Glossary of Terms Used in the VaYechi Weekly Torah Portion

Death

“Death” is a state of departure of the light from the soul. This does not refer to the death of our protein body, since the Torah does not deal with the life of the physical body, but with the soul, with the filling of the light. Our desire is filled with the upper light, called “life.” The departure of the light is called “death.” People in our world are detached from life. This is why it is written that the wicked in their lives are called “dead.”¹

However, those who obtain the soul using the wisdom of Kabbalah, who draw the light that reforms, are those who achieve Arvut (mutual guarantee), the love of others. They have a Kli (vessel), a receptacle in which to discover the upper light, Godliness, which is life.

Blessing

A “blessing” is the force of bestowal that we receive through which we begin to sense the upper world. The spiritual world is all blessing, all Bet (the first letter in the word Beracha [blessing]), all Bina. This is why the Torah begins with the letter Bet, with Beracha.

Bed

A “bed” is a state where one ceases to work with one’s Rosh, Toch, and Sof (head, interior, and end, respectively), meaning in an upright position, when one has lights that develop from above downward. When the Rosh, Toch, and Sof are on the same level and the lights NRNHY depart, what is left is only “a pocket of life.”

The Cave of Machpelah

The connection between Bina and Malchut is called Machpelah. The will to receive and the desire to bestow stand together at the degree of Malchut, and there is the entrance to the upper world, the world of Bina. Therefore, on the one hand it is a burial, and on the other hand it is the door to eternity.

Fear (of revenge)

The fear is that if Joseph properly uses the qualities to correct Egypt, he might underestimate them and be unable to utilize their full potential. Each of Jacob’s sons is a form of bestowal but is not connected to Egypt, Malchut.

Only Joseph, who completes the nine Sefirot, can connect them all to Malchut. Without him they are afraid because they depend on him. Without him, it is as though they are not realizing themselves. They fear that there will not be a proper connection without Jacob, who has departed because he was the keeper of the middle line.

They also fear that Joseph will have enough power to take all the sons between him and Jacob. The upper one is Jacob, and the lower one is Joseph, and the qualities all enter man’s ego, Egypt. This is how they operate.