וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִי֙ בְּצֶ֣דֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּ֔ט וּבְחֶ֖סֶד וּֽבְרַחֲמִֽים׃
און איך װעל דיך פֿאַרקנַסן צו מיר אױף אײביק, און דיך פֿאַרקנַסן צו מיר מיט רעכט און מיט גערעכטיקײט, און מיט גענאָד און מיט באַרימהאַרציקײט.
Rabbeinu Bahya
We know that the words: “G’d saw that it was good,” appear in connection with all the six days of creation [except the second day, but twice with the third day, Ed.]. This means that G’d’s directives calling the respective parts of the universe into existence and arranging for them to function were all the result of דבר בעתו, “a word spoken at the time appropriate for it.” This does not conflict with the view we expressed that the entire universe was created at one and the same moment. Our sages have already illustrated how we are to understand this apparent contradiction when they told us the parable about the farmer who planted six different seeds all at the same time. The plants growing out of these different seeds each germinated, grew and became ripe at different times (Bereshit Rabbah 12,3). Even though they were all put in the earth at the same time, they did not grow at a uniform rate of speed. Concerning such careful timing by G’d Solomon said in Kohelet 3,1: “He did everything at the appropriate time.” The creatures which matured later were not inferior, but on the contrary, they were superior, more sophisticated. As a result, man was the most superior creature of all coming into meaningful existence last. Similarly, the Sabbath is the best of all the days seeing it was last to make its appearance. Israel was the last nation to emerge as a separate nation, 70 other nations having preceded it. This makes the Jewish nation the choicest of them all. Although the last to make their appearance on the stage of history, G’d had planned to have a Jewish people on earth long before He made provision for all the other nations to become historical entities. By the same token, the hereafter, known as עולם הבא, precisely because it takes such a long time to mature, to emerge from its cocoon, is a superior world. We have evidence that Israel was first in G’d’s planning from Jeremiah 2,2: “Israel is holy to G’d the first (and choicest) of His harvest.” In other words, the first (and finest) harvest G’d looked forward to was Israel. The other nations may be viewed as “miscarriages,” fetuses prematurely aborted. When G’d referred to the Jewish people in the verse from Jeremiah we just quoted in translation, He did not use the adjective kadosh or kedoshim to describe their being holy, but He chose the word kodesh, a noun, meaning that Israel was holy in its own right. The implication is that the Jewish people draw on the source of holiness for their existence. We find a similar word when the Torah commands or promises the Jewish people that their destiny is to be or become אנשי קודש, “men (and women) devoted to holiness” (Exodus 22,30). When the Torah describes the Jewish people as G’d’s portion (Deut. 32,9), the idea is similarly that the Jewish people are part of G’d, i.e. of His Holiness. G’d did not assign inter-stellar forces, signs of the zodiac known as mazzalot to supervise the fortunes of the Jewish people as He had done for the 70 nations of the earth, but instead He supervises them personally by means of what is known as hashgachah peratit, “personal benevolent supervision of our collective and individual fates.” When Israel was described as G’d’s first harvest, ראשית תבואתה, (the reading of the last letter is “au”, i.e. the masculine pronoun referring to Hashem). Remember that there are five species of grain all of which are “harvested.” The word ראשית derived from ראש, head, means “the choicest.” The letter ה at the end of the word תבואתה may refer to the 5 kinds of physical harvests, i.e. the five different kinds of grain from which bread is made, or, in the case of the Jewish people, to the five kinds of spiritual harvest, i.e. the “Five Books of Moses,” the Torah. The choicest of the five species of grain is wheat, whereas the choicest Books of the Bible (Torah) are the Five Books of Moses. Concerning all this, the Midrash quotes a parable. There was a king who betrothed a bride to himself giving her five rings as token of the betrothal. The number “five” corresponded to the betrothal between G’d and Israel described in Hoseah 2,21-22 with the words: “I will betroth you to Me forever, with righteousness, with justice, with goodness and with mercy; and I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness, and you will be devoted to the Lord.” This then is the meaning of the word ראשית, i.e. it ranks first. The “first” of which the prophet speaks includes that Israel ranks higher in attributes than the other nations, and that it also enjoys an advantage in time, i.e. they were the first consideration G’d entertained when He planned to create man, etc. The word ראשית denoting superior quality is found in Amos 6,6 ראשית השמנים, “the choicest of the oils.” The same word describing precedence in terms of time occurs in Genesis 10,10 ותהי ראשית ממלכתו בבל, “the first country under his rule was Babylon.”
