Commentary for Pirkei Avot 5:6

TEN THINGS WERE CREATED AT THE DUSK OF THE SABBATH, AND THEY ARE: THE MOUTH OF THE EARTH, ETC. Rambam: the Sages do not believe that G-d’s will is renewed every moment. Rather, when He first created things he made their natures such that whatever should happen to them will happen, whether that should be something constant, which we call natural, or some unusual thing that happens infrequently, which we call miraculous. They therefore said that on the sixth day He put it into the nature of the earth that Korach and his followers should be swallowed up by it, into the nature of the well that it should give forth water, into the nature of the donkey that she should speak, and so on. One might object that if all miracles were implanted into the nature of things during the six days of creation, why does the mishna single out these ten things? You should know, in answer to this, that they did not single them out because no miracles other than these were implanted into the nature of things. They meant simply that these were the only things that were put in during dusk, whereas the other miracles were put into the nature of things from the very beginning, at the moment they were made. They would say, for example, that when the waters were divided on the second day, it was made part of their nature that the Red Sea should part for Moses, and the Jordan for Joshua and Elisha. And when the sun was created on the fourth day, it was made part of its nature that it should stop in its orbit at a given time when spoken to by Joshua. This is so for all other miracles aside from these ten, which were put into the nature of those things during dusk.
He clarifies this further in his book the Guide for the Perplexed, 2:29. There, after quoting the midrash that says G-d stipulated with the sea that it should split for Israel and with all of what was created during the six days similarly (Bereshit Rabbah 5:5), he concludes: when G-d has a prophet perform a sign he tells him the moment at which what he is saying will come to pass, and it happens in accordance with the nature that was implanted into the thing.
But there is great difficulty with this position, for Moses said to Pharaoh, “for what time should I entreat for you… to excise the frogs” (Exodus 8:5), and Isaiah said, “request a sign from Hashem, your G-d, request it in the depths or high above” (Isaiah 7:11). And Gideon’s request of the sign with the wool involved two opposing possibilities (Judges 6:36). Midrash Shmuel writes in the name of Meiri that the Sages do not believe that these stipulations the midrash refers to were made in the permanent nature of the thing that was acted upon; they were undoubtedly speaking from the perspective of the Actor and His will. They mean to say that there was no change in His will, G-d forbid, for at the moment that He created the heavens and the earth and all that is within them His knowledge encompassed and included all of the things that would happen in the future; He knew that there would come a point at which He would change the nature of a particular created thing, and He created it with that in mind. The act of the miracle, therefore, was not a change in His knowledge or a new element in His will, etc.
This means that all the signs were created and done at that particular moment in time, and were not implanted into nature such that they should come into existence and be done at that moment. And although His knowledge already encompassed them we have already noted above on the mishna of “all is seen”, 3:15, that His knowledge does not turn the possible into the necessary. As such, all miracles depend on what a person chooses from among the things that are possible, as they are all done for people.
