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bad for there to be only one human being? His answer]: So that it won’t be said that two powers reign in the world. Up high, one with no female companion, and below, one with no female companion.
    “I will make him a fitting helper for him” (literally, a “helper facing” or “opposed to him”).
    Rashi’s question: How is she both a help and in opposition? Rashi’s answer: If he is deserving, the other will help him; if he is not, the other will fight against him.
    Playing on the words
ish
—“man”—and
ishah
—“woman”—which is valid only in Hebrew, Rashi demonstrates that the holy tongue was used at the time of the creation of the world.
    “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.”
    Here Rashi puts forward a touching explanation for why he put Adam to sleep: God is about to operate on Adam’sribs and make his future companion out of one of them; if Adam suspects this, it might disgust him forever.
    A surprising idea:
    And (seeing woman for the first time) “Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
    This means that Adam had already mated with beasts and animals, but was satisfied only when uniting with his spouse. Another odd comment in the story of the Garden of Eden:
    “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field … and he said unto the woman …” What is the serpent doing in the Garden of Eden? And what aroused his interest? He saw man and woman united sexually, says the commentator, and this excited him.
    The serpent persuaded Eve to taste the forbidden fruit in spite of the danger that she could die. Then she gave it to Adam so he would share it with her.
    Rashi: she was afraid that she would die and that Adam would survive her and marry another woman.
    Once God has confronted them about the eating of the fruit, the man defends himself with the following verse:
    “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
    Rashi: here Adam shows his lack of gratitude to God for giving him the woman.
    The serpent, too, is dealt with.
    “And the Lord God said unto the serpent … upon thy belly shalt thou go.”
    Rashi, true to his undeviating attachment to the literal text, deduces from this that originally the serpent had legs but then he lost them.
    “So he drove out the man; and he placed … a flaming sword
(lame
in Belaaz), which turned every way” at the entrance of the Garden of Eden.
    There is a Midrash on this verse, says Rashi, but my aim is to remain with the straightforward meaning.
    Life outside the Garden also offers much for Rashi to explore. God accepts Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. And the latter kills. “And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said … am I my brother’s keeper?” God reprimands him: “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood (in plural) cryeth unto me from the ground.” Rashi explains the plural: “The blood of thy brother, and also of his descendants.”
    In other words: he who kills, kills more than the victim.
    • • •
    Ten generations after the creation, in the time of Noah, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great…. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
    Rashi’s commentary: “It grieved him to have lost what he had created. Just like the king who became sad because of his son. And this is how I answered the question a heathen asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korkha: “Don’t you believe that God can foresee the future?” “Yes,” the Sage replied. “But,” said the heathen, “it is written that it grieved him at his heart!” “Have you ever had a son?” the Sage asked him. “Yes,” said the heathen. “And what did you do when he was born?” “I rejoiced, and I was eager for others to rejoice.” “But didn’t you know that he would die one day?” “All in good time.”
    “These are the