If a little light pushes away much darkness, why is there still so much darkness in the world? Because our growth depends on it. -- Rav Wolbe

"The extent of evil in the world is vast and its dominance is powerful. In the individual as well, evil is significantly greater than the few good thoughts that a person thinks. In the face of such a powerful force of evil, it is difficult to understand how it can be nullifed and become subservient to the good. Even the saying of Chovot HaLevavot, 'A little light pushes away much darkness,' does not resolve this difficulty for no matter how great the extent to which darkness and lies have been pushed away, evil remains without limit. 'From where will my help come?' 

"If nullification of evil would come by pushing it away, we would not need to be talking about it. However, there is another force revealed in creation and it's the force of growth: 'None can take pure out of impure except God. For example, Avraham from Terach, Chezkiyahu from Achaz, Yeshayahu from Ammon, Mordechai from Shimi, Israel from the nations, the world to come from this world. Who did this, who commanded this, who decreed this if not God?'" (Midrash Rabbah, Chukat) 

"Our sages say that only God could have maintained this world, which is made possible through the secret of growth, and it is through the secret of growth that God is revealed!"

"It would appear that the evil inclination is the best soil for growth of true knowledge."

"According to the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 3,8), in the days of Avraham the Egyptians succeeded in expelling the shechinah to the seventh heaven. And so the secret of growth was discovered: It was precisely in the complete absence of the shechinah that Avraham Avinu grew and flourished."

In the radical sort of thinking characteristic of Rav Wolbe, the message conveyed is that we do not need to fear the darkness, but actually need it for growth. 

"For this is the secret of the growth of every tree! The seed rots completely, and no one can explain to us how from a rotted seed that nullifies itself to the power of the earth, a tree grows. And just as a tree, so too spirituality. Avraham Avinu grew and flourished precisely during the time that the seed of the shechinah which had been placed in the world had completely rotted away."

(Rav Shlomo Wolbe, Da'at Shlomo: Purim, Pesach, pp. 331-3)

It is worth noting that many seeds, being buried in the earth, require darkness to germinate.


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