The Ten Commandments are the laws of our absolute connection to each other and with the force of bestowal that holds our connection together.
The Torah is given at the foot of Mount Sinai, which is a gigantic mountain of egoistic hatred (“Sinai” comes from the word “Sinah” [“hatred”]), after the people of Israel (i.e., people with a common desire “Yashar Kel” [“straight to the Creator”]) accept the condition of mutual guarantee—to be united “as one man with one heart.” In other words, we reach a stage in our development where we discover a mountain of ego, division and hatred above us, and we can climb this mountain only with one point in the heart, i.e., by uniting our common desire for spiritual ascent above all other egoistic desires. This point is called “Moses” (from the word “Moshech” [“pulling”]), because it pulls us out of our ego.
Mount Sinai is enormous, even bigger than the Tower of Babel. Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai means that we agree to unite all parts of our individual egos into one big mountain. Then, instead of fearing this great hatred and division between us, we should instead use it as an impetus to yearn for unity, since the sole purpose of being given an ego is so that we use it to fuel our unity.
When we unite above this mountain of ego and hatred, we demand the revelation of the force of bestowal in our unification. The tendency to unite is the spiritual vessel, the deficiency for mutual love, bestowal and connection, as it is written, “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” We thus accept the condition of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and receive the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments refer to the correct use of the desire to enjoy. They discuss the limitations that we need to implement on Malchut if we are to establish and sustain a spiritual connection. These limitations are called a “screen” (“Masach”) and “reflected light” (“Ohr Hozer”). When Malchut accepts these limitations, it lets the ten Sefirot, which are also known as the Ten Commandments, dress in it.
A commandment (Dover) stems from the Hebrew root for “utterance” (Dibur), i.e., it is born in the Peh (mouth) of the Partzuf, the Peh of Rosh. These actions are performed in the world of Atzilut.
We receive the Ten Commandments after we unite “as one man with one heart.” Otherwise we cannot hear them. We have to be on the level of Bina in order to have the ear that can hear the ten utterances from Mount Sinai. In practice, this means that we need to first undergo a period of preparation until we can unite at the level of “as one man with one heart,” and only at that stage do we hear the commandments. If we are not at such a spiritual degree, we lack the vessels in order to understand and observe these commandments.
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Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on June 3, 2014. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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