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

Genesis, 23:1-25:18
This Week’s Torah Portion | November 9 – November 15, 2014 – Cheshvan 16 – Cheshvan 22, 5774, 5775

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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How to View Reality through Spiritual Lenses

Blind and in the Dark

As a person begins to transition from an animal-like existence, concerned only with survival, to the level called “human” or “speaking” in the wisdom of Kabbalah, deep existential questions and feelings of despair often well up.  We begin to see such attainments as food, sex, family, money, honor, and power as shallow and unsatisfying, and begin to identify with an inner longing for something more.

Questions that define the human being: the Eternal Question, “Why?”

  • Who am I?
  • Why do I exist?
  • Where did we come from? Where are we going? And what is our purpose here?
  • Have we been in this world before?
  • Why is there suffering in this world and can we avoid it?
  • How can we attain peace, fulfillment, and happiness?

From generation to generation, people try to find answers to these painfully insistent questions. The fact that they continue from generation to generation indicates that we still have not received satisfactory answers to them.

Why the Nearsighted Don’t See the Stars

While studying nature and the universe, we discover that all that surrounds us exists and functions according to precise and purposeful laws. Yet, when we examine ourselves, the zenith of Creation, we find that humanity seemingly exists outside of this system of rational laws.

For example, when we observe how wisely nature created our bodies and how precisely and purposefully every cell in our bodies functions, we are unable to answer the question: “Why does the entire organism exist?”

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How to Avoid Pitting Yourself Against the Indestructible Law

Nature Is Interconnected, Indivisible and Indestructible from Within

Nature’s actions are interconnected; hence, by violating one of its laws, we upset the balance of the entire system. It does not matter whether we speak of nature as a heartless, purposeless guide or as a Creator with a plan, a goal, and wisdom. We exist in a world of certain laws, and by violating them we are punished with the corrupted environment, society, and our corrupted selves.

 

Why Serving Your Ego Is Like Shooting Yourself in the Foot, or Worse

Since nature’s laws are interconnected, breaking one of them may cause us to suffer an unexpected, harsh blow from a different direction. It is incomprehensible why nature is so gentle in the mother’s womb and during early childhood, and so ruthless in adulthood, when we seemingly need its help even more. Could it be that our lack of love is at the root of nature’s cruelty toward us?

 

You Cannot Break the Law; You Can Only Break Yourself Against It

Nature, or the Creator (which are the same, i.e. the quality of love and bestowal), influences us through certain laws, which we are obliged to regard as objective and compulsory, and thus follow them. We must understand nature’s laws, i.e. the laws of love and bestowal, because failing to follow them is the cause of all our sufferings. The essence of the Creator’s law lies in love. The law of love requires the maximum attention and compassion for all members of society, the same as one would want for oneself.

 

Warning: Nature Easily Snaps a Single Twig

It is common knowledge that humans are social beings. We cannot survive without the assistance of others in the society. Thus, one who suddenly decides to isolate oneself from society will be subject to a life of suffering because that person will be unable to provide for his or her needs. Similarly, in the case of excessive reception (such as stealing), society’s penalty quickly follows.

 

Why It Is a Stretch to Think You Can Break Away

Nature obliges us to live among others like us, and by communicating with them, carry out two operations: to receive everything needed from society, and to give the society the product of our labors. Violating either rule upsets the balance in society and therefore deserves society’s punishment.  However, should a person refuse to serve society, punishment, as a rule, does not follow at all, is delayed, or is not directly related to the transgression. This is why the condition that obliges one to provide a service to society is usually ignored.

 

Beware the Snap-Back Effect

Nature, however, acts as an unbiased judge and punishes humanity according to its development. The gravity of the situation is that humanity does not yet imagine the calamities that lie ahead of it. The goal has been set and the laws of the universe are invariable. Personal everyday sufferings and periodic global catastrophes are making every one of us acknowledge the need to observe the Creator’s law – to annul egoism and envy and instead develop compassion, mutual aid, and love.

 

Be Like Clay in the Potter’s Hand to Enjoy Your Massage

The only difference lies in the path: a person who willingly and consciously advances towards the goal of living in harmony with the law of love gains twofold.  Such a person gains by saving time on the journey toward unification with the Creator.  In addition to that, such a person enjoys experiencing the delight of merging with the Creator along the way, instead of traveling through suffering.

“How to Avoid Pitting Yourself Against the Indestructible Law” is based on the book, Basic Concepts in Kabbalah: Expanding Your Inner Vision by Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Image: Variation of "Color Cave in the Sea of Synesthesia" by garlandcannon.
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The Proven Method for Intensifying Your Pleasure 1,000+ Times

For Your Every Desire, a Pleasure!

Kabbalists assert that the purpose of Creation is to bring joy and pleasure to the created beings. The will to enjoy (the vessel or the soul) receives pleasure according to the intensity of its desire.

This is why all that was created in all the worlds is merely a changing desire to receive pleasure, and the Creator satisfies this desire. This will to receive pleasure is the substance of Creation, both spiritual and corporeal, including that which already exists and that which will manifest in the future.

 

Worlds of Many-Splendored Desires

Matter in its diverse manifestations (minerals, plants, human beings, colors, sounds, etc.) is simply differing amounts of the will to receive pleasure. The Light emanated by the Creator vitalizes and fulfills such matter. Originally, both the desire to enjoy – called a “vessel” – and the desire to bring enjoyment – called the “Light” – corresponded with each other in magnitude. That is, the vessel (the will to enjoy) received maximum pleasure.

 

The Case of the Disappearing Desire and What Went With It

However, as the desire diminished. Both the vessel and the Light that filled it gradually contracted and kept moving away from the Creator. Until finally, they reached the lowest level, where the will to enjoy took on a materialized form. The only difference between the Upper World and ours lies in the fact that in our world the vessel (the will to receive pleasure) exists at its lowest level, called the “material body.”

 

Kabbalists to the Rescue – Charting the Evidence

Before its final materialization in our world, the vessel evolved through four stages and divided into ten levels called Sefirot (the Sefirot are named: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod and Malchut. These Sefirot constitute filters inhibiting the Light that the Creator directs to the created beings. The task of these filters is to weaken the Light (pleasure) to such an extent that the creatures existing in our world will be able to perceive it.

The Sefira (singular for Sefirot) named Keter is also called “the world Adam Kadmon”; Sefirat Hochma is called “the world Atzilut”; Sefirat Bina, “the world Beria”; Sefirat Hesed through Yesod, “the world Yetzira”; and Sefirat Malchut, “the world Assiya.”

 

Kabbalah calls the level of our world “Olam ha Zeh” (which literally means, “this world”). It is perceived by those who exist in it, and the vessel, or the will to enjoy, is called “the body.” The Light, called “pleasure,” is perceived as the force of life.

 

Retracing the Steps… We Discover Delight

Although the Light that fills the body is reduced so that we do not feel its source, by observing certain Creator-given rules described in Kabbalah, we purify ourselves from egoism and gradually ascend through all the worlds back to the Source. As we attain higher spiritual levels, we receive larger portions of Light until we reach levels where we can receive all the Light (absolute, infinite delight) that was destined for us from the dawn of Creation.

 

The Amazing Power That Can Raise Us through Worlds

Every soul is surrounded by spiritual Light. Although beginners in Kabbalah may not understand what they are studying in the authentic sources, their powerful desire to understand evokes the Upper Force that surrounds them, and the effects of this Upper Force purify and thus elevate them.

 

How to Take Micro-Doses of the Potion That Can Expand Your Desire

If not in this life, then in the next, every person will feel the need to study Kabbalah and to receive knowledge about the Creator. The Light surrounds the human soul from the outside until one reaches a spiritual level where the Light begins to permeate it. The reception of the Light within depends only on one’s desire and readiness, and on the purity of one’s soul.

When one studies authentic Kabbalah, one utters the names of the Sefirot, the worlds, and the spiritual actions that are connected to one’s soul. Thus, the soul receives micro-doses of Light from the outside, a light that gradually purifies the soul and prepares it to receive spiritual energy and delight.

“The Proven Method for Intensifying Your Pleasure 1,000+ Times” is based on the book, Basic Concepts in Kabbalah: Expanding Your Inner Vision by Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Now You Can Master the Forces that Control Matter

Every Material Object Has a Spiritual Force that Controls It

When a Kabbalist has risen to the spiritual level of the studied object, he or she acquires its qualities and thereby has full insight. This person can practically operate various forms of matter, even before they manifest in matter, as if observing our illusions from aside!

Just as with any other teaching, Kabbalah uses certain terminology and symbols to describe objects and actions: a spiritual force, a world, or a Sefira is called by the name of the worldly object it controls. Since every material object or force corresponds to the spiritual object or force that controls it, an utterly precise conformity is created between the name taken from the corporeal world and its spiritual root, its source.

 

To Master the Universe, Connect Spiritual Forces with Material Objects

Therefore, only a Kabbalist, who clearly knows the correspondence between spiritual forces and material objects, can assign names to spiritual objects. Only one who has attained the spiritual level of an object can see the consequence of its influence in our world.

 

How Spiritual Messages are Formatted for Our World

Kabbalists write books and pass their knowledge to others using the “language of the branches.” This language is exceptionally accurate because it is based on the connection between the spiritual root and the corporeal branch. It cannot be altered due to the invariable connection between an object and its spiritual root.  (In contrast), our earthly language is gradually losing its accuracy because it is connected only to the branch and not to the root.

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