The River from Eden: Four Kinds of Tzaddik

25“A river goes out of Eden to water the garden.” The upper worlds are called Eden. The true and complete tzaddik, set apart from all the matters of this world and polished bright (metzuchtzach) in his whole body and all his limbs, is also called Eden (עדן), from ednah (עדנה). So Sarah said, “After I have withered, I have had ednah,” and Rashi explains the word as tzichtzuach basar, the polishing of the flesh.¹ Such a tzaddik is always bound to the upper worlds, as though he were not in this world at all.

26This is the meaning of “How great is Your goodness that You have hidden away for those who fear You.”² Tzafanta (צפנת), “You have hidden away,” is the word for tzafon (צפון), the north. The sefarim give the reason why the north side of the world has no wall, only open air. If someone should come and claim to be divine, Heaven forbid, he is told to make the fourth wall, on the north.³ All this belongs to this world, where the yetzer hara has a hold. That is why the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world without making a wall on the north side. But the complete tzaddik we described is always bound to the upper worlds, where the sitra achra, the “other side” opposed to holiness, has no hold or touch at all. There the north side is like the other sides of the world, since that reason does not apply there. So “How great is Your goodness that You have hidden away for those who fear You” means that those who truly fear Him truly have the tzafon, the north, whole like the other sides, for they are in the upper worlds.

27So nahar (נהר), “a river,” means light, as in “and light, nehora (נהורא), dwells with Him.”⁴ “Goes out of Eden”: from the true tzaddik a great light goes out. “To water the garden”: to bring blessing down to this world, which is called a “garden.” “And from there it divides and becomes four heads”: not all tzaddikim are alike. They divide into four levels, and all of them work to repair the four worlds and raise them to the fifth world.⁵

28“The name of the first is Pishon.”⁶ Pishon (פישון) is an abbreviation of pi shoneh (פי שונה), “a mouth that repeats” halachos: this tzaddik studies the halachos over and over, for the Holy One, blessed be He, has in His world only the four cubits of halachah.⁷ “It is the one that surrounds the land of Chavilah”: this tzaddik repairs the world, in which there is some chavalah (חבלה), harm: Chavilah, חוילה, can be read חבילה, which speaks of chavalah, since beis and vav interchange, both being among the lip letters, beis, vav, mem, pei (בומ״ף). This is “where there is gold”: because of the gold the world needs, there is some harm and damage in it, for people do not, Heaven forbid, conduct their business in good faith. This tzaddik must repair it, going round, as “surrounds” says, to bring down pure gold for them. “And the gold of that land is good”: the gold this tzaddik brings down for them is good. “There is the bedolach”: it is in great holiness, as the Torah says of the manna, “like the appearance of bedolach.”⁸ “And the shoham stone” also hints at holiness.

29“And the name of the second river is Gichon”:⁹ Gichon (גיחון) is read as gachon (גחון), the belly, as in the verse “whatever goes on its belly.”¹⁰ It hints at the second tzaddik, who lives in great humility, who “bends low coming in and bends low going out.”¹¹ “It is the one that surrounds [the whole] land of Kush.” It is written, “A shiggayon of Dovid … concerning the words of Kush,” and Chazal expounded: “Just as a Kushite is distinct in his skin, so Shaul was distinct in his deeds.”¹² It is also written, “Shaul was a year old when he began to reign,” and Chazal expounded, “like a one-year-old, without sin”; and the Gemara asks, “But say: like a one-year-old who is soiled.”¹³ So just as the word Kush can be read favorably, that Shaul was distinct in good deeds, it can also be read the opposite way, as the Gemara asked, “But say: like a one-year-old …” This is how we read “that surrounds [the whole] land of Kush”: this tzaddik surrounds and breaks the power of the wicked man who is distinct in his evil deeds, Heaven forbid. The tzaddik's righteousness shields against the accuser, so that he cannot prevail because of that man's wickedness.

30“And the third river is Chidekel”: Rashi explains it as chad (חד) and kal (קל), “sharp” and “light.”¹⁴ One who takes hold of the service of the Creator with great sharpness, alacrity and wholeheartedness finds that the service of the Creator comes to him lightly. “It is the one that goes in front of Ashur”: this tzaddik stands opposed, going against the one whom Ashur (אשור) names: the man who is upright, yashar, in his own eyes, as in ishruni (אשרוני), “for the daughters will call me happy.”¹⁵ That man boasts in his own eyes that he is whole in his deeds, and this tzaddik breaks his power.

31“And the fourth river is Peras.”¹⁶