Looking at Torah Through Hebrew II

Rashi, Ramban, Ibn Ezra, Malbim, Abarbanel

Rashi: 1:2 And the "ruach" of God was hovering over the water. Rashi interprets ruach spirit, and asks "The Scripture has not yet revealed at that point when the creation of the waters took place."

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The "hey mayim" the water with the definite article according to Rashi "indicates that it refers to pre-existing water, not water created after the creation of the heavens and the earth."

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Rashi goes on to suggest that this tells us that water preceded the earth and the heavens because Chagigah 12a explains that the heavens were created from fire and water. This also, according to Rashi proves no chronological order.

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Ramban: Ramban translate ruach as wind. "The wind from God hovered upon the surface of the waters." Also notice "on" instead of Rashi's "over."

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Ramban asks "Why is the the wind in our verse described as a wind from God? Weren't all four elements "from God?" Ramban explains his query according to his opinion: "wind is more intangible than the other elements and is above them all."

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Rashi: "The breath of God was hovering. The Throne of Glory was standing in the air and hovering over the surface of the water, by the breath of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and by His statement, like a dove that hovers over a nest."

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Chagigah 15a; Midrash Tehillim 93-5, breath does not hover.

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MH; So what does this teach me? One thing I've learned about Great Sages and Rabbis compared to teachers of other religions and belief systems, is that Rabbis believe God. In this belief they realize that a lot that is going on is impossible to understand.

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Unlike Hellenistic systems, where some guy reaches a high level of understanding and puppets follow him without study, deeming themselves inferior, this study takes every element of Torah and scrutinizes not only the tapestry, but the details of the writing down to letters and combinations of letters.

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I believe that we are here to gather the Truth and we are then weighed on a scale according to how much we actually got correct. Personally, I think that Rashi's voluminous work will stand high in the crowd, but learning a Ramban can even elucidate further.

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Torah is the greatest Treasure on the planet.