The first thing G’d embarked on when creating the material universe was to create heaven and earth.” It is an axiom, general principle, that G’d created the entire universe, and having done so, never withdraws from the universe for even a single moment, [unlike sculptors or painters who, once they have completed a sculpture or painting, move on to something else, having “finished” with their previous “creation.”
Ed.] This axiom is true both of what He created in the heavens and what He created in the material, three-dimensional part of the universe. We pay tribute to this in our daily prayers when we say יוצר אור ובורא חושך, “He creates and fashions (present tense) light, and He creates darkness.” When speaking of any accomplishments of G’d’s creatures however, we speak of them in the past tense, i.e.יצר כסא, “he shaped a chair,” or עשה מזרון, “he made a mattress.”
G’d’s creative activity is never completed, as the Torah testified in Genesis 2,3 אשר ברא אלוקים לעשות, “which the Lord has created in order to complete it.” This means that G’d is part of every creature He ever created, and once man realizes that he is nothing without G’d Who has created him and Who provides him with all the strength and creative stimuli that he possesses, he will be able to relate to Hashem as an ongoing creative Force in His universe.
This is reflected every morning when we get up [after having used the washroom] and we refer to G’d with the words אשר יצר את האדם בחכמה, “Who has fashioned man with חכמה,” the word חכמה meaning the opposite of אין, “nothing.” It is appropriate therefore that in that prayer we refer to the creation of man in the past tense, as opposed to the line we quoted earlier, seeing that we refer to something or somebody who already exists, i.e. יש.
This explains why the Ari z’al, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, said that when we refer to G’d as ה' מלך, usually translated as “Hashem is King,” the reference is to the אין, “nothing,” i.e. G’d at any given moment gives us life, -by not withdrawing it from us.- The implied meaning of the expression is that man is “nothing” unless he continues to exist as part of G’d’s creative activity. The so-called אין, “nothing,” in terms of metaphysical beings, rules supreme in the regions beyond those that are part of the physical universe, the one that we conveniently refer to as “nature.”
This so-called אין, is not really a “nothing,” in terms of the universe, its “nothingness” is such only vis a vis the physical part of the universe; in the celestial regions this “אין” rules supreme. [as opposed to the חכמה in our part of the universe. Ed. Although יש and אין are popularly perceived as absolute opposites, not having anything in common, this perception is built on a fallacy; the linkage between יש and אין are the mitzvot, Torah commandments, performed by the Jewish people.
The commandments are performed in the section of the universe known as יש, as a result of which close contact is maintained between the aforementioned two domains of the universe. Ezekiel 1:14 refers to the “mitzvot” in their capacity as providing the link between the terrestrial and the celestial part of the universe with the words והחיות רצוא ושוב, “and the chayot ran to and fro”. According to the Zohar II 288, the mitzvot and the Torah respectively, are viewed as related to one another like the “hidden” is related to the “revealed,” both being part of the same whole.
Torah and mitzvot provide the link between these two domains, so that each domain is not completely divorced from the other. This concept is contained in the letters of the word מצוה when we divide it up into מצ and וה. The letters מצ when we read the alphabet backwards, starting with the letter ת are equivalent to the letters יה, symbolising the totally abstract Divinity, whereas the letters וה symbolize the hidden parts of the universe, יש.
The first half of the word מצוה being read with the two letters used in reverse order of the aleph bet, alludes to the “hidden” part of the universe, the domain exclusive to Divine, abstract forces. Let us explain something about what precisely is “hidden” and what is “revealed,” when it comes to the מצוה, “Torah commandment.” When we perform a מצוה, we cause G’d to become pleased with having created man, the choicest of His creatures.
When we comply with requests made to us by a fellow human being, we can immediately gauge whether he is pleased by our actions or not, either by his face indicating this, or by words of approval, something that is not the case when we comply with G’d’s requests from us. Since He is invisible, and does not speak to us as He did to Moses, “mouth to mouth”, we have no way of knowing if our efforts to please Him have been successful.
When we try to perform deeds that are for our (immediate) personal benefit, we are able to determine if our efforts have succeeded. This then is the “hidden” element present whenever we perform any of G’d’s commandments, מצות. This is what the Torah had in mind when it wrote (Deuteronomy 29,28) הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו, “the hidden aspects of mitzvah performance are reserved for the Lord our G’d;” on the other hand, והנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם, “the benefits which the performance of the Torah confers upon us will be revealed forever.”
This is also the meaning of the words בראשית ברא אלוקים, (addressed to us) “at the beginning of G’d’s creative activity G’d created the יש, a physical domain of the universe.” Through His creating יש, i.e. ראשית, a beginning, the creation of heaven and earth came into being, for prior to that there was only the אין, the abstract universe. This is the meaning of Targum Yerushalmi who renders this verse as 'בראשית בחוכמא ברא ה', “at the beginning G’d created by means of using intelligence found in the domain of the abstract regions.” חכמה, as we pointed out earlier, is a quality inherent in the terrestrial domain. This was portrayed in the passage at the beginning of Tikkuney Hazohar (based on Zohar chadash 59, column 3) where the prophet Elijah appeared to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son Eleazar in the cave where they were in hiding from the Romans and Elijah planted a carob tree and provided a well of spring water from which the two men ate and drank during the 12 years they spent in hiding.
