Entries in the 'Torah' Category

Develop the Importance of the Goal

270Question: The Creator gave us the evil inclination and the Torah as a spice. Can we say that we are stuck in the evil inclination and not using the Torah as a spice?

Answer: Yes, and that is why we must ask. If we try to replace our egoistic, evil heart with a good one, we will need the Torah, which will act on us, and our heart will become good.

You need to develop the importance of the goal. Only the importance of the goal will keep you moving toward a state where, no matter how many of your uncorrected qualities are shown to you, you will still keep moving forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/24, Writings of Rabash, “One Learns Only Where One’s Heart Desires”

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What Does the Study of The Torah Specifically Give Us?

959From a letter:

I am a teacher with little experience and I am not Jewish. But I have always been interested in the fact that you teach your children to read from the age of three. I know that a lot of attention is paid to memorizing text.

“You” refers to Jews.

It is known that elementary school children could read the entire Torah fluently from memory. They could even tell how many times and on which page a particular word is mentioned.

I have many questions. Of course, we were taught a lot at university, but your answers are especially important to me. I take a lot from your programs. The first question is: What does starting education at three years old give?

Answer: It gives development.

Question: “What does such rigorous memorization of text give?” she asks.

Answer: It is also memory development.

Question: What is the purpose of this for the child?

Answer: So that they know the Torah well, can recall any part from memory, and quote it.

Question: Why specifically the Torah?

Answer: To develop abilities in a person that cannot be developed by anything else. By nothing else. I have talked with many people who studied the Torah this way, and they say it is impossible to convey this to those who have not studied it. The texts of the Torah “bind” a person’s mind into one harmonious whole.

Question: So in principle, is the goal to bring a person closer to this harmony?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How does a Kabbalist read the Torah?

Answer: A Kabbalist does not read the Torah, they see it. It evokes images within them. Not the ones illustrated in books. They see their own personal images behind the words.

Question: Are all these layers sort of removed?

Answer: This is impossible to explain.

Question: Another question from her: “Progress has brought us to the point where memorizing texts is unnecessary. Information can be obtained instantly. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this, in your opinion?”

Answer: The fact that we can juggle texts, books, and encyclopedias however we want, and find quotes in seconds, is natural, on one hand. But on the other hand, it extracts the soul from all this. It results in pure information.

Question: And is there a soul in learning the Torah this way?

Answer: In this way, yes. Of course!

Question: Her last question: “I have just started teaching. What is the most important thing to teach children?”

Answer: The most important thing to teach children is to have the right attitude toward the material you are teaching them. They must understand that the learning process itself develops them. Therefore, it doesn’t even matter what you study, but the process itself turns a small child into a person.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/8/24

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Why Is the Torah Given to Sinners?

533.01 David asks:

Please explain the phrase that the Torah is given for sinners. And if I do not feel like a sinner, does that mean I cannot study the Torah?

Answer: You can study the Torah. But for the Torah to teach you, you need to feel a little bit like a sinner.

Question: And there is no way around this?

Answer: That is why it is given.

Question: So I should need it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What if I need it for knowledge? There is so much in it.

Answer: No, knowledge has nothing to do with it. The Torah is needed only for correction, for extracting the egoism from a person, and for making a person stand before the Creator one-on-one.

Question: So the path I take through the Torah is my path to the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Did He intentionally give the Torah specifically to sinners? Was it given precisely when we sinned?

Answer: Essentially we are born sinners. And then as we gradually recognize ourselves as sinners, we can appreciate the Torah, its depth, its power, and its ability to correct.

Question: What does studying the Torah mean to you? “I study the Torah…”. What does it mean?

Answer: I study the Torah, which means I act so that the Torah penetrates me and I can absorb its words, its strength, and its convictions. So that this becomes an unshakable part of me, and I think only about how to implement what is written in it. That is, essentially, what we must do.

Question: If you reduce it to something very simple and concise, can you say what is written in it?

Answer: About love, but not in our usual sense.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/15/24

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Keep Us under the Protection of the Torah

961.2All the work is only where there are two ways, as we have found, And he shall live in them, and he shall not die in them (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 188 “All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 2”).

Question: Why is it said that we have two ways? After all, we only have one way, the way of Kabbalah.

Answer: The point is that we must observe the laws of the higher world that governs us. Within it, there are conditions that allow transgressing various requirements except for the three commandments.

