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Sent: Mon 4/19/2010 2:21 AM Subject: 26 Creations prior to Genesis Steiner or his secondary source has confused things a bit: Twenty-six is the number of generations between Adam and Sinai. Qoh 7:28 was linked with Gen 6:7 so that a thousand generations are said to have come into the divine mind before creation. That 974 were blotted out is argued on the basis of Ps 105:8: The Torah would be commanded after a thousand generations had lived. But there are only twenty-six generations between Adam and Sinai. Hence the other 974 were blotted out. Others argue 980 generations. In addition to Gen. Rabba 28.4, see Hagigah 13b and Rashi on Shabbat 88b. One can see from this how the confusion in Steiner arose. I went back and looked at Steiner's quote and it, as expected, was made in a context of language ("Twenty-six drafts.. ante-date *language*). According to the famous midrash, the letter Aleph complained for twenty-six generations since creation that Beth, rather than it, was the first to be used (?????? ???). The divine response: "'The world and the fullness of it were created for the Torah alone. Tomorrow when I come to give my Torah on Sinai, I will begin with none other than you,' as it written: 'I [????] am the Lord your God.'" See also R. Hoshaya's interpretation of aleph referring to one thousand generations before Sinai, again by recourse to Ps 105:8. Jacob L. Wright Emory University
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