Entries in the 'Nations of the World' Category

Going To Exile Voluntarily

Dr. LaitmanI’m acutely aware of people’s attitude towards me. When I visit different cities in Europe I feel the local internal antagonistic opposition,  I try not to justify the Creator in order not to blur this feeling of exile that gives me the opportunity for spiritual work, and I  even enjoy it.

After all, I came from a country with a society that was taught to sharply feel anti-Semitism. Of course, it was all planned this way on purpose.

Interestingly, it is more evident and revealed more simply in Eastern Europe than in France, for example, where it is subtle and elegant. When negative feelings are revealed more simply, you can talk about it, discuss it, and directly object to the hatred people feel towards you, and can analyze such states, even together with your enemies. While in Western Europe everything is veiled.

It is intriguing. I am always glad to feel this and often try to summon such crooked stares so as to feel the negative attitude towards me. It is essential.

Question: What do you get from this as a Kabbalist?

Answer: We know that Rav Zosha and other Kabbalists in Eastern Europe, in Russia, use to go out to exile on purpose. They used to leave their village behind them and go to places where only gentiles lived: Russians, Ukrainians, etc., in order to experience repulsion and hatred, the negative attitude others have towards you as a person.

The feeling of exile is essential in order to need the Creator, specifically from the oppositeness of this attribute. It isn’t an inclination for sufferings but rather the recognition of the state you are really in, but which you may be hiding from yourself.

We mustn’t blur such states. You have to live with everyone and feel them deeply; what they really are.
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From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/13

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Under The Rule Of The Nations

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: This nation will find no rest among the nations until it realizes the verse, “And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Of course, we can easily interpret these words in the material sense: The people of Israel were scattered among other nations around the world and still have not found themselves. They wander there among them and only a small part of Israel is in the land of Israel.

However, we must look at the root and understand the words of Kabbalists correctly. In reality, we fell from the property of bestowal which is called the “people of Israel” into the property of reception which is called the “nations of the world.” We dwell among them now and this property of reception reigns over us. This is the exile from which we still cannot escape. As a result we suffer and the entire world suffers.

We need to reveal the cause of this suffering, the cause of the crisis that is sweeping the world. All this is caused by the fact that we are still under the rule of the nations of the world, our own egoistic desires, which rule over us, over the point in the heart, over our desire for unity with the Creator.

We must rise above these desires, over selfish calculations, and thereby get out of exile. Having realized that individually and together in inner work, through inner efforts, we will see how the exit into redemption affects our external life as well as the internal and external life of the whole world.

Baal HaSulam explains this at the end of “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”: The whole world and the people of Israel are divided into the internal and external. The internal is the work against our egoism in order to rise above various material calculations, to live only in the desire to bestow, in love and unity between us and the whole world.

In line with this, we need to also perform external work.

And in every state, we must reveal what the Creator requires from our hearts, that we correct them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Can I Get Out Of Exile Through Customs?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam , “Exile and Redemption”: The Creator will evidently show us that Israel cannot exist in exile and will find no rest, as the rest of the nations that mingled among the nations and found rest, and assimilated in them until no trace was left of them.

A wrong way ultimately brings us to a dead end and leads to the realization of evil. We will still have to reveal it, but preferably through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, attracting the Light that Reforms and discovering evil internally in advance before it manifests on the material level. Thus, we can advance like a wise man who looks ahead. And then, to the extent of the revelation of evil, we are able to get out of it.

But here we have a big problem. After all, we are not in a neutral position; we have been in a very difficult exile, in the hardest concealment for thousands of years. We plunged into unreal thoughts and fantasies, unreal desires. We exchanged the state of Lishma and Lo Lishma for filth, Klipa, and found ourselves under the rule of the “nations of the world.” In other words, we are under the dominance of various egoistic calculations which we cannot get rid of and which we are not even aware of.

Today, the Torah and the Commandments are not a “spice” for the evil inclination among people. And although in reality the Torah is the method of the correction of egoism, we use something else under the same name, increasing the egoism, instead of correcting it.

It is a sign of exile and no one is to blame. This is a process and we must finally realize it in order to no longer justify ourselves and to understand what the great sages write about our current condition.

We need to clarify exile: What is it? What is its essence? If I buy a ticket and fly to Israel, can I say that I have returned from exile? And if I am going to America, do I go back into exile? Is it just about crossing the border?

We need accurate, authentic definitions of exile and redemption. Baal HaSualm writes in the article “This Is for Judah”: …all the letters of redemption are present in exile except for the “Aleph” since this letter indicates the “Aluph (Champion) of the world.”

