ALL PARSHA - Fundamental Themes of RAMBAN on Parshas Noach

Welcome to my buying welcome everyone to the inaugural edition Tough to pay Zion fundamental themes of the parsha from the Ramban. A number of years ago we did a series for all parsha the Ramban on the parsha. This series is going to show common and fundamental themes on the parsha that we see throughout the Ramban's commentary on the parsha. Let's jump right in because this week the see after the shmaya I'd like to share with you ideas and commonalities from seven Rambans on parshas bereishis. The information that we're going to have the privilege to learn today is devarim in my shalom. Matters that stand at the summit of the universe literally. Interestingly in parik aleph pasuk vov the Ramban in discussing Rashi's pshat about the rakia that was suspended between the upper waters and the lower waters, the Ramban says an amazing line he says v'zeh inyan maaseh bereishis. This is the subject of the creation of the world. And therefore don't expect to get any information out of me. Don't expect me to divulge the secrets of maaseh bereishis. He says v'al tikveh mimeni she'ekhtov al dovar. Don't expect me to write anything about it. She'hu inyan maaseh Torah. These are secrets of the Torah. And to explain the psukim simply it does not require me to divulge some of these secrets. So with that introduction we would expect the Ramban not to be revealing too much about the process of the creation of the world and yet the Ramban amazingly outlines a step-by-step chronicle of how the Ribono shel Olam created the world. Let's begin with the first pasuk. Bereishis bara Elokim. The Ramban tells us that the word bara has a very specific connotation. The Ramban has found Bereishit aleph aleph. The At Etz Chaim appears in Mikra'ot Gedolot Nachmanides. I'm going to tell you the simple explanation of the pasuk in Ramban says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created creation from absolute nothing. From what we call in Latin ex nihilo, from nihility, from nothing. There is no word in Lashon Hakodesh that captures creation yesh me'ayin, says the Ramban, except for the word bara. Bara has a specific connotation. Creation out of nothing. The only thing the Ramban says there is nothing under the sun or even above that came from nothing except for the original substance of creation. So, herein the Ramban reveals to us that Hashem didn't create the sun out of nothing or the sky out of nothing or the planets out of nothing. Hashem didn't create animals or fish or birds out of nothing. He first created original matter. The Ramban says hotzi min ha'efes hagomur hamuchlat yesod dak me'od ein bo mamash. Hashem brought out of nothing the original substance of creation out of no substance. What is this original matter from which everything came from? The Ramban describes it koach mamtsi. It is potential. Muchan lekabel tzurah. It could take form and velo latzeis min hakoach el hapo'al, to go from what is potential to actuality. This is the original matter and the Ramban says in Greek it is called "hyle". You may be familiar with that expression. It's called "hyle". And after creation of hyle, Hashem created nothing, meaning bara. He was not bara anything. He was yatzar everything. From the original matter he formed and he fashioned everything. Yatzar va'asa. So Hashem created only original matter. Only original matter was bara and from bara everything was yatzar. Now, my father-in-law, Rebbe Avraham Pinter, showed me in the sefer Emes Yaakov that Rebbe Yaakov Kamenetsky cites this Ramban to explain the trop in the opening pasuk of the Chumash. Bereishis bara Elokim. Why is there a tipcha on the word Elokim? In the beginning God created, yeah, what? The words in the beginning God created are not a self-enclosed thought. It is not a complete clause. The correct trop should be a zakef katan, but it's a stop. That must mean that it is a self-enclosed clause. It is an independent idea and the independent idea is bereishis, in the beginning, bara Elokim. God created original matter. So Rebbe Yaakov Kamenetsky cites this Ramban to explain the accuracy of the trop. Now, the Ramban continues, we're still in aleph aleph. Another revelation, that the shamayim was created out of one type of original matter and the aretz was created out of another original matter. Both of these original matters were created out of nothing. These are the only things that were nivra. Now, that's going to be a problem because it says bara by two other things in creation. It says it by the taninim, the large sea giants, and it says it by Adam. Later on in the parsha, at the end of the parsha, beyom bara baro Elokim Adam. We're going to come back to that. Says the Ramban, the only things that were nivra is original matter, and everything else was created from them. This original matter that in Greek is called hyuli, there's a word for it in Hamish, and that word is toihu. Not like Rashi. Rashi learns toihu. The world was astonishingly empty. The word toihu is a lashon of astonishment. It was astonishingly empty. No, says Ramban, toihu means toihu. Toihu refers to the original matter. Why is the original matter called toihu? Says Ramban something very interesting. The Ramban says that the root of the word is to be toiya, to be mistaken, to to relent, to regret. Why is the original matter called regret? Cuz says Ramban, because it has no substance and it has no form, it's not capable of hanging on to a name. Whatever name you're going to call it, you're going to, you know, you're going to step back, you're going to