Morning Lesson September 19, 2021, Transcription
Part 1:
Baal HaSulam - There Is None Else Besides Him
1.Rav’s Introduction: Today we are learning our entire lesson in the memory of our teacher Baal HaSulam who opened up the way for coming closer to the Creator, knowing the Creator, adhering with Him. So today, all day long, we are especially learning everything he wrote about the topic of connection between us and with the Creator, that is his entire ideology and his intention in his ideology. We wish to read at the opening of every morning lesson the collection of articles from the book ‘’Shamati’’, Baal HaSulam spoke and Rabash wrote. So, at the beginning of the lesson, we are going to read from this notebook, one-by-one, all the articles. Let's hope that it will open our hearts to one another and from our common heart to the Creator, and that is how we will advance. I just want to add, we will try to read it from the source and we’ll try to be connected as much as possible inside our hearts, inside the general heart, which we wish to offer to the Creator so He can clothe in it and be delighted in us.
Reading Shamati 1. (02:51)
2. R. (18:21) It’s not an article, that’s how Baal HaSulam spoke and Rabash wrote. Typically, he did not write while Baal HaSulam was speaking to him, but after Baal HaSulam finished speaking and they parted ways. Rabash went to his place and he sat there and wrote it down. Imagine what it’s like to hear such a speech and according to the memory in the heart and in the brain, according to the impression, inspiration that he received, to write down word for word what the teacher said, how special that is. That’s how he wrote all the articles in ‘’Shamati’’. Baal HaSulam did not want anyone to write while he was teaching because then a person doesn't think about what he’s hearing, so he had to write it down only after hearing him and this was the greatness of the Rabash. He was able to hear his father and then go back, and repeat it word for word, and write it down. We are talking about a very special connection he had with his father. We wish to rekindle your attitude towards those articles, and not later during the day, you’ll speak about them and in this way we’ll advance. Nevertheless, to constantly be in contact with the articles of ‘Shamati which is the main thing really. I did not know about those articles, nobody knew about those articles, but after about six months of studies with Rabash, he called me over and gave me one article, then another, eventually the entire notebook. I immediately made photocopies of it and brought it back, because he would constantly open it and delve into it, he would renew various states through it.
Because in the articles of Shamati, Baal HaSulam describes all the states that we go through, all the spiritual states how from Lo Lishma (not for Her sake) we come to Lishma (for Her sake), from ‘’below reason’’ we come to understand what is ‘’above reason’’ until we come to the complete adhesion with the Creator. That is why such articles are very special Torah for anyone who wishes to be in adhesion with the Creator. Of course there are other methods, they existed before Baal HaSulam, as it is written ‘’There are many paths to the place’’ - the place is the Creator, but in our time for our generation, I don’t think there is anything that could be more beneficial than those articles which are essentially a concentrated method of Baal Shem Tov, and the system that we are studying, the system of the worlds which comes to us from the words of the ARI. We have these two foundations: Baal Shem Tov, the words of the ARI through Baal HaSulam, and Rabash made the connection between Baal HaSulam and us. Today we have a special day, we commemorate the day of departure of Baal HaSulam, Rav Yehuda Ashlag and that’s why we focus on it and we started to read the ‘’Shamati’’ articles, and we are going to continue reading them each morning in the first part of each morning lesson. I recommend throughout the day to repeat as many times as you can those articles, write down your questions, it’s good, short questions on the topic as much as possible and we’re going to talk about it, scrutinize it, till it’s clear what are those questions that will help us move from ourselves to the Creator.
3. S. (25:00) The connection between Baal HaSulam is what allowed Rabash to write these articles accurately. What kind of connection is that?
R. We don’t know about it, but it’s a connection between a teacher and a student in the work between them called Peh el Peh (mouth-to-mouth), according to a common screen. When the teacher says something, he feels it and these things pass through him. If the student is connected to him in a common screen, he goes through the same things that the teacher is going through and it remains in him as a Reshimo (record). That’s why after the lesson, even though he is no longer in contact with the teacher as he was during the lesson, in practice, he has Reshimo (recollections, records) in him and he can use them to restore those states he was in, thanks to the teacher he was cleaved to, he’s in them. This way, he was able to write down word-for-word what was said. It’s not a problem here, we know about those things because all the teachings that came 2000 ago, longer than that, when the temple existed and people were studying in this academy that existed from between 1000 years before the current era and all the way to the destruction of the second temple.
Around zero to the current era, one thousand years, they would study without books, there was no need to write anything, they did not write, there was special individuals who would write, but the students under the teacher would sit without books and whatever the teacher said the students had to remember, hear and remember, each and every detail, that’s how they would study. To us it seems strange, how can that be, but that’s how people would study. That’s why we have many such depictions describing Rabbi Akiva sitting on a rock under a tree, around him were his students and he was teaching, explaining, and they would listen. In this way, as much as they could incorporate in him, accordingly they would be able to understand the essence of his words, his very words themselves and the entire Torah that they studied in this way, meaning the method of the revelation of the Creator to a person in this world is the meaning of Torah. They would learn it day in day out, more and more, everything would get absorbed by their desires, their connection, and that's how it would build until whatever the Creator had said, had lived in them, it was called the Torah of life. It’s that source, the true Torah that existed in this way from Moses onwards, until the shattering of the temple, this is called until the vessel was destroyed, the connection between them, and they were not capable of being connected and connected to the teacher.
