The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 4, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 10, 1989. What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?
Original lesson date: 02/12/2002
Reader: In the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson based on the article, “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?” We’ll read the article together in the Ten, we have 28 minutes for that. Please.
Reading: (00:46) What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?
Article No. 10, 1989
The verse says (Genesis 28:12), “He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” We should understand what it implies that the ladder must stand diagonally, for we see that if a ladder stands upright, it is impossible to climb it. RASHI brings the explanation of our sages in the following words, “Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Yosi Ben Zimra, ‘This ladder stands in Beer Sheba, and the middle of its slant reaches opposite the Temple.’” This means that the ladder had to stand diagonally. What does this tell us in the work? Also, we should understand the question of the interpreters, “Why does it say, ‘Angels of God ascending’ and then ‘descending’? It should have been written the other way around.”
To understand all this, we must first understand what is work in creation, which we are given in the observance of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds]. After all, the purpose of creation was to do good to His creations. Thus, why do we need this work, as it is written, “I labored and found, believe; I did not labor but found, do not believe.” Why this labor and what does it add to us in the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations?
According to what is written in (the beginning of) the book Tree of Life, in order to “bring to light the perfection of His deeds,” there was the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction]. That is, concealment and hiding were placed in the place of Malchut, who is called “receiving in order to receive,” and in the place of the will to receive, called Aviut [thickness], there was the correction of the Masach [screen]. This means that one will not receive more than one can receive with the aim to bestow. This is what causes us work, and why our sages said specifically, “I labored and found, believe.”
But what is labor? By nature, man is born with a will to receive for his own sake. Since there was a Tzimtzum and concealment on that Kli [vessel], and one needs to work in order to bestow, because this contradicts nature, it is labor, since it is hard work. Therefore, if someone says that he is working for the Creator but feels no effort, it must be that he is working for his own sake and not for the sake of the Creator. When someone works for the sake of the Creator, the sign is that the body, called “will to receive,” resists it. This is why it is so difficult to work in order to bestow by ourselves, to the point that we must have the Creator’s help. It was said about this, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day. Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not be able to overcome it.” It follows that this work is considered that we must work for the sake of the Creator.
But we need to work for the sake of the Creator not really for His sake, as though the Creator needs man’s work. Rather, this fits into the perfection of His deeds, for by a person working for the sake of the Creator and not for one’s own sake, he becomes fit to receive the delight and pleasure without any shame, which is called “bread of shame,” since he receives with the intention to bestow, and not to receive for his own sake.
However, in the order of the work, when a person must achieve the degree of Dvekut [adhesion], as it is written, “and to cling unto Him,” a person cannot ascend on one leg, but needs two legs—right and left. It is as our sages said (Sotah 47), “The left should always push away and the right pull near.” We should interpret that on one hand, a person should see that he is being pushed away from the Creator, meaning see how far he is from Dvekut with the Creator, called “to bestow,” and that he is immersed in self-love.
And the more he wants to increase the work of bestowal, the more he sees that he is retreating, meaning that the evil within him is intensifying with each day. Finally, he decides that it is impossible that he will be able to be freed from self-love, and says that unless the Creator helps him, he is lost. He says, “Now I do not need to believe that the Creator helps.” Rather, now, when he is rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, he will say that he sees within reason that the Creator helped him.
This is as it is written (Psalms 127), “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in it in vain.” There is nothing he can do but ask the Creator to help him emerge from the control of the will to receive.
Sometimes, he does not even have the strength to ask of the Creator to help him. This is called the “left leg,” when he is walking on the path of seeing how full of faults and corruptions he is. As it is known, “Left,” in the work, means something that requires correction. This is called “The left should always push away.”
The other leg is called “right,” since something that does not require correction in the work is called “right.” That is, a person must know that he has a great privilege in being among the servants of the King. That is, he must believe that the little time that he can give of his work that he does for his own needs, to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, which is called “the work of the Creator,” he does not say that this is out of his own strength that he wants to work in the holy work. Rather, the Creator gave him a thought and desire to have some grip on Torah and Mitzvot, and he is happy that he has been rewarded with the privilege of doing some service for the King.
He thanks the Creator for this because he sees that many people in the world do not have such a privilege, and he feels that he is close to the Creator. This is the meaning of “and the right pulls near,” meaning that the right leg is that he feels himself close to the Creator.
Precisely on two legs can we go up and up, and reach the King’s palace. By this we can interpret what is written, “and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.” That is, the ladder, by which we climb up to the King’s palace, has two ends. 1) “A ladder was set on the earth.” This is the left line, called “earth.” One should see that he is placed in worldliness, immersed in self-love, as in, “the left pushes away.” Then there is room to pray from the bottom of the heart, for then one looks within one’s reason at how he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator, and only He can deliver him from the governance of the evil in him. It is said about this, “Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not be able to overcome it.” 2) It is written, “its top reaching to heaven.” The other end of the ladder is in “heaven,” as though he has complete wholeness because he is content with his lot, in the little bit of contact that he has with the work of the Creator. He feels that he is happy with this, since it is a great privilege to be rewarded with serving the King and speaking with Him even one moment a day; this is enough for him to be in high spirits, and he thanks the King for this and praises Him.
It follows that this ladder, on which we climb up to the King’s palace, stands diagonally. That is, the bottom of the ladder, which is “a ladder set on the earth,” is not really down, like a ladder standing upright, or it would be impossible to climb it, as we see in corporeality. This shows that even in corporeality the ladder must stand diagonally, and the slant indicates that “above” is not really above.
And likewise, “below” is not really “below.” Rather, as was said, when “its top reaches to heaven,” when one walks on the right line, which is wholeness, it is not the end. Rather, he must also walk “on the earth,” meaning to see that he is still on the earth. And when he is walking “on the earth,” which is the left, he must also know that he needs to walk on the right, as well, which is called “its top reaching to heaven.” That is, although both states are contradictory and opposite, they are not that far off from one another, creating a long distance to walk from one end to the other. That is, we must walk on both lines, and this is called “a slant,” meaning it shows that we must walk on two lines.
This extends from the correction called Tzimtzum Bet [Second Restriction], which is the association of the quality of mercy with judgment, as our sages said, “First, He created the world with the quality of judgment,” called “straight line, where there is above and below, called ‘high importance,’ which is the purest, and is considered the Sefira Keter, the purest, where there are no lacks. Below means of low importance, the thickest, considered the Sefira Malchut, which is the will to receive. He saw that the world could not exist, so He associated with it the quality of judgment.” Since Malchut of the quality of judgment, called “will to receive,” is the root of the created beings, it was difficult to invert her into working in order to bestow. This is called “the world could not exist.”
As he says in the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Item 58), “‘He saw that the world cannot exist’ means that in this way, it was impossible for Adam, who was to be created from this Behina Dalet [Fourth Phase], to acquire acts of bestowal. This is why He ‘put Midat Ha Rachamim [quality of mercy] first and associated it with the Midat Ha Din [quality of judgment].’ The Emanator raised Midat Ha Din, which is the concluding force made in the Sefira Malchut, and elevated it to Bina—Midat Ha Rachamim. He associated them with one another, and thereby enabled Adam’s Guf [body], which emerged from Behina Dalet, to be integrated with the quality of bestowal, too.”
It follows that specifically by the ascent of Malchut to Bina, the world can exist. The ARI calls the ascent of Malchut to Bina, “a diagonal line.” He says that this is the meaning of what is written (in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 6), “After the Tzimtzum itself placed one Parsa [partition], which is the meaning of ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide between water and water.’”
This is the meaning of the [letter] Aleph [א], for the line of the Aleph is diagonal, as he says (in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 6), “The connection of two points in the Tzimtzum is the line of the Aleph, like this [א]. And the first quality of each degree is a Yod [י], over the line from above, which includes Keter and Hochma of the degree, as in “upper water,” like this Yod [י].” Thus, the association of the quality of mercy with judgment is called “a diagonal.”
This is the root, and why in the corporeal branch, too, we climb up a ladder only when it stands diagonally, regarded as Tzimtzum Bet. When the ladder stands upright, regarded as “the quality of judgment,” it cannot exist.
However, we should know that the two extremes are regarded as “two writings that deny one another until the third writing comes and decides between them.” That is, the two lines are needed, for by both, we achieve the middle line, for there cannot be a middle line unless there are two lines before it. Therefore, when there is a dispute, it can be said that “the third one comes and decides between them and makes peace.” But if there is no dispute, there is no need to make peace. That is, if we want to have peace, we must first produce a dispute, or there is no room for peace.
Yet, the question is, Why do we need peace? It would be better, so we understand, if there were no dispute and no need for peace. This is common sense.
The answer is that since we have these two opposites in our nature, it follows that this dispute is the reality, for nature has made us this way. That is, from the perspective of the purpose of creation, we have a nature that the Creator gave a desire to receive delight and pleasure. And from the perspective of the correction of creation, we must go in the opposite direction, namely to bestow, like the Creator, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.”
It follows that those two extremes are in us. And what we say is that a dispute is required, as our sages said, “One should always vex the good inclination over the evil inclination.” As RASHI interpreted, “He should make war with it.” This means that one should reveal the evil in him. He does not produce evil through the dispute. Rather, the evil within us is concealed, and if light of Kedusha [holiness] enters there, the will to receive in us promptly awakens and receives everything for itself. This will immediately go to the side of Tuma’a [impurity] and Klipot [shells/peels].
For this reason, we must wage war, by which the evil will come out of its hiding and fight with the good inclination.
It follows that specifically through war it becomes revealed, since it wants to fight with the good inclination. When it shows its real face, the person sees what a “high mountain” it is and realizes that the only way is to ask the Creator to help him subdue the evil and to be able to work only with the aim to bestow.
By this we will understand the meaning of “two writings that deny one another until the third writing comes and decides between them.” The two ends of the ladder shows that they are opposite from one another. On one hand, it is “set on the earth,” indicating the lowliness, when he sees within reason how far he is from the Creator because he is immersed in self-love, which is disparity of form. On the other hand, “its top reaches to heaven,” as though he has complete wholeness and he is happy with his lot and is delighted as though he is in heaven and has no connection to worldliness. This is regarded as the ladder standing diagonally. This is the meaning of the words, “two writings that deny one another until the third writing comes and decides between them.”
This is the middle line. That is, those two lines engender a third writing, which is the Creator, called “middle line.” This is as our sages said (Nida 31a), “There are three partners in man: The Creator, his father, and his mother. His father sows the white; his mother sows the red; and the Creator places within him a spirit and a soul.”
We should interpret “his father gives the white.” His father is the first discernment in the work, the right line, which is wholeness. The second is the left line, meaning a lack. This is called “gives the red,” which is a lack. At that time, the Creator gives the soul and the spirit, for then the Creator gives him the required assistance, as said in The Zohar, “He is assisted by a holy soul.” This is called “the Creator gives the spirit and the soul.” This interprets what RASHI says, “This ladder stands in Beer Sheba, and the middle of its slant reaches opposite the Temple.” That is, the middle line is opposite the Temple, which is the Creator.
Now we should interpret why it is written, “And behold, angels of God were ascending” and then “descending.” It should have been written “descending” first, and then “ascending.” We should explain this in the work: Those people who want to work for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake are called “angels of God,” meaning they came to this world as God’s messengers, meaning to serve God.
It is as our sages said (Sukkah 72), “They are messengers of a Mitzva [commandment/good deed].” And RASHI interpreted there, since they went to greet the head of the congregation, and one must greet one’s rav [great teacher] on foot, meaning that when we engage in Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva], we are “messengers of a Mitzva,” meaning messengers of the Commander. In other words, they came to the world to be the Creator’s messengers, and all of them must do and observe everything that the Creator has commanded to do, as it is written, “Which God has created to do.” It is explained in the Sulam [Ladder Commentary on The Zohar] (In “The Introduction of The Book of Zohar”), that “created” means existence from absence. This refers to the will to receive, which comes from the Creator. “To do” pertains to the created beings, meaning that they must work for the sake of the Creator. It follows that those who work for the sake of the Creator are called “angels of the Creator,” as was said, “messengers of the Creator.”
By this we should interpret what is written (Moed Katan 17a), “If the Rav is similar to an angel of the Creator, let them seek to learn from him. If he is not, let them not seek to learn from him. They ask about it, Must one who wants to learn from a rav first see the angel of the Creator and then, after he has seen the form of the angel of the Creator, this is the time to go seek a rav who is similar to an angel of the Creator?”
According to the above, we should interpret that if the rav teaches the disciples the work that must be done in order to bestow, meaning why a person comes into this world, to do God’s mission, to work for the sake of the Creator, that person is a messenger of the Creator and not a landlord in this world, but is a servant of the Creator. The meaning of “messenger of the Creator” is “angel of the Creator.” This is the meaning of “If the rav is similar to an angel of the Creator, let them seek to learn from him.”
Now we can understand why it is written, “and behold, angels of God were ascending” first. The reason is that in the work, being an angel of the Creator means to work for the sake of the Creator, which requires that we first ascend the ladder, called “right,” and called “its head reaches to heaven,” and then descend, which is the left, called “set on the earth,” and then again. This is called “ascending and descending.” Afterward, they are rewarded with the middle line, meaning that the Creator gives the soul, and then they are rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.
M. Laitman: (28:50) So we have read the article, “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?” from “Rungs of the Ladder,” page one, or rather volume one, page 265. “Diagonal” means the association of the quality of judgment and mercy, the connection between the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of created being, which, by the proper connection between them, the person improves and keeps rising, ascending, until reaching his compatibility with the Creator. And that is our goal. A person needs to understand that all of his actions with the group — I'm always asked, “what else should we do”, as if we did everything. It's clear that we haven't done anything yet, a little bit, the beginning of the path, but we don't feel the lack for what else to do, what other means to activate. All innovations can come not between us, but only through our connection to the Creator. Meaning, if a group or a person needs, wants to feel the next stage, what he should be doing next - he needs to examine, to check, to prod at his connection with divinity. And from here, there needs to come some innovation, some urge for innovation, for renewal. And from that, yes, and the Creator needs to be at the head, right? It's written that "if the Rav is similar to an angel, learn Torah from him." What does it mean, angel? That he acts upon the command that brings the student to the intention in order to bestow. The connection to the Creator is revealed to us in a sixth sense. The measure of the Creator's revelation in that sixth sense can be partial, according to the development of that sense, or on the degree of — we call it the world of Assiya, Yetzira, Briya, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon. What does it mean? Who are these worlds? The worlds are still our impressions, our incomplete impressions of the Creator, because our sense is still not open fully, 100% in giving. How does a person reach, and what is the need for a person to reach such a connection to the Creator? The need is because we ourselves are incapable of receiving as well as bestowing by our nature. The will to receive and how it was created, it's incapable of receiving, because receiving means to receive and enjoy. We can want to receive, which is felt as suffering to us; and when we come to the actual reception, the pleasure immediately quenches the desire. And what is felt at the entrance of the pleasure into the desire, before the desire is quenched, that is called pleasure for us. It's a single moment of pleasure, like an orgasm, just an eruption of pleasure for one second, no more. Why? Because the light shuts the vessel.
M. Laitman: (33:41) How can we understand the matter of bestowal? If the pleasure is received within the will to receive, with the intention to bestow, which that is actually bestowal, we aren't working with our will to receive. We are working with the will to receive of the Creator, which is infinite. The Creator’s will to receive? Yes. The Creator wants to enjoy us enjoying Him. He has an infinite will to receive. How is that infinite will to receive expressed? In that He wants to bestow upon us infinitely. So the Creator is the source of the infinite will and the source of the infinite abundance. If we take both and use them, we will turn ourselves into the exact likeness of the Creator. And so, there cannot be innovations or any steps taken by a person in any other direction, any direction other than the Creator, towards acquiring this deposit of will to receive and this deposit of abundance, pleasure. And who is the person? The person, he's always that black point called something from nothing. Other than that point, all the other things, desires, abundance, he receives from the Creator. And so it cannot be, other than a very thin candle, that's the measure of our existence, which we feel, in which we feel disconnected from the Creator. But we don't feel the source, not in our desire, not in the abundance, the pleasures we feel in our beastly desire. We don't feel the Creator. But other than that point, this point of life, called a thin candle, very thin candle, life in this world, felt in this very tiny desire. What is felt in the soul, meaning a different point called the point in the heart, there the desire and the abundance come from the Creator. And so, always the direction is towards Him, the yearning towards Him, to set Him at the head, at the beginning of every thought and action - that is simply the only thing, the only true thing that we can do, in all our actions. Again, this stems from the fact that other than the something from nothing, that point of the shattering, that little black point, nothing else was created. All other things are an outcome of that - receiving from the Creator His will to receive and His abundance. And so, from our side, there has to be only this motion towards Him, movement towards Him. And in that, each one in the group and the whole world, all needs to improve, advance and improve.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:40) Where here do I put myself in this, “if not for myself, then who?”
M. Laitman: "If not for myself, then who is for me?" You put that into your action, but towards whom is this “if not for me, who is for me?” Where do you aim it? Meaning, all of your actions, all of your thoughts, desires, operations, whatever it may be, it all needs to be connected to that. That's what he writes in the letter, on page 64. If you intend, if you aim towards Him exactly, you aim towards Him in every act which can bring you to Him, then these three points: Israel, the Creator and the Torah, are connected together. That's it. Then what you do is for correction. Then that act is called a commandment, a good act. All the rest, outside of that are transgressions and bad deeds. There's nothing in the middle. Either it's towards the Creator or other sides. That's why he says that it's a very thin line, aiming towards Him. And everything else, 360 degrees other than that line, other than that one direction, that is foreign work, idol worship, the incorrect direction. We are at the middle point, the central point, rising to infinity, Ein Sof, through that one line alone.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:29) The Creator doesn't need our work. So it turns out that the Creator doesn't need our work? So a big part of a person is just cut off.
M. Laitman: You're asking differently. You're asking, if we want to bestow upon Him, and He wants us to bestow upon Him, where if it's only in this way where I connect to Him, take from Him the will to receive, also the will to bestow, and this whole method, receiving in order to bestow and all that, then why isn't He revealing all these things to me? Why is He concealed? Come on, open Yourself up, show Yourself. Who are You? What are You? How are all these things done? Teach, and then demand all those things, right? That's what you're asking?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: He wants for something to depend on us. If He opened Himself up, you would have become an angel. You would then do exactly, act exactly according to His measure of openness, whatever this opening, this revelation would compel you to do. There's nothing you could do otherwise. You would simply keep all the commands of the divine nature that's being revealed to you, and in that, you would have no action of your own. As the will to receive now works on you without asking for your opinion, what to do, rather, He determines from within everything you'll do. In the same way, the desire to bestow that would have been revealed to you would have compelled you to perform all actions. And that's why the time of concealment was given to us, which is very long, because that time of concealment should provide a foundation for the entire path, the entire spiritual ladder, a foundation of free choice. And only under the concealment can you have free choice. But after, through this concealment within it, you decide with your free choice — seemingly, you know, but this is free choice — and you decide that you truly want to reach bestowal.
M. Laitman: (42:19) Then you come and you perform all the acts of bestowal that exist on the spiritual ladder, from that choice that you made in the time of darkness. So that time of darkness should give you, for all the 125 degrees let's say, if we count the whole ladder, 125 degrees let's say. So each degree of the 125 degrees, in the time of darkness, in all those, you have to decide that I'm performing this action by my own free choice. And then when you come to each and every degree, that previous decision to act in a free way, is revealed to you and then you can act in spirituality freely as well. Otherwise, you’re just a slave. There’s no point in creating you to perform the Creator’s actions. For the Creator, He doesn’t need it all, and for you also, you would just be on the degree of the inanimate, growing, living, only performing the commands of nature. Therefore, there’s the time of preparation, the time of darkness, where you decide by yourself that you want to resemble Him. That the same way he gives to me, I want to give to Him, as by this I become like Him, and that is the only thing that’s perfect and whole. And then, in that way I always have vessels, desires. So why do I have desires? Why does the Creator bring me desires? He is not a lack, but because He has infinite pleasure and an infinite desire to bestow, from that I receive my infinite will to receive, and the infinite desire to bestow back to Him. I use Him in everything. I’m just that point that knows how to exploit Him. That’s it. And then, if I take from Him the will to receive, I take from Him the intention to bestow, I take from Him the abundance, and I enjoy - it so that He will enjoy, meaning in order to bestow then it all passes through me, the desire as well as the intention and the abundance, yes? And then I and Him, we actually become the same. My point is included, integrated in Him as an active point, acting exactly on the scope and magnitude of the Creator, that is all. And so, in the will to receive, that receives for itself, there is always death. The more it's full, or whenever it becomes full, immediately that will to receive disappears, and then without desire and without abundance that it can reveal, we call that death. And the will to bestow, which keeps growing and increasing more and more infinitely, that is a desire that brings life. And that feeling of the abundance and the desire advancing, walking together, they bring this sense, a feeling of infinity, eternality. This is a person who adheres to the desire in order to bestow, who begins to feel that his existence is infinite, eternal, that he never dies, and indeed no death comes to him. While with our bodies, it's again and again and again.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:07) If a person enters the work in order to bestow, it's like he's studying, learning about himself, and he actually sees, the more he invests, he has no forces, no forces to bestow with.
M. Laitman: In the time of preparation, the more we try to reach that form of bestowal, the more we see that we can't, and we weaken, we become disappointed. And again, the will to receive is revealed to us and again, the will to bestow, and again, we decide that maybe, maybe it's worthwhile to receive in order to bestow, bestow in order to bestow. Whatever. But again, we see that we can't, and so on and so forth. And these disappointments, the renewal of the desire, and again, disappointment, and each time more and more and more, that should bring us to the final decision - that I have no alternative, I must receive the revelation of the Creator, who will be revealed to me as the great ruler, infinite in desires, powers, abundance. And this feeling of His revelation will help me, will help me practice this method of in order to bestow. If I decide during the time of preparation, constantly, always, slowly though gradually, to reach the form of bestowal, that this is the best thing — if I truly decide that, the Creator is revealed. He is revealed as the force that helps me again, execute on that method of bestowal. But if I still didn't reach that decision, then if He's revealed, meaning I want Him to be revealed only as a source of pleasure. But the source of pleasure for me, that's death; so He's never revealed to me in that way. We need to look for satisfaction in the work only to the extent that it gives us vitality and the power to advance in the right direction towards bestowal. Meaning, each time I need to see what benefits I have from bestowal, even if it's benefit in order to bestow, even if it's a benefit that is revealed in the vessels of reception.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:49) He said that we need to walk on both legs. If you haven't come to that final stage, as you say, how do you use the left leg?
M. Laitman: What left leg? What are you talking about?
Student: In the article, he says that you need to walk on two feet. It's said, it's in heavens, and it's placed on the ground, so, where each time you need to start from the head in the heavens, and then be set on the earth. So here what I understand is that…
M. Laitman: He's saying that a person needs to stand on his will to receive, and his intention should be in the Creator in order to bestow, and if he connects the two of them, then the diagonal, the connection between them will be in Jerusalem. So the connection between them will be precisely in Jerusalem, in the point of connection between the created being and the Creator. Jerusalem is Tifferet, it's the middle line. So what are you asking?
Student: According to what we just said, without me having, in a very clearly defined way, without me having the right line, I cannot activate the left line even a little, or is that wrong?
M. Laitman: A person can enact the left line to the extent in which he is certain that the left line will join the right. Is that what you want to hear?
Student: How can you be certain?
M. Laitman: I can be certain only after I have adhered to the right line completely, and on the right line I did all the work I can, meaning I completely received the matter of bestowal, my desire to receive will then be revealed, and will be revealed already in such a way that I'll be able to control it, but only after I finish the work in the right. That's why he says, twenty-three and a half hours be in joy, and then half an hour you can do some critiquing. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:49) When disruptions come, and after a descent they come to a person, a person needs to simply ignore all these things, and to start asking again of the Creator, or what? Does he need to discover something through these disruptions?
M. Laitman: When these disruptions come, a person needs to immediately perform a restriction upon them, as if they're not disturbing anything, to renew his connection with the right. When he receives connection with the right, with bestowal, and reveals to himself the extent in which he's in the greatness of the Creator, then one can enable oneself to start working with the obstructions in a very critical manner, with limitations. Each time, with the brakes being engaged, so the extent where he can reveal the obstructions in his life only to the extent they do not impact the measure of adhesion to the Creator from him. If you see, there are thoughts, or something that is obstructing you or disturbing you, don't enter them, those thoughts, don't awaken them, but rather gradually awaken them to a very, all the time, just with a very little measure at a time. A drop, another drop, another drop, and then you'll see, they come to you in a very direct, aiming way that will enable you to each time renew your relation to reality, as far as adhesion to the Creator. Let's say, something happens, God forbid, a disaster. So you need to immediately renew the correct reality, which is that there's the Creator and the created beings, and how He arranges things, and how He does this, and not to think about this disaster, or anything. And then gradually approach to connect what you see, this picture, so it won't disconnect the connection in relation to the Creator, but rather to the contrary, it will reinforce it. It's a hard thing, but actually… There are no words here to really talk here.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:27) How, when a person turns to the Creator desires attach to him. We said that He's the source of the abundance, He's the source of the desire, infinite lack. How is it that when a person turns to Him, desires attach to the person? I didn’t understand maybe what you said.
M. Laitman: I didn't understand the question.
Student: You said that the renewal of the desire can come only from connection to the Creator.
M. Laitman: All right, what I spoke of is from a person who really has under control two lines, and he's going and defining those things. Because the right line and the left line both come from the Creator, both the desire to receive, "I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice." Those two lines come from the Creator, the desire to receive - left line, the desire to bestow, the force of bestowal - right line. These are the two angels in a person's hands, and if he wants to make with them what he has to do, he connects them to the middle line. Because his relation in return to the Creator is the middle line. Those two lines he receives from above, those two forces, and the way he builds his relation in return to the Creator from those two connections. Why are you asking about this? I'm not inventing anything new here. Maybe, let's say, I'm building a sentence in a new way. First, because today I allow myself to say it in a shorter way, maybe.
Student: I just, I don't understand what connection to the Creator is. We say that He needs to be in the beginning of the action as well as the end of the action. What is that?
M. Laitman: At the head of the action, there needs to be a connection with the Creator. Why plan every bit of this action to lead me towards connection with Him, at the end of the action where I really reached a connection. I don't understand. What does it mean, the head and the end of these actions need to be connected to the Creator? Yes, connected.
Student: So, it's actually me performing the action.
M. Laitman: If not you, who does this? Are you in some philosophy that He does everything, and you just an imagination? You exist, don't exist. What are you even speaking of? Are you learning in order to do something or in order to say to yourself that you don't exist, and there's nothing to do?
Student: I'm studying in order to reach something.
M. Laitman: Well, so you're being taught a method. From Abraham onwards, all the holy books that were written were written about how to connect with the Creator. There's nothing more than that.
Student: But how, if I turn to Him, how does something adhere to me?
M. Laitman: Let go of the in order to bestow, all the worlds, and all those things. There's just one thing, to connect with Him. That's it. Because I see that you're confused and you don't know what to do. “Tell us what to do,” I'm hearing from all kinds of groups. What do I have? What to do? You need to search for what to do, but only in that direction. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:11) How, by turning to Him, desires adhere to me? I turn to Him. I don't know exactly what that means, to turn to Him, but how does a desire attach to me through that? Why? There's no equivalence of form, nothing.
M. Laitman: Let go of the equivalence of form. You don't know what equivalence of form is. You don't know nothing. You turn to Him. You plea to Him. Why? What state are you talking about?
Student: When a person is before the Machsom, before the barrier and so on, he turns to the Creator and asks Him.
M. Laitman: What? Because it's bad for me? Well, why else do I turn to Him? I feel bad. Rather, do I turn to Him when something is good for me?
Student: No, no. When I feel bad.
M. Laitman: So when it's bad for me, then that's it. I need to turn to Him, and I need to scrutinize that I need to turn only to Him, and not to my intellect, and not to my powers, and not even to my friends, and not even to the country or the state - nothing. Only to Him. I turn to Him. What do I want from Him?
Student: That can change now. Maybe I want a desire from Him. Maybe I want direction from Him.
M. Laitman: What lack? What kind of lack am I deficient of? God forbid. I don't want a deficiency coming to me. I want, first and foremost, the first thing, to have it good. I want to have it good from two sources in me, in my mind and heart. That is, to have it good, just in a good way, that I'll have good, and just in a good way… Stop turning around with those chairs there. It just points to a lack of concentration. A person that's completely concentrated cannot move. Someone's asking, they don't care. It's truly too bad that you're wasting the time, not just you. Not to participate in a question of a friend is to lose the connection, to lose the power, to lose the ability to acquire vessels. Each who sits alone in the lesson, that's why you look like that.
When I turn to Him, I ask from Him for two fillings: a filling in my feeling and a filling in the intellect. In the intellect, I need to justify myself and Him, and the state that I'm in, between us, that I'm in. Some unpleasant thing happened. I feel bad. I turn to Him. I need to feel good. How will I feel good in this bad? If I receive a justification, then I need to connect to Him, to the thought of creation. I need to draw upon myself every possible connection with Him. After I did that, I start to awaken the entire action, the deed that's happening to me, and to see it to the deepest, maximal depth of what's happening, and what I can, and why He's doing this to me. And why is He doing this for me? Only with one purpose — so that within this disastrous action, I discover the point of connection with Him. This is what he writes in the beginning there. There's a letter where within the horrible sufferings that are coming upon them, there the drop of unification is revealed.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:32) You said that I turn to Him, and so I need to justify myself, and I need to justify Him, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How could I justify Him? How?
