Morning Lesson December 26, 2021, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
The Way to the Creator in Mind and Heart - Selected excerpts from the sources. #7
Reading Shamati 240.
1. Rav’s Introduction: (06:20) Yes, Baal HaSulam said he said it in the Slichot it is asking from the Creator as if attentive to the request of those who asked to get closer to the Creator and in getting closer to the Creator there is the correction of the vessels of bestowal, as we learn bestowing in order to bestow which is the level of Bina and also the correction of the vessels of reception, receiving in order to bestow. The vessels of Malchut when she also participates in receiving and by that giving back so these two phases of correction, this is how we ask that we should be successful in them and this is what we call the Slichot, asking for forgiveness we are asking the Creator please open your ears and listen to what we ask and accept our request so we could rise through these two levels, both bestowing in order to bestow and receiving in order to bestow. It is said that they seek your face so answer them from the heavens from your abode. We ask for the light of your face that connects the vessels we do not want to be filled with light, we want the light correction to influence us. In your light we should see light. I do not have much else to add here, we can read it again but this is basically the summary of the mini speech by Baal HaSulam that he said on the first day of the time of Slichot.
2. S. (08:50) What is the difference between a demand and a plea?
R. It depends on what vessels we are working with, basically for us for now it is the same thing, we cannot measure what vessels we are activating as we are turning to the Creator. Typically if I ask for the friends, this is like it is written, one who prays for his friend is answered first and after that, this is how the person actually participates and progresses himself, helps himself to progress through asking for the friends and this is how it works.
3. S. (01:56) Why does the Creator allow for two forms of seeking, those who raise his greatness and those who want to bring him closer, drawing him near?
R. In the beginning we have to see the Creator is important above everything else as the one who drives, orchestrates everything, builds everything and this is how great he has to be in our eyes. This is one thing, on the other hand after we turn to the Creator and raise the importance and appreciate him as much as possible, we come to a point where we can make a request. Why, because as you person spoke and thought and sang about the greatness of the Creator, how he encompasses everything and how he designed everything for you, through you, all the way through the generations before you until it is now time for you to participate in the correction so that it shows you where you are. The plea to the Creator begins from as if talking about the past, the forefathers and it is about educating ourselves, directing ourselves to come closer to the Creator in the correct way. Then we ask for the Creator's face, that he would turn his face to us not with his back but with his face and this means the upper light, the light of Hochma that emanates from him and sanctifies our vessels and fulfills our vessels. Then more than trying to turn this upper force to us there is really no other action but doing this is possible only if we are close to the Creator through equivalence of qualities and we make an action similar to him like a partner. You want to pass on the bestowing from him to others and this means I turn to him in the right way that I want to pass everything to others. We turn to him in gratitude for all the good that he did to everybody else before us, so we turn to him always in a way that we do not ask anything for ourselves but only for the sake of others and for ourselves it is something we add only at the end of our request. Meaning do it for them and for everybody else, for all of mankind and for us, so we align the request in the shape of bestowal as much as possible.
4. S. (14:04) What is the difference between bestowing in order to bestow and bestowing in order to receive?
R. What is the difference, if I ask only for the force to bestow in order to bestow because I do not have any spiritual forces before and I do not have the degree which I want to rise to, I want to ask for the forces of bestowal to be protected by the force of mercy, Bina so whatever happens I do not remain in any self-interest. So it is not for me so I am just like Bina in the force of pure bestowal and in such a way if I ask for this and if I received this strength and raise myself to the degree of faith above reason, meaning the force of bestowal above the force of Malchut ,the desire to bestow governing my desire to receive then I am already in spirituality. Now what do I do, it is not an action yet, I have received that quality but how do I realize, implement it, how do I realize myself? So here begins the work of connecting to others, of receiving from others their desires and then I turn to the Creator with the right request to fulfill the desires of the others with me being like a passageway, a conduit. I absorb desires from them and fulfillment for these desires for the others from the Creator and that makes me basically like a pipeline so through me the upper light pours everything to them and this is how I progress, this is my work to become the passageway for all people of the world. They have no contact with the Creator, they have no way to address him, they do not have the lack, that deficiency to turn to him, to come closer to him. You see you are among ordinary people every day and you'll see that they are a difference to what you are doing so we have to prepare ourselves to become the passageway to all mankind, to give mankind the power of correction which is the light of Hassadim and through us allow them to receive the forces of light of fulfillment which is the light of Hochma until everybody corrects themselves, fulfills themselves to the point final correction.
5. S. (17:34) What does it mean to receive the Gadlut, greatness of the light?
R. To receive the greatness of the light is well I am not completely sure what you are asking, but the greatness of the light is the greatness of the force of the Creator who corrects and fulfills and does everything. It is all included in the word light meaning any force that comes to us from above that corrects us and fulfills us, it is called light.
S. But it says here that she does not receive the greatness of the light and then can come into equivalence of form, so it says that we can come to equivalence of form without receiving the greatness of the light.
R. This is just a sign, it is an indication that first they need to make a restriction not to receive anything and not to want anything from life besides what we need for existence in a whole existence, both physical and spiritual should be aimed only at clinging to the Creator, getting closer to the Creator. Why, what for in order to pass through as all the forces of the Creator both for correction and fulfillment to all mankind this is the role of those who have received from the Creator awakening to come closer to him.
6. S. (19:41) It says that who has a deficiency can cry but the other one demands, what is a cry and what is demanding?
R. These are degrees of deficiencies that one can raise to the Creator, he has nobody else to raise the request to only to None Else Besides Him to the Creator. This is the root and the source of everything in all situations we receive the force of correction and fulfillment from him, so in our request to the Creator there are several types of pleas, the crying and the speaking and singing and so on.
7. S. (20:40) In order to do this work my “I” starts to disappear and in that very dramatic moment, what's to hold onto so I do not disappear or get institutionalized or get into a mental institution?
R. The person first of all has to be very happy, he needs to be expecting soon to feel that my “I” does not exist, meaning that I will be able to work only for the sake of others. Like a mother to the baby when she is next to her baby she is completely directed at the baby, whatever the baby wants she does, she is there to serve the baby. Similarly we have to try to reach a state when on one hand we serve the Creator and on the other hand we serve the whole world and that is by connecting the whole world through us to the Creator and the Creator to the world. We have to think about it more and more, it is the status which is our truthful stay and then we will see how much we can get closer to this, think about this, better understand and feel this and accordingly that Creator becomes more understood by us and closer to us. Especially as we are in the time of the last generation this is really the beginning and this begins to take shape in this world whether we want it or not, this is happening and it will happen.
8. S. (22:42) It says that he differentiates the judgement according to Gadlut. What does it mean?
R. Certainly Din, judgement refers to the force of reception we have to restrict and bring the screen for it and the reflected light and transform them from judgement to mercy. Typically we learn this from the work of three lines when we have the desire to receive on one hand, the force of Bina on the other hand and by the right combination of Malchut and the Bina we build a certain middle line which means that as much as we can work with both lines. That means that we are doing the work of Gadlut, adulthood. We do not just restrict the Malchut and stand on the forces of Bina bestowal which we received from above as if we had no desire to receive instead, we already plugin desire to receive of Malchut with the desire to bestow of Bina and build such a mix a combination between them that allows us to work with both of these vessels, both vessels of reception and vessels of bestowal and this is how we progress.
9. S. (24:34) What characterizes the prayer that is accepted, is there a difference between prayer and demanding?
Request is also part of the concept of prayer and what characterizes the request that is accepted, is that we begin to get in touch with the Creator and practically realize what I asked for.
10. S. (25:08) You said that in this work there is the pipeline we are taking the desire of others and we pass and return the fulfillment from the Creator, how does this work that I pass the result of the other?
R. Again, I am telling you it is like with the baby and the mother, the baby wants to sleep and eat, needs to be washed and taken care of. The mother does everything the desire comes from the baby and the action for those desires comes from the mother, this is how we have to work either with ourselves or with the others, that we have to do this with the desires to receive to the extent that they are in order to bestow.
S. But is it all an internal work?
R. Of course, but it is also possibly, it can be not only internal but also in an external action let's say when you are engaging in dissemination.
S. If we are speaking about that I feel that the desires of the friends in the ten is something common, how can we pass the fulfillment there?
R. It is your desire, we don't even need to talk about it. According to how you participate with them in your desire, that is what you do, you want it to happen. As it says, ‘All my bones shall say,’ meaning all your movements, your actions, it’s clear that you take a part with them and you want them to succeed to the extent you nullify before them and everybody does it to the others. What you end up with together, is that at the center of that, you build that point of annulment and connection and this is where you discover the Creator. This is where bit by bit the spiritual Partzuf grows.
11. S. (27:38) When do we get to the point where the person is willing to give himself without any calculations, constantly just see what to give and there is a point of no return, where is this point?
R. If the person enters spirituality, which means that he has a truthful desire to detach from his ego that he already went through many stages and he comes to the state where he does ask for this, to be detached and it is clear to him from his life, from his effort than he receives the strength for this.
S. Is there a stage before this?
R. Of course, our whole work comes before that, as the Baal HaSulam writes that the main point of difficulty is the entrance to spirituality, the first point, that point of connection.
12. S. (29:00) You said that we have to be a pipeline physically and spiritually to cling to the Creator and pass the correction and fulfillment to mankind. What are those forces?
R. I cannot say because it depends on the time and state that mankind has to start to feel the urgency to this, that depends either on dissemination from above to mankind from us, through us. Meaning that they want this or at least understand the possibility of this and the lack and problems that come from below pushing them to rise to correction, therefore we have to disseminate the method of correction as much as possible, showing that there is no choice we have to correct ourselves. What can we gain by this, what are we doing with that and then by this we reach a state where the Creator awakens them from below and we awaken them from above. Wake them up, wake humanity and there is a some point we cannot just a spread materials to them but also wake them up to connect to us and build some systems for this and this way to implement ourselves as Baal HaSulam writes that we are the passageway between the Creator and the whole world.
13. S. (30:59) He who asks for his friends receives first, so how can we connect ourselves that our giving will be pure and not in order to receive for myself?
R. We have to think about this more and get close to the friends and participate with them as much as possible and see how close they are to each other as opposed to how close you are to them.
14. S. (31:40) Why your ears will not be shut for those who want to come close and those who demand revelation for everybody, what does it mean to be in the middle?
R. This is how the Creator one time works through the friends on the person, just like in a group that is influenced by other groups one time from above and one time from below this is how it is.
15. S. (32:27) What are we asking for others, can we reach a true cry when asking for the friends?
R. If I begin to understand that others are me in truth and that they should actually be more important than myself and I have to pray for them and ask for correction firstly for them and then for myself. Then it turns out that, then I am demanding help from the Creator for others is something special, a unique privilege and this is what I have to do because I cannot correct myself. I correct myself in tying the Creator to the whole world, so the Creator is connected with the whole world to the very last human being and that will mean that I corrected myself. Because I have nothing else to do besides helping that correction of all the items in the world relating them to the Creator, demanding the Creator to correct and fulfill them. This is why there is a problem here that I do not understand, the world is so close to me and then I truly have to care for the whole world.
16. S. (34:19) Why is it that in every prayer as you told us we add the end only for us, why should we even bring ourselves into the prayer?
R. Because I want to be accepted in the request also as a part that corrects itself .
17. S. (34:44) If we pray for the ten without any attention to ourselves, is this a prayer for the glory of the Creator, for the sake of the Creator?
R. Yes but we still need to always connect ourselves about the Sages wrote to us should be something that is complete and if you want to erase yourself from it that this is not the right time for it is not correct, the action needs to be complete from the beginning to the end but we just go deeper and deeper into implement it.
18. S. (35:30) How do we turn the request, that internal demand for revelation of the Creator for myself to revelation of the Creator to others?
R. I am speaking as a woman now. I need to think all the time that I am connected to the whole vessel, the whole world vessel and I have to bring myself to correction and my correction is in caring for them and fulfilling them. To the extent I feel them I am correcting myself, it cannot be in any other way. I am not going to be able to correct myself but only to the extent that I caused the correction of the whole world from my part. This is my only correction for myself, I do not need any correction if one can say that because where am I, I am just a passage they for the others and this is what every person is, this is where the breaking happened in the passage between us. This is the ruin of Adam HaRishon, the shattering of Adam HaRishon so each one just needs to pray to become the conduit the pipeline to others and by this we erect the Divinity where the Creator is revealed.
Reading Shamati 240 again (37:30)
19. R. (43:36) Well, this is what he wrote in brevity, there are still missing words, here so to speak – the text is not so smooth – and what you heard is what he wrote. And we are very grateful to Rabash for even just for these words from the Baal HaSulam.
20. S. (44:01) He is speaking here in the last part about being in the middle. Is this about the middle line?
R. It is not exactly that, this is in demand for Hassidim, demand for Hochma that can be received in the clothing of Hassadim. Baal HaSulam spoke about this freely, here, you understand? It is not a study, you can’t learn from here the list of action items, one by one.
S. Because it says that he is in the middle when he prays to be closer to the Creator and that appears really as egoistic prayer – a prayer for myself.
R. No, but when you activate the ego and join it to the prayer, as well, it means that the prayer is egoistic because if we are talking about our work, then we do not see how the person is actually asking what he is asking for. But when the person asks within himself and turns to the Creator, that it requires scrutiny as well: what do you want to happen to him, what do you want to open up?
21. S. (45:53) When I turn to the Creator for mankind, I turn from my 10 or from the general Bnei Baruch? Where does the person stabilize himself when turning for mankind?
R. You are asking me?
S. I am asking in a systematic way, where do I position myself when I turn to the masses?
R. Are you turning to the Creator or you are turning to the masses?
S. I am turning to the Creator for the masses but I do not know how to arrange myself.
R. It is very simple: you are giving to the masses that you are taking care of in a consistent way. You reveal to them in different ways the true picture of the world – what exists and what we are facing – and this is in regard to the mass of people that you are taking care of. And with regard to the Creator, you know the lack and the state people are in and you're asking for help in taking care of them. What helps in that every action you do with the ten, with them you have an inner strength, the strength of the Creator that He will help them. This is called “with God’s help,” which is always said, “with God’s help”, what does it mean? It means that in all actions of giving in all actions of bestowing, of giving, we will pass on the upper force by this because without that our actions will not take place, this is why these words are added, “with God’s help.”
S. I turn to them as part of a ten, where is the general Bnei Baruch – what is it for me? I turn from my Ten to do this work?
R. I do not know who you are turning to, are you turning to the broader public ?
S. Yes, the general public.
R. What does it have to do with your Ten? Do not say Ten, you are turning to the general public, you are giving them some talks, lessons and conversations, something, right? So then you turn to them in your name and you know that you are connected to some organization.
S. I am asking about my plea to the Creator: that I'm a member of a ten, part of a ten that is turning to the Creator or part of the Bnei Baruch that turns to the Creator?
R. Then, you turn to the Creator you turn from the ten, you connect to the friends, you feel that you are together with them and then you turn to the Creator, because turning to the Creator alone is almost useless – you have to be connected to the ten. And also while you are doing some work with the broad public even though you might be alone doing this – even though it is not the best, you want to have maybe more friends: one, two, three more friends with you but it turns out that towards them also you turn to them as if you are not on your own. You are representing an organization and so on.
22. S. (49:53) We are just talking about how we need to see the soul as if it is all over the world and all people?
R. Yes there is only a single soul, the soul of Adam HaRishon
S. But sometimes we relate to the soul as existing only in the children of Israel like Baal HaSulam writes in 600,000 Souls.
R. That is a part of the general soul called GE.
S. And our correction depends on the correction of the whole world or only the children of Israel?
R. The correction and our realization, most of the realization, depends on how we connect to ourselves the whole world. Bina has nothing to do if she does not take care of ZON – ZON are the vessels of reception in the Partzuf which is the whole of humanity. So if we as part of Bina do not connect to this ZON, to all of humanity, then we leave Bina in Katnut, it’s as though we don’t exist; then the calculation is such that from above the lights shine on us and make us suffer and from below all of mankind pushes and this brings us suffering, too, and we are empty-handed on both sides. This is the work we have to do – connecting to the Creator and connecting to all people of the world and being the passageway as the Baal HaSulam explains in the article of The Arvut, well, in all of his articles, really
23. S. (51:53) Who am I in the spiritual state; do I have to demand in order to progress the work?
R. In the spiritual state you are still at black point that wants to become corrected.
24. S. (52:18) That degree of correction , judgment and mercy, how does that happen?
R. The combination of Din and Rachamim, we’ll do that after we first have the vessels of Rachamim, the vessels of GE, of Katnut, of bestowal, then we can add to them vessels of reception as well. In the meantime, we cannot awaken any judgment because we do not have any cover for it – we don’t even have mercy yet, this is what we have to develop. So we have to start from what we have and make sure that we have vessels of bestowal and then we will try to discover the vessels of reception gradually and join them to the vessels of bestowal and this is how we make corrections.
25. S. (53:24) In the Ten, we each are doing different projects in dissemination. I heard you say that we have to ask for the whole together with the Ten. What does it mean this kind of collective inspiration: how do you practically ask through the Ten for the masses?
R. All in all, we exist and receive the desire for the Creator; we have this attention from the Creator, He awakens these vessels that are us. We received an awakening to be connected to the Creator, on the one hand and to connect to all nations of the world, all of humanity, on the other hand. So then we need to be a passageway between the Creator and all created beings, otherwise the desires that we received now towards the Creator would not awaken in us. They appear only for us to become this passageway, to make our desires a passageway between the Creator and the created beings. To be that passageway, one the one hand, we have to be connected to the desires of the created beings; on the other hand we have to be connected to the Creator’s will and make ourselves some sort of combination in between – a merging of the will to bestow and the will to receive. And this is how we have to work as a conduit: this conduit is comprised of two types of vessels – the vessels of bestowal, the GE, and the vessels of Bina and the vessels of AHP, of ZON. And all that has to live within us, so our work is in shaping ourselves correctly in-between, between the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of the created beings and knowing how to combine and balance the connection between both vessels and exist in this way. It is a difficult, unique kind of work, many times it confuses us and throws us from one end to the other, and it is all in order to recognize that GE on one hand and AHP on the other hand; and know how to, perhaps, connect them in external states and inner state – how to bring these two parts together. Where are we? In that middle stitching point, that central point of creation but that's after we correct the whole world through us.
S. And practically, how can we aim ourselves in the ten towards the ten for prayer. Is it some sort of sharing, or impression or talking about dissemination projects?
R. When you are asking about this from me, I cannot really say anything: you should teach me how to disseminate, not the other way around, c’mon .
26. S. (57:28) I do not understand the line, “seek your seekers”, how do we ask the Creator, I do not understand what this means.
R. In truth we demand the Creator to build the right demand within us, that’s all. That’s how we turn to Him because He awakens all the deficiencies and so this prayer belongs to part of the atonements.
27. S. (58:17) What do I need to demand from the Creator for the others ?
R. You’re not clear on what they lack? You have to reach a state where you connect with them and connect with the Creator; and then you will understand how you can be this passageway, meaning how you can hold within you the deficiencies of the Creator and the world – how to bring them together, how to be comprised of both desires. If you build that transition in yourself then you reach a state called Yashar El, straight to the Creator, Israel. And then you are truly doing a very unique work which is difficult, not simple but the most exalted, the most sublime work that human beings can do. And you and everyone who feels he belongs to this, then he has received this relationship from above, the Creator chose it, a person should know the Creator chose them.
28. S. (01:00:07) It is confusing: I still do not see the friends as corrected although I learn that they are already corrected. Do I need to ask for the correction for them or ask for help to see them corrected.
R. You need to ask for help to see them corrected and if you are able, you would see them in the final Correction, already. There is no problem seeing each one and everyone together in all the states including the final Correction. “There is nothing new under the sun,” which means that everything already exists, everything is already there – it all depends on your vessels.
29. S. (01:01:03) Should the prayer be together? What if the friends don't want to pray together?
R. If they don't pray together, so everyone prays from within his heart quietly where he feels it, but we have to remind each other that we need to care about the prayer.
30. S. (01:01:33) How can we ask for the light of Hochma? Is the correct prayer only for the light of Hassadim?
R. After we have the possibility to bestow – bestowing in order to bestow – then we reach a state receiving in order to bestow. It is not receiving the light of Hochma or not receiving the light of Hochma or the light of Hassadim, it comes from a person who wants to bestow, to bestow as best as I can whether it is just in light of Hassadim or even receiving in light of Hochma – it doesn't matter to me whether it’s for light of Hochma or Hassadim – what matters for me is that I go to maximum bestowal.
31. S. (01:02:29) What kind of plea does the Creator prefer: the prayer to close to Him or the prayer that everyone would know the fear of Heaven in the world?
R. I don't weigh this against that – it's how a person is. It's not really such a clean question.
32. S. (01:02:57) How do we hasten the time?
R. We hasten the time by coming closer to each other.
33. S. (01:03:21) You said something like ‘women must care for the whole world and not about their own correction’. How does that work if I discover that I am immersed in myself more and more?
R. Then you have to transform yourself – why are you with us, for what? A person cannot change himself but only in changing his attitudes to the whole world, to the ten and through that to the whole world. That means that a person is changing himself, he can't perform some corrections on himself. He only makes corrections in his relation to the ten and to the world. Otherwise he doesn't even have the slightest chance to make a step towards correction.
34. S. (01:04:20) How to bridge distance between humanity and my personal ten?
R. You have to work on it, always work toward the benefits of something outside of me. So it is first of all, the ten and then all of Bnei Baruch, and then all humanity.
35. S. (01:04:52) Is the prayer for humanity helping the prayer for the ten?
R. If we already pray for humanity that means we already have a ten and in doing so, we also have to pray for the ten so that it can absorb into itself the deficiencies of the world, of humanity and thus advance.
36. S. (01:05:23) There are many questions about the article, third paragraph from below on the bottom, on the topic of “the cry”, “the plea”. It’s not clear why it works the way it works in the article?
R. Don’t worry, we'll get to that and you will understand. Not everything that is written that we read, has to be perfectly clear, we haven't reached it yet, we haven't worked on ourselves; try to come closer and turn to the Creator and then see where these words fit in – what does he really mean, Baal HaSulam.