Shabbos Parashas Bereishis - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Bereishis - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

And G-d said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate

between water and water." [Bereishis 1:6]

The Torah uses the word rakiya, which is usually translated as "firmament". What is this

rakiya, and what is it actually doing?

The word appears to be derived from the Hebrew word for stretching something out, as

in spreading a blanket. Rashbam says that it is also related to the words for one who is

wealthy, one who is pious, or one who is endowed with lovingkindness. Rav Hirsch translates

the word as "vault".

In Bereishis Rabbah, Rav said, "the heavens were in liquid form on the first day, and on the

second, they coagulated. 'Let there be a firmament' means, let the firmament be strengthened.'"

This gets us around a potential problem in the text, in that "let there be" is often used to

indicate G-d creating something from nothing. Now we know that it was in fact creating

something from something He created anew on the first day. But what is it?

Our verse tells us that its purpose is to separate between two sets of water. Ramban asks

whether this is a proof to what Rav said, and that here the firmament is separating the liquid form

from the first day's creation into the 'solid' form of what the rakiya is supposed to be. This would

presumably be the way all of the creations of the second through sixth days went. Rav Hirsch

tells us that the rakiya is the 'vault' in which waters are collected to eventually be returned to the

earth as rain.

But Rav Hirsch also notes that in verse 1:14, G-d says, "let there be luminaries in the firmament".

This would indicate that the rakiya has a second purpose, a place to put the sun, moon, and

stars. But our verse only states the water division--does that mean that G-d created it for

one purpose, then six verses later realized, hey, I can use this for something else too?

Abarbanel spends dozens of pages reviewing each of the opinions, dissecting and analyzing

them from various viewpoints. He asks that if the rakiya is in fact "the heavens", which indicates

the highest place, then how could half the water be suddenly above the rakiya? He asks about

distances between the two sets of waters and the rakiya, and between the rakiya and earth, and

how the rakiya could be "in the middle" when the upper distance would have to be so much

greater. In the end, he says, "the question remains, what if so, is this matter of rakiya and the

waters that are above it? I wish I knew."

Ramban shows how Rashi accepts Rav's view, but then says that this is entirely unknowable to

man. He writes, "This is one of the subjects of the account of Creation, so do not expect me to

write anything about it. For the matter is one of the hidden mysteries of the Torah."

We know that G-d spread something out through the heavens. We know that He separated

one class of water from another. We know that He set the luminaries in the sky. We know

that nature works for us. We know the word 'rakiya' is somehow involved. But we don't know

much more than that. Why do we study this in the Torah? Because it is yet another sign, here

at the very beginning of the Torah and of history, of the greatness of G-d.