Baal HaSulam, Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gate of Intentions), Chapter “Concerning Passover Exodus”: On the Passover night, Zeir Anpin grows to the greatest state, and hence, on this night, such enormous Light is revealed that it is greater than the Light of Sabbath.

All that there is in Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut is passed down to the souls. If we here, below, don’t ask and don’t evoke ZA, it remains in its constant small state, VAK, whereas Malchut is just a point. When there is only the Light of VAK in ZA, Hassadim (Mercy), Malchut has nothing since she has receiving desires and cannot be filled with only the Light of Hassadim.

Therefore, this is a preparatory state that has nothing to do with any spiritual action yet. All the other states are defined by how high ZA can rise (upon our request) over the small state.

The process we undergo during the exodus from Egypt, from being enslaved by the desires located below the Parsa, is not simple and doesn’t correspond to the usual work order: six “weekdays” followed by the seventh “day,” Saturday. Saturday is arranged “in likeness to the future world,” and, according to the spiritual work performed during the six “business days,” brings us the “awakening from Above” and its result: corrected desires.

However, the exodus from Egypt is a “night,” not a day as Saturday is. It’s a sign that a very big Light of Hochma (Wisdom) is revealed that is not covered by the Light of Hassadim. Hence, it feels not as Light, but as “Egyptian night,” the enormous Light of Hochma that cannot emanate to us.

We are constantly present within an ocean of Light, and we are either unable to establish any relationship with it (and then we simply don’t feel it, as right now), or we can approach the Light and obtain exactly the same property as it has. Then, according to the law of equivalence of form, we will be able to feel it. If I am in the same bestowal as the Light, then between us, a common sensation appears that is regarded as the revelation of the Light, the Creator, to the created beings.

Alternatively, there can be an opposite state where I don’t feel that I am approaching the Light, bestowal, but on the contrary, I feel coming closer to reception, my opposition to unification. This doesn’t pertain to mere material gain, but specifically to the lack of unity of the souls that makes me feel darkness. This has a spiritual meaning.

We always deal with what lies above the animate level, meaning with the internal work that bears a “positive” or “negative” fruit, and a person senses transformations as either an unfolding Light or darkness. However, in the worst case, a person feels nothing whatsoever, which means he is not working at all. The essence of the Passover story is an unusual order (Seder) of receiving the Lights that wake us up and lead out of Egypt.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/2011, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Let’s Show Our Desire To Exit Our Egypt!

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Celebration of Pesach (Passover) is a special time. We as if are wrapped in a subtle fog caused by exhaustion and coming out of our usual state. It’s a special time in the whole world, when the Surrounding Lights are doing the work according to the order deriving from the law of branch and root.

Besides, we are entering the holiday that directly pertains to us. There is no spiritual root closer and more vital to us than Passover. It’s all we want. Having come out of egoism, we repeatedly remind ourselves about the exodus from Egypt and only correct it over and over again on the entire remaining path, to the very end of correction. After all, we must completely sever ourselves from Egypt, to such an extent as to turn it into its opposite: bestowal.

At this time, we can make a leap, and that’s our task at the moment. It doesn’t matter that we are little and don’t understand everything. And it’s okay that we lack something; it will always be this way. The feeling of darkness, entanglement, confused sensations and mind, it is all necessary. We have to be distracted—this is provided in abundance. We all feel confused, stupefied, weakened and so on; everyone just wants to sleep. It is the best, optimal state for us.

But at the same time, we must exert strictly verified and precise efforts aimed at our unification. If you are falling asleep, sleep, but with a correct intention. Even in this action you should connect with the points in the hearts and then drift into sleep, while maintaining the internal connection with one another. Oneness needs to be “pressed through.” Go within, despite your drowsiness, and you will start receiving awakening from the others.

Each of us lacks mutual inclusion. If I am connected with all the others and they with me, it gives me the strength of hundreds of thousands of people. It is a result of mutual guarantee. If we don’t employ it, we won’t succeed. We must aim ourselves at realization of unity.

Tonight, all around the world, we will sit together at the festive table, and we won’t be focusing on what we eat and drink, not the Passover dinner as such. It’s all a mere tradition, but what is really important is whether we intend to rise above our egoism toward love and unification.

