Yerushalmi Chagigah 2:1: The Four Who Entered the Pardes (Palestinian; fates swapped, no "water, water")
Talmud Yerushalmi, Chagigah 2:1
תלמוד ירושלמי חגיגה ב:א
The Palestinian witness in the four-entered-pardes synopsis — and it carries the cluster’s sharpest divergence. Like the Tosefta, it has no “water, water” warning (the warning is a Babylonian feature). But it also swaps the fates of Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma: here Ben Azzai is stricken (Prov 25:16) and Ben Zoma dies (Ps 116:15) — the reverse of the Bavli and Tosefta, with the proof-texts traveling with the fate rather than the sage.
Drafted 2026-05-28 (glossary heikhalot-merkavah-v0.2, merkavah-ascent frame); status verified on editor sign-off 2026-05-29, citations 6/6 verified at finalize (inherited from the cluster) — completing the rabbinic synopsis as a 3-of-3 verified set. No pre-1929 PD English of the Yerushalmi pericope is known (Schwab 1878 is PD but French; Guggenheimer copyrighted), so this is at or near a first-public-domain-English of the passage. The extended Elisha-ben-Abuya persecutor narrative is elided here (marked […]) to keep the focus on the synopsis.
Again, an incident with Rabbi Yehoshua, who was walking on the road, and Ben Zoma came toward him; he [Rabbi Yehoshua] greeted him, and he [Ben Zoma] did not answer him. He said to him: “From where and to where, Ben Zoma?” He said to him: “I was gazing upon the work of creation, and there is between the upper waters and the lower waters but a handsbreadth’s span. ‘Hovering’ is said here (Genesis 1:2), and ‘hovering’ is said there (Deuteronomy 32:11, ‘as an eagle stirs up its nest, over its young it hovers’) — just as the ‘hovering’ said there is touching and not touching, so the ‘hovering’ said here is touching and not touching.” Rabbi Yehoshua said to his disciples: “Behold, Ben Zoma is outside.” And not many days passed before Ben Zoma departed.
Four entered the orchard: one gazed and died; one gazed and was stricken; one gazed and cut down the shoots; one entered in peace and went out in peace. Ben Azzai gazed and was stricken — of him Scripture says (Proverbs 25:16), “Have you found honey? Eat only your fill.” Ben Zoma gazed and died — of him Scripture says (Psalms 116:15), “Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his devoted ones.” Aher gazed and cut down the shoots. Who is Aher? Elisha ben Abuya, who would kill the masters of Torah … [the extended Elisha persecutor narrative is elided here] … Rabbi Akiva entered in peace and went out in peace — of him Scripture says (Song of Songs 1:4), “Draw me after you, let us run.”
Third witness in the four-entered synopsis: Tosefta (no warning; water cosmological) → Yerushalmi (here — no warning; fates swapped) → Bavli (the “water, water” warning added) → Hekhalot (the warning elaborated into the sixth-palace throne-vision; queued). Two of three rabbinic witnesses lack the warning, which throws the Bavli’s addition into relief.
Audit trail: model claude-opus-4-8[session], glossary heikhalot-merkavah-v0.2, frame merkavah-ascent, drafted 2026-05-28T23:14:08Z, prompt hash sha256:5c0513373a2b8511. Drift clean, registry clean, citations 6/6 verified (inherited).