Published: December 12, 2013
Originally recorded: November 8, 2010

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Lesson Highlights

• Vayetze means "he left": Jacob leaves his father for a 14 year journey of spiritual study
• Jacob marries Leah and Rachel and fathers 12 children who become the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel 
• Jacobs dream of the ladder with angels coming down and going up 
• Rashi's interpretation and the Zohar explanation of Jacob’s dream 
• The angels going upwards symbolize redemption and those going downward symbolize exile
• Both sets of angels are ultimately controlled by the Tetragrammaton 
• Finding Light in both exile and redemption
• Jacob learns that he must go against his nature to find all the sparks of Light 
• Every accomplishment includes both exile and redemption
• Understanding Galut (exile) and Ge’ulah (redemption)
• One letter difference between Galut and Ge’ulah: The letter "aleph" represents Light 
• Discovering that we were in exile when we experience small amounts of redemption 
• The purpose and use of exile is to build the vessel of craving for Light 
• Embracing the turmoil of exile in order to build our desire for the Light
• Fixing our problems is not redemption: True redemption comes from channeling our potential, not allowing chaos to control us and maintaining total certainty 
• True redemption does not seek to remove pain, it means embracing the good and the bad 
• Each exile elevates us to the next redemption 
• Jacob is our role model for learning how to build our resilience to pain for the larger purpose of channeling our true potential 
• Coming to Kabbalah just to “fix” our problems
• Giving with 100 percent even when things are not exactly the way we want leads to redemption 
• Realizing both Light and darkness brings us to the Light

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Lesson Description

The portion of Vayetze offers us a deeper understanding of the treasures we possess in the midst of our darkest days. By encouraging us to embrace the turmoil and drama of our most difficult challenges, Eitan comforts us with the understanding that these periods of exile are expanding our capacity to experience redemption. Eitan shares secrets that build our consciousness to navigate our way out of every exile, whether emotional, physical or spiritual.

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About This Course

Written 2,000 years ago by Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, the Zohar explains all of the secrets of the Bible, the Universe and every aspect of life. The Zohar class is a weekly journey to understand the energy and challenges that will confront us during the week and how we can elevate our consciousness to prevent chaos from occurring in our lives.

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