Esnoga Bet Emunah

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Telephone: 360-584-9352 - United States of America © 2008

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Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)

Three and 1/2 year Lectionary Readings	First Year of the Reading Cycle
Tishri 5, 5769 – October 03/04, 2008	First Year of the Shmita Cycle

Shabbat Shuba

Sabbath of Returning/Repentance

Candle Lighting and Havdalah Times:

Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 7:01 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:54 PM	San Antonio, Texas, U.S. Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 7:06 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:59 PM
Baton Rouge & Alexandria, Louisiana, U.S. Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:29 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:22 PM	Sheboygan & Manitowoc, Wisconsin US Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:10 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:09 PM
Bowling Green & Murray, Kentucky, U.S. Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:08 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:03 PM	Brisbane, Australia Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 5:31 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 6:24 PM
Miami, Florida, US Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:47 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:38 PM	Jakarta, Indonesia Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 5:29 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 6:18 PM
New London, Connecticut USA Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:01 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 6:58 PM	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:47 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:35 PM
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:53 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:47 PM	Manila & Cebu, Philippines Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 5:26 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 6:15 PM
Olympia, Washington, U.S. Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:29 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:30 PM	Port Elizabeth, South Africa Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:09 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:05 PM
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:21 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:18 PM	Singapore, Singapore Friday Oct. 03, 2008 – Candles at 6:39 PM Saturday Oct. 04, 2008 – Havdalah 7:27 PM

For other places see: http://chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.asp

Coming Special Days:

Yom HaKippurim – Day of Atonements

Wednesday October the 8^th – Thursday October the 9^th - 2008

For further study see:

http://www.betemunah.org/kippur.html; http://www.betemunah.org/kohen.html; http://www.betemunah.org/awesome.html; & http://www.betemunah.org/atonemen.html

Roll of Honor:

This Torah commentary comes to you courtesy of:

His Honor Rosh Paqid Adon Hillel ben David and

beloved wife HH Giberet Batsehva bat Sarah,

His Honor Paqid Adon Mikha ben Hillel

His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Abraham,

Her Excellency Giberet Sarai bat Sarah and

beloved family,

His Excellency Adon Barth Lindemann and

beloved family,

His Excellency Adon John Batchelor and

beloved wife,

His Excellency Adon Ezra ben Abraham and

beloved wife HE Giberet Karmela bat Sarah,

At this time of returning/repentance, we pray that in G-d’s mercy, a remembrance come before Him, most blessed be He, and remember the regular and sacrificial giving of the above Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen, providing the best oil for the lamps, and pray that they and their loved ones may be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for G-d’s richest blessings, and for a good year full of ample blessings, good health, and copious prosperity, together with all Yisrael, amen ve amen!

Also a great thank you amd great blessings be upon all who send comments to the list about the contents and commentary of the weekly Torah Seder and allied topics.

If you want to subscribe to our list and ensure that you never lose any of our commentaries, or would like your friends also to receive this commentary, please do send me an E-Mail to benhaggai@GMail.com with your E-Mail or the E-Mail addresses of your friends. Toda Rabba!

Shabbat	Torah Reading:	Weekday Torah Reading:
בְּרֵאשִׁית
“B’Resheet”	Reader 1 – B’Resheet 1:1- 5	Reader 1 – B’resheet 2:4-6
“In the beginning”	Reader 2 – B’Resheet 1:6-8	Reader 2 – B’resheet 2:7-14
“En el principio”	Reader 3 – B’Resheet 1:9-13	Reader 3 – B’resheet 2:4-14
B’resheet (Gen.) 1:1 – 2:3	Reader 4 – B’Resheet 1:14-19
Ashlamatah: Isaiah 42:5-13, 21	Reader 5 – B’Resheet 1:20-23
Special: Hos. 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20	Reader 6 – B’Resheet 1:24-31	Reader 1 – B’resheet 2:4-6
Psalms 148-150	Reader 7 – B’Resheet 2:1-3	Reader 2 – B’resheet 2:7-14
N.C.: Mark 1:1-2 + 1:3-8	Maftir: B’Resheet 2:1-3	Reader 3 – B’resheet 2:4-14
Mishle 1:1-7	Hos. 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20

Rashi & Targum Pseudo Jonathan

for: B’Resheet (Gen.) 1:1 - 2:3

RASHI	TARGUM PSEUDO JONATHAN
1. In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.	1. At the beginning (min avella) the Lord created the heavens and the earth. [JERUSALEM TARGUM. In wisdom (Be-Hokhma) the Lord created.]
2. The earth was unformed and desolate, and darkness covered the surface of the abyss. The breath of Elohim hovered above the surface of the water.	2. And the earth was vacancy and desolation, solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and darkness was upon the face of the abyss, and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters. [JERUSALEM TARGUM. And the earth was vacancy and desolation, and solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters.]
3. Elohim said, "Let there be light." and there was light.	3. And the Lord said, Let there be light and to enlighten above; and at once there was light.
4. Elohim saw that the light was good, and Elohim divided the light from the darkness.	4. And the Lord beheld the light, that it was good; and the Lord divided between the light and the darkness.
5. Elohim called the light day, and the darkness He called night. It became evening and it became morning, one day.	5. And the Lord call the light Day; and He made it that the inhabiters of the world might labor by it: and the darkness called He night; and He made it that in it the creatures might have rest. And it was evening, and it was morning, the First Day. [JERUSALEM TARGUM. And it was evening, and it was morning, in the order of the work of the creation, (or of the beginning,) the First Day.]
6. Elohim said, "Let there be a canopy in the midst of the waters, and let it divide between waters and waters."	6. And the Lord said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate between the waters above and the waters beneath. [JERUSALEM. And let there be a separation between the waters above and the waters below.]
7. Elohim made the canopy, and divided the waters which were beneath the canopy, from the waters which were above the canopy, and it was so.	7. And the Lord made the expanse, upbearing it with three fingers, between the confines of the heavens and the waters of the ocean, and separated between the waters which were below the expanse, and the waters which were above, in the collection (or covering) of the expanse; and it was so.
8. Elohim called the canopy heaven. It became evening and it became morning the second day.	8. And the Lord called the expanse the Heavens. And it was evening, and it was morning, the Second Day.
9. Elohim said, "Let the waters beneath the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dryness be seen." It was so.	9. And the Lord said, Let the lower waters which remain under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and the earth be dried, that the land may be visible. And it was so.
10. Elohim called the dryness, "earth", and the gathering of the waters, He called "seas", and Elohim saw that it was good.	10. And the Lord called the dry (land) the Earth, and the place of the assemblage of waters called He the Seas; and the Lord saw that it was good.
11. Elohim said, "Let the earth sprout grass, seed-yielding herbs, fruit trees bearing fruit of its own kind, with its seed within it, upon the earth." And it was so.	11. And the Lord said, Let the earth increase the grassy herb whose seed seeds, and the fruit-tree making fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so.
12. The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed of its kind, and trees bearing fruit which has in it seeds of its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.	12. And the earth produced grasses (and) herbage whose seed seeds, and the tree making fruit after its kind. And the Lord saw that it was good.
13. It became evening and it became morning, the third day.	13. And it was evening, and it was morning, the Third Day.
14. Elohim said, "Let there be lights in the canopy of heaven to divide between the day and the night, and they will serve for signs for seasons, for days and for years.	14. And the Lord said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for festival times, and for the numbering by them the account of days, and for the sanctifying of the beginning of months, and the beginning of years, the passing away of months, and the passing away of years, the revolutions of the sun, the birth of the moon, and the revolvings (of seasons). [JERUSALEM. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for the sanctifying by them of the beginning of months and years.]
15. They will be for lights in the canopy of heaven to illuminate the earth." And it was so.	15. And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so.
16. Elohim made the two great lights, the large light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night, and the stars.	16. And the Lord made two great luminaries; and they were equal in glory twenty and one years, less six hundred and two and seventy parts of an hour. And afterwards the moon recited against the sun a false report; and she was diminished, and the sun was appointed to be the greater light to rule the day; and the moon to be the inferior light to rule in the night, and the stars.
17. Elohim set them in the canopy of the heaven to illuminate the earth,	17. And the Lord ordained them unto their offices, in the expanse of the heavens, to give forth light upon the earth,
18. to rule in the day and the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was good.	18. and to minister by day and by night, to distinguish between the light of the day and the darkness of the night.
19. It became evening and it became morning, the fourth day.	19. And the Lord beheld that it was good. And it was evening, and it was morning, Day the Fourth.
20. Elohim said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth, in the open canopy of the heaven."	20. And the Lord said, Let the lakes of the waters swarm forth the reptile, the living animal, and the fowl which flies, whose nest is upon the earth; and let the way of the bird be upon the air of the expanse of the heavens.
21. And thus Elohim created the great whales, and every living creature that creeps, with which the waters teem, of its kind, and every winged bird of its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.	21. And the Lord created the great tanins, the levyathan and his yoke-fellow which are prepared for the day of consolation, and every living animal which creeps, and which the clear waters had swarmed forth after their kind; the kinds which are clean, and the kinds which are not clean; and every fowl which flies with wings after their kinds, the clean and the unclean. And the Lord beheld that it was good.
22. Elohim blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."	22. And He blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the fowl multiply upon the earth.
23. It became evening and it became morning, the fifth day.	23. And it was evening, and it was morning, Day the Fifth.
24. Elohim said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures, each of its kind, animals [of pasture], creeping things, and beasts of the earth, each to its kind." And it was so.	24. And the Lord said, Let the soil of the earth bring forth the living creature according to his kind; the kind that is clean and the kind that is unclean; cattle, and creeping thing, and the creature of the earth, according to his kind. And it was so.
25. And thus Elohim made the beasts of the earth, each of its kind, the animals [of pasture] each of its kind, and everything that creeps on the ground, each of its kind, and Elohim saw that it was good.	25. And the Lord made the beast of the earth after his kind, the clean and the unclean, and cattle after their kind, and every reptile of the earth after its kind, the clean and the unclean. And the Lord saw that it was good.
26. Elohim said, "Let us make man in our image, as our likeness, and let him dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, the animals, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."	26. And the Lord said to the angels who ministered before Him, who had been created in the second day of the creation of the world, Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl which are in the atmosphere of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every reptile creeping upon the earth. And the Lord created man in His Likeness: [JERUSALEM. And the Word of the Lord created man in His likeness, in the likeness of the presence of the Lord He created him, the male and his yoke-fellow He created them.]
27. And thus Elohim created man in His form. In the form of Elohim, He created him, male and female, He created them.	27. In the image of the Lord He created him, with two hundred and forty and eight members, with three hundred and sixty and five nerves, and overlaid them with skin, and filled it with flesh and blood. Male and female in their bodies He created them.
28. Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, and every living thing that moves upon the earth."	28. And He blessed them, and the Lord said to them, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth with sons and daughters, and prevail over it, in its possessions; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every creeping animal that creeps upon the earth.
29. Elohim said, "Behold, I have given you all seed-yielding herbs that are on the surface of the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit; to you it shall be for food.	29. And the Lord said, Behold, I have given you every herb whose seed seeds upon the face of all the earth, and every unfruitful tree for the need of building and for burning; and the tree in which is fruit seeding after its kind, to you it will be for food.
30. And for every animal of the earth, for every bird of the heaven, and for everything that creeps on the ground, in which there is a living spirit, all vegetational herbs shall be [their] food." And it was so.	30. But to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every reptile upon the earth in which is the living soul, (I have given) all green herbs. And it was so.
31. Elohim saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good. It became evening and it became morning, the sixth day.	31. And the Lord beheld everything He had made, and it was very good. And it was evening, and it was morning, the Sixth Day.
1. The heavens and the earth were completed, and [so were] all their conglomerations.	1. And the creatures of the heavens and earth, and all the hosts of them, were completed.
2. Elohim completed by the seventh day His work which He had made, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.	2. And the Lord had finished by the Seventh Day the work which He had wrought, and the ten formations which He had created between the suns; and He rested the Seventh Day from all His works which He had performed.
3. Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He abstained from all His work, which Elohim had created to do.	3. And the Lord blessed the Seventh Day more than all the days of the week, and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works which the Lord had created and had willed to make.

