What Choice Are You Making?

Get up or snooze? Coffee or tea? Right lane or left? Salad or sandwich? Keep going or move on? Every day we make hundreds, maybe even thousands of choices bases on the information we have in front of us.

In The New York Times op-ed piece called “My Medical Choice,” Angelina Jolie recently revealed that she decided to have a double mastectomy after genetic testing concluded that she was at high risk for developing breast cancer. The mother of six, who lost her mother and aunt to the disease, called her decision “proactive” and hoped by sharing her story, she would let women know that “you have options.”

While she has been praised by some and criticized by others for various reasons, Jolie has raised a good point: When push comes to shove, we always have a choice.

I understand that going through pain and not wanting our loved ones, especially our children, to go through the pain we went through can be a strong motivation behind our choices. Here’s another one.

Kabbalists teach that the seed of our reality is our consciousness. Our consciousness creates our reality, and in today’s world, many of us have come to not only accept chaos as our reality but expect it. We try to prevent, prepare and safeguard against it, and sometimes, we still fall victim. But what other choice do we have?

We have the choice to change our consciousness.

The real chaos isn’t what happens to us, but how we perceive it. We can choose to keep having certainty in chaos or shift our certainty to the Light – the infinite energy of goodness.

Choosing certainty in the Light means taking responsibility for everything in our lives – the good, the bad, the ugly - seeing the order beneath the chaos, and knowing that every challenge is an opportunity to reveal Light.
Choosing the consciousness of certainty that the Light is always there even in the darkest and most difficult moment of our lives connects us to a reality beyond chaos, which Kabbalists refer to as the Tree of Life Reality.

We choose our reality by choosing our consciousness. If we decide to live according to the world of data and statistics, our reality is not so promising. Take marriage for instance. First marriages have a 50% chance of failing, while second marriages have a 60% chance of failing. With numbers like that, why bother getting married?

But data does not have to drive your life! You can! You can choose to be the success case. And why not? There are lots of success stories of people that have changed their lives around despite what doctors, statistics and the status quo has told them is possible.

It’s not about denying your circumstances or just having faith. It’s about taking charge over what’s happening in your life. We all are affected by family history, both physically and spiritually, but did you ever hear someone who was the first person in his/her family to graduate college? Despite generations who only could go so far with their education, it just took one person to break the cycle and start a new one.

We can be that one person!

Not every disease gene manifests and not every disease comes from a gene. There is a growing field of education that teaches about the mind body and soul connection and demonstrates that a change of consciousness can change your health.

We can change our consciousness by choosing to invest in exploring our spirituality, increase our connection to the life force that already exists in us and learn how to let that life force flow! Read books, talk to people and find a spiritual system that works for you.

For me, the spiritual path and greatest gift in my life is Kabbalah, which I’ve been studying for 20 years. It personally awakened my consciousness of certainty in the Light and helped me maintain that consciousness.

One of the many tools of Kabbalah provides to transform consciousness is the meditation on specific Hebrew letters combinations known as the 72 Names of God. Here, I’ve shared with you the combinations for healing (image below) and certainty (image above). Just by looking at the letters, reading the meditation and envisioning ourselves and those who need it surrounded by the bright Light of these energies, we can shift our consciousness and bodies for the better.

I wish to send Angelina Jolie and people all over the world who are facing an illness healing energy. I also wish for all of us the strength to choose Light over darkness and to experience the Tree of Life Reality full of miracles and blessings.

Love,
Sarah

Seeking Solutions After Sandy Hook

Behind the tears and overwhelming pain and shock…
While feeling deep desire to find out why this happened and who is responsible for such a tragedy…
And hearing calls to action to sign petitions, add security guards to our children’s schools and improve mental care…

…I am left with a clear picture: Chaos is looking at me – at all of us - straight in the face and with no shame.

Chaos manifests in a physical way. First, it infiltrates our mind and causes us to look outside of ourselves in search of someone to blame and judge. It points to someone and says, “Be afraid of them,” an unknown enemy separate from ourselves, and convinces us that the ultimate solution is a security guard with weapon in our children’s schools will increase their safety. The only thing more twisted that our kids being threatened at school, is our acceptance of these 1% fixes.

