To Live is to Love Yourself

This week we conclude the book of Bereshit, or 'Genisis', as this first book of the Torah is known in English.  Begun after the High Holidays, as we entered a new year of life, it is truly a book of beginnings, as the word 'Bereshit' means in English.  We learned from the stories of Adam and Even and Noah that this world is a gift, and that we have the ability to honor that gift or to bring confusion to it.  We learned from Avraham and Sarah how to find the light in the world.  We learned from Isaac and Rebekah how to celebrate that light, while still being a Spiritually whole and balanced person.  And we learned from Jacob and Leach and Rachel how to maintain faith in the darkness.  Judah taught us how to rise up out of the darkness and reclaim the light - no matter how far we have fallen.  And Joseph taught us how to carry a torch into the darkest places -- and that when we have faith in God there is no darkness, because each of us is a light of HaShem, illuminating the world around us. This week's Torah portion is called "Vayechi" - "And he lived...".  It is the concluding chapter of Bereshit, which is very much THE book of life.  It offers us the key, after all the lessons of the book of Bereshit, to living a meaningful and positive life. It challenges us to love ourselves.  As we are.  For what we are. For only once we do, will we begin to live, and shine our light to the fullest. And the whole world around you is waiting for your light to shine and light it up! Attached please find the shu-shine for the Torah portion of 'Vayechi': "To Live is to Love Yourself". May we all be blessed to love the man or woman in the mirror, and to light up everyone around us with the unique light of God that each of us is in the world. With Love and a Smile, ~Shu