Here is another passage from J.M.G Le Clézio’s beautiful novel, Wandering Star. Again, these are the memories of the protagonist; sometimes called Esther, sometimes called Hélène, and as the title character, called Estrella:
I asked why G__ is ineffable, why he is invisible and hidden, since he created everything on earth. Reb Joel shook his head, saying, “He isn’t invisible, he isn’t hidden. It is we who are invisible and hidden, it is we who are in the darkness.” He said that often, “the darkness”. He said that religion is the light, the only light, and that the lives of human beings, their acts, all the grand and magnificent things they build are nothing but darkness. He said, “He who created everything is our father, we are his offspring. Eretz Israel is our birthplace, the place where the first light shone, where the first shades of darkness began.”
The pictures, again, are from my travels: darkness visible.
