The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: November 3 , 2026
Part 1 Rabash. What Is a Groom’s Meal? 12 (1989)
Reader: Hello, in the first part we will study Rav's lesson from January 3, 2003. It is based on Rabash's article, "What Is a Groom's Meal?" You can find it in the second volume of Rabash's writings, page 1896 in Hebrew. Let's read the article together in the Ten. We have 45 minutes. Again, the writings of Rabash, page 1836 in the second volume in Hebrew.
Reading (00:41) What Is a Groom’s Meal?
Article No. 12, 1989
Our sages said (Berachot 6), “Anyone who enjoys the meal of a groom and does not delight him breaches in five voices.” We should understand why this meal is called “the groom’s meal” and not “the bride’s meal.” In the Torah we find in regard to Jacob, that Lavan [Laban] made the meal and not Jacob, as it is written (Genesis 29:22), “And Lavan gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.”
Concerning the dances at the wedding, we see the opposite: Our sages did not say, “How does one dance before the groom?” but “How does one dance before the bride?” (Ketubot 16b). These are their words: “How does one dance before the bride? Beit Shammai say, ‘The bride as she is.’ And Beit Hillel say, ‘Beautiful and graceful bride’! Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: ‘If she were lame or blind, does one say of her, ‘Beautiful and graceful bride’? But the Torah said, ‘Keep far from a false matter.’’ Said Beit Hillel to Beit Shammai: ‘According to your words, if one has made a bad purchase in the market, should one praise it in his eyes or criticize it? Surely, one should praise it in his eyes. Therefore, the Sages said, ‘Always should the disposition of man be pleasant with people.’’”
To understand these two phrases, we should interpret this in the work. The bride means the time of the exile, a time of working in concealment of the face, when the love of the Creator and the glory of the greatness of the Creator do not shine for him and are ever before him, and he will not fall from his degree but always ascend ever higher. Instead, the person is in concealment of the face, called “the time of exile.” This means that he is still under the control of the “nations of the world,” which is the will to receive for himself.
This means that as long as he did not emerge from the authority of the will to receive, the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment are still over him. Each time he must overcome the concealment, see the Creator’s guidance, say that He is really good and does good, and everything he receives from the Creator is only good. Naturally, he should be thankful and praise the Creator from the bottom of the heart for giving him abundance.
In this respect, sometimes he has the power to overcome what he sees and say as it is written, “They have eyes and see not.” But this is only during the ascent.
But afterward, thoughts of the will to receive come to him and demand to see and agree above reason that this is really so, that all that he is receiving from the Creator is good. The body does not let him believe this and he falls from his degree.
Although he knows that the way to emerge from a state of descent is through prayer, at that time he does not have the strength to pray. Although there is a rule that for anything that a person needs he should pray to the Creator, so he should also pray for his inability to pray. But sometimes, he does not have the strength to pray even for this. Hence, in that state, a person is in utter decline.
However, sometimes a person deteriorates to the point where he forgets and does not feel that he is in decline. As we have said several times, a person falls so low that he remains unconscious. That is, at that time he is unaware that he is at the “netherworld.” Only once he recovers, he sees that he is at the lowest point and does not even have the power to pray.
At that time, a person must brace himself and say, “Now I can say wholeheartedly, ‘The song of ascents; from the depths I have called upon You, Lord,’ since it is impossible to be lower in the ground than I am. ” Certainly, if he asks from a state of truth, and at that time sees that unless the Creator helps him, he is lost, he will see that he cannot do anything by himself. Therefore, then he should tell the Creator, “I cannot even pray for You to save me. Therefore, only You can save me.” Then he says, “From the narrow place, I have called on the Lord; answer me in the wide expanse, Lord.” Through the descents and ascents, a need and lack for the Creator’s help form in a person. Then, each time, Kelim [vessels] manifest in man for the Creator to fill.
It is written in the Sulam [commentary on The Zohar] (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 125): “The days of the exile are called ‘night,’ since this is the time of the concealment of His face from the children of Israel. At that time, all the powers of separation control the servants of the Creator. Yet, precisely at that time, the bride bonds with her husband—through Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] of the righteous, who at that time are regarded as the ‘supporters of the Torah.’ All the sublime degrees called, ‘secrets of the Torah,’ are revealed by them, since this is why they are called those who make them, for they seemingly make the Torah.”
We see that “bride” is the name of the work during the exile, when there is concealment of His face. At that time, all the powers of separation control a person, meaning that thoughts come to him that cause him to feel separated from the Creator. At that time, he faces a dilemma: 1) Either he runs from the work and becomes completely separated from the Kedusha [holiness/sanctity], or 2) He does all that he can in order for the Creator to help him be saved from these thoughts. That is, the Creator will illuminate His face, and then there will be no place for the control of the powers of separation.
This means that he need not pray that these thoughts will depart from him. Instead, he should ask the Creator will shine His face to him, that He will not hide His face from him. That is, if he prays to the Creator that these thoughts will depart from him, then he has gained nothing from the powers of separation, and he will return to the state he was in before the thoughts of the powers of separation came to him. Thus, he has not gained a thing. This is regarded as suffering in vain. But if he asks the Creator to shine His face to him so that the powers of separation will surrender, then he has risen in degree by being rewarded with the nearness of the Creator.
It follows that “bride” is the work of “accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven,” regarded as “faith in the Creator.” Opposite this are forces of separation, which do not let a person believe in the Creator above reason. Rather, according to how the external mind mandates, so the forces of separation separate a person from the Creator. Hence, there are ascents and descents in these states, since the whole basis of the faith is above reason. In consequence, the powers of separation have room, meaning they do not allow a person to go against reason.
By this we should interpret what we asked, why concerning a bride our sages said, “How does one dance before the bride?” Concerning dancing, we see that when we dance, a person goes up and down, and sometimes falls to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south. That is, the falls during the dance are to all six directions. The falls come so that the person will feel the need for the Creator’s help. That is, it was done on purpose, so that the person will not be able to emerge from the control of the nations of the world within him by himself, without the Creator’s help.
But why does the Creator want a person to ask for His help? It is as Baal HaSulam said, since a person does not have the need and urgency to obtain Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama (NRN), which the Creator wants to give to a person, and since man is content with little, by asking for help, the help that the Creator gives him is NRN, as it is written in The Zohar, “He who comes to purify is aided. And it says, ‘With what is he aided? With a holy soul.’”
This means that each time he wants to be more cleansed, he is given help through a higher soul. It follows that according to the request for help from above, this is the cause that he will receive a higher degree each time, and by this he will receive his NRN. For this reason, the Creator wanting that we ask for His help causes us to have to extend a higher degree each time.
Now we can understand why they asked about the bride, “How does one dance before the bride?” and not before the groom. This is because dancing means ascents and descents that apply during the exile, called “concealment of His face,” when the powers of separation govern. However, the question is, What causes the existence of ascents and descents? In this there is a dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel.
Beit Shammai say “the bride as she is.” That is, to the extent of the flavor that he feels in the work, he should overcome and say, “Even if I do not feel its importance, I still take upon myself the kingdom of heaven with faith above reason.” And to say, “Since I want to work and serve the King, it does not matter to me what flavor I feel in this work.” Rather, it should all be above reason. That is, a person should say that he agrees to do the holy work “Even if I remain with this flavor my entire life.” This is called “the bride as she is.”
As Baal HaSulam said (in the essay, “Order of the Work”), we should believe only with faith that the Creator is the guide. That is, although faith has lower importance than his understanding within reason, he chooses to walk in this path.
