Morning Lesson February 17, 2023 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 2:
Zohar for All. "Introduction of The Book of Zohar". The Twelfth Commandment. #245
Reading 12th Mitzvah 245 “To bring the 1st fruit of the tree…”
1. S. (04:52) In a society where all the members keep this rule of giving as much as they can and taking only what they need will there be a need for tithing there?
R. There we do not need to divide anything according to the tithing because each one receives according to what he needs and he gives as much as he needs. That is how I understood you. Read it again the 12th commandment.
Reading again the 12th Commandment (05:15)
2. R. (09:38) Not much is understood from that but nevertheless there is much more we need to learn and to add. It’s a big part of the Torah and the Talmud where they explain what is exactly tithing, what is the first fruit, how to divide the Harvest and the tithing, it is not a simple matter. I don't think that it has to do with agriculture, someone who works in the land, the farmer. Rather it belongs to each and every person where his entire life in this world is compared to working the field and how he relates to everything around him as going out into the field and how he takes and gathers and sells. How can he remain after all the actions in his calculations, how can he remain clean and pure without stealing or about this transgression or anything like that, but rather he knows that he relates to these things truthfully. It is not simple.
3. S. (11:38) How do we deal with these commandments that we are now studying until we are in their grasp?
R. Continue living your life comfortably and study, then you will begin to understand how to look at life, how to relate to life and then you will get deeper and deeper into the study.
4. S. (12:30) What does it mean that everything that is good for me is forbidden to eat. Why is it forbidden to do this? In the second point it is written that everything is good for me. To you it is forbidden to eat. It talks about the fruit. Why does he use this form to speak, why is it forbidden?
R. Here we can think that the dividing who owes tithing and who doesn't has to do with is it to my benefit or not what I've earned from my harvest, but it is not so. It has to do with all the work and all the harvest and every and all the remedies that we receive.
S. I would like to repeat the question. In the writing it speaks about the fruit and he says everything is good for me, it's right for me, the first fruit you cannot eat it, why is he using this form of talking?
R. Because if it is worthy, suitable for the Creator, the person has to make a restriction on it and refrain from using it, okay?
5. S. (14:59) Is the concept of the first fruit and the concept of asking the friend what you love, are these two related to one another?
R. We will check. Relative to whom are we checking the first fruit. The question is correct.
6. S. (15:58) It says here I have given to you, to you not to the generations that will follow you. What does that mean?
R. We need to realize it in our generation. Meaning in the relationship between us and not pass it to the next stage.
S. There is a sentence which is like a riddle here. It says that there are two commandments but the printer divided them into two and he cut them in the middle. And left the verse about the first fruit in the 11th commandment. What does it mean he cut them in the middle? There’s a secret here, hidden? That’s a feeling that he left it there in the 11th commandment there. He divided the first fruit?
R. I can't explain it. You have to turn to the one who did it.
7. S. (17:34) Thank you for the opportunity for asking and may you be healthy. Two things: one is why is he speaking in the plural form when he says for you, when this commandment seems to be personable, personal for a single person?
R. I do not understand.
S. The first question is, why does he speak in the plural form, talking about you, your Mitzvah, when it seems to be a personal Mitzvah for a single person.
R. Yes.
S. So why does he say in the plural form that he gave you?
R. No, I guess it belongs to you. There are commandments that are written for you individually and for you collectively. Just take it the way it is. Why are you getting into such scrutinies that the text doesn't even interpret?
S. Since the mechanism of a question is a very important communication tool with other people in the tens and with the Creator when we ask questions. So can I relate to the question as MAN, as in raising MAN?
R. No, it is not raising MAN.
8. S. (19:29) Ultimately one's come to the conclusion that everything comes from the Creator that all the thoughts everything that you gain in general everything of this world so why did the creator make this circle that I have to give him back tithing.
