Would You Like Some “Manna From Heaven”?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhy do they say “manna from heaven” if it is found in the morning in the place of dew? It doesn’t fall from the sky; it appears on the ground. Thanks to MAN, which is Bina and Malchut connected, we exalt our desires and demand correction by the property of bestowal.

Evoking our desires to ascend, pleading with the Creator to be equal to Him in love and bestowal, is regarded as MAN. This is exactly how a person fulfills himself after he tears away from his egoism. I revive my soul by the fact that I enjoy bestowal and desire to be filled with Bina, the Creator.

Therefore, I examine: Do I want it or not? Am I able to fulfill myself? Does egoistic fulfillment fill me as it did in the past, which is described as “pots filled with the meat I ate in Egypt?”

Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. All states that a person undergoes in the process of spiritual evolution are mandatory. Kabbalah tells us about the smallest detail that every one of us must experience. Hence, the sages said: “Write the Torah on the tablets of your heart.” The heart is our desire, and each desire must undergo all these transformations that Kabbalah describes.

When we realize that we don’t want “manna from heaven” and would rather return to the meat we ate in Egypt, these are the states we disclose within during spiritual work. It is at the time when you exert enormous effort toward advancement that you discover desires that haven’t yet been corrected or clarified. Thanks to the fact that a desire unfolds, you examine it, grab it like a snake that sticks its head out, pull it out from within, transform it, and get rid of it.
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From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 1/13/2011

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The Key To Unlocking The Zohar

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt’s hard to even imagine to what extent the initial volume of The Book of Zohar superseded that which is left available to us today. It is about 20 times smaller. The majority of the Book is gone. But Kabbalists write that we don’t need more. The remainder of the Book is designated specifically for us, in order to provide us with the necessary assistance.

It is very difficult to discuss The Book of Zohar since it is supremely exalted. Besides, it is written in a very unique manner. Baal HaSulam explains that there are two types of souls: some root in the Inner Light and the others in the Surrounding one.

We reside in the integral system of souls, and the connection between us runs both in the internal stream between the souls and also in the surrounding field. Any electrical system is designed this way, having resistors (resistance circuits), capacitors, and inductor coils. All of this works together, both electromagnetic fields and the resistors between them. Some parts of this system accumulate energy within them, while the others turn the electrical current into a magnetic field and vice versa, the field into electrical current that runs inside it.

The system of souls works in a similar manner. The authors of The Book of Zohar also had to have these two types of souls. This is why they studied in a very specific fashion. They sat in a circle. Rabbi Shimon would talk about what he was attaining, while all his disciples were listening, discussing what he would reveal, asking him questions, and receiving answers. Rabbi Aba would hear what they were saying and write it down.

All of this was occurring during the conversation. Naturally, the conversation essentially lay in the transmission of the forces and Lights between these souls that originated in both Inner and Surrounding Lights. Rabbi Shimon had a soul coming from the Inner Light, and Rabbi Aba from the Surrounding one. Hence, Rabbi Aba was able to record everything Rabbi Shimon said in a concealed form so that today any person can buy The Book of Zohar, read it, and understand nothing.

To attain this Book, a person must undergo a certain preparation in connection with the friends. They have to form the same exact model of relationships between them as the authors of The Zohar did. Organizing such a group (it is not mandatory to have only ten people in it; there could even be 10,000) and striving to unify and wishing to discover what the Book is talking about in their mutual connection, they become similar to Rabbi Shimon’s group. And then they receive the influence of Light from it.

Since some of us belong in the Inner Light and some in the Surrounding one, we begin receiving the impact like a radio receiving waves. Then we start hearing what the Book is saying, at the rung of Bina (hearing is the level of Bina) and even seeing (at the level of Hochma), depending upon our spiritual degree. And if we haven’t reached mutual connection at the level of Bina, then we are still preparing for it.

Therefore, a sign of spiritual advancement is when we, as a group, while reading The Zohar, start sensing this text as the same forces and properties The Zohar is describing. This is the essence of the Book itself. This book is an instructor, a working manual. When penetrating it, a person feels how he rises with this book and discovers spiritual degrees, as if he is ascending a ladder indeed.

