The Meaning of PARDES

PARDES                                                               פרדס

The word pardes (and many others like it) probably originally came from ancient Iran – and is associated with huge, often walled (hunting) parks and/or gardens of ancient Persian kings and nobles. A visiting Greek writer’s description of the enclosed irrigated idyllic pleasure parks of the wealthy local aristocracy is at least partly responsible for a variety of versions of the word and concepts regarding paradise spreading to many other languages and cultures.  

Pardes is also an old but not particularly common family surname. Many people (outside of Israel) do not even seem to recognize the name as Hebrew or Jewish. Jews were one of the last groups in Europe to adopt usage of family surnames. It was not uncommon for individuals, at different times, to adopt a different spelling, pronunciation, or even last name from other members of the same family – and/or for families sharing the same surname to not be related. Traditional Jewish personal identification was, and in some contexts remains, based upon first names (of individuals as children of their parent of the same sex) – similar to Slavic patronymic usage. Nevertheless, there are apparently Portuguese/Sephardic Jews bearing the surname buried hundreds of years ago in the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the United States.

In Modern Hebrew, the word pardes tends to refer to an orange orchard (as an idyllic citrus grove oasis in an otherwise mostly dry desert region) – but pardes has also long been used as acronym associated with 4 levels of (biblical/religious/mystical) learning and understanding. There are several well-known places in the State of Israel as well as Jewish institutions and legends which imply one or even both of these meanings in the use of Pardes in their names. 

Although pardes has been used in Hebrew since biblical times, the word is not originally Hebrew. In the oldest Eastern Iranian language of Avestan, “pairidaêza” meant “walled” or an “enclosure”. The word (form) is not clear in other Old Iranian languages, but may be hypothetically reconstructed as Old Persian “paridayda” – adopted in Elamite as “partetas” (“domain”). “Pairidaêza” is a compound of “pairi” (“around”) and “daêza” (brick “walled”). Incidentally, the Greek prefix “peri” also means “around“, “about“, and/or “enclosing“. The English word “dough” is related to the Avestic base “dheih” (“to form or build”). In modern Persian (Farsi) and Arabic, “firdaws” (“garden“, “paradise“) is a compound of “pairi” (“around“) and “diz” (“to make” or “form” – a wall). 

The Avestan “pairidaêza” came to indicate walled estates, especially the carefully tended royal parks and menageries, but the idea of a walled enclosure was not preserved in most Iranian usage, and generally came to refer to a plantation or other cultivated area, not necessarily walled. The Old Iranian word survives in New Persian as “pālīz“, which denotes a vegetable patch. The concept seems to have fared better in Sanskrit, as “a place enclosed with a wall“, and in Armenian as “a pleasure ground with flowers and shrubs near the king’s house, or castle.” In Spanish, a huerta can refer to a vegetable garden, an orchard, or a family surname – but usually not enclosed and protected by surrounding walls.

The word “pardesu” was borrowed from Old Persian by Late Babylonian (and Akkadian), and then entered Biblical Hebrew as “pardes” (פרדס). The general meaning was a (walled) enclosure, preserve, (cultivated) garden, grove, orchard, forest, plantation, or (royal) park with a variety of (fruit) trees, flowers, and also often animals for hunting.

The most “traditional” Iranian paradise garden was an enclosed rectangle split into four quarters with a pond or a fountain in the center. Essential elements included elaborate uses of water (producing soothing sounds and cooling the air), pluck-able fruit-bearing trees, and aromatic flowers (selected for their fragrance). Figs, dates, pomegranates, and oranges were ubiquitous and symbolically important. In Persian, pardis (with an i) means both paradise and garden. Beautiful examples of four-fold paradise gardens (charbagh) can (still) be found throughout the Muslim world.

Xenophon, a Greek mercenary soldier (considered the original “horse whisper”) spent some time in the Persian army before becoming a writer. Avestan was the language used to compose Zoroastrian hymns. Zoroastrian religion encouraged maintaining arbors, orchards, and gardens. Even the kings of austere Sparta were edified by seeing the Great King of Persia planting and maintaining trees in his own garden. In Greek, the Avestan compound word “pairidaêza” became “parádeisos” (παράδεισος) – probably first appearing in the early 4th century BCE as “ho parádeisos” (“park for animals”). In his Anabasis, Xerophon recorded the “pairidaêza” surrounding cultivated gardens and orchards as “parádeisos” (παράδεισος), referring not to the wall itself, but to the huge parks that Persian nobles loved to build and hunt in. The Aramaic word “pardesa” (פרדסא) similarly reflects “royal park”. The English word “paradise” came from the Old French “paradis“, inherited from the Latin “paradisus” which was also of Greek origin. The Septuagint used “parádeisos(παράδεισος) to translate both “pardes” (פרדס) and “gan” (גן), the more classic Hebrew word for “garden“. This word “parádeisos” (παράδεισος) was used in the Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis to refer to the Garden (גן) of Eden. Old English eventually borrowed the word and meaning around 1200. English translations of New Testament Luke xxiii 43 have it mean “heaven” (“a place like or compared to Paradise“).

