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22 chapters · by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

Light from the Future: Parshas Vayechi

Published by the Jewish Discovery Center. Every chapter is free to read below.

  1. Vayechi – All of Jacob: Not Just Memories As we stand on the threshold of the “Messianic Age” we must be aware of our role as “Josephs” whose destiny it is to forge ahead into a new world. To…
  2. Vayechi – Creative Blessings Whenever possible we should make an attempt to bless one another, because the mere exercise of blessing has the capacity to actualize latent positive…
  3. Vayechi – Did You Bring a Gift for Moshiach? Moshiach is the ultimate synthesis of the greatest power of leadership and the ultimate level of goodness and holiness. Moshiach is called Peretz…
  4. Vayechi – Don’t Inhibit It is crucial that our diverse talents and competing approaches do not lead to disharmony. It is imperative that there is a sense that all these…
  5. Vayechi – Fish on Dry Land There are hidden realms of our personality that we may never discover that they exist. While Freud spoke of how the subconscious affects our conscious…
  6. Vayechi – Haste Does Not (Always) Make Waste In these last moments of exile, every Mitzvah carries far more weight than at any other time in our history. Even one seemingly “insignificant”…
  7. Vayechi – Jacob and Joseph For the Jews to have the spiritual capacity to be liberated from Egypt, they needed an "outside" force. Jacob, in his rightful place - the Holy Land…
  8. Vayechi – Jacob Never Died! The definition of truth is not simply the opposite of a lie. The “true” meaning of truth is that it is consistent. If something ceases at a certain…
  9. Vayechi – Messianic Beauty and Harmony Jacob’s trait of tiferes, translated as beauty or harmony could not degenerate into evil. When a trait is so nuanced and balanced it leaves no room…
  10. Vayechi – Miracles and Nature The fact that we survived our difficult exile can be attributed to two causes: miraculous or natural. It was a miracle that “one lamb surrounded by…
  11. Vayechi – No Evil Eye! Optimism brings positive results. This does not mean that optimistic people cannot be harmed. Joseph is a perfect refutation of this notion. He was…
  12. Vayechi – Open Eyes and Hearts When we look around us, we might imagine that the world is in state of spiritual decline and that we are so far from the state of Redemption. Despite…
  13. Vayechi – Probing the Inner Recesses of the Soul Joseph’s crying was a cathartic process that enabled him to search his own soul for any trace of revenge that he might have possessed in his…
  14. Vayechi – Right and Left No matter how great, glorious and spiritual it was when we had the Holy Temple in Jerusalem; we have now reached even greater heights in exile. We…
  15. Vayechi – Spread the Inspiration Jacob went beyond the platitudinous well-wishing of many a loving parent. He blessed his sons Shimon and Levi with the ability to transform their…
  16. Vayechi – Swords and Arrows Three times a day, even the most spiritually unskilled person, with minimal preparation and emotion, can accomplish much in procuring from G-d the…
  17. Vayechi – Swords and Bows Of all the requests that a Jew makes in his daily prayers — specifically, in the Amidah, or the Shemoneh Esrei as it is also known — the most…
  18. Vayechi – The Moral Family Morality defines the way we behave vis-à-vis G-d. When a person engages in forbidden relationships it may not be a direct crime against humanity but…
  19. Vayechi – The Ultimate Blessing Our Sages tell us that when truly righteous people pursue a certain goal, it will inevitably be reached. Jacob’s efforts to instill true brotherly…
  20. Vayechi – True Life-Dual Goodness There are those who feel a very close relationship with G-d; while others feel a sense of affinity and responsibility for others. Any good one does in…
  21. Vayechi – Where’s the Blessing? “Water,” in general, and the “sea” in particular are metaphors for Torah. More specifically, the Messianic Age is characterized as an age in which…
  22. Vayechi – You Have Reached Your Destination Chassidic sources, based on the teachings of the Zohar, there is some indication that Moshiach ben Yoseph and Moshiach ben Dovid may actually be one…

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