Chumash Midterm

(1) In the beginning, God created: Rabbi Yitshak said: "The Torah should not have been begun except from 'This month is for you,' (Exodus 12:2) which is the first commandment that Israel was commanded. And what is the reason that it opened with 'In the beginning?' So that if the nations of the world would say: 'you are thieves, since you conquered for yourselves the lands of the seven nations,' they would respond to them, 'all the earth is the Holy One's, blessed be He and He gave it to whomever it was fit in his eyes; and by His will He gave it to them and by His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.'" And this is a tale in the words that our Rabbi Shlomo (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 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 there 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 general information that was mentioned 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 'a law given to Moses from Sinai" (halacha leMoshe miSinai), along with the Oral Law. And Rabbi Isaac gave a 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 that He made him ruler over 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 world 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 matter 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 Kaftorim that came out of Kaftor 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.

(3) In the beginning: Rashi wrote, "If you are coming to explain it according to its simple meaning, explain it thus: 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] (something which 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 is 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 taken 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 [is also] not a thing. And this 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 it is it (bo hu)."'"

(4) 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, were created all of the creations in the heavens and the earth.

(5) 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; ve'et haarets 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 [as follows]; 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).

(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 [saying] 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 dimming 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 way 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, [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."

(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 Rabbah 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 the beginning of the night was called 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 [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 their every moment, 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.

(5) “And G-d called the light day” – ask yourself: according to the straightforward meaning, why did G-d need to call the light "day" at the moment of its creation? Rather, this is what Moshe, our master, wrote: every place in the words of the Omnipresent where we see “day” and "night", such as “day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22)– that is [referring to] the light and darkness created on the first day – Hashem calls them in all places “day” and “night”. And likewise for every “And G-d called” written in this passage. And likewise, “And Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun: Yehoshua” (Numbers 13:15) [referring to] what was stated earlier “for the tribe of Ephraim – Hoshea bin Nun” (Numbers 13:8) – he’s the same one whom Moshe called “Yehoshua bin Nun”, whom he appointed previously as servant in his house. For, it is the manner of kings when appointing people over their house to give them new names, as it is stated, “And Par’oh called Yosef’s name Tzafnat Pa’aneach” (Genesis 45:45), [or] “and he called Daniel Belshatzar (Daniel 1:7).

(6) "And the darkness He called night" - Light is always first, and afterwards, darkness.

(7) “And it was evening, and it was morning” – It is not written here, “And it was night, and it was day”, but rather, “and it was evening, and it was morning” – the first day became evening and the sun set, and it became morning, the morning following the night, for the dawn broke” – behold, one day was completed from the six that Hashem spoke of in the Ten Commandments, and afterwards began the second day: “G-d said, ‘let there be a firmament’”. The text does not come to state that the evening and the morning are part of a single day, for it only needs to explain how there were six days – that the morning broke and the night was finished: behold, one days was completed and another day began.

(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 to be 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; [meaning that] 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 shem mayim (the name of 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 Berebe Pinchas and Rabbi Yaakov Berebe Avin [said it] in the name of Rabbi Shmuel Berebe 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 [also] 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 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).

(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 were 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 [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," as it is called thus because [the vessel described there holds] a large gathering of waters. And God saw that it was good: That is their continued 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 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 [beginning of the] phrase extends [to also refer to the fruit trees as follows]: "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.

(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 [some of its] places, 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 Rabbah 17:5), "an offshoot of the light is the sphere of the sun;" since, because this world was not fit to use that light without an intermediary, He hid it for the righteous in the world to come; and they used that offshoot from the fourth day and onward. 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, like 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 Berebi 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 Berebi 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 30 days.

(20) "Let the waters swarm (yishretsu) with swarms (sherets):" Rashi wrote, "Every living thing that is not much higher than the earth is called sherets: 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 (shirtsu) 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 sherets? And the opinion of Onkelos is that the matter of sheritsa is rooted in movement [and he] said about [the terms] sherets and remes, [that it is] "a moving thing that moves," and he explained it well. And creeping things (sheratsim) are called this because of their constant movement. And it is possible that it is a compound expression, [and] is called sherets, since it runs (she'hu rats). 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 sherets" (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 "shirtsu 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] "shirtsu upon the earth and multiply in it" (Genesis 9:7) is to 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 "shirtsu 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 (sheratsim), [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 the reference to the fowl] continues [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 a pattern.] 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 were 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 recounted 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.]