The real question is: What is the source of chaos?

Rather than treating the symptoms of chaos, we must seek deeper seed level solutions for the complete removal of chaos. Many spiritual paths offer answers, guidance and support. Personally, I have found answers in the universal wisdom of Kabbalah.

We all have an inner power of healing and an inner power of destruction. Recognizing these two forces and learning to overcome the negative power is what creates positive energy, known as Light.

As Kabbalists throughout history have taught, we are destined to live in a world of peace, harmony and love. Yet, chaos reigns because we accept it as part of our world. 10 or 20 years ago, hearing about someone with cancer was absolutely shocking. Today, how do you feel when you hear about someone diagnosed with cancer?

Chaos is not shocking anymore. Accepting disease, pain and random acts of violence is accepting chaos, and that is unacceptable – for you, me, our children and all of our fellow human beings!

Each of us has the power to defeat chaos and transform it to Light, and so many of us are already hard at work doing just that. Personal transformation, compassion, unity, living our best lives and taking global responsibility can create the harmonious world we are meant to live in. If we want to change the world, we have to change ourselves.

If you are on a spiritual path, push yourself to the next level. If you aren’t on one, find one because we are all in this world together.

To all of us, I wish a happy and harmonious 2013.

Thank you,

Sarah Yardeni

Time & Money

What would you do for another hour in the day and extra cash in your pocket? Get ready for a surge in those physical desires as we enter the month #Capricorn, the most materialistic sign of the Zodiac – and yet, potentially the most spiritual.

Tonight is the 6^th night of #Chanukah. It’s also the new moon of Capricorn. The 10^th sign of the #Zodiac is ruled by the planet furthest away from the sun, Saturn. Do you know a Capricorn? Maybe not very well at first. They enjoy their own company and take time to warm up to others.

They are also highly invested in the physical. Stable, systematic and overachieving, they make great scientists and business people. And they attribute all of their physical success to their hard work.

Similarly, we will all be influenced this month by this false sense of control and ownership of our accomplishments: Things are going my way. People are taking my advice. My hard work is paying off. And we will need to remember, as Kabbalist Rav Berg simply puts, “The source of all these things is the Light.”

The only thing we really control is our consciousness. We can choose to see the Light in every situation. We can choose to share that which we receive. We can choose to push away doubts and uncertainty. We have to take ownership of our consciousness and protect it.

When we choose to see that everything in our lives comes from the Creator for the purpose of revealing Light, the world will reflect that brilliant reality back to us.

Where there is the most darkness is the most Light, and therefore, beneath the materialism of Capricorn is the DNA of the highest spiritual connection: The 72 Names of God. We have a direct link to this powerful meditative tool through the Hebrew letters that control this month, Ayin and Bet (see below).

We can also focus on the specific sequence from the 72 Names of God for Defying Gravity (see below) to gain the power of mind over matter during Capricorn.

During the next 28 days, we have a choice: We can fall into the typical materialistic mode of Capricorn, or we can rise above to the highest spiritual levels by sharing everything we receive from the Creator. Only when we rise above do we truly gain control over time, money, love and so much more.

Chodesh Tov! (Good Month!),
Sarah Yardeni
Instructor, The Kabbalah Centre, NY

Resources: KABBALISTIC ASTROLOGY by Kabbalist Rav Berg and THE 72 NAMES OF GOD by Yehuda Berg

#Kabbalah #Time&Money

Our Most Important Meeting

How can we prepare for the most important meeting of our day? It starts just after midnight while we’re fast asleep but our soul is not! What exactly is our soul doing at night?

Every night, our soul leaves us and joins the Creator. Like meeting with a supervisor, our soul reports to the Creator to review our previous day and fortify us for the following day. As The Zohar, the ancient text of Kabbalah, all of our daily thoughts, words and actions – seen or unseen – are on record:

Come and see, During the time when people sleep and taste of death, the soul rises up and gets to stand in a certain place, where it is examined about its daily activities which are recorded in the book. What is the reason for this? Because the soul rises up and testifies about all the person’s activities and every single word that came out from his lips.

