Return to Eden

The meaning and purpose of our lives is defined by our journey back to the ideal of Hashem’s creation, Gan Eden. Through close readings of the Torah, these pathways are revealed. The short essays in this collection examine the weekly Torah portions and seasonal holidays, illuminating their deeper significance. With foundations in traditional Torah sources and principles, the ideas presented are fresh and exciting, as textual subtleties point out surprising truths hidden in plain sight.

“[The author’s] thoughts are textually grounded, spiritually inspiring, and often very practical and down to earth. This is a work of genuine Torah thought, a work that readers at all levels can enjoy and from which they can derive benefit.”
Rabbi Yitzchak A. Breitowitz, Rav, Kehillas Ohr Somayach

About the author: Dr. Abbe Mendlowitz was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. As a teenager, he studied in Jerusalem at Yeshivas Kol Torah under Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, and later received semichah from Rav Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, zt”l, at Ner Israel in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his MD at the University of Maryland Medical School and completed diagnostic radiology training and board certification at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He was an early pioneer of teleradiology, introducing remote imaging to his practice at a time when the technology was still developing.
He and his wife, Adena, returned to his hometown to raise seven children. They now make their home in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where he continues to balance medicine, Torah study, and the ongoing search for his reading glasses.