People view Passover as the holiday of the historical exodus from Egypt. “We used to be slaves and we built several cities and pyramids for Pharaoh, and then we came out to freedom.” However, in realty we are not celebrating a date in the historical calendar. After all, the situation today is much worse than back then. It’s enough to compare the situation of the nation of Israel in Ancient Egypt with the current situation and you would be running back to kiss Pharaoh’s hands, begging him to let you back.

The Jews lived in the land of Goshen, which was the most favorable part of Egypt with the most fertile soil and abundant herds. You could do whatever you want because Pharaoh doesn’t just rule there but he protects you as well. No one can touch a hair on your head, your vats are full of meat, your nets—full of fish, and your storehouses are full of produce. You are a slave only because you have to listen to Pharaoh. This means: Act by the orders of your egoism, and nothing more than that.

The Jews had a wonderful life, so it wasn’t incidental that they complained to Moses in the desert, “Where are the meat and fish, where is the onion and garlic that we ate in Egypt!? Our lives were great, and where have you brought us now?”

So what do we remind ourselves of on this holiday? Were we surrounded by enemies back then the way we are today? On the contrary, we had all the favors at our disposal and Pharaoh’s power protected us from enemies. In his country he allowed us to live however we wanted, even on separate territory and by our own laws. So what’s so bad about that compared to the current situation?

As Baal HaSulam writes, if the Jews today could disperse all over the countries of the Diaspora, then almost no one would be left in Israel. We have to understand: Egypt becomes a dungeon only when you start to think about spiritual exile, when you lack the Creator. If not for the need for spiritual redemption, Egypt by itself is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here you have everything besides the Creator, besides the answer to the question about the meaning of life. You have everything else in abundance. You are living the life of a king and you lack just one thing, “I want bestowal and love for the neighbor.”

When you desire precisely this, then Egypt will seem like exile to you. This is the only thing missing here—love for the neighbor. Thus, it turns out that we celebrate Passover to commemorate the good life in Egypt and not the redemption, which no one really needs. After all, coming out of Egypt means throwing away everything we have besides love.

Do we feel that we are in exile? On the contrary, people do not understand what this is talking about. But love for the neighbor has to become your only desire. Moses demands from Pharaoh, “Let my people go! I want to leave!” To which Pharaoh replies, “What do you lack, Moses? You grew up in my arms. Stay the Egyptian prince. Be a prince! Why are you making a revolution here? For the sake of love for the neighbor? You’ve gone crazy!”

Only at the end of the path does Egypt become a land of exile for us. But until that happens, we are satiated with everything besides bestowal.

It turns out that we celebrate this holiday to honor the fact that we once lacked love for the neighbor. If only it were possible to really explain this to the people and to show them the true situation today. Today are we willing to forgo anything in our rich lives for the sake of love for the Creator, for the neighbor, for friends, for the sake of mutual bestowal and mutual empathy? Are we close to this? Do we deserve to celebrate the holiday of redemption?

This is talking about freedom from egoism, when egoism has everything, yet I want to run away from this. I hate this abundance and I don’t desire it. I don’t need the filling food, nor the safety, nor the comfort, nor the health—nothing. I am ready to drown in the waters of the Marginal Sea or to dry up from thirst in the desert—anything to break out of the bonds.

So do we really want to get out to freedom?
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should I do if I am not Jewish and I don’t celebrate Passover?

Answer: Go ahead, celebrate it—what’s the problem? Why can’t you be related to it? After all, you belong to “Israel,” the desire that aspires straight to the Creator (Yashar-El).

Besides, you can celebrate this holiday in honor of the fact that there used to be a group of Kabbalists that went through the entire path of corrections and then broke up in order to help us re-ascend again today. By celebrating Passover, we associate ourselves with this group: not with a nation, but namely with a group of Kabbalists.

Every person wishing to climb out of the current state into the spiritual world has to respect and value this group, which has gone through the path and written books with instructions for us that we can use to advance forward as well. We celebrate and honor our teachers, without any connection to national belonging. We belong to this group and want to be related to it.

