פרו ורבו/Marriage

(1) The mitzvah of procreation: In parshat Bereishit there is one positive commandment and that is the mitzvah of procreation as it says (Genesis 1:28): 'And God blessed them and told them to procreate'.

(2) The root of this mitzvah (i.e the reason behind this commandment) is that the world should be settled (B.T Gittin 41b) because God wants the world to be settled as it says (Isaiah 45:18)'I did not create it for naught, but [rather] formed it for habitation'. This is a big mitzvah with which all the mitzvos are observed because [the Torah] was given to humans [who need to procreate] and not to angels [who don't].

(2) And taking a wife as such is a positive commandment of the Torah. And a woman is acquired through three means: money, a contract, or through intercourse. Marriage through intercourse and by contract is from the Torah, and by money is Rabbinical. And this acquisition is what is called "Kiddushin" or "Eirusin" in several places. And a woman who is acquired through one of these three means is called a "Mekudeshet" or "Meureset".

(5) Once a man has had a son and a daughter, he has fulfilled the obligation to be fruitful and multiply. And a ben siris (castrated son) and a nekivah ayalonit (girl who doesn't achieve signs of puberty) do not count. Rem"a: The ram is the male of the flock, in other words, that the woman has a male nature and those signs she does not have like breasts of a woman and her voice is thick...doesn't stick out from her body like women]

(8) Even though he fulfilled the obligation of be fruitful and multiply, he is forbidden from being without a wife and he needs to marry a woman who is capable of bearing children (see Yevamot 61b). He may sell a sefer Torah in order to do so if he has a doubt that he has enough children or if he has a doubt that he has married a women of child bearing capability. If he does not have children he sells so that he can marry a woman capable of bearing children but if he has children he should not sell it and marry a woman who is capable of bearing children, but he should not be without a wife. And some say, that even if he has sons, he sells the sefer Torah to marry a woman capable of bearing children. Isserless: However, if it is recognized that the will not be more grandchildren and it is not appropriate that more will not be born to him, he marries a women who is not capable of bearing children, and thus if he has many sons and he fears that if he marries a woman of child bearing age an altercation will come and discord will come between the children and his wife he is permitted to marry a woman who is not capable of bearing children but it is forbidden to settle down without a wife because of this fear.

(1) ויברך אותם...פרו ורבו, the land-based mammals were created on the sixth day, on the same day man was created, seeing that both categories of creatures make their habitat on the dry land.

(1) In the beginning, God created: Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah should not have begun except from "This month is to you" (Exodus 12:2) which was the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded. And what is the reason that He opened with "In the beginning"? So that if the nations of the world would say: "you are thieves, that you conquered for yourselves the lands of the seven nations" they would respond to them "all the land is the Holy One's, blessed be He, and He gave it to whomever it was fit in his eyes; and at His will He gave it to them, and at His will, He took it from them and game it to us." And this is a tale in the words that our Rabbi Sholomo (Rashi) wrote in his commentaries. And one can question it, because there is great need to begin the Torah with "In the beginning God created" for it is the root of faith; and one who doesn't believe this and believes that the world is primordial, he is an apostate and has no Torah whatsoever. And the answer, it is because the work of creation - it is a deep secret, is not intelligible from the verses, and will not be understood by its students except through the received tradition up until Moses our Master from the mouth of God [lit. "The Strength"], and those who know it are required to hide it. Therefore Rabbi Isaac said that beginning of the Torah doesn't require "In the beginning God created" and the story of what was created on the first day, and what was done on the second day and the remaining days, and the lengthy telling of the creation of Adam and Eve, and their sin and punishment, and the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam's exile from it, for all this cannot be understood with full understanding from the texts. And all the more so the story of the generation of the Deluge and the Division, for their is not great need of them. And it would be sufficient for the people of the Torah without these texts, and they would believe in the included that was reminded to them in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:10): "For in six days God created the heavens and the earth, the sea and all they contain, and He rested on the seventh day", and the knowledge would remain to the few individuals among them, as law passed to Moses from Sinai, along with the Oral Law. And Rabbi Isaac gave reason for this, that the Torah began with "In the beginning God created" and the story of the whole topic of creation until the creation of Adam, and made him ruler of the work of His hands and all that was given over beneath his feet, and the Garden of Eden - which is the best of all the places created in this world - became established for his dwelling, until his sin drove him from there. And the people of the generation of the Deluge, by their sin were driven from the entire world, and the righteous one among them alone was spared, him and his sons. And their descendants, their sin caused them to be scattered in places and planted in lands, and they captured for themselves the places according to their families among their peoples, as the opportunities arose to them. If so it is appropriate, that when a people continues to sin, it will be destroyed from its place and another people will inherit his land, for this is the law of God in the land from always. And all the more so with what is told in the text that Canaan is cursed and was sold as an eternal slave, and it is not appropriate that he inherits the choicest places of settlement, but it will be inherited by the slaves of God, the seed of he who loved Him, like the issues which is written (Psalms 105:44): And He gave them the lands of nations and the labor of peoples they shall inherit so that they shall keep His laws and guard His instructions. That is to say, He chased out those who rebelled against Him, and settled in His servants, so that they would know that by serving Him they possess it - and if they sin against Him, the land will vomit them up as it vomited up the nation before them. And in order to elucidate the commentary that I have written [above, here] is the [Sages'] language in Bereishit Rabbah 1:3, who stated it in the following language: "Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin opened in the name of Rabbi Levi, '"The strength of his actions He told His people" (Psalms 111:6); what is the reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to Israel, what He created on the first day and what He created on the second day? Because of the seven [Canaanite] nations, so that they should not designate Israel and say to them, "Are you not a nation of looting?" and Israel will respond to them, "And you, is [the land] not looted in your hands, is it not [written] (Deuteronomy 2:23), 'the Khaftorim that came out of Khaftor destroyed them and dwelt in their place.' The world and its fullness [belong to] the Holy One, blessed be He: when He wanted, He gave it to you; when He wanted, He took it from you and gave it to us. That is what is written (Psalms 111:6), 'to give them the inheritance of the peoples,' [and so, it is stated in the first part of the verse,] 'The strength of his actions He told His people.'" [This means that, in order to give them the inheritance of the nations, He told them [about the] beginning. And the matter that I mentioned has already come from another source: about the hidden matters of the story of creation, our Rabbis, of blessed memory, have said (Psalms 111:6), "'The strength of his actions He told His people;' to tell the strength of the story of creation to flesh and blood is impossible. Therefore, the verse is sealed to you [and only states], 'In the beginning, God created." If so, what we said about this is elucidated. ,In the beginning (Bereishit), God created: Rashi wrote, "this text says nothing if not 'interpret me' - as the rabbis expounded upon it; [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah which is called 'the beginning (reishit) of [God's] way' (Proverbs 8:22), and for Israel who were called 'the beginning (reishit) of [God's] grain' (Jeremiah 2:3)." And this midrash of our Rabbis is very sealed and [obscure], since they found many things that were called reishit and about all of them are there words of midrash; and they are so many that those of little [understanding] will speak about them. They said (Bereishit Rabbah 1:6), "In the merit of three things was the world created: in the merit of challah (the portion of a batch of bread dough given to a priest/Kohen), in the merit of ma'aserot (the tithe of produce, which must be given to a levite) and in the merit of bikurim (first-fruits that must be brought to the Temple in Jerusalem and given to a priest/Kohen). 'In the beginning (Bereishit), God created:' there is no reishit besides challah, as it is stated about it (Numbers 15:20), 'the beginning (reishit) of your dough;' and there is no reishit besides ma'aserot, as it is stated about it (Deuteronomy 18:4), 'the beginning (reishit) of your grain;' and there is no reishit besides bikurim, as it is stated about it (Exodus 23:19), 'the beginning (reishit) of the first fruits of your land." And they also said (Ibid.), "in the merit of Moshe [was the world created], as it is stated, (Deuteronomy 33:21), 'and he saw a reishit for himself.'" And their intention here is that the word, bereishit, hints that the world was created with ten mystical spheres (sefirot) and it hints to the sphere called 'wisdom,' which is the foundation for everything; as the matter is stated (Proverbs 3:19), "the Lord founded the earth with wisdom" - it is terumah (the portion of produce given to the priest/Kohen, a subset of which is challah), it is holy and 'it has no required amount,' due to the minuteness of its understanding by the creatures. And when a person counts ten measures and separates one part of the ten, it is a hint to the ten spheres; the wise will contemplate the tenth and speak about it. And challah - which is the only commandment in the dough - will hint to this. And Israel, which is [also] called reishit is the Congregation of Israel (Knesset Yisrael), which is compared in the Song of Songs to a bride, as the verses calls it 'daughter,' and 'sister' and 'mother' - and the Midrash has already come to [these ideas] (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:21), on [the verse] (Shir HaShirim 3:11) "with the crown with which his mother crowned him" and in many places. And so [too], "and he saw a reishit for himself," [with] Moshe: they understood that Moshe, our teacher, gazed through the 'bright lens' and "saw a reishit (begining) for himself," and that is why he merited the Torah. All [of this] indicates one intention to [the Sages]. And it is impossible to expand on the explanation of this matter in writing, and [even] the hint brings much damage, since [the unknowledgable] will come to theories that are devoid of truth. But I have mentioned it to slow down the mouths of those of little [understanding] - of slight wisdom - that mock the words of our Rabbis.,In the beginning: Rashi wrote, "If you are coming to explain it according to its simple meaning, this is how you should explain it: At the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth and the earth was chaos and void and darkness, God said, 'let there be light'" If so, everything follows the creation of the light. And Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra) himself [also] explained it in this way; except he [added] that the letter, vav, in the word, vehaarets (and the earth) does not come to serve [what it introduces, as it generally does to indicate a sequence] and there are many [examples] of this in Scripture. And [its explanation according to Ibn Ezra] is that at the beginning of the creation of the firmament and the dry land, there was no habitation on the earth, but [rather] there was chaos and void covered in water, and God said, 'let there be light.' And according to his opinion, nothing [else] was created on the first day, only the light. And the difficulty for our teacher, Shlomo (Rashi), in this explanation is that he said, that if [the verse] is coming to teach the order of the creation with [the heavens and the earth], to tell us that they came first, it should have written, barishona (at first); as there is no [usage of the word,] reishit (beginning of) in the Bible except as a relational [term, and so it is indication that light was created at the beginning of God's creating the heavens and the earth]. And behold, "He will tell the beginning (reishit) from the end" (Isaiah 46:10) [is not relational to anything explicit]. And if he can make that relational to 'the word' (so that the verse would read, "the beginning of the word from the end of the word"), [which does not appear, as Rashi actually does], then he can make this relational [to a word which does not appear as well, in which case, the verse would read, "In the beginning of everything, God created the heavens and the earth]. And also [the same applies to (Deuteronomy 33:21), "and he saw a beginning (reishit ) for himself." And our teacher made more claims about this. And now, listen to a correct and clear explanation of the text according to its simple understanding (peshuto). The Holy One, blessed be He, created all of the creations from absolute nothingness. And we have no other expression in the Holy Tongue for bringing out something from nothing than "bara" [which is found almost exclusively in this verse]. And none of all that which was made - 'under the sun' or above - existed [directly] from nothing. Rather, He brought out a very fine element from complete nothingness; it has no substance, but it is the energy that can create, that is able to accept a form and to go from the potential to the actual. And this is the first material [and] is called hyle by the Greeks. And after hyle, He didn't create anything, but [rather] formed and made [the creations]; since it is from it that He brought everything forth and clothed the forms and refined them. And know that the heavens and all that are in them are one material, and the earth and all that is within it is [another] material; and the Holy One, blessed be He, created both of them from nothing - and the two of them alone were created, and everything was made from them. And this material that they called hyle is called tohu (chaos) in the Holy Tongue. And the word['s definition is understood by looking at] the language of [the Sages] (Kiddushin 40b), "with one that is toha (wonders) about the earlier ones." Since were a person to define a name for it, he would wonder and deliberate to give it another name, since it has not talem a form, such that a name would fit it at all. And the form that fashions this material is called bohu (void) in the Holy Tongue. And this word is [a] compound [that is made up of two words, bo (within it) and hu (it)], meaning within it, is it. [And even though it is missing the letter vav in the first part of the compound,] it is like the word, [osehu (to do it), in the phrase] (Exodus 18:18) "you are not able to do it," which is missing a vav and an alef, [and fully spelled out would be the two words,] oseh (to do) and hu (it). And this is what the verse is stating (Isaiah 34:11), "and He shall stretch upon it the line of tohu and the stones of bohu;" since [this] is the line (kav) with which the craftsman will seal the plans of his building and that which he hopes (yikveh) to do - [and that word's] definition [is understood] from [the phrase], (Psalms 27:14) "Hope (kaveh) to the Lord." And the stones are the forms of the building. And so it is written (Isaiah 40:17), "less than nothing and tohu are they considered to Him;" [such] that tohu is after nothing and not a thing. And thus is what they stated in Sefer Yetzirah, "He created substance from tohu and made 'it is not' [into] 'it is.'" And they also said in the midrash of Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakaneh (Sefer HaBahir), "Rabbi Berachia said, 'that which is written, "and the earth was tohu and bohu," what is meant [by] "was?" That it already was tohu. And [if so,] what is bohu? Rather, it was tohu - and what is tohu? Something that makes people wonder - and it went back to being bohu - and what is bohu? Something that has substance to it, as it is written, "in is it (bo hu)."'" ,And it stated, Elohim (God), [which means] the master of all the forces, as the root word [here] is el, which is power; and it is a compound word, [made up of] el [and] hem (them), as if 'power' were relational (and would be understood as power of them), and 'them' refers to all the other powers; meaning 'the Power over all the powers.' And a secret will also be elucidated about this [later]. If so, the correct simple meaning of the verses is that its meaning is: At first, "God created the heavens" since he brought forth their material from nothing, "and the earth," bringing forth its material from nothing. "And the earth" includes the four basic elements, as per (Genesis 2:1), "And the earth and the heavens and all their hosts were completed," which includes the whole terrestrial globe. And so [too] (Psalms 148:7), "Praise the Lord from the earth, the sea monsters and all the depths," and besides them, [there] are many other [such references]. And behold with this creation, which was like a small [and] fine dot, and without substance, was created all of the creations in the heavens and the earth. ,And the word, et [in the phrase et hashamayim (the heavens)] is like [saying,] the actual thing. And they expounded about it that it is always [meant to] include [something beyond what is written]; since its meaning [is understood from the phrase] (Isaiah 21:12), "the morning has come ata and also the night." And so did our Rabbis state (Bereishit Rabbah 1:14), "et hashamayim, to include the sun and the moon, stars and constellations; et hashamayim to include the trees and the grasses and the Garden of Eden." And these included all the physical creations. And after it stated that at the beginning - with one word - God created the heavens and the earth 'and all of their hosts,' it went back to explain that after this creation, this earth was tohu, meaning material that has no substance; and it was bohu, since he fashioned it with a form. And the explanation is that in this form is the form of the four elements, which are fire, water, dirt and air; and the word, "the earth," includes these four. And fire is called, "darkness," as elemental fire is dark; and if it were red, it would redden the night for us. And the water, with which the dirt was kneaded, is called "the deep." Therefore, the waters of the seas are the depths, as it is written (Exodus 15:5); "The depths covered them;" (Ibid., 15:8) "the depths congealed;" (Jonah 2:6) "the deep surrounded me" - and the floor of the sea is called 'deep;' (Psalms 106:9) "And He rebuked the Reed Sea and it dried up and they walked in the depths like in a wilderness;" (Isaiah 63:13) "He led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness." And the air is called "spirit." And it is already know that the four elements are one [construct] and their axle is the planet Earth. And the waters encircle the earth, and the air encircles the waters and the fire encircles the air. And the verse states, that the earth took on a form, and the fire encircled above over the water and dirt - that were mixed - and the wind blew and entered the darkness (the fire) and hovered over the waters. And it appears to me that this dot - that with the fashioning of its form became bohu - is what the Sages called 'the Foundation Stone' (Yoma 54b), from which the world was set. And behold the structure of the verses is that, in the beginning, God created the heavens from nothing and created the earth from nothing, and when the earth was created it was tohu and [then] it was bohu; and in [the heavens and earth] were darkness (fire) and water and dirt and wind was hovering over the waters. And behold all [of this] was created and made. And wind (spirit) was made relational to God (meaning "the wind/spirit of God"), because it is finer than [the other elements] and higher than all of them; only that it hovers over the water by the proclamation of the Holy One, blessed be He. And if you will seek [to find] the creation of the angels, which are not bodies, this is not explained in the Torah. And they expounded about them that they were created on the second day, that you should not say that they helped in the creation of the world. But if you merit and understand the secret of the word, Bereishit (In the beginning), and why it did not [have the word, God] precede to say, "God created, in the beginning," you will know that according to the path of truth, the verse tells about the lower ones, but hints to the higher ones. And the word, Bereishit, hints to wisdom, which is the beginning of the beginnings, as I have mentioned. And for this reason, they translated it, in the Targum Yerushalmi, as "with wisdom." And the word is crowned with the crown of the house (bayit, which is similar to bet, the first letter of Bereishit).