But all those years from the exodus, receiving of the Torah, up to the shattering of the temple, it’s a bit more than a thousand years and they would learn everything by heart. Only later, because they fell from the degree of adhesion between them and the teachers also fell from their degree, during the time of Rabbi Akiva, beyond, then they started to write. But before that, it was forbidden to write because as it says “everything, inscribe it on the tablet of your heart’’, you have to write it on your heart, on your desires, because everything is talking about the connections, the changes in the desires. So go ahead, go into the system of your desires and accordingly build yourself with each day, this is the meaning of the Torah and not the way it’s written about in dozens of books. Because, in truth, nobody needed those books and also there were none, what books we’re talking about, everything was oral Torah, it’s method with all the supporting materials, dozens of books. But all of them were given from teacher to his students and from them to their students, and so on and so forth, with such devotion that nobody wrote like this. Kabbalists even after the shattering, the destruction, when there was no longer any connection like the one that existed between the students and their teacher, nevertheless people would try to renew this type of study where you don’t write, rather it’s only written on the table of your heart.
You have to write on your heart, on your desires, you have to go through those states that your teacher describes for it to penetrate your heart and live in your heart. This is the meaning of studying Torah, a lesson in Torah, meaning the light that you draw in your desire it arranges your vessels, the Torah of light. That’s how you learn, that’s how you remember and that’s how you memorize, that’s how you write it down. In the 15th century, Ramchal renewed this attitude and a little bit later, 16th century. I remember that my son went to the Ramchal school in Jerusalem, my son who is in Canada, he would study those things by heart. Everything you learn you have to memorize and because you memorized it, you can later talk about it, understand it. Gradually one advances towards the essence of the Torah and there were not that many books. Even the great teachers, if they had two or three books on their shelves at home, it was considered a lot. Today each one has at least a thousand books, a wall full of books, but it wasn’t like that all over the years, everything according to the rule ‘’write it on your heart.’’ Today, we have a special morning, a special lesson, because all day long we’re dedicating to the memory of Baal HaSulam who lived among us. Let's hope that we will reach adhesion in him and through that adhesion to the Creator.
4. S. (35:42) Rabash would write the articles after Baal HaSulam spoke and then he read all these articles and then he passed them to you. This action of Rabash how did it change you and your relationship to him?
R. I do not know yet and whatever I know I cannot share with you because it might be true or not through and there are also certain things that I don't belong only to me but belong to Rabash and Baal HaSulam so I cannot answer that.
S. So when beginning to read these articles from Shamati and some unique force penetrates the person changing the state from one to another, how can we accept correctly what Baal HaSulam says and immediately write it on our heart without analyzing it with our mind?
R. If our desires at least during the time then we are under the influence of the articles, we want those desires to be connected between us inside the groups, this is already a great deal of effort when we attach them to the Creator, because even in our 10’s as much as they seem to us broken it only seems that way to us but if I try to incorporate with the 10 then I am adhesion with the Creator because it is certain that the Creator is found in those people who want to reach adhesion with Him. And if I enter among them, I get on the right path that goes to the Creator, there is no other template, no other method with which I can come closer to the Creator. This is our entire work to hear together the words of the Baal HaSulam and try through the connection between us to discover the essence of his words. This is the shortest path, the most direct path to reach adhesion with the Creator.
5. S. (39:09) I would like to thank you for reading Shamati in this virtual form when we can all ask questions. The question is about the article itself. You said about the connection between us that at the end of the article he talks about the joy of divinity. At what height is the Shechina built, I thought it was inside the 10 and not above it?
R. The Shechina is the place of connection between the created being and the Creator and wherever the created being can be on that level, it can be in order to bestow, that’s where he finds his Shechina.
6. S. (40:27) Why did Baal HaSulam write so many books and commentaries for the book of Zohar?
R. We will need to talk separately about the book of Zohar. The problem is that as we enter just a little bit more into the feeling of our connection with the Creator. the feeling of spirituality. then we will enter the book of Zohar and we will see that it talks about the essence of the connection between us and the Creator. The book of Zohar is simply a completion of stories, I don't know if those are the right words, different modes of connection between the created beings and the Creator in the most exalted way. There are no degrees there. We can also read the commentary on the book of Zohar but in truth the book is all light, so those who are in order to bestow, in Lishma, they can open up this book. This is the meaning of opening the book, you don’t simply open a book, you open it up to your heart and you can understand what it’s talking about if you are identified with it, if you resemble the lights from the vessels the book is presenting you. I hope that we will come to this book just like now we are able to some extent read the Shamati articles since Rabash gave only two articles to all of his students, and even that close to the time of his departure in 1978 or 79, this is when he gave two articles of Shamati to his students. But the entire notebook of Shamati he kept to himself. What I am trying to say is that it is the same with us, we will gradually come closer to the Internality of things
7. S. (43:29) It seems to me sometimes that the Shamati articles are difficult to understand almost to the point of being cryptic. Is there a reason for why they were written in such a way?
R. They are written without any presentation for the general public, even to those who want to reach spirituality. They are written typically for people who are already in spirituality but who wish to know how to orient themselves inside spirituality. These articles are certainly not for beginners in the work of entering spirituality, let alone those who are not wanting to enter a spirituality, this is clear. But when we read them, we do not expect to understand anything, we read only to draw the reforming light, how much it will influence us, correct us. This is what we need so even though we do not understand it with your intellect, and I understand you completely you are a smart guy, you want to understand, to acquire those things, but you have to soften your heart and you have a good heart. You have to soften your heart in order for the heart to start learning the discernments on which Baal HaSulam speaks. This is why it says to write it on the tablet of your heart.
8. S. (45:51) So when we commemorate Baal HaSulam is there some additional energy that can help us in our spiritual progress?
R. Yes on this special day and then each and every day when you remember this.
9. S. (46:34) He writes that we have to be careful not to exit the authority of sanctity and not to be sorry when the Creator does not bring him closer. It also says that being a favored by The Creator doesn’t depend on the person, so what is the caution here?
