ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף ישעיהו 63:13

 בראשית. Rabbi Yitzchok said that G’d had no need to begin the Torah prior to chapter 12,2 in Exodus, until the words החודש הזה וגו', “this month will be the first of the months for you, etc.” Nachmanides, in justifying Rabbi Yitzchok’s comment, writes that the story of creation is of great consequence and provides the root for our faith in G’d, and that anyone who does not believe what is written in that chapter does not believe that this present universe is G’d’s creation but believes that the universe preceded G’d in historical terms. He who does so is an outright heretic and has no share in G’d’s Torah at all. Chapter 12 in Exodus contains the first commandment addressed specifically to the Jewish people as a people. [the commandment of circumcision also applies to those of Avraham’s descendants who would not be Jews. Ed.] Notwithstanding the latter consideration, seeing that the fact that G’d created the universe is not spelled out anywhere else in the five books of the Torah, it was important to record this vital message at the very beginning. Seeing that the story of creation had been handed down verbally by one generation to the next during the 2448 years which preceded the giving to the people of Israel of the written Torah, Rabbi Yitzchok was correct in saying that inasmuch as people had such a tradition already, the written Torah could have commenced only with chapter 12 in Exodus and the legislative part of the Torah would have been unimpaired. G’d considered it imperative to dictate to Moses the sequence of the 6 days (stages) of creation culminating in the creation of man and G’d assigning man to be in charge of the life-supporting part of the universe, i.e. earth. Rabbi Yitzchok’s comment is especially pertinent as the Talmud in Chagigah 11 warns those who have acquired knowledge of how earth came into being to conceal such knowledge from the public at large. We could have questioned then why the Torah at that stage saw fit to reveal to one and all what only a chosen few had been aware of? G’d wanted us to know that He was at home on earth in a place called גן עדן, and that but for man having been expelled from there due to his sin he could have remained in constant direct contact with his Creator without the need for any intermediary. It also was necessary to record that after the total corruption of mankind save for a single family, the Creator saved that family and destroyed the surface of the earth during the deluge. These short paragraphs summarizing over 1600 years of the history of mankind, serve as a warning to later generations of what might happen if they too would become guilty of deliberately flouting the Creator’s design collectively. Seeing that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan behaved in a manner most displeasing to G’d, the Torah by giving us a short history of man, explains that the forced removal of the Canaanites from their land, was no more than what they had brought upon themselves by ignoring history. Still on the quote by Rashi of what Rabbi Yitzchok said, etc. Notwithstanding the fact that mankind as a whole had received 7 other commandments, the commandment to sanctify the new moon was the first commandment addressed to only a single nation, the Jewish nation. Seeing that at that point the Jewish people still constituted an integral part of mankind as a whole, and they were all subject to these 7 universally applicable commandments, it might have been deemed appropriate to commence the Torah, the Book containing legislation addressed exclusively to that nation only, with the point at which the first of such national commandments was introduced. Rashi explains therefore, that by commencing the Torah at Bereshit bara, the Torah wanted to demonstrate not only that G’d was the Creator, but that He is also the sole and undisputed owner of His universe and may decide which nation is entitled to live on which part of the earth. In other words, if the Jewish people supplanted the Canaanites in the land of Canaan and they were helped by numerous supernatural miracles in doing so, it was clear that their success was G’d’s will, that it was not robbery instigated by Moses and Joshua their leaders. There appears to be a contradiction here, seeing that when the Torah describes who lived in the land of Canaan during Avraham’s time, the Torah first refers to the Canaanite living there, (Genesis 13,7) whereas in chapter 14,18 Malki Tzedek, a Semite, is described as King in Jerusalem (שלם). We would have to answer that the only minute part of the land of Canaan not yet taken over by the Canaanites was that city of Jerusalem. Still, seeing that Canaan had been, cursed by his grandfather Noach to be a slave to Noach’s other two sons, how are we to explain the ascendancy of that nation at that time? Moreover, why should the Canaanites have dispossessed the descendants of Shem more than the descendants of Yaphet? The Torah may wish to hint that seeing the Canaanites obtained their homeland by dispossessing the Semites, the people relatively most loyal to G’d already, put a great question mark on their legal and moral right to occupy the choicest land on earth. [the Canaanites, the most morally corrupt nation, took aim at the Semites, the most morally superior. Ed] Rashi explains the word בראשית as being in a construct mode, to the verb ברא, “He created,” i.e. the line is to be understood as: “at the beginning of G’d’s creating heaven and earth, the earth was in a state of chaos.” At that point G’d issued the directive: “let there be light.” Accordingly, the only thing G’d created on the first day