- Naso, verse 6

Our positive thoughts, words and actions create positive angels that serve to protect and provide us with those inspiring thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere: Call that friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Take that job. Our positive doings also serve to open up the gates of Heaven and bring us closer to the Creator for blessings, wisdom and strength, especially during those nightly connections.

Our consciousness and behavior determines the quality of the angels we create. Words and actions with an agenda will beget angels that are not perfect, and through negative behavior, we can create angels that speak falsehoods and can even be terrors. Our daily negativity not only locks the gates of Light but paves a pathway for chaos in our lives.

The good news is no matter the day we’ve had – our boss pushed our buttons or we volunteered from morning til night – there is something we can do before dozing off to ensure we have the most productive nightly meeting with the Creator. This preparation also determines how well we sleep, sending our soul to a place that it is nourished by the angels rather than lodged into a space where it is given false messages.

It’s all about transformation. The first tool of our transformation, known as Teshuva, has four simple steps to follow.

Step 1. Reflect on my day to find the moments I would want to pause, rewind and change something – a negative word that came up, or energy waisted with people I shouldn’t have been with – and recognizing the cause of the negative behavior. E.g. Pride, judgement, control, etc.

Step 2. Feel the pain of my negativity caused on a soul level. Imagine the consequences of my action for myself, others and the world.

Step 3. Replay your day again, and imagine being proactive in those moments. How would you feel, what would you think and what would you do differently?

Step 4. Make a sincere commitment to not repeat that behavior in the future. Imagine what my future would look like without that behavior.

The second thing we can do before going to sleep is to extend forgiveness to anyone who hurt us – in this lifetime or another, knowingly or unknowing – to ensure we don’t go to bed angry and resentful, which could block us from receiving Light during our meeting.

Knowing what you know now about the most important meeting of our day, what does the departure of the soul at night what does it mean to you? Think about what you can do differently during the day and before bed. Remember, the purpose is always to change.

Thank you,

Sarah Yardeni

A Message from Above…

Usually out-of-this-world stories come to us through a friend of a friend of a friend’s brother who knew the guy. However, I was urged to share this personal story by a student as a shining example that there is so much more to this world than meets the eye.

Last week, Lisa Mirchin, a longtime student of the Kabbalah Centre, and I went to her mother’s grave on her 3-year death anniversary to make a special connection. Kabbalah teaches that on a person’s death anniversary, his/her soul returns to its burial site, the place of its leftover physicality.

There we were on a beautiful sunny day, sitting up on a hill of a cemetery that felt more like a friendly garden, with all the Kabbalistic tools with us to make a connection and give energy to the soul of Lisa’s mother.

Lisa had a huge desire to receive a sign from her mother. Before her mother died, Lisa had asked her if she would send a sign after she passed, but at the time, her mother had been unwilling to discuss it.

“I don’t feel her.” Lisa kept repeated. Conversely, I had felt a surge of emotions from the minute we arrived. I reminded Lisa that she was here to give energy and to stop wanting to receive from her mother instead.

We meditated on the 72 Names of God for Contacting Departing Souls, and I asked help from my teachers, the Rav and Karen Berg, and righteous souls to really connect to and see what would be the best thing to happen right now.

I closed my eyes and saw a woman who was singing. I asked Lisa, “What’s your mother’s favorite song? I think she wants us to sing to her.” But Lisa quickly dismissed the idea.

As we continued reading The Zohar, Lisa told stories about her mom, including how
her mother died in Lisa’s arms with Lisa kissing her all over as she cried. Between her stories, I kept asking Lisa about her mom’s favorite song, and she kept averting the question.

Sensing Lisa frustration, I told her to just open The Zohar anywhere for guidance. With the book in her hands, Lisa closed her eyes, dramatically opened it wide, swung her arm around and drove her finger down. In volume 20, page 88, her finger landed on one word: song.

