json/Midrash/Aggadah/Midrash Rabbah/Bereshit Rabbah/English/Midrash Rabbah, Translated Into English With Notes, Glossary And Indices Under The Editorship Of Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman, B.A., Ph.D. And Maurice Simon, M.A. .json

{
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Bereshit Rabbah",
    "versionSource": "https://ia800500.us.archive.org/13/items/RabbaGenesis/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp_djvu.txt",
    "versionTitle": "Midrash Rabbah, Translated Into English With Notes, Glossary And Indices Under The Editorship Of Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman, B.A., Ph.D. And Maurice Simon, M.A. ",
    "actualLanguage": "en",
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    "heTitle": "בראשית רבה",
    "categories": [
        "Midrash",
        "Aggadah",
        "Midrash Rabbah"
    ],
    "text": [
        [
            "R. Oshaya commenced [his exposition thus]: Then I was by Him, as a nursling (<i>amon</i>) ; and I was daily all delight (Prov. viii, 30). '<i>Amon</i>' means tutor; '<i>amon</i>' means covered; '<i>amon</i>' means hidden <sup class=\"footnote-marker\">1</sup><i class=\"footnote\">The speaker is the Torah (Wisdom) personified, referring to the pre- Creation era. The Torah was with God as with a tutor, reared, as it were, by the Almighty (this is similar to E.V.); it was also covered up and hidden. This may mean that the laws of the Torah were unknown until the Revelation at Sinai, while some of them remained 'hidden' even then, i.e. their reasons are not known.</i>; and some say, '<i>amon</i>' means great.  '<i>Amon</i>' is a tutor, as you read, As an <i>omen</i> {nursing-father) carrieth the sacking child (Num. xi, 12).  '<i>Amon</i>'  means covered, as in the verse, <i>Ha'emunim</i> (they that were clad — i.e. covered) in scarlet (Lam. iv, 5).  '<i>Amon</i>' means hidden, as in the verse, And he concealed (<i>omen</i>)<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">2</sup><i class=\"footnote\">E.V. 'brought up'. The Midrash understands it to mean that Mordecai concealed her from the public gaze.</i> Hadassah (Est. ii, 7). '<i>Amon</i>' means great, as in the verse, Art thou better than No-amon (Nah. iii, 8)? which is rendered, Art thou better than Alexandria the Great, that is situate among the rivers?<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">3</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Translation of the second half of the verse.</i> Another interpretation: '<i>amon</i>' is a workman (<i>uman</i>). The Torah declares: 'I was the working tool of the Holy One, blessed be He.' In human practice, when a mortal king builds a palace, he builds it not with his own skill but with the skill of an architect. The architect moreover does not build it out of his head, but employs plans and diagrams to know how to arrange the chambers and the wicket doors. Thus God consulted the Torah and created the world, while the Torah declares, In the beginning God created (Gen. i, i), beginning referring to the Torah, as in the verse, The Lord made me as the beginning of His way (Prov. viii, 22).<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">3</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Here too the speaker is the Torah. Thus the verse is translated: By means of the 'beginning', sc. the Torah, God created, etc.</i>",
            "R. Joshua of Siknin quoted in R. Levi's name; He hath declared to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations (Ps. cxi, 6). Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal to Israel what was created on the first day and on the second day, etc.? So that the nations of the world might not taunt Israel and say to them: 'Surely ye are a nation of robbers: think of that!' But Israel can retort: 'And do ye not hold yours as spoil, for surely the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead (Deut. ii, 23) ! The world and the fullness thereof belong to God. When He wished, He gave it to you; and when He wished, He took it from you and gave it to us. Hence it is written, 'In giving them the heritage of the nations, He hath declared to His people the power of His works': He declared the beginning to them.",
            "In the beginning God created, etc. R. Tanhuma commenced with: For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things, etc. (Ps. lxxxvi, 10). R. Tanhum b. R. Hiyya said: If a gourd has a hole even as small as the eye of a needle, all its air escapes; yet though man is formed with many cavities and orifices, his breath does not escape through them. Who achieved this? Thou God alone (ib.) When were the angels created? R. Johanan said: They were created on the second day, as it is written, Who layest the beams of Thine upper chambers in the waters (Ps. civ, 3), followed by, Who makest the spirits Thine angels (ib. 4).<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">1</sup><i class=\"footnote\">The former verse is interpreted as a poetic description of the dividing of the upper from the nether waters, which took place on the second day (Gen. i, 6-8); and on the same day He created the angels, as is shown by the latter verse.</i> R. Hanina said: They were created on the fifth day, for it is written, And let fowl fly above the earth (Gen. i, 20),<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">2</sup><i class=\"footnote\">This was on the fifth day.</i>  and it is written, And with twain he did fly (Isa. vi, 2).<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">3</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Thus angels too fall within the category of beings that fly, and were created on the same day as all flying creatures.</i>  R. Luliani b. Tabri<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">4</sup><i class=\"footnote\">i.e. Julianus b. Tiberius.</i> said in R. Isaac's name: Whether we accept the view of R. Hanina or that of R. Johanan, all agree that none were created on the first day, lest you should say, Michael stretched [the world] in the south and Gabriel in the north, while the Holy One, blessed be He, measured it in the middle; but I am the Lord, that maketh all things; that stretched forth the heavens alone; that spread abroad the earth by Myself — <i>me-itti</i> (ib. xliv, 24): <i>mi itti</i> (who was with Me) is written: who was associated with Me in the creation of the world? Ordinarily, a mortal king is honoured in his realm and the great men of the realm are honoured with him. Wherefore? Because they bear the burden [of state] with him. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, is not so, but He alone created His world, He alone is glorified in His universe. R. Tanhuma quoted: 'For Thou art great and doest wondrous things' Wherefore?<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">4</sup><i class=\"footnote\">i.e. wherein does His greatness lie.</i> Because 'Thou God art alone': Thou alone didst create the world. layest the beams of Thine upper chambers in the waters (Ps. Civ, 3), followed by, Who makest the spirits Thine angels {ib. 4). 1 R. Hanina said: They were created on the fifth day, for it is written, And let fowl fly above the earth (Gen. 1, 20), 2 and it is written, And with twain he did fly (Isa. vi, 2). 3 R. Luliani b. Tabri 4 said in R. Isaac's name: Whether we accept the view of R. Hanina or that of R. Johanan, all agree that none were created on the first day, lest you should say, Michael stretched [the world] in the south and Gabriel in the north, while the Holy One, blessed be He, measured it in the middle ; but I\" am the Lord, that maketh all things ; that stretched forth the heavens alone; that spread abroad the earth by Myself — me-itti (ib. xliv, 24) : mi itti (who was with Me) is written : who was associated with Me in the creation of the world ? Ordinarily, a mortal king is honoured in his realm and the great men of the realm are honoured with him. Wherefore ? Because they bear the burden [of state] with him.  "
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