Morning Lesson October 30, 2021, Transcription

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

Part 1:

Baal HaSulam – Article Shamati 39 - And They Sewed Fig Leaves

1. Rav’s Introduction: I think that maybe we should simply hear the article in a single flow and then we can read it slowly. You will read it first beautifully how you know how to, from the beginning to the end, all of it, and later I'll be able to somehow explain it. Each one can write down the question he has and later on we will hear the questions.

Reading Article (01:05 - 07:30)

2. R. So pretty much we heard what this is about; how should we hide ourselves from the direct light, since in our will to receive, of course we are drawn to receive it but in such a form we only push it away from us, as we are in the opposite form. Rather we need to take care of ourselves so we will receive the lights in the right way, so that it will be only to bestow. Just as the light comes from the giver, the Creator and then in such a way we will get closer to the source of the light and we will be filled with light. Only in such a way will we be able to exist in spirituality. Let's read together you will be able to ask questions:

There are two kinds of shades 1. One comes from the side of Kedusha, holiness, and the other shade comes due to a sin, from the other side. Thus, there are two kinds of concealments of the light. As the shade conceals the light, the sun in corporeality, so is the concealment from the upper light, called sun which comes from the side of Kedusha, to bestow, mainly because of a choice. Then the lower one makes a shade and by this he advances it. This is as is this written about Moses that Moses hid his face, that is he placed a screen or something so as to not to receive the upper light so he would not reveal the Creator directly and he was afraid to look he was afraid in such a way that he will distance himself from the Creator even more. The shade comes because of fear out of Moses’s fear. And that fear means that one is afraid to receive the abundance. Why? That he may not be able to aim to bestow. This means that first of all we need to make a restriction and have a screen and a reflected light and the calculation of how much am I in contact with the upper light so it will not enter my vessels of reception, and only after that do I enter a negotiation with it, giving and receiving.

The shade fear means that one is afraid to receive the abundance so you may not be able to bestow. It follows that the shade comes because of Kedusha, that he's afraid so he hides himself meaning that one wants to adhere to the Creator. First of all, a screen, a concealment. In other words, Dvekut, adhesion is called bestowal and he is afraid he might not be able to bestow. It turns out that he is adhered to Kedusha and this is called the shade that comes from the side of Kedusha. He hides himself completely and only after that he checks how much am I able to open myself up to the light in order to remain in adhesion, in bestowal, however even greater than the concealment because in the concealment, in the restriction he doesn’t make any action towards the host, towards the Creator being as a guest. He just stops himself from being the receiver but not being the bestower, not being in connection with the Creator. Or in our example with the guest and the host.

Nevertheless, hiding himself is called a shade that comes from the side of Kedusha. First of all, he doesn't want to receive. There is also a shade that comes due to a sin, where it's no longer from the side where a person is guarding himself that he wants to come closer to the Creator to maintain his identification with the Creator but rather due to a sin, thinking about himself. And about himself means he has a corrupted will to receive. It means that the concealment comes to him not because he doesn't want to receive but on the contrary because that one wants to receive in order to receive and that's why the light departs. Since the whole difference between Kedusha and Klipa, shell, the entire difference is that the Kedusha wants to bestow and the Klipa wants only to receive and not to bestow at all. But the reason is that the shade comes from the side of the Klipa, that is that I want to receive and at that moment everything is shut down for me. In the shade, the concealment, but that concealment comes because I am in the will to receive in order to receive, the Klipa, the shell. There is no counsel to exit that state except as it is written; they shall

sew fig leaves and make themselves girdles.

Girdles refers to forces of the body that join in the form of the shade of Kedusha. That means that you can create some sort of a shield, something that will make a shade over me and in that shade I can hide. It could be without pressure without damage from the upper light that is working on my will to receive that I won't receive. It means that although they don't have it right now because the abundance has departed you due to the sin, there is still shame that means that the concealment that I have is in order for me to prepare myself so as to relate to the Creator, in such an attitude to the Creator which is above reason. Only in bestowal not to receive for myself for my will to receive in any form, in any way so I can take it into consideration. This is called by force.

In potential it means that I'm not operating in that way yet but this is how it will be in the future. This is the meaning of the verse; and they heard the voice of the lord, and Adam and his wife hid. Meaning they went into the shade they hid themselves from the upper light. That's the meaning of; and Moses hid his face from the upper light and we also need to do the same. Meaning Adam HaRishon did the same as Moses. The Creator asks the man Adam who hid, where are you? Have you heard what's happening to you? That means not that the Creator doesn't know where the man is, rather by his question he wants him to check himself to know where he is and why. And then Adam said, he answered to the Creator; I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. Naked means stripped from the upper light. Then the Creator asked; what is the reason that you came to the shade, called and I heed. Why are you hiding? It is because I am naked. Is it because of the shade of Kedusha or because of the sin? That means that there needs to be a concealment but why the concealment is there? Either you feel that you are seeing that you have to guard yourself, not to receive in order to receive the revelation, or because you are in Kedusha and you're putting on a screen and concealment in order to start a connection with the Creator. The Creator asked him what happened here, have you eaten from the tree that I have commanded you not to eat? Meaning, is it because of a sin? Is that what you are hiding from me? But when the shade comes because of a sin it is called images, witchcraft and magic, which is that has made him; one opposite of the other, opposite of Kedusha there also will sustain in the Klipa shell. If there are forces in Kedusha to make changes and to … so are there forces on the side of the Sitra Achra.

This is why the righteous don't use these forces, that is to show everyone all kind of things exist above the nature of this world, even though Kabbalists are capable of doing everything, they have higher forces than nature and the physics of this world and from the laws of this world because the spiritual laws are a lot later, they exist above time, place, and movement or that they can do such things that there is no time or movement and place but rather they can do everything above it. But we can never see from a Kabbalist that he engages in such things because by that he will truly lower himself back to corporeality.

