Comentário sobre Gênesis 2:6

ואד יעלה AND A MIST WENT UP — This has reference to the creation of Adam: viz., He caused the deep to rise and filled the clouds with water to moisten the dust, and man was created. It is like a kneader of bread who first pours in water and afterwards kneads the dough — similarly here: He first watered the ground and afterwards He formed man (Genesis Rabbah 14:1).

ואד יעלה מן הארץ, on the day they were completed, i.e. at the end of the sixth “day” a vapour rose from the earth equivalent to beneficial dew which irrigated the earth and enabled it to bring forth further vegetation without the help of rain or man’s labour.

ואד יעלה מן הארץ, “vapour would rise from the earth, etc.” According to Rashi these words refer to the fashioning of man, G’d, so to speak, used the moisture called אד to make a kind of dough of the mixture of earth and these vapours, allowing Him to fashion and mould man in the shape He had intended for him. According to the plain meaning of the text it appears that seeing the Torah writes that at that time no rain had yet descended on earth, there was no point to rain descending until man had been created who would till the ground after the rain had fallen. The Torah therefore describes that vapours from the earth could keep the plants alive even in the temporary absence of man to tend to them.

For the purpose of creating. Rashi is answering the question: Earlier it is written that Hashem did not bring rain, since man had not yet been created. Why then is it written here, “A mist rose,” implying that there was rain before man was created?

ואד יעלה "und ein Dunst stieg fortwährendvon der Erde auf und tränkte die ganze Fläche des Menschen Bodens". Es kann dieses Tränken der Erde nicht die Stelle des Regens vertreten haben; denn unmittelbar zuvor ist uns gesagt, dass aus Regenmangel das Wachsen der Pflanzen noch nicht begonnen hatte. Es kann daher dieses Tränken der Erde wohl nur als Vorbereitung für die folgende Bildung des Menschen von der Erde gefasst werden. Von dem Tage, an welchem die Erde für den Empfang des Menschen mit ihrer Pflanzenwelt bereit da stand, harrte sie seiner Ankunft entgegen und ward fortdauernd für die Bildung desselben vorbereitet.

ואד, “and a kind of mist;” the letter ו at the beginning off the word אד, appears to be superfluous; there are numerous such apparently superfluous prefixes ו in the Torah. As a result, in order not to have to consider that letter as superfluous, our author suggests that the meaning of the two verses 56 must be understood thus: “all the grasses etc. in the field were in a state of suspense after having been created, as only a kind of mist had been rising from the earth due to the influence of sun and moon, this being only sufficient to provide minimal moisture for these herbs. The section of the verse commencing with: for “G-d had not yet let it rain, nor had there been a human being to till the earth,” interrupts the story in order to provide us with the reason why none of these plants have been reported as growing.

Here, too. Why was Rashi forced to explain [that “a mist rose” is from the waters of the deep and] not from the waters on the surface of the earth which [evaporate and] feed the clouds? Because it is written: “For Adonoy Elohim had not brought rain,” referring to ordinary rain, from which come the waters on the earth. Thus, before man was created it did not rain. Yet “a mist rose” before man was created, for only afterwards it is written (v. 7), “Adonoy Elohim then formed the man.” If this mist was from ordinary rain, the verses would contradict each other.

יעלה, “would rise;” the word must be understood as being in the past tense. Compare Genesis 8,20: ויעל עולות במזבח, “he (Noach) would offer burnt offerings on the altar.” (past tense).

והשקה את כל פני האדמה, “and it provided irrigation for the entire earth.” The reference is to the planetary system and all that is below it and exerts influence on life on earth. The additional word כל, “all,” is the reason the sages said in Sanhedrin 35 that the dust of the earth was collected from all four corners of the earth.