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

Daily Morning Lesson: February 13, 2026

Part 1: A lesson based on the articles of Rabash

Rabash. Article No. 18, 1987. What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah? - 2

Original lesson date: 01/10/2003

Reader: Hello, dear friends, in the first part we'll learn from a lesson with the Rav from January 10th, 2003, based on the article, "What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2", from the writings of Rabash, Volume 2. We'll read it together in the Tens. Tens who finish reading before the time is up are invited to workshop the main ideas from the article. Volume 2.

Reading: (01:03) What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2

Article No. 29, 1989

Our sages said (Shabbat, p 87), In the matter of preparation, which was there, at the time of the giving of the Torah, that there was the matter of the kingdom of priests, and the Mitzva [commandment/good deed] of limiting, and the matter of abstention. This was for the general public.

There are people who observe Torah and Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva] in general, meaning only in practice. That is, they mean that the Creator commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot, and in return for obeying Him, He will reward us for the labor or relinquishing many things that the body craves. This is a great effort for us not to obey what the body demands, yet we try to observe the voice of the Creator, meaning what the Creator wants. That is, we annul our will before the will of the Creator. In return for this, He will reward us in this world and in the next world, as was said, “Happy are you in this world, and happy are you in the next world.” This is the work of the general public.

And then there is the work of individuals. They want to observe Torah and Mitzvot individually. That is, they do not care what the general public does; they want to know why the Creator commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot. Is He deficient, needing someone to do Him a favor and observe his Torah and Mitzvot? Rather, it must be that the Torah and Mitzvot He has given us is for our sake. Then, they begin to think and pay attention, what benefit will come out of this to the created beings if they observe the Torah and Mitzvot. That is, what they lose by not observing, and what they gain by observing what the Creator has commanded us.

This is as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2), “Be careful with a light Mitzva as with a grave one, for you do not know the reward for the Mitzvot, and consider the cost of a Mitzva compared to its reward, and the reward for a transgression (the joy you experience in the transgression) compared to its cost.” Therefore, when they begin to think about the benefit of observing Torah and Mitzvot, meaning who gains from this, they see what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1), “Be as slaves serving the Rav [great one] not in order to receive reward, and the fear of heaven will be upon you.”

This means that the fact that we must work not in order to receive reward means that it is because observing Torah and Mitzvot is not for the Creator, that He needs to be served. If this were true and He needed our work, He would certainly have to pay, just as we work for someone in this world. If a person needs the work of an employee, he certainly pays, as this is how the world works. Since our sages said to work not in order to receive reward, the reason must be that this work is for us, meaning for our sake.

Thus, how can we say that one who does some work for his own sake, meaning that he needs the work, but someone only gave us the work-plan so we would know how to work so it results in a complete product that we will enjoy, can we say that the person who he gave him the work-plan should also pay him for his work? In our world, we see the opposite: A person has to pay for the work-plan he has given us, and the one who gave the work-plan does not pay the person for working according to the work-plan he has received.

This is similar to one who wants to build a house. He goes to an engineer to make a work-plan for him. Then, who has to pay? Is it the engineer to the person who received the work-plan or does the person pay the engineer for giving him a work-plan by which he can build himself a house? Clearly, the person pays the engineer.

According to the above, it is clear that the Creator has given us the Torah and Mitzvot in order to correct ourselves, so we will have a structure of Kedusha [holiness]. Thus, who needs to pay for the plan? It is certainly we, since without Torah and Mitzvot, which is our plan for a structure of Kedusha, it would be utterly impossible to build us a structure of Kedusha. This is as our sages said, “If not for My covenant day and night, I would not put the ordinances of heaven and earth.” That is, without Torah and Mitzvot, namely the ordinances of heaven and earth, which is the structure of the world, it would not be able to exist. Rather, specifically if we build the world according to the Torah, the world can exist.

From this we understand that although we have nothing with which to pay the Creator for giving us the plan of Torah and Mitzvot, and we can only thank and praise for it, we should not ask for a reward in return for observing Torah and Mitzvot, that He should pay for our observing Torah and Mitzvot, meaning for using His plan to build for ourselves the house.

People who understand this are regarded as “walking in the work of the Creator on the path of individuals.” They have a different perspective on the issue of observing Torah and Mitzvot compared to the way that the general public understands the observance of Torah and Mitzvot—that the Creator should pay them for following the laws of the Torah, which is the Creator’s work-plan. They understand that the Creator wants them to follow the plan He has given them, and that it is for the sake of the Creator. Therefore, He should pay for this work of following His plan.

This is as our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Portion 1:1), “Another interpretation: Amon is a craftsman [Uman]. The Torah says, ‘I was the working tool of the Creator.’ When a flesh and blood king builds a palace, he builds it not with his own skill but with the skill of an architect. And the architect does not build it out of his head, but employs plans and diagrams (which are books containing various diagrams of buildings by which the craftsman makes a plan how to build the palace). So God looked into the Torah and created the world.”

We should understand what this comes to teach us about the way of the work, how there was the creation of the world, that the Creator looked into the Torah, meaning that the Torah is the plan by which He created the world.

It is known that the purpose of creation was to do good to His creations. This was the reason for the creation of the world. For this reason, the Creator created in the creatures a desire and yearning to receive pleasures, and without pleasure, it is impossible to exist.

