Question: My acquaintances tell me that it is dangerous to study the wisdom of Kabbalah because you can go crazy. Is it true that it is so dangerous and what should one beware of in the study?

Answer: In the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” the main textbook for studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is written that the Kabbalists intentionally spread the rumor that it is dangerous to study the wisdom of Kabbalah because they didn’t want people to come to study. So the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from the time of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) almost until our day.

This had to happen because humanity had to develop and the people of Israel had to go through exile. The exile is also detachment from the wisdom of Kabbalah, from knowledge of the system, and a sinking into darkness. So we were in darkness for 2,000 years and this myth has existed about the wisdom of Kabbalah until today. But it was spread by the Kabbalists themselves to keep people away from the wisdom of Kabbalah until its time would come.

And today everything is precisely the opposite. Just as our entire world has transformed, so has the attitude towards the wisdom of Kabbalah changed. The Kabbalists write that from our day and onward everyone must discover the wisdom of Kabbalah and see what it gives to the people of Israel. This is because we cannot solve our problems nor exist any longer without it.

So there is nothing to fear. It is possible to open the book and study, and there are plenty of books that are appropriate for beginners, men and women.

Question: So it follows that in recent years humanity has reached a stage in which the wisdom of Kabbalah must be studied by everyone? Previously this wasn’t so and there even existed a prohibition on its study. But today humanity is found in such a blind alley that the only exit from it is to learn about life existing beyond these boundaries?

Answer: It is specifically the same outlet that is revealed to us through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah that takes us out of the blind alley in which we are now found.

Question: What do you mean by “beyond the boundaries of life”?

Answer: This is life beyond the boundaries of our corruption, a life in a corrected world. The world continues to act according to determined laws and nothing is changed other than our attitude. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us how to manage the forces and the network of connection between us so that everyone will be connected in the right way.

We reach such a harmony, such a unity, in the relationships between us that we discover a unique force between us that helps us rise above this life that is within the body and only for its sake. We begin to feel life on a higher level, and in this manner we go out beyond the limits of this world, this life.

Question: Doesn’t one have to be a great sage for this?

Answer: This is accessible to everyone. In our house there is a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave; do you know how they work? Even if you don’t it doesn’t keep you from using them.

In the same way there were wise Kabbalists who created the method, like a microwave. And there are ordinary people for whom it is enough only to learn to use it. Each one must learn to some degree, similar to how we need to know how a microwave works, in terms of what buttons to press and how to change its states.
[155430]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
True Kabbalah Without Mysticism Or Myths, Part 1
Kabbalists’ Legacy: Not Only Books
Why Kabbalah Was Kept So Secret

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Inner Work, Israel, Israel Today, Kabbalah Study, Kabbalistic Sources, Spiritual Work, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: If I study Kabbalah, will I know about my previous incarnations and my future so as to bring a little order to my life?  Now I am living only for today, for this moment, without knowing what can happen tomorrow.

Answer: First of all, a person learns exactly with what he is given freedom of choice, what its limits are and how much he can influence his fate. He becomes aware of what awaits him in every situation and in every step. He sees two ways before him, and he has the possibility of choosing between a good way and a bad way.

A bad way is a way of suffering in which fate pushes and goads us from day to day through blows and pokes. But we have the possibility of choosing the way of Light in which we can use the forces of nature that are now concealed from us and take ourselves forward, even before the blows reach us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us to yearn for the next goal constantly, in such a way and manner that we advance more quickly than the blows that come and are rolling along behind us.

Question: Is a person ready to avoid the blows of fate?

Answer: A person is prepared to take himself out from under a blow. This can also be so for an entire people.

Question: Is it possible to understand what the next station is on your road of life, even before reaching it?

Answer: Certainly this is possible because the wisdom of Kabbalah opens and reveals before us the entire program, and with the help of the spiritual forces, we discover in what form we must connect to advance to the next stage, to pass through it smoothly and easily.

The wisdom of Kabbalah makes it possible for us to advance in life as if we had a GPS that constantly tells us what is the best way, when to turn right and when left. It reveals to a person the entire map of his past and future and generally every second in the history of humanity, not only the history of this world, but also between earthly incarnations.

