The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson. January 19, 2026
Reading of the Article in the Ten
Rabash, Article 12, 1988. What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator? - continued from Morning Lesson on January 18, 2026
Part1: Recorded lesson - March 31, 2003
Reader: Hello, friends. Today we're going to continue to read from “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”. We're going to start from, “We must believe in the words of The Zohar,” it's about a fourth of the article in, and I'll read it until the words “who know its value and they will steal or find it and not return it to the owner.” Afterwards, we'll have a lesson from April 1st, 2003, and tomorrow we'll go to the last part of the article. So, we'll read the article now in the Ten, Tens that finish reading before the end of the time are invited to discuss the main points of the article.
Reading: (01:33) What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?
Article No. 12, 1988
We must believe in the words of The Zohar that the whole Torah is the names of the Creator, meaning that the Creator is clothed in the clothing of the Torah. Hence, we should discern two things in the Torah: 1) the clothing, 2) the one who wears it.
It is as it is written in the book A Sages Fruit (Vol. 1, p 118): “However, the Creator is the light of Ein Sof, clothed in the light of Torah that is found in the above 620 Mitzvot. …This is the meaning of their words, ‘The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.’ It means that the Creator is the whole, and the 620 names are parts and items.”
It follows that one who has faith in the Creator can believe that the giver of the Torah is clothed in the Torah. Conversely, a gentile, who has no faith in the Creator, how can he learn Torah, since he does not believe in the giver of the Torah? He can learn only from the clothing of the Torah, but not from the one who wears it, since he has no faith. The outer clothing is called “wisdom” and not “Torah,” since Torah is specifically when he is connected to the giver of the Torah.
By this we understand what our sages said, “Should one tell you, ‘There is wisdom in the gentiles,’ believe.” It is so because they can learn the clothing without the one who wears it, which is only called “wisdom,” without any connection to the giver of the Torah. But “Should one tell you, ‘There is Torah in the gentiles,’ do not believe,” since they have no connection to the giver of the Torah.
Since the essence of our work is to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, as it is written, “to cling unto Him,” it follows that the Torah is the means to adhere to Him. That is, while learning Torah, we should aim to be rewarded with connecting to the one who wears it. This is done through the clothing, which is the Torah, in which the Creator is clothed.
In the above-mentioned verse, “There is wisdom in the gentiles, believe, there is Torah in the gentiles, do not believe,” when we interpret this in the work, we should know that “gentiles” and “Israelis” are in the same body. That is, before a person is rewarded with faith, he is still regarded as a “gentile.” Only after he is rewarded with faith, he is called “Israel.”
However, if a person wants to achieve complete faith, although he has still not been rewarded with complete faith, he is already regarded as Israel. It is as Baal HaSulam said about “Let wisdom be given to the wise.” He asked, Should it not have said, “Let wisdom be given to the fools”? He said that a person who seeks wisdom is already called “wise” because any person is judged by his goal, meaning by what he expects to achieve, after this a person is called. Accordingly, we should interpret that all those who want to achieve complete faith are already called “Israelis.”
For this reason, if in the beginning of his study, when a person comes to study, there is no desire to thereby achieve complete faith, which he can achieve through the light in the Torah by wanting to adhere to the one who wears it, who is clothed in the Torah and gives the light of Torah and none other, it follows that he is learning Torah, which is the clothing of the Creator. Through it, he wants to achieve complete faith, adhere to the one who wears it, who is the giver of the Torah.
Here there is unification of three discernments: 1) the Torah, which is the clothing of the Creator, 2) the Creator, who is clothed in the Torah, and 3) Israel, the person who is learning Torah with the above intention.
This is called “unification,” called “the Torah and the Creator and Israel are one.” Although The Zohar speaks to those who have already been rewarded with “the names of the Creator,” which is called that they have been rewarded with a “hand Tefillin,” called “faith,” and a “head Tefillin,” called “Torah,” yet, those who walk on the path of achieving Torah and faith also receive a surrounding from this unification.
Now we can understand what is written, “There is wisdom in the gentiles, believe.” That is, if a person does not aim to be rewarded with faith in the Creator through the study of Torah, then he has no connection to the Torah, since Torah means the clothing and the one who wears it together, namely the Torah together with the giver of the Torah.
Although he still does not feel the giver of the Torah, still, the purpose of the study is to come to feel the giver of the Torah. If a person does not place the goal of reaching the giver of the Torah in front of him, he is regarded as a gentile, meaning one who has no need for faith. That is, he should have the need to seek advice to achieve faith. This is why he is still considered a gentile and not “Israel.” Hence, regarding wisdom, believe that he has it, meaning only the clothing without the need for the one who wears it. This is the meaning of the words, “there is Torah in the gentiles, do not believe,” since he has no connection to the Torah.
However, believing or not believing also does not refer to two bodies. Rather, believing or not believing refers to the person himself. The person himself must pay attention to whether or not he has Torah. Since a person exerts and makes efforts, the intention is certainly to be rewarded with the Torah. The person thinks that even without the aim to achieve complete faith he can be rewarded with the Torah. Our sages said about this that one should know that it is impossible to be rewarded with the Torah without complete faith.
For this reason, prior to the study, a person must pay attention and introspect with which aim he is making his effort in learning Torah. That is, what does he want to achieve by learning Torah? Certainly, when a person makes an effort, it is because he lacks something. Through his effort, he will be given what he thinks he needs and his lack will be satisfied in return for the toil. A person should believe what is written, “I labored and found.”
For this reason, sometimes a person understands that what he lacks is the knowledge of Torah. Hence, all his thoughts are toward being rewarded with the knowledge of Torah. This is the clothing of the Creator, and he feels that all he needs is the outer clothing of the Torah. This is called “wisdom.”
But Torah means that he needs the one who wears, who is clothed in the Torah. That is, he still lacks complete faith in the Creator and he feels that there is evil in his heart, and he wants to be rewarded with the mind and heart that will be all for the sake of the Creator.
Since our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice because the light in it reforms it,’” it follows that he needs the Torah as a means, where through the Torah he will be rewarded with complete faith in the Creator. Afterward, through the Torah he will be rewarded with the Torah that is called “Torah of life,” since he will be rewarded with the one who wears together with the clothing.
That is, he will be rewarded with the clothing called “Torah,” together with the one who wears it, called “the Creator.” It is as The Zohar says, “The Torah and the Creator and Israel are one.”
This is the meaning of what is written (Midrash Rabbah, Truma, Chapter 33), “‘And let them take for Me a contribution.’ You have merchandise that he who sells it is sold with it. The Creator said to Israel, ‘I have sold to you My Torah [law]. It is as though I have been sold with it,’ as was said, ‘And let them take for Me a contribution.’”
According to the above, we should interpret the words of the Midrash where it says, “It is as though I have been sold with it.” The Torah is regarded as “The Torah and Israel and the Creator are one,” since the Torah is the clothing of the Creator, and through the Torah, man must be rewarded with the one who wears it, which is called “adhering to the Creator,” it follows that we must be rewarded with two things: the Torah and the Creator. This is the meaning of what is written, “It is as though I have been sold with it.”
For this reason, there is completeness of three things here: 1) Israel, 2) the Creator, and 3) the Torah. It is as it is written in the book A Sage’s Fruit (Vol. 1): “What can a person do in order to come to feel the need for the Torah, in which the Creator is clothed? It is our sages said, that the Creator said to Israel, ‘I have sold you My Torah. It is as though I have been sold with it.’ This is the meaning of having a merchandise that one who sells it is sold with it.”
This means that the Creator wants that when a person takes the Torah, he will seemingly take the Creator with him. Yet, a person does not feel he needs this. Primarily, a person takes after the majority. And since when beginning to teach women, children, and the general public, Maimonides says we should begin in Lo Lishma, and normally, everyone takes after the beginning, meaning that the reason they were given for why we need the Torah are reasons of Lo Lishma, and not because “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” Naturally, the majority of the world does not even understand that there is a reward called “Dvekut with the Creator.”
For this reason, the view of the majority controls a person—that he does not need to study Torah so that by this he will be able to achieve the real intention. That is, that through the Torah he will be able to aim in order to bestow and not for his own benefit, that it will bring him Dvekut, to adhere to the Creator. For this, meaning in order to correct the creatures so they achieve Dvekut, the multiplicity of worlds, Partzufim, and souls were made.
It is all in order to correct creation, called “will to receive.” Through the reception, creation has moved away from the Creator, and by these corrections that were made, it will be possible to correct everything so it works in order to bestow. When all the vessels of reception work in order to bestow, this will be the end of correction.
This is called “the perfection of His deeds,” as the holy ARI said (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1), “When it came up in His simple will to create the worlds and emanate the emanations, to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, His names and appellations, which was the reason for the creation of the worlds, Ein Sof restricted Himself and there was room where the emanations could be.” There (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1), he interprets in Ohr Pnimi as follows: “It follows that the very reason for the Tzimtzum [restriction] was only the craving for the new form of reception in order to bestow, which is destined to be revealed by the creation of the worlds.”
Accordingly, we see that the creation of the worlds and souls was primarily with one intention—to correct everything so that it works in order to bestow, which is called Dvekut, equivalence of form. The Creator said about the Torah, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, once man receives the Torah as a spice, the evil inclination will be corrected to work in order to bestow, as it is written in The Zohar, “The angel of death is destined to be a holy angel.”
