TORAH · CREATION · 1 OF 3
God speaks, separates and names
Read the opening of Genesis slowly. Follow what God says, separates and names, then let one change in the repeated wording become a question for study.
In this lesson
Begin with the words
The Torah, the five books of Moshe (Moses), opens with God creating the heavens and the earth. Its first book is Genesis, called Bereshit in Hebrew. These are two names for the same book.
In Genesis 1:1–13, the first number names the chapter; the numbers after the colon name the verses, the numbered units of the text. Our three readings continue through chapter 2, verse 3. Read in English, slowly enough to hear what God says, what changes and what he names.
Our books gives the wider map. Begin with a call offers another first encounter with Torah and Rashi. You can also begin here: each new term will be explained as we need it.
Speech, light and names
Read once straight through. On a second reading, separate the opening description from God’s speech and the actions the narrator reports. The deep is the great watery depth described in verse 2; “unformed and empty” describes the earth in this opening scene.
ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי אור
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. The earth was unformed and empty, with darkness over the surface of the deep, and God's spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
5. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning: one day.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
An observation is something you can point to in the wording. For example, verse 3 gives God’s speech, “Let there be light,” and then the result, “there was light.” An inference is a conclusion you draw from what you observe. Keeping the two distinct helps us ask good questions.
In verses 2–5, distinguish the opening description, God's speech and what the narrator says happens next. Give one phrase for each. What does God separate, and what does he name?
1. Check the description, speech and actions
The earth is described as unformed and empty, with darkness, the deep and waters in verse 2. God says ‘Let there be light’ in verse 3; the narrator reports ‘there was light.’ In verse 4 God separates light from darkness. In verse 5 he names the light Day and the darkness Night. Keeping description, speech and action distinct lets us follow the actual movement rather than treating the whole paragraph as one command.
Read the word Day in its own sentence. Then read the closing “one day” with the words immediately before it. A repeated word can have related uses without doing exactly the same job each time.
In verse 5, what receives the name Day? What words come immediately before ‘one day’ at the end? Explain the difference in one sentence.
2. Check the two uses of “day”
The light receives the name Day. ‘There was evening and there was morning’ comes before ‘one day.’ The first use names the light portion, while the ending gathers evening and morning into the numbered cycle. The same English word is doing two related jobs. This observation follows the wording; it does not calculate a local observance time.
Waters above and below
The next speech names an expanse, rakia in Hebrew: the spread-out division placed between waters. Follow the passage’s own relations, below and above, and notice what God calls it.
6. God said, “Let there be an expanse within the waters, separating waters from waters.”
7. God made the expanse and separated the waters below the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so.
8. God called the expanse Heavens. There was evening and there was morning: a second day.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Keep an action with its object. “God separated” is a start; “God separated the waters below the expanse from the waters above it” tells us which separation this passage describes. Compare that with the earlier light and darkness.
Compare verses 4 and 6–8. In each, name what is separated. Which new name appears in verse 8? Does verse 8 already say that the dry land has appeared?
3. Check what is separated and named
Verse 4 separates light and darkness. Verses 6–7 place an expanse between waters below and waters above. Verse 8 calls the expanse Heavens. Dry land appears in the next section, verse 9. These are not three descriptions of one undifferentiated event; the account gives each act and name its place.
Dry land and seed-bearing growth
Two speeches shape the next section. First, waters gather and dry land appears. Then the earth brings forth vegetation, growing plants: seed-producing plants and fruit trees. Seed carried by plants and fruit points toward further growth.
9. God said, “Let the waters below the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
10. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathered waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good.
11. God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants that produce seed, and fruit trees that bear fruit according to their kinds, with seed inside their fruit, on the earth.” And it was so.
12. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants that produce seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
13. There was evening and there was morning: a third day.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
“According to their kinds” names the passage’s groupings of plants. The phrase helps us notice ordered variety. Stay with those words rather than supplying a list the passage has not given.
A refrain is a phrase that returns. “There was evening and there was morning” returns at the end of these day-sections. It joins them into a series while allowing each section its own actions.
Read verses 9–13 again. Identify the two ‘God said’ speeches and what follows each. Where does ‘God saw that it was good’ occur?
