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

Daily Lesson (Morning) April 06, 2025.

Part 2: Rabash. Article 14, 1989. What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?

Reader: We are reading in The Writings of Rabash, the article “What is the Meaning of Reply Unto Your Heart?”. Again,“The Writings of Rabash”, the article “What is the Meaning of Reply Unto Your Heart’?”.

Reading: (00:18) What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?

Article No. 14, 1989

It is written in The Zohar (VaEra, Item 89): “Rabbi Elazar started and said, ‘Know this day and reply unto your heart that the Lord, He is God.’ He asks, ‘It should have said, ‘Know this day that the Lord, He is God,’ and in the end, ‘And reply unto your heart,’ since knowing that the Lord is God qualifies him to reply so to the heart. And if he has responded to his heart, he certainly has knowledge. Also, it should have said, ‘Reply unto Libcha’ [your heart with one Bet] instead of Levavcha’ [‘your heart’ with a double Bet].”

He replies that Moses said that if you want to insist on this and know that “The Lord, He is God,” then “reply unto your heart.” Know this: Your heart [with a double Bet] means that the good inclination and the evil inclination that dwell in the heart were mingled with one another and they are one, meaning in both your inclinations, turning the bad qualities of the evil inclination into good. At that time, there is no longer a difference between the good inclination and the evil inclination, and then you will find that “the Lord, He is God.”

We should understand what is it about knowing this, that if we know that “The Lord, He is God,” we come into “Reply unto your heart,” which is Rabbi Elazar’s question. We should also understand the answer he gives when he says it is impossible to come to know that “The Lord, He is God,” before we are rewarded with “Reply unto your heart.” What is the connection that one depends on the other, meaning that specifically when he serves the Creator with the evil inclination, too, we can come to know this?

To understand this, we must first present the matter of the purpose of creation and the matter of the correction of creation. It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. This means that the Creator wants all creations to receive delight and pleasure. Before they receive this, the perfection in the purpose of creation is not apparent, since there are still discernments in the world that did not attain the delight and pleasure.

For this reason, the perfection of the purpose of creation is apparent specifically when everyone attains the delight and pleasure. This is called, as the ARI says, that “Before the world was created, He and His name were one,” as it is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. This means that the delight and pleasure that He wished to impart upon His creations, there was a Kli [vessel] there, called Malchut de Ein Sof [Malchut of Infinity], which received the light. The light, called “He,” and the Kli, called “His name,” were one, meaning there was no disparity of form. This is the purpose of creation.

Afterward came the matter of the correction of creation, as the ARI says, that “To bring to light the perfection of His deeds, He restricted Himself.” He interprets there, in Ohr Pnimi [Baal HaSulam’s commentary on the ARI], that in order to avoid the shame, since disparity of form causes separation between the receiver and the Giver, and likewise, all things that are not present in the root, cause unpleasantness in the branches, hence, through the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment that were made, the lower ones were given a place to correct their vessels of reception so they work in order to bestow.

At that time, there will be equivalence of form between the receiver and the Giver, and then all the light that He wished to bestow upon His creations will be revealed among the lower ones, and it will once again be “The Lord is One and His name is One.” This means that the delight and pleasure that were revealed in the world of Ein Sof in vessels of reception, that light will be revealed in vessels of reception that are corrected into working in order to bestow.

Two things extend from this: 1) The will to receive, which extends from the purpose of creation, since His desire is to do good to His creations. Hence, He created in the creatures a desire and yearning to receive delight and pleasure. The bad, called “evil inclination,” whose quality is only to receive for its own sake, derives from this discernment. 2) The desire to bestow, which extends from the Tzimtzum and the concealment that were made in order to achieve the correction of creation. It is called the “good inclination,” since through the desire to bestow we achieve equivalence of form, which is Dvekut [adhesion], by which we receive the delight and pleasure that He wishes to give to His creations, and then the purpose of creation will be achieved in full.

Thus, when a person wants to begin the holy work, to work and toil in order to receive reward, that his reward will be Dvekut with the Creator, meaning that all his works will be for the sake of the Creator, at that time the body, which was born—because of the purpose of creation—with a desire to receive for itself, resists with all its might. It yells, “But the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, and the Creator does not need the lower ones to give Him anything!

“Therefore,” he asks, “Why should I exert to make everything for the sake of the Creator without any reward? After all, this is the purpose of creation! If it were true that we must work for the sake of the Creator and not for our own sake, then why did He create within us a desire to receive for ourselves? Instead, He should have created in us a desire to bestow, then all the creatures would work for the sake of the Creator.

“Instead, you are trying to say that since He desires to do good to His creations, He created in us the will to receive, and then He wants us to work for the sake of the Creator. It is great suffering if we want to annul self-reception and revoke our entire selves, leaving nothing within us for our own benefit.”

As our sages said (Sukkah 45), “Anyone who mingles for the sake of the Creator with another thing is uprooted from the world.” This means that if one does everything for the sake of the Creator but mixes into it some for himself, this is called “another thing,” and he is uprooted from the world, meaning from the next world. In other words, he cannot be rewarded with the reward one receives for man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot.

It therefore follows that we cannot understand that His desire to do good to His creations has given us suffering in working for Him. Why does He need us to suffer when we must relinquish our will to receive? Therefore, when we work coercively and exert to overcome the will to receive in us, and we say to our bodies, we do not need to be smart.

Instead, we must believe in the sages who teach us that we must observe the Torah and Mitzvot without anything in return, but as they said (Avot, Chapter 1:3), “He would say, ‘Be not as slaves serving the rav [great teacher] in order to receive reward, but be as slaves serving the rav not in order to receive reward.’”

This means that we must believe that the Creator is not deficient or needs us to work for Him. Rather, we must believe that the fact that we must work for Him is for our sake. That is, by this we will achieve the purpose of creation—that the lower ones will receive delight and pleasure. However, this work is for the purpose of correction of creation.

Yet, since it is against reason, a person does not agree to it, and must constantly overcome, since every overcoming works only for a time, and each time he must overcome anew. This state is called “judgment,” meaning that a person is still under the control of the Tzimtzum and judgment that took place so as not to reveal the light of His face, so all would feel how the Creator leads the world with a guidance of delight and pleasure.

Instead, each one sees how the quality of judgment is present in the world, since each one feels lacks both in corporeality and in spirituality. At that time, a person says that the world is conducted by the name Elokim [God], which is the quality of judgment. And yet, a person must believe that in truth, everything is mercy, but for the time being, he must feel this way, since everything follows the path of correction, where specifically by this it will be possible to achieve the purpose of creation, which is delight and pleasure.

Now we can understand what we asked about the connection between “Reply unto your heart” and the awareness that “The Lord, He is God.” Before a person achieves the degree where all his works are for the sake of the Creator, called “in order to bestow,” a person cannot see that everything that happens in the world is the Creator behaving with the world as the good who does good.