This is why the righteous don't use these forces because their one opposite the other as to not to give strength to the Sitra Achra to do as they do. Only on exceptional occasions does the Creator give the Sitra Achra the same force that is in Kedusha, meaning because these two forms, in order to receive and in order to bestow, one opposite the other, you are either in this one or you are in the other one. If a person awakens forces, certain forces in order to bestow within the spiritual force than against that he creates as a copy, as a projection he causes changes in the system of the Klipa, in order to receive and that's why Kabbalists don't do anything where there is something that is above nature. They cannot show it to others because by this they will truly bring the system of the Sitra Achra and also such forces that will strengthen the Sitra Achra and the ego, the other side loves these things. Hence, the girdles that comes from the side of the fig leaves, which is from the sin of the tree of knowledge, these leaves meaning this shade that comes due to the sin, since the cause is not from the side of Kedusha, when they choose to take shade by themselves but they took the shade because they have no other choice, this can work only to exit the state of descent. But afterwards the work must begin anew. And this is what it says in the last paragraph will have to go over this in practice so let's hear a few questions.

3. S. (23:26) What does it mean to be stripped from the upper light?

R. Because he doesn't have screens, he cannot receive in order to bestow and therefore the upper light cannot cloth in his vessel. It's very simple. You need to come out of this depiction that he gave us in this article a little bit. These articles are written in such a historical manner of Adam HaRishon, the serpent, the shade, the sun, all sorts of things but we need to try to bring them to a state where we are, which is to our language, a practical language. Again, what are you asking?

S. What is stripped from the upper light?

R. Meaning without a screen and therefore he cannot receive the light in order to bestow, that's all.

4. S. (25:02) The shade from the upper light does it mean that you already received the screen or are you afraid to lose it so you won't have enough in the future?

R. There Is a state where we hide the upper light where we don’t want to receive it because we don't have the strength to receive it in order to bestow even though we very much want to. And there is a state where the upper light is hidden from us because between us and the upper light there is a screen, it's not something we do, the Creator does it.

5. S. (26:03) A person really wants to be in contact with the Creator, with the light, what does it mean to put the shade on the concealment at the same time?

R. If a person wants to be in contact with the Creator, then he has to realize that he can have contact with the Creator only on the condition that he wants to bestow to the Creator. And to that extent he will discover that the Creator wants to bestow to him, He only wants to bestow to him. And if he's ready and willing to bestow to the Creator then to the same extent they can be in contact, and otherwise they cannot be, otherwise he's in darkness and he needs to make preparation to reach a state where he will be able to bestow. How can it be? He should exert in the group with the friends and prepare himself through mutual bestowal. As it says from the love of people to the love the Creator, and then in such a way through this process we will reach contact with the Creator in the right way.

S. What is this willingness to bestow upon the Creator?

R. It is when I think about the benefit of the Creator more than my own benefit. I cannot measure these things, however I need to try to carry it out in the 10, and when I think that I can relate to the Creator in this way I also relate to Him. And if it works it works and if it doesn't work then apparently, I still haven't reached in order to bestow, even on the first spiritual level.

S. What does it mean to try to realize it in the 10?

R. That we want to bestow to each other as much as possible in order to build a system and network between us which will be entirely in bestowal, and those forces of bestowal will give us a feeling that we exist a little bit above the ground, a little bit above the will to receive. We’re flying in the air. This is what we need to feel. And with that approach it is then possible to turn to the Creator.

S. And what are we asking from the Creator when we turn to Him?

R. That we want to bestow to Him. Yes, talk openly, there is no problem.

S. And does that mean that we are concealing ourselves and bestowing upon Him from within the 10?

R. We are hiding our will to receive our ego, and we are revealing only a desire for connection, a desire to bestow from between us between the friends and to the Creator. It’s as if He is our baby, He’s, our goal.

S. So it turns out I am hiding my ego I don't do not want to receive for myself from the Creator and if for example I want for the friends, is this the right direction, intention?

R. If you are following the friends and you want to incorporate in the goal, in the process that they have determined, then it is good, yes. We need to determine this for all of us with a group agreement that we have to annul ourselves between us, and out of this agreement that we all want to annul only in order to direct ourselves to the Creator. This is how we continue it, extend it, from the group to the Creator. Let's say that we are all brothers in one family, and we have a mother, and we want to turn to her, all of us. We connect between us and we agree between us in which form we're going to do this. We will buy her some present and we come to her. Let's say she has a birthday, or it is the 8th of March, and then before we come to her, we need to connect and to choose the gift and in what form we can approach her and bring it to her. This is how it needs to be towards the Shechina, towards the revelation of the Creator, this is how we can do it. So first there needs to be agreement and connection between us and then we can do it. If we, do it correctly then we reach contact with the Creator and then we feel according to our efforts that this is how we want to do it, even though we discover on the way that we didn't quite succeed, that we still have inside of us all kinds of such elements, such qualities, desires, thoughts that are not quite towards connection. However, we do ask that mother, the Creator will make such a connection between us, and He does it. This is how we reach out of the connection between us to turn to Him so we can connect and adhere to Him. This is the action, the operation.

6. S. (33:35) What are the forces that are called fig leaves and how can we use them?

R. Fig leaves is the force that is hiding the revelation of the Creator that we want so much according to our egoistic will to receive. The Fig leaves are that we don't want to receive this revelation but only in the form that we can work with it as reflected light. We understand that the Creator wants our benefit, however His attitude, which is to our benefit, we don't want to receive it like in Malchut of Ein Sof directly, because that will completely distance us from the Creator. But rather we want to receive it only to bestow, since by that we become bestowers like Him. Otherwise, we will become receivers even more. Imagine to yourself children who grow up in a family and receive everything from their parents, and they're not taught to give back, to hide their egos. I'm not talking about the degrees of the still, vegetative and animate but rather more than that. So, the parents need to see how much they are giving to the children, that the children will have the ability to build themselves as human beings, more and more mature. Otherwise, we see children that are on the ages of 15, etc. and as it says what can you do with children that have turned old. They are still in the will to receive and are not taking upon themselves any form of the will to bestow, meaning they are not human beings. This is what it says that they all seem like beasts. We need to be concerned about the form of Adam, human, that it will grow inside of our children so they will want to be similar to bestowal, similar to the parents, so they will be a little bit above their nature. e need to help them being in that. This is something we need to start from an early age, a very early age. Meaning we need to give them a feeling of what does it mean to go against desire, against reason, meaning against the brain and against the heart. That I think like this, but maybe I should think differently. I want this, but I maybe I should want something which is opposite. That is to perform such exercises for oneself that will help us build a screen, because only following or behind these leaves which out of choice, I choose this shade, then I build myself as similar to the Creator. And by being similar to the Creator, by that I begin to feel the upper light and the next higher reality.

7. S. (37:58) In the 10 how can we help one another to build this shade of Kedusha?

R. It is all done through our work in the morning lessons, with these articles, and when we speak during the day about these articles, these texts. And in this way, in that way, we want to process them, connect to them with more and more understanding, feeling. When I hear all the friends, when I become incorporated in them, how they accept it, how they see it, and I'm not afraid to lose myself in their explanations or in how they relate to it. On the contrary I'm willing to absorb everything, to throw myself into the 10 and be incorporated with all of their views and feelings. Why? Because there in the 10 is the Creator. So, I throw myself in there with my reason and I get in return from there myself above reason, with some spiritual discernments. Where do I get the spiritual discernments? From annulling before the 10. I dwell among my own people, the Creator is inside the 10. As much as they may seem inferior to me, they understand less than I do, they feel less than me, it’s incorrect. It is like Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma annulled before his beginner students because without it he wouldn’t be able to rise each day. It's a spiritual law that the more I annul before the 10, I am one before the 10, then I'm certain to rise to a higher level. They, themselves, each of them can be small and lower than I but I annul before the connection with them, and that connection is higher than me. That is the way to advance. And we therefore have to work during the day on that article, that same article, that same material that we went over in the morning lesson and try to realize it among us.

S. This annulment before the friends helps me to build the screen, to feel the force of bestowal?

R. Repeat please.

S. This annulment before the friends, it enables me to feel, to create this force of bestowal? I use the friends in order to develop the force of bestowal?

R. Yes, of course. If I annul before the friends then I by this I acquire the power of bestowal, yes. Look at the mother towards her children. Does she give to them, how? By annulling before them. For her it comes naturally, for us it comes through our labor. This is why as much as possible we should serve the friends, it is just like serving the Creator.

8. S. (42:35) How to restrict the will to receive if you don't feel any pleasure in the work?

R. I can restrict the will to receive through envy, lust and honor. Envy, lust and honor will take a person out of this world. I envy them, I have my self-respect, I want to show myself as greater, I feel all of it in my ego. Envy, lust and honor are the means by which I can bring myself out, exit myself from the corporeal world and shift myself to the entry into the spiritual world because I want to be great in their eyes. I envy them for being greater than me, I want to feel that I am already in the spiritual world and it seems to me as if they feel spiritual discernments and I'm totally not in it. Where is my respect, who am I, what have I achieved, what have I gained? I work so hard and remain the same? It’s called the fool sits, folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. The more I try to do spiritual actions towards the society, to bestow, to encourage them, to help, by this I bring myself out from the corporeal world to the spiritual world.

9. S. (44:53) What is this force that gives me the possibility to choose or not choose, what is this point of choice, what is happening here?

R. Do you understand what he’s asking?

S. He writes here that the shade might come out of choice or not out of choice so he's asking about that.

R. A shade that comes over a person comes either because a person chooses to be in the shade or he doesn't choose the shade but the shade comes by itself.

S. It says here that you can choose so I'm asking is there a point that I can choose. If everything comes from the Creator, where does that choice come from?

R. The choice comes from the concealment. You have a concealment on you and if you choose the right choice then you continue and then you are in concealment in your choice, and this is regarded as I covered it in his shade and his fruit was sweet to my palette. Meaning the more I’m in concealment, within the concealment I begin to receive the fruits. The fruits grow under the leaves. If there are no leaves the fruit will dry out before it's ripe so it's actually in concealment that we grow. We have to love the concealment. There is a very sweet pleasure, a very special pleasure in a person hiding himself from the Creator because he wants to benefit the Creator. The Creator will not even know that it came from that person. If I love Him, I want him to be happy, not necessarily that He will know that I did it, that all those good things will be done for Him from everyone, and I will be on the side. I will only be the cause of it and He wouldn't even look at me, He won’t know about me. It's a feeling that anyone can understand.

S. The sweetness of concealment you just addressed, is this considered already as an act of bestowal?

R. The sweetness from concealment, that is a good question but I still haven't reason above my will to receive so I will be able to make the right scrutiny over your question, do you understand? I have to be at a certain level above my ego with a restriction, a screen, and then according to that level I can measure what is the right quality of my act. As you say in such a state you can already demand to know exactly, and measure exactly in which form of bestowal I am in. Turn to Him and ask Him. Go with this question, start implementing it, checking it from various sides and you will see what you get in return through your searches, and tomorrow you'll tell us about it.

10. S. (50:12) Then why do we need revelation, revelation of the quality of bestowal?

R. But it's not the end, it's not the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is connection. The revelation of love, embrace, kiss, there are things here that are not bestowal, that are revelations.

S. But the concealment has to be there always.

R. That is some else. If I rise to the intention to bestow then I conceal my will to receive, I invert it to be in order to bestow, and then I reveal my corrected heart.

S. But it is as if all men's work is in concealment not about the revelation. What do these things become revealed?

R. To turn the concealment into a vessel for revealing.

S. OK, so what is revealed and where?

R. It’s revealed in that same vessel. To the extent that Moses hid himself he was rewarded with building from it above his concealment a vessel for the revelation of the Creator. With lessons like right now if we were able to get into them, we will not only come to it quickly but we will also…my purpose is to nevertheless create a foundation, a basis for everyone that wants to advance.

S. How can one even hide himself from the Creator? What is this game?

R. To the extent he wants to hide, he hides. We’re playing with the Creator, the Creator’s playing with us. How do parents play with the children? It's all in order to develop the children.

