thy ways, thy guilt will be forgiven
thee; if not, thou wilt be delivered into the power of the evil
inclination. It coucheth at the door of thy heart, yet it depends upon
thee whether thou shalt be master over it, or it shall be master over
thee."[14]

Cain thought he had been wronged, and a dispute followed between him
and Abel. "I believed," he said, "that the world was created through
goodness,[15] but I see that good deeds bear no fruit. God rules the
world with arbitrary power, else why had He respect unto thy offering,
and not unto mine also?" Abel opposed him; he maintained that God
rewards good deeds, without having respect unto persons. If his
sacrifice had been accepted graciously by God, and Cain's not, it was
because his deeds were good, and his brother's wicked.[16]

But this was not the only cause of Cain's hatred toward Abel. Partly
love for a woman brought about the crime. To ensure the propagation of
the human race, a girl, destined to be his wife, was born together with
each of the sons of Adam. Abel's twin sister was of exquisite beauty,
and Cain desired her.[17] Therefore he was constantly brooding over
ways and means of ridding himself of his brother.

The opportunity presented itself ere long. One day a sheep belonging to
Abel tramped over a field that had been planted by Cain. In a rage, the
latter called out, "What right hast thou to live upon my land and let
thy sheep pasture yonder?" Abel retorted: "What right hast thou to use
the products of my sheep, to make garments for thyself from their wool?
If thou wilt take off the wool of my sheep wherein thou art arrayed,
and wilt pay me for the flesh of the flocks which thou hast eaten, then
I will quit thy land as thou desirest, and fly into the air, if I can
do it." Cain thereupon said, "And if I were to kill thee, who is there
to demand thy blood of me?" Abel replied: "God, who brought us into the
world, will avenge me. He will require my blood at thine hand, if thou
shouldst slay me. God is the Judge, who will visit their wicked deeds
upon the wicked, and their evil deeds upon the evil. Shouldst thou slay
me, God will know thy secret, and He will deal out punishment unto
thee."

These words but added to the anger of Cain, and he threw himself upon
his brother.[18] Abel was stronger than he, and he would have got the
worst of it, but at the last moment he begged for mercy, and the gentle
Abel released his hold upon him. Scarcely did he feel himself free,
when he turned against Abel once more, and slew him. So true is the
saying, "Do the evil no good, lest evil fall upon thee."[19]

THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN

The manner of Abel's death was the most cruel conceivable. Not knowing
what injury was fatal, Cain pelted all parts of his body with stones,
until one struck him on the neck and inflicted death.

After committing the murder, Cain resolved to flee, saying, "My parents
will demand account of me concerning Abel, for there is no other human
being on earth." This thought had but passed through his mind when God
appeared unto him, and addressed him in these words: "Before thy
parents thou canst flee, but canst thou go out from My presence, too?
'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' Alas
for Abel that he showed thee mercy, and refrained from killing thee,
when he had thee in his power! Alas that he granted thee the
opportunity of slaying him!"

Questioned by God, "Where is Abel thy brother?" Cain answered: "Am I my
brother's keeper? Thou art He who holdest watch over all creatures, and
yet Thou demandest account of me! True, I slew him, but Thou didst
create the evil inclination in me. Thou guardest all things; why, then,
didst Thou permit me to slay him? Thou didst Thyself slay him, for
hadst Thou looked with a favorable countenance toward my offering as
toward his, I had had no reason for envying him, and I had not slain
him." But God said, "The voice of thy brother's blood issuing from his
many wounds crieth out against thee,[20] and likewise the blood of all
the pious who might have sprung from the loins of Abel."

