פירוש על בראשית 1:22

ויברך אותם AND HE BLESSED THEM — Because people decreased their number, hunting them and eating them, they needed a blessing (Genesis Rabbah 11:2); it is true that beasts also were in need of a blessing, but on account of the serpent that was to be cursed in the future, He did not bless them, in order that it might not be included in the blessing.

ויברך אותם אלוקים, you will note that all the categories of living creatures whom G’d created were blessed by Him.

ויברך אותם אלוקים, seeing there were so many of them they would not achieve their purpose in this universe without such a Divine blessing.

And He blessed them: He decreed for them the blessing that they should be fruitful and multiply; that is to say He established it in their nature to be fruitful and multiply. And He mentioned this blessing [specifically] with the fish and the fowl, as since they lay eggs, they reproduce more than beasts and animals.

AND G-D BLESSED THEM SAYING. He decreed the blessing on them and said of them that they should be fruitful and multiply, meaning that they should bring forth abundantly, that one creature should bring forth many like itself. The purport of the blessing is procreation, even as it says, And I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations.¹⁹¹Genesis 17:16. In connection with plants also, the term “blessing” applies: Then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year.¹⁹²Leviticus 25:21. However, it does not say so on the third day [when the plants and trees were created] because all created living beings were only a single pair, male and female, according to their kind, and therefore they were in need of a blessing to bring forth abundantly; but in the case of plants, they sprang up over the face of the entire earth in great abundance, just as they exist today. Nor did He mention a blessing on the sixth day for cattle and beasts because in the decree of abundancy which He decreed for the moving souls in the waters there were included the moving souls on the earth, as all living souls that do not speak are in the same class of creation. And our Rabbis have said¹⁹³Bereshith Rabbah 11:2, and quoted here in Rashi. that they [the fish and fowl] were in need of a blessing because people hunt them and eat them.¹⁹⁴“Beasts also were in need of a blessing [for the same reason, namely, that people decrease their numbers by hunting them and eating them], but on account of the serpent that was to be cursed in the future, G-d did not bless them, in order that it might not be included in the blessing. “ Rashi.

And the birds: There are three [places this appears] according to the tradition: [here, where it states,] "and the birds shall increase;" "and the birds ate them" (Genesis 40:17); "this is the law of the beasts and the birds" (Leviticus 11:46). [This is] a hint to that which they said (Chullin 63b), "pure birds are more numerous than impure birds;" this is [what is alluded to by] "and the birds shall increase," meaning that they will be more, [but] which? "And the birds ate them," meaning those that are pure, and so [too], "this is the law, etc." refers to the pure ones.

And He blessed: The reason that God needed to bless that which swarmed from the waters - which He did not do with the creations that came out of the earth - and that, even among those that were born of the water themselves, He brought jealousy by not blessing the swarms of birds; it appears that this must come from an unavoidable reason, [and it] is according to that which I have explained, that that which God commanded the waters to swarm (with creatures) was only for that time and not for afterwards. [Hence,] for the survival of the specie, He commanded that they be fruitful and multiply, since, [had He] not [done] this, the specie would have ended. And given that according to nature, the reproductive facility of the creations that God created, [comes from] the element of fire; as the nature of cold - it is just the opposite - it destroys the reproductive facility. And go and learn form natural science; also from [the] words of [the Sages], of blessed memory, (Shabbat 156b) that God said to Avraham, "what is your thinking [about this], that Saturn lies etc., as it is written (Isaiah 41:2), 'who called righteousness to His feet'" (the Hebrew word, tsedek means both Saturn and righteousness); look there at their words. And according to this, fish do not have the composition that is set in nature for creatures to reproduce and so, therefore God went back with His glorious proclamation and blessed them. "Saying" the explanation [of which] is that the intention of the blessing with which He blessed them is to say that they would be able to reproduce, and that the coldness of the water would not prevent them [from doing so]; and that they would not need to go out of the water to become warmed by the earth, like the chickens (Beitzah 7a) that are [sometimes] fertilized by the ground, but rather they would give off their fruit in the water.

ויברך אותם...פרו ורבו, the land-based mammals were created on the sixth day, on the same day man was created, seeing that both categories of creatures make their habitat on the dry land.

ויברך אותם אלוקים, “G’d blessed them.” Our sages explain that these creatures were in need of a blessing as they are constantly subject to being hunted. The free-roaming beasts on land also required a blessing, but due to the serpent’s having lured man into sin, G’d withheld such a blessing from the entire species. Nachmanides writes that the blessing given to the fish and birds extended also automatically to the mammals created on the sixth day, seeing the common denominator of these creatures was a) they were mobile, b) they could only procreate as a pair (male and female). The plants that were created on the third day were not mobile and not created as separate male and females so that they were less in need of this special blessing that they should be able to multiply. Hence we do not find this blessing at the conclusion of G’d’s activity on the third day.

