Musar su Ecclesiaste 3:14

A different approach to the meaning of the expressions אימה, חשיכה, גדולה-נופלת, is taken by the Arizal, who sees in אימה, an allusion to the generation of Enosh, during whose lifetime one third of the earth was flooded. G–d had done this in order to inspire fear and reverence for Him in mankind, hence the word אימה, fear. חשיכה refers to the generation of the deluge, when according to our sages the luminaries ceased to function, hence the word חשיכה, darkness (Yerushalmi Pesachim 1,1). The word גדולה refers to the generation of the Tower, i.e. מגדל, and the word נופלת refers to the destruction, i.e. תהפוכה of Sodom whose inhabitants were destroyed body and soul. What Abraham experienced was the awareness that these four events represented delays in G–d's plan for His universe, and that the earth needed תקון, a reformation in order to get back on the "right track." Abraham was seventy years old when He received G–d's first assurance that his descendants would possess the Holy Land. An allusion to this is found in the verse יצב גבולת עמים, "He establishes the boundaries of the nations" (Deut. 32,8). In that verse Israel is contrasted with the other seventy nations.

Now we see that everything depends upon Fear of Heaven, and that the whole Torah is of no use to a man unless it is accompanied by Fear of Heaven, which is the very peg upon which everything hangs. And it is Fear of Heaven alone that stands by a man forever and ever. And thus did David testify, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever" (Ps. 19:10). And thus also King Solomon testified and said, "And God hath so made it, that men should fear before Him (Eccl, 3:14). And it is written, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and turmoil therewith" (Prov. 15:16).

I have explained at length that "evil" is distilled from "good,” that it has only been created, נברא, for the sake of the good, i.e. הטוב. Without רע, "evil," there could not have been such a concept as טוב, "good." G–d arranged that people should fear him; this is why the advantage of light is something that is due to the potential power of darkness. This is the deeper meaning of the Torah saying that both luminaries were created equal in size even though the word מארת is spelled defective, without the letter ו indicating the plural. The idea is to tell us that the luminary later described as המאור הקטן, the smaller luminary, is really part of the overall expression "luminaries." The טוב must be understood as the "great luminary," whereas the "small luminary" refers to darkness, חשך. When you look closely at the letters in the word מאורות (when spelled plene), you will find the words for "light" and "death," i.e. אור and מות. The word מות is separated by the letters spelling אור, light. This is a hint that light (the light of Torah) separates or neutralises the power of מות, death. The same does not apply to the Gentiles or to the wicked. They walk in [unbroken] darkness, not in light, and in the language of our sages are referred to as "dead" even while their bodies are "alive" (Berachot 18). For them death is an ongoing experience, not broken or interrupted by light. Of the righteous the Psalmist says (Psalms 116,15): יקר בעיני ה' המותר לחסידיו, "The death of His pious ones is a precious event in the eyes of G—d." Elsewhere I explained the meaning and nature of death at length. The letter מ is an allusion to the angel of death. It is the very letter from the word מפריו from Genesis 3,6 :"ותרא האשה…ותקח מפריו ותאכל ותתן". We have the letter ו and ת four times in that verse plus the letter מ. This is an allusion to Eve having surrounded herself with the angel of death from all four sides. I have written more about this in my treatise תולדות האדם. Anyone who wants a deeper understanding of this must take the trouble to read the entire introduction even though it is lengthy.