A person cannot see all this because he takes after the majority, called “the whole of Israel.” It was said that the beginning of the education everyone receives is in Lo Lishma, meaning that the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot is in order to receive reward in Kelim [vessels] of self-benefit, and the Lishma is forbidden to reveal to a person upon the admission of a person into the observance of Torah and Mitzvot, as mentioned in the words of Maimonides.
This causes a person to understand with his intellect that he needs to learn Torah only in order to know the rules, how to observe the Mitzvot, as our sages said, “An uneducated person is not a Hassid.” Although they also learn Torah that does not pertain to practical Mitzvot, learning that part of the Torah is because of the commandment to learn Torah, as it is written, “And you shall reflect on it day and night.” That is, he learns because it is a Mitzva, just like the rest of the Mitzvot.
However, concerning what our sages said, “You have a merchandise that one who sells it is sold with it,” when the Creator said to Israel, “I have sold you My Torah, it is as though I have been sold with it.” To this, one has no connection, for what will it give him if he believes that the Creator is clothed in the Torah? Should one who takes the Torah know that the Creator is clothed in the Torah, and he should be rewarded Dvekut with the Creator, who is clothed in it?
All of his work is with the intention Lo Lishma, and all he hopes for is to observe Torah and Mitzvot with the intention for self-benefit. Naturally, he has no connection to the one who is clothed in the Torah, but rather settles for just one thing: To the extent that he has faith in reward and punishment, to that extent depends his work in observing Torah and Mitzvot, since he looks at nothing but the reward. But the essence of the Torah and Mitzvot that he performs does not interest him.
Conversely, if a person wants to work and observe Torah and Mitzvot without any reward, only because he wants to serve the King, then he needs to know the greatness of the King, for the measure of his work depends on the extent of his faith in the greatness of the King, for only the greatness and importance of the King gives him fuel for work.
It is as it is written in The Zohar about the verse, “Her husband is known at the gates.” It means that each according to what he assumes in his heart. By this, he tells us that to the extent that a person assumes in his heart the greatness and importance of the Creator, to that extent he dedicates himself to serving the King.
For this reason, people of this kind, who want to work only in order to bestow, and the whole reason that compels them to engage in Torah and Mitzvot is the importance and greatness of the Creator, as it is written in The Zohar that “The essence of fear is to work because He is great and ruling,” when these people believe that the Creator is clothed in the Torah, and believe what the Creator said to Israel, “I sold you My Torah; it is as though I have been sold with it,” when they learn Torah they want to elicit the light of the Torah that reforms him. This is the meaning of what our sages said, “He who comes to purify,” through the Torah, “is aided,” since the Creator is clothed in the Torah.
Accordingly, we should interpret what we say (“Everlasting Love,” prior to reading the Shema), “Enlighten us in Your Torah.” It seems as though the words “Enlighten us,” should be said of a place of darkness and concealment, but in regard to the Torah, it should have said, “Let us understand Your Torah,” so what is “Enlighten”?
According to the above, we should interpret that since we should discern within the Torah, the clothing of Torah, in which the Creator is clothed, and this is concealed from us because we see only the clothing, and not the one who wears it, we therefore ask the Creator to enlighten us so we may be rewarded with seeing and feeling the Creator, who is clothed in the Torah. This is the meaning of “Enlighten us,” that we may see that You are clothed in Your Torah.
We should also understand what is said in The Zohar about the verse, “They who seek Me will find Me.” They asked about this, “Where do you find the Creator?” They said that you find Him only in the Torah. Also, they said about the verse, “Indeed, You are a God who hides,” that the Creator hides Himself in the holy Torah.
It is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 41) concerning what our sages said, “You have merchandise that he who sells it is sold with it.” This means that the Creator is clothed in the Torah, except a person must seek and find Him since He hid Himself in the Torah as long as the learners of Torah are unworthy of it. But through the labor and prayer, they find Him.
It was said about this, “I labored and found.” The question is, What is the connection between laboring and finding in the Torah? Through the labor, we find the Creator, how He is clothed in the Torah. This means that one should not say, “I learned much Torah but I do not find the Creator, how He is clothed in the Torah.” Instead, we should seek Him and not despair, but believe what is written, “They who seek Me will find Me,” since the concealment is a correction that a person will not attain Him before he has vessels of bestowal, which is called “equivalence of form” and “Dvekut with the Creator.”
Accordingly, we should interpret what our sages said (Nedarim 81), “Be careful with the sons of the poor, for from them Torah will emerge,” as was said, “Water will flow from his bucket,” for from them Torah will emerge. It seems to mean that Torah will emerge specifically from the sons of the poor, but from the sons of the rich it will not. Can we say this?
