Morning Lesson April 9, 2022, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Passover - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. (From Exile to Redemption #122)
1.Rav’s Introduction: Yes, this is a very serious step in a person's spiritual development when he starts feeling he's in exile. Meaning there is an upper force here controlling him, limiting him, taking care of him in all kinds of limitations, special shapes and for the Creator's relation to him a person calls exile. It doesn't mean that there is no Creator in this world, there is, and He organizes this state called exile for him. This state is the building of the vessel, the deficiency for redemption, for revelation of the Creator and a person should relate to this state in utter seriousness because there is no redemption without exile; when a person felt it, went through it, and came out of it successfully. This is why the difference between exile and redemption is the letter Aleph, Alufo Shel Ha Olam, the champion of the world, the sign of the Creator and so what we are missing in spirituality is only that. All the thoughts, all the disappointments, everything we go through during the exile we discover it inside us.
To all these things we only need to add in that ,the revelation of the Creator and then we’ll have the spiritual world, redemption. This is why we have to relate to exile in a serious way. During the exile we acquire vessels and when we end the time of exile these vessels are ready to have the upper light, the Creator revealed in them and then we are in redemption truly. So this is a very serious state, an advanced state and we should pay attention to it because everything we go through later in the steps of our development after coming out of our ego, rising above the ego until the height of the final correction.
This is why the more we feel all kinds of discernments in the exile we will later be able to discern them, to feel them and taste them in redemption. It is impossible for something to be revealed outside of the exile but all the different manners of the revelation of the Creator will be over those vessels, forces, thoughts that we will discover first in the exile and then we will come to them in the redemption. The difference between exile and redemption will give us the intensity of the vessel, the intensity of the revelation and as a result of it this will yield joy and a feeling of redemption.
2. S. (04:36) What does it mean that we discover the exile and add to it the letter Aleph, this revelation of the Creator?
R. The letter Aleph is the champion of the world, the Creator. The Creator is revealed within the darkness, in a lack of understanding, helplessness, lack of strength. When the Creator is revealed it gives us an understanding and feeling of where we are, what we can do and how along with the Creator we can make of ourselves human, resembling the Creator. All that is revealed in the relation between exile and redemption, when the Creator comes after darkness.
The darkness itself is not simple or mere darkness, it is the measures of the concealment of the Creator that are established in a way that in them we later feel the revelation of the Creator, specifically as the advantage of light over darkness. Meaning we must have the darkness as well because in this darkness just as within the vessel, this pattern the upper light fills this pattern, this form. And this way we discover Him in all kinds of manners, otherwise we cannot reveal it. The upper light fills all of reality around us but it’s not felt, only under the condition that we have the vessel, we have the Kli. And as the Creator fills this vessel specifically because of the boundaries of this vessel, the limitations, the discernments in this vessel. Accordingly we can discover the Creator, specifically because of or according to the boundaries we established for it during the exile.
3. S. (07:02) Our five senses are calibrated to receive from the outside and from nature it is given to us that what is outside of us is abundant, so we receive from there. So how did we fall into this trouble where we become not calibrated?
R. Nothing happened without reason, it is intentional. There is a writing that the final action is in the preliminary thought. But the end has to be revealed in a way that we attain the entire creation with no exception. So this whole condition of discovering the entire creation for the created being requires creation to be built in a way that you have to conceal the upper light and to have equivalence, connection or integration between the light and the vessel. When specifically according to the vessels we will discover the lights, the lights will turn the vessels around and that is all for the Creator to be completely revealed in us. It’s not that it happens by chance, rather it’s a complete system which is in wholeness to begin with. Nothing can come out of the creative when it is corrupt. With respect to us later there is a descent of 125 degrees and all kinds of concealments so that we would discover these things gradually. Every time we discover something then from that we can discover more and more. When, every time by quantity and quality all these efforts we discover will give us the opportunity to rise.
4. S. (09:27) Can it be said that the exile is one concealment, and we as a group advance toward it, and our whole work is to connect together so as to cross this barrier and come out?
R. You can say that, yes.
Reading 122 (10:00)
5. R. (11:25) We have to advance, always by small steps. As much as we can tolerate light and darkness this is how we advance from absence, to existence, to presence. First from the deficiency, revealing the deficiency. And in the deficiency we discover exactly what we want. We don’t just want fulfillment, but we want to be filled by the force of bestowal, to bestow to the upper one, the upper degree which is the Creator. And so from one degree to another, we advance.
6. S. (12:10) It seems strange because there is no real absence of the power of bestowal because it was never present. So what does it mean that it is absent?
R. Everything started with the upper light filling the entire reality. Then it was concealed this upper light and this restriction starts to build the degrees, how to come closer to the fulfillment, to the light that was in it previously. The light comes first.
S. From the perspective of the system that’s clear but from the perspective of a person who is working?
R. From the perspective of a person he's in the middle of creation what does he know? What does he understand? So it is being explained to him where creation began.
S. The question is what does it mean that there is absence, that you feel that something is missing?
R. As we advance with everything we should first discover the deficiency. If we don’t discover the deficiency we will not discover the fulfillment. As it is written the upper light is in complete rest, it fills everything. The only problem is the vessel is missing that we cannot discover the upper light if we don’t have the vessels. We need to gradually discover our vessels and then we will discover that we are already in the light. And by this vessel the light fills the vessel, there is no problem with the light. This is basically our work, only to discover the deficiency.
