The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), September 20, 2024.
Part 1 Rabash. Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1 (1985)
Reader: As per the request of the friends, we will read from Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend, One.
Reading: (00:13) Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1 Article No. 1, 1985
In the Mishnah (Avot, 1), Yehoshua Ben Perachia says, “Make for yourself a Rav [great/teacher], buy yourself a friend, and judge every person favorably.” We see that there are three things here: 1) Make for yourself a Rav; 2) buy yourself a friend; 3) judge every person favorably.
This means that besides making for himself a Rav, there is something more that he must do in relation to the collective. In other words, engaging in love of friends is not enough. Additionally, he should be considerate toward every person and judge them favorably.
We must understand the difference in wording between “make,” “buy,” and “favorably.” Making is a practical thing. This means that there is no mind involved here, only action. In other words, even if one does not agree with the thing he wishes to do, but on the contrary, the mind makes him see that it is not a worthwhile deed, this is called doing, meaning sheer force, with no brains, since it is against his reason.
Accordingly, we should interpret in relation to the work, that the fact that one needs to assume the kingdom of heaven is called “an act.” It is like putting the yoke on an ox so it would plow the ground. Although the ox does not wish to take this work on itself, we force it, nonetheless.
Similarly, with the kingdom of heaven we should also force and enslave ourselves because it is the Creator’s commandment, without any rhyme or reason. This is so because man must accept the kingdom of heaven not because the body feels that some benefit will come to it as a result, but in order to give contentment to the Creator.
But how can the body agree to it? This is the reason why the work must be above reason. It is called, “Make for yourself a Rav,” since there should be the kingdom of heaven because “He is great and ruling.”
It is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar”), “‘Fear is the most important, for man to fear the Upper One because He is great and ruling, the essence and the root of all the worlds, and all are of no consequence compared to Him.’ Thus, one should fear the Creator because He is great and rules over everything. He is great because He is the root from which all the worlds expand, and His greatness is seen by His actions. And He rules over everything because all the worlds that He created, both upper and lower, are regarded as nothing compared to Him for they add nothing to His essence.”
Therefore, the order of the work is for one to begin with “Make for yourself a Rav,” and take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven above logic and above reason. This is called “doing,” meaning action only, despite the body’s disapproval. Afterwards, “Buy yourself a friend.” Buying is just as when a person wishes to buy something; he must let go of something that he has already acquired. He gives what he’s had for some time and in return purchases a new object.
It is similar with the work of God. For one to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is equivalence of form, as in, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful,” he must concede many things that he has in order to buy bonding with the Creator. This is the meaning of “Buy yourself a friend.”
Before a person makes for himself a Rav, meaning the kingdom of heaven, how can he buy himself a friend, meaning bond with the Rav? After all, he has no Rav yet. Only after he has made for himself a Rav is there a point in demanding that the body make concessions to buy the bonding, that he wishes to give contentment to the Creator.
Moreover, we should understand that he has the strength to observe “buy yourself a friend” to the same extent as the greatness of the Rav. This is so because he is willing to make concessions so as to bond with the Rav to the very same extent that he feels the importance of the Rav, since then he understands that obtaining Dvekut with the Creator is worth any effort.
It turns out that if one sees that he cannot overcome the body because he thinks that he is not strong enough and was born with a weak nature, it is not so. The reason is that he is not feeling the greatness of the Rav. In other words, he still does not have the importance of the kingdom of heaven, so he has no strength to overcome for something that is not very important. But for an important thing, anyone can concede important things that he loves and receive what he needs.
For example, if a person is very tired and goes to sleep at around 11 pm, if he is awakened at three in the morning, of course he will say that he has no energy to get up to study because he’s very tired. And if he feels a little weak or has a slight temperature, the body will certainly have no power to rise at the time he is accustomed to rising.
But if a person is very tired, feeling sick, and goes to sleep at midnight, but is awakened at one in the morning and told, “There is a fire in the yard; it’s about to come into your room, quick, get up and you’ll save your life in return for the effort you are making,” then he will not make any excuses about being tired, mindless, or sick. Rather, even if he is very sick, he will make every effort to save his life. Evidently, because he will obtain an important thing, the body has the energy to do what it can to get what he wants.
