How do I make sure that my choices in life are coming from the Light? What advice should I listen to? How do I inject more Light into my day-to-day actions?
Those questions are familiar to all of us who are seeking, or have found, our spiritual path. We face those conflicts every day, and in major intersections of our lives.
In the Torah portion of Pekudei, there is a repetition of the story that took place in the previous two portions: The story of the building of the tabernacle, and the clothing of the High Priest. As Rav Berg taught, there is not a single word in the Torah that doesn’t have a deeper meaning attached to it, and everything that is mentioned has a reason and contains a lesson that we can understand and apply in our life today.
As we learned in the previous portions, the Tabernacle represents a physical and spiritual place where each human being can have a better and stronger connection to the Light Force of God. The construction of the Tabernacle represents the personal, internal building of a place within us; a place where more Light can reside and guide us in our life.
The one major difference that happens in the portion of Pekudei is the fact that Moses, by counting the different items and physically taking part, was clearly more involved in the building of the Tabernacle.
Why? Why repeat the story? What is the lesson here for us? What difference does it makes that Moses was more involved?
Moses, the most elevated soul that ever lived, was a channel. In order for all the items to be infused with Light, and to help everyone have a better connection to the Light, Moses had to be involved and participate in the process. We may begin our spiritual work alone but we need our teachers, righteous souls, and the Light to help us reach the next level. We cannot do it alone.
In our daily spiritual connections, it’s important to remember that without the Light – without a higher force – we are very limited; the amount of blessings, miracles, and positive energy that we can connect to is limited.
The more we grow spiritually, the more we want –the more we realize that it is possible for us to change and achieve. But... if we forget that the Light is the source of everything, that the Light is what holds everything together, that what we really want is the Light – then again, we are limiting our growth.
Moses was a channel, a source that the Israelites could connect with in order to connect to higher spiritual levels.
In our lives today we can connect to the Light through different channels: our spiritual teachers, righteous souls from history, kabbalists from different generations. By connecting with righteous souls like Moses, we can use their corrected vessel (soul) to connect with the Light, a feat we would be incapable of achieving on our own. We “borrow” their vessel every time we study from their works, read about the lessons of their lives, visit their gravesites, emulate their actions and follow their examples.
Whenever a hard question comes up, whenever we need to make a choice in our life that will determine the direction of our life, we want to bring in the support and guidance of a higher soul and the Light. We can consult with our spiritual teachers; we can ask for a righteous soul to guide us in our prayers and meditations. We can infuse every action in our day-to-day life with consciousness.
In the study of Kabbalah, one can find many stories of great souls from which to learn and draw inspiration. We can learn and connect to a different elevated righteous soul from the Torah every week. There are many inspiring lessons in the Zohar, the main text of Kabbalah, and today we can find our connection in the teachings of the Rav and Karen Berg, who are the foundation of the teachings of Kabbalah in our generation.
With the energy of the portion of Pekudei, let’s all seek out those teachings and connections to higher souls that can guide and help us connect to the Light – and achieve the potential of our soul in this lifetime.
