Comment: Before leaving Egypt, the Creator gives an edict: sacrifice a lamb, keep it at home for 14 days, tie it to a bed.

My Response: All the problems that we see in the text must be understood correctly. We are talking about a person, about his inner qualities. The lamb represents the quality of Bina, which develops in us. Herbs, earth, wine, the burning bush, etc., symbolize everything that happens inside a person.

A person is a small world, he contains absolutely all the qualities of our world. The fact that the world seems to exist outside of us is actually a reflection of what is inside of us.

That is, I see a table in front of me, because its state is inside of me, and therefore it seems to me that it exists. There are my hands lying on this table right now. In fact, there are no hands, no table, nothing. These are just my inner qualities, which paint reality for me in this way.

And the same Egypt, and the same Pharaoh with all the huge pyramids—all this exists only within us.

Comment: If we take the last sacrifice, then the lamb in ancient Egyptian mythology is a deity.

My Response: The Jews bred them, killed them, and ate them.

Comment: They were sacrificed. The Creator said: “Sacrifice it in a certain way.”

My Response: Precisely because the Jews killed and consumed these lambs for egoism, that is, for the Egyptians who are in us, this is sacred, and for the quality of ascent to the Creator, on the contrary, it is an opportunity to rise above egoism.

Question: Despite the indignation of egoism itself, right?

Answer: Sure. How else can you rise above it if you do not resent it?

Comment: It is said that the children of Israel were slaves for quite a long time.

My Response: So far, we have not been able to get out of egoism, to break away from it.

Question: So they perform a sacrifice in front of the enraged Egyptians and Pharaoh, as if they take a very decisive inner step and choose the side of the Creator, to follow Him instead of Pharaoh. To do this, there must be a great inner readiness, awareness in a person. Where does it accumulate, at what expense?

Answer: This is a conscious inner necessity that gradually manifests itself in a person, naturally, with the help of the Creator, with the help of the light. By itself, it does not originate and develop in the person himself.

After all, all these people who were called Jews, came to Egypt in order to develop their altruistic striving to connect with each other and with the Creator, and therefore to manifest the quality of the Creator. By their actions among themselves, they attract the quality of the Creator to themselves.

Question: In our time, is this readiness maturing in the Jewish people or not? Should there be a cumulative measure? How do you get to this measure so that a person actually chooses the side of the Creator and advances and fulfills one’s role?

Answer: To do this, you need to spend four hundred years in Egypt, or at least two hundred and ten years, as it really was.

Question: Do they feel that this is Egypt?

Answer: Of course! Even Abraham was in and out of Egypt. It is not a problem. To be “in Egypt” means to feel oneself in the slavery of egoism. When egoism, on the one hand, gives you everything you want in this world—take it, enjoy it—and then you throw it all away and prefer to get out of it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/12/19

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Question: Why does the Pharaoh say after each plague: “I will let you go out, and you will sacrifice to the Lord, your God, in the desert, but do not go far away; entreat on my behalf.” and then he adds, “No! You will not go anywhere!”

Answer: It is the nature of man that says to him: “Yes, you can break away from egoism, you can go forward because you see that these blows help you.” But they do not really help to get out of Egypt.

They only help you rise above them when you prefer to be with the Creator instead of being in Egypt in spite of all your egoistic rewards. Otherwise, you will never get out of Egypt! Only without any egoistic benefits.

Just close your eyes and that is it: in a dark night, in a hurry, almost without collecting anything, run away from your egoism. It is the only way you can get away from it.

Question: The Creator repeats every time: “And the blood will be for you a sign upon the houses where you will be, and I will see the blood and skip over you, and there will be no plague to destroy when I smite the land of Egypt.” It is as if all this falls on the Egyptians’ heads, and the Jews stand apart. Why does this happen?

Answer: Because all the aspirations of a person toward the Creator, which are called Israel in him or the Jews in him remain intact because they lead a person to this goal. And everything that does not lead to it but is in the egoism gradually dies away in the process of fighting it. And a person must pass ten blows in order to completely break away from egoism and start his new path.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/12/19

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Comment: Moses was first a Jewish boy, then Pharaoh’s adopted son, and then, after leaving Egypt he became a shepherd for his father-in-law. Suddenly, the Creator revealed Himself to him and said: “Moses, go back to Egypt. I remembered My agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would save their people. You must tell them that you are My messenger, and thanks to you I will do it.”

My Response: Moses is a loner, raised by Pharaoh. He fled from his mission to another country beyond the Nile and ended up in the company of his future father-in-law Jethro. He married his daughter and lived quietly for a number of years. And then he felt that he had to go back to his people because his further mission haunted him. He left his father-in-law,  wife, and children and went.

Question: What does he represent in our world?

Answer: Moses is the quality in a person that advances him to the Creator.

Question: And it does not awaken in a person by his freewill?

Answer: If it does not exist in man, then what kind of will can it be?

Comment: There is a part in this story when a burning bush appeared and the Creator was persuading Moses for a long time to go to Egypt: “So now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Moshe replied: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt?”There was a long conversation going on between them as if the upper force was urging Moses to come down to his people to save them.

Answer: Moses feels that if he is to fulfill his mission, he must return to Egypt and help. He himself came out of Egypt, he himself reached a certain spiritual level. This is not enough, now he must return to Egypt to his brothers and rescue them from there.

Question: How does Moses manifest itself today in the Jewish people?

Answer: It is hard to say. We are trying to do this in our society and show the way out of Egypt (out of egoism) through our connection with each other. And we feel that we are in Egypt.

Question: Moses goes down to Egypt, tells everything to the elders and to Pharaoh, and shows with his staff all the wonders and horrors of the manifestation of the Creator. On the other hand, Pharaoh’s sorcerers show the same thing. What does this mean?

Answer: That in principle, you will achieve nothing by miracles. There is no way to persuade egoism. Egoism will do everything to keep you. And it has all the power and all the right to do so because this is the nature of man.

Man should go forward not because he sees miracles, but because he shuts his eyes and simply goes forward. He must recognize the way out of egoism as special because it is the highest degree of existence. He must appreciate the Creator as the highest and for whom he is ready to sacrifice everything.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/12/19

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Question: If we are relating to the present time, at what stage are the Jews?

Answer: Today we are in a state where Jews have gathered from all over the world physically, but have not yet connected internally.

Therefore, we must organize the people now living in Israel into such a community where “love your neighbor as yourself” is our credo, the fundamental law of the people. And then there will be an opportunity to rise above egoism, above our inner Egypt.

And we do this, we unite in tens and try to isolate ourselves from the outside world through our internal communication. This is how we act.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/12/19

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Comment: The Torah tells the story of when the evil Pharaoh came and the Egyptians were afraid of the power of the Jews. The decision was made to destroy the Jewish boys and to increasingly enslave the Jewish people even more with work, taxes, etc.

My Response: “Otherwise they will enslave us,” the Egyptians said. And they were right.

Question: Why didn’t the Jewish people, being such a huge force, rise up against them? They could have rebelled, negotiated…

Answer: This has never happened before! Jews fight only among themselves. They have never fought with any nation in their life because the struggle should be internal, not external.

Our problem is that we have to fight ourselves. We must raise ourselves to the level of bestowal, love, connection, to the level of revelation of the Creator. This is our victory, not conquering others. There is no such thing. What is the point?

The Egyptians opposed the Jews so that they would not be persuaded or subdued. The slavery in Egypt is slavery to the egoism.

The Jews lived very well, prosperously, and had absolutely everything. They were not slaves to “gnaw the ground.” Never in history have the Jews lived so well as in Egypt. When Moses began to tell them what they should achieve, they thought: “Do we need it?”

Question: What does it mean that the Jews sighed from the hard work?

Answer: This is spiritual work: so that while in egoism you can start working on developing internal altruistic actions.

Question: So they grew internally until they reached the age of forty that you mentioned earlier?

Answer: They had to reach this. And then they realized that by being among external and internal Egyptians, they would not be able to do it. They must come out of Egypt physically, and then they can come out of it internally, morally. In the end, this is what happened.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/12/19

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Comment: All Kabbalistic sources speak of only two forces, altruistic and egoistic, but in different interpretations, through different allegorical stories, which speak of their interaction. Everything is as simple as that—two forces and that’s it.

