There's a fascinating discussion in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that tackles this very question. It all starts with the verse "When they were created [behibare’am]…” Rabbi Pinḥas, quoting Rabbi Levi, points out a subtle but powerful detail: the Hebrew word contains the letter heh [beheh].
Now, the heh isn't just any letter. It's a light, almost effortless sound to pronounce. The idea here is that God created the world with the same ease it takes to say "heh." Effortlessly. That’s a pretty mind-blowing concept, isn’t it?
To support this, they bring in a verse from Isaiah 66:2: "My hand made all these [eleh], and all these came into being, the utterance of the Lord…” Rabbi Yehuda, quoting Rabbi Simon, emphasizes that God didn't need exertion or toil. The world came into being through a mere utterance! It's like God just spoke, and poof, there it was.
But wait, there's more. Rabbi Yudan offers another perspective. He suggests the world was created through the merit of the Torah. He finds support in Leviticus 26:46: "These [eleh] are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord gave between Him and the children of Israel at Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." See that word "these" [eleh] again? It's the same word used in Isaiah, linking creation to the giving of the Torah.
And Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya chimes in with yet another idea: maybe the world was created through the merit of the tribes of Israel. He draws our attention to Exodus 1:1: "These [eleh] are the names…" and connects it back to the Isaiah verse: "And all these [eleh] came into being."
So, what does it all mean?
It seems the rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah aren't just giving us a simple answer. They're offering multiple ways to understand the creation. Was it effortless divine speech? Was it the power of the Torah? Was it the merit of the tribes?
Perhaps it's all of the above. Maybe the creation was a symphony of effortless power, divine intention, and the inherent worth of what was to come. And isn’t that a more wondrous thought than just one single answer?