In the work, we should interpret that “poor” is as our sages said (Nedarim 41), “One is poor only in knowledge.” For this reason, when a person learns Torah and wants to achieve the Torah, meaning to a state of “Enlighten us in Your Torah,” meaning to adhere to the Creator, who is clothed in the Torah, for “Your Torah” refers to the Creator, who is clothed in it. Yet, he sees that as much as he has exerted and worked to find the Creator in the Torah, he cannot find Him. Although it is written, “They who seek Me will find Me,” he sees that he is poor in knowledge. Yet, he wants to keep what is written, “Know the God of your father and serve Him,” and what is written, “A soul without knowledge is not good,” but he is far from it, for each time he sees that it is utterly impossible to find Him in the Torah. This is called “poor in knowledge.”
At that time a person understands that finding the Creator in the Torah was not said for him, since he thinks that he has already looked for Him in the Torah but has found nothing, and he wants to escape the campaign.
This is why our sages came and said, “Be careful with the sons of the poor, for from them the Torah will emerge.” The reason is according to the rule, “There is no filling without a lack, no Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] without Katnut [smallness/infancy].” This means that if we want to give something to a person but the giver is afraid that if he is given immediately, as soon as the receiver asks of him, the receiver will not be able to appreciate the giving and will probably lose it, or other people might take that thing from him.
Since the giver knows the importance of the matter, he does not want the receiver to spoil it. For this reason, he does not give him what he asks immediately. Instead, he wants the receiver to ask him many times. Thus, through the demand, a need for the matter is formed in the receiver. Otherwise, he would have had to stop asking.
When he does not stop asking him, this can be only if each time he must understand the necessity of the matter. That is, if he wants to ask of him again—that the giver will give him—a person must contemplate whether he really needs that thing, for only then does he have the strength to ask again, once he has already asked but received no answer to his question.
This is so because a person cannot ask of someone who takes no interest in his requests. However, since the thing that he is asking is necessary, and his whole life depends on it, the necessity of the matter does not let him rest and he goes even above reason to ask time and time again. He has nowhere else to go because he understands that this is his life and without it, he says his life is pointless, since he has come to feel that it is not worth living for other things.
It follows that he has no choice since he has no satisfaction in his life. That is, since there is a rule that a person cannot live without provision, since the Creator created the creatures with the intention that they will enjoy, which is called “His desire to do good to His creations,” and the three things that can give a person provision—to sustain the body so it is satisfied, and which are called “envy,” “lust,” and “honor”— do not satisfy him, for this reason a person must seek spirituality. If he is a Jew, he believes that through Dvekut with the Creator and His law he can obtain provision, to provide for the body and be able to say wholeheartedly, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world,’” since he enjoys it if he is rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, as it is written, “And you, who cling unto the Lord your God, are alive everyone of you today,” for then he will be rewarded with real life.
This gives him the strength not to despair from asking the Creator to bring him closer and open his eyes in the Torah. It is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 83), “The first degree of the revelation of the face comes to a person only through His salvation, when he is rewarded with opening of the eyes in the holy Torah with wonderful attainment, and he becomes like a never ending stream.”
However, this depends on the extent to which he believes that the Creator hears a prayer and can justify Providence and say what he thinks, that he did not receive what he asked for not because the Creator did not pay attention to his prayers, but he believes that the Creator stands and waits for his prayers and collects them, as in, “Penny by penny join into a great amount.”
In other words, since it is known that if you give something important to a person who does not know its value, and there are people who do know its importance, that thing will move to those people either by theft or by losing it, for the person will not know how to keep it, and there are people who know its value and they will steal or find it and not return it to the owner.
Reader: We're going to go to a lesson with Rav from April 1st, 2003. Pay attention, as the friends requested, there will be subtitles.
M. Laitman: (33:48) “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”, Volume 5, “Rungs of the Ladder.” We started with page 320 through to 328. Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:09) He speaks of the Torah and the Torah work - light reforms. What is included within the Torah?
