Question: What is the Kabbalistic meaning of the Mitzvah of being wrapped in Tzitzit (fringes) and putting on Tefillin (phylacteries)?

Answer: It is an allegorical description of those corrections of our egoism that we must go through. All of the Mitzvot, although they may seem to be disconnected from reality, worthless, useless and empty, are concerned only with correcting our egoistic nature to becoming altruistic.

Don’t think that the Tefillin are just boxes, that the Tallit (prayer shawl) is a cloth covering and that the Tzitzit are strings. These are all physical reminders, allegories, for particular spiritual characteristics. Actually we are commanded to make a correction on our desires called “Tallit,” “Tefillin,” and “Tzitzit,” and all the Mitzvot were given to us to correct the heart. The “heart” is our general egoistic desire. If we correct ourselves like this, then we will be keeping all the Mitzvot in their true form!

Question: Why is the prayer “Shema Yisrael” (Deuteronomy 6:4) inserted in the boxes of both the head and the arm that are called “Tefillin”?

Answer: This is because the Tefillin symbolize the spiritual implementation of the highest Mitzvah, which is adhesion with the Creator, meaning creating a desire that will be exactly like the Creator, and this is realized through correction of the ego on a very high level, called the “head of the world of Atzilut.” The egoistic desire of the person is built from five levels: Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet, and when he corrects them, then the “Kutzo shel Yod” (tip of the letter “Yod”) is gradually revealed to him, after it the letter “Yod” itself, then the letter “Hey,” then the “Vav” and finally the final “Hey”; he has received the four letter name of the Creator, which cannot be erased, cannot be washed away, and cannot be destroyed, because it is the foundation of creation, formed in Olam Ein Sof (the world of Infinity), even before the creation of our world through what are called the four Behinot (phases) of the Ohr Yashar (Direct Light).

We are implementing a correction when we need to resemble all four phases fully. This is our role. So the Mitzvot of Tefillin are so unique and high! All the Mitzvot belong to the world of Atzilut, which is derived from the word, “Etzlo” (close to Him), that is where the Creator Himself exists. So the box on the head represents one part of the Head of Arich Anpin, a block of the world of Atzilut, and the box on the arm symbolizes the second part of the Head of Arich Anpin.

The Tefillin of the arm symbolize the descent of the Ohr Hassadim (Light of Mercy), Bina, from the “head” to the “body,” which helps the body to be corrected. So the Tefillin of the arm are put on the weaker arm, the left arm. But we don’t need to dedicate that much thought to this, but simply to correct our egoistic desires in our overall connection with others. With this the entire Torah and all of the corrections will be realized.
[176398]
From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 25/1/16

Related Material:
“And Remember All The Commandments Of The Lord”
A Commandment Without An Aim Is Like A Body Without A Soul
Turn In The Direction Of The Good

Filed under: Commandments - No Comments →

New Life 682 – What Is Kashrut?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

The issue of Kashrut is a major issue in Judaism, and the nation was built on it. What is Kashrut and why is it a good thing? The natural system operates on us through 613 forces and we are made of 613 forces that have to be compatible with the forces of nature. Performing a Mitzva (commandment) means a reconciliation between me and the forces that operate on me, and a person who performs a Mitzva is called a “Kosher” person.

The dietary laws of Kashrut are determined by upper roots, not according to the Turkish or British law. Every upper root has a branch in our world, taking a lamb and a pig, for example, there are such animals and there are also such internal attributes in a person. To split the hoof and to ruminate means to differentiate between right and left, between receiving and bestowal and not being filled directly.

The upper world is the upper system of nature and we have to be kosher, which means to be compatible and in harmony with it. When we feel how nature operates on us we call it “God,” and we can have a channel of communication with Him, a dialog. The clash with the forces of nature that operate on us leads to problems in life, while being adapted to them allows us to live in harmony, but since the destruction of the Temple, we have lost the adaptation and the connection with the upper system and are left with only external actions and signs. Other nations also have laws as to what is allowed and what is forbidden to eat, but not according to spiritual roots like in Judaism.

A person who corrects his desires according to the upper system begins to feel it and becomes a kosher person.
[176650]
From KabTV’s “New Life 682 — What Is Kashruth?” 1/26/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

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

The Torah, “Numbers,” 15:37 – 15:41: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner. This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray. So that you shall remember and perform all My commandments and you shall be holy to your God. I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord, your God.

There have to be special fringes that are tied in a special way in all the four corners of every garment and every piece of clothing. These fringes symbolize the four parts of the spiritual vessel: Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, which should all be corrected and added. This means that they are studied and absorbed by the help of 613 commandments, 613 desires a person has, so that he will always be aware of their correction.

