The Beginning had a Plan

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• The Beginning had a Plan
• Torah is the Plan of Creation
• Ceaser

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Sources

• Rav Shimon bar Yochai author of the Zohar
• Rabbi Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag, and Rabbi
  Michael Burg Translation of the Zohar to English
• Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
• Rashi
• Arizal
• Rav Ovadia Soforno
• Ibn Ezra
• Nachmanides

• Chumash
• Talmud
• Zohar
• Genesis Rabba

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Overview
Our sages tell us that you have to dig in the
Torah and you will find truth. As an example, the
final letters of the first three words of the
Torah are the mixed up letters of the word Emet
(True). Dig a little deeper, and the truth will
be clearer The final letters of the second
through fourth words spells Emet in
order. (11-23) The world is created in six
days. The first Shabbat. (24-25) The creation
and, in particular, the creation of humanity.
Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden to
till it and to tend it. (31-7) The snake
tempts the woman to eat of the forbidden fruit.
She persuades the man also to eat it. They become
aware of their nakedness, and they make clothing
for themselves from fig leaves. (38-24) Gods
first question of human beings Where are you?
God punishes the snake by making it crawl on its
belly, and by the enmity of human beings the
woman by the pains of childbirth the man by
alienation from the earth. Expulsion from the
Garden of Eden. (41-15) Cains murder of Abel
and Gods response. (417-26) The descendants of
Cain. The taunting song of Lamech. The birth of
Seth, and his son Enosh. (51-68) The ten
generations from Adam to Noah
The Torah begins with the narrative of creation,
how G-d brought the world into being from
absolute nothingness. That is an
awesome lesson. Whenever an entity is made -
brought into being although it did not exist
before - a question is immediately raised Why
was it made? Even a mortal acts with purpose,
doing things with a goal in mind. Surely, this
applies with regard to G-d. He brought our world
into existence, because He had a goal and a
purpose. What was that purpose? On the verse,
"And the spirit of G-d was hovering over the
waters," our Sages comment "This refers to the
spirit of Mashiach." And in other sources, they
state "The world was created solely for
Mashiach." To explain Our Sages tell us G-d
created the world because He wanted a dwelling, a
home. A person lets loose and functions
without inhibitions in his own home. So too, G-d
wanted a place where He could reveal Himself
without constraints, where who He is can
come into expression. That's why He created our
world. (Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson)
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• In the beginning God created the heaven and the
  earth.
• HaShem Creates
• The Spiritual World Heaven
• The Material World Earth

• It is forbidden to inquire what existed before
  creation, as Moses distinctly tells us (Deut. iv.
  32) "Ask now of the days that are past which
  were before thee, since the day God created man
  upon earth." Thus the scope of inquiry is limited
  to the time since the Creation. (Midrash Rabba
  Beresheet)

G-d looked into the Torah and created the world.
Man looks into Torah and sustains the world.
(Zohar Beresheet A) The Hebrew verb bara
("created") employed by this verse specifically
means the creation of something from nothing.
(Ibn Ezra)
"In the beginning" refers to the beginning of
time --the first, indivisible moment, before
which time did not exist. (Soforno)
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• Talmud - Mas. Chagigah 12a
• Our Rabbis taught Beth Shammai say Heaven was
  created first and afterwards the earth was
  created, for it is said In the beginning God
  created the heaven and the earth.
• Beth Hillel say Earth was created first and
  afterwards heaven, for it is said In the day
  that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
• Beth Hillel said to Beth Shammai According to
  your view, a man builds the upper storey first
  and afterwards builds the house! For it is said
  It is he that buildeth His upper chambers in the
  heaven, and hath founded His vault upon the
  earth.
• Said Beth Shammai to Beth Hillel According to
  your view, a man makes the footstool first, and
  afterwards he makes the throne! For it is said
  Thus saith the Lord, The Heaven is My throne and
  the earth is My footstool.
• But the Sages say Both were created at the same
  time. (63) For it is said Yea, Mine hand hath
  laid the foundation of the earth, and My right
  hand hath spread out the heavens
• When I call unto them they stand up together. And
  the others? What is the meaning of together?
  It means that they cannot be loosened from one
  another
• (63) C. Taylor in Sayings of the Jewish
  Fathers, p. 107. n. 40, points out that the
  three views (of the Schools of Shammai and
  Hillel, and of the Sages) may be taken as texts
  for three philosophies, viz., idealism,
  evolutionism and dualism (quoted by Streane).

• The unity of God is at once set before us in the
  history of creation, where we are told He, not
  they, created. (Midrash Rabba Beresheet)
• What was Created first?
• Talmud - Mas. Tamid 32a
• The heavens were created first, as it says. In
  the beginning God created the heaven and the
  earth. He said to them Was light created first,
  or darkness? They replied This question cannot
  be solved. Why did they not reply that darkness
  was created first, since it is written, Now the
  earth was unformed and void and darkness, and
  after that, And God said, Let there be light, and
  there was light?

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• 1. With the beginning of the manifestation of the
  King's will, THAT IS, WHEN THE KING DESIRED TO
  CREATE THE WORLD, a hard spark made an engraving
  upon the supernal light. THIS HARD SPARK, WHICH
  emanated from the most concealed of all concealed
  things--from the secret of ein-sof
  (endlessness)-and took a shapeless form. THE
  SPARK was then inserted into THE CENTER OF a
  circle that was neither white nor black nor red
  nor green, nor any color at all. When He began
  its measurements, He created bright colors that
  shone into THE EMPTY SPACE AND THE ENGRAVING.
  From within the spark - THIS HARD SPARK - a
  fountain spouted, from which the shades down
  below received their colors.
• 2. From the most concealed of all concealed
  things, the secret of ein-sof (endlessness),
  EMANATED TWO FACES ONE cleaved and THE OTHER DID
  not cleave. Its atmosphere was unknown until
  forceful blows split ATIK, and a concealed
  supernal point shone. Beyond this point, nothing
  is knowable and, because of this, He is called by
  the name Beginning, WHICH MEANS the First of the
  Sayings. (Zohar Beresheet A)

• 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the
  earth.
• Zohar Beresheet A
• The Zohar discusses the primordial phase that
  ignited the process of creation. This phase
  produced a vacated space, a void into which our
  physical universe would eventually be born. By
  this act of creation, the infinite gave birth to
  the finite. Just as a seed contains all the
  stages that will produce a full grown tree,
  including the final fruit, the seed of our cosmos
  contains all the souls of mankind, including our
  complete and final fulfillment. Recognizing this
  motivates us to complete our own spiritual work.
  It accelerates our spiritual transformation by
  revealing our connection with the seed, which is
  the cause of all causes. (Rav Ashlag 1936-1978
  Translation of the Zohar and Commentary with
  Rabbi Michael Burg)

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Plans

• The Torah was to God, when he created the world,
  what the plan is to an architect when he erects a
  building. (THE BERESHITH OR GENESIS RABBA)
• The Shaloh explains that the two luminaries
  within Torah refer to the Written Torah (the sun)
  and the Oral Torah (the moon). The Oral Torah is
  called "the moon" because it obtains its
  illumination from the Written Torah, just as the
  moon obtains its luminosity from the sun. Thus
  the Talmud often employs the expression "From
  whence do we know? For the verse states...." In
  other words, the Oral Torah is based on the
  Written Torah. (Likkutei Sichos, Rabbi Menachem
  M. Schneerson
• The first word of the Torah is Bereishis, usually
  translated as "In the Beginning." The word better
  translates as "Two firsts", (Beis two, reishis
  first). We learn that the world was created by
  HaShem for two firsts, the Torah and Am Yisrael.
  (Likkutei Sichos, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson

• Talmud - Mas. Chagigah 12a
• Rab Judah further said that Rab said Ten things
  were created the first day, and they are as
  follows heaven and earth, Tohu chaos, Bohu
  desolation,light and darkness, wind and water,
  the measure of day and the measure of night.
• R. Zulra b. Tobiah said that Rab said by ten
  things was the world created By wisdom and by
  understanding, and by reason, and by strength,
  and by rebuke, and by might, by righteousness and
  by judgment, by lovingkindness and by compassion.
  By wisdom and understanding,