We have established that whereas Israel was first in terms of G’d’s planning it was last in terms of that plan being executed. Consider the fact that Esau and the rulers descended from him preceded Yaakov’s development as a nation commencing with Esau’s birth which is described as “the first one emerged (from Rivkah’s womb) very reddish looking, etc.” (Genesis 25,25). Esau developed much earlier than his twin Yaakov. Esau married at the age of 40. The only reason the Torah bothered to tell us all these details about Esau and his descendants is to contrast them with Yaakov who was a “late bloomer,” not marrying until he was 84 years of age. Nonetheless, David already said in Psalms 40,6 “You have set out wonders and devised them for us.” We find a saying in the Kuzari 3,73 that תחלת המחשבה סוף המעשה, “that which came first in planning was the last to be carried out.”
Let us illustrate the reason for such apparently illogical behaviour. Reuven wanted to study Torah but did not have a study hall with the requisite library. In order to carry out his plan he first has to build the study hall and acquire the necessary books. In other words, the Torah study, the purpose of all these endeavors, can only be carried out after preparatory activities. The parable we just described has much in common with a comment by our sages on Deut. 2,19 exhorting us not to harass the Moabites or Ammonites. In answer to the question why G’d had singled out these two nations, warning the Israelites not to harass them, our sages in Baba Batra 35 explain hat this was on account of two great descendants that would emerge from these two peoples, Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite. Clearly, although these women were born many hundreds of years later than the Israelites’ trek through the desert, this is another example of future events casting long shadows ahead, i.e. G’d’s foreknowledge determining present day behaviour. All of the examples mentioned showed that fruits which develop later are superior to results which are visible immediately. One may compare this to someone who has lost a pearl at the beach and who sieves through bucket after bucket of sand, until finally, he finds the pearl. All that sand, though apparently having no immediate use, was necessary in order to enable the pearl to be found. All the tedium of sifting the sand proved worthwhile in retrospect. This explains much of human history, and even much of Jewish history. Tanchuma Vayeshev 1 explains the ten generations between Adam and Noach and the ones between Noach and Avraham as necessary preludes to someone like Avraham. All of human history and G’d’s frustrations with its disobedience to Him must find their justification in the eventual emergence of such pearls as Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.
The tedious process of ploughing, seeding, etc., etc., has only one ultimate but long delayed objective, i.e. the fruit which the soil or tree will yield as a result. Man is described by David in Psalms 139,5 as ראשון ואחרון צרתני, “You have formed me both first and last;” David meant that though man was the last creature to emerge on earth on the sixth day, he was the first in G’d’s planning of the entire creative process. The word ראשון in that psalm may also mean “choicest, most accomplished.” The word אחרון of course, applies to the process of actual creation.
As soon as G’d created man, He gave him the first positive commandment as well as a negative commandment. The first commandment was that he was to eat from all the trees in Gan Eden; the first negative commandment was that he was not to eat from the tree of knowledge.
In a manner paralleling what G’d commanded Adam when He had placed him in Gan Eden, in the previous portion the Torah devoted three paragraphs to different categories of life in this terrestrial earth and how such animals may or may not interact with superior forms of life, i.e. man. First the Torah deals with the mammals, animals whose primary raw material is earth, dust, i.e. the most primitive of the four elements making up the terrestrial universe which we discussed already. Secondly, it deals with what may and what may not be eaten of the animals primarily formed from the element water, a slightly more sophisticated element. Thirdly, it dealt with which birds may not be eaten, i.e. creatures whose primary element is the רוח, the wind, i.e. an element much closer to the celestial domain than the previous two. Finally, beginning with our portion, the Torah addresses the most superior creature, i.e. man and immediately repeats the commandment of circumcision as if to emphasise that further refinement of man the species was still necessary. The Torah makes plain by means of this commandment that the principal reason man has been created is to perform G’d’s commandments. This is what Job had in mind (Job 5,7) when we are told there that אדם לעמל יולד, “man has been born in order to toil.” The “toil” referred to is the effort involved in studying and observing G’d’s Torah. This is the reason why the commandments connected to a woman giving birth are surrounded by a variety of commandments both before and after that particular paragraph. The commandments preceding the laws to be observed in connection with the birth of a human being all deal with permitted or forbidden food. This is what our sages (in Tanchuma Tazria 1) had in mind when they interpreted the above-mentioned verse in Psalms 139,5 to mean that the אחור, “after,” the prophet referred to were all the mammals, birds and creeping creatures which had been created before man, whereas the word קדם they understand as applying to the human baby being born to whom G’d already gave directives concerning how to conduct itself after it would leave the mother’s womb. In other words, man’s creation or birth is conditional on his keeping G’d’s commandments. The immediate commandment is the perfor- mance of circumcision of the male baby. [Or, seeing the fetus is taught the Torah while still in its mother’s womb, this is what entitles it to be born. Ed.]
We have established that whereas Israel was first in terms of G’d’s planning it was last in terms of that plan being executed. Consider the fact that Esau and the rulers descended from him preceded Yaakov’s development as a nation commencing with Esau’s birth which is described as “the first one emerged (from Rivkah’s womb) very reddish looking, etc.” (Genesis 25,25). Esau developed much earlier than his twin Yaakov. Esau married at the age of 40. The only reason the Torah bothered to tell us all these details about Esau and his descendants is to contrast them with Yaakov who was a “late bloomer,” not marrying until he was 84 years of age. Nonetheless, David already said in Psalms 40,6 “You have set out wonders and devised them for us.” We find a saying in the Kuzari 3,73 that תחלת המחשבה סוף המעשה, “that which came first in planning was the last to be carried out.”
Let us illustrate the reason for such apparently illogical behaviour. Reuven wanted to study Torah but did not have a study hall with the requisite library. In order to carry out his plan he first has to build the study hall and acquire the necessary books. In other words, the Torah study, the purpose of all these endeavors, can only be carried out after preparatory activities. The parable we just described has much in common with a comment by our sages on Deut. 2,19 exhorting us not to harass the Moabites or Ammonites. In answer to the question why G’d had singled out these two nations, warning the Israelites not to harass them, our sages in Baba Batra 35 explain hat this was on account of two great descendants that would emerge from these two peoples, Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite. Clearly, although these women were born many hundreds of years later than the Israelites’ trek through the desert, this is another example of future events casting long shadows ahead, i.e. G’d’s foreknowledge determining present day behaviour. All of the examples mentioned showed that fruits which develop later are superior to results which are visible immediately. One may compare this to someone who has lost a pearl at the beach and who sieves through bucket after bucket of sand, until finally, he finds the pearl. All that sand, though apparently having no immediate use, was necessary in order to enable the pearl to be found. All the tedium of sifting the sand proved worthwhile in retrospect. This explains much of human history, and even much of Jewish history. Tanchuma Vayeshev 1 explains the ten generations between Adam and Noach and the ones between Noach and Avraham as necessary preludes to someone like Avraham. All of human history and G’d’s frustrations with its disobedience to Him must find their justification in the eventual emergence of such pearls as Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.
The tedious process of ploughing, seeding, etc., etc., has only one ultimate but long delayed objective, i.e. the fruit which the soil or tree will yield as a result. Man is described by David in Psalms 139,5 as ראשון ואחרון צרתני, “You have formed me both first and last;” David meant that though man was the last creature to emerge on earth on the sixth day, he was the first in G’d’s planning of the entire creative process. The word ראשון in that psalm may also mean “choicest, most accomplished.” The word אחרון of course, applies to the process of actual creation.
As soon as G’d created man, He gave him the first positive commandment as well as a negative commandment. The first commandment was that he was to eat from all the trees in Gan Eden; the first negative commandment was that he was not to eat from the tree of knowledge.