Later, when we enter the spiritual world, we will discover that we are together with them, that our group does not only include the friends from the whole world, but also them. Mostly they are all the Kabbalists of all the generations who once turned away from Babylon in order to take the spiritual path. And we are in their group.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should the world Kli focus on now in order to feel that we are in Egypt and to really desire to come out of it?

Answer: We have to remain in an ascent instead of a descent. Each of us and all of us together should never descend or stray from the established order because this will definitely cast us down.

We must very quickly turn to the week of Passover and prepare ourselves, understanding what the exodus from Egypt means. We must prepare for this inspiration and this surge with all our might. The more powerful our aspiration will be, the more we will be influenced by the Lights of Passover.

We have to actualize this right now. First of all, we must be united. It’s not one person that comes out of Egypt, but everyone without exception: women, men, children, and the elderly. This is the unification toward the common exodus. This is what we have to think about, constantly keeping the intention.

There is less than a week left until the holiday. A “holiday” is an external sign, but by using these seven days we will be able to unite, to create such a connection and form such intentions at the lessons that we will “get a lift” forward.

Some people are experiencing a descent and others—an ascent. Others yet are feverishly undergoing changes. But we need all of these states. A person must value a descent just as an ascent because you can’t have one without the other.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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I can say with hope and confidence that we are standing at the threshold of real spiritual actions. If we convince ourselves that they become revealed inside of the interconnection among us and this is where the Creator is revealed, if we desire this, then all the opportunities are right in front of us.

The entrance has been opened to us from above and now it is our turn to take a few steps to come inside. And these steps are pretty easy to make because they are ensured by unification. It’s not that every person is walking forward by himself, but he is going inwards, toward our common center where we will reveal the Creator through our mutual push toward love, empathy, and mutual bestowal.

The time really has come. I am not comparing myself to Abraham or Moses, but the states that become revealed appear the same as back then. Let us make efforts and you will see this actually happening.

We are starting to make mutual actions which bring us the revelation of the Torah, meaning the revelation of the Light which corrects the evil inclination and reveals the Creator inside of us.

I am talking about this completely seriously. Even 9 to 12 months ago this did not seem so realistic and practical to me, but now I see that we are undoubtedly capable of this. We have received the permission from above and now it all depends on us: Will we take this upon ourselves or not? Neglect would be a very grave mistake that would bring about great trouble.

I very much hope that the holiday of Passover, my visits to the groups outside of Israel, the Moscow Convention, and other events will serve as a big, good preparation. This is possible. Everything is open to us and the whole world is helping us. Everything that is happening in the world is just help to push us forward.

However, we have to be careful. In one of his letters Baal HaSulam writes the following to his student, “A year ago your state was much better, but now you are in a descent. However, don’t lose faith in mercy. Maybe you will succeed again.”

Now the time of awakening from above has come and an opportunity is being given to us. However, we have to attach the awakening from below to this. There can never be any indulgences in this regard.

Awakening from above is a very big help. That’s because you don’t have to convince the Creator that you have a good desire. He gives you the opportunity Himself, “Just ask Me and I will pay for it.” You can take the merchandise, the shopkeeper will record your debt in the book, and you will pay for it later. First enter spirituality and then you will pay it back.

That is how we advance. After all, we can’t manage without the spiritual force, but when we do have it then we can make spiritual actions and will return the debt later. Now we have the chance to receive a loan and to acquire the spiritual world. And later on we will pay for it—there’s no problem.

So let us hope that we will understand what kind of opportunity we have before us. It will be unforgivable to lose it by not uniting as we should.

This very much depends on how we use our time. The present moment is very important. And you shouldn’t look around at the external world, waiting for it to move forward today or tomorrow. That is not up to us.
From the talk at the evening meal on 4/9/11

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The story of the exodus from Egypt and the traditions related to it are intended only to point to our inner states. We are in a notch, in trouble, with blows falling upon us, in the atmosphere of an escape, a rush, and darkness. In essence, this is the process of spiritual birth, comparable to the birth of a physical body.

