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

Daily Lesson (Morning) September 3, 2024.

Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 18, 1986. Who Causes the Prayer

Reader: Hello, we are reading Rabash's article, Who Causes the Prayer? The article is in the Writings of Rabash. You can find it in kabbalahmedia.info or in the Study Materials tab in the Arvut system. You can also send questions during the lesson, and if you ask a question in the hall, make sure you have a microphone and speak loud and clearly.

Article, Who Causes the Prayer? From Rabash, Who Causes the Prayer?

Reading: (00:43) Article No. 18, 1986. Who Causes the Prayer. Article No. 18, 1986.

Our sages wrote (Mesechet Berachot 32), “One should always praise the Creator and then pray.” This shows us that one should believe that when a person comes to a state where he feels his fault in the work of the Creator—when he feels that he has faith, that his faith is not as it should be, that is, able to believe that the Creator is benevolent, and this feeling, when he sees that he cannot thank the Creator and say wholeheartedly, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world,’” meaning that he so enjoys the world that he thanks the Creator for having created the world so he has what to enjoy—if he doesn’t feel the delight and pleasure that can be received, it is hard for him to be thankful for it. And this pains him that he cannot praise the Creator for the world He has created and say wholeheartedly, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world.’”

And this deficiency pains him, meaning he says that this feeling must have come to him because he is remote from the Creator, meaning immersed in self-love. This causes him to part from the Creator, meaning that he doesn’t feel the greatness of the Creator because the Creator is hidden from him.

And therefore, he cannot see the truth, as it is written, “For it is your life and the length of your days.” And also, he cannot feel the importance of the Torah, as it is written, “For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations, who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’”

When a person introspects and thinks, “Where is this excitement that the nations are saying about us, ‘Surely this ... is a wise and understanding people,’ because of the Torah, because we keep what is written, ‘Observe and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations.’ So why don’t I feel the importance of Torah and Mitzvot?”

In that state of reflection, when he feels how remote he is from any reverence for the work of the Creator, he begins to awaken and think, “Something must be done. I cannot stay in that state of lowliness for the rest of my life.” Certainly, this is the time when a person begins to pray to the Creator to bring him closer to Him and to help him from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to be purified is aided.”

In other words, he should lift the concealment of the greatness and importance of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] from him, so he can overcome all the ignoble thoughts and desires that come from self-love, and that all his concerns will be only about how he can do something for the Kedusha, called “in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker.” And certainly, this can only be to the extent that he believes in the greatness and importance of the Creator.

Thus, he asks the Creator to open his eyes so he will see and feel the greatness and importance of the Creator, as it is written (Psalm 88), “Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?” And then it is a prayer from the bottom of the heart. That is, at that time, a person wants the Creator to heal his heart, as it is written (Psalm 147), “Who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their sadness.”

And then one probably thinks that the awakening for the prayer that the Creator will bring him closer to Him came from himself, and he awaits the Creator’s salvation, that He will help him by granting his prayer. That is, that He will bring him closer to Him, as he is praying now because now he feels His lack, which he didn’t feel before.

Therefore, when a person doesn’t receive from the Creator what he thinks the Creator should give him, he becomes angry that the Creator is not granting his prayer. As for other people, he believes that He is not bringing them closer because they have no desire for spirituality. But he is not like other people, who have no affinity to the Creator, so the Creator doesn’t need to bring them closer anyway.

But this man, who prayed for the Creator to help him come closer to Him, the Creator Himself can see that he is not like other people. Rather, he is higher than the populace; he understands the world and its purpose, and he contemplates the purpose for which he was created and what he must achieve. But when he looks at other people, he sees their lowliness—that all their thoughts and actions are for their own benefit—and he feels that he understands differently because his mind and qualities are more virtuous and worthy than those of other people.

Moreover, sometimes he sees that he is even more virtuous than the people in his group. He sees that they occasionally think of spirituality, but he—his every thought and all his desires are only about spirituality. He always wants to exit self-love, and all his requests of the Creator are only for Him to deliver him from this lowliness. And he doesn’t see that his friends are equally serious, thinking only about spirituality.

For this reason, he is upset with the Creator for not granting his prayer, leaving him in his current state like the rest of the friends, and is not considerate of him, meaning with his prayer, which is truly prayed from the bottom of the heart. Thus, regarding the granting of the prayer, he finds a fault above.

