JSSUMMERS™ Entertainment®: Forging New Trails

October 11 — 17

If you've been studying Kabbalah for more than a year or so, you know we are all about change.

In the big scheme of things, there's always a choice: keep things the same or make them different.

And in the bigger scheme of things, if we keep things the same, physically or energetically, how can we expect OURSELVES to be any different?

I look at the entire lineage of Kabbalists throughout history — Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, Rav Isaac Luria, The Baal Shem Tov, Rav Ashlag, Rav Brandwein — and I think, how can I, as a person, or how can we, as a movement, really have that kind of impact? When those kabbalists lived, they had a group of students — few enough at a time that they didn't even need a microphone to give a lecture — and yet, the world will never be the same because of them. It's not about how they dressed or their meditations and prayers. They continued the lineage but somehow didn't allow the game to remain the same.

Last week we asked the question — how much impact do I have in my world?

This week the question is: How can I be a game changer?

As students of Kabbalah we have a personal and collective responsibility to make sure that this wisdom continues — it's a living entity. It has a basic structure, rules — if you will - and while we have to remain true to those principles, how we live them is our own.

That's why we keep things moving in the Centre — editing and re-editing books. Closing and opening Centres. Trying new means and methods of reaching people and creating transformation in the world. Yes, we've made the wisdom more accessible than ever. Part of that involves carrying the torch. But the other part is doing what I, as a unique individual, can do to make a difference.

Don't we all want to be the person who breaks through new pathways so now more people can use that pathway? First, there's a dirt path to walk on. Do you stop there, or do you try to figure out how to make the path bigger, maybe for a horse and carriage? No, let's make it even bigger for a train. Then a faster train, a bullet train.

We've got to do our work to make sure the path keeps getting better and better, to accommodate more and more people — more traffic.

The worst thing we can do is stand still. Keep the status quo. Rest on someone else's laurels. I imagine once upon a time, the grandson of a great kabbalist said, "Do you know who my grandpa was?" and he coasted on that. That was his meal ticket. That cannot be us.

This week, think about what you're doing in your life to be a game changer. How have you changed your family for the better? How have you challenged your friends to think differently? How have you transformed your work environment, your industry, your community?

If we don't keep on pushing, forging new trails, constantly checking what else there is to do, we are standing still. We must find a way to stay true to the path and at the same time to be different, meaning to be more, to be progressing.

And never to coast, never to feel we're done. Never to feel I did what I came here to do, never to think we actually did anything — despite the evidence around us.

My brother, Michael Berg, often quotes Ecclesiastes 28:14: Blessed is the person who is fearful. We must fear being the same, coasting along, not making our mark. Instead of being afraid of success, of failure, of commitment — let's be afraid that we haven't yet changed the game.

P.S. I talk in more detail about this in The Power to Change Everything you can preorder your copy now and preview chapters at www.yehudaberg.com

All the best,

Yehuda

72 Name of the Week

The whispers of my soul and the divine counsel of the Light are heard loud and clear. I know what I have to do. I am willing and prepared to do what it takes to get it done.