The Book of Formation

Introduction of the Ra'avad, of blessed memory

To the soul that has strayed in the wasteland, He gave a healing remedy, saying that we have an established Cause. These are the "Living Creatures," the "Families," and the "Apportionment of the Firstborn." These terms refer to different levels of angelic beings and emanations that govern the structure of the universe. Therefore, they are the "Beginnings," the "Hidden Things," and their "Treasuries." Some pertain to the Intellect, which are called the Morning Stars; others pertain to Might Gevurah, which are called the Foolish One original: "Kesil," often identified with the constellation Orion, here representing the attribute of Severity. All of them were made wise by the Creator of All to measure His world, as it is written: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7 He desisted not from the twelve sons within the "Daughter of Beauty" likely referring to the twelve zodiac signs or tribes within the Sefirah of Tiferet before the Foundation Stone the mystical center of the world and the "Veil" existed, when the world and its fullness, the earth and all that is in it, were established.

However, the philosophers say that nothing comes into being except from something else that already exists. But according to our view and our holy Torah, the world is newly created created "ex nihilo," or from nothingness. If this is the case, the heretics Epicureans (Apiqorsim) - a term for those who deny divine creation or providence have a claim to entice us, saying: "The world was not newly created, because there must have been something prior to it from which it was necessitated." Even if only the Cause of Causes The ultimate Divine Source existed alone, if you say there was "something else" there, then you are suggesting a primordial matter existed alongside God, which is a denial of the Torah. And if you say there was nothing but the Holy One, blessed be He, and He created the world from Himself—then His very essence would be like something physical or corporeal having a body. This would imply a flaw in His absolute oneness, for Heaven forbid that His essence should be the foundation of the earth!

Rather, "He acquired wisdom, knowledge, and understanding." The explanation is: through the power of His Wisdom and the power of His Understanding, the blueprint of the world came to be. Thus, a seeker might ask: "Why was the world made to this specific measure, and not more or less?" or "How could a measured, finite thing emerge from a power that is infinite Ein Sof by way of necessity?" To these two claims, one might answer: "If there is a Creator who renews the world, who could know 'who stretched the line upon it'?" Job 38:5 Furthermore, a seeker might ask: "Is it possible for qualities that are opposites to emerge from a single, simple Essence?" If you say they emerged by "choice," we must still resolve the four qualities—Heat, Cold, Moisture, and Dryness. They are necessitated in nature by the "First Effect" the first emanation, and the First Effect by its own nature. If these opposites existed within the essence of the First Cause, then His nature would contain conflicting things. But you say He is "Simple" indivisible and uniform. From what source, then, is the beginning of these qualities and their transformations?

On this pillar, the foundation of the natural earth dust/matter depends. The explanation of "on what" refers to the Wisdom called Mah Hebrew for "What," a mystical name for the Sefirah of Chokhmah. For this Wisdom is "simple" relative to the qualities, just as the Hyle Hyle - a Greek philosophical term for "prime matter" that has no form of its own carries the simple life-forces according to the opinion of the heretics and philosophers. But our view is not according to the philosophers. For the philosopher believes that by nature, matter exists because of form, and no form exists without matter. But according to our holy view, "Wisdom—where shall it be found?" Job 28:12. It serves as the Form for everything, and its "Matter" is the source of the qualities and the "life-forces" which are simple. Their sources emerge from the power of the Wisdom called Mah.

Thus, we must resolve whether He brings things from potentiality into actuality. If He does not bring things from potentiality into actuality, then who "laid the cornerstone" and the "foundation of the world's rest"? The answer is that whoever receives the power of Understanding Binah will understand. Therefore, Wisdom prepared and a fire burned at its corner, and with a "Scale" the mystical balance He weighed the voices, like an artist who paints all possible forms.

Regarding the secret of the world's boundary—as if it were matter—"Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12. The explanation of "in his hollow" she'alo is related to the "narrow path" mish'ol of the vineyards.
I shall listen to the Word in its place

It is written: “To tread and go around.” The Creator, blessed be He, has a single measure. You see that the "work of the waters" was done alone, and with a proof: "with a span He meted." This means He established them with His proportions. "And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure shlish - literally 'a third'." This "Third" was the measure of Tiferet (Beauty), which is the "third" language of the spread. According to our calculation, to encompass a compound object, the circumference is three times the diameter The text is referencing the mathematical approximation of Pi as 3, as discussed in the Talmudic tractate Eruvin. Therefore, it says "And comprehended the dust of the earth in a third." And the word "comprehended" v'khal refers to a measure. In the language of lengths, the word "all" kol refers to stretching a square, as in the Tractate Eruvin regarding the "Sea" of Solomon: “It was ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass... and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.” 1 Kings 7:23 Thus, the word "comprehended" v'khal in "the third" shlish refers to that which encompasses the entirety of the "dust of the earth."