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

Daily Morning Lesson: April 12, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. Rabash. Love of Friends - 1 (1984)

Lesson with Rav 5-20-2003

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we'll learn from a lesson from Rav on "Love of Friends - 1." We will spend some time, six minutes, studying it in the Tens afterwards, and each Ten is welcome to summarize the article after they're done. Now we'll go to the article, "Love of Friends - 1."

Reading: (00:37) Article No. 3, 1984

“And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’ And he said, ‘I seek my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are feeding the flock?’” (Genesis, 37).

A man “wandering in the field” refers to a place from which the crop of the field to sustain the world should spring. And the works of the field are plowing, sowing, and reaping. It is said about that: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” and this is called “a field which the Lord has blessed.”

Baal HaTurim explained that a person wandering in the field refers to one who strays from the path of reason, who does not know the real way, which leads to the place he should reach, as in “an ass wandering in the field.” And he comes to a state where he thinks that he will never achieve the goal he should achieve.

eaning, “How can I help you?” “And he said: ‘I seek my brethren.’” By being together with my brothers, that is, by being in a group where there is love of friends, I will be able to mount the trail that leads to the house of God.

This trail is called “a path of bestowal,” and this way is against our nature. To be able to achieve it, there is no other way but love of friends, by which each one can help his friend.

“And the man said: ‘They are departed hence.’” And RASHI interpreted that they had departed themselves from the brotherhood, meaning they do not want to bond with you. This, in the end, caused Israel’s exile in Egypt. And to be redeemed from Egypt, we must take it upon ourselves to enter a group that wants to be in love of friends, and by that we will be rewarded with exodus from Egypt and the reception of the Torah.

Reader: And now, friends, we'll continue to Rav's lesson from the 20th of May, 2003, please. 

M. Laitman: (06:44) We see here from this article, "Love of Friends," just how simply and decisively Rabash writes. He just doesn't want to enter into arguments. Either you accept it, and then you merit entering Egypt, which is also a great merit, and then you come out of it and receive the Torah, or if you do not accept it, then everything written here will not happen with us.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (07:31) And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field, meaning that a person who comes from the degree of a beast and wishes to reach the degree of man, Adam, that is, to resemble the Creator, already begins to emerge from the degree of a beast and immediately feels that he is wandering in the field. That is, the path to the goal, if there is indeed a goal, begins to feel unclear to him, not understood, and he feels himself to be lost. Whoever does not awaken to become a man, to find the man within himself, does not feel that he is wandering in the field. Then he has the question, "What are you seeking?" That is, what do I need? What help do I require? How do I come out of this state of wandering in the field? And he must find the answer. Both the questions and the answers, they're all within one person. What is it, "I seek my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where are they feeding the flock?" That is, through which shepherd, through whom, who leads me, can I advance? 

Meaning, how I can go from being a beast to being a man and reach the degree of man? Through what force, what guidance can I attain this degree? A man wandering in the field, meaning, refers to a place from which the crop of the field to sustain the world should spring. Meaning that the person is in a place of his development and by his connecting to this place and his use of it, he takes its fruits and through that he advances through the fruits he finds in the field. What fruits, what produce does he have in the field? After his work, which is the work of plowing, where he enters more deeply into the will to receive, sowing, and afterwards gathering the produce, all these stages come with tears for one who is ready for it. Only one who is ready goes through all these stages until he reaches, "they shall reap in joy." And then he has the food of a man, not the food of a beast. Not the grains, but flour and bread. And our work is in sorrow because they work for our ego. We sow it and plow it, and afterward we gather the produce, and all these stages come with tears for one who is ready for it. Only one who is ready does it and goes through these stages until he reaches, "they shall reap in joy." Joy means that he already comes to understanding and connection with the Creator, that his attitude toward the Creator is no longer one of tears, he no longer feels that he disagrees with the Creator, but on the contrary, when he comes to the produce, the produce means that he reaches corrected vessels and fulfillment, so that he can already reach a state of bestowal, and as a result, he has joy. Everything is in relation to the Creator, his entire attitude. This is called "a field which the Lord has blessed," meaning that he finds blessing in all his work by reaching the produce. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (12:20) When a man is wandering in the field, Baal HaTurim explained that a person refers to the aspect of man, so when the quality of man begins to take shape within us, to form within us, then he wanders from the path of reason. Meaning he does not know the true path that leads to the place, the goal that he must reach. He's confused, wondering. If he wishes the form of man to grow within him, he must reach adhesion, Dvekut with the Creator, and the man needs to reach that adhesion, if he is a man, if he resembles the Upper One. But if he is a donkey, an ass, he reaches adhesion with matter, as in the expression, "a donkey or an ass wandering in the field." He comes to a state where he thinks that he will never reach the goal that he must attain, because all the confusions are above his reason, and the goal itself seems to change and remain hidden each time, where through reason he cannot scrutinize anything, and within all of his strength, with his qualities, he doesn't find anything to rely on. There's no foundation within him where he can be certain that if he takes certain traits or thoughts, scrutinizes them, develops them, or learns something more, then he'll be able to progress further. He sees clearly that he has no preparation within himself for a state that can give him tools to clarify his place, his state, his steps, or the direction of the goal, and through it advance in a comfortable, good, and stable way. The person has no such preparation. 

Then, there is truly a question, after all the questions that he has, after he has tried with all his strength to work in the field, which could take several years, where he wants to reach the degree of man. Then "the man asked him, saying, 'What are you seeking?'" Now he's already a man, he's not an ass wandering in the field. He's already a man. So, what do you seek now as a man? That is, how can I help you? Meaning, he's already now asking the man within him, how will we get along? How will we reach the goal? Then it becomes clear to him that he needs, "I seek my brethren." Meaning, only by being together with his brothers. 

Meaning, that it doesn't help me being alone. I, within myself, am incapable of finding any forces to advance to the goal. This feeling must really surface from within a person, through many discernments, after a long time, maybe after several years. And if it has yet to surface, it has yet to be felt as this necessary realization that he needs to have someone beside him. Not just one person, but a group, which doesn't necessarily need to be large or high, like that's great in height, but brothers, means people like him. And without these forces that he can receive from the outside, he cannot advance forward. 

Meaning, he really feels that he is wandering, that he is alone in the world, and there is no one around him. And if there are not a few others like him, then he is lost. He has no ability, no possibility — not to stabilize himself — no, to equip oneself with knowledge and with the strength to take even one small step toward the goal. With both the knowledge and the strength, everything he can accept, meaning to scrutinize and understand and receive only through people like himself, who together with him yearn for the goal.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (17:53) Within himself alone, this cannot grow. This is the knowledge that he must reach, that needs to be as clear to him as daylight. That this is the way, and nothing else, and not because it is written, or someone said it, or because some say so, as it is called. Instead, truly, "I seek my brothers." Meaning, he has this need only for that. That is, by being in a group where there is love of friends — it does not have to be a large group, nor a group of great people, no. They need to be like-minded, his friends on the path, connected with him, friend from the word connection. Then I will be able to get onto the track that leads to the house of the Lord. Without this, he is not on the track at all. That is, he does not even begin the plowing. Plowing, means inserting something into the will to receive and beginning to carve out a line, a path. 

So without this, he cannot make that track. He does not know how to relate to himself in a way that will eventually yield produce. And this track is called the path of bestowal. That, too, a person needs to understand from within, through all kinds of discernments that he undergoes. And this path is against our nature. Even though it is against our nature, but he reaches a state where he feels that only in that way can he advance to the house of the Lord, and the house of the Lord is necessary for him; and the acquisition of this quality is necessary for him, even though that he is incapable of it, and initially he does not want it. That is, in his heart, he does not want it. It is still under the control of the ass, under the control of matter. Yet within him arises this understanding that he needs to attain the quality of bestowal. And in order to achieve that, there is no other counsel but love of friends. As cause and consequence, he comes to understand that reaching the house of the Lord is possible only by acquiring the quality of bestowal, and acquiring the quality of bestowal is possible only through the friends, and what kind of connection must there be between him and the friends? A connection called love, which means a complete partnership on the path to the house of the Lord, such that between them there is adhesion, called love. Through this, each one can help his friend reach the same goal. 

That is, if everyone acquires love, some kind of mutual attitude to one another which must be scrutinized. It is quite complex what love between friends actually is, it might even appear to us as the opposite, that they relate to each other without any special mercy or consideration. Love of friends means a connection between people in relation to the goal. Where only in relation to the goal do they have a tight connection such that they are ready to be as one man with one heart, all hearts connected to the same goal, to the same direction. From this, it becomes clear who can be our friend and through which group we can advance.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (22:48) And the man said, “They have departed from here.” What does this mean? Rashi explains that they have removed themselves from the brotherhood, that they do not want to connect with you. That is, a person feels that the group is unable to connect together. But after much work among them, he discovers that they are incapable. Where on the one hand they are like brothers on the corporeal level, but in order to reach the house of the Lord, disputes and disagreements become revealed among them. And then what happens? "They have departed from here," meaning they do not want to connect with you. And this ultimately caused…that is, if we nevertheless continue on the path and want to connect, then we feel that there is no connection. 

In other words, we enter deeper into the scrutiny of the will to receive, into greater depth, and we feel that there is no connection. And through this, the people of Israel entered the exile in Egypt. Meaning only through exile can they connect among themselves to reach a war with Pharaoh. And in order to come out of Egypt, we must accept upon ourselves to gather into a group. Then what was merely a family, as it was called, where they had a natural corporeal connection, so they became a nation. A nation means that they have a connection based on a goal, a spiritual connection between people. It was only a family that entered Egypt, Jacob's family, his sons, Joseph and his sons. 

