Talmud zu Bereschit 1:14

⁹⁷Gen. rabba 1(21), Lev. rabba 36(1), Midrash Samuel 5[1]. The Midrashim seem to be the original source since they apply R. Eleazar ben R. Simeon’s final statement to other pairs of notions. The House of Shammai are saying, heaven was created first and afterwards earth. But the House of Hillel are saying, earth was created first and afterwards heaven. These are bringing proof for their assertion, and those are bringing proof for their assertion. What is the reason of the House of Shammai? In the Beginning God created heaven and earth⁹⁸Gen. 1:1.. {A parable} of a king who made a chair. After he had made it he made its footstool⁹⁹Greek ‘υποπόδιον.: the Heavens are My throne and the Earth My footstool¹⁰⁰Is. 66:1.. What is the reason of the House of Hillel? On the day of the Eternal’s, God’s, making of earth and heaven¹⁰¹Gen. 2:4. {A parable} of a king who made a palace. After he built the foundations he built the upper structure: also My left hand founded the Earth and My right hand tended the Heavens¹⁰²Is. 48:13.. Rebbi Jehudah bar Pazi said, also the following supports the House of Hillel: in earlier times You founded the Earth, and the Heavens are the work of Your hands¹⁰³Ps. 102:26.. Rebbi Ḥanina said, from the place from where the House of Shammai prove their assertion, from there the House of Hillel remove them. What is the reason of the House of Shammai? In the Beginning God created heaven and earth. From there the House of Hillel remove them: and the earth was¹⁰⁴Gen. 1:2., it already was. Rebbi Joḥanan in the name of the Sages: As for creation, the heaven preceded. As for perfecting, the earth preceded. As for creation, the heaven preceded, in the Beginning God created. As for perfecting, the earth preceded, on the day of the Eternal’s, God’s, making of earth and heaven. According to the House of Shammai, the heaven after the First waited three days, First, Second, Third, to have offspring. On the Fourth, there shall be lights¹⁰⁵Gen. 1:14.. According to the House of Shammai, the sea after the Second waited three days, Second, Third, Fourth, to have offspring. On the Fifth, the waters shall teem¹⁰⁶Gen. 1:20.. According to the House of Shammai, the earth after the Third waited three days, Third, Fourth, Fifth, to have offspring. On the Sixth, the earth shall produce¹⁰⁷Gen. 1:24.. According to the House of Hillel, the earth after the First waited two days, First and Second, to have offspring. On the Third, the earth shall be covered with grass. According to the House of Hillel, the sea after the Third waited two days, Third and Fourth, to have offspring. On the Fifth, the waters shall teem. Rebbi Simeon ben Yohai said, I am wondering how the fathers of the world could disagree about the creation of the world. Heaven and earth were only created like a pan¹⁰⁸Greek λοπάς. and its cover. What is the reason? Also My left hand founded the Earth and My right hand tended the Heavens¹⁰⁹The argument is from the end of the verse, not quoted: I am calling to them, they shall stand together.. Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Simeon said, following this, my father’s opinion, sometimes heaven precedes earth, sometimes earth precedes heaven, which teaches that they are equivalent one to another.

In prayer¹⁴⁰The Musaph prayer of the day of the New Moon., Rebbi Yose bar Nahorai said: “He Who sanctifies Israel, renews months.” Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi said: “He Who sanctifies Israel and the New Moon.¹⁴¹This is the Babylonian version, given by a Babylonian.” Samuel said, one must say “bestow on us¹⁴²The formula used on holidays to introduce the final paragraph of the middle benediction of the Amidah: “Bestow on us, o Eternal, our God, the blessing of Your holiday.” There is no mention of this and the following statement of Rav in any Babylonian source. Even though this might indicate concurrence of the Babli, the requirements of Samuel and Rav are not followed. [The Yerushalmi prayer texts from the Cairo Genizah show the Musaph Amidah of the days of the New Moon following the text of the holiday Amidah.].” Rav said, one must mention “time.¹⁴³Recite on the day of New Moon the benediction: “Praise to You, Eternal, our God, King of the Universe, Who made us live, sustained us, and let us reach this time.”” Rebbi Hoshaya stated: (Gen. 1:14) “They should be for signs and appointed times, days and years.¹⁴⁴The explanation is given in Bereshit rabba 6(3): “They shall be for signs”, these are the Sabbaths, “and appointed times,” these are the holidays of pilgrimage, “days,” these are the days of the New Moon, “and years,” that is the sanctification of years. [The Sabbath is called a sign in Ex. 31:13,17. The sanctification of years is the solemn declaration of a Jubilee year by the Synhedrion.] In this interpretation, the days of the New Moon are on the same level as holidays.”

