The Choice
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Ultimately, Darkness will meet its end. Our choice lies only in the form of its demise:
If we meet nothing but success at every stage of our mission, Darkness will helplessly surrender, delivering to our hand all the sparks of G‑dliness that it has so jealously held.
When we fail, however, we have taken upon ourselves to wrestle Darkness face-to-face to its utter annihilation. Darkness will not surrender, but no trace will be left of it. Darkness itself will be transformed to light.
And there is no greater light than Darkness itself transformed to light.
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Latest Comments:
Thank you for "neutering" Darkness.
It is still referred to as a "she" in the final sentence. In any case, what sparks of G-dliness does "Darkness" hold jealously and when we succeed or fail at what exactly? I guess I must be some of that Darkness cause I do not understand this at all really.
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Thank you Rabbi Freeman for answering our questions. I feel your love for us, for me, in your writings and in the simple act of your responding to this forum. Sometimes, it seems so clear how to turn from darkness, and others times, it seems SO thick and deep. I love this image, that when it is thick and deep and the light seems elusive or even fabricated, to turn to the light, to G-d, from there redeems the darkness itself. That gift, and the decision to believe that, has carried me during my "darkest times". Thank you.
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The personification of Darkness as a person turned out to be distracting rather than helpful. Whether it would be feminine or masculine, questions would arise that are not relevant to the essential message. So I've neutered Darkness back to an "it."
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Can Rabbi Tzvi himself please reply to why darkness is here referred to as "she"?
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This reminds me of the mystical story of Creation: That G-d held a vessel of light, which was shattered into a million pieces. (A very loose paraphrasing.) Those who would gather those "pieces" in the acts of Tikkun Olam would be helping G-d in the creation of a world of Light. The other version I read was that all those sparks of light are immeasurable, but those who find their "coordinate" spark of light, (so to speak) their "beshert" (again, I don't know if my spelling is correct) or "soulmate" shall be blessed in union...
Another view that I see is that "Darkness" is yet another way of expressing "fear" or "challenges". In that way, indeed, the act of surmounting such "obstacles" is again, a triumph, "snatching Light from Darkness". If we all acted to steal Light from Darkness, then yes, Darkness would be vanquished. (I think today's "Dose" was so relevant to the Hanukkah story! But than again, I may be "all wet" on this one!
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If we follow the first option,of course life will be more easy,but,perhaps-no,no perhaps;that´s for sure- ,we must wrestle with darkness first in order to learn that darkness can be defeated by her simply surrender through our successes in ,persistently ,surrounding her with love and patience, rather than making war with her, and by doing so, reciving from her the sparks of G-dlyness at the same time she also shines by her own discoveries.
But well...who has told that life is easy?And who has told that we can do the right thing without maturing first?
We are not simple trees but humans...
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the feminine is a universal concept. It is not at all talking of human women.
The feminine is the womb, the hollow, the cup that receives light.
For instance, the woman's womb is the cup that receives the sperm --which is really dna, which is really data or info- which is really intelligence, which is really LIGHT.
The negative and positive polarities of a battery is really about where energy is received and where energy is transmitted.
This implies that darkness is a womb of light too, a way for knowledge to manifest.
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What is success and what is failure though .... perhaps the only "failure" comes in wrestling with darkness rather than seeing her as light ... already as light ... the only transformation being in our own perspective.
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