Torah, “Deuteronomy,” 05:17: And you shall not steal…

Be vigilant not to wish to receive for yourself those fulfillments and pleasures that are revealed in the quality of bestowal. This is called stealing.

It is forbidden to transfer anything from the “household” of the Creator to our egoistic desires.

It doesn’t matter that all the pleasure immediately evaporates. Nonetheless it is stealing.

On the other hand, if the Torah says that this is forbidden, it means that this is impossible and you won’t be able to use anything for your own sake, e.g., to steal or to commit adultery. In the spiritual world you won’t be permitted to do so, because the law is above you there.

Therefore, the Torah gives us instructions how to accurately adjust ourselves to fulfill spiritual laws.
[189349]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/16/16

Related Material:
Benevolent Intentions With Incorrect Actions
The Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Steal”
The Truth Above All

Filed under: Commandments, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

New Life 700 – The Sabbath Customs
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Man belongs to the animal world and the difference between him and animals is the desire to know what he is living for. Abraham taught that the question about the meaning of life leads a person to the revelation of the upper force. To discover the upper world, we have to correct the evil inclination in us, our ego.

The Sabbath candles symbolize the Light that comes unto us as a result of the corrections we perform during the six weekdays.

We have to resemble the upper force and become loving and giving according to the plan of creation. Abraham discovered that there is a special force in nature that can help us accomplish this mission, which is the force of the Light, the force of love and giving. Therefore we light two candles, which symbolize the two kinds of Light: the Light of correction of the different parts of the ego and the Light of filling.

When we light the Sabbath candles we should think about getting closer to the love of others. When the egoistic desire is corrected, it is called a soul and it operates with the intention of love and bestowal like the Creator.

Why is it the woman who lights the candles, why do we cover the eyes, and why do we bless? These customs stem from spiritual roots that symbolize the corrections we have to perform. The wine symbolizes the Light of Hochma and the bread symbolizes the Light of Hassadim.

When we sing the song “Welcome the Angels of Peace,” we sing about the forces that correct the desire to receive into bestowal. These correcting forces turn a person into a loving person who bestows unto others and then he discovers the upper world. “Oneg Shabbat” (the pleasure of Sabbath) symbolizes the great Light that a person who has corrected his ego in the spiritual state called the “Sabbath.”
[179177]
From KabTV’s “New Life 700 – The Sabbath Customs,” 3/8/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Commandments, Holidays, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 699 – Sabbath The Day Of Rest
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

There are days and nights in nature; there are months and years, but there is no week in nature. In fact the nation of Israel added the idea of a week. Starting from the first man who discovered the upper force until the last man who will discover it 6,000 years later, this is the time that symbolizes the six weekdays. The seventh millennium symbolizes the corrected state in correspondence to which the Sabbath is a world to come. The essence of the correction is the transition from egoism to love thy friends as thyself through the Light that Reforms.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple, only the external form of the Sabbath customs are left and nothing more. The spiritual Sabbath is the Sabbath of the end of correction, when we are all as one man in one heart, adhered to the Creator. If we don’t engage in the correction of the ego, we have nothing more than a psychological impression of the Sabbath. But a person who corrects himself discovers systems of six correcting forces and the state of Sabbath at the end, which means a cycle. We don’t work on the Sabbath because we have completed our correction in this spiritual state. Other nations copied the structure of the week from us and set their own day of rest.

The weekdays symbolize our engagement with the ego that is divided into six parts that we have to correct, while the Sabbath symbolizes the corrected state and this is where the customs associated with it stem from. But the actual customs don’t correct the ego. All the Jewish customs are corporeal branches that imply what the spiritual root of correcting the evil inclination into love is.

The first man (Adam HaRishon) discovered the upper force for the first time 5,776 years ago, although there were many generations before him.
[179091]
From KabTV’s “New Life 699 – Sabbath The Day Of Rest,” 3/8/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Commandments, Holidays, New Life - No Comments →

Commandments And Traditions

Question: Does Kabbalah obligate one to follow the Jewish rituals?

Answer: When one studies the wisdom of Kabbalah, even being the most secular person who has never followed any traditions, he begins to feel that all of these rituals are given with the purpose of reminding about the connection with the upper force. Therefore, some people begin to follow these traditions, although there is no obligation.

Question: For example, what is the meaning of blessings for bread and for wine in the beginning of the first Shabbat meal?

Answer: It is impossible to explain these actions without the wisdom of Kabbalah. Only Kabbalah explains what the seventh day of the week, Shabbat, means. It corresponds to the seventh millennium, that is, the end of correction.

We hope that we will come to a state when the entire world will be corrected and will continue its existence in the absolute general love for the other in greater degree than for himself. Then, the upper force will be revealed between us in the corrected connection and will dwell between everyone.

Without the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is impossible to understand what the Torah is talking about.

Question: Why do we add salt to the bread during the blessing at the beginning of the Shabbat meal?

Answer: It is very simple to understand for someone who studies Kabbalah. However, it is impossible to explain it without using the Kabbalistic terms. Bread symbolizes the Light of Mercy, Hassadim, Bina, whereas salt is Malchut. This way, a connection appears between Bina and Malchut, as it is written, “You shall offer salt on all your sacrifices,” as a sign of the union.

One must study this. It is impossible to explain it in a few words. If you want to understand the inner meaning of any tradition, it is possible only through the wisdom of Kabbalah. All traditions, laws, and commandments in Judaism come from Kabbalah and exist only because of this wisdom. It explains their true meaning and fills them with the inner sense.
[178475]
From the Radio Program on 103FM, 2/28/16

Related Material:
Dispelling Myths About Kabbalah, Part 4
Dispelling Myths About Kabbalah, Part 3
Dispelling Myths About Kabbalah, Part 2

Filed under: Commandments, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Why don’t we eat Chametz on Pesach (Passover)?

Answer: Because Chametz symbolizes the connection between flour and water. Flour symbolizes the attribute of the egoistic desire and water symbolizes the attribute of the altruistic desire.

Therefore, on Passover we are at final stage of the domination of the ego and we begin to feel that egoism controls us in everything since we lack the attribute of Hassadim, the attribute of Hesed, the attribute of the water, which is what the Matzah symbolizes.

Matzah is the connection between flour and water. They are mixed for a very precise period of time, for 18 minutes, so that the flour will not begin to rise. If they are mixed too long, we have to constantly knead the dough without stopping…

This process symbolizes our work with egoism, the process in which we have to keep working with it, giving it new forms over and over again, moving to altruism. And then it is possible.

But in principle, it is impossible to work with the Chametz for more than 18 minutes, which means that the connection has to be minimal, just as it appears in our egoism. What is altruism? That we want to show good intentions toward someone so the ego will benefit from it? The Matzah symbolizes the lack of water, the lack of Hassadim, the lack of Hesed, in our egoistic attitude, and so it is called the “bread of poverty,” which means the poverty of a wide heart, in the openness between people.

It is customary to eat Matzah on Passover eve because it is on this night that we reveal to what extent we don’t have the attribute of love and bestowal among us, the attribute of Bina, or the attribute of Hesed. We are ready for anything as long as we can exit this egoistic state, and so we eat Matzah on the night of our liberation from egoism.
[181806]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/13/16

Related Material:
When “Frugal Bread” Turns Into “Bread of Love”
Bread With 0% Malchut
Unleavened Bread

Filed under: Commandments, Holidays, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What is the correction of the 613 desires and does it refer to the 613 Mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah? Can you explain what corrected desire number 35 refers to, the one about preparing the special oil for anointing the great priest and the king?

Answer: The great priest and the king are not human beings but a special spiritual level. When you ascend to this level, the structure of a king or a great priest will be formed in you and you will be able to perform an action called drawing of the Light of Hochma.

The Light of Hochma is the oil and the Light of Hassadim is the water. By using the oil (the Light of Hochma), you can make a special “solution,” i.e., a special system for correction, elevation, and proximity in order to ascend to the level of the king or the great priest. These are all our internal attributes that we have to arrange and to correct.

Thus, any Mitzva is the correction of our internal desires, but on different levels. Man is a small world and everything exists inside him. This means that only I exist and you are all inside me, in my consciousness, in my feeling. It seems to me that you are external to me, but in fact you are inside me.

Question: What does it mean to find the priest inside me?

Answer: A priest is a desire on the level of Keter, the highest desire in a person that works in absolute bestowal without any egoistic impurities. But a person must prepare himself for this. One of the acts of preparation is Mitzvah number 35. When a person ascends the spiritual levels, regardless of whether he was born a Jew or not, a Cohen or a Levi, he has to undergo all these levels and attributes.
[179819]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/24/16

Related Material:
What Is A High Priest?
The High Priest’s Qualities, Part 1
Correction Of Errors Occurs On The Priestly Level

Filed under: Commandments, Spiritual Work - 1 Comment →

New Life 697 – Laws Of Niddah And Purity
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

We move from one phase to the next when correcting our ego and this is the reason that there is also a special cycle in nature. In this cycle there is the moon, the sun, and the earth, which are branches stemming from spiritual roots, from upper forces.

Once we were one soul and then we were shattered to pieces. Our correction is to connect with love. Every egoistic desire to receive that has not been corrected yet is called a woman, and a corrected desire is called a man, stemming from the Hebrew word to overcome. Different customs in our world are merely a replica of the spiritual states that we have to undergo in the correction of the ego.

Every monthly cycle symbolizes new egoistic desires that come up and demand their correction to bestowal. We count seven clean days after the monthly period, and then the desires are ready to couple with the Upper Light. In spirituality the blood during the monthly period symbolizes the revelation of the Dinim (judgments), which are difficult egoistic desires.

