Personal note: Two weeks after finishing sheloshim for one son, we attended the wedding of another. If the last post sounded like someone still grappling with why Hashem made room for tragedy in this world, I hope this one will be more upbeat.

Last time we looked at the opening of Yotzeir Or. I explained Avudraham’s view that darkness isn’t a “thing”; rather, it is the absence of light. Therefore, when we speak of Hashem creating darkness out of nothing as a primary creation, we mean His creation of spaces that do not yet contain light. Thus, I understand the opening berakhah as acknowledging Hashem as the Creator of light and of places that He left for us to illuminate. Similarly, regarding the creation of evil, Hashem is the Maker of Peace and the Creator of situations into which we must bring peace.*

A long berakhah can discuss side issues in the middle, but the opening and the clause immediately preceding the conclusion must convey the same message as the closing. I want to give the “big picture” of this berakhah, so I will jump from the opening directly to the conclusion and then fill in my thoughts on the rest of the berakhah, in both its weekday and Shabbos forms, in future installments.

אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר
:וְנִזְכֶּה כֻלָּֽנוּ מְהֵרָה לְאוֹרוֹ
[כָּאָמוּר: לְ֭עֹשֵׂה אוֹרִ֣ים גְּדֹלִ֑ים כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ׃: Sepharad]
:בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ יוֹצֵר הַמְּ֒אוֹרוֹת

Shine a new light upon Zion
and may we be privileged
soon to [bask in] its light.
[Sepharad: As it says: To the One Who is Making the great lights, for His Kindness is eternal.]
Blessed are You, Hashem, Who forms the luminaries.

The point I want to focus on is the use of tenses.

We ask for light in the future, including an implied request that we return to Tziyon, where we will enjoy it.

And the conclusion of the berakhah itself is Yotzeir, “the One Who forms the luminaries.”** Not “formed.” Not “will form.” Forms. Right now.

Hashem is, even now, preparing the light that we will one day enjoy.

Just as we opened by identifying Him as the One Who forms light, creates darkness, makes peace, and created everything, so too we conclude by speaking of His ongoing creation in the present.

Right now, in this very moment, Hashem is creating more light, more peace, and more opportunities for us to bring them into the world.

Never despair.

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* To return to the original quote in Yeshayah: it repudiates Cyrus’s experiment with Dualism by pointing out that darkness and evil are merely the canvases for Light and Peace, not creations in conflict with them.

** Or as a noun: “the Shaper of the luminaries.” In general, however, the noun and the present-tense verb are identical. I have much more to say about that topic, but this is not the place for it. See Divine Timelessness II: Tenses.