Shavuot is the holiday of the giving of the Torah. But what is the Torah? What, in fact, were we given at Mt. Sinai?

The Torah is not a chronicle of the events of the past; on the contrary, it describes the moment when our future is being decided. The Torah is the instruction on how to become mutual guarantors for each other. By accepting it, we lived together on our land. By rejecting it, we were dispersed among the nations.

Shavuot, like all Jewish holidays, carries a call to action. It is full of light and whiteness, but it is not easy. In fact, we are slowly but surely being pressed against the mountain. The mountain of our own hatred.

And if we suddenly realize how our egoism is tearing us to pieces, if trying to unite into something complete, we face an insurmountable internal schism, that’s when we need help, we need the Torah.

“And Israel camped against the mountain.” Not some refugees from ancient Egypt who camped in the desert. Everyone, no matter where they live, what people they belong to, whatever faith they confess, stand at the foot. There is one nationality: a man. And the heart is one for all.
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Shavuot is the holiday of the giving and receiving of the Torah. This is a very important day because the Torah is everything! The Torah is a system in which we exist, a “matrix,” from which we can’t exit. It is written in The Book of Zohar that the Torah was created even before the creation of the world. The Creator was looking into the Torah when He was creating the world.

We need to understand what this means. The Torah is a program, a scheme of the whole of reality, an engine, thanks to which this reality exists and unfolds from the beginning to the end.

In other words, the Torah is not a book that we can pull from the shelf, read, and understand, but a matrix, a world one can enter and reveal the system of the whole of reality. In this way, it is possible to understand how it lives and develops, how it controls us, and how we depend on it.

It also has a special element that is called a person’s freedom of will, thanks to which we can influence our destiny if we want to receive the Torah. However, on the part of the system, the giving of the Torah always occurs.

That is, the system is built in such a way that it realizes without asking for our agreement. But at the same time, we can become included in it, and in proportion to our conformity with the system, we begin to study it, understand and interact with it to give and receive according to its laws. Then, through our participation, we are even able to accelerate the development of the whole of reality by adding positive forces that act in the system of the Torah.

The giving of the Torah means that the system is ready for us to know it. And the receiving of the Torah is our gradual entrance into the system through 125 degrees and its completion by our positive actions. Thanks to this, we are able to be called “a man” and considered as fulfilling the Torah.

The laws of the system that we accept are called commandments. To the extent that we correct ourselves, we become more and more included in the system.

Initially our desire to enjoy is created as opposite to the system, so we cannot positively influence it. But once we gradually correct our 613 desires to bestowal for the sake of bestowal, and later even to reception for the sake of bestowal, we become the sons of the Torah.

All this huge system is hidden from us so far, but we are getting closer to it. We received the permission, agreement, and invitation to get closer and even to become included and take part in the work of the system. Although, we have not yet started the real work, day after day, we make steps that bring us closer to it. This is a big deal and a huge privilege.

Therefore, the holiday of the Giving of the Torah is so important to us; after all, we celebrate that we are given the opportunity to approach the system of true reality and to participate in the work of the force called the Creator, the general system of upper worlds. Let’s hope for success!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/17, Shamati #66 “The Giving of the Torah”  

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Reception of the Torah is the reception of the light that connects our hearts as one.
Happy Holiday!

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We need to understand what independence means for Israel because it is radically different from what independence is considered to be on other levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and even among other nations of the world.

Ultimately, all of humanity must reach independence in the understanding of Israel because this group is carrying out the program of correction for the entire world, as if in the preliminary stage, as if in a laboratory.

Therefore, achieving independence for this group should be viewed as the future state of independence for the entire world. And today it is especially felt how much the world needs this. In order to understand what independence means, first we need to experience what it means to be a slave of our own desire for pleasure.

Little by little, people are becoming aware that our egoistic nature holds us in bondage and mercilessly uses us, preventing us from living or dying.

As pitiful battered creatures, we spend our entire lives simply trying to avoid suffering. Small joys are considered a happy life. That is why we need to understand that independence is primarily independence from our nature, our egoism.

