“… He spent the night there because the sun had set …” (Bereishis 28:11)
The Medrash Rabbah expounds: R’ Pinchas says in the name of R’ Chanin that Yaakov Avinu heard the voices of the angels saying, “The sun has arrived, the sun has arrived.”
The great tzaddik, R’ Yehoshua of Belz asks: Why did the angels say “the sun has arrived” twice?
Rashi tells us that the sun was not due to set yet, but Hashem caused the sun to set earlier so that Yaakov Avinu would rest in this particular place. Later on (Bereishis 32:32), after Yaakov’s struggle with the angel of Eisav, the Torah tells us, “The sun rose for him [Yaakov]” and Rashi explains that the sun rose early for Yaakov in order to heal him after he had been hurt in the struggle. This is as we learn in Malachi (30:20), “A sun … will shine for you who fear My Name, with healing in its rays …). In another instance, when Yehoshua was fighting against the Emorim, “the sun stood in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to set a whole day” (Yehoshua 10:13), allowing Yehoshua to continue the battle in daylight.
It appears that we have circumstances where the day became dark, even though it was still daytime and, in contrast scenarios where there was light in the darkness. Both portend good for the Jewish nation.
R’ Yehoshua ben Levi explains, as is written in the Zohar, that Yaakov Avinu’s journey from Charan to Be’er Sheva laid the groundwork for future generations to assure their survival in the bitter exile. Even though the sun set early, and darkness fell, it was in actuality still daytime. Likewise, in the exile, even though everything seems dark as night, it is in truth still day. We learn that even during periods of darkness and distress, Hashem shines a light for the Jewish nation to bring us forth from sadness to joy.
The Belzer Rebbe explains that these angels whom Yaakov heard are appointed to be the guardians of the Jewish nation. They were referring to two different types of supernatural settings that Hashem arranges for Klal Yisrael. Sometimes He brings the sun early, and sometimes the sun goes down at an earlier time. “The sun has arrived” applies to both situations and both are for the greater good of the Jewish people. At all times Hashem conducts the world with Divine Providence for the benefit of the Jewish people, as it says (Brachos 60b), “Everything that G-d does He does for the best.” Whether the sun sets in the middle of the day, or the sun remains shining into the night hours, Hashem is watching over us constantly, at times of redemption and at times of exile and challenge.
On Pesach night at the seder – an occasion of redemption – we read from the Haggadah, “Illuminate for us the darkness of the night like the light of the day,” alluding to the fact that even when we are in the darkness of the exile, Hashem brightens our surroundings with the light of the redemption.
Chanukah, similarly, expresses such an aspiration and hope. It is one of the few yomim tovim that occurs at the end of the month, when the moon is waning, unlike the other yomim tovim which take place in the beginning or the middle of the month. This indicates to us that the light of Hashem can illuminate the darkest periods of our lives.
Because of the extreme hunger that existed in the work camps during the war, a group of yeshiva students were forced to eat food from the general kitchen that was not kosher. They despised every spoonful that entered their mouth, and they ate as little as possible – just enough to survive.
After the war was over, they went to the great Admor R’ Chaim Meir of Vishnitz, the Baal Imrei Chaim, to ask how they could atone for their transgression of eating from the non-kosher kitchen. As one of the young men related to the Vishnitzer Rebbe what had taken place, the Rebbe broke out in bitter tears. He began to pace back and forth in his room, completely overwhelmed by his emotions, and could not be calmed down for over half an hour.
Then suddenly the Rebbe stopped pacing and grabbed the young man by the shoulders. With tears streaming down his face, he exclaimed, “What are you asking? You want to do teshuva for the food that you were forced to eat in that gehennom? Listen to me, my son. When you go to the Heavenly Court after 120 years, and they will judge whether you are guilty or innocent, you show them the files of “forbidden foods.” Those days that you ate from that non-kosher kitchen will shine as brightly as the original light of the Days of Creation. When you were in that gehennom not only was it permissible for you to eat what you were given, but there is no doubt that you were obligated to eat it, and it was a mitzvah. In fact, it was definitely comparable, if not preferable, to eating from the Korban Pesach during the time of the Bais HaMikdash.”
The Imrei Chaim concluded that he envied the reward that they would surely merit in Gan Eden for all those days that they ate the non-kosher food.
