I recently had a little struggle I was dealing with, and I was like, “I don't understand why I'm dealing with it.” When I walk to shul (synagogue), sometimes I walk alone. I have a 20-minute walk. Sometimes I walk home with my sons, but sometimes I walk earlier, when my sons aren't ready yet. I give a class beforehand. Recently, I was walking to shul on Shabbat, and I said, “You know, I have a little struggle in my mind, a little struggle that's going on around me.” And I said, instead of just walking, and just spacing out for 20 minutes, and just looking at the stores on King's Highway, because my house is East 12th and the shul is on McDonald Avenue. So the stores on King's Highway, which is just a complete distraction, trying to figure out who has more business, Pilates or Orange Theory. Instead of doing that, I said, “I want to have something to think about.” So I said, “What does Hashem want from me in this struggle? How is there day in the night?” I came up with about five things that I think I'm gaining from this struggle. By the time I got to shul, it felt so much better. Because, yes, I don't understand why I have to deal with it. But maybe I do understand: because I have to become the person I have to become.
I knew that as Jews, we don't just mention Mitzrayim (Egypt) during the day. We don't just mention Mitzrayim when it feels like it's light outside, when it feels like life is bright. But even when we finish, even when we experience a little bit of darkness, as a Jew, we know how to talk and see light. The girl who was on the bus, the girl who was on the plane in row 23, could see Hashem in the obvious way she saw daytime. The girl in row 1A, I can't speak for her, and I'll probably get a phone call from her family because that's usually what happens. And Dad can't speak for her. But I hope that her family, through this struggle, through this darkness, could see the hand of Hashem too. And b'ezrat Hashem (with God's help), they'll see it with her having a complete recovery. But they'll also see it through the struggle and through the accident. Because as Jews, we don't just believe in God on good days. We even believe in God on night days.