Humanity has now reached a unique state in all of its history as it finds itself in a blind alley. But this is actually a good state because it ultimately obligates us to understand where we are and why this is happening. This critical situation will force us to clarify the question about the meaning of our lives. Then we will discover what we need to do and we will see what rewards we will receive in exchange.
[155438]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
The Right To Change One’s Destiny
A Generation Of Sages
Shortening The Long Way

Filed under: Free Will, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The Torah, “Leviticus,” 25:1 –  25:5: And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them: You may sow your field for six years, and for six years you may prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce, But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field, nor shall you prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest, and you shall not pick the grapes you had set aside [for yourself], [for] it shall be a year of rest for the land.

At first glance it seems that in the weekly section of the Torah Ba’har we are given laws that tell us how to work the land, grow crops, and cultivate the land. But if we examine this section from the perspective of our inner desires that are divided into the natures of the still nature, vegetative, animate, and speaking (the four levels of the egoistic desires), we can understand how to focus ourselves on correction in our spiritual work.

The desires on the level of still nature, for example, don’t develop or develop so slowly that they don’t feel their development during their existence, which means during a whole life cycle. The desires that keep themselves on a fixed level belong to the level of the still nature. I don’t want them to change but I have to make efforts in order to achieve that.

Let’s say I have to constantly love and care about my friends. That is, my level of interaction with them is constant and non-living because I don’t develop it. But at the same time, the level itself develops because I constantly work on its stability. It thus advances and the mutual relations with my friends change. When we remain on the level of still nature our character doesn’t change, but we ascend to an even higher level. Therefore our mutuality, love, and our incorporation in one another, the understanding we share and the support constantly change.

Question: Does that mean that the mutual relations between the friends become stronger if they rise to an even higher level?

Answer: They become stronger, but it is when I focus all my actions on keeping the stability of the nature of our mutual relations. Imagine to what extent the level of the still nature is actually alive since it belongs to me and not to the external nature that surrounds it.

Question: So what do our desires on the vegetative level vegetative symbolize? The Torah says: You may sow your field for six years, and for six years you may prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce.

Answer: This means that I process the vegetative level of the desire, which means that I include all my independent thoughts and desires in order to keep the relations with the friend in the strongest bilateral unity, in mutual guarantee.

I develop them on the next levels when I raise them from the still level to the vegetative level and then to the animate level and to the speaking level. On these levels I constantly make sure that all my actions belong to the still nature and this is how I keep the fixed level of mutual relations.

The seventh year is a very special action, which thanks to the fact that I have worked on all my six parameters (Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod), I receive from Above the next level of ascent.

I leap on it like a number in the counter without any additional exertion on my part. In the seventh year I don’t do anything, as everything comes to me from Above.

In other words, the still level of nature only seems like the still nature to us, since all the other levels stem from it. In order to advance I have to work with the still level first, which is symbolized by the land.

Then I have to work with the level of the vegetative on the land, in order to produce fruit to nourish myself. In order to do so I plow and sow the land with the help of a special type of the animate level (animals) that were created so that we use them in order to develop.

When we receive the fruit of the land we have to use them in order to nourish the land in the form of fertilizer. This is done either by the animate level or by the vegetative level. Then I turn them into food for the vegetative, animate, and human levels.

It turns out that the still level of nature nourishes the whole cycle, and so when I arrive at the seventh year I don’t work because Malchut connects and operates on the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer) and everything that I have done erupts from below. Thus, when I connect the work that has been done I can come in contact with the Creator.

This is the reason that the seventh year is called the year of the Creator. Everything that I have created by my exertion is poured into this year, receiving the power of the Light that raises me to the next level. I cannot rise to it by myself. When I internally fulfill all the efforts on the four types of desire, I complete the work and go on to the next level where the same thing happens but in a different quality and I undergo a totally different experience.
[155165]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/16/14

Related Material:
Still, Vegetative, Animate And Speaking
To Undergo An Operation Willingly
Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama

Filed under: Body and Soul, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, The Creator, Torah - No Comments →

We depict a reality that doesn’t exist on the outside, but only inside us. Thanks to that I can discover who I am and learn from myself.

The world is like a photograph that I produce. On the outside there is only the Upper Light that fills all of creation, the force of love and bestowal that fills everything.

My egoistic attributes are projected on this force of bestowal and depict different colorful pictures on the background of this white Light.

These colors are the reflection of my different egoistic attributes and therefore I see a big world, but in truth, it is only the form of my ego that is inside me.

I am an egoist who sees things according to my attributes as if they are on the outside. The whole world is actually the egoistic picture of my attributes that appear on an external screen.

