Kabbalah Moments: Overcoming Disturbances

All Of Our History Is Only Preparation For Ascension

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VaYigash (Then Judah Approached),” Item 102: …“A voice is heard in Ramah [also means ‘height’ in Hebrew]” Voice is the Nukva which ascended and is heard in Bina, which is called Ramah (the height), the Upper world. “In Ramah” means that the Nukva dresses Bina’s left line, as it is written: “And in that day did the Lord, the God of hosts, call to weeping, and to lamentation…” This is caused by the awakening of the large vessels that are located there. They block all its lights, and this is the second correction. Then, “The river shall be drained dry,” meaning the two Temples are ruined.

The breaking of the common soul was necessary for its later correction, so that through the process, the design of the Creator could be understood. In the science of Kabbalah, we study everything that happened in the Upper Worlds, all the preparation for the creation of our world. Only beginning with our world, do we start the corrections, which occur from below upward.

We should view our history exactly like that. The ruining of the First and the Second Temples and all that we have gone through during history was only the preparation performed from Above downward. And only now we are beginning the correction, the ascension from below upward.

It is written in the Talmud Eser Sefirot and the “Preface to the Science of Kabbalah,” all that takes place in the Upper Worlds including the breaking of the common soul was implemented from Above downward by the will of the Upper Force without any interference by the lower one.

The lower begins to act only now, after the mixing of all the desires and after the last exile, now when the possibility of (space for) free will arises, now when The Zohar is revealed, and now that all the conditions for ascension have been arranged.

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Introductory Lecture: “Purpose Of Creation” – 06.08.10

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Purpose of Creation”
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Special Lesson For Women – 06.06.10

A Discussion About The Nature of the Female Part of the Soul
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Why Was There A Prohibition On Kabbalah Before?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: Why did Kabbalists prohibit others from studying Kabbalah until very recently?

My Answer: There were several reasons for the prior prohibition of the study of Kabbalah for the general public:

1. The souls of Israel, which used to be in spiritual attainment, separated for the purpose of intermixing with the other souls that remained unchanged from the times of Babylon. The souls of Israel descended to the level of this world and have become equal to the other souls. That is, the souls of Israel had to descend to the level of this world since the intermixing gives the other souls an opportunity to become corrected.

2. Humanity had to go through all the stages until it reached complete disappointment from its egoistic development and saw itself empty, worthless, and situated on the threshold of the destruction of all its systems through which it hoped to achieve happiness.

3. Meanwhile, human beings developed internally, intellectually in their egoism, and this gave us the ability to grasp abstract forms that exist beyond time, motion, and space. We have only begun to speak about such things in the 20th century. Although it was written in The Book of Zohar almost two millennia ago that the Earth is a round sphere (The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 142), people were burned in bonfires for such words even five hundred years ago.

Time was required for humanity to develop its mind and feelings, to come closer to understanding what the science of Kabbalah tells us about: an Upper dimension. Even now this is not easy to comprehend, but the next generation will enter a new vision of the world if we prepare the foundation for it. And the next generation is us in our new reincarnation. An ability to perceive in this way is already emerging in us. The current development has brought everyone to the same level, and it is possible to reveal the science of Kabbalah to everyone at the same time. People of all nationalities are coming to study it.

However, in order to truly understand it, we need to unite. First we can understand and feel what Kabbalah is talking about through our egoistic minds and feelings. But then attainment begins, and it is perceived only in the unification of souls. Unification gives birth to a new organ of perception: the soul. If we unite, the mutual inclusion will give each person his soul for perceiving the Upper World.

If Baal HaSulam had not received guidance from Above, he would not have disclosed the science of Kabbalah. A Kabbalist exists in contact with the Creator and carries out His orders, serving as a binding link between the Creator and humanity. Therefore, the decisions of Kabbalists to conceal or to reveal the science of Kabbalah comes out of necessity, from the obvious (to them) connection between the Upper Light and the readiness of people’s desires for correction and perception.

