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

Daily Lesson (Morning) August 23, 2024.

Part 1: Baal HaSulam. Letter 53.

Reader: Hello, we are studying from The Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 53, page 754 in the Hebrew edition. You can find the study material on kabbalahgroup.info in the Arvut system, you can also send questions through these websites. If you have a question here in the hall, please stand up, hold the mic close to your mouth and speak loudly and clearly. Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter Number 53. 

Reading Letter: (00:32) Letter 53, 1928, London

To my soul mate ... may his candle burn:

...Indeed, you have caused me much work concerning the separation and hatred that has been sown and grown among you to an extent that I did not foresee. Each of the students, may they live forever, is like an organ in my own body, and behold, there is no peace among my bones due to my sin. Therefore, I must begin to cleanse myself like a newborn baby until I merit making peace between the students, may they live forever.

In truth, prior to my departure from my home I hoped that I would be rewarded with seeing all the kids (young goats) as grownup goats in my return, for which I have taken upon myself these man’s jolts and huge troubles, which I had never experienced previously, nor even something near it. Because of it, I truly have been rewarded with great and wonderful salvation for all of you, and the doors of heaven have been opened over us.

However, the separation and the hatred, whose only root is in the Klipot [shells/peels] and the yeast of the Klipot have been against us, obstructing our ways because through there, the Klipot have found a way to sneak into the bodies and twist the holy channels.

I need not interpret for you the measure of longing and sorrow that you have caused me by that. I openly admit that until now I did not understand the ARI, who so regretted the dispute that occurred within his group until the manuscript came through. Now I see that there is none so wise as the experienced. And yet, I hope to mend everything upon my return home.

The prophet asks and answers, “What does the Lord require of you? Only to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” These words are very profound, and who will find them?

It is brought in The Zohar: “The Creator has three worlds, and this is the meaning of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” concerning the above mentioned three worlds. And in each one, the whole earth is full of His glory.” Interpretation is according to the words, “Justice and law are the foundation of Your throne.” It is also written “Open for me the gates of justice,” and it is known that justice becomes Godliness to you, such as a word of Godliness, etc.

Yehuda Leib

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:20) At the beginning of the letter, Baal HaSulam writes that he feels sorry for what's happening between, among the students and I must start and cleanse myself like a newborn baby until I merit making peace among the students, may they live forever. Can a Kabbalist do this work for his students without them doing the work and is it possible to do it among the friends, as well?

M. Laitman: These aren't simple matters, each one of us influences the others, not necessarily only within the Ten, but in general, in the group of students. Therefore, each one must understand that if he does something, by that action, for good or bad, he creates changes in everyone, most especially within his Ten, and in the wider group of students and the entire world, all the people who are in some way connected to him. So it's not simple. The more a person grows, gradually he takes upon himself more restrictions, most especially as it pertains to his relations with the friends with whom he means to establish a vessel so that the Creator can fill them, all right? And that's why, he's so regretful. 

Student: He speaks of the separation, the hate among the friends. The correction in the last paragraph, he speaks of judgment and justice. What’s the connection?

M. Laitman: Well, I suppose he doesn't want to reveal everything, explain everything, so he writes.

Student: Well, if the illness is separation and hatred, you'd expect the remedy to be love but it doesn't speak of love, it speaks of justice and law. 

M. Laitman: Yes, perhaps this is the cause.

Student: But I don't understand.

M. Laitman: There is some separation between them, distance, and to correct that, they need to try to come closer and to connect.

Student: Why is he speaking of justice and love, what are those things?

M. Laitman: Justice is the force that connects everyone together.

Student: He also speaks of three worlds in the last paragraph, and holy, holy, holy, what does that mean?

M. Laitman: Well, the three worlds, yes, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, the worlds of separation.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:36) He writes that he felt great sorrow about the separation between the friends. We had a very strong preparation and we spoke about Rabash, who wrote that in love of friends all the judgments are removed and that brings about all the salvations and the mitigation of the judgments. Love of friends, it's seemingly a very great thing. The question is how come there's so much concealment over love of friends? Why do we have that concealment?

M. Laitman: It's not concealment, you’re concealing it yourself by your ego, by your will to receive, for one's own sake. It’s not concealed by itself. It's relatively speaking, pretty in the open, revealed. We can also say, it's a good thing, connection in the group, where we study and so on, and it's a natural thing, even. But for us, between us, and between all of us and the Creator, there's a negative force, an evil force, which we need to erase, jump over, and that's our work.

Student: It's valid and true, as you said, the sensation as a result of connection is not concealed, it's actually revealed. But the connection between that connection and the connection to the Creator, that's concealed.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: How do you reveal that? When is that revealed?

M. Laitman: When there's the intention in order to bestow, which is called Lishma, for her sake.

Student: So, as long as it's not revealed, we have to act in love of friends, even if it's out of coercion. But we have to focus on that all the time, only in this?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:05) Regarding the beginning, everything that's written about the friends, the separation and hatred. If there's a quarrel, a conflict between the friends, one decides that the other is in the wrong and the other one, who thinks he's not, is fine, sends him a letter, but he doesn't respond. He turns to the friends on duty in order to help with the connection but they don't respond. He turns to the Ten, they also don't respond, nothing, silence. And he hears that in another Ten, there are a few friends, who are not talking to one another. So, what can a friend like that do if he wants to reconcile everything in his Ten, but no one responds?

M. Laitman: He needs to request a gathering of the Ten, an assembly, if it's within the Ten and to explain to them, what's going on, with that one friend, with several friends, where he's trying to connect with them but they're not responsive. So to see, to scrutinize, what's the cause.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:36) I want to continue the friend: He says, here, that this can twist the conduits, the pipes. What does it mean that it can twist them?

M. Laitman: We receive from the Creator, through a very expansive system, which enables the upper light to reach us, to an extent like the sewage system, like the water system delivers water to you. We can block those pipes, those channels or open them. It all depends on our participation.

Student: You said how much we influence one another and how much we bestow to the society as a whole. How important it is, when we come here every time, even in the different Ten gatherings or meetings, here. How important it is, that we would think from the bottom of our hearts about this field, these transitions, these conduits. Where everything influences the light that will pass between us, how important is it?

M. Laitman: Very important, it's worthwhile to think about that all the time.

Student: That's the question, what does it mean to think about it all the time? We say that everything is clarified in the thought. How do we need to come and bring ourselves to this thought so that the conduits between us will be in such a flow that will not stop even for a second?

M. Laitman: That's something we need to think about, to try to open up. The whole of the Torah is meant specifically for that, only for that; and then we'll have a connection to the Creator. And the Creator's bestowal will reach us in a more clear, in a stronger way. And we'll be able to connect to Him, connect back to Him. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:57) I want to present another side to the friend’s question, this friend, next to me. I had a very difficult absorption process in Haifa, and I would give him a ride, he didn't have a car. I didn't want him to take public transportation and I wanted to share with him a little bit along the way all my gripes, you know, they took, they did, they did all this stuff to me. And he didn't want to hear, he said, did you give thanks to the Creator? Fine, I want to just tell you something. He said, did you thank the Creator? You need such a friend that doesn't tell you what you want to hear; a true friend is a friend who tells you what you need to hear. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:58) We see that Baal HaSulam feels, not necessarily a responsibility but he has the power to correct the separation he sees with others in his group. That's what he writes, if I may cleanse myself and bring peace.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, first of all, it's interesting how it's possible to take some external separation and resolve it within you. Now, the friend brought up a certain feeling that exists in another Ten. Lately, we've been accustomed to focusing inside our Ten. But when I hear of separation in another Ten, I feel that it's not good also for me, meaning our Ten to have a problem with separation that exists in another Ten. Meaning, there's influence between the Tens is what I see. There is a connection between us, even if it's concealed, but it certainly influences. Can we, in the work in our Ten, correct separation in another Ten?

