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

Daily Lesson (Afternoon) November 23, 2024

Part 1 Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah)

Hello, we are in a lecture on the topic of the weekly portion, the portion of the life of Sarah, starting from excerpt number nine. You can send questions through kabbalahgroup.info and also the Arvut system. If you're asking questions in the study hall, please stand up, hold the mic close to your mouth, and speak loudly and clearly.

Reading Excerpt # 7: (00:38) Baal HaSulam. Introduction, “A Word of Truth”

“Abraham was old and of many days, and the Lord blessed Abraham with everything” ... “the Lord blessed him with everything,” meaning with the whole of Israel, for the righteous who draws bestowal does not aim for himself at all, for he will not need them at all. Rather, his only intention is the salvation of the whole of Israel, and he will not fear for himself at all, as though he is not present in this world at all. Only the Creator watches over the righteous and blesses him with the whole of Israel, and this is “The Lord blessed Abraham with everything.”

M. Laitman: That's actually the topic, the subject of the portion of the week, that Abraham, the old, who comes of days, and received a blessing from the Creator, which is this blessing that impacts everything that Abraham has. This is what we need to think well and understand that this belongs to us, that we too have a part in this. 

Re-reading Excerpt # 7: (02:50) Baal HaSulam. Introduction, “A Word of Truth”

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (04:07) What does it mean that the Creator blessed the righteous for the salvation of the whole of Israel? 

M. Laitman: He gave him the forces to be able to bless the whole of Israel, and by his blessing, they are blessed and can do all that they have to do in the world.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (04:50) This is the blessing of the righteous. When I pray, what kind of blessing can I give? I'm not a righteous. I can't bless the people, and maybe my blessing should be to help me bestow, to give me the forces, but then I'm praying for myself. Is this the correct blessing? 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: So, what blessing, on my degree, do I have to raise? 

M. Laitman: That we're asking for the blessing. When we do so, then we connect all of the people of Israel with ourselves and want to bring them all closer to the Creator, so the Creator will shine upon us all, together, and by this, we shall all be blessed. 

Student: It sounds like there's no difference between my blessing and the blessing of a righteous. 

M. Laitman: Of course, there are many levels of blessings, and we're not on the degree of a righteous, but gradually, through many actions and blessings, we can come closer even to the prayer of the righteous.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (06:31) What does it mean, Abraham was old and of many days? What does he mean? 

M. Laitman: That he was an elder, and with all that he has done in his days, by this, he comes now to a connection with the Creator and asks Him to give a blessing to all of His people of Israel, which is Abraham's nation.

Student: Why was it important to mention that he was old? What's so special about him being old? 

M. Laitman: He had many days and nights with which he would connect with the Creator, and he justifies His providence. 

Student: Old is a spiritual degree a person reaches? So, ultimately, we all need to be old? 

M. Laitman: Could be.

Student: There's a saying: Don't throw me out in my old days. Is that related? What does it mean? 

M. Laitman: That talks really about us being old.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (08:13) You said that it's all related to us, so we also have a part in it. We have to think carefully and understand. So what's our part in this? 

M. Laitman: You should learn from Abraham, how we need to ask, and that our requests will be for the sake of the whole of Israel.

Student: To bless Israel is what? For them to realize their role in the world? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: That's the blessing we want? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: He writes that the righteous is not a part of the whole of the world. What does that mean? 

M. Laitman: Because the righteous is above the world, and that's why his blessing can pull the entire world behind him. 

Student: What does he's not present in this world mean? He's not sitting among his people? 

M. Laitman: He's among his people, but it's actually above it. He wants to bring about the ascent of his people to an even higher degree. 

Student: How does he pull them up? 

M. Laitman: Through prayer and through his actions. 

Student: He also writes that he doesn't talk about himself, because he doesn't feel for himself. He doesn't feel his deficiency? 

