The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: January 5, 2026
Reading of the Article in the Ten
Rabash. Article No. 11, (1986). A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 14th of April, 2002. The lesson is on the subject of “A Real Prayer is Over a Real Deficiency,” that's Rabash article number 11. “A Real Prayer is Over a Real Deficiency.” We will now read the article in the Ten, and each friend will read a portion. So, let's be considerate here of the Tens all around us. Don't be too loud. And Tens who finished reading are welcome to begin conducting a workshop discussing the main points of the article, after which we will watch a recorded lesson from Rav on the article. We have 15 minutes allotted for the reading.
Reading: (01:20) A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency
Article No. 11, 1986
The writing says, “These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt. …And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. …And the Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously … And it came to pass that the sons of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry because of the work went up to God … and God heard their groaning.”
We should understand why it is written, “and their cry because of the work went up to God.” Did they not have greater torments in Egypt? Here it seems that their cry, meaning their torments, were only from the work. It is also written, “And God heard their groaning,” meaning that hearing the prayer was over their groaning, which is only about the work.
We shall interpret this according to our way. It is known that before a person begins to work in order to bestow, but for reasons that are written in the holy Zohar (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” items 190-191), that there are two reasons for engaging in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments]: 1) to have the pleasures of this world. If he does not observe the Torah and Mitzvot he is afraid that the Creator will punish him. 2) To have the pleasures of the next world. His fear that he may not be given causes him to observe Torah and Mitzvot.
When the reason that compels him to observe Torah and Mitzvot is his own benefit, the body does not resist so much because to the extent that he believes in reward and punishment he can work and feel that each day he is adding more. And this is the truth, that each day of performing Mitzvot and engaging in the Torah joins the day before, and so he adds to his possessions of keeping Torah and Mitzvot.
The reason is that his intention is primarily the reward, and he is not thinking about the intention, meaning that his aim will be to bestow. Rather, he believes in reward and punishment, and that he will be rewarded for what he is doing. Therefore, his aim is only to perform proper actions in every detail. Otherwise, if the actions are improper, it is certain that his work will not be accepted so as to reward him for them. When he sees that the work he is doing is fine, he has nothing more to worry about.
For this reason, his concern is only with the quantity, meaning that he should try to do more good deeds. If he is a wise disciple then he knows he should delve deeper into his learning and be more meticulous in the Mitzvot he is performing—to keep them according to the law according to everyone’s view. He always tries to be rigorous with judgments that are usually treated more lightly, while he tries to be more rigorous, but he has no other worries.
It follows that such people—whose reason for observing Torah and Mitzvot and assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven is to be rewarded in this world and in the next world—do not need the Creator to have the strength to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, since to the extent of their faith in reward and punishment the body allows them to keep, each according to his degree.
This is not so with people who want to do the holy work in order to bestow without any reward, and want to observe Torah and Mitzvot because of the greatness of the Creator, and it is a great privilege for them to be allowed to serve the King, as it is written in the above-mentioned holy Zohar: “Fear, which is the first, is that one should fear one’s Master because He is great and ruling, the essence and the root.”
He interprets there, in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], that there are three manners to fear of the Creator: 1) fear of punishments in this world, 2) fearing punishments of Hell, as well. Those two are not real fear because he is not keeping the fear because of the commandment of the Creator, but for his own sake. It follows that his personal benefit is the root, and fear is the branch and results from his own benefit. But fear that is the essence is that he will fear the Creator because He is great and rules over everything.
It follows that the greatness of the Creator is the reason that compels him to observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is regarded as his desire being only to bestow upon the Creator, called “bestowing contentment upon his Maker and not for his own benefit.”
Here begins the exile, meaning that he is not permitted to aim his work to be in order not to receive reward, since it is against nature. And although one can force oneself although the body disagrees, just as one can practice abstention although it is against nature, but this pertains to actions. That is; to do things against the body’s will he can go above reason, called “against the body’s will.”
However, he cannot go against his feeling and intellect, meaning to say that he feels otherwise than he does. For example, if a person is cold or hot, he cannot say that his feeling is untrue, and force himself to say that he understands otherwise than what his mind does, or that he feels otherwise than what he is feeling. His only option is to say what he sees.
It follows that when one wants to keep Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow upon the Creator, it is the nature of the body not to move at all unless it sees that it will have some reward. Thus, he has no way to work for the Creator and not for his own benefit.
Here begins the exile, meaning the torments that as much as he works he sees no progress. For example, if he is twenty years old he can say that he has acquired possessions of twenty years of engagement in Torah and Mitzvot. On the other hand, he can say that he has been keeping Torah and Mitzvot for twenty years but has not achieved the ability to do anything in order to bestow, rather everything is built on the basis of self-love.
It follows that all the torments and pains he suffers are because he cannot work for the Creator. He wants to work in order to bestow, but the body is enslaved to the Klipot [shells/peels] and does not let him have this aim. At that time he cries out to the Creator to help him because he sees that he is in exile among the Klipot, they govern him, and he sees no way that he will be able to emerge from their control.
