Embedded Files
The Hebrew term pardes is a loanword from the Old Persian *pari- daida (literally "enclosure"), via the Median form paridaiza, which de- noted a walled garden precinct, although of a very special type.45 It is attested in what are generally considered late books of the Bible, that is, those dating from the Persian period .
The Tale of the Four Sages who Entered the Pardes: A Talmudic Enigma from a Persian Perspective
The Tale of the Four Sages who Entered the Pardes: A Talmudic Enigma from a Persian Perspective
Maria E. Subtelny
Jewish Studies Quarterly
, pp. 3-58 (56 pages)
The Persian/Babylonian royal origin of "Pardes" is directly reflected in two of the three appearances in the Hebrew Scriptures, in Nehemiah and Ecclesiastes. The third appearance reflects an earthly sensuality characteristic of "hebraic consciousness" exemplified by the Song of Songs.
Nehemiah, along with Ezra led the people as they readjusted to being back in their homeland. The verse indicates his role in the rebuilding required, and his management of the royal Pardes or gardens.
Nehemiah 2:8: “A letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s pardes, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.”
Ecclesiastes is portrayed as an elderly affluent, former ruler, who reflects on his achievements while advising the reader to enjoy life. The pardes verse Ecclesiastes 2:5 reads: “I made myself pardesim and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.” The verse indicates his ability to use his wealth and position to create and use more than one Pardes.
Ecclesiastes shares Rabbinic tradition attribution to the royal King Solomon with Song of Songs. Our Pardes verse 4:13: “Your channel is an pardes of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard…”
13 Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates with rare spices— henna with nard, The use of Pardes in the Song of Songs deserves its own treatment.
Recapturing the freshness of our Biblical Past
Recapturing the freshness of our Biblical Past
What kept Judaism and the Jewish people alive through the centuries was not only the hope of a full return to political independence but also the literature of its existence as a free, independent entity. Robert Gordis writes of the Song of Songs:
“The freshness of the poetry, the naturalness of the references to the Palestinian landscape, and the unabashed attitude toward love all seem to point to the period before the Babylonian exile. No national disaster had yet east its shadow over the temper of the people, and there is no echo as yet of the deepening of the religious consciousness which followed the restoration under Cyrus and the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah.”
(Gordis, The Song of Songs. KTAV, P.
Page updated
Report abuse