T149 PNC - At Midnight I Rise — Midnight Sweetens Judgments / Propitious Time (1 seg)

Opening verse: 'At midnight I rise to thank You for Your righteous judgments' (Psalms 119:62). Midnight is a spiritually propitious time — it is a time of redemption and the sweetening of divine judgments, as the Petach Eliyahu and kabbalistic sources teach. At midnight, the divine attribute of compassion becomes ascendant, and the harsh decrees and judgments that have accumulated through the day are sweetened and softened. This is why King David rose at midnight to study Torah and offer praise. The person who rises at midnight — even briefly, even just to say a word of thanks or a psalm — participates in this cosmic sweetening. The 'righteous judgments' that the verse thanks God for are not bitter judgments — they are judgments that have been sweetened by this midnight encounter with divine compassion.