January 16, 2025
August 17, 2013 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Ki Tavo (When You Come) Weekly Torah Portion
First Fruit
When the will to receive grows, we bring it to correction, to scrutiny. That desire is called “first fruit.”
Tithing
The tenth part, ten percent, which cannot be corrected. Malchut is the tenth Sefira in the structure of our soul. She cannot be corrected because it is the will to receive itself. She must instead be mingled with the first nine, the first nine qualities of bestowal, and this is how she becomes corrected.
Because it is impossible to correct the will to receive itself, we give a tithing instead. We simply do not work with the part that cannot be corrected. Rather, we hand it over to bestowal so it will be corrected by itself. Afterward, at the end of correction, it will be corrected.
Altar
An altar is the place where correction is made, the contact with the upper light.
Blessing
A blessing is the force that a person receives from above in order to perform acts of bestowal toward others. This force comes after one prepares for it, when one truly wants to perform acts of bestowal above, from whatever one will have. When that happens an upper force comes to that person, and this is called “receiving a blessing.” A blessing is the Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light) that the individual activates, a force from above.
Blessing vs. a curse: a curse, in its simple form, indicates that a person is not asking, and is also not receiving the upper force. On the other hand, a blessing is reception of power from above in order to perform an act with the aim to bestow upon others, in which a person discovers that he or she is similar to the Creator and feels as such.
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August 10, 2013 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Ki Tetze (When You Go) Weekly Torah Portion
Son
A “son” is the next degree, or Ben (son), from the word Mevin (understanding). We can never understand what we are doing, both in corporeality and in spirituality. Only after we do, act, “By Your actions we know You” (Prayer Book, The Song of Unification on Sabbath). Through actions, we begin to understand. It is like children playing without understanding anything, but all of a sudden they grew smarter.
It is the same for us. This is why Ben, Mevin, is a degree that comes to us as a result of actions. It is also why it is written, “By Your actions we know You” (Megillah, 6b). Make an effort, act, and you will understand and see.
Beloved Woman and Hated Woman
A “beloved woman” is the will to receive with which a person can work in order to bestow. A “hated woman” is the will to receive with which one cannot work with the aim to bestow, which does not support a person because the person is weak. This is why there are prohibitions, to separate them and treat each of them differently.
It is the same with the sons, the firstborn sons from the loved woman and from the hated woman. It has to do with our desires, and it depends on how a person relates to it, how one can or cannot lift the will to receive toward correction.
Loss
In spirituality, a loss means that a person loses the ability to remain at a degree that one has already acquired. In other words, if a person loses something it deliberately comes from above. It is a kind of help to a person, and one needs to search. This is the root of the commandment to return a loss that has been found to its owner.
August 2, 2013 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Shoftim (Judges) Weekly Torah Portion
Judge
A judge is the one who decides.
Officer
Officers, as well judges, tend to the good influence on people.
Judgment and Justice
“Judgment” is a state in which one works above one’s great will to receive. “Justice” is a state in which one works only in favor of others, without any thought of self-gratification.
King
This is a state where a person has the strength to do what is required according to the Keter (crown), according to the Creator, upper force that appears.
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July 29, 2013 at 12:00 am · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Re’eh (Behold) Weekly Torah Portion
Blessing
If we want to reach the quality of bestowal, the light affects us and builds that quality in us.
Curse
The opposite of a blessing. If a person wishes to have the intention to receive, to exploit others, to receive from them, that person suffers blows that teach him that he should be the opposite. It always works that way.
A Must, as Opposed to a Prohibition
Correction as opposed to corruption. It is forbidden to be in the egotistical will to receive. Rather, it is a must to correct it into a desire with the aim to bestow.
Place
A place is a desire. There are no places. The world we are in is called an “imaginary place.” It seems to us that we are in a place, in space, in a universe, but the truth is that it is a desire of the Creator where we perceive certain phenomena.
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July 24, 2013 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Ekev Weekly Torah Portion
Benevolent (the Good Who Does Good)
The light comes from the Creator, who is benevolent. However, because of our disparity from the light, we feel it as the opposite. It is like a mother who loves her child, but the child sees her behavior as bad. Inside, her heart is good and open, but on the outside she must behave differently with her child in order to “straighten” it out. It is the same with us. Everything works according to the promise that is written in this portion.
Laws and Ordinances, Opposite the One Law
The “One Law” is the light that stands opposite to all of our desires, which are the 613 desires. If we arrange all of them in bestowal and love, in congruence with the light, we will be in a state of benevolence (the Good who does good).
Enemy and Triumph
The enemy is our ego. Triumph is if we can rise above it, as it is written, “Love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs, 10:12). The ego is under an “umbrella,” in mutual guarantee, and the character of everyone remains inside. It is burning, and this is very good, but we are above it, united.
Fear
Fear is one’s first contact with the ever-growing will to receive. The fear comes from the ego when we still cannot rise above it. There are always such states, but once we rise above the ego, fear no longer exists.
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