Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 20
Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
Remoteness from the Creator is the Reason for All Suffering
If a person from Israel degrades the virtue of the internality of the Torah, which deals with the correction of the souls, with regard to the advantage of the externality of the Torah, which deals only with the mechanical observance of rituals, by that one degrades the children of Israel and enhances the Nations of the World over them, which will regard Israel as superfluous, as though the world has no need for them. Furthermore, one evokes the strengthening of the destructors of the world, which leads to pogroms and wars.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69
The Light of love will not awaken in the world before Israel starts engaging in the Torah for the sake of correction and not reward. Thus, the length of the exile and afflictions depends on our decision to correct ourselves. Then the Light of love will immediately awaken, and we will be granted complete redemption [from egoism].
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 36
[46753]
Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 19
Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 18
The Spiritual Division Of Labor
Laitman.com Comments RSS Feed
Might this be understood as Israel being a spiritual mapping of the Nations to make it a distribution point from a central disrtibution point from the Source. As such, while its internality is the flow, its externality (even spiritually) is to be a universal link-up point, and therefore an image of all the Nations. Without the internal flow, that is the most precious thing for the Nations, there is only the external mimicry of all, with no uniqueness to any. As such, it is precisely as the words of the Baal HaSulam — Israel appears “superfluous.”