מְגַלֶּ֣ה עֲ֭מֻקוֹת מִנִּי־חֹ֑שֶׁךְ וַיֹּצֵ֖א לָא֣וֹר צַלְמָֽוֶת׃
Inilalantad niya ang malalalim na bagay mula sa kadiliman, at inilalabas sa liwanag ang lilim ng kamatayan.
Rabbeinu Bahya
King Solomon compared the soul of a righteous person to אור, “a great light,” seeing that the soul provides spiritual light. It is derived directly from the celestial throne of glory. This light is not a derivative, but originates with G’d’s essence. By contrast, Solomon compared the soul of the wicked to a lamp, suggesting that it is merely a derivative, has no staying power of its own. It depends on oil and wick to keep it going. It is not a “self-starter.” As soon as either the oil supply fails or the wick develops some problem, the lamp is extinguished, i.e. the person dies. In other words, the body serves as the oil and wick of the soul of the wicked and it cannot survive the failure of his body. The reason is that the soul of the wicked does not derive his joy except from matters innately related to his body Although, technically speaking, a soul does not die, the punishment such a soul experiences may be far worse than death (compare author on Leviticus 18,29).
Seeing the wicked person did not pursue the path of light but the path of darkness, the attribute of darkness will be applied to him. This is a kind of destruction of the soul, an ongoing process involving unending painful afflictions.
Solomon stated this explicitly when he said in Proverbs 11,7: “when a wicked man dies his hopes perish.” Note that he did not say במות רשע, “when the wicked dies,” but במות אדם רשע, “when a wicked man dies.” The word אדם is meant to alert us that anyone who patterns his life after the attractions provided by what is earthly, אדמה, is considered a wicked individual. This is why, at the time of his death, he loses all the things he put his hopes in. After all, his hopes had focused only on matters of the body. He had not displayed any interest in matters spiritual, matters which should have been the prime concern of his soul. The word ידעך “will be extinguished,” is most appropriate to describe the demise of such a soul as it implies the cessation of light and constitutes the punishment of the sinful soul.
We may consider that the word דעיכה does not describe a total extinction of light but rather that the soul in question no longer experiences the amount of light which would be appropriate for it. We find the word used in Job 18,5 where Bildod speaks of the light of the wicked failing, (ידעך), “in that the flame of his fire does not shine.” In other words the meaning of that word is not exactly the same as כבוי, which would be a total extinction of the light. Isaiah 43,17 supports our point. The prophet says: ישכבו בל יקומו דעכו, כפשתה כבו, “they lay down to rise no more as they were extinguished; quenched like a wick.” It appears that the prophet speaks of two successive stages of light going out, the last stage כבו being the absolute extinction of any light.
However, in lauding the virtues of the righteous, Solomon mentions the word ישמח, “rejoice.” The righteous rejoices with the reward he receives for his righteousness. The expression שמחה is invariably applied to spiritual enjoyment due to the soul having attained new dimensions of Holy Spirit. Examples of such in Scripture are found in Psalms 104,31, ישמח ה' במעשיו, ”may the Lord rejoice in His works.” Another such example is found in Psalms 104,34 אנכי אשמח בו, “I will rejoice in Him (the Lord).” Seeing that the righteous serve the Lord joyfully while they are on earth they will enjoy an added degree of joy in the hereafter.
There is yet another reason why Solomon compared the soul of the righteous to light; the reason is that the souls were created on the first of the six days of creation simultaneously with the original light. (Compare author’s commentary on Genesis 1,4). There is a specific verse speaking about the souls in Chronicles I 4,23: ”These were the potters who dwelled at Netaim and Gederah; they dwelled in the king’s service.” (According to Bereshit Rabbah 8,6 the reference is to the souls of the righteous in the proximity of the King of Kings, the Lord). These souls were meant to benefit from this light which was created on the first day. In that particular passage in Genesis the Torah spoke of five different categories of light; we also find the נפש, “soul” appearing under five different names they are: רוח, נשמה, נפש, חיה, יחידה. Concerning this relationship between light and soul, David said in Psalms 119,130: פתח דבריך יאיר מבין פתיים, “the words You inscribe give light and understanding to the simple;” our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 3,1 comment on this verse that the opening words of the verse i.e. פתח דברים mean that as soon as G’d opened His mouth light came forth. The message is that as soon as “G‘d opens His mouth,” illumination, wisdom emerges. When the Torah writes; “G’d said let there be light, and there was light,” the meaning is that that this light came forth from the original darkness. It was quite unlike light produced by man. When man produces light he lights one candle from another, i.e. he adds light from an existing source of light. This matter is clear from the Torah’s description that there was only darkness over the entire expanse of the “deep” (Genesis 1,2). Job 12,22 confirms this state of affairs; “He draws mysteries out of the darkness and brings obscurities to light.” Another verse along the same lines is found in Daniel 2,22: הוא גלא עמיקתא ומסתרתא ידע מה בחשוכא ונהירא עמה שרא, “He reveals deep and hidden things, knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells within Him.” The word עמיקתא, “hidden things,” are understood by our sages as a reference to the מעשה מרכבה, “the mystical dimensions of what goes on in the celestial regions.” The word וסתרתא, on the other hand, refers to the mysteries of the process of creation. Seeing that G’d produced light out of darkness, it is quite clear that He does not need man-made light (such as supplied by the Menorah in the Tabernacle). In Psalms 139,12 David spelled this out when he said: ”darkness is not dark for You; night is as light as day; darkness and light are the same.” [the author quotes more such verses which I omitted. Ed.] Although we have seen that G’d is certainly not in any need of light supplied by man He legislated that the Tabernacle, His residence, be lit up internally by means of the lampstand, מנורה.
