Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

I don't know if anyone pointed this out, but classical Jewish theology,
as well as Christian, adheres to the belief in creation ex nihilo
(beri'ah yesh me-'ayin). This caused difficulty for those Rabbis who
understood the description of Gen. 1: 1-2 as indicating the existence of
matter, undifferentiated, at the very beginning of the narrative. (They
probably read vss. 1-2, and possibly 3, as one syntactical unit, as did
Rashi, later Cassuto, and today the NJPS translation).This problem was
solved by understanding Gen. 1 as only a later, and not the first, stage
in creation. "The Holy One, blessed be He, created worlds and destroyed
worlds", is the way the Misdrash expresses the solution.
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel