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Passover Seder: The Order Of The Birth Of The World Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanMatza symbolizes the state when the “bread of Bina” is eaten, which comes from the degree of Bina, bestowal. And even though we are still on the degree of Malchut and lack the ability to ascend, we must try as hard as we can to perform actions of bestowal and connect with one another.

Although it is absolutely clear to us that we will not succeed, it does not matter: We still need to carry out these actions because they attract the upper Light towards us, and the Light then performs its action called our “liberation.”

Man’s exit from this world, from the property of egoistic reception, pragmatic knowledge, one’s ego, does not happen in a regular manner, according to the order of the degrees. This is like the process of being born, which entirely happens in the dark, in a rush. At birth, the fetus must turn upside down and go from one world into another: from within his mother, his inner degree, into the external world.

Our soul is born in exactly the same way. And this is why no other holiday has such a precise order of actions during the holiday feast. Usually, we only bless food and wine. But a Passover meal has an entire order (Seder in Hebrew) which needs to be followed precisely. This is because man’s exit from his ego, from our world, and his attainment of the perception of the spiritual world, a higher dimension, which is referred to as his spiritual birth, does not happen according to regular laws.

Usually desires grow according to the order of the degrees: two stages of the small state (Katnut Aleph and Bet), two stages of the big state (Gadlut Aleph and Bet), alternating the internal and the external states, and once again: the internal and the external. In other words, the desires and the Light grow gradually.

But during birth, everything seems to happen “incorrectly,” the other way around. And this is why the Passover meal is called “Seder” (order), it is a special order which does not correspond to the laws of consecutive growth according to the degrees.

The thing is that this degree we are now experiencing during the “exit of Egypt” is our birth. And then the soul that was born only keeps growing, but a real “revolution” happens on this degree. This is why the entire order of a Passover meal: “Kiddush” (blessing), “Urchatz” (the washing of hands), “Karpas” (dipping the greens into salt water), “Yachatz” (breaking of Matza), “Maggid” (tale of the exit out of Egypt), and so on does not happen according to the regular order of the correspondence of Lights and desires, which they should follow in growth.

For this reason, even when being in Egypt, the egoistic desire, having an egoistic attitude towards one another and only thinking about one’s own self (after all, Pharaoh rules over you), we need to do all possible actions and try to rise above him and find a new connection between us, regardless of all his power. We need to find a connection that exists outside of Egypt. This means to tune into the future redemption.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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The Prayer That Draws The Light To Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhether we like it or not, in each state we must always come to feel the lack, that is, to imagine the future state out of our present one. If I construct it correctly, then despite of all my efforts to do so, I will feel how distant I really am from it. In other words, I really want it, and yet I am unable to attain it.

This is called a “lack,” preparation for the future state, which is always revealed before passing into a new state. This feeling of lack is very multidimensional and unpleasant.

The next state shines on me, and because of this luminescence, I begin to value it more, while perceiving my present state as defective and insufficient. I feel the extent to which I lack the strength to ascend and the extent to which I desire it.

As a result, I come to a convergence of my passionate desire to ascend and my realization that I have no chance of making it happen, and that is when I erupt into a prayer, a scream, and the upper Light comes to my aid. After all, this scream (prayer) shows my great desire, which draws the right kind of Light, helping me to ascend to the next degree.

I must come to a scream which comprises two components: 1) my great desire to achieve bestowal, and 2) the realization that I can never achieve it. It is only when I’m about to explode from this pressure caused by my desire and my powerlessness to actualize it, that the Light reacts to the pain and influences me.

Waiting for the Light to come by itself is pointless. It comes in response to my desire for bestowal and draws me with the force sufficient to raise me to a higher degree.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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The Mystery Of Passover Night

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On the night of Passover we read the Passover Haggadah instead of reading excerpts from the Tanakh like we do on all other holidays. What is the reason for this?

Answer: For each holiday Kabbalists of the past have established a certain order. If a person wants to realize a certain spiritual state or a spiritual level within, even if it’s just an impression of spirituality, then these instructions from Kabbalists tell him what to do in each state.

The spiritual root touched the corporeal branch within a group of Kabbalists that came out of ancient Babylon, and through the connection between them, they were able to realize all of the corporeal traditions within the spiritual actions except for the final redemption, which was realized in the corporeal world along with the spiritual actions.

A person would kill an animal and at the same time he would be “killing” the desire to receive pleasure. He would roast the animal on the altar and simultaneously correct his egoistic desire. Then he would eat the animal and receive pleasure for the sake of bestowal on the third level of his Aviut (thickness of desire). They carried out all the customs in the corporeal and simultaneously carried out actions (commandments) along with the Surrounding and the Inner Lights and the spiritual desires.

The holiday of exiting Egypt is an exit from the desire to receive to the desire to bestow. Here we carry out specific external actions as a sign of exiting from egoism to love, from hatred and separation to connection and unity between us.

This is why when we read the Haggadah we go through all the actions that reflect the spiritual actions which help us exit Egypt: “Kiddush” (blessing), “Urchatz” (washing of the hands), “Karpas” (dipping the greens into salt water), “Yachats” (breaking of the middle Matza), “Maggid” (the story of the exodus), and so on. If we carry out this order of actions on the night of Pesach (from the word “Pasach,” to pass over, leap over), we leap over our current state and enter the new level, which is the first spiritual level.

But this order doesn’t correspond to the standard order of stages of development (“conception,” “feeding,” and “maturing”), which we study in Part 12 of The Study of the Ten Sefirot: three days of the attachment of the sperm, 40 days of the fetal formation, nine months of fetal development, the fetus turning head down, contractions and birth, blood that rises from the womb to the breasts and creates milk, two years of infant feeding, and the following stages until the grown-up stage (Gadlut): 3 years, 6, 9, 12, 13, 20, and 70.

The exit out of Egypt isn’t standard in its order of development. The Light of the big state (Gadlut) comes first before the Light of the small state (Katnut). First you enter a new world with the help of the great Lights, and then you begin to develop in it.

We don’t understand the essence of “birth” even in our world. We are simply used to perceiving it as a natural process: The fetus develops inside an animal organism, and then continues to grow outside of it. We don’t even question why these three kilograms of flesh that were inside the mother is now coming out? Why does the fetus come out whole?

After all, on the next stage of development it should have started of as some sort of a drop and then start to grow from it. The previous stage of development is over at three kilograms, and now on the next stage these three kilograms should have turned into a drop…. Where have you seen that all that was acquired at the previous level, the desire (Kli) with its entire fulfillment advanced whole to the next level, as is? How is it possible?

If I finished the development on the level of NRNHY de Nefesh, I reach the level of Nefesh de Ruach. But here I don’t attain the level of Nefesh de Ruach, and instead I exit with my three kilograms of flesh out of the mother’s womb and continue to grow. In theory, I should have started my development on the outside as a single cell, from a drop of semen, just like I began inside the mother but only on the next degree.

All of this underlines the unique order of Passover, the exit from Egypt, which becomes possible only because the Lights of the great state come before the Lights of the small state, and thereby we make a leap.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.21.11

Writings of Rabash, “What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Passover, Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” “The Passover Sacrifice,” Item 186
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Writings of the ARI, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot
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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam, “The First of the Month”
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