The Spiritual Perspective on the Jewish Holidays
Behind each of the Jewish holidays lies a deep inner meaning. Each one symbolizes a stage in the developmental journey we are meant to undergo until we reach a state of complete connection and love. It offers a glimpse into the spiritual message embedded in the roots of the nation, a message that can heal the ailments and crises emerging in Israel and throughout humanity.
Let us begin at the beginning.
About 3,800 years ago, in ancient Babylon, a researcher named Abraham discovered that humanity exists within a single all-encompassing force, the force of nature, and that the direction of development in this integral system is to bring all its parts to connection, harmony, and unity. With regard to us, human beings, this means that we must develop from a state where “the inclination of a person’s heart is evil from his youth” to a state of “love your neighbour as yourself.”
There are two possible paths toward this goal. Either the pressure of nature’s developmental process will push us forward through various blows that make it clear that we are all in the same boat, or we will understand this ourselves in advance and consciously work on developing positive human relationships.
Abraham explained this worldview to anyone willing to listen. Thousands connected with his idea and came to learn his method of connection and unity. From them emerged the community known as the House of Abraham, which later became the people of Israel, as Maimonides describes in The Book of Knowledge. Since then, we have developed as a new kind of society with an ideological purpose: to unite in love and mutual concern above narrow egoism, i.e., above the desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone at the expense of others and nature, and through such a connection discover the universal force in nature. This force is also defined as the higher power, the quality of which is love and bestowal.
This developmental process involves two forces. One is the force of evil, the “left force,” which continually develops within us, causing us to reject, hate, and distance ourselves from one another. The second is the “right force,” the force we develop ourselves through our efforts to connect with each other. At every stage of progress, a greater revelation of evil appears so that a higher level of connection can be built above it.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represent three periods during which the right and left forces developed. Abraham’s period saw the development of the right force. Isaac’s period saw the development of the the left force. Jacob’s period, with Jacob also being called “Israel,” the possibility emerged to balance these two forces.
Later, a state of hatred and conflict arose among Jacob’s sons. Their inability to maintain connection in the face of the growing force of evil, the left force, led to the descent into Egypt. Afterward, Jacob passed away, which means that the force of balance between good and evil disappeared from the world. As a result, the left force, the force of egoism, continued to grow stronger.
The inner meaning of the story of Egyptian slavery is that the force of evil, i.e., egoism or self-love, ruled over the people of Israel. This force is also called “Egypt” or “Pharaoh.” This state continued until the arrival of Moses, who saved the Israelites and taught them how to rise above the evil force that governed them.
The direction charted by Moses was to rise above the evil force, i.e., to detach from self-love and positively connect. The Israelites’ elevation above the ego that ruled them is called the “Exodus from Egypt,” and it is this process that we commemorate and aspire toward during the festival of Passover.
Passover is also known as the Festival of Freedom because the story of the Exodus from Egypt describes a spiritual process of liberation from slavery to the ego. Therefore, the sages taught that “in every generation, a person must see himself as though he personally came out of Egypt.”
The same spiritual ascents experienced by the people of Israel, i.e., states of connection and the sensation of the upper force, are available to us today. We are also invited to discover what the bondage of Egypt is and to free ourselves from it.
The central practice of Passover is to refrain from eating Chametz (leavened bread), which symbolizes the evil inclination, the ego, and instead eat Matzah, which symbolizes the good inclination, the desire to bestow goodness upon others.
To leave the egoistic prison called “Egypt,” which separates us from the happiness found in connection, we need to conduct a search for Chametz within our hearts and remove it from there. In its inner meaning, the removal of Chametz signifies examining ourselves and agreeing to no longer act from narrow self-love.
Shavuot is the festival commemorating the giving of the Torah. At this stage of our development, we stand before Mount Sinai, a mountain of hatred. Yet despite this, we strive to be united “as one man with one heart,” making every effort to maintain mutual responsibility and care for one another.
We understand that we need a force capable of correcting the evil within us, because until now we have merely refrained from using it, but have not actually corrected it. This intense need for correction brings us to the event known as the Giving of the Torah.
Shavuot points to a very special spiritual state. A group of people works to build mutual connection and reaches the realization that they must unite, yet at the same time feels that doing so is impossible. Such a state is, in fact, the best possible one. Between these two opposing forces of the egoistic tendency and the aspiration for connection, comes the revelation of the need for a third force, the upper force, the Creator.