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2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep and the
spirit of God hovered over the face of the
waters. 2. Now the earth was astonishingly
empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep,
and the spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the water. (Chabad Interpretation)
Talmud - Mas. Chagigah 12b And the earth was
unformed and void. Consider Scripture began
at first with heaven, why then does it proceed to
relate first the work of the earth? The
School of R. Ishmael taught It is like a human
king who said to his servants Come early to my
door. He rose early and found women and men. Whom
does he praise? The ones who are not accustomed
to rise early but yet did rise early. Talmud -
Mas. Shabbath 77b Rab Judah said in Rab's name
Of all that the Holy One, blessed be He, created
in His world, He did not create a single thing
without purpose.
"And the earth was without form and void." There
seems to be some reason for the earth's
despondency, as though she was aware of her lot
beforehand. (Midrash Rabba) 2. astonishingly
empty. Heb. ????? ???????. ????? is an expression
of astonishment and desolation, that a person
wonders and is astonished at the emptiness
therein. astordison in Old French tourdissement
in modern French, astonishment. ????? an
expression of emptiness and desolation. (Rashi)
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2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep and the
spirit of God hovered over the face of the
waters.
17. "And the earth was without form and void..."
(Beresheet 12) THE TERM "was" is exact IN THAT
IT IMPLIES the earth's previous state, during
which snow was mixed inside water. The act of the
snow forming inside the water resulted in a foul
substance. And AFTERWARD, a mighty fire beat upon
it and refuse was formed inside it. It then
conceived and became without form. The place
where at first there was only filth, has become
now a nest of refuse that is described as Tohu
(without form). IT WENT THROUGH FOUR STAGES UNTIL
IT BECAME TOHU (1) LIGHT TURNED INTO WATER (2)
WATER TURNED INTO SNOW (3) SNOW TURNED INTO
REFUSE WITH THE INFLICTION OF THE FIRE AND (4)
THE REFUSE, OVER TIME, BECAME SUFFICIENTLY
DISTINGUISHABLE TO BE CALLED TOHU. THE WORDS "and
void" REFER TO the refined matter that emerged
from the refuse and was set there. Darkness is
the secret of the powerful fire and this darkness
hovers above the Tohu, over that refuse, and is
based upon it. IN OTHER WORDS, DARKNESS DOES NOT
MEAN ONLY THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT--THAT IS,
EMPTINESS-- BUT RATHER THE ASPECT THAT PRODUCES
EMPTINESS, LIKE A STRONG FIRE THAT BURNS AND
CONSUMES EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES AND LEAVES
EMPTINESS IN ITS PLACE. THE REASON WHY IT IS
CALLED DARKNESS AND NOT FIRE IS THAT THE BURNING
FORCE IS NOT FROM THE FIRE ITSELF, BUT FROM THE
REFUSE OVER WHICH IT HOVERS. THEREFORE, THIS
DARKNESS IS BASED UPON THE TOHU, FROM WHICH IT
RECEIVES. (Zohar Beresheet A)

• 4. "And the earth was without form"
• The Creation process, the Zohar explains, began
  in a state of utter chaos. Out of this chaos
  emerged the concept of order. The Zohar reveals
  the process by which order emerges form chaos.
  The more furious and frenzied the initial chaos,
  the greater the order and the perfection that
  will eventually emerge.
• We can attain the ability to remove chaos from
  our lives. We can begin to grasp the hidden
  spiritual truth that chaos is really opportunity
  for bringing order and fulfillment. (Rav Ashlag
  1936-1978 Translation of the Zohar and Commentary
  with Rabbi Michael Burg)

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Day One
Light and Darkness
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3 And God said 'Let there be light.' And there
was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was
good and God divided the light from the
darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and
the darkness He called Night. And there was
evening and there was morning, one day.
For The Sake Of His Light It is written, All the
works of God are for His sake (Mishlei 164),
for all that has been created is for His own
glory. However, this does not mean for His own
end or good, God forbid, but rather the deeper
explanation is in order to reveal His light and
Glory to those who are worthy. Arizal
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Zohar

• 31. "Let there be (Heb. Yehi) light," means that
  everything that comes forth AND EMANATES IN THE
  WORLD proceeds according to the secret OF THE
  WORDS "LET THERE BE LIGHT." Yehi ALLUDES TO the
  secret of Aba and Ima, which are Yud-Hei OF YEHI
  (YUD- HEIYUD). THE LETTER YUD ALLUDES TO ABA AND
  THE HEI TO IMA. Afterward, THE LETTERS YUD-HEI
  return to the first point BY ADDING ANOTHER
  POINT, NAMELY YUD, JUST LIKE THE FIRST ONE--AS IT
  IS WRITTEN YEHI (YUD-HEI-YUD)--to institute a
  beginning for an expansion of something else.
  (Zohar Beresheet)

