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

Daily Morning Lesson: July 30, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work? Article No. 32, 1989.

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will study a lesson by the Rav from August 1, 2002. The lesson is based on Rabash's article, “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?” You can find it on page 927 in Rabash's second volume in Hebrew. Let's read the article in the Tens, we have 28 minutes for that. Go ahead.

Reading: (00:36) What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?

Article No. 32, 1989

It is written in The Zohar (Balak, Item 43): “‘The wise, his eyes are in his head.’ He asks, ‘Where else would man’s eyes be? Perhaps in his body or on his arm, as the wisest in the whole world told us?’ We learn that ‘One must not walk four steps bare-headed.’ What is the reason? It is because the Shechina [Divinity] is on his head, and any wise man, his eyes and his words are in his head. That is, on the same line. It stands on his head, which is the Shechina, and when his eyes are there, in his head, which is the Shechina, he should know that that light which burns on his head needs oil, since man’s body is the wick, and the light burns above the wick. King Solomon shrieked and said, ‘Let not oil be lacking on your head,’ since the light in his head needs oil, which is the good deeds. It is about this that he says, ‘The wise, his eyes are in his head,’ and not elsewhere.”

We should understand why if the Creator wants to give the light of the Creator to a person, the person needs good deeds, like the oil. That is, according to the amount of oil in the wick, to that extent the candle burns. In other words, in corporeality, we see that the wick can burn only according to the amount of oil in it. Yet, how does this relate to spirituality? Why is it that when there is a lack of good deeds, the Creator cannot give to a person, so the light will not stop from him? After all, the fact that the Creator gives light to a person is because of the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations. Thus, why does the Creator need the lower one to give Him good deeds?

To understand what we asked, If He wishes to give delight and pleasure to the created beings, why does He need them to give Him oil? The answer is that in order to achieve the completion of His works, there was the matter of concealment and hiding, so that His guidance will not be in open Providence. Only once the created beings correct their Kelim [vessels] from the will to receive for themselves and achieve equivalence of form, called “desire to bestow,” by this the matter of shame—which derives from the oppositeness of form from the Giver—will be corrected.

It therefore follows that although from the perspective of the Giver there is no cessation of abundance, but as it is written, “I the Lord do not change,” from the perspective of correction that was carried out in the first receiver, called Malchut de Ein Sof, this correction is derived, where as long as the lower one cannot receive everything in order to bestow, the light stops shining to the lower one. Therefore, in order for the light to shine on one’s head, he must do good deeds, meaning acts of bestowal. This will lead him to do everything in order to bestow, and then there will be a place where the light can be present permanently.

Now we can interpret what is written, “The wise, his eyes are in his head.” Baal HaSulam said that “wise” means that one who wants to be wise is already called “wise.” Accordingly, this means that one who wants to be wise should look in his own head, meaning believe that the Shechina is on his head, which is the reason why our sages said, “One must not walk four steps bare-headed.” We explained that man’s head means man’s mind, and the mind must not be revealed, meaning he should cover his mind and reason as though he has no reason and go above reason, for precisely above reason can he receive everything in order to bestow. In this way, a person can be rewarded with feeling that the Shechina is over his head, meaning above reason, by which he will come to feel.

This is as Baal HaSulam says, that when a person comes to feel that now he is in ascent, he should not say, “Now I do not need to believe that His guidance is in the form of good and doing good because now I feel that this is so.” By this he goes back within reason and promptly loses his degree, since he has flawed the faith above reason by saying that now he no longer needs to go above reason.

This is called falling once more into self-love, on which there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment, for which the light departed from him and he remained in the dark. When it says, “His eyes are in his head,” it means he is looking at the Malchut [kingdom] of heaven in his head, which is precisely when his head is not revealed but covered, and he goes above reason. This is called “good deeds.” And what is the good deed? It is that he covers his head by going above reason.

It follows that man’s body is the wick that needs the light in his head, and the light shines as long as he has oil. When he has no oil, the light departs from the wick.

As was said above, “oil” means good deeds. As long as he adds oil, the candle burns, meaning that as long as he “covers his head,” meaning his feeling, that is, he is not taking this ascent—meaning that now he feels the light within reason—as support.

This means that now he has something on which to base his kingdom of heaven. It follows that now he no longer has oil, meaning good deeds, called “above reason.” Hence, the wick is quenched for lack of oil. This is the meaning of what we asked, “What does it mean that oil is called “good deeds”?

The answer is that good deeds are like the oil in the wick. When the oil runs out, the light stops. Likewise, when the good deeds stop, the light departs and descends once more to the place of lowliness.

Baal HaSulam said that when he comes into a state of ascent, meaning that he feels that it is worthwhile to work in order to do everything in order to bring contentment to his Maker, he should not say, “Now I have a basis on which to build the kingdom of heaven, since now I no longer need to go above reason.” Rather, he should say, “Now I see that I must go specifically above reason, and the evidence of this is that specifically by going above reason, the Creator brings me closer and loves me.”

How does he know that the Creator loves him? Baal HaSulam said a rule about this: If a person has love for the Creator, he should know that it is because the Creator loves him, as it is written, “The Lord is your shade.” “Therefore, from here on I take upon myself to go only above reason, for in this way I see that the Creator brings me closer.” Thus, he does not relate to the ascent as a basis, that because now he feels, he wants to be a worker of the Creator. Rather, he takes this ascent as proof that the way of the Creator is specifically above reason, and henceforth, he will try to go only above reason.

Accordingly, we can understand what The Zohar says (Balak, Item 71), “‘And it shall come to pass that when you eat from the bread of the earth you will raise a contribution to the Lord’ was said about the sheaf of the “wave offering.” Why “wave”? Is it a wave because the priest would wave it up? How does it concern us if he waved up or lowered down? We said that Tnufa [waving] means Tnu-Peh [give-mouth], which are the letters of Tnufa [in Hebrew]. It means, “Give glory to the Lord your God, since Peh is glory, meaning Malchut, which is called “glory,” which should be given to the Creator. For this reason, we must raise her, since there is glory to the upper one, ZA, only when Israel establish this glory, which is Malchut, and give it to the King of Glory. This is the meaning of Tnu-Peh, “give glory.” This is certainly elevating, meaning raising Malchut to ZA.

Waving implies work. That is, although the literal meaning is that we must raise the sheaf, as it is written, “the sheaf of the wave offering,” but The Zohar asks what this comes to teach us in the work. It explains about this that we must raise the kingship to the Creator, for Peh [mouth] is called kingship and Peh is also called “glory,” as it is written, “Give glory to the Lord your God.” Thus, we must give the Peh, which is the kingship [Malchut], to the Creator.

We should understand what it means that we must give the kingship to the Creator, and what it means that they should give the Peh, meaning glory, to the Creator. When we speak about observing Torah and Mitzvot individually, meaning in order to thereby achieve Dvekut with the Creator, which is equivalence of form, namely relinquish self-benefit and do only that which benefits the Creator, this work is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust,” or “Shechina in exile.”

In other words, when a person works for his own benefit, meaning to receive reward for his work, he has fuel to work because he considers the reward. But when a person wants to work not in order to receive reward, the body asks, “What is this work for you?” Therefore, at that time, this work tastes like dust to him. Although he overcomes and observes the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], he works with great efforts since the body does not enjoy it.

Conversely, if a person says to the body, “If you ask me why I observe Torah and Mitzvot,” the person should say, “Until now, I worked for you. Now I have come to realize that we must work for the sake of the Creator. Since I cannot fight, as you are stronger than I, as it is written, ‘And redeemed him from the hand of he who was stronger than him,’ therefore, I want to observe Torah and Mitzvot and I believe in our sages who said, ‘The light in it reforms him,’ that by observing Torah and Mitzvot, I will be able to overcome you. Therefore, I ask that you will not disturb me, or I will not be able to annul you.”

Clearly, what does the body answer? There is the known rule, “He who comes to kill you, kill him first.” Naturally, the body does what it can. It brings him many bad thoughts, to the point that he cannot overcome it.

What should one do when he sees that he cannot overcome it by himself? His only choice is to believe in our sages, who said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” That is, at that time he must pray to the Creator to help him from above so he will have the strength to defeat his body.

For what should one ask for the Creator’s help? He cannot defeat the evil in him, called “will to receive for his own sake,” because the Shechina is in the dust. In other words, since there is a natural law that the small annuls before the great as a candle before a torch, a person cannot work for the sake of the Creator because the King is not important in his eyes. This is called “Shechina in the dust.”

It follows that he asks of the Creator to raise the Shechina from the dust. In other words, the Shechina is called “kingdom of heaven,” and its value is the same as that of dust. It is as we say in the blessing for the food, “The Merciful One will raise for us the fallen hut of David,” where the “hut of David” means the kingdom of heaven, which is lying in the dust. We ask the Creator to raise the kingdom so that we can see its importance, and not as it appears to us, that it is lying in the dust, which is why we cannot annul the evil in us.

Conversely, if the glory of heaven were revealed, the body would annul like a candle before a torch. This is the meaning of what we say in the Musaf [supplemental] Prayer: “For our sins, we have been exiled from our land and drew far off from our land.” That is, because of the sins, called “vessels of reception,” we have become “far off from our land.” Adama [land] comes from the words, “Adameh [I will be similar] to the Upper One.” Similar to the upper one means that the lower one, too, wants to be as a desire to bestow, like the upper one. He drew far off from it because he wants only to receive for himself.

For this reason, we ask of the Creator and say, “Our Father, our King, reveal the glory of Your kingship upon us soon.” That is, by the Creator revealing His glory to us, meaning raising the Shechina from the dust and glorifying Malchut [the kingship/kingdom], we will be able to annul our will to receive through the rule, “the small annuls before the great.”

Yet, the question is, Why must we ask the Creator to raise Malchut from the dust? Why does He not show the importance of Malchut on His own, but made it so that in our eyes, she is lying in the dust?

The answer is that if the glory of Malchut were revealed, we would not be able to make a choice, and everything would go into the vessels of reception. It would be utterly impossible to emerge from the control of the will to receive for oneself. But while there is concealment on the kingdom of heaven and we must accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven above reason, it is rooted in a person that there is a prohibition to receive abundance in vessels of reception. For this reason, a person begins to work not in order to receive reward, but because of the glory of the King. Hence, he asks the Creator not to hide Himself from the lower ones, but to “Reveal the glory of Your kingship over us” so we will have the strength to annul ourselves and work only because of the glory of the King.

Now we can understand the meaning of Tnufa, which he says means Tnu-Peh [give-mouth]. We should interpret what it means that the created beings must give a mouth to the Creator, which is Malchut. It means that the lower ones should take upon themselves the kingdom of heaven, meaning that they must elevate Malchut, which is lying in the dust, and say that she is not lowered and lying in the dust, but that her place is in heaven. This is called “the kingdom of heaven,” meaning that she is raised from the dust and placed back in her place, which is her important place—in heaven. Then, Malchut is called Peh.

It says, “Give glory to the Lord your God,” since Peh is glory, for there is no merit to the high King unless when Israel establish this glory, which is the kingship, and give it to the King of Glory.

That is, all our work is to aim all of our actions to raise the Shechina from the dust, meaning to raise Malchut. This means that we take upon ourselves the kingdom of heaven to make her respectable, to understand her merit, and that it is worthy to work for the sake of the Creator and not for our own sake.

Yet, this work is difficult because it is against nature. Hence, this work causes us many ascents and descents, until sometimes a person despairs and says, “This work is not for me,” and wants to escape the campaign since he sees no progress in the work. Moreover, he sees that he has regressed and not progressed, namely that now he is more immersed in self-love, and that before he began the work of bestowal, he was not so worldly.

It follows that now he sees that he has more evil. But the question is, What is the truth? Was all the effort he had put into achieving love of the Creator pointless and useless? According to the rule that our sages said, “One should always see oneself as half guilty, half innocent. If he commits one Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], happy is he, for he has sentenced himself to the side of merit.” Thus, the question is, Once he has sentenced himself to the side of merit, how can he be half guilty, half innocent, since now he is mostly worthy?

We should answer according to what our sages said (Sukkah 52), “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” But why is he given a greater evil inclination? The answer is that each time a person subdues some evil and the evil enters the Kedusha [holiness], he is given a bigger portion of evil to correct. It follows that now that he has subdued the previous evil, he is given evil once again, and more of it. That is, according to the measure of the good, so he is given a measure of the bad.

Thus, according to the rule, “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him,” it means that the good and the bad are always of equal weight. It therefore follows that the evil is recognized only according to the extent of good that a person has obtained, and to that extent, the evil in him appears.

Accordingly, one who has only a little bit of good will have only a little bit of bad, for otherwise he will not be balanced and will not be able to make a choice, for the bad will be more than the good. For this reason, a person is shown the evil in him only to the extent of the good in him, meaning that a person is always in a state of half good and half bad.

It turns out that through descents and ascents, the evil is gradually corrected, and a person must always remember and believe what our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” However, a person must give an awakening from below, and then he is rewarded with a Peh of Kedusha, as was said, “Give a mouth, give glory to the Lord your God.”

Reader: Now we will move on to a lesson from August 1, 2002.

M. Laitman: (27:50) We read an article from Volume 3, “The Rungs of the Ladder,” portion “Balak,” “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?” Again and again, Rabash emphasizes that to the extent in which a person advances in spirituality, the concealment grows more and more, such that, we know it from the story of the exodus from Egypt, the exile from Egypt to Egypt, and the exodus from Egypt. “And the people of Israel sighed from the work,” and then they stand before Pharaoh and the ten plagues, the ten blows until we are rewarded with the exit. All these things tell us that the concealment is growing, the obstacles grow, and we need a lot of patience to see these things as the correct result of our labor, which is not by the way of nature. In the way of nature, we know, this is how our will to receive understands, that the more it pays, the more it receives. And here, because we have to exit the desire to receive, so the more we pay with our exertion, we see that we have less in the will to receive, and that's the payment. So we will be able to depart from it, be separate from it, and see it more and more empty. Hence, according to one's intellect, one can somehow understand, and maybe even sometimes justify this path, this process of spiritual development in a person, which is not like we're used to from the processes that happen in this world. To the extent in which a person approaches spirituality, he sees himself as farther from spirituality. The more he invests forces, the more he sees that he's losing. Hence, we're powerless. And not naturally this happens. So how can I give forth labor and in the end get a blow, give more labor and get another blow? What body and what intellect and what heart would want to labor here, if at the end of the labor one receives a blow? Eventually a person is lacking everything and despaired and doesn't know what to do. According to what he reads, according to what he hears, maybe it's correct. And he can somewhat agree with this process with his mind, that it's probably the way to exit the desire to receive and reach the second nature. But, well, so what do we do? Nevertheless, it's written nicely and correct. But is it doable altogether, this whole matter? And a person who's in the desire to receive has no other forces, so what would one do? In truth, he has nothing to do but to receive the recognition of the greatness of the Creator from the group. Not from himself, inside him he won't find it, because in our nature we see we don't have the power for this. And to receive the recognition of the Creator, not the recognition, the greatness of the Creator - not the recognition of the Creator because the recognition of the Creator the group can't give him, because they're in the same state as him - but to hear how great the Creator is and that everything depends on Him, and that He wants to, and He's capable. That's called environment, society, Rav, books - all that's around a person. Not the forces within a person, the forces within a person are incapable of anything. “And the people of Israel sighed from the work.” Here there needs to be, to come to a state where truly it's “I and not a messenger.” Meaning, turn to the Creator and cry out. And sigh, as they say. But this is not in a person's strength to be able to find within himself, unless he is a virtuous one that is helped from above, or that he's successful and finds these forces in the friends, in the group, the books, the Rav, etc. And then he truly turns correctly to the Creator knowing that he himself is hopeless to do anything. And he has done all that is even possible. And so it's impossible for anything to come out of it. And he basically, you say, deposits himself, he just gives himself, he throws himself this way from despair into the hands of the Creator - should do whatever, no matter what. Until it is clarified to him precisely what he's demanding, what he wants precisely. And then he crosses the barrier. Meaning, the main part of our choice is in shortening the path in which we are in darkness, in exile. Whereas the more we advance, we can see ourselves more empty. Rabash writes that the entire exile of Egypt, when a person perceives something in his vessel, but his vessel has got holes in it, it leaks, everything he grasps or perceives exits. So he can't get anything from all of this labor, because until he comes to a point where he has no forces to do anything with this vessel, but rather to ask for the Creator to correct the vessel, and then his exertion will truly be in a non-porous vessel. And how do we close these pores? With the screen in order to bestow. And then the vessel becomes hole. What do we call such a sieve or a colander? So we don't want to have holes in it, we want it to be whole. A ladle. Instead of being a colander, it'll become a ladle. Okay, that's all.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:04) In truth, every day that we read about it, it sounds the same.

M. Laitman: It's written that all the prayers of Israel are done with. That's it, they're done with. There's nothing more. They've come to the state where either it's from despair or from adhesion.

