Morning Lesson November Ten, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 43, 1991. What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:35): In this way we have to reach the purpose of creation where we are following the back of the Creator and we're demanding the face. Let's see.

Reading Rabash. Article No. 43 (01:03) “It is Known That the Order of the Work…”

2. S. (37:15) I'm asking about descent or coarseness in the Ten or in an individual within the Ten. The descent is basically the opportunity to develop the Kli and I usually find that what we do and for myself too, is that we only want to make the problem go away and not develop the Kli, we don't see that as such an opportunity, we want to balance it. How should we actually relate to a friend in a descent, how do we help him develop a Kli and not just escape the descent?

R. The most correct is example, example. That you are all in one Ten and one Kli and one vessel and the Creator is influencing you, so give each other examples.

S. When the Ten feels coarseness what can it do, how do we work with it? We are not deterred by it but we still don't know how to work with it?

R. Work with what?

S. With coarseness when various desires arise in different people in the Ten as a whole can't unite them yet?

R. You need to look at each other and learn from one another what to do and turn to the Creator and ask for the strength for the power of connection to be among you. For the Creator to be slightly revealed and then you will feel that you are ready for connection.

S. Basically the state is asking us for more effort or direction?

R. Yes, of course it is, of course it is.

3. S. (39:48) It says here that the whole of Israel called sacred still, the light shines in them and gives them the power to carry out the Torah in practice, this term sacred still and the general public of Israel that's new to me and what is this force, how do we connect to it?

R. All of Israel is the general public, the general public which still has this leaning and it's on the road to attaining the Creator but it's the general public.

S. How do I connect to it, meaning how do I work in the Ten, it's not the general public over the whole of Israel and he says that we have to connect to this force in order to begin the work?

R. If you are working in a Ten you have to belong to the Ten and that's it, you to really constantly take the state of the Ten and the consideration and be incorporated there.

4. S. (41:24) It says help that comes from above is called a soul can you elaborate on that?

R. When help comes to a person it comes from the Creator from above, from Heaven the force of bestowal, the force of Bina and this saves a person and raises him to a higher degree.

5. S. (42:07) What does it mean to reach a state of deficiency that becomes necessity for us?

R. Necessity means that I have to get it and it doesn't matter at what cost and this is what we say about our lives, that the deficiency that I had before is not so important. Now we do feel it as a deficiency that is important.

S. I feel that our efforts when we draw the light gives us the recognition of evil and corrects us in parallel, is that a correct feeling?

R. Correct, this is why it is written anyone that is greater than his friend his inclination is greater than him.

6. S. (43:21) It's very interesting because in the text it's mentioning profession as a means of acquiring a higher degree upon others. If I understood that I want to see in myself and if I want to be granted by seeing in the Torah, and in an ascent I will not be given the capability of seeing because its only for myself and I will be given an ascent where then I will be able to develop the deficiency and then I will ask for the whole friends and not for my own self?

R. We will clarify it some more, there are many incidents in this.

7. S. (44:32) In my life I've had states twice where I turned to the Creator and told him either take me or help me, how to get to this desire to bestow to this kind of deficiency of necessity to bestow, how to get there?

R. We need to work on this. We need to think what desire runs me, governs me, how I advance to which goal exactly who awakens this goal and so forth.

S. What does it mean what desire governs me, meaning the desire to receive or bestow what I need to receive is that what I need to scrutinize?

R. Yes, of course.

8. S. (45:49) How from individual work of escaping the will to receive we connect with the Ten?

R. We want to be above the individual will receive above each one and only connect to the desire to bestow and in this way we gradually perform some actions and the Creator shines on these actions with His light and it turns out that gradually we enter into the will to bestow.

S. From my experience, at first the Creator brings you closer to one friend and then we have a desire to connect to other friends and feel that only in the connection between us we get to the goal. What can I do for the friends to not wait until the Creator will put them in the state of the Achoraim, so what can I do for them?

R. Rise above the desire, the self desire for yourself to desire to connect with the friends.

S. Meaning if I show them an example through the example that upper force goes through and influences them and then they won't have to go through Achoraim states or everyone has to?

