Entries in the 'Kabbalistic Sources' Category

Kabbalists About Kabbalah Today, Part 7

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

An Opportunity for Redemption

Judaism [a science about connection with the Creator, from the word Yichud – “union”] must present something new [new relationships, revelation of the new purpose in life and the Upper World] to the nations. That is what they expect [subconsciously] from the return of Israel to the land! [Hence, after seeing that it is not happening, they hate us even more than before and claim that our state is unnecessary.]

It is not in other teachings, for in that we never innovated; we were always their disciples [we were first, but developed that which they had to develop]. Rather, it is the wisdom of religion, justice and peace [that they are expecting of us]. In this, most nations are our disciples, and this wisdom is attributed to us alone [since the program of correction of man’s nature has been passed to us].
– Baal HaSulam, “The Solution”
[27771]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

An Opportunity for Redemption

Thus, even though the Creator has delivered the land [our desire] from the hands of the nations and has given it to us [has given us a chance to begin correcting our egoism], we have not yet received [corrected] it. We are not enjoying it.

But with this giving, the Creator has given us an opportunity for redemption [from perception of this world], to be purified and sanctified [of egoism and mutual hatred] and assume the work of God in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma [properties of mutual bestowal and love].

At that time, the Temple [collective desire] will be built and we will receive the land [corrected desire] into our own authority [for the sake of bestowal]. And then we will experience and feel the joy of redemption [fulfillment by the Upper Light].
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
[27072]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

An Opportunity for Redemption

Our generation is the generation of the days of the Messiah [the generation that is rising from egoism to the property of bestowal and love of  another]. This is why we have been granted the redemption of our holy land from the hands of the foreigners [to stop our dependence a foreign power and create a state as a group of people who strive to attain the Creator]. We have also been rewarded with the revelation of The Book of Zohar, which is the beginning of the realization of the verse, “for the earth [desire made by the Creator] shall be full of the knowledge [Light] of the Lord.” “And they shall teach no more [religious stories]… for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them(Jeremiah 31).

Yet, we have only been rewarded with giving from the Creator, but we have not received anything into our own hands [we are not ready to implement correction]. Instead, we have been given a chance to begin with the work of God, to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. Then we will be granted the great success that is promised to the generation of the Messiah, which all the generations before us did not know. And then we will be rewarded with the time of reception of both the complete attainment [of the Upper World, the Creator] and the complete redemption [from our egoistic nature].
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
[26896]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Proof that Our Generation Has Reached the Days of the Messiah

Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Zohar, were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah. It was said about him and his disciples: “A sage is preferable to a prophet.” Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King. This is why his composition made such a great impact in the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees.

Hence, it is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment.

And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zohar could not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah.
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
[26804]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Proof that Our Generation Has Reached the Days of the Messiah

Since the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of the revelation of the Creator, naturally, there is no more successful teaching for its task. This is what the Kabbalists aimed for—to arrange it so it is suitable for studying. And so they studied it in concealment (as it was agreed to conceal it for a certain reason); however, this was only for a certain time, and not forever, as it is written in The Zohar, “This wisdom is destined to be revealed at the end of days.”
Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and its Essence
[26118]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Proof that Our Generation Has Reached the Days of the Messiah

And who better than I knows that I am not at all worthy of being even a messenger and a scribe for disclosing such secrets, and much less to thoroughly understand them. And why has the Creator done so to me? It is only because the generation is worthy of it, as it is the last generation, which stands at the threshold of complete redemption. And for this reason, it is worthy of beginning to hear the voice of Messiah’s Shofar, which is the revealing of the secrets, as has been explained.
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Horn

I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. And should you ask, “How do I know that it is permitted?” I will reply that I have been given permission to disclose. Until now, the ways by which it is possible to publicly engage and to fully explain each word have not been revealed to any sage….

And this is what the Creator has given me to the fullest extent. We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation, as our sages said, “Little Samuel was worthy, etc., but his generation was unworthy.” This is why I said that my being rewarded with the manner of disclosing the wisdom is because of my generation.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence
[26081]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Proof that Our Generation Has Reached the Days of the Messiah

Our generation is the generation of the days of the Messiah. This is why we have been granted the redemption of our holy land from the hands of the foreigners. We have also been rewarded with the revelation of The Book of Zohar, which is the beginning of the realization of the verse, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31).
– Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

All the interpretations of The Book of Zohar before ours did not clarify as much as ten percent of the difficult places in The Zohar. And in the little they did clarify, their words are almost as abstruse as the words of The Zohar itself.

But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam (Ladder) commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zohar without interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any intermediate student can understand. And since The Zohar appeared in our generation, it is a clear proof that we are already in the days of the Messiah, at the outset of that generation upon which it was said, "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord."
Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
[25987]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Engaging in Kabbalah Requires No Preliminary Excellence

The purpose of creation belongs to all creations without exception. It concerns not necessarily merely the strong and skillful, the brave people who can overcome, but all the people.

In “Midrash Rabba,” [The Great Commentary] sages wrote: “The Creator said unto Israel: “Regard, the whole wisdom and the whole Light are easy things [for those who protect themselves from egoism]. He who fears Me and does deeds of Torah [acts only for the sake of bestowal and love], [in that case] the entire wisdom and Light are in his heart.”
Rabash, Steps of the Ladder, “Love of Friends- 2
[25901]

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Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Engaging in Kabbalah Requires No Preliminary Excellence

During the practice of Torah, every person must labor in it [but not by learning the text by heart], and set his mind and heart to find “the light of the king’s countenance” in it [the Light of correction, Hassadim, and later on, the Light of fulfillment, Hochma, which both are called “the Upper Light”], that is, the attainment of open Providence, called “light of countenance.” And any person is fit for it, as it is written, “those that seek Me shall find Me.”

Thus, one needs nothing in this matter except the labor alone [in attaining the property of bestowal and love].
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 97
[25794]

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The Creator’s Call Sign

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: People often ask me what is Kabbalah and I try to explain its essence and purpose. In response many people admit, “Yeah, I also feel that way. Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.” So does this mean they have a point in the heart? How do the people who have this point differ from other people who are also looking for something?

Answer: The point in the heart is a part of the Creator. When it becomes revealed in you, you hear a “call sign” calling you to Him.

We recognize the point in the heart when it brings a person to the science of Kabbalah, to the place or the net where all our points come from. Kabbalah is not the books, but the wisdom and the program of the common system. Kabbalah books bring you the force of this program and you use it to enact the first spiritual impulse.

In reality you have never left this “system of governance.” You are always inside it, connected to others, and your common body is alive. It is Malchut of the World of Infinity, which really exists, although you do not feel how you belong to it.

Instead of feeling its main window, you feel yourself as being in a completely different “window.” You are in the same place, but you perceive a different world, devoid of the common interconnection. There are two windows: one is the natural, correct, true, and deep one, and the other is virtual. Right now my screen is occupied by our illusory world, but alongside it there is also an inner screen where we are all in the state of Infinity. This is what the Kabbalists talk about.

I aspire to it with my point in the heart, wanting to go from the virtual screen to the real one, to the place where I am connected to everyone. If my point really has awakened, I find myself in the group. I open up books that talk about this inner screen, and while reading them I evoke Light from there that begins to advance me.

However, if a person does not care about Kabbalistic books and unity in the group, if he does not feel the inner need for this, then he does not have a point in the heart. He imagines all sorts of things and looks for spirituality in India, or in different religions and faiths, in meditation, in New Age, and so on. In contrast to this, a person with a point in the heart is unable to leave the path any longer. He can “take a break” due to various problems, but he will never exchange his point for anything else.
[27430]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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