Take the 2-minute tour ×  In Bereishit 2:10, scripture mentions
the following:  10: And a river flowed out of Eden to water the
garden, and from there it separated and became four heads.   12:
And the gold of that land is good; there is the crystal and the
onyx stone.    It doesn't seem to be really adding anything
useful--and completely out of context--to the previous topic,
and the following topic. Why do we need to know about the four
rivers?  share|improve this question see the book Waters of Eden
by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan for a fascinating discussion of this. – 
ray Oct 1 '13 at 18:31 @ray, care to offer a summary or an
insight as an answer? –  Ani Yodeya Oct 1 '13 at 20:06 read it a
long time ago. it's quite deep. well worth reading the entire
book. –  ray Oct 1 '13 at 20:19  1 Answer 1  1) I heard the
following explanation (which may be the Waters of Eden
referenced above):  Impurity comes from death. Death is a post-
Garden of Eden reality. The waters of the world are sourced back
to the Garden of Eden. Th