Let There Be Light – 1

1. “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” From this it sounds as though the Creator uprooted these plantings and planted them elsewhere, as it is written, “Let there be.”

The origin of ZON is below the Tabur of AK, where Malchut of the quality of judgment rules, on whom there was the first restriction not to receive the upper light. Had ZON stayed that way, they, too, would have been unable to receive upper lights for the worlds, like Malchut of the quality of judgment in them. For this reason, the Emanator uprooted ZON from the place of Malchut of the quality of judgment, and planted them in Malchut that has been associated with Bina, which is the quality of mercy, and is suitable for receiving the upper light. By this, ZON, too, have been made suitable for receiving upper lights for the worlds.

It is known that the six days of creation are the six Sefirot HGT NHY of ZA. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” was said in Hesed of ZA. Since it was said, “Let there be light,” in ZA, meaning he received the upper light, it means that the Creator uprooted ZON, which are called “plantings,” from the place of Malchut of the quality of judgment, and planted them in the place of Malchut that has been associated with the quality of mercy. If this were not so, how would ZA be able to receive the upper light, and how was it said about him, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” since Malchut of the quality of judgment is unfit to receive the upper light?

2. “And there was light,” a light that already was, since it is written, “Let there be light,” and it is not written, “and there was light.” The words “Let there be light” indicate that the Yod, Malchut, ascended inside the light of Yod-Hey, AVI, and the light of AVI was diminished by her connection with the Yod, and became Avir [air], indicating the level of Ruach, which is devoid of GAR. The three letters Yod-Hey-Yod [Hebrew: “Let there be”], which is a connection of Yod with Yod-Hey, imply this correction of the ascent of Malchut to the Yod-Hey. This is the correction of the right line.

Afterwards, in the correction of the left line, it is written, “And there was light,” that that Yod that connected with the Avir of AVI, went out from there once more, and the GAR returned to AVI, meaning that the Avir returned to being Ohr [light], namely that the state of GAR returned, as before they were diminished. For this reason, the words “and there was” imply that the light returned, that it already was before it was diminished in the verse “Let there be light,” since after the Yod went out from the Avir, the Avir returned to being light, as in the beginning, and there is no addition of light here.

3. When the Creator looked at those wicked generations that are unworthy of this light, He hid it, as it is written, “From the wicked, their light is withheld.” He concealed it for the righteous, and only for the righteous, as it is written, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright at heart.” “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”

There are five times “light” in the verses of the first day of the work of creation: “Let there be light,” “And there was light,” “And God saw the light, that it was good,” “And God divided between the light,” “And God called the light ‘day.’” These correspond to the five Sefirot HGT Netzah and Hod [NH], and the three Sefirot HGT are the three lines right, left, and middle, in a way that the verse, “Let there be light” is the right line, in which Malchut ascended to Bina and ended the light under the Hochma, and Keter and Hochma remained in the degree, and Bina and TM went out and descended from the degree, at which time the degree is discerned as VAK without GAR.

Afterwards, in the verse, “And there was light,” the left line was established, in which Malchut went out from Bina and returned to her place. At that time, Bina and TM returned and ascended to their degree, and connected with Keter and Hochma, and the GAR returned to the degree. Here, the division between right and left took place, and they could not shine.

Then comes the verse, “And God saw the light, that it was good.” This is the correction of the middle line, which diminishes the GAR of Hochma in the left, by which it sustains the illumination of the two lines so they shine as one. However, while the right line shines according to its conduct from below upward, the left line will shine only from below upward, and this illumination is regarded as VAK of Hochma.

That correction of the middle line, which diminishes the Hochma so it shines only from below upward is regarded as concealing the light of Hochma so it shines only for the righteous, who are worthy of receiving the illumination of Hochma from below upward. This is the prevention of the light from the wicked, since the wicked, who want to draw the light from above downward, the illumination is completely denied from them by the correction of the middle line, which concealed the light so it cannot shine from above downward.

When the Creator, the middle line, looked at those wicked generations that want to draw the light from above downward, which separates the left from the right and increases division between right and left, He concealed it. That is, He diminished the GAR of the left so it could not shine from above downward, as the wicked want, as it is written, “From the wicked, their light is withheld.” That light which the wicked want is the one that was withheld from them. He concealed it for the righteous, for those worthy of receiving the light from below upward.

The five letters Elokim [God] are the five Sefirot KHB TM. This correction of the right line in which Malchut ascended to Bina and ended the degree under the Hochma, leaving only two vessels KH in the degree, is discerned from the five letters Elokim, where the two letters Mem-Yod of Elokim remained in the degree, and the three letters ELEH [Aleph-Lamed-Hey] of Elokim went out from the degree. Hence, the right line is called MI.

