December 27, 2024
April 21, 2014 at 10:22 am · Filed under Definitions
Noah, the well-known character from the Torah, represents a stage in one’s spiritual development, when one realizes one’s egoism is evil, and that the person cannot save himself from it because it is his entire nature.
One then understands that only the higher force, outside the person, can make a change. This is why the person builds the Ark. In other words, in response to the person’s appeals, the Upper Light creates the property of Bina (bestowal) in the person, and then he remains inside it so that his egoistic desires and properties will no longer rule over him. When he enters the Ark, he ascends above egoism and enters the realm of bestowal, isolating himself from his egoism, his nature.
Today every one of us and the entire world as a whole is beginning to feel that we are in a threatening state – the state of Noah before the flood. We are being threatened by the inner (individual) and outer (worldwide) flood (egoism), which we have brought upon ourselves and cannot overcome on our own.
The salvation from the flood is to hide in the Ark, meaning that for every person and for everyone together to acquire the property of bestowal, to ascend above our egoism. Everything will then reach harmony, just like all the species of creatures that were in the Ark, and we will make the transition to renewed life. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Noah’s Ark Is Our Only Salvation Today,” in Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog]
How to Enter Noah’s Ark
Everything comes from above, from the same source, but if a person tries to set a strong environment on the right side to support him, by this he realizes his freedom of choice. And then on the left side, Nature organizes disturbances.
Caught between these two opposing forces, a person is completely confused; crying, feeling helpless to the extent that he needs to either escape or hope for a miracle.
Then, in this hopeless condition, when a person has almost drowned in the treacherous questions “Who?” and “What?” and cannot get out of them, the idea of the ark suddenly becomes born within. He understands that he will be saved only if he gets the property of Bina, bestowal, that will be higher than all his requests.
These requests will remain, a person cannot completely get rid of them; it does not depend on him. But if in spite of all these problems, he enters the ark, deciding that these turbulent murky floodwaters, all these doubts and problems are not related to him, he can be saved. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Ark of Unity on the Stormy Flood of Life,” in Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog]
To learn more about how Kabbalah describes Bible stories and many other concepts at their root level, before they dress into the material world, it is recommended to take the Free Kabbalah Course. The reason is that many of the concepts and terms we have heard a lot about in our upbringing have completely different definitions in Kabbalah, and it takes a while to process them properly. Therefore, if you’re interested in this topic, then 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 …
April 16, 2014 at 9:17 pm · Filed under Definitions
The movie Noah created a widespread buzz about the Bible story. Here is Kabbalah’s take on the Noah story:
1. The Story of Noah in a Nutshell
In a nutshell, the Bible story of Noah speaks of sinful people and the Creator, who brings a flood on the world. “Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis, 6:9). This is why he was the one chosen to survive the flood.
But he did not survive alone. Rather, he was commanded to build an ark and move into it along with his kin, and pairs of all the animals, and to remain in the ark for forty days and forty nights until the flood stopped.
The Creator made a covenant with Noah and his family that the flood would never return. As a token of the covenant, He placed the rainbow in the sky. More » [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, Noah Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion.]
2. What Is the Meaning of the Story of Noah in the Bible?
“Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted; Noah walked with God.”
So begins the chapter on Noah, immediately confusing the reader with what appears to be a straightforward story about our world.
However, it confuses only those who aren’t yet ready to read the Bible differently, still finding the simple historical narrative about a person named Noah satisfactory.
Ask yourself, “Where am I in this story of Noah?” Or better yet, “What is the meaning of my inner Noah?” You must seek only one approach to the contents of this book: “Everything I read here is about me.” Noah, the righteous, his wife, kids, and all the animals, the ark and the Tower of Babel all exist within me. They are forces, desires that govern my inner and outer worlds. All I have to do is get to them and sense them, and the gates to all the secrets will open for me. More » [Source: Semion Vinokur. What Is the Meaning of the Story of Noah in the Bible?]
3. What Is the Meaning of Noah’s Ark & the Flood in the Bible?
Mayim (“water” in Hebrew) is the flood that will drown your spiritual embryo if you heed the body’s questions, destroying all that you’ve worked so hard to assemble within.
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September 28, 2013 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Torah Portion
Genesis, 6:9-11:32
This Week’s Torah Portion | September 29 – October 5, 2013 – Tishrei 25 – Cheshvan 1, 5774
In A Nutshell
The portion, Noah, speaks of sinful people and the Creator, who brings a flood on the world. “Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis, 6:9). This is why he was the one chosen to survive the flood.
But he did not survive alone. Rather, he was commanded to build an ark and move into it along with his kin, and pairs of all the animals, and to remain in the ark for forty days and forty nights until the flood stopped.
The Creator made a covenant with Noah and his family that the flood would never return. As a token of the covenant, He placed the rainbow in the sky.
The end of the portion speaks of the tower of Babel, about the people who decided to build a tower whose head reaches the heaven. The Creator decided to confuse their language so they would not understand one another, and then He dispersed them throughout the country.
Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman
The portion, Noah, is long, intense, and contains many details and many events compared to other portions. As this portion takes place in the beginning of the Torah, it also marks the beginning of the spiritual path, the most important time in a person’s development.
These initial stages unfold quite quickly, unlike subsequent events, when one begins the actual corrections and corrects one’s qualities meticulously. Later on, the events are far more detailed, as we will see in the future events unfolding in the Torah.
Our development takes place entirely over our egotistical will to receive, which we must turn into bestowal. Today we are still in the midst of a process where the whole of humanity is to begin to work with its ego in the right connection between people. The work against the ego is always a big problem, and appears as waves of a great sea, called Malchut of Ein Sof (Malchut of infinity).
Each time, the ego surfaces more and more, and at first, a person does not know what to do, so the only option is to hide in a box, an ark. It is not merely an escape; it is a correction. A person builds a kind of bubble, the quality of bestowal, and hides in it from all of one’s terrible egotistical qualities, and this is how one advances.
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