The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: July 3, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work? Article No. 26, 1990.
Reader: Dear friends, we will learn in the first part of the lesson, a lesson of Rav's from the 11th of June, 2002. The lesson is based on the article, What Is, There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You, in the Work? It is Article Number Twenty-Six from 1990 of Rabash. We will read the article in the Ten for thirty-three minutes.
Reader: (00:39) What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work?
Article No. 26, 1990
The Zohar says (Tazria, Item 37), “‘If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child.’ Rabbi Yehuda started, ‘There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You, and there is no rock like our God.’ This verse is perplexing. It is written, ‘There is none as holy as the Lord.’ This implies that there is another one who is holy, though a little worse than the Creator. Also, ‘There is no rock like our God’ implies that there is another rock, but is a little worse than the Creator. He replies that there are many holy ones. There are holy ones above, meaning angels, and Israel are also holy, but there are none as holy as the Creator. And what is the reason? ‘For there is none besides You.’ Rather, the holiness of the Creator is without their holiness, of the angels and of Israel, for He does not need their holiness. However, they are not holy without You. ‘And there is no rock like our God’ means that the Creator forms a form within a form, meaning the form of the Ubar [embryo] within the form of its mother.”
We should understand the connection between “If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child” and the verse, “There is none as holy as the Lord, and there is no rock like our God.” Also, how did you think of saying that the people of Israel impart Kedusha [holiness] upon the Creator, for which the text should tell us, “There is none as holy as the Lord”? And also, what is the meaning in the work, that he interprets “There is no rock like our God,” as the Creator forming a form within a form?
It is known that the order of the work is that we must achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, as it is written, “You will be holy, for I am holy.” This means that as the Creator is holy and separated from reception, for the Creator only bestows and does not receive, we must also be holy and separated from reception, and all our actions must be only in order to bestow upon the Creator.
However, since we were born with a nature of self-reception, how can we be rewarded with Kedusha and be separated from self-love? This quality of the will to receive for oneself is called “evil inclination,” and our sages said about it, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” In other words, by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in order to achieve Lishma [for Her sake], the light in the Torah will reform him. This means that he will emerge from the governance of evil and will do good. That is, he will be able to do good deeds, which are called “acts of bestowal.”
It therefore follows that only man’s actions when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot cause him to be rewarded with Kedusha, meaning to be holy and separated from acts of self-reception, and will be in a state of “As He is merciful, so you are merciful,” regarded as equivalence of form. This is called “You will be holy, for I am holy.”
It therefore follows that a person has been rewarded with Kedusha by himself, as our sages said, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” That is, “According to the sorrow, so is the reward.” This means that according to the labor that one gives in order to be awarded with the reward, to that extent he is rewarded, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”
Therefore, this means that the Creator does not give assistance from above, meaning Kedusha from above, before a person gives Kedusha from below. That is, when a person sanctifies himself and comes to purify, the Creator can give him Kedusha from above. It therefore follows that the Creator cannot give Kedusha from above until the creatures give Kedusha from below.
Now we can interpret what we asked about how The Zohar answers the question, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” implying that there is another one who is holy, but is a little worse than the Creator. He replies that the fact that it is written, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” is because “There is none besides You.” However, the Kedusha of the Creator is without their Kedusha, for He does not need their Kedusha. “However, they are not holy without You.”
We asked, How can you think of saying that the Creator takes the Kedusha that He has from below, from Israel, can we say this? However, when it concerns the work, although it is implied in all the places in the words of our sages that the fact that the Creator gave Kedusha to the people of Israel, is because He needed them, hence, first there must be an awakening on the part of man, meaning that he should have a desire for Kedusha, then the Creator can give Kedusha.
It follows that the Creator needs the Kedusha from below, and then he can give them Kedusha. The Zohar tells us about this, “There is none as holy as the Lord.” This means that man has no Kedusha at all, meaning that the Kedusha that the Creator gives, He does not need man’s Kedusha. In other words, first a person should be in the form of “He who comes to purify,” and then the Creator can give him Kedusha.
He says about this, “For there is none besides You,” for there is no one to assist You, to give of their Kedusha, meaning that they will give You Kedusha from below, since “There is none besides You,” there is no other force in the world but the Creator. In other words, we must believe in private Providence, as it is written (in Thirteen Tenets, presented in the prayer book after “On us”), “I believe in complete faith, that the Creator, blessed be His name, creates and leads all creations, and He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.”