The main one is that the Creator is one, unique, unified, and there is none else beside Him. Therefore, first of all, one must adhere to this and work on this commandment. And everything else depends on the states a person inhabits.

Therefore, it is written that all our work is only in the place where there are two ways: whether to fulfill the commandments or not. As it is said: “And they shall live in them, and not die in them.”

This means that we cannot approach the sanctification of the Creator in things that do not require it, and the notion of “die but not transgress” applies only to the three commandments called incest, bloodshed, and idolatry. We find that the first righteous ones gave their lives to fulfill them.

That is, everything a person must do, and he stands by it, is to devote all his efforts to fulfilling the commandments or even go even to death. This is our entire work because at the time when a person must observe the Torah, the heavy burden is revealed, i.e., the entire weight of its execution. And at the time when the Torah protects a person, it is not so difficult for him.

As it is said, a person’s soul shall teach him. When a person moves forward and various means for further advancement are revealed to him, this is called the Torah teaching and protecting him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 2”

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The Miracle of Translating the Torah

963.1Question: In the Talmud, an ancient source of Jewish wisdom, it is written:

There was an incident involving King Ptolemy of Egypt, who assembled seventy-two Elders from the Sages of Israel, and put them into seventy-two separate rooms, and did not reveal to them for what purpose he assembled them, so that they would not coordinate their responses. He entered and approached each and every one, and said to each of them: Write for me a translation of the Torah of Moses your teacher. The Holy One, Blessed be He, placed wisdom in the heart of each and every one, and they all agreed to one common understanding. Not only did they all translate the text correctly, they all introduced the same changes into the translated text.”

This is how the Torah was translated into Greek.

My question is, can this source be trusted? Can we say that this happened exactly how it is written?

Answer: Where is it written?

Comment: In the Talmud.

My Response: So, why are you asking?

Question: What is considered a miracle: the fact that the 72 elders translated the Torah as if done by one translator, or that God placed in them a single wisdom, one intention? What is the miracle here?

Answer: The miracle is most likely that they all translated it as one person. The root of this was, as it is written, that God placed in them a single wisdom and one thought.

Question: How does this happen? 72 different people write the exact same text without the slightest error. How does it happen that God places this in each of them?

Answer: Because it is God. And because these are 72 special sages at the highest level of knowledge (therefore 72). The number itself is the level of the highest knowledge. That is why they were able to do it.

Question: Can we say that if God instills one intention and a single wisdom, then God wants this source, the Torah, to be spread in the world?

Answer: This has been said many times and also directly stated that these laws should be for the entire world.

Comment: It is said here that they were able to reach one common understanding.

My Response: Yes, that is the miracle.

Question: Reaching one common understanding is a miracle. If in the past, 72, 120 people, the Sanhedrin, made one decision, today two people cannot make one decision. Two! They must clash, each asserting their own opinion.

How can ordinary people, politicians, leaders, or just individuals and families come to one decision, to one opinion?

Answer: There is a lack of understanding that we are under the authority of the Almighty, and everything comes from Him. Therefore, by agreeing with others, you, in principle, come closer to the Creator.

Question: Do you mean to say that I am somehow agreeing with the Creator who is expressing Himself through another?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If I can go this far, suppress and nullify myself, can I also hear what is being said to me from above?

Answer: You will hear the Creator.

Question: Does this apply to both disputing parties, and families, and generally to any states?

Answer: It is not about hearing what the other person is saying. Through them, you will hear the Creator. This is important.

Question: Specifically through my nullification?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: You attribute such great importance to nullification.

My Response: A person nullifies their egoism, the most important thing within them, and desires only to work with receiving from outside. And “from outside” comes to them from the Creator.

Question: Are you saying that the miracle here is precisely this nullification?

Answer: Yes, that is the miracle. If we could nullify ourselves before each other, we would hear the Creator. But He is concealed behind what we say to each other without listening to others.

Question: Is he waiting for us to be able to do this, to nullify ourselves?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/28/23

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Numerical Language

527.07Now you can understand that sleep [Tardema] in Gematria is “translation” [Targum]. It is also the letters Tered MA [MA will descend]...(Rashbi, Zohar for All, “Heaven and Earth”).

Question: What is the significance of the numerical value of words?

Answer: Language is a code that contains many different symbols.

We know that the Kabbalistic sources are written in Aramaic and Hebrew. And here we are also talking about the fact that there is a simple language, a written language, and a numerical language, which all indicate how words can be combined to form other words.

