Rabbi Ashlag, in a letter to his students, points out the cause of the exile of the Children of Israel in Egypt. He shows that this very same cause operates in ourselves today causing us to become disempowered. It is our disconnection with the soul within us that enables us to become easy prey to fears and worries. When we reconnect value the soul within us as our own inner Sage, we reconnect with the God within us, and we leave our inner exile and come to our state of redemption.

Insights into Rabbi Ashlag's Kabbalah podcast

Exile and Redemption: Then and Now

Before the story of Joseph and the brothers, brotherhood does not seem to have been an important value in family life. In the selling of Joseph as a slave to Egypt, both Joseph and his brothers discover they have lost something precious and now have to work hard to regain it. But the gain is far greater than they imagined. In discovering brotherhood they lay the foundations of discovering the common humanity that binds us all together.

Brotherhood — Lost and Gained: A Prerequisite for Redemption

There is a famine in the land, and Abraham decides to go down to Egypt, taking Sarai with him. The Zohar teaches that the famine was a spiritual thirst for the light of God. In which case why go down to the consciousness of Egypt, known as a source of spiritual pollution? Why does Abraham ask Sarai to say she is his sister not his wife? This most peculiar story, found in the early life of Abraham takes on a new dimension when looked though the inner dimension of the Zohar, and tells us much about how we too, need to handle the different aspects of good and evil found within ourselves.

Avram and Sara go down to Egypt: Approaching the egoism within ourselves— a cautionary tale.

Both Cain and Abel are elements within our consciousness. The Cain within us is the part that wants to use our intelligence to try to fulfill the greatest desires a person has, to know God. Although it puts on the cloak of giving, underneath it really wants to receive. Abel on the other hand is the part of us that truly wants to give from the heart. Although from we stumble into the will to receive for ourselves alone, the Abel part of ourselves offers our turning back to God in faith as its gift, and feels itself blessed to do so. This is the gift that God heeds.

Cain and Abel: A Story of Ourselves

The word with which the Torah opens is Bereishit. This word is one of the most discussed words in the Zohar because it contains within itself the sodot, the inner meanings of the origin of creation, the inner meanings of the nature of creation, and of creation’s ultimate destiny. In this short piece we will consider one aspect only: the word ברא bara creation itself. What actually was created? The holy Ari teaches us that prior to creation, reality is entirely filled with the limitless light of God, His goodness. Since this goodness contains all that is, the only new creation that can possibly be, is a state of emptiness. So the word ברא implies emptiness. It describes a state of consciousness in which we are outside of the consciousness of light. It is a state of longing, a state of being incomplete. If our natural state is one of being filled with light, then the state of creation is therefore an unnatural one. Indeed, this is how we experience it. We all experience periods in our lives of dissatisfaction, of loneliness, of alienation; episodes when we ask, “What is my life about?” Sometimes these states of consciousness are short-lived, but sometimes these feelings of emptiness and of longing seem to characterize most of our lives. We sometimes try to deny these times, to fill them up with something to distract ourselves from our unease. But this is because we do not realize their potential. By understanding the word ברא we discover that this essential emptiness is actually the essence of creation. We need to harness the power of creation that is inherent in these difficult times.

Beginning the Torah Again: The Nature of Creation

How did the Children of Israel reach the incredible spiritual state of “As one Man with one heart,” that enabled them to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai. If we were able to reach that same state, would we be able to stand at our own Mount Sinai and hear the voice of God speaking directly to us? Rabbi Ashlag assures us that the answer to this question is “Yes!”

The Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai is Eternal

Seder night is the night in which the greatest light of God, the light of redemption, comes into the world. It is the night in which God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. And this energy, this great light comes into the world again every year. How will we receive it? How will we relate to it? As we start the Haggadah we say , This year we are slaves, next year we will be free. In this podcast we ask the question how and in what way are we in slavery now and what do we need to do to get free?

