Kabbalah Blog - Part 221

July 5, 2014May 28, 2014

Pinhas Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Numbers, 25:10-30:1
This Week’s Torah Portion | July 6 – July 12, 2014 – Tammuz 8 – Tammuz 14, 5774

In A Nutshell

In the beginning of the portion the Creator thanks Pinhas for stopping the plague and gives him a “covenant of peace,” and a “covenant of an everlasting priesthood” to him and to his descendants. All the while, the children of Israel are preparing to fight the Midianties.

Following the instructions of the Creator, Moses divides the land into lots, following censuses held in the people by tribes and by families. At the conclusion of the censuses, the daughters of Zelophehad, from the tribe of Menashe, complain to Moses that their father died and as women, they did not receive their lot. Moses looks into the matter and the Creator rules that to do justice, the daughters of Zelophehad will be given a lot in the land, which will be named after their father.

The Creator commands Moses to climb up the Mountain of Avarim to see the land of Israel, which he will not enter, and to appoint Joshua, son of Nun, as his successor.

At the end of the portion there is a detailed description of the offerings that needed to be sacrificed each day and on different occasions during the year.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

According to The Book of Zohar, the portion, Pinhas, is profound and evokes many questions. The story tells of people such as Pinhas, who are seemingly greater than Moses. The Creator blesses and praises him that he is as great as Joshua, that he is replacing Moses, who is climbing down from center stage. There is also the issue of women’s rights, some of whom can be as the men, receiving a lot.

As we know, the Torah does not speak of corporeal events or physical bodies, but of souls. The souls are what is important, the eternal part in each of us. This is why we need to understand that the text describes the “human within us,” which must experience all the portions of the Torah along the spiritual development.

This portion speaks of a very special point that awakens in us, a special desire called Pinhas. Continue reading “Pinhas Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion”

July 5, 2014June 24, 2014

How to Become Together as ONE When We Come from an Individualistic World

Question: How should we come to the ONE Convention and be in this whole atmosphere of togetherness when we come from a world of individualism?

Dr. Michael Laitman: Individualism and separation and these definitions… we see these things today as nothing but trouble. Precisely, out of this world’s troubles, we should explain that we are approaching an opposite, connected world. The more we resist connection, the more troubles we will suffer. We have to start explaining it. Each day, the idea of connection becomes more acceptable in the eyes of the world because the blows are becoming systematic.

Question: How we come and unite at the ONE Convention, and be together when in the outside world there is separation? The world is suffering and is separated and we at the convention are having such a great time, being united and all.

Dr. Laitman: Judging by the despair and problems that exist in the world, I don’t see the world as enjoying, compared to what it had 20, 30 or 50 years ago. Back then, the world and people thought they were progressing toward something good, and look at how quickly these things have been inverted. We just need to explain that we have no choice. We are living in a special process, which exists in Nature, and it is inescapable. If you do not do this or that act, you will suffer more and more.

Continue reading “How to Become Together as ONE When We Come from an Individualistic World”

July 5, 2014June 25, 2014

How Rare Is It That One Achieves Spirituality?

Question: How rare is it that one achieves spirituality?

Dr. Michael Laitman: In our world today, it is not rare. It is available for anyone. There were times, up until our time, when one out of a thousand who wanted it could attain it. Today, anyone not only can, but must, attain it. Look at the pressures and at what is now surfacing in order to push people to connect and discover the upper world, so that people will shift to a higher level and live in an altogether different place than where they currently are.

The general crisis is pushing from behind, and the light that reforms and the group, i.e. the big group that is already emerging worldwide, and is ready to absorb into itself and progress. Everything is there.

What we are now discovering is the wisdom of connection, the method of correction—the general method of correction and how everyday this explanation becomes more approachable, easier, reasonable in the eyes of the general public. Look at the kind of help we are getting from above both in terms of understanding the method and in relation to the world—how the world is becoming immersed in this whirlpool.

This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »

July 4, 2014June 24, 2014

Can Spiritual Attainment Be Done Individually, or Does it Require a Group?

Question: Does the building of a Kli [vessel] and the intention/prayer/screen to reflect the Light take place only in the group, or can it be done individually?

Dr. Michael Laitman: Individually? No. The Creator doesn’t listen when you are alone. There is a concept called “the prayer of many”; we talked about it many times. The whole thing about the broken Kli [vessel] is about you trying to connect, trying to become one again. That is why the Torah—the wisdom of Kabbalah—was given. Call it integral education, the wisdom of connection, whatever the title. That is the whole work here in this world, which is the lowest and worst of all the worlds, i.e. that we will begin to connect and accordingly ascend—ascend not in elevation toward stars or in terms of altitude—but in understanding, awareness and sensation. We will then discover new dimensions.

Even if I connect with one person, I already discover the Upper World. I shift from the dimensions of this world into the spiritual dimension. I feel myself in a world beyond time, place, life or death, rising to the level of forces. My body exists as an animal. When it dies, it dies. As Rabash says, “It’s like putting your dirty shirt in the laundry.” That is how you feel, that you got rid of the body, but you remain, because you’ve acquired a new desire. In your connection with others you’ve acquired a common desire, and that is all. This is you now. Your heart is there in spirituality, and here in this world is just an outer coating, and thus you do not feel any loss when it dies.

July 4, 2014June 24, 2014

What Is Prayer? Recited Words, or a Feeling in the Heart?

Question: How do I ask the Creator to connect with my friend in a way that He will allow us to unite?

Dr. Michael Laitman: Friends, I’ll let you in on a big secret. You don’t need to tell anything to the Creator. The Creator is the innermost point in our own hearts. What you feel in your heart is what you’re telling the Creator. It doesn’t work in the way that we are connected to each other, that I feel something in my heart, and I speak about something else. There are no games here. There are no politics. Here, what you feel in the heart is what you’re saying to the Creator.You don’t need to open your mouth to speak, to aim toward Him, now I’m in intention toward Him, now I’m not.

Whatever is happening in your heart at any given moment—what I want, what I’m drawn to, what I aim for—is all my speaking to the Creator. He is inside our hearts as the Inner Light inside the desire. He created the desire and sustains it. Therefore, if I want to tell him something, I have to change my desire. I don’t need to think about the Creator in terms of what I’m now going to tell Him. Does it mean I pray to Him if I take a prayer book and read it? In my heart I might be feeling the opposite of what is written in the book.

Thus, it is our desires that we need to change; the desire is called “the heart.” Our work is far more internal. So if you ask me, “how can I change the desire?” I don’t own my heart, I don’t command it. How do I know what it wants and what it doesn’t? Even if I do, how do I convince myself?

How do I change the desire? True, we can’t do this alone. For that there is the light that reforms. When I understand that my desire needs to be toward bestowal and love and it’s the opposite, then I need to ask. How do I ask if I don’t want it, i.e. on one hand in my heart I feel I want to be happy, and on the other hand, intellectually I understand that I need to think about everybody’s happiness and be connected to everyone.

I cannot have two desires, and that is why I have a mind and a heart. Through the mind I can change my heart’s desires. How? If I activate myself, if I act with the group, with the friends, and together with them I get an impression, an inspiration toward unity, I then activate this impression toward the light that reforms and it changes my desire. Through the work in the group, whatever the case may be, you need to know that what happens in your hearts is what you are saying to the Creator. This is your prayer.