M. Laitman: To correct it, to fix it, we cannot, but to bring them closer to a solution, that we can do. And the more corrected we are as a Ten, then we'll influence all the other Tens, who will then, also, advance towards a solution.

Student: We also hear good things from Tens, impressions from good things that happen in other Tens, we incorporate it, we absorb it. What about other forms of separation in other Tens? How much can we or how much should we incorporate in it?

M. Laitman: Same as with anything else, we’re trying to realize the correction between us, and that correction will affect the other Tens. And also we can perform some physical actions here, practical actions by which to influence them. To serve as an example and to add to that, when we talk, when we discuss things, we can raise questions without pointing directly at any specific individual. But that it'll be understood from the things we're discussing. How a solution, a correction can be reached, what can be corrected.

Student: The question, how much, in what way, how as a collective can we highlight the fact that we disagree, and separation in the Tens, overall, how to sort of respond in such a way that shows that we don't agree with it? That we're not willing to live in this way?

M. Laitman: What sign to give, what actions to perform? There are many little things that should be done but I don't know exactly which one to point out, I don’t know. I think that if you all discuss this, then yes, here and there people will come to understand what they can do to awaken closeness between them. More than that, I don't know.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:54) He starts this letter with a group of students, he's their Rav, and he complains that they are in separation and hatred. And then he writes, that they give me no peace among my bones because of my sin, and in truth, I didn't realize that these students are like an organ in my own body, and behold, there is no peace among my bones because of my sin. Therefore, I must begin to cleanse myself like a newborn baby. He doesn't blame the students, he blames himself and I try to project it on our lives here, perception of reality, our lives here.

When you look at all the mess around yourself, you need to blame only yourself. If I see hostages, war, everything, I have to sit with myself and see where did I sin. Because the mess that I see, I'm to blame, as you say. It's your fault, he shows it, clearly, and he says that it's none as wise as the experienced. And I hope to fix it, God willing, when I return to my home. How can you correct it? It's not pleasant to see all the mess. How can you correct it? I try to use what we're learning, what we learn now, I want to be a realist. How do you correct what you see around you? How can we correct what we see, this perception of reality, and finally correct it, fix it?

M. Laitman: Well, we need, most especially before a Congress, to come to an agreement regarding what desires, what intentions, what is the type of connection we want to achieve and how each one can use that. And the more we understand the measure of connection that should exist between us, the style of the connection, and how to relate to each other correctly. All that needs to become clear to each and every one.

Student: So, according to what you say, and I hope we reach this level: We come to this Congress, if we do the work properly, are you trying to tell me that suddenly our perception of reality, you come out of the Congress and everything changes?  There’s no hostages, there’s no war, there’s nothing?

M. Laitman: I don't know but I need to direct myself towards that, aim towards that.

Student: Aim myself, what does it mean that, it says, be humble with the Lord your God? What does it mean?

M. Laitman: To be humble with your God.

Student: What is it to walk humbly with your God?

M. Laitman: It means that you need to be, “I dwell within My people”.

Student: That means it's an inner movement?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:34) On that excerpt, actually, he writes, and what does the Lord require of you? Only to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God, and these words are very profound, who will find them? So, where do we find it, where do we search for it?

M. Laitman: We search for it within the hearts, within man's heart. There all the answers should be found. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:12) When this hatred is revealed, that is that fork in the road, where we understand that the Creator has revealed to us, the separation in us, and we ask. We ask the annulment, relative to a desire for him to attach us into one above all the calculations, because I know within reason, they have all the reasons to hate him. But here there's work above the person himself, so he needs to believe, and today, we see it with our eyes. This will be an annulment, only this way will we get through these points that take over us.

M. Laitman: (27:09) Yes. So, we're done with this letter, what do we have next?

Reader: (27:21) There's another letter, short one.

M. Laitman: Another short letter, 24.

Reader: (27:27) Letter 24, page 713 in the Hebrew edition. Find the study material in the websites of course.

Reading Letter: (27:41) Letter 24. 16 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, October 24, 1926, London

To my soul mate ... may his candle burn:

I received your letter from the fourteenth of Tishrey [first Hebrew month] and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I commend you on your efforts in adhesion of friends, and may the Creator also give you the complete intention.

Please, my friend, do strengthen in the study of Torah, both revealed and concealed, for all you lack is strengthening in the burden of Torah, for the evil inclination resides only in a heart vacant from wisdom.

Also, be very careful from idleness because “For indolence, the roof leaks,” and it is the hardest Klipa [shell/peel] in the world. It is all according to the number of actions: The sign of the idle is sadness, and the sign of the nimble is joy.

If it is not too difficult, I would advise you to learn to become a teacher, as it is good for the soul. But most important, pray and trust the Creator with everything you want to do, and it will help you accomplish successfully.

You already know that prayer and confidence go hand in hand. We must believe in complete faith that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth, especially concerning the Shechina [Divinity]. With this faith we acquire confidence, and then his prayer is complete, with confidence that he will be saved, and he is rewarded with confidence and joy all day, as though he has already been saved.

Remember what I told you—during the first hour after rising, break your heart and engage in “midnight Tikkun [correction]” by thought. Afflict yourself in the affliction of the Shechina, who is suffering because of your actions. However, do not prolong for more than one hour. Afterward, promptly raise your heart in the ways of the Creator, with faith and confidence in wholeness, and engage joyfully in Torah and work all day long. If you wish, you may engage in breaking the heart for half an hour before going to sleep, as well.

However, beware the tricks of the inclination, which wants specifically to sadden us while we engage in the work of the Creator. At such a time, we tell the evil inclination, “Although you are right, wait, for I have a set time for it. Then I will think about it, and not while standing before the King.” This is why the priest had special garments for fertilizing the altar, and special garments for doing the work.

If you are mindful of these words of mine, you will be rewarded with bringing yourself close to Dvekut [adhesion] with Him, and you will succeed in doing the Creator’s will.

Yehuda Leib, son of my teacher and Rabbi, Simcha Ashlag 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:10) I want to ask about the advice: You can engage in the breaking of the heart even half an hour before going to sleep. It sounds like relevant advice to us.

M. Laitman: Why?

Student: Because we engage in a great deal of criticism, unnecessary, not at the right time. He gives advice on how to use it.

M. Laitman: This is advice he offers to the individual he is writing to, it's not for the whole group. They do different work.

Student: So, is this the advice you would recommend to a student who is in a state of sadness, as Baal HaSulam describes here?

M. Laitman: Baal HaSulam describes here a certain order. A person who studies and wants to come close to the Creator needs to divide his day. The time he gets up, what he does later throughout the day, what he thinks about in the afternoon. What he thinks about when he's at work, not spiritual work, his mundane work. Later when he comes home, how to aim towards the end of the day, already. So, in the last half hour, he enters a state of the breaking of the heart.

Student: What is the breaking of the heart?

M. Laitman: It's where he feels that his heart is broken, because throughout the day, he did not manage to attain the purpose of life, the purpose of creation.

Student: Another question, maybe it's relevant, it says that even inclination dwells in a heart that's free from wisdom. What does that mean?

M. Laitman: The heart is a person's general Kli, vessel. If there is no Hochma in it, wisdom, the wisdom of the Torah, specifically, then the heart is not yet full of Hassidim; and therefore, the Hochma cannot fulfill him. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:49) What does it mean to break his heart?

M. Laitman: To reach heartbreak, the breaking of the heart in many different ways.

Student: How does he break his own heart, correctly?

M. Laitman: This is something you should all try and see.

Student: He hints, he writes that there is a danger for the evil inclination to sneak in, in this place. So, how to break the heart correctly and not fall into the evil inclination?

M. Laitman: You need to reach a state where, on the one hand your evil inclination is revealed to you, and on the other, you see the extent to which you protect it, keep it. Then you will feel your heart broken.

Student: He also writes, that you should beware the tricks of the inclination, which wants specifically to sadden us. It sounds like a person has the ability to negotiate with his evil inclination?

M. Laitman: Of course.

Student: What kind of power does he have to triumph over the evil inclination?

M. Laitman: A person has power, he can do it and he can receive aid from above, from the Creator, from the group, from himself. From his own criticism over his life, his previous life and then you will have the strength.

Student: So, the evil inclination, it's not like it's always stronger than a person, a person has the ability?

M. Laitman: Usually a person has the ability to bend the evil inclination.

Student: What's the decisive factor, what helps a person bend the evil inclination? What’s the power he uses?

M. Laitman: It's the upper force, the Creator gives him the power. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:24) It's like something is missing, what is a complete intention?

M. Laitman: A complete intention includes within it the entirety of the evil inclination and the good inclination, phenomena which can be revealed via the good inclination or the evil inclination. And all of that, a person takes into account, and raises that account to the Creator, asking Him to help the person decide, correctly.

Student: Can you say that the complete intention is when the mouth and heart are the same, are equal?

M. Laitman: It can be said but to say heart and mouth, mouth and ear, these things are confusing. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:41) I want to have a small scrutiny. He says, when my friend grows stronger in the study of the Torah, the revealed and the concealed, for you lack nothing but strengthening in the burden of Torah. What does it mean to strengthen?

M. Laitman: Strengthening, give it some time every day, allot some time to it.

Student: For the evil inclination resides only in a heart vacant from wisdom, and be careful from idleness because for indolence, the roof leaks in the hardest shell. And the world, it is all according to the number of actions. The sign of the idle is sadness and the sign of the nimble is joy. If we see people who are sad, here, or bummed out, it means they're not doing the work. That's what he writes. And if we're nimble, if we move, keep in movement, there's a great deal of joy.

M. Laitman: Yes, it's a great commandment to be joyful.

Student: So how do you do it, how can I come here and have an uplifted mood?

M. Laitman: The Torah makes you joyful.

Student: What does that mean?

M. Laitman: The Torah gives you joy, makes you happy.

Student: So, when you study the Torah, it leads you to joy?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And if I'm sad?

M. Laitman: It's a sign that you need to study more of Torah.

Student: Things are opposite, when you come here?

M. Laitman: No.

Student: I have to come here in joy but I have no joy. I come tired, half dead.

M. Laitman: Here, look, take, when you're at home, take the Torah and start reading.

Student: And then what, I'll rejoice?

M. Laitman: Yes, start and you'll see how it'll affect you.

Student: Well, nevertheless, I have to be happy, I have to come here with a high spirit. It doesn't always work but I'll try to do it.

M. Laitman: Yes. You'll try that and you'll tell us later, you'll report back. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:53) Why does he recommend saying that the evil inclination, that he's just? Is he, truly, right?

M. Laitman: It's a kind of flirtation, where a person does that to calm down the evil inclination, and then, to later muster his strength, so as to defeat it.

Student: The evil inclination constantly works against a friend. But this friend, that friend, he is on the attack.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, how can you love with a complete heart, when the evil inclination has just arguments?

M. Laitman: What just arguments?

Student: About friends, you know, it changes but he convinces you and he's right, he gives you proof. Now, it's okay, we know this work but how can you love with all your heart, when he attacks each time, anew?

M. Laitman: You make a barrier against it, a wall, and you don't want to listen to anything he tells you about the friends.

Student: So, why should we be engaging in criticism? He says an hour a day, what for?

M. Laitman: To build that screen.

Student: He gives advice, to think that I'm standing before a King. So, when he attacks a friend, I need to think that behind the friend stands the Creator and I'm standing before the King?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: That breaks the evil inclination?

M. Laitman: No, that brings me to the correct way to relate to whatever is happening.

Student: But, it enables you to love?

M. Laitman: Brings you closer.

Student: Closer. Okay, last question, who does the friend love in the end? The Creator or the friend, who's before him?

