Chagigah 12a

חגיגה י״ב ע״א

Learn Chagigah 12a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Teachings about creation: אדם הראשון's size, the first-day creations and light, the qualities of creation, and the order of heaven and earth

Overview

The גמרא learns from a פסוק in דברים that אדם הראשון was created enormous, reaching the sky and spanning the world, which is one and the same size, and that God made him smaller after he sinned. רב then lists ten things created on the first day, gives a פסוק for each, and a ברייתא explains what תהו and בהו are. The גמרא asks how light can be a first-day creation when the lights were placed in the sky on the fourth day. רבי אלעזר answers that the first-day light was a special far-seeing light that ה׳ hid for the צדיקים, while חכמים say the sun and moon were made on day one and only hung on day four. רב also lists ten qualities through which the world was created, and teaches that the world and the sea kept spreading until ה׳ rebuked them; ריש לקיש reads the name שדי as 'the One who said enough.' בית שמאי, בית הלל and חכמים argue whether heaven or earth came first, and ריש לקיש settles the clashing פסוקים with two stages. The amud ends with explanations of the word שמים and with רבי עקיבא explaining why the first פסוק says את before heaven and earth.

Opening lines

The steps (32)

1. QuestionWhy do we need the phrase about the day God created man?
2. Responseרבי אלעזר: אדם הראשון reached from the earth to the sky
3. Statementרב: אדם הראשון stretched from one end of the world to the other
4. ChallengeThe two phrases seem to contradict each other
5. ResolutionBoth distances are the same size
6. StatementTen things were created on the first day
7. ProofA פסוק for each item on the list
8. StatementWhat תהו and בהו really are
9. ChallengeWas light really created on the first day?
10. ResolutionThe first-day light was a special light that ה׳ hid
11. StatementThe hidden light is saved for the righteous
12. StatementA dispute of תנאים: רבי יעקב's view
13. Statementחכמים: the sun and moon were made on day one but hung on day four
14. StatementThe world was created through ten qualities
15. ProofA פסוק for each of the ten qualities
16. StatementThe world kept stretching until ה׳ rebuked it
17. Statementשַׁדַּי means 'the One who said enough'
18. StatementThe sea kept spreading until ה׳ rebuked it
19. Statementבית שמאי: heaven was created first
20. Statementבית הלל: earth was created first
21. Challengeבית הלל mock the idea of building the upper floor first
22. Challengeבית שמאי mock the idea of making the footstool first
23. StatementThe Sages say heaven and earth were created together
24. QuestionHow do בית שמאי and בית הלל read the word 'together'?
25. Response'Together' means they never separate
26. ChallengeThe verses contradict each other
27. Resolutionריש לקיש: heaven created first, earth spread out first
28. QuestionWhat does the word שמים mean?
29. Responseרבי יוסי בר חנינא: 'there is water there'
30. StatementA ברייתא: heaven is made of fire and water
31. Questionרבי ישמעאל asks about the word את in the first פסוק
32. Responseרבי עקיבא: את shows that heaven and earth are real created things