Morning Lesson July 27, 2023

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

Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 39 (1990). What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Introduction: “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its Joy”, this means that as much as we understand and recognize the magnitude of the ruin that we went through, what is its source, its reason; and as much as this touches our heart, the entire nation, the whole world, the Creator's plan for creation according to that we can also understand and recognize, and feel this whole mourning, and thus realize what is the reason for the ruin. What should be the reason to come out from the ruin and how do we reach the building of Jerusalem, how do we reach Jerusalem? ‘Jerusalem’ is a sign for complete fear that we attain and then in such a way, from the mourning, we rise to joy. There is no other day that is more black, that is considered a day of general mourning, like the 9th of Av. This is the source of all of the judgments, all the troubles. Well, let's hope that we can study this from the article, so, please, “What anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its Joy, in the work”, Rabash’s article.

Reading article - What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem I Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?

2. S. (35:10) Why does a person who feels concealment in spirituality should ask for mercy for everyone?

R. Because if the Creator had mercy over everyone He would feel it with everyone. Therefore, he cannot ask for himself as much as he can ask for the entire generation, for everyone.

S. Why shouldn't he pray for his part, nevertheless he's part of the system, he should ask to correct?

R. If he’s a part of the system he should realize that he won’t correct the system, he won't feel it either. All-in-all, when we receive from above some form of bestowal, then we get this for this form, because we are ready for it.

S. Another thing I didn't understand, what is “one who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded for seeing her joy”?

R. Apparently to mourn for Jerusalem is something very difficult, by this a person develops new vessels and in these vessels he sees the joy of Jerusalem. Which also exists in spirituality. However, to rise from the degree of the ruin to the degree of joy, of correction, a person can do it on the condition that he becomes incorporated in both of these states; both the state of ruin and also the state of joy.

S. To bring it close to our work in the ten: What is that mourning for Jerusalem and what is that joy?

R. If we can connect with each other and realize that the entire correction of the world is in the connection between us, and we do want to be connected then all the more so, we have to reach that.

S. What does it mean ‘to mourn Jerusalem’ in the relationships between us?

R. Well, Jerusalem is the image of the correction of the soul, either it is broken or it is built and we have to reach a state where we become incorporated in Jerusalem that is built.

3. S. (38:55) Rabash recommends that we coerce ourselves in order to rise above reason, how do we do this action?

R. When we want to get closer to the friends in spite of all the difficulties that we have on the path towards unity between us and in such a way we can reach a single vessel, and in it, a single force will be revealed. And this is how we will reach the correction; all-in-all, the method is very simple, very healthy, however the correction, in actuality, is difficult.

4. S. (40:17) He writes that if there's no flavor in the work then how in studying the Torah can you bestow to the Creator, how can you bestow to the Creator if there's no flavor?

R. Only by asking Him that He will give me taste.

S. Is it permissible to ask?

R. It’s permissible to ask about anything.

S. I thought we were going to ask for the power to continue?

R. No, no, you can ask for whatever you want. You will learn from that; if you will get something out of it or you won't get anything out of it.

S. It's egoistic to give me flavor in the work. Of course if He gives me flavor I'll work.

R. But if I know that without that I cannot move, then I have no choice and I should ask for it. you see? They put a certain food before you and they demand of you to eat it and you cannot, you can't, it repels you so much that it's impossible to get close to it, to this dish. What are you going to do?, as much as you plead, it's not going to help. Especially if it is demanded of you that you will eat it with love, that you'll be drawn to it, with special conditions, that you should feel in it the taste of Heaven, etc. And you are, in the complete opposite of it, so how can you do it? this is what our will to receive is telling us.

S. So sometimes you have to give some flavor to the will to receive so it will leave us alone and now begin to work?

R. How will you work without the will to receive?

S. Above, that's what we learn, that's the method, there’s a power above the desire; the fact that there'll be some flavor within the will to receive, is no problem?

R. Well, let's say. Well, today you are in a ruin I see.

6. S. (42:58) I want to ask about this discernment of asking for the collective, the public: When a person is asking for the public, for the collective, the public is not feeling those sufferings that the person is asking for.

R. That's right, otherwise he would ask.

S. So why is it called asking for the public? Why is he asking for them if they're not included in these sufferings?

R. So you're saying the following: If I do not awaken a deficiency out of a bad feeling then it's not really a deficiency and I can't pray for it and nothing's going to happen.

S. When you ask, you ask from something that pains you, in the article he repeats it several times, that he's asking for the public but the public is not feeling the suffering for which he's asking.

R. Right.

S. So why from the get-go is he asking for such things?

R. Because he knows that it's good for them.

S. How can they receive it if they don't have a lack?

R. Well, this is what we have to search for; the way, the direction for how we can reach out to the public and how do we convince them to take on the method, the method by which to discover the vessel and establish themselves so that they can receive the filling.

S. It works out that every time he asks for the collective, he's asking for himself. Ultimately, the revelations are in him because they don't have any vessels?

R. Well, apparently he needs to become incorporated with them, in them, and get from them their deficiency and check that deficiency, how much their deficiency matches his deficiency? There are stages in that.