M. Laitman: What things are included in the Torah? We have only two things, Creator and created being. No more. And all of a sudden we find so many different names, different ways and matters of connection. It's confusing, yes? The created being is the will to receive. The Creator is the will to bestow. The appearance of the Creator to the created being is the Creator's entire act. Yes, the Creator is revealed to the created being, or He hides from the created being, and as a result, there are various phenomena happening in the created being. And these phenomena, that's what we're discussing. That's our entire life. That's what we're concerned about. There's nothing more. It's like a vessel facing the light. There's nothing more to add. And the appearance of the Creator towards the created beings, it has a thousand different names. Because it's not only with respect to the created being, the will to receive, but also it becomes, what is the will to receive expecting of the Creator who is revealed to it? And then he begins to want different things from the Creator. Mostly, it's light. Rather, either he wants the Creator to fulfill him, to give him pleasure for himself, or he wants the Creator to give him the power to receive the pleasure in such a way where he feels that he's doing the Creator a favor, giving the Creator pleasure by that. Those are the only two kinds of relations that can exist there. The will to receive in the created being is permanent, is set. The will to bestow in the Creator, that's a set parameter. The sensation of the revelation of the Creator inside the created being, that's called pleasure. And for the created being to feel other than the pleasure, other than the appearance of the Creator in him, to also feel the Creator's personality, so to speak, His essence, who He is, the Giver. Then he relates not only to the pleasure, but also to the Creator Himself, the Giver. And then this relation to the pleasure, that is called the will to receive. I want to enjoy, I want to enjoy you by seeing you. It's like, let's say, a man who loves a woman and he enjoys her appearance, yes? And from the regard for the essence of the Creator, who is the Giver, from that in the will to receive, there are two motions, so to speak, either to use the Giver in order to be delighted, meaning not just to be delighted, but there's a relation between him and the Creator, meaning I want to enjoy You, I want to enjoy You, or I want to delight You. Yes, that's it. So there's the will, and there's the intention, either for his own sake or for the Creator's sake, that's all.
M. Laitman: (38:21) Now, accordingly, in accordance with that, the relationship between the Creator and the created being, it's all about what the created being wants each time in terms of his intention, his intention. If he intends for himself, he wants for himself, and somehow, suddenly, some urge is revealed to him to transition to the intention to bestow to the Creator, meaning to receive, but in order to delight the Creator, for the Creator's sake, then he demands from the Creator the ability to do that, meaning his demand is always presented to the Creator - a demand for pleasure or a demand for how to work with the pleasure, what to do with the pleasure. All that a person receives from the Creator, it is called light or Torah. So, it emerges that this light, the revelation of the Creator to the created being, in that we find two main presentations. Either the Creator is revealed as the one who gives the power to change, to correct the intention, either that, or He's revealed as the pleasure itself, meaning there is the Torah that reforms one, the reforming light, and then there is the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, revelations of lights in corrected vessels, corrected with the intention to bestow. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:49) So, he discovers that that's what he needs, and as he writes, he requires a correction in order to bestow, the light that reforms. Now, we say that the main thing is the intention, so how do you come to the text to extract the light from it? The question is, can this intention clothe on other things? What things can this intention clothe on and extract this light?
M. Laitman: So, meaning, a person is in a certain state, the Creator positioned him in that state, and from that state, he needs to start upon his path to change, to reach the goal. Again, he has no one to turn to but for the Creator. Now, the question is, by what means will he turn to Him, and what exactly he will ask for, meaning what to do, yes? So people who've traveled the path, they write to us what needs to be done, a simple matter. Who do I always ask? One who is experienced. So, they advise us on what to do. They say, there is the study, and from the study you derive forces, you draw the reforming light, that's one thing, and then, in order to have the desire for the study and to ask for the force that reforms you, before the study, you need to equip yourself with a desire which is above what you have, and this desire which is more than what you have, you can acquire from the society. Like in a regular society, a person enters a society, receives from the society various goals, desires: it's good to get this, to buy that, to be like so, and so on. In the same way, if you enter a good spiritual society, it adds to you the desire to get close to the Creator, and then, when you sit by the book, next to the book, you don't sit like over there, where you have a few people who can barely open their eyes even, rather you're sitting with expectation, a desire to receive something from the book. So, it all depends on what society you found and what you received from it. So here, well - the Rav and the book. Of course, general kind of guidance needs to come from the Rav, and the book - that's the true, proper texts that connect you to spiritual places, the original texts, in that you find the light. So you have these means, all in all, the proper book, the proper Rav, and the right group, and through them you want to change. That's it. What do you want to reach? The revelation of the Creator, meaning first to correct the vessels and then to receive the lights. That's how we say it, how we call it in the wisdom of Kabbalah, in the language of Kabbalah. The correction of the vessels, that means to acquire faith, you acquire faith, the intention in order to bestow, and the reception of the lights, that's receiving in order to bestow already. It has many names, many different ways to it, but put simply, it's like that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:38) He writes, “be careful with the sons of the poor, for from them Torah will emerge.” Why does he write, be careful?
