288- With Me, from Lebanon, Bride

“‘With Me, from Lebanon, bride.’ Rabbi Levi said, ‘The conduct is to adorn the bride and perfume her, and then bring her to the Huppah [wedding canopy].’ But the Creator did not do so. Rather, He said to the assembly of Israel, ‘With Me, from Lebanon, bride. From silt and bricks I took you and made you a bride’” (Midrash Rabbah, BeShalach, Chapter 23).

Interpretation: The Creator brings a person closer not because of one’s good qualities, but due to lowliness, when one feels that he is submerged in sludge and bricks, meaning he wants to make himself white but he cannot. At that time, he is in lowliness, and from this discernment, he is rewarded with nearing the Creator.