My new article on Linkedin “Exile and Redemption – the Israel Way”

On Friday the 15th, Jews all over the world celebrated Passover—the redemption of Israel from the enslavement in Egypt, thirty-three centuries ago. The exodus from Egypt is mentioned not only on the relevant date in the Hebrew calendar. Almost every significant date on the Hebrew calendar contains the words “to remember the exodus from Egypt.” In fact, not only Judaism, but Christians, too, attribute great importance to the deliverance of the Israelites from enslavement. Throughout history, there have been countless cases of enslavement and liberation. Why then is this one so important that we make it a point to remember it? The exodus symbolizes much more than deliverance of one nation from another. It describes the inner process by which one redeems one’s soul from the enslavement of the ego. And since we are all born slaves to our egos, the exodus from Egypt pertains to each and every person on the planet.

When the Israelites were in the Sinai desert, they complained to Moses, “We remember the fish that we ate for free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the greens [vegetables] and the onions and the garlic” (Num. 11:5). On another occasion, they lamented, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full” (Ex. 16:3). We see that it was not physical hardships that afflicted the children of Israel in Egypt, but something else tormented them to the point where they could not tolerate remaining there even for another night. That something is the reason that the story of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt is still so well remembered.

To understand what that something is, we must remember that the people of Israel are unlike any other nation. Their roots cannot be traced to any one nation or country, clan, or tribe. We attribute the beginning of the nation to Abraham, but he was only the first. On the day he died, the Hebrews were still not a nation. They received their official status, if you will, only at the foot of Mt. Sinai, after they vowed to unite “as one man with one heart.”

Until then, people of countless tribes and nations joined the Hebrews at their own will. The only condition for joining the ancient Hebrews was to agree to the principle of unity above all differences. In other words, the emerging nation consisted of people from many different origins, who joined the group that Abraham had established because they subscribed to the idea by which he established it: unity, care for others, this is all that matters. This is why the fundamental law of Judaism is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Despite their efforts to unite, the ego of the ancient Hebrews failed them time and time again. Each time they rose above it and united, it intensified and separated them once more. This is why the history of the people of Israel is rife with conflicts and wars.

The story of the exodus from Egypt is a symbolic tale that speaks about one’s efforts to overcome one’s ego. Moses, for example, is the quality within us that constantly pulls toward unity. The Hebrew name Moshe [Moses] is similar to the Hebrew word “moshech” [pulling], namely pulling away from the ego and toward unity and love of others.

The people of Israel are qualities within us that can relate to Moses and follow him, but hesitate to do so. They are tempted by the ego to remain in Egypt, where the ego is king. This is why they constantly question Moses’ leadership and wonder if it would not be better had they stayed in Egypt.

Egypt symbolizes our ego, our hatred of others. Pharaoh is the epitome of the ego. He is not only hatred of others, but a desire to rule over everyone and everything, to oppress all of reality under one’s own governance. This is why Pharaoh says, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” (Ex. 5:2). In other words, Pharaoh bows to no one; it is the core of egoism.

Moses’ struggle to release the people of Israel from the ego was successful. For an individual, it is the redemption of the soul from the shackles of the ego, the king that rules us from birth, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21).

As we can see, the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt is very pertinent. Today’s world, which is mired in egoism, needs redemption from the ego no less than the people of Israel needed it then. We have built a beautiful world, abundant in every possible way. Yet, the enslavement to our narcissistic selves separates us from each other and causes us to destroy every piece of beauty on our planet.

Just as the enslavement of the people of Israel in Egypt was really an enslavement to their egos, so we are trapped by our own egos and seek to dominate and oppress others (if we are Pharaoh), or simply hate other people (if we are simple Egyptians). Either way, it is destructive to ourselves, to our society, and to the world we live in.

May this Passover be the beginning of our redemption from our egos and the beginning of our unity and love of others.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “When was Exodus from Egypt?“

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the exodus from Egypt means exiting the desire to receive for oneself, leaving behind self-aimed egoistic thoughts, discernments and decisions, and entering a higher reality of love, bestowal and connection. It is a birth into a new illuminated world.

