Inspiring Change by Michael Berg

How much appreciation do you have for the blessings in your life?

I think most of us would say that we appreciate our gifts, but I would like to awaken you to a deeper and more meaningful level of appreciation.

We in the United States experienced a tragedy a month ago. Twenty children and six adults were killed. If you are like me, you wanted to watch the news coverage, but could not see those beautiful faces without crying and feeling deep pain and sadness. It is at times like these that you hear statements to the effect that “this changes everything”; “nothing will be the same again.” Unfortunately, history has taught us that these feelings are short lived and that real change does not often follow such tragedies.

Previous to this week’s portion, the first seven Plagues - which represented the taking over of the lower seven Sefirot or lower seven levels of Negativity - were unleashed.

In this important Torah portion, we have the revelation of the Tetragrammaton, the four letter-Name of God, the Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei.

Shemot, “names,” is the name of both this week’s portion and the second book of the Torah, which is also called Exodus. One of the teachings in this week’s portion, while it has an important practical application, is such a beautiful teaching on its own that even if it didn’t, is worth studying.

This is an unbelievably insightful and powerful Shabbat for many reasons; the most important being that Shabbat Vayechi is the one Shabbat of the year where all the Light of Mashiach and of the Gemar HaTikun, The Final Correction, is revealed.

The story of Vayigash begins with the words “Vayigash elav Yehuda,” which means “Yehuda stood up to Joseph.” It is no coincidence that Vayigash is generally read on the Shabbat after Chanukah, because there is a similarity of consciousness between the Maccabees who defeated the Greeks, and the story of Vayigash.

We know that Chanukah is about opening up the channel of miracles. Therefore, during this time, we have greater access to create miracles... but first we must awaken them. In the Torah portion this week we learn a tremendously important lesson of how to truly awaken miracles, and through its energy, are given the opportunity to connect to the consciousness we need in order to do it.

After 12 years in prison, Joseph is summoned by Pharaoh to interpret two dreams.

If you look at the story of Vayeshev, it is probably the most depressing, chaos-filled portion in the entire Torah. Something terrible happens to everybody mentioned. Joseph is almost killed and then sold as a slave. Yehuda, who is the leader, loses his spiritual leadership and almost all of his Light. Reuben, who was trying to save Joseph, also falls.

This is a very important portion. It is the first time that the Torah speaks about the battle between ourselves and what’s called “Sitra Achra,” the Negative Side – the story of Jacob coming toward Esau, the story of Jacob battling the angel.