A question I received: I have heard that a special Upper Light comes down to our world during the holiday period. What does it give us and what inner changes does it make to us?

My Answer: If we unite with one another during the holidays, when we will be influenced by an additional spiritual glow, which we will be able to use to advance. This can happen today more than ever, because there are many thousands of people studying Kabbalah with us.

So let’s unite and discern that our desires are egoistic and broken. This sensation is called Slihot – the Days of Repentance, where we check ourselves and see how opposite we are to what we desire, the quality of bestowal.

Let us then try to reveal how opposite we are to spirituality. This sensation is called the Day of Awe or Judgment Day. This revelation gives rise to a prayer and the blowing into the ram’s horn (Shofar).

In Aramaic, Shufra means importance. So, blowing into the Shofar means that we exalt spirituality, bestowal and love, making them more important than corporeality and hatred. We want spirituality to become the most important and highest thing to us, and for it to rule over us. We demand for the force of the Light, which is now present in the world, to operate within us, and to help us attain “the Ten Days of Repentance.” This means that the Light will influence us and enable us to feel that we are totally opposite to the quality of bestowal, inside the ten Sefirot of the soul. And thus we will come to Judgment Day (Yom Kippur).

On Yom Kippur, we feel that we are opposite to spirituality, and we see that the quality of bestowal – Bina, and the quality of reception – Malchut, are opposite. They are separated by an infinite abyss. That is when we take on the restriction of Judgment Day and refuse to use our egoistic desires, which are opposite to spirituality.

As a result, I begin to demand correction. I don’t demand to feel better, but to ascend to a different level of desires – the desires of bestowal. And then an even higher Light comes to me – the Light of Sukkoth, which gives me a covering (Schah) over my egoism.

When I correct seven of my Kelim during the seven days of Sukkoth, then my desires receive fulfillment, and I reach the eighth day, called “Atzeret.” At that point, I block the Light and the Light becomes revealed. This is called “Simchat Torah” (the Joy of Torah).
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Rabash’s article, “Kingdoms, memories, and blowing into the horn.”)

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - 1 Comment →

In the News (from The CW Philly): “Devastating Cuts Expected Under Doomsday Budget” – Mayor Michael Nutter said the clock is counting down to the implementation of a devastating ‘doomsday budget’ in Philadelphia.

Under the “Plan C” budget, nearly 3,000 city workers will lose their jobs, including 1,000 police officers and 200 firefighters.

On Wednesday, Mayor Nutter said Philadelphia’s court system will face a “virtual shutdown” if the cash-strapped city does not get state approval for a sales tax increase and changes to how it makes its pension payments. Philadelphia is facing a $1.4 billion five-year budget deficit.

My Comment: Looting and robberies will soon begin, just as we see in the movies that show our “bright” future.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Are All Guilty Of The Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Let’s Build A Bridge Through The Economic Abyss
Laitman.com Post: An Honest Deal Brings The Greatest Profit
From Chaos To Harmony: “Obeying Nature’s Law. Life’s Purpose”

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

The first stage on the spiritual path is recognition of evil and its purpose, which is to lead me to the understanding of my entire nature. The program which draws the picture of reality for me by giving me the sensation of this world and my part in it, is called ego, or the desire to receive pleasure only for myself.

It locks me inside, engulfs me and draws all of my attention, making me think only of myself. I act according to that program, unable to even imagine that there is another option, another reality. What can possibly be done to change this perception and behavior?

Our nature itself leads us to recognition of its evil, leaving us no chance to escape it. It has power over us, locks us inside and constantly coerces.

This is the worst kind of slavery, when a person reveals that he is a prisoner of his own nature and can only obey its orders. He knows in advance that he has no choice but to obey, even though each order he follows, will further harm him.

Kabbalists have a parable, where the angel of death comes to a person and extends a sword with a drop of poison on its tip. A man obediently opens his mouth, knowing that by taking it he will die, yet he licks it. He has no other choice.

It is a great inner drama. All of man’s work is in realization of his exile and bondage. When a man is completely in despair, the point in the heart awakens inside him and begins to shine for him, showing him that there’s another world and a blessed shore on which to land.

He can’t continue to sit inside a shell forever! He has the ability to hatch  and climb out as a worm that comes out of bitter radish and suddenly sees the sun and breathes the clean air.

A person can then hear that there is a method that allows escape from the servitude and terrible life where the pointless cycle repeats itself: birth is succeeded by death. He discovers that there’s a means to break that vicious cycle and rise.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There’s A Grand World Outside Our Bitter Radish
Laitman.com Post: True Freedom Lies In Becoming “Human Faster”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Evil Inclination”
A Guide To The Hidden Wisdom Of Kabbalah: “In Search Of Freedom”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →