Straddling two worlds, we need tools for two realities
Let’s look at the woman behind this impressive image of someone who arises when it’s still night to get her home running. While some of us are morning people, it’s often necessity that gets us out of bed before the light of day, and for many, it’s a struggle.
The Beis Aharon, the fourth Rebbe of Karlin, suggests a deeper reference in this pasuk. This world is a place of darkness for the soul, and it’s continuously challenged to emerge from the darkness that the veil of physicality imposes, into the light.
We’re born with all of our spirituality within us in potential, a shining light within (Rav Dessler), and each moment we’re given the opportunity to reveal another sliver of that light in the world. Being a child has its own darkness, as choices are made for us, and there is so much we need to learn. The yetzer tov checks in at bar or bas mitzvah, helping us to navigate the confusion of adolescence.
The greatest gift we were given is that of bechirah, which means that we have it within us to choose to get up and awaken our soul, even though it’s still dark. Though this is what we were put here to do, life’s circumstances, when less than optimum, can cause confusion, make us want to withdraw, or be angry. It is specifically the effort of trying to arise while it’s still night for us to reveal the presence of Hashem within us that brings us the light of clarity that is a gift from Above, and is a response to the effort (sometimes Herculean) that we make to find His light in the darkness. It’s the “vatakam b’od lailah” that brings an outpouring of abundance from On High.
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