The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: May 18, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?
Original lesson date: 01/16/2003
Reader: Hello, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 16th of January, 2003, based on the article, "What is, The Earth Feared and Was Still, in the Work?" You can find the article in Kabbalahmedia.info. We will read the article; we have 25 minutes for that.
Reading: (00:39) Rabash. What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?
Article No. 33, 1990
Our sages wrote in Masechet Shabbat (p 88a), “Rabbi Hizkiya said, ‘Why is it written, ‘From heaven You sounded judgment, the earth feared and was still’? If it feared, why was it still? And if it was still, why did it fear? Indeed, first it feared and in the end it was still. And why did it fear? As Rish Lakish said, ‘Why is it written, ‘And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day’? Why the extra Hey [in Hebrew]? It shows that the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation and told them, ‘If Israel receive the Torah, you exist. If they do not, I send you back to Tohu ve Bohu [chaos].’’’”
We should understand why the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation, that it depends: If Israel accept the Torah, very well. If not, He will return them to Tohu ve Bohu. First we should understand what is the work of creation. We see that we refer to the whole of the work of creation by the name “Earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” Therefore, we should understand what the word “earth” implies. The verse says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Thus, why does it call the work of creation only by the name “earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still”?
We should interpret that “the work of creation” pertains to the beginning of the thought. This means that the beginning of the thought of the work of the creation of the world is as it is written, “The purpose of creation was because of His desire to do good to His creations. This is the meaning of ‘the work of creation.’” In other words, this is the purpose of the act, that the created beings will receive delight and pleasure.
However, in order for the pleasure that they receive to be complete, meaning that they will not feel shame upon the reception of the pleasures, there was a correction called Tzimtzum [restriction], where the light does not shine where there is a desire to receive for one’s own sake, meaning that the light of pleasure does not reach there, but rather after the created beings correct themselves so as to have the intention to bestow.
It follows that if there is no intention to bestow, they will have no abundance. Naturally, the whole of the work of creation, meaning the purpose of creation to do good, there will be no one to receive it, and naturally, the whole purpose of the work of creation will be cancelled. We therefore understand that if there is no one with the aim to bestow, this is called “the return of the work of creation to Tohu ve Bohu.”
However, we should understand the connection to Israel, that if Israel receive the Torah, the work of creation will persist, and if they do not, it will be cancelled. According to the above-said, that the Creator wants to give them delight and pleasure, and they also need to correct their will to receive so as to work in order to bestow, what is the connection between the correction to work in order to bestow, that because of this they must receive the Torah?
The answer is as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’ Through the Torah, its light reforms him,” and he will achieve the intention to bestow. It follows that without Torah, there are Tzimtzum and concealment on creation, which is called “existence from absence,” namely the vessels of reception, and the light of the Creator cannot come into the vessels of reception.
It follows that the work of creation, which is the matter of doing good to His creations, is cancelled if there are no Kelim [vessels] that can receive the purpose of creation, which is the delight and pleasure, due to the correction of the Tzimtzum. This correction comes by observing the Torah, and then instead of the Tzimtzum, the abundance appears once more.
However, according to this, it means that if a person has already achieved the correction of his Kelim, meaning that he already has Kelim that are called “receiving in order to bestow,” why does he need the Torah? After all, he has already accepted all the counsels how to do everything for the sake of the Creator.
The answer is that it is known that The Zohar calls the 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] by the name “613 counsels” and by the name “613 deposits” (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1). These are tips by which to achieve the correction of creation, which is to obtain the desire to bestow, by which we acquire equivalence of form and the Tzimtzum and concealment are removed. This is the correction that our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”
Once he has obtained the spice, the 613 Mitzvot are called “613 deposits,” for in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] there is a special light that is there as a deposit, waiting for man to have the suitable Kli [vessel] for it. At that time, a person is given what was there as a deposit, which he could not take out because the Tzimtzum and concealment governed it.
It follows that the purpose of creation is the 613 deposits, which are deposited there until the creatures correct the creation, and only then will they receive the purpose of creation. And the way by which to obtain the correction of creation—that everyone will have Kelim that can aim to bestow—is through the 613 Mitzvot, which are as counsels, meaning tips.
What are the counsels? It is as it is written, “The light in the Torah reforms him.” We should know that in the 613 Mitzvot, which are called “counsels,” a counsel is given when a person desires to obtain something but does not know how. That person seeks advice how to obtain that something.
Therefore, when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot, the body asks a person, “Why are you observing Torah and Mitzvot?” Then the person replies, “I believe in reward and punishment. Therefore, in order to receive reward and not to be punished, I observe Torah and Mitzvot.” However, we cannot refer to reward and punishment as an advice, for an advice is a means to obtain something. It follows that counsels are one thing, and what one receives through the counsels is another thing.
Thus, one who observes Torah and Mitzvot in order receive reward, it cannot be said that they are tips how to receive reward. Rather, the work is called “labor,” and the reward is called “return.” It is not that we say that the work is the counsel for the reward. Rather, it is like an exchange, where the employee gives the employer the work, and in return, the employer pays him.
Thus, what is the meaning of the 613 counsels? We should interpret that counsels apply when a person wants to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, meaning that he wants all his actions to be in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker and not to work for his own sake. Since man is born with a nature that he cannot understand doing anything other than for oneself, and a person wants to emerge from the governance of nature, but sees that he cannot do anything not for his own sake, then a person seeks advice how to obtain this desire.
Since the body claims that it is customary that one who does something for another receives reward, here, when a person begins to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, the body’s resistance to the work grows stronger every time because the person wants to annul self-benefit through Torah and Mitzvot, meaning that he will not work for the sake of the body. How can the body give him energy to work on annulling it?
