  The problem of creation of the world is a good illustration of a topic where Falaquera seems to convey different opinions in different works. In his popular introductory works, Falaquera writes that among the true opinions of the Torah is that God “brought into existence the rest of the existents from non-existence” (Iggeret ha-Halom, 489), that it is the “root of the Torah to believe that there is a Creator of the world … and He brought into existence all the created beings from nothing, and to believe that the world is produced and is not eternal” (Sefer ha-Mevaqqesh, 65), and that while most of the philosophers disagree with our beliefs concerning creation, some of them actually do “believe in the production [of the world], but not in the way that we believe in it” (Iggeret ha-Vikkuah, 77; trans., 46). He thus seems to propound a view of creation ex nihilo, while acknowledging that most philosophers believe in eternity, although some believe in creation, but in a way different than we do, that is perhaps, creation from eternal matter. Falaquera does state in these works that knowledge of the true sciences is needed to comprehend the secrets of the Torah (e.g., Sefer ha-Mevaqqesh, 70–72).  One could wonder that if knowledge of philosophy and science is necessary for understanding the secrets of the Torah and if creation is one of these secrets, why the philosophers do not believe in it “in the way that we believe in it.” In the Moreh ha-Moreh, Falaquera clearly states that among the divine secrets is “how God, may He be exalted, created the created beings” (116). In this commentary, perhaps of all Falaquera’s writings the least likely to be read by the multitude, he reveals his own opinion that the world is not created from nothing. His precise view is debated, but he seems to hold that the world is created from eternal matter, a view that Maimonides had ascribed to Plato. In his introduction, he suggests that Plato’s view that the world is created and never destroyed derives from the Sages, but since the Sages knew the true interpretation of the Torah, this would seem to mean that Plato’s view was the true one (117). Later in the commentary, he repeats this view and writes that it appears to him that “Plato’s opinion inclines toward the opinion of our holy Torah” (259, on Guide II, 13). A bit later in the chapter he writes explicitly (261):