Halakhah sur La Genèse 1:2

What brought this commentator to this difficulty was because many treated the verse “In the beginning God created (bara)” (ibid. 1:1) as if it was written “At the beginning of God’s creating (bero) the heavens and the earth, the earth was empty (tohu) and void (vohu)” – it did not exist, meaning there was no earth. Similarly, “darkness” is the absence of light, meaning there was none.¹⁰ According to this interpretation nothing existed prior to the creation of light. So the first created condition was light, followed by darkness at night. Thus a 24-hour day consists of light followed by darkness – day followed by night. But this interpretation is completely incorrect. Because why did he need to mention the heavens since it did not state that they were nonexistent like the earth? Also, from a grammatical point of view, why is there an added vav (“and”) to the word “veha’arez”? This is not the same as the extra vav found in verbs, as in “On the third day Abraham lifted (vayisa) his eyes” (ibid. 22:4), “he abandoned (vaya’azov) his servants” (Exodus 9:21). They are like the weak fe in Arabic, for Arabic forms are similar to those of the Holy Tongue (Hebrew). However, no vav is added to nouns. Also, according to this interpretation the wind and the water were not created,¹¹ No mention is made of the creation of air and water, even though they are referred to in verse 2. yet it is written in the book of Psalms with regard to both of these “for He commanded and they came to be” (148:5).¹² The verses in Psalms are: “Praise Him, heavens of heavens (the sphere of fire), and waters that are above the heavens. They should praise the name of God, for he commanded and they were created” (148:4–5). Even darkness was created, as it is written “who forms light and creates darkness” (Isaiah 45:7).

The meaning of “was empty and void” (“tohu vavohu”) (Genesis 1:2) is that it contained neither man nor animal. As Jeremiah explains, “I saw the land and it was empty and void (tohu vavohu)” (4:23), for which he explains the meaning afterward by saying, “I saw and there was no man” (ibid. 4:25) nor “animal” (ibid. 9:9). Similarly, “like the light of the seven days” (Isaiah 30:26) is an explanation of “sevenfold” (ibid.). Also, “that which I will be” (Exodus 3:14) explains “I will be” (ibid.). I have already explained the mystery of “sevenfold.”¹⁶ In his Alternative Commentary to Genesis (1:14), Ibn Ezra explains that the light increasingly intensified over the seven days of Creation, hence “sevenfold” means that there were seven stages to the light. Our Rabbis hinted at this when they said that on the fourth day the luminaries were hung (Hagiga 12a). How admirable to the intelligent is the choice of the word “hung.”¹⁷ The description of Creation in the book of Genesis deals only with creation of the lower world, the world of generation and decay, and it does not expound on the creation of the heavenly bodies. So all Scripture tells us about the heavenly bodies is that they were “hung” and visible to the lower world. Thus the words of Jeremiah disprove those who say that “tohu vavohu” means that there was no earth.

Now the darkness proceeded the light, as it is written (Genesis 1:2). The great movement (diurnal movement) includes the time of darkness and light, and that is called “yom” (day), that is, a complete day of twenty-four hours.¹⁸ Thus “day” includes a period of darkness and a period of light, in that order. This does not conflict with the fact that Scripture first mentioned “God called the light ‘day’” (Genesis 1:5) before the night, for this is common with the Hebrew language, namely, when someone mentions two things he should begin with the latter.¹⁹ Verses 3 and 4 refer to the light, therefore verse 5 begins by calling the light “day.” For example, “I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac, and I gave to Esau…” (Joshua 24:4). In the same way, “Your’s is the day also the night” (Psalms 74:16), and he mentions the minor luminary (the moon) that governs the night before the greater luminary (the sun), although the latter is more important than the former. Also, do not be perplexed when Scripture says “He formed the light and created darkness” (Isaiah 40:12). Scripture puts the light first because it has advantages over darkness, even though darkness came before the light. Similarly, in the verse “His sons Isaac and Ishmael” (Genesis 25:9).²⁰ Isaac is mentioned first, even though he was the younger son. Also, “There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife” (ibid. 49:31), although he buried her.²¹ Abraham is mentioned first although Sarah was buried first.

And about the reason that water purifies everything impure, I would think on the side of the simple understanding that it is in order that a man see himself with the immersion as if he is created at that time, [just] like the whole world was water before man was upon it - as it is written (Genesis 1:2), "and the spirit of God floated upon the face of the waters." And through this comparison, he place upon his heart that [just] like he is renewed in his body, he also renew his actions for the good, fix his actions and be exacting in the way of God, blessed be He. And therefore the Sages said that the purification is not fit with water that is in a vessel, but rather only with living water - or collected [water], which is on the ground and, in any case, not in a vessel - in order to place in his heart the thought as if the world was entirely water, and [that] he is renewed with his emerging from them, as we said. But if the water was in a vessel - or even if it passed through a vessel - this matter that we said would not be set in the thought of the one immersing. As there is a limit to all that is in a vessel, which is the creation of the hands of man. And therefore when he immerses in a vessel, he will not think as if the whole world is water like at the beginning [of Creation], and that he is renewed at that time. 'And the one who accepts, will accept; and the one who refrains will refrain.'