The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 17, 2026
Part 1: Rabash.What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work. Article No. 5, 1990
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 24th of January, 2002 based on the article, What It Means That the Land Did Not Bear Fruit Before Man Was Created, in the Work. The writings of Rabash, What It Means That the Land Did Not Bear Fruit Before Man Was Created. We’ll read it together in the Ten; we have thirty-two minutes for that.
Reading: (00:38) What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work
Article No. 5, 1990
It is written in The Zohar (VaYera, Item 1), “Rabbi Hiya started, ‘The buds appeared on the earth; the time of pruning has come.’ This means that when the Creator created the world, He placed in the earth all the power it deserves, and everything was in the land. Yet, it did not bear fruit in the world until man was created. When man was created, everything appeared in the world and the land revealed the fruits and forces that were deposited in it. And then it was said, ‘The buds appeared on the earth, the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtledove was heard in our land.’ This is the speaking of the Creator, which was absent in the world before man was created. Once man is present, everything is present.”
We should understand why the land did not bear its fruit before man was created. What is the connection between the earth and man, where if there is no man, although the land has everything, it still does not bear its fruits before there is man? Also, what does it mean that before man was created, the speaking of the Creator was not present in the world? After all, it is written several times, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”
We should interpret this in the work. Our sages said about the verse, “In the beginning God created,” that it is for Israel, who were called Resheet [beginning], as it is written, “The sanctity of Israel, the Resheet [beginning] of its crop.” This means as it is written, that the purpose of the creation of the world was to do good to His creations. That is, He created in the creatures a desire to receive delight and pleasure, and in this desire, meaning that this desire causes him to yearn to receive the delight and pleasure. By this the delight and pleasure that a person can derive from there is measured.
This is called “the work of the Creator,” meaning that He created a desire to enjoy for the pleasure that He wants to give them. It turns out that nothing is missing in the world; there is abundance that belongs to the will to receive. That is, to the extent that He wanted to give delight and pleasure, to that extent He created a Kli [vessel] for this. This means that the will to receive is not greater than the Creator created it, so he can receive what the Creator wants to give. It follows that the delight and pleasure are present, the Kli to receive is present, so what else is missing?
It is known that the land is called Malchut. That is, the desire to receive the abundance from the Creator is called Malchut. This means that Malchut receives the abundance for the souls, as for this reason Malchut is called “the assembly of Israel,” which is the collection of the souls. It follows that Malchut already received all the light for the souls. The question is, Why do the creatures not receive from Malchut the abundance she received for the creatures, and there is the power of concealment in the world, so the voice of the turtledove is not heard in our land, meaning that the speaking of the Creator is not heard in the world, but rather each one feels the concealment and there is a lot of work to believe in His Providence over the created beings, and the delight and pleasure are not revealed in the world?
The answer is that it is because the Creator did not want there to be shame. For this reason, there was a correction, called Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment so the upper Providence will not be revealed. Instead, we must believe that the Creator leads the world as the good who does good. This causes us all the work, that we must exert and relinquish the will to receive for ourselves, although this is our entire reality.
In other words, everything that we relate to the creatures is only a will to receive. Yet, it is forbidden to use the will to receive as it emerged by nature, but we must go above nature. In other words, our nature is the will to receive for ourselves. It follows that when a person is told we must relinquish the will to receive for ourselves, there is not an organ in us that will be able to understand this. The body begins to ask the “Who” and “What” questions, meaning demands an intellectual answer if the Creator truly hears each and every one who asks of Him.
The body argues to a person, “You see that you have asked the Creator many times to help you with what you think you need. Until now, you see that you have received no answer to the prayer. Therefore, why do you say each day, ‘For You hear the prayer of every mouth’? If this is so, why is He not helping you?” It follows that reason asserts that the body is right, meaning that it is making a reasonable and sensible argument.
We must answer the body about this that we are going above reason. That is, although reason asserts that the Creator does not accept the prayer of every mouth, meaning that he can explain the fact that the Creator is not answering him as because he is still unfit to receive the salvation from the Creator, but in truth, the Creator does hear the prayer of Israel. It is only to you that He does not want to answer the prayer you made, since you are not regarded as Israel.
The body asks once more, “You see that we must believe that ‘You hear the prayer of every mouth,’ as we say in the prayer, ‘For You hear the prayer of every mouth.’ Thus, the Creator should have heard your prayer, as well. Moreover, if He does not hear the prayer of every mouth, then why do you need to pray?”
Then, when a person comes to such a state, he can say that he is going above reason. That is, although reason is very important, and he sees that the body speaks with reason, but a person should say that we must go above reason. That is, we, too, see contradictions, such as that many times he prayed but received no answer for his prayer. But then, when he overcomes and goes above reason, this is called “faith above reason.”
Likewise, when a person must relinquish the quality of the heart and say, “I relinquish the self-benefit and care only for the benefit of the Creator,” of course this is above reason. In other words, above reason means that a person should say that to him, faith is at a higher level than reason. For this reason, he obeys the voice of faith and not the voice of reason. This is against reason, since we see that we were given reason and we measure every person according to the level of his intellect, as it is written, “A man will be praised according to his mind” (Proverbs 12), and one who has more reason is a more important person. Therefore, when we are told that we must go above reason, it is against our reason.
For this reason, when a person comes to a state where the body begins to ask the “Who” and “What” questions, then begins the real work. Then we must ask for the help of the Creator to give us the strength not to hear these questions of Pharaoh and the wicked one, which are “Who” and “What.” It was said about this, “Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not overcome it,” since a person cannot emerge from their control by himself and say, “I am going above reason,” since it is against nature.
According to the above, we can interpret what we asked, What is the connection between the land that did not bear its fruit before man was created? In the work, man is regarded as one who has emerged from the control of the quality of a beast. A “beast” means one who is immersed in self-benefit, like a beast, and man means one in whom there is fear of heaven and works because of fear, which The Zohar calls “Because He is great and ruling,” where he works only because of the greatness of the Creator and does not care for his own benefit, but for the benefit of the Creator. It is as our sages said about the verse, “In the end of the matter, fear God and observe His commandments, for this is the whole of man. What is ‘for this is the whole of man’? Rabbi Elazar said, ‘The whole world was created only for this’” (Berachot 6).
It follows that man is regarded as one in whom there is the fear of heaven. And what is the fear of heaven? That is, what is fear? It is as he says (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 191), “Both the first fear and the second fear are not for his own benefit, but only for fear that he will decline in bringing contentment to his Maker.”
According to the above, we already know the meaning of Adam. It is one who has fear of heaven, who is afraid that perhaps he will not be able to do everything in order to bestow. This is called “man.” A “beast” is the opposite: one who cares only for one’s own benefit, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 3), “Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?” We should interpret that “spirit of man” goes upward means that everything he does is for the sake of the Creator. This is called “upward,” when his intention is that everything will be only in order to bestow. From this man derives contentment.
The “spirit of the beast” is that in everything he does, he wants it all for “downward,” meaning “down to the earth,” which is worldliness, for the will to receive for oneself is called “earth.” When that person does things, he sees that it will be only for his own benefit. From this he derives spirit, meaning his contentment. That is, he will enjoy his actions only if it yields benefit for himself. If he sees that the will to receive cannot enjoy it, he will not have strength to work. If he must work for some reason, then he is not in a good mood at all.
Now we can understand the connection between man and earth. We asked, What does it mean that the earth did not bear its fruit in the world before man was created although all the power it deserved and everything was already in the land? The thing is that in the work, “land” is the kingdom of heaven, which is the assembly of Israel, who receives abundance for the created beings, since all the souls come from her. From the perspective of the Creator, everything is already corrected in the best possible way.
It is as he says (“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 13), “The thing is that by the very thought to create the souls, His thought completed everything, for He does not need an act, as do we. Instantaneously, all the souls and all the worlds that are destined to be created emerged filled with all the delight and pleasure that the souls were intended to receive at the end of correction, after the will to receive in the souls has been fully corrected and has been turned into pure bestowal. This is so because in His eternalness, past, present, and future are as one.”
By this we should interpret the connection between man and the earth, which is that if man is present, the earth bears its fruit. The “earth” means the will to receive that has been fully corrected. From the perspective of the Creator, everything has been completed in utter perfection and there is nothing to add to it, as he says, “Instantaneously, all the souls emerged filled with all the delight and pleasure.” However, in order for the creatures to enjoy the fruits of Malchut, which she received, Malchut, which is called “land,” does not give this to the created beings before they correct the will to receive to work in order to bestow, due to the correction that took place, so there will be in them the matter of equivalence of form.
It turns out that as long as a person has not achieved the degree of “man,” which is regarded as bestowing upward, as in “the spirit of man goes upward,” meaning that “man” means that everything he does is for the sake of the Creator, while the spirit of the beast “goes downward,” meaning for his own benefit, Malchut, which is called “earth,” cannot show the delight and pleasure she received for the created beings.
The Zohar says, “The buds appeared on the earth,” meaning that everything was in the earth, but it did not bear fruit in the world until man was created. Before the created being achieved the quality of “man,” the Creator does not see any fruits from Malchut, which is called “earth.”
Now we can understand what we asked about The Zohar saying that “the voice of the turtle dove was heard in our land” is the speaking of the Creator, who was not present in the world before man was created, though it is written many times in the Torah, “And God said,” before man was created. The meaning is that before a person achieves the degree of “man,” meaning emerges from the state of a beast, the “man” is in concealment and it is impossible to hear the voice of the Creator.
This is regarded as the “speaking of the Creator was not present in the world before the quality of man was created.” Only afterward, when a person achieves the degree of “man,” he hears the “speaking of the Creator.” The “speaking of the Creator” is called Torah, and then he is rewarded with the Torah, which is called “the names of the Creator.” This is called the “speaking of the Creator.” It is not that the Torah is a wisdom, as with other wisdoms. Rather, the Torah is the speaking of the Creator.
Not easily can one achieve the degree of “man” and emerge from the quality of a beast. This is so because in the work of the Creator, one is always in oppositeness of form, and only out of two extremes, a middle line is born. It is as it is written in the poem by the ARI, “Right and left, and in between them a bride.” This means that through the right and the left, which are two opposites, the kingdom of heaven, called “bride,” is born.
