Question: What is the Light that Reforms?

Answer: The Light that Reforms (or just Light) is a special impression, stimulation, or a special reaction in the desire. We call the Light “Nefesh,” “Ruach,” “Neshama,” “Haya,” and “Yechida.” How do I know what it is? My desire to unite starts feeling “vibrations,” receive filling, inspiration that I name “Nefesh,” “Ruach,” “Neshama,” “Haya,” and “Yechida.” This is what we call “Light:” a particular phenomenon in my desire to correct the breaking of the common soul.

On its own, the desire is formless; it has nothing. Even the lack of fulfillment cannot be sensed by it without the influence of the Light from afar. It is sensed only when the desire is stimulated at a particular “frequency” of a particular Light, this means that it demands fulfillment at the same “frequency,” meaning Light.

Then, the Light first influences the desire in such a way that it makes it appropriate to the Light according to its quality, so that the desire would also act for the sake of bestowal. To the extent that bestowal is present in the desire, the Light is revealed in it.

Everything is realized in the desire; everything begins and ends in it. Nothing comes in or out from outside of the desire, and, thus, everything only depends on our sensation.

Therefore, first I need to develop a desire for a particular fulfillment. Then, I search for how to receive it. I perform some actions in order to correspond to the fulfillment since I begin to realize that it depends on the extent of similarity.

To the extent that I begin to correspond to the fulfillment, I feel a need for it. Then, I feel my similarity to the fulfillment which is called the quality of bestowal, the screen, and the Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer). Only afterward do I feel the fulfillment itself. It fulfills my initial desire to receive it as well as my desire to bestow which I created now. It receives pleasure from the fact that I receive fulfillment in equivalence of qualities. Thus, I now have double fulfillment.

This is called “the righteous inherit twice.” I enjoy the reception in my natural desires (Kelim) as well as the bestowal in my corrected Kelim above my natural desire. However, these are all sensations and impressions only in the desire to receive pleasure, and they all are called types of Light. Even the lack of fulfillment is Light.

After all, if such “fulfillment with hunger” did not exist, I would never feel the need for fulfillment. In addition, if there were no “hunger to bestow,” I would never enjoy the quality of bestowal or similarity to the Creator.

From the Talk on The Light that Reforms 9/8/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Duality Of The Light And The Desire
Laitman.com Post: To See The Upper Light
Laitman.com Post: The Upper Light Will Mend Everything

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Let’s say a person is on the path of spiritual attainment and is studying Kabbalah. He is surrounded by the world where all kinds of things are happening. Yet you say it doesn’t matter; we should keep following the path and not get disturbed for these are merely “special effects” to divert us from the main destination. But why, if a person doesn’t fall for it and keeps going toward the goal, are these “special effects” still necessary?

Answer: They are needed for you to work them out: to rise above them and unite with the goal. These “special effects” and all that is created in the world are to aim you at the destination, lift you up, make your trajectory sharper, and hasten it. They are there to aim you at the goal at a greater precision and promote your advancement toward it.

Question cont.: What about the situation where someone puts a knife at my throat? Should I just tell him: “I am sorry, but I am in a hurry: I have a Kabbalah lesson to attend”? You say that you fear nothing and neither should we because everything is for our best, isn’t it?

Answer: Yes, it is done solely for this purpose. A person can feel it when he is working on himself in order to try to build within himself the image of the Creator. He sees that all these images that are being created by him, for him, within him, and outside of him, are solely for him to correctly assemble the image of the Creator within. And the image of the Creator is His qualities; it’s not a picture, but a character, where the character is the property of bestowal and love.

From talks with Vladek Zankovskiy

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Desire For The Goal Must Be Whole
Laitman.com Post: How To Aim At A Worthy Spiritual Target (Advanced)

Filed under: Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Why is there such a strong desire in the world to hurt Jews? Of course, it keeps Jews on their toes, but why Jews? Isn’t there some other nation to taunt?

Answer: There are many reasons why Jews are hated in the world, and they all come down to one: Jews don’t perform according to their function. There is an inner point of Light that exists in this group, a point of a mystical nature, which cannot be accepted and comprehended by others. Jews have something that makes them different from the rest of nations of the world, and it is something that the latter instinctively feel.

Jews are not just an underdog people but a special one. On one hand, they brought all the religions to the other nations. Jews’ forefathers are the gods those nations worship. For instance, the nations of the world often name their priests “Jacob” and give them other ancient Jewish names.

On the other hand, despite the fact that religion was taken from Jews, they still hold on to it and don’t wish to acknowledge the modifications the peoples of the world made to it. It seems that Jews are trying to prove, with their very existence, that they are correct and the others are not. The world can’t destroy Jews until they accept the other nations as their spiritual beneficiary. But they have to accept willingly, not forcefully, and not remain out of it all.

