את הארץ למה לי להקדים שמים לארץ והארץ היתה תהו ובהו מכדי בשמים אתחיל ברישא מאי שנא דקא חשיב מעשה ארץ תנא דבי ר' ישמעאל משל למלך בשר ודם שאמר לעבדיו השכימו לפתחי השכים ומצא נשים ואנשים למי משבח למי שאין דרכו להשכים והשכים
[If the purpose of "et hashamayim" is to show that it is not God's name,] why do I need "et ha'aretz"? To show precedence of heaven to earth. (Genesis 1:2) "And the earth was chaos and desolation." Let's see. He began with heaven first. What changed that it is [now] considering the account of the earth? The house of R. Ishmael taught, It is comparable to a king of flesh and blood, who says to his servants, Rise up early [and come] to my door. He himself rises early, and finds women and men. Whom does he praise? Those whose way is not to rise early, yet did rise early. [Thus, earth, mentioned second in order in verse 1, was created at the same time as the heaven, and is "praised" by being described first in verse 2.]
Arukh HaShulchan
Therefore, the one who sees the moon in her renewal blesses "Blessed... is the One with Whose word They created shechakim ..." - and the firmament is here called shechakim as we say in Chagiga 12b: "[there are seven firmaments, including] shechakim, since there millstones stand and grind out manna for the righteous" [the word for grind and shechakim are similar]. Therefore Rav Yehuda, who said this statement about blessing of the moon in Sanhedrin 42a, he thinks in Chagiga 12b that there are only two firmaments, "heavens" and "the utmost heavens". And it's possible that the two are firmament and the shechakim, and his intent was: that although it's obvious that there are seven firmaments, they fall into two categories. For in the Tana"ch we find only these two names for the firmaments: firmament [רקיע] and shechakim [שחקים], and these are "heavens" [שמים] and "the utmost heavens" [שמי השמים]. And this is why it says "at Their word They created shechakim, and with the breath of Their Mouth all their hosts" -- since so says David, "at the word of God the heavens were made, and with the breath of Their Mouth all their hosts" (Psalms 33:6). And it says "A law and a time They gave to them, that they should not change their courses". The "time" is all the days if the world, six thousand years. "Being glad and rejoicing to do the will of their Creator", as it is written "[the sun] rejoices like a hero about to run a race" (Psalms 19:6). And it uses the language of "gladness and joy", like the language designated for Yisrael, as it says "Gladness and joy shall abide there, Thanksgiving and the sound of music" (Isaiah 51:3). "Doers of truth whose doings are true" -- this is the text of Rash"i, and it refers to the sun and the moon whose courses do not change. And the Tosfot render it "Doer of truth whose doings are true" and referring to the Holy Blessed One, since with truth and justice did They diminish the moon. "And to the moon They said to renew itself..." -- this is the world to come, which will be entirely renewed. And as for now, it renews itself every month. And this is a sign for Israel, who are "those borne in the womb", since so said the prophet "[the people of Israel] who are carried from the womb" (Isaiah 46:3). And one concludes the blessing "Blessed... is the One Who renews months." [מחדש חודשים]
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
