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

Daily Lesson (Morning) April 27, 2024.

Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 23, What is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work? (1989)

Reader: Hello, we're reading in the writings of Rabash, the article, “What is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the work?” You can find the study materials in Sviva Tova and in the Galaxy Systems. You can also send us live questions through our websites. Anyone asking a question in the study hall is asked to stand up, hold the microphone close to his mouth, and speak loud and clear. Again, reading from the writings of Rabash, in Hebrew, it's the second volume. The article, “What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the work?”

Reading Article: (00:50) “What is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?”

It is written in Shaar Hakavanot [Gate of Intentions], “This is the meaning of the Maror [bitter herb], which is ‘death,’ in Gematria. They are the judgments in her, in which the Klipot [shells/peels], which are called ‘death,’ grip, and to sweeten her by drawing of life. This is also why he must taste bitterness, and if he swallows it, he does not do his duty, since the grinding of the teeth sweetens through the thirty-two teeth.” We should understand what is the bitter herb, which is called “death,” in the work, and what it means that through the chewing of the teeth, which are thirty-two, the bitter becomes sweetened, and if he swallows it, he no longer tastes bitterness. How is all this clarified in the work?

To understand this, we first need to know why we need work in the first place. We see that even in corporeality a person does not achieve anything without effort. The answer to this is known, that since every branch wants to resemble its root, and since our root, which created us with the aim to do good to His creations, meaning to bestow, therefore, when the created being receives, it feels unpleasantness when receiving the abundance from another. This is why we were given work.

When a person receives reward for his work, there is no shame. We say that a person is not willing to eat the bread of shame because in return for the bread, he gives work. This seems like a tradeoff, where they swap with one another, where one gives work and the other gives bread, or money, and so forth.

In corporeality, among people, this is very clear. But between man and the Creator, how can we say that the person works in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and in return, He rewards him? After all, our sages said that we should work not in order to receive reward. Thus, what is the benefit from the work in Torah and Mitzvot? We can understand that in corporeality, we need to work because reward without work causes shame. Therefore, when he wants to receive reward, there is a correction on the reward that a person works for the reward so it will not be as bread of shame upon the reception of the reward.

For this reason, we understand that the work is a correction on the reward. But in working not in order to receive reward, why do we need the work? What purpose does the work serve if there is nothing to correct, since he is not receiving any reward, so why the work? Concerning the work, we should also understand that in corporeality, when a person needs to work, it is because the work that one does for another, the other needs that work. For example, a bakery owner needs employees, or he will not be able to produce the amount of bread he needs. This is not so with regard to the Creator. Is He deficient and needs the creatures to complement what He is lacking by their work for Him?

It follows that the question has two aspects: 1) We were given work in order to be able to receive reward in return for the work. By this, the shame will be corrected so it is not as though he eats the bread of shame. This cannot be said regarding the work of the Creator because we work not in order to receive reward. 2) This can be said between man and man because his friend needs his work. But between man and God, how can we say that the Creator needs man’s work?

The answer is that in truth, we should ask why our sages said that we should work not in order to receive reward, since the whole matter of the work was established so there would not be the bread of shame? Therefore, we see that in corporeality, too, between man and man, this rule of not eating the bread of shame applies, as well, because of the shame. Thus, why do we need to work without reward with respect to the Creator, if the work corrects the delight and pleasure so there will not be shame in it upon reception, for then it is no longer considered a gift or charity? Rather, now the delight and pleasure acquire a new name: “reward.” Accordingly, why do we need to work not in order to receive reward?

The answer to this is brought in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 7), where he asks about what our sages said, that in order to correct the bread of shame there was a correction that He created this world. Here, there is a reality of work, “for they take their reward from the Whole One in return for their work, and by this they are saved from the blemish of shame.” He asks there about this: “But their answer is odd indeed. What is this like? It is like a person who says to his friend, ‘Work with me for just a minute, and in return, I will give you every pleasure and treasure in the world for the rest of your life.’ There is indeed no greater free gift than this, since the reward is utterly incomparable with the work, since the work is in this world, a transient, worthless world compared to the reward and the pleasure in the eternal world.” And there (in Item 20), he replies, “Since there is disparity of form between the Creator and the created beings, which causes the shame, through engagement in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to his Maker, they invert the vessels of reception of the soul into vessels of bestowal. That is, for herself, she has no desire for the momentous abundance, but she receives the abundance in order to bestow contentment upon her Maker, who wants the souls to enjoy His abundance.”

Now we can understand what we asked, that we can understand that between man and man, the work that a person does for a reward is in order for him not to eat the bread of shame, as it is known that this causes shame, and through the work, the blemish of shame is corrected because he receives reward for the work. But with respect to the Creator, what is the correction of the work, if we must work not in order to receive reward?

Also, we said that we can understand that between man and man, a person needs his friend’s work, but as for the Creator, why does He need man’s work? Is He deficient and needs man’s work?

Indeed, between man and God, it cannot be said that the work corrects the reception of delight and pleasure so the flaw of shame will not be felt. This is so only between man and man, since the giver of the work pays him according to his work. It follows that work for a reward is a kind of tradeoff where they swap with one another, and there is no shame here anymore, since both receive—one receives work and the other receives reward. But with respect to the Creator, there is no equality that we can say that one receives work and the other receives reward.

This is so for two reasons: 1) It cannot be said that the Creator receives work from man, since the Creator is not deficient or needs man’s work. 2) As he says there in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, the reward that a worker of the Creator receives is not equal to the work, since the work, compared to the reward, is like a person working for his friend for one minute, and in return receives provision for the rest of his life, for the worker of the Creator works only in this world, and in return receives reward in eternity. But between man and man, this is not so.

Therefore, as it is written there, man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot is not for the purpose of tradeoff, as between man and man. Rather, the work is that through work in Torah and Mitzvot, a person will receive something new, a second nature. That is, instead of the nature of wanting to receive for himself with which he was born, by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow and not receive reward at all, he will receive reward in return for his work.

Yet, what is the reward he expects to receive for his work in Torah and Mitzvot? It is that the Creator will give him a second nature: vessels of bestowal. Until now he had vessels of the will to receive in order to receive. Now he will obtain new Kelim [vessels] called “vessels of bestowal.” Hence, during the work in Torah and Mitzvot, he should aim to engage in order to bestow. That is, all the time during the work, he must aim which reward he hopes that the Creator will give him in return for his work in Torah and Mitzvot.

There are two things in this intention that he aims in order to bestow: 1) to know which reward he hopes for, 2) to feel a good taste in the reward, meaning to enjoy this reward. That is, the measure of the reward depends on the yearning for it. In corporeality, there is a great reward and a small reward, which is measured by the importance of the matter, since normally, something that is rare, that not many people have and is difficult to obtain, is regarded as important in corporeality.

Likewise, everyone thinks that he can come to do everything for the sake of the Creator since it is only an intention, to aim during the work that he wants the work to be for the sake of the Creator. The person thinks that only actions are hard to do, but intentions are very easy, and depend only on his will, and if he wants to, then he can.

But those who begin to walk on this path, who want their actions to be for the sake of the Creator, the more those people increase their efforts in actions and intentions to bestow, the more they discover the truth that they are far from it. That is, there is a Segula [power/remedy/quality] in this work—the truth is revealed to him from above, that he has no connection to acts of bestowal. But before a person begins the work of bestowal, there is a correction that we cannot see the truth that a person is far from this path, as it is against nature.

Man is born to do everything for his own sake. In order not to feel shame, he must do everything for the sake of the Creator and annul his entire being. How can the body agree to this? As The Zohar says about the verse “Or make his sin known to him,” the Creator makes this known to him, meaning that from above, when they see that a person wants to correct the will to receive for himself, they alert him to the truth that he is far from it. Then he begins to see that not anyone can achieve this reward, and he begins to see the importance of the matter.

It follows that only then does he begin to see how this reward, called “vessels of bestowal,” is hard to merit, and only the Creator can give him these Kelim. As a result, his reward becomes important in his eyes since it is a precious thing that not just anyone can achieve.

Accordingly, we see the importance of this reward—to be rewarded with vessels of bestowal. It is impossible to understand the importance of the matter before one sees how difficult it is to obtain. When he obtains vessels of bestowal, he sees that he has been rewarded with a great reward, which is such a precious thing since he cannot obtain this great thing by himself, and only the Creator Himself can give him these Kelim as a gift.

Thus, their saying that it is forbidden to work in order to receive reward is because if he wants reward for the work then he escapes from the real reward. By this we will understand why we need to work, since the Creator does not need our work, to help Him in any way. The answer is that this work is only for us. That is, through the work, we obtain the importance of the reward. And it is not merely importance, but through the work, we attain that the importance is because it is our entire life, for without Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, we are far from Him, and all the delight and pleasure that the Creator created in order to do good to His creations depends on having equivalence with the light.

As the ARI says, the reason for the breaking of the vessels was because the Kelim could not tolerate the light. Hence, the lights departed and the Kelim broke. This means that there is an inverse relation between the light, which is the giver, and the Kli [vessel], which is the receiver. In order to have equivalence, there was a correction that the receiver does not receive because of his own benefit, but because he wants to do the Creator’s will, who wants to do good to His creations, and only for this reason does he receive the delight. This is called “equivalence,” since now both are equal for they are both considered givers. That is, as the light gives by giving to the Kli, the Kli receives only because it wants to bestow upon the Giver.

Now we can understand what Baal HaSulam said about the words that Moses asked of the Creator (Exodus 33:18-21): “And he said, ‘Show me please Your glory.’ And the Lord said, ‘Here is a place with Me.’”

