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Most of us try to push away the dark side of ourselves by denying that it even exists, or we cover it up with fear, shame, and guilt. Feelings that are too painful for us to penetrate. We feel that we are somehow split in two. We often feel that the face we show to the outer world has very little to do with our inner world. When receiving praise or appreciation, we think to ourselves, “if only people really knew what went on in me.” And so we cover it up until sooner or later our darker side comes to the fore again.
But in a letter written by Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag we find him taking a very different approach, an approach that I personally found, at first, very surprising, and then, very healing. It’s in this spirit that I want to share this letter with you.
The Kabbalah teaches that all the elements of the exodus from Egypt also occur within ourselves. We have within us the Pharoah, who is the darkness within us, and we have the possibility of redemption, which the Passover Haggadah tells us is carried out by none other than God himself who takes us out of our own Egypt.
Believing in that possibility is a crucial part of our redemption. We need to know that God, and only God is involved. It was God who put the darkness within us in order to create a need for the help of the Divine.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that when God tells Moses, “Come to Pharaoh” he’s telling him, “Come to uncover the desire for the holy Shekinah!” And it is that desire that helps us find God within ourselves.
This podcast is dedicated in loving memory and for the ilui nishmat of Feigi Bat Rivka z”l and Aharon Kotler z”l and Sara Kotler z”l, May their memories be a blessing for us.
Yedidah Cohen is now teaching a new course on the Introduction to the Zohar, by Rabbi Ashlag. The group has already begun, but it is not too late to join. If you are interested, please contact Yedidah through www.nehorapress.com
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