Philosophy has placed a lot of effort into proving that the corporeal is produced by the spiritual, that the soul begets the body. This is, of course, nothing more than philosophy’s invention.

The spiritual has nothing to do with the corporeal; there is no connection between them whatsoever. [Tweet This]

It’s necessary to separate the two worlds. However, they aren’t separate in and of themselves, but only relative the person who attains them. Outside a person, there is only the general Light. Once a person attains the Upper World, through it he sees our world, and he is no longer confused about the origin of everything that happens and about the connections between all parts of the world.

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We see a wide world before us, wondrously filled. But in fact, we see all that only in our own interior. [Tweet This]

We actually see and feel everything within ourselves, and there’s nothing on the outside. Take our sense of sight for example: we see a great world before us. But in fact, we do not see all that except in our own interior. Hence, a person may have no eyes, but still be able to see. So why do we need eyes? In order to have the illusion that there is something in front of us!

Uniting in a time of crisis will require recognizing life’s force & a mutual effort to cooperate and collaborate, to live by this force. [Tweet This]

Humankind’s problem is to balance each person’s excessive desires with nature, to become an integral part of it and act as a single organism. Put differently, humankind’s task is to become altruistic. The world’s perfection lies in the unity of its elements; it is accomplished only through co-existence of all parts of nature, and while each part works to sustain the entire system.

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Leviticus, 6:1-8:36

This Week’s Torah Portion | April 02 – April 08, 2017 – 6 Nissan- 5 Nissan, 5777

In A Nutshell

The portion, Tzav (Command), deals with rules of sacrificing, especially those related to priests. The portion mentions the commandment to donate the fertilizer, the gift offering, sin offering, guilt offering, peace offering, and the prohibition to eat animal fat.

Tzav also mentions punishments for those who eat non-kosher meat, as it is written, “The soul that eats from it shall bear iniquity (Leviticus, 7:18). One who eats fat from the offerings, “The soul that eats shall be cut off from its people” (Leviticus, 7:25), and one who eats the offerings’ blood, “That soul shall be cut off from its people” (Leviticus, 7:20).

Subsequently, the portion deals with the seven days of filling, and the inauguration of the tabernacle. The Creator commands Moses to assemble Aaron and his sons the priests, and the whole congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. Moses washes Aaron and his sons and dresses them with the clothes of priesthood. Moses puts the anointing oil over the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctifies Aaron and his sons, showing the priests—following the Creator’s command—what to do with the various organs of the offerings.

 Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

The Korban (offering/sacrifice, from the word, Karov [near]) is the way to draw near the Creator. There is nothing but the offerings. Today we are in the worst state. There is nothing worse than this world and our current state. We must come out of that state and advance toward the Boreh (Creator), from the words Bo Re’eh (come and see). We will discover the Creator according to the changes and corrections in us because the upper force, namely the upper light, is in complete rest, and all the changes occur in us, as it is written, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi, 3:6).

Nearing the Creator depends on our qualities. Therefore, we must all change ourselves and correct all the negative and egoistic desires in us, according to the order the Torah narrates. The word Torah comes from the word Horaa (instruction) how to correct our egoistic desires, turn them into aiming toward bestowal and love, and shift from unfounded hatred to absolute love.

The bad global crisis is happening due to unfounded hatred among everyone. There is abundance in the world, but we cannot share it among us. We cannot establish social justice, connection, unity, and arrange ourselves and our lives better because of our characters, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis, 8:21). To correct the heart, which symbolizes our 613 egoistic, corrupted desires, we need the Torah.

The Torah is the “light that reforms.”^[1] One who treats the Torah properly discovers one’s wickedness, as it is written, “The world was created only for the complete wicked or the complete righteous.”^[2] That is, we must discover that we are completely wicked, created with an evil inclination. Then, “I have created for it the Torah as a spice”^[3] because “the light in it reforms them.”^[4] Then we come to a state of complete righteous. This is how we must see it.

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