ויטע ה' אלוהים גן בעדן. "The Lord G-d planted a garden in Eden.⁠" According to the plain meaning פשט, the Torah attributed the planting of this garden to G-d Himself, personally. He did not bring a variety of trees from different parts of the globe and placed them in this garden, but the very trees were His handiwork, designed to glorify Him. Accordingly, David referred to these trees as עצי ה', "trees of the Lord,⁠" in his Psalm 104,16 where he wrote ישבעו עצי ה' ארזי לבנון אשר נטע, "The trees of the Lord drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon, His own planting.⁠" Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 15,1 interpreted these words to mean that G-d gave these trees the ability to endure indefinitely and never to become victims of decay. These trees did not need irrigation nor did they have to be pruned. Had this not been so, who would have tended them after Adam was expelled from that garden? They were the personification of what is written in Ezekiel 47,12: לא יבול עלהו ולא יתום פריו לחדשיו יבכר כי מימיו מן המקדש המה יוצאים, "its leaf will not wither nor will its fruit give out, every month it will yield new fruit, for its waters emanate from the Sanctuary.
Our verse provides a further detail concerning this garden by writing מקדם, 'from an easterly location.⁠" This word supports our long held belief of the beneficial effect of winds originating in the east. of the earth seeing that Paradise had been planted in that part of the globe. It is a well known fact that the best fruits grow in the East. This knowledge has been implanted in us by the Torah when Moses in his blessing to the tribe of Joseph wrote in Deut. 33,14 וממגד תבואות שמש, "and with the bounty of the sun's crops.⁠" Seeing that all crops depend on the sun, Moses must have had in mind the area where the sun rises, i.e. the Eastern part of the land of Israel. Our sages (Yoma 21?) may have referred to this phenomenon when they said that the east wind has a beneficial effect on the minds of men, providing a sense of mental equilibrium, a sense of energy, etc. It brings with it a better kind of air. For these reasons וישם שם את האדם אשר יצר "G-d placed man whom He had fashioned in there.⁠"

A kabbalistic approach to our verse understands the meaning as follows: The words ויטע ה' אלוהים גן בעדן מקדם refer to a planting which had taken place a long time ago, hence the word מקדם, "since primeval times.⁠" Had G-d planted the garden at the time described in the story, He would simply have had to give a directive such as He did during the reports of creation in chapter one. The fact that the Torah does not do this but describes G-d as "having planted it", rather than as having commanded it to come into existence is proof that the garden preceded the creation of the universe. In fact, this "planting" had already been alluded to in the very first word of the Torah, the word בראשית.
Keeping in mind that this garden dated back to an era preceding that described in the Torah in chapter one, the words "He placed there the human being whom He had fashioned,⁠" must have a different connotation. The words אשר יצר are a reference to the source of man, i.e. his soul. We have already explained that man's soul originated in the emanation חכמה. We can now appreciate that the refined souls originate in the East. This is the meaning of the statement we find in the Sefer Habahir (by Rabbi Nechunyah ben Hakanah) that the זרע of Israel, i.e. its descendants originated in the Eastern parts of the universe because the marrow in the spinal cord comes directly from the brain from which it is transmitted to the male organ and converted into semen. We find proof of this in Isaiah 43,5 כי ממזרח אביא זרעך וממערב אקבצך, "for from the East will I bring your seed (descendants) and from the West will I gather you in.⁠" The prophet tells us that when Israel will be good, will perform G-d's commandments, their souls will (once again) originate in that Eastern region. If, however, they will fail to live up to G-d's expectations, their seed, i.e. the seed, (the souls of their children) will be gathered up from the Western part of the universe. [according to Rabbi Chavel this is an assurance that the original light, though hidden from mankind after the sin, has never been removed from earth but has only been stored in areas inaccessible to us.] When we read in Kohelet 1,4, דור הולך ודור בא, "a generation goes and a generation comes,⁠" this means that all the souls have already been assigned to this world and until each one has been hosted by a body the redeemer cannot come.
What did the prophet mean in the second half of his verse when he said ממערב אקבצך, "I will gather you in from the West?⁠" It means that Israel will be gathered in, "protected" from the very attribute which always displays a tendency to be attracted by the West. Why is it called "West?⁠" Because there all the seeds intermingle. [I believe this is a way of saying that sanctity is being compromised by intermingling with souls who originate in spiritually negative areas. Ed.] The attribute described as "East,⁠" is a reference to the emanation תפארת, "harmony,⁠" the central line (of the emanations). [Rabbi Chavel refers the reader to the commentary of Levush on Recanati 8,1 for a more profound appreciation of the author's comments.]
From that region the souls travel to the foundation of the universe, a region known as ברית, "covenant.⁠" This is why the author of the Sefer Habahir wrote that the seed comes to the Israelites by means of the spinal cord which gets its input from the brain travelling down to the male member.
The attribute called West is the עטרה, 'crown,⁠" may be the reason why our sages in Baba Batra 25 said that the שכינה, "the presence of G-d's supervisory attribute,⁠" is in the West. Just as the seed travels from the brain through the spinal cord to the male member, so the soul wends its way from the region known as תשובה via the קו האמצאי,⁠"central line,⁠" which is the Eastern part of the universe and it arrives by way of the West. I believe that the prophet Isaiah alluded to this when he said in Isaiah 48,1 שמעו זאת בית יעקב הנקראים בשם ישראל, וממי יהודה יצאו, "listen to this O house of Yaakov who bear the name Israel and who have emanated from the waters of Yehudah.⁠" The expression "who have emanated from the waters of Yehudah,⁠" means "from the seed of Yehudah.⁠" The reason the prophet called Israel "Yehudah,⁠" is because the flag of Yehudah represented the Eastern part of the encampment of the Israelites in the desert.