It is known that Malchut is called “faith.” To be rewarded with faith, we must first emerge from the state of a beast, called “self-love,” as was said that the spirit of the beast goes downward. Downward means decreasing in importance, which is the quality of a beast, which can only work for its own sake.
While the creature is still under the control of the will to receive for himself, he can receive only partial faith. This means that he has descents and ascents. During the descents, he loses the power of faith because the descent comes to him due to some flaw, and all the flaws come to the creature while he is immersed in self-love. For this reason, there is a correction for the creature so as not to blemish the King: He loses the faith in the existence of the King, as explained in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 138, beginning with the words, “It is a law”).
Since there is a rule that a person cannot walk on one leg, but only on two legs, this points to spirituality, too. “Right” implies wholeness. That is, the first beginning, when the creature wants to begin the work of the Creator, is that he must believe in the Creator. It does not matter how much faith he has, but with whatever faith he has, he can already begin to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and each day he adds as much as he can.
However, this state is not regarded as “right,” but as “one line.” This is called “still of Kedusha [holiness].” From this still emerge all other degrees, called “vegetative,” “animate,” and “speaking,” as it is written (Ecclesiastes 3), “All was from the dust.” The Zohar interprets, “even the wheel of the sun” (Tzav, Item 173). That is, everyone must begin in still of Kedusha.
However, we should know that as with the corporeal still, a person does not need to make efforts in order for the still to be revealed. Rather, the still develops according to the development of nature. In other words, if a person does not spoil the corporeal still, it develops. For example, if a person does not spoil the earth or takes out stones from the earth, the still develops.
It is the same with the still of Kedusha. If he does not spoil his actions, his still of Kedusha develops. However, it does not require any intention or thought in order to continue his quality of still of Kedusha.
Conversely, if he wants to acquire the quality of “vegetative,” we see that in corporeality, the vegetative already requires special treatment. It needs to be given food, meaning water and sun, and to fix the still from which the vegetative will grow, namely plowing and so forth. Also, other plants, which do not belong to the plant that the person wants to grow out of the still, must be removed, so in corporeality, weeds that have intermingled are uprooted.
Likewise, in the vegetative of Kedusha, we must dedicate thought and desire to nursing this still, meaning plowing. That is, we must turn the will to receive in us to work in order to bestow, and then it is relevant to speak of work in “right” and “left.” That which was previously one line, which is the act, a person must use it as the “right line,” meaning that he should appreciate the simple act and say that he is grateful to the Creator for rewarding him with doing simple works in utter simplicity, and to say that he is not worth even this—that the Creator gave him the present of serving Him in simplicity.
At the same time, he must shift to the left line, meaning criticize himself if he is truly working for the Creator or for himself, meaning for his own benefit and not for the benefit of the Creator. He should pray for this, that he is so immersed in self-love.
Sometimes, he sees that he cannot pray that the Creator will help him and deliver him from the governance of self-love. Sometimes, he is even in a worse state—that he does not even want to pray the Creator will bring him out of self-love. On the contrary, he wants the Creator to help him satisfy his will to receive for himself with every possible satisfaction. This is called “left,” since in spirituality, something that requires correction is called “left.”
It follows that there are two opposites here. On one hand, a person is told that the order of the work is that a person should try to observe the one line to the fullest. That is, as when the creature was in a state of still, called “one line,” and felt himself as whole and was happy and glad because he knew that he had wholeness and all he needed to add was quantity.
But the reason was that he had no idea about the vegetative. He thought that the still is the wholeness that man must do. Therefore, he felt high spirited because of the feeling of wholeness and he could not understand why all the creatures were not as smart as him.
But now that he has a notion of the quality of “vegetative,” he no longer has the wholeness of the one line. For this reason, now he must make great efforts to be able to appreciate and derive vitality from the right, as he received from it while being in one line. The reason for this is that the left line makes him see that this is not wholeness.
Indeed, why do we need to walk on the right line? The answer is that this is the truth. That is, a person should indeed consider the little bit of grip he has on Kedusha as a great fortune, and this is the time to thank the Creator. Afterward, he should return to the left line, for this is also true, that we must work for the sake of the Creator. Out of those two, from the wholeness and importance of the right, and from the lack of the left, a person is rewarded with the middle line. This is the meaning of “Right and left, and in between the bride.”
Reader: We'll move on to the lesson from January 24, 2002.
M. Laitman: (32:38) We heard the article from Rungs of the Ladder, Volume 1, page 122, What is That the Land Did Not Bear Fruit Before Man Was Created, in the Work. A person walks on two legs in situations, states, that keep changing constantly, always. In each and every state, he simply needs to maintain the direction, the goal. As he's thrown from state to state, he needs to receive it, to accept it as an opportunity to update the direction, the direction, yes, his direction, compass, yes, okay! If he feels that he's not changing, meaning he's not given problems from above: false disappointments, foreign thoughts, bad moods, confusions. Various such things – attraction to various pleasures – if he's not given that from above, it's a sign that he's in a state of inanimate. This is a state that has to elicit concern and the question. Also, why is he being treated this way from above? It might be because he's not ready yet, he hasn't prepared himself to receive changes. He really needs to take care of himself, to equip himself with the power of the group, the power of the Torah, the power of the study, consistency. Then, the interruptions will come, upon which he corrects his direction according to the goal, towards the goal and he gets closer to the goal. To the goal, you only get closer through the power of faith and what is the power of faith? He tells us that, it's written here, it says here: it is known that Malchut is the aspect of faith.