Elijah would visit them twice daily and teach them, enabling them to escape prosecution by the Romans. Among the lessons Elijah taught them was the fact that in order to make use of G’d’s input into the physical parts of the universe, G’d had to “clothe Himself,” i.e. conceal His essence, by restricting the holiness He radiated, or this would have been too overwhelming for the recipients thereof.
Ari zal, sums this up as: “all parts of the universe require that G’d’s essence reduces its natural radiations, as all creatures in varying degrees are unable to withstand the brilliance of the emanations from G’d’s essence unless they had first been screened to some extent.” According to the Ari zal, any part of any universe, by definition contains a degree of substance, as opposed to G’d, Who is entirely abstract, spiritual.
According to this view even the purest and holiest thought entertained by a living creature contains an element of physicality, since only G’d can be pure spirit.It follows that before G’d could undertake the creation of a physical universe He had to surround His essence with “garments” shielding His creatures from this overwhelming spiritual radiance emanating from Him. In order to achieve this, G’d “clothed” Himself in garments radiating light.
If I understand this correctly, the closer G’d came to the eventual physical world, the more subdued was the brilliance exuded from His “garments,” which He changed from stage to stage so as to enable the creatures in each world to tolerate it without coming to harm through being blinded. All of these “worlds” (regions inhabited by spiritual beings of varying degrees of holiness) are extremely bright, Isaiah 58,11 referring to them as והשביע בצחצחות נפשך “He will satiate your soul with brightness.” Let us take a look at how Rashi, the most eminent of all Torah commentators, explained the first verse of the Torah.
Quoting Rabbi Yitzchok, Rashi writes: “on the face of it the (written) Torah need not have commenced until the chapter commencing with the laws of the Passover. (Exodus 12)” In light of what we have just explained, the fact that the Torah commences as it does is eminently plausible. What did Rashi have in mind then? The background of Rashi, seizing on the explanation of Rabbi Yitzchok as his point of departure of his entire commentary on the Torah, is none other than to remind us of how much the beginning of the Torah has in common with what is written in chapter 12 in Exodus.
Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer (quoted in Yalkut Shimoni Yirmiyahu item 263) understands the shape of the letter ב seeing that it is open at one end, as a challenge to heretics to produce the fourth of the four winds, the north wind, if they are able, and thus close the letter, making it סתום, hidden, i.e. concealing what is inside it. Our sages (Rabbeinu Bachya Exodus 20,2) view the entire Exodus as a replay of the creation of the universe, the difference being that on that occasion there were human beings who could testify to the power of the Creator, having witnessed all the miracles G’d had performed as a prelude to the redemption.
Initially, Rabbi Yitzchok thought that the message about how G’d relates to His universe and the human beings He created, could have been conveyed just as well by commencing with chapter 12 in Exodus. However, since G’d is interested in conveying additional aspects of His function in the universe, He chose to commence with the words: בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ. Anyone reflecting further on this will certainly understand. Another word that at first glance appears as unnecessary, is the word את, which becomes clearer when we understand it as equivalent to the word אתה, as in בא, meaning “it came, or He came,” as in Deut.33,2 ה' מסיני בא וזרח משעיר למו הופיע מהר פארן ואתה מרבבות קודש, “the Lord came from Sinai, He shone upon them from Seir, He appeared from Paran having come from Ribeboth Kodesh.”
The word alludes to the fact that the original light of which the Torah said ויהי אור instead of ויהי כן, “and so it was,” -the Torah’s standard phrase for nature having complied with any of G’d’s directives,- had been in existence prior to heaven and earth being created, but while prior to that it had existed only in a disembodied celestial world, it had extended its function to light up the newly created physical universe.
This light that had previously only served the אין סוף, the Creator, directly, now served His creatures also. It did so to the extent that G’d’s creatures could benefit by it and not be blinded by it. When we understand that word in this manner, we can also understand why, at the end of the Torah’s report of the creation (Genesis 2,3) אשר ברא אלוקים לעשות, “which G’d had created to do;” the Torah writes the otherwise superfluous word לעשות. The Torah thereby also indicates that G’d renews the creative process on a daily basis, both in its spiritual as well as in its profane aspects.
On the preceding six “days,” G’d had created worlds that served as the prologue to the physical world. Midrash Rabbah 8,5 relates that at the time when G’d was about to create the physical universe containing man, Truth objected, saying that man would be a corrupt being; as a punishment, i.e. means of educating Truth, G’d condemned Truth to descend to earth and “live” there.In order to comprehend the meaning of the Midrash we need to remember that lying, the opposite of truth- is a sin which is in a category by itself, as people known to be liars will find it difficult if not impossible to be accepted in society even in this imperfect world where most people indulge in one sin or another.
If someone desecrates the Sabbath, this will not be held against him by most of his peers who feel that it is a matter between him and G’d. If someone deliberately hurts others bodily, or even commits murder, the courts will punish him accordingly. In other words, there is a built in incentive on this earth for people not to commit murder, etc., as they know they will pay a heavy price when found out.
Lying, because it is difficult for the courts to deal with, is dealt with by consensus of one’s peers who will shun the company of known liars. Sending “truth” to earth was G’d’s way of providing incentives for potential liars to be truthful, as otherwise they would be ostracised by their peers. [In other words, rather than seeing in the Midrash above a “punishment” for truth having opposed the Creator, our author sees in it an acknowledgment by G’d that “Truth” in opposing the creation of the human species had a valid point, and He appointed “Truth” to be active on earth in order to minimize the potential danger to the whole species if too many people were to make lies their way of life.
Ed.] The message of the Midrash is that without “Truth” the human species would not survive for long. Turning now to the second verse in the Torah, והארץ היתה תוהו ובוהו, “the state of the earth had been utter chaos;” the author proceeds from our tradition that the entire universe in all its parts was created only for the benefit of the Jewish people, i.e. the physical universe that sustains living creatures, was created only for the benefit of the Jewish people thereon, in order for them to have a chance to become what the Creator hoped they would develop into.Once we reflect on this concept we will realize what a tremendous responsibility each one of us has in becoming a willing servant of the Lord, helping Him realize His fondest hopes for mankind. Even the angels were created only in order to facilitate G’d’s fondest hopes for the holy Jewish nation to be realized.
Failure of any Jew to live up to the precepts of the Torah puts the entire universe at risk. Our verse takes us back to the time when the physical universe as we know it had existed in G’d’s mind only as a project. Whatever follows in the report of creation reflects only the stages by which G’d went about in carrying out this gigantic and mind-boggling project. Without the existence of the “higher” world, it would have been impossible to proceed with the creation of the “lower,” physical universe.
The words תוהו ובהו are meant to make us reflect on this. [The following is a short synopsis of a long paragraph, one that deals also with the apparent paradox of the statement in psalms 2,11 עבדו את ה' ביראה וגילו ברעדה, “serve the Lord in awe; rejoice greatly while trembling.” Ed.] While the description of the state of the universe before man, i.e. Jews, had been charged with the task of being a nation of priests and a holy nation, is meant to make us aware of our duty to live as servants of our Creator and to ensure that His handiwork will prove to be worthwhile, we face a dilemma, portrayed in the following parable.
A great and powerful king once invited one of his loyal servants to accompany him to his treasure chamber where he displayed a store of jewels and other valuable artifacts. The servant was overjoyed at the king having taken him into his confidence by showing him all his valuable treasures. He became proud to be a servant to such a powerful king. Upon reflecting on this however, he suddenly was overcome with trembling when thinking about what a great wrong it would be to disregard even a minor paragraph in the law books the king had issued to his subjects to live by.
The psalmist’s words reflect a similar dilemma. How can one at one and the same time be in awe and full of joy? The Talmud B’rachot 30, tries to answer this apparent contradiction by understanding the latter half of the verse as: “when in a place where merriment is the rule, do not forget that it behooves you to be trembling, seeing that you are always in the presence of the Lord.” Abbaye, who, when in an extraordinarily happy frame of mind, was reminded of this by a colleague, responded that as long he was wearing the phylacteries on his head, this served him as a reminder not to forget this injunction. Our author, instead of using the phylacteries, which are not always worn, as a symbol of our duty never to forget our purpose on earth, uses the words of our verse describing the utter chaos that prevailed prior to G’d having embarked on His gigantic project of creating a universe inhabited by man equipped with a free will, as such a reminder.Our author sees in the word והארץ in our verse a veiled hint at the various temptations that human beings are constantly exposed to by living in a physical world, temptations that are apt to interfere with his desire to serve G’d as a loyal servant. Going back to Rashi’s first commentary on the first word in the Torah, where he quoted Rabbi Yitzchok saying that the reason that the Torah does not commence with the first verse in Exodus chapter12, is that the Torah wanted to allude from the beginning by teaching the concept כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו לתת להם נחלת גויים, “He revealed to His people His powerful works by giving them the heritage of (other) nations.” (Psalms 111,6) This is important to know in the event that the nations will dispute the Jewish people’s claim to the Land of Israel as being their heritage.
As the Creator and hence, owner, of the entire universe, G’d has the right to allocate parts of it to whoever He chooses.Expressed differently, since in the words of the introduction to the Zohar, page 5, (based on Proverbs 8,30 (Torah speaking) “then I was with Him (G’d) as an artisan,” i.e. G’d used the Torah and its letters as the tool with which to create the universe; it follows that every part of the universe is imbued with some letter of the Torah.Just as man is charged to perform the Torah’s commandments with the various limbs of his body, (248), so earth is also charged with the task of performing “commandments” appropriate to its composition.
The expressions פי הארץ, ”the earth’s mouth,” or עין הארץ, “the earth’s eye,” are more than just figures of speech. Each of our limbs exudes the living essence of the letter of the Torah that corresponds to a specific commandment that limb is supposed to perform. Joshua was able to conquer seven lands (of the Canaanites) because he understood what it was that enabled each specific land to remain “alive.”
Similarly, every city in those countries had been charged since creation with performing certain duties vis a vis its Creator. Joshua’s knowledge of these duties enabled him to “conquer” these towns and countries with a minimum of Jewish blood being shed in the process.According to the introduction of the Zohar page 5, there is no part of the physical universe that does not in some way reflect the meaning of one of the letters in the Torah.