Instead, he must believe that this is so and say as it is written, “They have eyes and see not.” Instead, he sees that the governance of the world is through the quality of judgment, called Elokim. But afterward, when he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, which correct his vessels of reception to work in order to bestow, this means that he can work for the Creator with the evil inclination, too, since the evil inclination is called “the will to receive for one’s own sake,” from which derives all the evil that we see in the world. This also applies between man and man, as all the wars, thefts, and murders in the world stem from the will to receive for one’s own sake.

When he corrects the desire to receive pleasure so as to work in order to bestow, he receives equivalence of form. He receives Dvekut with the Creator, and the Tzimtzum and concealment that are present in the world depart from him. At that time he sees only good, and that everything he felt prior to being rewarded with Dvekut were only corrections, which brought him to equivalence of form. It follows that what he thought, that the governance of the world is with the quality of judgment, called Elokim, he sees that it is mercy, called HaVaYaH [the Lord].

By this we should interpret the connection of “Reply unto your heart” to “The Lord, He is God.” Before we are rewarded with replying to the heart, when it was in disparity of form and remoteness of place, since a receiver for himself is in disparity of form from the Giver, which is called “remoteness,” it follows that equivalence of form is regarded as returning the receiver to the Giver. This is called “Reply unto your heart” [in Hebrew, Hashivota means both “return” and “reply”].

At that time he sees that everything he thought, that the world was conducted by judgment, which is Elokim, now he sees that HaVaYaH [the Lord] is Elokim [God]. That is, it becomes revealed that to begin with, everything was with the quality of mercy, as it is written, “For the Lord, He is God.” However, before one is rewarded with returning the heart, called “equivalence of form,” we think that everything is the quality of judgment, called Elokim.

Accordingly, we should interpret what they ask, Why if the Creator wanted to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt, He sent Moses to ask and beg him to permit the people of Israel to come out of Egypt? We see that He had made miracles there to our fathers in Egypt, meaning that all the plagues that struck Egypt, the people of Israel suffered none of the plagues. So why did the Creator not bring out the people of Israel against Pharaoh’s will?

In the literal, there are many answers, but we will interpret this in the work. It is known that every person is a small world, comprising seventy nations and the people of Israel, namely the quality of Israel in him, which is regarded as Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. This means that everything he does is all for His sake. This quality is in exile among the Klipot [shells/peels], which are the seventy nations. Mitzrayim [Egypt] means that they Meitzerim [afflict/make narrow] the Israel in him, and Pharaoh King of Egypt is the quality that rules and controls the people of Israel. The Creator wants man’s body to make a choice, meaning that the evil within man will surrender, that the general will to receive in him will make room to emerge from the governance… (the rest is missing). 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:35) First of all, if we may ask for thoughts, we have a dear friend who is in intensive care right now. Let's ask for thoughts about him. I wanted to ask, it's written, we have to believe that the fact that we have to work for Him is certainly for our good, meaning that by this, we will come to the purpose of creation, which is for the lower ones to receive the light and pleasure, but this work is for the purpose of the correction of creation. The purpose of creation, according to what he writes here, is to do good to His creations. The correction of creation, according to what is written, is equivalence of form. It feels like there's a difference, because if the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, and the correction of creation is to do good to the Creator, so there's a difference. That's not clear. 

M. Laitman: All right. Questions?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:00) What does it mean to share the name of the Lord, the name of the Heavens, what does it mean? 

M. Laitman: Actually, that a person wants to draw to his actions all the positive forces we have in the Heavens.

Student: Yes, but then he says that every action I take, even the smallest one, if it's for my own benefit, it's not for the sake of the heavens, but on our path, we correct our desires to bestow?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So how do we actually reach a state where we're partners with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: That we are thinking about each and every action and how to do it for the benefit of the Creator. 

Student: So we need to constantly be thinking about our intention, so that every action we take will be with the intention to benefit the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:42) So, what do we discover first, the evil inclination or the good inclination? 

M. Laitman: First discover, of course, the evil inclination, because it's within nature, in the desire to receive, and it is what's close to a person.

Student: It's closer to the person, and the person identifies it. And when do you discover the good inclination? When coming out of Egypt? 

M. Laitman: When we do sufficient work, intentions, and then gradually, the good inclination is revealed. 

Student: It seems like, well, he writes that there's the purpose of creation and the correction of creation. We know that the correction of creation is the first thing we need. We need the vessel so that the light of the purpose of creation can enter into that vessel?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, that comes from above, seemingly, because as we said now, first we discover the evil inclination, reception for oneself, which is the purpose of creation. So from above, it's the correction of creation, and from below it's the evil inclination, the good inclination, it's kind of inversion. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:22) So, there's the evil inclination and the good inclination.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What balances them? A person can be either in the good inclination or in the evil inclination, or should he always be in a kind of mix of the two, a combination of the two? 

M. Laitman: A person needs to scrutinize what works in him and arrange himself such that as if he only discovers the good inclination. 

Student: What does it mean, discovering only the good inclination? If he scrutinizes, if he conducts some scrutiny, he discovers that he's immersed in the evil. 

M. Laitman: Well? 

Student: What comes next? 

M. Laitman: Next, he needs to turn himself to such actions and deeds upon which the good inclination will be revealed upon him.

Student: Acting in the good inclination means to have the intention to bestow? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: Okay, now a person can be either in Moses or Pharaoh, in this inclination or that inclination? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So what determines if he'll be in this inclination or that? 

M. Laitman: A person determines.

Student: Who is the person in this? 

M. Laitman: The one who feels that before him there are seemingly two paths. 

Student: So, there's a third factor, which is the person.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, I'm trying to understand, who is that person, that place which determines if the evil inclination or the good inclination will govern him, Moses or Pharaoh? 

M. Laitman: That person is called Israel that wants to relieve his forces in order to adhere into his action all the desire.

Student: What activates that person, motivates that person?

M. Laitman: What activates him is his point in the heart. 

Student: Why should he choose the evil inclination or the good inclination, that person? 

M. Laitman: That's how he's built.

Student: It's still not clear to me. You have the good inclination, the evil inclination, and the person in the middle, which needs to decide in this direction or that. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, why should he decide this or that, according to what calculations? What is there? Why would I choose the good inclination or the evil inclination in the next moment, Moses or Pharaoh? What determines it? 

M. Laitman: According to a person's preparation. 

Student: What preparation? 

M. Laitman: To the extent in which he wants to belong to the Creator, the Good That Does Good. And that's why it's being revealed to him. And he stands only in order to scrutinize more and more the Creator's attitudes towards this. 

Student: That person's natural urge, right? Where is he drawn to? 

M. Laitman: He gets drawn to the good inclination. 

Student: To the good inclination. So, what hinders him from always deciding to the side of good? 

M. Laitman: Because against that, there's the evil inclination. And a person needs to scrutinize each time where his heart leans. 

Student: And what is the scrutiny that the person conducts? 

M. Laitman: The scrutiny that a person makes is actually a scrutiny between good and evil, true and false. And by discerning these two actions, he scrutinizes what the evil inclination is and what the good inclination is. 

Student: The work of man is scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And deciding in this direction or that, that's also up to the person? 

M. Laitman: That's after this scrutiny, he sees where he leans, where he belongs.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:29) Baal HaSulam also asked a question, which it doesn't exactly answer here. Why should Pharaoh agree that the sons of Israel will leave Egypt? Right? Why isn't it forced upon him? Why does he have to agree to it? 

M. Laitman: To exit? 

Student: Yes, to release the people of Israel. Why does Pharaoh need to say, okay, that's enough punishments, I agree. 

M. Laitman: These are two forces, this one upon that one. The force of Moses and the force of Pharaoh. They're this against that. And we are clarifying with which forces we need to operate in order to give support to the Creator. Or more correctly to Moses, we should say, so he will be able to advance to the exodus from Egypt.

Student: But we see that by nature, punishments don't really motivate a person to do much. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: But here we see that Pharaoh receives these ten plagues, and then he says, okay, I'll let you go.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, when we receive punishments and blows, maybe we re-calibrate for a moment, but then this Pharaoh just jumps up again. 

M. Laitman: Because we don't want to scrutinize correctly our path. We don't collect, gather those desires, intentions, inclinations we have, as we exit Egypt, to rise above,  or to remain in it. I don't yet see who has the justice, who's just, who I belong to?

Student: So, what needs to happen for us to reach that determination? 

M. Laitman: To come to the determination that you're going with a good inclination, and not be attentive to the evil inclination, we need to scrutinize both and see. And see to what extent the choice in the desire to bestow raises me up, saves me from all the evil forces of Egypt. 

Student: So you have to properly discern what the good is, what the bad is, and to choose the good? 

M. Laitman: Well, yes, it depends on what state a person's in, but actually, what is important to us is how to make the calculation and choose the exit.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:30) He writes about what you spoke of, in that we have to relinquish our will to receive, and so the time where we are forced working against our will to receive, we tell our body that we don't have to be wise, but we have to believe in the sages, the faith in the sages, as they teach us how to observe the Torah and commandments with no reward. For that kind of faith, we need confidence and security in these days before Passover. What kind of confidence should we have from below looking upwards? 

M. Laitman: That's exactly what he writes in the article, that we need to collect all the qualities, discernments, desires, inclinations, and then we will see where we are, where the forces that have accumulated are drawing us towards, and how we can advance towards the purpose of creation. 

Student: If the Ten has confidence in itself, does it have any effect above with respect to the upper worlds, meaning my confidence in the Ten and the Ten's confidence in each and every member allows us to feel the upper confidence? 

M. Laitman: It's not enough that you'll feel that way. There needs to be more than what your heart inclines towards, than you also are willing to go and come close to that direction. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:20) How can we draw the positive force each and every time? He says that we need to overcome every time and every instance of overcoming acts for a time. So, how does that assist us in scrutinizing our relationship with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: We gradually, action after action, bring ourselves closer to the Creator. And we don't yet know how the whole process ends. But we need to believe that all the forces of our exit are eventually connecting together to the good inclination, and the person emerges out of Egypt.

Student: On the one hand, he says that overcoming suffices only for a time. So, what gives you the power to overcome and reach the next state? If overcoming right now allows you to overcome a certain state at present, what gives us the power to continue onwards? It builds in us the power of faith, you could say?

M. Laitman: Overcoming brings us to a higher degree to see the difference between the evil inclination and the good inclination. And that's how we advance. 

Student: Here, he says that we discover the light of the Creator's face more and more. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And that's what allows us to advance further? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:59) He writes that prior to being awarded with repentance in the heart, then we think that everything is the quality of judgment called Elohim [God]. What does it mean that you relate to the Creator the quality of judgment? 

M. Laitman: The measure of judgment means that the Creator relates to every action in a person, of a person, in a way that it is scrutinizing how much a person is in his desire, and then he either belongs to advancing or not for the time being. 

Student: So, how do we earn repentance of the heart? 

M. Laitman: Only with our efforts. 

Student: Because it seems that it's not an action that a person can take, but rather it's something he's awarded with. So being awarded with that, when does the Creator award you with this, with this repentance? 

M. Laitman: That altogether comes after all the actions on behalf of a person, that where the Creator already sees that a person did what he could do with his scrutinies and then raises a person to the next degree. 

Student: Because he writes here that the moment a person is awarded with repentance of the heart, then he sees that HaVaYaH is Elohim, that everything is bestowal. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, on behalf of the person, what is his exertion, his labor that brings him to being rewarded with repentance of the heart? 

M. Laitman: He sees that, I don't know how to say, he sees that specifically the forces of judgment that are being revealed are operating for a person's benefit. And that in the beginning of his work where he thought that they disturb or bother him, now he actually sees that they actually help him. And only subjugating before them advances him. 

Student: So, when the Creator examines the person, tests him to see if he's heading in the right direction, according to what does He determine that that person deserves being awarded with the returning of the heart repentance? The Creator deciding that the person should be awarded with the returning of the heart. What does the Creator check in the person, how does He test him to see if he's worthy? 

M. Laitman: The Creator joins a person to the action of bestowal, and sees to what extent, as much as the new state a person received is exactly suitable for the person.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:34) How is it to be in equivalence of form with the Creator? What is it like? 

M. Laitman: To see negative things, positive things, these and those, as much as you receive all these forces which establish your new state. 

Student: What does the person feel? What does he do? How does he act when he is in equivalence of form with the Creator even on the smallest degree? 

M. Laitman: A person who discovers that he is operating in equivalence of form with the Creator, first of all discovers forces that need to be raised above his desire, and thus he continues. 

Student: But in what sense is he in equivalence of form with the Creator? How does he resemble the Creator? How does he come to resemble the Creator? 

M. Laitman: In that tendency, inclination towards the point of the final correction.

Student: To adhesion? 

M. Laitman: Probably yes, that's how a person feels. 

Student: And from this world, where a person is in a Ten, in this world, in what way does he liken himself to the Creator? How does he start rising and being in equivalence of form with the Creator? By what actions in this world? 

M. Laitman: He tries to perform actions in this world that are such that they will bring him closer to the Creator. That's it. 

Student: These are acts of connection. 

M. Laitman: Acts of connection, of course.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:30) At the beginning of the lesson, you talked about scrutinizing the tendencies, the inclination of the heart. Does a person govern in any way the inclination of his heart? 

M. Laitman: If the Creator opens it for him, then he sees what's before him. 

Student: If the Creator opens it for him, then he sees... So, the Creator is governing his heart.

M. Laitman: Also. 

Student: Who governs my heart? 

M. Laitman: The Creator. 

Student: And me? What about me? 

M. Laitman: If you want to come to this connection with your heart and to check what it's holding on to, what it's deciding, etc., what actions you have before you, so you, by this, come closer to the Creator. And in your scrutiny, you do want to be like Him. 

Student: A person's work of scrutiny can change the inclination of his heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, the very scrutiny itself, me discovering where I am, that can already affect my heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And what is the scrutiny itself? Is it, what, a thought? 

M. Laitman: The scrutiny is... It will all be clarified in thought. That's how it's written.

Student: Okay, so we have the Creator governing my heart, opening another battle each time, another set, and there's me who, in heart and mind, I'm thinking about how to direct the heart, and where are my friends in the Ten with respect to my heart, relative to my heart? 

