Part 1:

Morning Lesson December 23, 2021, Transcription

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

Baal HaSulam - Shamati 174. Concealment

1.Rav’s Introduction: (03:33) A short article but truly potent, explains to us the reason for our state that what we need is to attain specifically the forces of concealment. Just like in our life. What's the difference between us and animals, still, vegetative and animate? The speaking degree you will see what is special about the speaking degree, it arranges clothing for itself, garments, various external forms on itself. Certain signs, they get tattoos, they wear various hats, they place a lot of different discernments on them, if you're a military person. Meaning they arranged for themselves the signs of concealment and according to this concealment, according to the clothing we relate to the person. It is known that for women it is a very important thing, for men less so nevertheless new times come, humanity is changing from within but it also changes its external clothing. From here we may also learn what is the concealment, the concealment comes from above, so that we would discover it and reveal it from below. When I conceal the Creator for my ego, from my will to receive, and I wish to build from the attitude to him, the desire to bestow, the intention to bestow, then I begin to understand that what the Creator’s doing by creating a concealment from above, it's in order for me, to allow me to build concealment from below.

Rav reading the article again: Concealment is an important thing, it is correction, had it not been for that man would have been unable to obtain any completeness since he would not be worthy of attaining the importance of the matter. However when there is concealment the thing becomes important to him. To the extent of the concealment that he reveals and even though one cannot appreciate the importance, let's say in spirituality of the Creator as it truly is, the concealment that he feels that exists between him and the Creator grants it merit to the extent that one senses the concealment, a bedding of importance has formed within him.

Meaning the concealment that exists intentionally so we will attain the importance and to the extent we have the importance, we will begin to build the concealment from our side. restriction, screen, reflected light and bestowal. In our lives, we also do it in order to make ourselves something more important in the eyes of the other. This is a different form of concealment but nevertheless, see how it exists, how important it is, what am I getting, which house, our clothes, how do I present myself towards the other. It determines my entire life. If we look closely at our life, how much we work in order to obtain the correct concealment over ourselves to present ourselves correctly towards the other. We will see it's not so simple that we have to invest also in spirituality. In the concealment over spirituality relative to spirituality and this would be like on the clothing that we have all the signs that we have in corporeality from acquiring the forces of concealment when the Creator becomes more and more important for us That's why we need to conceal him from us from our ego, from our will to receive. As Baal HaSulam writes, beware of reaching out and touching Him.

Rav continues to read: It is like rungs, he climbs rung by rung until he comes to his designated place each and everyone has a certain degree where he corrects himself, this means that he achieves a certain measure of importance, of Godliness with which he can at least and endure. Each time we have to retry to reach this maximum height as much as I can, this is according to the greatness of the Creator and how much I can conceal my ego. In order to be protected, not to touch him, touch my vessels because then everything disappears. I need to arrange my garments, the concealment I put over myself, my desire, my will to receive this is called restriction, screen, reflected light, so that I'll be able after I perform these corrections, I'll be able to reach contact with the Creator. Though his true importance and sublimity are immeasurable but nonetheless, a measure that will suffice him to persist. Meaning each time we need to ensure that I can stand before the Creator, do I have a restriction over my ego and a screen? That I can be above the ego that I restricted it, concealed it until it is in the equivalence of form, a certain measure of equivalence of form and has contact with the Creator. But however concealment in itself is not considered concealment ,concealment is measured by the demand. Meaning as much as I am asking for contact with the upper one, as much as I understand and I asked for the force of concealment, since the greater the demand for something, the more concealment is evident. Now we can understand the meaning of the whole earth is full of his glory. Although we believe it, that the Creator fills the whole earth nevertheless, concealment still fills the whole earth, the whole desire and then we have concealment from above the Creator concealing himself from us, in order to give us room to exist. So like babies we gradually grow and we open up the world for ourselves, similarly we are in spirituality, we are born, we grow in the world will gradually open up for us. To the extent that we can conceal ourselves in the direct light, from the direct flight from the Creator and we will receive everything in reflected light, in our attitude toward Him according to the degree of importance we develop inside of us. It's written about the future, for I will be unto her a wall of fire roundabout and I will be the glory in the midst of her. Fire means concealment, a wall of fire means concealment to such an extent we would want to separate ourselves directly from the Creator for there to be a firewall. But still glory is in the midst of her, meaning that then the glory will be revealed. I wish to maintain the distance between me and the Creator directly because I am the will to receive and he is the will to bestow. Then the Glory will be revealed, this is because the demand will be so great even though there will be concealment and to the greatest concealment, the greatest screen but the difference is that this time there is concealment but no demand. Hence this is considered exile. That's what we wish to come to, at least that feeling that we are in exile. Then however, although there will be concealment, there will also be demand and this is what is important only the demand. Meaning we constantly need to maintain this oppositeness, the Creator's the force of bestowal, we are the force of reception. How do we arrange between us the connection becoming close? A constant connection, when it increases more and more, grows more and more, this is done exactly through these two forces of concealment and of demand.

2. S. (15:44) By What does one reveal that he is in concealment?

R. In virtue of the demand. When I have this yearning, this tendency towards something, this even from above, this is called a point in the heart, when we have this inclination towards getting to know the Creator, revelation of the Creator, this comes up from us from our will to receive. The heart is the desire, the point in the heart, the central point in the desire where I want to find the connection with my source. I'm attracted to it.

3. S. (16:30) What does it mean that the Creator hides himself so that we can have existence?

R. What does it mean? If he were to reveal himself it would be something opposite to us and we wouldn't be able to feel him, to understand him, to approach him, to even exist because we are in nature, we are in two opposite things. They are present, they neutralize one another, this comes in science, this comes to annihilation, plus and minus when they connect there's a short circuit and they both disappear. Hence the Creator, to the extent that it builds the will to receive in nature in general. to that extent he needs to create the distance between him and the will to receive, not a physical distance but an emotional distance so the will to receive would not reveal it directly. Because it's opposite to him and the whole business with the created being is that he discovers the Creator because that's the only thing he needs to reveal, that there's 'None Else Besides Him' this is all of reality so the created beings reveals the Creator according to equivalence of form with it. For the time being what's before the creature is the imaginary world. He thinks it exists, it seems to him that he is alive and this great big hole that is full, the world it's full and it's all according to his development to the extent that he comes to develop on the good side and the bad side he develops himself and he discovers how his development is incorrect, it's not good. Then he comes to his state where he can begin to develop it further towards spiritual matter. There are many disturbances in our world, our corporeal world from which we can learn about concealment and revelation. The more we conceal ourselves from one another and the extent to which we are willing to disclose ourselves to one another, accordingly we measure our relationships between people between men and women, between countries on all levels. It's important for us that concealment will maintain our honor, our will to receive. But when we begin to advance toward in order to bestow, to the extent that we truly think correctly about in order to bestow to the friends, to the other, to that extent we can truly open ourselves up and be closer to one another. That's what's going on so we need to try to make such efforts in the ten, and in the group so that we will come back to such states where we don't pay attention to the clothing but only to the heart.

S. The minute we wake up we have to fight against the concealment, concealment of the Creator and our own concealment, right?

R. In a sense let's say yes, we can make the correct distinctions here but there are many things about the concealment, the ladder of degrees, there's also a ladder of concealment. It starts from the first degree that we have to build a wall here, that concealment to such an extent, that it will protect us. It will protect us by rejecting in order to receive and wanting only in order to bestow, this concealment is called the screen that includes in it many discernments, everything focuses, concentrates in the screen.

4. S. (22:42) It is not in my power to do the concealment, if I understand correctly, is this a prayer that I have to give to the Creator that he will hear?

R. If I yearn for concealment then I ask the Creator to help me build the force of the screen by which I would love to reveal myself right after the concealment, meaning I should have the strength to overcome and to resist my will to receive where I build a wall on top of it a screen.

5. S. (23:31) Why and how do we build this wall correctly? This screen?

R. We need to think about it more, the main thing is to think about it. The more we think that we wish to have a good attitude, good relationship between us, from this we build. Why does it say from love of the created being to love of the Creator? It's to the extent that I tried to build good relationships with the friends to conceal my ego not that I wish to lie but I wish to relate to them in truth through the quality of bestowal and to the extent to which I try to do it, I ask the friends for the strength for it and then I can see practically how I change relative to the friends. My heart opens up towards them and in this way, I come closer each time.

S. No translation

R. There's a goal and there's a means, the goal is to reach adhesion with the Creator. Adhesion in the Creator includes two pieces of information, the concealment and restriction of my will to receive, and to turn all of my will to receive into bestowal. All of this I received from the upper light and that bestows to me, influences me according to how much I ask. In truth I'm asking for the upper force to work on me by restricting the intention to receive, not the desire but the intention to receive, and we should have in its place the intention to bestow. That's what is happening, the desire remains, the intention changes from in order to receive to in order to bestow.

