Morning Lesson November 04, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 27, 1987. What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:22) Our goal is to reach the form of bestowal and our nature is to be in the quality of reception, therefore we have to go through both, being between so to speak, let's see how we do that. What is a blessing and a curse in the work.
Reading (00:52) “What are blessing and curse in the work?”
2. R. (27:27) The article is very complex. Well maybe let's hear a few questions.
3. S. (27:43) Which acts turn a curse into a blessing?
R. He writes to you, that man changes his attitude toward the Creator from the receiver, the user, to a bestower.
4. S. (28:15) How in the ten can we serve the Creator if it's not according to our nature?
R. You connect together above your egoistic natures and you try to overcome that nature, so as to help each other and bestow to each other. So ultimately you happen to be bestowing to the Creator.
S. What hinders us from connecting? Is that our desire to receive for ourselves? Is it the evil inclination?
R. Yes.
5. S. (29:07) It says in the middle of the article that if the lower ones will perform a restriction, meaning they will want to engage only in order to bestow, then they will receive the light and pleasure but if they won't make this precision then they will see darkness and not light. So how do we follow this line?
R. It's only when a true connection is built within the friends and not any other way. We have nothing else in your hands with which you can work.
S. How in relation to the connection with the friends can I follow this line of restriction and only engage in order to bestow?
R. You have friends, together with them and try to do everything for their sake, for them and nothing for your own sake, nothing besides what you receive in order to bestow to them and this will be your correction.
S. This means that with such a connection a person can be rewarded with a blessing?
R. Of course. He immediately awakens upon himself the light of the Creator not clearly at first but gradually.
S. This examination of the restriction, I do it only for the friends but also for myself? At every moment with every thought, with every desire, do I need to check this test?
R. This is only according to the state of adhesion with the friends. I'm not even trying to find any other method, it doesn't even exist. Only according to the relationship between you and the friends, to the extent that I’m coming close to them, that we are close to each other and we're looking together towards our common goal where all of us just become glued between us and with the Creator. This is what I desire.
6. S. (31:52) There's a feeling that we are making great efforts in connection we make great efforts in the study and then the Creator places some small pleasure, really just a small one and my feeling is that I fall into this pleasure and it creates a great frustration because on the one hand you make efforts and then the Creator places a small thing there and seemingly you don't have anything to overcome it and you fall. My question is, how to relate correctly to this and not be frustrated and angry with such a situation?
R. Possibly the things that the Creator presents before you in order to raise you through the ladder of degrees all the way to Him seem little to you but in fact they're big, very big.
S. The pleasure that is placed before me is seemingly great even though it seems to me as very small and I don’t succeed but...?
R. If you're not succeeding why are you saying it’s small?
S. Because a minute earlier it didn't seem big to me, it didn't seem to me that I needed a lot of overcoming and then suddenly you feel that you fall, like that you are completely helpless, I don’t know how to explain it even, it is very frustrating.
R. Yes, that's something we can all understand. Yes, well what can you do? Just keep going.
S. What's the Creator's purpose when He does such a thing, why does He do it?
R That we'll see how zeros we are and that we will be dependent on Him and ask for His help.
S. I should relate to it with joy and not as frustration, to see that it is something good on the path?
R. Yes.
7. S. (34:06) Towards the end of the article it says that a person cannot correct that which another has to correct but rather each one has his personal correction. What does it mean that in a group we start with a common desire, a coming intention and then each one will have his own correction?
R. It doesn't matter, all of that will still change.
8. S. (34:47) It says there that each one has his own correction. What happens to a correction of one who leaves the path?
R. It stays and at some point he'll come back and continue. Ultimately, each and every person in the world will have to correct himself.
S. Rav, can I add? We are now studying together with the friends and the group. If somebody from the group quits, what happens with the correction of the friends who belong to that same group who studied together?
R. These corrections are still all in the right place; they're in the upper, spiritual circle.
9. S. (36:10) If the root of the judgments lies at the point of the restriction how can we overcome this judgment?
R. The root for the judgment and restriction, we can overcome it only through connection between us, only through the connection between us.
10. S. (36:48) What does it mean that each day we ask for a prayer that is different from the previous day? Does it mean that the Creator seemingly wants to give us something that we ask of Him, He awakens us before we ask of Him for something?
R. Of course, of course.
11. S. (37:15) How can we reach being as receivers of vessels of bestowal? How can we get vessels of bestowal?
R. We get to the vessels of bestowing in order to bestow and then receiving in order to bestow, meaning that even in vessels of reception we can work with an intention to bestow, even though we receive from the Creator all that He wants to give, meaning all the light of Ein Sof; we ultimately receive it in order to bestow to the Creator.
12. S. (38:24) With respect to the other question about the prayer, we talk about the prayer and should we recognize the goal and where we are with respect to the goal, and then pray with respect to that, and advance through that?
R. I didn't understand the question.
S. If the prayer should be related to the goal in the place where we are, so the prayer is in order for us to advance towards the goal, in the process we're going through, so that the prayer will help to advance us even more?
R. Yes, and so what's the question?
S. Is that so?
R. Yes.
S. The prayer should be linked to the current moment, to our present state, we need to detect, to recognize the state that we're in right now in order to advance further?
R. I still don't really understand what he's asking.
S. He's asking should the prayer be for the present moment, for the present state or should it be general according to what we feel right now, in this moment, the stage that we're in or not?
R. Well of course, where does he get the deficiency for a prayer? From the state that he is going through. Well, we'll wait until it ripens within him.
13. S. (40:32) These are actually two questions about how to relate to the friends: one, sometimes I feel that I can't be small, I have to be the father, not the father that keeps the group but my relation should be a relation of responsibility. Secondly, when I have something good towards one of the friends that actually comes from the rubbing of the hearts, from different views etc.. How do I pass it onto the other friends? The same thing that happened, that didn’t happen because of us, it happened because of the Creator.
R. We have to work on the connection between us, on getting closer and closer, until our hearts like you said, will rub up against each other to the point that we're all in a single heart.
S. This relation of attitude and responsibility is it okay to think that I am the father, that I have more responsibility?
R. Yes, everyone can do it.
14. S. (41:46) How can I distinguish between the pleasure of receiving the pleasure when I bestow to the Creator without making the egoistic calculation that the pleasure from bestowal can be a lot greater than the pleasure of receiving?
R. This is by connecting with the friends. You will raise, increase the importance.
15. S. (42:40) I'm talking about the feeling, the emotion, the sensation that all of the connections with the friends are entirely incorrect. I need the Creator so that through Him, I will be able to connect with them this feeling? How correct is it and what should I do about it?
R. Ask the Creator, ask the Creator; nothing else can replace that.
S. How do I invite the Creator to the group?
R. Only by prayer, you have heart, you have words; turn to Him.
S. I don't even want to talk to anyone or think about anyone, it's all incorrect in me, without Him it's all incorrect?
R. That is your pride, on the contrary it's your pride, it’s your feeling of being higher than others.
16. S. (44:00) From the connection between us and the connection that we have with the Creator, the way that we feel that from that we should reach the intention of in order to bestow, this will get the blessing for us?
R. Yes.
S. What are the efforts here besides connection between us and connection with the Creator because the purpose is for us to reach the intention to bestow?
R. Yes.
S. How does it happen?
R. How does it happen? We just have to be more and more connected between us, then from the connection between us we’ll begin to feel the Creator.
17. S. (45:03) How does the ten help in transition from labor of work to pleasure in the work?
R. It all depends on What do we yearn for? Who do we labor for?
18. S. (45:57) He writes that the matter of blessing and curse comes every day. What I understood in the way that you answered the friends is that the work from shifting from curse to blessing is the work in the ten and then praying. The question is: How do we reach a true prayer, how's it born, what should we really aim ourselves towards the work in the ten in order to reach a complete, true prayer, each time to change the curse to a blessing?
R. There's a lot of text about it, try to open it up and learn.
19. S. (46:40) How does a person increase his ability to receive from the Creator?
R. Again.
S. How does a person increase his ability to receive from the Creator? What does it depend on?
R. It depends on getting closer to the Creator.
S. It's not a quantitative manner is it? It's a matter of appreciation, it's a matter of quality?
R. To the extent that he's connected to the friends, to that extent he gets closer to the Creator.
S. If he connects more friends, more vessels, he increases his ability to receive from the Creator or..?
R. Yes, yes.
S. Okay, now, the more he gets pleasure from the Creator in order to bestow, by that he increases the pleasure in the Creator, in the upper One? The Creator enjoys more from him?
R. Yes.
20. S. (48:05) I'm a bit confused between the fact that we need to work above our reason and also the need to see the greatness of the Creator in order to work with the intention to bestow?
R. To bestow above reason, yes.
21. S. (48:50) On the one hand it says in the article that there's an intermediate state called Lo Lishma. On the other hand, that there is no intermediate state, there's either a curse or blessing. Can you explain it? Does it depend on whether we look from the side of the Creator or the side of the created being?
R. If we look from the perspective of the created being, we always have a state of either receiving or bestowing, and from the Creator's point of view it's either curse or blessing in our feeling.
22. S. (49:34) In the article he gives this example when we feel the greatness of the King, then naturally the person annuls before the King, so how come the ego which is so small, how can it be that is so hard and it's also so prideful?
R. First of all the ego is not small, it's very big, and the work with the ego continues until the final correction, and all that we gain, whatever, to whatever extent, we bring spirituality closer to us, it's all a result of the war with the ego. So don't think of our ego as little, it's very cunning and very great.
23. S. (50:48) I have the following question: through the restriction of Malchut of Ein Sof, this action appears as a very sharp action, like a knife, truly, so how can you reach such a precision in our desire to work for the Creator because it seems that a person is completely engulfed in this desire to work for himself and even the prohibitions don't let the person refuse it, the suffering doesn't let the person stop it.
R. A person cannot escape these networks of connection if he wasn't connected to the friends, the moment he begins to connect with the friends, he starts understanding how to untangle all of these egoistic networks and attain an anti-egoistic intention.
S. This means that it happens in layers and he gradually cleans up his ego?
R. Bit by bit.
24. S. (52:09) This article talks about believing above reason in the Creator’s greatness and that we need to feel the greatness and annul before the King. So my question is: How can I annul before the Creator when I have such a limited perception within myself of Who the Creator is?
R. But you don't need that, you have friends, you have a natural rejection towards them, the evil inclination, you need to overcome your evil inclination, connect with the friends and achieve a single desire together with them and with that common desire that you put together, you relate to the Creator and then you will have contact with the Creator; but alone it is impossible. We always fall to this feeling that I am alone and now I'm going to do something. If a person thinks that way, that's the first mistake.
25. S. (53:36) In order for us to want to move from the place where we are we need to feel suffering in the curse. But in order to feel suffering in the curse, first we need to have the feeling of the blessing. So how do we feel this blessing so that we will be able from it to feel that we have suffering from the curse?
R. Continue with whatever you can do to get closer to the friends and through them to the Creator together. Together with the friends and with the Creator and you will see how you can solve this problem.
26. S. (54:40) What does it mean to choose the good because it is great?
R. What does that mean, to choose the good because it is, it is great. I don't know, I don’t understand that sentence.
S. If a person does good deeds in his internality, then for certain he feels the greatness of the Creator, is that correct?
R. Typically, yes, yeah.
27. S. (55:45) I have the following question: a blessing is the feeling of connection, is the virtue, the remedy that holds us and attaches people who have a desire for connection and this is how a friend can also join us back?
R. I don't understand what you're saying. What about these people, these ladies who, what?
S. Friends who quit the ten and came back?
R. So they quit the ten, they left the ten?
S. Yes, they left the ten and then..?
R. And then they came back, okay, what about them?
S. So the question is: is the blessing a Segula, a virtue that holds us, it’s the force of unity that holds us together and also these people who left?
R. Yes, this is a blessing but what is the question, what is your question, I didn't understand it?
S. My question was: is the blessing a virtue, a remedy from the Creator that holds us together?
R. Yes and it is precisely in that we hold onto each other.
28. S. (57:40) I hope that I'll manage to phrase it correctly, you answered to PT 31 that from the lower state a person holds onto the Creator and in my mind I feel that even in my mind, in my intellect it seems like a state where I can profit to be in this lowly state. Why doesn't it help, how can I hold onto in that place so it will take me to that state where I will want to?
R. But this is against the plan of creation, you realize that it is against the plan of creation and therefore none of this will help you.
S. This means that the fact that it seems to be as profitable in my mind it's not going to help?
R. No.
29. S. (58:50) If I do not see the Creator and His greatness and the reward is also then not clear, how can I work and also how can I convince myself to work in such a state?
R. You cannot but you can get closer to the friends and together you can speak with them about how worthwhile it is to connect between you to the extent that you can get closer between you more and more and more, you will feel that it becomes more clear to you: what is the Creator, Who is the Creator, how to get closer to Him how to take a single step forward towards Him? It stems from the fact that you come closer and therefore, do it in such a way and you'll see this is why it says, “From the love of people to the love of the Creator.” Do such exercises and you'll see.
30. S. (01:00:35) If I understand correctly, the longing for the blessing and the escape from the curse is actually that intermediate state of Lo Lishma in our world?
R. Again.
S. Lo Lishma is an intention for my own benefit and when a person wants to run away from the curse and receive the blessing this is the middle state that it speaks about in the article?
R. For the time being, let's assume so.
S. Or Lo Lishma is actually something else?
R. Lo Lishma means for myself, in a more simple manner it means for myself.
S. In the article it says that we’re in a state of curse to begin with, we're not in Lo Lishma, but in Lo Lishma we are only when we start hearing for something, so it's already the intermediate state?
R. But it's not an intermediate state, it's the beginning of the spiritual state.
S. Meaning this point from which we begin our path, it starts from the understanding that we can escape the curse and reach some blessing?
R. Yes, completely, absolutely, precise.
31. S. (01:02:29) Why do we need to reach a point of failure in our heart? Why is it important, why does the Creator help us in such a state?
R. I didn't understand you. The Creator helps us in each and every state both by lowering us to a new egoistic will to receive and also by raising us from it to a desire to bestow, and in this way, each time through descents and ascents, this is how He works and we should be grateful for both this and for that and always be with Him in all of these actions. Is this clear?
S. It's clear but I don't understand why we need to do all sorts of efforts and connections between us, that I don't even feel in my heart, why?
R. The fact that you don't feel it is because it is against your ego, this is why you don’t want it, on the one hand, on the other hand, for certain you need to do it so that the Creator will be able to bring you out of your ego.
32. S. (01:04:07) Is the discovery of the Creator in the connection or through the connection between us, is that a group attainment, collective attainment or an individual?
R. To a certain extent it can be a personal attainment but nevertheless it stems from the fact that a person is connected to the group.
33. S. (01:04:38) Where is the ego in the person and what is its final goal?
R. The ego of a person is inside his heart, it's the desire in the heart, and our goal is to rise above our ego and reach the opposite, the desire to bestow.
34. S. (01:05:09) What is the meaning of increasing the love for the created being? What does it mean to increase it?
R. To increase the love for the created beings or people, it means that I work on people and I show them how much the love between us can be even more than it is now, and by that I stimulate them, I awaken them to have more love towards each other.
35. S. (01:06:00) This special blessing, if we can attain it, how will it change the qualities of our ascents and descents?
R. The descents and ascents will be more sharp, easier and more clear.
36. S. (01:06:40) If we have to bestow above reason, why should we ask Him to remove the concealment?
R. This is our work. The Creator makes the concealment and we ask of Him to remove the concealment; this is our work. This is how we work together, He, from the side of the concealment, of the covering and we, from the side of the revelation.
37. S. (01:07:25) What is the revelation of the Creator's face? What does the person begin to hear and see, what is the face?
R. Face means revelation. It's the Panim, the face, the anterior of the Creator. When we begin to receive His correct attitude towards us, His true relation towards us, this is called the Creator's Panim [face].
S. Is this in the feeling?
R. Yes, everything is in our feeling.
38. S. (01:08:11) How can we ask the Creator to remove the concealment over his face?
R. It is possible to ask the Creator that He will remove the concealment of His face, yes. But how to ask? That we want to connect between us and all together we ask that He will remove the concealment because we want to feel Him and to adhere to Him face to face. If it happens, if it comes from the entire group, as much as we are capable of asking for it, He does it.
39. S. (01:09:23) Can we ask the Creator to receive vessels of bestowal without any place of pleasure, to not fall into self-love?
