פירוש על בראשית 2:19

ויצר מן האדמה NOW OUT OF THE GROUND THE ETERNAL GOD HAD FORMED — The formation spoken of here is the creation mentioned above (1:25) “And God made the beast of the earth etc.” and this statement comes (is repeated) here to point out that the fowls were created from the swamps; for above it is said that they were created from the waters and here it states that they were created from the earth. Furthermore it teaches you here that when they were created, immediately — on the very same day — He brought them to Adam to give them names (Chullin 27b); and in the statement of the Agada (Genesis Rabbah 17:4) we are told that this expression יצירה means domination and subjugation, like (Deuteronomy 20:19) כי תצור אל עיר “when thou shalt besiege a city", for He subjugated them under the power of Adam.

AND WHATSOEVER ‘YIKRA LO HA’ADAM NEFESH CHAYAH’ (THE MAN WOULD CALL EVERY LIVING CREATURE). Rashi comments: “Invert [the phrasing of the sentence] and explain it thus: and every living creature to which Adam would give a name, that should remain its name forever.” And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the letter lamed of the phrase, that the man called ‘lo’ (it), is carried forward [to the word nefesh, making it lenefesh (to the creature), thus]: and whatever the man called to every living creature, that was to be its name.
It is possible that the phrase be explained in connection with the matter of “the help” that G-d gave to Adam, and the meaning is that ha’adam nefesh chayah (man is a living soul), as it is said, And man became a living soul,³⁶³Above, Verse 7. and it is as I have explained it there. And He brought before him all species so that every one of them unto which Adam would give a name and say that it is a living soul like himself, that would remain its name and be a help to him. So Adam gave names to all, but as for himself he found no help which he would be able to call “a living soul” like his own name.

ויצר ה' אלוקים מן האדמה כל חית השדה, G’d now provided these creatures with their final shape, putting the “finishing touches” on them, so to speak. At that stage of the earth’s condition, the original product which the earth had produced, not based on seed which contains all the genetic material in microscopic form, was not adequate to produce the final product without input by G’d, personally.

ויצר, this time the word is spelled with only a single letter י, not as in verse 7. In other words, a letter י' which is part of the root of the verb יצר has been omitted from the written text of the Torah. The meaning of the line is: “seeing that G’d had already formed from the earth all the living creatures and all the fowl of the sky, etc.” The expression חית השדה in our verse includes also all the domesticated mammals. This is clear from verse 20, where Adam is portrayed as naming all of them. All of these creatures had been created before Adam had been created. G’d told Adam that he would have authority over all these creatures. He was challenged to name them in accordance with the special qualities each animal possessed; their characteristics should be alluded to in their names.

וייצר ה' אלוקים מן האדמה, “the Lord G’d fashioned out of the earth, etc. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi explains the word וייצר, as meaning: “He gathered together.” This word appears in a similar meaning as יוצר גובאי where it means gathering. [I have not found the source. Ed.]

Also, it teaches you... This explanation [“On the day they were created...”] seems to apply only to the animals and beasts, which were created on the sixth day, [like man was]. But it does not apply to fowl which was created on the fifth day. Thus Rashi brought also the first explanation, “That the fowl were created from the swamps.” And the second explanation is to teach about the animals and beasts.

וייצר ה' אלוקים, “The Lord G-d fashioned, etc.” In one verse we have read that G-d created the birds from the water (1,21), here it states that the birds were the product that G-d fashioned from the earth. How are we to understand this? We have to consider that some birds make their habitat in water, (geese, ducks, swans) and whereas others are unable to survive in water, for instance, chicken and turkeys, to name only a few.

וכל אשר יקרא לו האדם נפש חיה וגו — Invert it (the phrases of the sentence) and then explain it thus: every living creature to which Adam should give a name — that should remain its name forever.

ויבא אל האדם, in order for man to realise there was a need for an additional phenomenon, seeing that amongst the existing ones none met his need for a partner.