And he asks himself, “But it is written, ‘For You hear the prayer of every mouth,’ and ‘every mouth’ means that the whole mouth should ask the prayer, meaning that his whole body demands that the Creator will help him. But as for the rest of the people, their prayers are not answered because it is not with ‘every mouth.’”

Baal HaSulam said about it, “It is written, ‘And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.’” He interpreted that when a person feels his fault and prays for the Creator to help him, it is not because a person feels his fault, and this gives him reason to pray. Rather, the reason is that he is favored by the Creator, and the Creator wishes to bring him near.

At that time, the Creator sends him the sensation of his own fault and calls upon him to join Him. In other words, it is the Creator who brings him near by giving him a desire to turn to the Creator and to speak to the Creator. It follows that he already had the granting of the prayer even before he prayed. That is, the Creator brought him closer by enabling him to speak to the Creator. This is called, “Before they call, I will answer.” That is, the Creator brought that person near Him before the thought appeared in the man’s mind that he should pray to the Creator.

But why did the Creator choose him and give him the call to come to Him and pray? To this, we have no answer. Instead, we must believe above reason that this is so. This is what we call, “Guidance of private Providence.” One must not say, “I’m waiting for the Creator to give me an awakening from above, and then I will be able to work in the work of holiness.” Baal HaSulam said that in regard to the future, a person must believe in reward and punishment, meaning he must say (Avot, Chapter 1), “If I am not for me who is for me, and when I am for me, what am I, and if not now, then when?”

Then, one mustn’t wait another moment. Instead, he should say, “If not now, then when?” And he must not wait for a better time, so “Then I will get up and do the work of holiness.” Rather, it is as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2), “Do not say, ‘I will study when I have time,’ lest you will not have time.”

But after the fact, Baal HaSulam said one must believe in private Providence—that it was not the person who called upon the Creator, but the Creator who called upon the person and told him, “I want you to speak to Me.” It follows that the reason for the nearing did not come from the individual but from the Creator. For this reason, one mustn’t think that the Creator did not hear the prayer. Rather, He brought him near even before he turned to the Creator to bring him near Him.

This is called, “Before they call, I will answer.” It follows from the above that if a person has awakened to sense his ignoble state, it did not come from the individual. Rather, the Creator sent him this feeling so he would ask to be brought closer. Therefore, as soon as one has a thought that he is remote from the Creator and wishes to pray to the Creator to bring him closer, he mustn’t pray until he first thanks the Creator for having called upon him to bring him closer.

The Creator wants man to pray to Him. And when a person does self-analysis into why he suddenly remembered that there is spirituality and that he should try to obtain something in spirituality, if he immediately says that the Creator sent him this thought, then he can pray.

This is the meaning of what our sages said, “One should always praise the Creator.” In other words, as soon as one begins to contemplate his situation concerning spirituality, he should promptly praise and thank the Creator for having given him the thought and desire for spirituality. Afterwards, when he knows that the Creator is calling him, he immediately begins to thank and praise the King for having brought him closer. This is when he can pray for his situation, since he sees that he is lacking Torah and doesn’t know any distinction between true and false, and he prays for the Creator to show him the path of truth.

Now we can understand what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Toldot, 63, Mark 5), “‘And the Lord answered him.’ Rabbi Levi said, ‘There is an allegory about a prince who was striving to take a pound of gold from his father. He was striving from within and he was striving from without, since in Arabic, ‘striving’ means ‘asking.’’ He interprets there the gifts of priesthood, that ‘taking a pound means that his father, too, wished to give it, and was striving opposite him to hurry his taking.’”

From what we have explained, the reason that a person wants to draw near comes from the Creator. The Creator does not wait for a person to wake up, but awakens the person. Afterwards, one prays that the Creator will bring him closer. We can understand it with the allegory that he gives about the verse, “And ... answered him,” which means that Isaac prayed to the Creator.

And he gave an allegory about that, meaning that his father, that is, the Creator, conspires from within, meaning that his father gave him a thought and desire to pray to Him, and afterwards the prince conspires from without. In other words, the people of Israel are princes, and they are standing outside the King’s palace and wish to draw near the Creator, meaning enter the King’s palace. This means that his father in heaven started first.