He said, “What is the meaning of ‘Here is a place with Me’?” He said, “Iti [with me] is an acronym [in Hebrew] for faith, prayer, and labor. That is, this is the place by which we can be rewarded with the glory of the Creator. We can interpret the glory of the Creator the way we pray (in the Eighteen Prayer of Rosh Hashanah) “Give glory to Your people,” which means that the glory of the Creator will be revealed within the people of Israel, so each and every one will feel the greatness of the Creator to an extent that people’s only worry will be to do something, to bring some contentment to the Creator, and nothing else will interest them.

Conversely, when it is the opposite, when the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust, the greatness of the Creator is concealed and we neither see nor feel the importance of the Commander, who commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot, it is not because He needs our work. Rather, He wants to reward us. We were given Torah and Mitzvot because as our sages said, “The Creator wanted to cleanse Israel, hence, He gave them plentiful Torah and Mitzvot,” as it is written in the beginning of the essay, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” Therefore, to achieve the glory of the Creator, we can interpret that this is why he said, “Show me Your glory.” Although there are many interpretations to this, in the work, this is how we should interpret the verse—“Show me Your glory” means that the glory of the Creator will be revealed.

We should interpret that the order of “a place Iti [with Me]” is that one should take upon oneself faith, to believe that each and every one can be rewarded with the glory of the Creator. When he believes this, he must know why the glory of the Creator is not revealed even before he begins the work, and only the concealment is revealed. He must believe the words of our sages that this is a correction so that man will be able to acquire equivalence of form, regarded as “giving to the Creator and not for himself.”

For this reason, concerning the faith that one should take upon himself, he should also believe that it is impossible to be rewarded with the glory of the Creator, meaning that the hiding and concealment would be removed from him, if he has not been rewarded with “fear of heaven.” Fear means as it is written (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar”), “He cannot have faith before he has equivalence of form.” In order to have equivalence of form, he must try to have fear in everything he does, as it is written (there), “Fear means that he is afraid lest he will diminish in bringing contentment to his Maker.”

It follows that when one begins the work, he begins with faith, but the body resists this work, and then comes a state of labor, when he must overcome the body and seek all kinds of counsels, as our sages said, “In trickery shall you conduct war,” since the body does not want to relinquish self-benefit. To the extent that he exerts, to that extent he begins to feel that he is incapable of doing anything since in his view, he has done everything he could. After the labor, he comes to know that only the Creator can help, and it is out of his hands. Then comes the third state—a prayer—and then the prayer is from the bottom of the heart, since it is utterly clear to him that no one can help him but the Creator.

However, even when he comes to know that the Creator can help him, and he understands that the real advice is only prayer, the body comes and makes him see that “You see how many prayers you have already prayed but you received no answer from above. Therefore, why bother praying that the Creator will help you? You see that you are not getting any help from above.” At that time, he cannot pray. Then we need to overcome once more through faith, and believe that the Creator does hear the prayer of every mouth, and it does not matter if the person is adept and has good qualities, or to the contrary. Rather, he must overcome and believe above reason, although his reason dictates that since he has prayed many times but still received no answer from above, how can he come and pray once more? This, too, requires overcoming, meaning to exert above reason and pray that the Creator will help him overcome his view and pray.

It follows that although faith, prayer, and labor are three successive things, in truth, they are indeed three things, yet these three things are intermingled. That is, in every state, he works with all three together. In other words, although we begin with faith, all other discernments are included in faith, since when he begins to overcome, he must believe in the sages, who said, “Man must say, ‘If I am not for me, who is for me?’” In other words, a person must toil and achieve the goal by himself. When he sees that he cannot overcome and exert, he must believe that a prayer helps, as it is written, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth,” although he sees no change when he prays for the Creator to help him. Thus, here, too, there is the matter of above reason. However, the general order is to begin with faith, then labor, and then prayer.

It follows that the most important is faith, since with it we must work in everything we do. That is, the basis of all the Kelim with which one works is faith. This is why the light that is revealed is called “light of faith,” after the Kli. This Kli is built on the basis of faith in the sages and faith in the Creator, as it is written, “And they believed in the Lord and in His servant, Moses.”

Now we can understand what our sages said, “If he swallows the bitter herb, he will not come out.” The ARI said that Maror [bitter herb] is death in Gematria. We should understand what this implies to us that Maror is death in Gematria, that it is the judgments in her, to which the Klipot grip. We should interpret that it is as we say (in the Passover Haggadah [story]), “This Maror that we eat, what for? For the hard work with which the Egyptians made their lives bitter.”

The hard work was that the people of Israel wanted to emerge from the control of the Egyptians, called “self-love,” that when they overcame to do something in order to bestow, thoughts of the Egyptians immediately came to them, asking the wicked man’s question: “What is this work for you?” To work for the sake of the Creator. Every time they prevailed, the questions of the Egyptians immediately came. This is called “hard labor,” that it was difficult for them to emerge from their control because the Egyptians made their lives bitter.

The ARI says about this, that Maror in Gematria is death, meaning that the Egyptians did not want to let them out of their control, but to remain as they wanted, as the wicked man’s question. This is the meaning of staying in the form of “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’” It follows that this is not just bitter, but it is actual death. Thus, “made their lives bitter” means that they wanted the people of Israel to remain dead.

