Vayigash

Parasha VaYigash ‘to come closer’ is the eleventh Torah Portion in the yearly Torah cycle, and it is read after Hanukkah. Vayigash means to come closer to the light,  of the Creators, There are certain things we can do to help us move closer to the light, while others things  causes us to become more distant. Sharing brings us closer, for instance, while doubt and anger push us away. This reading gives us the power to move closer to the light of the Creators.

At the end of Parasha MiKeitz, Benjamin was an apprehended as a thief who had been caught red-handed with the viceroy’s cup. The eleven brothers stood haplessly at the mercy of this supposingly hostile all powerful Egyptian, who determine that Benjamin would have to remain in Egypt as a slave while his brother could return to their father.

Judyah step forward risking his life, while the other brother stood dumbfounded! His speech was simple yet eloquent; controlled yet emotional; respectful yet firm. Judyah petitioned without debasing himself; He could not protest the fairness of the verdict, because the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Like a true leader he offered up himself as a substitute, not realizing that he was speaking to the very brother whose life he had save in 37:26 and settle to sell him as a slave.

In 167 BCE, Hebrew rebels led by Judyah Maccabees rose up against the Greek ruler, Antiochus, who had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem. In a series of battles lasting some twenty-five years, the Maccabees defeated the much larger and better trained Greek army.

They reentered the Temple and purified it, after which a few night’s oil miraculously kept the Temple Menorah lit for eight days, which would become the basis for our contemporary celebration of Hanukkah, which was last week.

It is no coincident that the story of Vayigash is generally read on the Sabbath after Chanukah, because there is a link between the Maccabees who defeated the Greek and the consciousness espoused by the Torah portion of Vayigash.

Vayigash begins with the words “Vayigash elav Yehuda,” or Yehuda stood up to Joseph. This alluded to Judyah’s resistance to Joseph’s demand that Benjamin, their youngest brother be a slave in Egypt. Judyah protested that if Benjamin was forced to come to Egypt, Jacob, would die of grief.

What this Torah Portion Vayigash made clear is that like so many Torah Portion it is more than it appears to be, a story about events that took place thousand of years ago. Below the surface, it is describing the process of redemption, which can come only when enough righteous believers rise up, just as the Maccabees did against the Greeks, and Judyah did to the Egyptians.

Vayigash elav Yehuda speaks of our elevation through what the sages name azut dekedushah, or holy audacity. Rising up with holy audacity eventually led to the restoration of the Temple and the creation of the miracle of Hanukkah; where a few thousand dedicated Hebrews were able to defeat a more powerful Greek army. This victory had nothing to do with military proficiency, the miracles occurred because the Maccabees had Azut dekedusha and vayigash elav Yehuda. They had the holy audacity to stand up to the Greek. 

In the previous Torah portion of Miketz, we saw the brothers brought low by Joseph and by the challenging events they faced. This, unfortunately is our situation today. We are constantly been beaten down by the Galut, the darkness of the world.

This Torah portion Vayigash shows us how to challenge that. The great gift of the Sabbath of Vayigash is that it awakens within us the courage to stand up for ourselves when we are being oppressed; from victim to victory.

Spiritual courage and tenacity is a rare commodity in our world today. The bravery and audacity require to raise our hearts in our spiritual work is the hidden blessing of the Sabbath of Veyigash.

In Vayiash, Judyah was able to bring an end to the pain of his brothers, not because his spirit was so elevated, but because he had awakened the holy bravery within himself. One of the gifts of the Sabbath of Vayigash is that it gives us access to the consciousness of Judyah, to help us who lack the spiritual ability to awaken within us the righteous indignation. The Maccabees did it. Judyah did it. We can do it too.

Everything we want to achieve in our spiritual life has already been done by someone before us. We are not required to simply discover a new trail to the miracle of past generation. We are simply finding the trail to the miraculous that the spiritual giants of history have blazed for us.

How do we achieve holy audacity? We do it by reminding ourselves that our action reawaken what those before us accomplished, that we are only reconnecting to what they did. Because they opened up this channel for us, we can create miracles.

Mikeitz

Parashas Mikeitz

Genesis 41:1 – 44:18

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah, (Jesus Christ)

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parasha

Happy Channukah.

Miketz is the tenth portion of the Torah Cycle, Veyeshev the portion before this one, ends with a tremendous amount of sadness. Jacob seems to have lost his favorite son Joseph, and is in a state of morning. The ten older sons were unable to ease the grief of Jacob. Miketz describe how Joseph was sold into slavery, how he was falsely accused, of sexual advances to his bosses wife, his sentenced to prison.

The story of Miketz begin with when two years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream. This dream should have  happen two years earlier. Joseph had two years added to his prison sentence, the dream was delayed for the length of time.

The lesson to be learn from this Torah portion is that when we try to make our desired events happen as quickly as possible, we should remember that everything has already been prepared for us. Our efforts and desires are important and can have an effect, but when our efforts are on behalf of ourselves our power is drastically altered.