And I say that, just as Rambam resolves the paradox of “all is seen, but permission is given” using the verse “for My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8), as I wrote on the mishna at 3:15, I will likewise answer that the end of that verse itself is the resolution of the great paradox inherent in the subject of miracles. For there is no change in His will, which is the meaning of the end of the verse, “and your ways are not My ways” (ibid.). His “ways” are His actions, as Moses said, “make Your ways known to me” (Exodus 33:13), which are His actions and administration of the world. When Isaiah says “your ways are not My ways” he means that you should not understand My ways in terms of your ways, and then this great paradox will not arise. Rambam himself writes in the Guide for the Perplexed at the end of 3:20: the terms supervision, knowledge, and intent when said of G-d are not the same as when said of us. When these different kinds of supervision, knowledge, and intent are conflated and treated as though they are the same, the abovementioned paradoxes arise. But when it becomes clear that whatever is said of us differs from what is said of Him, the truth becomes clear. And the prophet told us of the difference between the things said of Him and of us when he said “and your ways are not My ways.”
It also seems from his language in the above-quoted segment from Guide for the Perplexed 2:29²¹⁰There, Rambam calls the words of the midrash “strange,” though a better translation might be “extroardinary.” that although he explains the opinion of the Sages that way, it is not his own. It suffices for us that we have rescued Rambam, at least as far as his own opinion, even if we cannot rescue him regarding the opinion he attributes to the Sages.
But I say that the opinion of Meiri is that of the Sages as well and is not foreign to them, G-d forbid—it emerges clearly from explicit verses in the Tanach which every elementary schooler knows. When they say these things were created at the dusk of the Sabbath they are speaking only of His knowledge, like the mishna of “all is seen”, as Meiri says. As for their saying that G-d stipulated with the sea during the six days of creation that it should split, I feel that this is not at all about refuting the notion of a change in His will. Rather, this dictum is of the same tenor as the one on the verse “on the sixth day” that I quoted earlier in my commentary to 2:8, which says that G-d stipulated with all of creation that it only continue if the Jewish people accept the five books of the Torah. This has nothing to do with the nature of the created things, and speaks rather about the purpose of the creation of the world, which was only created for the Jewish people to receive the Torah; should they not accept it, the world will return to “formlessness and void”, for it was only created for this purpose. All of the conditions mentioned in the midrash were said in the same vein, using language that emphasized the merit and great importance of Israel. G-d stipulated with the sea during creation that it part for Israel, as it is for that purpose that He created the sea; and with the sun that is stand still for Joshua, as it is for that purpose that it was created.
They thus conveyed to us one of the fundamentals of faith: that everything was created solely for Israel, which accords with the midrash that says “ ‘In the beginning’—for the sake of Israel, who are called ‘the beginning’ “ (Vayikra Rabbah 36:4) and numerous other dicta that speak the praises and merits of Israel. Now we do not deny that, in saying this, they also meant that He knows the conclusions of things at their beginnings and sees the end of something from the very first moment, but only insofar as this is the nature of His knowledge, as in “all is seen”. But it was not their primary intent to rid us of the mistaken notion that His will and knowledge are subject to change, for they never entertained these ideas to begin with, as Isaiah the prophet already removed the confusion surrounding this by saying “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways,” meaning that they are not to be compared at all, which will prevent us from falling into the paradox. And in using the language “G-d stipulated” they meant the same thing as the midrash on “the sixth day”.
Our master Maharal offers “wondrous counsel and great wisdom” (cf. Isaiah 28:29) in Derech Chaim to negate this question altogether. He says that “knowledge” and “ability” and such are all actions of G-d, just as “and G-d knew” (Exodus 2:25) was an action of G-d. Just as the other actions attributed to Him do not necessitate a change or plurality within Him, neither do these, and in these matters we rely on the Kabbalah. See there.

