The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson August 30, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work? Article No. 35, 1989.
Reader: Hello, friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 12th of August, 2002, based on the article, "What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work?" We will read the article together in the Tens. Please, we have 30 minutes for that.
Reading: (00:37) What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work?
Article No. 35, 1989
Our sages said (Masechet Nedarim 64), “Any person without sons as regarded as dead.” The Zohar (Pinhas, Item 92) writes, “A man without sons is called ‘barren,’ and his wife is called ‘barren.’ Likewise, Torah without Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] is called ‘barren.’ For this reason, we learn that it is not the learning that is most important, but the act.” Also in The Zohar (Item 91), it says, “The Torah is called ‘a tree,’ as it is written, ‘It is a tree of life for they who hold it.’ Also, man is a tree, as it is written, ‘For man is the tree of the field,’ and the Mitzvot in the Torah are as fruits.” In other words, since the Torah and man are called “tree,” therefore, as a tree that does not bear fruit is akin to a barren person, who begets nothing, so man and the Torah are called “barren” if they have no sons.
We should understand this. We can understand that a man and a tree who do not bear are called “barren.” But if a person learns Torah but does not observe the Mitzvot of the Torah, why is the Torah called “barren”? Why is it the fault of the Torah if a person does not want to observe the Mitzvot in the Torah? In this regard, he references what our sages said, “Great is the learning that leads to action.” This means that the Torah should lead to action, and if it does not, it is as though the Torah is to blame for not leading to action. Thus, it is as though the fault does not lie with the person, but with the Torah. Can this be?
To understand the above said, we should first understand the whole issue of Torah and Mitzvot that the Creator gave us, and for which we bless Him for this gift, as we say, “Who has chosen us from among all the nations and has given us His law [in Hebrew: Torah].” We understand the matter of Torah in two ways, as it is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation”): “The Mitzvot in the Torah are called Pekudin [commands/deposits], as well as 613 Etzot [counsels/tips]. The difference between them is that in all things there is Panim [anterior/face] and Achor [posterior/back]. The preparation for something is called Achor, and the attainment of the matter is called Panim. Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot there are ‘We shall do’ and ‘We shall hear.’ When observing Torah and Mitzvot as ‘doers of His word,’ prior to being rewarded with hearing, the Mitzvot are called ‘613 Etzot,’ and are regarded as Achor. When rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the 613 Mitzvot become Pekudin, from the word Pikadon [deposit]. This is so because there are 613 Mitzvot, and in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], the light of a unique degree is deposited, and this is the Panim of the Mitzvot.”
Yet, we should know and understand the matter of Torah and Mitzvot in general, how “doing” pertains there, and what is the meaning of “hearing.” That is, if hearing is the most important, for what purpose does one need to begin the order of the work as “doers of His word,” which is called Achor? Why do we not begin with Panim, called Pekudin, right away? It seems as though this work is pointless.
It is known that there are two matters before us: the purpose of creation and the correction of creation. The purpose of creation is that His desire is to do good to His creations, meaning that the created beings will receive from Him delight and pleasure. For this reason, He created in the creatures a desire to receive pleasure. In order to calm the yearning that exists in the created beings, this Kli [vessel], namely the desire to receive delight and pleasure, comes from the Creator because He created it for His purpose, for without yearning for something, it is impossible to enjoy it. It is known that the whole pleasure from something can be received only according to the yearning for it. This is the measure of the pleasure, and it does not matter what a person wants, but the yearning for something makes it important.
Therefore, this Kli that comes from the Creator has completeness. That is, wherever a person sees that he can elicit pleasure from something, he promptly does all that he can to obtain the pleasure. But the Kli that the creatures must make is in oppositeness of form from the Kli of the Creator, and this is very difficult to do because it contradicts the quality of the Kli that the Creator created. A person cannot create this Kli, as our sages said, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day, and were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not overcome it.”
The question is, If a person cannot overcome it, what must he do if only the Creator can give the overcoming over the evil inclination? The answer is that a person must begin the overcoming, meaning he must see that he has a desire to defeat the evil inclination. If a person has no desire to defeat it, how can he be given help? Help means that a person wants something that is difficult to obtain. Then it can be said that he is given help to obtain what he wants. But when a person has no desire, how can we say that we are helping him get something that makes him suffer? “Help” means that a person is given help so he will enjoy, not that he is given help so he will suffer.
For this reason, if a person truly wants to do the work of the Creator in Lishma [for Her sake], which is in order to bestow, he must want to do everything for the sake of the Creator. When a person truly wants to work for the sake of the Creator, the body begins to show its might, that it wants a person to do everything specifically for one’s own sake, and resists this work with all its might, presenting him with all the arguments of the spies that it is right. Then, if someone comes and helps him, that person will be happy with this help and will be very grateful for the help. Then it can be said that he is receiving help from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”
Yet, if a person did not begin this work, two things are missing: 1) He thinks that he does not need help, that he can do this if he wants to, that he is a man. Therefore, he has no need for help. It follows that he has no Kli for the light. 2) If he did not exert in order to achieve the state of “All your works will be for the sake of heaven,” then he does not even want to be given the strength not to work for his own sake but for the sake of the Creator. Instead, he wants to work for his own sake. If he hears that by observing Torah and Mitzvot he will have nothing for his own sake, he regards it as a curse, not as a blessing.
For this reason, he must begin this work on his own. Then, he gradually acquires a desire that it is worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, and the procession of ascents and descents begins for him. That is, once he sees that it is worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, and once he surrenders to the argument of the body, which asks, “What is this work for you?” Working for the sake of the Creator. Through the ascents and descents, he begins to understand the benefit in working in order to bestow, and what he loses if he cannot emerge from self-love.
When a person overcomes and does not escape the campaign, but overcomes and increases his prayer that the Creator will help him and give him the help required to be able to emerge from receiving for himself, then he needs great overcoming to believe that the Creator will help him. That is, he must believe that everything he sees, that it is harder to emerge from the control of the receiver, and sees that each time, he begins to see that his evil is worse than that of others, at that time he must say that now the Creator will certainly help him because “Now I have come to know the truth, that without the Creator’s help, it is impossible.”
All the actions he contemplated doing so as to help him emerge from the control of the receiver did not help him. On the contrary, the receiver grew stronger and shows greater resistance to the work in order to bestow. At that time, a person must overcome and not yield to the counsel of the spies, but overcome above reason that the Creator will help, as our sages promised us, “He who comes to purify is aided.”
However, from where can one receive the strength to overcome so he can have faith in the sages? This is only by the power of the Torah. It is as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” That is, through the Torah, he receives the power to overcome during the war, when he must acquire Kelim [vessels] of darkness so that afterwards he will have the discernment, “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” It follows that the Torah sustains him during the work until the Creator knows he has Kelim that are suitable to receive the light, and then he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin.
However, during the work, while he still has spies, the Torah and Mitzvot are called 613 Etzot, meaning 613 counsels how to be saved from the spies. Hence, when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot, he should aim that the reward he wants for his work will be the strength to fight against the spies.
It follows that he wants the Torah to give him this reward. If he does not receive this strength, then the Torah is like a tree that does not bear fruit, or a person who has no sons. In other words, the Torah did not beget for him the sons, which are the powers to fight against the spies. When the Torah does give him this strength, it is called “a tree that bears fruit,” and it is like a person who has sons.
By this we will understand what we asked, Why is man like a tree? It means that both must yield fruit. And as the tree must be given what it needs in order for it to bear fruit, which is called “tilling the land,” so man must give himself the nourishments he needs in order to be able to achieve the goal, called 613 Pekudin [deposits], meaning to observe Torah and Mitzvot with the aim that the light in it will reform him.
Thus, we need action, which is to turn the will to receive for oneself, which is man’s tool of action, into vessels of bestowal. This is called “turning the vessels of reception into vessels of bestowal.”
This is called “action.” That is, since man is unable to do this action, then as the Creator gave us vessels of reception, He should give us vessels of bestowal. However, “there is no light without a Kli,” as said above, “there is no filling without a lack.” For this reason, a person must work and execute all the tactics at his disposal in order to satisfy that need. To the extent of his work, he receives a need for the Creator to help him in this. At that time the Creator gives these tools of action called “vessels of bestowal.” This is done through the Torah and Mitzvot, since “the light in it reforms him.”
This is the meaning of what is written, “Which God has created to do.” As Baal HaSulam said, “created” means something new, existence from absence. This refers to the will to receive, which is something new because before He created it, there was no concept of reception in reality. It follows that the Creator created the will to receive, and the creatures must turn it into a desire to bestow. This is the meaning of “do,” to make of it a desire to bestow.
Yet, we cannot change the work of creation, and if the Creator created it in such a way that the will to receive is what operates, how can it be changed? The answer is that man must seek advice how to come to the desire for it. This is called “doing.” Although we said that a person cannot do this, but the Creator Himself must do this, since we cannot change the work of creation, it is still named after the person.
We can understand this through what Baal HaSulam said about the verse, “will give wisdom to the wise.” He asked, “It should have said, ‘will give wisdom to the fools.’” He replied that “wise” is he who seeks wisdom although he still does not have it, for a fool does not seek wisdom, as was said, “The fool will not desire wisdom.” For this reason, when a person seeks advice and tactics how to obtain vessels of bestowal, this is called “doing,” as was said, “to do.”