S. I'm saying from the side of the Creator clearly a person cannot hide from Him, right? What can I hide from the Creator, he sees through my heart?

R. No, that’s obvious. A person needs to work on himself in such a way that he acquires on himself a new form of the Creator each time.

S. What does it mean to hide myself from the Creator?

R. Concealing myself from my real self, my will to receive. A man is one who wants to rise above the evil man, the egoistic man that is present, and to build above it the image of a man who is similar to the Creator.

S. A person hides himself from his ego from his will to receive?

R. Yes yes. If I didn’t have an ego, I wouldn’t hide anything. To the contrary I’d be exposed, open. Soon we will maybe have to go over this article again.

11. S. (53:51) I heard from you that I don't annul before the friends but I’m annulling before the connection with the friends. I don’t quite understand what the difference is.

R. It's a big difference. I measure myself, check myself, tie myself to a connection between all the friends and the center of the group. Before this I annul. What stands before me as an image that I want to reach, that I want to be connected to? Before me is a special group, a united group, connected, that stands in a way that it is preparing itself for the revelation of the Creator. And into this group I want to go and dissolve there, this is what I want, this is my work. And it is written that in truth I'm in connection with a group that is already at the end of correction. But all who fault, fault in their own fault. I see them the way I am according to my corruptions. Therefore, above what I see in my corruptions, I have to rise above it, I need to know how they seem to me in the corruptions. As it is written, a judge has only what his eyes see, but I have to rise above it and sentence them to the side of merit, that they are all corrected, complete, perfect, at the end of correction, in connection, in love, but in each detail that I detect in each of them and in all of them together in the 10, I see my own flaws. I have to correct them one at a time until I see them as complete, as whole, this is our work in the group. To that extent we gradually reveal the wholeness of the group. There is a power there that sustains them, it is a concealed force, and it is the Creator. And in this way, we come to Him, we begin to detect Him, to see Him. He himself even opens Himself up and says come, I have been waiting for you for so many years, where have you been? Until I find this method, this correct direction, it is all in the connection between a person and the group, and the gift is contact with the Creator who is in the group. This is called I dwell among my own people.

12. S. (57:53) It says in the text that they took this shade because they had no other council, what does that mean?

R. I don't know, I don't want to go so deep in there. It is an appropriate question but we have no choice, we have to choose the same path that we now see. That we can advance only above reason. In short.

13. S. (58:41) He writes here that girdles means the forces of the body and they connect in the shade of Kedusha. What are the forces of the body that we can connect to the shade of Kedusha?

R. All kinds of desires. I see that you are going into the details of the article but they are written here only in order to imply our inner forces, how we should be in concealment from within our desire, from within our choice. And then through the concealment we build conditions, we establish conditions by which the fruit of the tree of knowledge will grow.

S. What does it mean when he writes here by mere force above reason. What is this force by which we are able to overcome above reason? It’s only potential, that it didn't have the light?

R. That precisely out of the darkness they come to a state where they can build screens, concealments by themselves. How do we know that we have to conceal ourselves? Because we see gradually, we feel how the Creator hides himself from us. This is why he is called a god who hides, he hides behind every single thing. That what we are seeing in this world is all shadows of the Creator. He hides his light which is present in the concealment. It is what appears to us in all kinds of forms of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking, it is all light. And after we discover these forms of concealment by ourselves being able to establish such desires, such forms of concealment, then the concealments from the Creator disappear and we see that everything is the upper light and there's no image, no shade, nothing, only the endless upper light. In the meantime, among us and between us and the Creator there are all kinds of forms of bestowal, and they are the still, vegetative, animate and speaking, the four degrees of concealment.

S. What is this force? Where does this force come from so that you can go above reason when there is concealment?

R. From the light. When I try with my powers by adhering to the friends, by being willing to annul myself before them I am drawn to the Creator, and by this I create conditions for the upper light to influence me, and in this way, it gradually corrects me and advances me to being like it. It is through our efforts, and the efforts cannot be me toward the Creator because there is no connection, the connection exists only through the 10. This is why it is written either together or death.

S. It means to simply put yourself in the 10?

R. Yes. But not just put yourself in the 10 but you put yourself in the 10 and every day and every moment you put yourself more and more into it, but the Creator has to be the goal. We have to be more vigilant, alert, toward it. I think now the time is coming when we will work on it strongly. We were in a preparatory period and with the articles of Shamati we are going into some sort of machine where the light is beginning to work on us more. I am just asking that during the day any possible moment, go over the article again, the one that we started in the morning lesson even a thousand times, it doesn't matter. We should agree. We have the two friends who provide us with the study material for the lesson and I am dependent on them. Yesterday I got mad at them for not receiving an article for today by noon time, as I like to see it after the morning lesson. I come out of the lesson and I already want to be in tomorrow's lesson because I read it and I turn it this way and that way. Maybe there are words there that I don't understand that I have all kinds of phrases from the sources and sentences that I don't really understand. Until it is clear to me technically. Secondly, when it is clear to me what the article is made of, what parts, each and every paragraph has its own inner content that I have to reveal, so I need to write next to it what it is about, and then the difference between the paragraphs.

Then I begin to follow the intellect of the one who wrote it, Baal HaSulam even though it is processed by Rabash, they are both here. Who do I have and who is closer in this world then spiritual people, only they. In this way I learned how they work, how they think and why they do it this way or that way, by connecting so much to their text that I want to penetrate into it, into Rabash and Baal HaSulam, into the spiritual concept and spirituality that they live in. And this is why I like to receive the article as soon as possible for the next day. Then I process it in this way and I add periods and commas, all kinds of things that are comfortable for me. Maybe it doesn't go along with proper grammar but it is according to how I think it should be. I draw lines under the pieces of a sentence sometimes, I mark or I turn some text into bold. I prepare myself and live in the text during the day and in the morning lesson with you, that I leave for you afterwards a whole day to be with the text and the article, but in the meantime, I am already preparing myself for the next article, and this is how we advance. I really hope that it will yield fruits quickly if you do exactly what I recommend.

