Genesis 2:10-14
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Two of the rivers mentioned in this passage are known today, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The other two rivers, Pison (or Pishon) and Gihon are not recognized on today’s maps - though scholars have some ideas about where they might have been located. The wikipedia links on Pishon and Gihon make for some interesting reading on the subject of these rivers and where they may have been located.

The wikipedia entry for Garden of Eden has a section called “Latter Day Saints’ geography” which reads:

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormons or Latter Day Saints), the Garden of Eden is believed to have been located in present-day Jackson County, Missouri according to Joseph Smith, Jr.  Independence, Missouri was revealed to be the “center place” of Zion and the original dwelling place of Adam and Eve in the Garden which God planted “eastward in Eden”.  According to Joseph Smith, Adam and Eve traveled 85 miles north to the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman after they had transgressed and were driven from the Garden.  (Adam-ondi-Ahman is sometimes mistakenly associated with the location of the garden itself). As for its location in the western hemisphere, some Latter-day Saints have presumed the continents were not yet separate before the Great Flood and that this approach would be consistent with the configuration of the super-continent Pangaea.  While geologists consider that the continents had separated by the Cretaceous period, some Latter-day Saints and other Christians have pointed to the account in Genesis which states that the earth was “divided” in the days of Peleg. In the Pearl of Great Price, it is claimed that there were lands and rivers that were given names later attached to other lands and rivers as in the Book of Genesis.  The geographic descriptions of Eden in the Bible would therefore refer to entirely different lands and rivers than those carrying the same names today, whose names were transposed after the biblical flood to local lands and rivers in the Near East. By one account Joseph Smith taught that Noah built the ark near modern-day South Carolina.  Thus, it is argued, the offspring of Noah populated the eastern hemisphere.

As a Mormon, I’m very familiar with some of these ideas - though reading this was the first time I had ever heard of Joseph Smith connecting Noah’s Ark to South Carolina. Honestly, I am interested in reading and learning about ideas in regards to these Pison and Gihon rivers and where they could have been located - but I’m not overly concerned about coming to any definitive conclusions on the subject. Nor am I going to try and transcribe Mississippi into Hebrew at any point in the near future.

[Note: S.O.Y. is simply an acronym for Students Organization of Yeshiva. ]

This sale will be going on through February 24th. The description at the S.O.Y. Seforim website reads:

The S.O.Y. Seforim Sale, the largest Jewish book sale in North America, is operated by the students of Yeshiva University. The sale provides discounted prices on the widest selection of rabbinic and academic literature, cookbooks, children’s books, music and lecture CDs, and educational software.

If you live in New York City and have an interest in Jewish and/or Hebrew literature, then this is not something you want to miss. It’s the best opportunity you’ll probably ever have to browse through the literature described above.

If you don’t live in the area, the website offers an opportunity to order online (with the caveat that you must place an order of $100 or more).

The sale is being held at the Yeshiva College campus in Washington Heights. See the website for information about how to get there.

I was just having a discussion with someone about the Hebrew Bible and it was suggested to me that I get a copy of “The Living Torah” - an English translation of the five books of Moses by a man named Aryeh Kaplan.  I have to say, after reading a bit about Aryeh Kaplan, he seems like pretty interesting personality.

I’ve been listening to the Pardes from Jerusalem podcasts by Rabbi Meir Schweiger and so far they have been wonderful. If you need a serious Hebrew Bible/Old Testament commentary fix, this is a great source.

This morning I listened to a fascinating podcast about the story of Dinah (Jacob’s daughter) in the Bible. It’s a tragic story in many ways - but the level of analysis that was given in the podcast was wonderful. It was a podcast (dated 12/7/06) dealing with a weekly Torah portion referred to as “VaYishlach.”

The podcasts are in English - but there is some Hebrew Bible terminology that is used. However, I think those who haven’t studied Hebrew would still get a lot from what is being said in these podcasts.