That is what the exodus from Egypt signifies. And the rest is only interpretations. All festive attributes are not more than signs, the symbols of a unified effort. If I pressure myself with all the others, while doing so, I pass through the entire Passover feast. It becomes revealed to me.

Therefore, we need a powerful awakening now. And we truly are capable of making a breakthrough. After all, we are witnessing how the upper force pushes us forth, constantly organizes, and tends to us. Now a push is required on our part, and I don’t see any obstacles to that. A little blur of sensations—is it really Pharaoh?

Don’t wait for it to become easy at some point. We always move against desires and thoughts. Sleep will keep falling on you, urgent business will keep distracting you, and confusion will always remain. Such is the path.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011,  Baal HaSulam’s Letter 10

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Baal HaSulam’s “Commentary to the Passover Haggadah” (From the article “This Is for Yehuda”): This is why we like to remember the eating of Matza in Egypt [in the first Kabbalistic group] even today [during the evening Passover meal] since we [today], too, are as when we were enslaved abroad [the land of Israel is “Eretz Israel“ in Hebrew, which means “desire aimed straight at the Creator”]. Also, with this Mitzva, we aim to extend the redemption [from Pharaoh, egoism] that will happen soon in our days, Amen, just as our [spiritual] fathers ate in Egypt.

This passage talks about a group of Kabbalists that existed and functioned under the guidance of Abraham and came out of Babylon around 3700 years ago in order to connect by the ties of love among them, which is described as “love another as you love yourself.” And they learned from their own experience how hearts harden and how much tougher the power of Pharaoh (ego) who rules them becomes.

But regardless, they started overcoming this hardening even though egoism kept growing. They reached an internal state of coming out of their egoism that is called the exodus from Egypt. Instead of the egoistic ties that they used to have, they connected to each other with the ties of bestowal and love, which signifies leaving the Egyptian borders.

Therefore, all actions that we perform during the festive meal have a sole intention: to reach the same liberation from the ego. We repeat every action and ritual established by the very same group of Kabbalists, following the directions of Baal HaSulam, who in thorough detail explains each stage of the festive ritual because it reflects how strongly a person truly desires to come out of his or her personal Egypt.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Baal HaSulam’s “Commentary to the Passover Haggadah” (From the article “This Is for Yehuda”): “That bread that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt” (The Passover Haggadah): …It follows that the Mitzva of eating a Matza was given to them while they were still enslaved, and the aim of the Mitzva was for the time of redemption since then they departed in haste.

This always occurs when we transition from state to state, leaving the degree we are presently at: in Egyptian bondage, ruled by our ego, Pharaoh, our stubborn “evil inclination” that holds us hostage and doesn’t let us rise above our jealousy, hatred, lust, and ambition.

Try as we might, we still can’t rise above these egoistic properties and bond ourselves with each other with ties that correspond to the degree following the exodus from Egypt. We are still unable to become “as one man with one heart,” achieve mutual guarantee so that the integral force of love and bestowal regarded as the Creator would become revealed.

Therefore, while we are still enslaved by Pharaoh, we need to visualize the next state, to play “make believe” with it, like children play being adults when they grow up. So do we have to play living an “adult” life, the spiritual one.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Baal HaSulam, “This Is For Judah”: “‘This year—here… next year—free.’ It is written above that with the aim of this Mitzva (commandment) we can evoke the guaranteed redemption destined for us, as in the Mitzva of eating the Matza of our fathers in Egypt.

Thereby, we demonstrate our confidence that we will surely exit to freedom. We will come out of bondage, the hold by the alien power of our ego that intentionally oppresses us. When we grow eager to shake it off and become willing to rise above egoism, then we will break free from it.

Pharaoh hardens our heart as if adding weight to the barbell a person exercises with. With each new degree, we have to lift greater weight and more frequently in order to achieve a certain result. Pharaoh is regarded as “help against him.” The Creator intentionally sets the tyrant, Pharaoh, against us so we are forced to unify against him.

However, we are unable to unite despite repeatedly trying to do so. The more effort we exert, the more powerful Pharaoh becomes, loading us with additional burden. It looks like we are weakening on this path and our energy diminishing, but it is not so. On the contrary, we are getting stronger, while our work gets even harder in quality and amount.

If we don’t quit but continue on this path, then gradually, we build an environment for ourselves and get ready to exit from Egypt. It all depends on our preparation. Our strength must grow to such a degree that Pharaoh will run out of weights to harden our hearts. At that point, we will break free from Egypt.

