Tree of Souls

by Howard Schwartz

  So too did God create everything with its knowledge. God asked each thing if it wanted to be created. When each thing agreed to be created, it was with specific conditions, and with its own particular mode of service to God. The ocean agreed to open up to permit the children of Israel to pass through the Red Sea. The heavens promised to be silent while Moses climbed Mount Sinai. The sun and moon promised to stand still when Joshua stood before the walls of Jericho. The ravens promised to feed Elijah, the lions promised not to devour Daniel, the heavens promised to open up before Ezekiel, and the whale to cast out Jonah.

  In this way God made an agreement with each of the elements, and each and every one agreed to do as God asked, out of gratitude for having been created.

  There are some Jewish creation myths in which God created the world from a blueprint. That idea is echoed here, but instead of a plan it seems to suggest that God visualized, in some way, all that He would create. Philo states that “when God decided to create this world, He first formed the invisible world to use as a pattern for the corporeal world.” That idea is echoed here, suggesting that “the roots of everything” which God prepared was an invisible, archetypal world, or that God visualized, in some way, all that He would create. Other myths describe God using the Torah as a blueprint for all of Creation. See “The Creation of the Torah,” p. 249.

  In addition, we find the concept that God consulted with all of his creations, asking them if they wanted to be created. The implication is that all things subsequently created expressed their desire to exist. This explains the powerful impulse to survive in all living beings. God’s questioning of the creatures prior to their creation implies a covenant between God and His creations, and implies a mutuality to the process of creation.

  Sources:

  De Opificio Mundi 16; B. Rosh ha-Shanah 11a; B. Hullin 60a; Derekh ha-Shem 2:5:6; Zohar 1:47a; No’am Elimelekh, Bo 36b.

  93. THE BEGINNING OF TIME

  Time did not exist before the world was created, but came into being at the same time.

  Here Philo considers the question of the beginning of time. He concludes that time did not exist until God created the world, but “came into being at the same time.” Thus time does not exist for God, but only for God’s creations.

  Sources:

  Philo, De Mutatione Nominum 26-28.

  Studies:

  “Time, Myth and History in Judaism” by Lawrence D. Loeb.

  94. SEVEN THINGS CREATED BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

  Seven things were created before the creation of the world. They are: the Torah, Repentance, Paradise, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the heavenly Temple, and the name of the Messiah. The Messiah’s name was engraved on a precious stone on the altar of the heavenly Temple, as it is said, His name existed before the sun (Ps. 72:17). Nor will King Messiah ever know death. All seven preceded the creation of the world by two thousand years, and all were borne up by the power of God.

  The celestial Torah was written in black fire on white fire, and lay in the lap of God, who sat on the Throne of Glory, which was set in the highest heaven, above the heads of the angels and seraphs and other heavenly beasts still to be created. Paradise was on the right side of God and Gehenna on the left. The heavenly sanctuary was directly in front of Him, and the name of the Messiah was engraved on a precious stone set upon the altar. As for Repentance, it is great indeed, for it preceded the creation of the world.

  Only after God created these seven things, along with the heavenly beasts, did God establish the firmament, with all seven things created before the Creation resting upon the horns of these beasts, as it is said, And over the heads of the heavenly beasts there was the likeness of a firmament (Ezek. 1:22). That firmament consists of precious stones and pearls. It lights up the heaven as the sun lights up the world at noon, as it is said, And light dwells with Him (Dan. 2:22).

  God is said to have created these seven things 2,000 years before the creation of the world (Midrash Tehillim 90:12). These seven things are regarded as the indispensable essentials for the world to exist. Each of these seven things is explained by a verse that suggests they were created before the rest of the creation of the world. The Torah’s pre-existence is supported by the verse The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old (Prov. 8:22). The Throne of Glory is found in the verse Your throne is established from of old (Ps. 93:2). Paradise (Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, which represents both the heavenly and the earthly Paradise) can be presumed to have preexisted by the verse The Lord God planted a garden in Eden (Gen. 2:8). A case for Gehenna (hell) can be found in the verse The Topheth has long been ready for him (Isa. 30:33). A place called Topheth was the site of a cult that involved the sacrifice of children to Moloch (see 2 Kings 23:10). It is in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, which came to be known as Gehinnom and came to represent the place where the wicked were tormented after death. The Greek form, “Gehenna,” became the popularly known name for this place of punishment, which is the Jewish equivalent of a combined purgatory and hell. The Temple, with its Throne of Glory, can be found in the verse O Throne of Glory exalted from of old, our sacred shrine! (Jer. 17:12). For the Messiah, we may look to the verse May his name be eternal; while the sun lasts, may his name endure (Ps. 72:17). The pre-existence of repentance can be found in the verse

