Chagigah

But now that this1 is inferred from [the expression] ‘ From one end of heaven unto the other’,2 wherefore do I need [the expression], ‘Since the day that God created man upon the earth’? — To intimate that which R. Eleazar taught. For R. Eleazar said: The first man [extended]3 from the earth to the firmament, as it is said: Since the day that God created man upon the earth;4 but as soon as he sinned,5 the Holy One, blessed be He, placed His hand upon him and diminished him,6 for it is said: Thou hast fashioned me7 after and before,8 and laid Thine hand upon me.9 Rab Judah said that Rab said: The first man [extended]10 from one end of the world to the other,11 for it is said: ‘Since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other’; as soon as he sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, placed His hand upon him and diminished him, for it is said: ‘And laid Thine hand upon me’. If so, the verses12 contradict one another! — They both [have] the same dimensions.13 Rab Judah further said that Rab said: Ten14 things were created the first day, and they are as follows: heaven and earth, Tohu [chaos], Bohu [desolation],15 light and darkness, wind and water, the measure of day and the measure of night.16 Heaven and earth, for it is written: In the beginning God created heaven and earth.17 Tohu and Bohu, for it is written: And the earth was Tohu and Bohu.18 Light and darkness: darkness, for it is written: And darkness was upon the face of the deep;18 light, for it is written: And God said, Let there be light.19 Wind and water, for it is written: And the wind20 of God hovered over the face of the waters.21 The measure of day and the measure of night, for it is written: And there was evening and there was morning, one day.22 It is taught: Tohu is a green line that encompasses the whole world, out of which darkness proceeds, for it is said: He made darkness His hiding-place round about Him.23 Bohu, this means the slimy24 stones that are sunk in the deep, out of which the waters proceed, for it is said: And he shall stretch over it the line of confusion [Tohu] and the plummet of emptiness [Bohu].25 But was the light created on the first day? For, behold, it is written: And God set them in the firmament of the heaven,26 and it is [further] written: And there was evening and there was morning a fourth day27 — This is [to be explained] according to R. Eleazar. For R. Eleazar said: The light which the Holy One, blessed be He, created on the first day, one could see thereby from one end of the world to the other; but as soon as the Holy One, blessed be He, beheld the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion,28 and saw that their actions were corrupt, He arose and hid it from them, for it is said: But from the wicked their light is withholden.29 And for whom did he reserve it? For the righteous in the time to come,30 for it is said: And God saw the light, that it was good;31 and ‘good’ means only the righteous, for it is said: Say ye of the righteous that he is good.32 As soon as He saw the light that He had reserved for the righteous, He rejoiced, for it is said: He rejoiceth at the light of the righteous.33 Now Tannaim [differ on the point]: The light which the Holy One, blessed be He, created on the first day one could see and look thereby from one end of the world to the other; this is the view of R. Jacob. But the Sages say: It34 is identical with the luminaries;35 for they were created on the first day, but they were not hung up [in the firmament] till the fourth day.36 R. Zulra b. Tobiah said that Rab said: by ten things37 was the world created: By wisdom38 and by understanding,39 and by reason,40 and by strength,41 and by rebuke,42 and by might,43 by righteousness and by judgment,44 by lovingkindness and by compassion.45 By wisdom and understanding, for it is written: The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; and by understanding established the heavens.46 By reason, for it is written: By His reason47 the depths were broken up.48 By strength and might, for it is written: Who by His strength setteth fast the mountains, Who is girded about with might.49 By rebuke, for it is written: The pillars of heaven were trembling, but they became astonished at His, rebuke.50 By righteousness and judgment, for it is written: Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Thy throne.51 By lovingkindness and compassion, for it is written: Remember, O Lord, Thy compassions and Thy mercies; for they have been from of old.52 Rab Judah further said: At the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, it went on expanding like two clues53 of warp, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked it and brought it to a standstill, for it is said: ‘The pillars of heaven were trembling, but they became astonished at His rebuke’. And that, too, is what Resh Lakish said: What is the