holy!
holy!' before him. But God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, so
that all knew he was only a man. This explains what is written (Isa. ii.
22), 'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is
he to be accounted of'?"

Ibid.

Rabbi Yochanan saith, "Adam and Eve seemed as if they were about twenty
years old when they were created."

Ibid., chap. 14.

Rav Acha said when God was about to create Adam He consulted the
ministering angels, and asked them, saying, "Shall we make man?" They
enquired, "Of what good will this man be?" He replied, "His wisdom will
be greater than yours." One day, therefore, He brought together the
cattle, the beasts, and the birds, and asked them the name of them
severally, but they knew not. He then caused them to pass before Adam,
and asked him, "What is the name of this and the other?" Then Adam
replied, "This is an ox, this is an ass," and so on. "And thou, why is
thy name Adam?" (i.e. in Hebrew, man). "I ought to be called Adam," was
his reply, "for I was created from Adamah" (the ground). "And what is My
name?" "It is meet Thou shouldst be called Lord, for Thou art Lord over
all Thy creatures." Rav Acha says, "'I am the Lord, that is My name'
(Isa. xlii. 8). 'That is My name which Adam called Me.'"

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 17.

Rabba Eliezer says Adam was skilled in all manner of crafts. What proof
is there of this? It is said (Isa. xliv. 11), "And the artisans, they
are of Adam."

Ibid., chap. 24.

"And the Lord said, I will destroy man" (Gen. vi. 7). Rabbi Levi, in the
name of Rabbi Yochanan, says that even millstones were destroyed. Rabbi
Yuda, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, declares even the very dust of Adam
was destroyed. Rabbi Yuda, in the name of Rabbi Shimon, insists that
even the (resurrection) bone of the spine, from which God will one day
cause man to sprout forth again, was destroyed.

Ibid., chap. 28.

Concerning the bone, the _os coccygis_, there is an interesting
story in Midrash Kohelet (fol. 114, 3), which may be
appropriately inserted here. Hadrian (whose bones may they be
ground, and his name blotted out) once asked Rabbi Joshua ben
Chanania, "From what shall the human frame be reconstructed when
it rises again?" "From Luz in the backbone," was the answer.
"Prove this to me," said Hadrian. Then the Rabbi took Luz, a
small bone of the spine, and immersed it in water, but it was
not softened; h