Beit Yaakov, bereshit, no. 41

The statement “let Us make the human being in our image” (Gen. 1:26) was spoken to all creations. When all creatures were formed, other than human beings, the blessed One asked each one individually for its consent to be created, as it says in the Talmud, “They were created willingly, with their form” (b. Rosh Hashanah 11a). But no creature was asked regarding the others, since they do not have free choice and thus cannot destroy or lay waste [to other species]. They will surely profit from the creation of other beings, and thus implicitly agree to their creation, since “one may be granted merit without explicit knowledge.” But when it came to humanity, the blessed One asked all other creatures if they should be formed because they have free will and can destroy all the rest of creation. They agreed, however, and all gave permission for the formation of humanity.

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Me'or Einayim, Breishit 1

With the beginning — with the Torah, which is called the beginning of his work (Prov. 8:22) — the Holy Blessed One created the world (Zohar 1:5a). We find that every thing was created by way of the Torah and the power of the actor is in that which is acted upon, in which case the power of the Torah is in each thing and in all the worlds, and also in the person as is written, This is the Torah: A person (Num. 19:14) as we will clarify. And the Torah and the Holy Blessed One are one (Zohar 1:24a), so we find in all things the life-force of the Holy Blessed One.

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And you give life to them all (Nehemiah 9:6), you contract, as if it were possible, down to the lowest levels; and a portion of Divinity from above is placed within the darkness of materiality. For the whole essence of the intention is so that the lowest levels can rise above and have the advantage of light over darkness (Ecclesiastes 2:13). And this is the meaning of Joseph’s descent to Egypt, the lowest levels, “the ocean strait;” for through this enjoyment is increased as is written, the advantage of light, that enjoyment advances when it is lifted over darkness, and therefore he is called Joseph, connoting addition [tosefet]. And that is [the meaning of the verse (Gen. 42:1)] when Jacob saw that there was grain [shever] — connoting breakage [shvirah], which are the degenerations of Heavenly Wisdom, Torah that has fallen and broken; all that descends from its level is called “broken.” In Egypt, in the ocean strait: for he saw there degenerations of Torah that fell there and needed to be clarified and elevated. And he said, Go down there (Gen. 42:2) to elevate and descend to bring [them] to the life-force of the root and the self. And that is the meaning of Joseph died (Gen. 50:26), for the fact that the Torah descended until the final level is called “death,” for whatever descends from its level is called “death” (Zohar 3:135b). And they embalmed him (Gen. 50:26): for the Torah is called “Tree of Life,” and with trees we go according to the ripening of fruit, which is to say even though he descended to the final level he bore fruit. And he was put in a coffin (Gen. 50:26), as in the statement [of our Sages] of Blessed Memory, “The Tablets and the Broken Tablets were placed in the ark” (Bava Batra 14b): even the degenerations have elevation to be in the ark just like the Tablets, which are the Torah itself. And we will return to the matter at hand: since in every thing it is the Torah that gives that thing life, one should not look at any thing in its materiality, only at the internality of the thing in the secret of The wise person has his eyes in his head (Ecclesiastes 2:14); and in the Zohar they said, “And where else should a person’s eyes be? Rather, a wise person gazes to see who stands above his head” (Zohar 3:187a), which is to say that in every thing he should gaze toward the beginning of that thing: from where it evolved and who is that thing’s root. 

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