The usage and meaning of pardes varies somewhat in different cultures – and the word is closely related to quite a few others spelled slightly differently in other languages. Paredes (with an e in the middle) are walls in Spanish (and is also a family surname) – while paraiso (without a d) means paradise. The English spelling of paradise (with a d) came not from Hebrew or Spanish but from French paradis (which itself was an adoption and adaption from Latin and Greek and Avestan). In Latin, Pardus (with a u) means leopard (panthera pardus). Panthera was a hunting net used for catching wild beasts to be used by Romans in combats. Pardus is the singular masculine form. Pardos (with an o) means spotted in Greek – and the Greek word leopardos (spotted lion) originally referred to a cheetah. Pardo (with an o but without an s) means tan/brown (like a panther) – and is also a very old (Jewish) family surname. In Spanish and Portuguese, Pardo is a brownish-gray color – used in much of Latin Americ for “tri-racial”/”mixed ethnic ancestry”. The Portuguese originally described/referred to the indigenous people of Brazil as being Pardo. Today most people who “identify” as “Pardo” seem to be genetically 70% or greater European in ancestry. The Spanish sometimes use the word pardo to refer to “dull” weather and/or an overcast sky.

Humans have erected walls and fences for thousands of years – usually to keep others out, but also sometimes to keep what is within from getting out. There are many people today who choose and prefer to live in gated communities, but they are almost always free to come and go as they please. Not so for Jews forced to live walledghettos” (a word and idea that began in Venice, Italy – and that soon caught on throughout much of Europe). Unlike how the word is often misused today, actual ghettos had gates that locked Jews in at night (or any other time those in power chose) – and not allowed to wander at will without permission. Life and the conditions in a walled and gated ghetto anywhere at anytime would never be considered Paradise by anyone.

Although there is probably NO connection at all with the Jewish surname Pardes and any other group, throughout their long history, Jews have been exiled and expelled multiple times – and often forced to “wander” (“abroad” to “foreign lands”) – as have also the (“roaming”) Roma (“Gypsies”), originally from India (but never considered as NRIs/Non-Resident Indians). Like Jews, Indians are found world-wide.

In India (and adjacent countries today that were once part of it), the meaning of Pardes refers to a “wandering (Indian) person“, “foreign land“, and/or somewhere “abroad” (outside of “Hindustan”). For many South Asians, the Hindi word Pardes connotes “Home away from home”. There are at least three “Bollywood” films with Pardes in the title: Pardes (1997 in Hindi), Des Pardes (1978 in Hindi) and Des Hoya Pardes (2004 in Punjabi). The songs and stories of all three films seem quite well-known among South Asians – but not as well-known as the word Pardes among “learned” Jews.

The word “Pardes” (פרדס) appears three times in the Tanach (or Hebrew Bible): Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 4:13, Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 2:5, and Nechemiah 2:8. The meaning is generally understood as “an orchard with many types of fruits“.

This may be from use in Kohelet 2:5: “עשיתי לי גנות ופרדסים ונטעתי בהם עץ כל פרי
“I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits
[“I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees“]

But in Shir HaShirim 4:13 it says: “שלחיך פרדס רמונים עם פרי מגדים כפרים עם נרדים
“Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard” [“Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates With choice fruits, henna with nard plants”]

Ibn Ezra thought that “a ‘gan‘ (גן) has many types of trees, and a ‘pardes‘ (פרדס) has only one type“, but the Biblical use and/or later Rabbinic interpretation of the word “pardes” (פרדס) may have evolved over time – from being specifically a pomegranate orchard (as some think in Shir HaShirim), to an orchard with many types of trees [Vayikra Rabba 13], to finally an orchard where people would go to relax and play.

While pardes (פרדס) in Modern Hebrew can still refer to an orchard in general, it is probably most commonly thought of as referring to an orange (or citrus) grove.

In Post-Biblical Hebrew, Pardes also refers to an esoteric philosophy. The word pardes is used metaphorically for the veil surrounding the mystic philosophy (Hag. 14b), but NOT as a synonym for “the Garden of Eden” or paradise. The popular conception of paradise as a blissful heavenly abode for the righteous after death is expressed by the term “Gan Eden,” in contradistinction to “Gehinnom” (or hell).

