Kabbalah Library

332. “And God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.” It is written, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright at heart.” The Creator observed and anticipated that the world would not be able to stand without the foundation. And what is the foundation on which the world stands? It is the righteous, as it is written, “And a righteous, the foundation of the world.” This is the first foundation that the Creator created in His world, and it is called “light,” as it is written, “Light is sown to the righteous,” and also, from what is written, “And God saw the light, that it was good.” “That it was good” refers to the righteous.

333. That light, the light of the angels in the world of Yetzira, is what was created first, before the whole world. Were the heaven and the earth not created first? After all, it is written, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”? However, what is written up to the words “Let there be light” is the telling of things, while “Let there be,” the light of the angels, is the first, and from here began all created beings.

334. This is truly the light of the throne, the light of the world of Beria [creation], which is called “the throne.” From this light, all created beings were created, and from it, the heaven were created. The throne was created first, as it is written, “A glorious high throne from the beginning.”

335. The light of the angels was created first, as it is written, “And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided between the light and between the darkness.” The Creator divided between the light of the angels and the darkness, which is this world, and the heaven divide between this world and the light of the angels, and they divided in between, between the light and between the darkness.

336. The Creator gave governance to the angels over the heaven, over the world of Yetzira, and the heaven over the earth, the world of Assiya. All of them are hanging on His throne, the world of Beria, indicating that “high watches over high.”

337. “Let there be light.” One who sees stars in their tracks must bless, “Blessed be He who arranges the stars in the firmament.” If he sees one star, he does not bless; two, he blesses. When does he bless? When it is already night, we bless “Blessed is He who makes evenings.”

These stars that he sees are thin stars, which are unseen during the day for fear of the animals of the field. We bless, “who guards His people forever.” Therefore, in this manner, they established praying for guarding from harm-doers all through the evening prayer.

339. Everything that the Creator did, whether the sky, the stars, or the signs, has in them knowledge and gumption, and they all do the mission of the Creator. There is not one comet, but there are many, that one is seen on this side, and one on that side, and sometimes they all shine at the same time.

340. They are seven stars, and when the time of each of them to say psalms arrives, for all the joy that there is in them, they send their brightness and go to say psalms.

341. The seven stars do not go and do not journey from their place, except when the Master of the world calls one of them to shine in the place where He wants, as it is written, “He calls them all by name.” When they journey, they send their brightness to go with them.

342. One star was going to do the will of his Creator, a comet that follows his Master’s commandment.

343. Rabbi Elazar and his father-in-law sat and learned at night. When daylight came, they walked early. His father-in-law walked with him about half a mile. His father-in-law blessed him and said, “Now is the time when the blessing of the righteous comes true, as it is written, ‘And God saw the light, that it was good,’ and as it is written, ‘For it is good in the eyes of the Lord to bless Israel,’ teaching that the blessing is good and persists when the day has risen. The blessing of every person comes true at that time when the heaven and the stars and the angels say psalms.”

344. Additional blessing is added to one who sets out on the road at daybreak. It is joy because at that time, the heavens say as it is written, “The heavens tell of the glory of God,” and he is happy like a groom coming out of his Huppah [wedding canopy]; so is one who set out on the road when the day breaks.

345. “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” It is written, “The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, ‘Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?’” All the exiles that Israel were exiled from their land, the time of all of them was revealed to all. In Egypt, 430 years, in Babylon, seventy years, and the time of the fourth exile was not revealed to the world. But which is the fourth exile? It is the one from Seir, who is Esau, as it is written, “And Esau dwelled in Mount Seir.”

346. His name is called Seir after the force and the strength of the heavy burden that deny from Israel the Torah and the work. This is the burden that is placed on the soul of Israel, since Seir is “force” in Gematria (580), and that exile that Israel dwell in is the burden of Dumah. It is in secret, meaning its end has not been revealed, a matter that was not revealed from the heart to the mouth.

347. It is written, “And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beit Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.” The Creator said, “Fools are those who calculate the ends [days] of the Messiah, which is something I did not disclose to the world, as it is written, ‘For the day of vengeance is in My heart.’ The heart does not reveal to the mouth, yet they try to know the end.”

348. Three signs are seen in the burial of Moses My servant, which I have written and shown to the generations of the world, and these are they: In the valley, in the land of Moab, in front of the house of Peor. I held and gave signs to the whole world, and yet, they do not know his burial place, as it is written, “but no one knows his grave.” Something I did not reveal and did not show, how are they saying such nonsense and lie in this before the Creator?

349. “The burden of Dumah calls me from Seir.” These are Israel who are calling the Creator because of the heavy burden of the people of Seir. They say, “Watchman, what of the night?” They wish to say, “Lord of the world, You are the guardian of Israel, the Lord, until when will we be in this exile, which is like the night? Tell us, what of the night? What will come of this night? When will You take us out of it?”

350. Afterwards, it is written, “The watchman said, ‘The morning comes, and also the night.’” The Creator said, “The watchman of Israel, the morning comes, I have brought and took you out from the previous exile, but you did not merit being in the morning,” in complete redemption. “And also the night,” I have brought you the night, as well, and I have darkened you in the pit of this exile, which is like the night. If you seek to know the end of your redemption, when it will be, when you will come to your land, repent, for the end of the exile depends only on repentance, as it is written, “Today, if you obey His voice.”

