ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף בראשית 1:18

d) In relating God’s utterance,⁶Bereishis 1:14. the narrative states that the luminaries were created “to make a distinction between the day and the night.” However, in the description of the fashioning of the luminaries it is written that they were created for two purposes:⁷Ibid. 1:18. “to rule during the day and during the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness.” If the distinction between day and night is the same as the distinction between light and darkness, it is necessary to understand why God’s statement does not mention ruling during the day and night. Furthermore, if day and night, and light and darkness are identical, the narrative should have stated simply, “to make a distinction between them.” Conversely, if the distinction between light and darkness is not the same as the distinction between day and night, God’s statement and the description of the actual fashioning of the luminaries are not the same at all. The description of the actual fashioning of the luminaries is totally different from God’s description of their being brought into being.

This also leads to another question: The passage in Chulin should have cited a prooftext for God’s instruction to the moon to rule during the day and the night, quoting the verse,⁴³Bereishis 1:18. “to rule during the day and during the night.” If you would say that this verse was not cited since it does not prove that the moon was given authority to rule alone, that will lead to another question: What is the source which led the author of this passage to maintain that God told the moon to rule alone during the day and the night? The simple meaning of the verse is that the charge was delivered to both the sun and the moon.

The question why the moon’s complaint, “Of what use is a candle in broad daylight?” was not obvious to God, is not a valid question at all. For the sovereignty granted the moon during the day and the night does not refer to its being visible during the day. Were that to be the intent, why would the verse use the phrase “to rule”? If that were the meaning, the verse should have stated, “to be seen”. However, the intent is that since the moon is also seen during the day, it has a measure of sovereignty during the day as well, according to the powers granted it, as Ramban writes:²⁵See Ramban’s commentary to Bereishis 1:18. We have corrected a printing error. The standard version of the text cites Rambam, rather than Ramban. It is possible that the “sovereignty” granted the moon also includes the power of emanation, that sovereignty radiates from them. The sun and the moon are the governors of the lower realms, and through their power every reigning power and constellation rules; the mazal i.e., the “spiritual source” that causes growth during the day governs the day, and the mazal that causes growth during the night governs the night, as reflected in the interpretation of the phrase,²⁶Devarim 4:19. “which God, your Lord, apportioned to all the nations.” This was God’s intent in instructing the moon to “rule during the day and during the night,” that the sovereignty granted the moon also be an active force during the day.