was “light.” Nachmanides explains the words בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ, as meaning that G’d’s first creative activity consisted of His calling into existence out of total non-existence, heaven and earth. This “earth” however, was something so insubstantial, something referred to as tohu vavohu, matter which was ready to assume definitive form and substance at a subsequent stage. This “matter=tohu vavohu, is equivalent to what the ancient Greeks called ”hiayuli.” The meaning of the word ברא is the creation of something of substance which had never possessed any substance at all, known in philosophy as “ex nihilo.” Subsequent to this act of creating matter out of pure spirit, any other creative activity made use of this basic and original raw material. Such stages of creative activity are described as יצירה, “providing form and substance,” but are never referred to as בריאה, “creation.” The original not quite definitive form and shape of that matter, is referred to in the Torah as בהו, “vohu.” At that stage, heaven and all its components consisted of a single raw material, and earth and all it is comprised of consisted of another single raw material. According to Rashi on Kohelet 7,19, the word describes the super terrestrial wisdom with which G’d created the universe, a wisdom that leaves even the wisest of men in utter amazement, תוהא. [transliteration from the ancient Greek. Ed.] Both the raw material used to create heaven and that used to create earth are unique and distinct, and the word ברא refers exclusively to the creation of these two phenomena.. The “names” תהו and בהו given by the Torah to these raw materials are intended to forestall man changing the names in question and renaming them to suit his purpose. The words are composites, i.e. בו הוא parallels Isaiah 34,11 ונטה עליה קו-תהו ואבני בהו, “and He shall measure it with a line of chaos and with weights of emptiness.” The word קו is derived from קוה, hope, i.e. the builder employs the plumb line to check if the results of his efforts justified his hopes and expectations. אבני בהו, refer to the stones which the building consists of. [the foregoing is taken from Nachmanides. Ed.] After the Torah reported that initially G’d created heaven and earth, it reverts to the subject of “earth,” explaining that after the initial creative activity producing tangible matter, the phenomenon known as “earth” (in contrast to that known as “heaven”) was in a state of תהו, meaning tangible matter devoid of distinct shape and contours, so that it was best described as בהו, as G’d proceeded to provide it with distinct shape and contours. This meant that what had originally been a single raw material, now became “split” into the four basic raw materials we are all familiar with, i.e. fire, water, earth and atmosphere, air, wind. Ever since that stage of development, whenever we refer to the word הארץ, we mean the phenomenon which is composed of varying proportions of these four raw materials. When the Torah refers to the completion of G’d’s creative activity on the seventh day and describes it as ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם, it refers to the totality of what is known in our literature as the עולם התחתון, “the lower universe,” the part of the universe inhabited by living bodies. The word חשך describes the element fire, because the original fire is black. Had it been reddish it would have illuminated the night so that the darkness of night would be impossible to observe. The water which is the raw material used to mould the dust of the earth, is referred to by the Torah in our chapter as תהם, This is why the waters of the ocean are referred to as תהומות as in Exodus 15,8 קפאו תהומות בלב-ים, “the normally mobile waves became inert (as if frozen) in the midst of the ocean.” The bedrock of the ocean is referred to as תהום as we know from Isaiah 63,13 מוליכם בתהומות כסוס במדבר, “He guides them through the depths of the sea as one guides a horse through the desert.” In our context here, what we know as “air,” is referred to as רוח It is a well known fact that the combination of these four raw materials comprise what we know as ארץ, the globe we all inhabit. The pillar holding this lower universe together is the globe of earth, surrounded by water on most of its surface surrounded further by the atmosphere we call air or רוח. The fire in turn surrounds this atmosphere. [the heat of the sun emanates from beyond the atmosphere. Ed.] What our verse reveals is that this phenomenon described as ארץ, was “dressed up” in a shape, meaning that the element fire surrounded it on the outside, the atmosphere, air, רוח being an element in constant motion interweaving with the other elements. The innermost spot within all these layers is known in the language of our sages as אבן שתיה, the foundation stone of the earth, i.e. the stone which “waters” the entire globe. To sum up, the meaning of the first two verses is: “at the beginning G’d created heaven and He created earth, both out of non-existent matter. When the earth was first created, it was in a chaotic state devoid of form and contours, a mixture of the four basic elements fire, water, earth and wind, none of which had been defined as yet as to their functions.

AND ‘ELOKIM’ (G-D) SAID. The word Elokim means “the Master of all forces,” for the root of the word is e-il, meaning force, and the word Elokim is a composite consisting of the words e-il heim, as if the word e-il is in a construct state, and heim, [literally] “they,” alludes to all other forces. Thus Elokim means “the Force of all forces.” A secret will yet be disclosed in connection with this.⁴³See Ramban, Exodus 20:3.