The secret lies in knowing what kind of effort is important and how much of an effort is enough. The truth is if we had our consciousness in the right place, we would be able to have everything we need in just one second. While it is very nice to have money, the effort to raise the spiritual consciousness that we are talking about here brings not just money, but literally complete joy and fulfillment in all things.

The results of our works in this life are not so much about our physical effort as about our spiritual effort. It is important to truly believe that blessings do not come to us a result of our own physical efforts, but rather that they come from the Creator and that our spiritual effort to connect to the Creator draws them to us.

Miketz starts with Pharaoh two dreams: One with the seven lean cows rising from the Nile and devouring seven fat cows, and the other dream where the seven withered ears of grain devour seven fat ears.

Pharaoh so-called wise men are unable to interpret his dreams, but the head wine steward, who had met the Kabbalah master Joseph in prison, he remember his extraordinary Kabalistic gift. Pharaoh orders Joseph taken out of prison and brought to the Palace.

Like the sixth days of creation, which depict the sixth stage to our spiritual development, we see Joseph entering into another stage of his spiritual enhancement. After years of hardship, where the principles of the Heavenly Kingdom had been cemented into his life, His final test was about to begin.

The departure from Egypt is the epic battle of good over evil, Channukah.

The life of a believer is like studying for a major test; now a major corporation will be in town looking for the most qualified person to fill the role as Vice President, only the best will do.

The time had come to free Joseph and begin the chain of events that would bring Jacob and his family to Egypt to fulfill the last part of the prophecy to Abraham that his offspring would be subjugated and persecuted (15:13-16).

The events of this experience begin two years after the release of the Cup-bearers, and a total of twelve years since Joseph was imprisoned. At this point Joseph was almost thirty two years old, Jacob 120, and Isaac 180. Isaac would die soon after.

The Kabbalah teaches that the twelve children of Jacob were not simply people; they were channels of the Light of the CREATOR. Each of them had their own spiritual task and his role as a spiritual channel in their generation, as it is ours.

Joseph’s task was to gather all of the light before it could be revealed to the world. He had the power then, as our Messiyah do now, that would unite the scattered light and prepare it to be manifested. When Joseph was sold into slavery, all his brother did not know why, they think that it was just a coincidence. Not knowing that the stone that the builder refused would become the chief corner stone.

This illustrates an important lesson. When we are not aware of those people in our life that support us spiritually and physically, we will not appreciate their assistance. It is only when those people are either taken away, that we begin to realize how much we need them.

The Kabbalists say that when Joseph was separated from his brothers, Benjamin took his place spiritually. Although Benjamin was not on the same spiritual level as Joseph, he still brought a measure of unity and spiritual elevation to the broken family. Now the rest of the story!

Gen 41:1 And it came to be, at the end of two years’ time, that Pharaoh had a dream, and saw himself standing by the river, - Pharaoh dream of himself standing by the river Nile, reflecting upon it suggests that his thoughts was focused on the river whose annual overflow determined the agricultural fate of Egypt for the next year.

Gen 41:2 and saw seven cows coming up out of the river, fine looking and fat, and they fed amongst the reeds, - The symbolism of Pharaoh’s dreams are figurative since famine and abundance in Egypt depends on the overflow of the Nile, Pharaoh saw the cows coming out of the river. Since oxen or cow are usually harnessed for the purpose of plowing the land, farming the fat cows alluded to prosperity. They came from the river symbolized that the ensuing prosperity would be limited to Egypt. The cows or oxen were beautiful alludes to years of prosperity, in farming the land.

Gen 41:3 then saw seven other cows coming up after them out of the river, ugly and lean of flesh, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. - The other cows were symbolic of another season of plowing. The lean cows emerged from the river immediately after the seven fat cows intimating that famine would follow immediately on the heels of prosperity.

Gen 41:4 And the ugly and lean of flesh cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. – The other cows, which represent leanness or lack of prosperity eats, began to consume all that the prosperity cows had accomplished. The land would be worked, but poor crop was harvest. All the joys of the past seven years would be consumed by the lean years.

Gen 41:5 And he slept and dreamed a second time and saw seven heads of grain coming up on one stalk, plump and good, - The passage did not suggest that he dream more, but it suggested that he dreamt another dream. As Joseph said in his interpretation, the repetition of the dream was to show that it would be fulfilled quickly, not that it indicates a new message. Grain is a symbol of harvest, that one stalk had seven ears indicated an abundance of grain.

                         

Gen 41:6 and saw seven lean heads, scorched by the east wind, coming up after them. – Any attempt to harvest would be unsuccessful. All the new crops would be scorched by the east wind.

Gen 41:7 And the seven lean heads swallowed the seven plump and complete heads. Then Pharaoh awoke and saw it was a dream. – Pharaoh realizes that it was significant, complex dream that require interpretation. The singularity of the dream suggests that both were to be understood as one.

Gen 41:8 And it came to be in the morning that his spirit was moved, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Mitsrayim and all its wise men. And Pharaoh related to them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh. – EL YAHVEH has the power to move the spirit of Pharaoh as He also has the power to place a dream on Pharaoh mind. However, there were none who could interpret the dream, even though there were interpreters’ galore.