(26) And God said, "Let us make man:" A [separate] proclamation was designated for the creation of man, because of his stature - since his nature is not like the nature of animals and beasts that He created in the proclamation that precedes it. And the correct simple meaning of the word, 'let us make,' is that which you have already been shown, to know (above, verse 1) that God created something from nothing on the first day alone, and afterwards He formed and made [everything] from the fundamental elements. And when He gave power of swarming in the water to swarm living creatures, the proclamation was (verse 20), "let the waters swarm;" and the proclamation with the animals was (verse 24) "let the earth bring forth;" [and] with man He said, "let us make." That is to say, I and the earth - that was mentioned - let us make man: the earth will bring forth the body form the elements as it did with the beasts and the animals, as it is written (Genesis 2:7), "And the Lord, God, formed man, dust from the earth;" and He, may He be blessed, gave him the spirit from the mouth of the Highest, as it is written (Ibid.) and He blew into his nostrils, a living soul." And it stated, "in our image, in our likeness," since he would be similar to both of them: in the configuration of his body, to the earth from which he was taken; and he would resemble the higher ones in his soul, which is not a body and does not die. And the second verse (27) states, "in the image of God did He create him," to tell of the wonder which separates him from all the creatures. And this simple explanation of the verse I found from Rabbi Yosef Kimchi and it is the most plausible of all that have been thought. And the explanation of [the word,] image (tselem), is like an appearance, [as in] (Daniel 3:19), "and the appearance of his face changed," and also (Psalms 39:7) "As an appearance does man walk," and (Psalms 73:20) "in the city will You disgrace their appearance," [meaning] the description of what he looked like. And likeness (demut) [means] similarity in form or action; such that [things] that share a resemblance in a matter are called likenesses of each other. And behold man is similar to the lower beings and the upper beings in [his] appearance and his glory. As it is written (Psalms 8:6), "and with honor and glory have you crowned him" [concerning his resemblance to the upper beings], and this refers to the direction of his countenance towards wisdom and knowledge and skilled action. And in his likeness, his body completely resembles the dirt, and his soul, the upper creatures. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea: Because of [man's] being male and female, it states, "let them have dominion over the fish of the sea," in the plural. And in Bereishit Rabbah 7:5, they said, "'let the earth bring forth living creatures (souls) according to their species' (verse 24), Rabbi Elazar said, 'living souls, this is the spirit of man.'" And it is not at all possible that Rabbi Elazar would explain that "let the earth bring forth..." is to be explained as referring to the soul of Adam. But rather, he intended to say that which I mentioned: that the formation of the spirit of man which is in his blood was made from the ground, as per the proclamation for the animals and the beasts - as all souls of movement were made together; and afterwards, He made bodies for them - first He made the bodies of the beasts and the animals, and afterwards, the body of man and He put into him a soul; and after that, He blew into him a higher soul, [meaning that] it was that separated soul that had a different proclamation designated for it, by God who gave it, as it is written (Genesis 2:7), "and He breathed into his nostrils a living soul." And the true way in this verse will be known to the one that understands the [next] verse and it is possible that Rabbi Elazar intended this and expounded [the verse], "let the earth (haarets) bring forth," as the 'land (erets) of the living' which should bring forth a soul of its type that will exist forever. And so [too], what it stated (verse 27), "male and female He created them," is because the creation at the beginning was from the male and the female and [man's] soul was included in both of them; but the [subsequent] formation was [only] a formation for the man and a building [from man's] side (rib) for the woman, as is told at the end. And for this reason, creation is mentioned here and formation in the section below. And the learned one will understand. And the [meaning] of "and they will have dominion" is that they should rule powerfully over the fish and the fowl and the beast and all that crawls. And the beasts [in this verse] includes the animals (which are not mentioned separately). And it states, "and over all the earth," [to mean] that they should rule over the earth itself: to uproot and to smash and to dig and to quarry copper and iron. And the expression, dominion (rediyah), [is like the] rulership of a master over his slave.

(31) And behold, it was very good: This is [referring to its permanent] existence, as I have explained (above, verses 4,10,12). And the explanation of "very" is like [when there is an] addition that is included (ribui). And it added to state this on this day (as opposed to the other days of creation, wherein we only find 'good' and not 'very good'), because it is speaking about the general [creation] and evil can be found in parts of it; and it states that it is very good, [as if to say] its 'very' (its addition) is [also] good. And this is [what they meant] in their statement in Bereishit Rabbah 9:5, "'and behold it was very good,' 'and behold, it was good' [here] is [referring to] death;" and so [too] did they mention, [that] it is [referring to] the evil impulse, and it is [referring to] the [Divine] attribute of punishment. And Onkelos also intended this when he said here, "it is very orderly;" meaning that the order [of the universe] is very well constructed; since evil is needed for the existence of good as the matter is stated (Ecclesiastes 3:1), "For everything is there a time and for every matter is there a season under the heavens." And there are some that explain that it is because of man's stature that it adds praise to [the account of man's] formation, since he is very good.

(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 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 [beginning of the] phrase extends [to also refer to the fruit trees as follows]: "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.