Entries in the 'Torah' Category

Combat Mission: To Grab And Not Let Go

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The text of The Book of Zohar, which we read in class, describes plenty of states. How can we sort them out?

Answer: You don’t need to sort them out; there is no need to memorize anything. If while reading you are a little bit connected, tuned in to the right frequency, that is enough. Think only about the Reforming Light that comes from the center of the group so that you could bring pleasure to the Creator. This is all you need to know.

Question: And yet, how do the states appear on the way? Are they generated by my desire, a vessel?

Answer: No. I create nothing; I only see that every second, as a guest, I have the most effective opportunity to please the Host. I continually aspire to this, “keeping my nose to the wind,” and looking for this opportunity: How can I implement it in intention, thought, and action?

In that case, it is just the chances used by me. I myself cannot figure out all the options because every time I see a new world before me faced with new conditions. Nothing is repeated and we know nothing in advance. Our path is endless changes, ongoing surprises. The ten Sefirot are the same, but each time they come up with new Reshimot.

It turns out that I choose nothing and happily accept every state as an opportunity to perform bestowal. Everything is useful, ascents and descents, the right and the left lines, any interactions and connections, on this undulating path. No matter what changes it prepares for me, it’s better because they allow me to figure out how true my intentions are, whether I can maintain and even strengthen adhesion on any peak and valley, in any turn.

My work in fact is very simple: to grab like a “bulldog” and not let go. Hold the intention only on being “focused” on the Host, constantly adapting your environment, your states, to this. And even if I am experiencing ups and downs, I use these “bumps” to hold on even stronger.
[117112]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/13, The Zohar

Related Material:
Making A “Heavenly Firmament” Above Us
What the Words of “The Zohar” Reveal
An Objective Appraiser

A Temple In A Person’s Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus”, Truma, 25:8-25:9: “And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the Mishkan and the pattern of all its vessels, and so shall you do.”

A sanctuary is an ardent egoistic desire that is corrected in such a way that it can already work oppositely from itself in order to bestow upon the Creator, when the Creator is more important for it than itself. This determines its level.

A “sanctuary” exists in every person. It is actually in this innermost egoistic grain, in the fourth part of the ego, that the holy of holies is established, the great egoistic desire. So the great priest who can enter the sanctuary is the greatest egoist.

Before the destruction of the Temple in the sanctuary, people used to buy a place in the Temple for great sums of money. The great priest used to sell this place since he couldn’t overcome his ego, although he knew that he would die on Yom Kippur because of that. This just comes to show us how great his ego was.

This means that the holy of holies is the place inside a person in which the Creator is revealed. It is the greatest egoistic desire that is corrected and becomes in order to bestow. It is in an amazing and incomprehensible ego and at the same time also the attribute of bestowal and love in contrast to the ego.

This means that there is a tiny white point in the dark center of the ego which illuminates the darkness. There are also different “structures” around it: a courtyard, a tent (sanctuary), hoops, etc.

There are many drawings of this subject that were made according to the pattern of the upper worlds. Attributes such as south, east, north, and west are created in our world according to the attributes of the upper worlds, as this structure indicates. A person who can read the drawing and translate it to his own attributes can imagine how to combine his forces, attributes, and intentions in order to attain a state called the revelation of the Creator, which means the place for the revelation of the Creator.
[116857]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

Related Material:
Creating A Model Of The Upper World In Me
The Temple In Your Heart
Deposit Your Desire And You Will Receive The Light

A Place For The Revelation Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: (The Torah, “Exodus,” Truma, 25:10) It says: “They shall make an ark of acacia-wood; two and a half cubits its length…” How can such drawings be so accurate? What is the gold that the crown of gold outside the temple was made of?

Answer: It is talking about the ten main Sefirot each with its own ten Sefirot and then another ten Sefirot in each, etc. It is about how they are divided into certain attributes and discernments and the combination of the connections between them.

There is the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and man—the parts that participate in resembling the Creator. Each part has to be made of its main attributes. A priest, for example has to be married. Certain types of animals have to be kosher, which means that they should have cloven (split) hooves and ruminate.

Why is the ark made of acacia wood or cedar of Lebanon, and why is it covered with gold, silver, and copper? Because those particular materials exist in nature in their natural form in nature; they do not need to be made artificially.

They are used in a particular combination, creating one form or another. It is because you don’t just take a certain attribute, but rather have to change it and to give it a certain form by your action. A greedy irritable person, for example, becomes generous and kind. This means that we should gather all the attributes correctly, since each one should be combined in a certain way with other attributes. Thus the place for the revelation of the Creator is built.
[116854]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/29/13

Related Material:
Creating A Model Of The Upper World In Me
The Temple In Your Heart
Deposit Your Desire And You Will Receive The Light

So The Student Should Become The Teacher’s Son

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen I was Rabash’s student he could answer every question that I had but only to the extent that it was possible to reveal things. If you reveal more than a person can grasp you may harm him.

A teacher knows exactly what can be revealed and what must remain concealed, only to the extent that a person is loyal to you can you reveal something to him. This usually happens among relatives, with a son or with a son-in-law. This is interesting since they value your good name.

You cannot be more important to any other student than he is for himself. This is the essence of our nature! So you should conceal yourself from them so that they will feel that there is something they should overcome here.

What do our corporeal difficulties to get close indicate? If your followers are a son, a son-in-law, or a brother, they value you no matter what. So even if they descend to the corporeal level, they will guard your good name since it is also their name. A student, on the other hand, loses contact with you when he descends to the corporeal level and stops being your student.

It is not a person’s fault. This is how the connections between us are arranged naturally, and so you cannot give a student what you give a son, a son-in-law, or another relative.

This is very meaningful during the first phases. A student can be like a son to you only if he is spiritually connected to you. Otherwise, what other connections do you have with him? You try to bring him to the spiritual level, but the question is to what extent he can do so.

It is about interesting corporeal attributes and how they come in contact with spirituality, but in the meantime, through the simple ego. If we speak about a certain level of loyalty when it comes to a son or to any other relative, it exists to some extent since it is based on egoism. You may say some more to them and they will never use it against you. It is possible to reveal to them a bit more than to others on a minimal level.

But this stick has two ends. The student can grow to a level on which he treats the teacher as a father despite his inner resistance. Here an opposite attribute is created and the student can do more than a son. In order to do so, both have to work seriously.
[116861]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/29/13

Related Material:
A Merciful Attitude From One’s Father
Rabash’s Successors
The Temptations Of The Left Line

Make The Poor Happy

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, Introduction, “Rejoicing on the Holidays and Not Giving to the Poor,” Article 175: The Creator’s role is to cheer the poor according to His ability. For the Creator appears on the holidays so as to look at His broken Kelim.

Someone who yearns for what is higher is called a “pauper,” someone who feels himself “poor in knowledge” and wants to reach the revelation of the Creator. “Holidays” are unique “times,” unique states, in each and every one in which one is found closer to the Creator. Just like when the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth, undergoing periodic changes. In other words, besides what depends upon a person, in the general “operating system,” cyclical changes take place that are sometimes discovered and we differentiate them, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

It happens this way in order to awaken additional alternative systems that influence us and hasten the times. And these “peripheral” systems pass through various processes, take on part of our work, and bring states to us, sometimes making the heart heavy and sometimes making the heart light.
[116374]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13, The Book of Zohar

Related Material:
A New Year, A New Beginning
The Festive Calendar Of Ascent And Connection
Man’s Birthday

Rigid Hierarchy Of Justice

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 23:2: You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong—you shall not give perverse testimony in a dispute so as to pervert it in favor of the mighty…

Being on the side of the majority always “bribes” us. People feel powerful when they stay with the majority. It’s implanted in us by nature.

In this case, a person is “bribed” by a different approach: “I need this to disseminate Kabbalah, to correct the world, since the majority of people will listen to me and I will correct them. However, to begin with, I have to establish contact with them and somehow become similar to them.”

I support these things in my students because a teacher has to care about his disciples. Constantly they attempt to persuade me that this attitude is correct. I agree with them, but then I “back track” (trick them out of it) in order to teach them how to work correctly. The contact will happen by all means.

The majority has to “bow” to an individual. In spirituality, everything is delineated by individuality, not by the majority.

Question: In other words, you are not a fan of democracy?

Answer: There is no democracy whatsoever! The world is organized from “top to bottom,” from the leader to the masses. The masses have to follow the leader. The leader has to aspire to the Creator. The leader is the one who is under the Creator. We see where democracy leads us. I hope that people finally will understand that a rigid hierarchy of justice has to come into existence.

Laws that act in nature are called justice. It’s not something that we “invent” on our own, but rather something that we learn and receive from nature.

The entire hierarchy that was made by the Creator, the Upper Light, represents justice. If in our eyes it is not so, then it means that we have to alter our properties. When we manage to change ourselves, we’ll agree with this notion. When we agree, we’ll see that it’s true perfection.
[115214]
From Kab TV’s “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 6/24/13

Related Material:
Choosing The Strong In Spirit
Turning Many Into One
Everyone Is Equal In Spirituality

The Mission Of The Firstborn, The Levites And The Priests

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 22:28 – 22:29: Your fullness offering and your heave offering you shall not delay; the firstborn of your sons you shall give Me. So shall you do with your cattle and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother, on the eighth day you may give it to Me.

In the past families had many children and the firstborn received special training: They were taught and prepared for their future life. Giving the firstborn to the Creator means to dedicate him with the intention of yearning for the Creator. The firstborn was given to the Levites and the priests that served all over the country in teaching the people, in administration, etc. Thus there was a need to serve and to provide for them so that they would be able to serve and provide for the people. It is a kind of political order.

They were doctors, judges, teachers, and educators, the sector that served the people. So every family gave the Levites and the priests a tithe or the firstborn so that they could live on and teach and educate the people. They had no property of their own.

What was so good about that? They couldn’t accumulate capital and a fortune. Can you imagine the current civil workers having no property of their own, living on only what they receive from the people? Not bad!
[114939]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

Related Material:
Judges And Princes
Servants Of The People
The Future Society Amidst The Ancient World

The Temple In Your Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We say that the Temple is “located” in the human heart. What does that mean?

