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“VaYomer Moshe Ko Amar Hashem KaChatzot HaLailah Ani Yotzei BeToch Mitztrayim,” “And Moshe said: ‘This is what Hashem said: ‘About Midnight I will go out in the midst of Mitzrayim’’” (Shemot 11:4).
Hashem told Moshe that he would take Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt at “midnight.” What about this timing was so important? The Netivot Shalom answers with a fundamental principle about cycles of life.
Everything in this world, all creation, begins with darkness that is followed by light. The Netivot Shalom quotes the Zohar, who says that the only true light is one that comes after darkness. This has been reality since Creation, as the Torah says, “VaYihi Erev VaYihi Boker,” “And it was evening, and it was morning” (BeReishit 1:5). The morning sunrise is so much more special because it follows a dark night. Our time in the dark enables us to appreciate the light.
This universal idea is seen with Am Yisrael. At the Brit Bein HaBetarim, Hashem promised Avraham that his children would be slaves and then be redeemed. Why did we need to experience slavery? Couldn’t we go straight into redemption without having experienced exile?
The answer is no, because Hashem ordained that light and redemption can come only after darkness and exile. The ultimate light must contrast with darkness. This concept can be called growth; just as Hashem could have created the world to be permanently light but didn’t, He could have made us to be born as mature adults instead of babies. But instead, we are born as babies, “in the dark”, without knowledge, so we can spend our lives growing and bringing light into our lives.
This, according to the Netivot Shalom, is why the redemption had to take place exactly at Chatzot. Chatzot is the epitome of darkness. The first half of the night is still spiritually and metaphysically affected by the light of the previous day. A minute after Chatzot, the night is already affected by the light of the next day. At precisely Chatzot, the midpoint of the night, there is pure and utter darkness, deriving no light from the previous day or the next day. That is exactly when the plague of the first-born occurred, because the redemption comes from the darkest moment.
The pinnacle of darkness means it is time for the ultimate redemption. That is how we view our lives, how we view Am Yisrael, and how we must view every challenge that we experience in life. Whenever there is utter darkness, the time is ripe for the ultimate redemption. Even if we do not see the ultimate light manifest in our lifetime, we believe that the redemption will come after the darkness, because that is how Hashem created the world. First darkness, then light.