Questions tagged [creation]
Questions about the creation of the world.
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How many species of animals did God create in total?
In Rabbis' views, how many species of animals did God create in total?
How did those views evolve with time and scientific understanding?
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Why don't humans have the best version of organs?
Scientifically speaking, a better version of an organ could be found in many animals (besides the human brain, maybe). IIRC, octopuses have better eyes, birds have a more efficient cardiovascular ...
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Is God's creation a single event or a continuous process?
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep ...
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ויהיה ערב ויהיה בוקר - what's the nature of those emergences?
"וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד׃"
"God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.
And there was evening ...
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Why did God plan to create both "בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ" but only created "בְּצֶלֶם"?
"וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ..."
"וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ...׃"
"And God said, “Let us make ...
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Created in the Divine Image
The Torah tells us that Adam was created in the divine image (Gen 1.26-27; 5; 9.6). If the divinity had a body, then we would suppose this means that Adam was created as the divinity's Doppelgänger, ...
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Which rabbis say that women were not created in the divine image? [closed]
Some scholars (I can identify them privately if anyone wishes to know who they are) insist that the rabbis deny women creation in the divine image. After much searching, I have only found two rabbis ...
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Why did the Chachamim change this Passuk?
The Gemara brings in the incident of a king gathering 72 sages to translate the Torah to Greek. They all came with the idea to change some Psukim. One of them was
זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בְּרָאָ֑ם ...
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Why does plant life come after the earth, waters and the firmament, but before the planets?
This question only addresses the blueprint of the creation as described in the first chapter of Bereshit. It does not address the sequence of the actual creation, as described in Bereshit 2, or the ...
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Order of Creation: why the creation of man was grouped with animals and did not stand alone?
On the 6th day, God created both animals and humans, according to the main creation narrative (Gen 1). I would speculate that it would be more reasonable to dedicate each day to a specific niche: a ...
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Principal differences between animals created on the fifth and the sixth days
IIRC, the Jewish tradition divides between inanimated nature, plants, animal kingdom, and humans. I'm not aware of any principal differences within the animal kingdom. However, in the Creation ...
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Why did Hashem create two Leviathans and two Behemoths if He realised the need to prevent them from multiplying, Hashem doesn't make mistakes?
The Gemara in Bava Basra 74b famously speaks about both the לויתון (Leviathan) and the בְּהֵמוֹת (Behemoth), both of which were created with a female partner.
In both instances, the Gemara relates ...
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Explanation of Genesis 1:2 and the spirit of Gd hovering
In various translations ( chabad, and christians ) they translate it to spirit of Gd.
Since ruach can be a wind, or breath. Why is these terms specifically not used.
How can explain the difference to ...
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Why Shemot 20:11 (4th commandment) refers to Bereshit's history of six days earth creation and Devarim 5:15 doesn't refer to it?
Why Shemot 20:11 refers to Bereshit's history of six days earth creation and Devarim 5:15 doesn't refer to it?
In Shemot it refers to Bereshit's history of six days of creation,and in Devarim 5:15 it ...
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Hashem's design of world
Why did Hashem make for example the human body so complex? Example... 37.2 trillion cells in each person. With a million cells I'd be dumbfounded.. He didn't need to go to 37.2 trillion. Moreover, I ...
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Are angels made in the image of G-d?
In Genesis 1:26, we read: And G-d said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping ...
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How are humans that were formed "from dust" different from animals that were formed "from earth"?
"וַיִּיצֶר ה"א אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה" Genesis.2.7
"וַיִּצֶר ה"א מִן־הָאֲדָמָה כָּל־חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה..." ibid. 19
So according to Rashi and others, Adam was ...
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Why "God formed Adam dust" and not "from dust"?
"וַיִּיצֶר ה"א אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה" Genesis.2.7
Literally, the verse reads "God formed Adam dust from the earth", like if "dust" was an adjective. ...
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When was Hevel born?
I just got a copy of The Eternal Link by R. Pinchas Winston and it states (on page 33), "the birth of Cain and Abel actually occurred before the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, not afterwards&...
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Has anyone ever eaten from the Tree of Life?
Obviously, the Tree of Knowledge was eaten from by Adam and Chava, but is there any evidence or sources that discuss the Tree of Life?
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Why does the Torah not write about or mention the creation of the Angels/Melachim? When were they made?
It's something I've interested in for a while ;)
Thank you!
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Who named trees and plants?
Following questions about naming animals, in Genesis narrative, God creates Earth, it grows plants and trees, God creates animals, then man, man names animals.
Who named the plants, for example, the 7 ...
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Making sense of God's different actions of the creation
I'm trying to categorize different actions God takes in the process of creation as appears in Genesis.1:
Part of creation | Said? | Then | Then | Then
1. Heaven and Earth: | No ...
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Creation and God
What was the purpose of creation? Why did god have the WILL to create a universe? Why create timelines and stories and create a religion? Why not just sit back and party with your angels? Or better ...
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Why are the sun and moon not named during creation?
During the 6 days of creation, many things are made and named (sky, grass, seeds, water, land, stars) but the sun and moon are referred to only as the lights/luminaries (Ber 1:16)
וַיַּ֣עַשׂ ...