M. Laitman: “Beware the sons of the poor, as the Torah will come from them?” Well, just the sons of the poor, that's clear. A person who feels that he's poor and has no.. What is it? That he doesn't have the right vessels with which to receive the light of the Creator's revelation, that person is called poor. Yes, poor means poor in reason, in the mind, but what does it mean to beware, beware? It's because a person belittles, disregards these states, he doesn't want them. He runs away from the feeling of poverty, of having nothing, because the will to receive does not want to suffer, that's its nature. And he always calms himself, seemingly quenching these feelings, covering these feelings where I don't have what I want. And a person is not, he doesn't feel any willingness to discover the true lacks, the real lacks. The will to receive is ready to, and likes giving the person the opportunity to sit and sob and eat himself up. That is not the feeling of poverty. Here the feeling of poverty is the feeling of the lack of forces of bestowal, and this, the will to receive doesn't give us an opportunity to feel that. It always chases us away from that. That's why it's written, beware the sons of the poor, meaning you need to be especially weary of, you really need to pay attention to the sons of the poor. Not the poor, but the sons of the poor, meaning the outcome of that feeling of poverty, meaning what I demand from that feeling, because through that demand, the Torah emerges. As a result of that, the reforming light arrives. The vessel to receive, in which to receive the correction, is called the sons of the poor.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:24) Why is it, Israel, the light, and the Creator are one?
M. Laitman: The light is the Torah, Kadosh Baruch Hu is the Creator, and Israel, that's my soul, the vessel, yes, are one. This is the only state that exists in reality. He and His name are one, or the Creator, who created the created being, and is within the created being fully. And we feel that we're not in that state, and we need to discover that we actually are in that state. Why are they as one? The vessel received from the Torah, all the corrections, and the Creator already resides within this vessel, filling it with no limits, no boundary, no end. It's called no end in infinity.
Student: And how do we start the investigation of this in our state?
M. Laitman: How do we begin?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: Very simply, we begin according to what he writes, according to what Rabash presents you with, he presents you with all the advice, he tells you what to do, what to start with. You don't know what the first point you need to start from?
Student: I want to look at those three things by myself.
M. Laitman: How to discover in you? How do I discover in me, Israel and the Torah and the Creator are one? Yes, very good. It's very good for me to want to discover such a thing. And indeed, I am in that state, because nothing exists except for that state. The Creator did not create anything in the middle and halfway through, a quarter of the way through. He created one perfect, complete thing, and that's it. How do I discover it? I now need to search for who am I? Do I have the point of Israel? Israel, means that I yearn for the Creator. Is my yearning for the Creator, through my yearning for Him, can I discover Him, the Creator? Who is He? The Creator is the Giver, the Bestower. Do I have in my desires, among my desires, something of the bestowal that He has, or something that I can bestow to Him? And then there can be this point between us, and that point between us needs to be something that we share through some common action, a common intention, and that is called Torah.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:31) You need to see it as one thing?
M. Laitman: You need to see it not at the end, every time you need to see it as one thing, every moment. You can interpret here as the action you take in order to be together with the Creator, or as the feeling where you feel Him, as your intentions and His intentions, and so on and so forth. It doesn't matter. The Torah can be the forces; it can be the revelation of His names. What does that mean? The manners in which He is revealed to you. One time I reveal Him like this, another I think of Him like so, all these different ways in which I think about Him, different ways, that is called Torah, all together. You understand? The Torah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings, in various ways, and all together it is called the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:42) That's what he writes, that the Creator is all-inclusive.
M. Laitman: Yes, all-inclusive, and these names, and the Torah, the details, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:01) He writes about the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head.
M. Laitman: No, in page 321, where he writes about the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head. What does he say there? Where is it?
Student: That’s it. This is called…
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): 321, starting with, and this is called unification, called the Torah, the Creator and Israel are one, and although the Zohar speaks to those people who have been awarded with the names of the Creator, which is called that they have been awarded with the tefillin of the hand, called faith, and the tefillin of the head, called Torah. Well, what do you want to say? There are two corrections. The tefillin of the hand, that's when you, you know, you lay the tefillin over the weak hand, right? Your weaker hand, the left hand. Correct it, to make it strong. What is the correction of the hand? The hand is called in order to receive, the will to receive. The hand reaches, and when you correct the hand, it means that you correct the will to receive, so that it is in order to bestow. Meaning, that a person acquires the qualities of Bina, Malchut acquires the qualities of Bina, yes? This is called attaining the tefillin of the hand. And after that, by acquiring the correction of bestowing in order to bestow, you begin to work with these corrections, and receive the lights. Receiving in order to bestow, that is called the tefillin of the head. When you reach the reception of the light of Hochma, within the light of Hassadim, that is then called knowing. All these things we've learned. But sometimes we learn what they're called in the Torah, what they're called in the Gemara, in various different places, but there is no action which is outside of the realm of what we learn in TES.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:30) Okay, so let's say that a person has chosen a society, and he receives a lot of the impression of the greatness of the Creator. How can he relate correctly suddenly to criticism made against the society, within the society? The criticism from someone else which simply shatters the image of the greatness he had before? The whole thing is suddenly someone rises and criticizes the society, while it turns out that someone else in the society now loses everything he gained.
