Halakhah zu Jeschijahu 30:26

The meaning of “was empty and void” (“tohu vavohu”) (Genesis 1:2) is that it contained neither man nor animal. As Jeremiah explains, “I saw the land and it was empty and void (tohu vavohu)” (4:23), for which he explains the meaning afterward by saying, “I saw and there was no man” (ibid. 4:25) nor “animal” (ibid. 9:9). Similarly, “like the light of the seven days” (Isaiah 30:26) is an explanation of “sevenfold” (ibid.). Also, “that which I will be” (Exodus 3:14) explains “I will be” (ibid.). I have already explained the mystery of “sevenfold.”¹⁶ In his Alternative Commentary to Genesis (1:14), Ibn Ezra explains that the light increasingly intensified over the seven days of Creation, hence “sevenfold” means that there were seven stages to the light. Our Rabbis hinted at this when they said that on the fourth day the luminaries were hung (Hagiga 12a). How admirable to the intelligent is the choice of the word “hung.”¹⁷ The description of Creation in the book of Genesis deals only with creation of the lower world, the world of generation and decay, and it does not expound on the creation of the heavenly bodies. So all Scripture tells us about the heavenly bodies is that they were “hung” and visible to the lower world. Thus the words of Jeremiah disprove those who say that “tohu vavohu” means that there was no earth.

It's taught in Sanhedrin 42a: "And Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina says that Rabbi Asi says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: With regard to anyone who blesses the new month in its proper time, it is as if he greets the Face of the Divine Presence. Alluding to this, it is written here concerning the sanctification of the new month: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months” (Exodus 12:2), and it is written there, where the Jewish people encountered the Divine Presence at the splitting of the sea: “This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Exodus 15:2). The term “this” is employed in both verses. The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: If the Jewish people merited to greet the Face of their Father in Heaven only one time each and every month, it would suffice for them, since in the blessing of the moon there is an aspect of greeting the Divine Presence. Abaye said: Therefore, we will say the blessing while standing, in honor of the Divine Presence." Behond it's clear that sanctification of the moon is a great and terrible matter like greeting the Shechina. And certainly there are great and terrible secrets regarding it, as the wise receivers of tradition have elaborated: the matter of the moon's diminishing and the matter of the First Man's sin, they touch one another. In the future, when the First Man's sin is rectified - then the diminishing of the moon will also be rectified. And regarding that moment it is said "And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun" (Isaiah 30:26).