פירוש על בראשית 1:21

התנינים THE HUGE CREATURES — the large fishes that are in the sea; and according to the statement of the Agada (Bava Batra 74b) it means here the Leviathan and its consort which He created male and female. He, however, killed the female and preserved it in salt for the benefit of the righteous in the time to come, for had they been permitted to be fruitful and to multiply the world could not have endured because of them.

התנינים הגדולים, even though, in the previous verse, the Torah reports on the directive for the waters to produce multiple reproductions of each species which has its habitat in the waters, and we could have thought that this did not include gigantic creatures such as whales, the fact is they (it) too had been produced by the waters at the same time. The species described as Leviathan, Nachash beriach and Leviathan beriach in Isaiah 27,1 and the Leviathan described in Job 40,25 are what our verse here refers to.

ויברא אלוקים את התנינים, the evolutionary powers of the waters did not suffice for this task. They could not produce the original sea-monsters without having been provided for this with seed by the Creator.

And God created the great (sea) monsters (taninim): [The verse] began with the taninim because of their unusual largeness, to inform that they too were the work of His hands, may He be blessed. And all animals that are of unusual largeness - that live in the water or crawl on the earth - are called taninim.

And He created etc., to their species: The verse informs us that even though that at the time of the Holy One, blessed be He's, pronouncement, several species came forth in the water and with the birds; nonetheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, continued to create several species from those that already came out also afterwards. For example, the chicken that came out from the pronouncement, [resulted] in many species with the same characteristics as the chicken and they are all [considered] one species. And so [too] is it with all those mentioned in this verse.

AND G-D CREATED THE GREAT SEA-MONSTERS. Because of the great size of these creatures, some consisting of many Persian miles — the Greeks in their books even relate that they knew some of them to be 500 Persian miles long, and our Rabbi likewise spoke of them in magnifying terms¹⁸⁷Baba Bathra 73b. — on account of that, Scripture explicitly ascribes their creation to G-d for He brought them forth from nought from the beginning, as I have explained the expression b’riyah (creation). Similarly, Scripture does so in the case of man¹⁸⁸Verse 27: And G-d created man in His own image. on account of his exaltedness, thus informing us that man, with his mind and reason, also came forth from nought.
I wonder why it does not say “and it was so” on this day? Perhaps it would not have been possible to mention And He created after saying, “and it was so,” since it refers to the preceding.¹⁸⁹If Verse 20 (Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, etc.) would have concluded with the expression and it was so, it would have implied the creation of the sea-monster, since they also swarm in the waters. How then could it say in the following verse, And G-d created the sea-monster, as if it were another act of creation? To say, and it was so after vayibra (And He created) is also not possible for this would be redundant. Hence on the fifth day, the expression and it was so does not appear in Scripture.
Our Rabbis have said¹⁹⁰Baba Bathra 74b. that the great sea-monsters are the Leviathan and its mate which He created male and female. He then slew the female and preserved it in salt for the benefit of the righteous in the hereafter. It is possible that on account of this it would not have been appropriate to say concerning their creation, “and it was so,” since they did not continue to exist [in the form in which they were created].

And God created, etc.: The explanation is that God added power to the two parts of creation that were created from the water. And that which it repeated to say, "and all the living souls, etc." and that the waters did not suffice to bring them out - which we did not find with what was done by the ground in the bringing forth of grasses and herbs, [whereby] the proclamation of God was sufficient for it - you should know that neither a grower nor a creator can create more that what is in the potential of its [own] growth, since how can a person give what he doesn't have; and behold, the water and the dirt lack living spirit, and from where would they have spirit to give to those they create. And even though the earth and the waters have a very fine life force, even if they give from it, they would not [be able] to give more than what is in them, and this would be insufficient for the fish and the birds; so therefore, their power was not enough and God had to create a living spirit and this is [what is meant] when it states, "And He created, etc. all the souls, etc." And if in His command to the waters, He said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls," the explanation is [that] the swarms be set up to receive living souls. Since you need to know that life force [requires] a setup and that is the intermediary between it and between matter, and the ability to create [such a set up] exists in the waters, since, as we have said, they have a fine spiritual power.

ויברא אלוקים את התנינים, we do not find the expression ויהי כן in this paragraph. The reason that the Torah had to introduce this paragraph with the words ויברא אלוקים, “G’d created,” as distinct from “the waters brought forth,” or something similar, is that the waters were not capable of producing creatures of such dimensions and capabilities without additional input by G’d Himself. Both G’d and the waters combined to produce these monsters, hence their creation is described by the word ויברא.