R. So we would all connect again as one man and one heart with one body, one person and everything will be one. To understand that only in this way we need to live, and in truth, egoistic desires will continue to rise in us and separate us and we will feel more apart and that is actually the correction. When we become separate particles of the general desire and each one will be against the others, although he would be made of all the parts just like everyone else, but nevertheless we will have to work on coming closer about ourselves the complete and absolute correction, connection
S. So how do I discover in myself any egoistic desire, as I say, what do I need to distinguish here in order to connect with my friends and the Creator?
R. Only your ‘I’. Only the ‘I’ first of all if it doesn't exist, then little by little to take it into account and build this nearing above it.
S. Yes I do with all my thoughts and all my actions about the self I have to cut it out off to sever it?
R. Yes, yes.
9. S. (22:07) The tithing is the tenth part of the desire, this tenth part of the desire, how is that related to my intention, what's the connection to the intention, doesn't an intention have a tithe?
R. The intention or the desire are actually almost the same, we don't distinguish between them much according to my intention, that's how I'm using my desire.
10. S. (22:54) Does the Creator give me as a whole, fully in the beginning and then enables up to me to open the door to bestow with a tithe?
R. Of course, yes.
11. S. (23:32) What desires in us belong to what degree I'm in, the living degree, the animate degree, does that depend on the lights we draw?
R. it's not mandatory but later we'll have to scrutinize and sort out these things.
12. S. (24:08) What's the difference between the tithe and charity?
R. Tithing is something that you owe the Creator, that's how the system of connection is built between the souls, and charity is something you don't owe, it's a personal decision you make, hence you have to decide how much and to whom you can give charity.
13. S. (24:57) Is there a specific time to pay the tithing like every month or every year, or when one receives the money, and is there a difference regarding the tithing between men and women?
R. What I receive money, I should immediately pay the tithing or separate the tenth part of it and pass it to whomever I need to pass it to, is there a difference between men and women, there's no difference between men and women in paying the tithing.
14. S. (26:18) The questions that had about men and women, I remember in the past you said that only thieves and whores don't pay the tithing why is that so?
R. Because they are dealing with money they have no intention in order to bestow, that is it.
15. S. (27:28) Here there was an emphasis on the first fruit and about the tithing, it's clear, but what about the first fruit, what is that?
R. The first fruit, that's how it's described because you can see what the Creator is giving you, relative to those efforts that you're investing. Therefore, you need to bless the first fruit or those who are born first, there are special blessings that you have to make, the sprouts, the first fruit, the elder children and so on and so forth.
S. So this means that this is something that you did for the first time?
R. Yes we will learn it and it will come.
S. Speaking about the spiritual part of the work?
R. The spiritual part of the work, you have to pay attention that you're starting a new spiritual degree it's very important.
16. S. (29:42) Could you give us advice, would it be better to keep the Mitzvot externally or not?
R. We're not talking about that, we're talking about keeping it inside the desire, how can we determine our desires, test them and differentiate them and sort them out and what kind of desires are they who are they aimed at, for what and so on and so forth and then decide what to do with them, that is the most important thing to do for us.
17. S. (30:41) How to arrange the tithing when a man is married without causing problems, do you have any advice for dealing with corporeal spouses?
R. One has to work on himself, on the connection with his wife so she will agree, so she will even help you out, to scrutinize the tithing and pay it, it's not simple it’s on the condition that you are together in one vessel, if you are working and your wife is working she can say I don't want to pay anything from my vessel of my tenth part and then you can't do it forcefully. So you make your own calculation separately from hers and she can make her own calculation, that's it.
18. S. (32:40) “The first fruit of the tree are for the Creator”, what actions does that relate to in the ten?
R. We didn't learn about it, yet, I think it's not for today: imagine that you connect together into one vessel, that you gather everything together, let's say into one purse. Now together you decide what to do with this amount, that's it, it's all common for all of you, you're common tithing, it's not that it's all common to you. Rather the tenth part is common to you, it belongs to the ten and to those who work in the group in the ten.
19. S. (34:11) It say, “I have given to you and not to the generations that come after you”, the question is when a generation sins, is that a greater sin of the sins of the generations that follow?
