Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 2:3/אבן עזרא על בראשית ב׳:ג׳
אויברך אלהים. פי' ברכה תוספות טובה וביום הזה תתחדש בגופות דמות כח בתולדות ובנשמות כח ההכרה והשכל
1AND GOD BLESSED. A blessing means an increase in well being. On the Sabbath the body is blessed with a renewal of its reproductive strength and the soul with an increase in its intellectual and reasoning capabilities.
בויקדש אותו. שלא נעשתה בו מלאכה כמו חבריו,
2AND HALLOWED IT. No work was done on the Sabbath, in contrast to the other six days.
גופי' אשר ברא אלהים לעשות, השרשים בכל המינים, שנתן בהם כח לעשות דמותם והמפרש לעשות תחת עשה גם עשה תחת ברא, איננו כן לפי דעתי ואמר הגאון שברכת היום וקדושו ישוב על השומרים שיהי' מבורכים קדושים:
3[WHICH GOD IN CREATING HAD MADE.] Its meaning is: God placed in the root of all the species the power to reproduce themselves.7 (which God in creating had made) as follows: God created (bara) his creation in such a way that they would do (la’asot), i.e., reproduce themselves in the future. That is why bara is a perfect and la’asot is an infinitive (Cherez). I disagree with the person who explains la’asot (had made) as having the same meaning as made8 to mean, which God created and made. They maintain that la’asot, an infinitive, is to be interpreted as asah, a perfect (Filwarg). They also do not differentiate between bara and asah, and interpret “made” in verse 2 as created (Filwarg, Krinsky). For I.E.’s interpretation of bara see Gen. 1:1; for asah see verse 4. and who, furthermore, insists that created and made are synonymous. Saadiah Gaon explains that the blessing and the holiness spoken of in this verse refer to those who observe the Sabbath.9 before sanctified. They will be blessed and sanctified.