창세기 1:31의 주석

יום הששי THE SIXTH DAY — The letter ה, the numerical value of which is 5, is added to the word ששי when the work of Creation was complete, to imply that He made a stipulation with them that it endures only upon condition that Israel should accept the five books of the Torah (Shabbat 88a). Another interpretation of יום הששי THE SIXTH DAY — The whole Creation (the Universe) stood in a state of suspense (moral imperfection) until the sixth day — that is, the sixth day of Sivan which was destined to be the day when the Torah would be given to Israel (Avodah Zara 3a).

וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, G’d reviewed all that He had done during these six “days,” to see if anything needed adjustments or improvement, but He found that everything was very good.

את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, the accomplishment of a project containing many different parts is greater than the accomplishment of each part of such project successfully. Now that G’d had completed the entire project successfully, the Torah described this with the additional word מאד instead of merely טוב.

And he saw, etc... and behold it was very good: That there was nothing besides what He wanted and in the quantity that He wanted. And all of this is to implant in our hearts that there is nothing [that exists] against His will, and that there is no ability counter to his ability, since He is one and there is no other. And the intention is not that everything is good and that there is no bad (evil) in existence, as bad does exist without a doubt. Rather, everything is according to what His wisdom decreed, may He be blessed, [and] He created a little bad for the sake of the abundant good. And everything was very good, and agreed with the decree of His wisdom; not that He wanted one thing and it turned out to be another thing against His will. And behold, 'with this it went up and with that it went down' (everything fit in with every other thing), to teach us the unity of the Power and the unity of the entire creation; that it is all one work and the act of the hands of one Maker, and that all of its pieces fit; 'one comes to help its friend.' And this thing - the more man increases his investigation and knowledge of the secrets of nature, the more he will recognize that this is true. 'And the word of God will stand forever.'

And behold, it was very good: Besides that every detail was good on its own - according to the will of the Holy One, blessed be He - also grouped together with all of the creatures combined, they were very good; in that every [creature] compensated for the lack of the other. And in this expression Very good: was included [the fact] that there are pests in the world, [since] even though they are not good on their own, nonetheless, they are essential for the good of all the creatures. (And see the explanations of Gr'a, ztz'l, and see what I have written on the Book of Numbers 14:7 on the verse, "the land is very, very good.")

AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD. This signifies their permanent existence, as I have explained.²³⁰Above in Verses 4 and 12. The meaning of the word me’od (very) is “mostly.” On this sixth day He added this word because he is speaking of creation in general which contains evil in some part of it. Thus He said that it was very good, meaning its me’od is good [thus conveying the thought that even the small part of it which is evil is basically also good, as is explained further on]. It is this thought which is the basis of the saying of the Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah:²³¹9:5. “And, behold, it was very good. And, behold, it was good — this refers to death.” Similarly the Rabbis mentioned, “This means the evil inclination in man,”²³²Ibid., 9. “Were it not for the evil inclination, no one would build a house or marry a woman.” and, “This means the dispensation of punishment.”²³³Ibid. “He considers well how to mete it out” so as to cause a minimum of suffering. Onkelos also intended to convey this thought for he said here, “And, behold, it was very orderly,” meaning that the order was very properly arranged since the evil is needed for the preservation of the good, just as it is said, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.²³⁴Ecclesiastes 3:1. Some Rabbis explain²³⁵Bereshith Rabbah 9:14. that on account of the superiority of man, He added special praise on his formation, i.e., that he is “very good.”

And God saw all that He had made and behold, it was very good: Even though [the Torah] already mentioned "that it was good" in the creation of each and every day, nonetheless, here it repeated it and said, "behold, it was very good" after the creation of man, to teach that all of the creations were not created but for the sake of man. And even though it is stated, "that it was good" for all of them, it was stated based on the future; but they were not yet in their completeness and 'goodness' until man - for whose sake they came into existence - was created. Then [God] saw and said, "behold, it was very good." And you should know that there is a difference between [the phrase,] "that it was good" and [the phrase,] "behold, it was very good;" as the word, that [ki], is one of doubt, as if it is not certain; since behold, in every place the word, ki, relates to a doubt; because the word, ki, relates to time - as in "ki tetseh" ["when you go out"] and "ki tavo" ["when you come in"]; which means to say that [the phrase,] "And God saw that [ki] it was good" means that God was looking ahead, when the time will come that the nature of their goodness would be revealed; but "behold, it was very good" indicates certainty. And our Rabbis, of blessed memory, stated in a midrash [Bereshit Rabbah 8:5] that the Holy One, blessed be He debated with the angels whether or not to create man; and if the judgment had been not to create man, the existence of all the previous [creations] would have been for naught. Hence it states about them, "that it was good" which indicates a doubt, but when man was created, then they became certainly good; that is why it [then] states "all that He had made and behold, it was... good;" the word, behold, indicates the time of the present, at which man appeared; and then the 'goodness' and beauty of all the previous beings became seen retroactively. And it added [the word,] very, here, which was not mentioned earlier, to teach that through man, they were made very good; [and a] hint to this is that [the word,] very [me'od] is [made up of the same] letters [as the word,] man [adam].

Yom hashishi vayekhulu hashamayim (the sixth day. And He finished the skies): [forms] the acronym of [God's] name [that consists] of four letters, with which he [here] sealed the story of creation. And so [too in Psalms 96:11] "yismechu hashamayim vetagel haarets" ("Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice") [forms] the acronym of [God's] name [that consists] of four letters, with which he [also] sealed the world, with the name of four letters.

And God saw, etc.: The explanation is that through the creation of man, it could be seen that His entire creation was good; since if there is no man, what is the purpose of all the refinement and of all the creation and the plants of the ground; because the distinction of good is not recognized without the medium of man, as it is to him that good is recognized and distinguished, and he will thank the Bestower of good. And behold: That which it was not exact to state [this] on the [other] days, about which it stated, "it was good," is because [now] we find man that corrupted his actions and performed bad actions; for this reason it [now] was exact to state, "and behold," since what [existed] then, from the angle of the creations of God was very good; and afterwards, it was man that sought many calculations - from the angle of his having the choice in his hand to do evil or to do good - and negated the good and brought out with his actions the aspect of evil; but from the angle of God's creation, He only created that which was good.

וירא אלוקים, in this verse G’d includes His assessment of the creation of man with that of His overall assessment of all He had done previously. The word טוב applies to all of G’d’s creative activities. This judgment had been withheld until after the creation of man, as it might have been conceivable that with the appearance of man previously created matter would appear in a different light. The verse tells us that in G’d’s judgment, and looking at it after execution of His plan, it appeared just as good as it had during each of the stages the Torah had reported on. Having found confirmation of the success of His blueprint for the universe, the Torah added the word מאד, “very much.” Up until that moment the perfection of G’d’s handiwork was not yet complete. Even though, as a result of these six “days” of G’d’s creative endeavour, something had been lost forever, i.e. the אפס, the absolute nothingness which had preceded creation of the universe, silence this very “nothingness” had now become inextricably interwoven with the “something,” all the phenomena which G’d had called into existence, G’d described the sum total as good.
Maimonides, in commenting on the words והנה טוב מאד, (Moreh 3,10) writes: “even death, which appears to constitute a return to אפס to nothingness, G’d considered as something positive, constructive, seeing it is only a prelude to rebirth, albeit sometimes in a different guise than that the previous incarnation. Death is perceived as the result of the ‘nothingness’ which had preceded the universe having become an integral part of this universe. Hence it had become a necessary phenomenon. [these words are mine, I am not sure that I could literally translate the words of Maimonides, themselves a translation, rendered differently by different super-commentaries, such as Crescas, Shem Tov, and Afudi, as well as Abravanel. Ed.] Having all these considerations in mind, we can now understand the meaning of the Midrash claiming Rabbi Meir (Bereshit Rabbah 9,5) as saying that in his version of the Torah instead of the word מאד there appeared the word מות, “death.” [a brilliant explanation of this by Rabbi Zeev Wolf Einhorn is that the key here is the word והנה, which is altogether extraneous, and especially the prefix ו in that word. Ed.]
(author speaking): “I have found (Midrash Bereshit Rabbati, Albeck edition page 209) that in a hidden archive in Rome there has been found a Torah scroll in a church by Severus (a Roman Biblical, scholar) in which actually (not just figuratively speaking) the word מות had been substituted for the word מאד in our verse.
In Bereshit Rabbah 9,7 there is also a view expressed that the words והנה טוכ refer to the יצר טוב, the urge in man which prompts him to do good, whereas the words והנה טוב מאד refer to the opposite, to man’s urge to do evil, to rebel against dictates by the Creator limiting his freedom of action. The reason why this evil urge is considered good, -astounding as the concept sounds at first- is that without it man would not possess initiative, would not engage in building anything, in mastering the potential contained in our earth but waiting for man to harness it. Without this “evil urge” man would not even marry, raise a family, etc. King Solomon in Kohelet 4,4 also describes the evil urge as responsible for man’s competitive spirit. Rav Hunna understands the words והנה טוב as a reference to the יצר טוב, whereas the words והנה טוב מאד he understands as a reference to the יצר הרע, in the sense of it being responsible for man suffering afflictions during his life. To the question how suffering afflictions could be considered as something “very good,” he explains that the repentance which is triggered by man suffering afflictions and examining what he done to deserve them, ultimately assures him of eternal life in the hereafter. Such an approach is also taken by Solomon in Proverbs 6,23 where he invites the reader to examine which route leads to eternal life and concludes by singling out תוכחות מוסר as one of them.
Rabbi Zei-ra understands the words והנה טוב as a reference to Gan Eden, and the words והנה טוב מאד as a reference to Gehinnom. Is it then conceivable that Gehinnom is something qualifying for the adjective “very good?” You have to understand this with the help of a parable. A king owned an orchard, allowing labourers to enter into it because he was building a treasure house at its entrance. He announced that any of the labourers who performed their work to his satisfaction would be allowed into this treasure chamber. Those who would be found remiss in their performance record would not be allowed into this treasure chamber. Similarly, G’d announced that all those who would perform the laws of the Torah both vis a vis G’d and vis a vis man, would be allowed into Gan Eden, whereas those who failed to do this would not be allowed entry. Denial of entry to Gan Eden means remaining in “Gehinnom.” In other words, the conditions offered man in Gan Eden are so wonderful that anyone who does not experience them must consider himself as being in Gehinnom. This is the meaning of the words in Psalms 5,5 לא יגורך רע, “evil cannot abide with You.” [not being allowed to dwell in G’d’s proximity, Gan Eden, is equivalent to residing in an evil place. Ed.] There are still other explanations offered in the Midrash on our verse.