ויברא אלוקים את התנינים הגדולים, “G’d created the large sea-monsters.” According to Nachmanides the Torah used the term בריאה for the “creation” of these sea monsters because of their tremendous size, a term normally reserved for creating something out of nothing. The Torah had used the same term when G’d created man, as man is such a superior creature that he cannot be compared to other mammals. The reason why the Torah fails to add the customary ויהי כן, signaling that the phenomenon now created endured, is precisely because in this instance it did not endure. According to our sages in Baba Batra 75 G’d killed the female of the pair and salted away its flesh in order to serve it for the righteous at a future time.

According to the Aggadah this refers to the Leviasan. Rashi is answering the question: Why did it specify התנינם, as opposed to any other creature? And why were they singled out among all living beings by the definite article ה? Thus Rashi explains, “According to the Aggadah...” (Devek Tov)

תנינים. Ein Wort zweifelhafter Ableitung. Möglich, dass die Wurzel נון ist mit vorgesetztem ת, (wie תנור von תלמיד ,ניר von למד, vielleicht auch תפוח von נפח, (aufgeblasen, Ball, Apfel נון chaldäisch Fisch von נין hebräisch Nachkommen, wie גד von דגה sich reichlich vermehren, wovon auch דגן, wegen der vielen Körner auf einem Halm. תנין wäre ein Fisch- oder doch dem Fische verwandtes Tiergeschlecht. — Ebenso zweifelhaft ist הרמשת, von רמש .רמש ist offenbar verwandt mit רמס .רמס aber bedeutet überall ein festes, starkes Auftreten, ja selbst ein Zertreten, während רמש doch, wie es scheint, die leise Bewegung kleiner und kleinster Tiere bedeutet. Es könnte nun allerdings sein, dass רמש eine schwächere Form von רמם wäre, und רמז, die schwächste, die nur ein Winken bedeutet. Analogien dafür finden sich z. B. זנה (verstärkt זנה (völlig verlassen צנה ,סנה ,שנא, wovon das erste Liebe abwenden, das zweite Hass zuwenden, das dritte abwehren, zurückweisen, daher Dorn, und das vierte den Stachelschild bedeutet. Ebenso זוז die leise Bewegung, שוש die innere freudige Bewegung, סוס das schnelle Roß, und צוץ die hervorbrechende Blüte. Allein eine sprachliche Erscheinung spricht doch einer andern Auffassung das Wort. סוס heißt Ross und 00 die Kleidermotte. (Ebenso עש die Wollmade und חוש ,עוש eilen.) Es scheint daher die Stärke der Bewegung nicht lediglich nach der in einer gegegeben Zeit zurückgelegten Strecke, sondern auch nach der Zahl der in einer gegebenen Zeit wiederholten Bewegungstätigkeiten, somit nach der Energie der Bewegung, bemessen zu werden. Zählen wir die in einer Minute vom kleinsten Wurm gemachten Schritte und vergleichen sie mit der vom schnellsten Roß in gleicher Zeit gemachten, so dürfte der kleinste Wurm das schnellste Ross an Schnelligkeit der Bewegung weit überflügeln, und es begreift sich wie סוס das Ross und סס der Wurm, ebenso aber auch wie רמס das stärkste Auftreten und רמש die Bewegung kleiner und kleinster Tiere bedeuten kann. Die Energie, die sich dort in der Stärke des einzelnen Trittes offenbart, zeigt sich hier in der Raschheit der wiederholten Bewegung. Jedenfalls scheint, wie שרץ die selbstthätige Bewegung, die Bewegung nach einem Ziele hin im allgemeinen, so רמש diese Bewegung in ihrer Beziehung zu dem Widerstandselemente, dem Boden, dem Wasser, zu bedeuten, welches den Stützpunkt für die Hebelbewegung bildet. — כנף verwandt mit גנב, entziehen, dem Blick entziehen, לא יכנף עוד מוריך. Daher auch כנף, der Gewandzipfel. כנף scheint den Flügel nach seiner den Körper (und die Jungen) bergenden Bestimmung, somit mehr den ruhenden Flügel zu bezeichnen. Daher auch die Ausdrücke: בצל כנפיך תסתירני, ופרשת כנפך על אמתך und sonst, wo immer die bergende, dem Anblick Anderer entziehende Bedeutung hervortritt. Gleichwohl erscheint es auch ohne weiteres als das Werkzeug der Bewegung, המהלך על כנפי רוח und sonst. Dass כנף auch in dieser Beziehung den Flügel bedeutet, weil er den Vogel der Erde und unserem Blicke entzieht, wäre nicht unmöglich. "Es ist also Gott, der die großen Fischgeschlechter geschaffen und so auch jedes Wesen des kleinen sich fortbewegenden Lebens, welche die Wasser für ihre Gattungen hervorgebracht haben, und jeden beschwingten Vogel für seine Gattung, und Gott, der sah, dass es gut sei." — Auch hier wie bei זרעים steht das Gattungsgesetz nur bei der Ausführung und war bei der Anordnung implizit gegeben.