R. There are already in a sin relative to the previous generation, yes, that's already something else. Slowly and gradually we will come to a state where we see this world through this entire network that the Torah brings us, we will have a different view of ourselves, of people and connections between them, on everything.
20. S. (35:23) About paying the tithing, about the fact that a person hurts his own advancement if he doesn't pay, what about a person hurting his ten if he doesn't pay?
R. If he's not paying then he harms the ten and he's not together with them in one network, he cannot finalize his actions together with them, they simply don't belong together and that's it; you have to arrange these things and take care of them.
21. S. (36:26) In the ten what is the tithing, a place, is it like a vessel?
R. The tithing or the tenth part in the ten is the spiritual vessel.
22. S. (36:54) From action, from a practical aspect, when he gets a salary once or twice a month, it’s clear that he pays once or twice, but if a person is an entrepreneur, so he gets money at different times, is it right to pay every day, tithing?
R. It's inconvenient but maybe yes, maybe it's better.
S. My question comes from an attempt to understand how much is this adapted to the spiritual rules, is it harmonic with the Creator; for instance in the end of the evening, to remain clean and have to set aside the tenth part. I remember you said about Baal HaSulam or maybe one of his students, he was giving everything and left with nothing.
R. That's something completely different, but a person needs to understand it's not so simple today, the world is such the person needs to know how to carry themselves with income and expenses and the tithing.
S. If I'm a businessman and today I got received cash so I can set aside today the tithing and to sleep calm?
R. Of course you can, with a peaceful heart, you can put it aside in your office or in your bedroom, in a chest or a safe and just put away your tithing there.
23. S. (39:15) You are talking about the importance of education, the education systems in Israel are very complicated, it's hard to do it right. What's the importance of educating older people and how can we as Kabbalah L’am, how can we intensify our education out in the world?
R. This is not a question to me at all, you have to turn to the heads of our dissemination.
S. But what should we evoke in that people about education?
R. There are many subtleties to that, maybe it's not worthwhile to awaken certain things that you think are important in order to not create a repulsion in the people, there are all kinds of attitudes.
24. S. (41:01) It says in the verse, “it is for you to eat”, “to you” it is Adam HaRishon, how could Adam HaRishon eat and the Zohar says “it's not for the generations after you”, meaning Adam HaRishon used to eat the tithing and the next generation, what's the difference between Adam and the next generations?
R. I don't know, I don’t know, I didn't learn it, I didn't read it, I wasn't interested in that, and I can't answer you.
25. S. (41:51) Will it be correct to relate to the tithing as a part of the Creator, and He gives me ten percent more than what I need to actually receive; meaning it was His part in the beginning now we're returning it to Him?
R. I didn't get it?
S. Practically I'm being paid more, I'm supposed to receive less and this ten percent I receive is the Creator’s part, it's not mine, is that correct, can I relate to it this way?
R. Yes but it's not about receiving this part or that part and you simply give the other part, the tithing to someone.
S. But I can relate to it in advance, I’m going to get my salary and ten percent of it is not mine.
R. That is correct.
S. What's the right way to relate to this payment, that I'm happy because maybe I don't need it and there's money for dissemination. or now I'm cutting off a part of me?
R. it's not yours from the beginning, it's written in the Torah, it's not yours
26. S. (43:11) It says here, “the food is the scrutiny of the sparks of Kedusha from the Klipot, from the shells, and by eating you scrutinize and you connect to the soul of man:, the question is how is that define the high spiritual root of a meal?
R. If everyone thinks this way then by that you raise the degree of the meal to the degree of the correction of those sparks, that's it.
27. S. (44:00) Our goal is to attain the first spiritual fruit, how can we focus our intention?
R. To concentrate our intention we can do it if we have one vessel and one goal, and one effort, we all feel that we belong together. And then in all those efforts we will connect more and more until we feel that we are making one single effort and we come to an action, and in this action we will discover the sparks of connection and love, and that's how we sanctify ourselves.
28. S. (45:18) How can I relate to the feeling of shame in the right way when we feel that a person invests all of his strength, everything you give to us in order to pass on this wisdom to us, I feel truly small compared to all your investment, it's much more than the tithing.
R. So what's the question?
S. She's asking how to cope with the feeling of shame when everything we get from you, when you invest so much of yourself, we feel you're giving so much it's much more than paying the tenth part.
R. Well, I don't know how to answer you, each one tries as best as they can to give to the group and through the group to the Creator that's how he sees his contribution to the general system of the souls. I truly hope that we come to a state where all of our contribution from everyone from all the desires and all the souls, it will reach such dimensions that the Creator would want it to be clothed in it and that, and that reflected light, and we will come to the correct vessel for Him as ‘one man in one heart’.
29. S. (47:46) I simply couldn’t understand why we only give ten percent to the Creator and not more?
R. He doesn't need any more, His entire system is built on the fact that the Malchut is the tenth part. He doesn't demand anything for Himself. In order to perform a true act of bestowal, we need to give away only a tenth of what we receive and that we can receive the remaining ninety percent, rather the remaining ninety percent we receive in order to bestow, and that is something else, so that for ourselves we have nothing.
30. S. (49:10) How with new friends that just entered the group maybe a year or so, how can they make the right calculation in order to start doing this action, should it be a process, am I supposed to understand what am I doing this for and then we can go through a process together?
R. Make such a beautiful box or chest, what do you call it, a collection box, a safe of sorts, and collect everything there every month according to the calculations that you made that you need to put aside. And use this money for the ten, for the benefit of the group, whatever, however you decide, it's all yours, this is something that people will always put aside for the Temple, the new Temple is the group, that's it.
S. For us in our ten, there is no question, we pay the tithing and each one is doing it before the Creator, but for the ones who just started the path lately, how to help him or her decide the calculation they have to make?
R. I don't know.
S. That's one thing that I decide I'm going to start doing, that's for me.
R. Something you do in the beginning, in this great, an eruption, and excitement of desire, but later the attitude towards it cools off and then enters this balanced form. At first there's a very, very big tithing then it drops almost to zero and then it balances itself out, there are such fluctuations you will see all of it, consult with the friends.
31. S. (52:23) There are many Mitzvot that in our time about the first born son, you can do it or not, can we say that the tithing is the only Mitzvah that was always there throughout the years and it always remains this way?
R. Yes, yes, I don't know if it's the only commandment but it's one of those commandments that doesn't change, does not change.
S. What I meant was as your students, to create a corporeal basis that will be related to a basis to spirituality?
R. No.
32. S. (5:27) Why is it that when a friend cuts from his own time and efforts, that he was able to put into the world, why is that not considered tithing?
R. You can calculate it, and talking about how it how it needs to be expressed in money.
33. S. (54:13) Besides the tithing, we can also contribute to help Haver friends for instance, or to the archive?
R. Don't turn to me about this, speak to them and scrutinize with them.
S. The question is when I donate there, should I put ten percent or something like that?
R. In principle there are no restrictions but you shouldn't overdo it, you shouldn't over contribute, you know, normally.
34. R. (55:21) We won't be able to scrutinize all of it, to arrange it, I know from experience there will be endless questions here so by that we will conclude talking about the tithing, the Twelfth Commandment and we will continue another time. And now let's hear what's new about the Congress.
Congress updates
35. S. (56:11) A moment before our schedule and the Congress, we will say that there are many questions about the tithing today, you can have a broad explanation with questions and answers and many sources in our website, kabbalah.info, in our general website, it’s in more than ten languages, kabbalah.info. There's a button there called Maasar, and you can press it and read a lot about it. You can also turn to your managers in the different languages. And we remind you that the registration to the World Kabbalah Convention, February 24th and 25th is taking place, so go into our website and register at convention.kli.one.
https://kabbalahmedia.info/lessons/cu/Y4LhnMCL?language=en&mediaType=video