[Avodah] Local, Non-Global or Global Flood

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 08:46:44AM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
>> Because I am pretty sure that Hashem's explicit reign at the end of history
>> will last for more than 24 hours. Similarly, does the pasuq in Zechariah
>> that you append to Aleinu speak of Hashem and His Name/Reputation being
>> one only for 24 hours? Was Yom Yerushalayim only 24 hours?

> I've always assumed that both pesukim refer to the Yom Hadin, which
> is surely a literal day.   What makes you think otherwise?

There is no mention of Yom haDin, just of Yom Hashem. The notion that
would need explanation would be your assumption that they're identical.
Or even that Yom haDin was a day -- I would think it's shorter.

>>>> Or a more significant example to our case, in Bereishis 2:4, the creation
>>>> era is called a yom -- "beyom asos H' E-lokim eretz veshamayim" --
>>>> not 7 of them!

>>> Doesn't that mean the first day?

>> It means the period in time that included "asos Hashem shamayim va'aretz"
>> and "vayitzer H' E-lokim es ha'adam"

> Rashi explicitly says otherwise.

Rashi on 2:1 explicitly says that "kulam nivera'u barishon". Nothing
about a given day. In fact, taken very literally, Rashi is saying that
everything was created at the start of the week, as he says on 1:14
about the me'oros, "they were created since yom 1, and on the 4th [yom]
it was commanded on them to hand in the raqia'". One could argue that
Rashi would understand 2:1 as referring to the yom/period that was far
shorter than a day in which everything was nivra yeish mei'ayin.

(I now must pause to apologize to Rn Lampel for raising her husband's
blood pressure that drastically. <grin>)

For that matter, on which yom were shamayim va'aretz created? IOW,
does yom echad begin with "bereishis bara E-lokim", or with "veha'aretz
haysah"? Is 1:1 an introduction, telling you that shamayim va'aretz,
whose creation is described in full from 1:2-1:3 (including the creation
of Shabbos), was in the beginnning of? Is it, as the Ramban takes it,
a distinct event before yom echad?

How we understand 1:1 in relation to the rest of the pereq will change
what yom means in 2:1.

But in any case, returning to the first sentence of the previous
paragraph: There is nothing in Rashi that says that the yom in which
shamayim va'aretz were made was not the yom in which the story happens.
In fact, since the pasuq in question says, roughly, "Here's a story of
something that happens in the yom in which heaven and earth was created",
is would take some work to say that it happens on a different yom. And
if 1:1 is an introductory overview, then 2:1 is saying maaseh bereishis
took a yom.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv