Morning Lesson October 30, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 4, 1987. It Is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing from a Bad Person

Reading Article. (00:28) “It is forbidden to hear..”

1. S. (26:43) The evil inclination comes to a person in different forms each time. How can a person strengthen his mental strength and spiritual strength to succeed in the work?

R. First of all, apparently the person should feel that he is at war, that whatever comes to him it is the evil inclination that comes to him and it wants to lower him, to divert him on this path that a person is walking on. Only then if a person knows that he is now hearing the counsels of the wicked, that he might fall into the net of the evil inclination, then he goes against it and he has the argument of the righteous and he shouldn't listen to it and he shouldn't listen that now they're walking on the right path, on the straight path, the correct path but rather that he should only go with, in adhesion with the friends and it is all in order to adhere to bestowal, to the good inclination, to the Creator and this requires labor. This is how he scrutinizes the difference between the good inclination and the evil inclination.

2. S. (29:23) It seems like in what they recommend to us, the test is the labor and sometimes we think that the labor is the amount of prayer, what is the labor then?

R. The labor has to be in a connection, first of all. When we connect, we constantly check our direction: is the Creator our goal? This means mutual bestowal, one to his friend, that has to be the greatest, uppermost thing to which we all intend to reach. That's it, this is how we walk, in that we get better and better and we distinguish between good and bad as he says about the Baal Shem Tov and this is how we advance.

3. S. (31:00) How to distinguish under what leadership we are: the good inclination or the bad inclination because our nature is always in its place?

R. Well, if this nature wouldn't exist we wouldn't know which way to go. Thanks to the evil inclination we can determine if we're going in the right way or the wrong way. Even though it is always turning us to the wrong direction, to the other side but at least in relation to it we can actually determine, we can define which way we should go and so the scrutiny should be through labor, as he tells us here. He writes here somewhere, “It is said in the name of the Baal Shem Tov to know whether it is the advice of the evil inclination or not we must scrutinize: If what it says requires labor, it belongs to the good inclination. But if listening to it will cause you not to need to labor, it is a sign of the evil inclination. By this we can discern if this is the advice of the good inclination or the evil inclination.” This means that we're not afraid of the labor, afraid of specifically the opposite, not to fall into something that seems to us is easy and nice and it is like an invitation because usually this is the evil inclination, by that it pulls us, it draws us.

S. We don't need to be afraid to go towards the evil inclination, we have to look for it?

R. Yes.

4. S. (33:23) What can the teacher give the student to help him scrutinize whether it's true or false?

R. The explanations that we now heard in the article from Rabash.

S. Still when I read the explanations and hear you, I still don't hear all the way what helps me distinguish between true and false, is there something special that the teacher teaching the students now can help them?

R. First of all, we should never yearn for whatever is easy, whatever is nearby. This is what he advises you. The most important thing, the primary one, is to be inside the group. Not to be afraid to fall, not to listen to all kinds of conclusions that are correct for someone on the right or someone on the left, but to try to aim yourself as much as possible to the Creator. This calibration, this direction towards the Creator is such that I need to think about what might be the best for everyone, for everyone. This is a very important diagnosis. This is a very important difference, distinction between a correct, true conclusion and a false conclusion.

5. S. (35:55) If I understand correctly then if a person feels that he's capable of making some actions of bestowal without labor, without prayer, it means that it's controlled by the evil inclination. How is he saved from that, how to pass such desires to the Creator?

R. Well, first of all, we should feel ourselves, that we are in the environment. Which way is the environment pulling us? What is the correct environment and how do we connect to it, how do we follow it? This is how we scrutinize our path.

S. If I feel some action and I feel that it comes without prayer do I need to give up on it or clarify it first?

R. Yes, usually if it seems like we immediately have in our hand a decision or for how to do it, it's a set, a sign, that it didn't come from the side of Kedusha, [holiness] because from the side of holiness, we don’t have clear directions but only the connection between us and to the Creator and to ask of Him for the right direction and in this way to go.

6. S. (37:45) Following that we learned recently that there's no more than connection and prayer, when we're not in the lesson, I want to ask what he says here, he says, “One always needs a guide, teacher to guide the person, to see what, to know what is truth and what is false because the person cannot clarify it on his own.” The question is: How do we build this guide in the ten when we're not in the lesson time like now?

R. When we are not in the time of lesson we should nevertheless try to remain adhered to the society so that you feel the view of the society, which way it is approaching, it is getting closer to, it is directed and you try to see whether you can go along with them, together with them or inside of them. There is a difference here in the adhesion and in this way to advance.

