דף מקורות למבחן #1 (בראשית פרק א׳

(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. (6) God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” (7) God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. (8) God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (9) God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. (10) God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good. (11) And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. (12) The earth brought forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that this was good. (13) And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (14) God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years; (15) and they serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. (16) God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. (17) And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, (18) to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good. (19) And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (20) God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” (21) God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. (22) God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” (23) And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (24) God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so. (25) God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good. (26) And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” (27) And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” (29) God said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. (30) And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.” And it was so. (31) And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

(1) They may not expound upon the subject of forbidden relations in the presence of three. Nor the work of creation in the presence of two. Nor [the work of] the chariot in the presence of one, unless he is a sage and understands of his own knowledge. Whoever speculates upon four things, it would have been better had he not come into the world: what is above, what is beneath, what came before, and what came after. And whoever takes no thought for the honor of his creator, it would have been better had he not come into the world.

(1) בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187). (2) בראשית ברא IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our Rabbis explained it: God created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake of Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) increase’’. If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain sense, explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”. The text does not intend to point out the order of the acts of Creation — to state that these (heaven and earth) were created first; for if it intended to point this out, it should have written 'בראשונה ברא את השמים וגו “At first God created etc.” And for this reason: Because, wherever the word ראשית occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. E. g., (Jeremiah 26:1) “In the beginning of (בראשית) the reign of Jehoiakim”; (Genesis 10:10) “The beginning of (ראשית) his kingdom”; (Deuteronomy 18:4) “The first fruit of (ראשית) thy corn.” Similarly here you must translate בראשית ברא אלהים as though it read בראשית ברוא, at the beginning of God’s creating. A similar grammatical construction (of a noun in construct followed by a verb) is: (Hosea 1:2) תחלת דבר ה' בהושע, which is as much as to say, “At the beginning of God’s speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea.” Should you, however, insist that it does actually intend to point out that these (heaven and earth) were created first, and that the meaning is, “At the beginning of everything He created these, admitting therefore that the word בראשית is in the construct state and explaining the omission of a word signifying “everything” by saying that you have texts which are elliptical, omitting a word, as for example (Job 3:10) “Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb” where it does not explicitly explain who it was that closed the womb; and (Isaiah 8:4) “He shall take away the spoil of Samaria” without explaining who shall take it away; and (Amos 6:12) “Doth he plough with oxen," and it does not explicitly state, “Doth a man plough with oxen”; (Isaiah 46:10) “Declaring from the beginning the end,” and it does not explicitly state, “Declaring from the beginning of a thing the end of a thing’ — if it is so (that you assert that this verse intends to point out that heaven and earth were created first), you should be astonished at yourself, because as a matter of fact the waters were created before heaven and earth, for, lo, it is written, (v. 2) “The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters,” and Scripture had not yet disclosed when the creation of the waters took place — consequently you must learn from this that the creation of the waters preceded that of the earth. And a further proof that the heavens and earth were not the first thing created is that the heavens were created from fire (אש) and water (מים), from which it follows that fire and water were in existence before the heavens. Therefore you must needs admit that the text teaches nothing about the earlier or later sequence of the acts of Creation. (3) ברא אלהים GOD [AS JUDGE] CREATED — It does not state 'ברא ה “The Lord (the Merciful One) created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realised that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.

(2) Rabbi Yehoshua of Sichnin in the name of Rabbi Levi opened [with the verse (Tehillim 111:6),] "The power of His works he told to His people [Yisrael]." Why did Hashem reveal to Yisrael that which was created on the first day, and the second day [and so forth]? Because of the idolaters - so that they will not embitter Yisrael and say to them, "Are you not a nation of thieves?" And Yisrael would reply to them, saying, "Aren't your own lands stolen? Didn't (Devarim 2:23) 'The Caphtorim emerge from Caphtor and destroy [the Aviyim] and settle in their stead?' [Furthermore,] the entire world belongs to Hashem; thus, when it pleased Him, He gave it to you, and when it pleased Him, He took it from you and gave it to us." As it is written (Tehillim 111:6), "[In order] to give them an inheritance of the nations," He told [Yisrael] all of the generations.

(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. (2) In the beginning (Bereishit), God created: Rashi wrote, "this text says nothing if not 'interpret me' - as our 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 the sake of 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 [even] 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 (beginning) 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. (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.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).