This is what we have to achieve. But how? After all, we are always running away from suffering. So how can we not run away from the state of coming out of Egypt? In the material world I can find myself in a situation where there is only one way out. But in spirituality everything happens according to my desire. If I don’t want to experience Egyptian plagues, then I don’t experience them. But then I will take the thorny path along with all humanity under pressure from the “developmental press.” However, I want to accelerate the path. So will I really put myself under the blow?

Kabbalists answer: You shouldn’t reveal the blows and problems somewhere out there, but only in the current state. How? Could it really be that in my sensation I have to “turn” reality from good to evil? That’s right! You might say, “But when I feel the evil, I will run away!” Actually, no, you won’t. That’s because you will reveal the evil in relation to the higher goal. You have to assess spirituality as something desirable and truly priceless. Then the current state will seem bad to you. That way you will be able to move forward without abandoning the path.

We awaken the spiritual goal so it would shine for us. Then we desire to attain it, while the current state becomes exile, darkness, Egyptian plagues. This enables us to raise the importance of spirituality in our eyes, to elevate the importance of bestowal, love for the neighbor, and the unity of friends to such a degree that the exile will become unbearable and we will have to run away from it.

Question: If the exit from Egypt happens in such difficult conditions, how should this be combined with the optimism and energy that fill us after the convention?

Answer: We aspire only to goodness, and then the current state seems unbearable to us. On the path of acceleration I reveal good states ahead and compared to them the current situation seems bad to me.

I do not have to suffer in a dead-end at all, not knowing what to do with myself. The latter approach is called “advancing in due time” until the “developmental press” will nevertheless We have to reveal the goodness ahead. This makes all the difference. By comparing the current state with the desired unity, with love for the neighbor and bestowal, I feel that I am in trouble, in darkness. That is how I prepare myself for spiritual perception, already now forming spiritual values within myself. By elevating bestowal in my eyes, I prepare for redemption and accelerate the path.push me forward.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Our egoism is “help from the opposite,” which we have to use in order to ascend to the Creator’s level. And it works in two areas. The first is a person’s connection with the group where his egoism works against “Israel” (the intention “straight to the Creator”). The second is when our ego comes forth against the only force that controls the world, meaning against the Creator. Our ego rises up against these two forces and resists them by every means possible and at every moment. That is why all of our work is aimed only at this.

The more we aspire to attain a connection among us in bestowal, love, and mutual guarantee, the faster we will reveal that we are incapable of this! And then we will have to turn to the Creator and deal with Pharaoh who stands against Him. We know from the story of Egyptian slavery that Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel who spoke with the Creator, did not appear right away. All of this occurs after many years of exile in Egypt when the nation of Israel already cried out from the difficult work and screamed out to the Creator. Only then did one Jewish woman give birth to a boy Moses, and then this entire story begins to unfold. This new force called Moses rises up in a person.

That is where the work against Pharaoh begins. We discern whether it is worth it for us to attract the upper force in order to create a connection in the group that will fuse us together as one nation with one heart, so much that we will reveal the Creator inside of that unity. That is to say, the work takes places in two areas. First of all, this is difficult work that made “the sons of Israel cry out,” which is when we want to build our spiritual vessel (desire) and are unable to. And then we scream, not knowing what to do.

That is when the second phase begins, where we discern: Whom do we yell at and how? We have to reveal the upper force. We want it to be present inside of our union, and not just in order to make our connection with each other come true. Our entire connection has to happen in order to reveal the force fo the Creator, the force of bestowal and love.

We work through these two phases, and as long as we don’t complete them fully, uniting all of Israel and attracting the Creator instead of Pharaoh inside of us, we will not be able to come out of Egypt. This exodus occurs as an escape in darkness, extremely rushed.

There are several steps that we have to make in the direction of this exodus. The Light that illuminates these steps leads us to realize that there is just one upper force, “There is none else besides Him.” Only He influences us and leads us through all of these steps and all of the states. All of our sensations, thoughts, and desires comes to us from above. What depends on us is only one single point of freedom: To relate everything that is happening to the Creator.

We realize this free choice in the group by uniting as one man in order to reveal Him, and He is present inside of the group. That is how we prepare for the exodus from Egypt in order to ascend above our ego and to shift to being ruled by the force of bestowal.

This is the greatest event in a person’s life. It’s not an accident that the whole Torah starts with the Exodus, and the month when it happens is called the beginning of all the months. The beginning is enumerated from the exodus from Egypt because all of the Torah and all spiritual life is built only on this foundation. This is the beginning of a “human being” who starts to grow up from the animate existence, the growing force of faith called the force of the Creator, which rises above the earthly, animate knowledge. All of this begins with the exodus from the egoistic Egypt.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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The Zohar, Chapter “Passover, Shemot (Exodus),” Item 246: Why did the Creator wish to bring Israel down to exile in Egypt? Why the exile, and why specifically in Egypt?

If you don’t belong to “Israel” (in Hebrew “Isra-El” means “straight to the Creator”), meaning if you don’t aspire to attain the Creator, to become equal to Him by the quality of bestowal and love, then you don’t have to descend to Egypt, meaning to suffer due to the lack of a connection with the Creator. Instead, you continue living without these problems.

But if you do aspire to attain the Creator, then you have to want this very much and prepare this desire. And the way to prepare it correctly is in the state called “exile,” the sensation of exile from the perfect state.

In exile we acquire the aspiration, need, and desire in all the tiniest details, forms, and qualities which later participate in revealing the Creator, the redemption from exile. Therefore, the exile is an important preparation and it does not end until a true desire for revelation is ready.

That’s because there is no Light without a desire. The Light is simple, but only when the desire attains the qualities that have to be present in it with their depth, force, and form, only then does the fulfillment become revealed inside of it.

Therefore, there’s no use crying about why we haven’t attained revelation yet. That means we still haven’t completed preparing the desire in its entire fullness so it would become revealed as the correct, suitable vessel for revealing the Light. We have to work on the desires, while the Light is at absolute rest and is ready to be revealed.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/11, The Zohar

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All of the events described in the history of Purim are hints at the corrections we have to go through. It’s important to translate these corrections from the poetic, colorful language of legend to the language of qualitative inner changes in order to understand that it is talking only about how to strengthen the connection between us.

In the beginning of the Scroll (Megila) it talks about the nation of Israel, saying that there is one nation that is dispersed among other nations. This means that egoism enters in between the people who aspire “straight to the Creator’ (Isra-El, Yashar-El). This ego that separates them brings this nation to the threat of annihilation.

But when the nation of Israel (meaning all of us who aspire to the Creator) understands that it is necessary to unite together, and they make actions for the sake of this unity, then the force of Mordechai ascends and the force of Haman falls, and we are able to take control over our egoism, over the hatred that separates us.

Each of us contains our own Haman, and we can “hang him up on the tree”—on the tree of death which turns into the tree of life. That is how we reach the revelation of the Creator. Megilat Ester (the Scroll of Esther, “the revelation of the concealed” because “Megaleh” means to reveal, and “Ester” means concealment) conceals and reveals the Creator. By working with these forces called Mordechai and Ester, we attain the revelation of the Creator.

The Creator, the upper force, is never mentioned directly in the Megila. It talks about the King Ahashverosh, but not about the Creator because He is concealed as a result of the filling of uncorrected Kelim. The Creator is only felt in the corrected Kelim as their mutual bestowal. The same love that we feel for one another in our uncorrected state is the revelation of the upper force, the Creator.

When we read Megilat Ester, what is important isn’t simply to decipher which spiritual qualities hide behind which characters: Where are Zeir Anpin, Malchut (Queen Esther), what she conceals and how she joins Zeir Anpin, and Mordechai (Bina). Mordechai is the quality of bestowal, Bina, whereas Haman is all the impure worlds of ABYA, the impure desire, Klipa, the snake, the “monkey” instead of the human (a monkey, Kof, is written as the letter Kuf, a long line that descends beneath the line of the letters like a monkey’s tail and nourishes the impure desires). Yet, the most important thing is to find which feelings are signified by these notions in the relationships between us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Shamati

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During the expansion of the Light from above downwards from Keter, to Hochma, and to Bina, a stop should have happened because Bina is already the quality of bestowal that does not need anything for itself. So how is it possible to develop any further?

