Morning Lesson January 13, 2024

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio

Part 2:

Preparation for meals in the Convention - Selected Excerpts from the sources

1. R. (02:00) Kabbalists are accustomed to that, the meal is the most important state that they can be in together. What does that mean together? We talked many times and we're going to keep repeating it. On the other hand they eat together, that is also that they receive from above, from the Creator, something that He wants to give them. He wants to fill them and sing together, that they really enter a higher connection, an emotional connection and in this way we want to have our meals in the convention. Here we have excerpts that explain what it means to sit together, to be together, to eat together, to sing together, to incorporate together and the main thing is to feel between us this area, this very special area where the Creator is revealed.

Reading #1 (03:51) “All is ready for the feast,” for the true goal….” Twice

2. R. (06:23) Who is the meal for? I'm asking, either we do it for the Creator to enjoy us sitting, eating, singing together, raising a L'Chaim or is it for the friends, that they will enjoy sitting together and enjoy what's happening? What are we having this Congress for? 

3. S. (07:43) This convention is for us which is like the meal which is for us because the purpose is the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations. Meaning if we understand that we are doing everything in order to please the Creator, this will lead us, bring us to a state where we can receive the light and the good that He wants to give us .

R. Okay.

4. S. (08:22) We have conventions in order to feel like the whole world Kli, regardless of where each friend lives so we will all feel as one Ten. Meaning we’re building a vessel fit for the revelation of the Creator and we are in great gratitude to the Creator for giving us a chance to unite and attain the purpose of creation.

R. Okay, that's nice.

5. S. (08:54) In light of the states we go through as a society, the world Kli and the Tens, everything we are going through now has ramifications in our actions. It reflects in our actions and the war; it is the war on the intentions. Now too, the convention that we’re building, we have to all of us build the right intention together because here the war is the same state that we were describing in the first part, it's a state of danger. We are awakening forces of judgment, and we have to bring in a vessel that is fit for these forces because He's leading us to the goal. He gives alarms regardless, inexorably and the vessel has to be corrected so each one has to bring himself into the Ten and the connection between the Tens. If this is not done with the right intention, then those forces we are drawing, it will not be good, really, I feel it this way.

R. Anybody else that wants to share?

6. S. (10:41) We’re coming to open our hearts so in the feelings between us and the nearness between us we’ll discover the Creator, that everything we feel, our friend, his internality is simply the Creator, this is why we are coming.

R. Okay let's go. 

Reading (11:08) #2 “The fact that a person must aim to benefit the Creator…”

7. S. (12:11) I wanted to ask about the previous excerpt. Why the climax, the height of creation he compares to a meal?

R. That's how it's in the eyes of the Creator, that's what it seems, that He prepares everything till the last detail. He is concerned that we will be hungry and yearning exactly for the portions that He is preparing for us. He is concerned that we have the right atmosphere also with music, with the friends, with what we discuss between us, in our intention, that this meal will be perfect on the most exalted degree that could be. That's why for Him to have such a meal with us, that we come from far from below upward and we incorporate in the meal, and we want it so in His eyes it’s very important. Just as he says about the King's son, that he prepared so many things, but he grew up and he doesn't know, he can’t taste all the pleasures in the food and in the music and nothing, in beauty, nothing, so he only suffers, he feels pain from it. That's why the Creator to begin with created all of creation in a way that everyone will be corrected and all of us together will reach wholeness, wholeness. That I don't know what wholeness is, but I guess it’s something that is wholeness, you can’t even describe it.

S. What is this meal that the Creator is preparing, why specifically through a meal is He expressing the wholeness, the completeness of the correction?

R. In human life a meal is a pleasant filling that fills everything and gives livelihood to all of his organs and how can you depict it?

S. If the Creator is preparing the meal for us, how can we be guests who are worthy of this meal?

R. That's all of our corrections. That He is preparing the meal

according to how He thinks it will be good for us and we need to prepare ourselves, that we really come in order to enjoy by giving Him contentment.

S. What is important for the Creator in the meal, what does He expect?

R. He’s expecting a general pleasure, what all his guests have with no exceptions, that they all enjoy the exact same quality and quantity and the meals, the dishes He prepared for them, and they have nothing else to think about. Meaning the moment that they taste the meal correctly, in the correct way, in their body and mind, in all their desires, no room is left, no more deficiencies are left to even ask about anything.

S. Clear, so what does it mean that we managed to realize the goal, what exactly do you want to extract, to get from the meal that you’re in?

R. As a created being is a participant, everyone gets an invitation, an attraction to the meal so what was the question?

S. What exactly do you want to get out of the meal?

R. I want to come out of the meal 100% filled with pleasure, that I caused pleasure to the Creator, to the one who prepared the meal.

S. What exactly do you do?

R. That I in the meal, during the meal I 100% did what I could have done correctly for everyone to enjoy it and that the Creator will enjoy everyone.

S. During the meal how do you keep the Creator constantly before you, that you want to give back to Him all the time for what He's giving you?

R. With the intention to bestow, that's what I came for.

S. In what exactly do you realize that meal, what does it mean that you realize the meal, that you fulfilled it?

R. Realize the meal, that in all the possibilities I had I participated with the intention to only give contentment to the landlord.

8. S. (19:30) I heard before that there's a huge force here, but we are dispersed, and this is why we’re not in contact with it. Is our preparation for the Convention in two weeks’ time, the fact that we are preparing now, will this concentration help us concentrate or build the vessel to be in connection with the Creator?

R. I think that we can. I also see that today, according to the tendency of our hearts here now, and in the world with our friends, they have a real tendency for connection, for unity.

S. How do we use every moment of such preparation for the Convention, right now every moment?

R. We need to have a preparation that the Congress will be as big as possible and afterwards then we'll see with new eyes that we can make a Congress even greater than that and in this way a few times until we reach the complete correction.

S. What is the connection between the greatness of the Convention and the greatness of the Creator?

R. The convention is the Kli, the Creator is the filling that we discover and more than that, we don't need anything.

S. We have to equalize with it? What is the right effort to equalize with this thing called Convention?

R. I don't understand you.

S. How do we create a vessel where we truly bring contentment to the Creator, see the greatness of the Creator, how do we build a vessel for it? What type of effort do we all need to focus on?

R. That we come and connect, and we all want all our tendencies and all our yearning to connect together and by this we’ll incorporate, incorporate together in one heart in one mind, in everything there is, in everything that’s inside us. That eventually we will be Adam, one Adam, one man.

S. What is the connection between the incorporations in each Ten and the incorporation in the whole convention?

R. I didn't understand.

S. In each Ten there's a constant effort to become incorporated internally and now we’re going to be incorporated in a Convention. What is the connection between incorporation in the Ten and this concentration called Convention?

R. We have to incorporate in the Tens as much as possible because we are already used to it in something and not come out of the Tens and to the extent that we are drawn to be as one man with one heart in the Ten. These results that every Ten becomes a vessel, a special vessel, we connect it all, we connect it all together.

S. Within the Ten do we need to speak and increase and elevate the importance of the Convention?

R. Yes.

S. It will come from within the Ten?

R. Yes.

9. S. (24:45) With your permission I’d like to get back to the meal because we speak about it many times but at least I can rarely come to the right intention. There’s half a day at the convention and then we come to a very tasty meal and then we read something but with the first bite and the first sip everything just fades away. The food and eating is the most primeval desire of a person to satisfy his body in the most material way there is. How do you on one hand with such a powerful desire, how do you manage to fill yourself with energy? How do you give contentment to the Creator in this and maintain it for more than two bites?

R. Everything depends on the intention and the environment. If we sit together and now we want to make of our meal some great spiritual action, I think there won’t be any problem. We just need to awaken the friends before it. Let's hope that that’s what is going to happen.

S. We’ve tried many times, so how can we awaken the friends to maintain the right intention at least for the majority of the meal which we haven't done so far because so far it hasn't been working, at least for me?

R. I don't know, I don't think it should be some kind of special food that we read about, the meal at the end of correction that you have to bring a whale and a wild ox, no. We need to be hungry and ready around this table, each one above his plate to perform the action of the prayer. That now I'm going to fill myself with what the friends thought and prepared for me and now in this meal there's an effort from each and every one and I value it, I appreciate it and I think along with them how to incorporate in that meal that the Kabbalists called the meal of the whale.

S. We begin with a prayer, with the right intention and it is there something we should do after we start eating?

R. After you start eating there's nothing you can do, you already have to finish the food and sing and that's it.

10. S. (29:58) In the meals there are sometimes very special moments of silence, usually after we’ve eaten and drank some alcohol and then we can start getting silent, there are no distractions, it’s easy to come to the right intention. How during the meal do we maintain the right intention despite all the distractions, the many things that are happening? Friends might be talking on the stage or friends might be talking next to me, many things happen, there's this kind of commotion. How do we maintain the intention regardless of what is happening on the outside?

R. With Rabash the meals were usually completely silent, completely silent but for us I think that it can affect us, the women, children, us in a way that it's not, it won’t draw us to the right prayer, to the right intention. Then there was an order to give everyone an ability to think, to always be in intention on every bite and on everything they do and here I don't think so. Here we're going to be talking in all kinds of directions from one to the other, that's why I don't know what to do.

S. That's exactly the question. How to be as you were with Rabash, with the intention in every bite? In our situation with all the L’Chaims and the songs in this whole carnival, how to be in the right intention in every moment?

R. There really has to be silence, that everyone is sitting and each one is eating in complete silence.

S. In the coming Convention we’re not going to have silence because it's a chance to get together and be incorporated like a family where everyone gets together, or do you think we should have silent meals?

R. No, not a silent meal but each one in the meal should have the right intention. What am I doing, what am I doing it with, what is my purpose?

S. Do we need concentration in order to maintain the intention?

R. Yes of course,

S. How can we concentrate when the friends speak around you? You can’t silence everyone around you, there's a reality, there’s a reality of meals that there are moments when we get together, there are moments when Rav speaks. Maybe it’s okay that it’s like that, we have this kind of general discussion when everyone is talking. In that point, how do we not let the intention slip away?

R. I don't know. Think, you have to think, that’s the most important thing. 

11. S. (34:17) To whom you are delighting, a thought that catches, maybe that can help.

R. Yes, you’re right. 

12. S. (34:55) I heard you say that when we eat the meal correctly no room is left for questions. I know we were supposed to be, how at that moment can we pour out all this abundance, the peace, the blessing on the whole world?

R. Okay that's a question, let everybody think about it.