WEDNESDAY PRAYER: GEVURAH-MAIN READING FOR THIS WEEK – FOR MITZVOT – Exile and Redemption

READING: SUNSET TUESDAY

Main Reading for KABBALISTIC PRAYER this week, today with THE READING FOR MITZVOT.

ARVUT OF: Sheridan Moreton-Judd.

Exile and Redemption

-Rabbi Michael Laitman, PhD

And among these nations shalt thou have no repose

(Deuteronomy, 28:65)

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, in that ye say: We will be as the nations

(Ezekiel, 20:32)

History demonstrates that although the people of Israel were scattered among other peoples, they cannot mix with them in accordance with the prophecy: “The Lord will bring you out from afar, and you will seek and find Him.” Failure to fulfill their destination and reveal the upper force brings calamities on the people of Israel, so as to make them see the inevitability of Divine Providence.

Besides, the people of Israel are preordained to develop faster than other peoples, because it is obliged to reveal the upper force, through the wisdom of Kabbalah.

In the past, when for the first time the people of Israel wished to fill their earthly egoism trying to imitate other peoples, this led to the destruction of the FirstTemple. Yet the downfall was continuing and, since Kabbalah forbids egoistical pleasures, the Jews repudiated it and adopted the customs of their neighbors to enjoy life as their egoism demanded.

As a result of this they were divided into two parts:

• Adherents of the egoistical kings and their courtiers; and
• Those who desired to achieve similarity to the Creator.

At the time of the SecondTemple, the schism aggravated dividing the people into two parts:

• Sadducees: Full of egoism, hence wealthy and conceited; and
• Pharisees: Adherents of Kabbalah.

The Sadducees facilitated the establishment of Roman rule over the people of Israel, which led to the subsequent exile.

Mundane and Spiritual Ideals

• The earthly ideal is to fulfill egoistical desires. Therefore, it cannot rise above them. Its basis is esteem in the society. Its reward is fame among people (even if the person is despised by his contemporaries, he hopes to win recognition of the future generations).
• The spiritual ideal is to achieve the Creator’s property, and to ascend above the human properties. The basis of the spiritual ideal is acquisition of glory in the eyes of the Creator. Therefore, the person who studies Kabbalah is able to ascend above the human properties.

As long as the people of Israel adhered to the principles of Kabbalah, they were protected: Exploited by the other peoples, they remained spiritually strong.

However, a large number of the Jews rushed to satisfy their egoistical desires, lost the spiritual purpose of life (similarity to the Creator), grew rich, and represented their false goals as praiseworthy and fine. They spent their riches on the amenities of life, and thus became no different from the people in whose midst they lived.

By this, they provoked the hatred of the surrounding people and a tough influence from above. Neglect of the wisdom of Kabbalah brought them far too close to destruction. Had they met the demands of Kabbalah, they would have felt the Divine Providence as good and kind.

Concordance of the Creator’s Purpose and Human Estimation

On the basis of historical experience and the Kabbalists’ advice, the people of Israel might be offered a look back at all the misfortunes, that keep befalling them, even after they had returned to their land, and with the help of Kabbalah, to resume living according to the divinely prescribed altruistic laws.

Unless the people of Israel (highly evolved and unwilling to compromise) follow this advice, they will constantly undermine their own stability. Another will immediately destroy anything one builds. Everyone’s hope, that his adversary will see the danger and take his opinion, is totally unrealistic. No threat will compel anyone to relinquish the realization of his own intentions.

Hence there is only one solution: The people should abandon its mundane goals and plans, and take upon themselves the exalted purpose of reaching the Creator. Only in this case, will the Divine Providence positively affect every individual and the nation as a whole, and through it the entire world.