Parshat B’raisheet

Rabbi Daniel N. Korobkin

Associate Member

29 Tishrei 5760

October 9, 1999

Daf Yomi: Moed Katan 2

The Mishna (Avoth 5:1) tells us: “The world was created with ten declarations. What does this teach? Could not the world have been created with just one declaration? This was done to exact retribution from the wicked, who destroy a world created with ten declarations, and to amply reward the righteous, who uphold a world created with ten declarations.”

The Mishna at first glance seems illogical. HaShem wanted to increase the punishment for the wicked and the reward for the righteous. To do this, He created a world with ten declarations whereas He could have done it with just one. This is like saying that if I buy something with ten singles instead of one ten-dollar bill, I’ve actually spent more money! If the world could have been created with just one declaration, then obviously each of the ten used instead accomplished only a tenth of the one that could have been. So how do we end up with a net increase in the “quality” of the world?

Furthermore, what “declarations” is our Mishna referring to? The Talmud (Rosh Hashana 32a) says that this refers to the ten times it says “Vayomer”—“HaShem said” in the course of the first chapter of Genesis, where the creation is narrated. But, challenges the Gemara, there are not ten “Vayomers”— there are only nine! The answer: “B’raishis nami ma’amar hu”—“The first sentence,  ‘In the beginning HaShem created heaven and earth,’ is also counted as a declaration.” (Note to the reader: For your own edification, you may wish to count the “Vayomers” in the first chapter to see if  the Gemara’s reckoning adds up; you may be surprised.)

Why should we consider the first sentence of the Torah a declaration? Because the first sentence of the Torah really should have read, “HaShem declared in the beginning,  ‘Let there be heaven and earth.’” Certainly, just as all subsequent components of creation were brought into being through HaShem’s verbiage, it stands to reason that the initial creation of heaven and earth was also through a Divine declaration.

But then why doesn’t the Torah actually say in the first pasuk, “HaShem declared,” etc.? Why does it leave that part up to our imagination?

The Maharal answers this question by simply quoting the general Talmudic dictum, “We are not permitted to expound upon the act of creation.” Specifically, this refers to attempting to understand what occurred before heaven and earth were created. Trying to understand a universe devoid of time and space (i.e., before heaven and earth) is like trying to understand the concept of infinity—it simply does not compute within our feeble minds, which have been “programmed” to only compute 4-dimensional time/space and no more. This is why the Torah cannot begin its story before the creation of heaven and earth. Since it was given to us to understand, there cannot be any component within the Torah that defies normal human understanding. This is why the words, “HaShem declared” are missing from the first verse of the Torah, as such an utterance had to precede heaven and earth in order to bring heaven and earth into being.

But the Maharsha (in his commentary to the Gemara in Rosh Hashana) offers us a different reason why the first declaration is missing from the Torah, one that is pertinent to our lives today. The Torah didn’t need to write “HaShem declared” the first time, because it is obvious that HaShem used His speech to create heaven and earth. This creatio ex nihilo could only have been through HaShem’s words—what else could He use? Nothing else existed except for His creative power of speech—there were no materials for Him to create with at the time. What is not so obvious, however, is the need for creative declarations once heaven and earth have been created. We would have expected the action verb “asiah”—“making,” to describe HaShem’s subsequent formation of primordial matter into the formed world during the subsequent days of creation, instead of the action verb “amira”—“saying.” This, explains the Maharsha, is why the Torah only needs to spell out for us that HaShem used His power of “amira” instead of His power of “asiya” during the days of creation subsequent to the initial creation of heaven and earth. The obvious can remain implicit; the not-so-obvious must be stated explicitly.

But if the world could have been created with “asiya”, why was “amira” employed instead? Because a world created with speech is far more flexible and malleable than a world created with “asiya.” If HaShem would have created with the rigid act of “formation,” it would have been far more difficult for man to alter the universe with his deeds, be they good or evil. But by creating the world with speech alone, HaShem was giving the universe the ability to be formed and influenced by man’s actions of free will. Thus do our Chazal (T.B. Moed Katan 16b) tell us, “The Holy One, Blessed is He, may issue a decree [i.e., a verbal act of creation,] but a righteous person can annul it through his deeds.”

The Mishna with which we started now takes on a whole different meaning. HaShem used words with which to create; moreover, he used different declarations, to provide added flexibility and, concomitantly, added power of influence to mankind. Through HaShem’s ductile creation, mankind has the power to greatly alter the spiritual essence of the cosmos. With each and every mitzvah, we not only augment our own neshama, soul, we expand the very fabric of the universe. And if, Heaven forbid, we sin, we not only tarnish our single soul, we dim the brightness of the whole universe as well.

May this idea inspire us to value each and every one of our deeds not only as the act of an individual, but as a contributive force to the spiritual fabric of HaShem’s entire universe. Our duty is to make the world a brighter, holier place than it was before us.

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