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Is Gan Eden mentioned in Genesis a physical place? Does it exist physically somewhere on the planet or is it some kind of spiritual place or even some kind of analogy?

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    Gan is one place Eden is another place.
    – sam
    Aug 13, 2013 at 2:23

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Ben Ish Chai in Rav Pealim OC 2:1 writes that it is physical. However, it is possible that it occupies very little space. We have seen in a few places miracles of small spaces holding a large area, and the same may apply to Gan Eden. He cites Ramban and Arizal as saying that Gan Eden is a physical place.

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Seemingly from a few gemarahs there are two separate places Gan(earthly) and Eden(no eye has seen,spiritual).Rav Shmuel Bar Nachmani(Berachos 34b,Sanhedrin 99) said Eden(see Maharsha) no eye has seen,gan is where Adom was.There is another gemara in Eiruvin 19 which discuss the location of the entrance of gan Eden.So there is a split of a physical and spiritual location.

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  • A nice hint to this is in the very simple meaning of Bereishis 2:10
    – gt6989b
    Aug 13, 2013 at 13:31

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