M. Laitman: You cannot justify Him. You need to search how to do this. Your search can be with the help of the group, with the help of the books and the authors, until you reach a state where, if you're not capable of justifying Him, ask it from Him.
Student: Also, it's still this search.
M. Laitman: Out of this search, you should have a deficiency come to you, where you either need to justify Him and have it good, or gradually a deficiency to justify Him will come, because you don't want to think badly about Him.
Student: So, how will this change? I turn to Him, and…
M. Laitman: This changes by the light. You're asking, how is it done? How is it made in you? By you searching, and wanting, and can't, and don't reach it - the light that comes upon you, the surrounding light, act, operates, and changes things.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:47) I'd like to add something more. The change is in the person. It's clear that the change happens in the person. We talked about it dozens of times. It's not in the Creator. The Creator always bestows, He's good, He does good, and so on. That's what's written. Let's say, I accept it. So, if a person searches, a person asks for things, a person performs various actions, how does something change in a person? If it's not a psychological change that we're talking about, then what does change in the person, and how? Something awakens in the person suddenly? Is there something in the person that needs to awaken that hasn't awakened yet, and it awakens only when he asks for it? Why? Where?
M. Laitman: Do you know who this Adam, this person that you're talking about, that you're saying like that?
Student: No.
M. Laitman: The person is what one feels, and what one doesn't feel does not belong to the person. There's a point, a beastly desire, which feels how it exists through her five senses. These five senses that feel something, they also feel the Creator, the light. How they feel in their small desire to receive, they call that “this world.” And accordingly, a person feels himself as existing, as feeling what these five, what these senses are impressed by. The senses are not his, the desire to receive is not his, and the measure of impression is not his. Only the feeling is something he attributes to himself. An additional point could be revealed to him that he wants to feel reality, and in place of it he feels darkness. Because there, he can only feel the Creator. Why? Because that's the point, the truth, the desire to bestow. That is not Adam, that's not a person, a human. That is not what remains in a person from the shattering of the vessels. That's what remains in a person from the Masach, from the screen. That's the godly part from above. There's a reason why it's called that, godly part from above. A different desire. So there are two desires in a person now. One that's working and that's receiving, and that it can fill himself only with these animalistic, beastly pleasures: money, honor, knowledge. That's it. And what he feels through all those things is just a small reality that he calls, this world. He calls this reality to what he feels. If he develops the second point, there he will feel only the Creator. He cannot feel in that point anything else. It will be black because it's considered concealment. And this is constantly the reason why it's not being revealed. Only the Creator is being revealed. The measure of revelation of the Creator in that second point, in that second sense, is called the world's concealment from the complete measure of revelation. How is this second point changing, and impressed, and growing? Through all kinds of engagements that a person does in Torah and commandments, which is called... How? We don't know how. They write to us how. Abraham revealed it and wrote. Rabbi Shimon revealed and wrote. The ARI wrote. The Ramchal, the Rambam, it doesn't matter. Each wrote the way and what they felt in this.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:04) Why is it that if I ask for something, even many times, my feeling changes? Why?
M. Laitman: The feeling in that sense depends only on the surrounding light. Not yet in inner light. It needs to be filled, but rather it illuminates from afar. What's from afar? Outside of her. She can't yet see it illuminating her through the screen. Rather, she feels that point in external vessels outside of the screen. That's it. So, this light constantly changes. What is the changing light? The light doesn't change, but this desire to receive, this spiritual desire is constantly changing.
Student: Why?
M. Laitman: Because it's developing. The light that is developing always brings forth development to the desire to receive. You can say, but the light doesn't change, you said, and this is considered that it brings development in the desire to receive. Because inside the desire to receive, there are records from now until Ein Sof, till infinity. And every record that is emerging and being implemented is finishing, and the next record emerges, and gets realized, and gets completed, and so forth. The light is constantly pressuring this towards the direction of Ein Sof. And when it pressures this direction of Ein Sof, all the time these new records are being revealed. And these records come in this cascading from above down, because this is where we need to do this cascading from above down, so we'll have records to now rise from down to above. And we feel ourselves - this is the problem, the right to choose.
Student: So, why is it that by performing many actions, requests, and so on, do I accelerate the emergence of the records that should emerge anyway? Why? Where do I feel it?
