This is the most traditional way of translating.
~ What does "in the beginning" imply?
~ 1985, JPS.
~ What does this way of translating imply?
~ This is famously the first Rashi (France, Troyes, 1040 – 1105).
~ Why do you think Rashi opted for opening his commentary with these words?
Reuben, you are my first-born, My might and reshit of my vigor, exceeding in rank and exceeding in honor.
Reshit of first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of Ad-nai your God; you shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
Israel was holy to Ad-nai, reshit of His harvest, all who eat of it will be held guilty; disaster will come to them — declares Ad-nai.
(1) Bereshit of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from Ad-nai:
Ad-nai acquired me at reshit of His way before His works of old.
Reshit of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; all who practice it gain sound understanding; praise of Him is everlasting.
He [Gad] chose for himself reshit, for there is the portion of the revered chieftain, where the heads of the people come; he executed Ad-nai's judgments and His decisions for Israel.
(10) I foretell mereshit the beginning, And from the start, things that had not occurred. I say: My plan shall be fulfilled; I will do all I have purposed.
~ it appears that reshit is always in a construct form, semichut, ie, dependent on the next word. That works well if the word is a noun - but not so much if it is a verb. A lot of the discussion regarding the word depends on understanding this.
בראשית ברא אֵין הַמִּקְרָא הַזֶּה אוֹמֵר אֶלָּא דָּרְשֵׁנִי, כְּמוֹ שֶׁדְּרָשׁוּהוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ בִּשְׁבִיל הַתּוֹרָה שֶׁנִקְרֵאת רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ (משלי ח'), וּבִשְׁבִיל יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִקְרְאוּ רֵאשִׁית תְּבוּאָתוֹ (ירמיה ב');
וְאִם בָּאתָ לְפָרְשׁוֹ כִּפְשׁוּטוֹ, כָּךְ פָּרְשֵׁהוּ בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרִיאַת שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יְהִי אוֹר וְלֹא בָא הַמִּקְרָא לְהוֹרוֹת סֵדֶר הַבְּרִיאָה לוֹמַר שֶׁאֵלּוּ קָדְמוּ, שֶׁאִם בָּא לְהוֹרוֹת כָּךְ, הָיָה לוֹ לִכְתֹּב בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה בָּרָא אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְגוֹ' שֶׁאֵין לְךָ רֵאשִׁית בַּמִּקְרָא שֶׁאֵינוֹ דָבוּק לַתֵּבָה שֶׁלְּאַחֲרָיו, כְּמוֹ בְּרֵאשִׁית מַמְלֶכֶת יְהוֹיָקִים (שׁם כ"ז), רֵאשִׁית מַמְלַכְתּוֹ (בראשית י'), רֵאשִׁית דְּגָנְךָ (דבראשית י"ח), – אַף כָּאן אַתָּה אוֹמֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים וְגוֹ', כְּמוֹ בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא; וְדוֹמֶה לוֹ תְּחִלַּת דִּבֶּר ה' בְּהוֹשֵׁעַ (הושע א'), כְּלוֹמַר תְּחִלַת דִּבּוּרוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה בְּהוֹשֵׁעַ, וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל הוֹשֵׁעַ וְגוֹ'.
וְאִ"תֹּ לְהוֹרוֹת בָּא שֶׁאֵלּוּ תְּחִלָּה נִבְרְאוּ, וּפֵרוּשׁוֹ בְּרֵאשִׁית הַכֹּל בָּרָא אֵלוּ – וְֵישׁ לְךָ מִקְרָאוֹת שֶׁמְּקַצְּרִים לְשׁוֹנָם וּמְמַעֲטִים תֵּבָה אַחַת, כְּמוֹ כִּי לֹא סָגַר דַּלְתֵי בִטְנִי (איוב ג'), וְלֹא פֵּרֵשׁ מִי הַסּוֹגֵר וּכְמוֹ יִשָּׂא אֶת חֵיל דַּמֶּשֶׂק (ישעיהו ח'), וְלֹא פֵּרֵשׁ מִי יִשָּׂאֶנּוּ; וּכְמוֹ אִם יַחֲרוֹשׁ בַּבְּקָרִים (עמוס ו'), וְלֹא פֵּרֵשׁ אִם יַחֲרוֹשׁ אָדָם בַּבְּקָרִים, וּכְמוֹ מַגִּיד מֵרֵאשִׁית אַחֲרִית (ישעיהו מ"ו), וְלֹא פֵּרֵשׁ מַגִּיד מֵרֵאשִׁית דָּבָר אַחֲרִית דָּבָר – אִ"כֵּ, תְּמַהּ עַל עַצְמְךָ, שֶׁהֲרֵי הַמַּיִם קָדְמוּ, שֶׁהֲרֵי כְתִיב וְרוּחַ אֱלֹקִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם, וְעַדַיִין לֹא גִלָּה הַמִּקְרָא, בְּרִיאַת הַמַּיִם מָתַי הָיְתָה, הָא לָמַדְתָּ, שֶׁקָּדְמוּ הַמַּיִם לָאָרֶץ, וְעוֹד, שֶׁהַשָּׁמַיִם מֵאֵשׁ וּמַיִם נִבְרְאוּ, עַל כָּרְחֲךָ לֹא לִמֵּד הַמִּקְרָא סֵדֶר הַמֻּקְדָמִים וְהַמְאֻחָרִים כְּלוּם:
בראשית ברא IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED — This verse calls aloud for explanation in the manner that our Rabbis explained it: God created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake of Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) increase’’.