This means that after a person has done good deeds, by which he will be rewarded with Kedusha, with being holy, meaning that all his actions will be only to bestow, it implies as though man helps the Creator. The Zohar says about this, “For there is none besides You.” Rather, the Creator does everything, and He does not need man’s Kedusha to help Him. Instead, “He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds,” and man has no part in this.
Thus, what is the meaning of “He who comes to purify is aided”? It seems as though man does do! We should interpret that this means that man must believe that now he has come to purify and not before. This action, when a person comes now to purify, comes from the assistance from above. In other words, previously, there was an awakening from above, which gave him a desire and yearning to come purify and sanctify himself. It follows that his coming to purify now is not by man’s power, but rather comes from above.
In this way, we should interpret what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 5:27), “Ben Heh Heh says, ‘The reward is according to the sorrow.’” This means that to the extent of the sorrow that a person suffers while observing Torah and Mitzvot, so will his reward increase. This implies that a person does do something, and for doing it, he is rewarded. However, this, too, we should interpret in the above manner, that man must believe that the sorrow and labor that a person has in feeling that he is far from Dvekut with the Creator and that he is immersed in self-love, this sorrow is called “reward.”
In other words, the Creator gave him an awakening not to want to remain in the state of the general public, who go with the flow of the world and do not reflect on what makes them higher in degree than any other animal. That is, they feed on the same things that animals feed, and do not feel that they were created in God’s image, meaning that they have any connection to Godliness and that they must receive nourishment from spirituality, which is suitable for the speaking level and not for the animate level.
This is a reward. That is, the labor and sorrow that they feel is that actual reward that the Creator gives them. We should not think that this is labor that comes by itself when a person exerts. Rather, this is a reward that the Creator calls them to the work of the Creator, whereas others, He does not call. Thus, along with the sorrow and suffering they feel, they should be happy that the Creator wants to connect with them.
According to the above, we should interpret “According to the sorrow, so is the reward,” meaning to what extent should one appreciate the Creator rewarding him? The answer is that according to the sorrow and labor he can feel from being far from the Creator, this is the measure of the reward.
This means that when we want to know how much was the profit of the reward, a person should evaluate how much suffering and sorrow he had had from being far from the work of the Creator. This is the measure of the reward. In other words, it is impossible to appreciate the lack of spirituality before one feels the importance of spirituality. To the extent of the importance of spirituality, to that extent a person can feel the need for it.
It follows that the sensation of the lack is already a reward. Hence, we should interpret the words of Ben Heh Heh, who says, “According to the sorrow.” When a person regrets being far from the Creator, it does not come from the person, but the Creator gave him this feeling, and not the person by himself.
This means that by the Creator illuminating for him the importance of spirituality, to that extent he is sorry that he is far from spirituality. For this reason, we must not say that what a person comes to purify is work that comes from a person. Rather, the Creator gave him a thought and desire to come and purify.
It follows that this is not out of man’s work that we can say that the Kedusha that the Creator has given him, Kedusha from above, the person helped Him, too. Rather, “There is none besides You.” As in the words of The Zohar, the Creator does not need any Kedusha of theirs, meaning of the lower ones, but He does everything.
In this manner, we should interpret the words of our sages about the verse (Exodus 32:10), “And now leave Me alone.” RASHI interpreted that “We still did not hear that Moses prayed for them, and He says, ‘And now leave Me alone.’ However, here He opened for him an opening and notified him that the matter was up to him, that if he prayed for them, He would not destroy them” (Gate of the Words of Our Sages).
We should interpret the words of our sages, who said, “Here He opened for him an opening and notified him that the matter was up to him, that if he prayed for them, He would not destroy them.” It means that the Creator notified him, meaning gave him a desire to pray for Israel that He will forgive them the sin of the calf. It follows that the fact that the Creator told him to pray means that He gave him the strength to pray. That is, unless the Creator gives the strength to pray, a person cannot pray.
It therefore follows that the fact that a person prays to the Creator to forgive his sins, that, too, comes from the Creator, for the Creator gives him the strength and desire to pray. It follows that the Creator does everything. In other words, even when a person prays to the Creator to forgive his sins, they implied about this too, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” since “There is none besides You,” to have power of Kedusha. Rather, everything comes from the Creator.
However, we must not forget that although we say, “Everything comes from the Creator,” a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” Rather, everything depends on the acts of people. Although this is in contradiction to the above-said, we must believe that so it is, as Maimonides says (as said in Article No. 25, Tav-Shin-Nun).