If any of these cities were to confront the invading Jewish armies by calling them “robbers,” Joshua was able to remind them that the previous residents in these towns had only leased the land, but had never owned it, as it is G’d’s property. What could be more natural than that the Jewish people, who by definition serve their Creator by observing the commandments of the Torah, should now make their home on this part of the earth.
This is what the psalmist meant when he quoted G’d as having revealed to His people the inherent strength of all His works, כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו. Wish that G’d were to grant each one of us the wisdom and the purity of heart to be conversant with the specific commandment that is incumbent upon each limb in our body to perform. G’d called the light: ‘day;’" Bereshit Rabbah 3,8 comments that this phrase refers to the deeds of the righteous, whereas the line ולחושך קרא לילה, is understood as referring to the deeds of the wicked.
In order to make it plain that the Creator preferred the deeds of the righteous, the Torah added the adjective כי טוב, “that it was good,” when defining the word אור in verse 4.The average reader of this Midrash surely is puzzled by the fact that there was any doubt as to whose deeds the Creator would prefer so that the Torah had to indicate that G’d preferred the deeds of the righteous!
Rabbeinu Yonah, in his commentary on the last Mishnah in B’rachot chapter 9, explains that the Mishnah, when referring to the need to serve the Lord with both parts of our hearts, the urge to do good as well as the urge to do evil, speaks of people who do serve the Lord. The Midrash quoted, was careful to refer to the deeds of the wicked as opposed to the wicked themselves, also does so. We may therefore understand the Midrash as also referring to good deeds, the origin of which, however, differs.
The difference between the two “urges” is that the urge to do evil is by definition the result of anger and hatred, whereas the deeds that are prompted by the urge to do good, are by definition prompted by feelings of goodwill and love. No wonder that G’d prefers the positive deeds that are also the result of constructive attitudes, to the good deeds that are the result of the urge to do evil, even when both deeds may be identical.
This idea has been portrayed by Proverbs 3,17 where Solomon has described the ways of Torah as being דרכיה דרכי נועם, “her ways are ways of pleasantness;” in other words, it is not only what you do that counts but how you go about doing it.” "Heaven and earth and all their components were complete; for on that day G’d had ceased from all His work that He had created to be continued; (or, to complete it).” [The last words in the paragraph are especially enigmatic, as the beginning of the paragraph creates the impression that the Torah reports about the conclusion of the work of creation.
Ed.] Rabbi Levi Yitzchok understands the words השמים והארץ as referring to the sum total of the tangible universe, reminding us that our sacred texts teach us that prior to the creation of the universe there was only what is known in kabbalistic parlance as אין סוף, G’d as an “infinite,” a concept that is beyond our capacity to understand. The story of creation conveys how through the creation of the universe as we know it, this “infinite” became transformed into something finite both in space and in time.
Man, the Creator’s most advanced creature, is able to be active not only in the physical but even in more spiritually refined parts of the universe. Nonetheless, he gradually grows further and further apart from his origin, the “infinite,” pure spirituality that is G’d. The expression שבת, used in our paragraph, describes that G’d Himself used the Sabbath to “retrace” His steps back to the origin of creation. It is the function of the Sabbath to help man to similarly emulate G’d by using the Sabbath to retrace the physical material concerns that preoccupied him during the preceding six days, and to return to the spiritual origin of his soul and be inspired to the extent that he sees in the actions he performed during the weekdays something that has been suffused with the loftiest spiritual values. [In this respect the Sabbath is a day that completes a cycle and prevents us from losing contact with our origins.
Ed.] "These are the developments of heaven and earth once they had been created;” the author understands the word תולדות to mean “objective, purpose;” when the Torah continues with the words; ביום עשות ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים, “from the day the Lord G’d had completed earth and heaven,” the message is that from now on the Torah is concerned primarily with what happens on earth, as opposed to when what happens on earth, had been the secondary concern up until the human species had been created.
The practical significance of this statement is that whereas prior to this point earth had been the “recipient” of celestial input, from this point on it is the task of earth and what occurs on its surface to “kick back” beneficial vibrations to the celestial regions, i.e. the result of man fulfilling his duty on earth. The author bases himself on psalms 148,13 הודו על ארץ ושמים, which he translates as “His majesty is above earth and heaven,” earth being mentioned first.
This implies that the heavens receive useful input from earth. The author offers another way of understanding the verse אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם וגו', and the verse following,וכל שיח השדה טרם יהיה בארץ וכל עשב השדה טרם יצמח ואדם אין בו וגגגו', “when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, etc.;” he draws our attention to Genesis 38,27:ויהי בעת לדתה ויתן יד ותקח המילדת ותקשור על ידו שני ויהי כמשיב ידו וגו' ואחר כך יצא אחיו ותאמר מה פרצת עליך פרץ וגו', “when the time came for her to give birth, there were twins; while she was in labor one of them put out his hand and the midwife tied a crimson thread on that hand to signify “this one came out first;” but just then he drew back his hand and out came his brother; the midwife said: ‘what a breach you have made for yourself” This one was called פרץ, “breach,” whereas his brother was named זרח, “brightness.”Nachmanides, in his commentary on the Torah, writes concerning this occurrence, quoting Rabbi Nechunya ben hakaneh, that the name פרץ is a euphemism for the moon, whereas the name זרח is a euphemism for the sun. [Rabbi Nechunyah ben hakaneh was a scholar of the second generation of the authors of the Mishnah and the famous kabbalistic text known as sefer habahir, has been attributed to him.
Ed.] Our author (as distinct from Nachmanides) understands the description of the Torah of this unusual birth as illustrating how the various universes at any given moment receive positive input from the Creator, and that when a human being wishes to secure additional שפע, Divine beneficial outpouring, or input, for the world in which he lives, he must attach himself to the domain we described as אין, i.e. the disembodied spiritual domains of the universe, i.e. to the domains in which G’d did not have to surround Himself with screens in order to avoid blinding His creatures with His brightness.
When he has done so, G’d, in turn will respond by showering more of His goodness upon His creatures in the various domains of the universe. In the verse under discussion, the Torah describes a period when this interaction between man and G’d had not yet taken place, i.e. nothing had grown forth as yet from earth that would have such a positive influence triggering further beneficial input originating from the heavenly spheres.
This state of the universe, prior to such interaction is what our verse speaks about when writing טרם יצמח, “had not yet sprouted,” and similar expressions. The words יצמח and המטיר, “sprouting and raining”, respectively, are similes for the reciprocal positive input from the heavens to the earth and from the earth in the direction of the celestial regions. The period under discussion in our verse precedes the time when the Creator garbed Himself in shells that reduced the brightness of His emanations, so that His creatures instead of being burnt up, could “warm” themselves, spiritually.The opportunities, i.e. precise moments in time, when G’d responds to man attempting to cleave to Him with his soul, are fleeting moments during which people doing this must perform a מצוה, such as giving charity or studying Torah, as a result of which G’d will provide additional שפע, divine bounty from above to below.
If that moment has passed and not been taken advantage of, G’d withdraws to the region of סוד, “hidden” domains where He is only partially within reach of the creatures who wish to establish intimate contact with Him. The words: ואדם אין לעבוד, may be understood allegorically as: “there being as yet no human being who would yearn for a close relationship with His Creator.” The verses describing the births of Peretz and Zerach are meant to illustrate how such attempted reaching for that which was not completed represented a lost opportunity, so that the second of the twins wound up being the firstborn [in the physiological and halachic sense, similar to Esau.
Ed.] We have a statement in Chagigah 15, according to which there is a heavenly voice calling out once on each day emanating from Mount Sinai calling on sinners to do penitence, excluding only Elisha ben Avuya. The Talmud there illustrates that there exists an opportunity for each one of us to cement our relations with our Creator. All that is needed is to demonstrate one’s sincerity through performance of one of the mitzvot that are basic to Judaism, such as giving charity or Torah study.
The reference to שיח, a word having several meanings, may be to warn us that we are not to waste our time on earth in idle conversation, if we aspire to establish a firm bond with our Creator. There is no need to add that if one employs the gift of speech to indulge in defamation of others, etc., that this instead of strengthening the bond with our Creator, drives a wedge between Him and us.Such abuse of the power of speech is forbidden even when we find ourselves in the part of the universe that has either not yet emerged from the primeval state of חושך, darkness, or is on the verge of descending back into that sorry condition.
Our author refers to the mental state of a person yearning for the closeness with the Creator that he describes as a state of התעוררות היראה, “an awakening to a feeling of awe of the Creator.” He has explained this phenomenon in connection with a statement in B’rachot 64 according to which the very existence of Torah scholars contributes to harmony, peace in the lower universe. [As I have not found where the author’s explanation on that statement in the Talmud has appeared in print, I will try and explain how I understand his thoughts.
Ed.] As long as one has not attained the level of being a Torah scholar, the yearning for close affinity to G’d is like a flash of lightning, something that disappears as quickly as it had materialized. While in such a state, it cannot be recaptured at will. This is the meaning of the verse. Once one has attained the level of being a Torah scholar, similar yearnings for close affinity to one’s Creator will not disappear, but will be a constant companion to the Torah scholar.
This was what Ezekiel 1,14 had in mind when he compared the fleeting appearance of the חיות הקודש, the highest category of angels running to and fro, as fast as the momentary appearance of a bolt of lightning. Whereas originally, man had to initiate this yearning for דבקות, close affinity to G’d, having experienced it once and continuing to recapture it by striving to make spiritual progress, G’d will reciprocate by helping him to make this a more permanent relationship.
In his allegorical commentary on the birth of Peretz and Zerach, Nachmanides views the words ויתן יד, as reflecting G’d’s helping hand. He views the entire paragraph there as a conversation between G’d and man regarding this concept. Although Nachmanides uses the conversation recorded as that between the moon and the sun and G’d, in connection with who should have senior status (Chulin 60), our author views is as between G’d and His subjects in that paragraph. Another approach to the paragraph commencing with אלה תולדות השמים והארץ: Originally, man as G’d’s final act of creation, and therefore the most sophisticated creature in the universe, was perceived as superior to the angels even by the angels themselves.