Student: Every day what we read actually sounds pretty much the same. We're still repeating the same idea, all in all.

M. Laitman: You see, I'm speaking about this maybe... I've been hearing it for 25 years. For 20 years, talking. So, and each time we find innovations, because also a person is renewed. It's not that something on the outside, but a person himself becomes new, and there are new discernments. And from this we're speaking. Otherwise, you could say it all in one sentence: “Taste and see that the Creator is good.” What else is there? That's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:09) One of the things that are most unclear to me is still, with everything that does change or doesn't change, how does the inner process of scrutiny take place? How is something done in such a way to truly bring you to a point of running through the process faster? How can you...

M. Laitman: What's still not clear to you is how a state of scrutiny takes place. So go by your intellect, first of all, and then we'll see if that's possible to build such a process, so it will be a process of scrutiny. Well...

Student: But each time it comes in a different way. Each time we're facing...

M. Laitman: Each time in a different way. No, you're saying it's the same idea, that you're reading the same thing each time. Now you're saying it's each time different.

Student: That's what doesn't quite work out for me, because each time seemingly we have to go through the whole process again. How come...

M. Laitman: The end of an action is in the initial thought. What do you need to scrutinize? What is it that you need to go through and scrutinize in order to move to spirituality? Yes, that's...Now we're saying, how to cross the barrier. Later, we don't know what, but how do we cross that? So how do we go through it? What do you think?

Student: I need to reach the complete recognition of who I am.

M. Laitman: Wait, when do I cross the barrier?

Student: When I despair of myself.

M. Laitman: I don't know if I'm despaired or not despaired. What's the condition through which I need to cross the barrier?

Student: A true prayer.

M. Laitman: I cross the barrier with the force of prayer?

Student: Well, the Creator takes me through it.

M. Laitman: Do I go through it with the force of despair that I cross the barrier? No, it's the Creator who transfers me. So start with the end of it. You don't start with the end, meaning the Creator gives me some force. What, He gives it in my hands? What does He do? He gives inside my desire and my forces. In my desires, a change takes place where I begin to feel spirituality, to live in spirituality. To live in spirituality means to live with the intention in order to bestow somewhat. This means that He's giving me a screen. And it's called that I cross the barrier. Prior to that, I didn't have a screen, I didn't have the intention in order to bestow. Now I have a minimal intention in order to bestow. So the desire to receive with that small intention in order to bestow is called my measure of the first spiritual vessel that I have. That's it. So I need to receive from Him a screen. Now, what's the degree before that? Before the screen that I receive? Probably a need for a screen, yes? Because anything can be received only if there's a vessel for it, a Kli for it. So I need a Kli for a screen, a need for a screen. What kind of need for a screen does there need to be? Could it be, now in me, that I can depict to myself a state where I have a need for a screen? Can such a thing be or not? So I go a little backwards from there. For me to have a need for a screen, I need to know that there'll be some kind of benefit from having a screen. What do I benefit from having a screen? The benefit from the screen, well, what do I receive against it? That I'm bestowing. Where I see the Creator, I don't see and enjoy Him, but rather I see that I am bestowing to Him. But not that me bestowing to Him for me is fuel, because then I am simply working in a not pure way in order to bestow. In order to bestow, means even if I don't see Him, don't feel Him, I am not in any form of revelation, just one piece of information I have, and that's - I'm the bestower.

M. Laitman: (40:19) Yes, and there are many other fine-tuned points here inside, but eventually I come to a state where I need some abstract force, which I don't have completely now, and could it be that I would have a desire for it? Yes, that's the question. If I check what is certainly a desire for a screen, then I probably don't have a desire for a screen. Rather, it could be that I don't want the screen itself, and what it will give me in the spiritual world - pure bestowal without any connection to myself, which I cannot feel these disturbances yet, they're completely disconnected from my reality. How can I talk in the air about such things, just utter them out of my mouth, and it doesn't give anything. It's not a prayer from a true deep desire. A deep desire is considered before the words, before even recognizing what it is. So I probably can't reach that, but I can at least reach certain despairs around it. So let's do it this way. What things in our will to receive can be in me, scrutinized, that if I did them and I completed them, that's the maximum of what I'm capable of doing until the barrier? Just like with the example that we learned before the final correction, where besides the stony heart, we can scrutinize everything. Yes? Galgalta Eynaim, the incorporation of Galgalta Eynaim in AHP and AHP in Galgalta Eynaim. All the discernments besides the stony heart. You know, it's like you have a bone with the meat, and you eat all the meat until the very last piece of meat, and you only leave the bone clean, like polished off. Yes? And that's how you scrutinize what “yes” and what “not.” So similar to that, let's put it this way, that to the final correction, and the stony heart we don't touch yet, we only build it in the form of negation a willingness for the correction of the stony heart. That's probably, let's say that it's here, before the barrier, where we're building in some form of negation, a willingness, a readiness for building a screen in us. So what are those discernments that we need to scrutinize fully, so that eventually later we will be able to receive from above? Just like in the final correction we receive the light of the Messiah, and correct the stony heart - now also we receive the light of Messiah, the Messiah, which draws us from this world to spirituality. And then in the final correction, we receive the light of the Messiah that draws us from the second restriction to the first restriction. That's it. So scrutinize it. So what do you need? What conditions in order to lead you, to bring you to that discernment, that final discernment? You see, we need many years of exertion. And it's as if you're choosing the same articles and the same letters. In my times, there were no such things. When Rabash started writing, it was already 83, 84. 84 when the first articles that came out. And before that, there wasn't. There was the book of introductions, and that's it. Nothing besides the “Book of Introductions.” And they didn't study the Introductions. They studied “The Study of the Ten Sefirot.” That's it. And the Introductions, if you want, you can read on your own. It was truly such a thing, like, so, the fact that we're chewing all these things operates for a very, a very beneficial scrutiny. However, the thing is that we need to try, as much as possible, to enter it into our hearts, meaning to read it in such a way that it will touch our disclosed desires, our naked desires. That's it. It's like Rabash says, you're given a medicine, some kind of bottle with a liquid in it, but instead of pouring it into your mouth each time with a spoon, you spread it on your foot. You didn't understand the doctor, what were his instructions. So, accordingly, that's the result, meaning these things need to be put as much as possible close to the desire. Meaning, when we're reading, when we're hearing, we need to try to truly be connected with it, to imagine it as much as possible as happening within us. And then it gradually penetrates.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:59) We say that actually what does the scrutinies for us, what does all of these things for us, it's the lights, the surrounding lights.

