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

Daily Lesson (Afternoon) September 6, 2024

Part 1 Rabash. Record 454. He Who Prays for His Friend

Hello everyone, we are reading Rabash article, volume 3, Article Number 454, He Who Prays for His Friend. You can find the study materials on Sviva Tova and Arvut, and also you can send questions through the website. 

Reading Article: (00:39) He Who Prays for His Friend.

“He who prays for his friend is answered first” (Baba Kama 92b).

 

This is seemingly a deceit. We should understand “answered first,” as in “Before they call, I will answer.” It means that for a person to be able to ask for his friend, one first needs assistance from above. Otherwise, the body does not agree.

“To You Lord is the righteousness, and to us is the shame.” “And he believed in the Lord and He considered it for him as righteousness.” Concerning shame, it must be felt over the Giver, and then the shame comes by itself, as our sages said, “afraid to look at his face.” However, when he does not feel the Giver, from whom will he be ashamed? Therefore, “To You Lord is the righteousness,” meaning that he gives Him the faith. Then it can be said, “and to us is the shame.”

This is as it is written in The Zohar: “It is known that no quality can rise above its degree before upper illumination is lowered down to it, so that afterward it will be able to grow and rise up” (Song of Songs).

M. Laitman: (02:48) This is the entire article, but it has a lot in it. So, who thinks they understand? No one wants to jump and explain?

Question (Women Turkiye 7): (04:02) First, we have to get the shame and when we get the shame, when we attain the Creator in the Ten. Then we will have the feeling of shame and afterwards, we are going to know that the Creator dwells among us.

M. Laitman: Alright, smart answer

Question (Women MAK 43): (05:00) When a person starts to feel the love of the Creator, and he has love for the Creator but he, also, has shame towards the Creator, that he is poor and he doesn't have anything to give the Creator. Is this the right time when the person needs to show his love with actions towards the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Another question, when can a student start to give a lecture? 

M. Laitman: It depends on where they are, in what country, in front of whom they must appear, to give these introductory lessons on the wisdom of Kabbalah. This must be pinpointed and with these questions, turn to us, to the organization that we have for this, and in this organization, there are managers. There are guides and instructors that understand what they're doing, they write books. So, turn to the management of Bnei Baruch, here, in Petah Tikva, where I sit here, now, and in that way, you'll get an answer, and it'll be clear to you. 

Student: I live in India and everyone knows that there are all kinds of practical, spiritual paths. I'm trying to disseminate the spiritual teaching of Kabbalah but because there's so much spirituality around us, there's not enough information about Kabbalah. I'd like to receive help from you in order to make it happen.

M. Laitman: About a year or two years ago, I, with my group traveled to Mumbai, we were there for a few days. We visited a few Jewish communities. And what I can say, they won't accept it from you, first of all, for being a woman. Second of all, the wisdom of Kabbalah is a wisdom that in no place, no matter how much women may have tried, we're not able to disseminate. So, it's better not to even get into it, that's what I think. But if you'd like to, you can take a look.

Student: If you allow me, I will try. Will you allow me? 

M. Laitman: It's not if I permit or not, even if you are a man, I would not say to do this or to do that. I have many students who were in India for many years, there are even some who were born there. And I don't give this advice to anyone, I don't know if it will succeed or not. I have my doubts. 

Question (Women MAK): (09:01) What does it mean, a prayer from the depth of the heart towards a friend mean? 

M. Laitman: When you feel the friend in all your heart and you feel their problem, and you turn to the Creator. Even though it's from your heart but as if it's from the heart of the friend. 

Student: What does it mean that through my request to the Creator I need to implement your desire? 

M. Laitman: I think it will only confuse you, it's too early to talk about it. Maybe in a few more months and then we'll be able to. 

Student: The shame that it's been written about in the article, which means that I understand that the Creator has the power of bestowal. And He, in each moment, can fill the desires, the deficiencies of a friend. If I can't do it, is that stealing from the friend? 

M. Laitman: That is also stealing, yes. 

Student: And what is the punishment when I'm not asking for the friend? 

M. Laitman: Even if there is no punishment, by not asking for the friend, that's already your punishment. 

Student: From where is the feeling is born? 

M. Laitman: To whom are you bestowing and who is bestowing to you? 

Student: And what helps us to start to feel the shame towards the bestower? What kind of actions do we need to do? 

M. Laitman: To raise yourself and become a bestower, and you'll feel that in the action you are still deep in the will to receive; and you'll feel shame.

Question (Turkiye 2): (11:34) What are the stages of the prayer and how can we be integrated in the system where the prayer's frequency works? 