R. No we all have to go through the states otherwise where will we have the vessels?

9. S. (47:52) It's a wonderful article and in the conclusion Rabash arrives at is surprising, that a person shouldn't pray during a descent, a fall and should not argue with it. It is unexpected because usually from states of descent all the work happens and in all of our work is just to turn to the Creator. Can you explain what it means to argue and not pray?

R. We will have to read this article again and then everything will sit within you correctly.

10. S. (48:41) It's written in the text afterward when he is accustomed to work in practice and gladly observes it since he was rewarded with observing the Mitzvot of the Creator we can speak of the intention. However if one observes the Torah and Mitzvot like the general public meaning in practice we cannot speak to that person about the intention. My question, during Pesach for instance, we put in a lot of special preparation and we try to have a good intention on these actions. Is the Merit for us to now in the state of preparation that we are in to uphold other Mitzvot, like it is written in the text about the general public?

R. We only need to make greater efforts to connect with the friends, that's the main thing.

S. How do we interpret the Mitzvot? How can we understand now like you said, make great efforts to connection, but Mitzvot is something in plural, and people write about it. Is there a way for us to take what is written and try and apply it or try to use it within the group itself?

R. Mitzvot, commandments are all kinds of manners, all kinds of forms of connection between us, forms of connection between us.

11. S. (51:04) What is the promise of the Creator to the forefathers?

R. I didn't understand the question.

S. What is the promise the Creator made to the forefathers? Probably in regards to the inheritance of the land. What is the promise that the Creator made to the forefathers?

R. I don't know what to answer. He needs to ask something complete, what does it mean that the Creator promised to the forefathers?

S. The text says this, you cry to me, help with all your heart and then I love you and only then I can make the promise I made to the forefathers about the inheritance of the land?

R. Oh, to the forefathers, to the forefathers. The Creator promised that their children will inherit the land, the land of Israel, yes, so what is the question? The sons will inherit the land. The land means desire, so the son's will receive the desire for the land of Israel and then the Creator will be able to give it to them.

12. S. (53:09) How can the Ten build the prayer of many so as to expand the soul of the vessel?

R. How can the Ten?

S. How to build the prayer in order to expand the soul?

R. A prayer should be for the connection among everyone so then our vessel will be bigger, more complex and in it we will be able to feel the Creator more forcefully, and ourselves together with Him and in this way we will grow.

13. S. (54:19) According to what I understood, one of the main points in the article is that there is pleasure from the work and then a person who enjoys the work can't be given a higher degree because he's not yearning for the Creator's help. On the other hand, Rabash wrote that specifically in the descents we have to see ascents, because the Mitzvah induces a Mitzvah, so we see that the ideal state is to be in both deficiency and joy?

R. I suppose, probably.

S. How to do that? What is the role of the Ten here, how do we help the friends?

R. The Ten must first of all, see to the Ten. When there is such a society, such a feeling that you're in there within your friends, together with them and in this it determines your spiritual state and this is what leads you to the future.

S. The role of the Ten is to give a general atmosphere and everyone does work?

R. Yes.

14. S. (55:59) Today in our Ten we had a very deep discussion in order to establish a necessity and extra in spirituality for the desire to bestow, is it an extra or a necessity to bestow?

R. It's a necessity because without this intention we won't be similar to the Creator, it is in fact the most important.

15. S. (56:55) As I understood, actions without intentions are not for our sake and to make it for her sake, Lishma, we have to add the intention. What is the intention and how do I add it to the action correctly?

R. How do I add intention to the action? For each and every action I have to add an intention, why am I doing this, what for, with whom and so forth. Then it turns out that I have a complete action, as was said commandments without an intention is like a body without a soul, meaning that if I don't think of the outcomes of the action then my action is considered dead.

S. What should I wait for and what intention should I build and what result should I expect?

R. Expect the Creator to give you a result.

16. S. (58:26) It follows from the article that when a person is in an ascent he is in excess and when he is in a descent he is deficient. We often pray for a deficiency, does that mean we are praying for descents, for fault, it's not good, right?

R. Yes, we nevertheless have to think about this state, not in what state where we are but rather what state the Creator wants to see us in. That's the right intention and from that I'll already be able to work accordingly.

S. Is it correct to pray for increasing the deficiency for connection, for bestowal?

R. Yes.

17. S. (59:38) It is written here and it's very interesting: “the answer to this is that a person does not need to expect His help because a person feels complete in the action which is sacred still, still of Kedusha”, so how do we understand this?

