KE logo

Week 4. The Week of Netzach

Your blueprint is set down on paper and you have “signed off.”  The blueprint though is just a map, an outline for growth, your plan for leaving an aspect of personal constriction.  It is not yet taking action and the process toward freedom remains fluid.  In the desert the Jews have now moved from the oasis, back into the desert, with all its challenges.  Choices abound and there are many potential course corrections.  Why is change for us similar to traversing a desert?  In our determination to move toward freedom the landscape is often bare and can feel very lonely and fear can set in.  Questions that often arise when looking at change are: Am I really ready?  Am I capable of sticking to the change or will I revert back to old patterns? Might I even say—“I want to return to Egypt—to my old ways; the comfort of enslavement.”  Or is Egypt itself beckoning?  What will others think about my ‘leaving’, about my growing in freedom; implementing my blueprint for change?

Picture 541

We are interpreting Netzach to mean the determination to overcome obstacles.  Netzach is usually translated as victory.  Whether the definition is endurance or perseverance (per Rabbi Jacobson and Rabbi Kantrowitz) Netzach is energy of active trust—trust in one’s own capacities and in working with other to overcome any and every obstacle.  This is your task for each day of this week of Netzach—reflecting on the obstacles (both internal and external) and the determination needed to overcome them.

Picture 541

Day 22 – Chesed in Netzach

Picture 541

How do we remain open today to the challenges of change without losing our determination?  Chesed is an energy that connects us.  As an obstacle to change is loyalty—to old patterns, to people or a community (outside and inside you) who are not ready to ‘release’ you.  Loyalty is a very powerful emotion, an obstacle to overcome if it holds us back from moving forward.

Picture 541

Meditation: What are my loyalties? I have my plan for growth and how may loyalty not allow me to implement it?  Hold loyalty in the palm of your right hand and feel whether it weighs you down or lifts you up.  A  balance will be found in the left palm (Gevurah).

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

stay in touch

Stay in Touch

by Dr. David Sanders When I heard that Weight Watchers filed for bankruptcy it gave new meaning to the idiom “going belly up.” What was the cause of its demise? Weight Watchers, as has been

bearded iris

Netzach: Creative Journey

by Melanie Gruenwald   This semester, I am a teaching a new class, Creative Journey through the Sefirot. This course is inspired by Rabbi Adina Allen’s non-profit organization, The Jewish Studio Project, and her book,

counting up in time

Counting Up

by Dr. David Sanders   On June 5th we will be celebrating Kabbalah Experience’s 20th year.  We are counting up to it. In our relationship to an anticipated event, it is our inclination to count

storytelling blog image

We Are All Storytellers: What’s Your Story?

by Melanie Gruenwald We are all storytellers. Once upon a time, I was born. From there, my journey has been shaped by growth, family, study, friendships, love, travel, career, children, loss, and more growth. There’s

knowledge tree, generated by AI * Gemini Generated Image

The Knowledge Tree

by Dr. David Sanders Two years ago, on Wednesday March 22nd, a petition was signed by over 1,000 leading scientists and thought leaders for all Ai labs to take a sabbatical of no less than