I want to share from the Kedushat HaLevi, the great Kabbalist Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditshev.

There’s a whole discussion about Efrayim and Menashe, the younger and older son. Joseph assumed the right hand on Menashe and the left on Efrayim. But Jacob changed hands, putting his right hand on the younger son and left hand on the older son. Jacob and Joseph had a discussion. Kedushat HaLevi reveals an important and powerful secret, based on the verse that says all the sickness, all the illness, all the negativity the Creator put in Egypt, I won’t put on you because I, God, am your healer. (Exodus 15:26)

The question is, if there is no sickness, why do you need a healer? The verse states that all the sickness that was in Egypt, I won’t give to you, because I am your healer. If there is no sickness, you don’t need a healer. If you need a healer, there is sickness.

Kabbalah is not the path to make your life easy

B’li ayin hara, I have the merit. Those of you who saw the Rosh Chodesh lecture, we took it from the Rav’s lectures of years past. We worked several months ahead of time to prepare the video. I’m now working on Adar, a few months from now. The Rav says a few very important things. One of the things he speaks about is that people think Kabbalah can make your life easier. The Rav says that is not true. The path of Kabbalah is not the path to make your life easy; it is the path to get the ultimate, the most complete fulfillment that we can in this world.

The process will not, cannot, be an easy one.

The reality is that the process will not, cannot, be an easy one. There will be difficulties along this path. In order to grow to the next level, there has to be a break of the previous vessel.

We have to break the vessel that we have in order to merit a larger, greater vessel.

This is the secret Kedushat HaLevi reveals to us in this Parashah. Every one of us has a vessel. Some of the vessels are larger, some are smaller, but none of our vessels–our capacities to bring into our lives the peace, the joy, and fulfillment that comes with it–none of our vessels are as large as they should be. None of us is able to achieve the ultimate Light. What has to happen? We have to break the vessel that we have in order to merit a larger, greater vessel.

There are two paths of difficulty.

The difficulties that we have in our lives follow two different paths of difficulty: one is a path that leads nowhere, and one is a path where we break smaller vessels and create larger vessels.

Any difficulty is for the purpose of breaking a smaller vessel.

Efrayim and Menashe represent different energies. Efrayim is about more and more. Menashe is the energy of falling, the energy of difficulty. What Ya’akov was doing, what he was injecting into us, what he was revealing to us, and what the Kedushat HaLevi makes clear is the consciousness we need to hear: I won’t give you any difficulty that is not for the purpose of breaking a smaller vessel and giving you a greater vessel. It won’t be easy. There will be difficulty.

The only reason for difficulty, if a person is connected, is doing the work, is because it is the process of breaking a small vessel and preparing him for a greater vessel.

The difficulties only come because you are holding onto a smaller vessel.

Ya’akov was teaching Yosef: you think the difficulty comes first and the Creator gives you the healing. If you are on the path, Yosef, and this is what Jacob was telling him, Efrayim comes before Menashe. The difficulties only come because you are holding onto a smaller vessel. That vessel needs to be broken before you receive a larger vessel that can bring greater fulfillment and more Light.

What is the sickness of Egypt? It is the sickness that simply brings pain.

What is the sickness of Egypt? It is the sickness that simply brings pain. Yes, there will be difficulties, but the only reason is because you are holding onto a smaller vessel. That vessel needs to be broken to receive a greater vessel, more Light, more fulfillment, more joy.

The Creator says you cannot have two vessels.

Jacob is injecting every single one of us with this ability to connect to a greater vessel. Whenever we have difficulties in our life, we have two paths of consciousness. We can hold onto the smaller vessel that we have in our lives. Or we can say no, I know the reason this is happening to me. Before this even happened, there was a greater vessel waiting for me. The Creator says you cannot have two vessels. You can have one or the other. I have to break the smaller vessel to have the greater vessel.

The greater Light, the greater vessel, is created before the smaller vessel is broken.

The Rav always says that whenever we find ourselves in a place where we are down, a place where there is need for healing, the consciousness is not that we have difficulty and have to find the solution, but that there is a greater vessel for me. This difficulty is the gift to help me break the smaller vessel so I can receive the larger vessel.

It’s an important lesson that changes our consciousness and the ability to receive the greater vessel.

Jacob put his hand on Efrayim and said the greater vessel comes before the difficulty. I know before this even happened, there was a greater vessel prepared for me. I’m going to let go of the small vessel, not hold onto the pain and difficulty. I will be ready to receive the greater Light and the greater vessel from the Creator.

Use difficulties as opportunities to bring more Light.

This is how to deal with difficulties, to use them as opportunities to bring more Light, more fulfillment, more joy, the greater vessel, into our lives.

It’s important to hear difficult concepts so we can aspire to them.