Question: Martin from Czechoslovakia is writing, “I don’t understand why someone would want to reach such a state. Why would I want to nullify myself before someone I don’t know, and who sends me suffering?” He adds another sentence, “If I’m a thief, then at least I can be proud of that, but who wants to be a slave?”

Answer by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: I agree with him. I have no problem in saying that he’s right. “A person’s pride will humiliate him.” The matter is in defining what is it to be a “slave,” what is it to be a “man,” what is it to be a “woman,” what is it to be a “thief,” etc. It’s a matter of definition.

“Slave” means knowing that the will to receive now controls me. That it controls, and not that I’m the landlord. I firstly differentiate myself from my ego, and see that this ego controls me. I want to see like this or like that, and my nature comes and makes of me whatever it wants. I see how this occurs in humanity: We want to try, to be in something different, but we’re incapable. Our nature conquers us and makes of us everything.

So I’m a slave to my nature, right? A slave. So he can already stop thinking that he’s a man, and that he’s free. He’s not free, but he’s blind to that. He doesn’t see how he’s completely addicted to his nature, and that he’s a beast carrying out commands. That’s one thing.

The other thing is that if he were to know that this slavery he’s currently in ruins him and eats away at him, then that would end his life without any compensation. If he’d look at it properly, then he’d understand that there might be another state, that it’s possible to exit it. It doesn’t matter what state he’d enter into, but the main thing is that he’d exit his current state. Why wouldn’t it matter what state he’d enter into? We hate the state of bestowal a lot, but I need to hate my current state more than the state of bestowal, so how do I do it?

So he’s right. I don’t know who the second landlord is. I only have the opportunity to sell myself to this second one, and thus I’d disconnect from the first. So I need to choose between them – that’s my choice. If by doing so, I don’t feel myself as turning into a slave of the second essence, of bestowal, then it’s not a decision.

Decision – I’m free in that I can choose between the two. Suddenly one identifies oneself within a very small range, a decision of whom to belong to, and thus begins his work. It’s a very internal, psychological thing that a person goes through, and he begins understanding that he’s sold to one or to the other. He begins building himself in that. There are many things here. That’s already the middle line.

Taken from today’s daily lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s 18th Igeret (Letter) from 1926.

Today’s Daily Lesson Featured:

• Preparation on a quote by Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag)
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• Baal HaSulam’s 18th letter from 1926
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• Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 4, Part 12, Page 1201, Item 194
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• Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”
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…with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, as well as questions by students of Bnei Baruch and live viewers on Kabbalah TV.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 8:10pm until 11pm EST, Saturdays through Thursdays, on Kabbalah TV, and will be available for free download in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

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Machsom (Hebrew for “barrier”) is the barrier that stands between this world and the spiritual world. Here’s what Rav Michael Laitman wrote about the Machsom in this must read post…

A question I received: You’ve been the leader and mentor of the Bnei Baruch group for nearly twenty years. Maybe it’s time to make a public summary? How many people have crossed the Machsom over this period of time, and how has the world changed as a consequence? Or is this no longer the objective today? Are you now simply trying to change the world without your students’ personal correction?

I understand that this question will be deleted, but at least someone will read it. But if you do decide to publish an answer, then please don’t beat around the bush: give us real numbers and results, and the actual improvement in the world.

My Answer:

* Number of students in the world – around 2,000,000.
* Number of groups in the world – 73.
* Number of people who have crossed the Machsom – 19.
* Number of people who are about to cross the Machsom – 210. The rest will cross it by the year 2012.
* Annual growth of students – 700-900%.
* Number of hopeless students – 1. It’s you.

Related Materials:
*Register for Free Online Kabbalah Courses
*Your First Course in Kabbalah

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In this Kabbalah Today issue you will find articles on the current economic crisis and the upcoming U.S. elections.
Also, just in time to close the period of submissions to Project 10^100 by Google an article on Google’s apparent success in the last couple of years.

To view previous issues of Kabbalah Today visit the KabbalahToday website

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1. Desires of a spiritual nature that want to rejoice selfishly in the Creator.
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in the article “Selected Topics in Kabbalah.”

2. Uncorrected desires. Impure desires. Low, animal lusts.
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in the interview “Heaven and Hell.”

3. Shinui Tzura (difference of form) separates and departs spirituals (see the definition for What is Separation?). Know that this Hofchiut Tzura (opposition of form) from one end to the other separates and drives them to the opposite ends until there isn’t any suction between them.

You already know that there is only a will to bestow in the Ohr Elyon (Upper Light), and not to receive even a bit. The Klipot are of completely opposite Tzura (form), meaning want only to receive and swallow everything; they haven’t any will to bestow whatsoever. For that reason they are separated from the Life of Lives and are therefore called “Dead” and so is anything that cleaves to them.

Baal HaSulam, in Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3: Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words.

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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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Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV

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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.

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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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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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