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Shoftim (Judges) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Deuteronomy, 16:18-21:9
 This Week’s Torah Portion | August 24 – August 30, 2014 – Av 28 – Elul 4, 5774

In A Nutshell

The portion, Shoftim (Judges), continues to explain the Mitzvot (commandments) connected to the entrance to the land of Israel. The portion begins with appointing Judges to make the laws and officers to enforce them, so there will be true justice in Israel.

The portion describes the laws of the king, who must be chosen from among the people. The portion also deals with the prohibition to engage in witchcraft and turns the people to the true prophets. Finally, the portion teaches the people how they should conduct themselves in a time of war.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

The Torah was given to every person, for one to correct oneself, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Every person, whether or not one demands social justice, should first discover that one is filled with the evil inclination. We must discover that we are completely egotistical in order to perform our correction. Put differently, we need to discover that we are living as criminals.

During the High Holidays we say [1], “We are at fault; we have betrayed.” It is written about these words, “Keep far from a false word” (Exodus 23:7). We need to discover that it is we who have committed those transgressions. If we think what is written is overstated and is not a true depiction of who we are, it is a sign that we have not yet come to know who we truly are, and that we still need to discover the entirety of our evil inclination. This is when the Torah comes to us, because “the light in it reforms them.” That is, the Torah instructs us on how to elicit from it the light that will reform us, so we may achieve the love and bonding with others.

There is much work for us to do: We walk in the darkness, in the desert, in cries, in scrutinies, in raising MAN, in various transgressions, such as with the spies, and the waters of quarreling, until we reach the boundaries of the land of Israel. We correct ourselves until we can use our desires in order to bestow.

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Introducing the Greatest Spiritual Teachers of the 20th Century and Beyond

Who Was Baal HaSulam?

Since Abraham and Moses there have been many brilliant Kabbalists through the generations, writing some of the fundamental books of Kabbalah, The Zohar and the Ari’s writings being the most important among them.

However, in the end, neither The Zohar nor the writings of the Ari were intended for a systematic study of the Kabbalah. Although the Kabbalah is indeed a science, before the 20th century there never was a true textbook. It is only in our days that a comprehensive and concise method suitable for all souls of this world was established. To fill in the gaps, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, the great Kabbalist who was born in Warsaw in 1885 and lived in Jerusalem from 1922 until his death in 1954, wrote a commentary on the Zohar and the texts of the Ari. Rabbi Ashlag, called Baal HaSulam (Master of the Ladder), evolved while writing the commentaries and published his principal work, The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Talmud Eser Sefirot), considered the predominant Kabbalah study book of our time.

This textbook consists of six volumes, containing more than two thousand pages. It includes everything that Kabbalists have written since the dawn of time: the writings of the first man, Abraham the Patriarch, Moses, Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, and the Holy Ari. This book displays Kabbalah in a concise manner, fit for study. Thus, we have with us today everything needed to learn how creation was made, how it comes down to us, and how we can influence it from below, all the way to the highest world, to have the future we’d like to have.

 

Why Kabbalah Is Completely Opposite to Other Spiritual Teachings

Today The Zohar is incomprehensible without the Sulam commentary. Yet, the method of Baal HaSulam is often misunderstood. To those who have not achieved spiritual fulfillment, the book may be perceived as dry, schematic, and unemotional. It can read like an instruction manual rather than something that moves our heart. But this perception stems from a lack of understanding.

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Who Is Kabbalah For? Why Is Kabbalah Gaining Widespread Popularity Today?

In our times, many people from around the world have developed an interest in the question, “What is the meaning of life?” and this is why the science of Kabbalah is gaining widespread popularity. As this earthly existence seems all the more dissatisfying and limiting, more and more people seek to associate themselves with something beyond this world.

Thus, today people are ready for the science of Kabbalah. It welcomes all those who truly seek to discover the meaning of life, the source of our existence, and offers a practical method of attaining it.

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What Does Kabbalah Study?

New to Kabbalah? 

Since the wisdom of Kabbalah is fundamentally different to all other teachings and contains different definitions of terms and concepts that we are raised to associate differently to how they’re presented in the wisdom of Kabbalah, we highly recommend signing up for the Free Kabbalah Course, which provides a detailed introduction to the wisdom, in order to best provide a person with an introduction to the wisdom’s basic concepts and fundamental principles, and through which you can decide whether you would like to continue the free studies in order to attain the goal of the wisdom. Click the banner below to go to the sign up page:

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