  Before the mountains came into being, before You brought forth the earth and the world ... You return man to dust; you decreed, “Return you mortals!” (Ps. 90:2-3). (In Hebrew the word for “returning,” teshuvah, also means “repentance.”) Most of the details about the seven things created before the creation of the world are found in Midrash Tehillim 90:12. This text also links the seven sacred things to the vision of Ezekiel, asserting that each of the seven things exists upon the horns of the hayyot, the living creatures envisioned in Ezekiel 1:13-14.

  According to Nachmanides, God’s original Torah in heaven was written with black fire on white fire, and the letters were written without spaces between the words. Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai said that the Torah was literally made up of divine names.

  How long before the world was created were the seven things brought into being? Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that they were created 2,000 years before the creation of the world.

  Taken as a whole, the seven things portray the parameters of existence: the Torah is the supreme source of instruction, Paradise and Gehenna represent reward and punishment, the Throne of Glory represents God’s role in existence, the heavenly Temple implies the creation of the earthly Temple in the days to come, and the name of the Messiah signifies the End of Days. Finally, Repentance adds the human need for forgiveness.

  Sources:

  B. Pesahim 54a; B. Nedarim 39b; Midrash Tehillim 8, 72:17, 90:3, 90:12; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 1:8; Orhot Tzaddikim; Avodat ha-Kodesh, Helek ha-Yihud 21.

  95. THE SEVEN DAYS OF CREATION

  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

  God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” God made the expanse, and it separated the water that was below the expanse from the water that was above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

  God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vege
tation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

  God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

  God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

  God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so. God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good. And God 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 things that creep on earth.” And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”

  God said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, I give all the green plants for food.” And it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

  The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of Creation that He had done. Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created.

  This is the most famous of all Jewish creation myths. It appears at the very beginning of Genesis and is known, at least in rough outline, even by those who have little knowledge of the Bible. The only biblical account that is equally famous is that of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. This Creation narrative emphasizes God’s use of the power of the word in order to create the world. On each day of Creation, additional elements are brought into being when God commands that they appear. On the surface this seems to be creation ex nihilo, out of nothing, but a close reading of the biblical text shows a certain amount of ambiguity about whether God drew on pre-existing elements or created everything Himself. Every subsequent Jewish creation myth refers directly or indirectly to this one. It either verifies the principles established here, or contradicts them, implying, for example, that some elements, such as light, already existed when God said, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). See “Light from the Temple,” p. 411, where this theory is elaborated. Following the seven days of Creation is a second creation myth, Genesis 2:4-25, which offers a different perspective on the events of Creation, emphasizing the creation of man and woman. Scholars have proposed that these were two separate creation myths that were combined by the priestly editors of Genesis, despite some apparent contradictions. See “The Creation of Man,” p. 133, and “The Creation of Woman,” p. 142.

  This seminal creation myth also had a great influence on the way God was conceived. It can be argued that the personification of God begins in Genesis 1:2: God said, “Let there be light.” Since humans also speak, using language just as God is said to do, it was natural to assume that God had other human characteristics. As a result of this myth, it has been assumed that all God’s creations came into existence through the words uttered by God, as made explicit in this passage from Psalms: By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts (Ps. 33:6).