As we see, one who commits suicide, it is because he cannot see that he will get pleasure anywhere now, which is called “the present,” and he also does not see that in the future, he will be able to receive pleasure. Instead, he sees that the world has grown dark on him and does not shine for him. Then he has no other option but to commits suicide because he thinks that by this he will escape the torments.

For this reason, the fact that a person always wants to receive pleasures is the nature that the Creator created, that each created being aspires only to receive pleasures. We must know that everything we call the “evil inclination” is only this quality called “desire to receive pleasure in order to satisfy the yearning.”

The reason why the will to receive for oneself is called “evil inclination” is explained with respect to the correction of creation that was done. That is, when the creature receives from the Creator, there is disparity of form in this, which results in a person being ashamed to receive for himself from his friend. For this reason, a person is ashamed to eat the bread of shame. It follows that if a person would receive the delight and pleasure in vessels of reception, he would feel unpleasantness while receiving the abundance. Hence, there as a correction that as long as one does not revoke the Kelim [vessels] of the desire to receive for himself, he cannot receive delight and pleasure. It follows that the only obstructor on receiving the delight and pleasure is the will to receive for oneself. This is why this will to receive is the evil inclination.

However, how can it be revoked, as it is written, “Annul your will before His will”? He is the Torah, as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” This means that the Creator says, “The fact that I created the will to receive pleasure, and that this is the nature of creation, as was said, that creation is called ‘existence from absence,’ means that a new thing was created here.” This was said about this will to receive. The Creator said, “I created the Torah as a spice.” That is, through “the light in it reforms him.”

It therefore follows that if there were no Torah, there would not be existence to the world, for because of the concealment and hiding that was because of the correction of the world, the creatures would have had to remain in the dark, without light. Naturally, there would be no existence to the world. This is the meaning of the Creator looking in the Torah, meaning that the Torah is the work-plan. That is, according to this plan, the world will be built through the Torah and there will be existence to the world. This is called “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

Concerning the study of Torah, our sages said (Hagigah 13), “A word of Torah is not to be given to an idol-worshipper, as was said, ‘He did not do so for any nation, and let them not know the ordinances.’” We should understand the meaning of idol-worshipers in the work. In the work, we learn everything in one body, as it is written in The Zohar, that man is a small world. Thus, what are idol-worshipers in the work, and what is Israel in the work?

We already said that Israel means that he wants all his actions to be for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake. This is called Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], meaning that all his actions are directly to the Creator. The idol-worshipper is the complete opposite: All his actions are for his own sake. That is, he wants two authorities. This means that he wants to extract delight and pleasure from the authority of the Creator into his own authority.

In other words, he wants there to remain two authorities in the world—the authority of the Creator and his own authority. This is called “idol-worshiping,” which is work that is foreign to us. “Israel” means that he is working for the sake of the Creator, meaning that he is considered a “worker of the Creator,” whose actions are all for the sake of the Creator. But if a person works for his own sake and not for the sake of the Creator, this is regarded as his work being idol-worship and not work for the Creator.

It follows that the whole difference between idol-worshipers and Israel in the work is that “Israel” means that he wants to work for the sake of the Creator, and although he is still enslaved to the evil inclination and cannot subdue it, because he is walking on the path that leads to working for the sake of the Creator, he is already regarded as “Israel,” since he wants to achieve this degree.

But when a person wants to work in a state of “Israel,” which we said is regarded as working in the state of “individuals,” then all the bad in a person stands against him. That is, before he decided to go as “Israel” and his work was in the manner of the general public, he looked at the things he was doing and believed that for every single action he would receive a reward—a reward of this world and a reward of the next world. It was easy for him to do good deeds because this was not against the evil inclination, called “will to receive for himself.”

But now that he wants to work in order to annul his own authority and leave only one authority in the world—the authority of the Creator—the will to receive for himself objects to this. Then comes the wicked’s question, who asks, “What is the work for you? The fact that you want to work not for your own sake, what will you get out of it?” There is no answer to this, but as it is written, “Blunt its teeth.”

It follows that then a person needs help in order to be able to emerge from the control of the evil inclination. At that time, his only choice is what the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that now is the real time when a person needs the help of the Torah to pull him out of the control of the evil inclination.

According to the above, what should one prepare in himself in order to receive the Torah? It is the need for the Torah, and a need is called a Kli [vessel]. There cannot be filling without a lack. This is similar to a person asking his friend when he invites him to come in the evening for a meal that he has prepared for him, “How should I prepare myself for eating at your place?” He will probably tell him, “Be careful not to eat at home before you come to me because then you will not be able to eat at my place.”

Likewise, in order to receive the Torah, a person must prepare himself—to have a need called a Kli, that the Torah can fill. This applies specifically when he wants to work for the sake of the Creator, for then he encounters the resistance of the body, which yells, “What is this work for you?” But a person believes in the sages, who said that only the Torah can deliver a person from the control of the evil inclination. This can be said only of those who want to be “Israel,” meaning Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. They see that the evil inclination does not let them emerge from their control, and then they have a need to receive the Torah so the light of the Torah will reform them.

Now we can understand what our sages said, “A word of Torah is not to be given to an idol-worshipper, as was said, ‘He did not do so for any nation, and let them not know the ordinances,’” since they have no need for the Torah. One who does work that is foreign to us, meaning for his own sake, can live without the Torah, for he does not need the help of the Torah. Only Israel—those who want to work for the sake of the Creator—need the light of Torah, for “the light in it reforms him.” That is, it is impossible to defeat the evil within him without the Torah.