M. Laitman: The light shakes the vessel. The light corrects the vessel. We just need to cause the light to do it.

Student: This is something that always comes back to me. On the one hand, I need the light to do it for me. On the other hand, the light won't do it for me until I want it to do it for me. And also, it is the only one that can bring me the desire to do it. So, it's seemingly always the same circle. It always feels like I'm chasing after...

M. Laitman: Again, again, what did you say? Only the light can correct me. Only I will invite it.

Student: And only it can make me want it.

M. Laitman: And only it can cause me to want it. So, what will I do, so that He will want me, so He will give me a desire for Him, so that I will want to ask Him, so He will truly come and correct me, yes? You can continue a few more steps backwards, and it'll be the same, yes? These are precisely our states: ascents, descents, the relation this way or that way. This is precisely what happens. Meaning, the light and the vessel are revealed, either this or that. They switch this way, how should we say it? But that's it. There's nothing besides this. In truth, the question behind all these things is whether we need to be so wise that we need to know in detail the whole process we're going through. And if I don't know what I'm going through, then God forbid, I won't go through it. That's the question. Whether our knowledge causes us to truly go through this thing, and not knowing stops us from going through it, yes? No, completely not. There's someone with the intellect of a psychologist or a philosopher who will sit here and detail all the details and grasp them in a few lessons, and will be able to then really somehow play with them in such a way that you'll just hear, you'll be impressed, and it's truly the revelation of Eliyahu. Yes, and there's someone who barely grasps the thing, these explanations, and doesn't understand them altogether. Within him, he's so crude and undeveloped emotionally that he doesn't have such things. He doesn't grasp; he doesn't feel them so much. And in truth, it doesn't matter. Two such people can sit here. One of them is truly Shimon from the marketplace, not Rabbi Shimon, who later becomes that. And the other one is truly subtle, truly having a spirit without a body. And that one knows, and he can philosophize in all of the different states, and the first one barely grasps what is written in the article, and he's in such a state of fogginess. And it's completely unrelated to their advancement, because everything depends on the labor. The one who is completely ignorant and clumsy, does he invest as much as possible? He gives himself as much as possible to the matter. Only his investment is measured. And the other one, who is wise and subtle, and he can truly grasp it from the air, maybe he doesn't invest so much. He also doesn't need it so much. It's difficult for him to invest himself because he doesn't feel here that there is something to invest in. I'm not saying he doesn't want it, doesn't care, he looks down at it. But also, from within himself, from his preparation, he doesn't see the difficulty, he doesn't see where the field of the work is, you see, where he can put himself into. But practically, everything only follows the account of the exertion, you see. It could be that the subtle one, the poor philosopher, is screwed up, truly. Maybe he wasn't given from above sufficient coarseness, and until he begins to receive it, it will take a lot of time and stages. If he persists, and certainly, finally, he will reach the state of the other one, that Shimon from the marketplace, and he will start from that. We see these things here. But nevertheless, it's difficult.

M. Laitman: (50:52) Therefore, Kabbalah is needed in a material generation, a generation that is very strong in their materialism, their corporeality, their coarseness, their ego - in our generation. They're not in the previous generation where they were all, you know, they felt out of nothing, they could feel godliness, they saw it out of their life, it was clear to them that this is how it is, that it's clothed inside our life. That's how it was for them. That's it. And it was very easy for them also to create the match between corporeality and spirituality. They observed all of the commandments, you know, how to keep the commandments that depend on the land. This is something really terrible, 300 or maybe 400 commandments. It's quite something, the commandments of the temple, all kinds of things. They felt them from within themselves because they were refined. Because of that, they didn't need Kabbalah, they didn't put in labor, they truly didn't have exertion. And for us, it's the opposite. We are at the end, right? Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut are revealed. We are the final vessels, the coarse vessels, there's great concealment. Until you can move, you really turn worlds upside down. If they were making efforts like us now, I don't know how it would be. It was simply impossible with their vessels. It's the opposite, the inverse relation between lights and vessels. It's a wonder how it works. They all had a feeling that they are truly Kabbalists, you know? The generation of Moses, the generation of the desert, the generation of the conquest of the land, and later on until king David, until the first temple, you can't even talk about it. From the first temple, from the ruin of the temple and onwards, from the ruin of the first temple and beyond, the descent, the decline begins already. But nevertheless, there were prophets, everything was alive. Godliness was clear to common people in the feeling. They didn't have to write what books they had to, were needed to write. Out of the feeling, it was clear to them what's needed. When they went out to the exile, then they started to write some books, right? Because there was still a connection between those who are in the revelation of godliness and the other ones who are already in the exile, meaning under concealment. Then they started it. But before that, there was no need to write anything. It was so clear, you have to write down what you feel in your life, that everybody understands and feels, what can you write about if everybody knows it? As Baal HaSulam writes in the beginning of the introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, that from the ruin of the temple and onwards, this iron partition was formed between us and between the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning between us and the revelation of godliness, the revelation of the Creator, the feeling of the Creator, such a wall was formed that we can't feel anything. That's the source of all the troubles. There is no more than that. If we want to have a good life, then godliness must be revealed. Of you will feel evil until inside your vessels the Creator will be revealed. There is no other condition.

