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.
Hayom hazeh, certainty beyond logic, and the work of Elul, in a synthesis based on the complete Ki Tavo class.
Open the class →The letter missing from the Bikurim basket, the circle of Satan, and the door to something new, in a synthesis based on the complete Ki Tavo class.
Open the class →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 that happiness is small, it depends on what happened. Joy 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, that our soul never feels pain. What feels it is the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. 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.
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 that the Creator never created a single curse, only spiritual laws that protect our free will.
Happiness is small and depends on what happened. Joy is recognizing the Creator's hand in everything, the darkness included.
The soul never feels pain. What feels it is the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, which is why pain always points to where we still hold the ego.
The Creator never created a single curse, only spiritual laws that preserve free will. The 98 verses equal tzach, "pure", and arrive as a cleansing before Rosh Hashanah.
Like the first fruits, which come before any new request. Eitan Yardeni calls this consciousness a vaccine against curses.
Ki Tavo arrives one week before Rosh Hashanah and performs a cleansing. It tells us to hand over the first fruits before asking for anything, and then has us hear 98 verses that only sound like a curse. What is being said, underneath, is that pain is not punishment. It is the exact place where the ego still holds on, and the invitation to let go. The week asks for joy, and joy here is not being pleased, it is seeing the Light even when it is dark.
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.
kabbalah.com/en/collections/ki-tavoIf someone you love is having a hard week and taking it as punishment, this reading may change where they are looking from.
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