In a manner paralleling what G’d commanded Adam when He had placed him in Gan Eden, in the previous portion the Torah devoted three paragraphs to different categories of life in this terrestrial earth and how such animals may or may not interact with superior forms of life, i.e. man. First the Torah deals with the mammals, animals whose primary raw material is earth, dust, i.e. the most primitive of the four elements making up the terrestrial universe which we discussed already. Secondly, it deals with what may and what may not be eaten of the animals primarily formed from the element water, a slightly more sophisticated element. Thirdly, it dealt with which birds may not be eaten, i.e. creatures whose primary element is the רוח, the wind, i.e. an element much closer to the celestial domain than the previous two. Finally, beginning with our portion, the Torah addresses the most superior creature, i.e. man and immediately repeats the commandment of circumcision as if to emphasise that further refinement of man the species was still necessary. The Torah makes plain by means of this commandment that the principal reason man has been created is to perform G’d’s commandments. This is what Job had in mind (Job 5,7) when we are told there that אדם לעמל יולד, “man has been born in order to toil.” The “toil” referred to is the effort involved in studying and observing G’d’s Torah. This is the reason why the commandments connected to a woman giving birth are surrounded by a variety of commandments both before and after that particular paragraph. The commandments preceding the laws to be observed in connection with the birth of a human being all deal with permitted or forbidden food. This is what our sages (in Tanchuma Tazria 1) had in mind when they interpreted the above-mentioned verse in Psalms 139,5 to mean that the אחור, “after,” the prophet referred to were all the mammals, birds and creeping creatures which had been created before man, whereas the word קדם they understand as applying to the human baby being born to whom G’d already gave directives concerning how to conduct itself after it would leave the mother’s womb. In other words, man’s creation or birth is conditional on his keeping G’d’s commandments. The immediate commandment is the perfor- mance of circumcision of the male baby. [Or, seeing the fetus is taught the Torah while still in its mother’s womb, this is what entitles it to be born. Ed.]
Or HaChaim
The verse also contains an allusion to the כנסת ישראל, the Jewish people as a conceptual entity. We find that this term is applied to women in such verses as Isaiah 54,5: כי בעליך עושיך, "for He who has made you will espouse you;" the prophet also continues: ואשת נעורים, "and the wife of your youth;" the prophet Hoseah describes the relationship of G'd and כנסת ישראל in Hoseah 2,21: וארשתיך לי לעולם, (G'd speaking to His bride) "I will betroth Myself to you forever, etc." Isaiah 50,1: "where is the bill of divorce I have given you?" There are more such verses to be found scattered throughout the Books of the Prophets. וילדה זכר, "and she gives birth to a male child, etc." when viewed from a moral-ethical vantage-point, the Torah reveals that when the מזריע the initiative for the husband-wife relationship with G'd originates with the Jewish people, the כנסת ישראל, then the product of such an initiative will be a male child, זכר, the entire nation will attain the highest spiritual level. The word זכר, male, is hyperbole for the highest moral-ethical achievenment. In Sanhedrin 98 and Shemot Rabbah 15 the superiority of the ultimate redemption to the redemption at the time of the Exodus from Egypt is described. The ultimate redemption is perceived there as the corollary of Israel distinguishing itself by the performance of good deeds, etc. The prophet described the Exodus in terms of Israel being "naked and nude" (Ezekiel 16,7). Clothing is perceived as a layer of מצות and good deeds covering our bodies. The inadequacy of the Jewish people at the time of the Exodus is underlined in Deut. 4,34 where G'd describes the Exodus as wrenching one people from the midst of the same people, something that made it legally difficult for G'd to justify taking the Israelites out of Egypt when He did. That redemption has been described only in female terms and that is why it did not endure in the end and the Temple was destroyed. Not so the redemption of the future which will occur as a direct result of Israel's merits. First and foremost among those merits is Israel's preoccupation with Torah as described in Deut. 31,21 something that will never be forgotten even during a protracted period of exile. The Torah continues: וטמאה, the mother contracts ritual impurity as a result of giving birth. Here the Torah alludes to the way G'd initiates a process which culminates in the rehabilitation of Israel so that it will attain a spiritual level that qualifies for the description זכר. The "days" mentioned here are to be understood as seven years similar to Genesis 24,55 where Laban and his mother wanted Rebeccah to delay her departure by ימים, i.e. a year. The years which are viewed as the חבלי משיח, the birth-pangs of the Messiah, last for seven years during which Israel will be refined spiritually in preparation of his arrival. He will make his appearance during the eighth year. On the eighth day, at the beginning of the eighth day (year), the baby is to have its foreskin removed, i.e. the concept of a foreskin which acts as a barrier between man and G'd will be removed from the universe. We read in Zachariah 13,2 that G'd will destroy the spirit of impurity from the earth. This will occur during the eighth year. It is well known that conceptually the foreskin is identical with the forces of the קליפה, the spiritually negative emanations. When the Torah wrote the word וטמאה, describing the state of the mother, this is a simile for the afflictions experienced during the birth-pangs of the Messiah.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Another part of that same Midrash understands the opening words of the verse as meaning that in this world the Jewish people would count according to the moon, i.e. that the moon is given to the Jewish people as a gift in order that they can count their months by means of it. The moon is considered as superior to the sun as it is visible by day and by night, suggesting that the Jewish people have an existence both in this world and in the world to come. The descendants of Esau, however, count in this world by means of the orbits of the sun which has been described in the Torah (Genesis 1,16) as “the great luminary.” In the future, however, this great luminary will be made subservient to those who will be called “small,” by G’d, (compare Jeremiah 49,15) “For I will make you smallest among nations, etc.” [The prophet addresses Edom, the spiritual descendant of Esau]. At that time the (previously) small luminary, i.e. the Jewish people, will become big, the nation whom G’d calls big as we read in Deuteronomy 4,8 “and which is a great nation such as this, etc.” The descendants of those who count according to the sun’s orbits will eventually be judged by means of the sun, i.e. they will be burned by the fiery heat of the sun as we know from Malachi 3,19.