It therefore follows that hard labor, when they tasted bitterness, means that they tasted the taste of death by working for their own sake. This is the meaning of what he says, that Maror is regarded as death, and judgments to which the Klipot grip, where judgment means that they were under judgment, meaning forbidden to use the vessels of reception, and all the nursing of the Klipot comes from the vessels of reception, which want to receive in order to receive. Then, when a person is in a state of reception, the person is in a state of concealment and hiding from spirituality.

Its correction is as it is written, “This is the reason why he should taste bitterness, and if he swallows it, he does not do his duty, since the grinding of the teeth sweetens through the thirty-two teeth.” We should interpret that it is known that the thirty-two teeth imply the thirty-two paths of wisdom, meaning that specifically by a person achieving a state of ascent, regarded as being in a state of life and wisdom, then he should chew the bitter herb, so as to taste bitterness, for only during an ascent can we feel what is Maror, meaning what descent tastes like, as in, “the advantage of the light from within the darkness.”

That is, it is impossible to taste a real taste in life and light unless he has the taste of darkness and death. Thus, the Maror is sweetened through the ascent, for only through the darkness, which is a descent, does he feel a taste in the light. It follows that the darkness has now been corrected. This is the meaning of the words, “And to sweeten her by extending life.” 

M. Laitman: Any questions, no? Excellent.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:11) Rabash writes, it follows that the fact that we can’t work in order to receive reward, because if he wants reward for the work, he moves away from the true reward. I wanted to share that during many years, I received all the abundance from the Creator. I have no complaints towards Him, everything I wanted to receive, I received it. I reached an agreement with Him that for the next 2,000 years, I'm willing to serve Him, to go hand in hand with Him in complete agreement. Is this form that I'm not willing to receive any reward, can we say that this reward means that I ran away from the reward? 

M. Laitman: If you have connection, then speak through this connection.

Student: Now if I don't receive reward from the work, then this work is not in order to receive. 

M. Laitman: This, as we say here, depends on what we call reward, do you understand? It all depends on your definitions. 

Student: I understand. Thanks.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:51) He speaks about three things here: faith, labor, and prayer, and they are all against the body, against the force of the body. When he says that this war, in this war you have to succeed, we found trickery, tactics, so we need to understand the laws or the rules of this game in order to succeed. With faith, labor, and prayer, how do we use these three things, how do we work with them?

M. Laitman: We need to use these three things in order to scrutinize one over the other. Meaning, all in all, each one will support the other, the third one. In this way, we'll be able to scrutinize the dependency between each one and the relationship between each one. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:16) He writes here the Creator wanted to cleanse Israel, therefore He gave them plentiful Torah and Mitzvot. I learned from you that we should only engage in the Torah and expect salvation. What other Mitzvot, commandments, do we have, these plentiful Mitzvot? 

M. Laitman: To engage in the Torah means that we wish to come closer to the observance of the 613 commandments. 

Student: Isn't it love your friend as yourself, that everything is included in that?

M. Laitman: It's all included if a person reaches this rule after all the commandments.

Student: What does that mean? 

M. Laitman: That love your friend as yourself is the summary, the conclusion of all the conditions he has to keep in order to observe Torah and commandments. 

Student: For example, I didn't have the upbringing of blessing for the food, but it is a commandment to bless for the food.  

M. Laitman: Let’s say.

Student: Let's say that I eat without blessing, without any intention. I simply eat because the beast is hungry, so it means that I'm not keeping this commandment. 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: What can I do? Should I try to aim it or learn how to pray, to bless?

M. Laitman: Keeping the commandments teaches you how to be adhered to the Creator all the time. 

Student: Yes, but there are 612 commandments other than the one I focus on, which is loving others, right? What about these 612 commandments? 

M. Laitman: Everything is inside, in love your friend as yourself, in the complete form if you will do it. 

Student: Then keeping the external commandments covers everything, it covers everything? If we reach love of others?

M. Laitman: Yes, keeping the external commandments will bring you to love of others. 

Student: This is what I’m asking. If I'm not keeping these external commandments, how will I reach love of others? 

M. Laitman: If you don't keep them, you will start and you will see that it will push you more internally, more and more. Besides that, there are such commandments you don't have to keep, commandments that have to do with women, people who are in all kinds of special states or situations that you have no chance of keeping. 

Student: It's difficult for the ego to hear that we should also keep the external commandments.

M. Laitman: Look, like it or not, we are keeping many actions that we don't quite understand, but we keep it because it's customary, because that's what the environment thinks, and we are governed, managed in this way. That's how it is.

Student: What happens with someone like me, that his environment is completely unused to engaging in external things, external Mitzvot?

M. Laitman: That happens to us throughout our entire history. We see people who suddenly grow within the general public, but they are different than this public, and they keep something, they grow up to be very different than their environment. 

Student: Concretely, I stand no chance of reaching the end of correction if I don't try to also keep the external commandments? 