S. There's a paradox here, I pray simultaneously to have importance so my importance will grow and I will reveal the Creator at the same time that I will conceal the Creator?

R. I wish to reveal the Creator as the good that does good, as the force of bestowal and to reveal inside of me the force of bestowal, I'm incapable unless this force of reception of mine will be corrected and will be just a force of bestowal. Then I will discover my corrected will to receive the quality of bestowal called the Creator, BoReh, come and see. Before that the Creator doesn't exist just the light of infinity and a system that helps us build ourselves. Meaning when I can even speak about the Creator, I can speak about him to the extent that He is revealed in me. That's why the Creator is called BoReh, come and see and it is a part of my desire that I acquire the intention to bestow I call that the Creator. That's how it works according to the absorption of all of our discernments as created beings. What is received inside of our will to receive because we are only a desire and a desire to receive at that, so the extent that the will to receive can receive the quality of bestowal, work above the desire after the restriction, the concealment, reflected light, the screen and so on and so forth, according to how much it can build itself above the will to receive using the will to receive. Nevertheless it takes place inside of the desire we can't escape it but my attitude towards the desire changes, I use it in order to bestow there are no other words. This means that I attain the Creator in him, BoReh come and see.

6. S. (29:00) If concealment is the work of the Creator how can I relate this article with my ten?

R. There is concealment that comes from above and there is concealment that comes from below. Also, we can see from the article the concealment that comes from above is 125 degrees from the world of Ein Sof to our world, we are at the bottom of all 125 degrees. The concealment that comes from below comes from the created being who receives forces from above and he builds with the help of this force, he builds restriction, screen, reflected light and he begins to rise in the degrees from below up. From this world through the five worlds to the world of Ein Sof.

7. S. (30:21) What should we do so that a demand will appear on the screen?

R. It says envy, lust and honor take a person out of this world, look at the friends and we see how advanced they are compared to you. Envy them, and you'll receive the strength to advance together with them as well and we also have to tell the friends that each one will be able to warm up, to ignite the friends around him so they will have a certain traction towards connection between them and their relation to the Creator. We can't receive the force of bestowing except through the connection between us when we draw the reforming light on us. We truly want together to receive the upper force and ask that he will clothe in us.

8. S. (31:49) When the concealment is breached from below it's actually where Hochma touches our will to receive, is this actually the reason we suffer a descent?

R. That's something else, you're asking a few questions together, the fact that the upper light is standing before us in order to clothe in the will to receive although the will to receive is not ready for it, this awakens us true. But we feel various clusters, phenomenon in it. On the one hand we feel that we are in trouble, this is something that I truly want but I can't get. We could feel that we are in exile and other systems other phenomenon there are many but it's all because the upper light appears above us and it has a certain connection perhaps distant, Panim be Achor or Achor be Achor (back-to-back),will to receive.

9. S. (33:22) Can it be said that concealment is the place where all the responses, all our demands gather into one place while usually they are scattered over the time, over time, although we know that in spirituality there is no time?

R. Concealment is a necessary thing in order to prepare us to our spiritual life. Look how children develop, they develop in concealment, and the concealment gradually passes and becomes a more substantial concealment, more important, more complex. In this way the child becomes a boy, a boy becomes a youth, a grown-up and so on and so forth. Meaning the concealments don't disappear, they simply acquire different character, a different portrayal. We all see, also our world in concealment except we're not aware of it because we have no way of seeing anything differently. But once we build restriction, screen and reflected light we begin to see the spiritual world. We see that it exists and it is unchanging but to the extent of our concealment, the concealment on our will to receive and to the extent we wished to bring honor to the Creator, we then conceal our will to receive and return it even in order to bestow. Where the concealment helps us build clothings on top of us, garments like garments in our world. In this way we come to a state where we can enter into some contact with the upper light but between us and the upper light there has to be a restriction, screen and reflected light. It's a clothing over the will to receive and then the will to receive can be in contact with the light, with the Creator. That's why the concealment is something extremely important and we have to learn how to build it. All of our work is only how to build ourselves in concealment.

S. In the first revelation what concentration of concealment should there be, what should gather there, what clothing should there be?

R. A restriction, restriction over the desire that I receive, that the measure it from above they don't give me more than that, so on that desire that I have in this world I have to prefer everything that I do here everything and which I feel I exist I have to not leave it, let go but rather I have to prefer to choose to exist in order to attain the quality of bestowal. Over the desire that is revealed now later I'll receive greater desires but it will be easier because we will be beyond the barrier. Then it will be clear how to exist, how to advance, it will be easier none is as wise as the experienced.

10. S. (37:44) I noticed that children are excited when they play hide and seek, they have this tremendous, tremendous excitement. I would like to be this excited when I hide the will to receive but I don't know how to do it?

R. Try it with the friends and see how much you can conceal your will to receive when you know about it, you have thoughts and desires towards the ten and how do you then present yourself towards them above these desires? Presenting yourself as the bestower, the lover, the connector. Try it by playing pretend, not even doing it really, it's enough to draw the reforming light, the surrounding light because for the surrounding light you don't need to have a screen and restriction, it's enough to pretend. As if you want it to happen that's enough because the surrounding light works from afar and indirectly over the will to receive and that's how we advance.

11. S. (39:11) What relationships among the friends should we come to that are actually different from relationships I had with friends in the imaginary world because there are two there are envy, lust and honor, so what are the correct relationships in the ten?

R. My relationships with the world I only need to bestow to them just generally speaking as much as possible towards the revelation of spirituality for them in a general matter. Whereas with the friends, I work in practice so the spirituality will appear in the personal relationships between us. Since that's how we advance, that's how we want to exist.

S. To build a wall of fire the individual seems clear but it's not clear how the ten builds a wall of fire, how does the work of the ten looks with the wall of fire?

R. First build the connection between you then they'll be something to talk about. A wall of fire already relates to the Creator when we don't want to receive in order to receive but only in order to bestow you will learn this from the relationships between you.

S. How do we build concealment as a ten?

R. By each one not wanting to use his ego but only the force of bestowal when he discovers that he seemingly has it, by trying to do this he will have the strength to relate to the Creator not from one but from the whole ten.

12. S. (41:40) I want to clarify something about the double concealment ,why is the Creator concealed in the wisdom of the concealed wisdom of Kabbalah?

R. The method of revealing the Creator to the created being in this world is called the wisdom of Kabbalah this wisdom built on the forces of nature, on the relations between plus and minus that we have in nature, the will to bestow the Creator and the will to receive. the created being. The relationships between them which developed in order to come into contact to equivalence, to adhesion, to the point where the created being elevates itself to the level of the Creator, the will to bestow, this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah talks about and this is what we engage in.

13. S. (42:49) What should we depict inside of us from within the concealment?

R. The correct depiction, that we're in concealment from above downward and to the extent that we can build such a concealment on our will to receive from below upward, to that extent we begin to see and to discover the upper world within our concealment. It's called with restriction and a screen and reflected light.

14. S. (43:36) About the posterior, the surrounding light that came out after the receiving of the light in order to bestow, is this surrounding light shining on the Partzuf in Panim or also in Achoraim?

R. I don't want to get into these things because what you're asking is not quite correct or complete, we will learn it. I ask that you stick to what he is writing and don't veer off to other depictions, because it talks about a different state. Try to learn how to learn these articles, how to study them.

15. S. (44:34) About asking, is it the importance of the vessel a person built and the importance of the Creator, do they need to be similar, equivalent?

R. No. they can't be, there will always remain a surplus, this is why we do the restriction and above the restriction we build bestowal, reflected light and the screen and we receive in order to bestow according to our level of bestowal on our part. Until the end of correction we can never come to the same level of bestowal that the Creator shows towards us. We should always perform the restriction not to receive and then measure how much we can and to the extent that we can, and to the extent that we can Is a very small portion that what comes to us from the Creator.

16. S. (45:55) In the beginning you said that men of war place the concealment and then in parallel this concealment has certain external signs by which we can discern the internal signs. Can we learn something from that, about the spiritual work?

R. Later when we come into knowing spirituality, we will begin to know all kinds of forces and souls. That operates in spirituality as in this world, it will open up to us gradually not like this world but we will discover it. Then we will also be able to connect and use those revelations, those degrees, those forces of the corrected, the other corrected souls and this will add a lot to us we will do it.

17. S. (47:22) It seems like the required work is extremely specific second by second by second, the calories that we burn here, where does a person take all of this energy to work?

R. You receive all of the powers you need for spiritual work from above without any problem. There is abundance in the upper light. Your whole work should just be directed as much as possible towards connection and bestowing and then you will see how much energy you have actually tons of energy.

18. S. (48:19) I heard that we need to not pay attention to the clothing but only for the heart, what does it mean in our relationships?

R. Look as in this world there is a male and a female. The female has the matter of clothing for her, it's much more dominant, important and then for the male. For the male it's not so important what they wear but for women, look at nature, how women pay attention to their clothes, to their makeup, to all kinds of such things. It's as a branch and root, the will to receive Malchut which is the root of the female force, wants very much, feels a need a natural need to dress up, to get a clothing, to conceal her will to receive and to be pretty and good and similar to the Creator, the desire to bestow. This is the root of the whole matter of garments, makeup.

S. So why do I need to conceal relative to the friends, what do I need to reveal to them?

R. From your friends you need to hide your will to receive and open up as much as possible your will to bestow love connection. As much as you can.

S. Does one depend on the other meaning if I conceal my ego?

R. It's not enough to hide the ego, to conceal it, it depends on the intention, look at all those rulers, the world governors, leaders, they are the cruelest. Look how they speak and how they justify themselves, it's not enough. You need to reveal an actual propensity, a disposition to connection in practice.

S. Where do I bring this revelation of the tendency towards connection in practice to conceal the ego, I can see?

R. It is written about it in the articles they helped each other ,you have to act it out, you have to do it against your will until we draw reforming light and by this it influences us even though we have no desire but when we act as if we have it, it influences us and building us a real desire.

S. So this game is called revelation?

R. This acting is not revelation, the revelation is a result, this acting is called a dance, there are all kinds of names for it. But we have no choice, that's the only way, try to build another system where you have two opposites that come to such a correction where the two of them become actually one at the end of correction. Let's say after the 10th millennium. You have no way to do anything else but only gradually, the Creator gave us a preparation by connecting the will to receive with the will to bestow, broke them, the vessels of bestowal and vessels of reception became incorporated in one another and this incorporation, the mingling and then there's the remoteness and concealment between them and by this he's prepared everything for correction for our work and then man was created. Adam, and man can consist of these both forces in one carrier and in this way correct the good and bad so they work together in order to bestow.

S. What does it mean I have to be able to have an open heart towards the friends, correct attitude or is this also acting?

R. An open heart doesn't mean you open your heart to us, we don't want to discover what's in there, it's something awful. Rather I need to reveal to the friends and show the friends that I want to come to a heart-to-heart connection with them.

S. And at a certain point, where in the correction is there a state called open heart like directly that I open my heart to the friends?

R. At the end of correction until the end of correction there are always parts, degrees, it's called degrees

S. So in a sense all business for opening the heart that I play from I want to love them, I love them?

R. You act it out and then after you act it out you receive the power from above and then it really does qualify your heart. Makes it more kosher, meaning ready for an act of bestowing. That's how you advance in the correct connection with them in order to bestow until you come to be one heart.

S. I'm sorry when this happens, what is the work, do I also have to conceal something?

R. Then there is no concealment, everything is revealed. The will to receive itself becomes, the Angel of Death becomes a Holy Angel because it is completely restricted and with the screen it works above itself in order to bestow, it doesn't disappear. It has only acquired the form of bestowal. Through the power of the Creator through the upper light it acquired the restriction, screen, reflected light and then it works like the force of bestowal although inside, of course, it is the force of reception, The created being remains the created being he doesn't become something else he just wears corrections on itself, clothes itself with corrections.

19. S. (55:19) It's written, “He climbs rung by rung until he comes to his designated place”. Does this mean that I have to feel in advance that there is a place for me?

R. You cannot discover the place where it happens in the general Malchut but you have to come to your own place and from your own place you connect all the other parts of the heart until all of them connect together. You have to do this on your own.

20. S. (56:04) Is it contradictory to focus on connecting with the friends and to ask for necessities?

R. You need to focus only on connection and be in these twenty-four hours a day.

21. S. (56:34) Do we discover the broken connections between us in the ten layer by layer?

R. Yes, the Creator prepared it deliberately. What does it mean that our desires or our connections are broken? Broken means that they are already mixed and mingled with the will to receive and the sparks of light entered them in the breaking. This is why they are ready for correction. If you connect with the friends, if you draw the reforming light, it influences all of those broken vessels which for now are revealed, and in this way, you see how the upper light corrects them.

S. What does it mean to conceal the ego's intention to receive?

R. I don't want to relate to the friends egoistically the way my nature, my heart pushes me. Rather I try to relate to them in the corrected way, as if I am corrected already. I pray that the Creator gives me a real ability to relate to them the way I imagine it, but for real out of my corrected heart. This is why the corruptions are revealed in our relationships each time so that we will perform actions in order to ask for corrections over them.

S. What do we do when we scrutinize this concealment, we see that we don’t know how to correct it?

R. Keep going and it will come.

22. S. (59:20) Good and bad are defined by the intention. How do we define good and bad on top of the concealment?

R. Precisely because of the concealment we can discover and reveal the good and the bad correctly. Precisely because of it. You need to try to think directly. The Creator has all the vessels, all of nature in His hands and He Himself organizes nature. He didn't create anything that has any deficiency or surplus in it. Everything is arranged in such a way that each and every moment we receive precisely what we need and not more. Therefore, every step of the way, when we discover where we are, we need only to ask for one thing: the force of bestowal. Call it the force of connection if you want, that force of relinquishment, the force of approaching and nearing, but this is really what we need to ask. Everything we feel, every single moment, is more than enough from that moment, from that state, for us to take another step forward.

23. S. (01:01:19) What is exactly in hiding? The Creator, our ego, or something else?

R. What hides from us is the whole of the spiritual world, the end of correction, and all of the degrees that exist from the world of Ein Sof to our world. Even the relationships between us. Why are we connected this way in the ten? Why did the Creator bring us to the connections that we have here? All of a sudden, I may hear people that I never dreamt of having any connection with. In this way we come closer to each other, we have to accept these things as a given. Actually it's not that important because nevertheless all of us will have to be connected with the whole world, with all the souls. So it's not that important even what ten I am in. I just have to do my corrections there. That's it. I just need to try to come out of myself within what I was given and not think that it's coincidental. Where I am is being directed from above, which is concealed from me, but nevertheless I have to connect through my ten to all of the other tens, to all of reality. They are all parts of my soul.

24. S. (01:03:33) How to feel the concealment?

R. The extent that we are drawn to revealing can only be to the extent of bestowal that we establish towards each other. We can feel the concealment only by the extent of our mutual bestowal.

25. S. (01:04:04) What's the connection between concealment and importance?

R. The importance is dependent on concealment. Let's say from our world, that when the will to receive wants to reveal something, and sees that it is concealed, the concealment gives us this inner tension and increases the will to receive. We know how it works even in our world. Let’s say we hide something from our children. They begin to want something specific and they have a much greater desire for it than if we were to show it to them, to reveal it to them. Concealment is part of the fashioning of the will to receive in order to come to the great will to receive and the revelation. This is why all of those degrees from here to Ein Sof, 125 degrees of five worlds, are all degrees of concealment. It's only in order to build our correct relation to the light of Ein Sof, to the Creator. Gradually, more and more and more. We obtain this specifically through concealment.

26. S.(01:05:46) Does the concealment help us increase the deficiency for the Creator?

R. Concealment helps us, of course. It designs our correct deficiency for the Creator because in concealment you have all kinds of manners of future revelation that will come after the concealment. You already have the full degree of revelation in concealment, but in a concealed way.

27. S. (01:06:22) Why did the Creator create an uncorrected world but also created concealment for these flaws?

R. The uncorrected world was created so we would feel it and all of reality, which is also Him. He created it in such a way that we are opposite because you can only feel out of oppositeness of form. He created us in concealment so that we would reveal Him. We reveal the flavor and the power of the revelation through revelation on top of the concealment. Look at how it works in our world. Everything is revealed only from within its opposite; this is called the ‘advantage of the light from within the darkness.’ It cannot be that we will reveal something if we didn't reveal its opposite. We, as created beings, must have two: what we attain and its opposite. We can sense reality only through two qualities. Therefore, we were created with the will to receive and we can come to a state where we will feel what the desire to bestow is, and what the Creator is. It's on condition that we also have the quality of bestowal in us as an addition to our will to receive. The form of bestowal comes and clothes over our will to receive; it gives it a shape over the will to receive. The will to receive dresses in that shape and this is why we seemingly clothe in the Creator. This is called the restriction, the screen, and the reflected light. These are clothings over the will to receive and after that we will be called ‘Adam,’ man, who is Domeh, similar to the Creator.

28. (01:08:45) What's the difference between concealment and a screen?