Light is mentioned five times in the opening
chapter of the Bible. This points to the five
books of Moses. "God said, let there be light,"
refers to the book of Genesis, which enlightens
us as to how creation was carried out. The words,
"And there was light," bear reference to the book
of Exodus, which contains the history of the
transition of Israel from darkness to light. "And
God saw the light that it was good" this alludes
to the book of Leviticus, which contains numerous
statutes. "And God divided between the light and
between the darkness" this refers to the book of
Numbers, divided as that book is between the
history of those who came out of Egypt and that
of those who were on their way to possess the
promised land. "And God called the light day"
this bears reference to the book of Deuteronomy,
which is not only a rehearsal of the four earlier
books, but contains Moses's eloquent dying charge
to Israel and many laws not mentioned in the
preceding books. (Midrash Rabba Beresheet)
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3 Columns

• Light of HaShem
• Light the Male Principal
• Giving Principal
• Darkness The Female Principal
• Receiving Principal
• The Central Column of Souls and of Free Will

• 37. "And Elohim called..." (Beresheet 15). HE
  ASKED What is THE MEANING OF "AND ELOHIM called
  THE LIGHT DAY"? HE REPLIED, THIS MEANS THAT He
  called and invited it to bring forth from within
  that perfect light that stands in the middle,
  REFERRING TO TIFERET, one light. AND THIS LIGHT
  is the foundation of the world, upon which all
  worlds are erected AND FROM WHERE ALL THE SOULS
  ARE BORN. From this perfected "light" emerges the
  Central Column, the foundation of the life of the
  worlds, this being the day from the right side.
  THE WORDS "And the darkness he called Night"
  MEAN THAT He called and invited it, bringing
  forth one female from within the left side, the
  secret of darkness. THIS FEMININE PRINCIPLE IS
  THE SECRET OF the moon that governs the night.
  FOR THIS REASON, it is called night. AND THIS IS
  the secret of THE NAME 'Adonai' and THE 'NAME
  Master of all Earth. (Zohar Beresheet A)

Three distinct spiritual energy forces permeate
all existence. Using the language of metaphor,
the Zohar identities these three forces as Right,
Left and Central Columns. Right correlates to the
positive force, which manifests physically as
the proton. Left signifies the negative charge
-, manifesting as the electron. Central is
expressed through the neutron, the force that
bridges the positive and negative poles. (Rav
Ashlag 1936-1978 Translation of the Zohar and
Commentary with Rabbi Michael Burg)
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Light of Torah

• 181. .. It was right to create him thus WITH
  LIGHT AND DARKNESS, because the Torah was created
  for the sake OF MAN, for it contains punishments
  for the sinful and rewards for righteous. Thus,
  there can be no reward for the righteous or
  punishment for the sinful without the man of
  Briyah,
• WHO CONSISTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS. IT IS
  WRITTEN "He did not create it a wasteland (lit.
  'formless'), he created it to be inhabited"
  (Yeshayah 4518). THE WORLD WAS NOT CREATED TO BE
  FORMLESS, TO BE IN DARKNESS BECAUSE OF THE
  SINFUL, BUT "TO BE INHABITED", WHICH MEANS FOR
  THE SAKE OF REWARDING THE RIGHTEOUS.
• THIS REWARD IS THE CONCEPTION OF THE TORAH, AS IT
  IS WRITTEN "FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE
  KNOWLEDGE OF HASHEM" (YESHAYAH 119), FOR THE
  TORAH AND THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, ARE ONE
  AND THE SAME. HAD MAN NOT BEEN CREATED BY LIGHT
  AND DARKNESS, WHICH ENABLE HIM TO CHOOSE BETWEEN
  GOOD AND EVIL AND REWARD AND PUNISHMENT, THEN
  THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO WAY TO REVEAL THIS
  REWARD FOR THE RIGHTEOUS. THIS REWARD REFERS TO
  WHAT IS ATTAINED FROM THE TORAH THAT WAS CREATED
  FOR HIS SAKE.
• THE FRIENDS said, Indeed, we have certainly now
  heard what we had never heard before. It is now
  clear that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not
  create anything that He did not require. (Zohar
  Beresheet A)

