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

Daily Lesson (Afternoon) August 2, 2024

Part 1 Rabash. Record 647. A Prayer Requires a Deficiency Twice

Hello everyone, we are reading from the writings of Rabash, A Prayer Requires a Deficiency. You can find the learning material on Sviva Tova and our Arvut system. You can also send questions to systems. Again, we are reading Rabash 647, A Prayer Requires a Deficiency. 

M. Laitman: (00:33) Let's see what is written and then we'll scrutinize and ask questions. 

Reading Article: (00:42) A Prayer Requires a Deficiency. 

“Rabbi Shimon says… and when you pray, do not make your prayer permanent, but mercy and pleading before the Creator” (Pirkei Avot, Chapter 2, 18). Concerning the Torah, our sages said, “Set times for the Torah.”

We should say that regularity means that although one has no desire or need, he must still learn Torah because the Torah itself brings him Kedusha [holiness], even though he feels no need to learn.

This is the meaning of “Great is the learning that yields action,” meaning that he will be among men of action, since one who has a need for something acts in order to obtain it. Therefore, the learning will bring him the need. This is why it was said “regularity in the Torah.”

However, a prayer means that he is lacking something, and he is praying to be given what he is lacking. But if he has no lack, how can he ask when he has nothing to pray that he would be given?

For this reason, Rabbi Shimon said, “Do not make your prayer regular,” since this is not regarded as a prayer. Rather, what is a prayer? “Mercy and pleading before the Creator,” meaning that he is lacking something and asks the Creator to give it to him. By this we can understand what our sages said, “One does not pray unless in great seriousness.”

M. Laitman: (02:59) Yes, in short, but everything is being said, here.

Question (Women MAK): (03:16) The deficiency of the friends, I need to feel that they want to receive the quality bestowal and to have it filled? 

M. Laitman: That's what they are asking, and by that, you need to help them, and by that your prayer will

Student: To say that I can see corporeal qualities, and I see these corporeal qualities, and I pray for it to be filled with bestowal? 

M. Laitman: Corporeal deficiencies, I'm not sure, it's a problem. But, in fact, we need to feel what we are lacking. From what we are trying to say, to say it in a prayer.

Student: A true deficiency is bestowal, so do I need to feel from the friends that they want to receive the quality of bestowal and to ask for this? 

M. Laitman: We need to understand that if we want to come near the Creator, closer, we need to strive toward the quality of bestowal. Therefore, to ask for the quality of bestowal in order to be close to the Creator; in order to be able to understand Him more. And by that we can bestow to Him, this is a serious prayer. 

Student: I want to not just feel the deficiency of the friends in the Ten but the deficiency of the world Kli now in the lesson, how do we implement this? 

M. Laitman: Slowly, slowly, in each other, what the whole world Kli wants, it is within each and every one of us. But it comes out slowly, so don't worry, everything will happen, and very close.

Student: I want to implement the desire of the Creator with the conditions that I have, with the friends in my Ten and in dissemination. So, together with external actions, what are these actions? What is this vessel of feeling here, how do we implement it? 

M. Laitman: When you aim your feelings through the friends to the Creator, then you'll feel how you're feeling your intention comes through. 

Question (Women MAK 43): (06:19) How does the prayer work on us, or affect us? 

M. Laitman: It works on us through the Creator and it works in a way that, later on, we can see how we change.

Student: How do we obtain the Prayer of the Poor? How can we implement it so that the prayer will be received? 

M. Laitman: We can’t, therefore, they write about it – that the main prayer is the Prayer of the Poor, that he feels that there is nothing in it, and therefore he asks from the Creator. 

Question (Women Moscow 6): (07:13) What does it mean, not to make your prayer permanent? 

M. Laitman: When a person always needs to search for more ways to come close to the Creator. 

Student: So, not to be satisfied with the minimum of what you've attained? 

M. Laitman: Yes. Let’s read the article again.

Moderator: (07:48) Re-reads article.

Question (Women MAK 70): (10:33) What is this permanent mercy? 

M. Laitman: Permanent mercy, I'm not sure what is permanent but mercy is when the Creator listens to us and He shows that He is worried for us. And He answers our prayers. 

Student: What is the difference between prayer and pleading? 

M. Laitman: Pleading, pleading is much harder than a prayer. It's a request, it's a demand that comes out of the heart.

Question (Women Lithuania): (11:34) In the article it says: Do not make the prayer permanent but we know that we always have to be in the prayer if we want to?

M. Laitman: Yes, we do need to always pray, and it says, I wish we would pray all day. But we need a deficiency that we can pray for, and the deficiency needs to be a deficiency, that the Creator will feel it and will answer it. 

Question (Hadera 1): (12:28) It says, mercy and pleading before the Creator is before the Creator. But what does it mean, mercy and pleading before the Creator, in different words in Hebrew? 

M. Laitman: To ask for mercy, that the Creator will give us mercy and then we will be able to act, and we will feel it in our hearts. 

Question (Women MAK 43): (13:11) Do we need to scrutinize to acquire the correct deficiency? How to scrutinize, correctly, to acquire the correct deficiency? 

M. Laitman: It means that you need to connect with the others in the group and to scrutinize what do I want? What is the most important for me, and then to ask from the Creator. 

Question (Women MAK 104): (13:59) Connection in the group, we are working in order to bestow? How do we enhance our vessel of bestowal, how can we expand it? 

M. Laitman: The more we think about how we want to turn to the Creator, by that, we will be in a much bigger and stronger group with stronger friends. And then we will feel a bigger deficiency, a bigger desire, for whatever we want to receive from the Creator. So let's, move to another article.