Seeing the wicked person did not pursue the path of light but the path of darkness, the attribute of darkness will be applied to him. This is a kind of destruction of the soul, an ongoing process involving unending painful afflictions.
Solomon stated this explicitly when he said in Proverbs 11,7: “when a wicked man dies his hopes perish.” Note that he did not say במות רשע, “when the wicked dies,” but במות אדם רשע, “when a wicked man dies.” The word אדם is meant to alert us that anyone who patterns his life after the attractions provided by what is earthly, אדמה, is considered a wicked individual. This is why, at the time of his death, he loses all the things he put his hopes in. After all, his hopes had focused only on matters of the body. He had not displayed any interest in matters spiritual, matters which should have been the prime concern of his soul. The word ידעך “will be extinguished,” is most appropriate to describe the demise of such a soul as it implies the cessation of light and constitutes the punishment of the sinful soul.
We may consider that the word דעיכה does not describe a total extinction of light but rather that the soul in question no longer experiences the amount of light which would be appropriate for it. We find the word used in Job 18,5 where Bildod speaks of the light of the wicked failing, (ידעך), “in that the flame of his fire does not shine.” In other words the meaning of that word is not exactly the same as כבוי, which would be a total extinction of the light. Isaiah 43,17 supports our point. The prophet says: ישכבו בל יקומו דעכו, כפשתה כבו, “they lay down to rise no more as they were extinguished; quenched like a wick.” It appears that the prophet speaks of two successive stages of light going out, the last stage כבו being the absolute extinction of any light.
However, in lauding the virtues of the righteous, Solomon mentions the word ישמח, “rejoice.” The righteous rejoices with the reward he receives for his righteousness. The expression שמחה is invariably applied to spiritual enjoyment due to the soul having attained new dimensions of Holy Spirit. Examples of such in Scripture are found in Psalms 104,31, ישמח ה' במעשיו, ”may the Lord rejoice in His works.” Another such example is found in Psalms 104,34 אנכי אשמח בו, “I will rejoice in Him (the Lord).” Seeing that the righteous serve the Lord joyfully while they are on earth they will enjoy an added degree of joy in the hereafter.
There is yet another reason why Solomon compared the soul of the righteous to light; the reason is that the souls were created on the first of the six days of creation simultaneously with the original light. (Compare author’s commentary on Genesis 1,4). There is a specific verse speaking about the souls in Chronicles I 4,23: ”These were the potters who dwelled at Netaim and Gederah; they dwelled in the king’s service.” (According to Bereshit Rabbah 8,6 the reference is to the souls of the righteous in the proximity of the King of Kings, the Lord). These souls were meant to benefit from this light which was created on the first day. In that particular passage in Genesis the Torah spoke of five different categories of light; we also find the נפש, “soul” appearing under five different names they are: רוח, נשמה, נפש, חיה, יחידה. Concerning this relationship between light and soul, David said in Psalms 119,130: פתח דבריך יאיר מבין פתיים, “the words You inscribe give light and understanding to the simple;” our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 3,1 comment on this verse that the opening words of the verse i.e. פתח דברים mean that as soon as G’d opened His mouth light came forth. The message is that as soon as “G‘d opens His mouth,” illumination, wisdom emerges. When the Torah writes; “G’d said let there be light, and there was light,” the meaning is that that this light came forth from the original darkness. It was quite unlike light produced by man. When man produces light he lights one candle from another, i.e. he adds light from an existing source of light. This matter is clear from the Torah’s description that there was only darkness over the entire expanse of the “deep” (Genesis 1,2). Job 12,22 confirms this state of affairs; “He draws mysteries out of the darkness and brings obscurities to light.” Another verse along the same lines is found in Daniel 2,22: הוא גלא עמיקתא ומסתרתא ידע מה בחשוכא ונהירא עמה שרא, “He reveals deep and hidden things, knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells within Him.” The word עמיקתא, “hidden things,” are understood by our sages as a reference to the מעשה מרכבה, “the mystical dimensions of what goes on in the celestial regions.” The word וסתרתא, on the other hand, refers to the mysteries of the process of creation. Seeing that G’d produced light out of darkness, it is quite clear that He does not need man-made light (such as supplied by the Menorah in the Tabernacle). In Psalms 139,12 David spelled this out when he said: ”darkness is not dark for You; night is as light as day; darkness and light are the same.” [the author quotes more such verses which I omitted. Ed.] Although we have seen that G’d is certainly not in any need of light supplied by man He legislated that the Tabernacle, His residence, be lit up internally by means of the lampstand, מנורה.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Looking at our verse from an homiletical point of view: the words “let there be light, there was light,” come to tell us that when human beings want light they must derive it from an existing source or form of light. How is it possible for man to create light out of darkness? G’d, on the other hand, produced light out of a universe wrapped in darkness. This is what Job recognised when he said (Job 12,22) מגלה עמוקות מני חשך ויוצא לאור צלמות, “He draws mysteries out of the darkness and brings obscurities to light.” Daniel phrased it similarly when he said (Daniel 2,22) הוא גלא עמיקתא ומסתרתא ידע מה בחשוכא ונהורא עמיה שרא. The word עמיקתא refers to what is known as מעשה מרכבה,”esoterics,” whereas the word מסתרתא refers to the creation of heaven and earth. The words ידע מה בחשוכא refer to the “darkness on the face of the deep,” whereas the words ונהורא עמיה שרא refer to G’d giving the directive “let there be light.” After it has become clear that G’d made light emerge out of darkness, we learn that night is part of the day, and that it is perfectly in order to refer to night as “day” as indeed we do on every festival when in our prayers we refer to יום חג המצות הזה, “this day the festival of unleavened bread,” even though the prayer in question is recited in the evening after dark. The same applies to the evening prayers of all the other festivals. On the other hand, “day” is never referred to as a part of night.
