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Yitro: Rectification of reality

Where is the center of manifest being?  It is in the heart of holiness; a place that is reserved for an acute attention to detail and an unwavering focus.  As Israel encamps before Sinai they are asked to lift their better lights towards Hashem.

 
Shemos 19:5. And now, if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples, for Mine is the entire earth. (Ibid 6). And you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel."
 
First of all 'if you obey Me,' refers to listening for that higher voice in all things.  It is the signpost that leads to Sinai and the entire experience of what is to come.  
 
'Keep my covenant' refers to the promise of a new land to be inhabited and deeper still signifies that special relationship between higher thought and its corresponding reflection in the world of experience.  What Hashem is telling us is that when we follow this higher voice and heed its counsel then the way of the world is such that whatsoever we desire is given to us since being a part of holiness is the sum total of both our desire and however this holiness chooses to express itself through us.
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A 'treasure out of all peoples' points out the holiness of higher thoughts which stand above the mundane (all peoples) thoughts and are permeated therefore throughout the earth. Earth here is referring to the vast realm of experience that we find ourselves in from moment to moment.
 
'A kingdom of princes and a holy nation' lets us think about what a prince does.  A prince represents his sovereign and rules under him.  The sovereign here is Hashem who brings forth all that is to be.  The prince is that place within where we recognize the unity of Hashem which places us in that moment to be at Hashem's side.  What we find through our studies and acceptance of the divine within is a channel for that holy awareness to flow through.  
 
What the Sinai experience is being set up for here in Parasha Yitro is for the transformation of reality itself
 
Yitro: Arizal: Apples in the Orchard 'If you say: how could Solomon accomplish what Moses could not accomplish? The answer is that Moses found reality sunk in the depths of evil and exile, and with his great spiritual power brought it out and rectified it such that the partzufim were positioned in holiness, albeit only back‐to‐back. Then, when Solomon came, he found reality relatively rectified; all he had to do was rotate the partzufim to face each other, and this is done easily.
 
It is the rectification of reality that is sought through all of the expressions of discovery that we uncover within.  We need to see a clear picture of what is... in regards to holiness.  The question must always be…how good can it get?  Moshe and Solomon improved upon the reality of their existence by talking to Hashem as through looking glass through which everything good was thereby reflected.
 
In a similar fashion in our experiential every day lives we too can improve upon the reality we uncover by using that same template of awareness provided by holiness via Torah study, mitzvos and tzedekah.  When we face Hashem (the partzufim) we give up the evil inclination, make the crooked road straight and turn the chaos into holiness.  B"H
 

, LA Kabbalah Examiner

Mark Siet has studied Kabbalah for more than twenty-five years. His writings are passionate, insightful, and uplifting. He has authored Thought Into Form, 360 Degrees of Good, and the forthcoming, The Enlightened Bahir. Email: mark@marksiet.com.

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