For Out of Zion Shall Go Forth The Torah

There's a story in Masechet Chagiga 14b, "The Rabbis taught: Four Sages entered the Pardes or the orchard - the highest spiritual elevation, as explained by Rashi. They were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Avuya, and Rabbi Akiva.”

The consequences of this journey were as follows:

- Ben Azzai: He gazed upon the Divine Presence and died.
- Ben Zoma: He glimpsed the Divine Presence and was harmed by losing his mind.
- Elisha ben Avuyah: He became a heretic and was thus called Acher.
- Rabbi Akiva: He entered and exited the Pardes safely.

With your permission, I would like to examine why Rabbi Akiva exited safely. Was he safe after he came back? 

Below are some ideas, and are only my opinion.

If you look at his students' names, they are not the same people who went with him to Pardes. His students are: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, Rabbi Yossei ben Halafta, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua.

He took with him a different group of people. His students were not on the level to travel with him into those realms, but the ones who went with him were on the same level as him to travel that far.

After the journey, the other three rabbis met their fate, but Rabbi Akiva seems to be fine, as the Gemara above says, but why?

Because after Rabbi Akiva buried 24,000 students, no Torah teacher was left in this world capable of transmitting the Torah to the next generation. So, Hashem has given a Master Teacher time to teach the next generation of Rabbis, who taught the five luminaries that have revived the Torah. After he had accomplished this goal and left the teachers behind, Rabbi Akiva was executed by the Romans.

But what is this place, Pardes?

It is a Paradise or an orchard, "a place of fruit trees".

In Parashat Bereshit, we read that after G-d created man and woman, he placed them in the Garden of Eden. Adam was instructed that he could eat anything in the Garden except the fruit of one tree—the Tree of Knowledge.

But Adam and Eve ate from that tree, and G-d punished them. Since then, we have been banished from the Garden for thousands of years. This act alone prevented us from understanding Torah and appreciating its depth.

If you break down the word PARDES by letters it stands for four levels of understanding Torah: P'shat (straight, direct, literal), Remez (hinted-at), D'rash (inquire, seek) and Sod (secret, mysterious). 

So, maybe one day when the time is right, we will be able to travel to Pardes and partake in all the fruits in the Garden of Eden, and even from the Tree of Knowledge—and this time, be ready and fit to understand Torah on all four levels - deep and wide, feel its sweet flavor ourselves, love it, appreciate it, and be able to share it with others.

As the prophet Yeshayhu 2:3 says: "Ki MiTzion Tetze Torah uD’var Hashem Me’Yerushalayim - For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem."

Imagine what a wonderful world it would be!!

Click here to go to Part 2 of this essay.

Shmuel Katanov