Where is Gan Eden?

 

Paradise? A real place? Something mystical, other-worldly, or part of the afterlife? An Iron Butterfly song?

All of the above and maybe more. Let’s have a look at the sources.

Adam and Chava were placed in a “gan b’eden mi’kedem – garden in Eden in the east.” (Bereishit 2:8) However, God banishes humanity “mi’gan eden - from the Garden of Eden” (3:23) as punishment for Adam and Chava eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. They are driven out eastward, and “the cherubm and a fiery ever-turning sword, guard the way back” (v. 24) These verses seem to describe Gan Eden as a paradise lost, an amazing place that could have been ours. We want to return, but there’s a pretty big, fiery, and sharp obstacle preventing us from entering Gan Eden again.

Or it can again be ours if only we could find it. The Torah describes the rivers that border Gan Eden. Find the rivers, find the garden. It’s not so simple. Reish Lakish (Eruvin 19a) speculated whether the entrance to the Garden of Eden was in Israel, Arabia or between the rivers of Babylonia. Ramban posits Gan Eden is located at the equator based on its spiritual characteristics.

It might just be easier to view Gan Eden as a spiritual realm where the soul goes after a person passes from this world. We mention this in the Kel Maleh Rachamim memorial prayer when we hope that Gan Eden will be the resting place for the soul of the departed.

Maybe Gan Eden is both a physical place and a spiritual place. It is hiding in plain sight and impossible to find. God intended the garden to be a paradise, but it didn’t work out that way. Instead, Gan Eden has taken on multiple meanings in various locations – or simply an elusive perfection for which we dream and strive. Mine is different than yours, and all of ours are Gan Eden.

Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky, the Slonimer Rebbe, writes in his Netivot Shalom that every person needs to read the Torah as if it was written for them. In other words, we do not read about creation or Gan Eden as history only in the past. Our challenge is to read Torah in a way that it resonates with our existence. The story of creation might be filtered through our understanding of science or, in particular this year, the amazing findings and pictures of the Webb Telescope. The serpent might represent that voice which discourages us from doing what we know we should. It will be an interesting year of weekly portions to find ourselves in each one.

Gan Eden might be where we live (“Everything’s better by the beach!”), our homes (“There’s no place like home!”), time to ourselves, or time with family and friends. And it’s not a bad Iron Butterfly song either. Let’s keep searching for our individual Gan Eden while making our lives a little more idyllic wherever we find ourselves.