Entries in the 'Israel' Category

Do Not Allow Another Catastrophe On A Universal Scale, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why, when one hears that there is no one else besides the Creator, the first thing he thinks about is all this evil that occurred in the world: wars, the Holocaust that claimed millions of lives?

Answer: A person does not agree with the fact that there is no one else besides the Creator because it seems that it eliminates the person himself, including his existence. He does not understand what it is all about.

To this day, people do not agree with the way the upper governance treats the people of Israel, the group that seeks “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-Kel), which Abraham organized as one people. Even today, people still cry about this disaster.

But it would be more correct to transform all the memory of the catastrophe into the basis for correction. The Holocaust Museum and Memorial should show why it occurred, from where this terrible fault came, and what it should teach us. It is meant to teach us how we can rise out of this affliction.

In place of the catastrophe, we can grow a new attitude of the people of Israel to the Creator that is more mature and purposeful. Just tears and vows that it will never happen again will not protect us from future disasters. At that time we could not prevent the disaster, and so we cannot today.

What can be done in order to be able to influence events and not allow this to happen again? How can we learn from the past and find the strength that allows us henceforth to act so that it actually never happens again? Today we must correct the damage that we were not able to eliminate in the days of the catastrophe. Therefore, it took place in order to make corrections by the path of suffering.

The oneness of the upper governance is a very hard fact, which is not accepted by an ordinary person with all the troubles and tragedies of this life he has to go through. People do not understand how it is possible that the Creator treated the nation of Israel so badly, which was the group “aspiring straight to the Creator,” guiding them through such suffering.

It is enough to look at the path that the people of Israel went through, at all the suffering experienced by us during the 2,000 years of exile. Why did this happen? What was our mistake and why haven’t we learned from it? Why to this day, don’t we want to draw conclusions? Indeed, with anti-Semitism growing day by day, today there might be a much worse catastrophe than the one that occurred in Europe 70 years ago.

This is a very painful subject, but we have to discuss it. There is no way out, and we have to look at what happened in terms of the purpose of creation and the forces acting in nature. Our sorrow for the perished is only the beginning step towards production of a practical action through correct, broad education for the people of Israel and the whole world.

This education should show people what terrible forces could be revealed if we do not turn them into good forces. The choice is in our hands! We ourselves choose who will take power over us: the evil force or the force of good, Pharaoh/egoism, or the Creator/bestowal; it must be one of the two.

We should explain this in television programs, workshops, and discussions. This applies not only to the Jews. Today, we have advanced so much that the whole world has to be included in the correction. That is why the upper governance begins to treat the world in the same way as it earlier treated the people of Israel.

In the past, the upper governance demanded only the people of Israel to come closer to bestowal, but now this is demanded from the whole world. Thus, the entire world is on the threshold of great suffering: the war of Gog and Magog, the third world war that was described by the prophets, to a multitude of problems and misfortunes. And all this could happen because the world is not advancing on the correct path.

Of course, the people of Israel will suffer the most because it has to pass the Light to the rest. But the whole world will also be involved in this disaster. It will not be like before, being a catastrophe only of the Jewish people. Riots, problems, and revolutions will occur in any location in the world. We can already see the first stirring of conflicts, which are destined to explode in the future and envelope the whole earth.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Short Stories: The Last Exile

laitman_750_03After the Jewish people entered the land of Israel, which means that they attained a state of connection in which they began to work internally on themselves establishing love, goodness, and complete incorporation in one another. Then new leaders emerged, King David and the prophets in every generation.

These were great Kabbalists who continued Abraham’s path by working on the unity of the nation, helping it to unite, engaging in the education of the growing generation.

At the same time their ego kept on growing, increasing the repulsion people felt toward one another, an unstoppable process.

This was an essential phase both historically and dialectically, since the Israeli nation needed to set an example for the whole world as to how people should live correctly.

Therefore, after they reached the land of Israel, they grew apart in order to enter a state of exile, to live among the nations of the world for a while and to plant the seeds of the spiritual state in them in the form of religions, science, culture, etc.; and when this phase came to an end, to start raising these nations.