R. What you receive in order to keep and be ready to receive an addition from the Creator.
10. S. (47:15) Thank you for such a deep connection to us the students with this article. In another place we learn that the departure of the light from the vessel develops the vessel. What is the stage of development or leap that is ahead of us?
R. We are not talking about this right now, we are talking about what we heard in Shamati.
11. S. (47:50) The Baal HaSulam says from this article that when there is Joy for the part it is only part of the joy of the whole. What does it mean that there is a joy for the whole or why is it not the joy of the whole?
R. We are all interconnected and when we come to adhesion with the Creator, we can feel how in this adhesion we find all the created beings although they still cannot feel it themselves.
12. S. (48:43) Did the Rabash give a good news about the revelation of the Creator? Did you get a feeling from Rabash about you era?
R. What I received I received, and when the time is right, I might share it or it will be revealed on its own. This is not so important. What's important is that we advance using the Torah that we follow and the method of Rabash and Baal HaSulam. Of course, it is a complete method. You see how regularly clearly by cause and consequence we advance, each and every day, and I hope that in the next few years that we will be able to penetrate the purpose of creation, adhesion with the Creator, the revelation of the Creator to the created beings among us. And this is how we’ll advance.
13. S. (50:20) To write on the tablet of the heart what does it mean?
R. It is not so important to us. It means to write on the desires of the heart because the heart is the desire. So, we have to write what we hear from the teacher on your desires so they will function the way you hear it from your teacher. Arrange your desires in such a way that from the moment you hear it and onward the heart will begin to work more and more according to what the teacher is telling you. This is the meaning of writing it on the tablet of your heart. The heart is the desires, symbolizes the desires. This is like on the computer, everything depends on the connection between the different bits of data. This is what the software is. So, if you connect all the data in such a way that everything works for Lishma, in order to bestow, above reason, in adhesion between the friends and the Creator, than you are arranging your entire internal computer, your heart and brain in such a way that they are directed at attaining the Creator and reaching adhesion with him.
14. S. (51:58) You describe how before the destruction of the temple people studied by heart and not from books so what is the significant difference between the studying by heart or by books?
R. The written word we write it down because we think it will remain on paper, but when you hear it, you need to memorize it, you will hear it only once, and you are adhered to it. And when you enter it, it will format your brain and heart, then it will remain with you. Everything you hear must enter and remain in you. Meaning you have to be adhered to the teacher in order to receive from him all the light pf the Torah, the inner force, for it to enter you and change your vessel, desires, intentions, thoughts, qualities. That you are now receiving this calibration from the teacher, this is the main thing. But just as when a specialist comes to your piano and starts to calibrate it, calibrating all the keys how they need to be, so should you each and every lesson calibrate your heart by being adhered, attaching to the Creator and wanting Him to perform these corrections and calibrate you according to the lesson, from one lesson to the another, until we come to the state where we are ready to be cleaved to the Creator with all our heart.
S. This sounds amazing and also about the language, there is a word and what it actually describes. There is a gap between the word “dog” and what actually is a “dog” so how do Kabbalists relate to this?
R. Kabbalists understood the internality of the words so it was not difficult for them. They would try to penetrate into the essence of what they heard from the teacher and that happens from adhesion with the teacher and not on the words themselves.
15. S. (54:49) In this world I feel when somebody is sad how can I come to feel the sorrow of divinity?
R. That sorrow of Shechina for you is the group that wishes to be in adhesion between them and with the Creator. This is what the sorrow of the Shechina should be.
S. But how can I come to feel this?
R. Try to open your heart, try to be among them, try to assist the whole group with one heart and with that heart you will cling to the Creator. Try to work with that. sometimes this means you have to do all kinds of external actions but mostly it is the work of the heart in most cases. Try to soften your heart. And you can ask the friends how they do it. You have great friends so ask them so that each of you does not close into yourselves, not completely, so you don't start holding on to each other, but you should tell each other a little bit about how you want to discover the connection between you.
16. (57:03) I heard that the Baal HaSulam did not say any word of Torah unless he attained it first. In our conversations we give to each other internal ideas without attaining them so what should be our intention before saying any word of wisdom to the friends?
R. We are talking about our inspiration, impression, not about the essence of the matters, rather our external impression, inspiration, how we are going to reach Dvekut, how we are trying to connect so we do not feel any barriers between us. This is all. We are discussing the small corrections between us in order to be in one Kli.
17. S. (58:06) We have the text before us like an approved method but before the written text how could people value the words that were spoken of teachers?
R. Basically the Kabbalists would gather the students, those who wanted to come study, and also the Creator orchestrates it that a person who really wants is brought to the place. Just like each and every one of you. How did you end up being with us now in the lesson in front of the computer and with us? It is not us doing that, it is upper force that wants to make a place where it can be revealed for the whole of humanity, so He gathers those Souls that are already ready for coming together and this is how we are brought, and this is how it always was. It is the same upper light that is doing this work.
18. S. (59:45) The article None Else Besides Him is very effective why is it so and how do we get more into this?
R. Try. I don't have more to add here. This is truly a foundational article with regards to attaining the Creator, a foundational article in regard to creation and the Creator's attitude to Creation. So, there is no more to add then to go back to it in various states that you are in and then from different personal states that one goes through, through this article to look at all of creation and the Creator. Try to always cling to the source, BHS who opened it up for us and Rabash who passed it on to us and through them to the Creator which is the true goal.
