New Life #193 – The Jewish Holidays
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz
Summary
The Jewish holidays are cyclical, like landmarks during the year. How do they guide us to reach qualitative communication between us of love and mutual help?
The goal of our development is to reach the feeling of “love [1] thy friend as thyself,” to reach connection. Abraham taught his students how to develop according to the general force of nature. He is the father of the nation of Israel. Our development includes two forces, the evil force and the good force, rejection and connection. We have to develop the positive force. At the end of the fourth exile, we need to correct ourselves and the whole world.
- Pesach (Passover [2]): we were unable to overcome the evil that was revealed, which is called we went down to Egypt. To celebrate the exodus from Egypt, the ascent above the egoism, which is called Pharaoh, we celebrate Passover.
- Shavuot: At the foot of the mountain of hatred, we agreed to be as one and received the Torah.
- Rosh HaShana [3]: the self-examination we have to do with regards to the correction of the world through love of others.
- The 9th of AV and the month of Elul: we begin to see how to follow the path of correction before Rosh HaShana.
- Rosh HaShana: we decide we are headed toward correction, toward connection.
- Yom Kippur [4]: we examine how much evil is left in us. On Yom Kippur we torment ourselves wanting to detach ourselves from the ego, from the evil in us.
- The Ten Days of Penitence, Sukkot [5] and Simchat Torah [6]: the method of correction that we have received inspires joy.
- The Sukkah of Peace symbolizes the forces that are to arrive, embrace us, and tie us all together.
- Hanukkah [7] and Purim: Two stops on the way to the correction of evil to goodness.
- The miracle of Hanukkah is connecting our small positive forces and being awarded with the triumph of the spirit.
- Purim: the last correction of all the evil that has been revealed.
- The completion of the process that started in Pesach (Passover). The hanging of Haman and his ten sons: everyone needs to kill his resistances to connection and love.
- Tu BiShvat: there are four levels of the evil force in a person. Tu BiShvat symbolizes the correction on the vegetative level.
- The month of Elul, Slichot (prayers for forgiveness):I examine myself and discover that there is actually evil in me and that I am against connection. The essence of the prayer for forgiveness is to exit the evil and to reach love between us. There is everything we need in the world; the only thing we lack is connection.
- Fasting: this symbolizes our desire to abstain from our ego, to detach ourselves from it.
When we wish each other “happy holiday,” we should aspire to fulfill this holiday internally.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #193 – The Jewish Holidays,” 6/4/13