Inner Exile, Inner Redemption

The Scripture says : God said to Moses, “ Come into Pharaoh.” Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that discovering the core of our inner egoism, which is inside each one of us, ultimately helps us transform it. Furthermore, the knowledge that it was God who created the darkness within us, and there is no one else to blame, is actually the knowledge that sets us free. By approaching the darkness within us we can ask God to accompany us and help us redeem it and ourselves. From a letter of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag

When we discover the Pharaoh within us, we discover God within us

On the surface, the story of Joseph and his brothers appears to be a family drama. But on examination it’s a process of development of a new quality in humanity’s consciousness—Brotherhood. This quality of mutual acceptance and the willingness to give to each other, even suffer for each other, is the basis of "All Israel are guarantors for each other" and is the prerequisite for the complete fulfillment of the Torah.

The Quest for Brotherhood

Our essence is not something we can sense directly or feel, but then neither can we sense an electron directly. It doesn't make it less real. Our essence has actions that affect our lives and our choices. Our essence is eternal

What is Our Essence?

Many people ask is Judaism a spiritual path. This is because Judaism does not resemble other religions in the way it deals with spirituality. In other religions, there is a separation between the physical world and the spiritual world. But Judaism sees the world as a whole. It sees the physical dimension of the world as being, in itself, spiritual. This wholeness is seen when we look on all aspects of the Torah as integral parts of a whole.

Including the Physical: The Unique Quality of Judaism as a Spiritual Path

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag, whose 66th yahrzeit falls on this Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish Year, not only penetrated and opened the Torah of the holy Ari and the holy Zohar but showed us the pathways of love that form the heart of Judaism.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Rabbi Ashlag’s Unique Contribution

When we look at the mourning on Tisha b’Av, we are actually mourning the disconnect with our spiritual source. Destruction of the temple in Jerusalem meant that the direct revelation of the light of God was no longer available to the people as a whole. Gradually living without the direct revelation of God in our lives has become the norm. We need to remember that this is not normal, and each one of us needs to mourn and long for a direct connection with the Creator in our mind heart and soul. This is the rebuilding of Jerusalem within ourselves.

My soul, Jerusalem: —An Inner View of Tisha B’Av

Our world, both politically and culturally is in turmoil. Our value systems are being turned upside down. Freedom of speech in the West is no longer guaranteed. Our economic systems serve only a few with the majority suffering under huge burdens. And, in more than one country, democracy itself and the freedom of the individual are under attack. All this was true before, but now added to that is the Coronavirus crisis and the latest riots in the US and the world. Where are we heading? Times of chaos are definitely uncomfortable for us: and we are the individuals who are destined to live through them. But such times also provide opportunities for us to reassess our values and to make new decisions in the directions that we, as individuals, as families, and as communities want to go.

Coronavirus, Chaos, and Kabbalah

All the Jewish people living today are sparks of the 600, 000 root souls of Israel that stood together at Mount Sinai and received the Torah. Those root souls are us. We reincarnate, time and again, throughout the generations. And so we too stood together at the foot of the Mountain and experienced the voice of God. That moment is forever etched into our souls. On the other hand when we are told what is in the Torah, we begin to see it makes demands on us. It demands that we work with it,  learn it, practice it.  It makes ethical demands, in action not just in thought. It has mitzvot for us to keep whether they are convenient or not, whether we have grown up with them or not; mitzvot which declare our relationship with God as well as delineating our ethical relationship with our fellow human being; mitzvot of action and of feeling; mitzvot of thought and speech. The Torah demands a living, active relationship with God, here in the now. Not as something historical. The Torah doesn’t let us bask in a cozy armchair feeling of being one of the chosen people but it demands a relationship in the present. A renewed covenant, a renewed commitment. That is the meaning for us of the upcoming festival of Shavuot.

Why do we feel conflicted over Torah and mitzvot? – a post for Shavuot

Insights from the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag brought to you by Yedidah Cohen

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Insights into Rabbi Ashlag's Kabbalah podcast

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