A person covers himself with these clothes only during the day and it is called a “prayer shawl” because when he is in the Creator’s Light he has to constantly remember how to be adapted to the Light, to constantly yearn for it, and resemble it, but not at night.

The blanket with which we cover ourselves has to have fringes in its corners that have to be tied. If they are not tied, they have to be cut with scissors into one small end so that it can be rounded. All the corners of the rectangle (Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut) where the Parsa goes through from Malchut to Bina, symbolize the spiritual vessel that has to be fully adapted to the Creator’s attributes, which means to be totally corrected in all its 613 desires.

A person has to constantly see them before him as the place for his correction. Therefore the knots on his clothes remind him that he has to constantly be subordinate to them so that he will look at these fringes each time and think about his 613 desires. On the level of our world these are only physical actions, of course, while in the spiritual world they symbolize that a person is corrected. Being under the prayer shawl refers to a spiritual person.
[166198]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/13/15

Related Material:
Turn In The Direction Of The Good
The Worst Of The Degrees
Don’t Fall Asleep Behind The Wheel

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

Question: You receive a lot of criticism on your position that Kabbalah isn’t a religion and has no connection to Judaism. Please explain to me why the great Kabbalists who lived in our times Baal HaSulam and Rabash were Orthodox Jews and in no way said that God is just nature and not a personality.

Answer: Baal HaSulam explained this in the best way in his article, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.” We know more from Ramchal (Moshe Chaim Luzzatto) about the wisdom of Kabbalah for people who are not Jewish. And all of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks only about the development of love for others, and religion talks about the carrying out of corporeal Mitzvot (commandments).

The definition of the wisdom of Kabbalah is: a system to reveal the Creator to the created beings in this world. Religion doesn’t aspire to achieve the same goal (revelation of the Creator through love of others) as Kabbalah. Thus it is not the same thing.

Thus your proposal that God is a personality simply makes me wonder if maybe you are an idol worshipper.
[164633]

Related Material:
True Religion And The Religion Of Exile
What Is The Difference Between Kabbalah And Religion?
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is Scientific Research On An Experimental Basis

Filed under: Commandments, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Religion - 1 Comment →

Question: Why must we receive the Torah every year during the holiday of Shavuot if we already received it at Mt Sinai?

Answer: It isn’t a physical action and about being physically at the foot of Mt. Sinai. We are told that a person should see himself as if he is coming out of Egypt every day. He must hear the Ten Commandments every day as if he is receiving them over and over again. It is because our ego, our desire to receive, is renewed every day. In contrast to this, we continuously must awaken the desire to bestow, the power of love. This is the reason that the Torah is given to us on a daily basis.

Now, however, we are in exile, which means that we don’t feel the good force which is concealed from us. We only can reveal it through the wisdom of Kabbalah, which was also intentionally concealed until not too long ago.

Question: How is the Torah related to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is called the wisdom of truth, the wisdom of the Light, since it is actually through this wisdom that we can attain the force of goodness, the force of love and bestowal, and fulfill the mutual guarantee and unity between us. We have been trying to do that for decades in the state of Israel, but things are getting worse and worse. We already have reached a point in which the situation is unbearable.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, reveals to us the force of goodness, the force of love, that ties us together and allows us to use it. We begin to feel how we must balance evil wherever it is revealed by the force of goodness. Then, we have two forces by which we can advance in the right direction to unity and love, and can develop in a good and wonderful manner.
[159833]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/17/15

Related Material:
Shavuot Is The Most Important Holiday
Giving And Receiving
A Joyful Giving Of The Torah Holiday

Filed under: Commandments, Egoism, Group Work, Inner Work, Spiritual Work, Torah, Unity, World - No Comments →

Torah, “Leviticus” 23:9 – 23:11, 23:15: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you come to the Land which I am giving you, and you reap its harvest, you shall bring to the Cohen an Omer of the beginning of your reaping. And he shall wave the Omer before the Lord so that it will be acceptable for you; the Cohen shall wave it on the day after the rest day… And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the Omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete.

An Omer is a sheaf that is gathered from the produce that is harvested and tied together.

In spiritual work, the meaning of the term, “Omer,” is a share (a count, a numbering) of the levels that are attained by us—seven levels of the development of connection in succession. On every level, the connection becomes more and more intense, and so we constantly count our seven Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut.