By this we can interpret what is written, “It is not the learning that matters most, but the work.” The Zohar brings evidence that if he has no Mitzvot but only Torah, he is called “barren” and the Torah is called “barren,” since the Torah has no fruits, which are Mitzvot, and man has no sons. This implies what our sages said, “Any person without sons is regarded as dead.” When we speak of work, this will mean that one who has no Mitzvot is considered “barren,” as The Zohar likens him to the Torah, when it says “tree of life.” Also, “Man is a tree of the field” means that the Torah being called “barren” if he has no Mitzvot was said about the person. That is, a person must know that for him, the Torah is barren if the Torah he is learning does not lead him to Mitzvot. The Zohar says about this, “For this reason, we learn that it is not the learning that is most important, but the act.” Hence, if the Torah does not have the Mitzvot of the Torah, the Torah is considered barren.
By this we can interpret what we asked, Why is the Torah called “barren” is a person has no Mitzvot? The Torah is called “barren” with respect to him because “it is not the learning that is most important, but the act.” That is, since the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” it means that for a person to be able to defeat the evil in him, it takes the light of Torah. Thus, one who learns Torah but does not intend for the Torah to bring him the light, so he can do his actions for the sake of the Creator, which is against the evil inclination, for the evil in man wants to work specifically for one’s own sake, and resists with all its might to aim for the sake of the Creator, and it cannot be defeated. For this reason, the Creator has given us the counsel of the power of the Torah, meaning that the Torah should give us the strength, through the light in it, which reforms him.
This means that the Torah turns the bad in a person into good, meaning that through the Torah, he can obtain the vessels of bestowal. This is called “action,” as was said, “Which God has created to do.”
It therefore follows that if the Torah does not give the assistance it is meant to give, it is regarded that the Torah is barren in that person. And a person who receives the Torah without the assistance it is meant to give, both the person and the Torah are called “barren,” meaning they engender nothing.
Now we can interpret what our sages said (Nedarim 81), “Why do wise disciples not yield wise disciples from their sons? Because they do not bless in the Torah first.” The reason for this is very difficult to understand. We see that even simple landlords say the blessing of the Torah when they are invited for the reading of the Torah [on the Sabbath service]. They, too, say the blessing. So how can it be that wise disciples do not bless in the Torah first? According to the above-said, we should interpret learning Torah and not aiming why are they learning prior to the learning of Torah, meaning what they want to achieve in return for engaging in Torah, since nothing is done unless to bring them some benefit.
The answer is that they did not bless in the Torah first. That is, they did not have the initial intent that the Torah will bring them blessing, and blessing means bestowal. In other words, they did not intend for the Torah to give them Kelim of blessing, meaning vessels of bestowal. This is why their Torah cannot deliver sons that will be recognizable as wise disciples. Instead, the Torah they learn does not yield for them Mitzvot, which are acts of bestowal; they remain barren, and their Torah is barren.
In other words, these wise disciples who are learning Torah do not beget their sons, meaning the acts called Mitzvot, that it will be evident that they come from wise disciples, meaning that they are good deeds, called “acts of bestowal” that the light of Torah engendered. This is called “Wise disciples do not yield wise disciples from their sons,” meaning it is not evident by their actions that they had to be born by the light of Torah, which is called “wise disciple.” That is, they learn Torah and the light of Torah should yield actions, meaning that all his actions will be for the sake of the Creator and to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, to adhere to the Life of Lives. Why do they not have it? It is because “they did not bless in the Torah first.” That is, prior to learning Torah, they did not aim their minds that they are going to learn in order to the light of Torah to bring them the Segula [remedy/power/quality] that it will reform them.
Accordingly, we can understand what our sages said, “Any person without sons as regarded as dead,” since sons are Mitzvot, meaning that all the Mitzvot he does are in order to bestow. This is called Dvekut with the Life of Lives. Naturally, if he has no vessels of bestowal, he is separated from the Life of Lives, and is therefore regarded as dead, as our sages said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”
Now we can understand what our sages said about the verse, “Zion, no one demands her, meaning that a demand is required.” This means that Zion is called Malchut [kingdom/kingship], meaning the kingdom of heaven. This means that all of one’s actions should be for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, as it is written, “I remember God and I moan when I see every city built on its ruins, and the city of God lowered to the bottom of the netherworld.”
That is, that which concerns his own benefit is fine, and everyone tries that this will be in utter completeness. But the “city of God,” which is the holy work, to work for the sake of the Creator, this work is one of lowliness.
This requires the light of Torah. That is, one who learns Torah, before he learns, he must demand of the Torah to give him this light so he can work for the sake of the Creator.
Reader: Now, friends, we'll go to a lesson of the Rav's from the date, 12th of August, 2002.
