Magical Heavens Black
We are planning to do some painting in our house, so on Monday morning I went over to the hardware store to check out paint colors. It was fun as well as mesmerizing to take half an hour to focus deeply on the 1000s of paint colors available.
I saw colors like:
Lazy Day Green
Sunset in the Desert Orange
Groovy Grape Purple
Lavish Lemon Yellow
And then I came across something strange–the section for shades of black paint. But truth is I didn’t see any difference between the different shades. They all just looked, well, black.
If I worked a paint namer (which, come to think of it, actually looks like a fun job) I guess I would call those shades of black:
Black Black #1
Black Black #2 etc.
But these paint people had better ideas, like:
Royal Velvet Black
Raisin Black
Outer Space Black
Magical Heavens Black
And this reminded me of something Rabbi Nivin said about these (for many people) blah, dark, burnt-out weeks of Cheshvan and Kislev until the lights get turned on this Chanukah.
It’s natural, he said, to just be hoping that the first 24 dark days of Kislev will pass by real quick–so we can get to the lighting-candles, eating-latkes, spinning-dreydels part of this miraculous month.
But he warned us not to miss the tremendous potential of these 24 additional days of darkness.
What?
Let me explain. At another time of the year, when we are feeling more energized and empowered, when we are faced with a problem we are able to do this, that, or the other thing. WE are able to deal with it!
But now, we can’t. We are too blah, dark, burnt out. Which means we have no choice but to turn to Hashem. Like a baby crying and waving her arms around in her crib, so her mother will come, reach her arms in, and take her out.
Thank you so much for this, Chana!
Wow! You always manage to find something to inspire us with, even a trip to the paint store becomes a way to connect to Hashem Yisborach!
Here is a beautiful teaching of the Lubavitcher Rebbe which came to mind when reading about the darkness bringing us closer to Hashem Yisborach:The second half of the month when the moon is getting smaller and the nights are getting darker, the moon is actually coming CLOSER to the sun. At the point of its orbit that is closest to the sun, it disappears completely, only to reappear, renewed and reinvigorated,as it grows and glows in the nighttime sky.
B’nei Yisrael are compared to the moon, (and more specifically women are compared to the moon)….
wow!!