Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

The Way Is Easy Or Hard, But There Is No Other Way

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do the Kabbalists call this way the easy way? It doesn’t seem easy to me.

Answer: I don’t know if this way is easy or hard; I simply see this way before me and know that I have nowhere to escape from it. This is my only way.

At the same time, I can work, have children, take care of a family, and be involved with other things, and all this is seemingly an additional burden, heavy sacks that hang on my donkey. I take them on because there is no choice. The Kabbalists said that I must do this to organize my life.

But other than that, with all this burden, I must go towards my goal. And I only look forward like a donkey with blinders on so that he will not look to the sides.

The stronger my connection with the group and the clearer the way, I will see with more certainty that I am directed only towards this goal. There is no reason to side step to later return back to this path because I only stop and slow myself down this way.

Start investing efforts and exertion and then you will see that through the example of friends and the influence of the Light, you advance correctly. You can see this through friends who are only beginners as well as the veterans. The Creator will open your eyes for you so that you will see all the forms that you need.

The group that you see is only in your imagination; this is not its true form. Believe me, there is a group here that is connected and directed towards a goal with unlimited power. But “All who find fault do so with their own flaws.” So if you try, then you will see everything you need and will get help according to your exertion.

Don’t think that the friends are small; you will get everything from this group. You simply don’t see it in its true form. Invest effort in being integrated into the group; to the degree that you enter into it and disappear with self-nullification, so will you advance. Love of friends supplements all deficiencies.

Question: But it’s impossible to understand everything that is written in the books as long as you don’t feel this yourself! Also in what you are saying now there is nothing to understand and carry out!

Answer: There is! You simply need to connect. There is no other form of practical work in our condition except connection. And for this connection, you must accept all the conditions that they give you. If you agree, then please, the way is open before you.

And if you don’t want to connect, then you are free to do what you want! We check the person only in relation to this condition. This is the only free choice that is given to him. It could be that this will take 10-20 years until he understands it. Well, so it will be 20 years, what can you do about it? But he must understand this condition and realize it. If that’s not enough for you, go back to this world to continue incarnation after incarnation, because we are in a process of correction.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/14, Writings of Rabash

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The Effort Is The Reward

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is it that when we hear about the importance of dissemination we are on fire and the burn with desire to go out to disseminate, but tomorrow all of our desire fades and disappears?

Answer: This is deliberately arranged so that we will overcome our desire. If it were pleasant for us to disseminate, we would get no benefit.

And so we have to make an effort against our desire because we think that this is important for spiritual development, even though on the physical level it does not seem important to us and is even repulsive. It follows that this is really work for us.

We must understand that where resistance from the body is not felt, there is no spiritual reward! It’s very simple. So if we don’t want to go out to disseminate and we find a thousand justifications for ourselves, if this is disgusting and repulsive to us, if we are ashamed and think that we are not suited for this work, all of this resistance is specifically given to us to overcome it and get a spiritual reward.

This is called an act of overcoming through effort. The effort is accumulated drop after drop, “joined into a great amount,” until our counter jumps to the next digit and we get spiritual elevation.

This means that we have no choice; it is impossible to advance otherwise. So I am happy to hear that you do not have the ability and desire and that you don’t know where to disseminate and how; these are all excuses, but this specifically gives you the opportunity to make an effort!

Understand that if you see an opportunity to take action without effort, it is preferable not to do it! If it is pleasant for you to go out to the community, and you want this very much, are excited and happy, then you will not receive a great reward for this activity, for you have not acted against your ego.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Reasonable? Reasonable!

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we explain the method of connection to a person, we have to explain the basis for the method. Therefore, we say that it isn’t something that we invented but that it stems from nature. We see that nature has been managing us for ages, advancing us and bringing us to a state in which we all find ourselves connected to one another.

By nature we are all connected, but on our part, we don’t want this connection. It turns out that we are in a system that connects us in every possible way, but we object and act as if there is no connection between us. Therefore, there is a crisis.

This system operates on us as if we are connected and thus operates and manages us, while we don’t want it. This leads to confusion and to a great mess in everything that we do. This phenomenon began a couple of decades ago when we began to realize that we are all connected.

Previously there was no such thing. We simply grew and grew until suddenly the connection was closed. It happens with small children who don’t feel that they need friends and play by themselves until the age of two or three. Then the child grows and realizes that there are other children and that it is interesting to play with them.

