Tannaitic sources about the four Rabbis who “entered Paradise (pardes | פרדס)” (t. Hagigah 2:3-4; p. Hagigah 77b; b. Hagigah 14b, 15a,b).8 Ben Azzai looked and died, Ben Zoma looked and was smitten, Aher (Elisha ben Abuyah) “cut the shoots,” and Akiba “ascended safely and descended safely” (or “entered safely and went out”). In this tradition “Paradise” is clearly the goal of a mystical ascent or journey to heaven, similar to the vision of the merkabah.
