Yotzer ohr (''Creator of light''), also known as ''Birkat yotzer'' (the ''yotzer'' blessing) or ''Birkat Yotzer Or'', is the first of the two blessings recited before the

Shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...

during

Shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( he, שַחֲרִית ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning ''tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components of ...

, the morning religious services of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. Translation: Blessed are you, our God, King of the universe, who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates all things... Blessed are you, , who forms light. According to a

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

were the first people to recite this blessing when they were in the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

. Judaism recognizes that the sun is central to life. It is the sun that provides light that is needed for all life on earth, and Birkat Yotzer Or is a blessing thanking God for the sun.

Themes

The first verse comes from the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

45:7. It is said to correspond with the first paragraph of the Shema. The blessing has two themes. The first is the spiritual one, in which

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

's Divine Wisdom expressing itself in a cosmic order. The second is that of the

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

s, in which the praises of the angels are expressed. It is during the part that kedusha is included. Unlike the kedusha during the

Amidah The ''Amidah Amuhduh'' ( he, תפילת העמידה, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' at each o ...

, which is only recited in the presence of a

minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...

, this kedusha is recited even when praying in private. The main theme of the blessing pertains to

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

. Light was the first thing that God created, according to the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

, and it is light that provides life to all. The difference between light and darkness is compared to the difference between good and evil.

Shabbat and weekday versions

A somewhat expanded version is recited on Shabbat as opposed to other days. In the Ashkenazic rite, the weekday version is recited on

Yom Tov Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

, and all other special days which do not fall on the sabbath, the weekday version (''Hameir la'aretz'' (''He Who illuminates'')) is recited. This single paragraph contains an

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

in which each of 22 consecutive words begin with a letter of the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, wikt:אלפבית, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew languag ...

, covering all 22 letters in order. On

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

(and holidays as well in the

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

tradition), a longer version of the blessing is recited, with the same beginning followed by the paragraph ''Hakol yodukha''. This paragraph is followed by an acrostic song called ''

El Adon El Adon or El Adon al kol ha-ma'asim ( he, אל אדון or , English: God is the Lord or God is the Lord of all creation) is a well-known Judaism, Jewish liturgical poem, a so-called ''piyyut'' that was probably written in Eretz Yisrael, the Land o ...

'' in which each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This paragraph is a reminder that God is the creator of rest and peace on Shabbat.The Shema & its blessings By Jules Harlow, , page 17 In the Ashkenazic rite, on Festivals and many special Sabbaths, a

piyyut A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, ch ...

(''Yotzer'') is recited following the opening line of the Blessing. These piyyutim are omitted today in most - but not all - communities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yotzer Ohr Shacharit Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings Siddur of Orthodox Judaism