The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), April 6, 2024.
Part 2: Baal HaSulam. Exile and Redemption.
Reader: (00:20) Writings of Baal HaSulam. Exile and Redemption.
Title: Harmony between Religion and the Law of Development or Blind Fate.
“And among those nations you will have no repose and there will be no resting place for your feet” (Deuteronomy 28:65). “And that which comes to your mind will not be at all, in that you say, ‘We will be as the nations, as the families of the lands’” (Ezekiel 20:32).
The Creator will evidently show us that Israel cannot exist in exile, and will find no rest as the rest of the nations that mingled among the nations and found rest, and assimilated in them until no trace was left of them. Not so is the house of Israel. This nation will find no rest among the nations until it realizes the verse, “And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him for you will demand Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
This can be examined by studying Providence and the verse that states about us, “The Torah is true and all its words are true, and woe to us as long as we doubt its truthfulness.” And we say about all the rebuke that is happening to us that it is chance and blind fate. This has but one cure—to bring the troubles back on us to such an extent that we will see that they are not coincidental but steadfast Providence, intended for us in the holy Torah.
We should clarify this matter by the law of development itself: The nature of the steadfast guidance that we have attained through the holy Torah, as in the path of Torah in Providence (see the article “The Freedom”), a far more rapid development than the other nations has come to us. And because the members of the nation developed so, there was always the necessity to go forward and be extremely meticulous with all the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah. Because they would not do so, but wished to include their narrow selfishness, meaning the Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], this developed the ruin of the First Temple, since they wished to extol wealth and power above justice, as do other nations.
But because the Torah prohibits this, they denied the Torah and the prophecy and adopted the manners of the neighbors so they could enjoy life as much as the selfishness demanded of them. Because they did so, the powers of the nation disintegrated: Some followed the selfish kings and officers, and some followed the prophets, and that separation continued until the ruin.
In the Second Temple, it was even more noticeable, since the beginning of the separation was publicly displayed there by unvirtuous disciples, headed by Tzadok and Bytos. Their mutiny against our sages revolved primarily around the obligation of Lishma [for Her sake], as our sages said, “Wise men, be careful with your words.” Because they did not want to retire from selfishness, they created communities of this deplorable kind and became a great sect called “Tzdokim,” who were the rich and the officers, pursuing selfish desires, unlike the path of Torah. They fought against the Prushim, and they are the ones who brought the Roman kingdom’s rule over Israel. They are the ones who would not make peace with the imperious, as our sages advised according to the Torah, until the house was ruined and the glory of Israel was exiled.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:50) What makes Israel want to be assimilated among the nations?
M. Laitman: Because they are on the same degree as the nations of the world and that is why they want to be like them. Even though the Creator keeps awakening them to be more and more, a bit, a bit more. So, against that, they want to go down.
Student: It's like Israel has no grasp on anything. It's like it's floating in the air.
M. Laitman: Right, right, because in this world, Israel has nothing to hold on to.
Student: That connects with the matter of Lo Lishma, is the Lo Lishma, what..?
M. Laitman: Well, obviously, coming out of that state is incorrect. It is by overcoming to Lishma. But actually, what can you do?
Student: It sounds extremely problematic, on the one hand, when Israel went down to Egypt, they went down because they suffered a great famine and that's why they went down to Egypt. It's not the same as the exile he's describing here, which is, they stopped listening to our sages and started focusing on richness and power and…
M. Laitman: And so each and every period has something of its own.
Student: I would say that the Egyptian exile seems correct, seemingly, and the other exile seems to leave Israel in such a state where all that's left is to receive blows.
M. Laitman: The main is the exile in Egypt, that, from there we go out to receive the Torah.
Student: Seemingly in the last 2,000 years of exile, Israel didn't have an opportunity to observe love your friend as yourself.
M. Laitman: We did not reach that state yet in the development. All the exiles were in order to develop in us a sense of recognition of evil and an attraction towards the good. The exile has a lot of roles.
Student: This exile is very, very different, the last one?
M. Laitman: The one now is very different, yes. Look what is going on.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:07) What's the difference? We just read this excerpt, it describes our state right now. What's the difference between what happened then, and what's happening today?
M. Laitman: Our relation to the nations of the world is the same. We towards them and them towards us, you are right, that nothing has changed.
Student: He speaks of separation, that those who want this culture or that, that those who separate. So, how did we advance, are we destined to repeat the same mistakes? How did we advance?
M. Laitman: Now, we are in the last exile, that is it. Before us, there is only redemption. I can’t say when but actually we went through all the exiles.
Student: But what we see with our eyes, what he writes. It's like he was reading the news and he's describing what's happening in the nation.
M. Laitman: Well, that started a long time ago. That the nation does not want anything except for just to have a quiet life without any changes.
Student: So what did we learn, two-thousand years, two exiles back then, we're back now, he's describing the same state?
M. Laitman We learned that we are in a state that we cannot reach any other state if not with the help of the Creator. And in order to reach the help of the Creator we need to equip ourselves with a deficiency from ourselves for it. So, in the end, today, we come to a point of recognition of evil in our desire and recognition of the good in the Creator's desire to manage us.
Student: This will be the property of the masses or like back then only a few would know?
M. Laitman: No, it will be the complete redemption.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:48) Where's the line, is the line crossed between saying this is reality, how the Creator runs reality and justifies Him? Between, blunt his teeth and don't take the advice of Tzadok and Bytos, and immediately rise against them, and destroy them when they're young before they separate, break down all of society?
M. Laitman: I still cannot say. All these things can still awaken again and again. But the order of the process is already at the end of the path.
Student: I'll just repeat the friend's question: If we've been through two exiles, two-thousand something years, and we're seemingly in the same situation. What's the purpose of all these generations that we go through?
M. Laitman: So, we go through all the exiles in all the states. We can see that everything that happened in all these exiles already in our time.
Student: We're unable to see it, nobody's able to see anything. Why did we spend so many lifetimes? If we could see it, fine, but, today, in Israel, we have such a situation, it's as if it's describing what's happening, today. All these two-thousand years, what's the purpose of all those years?
M. Laitman: Our role is to understand that we have no choice, just like he writes. That we need to turn to the Creator and cry out to Him that only He can change our state.
Student: If we won't be able to turn to Him, once again, ruin?
M. Laitman: No, there is no such thing that we will not be able to, it depends on us, we have already absorbed. We are already holding on to all troubles, in all states, that we had, that is why we are able. We are able to demand and to understand.
Student: Today, we see people who are willing to destroy the country, not that they absorbed anything or internalized anything, like they got nothing. Here, we're in this small group of people who read and understand, and look at things from this perspective. But there are those factions who are willing to destroy everything.
M. Laitman: And it will always be like that till the last moment.
Student: Again, what's the difference? What's the difference?
M. Laitman: The difference is that if you talk to the general part of the nation, they are a lot more, they are much closer to the recognition of evil, much closer.
Student: What will be the thing that will take them a step beyond that to be closer to turn to the Creator?
M. Laitman: To turn to the Creator, that is another degree already.
Student: Without it, we have no correction.
M. Laitman: It is enough that a small part will do it. And the rest will follow them because they will not have any choice from all the trouble, that is what I understand. Understand me that in this, we are all, until we don't go through these states, we can't say that this is how it should be, and this is how it will be. But let us hope for the Messiah.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:35) In one of the lessons this week, I heard that in the end, the work, all those corrections that we see in the end, I have to make them inside of me, not somewhere outside of me. How in our Ten, in B'nei Baruch are we making the correction here without going outside?
M. Laitman: We do not have to go outside, each one has to prepare himself to be ready for the complete redemption. That we are all connecting as one man with one heart, we are all incorporated together in one vessel. And we turn to the Creator to help us ascend from here to G'mar Tikkun.
Student: I have to see that the ruin is within me, nowhere else?
M. Laitman: Yes in each one, each one.
Student: Then to take the ruin and then fill it in the Ten, and connect around that in the Ten?
M. Laitman: Yes. Did you understand what he said? So, what do you want to ask?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:05) I want to continue, internally speaking, he writes that the people of Israel will not find rest among the nations before the text will be in them that you asked for the Creator and you found Him and you demanded Him with all your heart. The question is: The destruction of the first and second temples are the people, they overdid this Lo Lishma. They took the profits from the work of the Creator, and they went overboard with the profits from that work and made that the important thing, if I understand it correctly. The question is: How in the Ten can we be careful of the pleasure from mutual bestowal, pleasure from the articles of Rabash or Baal HaSulam, we are here, the whole world Kli, it is as if the whole world is suffering, is burning, and here we enjoy the closeness to the Creator, the yearning for the Creator, and we want to disseminate that but how can we be careful to take this pleasure to the right place, that's the question.
M. Laitman: Let us do what we can, and the Creator will finish the work for us, as it is written. We have nothing else to do. We will expect the judgment of the just and the upper force to help us.
Reader: (20:33): We're reading the title, The Difference between a Secular Ideal and a Religious Ideal.
A secular ideal stems from humanness and hence cannot raise itself above humanness. Conversely, a religious ideal, which stems from the Creator, can raise itself above humanity. This is because the basis for a secular ideal is equalization and the price of glorifying man, and he acts in order to boast in the eyes of people. And although he is sometimes disgraced in the eyes of his contemporaries, he still relies on other generations and it is still a precious thing for him, like a gem that fuels its owner although no one knows of it or cherishes it.
A religious ideal, however, is based on glory in the eyes of the Creator. Hence, he who follows a religious ideal can raise himself above humanity.
So it is among the nations of our exile. As long as we followed the path of Torah, we were safe, for it is known to all the nations that we are a highly developed nation and they wanted our cooperation. They exploit us, each according to their own selfish desires, but we still had great power among the nations, so after all the exploitation, there still remained a handsome portion left for us, greater than for the civilians of the land.
But because people rebelled against the Torah in their aspiration to execute their selfish ploys, they lost life’s purpose, meaning the work of the Creator, and replaced the sublime goal for selfish goals of life’s pleasures. Thus, anyone who attained fortune raised his goal with glory and beauty. In consequence, where the religious man scattered his monetary surplus on charity, good deeds, building seminaries, and other such collective needs, the selfish ones scattered their surplus on the joys of life: food and drink, clothing and jewels, and equalized themselves with the prominent in that nation.
By these words, I only mean to show that the Torah and the natural law of development go hand in hand in wondrous unity even with blind fate. Thus, the bad incidences in the exile, which we have much to tell of from the days of our exile, were all because we embezzled the Torah. Had we kept the commandments of the Torah, no harm would have come to us.
M. Laitman: (24:26) All right, clear? That is not difficult, to understand I mean, not to actually keep it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:50) About the disagreement we discussed among the people of Israel. Rav thinks it's the same thing, what was there during the time of the Tzdokim and the Prushim, the conflict we see today?
M. Laitman: I do not know if it is the exact same thing but the disputes are from the beginning of creation until the end of creation the same.
Student: Nobody speaks of Lishma or Lo Lishma today. Wherever you look, it doesn't interest anyone, it doesn't exist.
M. Laitman: Right, it will be good, what can I say?
Reader: (25:40) [Announcement for Passover]
Song: (27:14)