It was the wakeup call Lisa needed. She grabbed her iPod and hit play on her mother’s favorite song, Que Sera Sera – the familiar song about a mother and daughter talking about life. The tears started flowing.

Without further prompt, another song started to play – “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling
Together)” by Queen (video above). And in its lyrics, Lisa got a sign as clear as the day:When I’m gone

No need to wonder if I ever think of you
The same moon shines
The same wind blows
For both of us, and time is but a paper moon…
Be not gone

Though I’m gone
It’s just as though I hold the flower that touches you
A new life grows
The blossom knows
There’s no one else could warm my heart as much as you…
Be not gone

Let us cling together as the years go by
Oh my love, my love
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned

Hear my song
Still think of me the way you’ve come to think of me
The nights grow long
But dreams live on
Just close your pretty eyes and you can be with me…
Dream on

When I’m gone
They’ll say we’re all fools and we don’t understand
Oh be strong
Don’t turn your heart
We’re all
You’re all
For all
For always

Besides the wow factor, what can we take away from this story to help us in our lives?

No matter what happens, we must remember that love is everlasting - through time and yes, different dimensions. Especially when we are experiencing the pain of losing a loved one or darkness of any difficulty, we must remind ourselves that there is a bigger picture that we don’t see and in it, the Light is always there.

Thank you,
Sarah Yardeni

A note to Lisa: Thank you, dear friend, for inviting me to participate in, what turned out to be, an amazing experience.

Are you blessed or cursed in life?

We know that the Creator only intends for our lives to be filled with goodness and Light. So, who is blessing or cursing us? The truth is leading a life full of happiness or a life full of chaos is a choice that we make.

In life, there are two paths to choose. The path of happiness is filled with blessings of good health, abundance, love, fulfillment, peace – all of the good things we want. Meanwhile, the path of chaos makes us feel cursed with problems, anger, disputes, wars and chaos of all different ways, shapes and forms.

Choosing the path of happiness is choosing the path of proactive transformation, on which we stretch and transform ourselves, channel most of our energy towards caring for people and consider the effects of our actions.

Choosing the path of chaos is choosing the path of reactive transformation, on which we are pushed, through great pain and pressure, to stop, look at ourselves and change. Many times when we are taking this path, it feels like life is not going well or things do not happen for us – just as if we are cursed.

Each and every moment of our lives, we decide which road to travel in life. Take a moment to consider this reality. Which path are you choosing right now?

This week, be more conscious than ever that the actions, thoughts, words and feelings you choose promote proactive transformation in the long run, rather than reactive transformation now. It’s either one or the other; it cannot be both.

Some of us think that have everything we want is a blessing that will bring happiness. We look at people that have a lot of money, and we judge them to be happy. Yet, happiness can only be something a person feels inside, not what his/her life looks like from the outside. Nor is happiness the result of any external circumstances; it does not depend on what I have or do not have.

The greatest curse is to be sad, while the greatest blessing is to be truly happy. We experience true happiness when we are spiritually wealthy. Spiritual wealth is a person’s a deep connection to the Light and profound understanding of the purpose of life. When we have spiritual wealth, nothing can make us sad, nothing can make us poor.

Happiness is a choice. A beautiful tool to strengthen this type of consciousness is the Hebrew-letter combination of the 72 Names of God for happiness, Vav Hei Vav (see below). Whether you have 30 minutes or 30 seconds, take time to close your eyes and mediate on this combination and the corresponding affirmation:

I want to plant a seed for the rest of the week that I am choosing to be blessed, I am choosing the path of proactive transformation, and I am choosing happiness. I am dropping my ego and moving towards actual and lasting fulfillment. I restrain my selfish longings, and I ask for what my soul needs. Looking ahead, I want elevation for my soul and real transformation. I restrict my dark impulses and tendencies towards negativity and complaining. I appreciate everything around me and reach into my soul at the deepest level to connect with real happiness and true joy.

I wish that all of us are able to manifest this reality of true happiness idea every day, in every second.

