Question: What is the meaning from the Kabbalistic perspective of each of the ten commandments, like “thou shalt not steal” or “thou shalt not kill,” etc.?

Answer: We don’t understand the true meaning of the ten commandments that simply seem like moral instructions to us.

The commandment of “honor thy father and thy mother,” for example, refers to the connection between the Partzufim of ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva) and the upper Aba and Ima (father and mother).

The commandment “thou shalt no steal” is the prohibition to use the desire to enjoy for my own sake, which is called stealing. Who are you stealing from? From the Light, from the Creator.

All the ten commandments refer to the right use of the desire to enjoy. It is about the limitations that we must implement on Malchut. These limitations are called a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer). Due to the fact that Malchut accepts these limitations, it can become the clothing for the ten Sefirot, and so it is called the ten commandments.

A commandment (stemming from the Hebrew root “utterance”) is what is born in the mouth of the Partzuf, the Peh de Rosh. All these actions are performed in the world of Atzilut.

Only after we become as one man in one heart do we receive the ten commandments. 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 Mt. Sinai.

First we have to go through a period of preparation and reach connection on the level of one man in one heart, and only then do we hear the commandments. Otherwise we will lack the vessels in order to understand them.

Everyday a new confusion and a new understanding are felt during the study. You ask a question and after that you may be confused a hundred times and understand a hundred times in order to bring yourself to the point where you asked the question. Everything depends on the vessels.

Question: Do these commandments, such as “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not kill” operate in the corporeal world too?

Answer: Of course we need the same thing that is written on the spiritual sense in our world too, but the correction of the soul takes place in the spiritual world. Still, we have to create the right environment in the corporeal world so that in it we will be able to attain the spiritual correction.

First we must understand that the basis for all the corrections is the main rule of the Torah: “Love thy friend as thyself.” This means that all the corrections, all the details described in the Torah, are the explanations for how we should reach the fulfillment of the conditions of loving others.

My attitude to whatever it may be—to friends, to the external world, to all the spiritual worlds, to everything—has to be only out of love, to the extent that I love myself. That’s it! Every action I make has to be accompanied by the thought that I do it for others. Love isn’t just speaking the words. There must be a real desire within me that obliges me to do it. Otherwise it is not called a commandment.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/14, Shamati 66 “The Giving of the Torah”

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The Torah, “Leviticus (Shemini),” 9:1-9:4: And it was on the eighth day, that Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. And he said to Aaron: “Take for yourself a bull calf as a sin-offering, and a ram as a burnt-offering, [both] unblemished, and bring them near before the Lord.”

A person has to take two of his desires (a bull calf and a ram) and purify them from the egoistic intention, which means to raise his desire to the proper use: from the lowest and most sinful place upwards to the Light.

“And to the children of Israel, you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a he-goat as a sin-offering; and a calf and a lamb, [both] in their first year and [both] unblemished, as a burnt-offering, and an ox and a ram, as peace offerings, to slaughter before the Lord, and a meal-offering mixed with oil, for today the Lord is appearing to you.’”

If a person doesn’t bring an offering, the Creator will not be revealed. In order to do so, he must first prepare everything: the day, the place, and the time. Second, bringing and offering should not be by the nations of the world, not by the children of Israel, not by the Levites, and not even by Moses but only by the Cohanim (priests) and of the Cohanim, only by Aaron.

Everything has to be ready in the exact way that Moses said. To prepare means to choose of your desires, a place and time. This means the motion, time, desire, and intention that should all eventually provide a corrected desire of in order to bestow, to connect with others. This means that there should be the attribute of Aaron in every person that takes a certain desire (a bull calf or a ram) and slaughters it in a certain way and prepares it in a certain way and then serves it to the Creator so that He can taste it.

The ascent of the desires in order to love and bestow is described in this allegorical way. It is because in our world there are no other words to describe the ascent of the desires to bestowal unto the society and by that unto the Creator. At the same time, the feeling of the Creator descends both to the society and to a person himself who is performing the role of Aaron.

