Pardes (legend)

Pardes (Hebrew: ''pardēs'', "orchard") is the subject of a Jewish aggadah ("legend") about four rabbis of the Mishnaic period (1st century CE) who visited the '' pardes'' (the "orchard" of esoteric Torah knowledge), only one of whom succeeded in leaving the ''pardes'' unharmed.

The basic story goes as follows:

Sources differ concerning which sage died and which became demented; the Tosefta and the Babylonian Talmud say ben Azzai died and ben Zoma became demented, but the Jerusalem Talmud, '' Shir HaShirim Rabbah'', and the hekhalot literature record the reverse.

Etymology

The Hebrew word פַּרְדֵּס (''pardes'', "orchard") is of Persian origin (cf Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀) and appears several times in the Bible. The same Old Persian root is the source of the word ''paradise'' via Latin paradisus and Greek παράδεισος, which were used for פרדס's Biblical Hebrew equivalent גן, Garden, in early Bible translations.

Samson Levey proposed the Greek ''paradosis'' suggests the four were examining the claims and early documents of Christianity and that the Tosefta account preserves the scholarly undertaking most accurately.

Versions

The story is found in several places, with minor variations: the Tosefta, the Babylonian Talmud, and the Jerusalem Talmud. The earliest context, found in the Tosefta, is the restriction on transmitting mystical teaching concerning the divine Chariot except privately to particularly qualified disciples.

The sugya in the Babylonian Talmud, at Hagigah 14b, is the best-known:

Versions of the story also appear in the esoteric Hekhalot literature.

Exposition

Rashi says that ben Azzai died from looking at the Divine Presence. Ben Zoma's harm was in losing his sanity. Acher's "cutting down the plantings" in the orchard refers to becoming a heretic from the experience. Acher means "the other one", and is the Talmudic term for the tanna Elisha ben Abuyah (Yerushalmi identifies him as EbA on the following line; MSS Munich 6 of the Bavli and Hekhalot Zutarti read "Elisha ben Abuyah" in place of "Acher"). Akiva, in contrast to the other three, became the leading Rabbinic figure of the era.

Rashi explains that the four rabbis ascended to Heaven by utilizing the Divine Name, which might be understood as achieving a spiritual elevation through Jewish meditation practices.

The Tosafot, medieval commentaries on the Talmud, say that the four sages "did not go up literally, but it appeared to them as if they went up." On the other hand, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg wrote that the journey to paradise "is to be taken literally and not allegorically".Louis Ginzberg,
Elisha ben Abuyah
, '' Jewish Encyclopedia'', 1901-1906.

According to another interpretation, ''PaRDeS'' is an acronym for the four traditional methods of exegesis in Judaism. In this sense, they were the four to understand the whole Torah.

Interpretation in Kabbalah

Another version of the legend is also found in the mystical literature ('' Zohar'' I, 26b and Tikunei haZohar 40), which adds to the story:

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero explains the Zoharic passage in his '' Pardes Rimonim'' ("Orchard of Pomegranates"), whose title itself refers to the Pardes mystical ascent (''Pardes'': Shaar Arachei HaKinuim, entry on Mayim-Water). The meaning of the ascent is understood through Rabbi Akiva's warning. The danger concerns misinterpreting anthropomorphism in Kabbalah, introducing corporeal notions in the Divine. Emanations in Kabbalah bridge between the Ein Sof Divine Unity and the plurality of Creation. The fundamental mystical error involves separating between divine transcendence and immanence, as if they were a duality. Rather, all Kabbalistic emanations have no being of their own, but are nullified and dependent on their source of vitality in the One God. Nonetheless, Kabbalah maintains that God is revealed through the life of His emanations, Man interacting with Divinity in a mutual Flow of "Direct Light" from Above to Below and "Returning Light" from Below to Above. The Sefirot, including Wisdom, Compassion and Kingship comprise the dynamic life in God's Persona. In the highest of the Four Worlds ('' Atziluth''), the complete nullification and Unity of the sefirot and Creation is revealed within its Divine source. Apparent separation only pertains, in successive degrees, to the lower Three Worlds and our Physical Realm. Introducing false separation causes the exile of the Shekhinah within Creation from God. From Cordovero's explanation:

See also

* Pardes (exegesis)
* Elisha ben Abuyah
* Jewish eschatology#World to come
* Garden of Eden
* Maaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavah
* Merkabah mysticism
* Four Worlds
* Jewish eschatology

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pardes (Legend)
Jewish folklore
Jewish mysticism
Merkabah mysticism
Entering heaven alive

he:פרדס (יהדות)