There's a wild story in Jewish tradition that tries to explain just that, and it's... well, it's not for the faint of heart.

Our story begins with Samael, often identified with the yetzer hara (יצר הרע) – the evil inclination, or sometimes even the angel of death. According to this tale, Samael, riding on a serpent, approaches Eve. The result? She conceives a child, and this child is considered the son of Samael himself.

Now, Adam, who's been strolling around the Garden of Eden, returns to find this crying baby. Understandably confused, he asks Eve, "Who is this?" And Eve drops the bombshell: "This is Samael's son." Adam, in perhaps the understatement of the millennium, replies, "Why do we need this problem here?"

But here’s where things get really intense. The boy, still crying, seems to be deliberately trying to provoke Adam. And Adam? He… well, he doesn't react well. He slaughters the child, cuts him into pieces, and then – prepare yourself – he and Eve boil the pieces and eat them.

I know, it's a lot to take in. It feels… almost barbaric, doesn't it? Certainly, not what we expect from the idyllic Garden of Eden.

When Samael discovers what happened to his son, he confronts Adam and Eve, demanding, "Give me my boy!" They, of course, deny everything, claiming they know nothing. Samael accuses them of lying, and as they argue, a voice speaks from within Adam and Eve. It's the son of Samael, declaring, "Go on your way, because I have already entered into their hearts, and I am not going to leave their hearts, nor the hearts of their sons, nor the sons of their sons, throughout the generations."

Chilling, right?

This story, found in Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, is a pretty gruesome and, frankly, primitive tale about the origin of evil. As Schwartz notes, the cannibalistic elements are shocking. It certainly paints a cynical picture of humanity. It seems to draw upon the midrash – a method of interpreting biblical texts - that the serpent conceived Cain with Eve (you can find another version of that story on p. 447 of Tree of Souls).

There are variations on this story, too. One, found in IFA 1141 from Yemen, tells of Satan bringing Adam his son in the form of a sheep, asking him to care for it for a year. When Satan doesn't return, Adam butchers and eats the sheep with challah. When Satan finally comes back, Adam lies and says the sheep ran away. But when Satan calls for his son, the son answers from inside Adam! Satan then leaves him there. Louis Ginzberg also mentions this story in Ha-Goren 9:38-41. We also find variations in Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 13, 21 and 22.

So, what are we to make of such a disturbing story? Perhaps it's a stark reminder that the struggle with our own yetzer hara is an ancient one. That the temptations and darker impulses we feel aren’t new, but have been part of the human condition since the very beginning. Maybe it's a way of saying that evil isn't some external force, but something that, once ingested (literally or figuratively), becomes deeply ingrained within us, passed down through generations.

It's a tough story, no doubt. But it leaves you pondering: How do we deal with the "son of Samael" within ourselves? And how do we prevent it from taking root in the hearts of future generations?