Also the soul of Abel denounced the murderer, for she could find rest
nowhere. She could neither soar heavenward, nor abide in the grave with
her body, for no human soul had done either before.[21] But Cain still
refused to confess his guilt. He insisted that he had never seen a man
killed, and how was he to suppose that the stones which he threw at
Abel would take his life? Then, on account of Cain, God cursed the
ground, that it might not yield fruit unto him.[22] With a single
punishment both Cain and the earth were chastised, the earth because it
retained the corpse of Abel, and did not cast it above ground.[23]

In the obduracy of his heart, Cain spake: "O Lord of the world! Are
there informers who denounce men before Thee? My parents are the only
living human beings, and they know naught of my deed. Thou abidest in
the heavens, and how shouldst Thou know what things happen on earth?"
God said in reply: "Thou fool! I carry the whole world. I have made it,
and I will bear it"—a reply that gave Cain the opportunity of feigning
repentance. "Thou bearest the whole world," he said, "and my sin Thou
canst not bear?[24] Verily, mine iniquity is too great to be borne!
Yet, yesterday Thou didst banish my father from Thy presence, to-day
Thou dost banish me. In sooth, it will be said, it is Thy way to
banish."[25]

Although this was but dissimulation, and not true repentance, yet God
granted Cain pardon, and removed the half of his chastisement from him.
Originally, the decree had condemned him to be a fugitive and a
wanderer on the earth. Now he was no longer to roam about forever, but
a fugitive he was to remain. And so much was hard enough to have to
suffer, for the earth quaked under Cain, and all the animals, the wild
and the tame, among them the accursed serpent, gathered together and
essayed to devour him in order to avenge the innocent blood of Abel.
Finally Cain could bear it no longer, and, breaking out in tears, he
cried: "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee
from Thy presence?"[26] To protect him from the onslaught of the
beasts, God inscribed one letter of His Holy Name upon his forehead,
and furthermore He addressed the animals: "Cain's punishment shall not
be like unto the punishment of future murderers. He has shed blood, but
there was none to give him instruction. Henceforth, however, he who
slays another shall himself be slain." Then God gave him the dog as a
protection against the wild beasts, and to mark him as a sinner, He
afflicted him with leprosy.

Cain's repentance, insincere though it was, bore a good result. When
Adam met him, and inquired what doom had been decreed against him, Cain
told how his repentance had propitiated God, and Adam exclaimed, "So
potent is repentance, and I knew it not!" Thereupon he composed a hymn
of praise to God, beginning with the words, "It is a good thing to
confess thy sins unto the Lord!"[29]

The crime committed by Cain had baneful consequences, not for himself
alone, but for the whole of nature also. Before, the fruits which the
earth bore unto him when he tilled the ground had tasted like the
fruits of Paradise. Now his labor produced naught but thorns and
thistles.[29] The ground changed and deteriorated at the very moment of
Abel's violent end. The trees and the plants in the part of the earth
whereon the victim lived refused to yield their fruits, on account of
their grief over him, and only at the birth of Seth those that grew in
the portion belonging to Abel began to flourish and bear again. But
never did they resume their former powers. While, before, the vine had
borne nine hundred and twenty-six different varieties of fruit, it now
brought forth but one kind. And so it was with all other species. They
will regain their pristine powers only in the world to come.[30]

Nature was modified also by the burial of the corpse of Abel. For a
long time it lay there exposed, above ground, because Adam and Eve knew
not what to do with it. They sat beside it and wept, while the faithful
dog of Abel kept guard that birds and beasts did it no harm. On a
sudden, the mourning parents observed how a raven scratched the earth
away in one spot, and then hid a dead bird of his own kind in the
ground. Adam, following the example of the raven, buried the body of
Abel, and the raven was rewarded by God. His young are born with white
feathers, wherefore the old birds desert them, not recognizing them as
their offspring. They take them for serpents. God feeds them until
their plumage turns black, and the parent birds return to them. As an
additional reward, God grants their petition when the ravens pray for
rain.[31]

THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN EARTHS

When Adam was cast out of Paradise, he first reached the lowest of the
seven earths, the Erez, which is dark, without a ray of light, and
utterly void. Adam was terrified, particularly by the flames of the
ever-turning sword, which is on this earth. After he had done penance,
God led him to the second earth, the Adamah, where there is light
reflected from its own sky and from its phantom-like stars and
constellations. Here dwell the phantom-like beings that issued from the
union of Adam with the spirits. They are always sad; the emotion of joy
is not known to them. They leave their own earth and repair to the one
inhabited by men, where they are changed into evil spirits. Then they
return to their abode for good, repent of their wicked deeds, and till
the ground, which, however, bears neither wheat nor any other of the
seven species.[34] In this Adamah, Cain, Abel, and Seth were born.
After the murder of Abel, Cain was sent back to the Erez, where he was
frightened into repentance by its darkness and by the flames of the
ever-turning sword. Accepting his penitence, God permitted him to
ascend to the third earth, the Arka, which receives some light from the
sun. The Arka was surrendered to the Cainites forever, as their
perpetual domain. They till the ground, and plant trees, but they have
neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.