M. Laitman: (54:55) He also writes in “Shamati” that the entire reason why we feel good is feeling the Creator, and the concealment of the Creator is the reason for all the bad things. Therefore, what we're engaging in is we're engaging only in how do we discover the Creator. We want to have a good life, that's it. Now, either you want to have a good life, that you will feel good, or you want to have a good life where good means what is in the purpose of creation, in the goal. Both this and that is called good, but in which kind of vessels, with what attitude. So, the whole thing is about below the barrier and above the barrier. We have two different concepts of what “good” means. So, below the barrier, we can't aim towards the good that exists above the barrier. It's impossible. This is why the exodus from Egypt is in haste, in darkness, running away and truly stealing the vessels with all of these things. It's impossible otherwise. Leaping into the sea, the tearing of the Red Sea, jumping into the sea like that. So, besides patience, I don't know what else can help.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:36) I understood that if you ask for something from the Creator, you have to ask directly what you want and not the ways to get it. Meaning if a person wants...

M. Laitman: If a person asks the Creator for something, and he asks for it in a particular way, it means that he's making conditions: that You should help me in such and such a way. From where do you have the intellect to even ask? I don't know what you're asking for, right? But if you're asking for something that's good for advancement, if you know what it is, you're asking for something good, then certainly you will receive an answer for it. But if you're asking for something which is not precisely correct, then instead of it, you're not asking for an answer for the prayer that you're expecting, but you are asking for the answer for the prayer that you're not expecting, that it will promote you, but it's not what you think you should get. And so the correct prayer is without any conditions. I'm asking for what is considered in Your eyes to advance, and for me, in advance. Whatever I will receive, as much as I'll receive it, I'll accept it as progress. But if you're already in such a desire, then what can you ask for if it no longer matters what you receive? You believe that it is advancement.

Student: So, why when we want to come to the Creator, I need to place conditions to ask the surrounding light, the light of AB SAG? I want Creator.

M. Laitman: No, wait a minute. You're asking for the Creator, you're asking for the light of AB SAG, surrounding light.

Student: Yes, for what?

M. Laitman: How do you ask for the light of AB SAG? What do you know?

Student: That's what we do in the study.

M. Laitman: That's what we learn? What the vessel asks for? The vessel is asking because the vessel is already in the spiritual world, and there the prayer is a prayer that has to be precisely scrutinized according to the state of the vessel.

Student: But I don't feel that.

M. Laitman: How do you know what we feel beyond the barrier?

Student: So, how can I really be connected?

M. Laitman: You cannot be truly connected. Right now you cannot be connected to the truth. Now you can't. But beyond the barrier, you have a certain measure of adhesion with the Creator. Maybe small, like an Ubar, an embryo, or a little bit more, right? And then according to that, you scrutinize the vessel each time. You don't just keep going inadvertently. You know what state you're in. You know what is the posterior of the upper one, that now wants to elevate you and perform certain actions on you. That is, then we advance in a controlled manner. We advance through exertion. We go above reason, but there is reason. There is reason. You exist on a spiritual degree, which is your reason, the measure of the filling of the light inside the vessel, the measure of the revelation, the connection of the Creator with you, with your soul, and you go above it. But you have a grip on the vessels or the lights, and then above reason, it's not that you have no reason. This is how it is for us, when we don't know anything about our state, and all the more so about the next state.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:22) Meaning, during the study, I receive a desire to want the Creator, and besides that, I'd never have a desire for the Creator?

M. Laitman: For us, in our state, besides what I have during the study, I can't. I mean, during the study or during what we call good deeds, it's called Torah and good deeds, right? You heard, these two concepts come together, right? Through the Torah and the good deeds. What does it mean, through the Torah and the good deeds? Through the Torah means that you study, and during the study, you awaken the surrounding lights, and through the good deeds, that you will perform all kinds of actions that also bring you to the surrounding lights. This is called “actions of love your friend as yourself,” love of others, social cohesion, all of these things that also, ultimately, during the action, evoke the surrounding lights, because you operate to connect to the other souls in order to advance towards the Creator. So, in practice, it means that you're performing Mitzvot, commandments, right? And besides that, the Torah, that's during the study. All of the means that the sages told us about, right? All of these means, it's the study and our social activities. That's it. Now, if you will ask, what's more important, the social activities are more important than the study, because they cause you to have a drive for the study, they cause you to come to the study with the right intention, that you will come equipped with something where it's truly worthwhile to open the page. And if you just sit there and open the page, there are those that it even causes them to feel bad. It all depends on the intention, what you demand out of the study. And the demand comes only from the actions around the study. And therefore, the social work is the most important. We learn that even the Kibbutzniks in the Negev, right? Anyone who wants something receives a certain response according to his desire, right? So even if you won't study but only perform actions in the study, dissemination, all kinds of such things in the society, only from that you will get the correct desires and good desires towards the Creator, right? And this will be enough in order for you to receive a response. It's just that we can't say that it's only that, but indeed, in truth, the weight of the preparation is a great weight in terms of its importance.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:28) For instance, I'm asking the Creator to give me what seems good, seems good to Him for me. In my vessels, I feel not okay with it, but they say that I must feel good. So what can I do? I must ask Him for something different that will be good for me, so that I won't have problems.