Moreover, he is not going above reason because he has no choice. Rather, even if he is given knowledge, he chooses to go above reason. This is called “the bride as she is.” In other words, he takes upon himself the kingdom of heaven even though he has no feeling of importance, as one should feel when serving a great and important King. Yet, he does not mind what he is feeling, but takes upon himself everything with great joy.
Yet, since everything is above reason, there are ascents and descents in this work. Therefore, during the work in a state of a bride, there are ascents and descents, which are called “dances.”
Beit Hillel say that the dance is not necessarily as is the view of Beit Shammai, who say that we must say, “the bride as she is,” meaning that he takes it upon himself although she is of little importance to him, and that only in this way are there ascents and descents, called “dances.” Rather, in our view, we need not be so strict about those workers who want to take upon themselves faith in a way that it is of such little importance.
Instead, we should accept the faith in a way that he will not regard what he is feeling, but he should say that the bride is indeed beautiful and graceful (“graceful” means that a thread of Hesed [grace, but also mercy] is extended on her). What he does not feel is because he is still unworthy of feeling, but afterward he will really see her beauty, how beautiful and graceful she is. And yet, since now he does not have this feeling, there is the matter of ascents and descents, which is called “dances” in the work.
It follows that this applies only when the work is in a state of “bride.” This is why our sages said “How does one dance before the bride?” and did not say “How does one dance before the groom?” But when speaking of a meal, it is called “a groom’s meal” and not “a bride’s meal” because a meal is as our sages said (Avoda Zarah, p3), “He who labors on the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath], eats on Shabbat. But he who did not labor on the eve of Shabbat, from where will he eat on Shabbat?” since the Shabbat is “the conclusion of the making of heaven and earth.”
Shabbat is a time of reception of delight and pleasure, which is the final purpose of creation. For this reason, Shabbat is called “the conclusion of the making of heaven and earth.” The giving of delight and pleasure pertains to the groom, which refers to the Creator, who gives delight and pleasure to the creatures. The Creator is called “groom” after what our sages said (Yevamot 63), “descend in degree and choose a wife.” A “groom” means he must descend to a lower degree and receive a wife, as it is written in the book Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah], “And the Lord descended to the top of the mountain.” With respect to the descent, the Creator was a groom, from the word, “descending in degree.”
We should interpret the meaning of descent with regard to the Creator. As is explained in the words of the ARI, in order for the created beings to be able to receive His light, there were many restrictions and diminutions of the light until it was suitable for the attainment of the lower ones. If the light is too big, the lower ones will not be able to receive His abundance because “they annul before the light as a candle before a torch.”
For the Creator, this is called “descended,” as in descending from His greatness. In other words, the lower ones are unfit to see His greatness. Rather, each according to his ability, to that extent the Tzimtzum [restriction] is lifted from him and the light appears. In this respect, the Creator is called “groom,” when He takes the people of Israel as a bride, to give her everything she needs, as it is written in the Ketubah [a formal letter outlining the groom’s responsibilities to the bride] that the groom gives to the bride: “I will labor and respect and feed and provide and sustain and clothe you.”
In other words, when the Creator takes the people of Israel as a bride, He will give her everything she needs. This is called “a groom’s meal,” when the Creator, who is the groom, from the words, “of inferior degree,” nourishes and provides for the created beings. That is, He must lower Himself so as to give each one according to his attainment, as because of this, all the restrictions took place, and from this comes the whole matter of multiplicity of names.
Clearly, when a person receives delight and pleasure from the Creator, it cannot be said that in that state, during the reception of the abundance, there will be ascents and descents. This is only when a person is in a state of concealment of the face, when he must overcome what he feels and say that the Creator is good and does good, and one cannot always do so.
But during the reception of the delight and pleasure, it is impossible to have states of descent, which are called “dances.” This is why they did not say, “How does one dance before the groom?” since the Creator is called a “groom” when He takes the “bride,” when there is union between the groom and the bride, and union means “equivalence of form.”
That is, when the people of Israel as a whole, or a single individual, achieves equivalence of form, this is called “union.” At that time, the concealment of the face departs and each one receives the revelation of the face of the Creator. This is called “a groom’s meal.” This is why they said that there, with the groom, the work is received in a different way at that time, meaning that we must delight the groom.
However, we should understand what our sages said (Berachot 7), “Anyone who enjoys the meal of a groom and does not delight him breaches in five voices. But if he delights him, what is his reward? Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, ‘He is rewarded with the Torah, which was given in five voices.’” We should understand what the groom’s meal symbolizes in the work, that anyone who enjoys a groom’s meal must delight him. In corporeality, it is difficult to understand why we need to delight the groom. Is he not already happy? Who forced him to be a groom? Of course he is happy, as it is written, “As the joy of a groom with a bride.” In corporeality, there are certainly answers to this, but what does this imply to us in the work?
The thing is that it is known that all of our work is to achieve equivalence of form through observing Torah and Mitzvot. That is, we must come to a state where all of our work should be in order to bring contentment to the Maker, and not to ourselves. The state of this work is called “bride,” meaning that there are ascents and descents there, called “dances.”
Afterward, when he completes this work on the part of the lower one, it is regarded as “Everything that is in your hand and in your strength to do, do.” At that time it is called “the conclusion of the work.” This is the meaning of “bride,” as it is written, “When Moses concluded,” which is the conclusion of the work from the perspective of the lower one. At that time a person is rewarded with permanent faith. That is, he has come to a degree where “All your work is for the sake of the Creator.” For this reason, the abundance he receives at that time from above, which is called “the King’s meal,” he must receive the abundance in order to bestow and not for his own sake.
In other words, at that time he must be willing to say that this pleasure he receives is not because he wants to delight himself, but because he wants to delight the Creator, because the Creator created the world in order to do good to His creations. If he does not receive the delight and pleasure, His intention will not be carried out. By his enjoyment now, the Creator is enjoying from His purpose being revealed in practice. It follows that by this he observes what our sages said, “Anyone who enjoys the meal of a groom and does not delight him,” but he does delight Him.
Indeed, we should understand the following: 1) How can we delight the groom? 2) Why do we need to delight the groom?
In the work, how can it be said that the people of Israel should delight the Creator? Can such a thing be said about the Creator, that He needs our joy, that we will delight Him?
3) Why does he breach in five voices if he does not delight him? Why specifically the five voices? 4) Anyone who delights him is rewarded. What is his reward? Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, “He is rewarded with the Torah, which was given in five voices.”
We should understand this, too. Every person knows that the reward is in the next world. Why does he say that the Torah is the reward? It appears to mean the opposite, as it is written in Tanna Devei Eliyahu: “Anyone who recites rules each day is guaranteed to have the next world.” It follows that the reward we receive for the Torah is the next world. But here, Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi says that the reward is the Torah.
As was said, all of our work is that through observing Torah and Mitzvot, a person should aim that by this, he will achieve equivalence of form, as it is written, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” That state is called a “bride.”
Everything we receive from the Creator, whether corporeality or spirituality, but rather any pleasure we receive from the Creator, is called “a groom’s meal.” That is, everything that a person enjoys is called “a meal.” For this reason, all the pleasures that a person receives from the Creator are called “a groom’s meal.”
By receiving, a person comes into disparity of form, which causes separation, and on this discernment there were Tzimtzum and concealment so the light of His face is not revealed in a place of separation. The Creator gives him something to enjoy, and by the Creator giving him something, he should receive from this an ascent in degree. That is, he should be closer to Kedusha, since now he is better qualified to believe that the Creator is good and does good. Because of it, he had to take upon himself to love the Creator, since He nourishes and provides.