R. How will you ask for it if you don't know what it is?
S. I won't have the force to work?
R. You also won't have a reason to ask for it.
S. What if I fall into self-reception?
R. You won't fall, you will hold onto the friends and hold on to the Creator and ask that He will do it.
40. S. (01:10:24) I noticed that in the ten what determines the greatness of the Creator is the friend's attitude towards the goal and towards what's happening in the ten. The question is: In the ten we cannot pressure a friend to say, come more often or do more things, that's how I feel it creates the opposite reaction, at least from my experience it doesn't work. However, sometimes I see a friend who doesn't do much, he doesn't come much and on the other hand he shows that it's important to him, he asks for help, that to me gives it a lot of strength. The question is: Do we need to demand this attitude from the friends? Should we demand it or not?
R. I will tell you, it depends also on the friend's character. There are those who want to sit at home and do everything from their home, without even getting out of bed. They have their bed, they have their laptop and they just work opposite the laptop and a screen and they can spend their whole life this way. You might ask them put up your hands anybody who wants to be that way, but there are others who do like to get up and run and sit in some common place with other friends and have coffee together or even a beer, and this is how they feel that life goes by, there's another day and another day and we're growing stronger with each other. They can put a check in their diary.
You have all kinds, you have it with men and you have it with women. There are many kinds and many reasons for why a person wants to do this or do that, but here we tie ourselves with the goal and we achieve the goal in a state where we are connected, and this is why here, we must perform a certain action so it will nevertheless connect us, so it will pull us. I know about myself that I am willing to sit in my room without getting out of there my whole life, and I'm not exaggerating, my whole life, and it doesn't bother me because I have my thoughts, I have my books, I have a computer, so what else do I need from this world? And therefore, there are all kinds and we need to be considerate with all of the friends about how much they are capable of getting up, awakening and getting out of the house, of their home and come to a place where we study, let's say and so on, and it's not simple, it's not simple. We have to respect each and everyone who is capable of making such efforts, and this is how we will grow.
S. In the ten we really respect the friends, we respect everyone whatever they can do, whatever they are capable of but we also say that it's only an example, so the question is still, if there is a ten that wants to reach the goal, should they also demand a certain attitude from a friend? I'm not speaking about the actions he's going to do but his attitude. If he sits at home and he says, “Friends, it's important for me to be with you,” he shows some importance, something that's important for the ten and there's some that don't give that attitude, so should we demand it or not that either?
R. The relation is very important, the relation is very important. We have to respect each and every one for the effort that he is making, and by this he is setting an example to everyone.
S. You gave an example once. I remembered that you had one that didn't come to the lessons, but I remember he came like Friday or Saturday to prepare the meal and then to go home, something like that and he gave you a lot of inspiration and you said it's something great and something important, if I'm not mistaken. That's the point and if the friend it's difficult for him but he shows attitude or relation and it gives a lot of force to the friend, so the question: Are those the efforts that we have to do to see how we demand that relation?
R. That was a special case, but it's really a good example. He was working in the Nuva, Nuva is a company that creates milk or dairy products and he was delivering the milk, so at 2:00 a.m. even in the evening he would go out to the places where the cows are milked and he would load the milk to the dairy factory. So he didn't have another job, so that was his job for many years. When I knew him he was already retired, so we were considerate of him, yes. We have to be considerate with each and every friend, there are those who it's easy to get up and some it's difficult to get up. I don't know, when I came to Rabash, you have to get up, so I would get up. I didn't have any resistance from the body, resistance to it but afterwards, when I saw other friends who were sometimes getting up, there are those who could not, they just couldn't, they would get up and fall, and get up and fall. It was painful to watch them, and before I discovered it, I also disrespected them. Why can't you get up? But afterwards when I saw how they were getting up and falling and getting up and he was trying and fell again, so I saw that it was above his ability, yes beyond his ability, there are such people.
41. S. (01:19:04) We also discussed that in the ten and we came to a conclusion that everyone in the ten really does the exertion and the qualities don't change, so what should we demand from friends?
R. Support, mutual support because without support I cannot attain anything, I can be Schwarzenegger, but in my struggle against my egoism I will be nothing, and this is why I have to have the help of the friends and if they fall asleep, they will not help me.
42. S. (01:20:10) The example that you described in the book it gives a lot of inspiration that when Rabash had a lesson then someone came in, looks calm, sits down, they give him coffee and then he quietly, Rabash says, “This guy wasn't here for ten years,” and then another guy comes in that came back after fifteen years. I'm really inspired by Kabbalists, by the way they just surrender to acknowledge everything and we have everything, we have Internet, we thank the Creator, we have everything; the Creator is so approachable you can hug Him. So, every friend is important and also for us now a friend came back that was very busy in corporeality, he had businesses, he was in charge of people and now he came back and I thought about it and all the friends think about him, that we are with him in one heart, so thank you, Rav for listening, thank you.
43. S. (01:22:42) The actions of connection, is that a complete prayer?
R. Yes.
44. S. (01:23:13) You were just saying that you can sit and not come out of your room the whole day and study and that satisfies you. That I remember at least in the past you always after the morning lesson used to go with your wife for half an hour to take a walk and you gave that also importance, the exercise. We know that without a healthy, physical body it is hard to advance in spirituality because the correction in this world is in the physical body, so what can you say about that?
R. We also need to exercise, yes.
45. S. (01:24:05) Let me understand what obstacles do I have to overcome on the path to the connection between us in order to reach a blessing? How to lift the importance of our advancement? What are we lacking? Inner efforts or external?
R. What we need is sensitivity to the friends, because in the relationships between us is where the Creator is revealed, He is between us, and this is what we need to explain to each one and to everyone, and to explain that on this depends the revelation of the Creator on the sensitivity of the relationships between the friends.
S. We also have closeness, the feeling of closeness but along with that we feel obstacles?
R. That's exactly the obstacle we have to uproot, it's exactly the place where the quality of bestowal is.
46. S. (01:25:35) Everyday new corrections take place in a person. How can you feel it because it seems that every day is just like the previous one?
R. You, yourself need to yearn to come closer and closer to the friends each day and then you will feel it.
47. S. (01:26:12) What if the friend doesn't make an effort to connect or come to the lesson, for example, if she hasn't had any contact with us in the lessons for four months or for a year, will she still be in the ten?
R. No, she doesn't remain in the ten but we can still try to influence her so she returns to the ten.
48. S. (01:27:12) He explains in the article that the restriction is the source of blessing or curse, good and bad but there's something I don't understand. He says that the limit in order to not receive in order to bestow is the point itself that is Malchut called vessel to receive for oneself. It performed the good, meaning to receive in order to bestow and the bad of not receiving in order to receive, so why is the bad not receiving in order to receive but it is receiving in order to receive? I don't understand why he says the bad is not receiving in order to receive?
R. I, too, don't understand your question.
S. It is written in the article that the Malchut caused the good and bad and that the good is receiving in order to bestow, and the bad is not to receive in order to receive, how is that the bad?
R. I don't know, maybe you should send this section, this excerpt so that we will check it and see.
49. S. (01:28:50) We went through a lot of conventions and a period of Corona and now a period of a war, so what's happening in our connection? How do you see the state of the World Kli in all this?
R. The Kli is going through all kinds of states and on top of them it approaches, it comes closer to the general correction although we still cannot see it on the horizon but this is nevertheless what is happening, so we have to accept everything that is descending on the World and on us too as something necessary, we deserve to experience each and every state because according to our nature and according to the purpose of the correction we have to be incorporated in each and every state in order to reach the final, the general correction, let's hope it will happen, if not today, then tomorrow.
50. S. (01:30:08) Is the importance of the goal included inside all of the corrections of the soul that are possible?
R. Yes, and I am asking you, please wait with your questions until we return to lessons that are not on the internet.
51. S. (01:30:43) What's the connection between the blessing and the curse and the inner work of each one in the ten?
R. In the work and our relationships in the ten we determine precisely what connections we have between the blessing and the curse in our work and in this way we accordingly approach the corrections.
52. S. (01:31:34) You mentioned we need to integrate in each state, this current state that is very serious in this internal and external work and the state of the world is very serious, so how do we integrate in this state?
R. We incorporate in each and every state and from each and every state we will demand connection and attainment of the Creator, and this will be the correction for each and every state.
S. The integration is strengthening our prayer, for each state we deepen and strengthen the prayer and the connection, is that what is meant by integrating in each state?
R. Yes, yes.
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