According to the above, we should interpret what is said on Shabbat [Sabbath] in the song, “Anyone who sanctifies the seventh properly, anyone who observes Shabbat according to the law, so as not to desecrates it, his reward is great, according to his work.” This is difficult to understand. What is the novelty in saying, “His reward is great, according to his work”? This is a straightforward matter; it is customary that one is paid according to the value of one’s work. So, what is he telling us by saying, “His reward is great, according to his work”? Can it be otherwise?
If he had said that one who observes Torah and Mitzvot, even though he transgresses a little, receives a great reward, if this were so then there would be a novelty to hear. But if he does not receive reward more than he works, this is natural and so it is in corporeality.
However, the novelty is that when Shabbat comes, when a person is rewarded with the quality of Shabbat, he feels the truth, that the work itself is the reward that the Creator gives to a person, meaning that He gives a person a thought and desire to observe Torah and Mitzvot and to come and purify himself, as it is written, “He who comes to purify.” The question is, Why did he come to purify now, at this time, and not before? When a person receives assistance from above, the person comes to purify and not before. It follows that the meaning of “His reward is great according to his work” is that the fact that a person works and labors in Torah and Mitzvot is his reward.
It turns out that if he works a lot, this is the reward that the Creator has given him. That is, He gave a thought and desire to do the holy work. Thus, this is not as it is in corporeality, where to the extent that a person works, any worker receives a salary, meaning a reward in return for his work. Rather, here the innovation is that the reward is the work.
Accordingly, the meaning of “His reward is great,” is that how much is the reward? There is no matter here of giving him more reward or less reward. This can be said when a person works in order to receive reward in return for his work, where there is the matter of surpluses and deficits. But if the reward is the work itself, there is no issue of being rewarded for the work. Therefore, to imply this, he says, “His reward is great,” specifically “according to his work,” since only the work is the reward.
By this we should interpret what is written (Deuteronomy 4:2), “You shall not add to the thing which I command you, nor will you take away from it, to keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” In the work, we should interpret what he says. We understand “Nor will you take away,” but why is it forbidden to add?
In the work, we should interpret that if a person wants to receive more reward, his way can be by adding more Torah and Mitzvot. But rather, “Do not add and do not take away,” since the reward is the work itself that the Creator gives to a person a place to serve the King. And that power is the reward. Hence, there is the intimation, “Do not add and do not take away,” meaning that it is impossible to add more, to receive more reward, but that it is precise, meaning the work and the reward are as two drops in a pond.
This is so particularly in the work. That is, when a person wants to work on the path of truth, which is work in order to bestow, although the literal meaning pertains to practical Mitzvot, that in practice, it means you should not add or take away, but in terms of the intention, meaning when a person works in order to bestow, there is also the matter of “Do not add.” In other words, it is impossible to add to the reward more than he works, since what he wants to receive more from the work is that he wants a reward, meaning that besides the work, he will be given a reward. It follows that he is working Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. But as said above, the reward and the work are equal, and it is impossible to receive more reward, but only according to the work.
According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar explains about the verse, “There is no rock like our God.” It means that the Creator forms a form within a form, meaning the form of the Ubar [embryo] within the form of its mother. What is “forms a form within a form” in the work? It is that a person sanctifies himself, meaning wants to work in order to bestow. This Kedusha does not come from man, so that man helps the Creator in any way, for the Creator to impart Kedusha upon him, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” Rather, the Creator does everything, for “He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.”
This is the meaning of what is written, “forms a form within a form,” meaning the form of the Ubar within the form of its mother. This means that the form of the mother is the basis, and with this form, the man is born. This is called “the form of its mother.” Afterward, when a person begins the work and wants to walk on the path of bestowal, he begins with the first degree of Kedusha.
It is known that there are three discernments called 1) Ibur, 2) Yenika, 3) Mochin.
The first beginning, when a person enters the Kedusha, is the Ubar. This is the meaning of the Creator forming a form of bestowal within the previous form, which is the mother, who is called “vessels of reception.” In the vessels of reception, the man is born. Afterward, the man shifts to Kedusha, which is that all his actions are for the sake of the Creator.
Thus, who gave him the vessels of bestowal? It is as we learn, that Aviut [thickness] de Keter is called Aviut de Shoresh, and is called Aviut of the Ubar. The Shoresh [root] is the Creator, whose desire is to do good to His creations. When a person receives the first quality of Kedusha, he receives vessels of bestowal, meaning he can aim to bestow in vessels of bestowal.
