Audio Version Of The Blog – 05.01.14

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2014-05-01_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’1.5.14′]

Our Children Are Growing Up With An Orphan Complex

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Olga Makhovskaya, PhD, Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, fellow of the international scientific programs in Russia, USA and France, bestselling author for parents): “Despite the fact that formally the standard of living grows, its quality is not increased. Such ‘orphan’ regulation, which provides that that the child is nourished and has clothes, remains the main reference. From the point of view of psychology, it is the minimum task. A child becomes primarily an expense.

“Therefore, many children grow up with an orphan complex, emotionally hungry. Childhood itself became longer. Giving birth to children, we think that the main thing is to bring them to 18 years. But now adolescence is delayed until 25-27 years. The emancipation of children now is provoked mainly by parents – we start to ‘push them out’ of the nest …

My Comment: Previously, the family was a “natural” environment, with grandparents, games in the yard, hiking, and closeness to nature. In the 20th century, we broke away from nature and family. In the 21st century, we are confused and have lost our landmarks.

After all, the family is something very natural, as if formed by itself. It is necessary to build a new format of the family and society on a new level where everything is built from the union with and similarity to nature.
[134041]

Related Material:
Parents Are To Blame
The Revival Of The Family
Children Have Become Different

Games With Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we acquire the power of faith?

Answer: We acquire faith through a request. But the request must be as close as possible to the power of faith. This means that I must clarify why I need faith and how I give shape to this demand inside of me. Through my demand, I attract the power of faith to me, like using a magnet, forcing it to be revealed in me.

The difficulty is that it’s impossible to want the power of faith without acquiring it. This is a closed circle, one contradicts the other. But in my physical state, I “pretend,” playing as if I need the power of faith and am bestowing, then this power illuminates me from a distance. It hasn’t yet reached me because I don’t yet have a true deficiency for it. But I pretend as if I have a deficiency for it, and this attracts the Light that Reforms to me that changes me.

With the help of exercises like these, time after time, I attract more and more Surrounding Light and begin to become familiar with the characteristic of bestowal. Even in the dark, I can identify which actions are greater or lesser acts of bestowal. I learn to orient myself in the dark, even work with Pharaoh, to play with him.

During this game, the power of faith begins to illuminate me from a distance. But only on condition that I invest effort in being like it; I attract it, draw it into me, so I am changing a bit all the time. This period of concealment is called work in Lo Lishma, through which we reach Lishma.

The only thing that we need now is the power of faith. And for this we must carry out physical actions, because in the spiritual world, we still cannot do anything. So we make a game in a group, with dissemination, we build systems that are like spiritual systems, like children imitating adults.

Children and even animal cubs do this naturally, and we don’t; so we need to play. Children also attract the Light that Reforms and that is how they develop. All creatures develop according to this principle.

This is the difference between inanimate matter and the matter of higher levels that are capable of development: the vegetative, animate, and speaking. They have the ability to play with the next level and do this to attract the Light that Reforms to themselves. This is the goal of the game with whose help plants, animals, and humans develop. Within their cells there is a mechanism that makes it possible for them to play at being more mature, which draws them towards reaching that. This is like our game in a group, but with them it is done automatically, mechanically. So plants or animals attract additional Light, and through this they grow. The same principle exists everywhere.

We must do this consciously, and with them, it’s not through desire, rather it’s done by nature. But every creature, meaning plant, animal, or human, all of them attract Surrounding Light. In humans this is expressed more prominently because they always aspire toward building something new, reaching new heights. That is how new Reshimot from a higher level are revealed, forcing us to attract the Light that Reforms.

The main thing is not to forget that it’s up to us to work, not in order to remove the concealment, but in order to attract the Surrounding Light, the power of faith. It’s up to us to go less deeply into bad thoughts, bad desires, and characteristics, for “you are wherever your thoughts are.” We must think how it’s possible to emulate the appropriate action for the Light more and more. And then the Light will influence us.
[133224]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/14, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Light Of Faith In The Vessels Of Egypt
A Time Of Special Mercy From Above
War Against The Concealment

It Is Not Easy To Be Born

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we help each other keep the happiness and gratitude towards the Creator during these difficult states that are discovered during the exodus from Egypt?

