Vayechi
How do we move between different states of consciousness?
Reflection by Ariel Hendelman, Or HaLev Teacher
"In the Torah portion of Vayechi, the last portion in the book of Bereishit, Yaakov/Yisrael lies on his death bed, gathering first his son Yosef and grandsons, and then all 12 of his sons, so that he can bless them before he passes.
It is striking and undeniable in Vayechi that Yaakov has lived his life holding and balancing the tension between his two names, and all that they signify. He is called Yaakov nine times in this week’s portion and Yisrael 13 times. According to Rabbi Marcia Prager, when a word is repeated nine times in one parsha, it denotes the birthing of something new into the world. Given that 13 is the gematria (numerical equivalent) of ahavah, which means love, there is a sense that Love is holding this process, and holding Yaakov/Yisrael himself in his last hours.
According to the Sefat Emet (R. Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Ger), when the Torah begins this parsha with `Vayechi Yaakov` — Yaakov lived — it refers to the tension that Yaakov worked to live with and balance over the course of the many challenges of his life. On the other hand, when he blesses his children prophetically, the Torah shifts to Yisrael, because blessing flows from the soul clarity that emerges when balance is achieved and wholeness is prominent. The greatness of Yaakov Avinu is that he can access Yisrael from within Yaakov.
The Alter Rebbe (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi) takes this one step further, framing the two names as two states of consciousness – katnut (constricted) and gadlut (expanded). Yaakov consciously moves between these states. The blessings require gadlut (Yisrael), while the physical act of dying needs katnut (Yaakov). The Alter Rebbe emphasizes that a complete soul does not remain in expanded consciousness permanently – truth lives in the rhythm.
What a blessing for all of us to remember, that like the inhale and exhale of the breath, there is a rhythm to all life, an ebb and flow, a contracting and expanding. We are not meant to stay on top of the mountain, as it were. We flow between different states. Our meditation practice gives us the ability to do this with awareness and intention, which is a gift indeed."