Zohar 1:16b

Jewish Mysticism
“And the Lord said ‘let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1-3). From here is the beginning for finding hidden things, how the world was created in particular. For until this point, it [the text] was [speaking] only in general terms, and it then returns to speaking in general terms [after this passage] so that it will be general, specific, general. Until this point everything was suspended in the air from the secret of ein sof. Once its strength spread forth into the upper palace, the secret of Elohim, ‘utterance’ is written, “And God [Elohim] said,” for above utterance is not written in particular, even though “In the beginning” is an utterance, it does not say, “and He said.” This, “and He said,” is susceptible to questioning and knowledge. “And He said,” a power that raised and lifted up silently, from the mystery of ein sof, in the mystery of thought. “And the Lord said,” now the palace gives birth, of that which she conceived from the holy seed, and she gives birth silently, and that which was born was heard from without, and the one giving birth gave birth silently and was not heard at all; once that which went forth from it went forth, a voice was made that was heard from without. “Let there be light.” Everything that emerged went forth from this secret. “Let there be,” in accordance with the secret of the Father and Mother, Yah, and then after, it returned to the primordial point, in order to be the beginning to spread forth to something else; light. “[And the Lord said ‘Let there be] light,’ and there was light,” light that already was. This light is a concealed secret, an emanation spreading forth and rupturing [‘itbaka] from the mystery of the concealment of the supernal concealed aura. It ruptured in the beginning, and it brought forth one concealed point from His mystery, for ein sof ruptured His aura, and revealed this point, yod. And once this yod spread forth, what remained, light [or], was substantiated from that secret of that concealed aura [avir]. Once there was substantiated from it the primordial point, yod was revealed. After, it touched it and did not touch it. Once it was emanated, it went forth, and this is the light [or] that remains from the aura [avir], and thus, the light that already was. And thus it endured and went forth and ascended and was hidden, and there remained one point from it, in order to reach it continuously in a concealed way. It touches and does not touch that point. It illuminates it by way of the primordial point that went forth from it, and because of this, everything is united with everything else, illuminating one another. When all ascends, [all things] ascend and are united in it, and it reaches and is hidden in the place of ein sof, and everything is made one; that point of light is light. And there emanated and shone forth within it seven letters of the aleph bet, and they were liquid and not hardened. Darkness went forth after, and there emerged forth within it seven more letters of the aleph bet, and they were liquid and not hardened. There went forth a firmament that distinguished a contradiction [mahloket] of two sides, and there went forth within it eight more letters, rendering twenty two. From within the seven letters of this side and the seven letters of that side, they were all inscribed in that firmament, and they were fluid. The firmament hardened, and the letters were hardened and formed in their forms, and the Torah was engraved there to shine outward. “Let there be light,” for he is a great God [el gadol], the mystery that emerged from the primordial aura. “Let there be,” the mystery of darkness which is called Elohim, the light that combines left in right. And thus, from the mystery of God [El] there arose Elohim, combining right in left, and left in right. “And the Lord saw that the light was good” (Gen. 1-4), this is the central pillar, “that is was good,” shining above and below, and all the rest of the directions in the mystery of YHWH, the name that unites all sides. “And the Lord separated,” He distinguished a contradiction to make everything complete.

Translated by Hartley Lachter