If, at every moment, you can choose the path that you want to pursue and, as the Talmud states, Hashem will help you towards the path of your choosing, then ensuring that you are in alignment and on a path of positivity is that much more important. It’s being mindful of the saying, “be careful what you wish for.’ We shouldn’t ever look at ourselves as fully bad or fully good, because that can color how we approach the future and, more often than not, in a negative way. If we realize that at any given moment we have the power for bad or the power for good, then we can begin to be present, let go of the weight of our past decisions and choose good, choose positivity in the very moment that we find ourselves in. 

The concept of teshuva (to return) in Judaism is a very powerful part of the practice of faith. The idea that at the moment that a person comes to the realization that they want to align with the light of the Infinite, the Creator of all things, and with a full heart and with love, and desire to connect and forge a new path, it is in that heartfelt sincerity that we are born anew in a sense, and our past transgressions between created and Creator are washed away. If only all relationships were as easy. If the ones that we navigate with others coming to a truce or a state of peace, in which all past trials, tribulations and misunderstandings were completely stricken from the record of the memories and impact between ourselves and others, the layers of disconnect and discontent would vanish, and we would realize that they are all manifestations of misunderstandings in our state of exile.

It’s believed that before birth we make an oath, “Be a tzadik (righteous person), don’t be a rasha (wicked person). This seems a bit superfluous; if one swears to be righteous, why would they then also swear to not be wicked? The Alter Rebbe explains that it is because not everyone can reach the level of tzadik, and that it is imperative to also swear that we don’t fall into wickedness. A person makes an oath to overcome their impulse to evil, and this is the constant struggle we experience, caught between two choices. 

This state of being is the name of the texts within Tanya that in which the Alter Rebbe teaches us these very lessons, titled, The Book of the Inbetweeners. The lesson is: if we all have the power to personify that which unites or that which divides, then always choosing the path of the righteous and not of the other side (the Sitra Achra) is the key to revelation. In this week’s parashah, we read a cautionary tale of the path of the Sitra Achra. 

Balak was the king of Moav and felt threatened by the Israelites wandering near his land, with Moshe leading them and Hashem protecting them. Balak had a special power over nature; he used sorcery to manipulate it. But he saw, through the miracles of yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus from Egypt), that the Jews were connected to power above nature. He knew that he could not defeat them himself, so he called on Bilam, the master of all sorcerers, to curse them.

But as we re-learn this week - Coming from a place of darkness and a desire to bring a people down through cursing them will only bring harm to oneself. That is the lesson of “those who bless shall be blessed”: if you are one who gives blessings, it means you are a vessel for blessings. The potential for Light is limitless for such a person, as good begets good and blessings beget blessings. This verse illuminates how dangerous it is to connect with the sitra achra (the other side): a curse is not something that a person can hope for as a one time thing. You can’t wish ill on someone and not be affected by it yourself. Cursing another, trying to break another’s vessel, is a fracturing of one’s own vessel. So Hashem’s Light that could descend into and through you is deflected and defracted by your self-fracturing. 

May this Shabbat be an opportunity to heal our fractured vessels, reconnecting to the spirit of blessing, pushing away the Sitra Achra, and inviting in the Light of the Infinite.

** I DO A DEEP DIVE INTO ‘THE OTHER SIDE’ IN THIS WEEK’S ARTICLE/DVAR, SO BE SURE TO READ IT IN FULL @ https://lightofinfinite.com/the-other-side/ 🤍🕊

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Thanks for listening/reading.
Much love, Erez Safar

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