A modern translation of the book
A modern translation of the book

Nachmanides: The Torah with Nachmanides Commentary  

(13th-century Spain)

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Taken from: Ramban - Bereishis Vol. 1: The Torah with Ramban's Commentary Translated, by

Yaakov Blinder

 

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (1) rejects what [the commentators] said about the Pishon (2) being the Nile,  because they have found [the Nile] to originate in the Mountains of the Moon, in the far south of Africa - which is why its waters swell in the summer, while the other three rivers emerging from Eden are far to the east, nowhere near Africa.

(1) Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089/1092 – 1164/1167) was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Tudela in northern Spain.

(2) Sayahoun, Jayahoun, Alfarat, and the Nile: these are the four rivers coming from paradise. By the different authors on this website different names are given:  Sihon, Gihon, Euphrates and the Nile: this is the most used combination. Other combinations are:

Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, Phirat.

                                                                                             Tigris, Effraim, Euphrates Nile.

                                                                                             Seihan, Djeihan, Euphrates, Nile.