Humanity has developed in the same way; up to a certain point each developed separately and suddenly nature forces us to be together. Do you agree to accept the condition that everyone is connected? We are destroying the world and our life if we carry on the way we live now.

The correction is in studying and investigating nature and becoming compatible with it by identifying, and becoming in line and balanced with it so that we will live well. Balance is the principle law of nature. All of nature is drawn to balance.

This is very reasonable and can be explained. Otherwise, why do we ask everyone to be in good relations with one another, in connection? Are we communists or small children who don’t understand that it’s impossible to implement that?

But it isn’t about whether it’s possible or not, but simply that we have no choice. It isn’t a theory that was made by anyone; we learn from nature what it means to be in harmony with it. All of nature aspires for balance and we also have to attain it. Then everyone will feel good. It’s a physical law, a physical law that is expressed in the relations between people.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/14, Writings of Rabash

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.30.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 927 

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Workshop

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Tetzaveh”

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Writings of  Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 33

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Writings of  Baal HaSulam, “Inheritance of the Land“

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The Source Of Traditions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A new student who comes to the Pesach meal sees many religious customs and doesn’t understand what is going on.

Answer: These are not religious customs. All the customs of the Israeli nation stem from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and are transcendental and illogical. All this doesn’t exist in nature and so we don’t need to follow them blindly.

The 18 minutes during which the Matzo are baked, for example, are made of  the nine Sefirot of the Direct Light and nine Sefirot of the Returning Light. If we don’t manage to bake the Matzo during this time, a process of fermentation begins, which means that the egoistic desire will begin to swell and to rise. So we don’t eat leavened bread during Pesach since the fermented desire cannot receive the Light of Hochma (wisdom).

What does it mean to escape from Egypt? It’s a very quick transition when a person comes out of egoism and enters altruism, out of our world and into the feeling of the upper world, the feeling of the Creator.

Here, like in the time of birth, you cannot stall since you cease to be nourished by the previous system that provided you with oxygen and other nutrients. It operated upon you through the umbilical cord and your body functioned.

Now a totally different system operates upon you, as your lungs begin to receive oxygen through the air and you begin to breathe independently and to function; your temperature changes and totally new systems begin to operate, a different world and different senses. All this happens at once.

All the Jewish customs stem from the spiritual world and have no corporeal basis or justification. They gradually became customs of other religions as each religion received them in its own way and changed them to suit them.

For the Arabs, an offering is slaughtering a lamb. The word “sacrifice” stems from the Hebrew word “close.” The external customs of different peoples are not very different, but they all stem from ancient spiritual customs.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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“But He That Trusts In The Lord, Mercy Compasses Him About”

Dr. Michael LaitmanPsalms, 32; 10-11: Many are the sorrows of the wicked; but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy compasseth him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

If a person opens his vessel, he begins to feel that everything has already been prepared for him from Above and that everything has been prepared with mercy in advance. The only thing a person lacks is to detach from his desire to receive, and if not to detach from it, at least to detach from what depends on it. This is also prepared from Above.

Then a person attains adhesion with the Creator, as it says: “but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy compasseth him about.”
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From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/14

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It Is Good To Be Together In The Center Of The Group And Bad To Be Alone

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that suffering shortens time?

Answer:  The sufferings and clarifications shorten time because I must feel:

Evil in the desire to receive and good in the desire to bestow.
Bad alone and good together.
Bad outside of the center of the group and good within the center of the group.

All of this is against my substance, my desire. If I strive against my desire, I feel anguish and I am not ready to carry this out. A person is not ready to suffer willingly, and where there is suffering, he cannot enter.

Only provided that he has a greater goal that covers up the suffering will he be ready to accept them, like a patient who agrees to an operation. Even though it is unpleasant and dangerous, he goes along with this or otherwise he will die. So don’t consider him to be a hero; he indeed understands that without this it is impossible to go on and that it is worthwhile for him to accept the suffering and remain alive.

Every beast and every person makes a calculation like this. But we need to go against our desire to receive, without any justification of the desire to receive.

When I go against my ego and try to be integrated into society and into a group, to be together with them and to carry out what they want, I have no justification for this. I cannot say that there will be some kind of benefit from this for me. I don’t see a purpose for which it is worthwhile for me to yield and do what they want. There is no justification; I can’t swap a cow for a donkey. So how will I do this?

