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

Daily Lesson (Morning) June 25, 2024.

Part 3: Mishna, Pirkei Avot. Chapter 2. Item 7.

Reader: We are reading in the “Mishna,” “Chapters of the Fathers,” chapter 2, item 7. 

Reading: (00:15) Item 7. He used to say: The more flesh, the more worms; The more property, the more anxiety; The more wives, the more witchcraft; The more female slaves, the more lewdness; The more slaves, the more robbery; [But] the more Torah, the more life; The more sitting [in the company of scholars], the more wisdom; The more counsel, the more understanding; The more charity, the more peace. If one acquires a good name, he has acquired something for himself; If one acquires for himself knowledge of Torah, he has acquired life in the world to come.

M. Laitman: Somebody want to add? Why are you laughing? You want to add, join the fathers? No? Okay, number eight. 

Reading: (01:50) Item 8. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai received [the oral tradition] from Hillel and Shammai. He used to say: if you have learned much Torah, do not claim credit for yourself, because for such a purpose were you created. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai had five disciples and they were these: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, Rabbi Yose, the priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Nethaneel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach. He [Rabbi Johanan] used to list their outstanding virtues: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus is a plastered cistern which loses not a drop; Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah happy is the woman that gave birth to him; Rabbi Yose, the priest, is a pious man; Rabbi Simeon ben Nethaneel is one that fears sin, And Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach is like a spring that [ever] gathers force. He [Rabbi Yohanan] used to say: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus on the other scale, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul said in his name: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus also with them, and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach on the other scale, he would outweigh them all.

M. Laitman: Questions? There's nothing to ask, you just listen and it's beautiful and shocking.

Reading: (04:11) Item 9. He [Rabban Yohanan] said unto them: go forth and observe which is the right way to which a man should cleave? Rabbi Eliezer said, a good eye; Rabbi Joshua said, a good companion; Rabbi Yose said, a good neighbor; Rabbi Shimon said, foresight. Rabbi Elazar said, a good heart. He [Rabban Yohanan] said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach, for in his words your words are included. He [Rabban Yohanan] said unto them: go forth and observe which is the evil way which a man should shun? Rabbi Eliezer said, an evil eye; Rabbi Joshua said, an evil companion; Rabbi Yose said, an evil neighbor; Rabbi Shimon said, one who borrows and does not repay for he that borrows from man is as one who borrows from God, blessed be He, as it is said, “the wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous deal graciously and give” (Psalms 37:21). Rabbi Elazar said, an evil heart. He [Rabban Yohanan] said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach, for in his words your words are included.

M. Laitman: Yes, let's keep going, what can you do? 

Reading: (06:30) Item 10. They [each] said three things: Rabbi Eliezer said: Let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own; And be not easily provoked to anger; And repent one day before your death. And [he also said:] warm yourself before the fire of the wise, but beware of being singed by their glowing coals, for their bite is the bite of a fox, and their sting is the sting of a scorpion, and their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like coals of fire.

M. Laitman: Good.

Reading: (07:35) Item 11. Rabbi Joshua said: an evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred for humankind put a person out of the world.

Reading: (07:57) Item 12. Rabbi Yose said: Let the property of your fellow be as precious unto you as your own; Make yourself fit to study Torah for it will not be yours by inheritance; And let all your actions be for [the sake of] the name of heaven.

Reading: (08:26) Item 13. Rabbi Shimon said: Be careful with the reading of Shema and the prayer, And when you pray, do not make your prayer something automatic, but a plea for compassion before God, for it is said: “for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment” (Joel 2:13); And be not wicked in your own esteem.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:16) He writes in number 12, prepare yourself to study Torah, because you don't get it by inheritance. What does it mean? What does it mean to study Torah because you don't receive it by inheritance? He doesn't inherit it, he doesn't get reward, is that it?

M. Laitman: Yes, that it didn't come in inheritance, that you study it in order to acquire it. 

Student: Inheritance is what you get from someone close to you who gives it to you.

M. Laitman: Right.

Student: What does it mean to study Torah, that I didn't receive from someone? 

M. Laitman: That you have to invest your own forces in it in order to receive the Torah, and it will be your own.

Student: Okay, in 13, he writes, be careful with the Shema reading, and with prayer. And when you pray, do not make your prayer something regular but a plea for compassion before the Creator. What does it mean to not make it regular? 

M. Laitman: That you're constantly going to search for a new connection.

Student: Let’s say, soon we will be praying, each one in his own place, and wait, so we shouldn't look for, shouldn't rely on words that are beginning to become familiar but to look for new things there?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:00) In 11, he writes, the things that are seemingly negative, that take a person out from the world. How does it reconcile with envy, lust, and honor that take a person out from the world? Is it the same?

M. Laitman: No, we have to see, I don't think so. 

Student: So, can you explain what this means, or is it impossible? Can we read this item again? 

M. Laitman: 11, “Rabbi Joshua said, an evil eye and an evil inclination and hatred of pure humankind put a person out of the world.”

Student: How do such negative qualities take a person out from the world and move him to the next world? 

M. Laitman: It's truly negative qualities, the evil eye, the evil inclination, or hatred for humankind. These three take a person out of the world.

Student: It sounds contradictory to what we learn. 

M. Laitman: Why? Taking someone out of the world is a good thing.

Student: We learn that it is, it's the next world, next degree, I don't know, maybe here it means something else.

M. Laitman: I guess it's a different angle. I don't want to get into this, but that's how it is.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:30) In 10, he says, one day before you die, why specifically then? 

M. Laitman: I guess before you die, that you still have an opportunity to correct your deeds. 

Student: Another question. At the end of 13, he says, do not be wicked in your own eyes. What does it mean not to be wicked in your own eyes? 

M. Laitman: You and how do you judge yourself? How do you think? 

Student: I understand not be wicked to others. What does it mean to be in your own eyes wicked? 

M. Laitman: Just as you understand it, just like you think, so who are you? 

Student: We say you should condemn yourself. So, what does it mean not to be wicked in your own eyes? 

M. Laitman: So, that's what he thinks.

Student: I don't understand. 

M. Laitman: What is he offering for a person to think of himself? 

Student: Does it mean he should try to be righteous or what? 

M. Laitman: What's written?

Student:  It's written, do not be wicked in your own eyes or your own esteem. In the beginning, be careful with reading the Shema and the prayer, do not make your prayer regular, but a plea for compassion before the Creator, because He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and resounding in renouncing punishment. And do not be wicked in your own eyes. So, all those things are means not to come to a state of being wicked?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:22) In number 10, he writes, in number 10 he writes that you should warm yourself in the light of the righteous, but don't be burned by their words because their words are like coals. So, why should we be careful and why can't their words burn us? 

M. Laitman: Because you'll see how true they are and how opposite they are than what you are. 

Student: What should we be careful from? 

M. Laitman: It's simple. 

Student: From what should we be careful? 

M. Laitman: From their truth. There are such words or sentences that are like an arrow that enters a person's heart. 

Student: He says it's like a scorpion, or like a fox, or a serpent. Maybe if we can read this again, I don't know, to me that was very powerful. 

M. Laitman: Where, which? 

Student: Number 10. 

M. Laitman: They said three things? This is what you mean? Read it please, reader. 

Reading: (15:54) Item 10. They [each] said three things: Rabbi Eliezer said: Let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own; And be not easily provoked to anger; And repent one day before your death. And [he also said:] warm yourself before the fire of the wise, but beware of being singed by their glowing coals, for their bite is the bite of a fox, and their sting is the sting of a scorpion, and their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like coals of fire.

M. Laitman: All right. He calmed down. Do you want to say something? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (17:01) I want to ask about item 9. The teacher asked the students what's the right way to which a person should adhere. And they tell them, a good eye, a good friend, a good neighbor, seeing the future, etc.. Rabbi Eliezer says a good heart. And then he says that's the answer he prefers. What is a good heart? 

M. Laitman: A heart, just like we learned, is the central point of the body, of the whole of man. So a good heart is a sign that all thoughts and deeds of a person are all, they all reach that point of the good heart.

Student: And that's the right way that a person should stick to? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Why is it preferable to everything else? To a good neighbor, a good eye, etc.?

M. Laitman: I don't know. I hear it's like that. Why exactly? I don't know.

Student: How does a person acquire a good heart?

M. Laitman: When he gathers all those qualities that belong to a good heart and tries according to that to direct himself. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:44) A person might read it and think it's kind of moral, he should put on his heart. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student:  Is it correct to relate to the text this way?

M. Laitman: Any text you can turn it around from one end to the other? 

Student: I, for example, can read and see qualities that are not corrected in me compared to what is written, and then I can try to, want to work on it and correct it. But is it correct to work with it this way?

M. Laitman: Yes, that's how it works. 

Student: There are interpretations to all those things. Bartenura, Rambam interprets. All those questions have answers. There are people who ask these questions in history, and there are interpretations to them. Sometimes I look and I see that there are ones to it. The question is, should we delve into the interpretations? 

M. Laitman: I didn't see Rabash doing it. 

Student: I know that “Chapters of the Fathers,” we simply read them just like that, and whatever enters, enters each one? 

M. Laitman: Right.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:10) I feel like after we've read 400 articles of Rabash where he quotes a lot from these sayings here, and he interprets them in the work, there are many things to it, and we'll interpret it in the work. So, things seem much more... I also don't understand how we can read them without reading the articles of Rabash first. What can we understand from it, other than just morals, and Rabash opens it completely differently.

M. Laitman: Yes, but there's all kinds. It depends who's reading. There's people that can't read according to the way you're saying it, and there's people that can only read according to what's on that page before them.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:22) We're coming out of a lesson, where in the first part, we saw how Baal HaSulam speaks so high, and we are trying to understand what he means when he talks about communism. In the second part, we praised and talked about the importance of the deficiency, and here we see the gap between the sages who wrote for us, and what we can understand from it. I have two questions: One, what do we come out with a lesson with, by what are we giving contentment with it?

M. Laitman: By me, with the words that I'm really absorbing now, from the text before me, that I'm able to ascend to the Creator with them, more and more and more. That's it. I think that is the simplest and possible to implement, for each one.

Student: And how do we take the deficiency that was built in the lesson as strength to work in the Ten during the day? 

M. Laitman: We need to try to connect the deficiencies into one, to all be between us in one circle, to put the Creator in the center of the circle, and in that way, we advance to the connection between us and with the Creator, together. 

Reading: (24:08) Item 14. Rabbi Elazar said: Be diligent in the study of the Torah; And know how to answer an epicuros, And know before whom you toil, and that your employer is faithful, for He will pay you the reward of your labor.

Reading: (24:38) Item 15. Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.

Reading: (25:05) Item 16.  He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it; If you have studied much Torah, you shall be given much reward. Faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor; and know that the grant of reward unto the righteous is in the age to come.

Reader: (25:49) Announcements.