This takes place when people understand that genuine connection is impossible without help. When they ask the upper force for assistance in achieving unity and become ready to receive that help, from that moment onward they are considered to have received the Torah. They are given a method for correcting the ego and correcting the relationships between human beings.
The Giving of the Torah is an eternal state, not merely a historical event. By aspiring to realize what the Torah truly demands of us, which is love, connection, and bestowal upon others, we awaken the upper force to correct the bonds between us and dwell within them.
On Shavuot, it is customary to eat dairy foods because milk symbolizes the quality of bestowal, the quality of the light. A mother nourishes her child with milk according to the child’s need. Similarly, on Shavuot, the upper force is available to provide us with the light of correction according to our request. All that is required of us is to develop a genuine desire for it.
After the Giving of the Torah, and throughout the years of wandering in the desert, the people of Israel worked on correcting the heart and improving their relationships with each other, experiencing both ascents and descents along the way. Eventually, they entered the Land of Israel and built the Holy Temple, which symbolizes love and connection.
However, then the ego erupted in a way that could no longer be restrained. The people of Israel split into factions, and the resulting division and alienation led to the ruin of the Temples, one after the other. Through unfounded hatred, relationships in the nation deteriorated, and the people were driven into exile.
The sages explain that the ruin of the First and Second Temples was not accidental. This state was intentional in the course of development. It resulted from the fact that the people of Israel had corrected only the relationships in their own nation and had not yet passed on the method of connection to the rest of humanity. Abraham had already discovered in Babylon that humanity needs to ultimately reach the same elevated state of love for others.
Therefore, the people of Israel encountered a profound relational crisis and experienced the ruin that we commemorate on Tisha B’Av. This day symbolizes the source of the evil that is revealed when it rules over us unchecked, i.e., when it is not balanced by the force of love and bestowal.
Since the ruin of the Second Temple, we have remained in the long and final exile. If we wish to repair the ruin of the Temple and realize complete connection for humanity, we need to renew our connection with each other and with the upper force, the force of love and bestowal.
On the physical, external level, we have already emerged from exile and established the State of Israel. Yet until we reconnect with our spiritual roots and build the Holy Temple within ourselves, i.e., the connection of hearts that can serve as a dwelling place for the light of love and bestowal, we will remain in spiritual exile.
The sufferings of exile manifest themselves in the crises affecting Israeli society and humanity as a whole. On Tisha B’Av, we are called upon to recognize the evil that separates us from each other, and this recognition is an essential stage in the correction of human relationships.
After recognizing the destruction in the relationships between us, at this stage in human history we arrive at a state called the month of Elul. This state signifies the beginning of a collective process of self-examination.
We enter a period in which we examine ourselves and begin to feel the extent to which we are governed by the evil inclination, the ego. At the same time, we have already developed the ability to identify it and define it as evil.
The evil inclination becomes revealed precisely when we start trying to draw closer to each other. Then, we discover how unwilling we are to come closer together. This is how we begin to recognize our egoistic nature. Although this is a revelation of evil, it is actually a joyful discovery, because we uncover the evil within us through our yearning for goodness. We aspire to connect and then realize that we are unable to do so. This is already progress, a stage known as the recognition of evil. It is like diagnosing an illness in order to heal it.
Following the recognition of evil comes the stage of “turn away from evil and do good.” We decide to rid ourselves of the evil inclination and become connected to each other. This decision leads us into a process called Selichot (prayers for forgiveness) or self-examination. From this process, we can eventually arrive at Rosh Hashanah. In other words, we reach the determination that we want a new life in the new year, we desire a genuine change.
The name Elul is derived from the initials of the phrase “Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li” (“I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”). The meaning of this expression is that we long for the revelation of the upper force of love and bestowal, and we begin to feel that we receive support from it, opportunities for connection and similar forms of assistance. This is how we can already get a glimpse of the path ahead and consciously progress toward the realization of the purpose of creation. For this reason, Elul is a time of great joy.
The essence of forgiveness during Elul is in recognizing the contrast between ourselves and the overall system of nature, which is built upon perfect connection among its parts and remarkable harmony. Nature functions like a single body, whose parts exist in mutual support and cooperation in order to sustain the whole.
We see how far we, as human beings, are from such a relationship with one another. Instead, we often behave like cancerous cells within the general body, causing harm to all levels of reality, to the inanimate, vegetative, and animate realms, as well as to other human beings.
When we truly begin to feel the gap between our own nature, which seeks only to receive for itself, and the nature of the upper force, which is entirely love and bestowal, we begin to grasp the true meaning of forgiveness.
Forgiveness means that from this point forward, we commit ourselves to rising above evil and beginning our lives with a new orientation, toward goodness, connection, and unity.
Rosh Hashanah symbolizes the beginning of change. It is a state in which we collectively decide to crown the force of love and bestowal as our ruler, i.e., to elevate its importance above everything else and place it at the top of our priorities.
We commit ourselves to moving forward according to the principle of “love your neighbour as yourself.” We become willing to draw closer to one another, to make an effort to treat each other with love, and to see our renewal and revival in the closeness between us. We decide that from this point onward, our direction is correction, i.e., the inversion of our egoistic nature into the opposite nature, similar in form to the upper force of love and bestowal. This will be our guiding principle, the head that leads us, the goal toward which we orient ourselves.
After making the decision to pursue correction, we enter the period known as the Ten Days of Repentance.
In general, as Kabbalist Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (RABASH) explains:
“Repentance means returning the desire to receive into being a desire to bestow. By this we return to adhesion with the upper source and are awarded eternal Dvekut (adhesion).”
—RABASH, "Letter 23."
Accordingly, the Ten Days of Repentance symbolize ten spiritual states in which we examine our ego, which is divided into ten fundamental parts. Through this examination, we examine what aspects of our relationship with others can be corrected so that we can return to relationships of love and bestowal, to the state of connection that existed among the people before the ruin of the Temple.
As we identify what within us is flawed and requires correction, we arrive at the state known as Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur symbolizes another stage in our aspiration to detach ourselves from evil and attain goodness. Therefore, on Yom Kippur, as a symbol of our desire to rise above all egoistic desires and act solely through bestowal and love toward one another, we fast. The fast symbolizes the wish to refrain from receiving anything for ourselves in an egoistic manner.
The Selichot (prayers for forgiveness), which reach their culmination on Yom Kippur, are phrased in the plural. This reflects the recognition that the change we need must occur in the connection between us. It is there that we are broken; it is there that we wrong one another. Accordingly, we turn to the upper force of love and bestowal through a collective prayer.
As Baal HaSulam explains, “When a person prays for the many, this is called a prayer of the many.” In other words, a prayer of the many is a person’s inclination to bestow goodness upon everyone rather than being focused solely on oneself, and this is the path to correction.
Yom Kippur therefore represents a profound inner reckoning. Having recognized the egoistic tendencies that separate us from one another and having identified what requires correction, we seek the strength to rise above self-concern and restore relationships founded on mutual care, bestowal, and love. Through this collective aspiration, we prepare ourselves for the next stage of spiritual development and deeper connection.
Sukkot represents the first correction we make in a series of corrections that continues through the subsequent holidays. The days of Sukkot symbolize a special illumination that comes to a person who desires to be connected with everyone.
It is written, “You shall dwell in booths for seven days,” corresponding to seven lights, seven corrective forces that we need in order to be transformed and corrected. In the language of Kabbalah, these are Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. These are also represented by the seven Ushpizin: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David.
The Sukkah symbolizes the upper force of love and bestowal, which embraces and surrounds us with its light. Sitting in the Sukkah symbolizes the forces of correction that come from above, meaning that these forces already exist in nature. It depends on us how strongly we yearn for them and how much we engage in acts of connection that awaken them to influence us.
At the conclusion of Sukkot, we arrive at Simchat Torah (“Rejoicing in the Torah”). In its inner meaning, the Torah is a method for correcting the evil inherent in human nature, a method explained step by step in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Simchat Torah symbolizes our wholehearted acceptance of this process. It expresses our joy at having received the method of correction and our willingness to put it into practice.
On the way to the complete correction that is symbolized by Purim, there is a special intermediate stage: Hanukkah.
Hanukkah is the Festival of Light. It symbolizes the victory of spirit over matter, the ability to rise above the egoistic inclination that is revealed within us in the form of the Greeks.
The sages tell us that the Greeks entered the hall and defiled all the oil. The Greeks’ entry into the hall signifies the intrusion of materialistic, egoistic thoughts into “The 'Hall' is the mind and heart, which are the hall within man.” (RABASH, “What Is the Miracle of Hanukkah?”). Therefore, the Maccabees went out to fight for the spirit of unity, for love and bestowal. Although they were few in number, they overcame those who were larger and stronger.
