Musar for Yoma 108:5
תניא ר' אליעזר הגדול אומר (בראשית ב, ד) אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות ה' אלהים ארץ ושמים תולדות שמים משמים נבראו תולדות הארץ מארץ נבראו
whereupon it reads on: Out of Zion, the perfection of the world,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 2.');"><sup>8</sup></span> that means from Zion was the beauty of the world perfected.
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
The sages also describe G–d as having gathered a little dust from every part of the globe so that wherever man would die, the local earth would not reject his remains since he contained part of it (Rashi Genesis 2,7). Both statements are accurate and point us in the same direction. It is well known that Adam incorporated within him all subsequent generations of mankind, for their very existence was through him. Our sages described all subsequent mankind as being related to Adam either through his head, his eyes, his hair, etc. [In present-day parlance this means that all of our genes were at one time part of the genes of Adam.] Even in death man is not totally severed from his connection with original man: the earth Adam was made of was holy soil, from the site of the earth of the altar mentioned. That piece of earth in turn contained earth from all parts of the globe, seeing that this site is the site from which the whole earth receives its sustenance. Had Adam not sinned he would have lived forever. Since he sinned, however, and was expelled from the garden of Eden because G–d did not want him to eat from the tree of life and live forever, he was bound to die sometime.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
According to Nachmanides the act of creating something out of an absolute nothing, אפס, is called בריאה, and resulted in something he calls יסוד דק מאד, which, though not a substance, is the כח, form of energy that produces all matter. Heaven and earth were created from the same "material".
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