The rabbis taught: Four entered pardes. Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Another, and Rabbi Akiva. One looked and died; one looked and went mad; one looked and aspostasized; and one entered in peace and departed in peace. –Tosefta Hagigah 2:2 (with variations in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud) 1. Four Entered Pardes The journey took place in the study house what comes next always comes later madness, death, infirmities of age and hard living First we went we answered the seven riddles passed through the seven portals of the seven heavens etc we knocked, entered stood, looked—the poet’s peeked is wrong— we looked boldly. Was it Ezekiel’s flaming chariot we saw? Whatever. We had come with a question: one God or many? Akiva saw one. I saw many. Azzai and Zoma, first timers, were bedazzled. Like those who watch Fox and those who don’t What you see is always what you already know. You have brought it with you. 2. Questions for Another whose questions led astray: What was the point of stepping into the alleyways of Galilee banish boys from their books sending them to learn practical skills rather than ideals dreary dailiness in place of spiritual highs— What could be more public than to mount your horse on the Sabbath ride beyond the boundaries of the city into the hills of Galil— Was it to wish your dark despair on the world? 3. Zoma whose mind shattered on seeing the flaming chariot in flight like light moving in every direction at once never turning back so that if he called, screamed even wait for me, wait— his cry—given physics—could travel only at the steady speed of slow sound like the scream that emerged from that painting and never reached God’s ears. 4. #Another About Another whom the demagogues of the synagogues officially othered not for the usual separation that makes dehumanization possible. This othering erased a given name to replace with a non-name now renowned for the dangers of Gnosis for the worst of what can happen. Worse than the ecstatic death of Zoma the madness of Azzai was this loss of faith Another’s fate. They needed a handle to use as reference to give deference to what everyone agreed was high learning: Hashtag Another whose disciples continued walking behind him to benefit from his brilliance Hashtag Another whose story served as warning about the dangers of asking the wrong questions Hashtag Another who inspired a poem, a novel, a series Hashtag Another, the title of this song. In death, a disciple’s cloak claimed Another’s body for Jewish burial making sense of this ending. 5. Four Women Enter PaRDes Four women entered PaRDeS considered the infamous chariot the flaming wheels the fire-breathing dragons & tigers – A hot rod? Peshat wondered. Where have we seen that before? Derash asked. Mad Max, Peshat answered. Remez and Sod were already moving on toward the mystery they’d come for the story of creation. Peshat & Derash hurried after.
Pearl Abraham is the author of, most recently, American Taliban (Random House) and The Seventh Beggar (Riverhead, semi-finalist, Koret Intl). Animal Voices, Mineral Hum, a collection of stories in progress, was shortlisted for the 2018 McCarthy Prize in.short fiction.
Amethyst Review 