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

Daily Morning Lesson: September 25, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Nov 30, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 99. He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous

Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson, we'll study from a lesson from November 30th, 2021, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati article 99, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous.” 

Reader: Hello, we are in a lesson based on the Shamati articles. Today we're going to be reading Shamati 99, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous.” You can find the study material on our site or on the study materials icon in the Arvut system. You can also send us questions. Pertinent questions to the lesson will be aired.

M. Laitman: This is another special article from Shamati. There's a unique condition in it in regards to the study. Let's read in the meantime. 

Reading: (01:27) 99. He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous

I heard on Iyar 21, Jerusalem

“Rabbi Hanina Bar Papa said, ‘That angel, appointed on conception, its name is Laila [night]. It takes a drop and places it before the Creator and says to Him: ‘Master of the world, this drop, what shall become of it, a hero or a weakling, a wise or a fool, a wealthy or an indigent?’ But he did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” (Nida 16b).

We should interpret according to the rule that a fool cannot be righteous, as our sages said, “One does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him.” It is even more so with one who is a fool his whole life. Hence, one who is born a fool has no choice since he has been sentenced to be a fool. Therefore, saying, “He did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” is so that he would have a choice. But what is the benefit if he did not say “a righteous or a fool”? After all, if he is sentenced to be a fool, it is the same as being sentenced to become a wicked!

We should also understand the words of our sages: “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘The Creator saw that the righteous are few, He stood and planted them in each generation, as was said, ‘For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.’’” RASHI interprets “‘He has set the world upon them’—He dispersed them in all the generations to be an infrastructure and sustenance and foundation to sustain the world” (Yoma 38b).

“They are few” means that they are growing fewer. Hence, what did he do to multiply them? “He stood and planted them in each generation.” We should ask, “What is the benefit in planting them in each generation, by which they multiply?” We must understand the difference between all the righteous being in a single generation or being dispersed through all the generations, as RASHI interprets. Does being in many generations multiply the righteous?

To understand the above, we must expand and interpret our sages’ words, that the Creator sentences the drop to be a wise or a fool, meaning that one who is born weak, without the strength to overcome his inclination, and is born with a weak desire and without talents, since during the preparation, when beginning in the work of the Creator, he must be fit to receive the Torah and the wisdom, as it is written, “will give wisdom to the wise,” he asked, “If they are already smart, why do they still need wisdom? It should have been ‘will give wisdom to the fools.’”

He explains that “wise” means one who craves wisdom although he still has no wisdom. But because he has a desire, and a desire is called a Kli [vessel], it follows that one who has a desire and craving for wisdom is the Kli in which wisdom shines. It therefore follows that a fool means one without yearning for wisdom, whose yearning is only for his own needs. In terms of bestowal, a fool is completely incapable of achieving any bestowal whatsoever.

Therefore, one who is born with such qualities, how can he achieve the degree of a righteous? It follows that he does not have a choice. Therefore, what is the benefit from saying, “he did not say, ‘a righteous or a wicked’?” So he would have a choice. After all, since he was born unwise and weak, he is no longer capable of having a choice, since he is completely incapable of any overcoming and craving for His wisdom.

To understand this, that even a fool can have a choice, the Creator made a correction, which our sages call, “the Creator saw that the righteous were few; He stood and planted them in each generation.” We asked, “What is the benefit of this?”

Now we will understand this matter. It is known that as it is forbidden to bond with the wicked even when one does not do as they do, as it is written, “nor sat in the seat of the scornful.” This means that the sin is primarily because he sits among the scornful, even though he sits and learns Torah and keeps Mitzvot. Otherwise, the prohibition would be due to the cancellation of Torah and Mitzvot. But rather, the sitting itself is forbidden, since man takes the thoughts and desires of those he likes.

And vice versa: If one does not have any desire or craving for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire and craving for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will take their strength to prevail, and their desires and aspirations, although by his own quality, he does not have these desires and cravings and the power to overcome. But according to the grace and the importance he ascribes to these people, he will receive new powers.

Now we can understand the above words: “The Creator saw that the righteous were few,” meaning that not any person can become a righteous, for lack of qualities for it, as it was written, that he is born a fool or a weakling; he, too, has a choice and his own qualities are no excuse. This is because the Creator planted the righteous in every generation.

