A blessing for every channel, a heart made of two letters, and the joy that turns on the Light.
One week · Simchat Torah
✦ All insights are drawn from articles by Karen Berg and Michael Berg published by the Kabbalah Centre.
V'Zot HaBerachah ("And this is the blessing") is the final portion of the Torah, and it is read on Simchat Torah, "the Joy of the Torah," on the very same day we begin reading Bereshit again from the first word. An ending and a beginning, in the same breath. Moshe's final act, before he leaves this world, is not a warning and not a rule. It is a blessing, one for every tribe of Israel, by name, one after another (Devarim 33:1-25). Each tribe carried a different gift, a different role, a different channel through which to receive and give Light. The list closes with a single line that rises above every difference: "There is none like the God of Yeshurun" (Devarim 33:26), many channels, one Source.
No one knows where Moshe is buried. The final chapter tells us he died in the land of Moav, "and He buried him in the valley, and no one knows the place of his burial to this day" (Devarim 34:6). The greatest prophet who ever lived, and the grave stays hidden. The classic teaching reads this as deliberate: connection to a great teacher lives in consciousness, not in geography.
Karen Berg teaches something striking about Simchat Torah. After all the work of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, with a whole infrastructure of Light built, one step was still missing to connect it. In her words, "the last step in this work is what actually activates everything done before". It is not more study or more effort: it is accepting the path from fullness, and not from lack.
Michael Berg recounts what Rav Chaim Vital wrote about the Ari on this day: he did not only make his own connection, he walked from place to place in Tzfat looking for more chances to dance with the Torah. Every second circling the Torah was another second drawing Light. The Ari felt he had a vessel without limits that day, and simply kept going.
It is the last portion of the Torah, read on Simchat Torah, on the very same day we return to the first word of Bereshit.
Moshe's final act is not a warning or a rule. It is a blessing, one for each tribe, because each carries a different channel for receiving and giving Light.
Moshe's grave was never found, and tradition reads that as deliberate. A teacher is not reached by address.
Simchat Torah is the step that activates the whole month's work. Not through more effort, but through accepting the path from fullness.
V'Zot HaBerachah closes the Torah and is read on Simchat Torah, the same day we begin Bereshit again, so the ending and the beginning happen in one breath. Moshe's last gesture is to bless, tribe by tribe, recognising that each receives and gives Light in its own way. Then he dies, and the grave is never found, because the bond with a teacher is not a place on a map. And what closes it all is not more study: it is dancing, and accepting the path from what one already has.
This week marks Simchat Torah, the end of one full cycle of Torah reading and the immediate start of another. Deepen your week by asking: what in my life looks like it's "ending" but is actually just closing a circle?
See each person's unique channel.
Choose one person today and give them a specific blessing, not a generic wish, but something that recognizes their unique gift.
Honor difference without losing unity.
Think of someone very different from you. Instead of judging the difference, ask: what channel of Light does this person carry that I don't?
Remember that consciousness travels with you.
Connect today with a teaching or a person who is no longer physically close to you. Notice that the connection doesn't depend on being in the same place.
See the end as a circle, not a line.
Identify something you're "finishing" this week. Write one sentence about how that ending is already wired to a new beginning.
Choose from abundance, not scarcity.
Before making a decision today, ask: am I choosing this from love and fullness, or from fear and lack?
Actively seek more connection, like the Ari.
Like the Ari walking through Tzfat, look today for one extra opportunity for connection you'd normally let pass. Enter Shabbat having already sought that extra step.
Don't wait for a reason to be happy.
Do something today with genuine joy and no practical reason, dance, sing, celebrate. Notice that this joy, by itself, is what activates everything you've built.
"I bless every channel I meet. I trust that my ending is wired to a new beginning. I let my joy turn on the Light."
Find a full library of content on Simchat Torah here, articles, videos and meditations.
kabbalah.com/en/collections/simchat-torahIf someone you love is ending something and does not know how to begin the next thing, this portion does both on the same day.
Share on WhatsAppKabbalistic insights, the consciousness of each Torah portion, and the calendar's windows of Light, straight to your WhatsApp.
Join the WhatsApp group
Comments
Share what this study awakened in you. We're here to listen.
Loading…