Thank you,

Sarah Yardeni

If you’re life was a movie, would you like what is playing on the big screen?
Luckily, our lives do not have predetermined endings like films do, and we have the power to shift our destiny.

I’d like to share with you an insightful story from The Zohar - the ancient text of Kabbalah. When reading stories from The Zohar, not only can we learn profound truths about life but also gain the strength to remember and apply those truths when life challenges us and we seem to forget everything we know! It’s when we rise to meet these challenges that we can change our movie.

From the portion Behar, verse 58, it begins: Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi were walking along the way and chanced upon a mountain. They found two men walking, and at the same time a man coming, who said to them: Please, I pray you, give me a piece of bread. For I have been lost in the desert for two days and have had nothing to eat. One of the men went aside, took out the provision he brought with
him for the way and gave it to him; he fed him and gave him drink. His companion said to him: What shall you do when you need food? For as for me, I will eat my own AND SHALL GIVE YOU NOTHING. He said to him: I do not rely upon YOUR FOOD! The poor man sat by him until he had eaten all he had, and he gave the remaining bread to the poor man for the road. And he went away.

Rabbi Chiya said: The Holy One, blessed be He, did not wish it to be done by us. Rabbi Yosi said: Perhaps there is an impending sentence upon that man, and the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to put this in his way in order to save him. While they were walking the man became exhausted DUE TO HUNGER. His companion said to him: Did not I tell you not to give your bread to another? Rabbi Chiya said to Rabbi Yosi: We have food with us, let us give him some to eat. Rabbi Yosi said: Do you wish to take away his merit? Let us go and see, for surely death follows in his footsteps-MEANING THAT THE DANGER OF DEATH IS FOLLOWING HIM and the Holy One, blessed be He, to prepare a merit for him in order to save him.

Meanwhile, the man stopped to sleep under a tree. His friend went further and sat in a different place. Rabbi Yosi said to Rabbi Chiya: Let us sit down and watch, for
surely the Holy One, blessed be He, intends to perform a miracle for him. They stood up and waited. While they were waiting, they saw a fiery rattlesnake standing by him. Rabbi Chiya said: Woe unto that man, for he is about to die. Rabbi Yosi said: This man is worthy of a miracle of the Holy One, blessed be He. A snake then came down the tree with the intention of killing him. The rattlesnake attacked the snake and killed it. Then the rattlesnake turned its head and went on his way.

Rabbi Yosi said: Have I not told you that the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to perform a miracle for him, and you must not take away his merit, THAT, HE
SHOULD NOT GIVE HIM FOOD. In the meanwhile, the man awoke from his sleep and rose to go. Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi joined him and gave him food. After he ate, they told him of the miracle the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for him.

THE CURE COMES BEFORE THE ILLNESS
Like the man with death following him, we may have chaos trailing us as a result of reactive behavior, which can manifest as difficulties in relationships, illness or even death. But, as we also learn from The Zohar, the cure is always created before the illness. What does that mean? There is always an opportunity for us to shift our destiny for the better before chaos created by our reactive behavior actually manifests.

The man with death following him was sent the hungry man as an opportunity to act against his reactive nature and merit a change in his destiny. In order for
him to share all of the food he had left, he needed to have had a very strong and clear consciousness that whatever he had always came from the Creator – not from his companion, not from himself or anyone else. Because he trusted that the Creator would take care of him, he was able to give.

SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE & TRUST THE PROCESS
The lack of interference from Rabbis Chiya and Yosi, who watched the events unfold also allowed for a change in the man’s destiny. They understood that beyond what they saw was a bigger picture and process. They also knew about merit – the result of an action of giving above and beyond our ability, logic that creates an opening in our lives for us to receive assistance and protection, which is also above and beyond our expectation and nature.

In our lives, we are afraid to go through the process. We try to run from it, pass it off or find temporary solutions – anything to prevent it. And when we see
those we care about struggling in their process, we naturally want to jump in and fix things to prevent it for them too. We say things like, “I don’t want you to go through the pain I went through. Let me do this for you.” This story reminds us to step back and trust the process; it can lead us to an amazing end result.