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Serving

• The above dialogue between the "nations of the
  world" and the "people of Israel" also takes
  place in the "miniature universe" within the
  heart of man.
• The Jew serves G-d in two ways 1) by fulfilling
  the Divine commandments (mitzvot) of the Torah
  2) by living his or her ordinary life--eating,
  sleeping, doing business, etc.--as an exercise in
  experiencing the Divine and serving G-d's purpose
  in creation (as expressed by the ideals "All your
  deeds should be for the sake of Heaven" (Ethics
  of the Fathers 212) and "Know Him in all your
  ways" (Proverbs 36)).
• It is regarding the second area that the Jew's
  internal "nations of the world" (--worldly
  outlook) argues You are thieves, for having
  conquered the lands of the seven nations! What
  business have you commandeering the "secular"
  areas of life? Must you turn everything into a
  religious issue? Serve G-d in the ways He has
  explicitly told us to serve Him, and leave the
  rest to their rightful, worldly owners!
• To answer this argument, the Torah begins not
  with its first mitzvah, but with the statement,
  "In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the
  earth." "The entire world is G-ds, He created
  it"--the Torah is saying--not just the matzah
  eaten on Passover or the percentage of the ones
  income given to charity.
• With its opening statement, the Torah is
  establishing that it is not merely a rulebook, a
  list of things to do or not to do. It is G-ds
  blueprint for creation, our guide for realizing
  the purpose for which everything in heaven and
  earth was made. Every creature, object and
  element, every force, phenomenon and potential,
  every moment of time, was created by G-d toward a
  purpose. Our mission in life is to conquer the
  lands of the seven nations and transform them
  into a Holy Land--a world permeated with the
  goodness and perfection of its Creator. (Rabbi
  Menachem M. Schneerson)

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Duality

• Plan of Creation Written and Oral Torah
• Material And Spiritual Worlds (Heaven and Earth)
• By Wisdom and by Understanding,
• By Reason, and by Strength,
• By Rebuke, and by Might,
• By Righteousness and by Judgment,
• By Lovingkindness and by Compassion.
• Punishments for the Sinful and Rewards for
  Righteous
• TWO FACES ONE cleaved and THE OTHER DID not
  cleave.

• HaShems Temple in Heaven and His Temple in
  Jerusalem
• Two Columns
• Two Arks
• Two Cherubim
• Two Sets of Two Tablets
• Teffillin Head and Arm
• Two Goats on Yom Kippur
• Two Temples before the Mashiach
• One Temple after Two Mashiachs
• One God to Create Two People
• Two People to Create one World

The Lists are Endless
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Creation
The first day of creation, which saw the creation
of light, corresponds to the first millennium of
history--the millennium of Adam, the light of the
world, when the world was still saturated with
knowledge of its Creator and was sustained by the
indiscriminate benevolence of G-d. The second
day, on which the Creator distinguished between
the spiritual and the physical elements of His
creation, yielded a second millennium of judgment
and discrimination--as reflected in the Flood
which wiped out a corrupt humanity and spared
only the righteous Noah and his family. The third
day, on which the land emerged from the sea and
sprouted forth greenery and fruit-bearing trees,
encapsulates the third millennium, in which
Abraham began teaching the truth of the One G-d
and the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. The
fourth day, on which G-d created the sun and the
moon, the two great luminaries the greater
luminary... and the lesser luminary, corresponds
to the fourth millennium, during which the First
Temple and the Second Temple in Jerusalem served
as the Divine abode from which light emanated to
the entire world. The fifth day, the day of fish,
birds and reptiles, represents the lawless and
predatory Dark Ages of the fifth millennium. The
sixth day, whose early hours saw the creation of
the beasts of the land, followed by the creation
of man, is our millennium--a millennium marked by
strong, forceful empires, whose beastly rule will
be followed by the emergence of Moshiach, the
perfect man who brings to realization the divine
purpose in creation and ushers in the seventh
millennium--the World to Come--a time of perfect
peace and tranquility. (Nachmanides)
All of what we are, we see, we did and will do,
is the Work of HaShem that which we celebrate
fifty-two Times a Year on Shabbat. May it be
Your Will, HaShem, the the Holy Temple be rebuilt
speedily in our days and grant us our share in
Your Torah. Shabbat Shalom