Hanukkah Infographic

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 12/18/19

Do you know the spiritual meaning of the Miracle of Hanukkah and all the Hanukkah symbols? Find out what the Maccabees, the greeks, candle, oil, wick and dreidel symbolize in the infographic.

Learn everything about the spiritual meaning of Hanukkah

Ready For Correction

laitman_282.01Shamati, 35, “Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha”: …there is a rule that from Above they give giving, and take, they do not take (all that is given from Above is not received in return, but stays below). Hence, if one extends something from Above and then blemishes it, it remains below, but not with man. Instead, it falls to the sea of the Sitra Achra.

I drew the light and cannot hold on to it. In the first instant, I reached equivalence of form with the light and it revealed itself in my desire. But in the very next moment, the new uncorrected informational record (Reshimo) was revealed in me, which needs to be adapted again for the new light. However, I did not do it and therefore, the previous light departs from within me. In fact, the light remains, but I stop feeling it because my desire was renewed.

From the illumination I received, I must learn how to continue next time: to prepare desires, the foundation, strength, mutual guarantee, and security in order to draw the light for the sake of bestowal. Each time my participation should increase.1

In every moment that follows, a new Reshimo is revealed that does not fit the previous state. A stronger desire is revealed and greater lights are revealed against it, and I need to bring this desire in equivalence with the light by making a stronger effort. Yet, I did not do that, I was not ready, and therefore, I lose the illumination from the previous state.

Initially, the system is built in such a way that I am never ready to receive the light immediately. After all, my vessel is broken; therefore, the broken desire is revealed, and the light against it, which I obviously cannot receive at that moment. It is written about it, “There is no righteous in the land that does good and hasn’t sinned.” After each transgression the correction is revealed, the commandment, because “one does not perform a Mitzva unless he has failed in it.”

First, there is always revelation of shattering, so we go: descent and ascent. Without the fall, the ascent is impossible, the correct use of the will to receive, because desire reveals the sensation of the fall.2

The desire becomes suitable for work only once it receives impressions from the qualities of the light. This happened during the shattering. The shattering happens because the light enters the desires; the boundary between the will to receive and the will to bestow is broken and these desires mix with each other.

Inside the created being the qualities of the light and qualities of the vessel mix with each other. Thus, as a result of the shattering, the created being acquires qualities of the Creator, although it feels corrupted, shattered. However, this unpleasant sensation comes precisely from the feeling of its oppositeness to the Creator, that is, because the Creator is in the created being and is revealed in it.

This is their meeting, contact, and revelation. Therefore, only after the shattering and onward is it possible to talk about the real created being standing against the Creator. The created being can ignore the Creator and want to rule by itself: the impure force (Sitra Achra) is our true nature that feels its oppositeness to the Creator.

This is an advanced state because inside the created being there already is the connection with the Creator and recognition of its own oppositeness. The created being knows the Creator and it knows itself, insisting “I shall rule!” From this point onward correction is possible, but not before that. This happened during the destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent exile; therefore, only now, today, are we ready for the correction, but not earlier.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/4/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 35, “Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha
1 Minute 29:35
2 Minute 32:00
3 Minute 41:20

Related Material:
When The Light Meets The Reshimot
Answers To Your Questions, Part 174
Cursory Thoughts On Shamati, “What Is The Difference Between A Shade of Kedusha And A Shade Of Sitra Achra”

“How To Eliminate Anti-Semitism In The United States” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “How to Eliminate Anti-Semitism in the United States

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The way to eliminate anti-Semitism in the United States is the same as how to solve anti-Semitism anywhere in the world: to raise awareness of the root cause of anti-Semitism in order to invert hatred into love.

Kabbalistic sources explain both such a cause and solution to anti-Semitism. It is because Kabbalists perceive developmental processes unfolding in our world, and can both warn people of oncoming threats, as well as offer a remedy to prevent such threats from materializing.

For instance, Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), the most renowned Kabbalist of the 20th Century, tried convincing European Jews in the 1930s to leave Europe because he foresaw the oncoming disaster. Both following his example, as well as taking heed to the alerting recent rise in anti-Semitism worldwide, I also feel the need to communicate the message about the root cause of anti-Semitism and its solution both to Jews and non-Jews, and I extensively write and speak on the topic with the hope that, at the very least, a future mass tragedy can be prevented.

In relation to the United States, I have lectured to Jewish communities in the United States at various intervals over the last 20 years. During the 2000s, I was laughed at when I mentioned that anti-Semitism was going to become a growing issue in America. Now, in the 2010s, after anti-Semitism’s immense exponential growth, both in the amounts of anti-Semitic crimes and threats, as well as in anti-Semitic sentiment, I am saying that the all signs are pointing to the next Holocaust emerging in America.

