The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: June 15, 2026

Part 1: Concerning Help that Comes from Above. Rabash. Rabash. Art. 8 (1986)

Original lesson date: 02/17/2002

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part, we will learn from a recorded lesson from the 17th of February, 2002, based on the article “Concerning Help that Comes from Above,” the writings of Rabash, “Concerning Help that Comes from Above.” We'll read it together in the Ten. We have 40 minutes for that.

Reading: (00:33) Concerning Help that Comes from Above

Article No. 8, 1986

Our sages said (Sukkah, 52), “Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish said, ‘Man’s inclination overcomes him every day and seeks to to put him to death, as it is said, ‘The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to put him to death.’ If the Creator did not help him, he would not overcome it, as it is said, ‘The Lord will not leave him in his hand or condemn when he is judged.’’”

It is written in The Zohar (Vayishlach, item 10): “Rabbi Hizkiya said, ‘Why then is it written, ‘And Jacob was left alone’? Where were all the camps of messengers that you say surrounded him and came with him?’ Rabbi Yehuda said, ‘Since he brought danger upon himself by remaining alone at night and seeing the danger with his eye. Since they came to guard him only from an invisible danger, they parted him.’ Then he said, ‘I am not worthy of all the mercies and all the truth that You have shown Your servant.’ These are the camps of holy messengers that surrounded him and now parted him for he had put himself in evident danger. Rabbi Yitzhak said, ‘This is why the holy messengers parted him. They surrounded him and have now parted him because he put himself in evident danger.’”

Accordingly, there is a question: “When did the messengers part from him?” They parted when he put himself in danger. That is, first he put himself in danger, and then the messengers parted from him. It was said about this, “And Jacob was left alone.” That is, when they saw, they parted. We should say—“as one comes in and one comes out.”

We should understand why the messengers did not come to guard him in the face of evident danger. It is as though we say that they are unable to keep him from real and evident danger. If so, when can they keep him, when it is not evident? And if the danger is not evident, who knows that there is danger here that requires keeping? That is, to whom should it be evident, to the person? Or if the messengers see that there is evident danger, they leave although the person does not know?

To explain this in the work, we first have to know what is the danger there. Afterwards we will explain what is “evident danger.” It is known that the work begins from the right line. “Right” means something that does not require correction. That which requires correction is called “left,” as our sages said, “We place the Tefillin on the left, as it was said, ‘And it shall be a token on your hand.’” Yad-Koh [your hand]. Our sages said, “The left pushes away and the right pulls closer.”

For this reason, when a person is taught to walk in the ways of the work he begins from the right because the right there poses no danger to the spiritual life, since he can always add because the right line is called Hesed [mercy]. This means that a person appreciates the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] and says that the Creator has been merciful with him by giving him a thought and desire to observe Torah and Mitzvot. And even the simplest intention, meaning that he does not know what thoughts to think during the performance of Mitzvot and while engaging in the Torah, but simply knows that he is observing the commandment of the Creator, who commanded us through Moses, this is enough to commit him to observe the Torah and Mitzvot according to his ability, and this is enough for him.

Therefore, upon each and every deed he does in Torah or engagement in Mitzvot he thanks and praises the Creator for being merciful with him, giving him a thought and desire to observe the Torah and Mitzvot. Hence, in each and every Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] he thanks and praises the Creator for awarding him with a grip in Torah and Mitzvot, regardless of how much. Rather, whatever time he has when the body lets him learn he learns, and as much as he can he exerts to keep the Mitzvot. He is happy that he can keep the Creator’s will, which was not given to other people like him, meaning that the Creator did not give them the understanding and desire to keep the commandments of the Creator.

One who walks on this line is still not regarded as walking on the right line because we see that when there is only one line and a person does not see another line, it is impossible to say that this is called the “right line.” We can say “right” only when there is another line. Then I can say that one is “right” and one is “left.”

Therefore, when guiding a person to walk in the path of the Creator, he is told, “Know that the Creator does not want anything from you but only that you will observe the Torah and Mitzvot in utter simplicity. This is enough for you. You do not need great intentions like the great righteous. Rather, the Creator requires man to observe Torah and Mitzvot according to man’s understanding, each according to his quality, meaning with his innate talents. It is impossible to require man to engage in Torah and Mitzvot the same as those who are very capable or brave, but each according to the quality with which he was born.

It is as the holy ARI says, “There is not a day that is like another or a moment that is like the next, and there is no man who is like another, and the galbanum [type of incense] will correct what the frankincense [another type of incense] will not correct.” That is, each person should correct his self and the quality with which he was born. One is not required to do more than the might of the mind and strength with which he was born.

It follows that one line is when he is told that he does not need to find deficiencies in his work. Rather, if he keeps Torah and Mitzvot in utter simplicity it is a great thing since he is observing the King’s commandments. Man should calculate and appreciate his work in utter simplicity. That is, if he is praying and saying a verse or a blessing, whether the blessing on the Mitzvot or the blessing on pleasure, he should think then to whom he is speaking. Certainly, to the extent that he pictures before whom he stands he will feel differently while saying the blessings and while praying. Even if he does not know the meaning of the words, it is still very important because it does not matter what he says but to whom he is speaking!

Therefore, when observing some Mitzva, such as wearing Tzitzit [prayer shawl], he looks at the fact that there are some Jews in the world who were not given the opportunity to wear a Tzitzit, but he was given the privilege of keeping the commandment of the Creator. He should be very thankful to the Creator for this!