My Response: No, it is not easy because both forces are clothed in us, and within ourselves we must figure out when, how, and to what extent each of them dominates in us.

Question: And how can all the situations from the story of the exodus from Egypt be transferred to our ordinary life? Can I see how the power of egoism destroys my inclinations to altruism, to love?

Answer: Where will you see it? All our present and future life is built on egoism, there is nothing altruistic about it. The Creator is hidden. Instead of Him, only Pharaoh.

Question: But all biblical stories describe spiritual states that a person goes through. Can they be seen as manifestations of material life through external situations that surround a person?

Answer: No. After all, we have not yet gone through spiritual states. We are still in a state where Pharaoh gradually manifests, and manifests itself as evil for us. This period is called the realization of evil.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/26/21

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Comment: The Red Sea (Yam Suf – Final Sea) is torn by the power of man’s faith when Moses raises his staff. “Staff” in Hebrew is “Mahteh” from the word “Mata” meaning below.

My Response: A person lowers his egoism and thus passes through all the obstacles. He is guided not by reason and logic, but by that he wants to bestow.

However, this is completely unrealistic for him, because bestowal, love, and connection with others are above the property of reception, personal gain, and personal salvation. This is what Nachshon’s leap into the mighty waves of the Red Sea personifies.

Question: Why is it that Nachshon (the property in man) jumps into the sea and not Moses? Usually the leader goes first.

Answer: The point is that Moses is above the property of Nachshon. Moses is a property of Bina, and therefore, it is not at all a problem for him to be in the property of bestowal and love. This is all that he is guided by when he leads the children of Israel (desires), gradually frees them from egoism, and leads them to love among themselves.

Question: What is this miracle that a person suddenly is given such an opportunity to think and care about others more than about himself? After all, in principle, this is unnatural and does not bring any reward.

Answer: It is a transition to a completely different basis of existence, when bestowal, love, and a good attitude toward others are above one’s attitude toward oneself. A person enters this state almost forever. If earlier he lived in his usual egoism, only “for his own sake,” then, after crossing this border, he begins to live only “for the sake of others.”

Question: Does a person’s worldview, his approach to life change?

Answer: Absolutely in everything. Outside the border of Egypt, our attitude toward the world completely changes. There is no longer consideration of oneself. You constantly consider others, take them into consideration. You know with certainty that whatever arises inside you must be inverted into bestowal and love.

Question: But what motivates a person? Why does he act like this?

Answer: Because this is the Creator’s property. And he wants to be closer to Him.

Question: And if it had not been the Creator’s property, then he would not have made such actions?

Answer: No. Then there would have been no reason. This is the only reason.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/2/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the Counting of the Omer?“

An Omer is a sheaf gathered from produce that is harvested and tied together. The spiritual meaning of “Omer” is a share (count, numbering) of levels that we attain, which are seven levels of successive connection. The connection becomes stronger and tighter on each level, and we constantly count our seven Sefirot in such a process, namely the Sefirot of Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut.

Each of these Sefirot is made of another seven Sefirot, for instance, Hesed of Hesed, Gevura of Hesed, Tifferet of Hesed, Netzach of Hesed and so on. Seven times seven equals 49, which is where the 49 days discussed in the Torah about the Omer count come from.

During the Omer count, we undergo introspection and scrutiny of our inner qualities in how they connect to one Omer with all the rest. Such connection is different to that which helped the people of Israel escape from Egypt. The Omer count starts on the second day of Passover. It is a time when we each scrutinize in what Sefira and states we perform corrections on our desire to receive.

We connect more and more among each other, i.e., adding to our bundle of sheaves, until we eventually discover ourselves standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. The spiritual meaning of Mount Sinai is a mountain of hatred (“Sinai” from the word, “Sinah” [“hatred”]). It is when we discover the tremendous size of the ego that separates us from connecting to each other and with the Creator. We arrive at this state on the day 50 of the Omer count, i.e., during the process of correcting ourselves in order to become increasingly connected.

