Entries in the 'Torah' Category

The Differences Between The Levels Of Attainment

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 22:18: Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

The attainment of the upper world is only by the connection of two parts: the male and the female. The male part is the means, the intention of in order to bestow, and the female part is the desire to receive. They have to connect on certain levels in a certain combination between them. It isn’t that just any male part can take any female part, but there are actually certain conditions of how they should connect and combinations and to what extent they are compatible.

The male part especially cannot match the beastly part and the beastly part cannot match the female part. It’s impossible since the difference between the levels is so big that it will lead to nothing. It’s just like the differences between the Reshimot (spiritual genes), it cannot be. In other words, what cannot advance spiritually must be executed, since such a connection between people and beasts is unnatural.

Question: What brings a person to lie with a beast?

Answer: In our world it is a hormonal imbalance or a deviation. Sometimes it’s even typical of certain cultures.

From a spiritual perspective, in one’s internality; it’s the connection with the beastly part of Malchut that is not ready yet, which is on the third level of development. We consist of the still nature, the vegetative, the animate, and man. The male line and the female line have to connect on the male level and not on the level of man with the animate level or the female level with the animate level. This type of connection will not lead to any spiritual advancement. It is the wrong vessel.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

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For A Righteous Man Falleth Seven Times, And Riseth Up Again

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” (Mishpatim), 22:19: He that sacrificeth unto the gods, save unto the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed.

Sacrifice, Korban (stemming from the Hebrew root to come closer), means that I sacrifice my ego in order to rise above it. If I do so in order to reach the attribute of bestowal, it helps me to advance. If it is the opposite and I do it in order to receive, it’s called paganism and so it is forbidden.

Question: Why do I behave that way if it’s forbidden?

Answer: You do so because you receive egoistic pleasure by it. A person can stumble and do something wrong on every level, since it has to be his freewill. To stumble means that one just stumbles but does not fall. This means that the fall is relative: I am thrown from the level I am on so that I will learn and rise even higher or so that I would fall as a result of my own doing. This is an intentional fall.

It says: “For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Proverbs 24:16). When a person advances persistently, he is called a righteous. He will keep on falling and rising, falling and rising, since he is tripped on purpose so that he will learn to advance. If he prepares the fall in advance by himself, he cannot advance.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

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Approving Abundance For Others

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”: “Here comes Hillel’s statement to the foreigner who came before him and asked to be converted, as it says in the Gemarah, When he came before Hillel, to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot Hillel replied, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah while the rest is commentary; go and learn it.”

Kabbalistic terms and concepts are different from those commonly used. A “non-Jew” is one who acts for himself. A person who is not a “Jew,” “Jewish” (Yehudi), and is referred to as “non-Jewish” or the “nations of the world” is someone who does not seek unity (Yehud). The category “Israel” (ישראל) includes only those who aim “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El – ישר – אל), to bestowal, who aim towards loving others as they love themselves, towards unification, solidarity, oneness, guarantee, and all the rest that characterizes our community and cohesion. After all, it is love for others which enables us to reach the love of the Creator.

If a person wants to rise to the rung of bestowal, the level of love for others, because it will bring him adhesion with the Creator, it means he wants to be a Jew, to turn his desire to receive for self-gratification into a desire to receive in order to bestow. Thus, everything is quite simple: To become a Jew means to correct your egoism. That is what the method requires of us. And Hillel summarized it in a few words: “Do not do to others what you don’t wish to be done to you.” It is also said that the conversant first approached another sage, Shammai, with a request to teach him to love others as he loved himself. But Shammai rejected him, because one cannot immediately “leap” to the rung of love for others. In this case, Shammai represents the left line, the Light of Hochma, the properties of judgment, whereas Hillel represents the right line, the Light of Hassadim, the property of mercy.

This implies that the principle of “do not do to others as you don’t wish to be done to you” means bestowal in order to bestow, or mercy. However, mercy contains at least two facets: prohibition and obligation.

  • As for prohibition, I must constantly discern my actions: Would I suffer if this were done to me? And if yes, then I will definitely not do it to another.
  • On the other hand, if I see that I could win with the help of others, should I myself offer such help to them? It turns out that the principle of “do not do to others what you would not want done to you,” in fact, obliges me to start working for the good of others, to switch all my actions to bestowal. Otherwise, I am depriving another of a chance to receive something good. And it doesn’t matter that I don’t produce this good and don’t generate it from my desire, according to the principle “love others as you love yourself.” In this case, I do not accumulate the force of bestowal in order to give it away to others. But if I see that I can prevent the “shortfall” in others, I am obliged to prevent it, and this is also due to the principle of “do not do to others what you don’t wish to be done to you.”

