Receive with joy, see the blessing hidden inside the pain, and put the Light first, the vaccine against curses, one week before Rosh Hashanah.
One week · from Sunday to the Shabbat of Ki Tavo · Elul
✦ All insights are drawn from articles by Michael Berg, Karen Berg and Rav Berg published on kabbalah.com.
Ki Tavo means "When you enter" (Devarim 26:1). The portion opens with a beautiful mitzvah: bring the first fruits of your harvest to the Holy Temple and speak your gratitude out loud. Then come 98 verses of blessings and curses, the tochacha. In Hebrew letters, 98 equals the word tzach, "pure." Hearing these verses, one week before Rosh Hashanah, is not a punishment, it is a cleansing.
The verse that carries the whole tochacha is not about wrong actions, it is about joy: "Because you did not serve the Eternal your God with joy and gladness of heart" (Devarim 28:47). Karen Berg teaches: joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is small, "I'm happy about this." Joy (simcha) is unconditional: it means recognizing the Creator's hand in every circumstance. In her words: "To live with joy is to see the Light, even in our darkness."
For generations, no one wanted to be called to the Torah to read the curses, it felt like inviting them in. But the kabbalist Rav Yisrael of Koznitz always asked for exactly that reading. Michael Berg teaches, from Rav Ashlag: our soul never feels pain, only our Desire to Receive for the Self Alone does. Every pain has one purpose: to reveal where we are still holding on to the ego, and invite us to transform it into the Desire to Share. There is no other way out of pain except through that transformation.
That is why the portion hands us the key: put the Light first. Like the first fruits, which come before any new request. Like the people, who affirm themselves as am segulah, a treasured people, in a promise that runs both ways (Devarim 26:17–18). Eitan Yardeni calls this consciousness a "vaccine against curses." And the Kabbalah Centre reminds us: the Creator never created curses, only spiritual laws that protect our free will. The choice is always ours: transform proactively, or wait for life to push us.
The Path to No Pain by Michael Berg
Give Yourself Permission to Be Joyful by Karen Berg
Turning Curses into Blessings Kabbalah Centre, citing Rav Berg
Ki Tavo has 98 verses, the numerical value of tzach, "pure." Deepen your week by reading or hearing the full portion before Rosh Hashanah, with the intention of cleansing the negativity of the closing year.
Practice bikkurim consciousness.
Before asking for anything today, give thanks for something first, out loud, even alone. Choose one person and say a specific "thank you" you've never said.
Cultivate unconditional simcha.
Choose a neutral or difficult situation today and practice seeing the Creator's hand in it. Don't wait for a reason to be joyful, decide the joy first.
Listen to what discomfort reveals.
When you feel irritation, frustration, or pain today, stop and ask: what Desire to Receive for the Self Alone is behind this? Name it honestly, without guilt.
Trade receiving for sharing.
Choose one selfish pattern you identified yesterday. Do the opposite, concretely, today: share time, attention, or a resource with someone, expecting nothing back.
Order today's priorities.
Before checking messages, news, or tasks, dedicate the first ten minutes of your day to a spiritual practice, prayer, sacred reading, conscious silence.
Affirm mutual belonging.
Tell someone, out loud, how valuable they are to you, a real blessing, not a generic compliment. Enter Shabbat having made that affirmation.
Cleanse negativity before Rosh Hashanah.
During Shabbat, take a quiet moment and visualize this year's negativity dissolving, verse by verse. Say: "I receive with joy. I put the Light first."
"I receive with joy. I see the blessing hidden in every challenge. I put the Light first."
Find a full library of content on the portion of Ki Tavo here, articles, videos and meditations.
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