  There are many parallels between the Genesis Creation myth and the creation myths of other peoples of the ancient Near East. One of the closest is the Mesopotamian creation myth found in Enuma Elish, where the divine assembly of Mesopotamia is created through the merging of Apsu, divine patron of fresh water, and Tiamat, divine patron of salt water. An Egyptian creation myth is preserved in the Hymn to Ra, the creator and ruler identified with the sun, where Ra describes creation: “There were no heavens and no earth. There was no dry land and there were no reptiles in the land. Then I spoke and living creatures appeared.” A seven-day incubation ritual is described in the Ugaritic stories of Aqhat. A hymn to the creator of the heavens and the earth was found among the tablets unearthed at Ebla in Syria: “You are the creator of the heavens and the earth. There was no earth until you created it. There was no light until you created it. There was no sun until you created it. You alone rule over all creation.” For more on the parallels among creation myths, see “The Rebellion of the Waters,” p. 105, and “The Rebellion of Rahab,” p. 106.

  Sources:

  Genesis. 1:1-2:4.

  Studies:

  Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East by Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin, pp. 6-8 (Hymn to Ra); pp. 9-18 (Enuma Elish); pp. 66-75 (Stories of Aqhat); pp. 241-243 (Ebla Archives).

  Myths from Mesopotamia by S. Dalley, pp. 228-277 (Enuma Elish).

  The Jewish Study Bible, edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, pp. 12-14.

  96. TEN THINGS CREATED ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST SABBATH

  Ten things were created at twilight on the sixth day of Creation, before the first Sabbath: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the well, the mouth of the she-ass, the rainbow, the manna, the staff of Moses and the Shamir, as well as the letters and writing and the Tablets of stone.

  Some add the following things: the evil spirits and the sepulcher of Moses, the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, as well as the ram of our father Abraham. Some also add the first tongs that were ever made.

  The Mishnah lists these items that later took on an important role in Jewish lore. The mouth of the earth is the place where the earth opened and swallowed Korah and his followers (Num. 16:32). The well is one that God gave to the people in the wilderness (Num. 21:16-18). The ass is that of Balaam, which spoke (Num. 22:28). The rainbow is that of Noah (Gen. 9:23). The manna is that given to the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. 16:15). The staff (or rod) of Moses is found in Exodus 4:17. The tablets are the first tablets given to Moses (Exod. 32:15). See “The First Tablets,” p. 266.

  The Shamir is a small creature, the size of a barleycorn, which can cut through the hardest stone. King Solomon is said to have used it to cut the stones for the Temple. There is a famous folktale in the Talmud in which King Solomon captures Ashmedai, the king of demons, in order to find out where he can capture the Shamir, so that he can use it to carve the stone altar for the Temple (B. Gittin 68b).

  Of the additional items said to have been created at twilight on the sixth day, the spirits refer to the souls that were left without bodies. There was not enough time for a body to be created for every soul. This is said to be the origin of the demons. For the sepulcher of Moses, see Deuteronomy 34.6. The ram is the one that Abraham sacrificed at Mount Moriah in place of Isaac (Gen. 22:13). Finally, the heavenly origin o
f the first tongs solves the problem of how the first tongs might have been held while they were being made.

  Sources:

  Mishnah Avot 5:6; B. Pesahim 54a.

  97. FIVE HEAVENLY THINGS SLEEPING IN THE UNIVERSE

  There are five heavenly things in the universe, each of them of immense power, that are sleeping. They are the might of God, the rainbow of God, the sword of God, the arm of God, and the jealousy of God.

  These five heavenly things are each a giant force in repose. Each of them belongs to God, from objects linked to God, such as the rainbow and the sword, to God’s arm, which is part of God, and powers and characteristics of God, such as His might and His jealousy. This brief, largely undeveloped myth serves as a reminder of God’s unlimited powers, which can be asserted at any time, with unforeseen consequences. It also suggests multiple aspects of God, that God consists of a mixture of elemental forces. This would explain God’s sometimes contradictory behavior, ranging from mercy to harsh justice.

  Sources:

  Midrash Tehillim 80:3.

  98. GOD THE CREATOR

  In the beginning, God covered Himself with light as with a garment. He stretched out the heavens like a curtain, laying the roof of His upper chambers with the waters. He made the clouds His chariot, walking upon the wings of the winds, making winds His messengers, and the flaming fire His ministers. So too did He establish the earth upon its foundations that it should never be moved, and He covered it with the deep. But when the waters rose up above the mountains, God rebuked them and they fled at the voice of His thunder. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place where God had founded them. And He set a boundary for the waters that could not be crossed, that they might not return to cover the earth.