A question I received: What needs to be done in order to start life with a clean slate during the upcoming holiday of Passover (Pesach), which is the celebration of our exodus from our ego?

My Answer: Starting life “with a clean slate” is a necessary condition. We live in a new era, a period when all the old laws stop operating. We cannot continue to live as before because the world has become global. There is a new law operating within it: the law of the common system, meaning the unity of the souls and their adhesion with the Creator.

This state did not exist previously. The state that is to be revealed now is that the entire world is in exile, just like Jews once were while in Egyptian slavery. Until now our civilization continued to develop and people did not feel that they were in exile, which means living in an uncorrected world.

We thought that we were developing, advancing, conquering, building, and better realizing our ego. But now, the entire world is discovering that it is in exile in relation to the absolute global system. However, the world will not be able to do anything on its own in order to come out of this exile. The G-8 and the G-20 conferences will not be able to help. The world will not be able to unite on its own.

Only that part of the world called “straight towards the Creator” (Yashar El, Israel) will be able to bring it towards this unity. And we need to begin this unity with a clean slate for all of humanity for them to see that there are people among all nations striving towards the Creator.

Look how many groups and individual students there are around the world studying with us. This is because there is an inclusion of Malchut into Bina and Bina into Malchut with both needing to be corrected. So all of us, together, need to bring the world to unity.

Moreover, we need to connect to us the people who were once on the spiritual level and went through the breaking of the common soul during the times of the destruction of the Temple, who are the corporeal people of Israel. The moment these people start connecting to us, the other ten lost tribes of Israel will become revealed and they will also connect to us.

In the end, an enormous force will be revealed, but what matters most is its single, qualitative, inner part, which can create this unity. The whole world needs an explanation for this feeling that they are in exile in relation to the global, common system, and that all the souls must unite.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Holidays - No Comments →

The holiday of Pesach (Passover) is an exodus from our ego. Our ego locks us in a capsule called “this world” and prevents us from seeing the reality outside. In order to break free from this shell we must perform a “circumcision,” by drawing the Light of Hochma from Above. It acts like a sharp knife and removes our great egoistic desires that cannot currently be corrected. We are given the opportunity to rid ourselves of them and to not use them, in essence to become free!

To be a “free people in our own country” (the word “country” comes from the Hebrew word “desire”) means to escape the rule of our desire. When we become free from our desire and can rise above it, we are ready for the exodus from Egypt.

We then exit our evil inclination (Yetzer HaRa) out of Egypt (Mitzraim – Mitz Ra, concentration of evil) and toward freedom. Having been slaves to our desires, we now come out of slavery and become free of them, meaning we refuse to use them egoistically.

Presently we are drowning in our ego, in our desire to receive for ourselves, and immersed in this world, we are subject to waves of all kinds of problems and desires. Suddenly we receive a strong desire to rise above this world, this life, and to feel a spiritual life.

This doesn’t mean we discard all of our corporeal desires; rather, with the help of The Book of Zohar, we receive the strength to rise above our desires and become masters over them. The moment we ascend, we immediately stop feeling trapped within an egoistic capsule with its sensation of this world, and we begin to feel the spiritual world. That is the real meaning of the exodus from Egypt.

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →

The following is an excerpt from Rabash’s article on the holiday of Purim, “Concealment and Revelation”:

“Darkness is the Babylonian exile, which the nation of Israel brought upon itself because the Creator (Zeir Anpin) was asleep. The sinner Haman, who was a great astrologist, cast lots (Pur) to determine fate. Haman and his ten sons are the ten Klipot (impure forces) because he knew that the Creator slept and thus His upper governance did not protect the nation of Israel (those who aspire toward the Creator). Therefore, Haman thought that the time has come to annihilate the nation of Israel.”

Haman is our entire will to enjoy, which stands opposite the entire Light of Hochma. He knows that the Light is about to be revealed. However, he doesn’t know that this can only happen in the middle line, and that later even that will be revoked when the transition to the state of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Alef) takes place. Malchut unites with Zeir Anpin in the middle line and they ascend to Bina, where they attain the state of the End of Correction.

Annihilating the nation of Israel means annihilating the intention of “for the sake of bestowal,” which holds a person back from receiving the Light of Hochma egoistically. Mordechai is the intention of bestowal, but if he acts alone, without the desires of Haman, then it is just bestowal for the sake of bestowal. That means he blocks the Light of Hochma, preventing it from being revealed.

In other words, if a person does not work in the middle line, then even his best actions of bestowal will block his path of development. This is why Mordechai needs a connection with Haman. When they start to argue with each other (an argument between the intention of bestowal and the egoistic desire), they come to understand how they are able or unable to unite.

The intention of bestowal enables the desires of Haman to be used. However, these actual desires will not be fulfilled, and this is why a clash occurs between Haman and Mordechai. This story is talking about how a person can create the right unity between two conflicting forces or two opposite intentions. It is also describing the battles, confusion, and doubts that await us on the path of correction until we find the right method.

This is what “Megillat Ester (The Scroll of Esther)” tells us about.

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →

Every new state is born only under the condition that the former state completely exhausts itself, similar to how a grain planted in the soil needs to rot completely in order for a new stage of life to be born from its former state, which is then perceived as unneeded and useless. This is why it is written about the holiday of Purim that Zeir Anpin sleeps while Malchut becomes immersed in darkness due to this. Only from this state of darkness do we attain the greatest Light, the state called Purim, which corresponds to the End of Correction.

If Zeir Anpin does not bring Light to Malchut, we feel that we are in exile and cannot tune into Malchut and unite. However, suffering and darkenss force us to demand strength from Zeir Anpin to accomplish our unification, in order to tune into Malchut, the one common soul. This is how we give rise to our next degree.

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →

The Pesach (Passover) holiday stands for Pe-sach (skipping or selection) – selecting only those qualities from one’s entire egoism that can be corrected and used for bestowal, for the benefit of others.

When a person becomes convinced that his own nature is the only evil thing in the whole world, that it destroys him and others, he comes to the conclusion that he wants just one thing – to get rid of this evil that’s inside him.

When he tries to do this (by studying Kabbalistic texts which speak only about this, together with a group that strives to rise over the evil), he discovers that he’s unable to rise over his egoism. The recognition that it’s necessary to come out of his egoism, and the realization that he is hopeless and cannot do it on his own, produce an inner outcry to the Creator, to the One who created this. And that’s when the salvation from egoism comes!

So, let this salvation happen to everyone who wants it during this holiday!

Filed under: Holidays - 1 Comment →

A person’s soul consists of two parts, called Galgalta Eynaim and AHP. The holiday of Hanukkah symbolizes the correction of the Galgalta Eynaim, and the holiday of Purim symbolizes the correction of the AHP. This is why there are customs in our world to celebrate these events in a person’s spiritual path.

Related Material:
What is the spiritual root of Hanukkah?
Kabbalistic Holidays

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →

Two questions I received on holidays and religion:

Question: Which Jewish holidays will remain after the Mashiach (Messiah) comes and why?

My Answer: The only holiday that will remain is Purim because it represents the full correction of egoism, when all the differences between people are erased and everyone is equal and merged with the Creator in a complete, perfect and eternal state.

Question: If you really believe that the religions will disappear, then you underestimate their role and necessity in people’s lives.

My Answer: Nothing will happen by force! Nature will lead humanity by suffering and realization to unite and be as one family. Then we will all reveal the Creator and clearly communicate with Him, and religions will be reduced to domestic customs.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion’s Place In Our Lives
Laitman.com Post: The Jewish Holidays Are Steps of Spiritual Ascent and Greater Unity Between the Souls
Laitman.com Post: Religion and Kabbalah Are Opposite

Filed under: Holidays - 2 Comments →

Today is the anniversary of my Teacher’s passing (Yahrtzeit). Rabash was a great Kabbalist, the last in the lineage of the passage of the Knowledge of the Creator, from Adam until our times. This lineage ended with Rabash, Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (1906 – 1991).

We, “Bnei Baruch” (“The Sons of Baruch”), are named after him, and we reveal this knowledge (the method of the souls’ correction) to our generation, the first generation of correction. We are bringing this knowledge to the point of practical use: private and common correction, and are creating a structure for the Kabbalistic society of the future.

Here is a song called “Teacher,” composed by my student from Russia, Igor Irtishky, with lyrics by Dina Baiter.

Filed under: Holidays - 1 Comment →

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year:

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →

A question I received: This New Year what would you wish to the people who rule the world – the presidents?

My Answer: I still remember the times when one person who believed that he knew how to fix Russia and even the entire world, climbed atop an armored car and spoke such nonsense that it still makes people feel sick to this day. But they went ahead and performed their experiment – and attained the usual horrific results. Such experiments still take place in every country of the world to varying degrees, and they always prove inadequate, whether it’s done in Russia or America, the Third Rome or the Third World.

All the world’s rulers are like little boys who pretend to be grown ups. They don’t realize that they live inside nature and are parts of it. They don’t know the laws of the world they live in, and instead invent their own laws. Within this “lawful” world they build their own small “play world,” complete with made up relationships and laws. Obviously, these do not correspond to the natural laws of society.

Notwithstanding, everything in nature has its own place and law. Animals follow the laws of nature blindly and instinctively, and hence they don’t make mistakes. Man, on the other hand, was created free in order to complete himself, and to reveal – within this realm of freedom -  the laws of nature, the Creator. By doing so, man becomes equal to Nature or the Creator.

However, instead of doing this, man is performing experiments on himself! Until the times of Ancient Babylon, man developed on the animate level and his behavior wasn’t so different from nature. But as soon as his egoism began “acting up,” he decided to build a “tower up to the sky” and people started “speaking different tongues” – stopped understanding one another. As soon as this occurred, man was offered the chance to learn about the purpose of his creation – to attain the level of the Creator, as well as the means to attain this goal – the method of Kabbalah.

Just as Kabbalah predicted 4,500 years ago, we are now finding ourselves in the Global Babylon once again. We have to grow up and learn the laws of nature, instead of inventing our own, artificial laws. After all, there are laws of nature for every kind of behavior – including private and social, and ignorance of these laws evokes Nature’s negative reaction, which we perceive as suffering.

One way or another, Nature will compel us to become similar to it. And if we are opposed to this, it will bring us there by force. Hence, today we – each and every one of us – are more than ever in need of revealing and understanding what Kabbalah says.

My wish for the world’s rulers, and for all the people in the world, is to study the laws of nature and of society that Kabbalah explains. Kabbalah speaks only about this, explaining how everything develops – gradually, logically and lawfully.

Our dissemination of Kabbalah around the world is expanding, and is tipping the whole world over with its force, quality, and connection with the Upper Light. Hence I truly wish everyone “SHANA TOVA” (a happy New Year) – and I am optimistic that this will indeed be so!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Another Pointless Conference of the World’s Leaders
Laitman.com Post: Attaining Correction With Less Bloodshed
Laitman.com Post: By Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah, You Correct Your “Self”
Laitman.com Post: Spiritual Labor Pains and the Future of Kabbalah

Filed under: Holidays - 2 Comments →