It is here that a place for the prayer of many is created, which is a request to receive the power of bestowal. I want to bestow without any compensation. This is against my nature, and it is impossible to carry this out. If they were to give me compensation, on the contrary, I surely would bestow in order to receive. If I need to give someone ten dollars and get back, let’s say, something worth a thousand dollars, I will happily bestow.

I have no problem in bestowing in order to receive, everyone does this. But here we are talking about bestowing without any compensation for myself, without any fulfillment. How is it possible to do this? There are no such actions in our world. For everything I do, there must be an opposite reaction from the other side. Otherwise this would be a perpetual motion machine, an eternal engine that constantly supplies energy and power without being charged.

There is nothing like this in our world, yet there is in spirituality! This is the power of the Creator who can bestow without any compensation. I want to get this power. If through a small illumination the desire to acquire this characteristic grows in me, this is a sign that I have already advanced to Lishma and I have already begun to demand: “Give me the power to bestow without anything in return.”

I want to be wise, sensitive, and understanding, so that I will be able to bestow and have all that I need for this bestowal. And so I receive this ability.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/14, Writings of Rabash

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Clouds Over The Border Of Egypt

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash’s Article, “Come Unto Pharaoh – 2”: The fact was that everything that they built would fall. This means that every time they built for themselves some structure in the work, the Egyptians came, meaning the alien thoughts of the Egyptians, and ruined all their work. In other words, all the work that they did with all their efforts to overcome and to serve in the work of holiness was swallowed in the ground.

Thus, each day they had to start over, and it seemed to them as though they were never engaged in the work of holiness. Moreover, each time they contemplated moving forward, they saw that not only did they not progress, they even regressed, since new “who” and “what” questions would always surface in their minds.

These are the well-known questions of Pharaoh: (Exodus 5:2) Who is the LORD, that I should hearken unto His voice? and (Exodus 12:26) What mean ye by this service? And the questions became heavier and heavier, and if the person advances from day to day, he sees himself less and less successful. But it’s necessary to accept this as reliable evidence of advancement for this happens with each and every one when he approaches the exodus from Egypt.

Precisely because the person invests much effort, they show him how much he doesn’t succeed. Therefore there is no chance of advancing if the person isn’t fortified by study, the Rav, and the group. And this applies to both men and women. There is no difference between them; the process is the same process.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/14, Writings of Rabash

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.29.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Shamati #141 “The Holiday of Passover”

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Workshop

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Emor”

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Writings of  Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 30

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “This Is for Judah”

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Correction Through The Method Of Justification

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we choose between the Nefesh de Kedusha (holy soul) and the Nefesh de Klipa  (impure soul) that the Creator gives us in every state?

Answer: In every state, I need to say that I am found half in Kedusha (sanctity) and half in Klipa (impurity) and choose between them, as it is written: “A person should always see himself as if he is half innocent and half guilty, and decide between them.” This means that I am always free to determine my attitude towards the state I am in.

I don’t change the states; I cannot change the Reshimot (informational genes). I am not the master of the Light. It is within my power only to change my attitude to the current state.

I don’t work with the forces of Klipa and Kedusha. Everything depends only on what attracts me in the present situation, either the side of bestowal or the side of reception. In creation, we become partners with the Creator in order to justify Him.

But this is enough, for this justification opens my eyes to the degree that I unite with the Creator with the right perception, manner, program, depth, and goal of His actions that are opened to me. This is called revelation of the Creator.

Revelation of the Creator gives me the power to justify Him in the present state, in all previous states, and in the next states, regarding each and every one in reality, according to all parts of the shattered Kli. And so I am called Tzadik Gamor (completely righteous).

The completion of correction (Gmar Tikkun) is the complete justification of the Creator in all of His activities with all of the creatures.

Question: So why doesn’t a person reach the completion of correction when he succeeds for the first time in reaching such a point of justification of the Creator?

Answer: Because I will have many points like these on the way. I need to go through them all, one after the other, because only in this gradual and consistent way, can I recognize the Creator. To justify means that I know, understand, and feel all of the reasons, actions, and results of the work that the Light performs on the Kelim. And then “From your deeds we shall know you,” meaning that I recognize and understand Him, and discover that He and His actions are perfect.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/14, Writings of Rabash

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