M. Laitman: No. He has nothing to ask for. 

Student: So, the deficiency is a person has disappeared and all he's left with is the deficiency of the collective? Of the whole? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (10:17) The righteous does not exist for himself, but only for the people. So, he's asking for the whole of Israel. What is he asking for, Rav? 

M. Laitman: Correction. What the people need.

Student: But the people don't know they need that correction. 

M. Laitman: So, he should know the correction he has to go through. Receive.

Student: How do the people get the blessing of the righteous, even though they don't know the righteous is asking for him, the people don't know. So, it might come as a blow, not as a blessing, maybe? 

M. Laitman: No, no. The people that merited a blessing; they feel they're about to receive a blessing.

Student: So, what the righteous brings from his personal feeling to the feeling of the people, the people also begin to feel it? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: What will the people feel? Attraction to the Creator, attraction to bestow? 

M. Laitman: Both are correct. Attraction to the Creator, connection between them, connection with the Creator. It's all what the people need to feel through the blessing of the righteous. 

Student: So, it will come as darkness, but there's light.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: With that, early preparation? 

M. Laitman: Of course it's with preparations. The people will come to the connection between them, and they know how they need to rise above to the blessing of the Creator.

Student: So, the righteous does the work for them? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (12:32) If I understood correctly, the person needs to be only a conduit that is asking for the abundance to pass through him to others. Sometimes when a friend needs some help, he touches our hearts, and it's easy to ask for it. The request is more real. Where's the collective? How does it touch our hearts so the request will be true? How does it reach the collective so the request will be true, will be real?

M. Laitman: Time and again, when we gather, we activate our prayers, where truly through the prayers we'll come closer to one another, and we'll come to the right action. 

Student: You said this week that we're missing a prayer, a stronger, more powerful prayer. What makes our prayer come from the bottom of the desire? How do we get there? 

M. Laitman: We need to dig really well into our desires, into this substance that connects us, and that's how we'll make it. We'll ask and we'll make it. 

Student: How do we make this digging, to invite more light? 

M. Laitman: Only through great work.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (14:49) The righteous wants praise for the collective because he feels the desire of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: It's enough for him because he feels the desire of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: He feels the desire of the Creator, he feels the desires of the collective, and he can connect the two. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (15:33) When reading prayers from the prayer book, I succeed in thinking about the rest of Israel, but I feel like it's happening naturally. It's not some effort that I'm putting in. Is there some importance for the words to come out of my heart or for it to be an effort so I'll force myself to think about the people of Israel, or is it okay like that? 

M. Laitman: We need to see that in the connection between us, we come to a level that is in the Siddur, in the words.

Student: So, in my thoughts about the Ten, about the friends, from that I need to extract a thought about Israel? To try to reach the level of the intentions of the words of the prayer book?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (16:43) I understand the Creator is expecting us to come to a state where all of our calculations are for the sake of the collective, or Israel, not for ourselves at all. So how do we realize that? It feels above nature. How do we reach this ability? 

M. Laitman: If we wish to, we can come to it, I hope it's also the will of the Creator that we will reach it. And in here, there's a connection between the intentions of the Creator and our intentions.

Student: So, only continue to ask Him? 

M. Laitman: Yes, only ask. 

Reading Excerpt # 8: (17:36) Rabash. Notes 820. The Discernment of “In Everything”

The verse says, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make for him a help made against him.” In other words, his wife will be an aide in fighting against the opposition, which is the evil inclination.

Abraham had Sarah as an aide. For this reason, he wanted Isaac, his son, to also take for him an aide from his family. As Sarah was his brother’s daughter, Rebecca was the daughter of his brother’s son. By having this aide from the side of his wife, he will achieve the complete wholeness, just as Abraham achieved wholeness, meaning that he was rewarded with the quality of “everything,” which is wholeness.

M. Laitman: No questions? Everything is clear, so read it again.

Re-Reading Excerpt # 8: (19:03) Rabash. Notes 820. The Discernment of “In Everything”

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (20:25) This importance for this family, meaning here, is the same desire, the same spiritual degree? What is this family in this case? 