M. Laitman: You say it like that. We have a society. I wish to feel it as great and special and exalted, the height of all the degrees, and I almost managed to do that. It gives me impression and fuel to work and motivation. And suddenly someone gets up, and during our gathering or the lesson, and he starts to criticize the society, and it lowers the society in my eyes, and I feel contempt is growing in me about the society. Then another one gets up and starts to… You are not sure what to do, right? That's true, that's the question. The question is simple: what is the intention of these people that bring the criticism? If the criticism is useful, beneficial, or is it destructive? As it's written, "The contradiction of the elder, of the older people, is the building, and the building of the young people is a contradiction." It depends on who, how one relates. Sometimes one who builds, it's better if he doesn't even touch. And other times, one who contradicts, who breaks, sometimes breaking is building. We have to make a distinction. I don't know. You see that our path, as much as you align it on a straight line and how to the extent that you can advance on a straight line and you are locked on the goal... But we have examples, even examples from Rav Shimon. Before he reaches the very last degree, he is suddenly Shimon from the market. Our path is made up of ascents and descents, all kinds of contradictions. Even if it's straight, we think that, "Oh, I fell, I got tossed out, I don't know..." No. Even if you're walking on a single line, you have to receive these contradictions and fall within the mess and confusions. Meaning, it looks like you cannot do it without it. We just need to see: does that make you an elder person? Elder, old, means one who acquired Hochma, acquired wisdom and can see the future. And do you treat it in such a way that after all these contradictions, you'll have a building, a new structure, even more beautiful than the older building, but rather, we have to clean the place from the old building. But rebuild, or not? That's how you need to relate to those things. Meaning, are we building or are we not building? And a group that starts to discuss has to be prepared, but it's really entering all kinds of criticisms about its actions and everything that's happening to it. And you come out of the criticism with a group that's even more coalesced and built.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:03) Rabash writes in the societal articles that when society comes to do such a thing, first you need to exalt the society, and only then speak. So the question is: do we really need to sit and think very carefully before we start to do anything and to do it properly, with great consideration, and not, you know, where each one who feels something immediately bursts out?
M. Laitman: Look, Rabash writes that before such things you have to think about the greatest of the Creator. He writes, but you see that life is not according to the writing, life is according to life. So as much as we can make it happen according to our degree, then it's good. If not, then not. What does it mean that I'm thinking about the greatness of the Creator beforehand? What does it mean to think about it or not to think about it? It's with my exterior mind. Is my heart ready for it? Is it in such a feeling where I feel the Creator, I think about it, He's in my heart. From this level, I begin to evaluate it or not. It's not simply to sit and think. Sit and think and I keep my mouth shut for a while and I don't criticize. So, what? Everything, nevertheless, depends on the correction in the heart, more and more above the level you're on. I don't think you can advance without contradictions and real arguments. People must reveal their attitude to the society, and of course beforehand they have to equip themselves with the intention that without a society they're not able to move. This is simply the framework without which nothing will work out. You have to solve the problem, not just simply yell and cry and destroy. If in order to build something you have to tear something down, then that's what you do.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:53) He writes that in faith you need to follow the path of joining pennies into a great sum.
M. Laitman: Our actions toward the Creator and the actions of the Creator toward us are gradual, step-by-step. Therefore, every progress, any progress we make is in stages also, multifaceted. Sometimes we go up, some other times we go down. In many instances we don't understand our state. What did you ask exactly?
Student: He says here that in faith you need to follow the path of adding penny to penny.
M. Laitman: So, from all the actions that a person seemingly does in his life, there's only one action that a person does, and it remains for eternity. All the remaining actions are only for a time, a person does them and he enjoys or he suffers, and that's it. There is one action, which is the correction of my vessel, my will to receive, that is added from moment to moment or from incarnation to incarnation. That's what I've done and that remains in my bank, my balance. So I keep adding another penny and another penny to my account, to this sum, according to the corrections that I've made. And the corrections, we know what they are. It's the increasing of the forces of bestowal through the society and the study, through my free choice. If I do certain action in my free choice, where I do it and not the Creator, this is considered my, this is written on my account. And my free action can be only to make the society stronger, so it will bestow to me each time a force, a greater desire to bestow. And with this great desire to bestow, I'll turn to the Creator and demand of Him to bestow even more. And then my balance receives another number; again I turn to the society, again I change it, again I receive an awakening to advance and to bestow, again I turn to the Creator and I ask Him for the strength to bestow, and again additional funds enter my account, another number and so on and so forth, that's it. Everything else the Creator does. But this is what I do, that's why it enters my account, and each time only this thing in my life is what remains after I live. Only this account remains; it can remain zero, it can have ten, 20,000 such actions, I don't know, but only this remains. The free actions that I did, and there's no more than that. This is very specific, so what did you ask? And that's why he writes that when a person is being led to burial, only Torah and good deeds go with him, the Torah and good deeds he did in life. That's all, only that remains.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:16) So there's a system that's doing the calculation at a certain stage?