This type of independence has levels. Instead of being under the control of egoism, we need to get under the control of a new power because it is impossible to be without any animating force with which we can control our lives. But we must choose this force ourselves, preferring it over all other possibilities.

So independence has a very broad and exalted meaning, including within itself all of reality. After all, independence is inherent only to the Creator, and if we really want to achieve independence, then we need to rise to His condition, His level, His nature.

This kind of independence is not simple to reach. After all, for this we need to not only cross over into the nature of bestowal, but also build it above our own egoistic nature.

That’s why, if we want to receive our independence, we must be ready for a ceaseless battle with our egoism until the very end of correction. We can only establish our independence in opposition to egoism because one stands opposite the other: independence against slavery.

No matter what state a person experiences, it must be felt as if one is exiting Egypt or standing before the exit. We need to approach this very seriously because if we want to grow spiritually, there will be serious battles ahead of us against the forces of separation, as our egoism is revealed.

These forces will constantly rise and wedge between us in various ways, attempting to create conflict between us. And over all these phenomena, we will need to unite.

Primarily, we need to understand that the only thing preventing our independence is slavery. This is why without first entering Egypt, it is impossible to attain freedom. This dilemma stands before the nation of Israel who will need to demonstrate to all humanity the example of attaining independence, unity, and correction. And after it, all nations will achieve the same.

Therefore, we are not celebrating Independence Day yet, but rather the opportunity to attain it!
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From the Lesson: “Independence Day,” 4/25/17

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Shavuot is the giving of the Torah that stretched out over millennia. What actually was given to us at the Mount Sinai? Why do we all the time return to it? How long can we receive the Torah?

Or maybe the Torah describes not this Hollywood picture but something much more serious? The thing that is happening within us today. Maybe the cloud fell on the heart? Maybe it was mountain of hatred, hanging over us in smoke and fire? Maybe passions were thundering and burning within us, making us to shudder to the depth of our nature?

The Torah isn’t a chronicle about past events; on the contrary, it describes the moment when our future is being decided. For the first time a clear answer is required from all of us: Are we ready to accept the mutual guarantee as a law of life? After all, exactly this is the Torah—an instruction on how to become guarantors for each other.

Since then the main lesson is passed from generation to generation: The Torah that was given to us once, we need to receive it again and again. We must receive it at the mountain of hatred (Sina), under the roar of storm raging inside. Accepting this Law we were living together on our land, rejecting it we dispersed among other nations.

The surprising fact in the modern era is that the land of Israel “given” to us, like the Torah, also waits for us to receive it. Since the proclamation of independence almost 70 years have passed. Half a century ago we united Jerusalem. However, this isn’t yet the guarantee, not the nation united “as one man with one heart.” Yes, physically we have “left Egypt,” returned home, but internally we haven’t yet passed through Sinai and therefore we risk losing our chance.

The modern state of Israel is a historical window of opportunities. And most importantly, it is open not only for us, but for the whole world. After all, today the entire humanity turns into a powder keg of passions. And our choice will be decisive for it.

Medication on Demand

Shavuot, like all Jewish holidays carries a call for action. It is bright, it is full of whiteness, but it isn’t simple. If it was enough just to hold hands and smile to each other for a second, we would’ve built here a “garden city” long time ago for everyone to admire.

However, it’s not so. We were given the land and the opportunity to live on it like brothers, and we instead hesitate, squabble, drink each other’s blood and try somehow to solve problems as they come.

Fate presented us with the unique chance for unity, and we even don’t understand what is happening. We bump into each other, people are strangled by indifference, burned with anger, and deafened by cannonade of sectoral enmity, but we pretend that everything is fine, nothing wrong. We can continue living like this. We have such an experience of disasters behind of us that seemingly we can’t complain.

However, this is just a respite! In fact, we are slowly but surely getting pressed to the mountain of our own hatred. We are not looking out of the camp, but this mountain nevertheless is hanging over us right now.

Naturally, when we don’t notice it we don’t need the Torah. Lightning sparkles somewhere, from somewhere we feel heat, heart sometimes rumbles “under the bonnet”, but we are on our land, and not in some desert. Right?

No, we are where our hearts are. We are in the desert of barren and soulless relationships. If we suddenly discover how egoism tears us to pieces, if we try to connect into something integral and face an insuperable internal split then we need help.   

