“Creating Good Luck ~The Art of Pottery”
Written Notes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2b2vtesaffw0pu/6.%20Vayishlach%205788%20-Creating%20Good%20Luck%20-The%20Art%20of%20Pottery.pdf?dl=0
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One of life’s greatest challenges is our frustration in not being successful, which often bleeds over into jealousy and resentment.
Yes, there is the Effort part of success, which is called Hishtadlut. We each need to get over any human perception of a contradiction between Hishtadlut vs. Emunah –Effort vs. Faith and acceptance. Yes, we even have to get over our human perception of the Jewish concept of, “Who is rich? He who is happy in his lot.” And, after getting over our human perceptions of Effort, Faith, Acceptance, Wealth, and Happiness, we then find that all is true! G-d wants us to put in Effort with Faith and Acceptance, and G-d wants us to be Happy in the present situation, while working on become as Rich as our G-d-given talents and capacities allow for us to be.
The non-spiritual question of all of the above is built on the terminology of Effort, Talent and Luck. Luck plays a big role in whether we are successful or not. The Talmud actually tells us that being rich or being poor is Bmazlah talya –Hangs on luck. It is this Luck factor that we speak of. It is this Luck factor that causes so much frustration, jealousy and resentment, to he who puts in the time and effort, and yet tastes no success.
Can one change their Mazal (Luck)? The Jewish answer is absolutely yes! Well, the second question then is, how can one change their Mazal?
The answer is to understand what Mazal is. I is an alignment of the spiritual celestial orbits and constellations, as they express themselves in the physical stars and constellations, which is the true study of astrology, of which Abraham was a student? The answer is yes, luck is a deciding factor. However, after Abraham saw through astrology that he and Sarah were not to have children, and G-d went to bless Abraham with a child, G-d said to Abraham, “And He took him outside: …He [G-d] said to him [Abraham], ‘Go out of your astrology,’ for you have seen in the signs of the zodiac that Abram is not destined to have a son.” Thus, while Mazal is the alignment of constellations and orbits of celestial beings, nevertheless, G-d clearly tells Abraham that there is something greater and more powerful, which can actually change one’s luck.
Thus, we will now define Mazal as King Solomon does, Birkas Hashem (G-d’s Blessing), and the question now becomes, how to change one’s predefined astrological Mazal, by becoming a receiver of the Mazal of G-d’s blessings.
In this lecture, built upon a maamor of the Rebbe, delivered on the 19th of Kislev 1957, on the redemption of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe, from the Czarist prison in 1798, we will learn how to become a vessel for the Mazal of G-d’s Blessing.