Therefore, to the extent of his simple mind, according to his belief in the greatness of the Creator and that it is a great privilege that he can do what the Creator wants, for these reasons he says the blessing, “Blessed are You, O Lord.” That is, he blesses the Creator and thanks Him for rewarding him and giving him what He did not give other people.

Also, when he blesses on pleasures, he also thanks the Creator for rewarding him with believing that the Creator has provided him with the pleasures that people can enjoy. But other people do not have this reward of believing that the Creator has given them all the things with which people can enjoy. And also, a person says during the Eighteen Blesses in the morning, “Blessed are You, O Lord, for not making me a gentile,” thanking the Creator for making him Israel.

We therefore see that we must thank the Creator for the smallest things we have in Kedusha [holiness/sanctity], and regard it as great. Although we cannot appreciate it, we should still believe it. I heard from Baal HaSulam who once said that as much as we understand the importance of Torah and Mitzvot Lishma [for Her sake], in truth, Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] is far more important than we appreciate Lishma.

This means that we cannot appreciate the contentment that the Creator derives from our desire to do His will. And each act that is done below, in this world, causes awakening above, in the upper world, as it is said in the holy Zohar, “An act below awakens an act above.” Since man has not yet been rewarded with entering the King’s palace and attaining the lights that are renewed by the works of the lower ones, we must believe that this is so.

That is, when a person comes to the synagogue and says there one verse for the Creator, to the Creator, this act is priceless because at that time a person does the deed, and there is nothing more to add in the action. This is a sign that there is wholeness in the act, and it is as important to the Creator as though he has kept it with all the intentions of the complete righteous. In other words, he is told that there are righteous who add only intentions to the actions, but there is nothing more to add to the act itself, as said above. It was said about the act, “Do not add and do not subtract.”

However, he is told that the work of intentions is not for him, that it belongs only to a chosen few. Thus, if this is his wholeness, he puts all his energy into keeping what he received by upbringing. By this he knows that all he has to do is maintain the quantity. As for the quality, meaning to improve the intentions, namely the reasons that make him keep Torah and Mitzvot, he knows what he was told in his upbringing that in general he will have this world and the next world for his work in observing Torah and Mitzvot. This is called “one line” and not the “right line” because there is still no left here, of which we can say that this line is called “right,” since there is no “right” without “left.”

In this way there is no danger that he might lose the spiritual life of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity]. Rather, he is always advancing because his calculations are measured by the action, and each day he adds new actions. Therefore, he is always moving forward because he always sees that each day he adds new actions. For example, when he reaches the age of twenty, he knows that he has seven years of observing Torah and Mitzvot. And when he reaches the age of thirty, he has acquired seventeen years of Torah and Mitzvot.

It follows that this path is secured and there is no danger here to his spiritual life since he has a basis on which to look and measure his progress. Hence, this path is regarded as a safe path and there is no danger here to his spiritual life. That is, on this way he will not fall from his degree or ever despair because he sees that he is not succeeding in his work. Instead, he will always be at peace. His only regret in the work will be that it pains him that other people around him do not serve the Creator like him. This is his only regret in his work. But in himself he finds that he has much to be happy about, that thank God he has possessions of Torah and Mitzvot.

However, when he is told that there is another way, called “left line,” which means that on this way a person sees that although he engages in Torah and Mitzvot he must still correct himself during the work, and that the correction is not on the action, but that he must correct the intention, meaning with what intention he does what he does, namely the reason that makes him keep Torah and Mitzvot, this is already regarded as a dangerous way.

This is so for two reasons: 1) He is told that it is true that it is impossible to work without reward. Rather, any person who does any work, whether great or small, needs fuel that will give him strength to work. If he is told that the reward is that he will bring contentment to the Creator, meaning that “His wish will be only to bestow upon the Creator,” the body does not understand this reason as sufficient to give him strength to work, since it is against human nature because the substance of man is the will to receive in order to receive.

For this reason, when he works in one line, meaning that the basis of his work in this world is that he will receive reward in this world and in the next world, the body can understand that for himself, meaning to enjoy and be rewarded it is worthwhile to work.

However, when he is told that he must work with intentions and aim with each action he is doing to bring contentment to his Maker, he is left powerless in the work since then his body demands explanations: “How can I work and relinquish many things that the body can enjoy so the Creator will enjoy?” There is danger in this path that he might lose all of his spiritual life, even what he has acquired while engaging in one line.

2) The second reason for danger is that even if he prevails each time and wants to work in order to bestow, he sees that he cannot overcome in the intention, but always sees the opposite—that when he worked in one line he saw he was advancing. That is, if he spent ten years of work then he had ten years of Torah and Mitzvot, and if he has been engaging twenty years in Torah and Mitzvot, then he has a possession of twenty years.

But here, on the right line, it is to the contrary. If he has spent three years and cannot aim his work in order to bestow, then he is more shattered and broken since he has been working on the path of bestowal for three years, but he has nothing to show. That is, he has no possession even though he has put in three years of work. It is even more so if he put in five years and so forth. Therefore, the longer he has exerted in the work, the more he sees that he is worse.

But Baal HaSulam said that in truth, on the one hand we can say that a person did advance toward the truth in recognizing the evil. Before he began the work, he thought he would be able to overcome his evil. It is as our sages said (Sukkah, 52), “To the wicked, the evil inclination seems like a hairsbreadth, and to the righteous like a high mountain.”

