1) Ch. 1, v. 1: "Breishis boro Elokim ES" - Our Rabbis have stated in numerous places that the world as we know it will stand for 6,000 years. Since every matter is microcosmed in its first appearance in the Torah, how do we have an indication for the world existing for 6,000 years in this, the first verse of the Torah?

2) Ch. 1, v. 16: "Hamo'ore hagodol" - This refers to the sun, while "hamo'ore hakoton" refers to the moon. How much larger is the sun than the moon?

3) Ch. 2, v. 9: "V'eitz hadaas" - Which species of tree was this?

4) Ch. 2, v. 7: "Va'yeetzer ...... es ho'odom ofor min ho'adomoh" - From where on earth was the material taken to create Odom?

5) Ch. 6, v. 8: "V'Noach motzo chein" - And Noach found favour - The Torah's description of Noach is described by a word that is his name spelled backwards. There is someone else in sefer Breishis whom the Torah describes with a word that is also his name in reverse. Who is it?

ANSWERS:

#1

The Shach in his commentary on parshas B'har brings a most magnificent indication for the 6,000 years in this verse. He quotes Rabbi Shimon haTeimoni asking Rabbi Zeira (The sefer Seder Hadoros explains how it was possible for this to be as Rabbi Shimon haTeimoni lived centuries before Rabbi Z'eiro.), "How do the Rabbis know that the world will stand for 6,000 years?" Rabbi Z'eiro responded that they based it upon the fact that the world was created through the letters of the Alef Beis (see M.R. Breishis 18:4), and their total numerical value gives us a total of 6,000. How so? Add up the value all the letters from Alef through Yud and you have 55. Add from Kof through Kuf and you have another 540. Reish, Shin, and Tof yield 900. The five final letters, final Kof, final Mem, final Nun, final Pei, and final Tzadi have the values of 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 respectively, yielding 3,000. Then we come back to the letter Alef again, but this time after the letter final Tzadi it has the value of 1,000 (Alef=Elef). Add 55+540+900+3,000+1000 and you have a total of 5,995. The gemara M'nochos 29b derives from the words "Ki b'Yo-H Hashem tzur olomim" (Yeshayohu 26:4) that Hashem created this world and the next with the power of the letters Yud and Hei (b'Yo-H means with the letters Yud and Hei). The gemara then asks, "With which letter did He create this world and with which letter the next?" The gemara derives from the words that appear later in our parsha (2:4), "Eileh toldos hashomayim v'ho'oretz b'*H*iborom," which can be read as "b'Hei bro'om," that Hashem created this world with the letter Hei. Rabbi Z'eiro said that this means that beyond all the letters of the Alef Beis being used to create this world, an extra letter Hei was also used. The numerical value of Hei is 5, and when added to the above-mentioned 5,995, we have a total of 6,000!

#2

The sun is 170 times as large as the earth, which in turn is 40 times as large as the moon. This means that the sun is 6,800 times as large as the moon. (Rambam hilchos yesodei haTorah 3:8)

#3

The gemara Sanhedrin 38a says that the earth that was used to form Odom was taken from all over the world. The torso of his body was formed from the earth of Bovel, the organs from the rest of the world, and his head from the earth of Eretz Yisroel. Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer ch. #12 says that the earth of Eretz Yisroel used for his head was specifically from the location of the future Beis Hamikdosh, while the gemara Yerushalmi Nozir 7:2 says that it came from the location of the altar.

#4

The gemara Brochos 40a says that this was either a grape plant, a fig tree, or wheat. The M.R. Breishis 15:7 says that it was either an esrog tree or a "bnos sheva" tree.

#5

EIR is described by the Torah as RA (38:7).

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