The Portion of Bereisheet "Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment" (Psalm 104;2) In the beginning of the creation of the world G-d created heaven and earth and light. The earliest time in the morning that one may don his tallit is when he can differentiate between the color "techelet" (pale blue) of the sky and white (Mishnah, Tractate Brachot). The following is found in Midrash Raba: Bereisheet Raba (Vilna), portion of Bereisheet, portion 3: Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak asked Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: since I have heard that you are an expert in Aggadah (non-halachic rabbinic literature), are you able to tell me from what was light created? He answered that we learn that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, enwrapped Himself as with a garment and spread the light of His glory from one end of the world to the other. The light is the garment, as it were, the garment which covers the Creator and this is the source of the light which brought light to the world during Creation. It is for this reason, therefore, that we say the verse " Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain" (Psalm 104;2). An allusion to this is found in the letter "reish" in the words "or" (light) which is written with a special addition to remind us of the proper time for donning the tallit exactly at the moment of the source of the creation of light. (Sefer Tag'i of Rabbi Elazar from Germaizah)
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