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

Daily Morning Lesson: July 1, 2026

Part 1: What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends. Rabash. Article No. 30, (1988).

Reader: Shalom dear friends! In the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a recorded lesson from the 28th of March, 2003 based on the article, What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends. We will read the article together in the Ten, we have thirty-eight minutes for that.

Reading: (00:47) What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends

Article No. 30, 1988

Our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1:6), “Make for yourself a rav [teacher], buy yourself a friend, and judge every person to the side of merit.”

We should understand the attachment of “Judge every person to the side of merit” to “Buy yourself a friend.” Also, it is written in the book Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah, p 30), that the Mitzva [commandment/good deed], “Love your friend as yourself,” is in order to achieve the love of the Creator, which is Dvekut [adhesion] with Him. He writes, “It is reasonable to think that the part of the Torah that deals with man’s relationship with his friend is better capable of bringing one to the desired goal. This is because the work in Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva] between man and God is fixed and specific, and is not demanding, and one becomes easily accustomed to it, and everything that is done out of habit is no longer useful. But the Mitzvot between man and man are changing and irregular, and demands surround him wherever he turns. Hence, their cure is much more certain and their aim is closer.”

This means that man must come to be rewarded with equivalence of form, meaning that all his thoughts and desires will be only for the benefit of the Creator and not for his own benefit. This stems from the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction]. It means that from the perspective of the Creator, He created the worlds with the intention of wanting to do good to His creations. As our sages explain, the Creator said to the ministering angels that the creation of the world is like a king who has abundance, but no guests.

In other words, He has pleasure when the guests dine at His place, but to avoid shame, there was a correction that they must receive delight and pleasure with the aim of delighting the Creator. But the first degree is bestowing in order to bestow. One should enjoy while bestowing, just as the Creator enjoys. It is as our sages said (The Zohar, VaYera, Item 399), “There was no such joy before the Creator since the day the world was created as the joy that He is destined to rejoice with the righteous in the future.”

We see that on the day when the world was created, there was great joy to the Creator. In other words, He had great joy in wanting to bestow. It follows that if a person performs acts of bestowal but feels no joy, there is no equivalence of form here. Although in the act he is bestowing and engaging in love of others, the act should be with joy, like the joy that the Creator has. Thus, the equivalence in joy is missing here.

Hence, there are two things that one must do: 1) Even though the body does not wish to work in bestowal, it must be forced. However, there is a rule that when a person does things coercively, he cannot be happy, since he would be happier if he did not have to do those deeds. Still, man must work coercively. This is called “coercing and subduing the evil in him.” However, the joy that should come with each act of bestowal is missing here. When it comes to joy, one cannot force himself to be happy in a place where there is an act of coercion. Joy is a result of a person’s enjoyment, and where there is pleasure, “coercion” is out of the picture. Hence, no joy or pleasure comes from coercion. 2) We say that we need joy for the work of the Creator, and as we said, joy is only a result of something that a person enjoys. Thus, since man can only perform acts of coercion, this is called “an action.” An act is something to which the mind does not agree. It is considered that when one begins to coerce himself, he comes into a state of “He who comes to purify.”

Thus, what else is missing? Only something that will evoke his gladness. We should interpret about that that this is given to him from above. This is called “He is aided.” In what is the aid? The Zohar says, “In a holy soul.” When one is rewarded with this, he has joy. It follows that when we say that one should work with joy, it means that through one’s actions, he should evoke the awakening from above, for only by help from above can he enjoy while engaging in acts of bestowal.

Indeed, there is a question here: “Why is it necessary to perform acts of bestowal with joy?” The reason is simple: There is no equivalence of form here because when the Creator gives, He feels joy. But if when man gives and has no joy, the equivalence of form is absent.

However, there is an even graver issue here than equivalence of form. When a person is in a state of sadness, when he sees his life as pointless because wherever he looks, he sees only black—in corporeality as well as in spirituality—it is like a person who wears dark glasses. Wherever he looks, he sees only darkness.

In that state a person is considered heretical in regard to the Creator’s guidance, since he cannot say that the Creator leads His world as The Good Who Does Good.

In that state, he is considered faithless. Thus, here the issue is no longer equivalence of form, but rather faithlessness, since he is in a state of heresy. It follows that man must always be in gladness and believe above reason that everything that the Creator does is done only in benevolence. But we should also believe that this is what we need—to believe above reason.

By our reason, it seems it would be better if the Creator treated us with open guidance. But Baal HaSulam said that we must not say that the Creator cannot give everything into the vessels of reception, called “within reason,” meaning that the corporeal body, too, will understand that the Creator treats the whole world only with benevolence.

Why did He choose specifically the Kelim [vessels] of above reason? The Creator chose those Kelim because they are indeed the best, for by them we achieve the real wholeness, and then the verse, “And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart” will come true. Our sages said, “With both your inclinations—the good inclination and the evil inclination.”

At that time, the body, too, feels the delight and pleasure that the Creator gives to the creatures and then there is no need to believe above reason. It follows that the main requirement is for man to be in gladness while doing the work of bestowal, when he does not see what self-reception—called “within reason”—would receive from it, since otherwise he is in a state of heresy.

It follows that one must perform the holy work above reason because these are the Kelim that are suitable for bringing man to wholeness. It was said earlier that only above reason can he take pleasure in the guidance of the Creator, which is in the form of benevolence. And this is called “right.”

As Baal HaSulam said, one must try to walk on the right line, called “faith above reason,” and picture that he has already been rewarded with complete faith in the Creator, that his organs already feel that the Creator leads the whole world in benevolence.

Thus, we should ask, “Why must we walk on the left line, too, if the right line is the most important? What is the purpose of the left line?” The answer is that it is to know our state within reason—the measure of our faith, how much Torah we have acquired, and how we feel the Creator during prayer, etc.

And then we come to feel that we are in utter lowliness, the lowest possible. This is the reason why, when we later shift to the right line, we have the work above reason. In other words, as the left line shows us our state within reason, here there is room to go above reason. But if we were always in the right line, it would not be regarded as right, but as a single line.

In other words, we would think that this is truly where we are, and we would think that we are truly within reason, in the perfect Gadlut [greatness/adulthood]. But in truth, only above reason are we in wholeness; hence, when we have the two lines, we can say that there is the matter of above reason, which is the right line.

It follows that the right line helps the left line because once he pictures himself already in gladness, enjoying the perfection of his work, when he shifts to the left line he sees that he is in a world of total darkness. That is, he sees and feels that he is still immersed in self-love and that he has no hope of exiting self-love.

Then there is room for prayer from the bottom of the heart. The state of the right was when he imagined being in a state that he pictured for himself the perfection of the work. In other words, he believed above reason in the commandment of faith in the teacher, who told him to go in that state, although his reason told him, “Why do you compare your situation to that of a person who has already been rewarded with complete faith when you know that you are in the lowest possible baseness that can ever be?” He feels that he is in a state of lowliness that is unbecoming to a person who wants to ever be a worker of the Creator.

And afterwards he moves to the right line, and the left gives him room to work in the right line. However, we must remember that anything that is a path of truth is hard to walk on without effort. Therefore, after those two lines he arrives at the middle line called “the Creator gives him the soul.” And then he comes into complete faith, specifically through God’s salvation. But by nature, man cannot achieve this by himself.

With all the above, we can understand the matter of the assembly of friends. When they gather, what should they discuss? First, the goal must be clear to everyone—this gathering must yield the result of love of friends, that each of the friends will be awakened to love the other, which is called “love of others.” However, this is only a result. To beget this lovely offspring, actions must be taken to produce the love.

And concerning love, there are two forms: 1) Natural love, for which one does not have to exert. He should only be careful not to spoil nature. 2) One that comes by one doing good things to another. There is nature in that, too, since one who gives a present to another causes him to love him. Hence, when a group of people gathers and wishes to work together on love of friends, they must all help one another as much as they can.

And there are many discernments about that, since not everyone is the same, meaning that what one needs, the other does not. However, there is one thing in which all are equal: Each and every one of the friends needs high spirits. That is, when the friends are not in a good mood, they are not all the same in their needs. Rather, each has his own reason for being unhappy.

Therefore, each one must contemplate how he can bring about a good mood to the other. Thus, they should be careful and avoid discussing things that can bring sadness to the society, for by that one causes the others to feel bad. And then, after he goes home, he will ask himself, “What have I gained by going to the society? To know that I am in a state of lowliness and that I should regret it? It is as though I went to the society so they would bring me into a state of sadness. In that case, it was a waste of time. It would probably be better if I did not go to them.” Then he probably says, “The next time I have to go to the society, I’ll make up excuses to avoid them.”

It therefore follows that each one should try to bring into the society a spirit of life and hopefulness, and infuse energy into the society. Thus, each of the friends will be able to tell himself, “Now I am starting a clean slate in the work.” In other words, before he came to the society, he was disappointed with the progress in the work of the Creator, but now the society has filled him with life and hopefulness.

Thus, through the society, he obtained the confidence and strength to overcome because now he feels that he can achieve wholeness. And all his thoughts—that he was facing a high mountain that could not be conquered, and that these were truly formidable obstructions—now he feels that they are nothing. And he received it all from the power of the society because each and every one tried to instill a spirit of encouragement and the presence of a new atmosphere in the society.

But what can one do when he feels that he is in a state of sadness—both in terms of the corporeal state and the spiritual state—and the time when he must go to the society has come? And yet, our sages said, “A worry in a man’s heart? Let him speak of it with others.” In other words, he should tell his friends, and perhaps they can offer some help.

But if this is so, why do we say that everyone should bring high spirits into the society when one has none? Moreover, there is a rule that “one cannot give that which one does not have.” Thus, what should he do to give something to the society that will give high spirits to the society?

Indeed, there is no other way but for man to walk on the right line. Thus, before he goes to the love of friends, he should read Baal HaSulam’s essay (Shamati, No. 40) where he clarifies what is the right line, that this is the meaning of above reason. And he should draw strength from there so that when he comes to the society, each and every one will more or less be able to infuse a spirit of life, and by that, the whole of society will feel joy and strength, and confidence.

During the assembly, it is forbidden to evoke the left line. Only when one is alone is he permitted to use the left line, but not more than half an hour a day. But the essence of man’s work is to go specifically by the right line, as is written (Shamati, No. 40). But two people together must not speak of the left, for only thus can they receive assistance from the society.

But the worst is when a person comes to the society and sees that the whole of society is in a state of decline, so how can he be strengthened by them? At that time, he must judge everyone to the side of merit.

Now we can understand what we asked about the proximity of “Buy yourself a friend” and “Judge every person to the side of merit.” With the above written, we can understand that when one wishes to acquire something from the society, he should judge everyone to the side of merit. Then he can acquire from the friends so they will help him in the work, since he has someone from whom to receive. But when he sees that he is far above the whole of society, from whom will he receive? Our sages came and said about this, “Judge every person to the side of merit.”

It follows that the main reason why a person needs to buy a friend and work in love of others is that thus he can be rewarded with the love of the Creator. But the friends should primarily speak together about the greatness of the Creator, because according to the greatness of the Creator that one assumes, to that extent he naturally annuls himself before the Creator. It is as we see in nature that the small one annuls before the great one, and this has nothing to do with spirituality. Rather, this conduct applies even among secular people.

