Bo: "Midnight"
And it came to pass at midnight, that G-d smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt (Ex.12.29)The sages teach:
The first half of the night embodies the divine attribute of gevurah (justice), and its second half, the divine attribute of chessed (benevolence). Midnight is the juncture that fuses and supercedes them both, since the power to join two opposites can only come from a point that transcends their differences. "Midnight" is thus an expression of a divine involvement in creation that transcends all standard criteria for punishment or reward.
(Ohr HaTorah)
This is why our sages tell us that praying at midnight will bring forth the greatest fruit. We believe this is true for we had an experience that yielded great fruit. With the flu making its round throughout our family home, we were forced to lose some sleep for a while; especially when it came to our youngest daughter. One particular night, our daughter vomitted near midnight and it had to be cleaned up. After succeeding this daunting task with no energy left, Carol saw the time and just collapsed upon the couch with an exhaustive prayer, "Father, it is in your hands". Immediately after that a song began to form in her mind. Praying not to lose it the melody or words, she drifted off to sleep. In the morning, Carol remembered the song and began to write down the words while taping this song melody. This song is what we now titled, "The Dry Bones".
Of course this isn't very practical on a regular basis with several small children in the house, but we still give thanks and praise to HaShem for that night as well as the many others we have experienced. We suspect this midnight hour will important in other ways, too because we read in Scripture:
"But at midnight there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom'" Matt.25.6