Therefore, while working on “Make for yourself a Rav,” a person believes that it is, “For they are our lives and the length of our days.” To the extent that he feels that this is his life, the body has enough strength to overcome all the obstacles, as written in the allegory. For this reason, in all of man’s works, in studying or in praying, he should focus all his work on obtaining the greatness and importance of the Rav. Much work and many prayers should be made on that alone.
In the words of The Zohar, this is called “Raising the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust,” which means raising the kingdom of heaven, which is lowered to the dust. In other words, one does not place an important thing on the ground, while something that is unimportant is tossed to the ground. And since the kingdom of heaven, called Shechina, is “Lowered to the very bottom,” it is said in the books that before every spiritual action one must pray to “raise the Shechina from the dust.” This means that we should pray that we will regard the kingdom of heaven as important and that it will be worthwhile exerting for it and raising it to its importance.
Now we can understand what we say in the Rosh Hashanah [New Year’s Eve] prayer, “Give the glory of God to Your people.” This seems quite perplexing. How is it permitted to pray for honor? Our sages said, “Be very, very humble,” so how can we pray for the Creator to give us glory?
We should interpret that we pray that the Creator will give the glory of God to Your people, since we have no glory of God, but “The city of God is lowered to the very bottom,” called “Shechina in the dust.” Also, we do not have the real importance in the matter of “Make for yourself a Rav.” Hence, on Rosh Hashanah, the time when we take upon ourselves the kingdom of heaven, we ask of the Creator to give the glory of God to Your people, for the people of Israel to feel the glory of the Creator. And then we will be able to keep the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in full.
Hence, we should say, “Give the glory of God to Your people,” meaning that He will give the glory of God to the people of Israel. This does not mean that He will give the glory of Israel to the people of Israel, but that the Creator will give the glory of God to the people of Israel, for this is all we need, to feel the importance and greatness of Dvekut with the Creator. If we have this importance, each person will be able to make efforts and there will be no one in the world saying he has no strength to save his life, so he wishes to remain dead, if he feels that life is a very important thing because he can enjoy life.
But if a person does not feel that life has meaning, many people choose to die. This is so because no person can experience suffering in his life because it is against the purpose of creation, since the purpose of creation was to do good to His creations, meaning that they would enjoy life. Hence, when one sees that he cannot be happy now, or at least later, he commits suicide because he does not have the goal of life.
It follows that all we lack is, “Make for yourself a Rav,” to sense the greatness of the Creator. Then, everyone will be able to achieve the goal, which is to adhere to Him.
And we should also interpret the words of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Perachia—who says three things: 1) Make for yourself a Rav. 2) Buy yourself a friend. 3) Judge every person favorably—in regards to love of friends.
It would make sense to think that friendship relates to two people with equal skills and qualities, since then they find it easy to communicate, and they unite as one. And then, “They helped everyone his friend,” like two people who make a partnership and each invests equal energy, resources, and work. Then the profits, too, are divided equally among them.
However, if one is superior to the other, meaning he invests more money or more expertise or more energy than the other, the division of profits is unequal, too. This is called “one-third partnership” or a “one-quarter partnership.” Thus, it is not considered a real partnership because one is of higher status than the other.
It turns out that real friendship—when each makes the necessary payment to buy his friend—is precisely when both are of equal status, and then both pay equally. It is like a corporeal business, where both of them give everything equally, or there cannot be a real partnership. Hence, “Buy yourself a friend,” since there can be bonding—when each buys his friend—only when they are equal.
But on the other hand, it is impossible to learn from one another if one does not see that his friend is greater than him. But if the other one is greater, he cannot be his friend, but his Rav [teacher/great], while he is considered a student. At that time, he can learn knowledge or virtues from him.
This is why it is said, “Make for yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend”; both have to exist. In other words, each should regard the other as a friend, and then there is room for buying. This means that each must pay with concessions to the other, like a father concedes his rest, works for his son, spends money for his son, and all is because of the love.
However, there it is natural love. The Creator gave natural love for raising children so there would be persistence to the world. If, for instance, the father would raise the children because it is a Mitzva [commandment], his children would have food, clothing, and other things that are necessary for children to the extent that a person is committed to keep all the Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva]. At times he would keep the Mitzvot, and at times he would only do the very minimum, and his children could starve to death.
This is why the Creator gave parents natural love for their children, so there would be persistence to the world. This is not so with love of friends. Here everyone must make great efforts by himself to create the love of friends in his heart.