14. S. (01:08:32) Because there are many exciting things in this session. That we are scanning through all of the articles, with so many discernments and emotions, and one of the things that is felt is the string that ties between the articles like a narrative. You read this article and remember about the shades...

R. They are all the same articles.

S. We have heard it many times but now...

R. We have the upper force, we have man below it and the connection between them, there are no other topics. There are three topics: the Creator, the created being and the connection between them, that’s it.

S. There's a feeling that we read an article and seemingly all the other articles are inside of it, we can feel them from behind and everything becomes rich. Should we work with it in such a way and make connections with other articles?

R. I don't know if we should. Each one can do what they want but I can't recommend anything because by this I could limit some, and I’m forbidden to do this. A person learns only where his heart desires.

S. The order of the articles is truly, not genius, its godliness, amazing, how did you arrange it?

R. According to my inner feeling, but you know if you do it according to this inner feeling then it's not you are doing it, it is done through your hands. I hope that this is so. Whatever the case may be, if we work on it the way it is now it is the basis, essential, it is the central point of the connection between the upper force and the person. There is no point that is more central, more important or more precious.

15. S. (01:11:19) As the 10, we are going through this scrutiny for a year-and-a-half as we read Rabash articles in our evening meetings, all of the articles that were translated to Russian. and now we are scrutinizing what to do next. When Shamati started, of course, it grabbed hold of us and there is a desire to shift to Shamati now, but it turns out that leaving Rabash is also something we don’t want to do so we have some disagreement on this – what do you recommend?

R. I recommend going along with us and studying the articles of Shamati the way we are now and at the same time, in parallel, to work on the lesson meaning the Shamati articles we're doing now, and out of this you create a composition afterwards, a process out of the questions and answers of everything that we are saying so that out of every article you have a complete box. And afterwards, it will be a good preparation for the people who will come after us. We have to also think about that.

S. Can you give a recommendation about the processing of the article as a 10?

R. Each one to do what is comfortable for him. We will study maybe like in university where you’re used to working with text. So afterwards, during the day, we can take someone and he will read the way he does it and the rest will listen to what he did with the article – what we should add, etc. and we will work on the whole text this way. The articles are not that long, right now we are working on short articles, we’re not even going according to order; afterwards, we will divide the longer articles as there are only a few and go over them in pieces, in parts. So, I recommend that during the day you work on the articles that we learn in the morning and prepare them as completely as possible to be published, even, even printed because I’ll tell you, what you are learning now, by what you are learning now you are creating a basis, a central point of all of the knowledge, all of man's connection with the upper Force; and, therefore if we can present it in a simpler, closer way to all of humanity, it will be a beautiful place for everyone to enter because in the end, everyone must know it. “They shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them,” as it is written. Try to work on it during the day. This is certain to give your personal and group advancement.

16. S. (01:15:21) When in concealment from the part of the Sitra Achra, the other side, what is the difference between that and the concealment of holiness?

R. The Sitra Achra, the other side does not want concealment, it wants everything to be revealed and to devour everything and so because the Creator wants equivalence of form, that is, that the created being will achieve this equivalent and not oppositeness as this brings darkness, equivalence of form brings light, eternity, wholeness. So, we have to try to identify with the force of bestowal.

S. How does a person conceal himself from the other side or work against it?

R. I have to be aligned in a direction aimed at the Creator so everything that belongs to identifying with Him, being closer to Him, I accept and I follow it, I do that and anything I see as opposite, I do not touch, I stay away. There is no choice even though I dislike it but, bit by bit, I feel that I must come closer to the friends – which is completely not in my character, right? I am talking about each and every one but certainly me. I am a person who can live alone in the woods my entire life and not even look at anyone. We have to slowly develop a vessel that will be ready for and compatible for the revelation of the Creator. Perhaps I don't understand your question, repeat.

S. This is the question: I need to choose to work for the 10, meaning I conceal my will to receive for the 10, is that correct, that is the meaning of working in concealment like Moses did?

R. Yes, like Adam HaRishon, who discovered that he has a will to receive and therefore he concealed it.

S. A lot of times you say that we need to work with these Shamati articles – to print it and to write on it – but I feel difficulty to write on something so huge. What criteria can we use to do this work?

R. Make a summary, from each article make a summary, not a long one come one, let's say 5 or 10 lines, that is very important. What do I come away with out of the article? There are some things here about Adam HaRishon, the Sitra Achra, the leaves, the trees, perhaps the Serpent', whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I want to know what it has to do with me? How do I translate all of these discernments, all of these findings of the article, how do I translate them to the close and important things for me, that’s it.

S. Many times I saw that you opened the book and you wrote between the lines of the book. Is this what you’re calling a summary? Is this something you felt a need to write in a different way than the writer did?

R. Also rewriting it differently because I look at how he wrote and to me it's a very high language – some of the words I don’t even understand, some sentences are taken from the Torah, from a source that I, maybe, read before but barely heard – so first I want to bring the text closer to me, to make it clear to me what it says in a simple way. In a language that I know in a communication that I can receive and so I take the text and I try to slightly change it, slightly modifying just to make it clearer and closer to me. Then I can connect with the text some more and start to somehow follow it, realize it, that’s very important: by that we come closer to the author, Baal HaSulam, Rabash.

Besides the articles of Shamati, you don't have something that belongs to the spiritual work. That is why Rabash gave me the notebook. He knew that after he departs that I will publicize it because that’s my nature – not to keep anything. But he didn't want to do it in his name, that he is giving it. If he is already out of this world then it can go out, and that is why I did it. No one knew about these articles, none of his students knew. He gave me this in 1984, I believe, and until he passed away no one knew. And when he passed away and I sat and thought ‘what will I do with this treasure that I am holding? These things are so profound and unique and so directing a person towards the goal, even though it's not for everyone?’ Then I realized that Rabash knew my nature, that I am completely directed at dissemination and the global correction, and that's why he gave it to me and I printed it out. Then I made a copy of all of these Shamati articles and gave to all of the students of Rabash, who, in the meantime, scattered in many directions. I didn't keep to myself any source, I gave all of the sources I receive for everyone to copy so that everyone knows what came from Baal HaSulam and Rabash, and not that I am printing, or writing it and that people are studying from there, no. I want them to receive the sources and I am just passing it through.