Answer: Certainly we discover difficult states. Lately, I have been getting complaints and claims from many groups. Lots of different people are writing about this; problems have intensified in the groups and friends are getting into arguments; they cannot even look at each other. Someone stops coming, someone completely leaves.

There are groups that have suddenly divided into several groups. Someone gets an idea to organize his own group and he takes some friends and disconnects from the rest. A lot of different problems are revealing. But we must understand that they are all contributing to progress on the way. These are breakdowns that one cannot do without. So I relate to them all very calmly.

If you see the lessons and somehow try to apply what is said practically, then you will advance. And if you don’t agree or hear and are not ready to realize it, then I cannot do anything. I am very limited in my work.

But you need to know that all these serious difficulties were created just before the approach of the exodus from Egypt. This means that we are under the control of our ego and it could be that we are already approaching the 49 gates of impurity.

Each and every level has its own 49 gates of impurity. Every level begins and ends with them. It is said, “Whoever is greater than his friend, his desires are greater.” And on the higher levels, much greater signs of the 49 gates of impurity develop than were in Egypt. But for us they are perceived as serious problems.

It is understood that the pressures on a child are much smaller than on an adult. But for a child these problems seem important and intolerable. So I warn the groups that feel crushed, that now is the best time to connect and come together. It could be that thanks to this, you will be able to make a leap that is called spiritual birth, the exodus from Egypt. This is possible precisely from states where you cannot get any agreement.

It is worthwhile to gather all of this sediment, all of these problems, all of the shattering, and to try to connect. Then new situations will be discovered where we cannot tolerate each other. And we again try to connect. And so within a short period, within a few hours, you will be able to reach spiritual birth.

But pay attention, until this has happened, the states will be intolerable and there will be a need to connect above the hatred, above the rejection, above the distances and above all kinds of calculations. This is not very easy or pleasant, but there is nothing else to do.
[133150]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, The Zohar

Related Material:
Make The Last Step Towards The Redemption
Poof!
The Bottom Dollar

Two Scenarios Of The Exodus From Egypt

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I heard about the exodus from Egypt a couple of years ago, I imagined that we would soon come out of Egypt. But now I feel that I am very far from being born, and it seems that I haven’t even attained the state of an embryo. What should I focus on?

Answer: How did you picture this exodus? Like lovely drawings of your successes. You thought that you would come out of Egypt and become strong, would manage everything and discover all the secrets, all the information and feelings, and would be able to understand, feel, and become almighty, eternal, and whole. This is how you pictured your exodus from the ego.

But now you are forced to agree that the exodus from Egypt symbolizes the opposite. Before you assessed it egoistically, but in fact, the exodus from Egypt symbolizes that I have nothing and that I don’t want anything! I only want to connect with everyone in order to give everyone everything.

I want to exit myself, to pour myself into everyone in order to connect with them and to take care of them like a mother who takes care of her babies, without any self benefit, without any profit. The main thing is that I will be able to have the desire to take care of them, which means resembling the Creator.

This is what I want and this is what I call the exodus from Egypt. This is what I see as my redemption: to receive a desire and ability to resemble the Creator by that. I want to resemble the Creator not for my own sake, because I see my profit only in that, but in order to be able to bestow absolutely and not feel anything for myself.

Not to feel for myself can also be rewarding. If I suffer now by not feeling myself, then I also get rid of the pain. This means that any condition of exiting myself to bestowal can be interpreted as beneficial for the ego.

But if we also operate with regard to the group, then everything becomes simpler and more real. Then I only need to yearn to connect with everyone in order to serve them, take care of them, and give them everything that they need by providing them with all their corporeal and spiritual needs.

In corporeality we have to help within the limits of necessity, while in spirituality it is until the end of correction. This is redemption for me since this is how the Creator treats the created beings. Today you are closer to that than you were before, and the whole difference is made by the Light.

The story of the exodus from Egypt describes the advanced stages before the actual exodus as very fast. First, history develops very slowly: seven years of satiation seem very long with all the details.

But the last phases are restricted and concentrated, and you are actually in them right now. It’s possible to compress them to action immediately one after the other and then quickly exit. Coming out of Egypt, piercing the Machsom (barrier), as we once shouted, means to continue yearning for connection, for mutual service within the group.
[133146]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, The Zohar

Related Material:
The Bottom Dollar
Make The Last Step Towards The Redemption
Poof!

Material For The “Golden Calf”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can dissemination during this special time of Passover contribute to the first connection between us?

Answer: Dissemination helps with this even more strongly than work with the friends. In going out, we feel an even greater need for the friends. We understand that our success or failure in external dissemination depends upon the group: on its dimensions and power, its support.

And besides this, we cannot leave Egypt without taking the Egyptian vessels. When we go out for external dissemination, we connect; we join these vessels, these foreign deficiencies, together. In the meantime, we don’t join them to our connection; we will need them later. But if we don’t gather these vessels now, we will not leave Egypt.

Otherwise we don’t have any reason to leave: What will we connect in the desert? We will be born, and what’s next? Through what will we grow? Growth is only possible due to the fact that even now, before the exodus from Egypt, we will go and gather the Egyptian’s desires. These are the regular materialistic deficiencies: food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge; the Egyptians cannot have other deficiencies.

But after this, we sanctify them: First, we pass them through the “Golden Calf,” and after that, we begin to correct. This means that we discover what these desires themselves are: “The silver and gold vessels of the Egyptians” that are cast into the Golden Calf are from Egypt, and after that we gradually correct it.
[133137]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, The Zohar 

Related Material:
Under Pressure
An Escape In The Middle Of The Night
Looking At The World And Empathizing With The Suffering

The Ego Pushes A Person To Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do the Egyptians push the children of Israel to work in order to bestow?

Answer: By despair! A person performs egoistic actions, Lo Lishma (not for its own sake), but it doesn’t matter since we are below the Machsom (barrier).

The Ego Pushes A Person To Bestowal
Above the Machsom, there is the domination of the bestowal, the altruistic intention, while below the Machsom there is the domination of receiving, the intention for myself. After the shattering the desires fell below the Machsom. The shattering took place on purpose in order to provide the condition in which we will want to return to connection, even egoistically, and that is considered that we have the right intention.

This means that the Light that Reforms will operate on us from Above. The border of Parsa, the Machsom doesn’t stop the Surrounding Light and is not a barrier for it. The Surrounding Light can illuminate even with an egoistic intention and a prayer. The MAN can come from egoistic desires that only yearn a little for bestowal.

The Parsa is a very sensitive border, and so we can reach correction from every state.

The Egyptians, the desires to enjoy, are the ones who push Israel to work in order to bestow so that they can take all the gains afterward. It is like a snake that swallows all the fruit of our work. What else can be a means that helps me advance in addition to Egypt, in addition to my egoistic desires?

A person has no other means. There is a point in the heart that is pushed forward by egoistic vessels: thoughts, desires, and intentions. Without this obstacle I would have nothing but the sparks called the sons of Jacob. These sparks actually don’t want to do anything and are only a Reshimot (reminiscences) inside a person.

We can advance only by the cruel egoistic desires of this world and beyond it: the desires to attain, to understand, to ascend above life and death. Where can we get the energy to come to the lesson every morning and to disseminate? All this comes from the Pharaoh, from our ego. A person who suppresses his ego cannot advance.

Therefore, we don’t restrict our egoistic actions. On the contrary, the more the ego pushes us, the better. As it says, “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” A person yearns to attain the Creator, and Pharaoh helps him advance.

We have to use the whole cruel ego we have, which means to go through the 49 gates of impurity. The Egyptians help us advance, but at the same time each time we receive the Light, and so we reach a state in which we have to escape. The Light that comes to us creates this special attitude towards the intention in us, but we perform all the actions at the Egyptians account.

So the best Pharaoh is that which gives us trouble and brings us to a state where we escape from it.
[132819]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/14, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Work Without Intention Is Also Work
Not A Calendar Holiday, But A Spiritual Leap
When Will We Finally Exit Egypt?

An Example Of Dedication In Service

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe role of the spiritual guide is to connect the student to him so that through his efforts the student can constantly rise and come closer to the level of his Rav. The teacher explains from his level and creates several intermediate “stations,” actions that the student makes on his way toward him.