The miracle of Hanukkah is symbolized by the small amount of oil that was sufficient to keep the Menorah burning, and by the Maccabees, who, though few in number, were united and therefore prevailed over the Greeks, who were numerous and powerful. When we collectively invite the positive force, also called the "reforming light," to act upon the negative force, the powerful force that separates us from each other, that light enables us to rise above evil and connects us together in love.
The victory of Hanukkah represents a resting point along the path of correction. During this stage, we receive renewed strength to continue forward. We are replenished with “receiving the upper bestowal so [we] would have more strength to go forward in the war of the inclination.” (RABASH, "Letter 26").
Before moving on to Purim, which represents the culmination of the process, it is worth considering the spiritual meaning of Tu BiShvat.
Tu BiShvat is known as the New Year of the Trees. According to this spiritual perspective, the evil inclination in us exists in four levels of intensity: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking. Tu BiShvat symbolizes the correction of the vegetative level of the evil inclination.
As explained earlier, the evil inclination is the desire that opposes connection between people, and it manifests in different degrees. A person might live among others without causing them any harm, yet also without wanting to do them any good. In such a state, the evil inclination remains dormant, at the level of the inanimate.
However, when a person begins to enter into relationships with others, the evil inclination starts to emerge and directs the person against them. This is called the vegetative level, a stage of development in which the ego becomes more active and apparent. If we resist this egoistic tendency and works to correct it, we reach a state referred to as the “New Year of the Trees.”
This is the spiritual state symbolized by Tu BiShvat. It is the correction of the vegetative level of the ego and the beginning of a more active process of inner growth.
The process of correction reaches its completion in Purim.
Purim completes the process of correction that began on Yom Kippur. For this reason, the sages explain that Purim corresponds to Yom Kippur, whose Hebrew name (Yom HaKippurim) can be understood as “a day like Purim.”
The Book of Esther tells the story of the wicked Haman, who seeks the king’s permission to destroy all the Jews. However, Mordecai and Queen Esther overcome him and prevent the decree from being carried out. From this story, we as a people can learn that when division exists among us, an external force arises seeking our destruction, and that salvation can be found only through unity.
As stated earlier, a person is a small world. Therefore, all the characters in the Book of Esther represent forces that exist within our own hearts.
Haman the Agagite is descended from Amalek and represents “the evil inclination, which is called Amalek” (RABASH, "Blotting Out Amalek"). When we come to understand that this force within us causes us to abandon the path of bestowal and thereby brings spiritual death, that it prevents us from attaining the goodness and fulfillment available in life, we define it as evil.
Mordecai does not possess great power. He merely sits at the king’s gate, yet he is the one who provides a new direction. Through Mordecai’s right force, which symbolizes the intention of love and bestowal, we are able to overcome the immense power of Haman, thwart his evil scheme, and transform everything into good.
We hang Haman, which means that we take all of his power, i.e., all of the desire to receive and enjoy life, and use it in the opposite way. Instead of exploiting others for our own benefit, we direct that desire at bestowal and connection. This is the meaning of the final correction of the evil within us.
From a broader, contemporary global perspective, Purim symbolizes humanity’s ultimate liberation from the narrow egoism that is currently causing suffering throughout the world. The people of Israel carry the responsibility to correct the evil within themselves and help lead the world from evil to good, from separation to connection.
When all egoism is corrected and redirected at bestowal and love, we arrive at the completion of the annual cycle, the general final correction of both Israel and the world. This is the meaning of the verse from the Book of Esther: “And it was turned to the opposite.”
Precisely from the greatest darkness, the greatest Light is revealed.
With each holiday, according to what it symbolizes in terms of the corrected relationships between us, we are meant to realize another stage in the correction of the heart. However, there is no need to wait for the holiday’s date on the calendar. At any day, at any moment, a particular holiday can take place within us, until we reach the final correction, which is a state of complete love and bestowal. It depends solely on our efforts to connect.
Below is a summary of the primary spiritual significance of each holiday:
The cycle of the Jewish holidays, viewed through this spiritual lens, is not merely a sequence of commemorations of historical events. It is a map of inner human development, a progressive journey from separation to connection, from egoism to love, and from darkness to light. Each holiday marks another step in the process of correcting human nature until the ultimate state of unity is achieved, fulfilling the purpose of creation and bringing all humanity into harmony through mutual love and bestowal.
Based on "New Life 193 – The Holidays of Israel" with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.