M. Laitman: We actually need to reach the love of God, and the sign, the indication for that on the way is the love of friends. And that's how we advance.

Student: That friend that I attacked with my evil inclination, if I maintain the Creator behind him, it has to bring me to love of the friend?

M. Laitman: Of course.

Student: We have to merge these two things?

M. Laitman: Yes, love of friends is part of the love of God. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:46) About idleness, indolence, it says it's the hardest shell in the world. Why is that, why is it so severe? It brings sadness and everything.

M. Laitman: It swallows up your entire life, it devours your entire life.

Student: But there are people who, you know, about laziness, indolence, the people who are naturally lazy. Either one is lazy or is full of energy, how can a quality like that be a shell? Those who are lazy have a smaller chance of correction?

M. Laitman: No, maybe it's the opposite, actually. They more quickly start feeling that they're lazy and then the quicker they come to ask for correction. So, it's not one side or the other side, you can't say which is better. Each side has its own means. 

Student: Meaning, if a person is naturally lazy and he works with it, it's a great profit, there. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: Typically laziness is backed by justifications, it's always justified. How to detect the onslaught of this laziness because you never say, I'm lazy, you always have an excuse.

M. Laitman: That's, you need to work according to a certain order. You need to have a daily schedule, where it's clear to you what you need to do every day and see how you get along with that.

Student: Why does he say the teaching is beautiful for the soul?

M. Laitman: Ultimately, it forces you to act according to the instructions, as well.

Student: Also, teaching for kids could be good for the soul? 

M. Laitman: Yes, possibly, for kids. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:11) Are the doubts part of the concealment?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: They bring up the questions of who and what?

M. Laitman: Well, let's say.

Student: They say of the concealment that there isn't, but the doubts. That there isn't a greater joy.

M. Laitman: Yes. Solving the doubts, undoing the doubts. The greatest joy comes from the undoing of doubts. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:02) I want to ask about a person's attitude to the Ten, to the rest of the group, how to work with it, correctly? Let's say, what we read here about the work a person has to do from the moment he rises. Is this work he does with himself relative to the Ten? But where does he do this work, where does this work take place?

M. Laitman: From the moment he wakes up, the moment he wakes up. First of all, he washes himself, gets dressed and then he's ready, ready for spiritual work. 

Student: And this work relative to, where's my calculation? Is it me versus the Creator, me versus the Ten? Where is the calculator, calculation?

M. Laitman: Both.

Student: Both, what about the entire world Kli? When I work with them, are they part of the calculations or not?

M. Laitman: Yes, you are as one from amongst humanity, that’s how you can look at yourself. 

Student: Because even in the last letter, we read about how a person determines his actions, you know, the work in the Ten, the group. How do you become a part that always judges everyone favorably?

M. Laitman: You can see that the whole world is advancing every day. And this pre-planned progression comes from the Creator. And this is, also, what impacts you, influences you.

Student: Let's put it this way, at the beginning of the path, you're less conscious of the influence of your actions on the Ten, on the rest of the society, etc.. But the more things develop, the more it opens up to you. You're afraid to do even the smallest movement in order to not blemish the wholeness and perfection that's outside of you.

M. Laitman: Well, well?

Student: So, where do you move, it seems like from a certain moment you just need to apply certain restrictions, enter a restriction.

M. Laitman: The more you restrict your will to receive, the more you take into account your connection to the group or groups, to that extent, you operate correctly with the rest of the world.

Student: I'm not asking correctly but how do you become a part that contributes to the work in the Ten all the time? How do your actions develop the Ten and not cause the other way around?

M. Laitman: What do you mean, the other way around?

Student: It's according to what we read about, if you work in the opposite direction, you influence all these circles around you. First your Ten, then the group, then the world, it’s in one fell swoop, you get everyone. So, how do you pass the light through what you're doing and not do the reverse?

M. Laitman: So, I make an effort to reach some actual degree, right? I want to correct my evil inclination such that it becomes the good inclination. And then, by that, I can then connect with the Creator and to draw the light from Him to the whole of humanity. That’s it, through the soul.

Student: And when you're not corrected?

M. Laitman: I'll never be corrected, you understand? Each one of us connects to the rest of humanity. Let’s say, from the Ten, then onwards, the wider group, his people of the nation, the world. He tries to draw, to pull the upper light through him to the rest of humanity, yes.

Student: Every person of an action influences him, influences down the line. Meaning, if I work in connection, it creates an influence down the line? And if I work in separation, it influences something down the line? Or only from a certain stage, such a calculation begins to take place with you?

M. Laitman: No, even though we’re not yet actually doing such work, we're not connected to the nations of the world and the whole world in general. That connection is there, it's just not in our hands. And so, we try to work in that and to take it into consideration.

Student: Even before bestowing to the world, I talk about the level of a person influencing his Ten, bestowing to his Ten, and influencing the rest of Bnei Baruch. Even there, I'm asking, from the moment a person is brought in, does he influence those circles with his actions? Or only from a certain stage, does he have a certain familiar time, where they let him understand, where he lives, and they tell him everything he’s doing influences everything down the line or only from later on?

M. Laitman: Everything he does influences him. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:22) Almost all the advice that you gave, it's like they wrote, if you have no soul then attach yourself to the clock, write a journal, read the Bible. I know I am not going to do any of those things, I’m not going to read the Bible. I’m not going to keep a journal.  So, what is the advice for a person who knows himself already?

M. Laitman: My advice for you is to do what needs to be done, not what you think. A simple advice, do what's necessary. If you want to get anything, receive anything, you need to work and then to bring your employer results. As our business is with the Creator, you need to perform such actions towards the Creator that He is willing to pay you for, that's all.

Student: His payment is that you enter deeper into the ground. I feel like the Creator is the worst thing I've met.

M. Laitman: You don't understand, fine.

Student: No, what they do to you here is that they put you underground with an air pipe. What's to be happy about?

M. Laitman: With that pipe you can get out of the tomb, out of the grave, and reach the light of the world.

Student: The fact that you feel you live in this stinking matrix, everything repeats itself.

M. Laitman: That's according to your measurements, that's according to what you decree, what you think.

Student: But you repeat the same results over and over again.

M. Laitman: Because you're not coming out of that, you’re not making efforts to bring yourself out of that, and you remain on the same level.

Student: Why are you saying this? I am trying to do what's needed. I don't know what you need to do but I see it with my eyes, I say, yes, I'm trying to do. I'm not the best student in class but I'm trying. But you see, they dry you out, they take whatever little forces you have to even get here, they take it away.

M. Laitman: So, you should learn why you're being dried up, right? That's part of the process.

Student: When you tell me something like, keep a journal. What am I supposed to do with it? I know I'm not going to do it.

M. Laitman: If you don't want to do what the teacher tells you to do, that's a problem, it means you don't have a teacher. You determine for yourself, what you should do and you also determine for yourself what you want to receive as an outcome of that? You can't occupy both positions.

Student: I don't understand?

M. Laitman: You don't understand, that's not an excuse, not understanding is no excuse. You came to a place where the laws of nature are explained to you, the inner laws of nature, that's it. And if you don't follow those rules, then you never reach a state, where your eyes open to that nature.

Student: That's what you need to do, keep a journal and things like that? These are the laws? 

M. Laitman: A journal.

Student: And then it doesn't matter, you know, even what they said to the friend? Are these called laws?

M. Laitman: Yes, those, too. You went to school. Did you have a journal, no?

Student: I was busy working, I didn't do too much in school.

M. Laitman: Well, so, know this.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:34) Following the friend’s scrutiny, you said that we start the work the moment we rise at night.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: He speaks about the midnight correction, what is the midnight correction?

M. Laitman: The midnight correction is where you get up in the middle of the night and you begin your spiritual work from that moment.