M. Laitman: It's not a system that makes the calculation. It's simply inside your soul, what additional system you need to have? Inside your soul it happens immediately, instantly, there are no systems, some department up above, or angels sit down and take down what you did, and don't even start imagining such idol worshipping. You understand? This is inside your soul, what you do, it's immediately received there, observed there, and there's nothing besides the soul where you feel all those phenomena.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:02) So this soul does the math for itself and then at a certain point there's a certain sum called the great sum?
M. Laitman: Each one has his own sum, it helps him go from state to state, from world to world, according to the root of his soul. But every transition also has certain standards which are homogenous for everyone. To go from world to world, let's say, you need to have a certain positive balance, sum.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:47) So, ultimately, it's something unique to each person?
M. Laitman: Calculation is unique to every person, relative to every person because each and every one has a different vessel; that's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:04) In what is it different or similar for everyone?
M. Laitman: What do you care about the others? How is he different or not? What do I care about what someone else's account has? I can't take from him; I can't steal from him. I have to make sure that I have as much as possible in my account. And my account, for the time being it's concealed from me. But later it's revealed, later we enter a state where it's a reward and punishment. I see how much I earn, how much I lose, how much I really do good to my balance, right? I see, I get a report. What's good about this report, this status update, is that they raise and they never bring you down. There's no descent, there's no...
Student: Fines?
M. Laitman: No, debt. No debt. Why? It looks like debt, but it's an opportunity to raise the remaining balance. And we can't use it, so we call it debt. They lower us, they toss us out as if they've concealed from us the previous picture. As if we came down, do you understand? We put in hard work in order to add to the balance, so you can do it or you can't, but the balance remains.
Student: Remains?
M. Laitman: Remains. And that's it. He doesn't want to work; he just wants to put his hand up. You need to break that spring there. I'm certain it works that way for him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:58) He writes, “Know the Lord, your Father, and work for Him.” What does it mean to know, and what is your Father?
M. Laitman: Wonderful, we will solve this problem. It's not simple. It's truly natural. The question is known.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:15) If a person feels that he's lacking a certain quality that could help him on the path.
M. Laitman: What, a person is missing some quality that will help him advance on the way? Let's say.
Student: You acquire it?
M. Laitman: A person is never missing anything. What's missing? According to my characteristics, I'm missing patience, I'm crude, I'm rude. Well, let's say two. There are many more, but let's say, without these things, it's impossible to advance. Impatience and not being persistent is in a way that is… Ask psychologists, I can do tests today, even today, because it doesn't change these things. Yes? So, they'll say this person, I don't know. You can't do anything with him. I don't know. You can't even send him somewhere, because in a moment he'll be somewhere else. I can see for 25 years I'm already in the same place, on the same path. Meaning, what am I trying to say? That the natural attributes or qualities of ours can never be a detainment on our advancement. You could be, you know, a fool, stupid, impatient, you know, weak of character. He could be afraid of changes and whatnot. And specifically, you later discover that those things somewhat become in such manners they get clarified, that specifically they are the ones that enable you to advance. Understand? I discover it this way. Although I suffer from them. Corporeally, I suffer greatly. But in spirituality, I've already long ago discovered that they benefit me. So, all these attributes are external expressions of the forces of the soul. You have nothing to complain about. A person is built in a way that what's in him is simply perfect for his advancement. No more and no less, but precisely those qualities, even the worst of them, the worst of them, I'm telling you. I don't know, you could have deviant qualities and whatnot, and specifically, that helps. Take any person, every person, with all of his qualities that are his, seemingly negative ones, and you will see how much eventually he will use that quality, this or that deviation, or flaw, as the most beneficial of all, because it's a result of the forces of the soul, from the qualities of the soul. So, he can't without that quality, correct it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:25) And if he feels that, it stops him from doing those certain things?
M. Laitman: It's not important what you feel along the way, all these things are beneficial. Altogether, from you, no one demands of you to find out where you're stopped or not stopped. That you don't know. One thing is demanded of you. Realize the right of choice of yours. It's not through the society, but to take out of the society the advancement, more than what the Creator gives you. We don't have the force to begin with and the desire to receive, to advance. We're given this initial push, yes, this initial nudge, and the rest, we need to take out of the society ourselves. We can - yes, we can't - we're not advancing. The problem is that we acquire all kinds of knowledge, all kinds of feelings, and it seems to us like it's advancement. That's not advancement. You can be like that for 20 or 30 years, and that's not going to be advancement if we don't take out additional forces from the society. That's it.