Question: When we are talking about the holiday of Passover, why do we say: “Remember the exodus from Egypt?” After all, there were other exiles—from Babylon, Greece, and Rome—but we are reminded only about the exodus from Egypt. What is the meaning of this?

Answer: The Egyptian exile is the root of all the exiles. All the other exiles are as if superimposed on it. This exile is the most difficult and fundamental. A person rises above his egoism and, for the first time, realizes what the spiritual world is and what it means to feel the property of bestowal instead of the property of receiving with which we are born and in which we exist.

We perceive the world through the senses that constantly want to enjoy and benefit from everything. The revolution in the sensory organs—when I begin to “exit myself,” to identify myself with the world, to give to others, to feel myself outside of my body so that my heart stays there—is called the exodus from Egypt. All the other exiles already happen outside of me.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: What values did the people of Israel have before the descent to Egypt, at the time that they were there, and after the departure from Egypt? Did the people undergo some kind of change or process?

Answer: Yes, they descended into Egypt already with an intention in order to bestow, like the patriarchs.

The entry into Egypt is compulsory in every spiritual level since the person corrects only what is within him. So, first, he feels the problem; his discovery is called being in Egypt or the awakening of Egypt in the person. The exile signifies that all desires and thoughts are egoistic, and he feels this. If you were to tell someone today that he is an egoist and is found in Egypt, no one would understand this.

The inner feeling of Egypt is a feeling that I am in exile. If I am just an egoist, I know it and am even proud of benefiting at the expense of others. This is not called Egypt. Egypt, as exile, represents my wanting to be freed from the property of reception for myself and to rise to the property of bestowal. Yet, I am not able. The feeling of exile is born from a lack of correlation between what is desired and what is.

This is a very high state and very complicated. Feeling yourself in the Egyptian exile is not easy; it is a spiritual degree. If a person wants to attain spirituality, he comes to a group, learns, and connects with friends in order to pass together from hatred to love. They, then, suddenly feel themselves in exile because their egoistic desire dominates over them.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: Why does the Passover Haggadah gladly tell about the plagues of Egypt?

Answer: First, while a person is under the control of his ego, it seems as if these plagues are performed on him because he does not separate himself from his egoism. But then, having exited his ego, he feels these blows as happening to another body, some past state, which does not belong to him, but to his egoism.

After all, he has already separated from his ego, and that is why these plagues are sweetened. This sweetness causes a special joy in a person.

The exodus from Egypt takes place on each new degree. Whenever egoism is revealed, it is necessary to overcome it, to run away from it, to rise above it, and then correct it to bestowal, so that the angel of death turns into the angel of life, the good angel. It is like a mini-exodus from Egypt on each next level, in “every generation” because in this way we ascend the steps.

The more our egoism grows and we rise above it, correct it, and pull it up to our degree, the further it helps us grow. We connect with each other more strongly as a people and thus affect the world, passing the methodology and then the force that allows rising above egoism, uniting, and revealing the spiritual world.

However, only the upper force is able to pull us out of our egoism, not we ourselves. Because we connect, we give the Light an opportunity to affect our connection and realize it. After all, we cannot unite on our own; we are able only to ask and apply efforts, which the upper Light influences and realizes this state. Then we feel within our newly formed bond, the exit.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder,” 3/4/13

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Today’s Egypt, which keeps the people of Israel in exile, and Pharaoh, which doesn’t allow us to get out of slavery, are our ego and the egoistic relationships between us. It is what does not allow us to become a people free from egoism and to feel the next degree both in a spiritual and in a material sense. That is why we cannot eliminate the external threat and hatred towards us from other nations. All this is because of the inner egoism that rules over us instead of the property of bestowal and mutual love.

Once, we seemingly managed to get out of this slavery, to mark the future when we would be able also to get out of our inner Egypt, from slavery to freedom. Today we are slaves because we are dependent on the entire world and on our egoism that governs us from all sides. We need just to realize that we are in a terrible and dangerous situation.

The most important is to feel that we have a duty for ourselves, for the whole world, and the Creator and we must realize the goal. This mission is entrusted to the people of Israel because we have received the method of correction and connection and are obliged to implement it.

Having gathered today at the festive table, let’s discuss these questions, and this is called the preparation for the exodus from Egypt. To get out of Egypt, a person prepares himself for “400 years,” that is, he goes through four full stages of egoism. At the beginning he has to experience as if egoism advances him and brings him advantage, what is called the “seven years of satiation.” And later there will come “seven years of hunger” and the Plagues of Egypt. Then, he has no choice but to flee.

It is important to move from the material perception of these events to spirituality and to hold the Passover meal in that spirit.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder,” 3/4/13

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Question: During the Seder meal different generations gather at the table, and the elder is obligated to tell his son about the Exodus from Egypt. What is the message that this story conveys to the new generation that can also be seen simply as an historical event?