It follows that at that time his prayer is regarded as a real prayer because he cannot come out from this exile, as it is written, “And He brought Israel out from their midst, for His mercy is forever.” Since this is against nature, only the Creator can deliver Israel from this exile. But since it is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel], meaning that there is no filling without a lack, and the lack is the Kli that receives the filling, for this reason, before one enters exile, meaning if he does not see that he cannot deliver himself from the exile by himself, it cannot be said that he should be brought out. This is so because although he cries, “Get me out of the state I am in,” it is not a real prayer because how does he know that he cannot come out by himself?
Rather, this can be said precisely when he feels the exile, meaning that he will pray from the bottom of the heart. There are two conditions for praying from the bottom of the heart: 1) His work must be against nature. That is, he wants to do everything only to bestow, and wants to exit self-love. At that time it can be said that he has a lack. 2) He begins to exit self-love by himself and exerts in it, but cannot move an inch from his state. At that time he becomes needy of the Creator’s help and his prayer is real because he sees that he cannot do anything by himself. Then, when he cries out to the Creator to help him, he knows this from the work, as it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work.” This means that by working and wanting to achieve the degree of being able to bestow upon the Creator, they saw that they could not emerge from their nature so they prayed from the bottom of the heart.
By this we will understand what we asked about the verse, “and their cry because of the work went up to God.” This means that the worst torments, over which was all their crying out, was only over the work, and not over other things. Rather, it means that they were crying out over their situation—that they could not emerge from self-love and work for the Creator. This was their exile, which tormented them—that they saw that they were under their control.
It follows that in the exile in Egypt they obtained Kelim, meaning a desire that the Creator will help them emerge from the exile, as we said above that there is no light without a Kli, for only when we pray a real prayer, when one sees that he cannot be saved, and only the Creator can help him, this is considered a real prayer.
Reader: Let's continue now to the lesson with Rav on the article.
M. Laitman: (16:12) We read an article, “A Real Prayer is Over a Real Deficiency” from “The Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 2, page 16. What does it mean? The Creator created a will to receive, meaning the desire is from Him. This desire received filling. The filling for this will to receive is the Creator Himself. Where the will to receive fills the Creator, he feels good, it's called pleasure with us. So what are we lacking? We're lacking what it says here, a real desire. The desire the Creator created is not real. What does it mean? This desire is not felt in the created being as his own. How to do it so that the desire will truly come from the created being, meaning so there will be a desire that exists from absence. How to do it? You have to bring the created being to such states where he himself will look for and will find a desire that wasn't previously included in him. How can he do it? Where will he get it? Where will he get that desire and where that desire was before he found it? He can also do it only in the inverted way. Just as the light created the vessel, the Creator created the desire, the created being that receives into himself both the light and the vessel, from both he now builds within him a new desire - from both of them, not from one. It turns out that the created being is undergoing a process of the creation of himself, a building of himself. Let's say, a creation may be too harsh, building himself from zero, from this world to the world of Ein Sof. And according to his desire, the desire that he himself corrected, found, built within himself, he's called the created being. And before he gives birth to his desire, the created being he's not called the created being; it's called nature, still, vegetative, animate, speaking - but it's nature. That's how it cascaded down from above.
M. Laitman: (19:51) Whereas, what does it mean that he rises from below up? A desire for spirituality for the Creator that was not there previously. It wasn't there at all in creation, but now it is born again, anew. Specifically through the efforts that a person makes in the scrutiny between his point in the heart - the light, and his beastly desire - the darkness. And the collision between the two inside of us, with the help of the of the reforming light, the surrounding light, that we scrutinize, in the clash between light and darkness in us, in our point in the heart, in our nature, we scrutinize with the help of the surrounding light that spirituality is more important than corporeality, and we want spirituality as a result of this comparison between the two. This is a desire that did not exist before, and this desire is called the created being, or a creature. The rest that was in us, naturally, is nature, and only this desire needs to be corrected. We have to work on it. All the other desires that were in me from the outset, desires of still, vegetative, animate, speaking, I don't need to correct them. Even what we learned in the “Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” about desires for beastly lusts, money, honor, knowledge, spirituality, we don't read there that we need to correct the desires for money, for honor, for knowledge. We don't need to correct them in order to bestow. Don't deal with money in order to bestow to the Creator, or any lusts in order to bestow to the Creator, or knowledge in order to bestow to the Creator, or honor in order to bestow to the Creator. You don't need it. You don't need to do it. You need to aim toward the Creator, the desire that's above them, the desire for Him, and not for anything else. That's why Kabbalah doesn't deal with the correction of one's virtues. There's no such thing. This is an incorrect approach. This is a popular approach. You want this beast to be a bit more convenient for the public, so you introduce certain education like that, so a person would know that this is wrong. But there's no such thing as the correction of the virtues. Why? Because virtues are part of the beast, since there's a cow, and it's as if quieter, maybe tamed. Right? The same with people. I was born with a wild nature, and there are those that until you move him, he won't budge before that. And you don't need to correct either one. You're unable to correct it. Rather, you need to correct the attitude toward the Creator, meaning the desire that was born from below up. That's what we need to correct. It is called the real desire. The Creator did not give it, but the Creator created being himself births him as a result of the clash between the thoughts and the clash between the contradictions and the doubts where he can't find by himself exactly what to do, how to conduct himself, how to find myself.