Ten things were created on the eve of the [first] Shabbat at twilight. And these are they: The mouth of the earth for the swallowing of Korach and his assembly.

Also the [first human-made] tongs, made with [Divine] tongs: [As] who made the first ones? We have already mentioned in the eighth chapter (Eight Chapters 8:9-10) that they would not believe in creation by the (Divine) will at every instant. Rather, at the beginning of things, He placed into [their] nature that they should do everything that they would do [in the future] - whether they be things that would happen constantly, that being a natural thing; or whether it be [something unusual], that being a miracle. It is all one [regarding this]. Therefore they said that on the sixth day, He placed into the nature of the earth that it would sink [under] Korach and his community, and into the well that it would give out water and into the donkey that it should speak, and so [too] for the rest. And ketav (letters) is the Torah that was written in front of Him, may He be blessed, as it is stated. And we do not know how it was - and that is its stating (Exodus 24:12), "and I will give you the stone tablets." And the miktav (writing) is the writing on the tablets, as it stated (Exodus 32:16), "and the writing was God’s writing, inscribed upon the tablets." And maybe you will say [that] since all of the wonders are all placed into the nature of things from the six days of creation, why did he distinguish these ten things. You should [hence] know that he did not distinguish these ten things to say that no other miracle was placed into the nature of things except for these. Rather, he said that these alone were done at twilight and the rest of the wonders and miracles were placed into the nature of things that they were put into at the time of their original creation. And they said by way of example that [on] the second day in the division of the waters, it was placed into the nature [of water] that the Reed Sea would divide for Moshe, and that the Jordan would divide for Yehoshua and also for Eliyahu and also for Elisha. And [on] the fourth day when the sun was created, it was placed into its nature that it would stop at time x by the word of Yehoshua to it. And so [too] with the other wonders except for these ten that were put into the nature of these things at twilight. And the shamir is a small creeping thing that chisels big stones when it goes on top of them, and Shlomo built the Temple with it. And tongs are a tool with which the blacksmith holds the hot iron until he makes what he wants to make with it.

One who wants to master the intention of the matter should see Tosafot Yom Tov.

At twilight: on the eve of the Shabbat of creation, before the creation was completed.

Introduction This mishnah lists fourteen things (10 + 3 + 1) that seem to defy the laws of nature. These are problematic because God is supposed to have created a world that acts upon the laws of nature. In order to solve this metaphysical problem, the mishnah claims that these supernatural items were created for this very purpose during the six days of creation. They were created during this in-between time, right before creation ended at the end of the sixth day. These items are therefore part of God’s ultimate plan and they are not in essence “supernatural”.

WERE CREATED AT THE DUSK OF THE SABBATH, AND THEY ARE: THE MOUTH OF THE EARTH, ETC. Even according to Rambam above, these things were singled out as having happened specifically at this time. Many ideas have been put forth to explain why this is; you can find them in Midrash Shmuel. I haven’t seen fit to reproduce a single one of them, as I don’t see that any of them have succeded.
I see that on the previous mishna of the ten miracles that were done for our ancestors in the Temple Maharal writes in Derech Chaim that the mishna starts with a woman, “no woman miscarried”, and ends with “no man ever said that there was not enough room” because these things correspond to the ten sefirot of blimah²¹¹The ten sefirot, lit. “countings”, often popularly translated as “emanations”, are one of the central elements of the Kabbalah. They are called “the sefirot of blimah” in Sefer Yetzirah, one of the earliest Kabbalistic works.; he explains them one by one, see there. I felt it would be just as appropriate and even more so to expound that way here. For the world, certainly including these ten things, was created through the ten sefirot of blimah. And the mishna starts from the mouth of the earth the same way that the previous one starts with the miracles that happened to women. But I will not speak of what is beyond me.
I will rather speak in terms of the exoteric, and say that these ten things correspond to the ten utterances through which the world was created. In the first utterance, the verses spoke of the earth, which was formlessness and void. The mouth of the well corresponds to the utterance “let there be light”, for that light was hidden away (Chagigah 12a) and the well was also hidden away in the sea of Tiberias (Shabbat 35a). The mouth of the donkey corresponds to the utterance “let there be a firmament… and let it separate”, in which the waters supernaturally became the Upper Waters; in the case of the mouth of the donkey, a higher force was also supernaturally placed in a coarse material being. The rainbow corresponds to the utterance “let the waters be gathered... and let the dry land be seen”, for the rainbow comes about from the humidity of moist earth that the rains have made wet. The manna corresponds to the utterance “let the earth bring forth vegetation… fruit trees…”, for these are man’s bread and his fruit that grows in its season, and corresponding to them G-d rained down the heavenly produce of manna. The staff corresponds to the utterance “let there be lights” of which it is said that “they will be signs”, and G-d sent Moses His servant with the staff that he was to use for giving signs. The verse “do not fear the signs of the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:2) is related to this. The shamir is a worm-like creature that comes from the utterance “let the waters swarm, etc.” The script and the inscription correspond to the two utterances “let the earth bring forth living things of every kind” and “let Us make man”, for both have to do with life and spirit, as do the script and the inscription. The inscription has more of a spiritual dimension, for it could be read from all four directions, as Rav writes. Similarly, man became a superior living creature that speaks and rules over the four corners of the earth. The tablets correspond to the utterance “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” with the seed of man, which are created in the image of G-d. The tablets are likewise the “work of G-d” (Exodus 32:16).
Behold, this is what I consider the straight path. “Give to a wise man, and he will grow wiser” (Proverbs 9:9) and think of more satisfying explanations. This approach also explains why our tanna did not keep to any chronological order in his list.

and the mouth of the well: The boulder that Moshe struck.

And there is an objection, as [Moshe] said "'And if [the Lord] creates a creation.'" And behold, [this] was already created and waiting according to the transmission here of the sages, may their memory be blessed, etc. And it appears to me that the explanation of the mouth of the earth is the speech of the earth, similar to the mouth of the donkey and the mouth of the well [which also refer to speech]. And this is the meaning of the verse - "If gehinnom is in the creation (and it is lacking a bet as a preposition for the word creation, and there are many others like this) from the six days of creation, [then] bringing close its opening should be created, (as the statement of the sages in [the chapter entitled] Chelek, may their memory be blessed). And via this, "and the earth will extend (from the expression, "my lips have extended") its mouth" to project the voice of words, to tell all of what is done within it, that they descended alive to the lowest level. And afterwards at the time of the event, it only stated, "And the earth opened, etc.," to swallow them. And it was also that the people, "fled from their voices," which means to say from the voice of the words of the earth. As if it is not so, there is an objection; that just the opposite, it is the way of those that hear the voice of those yelling out, "oy, oy," to approach that voice. And this is the language of Rashi on the Torah, "'because of their voices' [means] on account of the voice that went out from their being swallowed" - and see there in Rabbi E. Mizrachi. And see Tosafot Yom Tov.

The mouth of the earth: to swallow Korach and his congregation.

Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs. [1] the mouth of the earth: which swallowed Korah and his congregation (Numbers 16:32). [2] the mouth of the well: that gave the children of Israel water in the desert. (See Numbers 21:16-18). [3] the mouth of the donkey: that spoke to Balaam (Numbers 22:28). [4] the rainbow: that was a sign to Noah (Genesis 9:13). [5] the manna: (Exodus 16:15). [6] the staff [of Moses]: (Exodus 4:17). [7] the shamir: this was the strong stone used to cut rocks for the breastplate used during the first temple. [8] the letters: the shape of the letters used to write the Ten Commandments. [9] the writing: See Exodus 32:16. The writing, according to legend, could be seen from all four sides of the tablets. [10] and the tablets: this refers to the first set of the tablets (ibid.) Moses made the second set of tablets (Exodus 34:1). Demons: In the ancient world, people firmly believed in demons, much as we believe in bacteria and viruses even if we have never seen one. These being unnatural phenomenon, must have been created on the twilight of the sixth day. The grave of Moses: Since no one was there for Moses’s burial, we could surmise that it was not created by any human being (Deuteronomy 34:6). And the ram of Abraham, our father: which seemed to have miraculously appeared before Abraham sacrificed Isaac (Genesis 22:13). The mishnah teaches that God all along created the ram to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place. Otherwise it might seem that if the ram had not gotten caught in the bushes, Abraham would have been allowed to sacrifice his son. Tongs made with tongs: One cannot forge tongs in fire, without already having a set of tongs. The first set of tongs must therefore have been made during the twilight of the sixth day.  Why do you think that the mishnah divides its list into three parts, a list, then a list of three and then one last item?  Why aren’t miracles such as the splitting of the sea and the standing still of the sun mentioned here?

