Comment: In the Torah, first there are acts of creation, and then, after two and a half thousand years, the Ten Commandments were derived for the people.

My Response: The commandments arise only in a person after his long development. It is very difficult to understand where they are coming from.

A person must plunge into an unearthly, spiritual egoism, which is called Egypt. This is what happened to the Jewish people according to the historical epic when they passed through Egypt, plunged into all the egoistic properties, saw them, and realized that they were the opposite of the Creator.

On the other hand, he realized that he was not able to get out of them himself, and all his properties stand before him like Mount Sinai, a mountain of hatred, the opposite of the Creator.

And all this is due to the fact that among these properties there is a point of “Moshe,” (Moses) called contact with the Creator, by pulling, like on a small thread, a person can pull himself out of this opposition into the likeness of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #10

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Comment: The Book of Zohar says that the Ten Commandments correspond to the ten acts of creation.

My Response: The Ten Commandments are the ten main criteria by which we need to build a model of our inner image, which is called “Adam” from the word “Domeh” – “similar to the Creator.”

So we need to understand what the Ten Commandments are. Or is it “don’t steal” somewhere on the street? Or “thou shalt not kill” in a doorway? Or don’t flirt with your neighbor’s wife? Or are we talking about some special, internal changes of a person as a result of which he really becomes equal to the Creator?

A commandment is a corrected egoistic spiritual quality of a person. In other words, we must gradually discover in ourselves the opposite image of the Creator, which is called impure (Klipa), the opposite of Him, and change it to one similar to the Creator.

This change in our qualities is called the fulfillment of the commandment.

We have 613 such qualities. Therefore, we must make 613 corrections. But as long as you don’t see a single quality in the person of our world that is opposite to the Creator, there is simply nothing in him.

The 613 commandments are divided into ten. That is, they are grouped into ten groups.

As for the act of creation, it is tied to the commandment, since the Creator created man as a wax seal, imprinting Himself in the opposite form: What is convex in print has become concave.

So the Creator stamped Himself in the material of creation, making the opposite quality of Himself. There are 613 positive qualities in the Creator that are aimed at bestowal, love, and emanation. And in us, it all manifests itself in the opposite form: in receiving, satiating, despising everyone, using everyone and everything, in pride, competition, etc.

The Creator simply took all His qualities and imprinted them in us in the reverse form.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #10

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Question: What do the definitions “do not steal,” “do not commit adultery,” and “do not kill” mean? What or who are they talking about?

Answer: About each of us because we kill, steal, and commit adultery every second.

The fact is that we are in our egoistic, uncorrected states, and this means that I am performing these actions. If I have not corrected my “do not kill” or “do not steal” quality, then I am in it.

It does not matter if I implement it or not. The spiritual court evaluates a person according to his potential. So, if there is a quality in you that you can kill in a certain state, then now you are killing, which means you are not potentially a killer.

In the spiritual world, we do not need to specifically bring a person to this state. So, you are a murderer, a rapist, a thief, and everything else.

It does not really bother you right now. But the time will come when you will begin to feel all the potential, unrealized qualities as realized in you: now I kill, now I rape, now I rob, now I deceive. Then you get the feeling that you are responsible for all the suffering in the world. You cannot take it anymore.

In accordance with the way the light acts on a person, it shows who he really is and at the same time shows him from what source the light comes, then this difference between where the light comes from, the Creator, and the fact that he is potentially in all his terrible qualities, is felt in him by a terrible inner state of shame.

This shame that burns him is called hell. It is actually hell. Therefore, a person is ready to get rid of it. But getting rid of it is not so easy.

In hell there are eleven months—spiritual stages during which a person passes through the state of being opposite to the Creator, burning inside from the terrible sensations of his difference from the Creator so much that after these eleven months he corrects his state to equivalence of form to the Creator and comes to the state called paradise.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #9

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Baal Sulam, “The Peace”: In general examination, we find that there are only two Mitzvot to follow in society. These can be called 1) “reception” and 2) “bestowal.” This means that each member must, by nature, receive his needs from society and must benefit society through his work for its well-being. And if one breaks one of these two Mitzvot, he will be mercilessly punished.

Question: If Baal HaSulam believed that there were only two commandments, then where should we place the Ten Commandments? Are these two are divided in 10, 613?

Answer: We lay this all out depending on our states, relationships, etc. But in reality, what else is there in nature beside reception and bestowal? Nothing!

Question: Is this like the fact that there are 365 days, so many hours, and so many seconds in a year, that is, the two main commandments are divided into auxiliary ones?

Answer: Yes. In nature, there is nothing but plus and minus. But when you start introducing them into relationships between people, you lay out people, their relationships, and each person in relation to yourself and others, and then you get a huge number of conditions—to receive and to bestow. And you must somehow bring this together into one system. This, in principle, is described in the Torah.

Comment: Rabbi Akiva went even further claiming that there is one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

My Response: It prevails over these two so that both reception and bestowal are only for the sake of others.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/26/19

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Comment: The Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbor…” and so on, repeats the essence of the previous commandments?

My Response: It is as if everything comes together here. That is, you must clearly understand that you are not the master of the world, you have nothing of your own. Everything you have is not really yours, so you cannot want anything.

All in all, work with your desires only for bestowal. If you come to this, then you will become a human being.

Question: Does this mean not only not to use different types of desires of your neighbor, but, on the contrary, to fill them, and then you will become like the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What can you fill your neighbor’s desires with?

Answer: With what the neighbor desires.

Question: But he wants different things. How can I fill his desires?

Answer: Of course you cannot. Help him in general, direct him to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/26/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What really is the intended meaning of ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’?“

Before the commandment of “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” described the key prohibition in holding a correct relationship with the Creator: that we should not use our relationship with the Creator for self-benefit. Receiving pleasure for self-benefit alone kills our desire.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” is similar, but viewed from a different angle. It means to not use our connections with others for self-benefit.

The Creator’s quality is love and bestowal, and adultery is an act of receiving for self-benefit alone. If we receive pleasure at the expense of other people, then it is considered committing adultery.

Based on the TV show, “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 26, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does the 8th commandment consist of (Thou shalt not steal)?“

The eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” is the same as the previous commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” with the sole difference being that adultery and theft relate to two different levels of desires.

Nature is constructed of four levels of desire: inanimate, vegetative, animate and speaking (also, human). These four levels of desire exist in nature in general as well as within us.

Theft is then a similar action to adultery, but it is a prohibition at a different level of desire. Committing adultery is when we use people for the sake of self-benefit, whereas theft is when we use the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels of nature for the sake of self-benefit.

Therefore, where “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is an act of using others for self-benefit at the human level, “Thou shalt not steal” is an act of using the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels of nature for self-benefit.

Based on the TV show, “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 26, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” mean if not what it says?“

The sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” means to cause no detriment whatsoever to others.

The previous five commandments explain a process that leads to us receiving the upper forces, and we need to become a receptacle that lets these forces act correctly in us, not interfering with the effect that they have on us.

Using these forces correctly means to use them for the sake of bestowal, and thus “Thou shalt not kill” means the contrary, that we use these forces for self-benefit.

In other words, if we use our connection with the spiritual forces, with the Creator, for self-benefit, then this act is called “killing.” By doing so, we kill our desire. Our desire gets killed because it becomes filled with pleasure; the pleasure aimed at self-benefit kills the desire, and the desire becomes extinguished.

Based on the TV show, “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 26, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to covet thy neighbor’s wife?“

The states in which we progress should be aimed only at bestowal, and not for self-benefit.

Our state is very interesting regarding our spiritual path. On one hand, we are alone and the whole world is inside us, as it is written, “A person is a small world.”

On the other hand, all of our inner desires appear as characters existing outside of us. The same applies to our like-minded friends: it seems to us that they exist outside of us, and we later gradually start seeing that they are all inside us.

“Neighbors” refers to these like-minded friends of ours.

To spiritually progress, i.e., to discover our connection with the Creator, we need to process their desires, which are called “wives,” from a spiritual degree, i.e., a degree of bestowal. This means that we need to dress into these desires and work on them for their benefit, and not for self-benefit.

This has nothing to do with genders as we understand them in our world. The female part represents desires to receive, the fundamental matter of creation, and the male part represents the desire to bestow, which is the nature of the Creator.

Therefore, by working to benefit the desire to receive, and not to use it for self-benefit, we act at a spiritual degree, like the Creator Himself, and we thus implement the commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” In other words, we operate at a degree of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Ten Commandments are located at the level of the ten Sefirot. The commandment “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” is the most serious of all the commandments because it deals with the lowest internal egoistic quality, namely using the desire to receive in order to receive for self-benefit alone.

The prohibition on such an intention lets us fully apply an intention to bestow upon our desire to receive, so that we can enter into a mutual connection among each other at a higher spiritual level, where we are not divided by gender.

Based on the TV show, “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 26, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the ten commandments given in the Bible?“

The Ten Commandments are the laws of our absolute connection to each other and with the force of bestowal that holds our connection together.

The Torah is given at the foot of Mount Sinai, which is a gigantic mountain of egoistic hatred (“Sinai” comes from the word “Sinah” [“hatred”]), after the people of Israel (i.e., people with a common desire “Yashar Kel” [“straight to the Creator”]) accept the condition of mutual guarantee—to be united “as one man with one heart.” In other words, we reach a stage in our development where we discover a mountain of ego, division and hatred above us, and we can climb this mountain only with one point in the heart, i.e., by uniting our common desire for spiritual ascent above all other egoistic desires. This point is called “Moses” (from the word “Moshech” [“pulling”]), because it pulls us out of our ego.

Mount Sinai is enormous, even bigger than the Tower of Babel. Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai means that we agree to unite all parts of our individual egos into one big mountain. Then, instead of fearing this great hatred and division between us, we should instead use it as an impetus to yearn for unity, since the sole purpose of being given an ego is so that we use it to fuel our unity.

When we unite above this mountain of ego and hatred, we demand the revelation of the force of bestowal in our unification. The tendency to unite is the spiritual vessel, the deficiency for mutual love, bestowal and connection, as it is written, “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” We thus accept the condition of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and receive the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments refer to the correct use of the desire to enjoy. They discuss the limitations that we need to implement on Malchut if we are to establish and sustain a spiritual connection. These limitations are called a “screen” (“Masach”) and “reflected light” (“Ohr Hozer”). When Malchut accepts these limitations, it lets the ten Sefirot, which are also known as the Ten Commandments, dress in it.

A commandment (Dover) stems from the Hebrew root for “utterance” (Dibur), i.e., it is born in the Peh (mouth) of the Partzuf, the Peh of Rosh. These actions are performed in the world of Atzilut.

We receive the Ten Commandments after we unite “as one man with one heart.” Otherwise we cannot hear them. We have to be on the level of Bina in order to have the ear that can hear the ten utterances from Mount Sinai. In practice, this means that we need to first undergo a period of preparation until we can unite at the level of “as one man with one heart,” and only at that stage do we hear the commandments. If we are not at such a spiritual degree, we lack the vessels in order to understand and observe these commandments.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on June 3, 2014. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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