Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

The Only Desire That Attains The Goal

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, “Introduction to The Zohar,” “BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride),” Item 128: …Zeir Anpin unites with Malchut, and she sees her husband…For she will not be able to see her husband until they all gather. And they depend on one another.

Malchut incorporates all the souls. Without them she is merely a point in the World of Atzilut, a point of Keter that has nothing of her own.

The broken souls, in other words, I and the group are found beneath in the Worlds of BYA. I want to unite with my friends, and my desire rises towards Malchut. From there it rises towards Zeir Anpin, and from there even higher toward Infinity (Ein Sof). Then as a response from her, I receive the strength to ascend. This way, the only thing that goes to Malchut is my desire to become part of the group, when I force myself into it.

I want it even stronger, and only this kind of pressure rises above to become incorporated in Malchut de Atzilut. Only it constitutes MAN, the actual appeal for correction.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”

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Towards Spirituality Through This World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 470: …as it is written, “For I will surely blot out the memory of Amalek. “Blot out is above,” “I will blot out,” below. “Memory” means the memory above and below.

“Above” and “below” do not speak of our world since it is not subject to correction; there is nothing to correct in it. This whole world that we live in while staying in our bodies (just like other people) before the point in the heart awakens in us and we find a group through which we connect with spirituality has nothing to do with correction and/or with spirituality.

We are talking about desire that originates from the point in the heart and later on is incorporated in the group (meaning into the assembly of other points in the heart that we have to reconnect together). The Zohar speaks only about this process. The rest of reality that we observe around us bears no relation to correction or spirituality.

We see a huge material world around us, but it doesn’t exist in spirituality. It is given to us only to serve as a basis from which we start our spiritual lives. Relative to the spiritual world, our world doesn’t exist. It is an imaginary reality from which we can enter spirituality independently, by ourselves.

The Creator gives us a point in the heart that allows us to advance. If we put our inner state through a filter that really separates the spiritual (authentic) world from the “unreal” one, only points in the heart would pass through this filter. The rest of this realm would be stopped by the filter and vanish since it simply doesn’t exist.

In other words, our imaginary reality has only one purpose: to allow the points in our hearts to enter spirituality. We have to continue living in this reality until we manage to connect all the points in the hearts into one spiritual realm and thus reach complete correction (Gmar Tikkun). Afterwards, this imaginary picture will disappear.

Until then, our world won’t vanish. In each action of correction (from the first to the last) we have to stay within the “unreal” image of our material world because that’s where we start a new round of correction each time.

It is written about Rabbi Shimon (the author of The Book of Zohar) that before his last correction he identified himself as “Shimon from the market,” meaning that he fell into this world and sensed only this dimension of life. From this world he managed to attain the highest level of correction.

This is the reason why the imaginary reality that we call “our world” is so important: It provides us with a sense of separation from spirituality. Because we sense separation, we independently manage to correct each portion of our uncorrected desires. We do it while staying in this world, which is totally absent from the spiritual realm, “from absence.”

This is why this world is so important. Everyone has to lead a normal life: have a good job and family, study, and comply with whatever this world requires of us. Without this world we will not become similar to the spiritual world; we will not correct ourselves or enter spirituality.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, The Zohar

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11.19.10

Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “Inclusion of the Attributes of Mercy and Judgment”
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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “Be Happy with the Whole Building”
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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “Be Happy with a Complete Building, Part One”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 48
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Explanation of the Article, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Lesson 4
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Freedom,” Lesson 6
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Instructions On Canning Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, Introduction, Chapter “BeLaila DeKala (On the Night of the Bride)“: …the Sitra Achra has only a thin light of the illumination of Malchut. This is regarded as Shoresh [root], and it is sufficient for the persistence of the Klipot… This Shoresh is also called “a fine thread,” meaning a thin root for the sins. It is written about it, “At first, it is akin to spider-web, and later it becomes as cart-ropes.”

Klipa is Kelim that we are unable to correct yet by the intention of bestowal. We are talking about very powerful and important desires in which the greatest Lights will be revealed later on at the final correction. In principle we do not have the possibility of doing anything with the desire for pleasure. We can only sort out its parts and decide which of them we are now able to work with on various conditions.

As for the rest of the desires, we have to “can” them and constantly keep guarding them so they won’t break out and attack us. All the enemies of Israel, meaning those who hate the aspiration “straight to the Creator,” are exactly the great egoistic desires which we cannot correct yet. The Torah calls them the nations that never let Israel be.

Of course, we understand that their wars are the awakening of egoism, which is for a person’s benefit. They enable him to discern his uncorrected desires and “to kill” them, meaning to always find new parts in them that can be corrected and attached to him in order to be used for the sake of bestowal.

Thus, we need to worry about the egoistic parts of the desire which are not yet subject to correction. We have to support their existence and perform special spiritual work for their sake.

After all, I feel them inside me. It’s not enough to simply cut them off and not use them. On the current phase I correct them by giving them a small illumination, designated by the letter Kuf (ק), whose lower part descends beneath the line, bringing a thin glow to the worlds of BYA and to the Klipot that are there.

It’s the same as how a sick person is connected to a life support machine in the emergency room. It’s not that I pretend that these desires don’t exist in me, but on the contrary, I admit that they exist and I rule over them. It turns out that they depend on me because I support a small spark of life in them.

We need the Klipa because, like a peel, it protects the fruit during the period of its ripening. Without these actions we are unable to start correcting Malchut.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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Preparing The Ground For David’s Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How does the story of David and Bat-Sheva become expressed in group work?

Answer: The question is correct. We don’t work just on a person’s individual desire, but on the desire that is between us. That is precisely what was broken and it is what has to be corrected.

In the general desire for correction every person is present with his own particular egoism, which is not taken into account at all. Inside of me there are desires of the animate, vegetative, and still levels, which are not subject to correction directly. They will be corrected to the degree I work on the human level.

What needs to be corrected is the relationships between us, the threads of connection between us. This general desire is evil in relation to you – the intention for the sake of bestowal.

Leave everything else alone and work only on the human being in you, Adam, the one who has to be similar (Dommeh) to the Creator. All the other desires will automatically follow him.

That is why all of our work is done in the group. Malchut, Bat-Sheva, is the common broken Kli for which we have to find correction, unity. The discerning Upper Light AB-SAG comes and takes a part of the Light from us. That is how Uriah passes away, the Light Yod-Hey. Only Vav-Hey remain with which we can work.

Then David takes a part of Zeir Anpin, which is intended for correcting Malchut, and starts to work. Being a screen (Masach) with the intention “for the sake of bestowal,” he corrects Bat-Sheva and reaches the right Zivug, unity with her, in order to give pleasure to the Creator.


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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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The Compass Pointing To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I check that I am going in the right direction?

Answer: You will never be able to find this out. To do that you would have to know where the final goal is and where you are. Then you could draw a straight line between the two points and discern the right direction.

But if you do not know these two points, then what can you do? And the fact is that you will never find out what they are!

That is why we have the group, which is the only opportunity to move toward the goal. You have to become included in it, and the more you join it, the more it will mean that you are moving in the right direction.

How can you check this? The moment you really start to unite with them, inside that unity among all of you, you will reveal the Creator. He will be your witness that right now you are going in the right direction, and that is no fantasy!

This evidence is the first supporting fact, and only then can you be sure that you went in the right direction. Before that, it is written, "One made efforts and found."

Efforts should be made during the study of the primary sources in the group. Everything else is auxiliary work.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, "The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose"

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You Won’t Figure Out Anything Without The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanOnly the group can give you the desire to change your nature, and only the Light can change it, and only then will you really understand what bestowal is!

Today it seems to me that bestowal is simply to bestow to others. But that is completely incorrect!

How is it possible to bestow to others if in spirituality we unite as one whole without any differences between us? To whom do I bestow in that case: to others or to myself?

Therefore, right now we have absolutely no understanding of what bestowal is. This spiritual notion seems to get lost somehow. If I ascend to some spiritual level and see that on it everyone unites together, then it would seem like I have no one to bestow to: I am the only one everywhere!

We cannot understand this until the Light comes and gives us this spiritual vision. We egoists think that bestowal is when we give to another person by overcoming our lack of desire.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, "The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose"

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The Secrets Of The Upper Governance, "One Inside The Other"

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, "The Foundations Of Intention," Item 59: …Malchut of the First Restriction is concealed in the "unattainable head" (RADLA) by the secret of the "foundation stone," which the builders neglected. And therein lies the secret of the three heads of which The Book of Zohar speaks, since the first head, RADLA, is corrected as "one above the other," while the head of Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other."