This teaches us that the form of absence is but the negation of the presence. And we know the form of the presence, redemption, from the verse, “and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, …for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Hence, the form of the previous absence, meaning the form of exile, is only the absence of the knowledge of the Lord. This is the absence of the Aleph, which is missing in the Gola (exile), and present in the Geula (redemption), the Dvekut with the “Champion of the world.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the method of redemption, the method of revealing the Creator to the created beings. It is impossible to reach it without this method. And whoever is against it does not know the definition, does not understand why we needed to go into exile, or how to return to redemption. He does not understand the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is needed for the revelation of the Creator to the human being in this world; thereby redemption is realized.

Accordingly, the “land of Israel” is the desire in which the Creator resides. In other words, the desire corrected by the intention to bestow is possible only through the Torah, the Light that Reforms.

First, we are governed by the desire of the “nations of the world,” and when we correct it, it becomes the desire aimed straight at the Creator (Yashar-El), the “land of Israel.” Whoever has corrected his desire in this way is called a “Jew” (Yehudi), since he comes to unity (Yihud), adhesion to the Creator, reveals the Upper Force in the corrected desire. And it must happen here while we exist in this world. We will achieve nothing after death.

All this should be clear to people, and then we can talk about redemption. Until then, the physical return to the land of Israel demonstrates that we have not changed a bit, and we even changed for the worse. Indeed, the true difference is manifested in a person who corrects himself.

Therefore, as Baal HaSulam explains, we will not reach a happy, safe, fulfilling life, if we do not come to inner redemption. After all, the inner precedes the external.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Paving The Road Is Not The Same As Taking It

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Humanity is drawing further away from nature as it evolves, losing the last traces of our perception of the laws of this one mechanism. What will happen next?

Answer: In contrast to the level of the speaking, the animate level doesn’t evolve by acquiring a new level of a mind and feeling by itself. No, we have to take care of this. The sages say that the nations of the world will carry the children of Israel on their shoulders and bring them to where they will build the Temple. This means that it’s about AHP joining GE, and there is no other way it can join GE.

Therefore, it says that the nations of the world will learn the Torah all at one time. They have no power to clarify things and this is the only way they can join GE. It doesn’t mean that their fate in our world is to participate passively, but they will be passive in spirituality. This is how they will work. We have the intention and they carry it out.

Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine how all the people in the world will attain the Creator, especially when the descendants of the children of Israel don’t want it. We don’t take into account and don’t understand that their correction will take place all at once. The moment you learn to raise their request (MAN) to your level and from there to the upper AVI, to the Creator, then at that moment they will receive the Light through you and everything will immediately work out for them. They don’t need to pave the road by themselves. Instead the Light will develop the emotional and mental system in them that is aimed only at being more and more dependent on us.

This is, in fact, what will be revealed in their understanding and their attainment: the need to depend on the children of Israel. Similarly, we also discover in our understanding and attainment that we have to be more dependent on the connection with the group and with the Creator.

Thus, the whole world, besides us, will be corrected easily by a relatively passive connection in workshops and other events. That is enough. We are the ones who have to do the serious work.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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You Woke Up – Awaken Others!

Dr. Michael LaitmanPicture this: Our world is divided into two parts. There are those kind of people, types of desires, who are able to connect with the upper force of nature, and therefore are called Yashar-Kel (Israel). Whether they carry out their mission or not, they are capable of doing so according to their nature. They already have this informational gene, Reshimo. In others, this gene is still hidden very deeply and lies dormant. That’s why they are incapable of establishing a connection with the upper force.

The part Israel has a chance, a readiness for contact with the upper force, and so they need to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and correct their broken Reshimot. These Reshimot wake up, clarify, connect with Malchut of the world of Atzilut, and turn into parts of the Shechina.

But, there are the types of desires that are unable wake up on their own and can only be awakened by those called Israel. These desires cannot attach to the nine lower Sefirot of Malchut of the world of Atzilut, so they are attached below. They have no active Galgalta ve Eynaim, so their job is to be ready to give up their material egoism, diminish their egos, and unite with each other so that they can live a good life. Also all the external conditions help them do this.

They do not need correction by going with faith above reason, as Israel who are required to reach a state of a complete nullification in front of the Upper who includes the lower and elevates it to a new level. As a result, when all connect, the Reforming Light will lift all on many levels. However, so far this is not required.

