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

Daily Morning Lesson: January 28, 2026

Part 1: Recorded Lesson

Rabash. Article No. 23 (1988). What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work

Recorded lesson – January 29, 2003

Reader: Friends, in the first part we will learn the lesson with Rav from January 29, 2003 the lesson is based on the article, What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work, the article is from the writings of Rabash Volume 1. We’ll read it together in the Ten. Tens who finish reading ahead of time are invited to workshop the main ideas from the article.

Reading: (00:55) What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work

Article No. 23, 1988

It is written in Pesachim (p 50), “Rabbi Yehuda said, ‘Rav said, ‘One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma [for Her sake].’’”

Maimonides said (Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 10:5), “Sages said, ‘One should always engage in Torah, even if Lo Lishma, since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma.’ Therefore, when teaching little ones, women, and uneducated people, they are taught only to work out of fear and in order to receive reward. When they increase knowledge and gain much wisdom, they will be told that secret bit by bit and are accustomed to this matter with ease until they attain Him and know Him and serve Him with love.”

And in Pesachim (p 50), it is written there in the Tosfot, “In Chapter Two of Berachot it is said, ‘Anyone who engages in Torah Lo Lishma is better off not being born.’ And Rabbi Yehuda says, ‘There it is about one who is studying in order to brag and to annoy.’” And in Berachot, the Tosfot explains, “We should ask, for here it is about one who is studying only to annoy his friends, and there it is about one who is studying so as to be respected.”

With the above said, we can see that in general, we should make two discernments in the work of the Creator: 1) Lishma, 2) Lo Lishma. We should know what exactly is Lishma and what exactly is Lo Lishma.

In Lo Lishma, we see that we have five discernments to make:

As Maimonides said, he engages in Torah and Mitzvot because the Creator commanded us, and he wishes to keep the commandments of the Creator, and this is why he engages in Torah and Mitzvot. But we should note what is the reason that commits him to observe the commandments of the Creator. Maimonides says that we should tell him, “Because of reward and punishment.” In other words, if he observes the commandments of the Creator, the Creator will reward him: He will have a long life, wealth, and the next world. And if he does not observe he will be punished for not wanting to observe the commandments of the Creator.

However, we should make two discernments in reward and punishment: 1) As Maimonides says. 2) There is reward and punishment from pleasures in the Torah and Mitzvot. These matters, too, cannot be disclosed to beginners in the work or to little ones or women.

The second discernment in Lo Lishma, as the Tosfot says, is that he is studying Torah in order to be respected. This is worse than the first manner that Maimonides mentions, since here he does not demand of the Creator to pay his reward and this is why he works. Rather, he wants people to respect him—whether with wealth or with honors—and this is the reason that commits him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. We could say that it appears as though he is observing Torah and Mitzvot because people compel him, for otherwise the people will not reward him, and not because the Creator commanded to observe Torah and Mitzvot. However, that, too, falls under the Lo Lishma that brings to Lishma.

The third discernment is as the Tosfot says, “One who studies Torah in order to annoy his friends.” This is worse than the previous forms of Lo Lishma. It is said about it, “Anyone who engages in Torah Lo Lishma is better off not being born.”

Let us explain what is Lishma, and the five discernments in Lo Lishma, and let us begin from the bottom up.

The Lo Lishma in order to annoy is the worst. It is so much so, that our sages said that one who walks on this path “is better off not being born.” We should understand why “in order to annoy” is worse than one who studies “in order to be respected.” After all, he is studying for the creatures and not for the Creator, similar to “in order to annoy,” which is for the creatures.

We should explain the difference between them. It is known that we were given the commandment, “love thy friend as thyself.” Rabbi Akiva said about it that it is a great rule in the Torah. It is presented in the essay Matan Torah [“The Giving of the Torah”], that this is the transition to emerge from self-love to love of others, which is love of friends, and to the love of the Creator. This means that it is impossible to work Lishma before one exits self-love.

This is why we should make two distinctions concerning love of others: 1) when he has love of others, 2) when he hasn’t love of others. But there is a third discernment, which is hatred of others. In other words, he does things in order to hurt the other. This is called, “One who takes honor in one’s friend’s disgrace.” In other words, he enjoys his friend being disgraced and tormented, and derives his pleasure from it. That person is regarded as engaging in hatred of people.

With this we can distinguish between one who is studying in order to be respected and one who studies in order to annoy. The purpose is to reach Lishma, and we were given the advice by which to achieve Lishma—through love of others. Hence, although one who studies in order to be respected is not engaging in love of others, he is still not acting toward hatred of people, since those who respect him enjoy him, and therefore respect him. Hence, he still has a chance to achieve Lishma, simply because of the doing—that he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, since the Torah and Mitzvot themselves bring him a spirit of purity so he will be able to rise in the degrees and reach the love of others and the love of the Creator.