The descent from the level of the land of Israel to the state in which the people descended to unfounded hatred during the time of Rabbi Akiva lasted 800 years.

Rabbi Akiva was a great spiritual leader who called everyone to strengthen the love and the connection between them and asked: “Why don’t we keep the rule of “love thy friend as thyself?! After all, it is the general law of the Torah!” But no one listened to him.

People were so immersed in unfounded hatred that they were exiled from the land of Israel. They lost the connection between them because the attribute that kept them together was gone, and when they broke apart, they dispersed all over the globe.

The whole Israeli nation fell to a state of the “nations of the world,” totally forgetting that they had once attained and felt the spiritual world. This is the state we are in to this very day.

But we have fulfilled part of the plan of creation that way: We have conveyed religions, culture, philosophy, science, etc. to the nations of the world. Philosophers in the Middle Ages said that it all stemmed from the wisdom of Kabbalah, from our true Torah.

Rabbi Akiva had a great student called Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) who received the spiritual method from his teacher and expressed it in The Book of Zohar. This is a very special book. For two thousand years it was passed from one generation to the next.

In the 16th century another great Kabbalist appeared, the ARI. He formulated the Kabbalisitic method in a convenient manner that we could understand.

At the beginning of the 20th century another outstanding Kabbbalist, Baal HaSulam (Rav Yehuda Ashlag) conveyed The Book of Zohar and the ARI’s wisdom to the contemporary generation in a language that we can understand. He established the practical scientific Kabbalah by which it is possible to understand the world we live in and what we should do in order to bring all of creation to the complete end of correction, which means to fulfill its mission.

We are living in a time when we have to implement the Kabbalistic method. Currently we are going through the same historical shattering in which the terrible egoistic state of the world is revealed to us, in which humanity doesn’t know where to turn to and what to do. It can lead to revolutions, wars, self-destruction, and practically to anything, but we have the method that can save the world.

It is a method of unity and connection, of creating mutual love, bringing the world to harmony, and to the revelation of the upper force, to the inner ascent of humanity from the level of our world to the level of a whole eternal existence. We can attain this here and now.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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Conquerors Of Spiritual Summits

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Israelis love adventure. Many of them travel to the ends of the earth to hike along the “extreme” trails. They love the call of nature, whether chilling rafting or even trekking in the Annapurna Circuit, not the most dangerous tourist trails, which suddenly became a tragedy as recently reported in the news.

In general people try to subdue nature, to reach its summits figuratively and literally, which can even cost them their lives. Where does this desire come from?

Answer: There are truly those who are very attracted to the challenges of nature. For example, someone really feels that he must cross the ocean on a frail raft or sail around the world.

The awareness and conquest of nature gives a person a sensation of inner satisfaction. Despite the difficult obstacles on the way, nature doesn’t exhaust us mentally, but on the contrary, it fulfills, renews, heals, and revives us. After all, we are physically its children, and only in our development on a human level do we move away from it and want to be above it.

Regarding journeys and adventures, I suppose that no nation can compare to Israelis in the number of tourists going on extreme expeditions, in “escapes from civilization” or in the timeless penetration into places where one can test oneself through nature. You can run into Israelis at all ends of the earth, and sometimes it is difficult for people to believe that our [Israel’s] population totals only six million.

This impulse is the result of the nation being very small but with very developed desire. We want to know and to feel more. Yet in principle, people are satisfied with a trip to Paris or London, and yet it is a deeply rooted desire. We want to know about the world we live in, and through it, the higher reality, the force that manages the world.

This drive is rooted in us, since in the past we touched the universal force. We built a connection with it and the entire system of creation. And now, this memory called a Reshimo (reminiscence) of the wisdom of Kabbalah, is latent in us and awakens us to aspire to that connection.

So looking at the modern adventures of Israelis responding to the call of nature, I see this as a transitional stage that will ultimately awaken us to a recognition of nature, not only in breadth but also in depth.

With the passage of time, people will understand that there is nothing special about these tours; they are pretty empty, devoid of content. Instead of becoming familiar with waterfalls and exotic shops—although this has its charm—one can become familiar with the mighty global system of nature that rests upon a higher, divine harmony.

To become familiar with this system, to be integrated within it, is truly a wonderful pleasure. The development of humanity leads to this, and we hope that there isn’t much more to do until then.

So in searching for new paths, people will turn to a new guide: the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: In other words, it is possible to replace the challenges associated with physical dangers with something else?

Answer: Yes, this is in spiritual challenges, journeys of the soul and elevations to spiritual peaks. This is an incredible adventure, yet it requires more courage and heroism than climbing in the Himalayas. Because when a climber ascends Mount Everest, he in fact satisfies his ego, going hand in hand with his inner egoistic drive. here he has to struggle with himself in his ascent to the spiritual peak.

This spectacular summit opens before him an infinite world and an endless life. It reveals areas of nature that are not found in our dimension. However, in order to get there, a person must change his foundation, work against his ego, leaving the mountain of his nature below him by hating it.

Mountain climbers also rise above themselves, experiencing a type of hatred towards the mountain they are climbing and want to conquer. This partially reminds one of spiritual ascent in which I must conquer the mountain of my ego, hate it, yet not so much that it will be nullified. Instead it will be possible to rise above it. For me, this is the greatest challenge.

It is hoped that people will understand what wonderful treks await them, what dazzling peaks assure them of adventure, so that they cannot be compared to what mother Earth can offer.

Indeed, I have not conquered 8,000 meter high mountains, but during my life I have seen just about all the wonders of the world. I can say that the adventure that we experience when we conquer the mountains within us is much more wonderful than that.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/21/14

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Short Stories: Climbing Mt. Sinai

laitman_740_03Having gone through all the stages of life in Egypt and the exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel reach a state called Mt. Sinai. They begin to understand that they are facing a huge mountain of evil, the word “Sinai” stems from the word “hate” (mutual hate) in Hebrew, the deep repulsion that people feel towards one another which is much greater than what they felt in Egypt.

While in Egypt or in ancient Babylon they didn’t understand it and were not fully aware of it; now the evil is revealed to them to it’s fullest.

As a result the people feel perplexed, helpless, and cannot even imagine what they should do. But Moses eases their mind, promising them to arrange and fix the connection between them and Creator. This is his role since he is the link between the people of Israel and the upper force. The people wouldn’t be able to do anything without his help and guidance, without his connection to the Creator.

He climbs Mt. Sinai while the people don’t feel this connection and are ready to go back to Egypt. The main thing for them is to feel that they have something, something to hold on to! Hatred scares simple people.

Imagine you are living in an apartment building in which everyone hates you deeply. You are afraid to come out of your apartment, to open a window, you feel currents of great hatred on all sides, you cannot sleep, and are losing your appetite. This is a terrible situation! This is exactly what the people standing at the feet of Mt. Sinai feel. The true nature of their ego is revealed to them and they see that they cannot overcome it in any way since the connection with the Creator who helped them not long ago is gone.

But Moses promises them that he will ascend to this level of connection, establish the contact between them, and take them out of this hatred. Only he can ascend above the mountain of the ego, but it is only one small attribute in us.

The moment he detaches from the people they lose hope of connecting to the Creator and the only hope they see is in creating the golden calf, which they believe can bring them together. There is nothing else they can hold on to.

They are ready to take off their gold jewelry and to donate it so that something will unite them. Because compared to the deep hatred they feel, the small ego that is embodied in the golden calf egotistically connects them at least to some extent.

When he comes down from Mt. Sinai, Moses comes closer to the people wanting to connect them to the Creator through him and to establish the contact between them, but he sees that once again they bow to their ego (the golden calf). Then he breaks the two tablets of the covenant received on Mt. Sinai, which is now unsuitable for the people since they have fallen to a different level.

Moses climbs the mountain, meaning the ego again, and when he connects to the upper level of love and bestowal above it, he receives a second instruction from the Creator. When he descends from this spiritual level he brings the people the plan for unity: the revelation of the Creator by their getting closer in the inner unity between them.