M. Laitman: The prayer is a request to the Creator to help us from the state in which we are disconnected from Him. And to reach a state in which we are connected to Him; in order to be connected, we need to try to be connected with the friends. And then, through the friends, to be able to reach a connection with the Creator, this is actually all of our work. 

Student: How can we understand the connection between the prayer and the spiritual connection between us? What is the connection between the two? 

M. Laitman: The connection between you is the connection that you want each of you to reach a connection with the Creator. And then you will feel how much He connects you and pulls you toward Him. In that way, you will soon get a desire for the Creator and connection with Him. 

Question (Women Italy): (14:15) To ask for help from a friend, we need help from above. So, we need to have a strong connection, first of all, with the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: We have two levels of love and we must unite the two levels in one? 

M. Laitman: Yes, there is love toward the Creator and love toward all created beings, and we want them to support one another. 

Question (Women MAK 104): (15:27) We are trying to correct ourselves and want to, of course, go up the steps. What is the rising on the steps dependent on?

M. Laitman: It depends only on you, as much as you pray more and ask and yearn for a connection with the friends. And through that connection with the Creator, you will attain great desires for the Creator to reveal to you everything that there is for you.

Question (Women Petah Tikva 11): (16:20) In the first part of the article, it says in order to pray for the friend, I need help from above, assistance from above. In order to receive shame, I, also, need help from above. So, it all depends on the Creator. It all depends on His help before I even start to feel something. What should I do if I don't feel anything? 

M. Laitman: That's not right, you feel, and you simply need to continue looking all the time in what ways I get to connection with the Creator, that's it. 

Student: But we learned that connection with the Creator is through the friends. I don't feel the friends, I don't feel the Creator, what should I look for? 

M. Laitman: That you don't feel the connection with the Creator and the friends is your problem because the Creator wants you to get closer to Him, that you will also get closer to your friends, and gave you all of the conditions. And if you don't answer all of these questions as it should be, then a day will come when you will feel that you are coming out, and distancing from the Creator. And it's not pulling you and that's all of the options, the wisdom of Kabbalah is correcting oneself through the Creator. 

Student: What do I need to do in order to hold on to the conditions that the Creator is giving me? 

M. Laitman: I don't know, I'm not really familiar with your life, what you're up to. And of course, I'm sure that you're doing something in the framework of Bnei Baruch, in which you study, but I don't know what to tell you, exactly.

Student: The question is how to hold it in my feelings – how to do it with my hands and legs, is no problem – but how to awaken the feelings all the time? This is the problem. 

M. Laitman: It's not a problem, it's something that you do, so to speak, with your arms and legs as you say, but to ask for the Creator to provide the feelings. 

Student: So, in every action I do with my legs and arms, I should also ask to receive feelings.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Women French): (19:49) You said before that if I don't ask for the friends, it's already a punishment. I'd like to understand what the correct form of prayer towards the friend is. Do we first pray in the Ten, is that the prayer towards the friends?  Is it correct that when we pray in the Ten, to choose one friend and to pray for her and then to switch? Does it mean that we pray for the friends? 

M. Laitman: I can pray for the whole Ten, together. I can come to the Creator with a plea, asking Him so that He would give me a chance to work with all my heart towards all my Ten, with all my friends; I want to place them into my heart. I'm not leaving the Creator until I feel that my friends stand in my heart and I fulfill them with my prayer.

Student: For several months, we have been praying only for one friend and then we switch. Do you advise us to leave it and to pray for the whole Ten? Or to do both of the things? 

M. Laitman: No, first and foremost, you need to pray for your Ten, that's the primary thing. After that, you should address the Creator and ask Him so that you would also want for Him to be connected with you, with your Ten. And for that to be the most important thing, so do not leave Him, always advance. Always pull Him in, pull Him virtually with force as if you're taking Him and pulling Him. You want to pull Him towards yourself, do it like this. 

Question (Women Hebrew 2): (23:33) If a person is trying to pray for his Ten and the more he tries, the more resistance he receives. It's a feeling that every direction is blocked, what should I do with that? 

M. Laitman: Ask to open the heart. 

Student: To open my heart or the hearts of the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Yours, yours.

Student: To ask from the Creator for myself? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: I'm not supposed to ask for the Ten? 

M. Laitman: No, because you are the one who feels that your heart is blocked and you cannot open it. You have to ask for this.

Student: And what about the Ten, what should I ask for them? 

M. Laitman: Then you'll feel something towards the Ten and start working on it. 

Student: I'm scared to come to the Congress with prayers about myself and not about the Ten?

