Kabbalah Blog - Part 106

November 26, 2016October 26, 2018

Toldot (These Are the Generations) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Genesis, 25:19-28:9
This Week’s Torah Portion | November 27 – December 3, 2016 – 26 Cheshvan – 3 Kislev, 5777

In A Nutshell

The portion, Toldot (These Are the Generations), begins with the wedding of Isaac and Rebecca. After twenty years of infertility, Rebecca conceives and the Creator tells her she will have two sons. The first was Esau, and the second, which was holding unto his brother’s heel, was Jacob. Esau became a hunter, and Jacob studied Torah.

The first confrontation between the twins was over the selling of the birthright. Esau returned empty handed from a hunt, and Jacob offered him lentil stew in return for the birthright. Esau agreed. After some time Esau discovered that Jacob deceived him.

Later in the portion, Isaac digs two wells, both of which are taken by the Philistines. A third well remains in Jacob’s hands, and he calls it Rehovot. Finally, Avimelech and Isaac make a covenant between them.

The second confrontation between the twins happens when their father wished to bless them. Isaac wanted to bless Esau, his firstborn, and Rebecca asked Jacob to dress as Esau in order to receive the blessing of the firstborn. When Esau discovered that Jacob received his blessing, he wanted to kill him, so Rebecca sent Jacob to Haran, to her brother, Lavan.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

The drama before us is in fact the process of man’s spiritual development. The story deals with man’s most fundamental forces, although it can be, and has been, turned into a novel.

The Creator created the will to receive. That desire is the entirety of the substance of creation. It is possible to use the will to receive for one’s own favor, or in favor of others. In fact, the whole of creation is prone to using the desire in favor of others, as it is written, “love your neighbor as yourself; it is a great rule in the Torah.” ^[1] This is the law of the whole of reality, the whole of Nature.

On the one hand we must use the will to receive and satisfy it however we can. On the other hand, the act of satisfying, in which we draw everything to ourselves, must be for the benefit of others. This seems contradictory. Using the ego, the will to receive, must be solely in a direction that is good for everyone. We cannot understand that contradiction, which is why we cannot understand the Torah, making its meaning hidden from us.

The portion seemingly explains it by saying that although Abraham loved Ishmael, he sent him away. Isaac, who loved Esau—the will to receive, all the substance of creation—acted similarly, though Esau is our entire nature, which we need and use in everything we do in life.

Continue reading “Toldot (These Are the Generations) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion”

November 23, 2016November 23, 2016

Why You Are in Reality Inside-Out

Everything that is solid, spatial & global only seems to exist, but in truth, these are just our own sensations.

When we see a wide world before us, we don’t see it in reality, but only within ourselves. In other words, there is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain, which portrays everything that appears to us and nothing outside of us. – Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” Item 34

November 20, 2016November 21, 2016

How to Clearly See Your Internal Landscape

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.

November 19, 2016October 16, 2017

Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

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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November 16, 2016November 20, 2016

Why Nature Can’t Break You If You Know the Goal

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.”