Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 21:30:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Russell Hendel <  rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu>
Subject: Re: The Earth Before The Sun

QUESTION:
<  <  Hi every one.  I would like to know if you have any good explanation as
to why HaShem created the sun and the stars after He created the earth
since the earth revolves around the sun. (someone asked me the question and
I found it difficult to answer) Thank you!>  >

ANSWER:
This was answered in my presentation at the 3rd international conference on
Science and Technology. Very briefly I show that Gen 1 is NOT talking about
the creation of the world but rather about the creation of Prophecy. Hence
the items mentioned in the 6 days refer to prerequisites for prophecy not
to items actually created.

Here are some highlights: The Torah does not say there was a 1st day, 2nd
day,3rd day (such a language---1st, 2nd, 3rd---indicates SEQUENCE and is
used eg in Nu 7:12 etc). Rather the torah says there was day 1, day 2 etc
(The language one, two, three is used to indicate a SET (such as eg Gen
2:11--river one, river two, river three etc). Thus the Torah clearly
indicates that no SEQUENCE is indicated in Genesis 1. For more details and
other examples visit the Rashi database at
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/v1-1-5.htm.

In my paper I suggest that "G-d created the heaven and earth" means that
G-d created the spiritual (heaven) and material (earth) worlds.  I further
suggest that the 6 days of creation refer to 6 skills needed for prophecy.
Finally I suggest that what was created on the 4th day were the "fire dream
prophecies" such as those experienced by Ezekiel (Chapter 1).

This interpretation of Gen 1 as speaking about prophecy is consistent with
the viewpoint of the Torah as a book dealing with our relationship with G-d.

My full paper may be found on the RashiYomi website. Its name is
Gen-1 speaks about the creation of prophecy not the world

Russell Jay Hendel