Reading Assignment:

Torah With Targum Onkelos and Rashi’s Commentary – Vol. 1

The Book of Genesis: Hebrew/English

By: A.M. Silberman & M. Rosenbaum

Published by: BN Publishing (2007)

pp. 2-8

The Torah Anthology: Yalkut Me’Am Lo’Ez - Vol I

By: Rabbi Ya’aqob Culi

Published by: Moznaim Publishing Corp. (New York, 1988)

Vol. I, pp. 35 - 218

Welcome to the World of P’shat Exegesis

In order to understand the finished work of the P’eshat mode of interpretation of the Torah, one needs to understand that the P’shat is intended to produce a catechetical output, whereby a questions is raised and an answer given using the seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel and as well as the laws of Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew expression.

The Seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel are as follows:

Without further ado, let us immerse now immerse ourselves in this wonderful world of P’shat. In Geneis 1:1, Rashi (R. Shelomo ben Yitzchaq; Troyes, France 1040 -1105) the King of P’shat (simple/literal) exegesis of the Torah writes:

Question 1:

בְּרֵאשִׁית – “In the Beginning” - R. Yitzchaq said: The Torah should have begun with [the verse] “This month shall be [your first month]” (Ex. 12:1), it being the first precept that the Israelites were commanded (The Torah serves primarily to teach G-d's laws. Thus Rashi wonders why not begin with the first of the mitzvah/commandment). Then why does it [the Torah] begin with “In the beginning”?

Answer:

This is because [of the concept contained in the verse,] “He declared the power of His works to His people in order to give to them the inheritance of nations” (Psalm 111:6). Thus, should the nations of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you have taken by force the lands of the Seven Nations (i.e. the Land of Israel),” they [Israel] will say to them: “All the earth belongs to G-d. He created it and gave it to whomever He saw fit. It was His will to give it to them and it was His will to take it from them and give it to us.”

Question 2:

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים - In the beginning [Elohim] created. –

Answer:

This verse insists that it be expounded as was done by our Rabbis (because to interpret it simply as relating the sequence of creation is impossible as Rashi goes on to explain.) B’resheet Rabbah 1,6 states: [The world was created] for the sake of the Torah which is called “The beginning (רֵאשִׁית Resheet) of His way” (Prov. 8:22), and for the sake of Israel who are called “The beginning (רֵאשִׁית - Resheet) of His grain crop” (Jeremiah 2:3). But if you insist on the simple interpretation, interpret it thus. At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, when the world was unformed and desolate, G-d said, “Let there be light.” This verse does not intend to teach the sequence of creation -- that these were [created] first. For if that was the intention, it should have written, “At first G-d (i.e. B’Rishonah) created the heavens,” etc. For the word רֵאשִׁית - Resheet never appears in Scripture except when it is annexed to the following word. For example, “At the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of Yehoyakim's reign” (Jer. 26:1), [or] “The beginning (רֵאשִׁית - Resheet) of his reign" (Gen. 10:10), [or] “The first (רֵאשִׁית - Resheet) of your corn crop” (Deut. 18:4). Here, too, you must interpret “In the beginning Elohim created” as if [it were written] “At the beginning of the creating.” [We find] similarly, “תְּחִלַּת דִּבֶּר-י י, בְּהוֹשֵׁעַ” – “T’chilat Diber Adonai B’Hoshea” as if to say, “At the beginning of G-d's speaking to Hoshea, G-d said to Hoshea,” etc (Hos. 1:2). If you would claim that [the verse] intends to convey that these [i.e., heaven and earth] were created first, and its interpretation is that at the beginning of everything He created these; and that there are [other] such verses that are shortened omitting a word, such as, “For [it] did not shut the doors of my womb” (Job 3:1), omitting who it is that closes [the womb]; and “[It] will remove the army of Damascus” (Is. 8:4), omitting who it is that takes it away; and, “Does [it] plough with oxen?” (Amos 6:12), without explicitly stating, “Does man plough with oxen?” and, “He relates the end from the beginning” (Is. 46:10), without stating explicitly, “He relates from the beginning of something, the end of something.” If this is so, you must question yourself (i.e. if you insist on the interpretation that the verse is conveying the order of creation). Because [as it happens] water preceded [the heavens and the earth,] for it is written, “The breath of Elohim hovered above the surface of the water,” Scripture not yet having revealed when the creation of the water took place (i.e. if Scripture intended to convey the order of creation, then before mentioning the waters, it should have related that water was created), thus teaching that the waters preceded the earth. And further [proof of the above is that] since the heavens [SHAMAYIM] were created from fire [ESH] and water [MAYIM] (cf. Chagigah 12a), you are therefore forced [to admit] that Scripture did not [intend to] teach anything of the earlier or later sequence [of creation].

Question 3:

בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים - Elohim (G-d as Judge of the Universe) created. -

Answer:

It is not written “Adonai created!” [This is] because at first He intended to create it with the attribute of justice, but then saw that the world cannot exist and gave priority to the attribute of mercy and joined it with the attribute of justice. This [thought] is conveyed in the verse, “On the day when Adonai Elohim made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4).

To show us that the P’shat commentary is catechetical in nature, Rashi starts his commentary on Genesis 1:1 by providing us with the question, and then follows up with the answer. Now the reader needs to read carefully the answer in order to formulate the question/s raised and answered by Rashi in his response.

In the Rashi’s answer to question one he uses the Rule of R. Hillel to illustrate why the Torah does not start with the first commandment given to Israel (Ex. 12:1), but rather with the word “B’Resheet” – “At the beginning.”

In Rashi’s answer to question two he uses the Rule of R. Hillel to show how the word “RESHEET” is used in other places in the Tanakh. In doing this he goes on and formulates a “mini-database.” This is an allied principle of P’shat Exegesis – finding out in the Tanakh how a word is employed and thefore building a database.

In fact in “The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament” (Strong’s # 7225) we are given a list of 51 passages where the word RESHEET is used in the Tanakh.