However, this was before man had sinned. Ever since, the angels are viewed as superior to man. When the psalmist in psalms 148,13 speaks of הודו על ארץ ושמים, “His splendour covers earth and heaven,” in that order, he draws attention to the condition of man on this earth as it will be when man has attained his true stature prior to the ultimate redemption. Up until then, due to his sin and consequently residing in an imperfect part of the universe after having been expelled from Gan Eden, he had not yet attained the stature envisaged for him by his Creator.
Hence the psalmist, quite realistically, describes G’d’s glory as it is on earth before describing it as it is in the heavens. It is only after the redemption, when the prophet describes the state of man with the words: כי מלאה הארץ דעה את ה', “when the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord,” (Isaiah 11,9) that the vision of the psalmist will be realized. The word תולדות in the verse under discussion means the same as תכלית, objective, purpose.
The purpose of the creation of the lower parts of the universe was that on the day when the messiah comes, earth, where G’d wishes to make His permanent home, will rank higher in the hierarchy of the universes than the celestial regions. Once Israel will attain that rank they will have reached the level known as “ayin,” אין, a level higher than that of the angels in the heavenly hierarchy. [The author had explained earlier that the level of אין, is a state that existed before G’d began with creating anything that contained an element of “substance,” three-dimensional matter.
Ed.] "And a mist would rise up from the earth;” following the allegorical approach, the author reminds the reader that G’d had created the Universe(s) in order to provide Himself with satisfaction, and we find this concept alluded to in His name י-ה-ו-ה, the satisfaction being called: אהיה, which according to our author refers to the satisfaction the Creator hopes to derive from the positive contributions to spirituality that will emanate from man on earth. [condensed by me.
Ed] "A river comes out of Eden to irrigate the garden;” compare on Avot 2,1 הוי זהיר במצוה קלה כבחמורה, “be as meticulous concerning the performance of commandments deemed as inconsequential, as you are with the performance of commandments deemed of great significance, since you do not know the amount of reward in store for any of the commandments.” Our sages explained that the author of this saying referred to the amount of satisfaction that the performance of each commandment gives to the Creator.
We mortals have no way of gauging what ranks high in the esteem of the lawgiver. The only thing that we know definitely about this is that as a result of the satisfaction that G’d derived from our mitzvah performance He will give us opportunities to perform more commandments. When a father hears words of wisdom from his son, he encourages him to come up with more wise comments. Similarly, when G’d derived pleasure and satisfaction from the deeds of one of His “children,” He encourages that “child” to continue to come up with intelligent questions and answers.<br>Eden, this describes the pleasure derived by G’d from His children’s words of Torah and performance of His commandments, whereas the word גן, “garden,” is a reference to the various levels at which Torah can be studied, i.e. just as a garden contains many flowers, each of which having a distinct appearance and pleasing aroma.
The words of Torah His children speak by means of which they provide spiritual irrigation in all the four directions of the earth, are alluded to by: “the river splitting into four heads,” in our verse.Performance of the commandments is perceived as “irrigating” the brain (cranium) that consists of 4 cavities, one of them being a cavity divided into two parts. This “stream” channels this inspiration directly from G’d, and branches out into 4 “rivers,” each channeling inspiration to the four lobes of the brain that fill these cavities.
Each branch feeds the appropriate lobe, according to its function. The word עדן describes the region from which תענוג, pleasurable experiences emanate. The word גן in this allegory includes the various disciplines comprising Torah study, commonly known as peshat, plain meaning of the text, drush, allegorical meaning, homily, remez, allusion, hint, and sod, mystical aspects. Keeping this in mind, we can understand why the mishnah quoted began with a warning, i.e. הוי זהיר, “be careful to discern,” seeing that the same mishnah told us that we do not know how the various commandments rate in terms of the reward for those who perform them.
Since we do not know, how are we to distinguish between what is weighty, and what is relatively less weighty in the eyes of G’d? Most likely the answer is that the commandments described as קלה are the ones that we can find opportunities to perform, such as studying Torah, whereas the ones described as חמורה, are those that a person may have few opportunities to perform in a lifetime, or no opportunity at all. [Since mitzvah performance is incumbent both on the individual and the entire nation, we each share in the performance of those who do have an opportunity to perform those, such as the levirate marriage, to name just one.
Ed.] The author of the mishnah warns not to use the fact that some mitzvot can be fulfilled all the time as an excuse to postpone fulfilling same, as we do not know how even these mitzvot rate in terms of the reward in store for us. Another approach to the allegory of: “river, garden, and ‘Eden.’” It is well known that every Jew is obligated to acquire and maintain good character traits and to make them second nature.
By doing so he provides G’d with satisfaction. When serving his Creator by personifying these positive virtues, he enables the Creator to ”boast” of His creatures, [as for instance we find when G’d “boasted” to Satan about the piety of Job. (Job 1,8) Ed.] These “virtues” are described in Avot 2,1 as ”in the eyes of his peers.” The author of the mishnah, Rabbi Yehudah hanassi, uses the expression תפארת לעושיה, to describe that man’s Creator can use this as “boasting” or justifying His having created the human species.
When reading these words superficially we must wonder why G’d is interested i.e. in “need” of our actions, seeing He has myriads of angels ready to do His bidding. However, the very fact that His people, the Jewish people, who have been assigned the “lower” portion of the universe as their habitat with all the disadvantages that are prevalent in that region, distinguish themselves by their loyal service to Him nonetheless, is something extraordinary, that cannot be compared with angels.