What does it mean?
To be awarded with the aspect of faith, we must first exit the aspect of the beast called self-love as it is said that the spirit of the beast descends
And down means below in importance, that is the aspect of the beast that can only work for itself. Meaning if one works only for himself, he's called a beast and he still does not have faith. Rather, he needs to transcend the state of the beast, no longer thinking about himself; and, then, he will have what we call the discernment of faith or the aspect of faith. Faith is not some kind of imaginary feeling, some kind of thought, some kind of property that can exist in a person during the concealment of the face when he's a beast. But rather—and when the created being is still under the rule of the will to receive for oneself, he can receive only partial faith. Meaning that he has ascents and descents, during the descent, he loses the power of faith. We think that it's the opposite: when I descend, I'm in darkness, yes? Then, I need the power of faith because I have no lights, I have no grip on the upper one, spirituality. Then, I need some kind of power called faith to help me, to hold me. He says, no, it's not as we think.
M. Laitman: (37:00) Faith, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is something different. When I receive a descent, it means I lost contact with the upper one, with spirituality. And that means that I lost faith, seeing that the descent comes from some flaw and all the flaws come to the created being when he's immersed in self-love. Therefore, there is a correction for the created being such that he won't damage the King; and so he loses faith in the existence of the King. Meaning, the sensation of the Creator and faith are the same thing. It's not that when I don't have the feeling of the Creator, I can still believe that He exists as we think in this world. That is not faith, that is just talk, there's no justification to it, there's no power behind it. If I don't hold the Creator in me, if I don't feel Him, then, for me, He simply does not exist. I could never do anything against this reality, it's the opposite. The feeling of Godliness, the feeling of the Creator in my senses, within, that gives me the power called faith that allows me to stand against my evil inclination. And turn it through – by tending to it – through corrections gradually, turn it into in order to bestow. Meaning, faith is a power that a person receives as an outcome of feeling the Creator. And don't wait for some power to come when we're in darkness, clear? Meaning, there is none, there is no state where concealment can exist alongside the power to work against the will to receive, together. Rather, the revelation of the Creator, faith in Him, yes? Feeling Him, the power to work against the will to receive, yes? Beyond the barrier, in spirituality, all these things are the same thing.
And so one should never expect that he'll ever be different in anything prior to crossing the barrier. It's not like the general population think that now I have nothing and so I need to have faith. This begs the question: what does it mean when we say the light of Hassadim without the light of Hochma; that in the darkness a person has some ability to sustain himself? This is called the light of Hassadim, Hassadim, grace or mercy, meaning it's the revelation of Divinity, the feeling of Divinity. But to a degree where it gives me the possibility of holding on above my will to receive. I hold my will to receive under me, I control it. Again, by what? By the power of the sensation of Divinity, it is impossible to do anything before the Creator is revealed. That's what he writes here, this is in page 127 in the article. Rather, 137.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:47) Until a person crosses the barrier, is the replacement for faith actually the group?
M. Laitman: It's not a substitute for faith—the group; the group also, after the barrier, there's a certain kind of work with the group although not as before. But certainly, the power that one can acquire, meaning the proper correct thoughts, new thoughts, the amplification of good thoughts. All the—yes, his whole path before that, that is by the power of the group.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:28) There's a thing that's good about the time of concealment and that's the ability to choose. From this perspective, maybe, we don't need to ask for revelation; on the other hand, without revelation there's no ability to work and the power of faith is only through revelation?
M. Laitman: No, why is it called faith and not knowledge, not something else? Why is it called faith? If I ask for the revelation of Divinity only to rule over my will to receive, my nature, this means that I ask Him for the power of faith.
Student: What is the partial faith before the barrier?
M. Laitman: Prior to the barrier, he has partial faith, meaning he has some illumination that gives him some confidence in that what's written in the books has some truth to it, some feeling. It's a feeling, it's not that I hear from someone and follow that, it doesn't mean I'm not working with my mind, with my intellect.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:54) No English translation.
M. Laitman: If a person doesn't change, this is called the degree of the inanimate. Inanimate, what does it mean, doesn't change? The difference between changing and not changing? Well, he performs actions – a thousand and one actions a minute – he runs around doing, he's working in the kitchen, wherever. He's holding all of Bnei Baruch together perfectly, one person. But if he doesn't add the intention into this, he remains inanimate, he doesn't develop. Someone else does some little work, whatever is necessary, whatever the society just gives him to do, dividing the burden equally. But he imbues this with more and more thoughts and intentions, everything. This is according to his attitude, he rides over the deed. It's impossible without the deed, the deed has to exist – everything comes from the earth, from the inanimate, yes? But the more he adds to this deed, the more he grows; this is the difference between a rock and a plant.
Now, according to the thought, according to what intention he adds, then, to that extent, he's either growing or living or speaking, that is the difference in intention. But he already has some intentions, some kind of inner thoughts, a struggle, left and right, urges of all sorts. He's living not just from, not just—he doesn't just exist – coming to study, God bless, he sees the tables, the drawings, diagrams, whatever. This is the same as I wrote to a friend in a letter, yesterday. He asked me if he can go to America and teach in our name. I told him, I told him, the difference between us and you is that you know the materials very well. Oh, he asked if he can teach but you don't know it any less well than us but that doesn't important. What is the message that you're giving, what are you teaching them? Are you teaching them to be on the path and not just to acquire some knowledge, various things where after a few years they're champions in what's written. They know it by heart, like studying the Gemara, right? They'll know it by heart, the TES. You can give them exams, they have complete mastery of every page, they know what's written there. But something more internal, do you give them, do you want that? If you want that, you need a group, you need to develop, you need to undergo changes. Do you have that, do you yearn for that?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:04) That is the fuel?
M. Laitman: His fuel? It could be, I don't know, he, himself, likes this knowledge but it's an example – he’s a bit of an odd one, I can't really speak about him, really. It's the difference, though, between the still, the inanimate, and the living; or growing or living, speaking, different matter, scrutinies, what are you asking?
Student: I'm asking from where the still get the lack to be vegetative, growing?
M. Laitman: No, from the inanimate to the growing, it's a difference of worlds. To be growing, vegetative, you need a point in the heart. If the point in the heart is not given to the person, Bina, which begins to develop from within the person, from within the soil, right? From within the inanimate, nothing happens. Water, Bina, brings life, without that, nothing will happen, of course. So, a person is not required, a simple person from the street, you ask him, why are you a beast, right? Go to the craftsman who crafted me, right? You can't come to him with claims, it's only to one who has a point in the heart that you can come to him and help him and show him that there is a method for how to develop that point, that is all. But each one also has some variance in the rate of development, the speed of it, that's—yes but this is a different story.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:57) How to develop the desire for the force of faith in the group?
M. Laitman: A desire for the force of faith for an individual as well as the group, that can be developed only from a feeling of necessity. Where, if I don't have the power of faith, meaning a sensation of Divinity, I will not be able at all to control my nature by myself. So I will always, simply, look at myself and see how I'm being thrown about by desires and urges that exist in me and I can do nothing about. Sometimes a person is given such examples, he knows that now he's going to do bad things, and he has no way of avoiding it. Have you never felt that, never felt that, no? Fine, you will. If you continue developing, you will feel all those things, don't worry, right? Why are we given that? To teach us that we, ourselves, from within, will never be able to bring forces with which to contend with ourselves. But it's only using an external force and this external force, allowing us to truly contend with the will to receive, it's not a calculation of, it's worthwhile to do this, otherwise I'll be punished. It's worthwhile for me to go to that place because I'll earn more, it's not that kind of calculation, you understand? This is our education, that's what we're told. Why do this? Go, do that, it'll be better, yes? Don't do this, don't be like that – then this will happen. That's how we teach ourselves and children and the whole world. What? That it's worthwhile for me to be better, more generous, more like this, like that: don't harm others and then they won't harm you too; let's make peace in the world, all those things! Why does the world need peace? The world needs war, what does this peace do if it only brings us to beastliness? That is how we teach because we have no alternative within the framework of this world. You can only give, instead of one beastly compensation, a different beastly compensation.
However, if you want to be above beastliness, you certainly need to enter the feeling of Godliness. Only if you feel Godliness, there is in you—what does it mean to feel? His force is in you, and to the extent that you have that force, you can rule over the will to receive, to control it. Not to give it something in exchange for something else: no, let's not do that, let's do something else. I'm afraid that I might receive punishments, or maybe, there we can profit more. Instead, you don't give it any compensation according to what it wants. You govern it and that's it, and that is possible only if you have the power against it, the power of the Creator within you – that force is called faith. One who does not emerge from the framework of this world, goes above the barrier, he always walks, he always follows the path of barter, yes? Trading with the will to receive one thing for another, and ultimately, the will to receive rules. But the person always, somehow, builds for himself a kind of order of values, yes, preferences, values, yes, values, yes. That he can do, he can brainwash himself using the society, an external society: newspapers, whatever, school. But by this, we're not correcting anything, by this, maybe, we're even creating more corruptions because it seems to us that we become better. Yes, talk to all those good, kind souls, the Greenpeace people, all those. They think, they think I invest my entire life to help cats or some dolphins somewhere, various things so they live – but people, never mind!
I mean, a person enters a lie that by this, he creates a better life. You can see how the Americans are certain that what they're doing in everything they do, they do something good for the world – let's all live like in Hollywood, right? They don't understand that their form of life is more corrupted than anything else. Meaning, a person, until he goes to acquire the divine force, he has no ability, no chance of dealing with his will to receive.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:35) What is the intention that a person adds before the act that he performs in the group? What is this act and the intention he imbues it with?
