The late Irene Jacob, founder of Rodef Shalom’s Biblical Botanical Garden, might have been a bit skeptical had her husband been able to share with her his plans for this year’s annual exhibit, “Paradise on Fifth Avenue: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.”Well yes, showcasing Paradise does sound like a challenge.
“With this particular theme, she would have said, ‘Walter, you’re crazy,’” said Walter Jacob, rabbi emeritus of Rodef Shalom Congregation as he stood on the “banks” of the miniature Jordan River that runs through the garden adjacent to the Shadyside synagogue.
Jacob, 85, has been the chief steward of Rodef Shalom’s garden — one of only a handful of biblical gardens in the United States — since his wife died three years ago. It is up to Jacob to plant and tend to more than 100 varieties of shrubs, flowers, herbs, vegetables and other plants flourishing in a space reminiscent of ancient Israel.
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There is a compelling reason, he explained, as to why he has not planted a garden depicting the Jewish concept of paradise: no such illustrations exist in Jewish art, and no real detailed descriptions exist in Jewish writing.There is some robust imagery in the Hymn of the Garden in column 16 of 1QHodayota among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The hymn names many specific plants in Eden.
“The three great religions have all talked about paradise,” said Jacob. “But what it is really like? There are three different answers.” The concept has been traditionally “difficult” for Jews, he said. “We just don’t know.”
While Christians and Muslims have a robust catalogue of art and writings describing paradise and the afterlife, the Jewish vision is less clear, leaving “it totally to the imagination,” he explained.
I noted the Rodef Shalom Garden almost exactly ten years ago, but it seems worth mentioning again.