By: Jacob Levin
God's light shines on all the world, providing it life and thought. Israel is the light unto the nations– meaning that the light we receive from God is subsequently passed on to the nations. We are also first among nations– meaning that God's light to the rest of the world is filtered through us. Not only is Israel a prism through which God’s light is distributed to the nations, but Israel is also made of colored glass, so that all the light reaching the nations is colored by us. This is always true, whether we are free or we are in exile.
However, when we are in exile, it fulfills Bilaam's prophecy to Amaleq: ראשית גוים עמלק, “first of the nations is Amaleq”. God’s light to Israel is filtered through the foreign-colored glass. That foreign-colored light is then distributed using the Israel-prism to the rest of the nations. This is how all nations are influenced by the exile.
This means that while in exile, we still receive God's light, which is meant for us, but it just has the color of Babylon or Persia or Greece or Rome. So thoughts we receive and ideas we have during exile are true and good, just colored. We aren’t receiving all the wavelengths, and what we do receive is heavily skewed, but it is still God’s light.