But on the other hand a person needs to see the truth as it is, meaning that by this his evil did not move an inch, and this might put him in danger of despairing because he would say that Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] is worthless, since the essence of the work is to bring contentment to the Creator, and he sees that he will not be able to overcome. It turns out that by walking on the left line he might, God forbid, be repelled completely from spiritual life, for he has already flawed the Lo Lishma. It turns out that he is empty both ways and has no grip on the life of Kedusha.

For this reason, people are guided by only one line. If they wake up by themselves and have a drive of their own to start searching for the truth, if they are guided to walk by this way forever or only when in the beginning of the work, they are not shown the left line—that they must correct themselves to do all their works for the Creator.

This is as Maimonides says (end of Hilchot Teshuva), “Sages said, ‘One should always engage in Torah, even Lo Lishma, since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma. Therefore, when teaching children, women, and the uneducated, they are taught to work out of fear and to receive reward. Until they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are told that secret bit-by-bit and are accustomed to this matter with ease until they attain Him and know Him from love.”

Therefore, we must walk on the right line, as well as on the left line, means that even if he knows that there is a truth called Lishma, still, the way he walked in it when he had only one line, now that line has received a new name and it is called “right line.” However, what does it add to us that now we call the one line, “right line”? The explanation is that now there is an intention on the right line. That is, by changing the name, “one line” to “right line,” a special intent is attached to this name, which did not exist when it was called “one line.” This is why it is forbidden to cancel the left line and walk on the right line, since there is no right without left. Thus, we must say that when he was walking in one line, he did not know if there is another way. But now that there is the left line opposite it, the one line is called “right line.”

This means that the wholeness he is receiving now is not because he is walking without deficiencies but because he feels whole and happy with his work as before he went into working in the left line, but for a different reason. Here, in the right line, the wholeness is because he sees that he is a simple person and knows that there is a true path, meaning that you must engage for the sake of the Creator, but he sees that he is far from it. That is, his body does not allow him to annul himself completely before the Creator, that his only direction in life will be to bestow. And yet, he sees that the Creator did give him strength to have some contact with holiness, and others do not have this power. It follows that he thanks and praises the Creator for this. It follows that in such a state he is in wholeness.

However, now that he has begun to work on the left line and understood that the work of bestowal is the main thing, it is difficult for him to be content with less. If he should work, he should work in order to achieve wholeness. But to make efforts to be rewarded with only a touch on the holy work, for this the body has no fuel. This is called, as it is written, “Wherever there is a deficiency in Kedusha, there is grip for the Klipot [shells/peels].” That is, the Klipot make him think, “Should you work so hard for such a small reward, meaning to have such a small grip in Kedusha?”

It follows that the Klipot have the strength to remove him from the Kedusha to a great extent. That is, he is not told that it is not worthwhile to exert for Kedusha. “Kedusha, meaning serving the King, is certainly a great thing, but you see for yourself that you haven’t the strength for it.” Therefore, at that time awakens the danger that he will fall from the work completely because now the body has a grip in his work since man himself sees his deficiencies in the work.

But in the work on one line he knew that this was his wholeness because he was instructed from the beginning that Lishma belongs to great people who were born with great natural talents and good qualities, and with great powers to overcome their bodies. That is, they control themselves and can carry out what they like, and no one can stop them.

As for you, what’s required of you is only according to your ability. That is, do what you can, and by that you have done your duty, since the Torah was not given to the ministering angels but to all the people, each according to his ability.

However, once he begins to walk on the left line he feels that he, too, should achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator and work in order to bestow, and henceforth he will not be able to feel wholeness in the work of the right line because the left will be obstructing him. Here begins the work of faith above reason. That is, he must believe that the work of Kedusha is very important work. Therefore, he does not mind if he is rewarded with true wholeness or the wholeness he deserves. That is, he still does not have the great privilege of doing the holy work completely, but to a very small extent. But he regards it as a great fortune, whose value he cannot even measure.

It follows that in this work, when he walks on this line, he appreciates the Kedusha so it constantly increases its importance. This is so because he should believe in its greatness above reason, although he still does not actually feel it. He must tell himself: “The reason I must believe above reason in the importance of Torah and Mitzvot is that I am still not worthy of feeling its importance and greatness, as it is known that as long as one is still immersed in self-love, he is unfit to feel the delight and pleasure that is clothed in them. But in truth, when I am worthy, I will see it in actual fact.”

It therefore follows that the reason he must believe above reason is not because of a deficiency in the light that is clothed in Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, the lack is in the Kli [vessel] of the lower one, which is still unfit for it. But the Creator knows when I am fit, and will certainly let me feel the taste of Torah and Mitzvot.” It follows that we should believe above reason not because we cannot feel the good in it, since the light is concealed and we cannot attain it. If that were so then what does it mean, “For they are our lives,” which is said about the Torah and Mitzvot? Rather, he should believe above reason as long as he has not corrected his vessels of reception. But when he completes his correction, the delight and pleasure will spread in everything holy in which he engages.

Therefore, if he walks on the right line and believes above reason in its importance, to the extent of importance that he attributes to the Torah and Mitzvot he can appreciate even the smallest thing, meaning even a touch, meaning even Lo Lishma of Lo Lishma can also delight him because with this act he is observing the commandment of the Creator.

However, afterwards he must shift to the left line, meaning criticize the work—whether the work he is doing is a way to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice,” if he is really going toward this purpose. This is regarded as putting himself in danger. When he is on the left line, his work is mainly to pray, meaning to cry out to the Creator to help him from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”

By this we can interpret the meaning of the angels who surrounded Jacob, as mentioned in the words of the holy Zohar, that the angels came to guard him, meaning that it is help that comes from above to assist him so he can continue his way. However, help comes from above when a person has already begun the work and stands midway and cries out for help. But before he has begun the work he is not given assistance.

