November 21, 2024
Archive for May, 2014
May 31, 2014 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Torah Portion
Numbers 8:1-12:16
This Week’s Torah Portion |June 1 – June 7, 2014 – Sivan 3 – Sivan 7, 5774
In A Nutshell
The portion, BeHa’alotcha (When You Raise the Candles), takes place a year after the reception of the Torah. The people of Israel is getting ready to journey and holds a special ceremony for the inauguration of the altar. The portion details the laws concerning making the offering of Second Passover for those who were far and could take part in Passover.
The portion speaks of the tabernacle, on which there was constantly a cloud. It is an indication to the children of Israel when they must rise and journey, and when they must settle down. The portion also tells of the two silver trumpets that were used to assemble the people at times of war, when making an offerings, on Sabbaths, festivals, and special occasions.
Toward the end of the portion, several events take place that point to the heightening of the ego. The wicked in the nation complain about Moses and the Creator, and a consuming fire is sent to the wicked at the camp’s edge. The rabble, who is a group of proselytes that joined the children of Israel upon their exit from Egypt, complains about their condition, and the Creator showers quails on the camp. Anyone who jumps on the quails voluptuously is put to death. This is why the place is called “the graves of voluptuousness.”
The end of the portion talks about Miriam—Moses’ and Aaron’s sister—slandering Moses. She says to Aaron, “The Creator appeared to me, as well as to you, so why is Moses the leader? Why are we listening only to him?” She is punished for it with leprosy, and the nation waits for seven days until she returns.
Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman
All the events are spiritual states within us. Each person needs to correct him or her self and achieve equivalence of form with the Creator, as it is written, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God” (Hosea 14:2). The text speaks only about correction. It is not about having to cross the desert and reach the Jordan River, cross it, and reach the land of Israel. Rather, it is about ascending, as in BeHaalotcha (When You Raise).
Ascending refers to building the soul. Each of us builds his or her soul. We gradually build the soul—called “a portion of God from above” (Job 31:2). One begins the spiritual work, wanting to build oneself and achieve bestowal and love of others, connection with everyone, because by these acts one becomes similar to the Creator, as it is written, “From the love of man to the love of God,”[1] from loving of people to loving the Creator.
We achieve the love in stages, although we hate it because we are the complete opposite of it. These are the stages described in all the portions. To begin with, the Torah speaks only about a person receiving the spark called the “point in the heart.” With that spark we begin to correct ourselves. The Torah describes the way we go until the end of correction, through what is called “in the sight of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:12), through the end of the Torah (Pentateuch).
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May 31, 2014 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Definitions
Menorah (Lamp)
The menorah symbolizes the soul. It symbolizes the seven Sephirot of the soul that we need to know how to light, in which way, and in which order.
Korban (Sacrifice/Offering)
A Korban is the will to receive that person corrects, and through it becomes more Karov (near/close) to the Creator.
Second Passover
Second Passover relates to desires that a person finds are impossible or not needed to sanctify. It is desires that one did not recognize. However, they can be corrected later, on a more advanced stage in the process.
Impure
Impurity is a force that works in order to receive, the egoistic force that appears in us.
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May 30, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles
“What are pure and impure forces?” is one of the questions Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) examines in his article “Introduction to the Book of Zohar.”
There are pure and impure forces: egoistic, altruistic, good, bad, evil and so on. The Zohar writes about devils, vampires, witches, all kinds of angels, and whatever else you can think of, millions of different such names. They can be good, bad, for and against, assemblies of different gods, forces, and they somehow fight with one another. There are names that we can pronounce, and there are other names that we cannot pronounce because you can cause a harmful angel to influence you, and so on.
What does all of this mean? If there is only one force of love and bestowal, called “the Creator,” which is perfectly good and benevolent, then how can all these impure forces emerge from the singular force of love and bestowal, if it is the root of everything?
How can it be that not only does the quality of love and bestowal give birth to impure forces and all these phenomena that take place in our world, such as murder, all kinds of atrocities and catastrophes, problems, diseases, and everything else that can possibly be imagined, all kinds of deformities… How can all that come from the singular force of love and bestowal that only wishes to do good and give enjoyment to the creation it created? What other root besides the Creator is there? After all, the Kabbalists also write that “there is none else besides Him,” so what is going on here?
Not only do Kabbalists say that everything emerges from the singular force of love and bestowal, they also say (in the Torah) that the Creator constantly feeds these impure forces so that they will exist. If that is really the case, then the picture becomes completely unclear. It seems as if those forces act against the force of love and bestowal, and it is as if the Creator probably battles against them, and that we stand somewhere in the middle, asking the Creator to protect us from them. However, this is not the case. The Creator created the impure forces on purpose, and revives them on purpose. Is this some kind of meanness on the Creator’s behalf?
In “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam examines this question and brings it to its answer. We will not examine the answers here. The book Introduction to the Book of Zohar by Dr. Michael Laitman contains this article, as well as detailed commentary and questions and answers on it, as well as for the article “Preface to the Book of Zohar”: two articles required for preparing oneself toward the study of The Zohar.