If, however, you wish to explain it in its plain sense, explain it thus: At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness, God said, “Let there be light”. The text does not intend to point out the order of the acts of Creation — to state that these (heaven and earth) were created first; for if it intended to point this out, it should have written 'בראשונה ברא את השמים וגו “At first God created etc.” And for this reason: Because, wherever the word ראשית occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. E. g., (Jeremiah 26:1) “In the beginning of (בראשית) the reign of Jehoiakim”; (Genesis 10:10) “The beginning of (ראשית) his kingdom”; (Deuteronomy 18:4) “The first fruit of (ראשית) your grain.” Similarly here you must translate בראשית ברא אלהים as though it read בראשית ברוא, at the beginning of God’s creating. A similar grammatical construction (of a noun in construct followed by a verb) is: (Hosea 1:2) תחלת דבר ה' בהושע, which is as much as to say, “At the beginning of God’s speaking through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea.”
Should you, however, insist [im tomar always implies "you would be wrong"] that it does actually intend to point out that these (heaven and earth) were created first, and that the meaning is, “At the beginning of everything He created these, admitting therefore that the word בראשית is in the construct state and explaining the omission of a word signifying “everything” by saying that you have texts which are elliptical, omitting a word, as for example (Job 3:10) “Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb” where it does not explicitly explain who it was that closed the womb; and (Isaiah 8:4) “He shall take away the spoil of Samaria” without explaining who shall take it away; and (Amos 6:12) “Does he plough with oxen," and it does not explicitly state, “Does a man plough with oxen”; (Isaiah 46:10) “Declaring from the beginning the end,” and it does not explicitly state, “Declaring from the beginning of a thing the end of a thing’ — if it is so (that you assert that this verse intends to point out that heaven and earth were created first), you should be astonished at yourself, because as a matter of fact the waters were created before heaven and earth, for, lo, it is written, (v. 2) “The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters,” and Scripture had not yet disclosed when the creation of the waters took place — consequently you must learn from this that the creation of the waters preceded that of the earth. And a further proof that the heavens and earth were not the first thing created is that the heavens were created from fire (אש) and water (מים), from which it follows that fire and water were in existence before the heavens. Therefore you must needs admit that the text teaches nothing about the earlier or later sequence of the acts of Creation.
~ What is Rashi's first point, ie, midrash?
~ What is the main point about the Creation process in this Rashi?
~ Of the two translations, which one seems closer to what Rashi suggests?
(א) בראשית, איננו סמוך וכן מגיד מראשית אחרית (ישעיה מ"ו י') ופירש בתחלה ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, אחר כך תוצאותיהם, ואחר כך ספר כי בתחילת בריאת הארץ היתה תוהו ובוהו.
(1) בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ. The word Bereshit is not in dependent mode, i.e. “at the beginning of,” [as for instance in Jeremiah 26:1] but is a word in its own right as in Isaiah 46:10 מגיד מראשית אחרית, “foretelling the end from the beginning,” [or, as in Deuteronomy 33:21 וירא ראשית לו, “He chose the choicest for himself.”] In other words: when God began to create the universe, God first created heaven and earth, and then their outcomes, and after that it tells that at the very beginning of the creation of the earth it was unformed and empty.
~ How does Rabbi David Kimchi (Provence, 1160–1235) understand the first word?
~ What translation does he favor?
~ Does he agree with Rashi?
ברא אלהים GOD CREATED — It does not state 'ברא ה “Ad-nai (the Merciful One) created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realized that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.
(טו) ה' אֱלֹקִים, לְמֶלֶךְ שֶׁהָיוּ לוֹ כּוֹסוֹת רֵיקִים, אָמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אִם אֲנִי נוֹתֵן לְתוֹכָן חַמִּין, הֵם מִתְבַּקְּעִין. צוֹנֵן, הֵם מַקְרִיסִין, וּמֶה עָשָׂה הַמֶּלֶךְ עֵרַב חֲמִין בְּצוֹנֵן וְנָתַן בָּהֶם וְעָמָדוּ. כָּךְ אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אִם בּוֹרֵא אֲנִי אֶת הָעוֹלָם בְּמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים, הֲוֵי חֶטְיָיה סַגִּיאִין. בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין, הָאֵיךְ הָעוֹלָם יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד. אֶלָּא הֲרֵי אֲנִי בּוֹרֵא אוֹתוֹ בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין וּבְמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים, וְהַלְּוַאי יַעֲמֹד.
