Questions tagged [creation]
Questions about the creation of the world.
223
questions
-6
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1answer
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Which rabbis say that women were not created in the divine image?
The anti-Judaism polemicist Johann Christoff Wagenseil accuses the Jews of denying that women were created in the divine image. After much searching, I have only found one rabbi who actually says this ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
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 ...
-2
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0answers
78 views
Trying to find the Rishonim that maintain creation of Adam refers to the species of man, not just one individual
I know I've see before that there are Rishonim (or at least early achronim) that maintain man was created in multiple locations at the same time, as opposed to or in addition to being one single ...
0
votes
2answers
224 views
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 ...
1
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3answers
100 views
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 ...
0
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0answers
28 views
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
414 views
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 ...
1
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2answers
91 views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
49 views
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 ...
0
votes
2answers
79 views
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
162 views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
473 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
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. ...
3
votes
2answers
78 views
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&...
0
votes
2answers
96 views
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?
3
votes
1answer
167 views
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!
5
votes
1answer
141 views
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 ...
2
votes
0answers
26 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
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 ...
9
votes
3answers
135 views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
63 views
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&...
2
votes
2answers
154 views
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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1answer
102 views
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 ...
2
votes
0answers
38 views
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
...
1
vote
2answers
143 views
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" ...
4
votes
2answers
233 views
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 ...
0
votes
4answers
200 views
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
211 views
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 ...
5
votes
2answers
393 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
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 ...
5
votes
2answers
447 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
72 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
124 views
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 ...
3
votes
0answers
47 views
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 ...
2
votes
0answers
88 views
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־...
1
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0answers
43 views
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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votes
2answers
70 views
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"?
1
vote
1answer
75 views
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
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 ...
0
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0answers
54 views
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 ...
1
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0answers
28 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
66 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
180 views
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 ...
6
votes
5answers
272 views
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 ...
7
votes
1answer
726 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
254 views
Arguments against evolution
In trying to find the best, most factually based argument against evolution, I found this which said that it just doesn't make sense because why would a creator take so long.
Are there any other ...
0
votes
2answers
135 views
What time of day was the world first created?
It's well known that the world was created on the 25th of Elul, but what time of day? Yes it says "and it was evening, and it was morning, one day", implying it was created during the night, but what ...
3
votes
2answers
275 views
What did G-d do before Creation?
Is it possible to know what G-d was doing before this creation?
While, as Maimonides states, that we cannot know anything about G-d except for what G-d is not (G-d has no body and is one), ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
No Torah = Revert to Nothingness?
Although I have often heard that the world would revert to nothingness if there wasn't someone learning Torah at any given moment, I haven't seen this written yet - what is the source of this concept?
3
votes
1answer
270 views
Why is prior to creation called holy?
In Mechilta (to ex. 12.16), while discussing whether or not work is forbidden on chol hamoed, the time before and after the six days of creation are referred to as holy.
ששת ימי בראשית יוכיחו שיש ...