Citation	Verse
Genesis 1:1	In the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 10:10	And the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Genesis 49:3	Reuben, you are my first-born, my might, and the first-fruits (וְרֵאשִׁית אוֹנִי) of my strength; the excellence of dignity, and the excellence of power.
Exodus 23:19	The choicest (רֵאשִׁית) first-fruits of your land you will bring into the house of the LORD your God. You will not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
Exodus 34:26	The choicest (רֵאשִׁית) first-fruits of your land you will bring unto the house of the LORD your God. You will not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.'
Leviticus 2:12	As an offering of first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית) you may bring them unto the LORD; but they will not come up for a sweet savour on the altar.
Leviticus 23:10	Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית) of your harvest unto the priest.
Numbers 15:20	Of the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your dough ye shall set apart a cake for a gift; as that which is set apart of the threshing-floor, so shall ye set it apart.
Numbers 15:21	Of the first (מֵרֵאשִׁית) of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD a portion for a gift throughout your generations.
Numbers 18:12	All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the corn, the first part (רֵאשִׁיתָם) of them which they give unto the LORD, to thee have I given them.
Numbers 24:20	And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said: Amalek was the first (רֵאשִׁית) of the nations; but his end shall come to destruction.
Deut. 11:12	A land which the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning (מֵרֵשִׁית) of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deut. 18:4	The first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית) of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil,
Deut. 18:4	and the first (וְרֵאשִׁית) of the fleece of your sheep, will you give him.
Deut. 21:17	But he will acknowledge the first-born, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית אֹנו)ֹ of his strength, the right of the first-born is his.
Deut. 26:2	that you will take of the first (מֵרֵאשִׁית) of all the fruit of the ground, which you will bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you; and you will put it in a basket and will go unto the place which the LORD your God will choose to cause His name to dwell there.
Deut. 26:10	And now, behold, I have brought the first (אֶת-רֵאשִׁית) of the fruit of the land, which You, O LORD, have given me.' And you will set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.
Deut. 33:21	And he chose a first part (רֵאשִׁית) for himself, for there a portion of a ruler was reserved; and there came the heads of the people, he executed the righteousness of the LORD, and His ordinances with Israel.
I Sam. 2:29	Wherefore do you kick at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honour your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest (מֵרֵאשִׁית) of all the offerings of Israel My people?
I Sam. 15:21	But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief (רֵאשִׁית) of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto the LORD your God in Gilgal.'
II Chr. 31:5	And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית) of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
Neh. 10:37 (38)	and that we should bring the first (רֵאשִׁית) of our dough, and our heave-offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the wine and the oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our land unto the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.
Neh. 12:44	And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first-fruits (לָרֵאשִׁית), and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that took their stations.
Job 8:7	And though your beginning (רֵאשִׁיתְךָ) was small, yet your end should greatly increase.
Job 40:19	He is the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of the ways of God; He only that made him can make His sword to approach unto him.
Job 42:12	So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning (מֵרֵאשִׁתוֹ); and he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
Psalm 78:51
Psalm 105:36
Psalm 111:10	The fear of the LORD is the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do thereafter; His praise endures forever.
Proverbs 1:7	The fear of the LORD is the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 3:9	Honour the LORD with your substance, and with the first-fruits (וּמֵרֵאשִׁית) of all your increase;
Proverbs 4:7	The beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of wisdom is: Get wisdom; yea, with all your getting get understanding.
Proverbs 8:22	The LORD made me as the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of His way, the first of His works of old.
Proverbs 17:14	The beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of strife is as when one lets out water; therefore leave off contention, before the quarrel breaks out.
Eccles. 7:8	Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof (מֵרֵאשִׁיתו)ֹ; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Isaiah 46:10	Declaring the end from the beginning (מֵרֵאשִׁית), and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying: ‘My counsel will stand, and all My pleasure will I do’;
Jeremiah 2:3	Israel is the LORD'S hallowed portion, His first-fruits (רֵאשִׁית) of the increase; all that devour him will be held guilty, evil will come upon them, says the LORD.
Jeremiah 26:1	At the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying:
Jeremiah 27:1	At the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
Jeremiah 28:1	And it came to pass the same year, at the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying:
Jeremiah 49:34	The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
Jeremiah 49:35	Thus says the LORD of hosts: behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief (רֵאשִׁית) of their might.
Ezekiel 20:40	For in My holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve Me in the land; there will I accept them, and there will I require your heave-offerings, and the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your gifts, with all your holy things.
Ezekiel 44:30	And the first (וְרֵאשִׁית) of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every heave-offering of everything, of all your offerings, will be for the priests;
Ezekiel 44:30	you will also give unto the priest the first (וְרֵאשִׁית) of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house.
Ezekiel 48:14	And they will not sell of it, nor exchange, nor alienate the first portion (רֵאשִׁית) of the land; for it is holy unto the LORD.
Daniel 11:41	He will enter also into the beauteous land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief (וְרֵאשִׁית) of the children of Ammon.
Hosea 9:10	I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first season (בְּרֵאשִׁיתָהּ); but so soon as they came to Baal-peor, they separated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became detestable like that which they loved.
Amos 6:1	Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first (רֵאשִׁית) of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
Amos 6:6	That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief (וְרֵאשִׁית) ointments; but they are not grieved for the hurt of Joseph.
Micah 1:13	Bind the chariots to the swift steeds, O inhabitant of Lachish; she was the beginning (רֵאשִׁית) of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel are found in you.

Now there are two Hebrew words translated into English as “beginning,” and Rashi also signifies that they are synonymous though different words – RESHEET and T’CHILAH (cf. Rashi’s response to question 2 quoting Hos. 1:2). RESHEET means “first” or, “at the top of the list” whilst T’CHILAH means “beginning” or, “commencement.” Young’s Concordance provides us with a list of 15 passages where the word T’CHILAH is used in the Tanakh, as follows:

Citation	Verse
Genesis 13:3	And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning (בַּתְּחִלָּה), between Beth-el and Ai;
Genesis 41:21	And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favoured as at the beginning (בַּתְּחִלָּה). So I awoke.
Ruth 1:22	So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the field of Moab--and they came to Beth-Lehem in the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of barley harvest.
II Sam. 21:9	and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the LORD, and they fell all seven together; and they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of barley harvest.
II Sam. 21:10	And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning (מִתְּחִלַּת) of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
II Kings 17:25	And so it was, at the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
Ezra 4:6	And in the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Neh. 11:17	and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief to begin (הַתְּחִלָּה) the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
Prov. 9:10	The fear of the LORD is the beginning (תְּחִלַּת) of wisdom, and the knowledge of the All-holy is understanding.
Eccl. 10:13	The beginning (תְּחִלַּת) of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is grievous madness.
Isaiah 1:26	And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning (כְּבַתְּחִלָּה); afterward you will be called the city of righteousness/ generosity, the faithful city.
Daniel 9:21	yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning (בַּתְּחִלָּה) being caused to fly swiftly, approached close to me about the time of the evening offering.
Daniel 9:23	At the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of your supplications a word went forth, and I am come to declare it; for you are greatly beloved; therefore look into the Word, and understand the vision.
Hos. 1:2	When the LORD spoke at first (תְּחִלַּת) with Hosea
Amos 7:1	Thus the Lord GOD showed me; and, behold, He formed locusts at the beginning (בִּתְחִלַּת) of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

As can be seen the P’shat uses the database principle in order to show how a particular Hebrew word is used in various settings, as well as possible translations.

Before we advance to another three key verses (vv. 3-5) and of the first chapter of B’Resheet, let us look at how other distinguished Torah Sages masters of the P’shat look at Genesis 1:1. Please bear in mind that these authors are answering questions raised and that we need to figure out what these questions are by carefully reading their responses.

The following comments are taken from:

Hachut HaMeshulah: A Threefold Cord Is Not Easily Broken – Torah Commentaries by: Rebbenu Chananel, Rash’bam (Rabbi Sh’muel ben Meir), R’dak (Rabbi David Kimchi), and S’forno (Rabbi Ovadia Seforno)

Translated and Annotated by: Eliyahu Munk

Lambda Publishers, New York, 2003

Vol. I, pp. 1-14

Rabbi Sh’muel ben Meir (Rash’bam - the grandson of Rashi 1085 – 1174)

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים - In the beginning [Elohim] created. – let the “intellectuals” realize that all the words of our sages and their interpretations are true and accurate. This is what the Talmud (Shabbat 63) had in mind when it quoted Rav Kahane saying that he had studied the Talmud until the age of 18 and had not yet appreciated that although the laws of the Torah are derived from the text, none of the interpretations are such that they can uproot the plain meaning of the text. They are based on anomalies in the text, not on the text itself wherever the law derived from the Torah appears to conflict with the plain meaning of the text. One example is Genesis 2,4 where the word (בְּהִבָּרְאָם) B’HIBAR’AM, a most unusual construction, used by the sages to declare that the world was created “for the sake of, or with the help of ABRAHAM” (B’Resheet Rabbah 12,9) seeing that the letters in that word are the same as the ones in the name ABRAHAM, [though in a different sequence. Ed.]

I will list the explanations of earlier commentators of old, in order to demonstrate why I did not follow in their footsteps.

Some scholars understand the first verse to mean that “at the beginning G-d created heaven and earth.” This is an erroneous explanation, seeing that water preceded the creation of heaven and earth as we know from verse 2 where “the spirit of G-d” is described as already “hovering over the surface of the water.” Moreover, the Torah did not write B’RISHONAH, which would have been appropriate if it had wanted to tell us that heaven and earth preceded all other phenomena in the universe. The word B’RESHEET is in a construct mode, as in Genesis 10,10 - וַתְּהִי רֵאשִׁית מַמְלַכְתּוֹ בָּבֶל “the mainstay of his kingdom was Babylon.”

A construct mode like this cannot describe the commencement of something but refers to something already in existence.

As to the scholars who understand the word as equivalent to the word T’HILAT in Hoseah 1,2 i.e. so that it would mean "at the beginning G-d created the heaven,” i.e. before He created heaven and earth there was chaos, darkness on the face of the water, etc., so that it emerges that water had been created first, this too is nonsense. How could the Torah refer to a state of the earth prior to creation of the heaven?

The plain meaning of the text is, as occurs many times, that something may be mentioned first in one instance although elsewhere this same phenomenon is mentioned as having occurred at a later stage. In Genesis 9,18 we are told about the three sons of Noach who left the ark after the deluge being Shem, Cham and Yephet, and the Torah adds that Cham was the father of Canaan. Although the information about Canaan is quite out of place at this juncture, the fact that later on the Torah tells us that Noach cursed Canaan, makes it necessary to mention him here, as otherwise we would not have known who this Canaan was whom Noachh cursed in verse 25 of the same chapter.

We have a similar situation in Genesis 35,22 where, although Reuven's conduct with Ya’aqov's concubine Bilhah is mentioned, Ya’aqov's reaction is not mentioned until shortly before his death when he explains why Reuven had not been viewed by him as suitable to occupy the position normally accorded to a firstborn (Genesis 49,3-4). In 35,22 the Torah already tells us that Ya’aqov had heard about what Reuven had done. Had the Torah not done so, the reader would have been taken aback at Ya’aqov's remonstrating with Reuven at this late stage.

There are many such examples. Our entire paragraph here was written by Moses in order for us to understand what is written in the Ten Commandments concerning the reason why the Sabbath is holy, i.e. that it is a symbol reminding us of the fact that G-d created the universe in 6 days and rested on the seventh day. (Exodus 20,10)

If anyone were to think that the universe as such had already existed then in the format that we see it now, the Torah corrects such thinking by continuing with וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה “And the earth was,” - the earth had preceded and existed in a chaotic form, as elaborated on by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4,23) “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” ... “and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without an inhabitant” (Jeremiah 9,9). This verse explains the meaning of “Tohu Vavohu” in greater detail, i.e. that there was no kind of life on earth at that stage.

וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם – “and darkness was upon the face of the deep” – this is a reference to the absence of light in the heaven.

וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם. – “and the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters” - we had to be told that G-d's wind was active at that stage, else verse 9 of this chapter in which G-d issues a directive for the waters to collect in a contiguous area would not make sense, as we could not have understood how the waters were made to assemble all in one area of the globe.

We find the role of this “RUACH” of G-d in Exodus 14,21 when it prepared the manifestation of the sea splitting to allow the Israelites to cross it safely and on dry land.

Rabbi David Kimchi (R’dak – Narbonne, 1160 – 1235)

1,1. בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ – The word B’Rresheet is not in a genitive possessive mode, i.e. “at the beginning of,” as for instance in Jeremiah 26,1 where we find “At the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah,” where it means: "at the beginning of the reign of Yehoyakim,” but is a word in its own right as in Isaiah 46,10 “Declaring the end from the beginning (מֵרֵאשִׁית),” or, as in Deuteronomy 33,21 “He chose the choicest (רֵאשִׁית) for himself.”

In other words: when G-d began to create the universe, He first created heaven and earth. The word B’RESHEET is necessary as one cannot speak of either RESHEET or ACHARIT except in terms of “time.” At that point "time" did not exist yet as it is a concept indivisibly linked to motion. Motion commenced only when the planets were placed in the sky (on the fourth day). These motions were described in terms of “days.” At the “time” described in our verse there were only “moments,” “hours,” etc., but a recurring cycle of time such as days had not yet come into existence.

“He created;” the term “BARA” is used on occasion as applying to something which is not of physical substance such as in Numbers 16,30 when Moses predicts that G-d will “create, יִבְרָא” a gaping hole in the ground wherever members of Korach's clan and supporters stood, into which they would disappear. Clearly, the earth's crust opening into a fissure is not something tangible, something of substance. The word “BARA” always means that no “matter” was involved in what G-d is described as “creating.” Job 23,13 makes such a point when referring to G-d: “whatever He desired, He did.” [He does not have to operate within given parameters]. Similarly, Isaiah 43,7 describes G-d as saying:

“Every one that is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him,” meaning that “the entire world which is called by My name in My honour, is so called in order that people will say that I have created it, I have formed it, I have completed it.” The message is that G-d created it out of “nothing,” not using existing materials. According to the great sage Maimonides, the word לִכְבוֹדִי, may mean “according to My will.” However, one can also understand the word in its literal sense, i.e. that the world and all that is in it represents G-d's glory. This would conform to Isaiah 6,3 מְלֹא כָל-הָאָרֶץ, כְּבוֹדוֹ, “the entire universe is full of His glory.” Seeing that G-d Himself is invisible, we can only recognise Him and His glory by means of His accomplishments, including His creatures.

אֱלֹהִים. A name which means: Judge, Ruler, and Leader. Seeing that it is a noun occurring in a variety of functions, it is in the plural mode. We find the term applied both to outstanding people, judges, and leaders, also as a description given to certain angels and even planets. During the entire report of G-d's creative activity it is the only term applied to describe Him, seeing that the chapter deals with His creative power and leadership. From this chapter we derive the knowledge that there are judges on earth and that the entire world was created by a single Creator.

He created it in His infinite wisdom when He was ready to create it. In the words of our sages (Beresheet Rabbah 5) anyone who denies this basic fact will find refutation of his denial in the very text of the Torah. For instance, people who argue that the plural mode ELOHIM proves that more than one force was involved in the creation of the universe, are confounded by the fact that the Torah does not continue with the plural mode “they created,” but used the singular mode BARA, “He created.”

The great scholar Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra felt that seeing that G-d employed angels, i.e. agents, in His creative activities, the word ELOHIM is in the plural mode so as to hint at this fact.

אֵת. This word refers to something that had already been created. Our sages (Beresheet Rabbah, 1,15) report that when Rabbi Yishmael asked Rabbi Akiva the meaning of this word in this context, (seeing normally it means something additional) he was told that just as Nachum ish gam zu had made a comprehensive list of every time the word AKH or RAQ appears in the Torah to demonstrate that it excludes something that we would otherwise have assumed to be included, so the word ET and GAM respectively include something that we would not otherwise have presumed to be included based on the plain text. To the people who use this principle to argue that the planets, the sun and the moon assisted G-d in His creation, based on the apparently unnecessary word ET before the word SHAMAYIM, Rabbi Akiva replied that it means that sun and moon were included in the term “heaven, sky,” whereas the words ET HA’ARETZ were meant to include the vegetation found on earth, as well as Gan Eden.

Concerning the strange sounding addition “and Gan Eden,” after vegetation, i.e. trees and flowers have already been named, we must understand this in a manner similar to Joshua 2,1 “the country and Jericho,” where Jericho had, of course, been included in the expression ET HA’ARETZ. The reason that “Gan Eden” was singled out was that there vegetation was at its most developed, most appealing, just as the city of Jericho was known as the city of palms, i.e. especially desirable.

There is also a mystical element to this expression, i.e. “Gan Eden” represents a region separate from the remainder of the earth, an area which had been created in its full splendour already on the first day of creation, just as according to that view all the eventual manifestations in heaven and earth had already been created on the first day though not yet become a functioning part of the universe.

Accordingly, different parts of the universe, became functional on the days when the Torah deals with them.

הַשָּׁמַיִם Most of our sages (Chagigah 12) understand the word as a reference to the stars and planets in the sky, and Rabbi Maimonides in his “Moreh” agrees that the nine planets including sun and moon were indeed created as part of what is described in our verse as SHAMAYIM.

According to Ibn Ezra the word SHAMAYIM refers to two locations in the sense of “twice SHAM” the word “SHAM” referring to a location (there). [Compare Ibn Ezra on this in a book called SEFER HASHAM. The author perceives the term as describing the opposite, outer boundaries of the heavens. The word is used figuratively, as if everything is between the two parts of an anvil.]

Still other scholars hold that the word HA-SHAMAYIM referred to with the letter “HAY,” suggesting that it is a known phenomenon, i.e. “the heaven,” in this verse, refers to the firmament which was actually only created on the second day, and that the word is used here only figuratively. These scholars (Rash’bam) hold that the Torah did not mention when the planets were created and not when earth (as distinct from the dry land) was created. [I will not repeat what we have already quoted in our translation of Rash'bam. Ed.] Rashi also agrees that the Torah in its report here did not report in chronological order, but that the reference to “heaven” is a reference to the major planets in the sky. As a result, we would translate: “At the beginning of creation of heaven and earth, the earth was chaotic until G-d gave the directive: ‘let there be light.’

There are still other scholars who understand the expression SHAMAYIM as referring to “fire,” i.e. the very elementary “fire” the “highest” of the 4 basic elements of which the physical universe is composed. On the other hand, the word ARETS, respectively Ha-ARETS, is then understood as the lowest of the 4 elements which form the basic raw material of the physical universe. It would have had to predate “nature,” i.e. the orbiting planets, as “orbiting” is possible only if these orbiting planets have something to rest on. According to some of our sages the fire is a result of the friction created by the motion of these planets when rubbing against their respective bases.

Alternatively, we could say that G-d created “beneath” the moon [relative to earth which is considered as subject to the direct influence of the moon, such as the tides; Ed.] a single raw material which He “clothed” in 4 different-looking phenomena, so that the basic raw material of the globe would be a single material, appearing as if cast in a mould. All the phenomena in the sky would have been created simultaneously in their natural state. The reason “light” is mentioned separately is because we would not have understood the report of what transpired on the fourth day, i.e. assigning functions to this “light.”

Ibn Ezra also writes in this vein, making the point that what Moses wrote down in the Torah related only to the part of the universe which is subject to development and therefore to disintegration.

The word word SHAMAYIM refers to the RAQIA, the sky, the firmament whose creation is reported as having occurred on the second “day.”

וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ, According to Maimonides the “earth” mentioned here is a collective term comprising the 4 basic raw materials the globe consists of in various combinations.

The word ARETZ as distinct from the word SHAMAYIM, is referred to again in verse 2 as well as in verse 10, seeing that in verse 1 no details had been given of what the word ARETZ means, i.e. that it is a phenomenon comprising several basic elements. In other words, whenever rARETZ is mentioned after the very first time, it is a reference to some or all of the basic elements it consists of.

1,2. וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם. Having first mentioned in verse 1 that G-d had created heaven and earth, and that the word ARETZ included the 4 basic elements which earth consists of, the Torah now says that the creation of the earth had originally been lumped together with the creation of the heaven, seeing both were created in their final complete state. All the 9 planets were called into existence at one and the same moment.

The author views the “9” planets, “orbiting planets” as consisting of the 7 fixed stars whose orbit was well known to astronomers in antiquity; he views as the 8th “planet” the stars in the sky known as the signs of the zodiac, the MAZZALOT, as well as other celestial phenomena. The 9th is considered by him as a kind of “super-star” which provides the impetus for the motion of all the other phenomena in the celestial regions. This super-star is presumed to orbit earth once every 24 hours.