The evidence to this is that now he received nourishment. The body exists and leads a happy life not necessarily from eating and drinking.
Rather, a person also needs nourishments that pertain to man’s spirit, meaning respect, knowledge, and service of the Creator. Each one, according to his own spirit, needs things that will lift his spirit. All this is called nourishment. For this reason, any pleasure that a person receives from the Creator will reasonably bring a person nearer to Kedusha. But in fact, by this one grows farther due to the disparity of form resulting from the reception of the pleasure.
For this reason, if a person, while receiving the pleasure from the Creator, tries to delight the King by receiving in order to bestow upon the Creator, and his joy is from trying to aim to bestow contentment upon his Maker, by this he obtains a Kli [vessel] of bestowal with which he delights the Creator because the purpose of creation is to do good.
This delights the Creator, since now the Creator can give delight and pleasure to man, since man is now able to receive in order to bestow. Then the verse “The Lord delights in His works” comes true, meaning with the work of creation, for His will is to do good to His creations.
Because of the Tzimtzum, the Creator had to hide Himself from His creations. But when a person aims while receiving the pleasure to receive it for the sake of the Creator, this gives pleasure to the Creator from giving to the creatures.
It follows that from every pleasure he receives with the aim to benefit the Creator, it creates within him a Kli called “receiving in order to bestow.” When that Kli grows in him, after each giving, what will be his reward from the growth of the Kelim [vessels]? That they will be in order to bestow. His reward will be that he will later be rewarded with the Torah, called “the names of the Creator,” since now what he receives will be in order to bestow.
It follows that the reward will be the Torah, as Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said. That is, what will happen once a person has been rewarded with a degree where he can delight the King? When he wants only to bring contentment to his Maker? And what is his reward? It does not mean that the person should receive reward for delighting the Creator. Rather, he says that his reward is that he can please the King.
How does he please the King? By receiving the Torah. Doing good to His creations is the benefit that the Creator wants to give to the created beings; it is the revelation of His Godliness to the creatures. This is called “Torah,” meaning “Torah, as in the names of the Creator.” It follows that his reward is that the Creator can give him the Torah, as the Creator enjoys this giving and it pleases Him.
It follows that “Anyone who enjoys the meal of a groom and does not delight him” means that he is still immersed in self-love and cannot say that everything he does is only for the sake of the Creator. Then, the Creator cannot give the Torah, as it will all go to the Sitra Achra [other side]. This is why they said that he “breaches in five voices.” It is known that five Behinot [discernments] contain all the worlds and all the degrees, which appear as the names of the Creator. These are the tip of the Yod, and the four letters, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. In the worlds, they are called AK and ABYA, and in the souls they are called Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida.
Thus, the meaning of “breaches in five voices” is that he causes the five abovementioned Behinot not to manifest because they are not trying to achieve the intention that all the actions are only for the sake of the Creator and not for self-benefit. This is considered that where he should work to delight the Creator, he is concerned only with delighting himself. By this, he prevents the upper abundance from manifesting.
It follows that man causes the prevention of abundance below. This is considered that where man should have exerted to make the glory of heaven revealed—which is called “the revelation of His Godliness to His creations,” which is the purpose of creation—man is doing things that cause the glory of the Creator not to be revealed. Instead, the glory of the Sitra Achra is revealed and the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust.
This is called “the Shechina in exile under the nations of the world” within each person. That is, instead of trying to make The Good Who Does Good be revealed, and the concealment to be removed by aiming to bestow, he causes the nations of the world in him to rise ever higher.
The nations of the world is the will to receive for oneself. When we work for it, it gains strength and its quality manifests. Then, Israel in man descends below it, and this is called “breaching in five voices.”
But if we work in order to bestow, Kedusha gains power and controls. “One who enjoys the meals of a groom and his intention is to delight him, it means that his reward is that he was given the privilege of delighting the Creator. The sign of the reward, meaning the way to know that his aim is truly to delight the Creator, is as Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, that “his reward is the Torah.” If he is rewarded with the Torah, meaning if his aim is really only to please the King, and this is his only reward, the Tzimtzum and concealment are naturally removed from him, and he must be rewarded with the revelation of the light of His face. This is called “the Torah of His names,” called “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures.”
It follows that “bride” means work of faith, meaning acceptance of the burden of the kingdom of heaven. But here there is a matter of ascents and descents, meaning what a person should give to the Creator, which is unconditional surrender. In other words, a person should accept faith above reason even though he has no feeling and no excitement over taking upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven. Nevertheless, he should agree with that state and say that this must be the will of the Creator that he will work and serve Him in this lowliness, so he does not mind what elation he feels about this faith because about himself, meaning his own benefit, he has no concern, but only about the benefit of the Creator. If He wants him to remain in that state, he accepts this unconditionally. This is called “unconditional surrender.”
In that regard, faith is called “below,” meaning that it is of inferior importance for man. It is as it is written in the book A Sage’s Fruit: “Faith means below, since it is of low importance. For this reason, when faith is thrown to the ground, meaning when the greatness of faith is not valued, it becomes a serpent. In other words, in that state, a person becomes worse than when he began the work on faith. Prior to this, he was regarded as sacred still and did not lack faith. But now that he has begun to take upon himself faith above reason, his faith is unimportant because his reason does not let him believe without reason.
Therefore, he falls into the Klipa [shells/peels] of the serpent. Hence, when he wishes to enter Kedusha, he grabs it by the tail, where “tail” is the last discernment in everything. In other words, he accepts faith with all its lowliness, meaning above reason. At that time it becomes a scepter. He interprets there that in the hands of the redeemer was a scepter. This is the meaning of the “faithful shepherd,” who has a scepter in his hand to direct the hearts of Israel to their father in heaven.
Conversely, the groom is the giver. Considering what the Creator does, His quality is to do good to His creations. This is why it is called “the groom’s meal,” as they said, “Anyone who enjoys the meal of a groom.”
Reader: Now we will enter a special lesson with Rav. We are asking every friend to collect at least one counsel by Rav, that he wants to serve to the Ten as a gift. Again, we're asking every friend to collect at least one advice, one piece of advice by Rav, that he wants to serve to the Ten as a gift. We will now go to the lesson from January 3, 2003.
M. Laitman: (45:57) What is the meal of the groom? That in our life, in our world, there is a projection from the spiritual world. Each and every world is a copy or a projection from the previous world. We have a state called Ein Sof where the Creator created the created being and filled the created being with His filling. Later on, this system- the created being that is filled with light, where the created being that is filled with light, that this is still a system. It's not yet the created being that feels, and he has free choice, and he's under his own authority. We can't say yet that this is a created being. It's Malchut of Ein Sof. It is a state. So this created being starts to move away from the Creator. By this, he builds worlds- Olamot, from the word Ha'alama- concealment, so that in the end, the entire reason to create the world, so there would be these five such filters, that they diminish the light. And after all of these worlds can come the Adam- man, one who feels. Then the Adam can precisely by being... well, this is the Ein Sof, the state of Ein Sof, and later on we have the matter of the worlds down to this world.