M. Laitman: (24:11) Because in the end, this desire that gives birth inside itself, that he gives birth to inside of himself as a result of his exertion, this desire is born out of three components: the spark that's in us, called the point of the heart, the heart itself, which is our ego, our nature, and the surrounding light that shines on us. If not for the surrounding light that we draw through the study, it's preferable to study in a group, so it will act stronger, and without that you will not be able to scrutinize this desire and give birth to it each time in a greater way, greater meaning. That we yearn for godliness in order to receive, and only afterwards that the yearning for godliness in order to receive comes to a state where it fills the entire essence of a person, meaning that it's equal to all the remaining natural desires that he has for various lusts and money, honor, knowledge, and he suppresses them to such a degree that a person lives only in the yearning for spirituality, godliness. I don't know what it is, but that's what he yearns for, he reaches a state where it doesn't let me sleep, then he acquires the correction of the screen, and this desire, together with the screen, is used as the first Sefira, meaning the first corrected desire in his soul. So, each time we need to worry about the desire, it's not important for us, this desire in order to receive, or anything, only as long as it's aimed, from the clothing of this world upwards. And then we'll receive an answer for it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:23) In page 17, it says that he's afraid he will not receive the next world, and that's why he performs commandments and observes the Torah, and then later it says that this also isn't sufficient. It says that you need to want the next world, the world to come, you said that you need to want spirituality, but here he says that it's not sufficient, and it's not …
M. Laitman: Again, again.
Student: In page 17, he gives two reasons for one's work: one to have pleasures in this world, and the second is to have the pleasures of the next world. And then he says that both of them are insufficient, so the pleasures of the world to come, which are above the pleasures of this world, that's also not sufficient, that's not what he should want.
M. Laitman: Let's read, I don't know, other questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:31) He talks about how when he begins to emerge from self-love, he exerts himself, how can a person exert in something that he cannot grasp at all?
M. Laitman: Look, spirituality is something you attain differently compared to everything else you attain in corporeality. That's where it's a problem, the more developed a person is in his intellect, the more difficult it is for him to advance in spirituality. You can bring here any professor, scientist, we have many here who truly have a scientific attitude, by nature, for life, and they typically do not stay, they leave. Why do they leave us? Someone with good intellect, he works, he develops something, he works in developing something. What's happening to him? He's accustomed to the process that is taking place in this world, and he thinks that the same process is taking place in spirituality. The same approach, the same form of development exists in attaining something in this world, in science or in life. Also in spirituality, the same attitude, and it's an incorrect attitude. In spirituality, the attitude is opposite. We learn it when Malchut of the upper one becomes the Keter of the lower one. The seed has to rot in order for something new to emerge from it, and so on. Meaning if, according to my intellect, I need to advance in spirituality, the more advanced I become, the better I get. I start as an animal, as a beast, then I study Torah, Kabbalah, I'm in a group, I speak of the beauty that's here, and I have to gradually become better and more suitable for it, until I'm rewarded in reaching spirituality. I deserve it. I worked hard on it. I improved. In truth, it's the other way around. The more a person is advancing, the more he discovers that he's in a lie. He discovers that the world around him is in a lie, and all the group and the friends, and he sees everything upside down, and he has more questions of Pharaoh, of what and whom, who is the Creator that I should hear Him, listen to Him, and what is this work for you? And this is unacceptable, and it's in contradiction to the healthy mind. I know about myself. I was foaming at the mouth from arguing with Rav, with Rabash. I was like a bull, you know, I almost grabbed him like that, because I'm used to, according to what I learned, and according to my nature. You know, let me work, I'm willing to work, just give me something, let me see that it is coming to me, right? And here, it's the opposite. I didn't even have examples, because when I arrived there, it was a dead area, completely. Hasids, you know, they pray, and then they leave. It was very difficult, you know, also these articles did not exist. The articles, he started after five years that I was with him. And the path of development is going in the opposite way. If a person that, in the end, does not subjugate himself, cannot advance. You cannot advance with your intellect, truly, with your intellect, you cannot understand it. Meaning, each time you have a contradiction between the way you feel and the way you think, each time. And there's nothing you can say to the world. Anyone who comes from the street will tell you, look, it's not right, it's inconceivable like that.
