Morning Lesson May 5, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.

Part 1:

From Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] We come to Lishma [for Her sake] - Selected Excerpts from the sources

1. Rav’s Introduction: Yes, we continue this process of entering Lishma [for her sake] and we see even from history from our evolution that we always come from a state of absence to the state of revealing or revelation and this is where we are. Of course it takes a lot of patience and many efforts and such efforts that we are not naturally drawn to do by our will to receive, but on the contrary we can advance toward our correction only through an effort that is above our nature which is entirely to receive. We need to build above it a new relation the relation as it was corrected in Adam HaRishon that the Creator created, one system. Let's hope that we can nevertheless understand how special this is, how important and basically the only thing that was given to us to do in this world. There was one system which was there as all of its parts were tightly connected and then it was this single system when all the parts were all tight, connected and when it is one system they work together in one operation.

Then the Creator in order to show them the power of connection He had to break them and give them an opportunity to return to connection through their own efforts, as it is with us. In this way we attain something from its opposite and this is the work we have to do, we are still opposite to connection, we are far from connection without any tendency leaning or affection to connection. On the contrary it is opposite to our nature, but when we are in it we see the whole system in a way that is called Lo Lishma [not for her sake]. In other worlds for the sake of each and everyone but not for the common sake meaning for the Creator. If we come closer to each other by this we come closer to the Creator, in this way we come from Lo Lishma, [not for her sake] to Lishma, [for her sake] and then we begin to feel one system which is the system of Adam HaRishon and then all of reality seems to us as one correct reality, exactly as it should be and as it is.

Reading #1 (04:42) “From Lo Lishma we come to Lishma...” Twice.

2. R. (07:42) In other words there is a system that is called Adam HaRishon, initially this system was uniform where all of its parts were connected and caring for each other like parts of a uniform system; a united system. We have to feel the opposite form otherwise we will not attain the inner essence of the system called connection. We can attain this only by attaining connection from its opposite state and the connection between us is the Creator, the connection itself is the Creator. By the Creator creating the system, He is giving us a chance to understand what His concealment when He is absent from the system, when we are disconnected and to the extent that we connect, He becomes revealed in the system as its inner force. And this is what we need to do in our entire state. Meaning in the process that has been going on for many life-cycles and all of the states, every moment in our lives and we come from a state that is opposite from spiritually, from the truth, meaning from connection, and to the extent we are not connected and attain our disconnection the broken system. It is our world, this dark world where we do not feel what we do, why we work and so on. Gradually the system itself is operating on us and is moving us toward connection and here we are already going into all kinds of methods how to connect between us, how to come closer to each other and this how we go through the times.

There were times when we connected through physical actions then we shifted to more internal actions by beginning through physical actions to get to know our system as an internal system that exists within us within the connection between people. In this way we attain more and more these two opposite states, the broken state and the state of connection. This is basically what we have before us and we must not slight either state. We should always ask ourselves and check ourselves in which of the two states we are in. As much as we can detect our situation, by this we become more and more understanding and feeling and united between us and advancing toward the connection. Our goal is to return to the system that the Creator created initially as a system that is called Adam. When we go through the path from the broken state of the system to its corrected state, when we are connected above above the separation then we understand the two sides of the coin, the broken state and the connected state. And in this way out of the two of them we also understand and feel what the Creator did and why He did it.

This is how we attain as the advantage of the light from the darkness, the revelation of the Creator from within the concealment and in this way each one on the path attains himself in the system that is entirely broken and also brings himself into a system that is entirely connected. In this way we understand the process and in the process we go through we understand the thought of creation, the purpose of creation, what happens, why the Creator did this specifically in this way. Because basically from the end of the act when we come and when we come to it then we understand why the Creator created this system to begin with, why He broke it and prepared for us a way to go through all the states from the broken to the complete. In this way we attain within the system the upper force itself, meaning that in the connection between us the closer we closer to each other the more we attain more and more that one force is operating, is operating and will operate. The Creator did everything only that we should attain it. The states we go through, we can divide them into two, Lo Lishma, when we are still not connected to the inner forces of creation and cannot connect ourselves together and learn what it means to be together compared to the broken state and to be together, corrected. Then we understand what the Creator wants from us, this is the process that we go through.

3. S. (15:54) What is the force of the light that reforms that should help us to complete this process?

R. It is the force of connection, the force of the Creator who fulfills the whole reality but the Creator is hiding this force so we would want to discover and through it connect and this way to attain our unity and connection.