M. Laitman: It's not a matter of family, although it sounds like this. It's when Abraham and his family truly are in a spiritual connection between them. And so, it's not good if they will be in separation, but specifically when they connect, they will reach the final goal.

Student: Does that mean that a person has to search for someone that's on his degree in order to continue onwards, as far as spiritual advancement? 

M. Laitman: No, he can't. A person who starts on his path doesn't understand who's more, who's less, and he can't do any scrutinies between people, or even more so between their inner spiritual functioning. No.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (22:07) When does the woman become an aid to help opposing the evil inclination? 

M. Laitman: The Creator sends an invitation to the person to come and ask. That's what I can say. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (22:44) I heard that a woman in a relationship, or a man, awaken the evil inclination, and in order to preserve the relationship, they have to rise above. And you had said that the woman helps him work against him, against his evil inclination, as if she's doing work alone, before the evil inclination. Did I understand correctly? I don't understand what that means. 

M. Laitman: We will learn. It doesn't mean to be made help against. But in truth, this work here, that's going against the evil inclination. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (23:40) I want to ask about the support of the women’s Kli to the men’s Kli, towards the immense degree we stand before. I heard you say in the meal yesterday, and also today in the morning lesson, about the importance of an attack on our behalf. There's a feeling that if the women Tens connect really, really well with warmth and closeness and connection, the Creator won't be able to refuse us. 

So, my question is, is whether a result of our efforts and assertion that my friends are doing towards our next degree, what should we pray for and ask for to advance the whole Kli to that degree? 

M. Laitman: For the connection between us and connection with the Creator, so we can ask Him for corrections. 

Student: A couple of weeks ago, you said that King David was very special in his closeness to the Creator, and that through Psalms, we connect to his forces. And I also heard you saying that Psalms is the nourishment for the soul. In our Ten, we built a table in an orderly fashion, and those on duty read two chapters in one of our conversations. And this is with the purpose of us surrounding all 155 chapters until the convention.

Thanks to this daily reading, we feel a great dose of adhesion and connection. If we have about eighty days till the convention, what could be a result of such action, if all the Tens in the whole Kli read those two chapters every day? 

M. Laitman: The fact that we count things, count days, we want each and every day to bring us a special correction. That's very good, and let's hope that it will be so. 

Question (Women Italy): (26:30) The Creator just wants to bless and look after us. How can we feel this persistent blessing as the source of our life?

 

M. Laitman: If we relate to Him through this point that you wish to highlight, then we'll understand what is the best response to the Creator so that we will reach a general correction. 

Reading Excerpt # 9: (27:54) Rabash. Article 8 (1991) “What Is, “And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,” in the Work?”

This means that although a person begins anew each day, it does not mean that he begins from the same place he began. Rather, “of many days” means that he has many new days. It follows that “I was a youth and I grew old.” That is, the old age is not from one state, because that state was prolonged. Rather, “old” in Kedusha means that he has had a long time of many resumptions, meaning that growing old came from being many days in a state of “youth,” meaning a child. Thus, the meaning of “I was a youth and I grew old” pertains only to the times of “youth”; from this he became old.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (29:23) What is to like a child every day? 

M. Laitman: A person starts his day with literally nothing, and he asks the Creator for the power to begin his path and connection until he reaches the goal. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:06) How do we start anew? 

M. Laitman: From a new deficiency. He begins to see himself daily as being in a new state, as if he hasn't started correcting himself. Then he turns to the Creator and he asks for corrections, so that with each passing day, day to day, he comes closer, he tries and he comes closer.

Student: So, a new beginning is from a state where he feels more distant from the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And a new beginning? 

M. Laitman: A day starts from the night. 

Student: To start anew means that the Creator puts a person in a new state, or does a person bring himself to a new state? 