This is why they said about it, “From Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma.” But one who is studying in order to annoy, which is an act that brings him to hatred of others, yet still wishes to be honored with his friend’s disgrace, will certainly never achieve love of the Creator, since his actions prevent the exit from self-love. Thus, how will he exit self-love and come to love of the Creator?

And yet, there is one more discernment to make in Lo Lishma: by way of coercion, as written in Article No. 19, 1986/87. For example, if a person works for an orthodox person and receives a good salary from him, and the employer tells him, “I want you to observe Torah and Mitzvot. Otherwise, I will not want you to work for me.”

He comes home and tells his wife that the employer wants to fire him. His wife says, “What does it mean, observing Torah and Mitzvot because you have an orthodox employer? We don’t believe in it. Are we going to sell our conscience for money?” But when he says to his wife, “I’ve been to several other places and it’s very hard to find a job these days, so if we don’t accept the employer’s condition, we will starve.”

“Therefore,” says the husband, “We shouldn’t sacrifice ourselves for our conscience, but we know the truth, that we do not believe in Torah and Mitzvot. Instead, we will observe Torah and Mitzvot not because the Creator commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot, but because the owner of the factory instructed us, and this is why we observe Torah and Mitzvot. We don’t have to believe in the employer. So what if we observe Torah and Mitzvot? The act does not blemish our conscience or suddenly makes us believers. We remain nonbelievers in the Creator even when we do those deeds.”

On the face of it, what is the importance of such Torah and Mitzvot, when he explicitly says that he remains in his views like the rest of the secular? What is the value of such deeds in our mind?

However, from the perspective of the Halachah [religious law], we must force him even if he says that he does not want to. It means that by that, he still observes the commandments of the Creator, but it is called Lo Lishma. It is as Maimonides wrote (Hilchot De’ot, Chapter 6), “But in matters of holiness, if he does not repent in secret, he is shamed in public, and he is disgraced and cursed until he reforms.”

This means that even this manner is called Lo Lishma, since from that Lo Lishma, one also comes to Lishma, more than one who studies in order to annoy—of whom our sages said, “He is better off not being born.” And here we should interpret that by observing Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma, he isn’t doing something against the love of others. Rather, this does give pleasure to others. That is, the orthodox, who see that now he has become observant of Torah and Mitzvot, do not look at the reason, but at the act. Thus, they enjoy it. But one who studies in order to annoy acts contrary to what one should do.

By that, we explained the difference between one who studies in order to annoy, which is the worst, and one who works by coercion, who is forced to work by others, which is Lo Lishma, and stands above the one who is studying in order to annoy. And although it is difficult to say so, he is observing Torah and Mitzvot voluntarily, and not by coercion, but his will is to annoy, which is only a thought and not an act. But why is one who is observing Torah and Mitzvot by coercion, who is pressured by the public, better than one who is studying in order to annoy, if he acts not of his own free will?

Perhaps we should say that nevertheless, through the deed that he is doing, albeit coercively, the act itself has the power to bring him a good will and thought, as our sages said about the verse, “Will offer him at his will before the Lord.” And they said (Arachin 20a), “Will offer him” implies that he is forced, and you can say it is against his will. The Talmud says it is of his own will. How is he forced? Until he says, “I want.” For this reason, we can say that he is more important than one who is studying in order to annoy.

However, we should ask, “At the end of the day, he is performing the act in full, but thinks that by that he will receive honors from showing that he knows and the other does not. Why is it so difficult to achieve the goal called Lishma with Lo Lishma that is in order to annoy, to the point that they said that he would be better off not being born?”

We could say that one who is studying in order to annoy must be completely immersed in the Torah and probably considers himself a complete man in the Torah. If so, he will never think about the matter of Lishma because he sees that he delves in the Torah more than his friends, who are not putting in that much time or quality. And he observes himself, that he is making greater efforts in Torah than the friends by delving in, to know the right meaning that should be understood in the Torah, and he is not studying superficially like the others, but straining his brain. Thus, how can he think of himself as lacking? He can never come to the recognition of evil, to know that he should achieve Lishma. For this reason, he is doomed. This is why they said about him, “He is better off not being born.”

And the most important in the Lo Lishma is that it brings to Lishma. It is as Maimonides said, “To receive reward and not be punished.” The Lo Lishma that the Tosfot speaks of, which is to be respected, does things so people will see him and appreciate him. Thus, it seems as though he is observing the commandments of people, that he is working for them, and that people will pay his reward.

But one who works with the intention of reward and punishment is working for the Creator, except he wants the Creator to pay his reward for his labor in Torah and Mitzvot. He does not want people to pay his reward because he isn’t working for people to pay his reward. Rather, he is working and observing Torah and Mitzvot because the Creator has given us Torah and Mitzvot to observe. And by that, we will receive reward for our labor in Torah and Mitzvot.

Hence, this is certainly a higher degree than the one the Tosfot speaks of, the Lo Lishma in order to be respected. This is because there he is working for people to respect him, but in reward and punishment, he is working for the Creator, which is called Lishma, meaning for the Creator, except he wants reward for his work, and this is why it is still not considered “actual Lishma.”