This week, look for opportunities to create merits and change your destiny through giving above and beyond, especially when it is most uncomfortable. Don’t try to escape the process. Don’t try to create shortcuts. Through every step of the process, trust that you can show up in the best possible way and reach a positive outcome. We are all destined for a beautiful final result where we are happy, fulfilled and connected to the Light of the Creator.

I wish all of us an amazing connection to the Light of The Zohar – especially with the death anniversary of its author Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on Wednesday night through Thursday – so we can maintain this consciousness and make the most of every opportunity we receive to create the shifts for the better in our life’s journey.

Thank you,
Sarah Yardeni

Looking for your next big breakthrough? The one that can bring you more happiness, love, clarity, strength and all that you desire? This week the leap you seek can be achieved!

Is there anyone who doesn’t want to experience more fulfillment in their lives? Some of us may be riding high in life and want to continue onto the next big wave. Meanwhile, some of us may not be completely satisfied in our careers, relationships, spirituality or all of the above. Either way, at some point, we all find ourselves wondering:

How do I breakout of where I am?

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Light is the infinite energy of giving in our lives. It is the source of all the fulfillment we can ever desire, and as Kabbalists explain, it is the birth right of our souls to be fulfilled!

By creating openings in our lives for the Light to enter our consciousness and hearts, the gates to the fulfillment and solutions we truly crave can be unlocked.

How do we create openings for the Light?

As a positive force of sharing, the Light always wants to come in to help us, but our egocentric nature blocks us from receiving it. In order to get out of our own way, we need to seek opportunities to go outside of ourselves and share.

When you feel overwhelmed with your own problems, open up and care for someone else. When you think you know it all, open up and ask for advice.

All it takes is a crack created by us for the Light to break into our lives, as The Zohar, the ancient text of Kabbalah, reassures us:

“OPEN ME AN OPENING AS BIG AS THE EYE OF A NEEDLE, AND
I WILL OPEN FOR YOU THE CELESTIAL GATES.”
– Portion Emor 129

As perfect as the eye of a needle, so too can our sharing actions be – whole, full of effort and love – and through those actions can the Light come through to unlock the gates of fulfillment for us.

SPIRITUAL HINT!
The greatest Light lies in the moments we find it the most difficult to open up and let the Light in.

For this week and always, may we merit the opportunities to create those unique
openings in our lives to allow the Light in and breakthrough to the next level in our spiritual journey.

Thank you,

Sarah Yardeni

To read more about the quoted text above, check out Secrets of the Zohar by Michael Berg.

Energy of the Week: Mishpatim

Every portion every Shabbat holds a unique energy. The specific Light of this portion, Mishpatim, involves one of the deepest topics in the teachings of Kabbalah: Reincarnation.

If we only read the stories of the Torah literally, we may find them irrelevant to the period of time that we’re living in today. Mishpatim means laws and judgment, and this portion talks about different rules of slavery and farming – stories we will find have very little to do with our lives – but, as soon as we turn to Kabbalah and the Zohar, we get clarity about the secrets of the portion.

We are all here because we have spiritual work to do and corrections that need to be made .The biggest gift from Mishpatim, as Rav Berg explains, is that just listening to this Torah portion helps us make those corrections. The simple act of listening to the Torah portion along with the desire to change what needs to be changed, and the understanding of what energy is being revealed can actually create the correction.

It’s like a free trip. Usually, we go through our tikkun (correction) process in life, and through hard work and pain, we reach the deep realization that we must change something. However, Shabbat is a special timeframe during which we can receive energy without boundaries. Just by attending the Shabbat connection – where the Torah reader knows the energy he is sharing and we, as the receivers, know what we are being given – we can save ourselves so much hardship, trouble, effort and pain while we are going through the correction process of life. As the Rav explains, we are really paying off karmic debts just by listening to this week’s portion.