Thus, guarding others from harm and helping them to do good, I begin moving towards real acts of bestowal. Hillel’s principle teaches me to think and even act in this direction, but so far, not on my own initiative. I play the role of a positive factor (+) before a negative factor (-) of others. My “plus” can enter his “minus,” but only if there is a special contact “block” in the middle. This “block” depends on me: It is I who “approves” (OK) his inclusion.

So, how do I give an “OK”? To do so, I am still not acting from my desire but I am already bending myself toward positive, stimulating responses. It is as if I’m giving a “go-ahead” by which the other receives good from above. Thus, Hillel’s principle teaches me how to act in order to bestow, but, so far, passively. I am not supposed to perform corrections in my receiving desire yet.

Here is an example: Yesterday you lost a paycheck in the street and I found it and brought it to you. In this way, I have not done to you what I don’t wish to be done to me. But can it be considered a true act of bestowal? After all, I contributed to your receiving the amount written on the check.

Indeed, Hillel’s principle implies not only preventing others from trouble but also promoting their good, but the help derives not from my corrected desire that turned into a “generator of good” and knows how to distribute it to others. I have not transformed yet but just helped abundance to pass from its source to the “consumer,” to the destination. It was I who set this mechanism (V) in motion, who “opened the faucet.”

Therefore, my role here is not to deliver the abundance but in approving its delivery, the “transaction.” That is what I determine whether the “faucet” will open or not.

Question: How do I open this “faucet” in my ten?

Answer: By participating. I call on all the Light that Reforms. And it manifests in my guarantee.

Question: The action itself is clear, but how do I mentally accept it? After all, I’m always full of discontent.

Answer: In thought, I’m already good to another because I wish the same attitude to come from them. I think well of them, but still do not feel that it hurts me in any way; it doesn’t step on my ego since I am not working with it and don’t engage it.

Of course, I feel envy, hatred, and am driven by passions and vanity. To approve good for others is against my ego. On the contrary, I would like everyone to have less than me.

However, it does not hurt nor diminish my “fixed assets,” and therefore, I am willing to agree for another to receive what he is entitled to. After all, no one is threatening my property and to take away what is mine.

On the other hand, if I am working not just from mercy but with the intention to bestow, I am taking something away from myself and giving to the other. It is not subject to Hillel’s principle; here, we are talking about the “withdrawal from my account” according to the principle “love others as you love yourself.” Wanting to “gobble up” the whole world, I offer this world to others “on a golden platter,” canceling my self-interest, my acquisitions.

Today, all of humanity finds itself in the position of a non-Jew who approached Hillel. Whether it likes it or not, it has no other way out but to switch to the principle of “do not do to others what you don’t wish to be done to you.” We are facing this rule of Hillel’s before the intermediate stage, without which we cannot attain true love of others. “Do not do to others what you don’t wish to be done to you”; in this phrase lies our entire correction.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Bribery Blinds The Eyes Of The Wise

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is said: “Don’t accept bribes, since bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.” Let’s say we happened to correct ourselves and became equal to others. Let’s say we even managed to reveal the Creator within our connection with friends. However, when we reach the next level, our egoism “jumps.” Our ego offers us “a bribe” by whispering into our ears: You are superior to others, you are stronger than them, you can do something that nobody else can do, and you are the sighted!

It’s important that we understand that at this time our egoism provides us with two kinds of fulfillment: wealth and sight, meaning a fulfillment of the heart (egoism) and a fulfillment of the mind. It’s as if we suddenly rise above our environment. To the extent of our elevation, we are granted the opportunity to “love our neighbors,” since “loving our neighbors” compensates for our elevation above them. If we reject the bribe, we won’t grow.

The ranges of “tools” we are using expand to wealth and knowledge. If we don’t work with these new tools, how will we grow? We must use them! At the same time, with the help of wealth and additional knowledge, we become obligated to love our neighbors. At this point, our neighbors become crucial to us. We should do everything in our power for them as we would care for our baby.

Question: So, does it mean that if one is allowed to make an enormous breakthrough in knowledge and acquires the ability to govern the masses, then one has to transform this knowledge to love?

Answer: It’s a tremendous work! It’s something that King David described in his Psalms. He was at war for his entire life. The power that was given to him, he covered by love. He fulfilled his mission towards his people differently, not as any other king. A king is the one who is the most loving; otherwise, he is not a king. It is called “Kings of Israel.” “The Kingdom” stands for Malchut.
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From Kab TVs “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 5/24/13

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Violating the Law of Spiritual Balance

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” Mishpatim, 23:20-23:22: Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice, be not rebellious against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

An “angel” is a force that develops a person; it can push us from behind or pull us ahead. All of humanity, from generation to generation, is developed with the help of this force. It works from the inside. Any force of nature is called an angel.