[*THE MOUTH OF THE EARTH. Rav explains that this was to swallow Korach and his followers; so also Rambam. This is difficult, for the verse there says “if G-d will create a creation” (Numbers 16:30), and according to the tradition of the Sages here, which is from scholar to scholar all the way back to Moses, it had already been created.
The Talmud in Sanhedrin 110a explains the verse as follows: Rava expounded: what is the meaning of the verse “if G-d will create a creation [Heb. im beriah yivra], and the earth open up its mouth”? Moses said to G-d, “if [Heb. im]” Gehinnom “has been created [Heb. beriah]”, very well. If not, “let G-d create [it] [Heb. yivra]”. In what sense? If this actually means “create”, why, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rather, the request was to bring the opening of Gehinnom closer. But according to this, the word im is used for a rhetorical question,²¹²According to the Talmud’s final reading, the verse says, “Is Gehinnom close? [No.] Then G-d will bring the opening here.” which is also a forced reading. I therefore propose an alternative, for which purpose I will first raise three points.
The first is that Moses’ request uses the word ufatz'tah,“the earth shall open [Heb. ufatz'tah] its mouth” (Numbers 16:30), but in describing the execution of that request the verse says vatiftach, “and [the earth] opened” (Numbers 16:32). And even if the verses had not used this word in describing the execution, one wonders why Moses wouldn’t use the verb patach, which is a more common word than the verb patzah. The second is that the verse says “they descended alive to Sheol [Heb. sheolah]” (Numbers 16:33), using sheolah²¹³The word is in the accusative case with locative sense. In other words, the suffix -ah means “to”: “to Sheol”. The Torah does not always attach the -ah suffix even when speaking of motion towards. instead of sheol. Rashi, writing on the verse “the wicked shall return to She’ol [Heb. lisheolah]” in Psalms 9:18, says: R. Abba bar Zavdi says: to the lowest level of Sheol. Although we cannot deny the testimony of the verses, when the verse relates that it became known that they descended to the lowest level of sheol, wouldn’t it have been proper to relate how exactly that became known? We must therefore investigate where the verse tells us this. The third is that the verse says that the entire nation “fled at the sound [of their voices] [Heb. lekolam]” (Numbers 16:34). People who hear others cry out “oy and avoy!”²¹⁴The equivalent of English “Oh, no!” do not usualy flee, they come nearer to the sound of the voices to determine the reason for their screaming. Rashi writes that lekolam means “at the sound that came from their being swallowed,” and Mizrachi explains that this is the sound of the splitting itself, which was like the sound of thunder, which throws people into a panic and causes them to flee. But this was not the sound of their cries at the moment they were swallowed up, for that sound is not the kind of sound that causes people to flee. On the contrary, it would cause people to gather round and come to hear their cries at that moment and see the great wonder, the like of which had not occurred from the six days of creation until then—these are his words.
I now say that although Mizrachi says that the sound of the splitting was like thunder, I can claim that the sound was the sound of words, words which made known that they had descended alive to Sheol, i.e. to the lowest level of Sheol. The earth emitting the sound of clear words saying that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol, i.e. that they had suffered that much, would have been a great sign. And this is what Moses requested when he said “let it open” using ufatz'tah. For had he simply requested that it open in order to swallow them he should have said ufat'chah, which is the word used in the description of the event itself. He used ufatz'tah, which is the word Jephthah uses when he says patziti pi lashem, “I have opened my mouth to G-d”, in Judges 11:35, and the word used in patzu sefatai, “my lips opened” in Psalms 66:14, both of which refer to speech.
This, then, is how to parse Moses’ request. Im beriah yivra Hashem ufatz'tah ha'adamah—the word beriah appears without an implied prepositional bet,²¹⁵We should read the word beriah, “creation”, as if it were baberiah, “through the creation”. as in the verse ki sheshet yamim asah Hashem, “in six days G-d made” (Exodus 20:10), where the word sheshet is understood as if it were b'sheshet²¹⁶Reading the verse as is gives “for six days G-d made”; the verse should be read as if the word sheshet, “six”, were besheshet, “in six”, giving “for in six days G-d made”., and the verse un'shalmah parim sefateinu, “and we shall make up for bulls with our lips” (Hosea 14:3), where the word sefateinu is understood as if it were bisfateinu²¹⁷Reading the verse as is gives “we shall make up for bulls our lips”; the verse should be read as if the word sefateinu, “our lips”, were bisfateinu, “with our lips”, giving “we shall make up for bulls with our lips”.. We can now read the verse: im baberiah, “if in the created thing”, i.e. Gehinnom, which was created during the six days of creation, yivra, “he shall create”, i.e. bring its opening here as the Sages say, and through bringing the opening here ufatz'tah ha'adamah et piha, “the earth shall open its mouth” to bring forth the sound of a voice speaking words made by lips relating what happens within all the way down to the lowest level of Sheol, [“then shall you know that these people have provoked G-d”²¹⁸Tosafot Yom Tov does not supply the end of the verse.].
Afterwards, during the execution, the verse says vatiftach ha’aretz et piha, “the earth opened its mouth”, i.e. merely an opening of the mouth but no speech, for the opening was only in order to swallow them. In addition, however, it happened that everybody “fled at their sound”, which is the sound that emerged upon their being swallowed, a voice speaking words relating that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol.
I have somewhat of a proof to my approach, for the tanna in speaking of the donkey says “the mouth of the donkey” and not that the donkey itself was created at dusk. Now all mouths, in and of themselves, are equivalent; there is no need for that mouth to have been created at dusk unless “mouth” in the context of the donkey means “speech”, which indeed was created at dusk. If so, “the mouth of the earth” also refers to speech, [not]²¹⁹The Hebrew text is missing the obvious negative. simply an opening of the mouth. Also, the “mouth of the well”, according to the other opinion that Rav mentions in his commentary, means that the well sang. This is what seems best to me, and in my eyes it is truly well said.]