Before we enter that world, we are in a desire to receive for self-benefit alone, a narrow concern about our own lives, and exiting that state means getting rid of the control of Egypt—the intention for self-benefit alone—and entering into a new control of the upper force of love, bestowal and connection. In the latter world, we discover and live in a new intention to benefit others and the whole of nature.

In other words, the exodus from Egypt is not some past historical event or merely a story that we learn as we grow up. It is rather a key transitional state we go through on our spiritual path, where we shift from being in a corporeal egoistic state to living in a spiritual state of love, bestowal and connection, in contact with the upper force.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on April 15, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Moses’ Leadership to Take Humanity Out of Egypt”

Against the background of a worldwide vacuum in leadership today, the figure of Moses who brought Israel out of Egypt seems more relevant than ever. What made the great prophet, the hero of the Passover holiday, so prominent in the pages of history? What special leadership ability did he have?

In terms of leadership ability, there was nothing overtly special about Moses. He was anything but eloquent, he wasn’t a born leader and often failed to understand the Creator whose message he was carrying. With his apparent lack of success, anyone else would have given up long before, but not Moses. He had the quality that we would love to see in today’s leaders: true, unselfish love for his people.

Throughout history, there have been many people who have known how to handle things well and manage others according to their selfish aspirations, but they have not necessarily been considered great leaders. Sophistication, cunning, and other slick qualities, all of these are not required in a true leader.

A leader is really first and foremost an educator. Moses certainly did that, he educated his people toward loving one another and helped them connect above their egoism, their innate desires for self-benefit. The Hebrews united around Mount Sinai, which not coincidentally takes its name from the Hebrew word “sinah” (hate). They did not destroy the mountain of hatred between them, but sent the most pristine element in their midst, Moses, to climb the mountain, conquer it, and bring down a law (Torah) by which they would be able to establish love among them.

But the Torah is not a Hollywood script. It speaks of the spiritual development within a person and the constant struggle between the forces of egoism and the forces of brotherhood and unity within us. This is explained in The Book of Zohar with the line, “Man is a small world.” So when it is written in the Torah (Exodus 6:2) about Moses that the spirit of the Lord spoke in Pharaoh’s daughter to call him Moshe (Moses) from the word “moshech” (pulling), it is because he is the one who pulls Israel from exile, pulls them out of Egypt, meaning out of the egoism that was destroying the relations between them.

Today we feel the period of the darkness of Egypt starting once again, but it is general and global. We already clearly see that the entire world is tightly interconnected, most recently with the impact of the pandemic and with the repercussions of the war in Ukraine to the economies and food supplies worldwide.

We need to face the darkness and also understand what it is showing us. It is meant to bring all of humanity closer to redemption. We need to stop pretending this state of darkness has not descended on all of us. We cannot ignore it or merely hope it will go away. It is important to recognize it and understand that the darkness is the sign of a new bright state.

But we need some help to use this warning purposefully and achieve the desired results. We should be led by the attributes of Moses’ leadership as expressed in the form of a pan-social educational system. We need a system that will allow each of us to understand that the root of all of our problems, at home and abroad, is the ego that brings separation and that wars between us only make all of our lives bitter and bring only more troubles upon us everywhere in the world. We need the leadership that will teach us to transcend all disagreements and will teach us how, despite all the differences, to connect with each other.

Conversely, if we disrespect and harm one another, more blows like the ones of Egypt will certainly be revealed. This means that everything depends on us now. If we understand like a child who sees the look on his parents’ faces and interprets the warning, and improves his behavior in response, then there will be no need for more blows. Instead, we will build bridges of love over hatred.
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It is already clear to us that we are in a state of exile; it is called Pesach (Passover) because we need to pass through it (Pasach) in order to enter the spiritual world and come out of the state where we do not feel the Creator, which is exile. Previously, we did not feel that we are in exile at all and that we lack spirituality, bestowal, and love. We just wanted more of the usual corporeal benefits in life.

However, when we enter the exile, the need to reach connection and the quality of bestowal develops within us. We begin to recognize our egoism; we try to reveal the qualities that prevent us from exiting Egypt, and we get rid of them in order to come to spiritual qualities instead: to the land of Israel, to the intention to bestow.