(1) בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187). (2) בראשית ברא IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our Rabbis explained it: God created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake of Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) increase’’. If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain sense, explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”. The text does not intend to point out the order of the acts of Creation — to state that these (heaven and earth) were created first; for if it intended to point this out, it should have written 'בראשונה ברא את השמים וגו “At first God created etc.” And for this reason: Because, wherever the word ראשית occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. E. g., (Jeremiah 26:1) “In the beginning of (בראשית) the reign of Jehoiakim”; (Genesis 10:10) “The beginning of (ראשית) his kingdom”; (Deuteronomy 18:4) “The first fruit of (ראשית) thy corn.” Similarly here you must translate בראשית ברא אלהים as though it read בראשית ברוא, at the beginning of God’s creating. A similar grammatical construction (of a noun in construct followed by a verb) is: (Hosea 1:2) תחלת דבר ה' בהושע, which is as much as to say, “At the beginning of God’s speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea.” Should you, however, insist that it does actually intend to point out that these (heaven and earth) were created first, and that the meaning is, “At the beginning of everything He created these, admitting therefore that the word בראשית is in the construct state and explaining the omission of a word signifying “everything” by saying that you have texts which are elliptical, omitting a word, as for example (Job 3:10) “Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb” where it does not explicitly explain who it was that closed the womb; and (Isaiah 8:4) “He shall take away the spoil of Samaria” without explaining who shall take it away; and (Amos 6:12) “Doth he plough with oxen," and it does not explicitly state, “Doth a man plough with oxen”; (Isaiah 46:10) “Declaring from the beginning the end,” and it does not explicitly state, “Declaring from the beginning of a thing the end of a thing’ — if it is so (that you assert that this verse intends to point out that heaven and earth were created first), you should be astonished at yourself, because as a matter of fact the waters were created before heaven and earth, for, lo, it is written, (v. 2) “The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters,” and Scripture had not yet disclosed when the creation of the waters took place — consequently you must learn from this that the creation of the waters preceded that of the earth. And a further proof that the heavens and earth were not the first thing created is that the heavens were created from fire (אש) and water (מים), from which it follows that fire and water were in existence before the heavens. Therefore you must needs admit that the text teaches nothing about the earlier or later sequence of the acts of Creation. (3) ברא אלהים GOD [AS JUDGE] CREATED — It does not state 'ברא ה “The Lord (the Merciful One) created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realised that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.

(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. (2) In the beginning (Bereishit), God created: Rashi wrote, "this text says nothing if not 'interpret me' - as our 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 the sake of 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 [even] 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 (beginning) 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. (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.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).

(1) Bless the LORD, O my soul; O LORD, my God, You are very great; You are clothed in glory and majesty, (2) wrapped in a robe of light; You spread the heavens like a tent cloth. (3) He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind. (4) He makes the winds His messengers, fiery flames His servants. (5) He established the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never totter. (6) You made the deep cover it as a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. (7) They fled at Your blast, rushed away at the sound of Your thunder, (8) —mountains rising, valleys sinking— to the place You established for them. (9) You set bounds they must not pass so that they never again cover the earth. (10) You make springs gush forth in torrents; they make their way between the hills, (11) giving drink to all the wild beasts; the wild asses slake their thirst. (12) The birds of the sky dwell beside them and sing among the foliage. (13) You water the mountains from Your lofts; the earth is sated from the fruit of Your work. (14) You make the grass grow for the cattle, and herbage for man’s labor that he may get food out of the earth— (15) wine that cheers the hearts of men oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life. (16) The trees of the LORD drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon, His own planting, (17) where birds make their nests; the stork has her home in the junipers. (18) The high mountains are for wild goats; the crags are a refuge for rock-badgers. (19) He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set. (20) You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forests stir. (21) The lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God. (22) When the sun rises, they come home and couch in their dens. (23) Man then goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening. (24) How many are the things You have made, O LORD; You have made them all with wisdom; the earth is full of Your creations. (25) There is the sea, vast and wide, with its creatures beyond number, living things, small and great. (26) There go the ships, and Leviathan that You formed to sport with. (27) All of them look to You to give them their food when it is due. (28) Give it to them, they gather it up; open Your hand, they are well satisfied; (29) hide Your face, they are terrified; take away their breath, they perish and turn again into dust; (30) send back Your breath, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. (31) May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works! (32) He looks at the earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke. (33) I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; all my life I will chant hymns to my God. (34) May my prayer be pleasing to Him; I will rejoice in the LORD. (35) May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah.