It is the same with “And buy yourself a friend.” Once he understands, at least intellectually, that he needs help and he cannot do the holy work, to the extent that he understands it in his mind, he begins to buy, to make concessions for his friend’s sake.
This is so because he understands that the work is primarily in bestowing upon the Creator. However, it is against his nature because man is born with a desire to receive only for his own benefit. Hence, we were given the cure by which to go from self-love to love of others, and by that he can arrive at the love of the Creator.
Therefore, he can find a friend at his level. But afterwards, making the friend a Rav, meaning for him to feel that his friend is at a higher degree is something that one cannot see, that his friend is like a Rav and he is like a student. But if he does not regard his friend as a Rav, how will he learn from him? This is called “Make,” meaning a mindless action. In other words, he must accept, above reason, that his friend is greater and this is called “Make,” meaning acting above reason.
In the essay, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar,” it is written, “To receive the first condition, each student must feel as the smallest among all the friends. In that state, one can receive the appreciation of the exaltedness of the great one.” Thus, he is explicitly stating that each one should see himself as the smallest among the students.
And yet, how can one see oneself as the smallest of the students? Here, only above reason is pertinent. This is called “Make for yourself a Rav,” meaning that each of them is considered a Rav compared to him, and he is regarded as merely a student.
This is a great exertion, since there is a rule that the other’s deficiencies are always visible while his own faults are always hidden. And yet, he must regard the other as being virtuous, and that it is worthwhile for him to accept what he says or does, to learn from the other’s actions.
But the body does not agree to it because whenever one must learn from another, meaning if he has high regard for the other, the other commits him to labor, and the body revokes the views and actions of the other. Because the body wants to rest, it is better for it and more convenient to rule out his friend’s views and actions so he will not have to make an effort.
This is why it is called, “Make for yourself a Rav.” It means that for the friend to be your Rav, you have to make it. In other words, it is not by reason, since the reason asserts otherwise, and sometimes even shows him the opposite, that he can be the Rav and the other his student. This is why it is called “Make,” meaning doing and not reasoning.
3) “And judge every person favorably.”
After we said, “Buy yourself a friend,” there remains the question, “What about the rest of the people?” For example, if a person chooses a few friends from his congregation and leaves the rest aside and does not bond with them, the question is, “How should he treat them?” After all, they are not his friends, and why didn’t he choose them? Clearly, we should say that he did not find virtues in them to make it worth his while to bond with them, meaning he does not appreciate them.
Thus, how should he treat the rest of the people in his congregation? And the same applies to the rest of the people who are not from among the people of the congregation. How should he treat them? Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Perachia says about it, “Judge every person favorably,” meaning one should judge everyone favorably.
This means that the fact that he does not find merits in them is not their fault. Rather, it is not in his power to be able to see the merits of the general public. For this reason, he sees according to the qualities of his own soul. This is true according to his attainment, but not according to the truth. In other words, there is such a thing as truth in itself, regardless of the one who attains.
There is truth that each attains according to his attainment, meaning that truth changes according to the ones who attain. Meaning, it is subject to change according to the changing states in the one who attains.
But the actual truth did not change in its essence. This is why each person can attain the same thing differently. Therefore, regarding the public, it could be that the public is just fine, but he sees differently, according to his own quality.
This is why he says, “And judge every person favorably,” meaning he should judge all the others besides his friends favorably—that they are all worthy in and of themselves and he has no complaints whatsoever concerning their conduct. But for himself, he cannot learn anything from them because he has no equivalence with them.
Student: (25:41) What does it mean to judge them favorably? What, you don't need to judge the friends, favorably?
M. Laitman: The friends, certainly, but also towards others.
Student: What does it mean to judge favorably?
M. Laitman: That you think of them, that they're right.
Student: Let's say, we have many enemies now, I need to judge them favorably – all our enemies? He doesn't differentiate, he says every person, he doesn't say except for enemies and so on, he says everyone.?
M. Laitman: Everyone.
Student: How can you judge your enemies favorably? Are they correct, just, in wanting to kill me?
M. Laitman: They have a justification.
Student: What justification do they have to kill me?
M. Laitman: They have their own truth, and I can't say that they're not right.
Student: The fact that they have their own truth, that's certain, but what right do they have to take my life and I need to justify them for that – to judge them favorably – I don't understand, what does it give me?
