Steipler Gaon - It Takes A Hard Day To Appreciate A Night And A Hard Night To Appreciate The Day
By Shacharis we say Yotzer Ohr U'Borei Choshech. We thank Hashem for creating the light and the darkness. Also at night by Ma'ariv we say Borei Yom VaLeila, thanking Hashem for both day and night. This is based on the gemara (Brachos 11b) that says that we must mention both day and night both in the morning and at night. Why?
The Talilei Oros brings from the Steipler Gaon that if day were to continue on forever we wouldn't appreciate it. Only after the world becomes dark and closes for the night and is then reborn in the morning, do our senses properly feel the miracle of the Hischadshus the renewal and rejuvenation of the Bria through the Chesed of Hashem.
Similarly if night were to be endless, we would not appreciate the underlying kindness of Hashem in providing this quiet refuge from the hustle and bustle of the day. Only after a hard day's work can we thank Hashem for turning down the lights and enabling us to catch our breath and rest ourselves to prepare for the next day.
RS, Gateshead, 2010-10-12 04:27:52 It goes much further than this. Hashem could have dispensed with our need to rest and sleep - in fact that woul allow us a faster passage to Olam Habo! If our lives were just 'one long day',after our first few slip-ups, dispair and depression would quickly set in and we would very soon lose the will to continue, but rather we would just give up. In His tremendous chesed, Hashem has broken our task in this world into manageable 'bite-sized' segments. The freshness of each new day urges us on to start anew and improve on yesterdays shotcomings.
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