Israel is currently in a state that allows it to correct itself by connecting in a Kabbalistic group and adhering to the Upper. Thus, we find ourselves in the Upper and reveal it, whereas others cannot do so since they don’t feel a need for it, nor are their desires ready for that. And so they connect with each other solely to improve their current lives, each according to their needs. They achieve success because they become a bit like Galgalta ve Eynaim and cancel their AHP.

All Kabbalah writings divide into two categories. One part relates to the correction of a human being who has a predisposition, a point in the heart. The other part conveys to those who have a point in the heart or have reached spiritual attainment and have become Kabbalists about how to prepare the entire world for gradual revelation and attainment.

It is known that Baal HaSulam met with Ben Gurion, and visited Poland to address striking workers. Of course, he did not expect to find Kabbalists among them. In his article, “The Last Generation,” he described ways to provide mass education to the general public and stated that only then will the Light reveal the Creator to everyone: “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.”
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/13, The Study of the Ten Sefirot 

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Becoming The Creator’s Partner

Dr. Michael LaitmanDesire, Israel, (“straight to the Creator”) in a person gets reformed in stages, step by step since it must reach understanding and attainment according to its inner needs.

In this, it differs from types of desires regarded as “the nations of the world” that get reformed all at once in one set. Desire, Israel, demands that a person discern and attain the spiritual world, get to know it, immerse in its details, become the Creator’s partner, and not just join the system and receive all the good from it on a platter.

Israel wishes to connect with this system and work with it, receiving pleasure from knowing it. As it is written, “Know thy Creator and work for Him,” and there are such desires or people who don’t aspire to knowing the Creator, although it is written that, in the end, “for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” However, this is regular knowledge by a person simply residing in the spiritual world.

As in our world, not everyone wishes to be a scientist or researcher and enjoys learning about creation, understanding its causes and effects. There are two rungs of bestowal: to explore and get to know the Creator, or simply join the source of all good. Therefore, the souls that belong to Israel advance step by step, gradually. Naturally, they suffer while doing so since the entire attainment is founded on the previous unsatisfied need that must be cultivated.

Those who refer to the “nations of the world,” the lower rung, and who come in to take it for granted, as it seems, also must do a lot of work, but it doesn’t imply internal adhesion with the Creator as that of two partners.

Whether such a desire emerges in a person depends on the root of the soul. Heart, liver, and lungs—all the vital organs of the body—must maintain the connection with the brain that governs them in the first place, and all the rest of the flesh, comprising 90% of the body, doesn’t have such a direct connection with the brain and interacts with it through the supplementary systems.

This doesn’t mean that one desire is good and another bad, because at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), all souls will be absolutely equal. The difference lies only in the path to it. The strong desire is obliged to work on its path itself and uncover all the secrets of creation and the weaker ones, each in its own measure, simply attach to and support the former one. Essentially, everyone must reach the root of his soul, which signifies the end of correction.

In the spiritual world there is no inequality; this is another difference from the material world. Being in the spiritual world, a person acts based on his natural desires and cannot desire something that isn’t planted in the root of his soul.

Only in our corporeal world can I covet a neighbor’s luxurious car. However, in spirituality, I cannot desire what he does. I desire solely what is planted in my own informational genes, Reshimot.

I can gain inspiration and motivation from him but only in order to reform myself. Hence, there cannot be division into “big” and “small” there.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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“Adults” And “Children”

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe “nations of the world” are the desires in man that are unable to reach correction independently. They need desires called “Israel.” This refers to the type of soul, not the nation; in other words, it depends on whether man has acquired this desire.

Only through Israel can the Light be passed to the nations of the world, the desires that are unable to correct themselves on their own. From this we need to understand that if you were given the desire for the spiritual, you must realize it correctly! And you yourself will not attain if you do not pass the desire you received to the correction of the world.

Behind every person of Israel who has received the desire for the Creator, there are those who lack this desire and we must supply them with Light! They will not be able to ask for correction and react on their own, we must help them, fulfill them! There are no questions here; this is the structure of the world.

These parts, Israel and nations of the world, exist in each one of us, in every desire and every thought. We constantly need to evaluate what we are working with now and which part we are turning to. We always needs to turn to the most inner part, both in others and ourselves.

Israel itself is also divided into Israel in Israel and the nations of the world. One part of the nations of the world is Israel, ready to hear things, and the other part is the nations of the world. And the low desires are called “sinners”; these desires also have an inner part, which possibly thinks about some kind of correction.