Student: What does it mean to start the spiritual work? I don't remember when, but he told me, you have to get up, wake up, offer a prayer because the Creator has awakened me, allowed me to open my eyes. I don't remember the name of this prayer but I do it every morning when I wake up. What else do I need to do, what else do you have to do? Not just for me, for every one of us. The moment I wake up in the morning, how do I need to bring myself here in the best possible way?

M. Laitman: You have books to explain that to you.

Student: What is this sorrow, that I have to feel in the heart, and then I have to uplift the heart. And not more than an hour, I have to go through this sorrow with the heart?

M. Laitman: This he says to the more advanced students. You can't read everything he writes and attribute that to yourselves, yet.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:25) Baal HaSulam gives his students many advices in such a short letter, I want to ask about one of them: He tells them to notice the sorrow of the divinity, of the Shechina, that's the cause of everything, and he sends the student to pray. When a person faces a problem, he rushes to the Creator, asks Him to solve the problem and he forgets that the Creator placed the problem before him. I want to ask, what is the correct thing to ask for during the prayer?

M. Laitman: Firstly, the fact that the Creator gave the person some problem, set before him certain conditions, and then when a person comes with that problem to the Creator, asking Him to resolve the issue, these things aren't contradictory because this comes from the Creator and that comes from the Creator. It teaches a person that with every problem that arises to come closer to the Creator.

Student: Sometimes, there's a feeling as if you're asking the Creator to solve the problem, that you're telling Him how to solve it. They don't feel too well, let's say, for a person to advance, he needs to experience some suffering and he needs to overcome it.  He’s going to grow up and he’ll have a new emotion. If you tell the Creator, stop this trouble?

M. Laitman: I'm not telling him to stop the trouble. I'm asking the Creator to help correct the state. And it's clear to the person that what he receives, he received from the Creator because There’s None  Else Besides Him. And when he turns to the Creator, the Creator hears as though there's something new there, right, for Him. But He helps the person, gradually, emerge from that. And that way a person gradually learns how to connect, how to communicate with the Creator. It's not that he can do it by himself, why would the Creator give him that then? The Creator, the person needs all those things to bring him closer to the Creator to create a connection between them. It appears to me that you're not listening.

Student: Yes.

M. Laitman: Alright then. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:31) Either, I have to agree with everything the Creator is doing or I have to ask something more than that. Now, what you told the friend, he said, he has to agree with everything the Creator is giving him and rejoice in that. We have a Congress coming up. You used to invite the friends from all over the world, so they'll be able to make it. And today, the Creator places such conditions that make it very difficult for friends to come here. And I yearn, deeply, to see as many friends as possible here. The question is do I have to justify the Creator for giving the friends, making the friends unite, where they are? Or can I ask that they come visit, nevertheless, and for them to unite with us?

M. Laitman: I don't know, I'm present in this whole thing, just like you. And we need to show how we're ready to receive everyone, accept everyone. And of course, we get such comments that only a small percentage can and are coming here, so, what can we do? Let's hope that this changes soon. 

Student: Just a direction of the thought, what should I ask the Creator in exchange for the friends because I speak to them. They all yearn to come but they can't do it, there are conditions. 

M. Laitman: I know, I also get all sorts of messages. But look, we are ready to receive everyone. I have no more to say on that.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:52) Sorrow, is that a vessel?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And it grows from our attempts to connect, unsuccessfully? Sorrow is a vessel, it grows from our failed attempts to connect, that’s how you grow it?

M. Laitman: That, too. Is that it? So we're done with this letter? All right, do we have another one? What else do we have?

Reader: (01:06:32) We have the Introduction to the Sulam Commentary, the Preface to the Sulam Commentary, and we have Questions and Answers on the Spiritual Path, Selected Excerpts and Preface to the Sulam Commentary.

M. Laitman: Right, so first, the Preface, if we have time. Right, so let's go to that.

Reader: (01:07:01) Okay, we'll have a song and we'll go to the Preface.

Song: (01:07:05)