“Remember The Day When We Came Out Of Egypt”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the meaning of the command, “Remember the day when we came out of Egypt” in the sense of a person’s inner work?

Answer: It says in The Zohar, in Item 121 of Chapter "Bo" that the Torah will mention the exodus from Egypt 50 times. Besides that it is written that every day a person must see himself as coming out of Egypt, and that is because all of our work happens only in relation to Egypt.

A person’s spiritual work on correcting his egoistic nature begins from the state of “Abraham”—the rudiment of the quality of bestowal. But how can we develop this quality?

This is why “Abraham’s” question to the Creator emerges in a person: “How will my descendants inherit a great land?” (Chapter "Lech-Lecha"). This means: How can I develop inside of me (because my descendants are my future states) a huge desire of bestowal and love in order to receive Your entire Light from You?

This receives the following answer (from the Creator to Abraham), “Know that your descendants will be in exile for 400 years,” where 400 years are all four levels of egoism. That is, the Creator tells a person that he will become entirely immersed in egoism and will thereby acquire a desire equal to the Light of Infinity.

First you will be permeated by this desire to absorb everything and then you will discover that it is flawed and will desire to come out of it. Once you come out of it, you will begin correcting it from an egoistic desire to bestowal. This means leaving Egypt and entering the holy land.

This way, by gradually correcting the egoism we acquire, we ascend up 125 degrees until the full correction (Gmar Tikkun). Thus, our entire spiritual path divides into three phases:

1. From the initial point (Abraham, the aspiration to reveal the Creator) until entering Egypt.
2. Inside Egypt, where we develop the aspiration to the Creator, which brings about the development of egoism, the realization that it is evil, and the exit from it.
3. The correction of our egoistic desire until its total correction.

Everything revolves around “Egypt”: Part of our path is “before it” and part is “after it.” But Egypt is the central point. That is why a person must feel that he is coming out of Egypt every day, meaning that every day he takes a part of the egoistic desire and corrects it, and receives a new Light inside of it. This is called “a new day.” And this continues on all the levels.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, The Zohar

Related Material:
Egypt Is Between Us
Exile Is Preparation For Revelation
Making A Step Toward The Creator

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