Every person consists of all these qualities; since the breaking of the souls, everyone has everything: Israel, the nations of the world, and sinners! But we need to determine the part that we can work with. If a person has a point in the heart that pulls him up, then he is referred to as Israel because of that. And if it does not speak within him, it is buried deep inside, then he belongs to the nations of the world. But you must bring it to correction regardless.

This is what is referred to as “being the light for the nations of the world,” to provide spiritual fulfillment for everyone. The only difference is that these desires are unable to get in touch with the Creator and raise MAN on their own. Israel must come out to them, take their desires, connect them to itself, “translate” them to the language of the spiritual desire in order to attract the Light from above towards them, and provide them with fulfillment in a form they understand.

This is similar to the way a person takes care of other parts of nature: the still, vegetative, and animate, by doing the things they themselves cannot do. But we usually exploit them for our benefit, while here we are talking about bestowal, the directly opposite action. In other words, it’s the opposite, like helping children in order to provide them with everything they need!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Logical Issues Of The Upper Governance

Dr. Michael LaitmanIs there a difference between how the upper force controls the part in us called “Israel” and the other part of ours called “the nations of the world”? How does the upper force relate to and influence these two parts in us? It’s not just a “plus” and a “minus,” but rather complicated and diverse actions in their direct and reverse forms.

Is it mandatory that in our egoism, the part that belongs to the nations of the world, we have to go through misfortunes, whereas when we become “Israel” we feel good? It may be just the opposite, and usually this is what happens.

After all, the part in me that belongs to “Israel” has to be elevated and raised to an even more advanced level. For that, I need to feel the difficulties and problems in the part of Israel in me. If I receive support in this part, then I would feel only egoistic benefits and so I would never grow up. In order to advance the part  of Israel in us, we just have to feel increasing pressure. That’s why the war of Gog and Magog and the pressure that precedes the Messiah’s arrival have to be extremely powerful and strong, unparalleled in history.

At the same time, the part of me that belongs to the nations of the world has to experience delight instead of suffering. After all, if this part feels enjoyment, we would be permanently confused and would have no chance to differentiate between right and wrong, like in the city of Shushan, the capital of the Babylonian kingdom, where they could not decide who was right, Mordecai or Haman.

So, it means that the Creator’s governance over those who aspire to advance is totally illogical. That’s why our internal philosopher cannot stop objecting to it. Even Rabbi Shimon continues to ask questions. At this level, there are no philosophers since philosophers don’t understand this stage. Only those people who are engaged in spiritual work can be concerned with these questions.

Philosophers explain everything in a very easy way since they are driven by profits in their pockets, stomachs, and minds… They act within a direct desire to receive. At this point, other questions emerge: How does the upper governance rule a person who is engaged in spiritual development? It turns out that the upper governance acts totally opposite to all our desires (both receiving and bestowing) and is contrary to both the nations of the world and Israel within us. It’s so “irrational” that we cannot realize how different it is. We constantly tend to judge these phenomena directly because our desires are not yet corrected.

I feel a complete failure in my bestowing desires, whereas in my receiving desires I am just fine. I feel this way since my level is still corrupt, and that’s why it seems to me that it is worth sticking to my egoistic desires and it’s not worth following my bestowing desires. In the bestowing desires, I constantly feel that I am a complete loser; at the same time when I am in my receiving desires, I feel that I can win.

This is what our internal judge sees, since “one judges according to what his eyes can see.” Only when the point in the heart awakens can we attach it to our environment, thus implementing our freewill and sticking to new values of bestowal. Then we can go deeper inside ourselves and scrutinize and clarify our desires, intentions, and thoughts correctly. This is ongoing work.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13, The Zohar

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All Work Must Finish With A Prayer

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe most important task in this world is for a person to be constantly ready for prayer. This is the only action that can make a difference. We make efforts physically, mentally, in thought, and in desire, but in fact we needed all these thousands of actions for thousands of years only so that at the end of the matter we would reach the right prayer, cry, desire. When we can accept our desire in the right form, then we will succeed in attracting the higher power to us that does everything.

Only the Light acts and only we with a “point in the heart” are prepared to arouse the Light to action. Basically, all the rest cannot do this, only to the most minimal degree by way of “in its time” (Isaiah 60:22) and to the degree that we are integrated with them, yet no more than this. About this it is written that the “nations of the world” have no link with the higher power, with the Creator. The general desire for pleasure, according to its structure, cannot connect directly with the Creator, except only through those who have the spiritual spark.

