Morning Lesson October 15, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Ushpizin Joseph - Sefirat Yesod - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1. Rav’s Introduction:
R. We know that from all the stories according to the Torah, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, that the quality of Yesod, Joseph, the quality of Tiferet is fundamental, it is very special in the general structure of the soul of Adam HaRishon because also from the story in the Torah we see how much Joseph is a foundation, he is the righteous, the foundation of the world, he is truly like a stone upon which we build everything. Joseph symbolizes for us the entire point around which the development begins. As the will to receive in creation, when the will to receive begins to feel that it has been developed, that it has been pulled down, the way he is taught, the is the will to receive and later on he develops there in the house of Pharaoh and how the results come out of it and this foundation called Yesod, Joseph, it truly becomes the foundation of the entire structure of the Soul.
He is righteous because he justifies the Creator in everything there is before him in all the events in all the incidents and in everything that happens to him, and the world exists only thanks to him. All the phases that are before him which are much higher much closer to the Creator they are called according to their nature Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, they are close to the Creator however they are not capable of these phases or discernments they're not capable of performing the corrections as Joseph is capable of, the Yesod and therefore he is therefor the special one. He brings to our worlds this quality, this force, inside of which are all of the forces because he Joseph gathers them together inside of himself. He connects them together and he serves them to us in the right way so that we through this seventh force, Joseph is the seventh one, that we by him can correct ourselves and elevate ourselves up to the Lord our God. So let's read what it says here and be interested in it as much as we can.
Reading excerpt number 1 (04:43) “righteous Joseph..”
2. R. (05:13) That it doesn't pay attention to seemingly, it’s not according to the order Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that's clear but then we have Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David but here he says it differently that it turns out that Joseph ends up being the last one. we will see what is the right order in the structure of the Soul, which is the structure of ZA where there is the place of Joseph and in general all of the Sefirot. Why are they placed in such a way that they are bestowing to each other, more close to each other and farther away from each other, bestowing or influencing direct to each other and what it shows what is happening here.
Reading excerpt 2 (06:16)
3. R. (07:35) That is thanks to these qualities called Joseph the worlds or the other Sefirot get their nourishment and Joseph hands out to everyone the fulfillment. This is why he is called the one who sells or provides. And he is called Yesod. Yesod means everything, that is the name of Yesod, everything, as he explains here from the word of Kalkalah, provisions, and from Yesod which is the quality of Joseph everyone receives their filling, their provision. This is why he is called everything.
4. S. (08:42) What does it mean that Joseph passes the fulfillment to us, the provision? We know that this comes from the Creator so how did he pass it?
R. We need to realize how we connect to the Creator. We chimed in order to receive what we want this or that, to receive or to give, to connect, in which form, for what purpose, and so when we speak about Joseph we're talking about complete reception from the Creator towards the created beings. That the filling comes through the Sefira of Joseph which is called everything or Yesod or also righteous. That's all his role, that's why he is called the one who provides. And he explains to us that he breaks or takes from the upper world and passes down to the lower world. It also is Yesod, the foundation of the world, the foundation is also everything it's called Kol, provision. Because he provides everything and nourishes everyone. So here he explains that all of these righteous exist down below thanks to him.
Reading excerpt 2 (10:59) again
5. S. (12:09) What is this food that Joseph gives everyone?
R. It is written that he hands out bread to everyone, so apparently we don't have an explanation..
Reading excerpt 3 (12:40)
6. R. (13:50) You have to understand that the feeling that the word receives comes nevertheless from the Creator there is no other place, it's from the upper light and also to those that are close to him and also those that are far away and even opposite from the Creator, nevertheless they get a filling and it fills them and it all comes thanks to Joseph. And this is considered that Joseph is responsible for the filling of the world, for the filling of the vessels. That he is the foundation of the entire world because without him filling them they would not exist so he has to fulfill everyone, and that's it. That is his role towards everyone. This is why he is called Yesod, the foundation, Joseph the righteous Joseph the foundation of the world and Yesod is also called everything because without him passing the upper light, the upper force, to provision, at least to provision to each and everyone, the world will not be able to exist. This is why he is called the foundation of the world. Yesod Olam.
Reading excerpt 4 (15:40)
7. R. (16:34) Yes, this means that the most important thing that Joseph does is that he connects the upper half of the Partzuf of the Soul with the lower half, and he is revealed in the NHY of the Partzuf, Netzach and Hod are each components and Yesod is his own quality, and this is why in that he matches Israel who is in the GAR while Joseph is in the ZAT the lower 7. What can I add, the most important thing in this whole bestowal is the middle line Tiferet with respect to the quality of Jacob and Joseph. Because it is as the connection between Hesed and Gevura, and down below we have Netzach and Hod that connect just like Hesed and Gevura, and it's only on the middle line that we have the right connection between these two opposite lines.
Reading excerpt 5 (18:32)
8. R. (19:38) Here it's something very interesting how in Malchut she can truly reach the degree of Bina through the middle line, so that from a state where she receives she makes a restriction and then she acquires the quality of bestowal and so she begins to be as a giver but not in actuality but rather she takes upon herself the GAR, the clothing, the quality of the bestower and later on she even rises to the state of receiving in order to bestow. And this is truly the quality of Joseph that he provides for food for the entire world.
9. S. (20:55) If I may pass this and parallel when we connect between us in the ten, or in the world Kli and we're asking the Creator to connect us and through us the light that will bestow upon the world, can we say that at this moment the quality of Joseph touches us? As we connect in the ten and ask the Creator to connect us and that his light will flow in every heart in the world, can we say that in a small manner the quality of Joseph touches us?
