Tohu & Bohu

B"H

Right at the beginning of Parashat Bereshit (Genesis), the Torah tells us:
"And the earth was desolate and void - veHaaretz Hayta Tohu vaBohu".

And as usual, the two word "Tohu- desolate" and "Bohu -void" are to be understood as metaphors or symbols for a whole concept.

The Gemara (rabbinic discussions) in Talmud Tractate Chagigah 12a teaches:
"And Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Ten things were created before the first day: Heaven and earth, Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, breath and water, die length of the day and the length of the night".

Rashi's explanation of Tohu and Bohu:
He sees it as astonishment and bafflement. Bohu always means emptiness and desolation. The Torah commentator Kli Yakar sees in Tohu a proof of the later existence; hence, the evil actions of Resha'im (evil people) in this world.

Right after this particular sentence in the Torah follows:

"Vayehi Or - And there will be light".

Light always follows darkness. Many commentators take this as a hint to the times of Meshiach. First we are going through a Tikun (soul rectification). Our material world is not the greatest and we all have our little or bigger sufferings to go through. But afterwards the light will come through Meshiach.

The famous Talmud commentator Maharsha regards the ten things listed in the Gemara as a hint to character traits and the purpose for the creation of this world. There are five substances: four are the elements of the material world (earth, wind, fire and water) and an ethereal substance of which heaven consists (see the Ramban - Nachmanides on Genesis 1:1). The four characteristics are space, time, quantity and quality. The whole purpose of creation was the light.

The kabbalisitic Zohar teaches that the World of Tohu was chaos. Tohu later on turned into the World of Bohu (formlessness). What we learn from this is that there are two different worlds: The World of Tohu and the World of Bohu. This theory is also mentioned and commentated by many other Kabbalists.

The World of Tohu was darkness. Many commentate that this darkness expresses "spiritual darkness". Tohu is a place without colour and form. A form which doesn't fit into any physical principle.

Or to say it in easy words in order not to cause for confusion:

Kabbalah regards Tohu and Bohu as two different levels of G - d when He created our world. Both are metaphors for "G - d's thoughts".
He intends to create the world but His "thoughts" are still unclear and confused. This is the World of Tohu (Chaos). When G - d comes to the level of Bohu, His "thoughts" slowly slowly take shape.

As we know, G - d acts with different powers (Sefirot, attributes) when He created the world. Also the Zohar teaches that G - d acts according to His different powers and names in the Worlds of Tohu and Bohu.