7. S. (39:17) I always thought that the left line was a way to display or to bring to the surface, the deficiencies of the friends and thereby, a chance to go to the right line, to correct the deficiency. But I can see now, in the article, that it can be a trap to divert the friends from the path and increase the separation. Rav, what do we need to be particularly aware of to avoid this? Do we have a compass for it? How can we best be aware of this to help the friends and enhance the connection?

R. As much as I enter into the ten more and more, and I want to be inside of them and only out of that to decide to take a step forward. I keep myself more from entering such a trap.

8. S. (40:53) You said to adhere to the reason of the society. Can't the evil inclination appear in the form of advice from friends? Is it always only about the voices within me or should I also sort out the advice from the environment?

R. We will talk more about that, it's a good question.

9. S. (41:27) What is the danger for a wise disciple to feel his wisdom? What is the danger for a wise disciple to feel his own wisdom, that he feels wise, why is that a danger?

R. Because then he might err, he thinks that he's right and he understands and he feels and he has a, he's holding onto the group, the wisdom that he feels might actually obstruct his vision.

10. S. (42:40) He writes, he who learns from the Creator this quality of bestowing is called a wise disciple, meaning that he learned from the Creator how to bestow. How do you learn to connect and translate what is within reason to that being an example for the quality of bestowal?

R. This can only be in the ten. You have no other possibility, what can you rely on? If you annul before the ten and you want to connect with them and to receive or accept their views as the single view of the Creator, then ultimately, you elevate yourself above everyone and you are able to follow the path of the Creator.

S. This is a reality that today I live with having this reality called the ten and then there's outer noises which is also kind of a reality. How do I bring that reality into the ten and interpret it correctly as bestowal?

R. Why do you need to do that?

S. Do I ignore it?

R. But to bring it into the ten?

S. No, in terms of the feeling of course, not to bring it to the ten but to translate it through the ten?

R. What for?

S. What do I do with this external reality?

R. Rise above it, rise above it and be adhered to the ten as much as possible, more and more. Then it turns out that you elevate the ten more and more in its importance above everything, above the whole world.

S. Meaning that my central reality in my life is the ten?

R. Yes, of course, of course.

11. S. (45:24) During the day, we meet with people who are not on the path. If we met with people who are on the path and who are focused, we would be one-hundred percent on the path. But people who are not on the path, in light of what's happening today also, you find yourself in a situation where you don't have a choice, you meet people while you're working, and other things, where your attention is diverted to other directions, what’s happening outside and so forth, who is guilty and so forth, then you have to fight to bring your focus back to the ten. What is your advice for that?

R. I think that we just need to strengthen the people that you meet during the day about what does it mean the path of Torah and only hold onto that.

S. But what to explain to them? What is the path of Torah because I find myself not knowing what to say, I don't want to give them some commentary or something. But they speak and I'm in this position where he is guilty or the other one is guilty. What do you recommend, what is the right way to conduct yourself so that my attention will not go to these places?

R. If we will start to scrutinize things, then very quickly, we will shift to a state where Israel are at fault because they did not hold onto the correct, straight path, so it’s upon us to correct our path. And in that, we need to strengthen each other so we don't fall into all kinds of crying, weeping and asking for forgiveness, but to the opposite, to say that now, our eyes are wide open and we have to see how do we walk on the way towards connection, towards peace and mutual complementation and how we can also explain to our enemies that the way to the general wholeness is only through connection among everyone. We should stop fighting and prove to each other who is right and who is wrong. This is not a direction towards a solution.

12. S. (48:35) What you said now, a lot of people if you tell them that we are all responsible and we are all guilty for what's happening, they tell you, ‘no, only one side or this side or that side’, they are not even willing to listen to the idea of unity or unity above all these opinions. They are really in a certain state and position and stance that only one side is guilty or, meaning it goes into political views, so how do you explain this matter to them?

R. Look, I try not to get into such things because then it becomes a long way to prove it, if you’re even able to prove it, because a person always likes to hold on to whatever he is. Whichever way it is, it is worthwhile for us to establish ourselves at least in such a way that we understand that the connection between us is our only force and if we direct our connection, to There Is None Else besides Him, then indeed, we are in the center of creation. And from that, we succeed, well not succeeding in winning, but succeed in proving to everyone that connection among everyone above all of these states of conflicts, quarrel, that we can achieve, and this will be the solution for everyone.

13. S. (50:43) You just said to avoid and to exit the trap, the trap of thinking you’re are righteous, how to get out of the trap once you are in, thinking your righteous, thinking you are wise and actually governed by the Sitra Achra?

R. That we ourselves are not righteous and not at that point of righteousness, if we were, we would not reach where we are. Rather our state is not better than any other Nation or group, we are all in deep confusion and shattering, in a general shattering, and therefore, we should know there is no truth but truth is only when we turn to the Creator and we want to get closer to Him and that He will take care of us.

