The world is a result, a function of our inner states.

We exist in the material world which becomes more and more corrupt. We’re the ones who are making it this way because the world is a copy or a reflection of our inner state. Through the wisdom of Kabbalah, we know the purpose of our existence, our goal, predestination, and why we’ve been given the method for correction. We know the path we are on, and the reason it’s so difficult. We know the causes and effects of what’s happening in reality.

Genesis, 23:1-25:18
This Week’s Torah Portion | 28 Oct – 3 Nov, 2018 – 19 Cheshvan – 25 Cheshvan, 5779

In A Nutshell

In the portion, The Life of Sarah, Abraham gives a eulogy after Sarah’s death at the age of 127. He buys a lot for the grave from Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels of silver and buries her in the Cave of Machpelah, in Hebron.

Abraham objects to Isaac marrying a woman from the Canaanites, and sends Eliezer, his servant, to Aram Naharaim to find a wife for his son. When Eliezer approaches a well, he meets Rebecca and asks her to give him water. She gives him water, and offers water to his camels, as well. Eliezer takes her offer as a sign that she is the right woman for Isaac, and so he brings her to Canaan.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham marries Keturah, who bears six children, which Abraham sends eastward. Abraham died at the age of 175, and inherits all that he has to Isaac.

The end of the portion elaborates on the generations of Ishmael and on his passing at the age of 175.

 Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

We need to remember that the Torah speaks of what happens within, as one reveals one’s soul, the innermost part. The revelation of the soul is gradual, and manifests in the stories of the Torah. Abraham is the initial force with which a person reveals the soul and opens the internality to discover the upper world. He is the first force of overcoming, the force of bestowal, along with that force’s female, Sarah, which is suitable for the degree of Abraham.

To know with which desires we can work and with which we cannot, we must sort out our self-centered desires, leaving the degrees with which we still cannot work for the next degrees, for states where the desire is stronger. To scrutinize the desire called Isaac, we must first remove the desire with which we cannot work, and sort it with another female, with Hagar, from whom comes Ishmael, the Klipa (shell/peel) of the right.

The Isaac degree within us emerges only afterward, and is an extension of the Abraham degree. It is written about Isaac, “For in Isaac will your seed be named” (Genesis, 21:12), meaning that Abraham’s rise to a higher degree is named Isaac. At the Isaac degree, one should reexamine one’s desires, and sort out with which desires it is possible to work, and with which it is impossible.

A person cannot scrutinize alone, as that person (Abraham) comes from only one force, one side, from the force of Hesed (mercy). Abraham is still without Gevura, and must first acquire the degree of Isaac, which is the foundation of Gevura. This is the point where the force of Eliezer comes to the aid. Eliezer is like the upper light—scrutinizing the desires for a person, bringing one to the degree where one can sort the next stage of correction out of all of one’s desires. That stage is called Rebecca.

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The end result of an action is already contained in the initial thought.

We are talking about a law and there is nothing one can do against a law. Indeed, we are part of nature, which is the Creator. We find that there are only two rules to follow in society. These can be called reception and bestowal. This means that each member must, by nature, receive his needs from society and must benefit society. Understand that there is no point resisting nature, “the end of the act is in the initial thought.”

Sometimes a great opportunity presents itself. Here’s one for you! This is your chance to follow in the footsteps of wise and learned people on a well-established, scientifically proven path, guaranteed to lead you to a better life.

The path I’m talking about might be called the road less traveled or the path of wisdom, Kabbalah. This is a very direct path for changing your luck and your life for the better. It was definitely my lucky day when I started on the path three years ago, and I can assure you, I have never looked back.

Many friends traveling this path are much like you and me. Simple, everyday people who’ve begun to wake up and ask questions. The rush for success has somehow lost its lure, and now we see that even acquiring more love, or more money, or more power doesn’t really fill that sense of emptiness. Nor does finding a different job or a different partner.

The rat race, the drive for money, sex, power, and control; none of these are that important anymore. Instead, we are asking those nagging questions that awakening people have been asking themselves for centuries. What am I doing here?  What is the meaning of my life?

Science tells us that just as nature holds a DNA plan for our physical bodies, a plan for our spiritual development is also embedded within us, making spiritual growth a natural part of our human evolution. Yes, there is a special spiritual gene in each of us. It is called our Reshimo (reminiscence) or “the point in the heart.”

Each person has a Reshimo, and like all our DNA it becomes operational as soon as we are born. Unfolding in the background of our lives, our Reshimo silently dictates our attributes, our character traits, our likes and our dislikes, moving us slowly forward to fulfill our destiny, urging us onward and upward towards the higher consciousness of spirituality.