M. Laitman: They're incorporated in your Ten. Yes, many that are, there are people in the big group, in eventuality, they all connect to one Ten.

Student: How do the friends contribute to my work in scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: To the extent in which they want to be connected to their goal, and as much as they help one another, accordingly, they have a common force that advances the society. 

Student: And the friends can direct my heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: How? With what? 

M. Laitman: What do you mean by what? Through my example.

Student: But ultimately, there's my work of scrutinizing whatever the Creator opens up to me. 

M. Laitman: That's a very secondary thing, and it has a force in it that comes and is revealed as a result of your actions, from your heart. 

Student: So that's, if that's secondary, then what is the primary thing? 

M. Laitman: I didn't understand.

Student: I'll go back to my question with respect to the friends, the members of the Ten. How can my friends in the Ten cause my heart to be inclined more towards bestowal, towards the good, awakening Moses? 

M. Laitman: To give you an example and support to what direction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:28) The article talks about good inclination and evil inclination. Is there a good inclination without an evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: Where it's concealed, and it's not revealed. So there is one of them.

Student: But can the good inclination exist if there's no evil inclination? Or is the good inclination the correction of the evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: For the time being, it's best for us to think that each of them could appear in a person.

Student: Because it seems, from what Rabash writes here if I understand it correctly, and you returned it to your heart, because your heart means that the good and the evil inclination reside in the heart and are included together, meaning with both inclinations, turning the evil inclination to good measures. So, a person's work is always revealed through the evil inclination. And that evil inclination which is revealed, he always needs to invert into the good inclination. And that is what we call the good inclination. So, if we return to the work of scrutiny that Rav explained, what is the work of, what is the scrutiny to discover what, to scrutinize what? What exactly should a person scrutinize? 

M. Laitman: A person needs to scrutinize to what extent what the Creator does next in the created being. The good inclination and the bad inclination both help a person battle in order to scrutinize the entire purpose of creation, which is for the benefit of the created beings.

Student: So, a person should fight, battle to discover the good inclination? 

M. Laitman: Let's say. 

Student: But he will discover the evil inclination. 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: So, what will he discover? 

M. Laitman: He will try to reveal the good inclination. 

Student: But when he tries to do that, will he discover the good inclination or the evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: That depends on a person. That depends on his fate.

Student: Can the person discover the good inclination, or must he discover the evil inclination and then turn to the Creator with a request to correct it? 

M. Laitman: There's this, there's both ways.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:23) With respect to the reality called HaVaYaH is Elohim, the Lord is God, how can we picture that? 

M. Laitman: I don't know how to tell it to you any other way. HaVaYaH is the Creator, yes. It's the revelation of the uniqueness of the Creator, and His control over all the created beings and all the states from one end to the other. 

Student: In a way where it extends as a constant? 

M. Laitman: No, it's not extended permanently or constantly. Also, on a person, let's say, flips or inverts. He also scrutinizes in that. 

Student: So, it's a moment that you hold on to, and then there's scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: Well, let it be that way.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:54) The work of correction. It's the faith that we need to observe the Torah and commandments with no reward, or is it the work itself where we need to work with no reward? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, that's the correction, or is the correction the work of bestowal in itself? 

M. Laitman: The work in order to bestow.

Student: So, what is that faith he describes here? He says that it's a very difficult thing. 

M. Laitman: Faith is a force that gives a person to be above his desire to receive. 

Student: And this is what we call correction? 

M. Laitman: That's correction.

Student: So, faith is correction. Okay, and he writes here in the end that the people of Israel, which exist in each individual, where everything he does will be for the sake of the Creator. So, how do we find that point if it exists in each and every one of us? 

M. Laitman: How does each find within himself that point? That's what the Creator expects of each of us. For each to dig within his heart, within his mind, and discover. And reveal the point. 

Student: This is also done through the power of faith? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Okay, so last question. How do we establish, stabilize that point in the Ten? How do we help each other discover that point? 

M. Laitman: Where each in the Ten tries to see how he advances onwards, in what direction, in which side. By that, he also influences his friends. And that's how everyone bestows upon one another, and we advance.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:13) Everything is the Creator's mercy. What does that mean with respect to the person? 

M. Laitman: We'll get there. We'll reveal. We will incorporate in it, and then it'll be clear to us what the Creator meant. 

Student: He says that we need to believe that, that this is the way the Creator is revealed in the world.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, even if a person doesn't see it, he needs to believe that it is so. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, we have work to do here to believe. And what does it mean to believe that this force is revealed in the Ten, and I work alongside it, and there's no hindrance really? How do we incorporate that force, that innocence, maybe, the thought that the Creator does want to help us advance and does only good to us? 

M. Laitman: I think that what we should find, it's in searching how we can be connected to one another and to the purpose of creation. 

Student: So, in each one that inclination does exist, as you just said, he does feel connected to the purpose of creation.

M. Laitman: Yes, yes. 

Student: Now, strengthening that, can that be done only with the friends? 

M. Laitman: Yes, only with the friends, and only with the effort, that is what stands before us.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:47) I would like to continue this question. He says, he says the following, that the quality of judgment dwells in the world because each one feels deficiencies in corporeality and spirituality. So, the person says that the name of the Lord is the quality of judgment according to which the world is governed. So it turns out that we always feel deficiencies in spirituality, in corporeality. It's the measure of judgment, yes? And then he says that a person has to have faith, to believe that everything is actually mercy. So, what is mercy? Are there no deficiencies, lacks in mercy? What defines it, that makes it different to the quality of judgment? 

M. Laitman: There's nothing for mercy or judgment, but to the extent in which each of these sides can appear. That's how a person can reveal between them what judgment is and what mercy is. 

Student: When we want to connect in the Ten, for example, to discover something there, that very desire that we develop, it's also judgment, it's something we want and that we don't have. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, what will be discovered in the Ten which can be termed mercy rather than judgment?

M. Laitman: We constantly advance through the revelation of the measure of judgment and the measure of mercy. And what we lack is to thank, to demand the measure of mercy. 

Student: What is it? What exactly should we demand that is called the quality of mercy? 

M. Laitman: For the Creator to show Himself to us in actions that are above the measure of judgment.

Student: What exists above the measure of judgment? 

M. Laitman: The measure of mercy. 

Student: Which has no lacks, it has perfection, wholeness. What is there to it? 

M. Laitman: There's perfection, there's wholeness in the measure of mercy, yes. If a person reveals, he also adds to it his desire to receive, and then he discovers in such a way a complete measure.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:26)  With every desire to receive which is revealed as being in order to receive, we do the work of trying to return the hearts, turning it into the good inclination, or all the desires to receive which are revealed as being in order to receive, do they all accumulate into a one single force that later we perform some action with? 

M. Laitman: No, that's nevertheless... It's revealed once this way, it's revealed another way another time in order to give us the possibility to somewhat move, navigate between these things, and taste a little of each. 

Student: So, the vessel has to feel this and that, both from the incorporation of all the inclinations. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

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

Daily Lesson (Morning) April 06, 2025.

Part 2: Rabash. Article 14, 1989. What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?

Reader: We are reading in The Writings of Rabash, the article “What is the Meaning of Reply Unto Your Heart?”. Again,“The Writings of Rabash”, the article “What is the Meaning of Reply Unto Your Heart’?”.

Reading: (00:18) What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?

Article No. 14, 1989

It is written in The Zohar (VaEra, Item 89): “Rabbi Elazar started and said, ‘Know this day and reply unto your heart that the Lord, He is God.’ He asks, ‘It should have said, ‘Know this day that the Lord, He is God,’ and in the end, ‘And reply unto your heart,’ since knowing that the Lord is God qualifies him to reply so to the heart. And if he has responded to his heart, he certainly has knowledge. Also, it should have said, ‘Reply unto Libcha’ [your heart with one Bet] instead of Levavcha’ [‘your heart’ with a double Bet].”

He replies that Moses said that if you want to insist on this and know that “The Lord, He is God,” then “reply unto your heart.” Know this: Your heart [with a double Bet] means that the good inclination and the evil inclination that dwell in the heart were mingled with one another and they are one, meaning in both your inclinations, turning the bad qualities of the evil inclination into good. At that time, there is no longer a difference between the good inclination and the evil inclination, and then you will find that “the Lord, He is God.”

We should understand what is it about knowing this, that if we know that “The Lord, He is God,” we come into “Reply unto your heart,” which is Rabbi Elazar’s question. We should also understand the answer he gives when he says it is impossible to come to know that “The Lord, He is God,” before we are rewarded with “Reply unto your heart.” What is the connection that one depends on the other, meaning that specifically when he serves the Creator with the evil inclination, too, we can come to know this?

To understand this, we must first present the matter of the purpose of creation and the matter of the correction of creation. It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. This means that the Creator wants all creations to receive delight and pleasure. Before they receive this, the perfection in the purpose of creation is not apparent, since there are still discernments in the world that did not attain the delight and pleasure.

For this reason, the perfection of the purpose of creation is apparent specifically when everyone attains the delight and pleasure. This is called, as the ARI says, that “Before the world was created, He and His name were one,” as it is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. This means that the delight and pleasure that He wished to impart upon His creations, there was a Kli [vessel] there, called Malchut de Ein Sof [Malchut of Infinity], which received the light. The light, called “He,” and the Kli, called “His name,” were one, meaning there was no disparity of form. This is the purpose of creation.

Afterward came the matter of the correction of creation, as the ARI says, that “To bring to light the perfection of His deeds, He restricted Himself.” He interprets there, in Ohr Pnimi [Baal HaSulam’s commentary on the ARI], that in order to avoid the shame, since disparity of form causes separation between the receiver and the Giver, and likewise, all things that are not present in the root, cause unpleasantness in the branches, hence, through the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment that were made, the lower ones were given a place to correct their vessels of reception so they work in order to bestow.

At that time, there will be equivalence of form between the receiver and the Giver, and then all the light that He wished to bestow upon His creations will be revealed among the lower ones, and it will once again be “The Lord is One and His name is One.” This means that the delight and pleasure that were revealed in the world of Ein Sof in vessels of reception, that light will be revealed in vessels of reception that are corrected into working in order to bestow.

Two things extend from this: 1) The will to receive, which extends from the purpose of creation, since His desire is to do good to His creations. Hence, He created in the creatures a desire and yearning to receive delight and pleasure. The bad, called “evil inclination,” whose quality is only to receive for its own sake, derives from this discernment. 2) The desire to bestow, which extends from the Tzimtzum and the concealment that were made in order to achieve the correction of creation. It is called the “good inclination,” since through the desire to bestow we achieve equivalence of form, which is Dvekut [adhesion], by which we receive the delight and pleasure that He wishes to give to His creations, and then the purpose of creation will be achieved in full.

Thus, when a person wants to begin the holy work, to work and toil in order to receive reward, that his reward will be Dvekut with the Creator, meaning that all his works will be for the sake of the Creator, at that time the body, which was born—because of the purpose of creation—with a desire to receive for itself, resists with all its might. It yells, “But the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, and the Creator does not need the lower ones to give Him anything!

“Therefore,” he asks, “Why should I exert to make everything for the sake of the Creator without any reward? After all, this is the purpose of creation! If it were true that we must work for the sake of the Creator and not for our own sake, then why did He create within us a desire to receive for ourselves? Instead, He should have created in us a desire to bestow, then all the creatures would work for the sake of the Creator.

“Instead, you are trying to say that since He desires to do good to His creations, He created in us the will to receive, and then He wants us to work for the sake of the Creator. It is great suffering if we want to annul self-reception and revoke our entire selves, leaving nothing within us for our own benefit.”

As our sages said (Sukkah 45), “Anyone who mingles for the sake of the Creator with another thing is uprooted from the world.” This means that if one does everything for the sake of the Creator but mixes into it some for himself, this is called “another thing,” and he is uprooted from the world, meaning from the next world. In other words, he cannot be rewarded with the reward one receives for man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot.

It therefore follows that we cannot understand that His desire to do good to His creations has given us suffering in working for Him. Why does He need us to suffer when we must relinquish our will to receive? Therefore, when we work coercively and exert to overcome the will to receive in us, and we say to our bodies, we do not need to be smart.

Instead, we must believe in the sages who teach us that we must observe the Torah and Mitzvot without anything in return, but as they said (Avot, Chapter 1:3), “He would say, ‘Be not as slaves serving the rav [great teacher] in order to receive reward, but be as slaves serving the rav not in order to receive reward.’”

This means that we must believe that the Creator is not deficient or needs us to work for Him. Rather, we must believe that the fact that we must work for Him is for our sake. That is, by this we will achieve the purpose of creation—that the lower ones will receive delight and pleasure. However, this work is for the purpose of correction of creation.

Yet, since it is against reason, a person does not agree to it, and must constantly overcome, since every overcoming works only for a time, and each time he must overcome anew. This state is called “judgment,” meaning that a person is still under the control of the Tzimtzum and judgment that took place so as not to reveal the light of His face, so all would feel how the Creator leads the world with a guidance of delight and pleasure.

Instead, each one sees how the quality of judgment is present in the world, since each one feels lacks both in corporeality and in spirituality. At that time, a person says that the world is conducted by the name Elokim [God], which is the quality of judgment. And yet, a person must believe that in truth, everything is mercy, but for the time being, he must feel this way, since everything follows the path of correction, where specifically by this it will be possible to achieve the purpose of creation, which is delight and pleasure.

Now we can understand what we asked about the connection between “Reply unto your heart” and the awareness that “The Lord, He is God.” Before a person achieves the degree where all his works are for the sake of the Creator, called “in order to bestow,” a person cannot see that everything that happens in the world is the Creator behaving with the world as the good who does good.

Instead, he must believe that this is so and say as it is written, “They have eyes and see not.” Instead, he sees that the governance of the world is through the quality of judgment, called Elokim. But afterward, when he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, which correct his vessels of reception to work in order to bestow, this means that he can work for the Creator with the evil inclination, too, since the evil inclination is called “the will to receive for one’s own sake,” from which derives all the evil that we see in the world. This also applies between man and man, as all the wars, thefts, and murders in the world stem from the will to receive for one’s own sake.

When he corrects the desire to receive pleasure so as to work in order to bestow, he receives equivalence of form. He receives Dvekut with the Creator, and the Tzimtzum and concealment that are present in the world depart from him. At that time he sees only good, and that everything he felt prior to being rewarded with Dvekut were only corrections, which brought him to equivalence of form. It follows that what he thought, that the governance of the world is with the quality of judgment, called Elokim, he sees that it is mercy, called HaVaYaH [the Lord].

By this we should interpret the connection of “Reply unto your heart” to “The Lord, He is God.” Before we are rewarded with replying to the heart, when it was in disparity of form and remoteness of place, since a receiver for himself is in disparity of form from the Giver, which is called “remoteness,” it follows that equivalence of form is regarded as returning the receiver to the Giver. This is called “Reply unto your heart” [in Hebrew, Hashivota means both “return” and “reply”].

At that time he sees that everything he thought, that the world was conducted by judgment, which is Elokim, now he sees that HaVaYaH [the Lord] is Elokim [God]. That is, it becomes revealed that to begin with, everything was with the quality of mercy, as it is written, “For the Lord, He is God.” However, before one is rewarded with returning the heart, called “equivalence of form,” we think that everything is the quality of judgment, called Elokim.

Accordingly, we should interpret what they ask, Why if the Creator wanted to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt, He sent Moses to ask and beg him to permit the people of Israel to come out of Egypt? We see that He had made miracles there to our fathers in Egypt, meaning that all the plagues that struck Egypt, the people of Israel suffered none of the plagues. So why did the Creator not bring out the people of Israel against Pharaoh’s will?

In the literal, there are many answers, but we will interpret this in the work. It is known that every person is a small world, comprising seventy nations and the people of Israel, namely the quality of Israel in him, which is regarded as Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. This means that everything he does is all for His sake. This quality is in exile among the Klipot [shells/peels], which are the seventy nations. Mitzrayim [Egypt] means that they Meitzerim [afflict/make narrow] the Israel in him, and Pharaoh King of Egypt is the quality that rules and controls the people of Israel. The Creator wants man’s body to make a choice, meaning that the evil within man will surrender, that the general will to receive in him will make room to emerge from the governance… (the rest is missing). 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:35) First of all, if we may ask for thoughts, we have a dear friend who is in intensive care right now. Let's ask for thoughts about him. I wanted to ask, it's written, we have to believe that the fact that we have to work for Him is certainly for our good, meaning that by this, we will come to the purpose of creation, which is for the lower ones to receive the light and pleasure, but this work is for the purpose of the correction of creation. The purpose of creation, according to what he writes here, is to do good to His creations. The correction of creation, according to what is written, is equivalence of form. It feels like there's a difference, because if the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, and the correction of creation is to do good to the Creator, so there's a difference. That's not clear. 

M. Laitman: All right. Questions?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:00) What does it mean to share the name of the Lord, the name of the Heavens, what does it mean? 

M. Laitman: Actually, that a person wants to draw to his actions all the positive forces we have in the Heavens.

Student: Yes, but then he says that every action I take, even the smallest one, if it's for my own benefit, it's not for the sake of the heavens, but on our path, we correct our desires to bestow?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So how do we actually reach a state where we're partners with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: That we are thinking about each and every action and how to do it for the benefit of the Creator. 

Student: So we need to constantly be thinking about our intention, so that every action we take will be with the intention to benefit the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:42) So, what do we discover first, the evil inclination or the good inclination? 

M. Laitman: First discover, of course, the evil inclination, because it's within nature, in the desire to receive, and it is what's close to a person.

Student: It's closer to the person, and the person identifies it. And when do you discover the good inclination? When coming out of Egypt? 

M. Laitman: When we do sufficient work, intentions, and then gradually, the good inclination is revealed. 

Student: It seems like, well, he writes that there's the purpose of creation and the correction of creation. We know that the correction of creation is the first thing we need. We need the vessel so that the light of the purpose of creation can enter into that vessel?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, that comes from above, seemingly, because as we said now, first we discover the evil inclination, reception for oneself, which is the purpose of creation. So from above, it's the correction of creation, and from below it's the evil inclination, the good inclination, it's kind of inversion. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:22) So, there's the evil inclination and the good inclination.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What balances them? A person can be either in the good inclination or in the evil inclination, or should he always be in a kind of mix of the two, a combination of the two? 

M. Laitman: A person needs to scrutinize what works in him and arrange himself such that as if he only discovers the good inclination. 

Student: What does it mean, discovering only the good inclination? If he scrutinizes, if he conducts some scrutiny, he discovers that he's immersed in the evil. 

M. Laitman: Well? 

Student: What comes next? 

M. Laitman: Next, he needs to turn himself to such actions and deeds upon which the good inclination will be revealed upon him.

Student: Acting in the good inclination means to have the intention to bestow? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: Okay, now a person can be either in Moses or Pharaoh, in this inclination or that inclination? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So what determines if he'll be in this inclination or that? 

M. Laitman: A person determines.

Student: Who is the person in this? 

M. Laitman: The one who feels that before him there are seemingly two paths. 

Student: So, there's a third factor, which is the person.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, I'm trying to understand, who is that person, that place which determines if the evil inclination or the good inclination will govern him, Moses or Pharaoh? 

M. Laitman: That person is called Israel that wants to relieve his forces in order to adhere into his action all the desire.

Student: What activates that person, motivates that person?

M. Laitman: What activates him is his point in the heart. 

Student: Why should he choose the evil inclination or the good inclination, that person? 

M. Laitman: That's how he's built.

Student: It's still not clear to me. You have the good inclination, the evil inclination, and the person in the middle, which needs to decide in this direction or that. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, why should he decide this or that, according to what calculations? What is there? Why would I choose the good inclination or the evil inclination in the next moment, Moses or Pharaoh? What determines it? 

M. Laitman: According to a person's preparation. 

Student: What preparation? 

M. Laitman: To the extent in which he wants to belong to the Creator, the Good That Does Good. And that's why it's being revealed to him. And he stands only in order to scrutinize more and more the Creator's attitudes towards this. 

Student: That person's natural urge, right? Where is he drawn to? 

M. Laitman: He gets drawn to the good inclination. 

Student: To the good inclination. So, what hinders him from always deciding to the side of good? 

M. Laitman: Because against that, there's the evil inclination. And a person needs to scrutinize each time where his heart leans. 

Student: And what is the scrutiny that the person conducts? 

M. Laitman: The scrutiny that a person makes is actually a scrutiny between good and evil, true and false. And by discerning these two actions, he scrutinizes what the evil inclination is and what the good inclination is. 

Student: The work of man is scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And deciding in this direction or that, that's also up to the person? 