(2)

(3) And God said, "let there be light:" The word, saying, here is to indicate will; in the [same] way as (I Samuel 20:4) "What does your soul say, and I will do it for you," [which means] what do you will and want; and so [too] (Genesis 24:51), "and she shall be a wife to the son of your master, as God has said," meaning as He willed; since this is how will is in front of Him. Or it means that] it is like thought, as per (Isaiah 47:8), "who says in her heart;" (Zechariah 12:5) "And the captains of Yehuda said in their hearts." And the issue is to say that it was without effort. And so [too], our Rabbis called this 'thought.' They said (Bereishit Rabbah 12:14), "The thought was at day, the act was with the glimmering of the sun." And it is to indicate something thought out that has a reason, not just a simple want. And the word, being, indicates an act that is in the present time (tense), as per (Nechemiah 6:6), "and you will be a king for them." And therefore the verse states that when He created the material of the heavens, He said that there would be a thing that shines [coming] from this material; He called it light. And there was light: It did not state, "and it was so," as it is stated with the other days, since the light did not stand in this character all of the days, as [was the case] with the rest of the act of creation. And our rabbis have a midrash about this in a hidden secret. And know that the days that are mentioned in the act of creation were, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, real days - composed of hours and minutes - and they were six like the six days of the [week], like the simple understanding of the verse. And in the inner [understanding] of the matter, the spheres (sfirot) that are emanated from the Most High are called 'days,' since any proclamation that brings existence is called a 'day.' And there were six, 'because to the Lord is greatness and strength.' And the proclamations were ten, since the name 'day' does not apply to the first ones. And the explanation of the order of the verses in this [way] is elevated and hidden, and our knowledge of it is less than a drop in the Great Sea.