Gen 41:9 Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my crimes this day. – As EL YAHVEH place the dream on Pharaoh Mind, EL YAHVEH brought back to the Cupbearer the memory of Joseph. He said I remember my crime against Joseph, what I was ask to do I did not do.

Vayeishev

This  Parashas is the ninth Torah Portion, Vayeishev means “and he settled.” After devoting a mere chapter to the genealogy of Esau and his offspring, the Torah now turn to the story of Jacob and his family. As been its practice, the Torah gives short narrative to people who have fallen short of its goal, but speaks volumes of those who have managed to overcome and secure their inheritance.

So it was that great men like Noah, Abraham, and Isaac were discussed in great details, while millions of others men and women since creation, were mention briefly, and some not at all. It is not what is written on my tomb stone that is of concern to me. It is what is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life about me I am concern about.

Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. The Torah says that Jacob loved Joseph, the second youngest son more than the other, so much so that Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat of many colors.

Understandably from a purely human perspective, how the other sons became jealous of Joseph. Adding to the tension, Joseph told his brother his dream, the purpose of his life. Like all who are govern by the selfish Ego, the brothers understand that Joseph would rule over them.

They, like many of us today, we fail to understand the circumstance in which it would take place, and the benefit of Joseph eventuality lordship over his brother. This Parashas was written to instruct believers that we are living in the present, we have no idea of the future. The circumstance that accurs in our lives is to provide us with the necessary tools that when the future arrive we will be ready for it.

If Jacob’s sons and ourselves would only pray for revelation, they as well as us might have understand why we like Joseph was given these dreams. The CREATOR will never leave us without a witness.

The brothers took these dreams to mean that Joseph intend to rule over then, instead, YAHVEH send Him ahead to prepare a way for then as a savior would. It was  a prospect they did not relish, when looking at it from a selfish egotistic point of view. In fact they were so resentful that they made a plan to kill him. Every time an emotion is trigger in our lives, lets pay close attention to our reaction; for with our emotions, our true character is manifested.

Every crime, every antsocial behavior, every misunderstanding is a result of the inner programming of our consciousness on our Ego, which determine our emotion. Human treat these emotion by placing each other in Prisons, ABBA YAHVEH uses these emotions or characteristic traits to show us what we are to change.

By placing people into prisons does nothing to renovate the ego. Prison is an institution that magnifies our already selfish ego. These boys were all sons of the promise; however, the selfishness of their Ego was been exposed. Now is the time to deal with the exposed selfish traits.

Gen 37:¹ Now Jacob settled in the land where his father was a sojourning, in the land of Canaan. - The contract between Jacob settled and Isaac sojourning is very interesting. This analogy seems to imply that Jacob saw Canaan as his final destination, while Isaac was looking for the world to come.

Could it also means that because of the different in the age, contribute in shaping the difference world view of these two righteous men? Isaac who had lives a full life, one who had reach maturity and walk in that spiritual state of perfection, was now looking to the world to came. While the relative younger Jacob with a young family, wanted a secure peaceful environment, one which EL YAHVEH had furnished as the place to reside.

Our world view even from a spiritual mature position, shape the way we view life. This verse gave us an insight into the mind set of two great men at different time in their life. Isaac’s view elucidate that there are too much to accomplish and too few of us are capable of doing it. Knowing that, the righteous are more than willing to sacrifice a bit of the temporary peace, for the sake of eternal elevation; even for their offspring.

 Gen 37:² This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. - This verse start with the phrase these are the Toldot, referring to the offspring, this phrase cannot be rendered, these are the offer spring of Jacob, because Joseph is the only name mention.

Joseph was at the age of seventeen, Jacob was 108, Isaac was 168, and would lived another twenty years. This incident occurred nine years after Jacob returned home. The Torah labeled Joseph as a youth, implies that he was acting immaturely as a believer.

Torah also implied that they were with the sons of Bilhah, implying that they were the ring leaders, the dominant personality among the brothers. This verse also implies that both Bilhah and Zilpah were wives of Jacob. Even though the bride price was not paid by Jacob, they were view by Torah as equal to Leah and Rachel. Therefore, Leah and Rachel were within their right to give both Bilhah and Zilpah to Jacob and Jacob was not required to pay the bride price.

We need to understand how Torah views the family structure; it is not the individual right that Torah focus on, it is our Torah obedient that is of the most important. The situation we are born in is the vehicle to help bring us to maturity. I Corinthians 17:²⁰ Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. ²¹Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. Whatever misbehavior Joseph noted in his brothers, he reported them to Jacob. That was one reason why they hated him. The other reasons are in the following verses. Joseph misinterpreted their actions, although Joseph was sincere in his faulty evaluation, he was at fault because he should have given his brothers the benefit of the doubt and reported all the facts to Jacob, without forming his own conclusion.