Hence, a person has the choice of going to a place where there are righteous. One can accept their authority, and then he will receive all the powers that he lacks by the nature of his own qualities. He will receive it from the righteous. This is the benefit in “planted them in each generation,” so that each generation would have someone to turn to, adhere to, and from whom to receive the strength required to rise to the degree of a righteous. Thus, they, too, subsequently become righteous.

It follows that “he did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” means that he does have a choice: He can go and adhere to the righteous for guidance, and through them receive strength, by which they, too, can later become righteous.

However, if all the righteous were in the same generation, the fools and the weak would have no hope of approaching the Creator. Thus, they would not have a choice. But by dispersing the righteous in each generation, each person has the power of choice to approach and draw near to the righteous that exist in every generation. Otherwise, one’s Torah must be a potion of death.

We can understand this from a corporeal example. When two people stand one opposite the other, the right hand of one is opposite the left hand of the other, and the left hand of one is opposite one’s friend’s right hand. There are two ways: the right—the way of the righteous, which is only to bestow, and the path of the left—who want only to receive for themselves, by which they are separated from the Creator, who is only to bestow. Thus, they are naturally separated from the Life of Lives.

This is why the wicked in their lives are called “dead.” It therefore follows that as long as one has not been awarded Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, they are two. Then, when one learns Torah, which is called right, but is to the left of the Creator, meaning he is learning Torah to receive for himself, it separates him from Him, and his Torah becomes a potion of death to him since he remains separated, as he wants his Torah to clothe his body. This means that he wants the Torah to increase his body, and by this his Torah becomes a potion of death to him.

However, when a person becomes adhered to Him, a single authority is made, and that person unites in His uniqueness. Then, the right side of the person is the right side of the Creator, and then the body becomes a clothing for one’s soul.

The way to know if one is marching on the path of truth is that when one engages in bodily needs, one should see that he does not engage in them more than is necessary for the needs of his soul. When one thinks that one has more than he needs to clothe the needs of one’s soul, it is like a clothing that a person puts over his body. At that time, he is meticulous about keeping the garment not too long or too wide, but clothing his body accurately. Similarly, when engaging in one’s bodily needs, he should be meticulous not to have more than he needs for his soul, meaning to clothe his soul.

To come to Dvekut with the Creator, not all who wish to take the Lord may come and take, since it is against man’s nature, who was created with a will to receive, which is self-love. This is why we need the righteous of the generation.

When a person adheres to a real rav, whose only wish is to do good deeds, but one feels that he cannot do good deeds, that the aim will be to bestow contentment upon the Creator, by adhering to a real rav and wanting the rav’s fondness, he does things that his rav likes, and hates the things his rav hates. Then he can have Dvekut with his rav and receive his rav’s powers, even that which he does not have from birth. This is the meaning of planting the righteous in each generation.

However, according to this, it is hard to see why plant the righteous in each generation. We said that it was for the fools and the weak. But he could have solved it otherwise: not to create fools! Who made him say that this drop will be a weakling or a fool? He could have created everyone wise.

The answer is that the fools are also needed since they are the carriers of the will to receive. They see that they have no counsel of their own by which to draw near to the Creator, so they are as those about whom it is written, “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men… for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” They have become ashes under the feet of the righteous, by which the righteous can acknowledge the good that the Creator did for them by creating them wise and strong, by which He has brought them closer to Him.

Hence, now they can give thanks and praise the Creator since they see the lowly state they are in. This is called “ashes under the feet of the righteous,” meaning that the righteous walk by it and thus thank the Creator.

But we must know that the lower degrees are also needed. The Katnut [smallness/infancy] of a degree is not considered superfluous, saying that it would be better if the degrees of Katnut were born immediately with the Gadlut [greatness/adulthood].

It is like a physical body. There are certainly important organs, such as the brain and the eyes and so forth, and there are organs that are not as important, such as the stomach, intestines, fingers, and toes. But we cannot say that an organ that performs a not-so-important task is redundant. Rather, everything is important. It is the same in spirituality: We also need the fools and the weak.