M. Laitman: (30:43) The article speaks of how well it's written in the Midrash, that the Creator, after having created all peoples and everything on earth, as everyone was settled, He then went to each and every one of them with the Torah, perhaps someone wants to receive it, and other than Israel, nobody did. So, what's so awful about the Torah that no one wanted to receive it?
I suppose there are things in the Torah which are negative, as well as positive. Otherwise, He wouldn't have gone and asked, you know, presenting it: maybe you’ll take it, maybe you'll take it. Meaning, there is only one desire in a person called Israel, and opposite that desire, there is something called Torah. And Israel, they need the Torah, meaning they're corrupted. I've created the evil inclination, I've created the Torah as a spice. So, the evil inclination seemingly exists only in Israel.
In the nations of the world, there is no evil inclination. So, first of all, listen to what's written, that Israel are the egoists, they go against the Creator, and not the nations of the world, and so they need the Torah. Yes, they understand that they're opposite to the Creator and that they need the Torah. And the Torah is the force that corrects. One who feels that he lacks this corrective force is called Israel, Israel. We see that this lack, it comes from above of course. It's not that a person now has to take the role of the Creator to create desires within himself.
Rather, a person needs to feel what desires now speak in him and to act through these desires, meaning not to remain passive, indifferent, but rather to, as much as he can take the means called Torah and utilize it, and in order to bring Israel to the purpose. And Israel, that includes the nations of the world also, who receive the aspect of Israel, and they are also corrected. It's not just Israel. So, to bring Israel to the purpose, meaning anyone who wants to reach that purpose, that person needs to be brought, meaning the right desires have to be cultivated in him gradually, and these correct desires grow only with the light.
Meaning, to begin with there is the beastly will to receive, then opposite that will a bit of the spiritual light starts shining within the beastly desire, where he has desires for beastliness, money, respect, knowledge. Suddenly, that desire shines to him. Well, before the person wanted sex. Why does he want food? Why does he want money or respect or knowledge? There's a light opposite that, that awakens him towards that.
M. Laitman: (34:37) So, there's a light that's a bit bigger than all these things, with no clothing of this world, and then a person begins to awaken, and that is called spirituality. Because without those clothings, that's the light that in order to receive you actually need the screen, the reflected light, in order to bestow. And so, each time more of the light comes, the light increases, shines to him more, it awakens then a screen over all the desires of the person, from a coarser discernment, higher, meaning according to the desires, it's bigger.
And so a person awakens until he awakens to wanting spirituality more than he wants corporeality. And he has the spies here, where each time the light shines and stops shining, shines and stops shining. When the light shines, the person wants spirituality; when it doesn't, he falls into corporeality. He wants either this or that, until, by his exertion, he hastens this process, and ultimately, at the end of the process, he begins to want spirituality more than any corporeal thing. Being lovesick, it is called. And this comes to him as a result of the light constantly playing with him, toying with him — a little less, a little more, a little less, a little more. Entries and exits. From Zion, the Torah will emerge, it is written Zion, Tzion, Yetziot, exits.
So, after he passes the barrier, meaning he already determined that spirituality is worth more than corporeality, and this is through the light that comes, it's all from the light of the Torah, more or less, it shines to him less. Then feelings are awakened in him to see how opposite he is from the right line, the right line opposite the left line how opposite he is to godliness. From that he feels shame, all sorts of feelings where he decides he doesn't want to be in the left line, to be in that.
Meaning the person is always awakened constantly towards a lack for correction, a lack for advancement, through all these exits and entrances, and then he has the desire for correction. Correction also comes as the light of Torah, but now as the light of AB SAG. This is when it's clear to the person which discernments he wants to correct, and what exactly, and to what extent he's asking for it. This is the raising of MAN, the things that he's already participating with by himself, he's participating with the Creator in his own correction. These are great degrees already. And then he comes from Lo Lishma, not for her sake, to actual Lishma, for her sake. He takes the left line, he knows the lacks, and opposite that- you have the Klipa, opposite holiness. All these things he awakens the light of the Torah, he invokes the light, summons the light in the Torah that corrects him, the light that corrects. And he uses it as the light of AB SAG in order to correct, and then in practice to receive in order to bestow, bringing him to the goal, to adhesion.
M. Laitman: (38:04) Meaning, the light of the Torah performs two operations each time. It gives the person correction according to the lack, and before that, in order to have that lack, it awakens the person constantly. Shines a little bit, then stops, and so on, performing such operations in order to move, to shake the vessel. The lights that enter and exit, they shake the vessel. The vessel awakens when the light comes. It falls when the light emerges. It like rattles the vessel and you have all sorts of emotions that come up as a result and so a vessel begins to be formed, there’s some sensitivity towards light and darkness, good and evil. That’s how that sense is built, and there is no other way.