M. Laitman: Read a couple of articles by Rabash and you will see how he speaks to you about what you have to do. You have to, first and foremost, ask for your connection with the friends and then your connection with the Creator. So that all of you together, for it to be literally a pressure towards the heart and then it will come. 

Question (Women MAK 19): (25:38) About the article, there was a feeling and friends are scrutinizing how to pray and now we prepare ourselves to the Congress and to ask for the whole world. What else can you advise us? You said two days prior to the congress. Can we ask for the unity of Israeli nation? 

M. Laitman: Of course, yes, we can. 

Student: So, is how to ask important, does shame help us not to ask about ourselves? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And then there is a desire to ask for my own correction?

M. Laitman: No. Your own correction is the last thing. See how it is written in the Siddur – for all the righteous, etc., and for is the final thing. 

Question (German): (26:58) It is written that a person is afraid to look into the Creator's face because he doesn't want to feel the shame. How can we acquire this feeling of fear to look into the Creator's face?

 

M. Laitman: When it will come, you will see that it's coming, this feeling from which you won't be able to hide, to cover yourself.

Student: Do we need to focus on working in concealment?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Tbilisi): (28:16) I feel great shame towards the Creator but this shame leads me into a prayer for the friends. They have lots of responsibility but, even more so, I pray for the Rav. Because Rav has such a great responsibility toward us. Is that the correct prayer, that I don't pray for myself and the friends? 

M. Laitman: Thank you for your prayer. I feel it, thank you. 

Question (Hadera 1): (29:04) Before when I read this article, I was thinking that I ask for a friend, then I will receive an answer, first. But here, it is something else, if I'm not corrected, I will not receive an answer, not about the friend, and especially not about myself. So, the request, itself, needs to be for my own correction in order to pray for the friend and then the Creator will answer. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, we need a correction. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: The Kabbalist enjoys the path of all the work, but responsibility won't allow him to be in joy? 

M. Laitman: As much as he finds himself in all kinds of scrutiny and prayer. Striving, yearning towards the Creator, to pray to Him and ask; all of this he does with great pleasure. 

Question (Petah Tikva 22): (30:53) We have to pray to the Creator and ask for Him to give and give and give. On the other hand, there's a sentence where he says that the Creator asked, “leave Me and follow My Torah”. How do we have to relate to those two recommendations? On one hand, we have to pray towards Him, ask Him for things, and on the other hand, we have to receive Torah from Him.

M. Laitman: Yes, My Torah you will live because it is written that the light that reforms, will reform us. So, the main thing is to keep the Torah, and to turn to the Creator, is not the first thing. The first thing is to be in the Torah, the keeping of the Torah.

Student: Does the keeping of the Torah give us the correct direction for the prayer? 

M. Laitman: Yes, of course, the keeping of the Torah means that all the rules that we have in the connection between us and the Creator, first of all, we want to keep that. Because without this, where are we? Therefore, the main thing is that we are standing up correctly in front of the Creator.

Question (Women MAK 26): (33:00) In the article, Rabash is talking about the prayer for the friends. And that it's such a gift from the Creator that comes first and then a person can pray. Also, there's a bullet point about shame – there's shame in front of the bestowing one. So, what's the connection between shame and prayer for the friend? 

M. Laitman: That there will be no shame at all. For us, the main thing is that the deficiency is being revealed. That should be our first mission. 

Student: Does the person feel the shame before the bestowing one, before the prayer and before the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, the person feels the shame, and prayer comes out of it? Or can there be prayer without shame? 

M. Laitman: It can be with shame or without.

Question (Women Kavkaz 1): (34:25) So, in prayer there's such an action as prayer, it has to be an ending. During the lesson, you said a person feels that realized that such an action is prayer. So, in prayer for my friends, the realization is in me seeing a change in connection, in forces, etc. I heard today I feel it's as if I'm fulfilling them. 

M. Laitman: That and that, can be, yes. 

Question (Women German): (35:17) The Creator is disconnecting us, He's disconnecting the Tens. But on the other hand, He creates a place for our prayer, so how do we advance from this?

M. Laitman: When we turn to the Creator, we add what we feel and what we are lacking. If we lack strength or scrutiny or discernments, this is what we add in our prayer to the Creator each time, more and more. 

Question (Women Turkiye 7): (36:24) Why is it not as sincere when I pray for the friend as when I pray for myself? 

