(Above) Hashem's will to create was aroused when He saw the deeds of the righteous. But His desire to do good for them and the abundance of His love were so great that this light engulfed the world completely. However, when Hashem looked at the deeds of the evil ones His power of constriction was aroused and the light was hidden away. By means of this the world was given its separate existence (Baal Shem Tov, p. 36). I think what we can learn from this is that the world was created so that we could rectify ourselves. What is good is good but there is no purpose to create that which is already good. There is no self-creation or self-building in that. But once there are the fault lines of brokenness then our effort to repair things is required and we can go beyond the boundaries of ourselves in doing this thus giving creation a purpose.

(Below) When Adam was first formed he was precisely in the state of being composed of two equal opposites, body and soul. His environment contained both good and evil and he was balanced between the two to choose whichever he wished. The appropriate thing for him to have done was to choose the good. Had he done so his soul would have overcome his body and the spiritual would have dominated the physical. He would have immediately attained perfection and it would have remained with him forever (Daat Tevunot 49).

Bereshit
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])

Man and the Angels (Above and Below: the dialogue.) When Gd showed the angels the center piece of His Creation, Man, the Angels in their "perfection" protested, "What is man that you remember him? The son on man that you are mindful of him?" (Tehillim 8:5)
Gd then showed the angels the animals He had created and asked the Ministering Angels to name them but they had no response. This is when the Torah tells us that Gd brought forth all the animals He'd created to see by what names Adam would call them. The midrash Yalkut Shemoni says, "Don't read the pasuk "to see" (lir'ot) what man would call them" but "to show" (l'harot) the angels the uniqueness of man. Because Adam displayed his singular ability to recognize the essence of each of these Gd's creatures and name them accordingly, a wisdom about earthly matters to which the angels were blind.

This pasuk from Tehillim is quoted again by the Midrash Rabbah in regards to the pasuk, "Gd said (to the angels), 'Let us make man.'" This came after He had first fashioned the Creation will all type of food sources already prepared. The angels questioned Him about all of this to-do, "What is man that You are mindful of him? (Why have you gone to all this trouble?)" Hashem responded, "A palace full of good things and no guests. What pleasure has its owner in having filled it?"
From the side of angelic perfection man is unworthy of all the good that is done for him nevertheless somehow the abundance of creation is only fitting for man's benefit.

Thus the Gamora in Sanhedrin says, "Hashem asked the angels whether to create man. He brought forth one group of angels who complained, "What is man that you are mindful of him" Hashem stretched forth his smallest finger and burnt them up. He brought forth a second group and a third till finally the angels said, "Master of the Universe, it's Your creation. If You desire is to create man, then do as You please." That was the end of the story until the Generation of the Flood and the builders of the Tower of Babel brought decadence and ruination to the world. Then the angels approached Hashem again, "Now look. Did not the first group of angels speak well?" Hashem responded, "Unto his old age I am He, until he is an elder I will suffer him" (Yeshayahu 46 from Sanhedrin 38b).

Man is in the unenviable position of existing in the world alongside the perfection of the Heavenly Host. He can never live up to their sterling performance. Their unswerving fulfillment of Hashem's will gives man a self image that is tarnished - he is sorely lacking by comparison. But while the jealousy of the angels stands as an incessant critique of man's existence there is something unsurpassably precious about man - precisely because of his vulnerability he is the purpose of everything. Man, a creature of free will may stumble and fall, but this must be weighed against the glory he gives the Creator through his gift: turning the darkness and ignorance of his earthiness into praise whether through the brilliance of his insights into the Oneness of Creator, painstakingly carrying out the mitzvot or the selfless caring of his actions. When man lifts himself out of the dirt to rise towards Heaven there is nothing like it in all of Creation. And this is precisely man's praise that is hinted at in the words of the pasuk spoken by the angels, "What (Mah) is man�" When man looks at himself and asks, "What am I by myself? Everything I have is from the Creator;" when he finds his humility before Hashem, emptying himself before the One in order to give praise and build the world to reflect His glory; then man's uniqueness shines out and he is truly distinguished from the rest of Creation.

