Word Prompt – HAVDALAH – Gershon Schusterman

The ceremony which separates Shabbat from Chol, the sacred from the everyday, is called Havdalah. Havdalah is also the Ata Chonantonu prayer said Motzaei Shabbat in the fourth beracha of Shemoneh Esrei, declaring Shabbat’s end.

The Talmud (Yerushlami Brochos 5:2) asks: Why is this declaration in the prayer for [deah] wisdom? It answers, “Because without wisdom, how can one distinguish?”

Havdalah translates as separating and as distinguishing. The idiom “it’s apples and oranges!” means that the two are obviously distinct and different. You may choose to separate them, but no wisdom is required. However, when the subject is nuanced and the difference subtle, wisdom is required to distinguish between the two.

What’s the difference between Shabbat and Saturday? To some there is no difference. To others it is the difference between the holy and the mundane. Wisdom is required in order to distinguish between the two, wisdom acquired by 3,300 years of Jewish history, its faith and its values.

But what about distinguishing between good and evil, between light and darkness? Can there be anything more obvious than that? Sadly, not at all.

The prophet Isaiah (5:16) famously bemoans: “Woe to those who say that evil is good and good is evil; who make darkness into light and light into darkness; they make bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.”

People haven’t changed much since Isaiah’s days, 2,800 years ago. Technology might have become sophisticated but human nature remains ignoble, selfish and is devoid of wisdom. The Holocaust was 80 years ago. Have you seen today’s paper?! By acquiring Torah’s wisdom, with a deep commitment to live by it, we choose light and good and make the world sweet.