Therefore, when Jacob has begun the work and has put himself in danger and asked the Creator to help him, the angels were sent to keep him so he could win the war into which he has already entered. But when he has completed the work that he began and received help from the angels, and wanted to begin a new work, called “small cans,” and the beginning of the work is in darkness, called “night,” this is called “evident danger,” since a dark place, called “left line,” is dangerous, then he should start alone. Afterward, when he sees that he cannot, he begins to ask the Creator to help, and then he will receive help from above.

Reader: We'll now continue to the lesson from February 17, 2002. 

M. Laitman: (40:36) We read an article from “The Rungs of the Ladder,” first volume, page 193, “Concerning Help that Comes from Above.” When does a person begin to get help from above? Help is anything that helps one advance towards the purpose of creation. This thing could also be in a clothing that is not so pleasant. We know that in order to educate a person in order to promote him one is sometimes given exercises, which might be difficult, so that he will learn something from it. He's failed, he needs to sweat, he needs to exert - by that one grows. So the help could be with a nice and good clothing, but also with a different clothing, which is the opposite of what is good and comfortable and nice. When do they begin to help a person, both in a good way and also in a way that is not so good? When he's truly ready to overcome against that and to accept this help in a beneficial way? What does this help even mean? A person is zero. When he's born, when he grows up a little bit, they want to promote him to Kedusha. They give him a desire. He doesn't know what it is, and why, and from where, and how. According to this desire, he searches for a place where he can fulfill this desire. Instinctively, this desire brings him to the place. One place, another place, somehow he scrutinizes, he doesn't know how, but these scrutinies also come from above, afterwards, when he settles in some place, and he begins to receive a method. The help that he is given is that he is given a burden. He is given questions. Out of these questions, now he needs to choose what to do: to run away or to advance. In running away, once again, he comes to the suffering that he had before.

M. Laitman: (43:22) To advance, he doesn't know how, and here he has to invest a bit more in exertion, in study, until he realizes that the advancement is by asking for help. Here, there is a problem. Rabash writes about it in these two adjacent lines that it's difficult for a person, then he cries out to the Creator, and the Creator helps him. We can see here, truly with our sense of vision, of sight, of experience, that a person goes many times through burdening, failure, disappointments, until he finally begins to realize that he needs to turn to the Creator - only from there will my help come.

And when he does ask for help, he receives it in that the Creator is revealed, and now he already has powers. He can justify the help that he received also from the left line, that suddenly he received the burdening of the heart, bad desires, bad thoughts, and he also justifies the help that he received later on from the Creator in order to overcome these thoughts and go forward in spite of them. And after it seems to him that once again he's on the king's highway, that he is able to control everything, and he understands, and he's standing on both feet. Again, all kinds of alien thoughts come to him, and fears and anxieties, lack of confidence, again, he's given from above all kinds of difficulties, questions, and again, it's hard to understand in that, that it is help. It simply seems to be the opposite. He feels that this is pushing him away from the goal, it pushes him away from the Creator, from Kedusha, from everything. He enters into depression, despair, until bit by bit, nevertheless, time goes by and it does its thing, and a person makes certain efforts, nevertheless, he comes to study occasionally and so on, until the amount of the exertion that he gives and the amount of the suffering that he suffers - both together, bring him to a state where he receives help from above, and he begins to overcome this hardship and rise from his fall, and later on see that this fall and these questions actually brought him progress. This is how it is each and every time. It is written that the Torah comes out of Zion, meaning from Yetziot [exits]. Yetziot, Zion. Zion is from the word Yetziah [exit], from the exits from Kedusha and returning back into Kedusha, from that comes out the Torah, from that a vessel is built in which we receive the Torah.

M. Laitman: (47:11) So the help that comes from above is perpetual, it always comes. That is, the upper light from above, called the thought of creation to benefit His creations, constantly presses on the soul of each and every one. Even though this permanent pressure, this soul, according to its structure, because it is built of two opposite forces, a will to receive and a will to bestow, she has the will to receive from her nature, and the will to bestow comes from the shattering of the vessels that exist in it, the point in the heart. So because it includes these two opposite forces, the permanent pressure of the light on the soul brings the soul one time to what we call the state of the left line, and one time to a state which is called the state of the right line. This is how it grows, on both legs. That is, the Creator sends only one kind of pressure, the upper light that wants to enter into the vessel, and it presses the vessel. The vessel itself feels from this pressure seemingly two manners of bestowal or influence from above, two angels, as we call them, the good angel and the bad angel, the good inclination and the evil inclination, and actually both of them operate only in the same direction. And here there has to truly be faith above reason. Through the study, through the society, the friends, they need to constantly remind the person that everything that is happening to him, happening with him, happening around him, in the world in general, and specifically around him - it happens only out of that thought of creation, to benefit His creations, and it actually operates every moment to bring him closer to the goal. And he just needs each and every moment to find the correct manner of bestowal, influence, how it comes to him. And within this influence, to later on discover the bestower, the Creator. If I have not yet discovered the Creator, it is considered that He is under double concealment. I feel bad, that's it, I feel bad. If I try and I begin to feel in this bad, that it comes from Him, it is considered that I shift from a double concealment to an ordinary concealment, a single concealment. That is, I seemingly, I don't see it, you can't see it, but I really feel that He exists inside of this bad, and He's sending it to me specifically in order to shake me, to awaken me, to discover Him. After a person discovers a few times, or tries to discover the Creator, to justify the Creator, to discover the Creator from the double concealment to the ordinary concealment - after a certain number of times, the Creator is revealed to him. This is considered that he crosses the barrier, this is actually the whole point. So in each and every state, we need to discover that every state is help from above. Are there any questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:50) He writes here that people who simply do things as they were taught, they're not advancing anywhere, as a matter of principle, that's on one hand. But on the other hand, we see that turning to the Creator is what ultimately brings about advancement, but everything that's written in the prayers that people commonly pray, it is actually an appeal to the Creator. 

