God’s Blueprint for Creation

The great R. Hoshaya opened his exposition [of Genesis 1:1 with Proverbs 8:30]: I [Wisdom] was an ’amon to Him and a source of daily delight. [What is the meaning of ’amon?] ’Amon means “pedagogue.” ’Amon means “covered.” ’Amon means “hidden.” [ . . . ] ’Amon means “pedagogue” as in the verse: As a nurse [’omen] carries an infant (Numbers 11:12). ’Amon means “covered,” as in the verse: Those who were covered [’emunim] in scarlet have embraced refuse heaps (Lamentations 4:5). ’Amon means “hidden,” as in: He hid away [’omen] Hadassah (Esther 2:7). [ . . . ] Another interpretation: ’Amon means “artisan” [’umon]. The Torah says, “I was the artisan’s tool of the Holy One, blessed be He.” In the way of the world, a king of flesh and blood who builds a castle does not do so from his own knowledge but rather from the knowledge of an architect. And in turn the architect does not build it from his own knowledge but rather from plans and diagrams in order to know how to make rooms and wicket doors. So too the Holy One looked into the Torah and created the world. And the Torah says: In the beginning [be-re’shit] God created [the heavens and earth] (Genesis 1:1). Re’shit means Torah, as scripture says: God made me [the Torah] the beginning [re’shit] of His way (Proverbs 8:22).

Translated by Carol Bakhos.