“In the beginning.” RASHI interpreted, “Rabbi Yehuda said, ‘The Torah should have started from ‘This month is to you,’ which is the first Mitzva [commandment] that Israel were commanded. What is the reason it begins with ‘In the beginning’? Because He said to His people the power of His deeds, to give them the inheritance of the nations, for should the nations of the world say to Israel, ‘You are robbers, for you conquered the lands of seven nations,’ they would tell them, ‘The whole earth belongs to the Creator. He created it and gave it to whom He pleases. Upon His will, he gave it to them, and upon His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.’’”
We should understand why He gave it to them to begin with, since He could have given them other lands, since the world is big, so why did He give them the land of Canaan?
This is an intimation of branch and root. In the root, He gave the land, which is the will to receive as it is. This is called “the evil inclination,” which has seven names, implying the seven nations, meaning that the will to receive is enslaved to them.
Afterward, he must correct the land to work in order to bestow, for it is impossible to correct something before the thing itself is revealed and it is evident that a correction is required. To this comes the intimation that He placed the body under the governance of seven nations.
Afterward, in order to correct the matter of the bread of shame, there is a need to use the desire to bestow, called Ysrael [Israel], meaning Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. Hence, when one wants to elicit the body from the governance of seven nations, they say “You are robbers,” meaning “We were given the will to receive to be under our control, and you cannot bring out the body, so you are wasting your efforts.”
At that time, they say, “He said to His people the power of His deeds,” that the people of Israel will tell them that this act of the body being under their control is the power of the Creator; otherwise, you would not have any control. Hence, upon His will, He took it from them and gave it to us. We believe that “He who comes to purify is aided,” meaning that He took from them the power He had given them and has given it to us.