ויברך אותם אלוקים ”G’d blessed them.” These creatures required this blessing seeing that the humans would engage in hunting and killing them in order to consume them. You may ask why G’d is not reported as blessing the trees and other plants which humans and animals use to feed on? Seeing that G’d Himself had stated in Leviticus 25,21 that the produce of the field was destined for consumption by the Torah-observant Israelites, why did the produce of field and orchard not qualify for a similar blessing? We need to answer that all the living creatures were created as male and female, similar to man himself. This is why G’d blessed them that they be fruitful and multiply by begetting offspring from one another. Not so with the plants which proliferated all over the earth in great abundance. They did not require such a special blessing as they were not in any danger of extinction by hostile man. As to the reason that we also do not find a duplication of the blessing G’d bestowed to the creatures of the fifth day to those created on the sixth day, this was because the blessing G’d bestowed on the fifth day included the moving creatures not created until the sixth day. All living creatures which were not able to speak are in the same category (compare Nachmanides).
You should know that the continued existence of the fish is also due to the power of this blessing; in fact this is why they did not perish during the deluge. The Torah is on record that “all the creatures on dry land perished (Genesis 7,21)” Our sages in Zevachim 113 specifically mention that the fish did not perish. even though all the trees as well as all the moving living creatures perished then.
Another feature of the blessing bestowed on the birds and the fish is that they are not restricted to producing offspring to certain periods of the year but can do so on a year-round basis, something that is not the case with either trees or vegetation of the ground. Even the mammals have a tendency to produce their young only at certain times during the year.

Because they are decimated. [Rashi knows this because] the blessing is not needed so that they can [naturally] multiply. For they are Hashem’s own creation and thus are inherently blessed [with the ability to multiply]. (Re’m)

(22-23) אמר und דבר verhält sich wie sagen und sprechen. דבר, lautverwandt mit דור, (die Reihe gleichzeitig Lebender) טור ,תור ,תפר, bedeutet die einfache Verbindung von Silben zu Worten und Worten zu Sätzen, somit den Ausdruck der Gedanken in Worten ohne Rücksicht auf das Eingehen in das Ohr und das Aufnehmen in die Seele eines Hörenden, also: sprechen, aussprechen. Man kann ohne Zuhörer sprechen. nicht aber ohne solche etwas sagen. אמר aber ist sagen, mitteilen, verwandt mit עומר die Garbe, חמר der Haufe. Es fasst die einzelnen ausgesprochenen Worte nach ihrem Inhalt und ihrer Absicht zusammen, will vermittelst der Rede den einheitlichen Gedanken und den einheitlichen Willen des Redenden ebenso wieder zu einer Gedanken- und Willenseinheit in der Seele des Hörenden zusammengefasst wissen. אמר ist daher immer von der Absicht eines unmittelbaren Erfolges begleitet, nicht so דבר. Wir sprechen daher von עשרה מאמרות und von עשרת הדברות. Gottes Schöpfungsworte waren unmittelbare Tat. Die Verwirklichung war die unmittelbare Folge. Gottes Gesetzesworte sind zunächst nur Aussprüche des göttlichen Willens. Sie bleiben ausgesprochen, auch wenn zeitweilig keiner sie hört, keiner sie befolgt. לאמר steht daher überall bei der Rede, wo die Absicht ausgedrückt wird, dass das Gesprochene eingeprägt, verstanden, nach seinem Inhalt vollständig begriffen, und zur vollen Erkenntnis oder vollen Willensbestimmung gelangen soll. אמר בלבו: sich selbst etwas zum Bewusstsein bringen, sich selbst etwas einprägen oder zur Befolgung vorsetzen, und ebenso לאמר bei der Selbstrede, wo der Mensch sein eigener Zuhörer ist. לאמר bei Gottes Gesetzesaussprüchen enthält immer die Bestimmung, das kurz und präzis Ausgesprochene (וידבר) nach seinem ganzen Inhalt zum Verständnis und zur Verwirklichung zu bringen. Es ist die תורה שבעל פה zur תורה שבכתב. Daher heißen auch die Dolmetscher und Erklärer des Gesetzes אמוראים. Hier bei einem Schöpfungsworte ist לאמר wie die übrigen מאמרות der Schöpfung: Anordnung, Geheiß, dem die Verwirklichung sofort folgt. Gott segnete die organisch lebendigen Wesen, d. h. er gab ihnen die Kraft zur Fortpflanzung und Vermehrung, und mit dieser Kraft gab er ihnen zugleich die Weisung und den Trieb dazu. Denn in den unfreien lebendigen organischen Wesen ist Kraft und Erfüllung nicht getrennt. Wozu Gott ihnen Kraft gibt, zu dessen Verwirklichung treibt sie auch von selbst die Kraft. Es ist das Gotteswort, das sich fort und fort in ihnen vollzieht. Es ist daher der Gottessegen, der fort und fort in ihnen spricht: Befruchtet euch und vervielfacht euch und füllet das Wasser in den Meeren, der Vogel aber vervielfältige sich auf der Erde. פרו ist die Erzeugung der Brut. רבו ist die Sorge für die Jungen, durch die die Vermehrung bedingt ist.