M. Laitman: (33:13) Right, because the true desire to enter spirituality has to be a real deficiency. He's not simply writing “desire,” he is writing “deficiency.” The difference is that you feel that you have nothing, and you're the opposite of spirituality, and you can't even understand. You can feel what is the opposite, and you don't deserve it, and you are in a state of despair, under the control, the rule of your Pharaoh, in the darkness of Egypt, and then you come out. You understand? Until the Creator exhausts you and shakes you up, until nothing is left in you, understand that He doesn't let you in. I said in advance, he who doesn't feel any forces, it's also natural that he doesn't feel the forces, you don't know how difficult it is, simply don't know. And it's a huge favor that you don't know what it's like, otherwise you would be all running away. But those who will walk on the path and not rely on the intellect, because the intellect is part of this world, rather he will walk as the way they say. Just do what he tells you, because it's a different nature, it's a second nature. You want to be like the Creator? You want to change your nature with His nature? Then this is a method, but you cannot compare it according to what you're accustomed to, in the nature of this world. It doesn't work; it's not the same measurements. You can measure and see just how much you're not able to grasp it, how much you're not able to understand what's going on, but not more than that. Even the other way around, where you think you're growing stronger and you're advancing, God willing, it's very likely that there you are a lie.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:30) So I have to continue tormenting myself in this?
M. Laitman: No, you don't have to torment yourself.
Student: I mean, I can't annul myself, my intellect, and say now I'll do what's written, because you need to make, you need to examine it every day.
M. Laitman: Yes, you should re-examine, you'll have to re-examine it, because if you're not examine yourself and reach those conflicts, those clashes between the point and the heart that comes to you from above, the spiritual nature, and the entire heart, which is your corporeal nature, you should not going to have those clashes, you will not create within you a new real desire called the soul, which is born specifically out of these contradictions, this desire. This is the real desire that is created, what is created in a person, what the Creator did not create, what we need to create by ourselves, seemingly. It's created out of the contradictions, but if you interpret them correctly, if you decipher them correctly with the surrounding light, then each time this desire is greater and greater and greater, until it occupies all of you, instead of the desires for this nature, you'll have the desires for the second nature, then you enter spirituality.
Student: How do I approach other thing without bestowing? In bestowing, I can't …
M. Laitman: Don't worry exerting and bestow. Don’t worry about it. You can’t think about bestowal, I don't know, it is not part of us. We need to study, from the study comes the light and it reforms us. If you are now thinking of bestowal, you have to be a thousand kilometers from here. Are you crazy? You don't need to coerce yourself, seemingly to think of bestowal. This is so, I don't know, it's such a great form of coercion on us, it's so unnatural, that a person simply finds, not that he finds no flavor in it, he just doesn't let him do any movement. Desires come from above, don't try to create them from within, “I wish to bestow.” Well, say it a thousand times, will that help you? Also, where will you say it from? From the mouth? I don't know, play a recording, that will say it. You understand, from within ourselves, we're not able to extract anything. Again, the point in the heart - from above, our general desire called the heart - from above, surrounding light - from above; only the exertion, so all these three conditions will clash in us, the forces; and then, true desire for spirituality will be born. So, apply pressure, as they tell you, it is not, for nothing, it says, everything within your power to do, you should do. What kind of stupid advice and to a stupid person, to a fool. Well, tell me what to do, I'm willing to do it. Oh, you know, just do what you want, only do it. How can they say it? This is a godly wisdom, these are the wisest people who understand and know all of nature, they know everything about the souls and everything. How can they give us such an advice? Because it's truly the correct advice.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:51) The path becomes harder. The more a person invests, the harder it gets.
M. Laitman: The path doesn't have to be so hard, in truth. The more one advances, it depends on a person. How should I put it? It depends on how a person sees it. You understand? I'll tell you, I spent four years in the Israeli Air Force. And to this day, I can hear how to get accepted to a flight academy or other things like that - it's one of thousands. Why do people go for it? They go for it. It's tough. You go for it. And specifically in such units in the army where you have to sweat a lot, people go there. Even today, when people lack morale, even today. Meaning, a person is not deterred by physical exertion. He's afraid that against this physical exertion, he won't be able to answer the body and tell it, why is he doing it? You know, ask the doctors, how much energy we spend on eating, or excuse my language, to have sex. It's a great deal of calories that you send, but you receive pleasure. You receive a justification for what you're doing. That's why it's not considered great exertion for you. The same is here. If you can justify this work, then for you it's not work. When I tell someone that I get up at three in the morning, the person on the outside looks at me as if like, what, what happened? Understand? And you see, nevertheless, people do get up at that time. They have a certain justification for it. They receive something. Either to be part of the sheep, or to be in a different level, called “man.” So, it's not a problem of difficulty. It's a matter of uniting the answer with the difficulty, what am I telling myself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:37) What's difficult is what you discover in yourself all the time. As you said, where you begin to see that time is passing, and you discover your true self. And if a person truly goes into that, he becomes worse. And it becomes more difficult for him to keep on the path. It's a kind of descent towards the Machsom [barrier]. When a person feels, well, he feels that it's just a descent. The more effort he makes, the more, the lower he feels he gets.