4. S. (16:36) What does it mean that we attain the thought of creation when we connect the whole system? You said that first we attain ourselves as the broken parts of the system and then reconnect and discover the thought of creation through the connection?

R. The minute we connect the system, we are going to see how each part within the system is connected to the other parts of the system and how they operate in a uniform way. This, in the end, gives us a chance at a possibility to get to know the Creator, the one force that clothes everyone, connects everyone, operating everyone and this is the goal of our correction. To bring ourselves between us into such a connection that we begin to feel the operating force between us which is present and we discover it. As it is written, “You have made Me from the broken state,” from our personal desires and thoughts which are opposite one another and this way we can advance toward unity. We will feel the system as one like Adam HaRishon and connect together and then we will feel as one Creator operates within us, and we will be as complete as Him. This is the purpose of the correction.

5. S. (19:08) We are speaking from the retreat in Holland. To engage in the Torah and Mitzvot it brings us from Lo Lishma to Lishma but there is an addition and why is this addition that we also need to give the Creator contentment? Is it not enough to be in Torah and Mitzvot to bring us from work to bring us from Lo Lishma to Lishma, so why is there addition here to bring contentment to the Creator?

R. For what purpose, that is the question, that is the main thing. If we are not connected, this is called that our desires, our thoughts, our tendencies in each one individually because we entered into a disintegration of the relationships between us in the breaking of The Tree of Knowledge. When we are not trying, when we are not laboring to connect and what should we do? Adam HaRishon, the Creator created him, is a system that entirely contains many pieces and many parts and all of them are connected and working together each one for everyone. It is a system as in every system, we do not even understand the systems that are built in our world.

Because if the system, every system we build all of its parts must be connected correctly, so each one participates with the others correctly in connection. Therefore, it is not enough for us that each of us exist as he was born only for his own sake, but instead we have to invert this so each one is operating for the sake of the whole system and for the sake of the whole system we say it is for the sake of the Creator. Because he basically created the system He is within it and He governs it and understands us and feels us and according to our request he can bring the system from separation to unity.

S. You can work in Torah and Mitzvot without giving the Creator contentment?

R. It is also not called Torah and Mitzvot, [commandments]. It is called going by things that we are used to. People say that we can do this but the truth is the whole issue of the Torah and commandments, the point of it, is to connect people so that they feel that they are in one system and each is working in connection with the others.

6. (23:36) S. We are full of infinite gratitude to the Creator to hear your voice and see you. How can we feel the light of the Torah, what is such a deficiency?

R. The light of the Torah is the force that connects us together gives each one and all of us together a feeling of connection, complement and mutual complementation, and a goal through this complete complementation, complete connection we arrive through it to the gradual revelation of the Creator. The Creator and we are our present and are connected and we become incorporated so we become as He is one and His name is one. Where the Creator is He, and His name is us, the vessels that are connected together and discover Him within us, in the connection between us.

7. S. (25:14) It is not clear why the Creator created us as corrupted, if this need for correction it is clear to us that nobody can build a building in order to break it so it could be fixed, so what is the intention in creating a corrupted creation?

R. If we do not understand how we collect and build from all of our pieces that we are ourselves the broken pieces, so how we build the connection between us is like we build a building out of bricks and so on so we will not know who we are, how we should exist in our complete form and what kind of building we have to come to eventually. Only from its opposite from the deficiency and darkness that we ourselves try to reach the connection and the light, by this we attain the internality of creation, the purpose of creation and we understand the Creator why He did this this way and not in another way.

8. S. (27:45) What is the step in quality from the connection between us to the feeling is to the Creator between us, how do we go from one to the other?

R. I did not understand.

S. We are connecting and then we feel the we, so what is the next step to take in order to feel the Creator from we to the Creator?

R. The essence of the connection between us is the Creator, meaning if we come closer to each other in order to build the system of connection between us correctly, not in a corrupt way, where each one adds to the others and in this way add to everyone else. We are feeling more and more how much we can come into a complete system. It is like in any other system we are building and in them too we want all the parts to work in a way that they complement each other, and in this way they can attain something common. The purpose of the work, the purpose of their creation and then we attain when we connect them correctly, what is the acting mind inside the system and why it did this this way, in a broken way or in a connected way. In other words by this we attain the depth of the creation, the whole depth from it, the broken state to its corrected state.

9. S. (29:56) In what way did the sages make it easier to the extent of the efforts that we got the degree, it did not change?

R. They gave us a means to attain the goal, to reach all of creation and to attain the One, Unique and Unified Force operating in it which is the Creator. This is what the sages brought us with the method how to attain the creation and the Creator.

10. S. (30:46) How can we reach the awareness that we must work constantly for the Creator to find joy?

R. Everything that was created was created only so that we would return this entire system called Adam that has to be similar to the Creator. We would return this system into its proper state and this is our goal, the purpose of our existence is that if we do want to be incorporated with the Creator in one work then we have to try to come closer between us and within it we discover the Creator.

11. S. (31:55) Our purpose is to know how to work in Lishma and how to work in Lishma and Lo Lishma?

R. We begin with Lo Lishma and it is the beginning of our work when we still do not feel connection between us, but we already have an inclination to come to a connection between us in order to reveal the Creator in the connection between us. The stages here are Lo Lishma when we are still in the egoistic desire and we don't really want to connect, but we can somehow take some superficial state of connection between us in the ten, in all kinds of activities in the lessons. Then we gradually come to a state that is called Lo Lishma and from that we come to Lishma. In other words, our whole work will be only to discover the Creator and by this bring Him contentment.

S. The state of Lo Lishma and Lishma are constant states that I am always working in Lo Lishma in order to go to Lishma?

R. Yes.

12. S. (33:37) Baal HaSulam writes that the sages of the Talmud made it easier compared to the Mishnah for offering us something more than the penance, so what did they know that the ones from the Mishnah did not know? Was this process natural or they invented it?

R. We are talking about Kabbalists of previous generations from thousands of years ago, who discovered these things in the system of connection between us and a person in this world and this is what they wrote and provided it for us.

S. What caused the change, because he is actually comparing between the two groups. What is the essence of the change and how did it suddenly appear?

R. Once it was only connection and more external, then the recommendation of the great sages of that generation was only in order to connect to help each other physically. Then as the generations advanced and that group that existed and advanced toward connection discovered and understood that if they engage in this more internally, meaning talking between them and even write about the principles of connection, and by this they can advance more effectively and this way they advanced from generation to generation, it is a matter of many years.

S. Natural evolution?

R. It is not natural evolution the way you mean it. It is within the still, vegetative, animate and speaking nature, it is an internal evolution within a person who attains creation and the purpose of creation and how to realize it.

S. What does it mean when he calls this penance?

R. Because the connection between the parts of creation has to be above the inner ego existing in each and every one, where the system of Adam HaRishon was shattered so each one felt himself as being isolated from the others, as having a tendency to use the others. In this way he is looking at everything around him, so it turns out that he has no choice, this is how he lives. It turns out that if we want to return to the corrected state in a one system then we have to rise above our ego, above our rejection and the tendency to use others for our own sake. Over this they started to build a system which is already called the system of correction and connection.

S. When we stop using each other this is what he calls self torment, avoiding?

R. Penance is when people wanted to use the forces of nature in order to connect, so it turned out they had to go against the force of nature directly. Meaning to eat less, rest less or stop doing all kinds of things that they would enjoy this is called penance, meaning that a person to begin with and all his actions wants to punish himself. To punish himself for feeling that he has the evil inclination the will to receive for himself.

S. This is the method of the sages of the Talmud and we do not punish ourselves?

R. No.

13. S. (39:21) We have come to do more concentrated work, more committed work in the ten, how can we in the ten achieve greater efficiency in the work in Torah and Mitzvot?

R. Only through the connection between us in the ten and the study and the implementation of the ten what we are learning from the sources that speak about the connection, that is usually Baal HaSulam and Rabash.

14. S. (40:16) Is it correct to depict the work of connection as changing our nature and this the work that we are doing here?

R. Yes, obviously it is a change in our nature that we go from the intentions to receive to the intentions to bestow.

Reading #2 (40:44) Zohar for All: “One Should Always Engage in...” Twice.

15. S. (43:03) What are the commandments that extend abundance of Kedusha?

R. We are in a ten and we want to connect with every means possible and then we extend the light that reforms and that light is working on us even though we still cannot feel its results in practice but still from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma. We still extend that light and it works and we come closer to the state of Lishma. We feel more and more and understand, we speak about it, we engage in the connections between us which are closer to the system of Adam HaRishon. It takes a long time and a lot of efforts, we go through many states, but in this way we reach that correction.

S. Are we supposed to feel that we are drawing the abundance of Kedusha of reforming light or we are not supposed to feel it?

