The first commandment states: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
The ten commandments, which are laws that govern the system of connection, begin with the first principle that enables a correct perception of reality: the revelation of the one force that dwells within everything. This force embodies the unity of all existence, and its quality is pure love and bestowal.
By nature, we do not initially feel this single force operating throughout reality because we lack the proper receiver. In other words, we do not have the quality required to perceive it. The necessary quality is that of bestowal and love, whereas human beings are naturally created with the opposite quality called “the ego,” or “self-love.”
Therefore, the first commandment directs us to learn how to recognize the extent by which the ego enslaves us, how we are its servant, and how ruthlessly it exploits us. This awareness lets us distinguish between life enslaved to the ego, which in the Bible is called “the exile in Egypt,” and life beyond it.
In the Bible’s language, we are called “slaves” when we seeks to exploit others. This is because we do everything in service of our egoistic desire, aspiring to satisfy it and devoting all of our energy and thoughts to its fulfillment. We then have the opportunity to rise to the qualities of bestowal and love, to attain wholeness and make contact with eternity, yet we lose that because we remain confined in a narrow egoistic perception, bound by self-love.
The exodus of the people of Israel from the land of Egypt symbolized a departure from an egoistic attitude to reality. Following this, at Mount Sinai, we came to understand what it means to be connected through love and mutual responsibility. It was then that we received the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
This commandment defines the fundamental condition for the existence of the people of Israel: through the effort to unite above divisions, a higher force of bestowal and love becomes revealed among us. It lifts us out of our narrow self-love and harmoniously connects us.
Based on “New Life 159 – The Ten Commandments, Part 2” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.