The righteous reach the Garden of Eden and refuse to begin the feast without the Host.
That is the nerve of Otzar Midrashim's Feast of the Garden of Eden. In the world to come, God reveals the hidden reasons of Torah. Why two sisters may not be married together. Why meat and milk are kept apart. Why certain foods, fabrics, and plantings are forbidden. The commandments that once felt like sealed doors open, and the righteous are invited into a meal prepared before the world was old.
The menu is mythic. Wine preserved from the six days of creation. A table set inside Eden. The reward is not only food. It is understanding. The righteous are not treated like children who obeyed without knowing why. They are shown the deep structure underneath the mitzvot they carried through life.
Then they stop. They tell God that no feast is complete when the host is absent. David rises and asks the Master of the universe to sit with them. God answers the cry of (Isaiah 58:9), enters the feast, and takes the throne prepared for Him while David sits across from Him.
The midrash imagines redemption as intimacy. Not escape from the body. Not a vague reward. A table, a cup, a revealed Torah, and the presence of God close enough for the righteous to say, now the feast can begin.
The Feast of the Garden of Eden [in Seder Rav Amram Gaon 13b, and Beit haMidrash vol. 5, 45] In the future to come, the Holy Blessed One will reveal the Torah’s reasoning to Israel. Why the prohibition on marrying two sisters? Why milk and meat? Why swineflesh? Why mixed crops? After He reveals to them the Torah’s reasoning, He will say to the righteous, “Enter the Garden of Eden and eat a feast prepared for you, and drink wine preserved from grapes from the six days of creation!” They say before Him, “Master of the universe! There is no party where the host isn’t found within! But if you want, let Your presence be among us!” Immediately David says before the Holy Blessed One, “Master of the universe! Do good with us and sit with us!” At that time the Holy Blessed One listens to David, as it is said, “Then you will call and the LORD will answer, you will cry out and He will say ‘Here I am!’” (Isaiah 58:9) Immediately, the Holy Blessed One enters with David and all the righteous standing at their seats, and the the Holy Blessed One sits on His glorious throne, and David sits corresponding to Him on a throne prepared for him, as it is said, “And his throne like the sun beside Me.” (Psalm 89:37) And all the righteous sit on their chairs and eat and rejoice and drink around three cups of pressed wine, as it is said, “I will have you drink of the spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.” (Song of Songs 8:2) Alternative reading Alternative reading: "And Gabriel lifts two chairs, one for the Holy Blessed One and one for David, as it is said, 'And his throne like the sun beside Me.' And they eat and drink three cups..." See Tanna d'Vei Eliyahu Zutta, chapter 20. And they mix for them the cup of blessing, and the cup of blessing is two hundred and twenty-one log, as it is said, “You will set a table before me facing my enemies; You rubbed my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5) “Overflows” in gematria is thus. After they eat, someone says, “Who will bless?” Someone says to Abraham, “You, take it up and bless, for you are the father of the universe!” He says to them, “I cannot bless, for from me came a seed that would aggrieve the Holy Blessed One!” Someone says to Isaac, “You, take it up and bless, for you were bound upon the back of the altar!” He says to them, “I cannot bless, for from me came a seed that would destroy the Holy Blessed One’s house!” Someone says to Jacob, “You, take it up and bless, for your bed was complete before the Present One!” He says to them, “I cannot bless, for I married two sisters in their lives, which the Torah would later forbid!” As it is said, “And a woman with her sister you will not take as wife to stress." (Leviticus 18:18) Someone says to Moses, “You, take it up and bless, for you received the Torah and upheld it!” He says to them, “I cannot bless, for I did not merit to enter the land of Israel.” Someone says to Joshua, “You, take it up and bless, for you brought Israel into the land and upheld the Torah!” He says to them, “I cannot bless, for I did not merit a son.” Someone says to David, “You, take it up and bless, for you are the sweet singer of Israel, (II Samuel 23:1) and their prince! As it is said, “And David My servant is their prince for eternity.” (Ezekiel 37:25) And he says, “I will bless, and it is fitting for me to bless!” As it is said, ‘The cup of salvation I will raise and on the name of the LORD I will call." (Psalm 116:13) After they eat and drink and bless, the Holy Blessed One brings out the Torah and lays it on His lap and studies from it about impurity and purity, about prohibitions and permissions, laws and legends, and David says songs before the Holy Blessed One and the righteous respond after him, "Amen! May His great name be blessed for eternity and eternity of eternities! Blessed be!" from the Garden of Eden, and the sinners of Israel respond “Amen!” from the midst of hell. Immediately the Holy Blessed One says to the messenger-angels, “Who are those who respond ‘Amen!’ from the midst of hell?” One says before Them, “Master of the universe! These sinners of Israel, who despite their great stress, strengthen themselves and say ‘Amen!’ before You.” Immediately the Holy Blessed One says to the messenger-angels, “Open for them the gates of the Garden of Eden, and they will come and hymn before Me!” As it is said, “Open the gates so the righteous nation comes, the faith-keeping.” (Isaiah 26:2) Don’t say “the faith-keeping” (shomer emunim) but rather “those who say amens” (she-omrim amenim).