This is called that the Creator “forms a form,” meaning the form of bestowal, which is that He gives him the power to be able to bestow within the form of his mother, who is the previous state, before he came to connect with the Kedusha. The previous state is called “mother,” and the next state is called Ibur.
After the Ubar there is birth, until the newborn grows and through corrections becomes Gadol [big/grownup], regarded as having been rewarded with Mochin of Kedusha. We should interpret Ubar from the word Over [passing], which is the first state, when he passes from using the vessels of reception into the degree of Kedusha, where he uses only Kelim [vessels] that can aim to bestow. Otherwise, the Kelim are not used.
It follows that Ibur is the most important. As in corporeality, when a woman conceives, she is certain to also deliver. Thus, all the concern is for the woman to conceive. Afterward, the woman will usually deliver, too. However, sometimes there are exceptions and the woman has a miscarriage due to some corruption.
Likewise, in the work, the main thing that is hard for us is to enter the Ubar, meaning that the will to receive will receive within it a different desire called “desire to bestow.” When a person is rewarded with the state of Ubar, meaning that within the desire to receive enters a desire to bestow, this is considered that the Creator forms a form within a form.
We should understand this wonder of forming a form within a form. According to what we interpreted, this is a great novelty, a real miracle, since it is against nature, for only the Creator can change nature, and it is out of man’s hands. This is the novelty, that the Creator forms the form of bestowal within the form of the mother, which is the form of reception. This is called the Kedusha that the Creator gives.
It is said, “There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You,” as there is no one in the world who can change nature and make within the Kli [vessel] that comes to a person by nature, the desire to receive, that it will later have a different nature, called “desire to bestow.” This is all the innovation of forming a form within a form.
Now we should interpret the meaning of the proximity of “If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child.” Rabbi Yehuda started with what is written, “There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You.” It is known that sowing is like, for instance, taking wheat or barley and so forth, and placing them in the ground until they decay. Afterward, the grain that we need comes out of them.
In the work, a woman is considered the one who works, the one who should deliver. For this reason, if the woman, who is a female, meaning a vessel of reception, if one sows the quality of a “woman,” meaning a female—which is the will to receive—in the ground, to decay, this will later yield a male. In other words, if a person sows his female in the ground, meaning the vessels of reception, it will yield vessels of bestowal, called “male.”
And if the man inseminates first, meaning that he wants the vessels of bestowal in him to decay in the earth, meaning that when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, his intention is that by bestowing and engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, his aim is for the acts of bestowal to come into the earth and decay, then she delivers a female. That is, his will to receive grows. This is the meaning of delivering a female. In other words, the acts of bestowal will bring him self-benefit, called “female.”
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Reader: (30:13) We will now continue to the recorded lesson from June 11, 2002.
M. Laitman: We read the article from Volume Two of Shlavey HaSulam, the Tazria portion: What is, There is None as Holy as the Lord, for There is None Besides You, in the Work? We hear that there are several actions a person needs to perform during the period of preparation and afterward, upon entering spirituality where there are also the stages of birth, conception, Ibur, nursing, Yenika, and adulthood, Mochin. That is, states of smallness and greatness, infancy and adulthood, Katnut and Gadlut, that even during the preparation period, there are various kinds of work. When a person is already in spirituality and the perception of godliness, he also goes through several stages. They're called, the twenty-four hours of the spiritual day; afterward, the days of the week, the Sabbath, the month, the new moon, the various festivals. That is, appointed times which are special spiritual states. A person needs to work with them and engage in them.
In part twelve of the Study of the Ten Sefirot, we study prayer and how it is divided continuously throughout the twenty-four hours of the day. Sleep is not even really sleep, rather, it's a special preparation for the next stage, and in it there is much work in every state. In other words, all the states discussed in spirituality are states in which a person seemingly must make an even greater effort to carry out certain corrections as we learn. Unique corrections, as we say or maybe something similar, but here, it's written differently: What is, There is None as Holy as the Lord, for There is None Besides You, in the Work? It means that all the work is done by the Lord, by the Creator. The Lord performs the work, it is His work – what's left for a person to do? If everything's done by the Creator, what is left for the person? The person needs to reach a realization that indeed there is none holy as the Lord and that there is no one besides the Creator who performs all the actions, who does everything, plans everything. And that the beginning, the execution, and the outcome all belong to Him. All of our work, all the efforts we need to make are only to feel what's truly happening to us and to feel it as correctly as possible.
Indeed, we also learn that all the degrees, that is, all our states from our present state until the future, even until the end of correction, and the future is even beyond that! All of these states already exist, we're already in them, they are existing states; we simply have to pass from one state to the next, from one state to another. We can only do so through the force of this movement called the light which corrects and fills us. At every stage, it corrects and fills us. That's what advancement means that we are advancing.
M. Laitman: (34:42) This light, of course, performs its actions upon us entirely without our intervention. Even the request for the light to come and correct us becomes depicted in us as a special request that we ourselves could never have created. Because we do not know what the light is, what to be drawn to, what to yearn for, or what to attain; however, everything a person needs to do is to pay attention to what is happening within him, what the Creator wants from him, and what the Creator is doing to him at this very moment. In other words, he simply must become sensitive to his contact with godliness. The moment a person senses a state, that state changes, he's already felt it, absorbed it, accepted it upon himself – that state has become his. Then, now, afterward, he once again sharpens his senses in order to attain equivalence of form and feel the next state. That's how it is from one state to the next, and even in that, of course, there is the Creator's act upon the person.
However, the person depends on trying to awaken a certain yearning, I would say, to realize the yearning that the Creator gives him or to become aware of the yearning that he receives from above. This is how he progresses, accordingly, we learn that all these states: birth, conception, nursing, and adulthood, Ibur, Yenika, Mochin. They're certainly states that are executed by the upper One. The preparation that a person needs to make is simply to become sensitive to them – to be ready for the action that the Creator performs – this is what it means, that corresponding to the Kedusha, the holiness that comes from above, a person must prepare his own Kedusha, his own holiness from below.
Question (Petah Tikva): (37:56) How is it that during the act, if a person knows that it's the Creator acting, how does it not paralyze the person? He says here that the work itself is the reward. How is that, if a person does something, it's because he wants to receive some kind of reward?
M. Laitman: A person who is in the perception of godliness understands that this, itself, is the reward, that there is no greater reward.
Student: What to do the next moment?
M. Laitman: In the next moment, there is only one thing to do, to become even more united, to sharpen one's senses even further, to attain even greater inner sensitivity in one's contact with the Creator. This search, this connection, this discovery of contact, when they give it to a person, it's given by increasing the illumination upon him – that is the reward! We need to understand that progressing to the end of correction, even though it includes within itself all kinds of alternating states of light and darkness. That the progress itself is the reward; that a person is brought to this process, that he is given a lack, and he is given an ability to realize that lack. How could that not be considered a reward? Punishment is when one is not given this treatment, so-to-speak, that he is, seemingly, left alone, not attended to, that he feels kind of a delay. For such a person, that is the punishment, there's no greater punishment needed. My God, why have You forsaken me? That is the punishment, we're talking about people who yearn for godliness, who truly are, as it is written, Jews; that is, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How was Abraham distinguished from all the other people? By becoming a Kabbalist, by recognizing his Creator and wanting to unite with Him, that is what distinguished him from those Persians.
In other words, our nation is not defined by some unique biological genes but because they were Kabbalists – a group of Kabbalists that became differentiated from among the Persian people. And that is how they came to be called, and they, themselves, began calling themselves Jews, Yehudim, or Hebrews or Ivrim. Jews, Yehudim, are those who seek unity, Yehud and Ivrim, Hebrews, are those who come over the barrier, the Machsom, that is our nation. The moment one falls from the degree of a Kabbalist, one is called, a Gentile, that is all; so, one who is in this process receives everything that happens to him as a reward. Why would there be anything beyond that?
Question (Petah Tikva): (41:58) Disconnection, too? If there is disconnection, it comes from Him so this we also need?
M. Laitman: Disconnection also comes from the Creator, certainly, like everything else, it comes from Him but disconnection is received as punishment, what does that mean? You're already touching on something else, how should a person respond to such a state? A person should, so-to-speak, Bless the good just as he blesses the bad and the bad just as he blesses the good, that's a different matter but disconnection from godliness, well, maybe not from godliness, itself, but from progress. From the ability to progress, that is, from the ability to attain equivalence of form with the Creator, that is truly the only punishment that exists in reality.
For us, it becomes expressed even in the animal or corporeal level through greater troubles, more negative experiences, it affects our physical bodies. Every good comes from Him, every evil comes from His posterior, His backside, from concealment. You have a problem, not with the concealment itself, but how you should accept it, how you should relate to it. Punishment is punishment and there is no way around that, to the extent that you feel the concealment, to that extent you do not agree with it, that is all. It is possible to correct the concealment through the quality of Hassadim to the extent that a person detaches from his personal sensations, rises above them. Desires only mercy, Chafetz Chesed and thereby makes corrections and everything else. However you look at it, it's still a punishment. Anything less than the end of correction is ultimately a punishment, isn't that clear?
Question (Petah Tikva): (44:15) If we say that everything comes from the Creator, including the yearning and everything that happens, it also comes from Him. So how can we talk about punishments at all? It's as if the person doesn't exist at all.
M. Laitman: No, the fact that everything that comes from the Creator does not erase the person, a person is the sensing element. What is a vessel? As we learned, a vessel is the desire to enjoy from the Creator. The Creator fills the vessel with His presence beyond the bare necessity, beyond what we learn in phase one of the four phases of direct light. All additional fulfillments come from feeling Him, from feeling the Host, not from what He has prepared for me. The vessel is the one who feels the Creator's reality; and the degree of concealment or the degree of revelation determines the degree of emptiness or fullness in the vessel. When we learn that there are certain actions on behalf of the vessels through screens, discernments, and so forth. If we truly investigate the essence of those actions, we see that their essence is, first and foremost, to become aware of what is happening to me: who is doing this to me, why is He doing it and what does He want from me? Once a person scrutinizes these things, the states change, improve, and they become other states, and so on.
In other words, the person is not the one who performs the action, the Creator is the one who acts, but the person is the sensing element who must discern within his feelings what's truly happening to him. The moment he scrutinizes a state, the state changes, he scrutinizes the next state and it changes as well. The scrutiny of the state, what am I feeling which includes what am I feeling, who is doing this for me, what purpose is He doing it for? This whole range of these perceptions is called the work of scrutiny and the correction of feeling. It is because we already exist in the world of infinity, the world of Ein Sof, we don't need to correct anything except this feeling. I only need to correct this dullness of my senses, that is all, and even that I do not actually correct. I only become aware each time that I'm in this state of dullness and then it becomes scrutinized; to the extent that I understand the negativity of that state, that I recognize the Creator's Achoraim, posterior, it changes into His Panim, His face, and so it continues. In other words, our only actions lie in our inner effort, in striving to find myself, Him, and the method as one. As Baal HaSulam writes in Letters, in Letter Sixty-Four, this is the single point that I need to continually sharpen more and more, making it even clearer, if I make that effort. Then that is my whole action – all that fog gradually disperses and disperses further until I discover that I truly am where I always was, even beforehand, I am in the end of correction.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:18) What does it mean to prepare in the feeling?
M. Laitman: According to the correction of the vessels, there is, afterwards, a filling, and that filling brings us the feeling of the Creator. The Creator fills the person, He dresses Himself in the person, that is what the person feels.
Student: What is the preparation for that?
M. Laitman: The preparation for that is preparation of the feelings, preparing the vessels, that's all. Let's say I don't hear well, then I need to get a hearing aid; if I don't see well, I need glasses. If I don't taste well, then maybe I need to clean my mouth or do something else,maybe taste a little something sour or sweet, somehow, to prepare my senses. If I'm not so much in this consciousness, if I'm not so aware, I need to have a cup of coffee or something like that. I need to become more sensitive. I need, maybe, to listen to some special music, beforehand – there are all kinds of preparations, as we can see. Let's say, you could cry in front of me and I'd laugh at you, other times, you might simply begin speaking and I'll already start crying because of what you're saying – everything depends on the person's preparation. We already exist in the end of correction in the highest possible state; however, because of the dullness of our senses, we feel only a tiny fraction of it, and even that in a distorted way to the point that we complain about our lives. All we need is to correct our senses, that's all, that's the work of correction.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:19) Can we say that preparation means developing a need or a desire to feel?
M. Laitman: First of all, there needs to be a necessity for that, of course, this is called the recognition of evil. This, too, how can I tell if the good thing is hidden? He talks about this: the son of the wealthy man is in a basement, he has nothing, poor, given only a little bit of food sent down from above, right? They lower it into his basement and he's in trouble, he curses his father, how cruel is the father for making such a life for him? Then, he's brought out to the street and you show him that there is a different way to live, also. Then, he fully understands what kind of situation he's in, right? It's us working through these different states, so he doesn't understand at all what's happening with him. That he's the absolute poorest person that could be until gradually, gradually he learns, what does it mean that he learns? He's sorrowful for twenty years and then he's given some light in his basement, some fire, light. Then, he begins to see that all this was done for him, why was he in sorrow for twenty years? Because without that – less than that – he would not have been able to truly digest how much wealth he has now. The vessel needs to be compatible with the revelation.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:00) We said that every state includes three things: one part is the feeling of the state itself; and then there's the question of why He is doing it, and then how to?
M. Laitman: What is He asking from me?
Student: How do we clarify that state? How do I scrutinize why He's doing this to me? What does it mean to scrutinize that, what are we talking about here?
M. Laitman: Well, you see that there are many people in the world who turn to the upper force, so-to-speak. I remember being in San Francisco; there, you have these statues – Christian statues in the street, the Madonna with the baby, right – these Mexican Christians, they come there and they kiss that statue. I remember this up in the street in American City or Modern, and you see actual idol worship, right? Very nice, you have an example, I don't just travel for, well. In general, Baal HaSulam also gives an example, not the same but the kibbutznikim in the Negev, even though they don't know, because, well, they have this request because they feel bad. But this request is a need in the heart, whether they want to or not, this is a plea to the Creator because He creates this state for them, people turn to Him, each and every one. He says even a little lice or something, suffering, having nothing to eat, like a woodlouse or something. Her sorrow is also a plea to the Source, the Creator, the question is how to turn to Him, this is the question, nothing else, right? From envy or, rather, from that woodlouse through to bigger animals and people. Those who bow down to the statue and all the way through to those kibbutzniks in the Negev and those who truly pray as believing Jews, the inanimate of holiness. And through to those who truly want to turn to Him and to know who they're turning to and their Kli is also for a different need.
Meaning the essential difference, the profound difference in all those prayers from that woodlouse through to the person who makes a plea for his own needs – meaning to have it good in this world and to have it good in the next world – these are pleas which are within the framework of this world. A person who begins to plead not to have it good in the next world, but rather, there's some emotion there regarding the Creator, Himself. It's a little bit of not for her sake and for her sake, Lo Lishma and Lishma, together. This is already a purposeful, goal-oriented plea because truly addressing the Creator, we're not talking about the kibbutzniks who are praying that they have no rain – that's their sorrow or even a person just shouting to the Creator because he feels bad, he wants to feel good. We're talking about an address which will also be difficult to express with words; where if I ask corrections of Him, to be like Him, this is also for myself, actually. This is also not Lishma, not for her sake, Lishma is a feeling that we don't know how to express at all. How can I turn to Him in such a way where this request is completely detached from me, seemingly at least, right, only in His direction, for His benefit. So, all of our work is through these different kinds of relations with Him, ways to relate to Him, and we need to reach that kind of attitude. Meaning a person needs to always be in me, the Creator, and the paths of the Torah, meaning the steps that I take through my scrutinies with regards to Him, that is called the Torah, or the light. And that's how I relate to Him, yes, so these steps will always, always, instead of being directed towards me, they're more and more directed towards Him, to invert the direction – that is the work.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:38) So, this scrutiny really means that I examine my attitude, whether my appeal is detached from myself?
M. Laitman: Only the attitude, meaning I exist, this is easy for me to depict, and my desire for Him, this is also not such a big issue. Although that does escape us sometimes, to grab onto Him, maybe I'm grabbing some kind of image, which this is internally, something is telling me that this is the Creator, maybe. And that also changes constantly, it doesn't matter, we don't know what the Creator is, what form, in the final kind of way we feel Him. But these two points, me and Him, I can somehow shape, yes, in each and every state of mine, and the problem is that in each state I have, I have these two points: how can I now transition to, well, check my attitude towards Him? That's to the extent that He, how much is He for me, and how I would describe to myself that I will be aiming towards Him, that's all. By that I finish my scrutiny, and then I'm given the next state.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:56) What you just described sounds like the direct light and the reflected light during the period of preparation, examining my attitude toward Him according to His attitude toward me?
M. Laitman: Alright, if you describe it as direct light and reflected light and coupling by striking, fine. Yes, there you have, there it's a bit – yes, you could say that it's one opposite the other – let it be so for now, meaning, this is, it's not a mistake what you're saying, yes!
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:31) In the articles we've been studying, we see that in spirituality the female aspect represents the actual desire to receive. We also say that what we need to do is specifically to correct our desire to receive and transform it into the desire to bestow. So if that's the case, then in corporeality, why aren't women sitting here studying in the morning lesson instead of the men, if it's supposed to correspond one-to-one?
M. Laitman: You're saying, if we're depicting the vessel that needs correction as a female, then why aren't there women sitting here instead of us, and we, God bless, could go home?
Student: And take care of the children?
