הקדמה

72. “Come and see, with the Torah etc.”Come and see: The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world with the Torah. [The Sages] established this, as it is stated: “Then I was by Him as a nursling; and I was daily all delight” (Proverbs 8:30). This is referring to the Torah, which the Holy One, blessed be He, played with for two thousand years before the world was created (as stated in section 22, above). He looked at her once, twice, three, and four times, and then He spoke to them. Ultimately, he performed a deed upon her, in order to teach people not to come to err through her, as it says: “Then He saw it, and declared it; He established it, and also searched it out. And to man He said” (Job 28:27-28). “He saw it” is the first time; “declared it” is the second; “He established it” is the third; “and also searched it out” is the fourth time. Then He spoke to them, as it is stated: “And to man He said.”