R. Concealment is a feeling in our will to receive, how much it wants something and doesn't have it. The screen is the force that we build above our will to receive, back to the source, to the Creator, to the will to bestow. We build the power of bestowal through the screen of our will to receive.

29. S. (01:09:30) What does it mean to ask for the force of concealment in the ten?

R. We don't want to reveal the Creator openly, the way the will to receive would like it. Rather, we want the will to receive to reveal Him precisely the way He is. We build the restrictions, screen, and reflected light above our will to receive with an extensible desire to bestow, an image of bestowal. This is why it's called ‘Adam,’ from the word ‘similarity,’ similar to the Creator. We build our will to receive through the influence of the upper light on us which formats us and builds us as if using plastic or clay, or like kids who build something out of sand. We want the upper light to build something out of us that is similar to the Creator and this is what we expect, we want to happen.

S. How do we ask specifically for the force of concealment in the ten?

R. We don't want to work openly with our will to receive the way it is revealed in us. We want to relate to one another and to the Creator together only with a desire to bestow. This is basically our work.

30. S. (01:11:31) How can we construct concealment by ourselves?

R. By speaking about the greatness of the Creator. First of all, by thinking about how to resemble the Creator, how to become similar to the Creator. We will then be called ‘Adam’ man. Therefore, we need to come to a state where we don't want anything other than to be similar to the Creator. Only bestowal, love, and connection between us is what we want.

31. S. (01:12:22) How do we correct ourselves so that our corrected internal state will also be demonstrated externally?

R. If I understood the question correctly, it's simply by speaking among ourselves in the ten and trying to carry out every single article we are studying in the morning lesson. I think you need to go over the texts of these articles several times and speak among yourselves, even if you don't really understand what is written. The fact that you want to sympathize with the text and you want it to influence you, the Creator, the upper light, will influence you and you will see how it yields results. You will see it.

32. S. (01:13:54) Concealment by itself is not considered concealment but rather it is measured by the demand of the request. since the more the demand the concealment is more apparent. The question is what it means the greater the demand is the concealment reaches farther out. The greater the demand for something, the more the concealment is evident ” mean?

R. Precisely by being in concealment we try to reach bestowal and we understand this is an opportunity to develop the quality of bestowal. This is the only reason the Creator created the concealment. He hid himself, He is seemingly concealed, hidden. Therefore, by trying to build the right connection among us, we need to ask the Creator to be revealed in us. What does it mean to be revealed in us? For the force of mutual bestowal to be revealed in us. This is called ‘the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.’ Then our group will be called the ‘created being’ and what is revealed in the group will be the quality of bestowal, even love between us, and by this we will feel it’s root, which is the Creator.

33. S (01:15:43) Is the quality of the reception also concealed from the Creator?

R. Nothing Is concealed from the Creator. I don't understand. Is the quality of reception concealed in us? Perhaps from a regular person but those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah gradually discover that whatever is revealed is revealed from the upper force.

34. S. (01:16:23) How do you perform the restriction in a ten correctly?

R. When we do not want to use our ego towards each other. It is simple. We just restrict ourselves and every time we want to relate to the friends, we relate to them only with the force of bestowal. We put ourselves under self-control and we relate to them only in connection, only in love. We inwardly relate to them only in love; that is the first connection that has to be accepted in the relationship between us otherwise we will not build a soul, we will not build a place for the revelation of the Creator.

35. S. (01:17:31) Why only after we go through bad states of despair and confusion can we cover crimes with love?

R. If we do not have crimes, we will not have a place for love. Only after we understand what the crimes are, the many troubles and states that we go through in life, only then we can appreciate connection and love. That is how it is in our life and that is also how it is in spirituality. Spirituality is a path of how we get through things. We see in our earthly life that people only start to understand the essence of life in their old age, about what life is and how you should live. It seems to them that they would live life differently if they could go back, but this is not true. They would go back to that same intellect and emotion they had and repeat the same mistakes. That is why we say, ‘there's none as wise as the experienced.’ In spirituality we understand things and we develop; everything remains with us and we profit eternally.

36. S (01:19:32) What is a desire in its pure form without an intention?

R. It is a desire to fulfill itself.

37. S (01:19:43) In the ten there’s a yearning for unity in actions of all the friends that are a bit different. In what is a mutual of yearning for unity expressed, how to obtain it?

S. There should be a connection between us first of all. Between the connection we scrutinize the goal and what the yearning for that goal is, how we can connect ourselves to be in that goal. And then we reach an application.

38. S (01:20:25) What does it mean that there are different levels of concealment?

R. There are 125 degrees that are all degrees of concealment, and upon them Revelation. There cannot be revelation without concealment, and revelation is fulfillment.

39. S (01:20:50) What does it mean that the Creator created us to be receivers on purpose because our reception is a result of His bestowal. Are we corrected in the eyes of the Creator?

R. In the eyes of the Creator, we can’t say because it’s best not to. Our whole wisdom is called the wisdom of Kabbalah, how to receive what the Creator wants us to receive from Him.

40. S (01:21:23) Why is everything so confusing?

R. Because you do not want to realize, that is why it seems to you. Because every time you fall into your will to receive during the lesson you rise a little bit from this will to receive and you grasp these things, and then you fall again. So what you should do very simply is not to fall. Where you are during the lesson in some disposition towards each other you should maintain it and even increase it every day, otherwise it will not happen you will not have a vessel to receive the revelation of the Creator. You can cry out where is the revelation, where is the Creator, everything that is written. What did you prepare for it? You didn't prepare anything. Where is the connection? Tell me that you have a connection where the upper light according to the equivalence of form can clothe. Show it to me. Where is it?

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Part 2

Baal HaSulam - Shamati 80. Concerning Achor be Achor

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Rav reading (00:22) Shamati #80 “Concerning Achor be Achor”

Maybe I will read it a bit differently than the text. “Receiving the abundance or bestowing the abundance is called Panim [face]” meaning if someone either receives or bestows it is called the place of the face. “Negation is called the Achoraim [back/posterior], meaning neither receiving or giving. Hence in the beginning of the work one is in the state of Achor be Achor [back-to-back] because he still has the vessels of the will to receive, if he extends abundance into these vessels he could blemish to light. Since he is considered opposite in value, these lights are opposite of the root since the light comes from the root and the root only bestows. For this reason, the lower one uses the vessels of the Ima [mother], called the posterior. Meaning that they do not want to receive so as to not to blemish the vessels of Ima”… are the vessels of Bina. …”And the Emanator too does not bestow upon them for the above reasons, for the lights guard themselves, so the lower ones will not blemish them. This is why it is called Achor be Achor [back-to-back].” It’s not the Emanator which is considered to be a higher degree, he doesn't want to give his lights and the lower one doesn't want to receive these lights. He understands that if he does receive, it will be above the forces of his screen, meaning if one does not want to receive, and the Creator according to this person does not want to give; this state is called Achor be Achor [back-to-back]. But if a person wants to receive, like we do, it is no longer back-to-back, meeting back-to-back is a higher degree. One more chunk of this article, he continues…”To explain what is written in several places, that, ‘Whatever there's a deficiency, the Klipa [shell] suckles`'', that’s what the text says. Why? Because there is no screen, if there is no screen the light cannot settle in that place. We might say that the reason is that this place is still not free from Aviut [coarseness]; his will to receive is not covered by a screen. “...Otherwise, the light would have illuminated in full since the upper light never stops. If there is a place that is corrected with a Masach [screen], the upper light immediately grips there.” Because it’s in complete rest, it doesn't have to come from afar. “And since there is a place of deficiency, meaning the absence of the upper light, there's certainly a discernment of Aviut, who’s entire grip is in the will to receive.” Meaning we have this business here: the will to receive is the entire creation, by its different parts it's covered with an intention in order to bestow, meaning a screen. In these places according to the law of equivalence of form, the upper light can clothe and fill it. That’s all. Read it as well please.

Reader Shamati #80 (05:12) “Concerning Achor be Achor” again

41. S (07:37) What does it mean to blemish the light, how can I blemish the light, where does the blemishing take place?

R. When you fall from your degree you lose your screen for various reasons, this is considered to blemish the light, pushing the light away.

S. Blemishing the light away, does that mean that I put the darkness on the light? I do not understand what blemishing means, how can I have the power?

R. Suppose you had an opportunity to receive this light in order to bestow and did not do it, you disrespected it, disregarded it. That is how it turns out, instead of bringing the lights closer and to receive it in order to bestow; you distance it, and in general you cause the light to go away, because your vessels go back to, in order to receive.

42. S. (09:01) I want to scrutinize and understand what is face and back, because he says receiving and bestowing the abundance is the face, and navigation is the back. What are those states face and back, in a ten?

R. An ability to receive or receive in order to bestow is called the face, in short to relate or connect to the light, to in connection with the light; this is called the face. Being the opposite of this relation to the light is called posterior.

