How Were Plants Created Before the Sun?

Osnat asks: "Hello. I have two questions about the Parsha of Bereishit. The first question is: How were plants created before the sun, if they need the process of photosynthesis involving sunlight to survive? The second question: I heard that the Ramban explains that the sun was created before the fourth day and that Hashem caused it to appear on the fourth day. I don’t understand why the Ramban needed to reveal this detail if it is not written in the Torah itself."

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Hello and blessings, Osnat, and thank you for your insightful questions.

Regarding your first question,

if the days of creation lasted six literal days, meaning 24 hours each, then without a doubt plants could survive one day without photosynthesis and would not be harmed by such a short absence of light. As you mentioned, the Ramban explains that the sun was revealed to the world on the fourth day. In other words, Hashem adjusted the world’s atmosphere so that light rays could penetrate the earth for the first time. These are the Ramban's words: "And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to illuminate the earth - an addition so that their light reaches the earth." Also, Or HaChaim writes: "Explanation, that the lights will shine across the entirety of the sky, and also reach down to the earth." It appears that the sun and moon were not visible from the earth until then, possibly because the atmosphere was too thick. According to Or HaChaim's explanation, until the fourth day, only a little light was visible on the earth, but not in an organized and illuminating manner "across the entirety of the heavens".

Your second question was why this explanation is not written in the verses. It soon appears that this is actually straightforward in the verses, but due to the decline of the generations and the time gap between us and the sages of the ancient generations, who were closer to the holy language, it is difficult for us to perceive it. However, if we scrutinize the verses, we can notice that the Torah describes the creation of light already on the first day - three days before the appearance of the sun and moon on the fourth day! Additionally, the Torah describes the end of each day: "And it was evening and it was morning"... a phrase mentioned three times before the fourth day, when the luminaries appeared in the sky... so even according to the plain meaning, it can be understood that the sun was created beforehand, and that Hashem adjusted its light to reach the earth. At the end of the fourth day, it says "and they will be for signs and for seasons and for days and years," which can teach us about the adjustment of the luminaries and its reason, that until then the light did not arrive in an orderly and consistent manner before the earth. The biblical use of the verb "made" indicates the adjustment of an existing thing, and not the creation of new from nothing. In the creation of the sun and the moon, it is said "and God made the two great lights" and not "created" (the word "created" is an expression of creating new from nothing), hence Hashem adjusted the luminaries. Examination and scrutiny of the verses reveal this interpretation, which the Ramban uncovered according to the plain meaning. Just due to the generation gap and our lack of familiarity with the scripture, we struggle to understand the interpretation from the verses, and therefore the commentators help us to understand the written text.

Despite what has been said, it should be noted that the sages transmitted to us that many verses in the Parsha of Bereishit were not said literally, and that the story of creation contains many secrets (the Gemara refers to this as the story of creation and the chariot, attributing them to knowledge of secret Torah that was transmitted to few sages only). Thus, the Torah encrypts within it different levels of biblical understanding, and it is found that even a single verse holds within it four meanings and different messages and more, as befits the Book of the Creator of the World - it addresses different Jews at different levels and encrypts within it many messages and secrets.

At the most basic plain level, we can see that the goal of the creation story is to teach us (both great and small) that everything was done by Hashem: the earth, the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the living creatures, everything. So that we will not believe in additional forces (gods) that control creation besides God. Therefore, the Parsha of Bereishit mentions every single thing that was created in creation, and tells us how Hashem made everything. The sequence of creation acts, done in ten utterances and in six days, is intended to show us that Hashem created everything for the purpose of our existence, as the sages said: "Man was created on the eve of Shabbat for what reason? So that he may immediately enter the feast, akin to a human king who builds a palace and prepares a banquet, and then invites guests" (Sanhedrin, page 38). These important messages are intended for all of us, on every level, and from them we will learn personal ethics and faith for all of us.