and the mouth of the donkey of Bilaam - "And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey" (Numbers 22:28).

As in every place that they would go, the well would rise and spring forth water. And for this well was created a mouth (an opening) that the water would come out from in every place that they would go - Derekh Chaim. And this is also the intention of Rashi [when he writes], "that the boulder would go and roll with them." As, if it is like the simple understanding [of his words], it should have mentioned the miracle that the boulder gave water unattached [to any spring or well].

and the mouth of the well: The well of Miriam that went with Israel in the wilderness on all of the journeys. And some say, that it opened its mouth and uttered song, as it stated (Numbers 21:17), "rise up, O well; answer it."

THE MOUTH OF THE WELL. Rav: the well of Miriam which traveled with the Jews in the desert. Maharal writes in Derech Chaim that wherever they went the well would come up and bring forth water, and it had a mouth through which the water would come out wherever they went. But the rock most likely did not go from place to place with them, as would seem from Rashi’s words in his commentary to Pesachim 54a, for if so, why would the mishna not mention the miracle that the rock gave forth water although it was not connected to the ground? And he writes that Rashi’s words must then be understood as agreeing with his explanation.
Rav: and some say that it opened its mouth and sang, as the verse says ali be'er enu lah (Numbers 21:17)—i.e., they answered the words of the well.²²⁰The verse is usually understood to mean “they said it about the well”. Tosafot Yom Tov explains that according to Rav, the verse must be read “about the well, they answered it”—i.e., the song of the well was a call and response between the well and the people. [*See above. This approach explains why the mishna does not say “the mouth of the rock”, for according to the first approach it was the rock which brought forth the water. And it is of any given rock’s mouth, which brought fourth the water, that the mishna should say that it was created at dusk. Now that the mishna says “the mouth of the well” we must offer the forced reading that this refers to the mouth through which the well could come out. According to the second approach, however, the tanna actually means “the mouth of the well”, which sang.]

and the rainbow: "My rainbow have I given in the cloud" (Genesis 9:13).