This is what we do when we explain things to children; we adjust ourselves to them, even changing our voice, depending upon whether it is a son or a daughter, or a child of two or seven. Everything changes accordingly.

Students have an opportunity to hear a story, an explanation by the teacher, and to work with him externally, in other words, to understand and to feel him, to absorb him inside and join that to what he already has experienced before, to serve him, to build a layer and another layer of new knowledge and sensation above that which they already acquired during the study.

This is called studying wisdom. However, in studying Torah, he must adhere to what is in the teacher and try to be in the same state. This means not just hearing what comes down to him from above, but trying to rise to that level, at least to hold on to the teacher in some way.

This can be done through what is called “serving” the teacher, in other words, doing all kinds of actions that the teacher recommends. In particular, this is connected to the group and dissemination. This is called serving the teacher.

How else can you serve him? It is only by helping him to realize the method. We see this in the example of Moses and Joshua ben Nun. Joshua helped Moses arrange benches in the study hall and take care of his students, and the students of Moses were great sages, the leaders of the people who studied with him everyday throughout the forty years of wandering in the desert. They didn’t just wander in the desert. Indeed, it is possible to go through the entire Sinai desert in a maximum of two weeks, even with sheep, women and children. However, they walked for forty years. This means that they walked a little, and then would sit somewhere for a few months or even years. After that, they again would walk and stop again for a long time.

That is how they learned and advanced spiritually, and, accordingly, also physically, and, on the way, they learned. Indeed, the main thing was to acquire the level of Bina through the study, for without this, it is impossible to enter the land of Israel. Israel is Bina, Yashar-El, and begins to connect Bina with Malchut. This is called being in the land of Israel.

It is written that Joshua didn’t study. Rather, he only helped Moses organize the people and the Kabbalists who were in Moses’s group to disseminate, to use our terminology, and, specifically by meriting to help Moses teach and disseminate, he merited being the leader of the people after Moses.

For us, this is a very clear and prominent example that a person reaches spirituality not through wisdom, but through devotion to the way of his Rav. When you go out now to disseminate and try to disseminate the Torah to the people of Israel and after this, to the world, you essentially are doing necessary work. This is what Joshua did.
[132797]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/14, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
External Help For The Sake Of An Inner Connection
Choosing The Good Fortune For Yourself
Transmitting Spirituality From One Person To Another

What Does The Torah Tell Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus,” 1:9:but its innards and its legs, he shall wash with water. Then the Cohen shall cause to [go up in] smoke all [of the animal] on the altar, as a burnt-offering, a fire offering, [with] a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

A pleasing fragrance to the Lord are the parts of our corporeal desire that we cannot use for the sake of the Creator. We raise them to the next level in the form of fire and smoke as if we burn them. At the same time, we don’t enjoy them but delight the Creator. The word “fragrance” refers to the attribute of Ruach.

All the desires that were previously used egoistically have to become kosher, which means to be worthy of bestowal in order to use them for the benefit of others. So there is no such matter in our world (matter is a desire on the level of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature) that can be used directly for bestowal without being changed by certain actions first.

The whole Torah speaks only about this. So bringing offerings, the Tabernacle, the Holy Ark (where the Torah is kept), the curtains, the Menorah, and all the other objects symbolize a person’s inner attributes.

The Torah describes how these objects are prepared, of what they are made, who should prepare them, and in what conditions. For example, during the construction of the Temple, cedars of Lebanon were used. They brought copper from a certain place and from another they brought wool from special sheep. All this indicates that a person has to choose these parts of his desires and use them in this particular way as he corrects them in order to bestow.
[132880]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/13/13

Related Material:
Spiritual Actions In The Allegories Of The Torah
A Place For The Revelation Of The Creator
Sacrifices That Bring Us Closer To The Creator

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 05.01.14

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Rabash, “Igrot,” Letter 59

[media 3] [media 4]

Workshop

[media 5] [media 6]

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Tetzaveh,” “Matzot and the Omer Count”

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of  Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 34

[media 9] [media 10]

Writings of  Baal HaSulam, “Inheritance of the Land

[media 11] [media 12]