Morning Lesson December 15, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 32, 1989.
What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?
Reading Article: (00:29) “It is written in The Zohar…”
1. S. (32:37) Rabash says there's a question here that awakens, what for do we need to ask the Creator for Him to raise the Malchut from the dust? Why does he himself not show the importance of the Malchut, because it appears to us that it's placed in the dust? Then he answers and I have a question about his answer, he says that the answer is that if it were disclosed the glory of the Malchut, we would have no room for the freedom of choice but would rather enter the vessels of reception, that I understand. Then there's a continuation, I won’t read it all, but he says in the end we say, reveal the glory of Your kingship to us. Meaning we're asking the Creator to reveal the glory of His kingship so that we will have forces to annul ourselves and be able to work only due to the glory of Heaven. If you could explain, it's like the Creator’s concealed so that we won't work because it's apparent to us as great and we will have pleasure from that and we're working in concealment? On the other hand, we're saying reveal Your Glory so that we will be able to work, so I have some clash here?
R. Why? So we will have the strength to work that's one thing as opposed to the greatness of the Creator being revealed. It denies us the work, the Creator is revealed as great, he fills everything he does everything.
S. It says if it were revealed that the Creator is great everyone will run after Him and serve Him so he conceals it. We say, reveal Your Glory so that we will be able to serve you without reward, what is the revelation that we're asking for and we are not afraid that it will be in order to receive?
R. Because first of all, it comes according to our request there's a big difference. When we, according to our desire, are asking the Creator to be revealed as great, and then when He is revealed He is revealed in small portions, and according to the desire, request expectation, and passion that we have we receive His revelation as a reward.
S. In being connected he's saying faith above reason when a person does deeds of bestowal and works in faith above reason it's like he reveals closeness. That he loves the Creator and the Creator loves him, but he shouldn't take it as you call it, as support but rather as proof that he worked correctly. This protection not to let go of above reason, is that what gives us the confidence that if the Creator will be revealed we will take it to the work actually?
R. Yes, we have to constantly maintain the above reason and then whatever is revealed is for our sake, for our benefit to advance us on the path.
2. S. (6:37) Maybe it's a continuation, he writes when a person is in an ascent it shouldn't be as a basis in this feeling, but rather as proof. That I don't understand because if it's proof it is already confidence. How for it not to be as pleasure, as some that it will reach the right vessels, what is the proof?
R. Proof of what?
S. When a person is in an ascent it should be as an assurance or proof and not as a basis and feeling?
R. Proof that he was advancing correctly.
S. Proof for what vessels, for the ego?
R. The ego, how can it be in the ego?
S. Because the word proof is already some sort of confidence or security?
R. Why not in vessels of the bestowal?
S. Because the path above reason is somewhat that doesn't make room for proof, if you have proof then there is no above reason?
R. Why?
S. Because it becomes reason, as I understand it?
R. Clear knowledge yes, I hear you.
3. S. (38:31) Why specifically when a person is in a state of ascent and has a feeling it's worthwhile to work in order to bring contentment to the Creator, then he needs to go actually above reason?
R. Again.
S. Why is it specifically in a state that a person's in an ascent and has the feeling that it's worthwhile to work and bring contentment to the Creator, why is it then that he has to go above reason?
R. Because he wants to come to work in order to bestow, above reason is a pure act of bestowal, clean.
S. In a state of ascent what's the addition here, what's faith above reason in that feeling?
R. That he's receiving what he has now in vessels of bestowal.
S. When a person is in a state of descent what is it to go faith above reason?
R. Again.
S. When a person is in a state of descent what is it to go above reason?
R. In a descent, it is actually easier, when he overcomes his descent and tries to continue to come closer to the Creator from a state of descent as well.
S. Where does a person take oil for good deeds?
R. This is a question. I think that through connection with the friends because for himself he hasn't anything he's got nothing from which to add oil for all the light, but only through connection with the friends can he extract from the relationships between the oil.
4. S. (40:59) Above reason does not cancel that which I want to understand of what the Creator wants of me but to operate not for the benefit of the reason but?
R. I suppose that is.
S. Meaning, I can ask the Creator to show me how to operate, what do you want from me, it's going to be reason but reason that advances me?
R. Yes.
5. S. (41:48) Continue with what the friend asked that says that oil is good deeds. According to the Haggadah in the story, they found one can of oil that was supposed to be enough for one day and it was meant for eight days. My question is what are good deeds and if there are good deeds, some form of degrees, some kind of consistency, some kind of concentration of what it's made of?
R. They found oil that lasted them eight days.
S. In place of one day?
R. Instead of one day, yes. It means that from where did they get this miracle because they all connected and they all wanted to be as one man with one heart, so that oil that they found and it was for one day burned for eight days. This is the miracle when we connect.
