Question: We use four types of plants in Sukkot. What are these actions?

Answer: The four types of plants come from the fact that our egoism and in general our desires, even non-egoistic ones, consist of four levels. In Kabbalah, they are simply marked: one, two, three, and four.

If we bind them together, they gather into a state called Malchut. And if this state really consists of all the previous qualities, then they gather inside them the quality of bestowal and love, which binds all our desires and intentions, and we thus become like the upper light.

Four types of plants: willow, myrtle, palm branch, and citrus are the upshots of spiritual roots. Kabbalists did not just decide that this is how it will be, but saw in them a clear connection to spiritual roots that manifest in our world this way.

Willow, a plant that has neither taste nor smell, symbolizes the lack of importance for connection and correct relations between people. For us, there is nothing pleasant about them either in the heart or in the mind.

Myrtle has no taste, but it has smell. Taste is a sensation and smell is what we sense with our mind. We understand that unity, a good attitude toward people, is important, but this is not in our heart. The palm branch (date palm), on the contrary, has taste but no smell. And citrus fruits have both taste and smell.

When you hold all four types of plants together, you seemingly want to attract the upper light around us to them. This is the manifestation of the fact that your desire becomes whole, complete, and directed toward bestowal, and thus the upper light enters you.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/7/19

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After Yom Kippur passes, a person who has made internal corrections must restore himself in the right shape, in the right form. This restoration is represented by the construction of a hut-like structure called a Sukkah.

From the waste of the field and trees, mainly from the waste of agriculture, as well as leftovers of the production of bread and wine, we build a temporary home. By doing this, we embody those desires, intentions, and actions that were previously completely unimportant for us, were like waste, i.e., we did not pay attention to relationships with other people; now, on the contrary, we focus on how to treat others, how to come closer to each other.

It is from these actions, which were previously not used correctly, we are now making a cover on the Sukkah. Then we sit in it for a whole week and celebrate our new home. This symbolizes that we really want to build ourselves in a new way.

The construction of a Sukkah represents the construction of a spiritual Kli (vessel). The roof symbolizes the anti-egoistic quality, the screen.

Bread represents a special force, which is called the light of Hassadim, and wine, the force of the light of Hochma. These two forces must be properly coordinated with each other so that they clearly fill our soul. This materializes in the fact that we sit inside the Sukkah and have a meal.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/7/19

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My new article on Linkedin “Simchat Torah: The Cause for Joy Unlocked”

The recent failed intent of U.S. progressive lawmakers to reduce defense aid to Israel and the upcoming UN commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the antisemitic Durban Conference underscore yet again Israel and Jews being singled out for criticism around the world.

The global attention we are receiving, negative though it is, is our opportunity to be “a light unto nations.” Therefore, the celebration of Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah) this year has a special significance. It is a window of opportunity to show the world a way toward the light that our forefathers discovered many centuries ago; the path they intended to share with the world.

We only need to practice this simple method of unity between ourselves. Our example is all the world needs for it to realize that there is an alternative to hatred and conflict and that the people of Israel are leading the way toward it.

The High Holy Days represent the process of transformation from our being receivers to givers. At its conclusion, on the day of Simchat Torah, we celebrate the success of this predestined shift. This celebration lets us all reflect on the kind of individuals that we are and the society that we have become. Even if we find that we are not as pure as we would like to be, there is reason for rejoicing because acknowledging the truth is the first step toward change.

“Torah” is from the Hebrew word for “instruction” (“Hora’a”). It is written, “I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah, a spice.” The Torah is the light that corrects the desire, i.e., the positive force of nature that connects us above our egoism. Simchat Torah represents the final correction of this desire where we connect boundlessly to each other and to nature. This complete correction is the cause of the joy (Simcha).

The Book of Zohar (Teruma) writes that the “Torah is light, and one who engages in Torah is rewarded with the light.” The light that The Zohar speaks of is a creative force that engenders all that exists. Similar to The Zohar, the ARI writes in Tree of Life: “Know, that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, the upper simple light had filled the whole of reality.” This light, the ARI continues, “emanated, created, formed, and made all the worlds.”

The light works according to a very simple principle: bestowal. This quality of giving created everything around us, the entire universe with us within it. When we study our universe—the galaxies, planets, plants, animals, and even ourselves—we are actually studying manifestations of this light.

Simchat Torah celebrates the happiness of one who succeeds in acquiring the quality of the Torah (light): complete and absolute benevolence. “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” and “every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil,” the Torah tells us in Genesis.

When we are born, we are completely opposite from giving, from the light. Most of us are content with and even oblivious to our self-centered nature. But when this nature becomes detrimental to ourselves and to others, it forces us to look for other alternatives. This is the situation in our world today.

Despite the apparent difficulty, there is a paved and proven way to achieve the transformation that we need to undertake. You cannot give in the way needed when you’re alone, you need like-minded people with whom you can “practice” giving. Through such practice together, you fashion a sustainable and prosperous society of givers that has acquired the light’s quality of benevolence.

The necessity to become givers in order to establish a thriving society is the underlying impetus behind the age-old Jewish emphasis on love of others. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “as one man with one heart,” and “that which you hate, do not do unto others” were not intended as moral principles, but as practical tools to create a society whose members have acquired the quality of giving, or, put differently, a society that rejoices with the Torah.

We constantly succumb to our innate nature and mutual hatred erupts. Yet, although we may not be aware of it, we have the remedy to our plight: just practice giving above our egoism and thereby heal it. The book Maor Vashemesh stated two hundred years ago that “The thing upon which everything depends is love and brotherhood among the sons of Israel, for when there are peace, love, brotherhood, and friendship among them, they can receive the Torah.”

Then joy comes indeed, as it is written: “Joy is a reflection of good deeds.” Good deeds are the deeds of bestowal.

This is because the Torah is the force that is ready to correct hatred and separation between us and transform them into connection and love, which is the discovery called “Simchah” (happiness). With it a person senses within himself the entire vast expanse around him, and gains an eternal, whole, and happy life.
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 27/9/21

Over the past weekend, my students from around the world gathered for an event of profound unity. Using a unique virtual platform, built by the students themselves, nearly 6,000 friends got together online for what was probably the largest interactive convention ever held.

For forty-eight hours of joy, we had lessons, workshops, watched movies and clips. We ate and drank, sang in multiple languages, at every hour of the day, and at every time-zone in the globe.

Every event was simultaneously interpreted over the internet into dozens of languages by the friends themselves, which fastened and strengthened their bonds. They divided into groups, then mingled the groups, divided into languages, then mingled the languages, and all with one aim in mind: to generate worldwide unity.

This weekend, Chinese bonded with North and South Americans, who bonded with Iranians, who bonded with Israelis, who bonded with Russians, who bonded with Europeans, who bonded with Africans, who bonded with Australians, who bonded with Chinese, until the circle was complete. Indeed, we all became one sphere, held together by invisible threads that stretched from heart to heart to heart. Veteran students, complete beginners, and everyone in between felt very much at home in this gathering, and everyone wishes to continue fostering our unity.

In this troubled time of deepening chasms among and within nations, when hatred and violence seem to have the upper hand, my students proved that if we truly want to unite and nurture love among all people, no rift will divide us. On the contrary: The deeper the rift, the tighter the bond.

I am confident that such events have an enormous positive impact on the world. Hopefully, with persistent work on unity, we will be able to spread the love that we nurtured this weekend to the entire world, so that all of humanity may taste the taste of oneness and choose to beat swords into plowshares.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #8 “What Is the Difference Between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra?”

Lesson on the Topic: “Everything Is Obtained by the Power of Prayer”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 56

Selected Highlights

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #7 “What Is, ‘A Habit Becomes Second Nature,’ in the Work?”

Lesson on the Topic: “Everything Is Obtained by the Power of Prayer”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 53

Selected Highlights

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The Congress is a special opportunity for connection. The Creator forces us to connect virtually, but this connection is even more powerful than at physical congresses we held in the past.

The virtual congress is stronger than the physical one and is more spiritually oriented. After all, we went to physical congresses to sing, dance, jump together, talk with friends, and feel ourselves in a huge hall surrounded by several thousand people.

But would this illusion of connection brought by a physical connection be closer to spirituality than when we sit each behind our screen and are forced to build a connection from heart to heart? After all, we have no other choice. The material world is ending, we are leaving the corporeal world, and I do not know if we will ever return to physical meetings.

The Creator takes us further because we are a new generation, the last generation, the first spiritual one, and therefore, we must rise above corporeality whether we want it or not. You can see the exercises given to us from above.

Therefore, the congress should become an opportunity for us for spiritual and not material connection as it was in previous congresses.

We need to convince each other to unite even more in a spiritual form, in inner feelings and to send  a message from our heart to the heart of a friend about our desire to unite with him. Only by connecting hearts can we restore the structure of man, Adam, the one common soul within which the eternal light will be revealed. This state will be the end of the correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Therefore, for us to be at a virtual congress means to be at a spiritual congress, an internal one. The Creator took away the opportunity to hold such physical congresses like in previous years in order to advance us. I do not regret that today we do not have the possibility of gathering in the great hall and seeing each other face to face. Faces are not important to me—hearts and desires are important. Let’s move on to more spiritual actions.

We come to the virtual congress in order to make a special attack on connection and unite into one desire called Adam, which means like the Creator.

Every day a lesson can be like a mini-congress, but it is still different from such special events that happen every few months.

We need to understand that the conditions are given to us from above, and we are obliged to accept them above reason even if we do not understand them. It is in the conditions of a virtual congress that we must make every effort to connect, as Rabash writes: so that “the outstretched land for many miles will not stand between us.”

