Question: How do you use hatred as a means to keep us away from evil?

Answer: It is hate that separates us from those we hate. We don’t need anything except to hate the ego. There are two stages: purity and holiness. The first stage of the correction is the purification from evil. This includes the whole process we go through from the beginning of our work until the revelation of evil, and then from the revelation of evil until the level of Bina, to bestow in order to bestow, don’t do unto others what is hateful to you.

This part of the correction is called the recognition of evil and exiting it until we escape from Egypt. Then we enter the phase of correction of to bestow in order to bestow, which is called the work in the desert. Then we enter the land of Israel by purifying our desire as we aim it at Yashar-El (straight to the Creator); we turn it into Israel, which is called the conquering of the land of Israel. Then we reach the phase of love thy friend as thyself.

This is done in stages: I detach myself from the ego, from evil, purify myself, and the moment I discover that my ego is my enemy, I begin to hate it, and so I have to break away and escape it. I am ready to jump into the Red Sea, anywhere I can, as long as I can escape and be saved from the pursuit of the ego. I receive ten blows (plagues) from it that force me to come to the final decision and that doesn’t leave me any chance of remaining inside my ego.

I cannot stand it anymore, as I see that it only brings me trouble and pain. All this is a result of the Surrounding Light that shines and bestows upon me. I feel so evil in relation to it, to the attribute of bestowal, to any revelation of the Creator in a cloud, in a pillar of fire, in a burning bush… Only when the Creator brings me to Pharaoh do I realize that he is a tyrant and wicked. Pharaoh is revealed in contrast to the Creator, and when I stand in the middle, I see who is a friend and who is a foe.

I cannot bear the domination of Pharaoh anymore, since on the other side the Creator is by my side. I already begin to see the difference between bestowal and receiving, and this summons the hatred of evil in me. It’s impossible to come to Pharaoh without the Creator! Otherwise I will not see that Pharaoh is evil, since before he seemed so good to me when he raised Moses as his grandson. Even before that, in the beginning of the period of exile, the good Pharaoh ruled until he died and there rose a new king in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Thus we gradually go through the phases of the recognition of evil.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13, Shamati #54 “The Purpose of the Work”

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The Faces Of Pharaoh
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