S. We’re in face or back or in a different state?

R. again.

S. Us, today? The states of the tens today?

R. I don't know.

S. More or less.

R. more or less you should determine.

43. S (10:14) What is the correct reason that a person has to ask for spirituality?

R. In order to bring contentment to the Creator and that is what we learn.

S. And every other reason, they will not let us attain it?

R. Well, if you give some money maybe.

44. S. (10:50) To receive the light correctly we need to accept all our state's as a soul, then we can ask the Creator to fill. Just in the previous article it says that we have to accept in such a way in order to advance.

R. I do not understand the question, can you say it shortly?

S. In order to receive?

R. In order to receive the light you have to be with it in equivalence of quality to bestow, just like the light bestows to the extent that you can bestow the light will be clothed in you, will be revealed in you. That’s called the revelation of the Creator to the created being.

S. But I need to, still?

R. You have friends, you can make it in bestowing to them, train yourself in that. You have the whole world, that is why it is written from the love of others to the love of the Creator. What does the love of the Creator mean? That your relation is revealed to the extent that you reveal yourself to humanity, to the group.

45. S. (12:26) In the last paragraph it says that the upper light doesn't stop?

R. From the perspective of the Creator the quality of bestowal, the desire to bestow will always appear with all its force for each and everyone.

46. S. (12:55) What does it mean that the level of back-to-back is very high?

R. Back-to-back means that the Creator is concealed from the created being and the created being conceals himself from the Creator. It is nonetheless a connection, a kind of the connection, one of the four kinds of connections, back-to-back, back to face, face to back and face to face. That’s why even back-to-back is already something in the connection between us and the Creator.

47. S. (13:45) How can the state of posterior be next to the light. The Creator is always aimed towards us?

R. No, the posterior of the light is when the light departs. He explains to us in the article, my beloved is like a gazelle and we have to see how the Creator is playing with us in this article, the concealment and the revelation. Revelation of the concealment of the Creator that is an article by Baal HaSulam, that is how you build the vessels in us.

48. S. (14:36) It says that every word there's a deficiency, the Klipot suckle, so why is that everywhere there's a deficiency the Klipot can suckle because there's all kinds of deficiency, receiving in order to bestow, bestowing in order to receive, why are the Klipot always suckling?

R. Deficiency means I want to be connected to the Creator. Another question is to what extent, and build this connection, but there is always an ability there to fall because you are working with the vessels of reception and with respect to the pleasure. You have to hold this pleasure all the time after the restriction the screen and reflected light with the true intention in order to bestow. That is why this work is difficult it goes against our desire, our nature and as much as we try it is very difficult. That is why each one should help his friend if we talk about it between us, all the time hold ourselves even if we don't want to hear the friends anymore. If all of us put pressure on each other we will not have where to run to and we will attain the desire to bestow upon each other and we will ask the Creator to give us the ability to be connected to each other. How we will make it to the quality of bestowal and by this we will resemble the Creator.

49. S. (16:25) The importance in determining our true state?

R. We have to determine our true state where we are, of course we want that. Meaning this is revealing the Creator in an internal manner, the will to receive according to the equivalence of form between the will to receive and the Creator. Then we will know where we are, where we are with respect to the Creator.

https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/lessons/cu/FK4zOS5v

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

Part 1: 2021 Transcription

Baal HaSulam - Shamati 174. Concealment

1.Rav’s Introduction: (03:33) A short article but truly potent, explains to us the reason for our state that what we need is to attain specifically the forces of concealment. Just like in our life. What's the difference between us and animals, still, vegetative and animate? The speaking degree you will see what is special about the speaking degree, it arranges clothing for itself, garments, various external forms on itself. Certain signs, they get tattoos, they wear various hats, they place a lot of different discernments on them, if you're a military person. Meaning they arranged for themselves the signs of concealment and according to this concealment, according to the clothing we relate to the person. It is known that for women it is a very important thing, for men less so nevertheless new times come, humanity is changing from within but it also changes its external clothing. From here we may also learn what is the concealment, the concealment comes from above, so that we would discover it and reveal it from below. When I conceal the Creator for my ego, from my will to receive, and I wish to build from the attitude to him, the desire to bestow, the intention to bestow, then I begin to understand that what the Creator’s doing by creating a concealment from above, it's in order for me, to allow me to build concealment from below.

Rav reading the article again: Concealment is an important thing, it is correction, had it not been for that man would have been unable to obtain any completeness since he would not be worthy of attaining the importance of the matter. However when there is concealment the thing becomes important to him. To the extent of the concealment that he reveals and even though one cannot appreciate the importance, let's say in spirituality of the Creator as it truly is, the concealment that he feels that exists between him and the Creator grants it merit to the extent that one senses the concealment, a bedding of importance has formed within him.

Meaning the concealment that exists intentionally so we will attain the importance and to the extent we have the importance, we will begin to build the concealment from our side. restriction, screen, reflected light and bestowal. In our lives, we also do it in order to make ourselves something more important in the eyes of the other. This is a different form of concealment but nevertheless, see how it exists, how important it is, what am I getting, which house, our clothes, how do I present myself towards the other. It determines my entire life. If we look closely at our life, how much we work in order to obtain the correct concealment over ourselves to present ourselves correctly towards the other. We will see it's not so simple that we have to invest also in spirituality. In the concealment over spirituality relative to spirituality and this would be like on the clothing that we have all the signs that we have in corporeality from acquiring the forces of concealment when the Creator becomes more and more important for us That's why we need to conceal him from us from our ego, from our will to receive. As Baal HaSulam writes, beware of reaching out and touching Him.

Rav continues to read: It is like rungs, he climbs rung by rung until he comes to his designated place each and everyone has a certain degree where he corrects himself, this means that he achieves a certain measure of importance, of Godliness with which he can at least and endure. Each time we have to retry to reach this maximum height as much as I can, this is according to the greatness of the Creator and how much I can conceal my ego. In order to be protected, not to touch him, touch my vessels because then everything disappears. I need to arrange my garments, the concealment I put over myself, my desire, my will to receive this is called restriction, screen, reflected light, so that I'll be able after I perform these corrections, I'll be able to reach contact with the Creator. Though his true importance and sublimity are immeasurable but nonetheless, a measure that will suffice him to persist. Meaning each time we need to ensure that I can stand before the Creator, do I have a restriction over my ego and a screen? That I can be above the ego that I restricted it, concealed it until it is in the equivalence of form, a certain measure of equivalence of form and has contact with the Creator. But however concealment in itself is not considered concealment ,concealment is measured by the demand. Meaning as much as I am asking for contact with the upper one, as much as I understand and I asked for the force of concealment, since the greater the demand for something, the more concealment is evident. Now we can understand the meaning of the whole earth is full of his glory. Although we believe it, that the Creator fills the whole earth nevertheless, concealment still fills the whole earth, the whole desire and then we have concealment from above the Creator concealing himself from us, in order to give us room to exist. So like babies we gradually grow and we open up the world for ourselves, similarly we are in spirituality, we are born, we grow in the world will gradually open up for us. To the extent that we can conceal ourselves in the direct light, from the direct flight from the Creator and we will receive everything in reflected light, in our attitude toward Him according to the degree of importance we develop inside of us. It's written about the future, for I will be unto her a wall of fire roundabout and I will be the glory in the midst of her. Fire means concealment, a wall of fire means concealment to such an extent we would want to separate ourselves directly from the Creator for there to be a firewall. But still glory is in the midst of her, meaning that then the glory will be revealed. I wish to maintain the distance between me and the Creator directly because I am the will to receive and he is the will to bestow. Then the Glory will be revealed, this is because the demand will be so great even though there will be concealment and to the greatest concealment, the greatest screen but the difference is that this time there is concealment but no demand. Hence this is considered exile. That's what we wish to come to, at least that feeling that we are in exile. Then however, although there will be concealment, there will also be demand and this is what is important only the demand. Meaning we constantly need to maintain this oppositeness, the Creator's the force of bestowal, we are the force of reception. How do we arrange between us the connection becoming close? A constant connection, when it increases more and more, grows more and more, this is done exactly through these two forces of concealment and of demand.

2. S. (15:44) By What does one reveal that he is in concealment?

R. In virtue of the demand. When I have this yearning, this tendency towards something, this even from above, this is called a point in the heart, when we have this inclination towards getting to know the Creator, revelation of the Creator, this comes up from us from our will to receive. The heart is the desire, the point in the heart, the central point in the desire where I want to find the connection with my source. I'm attracted to it.

