Yotzer ohr, Creator of light, also known as Birkat yotzer, Blessing of creation, is the first of the two blessing recited before the Shema during Shacharit

Shacharit

Shacharit is the the daily morning Tefillah of the Jewish people, one of the three times there is prayer each day.Shacharit is said to have been established by the patriarch Abraham when he prayed in the morning...

, the morning religious services of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

.
Translation: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates all things. Blessed are you LORD , who forms light.
According to a Midrash

Midrash

The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....

, Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

 were the first people to recite this blessing when they were in the Garden of Eden

Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...

.

Judaism recognizes that the sun is central to life. It is the sun that provides light that is needed for all life on earth, and Birkat Yotzer Or is a blessing for the sun.

Themes

The first blessing is known as Birkat Yotzer Or (Blessing of creation). The first verse comes from the Book of Isaiah

Book of Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...

 45:7. It is said to correspond with the first paragraph of the Shema.

The blessing of yotzer ohr has two themes. The first is the spiritual one, in which God

Names of God in Judaism

In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...

's Divine Wisdom expressing itself in a cosmic order. The second is that of the angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

s, in which the praises of the angels are expressed. It is during the part that kedusha

Kedusha

The Kedushah is traditionally the third section of all Amidah recitations. In the silent Amidah it is a short prayer, but in the repetition, which requires a minyan, it is considerably lengthier...

 is included. Unlike the kedusha during the Amidah

Amidah

The Amidah , also called the Shmoneh Esreh , is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book...

, which is only recited in the presence of a minyan

Minyan

A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....

, this kedusha is recited even when praying in private.

The main theme of the blessing pertains to light

Light

Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...

. Light was the first thing that G-d created according to the Book of Genesis, and it is light that provides life to all. The difference between light and darkess is compared to the difference between good and evil.

On Sunday-Friday, including Yom Tov and all other special days, following the initial blessing, the paragraph Hameir la'aretz (He Who illuminates). This single paragraph contains an acrostic

Acrostic

An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. A famous...

 in which each of 22 consecutive words begin with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

, covering all 22 letters in order.

Shabbat version

On Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, a longer version of birkat yotzer or is recited. It begins with the paragraph Hakol yoducha. It is followed by an acrostic song called Kel Adon in which each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This paragraph is a reminder that G-d is the creator of rest and peace on Shabbat.