This is the time when a person discovers his egoistic desire and decides that it is evil because it does not allow him to rise from this world in order to become closer to the Creator, to the force of bestowal and love. He begins to realize that in this life he lacks the feeling of the Creator.

These states are revealed in a person gradually, depending on his realization. Sometimes he associates himself with reception, then with bestowal; sometimes he seeks to unite with others, then move away from them. We need to go through all this and feel it in order to give importance to our relationships: to what extent we feel close to each other, that is, ready to exit Egypt, or separated, that is, in exile and far from redemption.

Or perhaps we have not even entered the exile yet because we do not feel that we are suffering from our separation.

We see the states that humanity is going through now: wars, hatred, consolidation, and confrontation between unification and rejection. This is how we live between hatred and love, and we must choose where we want to go. It is said that a person should see himself coming out of Egypt every day, that is, he should check his attitude regarding coming out of egoism, whether he is in Egypt or whether he is close to redemption.

It is impossible to exit Egypt before we connect or at least understand that it depends on our inner connection and that we all have one goal for which we live. If we manage to reach connection in our global Kabbalistic group, then it will spread to all of humanity.

We need to feel how much we are distanced from each other, but want to come closer and closer in order to feel ourselves in one common desire, in one intention and yearning, standing before one Creator who unites us. If we want to connect with the Creator, we must first connect with each other. It depends on our connection how much we can connect to our one, single root.

Until we finish this work, we will not be able to come out of exile. All of us need to connect with each other and with the Creator as soon as possible. Everyone should help others in this because we all depend on each other. To the extent of our inner rapprochement, we come closer to redemption. The difference between the word “redemption (Geula)” and “exile (Galut)” is only in one additional letter “Aleph” which symbolizes the name of the Creator (the first in the world).,

If we add only one condition to the exile, the presence of the Creator within our connection, who will illuminate and fill all the voids and severed ties between us, then we will reveal Him and attain the upper world—spirituality. This will be called the exodus from exile, from the lack of feeling the Creator to His revelation, from our separation to connection.

The connection between us is the Kli, and the fulfillment that is revealed in it is the Creator, the light.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/22, “Pesach (Passover)”

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There was a Jewish man in Shushan, the capital. Why was his name “Jewish,” since he was a Benjamite? It is because he unified the name of the Creator before all the people in the world. And because he unified the name of the Creator, he was called Yehudi [Jewish] – Yechidi [unique] (Megilat Esther) .

“Yichud” means one, the only, the one. This word was used by the Jews of that time because they believed in a single Creator and that only the quality of bestowal should prevail in the world. Not only Mordecai was in such a realization, but also a whole nation.

In a rage, Haman decides to destroy not only Mordechai—the desire not to receive for himself—but all Jews, that is, the forces striving for unity.

Haman said to King Ahasuerus: There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them.

The Jews did not want to obey Haman and Ahasuerus because the laws that reigned in this empire and in general on Earth were egoistic.

Question: Aren’t the laws of Ahasuerus laws of the Creator?

Answer: No. This is a two-faced king. Sometimes he is like the Creator and sometimes he is the opposite. It is unclear whether he is with Mordechai or Haman. That is the whole problem. What do we see in the world? The triumph of egoism. Whoever has more of it in all the qualities of a person is stronger, smarter, and luckier.

Therefore, it is said that everyone living in the capital of Shushan is perplexed: “So where is the Creator? Where is His strength? How does He manifest?”

Here, the action of Purim arises (Purim from the word “Pur, lot”), lots are cast. Otherwise, I cannot collect myself and find out who is in charge of this world: the Creator, the great, the whole, or the evil forces of nature. One of two things.

Evil forces of nature appear in front of me all the time. How do I know that there are good forces behind them? How can we reveal them? Megilat Esther gradually tells about this. After all, “Megila” is from the word “Gilui, revelation.” And “Ester” is concealment. Meaning, the revelation of concealment.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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When the situation in the city of Shushan becomes threatening, Mordechai turns to Esther, the wife of King Ahasuerus, for help. Esther asks all the people to fast for three days for her sake. Fasting means that they renounce all egoistic fulfillments. And if they really endure it, then Esther will be able to turn to the king with her request.