Question: The Torah provides many details! For example, a calf and a lamb both of first year and without a blemish, etc…

Answer: When you begin to work you lack these details. So first there is the Mishna (set of laws) that tells you exactly how to carry out these actions. Then the Mishna becomes incomprehensible since the ego grows and it becomes unclear as to how we should work with it. If a person knew what to do with one kilo of his ego, what to cut off and what to weigh, then now his ego grows to a hundred kilos. There are new options now: miserliness, envy, lust, etc. and it becomes unclear as to how to skin the offering, which part of it can be used or not, and how to prepare it. It is when the problem with the fulfillment of these rules arises that the Babylonian Talmud (teaching) appears.

Everything starts from the Torah, but as the ego grows, there is the growing need for commentaries in the Mishna, and when the ego grows until it becomes uncontrollable, the Talmud appears. Then people have no choice but to simply study it. This state is called exile (Galut).
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/18/13

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Question: What is the spiritual meaning of separating milk from meat?

Answer: The Torah says: “Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Meat cannot be eaten with milk since by that you cause a short circuit between the most important things, the right and left lines.

Milk symbolizes the right line, the Light of Hassadim (mercy) that stems from the desire to bestow. So on the physical level, milk is food for children. However, the left line, meat, symbolizes receiving, rigidity, egoism.

We must not bring these two lines together because they can only connect in the middle line when you receive from the left egoistic line only what the right altruistic line can include in it and make the middle line out of the two.

In order to create the middle line, we have to descend from ten to six Sefirot, from  GAR to VAK which means to bring the state of greatness of the Partzuf to smallness, because until the end of correction it’s impossible to receive in order to bestow in the whole desire, except for a small quantity.

Malchut can be used only in the ascent to Bina. The ascent of Malchut to Bina is a state of smallness or six Sefirot. Therefore it’s possible to eat dairy products six hours after eating meat.

In our world, six hours is a conditional measure, and therefore in different communities the time of separation between meat and milk differs. In certain communities the break between dairy and meat is three hours and in others it’s an hour. But on the whole, most communities keep six hours.

As for meat, it can be eaten half an hour after dairy (except for hard cheese, which is the same as meat). Although the laws that forbid the combination of milk and meat are not so convenient, they stem from the smallness of the spiritual Partzuf.

Question: Do our friends all over the world have to keep these laws?

Answer: No, we don’t dictate anything to anyone. This refers to the spiritual work and its goal to receive in order to bestow. We can try to persuade people from morning to night that it’s important to feel love towards a friend, but we cannot demand that someone actually do it.

Moreover, one can keep the tradition and another cannot. We never demand of others but only of ourselves. On the other hand, those who don’t keep the tradition shouldn’t interfere with the customs of those who do. We should respect the customs of others, no matter what they are.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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The Book of Zohar, “VaYikra,” item 73: All the sacrifices are male and female, since the sacrifice is above the heart, which is about the thought that is above the heart. And it shall be known what is about the heart, which means the thought.

The thought that is clever is considered a male, and the heart is considered a female, Bina, the heart understands that it receives from Hochma and because the sacrifice rises upwards, it is all male.

There is no point trying to picture all the allegories in the Torah (the sacrifice, the fire, the smoke, etc.) according to corporeal concepts. Everything has to be above the thought, and the thought is totally abstract.

This refers to inner emotional corrections only, which a person performs on his desires and his intentions, and nothing more. The Torah doesn’t oblige us to perform these actions on the physical level.

We know that in the last days of the second Temple, people did everything that is written in the Torah very enthusiastically and even burnt poor animals, but did not engage in inner correction, so the second Temple was destroyed. The same thing happened with the first Temple, which was on an even higher spiritual level.

This is how the complete fall of humanity to the corporeal level gradually happened, and the inner correction gave way to mechanical actions.

We shouldn’t take all the instructions in the Torah literally, because if it says that we have to eat the sacrifices, it means that we have to receive the Light of Hochma, the Light of wisdom in the corrected desires, and not that we should literally eat meat.

The allegories in the Torah are so confusing for a person who is not prepared that they summon totally different images and feelings in him that are related to our material world. The transition from this language to the real meaning of the Torah, that speaks only about spiritual actions, is a great problem.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/13

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Question: Our inner understanding of the Sabbath is different from the religious understanding in Judaism based on the materialization of the commandments.

Answer: The physical engagements that religious Jews observe on an everyday basis are material replications of spiritual actions, Kabbalah recommends following them.