S. All together the degrees of good deeds is the level of connection between us?
R. Yes, of course, this is obvious.
6. S. (43:46) Am I obliged to go above reason with all the created beings and to do good deeds for every Israeli that's in our country whether he's a student or not?
R. Of course not.
S. Where does that stand?
R. You have to go only with those you have made a covenant with them who belong to the group, who are willing to go along with you to the goal, only with them do you continue.
S. How do I need to behave outside, in the country I live in if I'm in dispute with this person or another, and whether to go about reason or not?
R. Don't ever get into disputes, nothing good comes out of disputes.
S. If it doesn't depend on me and someone’s disputing me?
R. Let him dispute and let him argue with himself.
S. I disconnect from him or what?
R. Yes, what's the problem?
S. I don't know that's my question.
R. Yes.
7. S. (45:12) What clarity are we demanded in order to understand in the feeling what we cover from the consciousness of calculation for oneself?
R. What a convoluted sentence, who can translate this for me correctly?
S. What is the clarity in the work with which we can define a state and decide now there's no choice, we have to do an act in the Ten together in order to cover the revelation of the evil between us in the right intention? What is that clarity that we are so needing, to be dependent upon or to discover between us, what clarity do we need to discover between us?
R. What is clarity?
S. As now it is clear to me or to us, it's clear to me that the guidance on the path is this way and the resistance is being revealed in me and now I need, now I'm demanded for a certain clarity of what is at least the first most important step which we have to decide upon?
R. What is the problem that faces a person when he enters the matter of Hanukkah?
S. He needs to understand that he's entering into a certain burden, a certain responsibility, and why he is stopping right now and making the calculations. That at this point he's not allowed by any means to use the friends for his own benefit, and he has to completely be in sole devotion, and it should be completely clear to him that in this place where Hanukkah begins, all his thoughts, all his inner inclinations, all his drive of what he gets from this he has to cancel them?
R. Yes, that's true. All of Hanukkah is about reaching vessels of bestowal, where we from day to day advance through the eight days of Hanukkah so that we lean more and more and more toward acts of bestowal, to bestow in order to bestow, yes.
8. S. (48:45) It's written here, Baal HaSulam said about this rule that if a person has love of the Creator, he should know that this is because the Creator loves him as it is written the Creator is your shadow. What does it mean if the Creator loves him and doesn't the Creator love everyone?
R. I don't know about everyone but toward a person, it is a proof that he's getting from the Creator vessels of bestowal that he begins to love everyone. By this, we discover the Creator's love for us.
9. S. (49:43) I want to understand these concepts of oil, good deeds, and the connections between them, good deeds or deeds of connection between us?
R. Yes.
S. The deeds of connection between us is the deeds of bestowal or is it the filling of bestowal?
R. No, it's a vessel of bestowal when we connect our vessels of bestowal and oil is what feels the vessels.
S. The oil is like what we reveal when we connect?
R. Yes.
S. Can we say that the good deeds are above reason or is it above this action?
R. Above reason is above his intention when we want to be in an act of above reason in order to cause contentment to the Creator.
S. When we try to do an act of connection between us it will become an action of above reason only if we enter the Creator into the game?
R. Of course, otherwise why are you doing this, what are you in a gang? They even have a better stronger connection.
S. If I enter the Creator into this game meaning that's the intention of why I am doing all this chain of actions then the action of connection between us is called an action above reason?
R. Yes.
S. What is it when we say that above reason is a gift from the Creator, what exactly is the gift?
R. Because we ourselves, by ourselves cannot do it.
S. What part along the way can't I do the connection and the action itself, what can't I do that the Creator has to do and he makes the miracle and lets me do it?
R. We cannot make a connection between us and the Creator.
S. In order to overcome that we let's say, raise a prayer work in some and then?
R. Everything you can.
S. Everything is possible, thank you.
10. S. (53:14) What is this matter of Tnufa?
R. The wave, the sheaf of the waving offering, it is that force, that quantity that we have to connect between us and keep it between us.
11. S. (53:52) What is Shechina in spirituality and how to raise it from the dust?
R. Shechina, Divinity is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. Usually, this is it, how do we raise her, we raise her according to our relation to it to the extent that we appreciate the value of the revelation of the Creator between us.
12. S. (54:33) How can a person understand the importance of Malchut and if it's in dust how to receive help from the Creator?
R. He has to understand that it's only in his eyes that Shechina seems like it's in the dust because he doesn't know how to measure, to feel her real place that she's in heaven. Therefore, it needs to be in a group of friends who will work on it together in order to raise the Shechina to heaven.
13. S. (55:34) How do we work together in the Ten in order to raise that Shechina from the dust? What is that work between us?
R. We have to connect between us and that small desire that exists in each one to connect with the others that desire we have to raise up, and by this, we will discover and know the Shechina.
S. What does it mean that there's a small desire in every friend?
R. Then he needs it more than everyone.
S. Meaning this is practical work, meaning how, where, in our meetings of the Ten? How do we find it?
R. We have to unite between us to connect ourselves, and our desire after it's connected to raise it to the Creator to elevate it. That we want in this desire to reveal the Creator to bestow upon Him and then I can feel how we are coming closer to Him.
S. When the Kabbalists gather, they can gather and intensify, raise this desire of this Shechina from the dust, so it will be as a practical exercise for them?
R. Yes.
14. S. (57:337) The feeling of recognition of evil that's my lowly state, and in order to rise above I can receive the hope, that according to the measure of evil that I feel, I have accordingly the force of good and then I have the strength to raise the friends or is that hope towards the friends?
R. It all depends on your prayer, on your request to the Creator.
S. For the friends or myself that's the question?
R. It becomes a general prayer.
S. The hope is common?
R. Yes.
15. S. (58:33) We read that if a person has love of the Creator, then it's a sign that the Creator loves him. How can a person know that he has love of the Creator and that he's not lying to himself?
R. You should check it with the friends, there is no other test.
S. How do you test this, what needs to be seen?
R. Just love the friends, why are you silent?
S. You're right it's truly so, silence as thankfulness.
16. S. (59:27) What does it mean as a Kabbalist to have a head covering? As a Kabbalist what does it mean to have a head covering?
R. In a Kabbalistic term, it means that he's under the Creator, under the Creator.
S. Is this relating to my Ten correctly?
R. Yes.
17. S. (01:00:14) It is written that a person has to go above reason as if he has no reason. On the other hand, in the work, we make efforts with all of our might. What is the measure of going above reason?
R. That I am adhered to the Creator and to the friends with all my might, that is called that I'm going above my reason.
18. S. (01:01:13) Can we see a parallel between how each of us feels the evil, so the more we feel it the more connected we are in the Ten?
R. Yes.
19. S. (01:01:43) If a person is already wise, why does he get punishment if he has free choice in life?
R. Probably comes to him along the way to scrutinize all kinds of additional things that he has to scrutinize and we just don't understand yet what's happening, but all these scrutinies, we need them.
20. S. (01:02:50) In order to suppress my evil do I have to discover it?
R. What you need to discover you will, yes.
21. S. (01:03:31) What is the test if the Creator loves us before we turn to Him, what can this test give us?
R. He doesn't even need to be an examination but rather we need to constantly be certain that He loves us. The Creator has no other attitude towards us, all that he does towards us stems out of absolute love, complete love.
22. S. (01:04:07) It turns out that we have to be in constant service and this service stems from always having to feel ourselves as dust. Maybe I am not expressing this correctly but in a state where we don't lift ourselves and raise ourselves in any way this is a difference between a higher state and a lower state, but a higher state somehow gives inspiration to the lower one and that you're special, you're doing something. Meaning all those states have to disappear and you have to feel yourself clean toward the Creator so that nothing can annoy you. Is this the difference between the kingdom of heaven and our lowly desire? Does this desire that we have to rise?
R. Yes you can say also in that.
S. In other words, we feel every moment some sort of temptation, let's say when someone asks a question and feels because of it that he has some elation because he had a desire to be heard. The thing is though that it shouldn't worry him at all, he should only serve unconditionally in the cleanest way for all of our friends so that each friend who is in his group cannot touch him in any way or hurt him in any way. In this way he discovers some sort of a field and out of that field he will furnish the whole Ten and all the friends around us, this thing should be clean?
R. Yes, yes.
23. S. (01:06:36) How can we acquire a desire to unite us as equals in a common desire to reveal the Creator in us to attain this point of mutual guarantee?
R. Only out of the connection between us. The moment we connect with the Creator wants to be revealed between us and only depends on the force of connection between us, on the intensity of our connection.
S. My intention was to ask how can we acquire a desire, a desire to bestow?
R. We can attain the desire to bestow only out of the connection between us after the connection between us in the group and prayer to the Creator.
24. S. (01:08:12) The articles sometimes are so overpowering you don't have words to express the feelings you have with the articles. This one today makes me feel as though a person has to get to this point where they reach a feeling that the Creator is the shepherd so that faith can always be the bond between them and the Creator. Is that how these articles should work in us, that it becomes important for us towards the Creator?
R. Yes, also in that.
25. S. (01:09:18) It seems to me that in a descent it is easier to overcome, but friends who leave the path, why do they leave the path? I thought that they left because they were going through a descent.
R. I didn't understand the question.
S. He says in a state of descent it's easier to overcome.
R. Well.
S. Why do friends leave the path? He thought that in the state they are in now that they're in the state of descent it should be easier for them to overcome, so why did they leave?
R. They don't have the force of faith, they don't have connection, they don't have contact with the Creator in which they can see themselves as standing before Him. There are several and it's actually one reason the lack of faith, but that's what's happening to them and mostly it's the lack of desire. What they reached thus far could have been due to the influence of the environment from here onwards that we may have to add in their exertion, to add to their exertion forces and they have nowhere from which to take it.
26. S. (01:11:35) On what depends on the group that cannot sustain friends along the path and to what extent does it depend on a person's faith that he doesn't have a desire to continue? What depends on the group and what depends on the person with respect to a person who leaves the path, what depends on him, and what depends on the group?
R. I think it all depends on the group. The group needs to show him how they work together, the group is capable of awakening in him the force of envy, bestowal, and connection and to cause him to want to be together with them.
27. S. (01:12:43) In the article it is said that a person is always in a state of half good and half bad or otherwise he will not be balanced. Is that where a person has a free choice to lean towards good by connecting with friends?
R. He has the possibility of connecting with the friends and joining them and to the extent in which he pushes them toward the goal, thus he pushes himself towards the goal and eventually this is what will help him, this is what will help him.
S. Does the Creator make the choice or a person?
R. I would say it's the Creator.
28. S. (01:14:34) He writes here that when a person wants to work for the sake of the body, to receive fuel for himself, then the body cooperates and gives him the energy for it but the minute he starts wanting to work toward bestowal the body resists. What do we do at that point when there's a desire in you to go towards bestowal, but the body resists you more and more?
R. What to do?
S. Yes.
R. Well we get all kinds of advice, connect with the friends, and turn to the Creator.
S. Okay but from where do you get the fuel, it’s as if there is no fuel, the fuel you get from the body and the desire?
R. Yes.
S. From where do you bring fuel that is not in order to receive?
R. To get closer to the friends, to fall onto their hands if he's not capable of making any movement by himself.
S. This disconnection of a person from the need to receive fuel from the body, when he begins to receive fuels from bestowal, how does that disconnection happen when you get fuels that allow you to enable you to work in bestowal?
R. When you connect to the friends, with the friends turn to the Creator in order to receive this power that would bring all of you up together, you begin to feel that it's working.
S. And what do you do with the body and what do you do with the resistance of the body?
R. You don't even pay attention to it, let it resist, you are doing it for the friends.
S. Clear, Rabash also writes that the body resists so much that he who comes to kill you, kill him first and he really wants to finish you. That's my question. It turns out that on the one hand, we want to go towards bestowal, on the other hand, our whole nature is to go a different way, so how do we rise above it?
R. We are above the body because together we wish to be with the friends, together with the friends and the Creator in the midst of it all.
S. They are still going in this inclination to bestow that's to get fuel from connection?
R. Yes, only from holding one another up in a circle.
29. S. (01:18:18) If we go to the next part, I wanted to ask you how do you summarize Hanukkah because we read the last article of Rabash and we had this very special period where in the morning in the afternoon we were around that holiday and its internality, how do you see that?
R. This Hanukkah landed exactly to our general state, our general state where Israel, the country of Israel is in, a very serious situation and we need to understand it. I sincerely hope that we will understand how to extract the light of Hanukkah which is the light of faith and that we will be able to rise from our degree to the upper force, and all the enemies our haters will simply disappear on the horizon. For the time being, I cannot highlight this time of Hanukkah as a good time, it's war with the Greeks with the evil forces. I don't know what to tell you, I think there are many more actions we need to do, chief of which is the action of connection not to let the evil forces tear us apart the entire Israeli Society. That's what I need to say, I'm sure we'll emerge victorious, but this certainty has to live upon great concern in each one's heart.
30. S. (01:21:42) I understand that we need unity in the nation in order to reach that place and that's why I asked the question that I asked earlier. Do I have to go above reason and reach Israel to request peace, and even if my neighbor argues with me should I go above reason and bend over inside myself and not enter into an argument with him?
R. Yes.
S. I need to relate to that in that way to the whole of Israel.
R. Yes.
S. It's hard.
R. No one says anything about the fact that it's hard, the fact that it's hard, it's painful, and I do not know what, no one is taking that into consideration.
S. I pray to the Creator so we succeed in doing that, to reach true unity in the nation.
R. Pray.
S. I'm doing that thank you Rav.
31. S. (01:24:05) Good Deeds, one, people come, and they clean the toilets here and secondly there are people who come and teach people. Good deeds are everything that we contribute to the community other than the group. That is also a part where today if we increase a little the force and the desire and these actions and in our intention then we will be able to cause the unity of the whole Kli.
R. It's not a question, it's advice.