Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 18

What Is the Difference Between the Reception of the Torah and the Exodus from Egypt?

The Exodus from Egypt is the preparation of the vessels. We take vessels from Egypt, and opposite the point in the heart, we start perceiving the evil within us. “The children of Israel groaned from the labor.” The entire process we undergo culminates in freedom from Pharaoh’s control, i.e., from the control of such vessels and desires. We thereby become ready to confront the doubts, which is considered reaching Mount Sinai.

Without the Exodus from Egypt, it is impossible to speak of receiving the Torah. We need to have the vessels from Egypt, and then we can leave Egypt and reach Mount Sinai with those vessels. Moreover, even as we receive the Torah at Mount Sinai, when the point of Keter—Moses—receives the Torah, the point of Malchut forms an idol, which symbolizes the people waiting at the foot of the mountain seized by doubts about the spiritual work, unable to overcome them, ultimately creating an idol.

It is quite complicated. The process of receiving the Torah is a very long journey, and further corrections are needed afterward. It is due to the Torah arriving in two stages, one following the other:

• The first stage: correction of the vessels.
• The second stage: filling of the vessels.

The process thus does not end with leaving Egypt and the reception of the Torah. When we receive the Torah, we only start refining our vessels. We begin to correct them during the forty years in the desert until we reach the Land of Israel. Before reaching the final correction, there are still many challenges to face, and their purpose is to develop a sense of the true, eternal, and perfect state that is already within us.

In essence, this entire process is a way of opening our vessels so that we can increasingly feel our place. The process only affects the vessels of perception within us. Nothing external changes, only our perception.

It is astonishing how the reception of Godliness is ultimately an inner discovery and revelation; we find out where we truly are and what is within. We can liken it to someone unconscious who gradually wakes up to know where they are. Nothing changes externally, only our awareness and feeling.

The stages of the vessels’ sensitivity in us, which are stages of awareness and awakening, are called the “Exodus from Egypt,” “Mount Sinai,” “Reception of the Torah,” and other names. They are stages that we undergo on our spiritual journey. The change only plays out within us, in our inner vessels. On the outside, nothing changes. We are the ones who change.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 17
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 16
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 15

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