Weekly Torah Portion – 01.06.11
Posted on January 6th, 2011
Question: How can one advance by faith above reason in the group?
Answer: Without the group it’s completely impossible to do this. Either you unite with a teacher the way it was done in the past, or you unite with the group. But it’s impossible to advance by yourself.
When talking about the relationship between a person and the Creator, we always mean the presence of the environment. Without it I don’t have anything to ascend above, nothing to correct. A plea to the Creator is a plea for correction. But the correction of what? The only thing I have to correct is my attitude to my neighbor. This is egoism, the evil inclination, unfounded hatred, broken Kelim, the broken Temple.
Therefore, it’s obvious that what we always mean by that is that a person is in the right environment, with his group. This principle originates from Mount Sinai where a condition was established: to unite as one man with one heart. Only then will you receive the Torah and be able to correct yourself.
If, however, you do not try to unite and reach mutual guarantee, then what will you correct? In that case, you will not receive the Torah. The condition for receiving the Torah is a need for it. But if you do not want to unite with others, then you do not need the Torah. It is intended only in order to correct the connection between people.
Therefore, in our times, when the world is being brought to a dead-end situation of universal interconnection, when it is becoming apparent that without the right connections between us civilization will reach its end, people will have to use the Torah. They will need the Upper Force, the force of the Light that will unite them.
This is the purpose for which the Torah, the Kabbalistic method, is being revealed. All the other methods cannot be called Torah because they do not oppose the evil inclination. People will gradually reveal the evil inclination in this world and will then need the real Torah.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/11, Writings of Rabash
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Question: What is a “flood” for the group?
Answer: If the group as a whole is unable to overcome its increasing desire, if the friends reach hatred and cannot overcome it, it means they are drowning in the waters of the flood.
When they sense the approaching flood and the forces that overcome them (Gevurot), they must put forth mutual efforts to build an Ark, meaning to express mutual bestowal in order to be saved from every person’s individual egoism and the common hatred. That is exactly how the authors of The Book of Zohar sat down to study, feeling hatred for one another, and then revealed love.
Everything depends on whether or not the friends use the Torah as it was intended, whether they build the Ark, the common Kli of mutual bestowal, unity, and mutual guarantee in which they will be saved from the flood.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash
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Question: If I simply help people in this world, can I extract from these actions the Light that corrects the soul?
Answer: That depends on your intention. If you truly have the intention to bestow, then you will surely attract the Light. But if you’re going to be walking an old lady across the street and thinking yourself righteous for doing so, you will only hurt yourself.
There are millions of people in the world willing to help others, and it appears that they do good things on the material level, but for some reason their actions don’t make the world any better. All the deeds of philanthropy do not produce any positive results because it is intentions that change the world, not actions.
The Creator doesn’t need your actions if you’re doing them out of your ego. First, you have to ask whether these actions correct the heart? Before performing a commandment or any other good deed, you have to first arm yourself with the right intention. And if you don’t have the intention, ask yourself whether the action is even worth doing.
If the action is essential to your livelihood, you have to carry it out even without an intention since it pertains to the bare necessities, and hence, is “neither condemned nor rewarded.” But if the action goes beyond what the animal body needs, you cannot do it with an egoistic intention. By performing egoistic actions you corrupt the world since you distance yourself from spirituality and bring misery into this world.
The collective state when actions are done without an intention is called “exile.” And returning to actions with altruistic intentions is called “redemption” for with each such action you reveal the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “The Freedom”
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Before I start studying, “engaging in the Torah,” the key is to know what and why I am studying and what I will get from it. The Torah is the only medium that can help us reach the goal. There are probably multiple conditions to that, but all of them are necessary solely in order to form a correct connection with the Torah for us.
“The Torah” is the Upper Light that affects and reforms us so that we get to know the Creator, the Upper Force, and appreciate Him as the Giver, as love itself, which lies above our essence: the will to receive pleasure.
This is why the prayer book opens with special blessings that we bring before the study: We give thanks for the opportunity to study the Torah. A person feels that it is worthwhile to study the Torah which is designated solely for the correction of the evil inclination. This is described as: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice for it.”
If it weren’t for the evil inclination, the Creator wouldn’t have created this special Light, the unique system of reforming us. And now, seeing the inner evil unfold, a person truly needs the Torah. And if it isn’t the case, a person doesn’t study the Torah since he isn’t connected with the system that teaches him about inner changes.
I need to become aware of my evil and wish to get rid of it; I need to understand that there is no way out of it and only the Upper Light will reform me. Then, I will turn to the Creator in the correct manner.
The journey may be long. Most don’t have a clue about it, while others think they practice the Torah although it isn’t really so; for them, the Torah is not the instrument of correction and ascent to the Creator.
First of all, a person has to find out what inner part of him needs to get corrected. I think not about what I will get from the Torah but what must be reformed in me. After all, the Torah is a “spice” which conceals the Light that Reforms. What then is corrupted in me? What requires correction?
I must visualize both these forms, the corrupted and the corrected ones, as clearly as possible and expect liberation, the force that will help me to transit from the first to the second spiritual degree. Having constructed this crystal clear, accurate system, I anticipate and demand assistance from Above so that it all comes true.
If the evil inclination is evil for me indeed, if I understand what correction is exactly and am determined to come to it, then I draw the force of the Torah, the Light that descends and reforms me. And that is when I truly do “engage in the Torah.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, "Introduction of The Book of Zohar," Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.
The Torah
The Torah is Simple Light that expands from His Essence, whose sublimity is endless.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a Sage”
The Torah being all the Names of the Creator, which belong to the creatures.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Acting Mind”
The word Torah comes from the word Horaa (instruction) and from the word Maraa (showing) and Reiah (vision), meaning complete awareness that leaves no filaments in its wake.
– Baal HaSulam, Letter no. 11
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Question: In the weekly Torah portion “VaYechi” there is a very interesting relationship between the Egyptians, Jacob, and his children. They cried over him, embalmed him, buried him in the land of Israel, and much more. What does it all mean?
Answer: Our egoism or will to enjoy, which is called Egypt, cannot exist without the will to bestow. We need the Upper Light! However, the Upper Light does not come to us unless we have sparks of bestowal. When a person begins to connect qualities of reception and qualities of bestowal, then he sees that he thrives in his egoistic desires!
Therefore, the “seven years of plenty” in Egypt (where seven years do not designate a period in time, but seven Sefirot of Zeir Anpin) are possible as long as Jacob is in Egypt. As long as Jacob, the middle line, exists, he is able to correctly connect the right and left lines, reception and bestowal. Thus, he provides Light and prosperity to everyone. That is why Jacob, the combination of the right and left lines, was so respected.
However, this combination is only beneficial to Egypt. It increases egoism, but that is insufficient; one has to keep growing. Therefore, once Jacob raised egoism to a great size, he completed his role.
The egoistic desire grew by virtue of the spiritual force, and when it stops growing, that’s when “the seven years of hunger” start, forcing a person to ascend to a higher level. We see how holiness works for the benefit of Klipa and how Klipa works for the benefit of holiness. Thus, there is no such thing as “evil” or “good.” If a person uses them correctly, they all bring him to the goal.
From the program “Weekly Torah Portion” on 12/16/10
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