17. S. (01:25:00) It is worth stating that we got about 100 questions from the women during the lesson.

R. Oh, I’m happy to hear that!

S. Yeah, they’re constantly sending questions. You answered a lot of them. What is the difference between the shadow of the other side and the shadow of a sin. What is preferable to both?

R. The shade of Kedusha is done by man, the shame because of the sin, happens by the Creator, ‘he who protects himself from Him,’ it’s like the man wants to come and grab a hold of something of the Creator, so before the person stretches his hand to take from the Creator, the Creator hides, He goes into the shade.

18. S. (01:26:04) Is the concealment, or the shadow the person is doing on the quality of bestowal, itself, or on the result of it?

R. Both this and that.

19. S. (01:26:19) Is building the concealment the work of man or the Creator?

R. Building the concealment is on the person but the Creator participates in different ways. It is just that the person has to be prepared to create the concealment – to the extent that a person begins to feel that his ego is not himself but rather he was given that from the Creator – it is an alien, additional force like a cancer in the person, consuming the person to the extent that a person who wants to get rid of his ego – to rise above and not identify with it, to that extent he receives the assistance from above. And how can we discover our ego in different forms? By being in connection with the friends, then I see what prevents me from being connected to them in all of my mind and heart because what prevents me is already certainly my ego.

20. S. (01:27:34) Can we build a shadow of Holiness without starting with the sin?

R. How will I build a shade of Kedusha? I build it from the shade of my ego, to the extent that I concealed my ego, to that extent I build the shade for Kedusha because then with the shade over my ego, I can reveal the ego I can reveal the Creator, like as if on a screen, the separating screen between the good attitude of the Creator and my bad will to receive – if I make a screen, on the screen I can discover the good attitude of the Creator, and this is called the revelation of the upper world.

21. S. (01:28:30) What does it mean that ‘the shade comes from the fear’?

R. That, by the group, by my work, I reached a state where I am afraid of activating my egoistic forces; and so, I try to only activate vessels of bestowal for the benefit of others. And the vessels in which I love myself, to conceal them. The vessel is where I want to connect with others, I reveal them. In such a way when we connect to each other in such a way then we gradually help each other, this is called ‘one shall help his friend.’ And this is how we reach corrections.

22. S. (01:29:45) Are we correcting or concealing the will to receive?

R. By concealing the will to receive we are correcting it. en the light doesn't come to it, it corrects it by that. Our will to receive is a great force and we need that force. Except that we don't want it to be in order to receive, to be for my own benefit, but if it works for the sake of others, for the sake of the Creator, all the more so. By that, we can truly be successful.

23. S. (01:30:34) In that same state of the restriction a person is not in adhesion with the Creator?

R. In a state of restriction a person does not know that he is in contact with the Creator. We are always in contact with the Creator. However, is it conscious or not? A baby who is in his mother's womb, is in contact with the mother? A hundred percent. But we are talking about consciousness of that contact. Does he have that? No. That’s what it is about. We have to reach a stage where we are as great as possible, and yet feel that we are in the Creator's womb but we are the greatest we can be. The Creator encompasses us and holds us, and governs us, and we understand and feel, and respond to it a hundred percent. These two systems, His system and our system are really similar in action and force. Then, we connect the two, the will to receive that works in order to bestow.

24. S. (01:31:58) Can we say that the shadow is a state where a person uses everything that he got from the Creator in order to bestow to the others without criticizing his state?

R. So how does he feel the shade and what kind of shade? No. He has to inspect. I just don't know what he means by that inspection. I want to know my state and how. From my state I come to bestowal through all of the created beings of the world to the Creator. Because the world exists as a concealment before me. If I relate to all beings of the world in a manner of love and connection, I would see the Creator standing behind them and I would cling to Him. However, because I am still an egoist and I relate to people egotistically, I do not see the Creator behind them. That is why we were given a group, so that at least behind the group I can't begin to reveal the Creator. If I nullify myself towards the friends, connect to them as much as possible, and nullify before them, then I discover that behind them stands the Creator and He shapes these forms of the friends in front of me. These friends, they don't actually exist. It is the Creator who shaped these characters in front of me, so they appear to me according to my character. If I nullify my ego towards these friends, these characters that I now see in front of me, then I enter contact with the Creator. That is why each and every one has different characters in front of him. The same people, we think about them in a different way, about who they are, each and every one, but that is the work.

25. S. (01:34:32) Is concealment and annulment the same thing?

R. I wouldn't say it is the same thing. Concealment is that I feel something is concealed. How can you feel something is concealed? When I already feel in the concealment something that should be revealed, but in the meantime, it is concealed. I identify something. If I don't identify anything, I don't say something is concealed and that there is any concealment, over what? The concealment is the state that connects me to what is concealed. Meaning, through the concealment we learn how to achieve what is concealed, and how to begin to gradually reveal it.

26. S. (01:35:50) It is written about Moses that he shut his eyes and didn't want to see the revelation of the Creator?
R. That is exactly what we need to do, yes. We don't want the revelation, we prefer the concealment until we have the vessels to reveal the Creator in a way that is above the concealment.

27. S. (01:35:57) We are not searching for a revelation of the Creator?

R. We seek revelation of the Creator, but through the concealment. That is, to the extent that we are like Him so we won't take the revelation in order to receive as our own pleasure, but in order to bestow. By that we get to know the essence of the Creator and not enjoy His service. When I look at the greater one, I can enjoy what He can do for me. But more than that, I can enjoy learning from Him what He is doing and then doing actions like His. That is what the Creator wants us to achieve. To the extent that we wish to make actions like His, He is helping us. Then, we discover Him as fulfilling His role, and becoming revealed in us, but already in a way that we can build between Him and us. This means that with my reflected light of the Partzuf [face] I build a relation to the Creator, and through that reflected light I receive Him. Each time, of course, I discover a new Creator in that revelation, according to my reflected light.