Getting lost, getting found (Further below and going higher) The snake said to the woman, "You certainly won't die (if you eat from the tree. So why did He tell you not to eat from it?) Because Gd knows that on the day you eat from the (Tree of Knowledge) your eyes will be open and you will be like Gd knowing good and evil" (Bereshit 3:4-5).

The snake told a partial truth. Man would become similar to Gd in how he knew. But there was a fatal flaw in this. Whatever Adam "gained," he still lacked that which distinguishes Gd from man. The Baal HaTanya explains:

Although Hashem has no bodily likeness everything is revealed and known to Him infinitely more than, for example, through the medium of physical sight or hearing. It is, by way of illustration, like a man who knows and feels within himself all that is happening to and being experienced by each of all of his 248 organs, such as cold and heat, feeling the heat even in his toe-nails�Corresponding to this knowledge, by way of example, the Holy One, blessed by He, knows all that befalls all created beings, both higher and lower because they all receive their flow of life from Him. As it says, "Verily also nothing that is formed is withheld from You." (Liturgy Musaf for the New Year). And Maimonides said, "Knowing Himself, as it were, He knows all created things that exist by virtue of His true existence" (Tanya, Chapter 42).

Man did indeed gain the power to experience the world through himself but he did not come to know others in the way that only Hashem can. Because the way that man knows another is as something outside himself that he encompasses with his mind. Adam in the Garden of Eden before the sin did not experience the boundaries of self in this way. He was more like a newborn baby and the Torah lets us know this when it tells us that Adam "knew" by eating. When a newborn is hungry it cries because its experience is that a part of himself is missing, in this case, his mother. For the newborn, desire and self are one and this blurs the boundary of self. Something akin to this was the situation o f Adam before the sin. So long as he was content to relate to Gd and the world through simply eating the fruits of the trees he could experience directly the Gdliness of the world without having a clear sense of his own boundaries. As long as man was content to know without experiencing what it is to know himself as separate, he could freely and innocently enter the most sublimely spiritual chambers of the king.

The seduction of the snake was to make man imagine that He could achieve a greater wholeness. The snake opened man's thinking to the notion that he lacked something "essential" - that Gd was withholding some greater awareness that man would be able to reach, namely, self-knowing, and that through this he would reach perfection. What the snake left unsaid was that man, a finite creature with a body, does not experience self-knowing in the same way that the Infinite One does. That whereas Gd through His self-knowing knows everything, man's self-knowing would place the barrier of the body between himself and Gdliness.

Man thought he would not lose his sensitivity towards Gdly experience through knowing himself. He didn't understand that for him the knowing of self meant falling into the realm of good and evil. It meant that the soul would be affected by all the accidents of the body, the welter of sensation that the mind unaided is at pains to make sense of. True, man would now "know" himself and in this sense he would be "like Gd." About that the snake told the truth. But what the snake omitted to tell man was that his self-knowing would be clouded and obscured by his body; that man's awareness would became mixed with the senses of his body and he would lose the clarity of the mind that sees unobstructed the world of the soul.

Nothing would ever be the same after the sin. Man was expelled from the Garden where he had freely picked the full fruits of the soul. He would now have to plant, harvest, and prepare his bread by the sweat of his brow and then he would need to digest what he ate in order to separate its goodness within himself. All of this parallels the difference between enjoying the direct, immediate experience of Gdliness and the work that must be done after man becomes a creature whose connection to Gd is won through the clarification and discipline of the body.