In its original state the earth was not complete, i.e. there was chaos, seeing that the earth was completely submerged in water. Whereas heaven had been created in a perfected state, symbolising life, earth, in its original state, being chaotic, symbolised death, as pointed out by Beresheet Rabbah, 2,2 describing heaven as “life,” death being unknown in those regions, whereas “earth” is described as TOHU VABOHU, meaning that “death” is a basic phenomenon in these “lower regions.” According to our author, we learn from this Midrash that the four basic elements of which earth consists are basically “dead, inert” substances. They possess no will or intelligence of their own as distinct from the creatures in the celestial regions. They have been equipped with certain natural functions and they cannot vary them. If any one of them for some reason left its natural place in the universe it will be returned there in due course.

וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם, “darkness prevailed over the deep.” The word T’HOM, refers to a place in which there is an abundance of water extending to a great depth. The atmosphere above the waters was dark, seeing the light from the celestial sources was not able to penetrate this atmosphere and to provide light for it. This “atmosphere” had not yet been equipped with the ability to absorb and diffuse such light. In any area where there is no light there is absolute darkness. If there was darkness prevailing above the deep waters, it is clear that the deep waters were completely shrouded in darkness.

The reason that G-d did not create earth in its completed state as He had done with the heaven, is to show the intelligent people on earth that earth had not always existed but had been created by G-d. Most people are intelligent enough to believe this, i.e. that He Who had created the laws of nature also had created the universe itself. It follows that He Who created it all, also has the power to change any of it at will. The appearance of light in the celestial regions, creation of the sky itself, the dry land becoming visible, are all phenomena which were not in evidence at the beginning of the creation. The people who do not believe in the universe having been created are a small minority [in the author's time, late 12th and early 13th century. Ed.] The very appearance of the dry land on the globe is a powerful argument against their belief, something they cannot defend with sound arguments. If everything in this universe were to proceed according to “natural law,” i.e. without a Creator having set firm limits to the manner in which the oceans can flood the earth, there would hardly be a place on earth which would not be submerged in water. After all, earth has had a higher specific gravity assigned to it by the Creator than water, as a result of which it ought to sink below the water. Seeing, however that it is both cold and dry, it remains cohesive, particles sticking to one another, so that it can maintain its position without moving from its location. Job already refers to this phenomenon in Job 38,38 “whereupon the earth melts into a mass, and its clods stick together.”

At this point the author comments on statements in the second chapter of the SEFER Y’TSIRAH the most ancient kabbalistic text, in which three basic phenomena of our earth, i.e. SHELOSH IMOT, “three mothers,” are described, the word being an acronym of the words ESH, MAYIM, SHALOM, fire, water, peace. Fire and water are considered as irreconcilable opposites, so that they can coexist only through the good offices of SHALOM, a peacemaker, the latter being “air.” It is considered as such as it shares some attribute with water and another with fire. The author's basic point is that without some Divine intervention fire and water could not coexist in the physical universe. G-d had to intervene in a similar manner to ensure that the waters would not flood the earth completely. This is meant by the author of the SEFER YETSIRAH describing air, RUACH, as a sort of “wall” restraining the natural impulse of water to flood the earth. [I have paraphrased the author's words in this paragraph. Ed.]

וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, the word RUACH here is in the construct mode, to indicate that it functioned as an agent of its Creator, of G-d. Its assignment had been to provide the necessary motion over the waters and to help dry them out in a manner of speaking, as explained by Ibn Ezra.

It is also possible that the reason it appears in this mode is because it is such a powerful agent of G-d that it sometimes appears to have Divine force. It is quite common in our use of language that when we want to stress the power of someone or something, we somehow associate it with the name of G-d. In the Book of Jonah the city of Nineveh is thus described as עִיר-גְּדוֹלָה לֵאלֹהִים – “IR GADOL ELOHIM” (Jonah 3,3) and Psalms 36,7 uses the expression כְּהַרְרֵי-אֵל – “K’HAREI EL”, in order to describe towering mountains. [The author quotes more such examples.

מְרַחֶפֶת, we have a parallel to this in Deut. 32,11, עַל-גּוֹזָלָיו יְרַחֵף, “carrying him (Israel) along on His pinions.”

עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם, seeing that we have “upper water” and “lower water” as will be spelled out in the report of the creative activities of the second day, the word always appears in the plural. It is to keep us aware of the fact that the upper waters contain elements of the lower waters and vice versa. They have not been completely separated.

The scholar known as Rabbi Yitzchaq ben Shlomoh, popularly known as Yisraeli, explained that the meaning of the words‚ TOHU VABOHU implies the air in a state of repose prior to it becoming imbued with movement at the behest of the Creator. As a result of the air being stationary, its moisture content distilled into water, which due to its higher specific weight sank to the bottom.

The author of the Kuzari, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, explained the meaning of the words TOHU VABOHU as the primordial matter, prior to its coalescing into something of definable substance. As long as such primordial matter possesses no quality it is described as “TOHU VABOHU.” This “TOHU VABOHU” is alternately referred to by the Torah as “water,” hence in this verse the RUACH ELOHIM is described as “hovering” over the “waters” instead of as “hovering over the TOHU VABOHU.” The verse would be describing that at this point G-d wanted to imbue this TOHU VABOHU with some quality, useful meaning, hence G-d's spirit moved above it in order to inspire such a change. When something assumes definitive, solid dimensions, it has become qualitatively superior to water which slips through one's fingers, cannot be held in one's hand. This mass which has thickened out of a primordial murky liquid something is the earth.

Basically, the difference between earth and water lies also in its malleability when one tries to work it. Whereas nature comprises all manner of substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, earth comprises only solids, and when worked only a small segment of the forces of nature are involved.

In the SEFER YETSIRAH, as well as in the Talmud Chagigah 12 “TOHU” is described as a green line surrounding the universe, whereas “VOHU” is described as a number of water-soaked stones which give off their water (based on Isaiah 34,11).

Ray Saadyah Gaon explains that what is described as a “green line” in the Talmud is nothing other than the darkness, i.e. the phenomenon from which darkness emanated. It is the intense darkness experienced immediately before the beginning of dawn.

Maimonides in the second section of his Moreh, views the word V’HA-ARETZ at the beginning of our verse as meaning the same as the word HA-ARETZ at the end of the preceding verse. He says further that in verse two the foundations of the earth are listed in the order of their natural appearance, i.e. earth below the water. Once the Torah mentioned the waters it is clear that earth is below, supporting the waters. The air cleaves to the waters beneath, else what is holding up the waters? Fire, (its habitat) is above the air. When fire combines with air the result is the darkness described as covering the waters.

The darkness mentioned in this verse is none other than the fire; the reason fire is described here as darkness is that it did not give off any light, but was transparent. (Moreh 2,30) If this primordial fire would give off light we would be able to see at night-time. The night would appear to us as if it were aflame.

Maimonides therefore did not interpret the words TOHU VABOHU as something visible to our eyes. Perhaps his opinion in this matter coincides with that of other commentators inasmuch as he and they agree that none of the four elements comprising the physical universe is visible in its pure form, not amalgamated with any of the other elements. He writes further that that the words AL P’NE HAMAYIM refer only to waters other than the oceans. Only one of the four basic elements appears in three guises in close conjunction with the other elements, i.e. the “upper waters,” the “lower waters,” i.e. the ones above the sky, below the sky, and the oceans.

Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (Italy; 1470 – 1550)

1,1. בְּרֵאשִׁית, at the beginning of time; this is the first moment which is indivisible into shorter periods. There had not been a concept of “time” previous to this, i.e. there had only been unbroken continuity. (The author perceives “time” as one of the creations. Ed.)

בָּרָא, He had converted “nothing” into “something.” There had been no need to invoke “time” in order to accomplish this.

אֱלֹהִים, The expression “ELOHA” refers to something enduring, eternal. This is why Moses (Deut. 32,17) refers to demons, SHADIM, as LO ELOAH , seeing that they are not eternal, are subject to death as our Sages taught (Chagigah 16).

The reason that the term “ELOHA” here appears in the plural mode, i.e. “ELOHIM,” is to teach us that G-d is the origin of all the various visible and invisible manifestations in the universe. This is what the prophet (Isaiah 6,3) has in mind when he described G-d as מְלֹא כָל-הָאָרֶץ, כְּבוֹדוֹ, “the entire globe is a manifestation of His glory.” There is no other existence unless it has emanated from His existence. This is what Nechemyah 9,6 had in mind when he said וְאַתָּה מְחַיֶּה אֶת-כֻּלָּם, “You provide life for all of them.”

When speaking of “appearances,” every phenomenon which is abstract as distinct from being tangible, is described by the generic term ELOHIM. Professional, i.e. expert judges are called ELOHIM, as they are able to pronounce judgment BETSELEM ELOHIM, reflecting Divine wisdom. Their very profession is testimony to something enduring, divine in nature.

אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, the word SHAM refers to a place which is distant, as opposed to the word POH, which means “here.” Every plural mode when accompanied by an accented penultimate syllable vocalised with a patach signals two of something which are equidistant from all sides. This is something possible only in connection with an orbiting planet. This is something which is not possible, i.e. that two points are equidistant from the centre unless they are part of an orbiting spherical planet. The Torah therefore says that G-d created the phenomenon which at this time is far distant from us in such a way that all its sides are equidistant from us, in other words the phenomenon is a planet, something spherical.

וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ, and the centre which is orbited by the planet.

וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, “this very centre which was created at that time was composed of a mixture of raw materials, known as TOHU, and its original external appearance is what is described as BOHU. The reason is that the whole expanse of TOHU was comprised of a uniform appearance.

This explained that the first raw material was something entirely new. It is described as TOHU to indicate that at that point it was merely something which had potential, the potential not yet having materialised, been converted to something actual. When we read in I Samuel 12,21 כִּי-תֹהוּ הֵמָּה, “for they are vain” the meaning is that these phenomena did not exist in reality, they existed only in someone's imagination. [a reference to pagan deities. Ed.] The appearance of this primordial raw material is described as BOHU, meaning that as such it came to exist in actual fact, in real terms. Isaiah 34,11 “weights of emptiness.” This describes any phenomenon that does not retain its appearance for any length of time. It constantly changes like a chameleon.

