Welcoming the Dark: Comprehensive sources

GEMARA: Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says: When are these festivals celebrated? Kalenda is celebrated during the eight days after the winter solstice, and Saturnalia is celebrated during the eight days before the winter solstice....

With regard to the dates of these festivals, the Sages taught: When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, he said: "Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will ultimately return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven, as it is written: “And to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19).

He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer. Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening he said: "Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world." He went and observed a festival for eight days. Upon the next year, he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these eight days of his celebration, as days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, and the gentiles established them for the sake of star worship.

The Gemara raises an objection to this from a baraita that discusses the verse: “While the earth remains, planting and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). The baraita interprets this verse as referring to six seasons of the year: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says in the name of Rabbi Meir, and similarly, Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya would say in accordance with his statement: The second half of Tishrei, all of Marḥeshvan, and the first half of Kislev are the days of planting. The second half of Kislev, all of Tevet, and the first half of Shevat are the winter days. The second half of Shevat, all of Adar, and the first half of Nisan are the period of cold; the second half of Nisan, all of Iyar, and the first half of Sivan are the harvest period. The second half of Sivan, all of Tammuz, and half of Av are the summer season, while the second half of Av, all of Elul, and the first half of Tishrei are the season of heat.

And to the darkness, He called night: The Sages, of blessed memory, explained in the beginning of Tractate Pesachim, that the Holy One, blessed be He, called to darkness and appointed it over the night. [By this,] our Rabbis taught us that we should not say that darkness is only the absence of light, like when - in the middle of the day - we close the windows, it becomes dark. For, if so, it would not be a creation. But in truth, darkness is a creation, on its own as well, as it is written (Isaiah 45:7), "and created the darkness." And it is great distortion to say that darkness is only the absence of light. But rather, God makes both of them, just as He concerns Himself over holiness and impurity. (And see what I have written later, Genesis 27:9.) And to the question, "what does this creation help, behold, even without [its] creation, there would be darkness in the absence of light?," the Sages, of blessed memory, have taught us (in the chapter "Chelek" and in Bereshit Rabbah, Parshat Noach and in the Talmud Yerushalmi in the first chapter) that the light of a fire does not shine during the day in a dark place, [with the same brightness] as it does at night when darkness reigns. And from this, lofty people were able to know while they were sitting in the dark, when it was day and when it was night - in which darkness rules. And as it is with the light and darkness of day and night, so too is it thus with all things that are compared to light and darkness; since there are many bounties that man does not feel so much when he is successful, until he becomes poor and he sees the bounty [that he once had]. And [He], may He be blessed, implanted this into His world.

"And the earth was without form and void..." The term "was" is exact in that it implies the earth's previous state, during which snow was mixed inside water. The act of the snow forming inside the water resulted in a foul substance. And afterward, a mighty fire beat upon it and refuse was formed inside it. It then conceived and became without form. The place where at first there was only filth, has become now a nest of refuse that is described as without form. It went through four stages until it became Tohu: (1) light turned into water; (2) water turned into snow; (3) snow turned into refuse with the infliction of the fire; and (4) the refuse, over time, became sufficiently distinguishable to be called without form. The words "and void" refer to the refined matter that emerged from the refuse and was set there. Darkness is the secret of the powerful fire and this darkness hovers above the formlessness, over that refuse, and is structured from it. In other words, darkness does not mean only the absence of light that is, emptiness but rather the aspect that produces emptiness, like a strong fire that burns and consumes everything it touches and leaves emptiness in its place. The reason why it is called darkness and not fire is that the burning force is not from the fire itself, but from the refuse, which is without form, over which it hovers, and from which it receives.

Darkness is a black fire that is strong in color, because no other color can change black. It is also a red fire that is strong in its appearance, as red is the most noticeable color. It is a green fire, which is solid in form, as all forms reach perfection by the green color. And it is a white fire, which is the basis of all other colors. Darkness is strong, because it contains all kinds of fires and it attacks the formlessness. Darkness is a fire that consists of four colors, and it is usually not a dark fire except when it attacks the formlessness. This is the secret of the verse: "his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau..."(Genesis 27:1). The face of evil is darkness, so Isaac, who was kind to evil, to Esau, was then called 'darkness,' as he rested upon it so that it may attack it....

As for the fire that comes out of darkness, the scripture reads, "And after the earthquake a fire; but Hashem was not in the fire" (Ibid. 12), because the name Elohim rests upon it from the aspect of darkness. "And after the fire a still small voice," which comes from the aspect of a wind from Elohim, upon which the name Yud Hei Vav Hei rests. The verse reads "And when Elijah heard it...and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him, and said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?" (Ibid. 13). He did not leave the cave at the first three aspects, only when he heard a still small voice, because the name Yud Hei Vav Hei was there. And he knew that Yud Hei Vav Hei was talking to him. 12. The name Yud Hei Vav Hei has four segments, namely four letters, that signify the parts of the human body and certain members namely, the limbs which are four that can become twelve. Here is the secret of the name that consists of twelve letters, which was given to Elijah while inside the cave. This alludes to the three names of Yud Hei Vav Hei. Each consists of four letters, which together add up to twelve. And this name, with its twelve letters, appears in the human body. The first appears in the head: Chochmah, Binah and Da'at; the second in the body from the top to the navel: Chesed, Gvurah and Tiferet; the third from the navel downward: Netzach, Hod and Yesod. Each part of the body is divided into four other parts, which add up to twelve.

THE PRINCIPLE OF INTERCALATION
ON the 28th of Ellul the sun and the moon were created. The number of years, months, days, nights, terms, seasons, cycles, and intercalation were before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He intercalated the years and afterwards He delivered the (calculations) to the first man in the garden of Eden, as it is said, "This is the calculation for the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1), the calculation of the world is therein for the generations of the children of Adam.

Adam handed on the tradition to Enoch, who was initiated in the principle of intercalation, and he intercalated the year, as it is said, "And Enoch walked with God" (Gen. 5:22). Enoch walked in the ways of the calculation concerning the world which God had delivered to Adam. And Enoch delivered the principle of intercalation to Noah, and he was initiated in the principle of intercalation, and he intercalated the year, as it is said, "While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter" (Gen. 8:22). "Seed-time" refers to the Teḳuphah of Tishri, "harvest" refers to the Teḳuphah of Nisan, "cold" refers to the Teḳuphah of Ṭebeth, and "heat" refers to the Teḳuphah of Tammuz; "summer" is in its season and "winter" is in its season.