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The Breached Walls

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, Letter 43, about the holiday of Chanukah: It says in the song “The Stronghold of my Salvation:” “Greeks gathered against me then in Hasmonean days. They breached the walls of my towers and they defiled all the oils.” To prevent extraneous thoughts and uninvited desires from entering the heart, it is necessary to build a wall that will guard against all the external.

This wall is called faith, and only with its help, a man has the opportunity to escape. The Greek Klipa was manifested in the fact that the people of Israel were guided by the external mind—the proverbial philosophy. And this is against faith … “They breached the walls of my towers and they defiled all the oils,” in other words, enlightenment and vitality, that came because of faith, became closed for the sons of Israel.

It is a very important letter. It puts us in the right attitude to life in our main war—the war against philosophy that wants to take the place of the wisdom of Kabbalah. “You don’t have to attain anything,” it says, “It is enough to reflect, imagine something. Indeed, you have the mind and imagination, and that’s sufficient. There is no attainment, so, study, imagine, discuss, and that’s enough.”

This approach of the Greeks leads us to an abstract form, moreover, not even the one that the science of Kabbalah talks about, not clothed once in matter and not abstracted subsequently, and thus not discussed. No, their abstract form was not clothed in matter because they were never in spiritual attainment. Instead of this, similar to many other religions and beliefs, the Greeks distorted texts that talked only about one thing: the revelation of the Creator to the created being.

Meanwhile, this is the whole science; our forefathers talked only about this; only this knowledge Moses received on Mount Sinai and wrote the Torah on its basis. It is about the revelation of the Creator to “Israel”: to those who are directed straight to Him (Yashar El) and come to the similarity of properties, to adhesion with Him. That is when the human being attains the Creator in his vessels, desires, corrected by the Light that Reforms (Torah).

If we read the primary sources, believing that they contain no attainment, that we need just to study them and follow the Creator’s orders, according to what we understand of the writing, by this we completely distort the Torah and instead of going towards adhesion with the Creator, we cling to our thinking. This is a real disaster.

And so from generation to generation, until the very end of correction, the war is waged between those who attain and those who imagine, “damned philosophers,” as Baal HaSulam calls them. We will also have to become engaged in this battle and take an active part in in, not leaving it to chance. It is in this war that we disclose the insignificance of the philosophical approach that allows discussing and philosophizing about what one knows nothing about, about what he did not attain at least by a bit of spiritual attainment.

This war is against all the concepts that contradict the wisdom of Kabbalah. In fact, a person has nothing to do in this world except reveal the Creator. He should do nothing else. That is why, if we talk about the philosophy of life, an approach to human existence, and not about departments of philosophy where they have empty talks on the basis of their own idle fancies, then this approach should be aimed only at the goal of creation, not at any other goal.

We proceed from here to Chanukah, the holiday that symbolizes this war and our success in it. Chanukah is a very spiritual holiday: Everything in it revolves around the “oil,” around the Light. And we need to correctly interpret its essence: Even if we are few on a world scale, but if we know the secret of “the jug with oil” and we ignite it, it illuminates the whole world.

We just need to build all the conditions correctly so that the disturbances become the “wick” for a person and so that the candle flame is intact. Thus, a person comes to the first spiritual degree that is called “Chanukah” from the words of the Torah “stand here” (Chanu-ko).

In addition, it is necessary to promote this miracle, and therefore, it is customary to put the lit Chanukah candles by the window, so that everyone sees them. It symbolizes our dissemination because we bring the world the message of how to come to the Light.

But when is a person awakened to this? When he discovers the “thickness” of his desire. And if he works correctly, he finds out that “the Greeks breached the walls of his towers.” If he does not have these disturbances, then he has nothing to overcome.

Coming to the Light is possible only through the revelation of evil when it breaches the walls, through the war and victory in it. And even after that, it is necessary to find a jug with oil and light it, so that there is a miracle.

So, in the end, everything happens by means of the Upper Force – a miracle…
[121677]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/13, Writings of Rabash

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A Line To Rise To The Human Degree

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is written, “A thousand people come to study, but only one comes out to the Light.” Why is it only one is rewarded the Light? Also, this ratio existed in the past, but now everything has changed. And yet we see that people lack patience. They cannot accept that their entire life is given to them only in order to come to the Light and enter a higher dimension. Otherwise, there is nothing to live for on this earth.

We all stand in line to rise to the level of man, to a spiritual degree. But we do not agree with this, thinking that there are other important activities besides this, and thus leave this path. Everything depends on the importance of the goal, and it is measured by the number of “falls,” that is, “entrances and exits,” about which it is said, “And from Zion the Torah will go forth.” It is when a person “exits,” spirituality, the desire for it, is awakened in him.

Due to the desire, developed in these entrances and exits, and especially exits, a person attracts the Light that Reforms. Gradually, his heart agrees to accept the changes. Efforts are accumulated, adding to one account, until they form a large capital, i.e., payment for the first correction that a person needs.

The same happens on all the other degrees, only there the person has experience and knows how to act: how to overcome himself by faith above reason, in what form to work. He believes the advice of the sages, understanding that advancement is possible only through mutual guarantee, connection, and unity. Thus, he focuses correctly on his efforts and can reach the required amount on his spiritual account sooner.

It is said that “All the gates are locked, except for the gate of tears.” “Tears” (Dmaot) indicate the need for “payment” (Damim), that is, efforts as well as sorrow, such a great desire that the Upper Light can affect and correct: to give it a pure intention to bestow, which a person cannot reach by himself.

And only the friends’ examples help in that.
[121607]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/13

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Make The Right Choice And You Will Be Blessed

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: So when does a person come out of the desert if it is all up to the Creator’s desire?