M. Laitman: A person brings himself to it, because he's looking for closeness with the Creator, and he sees that it doesn't open before him. And then he nevertheless turns to the Creator, and the Creator arranges it for him. 

Student: So, the new beginning starts with me making an effort to come closer to the friends and I discover the deficiency?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (32:23) He says that he became old after a very long time, that he was a youth each time. I understand that. I don't know if it's correct, but a youth needs to be a youth for many days before he can become old. So, you could say that it's like from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma and all our efforts are in Lo Lishma, and then that's the youth and then the young one that's the lower degree until we reach Lishma to be like Abraham? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:12) In the matter of being an old and a youth, there's a phenomenon in our lifetime where a person gets older and looks back. He sees how he's mistaken, should have thought differently, judged reality differently. Is there some advice in spirituality for shortening or bridging or restricting this gap, this phenomenon—the mistakes that you do in your youth, versus what he understands later when he is developed in spirituality. So, what's the advice to a person who's still in the beginning of his path and is making many mistakes like a child who breaks and corrupts and breaks things. 

M. Laitman: These are the ways of a child, to do all kinds of mistakes and nonsense until he understands that he has to relate to things differently. 

Student: And how can the child be wise? 

M. Laitman: He needs to learn more about his mistakes, to learn that as much as he falls and he gets hit, and how he learns that they talk about him. Everything becomes part of the treatment of the child, and eventually it's what he raises in his prayer.

Student: That's the natural process of development. The question is whether there's...

M. Laitman: It's not natural. Abraham's old and of many days, meaning everything he asked for and how he went up and fell, it all connected in him, and with that, he's full of days, and then he receives a blessing. 

Student: And he could have somehow hastened this process?

M. Laitman: After it passes, you can say whatever you want. 

Student: And how not to be sorry for what was and what could have been. 

M. Laitman: Everything takes place from the side of the upper one. There's no reason to be sorry about anything. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:21) The child has many questions and is curious about many things. This spiritual elder that he's talking about, does he also have many questions? Or all the questions are concentrated in one question. 

M. Laitman: Maybe. But typically, he remains old. 

Student: What does that mean? 

M. Laitman: That what passed, passed, and what hasn't passed, hasn't passed.

Student: The fact that this elder lives with a lot of curiosity, a lot of interest, no? 

M. Laitman: Yes, yes.

Student: An elder in spirituality is something opposite? 

M. Laitman: That's the meaning of many days. 

Student: An elder in corporality is one who doesn't have the strength to live anymore.

He's lost his power. And in spirituality, an elder is one that has all that he's asked. How does that work together with one another?

M. Laitman: I don't think it works together, but that's how it should be. The older he grows in spirituality, the wiser he becomes, the more sanctified. 

Student: So, what's the source of life for that elder, for that old one? 

M. Laitman: Connection with the path that becomes a path to the Creator. That's it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:09) We’re reading about the life of Sarah. Who is Sarah in the internality of a person? 

M. Laitman: That's one of the forces. 

Student: Can you explain a little? We have the force of Abraham. We have the force of Sarah.

M. Laitman: No, no, we shouldn't get confused. Simply forces of the Creator that are found in each one of us. That's it.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (38:51) You said a person needs to start every day with a new deficiency. Baal HaSulam would do a preparation of an hour or longer, and there's an article of the order of the day of Baal HaSulam where a person brings himself. Maybe if it's through all these actions, I don't remember them all, but to be sorry about the exile, the Shechina, etc. By a person reading such an article from time to time as the preparation for the lesson, can that cause a new deficiency? 

M. Laitman: No. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (39:43) If a student who's advanced in spirituality, and he advanced his whole life on the path and really invested, and then as he got older, he suddenly has dementia. He doesn't forget (remember?) anything. He's disconnected. Is whether a Kabbalist capable of preventing such a thing and not deteriorate, or is it all from the Creator? 

M. Laitman: He can prevent it.

Student: So, how do we deal with such things? 