However, Kabbalah doesn’t teach us just to fulfill physical actions in this material world, nor does it recommend sitting and doing nothing on Saturdays. Kabbalah teaches us to correct our ego during the six week-days, i.e., to connect with others. When we establish a clear connection with others, we will realize that we are incapable of connecting with them on our own on the seventh day.

We see that communism, socialism, communes, and kibbutzim cannot change the state of affairs in the world. This is possible only if we act according to the scheme that gives us the opportunity to correctly collect all the broken parts together during the first six days, resulting, on the seventh day, with all our desires and aspirations to assemble everybody back together accumulating and being glued together under the influence of the upper force that once broke them apart. Therefore, by gathering the parts of the common soul back together, we allow the Light that once shattered them to glue them together again.

By acting so, what do we achieve? When we work for the six days, we begin to understand exactly how exactly these parts can be assembled, we see whether they match, how they impact and help each other, how they self-annul in front of each other and then connect above their egoism.

But we are just trying! People are unable to do anything on their own, which is what Soviet Russia and other countries of the world tried to do; some societies are trying to do so now.

But this is impossible because we lack the force that is able to change things because we are only in our will to receive. But if we do it correctly, we will gradually accumulate the Upper Light, then after we finish constructing this system, the Light will influence us and completes it.

If we leave it as is or just neglect it, we won’t attain the right connection with the Light. In fact this is what the shattering was for, so that now from the broken lowest point, we should glue the broken parts together into a new whole. The breaking was in order for us to understand the properties of the Light, to connect, and to rise to its level. This is the purpose of creation, the reason for everything that happens with us and in the entire universe.

Therefore, the seventh day of the week is the cornerstone and is called “Sabbath – Shabbat” from the Hebrew word “shvitah,” which means exemption from work. We allow the Light to work instead of us and to be included in it. The six days are not about actual days; they are  actions that can be done, for example, in 15 minutes, but it could take you two months.

Every seventh stage should always be that in addition to your efforts, you  look to the action of the Light and begin to understand its properties. In other words, the Light’s qualities enter the system of mutual connection that we have created. And then we ascend the next level and attain the properties of the Light to the degree of our efforts made during the six weekdays.

This is how we work, week after week, until we reach the complete reunification of all the broken parts into a single unified soul and attaining the Light that acts inside the system, that is. the Creator:  the original force that made the entire universe. This is our work, our goal, our advancement.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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The initial essence of the creation is the desire. The desire is actually neutral and can be aimed at any direction, toward itself or toward others, it can be anywhere and in any manner. But when an egoistic intention of in order to receive for one’s self is added to it, it becomes cruel and evil since it is focused not only on the filling for itself but also on the inclination not to give to others.

All of a person’s nature is the evil inclination. It says: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” The evil inclination is called our desire that has the constant intention of in order to receive for itself.

Rejecting the egoistic use of the desires is a spiritual action called “bringing a sacrifice.” In other words we sacrifice our ego not by annulling it but by annulling the egoistic use of the desires.

Bringing a sacrifice is a person’s ability to actually cut off pieces of his desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

All the desires are divided into four parts: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature. Each part has its own manner of the correction of its ego to altruism, to bestowal.

The simplest work is the work with the desires on the still level of nature. The Torah represents the construction of the Tabernacle, the preparation of different objects from gold and precious stones, the use of salt in the food, the water, and everything we obtain from the earth.

All the plants in nature belong to the desires on the level of the vegetative: grass, seeds, cereal, and the food that is prepared from these materials like bread that is made of flour, etc.

The different categories of desires on the animate level are described in the Torah in the form of birds, fish, and animals, and they are already sublime egoistic desires that have to be killed in a certain ritual and the carcass has to be freshened in a special way.

Each of the corporeal desires of a person has to be processed in a special manner so that it can be transformed from an egoistic use to altruistic use. This is what the laws of Kashrut refer to, which means that they are cleaned of the ego.

The last level of the desires is the human desires, when we already have to work on ourselves. This highest intention is called a priest (Cohen), a lower one is called Levi, and an even lower one is called Israel (the masses).

To bring a sacrifice means to change the desires from an egoistic level to an altruistic level. On the other hand it isn’t a sacrifice since in Hebrew the word “Eid” (victim) means getting closer, which means an action which brings us closer to the Creator.

