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

Daily Morning Lesson. January 18, 2026

Reading of the Article in the Ten

Rabash, Article 12, 1988. What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?

Recorded lesson - March 31, 2003

Reader: Hello friends, today we will learn the article “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?” The text is in “The Writings of Rabash,” Part 1 in Hebrew. Pay attention that the article is very long, and we will take three lessons to read through the full article. This lesson we will go through the first part, and then we will watch a recorded lesson from the 31st of March 2003. We will read the article in rounds in the Tens, and each Ten who finishes their part in advance of the time is welcome to discuss it. So again, we're in “The Writings of Rabash,” Part 1, Article 12, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?” And we will read from the beginning until the part that says, “that he is connected to the giver of the Torah.” That's where we read until today, “that he is connected to the giver of the Torah.”

Reading: (01:27) What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?

Article No. 12, 1988

Our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2, 2), “Raban Gamliel, son of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, says, ‘It is good to learn Torah with work, for exertion in both, mitigates iniquities, and any Torah with which there is no work is ultimately canceled and induces iniquity.’” This verse is very perplexing to understand literally. Can it be that one who learns Torah without working alongside, the Torah stops being Torah? Moreover, Torah with which there is no labor induces iniquity!

The previous verse is also difficult to understand. Why is it that specifically exertion in both mitigates iniquity? After all, our sages said (Kidushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” They did not say that in order to revoke the evil inclination, the Torah also requires labor in order to revoke the evil inclination.

We should interpret this in the work. It is known that the evil and iniquity is primarily the nature in which man was created, whose origin is the dust, as it is written after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 3:19), “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Dust is Malchut (as it is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 16, Item 43, Ohr Pnimi); it is the will to receive for one’s own sake. On this desire was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment, which means that this place became a space vacant from light. That Tzimtzum was in order not to have the bread of shame. Rather, to the extent of equivalence of form, the concealment is removed and upper light comes instead of it.

For this reason, Maimonides says that when beginning to teach women and children and uneducated people, they are accustomed to learn Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. When they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are taught that secret, meaning Lishma [for Her sake]. This is so because Lishma contradicts our nature, as we were born with a desire to receive for ourselves. For this reason, the only way to begin with Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is in Lo Lishma. However, through Lo Lishma we come to Lishma, as it is written, “By engaging in it, the light in it reforms them” (Midrash Rabbah, Pticha de Eicha).

It therefore follows that the whole work that we must do is to invert our will to receive so as to aim to bestow. But this work is very difficult, and it is also called “work.” That is, normally, the smaller one annuls before the greater one, and there is great pleasure in the smaller one serving the greater one. Accordingly, each one should have had a desire to serve the Creator in order to bring contentment to the Creator. Yet, this work is hard to keep, as well, and this is called “It is good to learn Torah with work.”

This is so because of the Tzimtzum and the concealment that was on the will to receive. For this reason, the light does not shine in this place, but there are rather darkness and concealment here in the vessels of reception for oneself. Hence, it is upon the person to take upon himself everything in faith above reason. Yet, this, too, is difficult because our will to receive is not used to doing things against reason. In order to be able to emerge from the control of the will to receive for himself, our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,’” meaning that “the light in it reforms him.”

Concerning “the light in it reforms him,” it is written in the book A Sage’s Fruit (Vol. 2, p 159): “The majority of the words of the Torah are for study. This reconciles why the Torah speaks at length on parts that do not concern the practical part but only the study, meaning preceding the act of Creation,” etc., “and, needless to say, legends and commentaries. Yet, since they are where the light is stored, his body will be cleansed, the evil inclination subdued, and he will come to faith in the Torah and in reward and punishment.

Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more light than when examining practical matters. Although they are more important with respect to the actions, with respect to the light, the revelation of the Creator to our fathers is more important.

Since the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of the revelation of the Creator, naturally, there is no better teaching for its task. This is what the Kabbalists aimed for—to arrange it so it is suitable to engage in.”It follows that we engage in the Torah in order to subdue the evil inclination, meaning to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, so that all our actions will be only in order to bestow. That is, by ourselves, we will never be able to go against nature, since the mind and heart that we must acquire require assistance, and the assistance is through the Torah. It is as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice. By engaging in it, the light in it reforms them.”

However, this was said—that it is beneficial to elicit the light from the Torah—if he aims while engaging in the Torah, to learn in order to receive the reward of the Torah, called “light.” At that time, studying Torah is good for him. But when he is distracted from the purpose of studying Torah, the Torah does not help complete the work of making the vessels of bestowal and not using the vessels of reception for one’s own sake. Otherwise, his Torah vanishes from him. That is, the force of Torah that should have subdued the evil inclination is canceled. This is the meaning of the words, “Any Torah with which there is no work,” meaning when he does not aim for the Torah to do the work of turning the vessels of reception to work in order to bestow, “is finally canceled,” meaning that that force is canceled.

However, we should understand why the Torah induces iniquity. Is it not enough that the Torah is cancelled, but it also induces iniquity? Can this be? The question is presented in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 39): “We need clarification so as to understand how and through what the Torah becomes a potion of death to him. Not only is he toiling in vain … but the Torah and the work itself become to him a potion of death.”

There (in “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 101), he says, “It is written that the Creator hides Himself in the Torah. Regarding the torments and pains one experiences during the concealment of the face, one who possesses few transgressions and has done little Torah and Mitzvot is not as one who has extensively engaged in Torah and good deeds. This is because the first is quite qualified to sentence his Maker to the side of merit. …For the other, however, it is very difficult to sentence his Maker to the side of merit because in his view, he does not deserve such harsh punishments.”

Accordingly, we can understand why he says, “Any Torah with which there is no work is finally cancelled and induces iniquity.” It is so because on one hand, he sees that he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, so why does the Creator not treat him as he thinks he deserves? Therefore, there are two things here: 1) It is finally cancelled. 2) It causes iniquity.

For this reason, prior to the study, a person should examine with which purpose does he want to observe the Mitzva [commandment] of learning Torah? That is, does he engage in Torah because of the Torah itself, in order to know how to observe the rules of doing the Mitzvot, or is the learning of Torah itself his whole intention, and knowing the rules of doing the Mitzvot is a completely different matter for him? meaning he is learning Torah for two reasons.

However, even while learning Torah for the sake of learning Torah, he should still distinguish with which intention he is learning. Is it to observe the commandments of the Creator, as it is written, “And you shall reflect on Him day and night,” or is he learning in order to receive the light of Torah because he needs the light of Torah in order to cancel the evil within him, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice”? It turns out that he is learning in order to obtain the spice, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.”

Certainly, prior to learning Torah, a person should examine the reason for which he is learning Torah, for any act needs to have some purpose that causes him to do the act. It is as our sages said, “A prayer without an aim is as a body without a soul.” For this reason, before he comes to learn Torah he must prepare the intention.

This is what he says there, in the “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot” (Item 17): “Hence, prior to the study, the student must pledge to strengthen himself in faith in the Creator and in His guidance in reward and punishment.

In this way, he will be rewarded with benefitting from the light in it, that his faith, too, will strengthen and grow through the remedy in this light. Thus, even one who knows about himself that he has not been rewarded with faith, still has hope through the practice of Torah. For if one sets one’s heart and mind to attain faith in the Creator through it, there is no greater Mitzva than that. Moreover, there is no other counsel but this.”

It therefore follows that a person must make a great effort before he comes to learn so that his learning will bear fruit and good results, meaning so the learning will bring him the light of Torah, by which it will be possible to reform him. Then, through the Torah, he becomes a wise disciple.

What is a “wise disciple”? Baal HaSulam said that it is a student who learns from the wise. That is, the Creator is called “wise,” and a person who learns from Him is called a “disciple of the wise.” What should one learn from the Creator? He said that a person should learn only one thing from the Creator. It is known that the Creator wishes only to bestow. Likewise, man should learn from Him to be a giver. This is called a “wise disciple.”

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Nedarim 81), “Why are no wise disciples emerging from among them? Rabina says, ‘It is because they do not bless in the Torah first.’” We should understand these words in the work, meaning that it all applies to one body. Hence, we should interpret the question, “Why are no wise disciples emerging from among them?”

It is known that “father” and “son” are called “cause” and “consequence.” That is, the first state causes the second state. Accordingly, when a person learns Torah, this is called a “wise disciple.” Also, we learned that “the light in it reforms him.” What does “reforming” mean? It is as our sages said, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice, which cancels the evil inclination.” When the evil is cancelled, and evil is the will to receive for himself, he becomes a wise disciple, according to the interpretation of Baal HaSulam.

For this reason, the answer to the question, “Why are no wise disciples,” which is the first state, “emerging from among them?” That is, the second state does not emerge from them, which is that he should become a disciple of the wise, to be rewarded with all his actions being only in order to bestow.

But there is a rule, “The light in it reforms him,” and we do not see that the wise disciple has the ability to elicit sons who are wise disciples. To this comes the answer that they did not bless in the Torah first.

Yet, this answer is also difficult to understand. We see that anyone who comes to study, first says the blessing of the Torah before the learning. Thus, how can they interpret that the reason they are not begetting sons who are wise disciples is that they did not bless in the Torah first?

We should interpret the words, “they did not bless in the Torah first.” Since we see that one who is going to make a substantial purchase, where through the merchandise that he will buy he will make great profits, his friends bless him with luck in this activity. That is, that he will make a lot of money.

It is likewise here in the work. When a person comes to learn Torah, there should be a purpose before his eyes, namely the reason he is going to study. Clearly, it is in order to benefit from the study of Torah, for without a benefit it is impossible to work. Hence, he must know that the purpose, meaning the benefit he needs to acquire from the Torah is “the light in it,” which “reforms him.”

In the work, where we speak of one body, he should bless himself with success in his learning and with obtaining much light from the Torah that he is now going to learn. Otherwise, if he does not bless prior to learning Torah, he does not remember the goal he must elicit from the learning, which is called “sons.” The sons are the result of the study, as was said, that the Torah is the reason, the father, and the light he elicits from the Torah is the son.

Accordingly, prior to learning, each and every one must contemplate the purpose of the study, meaning why he exerts in the Torah. Certainly, one should not exert without reward, and certainly, when a person learns Torah, he believes in “You can trust your landlord to pay for your work” (Avot, Chapter 2, 21). But to which reward is he aiming? He should pay attention to keep the reward always before him, meaning to have confidence and faith that the Creator will pay his reward.

The reward he hopes to receive should give him energy to work. That is, the reward is the fuel on which his work is based. Clearly, the greater the reward, the more energy there is to work. But if the reward is not so important, that reward cannot give him the strength to work devotedly, meaning to make him see that the Torah is so important, as it is written, “For they are our lives and the length of our days.” Certainly, if a person feels this way, that it is truly the Torah of life, each person, according to his feeling, would give his whole life to obtain life.

However, feeling the vitality in the Torah requires great preparation to prepare his body to be able to feel the life in the Torah. This is why our sages said we must begin in Lo Lishma, and through the light of Torah he obtains while still in Lo Lishma, it will bring him to Lishma, since the light in it reforms him. Then, he will be able to learn Lishma, meaning for the sake of the Torah, which is called “Torah [law] of life,” as he has already attained the life in the Torah, for the light in the Torah will have given such qualification to a person as to be able to feel the life that is in the Torah.

In the “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot” (Item 38), he asks, “Why is complete engagement in Torah and Mitzvot regarded as Torah Lishma? We should understand this title, Torah Lishma, why the complete and desirable work is titled Lishma. According to the literal meaning, one who engages in Torah and Mitzvot must aim his heart to bring contentment to his maker and not for his own sake. This should have been named and defined as Torah Lishmo [for His sake] and Torah Lo Lishmo [not for His sake], meaning for the Creator.

After all, the text proves that Torah Lishmo, meaning to bring contentment to one’s maker, is still not enough. Instead, we also need the engagement to be Lishma [for Her sake], meaning for the sake of the Torah, for it is known that the name of the Torah is ‘Torah [law] of life,’ as was said, ‘For they are life to those who find them’ (Proverbs 4:22). As was said, ‘It is not a vain thing for you, for it is your life’ (Deuteronomy 32:47). Therefore, the meaning of Torah Lishma is that engagement in Torah and Mitzvot brings him life and longevity, for at that time the Torah is as its name.”

According to the above, it implies that once a person has reached the degree of bestowing contentment upon his maker, as this is regarded as engaging in Torah and Mitzvot for His sake, then begins a second degree, when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot for Her sake, meaning for the sake of the Torah, as the name of the Torah is “Torah of life.”

In order for a person to achieve a degree of doing everything for the Creator, called Torah Lishmo [for His sake], it requires the light of Torah, for this light reforms him. That is, he will be able to emerge from self-love and do everything for His sake. Only this light can help him, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, once he has been rewarded with the light of Torah, he can be rewarded with the Torah itself, called “Torah of life.”

Accordingly, we should interpret what our sages said, “Should one tell you, ‘There is wisdom in the gentiles,’ believe. ‘There is Torah in the gentiles, do not believe’” (Eicha Rabbah 2, 17). When a person learns Torah, he should discern two things in it: 1) the wisdom and the intellect in it, called the “clothing of the Torah,” 2) who is wearing the clothing of the Torah.

We must believe in the words of The Zohar that the whole Torah is the names of the Creator, meaning that the Creator is clothed in the clothing of the Torah. Hence, we should discern two things in the Torah: 1) the clothing, 2) the one who wears it.

It is as it is written in the book A Sages Fruit (Vol. 1, p 118): “However, the Creator is the light of Ein Sof, clothed in the light of Torah that is found in the above 620 Mitzvot. …This is the meaning of their words, ‘The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.’ It means that the Creator is the whole, and the 620 names are parts and items.”

It follows that one who has faith in the Creator can believe that the giver of the Torah is clothed in the Torah. Conversely, a gentile, who has no faith in the Creator, how can he learn Torah, since he does not believe in the giver of the Torah? He can learn only from the clothing of the Torah, but not from the one who wears it, since he has no faith. The outer clothing is called “wisdom” and not “Torah,” since Torah is specifically when he is connected to the giver of the Torah.

Reader: We will now enter a lesson with Rav from the date 31st of March 2003. “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

M. Laitman: (31:04) So we have the light of the Torah. The Creator is clothed in it. It's a very long article. The Creator clothed in it, is the light in the Torah in total. Then there is the Torah on it, the light which is received in the vessel, which is in order to bestow. Then you have the vessel itself, which is in order to bestow, that is called the vessel of faith. And then you have the external clothing called Hochma. And then there's the vessel of Hochma, wisdom or knowledge, which is the human mind.

Meaning, until you come to attain the Torah, a person, before that rather, a person has to attain the vessel. And if he studies without a blessing, meaning that he doesn't intend to derive the reforming light from the Torah, which is, in fact, the power of the Torah, as in “I've created the evil inclination, I've created the Torah as a spice,” that is the reason the Torah was created and given to us. Meaning that the light that comes from the Creator, that quality, the quality of the light is that of the formation. But he doesn't bless over the Torah, as we say. The Torah is called the Torah of life. Meaning, that the light we need to attain we need to feel life in it. And life is what is received on the degree of the Creator with the vessels, of bestowal, in order to bestow. And this comes only by working with the intention to derive that force from the Torah, the fuel that we need to attain the vessel of bestowal. Again, I didn't explain properly. It wasn't simple enough.

There's the Creator and the created being. The appearance of the Creator to the created being is called light. In that light, the appearance of the Creator to the created being, there are a few facets. The most external facet of the Creator, side of the Creator, as He appears to the created being, is just corporeal vitality, life. A more inner revelation is Hochma [wisdom]. More inner is the reforming lights, and more inner still is the light that fills the spiritual vessel which was already reformed. Now, a person who starts upon his path, it's written that he needs to bless, to give a blessing over the Torah first, the blessing of the Torah. That means that he means to really reach the Torah, meaning to work for the sake of the Torah, the most inner light. And one who doesn't aim for that inner light, that inner illumination, but only for the external form of the Torah, the wisdom in it, the knowledge, he's considered to be a Gentile. So, it's according to the intention of the person, who wants to work and receive from the Creator. If he wants to receive from the Creator, he's called a Gentile, and then he receives from the Torah, from this light, only knowledge, the wisdom, Hochma.

If his intention is to reach equivalence of form, he is then called Israel. And so he demands of the light to be corrected, first of all, so as to be with the intention to bestow. And after that correction, his intention is to reach an action which is in order to bestow, meaning he discovers the light when he is already with the intention to bestow. The light that he receives then, meaning through screen and reflected light, the vessel of bestowal is called faith. The light that is revealed in the vessel of faith is called the light of Hochma. It's not the external Hochma, the external knowledge received in the vessels of reception. This is called the light of Hochma, the light of knowledge, which is the revelation of the Creator's providence over him. I don't know, I wanted to put it all simply, and it didn't turn out.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:36) If the goal of studying Torah is to reach faith, why did the Kabbalists arrange the light?

M. Laitman: No, the goal isn't to reach faith. Faith is a means by which you later reach the inner light of the Torah. Faith is a means, a tool. The vessel which is in order to bestow is called faith. The quality of Bina is called faith. But this should be a foundation. Therefore, it is said that the righteous will live by faith.

Student: But faith comes from what, from within a study?

M. Laitman: Faith comes as an outcome of exertion, the exertion to attain the vessel of faith. You remember what he writes in the introduction to TES, item 17? “Therefore, one who studies pledges prior to the study to reinforce himself with faith in the Creator,” and so on. Meaning that my reward will be the light that reforms me. I want that to come to me, to correct me, to give me the power of bestowal. That is what I want now. This for me is the reward.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:48) If our path is faith above reason, right, then why is study our principal means?

M. Laitman: My path isn't faith above reason now. I don't have that option. Even the ultimate goal is not faith above reason. Faith above reason is the way I approach it. Faith above reason is the means. It's how I turn to the Creator so that I'll have the same quality as His. But he explains in the introduction to TES, that the Torah is called the Torah of life, and I need to intend Lishma, for the sake of the Torah, and not Lishmo, not for the sake of the Creator. I need to aim for the Torah, not the Creator. What does it mean? That I need to aim not only to be similar to the Creator, being similar to the Creator, that's a vessel. I need to intend that this vessel will be filled with the same exact filling like Him. Meaning, that the filling will be maybe a life and longevity. I don't know. Look, it's not a vessel, it's the fulfillment, that's what they intend here. That's what we aim for. So true, faith is a goal as we study, and we need to yearn for corrections, qualities of bestowal, but it is still but a means.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:26) Why for instance, the providence is best achieved through actions with hands and feet that go against the intellect? Then I would do them, and it would immediately jump out at me that it's against the intellect, and then I would say, I want to connect to the Creator.

M. Laitman: I don't understand, stop yourself a little, I don't understand what you said. I don't understand what you said. Again.

Student: Saying, why is the principal mean intellectual? Why did they take study, meaning the light in the Torah, as the ideal means? Why didn't they take a means that would be easier for me to understand being, let's say, someone who's not intellectual, a person who works with hands and feet or physical commandments for instance, so that I do it right away and say why am I doing this? Because it's illogical. Here I'm studying something that seems intellectual, and from within it, I have to do it in a non-intellectual way. Why is it created this way?

M. Laitman: So you're asking, this is what you're asking: Why is it that the light that reforms me, corrects me, why does it come as a result of studying, and not through observing corporeal actions, actions in corporeality, right? The truth is that if you observe commandments in corporeality and you aim to perform them in order to reach the light, there is a light corresponding to that because there is a connection between these actions. There's the connection of the branch to the root there is a connection and even those who don't aim exactly still receive some little illumination but the light that reforms that truly has the strength to change me, it needs to come from the degree that it's bound to.

Meaning, when I take some subject in the book, some subject that a Kabbalist is discussing, and he's in that discussion now, in that subject, in that degree, let's say, GAR of Atzilut even. And he is now there, Baal HaSulam, and from there he explains to me in what way can he bring this to me, connect to me. When I open “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” I meet him, really as if it's a living person. There's no difference, there's no dead, alive, you understand? When I read something in TES, in “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” there's no time in spirituality. So now I’m actually seemingly, I hear things that he could have been sitting here next to me telling me, it's the same thing. It's the same thing. Of course, it depends on how I connect to it. These things, they exist, the only thing is how do you relate to it, certainly. So, he's now in the degree of GAR of Atzilut, and as if he's reciting this the verse to me this paragraph. Now the question is how do I connect to him? What do I want to receive from it? That's why it's called the blessing of the Torah. What do I now want to gain from the study? Do I want a blessing? Blessing is what the Torah should bring, the correction of the vessel, fuel for bestowal, the quality of Bina. That's it, that's all. Now, when I take some action, which is also proper in terms of root and branch regardless of what it may be: keeping kosher, the proper washing of the hands, the works of the temple, right? It doesn't matter what.

Then also as root and branch, there is a connection there. And the act itself, through it you can… But who's performing that act? How do you connect to him? These are inanimate roots and branches, so to speak, but here someone turns to me who is in attainment, who is alive in his vessel. It's a person who reached that degree through his exertion. He built the vessel, he discovered it, and he's relaying it to me. And through corporeal actions, it's just inanimate root and branch. It's from the world, the degree of the world of Atzilut to the degree of my world, simply through the worlds. But worlds aren't people, they're not souls, so it's a completely different connection. I'm not erasing root and branch in terms of corporeal commandment, of course not. There is a connection, root and branch, of course, but you're not connecting to someone who's attaining for you, who's giving to you. It's a different kind of connection. It's like connecting through, well, inanimate objects or through souls. I don't have the words for it.

Student: Meaning the light itself comes from connecting to that Kabbalist, like connecting, for example, through cinema, or through music, or through theater?

M. Laitman: You can connect to spirituality through anything that exists here in this world, because everything here comes from there.

Student: So why specifically the study?

M. Laitman: Why specifically the study? Because he, that soul, attained the Creator and prepared itself to deliver to you what he'd attained. There are the worlds, as we call them, and the souls. Souls are more internal. It's the only living thing in the whole of reality. The worlds are an external framework, inanimate, simply the system. When I connect to a soul that attains something and delivers that to me, I actually connect… There are many things to this. I want to be like him. I connect from the living parts to the living parts, from life to life. Simply put, I have no other means by which to be, I have no other means by which to advance, other than connecting to souls who are higher than me, who have attained all this. Even those who, there were such instances where there were people without Kabbalists to teach them, and they still, they would connect to the souls of Kabbalists. Meaning there's always something that someone the same kind as you that needs to teach you, that needs to give to you. It doesn't just come from the system to a person. I don't know how to put it. It's, I don't have the words for it exactly.

Even if a person just picks up a book and starts studying, it has some inner inclination, urge, regardless. It is, as we say, that some teacher comes, some soul comes around, some special connection, and the book itself also, it's not just a book. A book is a person who has attained before you. It's a soul that's in some place, in attainment, giving this to you. Without a book, without a book at all, those are very special things which require a special revelation from above, and that will come either through great terrible torments, or because of some special mission. Not the customary, the usual way. We connect to the system, to the Creator, we connect through the souls who were rewarded with this previously. This is called the merits of the forefathers, or whatever you call it, doesn't matter.

Student: Theoretically, if he could connect me not through a book, for example.

M. Laitman: There are people who attain the Creator without any preceding exertion, suffering, and study like us, through other ways, but this is out of the ordinary. This doesn't apply to us. We study and advance according to the accepted method that people should advance through. If suddenly, someone in humanity starts advancing differently, that could happen. But that is an exception, it's outside the scope of the method.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:07) It's written, it's the power of the light. Even if one wasn't rewarded, God forbid, with faith, he has hope. What is that hope?

M. Laitman: He says this, also in the Introduction to “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” in item 17- nearby there. That if a person is not in faith, meaning in a vessel of bestowal- Bina, is called faith. Complete faith is when you can already use faith in order to receive the Torah. Meaning, to receive in the light of Hassadim, the light of Hochma, already to receive in order to bestow. So he tells us that even those who have not yet been rewarded with faith, that is, they are still wicked. Below faith is called wicked, because he works in order to receive, right? Above faith, meaning from the degree of faith and onward, he already works in order to bestow. It's called righteous. So, whoever has not yet been rewarded with a degree of faith, meaning he has not corrected his vessel in order to bestow then what should he do? It's written, it is forbidden to teach Torah to an idolater. It is forbidden to teach the Torah to a Gentile, right? Meaning to one who is in order to receive. So he says, and he does not use the Torah by itself, by receiving light, instead, he must use the light within the Torah that reforms. So he needs to study Torah in order to receive the correction of faith, to be rewarded with faith. And after he is rewarded with faith, then he studies Torah for the sake of Torah, meaning to attain the holy names, to reveal the Creator in a vessel of bestowal.

The language confuses you, I understand, but the matter is simple. Wait, what? We are all a desire to receive, right? We need to correct our desire in order to bestow. We need to acquire vessels of bestowal first, Galgata ve Eynaim. Acquiring vessels of bestowal is called finding or acquiring a vessel of faith. That's it. How do you acquire a vessel of faith? You study with hope, with the intention that this study will give you that correction. That the light will come from above, this is called, for example, the light of AB SAG, and it will give your desire to receive a screen and an intention in order to bestow. This light will give your entire vessel an intention in order to bestow. That is considered that you acquired a vessel of faith. You are now at the degree of Bina. Herein, once you have already a vessel of faith, you are called Israel because you want in order to bestow, you desire in order to bestow. Before that, you are called a Gentile. Now that you are already called Israel, you can study Torah.

What does it mean to study Torah? You, already in a vessel of faith, reveal the light of Hochma from degree to degree. And that's called revealing the holy names.

The revelation of the Creator to the created beings comes through the revelation of the lights, which are called the holy names, each time another quality of the Creator, another mode of how He is revealed to the created beings. So when a person has already attained the light of Hochma in a vessel of Hassadim, that is considered that he truly studies Torah. That is called Torah study. The hope that he writes about for each and every person is the following: he asks there in “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” that they forbade Torah study to simple, ordinary people, because the Torah has the elixir of life, or the potion of life and the potion of death. How can it be that the holy Torah, there is a potion of death in it? If a person does not intend in his study to reach in order to bestow, to the vessel of faith, then his Torah becomes a potion of death, because he enters a state where he does not even know that he is dead. He makes no progress, he has no hope at all of progressing anywhere. He even receives some kind of supply from the Torah that makes him feel complete, that nothing is missing for him anymore.

Blessed be the Creator in this world and in the next world and He has everything, and moreover, the holy One, blessed be He, and all of humanity owe Him everything. That's truly a potion of death. It's because he did not study Torah with the correct intention. In other words, he did not bless the Torah first, as it's called. He did not position himself correctly for Torah study. He, who positions himself correctly for the study of the Torah - who is still considered as a Gentile in the desire to receive, but he wants to be rewarded with vessels of in order to bestow - is called someone who blesses the Torah. He wants the Torah to bring him this force of bestowal. That is called being in the blessing over the Torah. Then the reforming light comes to him, that gives him a screen, which means an intention in order to bestow, that is called reforming him, and when he acquires a vessel of faith then he begins to truly study the Torah.

Meaning, within Torah study there are two stages. The first stage is receiving from the Torah the reforming light. The second stage is already receiving from the Torah the holy names, the revelation of godliness. In the first stage, you correct yourself. You rise, as it were, from Malchut to Bina. In the second stage, when you are already in a vessel of Bina, you begin to receive the lights of Hochma and Keter, Haya and Yechida, it’s as if Malchut rises gradually in these stages up to Bina and afterward up to Keter.

So the picture itself is quite simple. The problem is that sometimes we attach these names to what we're used to. Faith. What's faith? I believe. What does “I believe” mean? Faith means that I am able to aim in order to bestow, not for myself. Always remember faith equals Bina. And we're speaking about Bina already in the language of science, right? The wisdom of Kabbalah. So then you won't get confused by our prior habitual meaning.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:50) [no translation]

M. Laitman: Why did Moses write the Torah in the form of the language of branches? And afterward, too, in the Mishnah and in the other books, up until the time of The ARI, right? They wrote the Torah, almost all of them in that way, except for some books of Kabbalists. Even the Zohar is written in the language of Midrash, except for Sifra de-Tzniuta [The Book of Concealment], Idra Rabba [The Great Assembly], Idra Zuta [The Small Assembly]. It's because the souls were not yet ready to receive, this means in order to correct themselves.

When I now need to approach the correction of my will to receive by installing within it an intention in order to bestow, I need to have a will to receive. And if I'm still in the Aviut, the coarseness of root one, two, let's say, so I still don't have a will to receive that requires correction in order to bestow. I feel myself as if I'm in some kind of connection with godliness, even without correction. The refinement of the vessel, the purity of the vessel is such that it's enough for me. He had a different method there. It's not even the reforming light, as he writes there in the introduction to “The Study of the Ten Sefirot.” It's a little... it's a rather a bit of, simply, a bit of restriction, a bit of suffering, this bit of simply working directly against the will to receive, that's it. I want to reach spirituality. Spirituality means in order to bestow, and I want to receive. So, I need to restrict myself and train myself not to receive. They'd blindfold their eyes, they'd block their ears, they'd really lower themselves down to only the most necessary level, receiving only that and nothing beyond it. They trained the will to receive to live that way, and that's it. They don't need anything else. And then they began to feel, because the will to receive became refined, or pure. And out of that purity, that refinement, they began to feel spirituality. You can go into a forest where people live with nature, simply, they feel nature. They feel forces behind nature. You understand? Even Bedouins, yes? Today as well, they still feel something. However, so they didn't need another method. But the will to receive, from one generation to the next, it grows, and grows, and grows, and by the time of The ARI, it reaches such a form that it needs to already be corrected specifically by the reforming light. And then The ARI begins, and even before The ARI, it was like this. It didn't come from nothing, but from the time of The ARI onward, as he writes, everyone is permitted to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, to engage in it, and so on, because through it, the redemption will come, and so on. What does redemption mean? Through it will come the correction of the will to receive into in order to bestow. That's called redemption. Simply, that's how it is. The will to receive has already grown so much that it really needs the reforming light as a method, the method of Kabbalah. What does that mean? The method of the lights. Before that, humanity were not ready. That's why everything was hidden, and they didn't need it. Now, in our time, there is no other method. Only the light works. So we have Torah in two ways: the light in it that reforms, and the holy names. First, we correct the vessel with a screen in order to bestow through the reforming light, and that's called the light of AB SAG, as we call it. And afterward, we fill it with the intention to bestow and elevate it in the light of Hochma, and that is called that we reveal the Creator, because all these lights are modes of the Creator as He becomes revealed to us, the created beings. And each mode of revelation, each type of revelation is called a holy name, because the light comes and fills my vessel, and inside my vessel, I feel it. Meaning I interpret it according to my general correction, according to my equivalence to the light. Then I call that light by the name of the vessel, and this is called the revelation of the holy names. That's all.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:01) What action should one take in order to extract the maximum from the book when he's in front of the book? How to approach the book with the right demand?

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:03:14) Therefore, that's why a person who opens a book needs very simply to open the book. This is The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot. Therefore, it's in item 17. In Hebrew, it's on page 164, the book Kabbalah for Beginners, page 164. It's an old book that Rav Laitman organized.

And therefore, the student is obligated, before the study, to strengthen himself in faith in the Creator and His providence of reward and punishment.

What reward and punishment? So, he tells us here what we read now, Rabash's article, yes? What kind of reward and punishment should I expect as a reward? That it'll give me fuel, that it'll give me the strength to bestow, that that will be my reward, that this is what I expect the study to bring me. That's all. As our sages said, faithful is your employer who will pay you the reward for your labor. Meaning, I trust that...truly, He will bring me that reward. What is the reward? The strength to bestow.

And he should aim his effort to be for the sake of the Mitzva, for the commandment of the Torah. And in this way, he will merit to benefit from the light within it. What light? That his faith will also be strengthened and increased by the special strength of this light.

That his heart will be right and confident that from Lo Lishma, which is in order to receive now, will come to Lishma, too, in order to bestow. Meaning that even one who knows about himself that he has not yet been rewarded with faith, meaning he's still in order to receive, he still has hope through engaging in Torah to reach faith. Because if he sets his heart and mind, you're asking what to do before the study. That's called the blessing of the Torah.

If he sets his heart and mind to merit through it, through the Torah,

faith in the Creator, there is no greater Mitzva, no greater commandment than this. Meaning, you don't need more than that. That's what you, you simply need to open a book and aim yourself.

As our sages say, Habakkuk came and formulated them on one,

meaning that only one thing needs to be demanded, that righteous shall live by his faith. Who's righteous? It's one who begins to justify the Creator's actions. That this is the degree of in order to bestow, yes, from Bina upward, that's it. And furthermore, he has no other advice, meaning don't look for another method that can do this correction for you. As it's written in Bava Batra [The Last Gate], Rav said Job wished to exempt the whole world from judgment. Job is Malchut that examines itself and suffers in order to receive down to that very lowest level. That is called the suffering, or the sufferings of Job.

He said before him, Master of the World, you created righteous, you created wicked, who can restrain you? Meaning if you created people this way, and Rashi explains there, you created righteous through the good inclination. You created wicked through the evil inclination. Therefore, no one can escape your hand.

Who can restrain? This is what Malchut is speaking, this part. Even the stony heart, the Lev haEven, that really cannot correct itself. That's why he says that he curses the day he was born. The sinners are compelled. And what did Job's friends answer him?

Even you cast off fear and reduce speech before God,

the Holy One created the evil inclination, He created the Torah as a spice, as its spice. So, the evil inclination was created intentionally so that through one's labor, one brings it to the spice. What does spice mean to the evil inclination? You add an intention in order to bestow, and that is called adding spice. The dish remains the same dish, and Rashi explains, he created for it the Torah, which is the spice, because it cancels thoughts of transgression, as it says elsewhere. And then Job's question is no longer a question. So, what?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:43) Okay, so, but what actions should a person perform to reach that state of mind, to come to the study with the request to grow strong in faith? What actions can you take for that purpose?

M. Laitman: You see that it's not so simple for a person to open a book. Instead, to open it correctly and begin to study correctly, as Ha-Rav Kook, as if hopes for us, that's also quite complex, and you need a few years of hearing this, until it gradually, somehow, directs us and positions us correctly in front of the book.

Student: So it's just a question of time?

