Reading Bereshit as the Sixty Pillars Beneath the World

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 2:6

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Do not read "In the beginning" [bereshit] but rather "He created six" [bara shit] — sixty [shitin, conduits] were created from the six days of creation, as it is said, "The curves of your thighs are like ornaments" (Song of Songs 7:2); these are the sixty hollow channels that descend down to the deep. "The work of a master craftsman's hands" — this is the craftsmanship of the Holy One, blessed be He.

Themes