The Month Of Elul, An Opportunity For Spiritual Ascent

Question: If we were created as egoists from the start, why do we need to express regret, repent for our sins, and ask for forgiveness?

Answer: Prayer is making a judgment about our inner characteristics, obtained from the outside. The higher power of nature created our egoistic inclination, whereas we are only required to discover it and recognize its evil.

It is evil because it doesn’t allow us to connect with others and recreate the Kli of ourcommon soul through which we feel the upper world.

A person is completely determined and defined by whatever characteristics he is born with, where he grew up, and what kind of education he received. So, we ourselves don’t sin that much, and even though it may seem to us that we have committed some sins in the past, we haven’t done anything bad. This is because nothing depends on us!

But if we clarify that the reason for all evil is our egoistic nature and we want to correct it, we have the possibility of doing this. So, let’s connect for that purpose because it is impossible to correct yourself on your own. So, I am appealing to everyone. Come, let’s correct ourselves, and we will feel ourselves in a completely different world!

All of our regret and repentance is awareness of how much we don’t want to connect with others. We begin to understand that it is possible to live well only through connection and unity, but our evil inclination is preventing us from attaining this. So, we ask the higher power of nature to connect and unite us, as it is written, “He who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel.” (Kaddish).

Question: But what if I don’t want to relate well with others, and I am afraid they will exploit me?

Answer: We simply don’t understand how we benefit from connection and unity. It is as if we receive a sack with a million dollars as a gift. If the reward were revealed to us, everyone would want to connect. Everything depends only on the relationship between the results and the reward, and the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how great the reward is.

Question: I am familiar with very many good people who are trying to relate well with everyone, but they haven’t gotten a million dollar prize.

Answer: The idea is that we don’t know what a good connection is. So, Kabbalah is called a science. It requires study and research. A person may invest much effort completely in vain. Many people in our world try to do good without results. They simply don’t recognize the laws of nature, so they make mistakes.

It is known that without knowing the physical laws of nature, it is impossible to do anything good. On the contrary, you only cause harm. If I don’t understand the law of gravity, I am liable to fall off a roof.

The same thing even happens with the soul. We must know the laws of our inner nature or of the soul, and then we will use them correctly and easily reach a wonderful, harmonious, peaceful life and benefit from much more than a million dollars.

In the month of Elul, we are entering a unique period. We have an opportunity to benefit greatly if we just will understand that the goal is to connect and unite among us, and the one thing that disturbs us is our ego, the evil inclination.

If we try to become freed from it with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, then it will provide us with all the necessary means required for correction. Then we will attain abundance and full prosperity. Between us, we will discover the upper world and begin to live a fabulous life as if we were on a cloud.
[166302]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/30/15