M. Laitman: Here, there are many options: We need to be connected and if I pray for the friend, I feel even a stronger connection than from myself to the Creator. It is written, the one who asks for his friend is being answered first. That means that if I ask for myself and then I ask something for the friend, something that I ask for the friend, I will receive first from the Creator. Therefore, we need to understand how important that is and to put our intention there. 

Question (Women MAK 51): (37:38) What's the difference between spiritual and regular shame? 

M. Laitman: Spiritual shame is not based on ego; the corporeal shame is based on ego.

Student: I have a feeling as if I'm familiar with spiritual shame but how do I define it? So, let's say, it happened, I remember those feelings, those tastes, and then it's gone, and it's gone for a long time. And as if the understanding that's held from above, that feeling is there but do I have to strive towards feeling that feeling again, for it to come again? I don't understand, how do I work with it because there's a feeling as if you desire, you wish, and you know, and you know what you're going to feel after this. You kind of feel that you're last and your desire is only to be in complete bestowal, and just to everyone and you're the last one somewhere far. 

M. Laitman: I understand you, continue to aim yourself to this line, that you just depicted, and you see that you will succeed.

Student: Should I strive towards being ready to accept it and feel it and it will grow? 

M. Laitman: Yes, a must, yes. 

Question (Women MAK 25): (39:50) Why is it important to keep the understanding and the feeling that whatever we ask for and whatever is in our prayer, is what we have already been awakened to by the Creator? 

M. Laitman: How can it be otherwise? Everything comes from the Creator, it is written at the beginning of our prayer, ‘I am the First, and I am the Last,’ and There Is No One Else Beside Me. So, this is how we strengthen ourselves, and we put ourselves in a place where the Creator tells us that this is our true state. 

Student: But if we lose this moment, it is as if we lose a connection with Him?

M. Laitman: Yes, sure, of course. 

Question (Women Spain): (41:00) What does the face of the Creator mean, is it the perfection of love towards the whole of humanity? 

M. Laitman: The face of the Creator is a good bestowing from the Creator to all of the creatures. That He opens Himself up and starts to fulfill them. It is not a final correction, it can be halfway, but after all, it is a huge thing. 

Student: What is the connection between the fear of the Creator and the spiritual force? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. 

Question (Kyiv): (42:49) There is a shape of addressing the Creator through a plea and through demand. What is to address the Creator through a demand? 

M. Laitman: It's the same thing as with just asking but it's simply that the person sees that they can demand something from the Creator. It's a rare form of addressing but it happens. 

Question (Petah Tikva 35): (43:30) I feel that this topic is very close to me, to the heart of everyone. And I feel that the time comes and you have to pray for the friends and things that are connected to the heart, and I feel a wall. What does it reveal there and how should I prepare myself in order to come ready for the prayer in thoughts and feelings? 

M. Laitman: Only connection with the friends, this is all you want to be revealed. 

Question (Women MAK 36): (44:16) There's a spiritual shame in front of the Bestowing One. It has to occur on each stage, or is it just a once-time constriction? 

M. Laitman: There's no ‘enough’ in correction, there's always more and more. 

Student: Yes, but it has to reach a certain point and it has to become a switch, like a passing?

M. Laitman: We will reach, and then we will scrutinize it. Your question will confuse, I cannot scrutinize it now. 

Question (Women Moscow 20): (45:16) Some Tens and friends are praying for their Ten, some are praying for the whole of humanity. How do we switch from personal prayers of the friends—they're going through hard states—towards the prayer for the whole world group, for the whole humanity? There's a feeling that the focus dissipates, then comes a feeling that in the world there are also friends that are going through hard states. And if the reply comes, it will just come towards all the friends, basically, that are, let's say, in a hard state.

M. Laitman: I can say only one thing: Prayer for your Ten and then for the others. 

Question (Women Kyiv 7): (46:28) How does the prayer for the friend reveal the importance of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: It reveals the importance of the friend, that's right, because it's all one system. 

Question (Women MAK 56): (46:56) This realization of the feeling of shame creates a plea in my heart for an excuse. What's the force of asking for an excuse in order to reach the true prayer for the friends? 

M. Laitman: To the point that a person asks for an answer, that's how he amplifies the power of the request.

Question (Women Kavkaz 1): (47:32) I'm going to ask for the friend to an extent to which I feel love or hate towards him. So, what's the difference, theoretically, I understand that this comes from the right line, that comes from the left line. But what is my plea if I feel hatred towards the friend? 

M. Laitman: What type of a request you should have if you hate someone? 

Student: First of all, I attribute it to the Creator, He gave it to me. But why, in order for me to feel it as a Kli of His revelation? Only for this I ask, so, what do you do? 

M. Laitman: I don't know what to do. If I heard this type of question from a student during a test, then I simply wouldn't let her advance in any way, so she can go and reincarnate again. 

Student: So, in the next incarnation, we'll see each other? 

M. Laitman: I hope we won't see each other.  

Question (Women MAK 70): (49:06) What's the difference between fear and shame before the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Very minimum, we can say it's the same. 

Question (Women Turkiye 7): (49:37) Sometimes the desire of a friend can be repellent or seem unimportant. Is it better to make an individual effort to come to the condition of being able to pray to a friend or is it better to make a collective effort? 

M. Laitman: Yes, mutual and also personal, this is advanced, the person.

Question (Women MAK 97): (50:27) Can shame stand in the way of a prayer? And who am I for the Creator to hear me and pay attention to me? 

M. Laitman: Therefore, you shouldn't have such a big amount of shame. Shame shouldn't push a person to the corner and make him sit quietly and be in shame, as long as no one will find him or hear him; that's not true, that's not correct. 

Student: If I basically don't have any shame and only have fear, what do I do? 

M. Laitman: So, meanwhile you don't have anything to do. You don't have the revelation of evil. Only chutzpah. 

Question (Women Hebrew 2): (51:36) You said today that the problem is in a plea. What do we lack in the prayer? 

M. Laitman: What are we lacking? You should already know by what we are talking about. So, from what we are talking about here, you should know what you have and what you are lacking. 

Question (MAK 24): (52:12) What does it mean you are not supposed to ask from the Kelim of the friend, it's forbidden.?

M. Laitman: If you didn't connect with his vessels, with his desires, in his feeling in a way that they are in you. Then you cannot pray for that, obviously, you cannot pray for that. 

Student: How can I bestow it, my friend? Can I through gratitude feel myself in front of the bestowing one, and only after that to come to the prayer? 

M. Laitman: Yes, you can. 

Question (Women Moscow 8): (53:01) There was a scrutiny about the plea and the demand. So, there is a connection, demand is maybe a certain type of desperation in our own forces because we also ask sometimes from desperation. We become desperate and only then do we ask. But the demand is, what's the difference? 

M. Laitman: I cannot depict to myself that we can demand something. Demanding is much bigger than a request. A demand is when you don't have a possibility to ask, only to demand. Try to depict to yourself this type of situation.

Question (Women MAK 104): (54:04) When working in a group we enjoy our work for the Creator. How do we make sure that the Creator accepts our work? 

M. Laitman: You need to feel that, by that, you are connected between you towards the Creator. If you want to bestow everything towards Him and to be with Him in everything, including everything between you. You need to feel that you are raising to the Creator and He returns to you.

Question (Women Spain): (55:00) Jealousy comes from ego, how can we help a friend who is envious? 

M. Laitman: Show him an example that it is not acceptable here, and that it doesn't seem to us that it is suitable to our society. How can he be jealous if he receives fulfillment for one of his qualities, and why should I be jealous of that? If he joins me, he receives fulfillment for his jealousy and I receive fulfillment from him because we are all connected into one heart. Therefore, we don't have jealousy towards each other. 

Question (Women MAK 26): (56:30) When the Creator gives shining from the upper degree, what kind of reaction does He expect from us? 

M. Laitman: He expects His student, right away, will rise to this degree and he will work in that as fast as he can to acquire complete connection with Him. 

Student: And through what? There is a desire to analyze inside the mind and to try and understand what the Creator wants to reveal. Is this correct? 

M. Laitman: Yes, that's also correct but, the main thing after all is to see what the friends want and to try to help them.

Question (Women Moscow 6): (57:56) You said that when a person reaches the level at which he includes the friends in the heart, from this moment he can only ask for the fulfillment of the friends. Before this moment comes, a person cannot ask for any correction, but only to connect with the friends? 

M. Laitman: You can ask, the question is what can he find through this request and what is he going to feel? What kind of feeling is he going to have about the request for the friends? 

Question (Women Petah Tikva 33): (59:12) We have a scrutiny in the Ten regarding to what you said, that when I ask for my friend, I will receive first. What does it mean that I will receive first? 

M. Laitman: We studied that in the articles, that the one who asks for his friend he has been answered first. This is how it is written.

Student: And why is he the first one, he achieves it first. Why? 

M. Laitman: In whatever he requests for his friend. 

Student: So, he will receive it? 

M. Laitman: He prays that the friend will have it and because he prays that the friend will have it, then he will achieve it as well.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. Ladies, be healthy. Read the articles and get ready for the Congress!

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