The whole matter of Egypt began with Joseph meeting his brothers. And in order to invert that corporeal connection, where we understand that we need to be together to advance toward the Creator, otherwise we have no choice, we are in the will to receive, but in order to enter into a different kind of connection, a spiritual one, that's already in the exodus from Egypt. Through that work within the will to receive, they multiply, where they wish to be in the love of friends, and through this they will merit to come out of Egypt. Then we will have already the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, meaning that their egoism will invert into a connection between all of its parts, not like a connection in a corporeal family, but a spiritual connection, as a nation, a people, as one man with one heart. And then they merit the reception of the Torah. So these things are very, very clear. 

M. Laitman: (26:35) What I want to emphasize again is that all this must come to a person as something necessary from within himself. Just as in life, as we grow, we gradually come to new needs, new necessities. And so to a person, after several mistakes and several attempts, he discovers that he alone cannot manage. And he discovers not only that he cannot manage alone, but that there is no such thing as being alone at all. And through connection, he can reach something entirely different in quality, etc. Meaning all these discernments must come from within us through great exertion. And we can accelerate the time and reach all these discernments in a relatively short period. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:11) But how to transmit this necessity to the whole of the society? Sometimes amongst the friends there are such who have this necessity. 

M. Laitman: The necessity. We can feel the necessity only after we scrutinize that necessity from within ourselves. It comes after several actions, as cause and consequence, and then the necessity becomes revealed, a new deficiency becomes revealed. It cannot come from the fact that I hear about it. I can read it. You know, I've been reading this since the year 1983 or 1984, whenever it was written, 84, I think. So that's 18 years, plus two. So what, I can keep reading and reading, and it will remain before me like some - nice, great. I hear it, it's written nicely. But is it within me as something necessary, that without it I understand I have nothing to do? 

Student: It's still theoretical. 

M. Laitman: It's still theoretical, intellectual, it's not emotional. It's not that if someone asks me, "What's missing in your life?" I would say, what's missing is a group, without which, and beyond which, is the goal. At least, afterwards I'd say that the group and the goal is the same. But at least that the goal is attained only through the group, and that the group for me now is something very, very important, very precious, yes? 

Student: I'm asking how… 

M. Laitman: How can one reach this? By hurrying to perform actions until you feel that you're wandering in the field, and that you cannot do anything in the field to produce anything from it. That is, that you feel that you are lost. When you are lost, then you ask, "Where are the brothers?" And then you feel that you don't have them, and they have left you, etc. Read the story of Joseph. 

Student: But where's the work here? If a person does something to bestow in order to receive, then we say, maybe "sit and don't act" is better. Then he's confused. What can be done? Maybe he's causing harm. Maybe it's not good for him to act. Or should he make a mistake, nevertheless? 

M. Laitman: No, you don't need to make mistakes. You must make mistakes anyway. That's not how it works. If you go from the outset to make mistakes, it's not called a mistake. A mistake means that I'm sure something is correct, and afterwards it is revealed to me that I was mistaken. But what does it mean, I was mistaken? It does not mean that everything I did was unnecessary. In the work of the Creator, if I was mistaken, it means that from the outset I moved toward the goal, and I chose as much as possible all the means that I thought could bring me to the goal, and then it becomes clear to me that those means were incorrect. In other words, afterward I find a more correct means. The goal itself was not precisely defined beforehand. Now I understand it more accurately, more sharply, and that is called being mistaken. I was mistaken in relation to how I began the path, but now I've advanced in scrutiny. After scrutiny, when I feel that I was mistaken, so now I feel myself much more directed, sharper, more clarified toward the goal. That is called making a mistake. I've acquired knowledge through it. I have really gained an asset. I didn't progress to the goal in terms of execution. I progressed to the goal in terms of scrutiny, and now I need to carry it out. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:40) So what is the right goal to set at the outset? 

M. Laitman: Whatever appears to me each time as the correct goal, I place it before me. I take a step forward toward it, time after time. Then it becomes clear to me that this step was incorrect, and the previous knowledge, together with that deviation, right? So now I adjust my direction more accurately. In other words, the mistake is a certain kind of feeling of how much more precisely I need to direct myself. You understand? And now I have a different resolution, a new ability to aim myself more correctly. If I had not acted and then felt the mistake, I would have remained in the same state as before. Now I've acquired a greater deficiency, a lack, which is greater both in quantity and in quality and also in direction. 

Student: And in what respect does that sensitivity become deeper? 

M. Laitman: Sensitivity becomes deeper both in the scrutiny of the means and in the scrutiny of the goal. In other words, now I know the goal a little bit more, what it means to bestow, what the Creator is, what it means to adhere, how I picture it to myself somewhat differently now, and accordingly I feel it. I feel the means toward it differently, that what I had before was not it. Through that, it's impossible. Instead, specifically through something a bit different, through more connection, through seeking to receive strength from the outside. Mistakes are not just mistakes that leave a bitter feeling, and that's it. A mistake is a deviation in direction. It is a correction of direction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:14) A person is lost in the field, and he approaches all of his states through that inner predicament. And on the other hand, he's also in the society, and does that influence everyone, all these states? Does it assist the society? 

M. Laitman: He enters the society, and then what? 

Student: Does it affect the society, all of his states, all these states, all his complications?

