Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 5:15 where it writes, ‘Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there’?“

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the state of slavery in Egypt means that we are under the complete control of the desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone, or in other words, the human ego.

From such a state, we embark on an inner journey to correct our desire so that we enjoy not egoistically, i.e. for the sake of self-benefit alone, but for the benefit of others and the Creator, which is an opposite desire to ours—to give, love and positively connect.

This inversion of our intention is considered a correction of our nature, and it is described in the Torah as us exiting Egypt and entering the Land of Israel.

This correction of our ego from prioritizing self-benefit to prioritizing the benefit of others and nature describes the spiritual path we undergo until our final eternal and perfect state, called “the end of correction” (Heb. “Gmar Tikkun”).

At every stage of this spiritual path, we need to exit our ego called “Egypt,” and gradually start revealing the force of love and bestowal in nature called “the Creator.” Doing so leads us to great joy and a major surprise that the Creator prepared for us.

Therefore, our need to remember that we were slaves in Egypt means that we were in the desire to enjoy for ourselves alone, which completely controlled us, and that the Creator brought us out from our self-aimed desire. We needed to feel that we could not exit our egoistic desire other than by connecting to one another and reaching a sincere mutual request—a prayer—to exit our ego. We were then granted access to a new nature of love, giving and positive connection with others through which we discovered a harmonious, peaceful and joyous reality.

This feeling is very special because a part of it penetrates our desire to enjoy, and another part resists our desire. With this contrast inside, we can then scrutinize the forces that operate on our egoistic nature, whether and how much we can exit the control of those forces, and how the upper force—the Creator—grants us that special ability.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 27, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash.xt

Filed under: Q&A, Quora, Torah - No Comments →

The group of Abraham, who agreed to work on the attainment of the upper world and left Babylon with him, subsequently felt that they were plunging into great egoism, which was called the Egyptian exile, from the spiritual state that they were yearning to reach.

Once they overcame this hatred for each other and came out of it, they suddenly discovered a completely new relationship between them. Then they began to feel the laws of human exchange and negotiation, which were later described in the book called the Torah (Bible).

It describes not just personal connection between people, but a method of universal interconnection, that is, very complex interactions when people are one system.

Adam, the first person who revealed the spiritual, spoke and wrote only about himself. He was going to adapt nature within himself, he was alone.

Abraham, however, is a completely different degree, the next level. He said: “All people need to unite! The egoism that has arisen between us is the perfect material for spiritual work. This is what separates us, and breaks all the elements of interaction between us. In fact, they exist so that we can correctly assemble them between us. Let’s assemble a scheme from them. Perhaps we will even discover that the scheme already exists in some way, we just need to start running it, and treat it correctly. If we start treating each other with love, with the correct interaction between us, we will see what kind of system is formed between us.”

At the next stage, the leader of this group was Moses; he described the spiritual system in the Torah. In it, he outlined all its laws and began to describe this system from two sides so that everyone could understand it correctly, perceive it, and begin to commute themselves in it as an integral part.

Practically, the entire Torah is laws of commutation. This is why it says: “Love your neighbor as yourself is the main law of the Torah.”

Love means joining the spiritual system without any interference, completely in your absolute realization.
[310257]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Days When Miracles Happen” 10/7/12

Related Material:
What Came First, The Torah Or The Wisdom Of Kabbalah?
When We Open The Torah
The Torah Is A Program And A Guide

Filed under: Dissemination, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: Why are there two gradations in writing: printed text and cursive writing?

Answer: In principle, there should be no printed text. A person should be minimally concerned with his livelihood, and all the rest of his strength, time, and abilities he should use to unite with others in order to reach the level of similarity to the upper force, upper nature. This is his purpose. Everything else he does is completely unnecessary.

This entire worst, small world that appears in our distorted ideas is necessary only to ascend from it to the upper world.

Therefore, there is no need to invent anything, write anything down. You must immediately perform all the corrections within yourself and feel them internally.

Therefore, it is enough to verbally convey to a person the instruction of ascending from our world, and he must live by these laws, revelations, and wisdom. He does not need to read and memorize them. He must see them for himself.

To transmit verbally means that they tell me something, and at the same time I feel and perform, I am in the place that you are talking to me about, at this level, in these halls of attainment.

What was the point of writing or reading?! There was no point!

Records appeared only when there was a descent of generations, and a person no longer had the possibility of direct attainment. There were no teachers, there was confusion, and the mix-up began. Then they began to write books for subsequent generations, in particular, for ours.

What if we didn’t get these books? It is scary to say what we would do. We would be in terrible depression to the point of suicide.

Question: But the Torah originally was written?