Some of the Cainites are giants, some of them are dwarfs. They have two
heads, wherefore they can never arrive at a decision; they are always
at loggerheads with themselves.[34] It may happen that they are pious
now, only to be inclined to do evil the next moment.

In the Ge, the fourth earth, live the generation of the Tower of Babel
and their descendants. God banished them thither because the fourth
earth is not far from Gehenna, and therefore close to the flaming
fire.[35] The inhabitants of the Ge are skilful in all arts, and
accomplished in all departments of science and knowledge, and their
abode overflows with wealth. When an inhabitant of our earth visits
them, they give him the most precious thing in their possession, but
then they lead him to the Neshiah, the fifth earth, where he becomes
oblivious of his origin and his home. The Neshiah is inhabited by
dwarfs without noses; they breathe through two holes instead. They have
no memory; once a thing has happened, they forget it completely, whence
their earth is called Neshiah, "forgetting." The fourth and fifth
earths are like the Arka; they have trees, but neither wheat nor any
other of the seven species.

The sixth earth, the Ziah, is inhabited by handsome men, who are the
owners of abundant wealth, and live in palatial residences, but they
lack water, as the name of their territory, Ziah, "drought," indicates.
Hence vegetation is sparse with them, and their tree culture meets with
indifferent success. They hasten to any waterspring that is discovered,
and sometimes they succeed in slipping through it up to our earth,
where they satisfy their sharp appetite for the food eaten by the
inhabitants of our earth. For the rest, they are men of steadfast
faith, more than any other class of mankind.[36]

Adam remained in the Adamah until after the birth of Seth. Then,
passing the third earth, the Arka, the abiding place of the Cainites,
and the next three earths as well, the Ge, the Neshiah, and the Ziah,
God transported him to the Tebel, the seventh earth, the earth
inhabited by men.

THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN

Cain knew only too well that his blood-guiltiness would be visited upon
him in the seventh generation. Thus had God decreed against him.[37] He
endeavored, therefore, to immortalize his name by means of
monuments,[38] and he became a builder of cities. The first of them he
called Enoch, after his son, because it was at the birth of Enoch that
he began to enjoy a measure of rest and peace.[39] Besides, he founded
six other cities.[40] This building of cities was a godless deed, for
he surrounded them with a wall, forcing his family to remain within.
All his other doings were equally impious. The punishment God had
ordained for him did not effect any improvement. He sinned in order to
secure his own pleasure, though his neighbors suffered injury thereby.
He augmented his household substance by rapine and violence; he excited
his acquaintances to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and he
became a great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a
change in the ways of simplicity wherein men had lived before, and he
was the author of measures and weights. And whereas men lived
innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he
changed the world into cunning craftiness.[41]

Like unto Cain were all his descendants, impious and godless, wherefore
God resolved to destroy them.[42]

The end of Cain overtook him in the seventh generation of men, and it
was inflicted upon him by the hand of his great-grandson Lamech. This
Lamech was blind, and when he went a-hunting, he was led by his young
son, who would apprise his father when game came in sight, and Lamech
would then shoot at it with his bow and arrow. Once upon a time he and
his son went on the chase, and the lad discerned something horned in
the distance. He naturally took it to be a beast of one kind or
another, and he told the blind Lamech to let his arrow fly. The aim was
good, and the quarry dropped to the ground. When they came close to the
victim, the lad exclaimed: "Father, thou hast killed something that
resembles a human being in all respects, except it carries a horn on
its forehead!" Lamech knew a

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