meaning of the verse, I am God Almighty?54 [It means], I am He that said to the world: Enough!55 Resh Lakish said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the sea, it went on expanding, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked it and caused it to dry up, for it is said: He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers.56 Our Rabbis taught: Beth Shammai say: Heaven was created first and afterwards the earth was created, for it is said: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.57 Beth Hillel say: Earth was created first and afterwards heaven, for it is said: In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.58 Beth Hillel said to Beth Shammai: According to your view, a man builds the upper storey [first] and afterwards builds the house! For it is said: It is he that buildeth His upper chambers in the heaven,59 and hath founded His vault upon the earth.60 Said Beth Shammai to Beth Hillel: According to your view, a man makes the footstool [first], and afterwards he makes the throne!61 For it is said: Thus saith the Lord, The Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.62 But the Sages say: Both were created at the same time.63 For it is said: Yea, Mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spread out the heavens: When I call unto them they stand up together.64 And the others?65 What is the meaning of ‘together’? — [It means] that they cannot be loosened from one another.66 However, the verses contradict one another! — Resh Lakish answered: When they were created, He created heaven [first], and afterwards He created the earth; but when He stretched them forth He stretched forth the earth [first], and afterwards He stretched forth heaven. What does ‘heaven’ [Shamayim] mean? R. Jose b. Hanina said: It means, ‘There is water’.67 In a Baraitha it is taught: [It means], ‘fire and water68 ;’ this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them and mixed69 them one with the other and made from them the firmament. R. Ishmael questioned R. Akiba when they were going on a journey together, saying to him: Thou who hast waited70 twenty-two years upon Nahum of Gimzo,71 who used to explain the [particle] Eth72 throughout the Torah, [tell me] what exposition did he give of [Eth] the heaven and [Eth] the earth?73 Said [R. Akiba] to him: If it had said, ‘heaven and earth’, I could have said that Heaven and Earth74 were names of the Holy One, blessed be He.75 But now that it says: ‘[Eth] the heaven and [Eth] the earth’, heaven [means] the actual heaven, and earth [means] the actual earth. existence, i.e., concerning what happened prior to the creation. extended from earth to heaven. Cf. R. Eleazar's statement infra p. 63 and n. 2 a. l. derived from the word vfpf ‘Thine hand’ in the verse that follows, the numerical value of ;f (‘hand’) being a hundred. Cf. also B.B. 75a (and Rashbam a.l.) and Sanh. 100a (and Rashi a.l.). ‘fashioned, created’. was reduced. Scholars of the South, i.e., of Alexandria) are reported to have said, in reply to a question put to them by Alexander the Great, that the distance from east to west is greater than that from earth to heaven. Pirke R. Eliezer III; Ex. Rab. XIII; Jellinek, B.H. ii, 23-29, Intro. Xlii; also infra, where Tahu and Bohu are the two primal elements whence the other two, darkness and water, emanate. V. further, Slavonic Book of Enoch (24-30). cf. Ber. 11b. chaos’; cf. also Targ. to Job XXVIII, 3; Zeb. 54a, Bez. 24a. scattered them over the earth. V. Gen. XI, 9. ‘Ten Sefirot’ in J. E. vol. XI, p. 154f. taken aback by astonishment, they stiffened and hardened (V. Rashi on verse). E.V. renders tremble and are astonished etc.’ Shammai and Hillel, and of the Sages) may be taken as texts for three philosophies, viz., idealism, evolutionism and dualism (quoted by Streane). upon scholars, he is considered an ‘Am ha-arez (ignoramus); The ministration (of the disciples to the doctors) of the Law is greater than the direct teaching thereof’. words, and explained (Ta'an. 21a, J. Shek. V, 15) as a sobriquet given to the scholar on account of his motto vcuyk uz od (‘This, too, will be for the best’), with which he explained his trust in the goodness of Providence even in the most trying circumstances (v. Ta'an 21a). He interpreted the whole Torah according to the rule of yughnu hucr (‘amplification and limitation’, v. Shebu. 26a). Nahum of Gimzo explained every instance of the accusative particle as indicating the inclusion in the object of something besides that which is explicitly mentioned. For the sole exception (Deut. X, 20), v. Pes. 22b, where ‘Nehemiah the Imsoni’ is an error for ‘Nahum the Gimsoni’ or man of Gimzo (v. Graetz in MGWJ., 1870, p. 527). The interpretation of ,t given here is grammatical rather than Midrashic or homiletical. For the hucr explanation of ,t in this verse, which includes the sun and moon etc., v. Gen. Rab. I, 14.