Answer: We all come out of Egypt together: young and old, women, children, men, and the elderly together with all the cattle, which means with desires that are on lower levels compared to man. They take from Egypt the gold and silver vessels, which refers to different desires, all the egoistic desires, that can be raised above our ego and can be turned into bestowal instead of receiving. This is called the “Exodus from Egypt.”

This is why we have to connect, to sit at one table and to talk about this, thus emphasizing how important it is for us to be focused in one direction: freedom from our nature.

Question: What does the Afikomen (a piece of hidden unleavened bread) that we search for according to the custom during the festive meal symbolize, and why is it the children who look for it?

Answer: The Afikomen symbolizes our readiness to come out of our ego with all our might. It is the children who look for it because they embody the weakest forces of all the “generations” in a person. They are the smallest, undeveloped desires that lead a person forward.

The older the generation, the more knowledge it has; and the younger the generation, the more energetic it is. The meal of the Seder symbolizes the connection between the generations, when everyone gathers and we all come out of Egypt, the whole family. There is a certain division of labor in this family and the younger generation’s role is to pull forward in the direction that the older generation is showing it.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder,” 3/4/13

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The night of the Passover Seder for a person who has already exited his internal Egypt is a celebration in which he again undergoes the same states as during his exodus, in the same order (seder), and rejoices over his liberation. This helps him rise to the next degree, each time, higher and higher.

That is why, it is written that in every generation, that is, in each state, on each stage of growth of egoism, a person must see himself as if he had just come out of Egypt. And all the corrections that he performs on his egoism will always be accompanied by a reminder of the exodus from Egypt. Only after a person rises above his ego, can he carry out the actions of bestowal, which are called commandments.

On Passover night, everyone is sitting with his family at a festive table and reading about freedom and sufferings of slavery, and of course, feeling the inner pain, desiring liberation. This holiday awakens all the questions of enslavement and freedom again. Now how can we gain freedom, come to a new life, a new state?

We must realize that today we have entered a new era, and if we do not realize our mission, as the people of Israel coming out of Egypt, we will not be able to survive either as a country, or as a people. We will not be able to be Jews because this is our mission—we must send the message to the world to raise everyone, together with us, from the general egoism, owing to which we find ourselves in the current crisis.

This crisis expands more and purposefully pressures us so that we finally want to get out of it with the entire world. By this, we have to set an example to others. Celebrating today, the Passover Seder in 2013, I thus prepare myself for exodus and the freedom that I will attain after that.

This is a salvation from the angel of death, my egoism, which is killing me. I hope that through this I will become the light for the other nations, and they will also know how to come out from Egypt. They will see that our ego keeps us all in exile. The whole world is in exile, the entire earth is Egypt, and we must rise above it.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder,” 3/4/13

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Question: The night of the Passover Seder is a special night for the people of Israel. It is thought that on this night this people was born and began its new way. So really, in what way is this night of the exodus from Egypt so unique?

Answer: The person begins to feel that he is found in the Egyptian exile, in slavery to his ego, which is called Pharaoh, and that it is necessary to depart from under its dominance, to flee; yet he cannot do this. He begins to scream internally, he is no longer prepared to endure a life like this. He invests effort in regard to the group, the environment, the teacher, and the books. He really feels that he is in prison, in darkness.

Gradually he sinks into a state that is called the “darkness of Egypt,” the night of the exodus from Egypt. This night is absolute darkness; no hope is left for him, no chance in life. He doesn’t feel that he is prepared to continue to live within his ego, since he hates everyone, and he is unable to relate well to anyone.

He strives to love the friends, to love the other as himself, but he sees the opposite, he becomes worse and worse. The Pharaoh in him, his ego, becomes stronger and more brutal. So in the end, the person is broken, for he sees that he has no chance of leaving this servitude.

He passes through very difficult inner states, which ultimately are amassed together: all of his attempts to flee from his ego, to rise above it, all the victories of the ego that show a person how strongly this Pharaoh is holding him from within. He really finds himself in the middle of the struggle of two forces: On the one hand, the person pushes since he yearns to go free, and on the other hand, the ego hangs on to his legs not letting him flee.

Ultimately, these two forces reach the peak of the struggle between them, and the person finds himself between them, feels absolute darkness. This state is called the night of exodus, the darkness of Egypt. And so suddenly he hears a call from within this darkness: “You must leave! You are ready to do this! You can get up and flee from your ego, here and now, at midnight, that is, from the darkest state. Don’t take anything with you to the new state, except those things that you really need for bestowal, the attainment of unity, the connection, the love”.