M. Laitman: So the question is as follows: it is written that an appeal to the Creator brings forth progress. We see many people in the world who cry out to the Creator, right? As it is in all kinds of religions and also icons of methods, and also a person naturally might turn to all kinds of forces. Also in Judaism, we have prayers, the prayer books, everything is organized in how to turn to the Creator. So, what is the difference between how they turn and how Kabbalah also requires of us? It tells us that if we will turn to the Creator, we will get help from there. It is a simple matter. It doesn't matter who is turning the person. And it's also not important even how he calls the Creator, either he thinks that it's just some upper force that arranges, I don't know what. As he tells about Abraham - before the Creator was revealed to him, what did he think? That in rocks, and in wood, in trees and in all kinds of places  there is an upper force. So where is He? I want to discover Him. So he knew exactly what it is, how to turn to Him. But rather an appeal to the Creator means an appeal from the heart, that a person wants something. When he reads the prayer book and how he understands the words that are written there? These words were written by someone. Maybe he intended something, and this was according to his deficiency, his desire, but in me, it doesn't bring any deficiency. This means that the appeal has to come from the feeling of the necessity. That is, I have to know exactly what I want. I need, more or less, to know that there is someone who is interested in hearing, is interested in helping, and specifically to help with that problem that I have; that He has a heart, that He's listening, that He's ready, and He has the ability. And so if I then turn in the right way, He will answer me. That is, there need to be many conditions in the prayer. And so to prepare all of these conditions that there will be a correct appeal for me, that in that for sure I will awaken His answer, His response, this thing has to come through preparation. And that preparation is not simple at all. And that preparation, this is what we call it - the time of preparation. The first desire, of which a person is ready to start to turn to the Creator - it's called a point in the heart - that a person lives just like a beast, and suddenly he feels that he is missing something, and he does not exist in this world. He does not exist in this world, means that there is some kind of a deficiency that in the future could be directed towards the Creator, but a person doesn't yet see or feel what it is, what is the Creator, what he... For him, it hasn't taken any shape yet. To prepare this desire in such a way that it becomes truly accepted above in the upper system and receives some response from there - that is all our work right now. The moment we prepare this, and it's ready, we open the heavens to ourselves, we receive a reply from above. And gradually, slowly, we begin the time of preparation, and this can last for years. We begin to learn that the Creator doesn't answer every plea, apparently. Well, the truth is, right now I'm asking to win the lottery, right? There are those to whom the Creator answers and those who don't receive a reply.

M. Laitman: (55:50) So, it means I need to know what lack I need to have exactly, because in the beginning, when I received a lack, a point in the heart, it had no form. I feel bad, I want fulfillment, I want something. Something what? I don't know. Something. That's something that I will receive in exactly the right form - well, that form I need to receive from Him. I need to know what He wants to hear from me as a request, so that that request He truly grants. It's like a father with a child, right? The father is interested in the child asking for some good book, but the child wants some toy. He doesn't care, you know, about that book. So, the father, through various situations which he organizes around the child, gradually, he teaches the child what the right desire should be for the child's benefit, and that will be granted by the father as a gift. The child doesn't want it, and he does this and that, does all sorts of tricks, but gradually, the father, through candy and punishments, he teaches him that, “Listen, bub, this is the desire you should have.” The moment the son has that desire, immediately, the father grants him this gift. So, of course, our desire with which we enter spirituality, meaning receive the gift, it's completely such a form of the point in the heart, a form which in the beginning we didn't think we need at all, we didn't want it. It was the absolute opposite. So, many years are required to come to truly understand, to feel that this desire from within, for that desire from within to gradually take on the right shape, because in spirituality, there is one law - equivalence of form. If I want exactly what He wishes to give, then I'll receive it. Very simply. If not, then to the extent that there is still a deviation, a difference between my desire to receive and His desire to give, the difference between them begets suffering in me. That is all. Now, it follows that the more I advance, the closer I get to the Creator, where my desire is just about to - well, my desire will be to ask and His desire to give, and they will be the same - for the same thing, then it seems that the suffering in me needs to diminish, because the gap is almost closed. But no, the suffering doesn't become, the suffering don't become smaller, because the person begins to discern the gap, to see it as if through a magnifying glass, where each time he sees more and more how all the little details, the nuance within his will to receive, he sees that he's not equal to the upper desire in it. And so we don't turn off the suffering, quench it. We transition from external suffering to deeper suffering, pangs of love, as we call it. But they become truly great to me. These small discernments begin to become very important, very precious to me. And so I don't calm down, I advance, I go forward. This is, as we say, the Creator is very meticulous with the righteous, as a hair's breadth. This is a very important point. But if you look at it from the side, then what is this? But this importance actually helps. It's like navigation, you understand? I need to find a goal, a direction. For the time being, it's just north, but then it becomes more and more, more refined until you really hit the spot. That's how it is here. More?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:38) The prayer, the correct desire, it includes a few…

M. Laitman: Prayer, according to what we just said, in light of that, a prayer is a desire for which one receives a reply, an answer. Otherwise, it's not prayer. You're just shouting. To who? To what? You're just shouting. 

Student: It includes all kinds of conditions? 

M. Laitman: But on the other hand, it's written that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. Even the beast goes “moo,” right? That is also a prayer. What does it mean, a prayer? Every desire, the suffering of the desire, why that suffering? Because it's not satisfied. And fulfillment, that pertains to beasts, to people, to everyone, it doesn't matter what lack it is - it's only the Creator. So, all the prayers rise to the same source, you could say. But the problem is that the beast can receive according to its prayer, because it's natural. The beast is connected to the Creator, and there's nothing separating them. It's like an angel, as we say. It's the same system as the Creator, of desire and pleasure. And there, what the beast, what the whole world suffers from, other than the man, the human, they're all suffering because of man. We will learn about it at some point. Otherwise, all the inanimate, growing, and living need to live in absolute peace and pleasure. But it's only because of mankind that they have this descent. But the person has to scrutinize the prayer. It's not enough for him to go “moo,” right? He has to mature and reach true prayer, such that he knows who he's requesting of and what he's asking for. 

Student: But in the end of the scrutinies, he will know that… 

M. Laitman: Other than this, other than these scrutinies, nothing exists. All the degrees from here to Ein Sof [infinity], all through to the end of correction, those are scrutinies of the will - another desire, and another awaken in me - records, more and more. And for each record, I need to clothe the right form. Meaning, how to turn to the Creator with it. And by that, I rise from degree to degree. The form that I receive on the will, the desire, that is the degree itself. Let's say, I receive 10 kilograms of some clay. And from these 10 kilograms of clay, I need to make a shape, let's say of a horse. I did that, right? That is my correction. Now, if I receive 15 kilos of clay, now I need to make an elephant out of that. So, each time a person receives a desire, and he needs to make corrections over that desire, and then in that corrected desire, he feels Olam, a world, a certain degree, until he finishes all the corrections. Then it is said that, well, he's rising through the spiritual ladder within the worlds, the five worlds. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:05) I understand that all of these things: the prayer and the scrutinies, it happens only on the left line, right? 

M. Laitman: All the prayers, all the scrutinies happen on the left line? It's impossible to scrutinize anything on the left line. Scrutiny is actually light over darkness, white over black. How can scrutiny be conducted only in the left line? The left line, those are the desires that awaken in the person gradually to the extent that he can contend with them and scrutinize them. Within me, the Malchut of Ein Sof exists, all of it. The Malchut of infinity, it's concealed from me behind 125 screens. So, this means that I descended from Malchut of Ein Sof through 125 degrees down to this world. Now, what does it mean to ascend? To remove one screen, to receive a desire, the very smallest, and to begin to correct it. When I correct it, it means that I've ascended to this first degree, and so on and so forth. So, by what do I correct it? By the right line. The left line is just the desire. The right line is the Creator's form of bestowal, where if I take an example from the form of bestowal towards me, the Creator's bestowal towards me, and I make the same shape with my will to receive, then I simulate the measure of… that is my measure of equivalence with the Creator - the way He does to me, I do unto Him, and then we're adhered together on this first degree, and second, third. Meaning, scrutiny and correction can only happen by light opposite a vessel. It's not the left line, it's two lines. Two lines have to participate. And as an outcome, you get a third line.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:08) Before the barrier, what state is most beneficial during the day? What state we feel as the most beneficial?

M. Laitman: It's impossible to tell which state is the most beneficial for advancement. Every state is the most beneficial if a person uses it in the most beneficial manner, it doesn't matter. It can be a state of such boredom, nothing, there's nothing, but I begin to derive from it such little things, gray things. My effort seems to be worthless, it yields no fruit, but I make an effort. And maybe, as I feel it, well, I feel that I'm doing next to nothing. But according to what I receive, the process is very substantial. We cannot, by our feelings and also by the outcomes that we perceive say, that one state is more beneficial than another. We cannot say that. It's all according to the person's attitude. That's how it's examined. Meaning the outcome, you can't determine anything based on the outcome. Based on the outcome, you can be given such states where you're delighted, and you see, and you feel, but this calms you, it doesn't advance, it doesn't help you advance, you're just on some trip, let's say. And what is the use? Feeling - yes. Advancement - next to none. There are such states which are there to trip the person over to teach him how addicted he is to pleasure. It's not drugs. Spiritual pleasures? It's eternality. What does eternality mean, in the shell? That you don't want to exit it, even on pain of death. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:30) It's as if a person has to shift from an ordinary concealment to a double concealment a certain number of times.

M. Laitman: No, no, not from regular concealment to double concealment. A person has to transition from double concealment to regular concealment.

Student: So, this has to happen a few times?

M. Laitman: Yes, yes. This is during the time of preparation. During the time of preparation, that is until we enter the spiritual world, we go from double concealment to single regular concealment, then we cross the barrier, and we enter into revelation. So, the person is being tripped over by giving the double concealment. He needs, through his efforts, using various means, to find the Creator, the cause for his situation; and then when he feels that the Creator is there, and he wants to connect to Him, then it is said that he reached regular concealment. 

Student: I understood that he actually has to go through it a few times. 

