Michael Berg
DECEMBER 30, 2020
Vayechi is an unbelievably exciting and powerful Shabbat, with many lessons, but one thing we have to keep in mind throughout the whole week leading up to this Shabbat is that it says Jacob calls his children and tells them, “Come gather around me and I will tell you what is going to happen at the End of Days, in the time of Mashiach, before the Gemar HaTikun.”
Rashi brings it that Jacob wanted to reveal the End, but the Shechinah left him, and he started talking about other things. However, the Midrash has a more interesting parable about this. It says that Jacob is like the person who is the closest confidant to the king, and as he's about to die, gathers his children together and says, “Let me tell you all the king's secrets,” when suddenly the king comes into the room and looks at him, saying, “You can't do this,” and so he starts talking about other things.
But the kabbalists explain what actually happened here is that Jacob wanted to reveal the End, and he did. However, he knew that he couldn't do it in a way that is obvious, and, as such, while all the blessings that are revealed on this Shabbat have their literal understanding, in the true Light of these words is the revelation of the Gemar HaTikun, the End of the Correction. In the Zohar, Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, when he talks about the curses that appear in the Torah, explains that although on the surface they look like curses, in truth, their real Light and essence are complete blessings. And that is what occurs on the Shabbat of Vayechi.
Therefore, this is the one Shabbat of the year where all the Light of Mashiach and the Gemar HaTikun is revealed, and so, it gives us some appreciation for its importance. Every one of us, if we connect on this Shabbat, can also connect to the Gemar HaTikun to one degree or another. Jacob wanted to reveal the End, but it's concealed; because it could not be revealed, it needed to be a place for doubt to come in. And yet, every person has the opportunity on Shabbat Vayechi to connect to the end of pain, suffering, death, and the totality of Light that Jacob revealed in portion Vayechi.
It's all based on the verse which says that when a person leaves this world, the question he's asked is, “Did you expect the Gemar HaTikun every day?” And only if we begin living in this way, where we’re waiting for the Redemption, meaning every day we are expecting it to come, can we connect to the revelation of Jacob on this Shabbat. On no other Shabbat of the year does anybody reveal all the Light of the Gemar HaTikun… but that's what occurs on this Shabbat.
And the way to access this great revelation is through awakening a constant expectation of the Gemar HaTikun to occur now. It's, again, a powerful and unbelievable Shabbat, and we can all bring into this world, on Shabbat Vayechi, a tremendous revelation of the End of the Correction, of the Gemar HaTikun.
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