M. Laitman: A person who enters the society should influence the society only with his upliftment toward the goal. All of his inner complications, he should not pass them over to the society, they should remain within him. To the extent that they join the society, this is not his concern. That's it. How we are connected together in one vessel with all our confusions and with all our states and complications, we're not discussing that yet. It's still too early for us to discuss it. We're speaking only about one thing, how we connect our yearning and our upliftment toward the goal? That's all, only that. In other words, we're speaking about intentions, how we connect our intentions. That's it. And not our will to receive - how different, confused and varied it is. What connects are the intentions, what is later called reflected light, the screen and reflected light. That is what we connect. 

I'm telling you in advance that you will hear, and hear, and hear these articles for many more months. And gradually, gradually, it will come. This necessity simply has to come from within. That what is written here, I forget that I even read it. It simply has to surface from within me, the same form as what is written. If that does not come, then it means that it is not there. So why am I now reading? I'm now reading so that gradually, through this, the surrounding lights will influence me and truly bring me to this state. For the time being, it's just reading, but afterward, it will suddenly come that everything within here I will feel as a lack. That's it. 

Now I understand, I feel that this is the only way it must be. Otherwise, it won't happen. Suddenly, I see that this is how it organizes itself. Before, it was very artificial. Hearing about friends, about the society, yes, they say it's necessary. And now I see that from this, I see how it should be organized, how it should be structured, how I need to incorporate into it. When it comes from within as something clarified, when this need becomes a real, tangible necessity, then it clarifies everything.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:47) This intention, that first effort, that everyone needs to connect so that the goal becomes necessary and more important, does that hold everyone? Is that what's called friends or not necessarily?

M. Laitman: We need to reach a state where you simply love the people next to you. That's it. Maybe not 50 or 100 - ten, twenty, doesn't matter. We don't relate to the group as faces, we don't describe it as such. The group is clarified according to its message, its essence. But the way you relate to it should be love. I simply love, I'm drawn, attracted.

Student: To whom?

M. Laitman: To the message that's within the group, which is to reach the Creator. That is what you're drawn towards. That you call the group. That's its internality. And with that you live. To that you connect.

Student: But especially to influence, before I have that, let's say I don't have this message now, so what then?

M. Laitman: If you don't have that message right now, then you need to seek it. You need to search, seek for the concept of the group. You have the concept of relatives, right? Family, relatives. Who are they? I don't know this one, and that, one and this one  I don't even know. But within I have this concept of relatives. and I have a certain regard, a certain relationship with them. Yes? Or towards some nation or some other external object, some more greater society. I have some kind of — that's how I depict.  And towards them I have some kind of emotion, right? Feeling. So that's how it should be towards the society. And this feeling should be love, attraction. Without that force I cannot suckle — I'm talking egoistically — I cannot suckle the force of life. From there I drink it. The more a person thinks about it, gradually he begins to feel that it is so. Up to a feeling of necessity.

Student: And if I see in practice that we're sitting around a table talking and I see that everyone's pulling in a different direction?

M. Laitman: In action, well, we performed the right action in Passover, for example. We all worked towards a single goal. An egoistic goal, sure, the work, however much intentions we had here and there — if we had or not, doesn't matter. We made an effort and immediately the light of scrutiny will arrive, and you will see what will become clear. How the society was purified of people, and we had the power to do this. I didn't have the power to decide before. But what? Didn't I see those things? Of course I saw them, but I didn't have the power to do anything. It's as we learn, it's not with us, but as we learn about the lights of AB SAG in spirituality, the light comes and scrutinizes the vessels, portioning them, splitting them into parts that can continue, and parts that for the time being fall into the shells, and so more and more such stages will arrive. That kind of exertion we need.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:17) This scrutinizing force, can it be that a person puts in effort and then what? Is he more worthy? Does he have a greater demand? What? This exertion that's required in order to gain more strength, more scrutiny, more demand. How does it work exactly? For example, what we went through during Pesach. What happened there? What changed?

M. Laitman: By working in Passover, all of us, we invested great forces to perform an act of bestowal. We gave of ourselves our exertion to all those who in some way wanted to connect with us. They served for us as the body towards which we worked, yes? By that we wanted to reach some kind of elevation, upliftment, upwards. We don't know what upwards is, we don't know exactly what upliftment is, we don't know about bestowal, we don't know anything, but we try to do something together as best we can, to the extent that we understand. According to our situation, that's what's accumulated in us and was possible to do, and that's what then had the effect.

Student: But what does this give me? What kind of demand? 

M. Laitman: What does it bring me towards? Not a demand. It brings me to a new state where suddenly things become clear to me, within me, things which previously were unclear. Or perhaps I didn't have the power to execute them. I didn't have the need to execute them.

Student: It's a force that comes from necessity. 

