"And these are the generations of Isaac." (Gen. 25:19) Rabbi Chiya opened [his discourse] with the verse "Who can describe through words the mighty acts of G‑d; who can declare all His praise?" (Psalms 106:2) Come and see. When the desire to create the world arose before the Holy One Blessed be He, He looked into the Torah and created it from there.

This means that He looked at the 22 letters and 10 vowels that make up the 10 sayings by which He created the world, and saw all the generations of all life within the "blueprint" of the Torah.

He looked into the Torah and from it created each and every particular.

These 22 letters and 10 vowels became the 32 paths down which flowed Wisdom (chochma) to create the world by the 32 times that the name Elokim appears in the account of Creation.

This is as is written: "Then I was as a little child [in Hebrew, 'amun'] with Him, and I was His delight each day." (Proverbs 8:30) Don't read "amun" ['a little child']; rather read "oman" [meaning 'a craftsman', spelled similarly]. Before I created the world, I created repentance

When He came to create man, the Torah said before Him; "If You create man and he then sins - since he will eat of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil - then You will judge him as worthless. Man certainly can't withstand Your judgment, so why should Your handiwork be for no purpose?"

Based on Zohar, Page 134b; translation and commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister

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