This is what Rabbi Yehudah hanassi had in mind when he described loyal service to G’d by His free-willed creature, man, as being תפארת לו מן האדם, “something glorious for Him performed by man.” G’d certainly has reason to “boast” about such devotion when telling Satan that in spite of his activities as seducer and spoiler, there are people who have not been deterred in their loyalty to Their Creator.
Genesis 2,10-14 describes this whole process of man being encouraged by G’d to develop the appropriate virtues and how having acquired them his Creator derives great satisfaction from that. The simile used by the Torah of describing man’s watering G’d’s “garden” read: “worlds,” as something that He takes pride in, is therefore a well chosen euphemism. He (serpent) said to the woman; ‘although G’d has said you must not eat from any of the trees, etc;’ lest you die.” ….The serpent said: “you will surely not die, etc.”'.Furthermore, it is clear from what follows that Adam and his wife did not die on the day they ate from the tree of knowledge.
In fact Adam lived for close to 1000 years! (Genesis 5,5). Our sages have already had difficulty in reconciling these two verses.In order to understand the whole episode, we must first of all understand what wiles the serpent used in order to seduce the woman. How could the serpent, a mere creature, persuade a human being to defy the law of its Creator? We must understand the serpent’s argument as follows: the serpent made it clear that it was aware that everything in this universe was created by G’d through a directive issued by word of mouth as when He said: “let there be light.”
The continued existence of the universe is dependent every second since it began, and continues to depend on this original light created by G’d through His first directive. It follows that the tree of knowledge which also came into being by Divine command could not possibly be a source of harm and even death, seeing it too had been created subsequent to the original life-giving force in the universe, the light created on the first day.
The serpent therefore argued that it follows that when G’d issued instructions not to eat from the trees in the garden, the reason for this command could not have been that it was a source of death for anyone eating from its fruit. Since this was so, why should man listen to a latter command, instead of to His initial command, as a result of which they had become living human beings!This, however, was part of the perverted logic employed by the serpent.
The truth of the matter is that the “root” of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden goes back to a period preceding creation of the physical universe and the “falling off” of 288 “sparks” from the Shechinah into the world of the קליפות, regions polluted by impurity, i.e. our physical universe. [The subject is dealt with in a book called עץ חיים by Rabbi Chayim Vittal, foremost disciple of the Ari’zal, in which most of the oral teachings of the Ari’zal have been recorded for posterity.
It is understood, based on psalms 104,34-35 אנכי אשמח בה' יתמו חטאים מן הארץ, “as a result of my rejoicing in G’d, evil will cease from the earth,” that it is the function of the righteous in our parts of the universe to “repair” the damage the “Shechinah” sustained due to man’s first sin and to restore it to its uncorrupted wholeness. Creation of a physical universe, by definition, required a צמצום, voluntary contraction, of the Creator whose universe had previously been filled completely with the holiness of the Shechinah.
Since the universe had been “full,” prior to this creation of the physical universe, G’d had to “empty” some of its “space” in order to make room for the new creation. Ed.] The 288 “sparks” that separated from the Shechinah, are the kabbalists’ way of illustrating this. [Possibly the numerical value of 288 being רוח וחיים, “spirit and life,” accounts for this number 288. Ed.]
The tree of knowledge personified these 288 sparks of the Shechinah after they had merged with secular matter, i.e. a mixture of טוב ורע, “good and evil,” in the lower part of the universe. G’d had to forbid man to eat from this “tree,” in order for the way to remain open for man to “repair” the damage that the “Shechinah” had sustained. If man were to eat from it, this would result in an impediment to his ability to restore the Shechinah to its former wholeness.
As it were, these “sparks,” descended ever deeper into the physical universe as a result of Adam’s eating from it, and, instead of him restoring the original spiritual light to its former brilliance, he caused the earth to become a spiritually darker domain. The spiritual decline of the earthly environment may be what is described in the Torah as the “death” that would occur, the process only beginning on the day Adam ate, but not resulting in his literal death until many years later. [Needless to say, that man’s task of finding a way to reunite these sparks with the Shechinah from which it had been separated has not been abandoned; however it was made far more difficult as a result of Adam’s sin Ed.]
Our author quotes Sanhedrin 99 on B’rachot 34 where the Talmud describes the “place” on which repentant sinners stand in the scheme of things as superior to the “place” assigned to the righteous who never knew the taste of sin. If man has sinned, and in spite of this, found his way back to G’d, this is a greater moral ethical achievement than never to have been exposed to the allure of sin in the first place, so that one’s steadfastness in the path of temptation had never been tested. In the words of our author, the brilliance of the “sparks” which had not yet been sufficiently reduced in intensity for man, even an Adam, G’d’s personal handiwork, to be exposed to without being harmed by it, [absorbing it internally, Ed.] was the reason why G’d warned him on pain of death not to eat from it. The author illustrates all this by means of a parable.
A son had become estranged to his father, thereby losing the path he had walked and getting lost in all kinds of dead end alleys which he found difficult to get out of. When, in spite of these detours, he eventually found his way back to his father’s home, the joy of his having returned pleased the father immeasurably more than the satisfaction an obedient son who had never left the parental home in the first place could have afforded him.When considering the relationship between the tree of knowledge and its roots in the celestial spheres, the words of warning issued by G’d, i.e. “on the day when you will eat from it you will die,” will become clearer.
