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Darkness
and Light
by Rabbi David Zaslow
December, 1999
In
Isaiah 45:7 the prophet utters the words he hears from Hashem,
"I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and
create evil. I, Hashem, make these...." Isaiah then continues
with his own words, "Woe unto him that strives with his
Maker....Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, "What
are you making?"
These
passages are speaking to the riddle of good and evil. How
can God who desires good permit evil to exist? The answer
is resolved (sort of resolved) in our tradition with the idea
that the riddle is really a paradox; something we simply have
to live with, struggle with, and ultimately permit to be an
unresolved mystery.
Unsatisfying
isn't it? When we see good people suffer and evil people thrive,
something arises in me that just wants to "strive with
my Maker." But "woe unto me" when I do. I get
myself deeper into the despair at all the unnecessary suffering
in the world.
Yet,
here's another paradox, every time I tempt the "woe unto
me" by "striving with my Maker" I use the very
force of evil that Isaiah warns us about and seem to come
out a level higher. It's like God tempting me NOT to take
these words too literally, but to strive like Abraham did
on behalf of Sodom, or as Moses does on behalf of Israel.
Striving,
in fact, in our tradition uses the forces of rebellion, the
forces of seeming independence from God in order to trump
God's hand. And every time this is done in the name of goodness
and humanity God folds the cards and declares we've won.
Freud
contended with God against the lack of compassion for the
mentally ill. Jonas Salk contended with God against polio.
The Jewish people contended with God after the Holocaust and
forced Great Britain's hand for an independent Israel. And
Einstein contended with God against the mysteries of the universe
itself.
Martin
Buber taught that evil is simply the lowest rung of goodness.
He taught that out of evil itself can come great good. He
invites us to take a look at our own lives. Does goodness
come by itself? No, it comes in contrast to our mistakes,
our sins. When we err and see it for what it is, the good
that comes out of it is even greater than the good that exists
where there was no prior sin.
Does
this justify the sin. Buber says no. But we will make mistakes.
And what we do with them is what matters. Sin transformed
creates an extraordinary light. How the world deals with our
relationship to the earth; how nations at war deal with their
enemies; how we deal with each other- these have the promise
of catapulting humanity into the greatest renaissance of peace
ever known.
A
millennium of peace, the messianic age, a rose by any other
name would smell as sweet. God continues to tell Isaiah what
will happen, "Drop down you heavens from above, and let
the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and
let them bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together."
During
the Hanukkah season we light candles, not curse the darkness.
During the darkest time of the year we not only tell the stories
of good triumphing over evil, but of evil itself transforming.
Our
tradition teaches us that the darkest time of the year is
not a time to make confessions and resolutions for a new year.
That work is done during equinox, not solstice. The darkest
days are days for going deeply inside ourselves and being
thankful for all the transformations that have occurred; celebrating
how our past negative traits have been used for good in our
lives when we were willing to face the shadow, own it, repair
the damage, and then move on.
Yet
the world awaits a new millennium, the year 2000 on the civil
clock and the year 5760 on the sacred clock. May the new year,
the new millennium bring God's promise of blessing and joy
to each of us. May we each have the courage to light the menorah's
next week with the knowledge that only because of the darkness
can we even appreciate the light. Only because of our suffering
can we appreciate our joys. Only because of our mistakes can
we appreciate our transformations.
So
as we enter a new era, the mystery remains. Good people are
still suffering. Nations are still at war with each other
over things as trite as land, power, and material wealth.
And I'm going to spend Hanukkah striving with my Maker. How?
By loving my neighbor as myself just a little bit more. By
loving my incredible wife and children even more. By lighting
the candles each night and meditating on their meanings.
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