This would certainly explain why the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah did not defend Joseph against Leah’s sons conspired to sell him as slave. Immaturity in a believer will always reveals itself in gossip. It is a way to build oneself up at the expense of another. If I tell dad on him, I will not look so bad after all. Immature believers will always create strife among each other; this was where Joseph was at age seventeen. The trials that Joseph would experience in the years to come, were to correct these obvious character flaws and to perfect his obvious strength. The rest of his life story will be, how he got to that illustrious place call spiritual maturity.

Gen 37:³ Now Yisrael loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. - We know from Torah that EL YAHVEH love Jacob more than Esau. We also know that, that love was based on the character of Esau. Our Heavenly Father loves all His children, but not our sins. Jacob loved Joseph with that same devotion as EL YAHVEH.

Jacob’s favoritism was based on Joseph’s spiritual and intellectual desire over his brother. For the same reason EL YAHVEH proclaimed His love for Yisrael over Esau. Torah used the name Yisrael to elucidate the spiritual maturity of Jacob, the name that expresses his highest spiritual nature, therefore implying that his choice of Joseph was a function of his greatness, not his failing.

The mere fact, that Torah mention that Joseph was a child of Yisrael old age, is significant. Old depict wisdom or maturity; at that age Yisrael must have perfected the art of developing sons, this one might have been the very best so far. The one who had the potential to be the priest of the family. Notice that Yahushua is the first to graduate from planet earth with absolute perfection. Joseph is a type and shadow of El Yahushua. The tunic given to Joseph symbolizes a sign of leadership, for after Reuben discredited himself by tampering with his father wife, Joseph was elevated to the status of firstborn.

 Gen 37:⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. - So great was the brothers’ hostility toward Joseph that they could not carry on a friendly conversation with him even about peaceful matters. What ever he said they interpreted in a negative, contentious way, even when he tried to be friendly. Spiritually immature believers will always see circumstances from the ego perspective.

Verse 5 – 11 Dreams mentioned in Scripture are generally understood to be vehicles of prophecy. Whether dreams have validity, it is clear from Scripture that Joseph’s dream and those of Pharaoh and his officials, that YAHVEH used them to convey revelation of future events. All these dreams came true according to Joseph interpretations.

Joseph’s dream, which indicated clearly, that the one who is spiritually mature would become the leader of the group in the next generation. He would also become a spiritual bridge between the Mighty Ones and the ones on their way to maturity. Joseph’s brothers took the prophecy to mean that he would rule over them.

Vayishlah

This Parashash Vayishlach means to send away,  is the eighth Torah Portion, in the yearly Torah Cycle, it continues on the theme of Jacob spiritual development. We learn in the last Parashas how Jacob worked on his character, his ego. Now we see Jacob in his next stage of development, to be sent away and return one day.

To send away encompasses the energy and consciousness required to let go of something or someone. Often, the unenlightened person have difficulty detaching ourselves from negative people an situations, but this particular story of Genesis gives us the power to o so.

Just like a young man is sent away to bourding school where you work on a project, you will be tested to see if the project becomes apart of you, that you may return to your father a better person. What did Jacob learn in Paddan Aram the last 20 years to make him qualify to return home? What have you learn over the last year to help in your spiritual development or to manifest the Light of the Creator in you.

Jacob had to run away from home, after deceiving his brother negative brother, in which his brother Essa swore to kill him. Sometime it is essential run away from certain people in our lives. The old principle of Cause and effect. Now twenty years later this situation will finally come to a conclusion. Knowing that Esau had developed a hate rage Jacob for having tricked him of his birthright and his father’s blessing, Jacob is understandably apprehensive about facing his brother.

The confrontation between the Esau and Jacob is recorded to illustrate how EL YAHVEH sent an angel to save His servant Jacob from the hand of a stronger evil brother Esau. Furthermore, it shows that Jacob did not rely on his own craftiness as before, but strove mightily to ensure his safety through practical spiritual measure.

It shows that in our battle against the spirit of Esau in our lives, we must be prepared on three fronts: In Prayer, in gifts, and in battle.

The Torah tells us that prior to this meeting; Jacob prayed to ABBA YAHVEH, expressing his humility for all the goodness ABBA YAHVEH has given him. Keenly aware of his good fortune and prosperity, Jacob sends messengers ahead with gifts of assess goats, and sheep. When he approaches Esau, he bowed down seven times before his brother as an act of submission.

The Torah teaches us in this Parasha as Jacob realized the only hope he had of protecting himself and his family was to be generous to his brother, a form of the Messiyah and to diminish himself.

Only when Jacob saw Esau did he realized what he was truly battling against all this time, it was his Anochi, the god within. In that moment, Jacob Yisrael, knew that all of his spiritual works, all his prayers, all his study, none of these spiritual tools was going to help him, for his struggle was within his own ego. Jacob like Yisrael today will not recognize Messiyah Yahushua until they learn that their hope was to lower themselves before Messiyah.

It is Witten that the only way a person can become righteous “tzadik” is to throw themselves down at least seven times in their spiritual life. To understand this belief, we need to understand that most of us like Jacob at the beginning of the story. We all have a spiritual work to accomplish, we have our study to finish, and we have our faith to strengthen. We can prepare all we want for our battle against our flesh, the Esau in us, unless we learn to control our Ego, we will achieve nothing.

