Bereishit - Creation of the World by Ten Utterances

Wednesday, October 3, 2018 · Posted in ,


Hashem made ten statements. With each one, a part of Creation emerged. With the tenth statement, the world was completed. What were these statements?

  1. "In the beginning G-d created..." (Bereishit 1:1) Heaven and earth were created by a pronouncement, as is said, "By the word of Hashem the heavens were made" (Tehillim 22:6)
  2. "A wind from G-d hovered over the surface of the waters" (1:2). This wind was a special creation and, therefore, a separate pronouncement. 
  3. "And G-d said, 'Let there be light!'" (1:3)
  4. "And G-d said, 'Let there be a firmament!'" (1:6)
  5. "And G-d said, 'Let the waters gather!'" (1:9)
  6. "And G-d said, 'Let the earth be covered with grass!'" (1:11
  7. "And G-d said, 'Let there be luminaries'" (1:14)
  8. "And G-d said, 'Let the waters swarm abundantly!'" (1:20)
  9. "And G-d said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures!'"
  10. "And G-d said, 'Let us make man!'" (1:26)
According to Kabbalah, the idea of this is that G-d’s utterances are not merely “plans”. His words themselves were acts of creation. G-d’s “statements” are a creative force. At Bereishit they were actual projections of His will — and began a long process of concretizing spiritual intent into physical reality and the universe we know.

Source: Midrash Says; Torah.org

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