were fallen, till God cast them down in consequence of their seduction of man. The

Angels, having in vain tried to prevent the creation of man, at last conspired to lead him

into sin as the only means of his ruin - the task being undertaken by Sammael (and his

Angels), who in many respects was superior to the other Angelic princes.16 The

instrument employed was the serpent, of whose original condition the strangest legends

are told, probably to make the Biblical narrative appear more rational.  17 The details of the

story of the Fall, as told by the Rabbis, need not be here repeated, save to indicate its

consequences. The first of these was the withdrawal of the Shekhinah from earth to the

first heaven, while subsequent sins successively led to its further removal to the seventh

heaven. This, however, can scarcely be considered a permanent sequel of sin, since the

good deeds of seven righteous men, beginning with Abraham, brought it again, in the

time of Moses, to earth.  18 Six things Adam is said to have lost by his sin; but even these

are to be restored to man by the Messiah.  19 20 That the physical death of Adam was the

consequence of his sin, is certainly taught. Otherwise he would have lived forever, like

Enoch and Elijah.21 But although the fate which overtook Adam was to rest on all the

world,22 and death came not only on our first father but on his descendants, and all

creation lost its perfectness,23 yet even these temporal sequences are not universally

admitted. It rather seems taught, that death was intended to be the fate of all, or sent to

show the folly of men claiming Divine worship, or to test whether piety was real,  24 the

more so that with death the weary struggle with our evil inclination ceased. It was needful

to die when our work was done, that others might enter upon it. In each case death was

the consequence of our own, not of Adam's sin.  25 In fact, over these six - Abraham, Isaac,

Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam - the Angel of Death had had no absolute power. Nay,

there was a time when all Israel were not only free from death, but like the Angels, and

even higher than they. For, originally God had offered the Law to all Gentile nations,26

but they had refused to submit to it.27 But when Israel took on themselves the Law a t

Mount Sinai, the description in Psalm 1xxxii. 6 applied literally to them. They would not

have died, and were 'the sons of God.'28 But all this was lost by the sin of making the

golden calf - although the Talmud marks that, if Israel had continued in that Angelic

state, the nation would have ceased with that generation.  29 Thus there were two divergent

opinions - the one ascribing death to personal, the other tracing it to Adam's guilt.30