This is similar to one person assisting another person, who wants to kill him. Is it normal for a person to help the murderer kill him? Rather, as hard as one can, he resists him.
Therefore, when a person comes and says to the body, “I want to kill you,” of course the body resists. It is as our sages said about the verse that King David said, “My heart is slain within me, that they killed the evil inclination through fasting.”
Thus, the body certainly resists with all its might if he wants to work only in order to bestow. At that time, a person seeks advice how to emerge from the control of the evil inclination, called “will to receive for himself.” It follows that only in this state, when he wants to work in order to bestow, he needs advice. It was said about this that the 613 Mitzvot are 613 counsels, meaning tips how to emerge from the control of the evil.
Thus, when a person learns Torah, he must intend that the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing will help him emerge from the control of the evil, and he will have the strength to do everything with the aim to bestow. Then, when he learns Torah, he wants the light in the Torah to reform him, and then he needs what they said, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that the Torah and Mitzvot that he engages in are to him in this state only as tips.
Now we can understand why after he was rewarded with vessels of bestowal through the tips of the Torah and Mitzvot, what should he do next in observing Torah and Mitzvot? That is, he no longer needs the Torah and Mitzvot as tips. It is known that the tips only cause to achieve the goal that he wants to achieve, and that until he found the counsels, he could not obtain what he wanted to obtain. The question is, What does he want? That is, What is the purpose he should achieve?
There is a simple answer to this: The purpose is that a person seeks advice how to achieve the goal. What is the purpose he must achieve? We should say that since a person does not work for his own sake, but has already been rewarded with emerging from the control of self-love, now he wants to achieve the purpose of the Creator, whose desire is to do good to His creations, for the created beings to receive delight and pleasure.
It follows that through the 613 counsels he has reached the goal of the Creator, meaning the Creator’s desire for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. The Zohar tells us about this that the delight and pleasure are as 613 deposits, that in each Mitzva there is a special light deposited, which waits for the time when it can return the deposit that is in the Mitzva, as was said, that in each Mitzva there is a special light that implies the Mitzva as a branch and root.
It follows that once a person has achieved 613 counsels, he observes the 613 deposits. For this reason, afterward there is a new order, and then the Torah is called “the names of the Creator.” This discernment is called “the Torah, Israel, and the Creator are one.”
It follows that we can detect many discernments in Torah and Mitzvot, but in general, they divide into three discernments: 1) Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], 2) Lishma [for Her sake], when all his actions are in order to bestow. At that time the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 counsels. 3) When one is rewarded with achieving the purpose of creation, for His desire is to do good to His creations. At that time, the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 deposits.
The 613 counsels are how to achieve Lishma, and the 613 deposits are called “revealing the secrets of Torah.”
In Lo Lishma, there are also several discernments to make: 1) One who learns in order to complain. On this manner, it was said, “His Torah becomes to him a potion of death.” 2) One who learns in order to be called “Rabbi” [great one/teacher]. Those two, he does only for the sake of people, and not for the sake of the Creator.
3) To be rewarded in this world. 4) To be rewarded in the next world. Those two, he does for the sake of the Creator and wants the Creator to pay his reward. In the first two discernments, his reward is what he wants to receive from people like him. That is, one who learns in order to complain, his pleasure is from what he receives from his friend. Likewise, one who learns in order to be called Rabbis demands this of people and not of the Creator.
Now we can explain what we asked: 1) Why is the work of creation called specifically “earth”? After all, it is written, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” The answer is that “earth” is called Malchut, and our sages said, “Why was her name ‘earth’? Because she wanted to do her Maker’s will.”
Generally, we speak of only two discernments: light and Kli. The abundance and all the lights are called “heaven,” and all that receives them is called “earth.” This is why it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” When we speak in the work about “The earth feared and was still,” we should interpret that Eretz [earth] means Ratzon [desire]. That is, the desire is in man’s heart, fear. What is the fear? Since the Kli that receives the abundance is called “earth,” and in man, his heart is called “earth,” and since the purpose of creation to do good to His creations should appear within man’s heart, since man’s heart is called “will to receive,” and since there was a Tzimtzum and concealment on the will to receive, the upper light does not reach there.
Thus, how can the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, come to the creatures when all of creation is a desire to receive for oneself? It is through the Torah, as was said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” when they engage in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to thereby be rewarded with vessels of bestowal.
However, there is fear on this, since the desire to bestow is against nature. Therefore, here the fear is because he is afraid that he might not be able to do everything in order to bestow, and the work of creation—which is the purpose of creation that must be revealed to the lower ones—will be cancelled.
That is, there are two things here: 1) Perhaps he will not be able to aim the learning of Torah to bring him the desire to bestow, since the body will do everything it can and will not let him aim that the Torah and Mitzvot he does will be with the aim to bring him the spice. Rather, he will have other thoughts: Why should he engage in Torah and Mitzvot? All this is because the body objects to it.
2) Fear that all the work of creation, namely the intention of the Creator to do good to His creations, will be cancelled and there will be no one to receive. Thus, the purpose of creation would not be carried out. This is why “the earth feared,” meaning the general desire, called Eretz [earth], and every person’s desire is also called “earth,” since man’s heart is called Ratzon [desire].
Accordingly, what is the condition that the Creator set along with the work of creation? If Israel accept the Torah, you persist. That is, only by observing the Torah, which is the spice that yields equivalence of form, there is room for the delight and pleasure, which is the work of creation, to persist, meaning that it can be revealed to the lower ones.
Also, why was specifically the earth afraid and not the heaven? It is because fear pertains only to the receivers, perhaps they will not be able to receive. But as for the light, called “heaven,” fear does not pertain to the Creator. He certainly knows that what He wants will be carried out. Thus, all the fears pertain only to the receivers, called “earth.”
