Bar-Ilan University
Parshat Hashavua Study Center
Bereshit 5774/October 18, 2014
This series of faculty lectures on the weekly Parsha is made possible by the Department of Basic Jewish
Studies, the Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish Studies Center, the Office of the Campus Rabbi,
Bar-Ilan University's International Center for Jewish Identity and the Computer Center Staff at Bar-Ilan
University. For inquiries, please contact Avi Woolf at: opdycke1861@yahoo.com.
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In Praise of Tohu va-Vohu
By Miriam Faust
The first verse of Genesis deals with the creation of the world, the greatest act of creation of
all time. The second verse describes the primal state of the universe prior to this act of
creation: "The earth was unformed and void (tohu va-vohu), with darkness over the surface
of the deep" (Gen. 1:2).
Viewing the story of Creation as a model from which to learn about the human process of
creating, it is interesting to examine whether a cognitive state of "unformed and void"
relates to the processes by which human beings are creative. For example, everyone who
creates might have to "break" and "disorganize" the familiar picture of the world in order to
free himself from it and view reality in another way. Current research dealing with creative
thought indeed supports this assertion and points to the need for a sort of tohu va-vohu, or
a certain measure of what one might term cognitive chaos, in order to discover and create
something new in all walks of human creativity. These findings associate the state of being

Prof. Faust is Rector of Bar-Ilan University.
"unformed and void" that preceded Creation with a universal human state which is a
precondition for the ability to create.
Creative thought is a supreme human characteristic that enables important achievements
which further humanity in all areas and all times. This ability is relevant not only to great
discoveries in science, art, music, medicine, technology and any field of human activity that
changes the world, but also to the petty creativity needed in daily life in order to execute a
task in a new way or solve unconventional problems that require insight and adapting to
change.
The great challenge of creativity is to overcome the natural human tendency to become
fixated on a particular view of a situation and on the usual and familiar system of
relationships among existing elements. Paradoxically, even though expertise (i.e., a broad
and organized body of knowledge) in a certain field is a necessary precondition for
significant creation, rigidity of thought, which acts adversely on creativity, is likely to be
stronger in those areas in which a person has expertise, because of the tendency to adhere
to known and familiar structures precisely in such areas.
This difficulty finds expression in the phrases used to describe creative thought, such as
thinking "out of the box" or "upside down"—dramatic concepts that reflect a drastic change
in existing thought settings. Indeed, since creating requires innovation and originality, the
creator must "mix" the relevant existing elements and create a cognitive chaos that will
make the thought process flexible so that a new system of connections between things
which previously had been thought to be unrelated can be built. The more daring the
association and the more distant the things that are brought together, the greater is
considered the creativity and the creator.
Accordingly, current research that uses computational means to examine the associative
networks of creative people in comparison with non-creative people points to creative
people having a more "wild" and chaotic network of associations, which apparently enables
them to connect ideas, thoughts, and concepts in an original and unconventional way.
These findings fit in with associative theories of creativity, according to which the creative
process is based on associative thinking in which distant associations are combined to form a
new and applicable concept. People with high creative ability are capable of forming more
associations, including weak and unconventional ones, for a given idea—a trait that enables
them to draw together distant ideas more easily and to come up with creative solutions.1,2
The findings are also supported by brain scan studies, which show that systems in the brain
which are thought to be involved with chaotic thinking, less subjected to the rules of reality,
are more developed in creative persons.3
The associative chaos that makes it possible to sever oneself from something (such as the
usual sense of a word), sometimes even doing away with one thing to create something new
(such as a new metaphorical meaning), relates to the concept of tohu va-vohu found in
Genesis. This pair of words has been interpreted by traditional exegetes (Rashi, Shadal,
Ba`al ha-Turim, and Ha`amek Davar on Genesis 1:2) as wonderment, desolation, emptiness,
fogginess, something mixed or disordered, and even destruction. These interpretations are
directed towards the special nature of the state of tohu va-vohu and to the human reaction
to such a state. When something appears void, its components lacking any familiar, clear
and orderly presentation, the natural human reaction is likely to be one of unfocused,
dumbfounded (= bohu) wonderment. As follows from the current research to which we
referred above, precisely such a state is likely to give rise to new ideas and unconventional
combinations.