M. Laitman: If a person asks the Creator that he will feel good, and this person is not yet in adhesion with the Creator, this means that his intentions, his desires are not corrected, when his good and the true good are the opposite of each other. So then, how can I just ask for good? Well, you might ask differently. When I am now in a certain state, every minute, every second that I'm now in a certain state, I'm asking, I'm praying, seemingly, I turn to the Creator. Why? My body, from the cells to the organs, to all of the systems, and my mind and my desires, and my psychological and psychosomatic systems, my desires, my hormones, my passions, whatever you want, it is all working. The desire exists in every cell and in every body in general, a desire that sustains life, and those desires, they all turn to the Creator. Even before I became wise, and I seemingly controlled them, controlled all of these desires and directed them - even before I can direct them, they also turn to the Creator. From the fact that I now operate my mind, I heard and read that it is better if I think and ask Him for something different than what my body wants, will I change my body by that? Will my cells now spin in a different way, the electrons there, all kinds of things? No. Will my thought work in a different way? Even if I read something in a book, it won't affect anything. This means that these artificial things that I read or I hear, that it's good to bestow, you know, all kinds of things like that, these things, they're outside of me and they're external. I cannot control my desire. When I read something, or I study all kinds of wise things, by that, I only bring them into my intellect. It doesn't touch my desire. My desire is the direct result of the lights that build the desire. As we learned that the light, through the four phases of direct light builds a desire, and later on, when it enters the desire, it makes this desire, it causes this desire, the entire process that the desire needs to go through. This means that I have no control at all. I cannot touch my desire. I may be able to influence my desire if I bestow to the Creator, and the Creator, according to my request or my command will change my desire. He will send a particular light at the end of the process, at the end of the development of the light, such a desire will be built that is seemingly the one that I'm asking for, but I can do it through Him. This is why He's called Emanator. Emanator means that it's not that one time He gave birth to me, and we're done, and now I control myself. I never control myself, never. There is no such case. I, through Him, when I can turn to Him and influence, bestow in some manner, obligate Him, ask of Him maybe some favor, it doesn't matter how, but through Him I can only make it so that something would change in me; only that way. So how is it related to how much I read in the book or I didn't read? From that, I do not change at all within. We have to realize that these things are completely artificial, completely external. There is nothing in that they can somehow change something.

M. Laitman: (01:08:14) There is only the matter of the hastening of the surrounding lights through these actions of study, of dissemination, of the group - hastening, accelerating the surrounding lights, advancing them, drawing them - and the surrounding light changes everything. But it's not that I, by myself, directly change something within me, because I can't touch myself. I have no access, no approach to my will to receive, no access. If you take some surgeons, very truly great doctors, they will tell you, let's say, from the eyes to the nerve within the eye, and later on to all kinds of systems in the body that they develop, you know, that analyze what you see, check what you see, correct what you see, and make it into a complete picture - there are all kinds of very complicated systems there - but later on, they bring the result out of it to this center, what we call the center of the pleasures. And this center of the pleasure, also, if you start opening it up, looking at it, what is it? It's also some kind of a body inside of your intellect that operates according to chemical reactions and beyond it, beyond it. There you cannot reach with the surgeon's knife or with laser. Beyond it, there is already truly the part within us called the part that feels. This is a spiritual vessel. No one can reach there. No one can reach there. This vessel is spiritual. It's a desire. And the rest of it is called the clothing of the desire in matter, that through it, in some manner this desire operates, it's impressed, it expresses itself, it receives. But all in all, these are transitions, but this desire itself, it's not in our attainment, we cannot do anything about it. What enters into my eye, into my eye also enters a spark of the light that we call a tiny illumination that exists, let's say, in some pretty picture. I look at some pretty picture, and through the picture, I receive pleasure. What does it mean? In the picture itself, there's no pleasure. In the picture, there is a spark of the light, that this spark is organized precisely according to my vessel. If somebody else looks at it, he doesn't care about it. He might even find it disgusting. And I am actually filled by pleasure. So in that picture, there's a spark. That spark is spiritual, but it's clothed on a picture. Through the picture, it reaches my eye, goes through all the systems until that spark is released into my system, corporeal, biological, and enters the spark into the source of the spiritual pleasure, into the desire, the spiritual desire. And in the middle, everything it went through from that picture till my eye, and my nerves, and the systems, and everything, this is all just passage on the way. In the beginning, there was a spark of light. In the end, there's a vessel, the will to receive. That's it. And all this sense, let's say, my sense of vision, with everything in my brain and everything, that is just the passageway. This is how we work in this world. Also, same lights and vessels, just in between, there's some intermediate. So, what are you asking about that? From here, we can see that we have no control on the lights, and we have no control on the vessels ourselves. It's disconnected from our body. It's not even in our body. But to change them, we can only do it if we draw upon ourselves a light that changes them, and that's called surrounding light.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:44) I also have the same question. On the one hand, we say that the desire needs to be scrutinized. Then we can ask. On the other hand, we don't know exactly what's good for me. It's for my body, for my will to receive. It's not what I should demand. On the one hand, the desire needs to be scrutinized.

M. Laitman: The Creator... You're saying, I don't know what's beneficial or not. How can I ask anything, right? The Creator doesn't take into consideration what you're asking for. It's like a baby, right? How did Rabash write? That a father walks down the street with his child, the baby's crying, the father isn't even looking at him. You remember which article, right? And everybody tells the father, “look, what's up?” He says, “you know what he's asking for? He's asking for a pin so that he can clean his eye.” Oh, that's not realistic, but as if it's like that. Because your vision, and the pin, so it's like a spiritual example. So the baby asks something not for his benefit, because he doesn't understand what's good or bad for him. He thinks it's good for him. So should he give it or not? Let him cry. What's the benefit from the crying? Why isn't the father calming him? Through the crying, the child will understand that his desire isn't suitable, isn't adapted to the father's desire. And probably the father knows better what's for his benefit. Then it's better to stop crying and to start working on it, that his desire will be equal to the father's desire. Let's say, the father wants to buy him a nice book. The child doesn't want a book. He wants a soccer ball. Why do you want for me some book? So he cries. The father doesn't say anything. But the father bought the book, and he's holding the book. Eventually, the child, he will know that that innovation and the next state can only be a book. So then gradually, he'll come to the state that he wants the book.