look at it, and you're going to say, I think it should be called X, Y, and Z. And then you, upon further analysis, you realize that's not really a good name. That doesn't capture what this entity is, and you regret giving it that name. Therefore, the original matter is called toihu. And then, what is made from that toihu is called bohu. What is made from that toihu is called bohu. So, that's the Ramban in the beginning of Bereishit. Now, it's very interesting. The Ramban learns the word aretz, and this is the Ramban uh continuing on, still in aleph aleph. This is another Ramban that the word aretz encapsulates or all four arba Yesodos column, all four elements of creation. We know there are Arbahu Yesodos. There is Aretz, earth. There's Ruach, there's wind. There's Mayim, there's water. And there is Aish, there's fire. All of these things are discussed in the beginning of Bereishis. Aretz, that's Aretz, and that encompasses everything. Veruach Elohim is the wind. Al Pnei Hamayim is the water. And where is the Aish? The Ramban says amazingly, Aish is Choishech. Choishech. Now, you would think that Choishech is the furthest thing from Aish. Aish has nothing to do with Choishech. Aish is bright. No, says Ramban. Look at the center of the fire. The center of the fire is transparent. It's black. Whatever color is around it is other items reflecting off of it. But the word Choishech refers to the element of fire. These were the four basic building blocks of creation. Okay. So, Ramban learns that in the beginning Hashem created the original matter from which everything was created. The Ramban also amazingly says the original matter of Shamayim was fundamentally different than the original matter of Aretz. Now, what this original matter is is unclear. Is it atomic material? Then if it is, why would the original matter of Shamayim be any different than the original matter of Aretz? Presumably, they both have the same atomic material, although the atomic material up in the heavens as we refer to it is more sparsely uh structured. But as we're going to see uh something amazing, the Ramban actually defines Shamayim differently than we would expect. And let us come to that right away. The Ramban learns regarding the shamayim, the Ramban has an amazing revelation. The Ramban says, in my opinion, this is the Ramban, perek aleph, pasuk vav, that the shamayim that is mentioned in the opening pasuk of Bereishit is not the same shamayim that is mentioned in Vayikra kimla rakia shamayim. The Vayikra kimla rakia shamayim is the heavens we're accustomed to thinking of, where the sun is, where the luminaries are. However, the shamayim mentioned in pasuk aleph is the highest heavens, the upper heavens, the shamayim elyonim. That's not where the celestial bodies are. They're above, they're above the merkava. And that is in that sense we call Hashem rocheiv shamayim. And actually, we have no information of what was created there. It doesn't mention anything about the angels being created or the merkava or any spiritual entities that were in the upper heavens. All it says is Bereishit barah Elokim es hashamayim. That's all we know. Almost, by the way, the Chofetz Chaim points out that the Torah immediately diverts to discuss the aretz. The shamayim, it's not our business, so to speak. We don't have any information about it. So, the shamayim of pasuk aleph is different than the shamayim where the luminaries are, and that's why the Ramban says, in the context of luminaries, it's birkiya hashamayim. It's a different heaven, it's the rakia shamayim. In any event, in my mind, this uh would explain why the original matter that created shamayim was a different original matter than created the aretz, because according to the Ramban, what we refer to as the sun and the moon, that heavens is still is part of the aretz. In fact, Rebbe Yaakov Kamenetsky in the Emes LeYaakov that we cited earlier makes mention of the fact that although when man first landed on the moon, it was a big question on the tradition recorded in the Rambam that the moon is a seichel nifrad, is like a spiritual being. But according to the Ramban, the moon is part of aretz. It's not part of shamayim. The moon is part of rakia hashamayim, but not part of the bereishit bara Elokim es hashamayim v'es ha'aretz. The shamayim uh referred to in pasuk aleph is the highest of the heavens. Okay. Now, the Ramban in perek aleph, pasuk ches, [clears throat] is now bothered by the following question. Cuz the Ramban cites the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. And the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer in perek gimmel says, shamayim me'eichan nivra'u? What were the heavens created from? Mei'or levusha shel Hakadosh Baruchu, from the light of the cloak of the Almighty. And the v'ha'aretz, me'eichan nivra'ah? What was the aretz created of? From the sheleg shetachas kisei Hakavod. So, asks the Ramban, I told you earlier that the shamayim and the aretz were created out of tohu, which was hyuli, which was the original matter. One type of original matter for the heaven and one type of original matter for the aretz. And now we're saying that no, the shamayim was created out of the light of the cloak of Hashem and the aretz was created from the snow under the kisei Hakavod. Says the Ramban, no, it's the same thing. The chachamim wanted us to understand that the original matter was such a fine, subtle substance, was so refined, almost spiritual in nature, that it cloaked it in the description that the original matter that created the shamayim is called the light of the cloak of