Entries in the 'Spiritual Teacher' Category

A Student And A Teacher: The General Circulatory System

Dr. Michael LaitmanM. Weisman. “The Midrash Says,” Chapter “Shemini,”: Since Nadav and Avihu were great experts in the Torah, they decided that there is a commandment to place another fire on the altar, besides the one that was given from Above. They phrased the law in the presence of Moses.

Although their legal decision was right, they were punished by death from Above since it is impossible to phrase this commandment in its ultimate form in the presence of your teacher without consulting him.

It is impossible to observe a commandment without connecting to the teacher. It is impossible to rise above him. This hierarchy is kept until the end of correction.

The moment the student cannot overcome the urge to subdue his teacher, he is burnt.

Question: What does it mean to subdue his teacher?

Answer: To express dissatisfaction, criticism, rejection: When will he finally die so we can take his place? This is what is referred to here.

On the whole, all these are natural attributes that have to be revealed and according to which we should act.

Question: What should a student do with such feelings when they are revealed in him?

Answer: We mustn’t interfere in this process. Many think that I don’t see or hear, that I don’t understand the students’ state, but I mustn’t interfere so as not to deny them of their freewill.

The point is that if a person is told about this in advance, he will act as I tell him. So what does he exist for? He will have no judgment of his own nor his own clarifications, his own correction of the soul. You are robbing him of his life.

If you say too much, then that’s it, you have robbed part of his life and he will have to complete it the next time around. Therefore, there are states in which I would give anything to say something, but, at the same time, I must keep quiet.

Couldn’t Moses and Aaron do anything, for example? But the sons have to go through these states when they wait for the death of their father in order to ascend higher than him. They cannot advance otherwise. This is the only way our ego guides a person. These are all natural attributes.

Question: How should we work with these attributes?

Answer: We should prepare for that, in order to take the teacher’s place and to be greater than him.

To prepare means to organize a group that is based on the principle of mutual connection, but at the same time we should remember that when the teacher departs, he ascends to the next level and by that leaves room for you. It isn’t death but an ascent. This means that you have to be prepared to take the level that has been vacated.

Question: Nadav and Avihu who wished for the death of their teachers (in the spiritual sense) in order to take their place or to advance, actually died. Does that mean that they didn’t complete their work on that level?

Answer: Yes, but the principle of the left line, wishing for the death of the teacher, is a natural attribute and state of a student.

All of a student’s work is to draw the right line, to adhere to the teacher, by understanding that this is the only way they can have the intravenous infusion of the Upper Light: both of the correction and of the filling.

There is a constant struggle inside the students. On the one hand, they want to take the teacher’s place, but on the other hand, they draw the right line. Gradually they have to realize that their whole spiritual life flows to them through him like in the circulatory system.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/15/14

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But You Could Have Lived Five Minutes!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Suppose I decided that I want to be responsible for everyone. What’s the point if I will fall in five minutes?

Answer: It makes no difference. Five minutes is quite all right. It means that there are already five minutes of our whole life that are worth something and which last forever. All the rest of your life is a waste of time, but you could have lived five minutes!

Question: However, I want to follow the example of Moses!

Answer: Moses is a spiritual level. The Torah doesn’t tell us about historical figures, but about spiritual levels. You also will reach the level of Moses at some point, and instead of your current name, you will be called Moses. Everyone who ascends to a certain level receives the name of that level.

Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Chiya, and Rabbi Shimon, all these great sages, have names that indicate the spiritual levels they speak from. If we say that someone is someone else’s student, it means that he is on an adjacent level that is near the teacher.

Being a student of a Kabbalist is a very praiseworthy, respectable title. We know that the teacher is on a certain level and the student is one level below, nourished by the teacher.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/14,Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Time When You Will Remember Everything That You Have Heard

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does Rabash write to a student who asked him to explain the order of spiritual work that as soon as he would start the work, he would immediately remember and understand all that he had heard from Rabash and Baal HaSulam?

