Methods And Assumptions In Interpreting Mystical And Rabbinic Texts: The Case Of The Four Who Entered Pardes
In: The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New TestamentSearch for other papers by Christopher Rowland in
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Abstract
Goshen Gottstein's theory that the pardes story was composed in the context of the Tosefta to be an illustration of the mishnah's ban on 'looking' is weakened by the observations that the verb used in the story of the three who failed is different from the term used in the mishna, which, in turn, is entirely absent from the Tosefta's version of the pardes story. A characteristic of 'Four Entered Paradise' which sets it quite apart from all of the supposedly parallel typological passages introduced by Goshen Gottstein is its narrative form. Goshen Gottstein identifies four primary themes as characteristic of rabbinic parables about a king's pardes: the pardes as a 'testing ground'; the king's absence and presence; the king's wealth or 'royal plenitude'; and the prohibition against entering the pardes. Goshen Gottstein, perhaps misled by Simon's mistranslation,has quite certainly misunderstood the meaning of the passage.