The First Light Shone Thirty-Six Hours Into the Sabbath

He blessed it through the luminaries, for even though the luminaries were cursed on the eve of the Sabbath, they were not struck until the close of the Sabbath. That original light served for thirty-six hours: twelve hours of the eve of the Sabbath, twelve hours of the Sabbath day, and twelve hours of the Sabbath night. When it set at the close of the Sabbath, what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He provided him with two flints and struck them one against the other, and the fire came forth, and he recited a blessing over it. Why do we bless over the lamp at the close of the Sabbath? Because that is the beginning of its creation. Also at the close of the Day of Atonement we bless over it, because one has rested the whole day. He blessed it through going out. Every day that has a deficiency has a blessing in it and lacks nothing. On the fifth day birds and fish were created, and people slaughter and eat, catch fish and eat, and yet Scripture wrote a blessing in it and it lacks nothing. As for the seventh, what can you say? Because of the bringing forth.