It turns out that the «normal» exit from Egypt is not the end. The main challenge is ahead of us. All the ways lead to the mountain. At the foot of it, having finally realized the problem and recognized the disease we understand and take the medicine. It was in this “pharmacy” before, but we didn’t know that we are sick. This is why the giving of the Torah and its reception is not the same thing.

Elixir or Poison?

The Torah is a medicine intended solely for «internal use,” for the connection between us. All our troubles, exiles, destructions of the Temples, wandering and persecutions were caused by the unfounded hatred that made us distant strangers to each other.

The Torah allows us to become close again, “get out from under the fire.” However, if we use it only externally, without striving for unity of all the people “elixir of life” turns into a “deadly poison.”  

These are not metaphors at all, but precise terms used by our sages. We don’t even understand the damage we cause to ourselves by not using the Torah or by using it not for the correct purpose. Sometimes we even boast about our “cleanness,” although in reality we are up to the ears in our own dirt. The large sectors in the country exist in the “parallel worlds” almost without touching each other. Some of them live at the expense of the rest of the population and even oppose themselves to it under the pretext of “righteousness.”   

Everything that divides us directly or under the cover of beautiful and correct words is a deadly poison. It eats away everyone.

If we raise our eyes from everyday worries, we will see how far we are scattered from each other. We are not just separated, we enjoy pricking, humiliating, and trampling. Each one wants to be more successful, richer, smarter, and higher than others. This is especially evident in the media, where the vices of society are visible as on the palm of a hand. No one is surprised at anything anymore and nobody is ashamed.

It isn’t the most pleasant sight, but everything falls into places: we wander in the desert of human nature and it rises in front of us like a mountain. “And they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert, and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain.” (The Torah, Exodus, 19:2)

Now we have the opportunity to receive help, an instruction, a force that will bring us together, so that we will build healthy relations in the society and live happily in our country. This is the current moment of evolutionary development: either we will grow up ourselves and start using the Torah according to its purpose, for the sake of unity above all disagreements, or the adversity of growing up will force us to do this. In essence, this it the situation in which any child finds himself as soon as he stops being an infant.

Remedy for all Times

The best thing we can do for ourselves and for the world is to unite at the mountain of hatred, the mountain of our doubts and reveal Moses within ourselves, the power that pulls (Mosheh) us upward. It always works if we are together.

Then we will understand that not some refugees from Ancient Egypt camped in the desert in order to receive the most important gift in life, but each of us, no matter where he lives, to which nationality belongs, and which religion professes, stands at the foot of the mountain. Here is only one nationality—human, and the heart is one for all.

The Torah, indeed, is the most powerful tool that we still don’t know how to use. A person can’t reach it alone, and we are not ready to do it together. It will provide us with security and prosperity and will give peace to the world. We just need to get used to the fact that it works not in one separate person, but between us.

After all, egoism is revealed exactly in relation to others. Once it burst out in Babylon and since then it always manifests in the society, in the relationship between people.   

Therefore, the Torah is aimed to correct connection of the person with the environment at any time and at any level of technical development. It can’t be replaced with the newest means of communication. Everything we have won’t work correctly without it. Only a positive relationship will allow us to lay the solid foundation of our future.
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The Torah is not a set of rules we must observe in order to appease a fearsome God, nor is it a collection of tales that may or may not have happened. So what is it really meant for?

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Jerusalem, in the spiritual sense, is a point of connection between the souls and the upper system. The actual city is completely unique and holds a special status in Israel because it is the location of the Temple Mount, where the Temple once stood—the symbol of connection between this world and the upper world.

Jerusalem is a symbol of unification. It is known that unification is what makes the people of Israel special and chosen. Without it, our nation would not have attained the degree of Bina, bestowal (symbolized by the number 40, forty years of wandering in the desert) and the land of Israel, which means “straight to the Creator” (Israel, Yashar-El).

All of this was possible through the work they performed as they went through ascents and descents, overcoming all kinds of obstacles along the path. When we work on unifying against egoism, we attain a desire aimed at the Creator, which is generally called “the land of Israel.” Then we arrive at a special, “perfect city” (Yira Shlema), called Jerusalem (Yerushalayim).