Thanks to this perception I can thoroughly study myself since I see a huge world around me that lives and operates, but these are all my own attributes. It is as if I see my own radiograph.

Question: Do Isis and the fundamentalist Moslems also exist inside me?

Answer: Of course, otherwise it wouldn’t exist on the outside. Everything on the outside exists only because it is inside me. This perception gives me the unique opportunity to learn and explore myself. I can attain myself and discover how I have to correct myself thanks to the fact that all my inner attributes are exposed on the outside and perceived by me as the external world.

If I begin to treat everyone in this world nicely, I will see how all the negative attributes and flaws disappear and take on other forms. The whole world gradually evaporates and turns into the white Light, into bestowal and love.
[155151]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/8/15

Related Material:
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is A Wisdom For Perception Of The World
X-ray Of My Ego
The Paintings Of My Ego

Filed under: Inner Work, Perception, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Will the fact that I correct my perception of reality help me succeed in life and be healthy?

Answer: First, it will help us understand the reason we don’t have success. This is a great achievement. However, the main thing is that by correcting our perception of reality to the right perception, we change our entire life. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is about. It teaches us how to discover the true reality and a new world. We don’t need anything beyond that because we discover a world of perfect bestowal, full of Light, in which we don’t lack anything.

This correction isn’t meant to change our corporeal life and help us make more money, for example, or to improve our health and our family relationships, but actually to change all of reality from one end to the other. Thanks to the change of our internal attributes, we also change the external world because the world we see is the imprint of our internal attributes.

Question: I come home and my wife begins to yell at me. What should I change inside me so that she won’t yell at me, but rather will welcome me warmly?

Answer: We must change our internal attributes. There is nothing else we should change. Then, we will feel that the same people who treated us badly before suddenly begin to treat us nicely. This is the only correction. We must let the Light work.

Question: How will my wife know that I have corrected my internal attributes?

Answer: It is only up to you. Only you determine how she will treat you. Every person determines how he feels the world. We can feel that we are in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), the good white Light, by ascending above time and space, like Einstein dreamed. We can do that. It only depends on changing our internal attributes, which can be corrected by a special method, by the wisdom of Kabbalah. The wisdom of Kabbalah allows a person to change his attributes, and then he feels that he is in a world of absolute goodness.

 Does that mean that we learn how to pay attention only to the full half of the glass that is half empty?

Answer: It isn’t a simple psychological exercise that enables us to pay attention to positive things and disregard the negative ones. By changing our attributes, we actually change the world around us. The half empty glass is actually filled!
[155151]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/8/15

Related Material:
Draw Yourself A Good World
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is A Wisdom For Perception Of The World
How To Succeed In The School Of Life

Filed under: Body and Soul, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation,” Part 2: …in fact, there is nothing more natural than coming into contact with one’s maker, for He has made nature. In fact, every creature has contact with his maker, as it is written, “The whole earth is full of His glory,” except we do not know or feel it.

Actually, one who is awarded contact with Him attains only the awareness. It is as though one has a treasure in his pocket, and he does not know it. Along comes another and lets him know what is in his pocket. Now he really has become rich.

Now when he discovers this treasure, he knows that he has ownership of this and he knows how to use it. Before, he put his hand into his pocket and he didn’t know what kind of treasure was in his possession, whereas now he discovers it in his pocket and he knows how to use it.

Question: So what is this treasure that we have in our possession without our knowing about it?

Answer: We are in a world that is concealed from us. We don’t see more than one percent of all of the reality that surrounds us. Essentially, we see only a small, compressed, and completely distorted world. We don’t pay attention to the treasure we possess.

Question: Does the wisdom of Kabbalah make it possible for me to discover this treasure?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah gradually reveals the entire map to us to the degree that we can use this treasure correctly. In the meantime, only this world is revealed to us, and we are destroying it. So how is it possible to reveal more to us? The wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us where we can develop and what kind of goal we can attain.

Question: And a treasure is waiting for us at the end of the road?

Answer: We discover it gradually. Gradually we are allowed to put our hand in our pocket and use part of the treasure if we know how to use it correctly. If we learn to use it correctly with the powers and knowledge that are given to us, then they become revealed before us.
[155410]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is A Wisdom For Perception Of The World
Kabbalah Is The Physics Of The Integral World
Are We Awake or Still Asleep?