M. Laitman: The same way a person sets up his intentions before each and every action if he doesn't want to be inanimate but above the inanimate. He has to think about what his intention is. His intention, that's like the blessing, right, that we were obligated by the Torah, right? It says in the Torah that we have to offer blessings. Yes, we say, I am ready and prepared, right, all these verses that you say before the act, what are they about? They speak of the content of the action I'm about to perform because performing the action itself, it will be either by nature—I was educated to perform these actions, it's like an instinct I have already. A habit that became a second nature, and if I don't act according to my habits, then I suffer, right? My suffering, my nature, now, compels me to do this, and for that I don't need any blessing or any reminders, yes? Why do I need from the Torah, yes, seemingly, I need to have all these reminders for myself. And I say, Blessed art Thou, Creator, and so on before what I do, why? To remind myself, and then I perform the action, not like a beast, not like a rock, inanimate. But, rather, I perform this for a specific purpose and that is why I do it. A person who goes to study Kabbalah, his acts, his physical commandments – let's call them practical commandments – weaken, why? Because he's entering an area where all the actions relate to, are tied to intentions. Before he could perform actions without intentions but, now, he sees that in his inner feeling—still without great understanding but he feels that the act without intention, on the plane that he ascended to, above the plane of the inanimate, he rose to the growing, right? Plants, vegetative and on that plane, on that level without intention, nothing is counted as an act, counts as nothing so he stops doing it. He stops acting, that's it but still, there needs to be an importance to the acts because, for the time being, you cannot join the intention to it but if you don't have the act, the intention will have nothing to clothe on. It means that you should still maintain the actions, perform them, observe them to an extent. And for the purpose of adding the intention to the acts – because indeed an act without intention is like a body without a soul. Now, if we do, well, if we think about the group in every action that I perform, each and every action, even just regular beast actions, yes? If I regard myself as a part of the group and they're standing behind me and I'm doing this to benefit all of us, right? Here, it's a completely different calculation, here, one immediately rises from the degree of the growing to the degree of the speaking, the person, human, Adam. Because the group belongs to the degree of Adam because here we have different calculations. Annulment and connection, those relate to the degree of Adam and not to the growing nor to the animate.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:32) How to maintain the proper intention always meaning that a person will not lie to himself so how to keep the purity of the intention?
M. Laitman: Maintaining the intention is a war, it's a war! You need all sorts of exercises, you need to be reminded of this. You need to make for yourself various signs on the way, landmarks; maybe an alarm clock every half hour, various things. I would do this: I would drive with the Rebbe, Rabash, I would draw all sorts of things on my hand, on my arm, right? He would laugh, why? Because I looked at it one time and then I forgot about looking at it for several hours, I didn't see and he didn't remind me of it. It won't help but you need to try everything because from everything we advance. Everything we do advances us to the next failure – we go from failure to failure so we need to walk to go, right? Then it goes from victory to victory.
Student: You just said that the group is the degree of Adam, I didn't get it.
M. Laitman: The group is the degree of Adam, human, not growing nor living. Animals and plants don't have, it's not in their nature to annul themselves before another, to take another into account, to connect with another. You have flocks of animals and schools and herds and all those sorts of things. But it's on a beastly level, not for the sake of annulment but to profit more, to gain more. Here, there's an element of annulment, a spiritual element because I unite with the others through this. And then it immediately, if in every thought, everything I do, it unites me with the group. It doesn't matter what it is but it connects me to the group in thought, then my action immediately rises in degree.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:54) There are various things we do which have to do with the routine. For example, to teach every week, or various things we do here on a daily basis.
M. Laitman: There is no such thing as a routine, there is no routine; the problem is that the habit becomes a second nature, and nature is already dead. So, how to maintain the intention? The intention, simply, before everything that you do, you need unity, unity with the group. Unity with the Creator is a problem, but with the group.
Student: But when the action is directed outwards?
M. Laitman: So what's, outwards? I'm now sitting in front of the television, in, well, let's say, the studio, or the radio station. Or I'm giving some talk, some interview, a lecture, why can't I feel that the group is connected to me, standing behind me? And that now I'm benefiting them and our entire business, here? I have to connect this to an inner vessel, it's not a laughing matter. It's not, it seems to us that it's some, I don't know, small, secondary, tertiary thought, no. This brings you out of your ego. It connects you to something external.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:28) According to the text, here on page 168, he says in the second paragraph, he talks about the right line. He says that a person needs to use the aspect of the right line, meaning that the simple act he needs to appreciate and to say that he gives great thanks to the Creator for having rewarded him with performing simple actions?
M. Laitman: What is the question?
Student: The Creator gave him a gift to serve Him, simply, that he's not worthy. What does it mean, he's not worthy? He's not good, what does it mean, worthy? He writes that everything's fine, positive, and suddenly he goes negative?
M. Laitman: The Rebbe writes here in a, yes, it's not so clear: The right line means that I receive, this is Hesed, mercy, grace. The right line means that I receive from above without any criticism, without intervening with my will to receive. Rather, what I'm receiving is wholeness, perfection. And what I'm given from above, I want to be attached to that, to keep it, not to add to it any – not to put my nature in this. Simply, to adhere to this law, to this idea, to this act, this is called the right line, right? So, if I act upon this quality that is now revealed to me in the right line, it means that I'm adhered to the right line, and it means that I'm not bringing my coarseness into it, right, pure, refined.
