Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Where is Paradise ?

B"H

The original Hebrew version in the Torah, Genesis - Bereshit 2:10, calls PARADISE "Gan Eden".

I would love to have a look into the Garden of Eden. Just a quick look and maybe even see Adam and Eve (before they were thrown out). The first humans on the planet (some Kabbalists claim that there had been human beings before but without a soul (Neshama)). In particular seeing Adam who was created by G - d Himself. We have no clue how the two of them looked but I assume that they didn't look like us today but slightly different.

Translations into many different languages see in PARADISE just ONE location. One closed place whether only existing on a spiritual level or existing in real. However, the original Hebrew word for Paradise consists of TWO words: GAN and EDEN.

The Book of Genesis 2:10:

"And a river goeth out of EDEN to water the GARDEN (GAN)";

The Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 99a teaches us a brief definition:

Reish Lakish said: "Adam lived in the GARDEN and not in EDEN. The Torah indicates (see above quotation) that EDEN and the GARDEN are different places.


Reish Lakish sees in EDEN (where the river is coming from) a much higher (spiritual) level than the actual GARDEN. Thus EDEN would stand for OLAM HABAH - the World to Come. What the Torah actually tells us is that there are TWO paradises; one lower and one higher up.

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