In the second blessing of the evening prayers, we discuss the great gift Hashem has given to us: the study of the Torah. We say that we will always study Hashem's Torah, in the daytime and in the night.

Rabbi Eliezer, the author of sefer Rokeach, writes in his commentary on siddur that there is an allusion here to the verse in Psalms (42:9), "In the day Hashem will command his lovingkindness, even at night his song is with me." In this Psalm, David writes that when the daytime came, and light shone upon his life, he was able to clearly perceive Hashem's lovingkindness. But even before that, when he walked amidst the darkness of the night, David always took with him the song of Hashem. "Even at night, his song is with me." Even when it was difficult to perceive Hashem's presence, David never stopped singing the song of Hashem.

The Torah, in Parshas Vayelech, commands us, "And now, write for you this song." From there, our Sages have derived the commandment to write the sefer Torah. In this verse, the teachings of the Torah are described as a song. And indeed, the Jew never stops singing this song. Wherever he goes, in whatever circumstances he finds himself, he takes the song of the Torah with him always.

In this second blessing of the evening prayers, we say that we will meditate upon the teachings of Hashem in the day and in the night. Not only in the daytime, when things are going well and life has cast its glow upon us, will we take the time to look in the words of the Torah. But even during the night when things are difficult, and it seems as though we cannot find Hashem's guiding hand--even then, we look into the words of the Torah to find the inner rhythm in the twists and turns which our lives have taken.

And at last, when the daytime does come and we clearly perceive Hashem's lovingkindness, we will see that it is all nothing but the realization of that song which we have been singing all along.

Copyright (c) 1997 by Rabbi Levi Langer

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