It's always darkest before the dawn

Parashat Bereshit Gen. 1:1-6:8 Pr. Is. 42:5-43:10

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to be the first person on earth, with everything new and unknown? We know that the rabbis of old certainly did, because many midrashim describe Adam's first impressions of the world.

In one such midrash, we learn that God had blessed the first Shabbat (the seventh day) with a supernatural light and therefore it was at the end of the first Shabbat that Adam, who was created just before the first Shabbat began, got his first taste of darkness.

Of course, Adam viewed the world with the wondering eyes of a child. It was all new to him, and when he saw the sun setting and the light leaving the world, he panicked, crying out to God, "Woe is me. Is this the doom God has planned for me?"

Who can blame Adam for his despair? We are all frightened by things we don't understand. We all get nervous when we see things not working quite right on a grand scale.

The most notable part of the midrash though, is God's reaction when he answers Adam's outcry by showing him how two bang to pieces of flint together to make fire. Adam blesses his new light and offers a sacrifice to God. This midrash provides one possible reason for why we bless the light of a candle during the Havdalah ceremony on Saturday night. Our Havdalah candle is a cultural memory of Adam's first fire on the first Saturday night of creation. But there is a more powerful and relevant lesson for all of us in this story:

As I've said, we all get frightened by things we don't understand. When the world appears to be growing darker, nervousness and even fear are natural reactions. Over the past several weeks, many people have told me that this is exactly how they feel. The message of this teaching though, is that times like these are times of opportunity. God uses Adam's fear of the unknown as a teaching opportunity—as a time to give fire to human-beings, perhaps the most important innovation in the development of humankind. For Adam, it is literally darkest just before someone turns on the lights. Idn't this true for all of us?

As we grapple with difficult times, times of turmoil in our personal lives, our professional lives and in the global community, let us remember that every dark moment is also an opportunity for innovation and rebirth.

I understand that many people are suffering serious problems, and by no means would I make light of them. Home foreclosures, unemployment, loss of savings and lack of healthcare, to name a few, are significant problems. For many, coping with the new reality emerging around us will not be easy.

Still, as we begin the New Year, if we seek solutions for our problems, and adapt as we learn new lessons, like the first man did, can create a future, even brighter than the past that we have known. Through this simple story, our tradition points us towards the light we can all add to our lives—the light that seems all the brighter because our eyes have already adjusted to the dark. .