M. Laitman: It's not a question of time, it's a question of these corrections coming from the start, little by little, until you start using them consciously. Even beforehand you used them, but in a way you didn't know you were using them. We, in all of our discernments exist in those same five degrees, root, one, two, three, four. So, also, let's say, the approach to a book I come, I want something from it. I don't know what. I open it like this and like that, I don't know, but from within, you could say I'm already opening it correctly. I have a natural approach. Afterward, that natural approach comes because my will to receive has already grown, and it positions me that way.

But afterward, they demand a person’s participation, participation from himself as if consciously. That's what you now feel that you're arriving at. Meaning you're already, you need to open it in a special way, that is to think before studying, you really need to, it's written in the Shulchan Aruch and in various books that a person should sit for a few hours even and think about how he's now studying Torah, it's written that way. Meaning, they wrote it in this simple way. Who understands that and who does that? Without the light it's also impossible to come to understand what they wrote in the Shulchan Aruch.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:16) It is said that one who comes with the wrong intention, it's the potion of death for him. What does it mean if I wake up in the morning and don't have the right intention, is it better to stay asleep?

M. Laitman: Meaning, how can a person know whether he comes to the Torah with the correct intention or not? Well, let's say today I can somewhat say I have the intention, I don't have the intention. Really, if I'm not in the right intention, then why should I be wicked and enter the potion of death? It's better I stay in bed, sleep, or even, I don't know, go play some sport, or something healthy and good. Why should I harm myself, yes? If it's truly the potion of death, poison, yes, for what? Therefore he writes, immediately at the beginning of “The Introduction to TES,” what does he write? When he writes like this:

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:11:47) That if a person says, why should I study, why should I know how many angels there are in the heavens, can I not keep these commandments in a nice and good way,

but the sages already said it's not worthwhile, that you have to have the Shas and Poskim first, and those who go crazy from this. If a person says all these kind of words, it's best he doesn't touch them. However, if a person comes with a question, “What is the meaning of my life?” Open it for him. This is called the correct approach.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:30) So all those desires that I have, it doesn't matter.

M. Laitman: Meaning, look, he didn't say there…He said there about people that to begin with don't want to touch Kabbalah and build all kinds of excuses. He doesn't say to the person who asks what's the purpose in life, and has some question, it's not that he doesn't have what to eat, or that he must reach godliness, otherwise he is not… No, there's no such things already. But he simply doesn't know why he's alive. I remember myself, it's simply a question, why am I here? What is this universe? What's spinning here? What's revolving here? Where am I? Where did I fall to? What's this party? It was, let's say, fascinating. Not that… I had everything in life. Meaning, it's not that the questions need to truly come as existential questions, otherwise it's, in our times, these questions will become more and more existential as they come to us. I remember myself that in previous years, no, it was simply out of curiosity, out of some kind of attraction, or something. And nevertheless, it's okay, unless you come with resistance. What do I need this? What for? You understand? If you start in such a way, it can bring forth the potion of death. And he continues there. I don't want to open up this subject that we found a few students and it didn't help them. You remember there in the beginning, the whole beginning of the introduction, the first 30 or so items he goes over this. Bottom line, a secular person who comes to study Kabbalah does not enter into the potion of death, you could say. He may be confused, he may not be ready, not yet scrutinizing things in a sharp and purposeful way. Maybe he won't quite come to the demand, he doesn't quite have the inner strength, forces, or willingness to reach the demand for vessels of bestowal. But he corrects himself, he advances. It's something that he constantly adds, and adds, and it never disappears. This is the safest, most unique thing that is yours and remains for eternity. That's it, so there's no fear here.

Student: It's not a matter of fear, it's about organizing things. A person comes and tries to… with desires.

M. Laitman: A person who comes with desires, that he wants to perceive, to know, to acquire, to understand, is allowed to come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, to start study, because that's the state from which everyone begins.

Student: That's okay, but if a person comes with a desire for honor, for respect, for control…

M. Laitman: Also for control, and also for honor, the correct study will arrange him, sort him out, and straighten him out.

Student: What should he do for this?

M. Laitman: He doesn't have to do anything with this, he's not capable of doing anything. What, are you're giving him preconditions? He can't do anything yet.

Student: He can't help himself.

M. Laitman: He can't help himself more than opening the book. What helps him? Nothing helps him. He has a desire that's also not his, no matter, but by this desire, he continues and advances. What is our examination from the outside? How do we check that it's worthwhile or not? That he doesn't come, how should we say? Kind of like to, I don't know, slander or to… Well, our friend has what to say.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:57) He writes beautiful things. He tells us it's good to study Torah with the way of the land, and fear of the Lord is the beginning. On the other hand Torah without work is cancelled. And that's our situation today. We're divided half and half between this, these things. So, if it doesn't bring life, it causes iniquity.

M. Laitman: Soon Elijah will come, solve all our questions, all our conundrums, and now we need to work.

Reader: Let's summarize in the Tens what we're taking from the lesson to realize in the Ten.

Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson, and before that, we'll sing a song together.

Song: (01:24:11)

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A New Life. Excerpts 767

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