We don’t know beforehand when this state will finally come, when the power of our unity and aspiration for it will grow to outweigh the heavy hand of Pharaoh and he will have nothing left with which to burden us. To the contrary, the further we advance, the denser the darkness becomes. We start building “cities of poverty” that bring us no satisfaction and moan under this heavy labor.

In other words, we will pass through difficult states. In the end, we will even pass through the “ten plagues” and the black Egyptian darkness on top of all kinds of other problems that we must overcome by way of establishing the interconnection among us. No matter how hard it is and how much discord we feel between us, if we unite still, we will break free from our nature.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

Related Material:
Pharaoh: The Creator’s Faithful Slave
Everything Starts From The Exodus From Egypt
Passover Seder: The Order Of The Birth Of The World Soul

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Matza symbolizes the state when the “bread of Bina” is eaten, which comes from the degree of Bina, bestowal. And even though we are still on the degree of Malchut and lack the ability to ascend, we must try as hard as we can to perform actions of bestowal and connect with one another.

Although it is absolutely clear to us that we will not succeed, it does not matter: We still need to carry out these actions because they attract the upper Light towards us, and the Light then performs its action called our “liberation.”

Man’s exit from this world, from the property of egoistic reception, pragmatic knowledge, one’s ego, does not happen in a regular manner, according to the order of the degrees. This is like the process of being born, which entirely happens in the dark, in a rush. At birth, the fetus must turn upside down and go from one world into another: from within his mother, his inner degree, into the external world.

Our soul is born in exactly the same way. And this is why no other holiday has such a precise order of actions during the holiday feast. Usually, we only bless food and wine. But a Passover meal has an entire order (Seder in Hebrew) which needs to be followed precisely. This is because man’s exit from his ego, from our world, and his attainment of the perception of the spiritual world, a higher dimension, which is referred to as his spiritual birth, does not happen according to regular laws.

Usually desires grow according to the order of the degrees: two stages of the small state (Katnut Aleph and Bet), two stages of the big state (Gadlut Aleph and Bet), alternating the internal and the external states, and once again: the internal and the external. In other words, the desires and the Light grow gradually.

But during birth, everything seems to happen “incorrectly,” the other way around. And this is why the Passover meal is called “Seder” (order), it is a special order which does not correspond to the laws of consecutive growth according to the degrees.

The thing is that this degree we are now experiencing during the “exit of Egypt” is our birth. And then the soul that was born only keeps growing, but a real “revolution” happens on this degree. This is why the entire order of a Passover meal: “Kiddush” (blessing), “Urchatz” (the washing of hands), “Karpas” (dipping the greens into salt water), “Yachatz” (breaking of Matza), “Maggid” (tale of the exit out of Egypt), and so on does not happen according to the regular order of the correspondence of Lights and desires, which they should follow in growth.

For this reason, even when being in Egypt, the egoistic desire, having an egoistic attitude towards one another and only thinking about one’s own self (after all, Pharaoh rules over you), we need to do all possible actions and try to rise above him and find a new connection between us, regardless of all his power. We need to find a connection that exists outside of Egypt. This means to tune into the future redemption.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Question: On the night of Passover we read the Passover Haggadah instead of reading excerpts from the Tanakh like we do on all other holidays. What is the reason for this?

Answer: For each holiday Kabbalists of the past have established a certain order. If a person wants to realize a certain spiritual state or a spiritual level within, even if it’s just an impression of spirituality, then these instructions from Kabbalists tell him what to do in each state.

The spiritual root touched the corporeal branch within a group of Kabbalists that came out of ancient Babylon, and through the connection between them, they were able to realize all of the corporeal traditions within the spiritual actions except for the final redemption, which was realized in the corporeal world along with the spiritual actions.

A person would kill an animal and at the same time he would be “killing” the desire to receive pleasure. He would roast the animal on the altar and simultaneously correct his egoistic desire. Then he would eat the animal and receive pleasure for the sake of bestowal on the third level of his Aviut (thickness of desire). They carried out all the customs in the corporeal and simultaneously carried out actions (commandments) along with the Surrounding and the Inner Lights and the spiritual desires.

The holiday of exiting Egypt is an exit from the desire to receive to the desire to bestow. Here we carry out specific external actions as a sign of exiting from egoism to love, from hatred and separation to connection and unity between us.