נפש חיה — that have vitality.

That crawls: [This is] an expression of trampling; which is to say that the whole body is on the earth and tramples the ground.

אשר שרצו המים, you should know that in parts of the oceans which are far distant from the dry land there are no fish, seeing the waters by themselves are unable to sustain their lives by supplying the fish with additional food such as plants which grow on land or vegetation on rocks which are close to land, or refuse left by man as food for the fish by the passing ships. Fishermen do not explore the areas we have mentioned, as it is impossible for their boats to enter such waters without risking their lives. Fishermen are alerted to the fact that they approach such areas by the absence of fish in the regions close to the ones described. The oceans are constantly stormy in such regions.

He killed the female. Rashi is answering the question: It is written התנינם without the י of the plural form, implying there was only one. Yet we read it as התנינים, plural. Thus Rashi explains that Hashem created them male and female, and therefore we read it in the plural form. But later He killed the female, and that is why it is written in the singular form. (Devek Tov)

And in the great sea monsters, God made a change in their creation - as we have said - and He didn't state in [a more] general [fashion], "And He created the souls of the sea monsters and all the souls, etc.;" by which the verse revealed that they are different from everything [else] in the waters; since besides that God implanted a soul within them, also in the power of their creation itself, God created an extra power within them; since there is no power within the waters to make it, as we have said. And this is the amazing fish, it is the leviathan, and its matters are explained in [the] words of [the Sages], of blessed memory (Bava Batra 74b). And the reason it did not state about this creation, "and it was so," is that there is no place for it, since it is not needed to say "and it was so" except when only the proclamation of God is stated; [there] the Torah tells "and it was so," since He [had] said, "let there be;" which is not the case when it states, "And He created" - proclamation is included in it, execution is included in it.

The great whales. See Rashi in the name of the Aggadah. A species is considered to be in its ideal state only when male and female dwell together. Some creatures, however, are so huge that this world would be unable to bear them. Thus if the Leviasan were to mate the world would be destroyed.

That the waters swarmed: See the previous verse.

הגדולים, this description is justified seeing that on the dry land there are no creatures which are of a size comparable to whales, etc. Compare the stories told in the Book of Job (chapters 40-41) extolling the size and power of these creatures. Some people believe that the various names by which these creatures are described refer to a species and a sub-species, whereas others believe that the descriptions refer to a single species or specimen. Still others believe that all the large sea monsters are known by the collective name of “Leviathan.” The scholar Rabbi Avraham bar Chiya wrote that the reason why the Torah employs the word ויברא in connection with the fish instead of writing ויעש, “He made (completed),” is because fish are not truly fully developed living creatures, seeing they do not possess a lung with which to breathe, and due to their inability to live on land. G’d blessed all these creatures in the water at the time they were created, as we know from Genesis 1,22, although a similar blessing is not recorded in connection with the creation of either domesticated beasts or free-roaming beasts.
It was due to this blessing that the various fish and water-based creatures survived the deluge without having to take refuge in Noach’s ark. Furthermore, it is due to this blessing that these marine creatures increase and multiply at all times of the year, seeing the blessing contained the words “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the oceans, and also the birds shall multiply on earth in a similar fashion (during any period of the year).” In this respect both the fish and the birds behave in a manner similar to human beings who can and do mate and fertilise their female partners without regard to the season of the year. The mammals which did not receive this blessing from G’d are only able to create progeny at certain times of the year, something called “the mating season” (compare Rosh Hashanah 11).

According to its species... according to their species: See above, verse 11.

הרמשת, its mobility testifies to it being a living creature.

ואת כל נפש החיה הרומשת “and every thing which has a living soul which moves.” this is a reference to the vision of Ezekiel of the four-faceted חיה, i.e. the phenomenon with the faces of a human being, a lion an ox and an angel. Ezekiel 10,15 mentions it as being a subject of his vision when he stood at the banks of the river Kevar

ואת כל עוף כנף למינהו, “and every winged bird according to its kind.” Here the Torah explained that the angels created on the fifth day were of a variety of categories, of varying degrees of holiness; some of them were the products of the element fire, others of the element water. Some were powerful enough to overpower fire, others would be destroyed by fire if they were in on a collision course.(compare Yuma 21).