Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.07.13

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And Then Comes Dawn

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf a person feels that he is in the “white” daylight—everything in his work seems great and he seems to understand everything, feels that he is advancing in his feelings and his mind, and develops like we see in this world—it is not called spiritual development; it is developing on the level of our world. He can study all the articles and the whole theory by heart, but it isn’t called spiritual development.

A person advances in states where he feels confused, detached and fearful of everything that happens in this world on the corporeal level in which he exists for the time being. This happens on the level where a person is, each time. King David said, as it is written in Psalms, “You have hidden Your face from me and I was frightened.” This state is called darkness.

However, it is actually in the dark that a person can examine himself and see whether he can be adhered to the Creator in this darkness. He doesn’t ask that the darkness will disappear and that everything will be clear, understood, calm, and secure. He is happy that, now, in this darkness, he feels the sharp need to be adhered to the Creator. He is happy and grateful for the darkness and wants to remain in it.

It is because he is sure that if he can ask to be adhered to the Creator above the darkness, then it will be a form of bestowal since it doesn’t bring any reward to his desire to receive.

These are the states that the Creator prepares for us. Sometimes, after ten or twenty years, we encounter an obstacle along the way that was prepared by the Creator decades ago. It is all according to the long-term plan of creation. These interruptions whose cause is concealed from us stem from our Reshimot (spiritual genes), from previous lives.

A real overcoming is having the power to turn to the Creator with a prayer, with a request, agreeing to remain in the dark in order to hold onto the adhesion to the Creator in it. In the darkness, we declare that “There is none else besides Him” and don’t ask Him to remove the concealment, but rather, want to rise above it in faith above reason and to be given the power to carry on as if we are in the daylight.

The moment we actually reach such a desire, we come out to the Light. Our desire must be final and absolute so that our request really will be regarding the darkness and not regarding the Light, only regarding adhesion and the ability to bring the Creator contentment in the darkness that is felt by our ego so that the darkness will turn into Light for our desire to bestow, and then comes dawn. We should understand this very well since this is actually the method of advancing.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13

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Fundamentals Of Kabbalah – 04.07.13

A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah

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Life Is Full Of Surprises

Dr. Michael LaitmanOvercoming is not fighting like a hero. Overcoming is to discover our weakness through the environment, through everything that we have learned. The wisdom is not to look within myself for the powers to overcome, but rather, to understand that everything is arranged by the Creator every step and each small detail. All this is in my favor, for my advancement, in order to help me reach adhesion.

Therefore, I am happy about every state that comes along. As it is written, “Even when a sharp sword is placed upon one’s neck, one should not despair of mercy.” He should not despair of mercy since everything is calculated.

If a person holds himself above all these trials, which we even may call “surprises,” then he has nothing to fear. He feels secure and in adhesion with the Creator.

Overcoming is when I quickly overcome all the thoughts and all the inclinations to one side or another and reach a request. I leave all the worries and being thrown side to side and reach a request to the Creator. I don’t ask Him to change my state, but rather to have the powers to remain adhered to the Creator, not in order to ease things for myself, but in order to bring Him contentment.

By that, the state ends, and I go on to the next state where an even greater surprise is prepared for me. So, it turns out that life is full of surprises.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13

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Rebellion Against The “Father’s House”

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, “What is that the People’s Shepherd is the Whole Nation in the Work”: All the heaviness in the  service of the Creator is only due to the lack of faith. Since when a person is rewarded with whole faith, he yearns to annul himself before the Creator like a candle before a torch. And indeed all the organs, which means, all his thoughts and desires do what the force of faith obligates them to do.

We can purchase this force of faith only according to the hardening of the heart and all the problems that Moses went through in his time. He was educated in the home of Pharaoh and received everything from his adoptive grandfather and mother. This means that, thanks to his ego, a person goes through a special phase in his development. This ego is very big, and, so, the Israeli nation is called a “stiff necked,” “stubborn” nation because Pharaoh resides in it. So, the ego educates a person in his own territory, but a person still wants to follow his way so that the property of Moses can grow in him.

One must be a great egoist, closed inside his ego. It isn’t by chance that it is written, “He who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” What is more, the attributes that a person develops, both in the “house of Pharaoh” and in the “house of Jethro,” are necessary for his spiritual development. Later, the attribute of Bina comes only through a difficult inner struggle between the spark that is revealed (the point in the heart) and the great egoistic desire to receive that is so cruel and hard that it is not ready to and cannot listen to anyone.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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An Ascent But Not An Escape

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, “What is the People’s Shepherd is the Whole Nation in the Work”: But the main difficulty is only the lack of faith. Thus, a person has to devote all his work and perform actions in order to buy the faith in the Creator, which is the only thing that provides him with everything.

It is about a special force that, together with all the troubles, problems, tensions, and internal conflicts, keeps a person in the state of Hafetz Hesed. This means that it doesn’t make his life easier, but that it keeps him above the heaviness of life.

This force doesn’t solve the corporeal problems and doesn’t free a person of them. On the contrary, every spiritual level is built above the unsolved corporeal conflicts of the current level. Otherwise, a person would not be forced to rise above it. Having no choice under the pressure of the ego, he needs the state of Hafetz Hesed. Otherwise, he will simply not be able to live. On the other hand, this is necessary because he will never bring the Creator contentment.

This is the choice between these two discernments, between the two causes according to which a person advances to a spiritual life.

Question: What is his choice exactly?