4. Check both parts of the third day
The first speech calls the waters together so dry land appears (9); God names Earth and Seas and sees goodness (10). The second calls the earth to produce vegetation (11); the earth brings forth seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, and God sees goodness (12). The refrain in 13 closes both parts as the third day. A summary that says only ‘plants on day three’ misses the gathered waters, land and naming.
Find a question in the pattern
Return to all three source cards. This time look for God’s statements of goodness. Count first, then form your question. A variation in repeated wording gives us something precise to study.
Count the explicit statements ‘God saw that it was good’ in the first, second and third day-sections. Write a question raised by the difference. Do not answer it yet by calling one day bad.
5. Check the count and your question
The first day has one (4), the second has none (6–8), and the third has two (10 and 12). A precise question is: ‘Why does the second day lack this statement, while the third has it twice?’ Absence of the formula is something to explain, not a sentence saying the second day was bad. The counts are an observation; an answer to the question is a further step.
Read the question with Rashi
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, is one of our great Torah commentators. A commentary is a named teacher’s explanation of an earlier text. Rashi asks about the same pattern we have just counted.
Rashi on Genesis 1:7 · Paraphrase of his explanation of “good”
Rashi asks why the second day has no ‘good.’ He explains that the work involving the waters reaches completion on the third day. That day also begins and completes another work, so ‘good’ appears twice: once for completing the earlier work and once for the day’s own work.
Find the gathered waters in verse 9 and the new growth in verses 11–12. Rashi’s explanation asks us to see how work begun in one section reaches completion in another. We honor his teaching by naming it as his explanation, alongside the verses that prompted it.
How does Rashi connect the absent ‘good’ and the doubled ‘good’? Identify one part you can count in Genesis and one part supplied by his explanation.
6. Check what Rashi adds
We can count no ‘good’ in the second-day section and two in the third. Rashi explains that the water-work begun on the second day is completed on the third; the third day also completes its own new work. One ‘good’ therefore belongs to each completion in his reading. Genesis supplies the pattern and the actions; Rashi supplies this explanation of their connection. Saying ‘Genesis explicitly tells us that unfinished work cannot yet be called good’ would blur those layers.
Make a map you can explain
Now gather the reading into a small study note. Work on paper or speak your answer to a study partner before opening the model. Let the verse numbers make your observations easy to check.
On paper, make three lines, one for each day. On each line put one action, something named or brought forth, and a verse number. Then write two sentences: one explaining a pattern across the days and one beginning ‘Rashi explains…’. Finally, write a new question that points to actual words in verses 1–13. Try before opening the model.
7. Compare your three-part map
A possible map is: first day, separation of light/darkness and naming Day/Night (4–5); second day, separation of waters and naming the expanse Heavens (6–8); third day, gathered waters and Earth/Seas, then seed-bearing growth (9–12). A supported pattern is that God speaks and gives the world distinct arrangements, and each day-section ends with evening and morning. Rashi explains the missing/doubled ‘good’ through completed work. A further textual question could ask why the first refrain says ‘one day’ while the next says ‘a second day.’ That is a question for continued learning, not a demand to invent its answer.
Your wording can differ. Check for three accurate day-lines, an action and verse evidence on each, one real pattern, Rashi’s attributed explanation and a question anchored in actual words. If your map contains only names of things, add the actions that connect them.
Return next session
At your next sitting, cover the passage and your notes. Recall what is separated on the first and second days; name both parts of the third day; and say why Rashi's explanation is more precise than ‘every day says good once.’ Then reopen the source and repair one detail if needed.
8. Check your recall
First: light and darkness. Second: waters below and above the expanse. Third: gathering waters/dry land and naming, then vegetation. The exact ‘good’ pattern is one, none, two. Rashi relates it to the water-work reaching completion on the third day and another work completed that day. If you recalled only the list ‘light, sky, plants,’ add the actions and the missing land/water stage.
Read in context
- Genesis 1: verses 1–13 are rendered completely here. The chapter continues with the lights and living creatures.
- Rashi on Genesis 1:7: the selected explanation concerns the absent and doubled statements of goodness. His full comment also discusses the expanse.
- Genesis 1 with Rashi: our commentators also examine how the opening sentence joins the following verses.