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In a letter which Rabbi Ashlag wrote to his students whilst he was away in London, he bemoans the fact that some previous students had fallen away from the group. In looking at the question as to why this had happened, he shows how outer change actually follows a prior inner change.
This we learn from the story of the exile in Egypt. It was an inner change in the spiritual consciousness of the children of Israel that enabled their outer reality to change from being guests in a welcoming host country, to one of slavery and servitude.
The Torah describes this change in one terse sentence. “And a new king of Egypt arose who did not know Joseph.”
Ostensibly this sentence is describing a historical change in the outer reality of the Children of Israel; but Rabbi Ashlag shows how the inner meaning of this sentence actually refers to a prior inner change. —If the children of Israel had remained connected with Joseph the Tzaddik, as they were in his lifetime, then for sure, the power of the Tzaddik would have protected them.
It is our belief in God and in his true Sages that help shape our reality.
From Igarot haSulam , Igeret 12, Published by Or Hasulam foundation.
With grateful acknowledgement to my chevrutas, Dr. Susan Jackson, and Dr. Shmuel Iger-Kinyan
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