M. Laitman: (20:54) From here, it should be clear to us that the Creator causes the prayer, as he asks in the heading, in the title, "Who Causes the Prayer?" The Creator arranges everything in such a way that the person will find and understand that the Creator is the one who causes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:32) Rabash repeats this principle many times in many articles that if a person awakens first, he should say thanks and remember that he didn't awaken himself. So why is it such a meaningful, significant principle in our work? 

M. Laitman: Well, that our whole path includes questions and answers, so we should realize that the Creator gives us the questions. Otherwise, it's impossible that a question will awaken in a person that pertains to spiritual development, and we get the answer already from being incorporated in the question, and accordingly, we invite the answer.

Student: We hear many times in the lessons that people ask you, Rav, we pray a lot and we don't receive an answer. Why, why, why? So, there's basically an answer to all of this here. Why do we miss that? It's like it needs to be a kind of instinctive response, immediate response to that. That the correct response is to be grateful and start working. 

M. Laitman: Apparently, the Creator feels that a person can live without that, so he should develop his question and that he will develop in such a way that he will see what else he's lacking in order to get closer to the Creator and discover that the Creator is the first cause. It doesn't come immediately.

Student: Can we help each other remember this basic principle?  

M. Laitman: Yes, yes, even if artificially. Now let's say we know that the Creator is the first, He's always the first and we should therefore see Him in such a way. We should discover and ask that He will be revealed, that we want that the prayer will come on His behalf, from His side.

Student: This is a man's inner work in his attitude. But let's say a friend says, ah, I don't know, no one's given me anything. Can I tell him, wait a minute, did you say thanks, did you say your gratitude, meaning to create this atmosphere?

M. Laitman: No. With our friends we're obligated to see them as messengers, that every friend is a messenger of the Creator.

Student: So how to help a friend when you see that he doesn't come out of this loop, doesn't enter the process or doesn't start it the way the article states? 

M. Laitman: We need to help, each one should help his friend. We need to give him an example that we turn to the Creator and we ask of Him. If I feel that I have a certain impulse for a prayer, I realize that it comes from the Creator, that He is always the first. 

Student: So my question is, do we talk about it or just from within?

M. Laitman: No, we can talk about it. We can talk. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:36) I wanted to ask, I don't know if it's correct to say, but how can a person show the Creator that he can advance thanks to his desire and he doesn't need all the external pushes? Because it sometimes awakens a person, but there comes a moment where a person wants to go by his own strength.

M. Laitman: Well, let him go, this possibility always exists for him. 

Student: But what if he feels that the Creator kind of, I don't know, doesn't believe him, doesn't let him take the good path? 

M. Laitman: Apparently, his desire is not yet complete. 

Student: Is there anything you can do to complete the desire? 

M. Laitman: Yes, to pay attention to the fact that all of his desires should ultimately direct him to There Is None Else Besides Him, that this is the only thing that he craves, and then he won't say that the Creator is placing before him some things that are needless. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:00) It seems like in the beginning of the person's path, the Creator awakens him more. When a person advances, it's less felt. Why? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Because we also learned now that the Creator awakens all the time, and a person has no place to work here.

M. Laitman: There is a place to work, but it's on the condition that the person cares to be sensitive to what the Creator does with him.

Student: If I understand correctly, at first he awakens me and I don't feel, and that's why He pushes away from me, from the person? 

M. Laitman: That, too.

Student: And what should a person do, just continue, and that's the solution? 

M. Laitman: Yes, to continue, to always continue, to search for how he can get closer and speak with the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (29:19) What does it mean when a person feels that the Creator brings him closer? 

M. Laitman: It's a feeling. How can I tell you what it is? 

Student: I see that in the beginning, the Creator brings the person closer through his will to receive.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: But when he starts to actually develop, then he begins to develop his desire to bestow, and a person didn't even expect it. And he feels like the Creator pushes him away, not bringing him closer. And there is a very important inversion point here, that a person is supposed to choose bestowal, but he doesn't understand why that's good for him. What can be done so that this transition from awakening in the will to receive will pass and a person will move towards the will to bestow?

Because he feels and thinks the way he thought about his relationship with the Creator and his will to receive. I see a lot of difficulty in understanding the Creator brings you closer and not pushing you away, so we need to change our definition of what it means. I'm looking for advice on how to help a person who goes through this process, this change, because I see many times that we can't really help that. There's a lot of anger and complaints like Rabash writes. How can we help that process? 

