Bein HaShmashot: Creation at the Twilight

...Adam began to weep again and implore the angels to grant him at least permission to take sweet-scented spices with him out of Paradise, that outside, too, he might be able to bring offerings unto God, and his prayers be accepted before the Lord. Thereupon the angels came before God, and spake: "King unto everlasting, command Thou us to give Adam sweetscented spices of Paradise," and God heard their prayer. Thus Adam gathered saffron, nard, calamus, and cinnamon, and all sorts of seeds besides for his sustenance. Laden with these, Adam and Eve left Paradise, and came upon earth. They had enjoyed the splendors of Paradise but a brief span of time--but a few hours. It was in the first hour of the sixth day of creation that God conceived the idea of creating man; in the second hour, He took counsel with the angels; in the third, He gathered the dust for the body of man; in the fourth, He formed Adam; in the fifth, He clothed him with skin; in the sixth, the soulless shape was complete, so that it could stand upright; in the seventh, a soul was breathed into it; in the eighth, man was led into Paradise; in the ninth, the Divine command prohibiting the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden was issued to him; in the tenth, he transgressed the command; in the eleventh, he was judged; and in the twelfth hour of the day, he was cast out of Paradise, in atonement for his sin.

This eventful day was the first of the month of Tishri. Therefore God spoke to Adam: "Thou shalt be the prototype of thy children. As thou hast been judged by Me on this day and absolved, so thy children Israel shall be judged by Me on this New Year's Day, and they shall be absolved."

The mishna taught: From the time when the First Temple was destroyed the shamir ceased to exist. The Sages taught: This shamir is the creature with which Solomon built the Temple, as it is stated: “For the house, when it was built, was built of whole stone from the quarry” (I Kings 6:7). Now these words should be understood exactly as they are written, that King Solomon took whole stones and shaped them by having the shamir do the cutting. This is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Neḥemya said to him: And is it possible to say so? But isn’t it already stated: “All these were costly stones, according to the measures of hewn stones, sawed with saws” (II Kings 7:9), which indicates that saws, which are iron implements, were used to shape the stones? If so, what is the meaning when the verse states: “And hammer, ax, and any tool of iron were not heard in the house when it was being built” (I Kings 6:7)? It means that he would prepare the stones outside the Temple Mount using tools, and bring them inside already cut, so that no iron tools were used inside the Temple itself. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: The statement of Rabbi Yehuda that no iron tools were used appears to be correct with regard to the Temple stones, and the statement of Rabbi Neḥemya that tools were used appears to be correct with regard to the stones of the king’s own house. The Gemara poses a question: And according to Rabbi Neḥemya, who maintains that they used iron tools even in the cutting of the stones for the Temple, for what purpose did the shamir come? The Gemara answers: It was necessary for that which is taught in a baraita: These stones in the breastplate and ephod, upon which were inscribed the names of the tribes, they may not be written on with ink, because it is stated: “Like the engravings of a signet” (Exodus 28:21), which means the names must be engraved onto the stones. And they may not be scratched on with a scalpel [izemel], because it is stated: “In their full settings” (Exodus 28:20), indicating that the stones must be complete and not missing any of their mass. The baraita continues: Rather, one writes the letters on them in ink, and shows them, i.e., he places the shamir close to the ink markings from outside, without having it touch the stones, and they split open along the lines of the ink of their own accord, like this fig that splits in the summer without losing anything of its mass, and like this field in a valley that cracks in the rainy season without losing anything of its mass. The shamir was used in this way for these engravings. The Sages taught: This shamir, its size is that of a barleycorn, and it was created in the six days of creation, and nothing hard can withstand it. In what is it kept, so that it will not break everything in the vicinity? They wrap it in tufts [sefogin] of wool and place it in a leaden vessel [itenei], full of barley bran, which is soft and will not be broken by the shamir.

And God said: Let the earth bring forth the life (nefesh) of living creatures of all types, cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of all types. And it was so. And God made wild beasts of all types, cattle of all types, and creeping things of all types…”…R. Hama bar Hoshaya said: Souls are spoken of 4 times, but when they are created, it says, “made wild beasts of all types, cattle of all types, and creeping things of all types.” Why 3 here and 4 there? Rabbi says: These are the demons. God created their souls, but when He came to create their bodies, He sanctified Shabbat and did not create them.