At the bottom we have this world, and a barrier, and above it are the five worlds AK, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Asiya. And each and every world diminishes the light more, and more, and more until it comes down here, where below the barrier there is no light. Meaning, the barrier itself, it's not that there is truly some kind of a screen or a curtain, but rather it is the end of the light. Meaning this is all a system, the system of the worlds. Then they diminish the light from Ein Sof to zero. Here it's zero. And then man, by preparing himself down here, this is during the time of preparation, later on he comes out, and he begins each time to rise and rise, meaning to receive more and more light according to the degree that he's in. His degree is actually, or his state means what he receives in that place. So, our world has in corporeality the same relations between its parts as in the spiritual world. This is why we can take from our world words and speak in spirituality even though we won't understand from that what is spirituality, but it is possible to speak. The words are, well, there's a match, at least verbally. We have a tree here, a tree there, a table, a table. Of course, the concepts are different. What does a table mean in the spiritual world? What does it mean for us? However, there is a projection, there is a match.
M. Laitman: (49:44) Meaning there is also a relation, a connection between the branch and the root. We don't know what this connection is, but it exists. This means that this is why in our world, in the state where we are in now, we have the possibility to give examples, to tell about spiritual states through all kinds of events and situations that we have in this world. Let's say we speak of the relation between the Creator and the created being as the groom and the bride. And it is also possible to express through all kinds of other relations and stories what it is. So, what is he talking about here? He wants to tell us specifically out of that. What does he say? He says the Creator is like the groom, and the created being, the soul is like the bride, and the bride needs to be prepared for the wedding. This is also explained very beautifully in an article in the Zohar called Leila de Kalla, the night of the bride. Usually, we read it before the holiday of Shavuot, on the holiday of Shavuot. So, he says the following. There are two views in a person in how he relates to the bride, meaning to his corrected state. That in that corrected state, he already receives the revelation of the Creator. The corrected vessel is called the bride, how to prepare the bride. So, a person can say, like in the house of Shammai, what is that? That she is as she is. But that state where I need to be in the corrected vessel is a state which is above reason. It's a state I'm not capable of. It's difficult. I cannot reach it. Maybe in short, it's a state which is not very convenient and good, and I disagree with it. A person truly rejects it. The bride as she is, meaning he judges according to what he sees, according to his reason, according to his mind, his power. And certainly, he's not capable of reaching such a vessel in order to bestow so it will be in equivalence of form with the Creator. What does it mean in equivalence of form with the Creator? That the bride will be like the groom, will match the groom, just like in our world, right? I sit at home. Almost every day, people come, couples or individuals, and they ask: tell me, am I suitable for her? Is she a good match for me? What do you think? Are we suitable? Are we matching? Will it be good for us together? Yes, no? We ask according to the equivalence of form in this world, more or less. A person wants to find something that is suitable for him. This is how it is in the spiritual world, according to the same example.
So, how can the vessel be similar to the Creator? If the vessel will work in order to bestow as He bestows, then the vessel will be suitable for Him. Then we can have a canopy, wedding canopy. But I look at this vessel, I'm supposed to be this vessel, and I see that it is impossible, it's far away, it doesn't even draw me so much. The groom, fine, I'm willing to receive Him, full of pleasures, eternity, eternality, Ein Sof. It's better than my state. I want Him, that's fine.
But to be the bride, that seems to be impossible to me. And in general, I don't quite understand what it is, and it doesn't attract me. This is called the view of the house of Shammai. According to my reason, the bride as she is, this is what we need to say about the bride. But not according to Beit Hillel, the house of Hillel. We need to say, even though the bride does not seem beautiful, we need to say that she's a beautiful and graceful bride. Meaning we have to go above reason.
It is true that this state that I need to reach, which is corrected in order to bestow and all kinds of beautiful things, it's not for me, it doesn't attract me. But I should say: a beautiful and graceful bride. Why? If nevertheless, I will take it as my task that this is what I have to reach, and then I will truly be as the bride before the Creator, and we will be able to connect, to reach adhesion, then I have to work on that. That state, nevertheless, should at some point be for me beautiful.
M. Laitman: (54:34) How do we do it? So here, Rabash says that it is possible to achieve everything only through prayer. What do we actually achieve? From where do we take the forces? So they say we take the forces from the dance, through the exertion, that nevertheless we want to try to reach being a bride, meaning to reach such corrections so that we will be similar to the Creator, so that we will be able to have a wedding canopy with Him, a connection, a coupling. We begin to dance. What does it mean to dance? Ups and downs, like a person who's dancing, jumping from one state to another, from one state to another. And we dance specifically before the bride, not before the groom. This means that by wanting to acquire the bride, we try from a state where she's not beautiful, not good-looking, nothing, to reach the state where she will be beautiful and graceful, and that I will acquire her degree. And so I jump. And then, bit by bit, through these jumps, through these ascents and descents, I acquire her corrections. The bride in and of herself, how do we measure her that she's beautiful, that she becomes beautiful? As much as she has an intention to bestow. Right? This means that it is possible to correct her only through the awareness of the greatness of the Creator. As much as a person feels the greatness of the Creator, he wants to feel it in order to be a bride in order to correct himself in order to bestow, then certainly, bit by bit, the Creator opens up to him to the extent that the person can receive the revelation of the Creator for the sake of correction and not for the sake of self-pleasure.
So accordingly, the Creator opens up to him, and out of that, the person reaches a state where he certainly sees that the bride, meaning the greatness of the Creator as it seemed to him under concealment, meaning inside of the will to receive, that she's not beautiful, she's not graceful, well, what does that mean in order to bestow, not attractive, not interesting, he reaches a state where he sees that the bride is beautiful. And then he reaches a state called Chuppah, the wedding canopy, where they connect together. And also, there's the matter of the Ketubah, the wedding agreement. This is very interesting, all of these things in spirituality. We will study about it. There are many details there. This is the matter of the corrections, meaning all kinds of—how should I say this? An elaboration, details of connection and adhesion. And after the Chuppah, you come to, well, you dance before the bride. Before that, we say, the bride as she is. After that, the bride needs to be beautiful and graceful. And you reach her being beautiful and graceful through the actual dancing. You dance before the bride. And after that, you come to the bride being beautiful and graceful. You acquire those qualities. Then you come to the Chuppah. And after the Chuppah, it's the banquet. It's the groom's banquet. Why the groom's banquet?
Because the Creator fills the soul. And so, the banquet is named after Him. The filling is on Him. And so, the vessels of the bride, meaning it receives all the fulfillment, the revelation of divinity, eternality, perfection, wholeness. This is called the Mitzva banquet, the groom's banquet. That is what he said, basically.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:34) He writes here that one who does not delight him in the meal of the groom is breaching in five voices.
M. Laitman: Yes, one who doesn't make him happy, then he breaches in five voices. Five voices, that refers to the five limitations, the screens that exist. Five limitations which exist in us, five screens, five discernments as we have in Yom Kippur, the five afflictions, five limitations.
M. Laitman: What does it mean to delight the groom or to delight the bride, also we say, the groom and the bride? To delight means to connect with them, meaning to reach those qualities.
Student: But what does it mean to enjoy the meal without delighting the groom?
M. Laitman: To want to receive all the revelation of divinity in order to receive. That means to want to enjoy the meal without respecting, without delighting the groom. There's nothing more here than Creator and created being; the groom and the bride and the banquet, meaning the connection between them. And each and every one of us who corrects himself becomes that bride, that vessel which receives the revelation in which God is revealed. These are, other than actually doing it, it's all very simple.
Student: He writes on page 27, the words that begin with "although," this whole paragraph. Can I read it? Page 27, below.
