Study Berakhot folio 11B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
“Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil, I am YHWH Who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7).
With regard to this formula of the blessing, the Talmud asks: Let him say the following formula instead: Who forms light and creates brightness, so as not to mention darkness, which has negative connotations.
The Talmud answers: We say the blessing as the verse is written in the Bible and do not alter the formula that appears in the verse.
The Talmud strongly objects: But if so, what about the continuation of the verse: “Who makes peace and creates evil”? Do we say this blessing as it is written in the Bible? Rather, it is written evil and we euphemistically recite the blessing all things to avoid mention of evil. Here, too, let us e
Rather, Rava said: The reason we recite: “Who creates darkness” is in order to mention the attribute of day at night and the attribute of night during the day, and thereby unify day and night as different parts of a single entity.