Chana went to NJ today for a milestone birthday of her father BH! Her siblings helped organize a special weekend complete with a mini concert, meaningful gifts, and relatives coming in from out of town. But making it even more special? There's just one person who was unaware of the planned event – my father-in-law.
I can't wait to hear the recap of the celebration, especially his reaction to the surprise. And it got me thinking about the nature of a surprise.
There’s something about a surprise that turns the ordinary into something remarkable. How interesting is it that simply because something is unexpected and novel, the experience becomes memorable.
Humor of course works the same way. When does a person laugh? What makes us smile? Laughter is created from the surprise. Comedy is expecting one answer and getting the opposite answer. The art of humor is the ability to create an expectation and then move from it to another place.
Here's the KABBALA behind the surprise:
But first a question: Why does a Jewish day start at night? The answer is right there in this week's Torah Portion. In each of the days of creation, we find that G-d began creating at night, and at the end of the afternoon Hashem closed the day with the announcement: "And it was evening, and it was morning, one day, etc.”
Of course that begs the question -- Who starts working at night? Doesn't a hard worker show up at sunrise? Why does G-d, and thus the Jewish day, start from the evening before?
The mystics give a fascinating answer. Life is all about creating light from darkness.
Life is not a postcard. Life is a startup venture to create a new never-before-seen innovative product. This world is where a person gets the opportunity to be G-d’s partner in the creation of the world! To create something different, surprising, unpredictable, unprecedented, unique that no one did or could have anticipated in advance.
This is one way we humans fulfill the purpose of creation. Hashem had everything above, but one thing he didn't have was surprise and innovation. In creating a world Hashem says 'I am looking not for the perfect person, but for those who voluntarily and unpredictably chooses to write a better version of themselves. That's one reason why the world started dark and gradually became light !"
On Yom Kippur someone told me "Rabbi, just a few years ago never would I have imagined that I would be the type of person to put on Tefilin or be excited about donating to a Jewish cause?"
My response? That makes it the more meaningful.
This unexpected surprise is magical. This is divine.
This, for the Creator, is a greater innovation than designing a rocket ship to outer space.
This is a rocket ship to inner space!
“ And it was evening, and (through you Jew) it was morning —that is what I, G-d, call a day !”