Creating & Making (Gen 2:3)

Reading through the story of creation

asher bara elohim la’asot אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ פ

We have finally reached the last four words of the first version of the creation story, the seven-day creation that begins — oops, forgot to translate them.

Kidding. I didn’t translate them, but not because I forgot. It’s because I don’t understand them. Or rather (since the words themselves are easy to translate) it’s because I don’t understand how they fit together.

Since we are still finishing Day Seven, I have R. Chaim Brovender in mind, who made the quip about Shabbat being created on Shabbes. A Brovenderism he uses regularly, which applies perfectly to our case, is this: “If you understand the words, there’s no hope.”

The point is that if there’s a word you don’t understand, some new archaeological or textual evidence might come to light that will reveal its meaning. This has happened many times over the last century and a half, when investigations of remains from the ancient Near East have enlightened us about obscure…