וְחֹשֶׁךְ, a reference to the air (atmosphere, totally dark which emanated at that time from the original raw material.

עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם, over the expanse of the two basic foundations which also emanated from the same origin and surrounded one another.

וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, the energy propelling the planet is called “RUACH,” as we know from Psalms 104,4 עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחוֹת, “He energises His messengers.”

Now we come to the intriguing verses 3-5 of Genesis chapter One. Rashi here comments:

Question 4:

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, כִּי-טוֹב; וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים “Elohim saw that the light was good and divided.”

Here, too, the Aggadaic explanation (Chagigah 12a) is necessary [Since darkness is merely the absence of light, what, then, is the concept of separation of light from darkness?]. He saw that it was not fitting that the wicked/lawless should have the use of it [light], He, [therefore,] set it apart for the righteous/generous in the World-to-Come. According to its simple meaning, explain it as follows. He saw that it was good and it is therefore improper that it [the light] and darkness should function together in confusion. So He established that one be bounded by the day and the other be bounded by the night.

Question 5:

יוֹם אֶחָד “One day.”

For the language of this Torah Seder to be consistent it should have said “the first day” [Rather than “one day”] as is written concerning the other days, "second, third, fourth." Why, then, is it written [here] “one”? This is because [on this day] G-d was alone in His world for the angels were not created until the second day [Thus “YOM ECHAD” is rendered as “the day of the One.”]. This is the explanation in Beresheet Rabbah.

Note that two questions were asked, and two responses are provided which in reality do not answer fully the questions, for those with an inquisitive mind. Here we are shone the limitations of the P’Shat as this level of Exegesis is not intended to cope with the allegorical, metaphorical or symbolic worlds. We will see this problem also with the following P’shat Torah Scholars as they grapple to obtain as much as possible from the text. In my opinion, perhaps the best P’shat comment on this Torah Seder and in particular vv. 3-5 is Marqos (Mordechai) in the first two verses of his so called “Gospel.” But that, we will save for latter. Here follows comments on Genesis 1:3-5 by P’shat specialists.

The following comments are taken from:

Hachut HaMeshulah: A Threefold Cord Is Not Easily Broken – Torah Commentaries by: Rebbenu Chananel, Rash’bam (Rabbi Sh’muel ben Meir), R’dak (Rabbi David Kimchi), and S’forno (Rabbi Ovadia Seforno)

Translated and Annotated by: Eliyahu Munk

Lambda Publishers, New York, 2003

Vol. I, pp. 14-

Rabbi Sh’muel ben Meir (Rash’bam - the grandson of Rashi 1085 – 1174)

1,3. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר by means of this directive G-d meant to correct the fact that up until then everything was in complete darkness,

1,4. וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, He looked at its appearance and it was good. The statement is similar to Yocheved saying וַתֵּרֶא אֹתוֹ כִּי-טוֹב, “and when she saw him that he was a goodly child” (Exodus 2,2) although he had been born three months prematurely, just as had Samuel. In practice, the fact that all his vital features including the nails of his toes and fingers and the hairs on his head had grown, gave her the feeling that he was “good,” i.e. a viable human being, so that she proceeded to hide him for three months because she knew that he was not premature in the sense of not being viable.

וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ, He arranged for the day to be divided into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. The day commences with a period of light and concludes with a period of darkness. The reason is that the beginning of directives issued during the creative process commenced with the command: “let there be light.”

Rabbi David Kimchi (R’dak – Narbonne, 1160 – 1235)

1,3. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר. The light was already in the heaven, seeing that the luminaries were created together with the planets. Daniel 12,3 refers to this when he compares the radiance of the knowledgeable people in the future to the radiance of the expanse of the sky, describing the latter as

כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ – “And those teaching do shine as the brightness of the expanse.” In Exodus 24,10 the visions experienced by the elite of the Israelites is compared to וּכְעֶצֶם הַשָּׁמַיִם, לָטֹהַר, “as pure as the radiant light of the heavens.”

What had been lacking was only that this light had not illuminated the face of the deep as this had not been equipped to reflect such light as yet.

Seeing that the directive concerned only the creatures in the “lower universe,” G-d did not introduce His creative activities with the words: Y’HI SHAMAYIM, “let there be a heaven,” but the Torah wrote simply: “He created heaven, etc., BARA.”

Once the various planets were placed in orbit to perform their orbits [I suppose that the sun only is meant, Ed.] every 12 hours the “lower” part of the universe would be in darkness. At the end of the first period of 12 hours, G-d issued the directive: “let there be light”, i.e. that light should replace the darkness in that location. When the wind blows over the water it dries some of the surface of the waters enabling the waters to be illuminated faintly by the daylight above. The primordial light had not become distinct, strong, until the fourth day.

Possibly, the words כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ – “do shine as the brightness of the expanse” describe the light by means of which the heaven itself shines, radiates light, as we have written.

In that event, the light described here refers to a different period of 12 hours, a whole day comprising 24 hours. This light would have become missing on the first day from the “lower regions” of the universe. With the absence of this light darkness would have ensued in that region. During the first three days of the creative period, the only reason for such absence of light from part of the universe would be the fact that it was the will of the Creator that it be so. This can be so only if we adopt the view that the light prevailing during the first three days of that period was none other than the “natural” light radiated by the RAQIA, the firmament.

If, on the other hand, we assume that the light under discussion is the light of the sun, which up until then had shone weakly, seeing that the atmosphere had not been conditioned to let its rays traverse it without hindrance, and that as a result of this during these three “days” total darkness pervaded the universe, there can be no question that these regions had not been conditioned to receive the light from heaven at all, not even a weak diffused kind of light. Total darkness would have prevailed during these “days.”

It follows that the reason for this total darkness during these three “days” must have been none other than G-d's will, His pleasure that it be so.

Clearly, although G-d saw that the light “was good,” He decreed in His wisdom that light not be present at all times in all locations. The reason is that the universe needs darkness also, why else would G-d have created it as we know from Psalms 104,20 תָּשֶׁת-חֹשֶׁךְ, וִיהִי לָיְלָה, “You bring on darkness and it is night.”

Maimonides writes (chapter 30, second part of Moreh) that the principal cause of the coming into existence and the destruction of celestial forces such as the planets is light and darkness respectively, both of which are forces to which these phenomena are drawn. The constant change from extremes of heat and cold subject these celestial bodies to wear and tear. Climates are affected through the change from light to darkness, as well as the properties of the planets themselves. These changes reflect the will of higher forces, i.e. G-d, Who wishes rain, change of climate to occur on earth at certain times. Darkness is the natural state of the “lower regions” of the universe, light acting as something reviving these regions.

The scholar lbn Ezra writes that the light of which our verse speaks originated in the regions above the RUACH, the wind (spirit) operating within the atmosphere. When the Torah wrote VAYOMER, commonly translated as “He said,” this is merely a figure of speech, just as when David wrote in Psalms 33,6 בִּדְבַר יְהוָה, שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ, “that the heavens were created by the word of G-d.” These formulations are used by the Torah to describe expressions of G'd's will.

1,4. וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, He “saw” in His knowledge and wisdom, that the light would be good for the creatures which inhabit the “lower” universe. Even though darkness is also good for them, i.e. useful for them, as we already explained, darkness is not something to which the adjective, attribute TOB, “good,” can be applied. The reason is that darkness entails the removal of light. How can this be described as “good?” Darkness had existed already, was not a new phenomenon, it was therefore appropriate to state that the new phenomenon light was good (in the sense that it added a positive element to the universe which it had lacked).

Moreover "light" is something evident, as opposed to darkness. That which emanates from darkness is generally evil. Kohelet 11,7 already speaks of “how sweet is the light, what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun!” Whenever he mentions darkness he does so in the context of something evil, whereas he relates to light as something good, if only because it is something in the open, something that is not “ashamed” to be seen. The evil of darkness is “visible,” as opposed to its positive aspects, which are concealed.

Similarly, every time the Torah uses the phrase KI TOB in the report of creation it means that the phenomenon which has been so described is good for the creatures in the lower regions, seeing that all the acts of the creative process were good, did not contain a negative element.

The reason for the word VAYABDEL, “He separated,” after the word VAYAR, “He saw,” is that once G-d had “seen” that the light was good, He did not want it to be called by the same name as darkness, although both periods are part of the same “day.” This is why the Torah writes afterwards (verse 5) VAYIQ’RA, “He called, He named,” to tell us that the separation between light and darkness was confined to their being called by different names.

It is impossible to interpret the word VAYABDEL as referring to anything else but the change of the name each part of the day is known by. Normally, the expression HABDAL is applied to different substances, whereas light and darkness are neither of them a substance, so that the whole expression appears extraordinary at this point. If darkness is nothing more than the absence of light, how could the term “separated, distinguished,” be properly applied to the absence of something? This is why the Torah wrote וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר instead of writing VAYABDEL HA-OR, or VAYABDEL without adding a subjective or objective which would have meant that the light itself formed the division, the separation, as the Torah had done when describing the separation of the RAQIA n and the MAYIM in verse 7. G-d effected the separation between darkness and light by calling them by different names.

As to the expression וּלְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ, “and to separate between the light and between the darkness,” (verse 18) this refers to the same day, i.e. a separation between parts of the same entity, the daylight hours enjoying the light of the sun, whereas the night receives only the relatively insignificant light of the moon. Relative to the brilliant light of the day such light is minor, whereas relative to the absolute darkness prevailing during the plague of darkness in Egypt it is quite significant.

Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (Italy; 1470 – 1550)

1,4. וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר, כִּי-טוֹב, This describes the reason why G-d created the light, not that He “save” something new which He had not been aware of previously. It was because it was “good,” that G-d had created the light.

וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ, the days (prior to the fourth day when the sun was placed in orbit) during which use was made of the “original light,” periods of light and darkness alternated due to causes other than the revolving of the planet around its own axis, i.e. due to the direct expression of G-d's desire. He ensured that periods of light alternated with periods of darkness.

Rabbi Sh’muel ben Meir (Rash’bam - the grandson of Rashi 1085 – 1174)

1,5. וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, you may ask yourself what possible need there was for G-d to call this light “day” already at the time He created it; however this is the way Moses worded it when he wrote down the Torah.

Whenever, in Scriptures, G-d is recorded as mentioning “day” and “night,” as for instance in Genesis 8,22, where He made the promise that “henceforth the alternating manifestations of day and night will not cease to occur regularly,” וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה--לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ, this is a reference to the original light created on the first day. G-d always called this “light” “night and day.”

Similarly, every time in this chapter when we encounter the expression וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים, “and G-d called” as well as when we read in Numbers 13,15 וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן-נוּן, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, “And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua” whereas the same man as representative of the tribe of Ephrayim had been referred to as הוֹשֵׁע (HOSHEA) only 7 verses earlier as הוֹשֵׁע (HOSHEA). This was the same man, who, previously, when he appeared in his position of Moses’ personal valet was already known as יהוֹשֻׁעַ – “YEHOSHUA” (Exodus 24,13).

It is customary among kings that when they appoint a person to a position of eminence to signal this by changing the name of such a person. One well known example of this is Pharaoh calling Joseph צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ “Zaphenath-paneah” upon appointing him as viceroy of Egypt (Genesis 41,45) Other such examples are found in Daniel 1,7, etc.

וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה, whereas He had already named the darkness “night.” Seeing that mention of light always precedes mention of darkness, the Torah first told us of the name G-d gave to “light.”

וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר. It is noteworthy that the Torah here did not write VAY’HI LAILAH, VAY’HI YOM, but it wrote EREB. This is the period when G-d made the light of the first day fade. The subsequent expression VAY’HI BOQER refers to the morning after the night when dawn rose. At this point the first of the six “days” of G-d's creative activity of which He spoke in the Ten Commandments had come to an end.

After that the second “day” began and is introduced with the words וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם “And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.”The purpose of our verse here was not to tell us that that evening and morning were part of the same day. The verse was needed only to tell us how the six “days” are accounted for, i.e. that the morning completed the night, which was the end of that day and the beginning of the second day.

Rabbi David Kimchi (R’dak – Narbonne, 1160 – 1235)

1,5. וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, the period during which there was no light was called “night.” Such a name can be applied to night even though night is something abstract, as is death. We have numerous nouns which are applied to things which are abstract, such as “blindness,” “nudity,” etc. “Foolishness,” “a breach,” and similar nouns all describe matters which are not tangible.

וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם אֶחָד. The word EREB describes the beginning of the night, whereas the word BOQER describes the beginning of the day. During the period called EREB, things which could be seen clearly previously begin to become indistinct, appear confused. The reason is that the sense of sight reposing in the eye cannot be effective without light from the outside. The whole night is sometimes referred to as EREB, i.e. as a continuation of the period when things began to appear blurred. This is similar to all the 30 days comprising a month being called CHODESH on account of the first day of the month which the Bible calls CHODESH (Samuel 1 20,18). This first day of the month is called thus as on that day the moon renews itself, having faded from view previously. Job 7,4 refers to the entire night as EREB, and so does Psalms 59,7 יָשׁוּבוּ לָעֶרֶב, יֶהֱמוּ כַכָּלֶב, “they return at night growling like dogs.” It is a fact that dogs do not bark during the early part of the night. The messengers of Shaul kept watch outside David's house all night long in order to kill him in the morning (Samuel 1 19,11) The word L’SHAMRO in that verse means “to guard him so that he could not escape during the night.”

An entire day is never called BOQER. This term is applied only to the parts of the day before noon. As soon as noon has passed we enter a period described as EREB seeing that the sun has embarked on a westerly course. Its light becomes progressively weaker. The period assigned for slaughtering the Passover (Exodus 12,6) is known as BEIN HA’ARBAYIM, commencing one half hour after noon. In Judges 19,9 we read that this period when the “day” becomes weaker is known as LA’AROB, “towards evening.”

The night is different from the day in that the entire night is described as LAILAH, not only the period preceding midnight. The reason is that the stars which help illuminate the night remain visible until dawn.

The verse means that combining the periods described as EREB and BOQER constitute a day. This is so in spite of the fact that not the entire “day,” i.e. the period when the sun is visible on the horizon is called YOM. The word BOQER must be viewed as the opposite of the word EREB. It is a period when the intensity and quantity of light visible is far greater than the light available during the night. YOM and LAILAH are also opposites The reason why the Torah did not write VAY’HI LAILAH, VAY’HI YOM, YOM ECHAD which would have been so much clearer, is that the word YOM is a word which is applicable both to a single day and to a whole sequence of days such as YOM SHELOSHIM, and we could have become confused, not knowing whether the Torah referred to the word YOM as merely a “single day,” or as a period of days. Furthermore, the fact that day is the major phenomenon, and the essence of what is good of everything that exists in our “lower” regions of the universe, whereas night is a minor phenomenon, makes it imperative that the combined period be called YOM, and be described as a unified period.

יוֹם אֶחָד. There is no need to ask why the Torah speaks about a YOM ECHAD “one day,” as opposed to YOM RISHON, “a first day.” The question would be justified if the Torah had written YOM RISHON and the word RISHON were meant to be an adjective describing the concept of numbers as it is when the Torah writes in Exodus 29,39 אֶת-הַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד, תַּעֲשֶׂה בַבֹּקֶר, “you are to prepare the first sheep in the morning.” In that instance the word ECHAD is indeed an adjective portraying the concept “first.”

The scholar Moses Ibn Ezra wrote that the reason why the Torah wrote the word ECHAD, is that the implication of the word ECHAD is “the first,” in the sense that no one had ever preceded this.

Our sages (Beresheet Rabbah 3,8) explain the word as an allusion to the fact that the angels were not created until the second day, in order that people should not claim that the archangel Michael supported G-d on His right stretching out the firmament to the south, whereas the archangel Gabriel supported Him by stretching out the firmament on His left to the north. The word ECHAD confirms that G-d the Creator was alone in His world when He created the heavens (skies). This is also why the prophet Isaiah 44,24 wrote of G-d that נֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם לְבַדִּי, רֹקַע הָאָרֶץ מי אתי “(ít is I, the Lord,) Who alone stretched out the heaven, and unaided spread out the earth; Who was with Me?”

The Jerusalem Targum translated the verse in a similar manner, i.e. “it was evening, it was morning when He arranged for the first day (to come into being).”

Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra writes (on verse 8) that G-d Himself named 5 phenomena seeing that there was as yet no human being to name them. They are: light, darkness, heaven, earth, and the oceans and man. The reason Ibn Ezra did not refer to "day YOM and night, LAILAH, as having been named by G-d maybe that when G-d reports the creation of the luminaries in verse 14, a time when there had also not been a human being as yet, G-d refrained from naming these luminaries. It appears that the terms “heaven and earth” were actually names given to these phenomena by Moses who wrote the report of creation in the Torah. Similarly, the terms EREB and BOQER are in fact terms coined by Moses when he wrote this report. He spoke of darkness and light, even though the Torah specifically credits G-d with naming them. [Actually, there are more, but they do not appear in the report of the creation. Ed.] If we accept this we are left with 5 phenomena named by G-d in the report of creation. Or, one would have to say that what we are in the habit of calling SHAMAYIM V’ARETZ as well as what are termed there EREB and BOQER. Also, there is no specific mention of G-d “naming” man as ADAM in the story of creation.

Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (Italy; 1470 – 1550)

1,5. וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹ Even though at that stage of creation “time” was not yet an operative term as we know it nowadays, i.e. the terms “day” and “night” were not yet used by anyone, G-d named these phenomena as such already at that time.

וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, although G-d had made a separation between the light and the darkness, assigning to each different time frames in which to be active, independent of the planet earth revolving on its axis, He arranged for a transition from one phenomenon to the other to take place gradually, step by step. This occurred by means of inserting a period known as evening preceding total night, and a period of dawn preceding bright sunlight, daylight.

Those of us who have read the various Midrashim and the Holy Zohar know the abundant riches of these verses, but of course, these are treatises corresponding to the Drash and So’od levels of Rabbinic Hermeneutics. The concluding observation I would like for us to take, is that the P’shat is for people in a hurry, they need to know what one must do there and then, and more elaborate levels of interpretation are a waste of time. But, at the same time with briefness comes severe limitations imposed on the Torah text, and one can see how these Peshat specialists labour to extract as much as possible in the P’shat but can never reach the heights of the metaphorical or symbolic methods of interpretation.