That is when Bina feels the desire of the Creator that is in Keter, the desire to unite. Thus, Bina divides into GAR and ZAT, which feels a connection with Keter and therefore develops reception within itself in order to bestow to the lower ones. Otherwise further development would not take place.

In the same way, when we ascend upwards and attain Bina, first we acquire Galgalta Eynaim, the quality of bestowal for the sake of bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, which is called Mordechai. That is when we have to decide how to use our desire to enjoy. For us, this is ZAT de Bina, connected to our Malchut of the Reflected Light, the highest Sefira that attains Keter of the Direct Light.

This is the point where a decision has to be made. This makes the difference of how the desires of Haman are to be used—egoistically or for the sake of bestowal. If we begin to bestow egoistically, then we return back down. And if we choose bestowal, then we use the desires of Haman with the intention of Mordechai, meaning we receive for the sake of bestowal.

This is the “fatal point” of Purim. Pur means “lot” or “fate,” when we decide: What to do next? That is, we have to decide: In which direction will we incline? But this is impossible to understand for now. We do not see all of our qualities from aside, besides Mordechai. In all other directions besides him, only total darkness awaits us. This is the true point of a person’s choice and it is very thin. After all, how can I understand that bestowal for my own sake was not part of the Creator’s program?

That is why we have to reach the very end until we see that Haman buries all of the bestowal we have attained. Otherwise we won’t feel that this quality disappears. We have to feel that if we give power to Haman, then nothing will remain of our bestowal!

The same thing happens to us now as well. Sometimes we become so confused that we think that by making some sort of actions we will be able to reach the goal. We still don’t feel that this completely separates us from our foundation, from bestowal, and nothing remains here besides egoism, and all of our bestowal is also done for our own sake. Only if we verify this until the very end will we be able to decide that we have to annihilate Haman and come out of his power.

At first it seems that this was useful for our progress toward the goal, but now you reveal that everything is completely opposite and it can bury your entire advancement, goal, and your entire path. But you only discover this at the very end, when you are walking along together with egoism, Haman, and it slightly steals little portions from you, taking away everything you have, until you are left with nothing. That’s when you see that there is no choice: You have to run away from his rule.

We are yet to go through such suffering on this path where Haman can clothe into real people or just ideas….
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Shamati

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Usually it is customary for different nations to hold holidays as a way of honoring certain historical events that took place in this world. But since the nation of Israel once separated from the other nations to carry out a special mission, to realize the correction of human nature upon itself and then to bring all of humanity to this, its holidays, therefore, have a special meaning related to that.

The Scroll (Megilat) of Ester, which is devoted to Purim and which talks about Mordechai, the King Ahashverosh, and Queen Ester who saved the Jews from destruction after the evil Haman planned to kill them, actually explains how to attain that goal. That is why it is written that all the holidays will be canceled in the future with the exception of the holiday of Purim because on that holiday, on that level, the greatest Light shines, which includes all of the previous levels.

All the holidays of the nation of Israel are symbols of special states on the ladder of the spiritual levels which we ascend from this world to the world of Infinity, attaining increasingly greater equivalence to the Creator through bestowal, love, and unification among us. Therefore, every higher level includes all the lower levels as its constituent parts. Purim, the highest level, obviously includes all the previous, smaller levels which are canceled before it and enter it. In the end, not a single holiday remains besides the holiday of Purim.

How do we reach this holiday? Our entire work is based on raising a prayer (MAN) for unification and love among us, which we are trying to attain. All of our work is devoted to correcting the division. At first we have to unite on the level of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” which means the quality of Mordechai.

When we reach “the king’s gate” (as the story tells about Mordechai who sat by the king’s gate), there we meet our Haman, the huge and horrifying egoistic desire that becomes revealed to us. Then we have to correct it and receive Light into its Kelim with the intention of Mordechai, “for the sake of bestowal.” That is how one can receive the Light of Mordechai into the Kelim of Haman and attain the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

We have to take the force, the “spiritual vessel” from our nature, our egoistic desire, and add to these desires the intention “for the sake of bestowal” so it would begin to rule over us, “to saddle the desire” like Mordechai who rides on top of a horse.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Shamati

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