M. Laitman: I cannot say, it's not my calculation. What you do is you use it to turn to the Creator and the Creator makes the calculation. You get the final mark from Him, the final score.

Student: It's only my calculation opposite Him?

M. Laitman: Mine, yours, everyone's. All in all, there are a great many calculations.

Student: Okay, another question about His place is with me, ETI in Hebrew, which is the acronym of faith, labor, and prayer. On the one hand, he writes that before one has faith, he needs equivalence of form. What does that mean equivalence of form, it's not bestowal? 

M. Laitman: Where is it written?

Student: That is that one cannot have faith before he has equivalence of form, and in order to have equivalence of form, he needs to try that in everything that he does, that he will have fear.

M. Laitman: Fear, yes. 

Student: He will have fear, so fear is a state where you're afraid that you're not giving contentment to the Creator, right?

M. Laitman: That you do and you're afraid. 

Student: You're afraid that you're not doing enough, I mean to give Him contentment. Now, he says that before one reaches faith at all, you have to be in equivalence of form. It's a bit confusing. 

M. Laitman: What confusing, what kind of complaints are these?

Student: I mean, I need to know what to focus on. Faith is already the force of bestowal, so before the force of bestowal, there is equivalence of form. I thought that equivalence of form means to be in bestowal already, that you already have faith.

M. Laitman: Then what's next? 

Student: What do we get first, the force of faith, or do we feel equivalence of form before we have the force of faith? 

M. Laitman: No, equivalence of form seemingly concludes everything.

Student: It's a bit confusing because then he also says that the order, first he speaks about faith, labor, and prayer, then he says that the general order is that we start from faith, then there is labor, and in the end, there is prayer, so I get all confused here. 

M. Laitman: Well, that's how he writes. 

Student: I need to discover it on my own?

M. Laitman: Of course, what Rabash writes is not 100% accurate because he is writing to you, but which force says in what form, in what order? You might be receiving them from above, from the upper providence, but nevertheless, you are receiving them, and you are responding to them, so try to resolve them.

Student: Let's say that I want to focus on the very first thing in order to have a connection with the Creator, so where do I begin? 

M. Laitman: By getting home, opening the book, and reading it a few times with a prayer in the heart. 

Student: Thank you.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:05) The reward means to receive a second nature, what is this second nature? 

M. Laitman: What is the second nature? The second nature is the desire to bestow compared to the desire to receive. 

Student: What taste does this second nature have, is it bitter or sweet? 

M. Laitman: Typically, it's sweet.

Student: But the way to this sweet is bitter?

M. Laitman: If a person wants the sweet, if the sweet is what attracts him and sweet is his goal, the path is bitter, but it's good since in this way he begins to distinguish between what's right and what's wrong.

Student: How can we develop some yearning for this sweet? 

M. Laitman: I think that if we develop correctly, we come to it, to the correct taste. 

Student: First, we have to be in this bitterness?

M. Laitman: Bitterness depends on what we connect it with. Give a baby, instead of a bottle of milk or some porridge, let him have some beer. He's going to take it. For him, it's going to be bitter, so it all depends on how he receives the taste. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:49) Great gratitude for the article, it's very emotional. I have two questions. It's difficult to go in the work against the ego, but when you work with the friends in prayer, it's not necessarily bitter. Does the work have to be bitter? 

M. Laitman: If you go precisely against your nature, then certainly all your efforts will acquire a bitter taste. 

Student: I feel heaviness, but is bitterness and heaviness the same thing? He speaks about the 32 paths of Hochma, wisdom, what is it about? 

M. Laitman: We have 32, we have 40. We have numbers that tell us where we are, and what degree we are on that will give us a certain quality. It depends on where we are. 

Student: It's seemingly 32 qualities of scrutiny or 32 different ways to reach the Creator?

M. Laitman: There are 32 paths.

Student: Every person only goes through one of these paths, or? 

M. Laitman: Both, each one in his own way. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:03) Faith and a vessel of bestowal, it’s the same? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:23) To continue the friend's scrutiny, I want to clarify something. We engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah here. Usually, in most of the texts, we don't ascribe them, to relate them to any external customs of this world, we're also more in internality. Also, the name of the article is, what is it that if he swallows the bitter herb, he doesn't come out in the work, so we're talking about internal things, not externality. From here comes a certain issue that we learned, that eating means receiving, not eating something but to receive. That's how it's written in the language of Kabbalah, the language of the branches.  Blessing before means to prepare yourself and make an intention, this is what it means to bless before the food, to make an intention.

 If we got together to study how to bestow or manners of bestowal, to make an intention, I want to learn how to bestow, that it will be in order to bestow. It doesn't mean you reach it, but to want to have the intention. This is what it means to bless before the food. This is what it means, externality, and intention is internality. That externally, I make an intention, that I receive in order to bestow. Instead of just being a small egoist, I intend for the friends, and after doing it for many times, maybe I'll create inside of me a relation where I feel, let's say, love your friend as yourself, that a certain pattern is created in me through this game by playing. It's not about external customs, right? There's no such conflict. Is that more correct, what I said? 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: So, externality means? 

