We usually think of the sun, a lightbulb, maybe even a particularly inspiring idea. But Jewish tradition takes it a step further, suggesting light itself has a deeper, more ancient origin.
Think about the very beginning. "Let there be light," God said in Genesis 1:3. But what was that light? Some say it wasn't just any light. It was the light of the Torah.
Exodus Rabbah 5:3 tells us that when God spoke at Mount Sinai, giving the Torah to the Israelites, a tremendous light burst forth, filling the entire earth. Imagine that! The very act of revelation illuminated the world. It was so powerful that all the kings of the earth gathered, terrified, and went to Balaam, asking if God was about to unleash another flood.
Balaam, that complicated figure, reassured them. "No," he said, in essence. "God is giving His Torah to the children of Israel. That Torah is the source of this great light that frightens you." It wasn't divine wrath; it was divine illumination.
This idea of a primordial light, a light existing even before creation, is a recurring theme. You can find more about it in the earlier discussion of "The Light of the First Day." But here, the Torah is explicitly identified as the source of that light.
The Zohar, that mystical masterpiece, expands on this idea. It says that a ray of light goes forth from the Torah whenever someone studying it experiences a moment of true understanding, a flash of insight (Zohar 2:148b-149a). It's like the Torah itself is a lamp, and our understanding is the switch that turns it on.
And what happened to that primordial light? Was it simply used up in the creation of the world? Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav suggested that it was hidden away, and he proposed that it was hidden within the Torah itself. Which makes sense, doesn't it? If the light originated there, wouldn't it return there?
Rabbi Baruch of Kossov speaks of two kinds of light: a physical light and a spiritual light (Amud ha-Avodah 62a). When you understand a verse of Torah, he says, you see a light. Not a literal, physical light, but a light that stems from the very essence of the soul. It's the light of understanding, the light of connection, the light of truth.
So, the next time you study Torah, remember that you're not just reading words on a page. You're potentially tapping into a source of light that predates the universe itself. You're connecting to something ancient, powerful, and deeply illuminating. And who knows? Maybe you'll even catch a glimpse of that primordial light.