Creation By God's Name

"When they were created" (Genesis 2:4): Rabbi Abbahu in the name of Rabbi Yochanan said: "When they were created" (be-hibbar'am) means He created them with the letter He [reading be-He bera'am, "with He He created them"]. And just as this letter He, of all the letters, does not hold the tongue while the others grip the tongue, so it was not with toil and not with labor that the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, but rather "by the word of the LORD" (Psalms 33:6), and the heavens were already made. And we do not know whether this world was created with He and the world to come with Yod. But from what Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, that "when they were created" means He created them with the letter He, it follows that this world was created with He. "For with Yah the LORD is the Rock of worlds" (Isaiah 26:4): with two letters [Yod and He] the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world.