(4) And God saw the light, that it was good: Our Rabbi Shlomo (Rashi) wrote, "Here too, we need the words of the Aggadah (homiletical teachings): He saw it that it was not proper for the wicked to use it; so He separated it for the righteous in the future. And according to its simple meaning, explain it as follows: He saw it that it was good, and it was unseemly that [light] and darkness should serve in a mishmash; so He established for this one its boundary by day, and for that one its boundary by night." And Rabbi Avraham said, "Like 'I myself saw' (Ecclesiastes 2:13); it is [seeing] in [one’s] thought. And the meaning of 'and He separated,' is [that they were separated] through the calling of [their] names." And the words of both of them are not correct: since, if so, it would appear to be a matter of new deliberation and counsel, that after God's having said, "Let there be light" and there was light, it would state that He saw it, that it was good, and hence, He separated between it and darkness; like the matter of a man who did not know the nature of something until it [existed]. But the order in the story of creation is that the taking of things into actuality is called 'saying,' - [as per] "And God said, 'let there be light;'" "And He said... 'let there be a firmament'" (verse 6); "And He said... 'let the earth bring forth grass'" (verse 11) - and their [continued] existence is called 'seeing;' as with the matter of "I myself saw" in Ecclesiastes; and so [too], "The woman saw that the tree was good for eating" (Genesis 3:6). And it is like the matter, [when] they said (Ketuvot 109a), "I see the words of Admon;" and similar to it is "And the king said to Tsadok the priest, 'do you see? return to the city in peace.'" And the matter is to show their maintenance in His will, and if the Will should separate from them for an instant, they would turn to nothing. And when it stated, with the act of each day, "and God saw that it was good," and on the sixth day when everything was completed, "And God saw everything that He had done, and behold it was good," so [too] did it state on the first day with the existence of light, "And God saw... that it was good," [meaning] that He wanted its existence forever. And it added here, [the phrase,] "the light," since had it simply stated, "And God saw that it was good," it would have referred back to the creation of the heavens and the earth, and He had not yet decreed [continued] existence upon them; since they would not be maintained as they were, but [rather] from the material that was created on the first [day], the firmament was made on the second [day] and the waters were separated and the dirt was made into the dry land that He called earth on the third [day]; and then He decreed their existence and He said about them, "And God saw that it was good." and God separated between the light and between the darkness: This is not the darkness mentioned in the first verse, which is fire, but [rather], it is the absence of light; since God gave a measure [of time] to the light, and that it should be absent after [that measure] until its return. And some of the commentators have said, that this light was created in front of the Holy One, blessed be He - meaning in the West - and He immediately had [the light] set for the measure of night; and afterwards, He had it shine for the measure of day. And this is the meaning of, "and it was evening and it was morning" (verse 5), that first was the night and afterwards the day, and both of them were after the coming forth of the light. And this is not correct at all, since they would be adding to the six days of creation, a short day [before the sun set completely and the first night began]. But it is possible for us to say that the light was created in front of Him, may He be blessed, and it did not spread to the elements mentioned - but He separated between it and between the darkness, by giving them both a measure - and it stood in front of Him according to the measure of night, and afterwards, He made it shine over the elements. And behold, [this way] the evening was before the morning. And it is also possible for us to say, that from when the heavens and the earth came out from the void into the existence mentioned in the first verse, did time exist. Since even though our time is in minutes and hours, which are [dependent upon] light and darkness, once there is existence, it [is] within time. And if so, the heavens and the earth were created, and they stood like that according to the measure of the night - without light - and He said, "let there be light, and there was light;" and He decreed upon [the light] that it should stand like the first measure [of night], and afterwards, it should become absent from the elements; "and it was evening, and it was morning."

(5) And God called the light, day: It is saying that time was created and He made the measure of day and the measure of night. And the matter of God's calling is, that since man called the names [of things], it needed to say - about these that were made before he existed - that God called them names, and this is the opinion of Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra). And that which is correct is that the matter of calling with these things here is their separation through their boundaries, after they took on forms; and they [also] said so (Bereishit 3:6), "day will be your area, and night will be your area." And it was evening and it was morning, one day: [This means that] it was evening and it was morning of one day. And it called the beginning of night, erev (evening) since the forms get mixed up (yitarvu) in it; and the beginning of the day, boker since a man can distinguish (yivaker) between them; thus explained Rabbi Avraham. And by way of the simple meaning, it is not possible to say, "the first day," since the second one has not yet been made, as the first is before the second in counting or in worth, but this is [only] when they both exist. But a "one" does not indicate a second. And there are those that explain (Guide for the Perplexed 2:30), that this is a hint to the movement of the [sun] over the entire face of the earth in twenty four hours; as in every moment of them, it is morning in different places and evening in places opposite them; and if so, it is hinting to that which will be in the firmament after the placing of the luminaries in the firmament of the skies.

(6) Let there be a fimament: About the material that existed at the beginning when He created it from nothing, He said that it should be stretched out like a tent in the midst of the water and separate the waters from the waters; and perhaps they intended this when they said (Bereshit Rabbah 4:1), "Rav said, 'the heavens were wet on the first day, and on the second day, they congealed,' Rav said, '"Let there be (yehi) a firmament" - let the firmament be strengthened (yechazek);' Rabbi Yehuda Berebi Shimon said, 'the firmament (rakiya) should form a [like a] cloth, like you would say (Exodus 39:3), "And they flattened (yiraka'au) the gold [into thin plates], etc."'" in the midst of the waters: In the middle of the waters, between the higher waters and the lower waters; [just] as there is a division between the firmament and the waters that are on the earth, so [too] is there a division between the the upper waters and the firmament. Behold you have learned that they are suspended by the [Divine] proclamation - Bereishit Rabbah 4:3 and Rashi [cited] it. And this is from the matter of 'Ma'aseh Bereishit' (a secret esoteric teaching), and do not hope from me that I should write something about it, since the matter is from the secrets of the Torah and the verses do not need this elaboration, since the Scripture does not protract the matter. And the explanation is forbidden [to teach] for those that know it, and all the more so for us.

(7) And God made the firmament: The expression making (assiya) in every place is the refinement of the thing to its [proper] design. and it was so: It wrote on the first [day], "and there was light" [immediately] after "And God said, 'let there be light;'" - after the saying, it explained that it was materialized, and it was as it had been decreed; but here after the saying of, "let there be a firmament," it is written, "And God made a firmament and he separated" - and [so,] why did it add, "and it was so." Rather, it is say that it was like this always, all the days of the world. And Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra), explained that it is connected to that which comes after it - when it was so, He "called the firmament, heaven" - and this is not correct. And in Bereishit Rabbah 4:6, they said, "'And God made the firmament;' this is one of the verses [about which] Ben Zoma 'shook' the world, '"And God made, etc." and is it not in the statement (Psalms 33:6), "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made?"'" And this 'shaking' is not from the [use] of the expression, "and He made" alone, since, behold, on the fourth and sixth [days], it is also written, "and He made;" but [rather] it was from that which I said - because on the other days, it is written after the saying, "and it was so," to say that it happened like this, immediately and promptly after the saying; but here, after "And God said," it is written, "and He made." This is [Ben Zoma's] difficulty and perhaps he had a hidden explanation [and] did not want to reveal his secret, and this is the issue of the noise ('the shaking').

(8) And God called the firmament, heaven: On the second day, He called them this name, when He clothed them with the form of the firmament; since on the first [day], the heavens were created but the name would not stick to it, until this form fashioned it. And the explanation of this name is that it is as if it is vocalized with a segol under [the letter,] shin, as in the [first] word [in the phrase] (Song of Songs 1:7), "that-why (sha-lama) should I be be like a veiled one" [is understood as if a segol is under the shin there]. It is [saying] 'that waters;' they were what became thin and stretched out like a tent within the higher waters and the lower ones. [And] it revealed with this name the secret of their formation. And in the gemara in Tractate Chagigah 12a, they stated, "What is shamayim (heavens)? It is sham mayim (there is water)." And, if so, it is missing one [letter,] mem, due to its connecting of two of the same letters, as in the word, Yerubaal (Judges 6:32 et. al.) [which only has one letter, bet, even though both the last letter of the first word and the first letter of the last word that form the compound, are the letter, bet]. And it said, there is water, that is to say, the name that He called the waters when they were clothed in a different form; and this is the simple meaning of the verse [according] to this approach that Rashi wrote, and it is also the opinion of Rav that we mentioned (in verse 6). And the name "heavens" and "earth" in the first verse is [relating to] what they would be called in the future, since it is not possible that they would be made known only with this [brief] expression. But it is more correct that we should say that, according to the simple meaning of the verses, the heavens that are mentioned in the first verse are not included in the [celestial] spheres, but [rather] they are above the 'chariot,' as [in] the matter of "And over the heads of the chayot (a type of angel), there was the likeness of a firmament, like the color of the terrible ice, stretched forth over their heads above" (Ezekiel 1:22). And from them is the Holy One, blessed be He, called, the "Rider of the Heavens" (Deuteronomy 33:26). And the verse does not recount anything about their creation, in the same way that it does not mention the angels and the chayot of the 'chariot' and any [other] rarefied thing that does not possess a body; it only mentions about the heavens that they were created, meaning that their were [created from] nothing. And it states on the second [day] that the firmament would be in the midst of the waters, meaning that from the waters that were mentioned - as their creation was mentioned - would exist something [like a] thin layer that would separate between them. And it also called these spheres [that form the firmament mentioned on the second day] heavens; and therefore they are called 'the firmament of the heavens' in this section [when it writes] (verse 17), "and God placed them in the firmament of the heavens;" [in order] to elucidate that they are not those that were mentioned with the name 'the heavens,' [but] only the firmament that was called heavens; and this is also the opinion of our Rabbis: they mentioned it in Bereishit Rabbah 4:2 [and] said, "All the rabbis said it in the name of Rabbi Chananiah Berebbe Pinchas and Rabbi Yaakov Berebbe Avin [said it] in the name of Rabbi Shmuel Berebbe Nachman: At the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, said "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters," the middle drop congealed and became the lower heavens and the upper heavens of the heavens." And this statement is understood [to be referring] to the spheres, lower and higher, [the latter of which] are called the heavens of the heavens, as it is written (Psalms 128:3-4), "Praise, O sun and moon; praise, O all the stars of light. Praise, O heavens of the heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens." However, the heavens that are mentioned on the first [day - which is the location of] the throne of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written (Isaiah 66:1), "The heavens are My throne" - these are the ones that are mentioned in the beginning of the psalm (Psalms 148:1-2), "Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him from the heights. Praise Him, all of His angels." And this [understanding] is correct in the simple understanding of the verse, even if there is a hidden and elevated secret to the name, 'heavens' and the name, 'the throne,' as there is a heavens to the heavens and a throne to the throne. And [based on] this, the Sages say (Berakhot 13a), "in order to accept upon him the yolk of the heavens," and they [also] said (Ibid., 7b) "the fear of the heavens;" and the verse states (Daniel 4:23), "that the heavens rule." And they have a wonderful midrash (Sefer haBahir 100) on that which it is written (I Kings 8:32), "And you, O heavens, listen;" and all of this will be seen hinted to in the first verse, to the one that merits it. And behold, the verses have elucidated that the first creations were [created] from nothing, and the origin of the rest is from the first created substance. And let not the statement of Rabbi Eliezer the Great be difficult to you, when he said (Pirkei Derabi Eliezer 3), "from whence did the heavens come from? From the light of the clothing of the Holy One, blessed be He." And so [too], it is [written] in Bereishit Rabbah 12:1. Since, because the Sages wanted to completely bring up the first substance and to make it the finest of the fine, they did not see [fit] that the heavens - which are moving physical bodies with forms - are created from nothing. But [rather], the light of the clothing is the first creation, and from it came out the the physical substance of the heavens and gave the earth a different substance and it is not like the fineness of the first. And that [substance] is the 'snow' under the throne of glory - since the throne of glory was created and from it, the 'snow' underneath it - and from it, was made the substance of the earth, and behold it is the third in creation (meaning that it took three steps to create it).