S. Why is it called Shechina, Divinity in the dust, why is it in the dust if they don’t even share that deficiency, they don't have the awareness of Divinity in the dust, so why is the public called Divinity in the dust?

R. No, the Shechina is in the dust because she cannot save all the people in the world, this is why she's in the dust. What to do about it? Through the work, precisely such work as he writes to us, we can awaken the Shechina so that it will awaken its individual desires, so that they will be able to wake up.

S. I’ll ask one last time, If you are asking for the public but the public does not share those sufferings for which you are asking, is there any expectation for something to happen in them or you have no calculation about whether or not something will happen in them?

R. This already is a different question. We didn't finish the article, didn't we?

Reader: We finished it.

R.Let’s read the article again.

Reading article (47:07) - What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem I Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work? - Again

7. R. (01:18:48) So, how was the article? I'm happy that it went through in a revealing way for everyone. Yes. Well, anybody wants to ask?

8. S. (01:19:40) It's written in the article, since I’m working only for the Creator to enjoy, what is the difference if I feel any flavor in this or not, but when we work this way, don’t we cancel the possibility for the ego to turn to the Creator out of the suffering?

R. Yes, of course it's not enough. If I don't attach my feelings to it, it's completely not okay.

9. S. (01:20:14) What is ‘the ruin of Jerusalem’ practically in the ten?

R. It's when we feel a lack of an ability to be ‘as one man with one heart’. Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, is the feeling, the Force that ties us together; and its ruin is the opposite.

10. S. (01;21:35) I’m feeling like there is a new state here, like I was transformed, and I wanted to ask about it: I see that there's a ruin, a destruction of the previous state and a building of a new vessel, what should be the first state in the new vessel that was built?

R. That I am in the new vessel, and by me establishing myself with all my forces, together, towards a new discernment.

11. S. (01:22:3) He talks about three states there, of a donkey and ox, and a human, what's the difference between them?

R. The donkey and the ox are two lines, left and right, and the man is the middle line.

12. S. (01:23:23) Mercy is given to someone who repents, so how can the nations expect mercy without repentance?

R. Without repentance we can’t. The nations of the world are each one who still doesn't have a connection with the Creator of Israel; so it’s called in the meantime ‘the nations of the world’ and there's nothing he can do but symply…

S. It says in the article that we should pray for the nations, even if they don't have any importance of the Creator.

R. Yes. In each and everyone there are such discernments that man doesn't feel the importance of the Creator in them; those discernments are called ‘the nations of the world’, and we need in some way to add them into a correction, and in this way we have to process them all. Eventually we need to bring all of the thoughts, desires and qualities we have to the revelation of the Creator, to adhesion, to connection and that's why they exist; In our vessel of Malchut, there’s seventy nations of the world. there's an ability to be above that, that is called Israel, and in this way we need to advance.

13. S. (01:26:15) What is ‘unconditional surrender’ and what does it mean to come to such a state?

R. ‘Unconditional surrender’ is when I want to surrender without any preconditions, I want to acquire the method, the form, that will give me a connection with the friends. Then in this way, I will not need to disconnect from them. Try and speak about it as simply as you; philosophy you can always add.

S. How can we consider the Giver of the reward when we are in the work, so as not to forget where the reward comes from?

R. Yes, it's also important where the reward comes from, by the way; we cannot constantly only see the Giver of the gift, that's not exactly right. We need both and to be in between the two.

14. S. (01:28:26) It is written that, one who wants to walk with the greatness of the Creator will experience bad thoughts, and the way to overcome it is to pray for the entire public. What is praying for the whole public and how does this change the state?

R. On the general collective, that means on all of the Malchut of Ein Sof. That we have to pray for it because we are a part of that Malchut of Ein Sof that is able to demand a correction for her. That's it. So we must.

S. It is also written that when we reach a faith above reason, we are bestowing to the Creator. Is praying for the public is bestowing to the Creator? Is that all part of faith?

R. Yes, you can say that.

15. S. (01:30:07) It is said in the excerpt that he's asking for mercy for his friend, so he would feel the greatness of the Holiness of raising divinity, the Shechina from the dust. What is the essence of asking for mercy for one's friend? What are we asking for?

R. What do you ask for a friend? that he will be connected with the others in such a ten where the Creator can be revealed completely.

S. Is this the mercy?

R. Yes.

16. S. (01:30:3) In two places Rabash moves abruptly from asking for the collective to asking for the friend, what is the connection here? The thing that he has to ask for the collective, for the public and then ask for the friend, is it the same thing or what is it he says that it's important to ask for the general public and then to the friend without any transition?

R. Man comes out of himself and then there's no difference for him, he just asks for the vessel to be corrected in its external part.

S. How to ask for the friend or for society, if the Creator is not important at that moment because there is no importance for the Creator?

R. How can you ask, first we need to uplift the importance of the Creator.

S. But, it says here that when the Creator is not important you have to ask. How do you ask if He's not important?

R. Ask.

17. S. (01:32:35) When a person prays for the whole generation, for the whole collective, what does it mean that his prayers are answered and he sees the rebuilding of Jerusalem in its joy, because it happens within a person not outside?

R. What's the difference, what does it matter?

S. Well a person doesn't begin to see that his whole generation wants to walk in the path of Torah and Commandments but within a person there has to be some change and because of his prayer not everyone begins to pray? So seeing the joy of Jerusalem or raising the Shechina from the dust, is it correct that then a person begins to see that everything in society follows his pace and that the Creator is Good and does good, these are the things that are revealed to a person and not that the whole society or everyone prays?

R. Yes.

18. S. (01:34:04) You said that a person has to pray for Malchut of Ein Sof, what does it mean to pray Malchut of Ein Sof?

R. On the general Malchut that includes everything in it.

S. And what is the connection where I asked for the ten to connect with that, where is the Malchut here?

R. It's only in its magnitude, you can't divide it into parts. Spirituality isn't divided into parts.

S. How to switch from the connection with the ten to the general Malchut?

R. It only depends on as much as you increase or decrease the incorporation between all parts.

S. So how do I increase the integration between all the parts when I feel the connection with the friends in the ten?

R. You Increase the incorporation and love.

S. Within the ten or should I add something else to it?

R. In the ten.

S. We have other friends, we have the whole world kli, is this what you mean or only in the ten?

R. It doesn't matter how much you add or subtract the amount of friends.

19. S. (01:35:45) We feel that when at least two friends in the group build between them a connection and a prayer for a common deficiency, that deficiency can be felt throughout the group. Can we build a deficiency in the group that reflects the deficiency of the whole collective and be connected to it just like when two friends pray we feel the deficiency of the whole ten? So when we pray can we feel the deficiency of the whole ten of the whole collective and pray for it?

R. Yes.

20. S. (01:36:35) What should be our work on the day of fasting, a day of mourning like today?

R. Our work has to be, that we are thinking of the corrections in each and everyone and as much as we are close or far of correcting the general vessel; as much as we can help each other in our general correction. And it really has to awaken us all, because without the general common feeling between us, that we'll think of the general correction, we won’t reach advancement towards the final correction. That's what I can say.

21. S. (01:37:58) Sometimes the Creator gives us the key through the article, a key that opens some feeling in the heart. How do we not lose it? How do we work out of that new feeling?

R. Don't be afraid of losing it. When it's needed you will find that key again.

S. Does the Creator take this feeling away from us or do we lose it?

R. It's a feeling in a person you shouldn't be afraid of losing it, the main thing is to keep coming closer. That key is between us and when we search for the Creator together we find Him.

22. S. (01:39:17) I have this confusion. When we talk about the nations of the world there are two levels, on the one hand it’s the nations of the world that I see in my situation which are my desires that are not corrected yet, so the question is you said more than once that the nations of the world on the physical level don't need to do the work, the same work as Israel, and though you suddenly feel that it's like that and they will join us after we do the work, but desires that are big desires, each and every desire has to be awakened and corrected. How do we reconcile between them?

R. We need to constantly think how we come closer to one structure, how we reach one place, how we reveal one that to the extent that we connect between us the Creator supposedly connects and prepares Himself for our feelings. That's why revealing the Creator entirely depends on our connection, entirely.

S. So when I pray for the collective what should I imagine?

R. You need to imagine that before you there is a collective and you're suffering that they don't have revelation of the Creator and they can’t reach revelation of the Creator and the unity between them without your prayer.

23. S. (01:41:54) The text mentions several times which concept is overcoming and subjection or necessity. When do we overcome the will to receive and when do we surrender it?

R. I don't think there's an essential difference between those concepts or terms.

24. S. (01:42:29) How can we increase the common feeling of the whole world Kli during the lesson so that a prayer of many will come up from us?

R. To try together to unite our hearts. You have to feel that today you are more prepared for it than it was two, three, four weeks ago, just like that there is more of a willingness in each friend's heart and in this way come closer.

S. How can we feel that our whole Kli in the heart?

R. I don't know what the whole Kli is, it's enough for me and my ten. If I am able to feel inside of me all of the desires, thoughts, goals of my friends so according to this I can go onward and feel everyone's sorrow.

25. S. (01:44:02) The question that I wanted to do is regarding the intention.Yesterday we learned that the Creator is the one who changes our intention destroying the temple. Today we are learning also from Rabash, but also the intention to give also the Creator gives to us, so it is like we are in between those two intentions. From one side we will reveal the breaking, the Shevira, and from the other side we, according to our unity, we will ask the Creator for the intention, but I feel like there is none else besides Him.

R. I still didn't hear a question.

S.The question is, do we need to get out from the feeling that we are just a receiver and enter the feeling that we are also partners with the Creator?

R. Partners of the Creator when we can be, when we have the force of receiving and the force of bestowal one against the other and then we can use the two of them equally, then we can feel that we are partners, that if He gives I give, if He receives I receive, one against the other.

26. S. (01:47:31) The question is about the highest Ohr. Can we help each other to reach this highest Ohr, or an ability to bestow, or does it come as a sum of results when we keep trying to bestow but we keep failing?

R. Yes, we need more and more to come close to the right plea, the demand.