Ad-nai God - To what is this like? A king who had empty glasses. The king said "if I put hot water in them, then they will expand and break, and if I put cold water in them, they will contract and shatter. What did the king do? He mixed hot water with the cold water and put them in the glasses. So too the Holy One of Blessing said: if I create the world with the attribute of compassion alone, no one would be concerned with the consequences of their actions. With the attribute of judgment alone, how could the world stand? Rather, behold I create it with both the attribute of judgment and the attribute of compassion, and hopefully it will stand.
~ What do the two names of God used in the Creation narrative imply?
"Bereishit Bara": In numerical value, [the letters also equal] "On Rosh Hashanah the world was created." Bereshit is an acronym for At first, saw God that Israel would receive the Torah.
~ Just a pause for a surprising gematria.
Ba'al Haturim: Yaakov ben Asher; Cologne,1269 - Toledo,1343; the Arba'ah Turim is the first Jewish law code after Maimonides, its systematization of law is used by everyone after.
בראשית, at the beginning of time; this is the first moment which is indivisible into shorter periods. There had not been a concept “time” previous to this.
~ How does the Sforno understand our first word?
ברא, He made “nothing” into “something.” And in this there passed no “time”.
את השמים, the word שם refers to a place which is distant (as opposed to the word פה, which means “here.”) Every plural mode when accompanied by an accented penultimate syllable signals 2 of something which are equidistant. This is something which is not possible, i.e that two points are equidistant from the center unless they are part of an orbiting spherical planet. The Torah therefore says that God created the phenomenon which is far distant from us in such a way that all its sides are equidistant from us, in other words the phenomenon is a planet, something spherical. And this is why it does not say "created heaven" because it is not about that creation in itself, but about the orbit of the planet.
ואת הארץ, - the center which is orbited by the planet.
~ What ideas the Sforno (Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno, Italy c.1475-1550) wants you to have regarding creation? Check the dates for Copernicus's discoveries.
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֱלֹקִים לֹא טוֹב הֱיוֹת (בראשית ב, יח), תְּנֵינַן בַּעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן (בראשית א, א): בְּרֵאשִׁית (בראשית א, ב): וְרוּחַ אֱלֹקִים מְרַחֶפֶת (בראשית א, ג): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יְהִי אוֹר (בראשית א, ו): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יְהִי רָקִיעַ (בראשית א, ט): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם (בראשית א, יא): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים תַּדְּשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ (בראשית א, יד): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת (בראשית א, כ): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם (בראשית א, כד): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ (בראשית א, כו): וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם. מְנַחֵם בַּר יוֹסֵי מוֹצִיא וְרוּחַ אֱלֹקִים מְרַחֶפֶת, וּמֵבִיא וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֱלֹקִים לֹא טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם. אָמַר רַבִּי יַעֲקֹב בֶּן קוּרְשָׁאי מַאֲמָר נִתַּן לָרוּחַ בִּפְנֵי עַצְמָהּ.
And Ad-nai El-him said "it is not good" (Genesis 2:18). We learn that with Ten Utterances the world was created, and here thy are: bereshit (Gen. 1:1); and the spirit of God hovered (Gen. 1:2); and God said let there be light (Gen. 1:3); and God said let there be a firmament (Gen. 1:6); and God said let the waters gather (Gen. 1:9); and God said let the earth sprout grass (Gen. 1:11); and God said let there be luminaries (Gen. 1:14); and God said let the water bring forth swarms (Gen. 1:20); and God said let the earth bring out (Gen. 1:24); and God said let Us make the human (Gen. 1:26). Menachem bar Yosei takes out "and the spirit of God hovered" and adds "And God said: it is not good." Rabbi Yaakov ben Kurshay: the saying gives to "spirit" a standing on its own.
And the enlightened will shine like the brightness [zohar] of the firmament, and they who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). Zohar! Concealed of concealed struck its aura, which touched and did not touch this point [Keter transmits the creative impulse to Chochmah] Then this beginning expanded, building itself a palace worthy of glorious praise. There [in Binah] it sowed seed to give birth, availing worlds. This is the secret of, "Her stock is seed of holiness"(Isaiah 6:13). Zohar! Sowing seed for its glory, like the seed of fine purple silk wrapping itse;f within, weaving itself a palace, constituting its praise, availing all. With this Beginning, the concealed One created the palace. This palace is called 'Elohim.' The secret is: "With beginning _________ created Elohim ".
[Transl. Daniel Matt]
(ירושלמי על התורה, רמב"ן.)
~ Torah Yesharah, 1963 by Rev. Dr. Charles Kahane
~ What does this version add?
~ by R. Shraga Silverstein (d. 2014)
~ What does this version add?