All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. It was founded in 1971 and is located in the neighborhood of Talpiot, Jerusalem.. Pardes offers various learning tracts, including an MA track (partnered with … Death is the lights-souls reascending and the vessel fragments falling, animated by remnant sparks of light. Deuteronomy 33:4 states that "Moses commanded us the Torah". What does Pardes expression mean? Also, the excellent translation of R. Yosef Karo's Maggid Mesharim by R. Yechiel Bar Lev and K Skaist will be offered as a special addition. How great is the ignorance of those who do not see that all this necessarily includes some [other] idea [besides the literal meaning of the words]. Why should such a hint exist? [Middle English parde, from Old French, from Latin pardus, from Greek pardos, probably of Iranian origin; akin to Sogdian purdhank .] When these methods of Biblical interpretation are applied to the Hebrew text, the text becomes a “paradise,” a place of rest and sustenance. The American Heritage Dictionary provides the following definition, “A place of ideal beauty or loveliness.” While this is an appropriate definition for the English word “paradise,” let’s not forget that the Hebrews thought in concrete terms rather than in abstract ones like “beauty” and “loveliness.” A more Hebraic definition would be, “A place of ideal rest and sustenance.” Imagine yourself walking through the desert; you’re hot, tired and hungry. Torah descends from on High, while man ascends the levels of PaRDeS exegesis in Torah from Below. The Pardes typology has some similarities to the contemporary Christian fourfold allegorical scheme. [2] The Peshat means the plain or contextual meaning of the text. In this sense, ascending the four levels of interpretation reveals greater divinity in Torah; the exoteric and esoteric are linked in a continuous chain. © Copyright, all rights reserved. [16] In the first of these passages it means "garden"; in the second and third, "park." In the following exchange, the Talmud differentiates between explicit and hinted sources for the laws of conspiring witnesses (edim zomemim): Rashi comments that the Hebrew word Bereishit ("In the beginning") can be homiletically understood to mean "Due to the first", where "first" (reishit) is a word used elsewhere to refer to the Torah and to the Jewish people. The term, sometimes also spelled PaRDeS, is an acronym formed from the same initials of the following four approaches: The word sod means “hidden” and represents a hidden meaning that is drawn out from the text. The first letter of each word P-R-D-S is taken, and vowels are added for pronunciation, giving the word PARDES (meaning "garden" or "orchard"). While rationalists read Rabbinic Aggadah legends metaphorically, kabbalists read them as allusions to Kabbalah. God's immanence is found at successively descending levels of reality. What we intend to do is to provide a PaRDeS explanation of one verse from each weekly Torah portion by translating (and supplementing) the commentaries in Bahir Chumash. The word p’shat means “plain” and represents the plain simple meaning of the text. How to say Pardes in English? He describes Habad thought articulating in intellectual grasp the essence-fifth level of Torah exegesis, Hasidut-Yehida not listed above the four levels of PaRDeS because as essence it is not limited to a particular form. The word remez means “hint” and represents an implied meaning of the text which usually has a deeper meaning. It is our hope that the mitzvah of Talmud Torah/learning Torah is fulfilled by speaking at least the verse out loud at least in English. The name "Aleph" hints at its etymological variants "Aluph" ("Chief/Ruler", representing the one God) and "Eleph" ("One Thousand", representing 1,000 years). The word pardes is also an acronym for a very ancient form of Biblical interpretation.