S. How do you get out of this trap once you're in because you don't know when you're in?

R. I think that escaping the trap is especially in that everyone wants to connect to the central point at which centralizes everyone, all people of the world as one, not leaving anyone outside it's center. There is no good or bad here, or Jews, Arabs, or Christians or what not; rather, each and every one must accept everyone as participating together in a single society.

S. How do you come to a state of accepting everybody, how can your prepare such a thing, to you accept this what you are saying, Rav?

R. Because we are all brothers, we’re ultimately, we are all human beings, we all belong to the same species, what the Creator gives us as the evil inclination, like he says, “I created the evil inclination”, is only for us to be able to come out of the evil, of this evil inclination and correspondingly, inquire the good inclination.

14. S. (54:27) Here it says that “a person does all of the good things and the good actions, everything is in the right order if it is all according to the prayer”. From where does this feeling come, what is this feeling?

R. It also depends on what prayer: Prayer could be for every state and also against any state, we all have to understand that humanity has reached a point where no one knows what justice is, what integrity is, what is peace, we are all in outer or inner states of war. And we have to do something with ourselves in order to calibrate ourselves, to reset ourselves correctly. And that’s the problem, if you just say to pray, then everyone just prays from the bottom of his own heart where he just wants his own benefit and the detriment of others.

15. S. (56:10) At such a time when I don't even try to talk to anyone or explain anything to anyone. But sometimes a person becomes needy of the Creator and here you can't really explain anything but I would like to understand however, during the day what Creator should I ask for humanity and that they will discover, what kind of Creator?

R. The Creator that can unite everyone, all human beings to a single group, a single nation, the nation of the Creator, then, we will be in the right state, that's what we need to do. If it’s the Creator, then he has to connect, collect all of us to a single group, a single and show us and teach us what kind of way we have to hold each other, what to think, what to feel towards each other. Because otherwise this picture will never end, not today and not tomorrow, but only in very, in many many years, if at all. So we have to demand from the Creator to show us the right direction for our development, to show us the right position of all nations, of every nation in the world, how they really should relate to each other.

16. S. (58:31) In fact, the lies of Laban and Esau also come from the Creator, so why does the Creator send us, not only these disturbances but also these lies which may divert us from the path, why is that?

R. That is all to give us a possibility to not be dependent on one side but to have two sides and not know where is the good and where is the bad so we can be incorporated with the good and the bad side, and thus scrutinize our place, our qualities.

17. S. (59:38) It says that “he needs to annul his own authority and a person needs to come to feel that there is nothing in the world but the Creator”. what does this mean to feel that “there is nothing in the world but the Creator”, how do I view the world?

R. You see that the created beings have no possibility to operate correctly but to surrender themselves to one force that rules them, which is the Creator's force.

18. S. (01:00:54) Please help me scrutinize: If a friend in the ten says that if he is in bestowal, in Lishma, higher than me and he wants to explain to me how to operate in this state or in that state. And he tells me that I do not understand it because he is in a higher state but he does not come to the morning lessons, he always leans on sources that only he is familiar with and he always disregards the ten, should I connect with him, listen to him?

R. You have no rights to connect to him or listen to his views because he is not following our sources, that is it; so, give him a little nudge and let him fly out of the group.

19. S. (01:02:01) If it seems to me that the ten is subject to the evil inclination, should I annul or awaken the ten before it?

R. You have to awaken the Ten, show everyone what you think, that you think they are under the influence of the evil inclination and discuss it and you need to find the sources that you are taking this from, and so on.

20. S. (01:02:58) In our society we usually support each other especially when a friend performs a certain action and it becomes important to our whole group. We say how great the friend is, how much he is advancing, and the friend then boasts and becomes proud. Here in the article it says there is a danger that by making the friend greater externally, it can influence him for the bad, so how to do it correctly?

R. Together, together, not one against the other, but everyone together.

S. It means that the friend within himself that he starts to be proud and did important things it can block him right?

R. Of course, no doubt.

S. How do we say it from that?

R. Give him an example of a different kind of behavior.

S. Another question if I may. We said that a sign of correct work is when a person is not taking the easy path but rather there is resistance and there is labor in this work that this is a sign he's walking on the right path, but sometimes annulment before the Ten is the easy way. I stop resisting, I simply annul myself. Can this be a sign that I have chosen the wrong path, the easy way?

R. No, it is forbidden to cancel, we don't need to cancel ourselves, we need to choose clearly and according to the heart and the mind, choose our specific path and that this path, if possible, will match the path of the Ten.

S. If I have two ways before me, one way I understand it is easier and the other way through resistance. Should I always choose the path of resistance?

R. In principle, yes.

21. S. (01:05:40) In such an article, it makes you think and in the beginning it says that we should always choose the path that provides labor, this is the obstacle, the way we can scrutinize as if we're walking on the right or left path. Later on it says that the Rabbi Yochanan said that even if a person reads only the Shema reading in the morning and evening prayer, it means he already kept it, he already labors, so is this some sort of facilitation? Where’s the limit so we don’t go to the right or to the left, how should we choose here so that we won’t make it easier for ourselves?

R. Hold on to the good connection with the friends, that's the most important thing.

22. S. (01:06:48) You answered the friend that we shouldn’t annul before the Ten, I didn’t understand it, you always say that we have to annul in the Ten?

R. Okay, think about it and understand.

23. S. (01:07:11) I got confused as usual and for a few days I have been thinking and feeling inside of me that I can receive and justify the Creator even with everything that is happening with the war right now. Today in the prayer of the Ten that I heard one of my friends that she doesn't manage to justify, I felt her pain, and the question is, does it mean that I myself failed in justifying the Creator? Or is this the way the Creator is showing me to help the friend?

R. Both.

S. How should I operate?

R. First help the friend, then help yourself.

24. S. (01:08:19) If a friend quits the Ten because she is going through difficult situations, is this the evil inclination or is it some time that she is taking in order to introspect or scrutinize?

R. Well, she should go and scrutinize, you need to help her scrutinize without going out of the Ten but if not, then maybe also help her to leave the Ten a little bit and then see if that makes her life clearer or better or happier until she understands that is not true and come back.

25. S. (01:09:24) It says in the article that this book of Torah should not move from your lips, what does this mean?

R. That you always want to speak the words of the Creator and that you will have the same mind, same emotion, same brain as the Creator to be bonded with Him in thought.

26. S. (01:10:18) How to not mistake the Creator's bounty for the evil inclination, like suddenly life is good, how not to be fooled and think that it is the Creator's bounty when it could be the evil inclination, how do I distinguish?

R. It will fall into place, it will fall into place, ultimately we do not really know when the good inclination works in us or the bad inclination, we will feel where it changes within us. Then from that point, we’ll understand the truth.

27. S. (01:11:39) First question, about the article, what does it mean that a Mitzvah comes from a transgression?

R. We haven't learned that with you.

28. S. (01:12:06) We have the state just like what is described in the article. Yesterday we were supposed to have a meeting of the Ten and one of the friends participated in a more general meeting of our original group and no one came to the meeting of the Ten and I complained and I said how come nobody came. They didn't do the preparation of the lesson and one of the friends said I should shut up and cover everything with love and not complain. What is the right response?

R. Did you all agree that you are gathering?

S. Yes, this is our ordinary meeting twice a day we connect.

R. Everyone knew about it?

S. Yes, everyone had their own excuse of why they didn't come. Was I supposed to keep silent and cover it with love or is it fair to express my grievance, is it a sign of my own decline?

R. That you still need to clarify, but it is good. It’s good if a decision happens at the same time by everyone.

29. S. (01:13:36) We say that when we can come unclaimed and it is correct that all of the possession was wicked Laban and we see that he also told Jacob mine is mine yours is yours and I don't need yours, I have plenty of my own. But in Laban he is committed to us throughout the whole story, why is that?

R. He has more forces, he has more forces, because actually the whole world is the evil inclination. It is the egoistic desire that wants to receive and enjoy whatever it has. Clear?

S. Clear, but not so much really, because why if he was actually his cousin and he has a great commitment to Lot, we see this throughout the whole story?

R. Yes, we still have to scrutinize it.

S. This is a scrutiny we should have here right?

R. We will get there, you are right.

30. S. (01:15:02) I received this question from a friend, during the lesson I summarized the lesson and I think that this work is important because I am doing the summary for my friends in the group, and also to use it for dissemination and to understand the material during the lesson. There's another part of the work, the emotional work, to be in the lesson to feel the deficiency of the friends, to incorporate in the general flow of their feelings, to understand the essence of the lesson, I cannot combine the two?

R. Right you can’t connect it it's right that you cannot. And she is not listening or she doesn't hear me. That’s how it works. Stop listening only to yourself, also listen to me because you won’t be able to succeed if you're only going to listen to yourself. You have to disconnect from yourself and listen to the others, the whole group. Don't choose whether I'm doing this right or I am doing that right, you're never doing it right if you're not connecting to the group, if you're not in the group, if you're not melting in there.

31. S. (01:17:28) Jacob can answer all the claims of the evil inclination, how can we evoke the force of Jacob in us?

R. How can we?

S. Awaken the force of Jacob?

R. Awaken the force of Jacob, first of all connection. First of all, the connection in all the possibilities between us, that is actually Jacob. Not to want greatness but to be small. Jacob is small and from that state of smallness, to try and be everywhere in his discernments, connection and smallness Katnut, that is Jacob.

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