However, as much as I write and speak about this topic, I see little response to this message from the Jewish people. It is written about us, that we are a stiff-necked people, i.e., we have a tough skin that makes it very hard to penetrate such awareness into our perception.

In any case, in order to prevent a future dystopian scenario for the Jewish people in the United States, as well as elsewhere, the message is the same for all Jews: we need to unite, according to the tenet “love your friend as yourself,” in order to become “a light unto the nations,” i.e., a conduit that passes the positive unifying force dwelling in nature to the world. If the message doesn’t become accepted through education, explanation and promotion, then anti-Semitic blows and suffering will rise, “softening our stiff necks,” undesirably increasing our ability to absorb such a message.

That is the state we first reached some 3,800 years ago in ancient Babylon, under Abraham’s guidance, which granted us the name, “the people of Israel” (“Israel” from the words, “Yashar Kel,” which means “straight to God” [“God” being the same as “Nature” according to Kabbalah, i.e., a positive force that connects all elements of reality]). Also, according to the same unifying tendency, we were later named “Jews,” from the word for “unity” (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]).

Today, we are reaching new global proportions of anti-Semitism that the world has never seen, since today’s world is more globally-integrated than ever before. Due to anti-Semitism emerging as a natural phenomenon in non-Jews, toward a subconscious expectation for the Jews to pioneer a process toward more positive human connection, then we can expect a future where everyone other than a few Jews will be anti-Semitic.

Therefore, we Jews first and foremost need to show everyone how unity above the growing hostile divisions in society is not only a possibility, but that there is a method of connection to guide our every step of the way. By implementing such a method on ourselves, we send positive unifying ripples throughout humanity’s consciousness, and invite an opposite attitude from anti-Semitism upon ourselves in return. In other words, by witnessing increasing positive connection, and subsequent rises in happiness, support and confidence in society at large, the general attitude toward a unified Jewish people would become favorable and encouraging.

However, if the Jewish people will continue rejecting, ignoring or remaining unaware of the message of the need to unite, then instead of seeing unity form in society’s mainstream, we can expect unity to form more and more in society’s fringes, i.e., as Nazi and fascist unity. Such unity is dangerous, since it is built on uniting around the hatred of the other, and it becomes the infrastructure that can lead to the manifestation of horrific events, as exemplified by the Holocaust.

Therefore, I hope that Jews in general, and especially American Jews, will start noticing that the ball is in our court, and that we need to play the game well: to prioritize our unity in order to spread unity onward. If we do so, we will experience a better general state in America and around the world. However, if we fail to realize what the wisdom of Kabbalah is saying on this pressing issue, then the state will become much worse.
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Understand The Creator’s Plan

laitman_259.02Question: There are many personal growth techniques nowadays that say: “Take responsibility, set goals and act, strive, work!” A person on our path often faces the fact that the Creator inserts sticks in his wheels. How can one act properly in order to do what is necessary on the material level and not deviate from one’s spiritual path?

Answer: First of all, it is necessary to understand the Creator’s plan. The plan is to bring a person to an absolutely free state. So that no pressure from the Creator is directed against a person, only for a person. If a person perceives this correctly, then he finds the correct contact with the Creator.

Then you just need to implement this practice. You will gradually understand that exactly this practice makes you free, raising you above your egoism. It raises you to the quality of bestowal, and this quality makes you free.

It seems to us that the quality of bestowal, love, bestowal on one’s neighbor, and love for one’s neighbor somehow enslaves us, limits us, makes us think about others and work for others. No. This is actually not the case. In fact, meanwhile, we begin to receive the upper energy, the higher sensation, a way out of this world; therefore, it feels like freedom.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/17/19

Related Material:
Slave Of The Creator
Absolute Freedom
Obtaining Freedom By Becoming A Slave Of The Creator

Path To Achieving The Upper Purpose, Part 1

laitman_219.01Basis of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”:  “This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as ‘the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.’”

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that being in our world we can, with the help of consistent study and discovery of the laws of nature, come to the attainment of the upper world, the upper force, the Creator. Moreover, we will reveal Him as an absolute, clear, upper law that connects together all parts of creation. By revealing the Creator, we will fully attain the entire creation because He includes everything.

Everything is inside of Him including us. It is just that on the way to attaining this oneness, this common force, the common system, we get confused in various small, private forces and connections. Yet, in general, we reveal only the Creator because there is none else besides Him.

This is also written, “There is none else besides Him.” This is the first condition of determining what the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah is. That is, the wisdom of Kabbalah deals with the revelation of the Creator by a person in our world, who in one’s research goes through the entire chain of forces from oneself to the Creator and thus, gradually reveals Him.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 8/18/19

Related Material:
What Does The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Give Us?
The Definitions Of Kabbalah
Kabbalah Is The Method Of Revealing The Creator

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12/18/19

Lesson Preparation

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 1

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 150

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Shofar of the Messiah”

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