M. Laitman: Only by example, only by example.

Student: It's like it needs to be man's choice. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: The Creator gives him a choice. You want to bestow, you want to attain the desire to bestow, this is the way. And a person needs to choose that. I don't know if the environment is supposed to help if it even tries to help. Does it not hurt his choice? How can you really help like the Creator does and I help the Creator do it correctly?

M. Laitman: This depends on the development of the person. I don't think that we can even explain it. He simply won't see, won't hear, but rather when one reaches in his development such degrees, when he's searching for these states, then he will understand that the Creator is giving him that and he's working with him, making all of these preparations with him.

Student: How do you agree with this process because you have sorrow that that man cannot receive this gift, that he doesn't know how to accept this gift. How can you just stand and see the world not willing to receive the gift? How do you cope with that? Are you supposed to change that? Is this a feeling that the Creator gives the Kabbalists deliberately to see that? How do you cope with that? 

M. Laitman: We accept everything that is happening as the upper force that is operating. And with him, what is revealed is always just and correct, and the person has to agree with it. 

Student: Is there any advice? Is there any tool as a society where we can help every friend advance in this process? 

M. Laitman: Yes, each one should help his friend. Go ahead, try. Talk between you and agree how you should talk, and each one should show the other. Go ahead and do it, please. 

Student: And it won't hurt the man's process, his development? 

M. Laitman: No, it won't rob you of exertion or anything else.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:49) The Creator awakens the person to get to know Him, to even become similar to Him. What's the right connection between man and the Creator? 

M. Laitman: That the person constantly wants to be in an inclination to discover the Creator, to ask of Him, to discover Him as the source of all of his life. This is what one needs to discover. And in such a way, one advances until the Creator becomes revealed.

Student: A person in the spiritual path, even in the beginning, feels what he defines as feeling the Creator, and then gradually he feels more of his ego, and even less the Creator.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And this is getting closer to the truth?

M. Laitman: In the process of getting closer to the truth, you have ups and downs in all kinds of different manners. 

Student: And these ups and downs, the goal is to bring the man closer to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So what are these ups and downs in relation to this concept of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: A lack. It builds in us a lack for the Creator, to recognize the Creator. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:42) I heard you say before, we are obligated to see the friends as whole, that every friend is whole. It's not the first time we hear that you also give us examples on how to depict the group in the whole state, to depict our next degree. The question is, if I am now in a state that I see the friend as incomplete, and he says one should not pray until he gives thanks to the Creator, so I see the friend or the Ten in an incomplete state, I need to be thankful for that? 

M. Laitman: Maybe there are such states also, yes. But we should yearn for the revelation of the Creator so that we can be in adhesion with Him. 

Student: So the gratitude is an opportunity from the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Maybe that's why he writes that if I'm not for myself, then who? Meaning I have to begin the action, but we see that the whole work here is really to see the friends as whole, and that takes, well, the gap is huge. It's a point that really necessitates the Creator. And this is where the calling of the Creator is that the person sees the friend as incomplete, and at least he sees that his eyes are flawed. The question is, what is the right request? If I'm not for myself then who, means I have to start the action? I can't ask, okay, show me the friends are whole, because I have to make some action here. So what is the right request? 

M. Laitman: The right request is to try to see what it is that the Creator wants from you.

Student: What, does He direct me?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: He also says not to expect an answer. If I have a request, it already comes from Him in advance.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student:  So to reach the right request, and then also to believe that the Creator caused the prayer, like the name of the article.

M. Laitman: He gave you the request, the question itself, and He gives you the answer for it. There is nothing that you have except to attach yourself to it.

Student: So it turns out that in every action, in every stage, one has to be in faith above his reason completely, that the friends are whole, that's already above my reason because I see the opposites, and when I come to the request to see them whole, even though I get to the request, I have to see that the Creator gave me the request, that too, is above reason. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:25) With the reminder, how the gratitude for the reminder of the Creator doesn't destroy your lack. You come to demand something, but before that you give gratitude. How does this gratitude not diminish the demand, the lack? 

M. Laitman: Why? 

Student: Because you need Him. It seems like a contradiction here, how these two things, the gratitude and the lack and the demand, work together.