Therefore, at those times and in those conditions where we cannot arise correctly for the world, we distance ourselves and the whole world from the Creator. Through the evil powers that rise, by means of the feeling of distance and recognition of evil, in spite of it all we advance, yet not in a desirable way.

Only we who have a “point in the heart” are ready to pray. All the rest do this either out of habit implanted from childhood or with simply egoistic motives. And the prayer of a simple egoist is better since the person screams about his pain. All dissatisfaction is already a prayer and a cry to the Creator, even if the person doesn’t think about Him. This is already some kind of turning upward. These turnings have been gathered for thousands of years from the screams of billions of people, and eventually collectively awaken them and the Upper Light.

Yet even though the Upper Light reaches them through us, the general structure is not changed. Even if we are not ready to work with the Light correctly, it is there and exists. And so it reaches us and bumps into us like a wall because we are found in exile and cannot think about the nations of the world.

In a form like this, we are far from the Creator because we are not raising the prayer to Him, and we are also distant from the nations of the world because we have not conveyed their prayer upwards. It follows that we are at a double loss. We need to consider this! The problems and troubles will not cease as long as the people of Israel have not realized their real task, until it will be the higher level for the nations of the world in order to convey the double prayer, theirs and that of the entire world, to the higher level.

We are supposed to make practical applications for our work with the general public, meaning, those who are not ready to awaken to connection with the Creator and are therefore called the “nations of the world.” As much as this work with people will be perfected, skillful, professional, it will not bring the right results and will not bear fruit if it doesn’t end with a prayer.

All our invested efforts, each one separately and all together, are imperative solely and only so that we will reach prayer. From the start we went out to operate because the Creator sent us (“I am first”) so that as a result of our action we would reach the double prayer after we absorb the desires of the people and thereby arouse our desire. Then we can ask to make us a part of the conduit only for their sake so we will be able to take care of people. After all, the Creator created us with a “point in the heart.”

Following work like this with the general public, we reach the lifting of prayer, that is, the work entrusted to Israel. Here there already exist the three components required for spiritual action: the lower level – the public, the upper level – us; and the highest level – the Creator. In this way we work together.

If we think about this before and after the action, and are prepared to link it to this state, then our action will be blessed and successful. About this it is written: “The firstborn… give him a double share” (Deuteronomy 21:17), for himself and for the younger brother.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/22/13

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We Can’t Understand And Measure The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt says in The Zohar: “There is none like you among all the sages of the nations of the world.” This is talking about a person’s inner discernments. Cohen (a priest), Levi, and Israel are called Jews since they are attracted to unity (which has the same root in Hebrew). Scientists or philosophers have the human desire to achieve the same, but it is purely theoretical without any aspirations for changing and correction themselves.

This work is only in the mind and not in the heart. But we need to correct the heart, which means a person’s desires. Philosophers, on the other hand, want to do the same thing but in their mind, and therefore get confused and engage in “idolatry,” creating all kinds of fantasies in their mind.

All the properties except for Israel (those that aim Yashar El, straight to the Creator) are called the nations of the world since they are not attracted to adhesion with the Creator in order to delight Him. The nations of the world are divided into seventy nations and Israel is divided into 12 tribes and to many other parts, which means that the division is infinite. At the same time, each of us is incorporated in everyone else. This happens as a result of the shattering of the vessels, as a preparation for us.

So when we read in The Book of Zohar about some philosopher or a righteous we have to regard them about properties within us. The whole Torah is written about one person who includes the whole world inside him. The question is whether that person is created as someone who can attain the Creator by the inner vessels that were given to him: his desire to receive and the wisdom of the mind.

Of course not! The expansion of our vessels by which we attain the Creator and not philosophize about Him, like the sages of the nations of the world do, is done only by the upper force that provides us with a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light. This is a totally different expansion of the vessels compared to those we can expand by wisdom.

If a person studies something logically, he acquires wisdom, a mind, and general knowledge. But his vessels of perception for attaining the Godly system, the upper operating system, are not expanded by it. He doesn’t learn about the forces that operate him; he doesn’t study the Creator. After all, the Creator can be grasped only through the acquisition of His attributes. If a person doesn’t change his properties, then he is still one who receives under the domination of his desire to receive and the mind that serves the desire to receive, trying to fill it.

This is how we operate in this world and there is nothing we can do about it. Unless we receive help from above that expands our vessels of perception and provides us with new vessels of bestowal, we will not attain the Creator. We will have no idea what Godliness or the spiritual world is.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13, The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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