Night followed by Day

Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 in Glendale, California by Burton Baskin and Irvine Robbins, ice cream enthusiasts and brothers-in-law, whose passion inspired what is now the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops. Baskin Robbins became synonymous with the number 31. The company initially had 31 flavors designed so everyone can have a different flavor every day of the month. What originally started with 31 flavors has grown to over 1400 flavors. A customer at Baskin Robbins will choose between chocolate cherry bark or pink bubblegum flavored ice cream. I mention this trivial data point to contrast this with more serious elements in life. As a faith community, we need to understand that faith is unlike going to the ice cream store. There are situations of pain, tragedy, and suffering that cannot be easily explained. While we remain steadfast in our belief in G-d, our faith is tested these days when Israel and the Jewish People are facing challenges we thought were behind us. We wonder about the suffering of the righteous and the ability for cruelty to become widespread. Israel finds itself in a seemingly impossible situation. If it fights to completely destroy the terrorists, the hostages will be in danger. If it agrees to have the hostages released in a brokered deal, it will likely mean surrendering to terrorists who will undoubtedly attempt to unleash future massacres against Israel. All this is just on the southern front in Gaza. There is an inevitable fatigue that sets in as Israel is even told by its "best friends" that it must accept impossible terms to be on a path to normalization and acceptance in the region. I am writing this not from a geopolitical perspective but from a perspective of faith when everything appears so unfair. To paraphrase the judge and prophet Gideon from the Book of Judges, we say to God at certain moments, "Where is your awesomeness." Based on the order of creation, the Rabbis teach us that night was created before light. As the Torah teaches us, וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר. This is translated as "And it was evening, and then it was morning." In a literal sense, it means that G-d created night and then day. For that reason, Shabbos begins in the evening and then continues to the following day, as night was created before day. On a deeper level, Rabbi Zadok of Lublin taught us that we must experience the bitterness of night before enjoying the radiant light. It would be easier to have light always and never experience the bitter night. This is a time to remember that faith is not like going to an ice cream store, and there are periods of pain and suffering that our people continue to endure in the middle of this long night. As a people of faith, we continue pray and believe that after an extended period of night, we will finally experience the radiant light. As the month of Adar begins, we are once again reminded of the Purim story whose Jews of that generation shared much light; as the Megilla states, לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה. (The Jews experienced the light.) As people of faith, we are regularly reminded that we are not in any ice cream store. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch