This story is a prequel to "Simple Chaim". Readers of that story will know that Raizel's father, Nathan, was a very hard-hearted man. Nathan was about as far away from the path of the Lamed-Vav, the path of compassion and simple kindness, as a human-being can get. But before we can learn to walk the road that leads to Divine Compassion, we must first understand the road that leads away from it.
What traumatic events could produce a man like Nathan? It is easy to judge such a man, but do we dare to understand him? In "Descent Into Darkness" we learn the greatest threat to all our lives - that when we fight against our destiny and our innate compassionate nature, even in the name of grand intentions, then, like Jonah, we enter the very belly of the Beast. And the consequences for ourselves and the world can be truly tragic.