Musar к Берешит 1:4

The luminaries, מאורות, were created on the first day, the intention being to provide light for a universe which had not yet been formed. No doubt, G–d had revealed to Earth the secret that these luminaries would be hidden later on, that a different light would be hung in the sky to provide light on earth. This is what is described in the Torah's report of the fourth day of Creation. The power of negative forces in this world, known as קליפות, is due to the diminution of the power of the original luminaries. This situation will continue through to the messianic age. In the present world the קליפה always precedes the fruit, even in the sequence in which man's children were born.

To get back to the puzzling discussion in Baba Kama 54. Rabbi Chiya bar Abba understood the question of Rabbi Chanina ben Agil as a twofold one. If he would give one kind of answer this would raise a new problem. If he gave the other answer it would also result in a further question. If the mention of "good" in 5,16, i.e. in the second set of the tablets, referred to "good" in the World to Come, this kind of "good" should have been mentioned in the first set of the tablets. If, on the other hand, the word ייטב in 5,16 refers to the good to be experienced in this world and it is therefore logical that it was omitted in the first set of tablets since these tablets represented the entire Torah [and we do not expect reward for Torah observance in this world Ed.], it should also have been omitted from the text of the second set of tablets. Rabbi Chiya replied that before assuming glibly that what was written in the second set of tablets referred to a "true good," one must first establish if that indeed is what the word ייטב in 5,16 is all about. He added that he himself had another query to which he did not have the answer, namely the exact meaning of "true good," הטוב האמיתי. He meant that he did not know whether to understand the word ייטב in 5,16 as being spelled with the vowel שורוק and thereby referring to the "hidden" good, or whether it was spelled with the vowel חולם and referred to manifest "good." In the latter case the question why it was not written in the first set of tablets is much stronger. If the only reason it was left out from the text of the first set of tablets was because it was in a domain which no human eye has ever beheld, then the very need to give the Jewish people a second set of tablets had itself removed such "good" even further from any human eye due to the sin of the golden calf. It should therefore certainly not have been written on the second set of tablets at all. This is why Rabbi Chiya sent the questioner to Rabbi Tanchum. Eventually the response was received that it had been foreseen that the first set of tablets would be smashed. What this meant was that there was both a נגלה, revealed, and a נסתר, hidden element in the tablets. The tablets i.e. the material, represented the נגלה aspect, whereas the letters i.e. the spiritual part, represented the נסתר aspect of the Ten Commandments. Our sages (Pesachim 87) are on record that when Moses smashed the tablets the letters "flew away." These letters were then stored in the Celestial Regions together with other things which are all "good." At the beginning of Creation, when G–d had created light and had surveyed His activity (Genesis 1,4), He described the light as "good." At that point there was only a single טוב, i.e. it was כולו טוב. G–d then took a look at what the wicked would do in the future and He decided to hide this "good" for a future when the wicked would no longer be active. This original light had returned to earth at the time of מתן תורה, but when the Jewish people committed the sin of the golden calf Moses broke the tablets as a sign that the recently restored original light was once more being withdrawn. There will come a future, however, when this light will be restored and the world will then qualify for the description כולו טוב, totally, absolutely good. The word "good" appears as part of the text of the second tablets then to serve as a beacon of hope for us of this future we can still look forward to. Had the word appeared first on the first set of tablets and been smashed, the impression might have been created that there would never again be a return to the idyllic state of affairs at the time G–d had created the absolute good, i.e. the original light. The absolute "good" is an allusion to the Unity of the Creator; were one to believe that there would not be a future of "absolute good," this would be tantamount to giving up on G–d's great Name ever becoming manifest again. This concludes our "overview" of the three great gifts we have received from G–d. Now let us turn to the details of these gifts.

G–d realized immediately (remember that the word in the Midrash used for this is ראה) that the kind of people whose souls (spiritual capacity) are of a lower order, seeing that they are further removed from the שרש, would not be able to survive for long in a universe that was based solely on the attribute of Justice. The word ראה implies a situation of גלוי, that something had already been revealed, was no longer in a realm hidden from all but the highest בני עליה.

The expression הבדלו, "become separate!" which Moses used in 16,21, also alludes to the "separation" of waters that took place during the second day of Creation (Genesis 1,7). "Separations" are indications of creational activity. Originally, all of Creation had been for the sake of "Adam". Since Adam however, grew apart from G–d, Aaron was brought "close to G–d" in his place when he became the High Priest. We have explained all this based on the Midrash in our commentary on the portions that comprise תורת כהנים.