Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

The Heavens Tell His Glory

598We humans begin in a state where we know nothing, because we are born like small animals, and thus we develop in stages. Animals do not develop throughout their lives. They are almost the same on the day they are born as on the day they die. However, we people constantly develop.

However, when do we reach true development? It is when we begin to feel ourselves as human beings in corporeality, and then begin to develop human levels of growth. Within those levels, we reach the large will to receive and fulfill it completely. Then within us, in that large will to receive, a point in the heart develops. Suddenly, it awakens, and we feel that it is more important than the entire will to receive we had acquired with all of its possessions.

From there, we continue developing the point in the heart, and search for how to develop it until we reach the place where it aligns with its ultimate fulfillment through four phases, and there we begin again to develop on the level of four phases.

Therefore, each time we enter a new stage and another new stage until we begin to feel that we are truly in exile. We cannot feel that we are in exile unless we accurately interpret within our emotion and intellect what redemption is. This is already a revelation from above that brings us the upper light, the reforming light, i.e., when we feel that we are in a dungeon that holds us and presses on us from all sides, and we are unable to get out of it, to escape from it, to make even a small movement, even though the pressure is immense.

This can more or less be considered a picture to describe how we feel ourselves, within egoistic desires, under pressure, in the bondage of Pharaoh.

Afterward, we continue on out of a lack of choice. Although this brings pain to the will to receive, the importance of the goal that we constantly develop suppresses the pain and gives us the ability to rise above it. Still, we feel as if there is a barrier in front of us, as though we want to pass ourselves through a mold the shape of which is utterly mismatched with our nature.

It is similar to how when cakes are made or children play with sand molds in different shapes. We fill them with sand and retrieve a shape. Therefore, we feel as if, with all our traits, with who we are now, with our approach to life, our thoughts and attitudes, we simply cannot enter into that mold. It does not fit us in any way.

This is the pain of self-birth, what we feel during the Exodus from Egypt. After several years and many difficult exercises, in which we truly do not understand how it is even possible to pass through them, nonetheless we agree and pass through. When we do, we do not understand it, but we receive a new land, new heavens, i.e., a new approach to life, a new perception, new importance, a new way of thinking. Everything in us changes, and we receive a new operating system.

From that moment onward, we begin to attach to ourselves, to reveal within us the desires from the past that awaken, and to correct them: first the unintentional sins (Shgagot), and then the intentional ones (Zdonot).

This is called “The heavens tell” His glory, that is, the heavens “tell” or reveal the Creator. It is because the quality of bestowal that gradually awakens within us is called “heavens,” the quality of Bina, which gradually reveals itself. Not only does it reveal the quality of bestowal itself, but also its greatness. This is what is meant by “the heavens tell” the Creator’s glory.

This is what it means that this night is different from all other nights. How is it different? The difference is that until now, the will to receive was always revealed to us. But this night determines that this will to receive must undergo correction so that it will be entirely in order to bestow. That is why it is entirely Matza (unleavened bread), i.e., we abstain from all desires of Malchut and cleave to Bina. We dip twice. These are all signs of Bina ruling over Malchut in all her desires.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2007, Writings of Rabash “Concerning the Exodus from Egypt”

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Working with the Creator

Laitman_509Rabash, “Letter 66”: And indeed we do say in the Passover Haggadah: “From the start our ancestors were idol worshippers and now we approach the Omnipresent to serve Him” and so forth.

To understand the idea of teaching us what they were before, we have to explain this through ethics. A person must know when he is involved with the idea of the departure of a person from the Egyptian exile, we see that all of the Mitzvot (precepts) depend upon this concept, for with all of these things we say: “A recollection of the Exodus from Egypt.”

All of the Mitzvot are corrections of the desire to receive in small portions that can be implemented only after the person rises above the Machsom (barrier). After he passes through the Machsom, he begins to pass through the parts of the desire to receive above the Machsom.

First of all, the person himself passes through the Machsom and transforms his desire to receive into “for the sake of bestowal,” and after that he turns downward and elevates desire after desire. All of this activity is called repentance, in other words, he returns the desire to receive to an intention of for the sake of bestowal. Every acton like this is called a Mitzvah and is done by the Torah, meaning by the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) that transforms the corrections into possibilities. The first action is called the Exodus from Egypt.

When I am under the Machsom, I don’t have a connection with the light. However, above the Machsom, I already have light, the power of bestowal, and I can use it for advancement and correction. I have the consciousness, feeling, intelligence, and power as a capable, mature person. I transform myself into an expert on correction on condition that there is light in me. Light is the power of bestowal that is acting in me, and with its help, I can connect more and more new desires, one after another, and correct them. I turn to a higher level and receive additional power from it for the lower part that I want to correct, correcting it and connecting it to me.

In this process there are three partners: the Creator—the origin of the power, me—the one who wants to correct, and desire—the place that I want to correct.

With the light that is in me, thanks to my connection with the Creator, I see exactly what is ready for correction in me and ask for this power from Him. I work with Him as a partner, for I am no longer under the Machsom. Rather, I am together with Him, feeling Him. Therefore, I begin to clarify how it is possible to work with the damaged desire, how it is possible to awaken and elevate it. This means that I want to transform it from for the sake of reception to for the sake of bestowal. So I ask for that.

I don’t get any pleasure from this activity myself while I feel it as my desire. For me, it becomes more precious than my desire—as it is written, “Make that His will should be your will” (Pirkei Avot 2:4)—like a mother does with her child. I wrap His desire within my desire and that is how I begin to elevate it, asking the Creator to correct it for me, as I would for my baby.

Then I get the required power, intelligence, and feeling. After all, I don’t know how to correct what is below for this is a completely separate system, the AHP that is built within me, the spiritual womb.

This means that, first of all, I grew in order to correct it. I accept a new system and join what is below to me. So after the correction we are juxtaposed to each other. Thus, many Partzufim are clothed one on the other.

Question: Is it important for people who are engaged with dissemination to have passed through the Machsom?

Answer: It doesn’t seem to me that the person who has passed through the Machsom will succeed more in the external dissemination. I am not sure that Rabash would have been more successful in dissemination than the average person in our group.

So Baal HaSulam writes that it is even possible to pay professional people monetary compensation. After all, it’s necessary to get as close to the people as possible. Certainly, it is clear that they would need to know the direction, the purpose, a bit of the explanations, but not too deeply, only according to the level of the people to whom they turn.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/14, Writings of Rabash

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The Special Holiday Passover

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we acquire the force called Moses? After all, you say that it doesn’t exist in nature.

Answer: Moses (from the Hebrew word “Moshech” –  to pull) is the attribute that awakens in us and raises us from the bottom of Mount Sinai to its summit, to the peak of the general hatred. When a person climbs above it, he attains the Creator who is at the peak.

It is impossible to bypass this mountain; we must climb it. This is the way for the entire world. Today, all of humanity is at the foot of Mt. Sinai, surrounded by the enormous hate that separates us. But at the same time, the method called the Torah is revealed. The Torah is the light that reforms at the summit of the mountain.

We don’t have to make any special efforts, and there is nothing to fear. When we acquire the enormous hatred, we are at the bottom of the mountain where we receive the method by which we gradually can ascend by mutually complementing and helping one another.

Then Mount Sinai becomes the temple mount, at the top of which there is the temple, the place where the Creator is revealed.

This is basically the essence of Pesach (Passover). This is the reason that the calendar of the nation, of the new humanity, begins on this holiday.

Before the receiving of the Torah, mankind developed like animals, but from that moment onward, there was a connection with the Creator, with the force that can raise us continuously above the ego and help us climb the mountain of hatred by getting closer to one another.

At the same time, we attain the Creator to a greater degree, because two forces already appear in us, the egoistic force and the altruistic force. When we build ourselves from these two forces a state called the attainment of the Creator or the soul appears between them.

The two forces descend from above, and we make efforts not to mutually annul them but to connect them by placing our resistance between them, trying to recreate the harmony between them by connecting and adding all the disconnected parts. Then this harmony creates our soul, our upper existence.

This is the reason that we consider Pesach to be the major and most important holiday, because symbolizes the beginning of the creation of man, Adam, (from the Hebrew “Domeh” – to resemble the Creator).

There are, of course, many subtleties, laws, and different nuances that only speak of how to properly cover the ego with the attribute of love, and that’s all. Everything comes down only to this!

We can study this holiday down to the smallest detail, about why eating certain things is allowed and why eating other things is forbidden, about why Pesach is seven days, why we drink four glasses of wine, and why there are other customs that are described in the Haggadah.

However, these are merely actions that we must perform on every level to create the right connection between plus and minus, which are the attributes of receiving and bestowal, hate and love. We cover the hate with love, and together they will give us the sense of attainment, adhesion to the Creator.

