It's a Wonderful Life

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Vayigash

How many days are the years of your life?

This is the question that Pharoah, a wise king, asks Yaakov. (Bereshit 47:8)

What he meant was this: How productive and meaningful has your life been? (Rav Hirsch)

Yaakov's answer: Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the life spans of my forefathers in the days of their sojourns. (v. 9)

Ugh.

I don't know about you, but when the day comes that someone asks me that question, I'd like to have a better answer.

What would it be like to answer I've had a wonderful life?

It's never too late to start.

Leadership

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Vayigash

What does it mean to be a leader?

Yosef resolves the challenging socio-economic dynamics that enable him to navigate the famine emergency with grace and intelligence.

He uses his mind and is quick to make thoughtful decisions that keep order and peace in society while fulfilling the basic physical needs of the people. 

What qualities allow Yosef to succeed?

Certainly not an ideal childhood. As a young boy he suffers the passing of his mother, he's an object of hatred of his own brothers, and as a young man is sold into slavery.

Is Yosef a strong leader despite these tragedies or because of them?

And what are those eternal inner qualities that allow us to succeed, no matter what our circumstances?

Narrating Our Lives

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Vayigash

When Yosef was lying in the infamous snake-and-scorpion pit back in Parshat Vayeishev (Bereshit 37:24), the last thought on his mind was being able to save his family.

But so the story goes.

Now he's second-in-command in Egypt, able to provide his family with dignified living arrangements and provisions.

He can say, "G-d has sent me ahead of you to insure your survival in the land and to sustain you for a momentous deliverance." (44:7)

If you could write the next chapter in your own life story, how would it read?

Ripple Effect

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Vayigash

Don't you love a good cry?

When Yosef cannot restrain himself from this emotional family reunion, he lets it all out.

It's such a great, tearful release that not only does Pharoah's palace hear it, but it also reaches the entire land of Egypt. (Bereshit 45:2)

Emotions are energy. What we feel ripples out beyond ourselves. This is the power of the cry of Yosef, who is the epitome of connection (as represented by yesod of the sefirot).

And if a cry can reach out so powerfully, then so can a laugh...

What emotion will you choose to ripple out today into your home and beyond?