R. Of course. What is Joseph? Specifically through Joseph we receive our food, our nourishment. This is how the one who sells food Works in such a way meaning we receive all the filling through the quality of Joseph.
Reading excerpt 6 (22:17)
10. R. (22:33) The form of Joseph, he is the Yesod, the Covenant for he is regarded as the righteous, the foundation. That all of the bestowal that goes from the Creator to the created beings, it passes through all the Sefirot and then it passes through the quality of Joseph; and from him all the created beings receive whatever nourishes them. This is why the righteous is the foundation of the world.
Reading excerpts 7 (23:09)
11. R. (23:45) This is well known that Joseph is the fruitful branch meaning that through him the fruit and multiplication comes to the whole world.
12. S. (23:59) Why do we need the Sefira to explain and provide Malchut? Why doesn't Malchut absorb directly from the Sefira above it?
R. Because there has to be a congruence between the Sefirot. The Sefirot are general. They are the opposite of each other, look Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, each and every Sefira is the opposite of what is before it, and what will come after it. Truly so. What is full of Hochma, the other is full of Hassadim, one receives the other gives and so on. This is how they work in contradiction to each other and specifically through that they actually connect, and in the end when each one changes itself to the opposite of itself, then it turns out that they know how to tie all of them into a single system in a way that is direct and opposite.
This is why when they conclude their structure through the opposite then they can truly pass from above down each and everything that the other one demands. The one following it whatever it requires, this is what it is willing to do. This is the role of each and every Sefira. Also people when they connect; I make a restriction over what I want, I take a desire from the upper one that he wants to provide for the lower ones and I connect to the lower ones in order to absorb their desire, what is it that they want to receive from the upper one. This is actually what builds me for the time being. That I only perform the role of connecting the one who is above me to the one who is below me. And this is how it is in each and every one in creation. In this way, in order to bestow, everybody functions and this is how we reach the realization, the correct purpose, where everyone is in order to bestow and everyone is filling each other and by that everyone resembles the Creator.
S. Does Joseph add something of his own or does he have some special excellence in this manner of passing?
R. Joseph first of all he gathers everything, he truly is the foundation on the one hand, on the other hand he can entirely, when he connects all of the qualities before him, he is the righteous so he can make out of them one correct quality which is called Yesod and it actually resembles the Creator. This is why it is called the righteous Joseph. Righteous is the foundation of the world. Therefore he is also called the fruitful because he has the possibility to blossom, to be revealed, to give the world everything that he has so that the world will blossom. To reach that you should be fruitful and multiply. That's it. We can talk a lot about it but that's for those who like to talk a lot.
13. S. (28:59) Did I understand correctly that Yesod collects and corrects the intention of different Sefirot?
R. Yes, that is true.
14. S. (29:36) It is written that Joseph is the middle line and it corrects the last by justifying everything specifically is it by this action?
R. The middle line balances the right and the left, it has the power to balance them, even though they're opposite of each other and they want to neutralize each other it's like the Plus in the -2 / Joseph knows how to arrange these things, in order to connect the Plus in the minus the 2 lines we have to be in the middle between them And we have to be with great resistance between the two of them it's just like with electricity when you connect to the Plus in the minus you cannot connect them directly you have to have a shortcut. Explosion.
But rather if you place in between them something that separates between them that blocks them, that doesn't let them connect but rather only through some resistance then it turns out that you can succeed and actually connect even between the right and the left, that is the role of Joseph that he knows how to connect to the right and the left and this is why he goes to pharaoh and he arranges things there and he prepares the ground for the people of Israel a place in Egypt where they can be accepted and received by pharaoh. It all stems out of the fact that it was a fight between his brothers and the way that he wanted to arrange them and seemingly unsuccessfully but unsuccessfully means that there was a recognition of evil, the revelation of evil and out of that he already knew how to approach them in the right way.
15. S. (32:47) I can't connect things: in the past two days we learned that Moses is the general Israel and Aaron is the right hand that directs Israel to the Creator, the right line. So the role of Joseph here, what is it, how does he connect them, unite them they’re united already:
R. Joseph does not exist among the foundation of creation, he emerges as a result of the connection and so this is why he is called Yesod, foundation, that he is the connection between Netzach and Hod, so Joesph emerges as a Yesod, as a result of them and therefore when he emerges as a result he's suitable for nourishing Malchut. In a moment we’ll have a few more excerpts, I think there it’s all explained.
16. S. (34:11) In excerpts 7 it's written that this is what Joseph is called ‘a fruitful branch’, from the words, “be fruitful and multiply”, what is fruit in spirituality
R. Fruit is wanting to receive as a result of our work in spirituality which is the corrected vessel which is filled by the light and we can unite with this vessel.
17. S. (34:52) Can we say that the quality of Joseph collects all of the other qualities and it’s a collection of all the deficiencies and through that the collection of qualities is made?
R. Yes, yes, certainly it is so.
S. Are these deficiencies, the deficiencies of the ten, for instance?
R. No, wait a minute, I didn't understand Yesod is the sum total of all of the contradictory qualities that know how to connect together in order to serve Malchut so that she will reach resembling the Keter.
S. But this force, Joseph, that collects all the qualities and collects the deficiencies in order to turn the qualities in the deficiencies to one?
R. Yes, but that's not his entire role.
S. So isn't it related to collect efficiencies when each one collects inside himself the deficiencies of all the friends of the ten which is supposed to be a Partzuf?
