Parshah Bereshit - Genesis 1:1b
The First Day of Creation
By Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Astonishingly empty, and darkness
Parashat Bereshit Chapter 1
The First Day of Creation
1. In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.
2. Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face
of the deep, and the spirit of G-d was hovering over the face of the water.
3. And G-d said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4. And G-d saw the light that it was good, and G-d separated between the light and between the darkness.
5. And G-d called the light “day”, and the darkness He called “night”, and it was evening and it was morning, one day.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: This verse relates about the Creation in general, and then explains the details of the Creation later on. The explanation of In the beginning is “At the beginning of the time of the Creation” [and He wrote In the beginning in a generic fashion, as if to say “At the beginning of everything”], He created these things, and there was no time prior [to this “beginning”] in which there was something else, such as some sort of primordial material, but rather the beginning of the creation of time and the beginning of the creation of matter was on the first day, along with the creation of Heaven and Earth.
And the relating of the Creation fulfills a great need, because it is the root of all faith, since anyone who does not believe that the creation of the world was ex nihilo [= from nothing], and rather thinks that the world existed eternally, essentially denies the basis of all faith and is entirely devoid of Torah.
God created: The meaning of “created” is an act [that is particular to God alone], to produce something from absolute nothingness to a detectable existence. [And this capability cannot be found among any created things, nor can it be comprehended by them at all, but rather this ability is peculiar to God alone.]
Sources: Bi'ur Torat Moshe - Explanation of the book of Moses - Genesis by Rabbi Moshe Weiner
By Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Rabbi Moshe Weiner is the Rabbinical Director of the Academy and the author of the Divine Code of Law for Noahides. He is also the Overseeing Authority of the Legal Noahide Movement.
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