GEN293 [T]he living are destined to be judged.  Pirkei Avot, IV, 29  Man is the crown and the master of creation.  Inferior physically, he stands higher than all other beings with his mind, unique among all creatures, and with his freedom to will.  He alone has the ability to think and choose right from wrong—an ability that he first acquired when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” [this verse]. Be it a privilege or dubious gift, in its wake comes a serious responsibility: Because we can judge, we will be judged in turn.  When man stands at the acme of his strength, at the starting-point of his life all lies before him, ready for his conquest; The Almighty bids him, “Replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:28.  He is free to order and rule over every creature, as he chooses his career and pursues it.  But when a time comes for a man to be judged, and he must pay for misdeeds, any and every living being can become Heaven’s agent to carry out the ordained judgment.  Gone then is man’s right to prevail over the lower forms of creation.  In this vein the Talmud observes that “once the time for a man’s end has come, all and everything gain supremacy over him [and Rashi adds; to put him to death—even a fly or a gnat] for it is stated [that Cain pleaded when the Almighty sentenced him to wander as a fugitive,] ‘whoever, whatever finds me, will slay me.’” Genesis 4:14.  [The word kol is here generally rendered “whoever,” but it can equally mean “whatever.”]  Cain knew that ultimately he must pay with his life for the murder of his brother, and so he feared that thenceforth any person or creature could bring his end.  Another Sage derives this teaching from a different verse: “For Thy judgments do they stand this day, whereupon all are Thy servants.” Psalms 119:91  Once the day comes for people to and and receive Divine judgment, all creatures become the Holy One’s servants and agents, to do his bidding.  From that moment, all nature is no longer responsive to the rule of the sentence man, but only to the decrees of heaven. SINAI2 201-2