R. No, and also it doesn't work in such a way, it's not the first quality but rather it's in the end, meaning after we connect and after we gather all of the right, good qualities, the connection between, after we warm up between us in, the connection between us then we can also add to it to a certain extent. Also all kinds of qualities that separate us and repel us from each other, then we are able in such a way to advance.
18. S. (37:15) In this picture, when we collect the different qualities, there is something to connection between us, where here, does the quality of Joseph appear?
R. It's a result, Joseph is the end of the middle line, the middle line doesn't exist in nature in itself, like Abraham and Isaac. But rather the middle line comes as a result of the right combination of opposite things; that's why his brothers don't want to accept him, they don't understand, why should they agree with him, to bow down to him, what's this manner of Joseph, right? And he says the opposite, “you have to accept me as greater than you, you all have to bow down to me, to understand that I am greater, I am more important than you. That's how it's written in the Torah and his brothers certainly don't understand this matter and they don't agree. That's why they sell him to those who pass by him, Egyptians. And after many rounds, they only start to understand how much Joseph is a quality that is a result of everyone and it's what can save them, only that can save them.
19. S. (39:37) How can Joseph give a filling down to Malchut without causing the shattering, the vessels to shatter, to break?
R. That's not yet in our framework, the framework of our study; Joseph can connect to Malchut because Malchut will rise until the degree of Joseph and it will receive fulfillment.
20. S. (40:12) What does it mean that we in the ten bow before the quality of Joseph?
R. Certainly bow down, Joseph is considered to be collecting all of us together to one Partzuf, to one goal, to one force. That's why with respect to this connection we bow down, that's why he is the foundation of the world, the Yesod, the world, we can't have it without him.
S. So it turns out that we disagree with what it says?
R. None of us agrees that this quality will rule because then I have to annul myself and to connect with everyone in a way that no one stays with anything except for what we can add to the connection between us. And certainly this way to begin with our ego completely, completely disagrees but in the end, yes, we see that this combination we attain over the quality of Joseph, is this combination is the right one and it leads us to the purpose of creation.
21. S. (42:12) To continue, how do we cause this balance between all the qualities of all the friends, how do we make the balance so that each time we create a higher force than what we received so far, how do we make this balance all the time?
R. By searching how to connect, ‘I'm searching for my brothers’, and out of this search with them, a search for connection with them I understand how to connect with the vessel of the Creator as well.
Reading excerpt 8 (43:05 - 46:04) “And a certain man found him…”
22. S. (46:13) In order to attain the quality of Joseph, each one of us has to annul before the others and also provide the deficiencies of others in order to receive this light from above?
R. Yes, none of us can be a vessel to receive the upper light, to reveal the Creator or to bestowal for the Creator. We have to be connected together, that's why the Creator who broke the vessel gave us an opportunity to learn how to connect the vessel together; in what none of us could be a vessel to be the to receive the light, meaning to connect to the Creator. But only together when we connect, to the extent that we connect we become more and more resembling the vessel that can receive the upper light and resemble the Creator. Besides us receiving this light we receive it in a way that we call it the ‘equivalence of form’, when we bestow to Him, the Creator. Then it turns out that we are receiving the light from the Creator, we become like the Creator resembling Him and to the extent of the congruence, the extent that we resemble the Creator to that extent, we correct ourselves.
23. S. (48:03) Why all these qualities that we go through in Sukkot, they gather something, what exactly do they gather, these Sephirot?
R. The Sephirot after the shattering they gather to become a whole Partzuf of four pnim, four qualities: Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Malchut. Then when can we use them, when we are in the Sukkah, which is the surrounding light, when we ourselves make ‘the thatch’, we don't want the direct light but only a bit of light that can go through the ‘thatch’. And this is all symbolize in Sukkot, meaning Sukkot symbolizes the right structure of the soul which is connected by all of its qualities and in this way it can receive a small light from the Creator in the right way and to be connected to Him; only this way can the Creator be revealed. And all our qualities Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc, are all revealing, they all tell us about the revelation of the Creator, gradually.
24. S. (50:14) There are two things that you keep telling us all the time: one is ‘love covers all crimes’, and the other is ‘personal example’. Joseph is the personal example for all of us, the way that he overcomes what his brothers did to him, and I, for example, would never forgive them. What power he has, what ability he has to subdue himself and see what is really important, we are a bit spoiled, I just wanted to share that.
R. Yes, we should subjugate ourselves to the friends in the group, they are called ‘brothers’, and it's not the way that the Torah tells us that they were all born from one woman or, but there's other closeness between them, we're only talking about the closeness in spirituality. So it turns out, it really turns out that the connection between them has become a good one; only after they went through all kinds of torments, problems, confusions, and then they learn how to connect properly.
Maybe it's better to say that the Creator placed between them all kinds of obstacles, disappointments, special qualities, even hatred and distance, and then coming closer until they can scrutinize what is the way that they can connect so that the sum total of their connection, all in all, will resemble the Creator. And none of them had no connection between two, three, etc. but rather they all connect and compliment, each one himself to the others in a way that all in all, this collection of brothers will resemble together, they will resemble the Creator, that's what we learned from this action.
25. S. (53:21) Why do all the brothers bow before Joseph, seemingly it should be the opposite, shouldn't Joseph bow before the Sefirot that are greater than him?