We should interpret that thanks to fear, which is that he might not be able to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, thanks to fear they were rewarded with the desire to bestow through the Torah. This is why it was still.
Reader: We'll go to the lesson from January 16, 2003.
M. Laitman: (25:40) We studied, we heard this article from the “Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 5, "What is, The Earth Feared and Was Still, in the Work?" Feared and was still, meaning the beginning of the work through fear, and the effect of the fear at the end of the work is stillness. Still, that means that he has attained what he wanted and can now work in order to bestow. And the fear is the act by which we reach this goal. The main thing for us is the goal. The goal is to resemble the Creator. “The Creator”, we call, the Creator appears to us as the sum of 620 actions which are in order to bestow. If in all of my 620 organs and limbs, which is 613 plus 7, which we call the commandments, the Rabanan, from the Rabbis, if in all of my 613, let's say easier, all of these desires of mine, from which my soul is composed, my vessel, if I can perform acts of bestowal, then it means that with all my body, all the parts of the soul, I perform actions in order to bestow, then all together, in all of them, then it means that I'm similar to the Creator. I reach that because my body is built by the light, my vessel, that is the body, it's called the vessel of the soul. And if I observe that in every, in each and every desire of this vessel, if I observe in order to bestow, in all the desires together, and by that I'm similar to the light which created the vessel, which is to say, the Creator. How do I come to be similar to the Creator? By correcting. We go from the end to the beginning, by correcting each and every desire with the action which is in order to bestow, to perform an action in each and every desire with the intention which is in order to bestow. That is called performing the Pkudin, deposits, or Pkudot, orders, commands. Pkudot from the word Pikadon [deposits]. And then, opposite each light, each light that created that desire, if I perform in that desire the action of bestow, in order to bestow, then the light that created this desire fills that desire, and then through coupling by striking, the light and the vessel are then equivalent, and by this the vessel, the will, becomes similar to the light, to the Creator. So my goal is to actually follow the commands, to execute on the commands. When I execute on the commands, this means that I'm observing the Torah and commandments. When I perform 620 actions in order to bestow, it means that I'm performing the act of commandment. And then the light that enters, the inner light, which is then received in the vessel, which is in order to bestow, with the intention in order to bestow, that is called Torah. And when I perform all of these commandments together, and all of their light enters, all at once, and is revealed as one, that means that I have the final correction, the end of the correction of my desires, with the intention to bestow, with the reception of the light of the Torah. How can I correct my entire body, Guf and to come to observe the commands, each and every command? There are counsels for how to do it. What is this? What is a counsel, advice? A command, means that I already have the intention to bestow that I've acquired, and through that I perform a coupling by striking and perform the command in reception in order to bestow, that's the command, commandment.
M. Laitman: (31:13) And the advice, the counsel comes before that. It's an advice on how to reach, in each and every desire, this intention to bestow. Meaning, to transition from the intention to receive, an intention for one's self, for one's own sake, to the intention, which is in order to bestow for the Creator's sake. That transition I achieve by performing these actions, which are called counsels or advice. Why advice? It's a name, in our world, too, you're advised to do this, you should do that. Why are you advised? Because here we have the matter of one's free choice. We have the issue of crossing through the Machsom, the barrier, which is, of course, an action which is not under the direct supervision of the person, because he is in order to receive. Then, of course, his entire body objects this work, which is in order to bestow, and there's nothing more contrary, more supernatural. And so here we need some actions, which are not exactly clear when performed, these advice, these counsels. It's not that I perform a direct action on my will to receive, so that the intention to bestow rides it instead of the intention to receive, but rather I perform various counsels. I perform various secondary kind of actions, so to speak, roundabout actions, by which I cause the intention in order to receive to be replaced, that instead of it, it will come the intention to bestow. And so through the light that performs, through these counsels, I perform various tricks, let's say, tricks. It's not a direct action. Rather, it facilitates the coming of the light, which will then perform its work on me. Why do I need to do it in that manner? Because in a direct way, the will to receive will never allow me to act. It's impossible for a person within the will to receive, it's impossible for him to kill the will to receive. It's only through this roundabout kind of action.
Student: Indirect.
M. Laitman: Yes, indirect. And the entire body, if it saw what he's doing directly, of course it would object and resist. It would just resist, and would burn up, and not allow us to even think about it for a second. And still we see on ourselves that we get up and come and listen, and even willing to accept these things. That's a very clever kind of concealment, which exists right in front of the will to receive. It's like a donkey; he doesn't understand what's being done to him until he's brought to be slaughtered. Even more so, he's willing to go in that direction, to go for it, seemingly even to want it, to facilitate all these operations until the last moment, because he doesn't see how, after all these actions, he doesn't see that they're not to his benefit. And only the last action is then done when the will to receive is distracted. Then it's too late, it's already slaughtered, and it becomes the will with the intention to bestow. So, the advice, that's a very, very complex thing. It's a very clever system, a very intricate system that stands above us in order to invest in us and in our environment, within us, outside of us, to input all the data, so that we can always advance through that without knowing how it's happening, without us understanding cause and effect. Rather, everything that's within your power to do, you should do, and then it'll happen. The main thing is to agree with everything that comes at every moment, and to join it with the goal, as I understand it to be, and the Creator, as I describe Him. And then, from that action, we begin advancing from that very moment, in the most effective way, towards the next state, where also you have the same problem, where the Creator and the goal vanish. And again, you need the Creator and the goal to bring it into the same picture, the same status. And so, to correct the intention for the desire, so it'll be not a desire with the intention to receive, but desire with the intention to bestow, meaning to move from abroad to the land of Israel, where the difference, of course, is the intention.
M. Laitman: (36:55) For that purpose, there exists the first advice, which is fear. As Baal HaSulam describes to us in the Zohar, in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” that there is fear, which is fear within the will to receive. This is fear that one fears, one feels in this world: "What will become of me? Me and my sons.” Sons - that is my property, what I beget and what I acquire, in general, everything I have. And later, he also comes to fear the world to come. We see that on people. That's opposite to animals, people feel time. It's not that he feels what happened yesterday and maybe what will happen tomorrow, beasts, animals feel that better than we do. They even feel what may happen in two or three days. We've become distant from nature, and we don't feel it. Also, what happened yesterday, they remember and feel and act accordingly, all beasts and animals. But humans are above time in this world. That means that he remembers previous generations, learns from them, from history, their developments, all the things that happened a hundred years, a thousand years ago. Also, we have books, we have the means. Also, he works for the sake of the future. Maybe now it's bad for me, but in a hundred years, it may be good. And he's willing to sacrifice his life for that. And so, the human also has the second kind of fear, which is the fear of the world to come. Meaning, what will I get through all this metamorphosis, all these revolutions that I go through? Maybe I will once have, maybe I'm preparing for myself some kind of good future, right? Because if a person feels the future, the future brings him a lack. These two fears are fears which exist in this world. And then there is the third fear, which is not towards the person, introverted, but rather towards the outside, extroverted. It's outside of him. Outside of him is society, is his nation or the world - not that, because that also belongs to him, but rather outside of him, means completely outside of his body with no calculation for himself. This is in order to bestow, and it can be only towards the Creator. Towards the society, in a way that's completely detached from him, maybe. And this examination is that, well, it reaches the Creator or the society, ultimately, it's the same thing. And so this third kind of fear, the fear that we need to reach, that's what it is, because if a person has it, that fear, meaning this lack to bestow upon the Creator, through this lack, he can already accept advice and counsel on how to achieve that intention, which is in order to bestow, and acquire that intention in order to bestow. For that he will perform the actions, which are in order to bestow, and those are already called Pkudot, commands or deposits. So there is a simple chain here, simple process of development, the spiritual development of a person. So through this first fear, to the second fear, the third fear, also the light in it reforms him, he follows the advice, what's within your power to do, you should do. And the advice, that's also called Torah and commandments, but not Torah and commandments where he receives in order to bestow the light of the Torah, but rather he summons to himself the light of the Torah, which reforms him, and then all his advice, all his actions in the advice, actions in the society, studying, various things, those are called commandments then. Each and every action that can awaken the reforming light, the surrounding light, rather, on me, which is called Torah, the reforming light. So in Torah and commandments we have two kinds, either the Torah and commandments which correct the desire, from in order to receive to in order to bestow, or we have the Torah and commandments which are the actions through coupling by striking, through the screen and the reception of the inner lights in order to bestow. Any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:24) First of all, why, it said in the beginning 620 actions, in order to bestow, then it said 613?
M. Laitman: 620, 613, it's the same thing, it's just we have some things in addition which are called the seven commandments of the Rabbis.
Student: We also discussed.
M. Laitman: Yes, the Rabanan, from the Rabbis, meaning Gadlut, it's an addition.
Student: There's a question, we said that we're correcting the intentions, meaning the desire remains, and we correct the intentions, meaning we don't kill the desire.
M. Laitman: We never engage with the desire itself. The desires come to us, awaken in us, without any request from us. Rather, each desire that comes, first comes with the intention in order to receive, and I only need to take care of the intention in order to bestow. And so, in each and every desire, meaning in each and every state I'm in, the state I'm in, that's the desire, in fact, in actuality, yes. So, the Ratzon [the desire], that's Malchut [the kingdom]. Ratzon, desire, that's… The Malchut is called “the world”. What is my world right now? What I feel in general, what is that? It's simply the desire, or a combination of desires, the sum-total of the desires, where each one of them is revealed in a specific way, specific intensity, specific kind of connection with other desires, a special form, and in general, within these desires, I feel some corresponding phenomenon, right? This phenomenon that I feel within them is felt by me as my situation, my world. Yes, this situation in general, if it's, well, the way it is, in and of itself, if it's good or bad, I check it according to my will: where I am, and how it is, maybe I can do good with that desire. Meaning, each time, if it's not sufficiently full with respect to the desires that are now revealed, the work with the desire, each time when I'm in the desire, I catch myself that either - Oh, wait, I'm there, I exist, I exist. So, apparently, there are various desires that I feel, in which I feel what I feel. These desires are for me to feel good. I want them to feel good, for there to be goodness in them. So, there is a goal through these desires to make myself equivalent to the Creator. So, this situation, which I now can adapt to the Creator, to be like the Creator, for me to have adhesion even in this state where I am. So, what I lack is, with those desires, I lack the intention to bestow. So, how do I do it? Let's first do it within those desires, in this image of the world that I now feel. I lack only this goal. What do I need to reach? And then I need to reach that goal, the Creator, for Him to dwell in me, yes? Then I'll be like Malchut, “he in whom the Dweller resides.” Right? Not just Malchut, desires, that being my world, which has no connection to reality. If I'm corrected, then my intentions will be towards the Creator and for Him, and then He will reside within me, and I will feel Him and be in adhesion with Him. He will completely, He will really fill me.
M. Laitman: (46:24) So, then I need to look for how to bring this picture close to me. This is what Baal HaSulam actually describes in his letter, on page 64, in “Pri Hacham.” So, from the image where I am right now, where I need to reach, to reach it, that's in a moment, right? The next world, the world to come is what will come in a moment. So, from the divide, the gap between these two states, if I delve into it and start studying this situation, then I reach various kinds of advice on how to transition from the current, uncorrected state to the next, corrected state, and how to transition from this state to that state, and that is called performing or following the advice - things that I'm being advised by people who have passed this already, and they're called wise, and they're guides.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:32) The question is, if we disseminate this advice, then we go to the next advice?