And it is known in advance for each person how many such manipulations he has to until he completes his work, the work of preparing the vessel for the reception of the ultimate and final correction, the end of correction, the reception of all the feeling of the Creator in full. To taste Him, taste and see that the Lord is good. Meaning to taste Him, all the flavors in which the Creator is revealed within his soul. And we need to do this, meaning to hasten the times, to accelerate this whole issue, so the lights will come.
You know a person sits alone, he doesn't do anything. You yourselves know: you come to the society, you begin to study, you talk to someone, then you start awakening, and you have these changes all the time. These changes help a person to cross this path quicker, this path of advancement. The more such manipulations exist — shakes, exits and entrances, then the path shortens.
You know, great people have in one hour thousands of changes in their intentions, thoughts, developments in relation to the Creator and corrections — thousands. They simply live in this constantly, alongside all the things going on in this world, but they live in that just so it's alive.
It's very, very rapid vibrations, and we need to yearn for that. That even in good states or bad states, it doesn't matter. Any state that lasts more than a moment is flawed. It's flawed. We always talked about how the desire always needs to be under acceleration. A constant desire- permanent- it doesn't exist in spirituality. In our beastliness it appears to exist, but in spirituality it no longer exists. As soon as you attain something if you don't rise above it, or you don't fall from it, it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't change, it's dead. It has to be this differential, right Change. Otherwise it's zero.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:31) How does the Creator help the person?
M. Laitman: How does the Creator help the person? First of all, the Creator does everything. You have the will to receive, which is corrupted, opposite in form to the Creator, in spirituality as well as corporeality. And He, through the light, constantly shakes you, awakens you, meaning He shines into the Reshimot. What does He do? It's as we learned- He shines His light. The light enters the vessel Like in Galgalta there is a process of development until the vessel removes the light. Then the same light shines again, again it removes the light, the next Reshimo, and so on. Always these entrances and exits, they exist. And from the Creator's perspective, this is constant pressure by which to bring a person to the purpose of creation. The pressure is constant, and the speed is also set. What does it mean, set? We don't know what set means. It's not what isn't. But it's according to His plan. That's the idea. And whether you do… Even if you do nothing, you'll also reach the same states and the same desires, same goals. But according to the pace that the light gives you, as it shines on you. The light will gradually convince you, rather, that you want to accelerate this. But this process of persuasion is painful. It's long. And here also, you can assist it. This persuasion is very goal-oriented. Until you want it yourself, this persuasive force will be very, very painful.
Meaning, it works according to speed, but also quality. Now, you can get rid of all your problems to accelerate your advancement, to, by yourself, achieve more. That's why you were given the mind- the brain. The brain is so as to help you reach consciousness or recognition quicker. In other words, the truth is inside. It's a change in the nature of the advancement. So, the Creator does everything. And the person only determines his attitude.
But by determining his attitude, the person determines everything, does everything. Why? Because without that attitude… Your attitude is the vessel. It's not your desire that the Creator created, not His light which He sends to the desire, but your attitude, which appears as a result of your exertion.
Meaning, if you don't exert, and the Creator forces you to act, by the meeting of the light and vessel, He forces you to perform some act. That act is not counted as something you did, and then it acts to your detriment. Anywhere where you don't add your own desire, opposite His desire, to become a partner with Him in that action together, you’ll always feel pain and suffering. Why? Because that is the vessel.
The vessel isn't just me wanting to enjoy, and the pleasure comes fills the vessel. Our vessel is our attitude, meaning it's built above it, above that. The spiritual vessel is called screen and reflected light. It's not what happens inside the will to receive, where you have fulfillments and all that. That's not the vessel. The vessel is above the will to receive, the desire. The desire to receive, I always paint it like a kind of cup that's full of light. So, above that, I draw the screen, and above that, you make another such cup. That is the vessel that we build. And without that vessel, there's nothing to speak of. So, to the extent that you don't want, according to your degree of development to build that vessel, to that extent, you suffer.
Meaning these are forces that will compel you to build the screen and reflected light, in any case. It cannot be that you will have any kind of screen without you building it, wanting it. It doesn't. Of course, it's built — look, on one hand, you need to want it.
On the other hand, you don't just need to want it, you need to understand and to attain that this screen is bestowal upon the Creator, and this screen only He can build, and to the extent that you want to love Him as He loves you. Meaning the screen is an outcome of the recognition of His love and the adhesion and connection and everything. It seems to us that after the screen, we attain something, right? But after the screen, there's nothing more to talk about.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:05) The feeling of receiving help comes against the feeling of selfhood. This is actually the — it's clear that the Creator does everything. In my feeling, what I try to do is what I do. Now, in the feeling that the Creator helps me, it cancels my feeling of self, selfhood.