M. Laitman: Externality is important. 

Student: Physically, I mean, customs? 

M. Laitman: Physically, yes. 

Student: The article is dealing with external customs, like Shulchan Aruch?

M. Laitman: That too, that too.

Student: Both?

M. Laitman: Both, yes, both in parallel. 

Student: What the friend asked about the barrier, physically, as a beast, a friend doesn't keep, doesn't bless and wash his hands, does he fail himself in the internality also? He won't be able to cross the barrier in advance?

M. Laitman: There's something to it, you can't cancel it. We live in a world where such external actions awaken us to also carry out internal actions.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:18) How not to be afraid of spiritual work and make peace with the fact that in order to reach the light, a person has to feel death and darkness? 

M. Laitman: This is how one should feel his nearing to the will to receive. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:41) What advice, what schemes can one use in order to overcome the resistance of the body and manipulate the ego correctly when he knows from the very beginning that he will not receive a reward? 

M. Laitman: Again? 

Student: What advice, what counsels, schemes can one use in order to overcome the resistance of the body and correctly manipulate the ego when he knows from the get-go that he will not receive a reward here? 

M. Laitman: Why will he not receive a reward? 

Student: In the will to receive.

M. Laitman: So, that he will not receive something inside of the will to receive, that may be a reward. 

Question (W Turkiye 9): (01:02:36) It says they believe in the Creator and Moses his servant. What does it mean that they believed in Moses? 

M. Laitman: That they are ready, according to the measure of their faith, to carry out Moses' commands.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:11) The article's name is, if he swallows the bitter herbs, he will not come out in the work, and he says in the end that it's possible to chew the bitter herbs only in the ascent, scrutinize it. Only when he has a state of life and wisdom, he should chew the bitter herbs to taste the bitterness, for only during an ascent can we feel what are bitter herbs. It reminded me before Passover, many articles about left and right, that the person on the left is damned, he cannot bless the Creator. He needs even a small point of contact with the Creator to bless Him, and only later, when he has the right, he can open the left a little bit.

 I wanted to scrutinize here, he talks about ascents and descents, and then we learned about left and right. What is the point in which we hold onto, not to swallow the bitter herbs because anyone who swallows it doesn't, he misses the scrutiny, and he loses the power that will bring him to the ascent. I feel like sometimes we're not using what the Creator gave us to scrutinize and to ascend, we ignore it as if it's unnecessary.

M. Laitman: That it's not necessary, I can’t say that, but that you detect in advance that it's going to be a difficult thing and it could cause conflicts and other things, and so you run away from it in advance.

Student: It's a shame.

M. Laitman: It is a shame, yes.

Student: Also to touch it somehow in connection?

M. Laitman: No, you somehow need to measure whether the difficulty in the scrutiny that you have before you is worthwhile, that you can overcome it and acquire some action of connection, some action of correction. 

Student: The action of connection, the action of correction is the Ten that is chewing the state? 

M. Laitman: Yes, it's chewing the state. Nevertheless, if it's chewing it in the right way, it connects with the right result, then in such a way we can advance in the work. 

Student: Before chewing, we have to hold on to the right line to some extent. 

M. Laitman: We need to reach a decision that only in such a way can we reach the truth, yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:54) He writes when the created being is the receiver, and during the receiving of the good from his friend he feels unpleasantness. That's why we were given work, and when a person receives reward for his work, there is no shame. On our level, in the work in the Ten, we have to reach shame, feel shame from the friends?

M. Laitman: We need to feel shame from the friends, to what extent am I keeping my role when I am between them? Let's say that according to my state and what the Creator is passing on to me, I can attain a degree which is much higher, so that from it, I can bestow to all of the friends, and I'm not doing it, so this is a calculation. 

Student: Feeling shame on our level, as you described it, is when I have something to give. I know I can give 100 grams to the friends, but I give only 60, so I'm already ashamed for not giving the entire 100?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Shame from receiving from them, what is shame from not giving what I need to give? What is shame from receiving and not paying back? 

M. Laitman: Oh, so these are all degrees of shame. It depends on the person, it depends on the environment, and it's not okay.

Student: A person in the work, he's overcoming, he's laboring, he's exerting. They tell him he's in a state of war and now he needs to give. How from the feeling they take from him, they disturb him, they pressure him, how from that he can feel shame?

M. Laitman: I don't understand your example. You're saying that he's being pressured or not? 

Student: He's in a state where he's stressed, there's pressure on him. 

M. Laitman: Pressure from the environment?

Student: From the environment is good, he feels pressure from life.

M. Laitman: Well from life, that's something else.

Student: He feels pressure from the environment. 

M. Laitman: Fine, so he should arrange an answer for himself. What is pressuring him, what for, why, what does he reach if he keeps the pressure, what the society is demanding from him, and advance in such a way.

Student: Is this point called being in the work, that he's working?

M. Laitman: Yes, of course.

Student: That's the work?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:53) Continuing the scrutiny about the commandments, for example with food. If before eating, I truly intend to try to give contentment to the Creator, it doesn't relieve me from the physical commandment?

M. Laitman: Of course not. 

Student: On our spiritual path, there's a necessity to keep the physical commandments. Now, a person should learn this by himself, or are we going to do it in an organized manner at some point, the learning of these corporeal commandments?

M. Laitman: We don't do it here. 

Student: We start to learn the short version of the set table, the Shulchan Aruch?

M. Laitman: It's not with me, you can ask there.

Student: Okay, thank you.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:57) This topic is popping up again, it's bothering people, so on Tuesday we open this, we have this activity, we explain what blessings to say over which foods. In the beginning, we had 50 people, then 10, then some on Zoom. Anyone who wants, the shop is open. So, Tuesday, 6 p.m., the shop is open. It's not a lot of things, it's also not so complicated.

M. Laitman: Rabash obligated us to study these things.

Student: Anyone who wants to solve this problem, please know, what does everyone do with it, what kind of intentions you hear in the lesson, but to learn the basics, anyone who wants to can turn to the friend. 

M. Laitman: It opens up a person's head. A person doesn't think that he's in a dead end, but rather these are things that everyone learns, and people come with their knowledge, or maybe it's things that we forgot, but in general, just like with anything in life, we learn something, we forget it, but something remains. It's worthwhile, it is worthwhile. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:27) Rabash describes that even after a person prayed many times, he still hasn't received anything from above. He still has to overcome and pray that the Creator will help. 

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: Time after time, even without seeing a result, he has to increase the faith.

M. Laitman: He should check himself and check his prayer and arrange himself each time in a different way towards the Creator, and then pray. 

Student: If after many times that he prayed and he did not see a change, how can a person come out of this loop? 

M. Laitman: Well, besides that, he has many other things to do, not only to be precise in the prayer. 

Student: The question is, what does it mean to overcome with faith even after many times when he doesn't see a result? 

M. Laitman: That's not his business, his business is each time to make contact with the Creator and continue. 

Student: Where does he take the power, where he sees time after time that he is losing the strength to pray? 

M. Laitman: He should go with that all the way. 

Student: According to what’s in the end?

M. Laitman: And if he can't do it anymore then he should cry, cry out. He should see his end, his conclusion, that he can't do it anymore, and by that, he will feel what he should receive in order to keep going.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:48) Here in the article he makes a difference between bestowing between people to bestowing between man and the Creator. He says that between people it corrects the shame, and between a person and the Creator, that's for man to acquire a vessel of bestowal. First of all, between people, if now I do something for the others, the other gets some value from it, so it turns out that the shame is corrected. Why do I have to correct the shame? It's like our world is organized in a way that shame is already corrected. 

M. Laitman: How do you see it? 

Student: I give something to a person, let's say I give him coffee like the friends just did for us.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: The friends are enjoying the coffee.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, for the sake of my exertion, now they get a reward, and the shame is corrected, there's nothing to correct.

M. Laitman: Did you give something back to the one who gave you coffee?

Student: I gave the coffee.

M. Laitman: Yes, so were you given something in return, each of them?

Student: Yes, they're enjoying the coffee. They got joy from the coffee; from my action they got joy. 

M. Laitman: Yes, but what did you get in return?

Student: Oh, what did I get? Okay. One second, so how do you raise bestowal between people to the degree of the bestowal between man and the Creator? What's the connection between those two types? 

M. Laitman: We have to check it, we have to examine it, yes.

Student: Okay, last thing, the Creator doesn't need anything from us because He doesn't have vessels of reception, that's what he's describing in the article, so what does it mean, to bestow to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Bestowing upon the Creator is to do something that is pleasant to Him. 

Student: But He doesn't have a deficiency. 

M. Laitman: Why did He create the created beings? 

Student: He created for man to acquire vessels of bestowal.

M. Laitman: In other words, He's interested in this.

Student: So…

M. Laitman: It means that the Creator is interested in our final correction, He is interested in our attaining the end of correction. This is why He created nature in such a way, that it gets to this point. 

Student: Okay. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:18) In what do we have to feel shame before the Creator?  

M. Laitman: Shame before the Creator. If He expects something from me and I give him something else. 

Student: How to feel what He needs? 

M. Laitman: Kabbalists write about it everywhere, in all our sources, that the Creator wants nothing other than for us to love each other. Try to love one another in such a way that you will feel the state of the Creator. Currently, He is hidden from you. Why? Because He doesn't want to pain you, He doesn't want to show you how dissatisfied He is with you. Now, you have to behave in such a way, that you feel that your actions can please Him, and then He won't have to hide from you and you won't have to hide from Him, okay? 

Question (Batumi): (01:21:45) In the article, we are speaking about the greatness of the Creator. I need to perform a restriction in the lesson and receive the pleasure for the friends. Is that right to do in the lesson? 