M. Laitman: In each and every moment, I have this awakening of other desires and a special kind of connection between them, different measures of each and every desire, where they become a different desire altogether, and so on. So, my world, my inner state keeps changing. The desires change, the records, yes? And so, each time I need to feel where I am, where I need to get, and how I need to adapt myself to all these states that keep changing, in such a way where each time the goal and the Creator will be desirable and felt in all these desires as the factors determining what these desires will now do, how they will act. This is exactly what he describes in “Israel and Kudsha Brich Hu are one.” This I need to describe according to the goal; I want this to happen right now.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): () Is it cause and effect, or is it an accumulation?
M. Laitman: There is a connection of cause and consequence. There's a connection between the cause and consequence in all my states, because in the chain, in that chain where my soul has incarnated from above down, this vessel went through the sin of the degree of the first man, Adam HaRishon, then it kept descending degree by degree into the current state, and even lower. From the lowest state where the vessels fell I rose for dozens of incarnations until I reached a place, a state where I know where I am, I started this path consciously. Now, I begin to realize that chain of states that then came from above down, by falling down, so to speak. And now I am using the same chain, I am going back up. How do you say it?
Student: Assemble?
M. Laitman: Not assemble, I collect the chain.
Student: I wind it, hold it.
M. Laitman: I roll it back, yes, going back to the previous states. All the states that I'm going from state to state, certainly they are absolute, they are signed and sealed, they are already in my soul. They have a cause and consequence, just as we learn between the Partzufim, where the AHP of the Upper One is in the Galgalta Eynaim the lower one, and there's nothing for me where I can skip between degrees, and skip over states, or that I can take a different path, there isn't. I can only hasten the changing of the states, that's it. Then all the advice, all the counsels are only in order to accelerate time, and all the commandments are also how to carry out each and every commandment in the most beneficial, meaning the fastest way. I cannot do anything differently, both in quality and quantity, the action is the same action, but how to come to it quicker, both through the counsel and through the commandment, or deposit, meaning, the correction and the execution of the action itself. This is my participation in creation - how to be the active part in creation, the pushing part, that's what the Creator wants from me, that I will push 100% all this thing back. If not, He will help me through suffering, to discover that I'm not pushing. There's nothing more. It's a different matter. Let's say, you would choose the next state you wish to be in, relative to the goal. So you would also find a record, meaning if you would look for it, in what would you establish the choice of men? So other than this thing, there's no way to determine. If you could imagine, it doesn't matter which thousands of possibilities, nevertheless this is the only thing you can say about it, that it can be independent, and all the rest of the things, they have no need to be independent. These records, the chain of records, what difference does it make in what form and through which specific actions we come to be on the degree of the Creator, to be like Him in a never-ending coupling. We don't understand that the only possibility in determining free choice is truly the only, the only possibility, because the rest of the things are inanimate, are, how should I say, they lack importance, understand, compared to this particular free choice, that I pushed this whole thing to happen by myself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:57) He speaks of counsel. When a person wants to gain something and doesn't know how, you could counsel him, but how do you counsel a three-year-old? A three-year-old you don't counsel, you tell him directly, listen, if you don't want to drown, don't do this and that, if you don't want to be burned by the fire, don't touch that.
M. Laitman: Everything that passes over humanity includes all these counsels, except these counsels are on such degrees where seemingly they have no direct connection with the development toward the goal. But nevertheless, what kind of advice do we give people in our society? We advise them to use their will to receive in different forms that are beneficial to them and the society. Meaning, nevertheless, through all kinds of, I'd say, actions, we push ourselves unconsciously toward the end of correction. And there's a certain point from which we can push ourselves consciously, aware of all of it. That’s it. Meaning, like it or not, each one in humanity, each and every one is actually doing the work of the Creator. And other than that, he's doing nothing. That's what you will see from above, I promise you. There's no one here, from the Creator we're all righteous.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:00) My question is different. If we're talking about advice, counsel, advice, that means that the one who receives it can determine if to receive it, to accept it or not, to judge it if it's good or bad. But in reality, we don't have that ability.
M. Laitman: No, I said that a counsel, advice, you say, you know, if I have something to do this way and that way, and then I can judge it, evaluate it. No, it's not where our point of freedom is, free choice. Rather, the problem is that if you would know what this counsel should bring you and in what way it's working in me, then you are correct. But we don't know it. If we would know, our will to receive would never let us carry out this advice. That's why the advice comes to us in such a way that we do things without our knowledge. And it always works out that you have to do it above reason, meaning outside your own system. And now, it seems to us that this is outside of my own system. That's what it looks like, that directly, I cannot do it. So I do it through something, through someone. I will do it. This means that I'm still in Lo Lishma. I approach Lishma through these actions, but I'm still in Lo Lishma, in order to receive. Meaning, I come to study, and by that I tell myself, it will be good. Between the friends, it will be good. Everything will be good. I will feel good. This is called Lo Lishma. By that, I'm seemingly confusing, I'm throwing off the will to receive. But it's not a real advice. The advice is that you do an action which is truly against the will to receive, and it turns into the will to bestow.
Student: So this entire concealment, it's like being drugged by the system, the will to receive. It's like drugging him.
M. Laitman: No, no, no. They didn't do it in order to confuse, to confound it. Seemingly, they brought concealment for that. No. Concealment is a special action from above. You see, we're learning about the worlds, Partzufim, that descend from above down. These are all degrees of concealment. Meaning, those are actions. Also below, up, when we ascend and we make corrections, by that, we reveal. Right? We make an action different than the concealment that was there from above, down. In other words, concealment is not that we're simply being confounded, so we will do something, tricked into do something. Rather, the action is on the concealment.