Now, I understood, I absorbed this quality of the right line with my coarseness of root; now I begin to add to this the rest of the coarseness that I have. I begin to use the left, and then above the left, upon the left, I grow. From impregnation to suckling, nursing, to Mochin. Look, sometimes he doesn't write in such a precise way, and this, being unworthy, it's not written very accurately. What does it mean that he's not worthy? He wants to say that the act, itself, is not that important, actually. And indeed, the act itself isn't worth much but because the Creator gave this to him and gave it to him as a gift. And he feels that he never deserved this, so although this is a very small thing of little importance, for him this is everything, that is called the right. He doesn't add his own criticism itself, nothing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:49) So, in what place, here, in terms of faith, there's also the aspect of fear, what he writes about here, this is inside the faith, it's something separate, a second thing?
M. Laitman: Faith includes within it many discernments because faith is the feeling of Divinity in the vessels of the created being. And this feeling brings the created being, not fulfillment in his will to receive, rather it brings him power; the recognition of the greatness of the Creator. Meaning the presence of the Creator within the created being in such a way where the created being feels the Creator and doesn't feel how he's being fulfilled by Him. But rather you feel Him, you feel that He's a great person – that there's a great person. He doesn't belong to you, He didn't come to serve you, none of that. You simply feel Him the way He is, so to speak. But it's you feeling Him, it's you, it's you receiving Him – He's within you, so to speak, His feeling as the great one, the ruler. If you want to acquire that in order to govern your nature, that feeling, in general, is called faith. Now, in faith, you also have the feeling of security, first of all. Security, confidence in that you belong to someone great, you're devoted to Him. And so you're confident and secure, like an embryo.
There is a goal belonging to this great one with all the coarseness that will be revealed, that is the goal, that is the goal, certainly. That is immediately revealed to you, the will to receive, when it feels Divinity, it wants just one thing, by nature: to submit and be devoted completely. So, there are many impressions, here, feelings which in total are called faith. So, the general force, the force of AB-SAG forces, or the screen which builds the screen, they are ultimately called, in general, they are called faith. And therefore, AB is called Hesed, and that's why from Bina emerges the light that corrects the vessel. The light of Hochma that corrects the vessel, so we don't take into account really what light it is, we only take into account what it does.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:56) So, one thing seems to contradict the other, faith and matter?
M. Laitman: You're saying that there are two things that contradict each other, that we need to have confidence, we need to feel that we are – we are under the rule of the Creator. What could be better, safer, on the one hand? On the other hand, we need to be in fear, anxiety even, right? Reverence, search, all these things, things which contradict each other, right, so what? But they contradict each other because you want to check them, to examine them from the same substance, from the same vessel of the will to receive. And you don't understand that two contradictory things are felt in us as contradictory because they belong to – they come from two sources: the will to receive and the will to bestow. Meaning I need to have confidence, and be in faith, and the feeling of Divinity and perfection, wholeness, everything in my vessels of bestowal, not in my vessels of reception. In the vessels of reception, if I want to feel Him with confidence and faith, and the force of eternality and everything, I will feel darkness, yes, you understand? Right, right, that's it, meaning, if I go to examine some phenomena, I need to examine it from the side of my egoism and also from the side of my altruism, so to speak. And then I will see that on the one hand it brings me joy, various good things, yes, positive seemingly. And if I check from the other perspective, from the perspective of the vessel, vessels rather, this brings negative things, and there's no conflict here, no contradiction. At the same time, I can feel joy and perfection, and also a lack and anxiety because if I did not comprise these two forces – the Creator and the created being within me – I could never feel both things. But if I have these two roots in me, within me, yes, then I am capable of feeling opposites, opposite things. From the same carrier, the light appears in me, let's say, illuminates upon me, if I'm ready for that, prepared. Then I receive forces from that, persistence, all the positive things, yes, correction, incorrections, and also as fulfillments. And if I'm not prepared for it, then the same light is felt by me as darkness, awful pain, problems, you understand? Torment.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:11) This means the light that is revealed, it gives you the feeling of security and the feeling of wholeness?
M. Laitman: That light that gives you the feeling of confidence and wholeness in vessels of bestowal gives you darkness and terrible suffering in the vessels of reception. That's what we say. There, where you will feel these, the worst possible things, those horrible vessels. There you will reveal specifically the drop of unity, the good, and pleasantness, and wholeness, specifically there. There you will install the screen, the greatest screen in the places where you feel horrible darkness and suffering, there will be the greatest screen, so there you will receive the greatest revelation.
Student: Now, when a person is afraid of losing it, doesn't he, in the vessel of reception? Oh, God forbid, that would happen to me?
M. Laitman: No, the question is, what, there's fear, right, like he explains the Introduction to the Book of Zohar, right? The deposits of the light that there's a fear that it will be good to me and good to my children, and heaven to everyone, right? And there's fear that it's already the hand of the Creator: can I do something good to Him ever, or not? Well, what can we do, everybody's raising their hands, we have to study.
