From Today’s Daily Lesson:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD commentates on an article from Rabash’s Shlavey HaSulam, providing the spiritual definitions to the terms “Israel” and “Nations of the World.”
Video clip taken from the lesson on Rabash’s article #25 from Shlavey HaSulam, Volume 4 (19 September, 2007)
Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)
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A spiritual definition of “Light.” Rav Michael Laitman, PhD explains what is Light in Kabbalah, and how one studying Kabbalah draws the Light for the sake of “reforming” or “correcting” his- or her ego.
Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV
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Rav Michael Laitman, PhD teaching Talmud Eser Sefirot in today’s daily lesson
From Today’s Daily Lesson
Today’s lesson began the first in a series of studying Part 1 of Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), by Baal HaSulam.
In his commentary, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD stressed the importance of understanding the correct definitions of the spiritual terminology in this opening part of the text. One needs to attune one’s focus on Baal HaSulam’s definition of each word one comes across in order to properly attune oneself to the text’s spiritual meaning, otherwise one can easily misinterpret the text with corporeal, physical meanings.
Rav Laitman placed special emphasis on the spiritual world (which Talmud Eser Sefirot describes) being completely disconnected from the corporeal, physical world that we perceive through our senses. Therefore, in order to base one’s approach to the study of Talmud Eser Sefirot correctly, and not mix up spirituality with corporeality, understanding the spiritual definition of each term presented in Talmud Eser Sefirot is a must.
To aid the reader of Talmud Eser Sefirot establish the correct approach to the study and clarify the spiritual meanings of the terms presented in the text, Baal HaSulam included tables of questions and answers for the meanings of the spiritual words at the end of each part. In this lesson, Rav Laitman and the students of Bnei Baruch present a very good example for students interested in delving deeper into the study of Kabbalah, of how to use these tables of questions and answers together with the body of the text to best absorb the text’s spiritual meaning.
The lessons on Talmud Eser Sefirot will be continuing daily at 9pm EST on Kabbalah TV, and will be available in the Kabbalah Media Archive.
Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio
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What is a Spiritual Degree?
Two things make up a spiritual degree: a desire for something and the intention to use it for the Creator. (p. 91 “The Reality Cycle” in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah)
What are the Sefirot?
The whole business with the Sefirot may sound confusing, but it is less so if we remember that they stand for desires. Keter is the Creator’s desire to give Light (pleasure); Hochma is our reception of the pleasure; Bina stands for our desire to give back to the Creator; ZA is our desire to receive in order to give to the Creator; and Malchut is our pure desire to receive, the actual Root of the creatures - us. (p. 89, “Before the Big Bang” in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah)
Bad
There is no bad in Kabbalah; it’s all a question of how we relate to the situations we’re in. Pharaoh is considered an evil force. But Kabbalists inverted the Hebrew letters of the name Pharaoh and found that it really means Oref H (the posterior side of the Creator). In other words, Pharaoh is really the Creator goading you harshly to progress to spirituality because you are not pushing yourself fast enough. If you push faster, you will find that Pharaoh is your friend. (p. 141, “Letters, Numbers, Names” in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah)
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Messiah (Moshiach, Heb.) n.
The messiah is a spiritual force. It is the Light that penetrates self-aimed human desires to correct them so that they become altruistic, that is to say, identical to those of the Creator. In our world all spiritual forces are manifested in material garments.
For example Rabbi Shimon, the Ari and Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) represent a spiritual force radiating the Light of correction. This force appears in our world as a man, a Kabbalist, a professor, a book author. Therefore, the Messiah is a guide who becomes progressively accepted by humanity. Humanity will follow the path pointed by the Messiah because evil and suffering will be felt by all, and there will be no other way out. People stand on a level where they cannot imagine the coming of the Messiah as a Light but only as a human leader. But for Kabbalists, the Messiah is the spiritual force of correction (in the image of the world of AB SAG).
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in “Selected Topics in Kabbalah“
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We are continuing to post responses to the “Misconceptions of Kabbalah” competition…
ENTRY SENT BY JANNET: My encounter with Kabbalah was when I went to the library and out of curiosity borrowed the book entitled “Qabbalah Magic.” It told of what magic you can achieve and things you can acquire by performing all these rituals. However I didn’t finish the book as I felt it wasn’t what I was looking for.
Myth: Kabbalah Is All About Magic
FROM THE BOOK: It is a common mistake for people to think that Kabbalah deals with fortune telling, revelations of the past, and the study of the present. The definition of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to people in this world today, not after death. Perhaps some draw this parallel as a result of the perception of secrecy that surrounds Kabbalah.
Either way, Kabbalah has no connection to magic. In fact, Kabbalah forbids fortune telling or any attempt to find out about the destiny of the physical body. The body is temporary, negligible, and, thus, insignificant. It is not worthy of attention beyond the question of how it serves the soul.
pp. 55/6 in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD and Collin Canright.
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This World (Olam HaZeh, Heb.) n.
1. The sum total of sensations that a person receives through the five senses.
Source: The Perception of the World
2. The lowest level of entirely egoistic desire.
Source: The Perception of the World
3. The feeling of extreme remoteness from the original cause, of absolute inability of even minimal contact with it, while realizing its existence and longing to reveal it entirely.
Source: The Language of Kabbalah: Fundamentals of Terminology
4. Where the “desire to receive” reaches its final development and receives completely separated from the light.
Source: Pticha—Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, item 2
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The origin of the name “Babel” is the word Balal (Hebrew: confused, mixed), named after the confusion of the tongues (Genesis 11:9): “Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
Click here to view this definition in Kabbalah Today issue 4
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From Today’s Daily Lesson:
Student: It’s unclear how the Partzufim of BYA receive the Light of Hochma. Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain it.
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If we could turn this outbreak of desires into an outbreak of desires for spirituality, then these desires would be the best thing that ever happened to humanity. Since we are currently not doing it, they are the worst thing that ever happened to us.
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“Envy, lust, and honor bring a man out of the world” (Mishnah, Avot 4:21), Kabbalah explains that this declaration made by the Mishnah sages isn’t meant in a bad way. On the contrary, it means that if you know how to work with these desires, they will elevate you beyond your present reality, your present world, and let you into the spiritual world.
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