This myth about Adoil and Arkhas also has distinctly Gnostic overtones, for it suggests that God did not create light and darkness by Himself. Instead, God commanded that certain invisible beings give birth to these forces, and that is what took place. There is no explanation given for the existence of the invisible beings, no statement that God created them. Further, it is stated that God coexisted with them and moved around with them. But God’s command over them is demonstrated when He orders them to manifest themselves and then to disintegrate themselves, so that light and darkness can be created. Thus this myth suggests that, for God, the primary work of Creation was in making the invisible visible.
The very strangeness of this myth seems to hint at an even more ancient Jewish mythology where elemental forces were personified as primitive beings rather than as spiritual beings such as angels. Or it might be that this myth was influenced by Egyptian and Iranian mythologies.
The end of this myth dovetails into Genesis 1:5: And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. Thus this myth explicitly offers itself as an alternative to the creation myth found in Genesis 1:1-4, where light is created and darkness already seems to exist. It is a much more complex—and mythical—kind of creation than God simply saying “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3).
Sources:
2 Enoch (J) 24-27.
111. CREATION BY LIGHT
In His wondrous hidden way, God contracted His light again and again until physical bodies were created. Thus God’s kingdom has dominion over all, for all the world is but an emanation of His light.
Here Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira reinterprets the kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum so that it refers not to God’s contraction of Himself, but to God’s contraction of light, and through this process the physical word is made manifest. This is also a sefirotic myth, in which each subsequent contraction of God leads to the next sefirah. Thus two primary kabbalistic concepts stand behind this brief yet original myth created by Rabbi Shapira, a twentieth century rabbi who perished in the Warsaw Ghetto. The existence of this myth is evidence of the continued myth-making process in Judaism into our own time.
Sources:
Hovat ha-Talmidim.
112. THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY
The light and holiness that are present in every Jew find their source in the heights of the supernal world. It is like wine poured into a flask with a funnel. Only the narrow end of the funnel enters the flask. In this way the light from above diminishes and contracts until it takes the form of the spirit that inspired the prophets. It is then diminished further until all that remains in the present generation is a small spark of prophecy.
A rabbinic principle is that the spirit of prophecy available to the patriarchs was greatly reduced in the time of the prophets, and subsequently was reduced still further, until it is said that a dream is one sixtieth of prophecy. This follows the general
belief that the true giants of humanity existed in the distant past, and our generation is removed from the true sources of prophetic inspiration. See “The Holy Spirit,” p. 18.
Sources:
Hovat ha-Talmidim.
113. GOD’S SHOUT
On the first day God brought fire and water, mixed them together, and made the heavens from them. But the heavens remained in a fluid state and did not solidify until the second day, when God shouted, “Let there be a firmament!” (Gen. 1:6). Then the pillars of heaven trembled; they were awe-struck by His divine shout (Job 26:11), and after that they remained fixed in one place.
This midrash attempts to explain why God created the heavens on the first day (Gen. 1:1), but He did not create the firmament until the second day (Gen. 1:7). Although the only description in Genesis about God’s voice states that “God said,” (Gen. 1:3), this myth goes beyond the text of Genesis by insisting that God’s voice was a shout, and the power of this shout was so great that the pillars of heaven solidified and ever since have remained firmly in place. The use of “shout,” even more than “said,” suggests a powerful personification of God. It also suggests a strong parallel with Greek and Canaanite gods, who also display similar human characteristics.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 12a; Genesis Rabbah 4:2, 12:10; Sefer ha-Bahir 59; Rashi on Genesis 1:6.
114. THE WORK OF CREATION
How did God create the heavens? He took fire and water and beat them together, and from them the heavens were made.
How did God create the earth? Some say He took two balls, one of fire, the other of snow, kneaded them together, and worked them into one. Others say there were four balls, one for each of the four corners of the world. Still others insist there were six balls, one for each of the four corners and one for above and one for below.
It is also said that God took two elements, chaos and void, and combined them together. For they were the elements out of which darkness and water were created, and from darkness and water the world was brought into being.
Still others say that when God decided to create the world, He brought a single spark out of the primal darkness, and blew upon it, until it was kindled. And He brought out of the recesses of the deep a single drop, and He joined them together, and with them He created the world.
Creation by elements is a common theme in rabbinic sources. Sometimes these elements are said to have preceded Creation, as in this case, where they are identified as tohu and vohu, chaos and void. Other legends suggest that the world was created out of water, wind, and fire: “Three creations preceded the creation of this world: water, wind, and fire. Water conceived and gave birth to thick darkness. Fire conceived and gave birth to light. Wind conceived and gave birth to wisdom. Thus is the world maintained by these six creations: by wind and darkness, by fire and light, by water and wisdom” (Exodus Rabbah 15:22). However, Genesis Rabbah 1:9 reminds us that these primeval elements were created by God, and were not eternal: “A certain philosopher said to Rabbi Gamaliel: ‘Your God was indeed a great artist, but He found good materials which assisted Him.’ ‘What are they?’ Rabbi Gamaliel asked. ‘Tohu, vohu, darkness, water, wind and the deep.’ At this Rabbi Gamaliel exclaimed: ‘Woe to that man!’” Note that all six elements are mentioned in Psalm 104.
There are similar Greek creation myths found in Hesiod’s Theogony 211-32, in which there is a union between darkness and chaos. What is missing in these myths is God’s role in combining these elements to create the world.
Sources:
Genesis Rabbah 4:7, 6:3, 14:5; Y. Rosh ha-Shanah 2; Leviticus Rabbah 14:9; Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 11; Genesis Rabbah 10:3, 10:5; B. Hagigah 12a; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 1:6; Sefer ha-Bahir 59; Zohar 1:86b-87a.
115. HOW THE HEAVENS WERE CREATED
How were the heavens created? With the brilliance of God’s covering, which God took up and spread like a garment, as it is said, He spread them out as a tent for dwelling therein. Then the heavens went on expanding until God told them to stop. So too did God bless each of the four corners of the heavens. From the east the light of the world goes forth, and from the south the dew of blessings descends upon the land. From the west come the stores of snow and hail, heat and cold, while the rain that falls for the benefit of the land comes from the north.
Tractate Hagigah of the Talmud describes the world expanding like a roll of thread or rope at the beginning of Creation, until God rebuked it and brought it to a standstill. This interpretation is based on the verse The pillars of heaven were trembling, but they became astonished at His rebuke (Job 26:11). There is a similar myth about God rebuking the sea when it was created and causing it to dry up. This derives from the verse He rebukes the sea and dries it up (Nah. 1:4). See “The Rebellion of the Waters,” p. 105. See also “God’s Shout,” p. 90, where God delivers a similar rebuke, which causes the pillars of heaven to harden, holding up the firmament.
Sources:
B. Hagigah 12a; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 1:7, 1:8.
116. THE EARTH’S FOUNDATIONS
Then Yahweh replie
d to Job out of the tempest and said, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Speak if you have understanding. Do you know who fixed its dimensions or who measured it with a line? Onto what were its bases sunk? Who set its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the divine beings shouted for joy?”
God’s reply to Job challenges Job’s right to question any of God’s ways by pointing out that, as the Creator of the world, He does not owe Job any answers. Here God describes creating the world the way people build a house, laying the foundation, marking off its dimensions, and laying the cornerstone. While God’s intention may be rhetorical, the effect is a vivid mythic description of God laying the foundations of the earth.
Sources:
Job 38:1, 38:4-7.
117. CREATION BY GOD’S NAME
It is a wonderful and strange and great secret that the Name by which heaven and earth were created was God’s Name. For that Name was the instrument through which the world was brought into being, as it is said, By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made (Ps. 33:6). All the categories of creation were swallowed up and bound together and suspended and sealed, and God saw that this was good (Gen. 1:12).
Some say that the generations of heaven and earth were created by the letter heh, which appears twice in God’s Name. Others say that God used the first two letters of his Name, yod and he, to create the world. But most say that God used all four letters of His Name when He began to create heaven and earth.
The powers attributed to the four-letter Name of God are limitless. The Maharal was said to have pronounced the Name in order to bring the Golem of Prague, a man made out of clay, to life. Rabbi Judah the Pious used the Name to bring a dead man to life, in order to testify as to who had killed him. This myth asserts that God’s Name—YHVH—was the instrument by which the world was created. Further, the role of the individual letters of the Name is debated, and whether or not all four of them took part in Creation. See “The God of Our Fathers,” p. 25 and “The Tetragrammaton,” p. 27 for a further discussion of the Tetragrammaton.
Sources:
Genesis Rabbah 12:10; Hekhalot Rabbati 9.
118. CREATION BY GOD’S BEAUTY
The world was created by God’s beauty: the deeps were set ablaze by His beauty, the firmaments were kindled by His radiance. The angels burst out of His stature, the mighty exploded from His crown, and the precious erupted from His garment. And all of the trees and grasses came forth exulting from His joy.
This myth is found in a hymn from Hekhalot Rabbati, also known as the “Greater Hekhalot,” one of the primary Hekhalot texts describing heavenly journeys. In this unusual myth, creation is described as having been kindled by God’s beauty. Other myths portray God in an active manner, either speaking, as in Genesis, or shouting, or smashing elements together with His hands. But here it is God’s attribute of beauty that is identified as the creative element that gives birth to the creation of the world.
Later in this hymn God is described as a cosmic tree, “who covered the heavens with His glorious bough, and appeared from the heights in His majesty.”
Sources:
Hekhalot Rabbati.
