The Greatest Blessings of All: Knowing One's Strengths and Talents

From “Torah Wellsprings” by Rav Elimelech Biderman

    "It is not good when one does not know his or her faults,” said Reb Yerucham Levovitz zt'l, the mashgiach of Yeshivas Mir. “But even worse, is someone who does not recognize his or her good qualities. 

    "A person who does not understand his or her strengths and talents is like a craftsman who is unfamiliar with his or her tools."

   We must know where our talents lie and what we can accomplish. 

   Many people are talented, and they try to succeed in different ways, but without recognizing and understanding their truest and most basic G-d given abilities, people fail.

    In Parshas Vayechi, we read, "This is what their father spoke with them, and he blessed them. Each one received the brachah appropriate for him."

     The question is, did Yaakov actually bless his children? Or did Yaakov “just” describe each of his children’s virtues and character traits?

     The answer is that Yaakov did both: he told his children about their essences, and therefore, Yaakov blessed them. 

     We learn from Yaakov what is the greatest blessing: knowing exactly where our strengths and talents lie. Only that honest knowledge of ourselves gives us a glimpse of exactly what we can achieve.