(9) "Let the waters under the heavens gather:" The deep was water and dirt, like the murky waters. And He decreed about the waters, that they should gather in one place around all of the corners [of the earth], and He decreed about the earth, that it should rise, until it be seen over the waters and dry up. And thre would be contiguous dry land, that would be fitting for habitation, and so is it written (Psalms 136:6), "To the One that has made the earth ride upon the waters." Or maybe, [the land] is spherical, some of which is exposed and the majority of which is submerged, which appeared [explainable] to the Greeks in their supposed demonstrations, but behold they were two [supernatural] decrees. That is to say, they were two matters that were done by the will of God, [which are] the opposite of what is appropriate for their nature, since it is fitting for the heaviness of the dirt and the relative lightness of the water, that the axis of the earth be at the center and the water cover it, surrounding it on all sides. And therefore [since it required Divine decrees], He said, "let the waters under the heavens gather;" which is to say to the lower place, and He said, "and let the dry land appear." And He called them names when they were clothed in these forms, since from the beginning, their name was "deep."

(10) And God called the dry land earth: [While] it can be said, that the name that would be fitting for it would be dry land - since when the waters were separated from the dirt, it was dry - yet He called it earth like the name of the general elements that was created on the first [day]. And the reason is that it is for its sake that [the elements] were created, in order that there be a habitat for man - since there is none among the lower ones that recognizes his Creator besides him. And He called the gathering [place] of the waters yamim (seas), as if it is [to say], it is a yam mayim (sea of water), as the floor of a gathering [of water] is called yam, as it is written (Isaiah 11:9), "as the waters cover the yam," and also (II Kings 16:17), "he brought down the yam from upon the cattle," since because [the vessel described there holds] a large gathering of waters, it is called thus. And God saw that it was good: That is their existence according to His will. And the matter is that when He clothed them with this form, he wanted them [to continue to exist], as I explained (in verse 4). And this is what our Rabbis said (Bereishit Rabbah 4:6), "Why does it not say, 'it was good,' on the second [day]? Since the work of the water was not finished - therefore, it is written twice on the third [day]; once for the work of the water and once for the work of the day."

(11) And God said, "let the earth bring forth grass:" He decreed that there should be in the propagation of the earth a potential to grow and to produce seed, so that the specie will exist forever. And it is likely that it is hinting to the earth that was mentioned in the first verse, [to say] that the power of growth comes from it, and behold, from its power emanated the elements according to their species, and from them grew grasses and trees in the Garden of Eden and in the world. And this is what they said (Bereishit Rabbah 11:9), "On the third [day], He created three creatures: trees, grasses and the Garden of Eden;" and they also said, (Ibid., 10:6), "There is no single piece of grass below that does not have a 'constellation' above, and [the latter] strikes it and says to it, 'grow!' and that is what is written (Job 38:33), 'Do you know the laws of the heavens; did you place its dominion (mishtaro) on the earth?' [that is an expression of an] enforcer of the law (shoter)." And He said that all of this should be "according to their specie," and that is the prohibition of mixing species (kilayim); since the one who plants them [in a mixture], denies the power of the creation. And our teacher, Shlomo (Rashi), wrote, "desheh esev: desheh is not an expression of esev and esev is not an expression of desheh; since desheh is an expression of covering the earth with grasses and [so] it is not common parlance to say a certain desheh." And [so] every singular plant root is called [an] esev. And this [teaching] of his is not correct; for if so, desheh would never be [in plural form], and the Sages say (Chullin 60a), "If one grafts two types of deshaim, what is [the law]?" And [Rashi] himself mentions deshaim. But [rather], desheh is the small [plant] that sprouts from the earth and esev is the large [plant] that gives seed. And therefore it states, "tadshe haarets; and it does not make sense to say taasiv (in the place of tadshe here). And every small [plant] that sprouts form the earth is called desheh, even with regards to trees; and therefore the phrase extends, "let the earth bring forth (tadshe)... fruit trees." As it does not state, "let the earth bring forth grass and bring out fruit tree," (for if trees could never be considered desheh, there would be a need for a second verb to refer to them). And the explanation of the [verb, tadshe] is like 'to grow (or sprout);' and so (Joel 2:22), "as the quarters of the wilderness sprout grass, as the tree bears its fruit." And I wonder, how it is that the verse did not mention fruitless trees, and how is it that He only commanded about fruit trees. And perhaps to this this did our Rabbis [respond], when they said (Bereishit Rabbah 5:9), "Also fruitless trees gave fruit." And, if so, we shall say, that from the curse of "cursed is the earth" (Genesis 3:17), did they become fruitless. And it is possible that the explanation of the verse is: the earth should sprout plants, and esev that gives seed, and trees that make fruit; and behold at the beginning [of this verse], He decreed about fruitless plants and fruitless trees. And from that which it states, "that makes fruit with its seed in it" (verse 12)," we learn that all trees [can] grow from their seed, even though with some of them, it is the custom to plant their branches.

(12) And God saw that it was good: The existence of the species forever. And behold, a day was not designated uniquely for this proclamation [about vegetation], since it is not a special act, as it makes no difference to the earth if it is fertile or arid.

(13)

(14) "Let there be luminaries:" Behold, the light was created on the first day and shines over the fundamental elements, and when the firmament was made on the second [day], it blocked the light and prevented it from shining on the lower elements. And behold, when the earth was created on the third [day], there was darkness in it and not light. And now on the fourth [day], the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted there to be luminaries in the firmament that would have light reach the earth; and this is the reason [for] "in the skies of the firmament to shine upon the earth;" as the light was [then] above the firmament and did not shine on the earth. And the matter of "let there be luminaries" is that He decreed on the first [day] that there would be light from the substance of the skies according to the measure of the day, and now He decreed that it should become physical and that a body of great light should exist from it - that would shine during the day - and that another body of little light [should exist] - that would shine during the night - and He suspended both of them in the firmament of the skies, that they should also shine below. And it is possible that in the same way that He placed in the earth the power to sprout in places from it, so too did He place in the firmament, places that are prepared and available to receive the light; and these bodies that receive light, sparkle, as do lenses and onyx stones. And that is why He called them, luminaries and not lights, even though it is called that in the psalm (Psalms 136:7). To separate between the the day and the night: Rashi wrote, "[This happened] after the first light was hidden away, but during the six days of Creation, the [first] light and darkness served, one by day and one by night;" and I do not see that this should be the opinion of our Rabbis that mention the hiding away of the first light, but [rather] - according to their opinion - the first light served [for] three days and on the fourth day, these two luminaries were emanated and made from it then; as they stated (Bereishit 17:5), "an offshoot of the light is the sphere of the sun;" since, because this world was not fit to use the that light without an intermediary, He hid it for the righteous in the world to come; and they used that offshoot form the fourth day and onwards. This is what they said in Bereishit Rabbah 3:6, "It was taught: the light that was created on the six days of creation; it is not able to shine during the day because it would darken the sphere of the sun; it is not able during the night, since it was created to shine only during the day. And where is it? It is hidden. And where is it? It is arranged [away] for the righteous ones in the future, as it is stated, (Isaiah 30:26), 'And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven-fold the light of the seven days.' Seven [days]? Were they not three? It is like a person that says, 'I will deposit it for the seven days of my party;'" meaning to say that it is common parlance that one would say, 'I will deposit and save this meat for the seven days of my party,' and [not mean that] it will suffice him for all seven days, but that he will bring it out during [that time]. And this is what they [meant]: seven days [refers to] the light that existed in some of those days. And there (Bereishit Rabbah 3:6), they also said, "'And He separated:' Rabbi Yehuda Berebbi Shimon said, 'He separated it for Himself;' and the Sages said, 'He separated it for the righteous ones in the future.'" And if you are able to know their intention in saying "a crown of splendor for those carried in the womb" in the blessing of Havdalah, you will know the secret of the first light and of the hiding and of the separation that [Rabbi Yehuda Berebbi Shimon] said was separated for Himself, and the secret of the two kings that use one crown, when in the end, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, after the light of the sun will be seven-fold. And they will be for signs: The change[s] that they will cause, and from them will be made signs and "wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke" (Joel 3:3), as per the expression (Jeremiah 10:2), "and from the signs of the sky do not fear." And for appointed times: "The planting and the harvest and the coldness and the heat and the summer and the winter" (Genesis 8:22). And for days: The measure of day and the measure of night. And for years: They will finish their paths and come back to return to the path that they went upon [previously]. And the year of the sun is in 365 days and the year of the moon is in thirty days.

(15) And there were luminaries in the firmament of the skies to shine upon the earth: It added that their light should reach the earth, since it it possible that they should show light in the heavens and do all of the acts that are mentioned, without their shining upon the earth. And hence it stated that they would be for luminaries in the firmament of the heavens and look down on the earth and shine upon it.

(16) And God made... (17) And God placed them: [This] teaches that these luminaries were not from the the body of the firmament, but [rather] bodies that were implanted in it.