Answer: The Temple is the center of the connection of the people. It teaches us to unite and contains the properties that demonstrate how everything should be realized.

Why do we use the phrase “destruction of the Temple” instead of saying the “destruction of the country?” We say it because the Temple was a spiritual basis, a place where the unification process had stopped. It took place seventy (70) years before the Temple was destroyed.

Seventy (70) years stand for 7 Sefirot, 10 years in each Sefira. The Nation gradually descended these steps until it reached Malchut: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut… Here the destruction of the Temple (shattering of unity) occurred. It was known well in advance.

It means that people stopped bringing genuine sacrifices to the Temple, meaning the ones that lead to unity. They started to emphasize: “It was I who made a sacrifice.” The “I” (our egoism) is something that interferes and destroys all Temples. It’s the cause of destruction.
[111348]
From Kab TV’s “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 3/4/13

Related Material:
About Sacrifices, Tithe And Unite The Nation
The Foundation Of The Third Temple
Building The Temple Below

No Profit At The Expense Of Another

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 22:24: If you lend money to one of my people, the poor of your people, it should not be like a business deal for him, don’t impose usury upon him.

A person doesn’t need to profit at the expense of others. Everything must be measured and weighed precisely according to the amount that each one is prepared to give to someone and to take from him, for ultimately all need absolutely to reach mutual connection and wholeness.

Therefore, all the laws that speak about relationships between people are based on the connection to one, complete spiritual matter, which means, a mutual harmonious whole. Suppose that you are working for me as a gardener and I work for you as a carpenter, there must be absolutely equal compensation. And it was said precisely, “Go and make a living from each other,” that is mutual. Therefore, all of us were created with different characteristics.

Thus, I cannot profit from you and you cannot profit from me. Rather, we can only exchange our production. From this are derived all the rest of the main laws that we will get in the future, we and all humanity. These are laws of absolute equality, equal allocation and wages, an equal standard of living where there are no differences between people—rich or poor, lucky or unlucky, and so forth.

Question: However, the sentence, “If you lend money to one of my people,” is liable to arouse a negative attitude about Jews.

Answer: This is speaking about spiritual concepts, about spiritual laws.

The Torah doesn’t talk about relationships among people in our world, rather only about the manner in which people yearn for equivalence of form with the Creator through the link between them, creating a general mutual characteristic similar to the characteristic of bestowal of the Creator and discovering Him within this internal characteristic. Therefore, it says, “my people,” meaning every person who yearns for this goal without any connection to his origin.
[114866]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

Related Material:
The Creator Grants A Loan Only To Someone Who Has Guarantors
A Loan On Spiritual Terms
“Go And Earn From Each Other”

Everyone Has His Own World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 22:17: Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.

A person is a whole world and it is as if the world is reflected in him. If we speak about a person’s inner world, then a “sorceress” is nothing but his own attribute. Each of us wants to believe in something, we drag something behind us from our childhood and even certain gloomy tendencies, concepts, and beliefs from the depths of earlier times.

This actually has no part in the world. According to Kabbalah, the world is absolutely corporeal, and even the spirituality of the world is corporeal just like the whole world. We have to regard it in a totally realistic manner. Whatever we attain is what we can work with. So we have to take into account only the laws, the attributes, that we discover.

Kabbalists discover even deeper attributes than scientists do. They work with these attributes and perform experiments, tests, retests, analysis, and synthesis. All this knowledge is accumulated from one generation to another; every generation examines it and advances, discovering nature even more deeply.

So there is no room for any religions or mistakes, since the attitude towards the world has to be according to this important law and study, which is “a judge has only what his eyes can see,” which means that there are no others means of attainment. So we mustn’t speak about different religions and beliefs.

According to Kabbalah “belief” refers to the attribute of bestowal, when a person makes an effort and rises above his egoistic attribute of receiving and reaches the attribute of bestowal. So a “sorceress” is a person who believes in unnatural phenomena which are totally unrealistic. We speak about a reality that repeats and which can be studied by different people in different times, which makes it a scientific phenomenon only, which can be proven, which means that it’s a fact. We don’t rely on anything but facts!

Question: What if someone asks you to prove and to show him.

Answer: It’s impossible to prove or to show anything. If I don’t see well and I don’t have glasses and you tell me that there is a cupboard over there, can I believe you? After all, I cannot prove it.

This means that I have to acquire certain attributes by which I can prove or contradict what you say. In that case, I hear things that actually don’t exist for me. So for every person the world exists only to the extent that he attains it.

Question: Does this mean that you tell and explain to a person that he has to check everything out by himself and not believe you?

Answer: No. I don’t impose this picture on him! I don’t tell a person what he has to reach, since now he will not be able to see it anyway since he doesn’t know what a cupboard is if he has never seen one. I explain how to attain and expand the boundaries of his attainment.

Only those who engage in Kabbalah, whose name comes from the word “receive,”  expand and receive more and more knowledge. It only speaks about developing new means of attainment in a person by which he already attains everything by himself.
[114693]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

Related Material:
Attainment That Leaves No Doubts
A Common Superstition
Compensating The Lack Of Knowledge With Faith