M. Laitman: We will check it. Next.

Question (Kyiv 1): (01:22:35) It's written in the middle of the article that Aleph, Tav, Yud, that through that we can attain the greatness of the Creator, that will be expressed in the whole nation of Israel and each one can feel. What does it mean that each one will feel the greatness of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Well, it probably is so. The Creator will be revealed to everyone, meaning each one will feel His greatness, the greatness of the Creator. 

Student: Can we check somehow that it's with everybody? 

M. Laitman: We'll get to it and talk about it and see that it's so.

Student: What does it mean that I have the greatness of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: That you discover Him and feel Him completely within you.

Question (Women Moscow): (01:23:49) Next to me there's a friend who wants to ask this question, I'm trying to ask through me. In the article says that the lie has to be great so we can discern it. The question is, in what way does faith correct the lie and how can we depict the complete faith? 

M. Laitman: You would get confused. I wouldn't recommend for you to deal with it. Take small steps like we do, slowly, slowly. Move aside bad qualities, and draw towards you good qualities. When you have the correct charge more or less, then we'll be able to reveal all of our qualities,

Question (Women German 8): (01:25:10) At the end of the article, he says that we need to chew the Maror and feel the taste of bitterness, that we have to chew it. If I feel the taste of bitterness, I right away, want to come out of this state, so what does it mean to chew the Maror in the work in the Ten and not to try and swallow it or spit it? 

M. Laitman: Attain, perceive all the bitterness, and nevertheless keep going all the way. 

Student: What is this bitterness, how to not lie to myself?

M. Laitman: If you work in a group, and there are correct relationships between you, meaning not corrected, but open, good relationships, then you'll understand it.

Question (MAK 4): (01:26:24) The relationships between the friends, incorporating with one another, is that bestowal, one towards the other, or is that not enough? Do we need physical actions between us too? 

M. Laitman: It's enough only with prayer, but for the prayer to really be complete, and not that you are making up ways to avoid it.

Student: When the friend chews this Maror, do we need a common prayer, what kind?

M. Laitman: Try to open up your most hidden relationships toward each other, and all the criticism that you have within you.

Question (Zafon 1): (01:27:15) When we learned the category of truth and false, we learned that most remedies, medicines, are bitter. As opposed to that, candy is bad for your health. Here it's written that the Egyptians didn't want to let the sons of Israel to go out of the control of Pharaoh and they made their life bitter, so they would remain dead in their self-love. Here we see that there is no correlation between bitter and sweet in the corporeal world and the spiritual world, is that right? 

M. Laitman: It's correct, but I wouldn't throw away anything. We will scrutinize it. 

Question (Tel Aviv 1): (01:28:19) It's written here like this, after he prayed many times and still didn't get an answer from above, how can he go and pray again? You also need to overcome that, meaning to exert above reason and pray that the Creator helps, that he'll be able to overcome his reason. To pray for the ability to pray for bestowal, but if I can't pray for bestowal, why should I be able to pray? What if it won't work so I add a prayer before it? Like the friend was saying, it's all like a loop. 

M. Laitman: It's not a loop. The question is, to what extent are we running away from the necessity, from the necessity? We have to, nevertheless, awaken a prayer to the Creator, and it doesn't matter from which side, from which direction, we want to ask of Him because only this brings us to spiritual life, otherwise we're dead. 

Student: Not to expect to see answers, not to expect let's say, to expect a reward, just prayer? 

M. Laitman: You have to pray until you begin to receive a response. 

Student: The key word here is just be persistent. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Women Latin 26): (01:30:11) If the intention in the spiritual work is that we understand that we don't have equality of form with the Creator and we have to attain equality of form with the Creator?

M. Laitman: Both are needed, both lack of equivalence of form and equivalence of form. If we know both discernments, we will be able to advance correctly. 

Question (Women ITA): (01:31:09) I understood that you said that we're in a world where external actions can affect our internal actions. What are the external actions that can help us reach the right intention? 

M. Laitman: Whatever brings people closer. Whatever brings closer the members of the group. 

Question (Women Latin 22): (01:32:02) Is that bitterness in the action of chewing, is that connected to the advantage of light from the darkness? 

M. Laitman: Yes, yes. 

Question (Women Almaty): (01:32:29) We have a physical gathering at our center, but I stayed at home in the Arvut system. I understand that it's preferable to come physically, but also my ego grew so much that it prevented me from coming. Does that mean I'm chewing the Maror less or is it not important? 

M. Laitman: I don't even want to get into it, I don't want to talk about your discernments. You're twisting yourself in all kinds of ways, you're deceiving yourself. You sit home, you don't sit home, it doesn't matter, you're still very far from the beginning of the way. 

Question (Novosibirsk): (01:33:32) How can we teach each other the work of overcoming in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Precisely through examples we can teach each other when we show each other correct examples.

Student: We really need to talk about it. 

M. Laitman: Yes. Okay, that's it. We're done with these questions, what now? 

Reader: (01:34:03) We have two more short articles by Rabash if we want, for the next part, or the Gate of Intentions for Passover.

M. Laitman: So, let's do these two short articles.

Song: (01:34:19)