Kabbalah Insights – Noah’s Ark
Posted on April 27th, 2011
Question: What does the concept of “secrets of the Torah” mean?
Answer: A “secret” is something I cannot reveal even though it’s clear to me that it exists. I experience the sensation of a “secret” when standing at the threshold of something new, before opening up the door.
Besides, irrelative of me, “secrets of the Torah” are the Lights that are concealed by Atik. They are in the head of Arich Anpin in the form of a concealed wisdom. These Lights are hidden because right now we do not have a covering for them which would enable us to discern them. However, for me they are not a secret because I do not feel them.
The real secret is the curtain that I feel. For example, exile is the anticipation of redemption, which is felt as extremely necessary but not yet acquired. Inside the very sensation of the emptiness, I already outline the contours of the future fulfillment. This means experiencing oneself in exile: I understand and feel what I want, and all I lack is the implementation.
The same is true for a “secret”: I feel that I lack the quality of bestowal so that inside of its Light of Hassadim I would reveal the Light of Hochma. The knowledge that brings this Light is hidden from me.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/11, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”
Our desire is starting to take on the right form. We desire to unite, to reveal a pull toward unity inside every person despite egoism. This is very important: In spite of my egoism, I make efforts to internally aspire and come closer to the friends, to keep them all in a tight connection like people who are close to me in spirit and aim.
The most important thing now is for me to be able to trust them: If we are united, then they will ensure that I will not forget about our path and will only become stronger in the common consolidation.
I aspire to unite with the friends and I hope that this aspiration will enable me to receive an unquenchable desire for unity from them. This is all we need. From the very beginning and until the end of correction, this is the only thing required from us.
This is why it is written that love for the neighbor as for yourself is the concluding, summarizing rule of the entire Torah. There is nothing more than that, and we must aim our path only in this direction. It doesn’t matter how much this turns us off. If we want to carry out the program of creation by an accelerated scenario, then there is just one opportunity: to start from the opposite, most hateful and repulsive state, and from there to take steps toward love for the neighbor.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/11, Writings of Rabash
Over the course of the entire spiritual path, our rod constantly turns into a snake and then becomes a rod again that supports us on the spiritual path. That is to say, we either walk below reason, in reason, or by faith above reason.
When you ascend again after you had fallen and started judging what is good for you with your mind, you have to beware for the return to faith above reason to not be an egoistic decision which the mind obligates you to make. Otherwise it will turn out that you are walking by faith below reason instead of above it, and that your faith, which is inside reason, descends even lower.
This is a very fine and acute discernment which jabs our heart. We have to be able to look truth into the eyes so the Creator won’t be able to trick us and force us to fall. After all, we have to catch this “snake” by the tail and pick it up from the ground so it would turn into a rod again, instead of falling under the burden of these states, under the weight of this snake.
It takes time for a person to form these concepts inside and to begin to understand whether he is in this work or not, whether he makes these discernments. Work with the “rod and the snake” is already work with your egoism when a person is between these two forces that influence him—Pharaoh and the Creator.
Everything depends on what he does with his rod—will he drop it on the ground or pick it up? By doing the latter he will build his own spiritual vessel (Kli), his “self.”
This does not simply mean being a good psychologist or knowing how to seemingly come out of yourself or look at yourself from aside in order to check what is going on. These are purely psychological tricks, but not inner spiritual work.
We are talking about discernments that take place in a person who has already established some kind of attitude to the Creator and to himself. From these two points he begins to build Pharaoh and the Creator, and himself in the middle.
Then he can wrestle with love for himself, which aspires so strongly to sweep him away, and by virtue of this hatred for this egoistic quality, he can ascend above his egoism.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati
Related Material:
Turning A Snake Into A Staff
Pharoah’s Troubles
What Is That In Your Hands: A Rod Or A Serpent?
Shamati #59, “About the Rod and the Serpent”: “And Moses answered and said: ‘But, behold, they will not believe me,’” etc. “And the Lord said unto him: ‘What is that in thy hand?’ And he said: ‘A rod.’ And He said: ‘Cast it on the ground…’ and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it” (Exodus 4).
We must understand that there are not more than two degrees, either Kedusha (Sanctity) or Sitra Achra (Other Side). There is no intermediary state, but the same rod itself becomes a serpent, if thrown to the ground.
…This is the meaning of the question, “What is that in thy hand?” A hand means attainment, from the words, “and if a hand attains.” A rod (Mateh in Hebrew) means that all one’s attainments are built on the discernment of inferior importance [Mata in Hebrew], which is faith above reason. This is because faith is regarded as having inferior importance, and as lowness….
There is one very fine discernment that is made constantly and that a person has to make in order advance by the path of the soul’s correction. It is called “the rod and the serpent.” You can check yourself this way: If I have a strong desire to do something and it’s clear that it is for my own sake, and I realize that this is how my egoism is expressed, which is blazing inside of me, then the same moment I understand this, I have to try to rise above this.
