Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Kejadian 1:12

Rav Assi in the gemara (Hulin 60) cited by Rashi, resolves the contradiction between this verse and Bereshit 1:12 "And the earth gave forth vegetation" by saying that the vegetation was created on the third day but waited below the surface of the earth until man was created and prayed for rain. He learns from this that God yearns for the prayers of the righteous. The gemara continues with the story of Rabbi Hanina Bar-Papa who planted his garden with all kinds of seeds but nothing grew. Then he prayed for mercy and the rains came and the seeds grew, proving the statement of Rav Assi. According to this gemara, vegetation and fruits appeared on the earth only on the sixth day, after man sinned, was banished from Gan Eden, began to work the land and prayed for rain. Rav Assi's statement, attributing special qualities to the prayers of the righteous for sustenance, seems to be disputed by Medrash Rabbah (Vayikra 31) which says the prayers of all men are accepted by God equally in matters of livelihood and only in other cases of misfortune, God forbid, are the prayers of the righteous more effective. The medrash cites the examples of Sarah, Rivka, and Rachel whom God made barren so that their righteous husbands would pray for them. The answer is that Rav Assi's statement relates to a special case of livelihood, one in which sustenance is provided by a miraculous change in nature. The story of Rabbi Hanina Bar-Papa must be understood to refer to a situation in which all the other gardens grew normally and only Rabbi Hanina's did not, against the laws of nature, until he prayed. Rav Assi applied this lesson to our verse as well, since God Himself created the vegetation so it certainly should have grown. God changed nature so the vegetation would not grow because He yearned to hear the prayers of the righteous. All this is the opinion of Rav Assi, but that is not the plain meaning of the verse. The Ramban writes that all the vegetation appeared on the earth on the third day, but did not begin to produce new plants until man was created and began to pray. One may add also that the vegetation was created on the third day in its full height and beauty, and only after man prayed did it begin to grow gradually larger.

For all we know, Adam may not have been aware that the trunk of the tree of knowledge was edible. He had only tasted the other trees and found invariably that their trunks were not edible. He did not realise that the earth had conformed with G'd's instructions to the letter when it produced the tree of knowledge. The manner in which the Torah describes Eve's realisation of the tree's properties suggests that she did not have an inkling previously that this tree had such special features.

וַיְעַנּ֑וּנוּ Va’yanunu:“And oppressed us.” One should know that the actions of Pharaoh and the Egyptians were planned with great shrewdness. God’s words to Abraham in the Covenant of the Pieces were not ignored , “And they shall be enslaved and oppressed.” (Gen. 15:13) Therefore they began to fulfill God’s word by placing heavy taxes and tributes upon them so that they would become impoverished. The possessions of the entire nation were reduced, similar to what the sages stated, “Like a lily among thorns…” (Song 2:2) “Just as a lily, when it is situated among the thorns, a north wind blows and tilts it and the thorn pierces it, a south wind blows and tilts it and a thorn pierces it, a west wind blows and tilts it and a thorn pierces it, and so with the four directions…”¹¹⁵ See Vayikra Rabbah 23:4 and Song of Songs 2:2 for two variations on this Midrash. It strikes me, that Rabbi Foa was quoting these texts from memory both here and elsewhere in the commentary and so he changes the actual version of the Midrash So, it was with the people of Israel; they made their homes subjugated among the nations. These ones said to them, “Give us taxes (פִּיסִּים)!”¹¹⁶[distributions, cmp. Lat. tributum,] taxes, esp. pissim, pissin, name of a Roman tax laid on the community and distributed by the latter according to assessments, Jastrow. and these ones said to them, “Give us your appointed service (זימון)!” and these ones said to them, “Give us your tribute!” and these ones said, “Give us your head tax.” (גִּלְגּוּלֵ). Thus, they were like a lily among the thorns. Similarly, when they rented them houses they charged them ten times the amount compared to what they would charge gentiles. They did the same with anything they sold them.
(Akh) “They neither know nor understand, they go about in darkness,” (Ps. 82:5) God said, first, “They shall enslave them,” and afterwards, “They shall oppress them.” (Gen. 15:13) (Because they did it the other way around - first oppressing and then enslaving) the Egyptians never succeeded. They did just the opposite.¹¹⁷Instead of enslaving and oppressing the Israelites as is stated in Genesis 15:13, first Egyptians oppressed them and then they enslaved them. The more they oppressed them, “the more the Israelites increased and spread out.” In other words the more they oppressed Israel the more the Egyptians enriched the Israelites.” The word yifrotz יִפְרֹ֑ץ comes from the verse, “the man grew exceedingly prosperous פְרֹ֥ץ הָאִ֖ישׁ,” (Gen. 30:43) which is said about Jacob. The Egyptians then saw that their decrees did not have an effect and their actions turned against Egypt. The wealth that they took from the Israelites actually destroyed the wealth of the Egyptians, as is written, “the more they increased and spread out,” (Gen. 1:12) this is to be interpreted, “The more the Israelites’s wealth increased and the more the possessions of the Egyptians were lost,” based on the verse,פָּרַ֖צְתָּ עָלֶ֣יךָ פָּ֑רֶץ “What a breach you have made for yourself!” (Gen. 38:29) This was especially true for Pharaoh who had the intention of building a treasury, and it turned into garrison cities עָרֵ֤י מִסְכְּנוֹת֙¹¹⁸Some translate the expression as store cities. Here Rabbi Foa plays on the connection between miskenot, מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ and sakanah, which means danger. which became a danger to the Egyptians. As a result, “the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites,” (Ex. 1:12) that is, the loss of their wealth caused the Egyptians pain that was like thorns in one’s flesh.
Therefore, the Egyptians took counsel and decided to leave their wealth and only to enslave them. As it is written, “The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed slavery upon the Israelites and they made their lives bitter with hard labor…” (Ex. 1:13-14) From this point forward, the Egyptians only imposed hard labor and slavery are mentioned. It also says, “The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out… their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God.” (Ex.2:23) And if you say, “, “I have marked well the oppression עֳנִ֥י of My people in Egypt…” (Ex. 3:7),¹¹⁹ He just said that “Oppression” wasn’t mentioned once they enslaved him and yet here we do find mention of the oppression brought upon the Israelites. I have already answered this question in Goren Arnon: two explanations of the word עֳנִ֥י are offered. One is imposed upon them. עֳנִ֥י is an allusion to exile besides the exile experienced in Egypt, as God said, “I will be what I will be,” (Ex. 3:14) which the sages explained as, “I will be with them in this exile and I will be with them in other exiles.” See what I wrote there at length.
And even if it was their intention to do this evil to Israel by oppressing them, they were not able to, “oppressed us,” since the Holy One combines thought with action…and even more so when the thoughts involve action.¹²⁰I am uncertain about the last section of this passage. Possibly, Rabbi Foa is saying that thoughts of oppression are the same as actual oppression because they lead to action, and therefore the Egyptians were punished for their “thoughts.”

"'The filling of his belly [is of] evil kinds' - filling of the belly is among the types of evil sins. 'Kinds' (zanei) is translated [in Aramaic] as 'according to its kind' (leminehu liznohi, Genesis 1)"