Probably the most famous/well-known Pardes story is about four first century rabbis (Tosefta Hagigah 2 baraita) Four Who Entered Pardes (the Orchard/Paradise):

Four men entered/visited the Orchard Paradise פרדס: (Shimon) ben Azzai, (Shimon) ben Zoma, (Elisha ben Abuya) Acher, and Akiva (ben Josef). One peeked and died; one peeked and was smitten; one peeked and cut down the shoots; one ascended safely and descended safely. Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiva entered in peace and departed in peace.

From ancient days, rabbis (and mystics) have understood that there are four levels of Biblical (Torah) meaning and interpretation: P’shat (פשט), Remez (רמז), D’rash (דרש), and Sod (סוד). Each is a normal approach for interpreting scripture/text, where each layer of meaning is deeper and more intense than the previous. As an analogy, think of peeling layers of an onion. Fourfold method of textual interpretation [hermeneutics] in Judaism is implicit in the Mishnah, Baraitot [the external tractates] and Talmud.

The Hebrew mnemonic/anagram פרד”ס (PaRDeS or “PaRaDiSe” if you prefer English) is used to remember/refer to the four levels. The first letter of the Hebrew word for each level of understanding (Peh (פ), Resh (ר), Dalet (ד) and Samekh (ס) is taken and vowels are added for pronunciation, (since Hebrew is usually written without vowels) giving the word PARDES (פרד”ס) with the meaning “walled garden”, “orchard” — or through the wonders of transliterative translation, “Paradise”).

The wall around the garden is what Kabbalists have referred to as the “malbush” or “garments” of the text, almost always in reference to the Torah [“Old Testament“].

P’shat (פשט) means “simple”. The P’shat is the plain, simplest, literal meaning based on the text and context. It is the understanding of what is written in its natural, normal sense using the customary meanings of the word’s being used, literary style, historical and cultural setting, and context. The p’shat is the keystone of understanding. If we discard the p’shat we lose any real chance of an accurate understanding and we are no longer objectively deriving meaning from the Scriptures (exegesis), but subjectively reading meaning into the scriptures (eisogesis). The Talmud states that no passage ever loses its p’shat: A verse cannot depart from its plain meaning. Within the p’shat you can find several types of language, including figurative, symbolic and allegorical.

Remez (רמז) is an additional “hint”. This is where another (implied) or extended meaning, association or metaphor alluded to in the text, usually revealing a deeper meaning.

D’rash (דרש) [also called a “Midrash” (מדרש)] refers to “searching” for the “concept” and the allegories and homilies that can be derived from it. A d’rash is a teaching, exposition or application of the p’shat and/or remez. A midrash is a type of eisegesis, reading one’s own thoughts into the text, as opposed to exegesis, which is extracting from the text what it actually says. Other materials or texts are often brought in as commentary to illuminate the story. For instance, taking two or more unrelated verses and combining them to create a new verse with a third meaning. The contextual, non-contextual, moral and/or philosophical explanations could be considered comparable to a “sermon.”

There are three rules to consider when utilizing the d’rash interpretation of a text:

1. A d’rash understanding cannot be used to strip a passage of its p’shat meaning, nor may any such understanding contradict the p’shat meaning of any other scripture passage. As the Talmud states, “No passage loses its p’shat.”

2. Let scripture interpret scripture. Look for the scriptures themselves to define the components of an allegory.

3. The primary components of an allegory represent specific realities. We should limit ourselves to these primary components when understanding the text.

Sod (סוד) means: “hidden“/”secret”. This understanding is the hidden, secret or mystical meaning of a text. Sometimes it deals with meanings arrived at by considering numerical values of Hebrew letters, alternative spellings, meanings of names, significant numbers, etc. Therefore, understanding the Bible at the sod level is facilitated by knowledge of Hebrew. One rabbi said that sod is the story as if God whispered it in your ear.

The four levels of PaRDeS meaning are directly linked to the four universes of creation, the so-called AYBA:

1. P‘shat, the literal meaning and the contextual, philological level, is related to the World of Assiah, the World of Actions, in which we live.

2. Remez, the allegorical meaning, cross-reference to other texts; rational or philosophical level, is related to the World of Yetzirah, the World of Formation, the angelic realm.

3. D‘rash, the moral or homiletic meaning and aggadic/midrashic [interpretation via d’rash] level, is related to the World of Briah, the World of Creation, the archangelic realm.

4. Sod, the mystical or anagogic meaning, is related to the World of Atzilut, the World of Archetypes or Emanations, the realm of the Divine Names.

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