The notion that tohu va-vohu, including the breaking of an existing well-organized and
familiar state, is a necessary pre-condition for creating appears in the writings of Ramhal:4
"The earth was unformed and void [tohu va-vohu]" for initially it was
created, but then it was destroyed. That is, it was created full of evil, so that
the evil in it came out and destroyed the earth itself, leaving no creature any
existence. Then, afterwards, "G-d said, 'Let there be light,'" and the created
things began to emerge one by one.
1
Faust, M., & Kenett, Y. N. (2014). "Rigidity, Chaos and Integration: Hemispheric Interaction
and Individual Differences in Metaphor Comprehension." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,
8; 511. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00511
2
Kennet, Y.N., Anaki, D., & Faust, M. (2014). "Investigating the Structure of Semantic Networks in
Low and High Creative Persons."
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8; 407.
Doi:
10.3389/fnhum.2014.00407
3 Ritter, S. M., & Dijksterhuis, Ap. (2014). "Creativity—the unconscious foundations of the incubation
period." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8; 215. doi: 10.3389/fnhum .2014.00215
4
Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzato (Ramhal), KL"H Pitchei Hokhmah, Hayyim Friedland ed., Bnai Brak
(1992), sect. 47' p. 170.
It follows from Ramhal's commentary that the new world could be built and bestowed with
light only after the previously existing, older frameworks that tied the world to a fixed state
had been ruined and destroyed. Only then could one build it according to a new perception.
Ramahal adds:5
There is no element of casting fear [Aima] in this Shattering [Shevirah], and
from there comes the veritable destruction, that is, the tohu va-vohu.
Likewise, from its awakening also came the flood, which brought actual
destruction. But there is a difference between them, for in the flood the
Shattering was not totally aroused, for there was something that remained,
namely the ark, and accordingly the entire earth itself was not destroyed,
but only a plough's measure.
Aima in the Kabbalah is Bina or Understanding. When Understanding exerts its influence
there is a tendency towards rigidity of thought, and therefore removal of Understanding is
total destruction and is the precondition for new creation. In this regard Ramhal notes that
the Flood did not bring utter destruction but only destruction on the surface, since the old
constructs survived in the ark. By contrast, forming a totally new world, a new creation,
required total destruction of all that existed previously.
Ramahal's main point is that according to the Kabbalah tohu va-vohu was not the beginning
of the world, rather the destruction of a stable state of existence that preceded it. Such an
explanation supports the idea that something new cannot come out of a delimited reality.
The existing must be destroyed, a certain degree of chaos, of tohu va-vohu, must be created,
and then something truly new can be initiated.
A similar idea was presented by Rabbi Zaddok Ha-Cohen of Lublin:6
The gemara (Sanhedrin 26b) asks, "why is it [the Torah] called
Tushiyah?7...Because it is composed of words, which are immaterial (tohu),
upon which the world is founded (shutat)." Rashi explained this [immaterial
words] as mere speech sounds; and speech is entirely something that
cannot be touched, just like this tohu. Or perhaps consider what is said (in
5
Ibid., p. 201.
6
Rabbi Zaddok ha-Cohen of Lublin, Pri Tzedek on the Torah, Parashat Devarim. Lublin ed., 1934,
p. 16.
7
What follows is an interpretation of Isaiah 28:29: "That, too, is ordered by the Lord of Hosts; His
counsel is unfathomable, His wisdom is marvelous" (…hifli `etzah higdil tushiyah).
Genesis Rabbah 2.2), that the earth being tohu va-vohu was "like a king who
had two servants, etc. The earth sat bewildered and astonished (= tohu vavohu), saying, 'The celestial beings…,'" interpreting tohu as wonderment.
Likewise, here we have words of tohu, meaning that no one understands
how it came to him, that it fell into his mind and made him so fortunate as
to direct his thoughts towards the Halakhah taught to Moses at Mount Sinai;
and this is the sense of "His counsel is unfathomable, His wisdom
marvelous."
This passage, as well as its continuation, expresses the idea that innovations in Torah and
Halakhah are based or founded on an initial state of tohu; in other words, even creative
ability in Halakhah requires a certain degree of chaotic thinking, expressed by wonderment
(tehiyah) and astonishment (behiyah).
Thus, the very first two verses of the Torah, dealing with creation of the world out of tohu
va-vohu, contain a deep insight into the ability to create—the human capability which
symbolizes, perhaps more than anything else, the creation of man in the image of G-d.
These verses teach that what we perceive as most threatening and negative of all—a state of
chaos—may be precisely what is necessary for creating something new and better.
Translated by Rachel Rowen