Evening Zohar Lesson – 05.26.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 305
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Kabbalah Moments: Helping The Friends

Magical Binoculars

A question I received: How do you manage to understand what is written in The Zohar? Could you share your secret?

My Answer: I see rather than understand. I simply see. Let’s suppose that you and I are standing together, and I have binoculars while you do not, and maybe even your eyesight isn’t so great. You ask me, “What’s here? What’s there?” I see through my eyesight, and if it’s not enough, I look into the binoculars, the telescope, or the microscope.

In other words, I have a means of seeing, and I tell you about what I see. Meanwhile, you do not see it. It is something completely new for you – something strange, which may or may not exist. It is all unclear, confusing, and unfamiliar to you.

Therefore, you need to acquire these devices: “binoculars,” “telescopes,” and “microscopes.” And in order to acquire them, you need the Upper Light. These devices are the screen, which helps you see a new, Upper world. We merely need to rouse the Upper Light on us, and the most effective means for this is mutual study in a group using Kabbalistic sources.

From the Sunday Morning Zohar Lesson 5/23/10

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The Inner Work Of A Kabbalist: "Love Of Friends" – 5.24.10

From Rabash’s article, “Love of Friends”: And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying: ‘What seekest thou?’ And he said: ‘I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock’” (Genesis, 37).

A person who’s lost his way in the field of life cannot live like that for a long time. He seeks advice and people who are similar to him, his brothers. He feels that he has to find another path, but not on the corporeal dimension where he exists like an animal; rather, this path should help him above this life and become human.

That’s why he is looking for those who “feed the flock,” meaning control their animals. He wants to join them and become their brother so that they teach him how to be a “shepherd” and how to rise above the animal within him.

He feels that he’s lost his way in the field, that he is that very “animal,” the wondering donkey (“donkey,” Hamor in Hebrew, is derived from the word Homer, “matter, substance”). A person wants to elevate a human within him by freeing himself from the “animal’s” rule. That’s why he seeks people that control their “animals” and who can help him strengthen himself on this path. They are his brothers, and he is looking for them!

A man “wandering in the field [desire] refers to a place from which the crop of the field [life’s results] … should spring. “Animals” (people without a higher goal) are wondering in the field to sustain themselves here and now. But how do I find the path that turns me into a “human” and acquire “…the crop [spiritual power and knowledge] of the field to sustain the world [bring it spiritual life]?

And the works of the field are plowing, sowing, and reaping. This is the work of a “human” through which he gets fulfillment. It is said about that: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.…” It stands for the hard work that we do with tears in our eyes, getting good results only at the end. We have to press forward despite the tears and all the heaviness, and hence need strong support from the environment. … and this is called “a field which the Lord has blessed.”

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Light Instead Of Suffering

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the past, people who wanted to attain spirituality had to torment and restrict their body so as to annihilate their egoistic desire and acquire a new, bestowing nature. This was customary at the time of our forefathers and the sages of the Mishnah. The Talmud era followed and the sages of that era, the Kabbalists of the time, changed the condition for transforming our egoistic nature into the bestowing, spiritual one by the means of their own spiritual work.

Each period introduced its own corrected part into the common system of the soul. As a result, the system became partially corrected, making it possible for the souls not yet corrected to receive help from the corrected part. Thus, we no longer need to torture and limit our body. In fact, we are not even capable of doing so because of our huge egoism. The sages of the Talmud made our path easier, and the part of the desire which we would have had to correct by torturing the body can now be corrected by the Light that Reforms.

The forefathers and the sages of the Mishnah corrected themselves by performing two actions: tormenting the body and attracting the Light of the Torah. In contrast, the sages of the Talmud corrected the system so that instead of suffering, we can correct ourselves with the Light of the Torah. This is of crucial importance for our times because who has the strength to renounce the achievements of modern civilization?

The Kabbalists of the Talmud corrected themselves and their connection into the common system, making a large corrected part. I am born uncorrected and a sinner, but I exist in a system that contains many corrected parts, which sustain it. And if I want to correct myself, there is someone I can ask help from and connect to. The ball is now in my court.

From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The House Where The Creator And Creature Dwell

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are yet to discover our need for all seven billion people living on Earth. Society serves as an amplifying force because an individual’s own strength is very small. Thus, the more people in society under whose influence we put ourselves, the greater the strength we receive. It determines the height of the degree in our resembling the Creator, as well as the measure of adhesion we attain with Him.

We wouldn’t be able to achieve this alone on our own. A Kabbalistic group is a place where a person attaches himself to the Creator, and this determines how high he’ll climb to Him. The group becomes the house where the Creator and the creature dwell together. And when we dwell together there is no longer “I”; rather, there is only “we,” which now becomes the person’s “I.”

It is said, “A prisoner cannot free himself from the prison.” However, the friends can free him by providing him with their inspiration and strength. Therefore, everyone should think about helping a friend connect each state that occurs to its importance toward the purpose, along with understanding its necessity and rejoicing when the “sinners” are revealed in them.

It’s not important what states, what ups and downs, we go through; most important is that we progress toward the goal. Then we understand that we have to go through all states, like a patient undergoing treatment that might be unpleasant, but the recovery is already anticipated. Therefore, it is necessary to elevate each other’s spirits, not by acting silly or frivolous, but by giving each other the spirit of life, that is, spiritual life, which brings one happiness.

The mood is so important because it gives us the force of life. However, material life, wealth, or power won’t bring us an uplifted mood. If a person lost the power of faith, the force of life,  if he no longer feels the support of the society, the only means of advancement, then he can be helped only by another person. Only the other person can imbue us with the feeling of how important bestowal, confidence, and a fulfilled life are. In this, everyone has to help a friend. Everyone has to set an example of his burning passion toward reaching the goal at any minute.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/10, Article, “They Helped Everyone His Friend”

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Whom Do We Pray For?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA Question I Received: For whom do I request the Light that Reforms? Is it for my corrected friends, as it were, or for myself?

My Answer: A person’s request comes out of the depth of his inner need, his desire. The desire has to be for the society. Indeed, if we are talking about attaining spirituality, there isn’t any individual reckoning with anyone there.

There isn’t a case where I exist in the spiritual world. I is the collective of the souls that includes me. Therefore, one can’t remain there alone in separation from the others. So, for what life does one asks for strength? Strength of life is for the common body of the unified soul. Hence, one has to request the strength in order to give it to this body. All his life is defined by how much he gives to the common system.

Therefore, even if one’s prayer is motivated by the will to receive strength, it’s a prayer to have the strength to bestow to the common body of the soul. This is why, whether he’s asking for everyone or for himself, it’s the same prayer.

When we say that there’s “a prayer of one” and “a prayer of many,” it’s still an uncorrected prayer. There is no other prayer but the “prayer of many” which is the prayer for the society. However, as long as a person isn’t in the fully corrected state, he asks partly for himself and partly for the society. According to this, he gets reformed and corrected in his aim so that he begins to feel where it’s better and where it’s worse. In this way, he is led to the correct prayer.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/10, The Zohar

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Viewing The World In The Distorting Mirror Of My Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: How do I fight the tendency of the daily Kabbalah lesson becoming just a habit?

My Answer: This is a problem. Habit dulls the taste and breeds a frivolous attitude, thereby ruining everything. We should fight this tendency together. Otherwise we won’t be able to accelerate our development and will have to wait for the spiritual breakthrough for years.

It is impossible to change this system for it already exists. You are already connected to it; now you only need to actively participate in it. To the extent of your involvement, you will see that all the friends that you previously considered uncorrected, in fact, constitute a corrected system with you as the only uncorrected part.

You don’t want to connect to this system, and so it displays to you other people that seemingly exist around you, each with their own desires. But they don’t really exist. You will suddenly feel that you exist within a rigid system where only you have freedom of choice: whether or not to awaken to spirituality so as to awaken them and they, in turn, to awaken you. These are the laws of this system, and you are the only one with free will.

However, as you are not yet willing to connect to it, a play is staged especially for you: friends, lots of people, this whole world around you, this whole mess in life…. You were given an opportunity to organize these forces around you, so that they would awaken you to spirituality via external influence. Start making use of your inherent envy, hatred, and ambition; envy others, love them and hate them, awaken yourself with all the means and all the qualities given to you.

This is why the Upper system of Malchut of Infinity appears to you as the world that you presently see around you. What, did you think it existed up in the sky somewhere? It’s not somewhere out there, but right in front of you, only your defective vision twists it to this.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/10, Article “Concerning Love of Friends”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson 05.26.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 264
We must understand that we are dependent upon one another if we wish to reveal The Book of Zohar. We must create a net of “mutual guarantee” in which The Zohar will be revealed.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item 22
Everything happens due to the fact that we’re connecting to one another more and more and we are creating a system that can be presented to the Creator to be corrected.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 9
Thanks to the Kabbalists of the past times we don’t need to practice asceticism to overcome our egoism. Instead we attract the Light – the Force of correction.
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Rav Baruch Ashlag “What Does ‘Love Thyself as Thy Friend’ Give Us?” 
There’s no direct access to a friend: The Creator is the line that connects us.
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