## Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit

###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 8:1
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 8:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Bereshit/r/8:1)

ר' ישמעאל שאל את ר' עקיבא, שהיה ר' עקיבא דורש אכין ורקין מיעוטין, אתין וגמין ריבוין, א"ל ר' ישמעאל בראשית ברא אלהים שמים וארץ אין כתיב כאן, אלא את השמים ואת הארץ, ישובו של מקרא הוא. א"ל ר' עקיבא כתיב כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם (דברים לב מז), אילו נאמר שמים וארץ, היינו אומרים שתי אלהות הן, אלא את השמים ואת הארץ, הם ומה שנברא עמהם.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
R. Ishmael questioned R. 'Aqiva,²¹. 12b; Gen.R. 1:14; 22:2; 53:15. who was interpreting the words *akh* ("but") and *raq* ("only") as indicating exclusions, with *et* (either the sign of a definite accusative or the preposition "with") and *gam* ("also") as indicating inclusions. R. Ishmael said to him: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" is not written here but ET THE HEAVEN AND *ET* THE EARTH. The use of *ET* is simply a clarification of Scripture. R. 'Aqiva said to him: It is written (in Deut. 32:47): FOR IT (the Torah) IS NO EMPTY THING FOR YOU. If "heaven and earth" had been stated (in Gen. 1:1), we should have said: They are two deities.²² the two might be seen as the subject of “create” along with God. But *ET* THE HEAVEN AND *ET* THE EARTH means those two creations and what was created along with them.²³

footnotes:
²¹ Cf. Hag
²² Without the use of et
²³ Aquila apparently followed the principle of his master ‘Aqiva in his Greek rendering of Gen. 1:1.