Looking at the king's face, not at the coins, keeps the blessings flowing.
Weekly study · Monday to Friday
✦ All insights are drawn from articles by Michael Berg published on onehouse.kabbalah.com.
The beginning of the portion speaks of counting the people, and the Zohar teaches that neither blessing nor Light rests on what is counted. Michael Berg gives the image: before a king who hands us coins, we do not count the coins, we look at the king's face. As long as we look at him, he keeps giving.
A real blessing is one that multiplies forever. It stops when we start saying "this is mine," whether about our children, our health or our business. The remedy is an ever-growing appreciation for the Light inside each blessing, as in relationships that lose their shine once the other becomes "ours."
According to Rav Ashlag, all pain, lack or sadness has a single cause: the soul is distant from the Light of the Creator. Michael Berg proposes pausing, in the middle of darkness, and saying: "I know why this is happening." When spiritual desire grows, the boundaries around our blessings break as well.
When receiving, look at the Light, not at what you receive: that is how the gift continues.
If a blessing stopped growing, something ended its flow. It was made to multiply.
Calling a blessing "mine" removes appreciation, and without appreciation the Light stops flowing.
Pain and lack are born from the distance between the soul and the Light, not from events.
If desire stays the same, blessings stay at the same limit. A greater desire must be awakened.
The portion Ki Tisa begins by counting the Israelites, and the Zohar teaches not to count them so that blessing may descend and stay. Michael Berg explains: when we count a blessing, we end it. As before a king who hands us coins, our gaze must be on the face of the giver. A real blessing multiplies forever, like the seed that becomes a tree, and it only stops growing when ego enters and makes it "mine."
So the work is to cultivate an ever-greater appreciation, especially for what we already have. When appreciation falls, the Light stops flowing in that blessing, and it may take five, ten or fifty years to die, but the process has begun. This is how relationships cool and gifts fade.
The second article shows how to go further. Everyone's life is born with a set of possible blessings, but their limit is the limit of our spiritual desire. Rav Ashlag offers a practical tool: facing sadness or lack, stop and recognize that the only reason is the distance of the soul. That thought already begins to bring it close. With a greater desire the boundaries break, as in David's verse: "my cup overflows."
Receive without counting.
When you receive something today, a compliment, a payment, a favor, pause and thank the Light before assessing what came.
Release what feels like possession.
Choose one blessing, a child, health, work. Swap "it is mine" for "it was given." Notice how appreciation shifts.
Rediscover what became ordinary.
Write three blessings you stopped noticing. Give thanks for each with the same enthusiasm as on day one.
Use Rav Ashlag's tool.
When sadness or lack arises, pause and say: "I know why this is happening: my soul is distant from the Light." Ask for closeness.
Awaken a desire greater than yesterday's.
Ask: "Has my desire grown this week?" Choose a new way to awaken it and thank the Light.
I look at the Light, not at the coins.
I let my desire grow, and the blessings grow with it.
May this week of Ki Tisa help you receive with appreciation, never count, and enlarge your desire. Shavua Tov!
Don't Count Your Blessings, by Michael Berg
Breaking the Boundaries that Surround Our Blessings, by Michael Berg
If someone you love has lost the shine of what they have, this portion speaks of how to rekindle it.
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