והנה טוב מאד, and lo, it was very good!” Some commentators say that in view of the presence on earth now of the most superior creature, man, the Torah now describes the entire universe in loftier terms than previously, i.e. instead of merely “good,” it had now become “very good.” In Bereshit Rabbah an opinion is expressed that the expression is a reference to death [in our versions gehinom.] The student hearing this was understandably dumbfounded wanting to know how purgatory could be “very good?” The answer was that there can be no existence without .a corresponding loss. [If I understand correctly, the concept is that in order to convert anything into something else, such as raw material into a human being, the components so used will be missing elsewhere, in the place they were taken from. Similarly, the creation of life which is of limited duration, creates the automatic concept of death, which occurs when that life expires. “Death” implies that something which exists now has ceased to exist. Ed.] Yet another view in that Midrash describes the expression טוב מאד as referring to the evil urge, the יצר הרע. This is equivalent to the מדת פורענות, negative virtue. This is why Onkelos translates the expression as והא תקין לחדא, i.e. that it was established together with the יצר טוב, seeing that evil is a necessary counterpart to the good which could not exist [be perceived as such Ed.] unless there is an alternative.

The letter ה[=5] was added... He stipulated with them... I.e., Hashem created heaven and earth for this end [that Bnei Yisrael should accept the the Five Books of the Torah].

׳וירא א. Wir kennen bereits diesen Ausspruch: וירא א׳ כי טוב , der uns bei allen Gliederungen der Schöpfung entgegengetreten; wir haben bereits erkannt, wie damit, dass dieser Ausspruch stets nach einer vollendeten Schöpfung auftritt, die Freiheit des Schöpfers über seinem geschaffenen Werk und die fortdauernde Abhängigkeit des Werkes auch nach seiner Vollendung vom Schöpfer wiederholt unserem Bewusstsein festgehalten werden. Wir würden auch hier es daher nicht auffallend finden, wenn auch hier beim letzten Gliede der Schöpfung nur stände: וירא א׳ כי טוב. Es steht aber: והנה וגוי, und הנה führt uns immer etwas Neues entgegen, etwas, was wir noch nicht gesehen haben: "siehe da!" und es muß uns also hier, außer dem bisher mit diesem Ausspruch Gesagten, noch ein neuer Gedanke zum Bewusstsein gebracht werden, den wir ja auch ohnehin schon auf den ersten Blick in dem beigefügten מאוד erkennen würden. Für diese Auffassung des הנה spricht die ganze Lautverwandtschaft dieser Wurzel. Vergleichen wir .ענה ,חנה ,הנה ,אנה אנה: einen Gegenstand einem bestimmten Ort oder einer bestimmten Person zuführen, א׳ אנה לידו, daher אניה: ein Werkzeug zum Transport von Gegenständen, das Schiff. Ist der Gegenstand angelangt, so sagt man: הנה! also ein Wort, mit welchem Jemand aufmerksam gemacht wird, dass ihm ein Gegenstand zugeführt sei. Bleibt der Gegenstand da, hat damit seine Bewegung das bleibende Ziel gefunden (vergl. נוע und נוח), so: חנה, bleibt er dort ruhen; מחנה ist nicht die zufällige, sondern die gesuchte Ruhestätte. Was אנה konkret ist, das ist ענה geistig, Jemandem das Wort, damit den geeigneten Gedanken zuführen: antworten, entgegnen. Daher sind auch von הנה Partikeln gebildet, die das Ziel einer räumlichen oder zeitlichen Bewegung bedeuten, עד הֵנָה ,הֵנָה: bis hier, oder bis jetzt.