The impure blood and bathing in the Mikva symbolize the receiving of the Light of Hassadim after which it is possible to receive the Light of Hochma, the semen. A man’s soul that has developed from the semen develops in the womb and its nature is a desire to receive. One can receive only if he becomes a conductor, like a pipe, for others. If the Light identifies that a person is clogged, it doesn’t go through him.

The correction is to open one’s self with love. The corrected desire that opened itself for the Light to flow unto others is called a corrected woman in the coupling. Everyone is considered a woman first, and thanks to overcoming the ego, they become men. The seven clean days symbolize the corrected Lights, which are the forces to bestow and to love. The groom the bride is intended to couple with is the general force of love that fills all of reality. At the end, all the cycles and corrections reach the great coupling of the end of correction.
[178361]
From KabTV’s “New Life 697 – Laws Of Niddah And Purity,” 3/1/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Commandments, Man and Woman, New Life - No Comments →

The problem of the world is that a correct connection between people doesn’t exist. A correct connection is a system in which all the parts are found in mutual relationships between them and in harmony, where all are concerned about the welfare of the entire system and nobody is concerned about his own welfare. In a situation like this, the system is perfect.

When people attain a connection like this between them, they begin to feel nature and not themselves. The nature that they begin to feel is called the “Creator” because they discover its mind, program, and purpose.

Beginning from Abraham, people began to attain the harmony of nature in the connection between them, they discovered the Creator. The students of Abraham behaved according to the general laws of the world, to the extent that they discovered the Creator. This behavior came to be expressed in daily activities and in the relationship with the environment, and it was derived naturally and directly from their sensations. The activities that the members of the group of Abraham implemented seemed like they were only mechanical actions to someone who didn’t belong to this group and didn’t feel nature and the system of connection between people.

A harmonious mutual connection between people is called “love,” so it is said: “I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah as a spice.” The intention of the word “Torah” is the power of the Creator that is designed to correct the relationships between us, the relationships of egoistic mutual rejection. Involvement with the correction of the egoistic nature of a person is called keeping the Torah, and learning the Torah is called learning the possibilities for correcting the ego.

The general Mitzvah (commandment) of the Creator is correction of the ego to the level of “and you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). When a person mechanically performs the associated activities without correcting himself, his ego, this is called maintaining the customs. Since the days when the people of Israel fell from the level of “and you shall love your friend as yourself” to the level of “unfounded hatred,” they have been found in a state of maintaining the customs.

In their internal essence, the people of Israel are a group of people who are found in mutual Arvut (guarantee), yearning to be “as one person with one heart,” and filled with mutual love.
[179543]

Related Material:
The Method Of Good Connection
The Revival Of The Ancient Wisdom
The Role Of The Nation Of Israel

Filed under: Commandments, Israel, Nations of the World, The Creator, Torah - No Comments →

New Life 691 – Intention And Fulfillment Of A Mitzvah (Commandment)
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

A person is a desire for enjoyment for his own benefit; this is called “ego.” When we act for our own benefit, we only feel this world, but if we change direction, from drawing into ourselves to going outside toward others, we perceive a new reality called the “upper world.”

The transition from the intention for one’s own benefit to the intention for the benefit of others reveals the soul of man; it is written that, “A Mitzvah without intention is like a body without a soul” (Don Isaac Abravanel, Nahalat Avot, commentary on Masechet Avot 2:13).

The Mitzvot were given for the correction of the heart, and the correction is actually carried out in a group. The correction is to connect as one person with one heart, and the entire world should proceed forward toward this. The intention that should attach to any deed is love, and the “Light that Reforms” is the force that connects between ten people who want to connect as one.
[177515]
From KabTV’s “New Life 691 – Intention And Fulfillment Of A Mitzvah (Commandment),” 2/11/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Commandments, Egoism, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 690 – The Meaning Of Putting On Tefillin
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

The physical act of putting on Tefillin is just a symbol of spiritual communication with the higher power. The Tefillin symbolize the correction that we must make in heart and mind to communicate with the higher power.The general egoistic desire is divided into 613 desires that we must correct with love for others. Thought only serves desire; so we must correct the desire.

The contents of the Tefillin are four Parshiot (sections) that correspond to the name HaVaYaH, and through this we are asking the upper force to help us love others.

Putting Tefillin on in the morning expresses a desire to receive the power to correct ourselves throughout the day.

Putting on Tefillin doesn’t correct in itself; rather, the correction depends on a person’s intentions and actions. And that is how it is with all the physical Mitzvot (commandments); they only come as a reminder that it is necessary to carry out internal acts of correction.

The Jewish people attain the spiritual world, and they perform the Mitzvot of Tefillin according to branch and root: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand” (Deuteronomy 6:8)—the left hand symbolizes the ego that must be corrected, “and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8)—when a person corrects his heart and mind he resembles the Creator. This is to say, the Tefillin symbolize all the Mitzvot, the correction of heart and mind thanks to which the person discovers the higher reality.
[177492]
From KabTV’s “New Life 690 – The Meaning Of Putting On Tefillin,” 2/11/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Commandments, New Life - No Comments →