Take heed of him and hearken unto his voice means that one must keep to the force that makes one grow and that one should scrutinize each metamorphosis on one’s developmental path. It is important to ponder on these things because you cannot go against the law of advancement; on the contrary, you should study it and live it. Don’t break this law or it will break you.

We already see what happens if we do not heed nature and do whatever we want. What do we get in the end? As it is written, for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him; this threat comes true.

Not so long ago, we were in Krasnoyarsk. Locals told us a story about a disaster on the Yenisei River next to Krasnoyarsk Hydro-Electric Station. Fish beat against the dam that was built along the river. They couldn’t get to the spawning place and perished as a result. The ecological catastrophe is exacerbated.

The same problems exist in many countries. Hydro-electric stations devastate vast natural resources. Everything becomes damaged: the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.

The same situation occurs with herds of deer that migrate in a rigid path. On their way, they come across a system of oil pipelines. The leaders of the herd stumble over the huge pipes and fall. Those who follow them trample those in the front and kill them. Nothing can help them! Attempts to teach deer to follow alternative routes by pouring salt (as deer like salt) and placing favorite deer food do not work.

We just don’t understand that nature has rigid laws. We violate them all the time. That’s why we should understand the phrase for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him as an ecological commandment.

Nature is integral! We can get from it only as much as our corporeal bodies need to maintain a normal and sensible living. That’s it!

Decisions to construct various industrial objects must be based on the observance of the laws of nature (the law of spiritual balance) since our ecosystem is a part of a general spiritual equilibrium.

If we treated everything around us with love, we automatically would make correct decisions! Inevitably! Thus, we wouldn’t ruin anything. We are prohibited from acting without love since it will result in a disastrous downfall for us.

As soon as the scale of the clock goes out of balance and slants to one side to satisfy human egoistic interests, ecological problems emerge. That’s why we must study the laws of nature and observe them at our level. We must copy the laws of the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature and apply them to the speaking level. Then, we will build the upper world.
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From Kab TV’s, “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 5/24/13

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Compensation Through Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” Mishpatim, 23:8: You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe will blind the clear sighted and corrupt words that are right.

This is relevant with regard to everyone today, from simple workers to heads of governments.

From a spiritual point of view, “to bribe” means tempting a person through his ego. Every filling our ego receives is called accepting a bribe.

Question: So it turns out that we are all bribed in this world.

Answer: Not bribed, but thieves. A bribed person receives something that he doesn’t deserve, but he doesn’t take it from others by force. We are thieves since we steal from others, sometimes by force. We even can be called robbers, although we don’t feel that since it is standard behavior for us.

It turns out that all of this world’s laws are laws of thieves since the entire world is based on the ego. This is how the ego operates. We are not speaking about the fact that a person finds a million dollars on the street and doesn’t give the money back to anyone, but about the fact that we consciously steal and enjoy the theft.

It isn’t only about receiving, but, as it is written, “Stolen water is sweet.” Remember the story about the Italian princess who sits on the balcony on a hot summer day, eating ice cream, who said,” I wish it were a bit forbidden too!” This means that the feeling of theft sweetens the ego since this is what we consider sweet.

If it is just food, if I feel like it, I just take it. However, when I take what belongs to others, intentionally and without permission, then it is a totally different feeling! If I just take something, there is nothing special about it, but if I steal, I rise above everyone. I must feel a void that is created in them through that and its filling within me. Thus, I rise above them, and the ego thus feels superior.

Arkadi Raikin (a Russian comedian during the Soviet regime) used to say, “If you don’t leave a certain deficiency, then the income tax inspectors will simply remain engineers,” which means that there must be a certain pleasure in being superior.

The greatest superiority is, of course, being cleverer, wiser than others. Feeling superior is a terrible thing in spirituality, and only love can correct this.

When you take care of others like small children, they indeed are smaller than you, but you must cover your attitude toward them with love. Then they are not smaller anymore but rather greater than you since you depend on them, and so they seem greater than you just like a baby seems to his parents.

Question: However, the feeling that you are smarter than this baby still remains.

Answer: It makes no difference! Since he controls your mind, you are great, strong and clever, and, if he cries, you pick him up and bring him to the place he points at, which means that you are his servant. Thus, you compensate for your superiority.