19. S. (01:01:20) What is the difference between the individual and the collective in the spiritual work?
R. We should try to be in the collective, meaning the group then from that we need to desire the Creator. The more that we think of that, the more we draw the light that reforms and the light that reforms will bring us closer together and we will begin to feel that there is nothing more important than the connection with the group. From the connection in the group, we can approach the revelation of the Creator, that he will be received in the 10 and then govern the ten. This is what we are asking for, we want to be as the female that receives from the male towards him like Malchut receives from ZA, we want to be governed by him, this is essentially what we want right now. To be connected between us in the 10 in order to be in such a way that the Creator will descend to us, fulfill with all the corrections and that we will be suitable and compatible to him to receive all of his light in order to bestow.
20. S. (01:03:19) Envy towards the Kabbalists like Baal HaSulam will this bring us closer?
R. It is written when will my deeds reach the deeds of my ancestors, meaning certainly being envious of the teacher will be a good thing as it enhances the student. On the other hand, we should realize that this whole progress is only through connection with the 10 and if it is in a personal way from the student to the teacher it is ineffective and even pushes away. We mustn't do actions that don't bring the broken system back to the connected system of Adam HaRishon. Meaning tens and tens and tens which connect to hundreds and then 1000 which complete the system. Essentially, we are the first generation of the last generation. Meaning we are the first who are now assembling the tens from the broken vessel. The shattering is apparent on all levels even in our world before us and we have to begin correction to assemble all of the souls in tens until we become the one who receives one, meaning we all become as one opposite the Creator who is one.
21. S. (01:05:48) I have two questions, if I may, how can I be able to learn from your mouth to mouth?
R. Mouth, Peh, means the place of the screen like we learn about the Partzuf, the spiritual Partzuf and to study mouth-to-mouth means two Partzufim connect on a common screen meaning they share an action as if in a single heart and a single mind as if connecting themselves into one. So, when there is such a connection between the student and the teacher this is called that the student is learning mouth-to-mouth from the teacher. It depends on devotion, that a student is willing to do anything just to be bonded with the vessel of the teacher.
S. In the article it says, who says that there is another force in the world namely Klipot then the person is in the state of serving other gods. So, if the Klipot is also a servant of the Creator how do I justify actions of Klipot as directly coming from the Creator?
R. Certainly the shells also are in the Creator's hands and also by them he directs us because we are all broken and without the influence of the Klipot over us we cannot advance towards Kedusha this is called help made against you. Specifically, through different negative egoistic forces, Klipot and worlds of Klipot, against any good there is bad, against any one of them and it builds up like a pyramid to the point where the Creator is. But below everything is broken down to good and bad so we have to learn how we can be adjusted by the bad forces and use them to advance. In truth right now in our state we are certainly full of only negative forces. Only they become apparent and our progress is only in connecting between us as much as possible, even mechanically through this world and attracting the light that reforms so that makes the connection, the spiritual connection between us and gives us two states. One state where we are completely in order to receive and another state where we have some connection in the group and if we come to a point where we have two states in front of us, I'm either separated or in the group then I start seeing this correct picture. This is the biggest problem that to begin to understand our correction is ultimately in our connection, it is easy to say and doing it is something that you need to do each time anew and without it there is no spirituality or correction of the system of Adam HaRishon.
S. You said we learn how to use evil in order to bestow?
R. Of course, we have to learn how to use both the bad and the good, two lines. Because without the ego that unfolds, we won't be able to ascend, as any ascent to the Creator that we make is on top of the egoistic mountain, that we each time rise above and this is why we call it faith above reason. There is reason, that the Creator gives us new reason each time and We have to rise above reason. This means that the Malchut stays below and Bina is above it then Malchut is greater and the Bina above is even greater, that is how we advance. This is what it's called climbing the mountain of the Lord.
22. S. (01:11:37) It's very difficult to lower the wisdom to a level where humanity will want it, we find that it is really a difficult task. Baal HaSulam also had to lower the wisdom all the way down to us. Is there something that we can learn about how he lowered it down to us so that we can better understand how to bring it to the people?
R. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who desire the internality, this comes from the broken system of Adam HaRishon and there are those who don't desire the internality. It doesn't depend on the people, it depends on what part of Adam they come from. Those who desire the internality we need to slowly explain to them the process of creation and the goal of our work, what we are studying, we just have to give it to them in a gradual and smooth way. The people who don't have this inclination in the root of their soul, of course on the spectrum there is psychology philosophy, New Age methods, psychosomatic things, all of that. People essentially don't have the desire for adhesion and revelation of the Creator, the goal of life. So, we have to give them only according to what is happening in humanity to the extent that humanity is helpless and we are advancing and moving forward in states where there is no other hope for humanity to continue the way they are. There are no means by which to make our situation better and only one thing remains to explain to them that through our human connection on the face of planet earth, if we become closer to each other, friendlier to each other, by that we can influence the climate and everything else.
Only one thing is lacking, just a bit more connection between us and from the connection between us we will be able to calm down all the turbulence, both on the human level between the countries as well as the climate and all of the relationships between people and families, that is what we need. For lack of any other choice, we see that nature also is pushing us to this realization that we are helpless in every direction. There is only one thing we can do and that is changing the relationship between us then you might be better off. We need to explain to them through the wisdom of Kabbalah that by changing the relationship between us we become an accord with the general system of nature, we are the inner part of nature, the most evolved part of nature. If we begin to arrange a better relationship between us it will influence all the levels of Nature in still vegetative and animal. Then we will calm down all of those turbulent forces of the planet and we will have a balanced way of life. This is what we need to do in whatever way that we can and however we can write it, however we can present it through the internet and all the opportunities there. We just have to go out and explain as much as possible that through the positive human connection that we can establish our environment in a better way. That the environment is first of all our climate and besides the climate there is also the social climate of human society where we are in a state that they will stop eating each other and see each other in a friendlier world, this is what we need.
23. S. (01:17:07) How should I understand if the joy and happiness that I feel in the desire to receive during the work by this we are able to give contentment above?