Today also there are certain limitations. There is an opportunity Above to open wider the flow of the Upper wisdom. However, people are not yet ready for this. I feel the opposition to new information. This is because it is opposite to egoism and we do not desire it. For this reason, there is a law in Kabbalah: “The desire should precede fulfillment.” Our primary task is to create a spiritual vessel. Meanwhile, the Upper Light is already ready to be revealed in it.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Golden Agreement

Dr. Michael Laitman"Preface to the Sulam Commentary," “Three Come Out of One, One Exists in Three,” Item 52: Thus, it has been explained that the second discernment in raising MAN de Zeir Anpin to YESHSUT is to unite the two lines of YESHSUT, right and left. They can only shine through the Masach de Hirik in Zeir Anpin (Item 39), which completes the middle line in them and determines the two lines of Bina….

There are two lines in Bina: the right line, which is Hassadim (Mercy) and the left line, which is Hochma (Wisdom). They are not able to unite. In fact, each is ready to completely occupy the desire 100% by itself. They remain in opposition to each other.

However, they cannot emanate without each other! They both come from Above, but the right line, as if, says: “How is it possible without bestowal? Isn’t bestowal the purpose of creation?” While the left line, as if, contends: “I am the foundation of creation! I am the Light of Hochma that must be revealed in it! How can it be without me?”

And so they argue with each other without the possibility of compromise or reconciliation. Yet, in their agreement lies the solution: reception for the sake of bestowal.

To facilitate agreement, a third factor is necessary. This third factor allows each one to budge from his strongly held stance and to understand the other. The solution lies in the middle. The solution is not a compromise! Rather, it is a unique and remarkable opportunity to understand one another, to clothe in one another, and to arrive at the golden agreement.

Before the middle line, everything that existed was the qualities of the Creator. Creation begins with the middle line which allows the union of bestowal and reception. This is the form in which the creature can fully participate in bestowal and can become similar to the Creator. It is like a child who unites his parents (the two opposite lines of the Creator), and makes them one family.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/8/10, "Preface to the Sulam Commentary"

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 06.08.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYigash (Then Judah Approached),” Item 64
While studying The Zohar we should transform into the “characters” in The Zohar, so we can sense what they sense. After all, these are our spiritual qualities.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item 52
The greater our plea to the Creator, the more strength we receive from Him to obtain His form, which is bestowal.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 39
The Creator concealed Himself from us so we wouldn’t be like puppets; so we would reveal Him independently and obtain His qualities.
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Writings of Rabash, Article “Forever Will a Person Sell All that He Has and Will Marry the Daughter of a Sage,” Vol. 1, 1984 
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Understanding Comes Only After Attainment

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Items 132-133: “And boughs of thick trees” are three, three lines, HGT…“And willows of the brook” are two, NH, which have neither smell nor taste, like people’s thighs.
The Lulav [palm branch], Yesod, takes them all and includes them, like the spinal cord in the body….
With these kinds, which correspond to HGT NHYM, man should be seen before the Creator. The leaves in the palm tree imply to all the other armies, which unite in these appellations by which the Creator is called.

The Zohar is intended to help us achieve attainment rather than understanding. Attainment means the realization of corrected desire and the beginning of sensing and seeing the spiritual reality. Understanding comes only afterward. That is because we don’t have the Kli for understanding, we don’t possess the properties which The Zohar describes.

It’s not about a palm branch or other plants that we know in this life. The Zohar tells us about forces that acquire the shape of particular branches in our world. It explains the spiritual roots that we can’t understand since we are unaware of where they are and what they look like.

That is why we listen to The Zohar without the slightest understanding. We only realize that it describes the reality that we don’t yet perceive. In error, we visualize pictures of this world which is the wrong approach.

Our only resort is to think about our unity and how to reveal what’s written in The Zohar within the connection among us. It is a story about connections within the Upper system and the revelation of the Creator through it.

That is why Baal HaSulam writes in Item 155 of his “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” that Kabbalists wrote their books not only for themselves in order to share knowledge, but also for all of us as a “miraculous remedy” (Segula). Even if we don’t understand what we read, but keep the intention of attaining the Upper reality that the Kabbalistic books talk about, we attract the Surrounding Light which returns us back to the Source, to the Creator.

The Light directs us and provides us with the intention to bestow instead of the intention to receive for our own sake. Then we start sensing the Upper reality that exists within the property of bestowal. That is, we attain the spiritual world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/4/10, The Zohar

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