Regarding your Question…another excellent question. Remember when God created Adam, he created him to be exactly what He was. But what was He? He was neither masculine nor feminine, but both. Judaism has always taught that the original Adam had two faces. The original man contained a duality, which was later separated into male and female, each with its own personality and outlook. See Bereishis, the Artscroll Tanach Series, Volume 1A, p. 72. Man was created to be the earthly reflection of God; therefore, the purpose of matrimony was that the two might be glued back together again so that, as one flesh, they could be the earthly reflection of the totality of all that God is.
As far as the separation of spirit and flesh is concerned, again, let me refer you to the Encyclopedia Judaica, Volume 11, p. 842 ff under the entry, Man, The Nature Of. It is stated therein, “He is the artifact of God, fashioned purposely out of two diverse elements: His body is of the earth, but it is animated by the divine breath of life (Genesis 2:17); yet, man is not a dichotomy of body and soul (a view characteristic of Orphism and Platonism), and certainly not a trichotomy. He is multi-faceted, unitary being—‘nefish hayyah’—a living person.”
