Happy Passover! Enjoy a short Kabbalistic explanation of the inner essence of Passover…
From the video clip:
Passover is much more than a historic tale. Let’s look at this holiday through the eyes of the wisdom of Kabbalah.
In the Haggadah, the land of Egypt represents a relationship of separation. A sort of living in a pool of ego, exploitation and despair, a state where everyone takes care of their own interests leaving the others to eat bupkis.
Israel represents the opposite situation. Life is full of joy, love of others, mutual guarantee… hang on a second, who are we kidding? Even if some of us physically live in the land of Israel, we’re still in that inner state of Egypt.
To be in Egypt means to be ruled by Pharaoh, the representative of the ego culture. He loves to turn us against each other, separate us, divide and conquer us, and eat Hummus every morning even though it’s bad for his digestion.
Moses, in contrast, is the representative of unity who doesn’t stand a chance if he goes head to head with Pharaoh, unless he’s got the entire people of Israel united around him.
And now we are ready for… the Exodus. The burning bush, staff and snake, blood, fire, charoses, and a mighty arm… all it’s really talking about is our choice between a reality of hatred and separation vs. a path of hope and connection.
Because that is how it always worked – either Pharaoh is ruling over you or you lend a hand to Moses. And it’s true even now.
Bread – Pleasure we feel in Egypt (i.e. in the ego).
Bread of affliction – Before we exit Egypt (the ego), we don’t understand how we can reach bestowal and love, nor what the big deal is with such an attainment. Such attainment becomes flavorless, dry and insipid.
Egypt – The ego.
Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey – our egoistic desires envision all kinds of pleasures.
Egyptian bondage – Being ruled by the ego.
Exiting Egypt in haste – Spirituality looks so unattractive and repulsive that exiting into it must be rushed due to the aggressive, external force pulling from egoism. I, myself, am unable to step out of this marvelous world as it seems to me in my egoistic desire.
Land – Desire.
Matzot (unleavened bread) – An inner readiness to exit Egypt (the ego). One prepares oneself to live for the sake of love and bestowal, and to receive only what is necessary to revive oneself (i.e. this poor bread, i.e. necessary pleasures for one’s sustenance) in order to be able to love and bestow.
Moses – the point in the heart, desire for spirituality, in the person.
Moses’ demand to Pharaoh: “Let my people go! I want to leave!” – A prayer where after much effort to attain the quality of love and bestowal, one cries out to the egoistic inclination within oneself: “Stop controlling all the inclinations in me with this constant intention to get personal gain all the time! I want to be able to love and give with a pure desire!”
Pharaoh – Our stubborn “evil inclination” that holds us hostage and doesn’t let us rise above our jealousy, hatred, lust and ambition.
Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ demand “Let my people go!”: “What do you lack, Moses? You grew up in my arms. Stay the Egyptian prince. Be a prince! Why are you making a revolution here? For the sake of love for the neighbor? You’ve gone crazy!” – The ego’s response to the spiritual demand of being freed from the ego in order to love and give purely: “The point in the heart emerged as an egoistic desire among all the self-aimed desires you’ve had since you were born. You’ve always managed to get along, find pleasures and make your way in life through all these egoistic desires, and there’s nothing for you if you love another as yourself. What would you get from that?”
To learn more about how Kabbalah describes holidays and many other concepts at their root level, before they dress into the material world, it is recommended to take the Free Kabbalah Course. The reason is that many of the concepts and terms we have heard a lot about in our upbringing have completely different definitions in Kabbalah, and it takes a while to process them properly. Therefore, if you’re interested in this topic, then we recommend taking the free course and start learning about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …
“Here is the bread of affliction eaten by our forefathers in the land of Egypt” (Passover Haggadah). When we reside in our ego, we eat the “bread of affliction of the pauper” because we are beggars in relation to spirituality and receive only a tiny bit of Light, a minimal spark of life (Kista de Hayuta) or so-called “faint illumination” (Ner Dakik) that brings to life all of our world.
It is not the “bread” eaten in Egypt. In Egypt, there is lots of food. Our ego gives us everything: Please, do enjoy! However, as soon as we start desiring the spiritual world, long before exiting egoistic “Egypt,” we start tasting the “bread of affliction” since we don’t understand how one can reach bestowal and what good is in it.
I don’t taste any flavor in it. Everything is dry and insipid as this simple cracker made of only flour and water. That is how the spiritual world that I am walking to looks to me. Do I have to flee the prosperous Egypt, all the pleasure-pots filled with fish and meat, rich and delicious, in order to live on the bread of affliction in the desert? Is that what I yearn for?
However, it is indeed so. This is why it is written that “the commandment to eat unleavened bread (Matzot, the bread of affliction) was given to the sons of Israel long before their exodus from Egypt as a symbol of liberation that will come to pass in haste.”
“In haste” means that otherwise it is impossible to exit egoism. Spirituality looks so unattractive and repulsive that exiting into it must be rushed due to the aggressive, external force pulling from egoism. I, myself, am unable to step out of this marvelous world as it seems to me in my egoistic desire.
As for the spiritual world, it seems pitch black darkness to my ego. There is nothing attractive for my egoism there, and I don’t want to see it. Hence, the escape can be made only “in haste”; I am thrown out of there abruptly. Let’s hope the same will be done with us. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Your Own Passover Haggadah“]
The Spiritual Meaning of the Exodus from Egypt
“Here is the bread of affliction eaten by our forefathers in the land of Egypt” (Passover Haggadah). It follows that the Mitzva (commandment) of eating a Matza (unleavened bread) was given to them while they were still enslaved, and the aim of the Mitzva was for the time of redemption since then they departed in haste. –Baal HaSulam, article “This Is for Judah”
This always occurs when we transition from state to state, leaving the degree we are presently in, i.e. the Egyptian bondage, ruled by our ego, Pharaoh, our stubborn “evil inclination” that holds us hostage and doesn’t let us rise above our jealousy, hatred, lust and ambition.
The Pesach (Passover) holiday stands for Pe-sach (“skipping” or “selection”) – selecting only those qualities from one’s entire egoism that can be corrected and used for bestowal, for the benefit of others. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Meaning of the Pesach Holiday,” Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog]
What Is Passover?
The holiday of Pesach (Passover) is an exodus from our ego, called “Egypt.” Our ego locks us in a capsule called “this world” and prevents us from seeing the reality outside. In order to break free from this shell we must perform a “circumcision,” by drawing the Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom) from above. It acts like a sharp knife and removes our great egoistic desires that cannot currently be corrected. We are given the opportunity to rid ourselves of them and not use them, in essence, to become free.
To be a “free people in our own country” (the word “country” [Aretz] comes from the Hebrew word for “desire” [Ratzon]) means to escape the rule of our desire. When we become free from our desire and can rise above it, we are ready for the exodus from Egypt.
We then exit our ego, which is also called the “evil inclination” (“Yetzer Ra“) out of Egypt (Mitzraim – Mitz Ra, i.e. concentration of evil) and toward freedom. Having been slaves to our desires, we now come out of slavery and become free of them, meaning we refuse to use them egoistically. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Escaping the Rule of Our Desire.” Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog]
Now You Can Understand the Essence of Passover
Throughout the seven special days of the holiday of Passover, we must maintain a correct, uninterrupted intention, because this is a special time. We don’t celebrate religious rituals or customs. We are very distant from actions people carry out simply because they were taught to do so as children, or because they are driven by egoistic goals to receive a reward, either in this world or the next.
First and foremost, those who study Kabbalah want to reveal the Upper World and the spiritual actions, and only after they see their consequences (branches), are they prepared to also respect and observe them with the same intention as the spiritual actions above.
Abraham and his students were the first to attain the connection between the roots and the branches. But having revealed the spiritual world and its consequence in the corporeal, having discovered the forces that descend from the spiritual world into our corporeal world and having set it in motion, he created the language of branches. This language is a description of the Upper World, the roots, using words of this world, the branches.
That was when he revealed the whole reality, both the corporeal and the spiritual, as one whole, which is why both the spiritual and the corporeal actions merged within him into a whole, and that is how he taught his students. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Source of Passover.” Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog]
To learn more about how Kabbalah describes holidays and many other concepts at their root level, before they dress into the material world, it is recommended to take the Free Kabbalah Course. The reason is that many of the concepts and terms we have heard a lot about in our upbringing have completely different definitions in Kabbalah, and it takes a while to process them properly. Therefore, if you’re interested in this topic, then we recommend taking the free course and start learning about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …
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