Hashem. And the original matter that created the aretz is the snow under the kisei hakavod. This is the medrish's description of what the Greeks called hewley and what what the Torah calls tohu. So, we have three descriptions for original matter. The Greeks call it hewley. The Torah calls it tohu. And the chachmei Yisrael refer to it as the light of the cloak of Hashem and the snow under the kisei hakavod. Now, now the Ramban adds one point. Cuz until now, the creation of the earth was the of the earth was a two-step process. Hashem created original matter from which he created the earth. Now we're learning you know, it was a three-step process. First Hashem created the kisei hakavod. From there he created snow. And from there he created earth. Actually, some rishonim learn that to fulfill the mitzvah of kisei hadam, you could cover blood with snow because since snow created the earth, it has a din of aretz and it is a suitable entity, it is a suitable substance to use for a kisei hadam. Some rishonim, the Ritzva in the Sefer HaIkkarim asks somewhat of a seerah between the Ramban because earlier the Ramban says that the aretz was created from the hewley. Now we're learning that no, the snow was created from the hewley and then from the snow Hashem created the earth. Okay. But as mentioned earlier, there are two other items in creation that are referred to as a briah, avaya evra. If you go to perek aleph pasuk chof aleph, vayivra Elohim es hatanninim hagdolim. Question, what do you mean vayivra? I thought only the original matter was creation yesh mayain. So, the Ramban says because of these sea sea giants were so large, according to some according to Khazal, they could have been 500 parasol long, which are tremendous in size, many parasol long. So, Khazal uh speak about them to great extent, therefore we refer to them as a lotion of Briah. Now, why how does that explain why we refer to it as a lotion of Briah? So, one way of looking at it is to emphasize that these tremendous creatures, their original matter was created yesh mayain. You would think they're so big, they weren't created yesh mayain. No, even they, their original matter was created yesh mayain, or even though technically it was a two-step process, but because they're so large, it's as if they're created out of nothing, because even if they were created out of original matter and not out of nothing, but to have something that magnitude, it's it's as if it's created out of nothing. Similarly, the Ramban says man man, since they're so exceptional and they have das and seichel, it's emphasizing or this great creation, it's as if it came out of nothing, because even if it did come from original matter, but it's so exceptional in its nature, it's as if it came out of nothing. It's it's such a magnificent creation that it's accurate to say, even though it came from uh from the original matter not out of nothing actually, but it's still accurate to portray it as if it came out of nowhere. But let's just add one nakuda. Because the Ramban amazingly by the creation of man which is perek aleph pasuk aleph aleph. By the way, the Sifri points out it's certainly of note that the creation of man is the 26th pasuk in the Chumash. The Ramban says what does it mean na'aseh Adam? Let us make man. Let us, who's Hashem speaking to? Rashi's troubled. Hashem didn't have partners in creation. So Rashi learns it's a language of humility. From here we learn that a superior should always take the advice of the inferiors. The Zohar colors says na'aseh Adam means Hashem turned to all of creation. He asked all of creation to contribute their ability and talent. The Ramban has such a magnificent shot. Na'aseh Adam is Hashem turns to the earth and he tells the earth "You're going to contribute toward man's physical being and I am going to give and instill man his soul." Now, when the Ramban refers to the soul of man the Ramban says amar ba'adam na'aseh aniv ha'aretz na'aseh Adam. The earth will produce the body of man. K'de she'yeitzer Hashem Elokim es Adam afar min ha'adamah. And the Ribono shel Olam will give the neshama. Now here's the clincher. Cuz at the end of the parsha it says zeh sefer toldos Adam b'yom b'ra'am. On the day Hashem created. Now, the Ramban had already said that the lashon of bara is still appropriate, let's say, for the taninim or for Adam because of man's exceptional character. And however, here the Ramban says, "You know why? By ref- in reference to Adam, b'yom b'ro Elokim Adam, you know why? It refers to Adam's creation as a briah. Ool akach amar be your name be royal like him. Per K pasuk aleph, may ayin ha Adam hazeh. Haniska, man was created from nothing. From nothing? Man was created from the earth. No, that's the body. However, says the safer Zichron Yaakov the Ramban is learning, the neshama the neshama was a briah. The neshama did come from nothing. So comes out there were three creations yesh mayain according to Ramban. The hiuli, the tohu or as the chachamim say the light of the cloak of Hashem, which is the original substance of shamayim. The hiuli of the aretz, which the Torah refers to as tohu and the chachamim refer to as the kisei hakavod, which then produced sheleg. And the neshama of man was also a briah yesh mayain. So these are seven, really eight Rambans on parshas Bereishis, and you see how the Ramban has such a ennobling perspective on brias haolam. And bezras Hashem, may Hashem enlighten us to understand great treasures that uh we shall we look forward to discovering in the words of the Ramban in upcoming parshas, wishing everyone bracha vehatzlacha.