119. THE PALACE OF HEAVEN
God built the upper rooms of the palace first, for having spread a roof He built the top story, which He suspended on nothingness above the world’s atmosphere. After that He made the clouds into His chariots and colonnades out of the whirlwind. He built the upper chambers with balconies of water, and He built the top stories not with stone or hewn blocks, but with walls of compressed water. God then created windows in the firmament, in the east and in the west. Some of these windows were created to serve the sun and some for the moon. There are also eleven windows that the moon does not enter.
Here God’s palace is portrayed as not only being in the heavens, but being the very heavens themselves. Thus in creating the heavens, God created His own palace. This passage is based on Psalm 104:3: He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind. The image also echoes Isaiah 40:22, It is He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth.
Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Bereshit 4 contrasts man’s method of building a palace with that of God: “A man first constructs the foundations of a palace and then erects the upper story upon it, but God fashioned the upper spheres first and then created the earthly spheres: In the beginning God created the heavens, and afterward: and the earth (Gen. 1:1). The 11 windows that the moon does not enter refer to the 11 days by which the solar year exceeds the lunar year.
Sources:
Exodus Rabbah 15:22; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Bereshit 4; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Hayyei Sarah 3; Eliyahu Rabbah 160.
Studies:
“Biblical Cosmology” by Tikva Frymer-Kensky.
120. CREATION ACCORDING TO PHILO
God is eternally creating the world. Indeed, there never was a time when God was not creating it. Ever since the beginning, God’s thoughts of Creation were with Him. For God is always thinking and always creating. Without a counselor—for who else was there?—and making use of His own powers, God’s will created this visible world. God used His Logos as an instrument with which to divide the formless expanse to create the world.
Even if the world is now immortal through the providence of God, there was a time when it was not. But God, of course, is eternally existent, always has existed, and always will.
Here Philo presents his theory that God did not stop after creating the world, but has continued to create it ever since. This engages the theological question of what God’s actions have been since He completed the creation of the world. In Philo’s view the work of Creation is an ongoing process. See “Re-creating the World,” p. 292. “Logos,” as Philo uses the term, is an intermediary between God and the world.
Sources:
Philo, De Providentia 17; Philo, De Opificio Mundi 21-23; Philo, Legum Allegoriarum 3:96; Philo, Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit 134, 140; Philo, De Decalogo 58.
121. THE COSMIC SEED
In the beginning a holy spark emerged from within the hidden depths of God, concealed within the mystery of the Infinite. As the spark began to glow, radiant colors were revealed. That spark was a cosmic seed, planted in the innermost recesses of the divine womb. There it was hidden away within a palace of its own creation, the way a silkworm hides itself in a palace of its own. It was there, in that palace, that the holy seed was sown, from which all of existence came forth. Before that spark nothing is known. That is why it is called the Beginning.
This is the key kabbalistic creation myth in the Zohar, found near the beginning of the book. It is both a mystical commentary on Genesis 1:1 and a creation myth of its own, as well as the primary myth describing the process of emanation of the ten sefirot. As a creation myth, it draws on the cosmic egg type of myth, in this case creation from a cosmic seed that takes root in the primordial womb. Unstated, but suggested, is the mythic image of a divine womb, and the hint of a goddess figure who gives birth to the world.
At the same time, this myth functions in the Zohar as an alternate creation myth, that of creation by emanation, as performed through the ten sefirot. It proposes that the world emanated from the highest, unknowable part of God known as Ein Sof, the Endless, in a series of emanations, each identified with one of the ten sefirot. The language of the Zohar in presenting this myth is extremely allusive, symbolic, and cloaked in mystery.
It is possible to see this myth as a key influence in the famous myth of the Ari of “The Shattering of the Vessels and the Gathering of the Sparks,” which draws on the central image of the spark. Indeed, the Ari’s myth can be viewed as an imaginative retelling of the myth of the cosmic seed.
In “Kabbalah and Myth,” Gershom Scholem comments about this myth: “It is the world seed . . . which is sown in the primordial womb of the ‘supernal’ mother. . . . Fertilized in this womb, the world seed through her emanates the other seven potencies, whi
ch the kabbalists interpret as the archetypes of all Creation, but also as the seven ‘first days’ of the first chapter of Genesis, or in other words as the original stages of intradivine development.”
Sources:
Zohar 1:15a; Sha’ar ha-Gilgulim.
Studies:
“Kabbalah and Myth” in On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism by Gershom Scholem, p. 103.
122. A UNIVERSE OF WATER
At first there was only a universe of water. God then took snow from beneath His Throne of Glory and cast it upon the waters, and the waters froze and became the dust of the earth, and God blessed it, so that it became fruitful and multiplied. Thus the earth stands upon the waters. The waters stand upon pillars of mountains. The pillars of mountains stand upon the wind. The wind stands upon the whirlwind, and God made the whirlwind like an amulet hung from His arm.
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