M. Laitman: The feeling that the Creator helps me annuls my feeling of self, of independence? That's not true. That's not true. It seems to you that you're a macho today: "Ah, what Creator? I don't — do I need Him? He's now doing something for me? I need to ask it of Him?" That's how a little child thinks. We are little children, not just you, right? There is such a thing in men. In women, it's different. But in men, there is that — how can He be stronger than I? I need to discover a force that's greater than me, that determines everything to me, does everything to me, gives me everything. Women have preparation for that. That's why women don't have to observe these commandments. It doesn't — she doesn't need direct corrections like the men do. For us, this is all from a perspective of, I will rule, I'm in control, I'm in charge. That's how it is in men, yes.
That is the force of the shattering, the full force of the shattering. That's the matter of the will to receive. So now, from this point, you can understand what we need to achieve. I need to reach mutuality, surrender, partnership, love, all these things, and to come to this gradually in a way where I annul myself first, and then come into contact with Him. It's not that I connect to Him in a way where it's like, let's join together as partners, you and I. Meaning, I can't explain this feeling here, but to annul one's self towards the Creator — a person feels that- a person feels that as he develops. But after that, it's even worse.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:44) This love for the Creator…
M. Laitman: Love for the Creator? Love for the Creator can be either, ah, "God bless, You helped me win the lottery. You gave me everything. God bless." You saw the stickers: "The Creator, we love You," right? "Dear Creator, do something. You see, we love You. We ask." This is before the annulment of the self. That's what a person says then. And indeed, is it harmful to anyone if we pray for Him to help? Yes? So, that love that we learn about in the, in the "Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot," he tells us that love is the last degree. Love the Creator, love the Lord your God — that's a commandment. And he asks there in the Zohar, but it comes as a result of keeping all the other commandments. Meaning you correct your entire desire all the way through, above all the desires. And then this general kind of summary from that, that is love. And if before that, it's not the same kind of love.
It's love, you know, like the Zohar says, that one will live and have sons and everything will work out. God bless. And if you want to, if you want to pray, I'll pray. You want me to do something, I'll observe commandments. Just make sure I have it. I'm good.
Student: What's a true attitude to the Creator?
M. Laitman: A true attitude to the Creator begins from disparity, oppositeness, pressure, hatred, the feeling of disparity, no equivalence. So these are things that I've talked about before. Each time, if you think about some action, you need to think about the state that precedes that action. What vessel do I need to have for that? Meaning, if I reach a state where I love the Creator, before that, there needs to be a desire to love the Creator. The desire to love the Creator needs to be from the negation of it, where I see that 100% I don't love Him. What does it mean, I don't love Him? I hate Him. I'm the opposite of Him. I don't want Him under any circumstances at all. Yes? How do I discover this? When the light shines into my opposite vessel, what exertion do I need to make to provide myself with such, to awaken in myself such a great light and so on? So if we go from the end to the beginning, always in that opposite form — the lights enter the vessels and make the vessels, right? That's what we learn. So we do the opposite. The light enters and exits, and that creates the vessel, right? This is the path of advancement. If I walk the opposite path, the opposite to advancement, from the end to the beginning, then I need to always discover through the opposite action, right? The opposite in reverse, and then you'll see each time what preparations need to exist for that state that you choose to reach. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:25) He talks about two discernments, "we shall do" and "we shall hear." He said that doing is, there's a gap there. I don't understand what hearing means there.
M. Laitman: "We shall do" and "we shall hear" means to perform the actions above reason. That's called "we shall do." And then "we shall hear" means that we will already receive the correction. And after the correction, we'll be able to hear in the vessels of Bina, in the correction of Bina, we'll be able to already hear what You, the Creator, truly want to tell us. Before the action, before the vessel, it cannot be that you will receive light so that you'll understand what's being spoken about.
There's a condition here. You want to understand spirituality, to feel spirituality, to do something in spirituality. They tell you, you have no vessels for that. What does it mean you have no vessels for that? You don't understand what spirituality is. It seems to you that you want spirituality, but spirituality is different from what you think. It's like you say, I want a glass of water. But really, you don't want real water. You want cola. You just don't know that it's called water. We don't know what "in order to bestow" means.
I want spirituality. Spirituality means there is no me. My me, myself, is annulled completely. It completely works for someone else, with someone else's desire. My desire is inside them, and serves them, and is used solely for them. That's called spirituality. Do you want that? Even if you depict it as truthfully as possible, according to your degree, you see that you're not suffering so much from not having such a thing. A moment later, you already leave it, and you never want to return to it. Right?
So don't say that you want spirituality. Say that you want pleasures that are bigger than what you felt until now. Do you understand? So they say, "we shall do" and "we shall hear." That is, there's a condition. If you really want to reach spirituality or not that you want it, but more correctly, in order to reach spirituality — you first need to undergo a correction of in order to bestow, which is called "we shall do," an action. You don't perform this action. Certainly, the Creator performs it.