So begins the spiritual history of mankind. The goal is to return to the closeness with Hashem that Adam enjoyed in his innocence but with a twist. What man must do to get there is to master his self-knowledge making it work for him rather than against him. He must learn to bring order out of the chaos of his experience. To do this he has to nurture the awareness that comes from the soul and use his powers of mind to separate out the imaginings of the body. The highest achievement of this is the prophet or "navi." After eating from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge he must use his intellect to cull the inner truth of his prophetic experience clarifying it from the influences of imagination. The Ramchal writes in Derech Hashem:

"The prophetic vision is not like seeing something directly. Rather, it is like seeing it through a lens or series of lenses where the image is refracted from one to the other. The prophetic vision is not seen as if it were transmitted through a clear polished lens but rather through a dull lens. It is thus impossible to see the Glory clearly even after the image has undergone all these refractions. Despite this what the prophet sees is actually Gd's Glory and he is aware of this without any doubt whatsoever. Every prophet comprehends the concept of the lens as well as its essence and mystery. Just as the Glory is shown to him as a refracted image, so is the information granted to him transmitted by means of allegories and metaphors (Derech Hashem 231).

With this caveat we can hear clearly what it says in Job, "From my own flesh I will see Gd." And the Zohar 35b says, "We see that Avraham ate, Isaac and Yaakov ate and all the prophets ate and remained alive. The Tree of Knowledge however, was a tree of death in so far that he who ate it by itself was bound to die since he took poison.

Hashem is like a sun that shields us from receiving too much of his light.
Before everything else the Torah alludes to us about Hashem's unfathomable desire to create, "Bereshit," called one of the "utterances" of Creation yet utterly closed and hidden. And even though it is hidden it, itself, is a "tzimtzum," a contraction as it were, whose resulting light is nevertheless of such intense Gdliness that the "vessels of creation" could not exist "there" in separateness. Thus the pasuk tell us, "The earth was astonished and empty of form." Because the creation could not stand separately in the presence of such Gdliness. At this point there was a second contraction which is reflected in the pasuk, "Let there be light." For only by virtue of this second contraction did the light become subtle enough that the vessels were able to exist separately and yet hold the light in their grasp however infinitesimally small.

Because the vessels were negated in its presence, the original light of "Bereshit" has an aspect that can be called "darkness," choshech. And even the highest angels, those that rise to the throne of Hashem and proclaim that the world is filled with His glory are amazed and ask, "Where is the place of His glory?" Who can find Him out? For even they cannot penetrate there. He fills all the worlds yet there is no way to describe His unity, His Will or His Wisdom. This is what the <Tanna means by his statement that when Hashem created "He wrapped Himself in light like a cloak" (Tehillim 104). Because it is impossible for us to grasp the light there, as the pasuk says, "His secret dwells in darkness."

The division between the light that overwhelms and the light that we can grasp is alluded to in the pasuk, "And Gd divided between the light and the darkness." He separated the original infinite light of "choshech" from the light of the saying, "Let there be light" so that creation would be able to stand in separateness receiving existence from the light of Hashem (Meor V'Shemesh 1).

Good Desires Good For Others
(Above) "The essential nature of good is to bestow good. Therefore Gd created the world with ten sayings. He could have created the world so that we would perceive creation neither in terms of before and after, cause and effect. But then we would not be able to speak or utter anything in respect to His deeds. We wouldn't have the least understanding of His ways or His omnipotence. Because He desired that we understand something of his ways and acts He chose a manner that is perceptible and comprehensible, for example, division of times and distinctive injunctions. Therefore we should reflect on all the types varieties details of Creation" (Daat Tevunot 41-43).

The Midrash tells us, "Hashem looked into the Torah to create the world." (Midrash Rabbah). Because Hashem could have created without the Torah. As it says in Pirkei Avot "Hashem could have created with one saying..." But because the whole creation was brought forth in order to do good (l'haitiv), Hashem made the creation in a way that man could grow in holiness. Had Hashem made Creation with one utterance we would have been left dumb, there would be no way to search out His ways or grow in comprehension. Thus, Hashem made creation with the ten utterances of Bereshit. The Ramchal refers to this accessibility of Hashem's wisdom in making the Creation as "hadaragah" setting things up in hierarchical levels that reach ever closer to Oneness linked in interrelatedness that can be discovered. And this enables us to learn how to truly serve and worship Hashem.