R. No, we do not have the vessels for it but every so often we can feel that we are moving close toward something spiritual which is understanding and a feeling which is more internal, deeper and more truthful than what we are engaging in.

16. S. (44:56) When does a person know that he entered Lo Lishma, how does he know that he is performing operations in Lo Lishma?

R. For now it is enough to say that I am performing actions in order to cause connection even though the inner results from it that I perform, I still do not feel them.

S. It means that the activities of connection that we are doing in the ten, for example last night we had a meal like every Thursday, we connect and we talked about the greatness of the society, the greatness of the path, is this act Lo Lishma or maybe it is not?

R. You have to answer this on your own, not that I can do it.

S. What is the scrutiny we have to make in order to understand if we are in Lo Lishma?

R. The scrutiny is that we are willing to do actions only for the connection between because by that we are coming closer to the state where the Creator can be revealed.

17. S. (46:28) Why do we need time in order to reveal the state of Lishma?

R. Because we are opposite of the corrected state that is clear, if we need to advance to the corrected state in order to bestow, it is opposite to our current nature so we have to do actions in order to gradually come closer to that state.

18. S. (47:14) Who receives the abundance, the taste of the abundance, is it the person himself or the ten?

R. It is the ten and each in the ten to the extent of his participation in the ten.

19. S. (47:54) What should be the goal that sustains us when connect, is it to discover the Creator or only to bring Him contentment?

R. To bring Him contentment but contentment we give the Creator when we reveal Him, meaning to give Him contentment that is the main thing, is the main thing. In order to give Him contentment we have to connect between us in order to prepare a place for Him to reveal Himself in us.

20. S. (48:38) How do we engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to the Maker, how do we come to this intention in the ten?

R. Gradually when we enter into the right environment you learn this from the friends and from the books, that's what we are talking about. Nothing but the connection between us that the Creator is revealing in the connection between us, we do not need to learn or do.

21. S. (49:19) It says that a person's nature will not allow him to make the slightest movement if it is not for his own sake. If a Kabbalist is in the quality of Lo Lishma does he completely replace his nature so even the slightest movement he does is for the sake of the Creator or is it that over every desire he has to overcome and invert each desire from Lo Lishma to Lishma?

R. It depends on the state he is in and what degree he is on, it depends on the degree he is on, what spiritual degree.

Reading #3 (50:15) "Do not say that if Lishma is a Gift from above..." Twice.

22. S. (54:12) Happy to finally see you in the lesson. He is writing about the gift, he says that the gift from above comes as a result from what? When do we get the gift and who decides if we get the gift and who decides and what are the conditions to get the gift?

R. That is already a question on its own and it is a big question and it is not simple, when do we need the gift, when are we worthy for the gift, who exactly do we receive it from, only one of us or everybody together in the group and so on. This is something we need to scrutinize and why is what we receive for our work as we say in Torah and Mitzvot, why is it called a gift? Is this payment something we deserve but why is it a gift? All of these things are something that we are going to have to find what is written about it and scrutinize it.

S. What are the conditions and do we have a chance to receive it, so what is the gift, is it to be in Lishma?

R. When we receive Lishma and we are ready for it then we decide on that Lishma on that state, that it is a great gift which is very special that there is nothing greater nothing above that, and we can only receive it from the Creator Himself, so we truly attain something special there.

S. What are the conditions?

R. That you want it.

S. That I want it?

R. Without a deficiency you cannot receive it.

S. I have been wanting it for 30 years and I have still not gotten it. What are the conditions?

R. You did not think about it, that you want to receive it.

S. Why do I come here?

R. Ask yourself. Please don’t start.

S. Why do I come if I don’t want to receive the gift, then why am I coming to receive this gift?

R. You want to receive some kind of gift, but which exactly.

S. If I knew I would tell you.

R. I'm telling you, the place where you are there is also an ability to get the divine gift and you do not see where it is exactly or how to receive it, with what conditions and so on, so this is how it happens that you are still without the gift. It is waiting for you.

23. S. (57:56) If in Lo Lishma we yearn for the state of Lishma, then within the state of Lishma, what should we yearn for?

R. Towards the Creator, Lishma, that we want to do good to the group and through it to do good to the Creator, this is our work and this is the purpose, that is the direction of the work.

24. S. (58:41) It says that the acts and remedies he is doing in order to obtain Lishma create the corrected vessels in him that want to receive Lishma. Then it says that the actions and remedies he can pray in earnest since he saw that all his actions did not help him whatsoever, so they helped him create the Kelim, and then it says that his actions did not help him whatsoever?

R. Yes, meaning that the person comes to a state that he tried to do everything in his powers to do, and he saw that it doesn’t help and only prayer and more or less he understands what sort of prayer that has to come from his heart, he raises it to the Creator.

25. S. (01:00:09) What does this overcoming and all the corrections he does help, what is a correction that a person does?

R. A correction that he can put the intention to bestow.

S. How is this connected to the ten?

R. That the whole can help each one of the friends, to be able to do the intention to bestow through the whole ten to the Creator, meaning if we all want to connect between us that the Creator will be our purpose, so each one who does something in such a ten he will aim himself to give contentment to the Creator.

S. Where does the contentment meet the ten, how do these two concepts connect?

R. It connects in the heart of man towards his friends in the group.

S. Love for a friend, is this called contentment to the Creator?

R. Yes.

S. I heard you say that a person discovers himself in a broken system, who is broken, he or the system?

R. The system.

S. What is broken in it?

R. The connections between the parts of the system between people.

S. When he discovers that the system is broken what is his role and what should we do in practice?

R. Connect to correct the system that he wants to take himself from in order to receive to in order to bestow.

S. The system is broken but he has to correct himself, he doesn't correct the system?

R. He is part of the system and that is shattered.

S. He can only correct his part, his own personal breaking?

R. Yes.

S. How does he correct it?

R. By asking to have love towards the friends.

S. Regardless of what his eyes see or should he just ask for love or correct things that are broken in practice?

R. To correct in practice.

S. How?

R. To ask the Creator.

S. In other words a person feels the broken system and the Creator lets him feel it only so he would turn to the Creator so the Creator will correct it?

R. Yes.

26. S. (01:03:22) To come to one prayer in the ten and raise it to the Creator, how do we do it?

R. Only through the work between when you, when you connect you come together towards the connection and ask together by the plea to the Creator to make one connection between you.

27. S. (01:03:59) If a person asked to come to the ten from the bottom of the heart, can the ten accept this gift?

R. Yes.

28. S. (01: 04:14) Through which actions can we come to a real prayer, how do we come to ask for a real prayer from the Creator for this?

R. Through what deeds do we discover which we pray only through the connection between us against our ego.

29. S. (01:04:56) I wanted to understand the topic of contentment to the Creator especially in relation to the gift, does the contentment come at the stage of Lo Lishma when we shift from Lo Lishma to Lishma, is the gift connected to the contentment that we give Him?

R. I don't understand the question.

S. We're talking about the contentment we give to the Creator, first of all I would like to understand better what is the contentment that we give Him?

R. It can cause contentment to the Creator by helping make a vessel that the Creator can be revealed in.

S. Does it mean that the contentment happens in Lo Lishma and it is the condition for the gift we give?

R. Also in Lo Lishma we are coming closer to such a state.

30. S. (01:06:01) Does the means of faith that the group uses, or is the group a means to acquire faith?

R. Both, both.

Reading Excerpt #4 (01:06:38) “One Who Sees One’s Lowliness…” Twice.

31. S. (01:09:48) Is the gift being with the friends and everyday feeling more eternally closer to them, is this the gift?

R. Yes, it's not the purpose, it's a means but it's the correct means.

S. We always say that the environment is very meaningful, we have to be thankful each day for the environment He has given us?

R. We need to build a special environment everyday that it will advance every day towards His purpose. As it is written it will be new in your eyes.

32. S. (01:10:45) In our world we receive many illusionary results and in spirituality instead do we receive a lot of confusions. Is all the resistance the Creator's gift?

R. Also, of course, if we discover the way they aim us towards the goal so obviously it comes from the Creator and those who are his gifts.

S. We are always making these calculations, the absence of calculations represents the passage from Lo Lishma to Lishma?

R. No, whether we calculate or not at all, that's a regular thing a man does but to calculate in the system of Lo Lishma and the system of Lishma that is what we need to be ready for that and to be sensitive towards that and engage in it.

33. S. (01:13:18) What lowliness does a person see in himself which the excerpt talks about?

R. Whether he is in it or he isn't in it.

34. S. (01:13:32) How does recognizing my lowliness help me achieve a state of Lishma?

R. When a person sees as much as he is in a lack of forces so he searches where to get these forces from and then he turns to the Creator.

35. S. (01:13:58) What does it mean that a person knows without prayer he cannot attain what he wants?

R. By many actions with experience a person reaches a state that without help from above he cannot attain anything spiritual.

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