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THE
FIRST DAY
On
the first day of creation God produced ten things: the heavens and the earth,
Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, wind and water, the duration of the day 1.
and the duration of the night.
Though
the heavens and the earth consist of entirely different elements, they were yet
created as a unit, " like the pot and its cover ." The heavens were
fashioned from the light of God's garment, and the earth from the snow under the
Divine Throne... Tohu is a green band which encompasses the whole world, and
dispenses darkness, and Bohu consists of stones in the abyss, the producers of
the waters. The light created at the very beginning is not the same as the light
emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars, which appeared only on the fourth
day. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have enabled man to see
the world at a glance from one end to the other. Anticipating the wickedness of
the sinful generations of the deluge and the Tower of Babel, who were unworthy
to enjoy the blessing of such light, God concealed it, but in the world to come
it will appear to the pious in all its pristine glory.
Several
heavens were created, seven in fact, each to serve a purpose of its own. The
first, the one visible to man, has no function except that of covering up the
light during the night time; therefore it disappears every morning. The planets
are fastened to the second of the heavens ; in the third the manna is made for
the pious in the hereafter; the fourth contains the celestial Jerusalem together
with the Temple, in which Michael ministers as high priest, and offers the souls
of the pious as sacrifices. In the fifth heaven, the angel hosts reside, and
sing the praise of God, though only during the night, for by day it is the task
of Israel on earth to give glory to God on high. The sixth heaven is an uncanny
spot; there originate most of the trials and visitations ordained for the earth
and its inhabitants. Snow lies heaped up there and hail ; there are lofts full
of noxious dew, magazines stocked with storms, and cellars holding reserves of
smoke. Doors of fire separate these celestial chambers, which are under the
supervision of the archangel Metatron. Their pernicious contents defiled the
heavens until David's time. The pious king prayed God to purge His exalted
dwelling of whatever was pregnant with evil; it was not becoming that such
things should exist near the Merciful One. Only then they were removed to the
earth.
The
seventh heaven, on the other hand, contains naught but what is good and
beautiful : right, justice, and mercy, the storehouses of life, peace, and
blessing, the souls of the pious, the souls and spirits of unborn
generations, the dew with which God will revive the dead on the
resurrection day, and, above al1, the Divine Throne, surrounded by the seraphim.
the ofanim, the holy Hayyot, and the ministering angels.
Corresponding
to the seven heavens, God created seven earths, each separated from the next by
five layers. Over the lowest earth, the seventh, cal1ed Ere~, lie in succession
the abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters. Then the sixth earth is
reached, the Adamah, the scene of the magnificence of God. In the same way the
Adamah is separated from the fifth earth, the Ar1.ca, which contains Gehenna,
and Sha'are Mawet, and Sha'are Zalmawet, and Beër Shahat, and Tit ha-Yawen, and
Abaddon, and Sheol, and there the souls of the wicked are guarded by the Angels
of Destruction. In the same way Arka is fol1owed by Harabah, the dry, the place
of brooks and streams in spite of its name, as the next, called Yabbashah, the
mainland, contains the rivers and the springs. Tebel, the second earth, is the
first mainland inhabited by living creatures, three hundred and sixty-five
species, all essential1y different from those of our own earth.
Some
have human heads set on the body of a lion, or a serpent, or an ox ; others have
human bodies topped by the head of one of these animals. Besides, Tebel is
inhabited by human beings with two heads and four hands and feet, in fact with
all their organs doubled excepting only the trunk." It happens sometimes
that the parts of these double persons quarrel with each other, especial1y while
eating and drinking, when each claims the best and largest portions for himself.
This species of mankind is distinguished for great piety, another difference
between it and the inhabitants of our earth.
Our
own earth is called Heled, and, like the others, it is separated from the Tebel
by an abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters. Thus
one earth rises above the other, from the first to the seventh, and over the
seventh earth the heavens are vaulted, from the first to the seventh, the last
of them attached to the arm of God. The seven heavens form a unity, the seven
kinds of earth form a unity, and the heavens and the earth together also form a
unity.
When
God made our present heavens and our present earth, "the new heavens and
the new earth" .were also brought forth, yea, and the hundred and
ninety-six thousand worlds which God created unto His own glory.It takes five
hundred years to walk from the earth to the heavens, and from one end of a
heaven to the other, and also from one heaven to the next,.. and it takes the
same length of time to travel from the east to the west, or from the south to
the north... Of all this vast world only one third is inhabited, the other
two-thirds being equally divided between water and waste desert land.
Beyond
the inhabited parts to the east is Paradise .with its seven divisions, each
assigned to the pious of a certain degree. The ocean is situated to the west,
and it is dotted with islands upon islands, inhabited by many different peoples.
Beyond it, in turn, are the boundless steppes full of serpents and scorpions,
and destitute of every sort of vegetation, whether herbs or trees. To the north
are the supplies of hell-fire, of snow, hail, smoke, ice, darkness, and
windstorms, and in that vicinity sojourn all sorts of devils, demons, and malign
spirits. Their dwelling-place is a great stretch of land, it would take five
hundred years to traverse it. Beyond lies hell. To the south is the chamber
containing reserves of fire, the cave of smoke, and the forge of blasts and
hurricanes. Thus it comes that the wind blowing from the south brings heat and
sultriness to the earth. Were it not for the angel Ben Nez. the Winged, who
keeps the south wind back with his pinions, the world would be
consumed." Besides, the fury of its blast is tempered by the north
wind, which
always appears as moderator, whatever other wind may be blowing. In the east,
the west, and the south, heaven and earth touch each other, but the north God
left unfinished, that any man who announced himself as a god might be set the
task of supplying the deficiency, and stand convicted as a pretender.
The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah,U for the Holy Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth. Thence issued the first ray of light, piercing to the Holy Land, and from there illuminating the whole earth... The creation of the world, however, could not take place until God had banished the ruler of the dark... " Retire," God said to him, " for I desire to create the world by means of light." Only after the light had been fashioned, darkness arose, the light ruling in the sky, the darkness on the earth. The power of God displayed itself not only in the creation of the world of things, but equally in the limitations which He imposed upon each. The heavens and the earth stretched themselves out in length and breadth as though they aspired to infinitude, and it required the word of God to call a halt to their encroachments. L. Ginsberg, the Legends of the Jews
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