R. Now for the time being we have to believe that the Kabbalists say that this is so and if I do something good for a friend it is certain by this, I am doing good to the Creator although I don't feel him. But after a few activities of doing this way with the friends we will begin to feel how to bestow upon the Creator.
24. S. (01:18:08) We hear many times that we need to scrutinize on our own and take the decisions on our own to do all kinds of actions and we also hear that we need to be adhered to the teachers guidance and actually implemented in practice, when should we do this and when should we do that and what should we do if those things collide?
R. Keep going and you will see how you can combine them, I can't teach you that. All of those things we need to do first have to be clarified in our thoughts and desires inside of us and then we bring them out to some extent in some way, in some manner. You have such questions sometimes that I can't answer, first you have to organize them within you.
S. Let's say we made a decision in the 10 but on the other hand we hear something else from you?
R. So you need to bring it up as a question, if it is really the opinion of the group that is different from the opinion of the teacher then you need to ask as this is already a real question so check it and write down the question so it is clear to and ask, I will be happy to.
25. S. (01:20:00) Can none else besides Him, at least for me, reminds the importance that Rabash used to say how you would prepare for the lessons of reading Shamati and I wanted to ask about our 10. Because of necessity, friends sometimes sleep for an hour or two of work or dissemination and we don't have a solution of how to reach a quantity and quality that is really clear. What is the advice we can do in preparation to be understood?
R. I can't tell you, according to what I am hearing to advance more and connect with the essence of the essay itself, there's nothing more and out of this you will understand what to do afterwards. There is no other way to understand anything.
26. S. (01:21:16) He wrote about a very fundamental condition and only if a person has the desire will he get help from above, what is that true desire depend on?
R. A true desire is when a person wants to come to the intention to bestow through the group to the Creator, it is clear to him that this is the way that only to the extent that he has a desire to bestow on the group out of this he begins to see how he bestows upon the Creator. The Creator is only an image that he fashions out of the group, out of the 10.
Excerpts for Baal HaSulam Memorial Day
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iEPE0c0Phg7KJgB2eh31E-4b6xKWgBJAAFQW2aPNvVo/edit
Excerpt 1 (01:25:50)
27. R. (01:27:31) We heard it afterwards, we will have a chance to repeat the reading.
Excerpt 2 (01:27:39)
28. R. (01:28:21) That is the matter of the advancement of the generations, the more they advance and fall in an inverse way, and upside-down pyramid so to speak, that they can reach more revelation of the Creator.
Excerpt 2 again (01:28:50)
29. R. (01:29:09) This we need to remember as his method is to bring to the regular person who is a little bit of a desire for spirituality so he can succeed in correcting his soul.
Reader continues (01:29:21) “Before him one had to be….”
32. S. (01:29:48) Was the Baal HaSulam Moshiach Ben Yosef?
R. Let's wait with this, what will it give us, how do I know what Moshiach ben Yosef is, Yosef is Yesod, the righteous, the foundation of the world. It doesn't mean anything to me, I don't attain this degree, I don't understand it. I'm just saying yes, also Moshiach is all so confusing to everyone, it's not a good idea.
S. Can we say Gilgul Neshamot of the one Soul like Rashbi and Baal HaSulam are explaining the same method to each generation?
R. Yes, the fact that the soul of Ari was revealed in Baal HaSulam, this we know as we received it from the conveyance. What happened before it perhaps it is also so as we tend to think this way that the soul of Rashbi was revealed in ARI and from ARI was revealed in Baal HaSulam.
S. Do you think that soul will be reincarnated again as Moshiach ben David?
R. All the souls extend from Moshiach ben David and they'll return to that one common soul so we are all connected to it, it is not good for us to think about all of those particular states because we don't know anything about them. It is best for us to arrange ourselves and organize in a group to achieve that adhesion with the Creator and out of this we will see where the road leads us next.
Excerpt 3 (01:32:25)
33. R. (01:33:39) We just need to really feel as much as possible. How low we are, not just artificially. The more that we advance we see that we are not really worthy and as a result of this we come to be low and out of this we will rise.
Excerpt 4 (01:34:06)
34. S. (01:34:43) This principle is so fundamental that it is the first thing he chose to write, he could have written a lot of other things, love of friends or adhesion with the Creator?
R. What is love of friends or adhesion with the Creator he is approaching a person who was on the level of a beast and that person there will also be a small desire to emerge from the level of still, vegetative and animate and achieve the degree of speaking, of the human, of Adam, Domeh, who is similar to the Creator. He is turning to him, we have gathered here to establish a society, meaning to organize the place for all of those who are interested in following the way and method of Baal HaSulam, which is the way, what is the method? To climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast. It is even before moving forward, about me standing on my beastly desire, something in it is born a spiritual desire, out of a person, out of Adam, man. This is why he is appealing to us in this way, what else can we talk about, not about the group, the Creator or anything only about this transition.
S. It is clear that the transition is the essence of the method, but these first words of “all of those are interested in walking the path of Baal HaSulam.”
R. If you want to go by a different method, it is not here it is written that there are many ways to the Creator, there are other philosophies, psychology, all kinds of variations. Each one thinks he is going on the right way so those who really feel that this method is fitted for them it is for him. The others as I have met several people who are with some spiritual attainment of some matter and they achieve this through other methods. Yes, not necessarily through Judaism and they did have some contact with the upper force, the force of bestowal that is present over everything but that is not the method of Baal HaSulam. The method of Baal HaSulam this is a very special combination of feeling and intellect and it takes up the entire vessel to develop it both in terms of the structure of the common soul and also from the perspective of the lights and attainment of the Creator. Therefore, this is really including everything, very comprehensive and all-encompassing. At the beginning of the end where we are now, at the beginning of the emergence to the path of the common correction because in the end all of humanity will have to go through it. In the way of Baal HaSulam, all of humanity in all ways and levels will find some answer how to advance to the goal. There is more there from the diagrams and the learning of the feeling and the emotions and the structure of nature, there are all kinds there but they are all present in the method of Baal HaSulam. His method answers everything but to each one there will be a part of it. It will divide and it will connect.