There is a mountain (Har) inside it, meaning special doubts (Irurim) through which we obtain a vessel to receive for the sake of bestowal. This is the First Temple, followed by the vessel of bestowal for the sake of bestowal, the Second Temple.

All of these states are attained only out of unity. This is not talking about stones or a geographical location but about Jerusalem “in the heart.” That is, it is talking about how to build relationships that are called “perfect trepidation,” “the perfect city” (Yira Shlema), meaning the place of unification between us and the upper force, the Creator.

Everything is expressed through unification. That is, unification is the land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount. If there is no unification, then none of these exist either. Thus, are we really in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem today?

Speaking frankly, we are not. For now, these are merely potential notions, intended to direct us toward attaining their essence, meaning the correct unity. Then we will find that we are in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount.

Baal HaSulam explains that we have received the land of Israel for a time, as an opportunity to realize our unity and attain redemption, meaning the revelation of the upper force. Redemption is freedom from our egoism for every person individually and all of us together. Therefore, our primary work is to unite against egoism. Then we will reveal Jerusalem in our heart, along with all the other, more internal qualities that become revealed inside it.

Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga): “The built Jerusalem is similar to a city that is united into one, a city that makes all of Israel friends.”

This means that when we attain a spiritual state called Jerusalem, we become a united nation of Israel, as one man. This is what Jerusalem symbolizes, its essence. No other place or nation has this approach. This is because everything becomes revealed in the nation of Israel only through unification, and without it, there is no nation of Israel, nor land of Israel, nor Jerusalem.
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From the 3d part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/17, Selected Excerpts for Jerusalem Day

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Fifty years have passed since the liberation of Jerusalem. Why is the city still “in chains” then?

Even 50 years after the liberation of Jerusalem, it is still, as it has always been, the center of the world. There is tension between Israel and Turkey since Erdogan’s call to Muslims to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in masses in order to support the Palestinians’ struggle and not allow Jerusalem to become the capital of the Jewish state.

The suggestion of American president Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem might undermine the already shaky sense of security even more. The city that is holy to the three religions and in whose heart the Wailing Wall is located was and still is a disputed territory.

There are those who consider the victory won in the Six Days War as the final phase of the return home of the nation of Israel, and there are those who see it as the beginning of the political tragedy of the State of Israel.

Still, at the moment of truth, we were all deeply moved and our eyes filled with tears as everyone felt a great relief when we received proof that we can indeed protect ourselves, which has always been doubtful until that war.

It is only when we feel a threat from the outside that we become a bit closer to each other; we forget all our differences and look for shelter that can unite us, like a herd of sheep escaping from a wolf. But this is not how a nation is formed. This is not how a dream is revived from ashes; this is not how the chosen people should behave.

Nothing is solved by a wave of a magic wand. Our practical experience proves that no political decisions, no life under constant pressure can be the remedy for the nation of Israel.

The unbearable situation we live in today, under endless pressures from within and from beyond the borders of our state, including the growing anti-Semitism, puts us facing the fact that the solution is somewhere else. It isn’t in external actions while society is deeply divided, but first of all in the correction of the relations between us.

We will not be able to establish a healthy system of mutual relations with any nation or state unless we first heal the mutual connections between us. This is the law of nature that operates on the nations of Israel; “Love thy friend as thyself” is the first law. Only after we fulfill it will we be able to reach peace with all our external enemies.
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I am very happy that the majority of my life was spent here, in Israel.

I am happy that after thousands of years of exile, my people exists as a nation and as citizens in their own country.

I am happy that we are becoming stronger with each passing year, and that for the envy of everyone and for the anger of our enemies, we are building a country that keeps getting better and better.

I hope that we will be able to overcome many more problems that exist in our nation, which mostly have to do with unifying the nation into one whole.

I very much hope that next year, the year of our country’s seventieth anniversary, we will reach a state when we will really become “as one man with one heart,” which was mentioned at the birth of our nation 3000 years ago.

Let’s make sure that this commitment is fulfilled.

Good luck! And Happy Birthday!
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