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This past erev Shabbat, the father of a friend passed away. It was the hillula of 3 powerful tzaddiks, students of the Baal Shem Tov, so I knew something was up. I never knew his father, but from the moment I entered the synagogue I did. And one after another, first family, then friends, then strangers who no one else there new, gave heart warming speeches of the good actions this humble man did. Person after person listed what he did for them, very often anonymously, educations paid for, business help and advice, synagogues built by money and his own physical strength, homes (including his own) provided for people, all from very humble beginnings. This man, Mark Loren, Meyer Ben Dovid, may he have a quick ascent to the Garden of Eden, hailed from a prominent chasidic lineage, lived in a modern orthodox world, and lived the life of a true tzaddik. He never settled. He took actions. He confronted and conquered any evil inclinations he might have had and he prepared the world, more than most any of us, for the arrival of Moshiach.
Just listening to the eulogies everyone was inspired to do more and be better. The same lessons are encoded for us in the Torah. Some (very few) people are born awake; the rest of us have a lot more work to do on ourselves just to wake up and begin our life’s work. The encoding in the Torah helps us to awaken if we pay attention.
There are 4 Torah portions, where the story of Joseph is told: Vayeshev (VYShB), Miketz (MKZ), Vayigesh (VYGSh), and Vayechi (VYChY). The saga begins with chapter 37 and the announcement that Joseph is 17 years old, has his dream, is thrown in the pit by his brothers, sold off, and separated from his father Jacob. It ends 13 chapters later with chapter 50, when he died and was placed in a sarcophagus at the age of 110, 37 years shy of the age attained by Jacob, who after entering Egypt at the age of 130, lived his final 17 years at peace and in Egypt reunited with Joseph.
Why do we mention these numbers? Because the Torah does. Joseph and Jacob’s lives were so intertwined that Joseph died only 13 verses after burying his father, even though he was only 55 at the time of his father’s death and lived another 55 years.
With the 21 years that Joseph spent separated from Jacob, and the total 17 + 17 = 34 years that Jacob and Joseph spent together and Joseph’s connection to Chanukah (numerical value 89) through the value of his name (156) and the cumulative 156 total candles we light each Chanukah, we curiously have the numerical structural sequence of 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, which, if you haven’t recognized it, has the pattern that the sum of the two previous numbers equals the subsequent one (13+21 = 34; 21+34 = 55; 55+34 = 89 and then 55+89= 144 or 12 squared, as in the 12 tribes/brothers). It’s known as the famous Fibonacci sequence, the one based on the golden or Phi proportion that controls all harmonic spirally growth in the universe, and that spells out the date 5778 (as detailed in The Divine Calendar).
We should note for the skeptics that the first letters (VYShB, MKZ, VYGSh, VYChY) of the 4 portions total 58 and have an ordinal value of 31, giving them a complete value of 89, so inserting this we get 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89.
As for the names of the 4 portions, which we know always contain the spiritual energy of the portions (VYShB, MKZ, VYGSh, VYChY) we see the initials of the Shem Mem-bet (the 42-Letter Name) concealed within the first two, as well as the word “and Mashiach (V’MSHYCh)” throughout all 4 (VYShB, MKZ, VYGSh, VYChY). And if we take their total value plus 4 for the kolel (318+230+319+34) + 4 = 905 and subtracts “V’Mashiach (V’MSHYCh)” we get 905 – 364 = 541, the numerical value of Israel, Jacob’s other appellation. Thus the 4 verses of Jacob and Joseph’s relationship collectively spell out “Israel and Mashiach.
Is there truth in this? There must be, because the first letters of the 4 portions added up to 58 or (100 – 42) and the last letters of the 4 portions add up to 402, leaving the 7 middle letters to sum to 441, the numerical value of Emet (truth), and an appellation of the Shem mem-Bet.
Now, while the total value of the 4 portions, 901 plus the kolel of 2 for Jacob and Joseph = 903, which we know is the sum of all the positive integers through 42, lets put the math and their obvious connection to the 42-Letter Name, which chazal tells us will help us to bring Moshiach, aside and examine the spiritual component of the verses.
As for the number 901, there are exactly 90,100 yuds, heys, and vavs in the Torah, making 14,028 Tetragrammatons (YHVH’s), which is significant for multiple reasons detailed in The Genesis Prayer, but for now, suffice to say that the sum of all the positive integers through 424 (the value of Mashiach Ben David) is 90,100, indicating once again the divine perfection of the Torah in its entirety and in all it’s details, and also G-d’s benevolent wishes for us to connect with the Messiah.

The 4 name of the portions translate to
Vayeshev (VYShB): And He Settled …
Miketz (MKZ): at the end of… (2 years)
Vayigesh (VYGSh): and he approached…
Vayechi (VYChY): and He lived…
Much has been written about the lives of Jacob and Joseph and the spiritual messages in them for us, so I’d like to explore a different avenue of revelation.
Since the complete value (standard and ordinal) of Vayeshev plus 1 for the kolel, is 358 (Mashiach), we can replace Jacob with Mashiach to find the hidden (sod) meaning, and moreover since the kabbalistic understanding of days (time) is also years, and thousands of years, so then if we’re talking about Mashiach, than the 4 portions are saying He waited until the end then approached us, and then He lived. The two years can refer to alefim, the 2000 years since the Temple stood in harmony, as hinted at in the 8th of the 13 attributes Notzer chesed l’alefim” meaningHe preserves kindness for 2000 years” and which we know from the Arizal connects to Chanukah.
Since the complete value (standard and ordinal) of Miketz is 280 (the sum of the 5 final letters) it’s a hint that the end refers to the end of days, and of final judgment. And since the complete value (standard and ordinal) of Vayigash is 359, as in Satan (the evil inclination), we know who approaches us in the final years/days, but also 359 is the Aramaic gematria of Moshiach, so the struggle is apparent both within us and beyond. And finally the complete value (standard and ordinal) of Vayechi is 68 that of Chaim, life, as in Yz Chaim, the tree-of-life, that my teacher tells me is hinted at in the 78 (YCh) of 5778, and which will be available to all who seek it wholeheartedly with their actions and deeds in that time frame.

But what’s the spiritual message encoded here?
Jacob settled in he land of his fathers, and Joseph had to wait 2 more years in prison for the dream. And Judah approached Joseph. And Jacob lived 17 (tov) good years.
The message is we can’t settle, or we’ll end up waiting in prison for the dream of Mashiach. Judah (Yehuda) whose name is found 42 times in the Torah, the prayer of action, took action, and approached Joseph ( who personifies Moshiach, and also represented Judah’s dark side (his secret past, his anguish, guilt, etc, his evil inclination). Then good times/peace reigned for 17 years; 2000 years + 17 years = 2017 CE, the start of 5778.
We must take action against our own evil inclinations if we want our dreams to be fulfilled. We must act like tzaddikim, like Joseph H’Tzaddik. Work hard and make life about giving, not getting. And never settle.