Working with God – Ask the Rabbi
Q. What does the Torah mean when it speaks of God creating the world la’asot, “to make”?
A. Gen. 2:3 speaks of God resting “from all His work which God had made la’asot“.
Though la’asot means to do or to make, the verse may mean simply, “which God in creating had made”.
To Ibn Ezra, it denotes that God created a workable world with the ongoing power to replenish itself.
Samson Raphael Hirsch says, “He ceased from all His work which God had created for it to continue to work”.
God created a physical world, planted man upon it and said, as it were, “Now it is up to you to add your contribution and to elevate the world spiritually and morally”.