R. No, every quality, each and every quality in the sum total of the gathering of brothers, each and every brother is higher and more special than all the rest of the brothers. The quality of Joseph is knowing how to collect them together, knowing how to connect to them, that's why it says that “you all bow down to me, you all subjugate yourself to me”. He tells them their work, that's why they don't agree, on the one hand; on the other hand, later they know that there is no choice but to enter Egypt because only through the exile in Egypt will they know how to subjugate themselves and how to come out ‘as one man in one heart’. This is a great and very long correction, four years, that these brothers will know how to bow down one to the other. It takes time, it requires a lot of suffering, a lot of burdening of the heart. etc., and this is all Joseph teaching them then comes Moses.
26. S. (55:56) In the article it says that “they that sow in tears shall reap in joy”, what does it mean to “sow in tears”?
R. Well you understand the words, “sow in tears”, they don't want, they don't see, they say the opposite. These seeds they had, the grains which is something they can eat. So they have to put it in the ground so that they will rot and disappear and nothing will come out of them until ultimately, the end of this rotting, until they completely rotten, then from the last date of this being rotten and nothing coming out of it, then a transition from the world of the material world, rotten world, what comes out of that is a beginning of the spiritual world; where again there starts, buds are seen in the land and this comes in the opposite of what a person thinks.
If people couldn't see in the still, vegetative, and animate that this is the way that the new generations are born in the vegetative and animate, they would never understand that this is the way things grow and this is the way to bring about new generations in the vegetative and animate because this, too, resembles rising above reason. Because something should be rotten in the ground, to disappear and only from one grain, or a drop, a seed, we get a new vegetative or an animate. In the still we don't really see that and in the speaking level we also don't see it so much, but in those transitions between them in the vegetative and animate we do see how something has to be rotten, one Behina should be rotten, the old one so that the new one will be born out of it.
27. S. (59:32) The quality of Yosef, how does it relate to love the friends in the ten, how do you sense it?
R. Yosef is from the word “Osef”, collecting, connecting everyone, and about this, it starts talking, this quality is starting to be revealed even before you enter Egypt; and specifically thanks to its revelation then they enter Egypt, they see how they are in order to receive being opposite of development.
28. S. (01:00:03) It is not quite clear: what does it symbolize the fact that Joseph in Egypt was the right hand of the king of Pharaoh?
R. This is something we will talk about later, I don't want to confuse what we are learning now.
29. S. (00:01:01) The act of annulment, the very annulment before their friends, is that what enables all the qualities to connect into one quality of Joseph?
R. Yes, only annulment helps connection.
30. S. (00:01:43) What exactly does it mean, ‘wandering in the field’?
R. Not knowing how to advance, and this is really the first time we hear that ‘an ass is wandering’, why ass? It's from the word, material, . . . . , all, from all its qualities, understandings, his intellect, and this ass, the donkey, it's not a donkey as we want to say it’s stupid. No, it simply works exactly the way nature requires, it's not confused, it is connected and it's in its material, that is why it's called ‘a donkey’, an ass. When it's wandering in the field, it is a sign that the field is to blame, not the donkey. The field is changing, it’s starting to take upon itself a more spiritual form, that is why the donkeys wander in the field.
S. So what is the field?
R. It's a field that becomes a spiritual field already, where you cannot, how should I say it, you can't be without only corporeal qualities. When this field becomes a bit more spiritual, the donkey will be wandering in it, he won’t know what to do anymore because it is only acting according to the material, its matter.
S. But from where does it come to Joseph this need to seek his brothers?
R. That is according to his quality and all the efforts and actions they had before. When he knows that even though he is in a pit, he was thrown into this pit and they don't want him, they don't agree with him, he knows that without him neither he nor them can be saved from their bad fortune. Only if they connect together in this way can they be saved, that is what he feels and they don't feel it so much but for him it gives him a drive, "I seek my brothers".
S. For the field to become the spiritual field from the moment we begin to seek the brothers or on what does it depend, this field in which ‘what you see’?
R. First of all, it was always a spiritual field, it’s only that they couldn't really distinguish the spiritual discernments in it, but here certainly, now certainly because they see that without wanting a special solution they won't come out of this field. On the contrary they will go into Egypt, can't find anything good there, on the contrary, receive all kinds of disappointments, blows, they were being brought to prison, out of prison, etc. And then they say it's probably for Joseph, that this is how we behave with our brother; well it's okay what we did with our brother, it’s okay but what should we do next? And bit by bit they start through the torments they start to scrutinize what is happening to them and why it happened.
S. Rabash summarizes the article here with in order to exit Egypt we must take it upon ourselves who wants to be in love of friends so this action of entering the group, searching for the brothers, how does this come from this need, how do you achieve the needs to enter the group?
R. By wandering in the fields, meaning we already know what the purpose of creation is and that it comes to us only if we connect in a special way and we need to collect all of our qualities which is called ‘our brothers’ and then this way when we collect all the brothers then we adapt ourselves to the forefathers and from the forefathers to even to the Creator, and this is something you feel when there’s no choice, they have to do that.
31. S. (01:07:23) He writes here, “and the man said they departed hence”, meaning they departed from the brotherhood, meaning they don't want to connect with you, what is this state? Can there be such a state that you want to connect with them but they don't want to connect with you?
R. Yes, of course, Joseph wants to connect and they don't want, they don't yet acknowledge the importance of connection.
S. So how do we build the group then if you want to connect and the friends don't want to connect?
R. You need to bestow, each one has to see himself as Joseph, pushing everyone to connect. How can it be that in a group only one or only one every time pushes toward connection because regarding each and every one he is special. When no one has that point of view, desire, motion towards connection as he has, that's why I turns out that what he recommends is truly something only he has, they don't, and each and every one when he wants to add this way, thinking this is how they connect, but ultimately Joseph is he who collects all their qualities together and also not in the direct manner but rather they enter Egypt and then there will be revealed that they are his brothers and he saves them etc. That is something we have to discover this process on ourselves as well.
S. I need to see the difference: don't want to connect with me or it's opposite, it's me who does not want to connect with friends in a perfect state?
R. Both, both, but Joseph this quality is to a certain extent, each and every one has it otherwise we couldn't understand it, that’s why this is how they start moving towards the connection.
32. S. (01:09:54) I have some confusion, I don't know if the question will be precise and on topic: we learn above the Sefirot from above downward and I know that in the last, that the last Sefira is Zeir Anpin and with it we enter Egypt, that is what I understood before. So my question is does the correction start there, from below upward?
R. No, the correction from below upwards starts from Egypt, itself, because there is a new king in Egypt that didn’t know Joseph, and from there starts a correction from below upwards, preparations for correction, well we can say it is from Adam HaRishon.
Reading Excerpt # 9 (01:11:43 - 01:14:50) “And yet we see that Joseph was in the pit twice…”
33. R. (01:11:55) “A pit” is like a jail, that’s how it was in the past.
Reader continues
34. As they brought him quickly out of the pit.
Reader continues
35. R. Meaning when is a person in jail, that's what the Torah tells us? When he feels that he is under the control of his ego.
Reader continues
R. It is good to have a workshop on this later.
Reader continues
36. R. (01:14:53) Here basically it says it all: how a person should identify he's in jail, what he should do in order to come out of prison, that he will be brought out of prison, he can't come out of the pit on your own, and what it means to come out of it? Yes, and when ‘he's in the pit’ means he’s in a klipa, a shell. And when he comes out of this pit he is concerned to be incorporated in Kedusha and in what way, comes out of this pit, outside from darkness to light from disconnection to connection with the friends, with the Creator, that’s all things we have to scrutinize for ourselves, that is basically the concrete action, it is very practical.
So please let's have a workshop: what is this pit, what does it mean to come out of a pit and in what way to come out, through what do you acquire strength, who do you turn to so that you will be brought out of the pit because you can come out of it alone, and what is happening to us if we do come out of darkness to light, from following the path of the will to receive and then turning to the path of the Creator, the will to bestow, what environment do we have as we are in this pit? You know what it is to be in prison with the wicked ones, what you can have when you come out of prison and you come to ordinary people. How can we change the environment, change everything by our internality alone, nothing changes in the world. How can we turn the world from a prison to the house of the Creator, how do we feel, who can save us from there, bring us out of there, please, workshop? If you’d like to read this excerpt again then go ahead.
Reading Excerpt # 9 (01:17:59)
WSQ (01:20:30): Discuss among you in what prison is the person if he is on the degree of Joseph and how does he come out of it. Start talking and then this way you are going to help each other, even when you just hear a word from the friend suddenly it will point you to some correct thought. This is how the Creator sets up the connection between you.
Reading Excerpt # 10 (01:31:47)
37. R. (01:32:14) Meaning we rise here step by step by step and even when we came to some good step a new King arises and he does not know the previous degree so it is insufficient to complete it and therefore this King rules the degree. So it's the will to receive, will to bestow, will to receive, will to bestow. That’s how we climb.
Reader continues (01:32:42)
38. R. (01:33:15) That's us, that's how we are. The moment teaches all our friends or even our teachers to be like us. We judge them from our own qualities and by that we truly ruin our spirituality.
Reader continues (01:33:35)
39. R. (01:22:46) Meaning it's not a problem that the friend or the teacher that are next to me don't have the power to save me. The problem is how much I don't appreciate them and that is why they can't help me. So one helps the other or the teacher helps the person only on the condition and to the degree that a person, the student or the friend appreciates him.
40. S. (01:34:33) So why is Joseph searching for the brothers and they are not searching for him? Why am I searching for my brothers and not Joseph?
R. Because the correction still hasn’t reached the group, but we always see that the next correction awakens in one of the friends. This is the matter of connecting in the group, that only by us each time surrendering towards some or one of the friends we thus grow until we all connect together. And that is by the way the aspect of Joseph.
S. So in the ten Joseph is constantly changing between us and we are always searching for this point that wants to unite us?
R. Yes.
41. S. (01:35:41) What is Joseph's prayer?
R. That everyone will gather, that everyone will connect but this he says is possible only on the condition that they bow before him, meaning this quality which gathers them, and they’re not yet ready to be there.
S. It feels like there is a certain point that it has to come to this critical point?
R. Still we're missing, lacking some suffering.
S. And it has to come to a sufficient amount of suffering?
R. Yes, yes, because it all happens on top of the will to receive.
42. S. (01:37:10) There is a sentence here, it says: since he didn't know Joseph the enslavement started. Is there a chance we could have gone through this without falling into the pit?
R. We can.
S. We can without going into the pit?
R. We can and we should be afraid of that, yes.
S. So what does it mean that we can but need to be afraid?
R. If we don't hold on to each other, as Joseph says "I seek my brothers" and he always looks for his brothers, if you don't ask for connection with them then you fall into the pit.
43. S. (01:38:09) There is heaviness and burdening where we really slander the friends and are rejected by them and I heard now that in order to come out of the pit I have to value the friends. So how do you make that inversion in our relations?
R. Only in a practical way, that we want to be connected. Otherwise we do not exit this world into the upperworld, meaning from reason to above reason, to faith above reason.
44. S. (01:38:55) Is the pit and the Israeli environment where a person aims directly to the Creator and not through the friends? That he doesn’t think about the connection first?
R. I don't know what you mean by Israeli environment. I am talking about what is written.
S. That is what was written in the article, the Israeli environment?
R. It's not ours, I didn’t understand you. Yes.
S. So to themselves and not to the environment?
R. Yes.
45. S. (01:39:40) What is the prison of the environment?
R. That they grab hold of you with their thoughts, values, desires and don't let you out.
S. That’s something not positive. It has to come from my choice?
R. Of course it's not a positive thing if you are in the prison of the masses with all of their values.
S. So then I disconnect from it and I live according to my values? So what is that in spirituality?
R. You have to find an environment that can take you out. That is why it says "I seek my brethren" because then through the connection with the friends you can come out of the pit.
S. So what is the authority of Klipot?
R. Is that you are under the forces of the bad environment. That means you are under the authority of the Klipot.
S. So how do I come out of it?
R. By looking for your brothers whose values are higher and you cling to them.
46. S. (01:41:20) Can we search for a different friend in the ten that has an awakening and then follow him with our eyes shut to a connection action?
R. Well, try. I don't know if it's correct or incorrect, try and see.
47. S. (01:41:42) What is the necessity to work in the love of friends?
R. To exit this world into the spiritual world.
48. S. (01:42:03) Why is the quality of Joseph the one who needs the connection?
R. Because it feels how much it's still unrelated, unconnected to the upper degree which is coming out of the pit.
49. S. (01:42:26) Why is the degree of Joseph is called righteous and also the Creator is called righteous?
R. Because he wants to justify the Creator in all his actions.
50. S. (01:42:48) Is there a special work we have to do today to concentrate on this Sefira of Joseph? What do you advise?
R. We do need to focus on our gathering, on gathering ourselves as one man in one heart around this point of connection and collect, accumulate in that point of connection all that we think is necessary in order to reach adhesion with the Creator.
51. S. (01:47:14) The story of Joseph as we know it's very dramatic with a lot of events.
R. Because it’s the conclusion of all the expansions. Joseph is the Yesod or the righteous foundation of the world, it’s the last quality before Malchut. And that's why in it all the qualities are gathered.
S. Can we learn something about this quality from all this drama that is happening there?
R. A lot is written about him by Kabbalists and also some literature if you want, it depends on what you're looking to hear about it. I think if we go through this document they prepared well, we will also know a lot .
52. S. (01:48:50) Sometimes you say that in every friend a quality is revealed, that if a ten annuls towards him and takes this quality we can all grow. So how should a ten know what’s right and what isn’t? Because sometimes all kinds of ideas come up with the friends. Now we have to do more meetings, or not come to a lesson because I have all kinds of other things. How can a ten discern what to annul towards and what not to?
R. Here there has to be a very clear system. First of all we don’t delete anything from what we have in our schedule, in our routine. It doesn't matter, during the day, during the night, whatever it is we don’t change. We try to only make things better in terms of our family, our work in the group and thus advance. And so things that suddenly appear in a friend’s head because he's going through different states as he's developing personally in his individual development, we don't take that so much into account but rather we give him some opportunity to come down, that's first. Therefore, we don't have any criticism on the friends because anyone is going through different states and they're constantly changing. What’s important for us is patience with respect to all the states they go through, that’s it. Help them as much as possible, but helping them is not in suppressing the states they go through. Rather we help them take it to the middle line, that needs to be learned, and that's it. And if they jump and want to carry and drag after them, the whole group then I think I am giving more or less a clear example here, that nothing’s changing. What’s changing is man's internality but on the outside we behave and conduct ourselves just as we have before.
53. S. (01:51:48) Can a righteous justify the Creator or only need to justify and ask for help from the Creator? How does this work?
R. Certainly, only by asking from the Creator for the strength to justify the Creator then he might receive such strength and justify.
Reading (01:52:38) #11 “11. However, with Elisha, it was in the form of the morning
of Joseph, as it is written,..”
54. R. (01:54:39) There's only one sentence we can say after he wrote it elaborately of course, then we can do the summary. That all together what we need to always ask is that the greatness of the Creator will be revealed to us. Because then we certainly receive the mind, the heart and direction to develop in the right track. So to always anticipate only the greatness of the Creator that will appear to us in some way in the mind, in the heart and in attraction or rejection, pushing us from behind or pulling us from the front, coming through whatever means. And that only through that we will advance.
Reading (01:55:36) #12 “When he saw all the champions, Jacob wondered how he could conquer them.”
55. R. (01:56:25) Yes this means that we must reach Lishma, and Lishma means bestowing in order to bestow. And bestowing in order to bestow means you cannot ask for any reward, any compensation. Therefore, one is forbidden to expect something that can cover or complete his work. The whole work has to be with no reward, with no payment.
56. S. (01:57:28) What we are expecting for a reward is in the form of being in bestowal.
R. That’s not considered a reward. It’s correct, that you can say that but it’s not considered a reward like we are familiar with in our work.
S. So we are waiting for it but not as a reward?
R. What we anticipate as the spiritual reward is not considered a reward because it helps us be in order to bestow.
Reading (01:58:22) #13 “ “And he called his son, Joseph, and said to him,..”
57. R. (01:58:50) Because Joseph was able to give such a result of the action that would truly be bestowal, pure bestowal.
Reading (01:59:08) #14 “ Jacob, who is the quality of truth, commanded before his death, meaning gave a will to Joseph to do true mercy,..”
58. R. (01:00:11) So this means that whatever happens you have to continue in bestowal with respect to each and everything that hurts you, whoever approaches you as enemies, haters, doing all kind of troubles for you, problems, whatever it is you have to continue your work in bestowal towards everyone. This is what we need to see from what Jacob said before his death.
Reading (01:01:04) #15 “ There is a discernment of Messiah Son of Joseph, and Messiah Son of David”
59. R. (02:01:21) Yes. Those two forces, those two messiahs they need to unite and connect and then it will be true wholeness that will correct the whole vessel of Adam HaRishon.
Reading #16 “The ARI being Messiah Son of Joseph....” (01:01:42)
60. R. (01:01:57) Baal HaSulam writes it and about the ARI there is nothing to ask. We just have to accept it as a fact. The ARI was the Messiah, son of Joseph.
61. S. (01:02:47) What does it mean that Jacob passed away and that he gives some will to his son to continue to do some work? What does it mean?
R. That Jacob didn't die like all those qualities don't die but for now they don’t appear in that generation or in that correction that is being revealed.
Reading (01:03:54) #17 “Joseph is redemption, as in “Joseph could not withhold himself,”
62. R. (01:04:30) When the light of redemption will be revealed that's how we attain.
63. S. (02:04:47) What is the right way to use this studying about the qualities, as we just learned about Joseph?
R. I don't see that they're changing the men to the women.
S. How to use correctly the knowledge about the quality of Joseph? How to use this quality correctly?
R. We have to reach that summary between us, the connection between us just like Joseph, like being in the quality of Joseph.
64. S. (02:05:32) Is the quality of Joseph in the ten the one who wants to compliment the relationship between everyone?
R. Yes.
65. S. (02:05:46) Is being a pipeline like Joseph?
R. That too could be right.
66. S. (02:05:59) What is the action in the ten called the selling of Joseph?
R. Selling of Joseph meaning that they don't want to use that connection, that they'd rather use other qualities that are closer to them because Joseph demands to concede.
67. S. (02:06:31) In the state where they ran away from it, the one who wants to connect and push everyone towards connection how does it happen?
R. You give an example, in order to reach connection you have to give an example. The more and more people in the ten give an example, and not only an example, explaining to one another what gives them the connection, as much as they gain from this, succeed from it. That only from the connection between us they correct the shattered vessel of Adam HaRishon. Then there’s forces in this for each one to advance.
68. S. (02:07:32) What is the spiritual root of Joseph being thrown into the pit? How does it happen in man’s spiritual work?
R. We studied this a few minutes ago. That the pit is like the prison where a person from this pit has to get a big deficiency and then he feels that they take him out of the pit. Just as we, in our life, if we’re in a pit, as much as we feel that we cannot advance, that we don't have forces to advance, then we, by this we will advance. The feeling of the pit is a good feeling, that you’re in a prison, that's the truth.
69. S. (02:08:40) How to differentiate between the two times Joseph is in the pit, what’s the difference?
R. Once it was personal and the second time it was a general state.
70. S. (02:08:59) How to watch out from doing what Joseph’s brothers did and throw the connection into the pit?
R. Constantly talk of the importance of connection, that we need to hold that importance in an exalted way. And the pit make it the opposite, you have to invert the pit inside out and make a tower of it. That's what happens.
71. S. (02:09:43) Can I escape the prison if I absorb the qualities of the friends into me?
S. Can I escape the prison by absorbing within me the qualities of the friends?
R. Yes, that's true. Specifically by being sorry for my friends, by this I don’t sink into my own issues, my own problems and I go to more exalted states.
72. S. (02:10:28) Can you explain simply what are those lines, left, right and middle?
R. It’s three types of attitudes we have towards connection, towards the group, towards spirituality, towards the Creator. That we eventually need to see it all as one. Because we from our own egoistic qualities that we are made of and also we are made of qualities of the Creator, and combining those qualities is the middle line. So we need to try and constantly be in connection between them, to be aimed in the middle line. In this way we can connect, quick and good because by this we’ll also connect our coarseness in the right way with the restriction, screen and reflected light. And by that we can aim ourselves towards the Creator.
73. S. (02:12:04) What does it mean that the brothers sold Joseph to slavery?
R. That all the qualities that a person has that he needed to connect with the ten, that through these qualities he wanted to reach the Creator, that's called that he connects them into the right foundation to Joseph, Tzaddik HaYesod HaOlam, the righteous, the foundation of the world, and to reveal the Mochin, the upper light on the correct connection between all those qualities. And he didn't go according to that.
74. S. (02:13:01) Can I say that the corporeal desires in me are those going against Joseph, like those brothers that went against him?
R. Not all corporeal desires go against it. There are desires that without them we can’t exist. Food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge, all those desires we need to live through them too. The question is do we live in them in a way that they don't disturb us, they don’t disturb us to advance spiritually.
75. S. (02:13:45) Why are the qualities that the connection between them is like father and son like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then there are qualities like brothers?
R. It depends on what degree it’s in Rosh, Toch or Sof of the Partzuf. We’ll learn about that.
76. S. (02:14:09) You said before that nothing changes except for man’s internality, what does it mean and does it happen in each person separately, could it be that some friends’ internality changes and others don’t?
R. Yes, I didn't really get the question but a person’s internality keeps changing and the externality as we know on the outside doesn’t change, but we perceive a person through both.
77. S. (02:14:51) What action is required from us in the ten in order to ‘take Joseph out of the pit’?
R. Only connection between us and the desire to raise the connection between us upward. ‘The pit’ between us means the connection between us is in a descent; ‘the tower’ means that the connection between us is in an ascent. And we constantly need to build a tower
78. S. (02:15:26) How to cope with the enemies that disturb us from studying Kabbalah even when they are in your house?
R. Show them our love, not our agreement, but our love.
79. S. (02:15:53) What is recommended for a beginner on the path who knows nothing about the Bible stories?
R. I don't think this is a problem and bit of all the Bible studies he’ll hear during the studies, from our lessons, and more than that he doesn't need. Obviously in the Torah, it is written all little details of walking on the spiritual path from the degree of the still until the degree of the Creator: still, vegetative, animated, speaking, Godliness, but it is not that necessary for us to know all these stories. Because the stories are stories but we will know this whole process in a way that we’ll understand it from the inside, from within us, from our in Psychology. That's why there's no need from all the stories of the Torah: they speak of animals and relationships between people, such and such, no. We will receive it in a way that it will be closer to us, what you need you will know.
80. S. (02:17:44) Coming out to the upper world in the ten is that something that is dependent on time or there’s something we are not doing that prevents us?
R. There's both, we for sure can shorten our times, that's called ‘Israel hastening the times’, but along with it, there's still a big system that we are Incorporated with you each and every part and that's why there’s such that in order to ascend to the peak of their correction, they have to be incorporated with a lot of cases and a lot of souls and there's such that they can maybe do it in an alternative way, supposedly. There’s all kinds, we just have to push ourselves to the connection, dissemination, and from the both adhesion to the Creator, and then what will happen will happen.
81. R. (02:19:50) I wanted to ask: how was it yesterday, if you still remember, I don’t know? That lesson during the day, was it too short or maybe we should try today to keep going on that article because we only read half of it? Or should we just have a new lesson, that's what I wanted to ask, so please let them.
S. Yes, there was a feeling in the noon lesson yesterday that we dove into some deep water and we don’t really touch it, we only started touching the article; also, we didn’t finish reading it, but that’s not the point. But this whole topic of above reason and how to do it, maybe it’s worthwhile continuing, continuing, I don’t know if today or not today, but it seems like a topic we should continue.
R. That's what you think, what about others, I want to see all in all a desire. Should we keep reading the article from yesterday, should we read it again or should we let go and go to something new, to a new article?
S. New we can vote now: One, to read the article about The Staff and the Serpent, and two, we go to a new article?
R. Let's do what Dudi advises us.
S. Okay so let’s vote, those who can vote: one, continuing to read The Staff and the Serpent article in the noon lesson; two, voting two means going to a new topic. Okay, so the vote is clear.
R. Okay, so we’re going to continue that same article, right, and explain it more, there is no flaw in repeating, that's not a problem. I told you when Rabash used to finish studying the ARI’s Tree of Life, and the guy who used to study, he was in his fifties, he said, “I think we should repeat it and study it again”, and it's a book “this thick”. So Rabash, without even thinking, nothing from inside, yes or no nothing, just like a machine; he did that, he flipped the book and started from the first line of the book again. It usually can take six, seven years to go over that book and I was waiting and waiting for six months, ‘one more month, one more month and it'll be over and we started this is learning something new’, and suddenly it all shut down, that's how it is. So, no problem, we’ll study that article, it’s a very important article and it’s worth it and then from all the articles we would have like a mix, like a porridge of them all. So we'll see you today at noon.
82. S. (02:24:24) In the unity event you say two very important things. One that there are many people who are on the verge of entering Lishma, two that we need to get organized and think about the coming year, how to turn the quality to quantity.
R. I hear you.
S. Could you elaborate and say a few words about that?
R. The fact that a part of our friends are on the verge of Lishma, that they’re in the entrance to Lishma I think they feel it. And we also feel that all in all there's such a tendency, and the amount of people that are really on the passage from Lo Lishma to Lishma, that is happening.
S. That this year we are going to turn the quality to quantity, that we’ll multiply our quantity which is also very important for making a new move.
R. I really hope the world from this Yom Kippur to the next as we say will reach a state where the world will know more what’s truly happening and that there's no where to advance but spiritually. That it will be more and more clear, like our spirituality. Meaning what the wisdom of Kabbalah offers, knowing the Creator from the created beings in this world and reaching recognition of the Creator through the connection with the created beings through man will help his friend in one heart. That's what we need and I hope that we will also publish it in a good, correct way and people will come and get closer.
S. Is it because of the state of the world that they will begin to discover that there's nowhere to run?
R. Yes, yes, everything depends on one another. The state is a good state for revealing the truth.
83. S. (02:27:06) You give an example of the student that studied from the beginning to the end and then you started from the beginning again. So sometimes we start TES or something and then we change to something else. Is it because we're going with the world and the speed is accelerating or that we as a ten need to conclude it somehow?
R. With the Rabash we used to study TES part 6 and we had a question there and Rabash said that the answer as he remembers it is in part 12 in TES which we didn't learn yet. Ao we brought the books and we read what he said and then we just kept reading and after a few lessons we saw where we should be and where were now. Wherever you read, if it grabs you and explains something just keep going, there's no problem you can advance from anywhere. And by this we will go and come back.
S. So until the next lesson what do you recommend we focus on, Joseph or the Staff and the Serpent?
R. The Staff and the Serpent is better.