(17)

(18) And to govern over day and night: And the matter of ruling is something else, regardless of the light mentioned, since it includes what was stated at the beginning, "and they will be for signs and designated times;" as they have governance over the earth in the changes which are born through them, [as well] as over the existence and demise of all the lower things. Since the sun - during its governance over the day - makes sprout and gives birth and makes grow all things warm and dry; and the moon - in its governance - makes fruitful [beings] in the streams and seas and in all those wet and cold. And that is why it stated, "and to govern over the day and night" without distinction; since the governance over the lower things is [shared by them]. And it is possible that the governance also includes the power of emanation; since they are the leaders of the lower ones and through their power, every governor and 'constellation' governs; and the 'constellation' that makes grow during the day, governs it, and the 'constellation' that makes grow during the night, governs it, as the matter that is written (Deuteronomy 4:19), "which the Lord, your God, distributed them to all the nations;" and that is what the verse states (Psalms 147:4), "He counts the number of the stars, to all of them He calls names," and so [too] (Isiah 40:26), "to all of them, He calls by name," as the calling of names is the differentiation in their powers; to one is the power of justice and fairness, to another is the power of blood and the sword, and so on for all the powers, as is known in astronomy. And everything [happens] with the supreme Power and by His will, and that is why it states (Psalms 147:5), "Our Master is great and of abundant power," since He is greater than all of them, and abundant in power over all of them; and so [too], it states (Isaiah 40:26), "from abundant mights and courageous power." And according to the secret way that I hinted to you, there will be a complete governance in truth. And to separate between the light and the darkness: Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra) said that in the going out of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night, [people] will distinguish between the light and the darkness. And according to my opinion, the light that is mentioned here is the day and the darkenss is the night, since this is their name, as it is stated (above, verse 5), "And God called the light day and the darkness, He called night." And behold, in all of the story of creation, the verse mentions the [Divine] command and then tells [of] the act. And here, He commanded, "And they will be for luminaries" (above, verse 15), and it told [of the act], "And God placed them" (above, verse 17). And it stated, "and to govern over the day and over the night," that one should govern over the day and one should govern over the night; and the rulership is that which He commanded, "and they will be for signs and appointed times" (above, verse 14). And it explained that the rulership of the two will not be equal, but [rather] to separate between the light and the darkness; since the large one will rule over the day and it will be completely light - even in a place where the sun doesn't reach; and the small one will rule at night and it will be dark - except that the moon will temper its darkness; and that [corresponds to] the command, when He said "to separate between the day and the night" (Ibid.), as per, "and God separated between the light and the darkness" (above, verse 4).

(19)

(20) "Let the waters swarm (yishretzu) with swarms (sheretz): Rashi wrote, "Every living thing that is not much higher than the earth is called sheretz: among flying creatures, such as flies; among the insects, such as ants, beetles, and worms; and among the [larger] creatures, such as the weasel, the mouse, the lizard, and their like; and all of the fishes." And what will the teacher say about the verse (Genesis 9:7), "And you shall be fruitful and multiply, swarm (shirtzu) upon the earth and multiply in it," that is spoken to Noach and his sons? And so [too in verse 21, regarding the phrase], "that the waters swarmed," it would be [more] fitting that it should say - according to this opinion - "that swarmed in the waters." And there are many flying creatures that are no taller from the earth than the height of the weasel [and] the mouse. And the bat has very short legs, and why is it not called a flying sheretz? And the opinion of Onkelos is that the matter of sheritza is rooted in movement [and he] said about sheretz and about [the term] remes, [that it is] "a moving thing that moves," and he explained it well. And creeping things (sheratzim) are called this because of their constant movement. And it is possible that it is a compound expression, [and] is called sheretz, since it runs (she'hu ratz). And a remes is [called that] since it crawls (romes) on the earth; it does not stop and does not rest. And know that every flying creatures that has four legs is called a "flying sheretz" (Leviticus 11:20-23) - because it leans and moves on its legs like creeping things; and [every] one that does not, is called a flying winged thing - since its main movement is to fly. And the explanation of "shirtzu in the earth and multiply in it" (Genesis 8:17) is that they should walk in all of it and be fruitful and multiply upon it; [and of] "shirtzu upon the earth and multiply in it" (Genesis 9:7) is move in all of it and multiply on it; and that is the reason for the repetition of the word, multiply, twice in the verse. If so, we will explain "that the waters swarmed" (below, verse 21) [to mean] that the waters moved and led forward, and so [too], "and the Nile swarmed frogs" (Exodus 7:28) [in the same way], and so [too], "were fruitful and swarmed" (Exodus 1:7) [to mean] that they were fruitful and multiplied and moved [about] because of their great number until "the land became full" of them. But Onkelos interpreted "shirtzu upon the earth" (Genesis 9:7) as a matter of reproduction, [and translated it as] "give birth on the earth;" since he understood the expression [here] as one borrowed from [the properties] of creeping things (sheratzim), [meaning that the verse is saying], "and you shall be fruitful and multiply like the creeping things on the earth and multiply in it;" and so [too], "they were fruitful and swarmed" (Exodus 1:7) [to mean] that they were like creeping things in reproducing so many. "And let fowl fly upon the earth;" On this day, the proclamation of creation was in the waters, and on the sixth day, it was in the earth. If so, the explanation of "and let fowl fly upon the earth" [is that] it follows [from the beginning of the proclamation as follows:] "let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and fowl that fly." And the verse that states (Genesis 2:19), "And the Lord, God, formed from the earth all the animals of the field and all of the fowl in the sky" is as if it stated "And the Lord God formed all of the animals of the field from the earth and formed all of the fowl of the sky." And there are many [verses that follow such an explanation.] And this is the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer the Great in his Chapters (Pirkei Derabi Eliezer 9), who stated that, on the fifth [day, God] had all the winged fowl swarm from the water. But in the Gemara (Chullin 27b), they disagreed about it: some say this - that they were created from the water, and some say the fowl was created from both [the water and the earth]; the [latter] say that they were created from the swamp. And if so, because their generation was in the water, [as] the swamp is at the floor of the sea; as a result of this, the proclamation about them was on the fifth day. And so, He said, "let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures (souls)," since the body and soul of fish [came] from the water with the word of God, who gave them their spirit from the elements. [This is] not like man, whose body, [God] separated from his soul, as it is stated (Genesis 2:7), "And the Lord, God, formed man, dust from the earth, and He blew into his nostrils, a living soul." And it does not mention a soul at all, with plants on the third [day]; since the force of growth is not a soul, only with bodies that move is it [so]. And according to the opinion of the Greeks - that say that just like the [seat of] growth of moving bodies is in the soul, so too do plants grow through their soul - the difference would be that [the animals have] a living soul, meaning a soul that has vitality in it - as there is a soul that does not have vitality in it, and that is the soul of plant growth. And the rabbis mentioned (Bereishit Rabbah 41:1) desire with regards to date trees, and maybe it is the power in growth, [but it] is not called a soul. "

(21) And God created the great sea monsters: Because of the largeness of these creations - as there are some of them that are many parasangs long; the Greeks told in their books that they knew about some of them that were five hundred parasangs long, and our Rabbis also spoke about their amplitude (see Bava Batra 73b) - for this reason, it attributed their [actual] creation to God, since He is the one who brought them forth out of nothing from the beginning; as I have explained [that such is the understanding of] the expression, creation (above, verse 1). And so [too] will it do with man, due to his stature - to inform that he was brought forth from nothing with his intelligence and his mind. And I wonder why it does not state, "and it was so" on this day; and maybe it is not possible to mention, "and He created" after "and it was so," since it is speaking about what was at the beginning. And our Rabbis said (Bava Batra 74b) that the great sea monsters are the Leviathan and his spouse; that He created male and female and killed and cured the female for the righteous ones [to eat] in the future. And for that reason, it was not fitting that it state about them, "and it was so;" since they did not continue [ to exist in the same way as they had been created.]

(22) And God blessed them, saying: He decreed blessing to them and said that they should be fruitful and multiply; which is to say that they should make many fruits - that one [of them] should bring out many like him. And the matter of blessing is about reproduction, as the matter that is stated (Genesis 17:16), "and I have blessed her and she will become nations." And also about sprouting (and growth) is the expression of blessing found, [as in] "And I have commanded my blessing to you on the sixth year" (Leviticus 25:21). But it is not stated thus on the third [day], as [the plants did not need it, as did] all of the creatures that had souls, [which] were only two - male and female, according to their species - like the matter of man. And they required blessing to greatly multiply; but very many plants grew on the face of all of the earth, as they [do] today. And it did not state blessing about the beasts and animals, as the decree of proliferation that He decreed on the moving souls in the water, included the moving souls on earth also; as it is all one matter concerning the creation of living souls that do not speak. And our Rabbis said (Bereishit Rabbah 11:3) that because man hunts and eats them, the blessing of "and fill the waters in the seas" was needed. He blessed them that they should fill the seas due to their multitude; also the rivers and ponds. Or the [blessing of] their filling is [only] in the seas, as they are sparse in the rivers. "And let the fowl multiply on the earth:" Even though its creation is in the water, its blessing will be on the earth: that they will be fruitful and multiply upon it. As there is none among the fowl that lays its eggs in the water and nurtures it there; even the ones that are always dwelling in the water and deriving sustenance form it, [lay] their eggs on the earth and give birth there.

(23)

(24) Beasts (behema): These are the types that eat grass, whether they reside in human settlements or in the wilderness. The animals (chayot) of the earth: Those that eat meat are called animals and all of them prey. And creeping things (remes): Rashi wrote, "These are the creeping things, which are low and crawl (romsim) upon the earth; they appear as if they are dragging along." And behold, in this section (below, verse 28), it is written, "and every animal that crawls (romeset) upon the earth." And it is written (Genesis 7:21), "And all flesh that crawls on the earth perished, among the fowl and among the beasts and among the animals and among all the creeping things that creep on the earth," and it is written (Psalms 104:20), "in it do all the animals crawl." (From these verses, we see that crawling - remisa - is not only relegated to lowly creatures.) But [rather], the explanation of remisa is like the notion [which is spelled] with the [letter,] samech, [an example of which is found in the phrase, "the leg tramples (tirmesena)" (Isaiah 26:6); and [in other] related examples. And with animals and with beasts, it states, "crawl upon the earth;" and with creeping things that drag [themselves on the ground], "the crawlers of the ground" (verse 25), because [the latter] tread on the ground with their entire bodies.