Answer: If a person advances in the right way, he discovers all that is written in the books of Kabbalah by himself. It is as if he doesn’t need these writings, he discovers by himself everything that is written.

The writings are required in order to set yourself in the right direction all the time, to know whom are you going to, towards what, and to examine and update yourself. But in truth, if a person works in a group according to the right method, then a small adjustment is enough for him to discover all the rest.

The matter of forgetting is a unique power from Above; it makes free choice possible for us. If we didn’t forget but gathered and kept everything that we heard or felt like a computer, it would stop us and it would not be possible to do anything.

Forgetting, confusion, concealment, and lack of clarity come to give us a place for building ourselves. Therefore it is written, “Write on your heart,” because everyone must write the entire book of Torah on his desire, meaning to convey it to himself by way of all of these states.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

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Choosing Between The Creator And A Dish

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When does a person attain faith in the Creator, which is evidence that he is on the true path?

Answer: Faith must always be renewed on every new level. Faith is bestowal, the level of Bina, Hafetz Hesed, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, making it possible to rise above our desire to receive. This is what is called faith in the Creator.

I raise myself above my desire to receive, above the Tzimtzum, to the level of Bina, to bestowing in order to bestow. That is how I direct myself completely towards the Creator.

In the meantime, I cannot use a desire to bestow; I cannot sit at the table of the host and enjoy all the tastes, feeling that I enjoy him. I carry out my preliminary corrections, rise above the Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet phases of Aviut by wanting to be above my desire, and direct myself only towards the Creator.

I look only at Him. Seductive smells rise from the table, but I look at the Creator. Even though I feel how tasty the tastes are, the Creator is more important to me.

I don’t forcefully stop myself because I am ashamed to take from the table. The Creator simply becomes so important to me that I need to choose between Him and the dish. This is called levels of faith.

I prefer to aim towards the Creator instead of aiming towards the dish. This decision is made in the 4 phases of Ohr Yashar (Direct Light), Bina.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

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Everyone Is Gathering Mushrooms Together

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I make sure that we are acting as one person in our shared dissemination?

Answer: We go out to disseminate, each one turning in his own direction, but with the same mission, the same goal, as if we are scattered all over a forest in order to gather mushrooms or berries and don’t see each other behind the trees. But afterward we gather and each one throws what he found into one great common pot and we use it to prepare a feast for ourselves.

Each one knows that now, somewhere, his friends have also scattered to all kinds of places and are doing the same work. And in truth, this work that you are carrying out in all the groups is beautiful, and the result that will be revealed from it will also be beautiful.

Question: How can I support the friends, knowing that they are also gathering mushrooms in the forest now?  What should I think about?

Answer: I simply feel that they are doing the same work. Even though I don’t even see them, they go out together with me for the same work. We bring and gather all that we did, and from this we make a shared feast, fill ourselves, build our common Kli (vessel), and continue to go forward together. There are works in which we are scattered, and there are works in which we gather and connect together.

If we think about each other, about all of us dispersing in the evening for general dissemination, this will give us the strength to achieve success. I need to feel connected with everyone and see myself as their representative who must bring my share to the maximum of my ability for the collective pot.

By thinking about the overall success, I am already helping everyone. I don’t have to know exactly who is doing what at any given moment and ask about him. The main thing is our collective success, for the world is deteriorating more and more downward. The Creator shows us with this His higher oversight, the demands that the world advance as rapidly as possible towards correction.

And advancement of the world towards correction depends upon us alone, for only we have free choice, and therefore we need to realize it as much as possible. We realize it through consolidation, and now we are working specifically towards consolidation.

This activity will go in the right direction and you will see how, according to this, the Creator will forgive us and will help in everything. The Creator will fight for me, but the main thing is to always check the correctness of the direction. With this we open a place for the Light, and it acts.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/02/14, Writings of Rabash

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Art At Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Inner work is a matter of constant inner clarifications. Is it possible to love it?

