Pardes

Pardes (Hebrew: פרדס orchard) is the subject of a Jewish aggadah ("legend") about four rabbis of the Mishnaic period (1st century CE) who visited the Orchard (that is, Paradise):

Four men entered pardes — Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher (Elisha ben Abuyah)^[1], and Akiba. Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiba entered in peace and departed in peace.^[2]

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."^[3] On the other hand, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, writes in the Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906) that the journey to paradise "is to be taken literally and not allegorically".^[4] According to another interpretation, Pardes is an acronym. In this sense, they were the four to understand the whole Torah^{[citation needed]}.

Etymology

The Hebrew word pardes itself is of Persian origin. Persian is also the source of the English word paradise, which entered English via Latin and Greek^{[citation needed]}.

References

1. ^ Later, Elisha came to be considered heretical by his fellow Tannaim and the rabbis of the Talmud referred to him as Acher (אחר"The Other One").
2. ^ Babylonian Talmud Hagigah 14b, Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 2:1. Both available online in Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud. This translation based on Braude, Ginzberg, Rodkinson, and Streane.
3. ^ A. W. Streane, A Translation of the Treatise Chagigah from the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 1891). p. 83.
4. ^ Louis Ginzberg, "Elisha ben Abuyah", Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.

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