In the Torah, each one of them is composed of another seven Sefirot: Hesed of Hesed, Gevura of Hesed, Tifferet of Hesed, Netzach of Hesed, and so on. Seven times seven equals 49, meaning 49 days, seven sevens, which are talked about in the Torah.

At this time, we examine all of our inner characteristics connected to one Omer with all the rest. But this is not the same connection that existed in Egypt that helped  people exit it. The counting of the Omer begins from the second day of Passover, when each one examines himself, “With this I correct something, in a Sefira like this, in a state like this.”

Greater and greater connection begins to be realized between us until we attain such a state that, specifically within this “bundle,” this connection, the powerful ego that is called “Mount Sinai” (the mountain of mutual hatred) is revealed. We reach this during the process of our correction on the fiftieth day of the counting of the Omer.

In other words, our natural egoistic state is discovered in us that does not allow us to unite. Yet, on the other hand, an immense desire is revealed in us that is called the advancement toward mutual Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).

We want to be connected to each other in one Omer, but we don’t have the power to nullify our egoism. So, we agree to the conditions of the Torah, accepting its method to correct the ego gradually, and not kill or destroy it.

Ultimately, the Omer is only the beginning of our correct advancement toward unity. We understand that the future is in unity by whose side stands our immense egoism that doesn’t let us unite. The greatest internal contradictions and oppositions torment us. Our inner point can rise up to Mount Sinai, whereas we, ourselves, are unable to.

Mount Sinai is, in fact, the same tower of Babel, but now it acquires an absolutely different form because people already have passed through the departure from Babylon and Egypt, and are beginning to understand that if they climb above the ego, then on its summit, they will discover the Creator in their unity.

In this manner, we attain a very serious state. On the one hand, our egoism is revealed to us: pride, arrogance, and our failure to control it. On the other hand, we agree to bow our heads and accept the correction upon ourselves under the same conditions that it will be given to us.

These are the ten, essential Mitzvot (Commandments), the ten Sefirot, the ten Kelim, with whose help we acquire the ten indelible names of the Creator. Attaining the name of the Creator is not anything but attaining His characteristics. Above this is found only one single name, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey (YHVH).
[154415]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/28/14

Related Material:
A Person’s Essential Work
A Joyful Giving Of The Torah Holiday
The Ten Commandments Of Connection

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

Question: I heard that many Orthodox Jews have their hearing checked before Purim so that they can be sure that they hear the Mitzva (commandment) “remember what Amalek did to you…”

As far as I understand it is a totally new interpretation of the observation of the Mitzva. What do you have to say about it?

Answer: Because in our world a person is made of a body and a desire, he can fulfill what is required of him either physically or in his heart (desire). There is another way of observing it by the soul, by the intention of bestowal, Lishma, for its sake, but it is accessible only to those who seriously study the wisdom of Kabbalah guided by a teacher.

In any case, the more carefully a person observes this Mitzva and hears it through his ears or his heart, the more he feels that he is righteous… The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, calls a person to attain a level that is higher than the ear or the heart (both of which are in the ego). It speaks about ascent above the ego, above the intention of for my own sake, to the intention of not for my own sake (Lishma).
[154905]

Related Material:
Performing Mitzvot Both Externally And Internally
The Worst Of The Degrees
Washing One’s “Hands” With The Light

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

Baal HaSulam, Letter #16: “…prior to making a Mitzva [commandment], one must not consider private Providence at all. On the contrary, one should say, ‘If I am not for me, who is for me?’”
A Mitzva is the correction of a person’s desire since in the state he is in, he is detached from the Creator.

He wants to connect this state to the Creator as the one upper force, “There is none else besides Him,” “the good and the benevolent.” Thus, he restores this state to the state he was in before the shattering.

This is how he collects these states time after time, as it is written, “until many pennies accumulate into a great sum,” and he completes the correction of his soul.

We were given 613 corrupt desires to begin with, which we try to restore to adhesion. Before we perform a Mitzva—when I understand that I am in a corrupt state because I am not in adhesion, in unity, with the upper force—I mustn’t think about private providence, but, instead, we should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?”

