How the Light of the World Streams from the Temple

Rabbi Chiyya taught: From the very beginning of the creation of the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw the Temple built, destroyed, and rebuilt. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) -- this is built. "And the earth was unformed and void" (ibid. 2) -- behold, destroyed. "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (ibid. 3) -- behold, built and perfected in the time to come. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: Because in this world people walk by the light of the sun in the day and by the light of the moon at night, but in the time to come they will not need to walk by the light of the sun in the day nor by the light of the moon at night. What is the reason? "The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor shall the brightness of the moon give light to you" (Isaiah 60:19). By whose light will they walk? By the light of the Holy One, blessed be He. This is what is written, "But the LORD shall be your everlasting light" (ibid.). Rabbi Chanina said: There were windows in the Temple, and from them light went out to the world. What is the reason? "And he made for the house windows broad within and narrow without" (1 Kings 6:4) -- they were broad and narrow, narrow within and wide without, in order to send light out to the world. Rabbi Levi said: It is the way of the world that a person builds himself a hall and makes its windows narrow without and wide within, in order to bring light into it. But the windows of the Temple were not so; rather, they were narrow within and wide without, in order to send light out to the world. Rabbi Berachya in the name of Rabbi Betzalah: It is written, "and the windows belonging to it and its porches" (Ezekiel 40:25); it is not written like windows, but rather like the windows (ibid.) -- they were dimmed windows, narrow within and wide without, in order to send light out to the world. Rabbi Shimon ben Yotzedek sent and asked Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman, saying: Since I have heard that you are a master of aggadah, from where did light go out to the world? He said to him: The Holy One, blessed be He, wrapped Himself in a white robe, and the entire world shone from the splendor of His glory. He said this to him in a whisper. He said to him: It is an explicit verse, "He covers Himself with light as with a garment, He stretches out the heavens like a curtain" (Psalms 104:2), and you tell me in a whisper? He said to him: Just as it was told to me in a whisper, so I told it to you in a whisper. And had Rabbi Yitzchak not expounded it in public, it would not have been possible to say it. Before this, what did they say? Rabbi Berachya said: From the place of the Temple, light went out to the world. What is the reason? "And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory" (Ezekiel 43:2). And glory means nothing other than the Temple, as it is written, "A glorious throne, set on high from the first, is the place of our sanctuary" (Jeremiah 17:12).