This is why when we read the Haggadah we go through all the actions that reflect the spiritual actions which help us exit Egypt: “Kiddush” (blessing), “Urchatz” (washing of the hands), “Karpas” (dipping the greens into salt water), “Yachats” (breaking of the middle Matza), “Maggid” (the story of the exodus), and so on. If we carry out this order of actions on the night of Pesach (from the word “Pasach,” to pass over, leap over), we leap over our current state and enter the new level, which is the first spiritual level.

But this order doesn’t correspond to the standard order of stages of development (“conception,” “feeding,” and “maturing”), which we study in Part 12 of The Study of the Ten Sefirot: three days of the attachment of the sperm, 40 days of the fetal formation, nine months of fetal development, the fetus turning head down, contractions and birth, blood that rises from the womb to the breasts and creates milk, two years of infant feeding, and the following stages until the grown-up stage (Gadlut): 3 years, 6, 9, 12, 13, 20, and 70.

The exit out of Egypt isn’t standard in its order of development. The Light of the big state (Gadlut) comes first before the Light of the small state (Katnut). First you enter a new world with the help of the great Lights, and then you begin to develop in it.

We don’t understand the essence of “birth” even in our world. We are simply used to perceiving it as a natural process: The fetus develops inside an animal organism, and then continues to grow outside of it. We don’t even question why these three kilograms of flesh that were inside the mother is now coming out? Why does the fetus come out whole?

After all, on the next stage of development it should have started of as some sort of a drop and then start to grow from it. The previous stage of development is over at three kilograms, and now on the next stage these three kilograms should have turned into a drop…. Where have you seen that all that was acquired at the previous level, the desire (Kli) with its entire fulfillment advanced whole to the next level, as is? How is it possible?

If I finished the development on the level of NRNHY de Nefesh, I reach the level of Nefesh de Ruach. But here I don’t attain the level of Nefesh de Ruach, and instead I exit with my three kilograms of flesh out of the mother’s womb and continue to grow. In theory, I should have started my development on the outside as a single cell, from a drop of semen, just like I began inside the mother but only on the next degree.

All of this underlines the unique order of Passover, the exit from Egypt, which becomes possible only because the Lights of the great state come before the Lights of the small state, and thereby we make a leap.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Question: Do we, your non-Jewish students of Kabbalah, have to celebrate Passover and other holidays? Many of us are saying that we should hurry up to buy Matza and do the Passover Seder.

Answer: My dear students, I will try to explain it one more time, simply and once and for all, since I answered this question many times already.

You must study all Jewish original sources because they are written by Kabbalists. We study them in their authentic Kabbalistic interpretation, and not as the Jewish people have been studying them starting from 1st century CE, in the earthly manner, as if these books talk about our world.

It obviously includes the study of “Haggadah shel Pesach” (Passover Haggadah) about the exodus from Egypt because it does not talk about the exit from the land of Egypt, but of our ascent above egoism. You can observe the tradition together with us, you can sit by a festive table, you can virtually, together with us, eat Matza and fish patties or bread with pork, whatever you like.

Baal HaSulam writes in The Writings of the Last Generation that even at the final correction, each nation, if it wishes so, will preserve its religion and customs. Only relationships between people change from hatred to love, which is the exodus from Egypt. I wish all of you such a holiday!
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Question: When a person tries to come out of Egypt, meaning self-love, he receives blows which he can overcome only by asking the Creator for help. But besides that there is also the material, earthly egoism which receives blows at its level, such as problems with one’s family, health, income, and so on. How should we relate to these problems?

Answer: No matter what kind of problem emerges in my life, first and foremost I must see it as a disturbance that came from the Creator. Even if I am in pain, I must still rise above that disturbance through faith above reason. Despite it all, I know that I have to make calculations above the disturbance and not under its weight. I must stay in touch with its “sender,” the Creator.

As for responsible actions, in the realm of this world I have to resolve all the problems by the commonly accepted methods. When it comes to the bank, work, family, and health, I have to take care of everything just like any person in our world.

Thus, you build up a two-sided attitude to the problems:

– First of all, they come from the Creator and you are dealing only with Him. You want to have these disturbances because they give you the opportunity to rise above knowledge and stay in touch with the Creator. Then you are correctly treating the disturbances and you even begin to love and respect them. After all, no matter how much they bother you, no matter how much salt they put on your wounds, and no matter how nerve-wracking they are, this is exactly what helps you rise above them.