The plan includes all the major laws of the Torah, and the most important one is “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and the people are ready to keep it and to unite.

The day that Moses descends the second time from Mt. Sinai is called Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). He brings the people the two tables, which means the ten conditions in contrast to the ten plagues of Egypt. By fulfilling these conditions on the spiritual level, they reach a level of unity between them in which the Creator is revealed and they merge into complete unity with Him. This is the purpose of their correction.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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Short Stories: The Evolution Of Abraham’s Group–Isaac

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter Abraham founded his school, he began to develop the Kabbalistic method with the students who joined him. Thus he created three systems: a system of studying, a system of dissemination, and a system of fulfilling the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The system of dissemination takes into account the level of a person’s development. Everything depends on how people can perceive the spiritual idea, to what extent it is close to them and can answer their expectations, and to what extent they can be shown that this system is beneficial for them.

Later, when they ascend and develop, they will be ready to understand other options that the wisdom offers them. Therefore, a person should always be approached on his level, in a language that he understands, so he be can attracted by knowing you can actually help him realize what he wants.

This is what Abraham engaged in when he explained that the ultimate goal of our evolution is love and bestowal, and those who wish to attain it internally, at least to some extent, should come to him.

This is how the next stage of the development of Abraham’s school began. At this point, it was called Abraham’s group, since all the members in the group began to work on the connection between them, accepting the fact that unity is above separation.

When the leap of the ego occurred in ancient Babylon and people wanted to build a tower to reach heaven, that is, to the uppermost force, it was putting pressure on the negative force.

Abraham, however, claimed that the negative force stems from the same positive force and has to be operated differently, by absorbing it as what we call the left line (the negative force). He believed that the ego that rises in people should be studied and worked with correctly. This is the reason that the period that followed the development of Abraham’s group is called Isaac.

The correct use of the ego is called the sacrifice of Isaac, which means that we bind our ego and threaten to kill it, totally ready to sacrifice it, although we understand that we will not attain the Creator without it. On the other hand, resemblance and equivalence to the Creator can only be attained if we limit the ego correctly. For us, it is like cutting our own flesh.

We learn to control our ego, to bind it, manage it, and place it under the attribute of love and bestowal without destroying it and without threatening it, and we become ready to break away from ourselves (since the ego is the whole self). This process is part of our evolution, and when we perform it, we are have the opportunity for the correct, productive, and focused work with our ego. This is the essence of the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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When Sanity Leads To Chaos

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what case will the method of Abraham, which still is portrayed as irrational, be accepted?

Answer: Today humanity is ready to accept anything illogical because it is beginning to understand that our current rationality is actually beastly and doesn’t work on the level of society.

Oddly enough, now there is a total disappointment in the logic, in the ability of the modern consumer “sanity” to overcome problems that keep on rolling along. Egoism itself has finished; Marx was right about this, and there is nothing to even talk about his perspicacity.

All that remains is to act on the level of elementary logic, to explain abstractly to people from the side: “Is it good for all of us to be connected together by good threads?  Good. Is it good to earn only as much as is necessary and any more we simply don’t need?  Good. Is it good to have a single optimal standard of living for all?  Yes. How about no hunger and sickness, no huge chasm between the rich and the poor? Good. The whole world cares about ecology? Good.”

But how do we do this if we are all so bad?

Here we need to show people that a power exists that can realize this. In any case, sooner or later, we must come to this state and the sooner it will be, the less suffering there will be. If we succeed in conveying our message correctly, humanity will already be ready to accept this logic.

Question: Do all the Jews need to return physically to the land of Israel?

Answer: I don’t think so. I suppose that it doesn’t matter at all where one lives. It is said that the land of Israel will expand to the edges of the whole world. Figuratively speaking, it would extend over the entire globe.

Points of spirituality occur worldwide. It doesn’t matter where a person is located. Furthermore, these people must become teachers for the whole world. After all, humanity yearns for some method for the right existence. We see that now it doesn’t exist anywhere; everyone lives only for today, fearing to consider tomorrow or simply not thinking about it. Nobody has a realistic long-range strategy and there isn’t even a normal tactic for reciprocal connection for the sake of some common goal. Instead we are witness to the totally chaotic movement of each and every person. And so our logic will be clear to humanity.