M. Laitman: The pace of the records coming out depends either Beito [at its own pace], like a machine, meaning a relative attitude or relation between the lights and the vessel, the records and the light. Some records develop quicker or slower, it doesn't matter. But also in each and every one. And also the records have this special combination, which is different in every one, because no one is similar to his friend in the qualities and the way the qualities connect in the soul of Adam Rishon. So, each one has a different pace of development in this world. Some people yearn for knowledge, some are still beasts. But in this mixture, each one is also different. So, also spiritual records; even though we say that there's always one record being revealed, but this one record is included from all other records that altogether points to the state. What is all the rest from? From all the 600,000 other records. Every record includes them all. So, the upper light works on the record and develops it from a distance. It's surrounding light - during the studies, especially by the desires, by the society, even more - that's how it develops. So, you can develop to a certain limit naturally. And from that limit onward, you are given the point in the heart, and they bring you to a place, and they give you a method, and then gradually you enter the state where you gradually scrutinize whether you want it or not. Do you have something to determine this or not? That's called the path of the Torah, meaning to cause the development of the records in a quicker way. That's it. That's it. No problem. And this way everything develops.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:42) What I felt now, the greatness of the Creator, a person feels that He turned him around. But from where does he have the strength, I don't know, strength to feel that he's like the Creator, that a person is like Him? But from the greatness, it's really...
M. Laitman: How can a person, by feeling the greatness of the Creator, feel himself the opposite, that completely has no forces, or abilities, or mind, or anything to work with himself, to resemble the Creator, to be like Him, right? That's not right. Because the Creator is never revealed in a way that takes a person's ability to develop. He reveals Himself to a person only to the extent that a person can take forces to develop from it and not to lower a person. The Creator's true form is only revealed after the end of correction. And before that, on each and every degree, the right is revealed exactly in a way to let a person, to give them freedom of action. That's called, that “where you see His greatness, that's where you see His humbleness.” These two things are revealed together. And they both project two forces that are seemingly in contradiction - fear and love.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:49) I wanted to ask about the friend’s question. So, if I see His greatness, how does that give me the strength to be like Him?
M. Laitman: If I see the great one, how does it give me forces to be like him? So again, I'm saying, when the upper one, the higher one appears towards the lower one, the lower one just wants to subdue towards the upper one. Maybe the upper one will be revealed that how great it is to be big, and the forces to want to be big, and to implement that desire - it all depends how a person receives the greatness of the Creator. And the records are organized in a certain way that each one includes inside it all of the development of that relation on how the Creator is revealed to a person. In the beginning, I'm, wow, He's so great. Then what does it, do I get from it? How can that be? What abilities? And then gradually, I start being envious. I start wanting and acquiring these things, except for the impressions that already become my own. So I start thinking from within my will to receive, how I can use it. And then, that's called the development of the desire and the four degrees of the desire.
Student: It's clear to me that it develops a desire, but how does it give me strength?
M. Laitman: That later on gives you forces to be like Him because you want that state. It'll be revealed as perfect and whole, the best of all.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:44) Here he says that in every action, in every thought, there has to be the Creator first, to place Him at the head. If I work in a group in dissemination, and I feel that my body is filled with energy to do those things, I don't feel any necessity to place the Creator at the top. How can I find that necessity?
M. Laitman: Every action that doesn't have in the beginning a connection with the Creator is flawed, so you should stop and see what you're doing.
Student: I stop myself, but how do I find it?
M. Laitman: Except for the necessary actions that exist, that obviously we can stop them. If I need to help someone, otherwise they'll live or die. I don't know, it doesn't matter what. Except for actions of existence where I don't have a time or an obligation for now to speak about my connection with the Creator. And so, I can't eat in order to bestow - I'm not going to eat. No, eat, afterwards think of in order to bestow, otherwise there won't be anybody that can think about bestowing. So, all the rest of the things that we're working in, it's really desired to some extent to start trying and connecting it to in order to bestow, with the Creator. Doesn't matter, in order to bestow - to the Creator. That is what I am not hearing from the groups that are asking what to do next, what else do we need to do? Maybe some other idea. We feel that we're losing our deficiency, losing our tension. It depends on the necessity you reveal for it. Before you were connecting, they wanted to help you rise to a greater degree. And in your current state, you are shown that it's already useless. You've already wasted these records. You saw them, you felt them, that's it. You have to go onward. Onward, means to search for the greatness of godliness. Only He can pull you ahead. Only He can bring you all kinds of ideas. That's it. Search for Him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:29) So, if I work in the kitchen, for example, making food for Shabbat for the whole group.
M. Laitman: It doesn't matter where you're working and...
Student: But I forgot. So should I continue this action?
M. Laitman: You're asking me about necessity, so...
Student: No, I'm not asking about necessity.
M. Laitman: There's nothing else to say. You see what he's asking? If he's working in the kitchen, should I stop giving out food because I can't think of the Creator?
Student: I'm not asking about necessity. Dissemination. I'm giving a lesson.
M. Laitman: These are necessary things that if you don't do them, the business stops. I'm speaking about things that aren't necessary. What does it mean not necessary? Your own inner desires. You can't stop your life. You must behave in life whether there is a Creator or not. "If not for me, who is for me?" But what does that belong to? Spiritual advancement? That is where you first have to put Him, and then do. If you sit with your friends and talk to them about anything you want to, if it won't be about revelation of godliness and connection with Him, so any sentence you say will just be a lie, with no benefits. No matter what you're going to talk about. What's happening in the group, that is something that has to determine the rest of the behavior. Okay. That's my fault. I can't see that you can't grasp it. Think about them, and then ask.