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When God began to create the heaven and the earth - the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water - God said, “Let there be light” and there was light (Genesis 1:1-3).
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Rashi: Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah, which is the law book of Israel, should have commenced with the verse, “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” (Exodus 12:1), which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it [the Torah] commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text, “He declared to His people on the strength of His works, in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations” (Psalm 61:6). For, should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan,” Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One of Blessing; God created it and gave it to whom God pleased. When God willed God gave it to them, and when God willed God took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shemoni on Exodus 12:2).
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Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, also know as Nachmanides, a next generation commentator after Rashi. Nachmanides was born in Gerona, Spain in 1194. His commentary on the Torah incorporates mystical and ethical as well as grammatical kinds of interpretation) basically agrees with his predecessor Rashi, but expands the idea. Nachmanides wrote that, “the process of creation is a deep mystery not to be understood from the verses [of Bereshit], and it cannot be truly known except through the tradition going back to Moses our teacher who received it from the mouth of the Almighty, and those who know it are obligated to conceal it.” This idea is developed from a statement in the Talmud (Chaggigah 11b) which states that “the process of Creation may not be expounded before two.” Ramban continues, “It is for this reason that Rabbi Yitzchak (Rashi) said it was not necessary for the Torah to begin with Bereshit.” For Nachmanides, God’s creation and dominance over the world is simply a matter of faith, and does not need to be articulated in the Torah for the sake of Israel. This is an esoteric teaching which is best transmitted only in the oral tradition, carefully passed on from teacher to student, from one generation to the other. If Israel does not require this narrative, then the creation story must have been written down in Genesis only for the benefit of the goyim, or the other nations of the world, to explain the process of Israel’s acquisition of the Land of Israel.
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Rashi’s opening gambit is fairly nationalistic, but follows a fairly traditional school of thought. Rashi begins his commentary on the entire Torah not by explaining the fist passage, or word, or even the first letter (he does that later), but quotes Rabbi Isaac (a second century Tanna, associated with the pupils of Akiva, and a student of Eliezer ben Hyrcanus) from the Yalkut Shemoni (a midrashic anthology covering the entire Bible). Reading Rashi is a bit like playing Jeopardy; the answer is provided, but you often have to figure out what question Rashi is considering. In this case, Rashi uses Rabbi Isaac to ask the question, “Why does the Torah begin here, and not in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 12:1?” This question is predicated on the understanding that the Torah is a Book of Law, given by God to the people of Israel. If this understanding is correct, then the Torah should begin with Exodus 12:1, since this verse contains the first mitzvah given by God to Israel, which is the commandment to observe the festival of Pesach. Does this mean, then, that all the narrative that precedes this verse (all of Genesis and the first half of the Book of Exodus) is irrelevant and meaningless?
Of course not, as Rashi is quick to point out. The question is just a rabbinic rhetorical devise.As Rashi explains, the story of creation as related in Bereshit exists in order to establish beyond a doubt that God created the entire world, and therefore the entire world belongs to God, and it is God’s to do with as God sees fit. God can give land to whomever God chooses, and God can choose to take it away and give it to another if God so chooses as well.
This piece of information is important to defend Israel’s claim to the Land of Israel. Certainly, already in both Rabbi Isaac’s and Rashi’s times, the nations of the world questioned the people of Israel’s right to occupy the Land of Israel, previously known as Canaan. The Sages felt a need to develop a response. God’s creation and ownership of the entire world validates Israel’s claim. God owns it, and God decided to give it to us - case closed. Obviously, Rashi felt that this was such an important ideological issue, that he chose to begin his popular commentary with this very point.
Lessons for Today
Obviously, since the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948, Israel’s very right to exist as a Jewish State has been challenged over and over again. Up to this very moment, there are those who would assert that the Jewish people has no claim to the Land of Canaan/Judah/Palestine/Israel and that the modern Jewish state should be destroyed. While there are many historical arguments to support the Jewish people’s claim to the land, including the fact that there has been an recorded, continuous Jewish presence in the land for at least 3000 years, it is important to remember that, despite historical and political arguments, Israel’s original connection to, and relationship with the Land of Israel, is essentially theological. The Land of Israel is the Promised Land, which God gave to Abraham as part of the Brit - the Covenant - which was then passed on throughout the generations. Joshua and the Israelites conquered the land, Saul established the Israelite monarchy there, and David set up Jerusalem as its capital, all with the support and direction of God. The Land of Israel continues as an essential part of the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people, and that relationship cannot be strong without the land. Theodor Herzel, the founder of Zionism and the father of the modern State of Israel, seriously considered the League of Nation’s offer of Uganda as a homeland for the Jewish people. But, in the end, this offer was rejected. A secure homeland for the Jewish people is essential for our survival, and, as in the past, there can be no home today for the Jewish people outside of the Land of Israel.
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