THE SONG OF THE NIGHT
Night sings of faith in the coming morning.
[Song 12] Night (Ch. 2)
לַיְלָה אוֹמֵר. לְהַגִּיד בַּבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ וֶאֱמוּנָתְךָ בַּלֵילוֹת: (תהילים צב ג)
The Night is saying: “To speak of his kindness in the morning, and of his faithfulness by nights.”
Commentary
When a person goes to sleep, parts of his soul rises back to Heaven and he lies
partially dead until Hashem deems fit to restore his soul to him in the morning.
Hashem is faithful to us in that He guards our souls and overlooks sins that
tainted and damaged it during the past day, hoping for betterment in the morrow.
On a deeper level, the darkness is an analogy for the dark times of a person’s
life, as well as the dark exile of the nation as a whole. In many ways, our faithful
relationship with Hashem at these times is more meaningful than the brilliance
of the awaited day itself. We must seek Hashem always. At times we see Him
as clear as day. At times we have to remember Him in the darkness of the night.
LIVING WITH THE SONG
The night sings of the faithfulness that the day will come. When a person goes to sleep, parts of his soul rises back
to Heaven and he lies helpless and partially dead until Hashem deems fit to restore his soul to him in the morning.
This is the faithfulness of the night as He usually ignores the sins that tainted and damaged the soul during the
past day, hoping for betterment in the morrow. The faith here is two-way: we have faith that Hashem will faithfully
grant life for another day. When we rise with the sun our morning blessings give voice to the song of the night:
“To tell in the morning of Your kindnesses and of Your faithfulness by night.”
On a deeper level, the darkness is an analogy for the dark times of a person’s life, as well as the dark exile of the
nation as a whole. In some ways, the faithfulness we hold at these times is more meaningful than the kindness of
the awaited day itself.
Inspirational commentary By Shmuel Ben-Tzion Kraines author of
The Song of Existence.