Along with this, there is a little trick here: Humanity will be able to accept this logic and realize it only after the people of Israel become the first to apply it to life. That is how the general system is organized; it is specifically these people, hated, stubborn, egoistic, and so on, who must first and foremost realize the method in themselves and provide an example. As soon as they do, at least somewhat, everyone will begin to study with them.

This is because the readiness to learn from the Jews is latent in all the nations of the world. The basis of their hatred is not respected, but there is a basic awareness that in this people there is something higher, which is specifically what they want so much to annihilate. This doesn’t let the nations rest, as it stands in their way. This is a natural reaction, but on the opposite side, there is an inner readiness to adopt what is new and to learn it. So our only problem is in the making of the correct society.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 9/24/14

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Being Like Everyone Else Isn’t Our Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is the current return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel a natural phase?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Why should they return to this land in particular?

Answer: We don’t understand it yet. However, people who are on a spiritual level understand the differences and the uniqueness of the spiritual root in each of the created beings, including animals, and moreover, of the different regions of the earth.

So despite the fact that the land here is not fertile and there is nothing “holy” about it, it is still dominated by certain spiritual forces, just like a branch that grows from a spiritual root.

Question: What should we do about the strong Arab resistance?

Answer: It is perfectly natural. After all, if we have returned to this land, we have to return to our spiritual roots. In other words, we have to fulfill the condition of love thy friend as thyself. It is on the basis of this condition that we came here ages ago. Moses brought us to the borders of this land and passed away on its border. Then his disciple, Joshua, led us.

We reached this land and when we settled here, we had to set an example for all of humanity, and to show what a nation that lives correctly in its land should be like. Then we began to build the Temple and fulfill this mission.

However, our actions today are totally opposite from what we have to do and consequently, of course, we are constantly confronted with troubles from our close and distant neighbors.

Question: Why was the Arab environment given this role?

Answer: This was written ages ago when Abraham fathered Ishmael and sent him away with Hagar. From that time onwards, there is a kind of “competition” between the two brothers Isaac and Ishmael. There is nothing we can do about it; the conflict will be even greater, but it should be fulfilled on the spiritual level.

This means that as a nation we have to ascend to the level of love of others, be in good relations with one another, and set an example for all of humanity. In that case, we will immediately see how everything around us calms down. First our cousins the Arabs and then the whole world will quiet down and the anger and hatred in the world will cease.

The nations of the world will then understand that there is something that they really need here and that they can receive the method for the revival of the soul from us, which is the knowledge that can make them eternal beings. They will begin to realize that we can lead them to a better life, not just in this world, but to exit it to a totally different dimension, beyond the frameworks of this world. It all depends only on us and I think that we will reach it.

Question: Does this mean that there is one meaning to all the complaints we hear against us?

Answer:  They are only meant to unite and connect us. If our neighbors didn’t pressure us, we would destroy one another and never unite, even on the level we are on today. The external pressure on us, the rigidity and hatred, all depend only on the mutual repulsion we feel towards one another. Generally speaking, we actually determine the level of hatred that the nations of the world feel towards us.

Question: So unconsciously the nations of the world want to oblige us to be the teachers of humanity?

Answer: Yes. This is how all of humanity relates to us. All their hatred is only so that we will eventually understand that we have to do something and that wanting to be like them, like everyone, is a silly “trick.” This philosophy, this approach, takes us completely in the wrong direction.

Spinoza’s origin, the rebellion against the independent uniqueness is not our root. Of course, it was forbidden to remain on the previous level in those times, since the time had come for the spiritual development, spiritual not in the sense that humanity imagined but according to our roots.

Comment: But on the other hand, you spoke about the fact that the Jews also led the conceptual development of all of humanity in Babylon.

