[Avodah] Local, Non-Global or Global Flood

[Arie Folger]

RZS wrote:

>> 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?
>
> Rashi already handled that one.  The main pshat is that this pasuk is
> about the *purpose* of the whole creation, not its timing; and if that
> doesn't sit well then the secondary pshat is that it means that the
> next pasuk ("vehaaretz haysa tohu vavohu") happened at the beginning of
> the creation of shamayim va'aretz.  Rashi absolutely rejects the idea
> that 1:1 tells us when shamayim va'aretz were created.

I actually believe that Rashi "disagrees" with himself when comparing
his comment on beyom and on 1:1. On 1:1, he argues that we cannot take
it literally that in the beginning G"d created heaven and earth, since
heaven was only created on the second day. And yet, on beyom 'asot
haShem E-lohim erets veshamayim, he says they *weree* created on the
first day.

Of course, you may wonder how I can posit that Rashi would "disagree"
with himself. Well, Rashi often comments on a single place in function
of its immediate pessuqim, without citing other places. That would be
the case here, and would potentially make Rashi into a precursor of,
for example, the Rov's appoach with Adam I and Adam II. Rashi, too,
sees value in interpreting the two parshiyot independently, and only
afterwards linking them (by saying that one parsha explains the
details missing in the other).

KT,
-- 
Arie Folger,
Recent blog posts on http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/
* Basler Gymnasium experimentiert mit Chawrutá-Lernen
* Where Will We Find Refuge ... from technology overload
* Video-Vortrag: Psalm 34
* We May Have Free Will, After All
* Equal Justice for All
* Brutal Women of Nazi Germany
* Gibt es in der Unterhaltungsliteratur eine Rolle für G"tt?