🔔 WEDNESDAY PRAYER – MENTORSHIP POST: HOW CAN TORAH CHANGE US
HOW CAN TORAH CHANGE US
WEDNESDAY PRAYER: MENTORSHIP POST
LET`S WALK WITH THE RABBI
READING: between afternoon and sunset of Tuesday
TORAH IS A PROGRAM AND A GUIDE
-by Rabbi Michael Laitman
A Book as a Means for Discovery
Question: Where does the Torah come from? Some think that it was emanated from above to Moses.
Answer: This is not even an idea, but its complete absence.
Comment: Others suppose that Moses wrote the Torah himself.
Answer: First of all, Moses didn’t write it himself. There were people, his students, who wrote the Torah throughout the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. There is nothing here that goes beyond the limits of the ordinary world that we know, that is, except for one addition: the discovery of the upper force that surrounds and envelops this world and manages all of nature.
When we say that the Torah was given, that it was transmitted to the people of Israel, this is talking about attainment. There was no hand that transmitted something from above. The upper force is specifically a force, not a heavenly printing house that tossed scrolls to Moses. Is it possible to imagine something like that?
No, the Torah was written in the usual way. You cannot touch the upper force, just like the other forces in our world, with your hands, and it is not grasped through a parchment or paper delivery. People attained it. Under its influence, they became aware of its mission, its purpose, and, over time, they became the people of the Book.
In this case, the Book is a discovery, a primary source through whose help we discover its author: Who He is, why He wrote, what He wants from us, and do we identify with Him or not? If I am living in this world without seeing and knowing anything else, then for me, this book, this Torah, is something that was given to us as a higher, primary source through which we can attain the upper force. We have no connection with that except through the Torah.
Guidance for all Generations
It is necessary to understand that the Torah is not parchment scrolls or printed pages. Rather, as it is said, it is a program that must be implemented through the children of Israel, and it is implemented by them from generation to generation.
Accordingly, in every generation, if a person discovers this book for himself, that is, if he connects with it and is included in it in that he wants to discover the Creator through it, he sees that it is not just a historical story, but a history that is actually happening now. This is because, spiritually, the Torah is not limited by time. Through this history, a person can become aware of the upper force, and then the book becomes a source of revelation for him. Its true meaning is in this.
Thousands of years ago people discovered it for the first time, and since then this book has been with us in the form of the written Torah. Through that initial discovery and its written description, by maintaining the conditions that were transmitted together with the book, every generation can draw upon its message: What must one be in order to discover what is written in it?
A Book that Changes Us
Question: How would you characterize the Torah? In general, what kind of book is this?
Answer: Throughout the years of studying in school, we study particular books until we become mature, knowledgeable, and developed to a certain degree.
It is the same thing with the Torah. I must pass through all of those forms that its study creates within me. The preparation for learning and the learning itself, meaning, the correct use of the Torah, leads to this. I am constantly changing, developing, and passing through the stages described in it.
At the end of the way I attain my final individual correction. I become completely like that force that is showing me this entire “movie” of creation.
-by Rabbi Michael Laitman