Meaning to say that they would answer corresponding to its speech. And with this, it is good that [the mishnah] did not teach, "the mouth of the boulder." And see Tosafot Yom Tov.

and the mouth of the donkey: At twilight it was decreed about it that it should speak with Bilaam.

AND THE MOUTH OF THE DONKEY. Rav: it was decreed at dusk that she speak to Balaam.²²¹I.e., the donkey itself was not created then, but the created world included the decree that the donkey Balaam rode would speak to him. For it is impossible that she would have lived that long, from the six days of creation until the time of Balaam. Maharal writes as much in Derech Chaim, where he says that all these ten things were not actually created at dusk; it was the decree that G-d decreed which was created at dusk. For it is unlikely that the ram of Isaac lived from the six days of creation until the days of Abraham. And Rav says the same of the ram: it was decreed at dusk that it be caught in the brush by its horns at the moment of the Akeidah. [I have alread explained the meaning of “mouth” at the end of my comment on “the mouth of the earth”.]

and the manna of the wilderness.

And what is likely to me is that this was a miracle and that they were the work of God. And many hesitated in this, etc. And the author of the Ten Essays wrote (in the essay, Chakor Din, Part II, Chapter 20) that it was [so designed because it was] the work of God, which cannot be analysed with our intellects; not like the work of an ordinary one that [others] besides us would describe in front of us in the study hall and 'a youth could write them down.'

and the rainbow: as a sign of the covenant that there would not be another flood.

THE INSCRIPTION. Rav: the inscription could be read from all four directions. What seems most likely to me is that this was some kind of miraculous thing, “the work of G-d” (Exodus 32:16). Many of the commentators on the relevant passage in the Jerusalem Talmud strugled with this. See Ein Yaakov and Yefeh Mar'eh. I prefer the words of the most recent of the comentators, R. Menachem Azariah of Fano in his work Asarah Ma'amarot, in the treatise Chakor Din, 2:20, commenting on the passage in the Jerusalem Talmud. There he says that they were the “work of G-d” that our minds cannot imagine, “not like the work of some commoner that others have drawn for us in the study hall, which a boy could come up with”.

and the staff of Moshe, with which he did the signs.

Which is to say that therefore were they soft and not like our sapphire which is hard and not soft. But it was sapphire-like to behold 'and like the actual sky in purity.' And the tablets [here] are the first tablets, as regarding the second, Moshe chiseled them himself.

and the manna: that descended for Israel for forty years in the wilderness.

AND THE TABLETS. Rav: they were made of sapphire… and they could be rolled, and they were hewn from the sphere of the sun. I.e., they could be rolled, unlike our sapphire which is hard and cannot be rolled, because they were crystalline in appearance and pure like the stuff of the heavens.
Rashi writes that “the tablets” refers to the first tablets, for the second ones were made by Moses.

and the shamir: It was a type of long worm. And King Shlomo built the Temple with it, as he would place it on the stone and it would split (Gittin 68a). "And no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the House while it was being built" (I Kings 6:7).

And some say, etc.: In Derekh Chaim, he concludes that they are not coming to disagree, but rather each one adds on those that preceded him (with each addition corresponding to a progressively earlier part of twilight). As there are different times for twilight, as is learned in Shabbat 34b, etc. And another textual variant is, "[And some say] the ram of Isaac and the grave of Moshe. And some say also the destructive spirits; and some say also the tongs, etc." And see Tosafot Yom Tov.

and the staff [of Moshe]: with which the signs were preformed. And it was [made] of sapphire.

SOME SAY, EVEN THE MAZIKIN… SOME SAY, EVEN THE TONGS… Maharal concludes in Derech Chaim that these other opinions do not argue on the previous ones, each adding, rather, to the ones that preceded. For dusk has several parts, as the Talmud says in Shabbat 34b: what is dusk? Starting at sunset, as long as the eastern sky is red—the words of R. Yehudah. R. Nechemiah says: the time, starting at sunset, that it takes a man to walk half a mil. R. Yossi says that dusk is like the blink of an eye—day ends and night begins, and it is imperceptible. He writes that the number of times our mishna says “some say” varies by version. He establishes the correct version as: “[some say] the ram of Isaac and the grave of Moses”—for these are both necessary for two great righteous men—“and some say, even the mazikin, and some say, even the tongs.” These three “some say”s divide dusk—whatever dusk is being discussed, other than the dusk of R. Yossi, which does not last any amount of time at all—into three periods, for every measurable thing has a beginning, middle, and end. These are his words.
According to the Talmud, which says that our mishna should not include the tongs, there are only two additions. One corresponds to the dusk of R. Nechemiah, and the other to the dusk of R. Yehudah. And the same could be said for our version, which only has two “some say”s.
According to all opinions the first ten things were created simultaneously at the dusk of R. Yossi, so they remain constant.

and the letters: The Torah that was written in front of God, may He be blessed, from the six days of Creation with black fire on top of white fire.

and the shamir: It is like a type of worm, the [size of a grain of] barley in its entirety. When they would [place] it on the stones that were marked with ink [to demark what they wanted cut, the stones] would become indented on their own. And with it did they engrave the stones of the vest (ephod) and the breastplate, as it is written about them, "in their fullness."

and the writing: The form of the letters carved on the tablets.

the letters: The shape of the letters that were engraved on the tablets;

and the tablets themselves.

the writing: that they could be read from all four sides.

And some say, also the destructive spirits, and the burial place of Moshe: "And no man knew his burial place" (Deuteronomy 34:6).

the tablets: were [made] of sapphire. Their length was six and their width was six and their thickness was three, like a stone whose length, width and thickness are equal and it was split into two. And they were soft and they were quarried from the ball of the sun.

and the ram of Abraham, our father "caught in the thicket by its horns; and Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son" (Genesis 22:13).

And some say, also the tongs, made with tongs: These are pincers with which a blacksmith holds metal when it is hot until he makes it into a vessel. And we learned in a beraita in Tractate Pesachim 54a, "Rabbi Yehuda says, 'Tongs can be fashioned only with other tongs, but who fashioned the first tongs? Rather, (in its coming) [it was created] by the hands of Heaven.' They said to him, 'It is possible for one to make it in a mold and align it.'" And why was it necessary to count these ten things? To make known that all the Holy One, blessed be He, created, He created on condition that it change its nature when it is told [to do so] at a time when it is needed. As there is nothing (from the depths) [novel] in the world that did not come up in the thought [of God] in the story of Creation. When the luminaries (fell) [were suspended] on the fourth day, He decreed upon them that they would stand for Yehoshua and Hizkiyahu; the sea, that it should split for the Children of Israel; and so [on] with all of them. However, these ten went up into [His] thought "on the eve of the [first] Shabbat at twilight," [though] they are included in the things that [have change] embedded in them.

also the destructive spirits: These are the shedim (demons). As after the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam and Chava, he was involved in their creation. And when He created their spirits, He did not suffice to create their bodies before the [Shabbat] day was sanctified (began), and they remained spirits without a body.

and the ram of Avraham, our father: It was decreed about it at twilight that it would be stuck in the thicket by its horns at the time of the binding [of Yitschak].

also the tongs (tsevat), made with tongs: The [Aramaic] translation of (Numbers 4:9) "its tongs" is tsivtaha. The tongs can only be made with other tongs - and [so,] who made the first ones? Perforce they were made by themselves by the hand of Heaven; and they were created at twilight. And this was pushed off in the gemara in the chapter [entitled] Makom she'Nahagu (Pesachim 54a); and they said it is possible that the first tongs were made in a mold, as they cut the copper [for the tongs] with fire and cast it into the mold and it immediately became tongs.