Student: But not in order to bring about revelation.
M. Laitman: To bring about revelation, yes. To bring about revelation. Meaning, the action in order to bestow, the revelation, and this compatibility, and observing this commandment is one and the same. Except if it appears for my will to receive indirectly, through the posterior of the Upper One, then it means that I'm in concealment. Let's read perhaps from the Book of Zohar. Let's divide it. Book of Zohar, Volume 1.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:22) These counsels follow the chain of cause and consequences. Does it mean that when we reach that stage, it just happens, it's a one-time thing, and then we continue to other counsels, and that's it?
M. Laitman: You are asking the following about these counsels and commandments: what do I do, do I go from one to the other, and that's how I climb the ladder of degrees, or in each and every state? I have the same actions called either counsels or commandments. Look, how many states you have now, over the years that you are in the Ten preparation, in all those states you have only one counsel - to make the society stronger, the study to be more purposeful. And the same goes for each and every state you're in, meaning it's a single counsel, seemingly. We're going to read about it. But one counsel applied to all sorts of states that they bring to you. Meaning, the states that you're going through are 613 states, because you have 613 desires. But it's not that you have to perform 613 different desires, different qualities, no. Now I have a special desire that awakens in me - I make corrections over it, then second desire - I make corrections. Seemingly, the actions are the same. The corrections are the same actions, I have to bring each and every desire from the state of in order to receive to the state of in order to bestow, that's it. The execution seems different to me because the desire is different, the desire itself, right? So it appears to me that I'm in a different situation, each time life is new, but the content of everything remains, they stay the same.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:03:13) Let's read, Zohar, volume 1, page 242. 242. General explanation for all 14 commandments and how they are divided into the 7 days of creation. We say that all of the Torah centers around 7 days of Genesis, and all the 7 days of Genesis are really concentrated in one day, the first day. And here it outlines for us how the 7 days of creation, of Genesis, assemble to 14 commandments. There are 14 commandments, and if we do them, then we carry out all the corrections. The 613 commandments in the Torah are called deposits or commandments. It's also as well as counsels, both commandments and counsels, these commandments in the Torah. Again, the commandments in the Torah, we don't know what is this concept. Now he tells us even more, that there are commandments and counsels or deposits and counsels, meaning those written commandments. And the difference is that in everything there's face and posterior. And the preparation for something is called “posterior” and the attainment of something is called “the face,” meaning that face and posterior of the vessel, it's the face and posterior of the action. And in this way, in the Torah, you have commandments of “we shall do and we shall hear.” As it's written by our sages, it's in the way it's written in Gemara, the pages are divided in a certain way. It says, the ones who do, why? To listen to Him, meaning that there's doing and then there's hearing. And first to do, then to hear. And when you keep the Torah and commandments in the form of doing before you are rewarded with hearing, meaning you correct something, you do something, and to hear it is like the reward. Then the commandments are called 613 counsels and they are posterior, in preparation. And when you're rewarded with hearing His words, when we receive as a result of the counsels, then the 613 commandments become commandments or deposits, commandments from the word “deposits,” Pikadon. Because there are 613 commandments in general. For in each and every commandment, the light of a special degree is deposited against a special organ, the 613 organs and tendons of the soul, where in the soul in total, we have 613 parts. And then of the body, the soul and the body, the body is called the desire to receive 613 desires, and when they correct themselves, then there are 613 intentions over them. And when you receive the light through a coupling in striking, then there are 613 commandments. And you find that making the commandment, by doing it, he draws it to the organ that corresponds to it in the soul and the body and the degrees of light that belong to that same organ and tendon. Organ and tendon, meaning that he's trying to be more specific. He's in it. For him, it's clear about organ and tendon, meaning that they are, as we learned about the second restriction, that we don't have true vessels from level three and level four of coarseness. Rather, they are vessels before the end of correction, where the stony heart does not participate in them. So that's why he calls them organs and tendons. And this is the face of the commandments. And the light continues to fill the vessels. And from the point of view of the face of the commandments called Pkudin, commandments. Rabbi Shimon explains the 14 commandments. Why 14? We had 613. Because in total, we have 14 such groups that include all the 613 commandments, just like the seven days of creation include 7,000 years. That's why he divided them under the seven days of creation, and he tied them, each one, to the day that is attributed to it. Each day, to the day that is attributed to it. And because they include all 613 commandments, you should exert in keeping them every day as much as possible.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:09:16) Meaning, we have these actions. These actions, in general, are divided into 14 groups, and these groups correspond to seven primary states that we go through called 7,000 years or the seven days of action. The seven days of action come from below down; they descend from below down. This is how it works and we have to do it from below up until we reach Shabbat through all those days, by ourselves. So there's a correspondence between what I'm doing with the counsels and the commandments each and every day. And then you'll see, we'll read a little how he elaborates on the actions that we have to do. Why do I want us to read? So you will see how much those things are truly in the world of Atzilut, and they don't belong to our world and to our state, here with our hands and feet that we can as if we can do something here and determine anything. The original commandment, meaning they talk about the commandment, not about the counsels that correct the will to receive in order to bestow to the intention to bestow, rather we receive the light in order to bestow, meaning we make the commandment. The first commandment is fear because He is great and rules over everything. This is the whole of the Torah and commandments, the degree of AVI of Atzilut, Yod of HaVaYaH, which is pure air of GAR of Bina, whereas great or Rav refers to Upper Abba, in whom the Hochma Stima'a of Arich Anpin, which is Yod, which is hidden, rules over everything, refers to Upper Ima with the filling of Vav-Dalet of Yod. You remember that diagram that we talked about yesterday where Yod is on one hand and Vav Dalet on the other side of Hochma Stima'a in concealment? And since the Hochma Stima'a of Arich Anpin is hidden in them, meaning in Abba and Ima, Hochma was concealed within them and does not move on to the lower ones, where the worlds are not in order to receive her, the worlds are everything that's below Tabur of Arich Anpin and below AVI. They're not fit to receive her from them prior to the end of correction; therefore they only give out light of Hassadim from AVI, which is called, and below, which is called Avira Dachia, pure air. Dachia, which has no Hochma in it, it's pure, it's diluted if you will.