M. Laitman: Although it is known to him that the advice for emerging from a state of descent is prayer, he doesn't have the power to pray then. And although there is a rule that anything a person lacks, he should pray for to the Creator, if so, the fact that he cannot pray, he needs to pray over. Yes, to have the power to pray, pray to have the power to pray. But sometimes even with that, meaning to pray that he will have the power to pray, that he will have the power to pray, and so on and so forth, he doesn't have the power to do. And therefore, a person in that state is in complete descent, absolute descent, that's what it's called. Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:16) So, in that state, where do we take the strength from, nevertheless?
M. Laitman: Wait, wait. A person who is in a state where he cannot pray, any kind of prayer, you have the prayer before the prayer, yes, a person who cannot pray, so you're asking, then how can he pray? He can't pray. Wait, so if he can't, then why are you asking how, if he can't? If you're still asking how, it's a sign that it's not a complete descent. If there's still room for a question, for a question, if there's no place for the question, then it's just no, that's what you're asking for, right? If you say no, then it's a sign that from within himself, he cannot bring out any cause, any power, anything from which he can then begin to somehow ascend, meaning there can only be, you need an exciting cause, you know what that is? An external cause. What is the external cause? Either the Creator or the environment. What else do you have? The environment, everything that surrounds the person. All of the inanimate, growing, living, speaking, what's around him that can remind him, awaken him, shake him? Or the Creator. Well, the Creator, until He does it, we know that it could be a thousand years in the future. The environment also, it depends on where you are and what kind of connection you have with it and so forth, and so all these things, the Creator as well as the environment, we need to take care of in advance, before entering a state of complete descent, to be afraid that I won't remain in that complete descent without any preparation, yes? We work, right? So, each one of us who works, puts aside some of his income for a pension, social insurance, and so on, various such things. Meaning, if I fall, if I become weak, I can’t take care of myself, I have some reserves, some systems which come to help me, to assist me, and a person needs to take care of that. And you don't need to say, oh, what, I don't care about any of that, the Creator is great. What does it mean, the Creator is great? Then you think that if you'll be in a state where you have nothing, someone will come and take care of you. Right? That's an even bigger will to receive, you understand? But a real man would not do that. He knows then that for lack of choice, he will become a burden to other people, and he needs to make sure not to become a burden for them, but to have something of his own. That is the right approach. Not egoistic, you understand?
Now, in our situation we're not in that state, we are in this way. If I don't take care in advance, if I don't take care to have such systems which will bring me out from the fall, the fall can be, and I see this on people here, it can last for half a year, a year, there's nothing that can be done. Nothing. Because the society also can't help you more than what you invested into it before. It's the same way if you didn't put aside some money in savings. The bank won't just give you money for no reason, you understand? Same thing here. First, you have to prepare the society, the environment, so that in your time of weakness, it will influence you and immediately awaken you. And without that advancement, it will take a few, quite a few more incarnations.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:25) So, first of all, to truly prepare the environment in such a way, but only if I'll prepare the environment will they let me reach such states. Otherwise, they won't truly even let me reach such...
M. Laitman: What does it mean? What do you mean? No, no, mister, it's not that they will give me, not give me, I'll have some, I won't have. There is a law, a general law for all of reality. And according to that law, each one of us advances from the beginning of the path to the end of the path on his lane, according to his discernments, the records that exist in him. And that law is in operation. That law never changes. There's no such thing as, “oh, I want to relate to that person in this way or not.” There's no such thing. It's a law. Now, you want to accelerate your advancement? You're welcome to do so. You have a choice in that, to accelerate. And if not, then no.
Student: How do I build such a mechanism where when I enter into such a situation, instead of sitting for half a year, a year, maybe 10 years, I sit precisely half a second and I come out of it? How to build such a mechanism?
M. Laitman: Building such a mechanism, that depends only on you. Only on you. Don't shout at them. They depend on what you will do. I need to advance according to the rule of the final outcome is in the initial thoughts. That's it. How shall I do that? Where do I need to get? I need to get to a state where the society is constantly influencing me, right? As soon as I fall a little bit from the very best degree, let's say my very best state where I'm working full force, I don't need the society, seemingly, right? I'm just running ahead. In a state where I'm not working with all my power, I immediately want them to influence me. Why should I wait until the complete descent when I'm completely dead? Even if I descend by 10%, that's enough. These 10%, they will then begin to fill up for me, to complement me. How can I receive a push from them? A push towards spirituality, I can receive from two things. Either feeling bad so that bad causes me to run forward, to run away from it, or what's ahead of me is so good that I run forward like someone crazy, just maddened by that goodness, and I don't care about anything that I already have. That everything I have now will appear to me, well, that light shines to me in front, and there is life, and what I have now is death. Meaning that each state of mine will appear to me as a complete descent in comparison to the next state. It's not that I actually descend to such a state, but I will see it that way.
My state is like that. So, the society needs to provide me with either suffering or pleasure. The pleasure that's ahead of me, and the suffering is behind me. Pleasuring, pleasures ahead, that means the greatness of the Creator. That is the greatness of the Creator, the importance of spirituality. And so now I need suffering. Why do I need suffering for them to come and beat me and everything? Those are things in which it's a long story, so it's a long path until I turn it into some learning that it's worthwhile to advance.
The suffering, until they teach us it takes a lot of time. If there's something from ahead, I just run just to see it and I'm done. I'm already like someone crazy chasing it. So, society has to supply this for me, meaning I have to prepare society for this. That every moment that I, from myself, I can't be in greatness of the Creator, in uplifting, in spirituality, that this is the best possible thing. So right away, they have to supply this to me. You see now we lost electricity, there's a shortage. So, there's places where the moment there's no electricity, a generator turns on and you don't even feel there was a break somewhere. It changed between one supply to the other and it keeps going. That's what you have to do. It's up to you. To build the system, it's up to you.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:28) For that, I need for the society itself to be constantly in awakening. Otherwise, it also cannot supply me with such a thing.
M. Laitman: Society has to be an awakening according to the awakening that you insert to them. Otherwise, where will it get it? What is society? It's what each of us puts into it; no more than that.
Student: How can I influence 120 people?
M. Laitman: You see, every time I go to a different group overseas, I have some, I come back with something new in the way I can’t explain. I get their awakening. I come somewhere and I absorb it, and then I really get a better explanation. Maybe it's more convenient, it's more simple. You have to extract what you can from society. But that's possible as much as each one invests. Is there anything beyond the collection of people called society? Later on, you'll see that we build a spiritual vessel. When you build the spiritual vessel, it's supposedly outside of us. It's a collection of all the souls.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:50) How within us can we build a spiritual vessel, specifically with the society?
M. Laitman: Only according to the importance. Only according to importance. Except for that, you have nothing. And the importance, I said, nobody has it. But if each one feels from the other that it's important, and you start advertising it to each other.
So, we're a commercial company. We want to sell the Creator to the whole world. That's our product. Through all kinds of means: books, tapes, lectures, whatever, we're selling Him. Just for ourselves, we can't do it. To say it to the whole world, please. But for us, no. That's a problem.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:49) How do we, through their overall work and processes and experiments…?
M. Laitman: All the forms that we have done, inner dissemination, how do I say it? It was kind of like the police. We're doing it now. It didn't come from a necessity. That a person has to do it. And then there's no choice. He really puts his soul, his heart into it, his desire. This necessity, it has to be necessary. I don't know how to say it. But I'm for it. Let's take some company that knows how to advertise, take some psychologists that will work on us, I don't know. And we'll feel that it's something important. We'll feel the importance. Look the way, look at a TV commercial or radio. You start incorporating it, you feel that it's important. In some moment, it's going to jump up in you, you'll remember about it. That's what we need to do. Except for that, there's nothing. He writes it in the "Freedom of Choice" article. Except for that, you advance according to this general force called General Providence. Not private providence, but general. How all the worlds are pushing all these records called the souls. The future souls, it's still not souls, it's still shattered records. So, the light comes from above, works on the shattered records, and gradually advances them a few more thousand years.
Student: I don't want to reach that state in a few thousand years.
M. Laitman: So, speed up the time. That's called Israel hasten the times. Israel is whoever yearns for the Creator. How can you yearn? If you'll understand, and feel, and know that He is great.
Student: The problem is that every advertisement we do, sooner or later it starts to decrease.
M. Laitman: It's right that every time you advertise, you get sick of it at some point because it seems artificial. But when you deal with it, that's the only exertion you can give. Except for that, nothing. Or, so he writes, what does he write? That we have to say about the bride? That she's beautiful and modest, but the bride is like the way she is. Right, but I have to say that she's pretty. So, that'll draw me towards it; otherwise what? And if you look at these two states, now in the corrected state, so there really is no possibility to reach it. Only under the condition that I incorporate from society. That's why inside, each one thinks according to Beth Shammai. The bride is the way she is. And each one must hear, according to Beth Hillel, that she's beautiful and modest.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:40) What's the connection between the corrected vessel and bestowal?
M. Laitman: I don't understand.
Student: You spoke earlier about reaching a state of a vessel that's common to everyone.
M. Laitman: The common vessel of society is like saving a bone for the future. Well, how do I say it? Like a general savings account. And each one can draw out from there. Let's say in a state that he's unable to do anything.
Student: What's the connection between the two?
M. Laitman: That we have forces from this. You can reach the forces to bestow. Life is called forces of bestowal. According to those forces, I discover godliness. According to the resemblance with the Creator, I get revelation of the Creator, I get life. So I need forces of bestowal. Forces of bestowal I can only do under the condition that I think that it's something great. How do I know it's great? I need to be brainwashed that it's great all the time. That comes from society.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:07) I heard in one of the lessons that we reach a state that there's a common vessel to everyone.
M. Laitman: The common vessel, I'll tell you. If we're 10 people, and each one is included of everybody. So, each one has 10 in the power of 10. And more, and more, and more infinitely. Because we're constantly incorporated from each other, and each one from the other, and each one it progresses infinitely. That's how it really is.
But let's say that each one is incorporated from the other, so he has ten times, right? That's called that each one has it. Except for that, there's something called the inclusive. You know in Gematria, there's always plus one, the inclusive. Usually that one is the Creator revealed in that general vessel. That's it. So except for that, there's the one vessel drawing us ahead, all of us, according to our general incorporation.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:30) Why do we say that we're not studying and moving forward with the Creator? Why when I work with a friend to love his will to receive and to incorporate with him in order to recognize his will to receive in order to feel close to him, why do I need to even do that with his will to receive, to move forward with that and become familiar with the friend's will to receive?
M. Laitman: In our work, there are two things. One, I have to bestow greatness of the Creator to the friend. For this, I don't need to incorporate with him. No, supposedly I don't even have to be in him. I just have to project towards him my inspiration and uplifting even though I don't have it, but I can act before him. By this I supply him with awakening. That's the work on one hand.
On the other hand, except for running ahead, I also have to connect to the others. To connect to the others in order to enlarge my vessel. I can only do that under the condition that I get his vessel, meaning his desires, his deficiencies as if they are my own. By that, I annul myself. You see, if we will run only because the Creator is great, then this running will be in order to receive. From this, I won't have ascents and descents. I'll supposedly constantly be in an ascent more, and more, and more. It'll be, how do I say, this running will be without coarseness, without the will to receive. It's like I'll be blown up in the air, and that's it. I'll run after it because it seems great to me. In order to add myself to this advancement. I need, how should I say, I need to feel who I am. I have to see my participation in this. Not that I adhere to this advancement as a point, only working with the inspiration I got on the outside. Just annul myself and keep getting inspired and go ahead. I have to work with my coarseness. To work with my coarseness, I can discover it only if I work with a friend by coming closer to him.
Then I, by coming closer to him, I discover his deficiencies and my deficiencies, and that brings ascends and descends, and these two things will always be there. And as much as they come, that's fine. The problem is the pace. The greater the pace, that's my advancement. I can't only advance in an ascent. I always have to be in this amplitude. The bigger it is between up and down, Keter and Malchut. Between the clothing and the coarseness. If I only get inspiration, I won't participate in my coarseness at all. So who am I here?
That's why, in order to advance, the I- my ego, my essence, I have to join it into the inspiration that I'll have the full record of clothing and coarseness. And that, I have to get from my deficiencies, the friend's deficiency, from the connection between us.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:41) How does this work out? What will we say? The advancement of discernments are not from a desire, but now from the fact that I run forward, I understand what's happening with me, meaning I cannot just sit and see with me and the friend, it's just advancement.
M. Laitman: From working on the greatness, I can still reach a fall. It has to happen. And second, connecting to the friend without connecting to him, I can't even get the greatness from him. I have to see what background it comes, the record of clothing on itself, or some kind of inspiration. I have to know who's bestowing it, how he's doing it, what is he doing it for? I have to know. Only hearing about it won't help. Except for that, after I yearn and adhere to this yearning to the greatness of the Creator that I want to reach it, I start feeling myself empty, supposedly I don't exist. And here, I need myself to discover my coarseness. There's the matter of, if I don't connect to the friend, I don't get the additional vessel. Let's say this: if you're envious of all the people here now, you think that there's something in them, and you were envious of them would you be calm as you are now? Could you sleep at night?
Look at humanity, everything's moving because of envy. So, you can't advance if you don't look for these things in the others. Our coarseness can't come from its own; it has to come from society.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:38) In the state of Chafetz Chesed, does the vessel feel its full thickness? I'm asking why in that state where you're adhered without a calculation for yourself to the general yearning, it's not similar to Chafetz Chesed? So, I'm incapable of working with my Aviut, I'm incapable of maximum personal above to adhere myself.
M. Laitman: So, please do that work only on the greatness of the Creator, and then you'll feel that you're in a great descent. Why? Because you'll think that only you're yearning for the Creator and not Him. You won't get a response from Him. And you won't get a response from society. You won't be able to. You won't be able to hear from society that the Creator is great if you don't remind them that you f their vessel and you invest in it.
Student: I also don't understand how from the feeling with society will feel that the Creator gives me feedback.
M. Laitman: You'll have greater coarseness by incorporating with society, and in this coarseness you'll be able to discover the Creator that's advancing a bigger vessel. You'll reveal Him and feel Him and there will also be bigger descents.
Student: Besides giving greatness to the society, how do I incorporate in the best way, in an internal way?
M. Laitman: We start from a beastly closeness. That I'm just with a friend in a group, and we help each other—not in spirituality, in corporeality. Why does that help me? To see that I'm not in this. That's a point of truth. You discover the point that you'll see for sure that the bride isn't beautiful, and you have nothing with her. So, you'll have to turn to society, and give your inspiration, and your greatness of the Creator. You won't have coarseness and need to do anything if you don't incorporate in society. You're going to float around like an angel. So, why do you need their inspiration? You're already floating. You'll stay in that little coarseness all the time.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:31:33) Now, I'm just floating. Just tell me that if I don't do this, then I won't receive feedback from the Creator. You say that every time I'll only learn and He runs away from me twice as fast. So how? How will I learn? It's not clear. What is the sentence here? From now truly incorporating with a friend that I don't bring him into me for 30 years. But he won't enter inside.
M. Laitman: You're helping him for what?
Student: To understand how far I am from the true state.
M. Laitman: So, you have a spiritual purpose to help a friend, meaning together. You're a deed in this world, but the goal is beyond this world. So you already have a deed to bring yourself to spiritual attainment. It should bring you to despair, to a shattering to help you advance. It has to give you something.
Student: But it doesn't give a feeling of feedback from the Creator. This thing, this view doesn't give a feeling of feedback from the Creator.
M. Laitman: No, usually, engaging with the friends will give you uplifting, than a descent, but the pace will rise. I don't understand. You want this: I'm going to invest in a friend so that the Creator will come to me. So, why aren't You coming? So I'm not investing in the friend.
Student: No, no, no. You told me now that I can receive feedback from the Creator, and I don't truly receive feedback from the Creator.
M. Laitman: You get ascents and descents that are more...
Student: But you don't feel a feedback. He runs away from you faster in the opposite direction. Where's the feedback?
M. Laitman: But also the ascents are bigger.
Student: How much shorter?
M. Laitman: Oh, they're shorter. You feel more liveliness, more life. Your life is more full. The ascent, if it's extended longer than what you feel it, so it disappears. What's our problem? You start feeling. The light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida, they come into the vessel. All those five lights went into the five vessels, so the feeling disappears. Why? Because if you're not renewing, there's no feeling. So, what next? Next, I'm just living like that, like a beast.
Meaning, from spirituality there's no connection. There is. If after I feel my spiritual state, if there's no change on my behalf I just continue as a beast. Imagine for yourself how much do we have these pauses between our deeds and our efforts, one towards the other? It's years. Take it slow.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:34:54) How much does one need to investigate within the state in order to see where I stand? How much do I need to do this and not directly see, generally, this is where one stands and immediately adhere?
M. Laitman: All these scrutinies are good if they bring you to deeds. It's good, the learning that brings you to deeds. And if not, it's for nothing.
Student: What is an action?
M. Laitman: An action means bestowal. That's the truth. But an action is everything that will bring me to acts of bestowal.
Student: How in my state can I know if this will truly lead me to bestowal? It seems far. It always seems even further. And every moment even further. How will I know?
M. Laitman: Your complaints are simple. I also understand what the friend is asking. The complaints are simple. Why don't we have instructions, you know, printed, instead of Zohar and TES and books that we can't understand? Why isn't there one page or two with instructions for me? Every machine in our world that we build, even if we're corrupted and don't understand anything, but I bought a machine. I have my instruction booklet, how to work it, how to keep it. And here, no. What kind of maker made such a machine? Corrupted. There's nothing worse. And then give me instructions, right?
So the instructions are there. We want to see them according to our brain. Our brain, that's how we want it. I want to understand it according to my beastly brain. Tell me one, two, three of how to do it, and I'll do it. Now, what you're telling me to do, I can't do. Why? I don't have the forces. Correct. But we need, but I don't have the forces. So what do I do?
Student: Give us a point.
M. Laitman: I see. So if the instructions were written the way we write about a certain machine, they would be written within reason, then you could do them and above reason, you couldn't do them. So what do I do? I take these pages. It's really, it's only two pages of instructions, but I can't do it. So take them back. That's what's happening to us. Take it back. We don't want to use it. We don't understand that in this way, that it was given, it's the best possible way to go from this state to a spiritual state. You can't do it any other way.
All in all, what are we doing? We need to invite the light that reforms. The light corrects us, and they told us how to correct. I have to know now in the lesson that the Creator is great. If my state is the worst, I have to find a remedy, the medicine. Where can I find it? Look, he's sleeping, he's going to fall off the chair in a second. He's this way, you know, sometimes I even hear snoring here. So where can I take it? Understand the people. You see 150 people sit here on a regular day, half of them. I understand them. There's nobody who can awake them. Within reason, we don't see it. So what should we do? Only by really attaining the necessity, the greatness of the goal.
M. Laitman: (01:39:24) He writes at the “Introduction to TES,” where is it? About the quality and quantity. No, it's not 17, it's a bit after. Those who neglected, or maybe it's 18, that they were not neglecting in quantity but in quality. Here, 18, look what he writes in “Introduction to TES.” So, “Introduction to TES,” 18. It is clear that they cannot rid themselves from judgment if they said that they got this remedy and they still have thoughts of sin.
Meaning, on one hand, we got the instructions, on the other hand, we don't know how to perform them and we remain the way we are. So, what happens? Meaning, they still have doubts, God forbid. We hear these doubts and the evil inclination still does not rest because the Creator who created it, the evil inclination, the way He made us, He also gave us the command how to adapt ourselves. And He gave the evil inclination its forces, but He also knew how to create the remedy, how to correct our state, how to activate us correctly. So, up to here, it's okay. The remedy can tire the evil inclination and eradicate it.
And if someone engaged in the Torah and couldn't get rid of the evil inclination, it means you don't know how to activate the machine correctly. Either you neglected the exertion in the work or you neglected the quality. So, that means you wake up in the morning, you came here. I said, if people come or not, I don't even talk about it. That's called exerting in quantity. But afterwards comes the quality. If I come from 3 to 5:30 every morning, what do I do in these hours? I can come here and keep sleeping like I'm doing at home. So, does that mean I'm advancing? Well, you are because you're incorporating in society. You still did wake up, you still exerted in quantity. So, instead of 5 years, it'll take 25 years. You'll advance, there's no doubt about it. You see how I relate to people sleeping. If he's sleeping, he's sleeping, he's still advancing. Whoever comes advances. But if you complain, why didn't I advance? So, you have to pay attention about the exertion and quality.
Meaning what quality? That they didn't put their mind and heart while engaging in the Torah. Meaning that you're sitting here and studying now, right? What are you thinking about? To be rewarded and extending the light that reforms in the Torah, that brings faith to the man's heart. But he was distracted from the main thing, which is the light that reforms, that brings faith. The light that reforms, I want it to correct me. That means that I'm not searching during the study for a way to improve my qualities. I'm trying to think how Galgalta goes into AB and SAG. Thank God, I understood. As they say, I put the medicine and rubbed it on my body instead of swallowing it.
And the deficiency to take it inside, that depends on how ill I feel I am. That if I'm really ill, how I know that people will tell me you're ill. You pay for a diagnosis a lot more than the treatment. Also, all those machines cost way more in order to know what the disease is than actually curing it, right?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:44:25) How do I pass that feeling of illness to someone else? I don't know if he's capable of receiving it, if he'll withstand it.
M. Laitman: You don't have to tell him you're sick, you're a liar, you're lazy, look at your face. You don't have to say it. You show him that there's greatness of the Creator. Not that you know Him. You can't say that, but within your work, from your words, from your awakening, from... He has to see it as an example, not the words that will go into the ear. In short, I don't know how. You're smart, really, you have a brain. Let's see how your brain will help you. Try. Think together, sit together, think how you can reach it, that you have to reach one thing.
That you come to a lesson, I'm sick. You know, come to me, sit with me someday, you'll see I get cancer patients. They look at me like a dog at his landlord. Please help me. There's nothing else. That's it. The doctor said they don't want to take care of me anymore. I don't know, they told me two or three months left. You know what that's like? Look at such a person. Why aren't we like that?
Student: When you do it like that and when you agreed to what he tells you, also when you see yourself, you cannot...