Now we can understand what is written, that the Creator said, “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” It means that the Creator says, “Return,” and Israel say the opposite: “Bring us back, Lord, and then we shall return.”

The meaning is that during the decline from the work, the Creator says “Return” first. This brings a person an ascent in the work of the Creator, and one begins to cry, “Bring us back.” But during the decline, one does not cry, “Bring us back.” On the contrary, he escapes the work.

Hence, one should know that when he cries, “Bring us back,” it stems from an awakening from above, since the Creator previously said “Return,” by which one has an ascent and he can say “Bring us back.”

This is the meaning of “And it came to pass when the ark journeyed, that Moses said: ‘Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered.’” “Journeying” means when advancing in servitude of the Creator, which is an ascent. Then Moses said “Rise.” And when they rested, he said “Return, Lord.” And during the rest from the work of the Creator, we need the Creator to say, “Return,” meaning “Return unto Me,” meaning that the Creator gives the awakening. Hence, one should know when to say “Rise” or “Return.”

This is the meaning of what is written in Parashat Akev, “And you shall remember all the way… to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not.” “Would keep His commandments” is discerned as “Return.” “Or not” is discerned as “rise,” and we need both. And the rav knows when to “rise” and when to “return,” since the forty-two journeys are ascents and descents that unfold in the work of the Creator. 

M. Laitman: (23:10) We heard it once, the article—a very special article because it basically says that in each and every one, there is the ability to develop. There's a possibility to adhere to the Creator, be similar to the Creator, grow within myself, within oneself, become a spiritual person, rise through the human levels of this world, of still, vegetative and animate. In the meantime, we belong to the animate level and then we want to rise to the speaking level, level of Adam, similar to the Creator and that's only by clarifying this single point that we develop within us, developing our soul; and when we discern it, we are either a wicked or a righteous. Each time we work on it and grow it from righteous to wicked or wicked to righteous, by that we grow. Our whole attention  should be at not being smarter or being wiser or any of that. None of the human qualities that we see makes everyone different from each other in our world. We don't care about these differences. What we care about is the spiritual difference. The difference that exists in spirituality between human beings, and that's what we call either wicked or righteous. That's something we need to grow between us. Alright, let's go to some questions. I don't think too many of them because the article was long. We have to study it more carefully and read it a few times until it settles, even partly settles within us; that's good too. Then, through our path, we'll have to understand it better and better. 

Question (ITA 4): (25:54) What's the meaning of clothing of the soul, not receiving more than one needs for his soul? It's written in the article that it needs to be not too long or too short but precisely accurate. 

M. Laitman: There is a will to receive in each and every one of us. We have to use our will to receive as much as we need to sustain the body, give it what it demands, a number of calories daily. We also need to put it in clothes because we're not animals, that we would have our own fur, for example, or feathers like birds have. We need clothing and that is already a hint about how man is developed beyond the animal, this clothing that we have to put on ourselves, these rags, right? It hints at the clothing we have to have on our inner body, the soul, which we can't use unless we have a clothing for it. We see that from the very beginning of man's corporeal development on the face of earth, he felt a need from within, because that's his inner structure, he felt a need for some coverings. Even if you find some tribes today in some remote places in the world, in the Amazon or in some other places, you'd still see they have some form of garments, some form of clothing. Animals don't have a feeling that they lack that, that they're devoid of clothing. That stems from the spiritual degree that should develop within the human because he needs a clothing over his soul, not the body but the soul. That is what makes us a little different from the animate level, but there's a big difference between the animate level and the human level, the speaking level, and that's in our will to receive. Our will to receive can be different in many ways from the others, and it comes to it by nature. But how to conduct oneself with all that difference that exists between us, that's possible only by a specific direction and this unique direction is what's called righteous or wicked. Here, we have to understand what really was given to us for our development as opposed to the still, vegetative, and animate levels we see on planet Earth and what we're going to discover in the universe. As opposed to that, the speaking level within us demands a very rapid and unique development. We haven't received it instinctively from nature, that we can just follow it and that's it, and everything will just work as it does with plants and animals. We have to reach a state where we need some guidance on what to do with the human within us; so, wicked or righteous relates to the human level. Smart or not depends on our machine here, and other phenomena also relate to our animate level, but this distinction of righteous or wicked relates to what's beyond the nature we were given. 