If so, the simple correct explanation of the verse is as follows: In the beginning⁴⁴Ramban thus indicates his opinion that the word bereshith is not in a construct state. This is contrary to Rashi, as explained above. G-d created the heavens means He brought forth their matter from nothing; and the earth means that He brought forth its matter from nothing. And the earth, includes all the four elements,⁴⁵Fire, wind, water, and earth. [not merely the land] as in the verse, And the heaven and the earth were finished,⁴⁶Genesis 2:1. which includes the entire lower sphere, and in Praise the Eternal from the earth, ye sea-monsters, and all deeps,⁴⁷Psalms 148:7. and as in many other verses. Now with this creation, which was like a very small point having no substance, everything in the heavens and on the earth was created. The word eth —[eth hashamayim ve’eth ha’aretz] — is like “the essence of a thing.” The Sages have always set it forth as serving to include,⁴⁸Pesachim 22b. since it is derived from the expression, The morning ‘atha’ (cometh), and also the night.⁴⁹Isaiah 21:12. And so did our Rabbis say:⁵⁰Bereshith Rabbah 1:19. “‘Eth hashamayim (the heavens)’ — eth includes the sun, moon, stars and constellations. ‘Ve’eth ha’aretz (and the earth)’ — ve’eth includes the trees, herbs, and the Garden of Eden.” These include all created things which are corporeal.
Now after having said that with one command G-d created at first the heavens and the earth and all their hosts, Scripture returns and explains that the earth after this creation was tohu, that is, matter without substance. It became bohu when He clothed it with form. Then it [Scripture] explains that in this form was included the form of the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. The word ha’aretz (the earth) includes these four elements. In this verse, the element of fire is called “darkness”⁵¹And darkness was upon the face of the deep. So also explained in the Moreh Nebuchim, II:30: “By Choshech the element fire is meant, nothing else.” Ramban’s reasoning on this point is also found there. because the elemental fire is dark. Were it red, it would redden the night for us. The element of water with which the dust was kneaded is here called “deep.”⁵¹And darkness was upon the face of the deep. So also explained in the Moreh Nebuchim, II:30: “By Choshech the element fire is meant, nothing else.” Ramban’s reasoning on this point is also found there. This is why the waters of the oceans are called “the deeps,” as it is written, The deeps cover them;⁵²Exodus 15:15. The deeps were congealed;⁵³Ibid., 8. The deep was round about me.⁵⁴Jonah 2:6. The bottom of the ocean is also referred to as “deep:” And He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up, and He led them through the depths, as a wilderness;⁵⁵Psalms 106:9. He led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness.⁵⁶Isaiah 63:13. And the element air is here called “spirit.”⁵⁷And the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.
Now it is already known that the four elements fill up the whole space with matter.⁵⁸“This sphere in its totality is composed of the celestial orbs, the four elements and their combinations; there is no vacuum whatever therein, but the whole space is filled up with matter.” (Guide of the Perplexed, Friedlander’s translation, I, 72.) That which stands still is the sphere of earth. The waters surround the earth, the air encompasses the waters, and the fire envelopes the air.⁵⁹From the language of Rambam, ibid. It is to be noted that Ramban follows Yehudah al Charizi’s translation of Rambam’s philosophic work and not that of Shmuel ibn Tibbon. See my Hebrew work, The Life of Ramban, pp. 23-24, on the far-reaching significance of this point. Scripture thus states that the earth took on form, and the fire above enveloped the intermingled waters and dust, and the wind blew and rose in the darkness and hovered over the waters.
It appears to me that this [primeval] point, [which G-d created out of absolute nought], which took on form and became bohu, is what the Sages call:⁶⁰Yoma 54b. This “foundation rock” is the stone on which the Ark of the Covenant rested in the Holy of Holies in King Solomon’s Temple. “‘The rock of foundation’ from which the world was founded.”
The purport of the verses is thus: In the beginning G-d created the heavens from nought, and He created the earth from nought. The earth, when created, was tohu and then it became bohu, and in these there were “darkness” [i.e., fire, as explained above], water, dust and the wind blowing upon the water. Thus everything was created and made. The reason why ruach (wind) is attached to the name of G-d [as it says, and the spirit of God] is that it is the least substantial of all elements⁶¹Although fire is thinner than wind, since the element of fire is alluded to in the verse by the word “darkness,” as explained above, it would not be fitting to attach it to the name of G—d. (Bachya). and is above them, hovering upon the face of the waters only by command of the Holy One, blessed be He.
In case you seek information concerning the creation of the incorporeal angels, you will not find it explained in the Torah. The Sages, however, have explained concerning them that they were created on the second day, so that you should not say that they assisted in the creation of the world.⁶²Bereshith Rabbah 3:11. But if you will merit and understand the secret of the word bereshith and why Scripture does not begin by saying, “G-d created in the beginning,” you will know that, in the way of truth,⁶³A reference to the true wisdom of the Cabala which enables one to grasp the mysteries of the Torah. Scripture tells about the lower creations and alludes to the higher ones and that the word bereshith refers covertly to the Emanation called Wisdom, which is the head of all beginnings, as I have mentioned. This is why they translated bereshith in the Jerusalem Targum to mean “in wisdom,” and the word is adorned in the Torah with a crown on the letter beth.⁶⁴The adornment on the top of the letter beth hints at the Kether (Crown) above, from which all emanations issue. It is also referred to as Ein Sof (the Infinite). See my Hebrew commentary, p. 15.

נהלת בעזך, You guided them across the dry seabed in a leisurely fashion. (compare Isaiah 63,13 “Who led them through the depths so that they did not stumble-- as a horse in a desert.”)