M. Laitman: Everything falls into place. There's no problem with that. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:19) To try to know what the Creator wants from us, what characterizes us is that on the path, that we have two kinds of reality. We have here the means called the Ten, we have the morning lesson, we have a very internal and special way in this whole external, let's call it, reality. But there is also the external reality. All kinds of emotions and thoughts and things that other people or a nation is going through, external things. Seemingly, the Creator is speaking to a person through two realities, through what is happening between us, between the friends, and through what is happening on the outside. Today it's the people of Israel or humanity. Is it the same dialogue or should we listen to the Creator in a particular way? 

M. Laitman: We already discussed it now, that we will discover a deficiency for that which the Creator wants to tell us and to get closer to Him. From that, we will hear more. 

Student: We have to constantly reach it through, I mean, the Creator always wants to bring us to prayer, right? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And it's always the same prayer? 

M. Laitman: No, it could be a different prayer each time. 

Student: Okay, now what is, what happens is, if I separate, I mean, is it correct to separate reality into internal versus external? 

M. Laitman: Could be. 

Student: And what happens on the external one? What is the prayer that things on the outside should cause me? 

M. Laitman: You have to discover such deficiencies within you that only the proximity to the Creator can take care of. 

Student: If I would like to respond correctly to what is happening on the outside, how do I bring in? I mean, I have this device called the Ten. Can I bring things, again, not with words, I don't know how to, okay, I don't want to confuse things.

Question (Belarus): (44:27) What determines the quality and the result of the prayer in the spiritual work? 

M. Laitman: What determines is what awakens in the person. What awakens in the person and the extent to which a person can assist in the development of his correct deficiencies. And that's what he needs to take care of. 

Student: They keep asking, what should be done in order to awaken the lack for the prayer in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: We have to awaken the deficiency for that, that's true. That one will understand that without the mutual deficiency of the Ten, his deficiency is incorrect. 

Question (Kyiv 3): (45:30) If the Creator leads the prayer, what is the meaning of an awakening from below? 

M. Laitman: The awakening from below is that I prepare myself to be sensitive to the calling of the Creator.

Question (Turkiye 2): (45:54) When a person feels that the Creator does everything, he starts to perceive reality as though he's watching a film. What should be the person's response at that point? 

M. Laitman: That a person is grateful, grateful to the Creator, that the Creator doesn't forget about him and takes care of him.

Question (Women PT 6): (46:22) What exactly is this act of speaking with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Again.

Reader: What is this act of speaking with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: I didn't understand, what do you mean, what is the action of the speaking? It's a prayer. 

Question (Rehovot 1): (46:54) How does a person recognize within himself that his mouth and his heart are equal, are the same? 

M. Laitman: Well, that's according to how he awakens, how he stabilizes himself.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:24) We will discover, you said we should discover the deficiency of what the Creator wants from us and then get closer to Him. How can we hear better what the Creator wants to tell us? 

M. Laitman: It's that we connect between us.

Student: How do we know it's truly the Creator's will and I'm not making up all kinds of thoughts for myself? 

M. Laitman: According to how much you're connected among you and you wish to hear the Creator. 

Student: The awakening from below, is that the connection between us?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: This is what makes us more sensitive so that we can hear the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes, of course.

Student: So the Creator's will is heard through the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And everything that is not through the Ten and I talk to him, I hear it, my whole internal world, what is that?

M. Laitman: That's not the Creator. 

Student: When a person prays to the Creator, how does it contribute to his Ten?

M. Laitman: He connects to the Ten and assembles them together in his address to the Creator. And then he receives the response from the Creator in the same Ten, in the force, the common force that he raises to the Creator, in that collective force he receives. 

Student: So is it the individual in the Ten who raises a prayer to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So where is the prayer of the Ten to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: It's that they try to be close to each other.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:43) The article describes this state where the appeal to the Creator is its own, the answer for the prayer, the answer when he turns to the Creator. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: On the other hand, in the process, the person always feels that the Creator is taking him to states where he's seemingly harming him in the way he feels that, so long as I'm in the will to receive, I feel that I'm harmed by the Creator, hurt by the Creator. How can I hold on to the fact that turning to the Creator is more important than the way I feel those states that the Creator is taking me through?

M. Laitman: This is true. To the extent that it's important for the person, the address from the Creator, the dialogue with the Creator, the more a person raises the Creator above his environment, above everything, to that extent he can reveal Him and respond to Him and talk to Him.

