Parshah Bereshit - Genesis 1:4
The First Day of Creation
By Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Light and darkness
Parashat Bereshit Chapter 1
The First Day of Creation
1. In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth.
2. Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face
of the deep, and the spirit of G-d was hovering over the face of the water.
3. And G-d said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4. And G-d saw the light that it was good, and G-d separated between the light and between the darkness.
5. And G-d called the light “day”, and the darkness He called “night”, and it was evening and it was morning, one day.
4. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness: God saw that it is not proper that light and darkness should be serving in a confused state, and therefore He separated them, and set for one its realm during the day, and for the other its realm during the night.
According to the Midrash, He saw that it was not fitting for the light to be utilized by the wicked, so He separated it for the righteous in the World to Come.
The explanation of this statement of the Sages is, that the wicked conduct their lives in a “void that is astonishingly empty and dark”, and do not perceive the Godly light. This is a spiritual light that is perceptible by a person’s intellect (and is not like the light of the sun that shines during the day, which is perceptible by the human eye), and the wicked that choose “an astonishingly empty void and darkness” do not desire, nor are they able to derive pleasure from this spiritual light. But God has set this light aside for the righteous who have chosen of their own free will to seek out, by power of their intellect, and to find this spiritual light over the course of their lifetime. This “light” will be revealed to all in the World to Come, as it says, (Isaiah 30:26) “And the light of the sun will be seven-fold the light of the seven days of creation”, and (Malachi 3:18) “And you shall return and perceive the difference between the righteous and the wicked”.
Sources: Bi'ur Torat Moshe - Explanation of the book of Moses - Genesis by Rabbi Moshe Weiner
By Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Rabbi Moshe Weiner is the Rabbinical Director of the Academy and the author of the Divine Code of Law for Noahides. He is also the Overseeing Authority of the Legal Noahide Movement.
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