Student: So, the desire for the ball will not be scrutinized?

M. Laitman: That his desire for the ball, he'll scrutinize it. And he sees that that desire gives him, causes him to cry. It causes him bad. So for now, he's going to hate the book and also the father. And he's going to look for a different father that will give him a ball, right? And he'll see that nothing works until he’ll want the father and the book. And until he asks for that book, otherwise, he won't receive it. Otherwise, he'll take it and tear it, right? The father wants him to take it in order to read. And he'll slice it up into pieces, and it'll be bad for him. Until he knows how to use that book, and reach it, and what he can, the benefit he can derive from it, so he won't receive it. Look what path he has to go through from his first state, that he wanted that ball 100%, screaming, until he'll scream for the book in that way. That's what we're searching for: how to turn to the nature, that except for TV, sex, and food, all kinds of different activities there, they don't want anything else. How can you give them our books that are so difficult, right? That they'll be interested in it, open it. People don't read anything today anyway. What do they read?

Student: They read the subtitles on television.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: But it's only through us. It's that surrounding light that we...

M. Laitman: You understand, to prepare a desire in humanity to want the wisdom of Kabbalah, to want the book instead of the ball. Did you see soccer ball? Two billion people were watching soccer. Two billion. If two million would want Kabbalah, the world would flip over. But upon what problems the world watches these things? Brazil, there's nothing to eat there. It's horrible what's going on there. But you see, they're disconnecting. Those are the forces of the Kippah, of the shells. Well, let's study.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:02) What's the difference between turning to the Creator and turning to the souls?

M. Laitman: What's the difference between turning to the Creator or turning to the souls? If a person understands that the Creator's desire is to bestow to the created beings, and this bestowal to the created beings, or if a person understands he has to reach the love of the Creator, equivalence of form, adhesion, and this thing is impossible to have if he won't prepare the vessel. Now, this vessel is called connection with the rest of the souls. So, before that, he doesn't do anything. We need to understand that we can work in spirituality only to the extent that we're connected between us in corporeality. It's very simple. How should I say it? Let's say, before you there's some kind of something heavy that you have to move. And you see that you can't do it alone. So, you ask for someone else, and someone else, and someone else, until you're able to move it. So, imagine to yourself that you're down in this world, and to reach degree 125 of the end of correction, you have to move something heavy, that every time it becomes more and more heavy, so as much as you want to rise on those degrees, you need to connect to more souls, and more souls, and more souls to help you push this heavy thing until you connect to everybody, otherwise you won't reach the goal. That’s it. To ascend to the first degree, it's enough to annul yourself and connect to others; it's called to relinquish your ego. Let's say, ten souls. Second degree - 100, third degree - 1,000, and so on. Take that as an example, it'll be more clear, you understand what pushing something heavy means.

Student: Souls are Sefirot, right?

M. Laitman: Souls aren't Sefirot, it's people around me. They also need the same thing, and they can help me in that same work, that same action, to push this heavy thing. That's why I need society. But again, the plea to society can only be after I know what the goal is, that the goal is to reach adhesion with the Creator, then my plea to society will be correct. Otherwise, it'll be a plea that I'll start building some kind, I don't know, Kibbutz, or commune, or that eventually will be destroyed, because it'll be egoistic. Meaning, the work has to be, “the end of the action begins with a thought.” I need to think of the end of the action. What is the end? Now from this, from the end, I'm going to start working, connecting to others. If I just want to connect to others, I want to connect to him because he's strong, and connect to him because he's smart, and he knows how to get by in life, and he's calm, he'll make me calm, he's happy, he'll make me happy. If I go that way to connect the people, I won't connect to the right group that'll help me push this heavy load towards the goal. Maybe towards a different goal, but not towards a spiritual goal. Meaning, and according to this, I have to choose people that have the same thought as me, same direction. You see? Look at all these people with all these opinions. Look, these are the number of the groups, 13 groups, and there's some that didn't even find themselves, and every group thinks about the goal, I guess, in a different way, a different, I don't know, according to what they chose these groups. Maybe they discussed what the goal is exactly, but I don't think that was it, because not everybody knows, and each one thinks a bit differently. So, every group needs to dismantle and gather again every moment. That's impossible, I guess, according to other criterions, but you see, still.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:49) What indication do I have that my labor is qualitative? What can give me some sort of a direction, an anchor, that what I'm doing is qualitative, not only quantitative?

M. Laitman: Exertion and quality, how can you check that? There's really quality. What could be a sign that I exerted correctly? It's written that happiness is a result of good deeds. Happiness, if a person reaches true happiness, after he exerts and invested everything, and is happy, so this happiness is from the exertion itself. You see, not from receiving from it, but from getting an opportunity to exert. And he does it, and he knows that it works. I see it, or I don't see it, it works. There's no way it gets lost. There's no such thing that it gets lost, every second, every moment. Even Baal HaSulam said that this envy, oh, the lice that is there wanting to get some food. So, her sorrow also is added to the general sorrow that builds a vessel for the end of correction, that we need that too. The still, vegetative, animate, we need all of them to join into one vessel. So, in us, it has to bring happiness, that we're on the path, at least we know in somewhat what the goal is, and we have a response, that time doesn't just go by for no reason, and the result should be happiness. The fact that we're connected to godliness and not what a poor person on the street wants, that he wakes up and doesn't know how to end his day. He's sick, he could be rich, poor, it doesn't matter. Today, you don't have somebody who is really happy. We see it. You had a billion dollars a few weeks ago, and today, what's left of the stock market? I don't know. I heard that there's a mess there.

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