7. S. (14:12) What is a complete vessel and how do we feel it in the ten.
R. A complete vessel is called intention. From above the desire which is all aimed at in order to bestowal meaning it is ready to activate the desire in a way that all of its work, all of its flavors that it discovers everything in it will be with the intention to bestow contentment to the Creator, to the source of the light. This is why our whole work is by the light to reach the source of light and by receiving the light we bestow to the source, to the light, to the Creator and bestowing him contentment. By receiving the light not in order to enjoy for ourselves but in order to give joy to the Creator.
S. How is this state felt in the ten?
R. In the ten we discover this when I care more about the friends then I care about myself. If I am directed this way then it is correct that I am aimed at the Creator instead of aiming at myself.
S. Do we feel it as a state of greater darkness or the other way around?
R. I cannot say. What does darkness mean? This is also a question. Maybe I do not feel the light but for me this state is not darkness because I am in some special intention and the inclination from the feeling of darkness and then the process I go through, for me it is completely filled with internal light, filled with love because in the ordinary vessels I feel the desire to receive as darkness and in the opposite vessels from the ordinary ones I feel light. This is why Orta means darkness in Aramaic, but it comes from the word Or, light in Hebrew.
8. S. (16:53) Does this inversion happen in the created being when instead of they want to receive the light, they want to receive it in order to please the Creator. So when does this inversion happen when we instead of wanting to receive in order to receive we begin to want to receive in order to please the Creator, when does this happen?
R. This is already a very high degree, this is why to receive in order to bestow is after Egypt, it is already after many corrections. First of all for us is the restriction and then to bestow in order to bestow and then to receive in order to bestow.
S. But the concept of the light of the Creator does not exist in the created being to begin with.
R. To begin with, of course not, we do not have such intention, we are only born with the intention to give pleasure to ourselves and to fulfill ourselves, so we aim to begin with to be incorporated in the body we are born in.
S. So why is the work to come to bring contentment to the Creator? This concept of bestowing contentment to the Creator, where does it come from where do we get a deficiency for this?
R. By the upper light, with the help of the higher light, we are incapable of anything here.
S. So the work of the upper light, I do not ask for it to give me a desire to give the Creator contentment, do I get it as a result of some work?
R. Yes but you are the one who invited this, you want to be in it.
S. So do I ask for it, do I want to obtain this?
R. We are incapable of doing anything spiritual simply like that or receiving or building only through request from the Creator can we get the spiritual qualities only this way.
S. This higher quality from the Creator, where do I get a deficiency for this quality?
R. From the Creator bestowing, awakening in us all kinds of desires, intentions, and discernments, out of us to the friends and for creation this is how we reach a state when I start to want it.
9. S. (19:43) I continue the question. You told the previous friend the person receives this through the reforming light, the question is how can it be that people get completely different states like rejections and even to the point that they leave the path?
R. The vessel of Adam HaRishon incorporates all the desires by the shattering is divided into many different pieces but from the most pure parts that are closer to in order to bestow although they are in the desire to receive but they are the purest part and then there are the very coarse parts which do not understand what they want from them so the person can be almost like a beast, what can you do about it, so there is a verse that the Creator saves men and beasts. We can progress by what the Sages tell us, by that group and the lessons taking part in all the actions we do bit by bit. This brings the person from exile to freedom and from darkness to light, the revelation of the spiritual world, the revelation of the Creator. This is our path; this is how we do this. There are souls some of the people the root of their souls by the division of the soul of Adam HaRishon, some of them are more pure and some of them are more coarse and accordingly people are different both by the intensity of the soul, its coarseness and also it's character there are components of the personal Sefirot in each and every soul and this is why the souls are all different and we need to acknowledge this and understand this and we have to complement each other this is what happens.
S. To what extent does the ten, to what point can the ten with its power of Arvut, of mutual responsibility, to what extent can we pull a friend if the friend gets such rejection?
R. It has to give all of its power to draw him, as much as possible. Only under the conditions that you already see that it is not for his sake and it's not for their sake. Until that point and then you can let go of it and there you stop it, but this is the last thing.
10. S. (22:53) When we are discovering very sharply how far we are from the Creator, like we know it and in our feelings we cannot be happy with this, how do we add to this feeling, joy, and happiness about being far from the Creator?
R. I do not know how to answer this when you feel that you are far from the Creator you have to do all the actions to come closer. This is first of all to subjugate yourself to the friends, this is the one thing, and the other thing is to determine all kinds of times for the Torah. This is how it is called, and we come closer as a result and besides that what the mind doesn't do, the time will do. There are such times in life that even though the person is seemingly in a system of studying the wisdom he is doing this in a manner that is far away from the purpose of the study and then he's coming closer and then again there are all kinds of times, but it will be ok.
S. It seems to me that many friends are seemingly drifting apart because they lack joy and excitement. How can we handle this in the group?
R. You have to care for each other, you have to worry about them because if you do not do that nobody will. If you grow further I cannot do anything more than I am doing so do not wait for me neither I nor the Creator can come closer to you, you have to search according to what is written, according to what we are learning, what you can advise yourself but everything is before you and I do not see that the state is being so evil, the fact that you personally are in a bad state don't think that everybody is in a bad state.
Excerpt 123 twice (25:20 - 27:21)
11. S. Is it possible to invert the physical deficiency into a spiritual deficiency?
R. In principle yes.
12. S. (27:40) The generation is this a degree? Each new degree?
R. Yes.
S. So what we have is going on continuously, we are always going into exile and then we exit, and we are discovering the exile again and the process keeps continuing as we go through the Exodus from Egypt and then we go back to exile until we go back to the final degree?
