Kabbalah Library

23. “And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” “Took” means took him with words, as it is written, “Take Aaron.” He took him with spirit, as it is written, “Today the Lord will take away your master from over you.”

24. “And placed him in the Garden of Eden,” so he would have rest to know and to recognize the wisdom and the Torah. The Creator taught Adam the Torah, as it is written, “Then He saw and declared it, prepared it, and searched it out, and He said to the man,” and the ministering angels were praising before Him.

25. Until he saw Sam in heaven and envied him, and he descended from heaven as an image of a shadow on the serpent, male and female of the shell: The male is Sam, and the female is the serpent. The serpent was seen, and the shadow was on it, which is the power and might of the serpent.

26. The serpent approached the woman since she is more frivolous and easier to tempt.

It follows that a woman is tempted only by another woman, since the serpent is the female of Sam, and it is written, “And he said to the woman, ‘Although God said,’” immediately beginning with the word “Although.” This means that it is apparent who a person is in the beginning of his words,. Thus, the serpent began with “Although” to alert as to who he was, since although means irritation and anger [in Hebrew], which is from the Sitra Achra, since holiness is rest and contentment.

27. The serpent took the sign, which is the letter Mem, to know if she would accept his words or not, and kept conversing with her until she began with the letter Mem, and said “From the fruit of the garden we shall eat.” Promptly, the serpent took the letter and placed it on his left arm, and waited to hear from her Vav and Tav, so that the combination MaVeT [death] would be established before them.