the sixth day. In all of them it only said, "day one", "second day", except for sixth day and seventh day, about which it said the sixth day and the seventh day. This is because they are singled out, because when Moshe our teacher wrote the Torah to Yisra'el, when he reached sixth day he said to them, "This is the sixth day on which the Holy Blessed One gives you double rations", and when he reached Shabbat he said to them, "And this is the seventh day which the Holy Blessed One commanded to honour it and to keep it. And you can also see this in the rivers (Bereishit 2:11-14) - in each of them the text states "it goes to such a place", since they [Yisra'el] didn't know their courses, it explains which place. But when it gets to the Euphrates (Bereishit 2:14) it only says "is the Euphrates" - that I said to you its area of the land of Yisra'el, as it says "until the great river, the river Euphrates, shall be its borders" (Yehoshua 1:4). And so here it says "the sixth; the seventh" that are explained to you in another place.

וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה וגו׳ , “G-d saw, (reviewed) all that He had done, etc;” He even included the evil urge in what he described as being “very good,”

יום הששי, this is the first day which is described as “the (sixth) day.” In other words, it was the first of many days known as “the sixth,” but this was the first such day. The specific function of the sixth day is to be the bridge between the ordinary weekdays and the Sabbath. The “six” days have been defined in Exodus 20,9-10 as the days on which “you will perform all your tasks involving work.”

The sixth (hashishi) day: [It is written] with a [letter,] hay that is a definite article; since [this day] is the last of the days of creation. And its sense is, this day is the sixth. And similar to it is (below 2:3) "the seventh (shevi'i) day;" and (Leviticus 24:10) "the Israelite (hayisraeli) man."

And it can also be explained through the metaphor of the eating of fish and meat, each of which is good by itself, but if they are mixed, they become bad; and these creations, it wasn't only that they were good by themselves, but even when they were all joined together, they were also good, and this is [what it means when] it states, "all that He had made and behold, it was very good."

ויהי בקר, יום הששי. Seeing that on this day the creative work of G’d was completed and He had created man on this day, the importance of the day is reflected in the prefix ה. In other words, this significant day had now arrived. In Bereshit Rabbah 9,14 Rabbi Yudan interprets the additional letter ה at the beginning of the word הששי as referring to the additional hour which we add to the holy Sabbath and thereby shorten the number of hours of the sixth day. It is during this hour that the universe received it finishing touches.

“and G-d saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good” – He looked carefully at all of His work and all of His actions which He had done [to see] if there was anything in them which needed perfecting, and behold, all were beautiful and perfected.

Another explanation ... They all are pending ... See explanation in Avodah Zarah (3a) and Shabbos (88a).

And God created, etc: Here it hints that at the time of the creation of man, God looked at the righteous ones (Bereisht Rabbah 14:1) and that is what [is meant] by its stating, "and He saw, etc. and behold, good," which are the righteous ones. And in that He also saw the evil ones, He also made a solution for them, and that is what [is meant] by its stating, "very." And they, of blessed memory, have stated (Bereishit Rabbah 9:1), "very" - this is [referring] to the angel of death, through which the creatures that lean away from the path of reason are fixed. And for this [reason], corresponding to the aspect of the righteous ones, it stated, "and behold, it was good," the explanation [of which] is that behold they are the aspect of good, without any need for death; and corresponding to the those that lean to their crookedness, they too are in the aspect of good, through the auspices of "very."

