BECOMING ABOVE THE ANGELS (MB)

Topic: Kabbalistic Concepts | 

When the portion Masei talks about the group of Israelites, sometimes it calls them le’tzivotam, and sometimes it calls them be’tzivotam, which means either they went as a group or they went as an army. When it says that the person is above the army, it means he is above the army of angels. That’s the secret of why it talks about be’tzivotam, a person becoming a part of the angels, versus le’tzivotam, which refers to the point where a person becomes above the angels.

The greatest fear of the angels is to be disconnected from the Light of the Creator, and it is that fear which actually keeps them connected. Meaning, it’s not the work they are doing or the wisdom they are gaining that keeps them connected; it’s because they have a constant fear of being disconnected from the Light that keeps them connected.

However, as human beings, even if an action we do is not done with the perfect consciousness, it connects us to the Light of the Creator in a greater way than it would the angels. Why? Because the purpose of a human being is to be in this world of Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone and to disconnect and reconnect; ultimately, a person is meant to come to a constant connection to the Light of the Creator. So, a constant connection to the Light of the Creator can only come when a person’s fear of disconnection is constant, as well… that’s the ultimate level. How do we at least begin the process of coming to this level?

An important part of it is to attach ourselves to the Supernal Angels, to the angels that are doing the perfect spiritual work and are constantly connected to the Light of the Creator, because their number one fear is to be disconnected. The first way to do that is to make a conscious effort every day. In fact, it is the purpose of the words we say during the morning prayer. In the morning prayer there is a whole section where we recount the work that the angels are doing in the Supernal Worlds: what they say to each other, what they do, how they lift each other up, and the perfection of their work. And now we understand the consciousness that has to be behind those words, because only if we are actively connecting our soul and our work to the work that the angels are doing can we be elevating our consciousness to this fear of disconnecting.

Sometimes it’s easy to just say those words and not understand why they are there. But now we know that if we are not attaching our soul to the work of the angels every single day with our consciousness, we won’t be able to accomplish what we came to this world to accomplish. That’s number one; the first thing is the consciousness. Every day when we’re making our morning connection, we say we desire that our soul, work, and consciousness be elevated to the work and consciousness of the angels, to the fear of ever being disconnected.

The second part, which is maybe more important, is that we are constantly awakening a greater desire for our consciousness to be perfected, our spiritual work to be elevated, and pushing ourselves to awaken a desire to do the work and have the consciousness like the angels; it is through that desire we attach our soul to the Supernal Angels. Then our work is even more powerful and reveals more Light than the work of the angels.

The quality of the work that the angels do and the consciousness that the angels have as they are revealing the Light of the Creator in this world is something that most of us cannot achieve from where we are right now. But the amount of Light that we can reveal through our work can actually be greater than their perfect work, because we understand that the purpose of our work is not for it to be perfect. Desire is everything; you can be the lowest person in the world, but if your desire is the greatest, you reveal the greatest Light.

When we wake up in the morning our first desire should be that even though we know where we are right now is not perfect – our work, consciousness, and connection - we ask that all those things be attached to the perfect work of the angels. And then, we awaken a true desire for those things to be perfect. When you do that, when you have the attachment of your soul and your work to that of the angels, and you are awakening a true and great desire for your work to be perfect, your work reveals more Light than the most perfect work of the angels. This means that no matter how low, how far, or how disconnected we are right now, if we do these two things, we can create more Light with our work than the angels do.

It’s easy to get lost in the work and actions that we are doing. But we have to stop and ask ourselves how great our desire is for our work to be even more perfect and elevated, because that is going to be the indicator of how much Light we reveal through our work. Therefore, every day we need to make the connection and say the words of the work that the angels are doing in the Supernal World; through those words we are attaching our soul, consciousness, and work to the work of the angels. Then, after the section where we talk about the work of the angels, there is theAmidah, the silent prayer, which is where we actually elevate. And no matter who we are, no matter how low we are, we can elevate at that time higher than the angels, becoming “above” the angels, because that is where we awaken our desire.

If a person awakens a true desire to have the consciousness for his work to be perfect, then his work reveals more Light than the work even of the most perfect angel. It is one of the most important gifts and awakenings that is given to us on this Shabbat.