66. Woe unto You Who Await the Day of the Lord
“‘Woe unto you who await the day of the Lord; it is darkness and not light.’ There is an allegory about a rooster and a bat, who both waited for the light of day. The rooster said to the bat, ‘I can see why I wait, for her light is mine’” (Gemara, Sanhedrin 98a).
Explanation: The bat does not have eyes to see, so what does he gain from sunlight?
We should understand the following:
1) What is the connection between eyes and looking at the light of the Creator? Clearly, sunlight requires eyes. But how is this connected to the light of the Creator, to the point that the verse calls it “the day of the Lord,” implying that one who has no eyes remains devoid of the light of the Creator?
2) What is the day of the Lord and what is the night of the Lord? What is the difference between them? Evidently, man’s eye detects the rising of the sun. Yet, how does one detect the day of the Lord?
The thing is that with respect to the Creator, we discern night from day by revealing and concealing. The day of the Lord is called “revelation of the face,” meaning that a matter becomes as clear as day.
It is as our sages said about the verse, “By the light of day, a murderer will rise and slay the poor and the indigent, and at night, he will be as a thief.” The Gemara argues, “But it is written, ‘At night, he is as a thief.’ Does this mean that ‘light’ is ‘day’? The meaning there is this: If the matter is as clear as light to you that he comes to take life, he is a murderer, and he [the victim] may be saved at the cost of his [the thief's] life. But if you are doubtful about it, like the night, he will be in your eyes as a thief, and he [the victim] cannot be saved at the cost of his [the thief's] life” (Pesachim 2a-b).
It follows that “day” means that he has revelation of the face, that the face of the Creator is revealed, meaning that the Creator reveals to Him a face of good and doing good. For example, when he prays, his prayer is immediately answered, and he has wealth, and sons, and contentment, and wherever he turns he succeeds.
“Night” means concealment of the face, when he has doubts and foreign thoughts concerning Providence, for the concealments bring him doubts. This is called “night.”
One who waits for the light of the Creator has a feeling and clear knowledge in the form of faith above reason, that the Creator watches over creation with the name, The Good Who Does Good, but he does not feel the open Providence in plain sight for his own sake, as it is a correction, so he will not blemish the light of the Creator with the vessels of reception within him, which cause separation.
Therefore, he must do a lot of work before he turns the will to receive to work in order to bestow. Through persistence, a second nature forms in man. Previously, he had the nature of receiving only for himself, even while performing acts of bestowal, since through the act of bestowal he will receive something in return. That is, it is impossible to do anything without receiving something for his own sake in return, and any pleasure he receives separates him from Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, since Dvekut is measured by equivalence of form.
We should say that what the Creator wants, namely to do good, to bestow, is not because of a deficiency. Rather, it is regarded as “playing,” and playing is not regarded as deficiency. Our sages said about it that the Queen asked, What does the Creator do once He has created the world? And the final answer that the Gemara brings is that the Creator sits and plays with a whale (Avoda Zarah 3b).
A “whale” means connection (from the words, “to the clear space on each, with wreaths”), meaning that the purpose of the connection of the Creator with the created beings is like playing, and not a matter of a desire of a deficiency.