Answer: They should have led it a long time ago, during the exodus from ancient Babylon. If everything had gone smoothly, spirituality should have spread widely after the First Temple, and gradually all the nations of the world would have accepted the method of the revelation of the Creator. They would have united and everything would have ended there. But that was impossible because the Babylonians didn’t yet have the root that humanity needed. They had to receive it and it was possible to receive it only when the Jewish nation was shattered and dispersed among them.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 9/24/14

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 Short Stories: The Schools Of Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom the time when a small part of the Babylonians joined Abraham and began to work together on unity between them, the starting point of the Jewish people began.

Although it was not yet a formed people, the group of Abraham’s disciples, who were Kabbalists, received from him the method of unity with the purpose of revealing the Creator and began to move forward.

From a Kabbalistic point of view, moving forward is not the story of their moving from Babylon to the land of Canaan, the descent into Egypt and return to the land of Israel, but the growth of their egoism and their constant ascent above it. Indeed, the ideology they agreed with in ancient Babylon continued to work in them.

In the process of the growth of egoism, the people gradually began to change and became more sophisticated, both egoistically and altruistically. Their unity underwent various metamorphoses, and took different forms.

Therefore, the school of Abraham transforms into the school Isaac, then into the school of Jacob, then Joseph, and, finally into the school of Moses. All of them represent a variety of movements of the people to an ever increasing revelation of ego and the rising above it.

The the school of Isaac represents the people’s desire to break away from its egoism and rise firmly above it. This is the sacrifice of Isaac, when a person is ready to slaughter his egoism. Indeed, at first he thinks that this is the only way to maintain his movement forward.

Then the school of Jacob is then formed, which believes that one should not kill egoism, but balance it with the property of mercy, represented by Jacob. After all, when mercy begins to correctly use the property of Isaac (the ruthlessness of judgment), then it turns into the property of Israel, which means straight to the Creator.

This is a serious movement forward, in which both the egoistic and altruistic forces are coming together, with egoism remaining at the bottom and altruism rising above it. Thus, by rising and falling synchronously, they move together. This is the way people grow, composing the two parts of nature within themselves, and in the correct symbiosis between them, they reveal the Creator.

The spiritual movement of Israel gradually leads the people into Egypt. The development in Egypt means that the people’s egoism rose even more, to the level of Pharaoh, and they were required to rise above it.

Pharaoh represents egoism, which one simply cannot rise above and use. It is necessary to be pulled out if it quickly, to correct it in small portions, transforming it into altruism.

The people of Israel, having finding themselves in Egyptian captivity, i.e., in an extremely egoistic state, discovered that they could not follow the ideology of Abraham. A new leader, whose name was Moses, appeared among them. He was able to organize them so that they understood that progress must be based on detachment from egoism. That meant they had to escape from Egyptian captivity, the captivity of egoism, and slowly begin to correct its parts.

While in Egypt, under the pressure of a huge ego, the people were in the same confrontation as in ancient Babylon. Moses understood that it was necessary to make another effort, to get out of Egypt and go to the land of Canaan, as Abraham’s group once came from Babylon.

The land of Canaan symbolizes the spiritual state that gives people the opportunity to internally unite among themselves, to rise above egoism and move away from it, i.e., to leave Egypt, go into the Sinai desert and head for the land of Israel.

This is the essence of the school of Moses, the direct follower of Abraham. In the history of spiritual development, there is no brighter personality than Moses. After all, the group of Abraham came from Babylon after rising above the manifested egoism and that was enough, but now its followers, while escaping from Egypt, must not only rise above a huge ego, but also gradually correct it.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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Short Stories: The Evolution Of Abraham’s Group—Joseph

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe essence of the Kabbalistic method is working properly with the growing ego by using the altruistic right line, and at the same time ascending the levels of the spiritual worlds. Thus the next phase of spiritual evolution is the revelation of the giant ego inside us.

The question is where will the great ego that can raise us all the way to the Creator’s level come from?

If it appeared in the first stages of the spiritual formation, we couldn’t work with it and would subconsciously escape from our level. Therefore, sinking into the ego and its internal growth is gradual. Such a gradual nearing to the ego, which is eventually revealed in all its huge dark emptiness and in the force that swallows everything, is described in the story about Joseph and his brothers.

