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■ Creation, Humanity, and Purpose 16 God created the world ex nihilo, including the spheres of the heavens ( ha - shamayim ) With the creation and the material elements of the earthly realm ( ha - ’are ִs ) . 11 of the revolving spheres there emerged the reality of time, which Maimonides Out of nothing, then, God defines, following Aristotle, as a measure of motion . 12 created the stuff of the entire world, and the moment of creation marks the world’s temporal beginning . In line with this conception, Radak, commenting on the word bara’ ( “create” ) in the ) יצירה ( first verse of the Torah, offers evidence that it need not denote the formation of something out of existing matter : Sometimes the term bara’ relates to something nonmaterial . For example, [ concerning the formulation ] “If the Lord will create a reality ( beri’ah yivra’ ) wherein the ground opens its mouth” ( Num the ground opening up is not a [ material ] thing . , ) 30 : 16 This approach, in turn, enables bara’ to den...
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