M. Laitman: Yes, that you didn't add, but yes! A woman is called a lack, a want, from the word Nekev. One who feels a lack for godliness and the Creator, specifically to become equal with Him in form. He's called one who has a lack, he's called Nekeva, female, a vessel worthy of reception and the correction and the reception of the light. And these vessels, as we talked about Abraham, they come mostly, most especially to his offspring and not the women — mostly to the men. There are two degrees in this also: a woman is more tightly bound to reality, she's more bound to nature, and because of that, that's how she functions in this world. That's what dictates her desires, she can't exit that, the way the man is much more detached from reality, detached from nature. That's why he makes many more mistakes and errors in this world than women do; women somehow, they hold themselves in this world in a much more realistic way, much more stable than men – that we can see.
And so the lack for spirituality, it doesn't come according to gender, beastly gender, but rather it arrives to the extent that a person is more worthy to rise above nature and yearn for divinity. And women, by the nature of their creation, they're not as worthy of that as the men; and so men are obligated to engage in this work and women aren't. A woman doesn't have to, but to the extent that she truly receives that need, then she's obligated to the correction, but how many are there who truly have a need for that? And so there's this examination.
M. Laitman: (01:03:10) If you give a woman all the things that she needs to receive by nature, meaning a home, a husband, children — as we say, a woman is the home, right? As we say — if after all that she still yearns for godliness, then she really has that spark, that true spark. And if she seems to yearn for godliness but she doesn't have these basics, these basic things, then she's simply looking for fulfillment through spirituality for her corporeal needs, her natural needs. Why don't I go to examine a man in this way? Because a man doesn't have these desires to have a woman, home, and children to the same extent that a woman has, he's detached from that. And so there's no such examination, we test the man in a different way. He has to be married, he has to have a family – connected to the home, he has to work. There's no obligation for women to work, the home is her place of work by nature; you understand how she's tied to something different than the men. Also, you can ask, you can go to social security and so on and ask, it's according to the laws of the nation as well. In every nation, the man has to provide, the woman has to sit at home. Today, even in the 21st century, that is the attitude, because that is unchanging, that is nature, we understand it.
And so we examine it, well, differently: if a man, after he has a trade, he works, he has a family, if after that he yearns for spirituality, then he has the right desire, truly for spirituality, probably. But you give him these things, also, and not just any man at an age where he doesn't have any burden on his shoulders. So, you have different tests for men and women, according to their inner structure. And certainly, I heard from the Rebbe, from Rabash that his second wife, indeed, according to her desire for spirituality, she can sit amongst his students and learn. This cannot be done for a different reason – that you can't mix together, it's a different kind of soul, it needs to be a different method, if we're studying seriously, right? If it's serious study, and not just talks, right, in the beginning but certainly, yes, if there's a desire, then a woman can also do it. And this is a problem, the Rebbe also had his eldest daughter, she passed away at a relatively young age. She wanted so much that Baal HaSulam, himself, gave her lessons while she wasn't yet married. And the Rebbe married her off to his student, Yitzhak Agassi – he was an Iraqi guy, very powerful, very strong, he was the Rebbe's best student. And they both passed away at a young age. They left two children orphaned, and they passed away before me, before I came to the Rebbe.
M. Laitman: (01:07:21) So, he says, dad, father, meaning Baal HaSulam, you studied, you studied, she learned, and the moment she became pregnant, the desire disappeared: as it's written, a woman who gets pregnant, all of her thoughts are about the child. That's it, and then completely, he said, it's a wonder. Together, me, meaning him, Baal HaSulam, they looked at her and they saw that the desire vanished completely, and that is nature and that's why you check. Meaning, this is one of the examinations, that's an example so that's how you check the woman. If she has everything that she deserves by nature, and with all that, she still yearns for the Creator, then, yes. We also have such women in our group. We have, you see many women who seem to have all the minimal things that a woman needs to have. They're still drawn to this, many today, certainly, this is a new phenomenon – they're drawn to it.
Well, this, we have a group here, and all the, there are many other reasons for this situation. Seemingly, artificial – could be, you could say – but however it may be, it exists. I mean, maybe it's not truly her desire itself, but she awakens because of the society. Well, by that, she awakens more the development of the point in the heart, until it begins to burn by itself, that point. But we see that, yes, this exists, but the method even, when a woman has this desire, the method is still different, different method.
Reader: Let's share impressions and lesson on what we're going to take to implement in the Ten, six minutes; then we’ll go to the next part of the lesson but first, sing a song!
Song: (01:15:50)