From Hatred To Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What intention, what demand should we have when we enter Passover?

Answer: There is no other intention or thought besides thinking about unity. In our unity we want to reveal the Creator, while the Creator is the property of bestowal and love, the fundamental force of the Universe, which we want to reveal between us.

This is not love we “perform”; this force acts above our egoism. It is said: “Love will cover all sins.” It lies above hate, and together they create the sensation of the Creator for me.

At the same time only one force of these two can govern within me, but not both of them simultaneously. The greater the gap (difference) between love and hate, the greater will be the Creator in my eyes.
[40972]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Blows In One Point

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Should I force myself to unite with the friends if I don’t feel the desire for it?

Answer: Of course, you need to force yourself. How else will we reveal Pharaoh if we don’t express our desire to free ourselves of him?

If I don’t pressure myself to unite with others, I don’t show my desire to exit egoism. It follows that I’m doing just fine in Egypt, meaning that I advance via the path of suffering (Beito) instead of “hastening time,” the path of Light (Achishena).

To “hasten time” means to exert efforts above desire, that is, against desire. I have absolutely no desire to unite with others, no desire to annul myself, no need for the Creator. All I want is a good life for myself and to discover the spiritual world, the way I envision it to be. That, too, is quite tempting, to rise above this world and soar alongside angels.

However, quite obviously, I don’t yet realize that the spiritual world means self-annulment and unification with others. If I remain in my regular “human” desire where I come to study and work in dissemination, but don’t pressure myself to unite with others and to annul myself with respect to the friends, then I’m not involved in the spiritual work. That is not advancement by way of “hastening time.” I can do a thousand things in the group, come to the lesson every day, disseminate, and speak beautifully, but none of that means that I advance spiritually, study Kabbalah, and follow the path of Light (Achishena).

Only if I pressure myself against my desire, forcing myself to connect to the group, in at least some form unite with everyone in one heart, even artificially, to be together with everyone in some measure of thought and desire, these efforts of mine are called Achishena or group work. Everything else is not.

That is why we have people who have studied in the group for years, but are yet to take even a single step forward. But if a person begins to take these steps forward, exerting inner efforts to unite with others in their inner desires, he achieves the exodus from Egypt very quickly. The key here is to grab on to this point and to influence it.

A few solid blows in this point, and we will make it.
[40705]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/2011, Shamati No. 90

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Leave Redemption To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 169: And there is no question about how on Passover, the Mochin de Gadlut [the Light of Hochma] already shines, although Israel [those who aspire to reveal the Creator] had not done Priah [correction of the egoistic desire] yet, since this is done through an awakening from below [from man], while on Passover night was the illumination of Mochin [the Light of Hochma] only by awakening from above [from the Creator].

Until the exodus from Egypt you must exert all your efforts as much as possible. However, you have no chance of reaching and realizing the exit itself because it is a higher degree. Here, the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) has to come and execute this passing for you, realize this leap (in Hebrew, the word “Pesach” comes from the word “Pasach,” to pass over, to skip over). This is why it occurs only by virtue of the awakening from Above.

Preparation is entrusted to you, realization to the Creator. The same happens with the spiritual state called “Saturday” since it does not come by a calendar. From one side, it is evoked by the awakening from Above, but from the other, it is said: “One who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat (Saturday), what will he eat on Shabbat?” That is, if you were not performing corrections during the six week days, you cannot reach the seventh day, Shabbat (Saturday).

This happens at all times. You have to carry out everything that depends on you and is laid upon you on your degree, and then the Light comes from Above and completes your ascent do the next degree.
[41029]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Two People – One Goal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the nature of the work of a man and a woman in terms of the annulment of the desire to receive pleasure in the spiritual world?

Answer: There is no difference whatsoever in the work of a man and a woman because they both are desires to receive pleasure; they both are egoists. Each of them has to elevate the importance of the goal, meaning the revelation of the upper force and its connection with all people, in order to reveal the spiritual world.

Feeling the importance of the goal, I annul my ego and reject various things that appear as obstacles to reaching it. I do not stop to receive pleasure from food or from life, I do not reject anything in this world, but I work only on the importance of the goal.

We say that our world is important for us and is full of big pleasures, but the spiritual world is even more important and more attractive for me. It turns out that according to the degree of this importance, I seemingly do not notice all that prevents me from reaching spirituality. This is the way I advance.
[40830]
From the Introductory Lecture Series 3/8/2011, “Reaching a Balance”

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A Love Triangle: The Husband, The Wife, And The Mother-In-Law

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does a woman always have disagreements with her mother-in-law?

Answer: Both of these women have a big desire to have power over the same man. It is known from the Torah that in the past everything was the opposite way. Before his marriage, a man would bring his bride-to-be to his parent’s house, to his mother, where she would “simmer” in his familiar environment. This way, the woman understood the personality of her future husband and received all the information about him from his mother in order to connect to him correctly.

A man does exist between two women, his mother and his wife (the upper, Bina, and the lower, Malchut). This is why a man naturally tends to treat his wife as a mother to some extent, and often times he sees his mother in his wife.

All of these really descend to our world from the spiritual world. Therefore, women should forgive their husbands for this.
[40825]
From the Introductory Lecture Series 3/8/2011, "Reaching a Balance"

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