3. S. (16:30) What does it mean that the Creator hides himself so that we can have existence?

R. What does it mean? If he were to reveal himself it would be something opposite to us and we wouldn't be able to feel him, to understand him, to approach him, to even exist because we are in nature, we are in two opposite things. They are present, they neutralize one another, this comes in science, this comes to annihilation, plus and minus when they connect there's a short circuit and they both disappear. Hence the Creator, to the extent that it builds the will to receive in nature in general. to that extent he needs to create the distance between him and the will to receive, not a physical distance but an emotional distance so the will to receive would not reveal it directly. Because it's opposite to him and the whole business with the created being is that he discovers the Creator because that's the only thing he needs to reveal, that there's 'None Else Besides Him' this is all of reality so the created beings reveals the Creator according to equivalence of form with it. For the time being what's before the creature is the imaginary world. He thinks it exists, it seems to him that he is alive and this great big hole that is full, the world it's full and it's all according to his development to the extent that he comes to develop on the good side and the bad side he develops himself and he discovers how his development is incorrect, it's not good. Then he comes to his state where he can begin to develop it further towards spiritual matter. There are many disturbances in our world, our corporeal world from which we can learn about concealment and revelation. The more we conceal ourselves from one another and the extent to which we are willing to disclose ourselves to one another, accordingly we measure our relationships between people between men and women, between countries on all levels. It's important for us that concealment will maintain our honor, our will to receive. But when we begin to advance toward in order to bestow, to the extent that we truly think correctly about in order to bestow to the friends, to the other, to that extent we can truly open ourselves up and be closer to one another. That's what's going on so we need to try to make such efforts in the ten, and in the group so that we will come back to such states where we don't pay attention to the clothing but only to the heart.

S. The minute we wake up we have to fight against the concealment, concealment of the Creator and our own concealment, right?

R. In a sense let's say yes, we can make the correct distinctions here but there are many things about the concealment, the ladder of degrees, there's also a ladder of concealment. It starts from the first degree that we have to build a wall here, that concealment to such an extent, that it will protect us. It will protect us by rejecting in order to receive and wanting only in order to bestow, this concealment is called the screen that includes in it many discernments, everything focuses, concentrates in the screen.

4. S. (22:42) It is not in my power to do the concealment, if I understand correctly, is this a prayer that I have to give to the Creator that he will hear?

R. If I yearn for concealment then I ask the Creator to help me build the force of the screen by which I would love to reveal myself right after the concealment, meaning I should have the strength to overcome and to resist my will to receive where I build a wall on top of it a screen.

5. S. (23:31) Why and how do we build this wall correctly? This screen?

R. We need to think about it more, the main thing is to think about it. The more we think that we wish to have a good attitude, good relationship between us, from this we build. Why does it say from love of the created being to love of the Creator? It's to the extent that I tried to build good relationships with the friends to conceal my ego not that I wish to lie but I wish to relate to them in truth through the quality of bestowal and to the extent to which I try to do it, I ask the friends for the strength for it and then I can see practically how I change relative to the friends. My heart opens up towards them and in this way, I come closer each time.

S. No translation

R. There's a goal and there's a means, the goal is to reach adhesion with the Creator. Adhesion in the Creator includes two pieces of information, the concealment and restriction of my will to receive, and to turn all of my will to receive into bestowal. All of this I received from the upper light and that bestows to me, influences me according to how much I ask. In truth I'm asking for the upper force to work on me by restricting the intention to receive, not the desire but the intention to receive, and we should have in its place the intention to bestow. That's what is happening, the desire remains, the intention changes from in order to receive to in order to bestow.

S. There's a paradox here, I pray simultaneously to have importance so my importance will grow and I will reveal the Creator at the same time that I will conceal the Creator?

R. I wish to reveal the Creator as the good that does good, as the force of bestowal and to reveal inside of me the force of bestowal, I'm incapable unless this force of reception of mine will be corrected and will be just a force of bestowal. Then I will discover my corrected will to receive the quality of bestowal called the Creator, BoReh, come and see. Before that the Creator doesn't exist just the light of infinity and a system that helps us build ourselves. Meaning when I can even speak about the Creator, I can speak about him to the extent that He is revealed in me. That's why the Creator is called BoReh, come and see and it is a part of my desire that I acquire the intention to bestow I call that the Creator. That's how it works according to the absorption of all of our discernments as created beings. What is received inside of our will to receive because we are only a desire and a desire to receive at that, so the extent that the will to receive can receive the quality of bestowal, work above the desire after the restriction, the concealment, reflected light, the screen and so on and so forth, according to how much it can build itself above the will to receive using the will to receive. Nevertheless it takes place inside of the desire we can't escape it but my attitude towards the desire changes, I use it in order to bestow there are no other words. This means that I attain the Creator in him, BoReh come and see.

6. S. (29:00) If concealment is the work of the Creator how can I relate this article with my ten?

R. There is concealment that comes from above and there is concealment that comes from below. Also, we can see from the article the concealment that comes from above is 125 degrees from the world of Ein Sof to our world, we are at the bottom of all 125 degrees. The concealment that comes from below comes from the created being who receives forces from above and he builds with the help of this force, he builds restriction, screen, reflected light and he begins to rise in the degrees from below up. From this world through the five worlds to the world of Ein Sof.

7. S. (30:21) What should we do so that a demand will appear on the screen?

R. It says envy, lust and honor take a person out of this world, look at the friends and we see how advanced they are compared to you. Envy them, and you'll receive the strength to advance together with them as well and we also have to tell the friends that each one will be able to warm up, to ignite the friends around him so they will have a certain traction towards connection between them and their relation to the Creator. We can't receive the force of bestowing except through the connection between us when we draw the reforming light on us. We truly want together to receive the upper force and ask that he will clothe in us.

8. S. (31:49) When the concealment is breached from below it's actually where Hochma touches our will to receive, is this actually the reason we suffer a descent?

R. That's something else, you're asking a few questions together, the fact that the upper light is standing before us in order to clothe in the will to receive although the will to receive is not ready for it, this awakens us true. But we feel various clusters, phenomenon in it. On the one hand we feel that we are in trouble, this is something that I truly want but I can't get. We could feel that we are in exile and other systems other phenomenon there are many but it's all because the upper light appears above us and it has a certain connection perhaps distant, Panim be Achor or Achor be Achor (back-to-back),will to receive.

9. S. (33:22) Can it be said that concealment is the place where all the responses, all our demands gather into one place while usually they are scattered over the time, over time, although we know that in spirituality there is no time?

R. Concealment is a necessary thing in order to prepare us to our spiritual life. Look how children develop, they develop in concealment, and the concealment gradually passes and becomes a more substantial concealment, more important, more complex. In this way the child becomes a boy, a boy becomes a youth, a grown-up and so on and so forth. Meaning the concealments don't disappear, they simply acquire different character, a different portrayal. We all see, also our world in concealment except we're not aware of it because we have no way of seeing anything differently. But once we build restriction, screen and reflected light we begin to see the spiritual world. We see that it exists and it is unchanging but to the extent of our concealment, the concealment on our will to receive and to the extent we wished to bring honor to the Creator, we then conceal our will to receive and return it even in order to bestow. Where the concealment helps us build clothings on top of us, garments like garments in our world. In this way we come to a state where we can enter into some contact with the upper light but between us and the upper light there has to be a restriction, screen and reflected light. It's some clothing over the will to receive and then the will to receive can be in contact with the light, with the Creator. That's why the concealment is something extremely important and we have to learn how to build it. All of our work is only how to build ourselves in concealment.

S. In the first revelation what concentration of concealment should there be, what should gather there, what clothing should there be?

R. A restriction, restriction over the desire that I receive, that the measure it from above they don't give me more than that, so on that desire that I have in this world I have to prefer everything that I do here everything and which I feel I exist I have to not leave it, let go but rather I have to prefer to choose to exist in order to attain the quality of bestowal. Over the desire that is revealed now later I'll receive greater desires but it will be easier because we will be beyond the barrier. Then it will be clear how to exist, how to advance, it will be easier none is as wise as the experienced.

10. S. (37:44) I noticed that children are excited when they play hide and seek, they have this tremendous, tremendous excitement. I would like to be this excited when I hide the will to receive but I don't know how to do it?

R. Try it with the friends and see how much you can conceal your will to receive when you know about it, you have thoughts and desires towards the ten and how do you then present yourself towards them above these desires? Presenting yourself as the bestower, the lover, the connector. Try it by playing pretend, not even doing it really, it's enough to draw the reforming light, the surrounding light because for the surrounding light you don't need to have a screen and restriction, it's enough to pretend. As if you want it to happen that's enough because the surrounding light works from afar and indirectly over the will to receive and that's how we advance.

11. S. (39:11) What relationships among the friends should we come to that are actually different from relationships I had with friends in the imaginary world because there are two there are envy, lust and honor, so what are the correct relationships in the ten?