However, we should note another discernment that is called Lo Lishma, as Maimonides said, though the reward and punishment are of a different form. Normally, we understand reward and punishment as being clothed in corporeal dresses, such as eating, drinking, etc. The Zohar says that our ability to enjoy corporeal desires is only a slim light from what had fallen from the world of shattering, the breaking of holy sparks into the Klipot [shells], and this is all the pleasure that is in them. And the whole world chases these pleasures. When it is written that the majority of the light is clothed in Torah and Mitzvot, this is the kind of reward and punishment that he wants.

And we should always pay attention, while speaking to someone about observing Torah and Mitzvot, we should first think which reason is suitable for that person. Everyone has his own thing that interests him, a reason for which he sees that it is worthwhile to observe Torah and Mitzvot, since by that he will receive something that is worth a great effort and toil. And he will be willing to give anything to obtain what he sees as worthwhile for him.

For this reason, we should always say to a person that which is important for him to an extent that it is worth his giving everything that he is asked for. Otherwise, without providing a reason that will make him see the profitability, he will not hear what is being said to him. Man settles for what he has and it is hard to change habits, unless he gains from it something that is important enough to give him the energy to change his ways and to start working differently than what he is accustomed to.

Hence, there are five discernments in Lo Lishma before us: 1) by coercion, 2) one who studies in order to annoy, 3) one who studies in order to be respected, as mentioned in the words of the Tosfot, 4) for reward and punishment, as in the words of Maimonides, 5) reward and punishment from non-corporeal things, which is something that everyone understands. But he wants reward and punishment of spiritual pleasures, as written in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Item 30), “And the final degree in this division (in Lo Lishma) is that he falls passionately in love with the Creator, as one falls passionately for a corporeal love, until the object of passion remains before one’s eyes all day and all night, as the poet says, ‘When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep.’”

But with the fifth discernment in Lo Lishma, we cannot tell a person to begin in this Lo Lishma, since not every person can understand it, meaning believe that there is pleasure in the light that is clothed in Torah and Mitzvot, more than one can enjoy the pleasure that is clothed in corporeal pleasures. That is, if the light of the pleasure that is clothed in Torah and Mitzvot would be immediately apparent, it would be called “open Providence.” In that state, it would be impossible for a person to be able to work Lishma because the pleasure he would feel in Torah and Mitzvot would force him to do everything, and not because the Creator commanded to observe.

It is as he says in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 43), “If, for example, the Creator were to establish open Providence with His creations in that, for instance, anyone who eats a forbidden thing would immediately choke, and anyone who performed a commandment would discover wonderful pleasures in it, similar to the finest delights in this corporeal world. Then, what fool would even think of tasting a forbidden thing, knowing that he would immediately lose his life because of it?...Also, what fool would leave any commandment without performing it as quickly as possible, as one who cannot retire from or linger with a great corporeal pleasure that comes into his hand, without receiving it as quickly as he can?”

It follows that then there would be no possibility for choice since the great pleasures that are clothed in Torah and Mitzvot are great lights. This is why this pleasure is concealed. Conversely, in corporeality, the pleasure in each act is revealed, which makes us crave any place where we see that there is some pleasure. And the body does not tell whether it is forbidden or permitted. Because of it, there is the matter of choice and the matter of reward and punishment.

It follows that while speaking to someone about taking on the burden of Torah and Mitzvot, one should thoughtfully consider which type of Lo Lishma to tell him, since, as said above, each one should be given the Lo Lishma that suits his character, so he will see that this Lo Lishma is worth taking upon himself the Torah and Mitzvot. For example, the first discernment [by coercion] is suitable for everyone. In other words, if one can force another, in coercion, it makes no difference whether the other understands or does not understand. In any case, it is called “coercion,” meaning that one can do it even if he understands one hundred percent that he is right, but he has no choice. This is called “coercion.” But with the other forms of Lo Lishma, each one has a different character, and it’s important to say what is acceptable.

We can understand the three other forms of Lo Lishma—1) in order to annoy, 2) in order to be respected, and 3) to receive corporeal reward and punishment. However, each person has a different nature, so one should pay close attention to know which type of Lo Lishma he should tell him, meaning which Lo Lishma that person can see as worth toiling for.

But with the fifth type of Lo Lishma, craving the love of the Creator because he feels pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot, this we cannot understand because it depends on the feeling. And before a person begins to taste, there is no point speaking to him. This is why it is called “the final form of Lo Lishma,” meaning that afterwards one enters the degree of Lishma.

However, we should understand that if a person reaches the degree where he craves Torah and Mitzvot in the measure that was said above, “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep,” why is this still considered Lo Lishma? Indeed, it is because the pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot is what compels him to observe the Torah and Mitzvot. Lishma means that the greatness of the Creator because He is great and ruling, causes him to observe Torah and Mitzvot. Thus, it is not the pleasure that is the reason that compels him, but the Creator is the reason that makes him observe Torah and Mitzvot.

