808. When Adam sinned and was sentenced to all those decrees, the Creator expelled him from all those pleasures and subtleties he had had in Eden, and appointed guards on the gates of the Garden of Eden, which are the Cherubim, as it is written, “He placed the cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and the blaze of the turning sword,” to guard the splendor and door of the Garden of Eden.
809. At that time, it was decreed that from then on, no man will have permission to enter there, except for the souls that have been purified by the Cherubim first. If they see that she is worthy of entering, she will enter. If not, they repel her outside and she will be burned by that flame or receive her punishment.
810. Corresponding to them, in the Temple, when the priest entered the interior of the interior, the Holy of Holies, there was a likeness of the Garden of Eden. When the priest went in there, he went in with the soul and not with the body, for the body was canceled before the soul, and was as though it did not exist, with dread, fear, trembling, quivering, cleanness, and purity. The Cherubim stand there and guard like those Cherubim that stand at the gates of the Garden of Eden.
811. If the priest merits, he enters there in peace and exits in peace. If he does not merit, a blaze emerges from between the two Cherubim and burns him, and he dies inside. Happy is he who merits passing through them in peace. There is nothing in the world that is like it in merit.
812. The serpent who misled and seduced Eve is a homonym since serpent is translated into Hivya [in Aramaic], similar to Hava [Eve]. Hivya is male, and Hava is female. Thus, it is a homonym. Likewise, Nahash [serpent]-Nehoshet [copper] is also a homonym.
813. “And the man called the name of his wife Eve, since she was the mother of all that is living,” and not after the Hivya. Rather, he named her after the future, Eve, for if this were not so, he would have called her Haya [animal/living], after being the mother of all that is living. But she is named Hava after the future, after Hivya being destined to seduce Hava.