R. My relationships with the world I only need to bestow to them just generally speaking as much as possible towards the revelation of spirituality for them in a general matter. Whereas with the friends, I work in practice so the spirituality will appear in the personal relationships between us. Since that's how we advance, that's how we want to exist.

S. To build a wall of fire the individual seems clear but it's not clear how the ten builds a wall of fire, how does the work of the ten look with the wall of fire?

R. First build the connection between you then they'll be something to talk about. A wall of fire already relates to the Creator when we don't want to receive in order to receive but only in order to bestow you will learn this from the relationships between you.

S. How do we build concealment as a ten?

R. By each one not wanting to use his ego but only the force of bestowal when he discovers that he seemingly has it, by trying to do this he will have the strength to relate to the Creator not from one but from the whole ten.

12. S. (41:40) I want to clarify something about the double concealment ,why is the Creator concealed in the wisdom of the concealed wisdom of Kabbalah?

R. The method of revealing the Creator to the created being in this world is called the wisdom of Kabbalah this wisdom built on the forces of nature, on the relations between plus and minus that we have in nature, the will to bestow the Creator and the will to receive. the created being. The relationships between them which developed in order to come into contact to equivalence, to adhesion, to the point where the created being elevates itself to the level of the Creator, the will to bestow, this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah talks about and this is what we engage in.

13. S. (42:49) What should we depict inside of us from within the concealment?

R. The correct depiction, that we're in concealment from above downward and to the extent that we can build such a concealment on our will to receive from below upward, to that extent we begin to see and to discover the upper world within our concealment. It's called with restriction and a screen and reflected light.

14. S. (43:36) About the posterior, the surrounding light that came out after the receiving of the light in order to bestow, is this surrounding light shining on the Partzuf in Panim or also in Achoraim?

R. I don't want to get into these things because what you're asking is not quite correct or complete, we will learn it. I ask that you stick to what he is writing and don't veer off to other depictions, because it talks about a different state. Try to learn how to learn these articles, how to study them.

15. S. (44:34) About asking, is it the importance of the vessel a person built and the importance of the Creator, do they need to be similar, equivalent?

R. No. they can't be, there will always remain a surplus, this is why we do the restriction and above the restriction we build bestowal, reflected light and the screen and we receive in order to bestow according to our level of bestowal on our part. Until the end of correction we can never come to the same level of bestowal that the Creator shows towards us. We should always perform the restriction not to receive and then measure how much we can and to the extent that we can, and to the extent that we can Is a very small portion that what comes to us from the Creator.

16. S. (45:55) In the beginning you said that men of war place the concealment and then in parallel this concealment has certain external signs by which we can discern the internal signs. Can we learn something from that, about the spiritual work?

R. Later when we come into knowing spirituality, we will begin to know all kinds of forces and souls. That operates in spirituality as in this world, it will open up to us gradually not like this world but we will discover it. Then we will also be able to connect and use those revelations, those degrees, those forces of the corrected, the other corrected souls and this will add a lot to us we will do it.

17. S. (47:22) It seems like the required work is extremely specific second by second by second, the calories that we burn here, where does a person take all of this energy to work?

R. You receive all of the powers you need for spiritual work from above without any problem. There is abundance in the upper light. Your whole work should just be directed as much as possible towards connection and bestowing and then you will see how much energy you have actually tons of energy.

18. S. (48:19) I heard that we need to not pay attention to the clothing but only for the heart, what does it mean in our relationships?

R. Look as in this world there is a male and a female. The female has the matter of clothing for her, it's much more dominant, important and then for the male. For the male it's not so important what they wear but for women, look at nature, how women pay attention to their clothes, to their makeup, to all kinds of such things. It's as a branch and root, the will to receive Malchut which is the root of the female force, wants very much, feels a need a natural need to dress up, to get a clothing, to conceal her will to receive and to be pretty and good and similar to the Creator, the desire to bestow. This is the root of the whole matter of garments, makeup.

S. So why do I need to conceal relative to the friends, what do I need to reveal to them?

R. From your friends you need to hide your will to receive and open up as much as possible your will to bestow love connection. As much as you can.

S. Does one depend on the other meaning if I conceal my ego?

R. It's not enough to hide the ego, to conceal it, it depends on the intention, look at all those rulers, the world governors, leaders, they are the cruelest. Look how they speak and how they justify themselves, it's not enough. You need to reveal an actual propensity, a disposition to connection in practice.

S. Where do I bring this revelation of the tendency towards connection in practice to conceal the ego, I can see?

R. It is written about it in the articles they helped each other ,you have to act it out, you have to do it against your will until we draw reforming light and by this it influences us even though we have no desire but when we act as if we have it, it influences us and building us a real desire.

S. So this game is called revelation?

R. This acting is not revelation, the revelation is a result, this acting is called a dance, there are all kinds of names for it. But we have no choice, that's the only way, try to build another system where you have two opposites that come to such a correction where the two of them become actually one at the end of correction. Let's say after the 10th millennium. You have no way to do anything else but only gradually, the Creator gave us a preparation by connecting the will to receive with the will to bestow, broke them, the vessels of bestowal and vessels of reception became incorporated in one another and this incorporation, the mingling and then there's the remoteness and concealment between them and by this he's prepared everything for correction for our work and then man was created. Adam, and man can consist of these both forces in one carrier and in this way correct the good and bad so they work together in order to bestow.

S. What does it mean I have to be able to have an open heart towards the friends, correct attitude or is this also acting?

R. An open heart doesn't mean you open your heart to us, we don't want to discover what's in there, it's something awful. Rather I need to reveal to the friends and show the friends that I want to come to a heart-to-heart connection with them.

S. And at a certain point, where in the correction is there a state called open heart like directly that I open my heart to the friends?

R. At the end of correction until the end of correction there are always parts, degrees, it's called degrees

S. So in a sense all business for opening the heart that I play from I want to love them, I love them?

R. You act it out and then after you act it out you receive the power from above and then it really does qualify your heart. Makes it more kosher, meaning ready for an act of bestowing. That's how you advance in the correct connection with them in order to bestow until you come to be one heart.

S. I'm sorry when this happens, what is the work, do I also have to conceal something?

R. Then there is no concealment, everything is revealed. The will to receive itself becomes, the Angel of Death becomes a Holy Angel because it is completely restricted and with the screen it works above itself in order to bestow, it doesn't disappear. It has only acquired the form of bestowal. Through the power of the Creator through the upper light it acquired the restriction, screen, reflected light and then it works like the force of bestowal although inside, of course, it is the force of reception, The created being remains the created being he doesn't become something else he just wears corrections on itself, clothes itself with corrections.

19. S. (55:19) It's written, “He climbs rung by rung until he comes to his designated place”. Does this mean that I have to feel in advance that there is a place for me?

R. You cannot discover the place where it happens in the general Malchut but you have to come to your own place and from your own place you connect all the other parts of the heart until all of them connect together. You have to do this on your own.

20. S. (56:04) Is it contradictory to focus on connecting with the friends and to ask for necessities?

R. You need to focus only on connection and be in this twenty-four hour a day.

21. S. (56:34) Do we discover the broken connections between us in the ten layer by layer?

R. Yes, the Creator prepared it deliberately. What does it mean that our desires or our connections are broken? Broken means that they are already mixed and mingled with the will to receive and the sparks of light entered them in the breaking. This is why they are ready for correction. If you connect with the friends, if you draw the reforming light, it influences all of those broken vessels which for now are revealed, and in this way, you see how the upper light corrects them.

S. What does it mean to conceal the ego's intention to receive?

R. I don't want to relate to the friends egoistically the way my nature, my heart pushes me. Rather I try to relate to them in the corrected way, as if I am corrected already. I pray that the Creator gives me a real ability to relate to them the way I imagine it, but for real out of my corrected heart. This is why the corruptions are revealed in our relationships each time so that we will perform actions in order to ask for corrections over them.

S. What do we do when we scrutinize this concealment, we see that we don’t know how to correct it?

R. Keep going and it will come.

22. S. (59:20) Good and bad are defined by the intention. How do we define good and bad on top of the concealment?

R. Precisely because of the concealment we can discover and reveal the good and the bad correctly. Precisely because of it. You need to try to think directly. The Creator has all the vessels, all of nature in His hands and He Himself organizes nature. He didn't create anything that has any deficiency or surplus in it. Everything is arranged in such a way that each and every moment we receive precisely what we need and not more. Therefore, every step of the way, when we discover where we are, we need only to ask for one thing: the force of bestowal. Call it the force of connection if you want, that force of relinquishment, the force of approaching and nearing, but this is really what we need to ask. Everything we feel, every single moment, is more than enough from that moment, from that state, for us to take another step forward.

