Derasha 3 on Bereishis 1:1

TT #3 · Parashas Bereishis · First Aliyah · Passuk 1

Complete Passuk

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

TT points to Megillah 9a (verified).

E-Daf image (Megillah 9a)

Core Text

Core Text מַעֲשֶׂה בְּתַלְמַי הַמֶּלֶךְ שֶׁכִּנֵּס שִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנַיִם זְקֵנִים וְהִכְנִיסָן בְּשִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנַיִם בָּתִּים וְלֹא גִּלָּה לָהֶם עַל מָה כִּנְּסָן. וְנִכְנַס אֵצֶל כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד וְאָמַר לָהֶם: כִּתְבוּ לִי תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה רַבְּכֶם. נָתַן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּלֵב כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד עֵצָה, וְהִסְכִּימוּ כֻּלָּם לְדַעַת אַחַת, וְכָתְבוּ לוֹ: אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא בְּרֵאשִׁית.
English of Core Text: An incident occurred with King Ptolemy who gathered seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two separate houses without telling them why he had gathered them. He went to each one and said: Write for me the Torah of Moses your teacher. The Holy One, blessed be He, placed counsel in the heart of each one, and they all arrived at the same decision and wrote for him: “God created in the beginning” (reversing the order).
On the daf / in context: The sugya lists the deliberate changes made by the seventy-two elders when translating the Torah into Greek for Ptolemy. The first change listed is the inversion of the opening words so that a reader could not construe “Bereishis” as a creator-god who produced Elohim. The change protects monotheistic reading of the first verse.
Type of Learning: Custom (order of words / protective translation)
What Is Learned: The word order of the opening verse was adjusted in the Greek translation to preclude a dualistic or polytheistic misreading that “Bereishis” created God.