And if Jews don’t accept what the peoples of the world want them to, then the religions of the nations, their present world, and the future one they painted for themselves are worth nothing. This means that everything those nations have invented for themselves regarding the future world must be incorrect for as long as Jews exist.

From talks with Vladek Zankovskiy

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Leo Tolstoy: On Jews
Laitman.com Post: Deconstructing The Great Jewish Secret
Laitman.com Post: When Will Anti-Semitism Disappear?

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Q&A - 2 Comments →

Question: Yesterday in your blog post, Traveling In The World Of Desires, you wrote, “In the spiritual world there is no source of Light because the Light fills the entire universe. Therefore its influence is the same no matter where you are.” Does that mean that we can tell how close we come to the Source of Light, the Creator, only in the connection between us?

Answer: That’s right. There is no place besides the one we are in now. This is the only place that was created: Malchut of the World of Infinity. However, as a result of the gradual restriction of Light (the presence of the Creator in that place) through 125 degrees, we are now behind 125 filters. We are now behind the last level of concealment where we don’t even feel where we are in relation to all the levels.

In order to start revealing this place, Malchut of Infinity, without concealment, we have to imagine that we are in it nevertheless, but we don’t feel it because we are separated from each other by egoism. If we start to unite, then to the degree we do so we return along 125 levels of revelation to the sensation of Malchut of Infinity. In essence, we return to consciousness by taking away the veils of concealment.

Everything becomes revealed according to the force of connection between us. When we aspire to unite, then the force of opposition to that unity is called “the evil inclination.” When we desire to unite in our aspiration to become like the Creator, we discover an entire system of the wrong connection among us, which is opposed to unity. We reveal the system of the impure worlds of BYA (BYA de Pruda – the worlds of separation). By correcting our intention from “reception” to “bestowal,” we turn the impure BYA into the system of the pure worlds of BYA (BYA de Kedusha – holiness, bestowal).

In reality nothing broke. Only our connection became ruined. It turned egoistic, but now we are once again restoring it to the form of bestowal!

We are not broken, but are divided from each other. It’s just that our connection is incorrect. Instead of conveying goodness to you, I want to take it out of you and give you evil instead. That is how each of us feels, and it is called a broken system. However, in reality nothing in this system was broken. It’s the same system where we are all united with each other, only our connection is incorrect. When we discover that the connection between us is incorrect, it means we are already in the impure worlds of BYA, and that is already a spiritual revelation. But for now we are behind 125 layers of concealment of this connection. However, it’s just a lack of our awareness.

Therefore, everything depends only on our efforts to reveal the system of the right connection among us. Through this connection we reveal the force that governs creation: the Creator. There is no other opportunity to reveal Him.

In essence, we recreate our Kli (the common vessel of the soul) from the broken state in which all of its parts work incorrectly, like the organs of a sick person, until we attain harmony and the right connection. The healthy state that we return to, our proper functioning, the inner force that controls us, the necessity and the goal of its existence – all of this is called the Creator!

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Ladder Leading To The Creator
Laitman.com Post: The Zohar Is Revealed In The Connection Among Us

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - 1 Comment →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

And who better than I knows that I am not at all worthy of being even a messenger and a scribe for disclosing such secrets, and much less to thoroughly understand them. And why has the Creator done so to me? It is only because the generation is worthy of it, as it is the last generation, which stands at the threshold of complete redemption. And for this reason, it is worthy of beginning to hear the voice of the Messiah’s Shofar, which is the revealing of the secrets, as has been explained.
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Shofar”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Building The State Of Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Voice Of The Messiah’s Horn
Laitman.com Post: The Horn Of The Messiah Is A Call For Unity

Filed under: Love - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What is the Advantage that There is in Work Which is More than the  Reward”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 285
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 90
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Rabash, Dargot Sulam, “Yom Kippur”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

If we desire to unite in order to reveal the Creator, then the various forms and phases of our connection comprise all the steps of the ladder we have to go through. This ladder starts in our world, in the state of separation between us, and continues until the state of total unity called the “World of Infinity.”

All of the science of Kabbalah (or all of the Torah) speaks only about how to reveal the 125 degrees of unity among us. Therefore, if each of us prepares to unite with everyone into one whole while reading The Book of Zohar and desires to reveal the Creator (the form that our unity takes) inside this unity, then our aspiration is called: “Israel (those who aspire to the Creator), the Torah, and the Creator are one.” In that case we really open up The Book of Zohar in order to attain the goal.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Returning To Malchut Of Infinity
Laitman.com Post: The Zohar Is The Link To The Upper Force

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Torah, Unity, Zohar - No Comments →