M. Laitman: The force for execution. That's together. Forces come, also scrutinies, this divide between the force of scrutiny, the force of correction, execution. Yes, it all — it comes as one. Many things are clarified instantly. Mostly, it's what we learn simply, in the words of Kabbalah it's much simpler. The light comes and scrutinizes for you. This is yours, this isn't. And you have to abstain from whatever isn't yours. You scrutinize it to the point where it's such that you cannot hold on to more than this. Right? This state — two years ago, it was the same situation, everyone knows. But now, thanks to the additional force that came in, we were able to act.

Student: So, what is required to turn toward the next state? Toward it? Toward me? How does it work exactly? How does it turn, from your perspective? It seems like…

M. Laitman: It comes as a result. I cannot say how it revolves each time. We simply need, as much as we can, to perform actions; actions which are directed towards the goal, in action, in thought as well. Then every time, whatever we feel is necessary to do, that's how we'll act accordingly.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:10) It says in the last sentence of the article that we need to accept upon ourselves to gather into a society that wants to be in love of friends. Meaning that it's this condition that wanting to be in love of friends needs to be enough, that even if they're not yet there, but through this will merit coming out of Egypt. Or does one actually have to reach it? Why does he write "those who want to be in love of friends?”

M. Laitman: He puts it simply. He says — look at all the last part of the article, "And the man said, 'They departed from this.'" Meaning, I have no friends, I have no brothers;  meaning the beastly connection is gone. I feel that the group isn't a group at all. If previously the group was connected on the beastly level, right? Brothers, brother, that's because of the beastliness, right? He's my relative, right? I don't have brothers. I was sold. I was thrown away. Yes, this connection died. Yes, that's it. So what happens? They distanced themselves from the fellowship. 

Meaning that they don't want to connect with you. That's what we discover, that in the society we have no connection. And this ultimately caused the people of Israel to enter into the exile in Egypt. Why? This feeling is the exile, that feeling that I cannot connect with others. And this connection seems to be crucial to me, but on the previous beastly degree, I can no longer be connected. And in order to emerge from Egypt, we must accept that we need to enter the group. So I need that connection, yes, but wanting to be with love of friends, not brothers. Friend, meaning that you connect to each other because the Creator obligates it, the goal obligates it. It's not that my beastliness, which doesn't, it's not, it doesn't depend on me, right? It comes to me from mother, and father, and relatives, right? Which compels me to be in connection to others, but rather it's the it's the goal, not the past, but the future. That's what connects us. And by that, we'll be awarded with exiting Egypt. 

But again, I say, these things we can read, but until they're executed internally, within, there'll be just... there's no lack, meaning that they won't happen in us yet. Everything that we read about has to…Even if you didn't read these articles, what did people do who didn't have the articles before Rabash, or somehow they advanced differently without articles? They simply perform the actions which the Kabbalists recommend. And by that, they achieve, they reach the understanding of what's written here in this article. This article has to stabilize, to become clear, to be built within, within the person. You know that sometimes you study, you study, you study. Theoretically you hold it on, you hold it in your head, right? But suddenly you feel that it comes up from within, that you yourself are discovering it, that, oh, there it is. Now, I feel how it should be. I understand how it should be. Through my own understanding. I achieved it. That's how this should be in us, this thing. Well, let's hope that by our exertion, it will truly happen.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:18) It says here, twice a year on Passover and Sukkot, can we…?

M. Laitman: Yesterday, I was thinking, I had this idea all the time that we're not doing it, really. We're not, we're not holding the start of month meals. With Rabash, it was an iron rule. At the head of the month is truly a special state. And then, back then, everyone would come; whoever wants to, with no limitations. Whoever belongs in some way to the… in any way related to Baal HaSulam, these teachings, would come. In the meal of Baal HaSulam of course, there were more people in the Yahrtzeit. But at the head of the month, there were many people. There were many people, almost everyone. There were those who came from Dimona, and Ashkelon, and Tiberias, and Jerusalem, of course. There were many people who came. And I think that if once a month, we would hold such a meeting… The Rav would speak, Rabash would speak for maybe 10 minutes, not much. It was really all about the food and singing, without a lot of philosophizing, teaching, without music, nothing. It's not some special holiday, but it was very nice, very serious. Eating, we did that in silence, with intention. And after that, or during a little bit, a little bit after maybe, there was also singing, which was also very deliberate, purposeful. It doesn't have to be with great seriousness, some kind of serious style, but within, inside, it was very purposeful, goal-oriented. I think we should consider it, yes. Once a month, we can do that thing. And also, we can think about how to do it such that it's very close to unity, connection. Meaning the women also would come to the women's hall there, the women's room. They expanded it, I remember. It was very, very small, very narrow, but then they expanded it to 80 people in capacity. So, it was really open to everyone. We had tables for the women, tables for the men, everything.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:37) So, in this framework of one Rosh Hodesh to the next, what tasks should a group accomplish so that the spirit doesn't fade? 