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Does anyone know of midrashim on the number of times the word "or" (light) appears during Creation?
I'm reading a work by a contemporary Jewish author who has some midrashic inspiration, however vague. I came across a passage that attempts to impute significance to the number of times "light&...
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Why did G-d choose to speak creation into existence
“Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.” - Edward Hopper.
In Menoras Hameor R. Yitzchak Abuhav ...
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Date/Week of Creation off by a day?
Question: If we believe that Sunday is Yom Rishon of Creation, then what do we do with the given date of Creation being Monday, October 7, 3761 B.C.E. according to our current calendar? Are there ...
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Hebrew verbs in the Creation [duplicate]
Genesis 1 uses three distinct verbs when describing the Creation:
Strong's #
Hebrew
Transliteration
English
Verses
H1254
בָּרָא
bara'
to create
1, 21, 27
H1961
הָיְתָ֥ה
hayah
to be
2, 3, 14
H6213
...
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Where in the Tanakh, on a peshat level, is "Yetzer HaTov" derived?
Where in the Tanakh, on a peshat level, is "Yetzer HaTov" derived?
Rashi seems to derive "Yetzer HaRa" from Genesis 8:21 (because the words "yetzer" and "ra" ...
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Lilit and Chavah
A neighbor asked me about there being a woman created before Chavah. The only Jewish source I could find was a paragraph in the Medrash of Ben Sirah about the creation of Lilit. Are there any other ...
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Who or what did G-d use while creating?
I’ve a question,
G-d created the heavens and the earth, but in order to do so did He used an 'agent’ i.e. a tool or instrument of some kind, a way or manner in which others were involved?
The spirit ...
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Interrupting learning to reflect on creation is a cause of mortal guilt. Why is this so bad?
Rambam in Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah 2(2) says
But how may one discover the way to love and fear Him? When man will
reflect concerning His works, and His great and wonderful creatures,
and will ...
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The Netziv on Evolution
The Wikipedia page titled Jewish views on evolution states the following about the Netziv.
When scientists first developed the theory of evolution, this idea was seized upon by rabbis such as ...
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How was the creation story captured/revealed exactly?
How were the first few pages of the creation story captured/revealed? That is, who first heard it or created it or was it revealed to, and in what detail was the first 7 days of creation laid out at ...
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How did Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel arrive at the conclusion that it would have been preferable had man not been created?
תנו רבנן: שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל, הללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא, והללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא. נמנו וגמרו: נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא, עכשיו ...
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Understanding "conflict" between Genesis creation and "continuous" creation
There's a passage in the daily Shacharit tefilla in the 1st of the pre-Shema blessing that says:
המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית
My translation and inference from this phrase is that God ...
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How can constant creation of new stars explained theologically?
"... we get on average about one new star per year, and one star dying each year as a planetary nebula in the Milky Way.... therefore there are about 275 million [born] per day, in the whole ...
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What is so special about Taninim to be mentioned separately?
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃
God created ...
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Does animal soul (Nefesh) come from the divine or the material?
[I assume] it is wildly accepted in Judaism that animals have souls (hence "anima"). In Hebrew, it is called נפש (Nefesh) and the Torah is full of this kind of references:
"וּֽלְכׇל־...
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Torah confusion between "daylight" and "a day"
The Torah uses the same word יום in the same verse to denote both "daylight" and "24 hours":
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה
וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד׃
...
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Importance of "Days" in the process of Creation
Why is it important that the Creation process is divided into 6 "days", as opposed to "parts" or "stages" or even presented in simple succession without mentioning "units"?
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How did Adam and Chava know what's good or bad before eating from the tree? [duplicate]
Hashem Elohim allowed the human being to eat the product which was produced by every tree in Gan Eden, except from the tree of knowledge (understanding) of what’s good and bad. So with this knowledge ...
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What does it mean that G-d calls names to things?
In the process of Creation G-d eventually calls names of different things:
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה ...׃
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called ...
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Why should G-d correct His Creation as He goes?
THe Torah and the commentaries clearly suggest in several places that G-d corrected His Creation while still in the process:
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר ...
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Why should G-d look at the parts of His creation?
THis part of the story of the Creation seriously puzzles me: G-d looking at His creation and checking/judging/evaluating it. Examples:
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים ...
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Was Adam aware of his other part before separation?
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקים אֶת־הָאָדָם ... זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם׃
And God created man in His image, ... male and female He created them. (Gen 1.27)
Rashi brings Midrashim:
But according to a ...
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Why no Torah or wisdom or knowledge is mentioned presented by G-d to Adam?
IIRC, the passing of the Tora/wisdom/divine knowledge in our tradition didn't start with Moses or even Abraham. Allegedly, the 19 generations of Tzadikim from Adam to Abraham studied/dealt with it ...
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Why was the purpose of the creation of Man so dull?
On the 6th day of the Creation, G-d consults angels (see my other question) and presents them with what looks like His vision of Man's goal on Earth:
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ ...
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Does Yeshayahu 43:10b / 43:13a imply HaShem was created?
I cannot read Hebrew and am struggling a great deal to understand Yeshayahu 43:10/43:13. In my English versions, these verse-parts seem very much to suggest that HaShem was Himself ‘formed’ at some ...
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