There are four things, as our Sages teach, that G‑d regrets having created.
One of them is — exile. It is wise to remember this constantly: exile is not the true state in which G‑d would like His people to be.
Our Sages taught us about this regret for two reasons:
(a) in order that we should not come to be satisfied with the state of exile, but that we should remember that it is a punishment: “Because of our sins we were exiled from our Land”;
(b) in order that we should not be daunted by the darkness of exile, nor driven to despair — for we know that exile is not a substantial reality, and it will ultimately dissolve.
Even when the darkness of exile grows ever thicker, a Jew has no reason to be overawed by it. Quite the contrary: Since he realizes that the spiritual decline called “exile” is a descent made for the sake of a consequent ascent, he intensifies his divine service, and augments the light of his Torah study and observance of the mitzvos — in order to banish or transform the darkness of the exile. In fact it is this very descent, this very darkness of exile, that spurs him on to scale the most exalted heights.
Moreover, the thicker the darkness of exile, the more does it indicate how intense will be the revelation in future time. When the darkness is redoubled, this shows that the future revelation of light will likewise be redoubled.
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