…But after the fact, a person must reconsider and believe that it was not by “My power and the might of my hand” that I made the Mitzva, …

This means that I perform a Mitzva, that I exert myself as much as I can and use all the means—the Rav, the group, the study, dissemination, everything—in order to please the Creator and to tie myself to “There is none else besides Him.” At the same time, I take into account only “If I am not for me, who is for me,” and that I must take all these actions by myself.
However, having succeeded in something, I must say that this success was predetermined and ready, and that the Creator has prepared this for me in advance. If I am adhered to “If I am not for me, who is for me,” and eventually to, “There is none else besides Him,” it is the complete means to reach adhesion.
[135117]
From the 1^st> part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Work Not For The Sake Of Reward
The Commandments Are The Steps Of Unity
An Operation In “Faith Above Reason”

Filed under: Commandments, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The Torah, “Leviticus,” 19:19: You shall observe My statutes: You shall not crossbreed your livestock with different species. You shall not sow your field with a mixture of seeds, and a garment which has a mixture of shaatnez shall not come upon you.

In our times we do exactly the opposite by creating genetically modified food products. This phenomenon has entered into the general destruction of humanity. We have changed greatly and don’t even imagine how the consumption of these food products is influencing us.

If I buy a kilogram of tomatoes and keep them in the kitchen at room temperature of eighty-six degrees and they remain as they were when I bought them a month ago, this is a sign that they are not alive. It is something that has no vitality in it!

Tomatoes like these aren’t growing or vital and are food that in principle the body doesn’t need, for in fact, this is a collection of all kinds of chemical elements. And even though they nourish my body, this is not at all what should be from nature. Finally, we are only now beginning to discover in what manner these actions influence us, whether there is a connection between them, social morality, and our world view.

Together with this, within me there could be a replacement not only of the internal programs but also the elements of my body themselves. There was a time, 10-15 years ago, when we thought that hackers who inserted viruses into a computer could only harm the computer programs but not the system itself. Eventually, we became aware that they can also harm the computer itself.

We don’t imagine the consequences of consuming genetically modified food. Nothing in the world should be changed in such a manner. But on the other hand, in distancing ourselves from nature, we are beginning to understand what kind of a blind alley we have entered. In other words, this is the law of denial. And even though our “beast” isn’t particularly suffering, the “human” in us will become worse and worse. And that is how it will be with everything! Otherwise, there cannot be any recognition of evil.
[149567]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

Related Material:
“GMOs Could Cause ‘Irreversible Termination Of Life’ On Earth”
Effects Of The Upper Roots
A 3D Edible Printer

Filed under: Commandments, Crisis, Health, Torah - No Comments →

Question: What is the meaning of the commandment: “Thou shalt not hate your brother in your heart?”

Answer: The Torah commands us not to hate our brother since brothers naturally hate each other, which is revealed naturally.

A brother is your reflection on the next level and therefore you shouldn’t hate him since he shows you what you must complete in order to become whole,

Question: Does this mean that it is my reflection according to which I prepare my ascent?

Answer: It is a whole system. Why does Jacob have twelve sons, for example? Abraham had only one son Isaac, because Ishmael is a totally different system. They didn’t complement one another mutually. This will only be discovered later at the end of times.

Having many offspring indicates the incompleteness of the parents. Jacob had twelve sons because he wasn’t perfect. In order to attain the level of Israel he had to make all twelve levels perfectly adaptable, since they were still separated.

These mutual relationships apply to the whole family, to all the seventy souls. The twelve sons of Jacob are the twelve attributes that stem from him that have to merge into one integral whole. Only then will they become Israel (Yashar El), straight to the Creator, aimed at the Creator. Thus they discover what and who they have to correct along the ascent up the many levels of correction.

Jacob must have the hatred appear between the brothers, and Joseph must go down to Egypt. Then Pharaoh will appear between them and will keep them apart, and despite their ego, they will have to connect above it. As a result of the connection of the twelve tribes, the one general soul will be corrected, although we are yet to witness that.

Question: You say that the separation between the brothers stems from the fact that the parents are imperfect.

Answer: Of course, otherwise there would only be one single continuation. But it can only be fulfilled along the middle line. This is where the right unity takes place each time that it is aimed straight at the Creator.

The twelve tribes will establish their common basis called the land of Israel to the extent that they begin to connect correctly. This will include all the human attributes and all the parts that are distant from one another. They will gradually begin to connect until they reunite again at the one point of connection with the Creator. But this point, in the third phase, will be on the Creator’s level.

There is an initial hatred for others in people that was given to us by nature. Ask any person who has sons whether they always get along, whether they are always together, and you will get a negative answer. Brothers always compete, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

They can be together only when there is a great force, a great reward that pulls them forward and for which they connect. This reward nullifies their natural hate.

In our world there can only be strong unity between brothers for a cause. If the cause disappears, they separate again since the internal hatred always exists. So, the Torah isn’t wrong.
[149302]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book”

Related Material:
A Very Delicate Connection
When Brothers Are Together
Universal Brotherhood

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