M. Laitman: That's after this scrutiny, he sees where he leans, where he belongs.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:29) Baal HaSulam also asked a question, which it doesn't exactly answer here. Why should Pharaoh agree that the sons of Israel will leave Egypt? Right? Why isn't it forced upon him? Why does he have to agree to it? 

M. Laitman: To exit? 

Student: Yes, to release the people of Israel. Why does Pharaoh need to say, okay, that's enough punishments, I agree. 

M. Laitman: These are two forces, this one upon that one. The force of Moses and the force of Pharaoh. They're this against that. And we are clarifying with which forces we need to operate in order to give support to the Creator. Or more correctly to Moses, we should say, so he will be able to advance to the exodus from Egypt.

Student: But we see that by nature, punishments don't really motivate a person to do much. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: But here we see that Pharaoh receives these ten plagues, and then he says, okay, I'll let you go.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, when we receive punishments and blows, maybe we re-calibrate for a moment, but then this Pharaoh just jumps up again. 

M. Laitman: Because we don't want to scrutinize correctly our path. We don't collect, gather those desires, intentions, inclinations we have, as we exit Egypt, to rise above,  or to remain in it. I don't yet see who has the justice, who's just, who I belong to?

Student: So, what needs to happen for us to reach that determination? 

M. Laitman: To come to the determination that you're going with a good inclination, and not be attentive to the evil inclination, we need to scrutinize both and see. And see to what extent the choice in the desire to bestow raises me up, saves me from all the evil forces of Egypt. 

Student: So you have to properly discern what the good is, what the bad is, and to choose the good? 

M. Laitman: Well, yes, it depends on what state a person's in, but actually, what is important to us is how to make the calculation and choose the exit.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:30) He writes about what you spoke of, in that we have to relinquish our will to receive, and so the time where we are forced working against our will to receive, we tell our body that we don't have to be wise, but we have to believe in the sages, the faith in the sages, as they teach us how to observe the Torah and commandments with no reward. For that kind of faith, we need confidence and security in these days before Passover. What kind of confidence should we have from below looking upwards? 

M. Laitman: That's exactly what he writes in the article, that we need to collect all the qualities, discernments, desires, inclinations, and then we will see where we are, where the forces that have accumulated are drawing us towards, and how we can advance towards the purpose of creation. 

Student: If the Ten has confidence in itself, does it have any effect above with respect to the upper worlds, meaning my confidence in the Ten and the Ten's confidence in each and every member allows us to feel the upper confidence? 

M. Laitman: It's not enough that you'll feel that way. There needs to be more than what your heart inclines towards, than you also are willing to go and come close to that direction. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:20) How can we draw the positive force each and every time? He says that we need to overcome every time and every instance of overcoming acts for a time. So, how does that assist us in scrutinizing our relationship with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: We gradually, action after action, bring ourselves closer to the Creator. And we don't yet know how the whole process ends. But we need to believe that all the forces of our exit are eventually connecting together to the good inclination, and the person emerges out of Egypt.

Student: On the one hand, he says that overcoming suffices only for a time. So, what gives you the power to overcome and reach the next state? If overcoming right now allows you to overcome a certain state at present, what gives us the power to continue onwards? It builds in us the power of faith, you could say?

M. Laitman: Overcoming brings us to a higher degree to see the difference between the evil inclination and the good inclination. And that's how we advance. 

Student: Here, he says that we discover the light of the Creator's face more and more. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And that's what allows us to advance further? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:59) He writes that prior to being awarded with repentance in the heart, then we think that everything is the quality of judgment called Elohim [God]. What does it mean that you relate to the Creator the quality of judgment? 

M. Laitman: The measure of judgment means that the Creator relates to every action in a person, of a person, in a way that it is scrutinizing how much a person is in his desire, and then he either belongs to advancing or not for the time being. 

Student: So, how do we earn repentance of the heart? 

M. Laitman: Only with our efforts. 

Student: Because it seems that it's not an action that a person can take, but rather it's something he's awarded with. So being awarded with that, when does the Creator award you with this, with this repentance? 

M. Laitman: That altogether comes after all the actions on behalf of a person, that where the Creator already sees that a person did what he could do with his scrutinies and then raises a person to the next degree. 

Student: Because he writes here that the moment a person is awarded with repentance of the heart, then he sees that HaVaYaH is Elohim, that everything is bestowal. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, on behalf of the person, what is his exertion, his labor that brings him to being rewarded with repentance of the heart? 

M. Laitman: He sees that, I don't know how to say, he sees that specifically the forces of judgment that are being revealed are operating for a person's benefit. And that in the beginning of his work where he thought that they disturb or bother him, now he actually sees that they actually help him. And only subjugating before them advances him. 

Student: So, when the Creator examines the person, tests him to see if he's heading in the right direction, according to what does He determine that that person deserves being awarded with the returning of the heart repentance? The Creator deciding that the person should be awarded with the returning of the heart. What does the Creator check in the person, how does He test him to see if he's worthy? 

M. Laitman: The Creator joins a person to the action of bestowal, and sees to what extent, as much as the new state a person received is exactly suitable for the person.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:34) How is it to be in equivalence of form with the Creator? What is it like? 

M. Laitman: To see negative things, positive things, these and those, as much as you receive all these forces which establish your new state. 

Student: What does the person feel? What does he do? How does he act when he is in equivalence of form with the Creator even on the smallest degree? 

M. Laitman: A person who discovers that he is operating in equivalence of form with the Creator, first of all discovers forces that need to be raised above his desire, and thus he continues. 

Student: But in what sense is he in equivalence of form with the Creator? How does he resemble the Creator? How does he come to resemble the Creator? 

M. Laitman: In that tendency, inclination towards the point of the final correction.

Student: To adhesion? 

M. Laitman: Probably yes, that's how a person feels. 

Student: And from this world, where a person is in a Ten, in this world, in what way does he liken himself to the Creator? How does he start rising and being in equivalence of form with the Creator? By what actions in this world? 

M. Laitman: He tries to perform actions in this world that are such that they will bring him closer to the Creator. That's it. 

Student: These are acts of connection. 

M. Laitman: Acts of connection, of course.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:30) At the beginning of the lesson, you talked about scrutinizing the tendencies, the inclination of the heart. Does a person govern in any way the inclination of his heart? 

M. Laitman: If the Creator opens it for him, then he sees what's before him. 

Student: If the Creator opens it for him, then he sees... So, the Creator is governing his heart.

M. Laitman: Also. 

Student: Who governs my heart? 

M. Laitman: The Creator. 

Student: And me? What about me? 

M. Laitman: If you want to come to this connection with your heart and to check what it's holding on to, what it's deciding, etc., what actions you have before you, so you, by this, come closer to the Creator. And in your scrutiny, you do want to be like Him. 

Student: A person's work of scrutiny can change the inclination of his heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, the very scrutiny itself, me discovering where I am, that can already affect my heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And what is the scrutiny itself? Is it, what, a thought? 

M. Laitman: The scrutiny is... It will all be clarified in thought. That's how it's written.

Student: Okay, so we have the Creator governing my heart, opening another battle each time, another set, and there's me who, in heart and mind, I'm thinking about how to direct the heart, and where are my friends in the Ten with respect to my heart, relative to my heart? 

