The Light was Good

Parshas Bereshis opens with creation from nothing. The things that were absolutely created when HaKadosh baruch Hu spoke were heaven and earth. The kabalists say this includes the four basic elements of nature; fire, air, water, and earth. Earth is clearly stated in the verse. In describing the "spirit of G-d" the word for spirit is the same as wind (רוח). Water is explicitly mentioned as it says the, "spirit of G-d fluttered on the face of the water". The word flutter (מרחפת) is the same as a bird hovering, say flapping its wings, above its nest. The idea is one of movement and that is energy.

In the third verse G-d says, "Let there be light". This is the creation of light but it seems to be drawn from the four elements as opposed to being created from nothing. In the fourth verse it says, "G-d saw that the light was good". The use of the word "good" (טוב) introduces a moral dimension. This parallels the Sefer Yetzirah (1:5) which details the emanations from nothing. They are comprised of the three physical dimensions (length, width, depth), a dimension of time (beginning and end), and a moral dimension (good and evil). Light seems to be the bridge between the physical and moral dimensions.

The Or HaChaim brings Bereshis Raba (Chapter 2) that the spirit of G-d is the days of the Messiah. The Sforno explains that "good" refers to a desirable final goal. Therefore light is the medium through which the world achieves perfection. Rashi explains "the spirit of G-d" as the "throne of glory", suggesting that the goal of the creation is the kingdom of heaven on earth. He also discusses the separation of light and darkness explaining that it was not pleasing before G-d that light and darkness though be used as a tangled mixture (ערבוביא), therefore He fixed a border that this is day and this is night. This hints of a separation between good and evil.

Puzzlingly the Chumash lists the creation of the stars on the fourth day and describes them as illuminating lights (מאורות). It is often asked how can there be light from the first day of creation if the source of light was not created until the fourth day. The treatment of water provides a hint. The water beneath the heavens is gathered into seas and the dry land appears. This suggests that the previous state was a world of something like mud. It seems that kinetic energy is an aspect of light. This energy flows into the stars from which then shine their light on the universe. It is analogous to a light bulb attached to a generator powered by a windmill. So to speak the filament is radiating the light that is found in the air.

The world starts in a state of emptiness and chaos (תהו ובהו). In darkness this tangle remains. However in light we build and purify. The idea is that by means of the moral dimension of light we separate good from evil. In a state of ignorance and confusion, good and evil are very muddled. The light becomes especially intense when it is concentrated in the wise and righteous. From them it shines out to the entire creation ultimately perfecting man and establishing a world that is filled with knowledge of G-d like the water fills the sea (Isaiah 11:9).