I TORAH PORTION I
442'‘°nshaaief"N CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK
1989 Fall Course Selection 5750
INSTITUTE FOR ADULT JEWISH STUDIES
(9
1W° Different Kinds
Of Light In Creation
RABBI LANE STEINGER
Special to. The Jewish News
I
n one of our beautiful
biblical paeans of praise,
the psalmist sang, "For
with You is the fountain of
life; In Your light do we see
light" (Psalms 36:10).
Light is one of the major
theines of the creation story
in the Torah. Indeed, the
focus of the first and of the
fourth "days" of creation is
light:
God said: Let there be light;
and there was light. God saw
that the light was good, and
God separated the light from
Bereshit:
Genesis 1:1-6:8,
Samuel 20:18-42.
darkness. God called the light
day, and the darkness God
called night. And there was
evening and there was morn-
ing, day one (Genesis 1:3-5).
God said: Let there be lights
in the expanse of the heavens
to separate day from night;
they shall serve as signs for the
set times, the days and the
years; and they shall serve as
lights in the expanse of the
heavens to shine upon the
earth. And it was so. God
made the two great lights, the
greater light to dominate the
day and the lesser light to
dominate the night, and the
stars. And God set them in the
expanse of the heavens to
shine upari the earth, to
dominate the day and the
night, to separate light from
darkness. And God saw that
this was good. And there was
evening and there was morn-
ing, day four (1:14-19).
Light appears on the first
"day," but the sun, the moon
and the stars do not arrive on
the scene until later (the
fourth "day"). How can this
be so?
One possible explanation is
that the light in both cases
was the same. This was the
opinion of some of our rabbis.
As the Talmud records, "The
sages taught: The luminaries
were created on the first day,
but not suspended [in the sky]
until the fourth day"
(Chagigah 12a).
A second plausible inter-
pretation holds that the
primeval light of creation is
an impenetrable mystery that
can not be known to or by us.
This was the position taken
by the "elders of the Negev"
Lane Steinger is senior rabbi
of Temple Emanu-El
when Alexander the Great
asked them, "Was light
created first, or darkness?"
They replied, "This question
cannot be solved" (Tamid
32a).
Yet a third explication
maintains that the light of
day one and the light of day
four are distinct and different
from each other. This third
alternative also is present in
classic sources. For example,
Nachmanides, in commen-
ting upon "and there was
light," wrote, "the verse does
not say, 'And it was so,' as is
stated for the rest of the days,
because the light did not re-
main in this [original] state
for all time as did the other
acts of creation."
The notion that there were
(and are) two kinds of light is
attractive, persuasive and in-
structive. The second form of
light, the light emitted by the
sun and the stars and
reflected by the moon actual-
ly "shines upon the earth"
and has served as a useful
tool by which humanity has
measured and marked time,
the days, the months and the
years. It is the light that has
been probed and studied by
science. It is the subject mat-
ter of optics. It is a form of
radiation represented by the
models of emanating waves
and of photon particles. But
more than all of this, it is one
of the essentials without
which physical being cannot
exist.
The primal light is com-
pletely disparate. It is the
light of God, which flows from
the divine spirit into our
world and into our lives. It is
the light that cannot be
measured; but the effects of
which can be known and ex-
perienced. It is the subject of
religious faith. It is necessary
for the existence of spiritual
being.
Judaism instructs us that
we can be bearers of this type
of light. Thfough attitudes of
reverence and respect for
God's creation, and by means
of acts of caring and compas-
sion for God's creatures, we
reflect that divine light that
has shone in the universe
since the beginning. Its inten-
sity and the emergence of the
original, spiritual day out of
darkness depend upon us.
Thus the Torah teaches us
that both forms of light — the
natural luminescence and the
metaphysical effulgence -.-
are present in the universe.
Both are good. Both il-
luminate, but in different
ways. El
Tuesday Evenings
November 14 to December 5 - 7:30-9:30 p.m.
A Scholar-in-Residence Weekend
with
RABBI JOEL ROTH — NOVEMBER 11-12
Rabbi Roth will deliver the Sermon in the Main Sanctuary
on "Conservative Judaism and Jewish Law"
November 11 - 10:30 a.m.
7:30 Jewish Ethical Values:
Israeli Folk Dance The Key to Judaism: Living and
TO The Challenge of Modernity
Understanding the Jewish Holidays
8:20 Rabbi Irwin Groner Shelly Komer Jackier
Aviva Silverman
Aspects of Jewish Life
In Detroit: 19141967
Prof. Sidney Bolkosky
8:35
TO
9:30
lbvye: Tragic Hero
or Comic Figure
Aliza Shevrin
Practice Makes Perfect:
An Introduction to
Jewish Ritual Practice
Rabbi Chuck Diamond
Sex in the 'texts
Rabbi William Gershon
A Special Guest Lecture by:
PROFESSOR TODD ENDELMAN
December 12 - 8:00 p.m. - Adler Hall
Institute for Adult Jewish Studies — REGISTRATION FORM
NAME
HOME PHONE
ADDRESS
BUS. PHONE
CITY
ZIP
I would like to enroll in the Class(es) checked below:
7:30 to 8:20 P.M.
❑ JEWISH ETHICAL VALUES
❑ ISRAELI FOLK DANCE
❑ LIVING AND UNDERSTANDING
JEWISH HOLIDAYS
❑ TEVYE: TRAGIC HERO OR COMIC.
TUITION IS:
$15.00 per person - members
$25.00 per person - non-members
❑ ASPECTS OF JEWISH LIFE IN DETROIT
❑ SEX IN THE TEXTS
❑ PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
AN INTRODUCTION TO JEWISH
RITUAL PRACTICE
Please return this completed form with tuition fees made payable to
Congregation Shaarey. Zedek to: Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
27375 Bell Road, P.O. Box 2056, Southfield, MI 48086-2056
For further information contact
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Rabbi William Gershon, 357-5544
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American
Red Cross
17 Metro Locations
including
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585-5494
Milt Neuman, Manager
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*Free Groom's Tuxedo Rental
with a party of six or more.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
55