Student: This means that we should accept the fact that those states that he's taking me through, we have to tie it to gratitude, but we need the power for that, and the power for that depends on the connection with the Ten.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:36) Please tell me, it all depends on the fact that we connect with the friends. From there, we get the greatness of the Creator and from there come both the gratitude and the deficiency?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And there is no more than that? 

M. Laitman: No. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:04) Rav, the gratitude makes the Creator happy?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So can we say that the gratitude should be with an intention to make the Creator happy? 

M. Laitman: Of course.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:35) Is there a time that is suitable for turning to the Creator, or I shouldn't wait for the suitable time? What is the suitable time, the best time to ask the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Well, let's say, your morning prayer, noon prayer, evening prayer, things like that.

Student: Meaning at any given moment I should awaken myself to get closer to the Creator, to ask Him to get closer to the friends. Every such moment is actually... 

M. Laitman: Correct. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:17) When we speak of prayer inside the Ten, it becomes very clear that all the focus should be there. In the past, as a society, we gave much greater room in the lessons to what is happening in the world, and we would talk about how much our work influences them. Now there's a very dramatic state that we absorb during the day. How can we connect these prayers together? Because right now we're very focused on the Ten, and I don't quite manage to connect it to the existential danger we're in. And I feel a lot of responsibility towards that.

M. Laitman: So what do I need to respond? 

Student: I'm saying that everything that we read about the prayer with respect to the Ten, as much as possible, we can say, at least it's clear to me, we're at work, we're to make an effort. But we absorb this whole mess that is happening in Israel right now. How can we tie these things? How can we add this whole thing? Or should we even? Or maybe now, before the congress, it should just be the Ten, forget about everything else. I'm looking for some guidance on how to relate to it correctly.

M. Laitman: I think that even if we make actions that seemingly have to do only with us, connections in the Ten, connection of the Ten with the Creator, we nevertheless exist within a mass of people, and therefore it has an influence, it has an effect. Ultimately, it has an impact on everyone.

Student: Right now, before the congress, should we try to focus only on the revelation of the Creator in the Ten and in the society, and whatever influence it will have, fine, or should we give room in our prayers to this whole madness?

M. Laitman: I don't know if praying for the madness, I don't think that we should delve into that, but to try to care about the collective Kli, the general mass, is also important.

Student: I'm asking mostly because this quote from the end of the Introduction to the Book of Zohar is something that doesn't let go of us, that as much as we will engage in the internality, it will also radiate, project over the whole of reality. So all of the time, even if you don't engage in it, there's always this feeling of responsibility, that as much as we work internally, this is what will decide things. 

M. Laitman: Yes, that's true. The main thing is the inner work, and as much as possible, in the connection between us and the Creator. And with regards to the externality of the world, we can care for that, but on the side. That's it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:08) Rav, the article speaks about a person who feels that he is higher, closer to the Creator with his lack. What if a person feels that he... next to his friends, next to you, he's so lowly, and they are already on the degree of Hochma and soul devotion, infinite almost. And he discovers that he is very stupid, and he doesn't want to be dumb, he wants to be like them. But suddenly, he's asking for himself then. So, how to shape it, how to shape his prayer in the right way, so that he's not asking for himself. But only that his friends will receive even more Hochma or something like that, and he himself will remain stupid his whole life?

M. Laitman: He needs to know only one thing, only one thing, that he exists in a society that advances to spirituality, that all it wants to achieve is connection between the friends and from the friends to the Creator, and he exists with them, and that's the main thing. 

Student: In gratitude inside of this state, well, above reason, certainly the Creator knows what he's doing and everything, and he is stupid because it's beneficial for the system or something, and so then to ask to praise the Creator before he offers a deficiency, in such a state where he feels that he's maybe pulling his Ten down.

M. Laitman: That's unimportant. You don't need to measure where he's up, where he's down, who's with the Ten, or him, or the whole world. He just has to join what the Ten is doing, and with them, he'll feel that he advances.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:59) How do I transform my prayer so it is with every mouth, the prayer of every mouth?

M. Laitman: You need to incorporate with the collective, your Ten, and then a broader whole, a broader collective, more and more, and then you would reach the prayer of every mouth. 

Student: The prayer of every mouth, isn't it that my whole desire is focused on the prayer? 

M. Laitman: On the one hand, on the other hand, you feel everyone.

Student: We said that the Creator is the one who causes the prayer. I know, let's say, that now I understand that what is preventing me from connecting with the friends is criticism, and judgment, and things like that. So, how do I take this understanding so it will be a true prayer? 

M. Laitman: You have to envision from your deficiency, the collective deficiency of at least the entire group, the Ten. So, connecting with them and along with them to the Creator.

Student: In principle, if a person complains that the Creator doesn't allow him to be in the prayer of every mouth, is that also a deficiency? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:05) It seems like this matter of turning to the Creator, it's a very personal issue for the person. So, how can friends help another friend to turn to the Creator? Is it even an area where they're permitted to get into and to engage in? 

M. Laitman: For an example. 

Student: It's so personal, then how can we give an example?

M. Laitman: I don't know, but you have to try to make it clear what they do.

Student: Is it possible, for example, to pray for a friend so that he will turn more to the Creator, to ask that the friend will have a greater connection with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes, yes, there is such a thing. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:09) It starts with, our sages said, one should always praise the Creator and then pray. What does it mean, the praise of the Creator? Because this state should bring a person to a basis from which he can turn. So, what is the praise of the Creator?

M. Laitman: In such a state, he can give praise to the Creator with all his strength.

Student: But the process is about having a basis from which he can turn, right? From where does he turn?

M. Laitman: He turns from the deficiencies of his heart. 

Student: So I didn't understand the praise that has to come first. 

M. Laitman: These are things that need to be felt. If you don't feel, you pray to feel. 

Student: No, it's the opposite. Is it because of the feeling, because of the feeling that you are turning to something where the appeal should come from a place that is whole, suitable with the deficiency? 

M. Laitman: Try as best as you can.

Question (Darom 1): (01:06:04) One should always praise the Creator. It turns out that if every friend now who has a question to you, in fact the Creator gave him that question. So my question is, would it be correct if every friend who asks you would arrange with a few words the praise of the Creator before he asks you that question? 

M. Laitman: True as well. 

Student: So should we adopt that, Rav? 

M. Laitman: Yes, of course, of course.

Question (Kyiv 1): (01:06:54) A lack awakens in a person to turn to the Creator with some specific request. But it says that first a person realizes that the Creator is awakening him towards the prayer. So what to do afterwards? His initial deficiency changes. He realizes that he should get closer to the Creator. What happens with his initial lack? 

M. Laitman: It changes. It changes according to what a person develops within himself. 

Student: So in principle, the initial request towards the Creator doesn't really matter. What's important is the connection with Him.

Question (Ekaterinburg): (01:07:48) How is the success of the Ten in the prayer related to love of friends? 

M. Laitman: It's a direct connection. To the extent that you're connected among you, you will also connect to the Creator. 

Question (Unity 3): (01:08:22) There are two points here to be in the prayer all day long. And before we turn to the Creator, He answers us first. So the question is the following: How can we connect these two points, because there is lack of clarity here? 

M. Laitman: Correct. Every dot is like a white spot of unclarity, and they connect together.

Student: How to connect them together? 

M. Laitman: You have to nevertheless go forward and bit by bit see how your points blur, get blurry and become this sort of singular white background. And on that white backdrop, you'll see the connections between you and your friends and the Creator. 

Question (Florida): (01:09:29) Can a prayer that's repeated over and over become a prayer that is from the heart? Is there anything to repeating the prayer? Does it help to be a prayer from the heart?

M. Laitman: Yes, yes.

Question (Holland): (01:10:01) It says here in the article, Oh Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? What makes this the prayer from the bottom of the heart, a negative prayer? Not believing that the Creator hears your prayer. Lord, why do You reject my soul?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So what is happening here? What is this? Why is it the bottom of the heart? 

M. Laitman: Because a person truly wants to feel his deficiency so as to turn to the Creator on top of them and to see how much he's in the right direction. And here it is organized accordingly on the one hand, on the other hand he doesn't see that it moves him closer. 

Student: Should I have faith in the Creator? Not saying from the Lord, why do You reject my soul? This is disbelief.

M. Laitman: Well, yes. 

Student: Why did You reject my soul? So how could that be a prayer from the bottom of the heart? 