Rabbi Simon in Bereshit Rabbah 3,5 draws our attention to the fact that the word אור appears five times in our short paragraph. This is an allusion to the five Books of Moses. The words יהי אור refer to the first Book of Moses seeing that we read in that Book about the creation of light. The wordsויהי אור refer to the Book of Exodus where G’d provided light for the Jewish people when He orchestrated the Exodus and they emerged from spiritual darkness as well as from physical darkness. We read in Exodus 10,23, ולכל ישראל היה אור במושבותם, “and all the Israelites enjoyed light in their respective dwellings.” The words וירא אלוקים את האור refer to the Book of Leviticus which is full of commandments all of which provide us with spiritual light. The words ויבדל אלוקים בין האור ובין החשך, “G’d separated between the light and the darkness, are a reference to the Book of Numbers wherein we find that G’d made separations between those Israelites who had left Egypt as adults and those who had been under age and therefore were allowed to proceed to the Holy Land. The words ויקרא אלוקים לאור יום are a reference to the Book of Deuteronomy which is also full of many commandments providing us with further spiritual illumination. To sum up this particular Midrash: The first light is the creation of the universe; the second light is the redemption of the Jewish people from bondage; the third light is the light of repentance (the sacrificial rites are primarily designed to facilitate forgiveness through repentance of our sins). The fourth light is the Holy Temple and the fifth light is Torah and its commandments.
Rabbi Simon in Bereshit Rabbah 3,5 draws our attention to the fact that the word אור appears five times in our short paragraph. This is an allusion to the five Books of Moses. The words יהי אור refer to the first Book of Moses seeing that we read in that Book about the creation of light. The wordsויהי אור refer to the Book of Exodus where G’d provided light for the Jewish people when He orchestrated the Exodus and they emerged from spiritual darkness as well as from physical darkness. We read in Exodus 10,23, ולכל ישראל היה אור במושבותם, “and all the Israelites enjoyed light in their respective dwellings.” The words וירא אלוקים את האור refer to the Book of Leviticus which is full of commandments all of which provide us with spiritual light. The words ויבדל אלוקים בין האור ובין החשך, “G’d separated between the light and the darkness, are a reference to the Book of Numbers wherein we find that G’d made separations between those Israelites who had left Egypt as adults and those who had been under age and therefore were allowed to proceed to the Holy Land. The words ויקרא אלוקים לאור יום are a reference to the Book of Deuteronomy which is also full of many commandments providing us with further spiritual illumination. To sum up this particular Midrash: The first light is the creation of the universe; the second light is the redemption of the Jewish people from bondage; the third light is the light of repentance (the sacrificial rites are primarily designed to facilitate forgiveness through repentance of our sins). The fourth light is the Holy Temple and the fifth light is Torah and its commandments.
Tze'enah Ure'enah
Before this appeared,8According to Job, 12:22. it was already famous.9B. Megillah, 14b. It was praised in the city where it circulated, saying that nothing like this book was seen, incorporating the above mentioned commentaries. Therefore, they shook out the bosom of their garment,10Nehemiah, 5:13. with the aid of the Lord among the warriors,11Judges, 5:23. in the holy community of Lublin to undertake the divine task,12Exodus, 36:2. bringing it to the divine work to reveal the hidden hoards,13Deuteronomy, 33:19. and concealed wisdom of this book. Afterwards, it was printed twice in the holy community of Cracow. Nonetheless, it is cannot be found in the whole diaspora of Ashkenaz, except for one from a town and two from a clan.14Jeremiah 3:14. This made it necessary to bring it to the craft of the press in the city of Basel.