Torah's light fills nature itself

ה' מסיני בא וזרח משעיר כו' אמרו חז"ל שהחזיר התורה לאומות כו'.

"Hashem came from Sinai and shone forth from Seir…" — Chazal said that He first offered the Torah to the nations.

From the pasuk that describes Hashem's light shining from Seir and Paran, Chazal derive that Hashem first brought the Torah around to the nations of the world, offering it to them before giving it to Bnei Yisrael.

ובזוה"ק פי' שמזה עצמו האיר לנו ממה שלא רצו הם לקבל.

And in the Zohar Hakadosh it is explained that from this very thing a light shone to us — from the fact that they refused to accept it.

The Zohar teaches that the nations' refusal was itself a source of light for Bnei Yisrael; their rejection added something to what we ultimately received.

וי"ל עוד דאיתא שמשה רע"ה השיב למלאכים שלא שייך התורה להם.

And one may further explain, for it is taught that Moshe Rabbeinu answered the angels that the Torah does not belong to them.

The Gemara relates that when the angels wished to keep the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu argued that its commandments are irrelevant to angels, who have no yetzer hara, no parents, no physical needs.

א"כ איך רצו לקבלה.

If so, how could the angels have wanted to receive it?

If the Torah truly has no relevance to angels, the Sefas Emes asks, why did they desire it in the first place?

אך כי התורה יש לה כמה פירושים ודרכים גבוה מעל גבוה ולמלאכים הי' הסוד [וכ"כ הרמב"ן ז"ל בהקדמת התורה].

But the Torah has many interpretations and pathways, level upon level, and to the angels belonged the hidden, mystical dimension — and so too the Ramban writes in his introduction to the Torah.

The Torah is multi-layered, "higher and higher"; the angels were grasping its lofty, concealed sod (secret) dimension, which is indeed relevant to them, even though its plain, practical mitzvos are not.

א"כ ודאי כשהחזיר להאומות לקבלה הי' ג"כ הפי' בגשמיות יותר מלבנ"י.

If so, surely when He offered it to the nations to accept, there was also a more physical interpretation than the one given to Bnei Yisrael.

Just as the angels related to the highest, hidden layer, the nations were being offered the Torah on its most physical, "lower" plane of meaning.

כי לבנ"י ניתן התורה בדרך שלמעלה מהטבע.

For to Bnei Yisrael the Torah was given in a way that is above nature.

Bnei Yisrael originally received the Torah specifically in its supernatural mode — as a Divine, otherworldly gift transcending the natural order.

וע"י שלא רצו לקבלה ניתן גם דרך הנ"ל לישראל.

And because the nations refused to accept it, that pathway too — the physical one — was given to Israel.

This is the Zohar's "light from their refusal": since the nations declined the physical-plane Torah, that layer also reverted to Bnei Yisrael, so that we now possess the Torah on every level, in nature as well as above it.

וז"ש רז"ל למה פתח בבראשית כי מיוחד לישראל מהחודש הזה לכם שהיא מצוה ראשונה לישראל.

And this is what Chazal said: why did the Torah open with "Bereishis"? — for it is special to Israel, since "This month is for you" is the first mitzvah given to Israel.

Rashi's famous question — why open with Creation rather than the first mitzvah, "Hachodesh hazeh" — frames the issue: the account of Creation seems to belong to all the world, not uniquely to Israel.

רק כח מעשיו הגיד.

Rather, "He told the power of His deeds."

The answer is the pasuk "the power of His deeds He told to His people" — Hashem revealed to Bnei Yisrael the inner power and vitality hidden within the works of Creation itself.

פירוש חיות התורה שיש תוך מעשה בראשית והטבע הגיד ג"כ להם לתת נחלת גוים כנ"ל [וזה פי' וזאת הברכה שבירך משה רע"ה והמשיך חיות מהתורה לבנ"י גם במעשה בראשית והטבע כנ"ל וקצרתי]:

That is, the life-force of the Torah hidden within Maaseh Bereishis and within nature, He also told to them, "to give them the inheritance of the nations," as above. And this is the meaning of "Vezos Habrachah" with which Moshe Rabbeinu blessed them — he drew down the Torah's vitality to Bnei Yisrael even within Creation and nature, as above; and I have been brief.

Opening with Bereishis reveals that the Torah's living light fills the natural world itself, so that the "inheritance of the nations" — the physical-plane Torah they refused — now belongs to Israel. This is the blessing of "Vezos Habrachah": Moshe drew Torah's vitality into nature itself, completing the cycle as the Torah is finished and begun again.

Summary: Hashem first offered the Torah to the nations, who refused its physical-plane meaning, just as the angels related only to its hidden sod. Bnei Yisrael originally received the Torah "above nature," but through the nations' refusal the physical layer too reverted to Israel — so that we now possess the Torah on every level. This is why the Torah opens with Creation: to reveal that its living light fills nature itself, and this is Moshe's parting blessing of "Vezos Habrachah," drawing Torah's vitality even into the natural world.