In other words, the more we connect, the more we discover our inborn ego blocking us from genuinely connecting. However, together with the discovery of our immensely divisive egoistic nature, we also develop a great desire to connect, which becomes expressed as the condition of “Arvut” (“mutual guarantee”). That is, we want to be connected to each other in one Omer, but we lack the strength to annul our egos. We thus agree to the Torah’s conditions and method to increasingly connect and thus gradually correct the ego, and we also do not outright eliminate the ego.

The Omer count thus represents the start of our progress toward a deep spiritual connection among each other and with the Creator—the force of love and bestowal that connects us. It describes a process that we undergo toward a more corrected future state of positive connection among each other, where on the way to such a state, we discover the vastness of our ego standing in the way of our connection. We experience several inner contradictions and paradoxes on this path, and ultimately a tiny point within us—our spiritual desire, called a “point in the heart”—lets us scale Mount Sinai, where our egoistic selves are unable to.

The idea of a major obstacle in the form of the ego that stands in our way to positively connect was also expressed in the story about the Tower of Babel. However, with Mount Sinai, it assumes a completely different form, and exists on a whole new level. Specifically, it is in that we have passed through the states of Babylon and the exodus from Egypt, and we start understanding that if we rise above the ego, then at its peak, we will discover the Creator in our connection.

Spirituality is attained through opposite states residing in the same place. We aim at increasing our positive connection to each other, and discover a massive ego in the process, i.e., pride, arrogance, and our failure to control such states, and we also agree to lower our heads and accept the need to correct our ego in order to genuinely connect and discover the Creator—the force of love and bestowal dwelling in our connection.

Based on “Secrets of the Eternal Book” on May 28, 2014. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Why is the sea that the children of Israel cross called the Final Sea (Yam Suf)? What does water represent?

Answer: Water represents life. This is the quality of Bina, the quality of bestowal and love. A person is born in water, everything emerges in water, this is the basis of life.

However, there are good waters and evil waters. When the water is not free from egoism, it is evil water, evil waves—for example, the Dead Sea or the sea that swallows those who enter it.

The sea that the children of Israel cross is called the Final Sea because there they completely leave egoism and cross the border between the quality of reception and the quality of bestowal.

Question: Is this boundary symbolized by the Machsom, the nominal barrier between egoism and altruism?

Answer: Yes, this is absolutely correct.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/2/21

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Question: Once the sons of Israel received Pharaoh’s permission to leave Egypt, they left it in a hurry. Pharaoh, however, began to regret that he had let the people go and sent his army in pursuit of them.

What does it mean in the inner work of a person that Pharaoh regretted it, and why?

Answer: The fact is that a person running away from his egoism must exit it once and for all. The feeling of the boundary that one crosses is the state of the passage through the Red Sea.

The sons of Israel feel at this moment the strongest upsurge of egoism, which is forcing them to turn back and return to Egypt, to egoistic slavery, and, as before, to succumb to their ego.

They do not know what to do. On one hand, they are eager to go there, on the other hand, they are eager to stay here. In this state, they stand in front of the what is called the raging sea because all this happens inside a person.

Question: Inside one person or inside a group of people?

Answer: Inside each person in the group of people trying to rise above their egoism in order to connect and in the connection with each other to cross the egoistic barrier.

Question: Thus, as the Torah tells us allegorically, in front of them is the sea, behind them the chariot of Pharaoh, and the Creator says to Moses, “Lift up your staff.” Moses raises the staff, the sea parts, the waters divide in two. What does this mean?

Answer: This is the same technique as when a person advances with the help of a staff.

The staff means to go by faith above reason. The staff in Hebrew is “Mate” (lower), meaning lower than your opinion, your reason, your egoism. You have to lower your egoism so much that you ignore what it tells you and go above it. This technique helps a person pass through the Red Sea.

As soon as the sons of Israel crossed to the other side, the sea returned to its normal state and swallowed all the Egyptians. This means that this condition kills those who do not want to move by faith above reason in the quality of bestowal, connection, above their egoism. That is, you will have no spiritual attainment, no crossing the Red Sea. You will not be able to cross it and find an external quality that is higher than your egoism. Therefore, all our egoistic desires are drowned in the sea.

The parting of the sea symbolizes the separation between egoistic and altruistic desires. Part of them, the altruistic desires, come out of the sea, and another part, the “Egyptians,” perish.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/2/21

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