When I discovered this scientifically based information I started to understand myself much better. In addition, I began to understand the importance of connecting with others on the path, which serves to hasten our progress along the way. I’ve noticed that some travelers progress more rapidly or more slowly than others, but regardless of age, experience, or time of life, our own Reshimo is alive and unfolding within each of us, urging us on and silently pointing the way.

I am personally inviting you to come this way, to join me and other friends on this path, to learn and to grow together, each one helping the other along the way.

One of our most revered teachers, the great Kabbalist of the 20th century, Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), compared what’s ahead for us in spirituality to emergence from one world to another, from the corporeal to the spiritual, while remaining in a living body here on earth.

As Baal HaSulam explains, a student’s progress can be likened to the quest of a worm who has been born inside a radish. The worm lives in the radish so he knows nothing else. He thinks the whole world is dark and bitter. But, if the worm makes effort, and he begins to move, to seek, and to grow, when he finally breaks through the radish shell and peeps outside, he claims in bewilderment: “I thought the whole world was the radish I was born in, and now I see a grand, beautiful, and wondrous world before me!”

Indeed, there is wondrous wisdom to be learned and much more to reality than we presently know. I invite you to learn more.

By Wendy Barker

I don’t remember being a baby and playing games with my mother, but I can imagine it. Her face and the sound of her voice were part of me, and then, suddenly, her face disappeared and she was quiet. I was scared. Then her laughing voice—peek-a-boo!—and her face again. The turmoil in my tummy calmed down and after many such games, it was replaced with the certainty that she would always be there.

I grew up in a neighborhood with kids bulging out of every house. In the evenings during warm weather we played in the street, usually hide and seek or kick the can. Finding the most concealed place to hide was the challenge. The reward was when I couldn’t be found or those times when I was “it,” and I could find everyone. Whether hiding or seeking, I was in charge, thinking through my strategy, acting on it.

Adolescence hit me like a ton of bricks. My parochial high school environment became rigid and demanded absolute compliance. The ego in me rebelled and I experienced some harsh consequences. I was led to believe that “disobedience” would result in the Creator abandoning me until I again became a good girl. I prayed to Him, but I couldn’t find Him. So I abandoned Him. What had happened to that loving God I had been taught about?

Higher education took me through a winding path toward what I then held as my life goal: becoming a practicing professional. But I was very unsettled. Life went on, feeling humdrum and without purpose. I no longer had a goal toward which to yearn. Out of habit, when life dealt me hard blows, I prayed to this God I had rejected, but He was still absent.

So I went in search of Him. I hunted Him in various religions, teachings, gurus, books, seminars. I was “it,” but He remained well-hidden. I caught glimpses of Him during this time, but He would again quickly disappear. This was no longer  hide-and-seek or kick-the-can. It was a serious game and I didn’t know the rules.

It turns out though that the Creator was there all the time, preparing me. Who knew that peek-a-boo, hide and seek, testing boundaries, experiencing the consequences and learning to play well with others would be preparation for the rest of my life?

Because… BAM! Seemingly out of nowhere Kabbalah entered my life. Just like that. Freely given, immediately elating, then confusing, often exasperating, always intriguing, and forever inside me. And I started all over.

The Creator hid so I would have to seek. He taught me that Nature is a magnificent system of cause and effect. He lured me with the promises of the ancient wisdom, into yearning for an exalted goal. And then He gave me the environment and the other points in the heart so I could practice what I was learning and continually deal with His annoying disappearing acts.

And not only that, he made finding Him hard. He’s good at finding hiding places and just when I think I’ve found him, Hhe evaporates again. I begin to feel Him though, and because it’s such a sublime feeling, I continue to seek. And that, my friends, is the real game.

That ego that had battered me for decades? I found out that this wily Creator gave it to me so that I could tame it and then use it for my journey back toward Him.

And best of all, He prepared me by putting me exactly where I’ve needed to be in this magnificent universe so I could learn the skills and develop the qualities I need so that I can finally find Him. He sure knows how to play the game, that Creator, and He continually invents more challenges, sort of like in a video game. And most important of all, He gave me friends on the path, all of them having been prepared, uniquely for each one, by Him, as was I.

The great sage Rav Yehudah Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, tells us: “The Creator truly resides within the heart of every person of Israel, and that is from His side. Hence, what does one lack? Only to know that. And the knowledge changes, and the knowing completes.“

By Mary Miesem