אלא חללה קודם שנברא העולם ואור דידיה בשני בשבת ואור דידן במחשבה עלה ליבראות בערב שבת ולא נברא עד מוצאי שבת דתניא ר' יוסי אומר שני דברים עלו במחשבה ליבראות בערב שבת ולא נבראו עד מוצאי שבת ובמוצאי שבת נתן הקב"ה דיעה באדם הראשון מעין דוגמא של מעלה והביא שני אבנים וטחנן זו בזו ויצא מהן אור והביא שתי בהמות והרכיב זו בזו ויצא מהן פרד רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר פרד בימי ענה היה שנאמר (בראשית לו, כד) הוא ענה אשר מצא את הימים במדבר
- Rather, the cavity [was made] before the world was created, and its fire on the second day of the week; while as for our fire, on the eve of the Sabbath He decided<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'it came up in (His) intention'.');"><sup>36</sup></span> to create it, but it was not created until the terminati of the Sabbath. For it was taught, R'Jose said: Two things He decided to create on the eve of the Sabbath, but they were not created until the termination of the Sabbath, and at the termination of the Sabbath the Holy One, blessed be He, inspired Adam with knowledge of a kind similar to Divine [knowledge],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'of above'.');"><sup>37</sup></span> and he procured two stones and rubbed them on each other, and fire issued from them; he also took two [heterogenous] animals and crossed them, and from them came forth the mule.
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
I shall now explain the meaning of the words: עד כי גדול מאד "until he was very great," in 26,13. Bereshit Rabbah 64,7 on that verse states that when people wanted to describe excessive wealth they used to describe it in terms of the silver and gold possessed by Avimelech. After Isaac had become rich, they described excessive wealth in terms of the dung of Isaac's mules. This seems a curious comparison. How can we assume that Avimelech's wealth did not even amount to the value of the dung of Isaac's mules? Another difficulty is the Midrash's comment on the words מצא את הימים, in Genesis 36,14. These yeymim are described by Bereshit Rabbah 82,15 as half-donkey and half-horse. Anah who crossbred horse and donkey to produce mules is severely criticized for interfering with G–d's plan of maintaining the purity of the species. How can we assume that Isaac a) kept or raised such animals, b) was the first one to crossbreed, seeing that the Torah reports this as something new much later and in Jacob's lifetime?
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
How did G–d prove that point? Whereas in the days of Anah a mule had to be the product of crossbreeding, Isaac became the owner of mules which were not the result of crossbreeding but a heavenly gift. Even the scoffers who lived around him became aware of this. This is why Isaac became "great" in their eyes. They realised that if G–d performs such miracles with the livestock of a צדיק, how much greater would be the miracles He would perform with the צדיק himself! When the people said that the dung of Isaac's mules was worth more than the silver and gold of Avimelech, they meant that the fact that Isaac possessed mules which were not the result of crossbreeding proved more about his status as a holy man than the thousand silver pieces Avimelech had given to Sarah to demonstrate that her virtue had not been compromised while she was in Avimelech's palace (Genesis 20,16). Why does the Midrash quote the Philistines as also referring to Avimelech's gold? The Torah does not report Avimelech giving gold to either Sarah or Abraham! We need not understand the word כסף, silver, in the Torah as silver literally, but as an expression of the value of the gift in terms of silver coins. We now have demonstrated how the gift of the land of Israel is specifically connected with Isaac.
