Covid Light 2020

The young Menachem Mendel came home from Cheder perturbed by the teaching his Melamed taught him that day.  He approaches his grandfather and says; “Zaide, how is it possible that the 17 best years of Father Jacob’s life were lived in Egypt – the lowest and most immoral of lands at the time.” 

(The Torah tells us that Jacob lived the last 17 years of his life in Egypt. The commentator known as the Baal Haturim says that the number 17 is equal to the word Tov which means good in Hebrew.  Thus, Jacob’s best years he lived in Egypt.)

The young Menachem Mendel grew to be the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad and a great Torah scholar who penned hundreds of thousands of pages of Torah teachings.  It thus behooves us to recognize that the question was a profound one and so was the answer his grandfather, the great and saintly Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi gave him.

The young boy understood that Jacob was living his best life in Egypt.  After all he had struggled much of his life and was now finally reunited with his beloved son.  His question was how could this be taking place in Egypt? That he lived a good life is one thing, but that the best life would be in Egypt? Wouldn’t he, Jacob, who was a spiritual giant, feel happier and closer to G-d and his purpose by being in Canaan, the Land of Israel?  A good life in Egypt, yes, but his best years?!

The grandfather, the Alter Rebbe answered him as follows.  The Torah teaches that Jacob sent Judah to set up a yeshiva, a house of study in Egypt in advance of his arrival.  It is on account of the toil that his children put into the Torah study in Egypt that made the years the best for Jacob.

You see, light is great and powerful. In fact when you can contrast light against darkness it is even more appreciated – like King Solomon says like the benefit of light over darkness. That can happen in many places where there is darkness including Egypt.  In this instance the light is clarifying the darkness, it is lighting up the darkness but it hasn’t changed anything.

There is however a second level of light, and that is when the darkness itself is converted into light.  The light now has a new element to it, the converted darkness.  The resulting light is a very powerful one, not just in contrast to something else, but it itself has this new power.

This can only take place in Egypt.  Jacob’s best years were being in a place of utter darkness and through the Torah study of his sons, the darkness being converted into something that could never happen in Canaan.

There are many ways to look back at 2020.  There may be light contrasted against the darkness, an appreciation for the things we had and a hope that we’ll continue to appreciate these things in a post-covid world.

But there is much greater light to be had.  That is the light of transformation, taking the actual darkness and converting it into something that will shine in a way that will illuminate my life and the world around me for many years to come.

These are some of my reflections as we end 2020, what are yours?

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