That's what it means Hashem looked (hibit - same letters as haitiv) into the Torah and created: to look is to shine light into something and through looking into the letters of Torah in creating the world Hashem gave His light an accessible form making its manifestations graspable both in terms of how Hashem runs the world and the mystery of creation itself. Everything in the creation finds its blueprint in the Torah, a wisdom that is both infinitely complex and ordered. And this is what it means that the Torah was "proud" in knowing that it was the center of everything, the path to Hashem - because everything way given life through the Torah: the light of Hashem's desire to create was shone into the letters of Torah making them the gateways to Hashem - the main source of good, our way of understand the Creation of Hashem, going with the Creator and returning to Him. (See Sefat Emet p. 6.)

Daat,
Sometimes A Gracious Gift, Sometimes A Struggle of Overcoming Separateness
(Above and Below) "And Gd made the two lights." There are two kinds of luminaries. Those which ascend above are called "luminaries of light" and those which descend below called "luminaries of fire." When Shabbat ends the luminaries of light are withdrawn and the luminaries of fire assume sway. They rule from the end of one Shabbat till the beginning of the next. For this reason at the end of Shabbat a blessing is said over a torch (a light of two or more wicks) because rule is then returned to the lower luminaries. (Zohar 20b)

After the sin, man did not immediately feel the consequences of what he had done. While the luster of his face that could light the whole world was gone, the light of Shabbat lent its spiritual glow and man continued for the time being in his completeness. It was when the sun sank at the end of Shabbat and darkness began to settle that Adam felt the terror of what he had done: "I am cast into darkness. Now surely the dark will bruise me" (Tehillim 89:11). What did Hashem do? He gave him the idea to strike two stones against each other. When light from the fire came forth Adam blessed Hashem. As the pasuk says, "The night was light ba'adeni (in my Eden)" (Tehillim 89:12). This is why we say a blessing over fire on Motzei Shabbat and also after Yom HaKippur because fire rested the whole day (Midrash Rabbah 11:2, Pesach 53b,54a).

There is a difference we should note between the light of Shabbat and the light of Motzei Shabbat. For the light on Shabbat we use a single candle but, when designating the separation between Shabbat and the weekdays we light a torch, i.e. a flame made from two or more wicks. This reflects the notion that the light of Shabbat is the pure light of Oneness while the light of the weekdays comes through struggle, duality, comparison, striking one thing against another to see what they have in common and what is distinct. In a parallel fashion there is a knowledge that is revealed - it is clear like seeing someone familiar - and there is an understanding that is won through grappling to fit together the pieces of a puzzle. This distinction is related to our daily prayers.

Every day we pray that Hashem should give us daat. This is the fourth blessing recited in the Shemonah Esrey. It follows the praises of Hashem that constitute the first three brachot and is at the head of the twelve requests that make up the middle of our prayer. In the Talmud Yerushalmi there is a discussion about one who says any of these middle blessings on the Shabbat. Shabbat is a time of rest and we are not supposed to ask Hashem for anything but only to praise and give thanks. This would seem to exclude the forth blessing from being said on Shabbat. But if we look at the blessing we notice something peculiar: it begins not with request but with praise, "You grace us with daat (holy awareness) and teach us understanding." On the other hand the end is a petition, "Grant that we may learn from You daat (holy connection) understanding and wisdom."

Something of this prayer belongs with the first section of praise and indeed the Talmud Yerashalmi says that this brachah was originally included in the Shabbat prayers so that if one says it by mistake on Shabbat he need not cut it short. Because daat has two aspects that bridge between Oneness and separateness. There is daat that comes from above overwhelming us with its radiance from the Oneness of Hashem. And there is another aspect of daat that is from below, an awareness of Hashem that arises within us from seeing the hints that are there in the connections between things in creation.