In order to overcome our Ego, we must first understand the magnitude of the challenge. The Ego is as great a challenge as the forces of Edom that were arrayed against Jacob. Because most of us are still living like proud Jacob, proud of our spiritual accomplishment, we failed to understand that our only purpose in life is to diminish the influence of the selfish Ego over our lives.

By humbling ourselves daily, we diminish the power of our Ego selfish and awaken the desire to share; it is the only way we can bring the forces of Edom, the flesh, under authority. Jacob tried to organize his family into two groups, to hide them from Esau, but it was not until he humbles himself, by bowing down before Esau, that he overcame. Esau had no choice but to accept Jacob. The spiritual forces of the Heavenly realm race to his rescue, shifting the balance of Power from Esau to Jacob. Humbling ourselves is our only effective to exulting ourselves.

We can achieved this level of Righteousness and create the environment for miracle to happen in our lives. We create the condition for miracles when we reach the spiritual level of Ayin or nothingness, for in nothingness there is no selfish Ego. At the level of Ayin we do not care for or worry about ourselves. This is true mastering of our spiritual selves.

Through true purge of our selfish Ego and is the annihilation of our own selfish desire, we remove the spirit of darkness and confusion from us, as we draw near and nearer to the Light of the CREATOR. That was why Esau the spirit of darkness had no affect on Jacob. The Light of this Torah portion gives us the ability to create miracle, provide blessing, and even grant us redemption.

Even when judgment is meant for us, as the forces of Edom was on its way to Jacob. When we humble ourselves it nullifies the judgment and changes it into a blessing. As believers, if we can move one person, one step closer to perfection, it is a revelation of the Light of the CREATOR, it is more powerful than if we teach a thousand persons who never progress spiritually. This does not mean that we should never teach everyone we meet; it does mean that we should always have the goal of perfection foremost in our lives.

This Parashas illustrate the point that even though we may recognize someone’s negative trait, we must always be open to the potential for transformation. This was the mistake Jacob made when he try to hide his family from his brother.

In addition to encouraging us to diminish our Ego, this portion of Vayishlach reminds us to never lose sight of the possibility of redemption and the potential for drawing

Light goes only with the depth of our physical fall. We are awaken by the example of Jacob to appreciate our humility and extreme care must be take when dealing with ours  and other people’s soul.

 Gen 32:4 And Ya'akov sent malachim before him to Esav achiv unto Eretz Seir, the country of Edom. - The Hebrew account of this verse says that, Jacob send malachim (messengers) before him. Malachim or messengers are the Hebrew word for Angels. This teaches that mature believers are greater than angels, for when Jacob had need of an emissary, he had the right to summon angels to do his bidding.

The reason for the greater stature of human beings over angels is that angels are static. Human beings, however, achieve their standing through their own striving for perfection. The word malachim can either mean angel or human emissaries, sent ones or Apostles.

Angels cannot change their status, while humans are the only created being, who have this opportunity to do so. How then do we change our spiritual status? It is by our obedience to the Word of EL YAHVEH. Our perfectness is measure by how well we pass the test. The Text book is the Torah! We will be judge by the Written Word of Torah. The angel like the devil cannot improve their status; they can decline from where they are if they are ever found to be disobedient.

Angels are messengers (Rev 7:11), sons are rulers (Rev 3:21), and servants are the ones who do the work (Rev 7:9, 15). After we die, our spiritual position will never change. Ecc 11:5b and if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. - As a dead tree does not have the ability to change it size or position, we humans cannot change our spiritual position after we die, we become static. That is why Revelation 7:15 say that those who were standing in front of the Throne had tears in their eyes.

Why? When they found out what they could have achieve while they were here on earth and they did not. They were crying in the spiritual sense. Do not be like one of those my friends; grow spiritually while we are still in this body, or while we are still alive. These emissaries were sent towards the land of Seir, towards the Gulf of Aqaba.

Gen 32:5 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto adoni Esav (My Lord Esau); Thy eved (servant Jacob) Ya’akov saith thus, I have sojourned with Lavan, and stayed there until now; - Jacob wanted his messenger to deliver the message verbatim, including the fact that in his conversations with them he had referred to Esau as my Lord and to himself as Esau’s servant. This was part of Jacob’s tactful approach, because thereby Esau would realize that Jacob truly held him in greatly esteem.

Therefore Jacob meant to convey to Esau, that he Jacob had not become a great prince in the physical sense or have he achieve anything but spiritual status. Something the Esau could not understand, sine spiritual thing are foolish to those who are perishing.

Veyetze

Vayetze, which translates into “and he left or he went out,”  is the Torah portion that tells the story of Jacob’s departure from the Holy Land after many years of living there with his parents.

This story depict our journey from the seventh Heavens to the first, where we begin to learn how to rule and reign in the World to Come. Jacob like all of us went out of the Seventh Heaven to earth and his journey back to the Seventh heaven is what his life story is all about.