– Secondly, you resolve the incoming problems the way it’s customary in the material world.

Both of these dimensions must be present in your attitude. You attribute the problems to the Creator, and at the same time you want to work with them. We do not throw Pharaoh out of our lives, but we enjoy his troubles. After all, only through them can we reject him and separate from him, and thus ascend higher and higher.

Pharaoh is my most precious flesh, my core, my most sensitive point, my child, the most important and finest string inside of me.

Question: But Pharaoh resists the unity of friends. What do the material troubles have to do with it?

Answer: They also distract you from the inner work. It’s not accidental that so many Kabbalists experienced material problems. The Creator deliberately caused them to be sick and despised by the people around them. It was in order to give them a place where they could overcome.

At the end of the day, all of this is a result of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The desire gradually becomes revealed inside of you and in conformity to it you experience various problems, both in others and in yourself.

Question: Do I have to ask for help in these cases? After all, the Creator helps us in only one respect—unification.

Answer: That’s right, and the problems obstruct you from doing this. When you are sick, it’s difficult for you to focus on love for friends. Most likely, you forget all about it. And that means you have to ask for help. There is none else besides Him. Everything comes from the Creator, but it happens through different channels.

You have to attain the goal, but your body, your “little donkey” is sick and cannot carry you. So what should you do? Leave him to die? But you need him on the path.

Why do you perceive this world separately from the spiritual work? Even small disturbances can be helpful if you work with them correctly. No matter what happens to us, it’s important to remember that this comes from a single Source, until we really come to feel that we are in spiritual exile.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati

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Writings of Rabash, “The First Innovation”: All the innovations begin only after a person comes out of self-love. Therefore, the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters. When a person is in Egypt, he cannot be Jewish because he is enslaved to Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. And as long as he is a slave to Pharaoh, he cannot be a slave to the Creator.

It is written concerning this, “The sons of Israel are for Me,” they are My slaves and not slaves of slaves. When a person serves himself, he cannot be the Creator’s slave because it is impossible to serve two kings at the same time. Only after a person comes out of Egypt, meaning egoism, can he be the Creator’s servant. And then he can receive the Torah. It follows that the first innovation is the exit from Egypt.

A person who is inside of his egoistic desire is called a “non-Jew.” A person who rises above his egoistic desire, meaning who comes out of Egypt, is called a “Jew” (Yehudi) because he attains unity (Ihud) with the Light, the Creator.

It is possible to study the Torah, meaning the ways of bestowal, only by ascending, by coming out of Egypt. That is why it is written that the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters, where “cannot” means “it is impossible.” That’s because as long as you remain in the egoistic desire, you do not understand anything about spirituality and you don’t have the smallest chance of reaching it. In your desires and thoughts you cannot grab hold of the end of any thread that extends from the spiritual world.

You need auxiliary means, and only by correctly using them will you attain what you desire. Therefore, all the innovations and spiritual changes are possible only after coming out of Egypt, meaning egoism. Until then, it is impossible to understand anything. Until then, we are in total darkness and can only advance with our eyes closed according to the Kabbalists’ advice.

This is all that remains for us—to understand how opposite our world is to the spiritual world. In order to climb out of the darkness to the Light, it won’t help us to turn 180 degrees around. That’s because our darkness is the darkness of Egypt, which does not have a direction toward the Light. Only gradually, by means of making the right actions do we reach the right desire. Even though it is also egoistic, yet by virtue of the Light’s influence we can then come out of Egypt into the altruistic intention of Lishma.

This is talking about states that are absolutely divided from one another. A person who is in the lower world, meaning in the egoistic state, in the intention “for the sake of reception” is unable to understand the plans and actions of those who are moved by bestowal. One does not have any contact with the other. They are completely different programs that do not intersect with one another in any way.

In relation to the spiritual world, our world does not exist. It is expressed only in a person’s imagination as a preliminary, imaginary reality that is necessary for entering the spiritual reality, which is the only one that exists. Everything we see and imagine here is similar to the visions of a person who lies unconscious.

Therefore, all the innovations, attainments, and true calculations begin with the exit from Egypt.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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