Seth D. Postell Quotes & Sayings

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world. Their continued presence in the Garden was contingent on the keeping of only a few commandments, not 613 commandments. Under the best conditions this world has ever seen, Adam and Eve break one of the three laws and die in exile. It is not at all clear how the telling of the story of Adam and Eve's failure to keep only a few commandments in a perfect world is supposed to encourage Israel to keep 613 commandments in a fallen world. Actually, it offers no encouragement, at all. And if we take the principle of ma'asei avot' siman l'banim seriously, Adam's story never was intended to warn Israel from following in Adam's footsteps (i.e., a warning to keep the Law). Rather, Adam's story was intended to be a prophecy that Israel would follow in Adam's footsteps. "Israel, you will be just like Adam. — Seth D. Postell