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:12:27) For this reason they do not have a revealed verse in the Torah, as it is written, like the five Sefirot, it's like the secret of a Creator. “In the beginning God created,” which is the obscure verse, for the speaker is not mentioned here. And the second verse, after “in the beginning God created the earth and the heavens, and the land was unformed and void, in darkness,” and this is already the spirit of God, for those who do not observe the commandment of fear. And these are four deaths: Tohu is strangulation, Bohu is stoning, darkness is burning and wind is killing. Meaning, there are four states here that a person needs to work to go through, and these four deaths are how he puts to death his desire to receive, and by them, by these actions we come to correction, and so on. And then he explains again how it is all in the Rosh of the world of Atzilut, it takes place where all these commands take place, and to reach these commands we need first the advices, and the article that's before that, like he said here: the second commandment. The second commandment is love on two sides, the side of Hesed and the side of harsh judgment, meaning there here should already be love, and here from onwards he goes and describes to us all the commands, and all these commands are all at the head of the world of Atzilut. And we're going to go backwards. They talk about, there's Rashbi coming out of the cave article, meaning that he is already emerging, it's like this degree called Rabbi Shimon goes out to revelation, then what he reveals. So he says, Rabbi Shimon opened: “all the commandments in the Torah that the Creator gave to Israel are written all usually in one verse. God created the world, the heaven and earth until, and there will be light.” As he says, and he goes, and it's the commandment of fear and punishment, and all that's included in the commandments of the Torah. Meaning, what is he saying? Everything assembles and cascades backwards and only reaches the Keter, the desire to do good to His created beings, since that's where it comes from. And assembling all these actions so that a person will know in each of his actions what he really needs to do in the end, gives him the correct direction to the goal. So here too, he clarifies for us in the articles of the “Pkudin Oraita,” the commands of light, the first commandment. In the beginning, God created, as he says, this verse includes within it all the commands, all the corrections, the fillings, everything that we have in the reality that we need to do, and all that the reality needs to go through. So then he says, this is first of all, the first commandment, and it's called the commandment of fear, the commandment of fear, which is called “in the beginning,” Reshit in Hebrew, and therefore it's written that initially the wisdom comes from the fear of the Creator, and so on. He tells us about the commandments of the light. We are now towards the studies of the world of Atzilut, so from time to time we will come back to these parts to see how the entire GAR of Atzilut, which is eventually what we're going to get to know, where all these actions are performed of corrections, here that he writes about. And this is how our entire path is divided to advices and then commands. Any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:48) You said that a person constantly relates every difficulty, so then he advances correctly to the goal. So how to perform that scrutiny?
M. Laitman: I never said that a person knows how to move from state to state, rather a person has the choice to search for advices. They're not just called advices for nothing. When I seek advice in order to reach the next state, from above the actions are clear, but rather towards me it's not clear. I'm in the concealment. If I wasn't in concealment, I wouldn't be able to perform anything at all. Because there's concealment, those actions that I need to perform, but in concealment, are called in place of actions - advices, where it's kind of like, try to do it so, you understand? But try to do so is only in relation to my senses, which are foggy, obscured, otherwise I wouldn't be able to even move my finger towards correction. And with us, these advices are also clarified in such a manner that you can do, you can't do, you can do it and perform it or not, maybe in another way. That is because we are in the darkness, and we need to activate here our free choice. If you were to see what to do, if you knew what to do, then you would do and know, or you wouldn't be able to do, and you wouldn't want to know. This darkness is in order to give you the possibility to choose, to make something of yourself. Not to choose the path, but rather to search by what actions, by what thoughts, in what way you can cause? Meaning, you're kind of looking in the darkness for the path. But this darkness altogether is an inclusive manner of all the desires that are not corrected in you. And in them you feel that you're in darkness, but you're not in the darkness. And specifically in the darkness you are in relation with the goal. And that feeling is precisely in order to grasp the Creator in the darkness, to want to bring Him in all those points of darkness, and then the state is clarified. I don't know how to depict it, describe it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:24) So, in total, if there's no demand in him, so the direction is?
M. Laitman: Correct direction or incorrect direction, we can only in this darkness see according to the results. Like he says there, “another god is infertile and does not give fruit.”
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:55) What does it mean, according to the result? Which result?
M. Laitman: There can only be one simple result in us, the revelation of His godliness to His created beings in this world.
Student: So till then I don't know if I'm on the path or I'm not on the path?
M. Laitman: What you're asking is why after every action I've done in concealment I receive revelation, yes? If you were to receive revelation before you correct the desires, all your desires, then you would once more not be in free choice. You have the intellect of a baby. Tell me please, when a person advances on the path, does he have more free choice or less free choice? Tell me, who is freer, the laborer or the factory manager?
Student: The laborer.
M. Laitman: The laborer is freer, you see? That's correct. The laborer is freer, he has no limitations, he kind of doesn't see them, he doesn't understand them. Therefore, and where are the limitations from? From the darkness. From the darkness. If these things were revealed to you, then it would no longer be a limitation, you would be free to do in them everything. Meaning, to the extent in which we ascend the degrees prior to correcting ourselves, each time we are in darkness and in greater limitations. He gives the example there, like just before the dawn, the darkness is the darkest.