On the whole all the laws and the rules that the Torah presents refer only to the correction of the ego. The main part, the sacrifices (“Kurbanot” – victims), are the levels that describe a person’s getting closer to the Creator and the correction of the ego to altruism—from hatred of others to love of others.

All the spiritual actions are performed inside a person in the group when he is together with friends who share the same ideas and with whom he clarifies the elements of his inner and external behavior: how to cooperate with them correctly and how the group affects each of its members.

Thus, each one, together with the general force of yearning for bestowal and love that is revealed among everyone, gradually reveals such altruistic attributes that can actually raise the group above the egoistic level. This is called the transition from our world to the upper world.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/13

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Question: Why at the time of the Passover holiday is it so important to carry out physical activities in this “imaginary world”?

Answer: This is important so that we will work on them as if we were working on spiritual characteristics. The symbols of the Passover holiday indicate that we want to abstain completely from the desire to receive, to disengage from Pharaoh. After this we begin to correct it, to build the “Golden Calf,” but this is already after the Exodus from Egypt.

We escape and disengage from it, but we take with us gold and silver vessels. In the wilderness all of our desires are awakened again and we regret the loss of the meat, onions, and garlic that we ate in Egypt. All this will be afterward, but for now we simply disengage from Pharaoh.

Disengagement is possible from something that is known to you. We don’t have a feeling of our desire to receive that will make it possible for us to disengage from it because we don’t feel it. How is it possible to disengage from the “heart of stone” if I don’t feel it and don’t understand what this is?

We are in such a state, at the time of the Exodus from Egypt where we need to discover the 49 gates of Tuma’a (impurity), but we don’t know exactly what they are. So we carry out an exercise through symbolic activities in our world that show our desire to be disengaged from our desire to receive for the sake of reception, which is called “Hametz” (leavening).

At the time of the exodus from Egypt it is forbidden for us to be connected with the desire to receive. So we must carry out these conditions precisely: in every place where you can see your desire to receive for the sake of reception, you need to be disengaged from it. Do this action in the physical world also and you will see how difficult this is; it depends upon you and puts you in a unique state.

The symbols that connect branch and root, these unique times, the Kabbalists always related reverently to these conditions.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, Article, “This is for Judah”: That bread, which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.

Haggadah – “The Mitzva of eating Matza was given to the children of Israel even before they departed Egypt, relating to the future exodus, which was to be in haste. It follows that the Mitzva of eating a Matza was given to them while they were still enslaved….”

The Mitzva about eating Matza was given in advance because the Exodus from Egypt happened suddenly, in haste. Suddenly the order came: “In another moment go!,” “And what about the bread, how is it possible to leave without bread?”

So the Mitzva was given in advance to prepare everything so that at the moment of the Exodus, the escape, we would have everything necessary. Even now we are doing this because we are very happy about this, that all of the redemptions happen suddenly. Therefore, we are in hope all the time that at every moment the redemption could come.

Just as they said to them in Egypt: “You are leaving now!” that is what they will say to us today; indeed in a little while there will be a proclamation and we will all go out; we will begin to rise to the level of the redemption. Therefore we are so happy to celebrate this holiday, remembering this miracle every year.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why is the Torah written in a way that doesn’t pull us to connect? Instead, it talks about numerous crimes and punishments that are totally opposite to the law of not thinking about ourselves.

Answer: Does it mean that the language of the Torah distances you from the right actions? The Torah talks about everything in a way that makes it difficult to focus on correction. First of all, there is no mention of the group, connection, or love. Yes, it is written: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and yet even though it is the major law of the Torah, this phrase is stated only in one of the books, not in all of them.

It is not written before each commandment that first we have to love our neighbors as ourselves and from this to loving the Creator, and then observing the laws of Kashrut or replenishing damages. This major rule is mentioned only once; children are taught this law in the very beginning of their school years, but there is no reference to this notion anywhere else in the entire book.

The fact is that studying the Torah has been in the period of exile; it talks about traditions and material commandments that we have to observe in this world. It doesn’t teach intentions; people should just follow the instructions of the Creator naively. It was forbidden to teach intention during the period of exile so it was taught simply in an external form.