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

Why are we living in this world?—Every child asks this question beginning around the age of five, and this is because within us is found a Reshimo (reminiscence), a spiritual gene that must be developed. It pushes us from within.

This gene, this desire, requires fulfillment, an answer to the question, “What are we living for? What is the meaning of life?” Later, we forget this question, and in our pursuit of life, we no longer return to it since we don’t have time to think about it and regard it as a useless thought.

However, we see that this question constantly draws our attention in all kinds of situations throughout our lives, and considering how many people are in despair, get divorced, need drugs, and require antidepressants, we see that in spite of everything, this question still is very strong.

This gene is planted in us because at the end of our development, our evolution, we need to reach a state in which all of us ask the question, “What are we living for?” Why live?” “What is the meaning of life?”

It is possible to ask this question in another way: “Why does nature, which is so perfect and purposeful, create a person with such great potential, but leave him without an answer to the questions of how to build one’s life,  and what to achieve in life?”

We see what tremendous wisdom is latent in every cell, in every body, in the connection between us, and we see how much information we haven’t yet discovered! However, even from what we have discovered with the help of science, we see such a wonderful wisdom hidden in all of this rich mechanism, and yet, we who are at the summit of this science, at its peak, don’t see any meaning in our lives. How is such a thing possible? Without a doubt there is a purpose to our existence, but we don’t know what it is and we need to discover it.

So, someone who asks himself about the meaning of life ultimately reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah.
[155154]
From Israeli Radio Program 103 FM, 1/18/15

Related Material:
Man Does Not Give Up
From Animal To Man
A Happy Life For Our Sons

Filed under: Body and Soul, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Society - No Comments →

We have to try hard and do our best in order to advance towards the goal of creation. After all, this road is much more than our natural development.

A Hard Nut

Nature pushes us forward and develops different desires and deficiencies in us, and we, of course, chase after and search for what we lack. What we lack are pleasures that are associated with food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge,

This is also how monkeys constantly take care of their needs, and their list of needs  similar to ours. In fact, we have a common lifestyle: We establish the same social hierarchy in human society; we love power, and in addition to that we love money. Nature obliges us to do so and this is how we advance.

But we haven’t advanced in any significant manner in this natural way and haven’t changed human society in any meaningful way in the last five to fifty thousand years.

If we speak about the goal of creation, however, it is about becoming similar and equal to the Creator, about adhering to Him. The Creator is a force that is opposite to our nature. We have a slight inclination to it that is tightly wrapped in a variety of “robes,” which is very subtle, covered by a shell like a nut.

To reach the goal of creation, we have to be equipped with a new deficiency not provided for by nature. This deficiency, the yearning for the goal of creation, will not grow in us by itself; we need to develop it inside us by our own efforts, of course with the help of the means we were given: a society, a method (the Torah), and the teacher.

The problem is that very few people want that, even less tend to the real search, and even less attain what is desired.

Coming Out of the Jungle

The truth is that today things are changing because we are facing global blows that threaten all of humanity. These blows have forced us to think about a new society that is not arranged according to a hierarchy or social classes that always raise those who are richer and more powerful.

Things are similarly arranged in the animate world. Generally speaking, this is the natural structure of a group, a nation, a society, humanity: the biggest baboon beats his chest and demands submission and obedience from others. We are the same: living in a general jungle divided into packs.

But the new nature, the goal of creation, demands a new organization and reformation from us; it demands that we become a circle, connected, one society. It demands new values based not even on desires for knowledge, which also give a little force, but on love and bestowal, on general mutual care.

It requires everyone to be on par with each other rather than seeking to dominate one another. In contrast to the old paradigm, the more a person exits himself further toward care for others, he can become more adapted to the real goal of our evolution, which is what we should reach.

It is time to be equipped with a new deficiency that becomes a circle, connection outside myself where I have no self interests.

The Birth of Man

But for me to flourish, something called Adam (man) needs to be revealed; there is a need for a different environment that provides me with the right examples of the new values. Where can I get the need for that? Nature doesn’t equip me with it because otherwise I would remain a baboon albeit of another kind.

However, a human being is not only a different social structure and not only equality with others. No, it is an attitude, an inclination; this relationship, mutual connection, must be conscious on my part so that I should want bestowal because of its special value. Moreover, I have no inclination for it, no power that awakens me and obliges me to want it.