M. Laitman: They'll tell him how to do it. 

Student: And if the person is really deteriorating, is there a way to help him already or is it lost already? 

M. Laitman: No, because everything is found in the upper Providence.

Student: And all the efforts he invested and did, where does it all go to? 

M. Laitman: It's all in the upper Providence. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (40:47) In the excerpts we read, according to what I understood, there are two states. There's a youth, and then one day he becomes old. How is this transition between a youth and an old? Where does this happen? He's all the time a youth and becomes an old. 

M. Laitman: That happens with the help of the Creator, with His influence from above, His influence on the person. 

Student: Meaning a person doesn't have any way to bestow, of how he is in this stage. 

M. Laitman: To influence it, no.

Student: He needs to behave all the time like he's a youth? 

M. Laitman: To try. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (41:44) It was written in the excerpt that Abraham is old because he went through many states, many innovations. Can we say that these resumptions were because he engaged in the dissemination of wisdom of Kabbalah and the way he was welcoming? 

M. Laitman: So, what about it? 

Student: So, in the way of accepting friends and welcoming them, we can show them how much we love them, how much our love spreads in the connection between us. Can you say it like that? 

M. Laitman: You can say it.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (42:38) Is there a connection between the state called old and incorporation between desires. 

M. Laitman: There is probably, but we don't learn it. 

Student: Let's say there's a desire of one friend to give and the other can take it from her. How do they incorporate? 

M. Laitman: We are not learning about this yet. We might learn it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:42) The youth shows in smallness that he's not using the vessels of reception, the Nukva, and he goes every day and brings deficiencies to the king, like with Eliazar and Isaac. What makes a youth from a small one who doesn't have this name, husband, and what moves him from youth to an owner or _____? 

M. Laitman: The forces that he's getting from above. 

Student: These forces to deal with and use… 

M. Laitman: Use his desire in order to bestow. 

Student: And he needs what to serve instead of becoming a user, use it with all his desires, all his inclinations. What does it mean that he seals this or signs it? 

M. Laitman: We haven't learned it yet. We'll wait. 

Student: He says he comes of days, and when he came to Abraham, he said to him, he came to him at age ninety and said to him, I'll give you a child. Abraham laughed about it, because he said, how could an old person like me have an offspring? Why, 

when the Creator comes and gives a righteous fruit, he responds this way. 

M. Laitman: I don't know. You're asking things that we haven't learned. 

Student: It's in this portion. 

M. Laitman: So, there are many things in this portion.

Reading Excerpt # 10: (45:52) Genesis 25: 5-6

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

Re-Reading Excerpt # 10: (46:27) Genesis 25: 5-6

M. Laitman: (46:54) Yes, there are many details here, but we need to say that the sons of Isaac were also given gifts, and he sent them eastwards to the land of Kedem. That's it. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (47:29) Does this mean that before we receive the complete desire, the correct desire, there are sparks of the correct desire prior to receiving these kind of hints? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. 

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (48:05) The main thing for Isaac is one man and one heart, on one hand. And the force of the land of Kedem, which he needs to surrender to the state of one man and one heart. In what manner can we see how to implement this? 

M. Laitman: Through many prayers, we might be rewarded with an interpretation of this portion.

Question (Women MAK): (49:02) How, in a state of delighted in mercy, can we increase the sensitivity to feel the desire of the friend, his need, his deficiency? 

M. Laitman: Well, that's how you feel. In the same way, to come closer to the friend until we feel him in our heart, and from that, we begin to ask together with him.

Reading Excerpt # 11: (50:02) Zohar for All. VaYera [The Lord Appeared]. Article “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord”

I told them, “My sons, the words in the book are close to words of Torah. But you must stay away from these books lest they will divert your hearts to these works and to all those sides it mentions here. You might stray from the work of the Creator.” This is so because all those books mislead people, since the sons of the east were wise and inherited this wisdom from Abraham, who gave to the sons of the maidservants, as it is written, ‘But unto the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts,’ and afterwards they were drawn in this wisdom to several directions. But the seed of Isaac, the share of Jacob, is not so, as it is written, “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.” This is the holy share of the faith to which Abraham adhered, and it is from this lot and from this side that Jacob came.