I warn you: it is very important not to miss this chance and make an effort together. Individual efforts are not enough; we need to bring ourselves all together to a global connection and from it to one common prayer to the Creator. And then the heavens will open.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/23/21, “Preparing to Attack at the Congress”

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It is a great honor to speak about Baal HaSulam on his memorial day. This is a special soul that on the one hand is connected with the Creator and on the other hand is connected with us, which allows us to be nourished by spirituality through it. The spiritual stream flows through Baal HaSulam and Rabash to us. Therefore there are no words to express gratitude to the Creator for sending such a messenger to us.

Baal HaSulam said that he never talked about spiritual phenomena prior to attaining them himself. From this we can understand at what extraordinary height this soul was.

Before Baal HaSulam, only great experts of the Torah could be awarded the revelation of the Creator. But Baal HaSulam through his actions brought us that an ordinary person who wished to follow the spiritual path can be awarded adhesion with the Creator.

The time has come when all souls are coming so close to correction that the upper light influences them more and more. The most important thing for us who are at the foot of the spiritual ladder is to receive the correct guidance and the correct direction, which is what Baal HaSulam did with his articles, letters, the book Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Sulam Commentary to The Book of Zohar.

If we combine all these sources and the methodology composed by Baal HaSulam on the basis of the teachings of the Ari and the Baal Shem Tov, we will begin to reveal the upper force to our entire generation until we bring all of it to the end of correction.

Then what is written will come true: “They shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest, and My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” There will not be a single person of any nationality and race who would not know the Creator. Everyone will come to adhesion with the upper force.

That is why I am so happy to see among my students representatives of all the nations, of all parts of humanity. All of us, by connecting together, will reveal the Creator who resides within us.

The Creator gave this great soul an immense spiritual attainment. Then Baal HaSulam was able to share this gift received from the Creator with all the inhabitants of this world.

Baal HaSulam said that he was awarded a high spiritual attainment only because the generation was ready for it. It all depends on the generation. This was the beginning of the period of the so-called “last generation,” and therefore Baal HaSulam received permission to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah, spiritual knowledge, and gave us a complete method of spiritual revelation. Now we can use it, and we will certainly reach the sublime purpose of creation.

Baal HaSulam writes that we have received everything we need and all that is left for us is to study this methodology, disseminate it in all forms, and implement it. Through the love of friends we can climb all the degrees of the spiritual ladder. When we reach the love of friends we begin to understand what love of the Creator is. Before that it will be just an abstract fantasy with no basis.

Only by connecting together from our unity do we understand what we need to do in relation to the Creator. After all, we already have a Kli in which we attain who the Creator is, what it means to bestow to Him, and in general, what bestowal is. Therefore the most urgent task is to try to come to the love of friends, through which we will be awarded all spiritual degrees.
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From the meal for the anniversary of the memory of Baal HaSulam 9/19/21

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Comment: Our soul consists of ten Sefirot. The first three Sefirot belong to the head where we make decisions and the other seven to the body where we receive pleasure from adhesion with the upper force that is revealed in the connection between us.

These seven Sefirot, i.e., the seven days of Sukkot, represent the Ushpizin: the seven sages from Abraham to David whom we invite to visit.

My Response: This is about the seven degrees of descent of the upper light: Hessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yessod, and Malchut. They descend to us from the head: Keter, Hochma, and Bina.

We must present ourselves in such a way that these upper lights enter the corrected soul and are assembled in the correct form from the shattered pieces of the common soul. If we assemble them, then the upper light can enter and fill them.

Comment: Allegorically, it is said that every evening we invite a guest.

My Response: By guests we mean special lights, the upper fillings of our soul. Hessed, Gevurah, and Tifferet are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so on. Kabbalists have never associated them with any personalities because these are specific qualities in a person.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/7/19

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Question: To build a Sukkah means to build a Kli (vessel), and to cover a Sukkah with a roof means to make your desires ready to receive the light. What does it mean to receive the light? What is the connection between the light, the Creator, and the people who I suddenly begin to treat well?

Answer: Our souls are our desires. Only when they are corrected by altruistic intentions are they filled with the upper light, upper energy. In this way, we begin to feel the Creator who is inside us in our correct intentions.

The upper light or the Creator enters into us and fills us according to the measure of equivalence with Him that we reach.

When several people build correct communication between them according to clear laws, the feelings of mutual bestowal and mutual love begin to reveal themselves in this connection. And in them, since they are correct, that is, they are directed not for one’s egoist self, but for the benefit of others, we feel the quality of the Creator according to our equivalence to Him.

This quality of emanation and integration exists in nature, but in order to feel it, we build a suitable receiver within ourselves. If I create the conditions of bestowal and love within myself, then the field of bestowal and love that exists around me manifests within me, that is, a field of the same orientation is induced.

The Creator constantly sends us information through the inanimate, vegetative, and animalistic nature and, of course, through other people, but we simply do not recognize it.

Through every interaction with any person, the Creator wants to tell me something, but I cannot decipher it because I am on a different wavelength from Him, in different qualities.

This is not easy to implement, but the law is very simple, purely physical, like the law of induction [Faraday’s law] in our world. All radios and all receivers, in general, are built on the principle of similarity. The entire universe operates on this principle.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/7/19

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