All of you, dear students and friends, are certainly aware of the difficult situation that Israel and the Jewish people worldwide find ourselves in. There are a variety of opinions, political, social, and strategic that abound, and it seems clear that anyone who only sees things in one simple way is an extremist; it is a confusing time.

That is what we often feel now in Jerusalem. We are acutely aware of the darkness of the night, of a situation (Matzav) that does not suddenly end and turn instantly into the brightness of day. Confronted by night, its darkness, depression, and confusion, how do we respond?

There is the 5th-century piyut (liturgical poem) by Yannai – sung by tired Seder-goers at the end of the evening, or skipped altogether – entitled VaYehi BaChatzi HaLaila (“And It Happened in the Middle of the Night”), which is also the refrain after every stanza. Additionally, each line ends with the word laila, “night.” The overwhelming feeling projected thus is the utter darkness and hopelessness of the night.

This song presents a response. At its onset it proclaims that Rov Nisim (which can be translated either as “most miracles” or, as I prefer, “the greatest of miracles,”) were performed “in the night.” It proceeds to enumerate crucial episodes in the Jewish saga, including the smiting of the first-born in the Exodus from Egypt, all which took place in the middle of the night.

Consider this citation from the poem: “Israel strove with God and yet prevailed – at night.”

Regarding our Patriarch Jacob/Israel, Yannai could have employed the gorgeously vivid dream of the angelic ladder. Instead he focuses upon the scene in which Jacob prepares for the potentially violent encounter with Essau. Jacob protects his family and has thus carried them and their possessions across the River Yabok. He then found himself across the river from them, in the middle of the night:

“And Jacob was left alone, and then wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of........

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