In this case the person is ready to leave and flee from his ego, wants to rise above it. This is called his spiritual birth.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder,” 3/4/13

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All the cycles of time, except for the week, are related to cosmic systems: the new moon, morning, daytime, evening, etc. The week seems to have been born from the human mind.

The fact is that we are inside a very interesting system: We depend on both the moon and the sun. That’s why calendars have a double nature: The Muslim calendar is based on the cycle of the moon; the Christians’ is contingent on phases of the sun, and the Judaic calendar combines both solar and lunar cycles.

This is why Muslim holidays are not rigidly tied to concrete dates and “wander” from winter to summer, from spring to autumn. Christian holidays are also inconstant. As for the Jewish calendar, it is stable since it is based on the middle line: It’s not tied to the right line (as is the Muslim calendar), nor to the left line (as in Christianity), but rather it is founded on a combination of two natural forces, that of receiving and that of bestowal. We depend on the sun and the moon, on the properties of receiving and giving. We are not stuck with one particular line. That’s why our calendar is consistent.

However, the Jewish calendar is not that simple! There are certain dates such as “shvita” and “Yovel,” every four years there is a leap year, and twice in 27 years there is a solar circuit, etc. But the calendar created several thousand years ago hasn’t changed.

Question: So according to this calendar we can accurately figure out what will happen in the future?

Answer: The fact that it’s linked to two natural forces means that we follow nature and use its powers in a harmonious way. This calendar is based on both solar and lunar cycles and it exemplifies this idea.

The moon shows us how the Earth relates to the sun. In other words, if I were the Earth, the moon would show me my screen by allowing me to watch the altering phases from full moon to complete diminishment (new moon) and waxing and waning again. They would display whether I relate to the Creator and to the Light correctly and whether I change at each particular phase starting at a completely diminished state and going to the full moon, and repeating these phases again and again.

The approximate four weeks that separate the waxing and waning moon comprise a full cycle that is similar to one day: “And there was evening, and there was morning—one day.” In other words, we wake up at sunrise; the sun influences us in a way that our egoism increases, thus creating the left line which leads the sun to the end of the day and eventually giving birth to the night and the moon.

Lunar phases appear in different constellations and create an integral and yet simple picture; the more we explore this picture, the more we have a feeling of an absolute harmony.

This is like a musician who perceives a melody deep in his heart and says: “It’s a lovely chord, a beautiful instrumentation, but it lacks one note that has to be played by a trumpet!” That one additional note by the trumpet allows us to experience the sensation of harmony.

It’s overwhelming and thrilling. That’s why it’s said that the attainment of the Creator is perfection.
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From KabTV’s “The Mysteries of the Eternal Book” 2/4/13

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Question: How can I keep the Light of Purim all year round?

Answer: There is no need to hold anything; this is wrong because it is an egoistic form of the desire to grasp, to possess, to dominate. I don’t care what will happen in the next moment!

If I am in the property of bestowal like Mordecai, I do not need anything else! The main thing is to be similar to the Creator and I am not interested in anything but that.

That is why you should not think about how to become fulfilled quickly and inflated like a bubble. On the contrary, you must think how to achieve such a property when no event will be able to influence you, to touch you. All the time, you will break away from yourself and rise above higher and higher to be completely only in the property of bestowal.

And the fact that you have such a healthy appetite, “I want to be full all the time,” is also good. This is useful; it drives a person forward. So, go on!

In the end, you will be able to be content only when the Light of Hassadim and the Light of Hochma fill Malchut in a balanced way. Then, you will really be able to fill your entire Malchut, all your desires together with the whole world. But on your own—no way.
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From the Virtual Lesson 2/24/13

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Question: How can we deserve to feel the holiday of Purim internally?

Answer: It’s very simple. Don’t we feel it? When we try to work on the connection with each other we constantly have some problems; suddenly we begin to criticize each other, etc. Or we arrive at a convention and everything seems fine. We invest our efforts as much as we can and after it, we suddenly feel a descent such as we have never experienced before.

As a result, we begin to understand that these are necessary states of cause and effect. Of course, this doesn’t make feel us better. But we can’t get away from them in any way because we still don’t have the Light of Hassadim, a clear intention to bestow.

When we acquire this intention, we have nothing to fear. No matter what happens to me, I am still in the property of bestowal; I rise above my world, above egoism, above what I have; nothing is important to me, I am afraid of nothing. I need nothing but to correct and pull the world to the same state, and in this case a person does not fall.

Sometimes, he is a little tired of his work, but he meets this extra load with gratitude, with an understanding that it’s necessary because it’s advancement. It can’t be otherwise because this is “joyful suffering,” the suffering of love, when we strive to fulfill all the conditions in order to unite.
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From the Virtual Lesson 2/24/13

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