Baal HaSulam clarifies several other questions and provides their answers as well in the article:
- Why does a person need all of these worlds if he is so small? Baal HaSulam provides a very lengthy answer, voluminously describing the person’s entire path.
- Why do we need the impure forces?
- What is the soul?
- Why are the souls interconnected?
- What does it mean to “connect to the Creator” and “connect to other souls”?
- How can we connect to the Creator and to other souls?
- Why are obligated to do this now during our life in this world? I f we do not do this, we will have to descend to this world again, and so on.
The Free Kabbalah Course is based on the articles of Baal HaSulam and provides step-by-step guided learning from experienced Kabbalah instructors of Kabbalah’s basic concepts. Baal HaSulam was the first Kabbalist in history who wrote articles not only for Kabbalists, but for the broad public, in order to explain Kabbalah’s fundamentals, because he understood the need that would emerge in humanity to answer deeper questions about life’s meaning and purpose. Therefore, if you’re interested in such topics, we recommend taking the free course and start learning about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …
May 29, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles
In Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag’s (i.e. Baal HaSulam’s) article “Time to Act,” he discusses that precisely our time is special. It is when all souls that existed on our earth over the course of many reincarnations, constantly returning to this life, have now matured or ripened as a result of all of their reincarnations and reached the current state, when they are beginning to desire spirituality.
The desire for spirituality manifests when a person’s entire life, with all its joys, begins to seem completely meaningless and empty. This is how a person with a spiritual desire views himself and his environment. In our era, this is awakening in every person more and more.
“Time to Act” explains that today’s condition has been long-awaited, and has finally arrived. Now it is possible to reveal the science of Kabbalah because it explains what is:
- our very self,
- the goal of the universe,
- the way in which everything exists, and
- the goal toward which everything must aspire.
Nature does not create anything in vain. In principle, nature is the force of the Creator—Elokim—the name of the Creator. The Creator is Elohim (??????) in Hebrew, which is the same as ?aTeva (????) or nature. In Hebrew, these two words are equivalent. That is to say, nature—everything that we perceive around us—is the manifestation of the Creator relative to us.
And so, Baal HaSulam says that the manifestation of the Creator is directed at us so strongly in our time in order to compel us to reveal Him and exist in a completely different volume of the universe, in a completely different perception of our existence—in eternal and perfect movement, perceiving the flow of all matter, information, and energy. According to Baal HaSulam, we have to achieve this in our generation.
The Free Kabbalah Course is based on the articles of Baal HaSulam and provides step-by-step guided learning from experienced Kabbalah instructors of Kabbalah’s basic concepts. Baal HaSulam was the first Kabbalist in history who wrote articles not only for Kabbalists, but for the broad public, in order to explain Kabbalah’s fundamentals, because he understood the need that would emerge in humanity to answer deeper questions about life’s meaning and purpose. Therefore, if you’re interested in such topics, we recommend taking the free course and start learning about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …
May 28, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles
In “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam provides a simple explanation of the essence of the teaching of Kabbalah. He defines “Kabbalah,” saying that it is the revelation to a person of the higher laws or roots that descend from above downwards from the single and absolute source, very gradually descending downwards, until reaching our world.
These laws create our world and humanity. They gradually become revealed to every person in order for everyone to realize them correctly and ascend upwards to the World of Infinity, to our root, our perfect state, ascending along the same levels by which these forces descended from above, forming our world and giving existence to our world and humans. This is what this science is intended for. It describes this entire system of descent from above downwards and our ascent, which is possible and which every one of us must accomplish from below upwards.
The realization of these laws comes about both in general and in particular.
- The particular realization is when there are individuals in every generation, the great Kabbalists of the past, who became worthy of the revelation and ascent.
- The general realization is when in our time all of humanity as a mass already begins to feel the insignificance, pointlessness, emptiness and futility of its existence and feels the necessity to ascend, i.e. to elevate along the same levels as the levels of descent, ascending from below upwards to the World of Infinity.
Here, Baal HaSulam already describes the way in which this science is written, that everything is written in the language of root and branch, and the way in which it is passed down. Over the course of centuries and millennia it was passed down from one Kabbalist to the next and then to the next, only from a teacher to his single student (as a rule), and this is how it was passed down to our time.
But in our time, now it is no longer being passed down from one Kabbalist to his next student, but it is already beginning to be passed to the entirety of humanity. This is why in our time, our task is to discover the method, a widespread educational and enlightening method for the whole of humanity, when humanity will receive the means for spiritual ascent. The means of mass communication and technology developed with the purpose of bringing the goal of creation and everything humanity must accomplish in this life to every person, no matter where the person is, even if far away.
This is what the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” discusses.
The Free Kabbalah Course is based on the articles of Baal HaSulam and provides step-by-step guided learning from experienced Kabbalah instructors of Kabbalah’s basic concepts. Baal HaSulam was the first Kabbalist in history who wrote articles not only for Kabbalists, but for the broad public, in order to explain Kabbalah’s fundamentals, because he understood the need that would emerge in humanity to answer deeper questions about life’s meaning and purpose. Therefore, if you’re interested in such topics, we recommend taking the free course and start learning about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …
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