R. I do not understand your question, is this a question? If this is a question then you are correct.
S. So we have to look at it in terms of when you complete the Exodus from this degree then we are not finished but we find ourselves again in Exile.
R. It is correct to a certain degree, but there are differences between degrees. When each time I reach a higher degree and then the exile I was in previously disappears and I get in it some progress so we will learn what that progress is in Egypt, how the years go by and days go by, the degrees and the connection between people, coming closer or further away, the relations with the Klipot, the shells or between them. We will learn this, it is our work, this is our life.
S. Finally, why is it called generation and not a degree? Why is it referred to as a generation?
R. This is the life of men we can call it. This is called a generation, just like in our world this is how also a certain time in spirituality is called a generation.
13. S. (29:58) There is a feeling like a child losing interest in a toy and we also have this relation towards the study material of the Exodus.
R. Hold it by your teeth. You have to go into this study and really go into the text truly and the ones before and after maybe not the ones that we are exactly learning now but you have to be in it, to plow through it and then the person can progress.
14. S. (30:53) It is said that for a Jew it is good that he's on the path. Is it permitted to enjoy this path or is it dangerous?
R. We are supposed to enjoy each and every moment on the path because this is the path from exile to redemption, from being a slave in the desire to receive to be in freedom from the desire to receive and this is why we have to feel how happy we are in every moment rising more and more and it happens to each one no exception when the rise from one moment to the other above our desire to receive. We just do not yet feel this because we have not come out of it yet.
S. Along the way I feel that I discover more what I do not want instead of what I want.
R. I don't understand your question.
S. It feels like being in the desire to receive is what I do not want but I still do not feel what waits for me there in bestowal. There are no discernments.
R. Okay so you are in the middle of the path, you have to keep on going, it is not that you already see the goal and you are happy that you are progressing to the goal and you do not really see that you are growing further away from your initial state when you were completely in the desire to receive so you are somewhere in between so this is why we need mutual strengthening from the friends and through study and all kinds of actions we are doing in order to give yourself some kind of a feeling that we are progressing but when you walk in the desert and you cross the desert and before you and after you there are kilometers of sand, what can you do, nothing, only to keep on going.
15. S. (33:19) On one hand if there is a difficult condition for Moses and on the other hand there is a victory for Moses so where is the mercy of the Creator to keep us on the path.
R. Say it again, where is the mercy of the Creator guarding us on the path, where is this mercy guarding us? Why should you need this mercy, how can you demand this, why are you asking? Are you told that you have to demand mercy? You have to first of all execute what you have to do to discover the state you are in, that you are in exile and how you respond to that state. When you first discover the conditions on your behalf and the Creator and what happens at the point you are in on the path, only then can you think about what to add to it and what to ask for maybe. Either I demand something from the Creator or from myself and ask for both and this is how a person is progressing but before you have this scrutiny from this state and beside the scrutiny of the state you have to have to scrutinize yourself, of your own actions. You can sit, like in the middle of the desert and nothing will happen to you. Without these scrutinous besides, you are crying out and dying.
16. S. (35:42) I am very far from these excerpts; it is also clear that we will jump into degrees at once. In order for me to experience what is described, we must take certain degrees so how can we connect with these articles?
R. I am now in a state where I do not feel the Creator, the Creator is concealed, so what can I do to discover Him? I’m told we can only discover Him if I have vessels to reveal the Creator; the vessel to reveal Creator is the vessel of bestowal. The vessel of a reception, you'll get darkness, exile, the feeling of prison. You want it to turn to the revelation of the Creator, of the light, then you have to change your vessels, that’s all, try to do that. This is what we learn: how can we change our vessels from the vessels of reception to the vessels of bestowal and then we will discover that we are already in some fulfillment from the Creator.
17. S. (37:44) How can we understand that we have entered the exile, to understand the meaning of it, to feel the bitter taste of it?
R. Only by working harder among the friends. The exile is felt between us like lack of feeling, tastelessness, lack of activities’ it is in order to accelerate the nearing between us, the closeness between us, that’s it
18. S. (38:31) You gave us a picture, previously, of a person in the desert looking back and forward seeing only sand and he has no hope. It really connects to the states we go through on the path and if the person is alone, on his own in the desert, he has no chance of coming out. We feel that sometimes with these states, there is one friend in an ascent, the other is in a descent, we are not going through these states together. How can we reach this state together, all of us all in exile and one supports the other?
R. We cannot advance unless through connection between us, no one can come out alone. This we have to know and do all kinds of operations, activities, and they will not be simple actions, they are difficult. Sometimes they even push us apart, these operations between us, so we would add to the connection between us, and this is how we advance. This is the most inconvenient period, the most difficult, the most unpleasant.
Excerpt 124 (40:20 - 42:02) twice
Excerpt 125 (42:11)
19. R. 42:51() In other words, it is impossible to recognize that we are in exile unless a little bit of the light of redemption comes, then we start to feel that, “yes we were in exile”, and this is the problem. That by this, exile becomes so dangerous that we might remain in it and not want to come out; because there is nothing forward that pulls them, that shines for them.
Excerpt 126 (43:23 - 43:58)
20. R. (43:59) Yes, in other words, revealing that the exile, too, comes from the Creator and the Creator arranges for us all those stages and days and nights in the exile, this is what we have to attain. And once we attain this, we feel this and we agree with this, understand that this, too, belongs to the Creator, that the exile is really necessary. Then we can begin to rise from it because the exile also does not come from Pharaoh but from the same Creator who gives us the depth of the vessels; and we have to know these vessels, understand, and feel how these vessels are bad, dangerous, awaking fear, anxiety and confusion and helplessness, and you name it. And it all comes from the Creator in order to give us the feeling of remoteness and disconnection from Him and then when we absorb all those things, then we can already begin to come out of exile.
21. S. (45:26) For us, it feels sweet to serve Pharoah, how to hate this state?
R. Initially we do not feel that we are in exile, initially we like this work that we do. It gives us an additional feeling and understanding, we study the wisdom of Kabbalah, we connect between us, and everything is relatively comfortable, on one hand. On the other hand, we start to feel how bad it is for us, how it rejects us from the goal of bestowal; and by this, we begin to feel that it is truly exile, until we do everything to come out of it. And the main action is that we cry out together to the Creator, “help us, save us”.
22. S. (46:47) In the prayer, is there a concept of a screen and restriction? Meaning in the prayer not to ask for myself but only for the friend? This is how each one does his work in the ten?
R. Yes, good question.
Excerpt 127 (48:42)
23. R. (49:26) So in one sentence he is explaining to us everything that happens to us.
Excerpt 127 (49:33) Twice
24. S. (50:18) What mitzvah is said about, here, that is something that should lead to a different Mitzvah?
R. Only the connection between us and from the connection between us to the connection with the Creator. Only this do we need to worry about, to measure ourselves with respect to the connection between us and this way, advance.
Excerpt 128 (50:59 - 51:12)
25. R. (51:13) “49” means “the forty-nine gates of impurity”. To the extent that the person is in the worse will to receive every time, farther from the Creator and, of course, it seems to him that he can never come out of the exile, this is the person's feeling.
Reader continues: (51:33) “. . . and the Creator redeems on the 50th gate . . .”
Reading 128 (52:06) Twice
26. R. (52:41) Because it is not regarded as being in the exile, we have to feel our disconnection between us and our disconnection from the Creator, which is really the exile, we have to feel this completely and then we are rewarded with redemption. Of course we cannot do this at once but bit-by-bit, time after time, through all the degrees, this is how we advance towards feeling more darkness and disconnection, powerlessness, mainly it’s powerlessness, to wants to come out and we have no desire anymore, we are willing to stay; we come to a state of complete exhaustion and then comes Redemption.
27. S. (53:42) How to determine if we have reached this completely or not?
R. If you attain what you have to in order to come out of exile, you will be rewarded with coming out of exile and before that it is written. “everything that is in the power of your hands to do, you have to do”.
28. S. (54:19) What does a person cry out to the Creator for, what is missing? He can do actions for the friends and the group in any state, so what is the cry out?
R. The person is crying out that he cannot do these things.
S. So we need to ask for the strength to do this action?
R. Let him ask, if he can ask, he should ask.
S. What is the state of exile that is so dramatic that the Creator is leading the person to?
R. The state of exile is when I discovered that at each degree I am in and I am rising from one state to the other, from one degree to the other, that I want to make connection with the friends and together with them, a connection with the Creator but I cannot. It is not like I demand that it happen, and I will see but that I will do it. And this I still do not reveal, still do not want to rise, I do not want to connect with them, all kinds of forms appear to me where I cannot succeed in coming closer to Redemption. And here we have to see our states where we help each other and demand from the Creator to help us. He does not help one person but when we connect He does help us, so we need to talk about it and ask.
29. S. (56:13) What should the person pray for: to receive the light or to receive the feeling of exile?
R. This depends on the state the person is in, it is more correct to ask for connection with the friends and then according to the level of connection or disconnection, the person can see what state he is in, with respect to exile and redemption.
30. S. 56:54() Excerpt 127, it says that “a person should ask for mercy to be delivered from exile”; once we learned that one should ask for mercy before he enters the state, so how does that coincide?
R. Ask in both ways and you will see how it works out. I don't understand you; you are asking about theoretical things. Did you ask for both? So what doesn't work out for you?
S. We learned that before a person enters a certain state and we know a state of exile is a must, so before he goes into it, he should ask for mercy, for the Creator's help?
R. If I do not go into the state, how will I ask for mercy, for the Creator's help? How will I ask?
S. It is as if when I'm in a state, already, in a descent, it is too late to ask for mercy.
R. I cannot agree, no. “And the children of Israel sighed from the work”, when is it, is it not in a descent?
31. S. (58:39) When he says that” if a person doesn't attain the degree he is deficient in the degree”. Exile, itself, when are you supposed to attain it? We are talking about our daily life not talking about when Israel came out of the Sinai desert, we should feel it every day so how? So, well first of all, how does a person know he's an exile?
R. We are speaking with respect to the attaining individual.
S. What do you mean, “attaining individual”?
R. What a person feels, if he does not feel that he is in exile from spirituality, from the love of friends, from bestowal upon the Creator, then he is not in exile.
S. Let us say that I am sitting in this ten and I don't feel that I am an exile, how can we do it? Meaning how do I reach a state that I will feel in exile, in the daily life I'm talking about, not fantasy. Truly how do I feel every day that I am an exile? Who should remind me of this?
R. Are you in connection with the friends?
S. Of course I am in connection with a friend.
R. Do you feel like you are really connected to them?
S. Connected in everything and I don’t feel I’m in exile. What does it mean “feel in exile”?
R. How do you define exile and how do you define redemption?
S. What is exile in the daily life?
R. I am asking you.
S. Redemption and exile, it’s seemingly when my friends, when I’m feeling disconnected from my friends and I don’t feel the Creator at all, I can’t attain Him.
R. Good, this is called exile.
S. Okay.
R. Now, do you feel like it makes you feel bad like you are bitter because of it?
S. I feel very bad, not just bad, very bad.
R. So do you pray that you want to connect with them so that you are connected with them, and it is sweet?
S. Pray together. I do not yet feel as sweet.
R. So you have to pray and ask, even if you don't really want to.
S. No, on the contrary I do want it.
R. So ask, ask continuously, endlessly, ceaselessly until it is revealed.
S. In the end it will be revealed?
R. Then we will talk. If it is revealed that you are disconnected from them and it is bitter for you, you feel bad, you feel that it is bad for you, then you feel the exile in practice?
S. Meaning we should try to remind each other that, “friends, we’re not in a real connection, we’re really not in a bad state”, understand? I’m trying to understand how to help each other, first of all that we’re in exile. I don’t yet understand that I'm in exile so how can we help each other in daily work, daily not once if we learn it in the morning, how do we do it throughout the day?
R. Just as he said in the previous excerpt and two excerpts ago, you have to discover that you are disconnected, that you are disconnected, and it should hurt you. So ask the Creator for this: to connect you and then He will be revealed in the connection between you. There is this thing where we ask about the vessels. Meaning for the Creator to connect us, and there is this state where we ask Him to be revealed in us that we are already connected in some way. And we try to ask the Creator to be revealed, not to me, I asked that He will be revealed to the friends, then because this is what we ask of the Creator, to be revealed in the friends, to the friends and not to me, it turns out that by this we come to work in order to bestow, are you listening?
S. Yes, that is what they are saying, this hard work and labor; is this the labor that they’re talking about?
R. Yes, yes, we are building what is Egypt. “Egypt” means that we are discovering how disconnected we are and that we have to ask for connection in order to discover in it our connection, the Creator so as to bring contentment to Him.
S. I got it, so we have to reach despair, as you say?
R. This is along the way, it doesn't matter despair or not to despair, this should be our goal to discover that we are disconnected, discover the exile, ask the Creator to connect us in love. And in that connection between us we want Him to be revealed so that we will bring Him contentment by this. We build the Shechina, Divinity.
S. I got it, thank you.
R. It is not a problem, you just have to write it down, write down all of these operations and their orders, and start asking, start explaining this to each other and talk to you about it with each other; and you will see how you can quickly discover this vessel and the Creator who is between you and in this way you will come out of Egypt. What is the exodus from Egypt? It is when you discover the Creator in connection between you. That is it.
32. S. (01:05:07) You said that I'm supposed to bring my addition. Is my addition when each and every moment I ask why and what?
R. You can look at it this way.
33. S. (01:05:32) What does it mean that there are a few friends in the ten that suffer from the same problem in their corporeal life?
R. I don't know. We need to do what Kabbalists advise, increase connection. That is the cure for everything.
S. Doesn't it mean anything about our work together?
R. Perhaps it does but I do not want to get into these scrutinies, that is it. The last thing we need to do is start, here, some sort of Health Care Agency.
34. S. (01:06:23) In excerpt 127 it says that “a mitzvah induces a mitzvah”. What should be the feeling?
R. Even when I discover that I am in exile, far from the Creator, I am happy about it because it is a revelation that the Creator is present but far from me. So why should this not make me happy, bring me joy? I am on my way to Him and that’s part of the way, I always advance left and right, left, and right.
35. S. (01:07:20) About the state of exile in the ten, you said previously that in the ten, if we have one friend going through this state, personally, how much can we really approach this state and take care of it?
R. You need only connect among you and pray together for the advancement on the path, that is it. And not begin to poke into each and every friend, only connect into a prayer and pray to the Creator.
36. S. (01:08:09) Rabash, in the Social articles, he writes that “we should reach hatred for the will to receive”. How can we do that, is that individual work or in the ten?
R. This hatred will come through the reforming light, you need to work only on the good things, to connect among you and cry out to the Creator as much as you can, that is it. But along the way you will discover love for connection and hate for separation.
Excerpt 129 (01:09:05 - 01:11:26) twice
37. S. (01:11:31) A practical question: if one feels connected to the friends in the ten but one of the friends, maybe with one of them or two you don't feel this connection and it is painful, is that exile? How to ask, how to work specifically with a certain friend or as usual with the center of the ten?
R. For the time being, the center of the ten, direct yourself mainly to the center of the ten. And then gradually all of those friends with whom you cannot really be in personal connection will come closer.
38. S. (01:12:28) Israel has become a nation in Egypt or only after they came out of Egypt?
R. In the Exodus from Egypt.
S. So only in the Exodus?
R. In Egypt you can’t be in connection. A nation means that they are connected and in Egypt they still couldn't connect, they only attained that they were unconnected. Therefore they ran to the redemption.
S. So in Egypt there is no vessel?
R. In Egypt there is still not a complete vessel but only the revelation of the broken vessel.
S. If the order of coming out of Egypt is according to the order of the degree, four hundred years as it is written, what is not clear is how it happens every time. Is a vessel revealed every time and then it is emptied?
R. The separation between them becomes more and more revealed until they attain that they are totally incapable of anything. And then they cry out and feel the darkness, the darkness of Egypt is what it’s called. Then the Creator opens up the way for them, the way to connection. This is called the beginning of the exit.
S. So what is revealed every time? What is revealed on the path of coming out of Egypt?
R. Within Egypt they discover how they cannot be connected until the outcry becomes something terrible. And in this darkness they begin to run away from Egypt. That there is no choice, but they have to run away. This is called a night of the Exodus from Egypt. When they come out after all the operations they do outside of Egypt, the tearing of the Red Sea and others, then they begin to connect. The necessity for connection they get in Egypt. The ability to connect this is already outside of Egypt.
S. So like we learn there is no light without a vessel so how can there be a light revealed in Egypt?
R. Where do you have light in Egypt? In Egypt you only have the revelation of the darkness.
S. But it has to be revealed compared to the light no?
R. No. I don't understand these physics. I know only one thing. In Egypt, the darkness is revealed. The darkness of Egypt means they cannot be connected, they cannot bestow upon each other and to the Creator.
S. Towards what is that revealed? Compared to what?
R. Towards a person who wants to come out of the darkness.
S. But he needs some kind of Illumination to want to come out of it.
R. They have a small illumination, but it is only to distinguish between the darkness and the light. Maybe that is what you are asking.
S. So this illumination is accepted in a vessel? Where does it exist this illumination if there is no vessel yet?
R. How can there be a completely Kli in Egypt, I don’t understand your depiction. They discover deficiency, they are not connected. And in their lack of connection they also can’t feel and discover the Creator In order to bring Him contentment. Their feeling is the most ignoble, lowly feeling, and then they cry we want to come out of this state which is darkness. For us this is the state called darkness. It is not that darkness is there itself, like night, no. They feel that they have an inability to make a connection between them and connect to the Creator because the whole process is towards connection between them and their Creator. So they cry because they are incapable, and that is called the darkness of Egypt or the night of exiting Egypt. That is what becomes revealed and then they have an opportunity to connect in order to exit Egypt together, to escape this night, this darkness. Darkness that they cannot connect, that means darkness, and then they escape. They escape the inability to connect which is darkness and death and night for them.
39. S. (01:18:21) I feel like I am blind, I don't feel anything. What should I do to get over it?
R. To grab your friends, embrace them and be together with them like a baby that comes to the adult and grabs him by his dress and doesn't let him go. The adult is two meters tall and the little one is a quarter of that, and he grabs hold of the great one and doesn't let him go because that is his anchor. That is how we should be between us because the Creator is between us. How do we access Him, how do we grab hold of Him? By grabbing hold of each and every one. That is what we need to achieve. All the darkness and troubles that we go through the helplessness, inability, powerlessness, all of those things are in order to bring us to a necessity to connect between us. Just as we grabbed hold of the great one and then we cry to the Creator, which is how we need to connect.
40. S. (01:20:01) In excerpt 129 he speaks about the restriction. Do we perform the restriction in the ten in order to receive with a purpose to bestow?
R. We cannot yet make restrictions. Here we are only talking about the inability to connect. The inability to connect, that’s it.
41. S. (01:20:54) What is the balance between the state where we work in the ten and the wisdom of Kabbalah and this endless exile in the external world that we are in every day?
R. Leave the external world alone, Don’t start confusing between this and that right now because you are not yet clarifying the spiritual state that you’re in. You also don’t know what is really going on in the external world and you already want to start comparing the two. We are only talking about our inner world. How can we connect between us, discover darkness in the lack of connection between us and demand the Exodus? The Exodus is not that we will have shining light, but the exit is in being able to connect and then feeling that state as light. That is what we want to present to the Creator.
S. I am a young man and that is why I have a lot more time in the external world and I see how these thoughts affect me. The question is how can I use what is on the outside to get the state of the ten to be better and go ahead?
R. You will corrupt both yourself and the ten if you start connecting these two things these two worlds together, the external world and your inner world in the ten. Because you don't know this, and you don't know that. You are not yet in a solid certain state in any of these states. I'm telling you seriously be cautious, otherwise nothing will work for you. We are now studying material that is very fundamental. This is the foundation for our entire path and if you misperceive it you will then be confused your entire path.
S. I think what he is trying to ask also came up before. How to take the deficiencies that come from the corporeal world into a spiritual deficiency?
R. I would not recommend doing that now. Only the lack of connection in the ten to reveal the Creator, for us this is now the primary state. I do not want anything besides that. What's happening there outside with wars and other problems I do not care about any of that. I am only looking at this because here we are at a very critical point. It is like we learn from the Torah as well, how it says about their being in Egypt. Before The Exodus from Egypt it is a very delicate state, and risky. That we can stay there forever in the will to receive and just continue living that way and everything is fine. That’s it. Those who exit Egypt are those who know how to connect and cry and then the Creator takes them out, as it's written. So therefore we are not getting confused with any other data. Only inside the group how connected or disconnected we are, and we turn to the Creator to give us such a connection so that we emerge from Egypt. Meaning that we exit the rule of our ego, and we go under the rule of the Creator, the force of bestowal, achieving Lishma, achieving in order to bestow. That is a very significant state. We are moving from one world to another, rising from the degree of in order to receive to that of in order to bestow, and we can’t imagine anything else together with that exodus. The exit from Egypt is the point where you exit this world and enter the upper world, the next world. And you are trying to connect this with that and help someone somewhere or do something, no. Cut it off, cut it all out, nothing, just like in the Exodus from Egypt. We cut off, we detach from the will to receive, and we no longer want to be in contact with it. Period, that’s it. Now after you acquire vessels of the bestowal, vessels of Bina then you can be on a spiritual degree there and also go down and catch more friends and maybe groups and raise them higher. But that is after you are already on a spiritual level.
42. S. (01:27:32) You said to hold on, to grasp the Creator, to cling to Him. So we really have to cling to the ten because the Creator disappears right away, and we fall. So how to hold on to this process?
R. The Creator does not disappear, He resides within the ten. If you truly hold on to the ten then you’re holding on to the Creator. That’s how it’s built. That by holding on to the ten through that you are holding on to the Creator for certain.
43. S. (01:28:18) You answered the previous question that we need to mix corporeality and spirituality. I myself am put together from all of this material so how to learn how to divide it between friends in the ten because it seems that we mix corporeality with our spiritual work in the ten. How to learn how to separate it? I do not understand.
R. This depends on how much you think of the spiritual state that needs to become revealed in the connection in the ten. And although it is something we keep rejecting, we don't want to think about it and we shift these states to some other form, but again and again we need to go back to something simple. The connection between us has to reveal to us the connection with the Creator. And the Creator has to be attained in the connection between us as that which fulfills the connection between us. We are the Kli, and he is the light that fills the Kli. Think about it more and more and see that it is possible. Okay?
44. S. (01:30:18) You said that whoever comes out of Egypt is whoever knows how to unite and cry. We do the actions but the cry, should it be personal or how to scrutinize it?
R. The cry has to come from everyone together and for one thing - connection between us and the Creator so as to give Him an opportunity to be revealed in us and bring Him contentment by doing so.
45. S. (01:31:07) Can you explain the process of unity, of connection, which thoughts?
R. No, that is something that you have to do. We talked about it a few times that you should say once a month go back to writing down a plan for connection in the group towards revelation of the Creator. Okay?
46. S. (01:31:51) In the ten we work on connection and while we work on connection we are able to build the Kli, that is what we are told. So my question is the people who are not people who are straight to Israel, do they also have a Kli and they’re not aware of it?
R. In principle yes, everyone has that Kli where it all depends on the revelation, how ripe, mature the Kli is.
47. S. (01:32:45) The fall and assent they are constantly with us when we study. So what is the difference between Egypt and the other ascents and descents on the path?
R. We discover in Egypt that everything depends on the connection between us and that we are incapable of connecting. Then we demand the presence of the Creator to connect between us. The beginning of connection between us is happening in Egypt.
48. S. (01:33:41) As much as I understood, the darkness of Egypt is suffering and when a person suffers that is the only thing that he thinks about, not about the friends. So it is right that everyone cries at that moment but how to connect that suffering to one mutual suffering?
R. Try to discuss discuss it and read what Rabash writes, maybe his complete articles and not just excerpts and see that it happens, that it is happening. Do not be afraid of being confused. You can even read the book of Torah; I am sure that this exists and each and every language. We can see whether in our archive we also have the Torah book with the translations that our friends need, and we will see. Look at the different conditions and nuances that are discussed. We are going to have to discover all of it. All of it are aspects or facets of connection between us to a single Kli. That is all that it is about.
49. S. (01:35:37) You said a few minutes ago that when we want to connect we have to depict a state where the Creator is revealed in the connection between us. So what does it mean to depict that the Creator is in the connections?
R. The force of connection and love that appears through the efforts between us, that’s called Creator.
S. I heard you say that once a month we have to build a plan of connection for the ten.
R. If you want to do that because I was asked. How do we understand the plan for connections? So talk about it
S. Are the principles that such the plan needs?
R. The whole wisdom of Kabbalah is the program for connection between the broken vessels connecting them to a single Kli.
S. When we try to make a plan usually you take an example from something. So we have our work, but a plan is where you put milestones in there or hear it. Is a bit more complex to do such things or maybe not?
R. You are right to some extent, but I thought you would be starting to do with what is in your hands and what is accessible to you and then you would discover more. Start on your own and then maybe I will get involved in that too.
50. S. (01:37:43) When the ten is between deficiencies and tendencies towards the importance of spirituality are they in Egypt in some way?
R. To the extent that the ten understands that it has a broken vessel, then it exists in Egypt.
51. S. (01:38:15) Sometimes you say to ask for the Creator to be revealed between us and sometimes you say to ask for the Creator to be revealed in the friends and not in me. So how does that work out together?
R. It depends on my work. Sometimes I act this way and sometimes the other way. It is all towards progress. Progress in the general connection between us and with the Creator.
52. S. (01:38:46) Why is a slave to Pharaoh is in exile but a slave to the Creator isn’t. In both, I am a slave. When will I not be a slave to any of them?
R. To be a servant to the will to receive that is the servant of Pharaoh but to be a servant of the will to bestow, a servant of the Creator, that is the higher force, that is the highest level. Moses is called the Creator's servant because being a servant to Pharaoh means that I do not need to make any efforts due to my nature. I am born this way and I exist this way. However, becoming a servant of the Creator, that requires doing many actions and efforts and getting strength from above to annul myself towards the force of bestowal, of Bina. That is already the degree of the servant that I attain in my vessels. That's the difference.
53. S. (01:40:11) Our nature does not need connection. We only need the Creator when we have corporeal deficiencies. So what awakens man to ask the Creator to come out of Egypt?
R. The root of the soul of a person demands that person exit that state that he is in, under the rule of Pharaoh, the rule of nature. He wants to exit his own nature. That means he is turning to the Creator and crying and that comes to him from the root of his soul.
54. S. (01:41:14) According to our current state what is a ten that comes out of exile? How to depict it correctly?
R. What is a ten that comes out of the exile? It is found in adhesion with a Creator in some form, to some extent. It senses the Creator; the Creator becomes revealed in it. That ten is approaching knowing all of reality. It can bestow to others from the power of the ten. It reveals inside of it the upper force and thus feels all of reality that appears, as in a Kli. It understands everything that is happening in reality. The ten that discovers the Creator discovers everything and it can see from one end of the world to the other.
55. S. (01:42:40) What are the vessels we have to build during the exile?
R. During the exile we need to build a deficiency for redemption, for the revelation of the Creator in us. That He will fulfill us and connect us.
56. S. (01:43:02) Through the whole spiritual path we will feel entrances and exits?
R. Yes. This is the wonder and that is good. Because specifically in getting closer and farther, in and out, by that we feel the changes, we feel life, and the pulse of spiritual life.
57. S. (01:43:38) Is the exile a state where I never had any connection or that I need connection? What does a person in exile suffer from, from not having bestowal or from it not being important?
R. That depends on who we are talking about. A person that suffers from exile, he suffers from being in exile, that’s it. And if he doesn’t feel exile then he’s not there. It's all about what man feels.
58. S. (01:44:28) How does the necessity for connection come? How does that passage happen, from the darkness to the need to connect?
R. The need to connect comes to us from the guidance of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Of course, it is not something that we need, connection between us but we don’t have a choice. We gradually learn and work between us, even though we do not want to be that close to each other, but we gradually discover that yes, we do have to be connected. And spirituality will appear only in the connection between us. To the extent that we are different, since each and every one is more egoistic than others, and yet we connect between us. This indicates the power of connection between us. And according to that power of connection we discover the Creator. The ten which has ten people and each of them stands out, then we reveal the image of the Creator that is comprised of ten. When we become more egoistic but also more connecting between us, then we reveal the image of the Creator more than before.
59. S. (01:46:10) You said that if there is nothing from ahead that shines, there is a danger that we will stay in the exile. What should shine on us from ahead?
R. We have to imagine to ourselves the force of connection, of bestowal, of love that is in front of us and becomes revealed to us. Then this way we can advance. This is our light tower.
S. It’s something the group can create artificially?
R. Yes, it must depict that to itself.
60. S. (01:47:01) It says that to the extent that the Egyptians enslave the sons of Israel, which determines their exile. So coming out of exile is when a person ascribes everything to the Creator and doesn't see Pharaoh or the Egyptians enslaving him anymore?
R. Yes. We have to give more accurate definitions to Pharaoh and the Creator. The opposite force of the Creator is called Pharaoh, and specifically with both the posterior and the face of the Creator as he explains to us in the article “You Have Made Me in Behind and Before” we come to reveal our true state, and by that we come closer to redemption. In redemption both light and darkness come together. The darkness shines as light as it says. Specifically through the darkness we see more light.
61. S. (01:48:15) Can you come out of exile when we feel that we still don't deserve it, or we did everything?
R. This does not depend on us. It’s not that I open the door and leave, go out. If I have inside such qualities that made me compatible to the upper world then I go out to that upper world, I begin to sense it, that I am already in it. And if I do not have some qualities that connect me to the upper world that I don’t go there. It’s impossible otherwise it is only according to equivalence of form. This is the law.
62. S. (01:49:09) What is a state that a person feels that he wants to come out from not being connected to the friends, but he doesn't have the forces to do it?
R. If he doesn’t have connection with the friends then how does he leave? On your own you cannot exit Egypt, only in a group that becomes completely connected. Where everyone supports the others, and everyone exists in the others. I will say this: each one comes out of Egypt in order to serve the others. That makes him exit Egypt. That is the only way it happens. Do you hear? Are you all hearing? If I am in a group and I am exiting Egypt to save myself, then I remain in Egypt with no chance to leave. If I want to leave Egypt so as to save my friends, then I leave. That is the hard and fast rule that cannot be violated. Otherwise where are you going? If you are going out to the spiritual world why do you want the light? It is then called darkness and not light, you remember what it is written about it.
63. S. (01:50:42) If all the friends in the ten feel that we can’t reach connection should we talk about it between us?
R. Discuss it among yourselves and try to convince the friends that we have to think about the exit to spirituality together. And those who don't, don't. So some may exit, and some won’t yet.
64. S. (01:51:18) Is preparation for receiving the light mean being aware that we first need to reveal all the darkness?
R. Yes.
65. S. (01:51:33) If I feel the exile does it mean that I'm not connected?
R. Of course. Because if you were connected you would feel that in your friends there is light, and they are already outside Egypt. Not because they themselves but because that's how you relate spirituality to them. It is like Rabbi Yoshi Ben Kisma and his students. He was learning from them, through them. They were all very little but as he nullified himself through them he received all spirituality. That is how spirituality works. It is not like how it works here in corporeality.
66. S. (01:52:29) How to scrutinize in the ten what the state in the exile is so it helps us advance and not fall into the left line?
R. Remind each other talk about it a few times during the day. It is desirable to go through the quotes that we read in the lesson, they are very serious and accurate, and that is how we will advance. Don’t let yourself detach for many hours, for a long time or from thoughts that are too far from our path.
67. S. (01:53:11) How does a person in the ten know that he attained the whole depth of the exile?
R. This is something we grasp bit by bit. The truth is that the exile is attained after you exit the exile. While in exile you cannot really attain it. When we escape Egypt towards the final correction then we begin to attain the vessels of Egypt and the vessels of redemption.
We will do a short break and then move to the next part of the lesson.
https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/lessons/cu/5ebCX8ws
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam. Exile and Redemption