(1) ויעש אלהים את הרקיע AND GOD MADE THE EXPANSE — He put it in proper condition in its place: this is the meaning of “making” it. Similarly (Deuteronomy 21:12) ועשתה את צפרניה “And she shall let grow (literally, make) her nails”. (2) מעל לרקיע ABOVE THE EXPANSE — It is not said here על הרקיע “upon the firmament״, but מעל “hanging from above”, because they (the waters) were suspended in space (Genesis Rabbah 4:3). Why is it not stated in reference to the work of the second day “that it was good”? Because the work associated with water was not completed until the third day — He only began it on the second — and anything that is not completed is not in a state of perfection and at its best (and so cannot be termed “good”). Therefore on the third day when He completed the work associated with water and another work was commenced and finished, the words כי טוב are repeated, once in reference to the completion of the work of the second day, and again in reference to the completion of the work of that day (Genesis Rabbah 4:10).

(1) יהי מארת BE THERE LUMINARIES — They had been created on the first day, but on the fourth He commanded them to be suspended in the firmament (Chagigah 12a). Indeed, all the productions of heaven and earth were created on the first day, but each of them was put in its place on that day when it was so commanded. In reference to this it is written את השמים (v. 1) In the beginning God created that which was את with the heavens etc., in order to include all the productions of heaven, ואת הארץ to include all its (the earth’s) productions (Genesis Rabbah 12:4). (2) יהי מארת The word is written without the ו after the א (so that it may be read מארת, cursed), because it is a cursed day when children are liable to suffer from croup. In reference to this we read (in Taanit 27b): On the fourth day of the week they used to fast to avert croup from the children (Yerushalmi Taanit 4:3). (3) להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה TO CAUSE A DIVISION BETWEEN THE DAY AND THE NIGHT — This took place after the primeval (divine) light was conserved for the righteous; but during the first seven [another reading is “three”] days of Creation the primeval light and darkness functioned together both by day and by night. (4) והיו לאותות AND THEY SHALL BE FOR SIGNS — When the heavenly luminaries are eclipsed it is a sign of ill-omen for the world, as it is written, (Jeremiah 10:2) “Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven” — when you carry out the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, you need apprehend no calamity (Sukkah 29a). (5) ולמועדים AND FOR SEASONS (FESTIVALS) — This is written with a view to the future when Israel would receive command regarding the festivals which would be calculated from the time of the lunar conjunction (Genesis Rabbah 6:1). (6) ולימים AND FOR DAYS — The sun functions half a day and the moon the other half — together a full day. (7) ושנים AND FOR YEARS — At the end of three hundred and sixty five days [another version: 365¼] they complete their course through the twelve signs of the Zodiac that attend them, and that is one year [another version: and this makes 365¼ days]; they then begin to revolve a second time in a circle similar to their first cycle.

(1) "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 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.

(1) נעשה אדם WE WILL MAKE MAN — The meekness of the Holy One, blessed be He, they (the Rabbis) learned from here: because the man is in the likeness of the angels and they might envy him, therefore He took counsel with them (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 18 and see Genesis Rabbah 8). And when He judges the kings He likewise consults His heavenly council, for thus we find in the case of Ahab to whom Micha said, (1 Kings 22:19) “I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left.” Has God, then, a right hand and a left hand? But it means that some stood on the right side to plead in favour of the accused and others stood on the left side to accuse; and similarly we read (Daniel 4:14), “the matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones”, — here, also, He consulted His heavenly council and asked permission of them, saying to them: “There are in the heavens beings after My likeness; if there will not be on earth also beings after My likeness, there will be envy among the beings that I have created” (Sanhedrin 38b). (2) נעשה אדם WE WILL MAKE MAN — Although they did not assist Him in forming him (the man) and although this use of the plural may give the heretics an occasion to rebel (i. e. to argue in favour of their own views), yet the verse does not refrain from teaching proper conduct and the virtue of humbleness, namely, that the greater should consult, and take permission from the smaller; for had it been written, “I shall make man”, we could not, then, have learned that He spoke to His judicial council but to Himself. And as a refutation of the heretics it is written immediately after this verse “And God created the man”, and it is not written “and they created” (Genesis Rabbah 8:9) (3) בצלמנו IN OUR IMAGE — in our type. (4) כדמתנו AFTER OUR LIKENESS — with the power to comprehend and to discern. (5) וירדו בדגת הים AND THEY SHALL HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH … [AND OVER THE BEASTS] — The expression וירדו may imply dominion as well as descending — if he is worthy he dominates over the beasts and cattle, if he is not worthy he will sink lower than them, and the beast will rule over him (Genesis Rabbah 8:12).

(1) 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.