Parshas Vayechi

We really limit ourselves when we think of cycles only in terms of menstrual cycles.

A cycle is just a unit of time. The whole world runs in cycles. גלגל חוזר בעולם, right?

As opposed to a random new year starting January 1, real time is set by actual rhythms in nature and space.

Yes, like our menstrual cycles.

And the moon cycle.

The seasons of year. (Don't you feel spring may be more of a beginning than winter? This is a time of deep rest and integrating what already is growing beneath the surface, not making new resolutions.)

The rhythm of night and day.

There was this stunning picture I witnessed yesterday in the sky as the sun was setting and the (almost) full moon was clearly visible at the same time. 

What is it really like to see life through a cyclical lens? 

This week’s parsha takes us to the end of Yaakov’s life.

He stood at the threshold – seeing two worlds at once;

the truth of the end of days – as he prepared to transcend to something more than this life – and the truth of the life he lived.

The dreams he had.

The travails he endured.

The losses he suffered.

The blessings and promises that came true, as well as those yet to be revealed. 

And he saw his legacy.

The twelve tribes, the sons of Israel, the beginnings of a great nation.

He honored them and blessed them. 

This wasn’t only about his sons, but what they represented. He honored and blessed the life he lived and all that had been birthed through it. Be it pain or joy, hardship or abundance. 

He acknowledged the full cycle of his life and all the ways it seasoned him.

The glimpse of revelation he saw hovered just beyond the edge. But it was not yet time. 

Until the very last moment, he lived in his life, in this cycle, and all it brought forth.

His final journey circled back up to the Land where he was buried with his parents, grandparents, and his wife, Leah in the Cave of Machpelah.

His descent to Egypt was a yeridah le’tzorech aliyah. As in every cycle.

What if all cycles shared a theme?

The cycle of life, the cycle of seasons, the cycle in our wombs.

The end-of-life threshold, beholding two worlds at once, deeply honoring what’s been, while glimpsing a new reality through the veil – what if we experience at least a fraction of that through the ebb and flow of our own cycles?

There’s a space just before a woman bleeds, where she enters a doorway, a no-man’s-land.

The in-between where something ends and something new begins.

The veil thins between two worlds. Our vision sharpens. What no longer belongs is harder to ignore. Not because we’re “just hormonal” – but because we are closer to truth.

Then comes release.

Menstruation.
Letting go.

And in that space, something new begins to take shape.

So women get to live many lives within one lifetime, don’t we?

By crossing these inner thresholds, by letting go of things that need to die and letting ourselves be reborn.

By allowing each phase to season us, and each return to carry us forward changed.

A cycle, after all, is just a unit of time.

But when we stop treating time as something technical and start experiencing it through rhythm, movement, and the cyclical experience – everything changes.

What began as awareness of the menstrual cycle opens into something much wider. We start to recognize the same pattern everywhere.

In seasons. In relationships. In creative processes. In grief and renewal. In life.

The womb becomes a portal to Oneness with everything around us and within us – the cycles of nature, our thoughts and emotions, the inner and outer seasons – it’s all connected.

And perhaps this is the deeper invitation of cycles – to expand through all the cycles that move us.

To realize that we’re practicing, month after month, how to live inside time with presence and trust.

That it’s possible to begin again without erasing what came before.

Wishing you a restful and peaceful Shabbos.

Reminder!

This Monday, I'm hosting a live talk on Zoom with Pamela Klein on the topic of female desire. We often don't realize what a vital part this is to our overall feminine aliveness.

Click the flyer below to register for free. Zoom link will only be sent to registered participants.

And don't forget to share with others who would benefit!