Jacob spent the night at a place known as Beit El “House of God.” It was here that he encounter his famous ladder experiencing, where Angels were seen ascending and descending from the Heavens to earth.

Who were these Angels? These Angels were sent to accompany Jacob after he left the house of his father Isaac. According to Torah, before YAHVEH TSEBAOTH destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomarroh, HE sent three angels to Abraham to warn him of the impending destruction. The Angels that Jacob saw in his dream ascending the ladder were the Angels sent to assist Jacob.

In Vayetzel, we see that once a person decides to do the right things, to do whatever it take to connect to the Light of the Creator miracles will occur to support that person. But when the CREATOR saw that Jacob had awakened himself spiritually, He realized his mistake and would take unreasonable measures to correct it, the CREATOR sent miracles to assist him.

One of the miracles that awaits Jacob as it awaits us is love. The Torah says that when Jacob arrived in Charan, he met Rachel and he kissed her. This is one of exceptional moments in Torah where we find an man kissing a virgin before bethroal. It is the only time when we see a glimpse of true romance. Jacob after kissing her went to her father and say he would work seven years for Rachel. Can you ever imagine if we would give a father seven years wages for his daughter?

To many, it may have seen a very long time, but to most of us love is selfish; for it is based on “the desire to received,” what in it for me? This is not a sign of true love. To Jacob and Rachel, the seven years that he had to work is similar to the price Messiyah Yahushua paid for our sins. It cost him something precious. If young woman these days would demand something valuable for their virginity, then maybe marriages would last a life time.

One of the gifts of Vayetze is that on this Sabbath, we can ask young men and women to pray for the assistance to achieve true love in our lives. In its ultimate form, the love Jacob and Rachel achieved is known as the Desire to share. Their love had nothing to do with what either one could received from the other.

The love they shared was an appreciation of what they were both capable of giving. Jacob would give her spiritual guidance, while Rachel would provide him sons to fulfill YAHVEH Will for Jacob. When He saw Rachel, Jacob saw her as a chariot for a Malchut, He saw her Anochi, her godwithin, her soul. He recognized the Light that they could reveal together in the world.

Jacob’s love for Rachel was similar to the love Messiyah have for us. The Torah describe such love as yirat haramemut, love based on appreciation. When we appreciate someone, in this case Messiyah’s love for us and we for Him, this appreciation in and of itself awakens more of our love.

Many of us make a distinction between one kind of love and another, between the love we have for a acquaintance, between the love that we try to awaken for the Light of the Creator and the love we have for our friends or our relatives. But at their purest, all of this form of love are identical.

On this Sabbath, we have a special opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to open our heart, to let us connect to the Light of the Holy Spirit that the first fruit of the Spirit may manifest in our lives.

The spiritual development of Jacob entered into another phase as it rightly should in the lives of all believers. Jacob had left his father’s house the seventh heaven, the upper world, on a pilgrimage to Laban’s country, the lower world, where he would find more than a wife, he would learn things about himself or should I say discovered himself.

It is always through our trials and testing, that we learn or discover who we truly are. It is when we are stretch to our breaking point that we learn our true capacity. Sitting at home will not do it! Venturing into the unknown with the aid of the Holy Spirit is where we will learn who we truly are.

This pilgrimage would span a total of twenty years, in which fourteen years spend working for two wives. He would be living in Haran, among people who were spiritually challenged at best. This corrosive environment was to be the tool that cemented the principle of Torah in his life.  

      

Gen 28:10 And Ya’akov departed from Beer-Sheva, and went toward Charan. - The first action of Jacob, describe that he depart from Beer-Sheva. When a righteous man departs from a place it leaves a spiritual void, much like cutting a major limb from a fruit tree. A long as he lies in that city, he contributes to its glory, its splendor, and its beauty; when he departs, its glory, splendor, and beauty diminished.

Gen 28:11 And he reached a certain place, and tarried there, because the Shemesh(sun) was set; and he took of the Avanim(stones) of that place, and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. – That certain place was Mount Moriah, the site where his Grand fathering Abraham bound his father Isaac on the Altar, the future site of the Temple in Yerushalayim.

The place where a righteous man lay his head is his home, and where is home is, is sanctified. This was to be where Jacob encountered EL YAHVEH. It is also possible that the same stone his grandfather used to build his Altar were the same stone he was to use to build his pillar for the night.

What a refreshing story! Do we as believers use the spiritual achievement of our parents to be our resting place? Do we leave our spiritual Altar for our children to used? Do we leave our wood pile a little higher that we found it. As Jacob quite obviously started his evening prayer as he lay his head down on the Rocks which is a symbol of Massiyah. Is it possible that it was a group of 12 stones that Jacob formed into a pillow?

Gen 28:12 And he had a chalom(dream), and hinei a sullam (ladder, stairway) set up on the ground, and the top of it reached to Shomayim: and hinei the malachim(messenger, angels) of Elohim ascending and descending on it. -  Dreams in Scripture are usually vehicle of prophecy; otherwise the Torah which uses words very sparingly would not used them. Jacob’s dream at Mt Moriah symbolized the future of the Hebrew people and man’s ability to connect himself to EL YAHVEH master Plan.

