Kabbalah And Beliefs, Part 6

Sacrifice—Getting Closer to the Creator

Question: In all faiths, the concept of coaxing the higher powers with sacrifice is practiced. What about in Kabbalah?

Answer: Kabbalah also has such a concept called “sacrifice.”

But here it is understood that a person sacrifices his egoism, does not want to use it, and does not want his egoism to command him. He wants to give it up, to change it for altruism and bestowal.

“Sacrifice” in Hebrew is “Kurban,” which comes from the word “Karov” (getting close). A person wants to correct his egoism and based on that come closer to the Creator. This is the sacrifice.

Question: That is, everything that is written in the Torah about donations to the Temple implies exactly this?

Answer: Only that. Donations are practically what they did in the Temple, because the Temple is a place of contact between a person and the Creator.

Question: Did people come there to unite with each other?

Answer: You can come to the Temple physically, but it does not mean anything. A man appears in a place inside his heart where he could sacrifice his egoism—“slaughter” it, sacrifice it, in order to come closer to the Creator with a feeling of absolute altruism, love, bestowal, and connection.

Question: So, this has nothing to do with the fact that animals were sacrificed in the Temple?

Answer: No. That is all allegory, like root and branch, cause and effect, nothing more. So you can kill as many animals as you like and it will not make any difference.

Question: So the high priest sacrificed his egoism in order to get closer to other people?

Answer: He was the most corrected person among all the people.

Question: Along with internal work, he took a lamb, cut it, and they ate it?

Answer: Yes. They performed all the actions at the same time, starting from the most spiritual, highest actions, to the lowest, material ones—together and in the same intention.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 2/17/18