In other words, the Creator made nature this way. Thus, the friends’ discussions of the greatness of the Creator awaken a desire and yearning to annul before the Creator because he begins to feel longing and desire to bond with the Creator. And we should also remember that to the extent that the friends can appreciate the importance and greatness of the Creator, we should still go above reason, meaning that the Creator is higher than any greatness of the Creator that one can imagine.

We should say that we believe above reason that He leads the world in a benevolent guidance, and if one believes that the Creator wants only man’s best, it makes a person love the Creator until he is rewarded with “And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” And this is what a person must receive from the friends.

And in the matter of obtaining greatness, it should be obtained specifically through the society. It is as it is written in the book Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah, p 141), where he speaks concerning the teacher and the student. It is the same with regard to the greatness of the Creator. He writes, “Obtaining the greatness depends entirely on the environment, and a single person cannot do a thing about it whatsoever. Yet, there are two conditions to obtaining the greatness: 1) Always listen and assume appreciation of the environment to the extent that they exaggerate. 2) The environment should be great, as it is written, ‘In the multitude of people is the king's glory.’

“To receive the first condition, each student must feel that he is the smallest among all the friends. In that state, one can receive the appreciation of the greatness from everyone, since the great cannot receive from a smaller one, much less be impressed by his words. Rather, only the small is impressed by the appreciation of the great.

“And for the second condition, each student must extol the virtues of each friend and cherish him as though he were the greatest in the generation. Then the environment will affect him as a sufficiently great environment, since quality is more important than quantity.”

However, what should a friend do if he needs help from his friends? We have said above that it is forbidden to speak of bad things that cause sadness at the assembly of friends. The answer is that one should tell a close friend, and that friend will speak to the society, but not at the time of the assembly of friends. In other words, he can speak to the whole of society together, but not during the regular assembly of friends. Instead, he can arrange for a special meeting in favor of the friend who needs assistance.

And regarding “Buy yourself a friend,” we should interpret that “Buy” means that he must be paid, and through the payment he buys him. What does he pay him? We can say that payment is received in return for exertion. In other words, sometimes a person wishes to buy, for example, a nice closet, which is worth 2,000 dollars. He tells the seller, “Since I have no money to pay, but I heard that you are looking for an employee for two weeks, I will work for the amount that I have to pay you in return for the money for the closet,” and the seller will probably agree. Thus, we see that the payment can be by exchange.

It is the same with love of friends. It is a great effort when one should judge the friends to the side of merit, and not everyone is ready for it.

Sometimes, it is even worse. At times, a person sees that his friend is disrespectful toward him. Even worse, he heard a slanderous rumor, meaning he heard from a friend that that friend, who is called so and so, said about him things that are not nice for friends to say about each other. Now he must subdue himself and judge him to the side of merit. This, indeed, is a great effort. It follows that through the exertion, he gives the payment, which is even more important than a payment of money.

However, if that person slanders him, where will his friend muster the strength to love him? He knows for certain that he hates him, or he would not slander him, so what is the point in subduing himself and judging him to the side of merit?

The answer is that love of friends that is built on the basis of love of others, by which they can achieve the love of the Creator, is the opposite of what is normally considered love of friends. In other words, love of others does not mean that the friends will love me. Rather, it is I who must love the friends. For this reason, it makes no difference if the friend slanders him and must certainly hate him. Instead, a person who wishes to acquire love of friends because of love of others, that person needs the correction of loving the other.

Therefore, when a person makes the effort and judges him to the side of merit, it is a Segula [remedy/power/virtue], where by the toil that a person makes, which is called “an awakening from below,” he is given strength from above to be able to love all the friends without exception.

This is called “Buy yourself a friend,” that a person should make an effort to obtain love of others. And this is called “labor,” since he must exert above reason. Reasonably thinking, “How is it possible to judge another person to the side of merit when his reason shows him his friend’s true face, that he hates him?” What can he tell the body about that? Why should he submit himself before his friend?

The answer is that he wishes to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form,” meaning not to think of his own benefit. Thus, why is subduing a difficult thing? The reason is that he must revoke his own worth, and the whole of the life that he wishes to live will be only with the consideration of his ability to work for others’ benefit, beginning with love of others, between man and man, through the love of the Creator.

Hence, here is a place where he can say that anything he does is without any self-interest, since by reason, the friends are the ones who should love him, but he overcomes his reason, goes above reason, and says, “It is not worth living for myself.” And although one is not always at a degree where he is able to say so, this is nonetheless the purpose of the work. Thus, he already has something to reply to the body.

It therefore follows that before each friend comes to the assembly of friends, he must contemplate what he can give to the society to uplift the spirit of life in it. In that, there is no difference between one who is unschooled or schooled, since the thought he thinks, though he may not know anything, he must pray to the Creator to help him and believe that the Creator hears the prayers.  

Reader: We will now continue to the recorded lesson from the 28th of March, 2003. 

M. Laitman: (36:43) We heard an article from Volume 5, Rungs of the Ladder, based on Masechet Avot, What to Demand of the Assembly of Friends. What exists within a person from the time of his birth, how he was born, that all comes from the Creator and in that, the Creator is in control. It's not called the man within man, the Adam within him, this is a system that the Creator runs, controls, there's no free choice in that. There's no, I –  self – in that, there's no independence. We could shut our eyes and say, No, the Creator doesn't exist and we are independent, fine; we can deceive ourselves in that manner. The Creator is concealed so it's easy to do and it happens naturally. But, in truth, if we are observant, if we look, if we study – even if we study what we have in our vessels of this world by regular research, regular science – then we will see that everything that exists within a person is simply in his nature. The person is being operated by his nature and by his environment, by his habits, through the education that he received. And there's nothing in the individual in the person of which he can say, This is my free self. Meaning, he doesn't have any vacant space, an empty space—that is what Malchut of Ein Sof did – Malchut of Infinity by restricting herself, she wanted to bring herself into realization. To act herself, to show that she truly wants to give, to bestow, to appear in some way, to make something, to create something, to create something by herself. We have no such thing, we are simply one hundred percent within a well-planned, well-planned and structured system, with all our qualities on all levels with all the rules. And only when the Creator is concealed, this gives us this illusion that we're acting by ourselves. In order to truly avoid being operated by the Creator, to be Adam, human, we need to receive some external force. Such an external force that will allow me to exit the Creator's governance, to come out of nature's rule; if I can create this force, then it's as if I'm shifting my nature which is to receive which the Creator imbued within me. 

M. Laitman: (40:32) Then, I have this empty space, an empty space where I can truly determine what I would like to do: who I am, what I am, and by my own powers, to be free. Then if, within that space meaning in the desires which are not under the rule of the will to receive, under the rule of the Creator but, rather, under my control. If in those desires I will want to and be able to liken myself to the Creator, then I would be called, like the Creator, resembling the Creator. Domeh in Hebrew from the word Adameh LaBoreh, I will liken myself to the Creator, Adam, Adameh, Adam. Adam means human, Adam, human is from the word Domeh, resembling, like the upper one. This external force by which I can truly push away my nature, the will to receive, the will to enjoy so that it doesn't rule over me. Meaning for me to shift, to move away the Creator so He doesn't govern me, this is according to the sentence, My sons have defeated me. This force, I cannot discover within me because if I could then, again, it comes from my nature, from the Creator. Instead, I can receive it only from the society, from something external, something foreign and who is foreign? Who is outside of me except for the Creator? The environment but the environment is as corrupted as I am, true; however, if we use the separation between us, the separation between us as a springboard, as a means by which we can, specifically, from the separation between us, derive some force with which to go against nature, then we will be able to succeed. Adam HaRishon divided into 600,000 parts – 600,000 parts and then, more and more. And between all these parts, there came separation – hatred. If I overcome this hatred and hatred doesn't mean that I actually hate him, I'm simply not connected to him, I disregard him, he's not me. If I use this natural law that makes one hate the other in such a way where I can derive from that, specifically from that force of separation, I can extract the opposite which is the force of adhesion. Then, with that power of adhesion that I derive from what's between us, then I'll be able to move the Creator. I'll be able to push my will to receive and create within me this free space within my desires where I can rule, where the Creator doesn't rule and, there, I will do whatever I think, whatever I think. There is no possibility to gain this force, the force for this action without using the hatred that exists between the broken souls. That's why the Rabbi, Rabash, writes here, What to Demand of the Assembly of Friends, I need to demand additional powers which will help me, each time, build within me the image of Adam, man. Maybe I didn't exactly, didn't succeed in explaining; ask, maybe I could then. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:57) I didn't understand at which time a person could be similar to the Creator.

M. Laitman: What do you mean, what time?

Student: When can a person resemble the Creator?

M. Laitman: When can a person resemble the Creator? A person can resemble the Creator, well, first of all, he has to discover his nature. That, my nature, that I'm under the Creator's governance, that I receive punishments, that I receive torment. That I receive good things like this or like that—it doesn't matter – I begin to discover who and what governs me. I discover that within me, from beginning to end, in the entirety of my mind and heart, the will to receive is in charge and the will to receive is not under my control, that is the Creator's force. He created me with this nature, in this nature, that's it, and if I discover that I'm one hundred percent under the Creator's control, simply this knowledge that I'm entirely under His rule. This is a kind of knowledge which helps me see who I am as if from the side. After that, I need to recognize that, well, in comparison to the Creator's nature, is my nature good or bad? Is it good for me, all this, or bad, maybe it's good for the Creator or bad? Regardless, I need to discover it; if I discover that my nature is evil, bad, then in some sense, in some way, I want to get rid of it either by way of the will to receive or the will to bestow, to be free in something. After various events and calculations and actions, stages, a person reaches a state where he performs the restriction, what does it mean? He doesn't want his nature to govern him, that the will to receive—he wants it to stop governing him. Behind the will to receive stands the Creator so he moves away the Creator, he drives away the light from himself. He doesn't feel the light, fine, but it's just the control; he says, like Malchut of Ein Sof who performed the restriction. Now, in this space, in that space of Malchut of Ein Sof, she can do whatever she wants. So she says, from now on, it's only according to the screen with intention in order to bestow, I work only according to the line, that's it. I don't receive in any other way, I want everything to be in straightness, also, honesty. 

Meaning, if we want to determine something, first of all, we have to clear the area, right? To perform a restriction, restriction over the control of the will to receive over my desires so that my desires will be free. That is called the vacant space, free, how to do that? The light of AB-SAG is brought which gives the will to receive the power to no longer be under the control of the intention of reception. Then, the will to receive becomes free and then it has the same quality as the quality of Bina. Bina is called, a free land, I have to say, yes, that's it. After that, we can invert the will to receive to, receiving in order to bestow, this is called Adameh LaBoreh, be like the Creator, Adam. Galgalta ve Eynaim, the qualities of Bina that Malchut acquires, that's not Adam, this is called the aspect of Israel, the smallest among the nations, it's still not the form of the Creator. That can exist only on the vessels of reception, specifically, the gentiles, the AHP, when they receive the form of receiving in order to bestow.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:08) How do you invite the light of AB-SAG?

M. Laitman: By MAN and good deeds, as it's called, by the prayer—what's the prayer? That a person reveals that he wants this correction.

Student: Another question, page 304, second paragraph from the bottom, it says, Two people—it says it's forbidden to talk about the left line towards the end. 

M. Laitman: It doesn't matter, what's the question?

Student: What does it mean the two people mustn't discuss the left line at all?

M. Laitman: The question is, why is it forbidden to talk about the left line? If I need to use society to have more strength to advance to the Creator, anything that stops me from advancing is forbidden. Therefore I have to receive from the society only upliftment, joy, recognition of the greatness of the goal, the greatness of the Creator, confidence. All kinds of positive things that will help me accelerate on the path, and on the contrary, anything that can lower me, if one speaks to another about how things are hard, everything's not successful, it all doesn't seem right to him, and these things cannot be heard in the society. Certainly, a person who shows, even without words but showing in some way his weakness to society, he's hurting the society and himself in the most severe way. There's no greater ego than just sitting at home and eating up oneself; the ego, the will to receive, really likes it when a person is in pain. Therefore, one must not be in sadness and, by all our strength, it doesn't matter what actions we do, we need to come out of despair and into wholeness, then this is all. What's written that, A worry in man's heart, he will speak of it with others – means that if I care about progress, about corrections, then that's what I need to talk about in society, he shall speak of it with others. Meaning to tell the others, to talk about it in society so that others will see that I'm essentially soaring, right, going upwards; and then I'll be a positive example and I'll demand them as well to think about it and give some answer.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:57) You said before that by making a restriction over the will to receive, we shift the Creator, we move the Creator? 

M. Laitman: What is that article, Still, Vegetative, Animate, Speaking? Find that article, there is such an article. It's a simple matter: there is root, one, two, three, four, levels of the will to receive—that's Creator on behalf of the Creator and, by the Creator, became shattered and, by the Creator, it was given. So, I have to acquire the root of the screen, root one, two, three, four, to move as if the rulership of the Creator which is a desire to receive in order to receive which He determined for me to begin with. Instead of that, determine that I'll receive in order to bestow, that's all, you receive from the Creator strength, free choice, the desire is yours. The power is, of course, not yours, you cannot, that's the force of AB-SAG, it's a light that reforms but you want it and that's your decision. 

The decision, you make it by, that, if you were alone, you would have no choice, no power to make a free choice. So, because you're not alone, because there's other broken vessels like yourself, and because you are all shattered and there's hatred, separation between the pieces. When you overcome that separation and you pay in labor to overcome separation despite your hate, despite our nature, to connect these pieces together. That's how you extract the force for a free decision, so the Creator shattered creation, one soul to many pieces, to give an opportunity for each and every piece to be equipped with free choice, that you want to receive from Him the light that reforms. Here, we can see the urgency, the necessity of the will to receive in order to receive and the necessity. That there are many souls, that each one is in a desire to receive in order to receive, and the urgency that a person will be in the society which are the conditions that he will be able to extract forces to overcome his nature that the Creator gave him a hundred percent. He pays, meaning, buy yourself a friend, what's the friend? You need to acquire this force to want the correction.

Student: How to—you said half an hour, how to set it? 

M. Laitman: That's how it's called, Matter of Still, Vegetative, Animate, Speaking, page 142 in Shamati. He writes about it, Still, what is, the still? The smallest degree of the correction 

And he has no authority over himself but the authority of the Landlord upon him, the Creator; and he's ready to fulfill all his desire, all of the desire and will of the Host.

M. Laitman: (01:00:06) That's what he attains meaning the still is like an embryo. He's under the control of the Creator and does whatever the Creator wants and there's no desire in and of himself. You see, 

The authority of the Landlord is upon him and he's willing to fulfill all of the wills and desires of the Host. Therefore, since the Creator created creation for His sake, as written, everything that is called upon Me, I have created for Me. 

Meaning, that the Creator created creation for His own needs, meaning the nature of the Landlord is embedded in the created beings. Meaning that each one of the created beings cannot work for the benefit of others but for self-benefit. Meaning, the fact that I work for myself, the Creator controls me here, He necessitates me and I push Him away from me – don't control me with my will to receive. I don't want the will to receive to control me, right? It's like, don't send me that will to receive that will rule me. Because a person is kind of neutral meaning there's two angels, good and bad, as if, right? That which I reject, it means that I make a restriction and this is called, My sons have defeated Me, that I defeat Him. He basically wants it, vegetative, this was inanimate and one who already has authority over himself but by a little bit, what does it mean, a little bit? That he can already do something that is opposite to the view or the reason of the host. Meaning that the Creator wants it this way and He is the Host but I can already do something opposite, as if. He rules me with my will to receive, He lies within it, and I'm working, yet, against it. Meaning, that he can do things that are not for self-benefit, the Creator infused in me a nature that I care about self-benefit and now I can already do something that is not for self-benefit. But to bestow and this is the inversion that, from the desire that exists in the Host, that he built into the lower ones, that they will be activated by a will to receive for itself, But with all that as we see in corporeal plants, even though they have movement and spread in length and width. Still one quality is shared by all plants, meaning that no one plant can go against, like can overcome, as if, right? Meaning could be against the method of all plants but he has to follow the laws of the plants and he has no force that can do it contemporarily. 

Meaning that even though he's already independent, his independence is limited and he is like everyone from his kind.

M. Laitman: (01:03:59) He, let's say, he lives in a certain time of the year and he doesn't move. It could be, in short, it's the same with everyone in this case meaning no one will have individuality and independence, not even in motion, in anything. 

In other words, those who can already overcome the desire to receive by a little bit but they are enslaved to society – 

Like the vegetation that cannot leave its society—same with humans but to do the inversion to the environment, he doesn't have that force. Rather, he works the opposite of what his will to receive wants, meaning he already works with a will to bestow. This is called the vegetative of sanctity. 

Animate, the animals, as we see, each one has their own quality. You have, for example, like an angry ox and some other more calm one; and in plants, you can't tell the difference, each and every plant is like, you see a field. You see, let's say, groups of wheat – how do you say that – stem? Yes, so one stem is not similar to another, it has something special but in an animal, it is. And they are not enslaved to society meaning each one can be independent, can move by himself but each one has the feeling and quality. And, of course, he can work towards what's against the desire of his landlord, meaning that he can work in bestowal. But having a life of his own without his life being dependent on the life of his friend. 

Plants all live together, they die together, they're plants, animals, not the case. There is, to some extent, let's say, fish, for example, they all go together and some other animals, when they mate in certain seasons, so there's both this and that. There's all the kinds of laws of the environment here but these are already separate things. 

But more than his being, he cannot feel. 

Meaning that he lives within himself, he cannot exit himself and see himself from aside, he doesn't have that kind of inner force yet, meaning that he doesn't have a sense of others.

M. Laitman: (01:07:08) The sense of others is not that I feel another person. Animals also feel each other and they can also help each other, that's not the sense of others. The sense of others means that I'm willing to come out of my desires and feel the others as I feel myself, that I can relate to what the others have as my own. Actually, because of that, one cannot care for the others. This is what it means to care for the other. 

The speaking, phase four, it has merits. One, that it goes against the desire of its host. Two, that it is not sharing everything with all its contemporaries like the vegetative, meaning that it doesn't depend on the environment. Three, that he also feels the others and, therefore, he can care for them and complement them by feeling the sorrow of the public and he can also merit the comfort of the public. 

Meaning he receives an additional force by which he can acquire a vessel from outside, other vessels outside himself. Then, he, first of all, acquires the vessels. He cares about the other but, by that, he acquires the vessel and can later merit what the other one does in terms of fulfilling these vessels. He can receive from the past and from the future because he comes out of himself. He no longer belongs or is tied to the moment that he's living in and this means that it gives him the—that he comes out of himself—it gives him the opportunity to acquire the past and the future.

Whereas the animal only feels the present and also only his self, meaning that it's more developed than in corporeality. And it's developed in his independence, we're speaking, and if he uses his independence correctly, to the extent in which he acquires independence, and in this independence he performs this upper action in order to bestow. By that he is similar to the Creator, and by that he ascends, hence discovering that the desire to receive, in order to receive, comes from the Creator. And here I must battle, truly battle against it in order to acquire the independence. And with the independence against the Creator, in this so-called war with Him, make of myself a form that is similar to Him, that is truly the realizing of a person.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:48) You said that before a person comes to such corrections, he goes through two stages of revelation: the revelation of the control of the will to receive on him, and the second stage is recognition of evil. How can a person be helped by the society in these two first stages? 

M. Laitman: Again, I didn't grasp today quickly.

Student: The first two stages in the work that I understood is, the first one is the revealing of the control of the will to receive on him, and the control of the Creator on him; and the second stage is the recognition of evil. Now, how can a person be helped by the society in these two stages?

M. Laitman: Anything that we will want to be revealed, we need to go and labor. Just like in science, just like everywhere, I exert and something is revealed to me from nature. This thing was in nature before, too, we just didn't know, and now by investing forces, we know. It's been revealed to us, we discovered it, and how can I discover some quality? Let's say I — what do you say — I'm an egoist, if I don't work against this? I need to try and perform all kinds of good actions towards the friends, and acquiring from them good qualities. Eventually, just start doing that, and you see that you have no need for it, no feeling for it. And you have many theories and thoughts of how to reject this thing and not do it. This is where you begin to discover, right away, that you don't want to work in bestowal, what does this mean? That your nature is against this. 

Now, if you nevertheless understand that you need to do this, and you invest forces in this, then what's revealed to you is also the recognition that your nature is evil, because it's not letting you, if you don't change, it won't let you reach the good. So, you start judging yourself from the outside, to see yourself from the outside. Meaning, I have such a quality that's not letting me reach something good. So, I need somehow to rid myself of that quality because it's to my detriment – that's why I call it the evil inclination, a bad desire, so to speak. That's it, this is only under the condition that, to begin with, I work, I'm drawn to the good. Then I discover that my nature is the opposite to it. But if I'm not drawn, attracted to the good, I just come, I study what's written in the books, even in Kabbalah there, it has no—it doesn't bother. I can study 20 years like that, and even give lectures and all kinds of things I do. So altogether, I can even be proud of myself, I can have pride – everything kind of falls into place so nicely, and that is called the potion of death, which he writes about in the Introduction to TES. Where you truly have a justification and feeling that you're advancing, and everything's going well, it's a very dangerous thing. 

Meaning, only under the condition that there's a connection with the society, and we try to do to the society what is advised to us to do, only under that condition you reveal the bad things in you. If you just study or invest in dissemination, it won't help you discover your evil inclination, why? You're fine, you're gaining, investing and being rewarded, you have more and more. All kinds of discoveries in your study, seemingly attainments, you even have a benefit from your studying. People consider you to be more, everything's nice. You will never say about your qualities that they're bad – you can say it kind of like theoretically, yes? But you won't feel them as such. Only if you want to overcome the separation that there is between the souls after the shattering of Adam HaRishon.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:36) You never feel that the intention for self is what's harming me directly, I received for myself, it caused me evil. You connect it over time, meaning you see where the intention for self harms you because they tell you it's harming, in a place where I feel bad. But you never see it as a cause and consequence.

M. Laitman: I don't grasp what you're saying.

Student: I'm saying that the feeling, that the intention for myself is bad. You can understand it, as you say, theoretically, that the intention for self is bad. But in feeling the bad, I mean the bad feeling is in a different state. It's not in that same spot, it's not tormented because you saw that the intention for self is bad, rather because you understand it causes you distancing from the Creator?

M. Laitman: Meaning, you're saying like this: I invest in my friends because I'm told invest in them. I don't want to invest but they tell me, do you want to see that you're bad? Invest in them, and you'll see how much you don't want that. So to what extent the force of separation between the shattered vessels, that that is where the evil inclination is. The evil inclination is against Dvekut, against adhesion, yes? It's against bestowal; by that, it's called the evil inclination. If I want to connect with someone towards the Creator, towards the goal, not towards some idea of ours, we're going to be partners in some business, yes? Because the souls were connected towards the Creator in Adam HaRishon. If I now want to connect with our friends in order to be connected together to the Creator, and I discover that my entire nature is against this, then I determine that my nature — and because of it I can't attain the root, or the goal — so I determine that my nature is bad. No, I determine this truly, truly I determine this because it's what's before me, I truly have, it's on my desktop, I can see such a thing. It's not that I'm bad and my friend is bad, we're not bad and not good. But rather the fact that we cannot connect: separation or connection is a good or bad thing and not the nature of each of us on his own. 

Hence, I can sit, and study, and do all kinds of things alone, I will never discover that I'm bad or good. I'll discover that I'm good, that's what the desire to receive will determine. If I want to discover that I'm bad, I need to work upon the glue between us. And then here, in that same place that I'm working on the connection, that's where I will discover that I don't want connection, I want anything besides that. So, it's not that I'm working in one place and I'm discovering something in another place.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:12) No, I'm saying that you understand it intellectually. Let's say I'm very hungry, right? 

M. Laitman: Why do I need to see this intellectually? I can see this, believe me, not intellectually but in practice. 

Student: How? If I'm hungry, let's say, and I see the food before me, and there's an obstacle.

M. Laitman: I don't want hunger or any other example, I'm talking about this example.

Student: Okay, the example is that the connection to the friend, I have to see it as the goal, but emotionally, I don't see the goal, I understand it intellectually. Intellectually, I'm told, because I understand the connection?

M. Laitman: Wait, no, that's something else, you're saying: I don't see that if I will connect with the friend, then the Creator will dwell between us. 

Student: In the feeling? 

M. Laitman:  In between us, in the connection between us, yes, in feeling.

Student:  I don't see the feeling?

M. Laitman: You don't see the intention in the feeling, I don't feel that that's what will happen; that's true, that's the matter of concealment, so what? But it's not that this is in one and that's in the other. It's in the same subject I'm working on. Meaning, what am I trying to say? That the work between the friends and the connection between friends, in that fission point between them, in the melting point between them, is where the Shechina will dwell. That's where we will feel the presence of the Creator, not in each of us, but in the connection between us – what's in the connection between us? The connection between us is a screen and reflected light, the screen and the reflected light is the vessel. To the extent in which I reject from myself, and then I absorb the revelation, that's it. So, I'm truly working here in the society now. Now, actually now I'm working already on spiritual things. Not that it will come to me somewhere there, but now and in these specific things, in the connections between us. Here, now I start to discover all things in double concealment, in regular concealment, in reward and punishment, and in eternal love – everything here. You could say, but it's friends, what is it connected to the Creator? Under the condition that the connection between us will truly be as the cause, as the jumping board to revelation and connection with the Creator. That we want to discover Him: where do we reveal Him? In the connection between us. Only in this common Kli is He revealed. 

Student: But because of the concealment, when I work with a friend, I feel that the intention for myself and the feeling is an obstacle. It's a bad thing. I don't, but I don't feel it as bad. Intellectually I can understand, but the connection between us will bring the revelation of divinity.

M. Laitman: What do you want? What do you want? I don't understand.

Student: I want to ask how to feel it, to feel it in the feeling.

M. Laitman: You don't feel it in your feeling. I didn't tell you that you already immediately will start to feel with your feeling. If you were to feel it with your feelings, once more, you would have no choice, or any freedom, or being able to define the action on your behalf. You don't feel in your feelings that this is what you need to do, or it'd be similar to whoever wants to eat, so he runs to eat, so he runs to feel himself. So, before the food, you need to correct something a little, okay, I'm willing to do that. It all depends, I don't run to work if I want to receive money and then to eat. I say thank you very much to my boss that gives me a job, that gives me a place to labor, because for the labor I then receive the money. What's this? If it was all revealed, then where are you? You're sitting in there just engaged in your own nature. The fact that the Creator is concealed and He gives you the possibility, He's giving you the possibility to be free, to reveal the one free choice that you have.

Student: How do I attain independence?,this is intellectual work against the feeling. Disconnected from the feeling, opposite from it? I don't understand, how is independence built? What is outside of the feeling?

M. Laitman: That's why he says, now you'll understand that if you choose the correct society, the correct society, connecting with the right friends where you can certainly cultivate these mutual relations between us, you, and to see that you're an egoist, and you don't want anything, and to turn to the Creator and what's happening with us, and what did You do from us, and so on. Then only in that point, in that welding point that you're succeeding to make a connection between friends, only in it you have all the work. And there, that's why he says that he builds each time a better environment, in what is it, better? More beneficial for the revelation of evil, for the recognition of good, for the appeal to the Creator, and all those things. One who builds a more effective, beneficial environment each time for this, that's the one who succeeds because he's using the only free choice he has in his hands. Everything is just in that truly one point where it connects. If you will agree with me and start working with that, in two, three years, it will be good, I'm telling you – I'm not just talking about you. Until it enters a little into the heart, it's truly, I don't know how to say this, you can hear for many years, it's simply, we don't know what our nature is. Meaning, you'll kill me, but I

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:26:34) When you say that we need to turn to the friends with the intention to reveal the Creator, that this will be my intention. This idea of revealing the Creator, does that mean to reveal in me a certain quality called the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What is this scrutinized demand, but I want the light to come and correct me? 

M. Laitman: Another question. 

Student: Back to the article, page 300, it says that a person has to do two things. The first thing, he elaborates that you have to go, you have to coerce the body and subjugate the evil. What does he mean exactly?

M. Laitman: There's a matter that in order for us to move from our place and to somewhat start, we need to equip ourselves with what they call the faith in the sages, what's faith in the sages? Well, somewhat I need to start the path here, so I believe someone who's great in my eyes. That I also don't see, but rather just according to my animalistic senses, it seems to me that this idea is great, and I should believe him and start the work.

Student: Is that called subjugating the body?

M. Laitman: That's the beginning of the work in subjugating the body, yes. Where I use someone who's greater than me's advice even though I don't see there's a connection between what he's saying to me and what appears to me that I want. The work with two lines: two lines are two types of nature that the Creator kind of drops upon the desire to receive. The desire to receive is just matter, which is, when you use it in order to bestow, it's called the right line – when you use it in order to receive, it's called the left line. Meaning, the intention in order to receive and the intention in order to bestow are the two angels that the Creator drops upon the matter, and the person needs to choose between them. So, our work is between those two lines.

Student: He sets a time? He sets a time.

M. Laitman: Yes, he kind of defines it as an hour — to be half an hour on the left line and the rest of the time of the day to be on the right line. That's how he says it, yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:32) He spoke a lot about faith above reason. And we know in spirituality, faith above reason is the transition from one degree to the next. And then faith above reason brings him to a higher degree, a different degree, corresponding to this state of faith above reason. Meaning there's a location of the state, a rising location. I speak about it in spirituality as if our state is like psychology, some repression, it keeps jumping, you know, what's the value of that?

M. Laitman: I don't know, you're talking about a lot of things: what's above reason? Reason is considered my reason, my opinion, you know, according to my opinion. According to my, I, where I am like that, that's my, I, what do I have besides my opinion, my reason? Some piece of flesh, 70, 80, 90 kilos, that's it, what besides that do I have? Besides that, I have my reason, my opinion, the man in me, the person in me. So, here's the above reason, above this reason, so how can this be possible? It's impossible, if I were to say I have an opinion, or a reason, according to my opinion, but now I'm going to go even above my opinion, it's like I'm lying to myself simply. I regretted my, I gave up on my previous opinion, and now I'm taking my new opinion, my new reason. I can't come out of my reason, whatever I decide will always be my reason. So what is considered above reason? Above reason is considered that I receive the force of Bina that enables me to live, to be all together, not in calculation of my vessels, of consideration with the consequences or the results towards me. Where I completely am disconnected from the results of what I will have from it, that's called above reason. Let's say I see, I need some, I'm sorry, I see something, automatically I look and judge what I need to do, how I should relate to it, what it demands of me. And, like it or not, my nature constantly starts making calculations: what will I have from this? So, to cut these calculations of what will I have from this, and to do for the benefit of this third party, as we call it, is considered above reason. Without taking into consideration my reason, what's my reason with the calculations for myself? We can't understand how such a thing is possible to do. It's only when we receive already a correction from above called the force of restriction.

Student: So what's the value of this concept above reason in our state?

M. Laitman: In our state, the concept of above reason means that I receive or accept the advice of someone who's greater than me, yes. And I make it into my reason, that's considered above my previous reason or opinion. But nevertheless, I'm operating within my reason, but that's called above reason. I'm convinced by him saying to me again, and again and again. I want to convince myself so I start to accept his advice; the advice he's telling me about is not one that is already above the barrier that I cannot observe and I don't know. These are advices altogether that I, within my desire to receive, within my reason, can perform, can execute. I just need to agree with it, yes, so I go above my reason in order to receive his reason, and that's to see that it's for my benefit. 

Student: And let's say I agreed?

M. Laitman: So, you agreed, then do it. You see, what's the demand from an assembly of friends? Believe him that it's in order to demand. That's it. 

Student: There's an agreement, and again, suddenly it'll fall. 

M. Laitman: When you suddenly then fall, then you're given again an opportunity. to make that same agreement upon discernments that are even greater. That, we know, is going to come.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:34:40) Can I ask another question? When we use our sense of seeing, any sense, but you know, you see details, but we're not able to identify everything, you see a general picture. I understand from that, that there's work in the society, and the society has one goal. So, you know, so that each and every detail I see — if each and every individual sees it. And I see a more complete picture, a greater one, I include my experience with, you know, from the friends; the friend includes in his experience, and he sees almost limitlessly?

M. Laitman: Can somebody help me understand? He says he sees the picture and?

Student: That just by merely seeing the friends constitutes seeing a greater puzzle. 

M. Laitman: You see some picture. 

Student: I'll tell you what I see, and you tell me what you see. Each one in this way, we understand the bigger picture. We see more, we see things we didn't see before. 

M. Laitman: Look, the friend's work has many manners. The question is, what's the purpose of the work of the friends? There can be many types and kinds but their goal should be to equip themselves with the vessels, meaning additional desires. To determine who I am, what I am, by seeing the friends, it's like a mirror where I see myself, yes, and so on. Meaning, it's not that I'm expanding my reason by the society, no, by the society, I don't expand anything. I discover these kinds of qualities that are not in the society and not intended towards the purpose of creation and towards the Creator and the work with friends, I cannot discover that. It's not that we're just like that having a discussion and?

Student: I see details that I did not see once I talked to others. 

M. Laitman: Okay, you're discussing things with me, and you see other details, and you're expanding your reason, that's fine, everyone does like that in our lifetime. But you're not discovering here things that are against nature, you understand? You're not working intentionally to open here something that is not in creation, seemingly. It's just like it's done in conversations anyway, in discussions.