(30:54) With animals, it's very clear how they relate to each other. These run away from those, and others come closer to each other, and so on. They're connected to each other in some ways that nature brings about. As it says, go and make a living off each other. This species eats the other species, and this species creates something for another species. Throughout nature, even between the still and vegetative and animate, and to some extent the human level also is using that on his still, vegetative, and animate levels. To some degree, we're all in the same single system, interconnected in order to live and survive by using each other, but there's another parameter that exists in the human being where he can be either wicked or righteous. Now, these things don't develop right away, as we can see that the human level doesn't evolve immediately like still, vegetative and animate, but after the development of all those other levels, then the human level begins to surface, to emerge. Also, it emerges in a form of still, vegetative, and animate levels of the human. A unique manner of development is required in order to grow the human out of the animate level. We can see that from the whole history of Adam HaRishon, how he developed and how, what we call, the point in the heart began to emerge in him, his point of contact with the Creator. Here, when his point of contact with the root became apparent, then that brought about the question, where will this human go with that? What does this point determine? It determines a development in two possible directions: either wicked or righteous. This is something that does not exist on the still, vegetative and animate levels. We can't say about a dog that it's evil or about a horse that it's righteous. It rather has a certain character. Each element has it, even when it is a plant or something on the still level, they have characteristics they got from nature and these things are unchanging. On the animate levels, we can tie them up but it's not that we can correct them. The human, however, has this point of being a wicked or a righteous, that's with regards to his surroundings, and then from his surroundings towards the Creator even, towards the upper force. He can be towards them either good or bad. In this attitude, being good or bad towards his surroundings and the Creator, we see that that's the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah. This method that we've received from above our nature, that's what we mean from above, meaning that we have to correct ourselves to connect ourselves and learn from each other, through each other, how to be righteous above wicked. 

(35:29) Here we see that the Creator is helping us in revealing to us the degree of the wicked, bigger and bigger each time, and on top of that we have to correct it and be on the level of the righteous, higher and higher each time. That's essentially our work, to the extent that we engage in that, that the quality of the wicked that appears between us where we want to reject each other, repel each other and, in that, “one who's greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than himself.” Meaning, the people who come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, they come with a great egoistic force and they have a hard time connecting with others, they're very much individualists. And we have to understand that there is a method in front of us which helps us, specifically because we are so bad. In changing, in this ability of changing our bad to good, inverting it, transforming it because the Creator says, “I've created an evil inclination,” that's the rejection from the friends, the Creator, everyone else, we have to try as much as we can to build systems of connection, of getting closer between us and then between us and the Creator, as it is written, “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator,” and that's how we advance towards adhesion with the Creator. That's the goal. By that, we become corrected, meaning our whole brokenness is our mutual hatred, mutual rejection, mutual distance between us. A person finds it towards his relatives as well as towards people who are far away from him. He discovers he doesn't have anything in life besides himself, not even his family, children, or his nation, or people, the world, and not the Creator, of course. It's just me. That brings him to the revelation that we call, “I shall rule.” Then he starts correcting that, and he begins to understand that his correction can happen only after he forcefully relates himself to the Ten. And “one who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than himself”, which means that the greater the soul, the harder it is for him to connect with others. He doesn't hear it. He doesn't understand it. He can miss these words talking about connection for years inside the group and only after years, many years, he begins, through his participation after all, with other things that he does, he begins to receive an illumination from above that shows him that specifically in connection with others, you can achieve correction. Then, a person suddenly opens his eyes and begins to advance in this direction. He begins to see that the whole Torah is intended to opening his eyes and bringing him closer to connection. Through the connection, it's like through a lens that concentrates the rays of light, through that, he'll better and better see the essence of creation, the Creator, and thus advance. Our path is long and only for people who have no other choice but to discover the meaning of life and achieve the purpose of life and they don't want to stay on the beastly level and just live and die like other animals.