But you need to give a certain exertion toward it. Exertion in what you're capable of, with your egoistic desire. You make an exertion, and in return for that you receive something against your egoistic desire. Not what you asked for, and not what you wanted. Completely, it's not what you intended. You couldn't have even imagined that this is what you would receive. But it's not that He, the Creator, deceives you. You know, like it might sound like from here, right? That I want one thing, according to my vessels, according to my desires. I make an exertion and everything to swallow this world, to swallow the next world. I want all these things, and suddenly He gives me the opposite, right? He raises my entire desire for this world, for the next world. He makes me like this. It's not that He performs some kind of deceptive act. What else did you want? Fraud, right.
Rather, it's simply that you yourself, at the end of the path want, “and the children of Israel's sighed,” right? You yourself want the Creator to put you in order. Because you no longer identify with your will to receive. You want the Creator to work on it, to really correct it. To the extent that you see that you have nothing left, but the point in the heart grows alongside the will to receive, such that you judge it from the will to receive. From it, you judge the will to receive. And you truly want it to change. Then there are matters here that are difficult to express. But now, item four, yes. First of all, did you begin Selichot from Rosh Chodesh?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:57) Of course.
M. Laitman: That's it. Well, thank God. Yes, were there many people? How was it?
Student: Because of the attack that took place.
M. Laitman: So because of a terrorist attack, even more people should come, right? And not many came? You see what's happening? They don't believe in Selichot?
Student: Relatively speaking it was fine, but not like a year ago.
M. Laitman: And how did you feel? More like shouting and crying, right?
Student: There were at least eight Minyanim. Everywhere you hear the horns blow. It's very emotional, very exciting. The holiness of the place and the preparation.
M. Laitman: It has an effect certainly, if many people pray it has an effect.
Student: It brings you to the Rosh Chodesh, the new month.
M. Laitman: Well, what did you want to ask?
Student: What is front and back in the commandment?
M. Laitman: Front and back in the commandment? Back is preparation. Front is already the reception of the reward.
Student: Yes, but let's say I want to do Netilat Yadayim, washing the hands. Is that called Panim, anterior?
M. Laitman: In corporeality, I don't know what front and back are. In corporeality, no, I'm not knowledgeable about that. That is, I know how to perform a commandment, as you say, washing the hands. But where is front and back there? I don't know. Maybe someone interprets what is in it that way, but I don't know. Because actions in spirituality are not there. They're not recorded according to them. They're not spoken about. Spirituality is what the soul observes without the body. So what you do in the body and what you do in the soul are two things. They can both be opposite, and they can also have nothing to do with… For instance, I could be eating, and drinking, and enjoying all these things, right? Well, in spirituality, I'm fasting, and I'm on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. That's how it is. So that's fine, right? We agree with that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:27) In the article, he says that the Torah is barren. Why is the Torah barren? Even he says, why is the Torah to blame?
M. Laitman: What does "the Torah is barren" mean? If the Creator created the Torah as a spice for the will to receive, right? And if the will to receive does not undergo correction through the Torah, then the Torah does not build. It does not give birth to results from it. The results that the Torah gives birth to are all correction, right? And afterward, fulfilling. This is called the Torah being barren. This is what they say in the Zohar, that those who do not want to engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah make the Torah barren.
There is such a matter. But they simply do not use the force for which the Torah was given. It's simply not Torah if the Torah is not used as the force that corrects the will to receive. Afterward, there's the Torah's fulfillment, Torah is the holy names that are revealed, in the intention in order to bestow. We're not discussing that yet. Those are already degrees that are further on. But initially, the first time you simply encounter the true Torah, it's a correcting force. If you don't accept it in such a way, then your engagement around it, or whatever it may be, it's not called Torah. You understand? Call it some kind of, I don't know, Jewish club. I don't disqualify that, but it's not the Torah that is written about. That's all.
Student: The Torah itself is not at fault.
M. Laitman: The Torah is what a person takes from the Creator as a force to correct his will to receive, period. Whoever relates to the Torah in such a way, to the upper force, is considered to be receiving the Torah. If not, then not. And all the things—you can open the Pentateuch, and you can see how much the Creator and what the prophets say about this. And in general, there's nothing to talk about. All the cries and all the things are said only in order to receive the force of the Creator as a correcting force. And all the transgressions, when it's not done in such a way, but they take that same force in all kinds of other forms, and then the force of the Torah disappears. And in place of that Torah, it becomes the calf, whatever you want. That is, opposite that force, the force of the Klipa, the force of the shell is made for you.
