הקדמה לחמשה חומשי תורה
ב ְׁרֵּ אש ִׁיתֹּב ָרָ אֹּא ֹּל וקץֶרָאָהֹּתֵּאְׁוֹּםִׁיַּמָ שַּהֹּתֵּאֹּםי
In the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth.
The two steps of the Creation of the Universe.
The Ohr Hachaim asks, what is the meaning of the word בְרֵּאשִּית – in the beginning? In the beginning of what? The word seems to be attached to something that was said beforehand, when this is the first possuk in the Torah. If the Torah meant to say that the beginning of the creation was the heaven and the earth, it would use the word בָ רִּ אשוֹנָה.
The next question asked by the Ohr Hachaim is about the word הַשָמַיִם. Chazal say that this word is an amalgamation of two words – אש ומים – fire and water. The meaning of this is that Hashem created Heavens by combining fire and water. This seems to be claiming that fire and water existed prior to Hashem’s creation. Were fire and water not created by Hashem? This possuk would appear to give credence to the claims of the apostates that believe that the world existed forever and was not created ex nihilo by Hashem.
Chazal explain the possuk to be giving us details about the creation of the Heaven and the Earth, not telling us that it happened. The possuk is to be read, ‘At the beginning of the creation of the heaven and the earth, the earth was astonishingly empty.’ However, the problem is still in place. The scoffers and apostates could still point to the fact that the Torah nowhere actually describes the creation of the four basic ingredients of the universe, which are fire, water, earth, and air. It seems they precede the creation, which is fodder for the apostates.
The Ohr Hachaim also notices the word אֵּת which appears twice in the possuk. What does this word add to the story?
The Ohr Hachaim explains with a Mechilta that explains the ten commandments as having been said all at once. A human cannot say more than one thing at a time, but Hashem is unlimited and He can say all ten things at the same instant, with nothing preceding the other.
Based on this, the Ohr Hachaim innovates that Hashem created the entire universe too with one statement. בְרֵּאשִּית בָרָא א לוקים אֵּת הַשָמַיִּם וְאֵּת הָאָרֶץ – in the beginning Hashem created the Heaven and all that is included in that, and the earth and all of its details. The universe is made up of the four elements – fire, water, air, and earth. The combinations of these elements, in different proportions, are the building blocks of every object that exists in this world. The word אֵת denotes all of the details of the Heaven and Earth. The Mishna (Avos 5:1) writes that the world was created with ten statements of Hashem. When counting the times the Torah says the word וַיֹּאמֶׁר in the parsha of creation, the Gemara only finds nine. The Gemara explains that the word בְ רֵּאשִּית is also an expression of Hashem, like the word וַיֹּאמֶׁר. (Although the Gemara (Chagiga 12a) describes ten things that were created on the first day, which would seem to teach us that nothing else was created besides those ten items, those are only the visible things. Every tiny chemical, power, and molecule, was included in the first day’s creation. Some need to be attached to others to create new items, others need to be modified, but the ingredients were all created at once. Afterwards, on each day, things were divided, attached, modified, and formed, to create that day’s creation.)
The Ohr Hachaim proves his point from the possuk later “כִּּי בוֹ שָבַת מִּכׇּּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶר בָרָא א -לֹהִּים לַעֲשוֹת - because on it He ceased from all His work that God had created and made.” This means that on the seventh day He rested from all of the work that he made for Himself on the day of creation to do. On the first day, He created the ingredients, and that was a set of rules as to how to continue the creation. He followed those rules until He was done, which took place on the sixth day, and He rested on the seventh.
This is akin to a builder who spends one day gathering the wood, bricks, cement, machinery, and manpower. On subsequent days, he puts them all together to build his house. On the first day of creation, at one instant, Hashem created all of the ingredients of creation. He then spent the rest of the week assembling the world with those pieces.
The only one of the ingredients that were not repaired or assembled with anything during the seven days of creation is fire. Fire is too powerful an element to be revealed like the rest of creation. It has the ability to destroy the world, and Hashem did not wish to allow it to develop during the seven days of creation. Only when Adam Harishon found it necessary to light a fire, was he able to have the limited power to light a small spark on Motzei Shabbos, which he turned into one flame. Fire was hidden in rocks and stones, and Adam had to work to uncover it.
Why did Hashem create the world in two levels...
The truth is, Hashem could have created the world with the first statement. He could have created the entire world with one statement, with everything in perfect order. He didn’t have to build it as ingredients and thereafter spend six days joining pieces together to create a functional world. This is the question posed by the Mishna (Avos 5:1) בַעֲשָרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת נִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם. וּמַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר, וַהֲלֹא בְמַאֲמָר אֶחָד יָכוֹל לְהִּבָרְ אוֹת, אֶלָא לְהִּפָרַע מִּן הָרְ שָעִּים שֶמְאַבְדִּין אֶת הָעוֹלָם שֶנִּבְרָא בַעֲשָרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת, וְלִּתֵּּן שָכָר טוֹב תֶא ןיִּמ יַקְמֶש םיִּקיִּדַצַל הָעוֹלָם שֶנִּבְרָא בַעֲשָרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת - The world was created in ten statements. What does this come to teach us? Could not the world have been created in a single statement? It was in order to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy the world which was created in ten statements, and to give reward to the righteous who sustain the world which was created in ten statements.
Only with all ten statements could the world be considered created, even though each of the other nine statements were also creations of final products. Until there was a complete world standing in place, it could not be considered created.
The Ohr Hachaim then asks why the Torah does not write this entire story clearly, telling us that Hashem created water, earth, fire, and wind. Why is everything merely alluded to?
His answer is that the Torah never planned on telling us the entire story of how the world was created. The only purpose of the story of Creation was to teach us how powerful He is, how the world is all His, and that He is the strongest of all, who created everything with His words.
Additionally, if the Torah were to begin with Hashem creating the four elements, it would seem that they were created in order, and the truth is that they were all created at once. The Torah is sure to be written with clarity and truth.
This is why the Torah did not use the expression בָרִּ אשוֹנָה. The four elements were created at once, no letter of one preceded the other, there was no order to the letters or words at all. The word בָרִ אשוֹנָה denotes an order, in which something came first. The entire creation of the world was done at once.
The Gemara (Makos 14b) tells us that we heard the first two of the ten commandments מפי הגבורה ‘from the mouth of the strong One.’ The Ohr Hachaim explains that the ten commandments were given as one, there was no order to them when we heard them from Hashem. Moshe Rabbeinu later organized it for us. This middah is referred to by Chazal as ‘gevurah’ – Hashem’s strength.
The world was created with ‘midas hadin’, Hashem’s full strength was shown at the time, with no hint of compassion. This method of creation, just like the ten commandments, has no order, no beginning and no end. This is the nature of Hashem’s strength.
This, says the Ohr Hachaim, is another explanation as to why Hashem created the world in this way. As the original idea was to create the world with ‘strength’, it had to be done in this disorderly manner.