28. S. (01:37:30) How does the shade help us to come out of a descent?

R. The shade helps because I have no choice, and I want to come out of darkness. Afterwards, when I begin to come out, I then make a calculation of what am I exiting and what am I attaining. Am I attaining something tangible or just getting rid of some not so pleasant feeling. Then, I come to a state where, what am then drawn to, what am I doing? Then, I try to aim myself at other goals, not just to come out of concealment, but to discover a new essence. But discovering a new essence is possible only on the condition that I make myself a state similar to it, that can reveal it. Let's say, I am a 5-year-old and I want to understand what a 10-year-old is being told. I have to reach the state of being a 10-year-old in order to grasp that, so then I begin to work on myself. If we want to discover something of spirituality, we have to change. Spirituality is constant, it is a constant state that is all around us and we exist within it, within the upper light. To the extent that we come closer to this upper light, to the extent that we try to be in order to bestow as it is in different ways, to that extent we discover different shapes of it until they all somewhat connect to some extent, to some level. Then, they bring about the image of the revelation of the Creator.

29. S. (01:40:19) When I approach the text, I feel heaviness, a rejection from working on it. Why is it, and how to work with it?

R. First of all, I think that you can turn to each other, those who understand it, those who are doing it. There are many people who know how to read the text correctly, that is one. Second, when I work with a text, first there is no choice, this text is very mixed with words from the Torah and from the spiritual work, perhaps from life and so on. We have to try to bring it to a single level, so that I can read the words. It is about fig leaves, figs, and the sin of Adam HaRishon, and faith above reason, and all kinds of forms of concealment and revelation, and the Creator speaks to Adam HaRishon - where are you, and so on. I have to bring all of that into some single level, so that I am talking about the will to receive here, and this will to receive has to undergo corrections, changes. That is how I need to work with it. Try to rearrange these texts in a way that makes it clear, what is written becomes clear. Perhaps divide some long sentences to a few short ones, separate the text to some groups, some paragraphs that are smaller, perhaps, and so on. It is not a problem of how much you are going to understand ultimately, but the work of wanting to connect to the source makes the action happen, even if you don't understand a thing.

30. WSQ: R. (01:47:05) What is the difference between the shade of Kedusha [holiness] and the shade of Sitra Achra [other side]? What is the difference between these two shades?

31. S. (01:59:21) What does it mean from the article and what should we do, that ‘they made the leaves of fig? This ‘sewing of the leaves,’ what is the action?

R. It's not that the person does it, it's that the Creator does it. That He made a concealment, that they will be concealed until they find the true screen, and then they can reveal themselves without the shame. The fig leaf is just in order to conceal the ego, as if it helps them.

S. And ‘the sewing’?

R. The ‘sewing,’ itself, we need to understand what that means. I can't get into this now because he explains what ‘the needle’ is and how it is sown, it’s a problem and also ‘the leaves,’ themselves, why are they ‘fig leaves’? We don't need to know this, we just need to know the things that belong to us, because in every story you have a lot more details that we don't know yet. So don't be too wise, ask about what is important for you.

32. S. (02:01:11) If possible, I would like to ask about the workshop: we went through this material and then the workshop began and many are feeling a block. Does this mean that we didn't integrate with the process officially?

R. I don't know why are you in a state that you don't know what to do? First of all, before you there’s an article and you see in the article what is not clear to you, yet. But not like the other student just asked – what is it that they are sewing or who’s sewing, from the fig leaves, that’s not to the point. We spoke about something: how does a person make himself resemble the Creator? That is the whole article, and in every article that is what they are aiming us for, how do we reach identification with the Creator. This is what we need to know.

S. The question was: when we are discussing these materials, how to include everyone in the discussion so there is no pressure, on the one hand and on the other hand, that everyone participates?

R. Right, so try it, try to just even speak about it, you are a group. How do we try to implement something in the article, in the connection between us; how can we connect between us in a way that we are coming close to this term called Creator, ‘come and see’? What does that term demand of us – that we will have such a connection that He can be revealed in us. What does he want from us? He wants us to connect more: emotional, heartful, in action. What are we lacking from our corporeal actions, from inner, heartful actions, in our mind, what are we lacking to make that inner connection between us that in such a way the Creator will be revealed, and then we, by us, can start reviewing the upper light in our vessel – that we will be looking in this like a TV screen – to begin to discover the upper world, the upper Force working, what it wants from us and what we want from it, that we will reveal all of the relationships between us in the correct way.

33. S. (02:04:35) You said the restriction is a result of envy, lust and honor. Can you explain that more and the state that comes right after that?

R. To the extent that we feel ourselves opposite from the Creator, from the purpose of creation, from what we need to be, from that Force working in the spiritual reality – not the corporeal reality but spiritual reality – if we want to reach the spiritual reality we need to be in some kind of identification with that Force, to identify with it. And then, we need, according to that, to see what we need in order to be in that identification, somewhat. We need to be connected, that is for certain, in spirituality it is one and let’s say we are 10 so what can we make of ourselves from 10 to be one? Obviously, this is not our bodies, it’s not our corporeal qualities that don't belong to spirituality, but what is in us that we can from this be connected and resemble spirituality? We have the tendency to connect between us and connection with the Creator, nothing but that. We cannot change any quality only the connections between us and the Creator. And then we will see that as much as we’re different, it all works out –it’s like the socket and the plug that enters one with the other – and that we become close and tight together, to one another. No one needs to change himself but everyone has to see where he suits the connection with the other and not that I am correcting myself, as it is written, ‘if you want to break a certain quality, you get two of them.’ Nothing, you won't ever correct anything on your own, I can't correct myself and I don't need to correct myself, just like the Creator created me, good.

I just like to add, listen this is very important, in order to direct ourselves correctly towards the correction of creation, I need to direct myself to connection and what I am in, as much as I am in certain qualities, I don't need to correct them, I just want to try and connect to friends until we connect between us, that’s it. And then we will find, for certain, that the Creator will help us to be in contact between us, and that I will understand what I am lacking, that the friends fill it and more deficiencies, and more friends fill them until we become a complete vessel. That’s what we need, meaning there’s nothing here we need to break, or correct in all kinds of rough ways, no. What is in each and every one is good, and there was a shattering and that is good and by the shattering, we are all integrated with everyone, that is good. What we need, now, is to try and connect between us, and see where we are not able to and to ask the Creator to connect between us. That for certain we are not able to and we are not suited for it, and the more that we advance so even more we will feel opposite we are and we will even want to kill each other but there is always a reason to turn to the Creator to correct us. It turns out that between us, between everybody, the Creator has to get in there and when the Creator gets in there between us, everything works out. And then it turns out that between all of the friends is the Creator and He is actually the one organizing that connection and connecting between us and filling all of these places. Meaning all of the negative states between us, and all of these flaws between us because He did it on purpose. That we will want to bring Him there because by filling these areas, these qualities, by this we connect and reveal Him. We need to reveal Him only from a lack of ability to connect between us and then that is what we want.

34. S. (02:10:35) We gathered from all around Romania in one place and we received help from friends from Israel. They flew from Israel, here, from Zafron 1 and 2, PT 22.

R. Friends from Israel came to you?

S. 4 people

R. Well, keep going.

S. Is it okay that we receive help from groups in Israel to help us to unite to be stronger?

R. Why not, of course it is okay. Always, me too, when I go on vacation, I try to meet with the groups in the place where I am if it's possible because of the pandemic. Right, that is what we do. it is very nice that people can fly and speak and go to all kinds of connections. We are used to being more connected virtually, already, but I am all for a physical connection as we cannot erase it. Our world is still a corporeal world and we need to use it.

35. S. (02:12:45) You answered the question before saying that we need to limit ourselves from using egoistic forces, but at the same time, we also learn that we need to use any force if we do it with the right intention. How to combine these two states for the benefit of the group and the friends?

R. That is a lot of work that we are constantly learning how to work with our ego more correctly, in order to organize it to be a vessel worthy of revealing the Creator. It is as if we are always learning how to turn the quality of reception into the quality of bestowal. It is as if it completely is not suitable, that we sometimes see it in kids, that they want to take one thing and put it in another thing but it doesn’t fit. And he wants to go in but it doesn't belong in there. But we need from these states that we see, to learn that we don't need to constantly be under pressure but to understand why it doesn't get in there. Each spiritual action has to happen easily to be implemented easily and if not, there is something that disturbs our ego, we need to see how we can recognize the ego and how we can get it out of there, and it will all work out, that’s it. We will scrutinize in such a way and then we can see how we really get art from this.

36. S. (02:15:31) According to what you said, it turns out that the more we try to clarify, then we are digging into ourselves, and then there seems to be a contradiction. Do we need to dig into ourselves, or we just have to do everything for the sake of the group, so it ends up coming to a dead end?

R. You don't each need to pick on the others or on themselves, but only to think of the connection, which actions can I do in order to connect, that is it, only to connect.

37. S. (02:16:29) What is shade of Kedusha [holiness] and shade Sitra Achra [other side] to begin with? How to express it in an understandable way?

R. The shade of the Sitra Achra [other side] is the concealment the Creator is putting on you, or you can say you're putting it on you because of your egoistic desire, that is it. That they are not letting you come close to the Creator. The shade of holiness is that you are bringing the shade, by that shade you are revealing the Creator, specifically revealing holiness.

S. As a result of these two shades something new should be built?

R. It is exactly what is written. There is a shade of the other side. By receiving that shade, you start attaining that it came from the other side. Then, that is why you are learning from this what to do, so that in the future you will not get these things, you will not enter such states.

S. But it is possible to attain something new?

R. Yes. The study is very precious.

38. S. (02:18:01) In order to hide the will to receive, to restrict it, to come to restriction, we have to first feel the pleasure of bestowal. What are we lacking to feel the pleasure of bestowal?

R. We are lacking to appreciate the quality of bestowal. Then, I can feel that the quality of bestowal dwells in all of reality, and the whole world. To the extent that I am also in bestowal, and somewhat, I receive that feeling that fills the entire reality, which is the Creator, and by that I enjoy. In order to enjoy bestowal, you have to be yourself in the quality of bestowal and to that extent, you will reveal the bestowal and enjoy it because His glory fills all the world. We just need the right vessels, the vessels of bestowal.

S. How can we develop it?

R. That is why we have the wisdom of Kabbalah. How come we receive the Creator, the revelation of the Creator, the quality of bestowal that dwells in all of reality.

39. S. (02:19:39) What is faith in spiritual work? Is it emotional or intellectual?

R. First of all, there is no intellectual in spirituality. In spirituality there is only the quality of bestowal. It is only emotion, feeling. The mind can come before in calculating something, even though it's not so important.

40. S. (02:20:15) How do we move from the shade of Sitra Achra [other side] to the shade of

Kedusha [holiness]?

R. We can't right away. To do it, only by a means called ‘the upper light.’ We can't invite the upper light when we are still in the forces of reception. This is why if we annul ourselves towards the ten, by adhering to the ten, we are drawing upon ourselves the upper light and it organizes us.

41. S. (02:21:18) How to use the concealment in our ten?

R. We are using the concealment in order to upon it find the revelation. Because what we, the created beings, can attain is the advantage of light through darkness. The darkness must remain as the foundation, as the posterior of the light, and then we can reveal the light.

42. S. (02:22:03) When we want to connect, many times a friend doesn't connect to the Zoom or something, because he has a state that he considers a necessity. I discovered that I don't have sharp enough discernments when it is a necessity and when it is not, to see if I should restrict it or not. Can you clarify?

R. Just try and connect in the group as much as possible, to push in between them, and then from that you will get the discernments that you are lacking.

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