23. S. (01:01:19) What is exactly in hiding? The Creator, our ego, or something else?

R. What hides from us is the whole of the spiritual world, the end of correction, and all of the degrees that exist from the world of Ein Sof to our world. Even the relationships between us. Why are we connected this way in the ten? Why did the Creator bring us to the connections that we have here? All of a sudden, I may hear people that I never dreamt of having any connection with. In this way we come closer to each other, we have to accept these things as a given. Actually it's not that important because nevertheless all of us will have to be connected with the whole world, with all the souls. So it's not that important even what ten I am in. I just have to do my corrections there. That's it. I just need to try to come out of myself within what I was given and not think that it's coincidental. Where I am is being directed from above, which is concealed from me, but nevertheless I have to connect through my ten to all of the other tens, to all of reality. They are all parts of my soul.

24. S. (01:03:33) How to feel the concealment?

R. The extent that we are drawn to revealing can only be to the extent of bestowal that we establish towards each other. We can feel the concealment only by the extent of our mutual bestowal.

25. S. (01:04:04) What's the connection between concealment and importance?

R. The importance is dependent on concealment. Let's say from our world, that when the will to receive wants to reveal something, and sees that it is concealed, the concealment gives us this inner tension and increases the will to receive. We know how it works even in our world. Let’s say we hide something from our children. They begin to want something specific and they have a much greater desire for it than if we were to show it to them, to reveal it to them. Concealment is part of the fashioning of the will to receive in order to come to the great will to receive and the revelation. This is why all of those degrees from here to Ein Sof, 125 degrees of five worlds, are all degrees of concealment. It's only in order to build our correct relation to the light of Ein Sof, to the Creator. Gradually, more and more and more. We obtain this specifically through concealment.

26. S.(01:05:46) Does the concealment help us increase the deficiency for the Creator?

R. Concealment helps us, of course. It designs our correct deficiency for the Creator because in concealment you have all kinds of manners of future revelation that will come after the concealment. You already have the full degree of revelation in concealment, but in a concealed way.

27. S. (01:06:22) Why did the Creator create an uncorrected world but also created concealment for these flaws?

R. The uncorrected world was created so we would feel it and all of reality, which is also Him. He created it in such a way that we are opposite because you can only feel out of oppositeness of form. He created us in concealment so that we would reveal Him. We reveal the flavor and the power of the revelation through revelation on top of the concealment. Look at how it works in our world. Everything is revealed only from within its opposite; this is called the ‘advantage of the light from within the darkness.’ It cannot be that we will reveal something if we didn't reveal its opposite. We, as created beings, must have two: what we attain and its opposite. We can sense reality only through two qualities. Therefore, we were created with the will to receive and we can come to a state where we will feel what the desire to bestow is, and what the Creator is. It's on condition that we also have the quality of bestowal in us as an addition to our will to receive. The form of bestowal comes and clothes over our will to receive; it gives it a shape over the will to receive. The will to receive dresses in that shape and this is why we seemingly clothe in the Creator. This is called the restriction, the screen, and the reflected light. These are clothings over the will to receive and after that we will be called ‘Adam,’ man, who is Domeh, similar to the Creator.

28. (01:08:45) What's the difference between concealment and a screen?

R. Concealment is a feeling in our will to receive, how much it wants something and doesn't have it. The screen is the force that we build above our will to receive, back to the source, to the Creator, to the will to bestow. We build the power of bestowal through the screen of our will to receive.

29. S. (01:09:30) What does it mean to ask for the force of concealment in the ten?

R. We don't want to reveal the Creator openly, the way the will to receive would like it. Rather, we want the will to receive to reveal Him precisely the way He is. We build the restrictions, screen, and reflected light above our will to receive with an extensible desire to bestow, an image of bestowal. This is why it's called ‘Adam,’ from the word ‘similarity,’ similar to the Creator. We build our will to receive through the influence of the upper light on us which formats us and builds us as if using plastic or clay, or like kids who build something out of sand. We want the upper light to build something out of us that is similar to the Creator and this is what we expect, we want to happen.

S. How do we ask specifically for the force of concealment in the ten?

R. We don't want to work openly with our will to receive the way it is revealed in us. We want to relate to one another and to the Creator together only with a desire to bestow. This is basically our work.

30. S. (01:11:31) How can we construct concealment by ourselves?

R. By speaking about the greatness of the Creator. First of all, by thinking about how to resemble the Creator, how to become similar to the Creator. We will then be called ‘Adam’ man. Therefore, we need to come to a state where we don't want anything other than to be similar to the Creator. Only bestowal, love, and connection between us is what we want.

31. S. (01:12:22) How do we correct ourselves so that our corrected internal state will also be demonstrated externally?

R. If I understood the question correctly, it's simply by speaking among ourselves in the ten and trying to carry out every single article we are studying in the morning lesson. I think you need to go over the texts of these articles several times and speak among yourselves, even if you don't really understand what is written. The fact that you want to sympathize with the text and you want it to influence you, the Creator, the upper light, will influence you and you will see how it yields results. You will see it.

32. S. (01:13:54) Concealment by itself is not considered concealment but rather it is measured by the demand of the request. since the more the demand the concealment is more apparent. The question is what it means the greater the demand is the concealment reaches farther out. The greater the demand for something, the more the concealment is evident ” mean?

R. Precisely by being in concealment we try to reach bestowal and we understand this is an opportunity to develop the quality of bestowal. This is the only reason the Creator created the concealment. He hid himself, He is seemingly concealed, hidden. Therefore, by trying to build the right connection among us, we need to ask the Creator to be revealed in us. What does it mean to be revealed in us? For the force of mutual bestowal to be revealed in us. This is called ‘the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.’ Then our group will be called the ‘created being’ and what is revealed in the group will be the quality of bestowal, even love between us, and by this we will feel it’s root, which is the Creator.

33. S (01:15:43) Is the quality of the reception also concealed from the Creator?

R. Nothing Is concealed from the Creator. I don't understand. Is the quality of reception concealed in us? Perhaps from a regular person but those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah gradually discover that whatever is revealed is revealed from the upper force.

34. S. (01:16:23) How do you perform the restriction in a ten correctly?

R. When we do not want to use our ego towards each other. It is simple. We just restrict ourselves and every time we want to relate to the friends, we relate to them only with the force of bestowal. We put ourselves under self-control and we relate to them only in connection, only in love. We inwardly relate to them only in love; that is the first connection that has to be accepted in the relationship between us otherwise we will not build a soul, we will not build a place for the revelation of the Creator.

35. S. (01:17:31) Why only after we go through bad states of despair and confusion can we cover crimes with love?

R. If we do not have crimes, we will not have a place for love. Only after we understand what the crimes are, the many troubles and states that we go through in life, only then we can appreciate connection and love. That is how it is in our life and that is also how it is in spirituality. Spirituality is a path of how we get through things. We see in our earthly life that people only start to understand the essence of life in their old age, about what life is and how you should live. It seems to them that they would live life differently if they could go back, but this is not true. They would go back to that same intellect and emotion they had and repeat the same mistakes. That is why we say, ‘there's none as wise as the experienced.’ In spirituality we understand things and we develop; everything remains with us and we profit eternally.

36. S (01:19:32) What is a desire in its pure form without an intention?

R. It is a desire to fulfill itself.

37. S (01:19:43) In the ten there’s a yearning for unity in actions of all the friends that are a bit different. In what is a mutual of yearning for unity expressed, how to obtain it?

S. There should be a connection between us first of all. Between the connection we scrutinize the goal and what the yearning for that goal is, how we can connect ourselves to be in that goal. And then we reach an application.

38. S (01:20:25) What does it mean that there are different levels of concealment?

R. There are 125 degrees that are all degrees of concealment, and upon them Revelation. There cannot be revelation without concealment, and revelation is fulfillment.

39. S (01:20:50) What does it mean that the Creator created us to be receivers on purpose because our reception is a result of His bestowal. Are we corrected in the eyes of the Creator?

R. In the eyes of the Creator, we can’t say because it’s best not to. Our whole wisdom is called the wisdom of Kabbalah, how to receive what the Creator wants us to receive from Him.

40. S (01:21:23) Why is everything so confusing?

R. Because you do not want to realize, that is why it seems to you. Because every time you fall into your will to receive during the lesson you rise a little bit from this will to receive and you grasp these things, and then you fall again. So what you should do very simply is not to fall. Where you are during the lesson in some disposition towards each other you should maintain it and even increase it every day, otherwise it will not happen you will not have a vessel to receive the revelation of the Creator. You can cry out where is the revelation, where is the Creator, everything that is written. What did you prepare for it? You didn't prepare anything. Where is the connection? Tell me that you have a connection where the upper light according to the equivalence of form can clothe. Show it to me. Where is it?

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