M. Laitman: Between the months, we had only the Assembly of Friends, and that's it. That's what we do every morning, reading the article and this work. There doesn't need to be a lot of physical labor. It should all ultimately be clarified through thought. We need to get accustomed to thinking, and to be wary of thoughts which aren't focused, aren't directed, and to somehow remember. I'm not saying to understand and feel, that'll come, but to remember that the thought, if it's not connected to the society and the goal each and every moment, it completely throws us out, completely away from advancement in our spiritual life. Thoughts are simply… we just need, we lack the feeling of what a thought is. A thought is the greatest force, the greatest power, it's a power much greater than any kind of radioactive radiation, waves, and frequencies, of course, radio waves and all that. It's a thing which is limitless in power. We simply don't know how much we can do, because we're not organized internally with the intention riding the thought. And so our thought doesn't operate with the kind of power that it can. But  however it may be, it's still a thing that is boundless, limitless. It's the biggest thing, because it's actually, this is the power of man. What is in man? Working with hands and feet like a beast? Organizing the kitchen? Such things, that's exertion. If the person imbues that with thought, invests his thought into it, then it acts, all the layers act, all the width and breadth of the forces that a person projects physically, and also emotionally, and intellectually, it's all according to the thought inside.

Student: Now everyone has thoughts, so how do we make a group out of everyone's thoughts? You say that...

M. Laitman: Group means unity of thoughts. It's not uniting the bodies here, or some kind of exertion in some place with no thought. A group is called, actually, specifically, the unity of thoughts. So, I need to constantly, constantly think about the group. Meaning, how we are connected with the Creator, and how through our mutual connection, our unity, and our connection, we reach Him. Let's put it this way, perhaps it can be described as kind of like in a camera, where if we focus all of our thoughts, like the shutter, if we focus all of our thoughts through the unity of thoughts, we restrict, we close this kind of shutter, such that it's very, very focused, very sharp, and all the thoughts connect through this very, very narrow, small hole, and then we reach the Creator that way. I don't know how to describe that feeling.

Student: How do we do that? 

M. Laitman: Restricting that shutter. It's written, everything is clarified through thought, that aperture. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:08) But everyone thinks separately. How does it become a group?

M. Laitman: It doesn't matter. Each one can think all day long. It doesn't matter if each one thinks separately. Wherever you are, you can think, whatever you're doing. And then you will see how our exertion, how blessed it is, how fruitful it will become. It's not that we're here together for three hours in the morning. If we don't have unity of thought, these three hours in the morning, we're not together. We just need to think that we have this unity, connection together, focusing of thought, and through that unity to reach, you know… how to put it? In what is a laser beam special, or some kind of powerful beam in that it's very, very powerfully focused, right? The compression creates the intensity.

Student: You compress it. 

M. Laitman: Yes, compress it. Compression. So that's what we need.

Student: But this thought has to be emotional, it has to be felt, otherwise it doesn't work. I can remember a thousand times a day that I read something. So how...

M. Laitman: It can be emotional, it can't be emotional, purposeful, deliberate, it doesn't matter. The principle is that this idea, that's my thought, right? This idea. I'm constantly aiming towards it. And we need to be, we shouldn't be afraid. That idea will be in us all the time, regardless of what we're doing in our lives. I travel, I work, I study, I do something else, it doesn't matter. If it lives with me in the background, and I am of course engaged in my life, all of my work, it actually yields, it produces a result. Where all of the coarseness that I have in my life, I'm confused, and I'm entangled in it, that coarseness, with the society, and the family, and relatives, and the army, and my work, my manager at work, whatever it may be. All these things, they don't interrupt it. I actually connect through them, I kind of connect them to my ideal, my idea as well. This is called "the whole world is made for me." The whole world, whatever there is, whatever comes, I also put into that, and I think about that same goal and the same idea along with all those disruptions, with these thoughts, everything that comes to me, I connect it all into that one thing, I throw it in the same direction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:35) Is it important to constantly scrutinize with a friend what the goal is? Because the goal is what's most important. Should we precisely define what the goal is, to exchange views and discuss it?

M. Laitman: It's not necessary to scrutinize exactly what the goal is, because this kind of precision comes as an outcome of your exertion. And the exertion usually is not about what exactly is my goal, and what exactly is the Creator. Rather, the exertion is — you see how it is in life. The exertion is overcoming the disruptions that the Creator brings to you. And these disruptions are not, it's not that the Creator is exactly like this or like that, and this is the deviation, you know, a few millimeters to understand this or that. No. Our work, which yields results, is to connect disruptions to the same direction, the Creator. And maybe I'm mistaken a little bit. Maybe it's not the Creator exactly for me, and it's not exactly bestowal. 

I feel that it's around this, you know, it doesn't matter,  roundabout. This value will become constantly more scrutinized, more correct, if to this value, to that goal, I connect all the disruptions. 

Meaning, a person who doesn't know anything almost, just hears a little bit what we're saying, but he succeeds to live with this idea, wherever he is — on the street, at home, at work, and to not let go of that idea regardless of how much he understands, it doesn't matter. This idea becomes clear in him very, very rapidly, because above all of the disruptions of life, he's living that idea, trying to live it. And the person who's scrutinizing that the Creator is exactly to bestow and not to bestow, that's the power of giving, but there's this desire, and no, and I'm like this and like that. If he engages in that intellectual pursuit, I mean, he tries to connect to the disruptions to that, he won't have sufficient scrutiny. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:56) What does it mean to connect disturbances? 