R. Hanina ben Dosa says: Not a single portion of this ram went to waste. The ashes of the ram were was the foundation upon which was the inner altar, as it is written, “Once a year, Aaron shall perform a purification rite upon its horns.” There were ten sinews of the ram, equivalent to the ten strings of the harp upon which David played. The ram’s skin was Elijah’s loin-cloth, as it is written, “They said to him: He was a hairy man, with a leather loin-cloth.” The two horns of the ram were shofarot. The left one, God blew on Mount Sinai, as it is written, “And there was the voice of the shofar.” And the right horn, which was larger than the left one, in the future will blow for the Messianic Age, at the ingathering of the exiles, as it is written, “And it shall be on that day, the great shofar will be blown.”

Abraham arose early in the morning…and saddled the ass. This ass was the son of the ass who was created at twilight, as it is written, “Abraham arose early in the morning and saddled his ass.” He is the ass upon whom Moses rode as he left Egypt, as it is written, “Moses took his wife and his sons and set them to ride on the ass.” And he is the ass upon whom the Son of David will ride in the future, as it is written in Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you, he is righteous, triumphant, and humble. And he rides upon an ass, a donkey-foal son of a she-ass.”(9:9)

4:1-4, :17, :21

Moses answered, saying: What if they don’t believe me, and don’t listen to me, but say that the Eternal didn’t appear to you?! The Eternal said to him: What is that in your hand? He said: a staff. He said: Throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and Moses fled from it. Then the Eternal said to Moses: Put out your hand and grab its tail. So he put out his hand and held it, and it became a staff in his hand…Take this staff with you in your hand; with it you shall do miracles…When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders that I placed into your hand; you shall do them before Pharaoh.

What are, ‘all the wonders that I placed into your hand’? This is the staff, upon which were written the Ten Plagues—that is, an abbreviation for the plagues, d’tzach a’dash be’ahav, was written on it. God said to him: These are the plagues that I place in your hand. Do them before Pharaoh with this rod.

R. Levi says: The staff that was created bein Hashmashot was passed on to the first man in the Garden of Eden. Adam passed it to Enoch; Enoch passed it to Noah; Noah passed it to Shem; Shem passed it to Abraham; Abraham passed it to Isaac; Isaac passed it to Jacob; Jacob brought it down to Egypt and passed it to his son, Joseph. When Joseph died, they pillaged all of his house, and it was given to Pharaoh’s palace. Jethro was one of magicians of Egypt and he saw the staff and the letters that were upon it, and he desired it in his heart. He took it, brought it, and planted it in his house’s garden. And no one could come near it any more. But when Moses came to his house, he went to the garden of Jethro’s house and saw the staff. He read the letters that were on it, and he put out his hand and took it.

The Eternal spoke to Moses: Speak to the Children of Israel and take from them a staff, a staff for each of the ancestral houses, from all of the chieftans of the ancestral houses, 12 staffs. Each man should write his name on his staff. Place them in the Tent of Meeting, before the Testimony, where I communicate with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose will sprout…And the staff of Aaron was amongst their staffs. Moses placed the staffs before the Eternal, in the Tent of Meeting. The next day, Moses came to the Tent of Meeting and, behold! The staff of Aaron, of the House of Levi, had sprouted. It had brought forth spouts, made blossoms, and grew almonds. Moses brought out all of the staffs from before the Eternal, to all the Children of Israel, and each man took his staff. The Eternal said to Moses: Leave Aaron’s staff before the Testimony, as reminder to the rebels, so their complaining against Me will end, and they will not die.

He did this so that they would not say that his staff was fresh, and so it blossomed. God decreed about the staff, that there should be found on it the Ineffable Name…That same staff was in the hand of each and every king of Israel, until the Temple was destroyed, and it was hidden. That same staff will, in the future, be in the hand of the Messiah.

When the sun began to set upon the departure of Shabbat, darkness began to set in, and Adam came to be frightened, as it is written, “Surely darkness will cover me.” What did God do for him? He made him find two flints and crash them together, and fire came out, and he blessed it, thus it says, “Darkness is light for me.” This agrees with Samuel: Why do we bless the candle at the departure of Shabbat? Since it was created then for the first time.

R. Yehudah says: also the tongs. Likewise, he would say: Tongs are made from tongs. What about the first tongs? They were a created item. They said to him: Behold, they could have been cast out of a mold, and cut from it, thus they were not a created item.