The Primordial Elements

Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus opened: "Who can express the mighty acts of the LORD, or make heard all His praise?" (Psalms 106:2). Now is there any person in the world who is able to express the might of the Holy One, blessed be He, or to make heard all His praise? Even the ministering angels are unable to recount but a portion of His mighty acts! Yet it is fitting for us to expound concerning what He has done and what He is destined to do, so that the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, may be exalted through His creatures whom He created from one end of the world to the other, as it is said: "One generation shall praise Your works to another" (Psalms 145:4). Before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, and His great name alone existed, and it arose in thought to create the world. And He was tracing out the world before Him, but it would not stand. They made a parable: To what is the matter comparable? To a king who wishes to build his palace; if he does not first trace upon the ground its foundations, its entrances and its exits, he does not begin to build. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, traced out the world before Him, and it would not stand until He created repentance. Seven things were created before the world was created, and these are they: the Torah, Gehinnom, the Garden of Eden, the throne of glory, the Temple, repentance, and the name of the Messiah. The Torah, from where? As it is said: "The LORD acquired me as the beginning of His way, before His works of old" (Proverbs 8:22). "Before" means before the world was created. Gehinnom, from where? As it is said: "For Topheth has long been prepared" (Isaiah 30:33). "Long ago," before the world was created. The Garden of Eden, from where? As it is said: "And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east (mikedem)" (Genesis 2:8). "From of old (mikedem)," before the world was created. The throne of glory, from where? As it is said: "Your throne is established from of old" (Psalms 93:2). "From of old," before the world was created. The Temple, from where? As it is said: "A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning" (Jeremiah 17:12). "From the beginning," before the world was created. Repentance, from where? As it is said: "Before the mountains were born" (Psalms 90:2), and it is written: "You return man to dust" (Psalms 90:3). "Before," before the world was created. The name of the Messiah, from where? As it is said: "Before the sun his name shall continue" (Psalms 72:17). And another verse says: "And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the thousands of Judah... and his origins are from of old (mikedem)" (Micah 5:1). "From of old," before the world was created. Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, took counsel with the Torah, whose name is Tushiyah, to create the world. She answered Him and said: Master of the worlds, if there is no army and no camp for a king, over what does he rule? And if there is no people to acclaim the king, where is the honor of the king? The Master of the world heard, and it was pleasing to Him. The Torah said: Through me the Holy One, blessed be He, took counsel to create the world, as it is said: "Mine is counsel and sound wisdom (tushiyah)" (Proverbs 8:14), and so on. From here the Sages said: Any kingdom that has no counselors, its kingdom is no kingdom. And from where do we learn this? From the kingdom of the house of David, which had counselors, as it is said: "And Jonathan, David's uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding and a scribe" (1 Chronicles 27:32). And the kingdom of the house of David had counselors; and as for every other person, how much more is it good for them, as it is said: "And he who listens to counsel is wise" (Proverbs 12:15). And another verse says: "And in an abundance of counselors there is deliverance" (Proverbs 11:14). Eight things were created on the first day, and these are they: heaven and earth, light and darkness, unformed and void, wind and water, as it is said: "And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). And some say: also day and night, as it is said: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day" (Genesis 1:5). And eight on the second day, and these are they: the well and the manna and the staff and the rainbow and the writing and the inscribed text and the priestly tunic and the harmful spirits. And ten things arose in thought: Jerusalem, and the spirits of the patriarchs, and the ways of the righteous, and Gehinnom, and the waters of the flood, and the second tablets, and the Sabbath, and the Temple, and the ark, and the light for the World to Come. From what place were the heavens created? From the light of the garment of the Holy One, blessed be He, in which He is clothed. He took of it and spread it out like a robe, and they stretched and went on until He said to them: Enough (dai), and therefore His name is called Shaddai, for He said to the heavens "Enough," and they stood still. And from where do we know that they were created from the light of His garment? As it is said: "Wrapping Himself in light as a robe, stretching out the heavens like a curtain" (Psalms 104:2). From what place was the earth created? From the snow that is beneath the throne of glory; He took it and cast it upon the waters, and the waters congealed and the dust of the earth was made, as it is said: "For He says to the snow: Become earth" (Job 37:6). The foundations of the heavens are held fast in the waters of the Ocean, for the waters of the Ocean stand between the ends of the heavens and the ends of the earth, and the ends of the heavens are held fast upon the waters of the Ocean. For the waters of the Ocean are between the ends of the earth and the ends of the heavens, and the ends of the heavens are spread out upon the waters of the Ocean, as it is said: "He who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters" (Psalms 104:3). The structure of the heavens rises above like a sphere. It is like a spread tent, its edges below and its center above, and all the children of men dwell beneath it. So too are the heavens: their edges below and their center above, like a tent, as it is said: "And He spreads them like a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22). There are four winds in the world: the wind of the eastern corner, the wind of the western corner, the wind of the southern corner, the wind of the northern corner. The wind of the eastern corner, from there light goes forth to the world. The wind of the southern corner, from there dews of blessing and rains of blessing go forth to the world. The wind of the western corner, from there darkness goes forth to the world. The wind of the northern corner, from there the storehouses of snow and storehouses of hail, and cold and heat and rains go forth to the world. Another interpretation: the wind of the northern corner, He created it but did not finish it. He said that anyone who claims to be a god, let him come and finish this corner that I have left, and all will know that he is a god. And there is the dwelling place for the harmful spirits and the tremors, for the spirits and the demons and the lightnings and the thunders. And from there evil goes forth to the world, as it is said: "From the north evil shall break forth" (Jeremiah 1:14). With ten utterances the world was created, and these are they: "And God said: Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), "And God said: Let there be a firmament" (Genesis 1:6), "And God said: Let the waters be gathered" (Genesis 1:9), "And God said: Let the earth sprout" (Genesis 1:11), "And God said: Let there be luminaries" (Genesis 1:14), "And God said: Let the waters swarm" (Genesis 1:20), "And God said: Let the earth bring forth" (Genesis 1:24), "And God said: Let us make man" (Genesis 1:26), "And God said: Behold, I have given to you" (Genesis 1:29), "And God said: It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). And with three He encompassed it, and these are they: with wisdom, with understanding, and with knowledge, as it is said: "The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens; by His knowledge the deeps were split open" (Proverbs 3:19-20). And with these three the Tabernacle was made, as it is said: "And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and with understanding and with knowledge" (Exodus 31:3). And with these three the Temple was made, as it is said: "He was the son of a widow woman of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and knowledge" (1 Kings 7:14). And with these three it is destined to be built, as it is said: "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge the chambers are filled" (Proverbs 24:3-4). And with these three He is destined to give three good gifts to Israel, as it is said: "For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6). And these three were given doubled to the King Messiah, as it is said: "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding" (Isaiah 11:2), and so on.