Even though I have a big inner desire to judge my friend in order to decide whether I should come closer to him or move farther away, yet above all of this I have to make an effort and raise my entire hatred, repulsion, disappointment and expectations of others—the friends, the teacher, and the Creator, and advance by faith above reason.
I must instead understand that precisely the conditions that I have been given are the “rod” that I have to pick up and take into my hands. Then it will become a symbol of my faith and will help me to advance.
However, if I throw the rod on the ground according to my desire (“earth” – Aretz, is “desire” – Ratzon), then it turns into a serpent.
I have to make this discernment in order to feel these two points inside of me, which are constantly present and contradict one another. My ego is blazing and wants to judge everyone—the friends, the teacher, and the Creator. And its complaints and anger are completely justified. It is sincerely indignant inside against all of them. But above this, I work on loving them, justifying them, and giving to them from my entire open heart by faith above reason.
When I feel these two points together, that means I correctly balance myself in my current state. These points are what make up my path toward the goal of creation.
On this path I will see that I am continuously overtaken by new calculations and criticism, new disagreements between myself and the environment, and this happens in order to make me think once again that I am right and they are wrong. This work begins right away, as soon as the group gets organized.
Either people will advance by faith above reason, or they will drown in these disagreements and will walk together with the snake, throwing their rod onto the ground, meaning, instead of faith above knowledge on the path they will go by faith inside knowledge or below it. Then the only thing left to do will be to wait for them to wake up, and that might take a very long amount of time—in fact, no one knows when that might happen.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati
Writings of Rabash, “The First Innovation”: All the innovations begin only after a person comes out of self-love. Therefore, the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters. When a person is in Egypt, he cannot be Jewish because he is enslaved to Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. And as long as he is a slave to Pharaoh, he cannot be a slave to the Creator.
It is written concerning this, “The sons of Israel are for Me,” they are My slaves and not slaves of slaves. When a person serves himself, he cannot be the Creator’s slave because it is impossible to serve two kings at the same time. Only after a person comes out of Egypt, meaning egoism, can he be the Creator’s servant. And then he can receive the Torah. It follows that the first innovation is the exit from Egypt.
A person who is inside of his egoistic desire is called a “non-Jew.” A person who rises above his egoistic desire, meaning who comes out of Egypt, is called a “Jew” (Yehudi) because he attains unity (Ihud) with the Light, the Creator.
It is possible to study the Torah, meaning the ways of bestowal, only by ascending, by coming out of Egypt. That is why it is written that the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters, where “cannot” means “it is impossible.” That’s because as long as you remain in the egoistic desire, you do not understand anything about spirituality and you don’t have the smallest chance of reaching it. In your desires and thoughts you cannot grab hold of the end of any thread that extends from the spiritual world.
You need auxiliary means, and only by correctly using them will you attain what you desire. Therefore, all the innovations and spiritual changes are possible only after coming out of Egypt, meaning egoism. Until then, it is impossible to understand anything. Until then, we are in total darkness and can only advance with our eyes closed according to the Kabbalists’ advice.
This is all that remains for us—to understand how opposite our world is to the spiritual world. In order to climb out of the darkness to the Light, it won’t help us to turn 180 degrees around. That’s because our darkness is the darkness of Egypt, which does not have a direction toward the Light. Only gradually, by means of making the right actions do we reach the right desire. Even though it is also egoistic, yet by virtue of the Light’s influence we can then come out of Egypt into the altruistic intention of Lishma.
This is talking about states that are absolutely divided from one another. A person who is in the lower world, meaning in the egoistic state, in the intention “for the sake of reception” is unable to understand the plans and actions of those who are moved by bestowal. One does not have any contact with the other. They are completely different programs that do not intersect with one another in any way.
In relation to the spiritual world, our world does not exist. It is expressed only in a person’s imagination as a preliminary, imaginary reality that is necessary for entering the spiritual reality, which is the only one that exists. Everything we see and imagine here is similar to the visions of a person who lies unconscious.
Therefore, all the innovations, attainments, and true calculations begin with the exit from Egypt.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash
Question: In one of the articles in Dargot HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Rabash writes that it is forbidden to teach gentiles, meaning egoists, the Torah. What then are we doing here?
Answer: "Forbidden" in Kabbalah means impossible. It would be similar to saying that egoists mustn’t get the upper Light. Try to break this law and we’ll see what happens.
We are talking about the laws of nature, and nature doesn’t ban anything. But if you go against it, you will be punished. “Prohibition” means inability. If Kabbalists write “no,” it means you are unable to do it.
Egoists can’t learn the Torah, or in other words, they can’t study the Torah because an egoist cannot do so in principle. He has no means for it, no tools. After all, he is a gentile and worships his own ego that won’t allow him to establish a connection with the Lights.
The Torah, or the wisdom of Kabbalah, is the method that connects the vessels and the Lights. But if you don’t have the former, you can’t find the latter. And therefore, you can’t learn the Torah since “Torah” is the passages of the Light that expands into desires according to the law of equivalence of form.
Question cont.: So what are we doing during the lessons?
