on amod 1 rash title "mamer pesiach mamer susoim" rashi says "kgon Mashei Markovah" now i'm not familiar what masah markovah is.
please expalin it to me.
thanks much
duvid, brooklyn usa
'Ma'aseh Merkavah' refers to the chapters in Yeshayah and Yechezkel which describe G-d's Holy Throne and the groups of angels that surround it. 'Ma'amar Sasum' is the oral explanation of those chapters (see Bartenura Chagigah 2:1).
May you and yours be inscribed in the Book of Good Life.
Kol Tuv
Eliezer Chrysler.
B"H
When I learned Chagiga - I was confused - firstly, I was told that at the time of the Rabeyim there was a chashash whether they should be learning it at all - but secondly once they learned it - there was a question - how can you question what was before Maaseh Breshit
Have I got this confused?
From what I understood - it says in the Torah - Breyshit Barah Elokeem et hashamayim veet haraetz....'
so what was before the breyshit - we are not supposed to ask - I assumed that that was the Ma'aseh Breishit
I was also told that there was a chashash if this should be learned bichlal
B'chavod
Judy Meibach
Ma'aseh Bereishis, according to most Rishonim, refers to understanding how Hashem created the world and which Midos He used to do so. This does not relate to what was around before Creation began.
According to the Rambam, it seems that it refers to natural physics and biology, i.e. the intense study of nature (see Perush ha'Mishnah in the beginning of the second chapter of Chagigah, Yesodei ha'Torah chapter 4). Once again, it does not involve what was before the world.
Be well,
M. Kornfeld