Answer: You may choose to be in Hafetz Hesed in order to simply walk around in the forest with a flower in your hand and not wanting anything more than that, or you may not be able to stand the pains that this life brings and wish to escape to a place where everything seems good, where everything is for the best, since there is none else besides Him. Indeed, don’t I deserve such a good state?

You either yearn for the state of Hafetz Hesed because it is a higher level that allows you to remain above all the unpleasant feelings in the desire to receive or in order to remain in bestowal and to appreciate it more than receiving. It is quite hard to explain this to ourselves, but it is already the beginning of the real state of Hafetz Hesed.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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In Egypt And Above It

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, the essay, “What is, ‘a shepherd of the people is all of the people’, in the work”: And then he can understand what the “Shechinah in the Dust” is; being that he then sees how where he needs to do something for the sake of Heaven and not his own benefit, immediately the body complains and asks, “What is this work to you”, and doesn’t want to give him the energy to work, this is what is called “Shechinah in the Dust”, meaning what does he want to do for the good of the Shechinah, he tastes dust in this, and he doesn’t have the strength to overcome his thoughts and desires.

Generally, we describe the Exodus from Egypt simply: “It was very bad for us there, and we fled from this evil to a good life.” The superficial, egoistic, childish approach is like this: “We were slaves, and now we are free.” And this is correct really, for the will to receive accepts only this simple explanation.

But we need to understand that we advance on two levels: within reason and above reason. What is discovered within reason doesn’t point towards the exodus from Egypt at all, rather the opposite; Egypt only becomes stronger and more and more difficult for us. And that is why we can rise above Egypt all the time to go above reason.

This is called the spiritual exodus from Egypt, and therefore, with every commandment, that is, with every correction, we say it is a reminder of the Exodus. It is not arbitrary that it is said that the person must personally feel as if he is now leaving Egypt. In the spiritual path, we always feel not just a difference but an opposition between these two levels: reason and rising above it. And we establish our reality, the reality of the Human Being (Adam), through the distance between them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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Hunger In Europe Is Like During WWII

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Spiegel International): “Needy families and individuals in the European Union are becoming increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain are making the problem even more severe.

“Two-thirds of national Red Cross societies within the European Union have begun distributing food aid, according to the head of the aid groups’ international organization – a sign that the economic crisis in Europe is having an alarming effect on poverty.

“Yves Daccord, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on a visit to New Delhi on Monday that the scope of food distribution had not been at its current level since the end of World War II.

“Germany’s relative economic strength has made it mostly immune to the rise in food need. In contrast, the Spanish Red Cross is supporting 3 million Spaniards with food aid. … Last year alone, the Spanish Red Cross provided 33 million kilograms (73 million pounds) of groceries to the needy.

“The organization’s counterpart in Romania has been operating a donation-based food distribution program since 2009. Three million people live in absolute poverty, according to the aid group, a figure that constitutes 14 percent of the country’s total population. The relative poverty rate in Romania is also shockingly high, at 40 percent. Last year, the Romanian Red Cross distributed more than 500,000 kilograms (1.1 million pounds) of food to more than 81,000 needy families.

“The IFRC also noted a rise in poverty in previously middle-class families and individuals. In Italy, the group noted a rise in the homeless population to include single parents.”

My Comment: Meanwhile, according to the same Red Cross, more food than is needed is thrown away, i.e. it is not a lack of food, but a lack of attention to people in need, and that can be corrected only by correcting people …
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An Inseparable Pair: Man And Donkey

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are initially adhered to our vessels of receiving, and only in them can we feel the world. We judge everything only according to how good or bad we feel in our vessels of receiving called “a donkey (hamor),” which is also our “matter (homer)” (which has the same root in Hebrew). And the man in us is also adhered to the same “donkey.”

Thanks to our exertion, we can detach the man in us who is immersed in his matter. Then this man begins to think differently.

How can we detach the man from his matter, from his “donkey?” Only by the Light that Reforms that gives a person the attribute of bestowal, Hesed, the Light of Hassadim. This Light fills the part called “man” and gives him new attributes by which a person can detach himself from the donkey, from the matter of the desire to receive. This detachment from the desire to receive is called the exodus from Egypt.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13

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You Are Dear To Me Because I Have Invested In You

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we begin to love others only if we invest in them?

Answer: It is no secret that we love only ourselves—not even the people closest to us, not anyone else, but only ourselves. When can we love something or someone outside of ourselves? It is if we invest ourselves in them.

If a mother does not take care of her child, she does not love him, and, if she is given someone else’s child, continuously takes care of him, and raises him, then he will become as her own because she invested herself in him.

It is the same with anything else such as, let’s say, an artist and the picture he has painted, and so on. If I put my work, my effort, and my desire into something, then, to the extent of my effort, this object becomes dear to me because it contains part of me. I myself am in this object.

So, if for many years, we invest in the group, it becomes close to us, dear, and we cannot just leave it (if we truly invest in it).

It is a condition that you must work for the friends all the time. Then, you will begin to feel that they are close to you, and this gives you a chance to feel their desires. After all, it is precisely those desires that you receive from the group that you turn to the upper Light and it begins to shine on you.

There is no point of turning to it with your desire; it will not work. That is why we try so much and in vain. In addition, if we take the group desires and turn them to the Light, we will succeed at once. Try! You need to invest in the group. Then, it will become dear, and we quickly will feel the upper world.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 5

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