M. Laitman: Baal HaSulam describes it in this way. He says that a person approaches, he comes close and close, and he sees there's a wall before him. And this wall is the Creator Himself. And you cannot go through it. What can support him? The society. That's what he writes in the article, “Free Choice.” He says, there's only one thing you can do. The rest is done by the Creator. You can complain, you can shout, you can say whatever you want, but He leaves only one thing for you, the society. Build a strong society that will support you - yes. No - no. There's no other choice. If you run away from that, there's zero hope for you. Read the article. Thank God we have articles written by Kabbalists. I didn't write them. Look what he writes. I seemingly don't need to say anything after you read it. He writes, he who chooses each time a better society that aims him more towards spirituality, he advances. So every moment I have to worry, not about myself, but about the society I'm in. Or where is there a society that's closer to spirituality that I could enter? That's the only thing I need to worry about. Constantly look around me. Is it better next to him, next to them, maybe next to them, maybe here? That's the only thing I need to see. Only that. How will I strengthen the society so it will be as much as possible. Also both eating in order to reach spirituality, jumping, you know, studying, arranging something, making corrections here. It doesn't matter. Ultimately, in order to reach spirituality, I want to be with them as much as possible with them. So this way I advance. That's the only thing he writes that we have. The only thing. That's why anyone who tells me that he, oh, what society, what commune? You know, forget about it. The study is something else, but the society? There are such people. I have nothing to answer to that person. I guess he can't hear for the time being. And that's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:44) How can a person strengthen the society if the group is in a state of descent?
M. Laitman: The group can be in ascent, in a descent or in an ascent, it doesn't matter. The fact that it's in a descent could be an even better state, more real, compared to ascent. In the ascent, you're lying to yourself as if you have something. They give you a drop of sweetness from above, and I already, I'm like a baby that calms himself down. But in a descent, you don't calm yourself down. You see who you are relative to spirituality. You feel yourself bad. That's what you're calling a descent. What's a descent?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:30) Maybe as a result of the descent, you reach a state of, well, a state where you invest less, a state where you invest less, right? These feelings come at a state of descent, but now is the time to invest. It's not the time to say, okay, now I'm descending.
M. Laitman: You can't say that in a descent you can invest, don't say it. It's not hard, it's impossible. How does the society help? In a descent, when you disconnect your intellect, you're typically very smart, but you do what they do, and then you ascend. Even when they're in a descent, you are going up. No choice here. I've been saying it several times already. We wish to build a great society because Kabbalists write that this thing has to spread all over the world, so I'm going to do what they're saying. The stronger the society is, it spreads out among millions. It's okay, it's fine on the one hand. On the other hand, the closer the society, the stronger it is, the better it is, meaning there's expansion across, which is general providence, and there are strong, small groups, where each one inside this group can jump up, that's private providence. And there's a contradiction between the two. And I also feel it like that. On the one hand, we go and we wish to restrict ourselves, close ourselves off, move to an isolated place, seemingly isolated, yes? On the other hand, we have to open ourselves up to the whole world. There's a seeming contradiction between the two things. What can you do? There's no other choice for a person but to introduce himself into the society. The one who wants to rise must enter the society deeper. And each time to improve the society, he wants to rise, he has to enter, and then constantly improve the society. You can't switch it, you know, today you're here, tomorrow among these Hasids, then among the Knit-Kippahs, then you go spend some time with vegans, then the greens, then the blues, I don't know. You understand, you only talk about the society, or more or less it's aimed toward the goal, and you make it even more directed through your exertion. And only the society, meaning if you work on yourself, then there's nothing to work on, according to the way he explains it. We have the foundation, the essence, the law that develops the essence, and the spiritual, the surrounding conditions, and the laws by which they develop, these four factors that influence the soul, and out of these four we can influence only one thing, which is the conditions of the environment. So that's it. Influence them, bestow to them, it will be better for you.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:04) He writes here that the groans went up to God, after that he says that the hearing of the prayer was on the groans, and he says they sighed. I don't understand the difference.
M. Laitman: These are stages, when a person discovers himself inside his world. I come, I study, I participate in all sorts of things, and gradually I begin to feel all kinds of changes in me, unpleasant changes to be honest. Sometimes I'm good with these guys, sometimes I cannot stand them, sometimes the path is attractive, sometimes I see that it's bland, and nothing will come out of it. From all these clashes, I have all kinds of questions, all kinds of things. Eventually I have to reach a state, as it's written in the story of Passover, “and the sons of Israel sigh from the work.” Meaning, you see that the truth, advancing in truth, when a person sees himself yearning more for spirituality, and he sees more that it's not coming, and that he can never attain spirituality, these are two extremes. You understand how difficult it is? It's hard to tolerate it. We are running away from feeling this contradiction between those things all the time, because you can't truly be between these two things. They're too much, they're too painful, too painful. But breaking into spirituality, after a person feels, “and the sons of Israel sighed from the work” - I have no hope for spirituality. What does it mean, I have no hope, I want it, only it - the spirituality, and I have no hope for it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:09) So when he says that they sighed in the end, from below up, it comes after?
