Midnight Transitions

These two quotes and the commentary that follows them come from Jill Hammer’s The Jewish Book of Days. They speak to me of being inspired to tell your story even when doing so is painful, when darkness and cold obscure the end of the tale.

In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive came to me from Jerusalem and reported: “The city has fallen.” Now the hand of the Lord had come upon me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and the divine opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning… and I was no longer speechless. – Ezekiel 33:21-22

A harp hung above King David’s bed, and when midnight came, a north wind would blow upon the harp and it would play by itself. David would arise and study Torah until dawn. – Babylonian Talmud, berakhot 3b

On the 5th of Tevet, in the heart of winter, Ezekiel, a priest and prophet in exile, learns Jerusalem has fallen. The Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 18b) regards the 5th of Tevet as a fast day. Yet in the dark night before the bad news arrives, Ezekiel receives a revelation. In the morning, he is able to speak.

The story is somewhat reminiscent of the tale of King David’s harp. The north wind, symbol of winter and mystery, comes at midnight, the darkest moment of the night, and plays a song for David. At an hour when most sleep, David rises to study. He too is not without words, in spite of the darkness around him. The harp brings him inspiration.

Winter is often a time of telling stories. Ezekiel, when faced with the most devastating event of his generation, responds by beginning to speak. David, in the darkness of night, finds words to express wisdom and song. Both tale-tellers teach us how to find words at this season.