That's because Klipa, shell, and Kedusha, holiness, are one opposite the other. You don't have just a Klipa on its own. Either you take the upper force as Kedusha, or you take it as Klipa. You understand? There's nothing in between, and neither one exists separately. They exist one opposite the other. That is, if you now want to relate to the upper force, and you stand there, this poor little person on the face of the earth, and you want to relate to the Creator, to the upper force, right? So you only have two possibilities: either to relate to Him so that He will come and correct you, or for anything else. Anything else is called Klipa. And then certainly there's no Torah there. Rather, you want to exploit the Creator supposedly, this upper force, for all kinds of purposes of your own. Well, that's how it is.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:46) When a person starts on this path, and you say he wants spirituality, and it appears to him great, and beautiful, and wonderful, and pleasurable — if we look at what the Kabbalists write, and at least after the end of correction we reach that state where we truly see it. But on the way there, it's not just that we go through pitfalls and messy situations. You can't ever see it, even.
M. Laitman: A person never sees where he is going. Because in your life, let's say you are a researcher in this world, a scientist. Yes, chemical physics, physical chemistry. I don't exactly remember what incorporation it is, whether it's one inside that or that inside this.
So, both are within biology. Okay, so you research. You, with your intellect, seemingly want to control what you're researching. You seemingly swallow what you're researching and want to bring it inward, into the desire, into the intellect, into your awareness, right? You have no other choice. That's how we seemingly dress ourselves upon reality, right? Wanting to understand it. In spirituality, it cannot be done.
This approach in spirituality is invalid because it does not work. In spirituality, you are down below, tiny, with a little head like this, while spirituality is a billion times greater than you. The adjacent upper degree is a billion times greater than your intellect, your vessels, your heart. So how do you think that you can swallow it inside like that? It won't help. It's impossible. It's not that you'll choke. You can't even approach it at all in such a way. So much so that you can't even open your mouth toward it, right? So what do we do?
How is it nevertheless possible to grow from one degree to the next? Only by, while you're still on the lower degree, you prepare yourself to receive the intellect of the upper degree. But the intellect of the upper degree is a billion times greater than your degree. Not in quantity. Quantity is not the problem, but in quality. It's opposite to your degree. Where on your present degree, even if you were an angel, there is still the degree of angel, let's call it, plus one.
So, the degree of angel plus one is already such that what is in Kedusha for him is Kedusha for him, while all of your Kedusha in relation to him is waste. That's the difference between the degrees. So you need to reach a state where you completely bury yourself. You completely reach a state where you decay. And then on the next degree, on a higher degree, you begin to live. You begin to grow like a seed from which a sprout begins to grow. Sprout.
Student: How can I prepare myself for the next degree if I don't see?
M. Laitman: You can prepare yourself for the next degree by being ready for them to do this to you from above. Now you go backward. You say, right, so I need to be like this. So how do I reach such a desire? How can I do this? So a little bit further backward, what do I need for that? I need to have a desire for them to do that to me. How do I reach such a desire for them to do that to me? So I need to be in this recognition of evil, that my current state is the worst compared to the upper degree which is good, while I'm completely bad. Otherwise, I won't want to get rid of it, and so on. Perform these calculations in reverse, and you'll see where to begin now.
Student: But I don't see the next degree as being good. I see bad.
M. Laitman: You will feel it. You will have vibrations from it, and it's enough for recognition of evil. Besides, I'm talking about us, this is for us in corporeality, meaning below the barrier. Above the barrier, it's a different story. There, the upper one brings her down; the NHY, then he gives you all kinds of examples, all kinds of things. He tells you, do it this way, just like in our world, do it this way. You're told all kinds of things in advance; you’re all prepared. Still, it's great labor what you’ll do, but never worry you are never left alone, and there's always a desire to help you; every good desire that you have. And if the desire is still not so good, then it is corrected to be good.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:12) I can't understand one simple thing. When I, when a person reaches the state of the recognition of evil on some degree, he doesn't want the next degree; he wants to correct this degree.
M. Laitman: First, a person doesn't want to be in his place. He sees he's in a very bad situation, so he just wants to get out of it. Do whatever you want, I don't care, not this, not that, not the Torah, not its reward, nothing.
Meaning, he only feels that he is suffering; he curses Kabbalah, and Bnei Baruch, and all those things, and the day he even came here. This is perhaps — it passes in a second, and then he nevertheless begins to compare his state with the higher degree and begins to understand that it's worthwhile to yearn for more. The egoism begins to work again. Okay, now it's bad, but there is something better; let's acquire it. The ego grows all the time, and that helps a person go from degree to degree. And that way the more the egoism grows, the more it buries itself, and the more it grows, the more it buries itself.
Because the will to receive in the seed is smaller than in the sprout; it's like a contradiction. What helps you come out of the bad? Do you feel that the egoism is bad? A bigger egoism. It's above our intellect, all these processes. There's a reason why it's written that the Creator places the person's hand on the good fortune, fate, and says, choose this, make an effort. All right, part 16. The rest of the answers will be revealed along the way.