M. Laitman: That is what he feels. This always happens to us if we are on the one hand in a positive connection and on the other hand we feel we have no connection. These are two opposite things and they complement each other. And then a person says that. It's like generally how we say the prayers. Who can pray? One who feels he doesn't have anything. But if he doesn't have, then how does he pray? So he does have, but what he has is a negative connection. And therefore the cause for the prayer is an empty deficiency. But one feels that it is an empty deficiency. 

Question (Moscow 1): (01:13:41) The fact that the person feels that he has a yearning towards the Creator, is this the result of what happens in his group? 

M. Laitman: Well, in principle, yes. 

Question (Turkiye 4): (01:14:10) I felt that there is a state where a person is ashamed about his feeling of shame because in shame there is no complete equivalence of form. Can we say that? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So how to overcome it? 

M. Laitman: He is ashamed of being ashamed.

Question (Haifa 1): (01:15:00) How, everything we read so that we will be able to strengthen in the faith of the Creator, and certainly before the convention. That's my prayer every day in the Ten. In my opinion, I have a Ten, and we’re actually, we're in Tens so that we will be able to strengthen one another with greatness and exaltedness of the Creator as He is in concealment, and we need to evoke one another, awaken one another.

So I'm praying for that and I'm asking for that. I'm also trying to give a personal example. What else can I do in order to... because the faith in the end, we receive from the Creator, but we need to yearn for it. How do we add such a longing towards the convention, so it will be a degree? How will we come out of our usual, regular beings?

M. Laitman: You have to also be grateful to the Creator for what He's giving you. And I think that's missing.

Student: Every day I start the prayer, and on every opportunity that you give us. 

M. Laitman: That's what I said, that you're constantly in a deficiency. Try to be grateful for the Creator that He's treating you, He's paying attention to you, and He's close to you.

Student: I'm not saying for me, I'm saying this in a true way.

M. Laitman: I understand, I understand, but listen again. There's a great deficiency, and He's far away from you, but it's not incorrect.

Question (Darom 1): (01:17:06) I want to continue the question I asked about, one should always arrange the praise of the place. And before one asks you a question, a person should say. Before the question to you, should we do this? Even if he has to act in this, would this be correct to do this? 

M. Laitman: No, no, he needs to speak about what's in his heart, not the way you think. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:53) Apparently, we need to develop a sensitivity towards the Creator. What's this sensitivity? How to develop it more and more? 

M. Laitman: A person has to understand it from within his heart.

Student: Let's say a certain sensitivity has opened up. How can you expand it or broaden it? Or if a feeling opens up in the Ten, what's the work with that feeling?

M. Laitman: Just to delve deeper into the thought.

Student: Where should we aim that feeling towards? 

M. Laitman: The Creator. That's it. I have nothing more to add for now. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:48) We are trying every day to prepare a prayer in our evening Zoom. To prepare a prayer and follow it. And now from the lesson I feel that specifically, the work of the greatness of the Creator, the feeling of the importance of the Creator is what's important to begin with. And maybe that's what we're missing to work on every day.

M. Laitman: Of course this is lacking.

Student: What's more important to work upon?

M. Laitman: What's more important to work on? 

Student: Between the friends… on the gratitude and the feeling of the greatness of the Creator, every day, all day? Or on the prayer?

M. Laitman: It should be a result of the feeling of deficiencies. That's why we need to first check, examine the deficiencies. What is it that you want? Each one, every Ten, all of us together, our deficiencies. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:29) A person who comes to gratitude is in a certain upliftment of his spirits, a beginning of a connection. And then we have to access our prayer for having the Torah? And then he can discern between truth and false?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So what's this lack of Torah? What is he missing in that state? 

M. Laitman: He lacks direct connection with the Creator. We come to such a deficiency. We can seemingly calm down, but it's a deficiency. And even though we are in the Creator, in adhesion with Him; our deficiency doesn't let us remain calm.

Student: So he feels that this connection is not whole? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So what in practice is missing? More of a connection with the Ten? And is that what's missing? Because it's a feeling of force.

M. Laitman: The Creator knows what we lack, exactly. Our feeling of what we're lacking, what we're missing, could be completely off the mark. We need to get to the Creator with the question, where He will build our prayer and answer it.

Student: So should we expect to feel in this state, what else He needs from us? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Reader: (01:23:04) We have the Preface to the Sulam Commentary. So we're going to move to the next part of the lesson. Before that, we'll sing a song.

Song: (01:23:23)