Avos 5:6

בס׳ד

אבות ה:ו

Ten are the things created at twilight on the First Erev Shabbos, and here they are: The mouth of the Earth that swallowed Korakh, The mouth of the well that served the Wanderers, The mouth of the Ass that spoke to Bilaam, The Rainbow of Noakh, The Manna of the Wilderness, the Staff of Moshe, The Worm of Solomon, The Letter-shapes of the Torah, the Text of the Torah, and the Tablets of the Torah. And some add: also Demons, Moshe’s grave, and the Ram of Avraham Avinu. And some add: also the first Tongs.

עֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, פִּי הָאָרֶץ, וּפִי הַבְּאֵר, וּפִי הָאָתוֹן, וְהַקֶּשֶׁת, וְהַמָּן, וְהַמַּטֶּה, וְהַשָּׁמִיר, וְהַכְּתָב, וְהַמִּכְתָּב, וְהַלּוּחוֹת. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף הַמַּזִּיקִין, וּקְבוּרָתוֹ שֶׁל משֶׁה, וְאֵילוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף צְבָת בִּצְבָת עֲשׂוּיָה:

        In the spirit of Avos 5:4, we are brought back to the miracles that bang us over the head, rather than the subtle signs that dominated our perceptions in the Mikdash (Avos 5:5).

        Just about every parshan has problems with this mishnah.  Why did HaShem wait till the very end of Creation to create these things? Where did such things as the “mouth of the earth” and the “mouth of Bilaam’s ass” exist during the centuries between their creation and their actual manifestation in historical time?  Why aren’t these miracles listed in the order in which they happened?  Do the miracles have something in common?

        I can’t answer most of these questions, and won’t go on summarizing all the answers I’ve found.  But I do think that the nature of these miraculous signs contains a hint about why they were created at the last possible moment before the world was fixed in its final form.

        Notice, first of all, that all of these signs have to do with moments in which HaShem disclosed his redemptive power for humanity and Israel.  Let’s look at them in chronological order (rather than the order in which the mishnah lists them).  The first of these is, of course, the sign of the covenant given to Noakh. Next is the staff of Moshe, through which the wonders in Egypt and at the Sea were summoned forth.  Next is the manna that sustained Israel from the moment it left Egypt on its way to Sinai, and the Well of Miriam that preserved Israel in the harsh marches in the desert.  Next are the redemptive signs connected with the revelation of the Torah itself - the shapes of the letters that could be read in any direction, the actual words of HaShem’s communication, and the surface upon which they would be inscribed.  The mouth of the Earth that swallowed Korakh, and the mouth of Bilaam’s ass, both signify HaShem’s protection of Israel from internal dissension and external threats after the Torah was revealed. Finally, the worm of Solomon - the Shamir - enabled the Mikdash to be built without tools of violence.  Like a worm cutting through leaves, the Shamir cut through stone.

        The Midrash Shmuel has noticed the connections among these 10 creations and offers the following observation.  Until the very moment of Adam and Havah’s sin, on the afternoon of the sixth day of Creation, HaShem envisioned no history for humanity at all.  Eternity would have been spent in the non-historical, perfect domain of Gan Eden.  But the sin of disobedience meant the entire process of history would have to come into being in order for humanity to purify itself of its rebellious yetzer.  In light of this, just before Shabbos, HaShem incorporated redemptive moments into the structure of reality.  The entire plan of history was created, including the moments that would signify HaShem’s perpetual promise to bring history to a redemptive conclusion.

        This explanation doesn’t solve every problem in the mishnah. Certainly, it doesn’t explain why the listed miracles are “out of order”. Nor does it explain why other redemptive miracles, such as those associated with Yehoshuah’s conquest of Eretz Yisrael, are excluded. But I’ll settle for some ambiguity around the edges now that the main point is pretty well clarified!

        The Midrash Shmuel’s explanation is also helpful in understanding the relation of the items added to the list of 10 under the title of “some add”.  The Demons are those powers of judgement or klippah that, according to Kabbalah, were released into the world by the power of sin.  Similarly, Moshe’s grave represents the power of sin to dominate and thwart even the most righteous among Israel.  As a counter-measure to these, however, HaShem prepared in advance the atoning power of Avraham Avinu’s ram, whose horn represents the Shofar’s cleansing blast on Rosh HaShannah.

        What about the first Tongs?  In Hebrew, the phrase is tzvat b’tzvat asuyah, “the tongs made with the tongs”.  It always seemed to me that the mishnah SHOULD refer to the “tongs made WITHOUT tongs”, that is, the first tongs ever made before there were tongs to forge metal with.  Most meforshim, at any rate, interpret it that way.  As Rabbi Yehoshuah asks (Tosefta Eruvin 8:23): “Since tongs can only be made with tongs, where did the very first tongs come from?” These tongs were made by HaShem as the model for all others, something like the Urim and Tumim of the Mishkan, that were not built by Moshe, but were simply given to him by HaShem.  Why, of all things, were these divine tongs created at twilight on the first Erev Shabbos?  As the Tiferes Israel points out, tongs were necessary in order to make the menorahs and other gold vessels of the Mikdash.  So even this humble tool had a redemptive destiny foreseen by HaShem at the final moments of the first week of Creation.

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