<b>In the beginning God created (Gen. 1:1).</b> May it please our master<sup class="footnote-marker">16</sup><i class="footnote">Many <i>yelammedenu</i> (“may our master teach us”) passages are included in Midrash Tanhuma, and for this reason our text is entitled both Midrash Tanhuma and Yelammedenu. Buber, in the introduction to his edition of Tanhuma, maintains that these passages were adopted from an earlier Tanhuma text that is lost to us. See Buber Tanhuma, introduction, p. 13. The <i>yelammedenu</i> statements are found in many other texts.</i> to teach us the benediction one should offer upon the erection of a new home? Thus did our masters of blessed memory teach us: Upon the erection of a new home, a man should recite the blessing: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us in life, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.” He must recite this prayer in order to please his Creator.
You find that the festivals were granted to the Israelites for their pleasure. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Delight yourself therein so that you may repeat them in the year to come,” as it is said: <i>And thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year</i> (Exod. 13:10). That is to say, you should repeat them yearly. Therefore, one may say: Just as an individual blesses the Holy One, blessed be He, so does the Holy One bless him.
R. Hanina declared: We learn this as well from another verse: <i>These ye shall offer unto the Lord in your appointed seasons</i> (Num. 29:39). It does not say “Ye have offered” but rather <i>Ye shall offer,</i> thereby indicating that you should continue to make your offerings at the appointed seasons in the years to come. Hence it follows that the man who completes the erection of a new home or purchases new vessels must recite a blessing upon that occasion.
After the Holy One, blessed be He, created his world, it is written: <i>God blessed the seventh day</i> (Gen. 2:3) After He created the beasts and the birds it is written: <i>He blessed them</i> (ibid., v. 28), and with reference to the creation of man it is written: <i>He blessed them and called their name Adam</i> (ibid. 5:2). He likewise blessed the reptiles and food.
R. Hanina the son of Gamliel stated: Normally, wheat ascends from below and water descends from above, but the Holy One, blessed be He, did not follow that procedure. He sent wheat from above, as it is said: <i>And behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you</i> (Exod. 16:4); while He caused water to ascend from below, as it is said: <i>Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it</i> (Num. 21:17).
R. Berechiah said: Normally, if a man squeezes a sponge, the water in it flows out, and when he releases his grip, the water ceases to flow. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not do so. When he presses (‘<i>asor</i>) the waters stand still, as it is said: <i>Behold, He withholdeth</i> (<i>ya’asor</i>) <i>the waters and they dry up</i> (Job 12:15), but when He releases (<i>patah</i>) the pressure, the waters flow forth, as is said: <i>The Lord will open</i> (<i>yiftah</i>) <i>unto thee His good treasure</i> (Deut. 28:12).
R. Isaac declared: A man first constructs the foundation of a palace and then erects the upper story upon it, but the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned the upper spheres first and then created the earthly spheres, as it is said: <i>In the beginning God created the heaven,</i> and after: <i>and the earth.</i>