Paradise in Jewish Mythology

37 myths · Page 2 of 2

Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden: the primordial paradise, its rivers, its trees, and the souls of the righteous who dwell there.
Myth 5 min

Enoch Looked Into the Third Heaven and Found the Garden Still Intact

When Enoch passed through the seven heavens, the third one stopped him. Below was a garden not destroyed when Adam was expelled. It had been moved.

EdenGarden Of EdenHeavenEnochDavidParadiseTree Of Life
Myth 6 min

Job Was Accused on Rosh Hashanah and Lifted Into Paradise

On the Day of Judgment the accuser rose against Job, stripped him bare, and lost him to heaven when the broken man still blessed God.

JobHa SatanRosh HashanahResurrectionLilithParadiseSuffering
Myth 5 min

Mordecai the Jew Who Refused to Bow to Haman

Mordecai's name carried pure myrrh, opened gates, and the first human dust. That ancestry made Haman's demand impossible.

ParadiseEstherMordecaiAdamLineageNames
Myth 7 min

Joshua ben Levi and the Leap Over the Wall of Eden

Granted one final wish by Heaven, Joshua ben Levi asked to see his place in Eden, then took the angel's knife and leaped over the wall alive.

AfterlifeAngelsDeathParadiseHeavenMiraclesTzaddik
Myth 5 min

Joshua Ben Levi Learned His Paradise Companion Was a Butcher

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi asked who would sit beside him in the World to Come, and the answer was a butcher who cared for his aging parents.

Joshua Ben LeviButcherParadiseParentsHumilityAfterlifeRighteousness
Myth 6 min

The Soul That Passed Three Afflictions to Reach the Sixth Division

A man dies pulling a child from a river, then walks the fast, the prison, and the road to reach the chamber kept for souls struck down mid-mitzvah.

AfterlifeSoulGehinnomParadiseMitzvahRabbi MeirJudgment
Myth 5 min

The Hidden Garden No Angel or Prophet Can See

Eden is not lost but sealed, invisible even to angels, planted in the fullness of God's name where no eye reaches.

EdenGardenAngelsParadiseZohar