And God blessed them: And so [too] (Genesis 2:3), "And God blessed the seventh day." Behold, you have learned [from this] that one who acquires a new thing should make the blessing of 'shehechianu.'

פרו ורבו בימים והעוף ירב בארץ, “be fruitful and multiply in the oceans, and let the birds multiply on earth.” The reason why G-d did not extend a similarly worded blessing for the mammals was so that they should not increase at a faster rate than the human race and man would not be able to prevail against them. Birds and fish whose habitat is the airspace and the seas respectively, do not pose a similar problem.

פרו BE FRUITFUL — פרו is of the same root as פרי, and means bring forth fruit.

ומלאו את המים, this is in the imperative mode, but in a relatively weak conjugation such as אמרו לאלוקים in Psalms 663, or in Hoseah 2,5 רדפו מהר. If the Torah had written mal-u instead mil-u this would have been an imperative in the strong conjugation, comparable to G’d commanding Moses and Aaron with the words dabb-ru (Exodus 12,3.)

"In the seas:" In all of the places that water gathers; even in the rivers that are not seas but are [still] a place of water, as it is written (Exodus 7:19), "upon their rivers, upon their estuaries, upon their lakes and upon all the gathering of their waters."

את המים בימים, the waters which are in the oceans; for in the rivers and streams the fish do not reproduce at such rapid rates. The directive by G’d to multiply was not addressed to them directly, seeing they do not possess the intelligence to receive and understand such messages. What the Torah means is that G’d’s goodwill towards them was equivalent to His having addressed such a blessing to them directly.

The animals also... but since the serpent... We need not ask why the animals remain numerous although Hashem did not bless them and they are constantly decimated. For the answer is: The blessings given to man also included the animals, since they reproduce in a fashion similar to man. This is preferable to Re’m’s answer that the fish’s blessing was in general, for all נפש חיה, and also included the animals, who are נפש חיה. [You might ask:] Mankind was blessed although they are not constantly decimated. Why was being created by the will of their Creator insufficient [to make them inherently blessed]? A possible answer is: Hashem knew that Adam would eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and become affected by the Snake’s impurity, thus receiving an evil inclination — causing many wars in the world.

And this is [why] it states, "and fill the waters, in the seas;" [as] it is difficult, why is is it needed to state "in the seas" and not suffice with stating, "and fill the waters;" but rather the intention is that within the seas, there will they swarm, and that is the blessing of the Blesser, may He be blessed. And it finishes [by] stating, "and the birds will multiply in the earth," since it will increase in the way of all the earth and [this] is correct.

AND FILL THE WATERS IN THE SEA. He blessed them that in their abundancy they would fill the seas, the streams and the pools. Or it may be that their “filling” is to be in the seas only for in the streams they are few.

Be fruitful and multiply: And mules were not included in [this] blessing, as we say (Genesis 36:24), "he is Anah, who found the mules in the wilderness;" and therefore, they do not reproduce and multiply in the world. And even according to Rabbi Yose - who concludes in Chapter Makom She'nahagu, that on the night after the first Shabbat, Adam brought two beasts and cross-breeded them, and from them came the mule - it is not difficult, [since] it had previously been said, "be fruitful and multiply" [and the mule had already been excluded].

ורבו AND MULTIPLY — Had He said “Be fruitful” only, one creature might have brought forth a single one, and no more, therefore He added ורבו “and multiply”, implying that one should bring forth many.

ירב. The word means “may it increase in numbers,” an alternate way of saying yirbeh. We have a similar construction in yifen and yifneh respectively, meaning: “he will turn.” Any verb that can accept the letter ה at the end, may appear both with or without that letter.

"Multiply upon the earth:" Since even those that dwell in the water and are nurtured there lay their eggs on the land (Netivot Hashalom).

Give birth to many. This means in one birth, i.e., twins. We need not ask: It could say just רְבוּ. Why say also פְּרוּ? For [the answer is:] We would not know whether רְבוּ means many offspring or great height. Similarly we find in Parshas Bechukosai (Vayikra 26:9), on the verse והרביתי אתכם, which means “erect stature.” But by saying both פְּרוּ and רְבוּ, we understand that רְבו is connected to פְּרוּ, and means many offspring. (Nachalas Yaakov)

AND LET FOWL MULTIPLY IN THE EARTH. Although the fowl were created out of the waters, their blessing — that they be fruitful and multiply — was to be on the earth for there is no fowl that lays its eggs in the waters and has them grow there. Even those fowl which abide always in the waters and derive their food from them lay their eggs on the earth, and there they are born.