Why Should We Rush Out Of Egypt?

Question: I don't understand, why was the exodus from Egypt so rushed? It takes just 20 minutes to leaven bread. Couldn't they wait that long? Why did they have to hurry so fast?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: Rushing means that the following state is revealed suddenly, instead of according to an order of degrees. I cannot foresee it in advance or expect it. I cannot use my current state to find out what will happen the next minute. This is called rushing or hurrying.

The exodus from Egypt is similar to birth: It develops by virtue of an external force. The lower one does not determine anything. He makes efforts, studies, carries out the advice of Kabbalists to disseminate Kabbalah and unite with the friends, and then grows disillusioned about attaining the revelation of the Upper World.

It is written that the redemption and freedom comes suddenly, when you don't expect it at all. (Ein Ben David Ba Ele Be Eseh Daat.) It happens when people are completely not ready for it, in a generation that is completely disillusioned, when a person gives up and throws up his hands.

The exodus from Egypt is the revelation of the Light of GAR de Hochma. In order to come out of Egypt, the soul must make a leap from the state of Katnut Aleph (the first small state) in order to attain Gadlut Bet (the second great state). It has to leap through the levels of Katnut Aleph, Gadlut Aleph, Katnut Bet, and Gadlut Bet. This is called rushing. You are being taken out of your state and then you see a new world.

The True Heaven And Hell

What is the Egyptian exile? It is the revelation of love for yourself. Accordingly, the exodus from Egypt is when you are able to feel love for your neighbor for the first time.

I can "come out of Egypt" only if I really desire to acquire love for others. As Baal HaSulam writes in the article, "For Yehuda," the essence of the forthcoming redemption must be clear while one is still in exile. You have to understand what you desire. What do you consider to be exile? What are you exiled from?

If you see that exile means that you are enslaved to self-love, and redemption is when you acquire the force of love for others, the ability to unite and become a single soul the way it was before the breaking of Adam, in order to reveal the Creator inside the unity, then you really feel the exile and are ready for redemption. And then it comes to you!

If you have prepared your desires, then the Light that Reforms comes to you and leads you out of egoism. Everything depends on your desire to come out of your egoistic concerns to freedom. This is the purpose of the exile, and this is why we are not ready for redemption-because it consists only of this. Spirituality is bestowal. If we desire it, it means we are ready to be freed.

Right now we are prolonging our exile because we don't consider it exile and slavery. We feel good in it. We only want more money, power, and other sources of fulfillment. We want to be left alone and not be told about love for the neighbor. We don't want that love!

Hell is the inability to bestow. Heaven and hell are very different from people's regular notions about them. People don't want either of them, and don't feel either within. This means that a person is not wicked or righteous; he is simply an animal that is not in exile.

A person who is wicked knows that he is an egoist and desires to become righteous, bestowing. Therefore, he calls his uncorrected state, "hell." One who is righteous has attained the quality of bestowal and love, and feels that he is in heaven.