I very much hope that during our lessons when we start reading The Book of Zohar, you all together will keep the right intention in order to gain as much as possible from this source.
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From Lesson 4, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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What Do Columbia, Tbilisi, Chile, Haifa, And Odessa Have In Common?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe higher the frequency at which we make our choice, again and again, in favor of the point in the heart, in favor of unity, the faster is our path. When we get together at large conventions and become included in one another with our desires, then I perform one action and all the others perform a multitude of other actions which join mine. If I remained alone, I would never complete this work!

However, the Creator helps us. He divided the huge desire He created into many parts. When each part carries out its work, it adds that work to everyone else.
It turns out that if there are say 800 of us, and over the course of several days at a convention each of us makes 100 actions, then it will turn out that each one made 80,000 actions. That’s because we are all connected together! And besides the people present in the convention hall, there are many more friends all over the world who join our broadcasts.

Before coming to teach this lesson, I received letters and greetings from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Israel, Germany, and many other places. Look at how many people have gathered at our centers worldwide. Right now on the screen we see Tel Aviv, the Galilee, Rehovot, Minsk, Columbia, Donetsk, Tbilisi, Chile, Odessa, Beer Sheba, Haifa, Ashkelon, Hadera, and many more.

There are many of us and if we use the days of the convention correctly, then we will leap onto the next level and will possibly realize the law that is called, “He made efforts and found!” This can happen. It all depends on us.

If a large amount of people join us and each person includes everyone, then each person receives a sufficient force. We have worked on our unity very well and have thus acquired knowledge. We studied and prepared for the whole year, constantly discussing that there is only “we,” that we are together, and that the spiritual world becomes revealed only in the connection among us. So let us hope that we will be able to implement that unity.
From the 1st lesson at the WE! Convention on 4/1/11

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Envying The Friends

Dr. Michael LaitmanOne of the laws of working in the group is very peculiar and seemingly extremely egoistic: We must cultivate envy within ourselves. It is said: “Counters envy, increases wisdom.”

I should envy all my friends but with a “good” kind of envy. I wish to see them all as great and to be like them. I am not “green with envy” as I don’t wish for them to lose their advantages. On the contrary, I wish to become their equal.

Such envy is quite positive and necessary. It is worth cultivating it within. Essentially, a similar approach is acceptable to our egoism—just don’t overstep the boundary between the good and the bad envy. How do I know the difference?

If I envy someone negatively, I don’t love that person. And the other way around: When I have a positive envy, I love them. Envying another in a good way helps me to ascend and advance since I perceive his influence correctly.

In Writings of Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), article “Concerning Above Reason,” Rabash writes:

"Envy that he feels toward the friends when he sees that they have better qualities than his own. It motivates him to acquire their good qualities, which he doesn’t have and of which he is jealous.

Thus, through the society, he gains new qualities that he adopts by seeing that they are at a higher degree than his, and he is envious of them. This is the reason why now he can be greater than when he didn’t have a society since he acquires new powers through the society."

Looking at the friends, one should try to see the good qualities in them that one is lacking. It is a very good test. Obviously, we don’t look at what is on the outside. One is good at singing, another at cooking, another at programming, but we don’t take such things into account. The key is to see how much heart the friend puts into the goal and environment. He wants to attain spirituality, and that is what I should feel envy for.

If I see it in all of the friends, I advance toward entering the spiritual world. Start testing yourselves: How do you feel about the environment? Do you envy the friends in a positive way? Do you value them? If yes, you are moving forth.

If, however, you haven’t yet lost your despise for them and still think that these are not the friends to unify with, you are quite far from the goal. Everyone denies according to one’s own flaw. Rabash writes about it in another article in Shlavey HaSulam,Concerning the Importance of the Friends”:

"Hence, if one sees some fault in one’s friend, it is not a sign that his friend is at fault, but that the fault is in him, meaning that because he flawed the love of friends, he sees faults in his friend. It follows from all the above that he should not care for the correction of his friend’s faults which he sees in his friend, but he himself needs to correct the flaw he has created in the love of friends. And when he corrects himself, he will see only his friend’s merits and not his faults."
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From Lesson 5, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.10.11

Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “He Who Has Strengthened His Heart”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 544, Lesson 13
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 6, Part 15, Item 30
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Topic: Preparation to Going Out From Egypt, Lesson 1
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