351. When the world was created, that great intimation was made, that the last end will be in the secret of secrets, as it is written, “And God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’” Let there be a secret, since “secret” and “light” are one and the same because light in Gematria is Rav [one of the words for secret] (207). The meaning of the verse is that God feared for that secret since it is good to be in a secret and in concealment so it is not revealed to any person. If it were revealed, several villains from our nation will go to Hell because of the prolonging of the end.

352. And for being in a secret and concealment, God divided between the light and between the darkness, between His nation Israel, which is the light, and between the nations, who are the darkness, as it is written, “And the wicked shall be silent in darkness,” and it is also written, “They shall walk in the dark.” “And God called the light ‘day’” is the day of the end of the redemption, as it is written, “Behold, a day of the Lord is coming”; this is the day of the end.

353. Over what was the day of the Messiah prolonged from this exile? It was prolonged only because of cancelation of Torah. Israel had three exiles, and they returned thanks to three patriarchs. And from the fourth exile, they will return thanks to Moses, thanks to engaging in His Torah.

354. Israel were exiled only because of cancelation of the Torah, as it is written, “And the Lord said, ‘because they have forsaken My law [Torah].” The Creator said, “In the first exiles, they returned thanks to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now they have sinned against the Torah [law] that I had given to Moses, in that they did not engage in Torah, which is called after him, as it is written, ‘Remember the law of My servant Moses.’ When they repent and engage in His law, thanks to Moses, I will redeem them.”

355. This is why it is written in the Torah, “Moses commanded a law for us,” that he commanded us to observe it and engage in it. And if not, “a heritage of the congregation of Jacob.” Heritage means poverty, as it is written, “The Lord inherits and enriches,” teaching that poverty comes to the daughter of Jacob only because they did not engage in the commandments of the Torah.

356. Rabbi Hizkiya said, “I was in a place of twilight, and I saw people hiding in a cave in the mountains, and come to their homes from the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath] to the eve of Shabbat. I told them, ‘What is this that you are doing?’ They said to me, ‘We are retiring from the world and engage in Torah each and every day. Sometimes, we eat nothing but the herb of the field.’

357. “I said to them, ‘And at other times, what is your nourishments?’ They replied, ‘We find in the desert trees that grow food and we eat them. When the law shines for us, from all the joy, one of us departs from us and cooks them, and we eat. That day is regarded for us as the best. When those trees do not grow, we eat herbs that we find, and cook them and eat.’

358. “I said to them, ‘May my share be with you for the next world. Happy are you in this world and you will be well in the next world. Now I know that you will not be in shame when Moses comes to demand the affront of the Torah.’ I said to them, ‘My sons, please, what novelty was innovated for you on this day?’

359. “They told me a verse, ‘And God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ Great is the addition from the light, for there was a light of which there was none like it. It is the light of the great intellect which was formed from the light of the brightness of His splendor. This is the one who stands behind the veil.’”

By the words, “Let there be light,” the Katnut [smallness/infancy] of ZA came out, VAK, because of the Yod that entered the light and it became air. These VAK are regarded as the core of ZA, and by the words “Let there be light,” the Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] of ZA came out, Mochin of GAR, which are not the core of ZA but an addition. “Core” means that there cannot be less than that, since ZA is never less than VAK. “Addition” means that it is not dependent on it, that at times it has GAR and at times it does not have GAR.

This is why it was said “Great is the addition,” GAR, which emerged with the words “Let there be light,” from the light, from the VAK that emerged by the words “Let there be light.” Although VAK are the core of ZA, and GAR are only an addition, still, the light of the addition is greater than the core light. All this is light of the world of Atzilut, which is the one that stands behind the veil, above the screen that separates Atzilut from the worlds below it.

360. It is written, “Cloaked in light like a garment,” teaching that the Creator made the rest of the angels in that first light of ZA, from that very same light. However, there is a screen and a Parsa that separates between Atzilut and the world of the angels. Yet, as it is a distinct and conceptualized matter, so are the rest of the angels distinct and conceptualized matters, although their attainment is not like His attainment.

This is so because the veil darkens them. The attainment of the angels is great attainment; there is nothing like it below them. However, their attainment is smaller than what is above them.

361. The second attainment is the attainment of the heaven, who attain attainment. What is below them does not attain like they do. The third attainment is attainment of the bottom degree, whose foundation is dust. This is the attainment of people, which the rest of the created beings in this world do not attain.

362. Opposite these three merits, there are three mental forms in man: The first form is the noetic soul, which corresponds to the world of Atzilut. The second form is the speaking soul, corresponding to the attainment of the heaven. The third form is the beastly soul, which craves passion corresponding to the attainment of people. This is the soul that will embezzle a fraud.

363. Some say this: The first soul is the beastly soul, corresponding to the bottom degree that we have said, which is attainment of people. The speaking soul corresponds to the attainment of the heaven. This is of higher merit than the first. The noetic soul corresponds to the degree of angels, and this is the highest merit among all of them.