M. Laitman: They're incorporated in your Ten. Yes, many that are, there are people in the big group, in eventuality, they all connect to one Ten.

Student: How do the friends contribute to my work in scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: To the extent in which they want to be connected to their goal, and as much as they help one another, accordingly, they have a common force that advances the society. 

Student: And the friends can direct my heart? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: How? With what? 

M. Laitman: What do you mean by what? Through my example.

Student: But ultimately, there's my work of scrutinizing whatever the Creator opens up to me. 

M. Laitman: That's a very secondary thing, and it has a force in it that comes and is revealed as a result of your actions, from your heart. 

Student: So that's, if that's secondary, then what is the primary thing? 

M. Laitman: I didn't understand.

Student: I'll go back to my question with respect to the friends, the members of the Ten. How can my friends in the Ten cause my heart to be inclined more towards bestowal, towards the good, awakening Moses? 

M. Laitman: To give you an example and support to what direction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:28) The article talks about good inclination and evil inclination. Is there a good inclination without an evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: Where it's concealed, and it's not revealed. So there is one of them.

Student: But can the good inclination exist if there's no evil inclination? Or is the good inclination the correction of the evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: For the time being, it's best for us to think that each of them could appear in a person.

Student: Because it seems, from what Rabash writes here if I understand it correctly, and you returned it to your heart, because your heart means that the good and the evil inclination reside in the heart and are included together, meaning with both inclinations, turning the evil inclination to good measures. So, a person's work is always revealed through the evil inclination. And that evil inclination which is revealed, he always needs to invert into the good inclination. And that is what we call the good inclination. So, if we return to the work of scrutiny that Rav explained, what is the work of, what is the scrutiny to discover what, to scrutinize what? What exactly should a person scrutinize? 

M. Laitman: A person needs to scrutinize to what extent what the Creator does next in the created being. The good inclination and the bad inclination both help a person battle in order to scrutinize the entire purpose of creation, which is for the benefit of the created beings.

Student: So, a person should fight, battle to discover the good inclination? 

M. Laitman: Let's say. 

Student: But he will discover the evil inclination. 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: So, what will he discover? 

M. Laitman: He will try to reveal the good inclination. 

Student: But when he tries to do that, will he discover the good inclination or the evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: That depends on a person. That depends on his fate.

Student: Can the person discover the good inclination, or must he discover the evil inclination and then turn to the Creator with a request to correct it? 

M. Laitman: There's this, there's both ways.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:23) With respect to the reality called HaVaYaH is Elohim, the Lord is God, how can we picture that? 

M. Laitman: I don't know how to tell it to you any other way. HaVaYaH is the Creator, yes. It's the revelation of the uniqueness of the Creator, and His control over all the created beings and all the states from one end to the other. 

Student: In a way where it extends as a constant? 

M. Laitman: No, it's not extended permanently or constantly. Also, on a person, let's say, flips or inverts. He also scrutinizes in that. 

Student: So, it's a moment that you hold on to, and then there's scrutiny? 

M. Laitman: Well, let it be that way.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:54) The work of correction. It's the faith that we need to observe the Torah and commandments with no reward, or is it the work itself where we need to work with no reward? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, that's the correction, or is the correction the work of bestowal in itself? 

M. Laitman: The work in order to bestow.

Student: So, what is that faith he describes here? He says that it's a very difficult thing. 

M. Laitman: Faith is a force that gives a person to be above his desire to receive. 

Student: And this is what we call correction? 

M. Laitman: That's correction.

Student: So, faith is correction. Okay, and he writes here in the end that the people of Israel, which exist in each individual, where everything he does will be for the sake of the Creator. So, how do we find that point if it exists in each and every one of us? 

M. Laitman: How does each find within himself that point? That's what the Creator expects of each of us. For each to dig within his heart, within his mind, and discover. And reveal the point. 

Student: This is also done through the power of faith? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Okay, so last question. How do we establish, stabilize that point in the Ten? How do we help each other discover that point? 

M. Laitman: Where each in the Ten tries to see how he advances onwards, in what direction, in which side. By that, he also influences his friends. And that's how everyone bestows upon one another, and we advance.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:13) Everything is the Creator's mercy. What does that mean with respect to the person? 

M. Laitman: We'll get there. We'll reveal. We will incorporate in it, and then it'll be clear to us what the Creator meant. 

Student: He says that we need to believe that, that this is the way the Creator is revealed in the world.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, even if a person doesn't see it, he needs to believe that it is so. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, we have work to do here to believe. And what does it mean to believe that this force is revealed in the Ten, and I work alongside it, and there's no hindrance really? How do we incorporate that force, that innocence, maybe, the thought that the Creator does want to help us advance and does only good to us? 

M. Laitman: I think that what we should find, it's in searching how we can be connected to one another and to the purpose of creation. 

Student: So, in each one that inclination does exist, as you just said, he does feel connected to the purpose of creation.

M. Laitman: Yes, yes. 

Student: Now, strengthening that, can that be done only with the friends? 

M. Laitman: Yes, only with the friends, and only with the effort, that is what stands before us.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:47) I would like to continue this question. He says, he says the following, that the quality of judgment dwells in the world because each one feels deficiencies in corporeality and spirituality. So, the person says that the name of the Lord is the quality of judgment according to which the world is governed. So it turns out that we always feel deficiencies in spirituality, in corporeality. It's the measure of judgment, yes? And then he says that a person has to have faith, to believe that everything is actually mercy. So, what is mercy? Are there no deficiencies, lacks in mercy? What defines it, that makes it different to the quality of judgment? 

M. Laitman: There's nothing for mercy or judgment, but to the extent in which each of these sides can appear. That's how a person can reveal between them what judgment is and what mercy is. 

Student: When we want to connect in the Ten, for example, to discover something there, that very desire that we develop, it's also judgment, it's something we want and that we don't have. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, what will be discovered in the Ten which can be termed mercy rather than judgment?

M. Laitman: We constantly advance through the revelation of the measure of judgment and the measure of mercy. And what we lack is to thank, to demand the measure of mercy. 

Student: What is it? What exactly should we demand that is called the quality of mercy? 

M. Laitman: For the Creator to show Himself to us in actions that are above the measure of judgment.

Student: What exists above the measure of judgment? 

M. Laitman: The measure of mercy. 

Student: Which has no lacks, it has perfection, wholeness. What is there to it? 

M. Laitman: There's perfection, there's wholeness in the measure of mercy, yes. If a person reveals, he also adds to it his desire to receive, and then he discovers in such a way a complete measure.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:26)  With every desire to receive which is revealed as being in order to receive, we do the work of trying to return the hearts, turning it into the good inclination, or all the desires to receive which are revealed as being in order to receive, do they all accumulate into a one single force that later we perform some action with? 

M. Laitman: No, that's nevertheless... It's revealed once this way, it's revealed another way another time in order to give us the possibility to somewhat move, navigate between these things, and taste a little of each. 

Student: So, the vessel has to feel this and that, both from the incorporation of all the inclinations. 

M. Laitman: Yes.