I’d like to share with you the first verse of Mispatim in the Zohar says:

Rabbi Shimon opened with the words, “And these are the judgments which you shall set

before them” (Shemot 21:1). ALSO IN THE ARAMAIC TRANSLATION, IT SPEAKS OF JUDGMENTS. These are the rules concerning reincarnation, NAMELY the judgment of souls that INCARNATE AGAIN IN THIS WORLD to be sentenced each according to its punishable acts.

In this week’s portion in the Zohar is the story of an old soul called Sabba di Mishpatim that reveals the secrets of reincarnation. Reincarnation is a topic with which we do not all connect. Many people don’t think about their past lives or doubt that they exist. The fact that we don’t remember past lives doesn’t mean that they didn’t exist. Most people don’t remember the first few years of their current lives, the most important developmental years that determine the rest of our lives, but it doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen.

If we want to connect to the energy of reincarnation this week, we can open ourselves up to the idea that there is a reason for our existence. We did not come to this world just to be spiritual or good people. Each of us came for a very specific task connected with a certain correction we need to make.

It’s easy to get diverted, to be good and do all kinds of spiritual things because it’s relatively easy. However, there is a precise purpose and a distinct correction for each and every one of us. If we die without doing completing them, it’s as if we had never lived and we miss the opportunity of our lifetime.

How do we wake up to realize what each of us is here for? First, know that the answer can be found this week. The answer can be revealed to you when you’re using the spiritual tools of the Ana Beko’ach and studying from the Zohar. Ask yourself is: What are the things which are really hard for me to do? What are the things which are really painful for me to do?

These difficult and painful areas are where your correction lies, as well as in the transformation you can make in those places. The portion’s literal story is about slaves because, as the Rav explains, most of us are slaves to our past-life baggage. We don’t even know how much of our lives is actually guided by our fears or actions we did in past lives!

Rav Isaac Lura explains that if we don’t remember at least one lifetime, there is no way we can achieve our purpose in a current lifetime. We must wake up and remember – not our names, places of residency or occupations. Rather, there needs to be a connection, somewhere deep inside of us, to the things that are hard for us to do, we’re afraid to do and are buried. Go to those places and work on those areas because this week we can really reach reveal the reason we exist in the world.

I’ll end with a short story. A student came to the Bal Shem Tov and said, “I don’t see any sense in this world.” So, the Bal Shem Tov sent the student to a certain location to observe what was happening there. The student went, and saw a person sit down on a bench for lunch and when he left, he forgot his suitcase. A second person came to the bench, picked up the suitcase and left. A third person sat down on the bench just as the first person came back looking for his suitcase. The first person started to scream at and beat up the third person, blaming him for taking his suitcase.

The student went back to the Bal Shem Tov and said, “Now, you only proved to me that there is actually no sense in life. I saw an innocent person lose his suitcase, another innocent person get beaten up and yelled at, and a third person steal something and nothing happened to him. There’s no justice.” The Bal Shem Tov explained to him that this is what it means when it’s said that someone has eyes but can’t really see. Our world is much deeper and more complicated than the present we see with our 1% eyes. When we learn about reincarnation and the journey of our soul, we realize that life is never-ending. It’s a huge chain of cause-and-effect carried from one lifetime to another. The first person was a thief in his past lifetime who stole money from the second person, and the second person was only taking what actually belonged to him when he took the suitcase. The third person was the judge who lied in the way that he had judged both of them in the past lifetime and therefore, his correction was to get beaten up and yelled at by the first person.

The power of reincarnation is to show us that nothing happens randomly. Everything is connected to a prior cause, and we are the cause. The choices we’ve made, the actions we’ve taken and the energy we’ve put in will come back to us as opportunities for a correction.

This week especially, we can broaden our perspective of our lives. We can look at situations that seem unfair, where we ask, “Why did this happen to me? Why did this person do it to me?” There is always a chapter before, and with this week’s portion, we can get insights into what that chapter is.

I wish all of us a huge extension of our understanding of who we are, why we exist, why we go through what we do, as well as a new appreciation for people who come into our lives. More than that, I wish each of us real clarity of what our own correction is and, through the Torah reading and the Zohar, that we receive the ability to create that correction.

Shabbat shalom,

Sarah Yardeni