The angels, Teraphim or earth angels, who are EL YAHVEH’s messengers in carrying out HIS Will on earth, are constantly going up and down to receive His Commands and then come back to earth to implement them. This Labber is also the Ladder that link the First Heaven with the Seventh Heavens, the Ladder which all men who believe may climb at any time.

Gen 28:13 And, hinei (behold), YAHVEH stood above it, and said, I am YAHVEH ELohei Avraham thy av (father), and ELohei Yitzchak; ha’aretz (the earth) whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy zera (seed); - Scripture usually uses this word behold to introduce something significant. It’s frequent use in this vision emphasize the great significance meaning, we must take notice. The land upon which you are laying, to you will I give it.

Since the place where Jacob was, were to be the future Capital of the Land of Yisrael, it is the ideal spot for a prophecy such as this. This dream symbolized that as Jacob sanctified the land, the Temple would sanctify the entire land of Yisrael.

Gen 28:14 And thy zera (offspring) shall be as the dust of ha’aretz (the Earth), and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy zera shall kol (all) hamishpochot ha’adamah (the families of the world) be blessed.  –

This verse seems to be a warning to Jacob, if Yisrael should sink to the level of the nations, Yisrael will be no more, they will be scattered across the whole earth. If Yisrael had not forsaken Torah, the nations of the earth would not be give the opportunity it now have, to be apart of Yisrael. The wild grape vine that was graphed in!

Gen 28:15 And, hinei, I am with thee, and will be shomer over thee in all places where thou goest, and will bring thee back into ha’adamah hazot; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have promised thee. -  EL YAHVEH begins to assured Jacob after the warning on the last verse. Saying I am, I will always be with you, until you have reach maturity. Behold, pay close attention: I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you. He who starts a good work in us is faithful to complete. EL YAHVEH was reaffirming HIS faithfulness to Jacob, as He is doing for us today. I was telling someone the other day that I cannot die anytime soon. He taught that I was arrogant.  I told him that my EL YAHVEH had not finished HIS work in me; therefore I cannot die until HE had finished HIS work.

Gen 28:16 And Ya’akov awoke out of his sleep, and he said, Surely EL YAHVEH is in this place! And I had no da’as(know) of it. -  When Jacob spiritual eyes was closed, he returned to his body, he realizes that his spirit was in communication with EL YAHVEH. Dreams are nothing more than a spiritual communication with the spiritual realm.

Jacob said in this place he had experienced a prophecy, he had seen into the future without having prepared himself for it, he realized that the place was so holy that it was a magnet for prophecy. It was a good thing that he did not know or else he would have tried to help. When we rest our head on the Solid Rock called Yahushua, we will be in the realm of the prophetic, since He is the giver of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of prophecy is a correcting spirit, given to us to show the way back to Torah, back to the land.

Tolos

Parasha Toldos is the 6th Torah Portion in the yearly Torah Cycle, in Hebrew toldos means “generations.” Each of the Patriarchs of old maintained a Yeshivah(Torah study) in which they taught about the existence of EL YAHVEH “יהוה” and HIS Will for their lives. The stories of every Torah Characters are design to show how spiritual greatness or follies were establish in the various live of humanity. 

Today we should be no different; the father of the house is in essence the Patriarch of the family, on his head lays the responsibility to speak or teach to his children, what his father and fathers before him should have done.

          This Parashas provides a clue to the ways in which Isaac’s role diverged from that of his father Abraham. Abraham accepted everyone into his sphere of influence, while Isaac did not.  Like every individual we all have different personality traits, or from a spiritual point of view different talents. These talents determine which road we travel to maturity, and how we travel that road individually.

          Torah devotes less space to Isaac’s life than that of his father Abraham.  Abraham was more of an outgoing personality that his son Isaac, that is why Torah says that Isaac dwell in Tents, he was a mama’s boy. But this story is to show that even if there are differences in personality, the ultimate spiritual goal is still full maturity.

          The life of Isaac seems to be but a bridge between Abraham and Jacob; even though his talents was less than his father and his son, he was still required like all of us, to draw a line between good and evil, right and wrong.

          In contrast to his father Abraham whose primary fruit of the Spirit was strength in kindness (chessed), Isaac’s was kindness in strength (gevurah). In every individual there is a personality, we all have a tendency towards certain trait, actions, and weakness. It is our strength that our Fathers want us to place in His Hands, and our weaknesses He wants us to develop.

We will learn from this Parashas, how ABBA YAHVEH used the circumstances in our lives to maximize our strength and developed our weaknesses. The life of Isaac even though, it was different from his father, he walk faithfully in the character he was predisposed to, or what he was required to walk in.

In the Hebrew scheme of life, kindness and strength must go together; either one without the other can be dangerous. Kindness if not tempered by strength can lead to self-denial, abstinence, frugality; strength without kindness can lead to selfishness and cruelty.