We need to understand that throughout the history of humanity, there have been wise Kabbalists at high levels of spiritual attainment. They were the leaders of the people, but they were forbidden to approach people and teach them the ways to exit from the exile before it was entirely completed.

The Egyptian exile was to last 400 years. However, since the people of Israel exited it ahead of time (after 210 years), the remaining 190 years were split among the subsequent exiles.

The same problem occurs with Jacob who wanted to disclose the secret of the final correction to his sons, but he was not allowed to do so. It is prohibited to disclose it. People are allowed to see only what they really need to be exposed to. “Do not place obstacles before a blind man.”

So people were allowed to observe traditions at home and continue praying. It is what the Torah of exile permits. Rabbi Chaim Vital speaks very harshly about mechanical studies of the Talmud in his preface to the book The Gates of Holiness. This does not in any way imply disregard for the book itself, which was written by the great Kabbalists, from their spiritual attainment and yet it should be understood and treated differently, not as it is done today. The period of exile is over now and we must study the Torah of the period of deliverance, that is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We know how hard it is. We spend years exerting in various actions until we gradually reach the correct attitude, before we begin understanding that except for the connection in the group and revelation of the correct form of unity called the Creator there is nothing else at all. Everything else is just idolatry.

Even essential actions that are done without the right intention to unite are idolatry. This is how we must relate to life. This is the approach we have to exercise during the period of deliverance that happens right before the disclosure of the letter “Aleph” (the Creator) inside the word “exile” (gula) transforming the word “exile” into “deliverance” (geula).

We are the first generation of the era of deliverance, and it is difficult for us to reveal this knowledge to others.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 65: You already know that there is an inverse relation between Lights and vessels: in the Kelim, the Higher ones grow first (see Item 62), which is why the first were more complete in the practical part than the last. But with the Lights, where the lower ones enter first, the last are more complete than the first.

Question: What is the meaning of the “practical part”? Does it refer to practical Mitzvot (commandments)?

Answer: These are Mitzvot that we fulfill between us on a physical level because our intentions are not yet sufficiently revealed. We don’t have a desire that is deep enough yet.

The same thing is also typical of the evolution of humanity. With time we gradually advance from physical work to mental work, to more delicate areas, whether it’s precise mechanics, nanotechnology, biology, etc.

This is already the work of the heavy vessels, those that have a great Aviut (thickness) of the desire. When you resist it, there is a whole variety of Lights that match the current depths of your ego. You begin to work with the Lights, with the intentions, with the delicate but strong vessels, like with a laser beam instead of manual instruments. Even the thought itself becomes a means that allows us to change the world, and we are already close to it.

Before, when we had a small desire we couldn’t penetrate the inner part of the world and discover all its components. Without a great evil inclination we couldn’t divide, classify, and organize it

There is the practical work and there is the work in our intention: the former is always in GE, while the latter is in AHP. As long as the vessels are pure, on the Aviut level of the root phase, phase one and two, there is an advantage to the actions. In other words, the intention in this state is called an action. It says: “Do everything that is in your power.”

This action isn’t performed manually, but the intention is small. In the meantime it isn’t supported by the great thickness of the desire and isn’t established on top of the resistance. I don’t establish an opposite intention to what is revealed inside me yet.

On the other hand, the real intention rides on top of the strongest desire on the third and fourth level of Aviut. This is where the real ego is concealed, against which I must work. It’s no small thing anymore. When a small child obeys his mother even when he doesn’t want to, it’s one thing, but if you ask a 15-year-old boy who already feels mature enough and overcomes the strongest inner resistance to do so, it’s a totally different thing. This is the difference between an action and an intention, and this has to do with both the Mitzvot of do and don’t do.

Question: So what, in this sense, are the physical actions that we perform in the group: duties, etc.?

Answer: These actions are also considered according to the intention. It says that Mitzvot don’t need an intention, which means the right intention of in order to bestow. But still everything is considered according to the intention, even if it’s egoistic for the time being but goal oriented.

“I want to reach the Creator.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, to be good.”

“But to be good is in order to bestow.”

“So I want to act in order to bestow!”

The truth is that I have no idea what bestowal is and I only say that I want it, but it’s enough in order to be part of the correction.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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