Here we should somehow be equipped with a desire, with a new direction, for which we have no desire. In order to do so, there is the upper force, nature, the plan of creation that prepares an aid for me in an opposite manner so that during the process of the recognition of evil, I will still be able to understand who and what I am. And gradually, through quite difficult phases in the order of cause and effect, I will understand what deficiency I have to develop inside me in order to continue my advancement above it.

When I understand the problem I am facing in constructing a human being from the state of a baboon, I regard this new deficiency as a very valuable thing. If it is revealed in me, at least to some extent, I am very happy because this is how a human being is born that is ready to ascend above the creation.

The Exact Opposite

We have to relate to the deficiency that appears in us through the evil inclination that the Creator has created. It is called by different names: Pharaoh, Bilam, Balak, and Amalek. There are 70 names for the evil inclination, and on every level and in every state, they serve as help against opposition to the goal and enable me to advance towards it.

This help invokes an inclination, an urge in me, that is focused precisely on the goal. It helps me in a qualitative manner so that I will gradually understand how different this new goal is from my current feelings and mind. Therefore, we have to relate to all the disruptions that are invoked in us with great sensitivity.

Red Days on the Calendar

The same thing refers to all the Jewish holidays and the red days on the calendar. Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Tu Bishvat, Purim, Pesach, Lag Ba’omer, Shavuot, and the 9th of Av are all states along the way in which a new deficiency is revealed, a revelation of new evil that allows us to use it correctly, intentionally, and consciously.

It is revealed within us in this manner so that we will be free in our advancement towards our goal in a conscious manner, like human beings and not like baboons that nature pushes and who run ahead only by the force of the ego. We discover several forces and the balance between them.

The main thing we learn from these holidays is which special deficiencies we need to discover in order to ascend to every level that the holidays and special days represent. They require a deficiency that is focused on attaining the goal.

This deficiency stems from the human level that is external to us. If we look correctly at the problems that arise, we will discern the help against the creative force within them.
[155037]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/02/15, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Train Stops At Each Station On The Way To The Goal Of Creation
The Need To Be Human
Upgrading Human Psychology

Filed under: Crisis, Egoism, Evolution, Holidays, Inner Work, Spiritual Work, Suffering - No Comments →

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) 1:1: And it came to pass in the days of Achashverosh, the same Achashverosh who ruled from Hodu to Cush, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces. So begins Megillat Esther, the Book of Esther. The Hebrew word “Megillah” is derived from the word “Gilui” (disclosure) and “Esther” means hidden. Esther is the queen’s name, the wife of Ahasuerus. Megillat Esther symbolizes the revelation of the concealed, implying that although something is revealed to you, you should remember that it all remains in concealment.

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) 2:5, 2:7 – 2:20: He raised his cousin Hadassah, also called Esther, for she had neither father nor mother. The girl was of beautiful form and beautiful visage, and when her father and mother died, Mordechai adopted her as his daughter. Now when the king’s order and edict became known, and many girls were gathered to Shushan, the capital under the charge of Heigai, Esther was taken to the palace under the charge of Heigai, custodian of the women.

The girl found favor in his eyes and won his kindness, so that he hurried to provide her with her cosmetics and meals.  [All the while] Esther did not divulge her race or ancestry, for Mordechai had instructed her not to tell.

Esther belonged to the Jewish people who had a connection to the upper force and if she had told the truth about her origin, it could have harmed her relationship with the king.

And the king loved Esther more than all the women and she won his favor and kindness more than all the virgins;

She obtained grace and favor in his eyes because she revealed a certain part of her spiritual potential in her relationship with the king.

Then the king made a grand feast for all his ministers and servants, “The Feast of Esther.” He lowered [taxes] for the provinces and gave presents befitting the king. And when the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordechai was sitting at the king’s gate.

Esther would [still] not divulge her ancestry or race, as Mordechai had instructed her. Indeed, Esther followed Mordechai’s instructions just as she had done while under his care.

Mordechai (Mor Dror) is the upper force, a very serious force which is totally concealed. Esther fully continued his line.

… Mordechai was sitting at the king’s gate.

This means the gate of the upper king, the upper force of nature. Sitting represents the state of lowliness, of smallness. Therefore, Mordechai waited patiently for the opportunity to pass on the attribute of the upper force to all the people on earth. The population of Babylon in those days was actually all of humanity.

