Three tools for those who want to be a force of Light, and not only a spiritual person.
Weekly study · Monday to Friday
✦ Every insight comes from Michael Berg's Shabbat class on the portion Bamidbar, on the Light that guides those who strive to be a force in the world.
Bamidbar means "in the wilderness," but the book that begins here is far more than a crossing of tribes. Michael Berg opens the class with a direct question, asked of those who belong to the core of the community: how do you see your own life? Not as someone who receives a little wisdom, but as a warrior of the Light of the Creator, striving every day to be a channel.
Rav Abraham Abulafia calls this book Maftach ha'Sefirot, the key to the Sefirot, the ten channels through which the Light of the Creator enters the world. Michael Berg shows that bamidbar also carries the idea of being directed, and that the name of the book points to prophecy: asking, every day, for the guidance of the day, and then waiting to receive it.
At Sinai, the Israelites saw for a moment what they could be, and that is how the wish to be angels was born. According to the Sefat Emet, no one can live as an angel every day, but everyone can wake up with that wish. Michael Berg asks for a specific request, made to the Creator in the morning: I want to be an angel today, I want to be like Moshe, like Rav Shimon bar Yochai.
The Haftarah from Hosea speaks of a people whose number cannot be counted. Michael Berg explains that every problem is a limit, a sof, an ending. Our task is to see the ending and make it Ein Sof, without end, bringing limitless Light to whoever crosses our path in pain.
The question of the week is how you see your life. The core of the community exists to be a force of Light in the world.
The book opens the Sefirot and points to prophecy: asking for the direction of the day and waiting to receive it after study and connection.
Abulafia teaches that the energy given to Moshe is the same one that can be asked for today by those who awaken to it.
Even without deserving it, true desire draws the Light. The Zohar says the Creator delights in the one who longs to go beyond what they are.
Every problem is a limit. You are here to see the sof and reveal the Ein Sof for others.
The portion Bamidbar opens the book of the wilderness and, in Michael Berg's words, hands us three tools for anyone who wants to be a force of the Light of the Creator, and not only a spiritual person improving their own life. The first is being guided. According to Rav Abraham Abulafia, bamidbar is the key to the ten Sefirot and points to prophecy: wake up and ask the Creator for the task of the soul that day, act through study, prayer and connection, and wait for the direction to arrive. The same Light that spoke to Moshe can be asked for today.
The second tool is born from the banners of the camps. The Sefat Emet says that after Shavuot the Israelites saw what they could be, and the wish to be an angel stayed. It is impossible to live as an angel every day, but it is possible to wake up with that wish, spoken truthfully: I want to be an angel today, I want to be like Moshe, like Rav Shimon bar Yochai. The Zohar, in the portion of Noach, teaches that the Creator delights in the one who awakens the desire to go beyond what they are, even without the strength to get there. At some point in the day, that person will be lifted.
The third tool comes from the Haftarah of Hosea, which promises a people without number. Every problem is a sof, a limit, and our work is to turn the ending into Ein Sof. People come to us with their pain because, at the moment we reveal our angelic self, their limit opens. Listening and comforting is beautiful, but it is not what the soul came for. We came to be conduits of the Light that cannot be counted.
Be guided, not just spiritual.
On waking, tell the Creator: "I need my guidance for this day." Make your morning connection and then wait, attentively, for what is revealed.
Wake up with a specific wish.
Say it truthfully: "I want to be an angel today, I want to be like Moshe." Without pretending you are already there. What counts is the real desire.
Notice when the Light opens a door.
Through the day, return to yesterday's wish. Notice one moment when you acted above your usual state, and give thanks for it.
Turn a limit into an opening.
When someone brings you pain, ask yourself: "Who do I need to be right now to open this limit?" Answer from that place, and not only with compassion.
Unite guidance, desire and service.
Write down what you received this week by asking and wishing. Thank the Light and offer the next day to the Creator, before Shabbat.
Today I ask to be guided.
I long to be more than I deserve, and the Light lifts me.
May this week of Bamidbar help you ask for guidance, wish to be more, and reveal endless Light to whoever you meet. Shavua Tov!
If someone you love wants to live with more purpose, this portion speaks to exactly that wish.
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