The tree of knowledge will remain alluring to its beholders as long as what they see reflects the thinly veiled brilliance of its celestial origin. Only after man violated G’d’s commandment did it cease to be such and assume more earthly proportions so that being exposed to it any further will spell eventual death as man had contaminated it. [“Death” may be perceived as the ultimate contraction of Divine glory on earth, G’d having veiled His spiritually illuminating light with so many veils that none of them reach man, and therefore cannot “revive” his spiritual resources.
Ed.] The good deeds performed by the righteous reverse this entire process and, ultimately, when brought to its successful conclusion, will enable a different world from the one we are familiar with to be revealed even on earth. In the dialogue just described by the Torah, the first difficulty is the meaning of the word אף with which the serpent commences. Normally, we understand this word to mean: “although, in spite of,” or something to that effect.
Why would the serpent begin the conversation by using this as an introductory word? Furthermore, why did the serpent “quote” G’d as having said פן תמותון, “lest you will die,” when in fact G’d had said [concerning a single tree Ed.] כי ביום אכלך ממנו תמות “for on the day you eat from it you will die.”(Genesis 2,17) G’d had made an absolute statement “you will die,” whereas the serpent changed the statement to a warning rather than a threat, i.e. “lest you may die,” describing death as a possible rather than as a definite result of eating from the tree.'Prior to the sin, both Adam and Chavah did not appreciate the concepts of ascent and descent of “sparks” of the Shechinah, so that when they heard G’d mention the word “death,” they had understood it as a merely temporary condition, such as unconsciousness.
They had not understood it as referring to the “death” of worlds, and that is why the serpent’s argument made sense to them, as they felt that the Creator would be contradicting all that He had created if He were to allow it to disintegrate so easily by a relatively insignificant action such as eating from the fruit of the tree. When our sages in Chagigah 14 relate that four people “descended” into the pardess, (acronym for “peshat, drush, remez, sod) the four disciplines used to explore the depths of the Torah, and that only Rabbi Akiva, returned unscathed, they meant to warn us not to embark on such excursions as they might result in our death.
Adam and Chavah entertained doubts about the exact meaning of the result of disobeying G’d’s prohibition and its consequences for anyone disregarding this command. These doubts made them potential victims of the serpent, who phrased the ”threat” in such a manner that Chavah thought there was logic to the serpent’s words, especially when by repeating: לא מות תמותון, the serpent claimed that no manner of “death” would result from her eating from the fruit of the tree.
The serpent implied that creatures who are ranking as high in G’d’s hierarchy as Chavah and her husband, did not have any reason to fear “death.” The serpent implied that the unscreened “light” emanating from the Shechinah was not beyond their ability to digest without harm, on the contrary, they would gain additional wisdom, and become able to tolerate even more intense rays of Divine “light.” "And Noach found favour in the Lord’s eyes.”
If a person finds favour in the eyes of the Lord, then he becomes a נח, i.e. the word being derived from מנוחה, rest, G’d being at rest concerning such a person. When we speak of G’d being מגן אברהם, “the shield of Avraham,” this reflects a reaction by G’d to Avraham who personifies the virtue of חסד, loving kindness, so that G’d protects, מגן, such a person. Similarly if we speak of מגן דוד, “shield of David;” seeing that David personifies the attribute of מלכות, “Royalty” in Jewish history, G’d will act as the shield of David or his descendants, as the title “king” cannot be applied to a person who does not have a people to rule over.
G’d must therefore be a shield for the King’s people, if He approves of the King.This idea is reflected in the Midrash on Genesis 2,2 ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי, “on the seventh day G’d concluded His work.“ He did so because the Sabbath symbolizes Royalty as is evident from the writings of the Ari’zal. [According to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 18, the fact that G’d is not described as either “creating” the seventh day, or “performing any work” on the seventh day, and we do not find the phrase: ויהי ערב ויהי בוקר יום שביעי, “it was evening, it was morning, the seventh day,” in connection with this day, this is significant.
G’d used the seventh day to survey earth and especially the crown of creation, man, whom He had made on the sixth day. He entertained great hopes for man, and indirectly for Himself, when man would choose to serve Him. He used the Sabbath as a King reviews his army, man being equivalent to G’d’s “army” on earth, He being the Commander-in-Chief. Ed.] A completely different approach to the phrase ונח מצא חן בעיני ה': when the tzaddik, righteous person, finds something that appeals to him, he endeavours to use it or part of it, to enhance his service of the Creator.
When he sees a person enthusiastically preparing to commit a sin, he reflects that he should be equally if not even more enthusiastic in his service of the Lord, i.e. he uses even negative phenomena to sublimate them and use them positively, constructively. The Torah in Genesis 6,2-reported on the elite of mankind, בני אלו-הים selecting בנות האדם, morally inferior women, as their mates, showing thereby that they considered these women as possessing חן, “charm, grace,” possessing desirable qualities.
The Torah testifies that Noach resisted such attractions, though he had found them. He willed himself to be attracted to G’d instead, exhorting His qualities, instead of the shallow qualities exuded by the בנות האדם.