The Book of Genesis begins: Berei'shit bara' 'Eloqim 'et-HaShamayim ve'et-Ha'Aretz. This is conventionally translated "In the beginning G-d created the Heavens and the Earth." However, one word cannot be translated into English. This is the word 'et, which in Hebrew is the sign of the definite direct object (though its use is not consistent in the Bible). Grammatically its use here simply means that "he Heavens" and "the Earth" are definite direct objects of the verb bara' (He created). But since the Torah is a wholly Divine text, written by G-d and dictated to Moses letter-for-letter, there is so much...