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) 3-1, 3:5 – 9: After these events, King Achashverosh promoted Haman, son of Hamdata, the Agagite and advanced him; he placed his seat above all his fellow ministers.

There must be a very big desire in order to reveal the upper force, the Creator’s greatness. First it stems from the ego, then it is corrected and the revelation of the Creator is received in the corrected desire. Mordechai didn’t have that desire. He was in a state of smallness, sitting at the king’s gate, so it was necessary to include the ego in him in order to raise him to the next level. The ego that is added to Mordechai is called Haman.

When Haman saw that Mordechai would not kneel or bow before him, Haman was filled with wrath. But he thought it contemptible to kill only Mordechai, for they had informed him of Mordechai’s nationality. Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, Mordechai’s people, throughout Achashverosh’s entire kingdom.  In the first month, which is the month of Nissan, in the twelfth year of King Achashverosh’s reign, a pur, which is a lot, was cast before Haman, for every day and every month, [and it fell] on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Haman represents the universal ego. He had to kill the desire called Mordechai, which constantly threatened the ego. He planned to annihilate and destroy all the Jews since the Jewish people are actually a conduit for the Light and the attribute of bestowal. If they began to bestow unto all the other nations they would certainly be able to correct them and turn them into altruists, and turn them into an upper nation too just like them; a nation that wouldn’t serve Haman anymore. Haman knew that he couldn’t correct himself and so he had no other choice and was obliged to act against Mordechai.

Haman said to King Achashverosh, “There is one nation, scattered and dispersed among the nations throughout the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws are unlike those of any other nation and who do not obey the laws of the King. It is not in the King’s interest to tolerate them. If it please the King, let [an edict] be issued for their destruction…”

Each of the nations that lived in the 127 provinces of the Babylonian empire had a territory of its own, but the Jews dispersed among all the nations and didn’t have their own land. However, they still attributed themselves to one particular tribe called the nation of Israel.

This is the reason that Haman said: “There is one nation, scattered and dispersed among the nations throughout the provinces of your kingdom” which means that they were not connected to each other. The ego separated them and made them feel repulsed by one another. They couldn’t be a nation since all the other nations were defined by their origin and had a whole earthly egoism, which the Jews didn’t. They differed to such an extent that they spoke Aramaic among them and not Hebrew, their mother tongue.

In the time of the First Temple, the Jews were on a spiritual level and spoke Hebrew, but when they fell to an egoistic level that was much lower than the other nations they actually lost their language, the language of bestowal and of mutual love, and began to speak Aramaic, a language that is the reverse of Hebrew. What is more, every nation felt that they belonged to one social class and every nation respected the king and bowed to his idols, while the Jews had no idols, no respect for the king, and no proper mutual social relations among them. They were the greatest egoists who didn’t get along with one another at all.

Question: If the Jewish nation was separated to such an extent, what danger did it pose for Haman?

Answer: Haman felt that the time for the awakening of the Jews to unity was approaching. It is said that Haman was a great astrologist. He saw according to the signs, which means according to his inner feeling, truly what the Jewish nation actually is. Haman is the opposite side of a Kabbalist, of the one who bestows. He realized that something was about to happen that would bring the exile of the nation of Israel to an end and that they would return to their land, which for him meant death. They had to destroy him on their way back since it was impossible to rebuild the Second Temple without killing and destroying Haman. Therefore, he had no choice but to destroy them, not out of wickedness, but according to the clear and accurate laws of nature.

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) 3:10 – 11, 3:13: The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hamdata, the Agagite, persecutor of the Jews. The king said to Haman, “The money is yours to keep, and the nation is yours to do with as you please.”

Achashverosh (Ahasuerus) thought of how to raise the nation of Israel. He realized that they must be frightened and thus forced to unite and connect since their power is only in unity and in ascending to the upper level. But this was possible only with the help of Haman. The Jews had to be terrified of their ego and destroy it so that they would turn it to altruism, and only then would be able to rise. They couldn’t rise without Haman.

The Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther) 4:1 – 2: Letters were sent with couriers to all the provinces of the king: to annihilate, murder and destroy all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on one day—the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar and to plunder their possessions. Mordechai knew all that had occurred, so Mordechai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ash. He went out into the city crying loudly and bitterly. He went up until the king’s gate, for it is improper to enter the king’s gate wearing sackcloth.