M. Laitman: To connect the disturbances, it means that I live the thought about the purpose of creation and the group as the means by which to achieve it. And I, Israel, the Creator, and the Torah are one, right? I and the goal, the goal and me, and the path between us, I live these things. I constantly see it before me regardless of where I am, whatever corporeal things I'm engaged with, it doesn't matter. That's the most blessed workspace, right? That's it. So, that's why we will try now during the lesson, when we study — there's nothing to talk about there of course, that's a given — but throughout the day, as much as possible, we shouldn't deviate from that kind of seriousness, locking ourselves onto the goal and living in that process constantly. I'm in it, I'm in it, that's it, don't let go. And disruptions may come, doesn't matter. And then what he says here, love of friends, the need for the society is a crucial necessity. In each and every one, it'll suddenly become revealed within. That's how it is, it's impossible otherwise, and we'll want it. What does he say? He says that he himself seeks, right? "I seek my brothers," that's it. But my brothers, that won't be anymore. That previous connection between the friends disappears, and a different connection comes.

Student: In any case, when a person deals with this or tries to, the connection of the goal with all of life and other thoughts arise…

M. Laitman: I'm not talking about that now. That's the work. Despite the, despite the disruptions, to try to renew the connection above them each time. It's called entries and exits.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:16) So, when we're dealing with this  connection of the goal with all of life and other thoughts emerge…Meaning, besides all my thoughts about the goal and all my thoughts about…then other thoughts and different kinds of thoughts arise, how should I relate to them? Just as things that I observe? How should I relate to other thoughts that emerge when I'm trying to think about the goal?

M. Laitman: You're all asking about such specific states that I don't know how to answer this. It needs to be a certain general approach, uniform, determined, predetermined, sets. Me and the Creator and everything, all the events of my life, everything that I go through, the study, the society, family, work, all these are things that tie me to Him. That's why it exists, for that purpose. That's it. And then you begin to discover that these, these are the paths of the Torah, of the light, that whatever exists between me and Him, that's called Torah. That's the path by which the light scrutinizes the states and gives me the powers and leads me, corrects me, changes me, and brings me to Him, to the Creator. And what is the path? It includes all the problems of life, and the study, and the society. It includes a thousand and one things. So, that's the general approach you should have, to see these three things together. And everything in life you need to accept as an interface, connecting between me and Him. That's it. That's the general approach. How do I, how does this thought come to me, occur to me? I don't want to answer that. Here, I told you, there's an answer for all things here.

Student: Can we help each other in this?

M. Laitman: Helping each other in this, it's possible in order to awaken the necessity constantly to renew that image each time and to remind each other that we need to return and establish each and every state in life in that way. For that we need a society, truly, that will constantly, to constantly remind each other of that. 

Student: If I think about my friends and about the fact that they're trying now not to get out of this thought, that we're all in this to help the unification of the thought, if I'm trying to concentrate in my thought…

M. Laitman: If with my thoughts, when I'm thinking about how all of us won't forget it, by that, I'm being very helpful, very helpful. In that, I really bring the others closer to that as well, yes. It's called the good eye. The evil eye, that's the opposite.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:01) If in the corporeal world we come across situations that we cannot hang on to this, all kinds of systems take us out of it. The question is, do we avoid them, or are these the places where we need to exert, to make an effort?

M. Laitman: Everything that you have in your life that you can use to assist yourself, to hold yourself in that idea, take it, yes. 

Student: What you just said to the friend now, that through the thought that everyone will succeed, it's very helpful. That's the thing that distinguishes between us being many individuals trying to think about the Creator, and become like a group from which each one receives more power in this? 

M. Laitman: All things are clarified through thought. You can work like a donkey. You can make a thousand and one events. You can do whatever you want. Ultimately, they will bring about the thought, they will cause the thought, and things will be clarified in that thought only. Why? The thought is in service of the will. It brings to you scrutinies and such precisions, such innovations in desires. It elevates the right desire, brings it up so it rises as a feeling, in your feeling, from all of your desires. It's like a computer which right now is scrutinizing what kind of data, what thing has to pop up. So the thought is what brings from that big sack of desires, it extracts one desire, now it brings it to you to feel. From within you, to your feeling, so you can feel it. It floats up above all the desires, so to speak, and that's what you feel. It's an outcome of scrutiny through thought, in thought. Afterwards, later, we'll talk about what thought is above reason, below reason, but thought, that's what we need. To constantly lock on to, because we're not masters of our wills, our desires. We need to, by various actions, cause some specific desire to jump within me, to speak within me, to control me. If it's in control, I have nothing I can do. I can do something against that desire, artificially yes. If I want to sleep, I get up and walk, but again, through thoughts, I'm describing to myself how harmful it may be, and what I should be doing, or what's not worthwhile to do, and so on, but the desires I cannot correct. It's only through thought that I can, in an external way, to act through the thoughts, such that the desire, the best, most worthwhile desire will rule me.