M. Laitman: Many times he needs to go through it. How many times, we cannot say, and a person cannot count it either. We don't stand with a stopper, you know, counting with a counter. But as soon as a person finishes what he needs to do, from the root of his soul, that's the extent to which he needs to scrutinize these things to enter spirituality - for one person, it can be 100,000, for another, it can be, let's say 20,000 times; these aren't numbers, I'm just saying, you can never tell ahead of time, in advance, until you reach the very last moment - until he finishes the last scrutiny, he doesn't know. But maybe there are a million more.

Student: But if I study with my head, every time my thought comes, I can think that it will never happen. But I prepare myself that it will happen. So, then some thought will come, there's no Creator, there's nothing. So I'll have an answer for it, that I'm getting ready for that.

M. Laitman: You're speaking from your intellect. How, when, a certain state will come to me, I'll be smart enough to control the situation, etc.

Student: No, but maybe because I'm studying, I'm preventing that it'll happen.

M. Laitman: No, that a person studies and enters an environment, the group, by that he prepares supporters for himself; meaning forces, means, which can give him different problems, queries, which is help, on the one hand, but this is the way in which it comes. Now, if a person is not really inside this stew, cooking, cooking inside of it, then he's not given these different queries. He feels comfortable, he feels good. He comes to the lesson - this is this, this is that. He sees the different drawings. He studies wisdom, but he won't be given any of these big questions, because there's no one to give it to. He's small, he's weak, what can you give him? Give him a small query, and that's it. He stays at home. So there's nothing more to give him. So - no choice, there's no choice. The more you prepare yourself, the more work and queries we will get from above. And when you pass the time of preparation, then, and this is what Baal HaSulam writes, that in the time of preparation, it is forbidden to stop, but to invest as much as you can. In what? In everything, whatever you can. And whether you have the mind to do it or not, doesn't matter - as much as possible, because until you finish this time, nothing will work. And here are all the problems - that a thousand go into study, and one comes out, until like 999 fall on the way. They don't try to acquire these forces that will give them greater problems, queries, failures. But, they were given something, and no, no, just not that, and they run away. So, he runs away. So, what can you do? Sit down until you grow a few more incarnations, until you grow up, until there will nonetheless be a desire to receive. And the next time that nonetheless naturally grows, then it'll grow in a cruel or coarser way towards spirituality. And then a person will see that he has to advance. He has no choice. And that's how it is from one generation to the next. Why weren't you sitting next to a Kabbalah book a few generations ago? That's how it is. So, there are those who leave now for a few generations.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:51) We're always talking how important the society is to hold a person in the work. 

M. Laitman: We simply see, besides that they rate, we also see it on ourselves that the easiest way to advance, the most beneficial way is that you're in a place where you're simply being brainwashed, strengthened, awoken, reminded about these things. And that's how you cook. That's how it works. Even though everyone who comes, comes as a personality, as a point in the heart, he feels himself as the only one. And that comes to us from the Creator. It is a holy or divine part from above, so each feels that I'm even more, etc. But when you come here, gradually that sense of self is erased. If not, a person's miserable. He simply doesn't grow. If his personality, his individualism, doesn't subdue, yield toward the public, toward the collective, then he remains only with that small group, if he doesn't yield towards the general group, or the Ten. And whoever grows, he feels himself smaller than everyone and is ready to advance and incorporate, and wants to incorporate with everyone, he begins to feel how much his desires, the parts of his soul are really inside each and every one of those that are around him. Meaning, these are one of the tests that a person can see on himself. Is he improving or not? Now, as there are people for whom it's easier to connect, by character. They're willing to hug with everyone. There are those that, until a person gives the other person a hand, you know, it rejects them and whatnot. There are different situations, but really, if we're talking about the inner point, it depends only on the recognition of the Creator. Meaning, the measure to which the surrounding light really shines upon the person, and he feels that otherwise, he is not coming closer to the goal. And therefore, there are people, really smart people who have already left us, or that are sitting here, but if they're not working, there's no correction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:57) In the end, we say that I feel that the parts of my soul are scattered amongst my friends. How could that bring me to a state of annulling before a friend? Because it's also me. On the contrary, I don't need to annul. 

M. Laitman: You feel that annulment toward the friend is the only thing that can help you receive from him - discernments, vessels, desires, support, help. 

Student: Why? 

M. Laitman: Why? Because in the light that comes to you, you saw how weak you are, and that you're the lowest and worst from everyone, and you're looking for something that can help you out of helplessness.

Student: My necessity is because I feel I need them to advance? 

M. Laitman: Only out of necessity. I need a Kli for everything; that from that Kli will come the necessity, from that Kli will come the drive. Otherwise, how come I need to connect with someone, that I want all these things? Someone who comes here for the first time, if he talks to them about these things, he'll reject them. What, you want to make some kind of a club here? Kibbutz, what? What is it all for? Why? It's only in the measure of the necessity that a person feels, and this is something that grows over years. It's not simple, but a person who feels that he's not advancing, and that through his exertion, he begins to understand where he is, then it's not a problem. When you will be great, when you will merit becoming great, then you'll feel how each one who comes with a desire of a tiny point, through his desire, can give you plenty of new discernments for you to grow, and you'll be great.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:09) How does a person know that he made a right preparation, and what is a right preparation? 