Führt somit הִנֵה unserer Gedankenreihe immer einen neuen, bis jetzt nicht aufgefassten Begriff zu, und ist dieser neue Begriff das zu טוב hinzugekommene מאור, dass das, was wir bis jetzt nur als gut zu betrachten gelehrt worden, wir nun als "sehr gut" denken lernen sollen, so muß aber auch andererseits unserer Betrachtung eine neue Seite geöffnet worden sein, die diese neue Nuance unseres Urteils motiviert, und dieses tatsächlich Neue ist offenbar: כל. Jedes einzelne Geschöpf ist gut; aber nun erst, wo die Reihen der Schöpfungen geschlossen und jedes Einzelne in seinem Zusammenhang mit dem Ganzen betrachtet werden kann, ja, jetzt erst in den Zusammenhang mit dem Ganzen gebracht worden ist, ist Alles nicht nur טוכ, sondern כל — .טוב מאוד ist nicht nur ein Vielheitsbegriff, "Alles", dass darin lediglich ohne Ausnahme ein Jedes mit einbegriffen und Keines ausgeschlossen wäre, sondern כל ist ein Einheitsbegriff der Vielheit, ist die Vielheit als eine Einheit begriffen, es ist nicht sowohl Alles, sondern das "Ganze". כל, rad. כליל .כלל ist in dem Munde der Weisen: Reif, Kranz, Krone, also: Begriff des Runden, des Kreises. (Vergl. גלל, etwas um seine Achse drehen.) Der Kreis ist aber nichts als die vollendetste Linie, derjenige Raum, der mit demselben Maß von Kräften von einem Punkte aus nach allen Seiten beherrscht wird. Kreis ist daher der sinnliche Ausdruck für das gesamte Gebiet, welches ein Wesen von seinem Standpunkte aus beherrschen kann. Daher sind alle hebräischen Ausdrücke für Begriffe der Vollkommenheit und Ganzheit mit Kreis verwandt. Darum ist auch כל nicht sowohl eine Summe von Vielen, als Bezeichnung der Totalität eines Begriffs. ׳כל לבבות דורש ד, nicht sowohl alle Herzen, sondern jedes Herz in seiner Ganzheit, in der ganzen Tiefe und dem Umfang seiner Regungen. הן ד׳ ידעת כלה, das Wort in seiner Ganzheit, seinen Motiven, seinem Zusammenhang, seinem Ursprung und seinem Ziele. So auch hier: Gott sah das Ganze dessen, was er geschaffen, sah die Totalität aller seiner Geschöpfe, sah das harmonische Zusammenklingen aller Wesen, wie sie alle sich um einen Mittelpunkt drehen, alle zusammenstimmen — es heißt nicht את הכל אשר עשה, er sah das Ganze, das er geschaffen, sondern כל אשר עשה, die Ganzheit, die Harmonie, die Einheit alles dessen, was er geschaffen hatte, er betrachtete jedes Einzelne in seinem Zusammenhang zum Ganzen: והנה טוב מאוד. War das Einzelne an sich טוב, ist es im Zusammenhang des Ganzen טוב מאוד, sehr gut, auch da gut, wo wir es nicht erwartet, wo, einzeln betrachtet, demjenigen, dem der Blick auf׳s Ganze entgeht, eine Mangelhaftigkeit erscheint. Nennen wir doch die Sache gut, die unseren Voraussetzungen entspricht; sehr gut aber, wenn sie über unsere Voraussetzungen hinaus gut ist, da noch Dienste leistet, wo wir es nicht mehr erwartet. So ist alles Geschaffene, alles Seiende in seinem Totalzusammenhang sehr gut. Alles relative רע scheint nur רע dem am Einzelnen, am Bruchteil in Zeit und Raum haftenden Blicke; es schwindet aber, ja es selbst, — sogar ,יסורים ,מות יצר הרע — selbst die Leidenschaft, die Leiden und der Tod, diese mächtigsten Potenzen unter den Erscheinungen — werden טוב, und dann, weil wir es nicht erwartet, selbst טוב מאוד — sobald sich der Blick zur Anschauung des Ganzen erhebt. Überschauten wir das Einzelne von dem Standpunkt des Ganzen, überschauten wir uns selbst in unserer Ganzheit, nicht bloß als תחתונים, sondern auch als עליונים, nicht blos in unseren irdisch sinnlichen, sondern auch in unseren geistig göttlichen Beziehungen, nicht bloß in Beziehung zu עולם הזה sondern auch zu עולם הבא, jeden inneren und äußeren Kampf in Beziehung zu der sittlichen Freiheit, die in dem Siege errungen, jede Gegenwart zu der ganzen Ewigkeit, die unser wartet: so würden wir auch mit ר׳ מאיר in unsere תורה die Glosse hineinschreiben: והנה טוב מאוד והנה טוב מות oder mit den anderen Weisen (והנה טוב זו מדת הטוב מאוד זו יסורין ,והנה טוב זה יצר טוב מאוד זה יצר הרע :(ב״ר טי. Eben in dem Heilbringenden dieser scheinbar störenden Welterscheinungen bewährt sich nicht nur die Güte, sondern die unübertreffliche Güte, das טוב מאוד alles Dessen, was Gott erschaffen. Ich darf in meiner Gegenwart leiden, wenn ich dadurch für meine Zukunft weiser und veredelter werde, darf auch für das mich mittragende Ganze leiden, ja, darf auch meine ganzen siebenzig Jahre in Prüfungen hinbringen, die ja nur einen Tropfen im Meere der Ewigkeit bilden, die meiner harret — würden wir so alle Zeiten und alle Kreise des ineinander und aufeinander zusammenwirkenden Ganzen des von Gott Erschaffenen in einem Blick überschauen können, wie Gott es schaut, wir würden mit Ihm urteilen: והנה טוב מאוד

והנה טוב מאד, “and here it was very good;” why was even the evil urge “very good?” Without it man would not possess an active libido, without which siring offspring would have been next to impossible. Unless man reproduced, the species the human race would have died out and would have been created in vain. The expression: כי טוב, occurs twice in connection with G-d’s activities on that day, once in connection with the mammals, and again in connection with the creation of the first human being.

The sixth day: [The Torah] added [a letter], hay to the word, sixth, to say that the Holy One, blessed be He, made a condition with [his creations] that it all depends on whether Israel will accept the five [the numerical equivalent of the letter hay] books of the Torah; or that all of you will be in suspension until the sixth day of Sivan [when the Jews accepted the Torah], since hey, when it is spelled out, comes out to [the number, six.] And the reason for this matter is because the upper ones and the lower ones are two opposites, and they cannot exist [together] except through an intermediary that combines and unites these two opposite elements; and this is man who has a physical part and a spiritual part - "a part of God above;" and the retention of the spiritual side depends on the acceptance of the Torah. If so, if Israel had not accepted the Torah, there would not be any intermediary here to to unite the two opposite extremes and necessity would dictate that the world would return to being chaos and void. And don't answer me from the time period before the receiving of the Torah, since there were always righteous ones involved in Torah, like Noach, Shem and Ever and the forefathers and [others] similar to them; and with them was the great Name [of God, the numerical value of which] is made up of the number, twenty six. Therefore the world stood for twenty six generations without Torah among the masses; but after twenty-six generations, when the number of the Name was finished, there was not [any longer enough] strength among the individuals of the generations to preserve the worlds, except through the acceptance of the Torah. Therefore, one who is involved with the Torah brings peace to the retinue above and below [Sanhedrin 99b] and this matter will be explained more later in Parshat Ha'azinu, with the help of God.

Also hinted to here is the reason for the creation - according to that which we know that the essence of everything is man, and that because of him and for him did God create all of His creations; and from there comes the question, "why man?" And for this [reason], it stated "and behold, it was very good," the explanation [of which] is that even if the aspect of man's soul is from the aspect of good, nonetheless, God created him to rise up in levels of good more than he [already] is, and that is what [it means when] it states, "very:" through the actions of man, his soul becomes elevated from one level to another. 'Happy is the human that does this.'

מאוד, rad. אגד .אוד speziell: eine Feuerkrücke, ein Stück Holz zum Anschüren des Feuers. שני זנבות האורים העשנים zwei dampfende Feuerkrückenreste, Werkzeuge in Gottes Händen, das Leid über Völker zu bringen (Die Aschur תער השכירה), Hölzer um Hölzer in Brand zu bringen, aber nicht besser als die andern, werden daher selbst mit dem Feuer ergriffen und gehen selbst mit auf. Dagege יהושה כ׳הג׳ auch ein das vom Feuer verschont ,מוצל מאש auch ein Werkzeug in Gottes Händen, aber ,אוד bleibt, nicht zu Grunde geht in seinem Dienst. Allgemeiner: Hebel, bewegende Kraft, alles, was etwas in Bewegung setzt, veranlaßt, daher על אודות: über die Veranlassungen, d.i. wegen. מאוד, Substantiv: das ganze Reich von Mitteln und Kräften, Ver- mögen. Adverbialiter bezeichnet es den Begriff, bei welchem es steht, in dem ganzen Ausmaß seiner möglichen Wirkungen, soweit er nur reicht, also im höchsten Grade.

יום השישי, “the sixth day.” The prefix ה reminds us of the special role of that day as it was the only day on which G-d completed the entire process of creating the universe. This hint is repeated more clearly in Exodus 20,1, (the fourth of the Ten Commandments) where we read: 'כי ששת ימים עשה ה את השמים ואת הארץ, “for during an unbroken string of six days, the Lord created heaven and earth.”

