The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Lesson (Morning) August 21, 2024.

Part 3: Lesson on the topic of Donations and Tithing.

Reader: We are reading selected excerpts in the topic of Donations and Tithing, Maaser. The subtitle is The Power of Tithing, we're continuing from No. 9 from Genesis.

 

Reading: (00:23) Item 9.The Power of Tithing. Genesis 28:22.

And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.

M. Laitman: That's what's written in the Torah about the Maaser?

Reader: A bit more is written, but not too much. The next is from the Book of Deuteronomy.

Reading: (00:47) Item 10. Deuteronomy 14: 22 - Twice.

You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.

M. Laitman: No.11?

Reading: (01:17) Item 11. RABASH, Article No. 536, "You Shall Tithe"

“You shall tithe.” It was interpreted, “Give tithing so you will grow rich.” But how did our sages explain the commandment in the verse in a way that is Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], meaning that the intention is that he would give charity so as to get? It should be said, as was said, “We will do and we will hear,” meaning that through the act they will achieve the state of “We will hear,” meaning the act affects the intention.

It follows that when a person gives tithing, meaning an act of giving, he should aim “to get rich,” meaning to be rewarded with a desire and yearning to give. That is, as the act is giving and not receiving, so he will be rewarded with the thought and intention being only to give and to receive anything in return.

We should also say, “You shall tithe,” meaning “tithe” on the action, where if he performs an act of giving, “You will get rich,” for then he will be rewarded with his intention also being that of bestowal and not that of reception.

And what happens afterwards? “So, you will grow rich,” since it is impossible to receive from the Creator the delight and pleasure, called “wealth,” before one has equivalence of form. At that time, when he is rewarded with his aim being to bestow, as well, he will be rewarded with the wealth called “so you will grow rich.”

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (03:47) Yes, I have a question about paying the Maaser. 

M. Laitman: Payment, I'm not associated with. If you're asking about the bottom line of how you pay, no.

Student: No, not how to pay. If one who needs to pay needs Maaser, if you even have to pay it?

M. Laitman: This is an obligation from the Torah; that the tenth part of what a person earns, he needs to release for the benefit of the society.

Student: Why I'm asking, in the past when I came here, I was here for two years in a group and most of us didn't pay. After two years you gathered us, and you told us, look, you're doing great work with the books but if you won't pay Maaser, you can't advance spiritually. Has anything changed since? 

M. Laitman: No.

Student: Why I'm asking, because back then we really were meticulous in the Ten, that everybody will pay Maaser and we checked it. Today in the Tens, there's a different guidance from our management not to check. 

M. Laitman: To check has nothing to do with payment, to check is according to the nature of the group, I don't know. But in checking how much a person pays or doesn't, that is actually more, it's related more to the calculation between him and the Creator.

Student: If he's paying at all, if he even participated in this action?

M. Laitman: That, too.

Student: That's not for us to check, it's something personal between every friend. 

M. Laitman: That's actually, yes, a personal thing. So, what did you think? 

Student: That we have to check if the friends are paying because you advance spiritually from that. If somebody isn't paying, he's hurting the Ten. 

M. Laitman: Whoever pays is written, whoever doesn't pay is also written. There are lists, that's clear, for sure. Maaser is something that is worthwhile to be precise with. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (07:00) Maaser is my personal calculation before the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Where is the Ten here? 

M. Laitman: After you pay Maaser, you can connect to the Ten. 

Student: Only after I pay? 

M. Laitman: After that, yes. 

Student: Without paying Maaser, what's my connection to the Ten? 

M. Laitman: You're there on condition.

Student: What condition? 

M. Laitman: That you will pay.

Student: But it's my calculation before the Creator, so I don't understand. 

M. Laitman: It's your calculation with the Creator, and in truth, this money is used mostly for the benefit of connecting to the Creator. But that's how it is, it's a must. 

Student: I have to give a calculation to the Ten, whether I pay or not? 

M. Laitman: Yes, because the Ten can also, through your actions, be harmed. 

Student: In what? I'm not part of them, yet, I'm on a condition.

M. Laitman: If you're in a conditional state, then you have to do that condition. But after you choose to do this condition, in paying Maaser or not, then it's really good to say that you belong to them or not.

Student: If I pay Maaser, am I contributing to the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: In what? 

M. Laitman: Because one of them belongs to the Creator. 

Student: So, my payment helps my friends advance? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And if I don't pay? 

M. Laitman: If you don't pay, you're harming yourself and also the Ten. 

Student: Why am I hurting the Ten? I understand on myself, but?

M. Laitman: Because you're one of the Ten, you're one of the groups which is not connected with the Creator.

Student: Should that be something revealed, open? Not the amount but if everyone is paying? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, it has to be out in the open? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:36) I want to ask about the intention, I think that's what he explains, here. I can pay Maaser because that's what we need to do. That's what we've been doing all these years, there's no question about it. We calculate how much I got and ten percent, and that's it. Here, he says that pay the Maaser to get rich. Here he explains it doesn't mean that you'll get rich, corporeally, but you'll reach the quality of bestowing to the Creator. Or I can say I'm giving Maaser for my Ten, so what's better? Or every time you have to calculate whatever happens, it's okay. I'm not even asking if to do it or not, we're doing it, period, I'm asking about the intention. What's the better, more precise intention? 

M. Laitman: That by doing so, I become part of the society which all pays Maaser and by that we connect between us, and we connect to the Creator. 

Student: Every other calculation with a different intention isn't as good? 

M. Laitman: Yes, because Maaser is the basis, the foundation of the society, it's the transition from corporeality to spirituality.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:04) Just in order it's clear, in Rabash, was there anybody who didn't pay Maaser? 

M. Laitman: No. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:22) Let's say a person starts studying, understands what's written, here. He has to be giving and in equivalence of form but where does he suddenly become cheap and doesn't want to give anything?

M. Laitman: It's spiritual, it's spiritual, you can spend, you can waste those thousand shekels, let's say, that you're paying for the group, nothing. But to give to here, that's the difficulty. 

Student: We see a person just can't deal with it.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: What do we do?

M. Laitman: What do we do, I can't tell you, there's nothing you can do. All the cases we had, and we asked Rabash, we received one answer. 

Student: But he understands that it hurts his relationship with the group, with the spiritual system, but he can't. 

M. Laitman: Yes, there's a difficulty from above, here, because it's a very special thing that with this corporeal money, you're paying for spiritual ascent. And there's nothing else you can do in place of it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:29) Why does it need to be difficult? Why, to begin with, is there a resistance?

M. Laitman: Always, towards the spiritual action, there is a resistance on behalf of the body, on behalf of the evil inclination. 

Student: Because it's opposite than the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes. Next, Reader?

Reading: (14:02) Item 12. RABASH, Article No. 904, "Man Is the Tree of the Field" Concerning donations and tithing, these are given specifically from possessions, from what man has acquired and possessed, and then he gives a tithing from this. Hence, there is a tithing of the beast, which is given from the quality of “beast,” which is the soul, and there is one from the fruits of the tree, which is the quality of “man.”

The time of the giving of tithing begins once ripening or planting is visible, when it is certain that he has gained.

M. Laitman: (14:46) Okay, in our times it's simple, you more or less know, you get a report, might be, how much, yes and how much not you receive, you deserve from your boss, and from that you pay, yes. Is this clear, meaning before your personal expense is there, your mortgage, who knows what? Rather what you need to do, is to take out the tenth, and to pass it for the benefit of spirituality, for the Creator. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:40) Sometimes a friend has a calculation that he's afraid to give 10% because he's afraid that it'll bring him into financial problems. 

M. Laitman: Those are calculations anyone could say. 

Student: Right, but we said it's an action of a person before the Creator. If we can have some kind of confidence that the Creator, once you take this step on your behalf, that the Creator will watch over you or you're not allowed to think that?

M. Laitman: No, Maaser is a contribution, a donation in Maaser, tithing. Yes. Otherwise, you get an insurance policy? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:33) I wanted to ask, continuing a friend's question: On one hand I heard the calculation is before the Creator but I also heard that by that action you develop some relation towards the Ten. By this, you can determine them to the good or to the bad. Why is it like that, why is an action that is your calculation before the Creator, now enter?

M. Laitman: Because friends want to see if you are a qualified person, if you're doing what the Creator wants, etc.

Student: That I understand, my question is from a different direction. Let's say I paid Maaser, am I doing good to the Ten or not? Is there a connection between my action to the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Yes, because now in the Ten there is a friend that has performed this action which is very important. 

Student: There's a friend that did the action but what is that, why, am I doing this action? Why is it connected to them?

M. Laitman: Because together you are connecting to reach the Creator and to demand from Him corrections.

Student: In this action, if I do it or not, am I affecting their spirituality?

M. Laitman: Of course, because you're part of the group.

Student: If I'm not paying Maaser, can I harm their spiritual attainment? 

M. Laitman: Of course, why, because you can't join part of the society that is healthy.

Student: I can't, no problem, but why should my Ten be guilty because of me? 

M. Laitman: We all receive from the Creator for everyone. 

Student: What I can't understand, why is the calculation on the Ten whether I'm doing something or not? Why are they guilty in my actions? 

M. Laitman: Because you're part of the Ten. How could it be any other way? 

Student: The fact that I perform this action, it opens a whole world. I also do it, and I'm also concerned about their spirituality.

M. Laitman: Because by paying, you're entering together with them into the general collective work with the Creator. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:34) I still don't understand the spiritual principle. If I don't do any spiritual law, so I'm removing myself from the collective.

M. Laitman: But is there a lack in the collective because of this? 

Student: That's my question, why doesn't it keep going as some essence? I took myself out. 

M. Laitman: It continues but the essence is harmed now, it's flawed.

Student: At what stage? Let's say if I'm sitting physically but we're separated and it can keep going on without connecting to me. I'm not keeping the laws, here.

M. Laitman: Okay, so you're telling everyone that I'm leaving, goodbye, so long, and that's it? 

Student: And from this moment, the Ten isn't harmed from my action because I disconnected? 

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: Okay, to understand the Arvut in the Ten, if a friend finds it difficult, it doesn't matter what the reason is that the Creator is giving him. Should I be concerned of him, a Ten towards a friend that finds it hard to pay? 

M. Laitman: However, the agreement between you is. 

Student: What responsibility do I have in such a friend? 

M. Laitman: Whatever is customary in the society. How are you asking me, I don't know? These are not laws that I defined or decided on. 

Student: The Ten should speak between one another and decide what their conditions are? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Is it a different condition as coming to the Morning Lesson or disseminating or is it another spiritual law that? 

M. Laitman: No, no, the payment of Maaser is permanent, consistent, and it doesn't change, meaning this condition does not change.

Student: Question about the women's Ten: Should the women's Ten do the same? 

M. Laitman: No, it's not towards women, usually, we relate to families.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:56) I came here to correct my soul, to go from a state that?

M. Laitman: This is one of the conditions for the correction of the soul.

Student: Okay, and I got a Ten, and I'm starting from them, I have to learn how to love the friends. I don't care what they are, what their character is, I have to love them. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: Whether I come to the Lesson or not, whether I pay or not, I have to love them.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Women Latin 15): (22:41) Why can't he pay from work? 

M. Laitman: That can be agreed upon. Let's say, we need to paint this hall, for example, yes? And then someone says that I am capable of doing that, and really, we give him that work, and he, in place of paying a payment in Maaser, he does the work. That's possible. 

Student: There's also a question that if someone isn't working, so they have to pay Maaser? 

M. Laitman: With us, it was, I think it was like 200 shekels because he exists, after all. He exists, so somewhere he takes the money, that's kind of like his profit. So that's how he manages to pay. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:53) How does a corporeal action become a spiritual action? 

M. Laitman: That I don't know, this is a condition from above. In my eyes, it's simple, because the person contributes from what he is earning towards the action of the group.

Student: What's the point that from an action, it becomes a real spiritual action? 

M. Laitman: The group decides or someone there decides that this is how they use the Maaser, that's it. There are many laws to it.

Student: If we decide, so the Creator accepts it? 

M. Laitman: Yes, the group decides, let's say, with this money to paint the whole building, with this money to do this and that. With this money, to do some wedding for a certain couple in the society.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:18) Maybe another practical question about what they were asking: A person who for a while doesn't have work and somehow he lives, let's say there's some, like you said, that 200 shekel. If that time he survives from loans, and he lives off loans, that's how he lives. So, what does he do in such a state? From the loan itself he has to give Maaser? 

M. Laitman: From the loan he has to give Maaser, yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:02) We use Maaser for dissemination, books, movies, so it's easy to understand, but if we want to disseminate our message in the past, I don't know, 100, 200 years ago, also in your time, you used to give it to the Rav. What would the Rav do with it, there wasn't dissemination? 

M. Laitman: Yes, but he would write me notes of what he needs, and I would go and buy. Food, other things for him, yes. 

Student: We use the Maaser money only for dissemination, not for our needs. Let's say, the building, coffee, tea, there's an extra payment to sustain this. We make sure we don't mix one another. I don't know about Rabash, I guess to give to the Rav was more difficult, wasn't it? 

M. Laitman: I don't think it could be, it depends on the person. 

Student: 200 years ago, how would they use the Maaser? 

M. Laitman: We'd pass it to the Rav. 

Student: And what would he do with it? 

M. Laitman: Whatever he wants, whatever he wants, he would live with it. He would live from it, everyone has to make an earning, and he would earn from having many students, and he lives from that. 

Announcements: (27:52)