S. What is your advice on how to strengthen their faith in the purity of the path and method to adhere to the teacher in devotion?
R. I don't think that as much as I understand I'm not going to get acquainted with all the methods and all the religions, but as much as I understand they're all in general particular partial cases or incidents of this method. You can meet people who are above their ego to some extent who have a feeling of spirituality to some extent, but this is not a method that takes you with your mind and your heart to degrees where you really achieve the root of all of reality which is the Creator. I can't explain it as it is inexplicable. A person learns only where his heart desires and this is why 1000 come into a room and one comes out to teach. A lot of people come to us and then they leave and go to other methods and go back to their regular life so I don't object to it, I don't regret it, I don't even know about them, each one does his own scrutiny and there is free choice.
35. S. (01:41:29) When we say the path and method of Baal HaSulam is it just a verbal expression or is that a difference between how we understand it to how the Kabbalist understands that phrase?
R. A Kabbalist received this expression in the entire mechanism where he understands the feeling in the intellect and the structure of creation and all the worlds above this world through infinity and how those are included together, which is called all of reality. A Kabbalist understands it differently, we also will advance and say it in this way in general and in particular and then we will see what Baal HaSulam writes in the articles that we still can't permeate and understand.
Excerpt 5 (01:43:02)
Excerpt 6 (01:44:29)
Excerpt 7 (01:45:30)
36. R. (01:47:13) This is what we see and we also see in the writings of the ARI that were arranged after he passed away and we don't know what to do with them, who is right or not, they were changed and confused it, thinking it should be one way or another because all of those writings were in some box and were all disorganized. This is why Baal HaSulam said that we cannot rely on those people who, after the ARI, after the 1st 2nd and 3rd generation, people who were still only interested in the wisdom of Kabbalah but not Kabbalists much less to the degree of the ARI. They started publishing all these books in the name of the ARI and he said all of these writings that were compiled we can't trust. This is why Baal HaSulam is the first because he was impregnated with the soul of ARI and he arranged all of the writings of the ARI correctly. This is why he published the book The Tree of Life and the study of TES and The Gate House of Intentions, everything he wrote are commentaries on the writings of ARI and from this specifically we study.
37. S. (01:49:18) You said that Baal HaSulam was rewarded with the impregnation of the soul of ARI, are you speaking about the point in the heart?
R. Yes, you can say it is appointed in the heart.
S. It is hard to understand what it means, the impregnation of the soul that Baal HaSulam was rewarded with being alive, how do you know this happened to him?
R. I don't know either, I just accept it the way he writes it and that is it. We will understand sometime in the future, we will understand everything at the end of correction everything will be clear to everyone and until then we'll see if we can obtain it. Before that we will.
38.
S.
(01:50:34)
Did
Baal
HaSulam
see
a
difference
between
his
soul
and
the
soul
ARI?
R.
I
can't
talk
about
such
things
because
I
don't
feel
myself
able
to
understand
them
completely,
much
less
tell
you
so
that
you
will
understand
it
correctly,
you
can
ask
whatever
you
want,
but
not
me,
ask
yourselves
but
don't
confuse
yourself.
But
when
the
time
comes
and
you
rise
to
this
level
it
will
be
clear
to
you
and
until
then
let's
just
keep
it.
39. S. (01:51:30) Is there a difference between the method of ARI and Baal HaSulam?
R. No I don't think there is a difference I think that Baal HaSulam detailed and elaborated as he had a lot more time to express in the means of this world what Ari wrote and heard, revealed, Baal HaSulam who reached a level of the soul of ARI, received what everyone can if he rises to this level so he received what was in that vessel and he could interpret it at this time in writing, verbally, interpret what he received from the vessel of ARI.
Excerpt 8 (01:52:45)
40. R. (01:53:32) SAM is the Angel of Death, so in Israel there is the control of the biggest Klipa, and we feel this, us also.
Reader continues: (01:53:47) “And not only that but in Jerusalem….”
41. S. (01:54:34) How does the method of Baal HaSulam belong to just a few but also belong to everyone?
R. To everybody when everybody will want to come when they won't have a choice to use this method and that will be clarified. You will see that from all of the methods only this method will remain
42. S. (01:55:10) You said that Rabash wrote Shamati after he heard the lesson, what allows such a connection between a disciple and the teacher so we can reach the level of Rabash and Baal HaSulam?
R. That depends on the student how much he is close emotionally to his teacher and almost on the same desire and thought as the teacher that depends on the adhesion of the student to the teacher.
S.
Can
it
be
said
that
Rabash
clothed
in
the
soul
of
Baal
HaSulam
the
way
Baal
HaSulam
clothed
in
the
ARI?
R.
I
don't
know,
you
think
these
things
were
so
usual
and
if
it
was
how
does
it
help
us,
obviously
he
attained
something
of
what
Baal
HaSulam
was
being
adhered
to
him
as
much
as
he
could
but
there
are
a
lot
of
discernment
in
that.
43. S. (01:56:58) Why are there so many ways and spirituality? What is the purpose?
R. Throughout the years because the desire to receive was divided by the shattering into many parts so each and every one receives a special filling in the upper light and how we can come close to him. This is why it is legitimate that each one who has some kind of tendency to an upper force according to that tendency there's supposedly a method how to reach it. So, he thinks that is the right path, the true path and it doesn't think it is maybe his personal path. If so, even at all. Then a person goes and spreads it all over the place. I can't speak about it a lot because I don't want to get into going against religions and faith that we have to keep going on our way. Our path is the middle line, whoever wants can join. We don't resist anyone as we are concentrated with what we have from the connection between people to the Creator, that is it.
44. S. (01:58:48) In excerpt #8, Baal HaSulam’s last sentence, student reads, how can we realize it in the 10 in our work? What does it mean for us?
R. First of all, speak about it and then decide if you really want it and you’re ready for it, start with that.
45. S. (01:59:25) When Baal HaSulam writes that he chose to work in the land of Israel. Is a person's choice of a place to work -- does this add or diminish from his work or does it not matter where the person is physically?
R. That was actually in the times of Baal HaSulam when he didn't have internet, and no radio, no TV, no nothing. Everything depended on the atmosphere of where a person is, what village he would sit in, that's why he is writing that. In our times where the whole world is small, we can't say it's important where a person lives anymore. I feel my students that are, let's say in Latin America or North America or Africa or Asia, it doesn't matter where, I feel them as if they are here beside me. Because what is here beside me? I have a screen and you are all on that screen no matter where you are and everything is according to the connection of the heart. As much as our hearts are connected to one another, in that way, we discover the vessel and through this we come to the revelation of the Creator. In the end of Corrections, it will be in the way that each one of the Creator gives a yearning to reach Him, and let's hope that we will reach a state that we can include all of those that truly desire me to adhere to the Creator in a true way. And all the rest will connect to us but we will always remain a small group, a few thousand, fifty or a hundred thousand, doesn't matter but it will always be a small group of people who are united to be in contact with the Creator. And the rest will connect to us through dissemination. This is why we have work between us and the Creator, and we have work from us to the general public and we are in the middle.
46. S. (02:02:26) From what we heard now it feels like the ability to learn is a special science. How do we learn to build a real connection between the teacher and a disciple?
R. We are speaking about it, we read about it in Rabash articles and Baal HaSulam even, so we need to see it through there.
47. S. (02:03:42) What helps us to make a right choice and not let the ego accompany us to emerge from the spiritual connection but on the contrary to strengthen the connection?
R. Only grasp in the 10, that’s it, nothing else will help you, only the grasp in the 10 and the plea to the Creator, prayer to the Creator, to help you adhere to the 10. Afterwards what happens doesn't matter, the main thing is you need to grab onto the 10 like a baby holding onto the mother and seeing her as a source of life.
48. S. (02:04:38) We see from the article what is holy or sacred in the upper world, in the root and in the branches, it becomes a big shell like in Jerusalem. What causes this shell to happen in the branches?
R. Wherever there is Holiness, it has a posterior, there is always a shell -- there can't be one without the other -- it is the advantage of light out of the darkness. Specifically, because the shell is big so the work on it that we have to go through that’s how we refine ourselves and reach the light.
S. What causes it, the population, the people or the geography because the ARI didn't want to go to Jerusalem, he chose a different place?
R. At that time of the Ari, it wasn't that terrible, how many people were in Jerusalem back then? But at the time of Baal HaSulam that was already a much more serious problem an yeah, wherever there is sanctity, there is also a shell, Klipa. And if it used to be sacred or holy in the times of the temple, so afterwards when it was shattered and destructed, meaning the Holiness became a shell and since then. Jerusalem, the shattered Jerusalem, is the city that is in the spiritual shell. Let's hope that it will be resurrected and be the built Jerusalem.
49. S. (02:06:41) I never understood if this article, None Else Besides Him, is the basis of the work of our path so why was it kept secret? Why did Rabash not want to show it to any of his students, and all of the articles of Shamati for that matter?
R. Rabash did advertise it between his students. He gave me, he let me copy it, this letter, and I did and I passed it on to all the students.
50. S. (02:07:31) Through the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, and even in lessons with you, is it possible to feel the Creator who is clothed there and if so, how do we accept it correctly?
R. By adhesion you can't otherwise.
S. Adhesion in the 10, in one another?
R. Yes, of course.
51. S. (02:08:08) In excerpt# 7, it was written ‘through the will of the upper one, it was rewarded with the soul of the ARI’, what does this mean?
R. I told you, I don't know what it means and the Creator's desire and that someone will get the impregnation of the soul of ARI. It's too bad that you're not hearing what we're talking about or you wouldn't ask that.
52. S. (02:08:41) Before the ARI and Baal HaSulam came, since the Zohar for 1400 years, no person had the ability to understand the Book of Zohar, is that it?
R. No, like the ARI, no, and from the ARI to Baal HaSulam, also no. Those are the special souls that in such a way we see it in history, what is the problem? This is how it is in the whole world and everything in the world. What you have wise people like Einstein or like Moses? When they need, they appear according to the upper plan.
53. S. (02:09:51) Why is the land of Israel under the control of the Angel of Death?
R. The land of Israel is under a force that the people who are in the land of Israel or belong to that group of Abraham from Babylon to today, they determined what Israel is for them. Eretz, land, is a desire, Ratzon - Eretz Ratzon, ‘the land of Israel’ is a desire aimed toward the Creator. If it really is aimed towards the Creator, it is a holy land; if it is not aimed to the Creator but all kinds of corporeal fulfillments so that is called ‘the shattered land of Israel.’ That the shell, the Klipa, is controlling it and this is the state of the land of Israel today.
S. So we mean desires: desires to bestow, desires to receive and if it’s desires to bestow, it’s under the control of the Creator and if it’s the desire to receive, it’s Klipa, I don’t know, Sitra Achra?
R. Yes, we need to think of it more in order to get used to understanding these states.
54. S. (02:11:37) Rabash also writes about the necessity to be careful with people who were disciples of Baal HaSulam. Does that pertain to us and how can we be careful of it?
R. Yes, there were a lot of students with Rabash that each one of them thinks he understands the method of Baal HaSulam and that he heard it correctly through the Rabash, you can say the same thing about me. And you can hear all kinds of opinions and rumors, one on the other and this on that. I don't know if even what people say: the moment that Rabash died and I talked to him about it before, what is it going to be, I disconnected from everybody, I left everyone and from then on, I was alone without any contact with any one of the Rabash students that were back then. Sometimes I hear that they connect or move away, there are all kinds of different streams between them toward one another. I don't really hear about it. Lately I hear that each one is gradually disappearing, they’re scattering and that is how it always happens with students of Kabbalist. There are a few that still keep disseminating, either themselves or the method of Baal HaSulam. Well, it will all be clarified in a few generations, I hope that we are the last generation, but within a few generations, a few years it will go by.
55. S. (02:14:09) I heard only by strengthening ourselves in the 10 can the group grow stronger when the teacher is no longer with them. Is this what happened with Baal HaSulam? So, we need to advance as ‘one man with one heart’ without being connected physically. How can we determine which way and with whom to continue and which way to take, if as you said, you parted from the group and continued on your own. So, we need the clarity to know what direction to take when this happens. It happens in every generation of disciples of Kabbalists.
R. I understand you, I wasn't in groups, I wasn’t connected to students, even though I bought them from a foreign place to the Rabash but I wasn't mixed up with them. I was always with Rabash. Just understand that after the morning lesson that we have, I used to go home, I used to eat something and sleep for an hour, then I came to him. And we would go to the park, to the beach, to all kinds of places and come back about 1 pm. From 1pm to 4pm, sometimes until 5pm, I had to work, and from 5pm onward, I went to Rabash again for the evening lesson, not for many people, just for a few. But I used to sit with him and bring him coffee and I was in the lesson. Afterward at 8 pm. I went home, I lived right next to him in the adjacent house. And afterwards again, I would wake up at 1am, read Shamati at home, drink a cup of coffee and go to study with the students who came and we sat and studied. Meaning except for the morning lesson from 3am to 6am, I wouldn't meet those students, I wasn't mixed with them because I was always next to the Rabash. I think he did it on purpose like that, that’s why when he died, I remained alone, and all of those hours also during the studies and also during our trips together, our daily trips from 9am to 1pm, I was available. Then I started organizing the writings that I got after him, from his desk, and in this way a few books were published -- first of all, Shamati because I thought I can't hide it anymore from anybody else, those articles, that the world must see them. And afterwards, the writings of Rabash, all kinds of them, and that’s what happened. I never thought after the Rabash I would be a leader of his students, no, on the contrary, I was willing to help and I did help. I give them all the writings that I had from Rabash and Baal HaSulam, I let them photocopy it as I gave them the original so they can see it was not my own and they photocopied it. From that, also, they published all kinds of books and I'm not sorry about it. On the contrary, let it spread out, the Creator will set it up through the years and the generations if there will be a time for what has to come out. But I didn't take any decision on my own in the disseminating of the method that I am limiting them or hiding those writings, God forbid. That's the way it is today until today. I have no connection with any one of the students of Rabash. I don't even know what they are really doing. I hear they scattered one from the other; that a few of our students from the past have gone to all kinds of his students, well, okay. ‘Each one studies where his heart desires,’ this is how it has to be. Holiness doesn't allow us to hold a person or convince him: if you want to go to someone else to study, please go ahead. I don't resist it.
56. S. (02:21:26) I wanted to share, every day in our 10, we listen to the article None Else Besides Him 7 days a week.
R. Thank you very much
57. S. (02:21:55) Baal HaSulam’s whole life is a story of overcoming. He started in Poland, he moved, he managed to avoid the tragedy, then he tried to publish and was shut down. What force helped Baal HaSulam? How do we take an example from him and not complain that I have problems or something? When you look at this giant Kabbalist and how he did it. How he overcomes all the disturbances?
R. We don't have a choice, either we are aimed to the truth, to the correction of the soul or we are on the degree of the beast, one of the two. Either you want to develop your soul or you live the life of the beast and you’re a beast, one of the two. So, each one decides on his own and the decision has to be in each and every moment that a person lives. Where is he: in his beast or in the man, the Adam in him. Answer this in each and every moment and you won't make a mistake.
58. S. (02:23:30) Baal HaSulam’s whole life was built on wanting to convey his knowledge onward and that would bring the light of the Creator to the world. How can this be?
R. He didn't see there was anything else important except for giving the method of correction to humanity. What is the wisdom of Kabbalah for? It's a method of correcting the shattered soul, that the Creator shattered on purpose and gave to humans that they will reach from the degree of the beast to the degree of Adam that resembles the Creator and they will connect and reach and then attain Him. What else do you need to do, keep going as a beast? But each and every time to raise from the beast to Adam in us, to correct the form of Adam that resembles the Creator, this is why we need to do this the world is still in such a state that they will be obligated to correct themselves. There's not even a question about that.
59. R. (02:25:41) Today we are going to meet in the evening about Baal HaSulam to have a small meal. Each one can prepare a little plate with something and a little glass of beer or some wine or whiskey, what anyone wants, that is enough. Even a little sandwich and a glass of wine or beer. And we are going to meet at 6:30, Israel time. The whole evening was prepared by the friends, not by me -- not some Rav Laitman there, will give his speech, no. Everything was done by the students from Baal HaSulam to the whole world. Get ready and today I will be the observer.