Who can claim to have seen Gan Eden - the Garden of Eden? No one that I personally know. Yet the Gemoro in Tamid 32b relates how Alexander the Great found his way there. Refused admittance, he pleaded for a small token of proof that he had at least been at its gates. He was handed a human eyeball with the statement that only righteous people may enter.

The eye can be used for good - Ayin tova, or for bad, as we see both at the start of this week's sedra of Shelach lecha, with the spies; and at the end, with the instruction of not straying after one's eyes - regarding the mitzva of tzitzis.

There is much intertwining of ideas when looking at the themes of eyes, 4 corners of garments representing the ingathering of the exiles from the 4 corners of the world, and its connection with the very first exile - the one from Gan Eden.