Learning from the Day
It’s a beautiful summer day. The August sun is shining, the pleasant summer breeze is blowing and the waters of the Long Island Sound beckon. My good friend says to me: “perhaps I don't have to read the weekly Torah portion so carefully this week. After all, in this part of Deuteronomy the biblical plot does not advance significantly, the story does not take any unexpected turns, there are no major historical events that take place, no earth shattering miracles, and as far as I can tell, no significant character development occurring in this part of the story”. “Perhaps”, my friend continues, “I’ll tune out for a week, and when I return the Jews will still be at the same spot: at the bank of the Jordan River, opposite the city of Jericho listening to Moses speaking to them.”
“You must be kidding” I say. Yes, perhaps, the plot does not twist and turn, but this week’s portion touches upon Judaism's deepest philosophical truths. Studying this portion gives us the understanding and the tools to face some of life’s most challenging philosophical and emotional questions. Listening to the Torah portion this week gives us the ability to thrive not only on a beautiful summer day, but also in the figurative, cold, cloudy, bitter, winters of our life.
The big question, one that every person encounters at some point in their life, is: what is the nature of darkness? How are we to view the darkness in the world around us? How do we explain the challenges, the pain, the loneliness that we sometimes see in the world and how do we think about the darkness that, to one degree or another, lies within ourselves?
Some philosophies[1] offer an easy answer. They argue that G-d is the source of all good, that any and all good in the world should be attributed to Him alone. The darkness, however, has nothing to do with G-d. All darkness, all tragedy, all pain, has a different source, some call it Satan, but you can call it whatever you want, the important thing, they argue, is that darkness does not come from the G-d who is the source of all good, and who is the source of nothing but good.
Their answer, however, does not work for us Jews. One of the most important principles, if not the most important principle, is that G-d is one. In this week’s portion, in what is one of the most famous verses in the Torah, one that we are commanded to read twice every day, the Torah states:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one.[2]
“The Lord is one” means that there are no two sources of power, one the source of goodness and one the source of darkness and evil. If that were the case there would be, heaven forbid, two Lords. “The Lord is one” means that there is only one source of power in the universe. One source that is responsible for both the good and the bad, both the light as well as the darkness.
On the first day of creation the Torah states “And it was evening and it was morning day one”. The Torah does not say “first day”, which is linguistically consistent with the subsequent days of creation where the Torah writes “second day” “third day” etc., instead the Torah writes “day one”. Chasidic Philosophy teaches[2] that the expression “one day” captures a profound truth: the twenty four hour cycle that is “day one” is not complete unless it contains evening and morning, both darkness and light. Both parts of the day, unite to become “day one”. Or, to put it in other words, it is not a complete ”day” unless it transforms both darkness and light into “one” entity.
Right there, on the very first page of the Torah, on the very first day of creation, the Torah alludes to the purpose of darkness on earth. The Torah tells us that the darkness within ourselves, the evil inclination of our animal soul, was placed in our hearts in order to be transformed to light. The darkness in the world was created so humanity could dispel it and move from “evening” to “morning”.
In the words of Moses:
And you shall know this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above, and upon the earth below; there is none else.[4]
“This day”: just as the darkness and light are two sides of the same day, so too “know” that the “Lord”, the Divine power of expression, the source of light, and “G-d”: the Divine power to conceal, the source of darkness, are all one. “The Lord is G-d” the power of revelation and power of concealment are both one and the same. They come from the same G-d, and they are here to serve the same purpose: both express the oneness of G-d.
The same is true about the world within man.
The deepest relationship comes, not from the absence of challenges but rather from overcoming them. The deepest connection to G-d comes from being confronted by the power, the passion and drive of the evil inclination, and by channeling it to the love of G-d and to the spreading of light.
[1] See Kli Yakar beginning of Parshas Yisro.
[2] Deuteronomy 6:4.
[3] See for example “Veyadatah Hayom” 5678.
[4] Deuteronomy 4:39.