And [about] that which the world was created specifically in six days, the commentators say that it is a hint to the time of the preservation of this world, that it will be six thousand [years], two thousand [years] of chaos, without Torah - corresponding to this, there are two [letters,] aleph [which is the same spelling as the Hebrew for 'thousand'] in the verse, "and the earth was chaos;" two thousand [years with] Torah - corresponding to this, there are two [letters,] aleph in the verse (Exodus 13:9), "in order that the Torah of your Lord be in your mouth;" and two thousand [years] of the days of the messiah - corresponding to this, there are two [letters,] aleph in the verse (Genesis 49:10), "until he will come to Shilo;" and this is correct. And other commentators were precise in [seeing the] creation of each and every day as corresponding to a millennium, one after the other, and we cannot elaborate about them [here.] And there are those that say that it is for [the following] reason that the hay is added on the sixth day, because the world was created with the [letter,] hay, and after the end of the work, the Holy One, blessed be He, deposited the instrument of his work with the sixth day and did not want that it should be with Him on Shabbat, so that [people] would learn from here that every craftsman should deposit his instruments with the sixth [day.]

ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום הששי so ward Abend, so ward Morgen, der sechste Tag. אמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום הששי ה׳ יתירה למה לי מלמד שהתנה הב״ה עם מעשה בראשית ואמר להם אם ישראל מקבלים התורה אתם מתקיימין ואם לאו אני מחזיר אתכם לתהו ובהו (שבת פ״ח א׳). ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום הששי אמר ר׳ יודן זו שעה יתירה שמוסיפין מחול על הקדש (ב״ר ט׳).

The sixth day. And He finished the skies: [The Torah] mentioned the Name of four [letters by way of] the first letters of these four words, [yom hashishi vayekhulu hashamayim; which] agrees with what I explained above about the reason of the twenty-six generations. And according to the simple explanation, it ended the story of the creation with the name of God that is a combination of [a letter from each of the words for] man [yud] and woman [hay]. This agrees with the words of our Rabbis, of blessed memory (Bava Batra 74b), "Everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in this world, male and female, He created them;" and it is stated (Isaiah 26:4), "Through the Power [spelled yud-hay] God, the Rock of the Worlds" - by which, I mean that everything that He created in this world, in all of them, there is a likeness to the male and the female together. Since all males are a likeness of the emanator and all females are a likeness of the receiver; and all creations all have a side that emanates and a side that receives, [that are both] together in one. How is this: Behold, the Holy One, blessed be He is the first Emanator, who gives emanating words to the higher world, but He, may He be blessed, does not receive from [any] other; and the higher world, in turn, emanates to the middle world - it comes out that the higher world has the likeness of the male and the female together, as behold, it receives like a female from the first Cause, may He be blessed, and emanates like a male to the middle world; and so [too,] the middle world receives the emanation of the higher world and, in turn, emanates to the lower world. If [this is] so, also the middle world, is called male and female both together, emanating and receiving. And the lower ones, even though they are receiving and not emanating, nonetheless they have a likeness to the male in them, given that all that exist below need each other, some of them giving and some of them taking; and they also have actual males and females, like all of the animals; such that in all of them, it is appropriate to say that it is emanating and receiving both together - except for God alone, that to Him we can only attribute maleness, emanating and not receiving. This is what the Rabbis, of blessed memory, stated in several midrashic statements (Sotah 42b), "There is no man except the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is stated (Exodus 15:3), 'The Lord is a man of war;'" which means to say that we cannot attribute [maleness] which indicates an emanator who does not [also] receive, except to God alone, since all need Him, may He be blessed, and He does not need any of them.