M. Laitman: That, that is the true lack. And then that prayer, meaning that lack, the Creator hears it. What does it mean, He hears it? It's a lack that can be fulfilled. We need to grow the lack to a degree where it's above our world. With it, we can then break through the barrier and emerge into spirituality. The lack for spirituality has to be greater than all of our lacks for corporeality.
Student: So it's not from this world, actually.
M. Laitman: It's a lack that is gradually woven in the person. I gather it through many small exertions. That means, that's the work in building Pitom and Ramses, the work of Egypt, the labor.
Student: So, the preparation period?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course, preparation. You now started working in it.
Student: So in this world?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course, this world. This world is up to the Machsom, the barrier.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:36) You said that they say, everything within your power to do, you should do. And later we started to talk about how the only thing that can influence is the society. So can you interpret this?
M. Laitman: The society is the only factor that a person can bestow to and that can bestow upon you, or influence, rather.
Student: So you can interpret this line in the form of a goal to improve the society?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, exactly. What does the Rabash write there in the first articles, that you need to believe, well, actually to see if the society you're in is promoting you, if it's advancing in the right direction. And after that, you need to bestow upon the society. And after bestowing upon the society, you also need to lower your head and receive from the society. There is work here. The society is like a mechanism through which what I want to have, I will have, but only through bestowing upon the society. That is the solution. He explains it in a very scientific manner, very nicely, very clearly in “The Freedom”, the article about free choice. We call it, “The Freedom.” And there, “Free Choice?” Why do I say “Free Choice” always? Maybe, that's how we called the article once, and we changed to “The Freedom.”
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:23) How to balance the two things you spoke about, in depth and in breadth?
M. Laitman: Any Kabbalist that you can point to in previous generations, they all wanted to hide, on the one hand. A few students studying quietly, humbly, nobody sees them, nobody knows; they work together, they eat together, they study together, and that's it. That's the true attraction. This is what Baal HaSulam wanted to do as well. From Poland, he carried in machines for tanning. He wanted to make a tannery, right? And he thought they'll be simple laborers. Nobody will touch them, nobody will look at them, because tanning skins, leathers, that's very stinky. It's very smelly work. So, it's written that you can't do with tannery, and you can't be next to someone who works in that, because it's very lowly work, very smelly. So, this is Dayan, a great rabbi in Warsaw, right? Imagine yourself, very high position, and a Kabbalist. And so he thought, and he brought the machines for tanning, and he thought, I'll take ten, fifteen students, how many he thought he will find in Jerusalem, and create, make a tannery. And then they could study, and it'll be a small commune, right, where they work together, they study. That's it. That was his intention. And the same with all the Kabbalists, that's what they wanted to arrange around themselves. It's natural for people through this study to look for how to connect together more and more. The study itself, if you're aiming for the Creator, you have to all connect together emotionally, as well as physically, so to speak, together. To the point where there were accusations made against Baal HaSulam, that he's a communist and so on, because he also wrote articles about that. And then people ratted him out to the English, saying that he's a communist, it was the 1930s, you know. On the one hand, there's a force that concentrates all those people in a group, a small group, as small as possible. But also that force that is concentrated in a small group, there's still the issue of dissemination to take care of. And here, without losing its value, its potency, that it has through that close bond and connection, still it has to work from within itself towards the outside, externally. But the structure that is so closed, so bound up, that shouldn't affect its attitude, its work towards the outside. Both need to be taken care of. But also, you need to make sure that those people who can't be on the inside, if they can, they should remain outside. There are people who can't do such intense work in the group. They're incapable of it. They can't give up things. They can't make concessions. Then they should be still connected to the society, but in a more peripheral manner. Baal Shem Tov was able to do it, he made a Hasidism. He had his room where he had a few actual Kabbalists, students. The first Admurim, they came from Russia, Poland, or rather. And then he raised Kabbalists, let's say 30. And to the general population, he gave them something different. An external way to resemble the Kabbalists. You wear this special clothing, these special garments, you hold this kind of meal with the others, and raise the toast, L’Chaim, these things which didn't exist before. It was all, you know, dry. What is agreed upon, accepted in Hasidism these days, all these customs, he brought into the people. And these customs also match spirituality. Why are they done? So that people, how people begin to do that, they begin to ask, they get closer to it. And the customs themselves also resemble, in a sense, they simulate the work of the Kabbalists. But in corporeality, you sit together, you eat together, you help each other. There are various such customs in the prayers, various things.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:00) Meaning…
M. Laitman: Meaning, the Hasidism, the Hasidic movement, that's a partial, an external expression of the inner work Kabbalists do.
Student: The question is, now, toward the public, how to create the means?
M. Laitman: This is what Baal Shem Tov did. With respect to religious Jews, he added to them a few more such customs that are matching, that match spirituality. And that's called the Hasidut, the Hasidic movement. And we have no connection to that. What do we need it for? We are heading towards the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah itself; not customs, rituals. We need to make it known to all the people. We need to make the wisdom of Kabbalah known. Kabbalists write that in our times, each one must, as we learned in the “Introduction to Etz Chaim”, “The Tree of Life” of The ARI, right? He writes that we must. So he writes, we must open seminaries so that this wisdom will erupt, and break through, and fill all the streets, and that's what he writes. So, if he says that we must, then I accept it as a command. That's it. It's not just him saying, of course. You can read what all the other Kabbalists write about this. We have a book called “Lirot Tov”, [seeing good]. And there you have quotes from all the Kabbalists about that. So, it follows that we have nothing more than the study and the work in the group. Now, the study, that's clear. It's according to what Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to TES,” and the work of the group that he writes about in “The Freedom,” meaning that that is the only thing we can do to influence ourselves. It's through the society. And bestowing upon others, that's through the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah, and that's what he writes about in the last items in the introduction to the book of “Zohar” and also in the introduction to the “Tree of Life,” “Etz Haim.” And we have everything that the other Kabbalists also wrote. So, we have these three, four things that we have to invest in.
Student: So the third temple?
M. Laitman: I don't know what the third temple is. Look, the temple that is called a vessel, we build this vessel.
Student: The external, the third temple?
M. Laitman: Externality? No, that doesn't concern me at all. I'm not going to be a builder, a contractor. What does it mean to build the third temple? I don't understand.
Student: In externality.
M. Laitman: What do you mean in externality? Just to build? And what will it do?
Student: Not the land, maybe the third temple?
M. Laitman: Fine, you can do it if you want. But what will come of it? What will come of it? We want to build in this world something which will be similar to spirituality, yes? Well, if this world isn't compatible with spirituality, isn't adapted to spirituality because we didn't make it inside of ourselves yet, what will it help us if we build another building? You think the temple is so pretty? What's so pretty here? You see, it's a very simple construction, very simple. A wall, a few walls, a few pillars, a bit of this, above, a bit of this, below, a table. Very simple matters. I have this disc where you have the disc with a depiction of the temple, which is actually pretty accurate, the depiction there. There's nothing to it. What do you want to do with it? You can make a museum, find and bring tourists. Today they won't come. So, there's nothing to build it for. Why will you do it? Just tell me. In the temple that you'll build, there won't be any spiritual power. It's the same as El Aqsa standing there, you'll have a different building, which you'll call the temple. And? Maybe you want to collect some money, make some money, right? I know you. They'll give money for that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:21) Can there be a state where someone feeds the group, bestows to it, let's say, incorrectly, and it receives back from it an incorrect picture? Can there be a state where someone is mistaken in how he bestows to it?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course. A group that doesn't have a head above it, a leader. It cannot advance. In general, spirituality as a whole is built in a very clearly defined pyramid. It's completely opposite to democracy. There's no democracy. Democracy is just, you know, the sheep, where they're all on the same level. Nobody is especially prominent. Nobody sticks out. Simple. There's no direction. There's nothing. So, you can see, sometimes I shout, and sometimes, look, on the one hand, it's not good. But on the other, I don't think it is possible in any other way. Meaning, a group cannot exist, and the world cannot exist if there's no, if there's, in every element of it, if there's no someone deciding, someone making the decisions, any individual, any small group or larger group, society or a nation, it cannot be otherwise. And you need to really decide forcefully, because what does it mean to decide, to determine? It means that there are people under you who don't understand, don't agree, and don't want. By nature. It's not that that's the way they are inherently, but rather it's by nature. But they agree to follow a direction. They just don't agree, their nature doesn't agree to obey to the things they need to obey. So here, you need to compel them by force. It's like a shepherd. What does he do? So, there's no choice. That's how the Creator acts with us, and the group also must have a head. Sometimes, through very inconsiderate, unpleasant pressure, brutal sometimes, that's usually how it works. There's an example from spirituality for this. If you want different examples, well, let's do this. I'll leave here for a few months, and then you'll see what happens. It's simply, it's impossible for it to be sustained. That's how the world has to be built. Any structure that isn't built accordingly, cannot be sustained. That's why in each and every group, whether you want to or not, there's a certain leader or two, usually it has to be one. You need to accept this as the right form. The right form. Or you can have a person in charge of every specific role.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:03) Sometimes I see, I have no experience, but from my place, I'm similarly, I'm judging, I see someone bestowing correctly, someone doing it incorrectly. Can I even do it?
M. Laitman: Can you criticize, pass judgment on the leader, the head of the group, or the Rav?
Student: No, no, I didn't say it. On the friends in the group.
M. Laitman: No, a member, a friend in the group, that's something else. But also the leader of the group, the Rav, you can criticize. The Creator also, you can criticize. What does it mean, you can? In what way will your criticism be creative, that you'll gain from it, profit from it. There must be criticism. And Baal HaSulam also tells us, 23 and a half hours, you work, and half an hour, criticism, actual criticism. Without the left line, we see that nothing gets done. But when do you enter the left line? When do you go to conduct criticism? When do you conduct criticism on Rav and the group? When it's certain that your criticism won't weaken you and throw you out of the group, eject you from the group. Then you can really see things that you can correct. As we said, you come to the society, and you have to make sure, it's better. You need to fix it. Or, if you don't fix it, then you at least surrender to it. After your criticism, even though you saw that it's wrong in something, nevertheless, you surrender, and you continue with the group. Otherwise, you are ejected back into your beastly life. The door is always open. So, in spirituality, you always have two lines which contradict each other. You always have two approaches, two options. The problem is, how do you approach the scrutiny? And you must conduct the scrutiny, because from that, you build the middle line, which is called Adam, human, which is called Neshama, soul. This is mandatory. Nobody takes from you your right to choose and your ability to criticize, but it should be in such a way where you continue to add to yourself and to the society in the right way. That's why you enter the right line. The left line, you take from the left. After the criticism, you carry it back into the right, and then you return to the middle. That's the work that we need to learn. It's not simple. That's why, as Rav says in the first articles, one who cannot surrender to the society after being in it already, well, there's nothing for him to hope for, he cannot advance. That’s it. And in order to remain, he has to make sure in advance to create support for himself, support. Friends, connections which will help him in his time of weakness. I'm weak, I don't want this, I'm sick of you all, I can't look at any one of you and everything you're doing here. You know, I can be more critical than anyone here. But after a person does that, and he does that with the intention to grow stronger from the beginning, so these criticisms, these questions will create more flesh, something he can rise above. And so supporting connections with the friends, that's very important. If there's some very smart person gradually isolates himself from the society, gradually he begins to come here, not every day. And when he comes, he sits in a way where he cares about nothing of it. And if you want to carry him with you a little bit to hold his interest, he says, who are you? Am I not at least as smart as you guys? And so on, and gradually deteriorates and falls off until he has no support, because nobody cares about him, because he separated himself from everyone. Then he's simply, well, he's by himself, and he's ejected.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:49) What can society do in such a case?
M. Laitman: A society can help in whatever is possible. I see that a few people are in that process. And unfortunately, as much as you try to do something for them, they don't really accept this help. They're too smart. What can you do? To cut their heads off? That's something a person needs to do for himself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:16) Can the society engage them? To throw them out if they're not there?
M. Laitman: Generally, they remove themselves from the society. Our society is so well bonded, and more and more every day. We look for ways to unite. And so if a person is not following this, then he feels the centrifugal force throwing him out. He cannot remain here. He cannot tolerate what's happening here. Nothing will help. This is against the dissemination that we do. We need to balance these two things out, but there's no choice. If I want the hundreds of people sitting here to be here for another year, another two years, I think this is more or less how long it will take them to cross the barrier, to be above the barrier, I think we have to unite more.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:25) If that person thinks that he's looking for a better society?
M. Laitman: No, of course. There's a duty that you have. Baal HaSulam writes about it. A person must always seek a better society.
Student: And a better society, a good society, you have to give them an opportunity of how to search for a better society?
M. Laitman: Did you ever sign any contract here? Did you accept any responsibility? Did you sign any contracts, Arvut, something like that? No. A person can decide to stop coming here tomorrow. Nobody's stopping him. One person turned to me yesterday, and I told him, you're welcome to leave, simply. If a person thinks that his path isn't exactly our path, what can I do? And in truth, we've been seeing for months that he's separating, growing more distant. What can you do? Let him leave. Of course, I'm sorry about each and every one. But there is a process. And more will leave. Every time we advance towards greater unity, the more we'll fall. The more we unite, the more we'll fall. Because they cannot adhere to the process. They cannot match the pace. There's nothing to do. And so, we will see them in an incarnation or two. It's not so bad. That's how it is.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:09) A person is typically drawn after pleasure. It's also in society. Society has more. He's attracted to pleasure. It's his natural, it's his nature. He wants something, he's looking for pleasure. It's natural to search for them, fulfillment. Where is the balance in our work? Both the fulfillment that you receive naturally. Here, we read the article, and the article says that you can advance for pleasure. So, how to act so the fulfilment you get here was the main one?
M. Laitman: I don't know what exactly it is that you're asking. We don't need to make so many calculations about where we are, where our thoughts are, pleasures, no pleasures. As I said, we don't need to correct our measures. We need only be concerned that during the time when we study, our intention would be to be corrected, that when I read, I won't yearn to know what's written here. But rather, I'll yearn for the force that will come to me through the study, which will bring me closer, elevate me towards spirituality, that's all. And everything else will work itself out. You don't know the formation of the soul so as to say that now I need to want this, and then to think that, and then to compare these things. We don't know anything. Even after we enter into spirituality, there's a very long time where you work only on Galgalta Eynaim, to correct Galgalta Eynaim. And there also you work only in rejection, like a baby who is under the complete authority of the adult, and he gets to know the adults taking care of him, helping him, protecting him. But you need to make a baby of yourself, that's how you need to work, you understand? The adult decides, he decides what I eat, he takes care of me. And this is also a very lengthy process after the Machsom, after the barrier, where a person makes himself small. And Gadlut, greatness or adulthood, where is that? That's the mind. And so, our mind is our enemy.