Lishma is described in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Item 32), “The work in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma, in order to bestow and not to receive reward, and he becomes worthy of receiving the five parts of the soul called NRNHY.”

However, according to the rule that man is a small world, comprised of seventy nations, he is comprised of Israel, too. Thus, we said that there are five discernments in Lo Lishma, that there are people who belong to a special type of Lo Lishma, but we should also say that all these types of Lo Lishma exist within one person, but come one at a time. Sometimes, the Lo Lishma “in order to annoy” acts in a person. Sometimes, he is working with the Lo Lishma in order to be respected, and sometimes he is using the Lo Lishma by coercion, as Maimonides said, “He is shamed in public, disgraced, and cursed until he reforms.”

In other words, when a person comes to pray in the synagogue or comes to study Torah so that the friends will not despise him, since everyone will despise him in their hearts although no one will tell him, “Why are you not coming to the Torah lessons at the synagogue?” But he will know for certain that everyone is looking at him as inferior. Thus, the disgrace that he will feel makes him come to the synagogue. It follows that the cause of Lo Lishma that forces him is the coercion, as Maimonides says.

It is easier to use this Lo Lishma as an effective Lo Lishma, since Lo Lishma that is connected to suffering—the disgrace—gives more energy to overcome the obstructions that he has. Therefore, at times when a person is in the lowest decline, the Lo Lishma of shame can still act in him. It is considered coercion because of the shame, meaning the shame—which is the suffering—forces him to do things even though the body disagrees.

And sometimes a person strengthens himself with the Lo Lishma of reward and punishment, as Maimonides said. And sometimes he has reward and punishment from finding meaning in the work, while if he does not observe the Torah and Mitzvot he lacks the meaning, and this is the end of the Lo Lishma.

Reward and punishment of pleasure in the work: When he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, he feels pleasure. And if he does not observe Torah and Mitzvot, he suffers. It is like a person who feels the taste of a meal and this is the reason that he goes to the meal, since he wants the pleasure of the food. It follows that the pleasure of the food is the cause for going to the meal.

Reader: Let's enter a lesson with Rav from January 29, 2003.

M. Laitman: (35:53) We see that there are many states a person enters relative to keeping Torah and Mitzvot – all the means – all the means that he's keeping in order to reach contact with the Creator which is Torah and Mitzvot according to our state. As you remember, there's Torah and Mitzvot called, Eighteen Counsels and there are Torah and Mitzvot called, Pekudin, deposits. Torah and Mitzvot as counsels are counsels for how to reach contact with the Creator and that is according to the level of equivalence of form with Him. It says, Everything within your hand and your might to do, you should do. It's a group, it's a study, the work around it, everything that can bring a person to a certain attitude toward the Creator until, as it's written, That he will be connected to it all day and all night, and this lust never leaves him until he doesn't let him sleep.

All the means that can bring a person to this are good and all the degrees, the five degrees a person goes through from Lo Lishma, as the Rabash writes about here, they should all work because—we should all go through them – because each one is incorporated of all the other qualities of everyone. And in each and every one, maybe in different modes and manners but the same stages that each one is going through. That is why until a person, or rather, before a person realizes, applies all the advice, all the counsels in his possession, as he has to go from the structure of the root of his soul, he cannot move forward. As we learn during the time of preparation, there are stages called, transgressions, transgressions – you do all kinds of actions on the way to the Creator, they're called transgressions, malicious actions. Because he thinks about reaching the Creator because of his will to receive for himself and he doesn't tie exactly what's happening to him with Providence and the governance of the Creator. And later he goes from these transgressions, malicious actions, to mistakes where he somehow feels that all those stages he's going through are coming from the Creator to him.

M. Laitman: (39:30) He has to go through both the malicious actions, the transgressions, and the mistakes according to the structure of his soul. None of them, none lacking, because later when he's rewarded with the revelation of the face and he goes to the Providence of reward and punishment, he must have all the transgressions and mistakes. Even if he goes from reward and punishment to love and to eternal degrees in the world of Atzilut then, already, there, in relying on the transgressions and mistakes, he climbs up to the degrees of Atzilut. Meaning the five discernments of Lo Lishma is something that everyone must go through. As we learn from Item Four in The Introduction to TES, our choice is not in going through or not going through these discernments on the way. Rather, our choice is in how by ourselves to reveal a desire, a seriousness, a great motivation to go forward with each and every discernment. To come out of it into the next discernment by our own strength, through our own desires so that my desire for the next degree, meaning to adhere to the Creator that appears to me in each and every state, which is called, the next degree. That this desire will be without any connection to how that next degree appears to me. In my attitude in the next degree, how I want it to appear to me so I'll connect with it in my attitude. Then we discern these five steps or five types of relationships with the upper one. Why do I want the upper one – why I can want it from in order to annoy and all the way to until He doesn't let me sleep?

Meaning, with this article, What is that we begin the Work in Lo Lishma? This already belongs to Pesachim, it's from the fifth volume of the Rungs of the Ladder. Rabash describes the actual beginning of Lo Lishma. Baal HaSulam says that as much as we think of as Lishma as great, Lo Lishma as so great, meaning it is the degree before Lishma. Even that we cannot depict correctly because all these degrees are in our attitude to the goal, our attitude to the Creator. That the connection of man to the goal is actually the place of examination. We, being in concealment, this is our main problem: How to imagine, to resemble, to build my unknown relation which is not felt—it’s to something not felt.

M. Laitman: (43:59) Then it's unknown and not felt from all kinds of reasons, to have it good opposite others; to just have it good for myself; to have it good on a corporeal level or even on a spiritual level until there begins to be an egoistic relation yet towards the Creator. From whom do I enjoy, from whom do I want to get a reward, what do I want from Him? I want Him to fill me so, of course, I relate to Him, still as a receiver but already to Him. We also have to see the society towards which we also have the same discernments as with respect to the Creator. Because when the Creator is hidden, it's in order for us to prepare ourselves as closely as possible to Lishma. For that, He gave us the matter of the others, that love of others or love of the Creator or using the others or using the Creator—it's actually the same thing for us because it's outside our boundary.

Therefore, the same stages we learn in relation to the Creator in Lo Lishma, we also learn them with respect to the society. In the society we can measure, examine ourselves, shape ourselves. And, accordingly, also, in working with the society mutually, we can see how each and everything benefits us, either egoistically or purposefully. Here, also with respect to the society, all these five degrees of Lo Lishma are examined towards the goal. In relation to the goal, we determine the stat, and after we build the right relationship of me and each and every one, meaning with the society and with the Creator which actually carries no difference whether it's towards society or towards the Creator. That's an indication that I truly am relating to something outside of me in a truthful way. Then, I just have to see to what extent is my Lo Lishma higher, more purposeful, to the point that, It doesn't let me sleep.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:04) How can it be, Lo Lishma by way of coercion in spirituality?

M. Laitman: Right, we learned that there's no coercion in spirituality, right? What does it mean, coercion? Coercion means against my desire. How can it be that I'll do something against my desire? If I do something against my desire, how can it be that this thing is spiritual? What does it mean that there is no coercion in spirituality? It's just words but what is that? No coercion in spirituality means that spirituality is called, in order to bestow; corporeality is in order to receive, and corporeality can be by coercion? Give me an example, we're not talking about the desire itself, how we work with the desire. We're talking about the intention, in the intention, the difference between corporeality or spirituality. Now we have a desire to enjoy, in order to receive is called corporeality. In order to bestow is called spirituality. How can there be coercion here, this or that way? We also say, how do I acquire spirituality? After the Creator sees that man did several correct actions and gave the effort and the amount of effort in the required way, then the Creator opens Himself to him and the person sees the greatness of godliness. And, as a result, he is adhered to godliness and this is called the testimony of the Creator, that the Creator testifies that the person will not return to folly. And that gives the person the force to be in order to bestow and the Creator says that he will not return to folly, is that not coercion, what is it there? It's not that, each time, I can decide otherwise or can I? If the Creator is hidden and all my actions are in either double concealment or single concealment, transgressions, or mistakes by necessity, I cannot do something good and correct because the Creator is hidden. If the Creator is revealed, then all my actions are either rewarded punishment, Mitzvot, or eternal love, which is even above the Mitzvot.

So, it's also a result of the Creator being revealed and isn't it considered coercion where the Creator is concealed and I coercively work in order to receive and when He's revealed I coercively work in order to bestow, so what does it mean, no coercion in spirituality? When he writes, one is coerced until he says, I wish, so also, how could there be Lo Lishma by way of coercion? The coercion that we relate to when saying, No coercion in spirituality is that our decision has to come before the state. In each and every state, we have a point where we decide to either add our labor or not. Meaning to want the next state from ourselves, to muster the strength for the next state on our own, or to wait until I want it by the suffering. Or that I'll want it by the next state shining for me, that's what happens to us. I see many people here and also in the world, there are many people who wait, they're waiting until the Creator does something.

M. Laitman: (53:23) Either He pulls me forward by giving me some small illumination that spirituality is worthwhile, that it's worth it, that it's better than my current state, then I'll run. I'll run to it and I, as if, get inspired by spirituality; that state is what I'm waiting for, praying for. Like, Come on, pull me forward – is that good? There's others who also sit idly and wait. They no longer wait for good things to pull them ahead, but at least, that something will pull me from, push me from behind, some small suffering here and there so that I'll move, so that I won't sit still. Whether this way or that way, we don't discover here our desire to advance. Meaning we're waiting for coercion: Either good coercion so the Creator reveals himself and I chase Him or bad coercion, that the Creator hides himself and then I'll feel an unbearable state that will make me run forward. This doesn't mean that we implement our freedom of choice, the freedom of choice is given to a person who is in a state where there is no power and no desire. And he literally has no attraction forward, not through suffering or through pleasures. Then in such a state where it's like, what can I… I can't do anything, right? Other than one thing, you can look in a beastly way, totally, not with your desire. You can look for in our environment, in our society, you have to find some sort of sources that will push you forward. Again, either from seeing, discovering suffering in your state, or discovering the light, the light in spirituality.

Then in the next state, in the next state that's closer to the Creator, that's the state of choice. And I see that, thankfully, the Creator, without coercion, without anything, gives us this opportunity, and we're waiting for coercion. We don't want to be free, that's where freedom actually is. But how we are thrown from above, wherever they, wherever we are left hanging, that's where we are. We don't want to reveal through the means, which is the study and the society; we don't want to reveal any force, any attraction forward. And a man who doesn't perform enough actions in finding these forces to move forward, who doesn't realize this choice. Then as it's written, Then the Creator gives, allows entry to Lishma, to spirituality, only to one who completed the work in Torah and Mitzvot, in the preparation. Meaning that he searched for, by himself, and he collected by himself all the efforts by himself to be drawn to it, until it doesn't let me sleep.

M. Laitman: (45:04) Until a person collects all those possibilities, opportunities that were given to him when he was relieved from coercion, he does not enter spirituality. So, I can't see, as he claims, that how can there be coercion in spirituality. It's not where we think there is coercion or there is no coercion. Rather, we must understand that the state we're in, typically, where we have no forces, no desires, only this tiny idea of where to go. This means that the Creator places a person's hand on a good fate and says, Take it, a tiny idea in this dark state. This means that we're brought to free choice. So, relative to coercion in spirituality, we have nothing to worry about. We see ourselves, if we check our state accurately, we'll see how each and every moment, we can find a state of free choice.

There was a question there about the 70 nations of the world. The 70 nations of the world is when I say that a person has to go through all kinds of states. Since from the root of his soul, from the structure of his soul, he has to go all the stages in the soul. All in all, what is the path of correction? It's a desire to receive that the Creator created, where in addition to creating it on a spiritual degree, meaning in order to bestow, He also corrupted it. Meaning He shattered this intention in order to bestow that was given to the desire to receive from above. And forcefully changed it to a desire on the degree of in order to receive – and this change – and this intention is called, shattering. Because the will to receive felt an intention that's opposite from in order to bestow, meaning in order to receive, then all the desires inside the will to receive felt, each one felt only itself and not the other. This means that instead of one nation, one people, as one man in one heart, they divided into 70 nations – 70 Sefirot in ZAT, the lower seven. And who is the people of Israel, the nation of Israel? The nation of Israel is the one who does not have a part in these 70 nations, who does not belong to them and to this world. The nation of Israel is the degree of Bina that forcefully entered through the power of shattering into Malchut, and it is necessarily in the Malchut through the force of shattering. And the Creator certainly turned to the 70 nations initially, He wanted to give them the Torah, meaning the intention is for the correction of the 70 nations. And the nation of Israel is that quality of Bina that forcefully exists within all the 70 discernments in the will to receive, that do not belong to the will to receive. But rather is immersed in it in order to provide the will to receive correction, to correct itself and to give the will to receive its correction. But naturally this quality, this discernment does not even belong to the 70 nations. It's Galgalta ve Eynaim, it's Bina, these qualities of Bina that intentionally entered the qualities of Malchut.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:13) What does it mean that there will be no difference between the society and the Creator?

M. Laitman: We learned that whatever comes out of my own body, outside of my own body, my own flesh, it doesn't matter to me if it's the Creator, the created beings, friends. Ultimately when we work on ourselves, when we feel ourselves, we come to such discernments that man ultimately is completely alone. And everything outside of his body, including his family, and his children, and his relatives, it doesn't matter who and what, he discovers that everything outside of his own body is foreign to him, completely foreign to him, to such an extent that he doesn't feel outside of his body anyone that belongs to him in any shape or form. The will to receive has developed to such a degree that you feel it, and those who don't feel it yet, it's a sign that they're not yet on that level of advanced development of the will to receive and the revelation of evil, the recognition of evil. We see it also around the world. In the past, you'd have big clans, parts of a village, a village, a country was really a great family, right? Later, it started to divide; today, you don't even have a family. No one can live with the other, even with their spouse, in order to raise a family, children, right? So, those are the signs that the world to receive is developing to such an extent that it cannot feel someone foreign, like a wife and children, as belonging to him. It doesn't want it, it rejects them, and this will come even more in our time, in the near time; the world will see it.

So, it doesn't matter to me in the end. I will see that it's unimportant if it's either – if it's the Creator or a friend. If it's outside of me, outside of my body, it is foreign to me. And the thing is, what do I depend on more, the Creator or the friend? Well, the friend I can push away from me, I can remove him, maybe kill him, maybe get rid of him. Maybe I can twist him somehow, and cheat him somehow, and exploit him, derive some pleasure from him. But the Creator, it's a bit more difficult, so that's the difference. But in terms of feeling them outside of me, there's no difference there. That is why the need for the shattering is that not only the will to receive with the intention in order to bestow, inverted to the intention in order to receive, it also divided into many, many parts. It was also possible for it to not be divided, but there is a desire to receive in order to bestow, and now there's a desire to receive in order to receive – only one Pharaoh that exists in the world, and that's it. But the need for that is so we could do something relative to the other desires, not relative to the Creator. Rather, one soul that will perform these exercises, get through all these stages of discernment relative to the other souls, and this will be truly like relative to the Creator for it, since it's something foreign. Each and every desire now is foreign relative to my own desire.

So, it turns out that we have an opportunity to do the same work as with the Creator, which we're incapable of doing during the time of darkness, the preparation. We can do this work, the same work with a friend, with the other souls, and see how between us we are in this true state, to see our true state. Whereas with the Creator, because He's concealed, he cannot see your true state. And if He were revealed, then He would obligate me to perform all kinds of actions. And if he were concealed, meaning if I would truly feel that he's concealed, he would also obligate me. So, he's in a state where he's seemingly non-existent, and then my relationship with the friends are like a laboratory where I truly learn all of my discernments relative to me and to the other. We can talk about it a lot.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:13) He says here that we need to pay special attention for knowing what aspect of Lo Lishma to tell him. So, he is referring to in order to annoy, in order to be respected, in order to get corporeal reward and punishment. So, who will give this attention? What does that even mean?

M. Laitman: It's as if we need to look at the friends, check which state of Lo Lishma each one of them is in. Observe and diagnose it, diagnose it like a doctor looking at a patient, and say, you know, my friend, you are in Lo Lishma, let's say, in order to annoy, or Lo Lishma, a different kind of Lo Lishma in order to receive a reward, and so on and so forth. Of course, only a person can say it about himself, no one can tell this to him, no one can make any real discernments, we shouldn't do it. Rather, each one of us must think about himself, how he corrects himself in his attitude toward the others. And how to help the friend in what the friend demands from him in the correction, that this work would be mutual work, and that's it. Meaning, what it says that each one must tell the other, of course, it speaks about a person. Now, the question is about coercion, nevertheless, when he's asking, everyone is asking. So again, there is no coercion in spirituality, meaning the Creator will never take from the person this point of free choice. A person can spend a million years in a state of free choice but until he makes the free choice, the Creator will not be, it will be, he will be on hold, kind of. And the person has to establish his free choice, to look for ideas how to advance toward the goal through his environment. And he needs to be in a state of free choice, for example, 3,000 times, so until he makes a free choice 3,000 times finding the strength to advance toward the Creator through the environment, he will not get anything from above as change, as help, but will simply reincarnate, and reincarnate, and reincarnate. Because, specifically, in this free choice, in these points that he determines himself, these points out of the thousands of years that he lives, only these points shift, move to spirituality. And on these points, he begins to build his relation to the Creator. Everything else doesn't matter. Just imagine what enters into spirituality, what passes from world to world, and on these points, he later builds his Partzuf, the spiritual structure, nothing but that. We need to understand that the desires themselves don't pass into spirituality. Spirituality means the intention to bestow. The intention to bestow is my relation toward the Creator, my own relation toward the Creator, the intention. The desire, itself, has nothing to do with spirituality, it's corporeality, it's a created being, it is, and that's it. What passes from degree to degree is the intention that rides on the desire.

So, the points in which I perform free choice, only those points move to spirituality. And from here we understand that if the number of my discernments in free choice, these points, is not sufficient, I did not go through all the discernments, it's as if I will not have a complete body in spirituality, so I will not move there. Until the completion of the final effort in determining that free choice, where I myself search in the environment, in the society, in the books, in the connection with books, the Rav, and the society, in the connection with them, I search for the greatness of the Creator, in order to establish some attraction to Him from me. And there's no coercion, if you begin to take interest in that point, to really delve into it, you see that it's not a point – it's a whole world in and of itself that opens up. A world of relations, sort of, toward the society, toward the Creator, toward a person himself. And then he sees what coercion is, on the contrary, the Creator leaves him and does not intervene in anything except that He reminds him in his state that he can be assisted by the environment. Meaning there's a reason why the Creator broke all the souls. Or by working with him outside of his body, now work with him in such a way that you can absorb from them, collect from them, the forces to approach, to relate to the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:11) If we are speaking about the preparation period, meaning before we enter spirituality, then what does it mean that a person should observe Torah and Mitzvot? What actions should he do besides physical actions in observing Torah and Mitzvot and commandments?

M. Laitman: We're not talking about physical actions at all, in what is called, observing the commandments – like wearing Tefillin, keeping Kosher, etc. – we're not talking about that at all. These things we should observe them in a way on our level, where we are in the inanimate world. That we should follow all the actions in practice; and actions we should observe - all the actions in order to maintain the framework. So, it reminds us about the need that within our life there is some sort of an inner intention toward the Creator, because these actions are irrational actions. I don't have to, because of my life, to observe Kosher or Shabbat. And the fact that I observe them should remind me why I do these things, there's nothing to them. But rather I should observe them so that they would remind me about the goal, about the One who purportedly commanded us to observe it. And He commanded us to observe it only so we would remember the purpose of creation and return to it. In other words, observing the commandments in our world - the commandments that are written in Shulchan Aruch, in the Jewish code of law, in its literal meaning is only to maintain the framework. So that from within that framework I will get a constant reminder about a more internal thing, this is actually the whole need for the corporeal observation. Observation does not mean here in order to receive physical observation, the physical actions in Torah and commandments, Mitzvot. As even as Rav writes, Know that all commandments were given in order to correct the heart. And Baal HaSulam brings it in the introduction to Panim Meirot: Commandments were given only to men of heart, et cetera. Kabbalists determined that our life should be like that, that we should do these irrational things in our world in order for it to be as a reminder that there are such actions in spirituality, and they're the ones we should reach. And therefore, in each and every commandment, the corporeal one, there is no need for it in terms of preservation in this world because of our physiology, or in order to feel good in this world or because of natural forces, there is no such thing.

M. Laitman: (01:19:53) There's only one thing in observing, in wanting, agreeing, committing, taking upon myself to observe these actions. It is only in order to remind me about its corresponding action in the root, in spirituality. Not to the body and not to anything has any result for me because of it, except that it should bring me closer to the inner work and remind me about it. We also see that in the end, there is no corporeal benefit from them whatsoever, unless a person builds additional systems in which they begin to be kind of warped. Meaning that the Torah and commandments he observes in a corporeal manner in this world, as it's written in Shulchan Aruch, begin to bring him some corporeal benefit. But then the system is completely corrupt, it confuses a person, instead of bringing him only a reminder about spirituality, and that he should perform spiritual actions in Torah and commandments. Then he begins to think that it's enough to observe the way he did it, and why is it? Because education spoiled him in this way, and the society is arranged in such a way that one who observes Torah and commandments the way he observes, then he gets respect, he gets money, he gets some sort of social support. It's a completely incorrect approach toward maintaining Jewish religious life, as it's called. By this, you only confuse a person. By this, you actually force him to settle for performing only corporeal actions. This is what Baal HaSulam writes in Item One in The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, that it's disconnection from the wisdom of Kabbalah that was done since the ruin of the temple and onwards. Then too, they observed the Torah and commandments in corporeality, meaning in corporeal actions, just as now, and even more. There were actions that were connected to the land, etc., to the Temple. But all the operations, the actions, were in order to remind us about the inner spiritual observation, and not to settle for corporeal actions. Each corporeal action was actually a reminder of a duty to observe it in spirituality. Since the ruin of the Temple onwards, there became darkness in this, and a person no longer thinks that when he remembers, oh, I have to wear Tefillin, who commits me, why am I doing this, what do I get from it, what should I do about this, what does it belong, etc.? In other words, he no longer thinks to which kind of Lo Lishma, not for his sake, out of the five we learned, it belongs. We'll talk about it, this is actually the ruin, because in the end, moving away from spirituality, recognition of evil, is not ruin. The ruin is actually, as we learned, where is our point of shattering? Where is our point of choice? These are points not in the actions themselves, it's in our relation, in the disconnection of our relation from the intention to bestow.

Question (America): (01:24:28) Is it possible to simply create like a reminder, you know, like you can take a handkerchief or a to tie it, you put something on your hand, to keep it as a reminder for inner work?

M. Laitman: Correct, on the one hand, on the other hand, these things are built in such a way that if I perform some corporeal action, like wearing Tefillin, or whatever I do, in order for it to bring me into an inner spiritual action, because Kabbalists commanded it, then there is surrounding light in it, which advances, which reveals these things to me. It's like studying a book, and in the book that I want to study in order to know, to connect spiritual degrees, opposite that, I get surrounding light, a reforming light. In observing Torah and commandments that I do, which I am reminded, yes, who did this to me? Kabbalists, what for? So I would reach their degree, and which degrees are those, et cetera. So by this, even if I'm not there, but I observe what they said in order to reach it, then I already have surrounding light from that. Whereas if I create for myself such a reminder, it can be very good, and we should perform such, do such reminders in our society. But in what we do, if we build it out of our actions to reach godliness, from this will also be surrounding light. But the surrounding light will no longer be from the high degree we want to reach, which a Kabbalist did. But these actions will bring me a different surrounding light because I'm willing to connect with others, listen to them, and I'm willing to seemingly go out of my box, out of my way to reach the Creator. There will be surrounding light from that too. In other words, surrounding light is something that has to come from outside of me, but if I create only surrounding reminders for myself, in this, the surrounding light is very, very small. It's barely present, it's got no connection to the roots. We need to study.

Reader: Now let's share our impressions and what we take from it for implementation in the Ten.

Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson, and before that, we'll sing a song together!

Song: (01:33:16)

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