1. For more on why Oddyseus's communing with dead souls is different than a typical sojourn into Hades, please see Mr. Roberts' book.
2. In Greek mythology, Pandora is sent to man as a punishment for stealing fire. In Genesis, woman is sent as a gift to aid man: "It is not good for man to be alone. I will get him a helper to be opposite him." Rashi explains that the meaning of this word is that if man treats his wife well, she is is helper. If not, she is "opposite" him. The Hebrew word used however, "kinegdo", can also mean "equal to". In Genesis, woman exposes man to the "knowledge of good and evil", which has unintended consequences, whereas in Greek mythology, she exposes him only to the knowledge of evil - she exposes him to hope as well, but in context this is not something "good" so much as a palliative to help man deal with his newborn miseries - a type of neutralizer that still can not neutralize. Furthermore, by giving man and women separate punishments for the sin of eating from the fruit of knowledge, the Bible is acknowledging that woman alone does not bear responsibility for man's eating: While she tempted him, he had a choice, and he made it. He expressed agency in the act of eating. In the story of Pandora, man has no choice - it is solely woman's actions and her responsibilities that let evil into the world.
The theme of man's responsibility is magnified in rabbinic literature, where the midrash says that God told man not to eat of the fruit, lest he die, but man told woman not to touch the tree, lest she die - therefore, the snake pushed Eve to the tree. When she touched it and did not die, she figured that if one part of Adam's statement was false, the other was as well. The rabbis take this as a lesson not to add on needless restrictions to pre-existing laws. In this story, Adam's dishonesty with his wife is what led her to be in a position to tempt him to sin. When God asks Adam what happened, Adam blames the woman. God punishes Adam, but punishes woman as well - thus acknowledging both Adam's responsibility for his own actions, and the fact that woman was responsible as well. He asks Eve what happened, but does not ask the snake. According to the rabbis, this is because the snake could have responded "The words of the teacher, the words of the student - who do you listen to?". In context, this phrase is meant to encompass both Adam and Eve's actions both had a choice between the words of the teacher - God - and the words of a student - for Eve, it was the snake, for Adam, it was Eve - and both listened to the student. Both made the same mistake.
I do not consider these apologetics; I consider them a re-emphasis of an under-emphasized feminist (or at least, pro-women/one that considers men and women equal to men) voice within the Jewish tradition, which is often ignored in an attempt to fit rabbinic Judaism's values into "Judeo-Christian values", when, in fact, traditional Christian (ie Catholic, which is what Christianity started out as, whereas Protestantism is more modern) views of womanhood are in fact, completely different from Talmudic/Midrashic ones. For example, there is no concept of "original sin" in Judaism, and many sources - including Rashi, who lived in a medieval Christian context - identify Adam and Eve as having sex before they ate from the fruit of knowledge, thus detaching it from any sinful connotations. This is because of the verse, right after the story of the Garden of Eden, that states - in the past perfect "Adam had known Eve his wife", implying that the sex had happened quite a while ago - i.e., before the entire "expulsion from the garden" episode.
This note focuses on the middle of chapter 2-beginning of 4:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0102.htm
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