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Zohar I 031b [translated by Gershom Scholem] – The First Light

“And God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light" {Gen. 1:3) .

This is the primal light which God made. It is the Light of the eye. This light God showed to Adam, and by means of it he was enabled to see from end to end of the world. This Light God showed to David, and he, beholding it, sang forth his praise, saying,

"Oh how abundant is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee" {Pr. 31:2o}.

This is the Light through which God revealed to Moses the land of Israel from Gilead to Dan.

Foreseeing the rise of three sinful generations, the generation of Enoch, the generation of the Flood, and the generation of the Tower of Babel, God put away the Light from their enjoyment. Then he gave it to Moses in the time that his mother was hiding him, for the first three months after his birth.

When Moses was taken before Pharaoh, God took it from him, and did not give it again until he stood upon the mount of Sinai to receive the Torah. Thenceforth Moses had it for his until the end of his life, and therefore he could not be approached by the Israelites until he had put a veil upon his face {Exod. 1143)}.

"Let there be light, and there was light" {Gen.1r:3}.

To whatsoever the word vayehi {and there was} is applied, that thing is in this world and in the world to come.