Answer: A good worker is called an artist who enjoys his work and not for the pay. He needs the reward only for advancement, but for him it isn’t the main thing.

He carries out difficult and unpleasant actions, but he loves his work and receives delight from it, which he can discover only through hard work and efforts.

That is called art, otherwise it is just an simple act of work for reward.  What is considered is only the extent to which you enjoy the work that the Creator gives you. Therefore, we need to honor Pharaoh.

Everything depends on that, on what you identify with. It can be that I only want to feel good and nothing else concerns me. Or the opposite, it isn’t important what I feel, but I need to know the essence of the actions that I am now going through. And from that, I want to receive satisfaction.

This means that I am not stuck in the sensations from within my desire to receive, but to the idea, the goal, and the mission, which brings me satisfaction. In that, I change from one form of fulfillment to the other and I detach myself from the feeling of difficulty in the work and from the darkness and attach myself to the greatness of the goal; specifically from within the greatest darkness, I am able to see the greatest Light and the greatest satisfaction.

I change the inner essence of the action, and instead of delight, which is received within the ego, I receive delight from my connection with the Creator. Therefore, it is only from within the greatest darkness, from the Machsom (barrier) that I can’t cross, and the Masach (screen), which is between myself and the Creator, in which I am interested, can I justify it and transform myself to be like it.

It is specifically through this that I become independent in Gmar Tikkun (end of correction) by completely differentiating from the Creator and adhering to Him above all the differences. Thus two opposites connect.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/14, The Book of Zohar

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Following The Teacher

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we do to get what you want to give us in this convention?

Answer: Even in regular science, which we learn in school or in a university, a student always needs to stick to the teacher. Although there are others, you have to choose one whose advice you will follow. Then you will succeed.

This is how we learn in our world. When we speak about someone, we mention that he learned with some well-known scientist, some academician. For this says that he continues his way.

If we don’t learn with anyone, we remain beasts. But at least instinctively beasts can protect themselves, whereas a human infant cannot survive alone. We have to teach him everything. But even this is nothing compared to the spiritual path, where we have nobody from whom to take an example, for we don’t see them. We don’t know how to take steps and what is right and what is not.

They confuse us all the time and we are forced to clarify all of the feelings that pass though our hearts and the thoughts that pop up in our minds. There is no internal system in us that could advise us exactly what must be done, what is good and what is bad.

So we advance only when we become a fetus in the next level, like a drop of semen that enters the uterus and begins to develop there. And all that happens to it is derived from the upper, from the mother, who develops this drop of semen.

That is also how it is on the spiritual path: The student has to enter into the higher level, meaning into the teacher, and to disappear there by getting everything from him. He will grow in this way only, this is a compulsory condition.

Section eleven of The Study of the Ten Sefirot talks about the growth of each soul. There is no other possibility for growth besides nullifying yourself in regard to the upper one, meaning that you accept his conditions with your eyes shut and follow him. Many articles have been written about this. So a person must nullify himself towards the group and along with this nullify himself towards the teacher: regarding his way, regarding his advice. There is no other possibility.

That is how it happens with every creature born on the still, vegetative, and animate levels in our world, and according to the same principle the birth of the spiritual levels happens. We learn from the example of the animate level and behave accordingly on the level of the human soul.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day One 5/9/14, Lesson 1

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The Heart Of The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book Of Zohar, “Pinchas” item 152: Israel, the Creator made them the heart of the world, and this is the way Israel are among the other nations, like a heart among the other organs. And just like the organs of the body cannot exist in the world even for a moment without the heart, the other nations also cannot exist in the world without Israel.

There are no differences in the world of Ein Sof (infinity). There everyone is equal since the upper Light has created everyone equally according to its nature.

Then there was the first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) one and the Light disappeared equally from all the borders of Malchut of Ein Sof, and concentrated around a middle point. That’s the way it actually was until the shattering of the vessels.

After the shattering, the vessels fell and were arranged from the top down, and since then, the vessels with the smallest Aviut (thickness) are on top.

In the world of Nikudim there were already ten Sefirot. Its upper part was Bina and the bottom part was Malchut. So the vessels of the root phase, phase one, and part of phase two are the vessels of bestowal (Israel) and the vessels of Aviut three and four are vessels of receiving (the nations of the world).

Thus the vessels of Bina are clarified first. Abraham started this process back in ancient Babylon. As the first point, the right line, Abraham turned to all the Babylonians, to all the vessels, but those who joined him were the vessels of bestowal who felt the Light that illuminated from Abraham when he spread his message. Therefore, they are called Israel according to the Reshimot (spiritual genes) that were revealed in them.

The others dispersed all over the globe and today they make up all of humanity, which is seven billion people.

Later, we have to understand that there is a great difference in the inner essence of the people who belong to these two categories: Israel and the nations of the world. In Israel, there is Reshimo of Malchut in Bina, and in the nations of the world, there is the Reshimo of Bina in Malchut, accordingly.  Malchut dominates the nations of the world and the level of Bina is in it, and Bina dominates Israel with Malchut incorporated in it.

Thus the Reshimot of Malchut and Bina were integrated as a result of the shattering, and this integration exists in every person, since we are all products of the shattering of the common soul of Adam HaRishon (the first man). However, in some people, Malchut dominates Bina, and in others Bina dominates Malchut.

This leads to a great difference during the awakening. Israel awakens when the Light that Reforms affects them, while those who are under the domination of Malchut cannot awaken by this Light. They can only join Bina as Malchut. When Malchut annuls itself before Bina, it builds itself.

This is what we base our dissemination on. After all, even in Israel, there are those who are similar to the nations of the world, and in the nations of the world, there are those who are similar to Israel. Those from the nations of the world who resemble Israel come and join us. Those of us who resemble the nations of the world join the nations of the world. This is how the diffusion takes place, about which it says: “Israel went to exile only in order to attach the souls of the gentiles to them.” This process determines our work and we understand that the law, according to which the correction is done, from the lightest to the more serious part, operates here. This is why we start with people who are attracted to us and then we expand the circles of our dissemination.

Moreover, according to The Zohar, Israel are the heart of the world. This means that the Light can only come to the world through someone who is connected, someone who can be a pipe, an adaptor, a link, between the Creator and the vessels, which are the nations of the world. It is the role of Israel since they are connected both to Bina and to Malchut as Malchut is connected to Keter in its upper part, and in its lower part, ZAT of Bina is connected to Malchut.

Therefore, Israel is a special group that we have to gather all over the world. By this kind of work we establish the passage in this world between humanity and the Creator.

But the goal of creation, on behalf of the Creator, is that humanity will come in contact with Him. We are merely a passageway and we serve both the Creator and humanity. Our honor and our destiny is actually in establishing this contact. If it weren’t for the connection between the Creator and the nations of the world and if we didn’t think that we would delight Him by bringing all of humanity to Him, we wouldn’t fulfill our role.

So we have to treat the nations of the world very nicely and care about what happens to them. Today we see that they have problems, troubles, and afflictions and this should be a sign to us that we are not succeeding in our work.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/14, The Mission of the people of Israel

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An Example Of Dedication In Service

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe role of the spiritual guide is to connect the student to him so that through his efforts the student can constantly rise and come closer to the level of his Rav. The teacher explains from his level and creates several intermediate “stations,” actions that the student makes on his way toward him.

This is what we do when we explain things to children; we adjust ourselves to them, even changing our voice, depending upon whether it is a son or a daughter, or a child of two or seven. Everything changes accordingly.

Students have an opportunity to hear a story, an explanation by the teacher, and to work with him externally, in other words, to understand and to feel him, to absorb him inside and join that to what he already has experienced before, to serve him, to build a layer and another layer of new knowledge and sensation above that which they already acquired during the study.

This is called studying wisdom. However, in studying Torah, he must adhere to what is in the teacher and try to be in the same state. This means not just hearing what comes down to him from above, but trying to rise to that level, at least to hold on to the teacher in some way.

This can be done through what is called “serving” the teacher, in other words, doing all kinds of actions that the teacher recommends. In particular, this is connected to the group and dissemination. This is called serving the teacher.

How else can you serve him? It is only by helping him to realize the method. We see this in the example of Moses and Joshua ben Nun. Joshua helped Moses arrange benches in the study hall and take care of his students, and the students of Moses were great sages, the leaders of the people who studied with him everyday throughout the forty years of wandering in the desert. They didn’t just wander in the desert. Indeed, it is possible to go through the entire Sinai desert in a maximum of two weeks, even with sheep, women and children. However, they walked for forty years. This means that they walked a little, and then would sit somewhere for a few months or even years. After that, they again would walk and stop again for a long time.

That is how they learned and advanced spiritually, and, accordingly, also physically, and, on the way, they learned. Indeed, the main thing was to acquire the level of Bina through the study, for without this, it is impossible to enter the land of Israel. Israel is Bina, Yashar-El, and begins to connect Bina with Malchut. This is called being in the land of Israel.

It is written that Joshua didn’t study. Rather, he only helped Moses organize the people and the Kabbalists who were in Moses’s group to disseminate, to use our terminology, and, specifically by meriting to help Moses teach and disseminate, he merited being the leader of the people after Moses.

For us, this is a very clear and prominent example that a person reaches spirituality not through wisdom, but through devotion to the way of his Rav. When you go out now to disseminate and try to disseminate the Torah to the people of Israel and after this, to the world, you essentially are doing necessary work. This is what Joshua did.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/14, Writings of Rabash

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It Is Good To Be Together In The Center Of The Group And Bad To Be Alone

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that suffering shortens time?

Answer:  The sufferings and clarifications shorten time because I must feel:

Evil in the desire to receive and good in the desire to bestow.
Bad alone and good together.
Bad outside of the center of the group and good within the center of the group.

All of this is against my substance, my desire. If I strive against my desire, I feel anguish and I am not ready to carry this out. A person is not ready to suffer willingly, and where there is suffering, he cannot enter.

Only provided that he has a greater goal that covers up the suffering will he be ready to accept them, like a patient who agrees to an operation. Even though it is unpleasant and dangerous, he goes along with this or otherwise he will die. So don’t consider him to be a hero; he indeed understands that without this it is impossible to go on and that it is worthwhile for him to accept the suffering and remain alive.

Every beast and every person makes a calculation like this. But we need to go against our desire to receive, without any justification of the desire to receive.

When I go against my ego and try to be integrated into society and into a group, to be together with them and to carry out what they want, I have no justification for this. I cannot say that there will be some kind of benefit from this for me. I don’t see a purpose for which it is worthwhile for me to yield and do what they want. There is no justification; I can’t swap a cow for a donkey. So how will I do this?

It is here that a place for the prayer of many is created, which is a request to receive the power of bestowal. I want to bestow without any compensation. This is against my nature, and it is impossible to carry this out. If they were to give me compensation, on the contrary, I surely would bestow in order to receive. If I need to give someone ten dollars and get back, let’s say, something worth a thousand dollars, I will happily bestow.

I have no problem in bestowing in order to receive, everyone does this. But here we are talking about bestowing without any compensation for myself, without any fulfillment. How is it possible to do this? There are no such actions in our world. For everything I do, there must be an opposite reaction from the other side. Otherwise this would be a perpetual motion machine, an eternal engine that constantly supplies energy and power without being charged.

There is nothing like this in our world, yet there is in spirituality! This is the power of the Creator who can bestow without any compensation. I want to get this power. If through a small illumination the desire to acquire this characteristic grows in me, this is a sign that I have already advanced to Lishma and I have already begun to demand: “Give me the power to bestow without anything in return.”

I want to be wise, sensitive, and understanding, so that I will be able to bestow and have all that I need for this bestowal. And so I receive this ability.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/14, Writings of Rabash

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