Darkness Was Made to Give Way to Light
Opening Once a Jewish man came to me and said, “Depression controls me. I’m at war with my own mind.” I listened to him, and my heart went out to him. But I wanted to tell him one small thing: You are not at war. You are simply forgetting to turn on the light. What Is Darkness? The Torah says: “The earth was empty and formless… and darkness was over the face of the deep.” Then light was created. But the Torah does not say that the light defeated the darkness. It says: “Hashem separated the light from the darkness.” And only the light was called “good.” This is because darkness, by its very nature, is not a real thing on its own. It is an absence. It is an empty space where light is missing, and nothing more. Hashem created darkness with one inner nature: to give way and disappear before any spark of light, even the smallest one. Darkness cannot stand its ground. It has no strength of its own. When you light a candle, the darkness doesn’t fight back. It doesn’t resist. It doesn’t even say goodbye. It simply disappears. What This Means for Your Inner Self When a person feels a heavy sadness, a sense of darkness inside, the natural reaction is to fight it. To analyze it. To ask: Where is this coming from? What is wrong with me? And then to wage an exhausting, head-on war against the depression itself. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi warns about exactly this in his book, the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought. He teaches that a person should not dwell too much on the darkness of his inner state from the inside. Instead he should turn away from it and awaken joy in a different way. This runs deep. When you “fight the shadow,” you give it a reality it does not have. You are boxing with an absence. You could do that for forty years and not move a single step. The way forward is not to defeat the darkness. It is to shine light. The Maccabees’ Jar of Oil The Hasmoneans, the family known as the Maccabees, did not sit down to analyze Greek culture. They did not hold an inner debate about “the darkness of exile.” They did one simple thing: they lit a single jar of oil. And what did that little jar do? It pushed away a whole empire of darkness. It did not do this by meeting force with force. It did it simply by being there. The flame did not “fight” the Greeks. It simply shone. This is the lesson of Hanukkah, and the heart of the whole matter: “A little light pushes away a great deal of darkness.”
Putting It into Practice
My dear brother, your darkness is not strong. It has simply not been challenged yet. You have not won yet because you have not yet lit the light. You don’t need a great victory. You don’t need to conquer your whole inner self in one day. Hashem created darkness with one inner nature: to give way before light. So all you need is one small act of light. One verse. One song. One act of charity. One good thought. As King Solomon wrote: “For a commandment is a lamp, and the Torah is light.” Flip the switch. The darkness won’t say goodbye. It will simply disappear.
Questions and answers
Q: What did Rabbi Landau want to tell a man who said depression controls him?
Rabbi Landau answers: Once a Jewish man came to me and said, “Depression controls me. I’m at war with my own mind.” I listened to him, and my heart went out to him. But I wanted to tell him one small thing: You are not at war. You are simply forgetting to turn on the light.
Q: Why does the Torah say Hashem separated light from darkness rather than that light defeated it?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Torah says: “The earth was empty and formless… and darkness was over the face of the deep.” Then light was created. But the Torah does not say that the light defeated the darkness. It says: “Hashem separated the light from the darkness.” And only the light was called “good.” This is because darkness, by its very nature, is not a real thing on its own. It is an absence. It is an empty space where light is missing, and nothing more. Hashem created darkness with one inner nature: to give way and disappear before any spark of light, even the smallest one. Darkness cannot stand its ground. It has no strength of its own.
Q: Why is fighting sadness head-on the wrong approach, according to Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi?
Rabbi Landau answers: When a person feels a heavy sadness, a sense of darkness inside, the natural reaction is to fight it. To analyze it. To ask: Where is this coming from? What is wrong with me? And then to wage an exhausting, head-on war against the depression itself. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi warns about exactly this in his book, the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought. He teaches that a person should not dwell too much on the darkness of his inner state from the inside. Instead he should turn away from it and awaken joy in a different way. This runs deep. When you “fight the shadow,” you give it a reality it does not have. You are boxing with an absence.
Q: What does the Maccabees' single jar of oil teach about overcoming inner darkness?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Hasmoneans, the family known as the Maccabees, did not sit down to analyze Greek culture. They did not hold an inner debate about “the darkness of exile.” They did one simple thing: they lit a single jar of oil. And what did that little jar do? It pushed away a whole empire of darkness. It did not do this by meeting force with force. It did it simply by being there. The flame did not “fight” the Greeks. It simply shone. This is the lesson of Hanukkah, and the heart of the whole matter: “A little light pushes away a great deal of darkness.”
Q: What small act of light can someone struggling with darkness do today?
Rabbi Landau answers: My dear brother, your darkness is not strong. It has simply not been challenged yet. You have not won yet because you have not yet lit the light. You don’t need a great victory. You don’t need to conquer your whole inner self in one day. Hashem created darkness with one inner nature: to give way before light. So all you need is one small act of light. One verse. One song. One act of charity. One good thought. As King Solomon wrote: “For a commandment is a lamp, and the Torah is light.” Flip the switch. The darkness won’t say goodbye. It will simply disappear.