It is written, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” This is the correction of the right line, which, with respect to the five letters Elokim, is called MI. MI is the right line, which cannot shine due to the dispute that occurred between the right line and the left line, awakened and intensified so it could shine from Tifferet, the middle line, called “east.”

In other words, through the middle line, which diminished the left so it would shine only from below upward, peace was made between right and left, and the illumination of Hassadim of the right line returned to the degree. You find that the name MI, the right line, awakened from the east, from the middle line.

4. “And God saw the light, that it was good.” He saw the deed of the wicked ones and concealed it, since “And God saw the light, that it was good” is the middle line, which diminishes the left so it shines only from below upward. This is regarded as concealing the light so as to deny the light from the wicked ones. “And God saw the light, that it was good,” namely that it was good to conceal it so the wicked ones would not sin in it.

“And God saw the light, that it was good,” that there was no anger in it, meaning that after the middle line concealed the light, the anger subsided and the dispute that was between right and left had calmed down.

It is written, “For it is good in the eyes of the Lord to bless Israel.” This means that there were no anger and judgments over Israel. Here, too, the meaning is that there were no anger and judgments. The end of the verse proves it, as it is written, “And God divided between the light and between the darkness.” This is why there was no anger in Him although the Creator associated them together.

The distinction that was made between the right line, light, and the left line, darkness, is the correction that the right line would shine from above downward, and the left line would shine only from below upward. As a result, they can shine together and there is no contradiction between them.

Before the distinction between them was made, there was a dispute between them since they could not shine together. Now that the distinction between them has been made, the dispute has subsided and peace was made between them to shine as one.

5. The upper illumination of the middle line is to shine that light of Hochma that was concealed, since from the illumination of Hochma, there is joy to everyone in it. The middle line is right, for the engraving of engravings, meaning the illumination of the left, which is full of judgments, which are called “engravings,” are crowned along with it. That is, the primary part of the middle line is in the illumination of Hassadim in the right, but the Hochma on the left is incorporated in it, too.

For this reason, there is the joy of everyone in it, whether from the right or from the left, as it is written, “How plentiful is Your abundance, which You have concealed for those who fear You.” This is the first light which the Creator concealed for the righteous, for those who fear sin. It is written, “And there was evening,” from the side of darkness, “and there was morning,” from the side of light. Since they join together, it is written, “one day.”

Although the first light was concealed by the middle line, He nevertheless did not intend to conceal it altogether. On the contrary, He meant that through the concealment, that light would be able to shine to the righteous, who fear sin, since they take care to receive that light from below upward.

There is no wholeness except through illumination of Hassadim on the right, together with the Hochma on the left. At that time, the joy of everyone is in the middle line, which unites them together. This is why the text ends, “And there was evening,” from the side of darkness, the left line, “and there was morning,” from the side of light, the right line. And since they are joined together by the middle line, it is written, “one day,” which is all the wholeness and the unity.

6. What is the reason that it is written about each day, “And there was evening and there was morning”? It is in order to know that there is no day without a night, and no night without a day; they cannot be separated.

The right line without the left is regarded as VAK without GAR. The left line without right is regarded as darkness, since the light of Hochma in the left cannot shine without Hassadim. Thus, both on the right line, which is day, and in the left line, which is night, there is no wholeness. Their entire wholeness depends on their uniting together. At that time, one is completed by the other, for the right is completed with GAR through the incorporation with the left, and the left can shine through the incorporation with the Hassadim on the right.

There is no day without a night since without the left line, the right, which is day, is devoid of GAR. There is no night without a day since the left line without the right cannot shine at all. Hence, they must always be incorporated together, and they cannot be separated since if they are separated, neither can shine.

7. That day on which the first light came out expanded through all the days of creation, since it is written “day” in all of them. The expansion of the first light is called “day.” Since there was an expansion of that light in all the days of creation, it is written in all of them “day.”

This is also implied from the fact that it is written “morning” in all the days of creation, and there is morning only from the side of the first light, which is incorporated in it. That is, the name “morning” indicates the beginning of the coming of the light, the first light.

The first day, which implies Hesed of ZA, goes with everyone, and everyone is incorporated in it in order to show that there is no separation in the six days of creation, which are HGT NHY of ZA, and they are all one.

8. “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” The expansion of that light will be extended downward, and those angels that were created on the first day have existence: to exist on the right side.

9. “And God saw the light, that it was good.” The word “the” comes to include the mirror that does not shine, Malchut, with the shining mirror, ZA, of which it is written, “that it was good.” That is, the word “the” comes to include, that Malchut was also included in the verse, “that it was good,” written about ZA.

“The” comes to include and incorporate those angels that come from the side of that light, for it is also written about them “that it was good,” and they all shine in the first, from the light of the first day, in complete existence.