Student: Can we not do anything before the Creator is revealed?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: If a person goes from double concealment to a normal concealment, can he do something?
M. Laitman: Yes, the difference between the double concealment and the regular concealment is tremendous. A person, even if he is not above the barrier, if he's still in this world but he lives with the feeling of the presence of the Creator. He feels the Creator is present, He's alive, He's watching after him, He's doing all kinds of things to him, also bad things, right. And he still doesn't see from all the bad things the Creator is doing to him that they're not bad at all but they're actually good. I think that they're bad, but the Creator, in this way, is teaching him a lesson, let's say, and this is called the concealment of the face: the Creator beats me but it is doing something good from this. When I cross the barrier, and I enter reward and punishment, and I begin to justify the Creator because I now recognize that what He did to me before, I begin to recognize this and see that He didn't do anything bad to me. From this I begin to justify Him, then you say that the mistakes that He did, and maybe it was for my benefit, but He actually beat me up, now they become merits. It wasn't a blow at all, He didn't beat me up at all.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:24) Does the group, if the group is used as a faith tool, as the faith, as you said. Is there no danger that the person because of it will not feel his personal deficiency in faith? Has he always received this force of faith as if it exists?
M. Laitman: The difference that a person who is in contact with a group will start feeling himself and feel only the group.
Student: Where's the limit?
M. Laitman: The limit is to nevertheless maintain his own uniqueness because a man, each and every one, is a gem – a part of Adam HaRishon, his soul is very unique. So, what, is he going to now erase it, all his personality, everything, and he wants to be addicted to the group? Well, is there anything about annulling to the majority? On the contrary, Baal HaSulam writes that following the majority is the work of the collective. With us, in spirituality it's following after the individual; so, if I'm special, yeah, am I going to go and erase it now, what the Creator created? By that, I will realize the thought of creation? No, specifically, when a person annuls himself to the group, by that, he actually raises his personality several times more individually, personally, specifically, toward Godliness. Because he increases all of his forces through the group, he never disappears in it – what does it mean, disappear? By annulling the use of in order to receive, do you think that you are canceled and you don't exist? No, by that, you actually are rewarded with the use of in order to bestow.
We think like this: if I only give and I don't receive, I only give from me outward, where am I felt? No, that's the action that's certainly giving you eternal existence and an eternal action and spiritual action that you're giving. The action of the receiver in the true realm, spiritual realm, doesn't exist, meaning it's not felt. That's why the realization, self-realization is by giving. Realization is by erasing your I, what does it mean, erasing your I? God forbid, don't erase it, it's just a manner of speech, you don't take into account your personal interests. That's the greatest self-realization there is, by that, you grow, you grow. You have to grow all the way up to the degree of the Creator, until you reach the size of the Creator. You, each one of you here, has to grow to be like the Creator. That means that this action in order to bestow that it erases the person from a point. You have to become a giant Partzuf of ten Sefirot, the height of Adam Kadmon, from one end to the other.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:18) What is the difference between the person and the beast? The person, the first fear and the second fear, can I understand what is the first fear and what is the second fear?
M. Laitman: First fear, second fear, could be, you have to see the article. It's possible that he interprets it according to what's written in the Preface of the Book of Zohar. The first fear is the beastly fear; second fear is spiritual fear. Meaning the first fear is when a person is afraid for himself and for his relatives, and his family, and so on and so forth, for what they have in this world and also what they may get in the next world. The next world, he thinks about what will be after he dies, and we have to understand that we don't learn a single word about what's happening with the souls after the body dies. We learn only what's happening with the souls, while their body is alive, and the soul attains Godliness, spirituality, the feeling of the Creator, this is what we learn. Then, what does it feel? This is what Kabbalists write to us: how to come to this sensation and what to feel. And what's happening with the souls after the body is deceased, this beastly body, this beast is dead. Nothing is written about it anywhere because it's none of our business. They write to us only that which belongs to our correction, nothing besides that. I want to know what's happening after I die, is there any existence? Or after I come back here, together with the body, without the body the soul doesn't exist, or it's not felt in me, or it's included in Ein Sof and has no personal feeling? Or it belongs to the structure of Adam HaRishon, which is already in the end of correction and has to come down again, what's happening here? What kind of reality is it that – who am I then? I is the one who belongs to the same soul, or I is the one who feels it through this body? They barely explain this to us, Baal HaSulam writes about this in a letter about the matter of the souls that are separate from the body. There's nothing about it, you remember that, right? I don't recall exactly which letter he's writing like this, but it's written.
So those who think, who imagine, that it will be good to him in this world, and to his kids, and his family, his relatives, his nation, even the whole world, for the whole world to feel good, and also the next world. So, each one will receive heaven – there's room for everyone there – this is called beastly fear. And there's a greater fear, there's a higher fear, the fear of bestowing to the Creator – can I bestow, am I capable of it, will I ever be rewarded of it and so on and so forth. Do I bestow to Him enough, after I started bestowing to Him, and so on and so forth. This is called spiritual fear.
Reader: We'll share from our inspiration from the lesson: what are we taking from it into the Ten? Then, we'll move to the next part of the lesson, but before that, a song!