R. I didn't understand what you asked.

S. It is written in the article, “to this comes the answer that a person does not need to, need His help to be rewarded with something because a person feels complete in terms of the action which is the still of Kedusha”, of holiness; how should we understand what is written here?

R. I don't understand.

S. It is written in the article, "The question is why does the Creator not favor a person when he feels that he is serving the Creator in completeness?”

R. Yes?

S. “The answer is as said above that the person does not need the Creator's help in order to be rewarded with the Creator's love since he feels that he is complete in terms of the practice, that he is a still of Kedusha, of holiness.” So the friend is asking what is the state and how should he understand this?

R. That the person is ‘sacred still’ because it's ‘still’ in that it has no force of moving on its own but still it wants to be in holiness, in order to bestow, that's the first degree of the person.

S. But he says in the article that “a person does not need the help of the Creator to obtain the love of the Creator”. How should I understand this If the Creator doesn't give me a complete deficiency, how will I receive help from above?

R. The Creator gives you an incomplete deficiency, and by studying and connecting with the friends, you increase your deficiency. Then the deficiency becomes sufficient to turn to the Creator and ask Him for the right help.

S. What is ‘the right help’?

R. ‘The right help’ is that you are given vessels, power, understanding; how you can make yourself greater and connect to the friends and through them to the Creator.

S. [Missing translation]

R. On the way you do that, of course, each one has their own quota.

18. S. (01:03:19) It says that “precisely from a state where you feel that you are the least of all the nations, meaning that all of the desires of the nations of the world are pulling you and the Israel in you does not merit a name, then you pray that I will give you help.”

R. Yes.

S. If the egoistic desires govern a person and the Israel in him doesn't merit a name”, so from which discernment is he asking, from which phase is he asking the Creator for help?

R. I didn't understand the question, what do you mean ‘from what discernment’?

S. What is there in me from which I am asking for help if the nations of the world are governing me?

R. Specifically because you feel that they govern you.

S. What is that additional point that is not governed?

R. It's not governed, it's unrelated to the nations of the world because it feels that all of them are governing it.

S. That's the question, that point, what is it exactly that is called Israel?

R. It is called Israel and it is opposite to the nations of the world, and therefore a person turns from within that point.

S. What does it feel, is there something that it feels in all the states even the lowest from which you can begin to rise?

R. Yes, that it is in captivity, it is held captive.

19. S. (01:05:18) Why is the sacred still called ‘the whole of Israel’, the general public of Israel?

R. The sacred still is the general public, that they are all drawn to the material realization.

S. We learned that every state in spirituality and the wisdom of Kabbalah has its opposite state, what is the opposite of the sacred still, the still of Kedusha?

R. The still of the Klipa?

S. No, what is the opposite of the sacred still?

R. I’m asking what do you mean?

S. I understood that the sacred still is someone who doesn’t have the power to move by himself but he has a desire to ask the friends and to advance to them and from them to the Creator.

R. Okay, let's say that's the case.

S. What is the opposite state from him, from this, that he has this to move by himself?

R. When he has the force to move on his own, it is not considered still.

S. Hence the question: is there a degree above it, above the sacred; still I'm trying to understand, maybe through the opposite, what is the sacred still, the still of Kedusha?

R. Yes, yes?

S. What is that state where he can move by himself, does he still need the Creator or is he independent, what's happening?

R. The opposite of the sacred still is vegetative sacred, you want to ask from the side of the impurity, Tuma’a?

S. I want to ask from the perspective of advancement?

R. From sacred still you get to sacred vegetative, what is the question?

S. And then man and then speaking, etc.?

R. Yes until he comes to these degrees, yes.

20. S. (01:07:48) Regarding the quality of the request, when you turn to the ten you have a spectrum of possibilities according to the state that you are in, from the state of anterior or an ascent, I don't know how to distinguish between them. We come with a desire to help to the lowest state, we are only surviving, so the question is, qualitatively, which one is better the first or the last?

R. The last.

S. Then you're asking for yourself not for them, you just want to survive?

R. Because you truly see how difficult that is.

21. S. (01:08:46) You said that if a person works in the ten he belongs to the group, how can I see and understand the influence, the impact of my actions, especially in the intention according to the degree or the state of the ten?

R. You have to see what is your state in the ten, how much you are incorporated in them and then pushing them towards the goal; otherwise, how will you have such discernments?

22. S. (01:09:48) In a state of the Panim, anterior, when we're happy and can bestow, but in a state of posterior, from where do we get the strength to bestow when we feel empty, distant from the Creator and need His help, how can we bestow in states of remoteness in the descent?

R. Only prayer, only prayer, that I connect to the friends as much as I can and I ask of the Creator to give me contact with everyone, and then together with them I will make a change.

23. S. (01:10:55) I heard that the Creator gives me an incomplete deficiency, how do we complete that deficiency?

R. How, that's usually through prayer, how do we feel it when we don't have sufficient strength for the prayer, the request, to connect in such a way that the Creator answers us.

S. How is a complete deficiency different from an incomplete deficiency?

R. A complete deficiency is a deficiency that the Creator answers, incomplete deficiency, that the Creator feels that the person feels but the Creator doesn't feel more accurately, doesn't answer it.

24. S. (01:12:04) It is written, “if his desire is not great it is regarded as redundancies.” My question is: how can we avoid these redundancies and how can we aim to reach this true and great desire always?

R. That's only by connecting together where each one receives through the other deficiencies and then there's a complete deficiency formed in each and every one, and that is what the Creator answers.

25. S. (01:12:54) The article says, “when he reaches the bottom of his evil, the Creator gives him the required help”, are there any signs on the path that we're getting closer to that point?

R. Not yet but we're getting closer.

26. S. (01:13:37) Is the force of faith, to reach this, is that a condition to reach the correct intention?

R. Yes, of course.

S. You also need an intention to reach the force of faith or is that wrong?

R. Faith is a force of bestowal and that force of bestowal has to be felt in a person, that he is working in order to achieve that force.

S. It looks like to be able to observe Torah and Mitzvot, we will be able to observe it and do, let’s say, this work in practice, you need, let’s say, this vessel of bestowal, the force of faith beforehand, you need this vessel of bestowal otherwise you cannot observe it, so where does this intention fit in, afterward or we need it beforehand?

R. There is an intention where it's just I intend towards a certain future, and there's an intention where I aim to get to certain something, certain and correct and true; so there are different levels of intentions, if that's what you're asking about.

S. You can have an intention, let’s say, to still work for myself and you can have an intention to work for the sake of the Creator, so there are different levels of intention here?

R. Yes.

S. You have the full intention and you have the intention in Lishma?

R. Yes.

27. S. (01:16:39) He wrote that after he's already used to doing the deeds and doing it in happiness that he was rewarded in doing the commandments of the Creator, then you can start talking about the intention but when he only does the deeds, you don't mention the intention to him”. My question is what, when a person is used to doing it in happiness, so only then you can speak to him about the intention?

R. Because before that he is not capable, he is not capable.

S. Why must I do it gladly, if I don't do it gladly I cannot participate in the intentions, only when you do it with gladness?

R. Yes, it is a sign that you are doing it willingly.

28. S. (01:17:54) In the article I got a feeling that everything is in the hands of the Creator, we don't have a choice in the deficiency or the filling the deficiency, or even to ask because that also is the Creator, so we can only draw the light is that correct?

R. Yes.

S. What are the most effective actions we can do in the ten in order to be concentrated on drawing the light?

R. Connection between us.

S. What does this mean in practice if we're not choosing it, if I'm not choosing anything?

R. What do you mean, you're just saying it: I need to choose by being connected with all of my friends together, and together we will turn to the Creator and demand from Him the power of connection, and the power of correction since this is truly the purpose of our work.

29. S. (01:19:22) At the end of this article Rabash gives advice not to run away, what does that mean?

R. Not to come out of the work in the group and towards the goal that the Kabbalists have determined.

S. Is it possible, I see on myself that you always run away and then you discover the next day that you ran away.

R. That's not considered running away, that's not considered running away!

30. S. (01:20:08) Are ascents and descents, as much as a person is distant from the Creator and he asks for help?

R. Yes.

S. And every time a person descends and ascends, it increases his connection with the Creator?

R. Yes.

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