Answer: We are moving toward it. We employ the Torah as the Light that Reforms; we use it as if from a distance.
At a higher spiritual degree, there are the Lights and vessels, and I am cut away from them. But I wish to be at this rung and in the degree of my motivation, I draw from it a small illumination that is preparing me for an ascent.
Thus, I use the Torah as the Surrounding Light but not the Light in the full sense of this word. I am not studying the Torah as such yet. The real study is the expansion of the Lights in the reformed vessels (desires), the interaction between the Light and the desire by way of the screen. That is what the Torah is.
My spiritual “I” is the receiving desire which is reformed by the intention to bestow and able to receive the Light. Wishing to achieve this, we read Kabbalistic books, yearn with all our might, and work in the group in order to somehow express our desire aimed at bestowal.
But a response arrives only in the form of the Surrounding Light. I don’t even know what it is, but time after time, I feel changes within me: a little more understanding, a bit more sensation. It isn’t the Torah yet. The real Torah is something concrete: desire, the screen, and connection between them, which leads to the revelation of the Creator, or the Light in the vessel.
But still, even now we are using the force of the Torah. This is described as: “I created the evil inclination and I created the Torah as a spice since the Light in it Reforms.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, The Writings of Rabash
People view Passover as the holiday of the historical exodus from Egypt. “We used to be slaves and we built several cities and pyramids for Pharaoh, and then we came out to freedom.” However, in realty we are not celebrating a date in the historical calendar. After all, the situation today is much worse than back then. It’s enough to compare the situation of the nation of Israel in Ancient Egypt with the current situation and you would be running back to kiss Pharaoh’s hands, begging him to let you back.
The Jews lived in the land of Goshen, which was the most favorable part of Egypt with the most fertile soil and abundant herds. You could do whatever you want because Pharaoh doesn’t just rule there but he protects you as well. No one can touch a hair on your head, your vats are full of meat, your nets—full of fish, and your storehouses are full of produce. You are a slave only because you have to listen to Pharaoh. This means: Act by the orders of your egoism, and nothing more than that.
The Jews had a wonderful life, so it wasn’t incidental that they complained to Moses in the desert, “Where are the meat and fish, where is the onion and garlic that we ate in Egypt!? Our lives were great, and where have you brought us now?”
So what do we remind ourselves of on this holiday? Were we surrounded by enemies back then the way we are today? On the contrary, we had all the favors at our disposal and Pharaoh’s power protected us from enemies. In his country he allowed us to live however we wanted, even on separate territory and by our own laws. So what’s so bad about that compared to the current situation?
As Baal HaSulam writes, if the Jews today could disperse all over the countries of the Diaspora, then almost no one would be left in Israel. We have to understand: Egypt becomes a dungeon only when you start to think about spiritual exile, when you lack the Creator. If not for the need for spiritual redemption, Egypt by itself is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here you have everything besides the Creator, besides the answer to the question about the meaning of life. You have everything else in abundance. You are living the life of a king and you lack just one thing, “I want bestowal and love for the neighbor.”
When you desire precisely this, then Egypt will seem like exile to you. This is the only thing missing here—love for the neighbor. Thus, it turns out that we celebrate Passover to commemorate the good life in Egypt and not the redemption, which no one really needs. After all, coming out of Egypt means throwing away everything we have besides love.
Do we feel that we are in exile? On the contrary, people do not understand what this is talking about. But love for the neighbor has to become your only desire. Moses demands from Pharaoh, “Let my people go! I want to leave!” To which Pharaoh replies, “What do you lack, Moses? You grew up in my arms. Stay the Egyptian prince. Be a prince! Why are you making a revolution here? For the sake of love for the neighbor? You’ve gone crazy!”
Only at the end of the path does Egypt become a land of exile for us. But until that happens, we are satiated with everything besides bestowal.
It turns out that we celebrate this holiday to honor the fact that we once lacked love for the neighbor. If only it were possible to really explain this to the people and to show them the true situation today. Today are we willing to forgo anything in our rich lives for the sake of love for the Creator, for the neighbor, for friends, for the sake of mutual bestowal and mutual empathy? Are we close to this? Do we deserve to celebrate the holiday of redemption?
This is talking about freedom from egoism, when egoism has everything, yet I want to run away from this. I hate this abundance and I don’t desire it. I don’t need the filling food, nor the safety, nor the comfort, nor the health—nothing. I am ready to drown in the waters of the Marginal Sea or to dry up from thirst in the desert—anything to break out of the bonds.
So do we really want to get out to freedom?
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash
Only the Light in the Torah Reforms the Person
Through the engagement in Kabbalah with the intention to reach the property of bestowal, there manifests the natural remedy of Kabbalah study, as it is said: “The Creator says, ‘I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.’” Thus, that person develops and marches upward in degrees of the above spoken exaltedness, until he loses all remnants of self-love and he performs all his actions only to bestow, so even the necessity that he receives flows in the direction of bestowal.
– Baal HaSulam, "The Revelation of Godliness" (Matan Torah), Item 12
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