(1) In the beginning Elohim [God] created: Elohim means judge. Indeed, just like the statutes of the Torah are called judgement [or laws]. Similarly, the properties of nature that the Holy One, blessed be He, ingrained in His world are called judgement [or laws]. As is explained in [Tractate] Shabbat 155, "'The righteous One knows the judgement of the poor ones' (Proverbs 29:7); the Holy One, blessed be He, knows that that the dog's food [supply] is sparse, etc.;" and the matter is not in the category of punishment, but rather this is [its] nature, and that is called judgement. And behold [regarding] the name, God/Judge, even though its simple understanding is the One who runs His world in judgement, nonetheless, here, its understanding is the One who creates His world with judgement. And this is its understanding in the Sifri, at the beginning of Parshat Ve'etchanan concerning the prayer of Moshe, "Lord, God/Judge, in judgement have your created the world." And there, we explained with His help, may He be blessed, why the Sages, of blessed memory, explained the intention of Moshe in this way. And also see, what I have written further, Genesis 9:16, and in the Book of Exodus 6:2. ,The heavens and the earth: The clear simple explanation is that which was written by Ramban on verse 8, that [the Torah] is not speaking in this verse about the firmament that would on the second day be called, heavens; and about the dry land that would be called land on the third day. It [follows] from this that the firmament is not intrinsically and inevitably heavens, and so [too] dry land is not inevitably earth; rather [it is only that] the Holy One, blessed be He, called the firmament, heavens, and the dry land, earth; which is not the case in this verse - [instead, here] it is implied that, in essence and to begin with, their qualities are evident; which is that their names are heavens and earth, [even] without being given [these names.] Just like the name, dry land, is not [dependent on its] being given a name, but rather it is self-evident that dry dirt and soil is called dry land, based on its characteristics [and so will be explained about man, later.] And the explanation is that in the beginning of the creation, [it was] His will, may He be blessed, that all the workings of the world should be [by way of] emanator and recipient. An example is the sun and the seven planets that emanate to us. Nonetheless, they receive from what is higher than them. And about what is higher than them, we say in the prayer text, "who takes out the sun from its place and the moon from its dwelling place." And it is known that the movement of the sun and the moon is not in this fashion, but the intent is [regarding] the causes of motion of the sun and the moon. And they are called according to their action, as per the explanation of Rambam, of blessed memory, on the Tractate Avodah Zarah - the form of the sun is the 'constellation' of the sun. And behold, all of the emanators [together] are referred to by the name, heavens [shamayim,] because of the letters [that form the combinations], shem, yim: the meaning of shem [name] is the latent potential to emanate; and yim is an even number [to indicate] the plural [form] as with yadayim [hands] and raglayim [feet]; and eretz [earth] indicates the recipient, the nature of which is to run [ratz] to receive the emanation. [And see what I have written in the book of Deuteronomy in Parshat Ha'azinu Hashamayim and in Parshat Berakha on the verse (Deuteronomy 33:28), "even His heavens drop down dew."] And the verse did not explain anything about the highest emanators, since they cannot be fathomed, except by those of great intelligence. And whoever's mind is sharp will find a hint about it all, as it is with everything. And the earth begins from the higher waters, in the midst of which, afterwards God made the firmament. And the potential of the water above the firmament, and its form, was made different than the lower waters, as will be explained.

(2) Chaos: This name rests on something that is not distinguished and differentiated from anything else. [Just] like a wilderness - where there is no recognition of different places - is called in the song of [Parshat] Ha'azinu, “and in the void.” And in [Tractate] Avodah Zarah 8, there is [found that the first] “two thousand years were chaos.” And the explanation [of this is that it was [a time of the] action of youth, without Torah – all of the actions of man were the same, without difference. And this is the intention of Targum Onkelos, [when he translates the word as] “empty;” that in an empty place, one part is no different than an other.,And void: This name [bohu, which when broken down is made up of 'in it' and 'it'] rests [on this concept] because much was included 'in it;' meaning from the dry land below the waters, to the end of the waters, the nature of all creation was included in it, [as well as] the potential of the creatures [that would be created] afterward.,And darkness was upon the depths: This is the element of fire that was within the ground, as even today there are many elements of fire [in the ground;] and if [the ground] releases them, the earth quakes.,And the spirit/wind of God was hovering upon the face of the waters: It was not blowing strongly in order to dry [the waters,] like other strong winds that are known by the name, spirit/wind of God, but rather it was hovering calmly.

(3) Let there be light: It is known that this light is not the light that shines for [future] generations, and like other things in this section. And for this reason, it is not written concerning this, “and it was so.” Since also from the beginning, this light was only formed, so that it should be hidden for the righteous ones afterwards. So that there should not be a new creation afterwards, which was not [created] during the seven days [of creation,] God [now] said, Let there be light.” And the word, so, is to be understood as an expression of a foundation and base; like in (Proverbs 11:19), “ so (established) is righteousness for life." And for this reason, it is not written here, “and it was so.”

(4) And God saw, etc.: It is not that He did not know before it came to be that it would be good, as he [then] saw after it came to be. But rather also in this did He come to establish the nature [of things], that seeing is better than intellectual belief and understanding of a matter; so much so, that they stated about Moshe in Shemot Rabbah, that Moshe, our teacher, was not energized when the Holy One, blessed be He, said that the Jews had made a calf like [he was] afterwards when he saw [it] with his eyes. Even though it wasn't considered a doubt for him before he saw it; but this is the nature [of things], that seeing with the eyes is more effective than intellectual processes. And here, the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, implanted it into nature in the story of creation, when He saw afterwards that this is how it was. ,The light: And it is not written like in every [other] section, "and God saw that it was good." Since there are two understandings of the phrase, "that it was good:" A) That the the thing was good for the goal for which it was needed. Even though its main purpose is not for a good goal, nonetheless according to what is needed, the thing is good; B) It is really good. And behold, in all of the creation, there are several things that are not good, like types of pests, but the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that for the sake of the creation, it was necessary that it be this way. But light is definitively good. So much, that [it is said about] any good thing that it is light, as it is found (in Ta'anit 7 and Bereshit Rabbah 26), every [time the word,] light is mentioned with Eliyahu, the verse is speaking about rain. And that is because [rain] brings good to the world. (And Ramban in the beginning of Parshat Miketz gives a forced explanation of the matter.) And so, all success is referred to as a 'bright day' and the lack of success, darkness of night.' To the point where the poet made [it] a metaphor and said (Psalms 121:6), At day, the sun does not dim and the moon at night. And later (Genesis 28:15), we explained that the intention is about the time of success and its lack. And this is the expression of scripture [that tells us] that the Omnipresent saw that light was intrinsically good.,And God separated between the light and the darkness: The meaning of separation has two understandings: A) A partition that separates between two things that are the same or different; B) A spiritual separation between two things - that appear to the human eye to be the same - like the separation between a day that is holy and [one that is] profane, since according to how it appears, what is the difference between one day and the next? Or the separation between [something] pure and impure, and many others. And here it should not be explained in the second way. Since light and darkness are anyway different to our sight, and are the opposite of each other. But rather [it should be explained] in the first [way], that he made a screen to separate. Which means [that this screen is found] in the time that is not light and not darkness. And so the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, implanted that the darkness should not come immediately after the light; but rather that the light should diminish continuously until it becomes dark. And behold, we find in scripture that sometimes it is written "that separates this from that," and sometimes it is written that "separates between this and that." Meaning that where there is not, in the matter of the separation, an attenuated version of this and that, it is written, "from." And where there is an attenuated version of this and that, in the matter of the separation, it is written, "between this and that." (And see Exodus 8:19 and Exodus 26:33 and in several places, and so is it in every place, by the will of the Highest, may He be blessed.) And here it is according to our words; that the hour that separates them is sometimes closer to the light and sometimes closer to the darkness. And so is the nature of creation in all things that are deemed light and darkness, that there is a [gradual] distinction between them. And in this way man is able to tolerate the difference, according to the way of nature.

(5) And to the darkness, He called night: The Sages, of blessed memory, explained in the beginning of Tractate Pesachim, that the Holy One, blessed be He, called to darkness and appointed it over the night. [By this,] our Rabbis taught us that we should not say that darkness is only the absence of light, like when - in the middle of the day - we close the windows, it becomes dark. For, if so, it would not be a creation. But in truth, darkness is a creation, on its own as well, as it is written (Isaiah 45:7), "and created the darkness." And it is great distortion to say that darkness is only the absence of light. But rather, God makes both of them, just as He concerns Himself over holiness and impurity. (And see what I have written later, Genesis 27:9.) And to the question, "what does this creation help, behold, even without [its] creation, there would be darkness in the absence of light?," the Sages, of blessed memory, have taught us (in the chapter "Chelek" and in Bereshit Rabbah, Parshat Noach and in the Talmud Yerushalmi in the first chapter) that the light of a fire does not shine during the day in a dark place, [with the same brightness] as it does at night when darkness reigns. And from this, lofty people were able to know while they were sitting in the dark, when it was day and when it was night - in which darkness rules. And as it is with the light and darkness of day and night, so too is it thus with all things that are compared to light and darkness; since there are many bounties that man does not feel so much when he is successful, until he becomes poor and he sees the bounty [that he once had]. And [He], may He be blessed, implanted this into His world.,And it was evening and it was morning: The explanation is that at the time that it was evening here, it was morning in another place on the face of the earth (Ba'al HaMeor, Tractate Rosh Hashanah, Chapter 1).

(6) And it separated: Meaning a screen that separates.,The water from the water: [This] will yet be explained in the next verse.

