In parshah Vaera we’re shown the whole plan: Moses is told to speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and demand that he “send the Children of Israel from his land.” (Exodus 6:11)

It sounds impossible! But there’s more to this plan than can be seen from our earthly point of view. There’s a strategy here that is not limited to a practical, physical perspective. The higher wisdom of the universe explains:

“See, I have made you master over Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your spokesman. … But I shall harden Pharaoh’s heart and I shall multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not heed you, and I shall put My hand upon Egypt; and I shall take out My legions—My people the Children of Israel—from the land of Egypt, with great judgments. And Egypt shall know that I am God.” (Exodus 7:1-5)

Obviously we know that their subsequent journey was full of challenges and struggles, until they did finally reach the Promised Land. What we’re being shown in this teaching is that even when we know where we need to go, there will still be many challenges along the way. We need to remember that even though God is always on our side, it is the same God who is “hardening Pharaoh’s heart” by placing challenges before us, in a way that’s meant to stretch us and open up our mind and our heart as we go forward.

This means that we are not on this journey of life alone. When we listen carefully from within, we can notice that the higher wisdom of the universe is always within us, loving us, and continuously expanding our awareness through life lessons that we don’t always want to learn. When we’re ready to listen, this inner guidance can empower us with greater understanding, and eventually bring us into the “promised land” of a more enlightened way of being.

When Moses was simply shepherding the sheep of Jethro, in this week’s parshah Shemos, he turned to see a bush that continued to burn without being consumed. He looked more closely and then heard a voice call his name. “Moses, Moses,” and he replied, “Here I am!” (Exodus 3:4)

He was being called to take on a mission that was completely new to him. He had no idea how to do it, and was simply promised that he would be able to do it and that he would be protected along the way.

How many of us would dare to follow through with this kind of job interview? But thankfully Moses did. He gradually learned to trust the many twists and turns that God put in his way, and eventually led a trusting community through the wilderness of the desert, right up to the Promised Land.

The Torah has given us an amazing role model to follow—to trust the higher wisdom of an inner guidance we can’t see, as long as we make sure that our guidance is true. This is where the teachings in Judaism come to support us on this inner quest. When we know, for sure, that the Judaic sages are teaching us an honest understanding of the higher wisdom of the universe, from having consistently lived in this understanding themselves, we can see from their experience that we, too, can be ready to trust.

We’ve been celebrating ourselves as Jews this week. On Sunday, we marched with 25,000 others over the Brooklyn Bridge to declare our unity. On Tuesday evening, hundreds gathered at Central Synagogue in Manhattan to hear speakers share how we can move forward in this endeavor. These were just two examples of our expression of unity between us. And this is how we can empower ourselves to counteract any anti-semitism that is occurring right now.

So when Jacob, in this week’s parshah, Vayechi, is blessing his grandsons and his sons, and speaks of the strength of each one of them, is he separating them from each other? Why is he speaking of their differences? Aren’t they supposed to be together as a family? What is he teaching us through this?

Just as Jacob is pointing out the uniqueness of each of his sons, we need to acknowledge that each of us is, in fact, completely unique. When we state this fact, we can start to realize that every one of us has our own unique path in this world. However, we will still always need each other. Jacob is telling his sons that when the brothers’ unique gifts function in harmony with one another, they will be strong, but if they work against each other, they will be weak.

We, as Jews, are starting to speak of coming together, to create unity between us. When we can recognize everyone’s uniqueness, and combine every individual strength, nothing can break us. May the year 2020 be the one when we come into complete unity, standing together, with respect and compassion for all. When we do this, we will come to realize that the higher power of the universe is, in fact, always supporting us in our unity, whenever we work together to do good in the world.

As our neighborhood becomes more vulnerable, there is, understandably, a state of concern throughout our community.

In this week’s Torah parshah, Vayigash, Joseph’s brothers are also feeling nervous. They think they’re in a terrifying position. How could they possibly leave their youngest brother, Benjamin, in Egypt, with this powerful Egyptian? How could they ever explain this terrifying situation to their father?

So this is when we have to recognize the similarity with our own state of fear. This is when Judah realizes that he can’t just give up his younger brother. He has to step forward to offer his own self—his own service—in place of Benjamin. And it is only because Judah lets go of his own sense of control in this situation—when he surrenders to this Egyptian leader, who appears to have complete control over his life—that he can learn that he is safe. Only then can Joseph finally reveal the fact that Judah and his brothers are, in fact, safely in the protection of their own brother. What relief!

This is where we Jews find ourselves right now. We think that this increase in violence against our people is a terrible, frightening situation. We’re waking up to something we have to admit: we’re not as safe as we thought we were. Of course it’s not good.

But this is when we have to recognize the similarity between our own situation and that of Judah. We need to remind ourselves that there is a higher power who can see us, who knows what we’re going through, and who can take care of us.  And this protection can only happen when we realize that we are not completely in control of what is happening in our midst. We need to let go of who we think we are, to discover how much more strength we really have within us.

There is a higher wisdom who made a covenant with us many years ago, and this covenant still stands. When we are able to surrender our needs into the loving arms of this higher wisdom, we will find that we really are safe. Even though these occurrences can be quite frightening, our trust in the higher wisdom can become the stimulant to wake us up to a new, more enlightening, more empowering awareness of our own true self.