The care which God exercised in fashioning every detail of the body of
man is as naught in comparison with His solicitude for the human soul.
The soul of man was created on the first day, for it is the spirit of
God moving upon the face of the waters. Thus, instead of being the
last, man is really the first work of creation.[17]
This spirit, or, to call it by its usual name, the soul of man,
possesses five different powers. By means of one of them she escapes
from the body every night, rises up to heaven, and fetches new life
thence for man.[18]
With the soul of Adam the souls of all the generations of men were
created. They are stored up in a promptuary, in the seventh of the
heavens, whence they are drawn as they are needed for human body after
human body.[19]
The soul and body of man are united in this way: When a woman has
conceived, the Angel of the Night, Lailah, carries the sperm before
God, and God decrees what manner of human being shall become of
it—whether it shall be male or female, strong or weak, rich or poor,
beautiful or ugly, long or short, fat or thin, and what all its other
qualities shall be. Piety and wickedness alone are left to the
determination of man himself. Then God makes a sign to the angel
appointed over the souls, saying, "Bring Me the soul so-and-so, which
is hidden in Paradise, whose name is so-and-so, and whose form is
so-and-so." The angel brings the designated soul, and she bows down
when she appears in the presence of God, and prostrates herself before
Him. At that moment, God issues the command, "Enter this sperm." The
soul opens her mouth, and pleads: "O Lord of the world! I am well
pleased with the world in which I have been living since the day on
which Thou didst call me into being. Why dost Thou now desire to have
me enter this impure sperm, I who am holy and pure, and a part of Thy
glory?" God consoles her: "The world which I shall cause thee to enter
is better than the world in which thou hast lived hitherto, and when I
created thee, it was only for this purpose." The soul is then forced to
enter the sperm against her will, and the angel carries her back to the
womb of the mother. Two angels are detailed to watch that she shall not
leave it, nor drop out of it, and a light is set above her, whereby the
soul can see from one end of the world to the other. In the morning an
angel carries her to Paradise, and shows her the righteous, who sit
there in their glory, with crowns upon their heads. The angel then says
to the soul, "Dost thou know who these are?" She replies in the
negative, and the angel goes on: "These whom thou beholdest here were
formed, like unto thee, in the womb of their mother. When they came
into the world, they observed God's Torah and His commandments.
Therefore they became the partakers of this bliss which thou seest them
enjoy. Know, also thou wilt one day depart from the world below, and if
thou wilt observe God's Torah, then wilt thou be found worthy of
sitting with these pious ones. But if not, thou wilt be doomed to the
other place."
In the evening, the angel takes the soul to hell, and there points out
the sinners whom the Angels of Destruction are smiting with fiery
scourges, the sinners all the while crying out Woe! Woe! but no mercy
is shown unto them. The angel then questions the soul as before, "Dost
thou know who these are?" and as before the reply is negative. The
angel continues: "These who are consumed with fire were created like
unto thee. When they were put into the world, they did not observe
God's Torah and His commandments. Therefore have they come to this
disgrace which thou seest them suffer. Know, thy destiny is also to
depart from the world. Be just, therefore, and not wicked, that thou
mayest gain the future world."
Between morning and evening the angel carries the soul around, and
shows her where she will live and where she will die, and the place
where she will buried, and he takes her through the whole world, and
points out the just and the sinners and all things. In the evening, he
replaces her in the womb of the mother, and there she remains for nine
months.
When the time arrives for her to emerge from the womb into the open
world, the same angel addresses the soul, "The time has come for thee
to go abroad into the open world." The soul demurs, "Why dost thou want
to make me go forth into the open world?" The angel replies: "Know that
as thou wert formed against thy will, so now thou wilt be born against
thy will, and against thy will thou shalt die, and against thy will
thou shalt give account of thyself before the King of kings, the Holy
One, blessed be He." But the soul is reluctant to leave her place. Then
the angel fillips the babe on the nose, extinguishes the light at his
head, and brings him forth into the world against his will. Immediately
the child forgets all his soul has seen and learnt, and he comes into
the world crying, for he loses a place of shelter and security and
rest.
When the time arrives for man to quit this world, the same angel
appears and asks him, "Dost thou recognize me?" And man replies, "Yes;
but why dost thou come to me to-day, and thou didst come on no other
day?" The angel says, "To take thee away from the world, for the time
of thy departure has arrived." Then man falls to weeping, and his voice
penetrates to all ends of the world, yet no creature hears his voice,
except the cock alone. Man remonstrates with the angel, "From two
worlds thou didst take me, and into this world thou didst bring me."
But the angel reminds him: "Did I not tell thee that thou wert formed
against thy will, and thou wouldst be born against thy will, and
against thy will thou wouldst die? And against thy will thou wilt have
to give account and reckoning of thyself before the Holy One, blessed
be He."[20]