The entire matter can be understood by means of a parable. A king got engaged to a lady and wrote her a marriage settlement in which he gave her a few relatively minor gifts. Once the marriage was consummated, he wrote her a contract bequeathing to her very large gifts. The relationship between G’d and the Jewish people is somewhat similar. In this world G’d got “engaged” to the Jewish people as we know from Hoseah 2,21: “I will espouse you forever.” At that stage of our relationship with G’d He gave us only the moon, as we read in our verse “this moon is for you.” However, in the days of the messiah there will occur the consummation of our relationship with G’d. We know this from Isaiah 54,5 “for He who is your mate is the One Who has made you. The Lord G’d of Hosts is His name.” When that time arrives G’d will hand over to Israel all that is spelled out in the second marital agreement. According to Shemot Rabbah end of chapter 15, this is the meaning of Daniel 12,3 “and the knowledgeable will be radiant like the brightness of the expanse of the sky.”
We find an interesting halachah in Tractate Sofrim 19,10 as well as in the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot 9,2) that one does not recite the benediction over the new moon except on the night following the Sabbath when one is still in a state of “fragrance,” i.e. surrounded by the joyful aura of the Sabbath and wearing Sabbath garments. When reciting this benediction one is to stand at attention facing the moon and to jump up and down three times reciting the formula: “blessed be your Creator, blessed be the One Who sanctifies you. Just as I jump in your direction without being able to touch you (with harmful intent) so those who wish to harm me may jump without achieving their aim. May fear and trepidation overcome all those; since Your arm is mighty may they be struck dumb as stone” (Exodus 15,15).
The entire matter can be understood by means of a parable. A king got engaged to a lady and wrote her a marriage settlement in which he gave her a few relatively minor gifts. Once the marriage was consummated, he wrote her a contract bequeathing to her very large gifts. The relationship between G’d and the Jewish people is somewhat similar. In this world G’d got “engaged” to the Jewish people as we know from Hoseah 2,21: “I will espouse you forever.” At that stage of our relationship with G’d He gave us only the moon, as we read in our verse “this moon is for you.” However, in the days of the messiah there will occur the consummation of our relationship with G’d. We know this from Isaiah 54,5 “for He who is your mate is the One Who has made you. The Lord G’d of Hosts is His name.” When that time arrives G’d will hand over to Israel all that is spelled out in the second marital agreement. According to Shemot Rabbah end of chapter 15, this is the meaning of Daniel 12,3 “and the knowledgeable will be radiant like the brightness of the expanse of the sky.”
We find an interesting halachah in Tractate Sofrim 19,10 as well as in the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot 9,2) that one does not recite the benediction over the new moon except on the night following the Sabbath when one is still in a state of “fragrance,” i.e. surrounded by the joyful aura of the Sabbath and wearing Sabbath garments. When reciting this benediction one is to stand at attention facing the moon and to jump up and down three times reciting the formula: “blessed be your Creator, blessed be the One Who sanctifies you. Just as I jump in your direction without being able to touch you (with harmful intent) so those who wish to harm me may jump without achieving their aim. May fear and trepidation overcome all those; since Your arm is mighty may they be struck dumb as stone” (Exodus 15,15).