M. Laitman: But you don't want it.
Student: You want to, but it just paralyzes you more and more.
M. Laitman: Right, because the other people aren't helping you. Look, listen, from yourself you can't do anything. They have to tell you that you are ill. From them I'll hear it, from myself I won't.
Student: I already know how sick I am.
M. Laitman: I go to some, you know, doctor or there are all kinds of diets today that I go. Why? Because it's important. I'll do it. “Yes, tell me exactly.” After two days, what's up with all these things? If I'd hear about it every day and every day and I'd see that in society - go to such a society of vegetarians or something - you see, we know what happens to people that go into there. They become like that. There's a brainwash there, and here we're lacking it.
You're saying, no, I can't sell anything that nobody feels. Yes, you can. What do you have in Coca-Cola except for eight spoons of sugar for one cup? You know what that is? Yes. What do you get from that? But the taste of life.
Student: On the other hand, on one hand you feel it, but you cannot do anything about it to exit this death.
M. Laitman: The prisoner does not save himself from prison, right? It's written. Everything's written. What do you think, there weren't wise guys before you who didn't write it and know about it? But he says that after everything you say and talk about, how did he say it?
Student: They didn't set their minds.
M. Laitman: Yes, they didn't put their attention during the study on the light that reforms. So, you can't rid yourself from the judgment by force. After our sages wrote, "I created the evil inclination and then the Torah as a spice."
So you're complaining like Job. So he says, he brings you everything from one end to the other. He explains everything. You're complaining in their complaints that they already went through it and they're writing it here. So it's good that you're complaining because you're scrutinizing something. But after these scrutinies, you have to actually do something. If you want to stand in the middle and say, no, okay, so close the book and go. But if you really want to scrutinize it, so he says, you do like Job said. It can’t be, I'm in suffering and I'm done.
Student: (01:49:28) I'm not saying that. I'm saying the strength to do that, they also don't give it to me. They don't give it to me. And it's the complete opposite. And it reaches greater depth. And it's even more than that.
M. Laitman: No. You are searching, and you want to do something that you're saying is impossible, and that the deed itself is more rough than death. That I'd rather die and not do. You're saying it because you think as a deed that you have to do in above reason. And you don't have the forces to do it above reason, but don't think about it. They don't tell you to jump above your head. You're depicting the state, I have to do a deed in order to bestow, to disconnect from myself and do in order to bestow, and I can't. So, me, where are my things? I'm going home. And you let it go.
They don't tell you to do a deed above reason in order to bestow. They don't say you have to do this. It's not upon you to do. The light will do it. You have to prepare yourself to give an exertion in quantity and quality. Not the result. The result doesn't depend on you. But the exertion you have to give, and you're not exerting in the right place. You're exerting by trying to do a deed in order to bestow. You're wasting time. It'll never work. Who do you think you are? Do you get a screen? Do you know what that is? And you're trying to do that. Why? You don't need to do that.
Do what you need to do. What you're supposed to do. Not here in the book, but here. I mean, you think that if I'll do this and this, I'll be in the spiritual world. No. You can't do it. You won't be in the spiritual world. You have to work completely in a different way. Do completely different work. Listen, you only have to be in a yearning for it, always. That's it. We're done. No more than that. According to your constant yearning, that it's necessary that I'm sick, and it needs to come and heal me. Or like he writes in Letter 70, like an ill person or a man chasing his love, doesn't matter, I have to be ready for it. No more than that. They're not searching for a deed. They're searching that you increase your longing and necessity for it. And that you can only do by an external cause, which is society. There's nothing else in your hands. I think that is the whole problem. You are trying to bestow, as if you have a screen. Why? Not at all. Let it go. It's none of your business. That's what Job said here. He said, "You created wicked, You created righteous, so what can we do?" If You created, You created.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:53:06) This yearning. A yearning for something you see that you're incapable of attaining, it paralyzes you. Now you tell me, go and increase the yearning even more through the society, and then will I do it myself?
M. Laitman: Your yearning probably isn't the right one. It's the yearning you get from above. The longing you get from above. By that, you're not aiding anything. It's not your longing. You're not advancing by it. The Creator gives you longing. Where is your addition? Where is your exertion? It's not here.
You really think that it's, you think he's laughing at you that he's saying three to five years? Yes. Three to five years, you can go into spirituality. If you concentrate on what's up to you to do, because the rest isn't up to you. He says, where's the freedom of choice? Only one thing. And the rest, you're a machine. Everything is sealed. There's nothing you can say.
I'm saying it again. You think that we're demanded to do something supernatural. No. Just to scrutinize where is that point that I really have to invest all my forces. How many people in the world are doing things that there's no need for them. Some wise guy comes and in a minute he opens all these things, he performs it, he saw the point. That's the whole wisdom. That's the difference between the different degrees. You have this big mass and what about it? Nothing. And then comes one wise person and we're done. It's like there's the shepherd and you're done. You have billions of people that can follow that one person if you know the way. They don't. He sees that point. That's what we need, to see what they're telling us here. Not to go against the will to receive itself. It won't help, the light needs to correct it. Where do you see that according to what you're learning? That the desire to receive itself, it gets inspired and just the light changes it, it creates it and changes it. So for the light to come and change, what do we need to do? To want it.
Student: I also don't understand the word that amplifier of desires in the society.
M. Laitman: In the friends you have that amplifier only, only in them. Because what you'll find in yourself, that's not an amplifier. That's what you're given from above. The Creator gave that to you, the one you are now, without a society. He gave that to you. That's not your exertion. And you say, “I'm gonna run.” What were you running? He's activating you so you run. You think you're running? It's His action. You will run if you bestow to society and from them you'll get a result of your exertion in them. And according to that you add your running. That will be yours.
Student: And that's pure brainwashing?
M. Laitman: Just brainwash. That's what he says here. That's the freedom of choice. We have a Shabbat before us. Let's read that article.
Student: Because I know if I don't magnify the friends.
M. Laitman: I heard from your daughter that you actually taught that, the freedom of choice.
Student: Yeah, but that's free will.
M. Laitman: (01:57:24) She came to your lecture. Yesterday I taught her too. She says, I can't sit with you 15 minutes. You're boring. She was with you for an hour and a half. She spoke so nice. It was so interesting. Suddenly the hour and a half just went by. You see how you know how to work on an audience? I'm not joking. I'm saying you have to learn from this. You can work on an audience. She's not stupid. She has very good criticism. She understands these things. I learned with her. I studied with her a lot. You have an ability to bestow? Yes? So believe me, you can hear back the same thing. And you'll see that that's already an additional force. That truly is your investment in her. Now you can hear back from her.
Gradually you have to go against your desire, to lower yourself, that you won't be with your nose up in the air, but lower yourself. That's called clothing and coarseness. And that's you have to work by subduing yourself. You to be greater from the society to bestow and smaller in order to receive. That becomes the work. You asked what about my ego? But then you'll get a foreign inspiration. Not from the Creator. The Creator is you, it's the same thing. You need a foreign inspiration. If according to that you'll come and study, you'll come with your own learning. Because what you invested in society, that's what you can get back. You by this create this mechanism of society. You really create your own force. Not that you got it from above. And then you really can come and demand a correction.
Reader: Now every friend shares with the Ten the advice you gathered from the lesson. And the Ten chooses one piece of advice and works according to it throughout the day. Again, each friend shares with the Ten the different advice you gathered from the lesson, and the Ten chooses one piece of advice and works according to it throughout the day.