לראות, G’d did not need to see how clever Adam was. The exercise was designed to show his descendants what a brilliant forbear they had had, someone who had at one glance been able to determine the essence of each of these creatures. Adam was clever enough to divine the nature of the birds which, though described in 1,20 as having been produced by the waters, are treated in our verse here as if they had been products of the earth (or even of the sky). The Talmud, which describes the origin of the birds as being puddles of water, i.e. combination of water and earth, did not tell us anything Adam had not known already and taken into consideration when naming the birds. (Chulin 26) Alternately, the reason the Torah speaks of G’d having fashioned all the categories of creatures listed in our verse as stemming מן האדמה, is that G’d brought all of these creatures to Adam from the earth, seeing that this was the habitat on which all these creatures developed to their maturity. Proof is the fact that even the birds which fly in the sky are described not as flying in the sky, in the atmosphere, but as flying over the ארץ, emphasising that they too are an integral part of “earth” as opposed to the fish whose habitat is not “earth” but the waters. When fish leave that habitat they die. Seeing that this is so, G’d could not parade them in front of Adam who was on land and could not determine the nature of the various water-based creatures from his present vantage point. As a result, the names of fish actually vary, depending in which ocean they are found, and in what climates they make their habitat.

You must transpose [the words]... Rashi not only inverted the verse but also added “a name” after “Adam” and “forever” after “its name.” For without the addition of “a name,” the verse would not mean that Adam called them names. Rather it would mean “he called to it,” as in (Shemos 2:20): “Call him, and let him eat bread.” Then, the phrase of “that is its name” would not be understandable, for it cannot say “that is its name” before Adam gives it a name — since he was the one who named them. And without inverting the verse, it would seem as if Adam gave the name “living creature” to everything. That is untrue, for even without him giving it this name it was already called a “living creature.” This is because the term “living creature” includes animals, beasts and fowl. Furthermore, how could it say (v. 20): “And man gave names to every animal,” when there is only the name of “living creature”? (R’em)

ויבא אל האדם, “He brought to Adam;” G-d did not bring the fish as they are water bound and cannot survive on dry land. As a result of this, man does not enjoy authority over the fish. He did not bring domesticated mammals to him either, as Adam was already familiar with them. G-d did not have to bring them.

לראות מה יקרא לו, so that he would see which name would be appropriate for each creature, based on the specific tasks they performed in the universe.

וכל אשר יקרא לו האדם נפש חיה, the meaning of this line is as if the Torah had written: וכל נפש חיה אשר יקרא לו האדם שם, “and any living creature whom Adam assigned a name, etc.” הוא שמו, that remained its name. We find something analogous in Ezekiel 39,11 מקום שם קבר, which is the same as if the prophet had written מקום קבר שם, “a place as a grave there.” There are numerous other examples of what we might consider at first glance as an unusual syntax. The name Adam assigned to each creature described the body, contours of the animal in question. The expression נפש חיה in our verse includes every creature that moves. This expression is the Torah’s way of telling us that Adam realised that no creature is really a “living” creature unless it consists of a male and a female of its species, ensuring that they can reproduce and keep the species alive. This brought home to him the full meaning of his having no female partner. He realised that G’d had done this in his own interest, to show the world that he was not on the same level as all the other creatures.

לראות מה יקרא לו, “to find out how he would name it;” (the species). G-d wanted to find out how Adam reacted to the living soul He had blown into his nostrils i.e. if he would be able to correctly name the various species that fitted their nature. This is what is meant when the Torah wrote: הוא שמו “which is its appropriate name.” [The name G-d would have given these creatures if Adam had not named them. Ed.]

נפש חיה הוא שמו, its name would provide all of us with a clue as to its function in G’d’s scheme of things. The essence of each animal, נפש, would be revealed by its activity on earth.

'וכל אשר יקרא לו וגו, “and whatever name Adam would give that species, etc.” The reason that Adam named each species was so that whenever he needed one of them he knew how to call for it, i.e. by its name. If G-d Himself had named each species and Adam would have had to ask Him for its name, it would have been a cumbersome procedure. This way he himself remembered the name of each species.