By this we can interpret what our sages said, “The Torah exists only in one who puts himself to death over it.” We should understand the word “exists.” What does it tell us? We should interpret this according to what our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” That is, the Torah should be a spice. In whom is this so, since “There is no light without a Kli, no filling without a lack”?

For this reason, they said that those who want to put their selves to death, meaning want to put to death the will to receive for their own sake, and want to do everything for the sake of the Creator, see that they cannot do this on their own. To them the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

But in those who do not want to annul themselves and want there to be two authorities—meaning that man’s authority will remain and the Creator will give them and they will extract the delight and pleasure at His disposal and hand it over to the receivers—the Torah does not exist. That is, the Torah does not become a spice for them, since they do not want it to be a spice, and if there is no desire and need, which are the Kli, there is no light.

Now we can understand why it is forbidden to teach Torah to idol-worshipers in the work. It means that one who is practicing work that is foreign to us, meaning works for himself, since the Torah is for the evil inclination, so that one who wants to revoke it but cannot, it was said about him, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

But one who wants to work for his own sake—which is idol-worship—has no need for the Torah. Therefore, if he learns Torah, the Torah will not exist in him in terms of what the Torah is meant to give. Thus, what is the preparation for the reception of the Torah? The need for the help of the Torah. And this is done by wanting to aim everything for the sake of the Creator. Then we need the Torah to give the help. 

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Reader: We are now going to go into a lesson with the Rav from the date 10th of January, 2003. "What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?"

M. Laitman: (31:02) What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work? We learn that in reality there are only two things: the will to receive which the Creator created and the light that stands opposite the will to receive. We have light and vessel, light and Kli. The purpose of creation is to bring the vessel to a state called, a created being, and for it to be in adhesion with the Creator, that is to the Creator's degree. To bring the created being to the only state that is complete and eternal; before that, all other states are incomplete and not eternal. In order to bring the vessel to this state, to the Creator's degree, the vessel needs to go through many stages of correction. In this correction, there is a program according to, I have created the evil inclination – that is the vessel is brought to a state called, the evil inclination. And according to the need in a person who feels the evil inclination, he then feels a need for the Torah as a spice, meaning a need for corrections. Then, the Torah which was, at first only a program or a plan, it becomes the force that carries out the correction, the reforming light. After a person goes through the corrections by means of the Torah, he then comes to the end of correction. Then, the Torah becomes, for him, the infinite fulfillment, wholly present within him, and that state is called, the end of correction and adhesion with the Creator. In other words, the Torah is, at first, a program or a plan and then it is the force that performs the correction and, afterward, the fulfillment. Everything is according to the vessel, according to the vessel's deficiency, what it wants. Certainly, if the vessel has not yet awakened on its own toward the program, the plan, the correction, and fulfillment, then with respect to it, the Torah does not exist. Therefore, it is written, Wisdom among the nations, believe. Torah among the nations, do not believe. That is, one who is still considered a gentile, meaning he does not intend to change his intention from in order to receive to in order to bestow. Not that he is already in order to bestow – he does not even aim for it—such a person does not discover the necessity for correcting, for the correcting force called, the Torah, because, again, there is no, I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice within him. 

M. Laitman: (34:35) Only according to a person who discovers the evil inclination and the evil inclination is also revealed by the Torah, by the reforming light. So all our means, from the beginning of the work until the end of the work are called, Torah and Mitzvot, Torah and the commandments. Torah is like the path, the path, and the force, and Mitzvot are our actions from below. That is, I perform some action below, with my vessels, with my efforts, with my exertion—that is called, Mitzvot, commandments. The force that comes, the force of correction, the force of fulfillment—that is called Torah. Therefore, all of a person's actions are divided into two: work in the vessels called, Mitzvot, and the forces he receives and which improves him which are called, Torah. 

They ask, if I'm speaking about lights and vessels, then why doesn't it say, instead of, I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice, then why doesn't it say, I have created Malchut, and I have created the Torah to correct Malchut? The matter is that what we learn after the four phases of direct light, when Malchut of Ein Sof comes out, it is still not considered a created being; it is completely under the whole control of the light. The light operates within it, fulfills it, and together with the fulfillment, it imparts all its qualities. Malchut feels itself, truly, in this eternal state. For it, there is no limitation, no pressure, no coercion, no law. It is just that it is filled with the light in an eternal state and then a desire awakens in it to resemble the light, to perform actions that will bring it to equivalence of form. Yet, it is still filled with the light, with the Creator's presence, and therefore it cannot feel itself as a created being. Because as long as the will to receive is not separated from Divinity, from Shechina, from the Creator, from the light, it feels itself as connected to it. Connected means it does not feel itself as distinct and existing under its own authority with opposite qualities. Therefore, we cannot say that Malchut is a created being. Instead, as we learned, from this Malchut, later, all the worlds emerge from its external phases Root, Aleph, Bet, Gimel – One, Two, Three; and only from Phase Four, phase Dalet of Malchut, from this phase do the souls emerge. The souls are already considered created beings but not from the outset, not from phase four itself, not from phase Dalet itself, not from Dalet within Dalet. But only after the shattering of the vessels, when this Phase Four, Behina Dalet, itself, divides into many, many parts. And they separate from Godliness and grow distant from the Creator, from the fulfillment. Then within this Phase Four, within four meaning Behina Dalet, within Dalet, there is a new kind of desire that begins to form. Out of the recognition of evil, out of the fall, a desire begins to arise in phase four, in Behina Dalet, to return to that state called, adhesion, Dvekut. This intention, this desire to return to the state, to the level of the Creator, that is called, a created being. Meaning a created being is essentially called, the intention to attain adhesion. Adhesion, we also need to define, what is adhesion? It is equivalence of form.

M. Laitman: (39:33) In other words, the created being reaches the state of in order to bestow. Even this, at the beginning of his path, he cannot yet define or understand, then, it happens gradually. As he begins to work on himself, according to the measure of his exertion, the upper light is revealed to him. Then, he begins to feel how opposite he is from the Creator. According to this feeling – that he is opposite to the Creator, yet, still wants to reach equivalence, this feeling, this intention, this MAN that he raises – the middle line that he forms connecting the qualities of the Creator and the qualities of the will to receive, these are called, the created being. In other words, a created being is that intention which a person builds within himself, by himself. It's not something we receive from the beginning. Therefore, it says, I have created the evil inclination, meaning that this creation is made in a person as a result of his exertion through the light. This is all work from below upward, from above downward, the worlds expand but only from below upward does the vessel of the soul and its fulfillment begin to form. That is, the awareness and recognition of the degree that needs to be attained.

Question (Paris): (41:22) What is called, faith in the sages? That it needs to be in me, that a person needs to have faith in sages? 

M. Laitman: How can it be that a person needs to believe in something, in general, what is faith? We learn that there is a vessel and there is light, and the actions of the vessel depend 100% on the light that influences the vessels. From nothing that we study do we have any additional discernments. Any other causes that can influence the vessels; so what is called, faith as if it were some kind of effort on the behalf of the vessel, that this has not come as a result of the light? No, we say that faith comes as a result of the surrounding light, the Ohr Makif. Meaning there is knowledge, knowledge is what the vessel feels as a result of the inner fulfillment of the light. The inner light, the Ohr Pnimi within the vessel, it gives knowledge, it gives adhesion, it gives changes in me, qualities, and besides this knowledge, there is faith. Faith means that the lights are not yet filling the vessels, internally. But instead they are positioned as surrounding lights outside the vessels and they sustain the vessels in that the vessel annuls itself before the surrounding light. These things are corrections that the vessel needs to acquire. We say the following, that there are two types of vessels: a corrected vessel and an uncorrected vessel. An uncorrected vessel, its Rosh is called, knowledge and its Guf is called, reception. A corrected vessel, its Rosh is called, faith, and its Guf is called, bestowal. A corrected vessel, yes, sorry. That is, faith, faith in the sages, it's one of the degrees, it's called, faith in the sages. Faith is the force that helps the vessel make the correct calculation in the Rosh, in order to bestow and, afterward, to carry it out in the Guf. If there is no such force then its Guf and Rosh operate according to the original will to receive that exists within the vessels. That is, he is drawn to knowledge, to know, and naturally his actions then become actions of reception.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:13) When we speak on the state of adhesion, returning to the root. We know that in spirituality this is the law of equivalence of form. If I now come to adhesion with the Creator, absolute adhesion, what still separates me? What makes me—what keeps me outside of Him? Why do I not return to Him completely, fully?

M. Laitman: We cannot speak about such high matters because we do not understand what really happens. We either speak about the feeling or we speak about reality, itself. About reality itself, we can never talk about that, why? It is because what we can speak about, what we can discuss is only the extent or the height of our attainment. Our attainment is an attainment within already corrected vessels. Within these vessels, there are degrees of knowledge and sensation. If now, I were given infinite fulfillment and I were to feel that I am completely connected with the Light, then my question: Would be, am I really connected with Him or is this only my sensation and I simply cannot, cannot determine where I am and where the Light is? I cannot discern it but certainly there is a difference. 

Instead, when the Light governs within the vessel, it gives me this sensation and then I'm simply full, as it's called, what's full? That in none of my desires is anything felt except the Light, itself. The desire itself is not felt, it is filled with the Light, it is subdued by the Light. The Light fills it, suppresses it, gives it all the qualities, all the pleasures, all the fulfillments. The deficiency is unfelt, if there's no deficiency felt, how can I feel whether it even exists? In my sensation it, seemingly, does not exist but not in my sensation, instead, when I look at these things as if from the outside, critically examining them, that certainly I must say, yes, there's a vessel and there's a Light and the Light fills the vessel. In other words, the question is as follows: on one hand, Kabbalists convey to us what they attain. What they attain, they attain in sensation; on the other hand, they speak about that sensation objectively, as if it is not happening to them. But, rather, they are vessels observing it from the side – like some table in a laboratory where experiments are conducted on something – but where do they perform these operations?—on themselves. To what limit can a person remain both in the sensation and in the knowledge of what is happening to him? He explains this in the Introduction to the Book of Zohar. There, he explains a bit about the depth of our attainment, even regarding what the Zohar discusses. The Zohar discusses the worlds of BYA: Bria, Yetzira, Assiya. And it does not speak about the world of Atzilut except in connection with BYA. About Atzilut itself, it does not speak because the Zohar belongs only to the second restriction, to the path of correction. And what happens in the world of Atzilut meaning GAR of Atzilut is under the rule of Malchut of Ein Sof. There is this rule of the end of correction there, with respect to our vessels, there is simply no difference between lights and vessels. Therefore, we, thus, do not receive any images from Kabbalists, no explanations, no descriptions of what belongs to the state beyond the second restriction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:59) That means that even after exiting egoism, a subjective element still remains in the vessel?

M. Laitman: Well, there are degrees that I cannot speak of – but if we talk about how the created being has to come to complete equivalence with the Creator, equivalence of form – and that there is no difference between them. Meaning that other than the point, existence out of absence in the created being, all the rest He constructs on top of this point 100% as the image of the Creator. Then there are things that we cannot communicate them, first of all using a language and, that’s the main thing, we cannot express them. I guess there are such degrees that, other than this point – I can't even talk about that point as well. Meaning that it's certain there's no difference between the created being and the Creator. What happens with this point, I don't know. This belongs to that which we do not attain, we will not know by name and these things are beyond attainment. Only, as Baal HaSulam writes, that these are individuals who come to such things and you can't speak of them because these are secrets of the Torah that cannot be expressed. So the question for us becomes a theoretical question, philosophical question,  there's no point dealing with it, we don't understand these things. Just believe me that the spiritual world that we attain when we come out from beyond this world, that, too, is not clear to us until we enter into it. And things and feelings and objects and understandings and perception is beyond time and space, life, and death—all those things that we're accustomed to. Moreover—and this is the second restriction by the way, so let alone when we come out into the first restriction—there I have no idea. I simply understand how much I don't understand, that's also a form of attainment so I'm telling you we cannot talk about it. I understand it's a curious thing, it's intriguing and you want an answer. But you cannot hear the answer and it's not understood with our intellect.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:00) A lack is a vessel and a lack is the fulfillment, what's the difference between them? On page 67, he writes that, the lack is the vessel and that the need is the vessel and the lack is the fulfillment. Later on, he writes and emphasizes that the lack is the vessel and it's no longer the fulfillment and the fulfillment is the Torah?

M. Laitman: We speak in the language of Kabbalah very concretely, there aren't that many words and we wish to express all the Kabbalists, all the concepts very quickly so it will be clear. It's possible to explain great things with as few, taking up as little space as possible on the paper or using as few words as possible, seemingly. Therefore, you can't, each time, speak and write about which kind of deficiency exists and which kind of fulfillment exists. A deficiency may be that I want to receive and enjoy; a deficiency may be that I wish to bestow. A deficiency may be that I just want to reach the fact that I'm bestowing and then my fulfillment at that time will be to receive forces of bestowal and that's fulfillment. Meaning, it's a different type of light, it's a different type of force; meaning, I wish—I wait to be, to receive a cure for a disease that I'm now deciding that it is a disease. Besides that, I want nothing, meaning I don't want any foods like a healthy person, I don't want anything, I just want that. So, this is my deficiency now, what is my deficiency? The feeling of sickness and fulfillment that will come to me, the remedy, that's it. But, if I speak of the Creator, for example, and I wish to love Him then, the desire to love Him is called, a deficiency, and the possibility to love Him, to give Him, is called, a fulfillment. Meaning, it's not a fulfillment for the light, itself, but fulfillment for me is, delighted in mercy, is simply the possibility of giving, that's what fills me. Meaning there are many possibilities, many variations of lights and vessels, but a vessel is always called, a deficiency, and the light is always a fulfillment. However, it can be that the vessel, itself, will be the light, what does it mean? That if I wish to come to me a special deficiency, then that deficiency that I'm waiting for, to come to me, will be, for me, the fulfillment, you understand? In each and everything we need to distinguish between a vessel and a light and it shouldn't confuse us. These things are very subjective, relative to where the created being is, relative to his state.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:22) Like, I have created the evil inclination and I have created the Torah as a spice. The question is, was the same evil inclination created for everyone, like on our last money all these forms of the evil inclination?

M. Laitman: No, each one of us, Baal HaSulam explains it in the article, Free Choice, and Freedom, each one of us came from a different point in Adam HaRishon. In this article, The Freedom, he says that we're not allowed to suppress anyone, to come with a work plan for anyone, self-work. And to change a person, change his culture, and to bring civilization and progress to these people that are considered primitive, for example. In other words, each one has to develop according to his own qualities, and only in this he realizes his will to receive. Each one is a creature – is a created being in and of itself – and even if he wants to, he cannot change his will to receive, his point of departure. He explains what is that origin and the plan, and what is this foundation according to which—and the plan according to which this foundation develops. And later, how it develops and then the environment and the orders of the development of the environment. And a person cannot enter forcefully and make a change, right? The only change is by acquiring an external form from the society. And this external form doesn't mean that he acquires new desires, that he acquires from the society qualities he does not possess. Rather, he will acquire from the society an awakening for that place to which he has to come, nevertheless. This will provide him a fuel to add to the speed of development, the speed of correction. But it's not that he's buying something into him, some new acquisition – new vessel, new qualities, new thoughts. He only accelerates how they'll come out, how they will grow in him, how they will develop in him. It's very, very important, it's important to relate to the society, to the opinion of the friend, and to the building of the society in this way. We just need here an accelerator – an accelerator, only a kind of accelerator that gives us motivation. But this motivation lacks character, it only provides additional motivation in the desired direction – I choose where.

M. Laitman: (01:00:18) So the same thing is from the society, meaning I have to come to the society and demand from the society to receive additional forces in the same direction that I already chose. Not that the society comes to me and begins to brainwash me; the brainwashing of the society has to be only on the matter of addition. Adding force in the direction that I already know of, otherwise, it's not going to be free choice. Otherwise, the society will be a society that suppresses and oppresses people. It doesn't need to bring me a new opinion; it needs to bring me only an amplification of the data that was in me before. It will be greater compared to what we had before. Therefore, each one of us has to bestow to the society and receive from the society what he bestows to it, only several orders of magnitude greater. It's very, very important to understand that the society is the force that accelerates one's development.

Also, on Item Four of the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, the Creator places man's hand on the good fortune and says, Take it. And it's up to the person to just walk and go, meaning to look for forces, find the forces and advance on his own. But the direction is according to the root of the soul that already exists in a person. According to the structure of his soul, according to his part in Adam HaRishon, this direction is clear. And then we have to come to the society and according to this demand that we should move in a certain direction, we have to ask the society, demand from the society, build the society so we will have the forces for it. Because a person by himself cannot find forces for it. Meaning society, simply like you're coming to the gas station to refuel. So the society should provide us forces for the path that we choose. It's not that I receive new opinions, no. The scrutinies are my scrutinies, the friends cannot help me in this –  they can help, but that's truly how it happens. We still can't see it but it happens to us only in this way, we accelerate our development only, that's it. He says that one who chooses a good society, a better society each time, he advances. Meaning he checks the society according to his impression from it: how much fuel it adds for him in that desired direction. And he says that a good society has to give a person only one thing, really, the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the goal, that's it.

What does it mean? The extent that it will be big in my eyes, this image I created, but the society has to inflate this as much as possible. It's like we see it in a commercial, I know that this soda, this bottle of sparkling water is good for me, I like to drink it. But now, this commercial comes and begins to inflate it, increase this more and more and more. So, I chose this drink and I made a choice that this drink has to be great in my eyes, several times greater than today, right? So I go to some place, I pay money to them – or I exert among the friends – so they would grow this image of this tiny bottle and make it feel like a big bottle, that's it. Meaning, our society is certainly an advertising agency and I choose all the things that will happen to me. But after I made the choice and I'm in it, our nature allows ourselves to be impressed from it and to carry out what I already received from society. This is very important that we understand how this device works. Because together with that, we understand that there's nothing like it, there's nothing around us that can help us make progress by ourselves. The more I position myself relative to this society, invested in it, wish to be impressed by it, it's something selective; I chose it and accordingly I enjoy and I advance. There are people in our society, there's one who advances 20 times than how he would advance by himself, and the other one only three or four times than how he would advance by himself. And there are those who are not impressed by society at all, so they don't advance by themselves. Not to advance by himself means not to advance for us.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:03) If society causes me to have inspiration, but in the end it's my choice to have the inspiration, then I have to choose to be impressed by them if I want to reach the goal? But how do I avoid taking the sting out of it? The moment I see that it's actually me choosing to be impressed by them, now I'm asking society, come and influence me because I want this thing and I want it even more. 

M. Laitman: It says, it's written: he who chooses each time a better society. Meaning you choose the society, its character, what it wants, what is its goal, and you choose it to be better at it. There's several possibilities for you; also now, you're in such a society, but you wish for it to be better. So, either you improve that society or you go to look for another society.

Student: This week we decided that during the day we'll pump each other up, we'll send each other messages about how important the path is, how necessary it is, all day long, texts on the phone saying it's worthwhile, it's important, and you get inspired by it. But then there are moments when you suddenly see that it's a game. How do you cover your eyes so you don't see that it's a game?

M. Laitman: No, you're asking nicely, meaning If we agree between us to seemingly activate one another – or everyone activates each one of us in recognizing the greatness of the goal – then we need to understand, are we lying about it or not? We work with the lie, we don't know the goal, we don't know its importance, rather we wish to sell it to ourselves. If someone comes to me and sells me something that he knows it's a lie, and he receives a salary for it. It's worthwhile for him to cheat me and to deceive me and to receive salary. But the question is, am I so familiar to know that inside I have the evil inclination, corresponding to the evil inclination, I have to position, to place a false image, and in this way to confuse the evil inclination. So, this depends on how much you work with yourself with integrity, or honestly, what does it mean honestly? That I am something neutral, that I wish to advance toward the Creator; I'm found between my evil inclination and my good inclination, seemingly. And I wish to bring my desires, which are things that are foreign to me. I created the evil inclination, it's not me, it's the Creator, who created it. And I created the Torah as a spice, that by these actions I bring into correction. Meaning I need to see myself disconnected from my nature, my body, all of my desires, and then I will work – not as the one that needs to confuse and confound myself and swallow this lie of the advertising, of the ad, of the commercial. Rather, I should be the advertising person; I'm selling this advertising that the Creator is great to my evil inclination, I need to relate to him like a third party and then it will not be a lie. Then I will see truly how, meaning, it will be in my hands, don't connect to the evil inclination as if you and him are the same.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:00) How is he going to work with the evil inclination if I'm able to publish him or not?

M. Laitman: No, you'll need to work for him, why not? After all, if he won't speak at all, who will push you to advance? Each time you see disturbances and obstructions, each time you see all kinds of problems, thoughts that go against the greatness of the goal and the greatness of the Creator, this is the help that you will search for this greatness. Except each time you need to make a distinction, our problem is this distinction: I and these two angels, the good inclination and the evil inclination, and the goal, which is the Creator. I need to distinguish here, make this separation, and extract myself from my own nature. This nature, the Creator each time awakens in me all kinds of disturbances and thoughts. It's not me. He's doing it. It's in His hands. But if a person does it, he becomes the one who sells using the advertising and not the one who's being influenced. And then the work, this is real work because you become independent by that, you make choices.

What are we saying? You have to go to this company or to the society, I'm sorry. You have to bestow to the society; you seemingly order certain advertising work on the society. You want from them. I want me to bestow and to do this and this and that I pay for my work with exertion: I work there in the kitchen, I get up at three in the morning and I do what I can, what you want me to do in the group and everything, you understand? And this and this, you are the one who puts the order in and you're the one in control. The Creator wants you to do this action, you understand, and not that I'm being deceived.

Student: You're saying as if I'm independent and I'm able to work with whichever way I want to. But the more I advance, I see how He's in control of me.

M. Laitman: This knowledge is also something society has to give me because a person always falls into the will to receive and identifies with the will to receive.

Student: But the more I advance, I see how He's in power of me?

M. Laitman:  In order to advance you, the Creator drops you into the will to receive again, and then you feel under His control. Even if you don't feel that He's controlling you, you are Him. To feel that He controls you, you need the upper light that gives you the feeling that there's something other than the will to receive. There's also a will to bestow, then you can make the distinction. That the will to receive and you are not the same, there has to be a third party already.

Student: But what do I do in such a state?

M. Laitman: If you already have that distinction – me and the will to receive and He's controlling me – that's already salvation. Now it's up to you to some extent. You came out of the state of unconsciousness, now you can work. So, it's me and not him, he hates me. He doesn't let me advance. I would kill him but where is that? I'll catch him, it's this cancer that lives in me, how would I do it? I have to look for a remedy, the remedy against the will to receive can be only the light, that’s my problem. My problem is that I don't want the cure so much. I need to go to the society to grow in me their recognition of evil that I'll see that it's truly a sickness that puts me to death from the eternal life. To the extent that I will cry, the true cry opens the heavens, that's it.

Student: If a person is in a descent and according to his feeling he and the will to receive is the same thing. So in that stage? 

M. Laitman: in descent, a person certainly feels that he identifies with the control, the rule of the will to receive. Meaning it's simply him and the will to receive are one and the same thing. He doesn't even feel that it's the will to receive, that it's bad. It's how they tell it in Egypt, that the nation of Israel did not feel that it's bad, it felt good that, he belongs to Pharaoh and that it's good in Egypt. They don't feel the hard work, and, The children of Israel sighed from the work, is later, when Pharaoh became evil. But generally, Pharaoh is good, we work, but we enjoy all of our exertion, our labor. This is what a person feels.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:05) So in such a state, can society come to a person and describe his state to him? Does he need to come to society and ask them to advertise to him? 

M  Laitman: Society can influence a person in all sorts of ways, general advice, because nevertheless, these are the ways by which a person develops. Just as we read the articles now, we read articles about things that were still not in them. Maybe to some extent, we were in them, maybe we will be in those things. But we wish to awaken upon ourselves the upper light that will bring us new states each time. And society can do it, and it can speak to a person, certainly. So how do they influence you? They just shout at you; the Creator is great? It's like the Arabs cry, Allahu Akbar, right? God is great, right? What will they do? They need to bring you, through all kinds of impressions, that the attainment of this goal is eternal, whole, the only thing that's before you.

Student: He said in the beginning that society has to help me accelerate. So if I come and now I'm a zero, and as much as they try to accelerate me, I'm still a zero. I have to come to them with something a bit bigger than one, and that way I can accelerate through society?

M. Laitman: You have a point in the heart, you come to the society, you don't know anything, yet. But if you're included, incorporated in it with your point in the heart, society works in you like a womb or a drop of semen and develops you. It's enough for you to annul before the society. There are people who come here, they don't know anything, they go to work in the kitchen, a month, two, three, four, as much as they sit here, they understand nothing. Rather, that's the form of their annulment toward the society. And then they begin to feel that the society influences them; suddenly after two months of working in the kitchen, he has these spiritual falls. Not simply despair that he didn't receive anything – that this place is not worth it – but advanced forms of despair. He starts to get foreign thoughts because he annulled before the society. So he was brainwashed a little bit, even if he didn't hear anything. Even if he didn't hear anything, maybe a few words here and there, it doesn't matter, the light works. You think that the words that we're saying will bring you a lot more intellect and advancement? No, it's this mutual form of the actions. You ask: Can the society bestow to a person or influence him with all kinds of ideas and rumors? And it can tell him all kinds of things that he shouldn't – maybe hear or he will hear. But it's not about what he should hear, maybe he has to read about it by himself, something he hears about the friends. It's not about hearing, it's not about what you're, literally, hearing. You can sit here and not even speak Hebrew, it doesn't matter, these lights that we awaken, I, with my deficiency toward the society. You should bring it to me, and the society toward me, that we have something and we wish to bestow it to you. These lights and these vessels is what is working, words are a very external thing; it's only from mouth to ear, they're just to fill the box a little bit. They give you this psychological relaxation that, accordingly, you get filled, you advance, thank G-d! That has nothing to do with your inner improvement.

Inside, we have vessels, and the lights work on the vessels, regardless of our mouth. Even if we would all be mute, right, we couldn't speak, it wouldn't disturb us at all, believe me! Not that we would give each other message with our hands, even with nothing, with nothing. It works on a totally different plane, different level, outside of our five senses. So, what we speak in the society or we don't, it's not important, it depends on the depth of the heart, the inner desire in the heart. What do I wish to bestow to the society and by what do I wish to be impressed by the society? That's the vessel, and the light comes from above accordingly. So don't worry about what they're saying, also, in addition, Rabash says specifically that in a strong society, it's customary to speak with light-headedness, with laughter, with jokes, to conceal the things in the heart. Because that's where the real vessels are working – you don't need your blah, blah, blah, you understand? This is the work of the true intentions, the correct ones, and it's happening in us, as well. It's not that if we don't have it in us, it doesn't work; it works exactly to the extent that we have it, only in the level of intentions and the forces, the vessels.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:43) Let's say there's a friend in a descent. So how much can I come to him and tell him again and again and call him? Where's the limit, where am I already coercing him that he has to come? 

M. Laitman: Do I draw the line; how much can I carry my friend even though he doesn't want it? How can I tell that that's it, I tried everything, and I truly have no obligation toward him? And the other way around, on the contrary, if I keep doing anything, it will be suppression, it will be something that I shouldn't be doing already. I don't think we can draw a red line here, but you see it from experience. You see it from experience, we had such friends who came to such a state of this outbreak against the society, actively, that we had to remove them, we had to expel them. Because what was revealed in them is that they are not made yet, that they haven't developed yet to the degree where they belong to inner work. And that's legitimate, each one can come here and give it a try by himself. And there were those who grew weaker on the path, and they started to come only to participate, passively. And that force was so, that form was so passive that it would weaken us, as well. So, we had to remove them as well; there were those that we carried by ourselves for months until they woke up, or until they also left. Meaning there's a range of the spectrum of attitudes, and I don't think, and also in the society itself, there are people that I relate to them where if someone doesn't show up in the morning at 3 in the morning, before 3 in the morning, I relate to them like someone I'm willing to kill. And there are those who come once a week, and thank God they show up. There are those who come at 3:30 or 4 a.m., that's also something! Meaning it depends on the level of willingness of a person: how much is here, how much he invests in the society, and how much he invests in him. Meaning there's no unified attitude to everyone because we're all going through different states; each one is also a different level of development, a different process. So I can't give you this advice to what point you need to carry the friend who fell off. But it has to be clear that you still relate to a friend, and there's something in him that, nevertheless, that belongs to the society. And it's not for nothing that it says, A thousand enter the room and one comes out to teach. Meaning there are seemingly many who are friends on the path, but out of the thousand, it could be that only one will remain. And he will be the friend on the path in the end. There's nothing you can do. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:58) On one hand we say that a person has to reach the upper root to bestow, on the other hand we say that a person has to remain neutral, he has to be between the two states. So how does that work together? On one hand he has to aspire to bestow; on the other hand, as if to remove himself from both and remain neutral.

M. Laitman: How can it be that a person wants to move from a will to receive to a will to bestow? So, if during the work he's not in a will to receive, anymore. He's already separated from it, and he hasn't reached the desire to bestow, but he wants to acquire it, then he's in the middle somewhere, and he makes all kinds of efforts to move away from this, get closer to that. But if he already, say, entered the will to bestow, then you're asking what? How does he feel that he's separated from the will to bestow?

Student: Yes.

M. Laitman: He doesn't need to, we need to enter the will to bestow as if it's me, that's called, adhesion. I want to acquire this form endlessly, with no end, that it will influence me, shape me against all the disturbances. I'll get disturbances each time from the will to receive in order to deeper and deeper delve into the will to bestow, to adhere to it in deeper and deeper aspects and levels. Until I came to, say – the middle point, the stony heart that awakens in me from the will to receive – and on top of that I also adhere to the will to bestow, meaning specifically by all those forces of impurity. So, until then I didn't finish the work, but when I do finish the work, I am completely immersed in a desire to bestow, and I have no point that wants to feel myself outside of this, outside of this desire. You're saying: So maybe a person loses his individuality or uniqueness or independence, objectivity? No, why? Because this will to bestow is entirely built, nevertheless, on top of that will to receive that was there before. So there is me and my bestowal to the Creator, I'm not swallowed in it. Meaning, we express it in very simple Kabbalistic terms: There's a will to receive, and there's a screen on top of it. The will to receive is not lost, it works with the screens. The screen rules it and governs it, but when it does, then man desires to identify with the screen and not with the will to receive. But still, both don't go away, don't disappear, there's an issue here, that the more I delve into the intention to bestow, I still feel myself being in an intention to bestow. This is what gives this whole feeling the ability, the possibility – how to put it – this ability to not be swallowed by the Creator, but to remain independent. Again, in Kabbalah, it's easier to explain. You can say, Malchut and Zeir Anpin of Atzilut are as two great Partzufim at an equal level in endless coupling. Where she is as independent as he is, Malchut being the collection of all the souls.

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Reader: Now, we'll share impressions from the lesson. What are we taking to implement in the Tens?

Reader: Next part of the lesson, before that, we'll sing a song!