Zohar For All, Shemot, Item 17 – 18: What is, “And He came from the ten thousand holy ones”? When the Creator wished to give the Torah to Israel, the camps of upper angels came and said, “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth, whose majesty is rehearsed above the heavens.” They asked for the Torah to be given to them and not to Israel. The Creator told them, “Is there death in you? It is written in the Torah, ‘When a man dies in a tent,’ and ‘If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death.’ Is there sin in you that you need Dinim [judgments]? Is there theft or robbery in you, as it is written, ‘You shall not steal’? Are there women among you, as it is written, ‘You shall not commit adultery’? Is there falsehood in you, as it is written, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor’? Is there greed in you, as it is written, ‘You shall not covet’? Why do you wish for the Torah?”

Question: The property called Israel seems to be the highest property. At the same time, the Creator turns to the angels and says: “The Torah is not for you because you do not have such properties as: ‘do not steal’ or ‘do not commit adultery,’ but people do. So, I give the Torah to them.” If this is so, why is Israel considered the most exalted property?

Answer: The property of Israel appears in a person when the upper light comes to him and an inner contradiction awakens between who he is and who the Creator is. Any person in the world who starts to study Kabbalah soon begins to feel how far he is from being the “righteous” who used to justify himself.

It does not matter if he killed or robbed. He still justified himself or he would not have committed such acts. That is, whether it is a good or bad deed does not matter. I always justify myself by saying that everyone steals or robs. Either I had to do it because I was supposed to or because I was born that way, etc.

Once a person is unable to justify himself, that is, he has a gap between who he is and who he would like to see himself to be, the difference between the existing and the desired states, then he begins to have a goal: “I would like to be on another level, I would like to live differently.”

Then he is called Israel—directly aimed at the Creator, at being similar to Him. Now you can already talk to him. This kind of person needs the strength to change himself.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #9

Related Material:
The Property “Israel”
Israel—Humanity’s Engine
Cohens, Levites, Israel

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