Answer: Not everything is up to the Creator since if it were so, why should He have had to create all of creation? A person is given an element called freewill and by using it the created being determines that he is independent. This is the reason for all creation, only for this one point, for this discernment. All our work is to develop it and everything else doesn’t count at all, since everything is actually on the Creator’s account. The Creator plays with different conditions around us, but tries to raise the created being by that, so that he will be like Him.

So, on the one hand, the Creator controls each and every state, of course. On the other hand, His domination is up to a point in which we need to choose. The moment we reach that line and go through four phases of development, since every state has its own HaVaYaH, everything depends on our response, on whether we use all the means that we were given to grow stronger by the support of the group, which means, “he who chooses a better environment each time.”

We must grow stronger by the support of the group, to demand that the friends impress me more, and to penetrate them more deeply. If I do that it means that I have fulfilled my freewill and that I am worthy of advancing. So in the connection that is attained between us, I discover the system and understand it, understand myself together with the system as one whole. By the feeling of unity with the system, I actually get closer to the feeling of the Creator.

By bringing closer and connecting two opposites—the whole system and myself into one whole—I prepare myself to feel its discernments, which are all called the Creator. It is because the Creator is always revealed between two opposite points, being above them, the general connector from inside them.

I always have freewill! But if I don’t use it at the right moment, the force of nature, called that natural plan of evolution (in its time) begins to operate and arranges different conditions for me. Then I lose the freewill I had earlier and I already enter different conditions. This means that the Creator has removed a certain letter, an angel that was sent to me, and placed another letter instead, another tougher angel.

Then I advance according to a new pattern, in different frameworks. The Creator illuminates for me in a new pattern, a different letter, and then I am under the domination of a new Providence in which I also have to make my own free choices. This happens time after time.

Eventually, after all the letters, I have to reach the letter Bet which means a blessing. This means that I have to understand that I need the upper force to bring peace among us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 11/25/13, Writings of Rabash

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A Request That Cannot Be Refused

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur prayer should be focused straight on the goal and not accompanied by any special conditions by which I can overcome the obstacles more easily, be stronger, and more focused. If I start bargaining this way, it means that my thoughts are not purely focused on the goal and that I impose certain conditions. On the whole, I need one thing only: to annul myself, to reach the initial level of conception, when the old “I” doesn’t exist anymore.

I become a drop of semen, just like the drop of semen that each of us developed from. This is the state that I want to attain so that there is nothing left of me but the Reshimo (reminiscence), the spiritual gene that descends from the upper level. This is the only point I want to develop from: from the point in the heart, from the root of my soul, that is not egoistic as it is now, that is not shattered.

Today, even my point in the heart is broken because I seek the Creator in order to attain, to win, to understand, to feel. But I wish my approach to be changed and that my point in the heart acquires the opposite character, working only on bestowal. This is what I ask.

This means that I don’t demand any definite form: I don’t demand more wisdom, strength, understanding, sensitivity, and the ability to feel. I ask for one thing only, minimal adhesion! I am grateful to the upper for having created me and for the inclination that I have, and I ask that the Reshimo, that point, that drop, would adhere to Him and start developing,

All other requests are already surplus and will always be wrong.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/13

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The Book of Zohar And The New Generation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the framework of widespread dissemination, we are essentially involved with the integral method. But together with this, we have adopted a version of The Book of Zohar with the commentary of Baal HaSulam. What is the role of The Book of Zohar with the general public?

Answer: I suppose that the time will come, and together with it, the intelligence and understanding will come through which after introductory lectures and events that we are organizing on the subject of integral education, we can bring people to the source, to the wisdom of Kabbalah. For it is only from there that we draw the knowledge, the understanding, the power, the truth, and the goal.

In any case, we must do this, we must reveal the science, the wisdom, the logic, and the conceptual basis to people. From where, how, and why did we derive our method? It is up to us to explain the action of the natural forces scientifically, to explain that the Creator is a characteristic and not a belief in some kind of spirit.

So gradually we are educating the generation, we are teaching internal group psychology, we are advancing it through learning, and we are talking about the forces that act within us, about the benefit that is possible to produce from connection. And that is how we are making people aware of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

All of the social articles by Rabash explain how to connect correctly so as to discover among us some kind of new feeling that can be called the Creator. That is what Baal HaSulam writes about in his articles. How do we internalize the comprehension of our reality into consciousness, into a framework, that can be controlled and understood through the filters of our absorption? All this is scientific material, very empirical.

It is no accident that Baal HaSulam rejected philosophy in everything that is based upon spiritual science. So we also want to act rationally and bring the entire world to an approach like this. First of all, it is up to us to be aware of it in the right way. But essentially, the goal is specifically to transform it into common knowledge.

And here it is logical that through a rational approach you constantly ascend to an unknown state. This is precisely the right approach; at every stage we break out from our previous limitations. We are not prepared to do this ourselves, but there is a higher level from which we draw the power that develops us and attracts us to it.

This is a scientific fact. According to the scientific data that is what is done in the evolution of nature in our world.

And in order to explain this to people, we need The Book of Zohar, even simply to read in it within a circle together with the rational scientific study of the laws of evolution, religions, beliefs, the substance of creation, the perception of reality, and so forth. You see our reaction to the shared learning will be correct and useful if it will be preparation for reading from The Book of Zohar, and on a lower level, from “The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

Within The Book of Zohar is found the intensity that we need; it is so strong that we must receive it in “small portions.” And then we, ourselves, will begin to discover what this book is talking about.

We are living in a generation that is ready to discover what the Kabbalists, beginning from Rabbi Shimon to Baal HaSulam, didn’t discover. This was withheld from them due to the period of exile through which they needed to pass. But we, as of today, according to what Baal HaSulam wrote, are found on the threshold of the redemption; for the first time we are ready to utilize the potential of The Book of Zohar.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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