Beraishis 3D עיקר שכינה בתחתונים
The original, natural state of the world is one in which God’s proximity is felt directly by Man, here on earth.
It is only due to Man’s sin, for Man’s education, that God withdrew Himself somewhat from Man. Whenever in history God has communicated directly to Man, to our Avos, Moshe, the Nevi’im or when the entire nation stood before Har Sinai experiencing this closeness, that was the natural state of being. Those are moments, brought about by the power of the Torah, where the world returned to its natural state of being. The thousands of years of distance from God is the unnatural state.
Originally, all of nature lay before Man who stood before God. Man was at peace with the world, with himself and with God in Paradise. This is the natural state of the world.
The intent of every page of the Torah is to reestablish peace and harmony in this world, to open up the gates of Paradise once again and to bring God’s שכינה back to this world.
Beraishis 3:8, Pages 77-78
Beraishis 2G Garden of Eden – Paradise on Earth
גן means guarded place. A place enclosed for the needs of humans. עדן means pleasure, usually meaning fulfilling all one’s material needs.
The Garden of Eden is a real location of earth. (It’s exact location is described in verses 10-14.) It was a designated place, prepared to provide Man with all of his material needs met in response to his work.
Man was created outside The Garden of Eden and was placed into the garden. The garden is prepared for him, awaiting his arrival, ready to meet his every need. But there is no guarantee that he will remain in this garden. The condition for remaining in the garden is to live by God’s laws, making use of the garden as God sees fit.
Man’s is destined to live in the Garden of Eden – life on earth where all of his needs are met. The world around him will flourish and his efforts will succeed when he lives by God’s rules. This is the ultimate destiny for all of mankind. Man grows towards that end in the course of history.
Later in history, the Land of Israel was to be another Garden of Eden on a smaller scale, given to the Jewish people, on condition that they live by God’s laws. In response, the land and all their lives would flourish. This would serve as an example for all of mankind of what they should strive for.
Beraishis 2:8, Page 57