(7) And God made the firmament and He separated, etc.: This verse says, 'explain me according to the simple meaning.' Since behold, this verse ends "and it was so," and [so] what is the verse missing? And also, why is it written, "and He separated, etc." - behold the firmament separates automatically? And also the difference [is noteworthy,] that [here] it is written, "between the waters, etc and the waters etc. and not, "the waters, etc. from the water," as in the previous verse. And also here it should have written, "between the waters that are above the firmament and the waters that are below the firmament." But to begin with, we must understand - is the screen between the waters according to its simple understanding not essentially needed for that day [alone]? Since behold, on the morrow, God said, "let the waters gather, etc." and the lower waters were submerged very much; and if so there was no need for a screen that would separate between them and this is a wonder. But even more difficult is that which is found in Chagigah 15, that Ben Zoma peeked and saw that there is only two or three finger breadths between the higher waters and the lower waters, as it states, "And the spirit of God was hovering over the waters." And [this is] surprising, since, behold they are far from each other like the sky is [far] from the earth. But all of this is explained according to the Midrash Kohelet, that [states] that the firmament is not the lower skies, that are upon the earth, but rather it is a second firmament, within which the luminaries were placed later and [which] is called the firmament of the skies and not just skies, and the Sages, of blessed memory, brought an explicit verse [to prove this] (Nehemiah 9:6), "The skies [and] the skies of the skies and all of their hosts." And according to this, the explanation of, "let there be a firmament in the waters and it will separate the waters from the waters" is understood. Meaning [that it is] between the waters that are above the lower ones and the waters that are above the higher skies which [comprise] the [actual] firmament. (And similar to this is found in the Guide for the Perplexed 2:30.) (And this is as is found in Shemot Rabbah 33: Above - "let there be a firmament in the waters;" Below - "and the curtain will separate for you between the holy and the holy of holies" (Exodus 26:33). Behold, the separation between the two waters is compared to the separation between the holy and the holy of holies, and this is as I have written.] From this, [we see that] the understanding of the separation of this verse is not a screen that separates, but rather an unusual entity between these waters. And the matter is clear that both of them are not in the form of waters that are visible to us in the lower world. Rather, the waters are purified and provide good and kindness in a different from, that is referred to here with the name, 'water;' and that is [God's] running [of the world] which emanates great goodness and kindness. And about this [concept of 'water'], it is written (Psalms 42:8), "The depths call to the depths [for the voice of Your water channels]." And it is written (Psalms 65:10), "the stream of God is full of water;" and many [other] verses and midrashim [relate to this], and [this] is called by us, 'the upper waters.' And in truth, everything that is under the second firmament is exactly the running of the world through nature, and the luminaries and the 'constellations' control it and [they] are called 'lower.' And the verse [here] informs us that God separated between running the world through kindness and emanation - which is above the firmament, meaning above the running of the 'constellations;' and the waters that are below the firmament - which is the running [of the world] exactly by the 'constellations.' And for this reason, it is written "from on top of the firmament," the meaning of which is [to convey] not on top of on top; as is found in in the Chapter Mitsvat Chalitza about the wording of the verse (Deuteronomy 25:9), "from on top of his foot." And so [too] is the understanding of "from on top of the firmament," close to the firmament and not far [from it]. And it comes to make us understand that the intention is not that the upper waters are kindness that appears through complete and absolute miracles. For, if so, there would be no need for a separation from the kindness that is in nature, since it is automatically separated. And so [too], there would be no need to say that the waters that are under the firmament, means the physical waters and the ones that we see; for, if so, they are certainly not comparable to the upper waters. But rather, it is necessary to separate between the running [of the world] through providence and 'through hiding it from nature;' and between the running [of the world] through the 'constellations,' exactly according to nature. And this is what Ben Zoma peeked at and said that there is not more than two or three finger breadths between them; and it is hinted to in the earlier verse "and the spirit of God," meaning His providence, may He be blessed, "was hovering upon the face of the waters," which is the network of kindness in nature. And the meaning of "and God made the firmament" is that He refined and set it up on its essential foundations, (as I have written in Parshat Ha'azinu on the verse [Deuteronomy 32:6], "He is your maker," and in several places), which means that the bottom face of the firmament would extend more towards the lower waters - which is exactly natural - and the upper face would extend more to the higher waters, like any thing that separates between two items. And [the reason that] it is written [here] "between" and "between" is as I have written earlier on verse 4. And this firmament is from the wonders of the Perfect Knowledges, may He be blessed, such that His providence, may He be blessed, is mixed together with nature, for each person according to his deeds. And about this, it is written (Psalms, 19:2), "and the work of His hands is spoken by the firmament;" that the Holy One, blessed be He, always does wonder [and] supervises his creatures and, nonetheless, gives nature dominion together [with His providence].

(8)

(9) From under the skies: Meaning the regular skies, which is perceivable to us, and not below the firmament of the skies, as later on the fourth day.,To one place: Not really one place, but rather several connected places, from which the waters surrounding them, gathered.

(10) He called seas: A gathering [of water] is called a sea, and many gatherings are called seas. This is the simple explanation of the thing. And the exegetical understanding [drasha] is known.

(11) Grass: It is a species, the entire purpose of which is the herb and not the seed. And if so, its main purpose is that the leaf be more distinguishable, and this is the understanding of 'grass' as I have explained in the song of Ha'azinu.,Herbs, that give off seed: The purpose of which is the seed, whether small or large. And behold, it doesn't state now, “according to its specie,” as it states by the fruit of the tree; [meaning] and with it, since it [nonetheless] states in the adjacent verse, “and the earth brought forth grass, herbs that give off seed, according to its specie.” And also [noteworthy] is that the main point of the adjacent verse seems unnecessary. Firstly, we must explain the meaning of, “according to its specie,” or [what it means] when “according to its specie,” is written concerning what grows on the ground or the creations with living souls. And [the Torah need to say this] because there is almost no species, within which are not included several sub-species. As with wheat, we find in Eichah Rabbah, …................?. And so [too,] there are many in each species. And at the time of the creation, only one wheat plant came, which was the best of that strain, but within it was the potential for several types. And about this, [the Sages] said in (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 11), “all creatures were created with their varieties.” And the main [meaning] here is, as written in Tosefot, that “varieties” [tsivionan] is related to the phrase [tsvi ha'arets,], which means with the greatest possible beauty. But it is not like the Tosefot wrote - that 'they are completely finished' is the meaning of the phrase [that is also] there: “they were [all] created in their stature;” but rather, 'in the most praiseworthy manner,' is its correct meaning. And also included in the meaning of “in their varieties,” is that every fruit has different times as to when its beauty is most apparent. And with the fruit of the ground, the main beauty is at the time where it has not finished its growth and [at which time] the leaf appears green; which is not the case, when it is completely finished, behold [at that time] the herb withers and is not in its [greatest] beauty. But with a tree, it is not like this – even when the tree is completely finished [for that year], the leaf stays in its beauty; and is included in the understanding of 'varieties' at the time when they appear most beautiful. From here, it follows that it is not relevant to say, “according to its species” then, since, behold in the first coming forth, there was nothing but leaves. And [so] all of the types were the same in [any particular] strain. For this reason, “according to its species” is not written in the proclamation. Which is not the case with the trees, about which it is written, “according to its species;” since at the time that it first came out, many types were included in it, and all of them were one specie; and for this reason [with trees,] there is no [prohibition] of mixing species (kelayim), as is known [from] the Chapter, “Elu Terefot,” ,Fruit tree: The nature of the tree is different then the seeds, which only grow from planting [them] and not from [placing them] in its trunk; which is not the case with a tree – we can graft a branch and it grows [into] a tree. And this is [the meaning] of 'fruit tree;' within its tree is included the potential for the fruit.,That makes a fruit, the seed of which is in it. Which means the pit, which is the seed that is located in the fruit. And also within in [and not just the tree] is the potential of the tree.,And it was so: That they were formed, like at the time when they are in all their varieties/beauty. And [only] afterward...[continuing into the next verse].

(12) And the earth brought forth, etc.: The [herbs] were [now] completed, such that it would [now] be relevant to say also about them, "according to their species." And since also with the species that are not eaten, there is a seed, [the eventual emergence of their seed differentiated each sub-specie with them as well] (as is found in Bava Metzia 105a concerning weeds, once a seed falls, it falls.) For this reason [in this verse], it is also written with the herbs, "according to its species;" and a second sprouting forth [besides the implied sprouting forth of the previous verse].,And trees that make fruit: Since there are trees that, even though they exist from year to year, nonetheless the [leaves of the] tree do not exist in the winter; and the root in the ground is only [acting upon] the trunk. And the beauty/variety of these species is like with the fruit of the ground, [in that] the leaves wither with the completion of the fruit. For this reason, [the verse] repeats the sprouting forth [with the trees also]. And it is worth knowing that [the phrase,] "according to its specie," includes many more sub-species than [the phrase,] "according to its species," as I have written in the Book of Leviticus 11:12, see there.

(13)

(14) To separate: According to their movement, a separation was made between the day and the night. And there is also the dawn and the dusk, which are what separates the two ends [of the day.] And this is [what is meant by] 'between, and between.' (And see the adjacent verse, Genesis 1:17.),And they will be for signs: We explained, in the Book of Exodus 7:9 and in several places, that its meaning is that it [allows one to] time a natural [process]. And this is impossible without luminaries.,And for appointed times: The change of seasons; cold and heat and so forth, all of which occurs through the luminaries.,And for days and years: To know the change from one day to another, and so [too] with years; all of which is only through the movement of the luminaries.

(15) And they were etc., to shine upon the earth: Since it is possible that their radiance would be visible by having them suspended in the firmament and the radiance would be above, as with the light of a candle. For this reason, [the Torah] explains that [the luminaries were] "to shine upon the earth;" that the light would shine specifically upon the earth.,And it was so: The two luminaries were made by the word of God and were placed in front of Him. And still while they were not yet placed, then...[continuing into the next verse]

(16) And God made, etc.: He arranged them so that they would rule in the midst of the world.,The large luminary to rule the day: He made it to be appointed over that which is in their nature to grow by day, and also [over] the many precious stones and metals that are made during the day.,And the small luminary to rule the night: Over that which grows, and the metals and the stones, the nature of which is to be made at night.,And the stars They too rule, each one, over a specific thing, as is known.