It was stated¹⁵²Babli 27b.: The people of the watch¹⁵³Meaning the bystanders who do not work in this week. are fasting every day. On Monday they were fasting for travellers at sea; God commanded, there shall be a spread in midst of the water¹⁵⁴Gen. 1:6.. On Tuesday they are fasting for road travellers; God commanded, the waters under the sky shall congregate¹⁵⁵Gen. 1:9.. On Wednesday they are fasting for children that diphteria should not develop in their mouths; God commanded, there shall be lights¹⁵⁶Gen. 1:14.. “Curses” is written¹⁵⁷Reading מְאֹרוֹת as מְאֵרוֹת.. On Thursday they are fasting that pregnant women should not miscarry and that the children of nursing women should not die; God commanded, let the waters teem with living creepers¹⁵⁸Gen. 1:20.. They fasted neither on Friday nor on Sunday in order to honor the Sabbath. It was stated: The Great Synhedrion was fasting with them. Can the Synhedrion fast every day? They split themselves into clans. “One does not fast for two reasons simultaneously¹⁵⁹Babli 8b., from the following: we rose and asked of our God for this¹⁶⁰Ezra 8:23, misquoted. The same misquote is in the Munich ms. of the Babli (Diqduqe Soferim Ta`anit p. 38, Note ס). Therefore the misquote is a Midrash, not a scribal error. Editors of the printed Babli corrected the quote..” Rebbi Tanḥuma said, not because of this but because of the following, to ask for mercy from the God of Heaven for this secret¹⁶¹Dan. 2:18.. For if there were two reasons, such as a drought and locusts, one blows the shofar about them. When Rebbi Ḥaggai went for a fast, he said before them: Our brothers, even though in our hearts are many worries, this is for what we came.

¹²⁹Parallel sources are Gen. rabba 6(1), Pesiqta dRav Cahana Haḥodesh, Pesiqta rabbati 15 (Haḥodesh). Rebbi Shila from Kefar Tamarta in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: He made the moon for festive times, the sun knows its destination¹³⁰Ps. 104.19.. Because the sun knows its destination, He made the moon for festive times¹³¹Since the motion of the sun through the seasons is almost not perceptible, holidays are defined by phases of the moon.. Rebbi Berekhiah said, it is written¹³²Num. 33:3. The argument is about the statement in the verse, on the 15th day of the month.: They travelled from Rameses in the first month,etc. When {the sun} sets on the nights of the holiday there were fourteen settings preceding it¹³³This implies that the time of sunset on the first of Nisan must already be part of the new month.. This means that one counts for the moon from the setting of the sun. Rebbi Simon said, they shall be¹³⁴Gen. 1:14. At the creation it is stated that sun and moon together determine the holidays., by both of them. Rebbi Joḥanan said, it was evening, it was morning, one day¹³⁵Gen. 1:5. Without the preceding evening the day is not complete and is not counted.. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, the month¹³⁶Ex. 12:2. Since “month” is written defective, it may be read “new”., until it be totally from the new one. You are finding to say, what Rebbi Joḥanan said requires the statement of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish, and what Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said requires the statement of Rebbi Joḥanan. If Rebbi Joḥanan had stated his but Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had not made his statement, we would have said that he only said that all might be from the new one¹³⁷The verse in Gen. does not indicate any relationship with the declaration of the new moon; therefore the verse in Ex. is needed.. Therefore it is necessary that Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish made his statement. Or if Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had stated his but Rebbi Joḥanan had not made his statement, we would have said that he stated day, therefore not night¹³⁸The verse in Ex. does not indicate how a day is defined. Without the verse in Gen. we could split a day between two months. Babli 20b.. Therefore what Rebbi Joḥanan said is necessary and what Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said is necessary.