Student: Can I control my thought?

M. Laitman: With my thought, I can control — through the society, I can control the thought. The desire in each and every one, that's his inner vessel that doesn't change. In each and every one, that's his part in the system of Adam HaRishon, yes? This is yours, and this is mine. Yes, it's like a cell, like a compartment of desires from Adam HaRishon. You have your portion, and he has his portion, I have my portion, but how do we connect together? We cannot tie our desires together; we can only tie together the intentions. So the intentions, that's what, for the time being, I'm calling thoughts, yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:29) Should we also scrutinize the thought itself, all those vague things, to make them clearer, to kind of criticize them? What do I think about exactly? What exactly do I want from these people in the heart? 

M. Laitman: What do I want from the group?

Student: If a thought comes to me, and in the thought, there are things that may be more vague, what am I thinking about, vague things. Do I need to clarify, to scrutinize what I'm thinking about?

M. Laitman: I don't need to conduct a scrutiny over what I'm thinking right now, because if it was clear, it would have been clear to me, and if it's unclear, I don't need to poke into the thoughts. I need, as soon as I catch myself — because I forget many times that I even need to think and scrutinize something — but the moment I catch myself, I don't… There's no purpose, there's no need to enter into the thought that used to rule me. It was a problem that I thought that I wasn't thinking earlier, I couldn't think of it, if I was remembering the thought of the group, and the Creator, and all that, then from that moment I need to operate, and not go backwards. Backwards was a state where I was unconscious, it was when I just like that thought about the world. If I'm remembering now, then from this moment onwards I need to start arranging myself. That's it. And for the past, I have nothing. What? Oh, it was like this, because it was like that. All those calculations are not good. About the past, it's not good. Altogether there is no past. Every moment the person is new, I and the Creator and the means between us, that's it. You'll never read anywhere that a person needs to go back to the past and know exactly what happened. Later you understand what happened. When you'll be in the state of Yetzira, and it will be disclosed to you what the Creator is doing with you, then you'll rise up to Beria, and you'll be able to clarify whether also in the past He was Good and Does Good to me like yesterday. Then you'll go to the past, as if you'll go to the past, the whole past will awaken in you, and you will see in the present, with all the vessels, that you're only receiving the Good That Does Good by this. This is considered that you became a righteous, where you're justifying the Creator. Not only for the good actions of now but the actions in which He was always Good That Does Good to you, for the good and to the evil. And then for the whole world, you'll come to a state where also to everyone relate this way as well. And He related to us this way always. The time will come when you start doing this, but also no one goes to the past. Rather all those vessels enter into the work in the present, that's it. We call this, "when one is sorry with the sorrow of the public, it merits the comfort of the public."There's no past, it's a not correct feeling. There is no past altogether and I'll tell you why, because there's always only future. There is no past, there's a state called Ein Sof, and I, in relation to Ein Sof, constantly advance towards it. Behind me there's nothing. I always begin from zero. The only problem is that when I begin to scrutinize myself in advance, each time I clarify some of the vessels and advance with them, and with some I can't. So later, when I advance those, it's considered that one is rewarded with the mercy of the public. It's time already.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:57) What does it mean that with a thought, you control the society? It’s now me as an individual, and there's a society? 

M. Laitman: That's hard. 

Student: Can we make a roster in thought? For example, like every 10 minutes… 

M. Laitman: You can do like duty and rotation in the group, just like the Ramchal group used to do, or try to do. I don't recommend it for the time being. I don't think that each of us should not rely on the others, but rather each needs to do this from themselves. And I think we also tried to do this in the past, and it's not good. Later, maybe we can try it again, but it doesn't really give anything. We don't yet feel ourselves so connected with the society and responsible for the society that from connecting my responsibility for others will cause me additional impressions and true fear that I won't leave this thought.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:10) How through thought, do I connect the friend's desires to me?

M. Laitman: Try. You're asking theoretically, so I don't…well, last.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:27) What does it give that I want my friends to also have thoughts about the goal?

M. Laitman: You should want everything in thought, and later we'll talk. Altogether, anything less than thought is called coercion. It's being coerced.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:54) There are many obstructions. It obstructs the thought. I feel it. And to the friends, to the Creator, there's no strength.

M. Laitman: First we try, and then we ask. I don't… well?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:18) In what is bestowal measured? 

M. Laitman: What?

Student: In what is bestowal measured? 

M. Laitman: In what is bestowal measured? In the coarseness upon which it rides. How do we say it? What's the power or the force of the screen? The screen is the intention in order to bestow. It depends on which coarseness we have the intention in order to bestow.

Student: And with relation to the group?

M. Laitman: With relation to the group? About the extent of disturbances until we reach such obstructions like Pharaoh, like the final obstructions. Like with Rabbi Shimon, Shimon from the market, that's already… do you understand? Shimon from the market is not like our marketplace. The market is the whole — meaning the whole human waste dump. And I don't mean human, but rather the true will to receive. Good. 

Workshop: (01:23:54)

Song: (01:30:10)