These states can be between a teacher and his students, or between friends since people are different. We must constantly keep the balance and compensate for any feeling of superiority through love.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/24/13

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Creating A Model Of The Upper World In Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanOne of the sections of the Torah read on Sabbath is called “Truma” which means “donations” in Hebrew. This term has a completely different meaning in the spiritual work and it means the raising of the Creator.

This section describes how the Temple is built in great detail. It is because everything is built according to the form of the Sefirot that are the connections in the upper world, in the system that manages us and which is beyond the limits of our sensations.

The upper world penetrates through all of creation and so the Torah describes all the connections, the mutual relations, and its formulas. It isn’t just formulas but a network of formulas. It is very hard to convey this since there is no similar mathematical system in our world and we don’t deal with such problems. Only some of them are solved individually.

But when we deal with analog systems in which there are endless options of different connections that are closed to all, where everything is connected, then we are not able to do it. We cannot perceive such a network either in our mind or in our feelings and keep everything simultaneously. We have to be created that way internally in order to feel that there is the same system on the outside.

If there is no such model inside us, then we can only “cut” it to pieces and perceive them as an integral, to take the pieces and to put them together. But it is merely a sum and not a whole. We cannot contain everything. Only to the extent that we are corrected, to the extent of similarity to this system, can we begin to reveal it. Otherwise it isn’t on the same level, and it goes through us, and we don’t even feel it.

So in building beams, a roof, and partitions that are described in the Torah, we refer to the building of the integral system inside a person.

It isn’t about building objects in our world but about creating new attributes inside us. What does it mean when it says “And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood” or “And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee”? You will discover these attributes inside you (the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature), choose them in the most concrete manner and create an inner system out of them according to certain measures and drawings of what seems to be the external upper world, which you have to attain. If you create these conditions inside, you will attain this system, and it will be called a “Temple.”

A Temple resembles a big tent in which many people gather in order to unite and to discover the upper force, the upper system, in the full absolute connection between them.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/29/13

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A Servant In The Temple

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” 25:1-25:4: “And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold and silver and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair.”

Question: Until now, the commandments in the Torah were strict. Suddenly it says now “of every man whose heart maketh him willing.”

Answer: It is about freewill.

There are clear and accurate commandments of prohibitions, “don’t do,” which everyone must keep in order to be minimally adapted to Divinity since otherwise he cannot be called Adam (similar to the upper).

There is an even upper system that already analyzes the commands and manages us. A person can resemble this system when he first performs the initial corrections. This is a precondition. Then he can continue to adapt himself to the upper system of Divinity, which means to form it inside him.

It actually exists for such people who are called the Levites, Cohens, etc. They are special people who can form the Temple inside them.

A servant in the Temple is a person who has corrected himself and now resembles and is equal to the general nature, to the upper force, to the Creator, and who works internally with these attributes. This means to serve, and there is nothing but that. The Creator doesn’t need our obedience, or that we feel impressed by Him, or serve Him since He is absolute! We need this in order to transcend ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/29/13

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No More Than Two Mistakes

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” Mishpatim (Laws), 21:28 – 21:29): And if a bull gores a man or a woman and (that one) dies, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, and the owner of the bull is clear.

But if it is a (habitually) goring bull since yesterday and the day before yesterday, and its owner had been warned, but he did not guard it, and it puts to death a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and also its owner shall be put to death.

A “goring bull” symbolizes a state when a person “unleashes” his internal animal. If one doesn’t know what kind of animal it is, one is not considered guilty. In this case, it means that this person has received from Above such a powerful impulse of the Light that he simply is not able to resist It and that the Light went through him. When a person is murdered with the other person’s hands, this unintentional killer is still considered guilty of something since it was done through him rather than through somebody else. It means that he can be accused of another crime, but not of an intentional murder.

A lot of laws originate from this. Let’s say, a woman had two husbands and both of them died. So, she is prohibited to marry for the third time.

Question: This triggers lots of suppositions. If people lead an ordinary earthly life and are not aware that they are egoists, what can we expect of them?

Answer: The Torah does not speak of people who know nothing and live a normal life on earthly since they are still at the animate level and nothing can be expected of them. They are governed from above without any questions. They know only what they know and they don’t have any freedom of will, nor do they have any relationships with the governing force. The Torah speaks about the ways of rising to the level of the governing force and being in control of our lives.

However, it’s said that if one knows one’s genuine nature and still intentionally commits egoistic deeds, then one is subject to death. One has to take care of one’s correction; otherwise, one has to die. It means that if one’s action repeats twice, then, on the third time, the same action excludes this person from the level he is currently at and throws him to a lower level, meaning that one will need to self-correct the very basics.
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From Kab TV’s “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 5/20/13

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