The very first creative act recorded in Genesis is the creation of light: "And God said, 'There shall be light."" (Genesis 1:3) But what kind of light was this?



It cannot be the light that we are familiar with, the light emanating from the sun and the stars, since the heavenly bodies were only created on the fourth day. The sages referred to the light of the first day as the Ohr HaGanuz, "the Hidden Light". What is the nature of this special illumination introduced at the beginning of Creation?



The sages taught (Sh'mot Rabbah 15:22) that certain topics that are mentioned only cryptically in the Torah were later elucidated by David in the book of Psalms. For example, the Torah relates that God created light after creating Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1:1-3). In Psalms, however, the order is reversed. There, the verse states that God first created the light and only afterward the Heavens: "He wrapped Himself in light like a garment, and spread out the heavens like a curtain." (104:3)



Several commentators noted: The verse in Psalms does not explain the Torah's account, but contradicts it, as it switches the order of creation. Furthermore, what does it mean that God "wrapped Himself in light like a garment"?



Matter and Form



The philosophers, especially the Maharal of Prague, distinguished between chomer, the raw material, and tzurah, the inner form or purpose. For example, wood is a raw material (chomer) that may be used in many different functional objects. Once we designate the wood as a table, the wooden table also has a tzurah, having acquired a purpose.



At the very beginning of Creation, there was only chomer. God created many varied elements, but they were formless, lacking function and purpose. Their disconnected and divided state is referred to as darkness: "darkness on the face of the depths" (Genesis 1:2) The Torah called this unstable primeval stage tohu and bohu, empty of form and chaotic.



Then, God created the Hidden Light. This special illumination played a critical role in Creation. Just as regular light allows us to see and relate to our surroundings, the Hidden Light enabled the different elements of creation to relate to one another. It dispelled the 'darkness,' the initial state when all objects were isolated, unable to relate and connect to each other.



In the terminology of the philosophers, the illumination of the first day stamped a functional tzurah on the material chomer of creation. Through this special light, the universe's myriad objects gained purpose and function, and were able to connect together towards a common goal.



Wearing Light



The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 3:4) poetically writes that "God wrapped Himself in [the light] like a garment, and illuminated the splendor of His glory from one end of the world to the other." What does it mean to 'wear light'? This figure of speech indicates that the light took on God's traits of oneness and unity, just as a garment takes on the shape of the one wearing it. By 'wrapping Himself in light,' God introduced an underlying unity in all aspects of creation, "from one end of the world to the other."



In summary, the description in Psalms does not contradict the account in Genesis. At first, God created Heaven and Earth in an isolated state, as chomer without form and purpose. This was the unstable state of tohu and bohu described in Genesis, when the diverse elements of Creation existed in darkness, lacking a unifying power.



Then God said, "There shall be light." God bound the matter together with a common purpose through the creation of light. With this unifying light, the universe was stabilized and completed. The psalm describes God 'wrapping Himself in the light,' and afterward, 'spreading out the heavens,' since the true formation of a stable world only took place after God created the Hidden Light. The psalm continues to describe the stability of the universe after the creation of light: "He founded the earth on its foundations, so that it will never falter." (104:5)



[Adapted from Midbar Shur pp. 95-96]