Student: So it's as if I'm in the darkness.
M. Laitman: And before the coming of the Messiah, the Klipot, the shells, increase and so on. The generation's face is like the face of a dog, so a great audacity will happen.
Student: So I'm from the darkness, trying to understand the Creator?
M. Laitman: What's being given to you is by hiding the darkness, the darkness hides more and more. Okay, not hiding, we used the wrong word, making it burdened more, heavier. You have to get used to the current of the text. He is also hiding, but this is what I exactly want to say: you're given more and more concealment, because it's wanted that you will make free choice in a higher degree. What's in a higher degree? Even more darkness, and even more darkness, and even more. “Anyone who's greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” More failures, more obstructions, more all kinds of things. In special degrees, correct. In special states already, not in states that are kind of crude and simple. In a certain cunning, kind of, from above. But otherwise, how will free choice exist?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:14) So in the end, I'm playing with nothing. It's like toys, and I'm searching for the darkness.
M. Laitman: This is what we call that the Creator is playing with the whale. The Creator has made a laughter for me. Certainly, this is how it is. But why is it called “laughter?” Because it is truly in such a way, this correction is such, not direct. Laughter is a very great thing. In the Rosh of Atzilut, we will learn about these phenomena.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:54) The path of Torah and path of suffering, is that from advice or from choice?
M. Laitman: The path of Torah and the path of suffering is the choice. What's the choice? The choice is how to awaken. There is no path of suffering, yes? The path of suffering is considered that I don't give all the energy that I can in the current state, 100% ideally, if I were truly to do so. And then these things are revealed to me as forces that obligate me to reach the recognition of evil, and these forces are felt in me as bad, as suffering. Now, who determines whether my current state will be through the path of Torah or in the current state in the path of suffering? It's not like the path, but we just, again, I'm saying it, it's just the way we call it. It's defined by the environment. I either receive enough forces from the environment to continue or not. Out of myself, I have nothing to search for. Within me, I have nothing. All right. So we scrutinized the article a little bit.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:38) When a person recognizes his will to receive, he knows he's activated, that he's a machine, and nothing depends on him. So what should he do?
M. Laitman: You see, that is free choice. A person hears for a few years what he needs to do, and he asks, what do I need to do every moment? Are you here for the first time? Well, the chair that you're sitting on with your butt already thinks about this thing a few times, because it heard, and you don't know. How it is erased from us, huh? If you were to tell someone on the outside that you heard a thousand times at least what you need to do, what kind of group? What are they all like that? What happened? Who did you take for students? That is called choice, where each time the desire to receive is changing. And because you corrected the previous one, and in it you already asked all that question, in the current desire to receive, you didn't yet receive the answer. Only the desire awakened. So we need to search for the answer - what I need to do? You're now sitting in your current state with a new desire to receive as if you never… there's a goal, there's this, there's that, what I need to do, I don't know anything. Yes? Like that? That's what is considered that every day there will be as new in your eyes, because everything is renewed. But it's actually renewed specifically because you scrutinized the previous state. And therefore, each and every time, as much as there's every moment innovations, and the same questions, the same states as if you re-chewed them and there's no innovation. That's considered that's a new desire. It cannot be that there is some, well, as if it's repeating itself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:50) What exactly is the point of concealment on His existence, on His greatness, or His intention? Is it something different every time? What's the most important here?
M. Laitman: The most important thing in concealment, and what the concealment exactly is, is that they're concealing from us that we can certainly disconnect from the desire to receive and think about the other. That's what the concealment's about. I don't believe that such a thing will happen. I want it because I think it'll be good for me. Even to think about the other, I'm willing if it'll be good for me. Even about the Creator - if it'll be good to me. And I want to be it in heart and soul, because I want it to be good for me. And inside, there's a thin string for me to have something in return. And I'm barely aware that He's there. That's considered Lo Lishma, from which we move to Lishma, where there's 99% that can already be Lishma and 1% not Lishma. And from all of this, give me 1%. I'm willing to make you a billionaire. Just 1 million, let me have also. You understand? What is it altogether? It's nothing. But for that, I'm working. Otherwise, I wouldn't make you a billionaire. And that too, seemingly, is concealed from me, that that's what I'm working for. So the concealment is upon the result, which is disconnected from my desire to receive. Where I will be in a state where I'm completely, well, I won't be at all. My entire action is simply; we can't depict this. No matter how we spin this, I am ready for this action. And if I'm ready, trust the desire to receive. It has some kind of, it'll find some kind of reward from this, some profit. That's what the concealment's upon. And from that, all kinds of concealments, there'll be all kinds of obscurity upon different senses and actions and relations. And to the extent in which we certainly will come closer to the execution, then the darkness increases. What is the increasing darkness? Where I need to be more and more in concealment from the result that I'm just about to reach. Meaning, I'm advancing, and the concealment is increasing. Otherwise, I will truly run away, run away from the path.
Question (New York): (01:32:51) Why do I labor in one thing, and the filling comes to me completely in something else?
M. Laitman: That's the matter of the concealment. If I were to exert and be filled in the same vessel, then it would be in order to receive, yes? Laboring for filling myself, and receiving filling in the same vessel, then I would go lower and lower into the shell. Yes? But if I labor in one thing, yes? I have labored and I have found, and I receive something else, here I have an opportunity for free choice. How do they know already? Oh, they're hearing the translation, because they're kind of asking from the Moscow group, is really the men, the women. I'll answer all the rest of these matters. Not in the forum, but we have a part in their forums called “The Stages of the Ladder,” where I will answer. I'm very happy that there are new people here from Moscow. Very good, thank you.