So, there’s Eve, standing before the Tree of Knowledge. The serpent, that sly creature, wants to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit. But how to sway her? According to Legends of the Jews, the serpent pulls a fast one. To give weight to his words, "the serpent began to shake the tree violently and bring down its fruit." He eats some himself, declaring, "As I do not die of eating the fruit, so wilt thou not die." A pretty bold statement. This, Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, plants a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind. "All that my master" – she called Adam that, by the way – "commanded me is but lies." She starts thinking she should listen to the serpent. But she can't quite bring herself to completely disobey God.
What does she do? She compromises! A very human thing to do, isn't it? She eats just the outside skin of the fruit. Nothing happens. Emboldened, she eats the fruit itself.
And then…Bam! She sees the Angel of Death before her.
Suddenly realizing the gravity of her actions, Eve has a rather…interesting reaction. Expecting to die immediately, she thinks, "Wait a minute, if I’m going down, Adam’s coming with me!" She worries he’ll just find another wife after she’s gone. So, she decides to make Adam eat the forbidden fruit, too. According to Ginzberg, it takes "tears and lamentations on her part to prevail upon Adam to take the baleful step." Talk about relationship drama!
But Eve isn't done yet. Not satisfied with just sharing her newfound mortality with Adam, she gives the fruit to all the other living beings. All of them. As the story goes, everyone ate, and everyone became subject to death.
Well, almost everyone.
There's this bird called the malham. This little guy refuses the fruit. "Is it not enough that ye have sinned against God, and have brought death to others?" he asks, according to Legends of the Jews. "Must ye still come to me and seek to persuade me into disobeying God's command, that I may eat and die thereof? I will not do your bidding."
And then, a heavenly voice speaks. It says to Adam and Eve, "To you was the command given. Ye did not heed it; ye did transgress it, and ye did seek to persuade the bird malham. He was steadfast, and he feared Me, although I gave him no command. Therefore he shall never taste of death, neither he nor his descendants--they all shall live forever in Paradise." Everyone else succumbs to mortality, but this one little bird, because of his unwavering obedience, is granted eternal life in Paradise.
What does this legend tell us? Perhaps it's about the power of individual choice, the consequences of disobedience, or even the unexpected rewards of steadfastness. Maybe it's a reminder that even in the face of universal temptation, there's always a chance to choose a different path. And sometimes, that choice can lead to the most unexpected blessings.