There is a head of a spiritual Partzuf (Rosh) that repels the Light and is therefore called "one above the other," and there is also a head that accepts the Light and sends it downwards as "one inside the other." These two heads stand at the head of the World of Atzilut and constantly balance each other out with their work. This determines the root of the Upper Governance, which comes to us from there.

It says about Malchut, "One above the other"; Malchut is separated from the World of Atzilut and we no longer know what happens there. We don’t understand the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) since it is at a completely different range.

It’s similar to my ear, which is able to pick up sounds only up to the frequency of 20 kilohertz; I cannot hear anything higher than that. The First Restriction works on "gigahertz" so great, a range so distant that I don’t even suspect its existence. It is unknown and unclear to me.

Such fine qualities of the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow exist there, and such fine discernments that we don’t even touch it. We aren’t refined and sensitive enough for it. This is called "one above the other."

There is a reverse order of Lights and Kelim, meaning that the desire of Malchut lacks the Light of Keter, Yechida. It turns out that the Light of Hochma ascends into the vessel of Keter, the Light of Bina, into the vessel of Hochma, and so on, until the Light intended for Malchut enters the vessel of Yesod. This is the beginning of the lack of correspondence of the Lights to the desires where all the Lights are not located in their places.

And Arich Anpin is corrected as "one inside the other," meaning that the Light of Hochma fills the desire of Keter. That is why the desire of Keter experiences a lack, a feeling that it is not filled by its Light, since this Light is on a lower level, the Light of Hochma.

However, we have to understand that the only Light that can enter the desire of Keter is the one intended for it. I cannot hear with my eyes or see with my ears! We are talking only about the degree of the Light that fills the desire, and the degree of Light in the desire of Keter is now felt as if it is the Light of Hochma instead of Keter.

From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Beit Shaar Ha-Kavanot”

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The Zohar About The Law Of The Integral System

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 39: …since Malchut was taken from ZA and was built into a complete Partzuf. It follows that ZA is lacking the Sefira of Malchut, and as it is generally lacking from the Malchut, it is lacking from her in each of his elements, since each particular Sefira consists only of nine Sefirot, and not of ten. Hence, when the Malchut rises and joins ZA, she complements each of his elements into ten Sefirot, complementing each of his organs.

This is the law of the integral system. By completing any small part of the system, we complete all of its parts. All the particular Sefirot of Malchut are interconnected just as all the Sefirot of Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Hochma are. That is because all the Sefirot come from the general structure of Infinity: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, or the point of the letter Yod, Yod, the upper Hey, Vav, and the lower Hey. There is nothing besides this structure.

All the levels and worlds, which seem to have expanded from Infinity downwards until this world, are just the same structure of Infinity that we cannot approach correctly in its 100% authentic form. Therefore we have been given the opportunity to correct the same structure in a lessened form, to a smaller degree.

Therefore, we always complete the same Sefirot. All the Malchut in all the worlds come from one Malchut of Infinity in all of its particular Sefirot, which in turn also divide into its particular Sefirot and so on. All of their Malchut belong to the same Malchut of Infinity. All of the Zeir Anpin belong to Zeir Anpin of Infinity. The same thing is true for Bina – all the Binas belong to the Bina of Infinity, and likewise all the Hochmas belong to Hochma of Infinity.

In any place, any Sefira and any quality is connected to its source. And even though all the Sefirot are interconnected into ten Sefirot, there is always a connection between the parts with the same name.

So the Lights expand from Above downwards through ten Sefirot, from Keter to Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut, or in the reverse direction, ascending from below upwards through the Reflected Light. But as the Light passes through this passageway, it always attains the Sefira intended for it, entering it and filling it with the necessary Light from the same place in Infinity that it came from.

If I want to fill a specific quality, I have to relate to it with the same quality, desire, and Light, and that is how I fulfill it. There is an aspect of the Light’s passage, according to screens, the dissemination of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey from Above downwards or from below upwards, and there is an aspect of the character of the Sefirot. Therefore, an “ear,” for example, cannot receive Light intended for the “eye” or carry out its function. A screen over a specific desire can perform a special function that precisely corresponds to that desire.

It turns out that in any case there is a very precise division into HaVaYaH and three lines, according to their source in Infinity: the four-letter HaVaYaH (Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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