The daat that Hashem grants from above has nothing to do with our efforts but is purely a gift like the Shabbat that comes, regardless of our efforts, once in seven days. When we thank Hashem for the daat that is graciously bestowed it is permissible to mention it in our prayers even on the day of rest.

Hashem's Oneness and Creation
(Absolutely above, getting it below) Gd's essence is absolutely simple without structure or addition qualities. Every possible perfection exists in Him but in an absolutely simple manner. By way of example, the human mind has many different faculties each with its own activity. Memory, desire, imagination - and this one doesn't impinge on that. When we speak of Gd there are no different faculties. There exist in Him qualities that in human would be different: desire, wisdom, ability. But the truth of His essence is a Oneness that intrinsically contains and encompasses everything that can be considered perfection. Not as something added on to His existence but as an integral part of His intrinsic identity whose essence is all types of perfection. (Derech Hashem 33)

O Gd where shall I find You? No, to the contrary where shall I not find You? You are hidden and invisible yet somehow You are everywhere. "'Do I not fill heaven and earth,' says the Lrd." (Jerimiah 23:24) Hashem's wisdom manifests differently in the variety of created things, yet, in its essence, it is one. We could use the analogy of the sun. It is a single body but the appearance of its rays when passing through different colored glasses - white, dark, red or green - varies and assumes the color of each medium. It could also be compared to water sprinkled in a garden that appears differently depending on the color of the blooms on which it falls. You will marvel at Gd's wisdom, nevertheless, about His Oneness you can give no account (Duties of the Heart 113, 132).

Mitzvot
According to Sefer HaChinuch there is one mitzvah in parashat Bereshit: "Be fruitful and multiply" (Bereshit 1:28). "This commandment is given in order that the world should be settled as the pasuk says, "(The world) was not created for chaos; for settlement He formed it" (Yeshiahu 45:18). This commandment is of the utmost importance. It is the foundation of all the mitzvot because the world was given to man and not the ministering angels" (Sefer HaChinuch 1).

At A Glance
1.1 - 2:3 Creation, First Account: Seven Days of Creation, the Ten Utterances of Torah Cosmogony:

DAY ONE:	Saying #1. Bereshit, the hidden saying that includes everything (70 explanations of "Bereshit" given in Tikunei Zohar, e.g., "Bara shes," He "created six," the realm of middot related to the name E-lokim Saying #2. Let there be light
DAY TWO:	Saying #3. Let there be "rakiyah," an envelope of atmosphere
DAY THREE:	Saying #4. Waters gathered forming seas Saying #5. Dry land should send forth vegetation Saying #6. Luminaries: sun, moon (together with stars) for times and season
DAY FOUR:	Saying #7. Waters swarm with fish (birds also created)
DAY FIVE:	Saying #8. From the land comes forth "shratzim," crawly bugs and rodents, (then animals)
DAY SIX:	Saying #9. Let us make man Saying #10. "It's not good for man to be alone. I will make woman, "azer k'negdo," a helpmate" (only this one of the "Ten Sayings" is from the Second Creation Account of Man which uses the name Hashem E-lokim. Rebbeinu Bachya explains: in essence this saying was given before man was created to balance the "other saying" about man's creation. Thus, in one sense man and woman are to stand alone (saying #9). In another sense woman is to receive from man(saying #10). See 2:18)
DAY SEVEN:	Shabbat and rest 2:4 Creation of Man, Second Account: man formed from earth, soul breathed in from the Creator; "Eat from the trees of the Garden except the one that gives knowledge of good and evil"; naming the beasts; Gd takes man's side, creates woman 3:1 The snake's trickery, man's sin, curse and expulsion from Gan Eden 4:1 The births and deaths of Kain and Havel, Shess is born to the first couple when they're 130 years old 5:1 Chronicles of the ten generations from Adam to Noach; Noach born 1056 after creation; at age 500 three sons born to him: Shem, Cham and Yafet; Gd sees man's evil increasing - decrees destruction: Noach finds favor in Gd's eyes