(17) And He placed, etc.: At the time of the act, the order was reversed from the time of the pronouncement - at first, they came into the firmament of the skies to shine upon the earth, and afterward to govern, and afterward to separate. And the reason [for this] is simple; that at the first instant that the Holy One, blessed be He, placed them in the firmament, they shined upon the earth, but they still did not act upon their rulership until they moved. And in their moving, they impacted upon the earth, and they still had not separated [anything] until the evening.

(18) And to separate between the light and the darkness: By this, the verse adds that besides their coming to separate between the day and the night, they also came to separate between the light and the darkness. Since, in truth, even if the luminaries were equal in their light, nonetheless, they would still be different in their appearance; and day would be divided and distinguishable from night. But rather, they also came to separate between the light and the darkness; since the light of the sun is so strong, that even on a cloudy day [when] the light of the sun is [altogether] covered with clouds, nonetheless the day is light - 'and on a cloudy day, it is all sunny.' Which is not the case with the light of the moon - if the clouds cover the light, behold it becomes dark. And all of this is with regards to the light of the luminaries, but on the first three days, within which the first light was in use, the same separation that came between the night and the day separated between the light and the darkness; that in the absence of light came the night and darkness together.

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(20) Upon the earth on the face of the firmament of the skies: There are two types of birds: those that fly upon the earth, [meaning] only close to it; and those that fly high upon the face of the firmament of the skies. And for this reason, [the verb] fly is written in the piel [grammatical form]. And this is not coming to make that which is flying small, as with [the other letters] that become double [in this form] and as is written in HaPirchon under the entry, fly. But here it is impossible to say this, since, behold, it is written "upon the face of the firmament." But rather the meaning of the doubling [of the letter fay] is [to signify] two types of flying. And in Bereishit Rabbah, Chapter 1, there is [someone] who interprets from this that the angels were also created on the fifth [day], since it is written, "firmament of the skies" - and that [refers to] the 'skies of the skies,' as we have written above, Genesis 1:7. And therefore, they interpreted that it is speaking about angels as well. And behold, it is as it is written, upon the face of the skies, upon the face of the firmament of the skies; and this is [frequently] the way of scripture.

(21) And He created etc., to their species: The verse informs us that even though that at the time of the Holy One, blessed be He's, pronouncement, several species came forth in the water and with the birds; nonetheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, continued to create several species from those that already came out also afterwards. For example, the chicken that came out from the pronouncement, [resulted] in many species with the same characteristics as the chicken and they are all [considered] one species. And so [too] is it with all those mentioned in this verse.

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(24) Living [soul] creatures, according to its specie: At the time of the pronouncement, the command was that a living soul should should come out, that has several types that grow like it. Like a lion, that has several types that differ in their from and within [all of] them is the one soul of the lion.,Beast [behema]: The difference between an animal and a beast is not like Ramban, of blessed memory, wrote; that an animal eats meat; as we find in the second chapter of (Bava Kamma 19b), "and if you want, I will say that it is a deer [that we are speaking about, which is indeed an animal - as opposed to a beast - and nonetheless does not eat meat.]" And about the dog, there is an argument of the Tannaim in Tractate Kelayim, as to whether it is a type of beast or animal; and there is none that eats meat more than it. But rather, the difference is that the animal is naturally wild; if not that he is domesticated, by raising and accustoming him to change his nature. And a beast is the opposite - that he is tame by nature; if not that he is raised in a forest and, [getting] accustomed to this, changes his nature to become wild. (And see what I have written later, Genesis 2:19 and Genesis 3:13 and in Genesis 6:20, and in Leviticus 17:13.)

(25) And God made, etc.: Making is often the finishing touches of a matter and [relates] to the inner form of that thing as I have explained above and in several places. And the explanation of the verse is, that beyond that at the time of God's proclamation, the lion came out - and within him were included several types of lions, according to their external form; God also made their inner forms according to their species, such that the nature of one type of lion is not exactly the same as the nature of another. And nonetheless, they are all species of lions, by way of one detail common to all of them, and based on this detail they are all called lions. And so [too] with the ox, and so forth. All of this is with regards to the creatures of the dry land, and it is not the case with the creatures of the sea - [with them,] it was not like this. And all types of chickens are perfectly similar in character and they are only different in their outer appearance and appear like two types of chickens. And the Creator, may He be blessed, knows the reasons of the [details of the] creation; why the creatures of the dry land were created differently than the creatures of the sea.,The creeping things of the ground: Since there is a difference between earth and ground; as earth is a [more general] category that includes both the dry places of inhabitation and the places of rivers and lakes; which is not the case of ground, which is only dry land - 'examine and find' [this to be true]. And in that there are also several creeping things of the waters, which were [already] grouped under the creation of the swarming things of the water, in the seas; for this reason the verse was precise [to indicate] that in this proclamation only the creeping things of the ground were created.

(26) "Let Us make man:" God did not say, "let Us make a being like an animal in Our likeness," and afterwards call [him] 'man;' and as it is actually written later in Genesis 5:2. But the phrase, "let Us make man," means that there is no need to give [man] this name; rather his character shows that he is man. But, if so, it is difficult: why is it written afterwards that the Holy One, blessed be He, called their name, man; which implies that there was a need to give a name, and as I wrote regarding the name, sky and earth (shamayim ve'aretz). But rather the matter is like this - that man is different from all the species; since all the species were created in such a way that the species was unitary in its purpose and character; which is not the case for man, who rose in [God's] thought to be of two [types of] character. The one would be cleaving to his God, ready and serving in the world like an angel [does] in the heavens. And the second is [such] that he would be political and [take care of] his [own] needs; even though he would nonetheless do the will of God, it would not be on the level of the first. And behold, according to the first characteristic, he is automatically man (adam) based on the phrase 'I will be similar to the most High' (edmee le'elyon) - meaning that within him are included all the powers of the creation and he rules over everything. And behold, he is like the firstborn son of a king, who rules like the king. And because of this, everyone understands that he is the son of the king, in that they see him ruling over every detail. Which is not the case with a son of the king, who is not the firstborn; and the king [merely] makes him rule over some detail and his fellow over another detail, and so [too] with all those that govern the kingdom. It comes out that all of them together are similar to the king; but each one by himself is only similar to the king when he is given the name [of ruler] over that detail that he governs. And thus is man: the individual of spiritual stature is different then the simple individual. And in the Talmud, Shabbat 112b, they hinted to these two types of men. And it stated in the first version [of a particular statement], "this is not a man;" and in a second version, "this is an example of a man," the explanation [of this being] a man of spiritual stature. But the general human species is called man by the nature of the matter, in that they as a group rule over the entire creation. And this is according to [God's] plan. (And so [too] with the name, Israel, which indicates being higher than the nature of creation and the running [of the world]; it will be explained later in Parshat Vayislach that the whole nation is called Israel, but concerning individuals, some are called by the name Israel and some have not reached this.) And, if so, in the statement, "let Us make man," its explanation is [that it refers to] the general species of man and it is certainly called man even without being given the name; since in this general species is the creation dependent, and in this detail, they are similar to the Creator, may His name be blessed. And Adam (Adam Harishon) specifically, before he sinned, was worthy of being called man without being given the name; but after he sinned, he was given the name, man; and it will be explained further.,"In Our image:" The [meaning of the letter] bet is [to be understood] as in, 'within' or as in, 'with;' since man has a [guiding] 'constellation;' and Rashi has explained [in] Shabbat61b that it is an angel, and this is the image of God that surrounds him and protects him from danger. (And see later, Genesis 4:14 and in the Book of Numbers 14:9.),"According to Our likeness:" The image is according to our likeness; and automatically, man - who is clothed in it - is in the likeness of God; and in this is the power [of man].,"And let them have dominion,etc.:" That other creatures do not injure him quickly.,"And in all the earth:" [Refers to] the animals in all parts of the world, and not to the fish of the seas and the birds of the skies, since it is impossible for man to dominate them, except in a place where he can reach; and this is not 'in every place.' Which is not the case with animals, [they are dominated] in all the earth (and see verse 28.)

(27) In the image of God: All of nature was included in him. And from the time that it arose in the thought and word [of God] that there should be nature, then the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, was called by the name, God. And since all of nature is included in man, behold, he is in the image of God. But this is not [the case] except in the man of stature, as [Adam] was before the sin. Afterwards...,Male and female, He created them: The verse here is not coming to explain about this species that it was more male and female than any of the [other] creatures, but rather to teach us that they are two [separate] creatures like is explained later. And because the male of this species is not at all similar in his character to the female of this species, and as was stated by Kohelet (Ecclesiastes 7:28), "One man out of a thousand I have found, and one woman, etc.," meaning that a man of stature, similar to his Creator, with the image of God, is found one in a thousand. Which is not the case, with women, who only fit the second description of man who is called man.

(28) And He blessed and He said: It is also a blessing and it is also commands of warning; that they should engage in being fruitful and multiplying, in order that the blessing be established. Which is not the case with fish: as they are not subject to command, it is only written, "and he blessed.","And over all the beasts:" Which is not the case with the fish and the birds; there are many that man [is not able to] reach, as I have written, which [in turn] is not the case [with] beasts; all of them are in the category of [human] dominion.

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(31) And behold, it was very good: Besides that every detail was good on its own - according to the will of the Holy One, blessed be He - also grouped together with all of the creatures combined, they were very good; in that every [creature] compensated for the lack of the other. And in this expression...,Very good: was included [the fact] that there are pests in the world, [since] even though they are not good on their own, nonetheless, they are essential for the good of all the creatures. (And see the explanations of Gr'a, ztz'l, and see what I have written on the Book of Numbers 14:7 on the verse, "the land is very, very good.")