פרשת בראשית תשי"ט - בריאת העולם + הפטרה

I beheld the earth, And, lo, it was waste and void; And the heavens, and they had no light. .

With ten utterances the world was created. And what is learned - couldn't it have been created by one utterance? Rather, [it was done this way] in order to punish the wicked who destroy the world that was created with ten utterances and to give reward to the righteous who sustain the world that was created with ten utterances.

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

וירא אלהים את האור כי טוב ויבדל AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT THAT IT WAS GOOD, AND GOD CAUSED A DIVISION — Here, also, we must depend upon the statement of the Agada: He saw that the wicked were unworthy of using it (the light); He, therefore, set it apart (ויבדל), reserving it for the righteous in the world to come (Chagigah 12a). But according to the plain sense explain it thus: He saw that it was good, and that it was not seemly that light and darkness should function together in a confused manner. He therefore limited this one’s sphere of activity to the daytime, and this one’s sphere of activity to the nighttime (see Genesis Rabbah 3:6).

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

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, [and saw] 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 time existed from when the heavens and the earth came out from the void into the existence mentioned in the first verse. 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."

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

The verse states with regard to the birth of Moses: “And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly [tov] child, she hid him three months” (Exodus 2:2). It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir says: “Tov” is his, Moses’, real name, as it was given to him by his parents when he was born. Rabbi Yehuda says: His name was Toviya. Rabbi Neḥemya says: They said he was good because they saw that he was fit for prophecy. Others say: They said he was good because he was born when he was already circumcised. And the Rabbis say: At the time when Moses was born, the entire house was filled with light, as it is written here: “And when she saw him that he was a goodly [tov] child,” and it is written there: “And God saw the light, that it was good [tov]” (Genesis 1:4).

Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth, He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, And spirit to them that walk therein:

Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth, He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, And spirit to them that walk therein:

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.