At first, the small and non-harmful ego of the brothers who envied Joseph grew to huge disputes called Egypt. Egypt (Mitzraim) stems from the Hebrew word “Mits Rah – bad juice” that means the concentration of evil.

On the one hand, it didn’t seem so bad, but on the other hand, they encountered a problem: If they didn’t come close to evil and accumulate it inside them and seem to quiet down the disputes they had, they wouldn’t be able to go on. Therefore it says in the Torah that there was famine in the Land of Israel.

So what could they do if without the ego there was no way they could advance in spirituality? This is how they began to feel the need for a growing ego and its correct fulfillment. Thus they sank into Egypt, which was in their benefit since it nourished and awakened them.

Moreover, their father Jacob entered the same state as he understood that this is the middle line without which it is impossible to advance and that they needed a great ego in order to later work on it. The building up of the ego is called the seven years of satiety.

During those years the ego seems very attractive because it doesn’t show that it is against the spiritual path. Life in the captivity of the ego seemed sweet, good, and sensible and they became its slaves.

During this time Israel develops, grows and multiplies, which means that the method of the correct use of the ego and its right guidance during the first seven years is very fruitful. It is because the ego, as part of the female nature, is first submissive suggesting: “use me and advance.”

But having absorbed the ego to the fullest during the first seven good years, its absorption came to an end. Seven years is a complete level HGT NHYM, the seven good years are replaced by the seven bad years (of hunger).

They begin to recognize the evil in the ego. All the profit they seemingly made before is actually total emptiness. The recognition of evil is also during seven years since these are the same levels of HGT NHYM. In each of them they have to recognize that it constantly leads to negative outcomes.

Towards the end of the seven bad years, they reach the last attribute, the most egoistic one, Malchut. Here they already have to undergo serious blows, the ten plagues of Egypt, in order to give up the previous use of the ego.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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Short Stories: Crossing The Egyptian Border

laitman_749_01After Abraham’s group worked on unity, they began to discover a new level of the ego and began to draw apart again, just like they did in Babylon.

They were dominated by the power of Pharaoh, a giant ego that pressured them, the relations between them, became “the slavery in Egypt.”

It was at that time that the next leader of the nation Moses appeared. Moses was brought up at Pharaoh’s home from a very young age, but nonetheless, a great desire to ascend above his upbringing awoke in him. He escaped from Pharaoh and turned to the people, calling them to leave Egypt.

The people, however, were very weak. On one hand, they understood that they had to leave the egoistic slavery, otherwise there was not a chance that they would connect and unite to reproduce Abraham’s idea that helps them advance in the connection between them, to reveal the Creator.

On the other hand, the Creator is concealed from their feelings. So the slavery in Egypt is like nighttime for them since they don’t feel the spiritual life at all. But they have already tasted and felt what a spiritual state means: life without any limitations, a feeling of the outer space, a different dimension.

Therefore, they were rather passive at first and Moses had to aggravate Pharaoh (the ego) to such an extent that the people would feel his rigid domination. Only then did they see the afflictions that the ego caused them and were then ready to leave Egypt because they didn’t want to identify with their ego anymore. They had no power to break away from it but they suddenly felt the desire to do so.

By showing them the ego’s cruelty and slyness, Moses raises the people and takes them out of the egoistic state. Now they are ready to overcome all the fights, disputes and conflicts and to ascend above them according to the condition of “love covers all transgressions.” Then they break away from the slavery in Egypt, rise above it, and leave Egypt.

Every whole spiritual level is made of ten sub-levels. Every sub-level should be seen as a source of loss, pain, sufferings, and terrible diseases. Sufferings that gradually accumulate in the recognition of the egoistic slavery and convince people to break away from the ego (even at night, in the dark, when nothing is understood and nothing can be seen); the main thing is to keep the connection between them.

The situation before the exodus from Egypt and afterward is similar to crossing a border. In Egypt we depend on one another, hating one another, but the moment we take upon ourselves the law of mercy, of altruistic bestowal, of mutual incorporation, we can cross the border and break away from Egypt.
[146715]
From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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