M. Laitman: It gives you, to attribute everything to the Creator.
Student: Ultimately, I have to see the Creator behind them, and to judge the Creator favorably because He's acting through them?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What indication do I have, they want to kill me, the enemies. So, what indication do I have through that, that the Creator is The Good Who Does Good?
M. Laitman: That everyone in the world is right, according to his quality, and you can't say that he's not right.
Student: What is the indication for me? What should I do when I see entire peoples wanting to annihilate me and I need to justify them? What does that signify for me or symbolize for me?
M. Laitman: You can't hate them.
Student: You can't hate, interesting, so, if he comes to kill me, I do need to kill him but I can't hate him, right? I can't avenge, right? There's no revenge, what's the reason for that?
M. Laitman: That's against the Creator's will.
Student: (28:44) So, it's like a bear: If I see a bear in the woods, I know I need to kill it to be saved but it's not that I hate the bear. It's clear to me that it's nature to kill me and eat me, there's nothing to do about that. So that's how I should relate to it as well? All this hatred, is that to awaken us?
M. Laitman: All of this hatred is in order to help us correct ourselves. They have no choice and our hated, it comes to them from the Creator.
Student: So, not to ascribe any value to them, right, it's all the Creator. They're not at fault for hating me, they don't have freedom of choice.
M. Laitman: Not their fault.
Student: I need to judge every person, favorably?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How should I judge every friend?
M. Laitman: Also, favorably.
Student: How is the work with the friend different than the work I do with every other person?
M. Laitman: With the friend, you connect. You wish to connect with him and do the spiritual work with him. With each and every one in the world, no.
Student: Now, I always need to see the friend as correct, just, justified, corrected. That's always the approach, right, the friend never makes a mistake? He has no faults, no lacks. There's nothing to complain about, he's righteous, as far as I'm concerned.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And if his actions towards the Ten aren't correct, in my estimation, not good, in my estimation?
M. Laitman: Then try to speak to him and correct it.
Student: To correct him so he's wrong at fault.
M. Laitman: That's what you see.
Student: That's how it seems. So, I want to understand, is he good or not good? I judge him favorably?
M. Laitman: You judge him, no, not to debt.
Student: (31:17) If I judge him favorably, despite it seeming to me that he's wrong, I have nothing to correct there.
M. Laitman: Correct yourself.
Student: Correct myself. Is there such a thing as going to a friend and talking to him, saying you're doing this wrong, that wrong? Should we do that? Should I remain silent and pray to the Creator to see him as correct?
M. Laitman: Correct.
Student: So that's the approach.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But with your eyes, you see something clear, something obvious.
M. Laitman: In your eyes, you see how much you are not going, hand in hand, with the Creator.
Student: So, there's nothing I can do, I'm as though in a bubble, I remain silent and everything is perfect and corrected. I just tell myself this story, right, that everything is perfect? The friend doesn't come to the morning lesson, and I must say that he's perfect, in my estimation, this friend. I'm not seeing the situation clearly.
M. Laitman: Yes, yes.
Student: (32:28) The situation is a bit more complex: One friend sees another friend as being at fault, and that's his problem, right? But if nine friends see one friend as being at fault, everyone discusses it, and they all see the same. So those nine are all wrong?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: That's something else, then?
M. Laitman: They have to work on him.
Student: It's not that we're all wrong because our egos are all warped, and we see him incorrectly, and we need to judge him favorably. No, if we all see him that way, then supposedly it's that friend's fault, right? And if it's just me seeing him at fault, then it's my problem, right?
M. Laitman: That's usually the case.
Student: You have to judge every friend favorably. Is that justifying the Creator, essentially?
M. Laitman: Justifying the friend, yes, even though it goes against what you think you see.
Student: So, I have some sensation, I feel something, and if I want to give an external expression to what I feel, that needs to go through the thought of the Ten.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And so, if I act on my own behalf, then certainly it's wrong because I'm acting with my own vessel. The friends in the Ten, those I connect with, friends in other Tens, what are they? Is that judge each person favorably, are they each person? Or are they friends also?
M. Laitman: I don't know how you will look at them.
Student: How should I look at them?
M. Laitman: If they are friends, then towards them also.
Student: And if I connect with them, they're not my Ten, so should I connect with them also?
M. Laitman: If you've accepted it that way, yes, or you haven't.
Student: Because we always say, at least recently, that the connection in essence is in your Ten, only with the friends in your Ten. So, what about the other friends praying at the synagogue, as he says, as he calls them? What about them, what kind of connection should I have with them?
M. Laitman: They're external towards your Ten, but they are internal towards the whole world.
Student: And what's my work opposite them?
M. Laitman: To connect their Ten to your Ten.
Student: How do you connect one Ten to another Ten to my Ten, to our Ten? How do Tens connect?
M. Laitman: Just like a person to a person. Same way, a Ten to a Ten.
Student: What does it mean, a person with a person? A person who's not in my Ten, I need to connect to him as well? You said that a Ten needs to connect to another Ten, as a person connects to a person. So, first you need to connect to Ten, and then? He says that a friend is a friend and the Ten, they're equal. Every friend is like the Rav, right? He says that, there's a paragraph there that says that you need to turn the friend into a love.
M. Laitman: Yes, we'll find it, ask in the meantime.
Student: Yes, so I'm asking, how do those relations work between us, when the friend is a friend, and the friend is the Rav?
M. Laitman: There's such a concept of a Rav/Friend, yes.
Student: (36:40) How does it manifest? We're sitting here, you're the Rav, we ask you questions; we don't ask the friends questions, we ask you. So, we'll have some social activities and we'll ask you questions. We'll sit at a restaurant or hold a meal, there we're equals. You act as an equal to everyone else, you raise a toast, L'chaim, we treat each other as equals. So, what typifies the friends, is that they're equals but the Rav is greater? So, yes, it's written, “one should consider the other as having good merits, and that he should accept what the other says or does. And the body does not agree to that, because the way is always such, that when one needs to learn from another, meaning, if he values the other, appreciates him, the other necessitates that he exerts himself. And the body wants rest, the body doesn't want that. And so, it's better for him to annul his reason, and the friend's reason and act, so that he doesn't have to exert himself. And so, it says, make for yourself a Rav. For the friend to be your Rav, you need to make him such, meaning, not with the mind, because the mind obligates the opposite, and sometimes it shows him the opposite, that he will be the Rav, and the other will be his student. And therefore, it says, do, doing, and not from the mind”. So, if I want to learn from the friend, I make him Rav, right? I want to learn from him, be impressed by him, receive something from him that's in him.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, it follows that all the friends are like a Rav for me, on the one hand. But on the other hand, we're equals in one heart. How to put this into practice, how to apply this in the Ten?
M. Laitman: That's how it happens, in how one relates to the others.
Student: So, it turns out there are two layers to this, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Two internal layers in the Ten. What's more inner, the Rav as a friend or the friends of these two inner layers?
M. Laitman: Rav/Friend is more.
Student: More inner, more internal.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (39:35) How did you see Rabash as a friend?
M. Laitman: It's hard for me to say, I think that in everything I saw him as a great, and sometimes he would show himself to me as a friend, that's it.
Student: How did he show himself as a friend, in what way?
M. Laitman: Sometimes he made it so that you think he's like you.
Student: But you always saw him as the great one,
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Even when he showed himself to be a friend, you saw him as a Rav.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what is that point where the student is a friend with the Rav? Is there such a thing, where there are friends equal? Or will they always be the upper one and the lower one?
M. Laitman: Yes, but sometimes he makes it so that you feel him as equal.
Student: That's the Rav's action, making himself to be a friend.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: You were in a Ten, together?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: (41:26) So, just a student and his Rav. Why do you have to make the Rav, and purchase the friends? Why do you need to make the Rav, while the friends you need to buy, to purchase?
M. Laitman: These are two different kinds of work. Because, buy yourself a friend that's clear. By buying him, he's buying you, and you're connecting. But make yourself a Rav, you have to raise him above yourself.
Student: The friends you don't have to raise above yourself?
M. Laitman: Yes, that too, but still, friends, that's something that they are together with you, equally. And along with it, you raise them above yourself.
Student: And the person needs to make the Ten, or purchase the Ten?
M. Laitman: The Ten, the person has to make them.
Student: To make it. Is the Ten like a person's Rav for him?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course.
Student: It turns out that the Ten is more than a friend.
M. Laitman: The Ten is more than the friend.
Student: So how do you suggest, how should we act in practice as though the Ten is your Rav? How do you make the Ten?