Diese Sätze dürften ihre Erläuterung finden, wenn wir uns die Bedeutung des ה vergegenwärtigen. Schon allgemein wird ein mit dem bestimmenden Artikel ה versehenes Substantiv, das absolut, ohne folgenden Relativsatz steht, als ein solcher Gegenstand bezeichnet, auf den wir schon in der bereits bei uns geweckten Gedankenreihe vorbereitet sind, der durch das Vorangehende erwartet wird. "Dies ist ein Mann" führt den Begriff Mann als einen ganz neuen, durch nichts vorbereiteten, in die Gedankenreihe ein. "Dies ist der Mann" oder auch: "dies ist der Mann", stellt den Begriff als einen solchen dar, den zu suchen und zu erwarten wir bereits durch vorangegangene Gedanken veranlaßt waren. Würde es hier heißen: יום ששי, es war dies ein sechster Tag, so wäre durchaus keine andere Beziehung dieses Tages zu den vorangehenden, als die der Reihenfolge bezeichnet gewesen; es wäre auf keine Weise dieser Tag etwa als ein solcher aufgeführt, auf den schon alle die vorhergehenden vorbereitet, der nach allem Vorhergehenden zu erwarten gewesen wäre. Indem uns aber gesagt wird: יום הששי, dies war der sechste Tag, so haben wir offenbar den Tag als einen solchen zu denken, auf welchen alle anderen vorbereitet, zu welchem sie geführt, in welchem die Schöpfungsreihe ein Ziel und einen Abschluss gefunden. Und dies ist um so prägnanter hervorzuheben, weil alle vorangehenden Tage ohne diesen Artikel aufgeführt waren. Es heißt von allen: יום אחר, יום שני וגו׳ es war ein Tag, es war ein zweiter, ein dritter, ein vierter, ein fünfter Tag; nun aber heißt es: es war der sechste Tag, also offenbar der Tag, zu welchem alle früheren als Weg und Vorbereitung führten, der ihnen den Abschluß, die Vollendung bringen sollte. War nun dieser sechste Tag eben derjenige, der der geschaffenen Erdenwelt ihren "Adam", ihren Gott vertretenden Herrn und Verwalter bringen sollte, so ist mit dem ה des יום הששי buchstäblich gesagt, dass תנאי התנה הב"ה עם מעשה בראשית, dass der Bestand und die Bestimmung aller vorangegangenen Schöpfungen durch das Geschöpf des sechsten Tages, somit dadurch bedingt ist, dass dieses Geschöpf, der Mensch, die ihm gewordene hohe Aufgabe rein übernehme und treu erfülle. Hat aber dieses Geschöpf im Laufe der Zeit diese seine Stellung verkannt und mißbraucht und seine Aufgabe ungelöst gelassen, und war erst der Eintritt Israels in die Menschengeschichte der erste Schritt wieder zur einstigen Zurückführung des Menschengeschlechts zur reinen Erkenntnis und Erfüllung seiner Stellung und Aufgabe, so spricht sich dieser תנאי in Wahrheit also aus: אם ישראל מקבלים התורה אתם מתקיימין ואם לאו אני מחזיר אתכם לתהו ובהו, und erst mit dem יום מתן תורה trat der יום הששי wieder in seine Rechte ein.

And [about] that which we find the word, man, with reference to the creations, it is not an essential [usage of the word] but rather as [a metaphor, in comparison] with a woman, but the essential [use] of the word, man, can not be related to [anything] but He, may He be blessed. Therefore, [the Torah] ends the entire story of creation on the sixth day with the name of the Power [yod-hay] that is a combination of the [letters] of the male and female; to teach that God created them all male and female [together in one.] Hence, in this world, the creatures do not use his full name [that extends to all four letters and not just the first two,] but rather the name [that only includes the first two letters, yod-hay,] but in the world to come - 'the day that is completely Shabbat,' then they will use the full name, since 'the dead may not praise the Power [yod-hay].' If so, [the second set of letters,] vav-hay, is hinted by the first letters of the words, "and He completed the skies," that speak about the day of Shabbat in what's revealed [exoteric] and hint to the hidden [esoteric] things - to the world to come; to teach that [only] then will the Name be complete. And so [too,] David ended the psalm (Psalms 103), "Bless my soul" - all of which speaks about the formation of creation - with the name of the Power, and see also later, Parshat Re'eh, on the verse (Deuteronomy 15:10), "Because of this thing."

Damit war aber zugleich ferner dem sechsten Tage selbst die hohe Bedeutung eines Abschlusses der Schöpfung gegeben und er in den Kreis des Schöpfungs-Sabbats gehoben. Ist ja der siebente Tag, der Sabbat der Schöpfung, — wie wir sehen werden — wesentlich bestimmt, dem mit dem sechsten Tage zum Stellvertreter Gottes in die Erdwelt gesetzten Menschen das Bewusstsein der Hoheit und Abhängigkeit seiner Stellung und die mit derselben gegebene Pflicht immer wiederholt gegenwärtig zu halten, ist ja der siebente Tag demnach die reine Konsequenz und Vollendung des sechsten, setzt denselben voraus und soll die endliche Verwirklichung des hohen Menschenberufs in der Schöpfung garantieren; darum greift auch schon die Sabbatweihe in den sechsten hinüber, und es ist eine tiefe Wahrheit, die ר׳ יודן ausspricht, יום הששי זו שעה יתירה שמוסיפין מחול על הקדש. — Der sechste Tag ist der bedingende Abschluß der sinnlichen Welt, der siebente bringt dem höchsten sinnlichen Geschöpfe des sechsten die bedingende Fortdauer des Bewusstseins des Übersinnlichen. Nicht ohne Grund beginnen wir unseren .יום הששי ויכלו וגו׳ :קידוש