M. Laitman: (51:44) It's not simple. Read it again.

Re-Reading Excerpt # 11: (51:50) Zohar for All. VaYera [The Lord Appeared]. Article “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord”

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (53:42) This week we learned that one who studies Torah comes closer to the Creator, and here he says that we need to distance ourselves from these books, so there's a clash from what you taught us. 

M. Laitman: Why do you think that he tells us to remove ourselves from these books specifically? 

Student: Because that's what I understood from what's written.

Could you explain it again? Maybe we can read that sentence again?

M. Laitman: It's clear. “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.” This is the holy share of the faith to which Abraham adhered, and it is from this lot and from this side that Jacob came.

Student: He wrote: “I told them, ‘My sons, the words in the book are close to words of Torah. But you must stay away from these books…’” What does he mean?

M. Laitman: There are many books that are written truly in a very easy to read manner, very transparent, and our sages have warned us, more than once, about approaching them. 

Student: So, God forbid, we won't understand them correctly? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And it will cancel us? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Reading Excerpt # 12: (55:53) Zohar for All. Chayei Sarah [The Life of Sarah]. Article “Unto the Sons of the Concubines – Abraham Gave Gifts”

“But unto the sons of the concubines… gifts.” What are gifts? Those are lower degrees of holiness, which are uncorrected. They are names of types of spirits of impurity. He gave them to them to complete the degrees, so they would purify them and complement the degrees of holiness. And Isaac rose above all of them in the high faith, which is Bina.

“The sons of the concubines” are the sons of Keturah. She is called “concubines” since she was a concubine before he sent her away. And she is a concubine now since he took her again. “And he sent them away from Isaac his son,” so they would not rule over Isaac. “While he was still alive,” while Abraham still lived and exited in the world, so they would not quarrel with him later and so that Isaac would be corrected in the side of the harsh, high Din, to prevail over all of them. And they all surrendered before him. “Eastward” means to the land in the east since there are various kinds of witchcraft and impurity there.

Question (Women Petah Tikva Center): (58:18) I'm trying to look at everything as the work inside the Ten. Is there something that's connected to us that we need to be cautious about in the work between us, these gifts? 

M. Laitman: For the time being, no. 

Student: So, it's not relevant to us? 

M. Laitman: No. 

Announcements: (58:45)

Invitation to a premier broadcasting of the journey to the land of Israel. Didn’t know if this should be included or not, so left it in.

Text of Clip from what will be broadcast at the premier.

I'm really moved, inspired that I have friends, videographers, actors, people left their lives and everything to come film here. And why? Because they feel that it's not just very important. It's the most important thing in the world, what we're doing here.

All the regular Romans come over here. I hope that a person can find his belonging behind the saying that equates all of us, love your friend as yourself. I think it's very important, especially today, when everything is simply falling apart.

Today, we filmed a beautiful clip, which tells the story of the Book of Zohar, about the struggle between the Jews who settled in the land and the Roman country. We shot everywhere, north, south. Right now, we're next to Jerusalem. Rabbi Akiva had classes once. 

This movie about the Zohar that we're filming tells the world that only love will cover all crimes. This is the only way to live, meaning love thy friend as yourself. There are no other rules. They don't exist. 

We're missing education for values of love of others. No other solution exists. I would like there to be another solution, but there isn't.

For anyone who will see the movie, I hope, I really want, I feel responsibility that you feel that only the connection between us, only that exists. Friends called me, said, come help. Then they said, come get dressed.

Excited to be with the friends. We'll continue to battle the Romans. The world must come to that. So, we must start.

Song: (01:01:58)