Seven Things Created Before The World And Torah

Rabbi Chanina said: Come and see how good a thing the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world before the world was created — and what is it? The Torah. There we learned: "Seven things were created before the creation of the world, and these are they: the Torah, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, repentance, the Garden of Eden, Gehinnom, and the name of the Messiah." The Throne of Glory — from where? As it is said, "Thy throne is established from of old" (Ps. 93:2). The Temple — from where? As it is said, "A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary" (Jer. 17:12). The Garden of Eden — from where? As it is said, "And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, from aforetime" (Gen. 2:8). Gehinnom — from where? As it is said, "For Tophet is ordained from of old" (Isa. 30:33). Repentance — from where? As it is said, "Before the mountains were brought forth" (Ps. 90:2), and it is written after it, "Thou turnest man back to contrition, and sayest, Return, ye children of men" (Ps. 90:3). The name of the Messiah — from where? As it is said, "May his name endure for ever; before the sun, may his name flourish" (Ps. 72:17). The Torah — from where? As it is said, "The LORD possessed me as the beginning of His way, before His works of old" (Prov. 8:22). What is written above it? "That I may cause those that love me to inherit yesh (substance), and I will fill their treasuries" (Prov. 8:21). In the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will cause every single righteous person to inherit three hundred and ten worlds [the word yesh has the numerical value of 310, by gematria; hence "to inherit yesh" is read as three hundred and ten]; therefore it is said "that I may cause those that love me to inherit yesh." In the beginning the Torah was in the heavens, as it is said, "Then I was beside Him as a nursling (amon), and I was His delight day by day" (Prov. 8:30); and afterward Moses went up and brought her down to the earth and gave her to humankind, as it is said, "Rejoicing (mesacheket) in His habitable earth, and my delights were with the sons of man" (Prov. 8:31). Rabbi Alexandri said: What is "rejoicing in His habitable earth"? From this you learn that ten names were given to the earth, and these are they: eretz, adamah, charvah, yabbashah, arka, tevel, cheled, reshit, gei, sadeh — eretz ["earth"], because the sons of man run (ratzim) upon it; adamah ["ground"], because from it Adam (Adam ha-Rishon, the first man) was created; charvah ["dry land"], because the waters lay it waste (macharivin); yabbashah ["dry land"], from the time it received (kibblah) the blood of Abel [reading it as the earth that drank the spilled blood]; arka ["earth," Aramaic], because it fled (barchah) before the Holy One, blessed be He, when He wished to give Israel the Torah on Mount Sinai; tevel ["world"], because it is seasoned (metabbelet) with its fruits; cheled ["world," "duration"], because the sons of man are transient (chaludim) upon it; reshit ["beginning"], because it is the beginning of all the work of creation (ma'aseh bereshit); gei ["valley"], because it is made with hills (geva'ot); sadeh ["field"], because it is made into fields (sadot).