The study of Kabbalah continually reminds us of the value of looking below the surface for life many meaning. When we as believers in Messiyah do so, we may find that we have to revise our initial impressions of the meaning of the various stories in the Torah. For example the story of Toldot, and the complex relationship between Isaac and his son Jacob and Esau.

In this Torah Portion Esau trades his birthright as firstborn son to his brother Jacob for a bowl of soup. Later we see Jacob poses as Esau to gain the blessing of his elder father. It is easy to read this story or Midrash and see Esau purely as a villain, however, the Torah says, Isaac loved Esau, which gives us a reason to look deeper into this story. 

The family tree of Jacob and Esau begin with their grandfather Abraham who was followed by their fathe Isaac. According to the Midrash, when Isaac spoke with his father, Isaac talked about lofty matters like the details of fulfilling ones spiritual life. Most people in reading this midrash will think that Esau was just some liar,  that he wanted his father to think that he was a good man, when in fact, he was not. However, even if Esau had been a liar, Isaac was too mature a person to be fooled by mere words.

Intially, Jacob and Esau start life with the same parents in the same environment. Each were a favorite of one parents, and both were given the same spiritual training. There was one significant difference, Esau wanted his father not just to favor him, but to recognize how spiritual he was. This was the reason why He got into such a rage when he discovered that Isaac had given his blessing to Jacob. This seams to me that he craved the praises of man more than anything.

Jacob’s Ego was very different. Jacob separated himself from any need for his work to be acknowledge by his father; instead, he put his certainty in the Word of the CREATOR. Jacob understood if he did the right things, the CREATOR would make sure that the right things would happen to him at the right time.

Regrettable, many of us can relate to Esau: we want what we want, when we want, for what we want, and we get very upset when we do not get it. This Torah portion of Toldot helps us to understand just how powerfull the Desire to Received is. Our spiritual goal is to refurbish our Ego, from a Desire to received, to a Desire to give without condition.

Our spiritual work must take place between the CREATOR and ourselves. We must also keep those who are not directly involve from knowing too much about our spiritual life, for anonymous good deeds reveals the most light.

How could Isaac have not known the truth about Esau? Isaac had the Divine Inspiration, the Holy Spirit with him all the time. It seems to me that the true blessings that Jacob and Esau sought could not come from Isaac, it could only come from the CREATOR. Isaac was only the conduit, but he could not give the blessing, because if he had done so, he would have limited their blessings. The CREATOR in HIS Wisdom arranged a complicated set of deception and mistaken identity in order for the blessings to reach Jacob.

Kabbalah teaches us that the day of the blessing by Isaac, was unique in the history of mankind, because on that day, the Gates of the Heavens were open to reveal to his world the entirety of the Light of Redemption. Isaac knew that this Light of Redeemption needed to be brought down to their world, but Jacob could not handle it dispite his knowledge of and desire for Torah.

The revelation of Light in this world has three requirements. First, there is the source, the perfect Light in the Endless World, which is inaccessible to most of us. Secondly, we must have a pure conduit to draw down this Light and to allow it to be received properly. Isaac drew down the Light of Redemption for Jacob, so when He is ready to receive the Light, it would be ready for him.

When Isaac was ready to bless Esau, he told his son to prepare food for him. Rebecca the flesh overheard this conversation, she knew the CREATOR had chosen Jacob over Esau, she took Esau’s clothes or vessel and dress Jacob in them, Rebecca explain to Jacob who was still listening to the flesh, that on this day there was to be a great revelation of the Light of the Gemar HaTikkum, or the Final Redemption for that generation.

She told Jacob that he was not ready to received the Light. having been so immersed in his Torah studis, Jacob had not yet experience the pain that this world. To do this he had to take on the the clothing of Esau.

The Spirit of Rebecca was sharing with Jacob as she is sharing with us on this Sabbath, that to the degree that we take upon ourselves the pain of the world, to this degree, we have to take upon ourselves the clothing of Esau, the pain of this world.

On this Sabbath of Taldos, we can come to Isaac for blessings. He is here to give then to us, and with them the ability to help bring about the final Redemption in our generation. We can only receive this tremendous infusion of Light, once we have truly accepted the truth off Messiyah which lies beyond our studies. Only to the degree that we dress ourselves in the pain of this world can Isaac gives us the blessings of the Gemar HaTikkum. Now the rest of the Story.

           

Genesis 25:¹⁹ This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebecca as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. - Rebecca the daughter of Bethuel a wicked woman, she was an offspring of the wicked people in Aram; however, Rebecca did not emulate their evil ways. The principle we are been taught here is that, even if we are surrounded on every side by wickedness, our Heavenly Father will send a Eliezer, a redeemer to take us out from among a wicked nation, to prepare us to be the bride of the Master’s Only Son.  We will see in this verse the same principle playing it-self out over and over again.

This narrative says that Isaac took a wife at forty. We know that Messiyah Yahushua died on the cross at 33 years old, we know that one year is like a thousand year. Will Messiyah Yahushua return for His bride at age 40 also? Just thinking!