This is a very broad concept including how letters form words, how words form sentences, and how we can use sentences to manage the world.

The numerical value of a word implies that I can represent the word as a number or a specific set of numbers.

Question: So, could the Torah be written in the form of numbers?

Answer: Of course. How do programmers compose instructions for a computer? They write various letters, symbols, and then input them into the machine. The machine, understands these symbols, reads them, and executes the program.

Question: The thing is, the letter itself appears as a combination of certain symbols and has a specific form that expresses the relationship of forces. But what does the number mean?

Answer: The number indicates on what level these forces operate. So when a Kabbalist reads that some character in the Torah lived for 900 years, it signifies the spiritual level of that character.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 1/21/24

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For All Kinds of Souls

259.01Question: If the Torah is intended for us to unite, why did the Kabbalists leave such a large amount of material that when studying we have the illusion that we are learning some other facet?

Why didn’t they write an article or articles about the need for connection so that we could study them over and over again and not get confused by so many explanations of seemingly different things?

Answer: The large number of articles depends on the division of souls, on the variations of connections between them. That is why we need such an abundance of material.

Question: If a group of people takes one article, for example, “There Is None Else Besides Him” and advance only according to it, will they reach their goal?

Answer: No, they will not. No article covers all souls.
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From the 1st oart of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/24, Writings of Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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The Mystery of the Universe

209Question: On one hand everything in the Torah is encrypted because the secrets of the universe must be hidden since people can misunderstand them. But when you begin to analyze the Torah, everything fits into one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What is there to hide?

Answer: The fact is that in nature, inside us, in the upper governance that controls us from above, there is indeed a lot that is incomprehensible. There is no secret in this. The only secret is how we can reveal what we do not understand, get closer to the Creator, enter into His governance, look into Him, and understand Him.

Question: It is still unclear; so many books have been written, even in two languages: Hebrew and Aramaic, tens of thousands of pages! And all this just so that we can unite together and love each other! Why write so much about this? Is there really no other way for people to understand that they must unite?

Answer: In order to unite, you can write one sentence. But we see that it does not work. Therefore, a system of forces is offered that affects a person and helps him transform himself in similarity to the Creator.

Just as all of nature consists of a unity of opposites, since it was created due to the combination of different elements and parts, so people with completely different qualities must unite with each other. This process has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years throughout the universe.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 1/21/24

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Commandment of Fear

591“All the commandments in the Torah that the Creator gave to Israel are written in the Torah in a general way,” in the verse “In the beginning God created,” until the verse “And there was light.” The Zohar explained that the verse “In the beginning God created” is the commandment of fear and its punishment, and all the commandments in the Torah are included in it (Zohar for All, “Rabbi Shimon’s Exit from the Cave,” #188).

The most basic commandment is fear of the Creator because the entire Torah is based on it. The fear is that if you do not fulfill the commandments of the Creator, you will be rejected. Therefore, this commandment is the cornerstone.

Question: What is the connection between the phrases “In the beginning the Almighty created” and “the commandment of fear”?

Answer: The fact is that our nature is absolute egoism, and the only thing that can force us to work, do something, and bring us closer to something is fear.

That is, “In the beginning the Almighty created” is our desire to receive, constantly fearing that it will not be filled. And then it says: until the words, “and there was light.” Light is already filling.

It turns out that a person’s fear changes since there is a difference between filling: either for oneself or for the sake of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/24/23

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The Commandments—The Code of Laws of the Universe

253Question: What is the Torah from the point of view of Kabbalah, and what actions are called commandments?

Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, which explains the structure of the whole universe, the qualities of the Creator and His attitude toward us, there is a section called the Commandments of the Torah.

The commandments are not the mechanical implementation of the laws of the Torah at the level of our world, but the laws of the upper world that we must implement if we want to correspond to them.

The point is, in our world, if we want to feel the positive reaction of nature to our actions, we must know how to behave with it, not to lead it to destruction, burnout, flooding, and other cataclysms. That is, do what is beneficial for nature, and then it will be good for us.

The same applies to the laws explained in the Torah called commandments. These are laws of the higher level. They are about our inner attitude to the spiritual nature: how I should treat people, inanimate, animate, vegetative nature, myself, my loved ones, and so on.

That is, the Torah in principle, explains to us the entire code of laws and rules of behavior in the world around us so that we can influence it properly, and then accordingly, the world too will be tuned to us correctly.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/21/23

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