Thus, we don’t simply come out of a small ego to love, but from our world to a perfect eternal world. This is the reason that Passover is indeed a special holiday.
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From KabTV’s “A Talk About Passover” 3/18/15

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Questions about Spiritual Work—231

281.02Question: Can we shorten exile by accelerating spiritual work?

Answer: Of course we can. It depends on our desire, on our effort.

Question: How should we correctly work in the ten to reach the awe, which includes everything?

Answer: The work in the ten, basically like the whole Torah, consists of simple actions. Each one must reveal their own desire, then unite all the desires together and raise them to the Creator. Everything else, He will do.

Question: What can we clearly do in order to become purer, kinder, and more loving toward the friends each day?

Answer: Act accordingly, that is, examine yourself as to how much closer you can become with the friends.

Question: How does a Kabbalist develop such sensitivity that another’s lack becomes truly my own?

Answer: Only through the Creator.

Question: Can I somehow control myself and do what is beyond my strength?

Answer: No, all of that can only be done by the group or the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/25 on the topic of Passover

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How Can You Measure the Quality of Prayer?

232.1Question: I realized that there is a concept of “quality of prayer” in everything. Even in moments when I understand that I am in joy and the Creator shows me my true place, I still have to ask Him to give me more understanding of how distant I am from Him.

There is a difference here between my asking Him to show me my true place and between me complaining that He is not showing it to me. What is the difference in the quality of prayer here?

Answer: We cannot accurately evaluate every prayer according to its parameters or how much it differs from other prayers. It comes from the depth of the heart. I am not sure a person can accurately know what he feels.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 4/9/25, Writings of Rabash “But the More They Afflicted Them”

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Bring the Light of Faith in the Vessels of Egypt

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can a person regret the fact that he doesn’t have the power of faith when he is overcome by evil thoughts and desires?

Answer: This is why we need the light that comes from the environment called mutual guarantee. Mutual guarantee is the power of faith that is revealed in the group.

Although the group itself has not attained the power of faith yet, it is inclined to it. This is enough to impress each friend and to illuminate the force of bestowal on him that is received from the surrounding light that is drawn by our collective efforts.

This is called mutual guarantee. Everything comes down to the cooperation between two forces; there is nothing other than these two forces.

We are not fighting against the actual concealment; we only draw the light of faith upon it. There is nothing more we can do in order to fight it. The concealment will keep on growing like in Egypt where the darkness kept on growing until it became total darkness.

There is no greater darkness than the moment right before the redemption, the exit from the 49 gates of impurity. Therefore we have to relate to the power of concealment correctly and respect Pharaoh, as we understand that all the hardening of the heart and the confusion that we feel were given to us in order to advance.

We don’t want to contradict Pharaoh, the concealment and the confusion, but only to ascend above them. This means that we work with the vessels of Egypt bringing the light of faith into them.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/14, Writing of Rabash

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Use the Snake as Help

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, Igrot, Letter 66: So, even if a person deals with the Torah and Mitzvot, if it is not for Heaven’s sake, it is like a person who has no God because, if he did have a feeling of Godliness, he would surely do it for Heaven’s sake. So, a person should do his best to find the power to overcome his attributes in order to turn them in favor of others.

When a person is in trouble, he tries to find a way out. There are different kinds of troubles, both corporeal and spiritual. One way or another, a person feels pain and sorrow.

However, if, at the same time, he begins to study the Torah and even the wisdom of Kabbalah, he is in great danger because the Torah can be the “potion of life” or the “potion of death.” The snake reveals this tool to us, which eventually will either destroy the person or help him escape it and control it.

Baal HaSulam says that it is possible to catch the snake by the head or by the tail. When we study, we encounter several dangers.

First, we can be satisfied in studying the text technically and dryly in order to understand all the detail about the spiritual worlds that Kabbalists describe. This is very appealing because while you read the book you seem to understand and feel these details. You come to know the material; you have a “map” and a list of definitions. This false feeling of control is the first danger. There are those who are satisfied in the study itself, even without any real understanding.

Later, if we study in order to reach correction, there are more dangers along the way. I may want to acquire the power of bestowal to adhere to the Creator. There are other options, but a wrong direction may divert a person. If we go off the track of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator,” we will draw further away from the goal with every step we take.

Therefore, the principle of “first think, then act” is very important here. I feel the entire world as part of me, and I lead it toward adhesion with the Creator.

Our world cannot be perfect if we do not want to include all of humanity, all of reality, within us. It is only then that we will attain the true attribute of bestowal in the correct intention of in order to bestow, and not in any other manner.

In contrast to the ten discernments of holiness, there are ten discernments of the “shell,” and they are very different. In every form of bestowal and in every form of receiving there is a special method, a special philosophy.

There is an entire world concealed in every attribute of holiness and in every attribute of the shell that is opposite to it. This is the origin of all religions and beliefs, all confusions, and all the justifications that a person finds in life,

We should understand that the love of others should be based on the principle of unity: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator. There are no separate “others.” Everything is one; everything is part of the upper force.

We must pay attention to everything, including dissemination and the necessity to reach the most remote parts of humanity. If we implement selection, the general vessel will not be whole, and we will lack the intention of “in order to bestow.”
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/12, Writings of Rabash

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Attain the Light of Pesach

20Question: Now is the period when the lights of Pesach (Passover) influence everyone. But if there is no Kli, you may miss this opportunity. The fear that I will miss it, is this the Kli for the light of faith?

Answer: This is one of the components of the desire to attain the light of Pesach, the light of the Creator.

Question: How can you become that maximum component so that on one hand it does not interfere with the influence of the light, and manage in this short period to become necessary to the Creator?

Answer: For this, you need to study together with us, not necessarily physically, to understand what is written in the articles that turn us correctly toward the Creator.

And then it will turn out that all of us are standing before Him with open hearts.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 4/14/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “What Is Greatness and Smallness in Faith?”

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Passover—The First Similarity with the Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom Rabash’s Article, “The Duty to Convey the Story of Exodus from Egypt”: The Book of Zohar explains why one shouldn’t eat matzah during the year, but only during Pesach. It is similar to the king who appointed one of his subjects to be a minister and on the day of his appointment dressed him in luxurious clothes.

Later, the subject took off these beautiful clothes. He was wearing them only for one day when he took a position of a Minister to celebrate the event. Afterward, every year he commemorated his appointment and dressed in his festive, solemn clothes. This example explains why we eat matzah only during Pesach to honor the exodus from Egypt.

Each spiritual root has a corporeal branch. The entire universe represents a single will to receive, “something out of nothing.” Besides it, nothing has ever been created. The light impacts the matter and leaves its imprint on it.

Only because of its imprint and due to the four stages of HaVaYaH can we explore the Light. If we manage to change our desire, we will attain the Light that created the matter and left its imprint on it.

Exiting from the egoistic forces (Klipot) is just one of the stages that lead us to the attainment of the Light. If we manage to achieve this stage, we will detach from our nature that was made out of nothing and begin connecting with the imprint of the Light that is present inside the desire. We will learn what the Light is, what It does, how did It create everything, and what happened to all fragments of the Creation long before this world and man emerged.

In other words, we rise to our root and learn that there was a special point called the “exodus from Egypt” in the program of creation of the desire and in the Light’s impact on it. The desire stops sensing only itself and is no longer confined to its nature; it goes out and begins feeling the Light, its origin, the Root.

From this moment on, the desire has already established a mutual connection with the Light and they begin acting as partners. The upper root that allows us to approach it and work together with it is very important since it is the point where a Man (Adam)—(Domeh) the one who is similar to the Creator—appears. It’s like a birth! That’s why the exodus from Egypt is called a spiritual birth of every individual soul. This explains why we honor this state.

There is a correlation of the spiritual root of the material branch that is imprinted in the categories named world, year, and soul. This world was made as a projection of the spiritual world, that’s why for each spiritual action or event, there is a corresponding material branch in this world. This is why we celebrate the entire spiritual process that we go through in the branches; it is called a yearly cycle.

All our traditions are a material reflection of spiritual actions that we hope to attain and implement. Exiting from the will to receive and attaining the very first sign of the similarity with the Light, i.e., spiritual birth, is called the exodus from Egypt. It is the initial step for all of us. This month is called the first among all other months. It denotes the beginning of the spiritual growth of a human being.

By all means, we advance for many years before arriving to a sensation called Egypt and realizing that it’s impossible for us to stay at this level. Although this state is very hard to reach since for that we have to experience more pressure, undergo unpleasant sensations, acknowledge that we are unable to exercise self-control, and divulge our slavish dependence on our egoistic nature.

The fact that we live in this material world is of great help to us. It’s a spiritual state in which we completely depend on the will to receive, and thus have no connection with the Light. This step allows us to experience material sensations. It seems to us that we live in the materiality, at the last level of sensations that manifest inside the will to receive.

Due to materiality, we can organize our lives in a way that we get a chance to exit from it and begin sensing spirituality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, Writings of Rabash

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Passover—The Exodus from Egypt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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