Mordechai  had to tell everyone what was about to happen and to awaken both the good and the evil forces in order to properly reveal the way humanity should follow. Therefore, He went out into the city crying loudly and bitterly.  He wasn’t the unnoticed old man who sat quietly at the city gate anymore. He actually began to be active.

“Crying loudly and bitterly,” refers to the revelation, the call, the connection, which he recreated between the Malchut and Keter. Until then Mordechai was in a state of smallness (Malchut in Bina), but now when he changed into a state of greatness, a state of revelation, he connected the two opposite points of the Creation, Malchut and Keter, through Bina. It says: Mordechai tore his clothes. Clothes is the state a person hides behind. By tearing his clothes, Mordechai puts an end to his previous humble state. He wants to be revealed.

The attribute of Mordechai is the attribute of Bina, complete bestowal. It has nothing to do with the ego and cannot do anything by itself. There is a need for this connection now. The ashes are the very last egoistic level. When he puts ashes on his head Mordechai raises this level above himself, which means that he places himself below all of creations, below everything. These aren’t just nice words but a real spiritual action; an action that he performed so that he would be able to convey the great force of correction to everyone through him. Thus he prepares himself for the state of disconnecting from the ego and to the ascent to the attribute of Bina, when he could convey all the upper Light called Mordechai (Mor Dror), a great Light, through him.
[154976]
From a Talk about Purim 2/19/15

Related Material:
No More Theatrical Performances
Feeling Purim
The History Of Purim: Revelation Of The Concealed

Filed under: Egoism, Holidays, Inner Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work, Spirituality - No Comments →

The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:4 – 23:8: These are the Lord’s appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, in the afternoon, [you shall sacrifice] the Passover offering to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Cakes to the Lord; you shall eat unleavened cakes for a seven day period. On the first day, there shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall not perform any work of labor. And you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord for a seven day period. On the seventh day, there shall be a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor.

Question: Why is it forbidden to work on the first and last days of Passover?

Answer: It is because we distinguish between two states in the spiritual work: awakening from below and awakening from Above.

During the awakening from below we evoke the cooperation between the Light and the vessel by our yearning. The Light corrects the vessel and gives it the right intention. During the awakening from Above, this work is fulfilled from Above but only because we have created all the right conditions for it in advance.

We make efforts, thus creating the right conditions for the first and last days of the holiday since the week of Passover has to be closed at its ends by states in which we don’t do anything since the upper Light does all the work. The first day of the holiday is the beginning of the exodus from Egypt. The last day is the end of the exodus that seals it.

It is important to say that the nations of the world have different calendars. The Christian calendar is based on the movement of the sun. The Muslim calendar is based on the movement of the moon. While the Jewish calendar takes the movement of the sun, the moon, and the earth into account since the earth is the central object between the sun and the moon.

On the one hand, we take the year into account, which means the revolution of the earth around the sun, and on the other hand, we take the month into account, the revolution of the moon around the earth, and compare the two. Thus the Jewish calendar doesn’t change and so, for example, we can calculate in advance which day of the week will be the first day of Passover in another 35 years.

What is more, based on the comparison between the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon, we can say that Passover cannot be on certain days of the month. This means that everything is accurately related to the general astrological system.

Question: The Torah refers to holy assemblies several times. Why do we have to gather in Passover?

Answer: Holy assemblies during Passover are the most important thing for the Israeli nation since it is actually thanks to their desire to unite that they need to come out of Egypt.

A person’s union with a group of people, with the society, with the nation, or with the whole world is actually different levels of the exodus from Egypt (from the ego). When we attain the force of unity, a certain tension, this exodus, the detachment from the ego, takes place.

It is always among us, separating us and making us feel repulsed by one another. If we begin to compress and condense it, try to unite and connect to one another, then the exit from the ego begins the moment we first attain unity.

On the first day of Passover (the exodus from Egypt) we begin to tighten this connection. Then we work on it during the week and totally unite on the last day of the exodus from Egypt. From that moment on we are a united nation.

But in the meantime, people don’t understand what they should do, although there is a direction that spurs the desire to escape from the ego. But it is merely an animalistic instinct without the proper awareness. People will acquire the recognition when they gather at the foot of Mount Sinai.
[154411]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/28/14

Related Material:
Holiday Commemorating the First Similarity with the Light
Kabbalistic Holidays
A Voluntary Slave Of The Light

Filed under: Holidays, Inner Work, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work, Spirituality, Torah - No Comments →