And then in the “Scroll of Esther” it says that the king cannot sleep and when he starts to leaf through the annals, he sees that, it turns out, there was such a case when the Jew Mordechai saved him.

He calls Haman to him and asks: “What would you do for a man who saved the life of the king?” Haman, thinking that it was about him, offered that honors be paid to this man. And then the king instructs Haman to do all this in relation to Mordechai.

This is about how it will end in our days, in our time, with all who rebel against the Creator and want to use the egoistic forces of nature to rule themselves instead of the power of the Creator, which consists only in uniting everyone up to love.

The desire to conquer others, to rule over others, just as egoism still rules over us, all this will change and truth, altruism, unity, and love will triumph.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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The Scroll of Esther tells that during the feast the queen tells the king how Haman planned to destroy all the Jews. And when the king asks: “What can I do for you,” she replies that she wants to save her people.

Then the king orders Haman to be hanged on a tree. The tree (Etz Chaim or the Tree of Life) is all that is good that descends on us from heaven and descends from above down on everyone in the world except for those who have the grain of Haman in them.

The tree of life is the desire to give, to unite, to spread, and to continue the property of the Creator. Hanging Haman on this tree, meaning our selfish desires, means that they have no right to life precisely because we use them in this way. We kill them with the property of bestowal and love, we deprive them of fulfillment.

In other words, the desires themselves remain and selfish intentions are mortified.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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Haman and his servants cast lots when they wanted to enlist the favor of fate. Haman wanted to understand if he could destroy the Jews. Only after that, he went to the king to seek permission to kill Mordechai.

Therefore the “spinning top” and all games that involve casting lots are popular on the holiday of Purim.

What does it mean that they cast lots?—A person does not know who really controls the world! He has no other opportunity to decide who is right, as the “Scroll of Esther” says about those who lived in such a state in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

This is also relevant today when there is a war going on. We also see that it is unclear why it is happening. Nothing has changed. Until all of us, to the last person, decides who is right, it will never be clear how the world exists at all.

That is, the war is going on within us, but in order to reveal the Creator as the good that does good or vice versa, so that we do it by ourselves, each one from within himself.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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On the Purim holiday, according to tradition, it is customary to make triangular cakes “Haman’s ears” (“Ozney Aman“). They are also called “Haman’s pockets” (“Kisei Aman“), which were supposed to be filled egoistically, but the evil forces did not succeed, and in the end we snack on them.

In addition, it is said that on Purim one must fall into such a state of intoxication in order not to distinguish Haman from Mordecai because in the corrected state we come to the fact that both Haman and Mordecai act on bestowal, which is called receiving for the sake of bestowal.

This is how the whole of nature is corrected. This state is a complete correction of egoism created by the Creator. We need to come to it. The Purim holiday symbolizes the absolute correction of all nature. We hope that it will be achieved in our time.

This is something that is still hidden from us. But now we are going through the process of correcting our egoism and are quite close to its completion.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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Question: When Queen Esther asks King Ahasuerus to spare her people, he replies that he has already given instructions to destroy the Jews in all 127 countries and cannot cancel it. But he gives them the opportunity to defend themselves.

Why can’t he revoke his decree?

Answer: He has no right, because egoism must remain in nature. The whole of nature is under egoism, it is interconnected. The only thing that can be added is to do everything for the sake of connection and love. Therefore, it is said that the Kelim (vessels) come from Haman and their filling occurs through Mordechai.

Just as it is said in the Torah: “The hands of Esau, and the voice of Jacob.” Meaning, we should receive Kelim precisely from egoism. Corrected egoism is the vessel that will be filled with the revelation of the Creator.

But still the people are given the opportunity to defend themselves. This means making a restriction, a screen, and reflected light on yourself and filling yourself for the sake of others, becoming a transmitting link. Then all the light of infinity will pass through you. And you don’t have to be afraid that you will get it for yourself, because you are already aimed in advance to pass it on to others.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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