Rav Kook's Ein Ayah

(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 9:35)

Gemara:  [We continue with the account of Moshe finding a hint in the Torah that he should extend the preparations for accepting the Torah to a third day.] “They shall sanctify themselves today and tomorrow” (Shemot 19:10) – today is like tomorrow. Just like tomorrow includes the night that goes with it, so too today (i.e., the first day of separation) refers to a day that has an accompanying night, whereas in this case, the night had already passed.

Ein Ayah:  Daytime and nighttime work together to influence a person, just as they work together in the natural world, whether in terms of weather, on growth in the world of vegetation, and generally in keeping life going.

Daytime is the time when external things influence man’s spiritual side. A person absorbs that which abounds in his surroundings and is enriched and develops through this. Night is the time to deepen one’s personality from within. External stimuli retreat at night, and the spirit internalizes and dives to the depths of one’s own personality, more fully reaching self-understanding than it can during the daytime of activity.

Only when both elements, that which is sensitive to the outside world and that which is focused internally, are working in a broad yet pure manner, can there be a complete enrichment of the spirit. Then he can stride in an improved path of life. Just like the sanctity itself, the preparation for sanctity must also encompass all the content that completes the function of the soul, and this requires the contribution of both the day and the night. The beginning of the beginning of the preparations for sanctity must be without lacking, just like the nature of the sanctity that people yearn for. If either the external or the internal is missing, the matter will “limp along” and is considered a flawed preparation to which complete sanctity cannot connect.

For this reason, just as the second day of preparation for the giving of the Torah included a night and day, so too the first day had to have a night and day. Since the first night had already passed, the full day that was needed to complement, based on Moshe’s initiative as Hashem’s greater intention wanted, had to relate in a complete manner to the highest levels of sanctity.

Any Push and then Balanced Growth

(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 9:36)

Ein Ayah: It turns out that the initial spiritual push happened when there was only daytime (the first, half day), corresponding to the idea that spiritual growth from external factors does not have to be complete. The stage that precedes listening can be divided into partial pieces and come from any number of sources. Only afterward, when the spirit proceeds toward completion, does it become clear that the spirit cannot be monolithic. Thus, the next two days must have uninterrupted preparation which includes day and night, which fill the soul with complete characteristics.