M. Laitman: The right preparation, like I said, maybe we can say that it's the yearning to reveal the Creator as the reason for all of my states. Searching for Him in each and every state that I'm in, that means that I'm acting correctly, that I'm really preparing myself for Him. By that, I as if force Him to reveal Himself, and He gives me different questions and queries, and that I'll want to reveal Him despite all of that. It's like where they climb the mountain, and the guards and everyone, they throw them back, and they still want to reach the king's palace, etc., etc. So, only according to the direction of my search, what do I want out of every situation that I'm in? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:32) If a person prepares correctly and all kinds of states are revealed that he's not prepared for Him, is that a right measurement for a person that if he did a right preparation, so the states are revealed… 

M. Laitman: It could be that I did everything right, and that I discovered my point of connection with the Creator, and that I feel that He is organizing it all for me, and He brought me these bad things, and that I have anxieties, and fear, and lack of confidence, and through that I feel Him, and I hold on to Him. So, this point, when I hold on to Him, I grab them in my feeling that it's Him. Now the question is, why do I want to hold on to Him? Because of fear and confidence, or lack of confidence, that then I won't feel and I can only rest by that point? Or that I'll have fear, but feel good in holding Him, that there'll be more fear, I'll hold on to Him more. This is the struggle that a person has. What does he want from this point of connection? And there are a lot of inner discernments in this. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:59) Is there a difference between scrutiny and criticism, and can we as a group scrutinize before… 

M. Laitman: A group can scrutinize and correct for each and every one. That's called to pray for the sake of the friend, for the wholeness of the friend, peace of the friend. Peace is wholeness, Shalom. When someone is sick, it means he's not in wholeness. It doesn't matter what could be: mental health, bodily health, it doesn't matter. A deficiency was revealed, that needs to be corrected. The group can, like one body, can work on the wholeness of the state.

Student: And if you don't have the right line yet, you said that there can't be any scrutiny. If we still don't have the right line.

M. Laitman: Don't hold on to it? What does it mean?

Student: It's not even the beginning of the right line. We're not there.

M. Laitman: What do you mean, beginning of the right line? There's no left without right. A person isn't given questions if he's not prepared to overcome them and process them correctly. 

Student: So, if we're given, it's a sign. 

M. Laitman: They never put an obstacle before a person from above. You always add in holiness and never take away from it. It's a law. Either Torah or suffering, hastening the time or at his own time, but they're always adding holiness. It can't be that they're going to make a person fail. He's going to fail, and that's it, he's done. Maybe not now. Maybe a year from now, he'll see the benefit of this state. We're still working on a timeline, but obviously, each and every action comes from above only in order to bring a person closer. That's what we need, first of all, to determine the relation to that it's this way, to take it above reason. It's like that. Now, where is it like that? Where can I search for it that it's right, and to start working?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:41) You said about the annulment of the person's individualism. What does it mean? That every special thing about me, or not special, all the things that the Creator gave me, that this is my structure, I need to castrate myself, choke myself, kill myself, etc., or what?

M. Laitman: A person who wants to study, he comes to study to us, he doesn't come to study, he thinks that here he can fill himself, his point in the heart brings him to this field of forces, the point in the heart brings the body, that it will sit here. Even though it's not pleasant here, we come, because this is a place where we can probably fill that point.  Even though it's a point, but it's higher than all the desires, so it is now in control of me. What can you do? That point is special. Each and every one has his own point, each and every one is from a different part of the Guf of Adam HaRishon, so each and every one feels himself as a personality, as if there's no one like him. And there really isn't anyone like him. No one resembles the other; according to the composition of the qualities and forces, there isn't anyone else. What happens afterwards, a person starts discovering that except for this point he has, in all the other souls, well let's say bodies, he sees that they're supposedly a part of him, you don't feel it yet, but soon, a few of you will feel it. And the rest - when a bit will feel, it'll also help the others, even though you don't understand how it happens, but that's how it happens. You'll start feeling how each and every one starts becoming precious, that I really see in him a part of me. Not because he's a friend, and I'm suffering with him here, like in some elite army unit, that we're together from the same village or whatever. Nothing. I start seeing in him a part that belongs to me, and that brings me to some kind of equality with him, because if there's a part of him in me, so you're done. From my ego, I'm only aiming to that part; not to the whole person, only to that part, I look at him, I'm not looking at his shape or form, he has something that is precious to me, and it starts becoming the most natural way, and it has no contact to all kinds of things that belong to this world. You simply stop seeing that person, you don't feel him, his body, his face, his character - nothing! You start seeing this part that is really in him. And then it brings you to subjugation, because you actually already depend on him, that he has it in him. So from here comes a yearning to connect, but in a different way, now that I have to sit with him, and talk to him, and eat with him, these are also external things. But here comes an impulse to be connected internally. And then a person supposedly loses, that's what I said, he loses his individuality, his personality. He doesn't lose it, but he feels that he himself is scattered between all the souls in the world, and he has nothing to do but only be connected with them together. Then he starts feeling that whether they live in their bodies, alive or dead, he feels connection between all the souls. But by seeing himself as a general soul, I wouldn't say that he loses his individuality, actually, compared to the previous state, that he is as a point, of course, yes, but by this, he acquires the vessel of the Shechina. I don't know how to say it.

Student: I simply thought that you meant that I need to coerce myself somehow.

M. Laitman: No, you're not forced. It comes naturally. In spirituality, a person doesn't determine anything. He doesn't know what next form he's supposed to receive. Now I'll do some action that now I'll be good. Now I'll do a different action, and I'll be a hero. There is no such thing. We try through all kinds of things. We don't also understand the way that we try all this. But what is revealed in us, some pattern, some shape is built of us, like an image. We don't understand exactly what we have to build, whether it's a hand, or a leg, or some other part of the soul. Only afterwards, we discover all the changes that were made.