Blessings don’t come easily in this world. Everything of great value comes through hardship. Even peace itself comes from being diligent in bittul (self-transcendence), choosing how to navigate our reactions.
The deeper and more meaningful a relationship is the better the chances are of having difficult elements to work through. If you want to go deep in a relationship, there will be work to get through so that each person feels that they are being heard and loved in the way that they need. It’s similar in relationships between parents and children: the amount of love a parent feels for their child is indescribable, but it comes from a constant giving of one’s emotional and physical faculties. In the newborn stage, it’s waking up every couple hours to feed, hold or change the baby, when we just want to have one solid night’s sleep. When they are older, it’s a series of challenges that any human goes through and every parent wants to take on. But the connection could not be deeper and the love more profound because of those challenges on the journey. Through the hardships come the blessings. 

In this parahsah, Rashi says that “Yakov sought to dwell in tranquility”. But as soon as he did, immediately the troubles with Yosef and his brothers began, and instead of peace, Yakov ended up mourning Yosef, thinking he was dead for twenty years, only reuniting with him in his old age. It’s said that when a tzadik wishes to live at ease, Hashem says to them: “Are not the righteous satisfied with what is stored up for them in the world to come that they wish to live at ease in this world too! 

There’s a song by Cage The Elephant that I remixed for my Bonnaroo album called “Ain't No Rest for the Wicked.” It’s a play off the verse from Isaiah, “There is no peace for the wicked.” But in Talmud Berachot, Chazal say the same in regards to tzadikim, “The righteous have no rest.” And Job wrote that “man was born to toil" Essentially, in this world, we have work to do, and we can’t hope to sit idly by as our unique gifts and talents grow stale. 

As we covered last week, we are all interlinked, especially on the spiritual level, and so, by fulfilling one’s mission, a righteous person is fulfilling and completing the missions of the righteous souls that preceded him. This comes into play with Yakov, as he “sought to dwell in tranquility.” But this tranquility only came into being after Yakov went through the hardship of Yosef’s descent into Egypt. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that this brought about complete bittul. Yakov’s relationship with the material was to dominate it but always remain above it, still elevating it to its source. But Yosef took this a step further when he was brought against his will down to Egypt as a slave. So, Yakov, ultimately finding himself in Egypt, was able to merit bringing the sparks of holiness that are found in the lowest levels of material existence. It was the very elevation to the highest level of the materiality and physicality found in the lowest level that allowed Yakov’s request of dwelling in tranquility (a taste of the World to Come) in this life to finally be answered. 

READ THE FULL DVAR @ lightofinfinite.com/the-three-sided-story/

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Thanks for listening/reading.
Much love, Erez Safar

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The Three Sided Story (Vayeishev)

Light of Infinite is a blog, a podcast, a festival and a soon to be released book series, where Erez Safar acts as Your Spiritual DJ, curating insights into the weekly Torah portion and the infinite light of Kabbalah.

The project began on the Yartzeit (yearly memorial) of my ex wife’s mother’s passing, and it’s inspired by both her (Yehudis Chava bat Yakov Dov) and my mother (Frida Levona bat Shalom), who passed the same year. When I think of these women, I think of tzedaka and chesed, words that are hard to translate because they capture the real depths of words like ‘generous’, ‘giving’, ‘loving’, and ‘kindness’. These two women embodied and exemplified these qualities to an angelic degree: so full of life, love, warmth, and light, at every turn, every single moment. Being around them inspired me to be more loving, more giving, more full of a zest for each moment in life.

My goal with this ongoing project is to spread that inspiration and Light that I received and still receive from them. Using each week’s Torah portion, delving deep into the text, the commentaries, and the Kabbalah connected to it, I’ll share insights that bring that inspiration and Light to life for me, and will hopefully do the same for you.

As DJ Shadow sampled on his seminal record, Entroducing, “It’s not me that’s coming through– the music’s coming through me”. With that said, I do not take any recognition for any part of the material except the writing style. The recognition is meant for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the Giants of Torah that reveal the the Light of Infinite in a way that only they can. So, I would like to give thanks to some of the Chassidic Masters and Rabbis that I draw the most inspiration from, whose wisdom I’m attempting to bring down and make accessible. These include Reb Nachman & Reb Nosson Mi’Breslov, The Arizal, The Ba’al Shem Tov, R’Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe), Carlebach, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and so many others.

I hope that these words inspire you to delve deeper into the Torah and kabbalisitc texts, and, as Chaim Vital says, “One can go deeper and deeper, as far as the human mind can delve, and it will always yield new treasures.”

Light of Infinite is an upcoming book series where I act as your spiritual DJ, curating insights into the weekly Torah portion and the infinite light of Kabbalah. The sefer (book) will include newly edited, and in some cases, expanded text on the weekly parashah. There will also be a section on key concepts of Kabbalah as well as a section that includes stories and info on some of my favorite Rebbe’s.

The Three Sided Story (Vayeishev)

light of infinite