(40:30) We have to submit ourselves to this. In everything in life, we have to understand that our choice is only to be righteous or wicked. All the other things are written from above. They're deterministic, they descend to us in a pre-planned manner, and we can't determine anything about it. It is literally pre-planned, predetermined—all of man's fate. As he writes that they look at the drop and they say what will come out of it, this or this or that? Everything besides righteous or wicked. This is what we should be clarifying and checking each and every moment and fight for it. How do we correctly identify this question and give the right answer? What does it mean in each and every state, moment, to be righteous or wicked? That's the only thing that we're facing, and  to try to become righteous and clarify what it means to be righteous. That, essentially, is what all our moments are about. The more we advance, the more we will see that our life is divided to or comprised of points. If you think about a straight line, for example, it's built from points, points and points and points, even mathematically speaking. There's an inversion that happens at each and every moment, at each and every point, and that puts the point on a straight line. We have to see our lives in a similar way, that our life is built from points, and the choice at each and every point, the direction from each and every point, is that where I ask myself, am I righteous or wicked? What am I choosing? That's the only point, not the past, not the future, nothing besides the present moment. From these points, we assemble the straight line towards the very end of all of our corrections where we achieve the complete adhesion with the Creator. That's our choice, each and every moment, to scrutinize whether I am righteous or wicked. Each time I understand that in the next stage, in the next phase, I'm going to see the next phase as bad, as wrong, because in my will to receive from one degree to the other, my will to receive grows. I become wiser, smarter, more inside the scrutiny, and it's just for me to see bad decisions I've made in previous states and now I can correct them. There's no righteous in the land who did good without committing a sin first. We can do good on the basis of seeing the previous sin, and then each time correcting our previous sins. There's no reason to fall into despair. We have to understand we all go through sins, but these sins, when we correct them, even though we're discovering greater and greater sins, but we're, as we go, we are correcting the previous, smaller sins. That is how we actually come to the higher degrees. One who's greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than himself. That's how we advance. Righteous or wicked, these discernments remain within us until the final correction and there too, both righteous and wicked, both this monster of our evil inclination as opposed to the image of the Creator within us which is a good inclination, they both stand in front of us in a magnified way. We see how the Creator created one thing against the other, and that takes us all the way until the final correction, the final decision. 

(45:55) The Creator is really the one who scrutinizes. It's that middle line that helps us at each and every stage to relate one to the other, to see that even the evil that was created was created in order for us to discern the good opposite to that. Otherwise, we wouldn't see any discernment of good. It's only through the bad. It's like the advantage of light, of white, that we have no ability to perceive if not through the darkness, the blackness. That's how we clarify everything. Without our evil inclination, we would never be able to feel, to understand, to relate to the Creator. That's why it's called, “help made against thee.” That's basically the article, the article, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous.” There's many different, profound, even tragic states that are deeply interwoven here but we'll get to feel that not just today but throughout our development. All the articles of Shamati, they're not about one specific point in our path. They actually accompany us all the way until the final correction, but we're already on this track and we just have to walk forward. I'm very happy that we had our meeting two days ago and a lot of people were present, both in Israel and in our world Kli. There was an inner feeling for those who felt it, that we belong across the globe to a single Kli, and that we are beginning to really establish a certain kind of organization, body, desire, that has, within it a single intention, a single goal, and we are ready to be included in this desire to be together with the Creator, be with Him in attaining the complete and final state. This revelation has begun. It was there before but it wasn't yet apparent to us. In the last meeting we had, we really started feeling it. A lot of people shared with me that they began to feel that to an extent, somewhat, that we are in a common feeling across the globe, all of us, and that's a big thing, that's a major thing. Now, we're going to go forward in order to clarify the wicked and righteous within us, how we should sort them out in order to find in a deeper and tighter connection between us, the upper force until we come to an actual connection and then adhesion with Him. Then, to that extent, when we advance towards that, we'll begin to discover the levels of connection between us and with Him, and that's what's called the degrees of attaining the worlds. Worlds or Olamot comes from the word HaAlamot [concealments]. That everything that used to be concealed, and it becomes revealed as a concealment, before that, it's felt, it's not felt like anything is concealed, and so that precedes the actual revelation. That's what we're facing. 

Question (Florida): (50:58) On the clothing of the soul, how do we know if we have only what we need for our soul and not luxuries?

M. Laitman: The clothing of the soul are my friends. When I care about the group, my concern for the group or the corporeal concerns, the concerns I have in the study, spiritual concerns—with all that I build the clothing for the soul. That's all.

Question (Turkiye 4): (51:45) In the article it says the Creator saw that righteous were few, so Creator chose righteous even before the creation. And also it seems those righteous do not have freedom of choice because Creator already created them as righteous, but in the article also says that He did not say "wicked" or "righteous." Isn't there contradiction in this article?

M. Laitman: No, the Creator doesn't create righteous or wicked. He gives the person all kinds of qualities: hero, brave, weak, rich, poor, with all kinds of inclinations too but not with regards to wicked or righteous, not wicked or righteous. That's what we need to choose by ourselves. But you can ask, do we still have some discernments, beginnings, foundations where we can see if a person is inclined more towards righteous or wicked? About this, he explains to us in the article about free choice, “The Freedom,” that it depends on how much a person holds on to the right group. A person is brought by the Creator perhaps through different kinds of groups, different kinds of discernments towards the good state; He puts his hand on a good fate and he says, "Take it." If a person takes it and he develops and if he doesn't, then he misses it. At some later opportunity, later incident, he can have another opportunity to develop. Of course, ultimately he'll have to realize his free choice.

Question (Bishkek): (53:59) It's written in the text that the angel doesn't ask “righteous or wicked.” Then, it's said that the Creator puts righteous and wicked, all the inclinations, that He implanted them there. What is it? Something that the Creator doesn't tell the angel or is it really this foundation of a righteous, that the righteous that sits in every quality? 

M. Laitman: I don't really understand your question, but still we have, throughout the generations from Adam HaRishon onwards, in each and every generation, there are people who tell human beings how to achieve adhesion with the Creator, if people want to hear it. And so we see that from Adam HaRishon onwards, how these generations, for almost 6,000 years now, how they exist. And in each and every generation, we have people who tell us about the purpose of creation, the essence of creation, and how to realize it.

Student: That's exactly the question, because it's said that the Creator doesn't, to start with, make a righteous or a wicked. We see that in history, we have these people. 

M. Laitman: No, those people too, who are later discovered as great, righteous, they too grew through the same conditions. They also had to learn something from someone, and so on. Even the first, even Adam HaRishon, Adam, the first one who was born with certain qualities, then went through a shattering, and then began correcting himself, he had certain conditions for it, yes. He's called the first man because he's the first who began the correction of the collective soul. That's why he's called the first. But before him, human beings existed. He too had a mother and father, and there were many people in the world already, even though we're talking about 6,000 years ago. But we call him the first man because he's the first who has achieved the form of Adam, human, Dome, similar to the Creator. 

Student: If you can be more precise, when we talk about the fact that the Creator spread out righteous in every generation? 

M. Laitman: That in each and every generation, we can be assisted by the people who teach us, give us, can give us examples, even help us get organized, which is something more practical in our time, that we have to get organized correctly between us, and thus we'll reach a state where we are closer to the Creator. 

Question (Moscow 1): (57:37) When the wicked is revealed, to correct this state, do I need to be happy and ask the Creator to correct this state, or is the joy itself already an appeal to the Creator for correction? 

M. Laitman: To the extent that we better and better understand where we are, and we establish ourselves correctly with the group, with the Creator, then our progress becomes more tangible. It's recommended to put the mind and heart together, the emotions and thoughts, bring them together into our progress, and do that within the group. Even though you think that even without the group, you're going to develop and attain some higher states, you still have to see that the progress inside the group is the right kind of progress. That's where you'll discover the Creator. That's what's important. Whereas outside the connection with the group, you could be what we call “a wise guy.” Meaning, you can feel like you understand more, feel more, but not those discernments that belong to the construction of the soul. So first of all, don't escape the connection, the sense of connection, that we're all connected. In every such connection with the Ten, you have different kinds of people, different kinds of states, and so specifically through the connection between them, when you connect them together in your mind and heart, that's how you advance.

Question (Unity 2): (59:52) What does it mean to relate yourself with force to the Ten? What does it mean to ascribe yourself, practically, to the Ten?

M. Laitman: I have to put myself forcefully into the Ten. There's no problem doing that. I don't want to be there because each time a new will to receive surfaces. I grab hold of myself at some point, in some moment, what am I thinking? What am I feeling? I don't think and feel about myself in the Ten. I feel myself the way I am, and here I have to make corrections. How do I feel and think if I were to see myself inside the Ten? And then I'm baffled: what does it mean to be inside the Ten? How do we bring ourselves together? How do I connect them in my consciousness and in my emotion, in my mind and heart? And that's where man's work is. So try, try to always think about it, and then talk about it with the friends, and then turn to the Creator. Because from this work you'll have no choice but to turn together to the Creator, because you will feel that you are not in connection between you together. Rather, each one imagines to himself a different kind of mechanism, and that's far from connection. So, you'll begin to really feel what you're lacking, what does it really mean to be "one man in one heart". And these efforts will take you to a state of true connection. And this true connection - from your efforts, as different and farther from each other and opposite to each other as you are - you're going to ask the Creator, and He's going to do it for you. And that will be a connection of the spiritual Partzuf of the group.

Question (Holland 1): (01:02:45) As it says in the article, you can, let's say, you can be born as a fool or you can be born as a wise. So, we don't have choice in that. But what does it mean if you're a fool and to be righteous? So a righteous fool - what does that mean, and how does a fool become righteous?

M. Laitman: That has nothing to do with the other thing. Righteous or wicked, fool or wise, these are different discernments, and in spirituality, they're even very far from each other. It's not foolishness or wisdom in the sense that we explain it in our world. Also, wicked or righteous - it's not the discernments that we talk about in our world. They're the discernments with regards to connection, to incorporation, to the adhesion between pieces of the desire to a single desire, what we call a single heart. So, we don't have the same approach here that we have in our world towards different pieces. Imagine to yourself that you are now in an open heart surgery, literally, and you have to take the healthy part of the heart, that you took a flawed part out of it, now you have to take another part of a healthy heart that you took from another person and plug into it. And so you have to tailor the hearts together. So, that requires reaching a state where they are compatible for connection. We're familiar with this problem in medicine. How there's lack of compatibility, and they can't work together. Even though we're all human beings, one thing doesn't match the other thing. And actually, on the human level, we might see that organs from a pig could be more suitable for a human than another human. Anyway, there's a lot of details in that. What I'm trying to say, is that connection is based on the equivalence of inner qualities rather than external qualities. And in our inner qualities, we come closer and closer to each other. That is what makes our hearts connect more and more. Even though our bodies are unimportant. They remain what they are.

Question (Turkiye 2): (01:06:42) In the article, it says about wicked's withdrawal and receiving his Rav's powers. What is the difference between receiving Rav's powers and receiving groups powers? 

M. Laitman: To receive strength from the Rav is to receive guidance. But to receive strength from the group is receiving force from the system, where you need to be connected with them in order to attain the Creator. The Rav is a guide, and the realization is in the group.

Question (New York 4): (01:07:38) It writes that if he likes someone, he takes his thoughts and his aspirations as well. Towards the friends, it's clear that we have to work on that, but towards external people, how to protect yourself and to take the thoughts of external people? 

M. Laitman: I don't get involved with them. I don't get involved. I've learned from Rabash to listen for a few minutes to the news, get the most important things, just what happens, what's happening in the world de facto, which a little bit helps me see what influences people. But opinions, I don't get involved with them at all. I could be hearing here and there about economists, for instance, but again, just because it's something influencing people. What will truly influence society in the end is happening from above. But these views impact people on the level of where people are. So, we don't have so much to be impressed by what's traveling in the world. We only need to take into account the trend that is influencing humanity towards connection or disconnection, and then accordingly, we can also see what will be the connection between people's inclinations and the Creator's inclination who's influencing them. But these are things that they're going to happen anyway, one way or another. So, we don't really need it, except if you, if we engage in dissemination, then we need that. Otherwise, I wouldn't go into these things at all. So, the world will ultimately move forward and roll forward, and as much as we try to raise ourselves, the world will take on a more accurate path. I really hope that we'll be able to show the world the right direction of its development, and that will happen along with questions about recognition of evil, and understanding the path, and all those things. They will all happen.