I once attended a writing workshop and the presenter claimed that writing a book is a linear process. Sounds about right, no? There’s a beginning, an end, and everything in between.

But what if the end really informs the beginning?

You know those novels that begin with a present-day prologue and only then take you back to the story of where it all began? What if the beginning is really a vision of the end and then it all comes full circle?

Whether books are linear or cyclical, I leave up for debate.

But there’s one Book I know that’s full of cycles and circular plot twists where every thread is connected at its deepest core.

It’s the basis of everything we explore in these weekly Parsha Points. The profound inner beauty and resonance within the feminine face of the Torah. 

This week’s parsha – Miketz – literally means “at the end.” 

It’s found in the Book of Bereishis - “in the beginning.”

What does it even mean to be “at the end, in the beginning?”

Before we go there, do you notice the word keitz – the end – pop up in the Chanukah melody of Maoz Tzur? Take a look at these verses:

קֵץ בָּבֶל זְרֻבָּבֶל לְקֵץ שִׁבְעִים נוֹשַׁעְתִּי – At Babylon's end Zerubabel came. At the end of seventy years I was saved.

חֲשׂוֹף זְרוֹעַ קָדְשֶׁךָ וְקָרֵב קֵץ הַיְשׁוּעָה…כִּי אָרְכָה הַשָּׁעָה וְאֵין קֵץ  – Bare Your holy arm and hasten the End for salvation…For the hour is long, and there is no end to days of evil.

Every end is an emergence.

Yosef’s story marked the end of one era – the age of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs – and the beginning of a new nation, descending through the dark womb of Mitzrayim to be fully born.

The end of the 70 years of Bavel was marked by the emergence of Zerubavel, who led the redemption and rebuilding of a new thriving era.

And in our day, we await yet another end, another reemergence of redemption, wholeness and light. 

But what if it’s already been there from the beginning?

The beginning, the ending and everything in between?

What if the unraveling of Time is merely a way the fullness is revealed?

The end that was always there? 

Like the moon that’s always whole and allows herself to be revealed through the passage of time. 

Like your wholeness that’s already been there from the beginning. 

It just becomes more embodied and revealed as you grow into the greatness that’s always been embedded in your DNA.

Our cyclical nature is one of concealment and revelation, contraction and expansion, exile and redemption.

It's our lived experience that brings us to the next layer of becoming, of being – of really seeing the essence of who we are.

Think of the glee of a child unwrapping their Chanukah present and excitedly revealing what’s underneath. 

With each cycle, with each phase, we’re unwrapping the gift of Life. 

Layer by layer, deeper and deeper, aligning with the truth of who we’ve been from the beginning. 

Returning. 

Reclaiming. 

Redeeming the gifts that finally rise from hidden darkness to revealed light. 

P.S. If you’re feeling the pull of this deeper feminine wisdom – the way our cycles hold the cosmic (and personal) story of exile and redemption – you’ll love what’s coming. Redemptress is the space where we unravel these layers and return to the truth of who we are.

Chanukah is the season on the Jewish calendar where we shift toward that light of redemption. There's so much more coming.