s as the first of created beings, leading a life of perfect
innocence in the garden of divine bliss. Before him God brings all the
newly created beings that he may give them a name and a purpose. But the
Serpent enters Paradise as tempter, casting the seed of discord into the
hearts of the man and the woman. As they prove too feeble to resist
temptation, they can no longer remain in the heavenly garden in their
former happy state. Only the memory of Paradise remains, a golden dream to
cast hope over the life of struggle and labor into which they enter. The
idea of the legend is that man's proper place is not among beings of the
earth, but he can reach his lofty destiny only by arduous struggle with
the world of the senses and a constant striving toward the divine. The
same idea is expressed more directly in the eighth Psalm:

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that Thou thinkest of him?
Yet Thou hast made him but little lower than the godly beings
(Elohim)
And hast crowned him with glory and honor.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet."

3. According to the Haggadists,(629) before the fall man excelled even the
angels in appearance and wisdom, so that they were ready to prostrate
themselves before him. Only when God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man,
they recognized his frailty and kinship with other beings of the earth.
The idea expressed in this legend resembles the one implied in the legend
of Paradise, viz. man has a twofold nature. With his heavenly spirit he
can soar freely to the highest realm of thought, above the station of the
angels; yet his earthly frame holds him ever near the dust. It is this
very contrast that constitutes his greatness, for it makes him a citizen
of two worlds, one perishable, the other eternal. He is the highest result
of Creation, the pride of the Creator.(630) Thus he was appointed God's
vice-regent on earth by the words spoken to the first man and woman: "Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that creepeth upon the earth."(631) The rabbis add a
striking comment upon the word _R'du_, which is used here for "have
dominion" but which may also mean, "go down." They say: "The choice is
left in man's own hand. If you maint