Ketubim: Targum Tehillim (Psalms) 148 - 150

JPS TRANSLATION	TARGUM
1. Hallelujah. Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights.	1. Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, holy creatures in heaven; praise Him, all hosts of angels on high.
2. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts.	2. Praise Him, all angels that minister in His presence; praise Him, all his hosts.
3. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light.	3. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light.
4. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters that are above the heavens.	4. Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and the waters that are suspended by His Word above the heavens.
5. Let them praise the name of the LORD; for He commanded, and they were created.	5. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created.
6. He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not be transgressed.	6. And He established them for ages upon ages; He gave a decree and none will violate it.
7. Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea-monsters, and all deeps;	7. Praise the LORD in the earth, sea serpents and all abysses.
8. Fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind, fulfilling His Word;	8. Fire and hail, snow and vapour, storm wind fulfilling His command;
9. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars;	9. Mountains and all hills, [every] tree that produces fruit, and all cedars;
10. Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged fowl;	10. Animals and every beast, creeping things and the winged bird that flies;
11. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth;	11. Kings of the earth and all peoples; rulers and all judges of the earth.
12. Both young men and maidens, old men and children;	12. Lads and even girls, old men and youths;
13. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.	13. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name is mighty, He alone; His praise is over earth and heaven.
14. And He has lifted up a horn for His people, a praise for all His saints, even for the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Hallelujah.	14. And He has lifted up glory for His people, praise for all His pious ones, for the children of Israel, the people who are close to Him: Praise the LORD!
1. Hallelujah. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints.	1. Sing in the presence of the LORD a new psalm; His praise is in the assembly of the pious.
2. Let Israel rejoice in his Maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.	2. They of the house of Israel will rejoice in their Maker; the children of Zion will exult in their kings.
3. Let them praise His name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp.	3. They will praise His name with dances, with drums and harps they will make music to Him.
4. For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation.	4. For the pleasure of the Lord is in His people; He will glorify the humble with redemption.
5. Let the saints exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their beds.	5. The pious will revel in glory; they will meditate upon their beds.
6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;	6. The psalms of God are in their throats, and in their hands like a two-edged sword.
7. To execute vengeance upon the gentiles, and chastisements upon the peoples;	7. To wreak vengeance on the Gentiles, rebuke among the nations.
8. To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;	8. To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron.
9. To execute upon them the judgment written; He is the glory of all His saints. Hallelujah.	9. To execute on them the judgment written in the Torah; this is glory for all His pious ones. Hallelujah!
1. Hallelujah. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power.	1. Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in the firmament of His strength.
2. Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His abundant greatness.	2. Praise Him for His mighty deeds, praise Him according to His abundant greatness.
3. Praise Him with the blast of the horn; praise Him with the psaltery and harp.	3. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with harps and lyres.
4. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe.	4. Praise Him with drums and with dances, praise Him with flutes and pipes.
5. Praise Him with the loud-sounding cymbals; praise Him with the clanging cymbals.	5. Praise Him with cymbals that sound alone; praise Him with cymbals that sound with shouting.
6. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Hallelujah.	6. Every breath will sing praise to God. Hallelujah!

RASHI’S COMMENTARY ON PSALMS

Psalm One Hundred and Forty-eight

1. HALLELUJAH.

3. BRIGHT STARS [i.e.], STARS of night.

6b HE GAVE A BOUNDARY between them [BAHEM] [so that] one of them should function during the day and the other one should function during the night.

6c SO THAT IT WOULD NOT TRANSGRESS the aforementioned BOUNDARY.

7. TANINIM ‘SEA MONSTERS’ [designates] gigantic fish.

8a FIRE AND HAIL; glace in Old French. AND SMOKE, a dark cloud, which is called in Old French brüine ‘fog.’

8b STORM WIND THAT EXECUTES HIS COMMAND, i.e., His commission. Our rabbis said that these things [the divine agents enumerated in vv. 7-8] were originally hidden away in Heaven, but David came along and brought them down to earth because they were various kinds of punishments, and it was not seemly that they should be found in the dwelling place of the Holy One Blessed be He.

Psalm One Hundred and Forty-nine

1. HALLELUJAH. SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG.

6a WITH PAEANS TO GOD IN THEIR THROATS, and these same are like TWO-EDGED SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS.

8. WITH SHACKLES [ZIQIM] [i.e.], chains.

9. THE JUDGMENT, WHICH IS WRITTEN [i.e.], “I will wreak My vengeance on Edom ...” (Ezek. 25:14). Now should you say, “Ezekiel was not yet born when David composed this [psalm],” [I would respond], “David [here in Ps. 149:9] prophesied concerning the eschatological redemption. Therefore, when the eschaton will have arrived, this JUDGEMENT will already have been WRITTEN a long time."

Psalm One Hundred And Fifty

1. HALLELUJAH. PRAISE GOD IN HIS SANCTUARY.

4. WITH “MINNIM” AND “UGAB” These are [the names of] musical instruments.

5a TSILTSELE SHAMA [í.e.], cymbals that make a loud noise. [The word] SHAMA is a substantive; it is the same word, which appears elsewhere with the vocalization SHEMA, but because of the caesura it is vocalized with qamets gadόl [i.e., (a rather than e in the first syllable], and therefore its accent is penultimate [i.e.], under the shin [rather than the `ayin.]

PSALMS IS COMPLETED. PRAISE TO THE SUPREME GOD.

Ashlamatah: Isaiah 42:5-13, 21

5. Thus says God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth, He that spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it, He that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

6. I the LORD have called you in righteousness/generosity, and have taken hold of your hand, and kept you, and set you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the gentiles;

7. To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.

8. I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.

9. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.

10. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth; you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

11. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar does inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela exult, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare His praise in the islands.

13. The LORD will go forth as a mighty man, He will stir up jealousy like a man of war; He will cry, yes, He will shout aloud, He will prove Himself mighty against His enemies.

14. I have long time held My peace, I have been still, and refrained Myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman, gasping and panting at once.

15. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

16. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, in paths that they knew not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and rugged places plain. These things will I do, and I will not leave them undone.

17. They will be turned back, greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images: ‘You are our gods.’

18. Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.

19. Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I send? Who is blind as he that is wholehearted, and blind as the LORD'S servant?

20. Seeing many things, you observe not; opening the ears, he hears not.

21. The LORD was pleased, for His righteousness'/generosity’s sake, to magnify the Torah and make it honourable.

Special Ashlamatah: Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20

[To be read by the highest Torah Scholar available to the congregation]

2. Return, O Israel, unto the LORD your God; for you have stumbled in your iniquity/lawlessness.

3. Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: ‘Forgive all iniquity/lawlessness, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.

4. Asshur will not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we call any more the work of our hands our gods; for in You the fatherless finds mercy.’

5. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him.

6. I will be as the dew unto Israel; he will blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

7. His branches will spread, and his beauty will be as the olive-tree, and his fragrance as Lebanon.

8. They that dwell under his shadow will again make corn to grow, and will blossom as the vine; the scent thereof will be as the wine of Lebanon.

9. Ephraim will say: ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’ As for Me, I respond and look on him; I am like a leafy cypress-tree; from Me is your fruit found.

10. Whoso is wise, let him understand these things, whoso is prudent, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the just do walk in them; but transgressors do stumble therein.

18. Who is a God like unto You, that pardons the iniquity/lawlessness, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.

19. He will again have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities/lawlessness; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20. You will show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as You have sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Mark (Mordechai) 1:1-2 + 1:3-8

For the reading on B’Resheet 1:1 – 2:3

1. ¶ The beginning {The choicest or chief part} of the Masorah (Tradition/Oral Law) is Yeshuah the Messiah, the Son of God (i.e. Ben Elohim = the Judge);

2. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, which will prepare your way (Hebrew: Derekh/Halakha) before you (Exodus 23:30;& Ma;achi 3:1).

For the reading of the Prophets for Shabbat Shuba

3. ¶ The voice of one that cries, Prepare in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).

4. Yochanan came, who immersed in the wilderness and proclaimed the immersion of repentance unto remission of sins [during the Yamim Noraim].

5. And there went out unto him all the country of Judaea, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were immersed of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins [and doing Teshuba].

6. And John was clothed with [a Tallit made of] camel’s hair, and had a leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey.

7. And he proclaimed, saying, “There comes after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

8. I immersed you with water [as a symbol of Returning/Repentance]; but he will immerse you with the Ruach HaQodesh (cf. Gen. 1:2).

Note: For further information on these two passages see: http://www.betemunah.org/mishna1.html

MISHLE (Proverbs) 1:1-7

א  מִשְׁלֵי, שְׁלֹמֹה בֶן-דָּוִד--    מֶלֶךְ, יִשְׂרָאֵל.	1 The parables of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
ב  לָדַעַת חָכְמָה וּמוּסָר;    לְהָבִין, אִמְרֵי בִינָה.	2 To know wisdom and discipline; to understand the words of understanding;
ג  לָקַחַת, מוּסַר הַשְׂכֵּל;    צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט, וּמֵשָׁרִים.	3 To take/receive the discipline of the intellect, righteousness/ generosity, and judgment, and justice;
ד  לָתֵת לִפְתָאיִם עָרְמָה;    לְנַעַר, דַּעַת וּמְזִמָּה.	4 To give subtlety to the simple; to the young man knowledge and profundity;
ה  יִשְׁמַע חָכָם, וְיוֹסֶף לֶקַח;    וְנָבוֹן, תַּחְבֻּלוֹת יִקְנֶה.	5 Let the Hakham (wise man) hear, and add acquisitions, and the understanding man will acquire strtagems;
ו  לְהָבִין מָשָׁל, וּמְלִיצָה;    דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים, וְחִידֹתָם.	6 To understand a parable, and a figure; the words of the Hakhamim (wise men), and their dark sayings.
ז  יִרְאַת יְהוָה, רֵאשִׁית דָּעַת;    חָכְמָה וּמוּסָר, אֱוִילִים בָּזוּ.	7 Reverential fear of the LORD (Ha-Shem) is the beginning [choicest/chief part] of knowledge; [therefore] wisdom and discipline are spurned by skeptics. {P}

Questions for Reflection:

1. What are the five questions posed to Rashi in regards to Genesis 1:1-5?

2. Why do the Kings of Israel and the Hakhamim love to teach in Mashalim (Parables) and use “dark sayings”?

3. Why is “discipline of the intellect” foundational to “righteousness/generosity,” and “judgment,” and “justice”?

4. Why do skeptics spurn (despise) “Hokhmah” (wisdom = Torah) and “Discipline”?

UB’Sefer Chayim Hakat’bi V’T’Chatemu!

May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life!

Shabbat Shalom!

Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai