Paradise,[76] and sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch
over them. Each of these angels shines with the lustre of the
heavens. When the just man appears before the gates, the clothes
in which he was buried are taken off him, and the angels array
him in seven garments of clouds of glory, and place upon his head
two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, the other of gold
of Parvaim,[77] and they put eight myrtles in his hand, and they
utter praises before him and say to him, "Go thy way, and eat thy
bread with joy." And they lead him to a place full of rivers,
surrounded by eight hundred kinds of roses and myrtles. Each one
has a canopy according to his merits,[78] and under it flow four
rivers, one of milk, the other of balsam, the third of wine, and
the fourth of honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold,
and thirty pearls hang from it, each of them shining like Venus.
Under each canopy there is a table of precious stones and pearls,
and sixty angels stand at the head of every just man, saying unto
him: "Go and eat with joy of the honey, for thou hast busied
thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter than honey, and drink
of the wine preserved in the grape since the six days of
creation,[79] for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and
she is compared to wine." The least fair of the just is beautiful
as Joseph and Rabbi Johanan, and as the grains of a silver
pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun.[80] There is no
light, "for the light of the righteous is the shining light." And
they undergo four transformations every day, passing through four
states. In the first the righteous is changed into a child. He
enters the division for children, and tastes the joys of
childhood. Then he is changed into a youth, and enters the
division for the youths, with whom he enjoys the delights of
youth. Next he becomes an adult, in the prime of life, and he