ABSTRACT
This is not an isolated utterance, it is the common property of the Midrash. Thus the widely known and popular Tanhuma begins on exactly the same note. “‘In the beginning God created.’ This is what Scripture has in mind when it says ‘ T h e Lord founded the earth wi th W i s d o m ’ (Prov. 3.19). And as God went on to create his world he took counsel with the Torah הרותב ץעיתנ and so created the world.” The Targum Yerushalmi translates the opening word תישארב quite simply אמכוחב, as if no further explanation were necessary. The Yalkut on the great text in Gen. 1.26 “ A n d God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” has the words “ G o d said to the Torah, let us make man,” םדא השענ הרותל ה״בקה רמא (Yalkut Shimeoni, Article 13, p. 4b, Col. 1, and Pirke Eliezer, Ch. 11, ed. Luria, 27b) .