Answer: No, it was not originally written. It was written by Moses during forty years of wandering in the desert, describing the states that people went through with him. This is called the “Torah.”

Then he gave his notes to Joshua and everyone else as a spiritual diary of what they went through together. There is nothing else in this book.

It describes how they tried to come together and then separated from each other, whether they were similar to the Creator or not, all the problems that they solved in their correction, why they made long stops in the desert and their crossing dragged on for 40 years. After all, this whole path could be covered in a week. But 40 years were necessary precisely for the past state to die and the future to be born.
[307493]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Difference between Handwritten and Printed Text” 1/21/12

Related Material:
Don’t Put On Paper What Is Meant For The Heart
The Group Makes You A Hero
Defining The Terms Is Key To The Study Of Kabbalah

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: What is the major difference between the Torah and The Book of Zohar?

Answer: It is only in the style, form of presentation, and absoluteness of the Torah. What is written in it is absolute. There are a lot of expressions in The Book of Zohar that can be misinterpreted.

The Zohar is generally incomplete in itself. Initially, it included about thirty volumes. To date only a small part of it has been found, which means, it is incomplete, fragmentary and cannot claim to be like the Torah.

But in terms of the power of its presentation, The Zohar affects us much more than the Torah.
[307504]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Zohar against the Torah” 1/21/12

Related Material:
The Connection Between The Torah And The Book Of Zohar
The Structure Of The Book Of Zohar
Zohar, Commentary On The Torah

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: It is said that the Creator has prepared the application of efforts in the Torah and the commandments for us in this world to turn the desire to receive into the desire to bestow. How can we understand this?

Answer: There is a tool with which we can change ourselves from receivers to givers so that we strive to give to another, and not receive from him. This is due to the influence of the Torah and the commandments on us.

The Torah and the commandments are a mechanism that affects us and changes us from recipients to bestowers.
[306508]
From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 12/4/22

Related Material:
What Is Real Life?
Grow From A Naïve Angel Into Adam
The Light Of The Torah And The Influence Of The Mitzvah

Filed under: Commandments, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: How can we who are so small suddenly move the worlds? You said that when a little child just gives a cry, his mother immediately runs up to him and does whatever he wants.

Answer: Yes, the smallest is the strongest.

Question: Even those who are just starting their advancement?

Answer: But they are doing it! They want to get in touch with the Creator. Yes, they are the strongest.

Even though they do not understand anything, like a baby who is lying in a cradle and screaming. The baby does not even realize that he is crying—he is just in pain, and this is a natural scream. He does not realize that in this way one can call a mother who will come and give him something. He has no understanding of the chain of actions he invokes. He is screaming because it is a natural reaction to what is happening to him.

Question: Can we say that someone who is trying to read, for example, the Torah or Kabbalistic sources, begins to give this cry?

Answer: Yes, of course. But not just to read, especially the Torah. The Torah will not help here. One needs either The Book of Zohar or some other Kabbalistic books.

Comment: But I mean not the external principle of reading, but the internal one—the search for oneself, the search for what is inside me.

My Response: No, besides this, a book that can evoke the upper light most brightly is needed. The Book of Zohar is the most effective one.

Question: That is, your advice is to read without understanding?

Answer: That is my advice because I went through this with Rabash. That is my advice because this is how it works. We used to read The Book of Zohar for only half an hour in the evening before going to bed. And it was just reading without any comments.

There were 20 people sitting around the table with Rabash at the head, and for half an hour we took turns reading: the first one, then the second, the third, and so on. So, we read a page or two, and went home. This is how the day ended.

But when Rabash and I studied alone on trips, in personal conversations or lessons, there was a different attitude. We came to the park, walked around, and then sat down on a bench. I pulled out a book, and we discussed the book or just talked for about two hours. After that, we again walked around and went home. And so it was for 12 years.
[306180]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/10

Related Material:
The Magical Mechanism Of The Book Of Zohar
The Special Feature Of The Book Of Zohar
The Key To The Book Of Zohar

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Every line of the Torah has such depth. The Torah is infinite, as if the whole sea is in one drop. As Kabbalah says: the whole universe exists in every point of the universe.

Question: How can this be?

Answer: It is like a holographic picture because everything consists of everything. Our world is only now beginning to understand this based on holography. In principle, if there is perfection, then every part of it must be perfect. How can it be imperfect if it must be equal, similar, and completely repeat the whole in everything?

It turns out that the whole and the part are absolutely equivalent. Every person and the whole world are absolutely equal.

Question: Then how did something imperfect come out of the perfect Creator?

Answer: The Creator created the creation not out of Himself, but out of nothing. The will to receive is His imprint. That is, we are absolutely opposite to Him. But our final state is equal to the Creator and perfect. We must reach it by ourselves.

We, as if, go back by the same path and become more and more perfect by returning to the source. Kabbalah and the Torah are engaged in this.
[306134]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/10

Related Material:
A Hologram Of The Spiritual Worlds
The Entire World Is Inside Us
Covering All Of Creation By Myself

Filed under: Perception, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, is the Festival of Succoth, a seven day period to the Lord. On the first day, it is a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor. [For] a seven day period, you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord. On the eighth day, it shall be a holy occasion for you, and you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord. It is a [day of] detention. You shall not perform any work of labor (Torah, “Levit,” “Emor,” 23:33-23:36).

The Sukkot holiday lasts for seven days, in each of which an ascent to the spiritual degrees of Hesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut is performed.

And on the eighth day a special gathering takes place where a person is filled with the light of mercy (Hassidim), the light of love, friendship, joy, compassion, complicity, and kindness. This is called an “embrace from the right side,” as it is said: “His left arm is under my head, and His right arm is embracing me.”

Which means that Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are “the left hand under the head,” and Sukkot is “the right one embraces me.” And on the last day, the eighth day of Sukkot, there is a combination of the male and female parts of the Kli (vessel).

During this time a person’s desire is illuminated by the upper light and therefore, throughout all the days of the holiday, there is a manifestation of more and more of the light of kindness and more and more merging of the male and female parts of desire into a single “embrace.”

Therefore every day of the Sukkot festival is important. It is held in a special tent built under the open sky where a sacred meeting and a meal are arranged.

A person staying in a tent for seven days receives all the surrounding lights, so to say, which correct, fill, and prepare him for revelation, connection, and contact with the Creator.

This happens on the eighth day after leaving the tent. Therefore the eighth day is called Simchat Torah, the Joy of the Torah. The Torah is the light that corrects a person and fills him with joy.

Comment: It is believed that every evening honored guests come to the tent in turn: Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David.

My Response: All these guests represent the lights of correction on seven spiritual degrees. After all, these are not historical characters but spiritual states. Each of the degrees has a special character and only after passing them, that is, after correcting oneself in seven different characteristic states, does a person become ready for the revelation of the Creator.
[166914]
From KabTV’s “The Secrets of Eternal Book”

Related Material:
The More Impenetrable The Darkness, The Brighter The Light
More Shade Than Light
A Dwelling That Corresponds To The Structure Of The Soul

Filed under: Holidays, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Comment: Baal HaSulam writes that the singularity of the language of the Ari is that his words cannot be materialized. After all, when I read a story from the Torah, for example, I begin to imagine people, animals, some wars and events because the Torah is written in the language of branches.

And when I read about Keter, Hochma, and Bina, and some kind of interaction between them, I do not have any associations, and thus I do not materialize them.

My Response: Yes, it is very important! In no case should we assume that the Torah speaks about our world! It speaks only about the inner world of man. And therefore it is imperative to transfer everything that we read in it into ourselves and not imagine that we see our world and everything that happens in it like in a theater.

Thus, the singularity of the Ari’s method, compared with the method that existed thousands of years before him, is firstly the language itself, which does not allow us to materialize everything that is written.

And secondly it is the method itself, where you draw upon yourself the light that builds a screen in you and allows you to objectively explore the upper world.
[301527]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/2/22

Related Material:
Remembering The ARI
The Return Of The Ari
The Great Kabbalists And Their Works

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Language of Branches, Torah - No Comments →

It is impossible to understand the Torah if you do not study the science of Kabbalah. Everyone knows this book that seems to tell the story of some people (like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and about events that took place in ancient times with the people of Israel. The Torah is written in such a way that everyone thinks it is a historical tale even children can understand.

But the sages say that there is a secret code in this story and that there is not a word about this world in it. In fact, it encodes a story about the governance of all of creation, the entire universe, all the forces of nature that were, are, and will be, visible and not visible to us, felt and not felt by us—about everything.

It talks about the Creator, about the upper force that is above our world, along with all the upper worlds that we have not yet discovered, about His relation to the whole creation, and most importantly, how this creation can correctly react to how it feels its existence.

The creation is given the opportunity to change itself so that through all these concealments, through all the worlds and spaces, it can reveal the upper force that controls it and thus change its reality, which is the goal.

Kabbalists say that everything is in our hands; we just need to understand the code of the Torah. Just as with the help of a familiar programming language you can operate a computer, with the help of the Torah, with the help of a special code, by reading this book correctly, you can enter the computer that controls all of reality and begin to control it and your whole life through this code.

Therefore, we need the science of Kabbalah to change our fate.
[300633]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/22, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Related Material:
The Purpose of Torah
The Torah Is A Program And A Guide
Light Of The Torah

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →