Berakhot 114

Today's shiur is dedicated by Alan Ganapol in honour of the 90th birthday of his mother and the 21st of his daughter Elyse. Mazzal Tov to both.

Today's shiur is dedicated by Alan Ganapol in honour of the 90th birthday of his mother and the 21st of his daughter Elyse. Mazzal Tov to both.

4:
We have noted that one of the side effects of the conscious recitation of a berakhah before eating some food or other is the recognition that we are not the true masters of the universe. This brings us to an interesting point. One of the berakhot [blessings] that we shall consider later on is "…by Whose word all is created" – though the correct rendition according to the Sefardi pronunciation would be "…by Whose word all was created". And thereby hangs a most important theological point that, in my view, is of great moment in view of our modern scientific knowledge. Should we recite this berakhah in Hebrew as …shehakol niheyEH bidevaro ["…by Whose word all is created"] as is the Ashkenazi practice? Or should we recite this berakhah in Hebrew as …shehakol niheyAH bidevaro ["…by Whose word all was created"] as is the Sefardi practice?

5:
We are all familiar with the creation story as told in the first chapter of Genesis. Regardless of the manner in which each person approaches the exposition of this text, one cannot help but be struck by a seeming internal contradiction. The first verse proclaims that "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth", which would suggest a single act of creation. However, the subsequent unfolding of the story – with its recurring refrains of "And God said…" and "Let there be…" and "There was evening and there was morning…" and so forth – suggest that there were a series of creative acts (ten in all according to rabbinic counting). The collection of midrashim known as Bereshit Rabba contains the resumés of 'sermons' on the text of the book of Genesis as delivered in the synagogues of Eretz-Israel during the first few centuries of the currant era. In one of these (12:4) there is recorded a very interesting maĥloket [difference of opinion] between two sages (both former prize students of Rabbi Akiva) on the internal contradiction that we have mentioned.

6:
Rabbi Yehudah [ben-Ilai] espouses the interpretation of the text that sees many individual acts of creation, each individual act being the result of a new divine 'fiat' – rather like an artist who paints one picture and being satisfied with his performance now decides to paint another picture – and so forth. Rabbi Neĥ3myah espouses a view of the text that there was but one single and never-repeated creative act. In this maĥloket Rabbi Yehudah, of course, points out to Rabbi Neĥ3myah that he seems to be ignoring the plain meaning of the text: how would his view cope with "first day", "second day" and so on? – which seem to be indicating so clearly many successive acts of creation. Rabbi Neĥ3myah responds that in his view there was but one 'fiat', one single and never-to-be-repeated act of creation, within which everything was potentially created. From then on things just developed, evolved, "like figs coming to ripening, each one at the right time". Rabbi Berekhyah approvingly draws the obvious conclusion from Rabbi Neĥ3myah's exposition: "Thus when the Torah says [Genesis 1:12], 'And the earth brought forth…" it was but bringing forth something that was already in it'.

7:
There is no need to labour this point, whose possible consonance with modern scientific views on the origin of the universe, evolution and so forth is obvious. Which brings me back to my original question that prompted this discussion: Should we recite this berakhah in Hebrew as "…shehakol niheyEH bidevaro" ["…by Whose word all is created"] as is the Ashkenazi practice? Or should we recite this berakhah in Hebrew as "…shehakol niheyAH bidevaro" ["…by Whose word all was created"] as is the Sefardi practice? There is a theological choice here. If we elect to espouse the Ashkenazi pronunciation ["…by Whose word all is created"] we are proclaiming an on-going creation – every new development is the result of a new divine intervention. If we elect to espouse the Sefardi pronunciation ["…by Whose word all was created"] we are proclaiming a one-time-only creation – and everything that developed thereafter is only the coming-to-fruition of another part of the original divine programme.

To be continued.