M. Laitman: With the Ten, you connect where each of them is as equal to you.
Student: When he's an equal, if he's equal, I connect with him as I do with a friend. But we said that the Ten you make, you need to make the Ten. The way he relates to the Rav there, also make for yourself a Rav, that way you make the Ten. So, I'm asking, what does it mean to make the Ten?
M. Laitman: It's that you build them, that like the Rav, they're higher than you. They are as a Rav to you.
Student: The Ten can direct your spiritual development?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course.
Student: (45:16) So the decision of the Ten is, a decision of the Ten with respect to me, is like the Rav's decision, can you say that? The decision of the group, of the Ten, and me, as I count the Rav's decision to be something above nature, above me. That way the same thing for the Ten, the Ten decides something for me, that's like the Rav. As we talked about that yesterday, if the Rav isn't there anymore, then what's my compass? It's the Ten, not one friend or another, if there's a collective decision, then for me it's,
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So according to this article, we have three facets to how to work with the friends, always internally. By default, I judge the friends favorably. Now, the more inner layers that I try to purchase them, right, within reason, even. And the more inner layers that I try to make the friend a Rav, and it's all with respect to the same friend, right? That's how it is?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: If there's no collective decision in the Ten, it's difficult to make, to come to a decision in the Ten. Can it bring it up to the wider forum of the group, maybe a collective of Tens, or can that, or would that confuse them?
M. Laitman: That depends, I don't know, it's hard to say.
Student: The question is, in the greater group is there a greater power for proper scrutiny or is it not?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: And what does it mean to buy the friend, what can I buy the friends with?
M. Laitman: By being willing to go with them together.
Student: And why do you not purchase or buy the Rav?
M. Laitman: The Rav you have to make.
Student: So, to count him as above myself?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Regard him highly, but after you regard him like that, don't you need to also buy him through devotion?
M. Laitman: No, no, he already swallows him in that way.
Student: (47:47) Okay. So, it turns out that Rav is, the Rav is my connection to the Creator, so I make every friend to be Rav? If I do that, it means I open more connections to the Creator, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And so, it follows that Ten friends are Ten connections to the Creator? If I elevate every friend, making him as a Rav for me. So through the friend, I have a connection with the Creator, if I make him as a Rav.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Make him out to be a Rav. So, we magnify our connection to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Well, let’s say.
Student: (48:33) Continuing the friend's question: If we are Ten people, some think one thing, some think something else, and there's no agreement Shouldn't we consult another Ten, how do you do that?
M. Laitman: No, I don't think that by that you'll gain something more. Basically, the Ten is built in such a way that you can start and end all of the scrutiny there.
Student: You said, let's say, if you're on vacation, then the person who governs Bnei Baruch, I'm not talking about the operations, right? I'm talking about the spirituality of it, it's the spiritual director. There, it's not people all of one Ten, different Tens. Does that add anything to it, what does it mean?
M. Laitman: Nothing, they can connect for the sake of scrutinizing something and that the scrutiny will follow their decision.
Student: When I make a friend in the Ten out to be Rav, I magnify him. What do I receive from that friend which I magnify so as to be Rav?
M. Laitman: You receive strength through him.
Student: Alright, and what do I receive from the Rav when I make him Rav?
M. Laitman: I also receive that through strength.
Student: (50:22) What's the difference between the strength I receive from the Rav and the strength I receive from the friend who I make out to be Rav?
M. Laitman: You have two sources.
Student: Are they different sources or just two openings, two conduits to the same thing?
M. Laitman: Conduits, two conduits.
Student: What is a Rav?
M. Laitman: Rav is one you take as greater than you.
Student: But what is it, we talk about a connection to the Rav and how a person needs to make for himself a Rav. And that the Ten connects in order to attain his degree. What is a Rav?
M. Laitman: Rav is the friend that I accept as a higher degree than a friend, yes.
Student: But when I make someone out to be Rav, it doesn't turn him into a person of attainment. We have a Rav who is in attainment and I regard him that way, and so I receive from him. But there's my friend who I see as great, if he's not in attainment, what do I receive from him?
M. Laitman: According to what you depict in the connection with him, perhaps you have nullified yourself towards him and you received through him some spiritual discernments. But he himself doesn't feel, doesn't acquire, doesn't purchase it. There's a matter of property, here.
Student: It's like a statue, it's like some image of a person, a character I annul myself towards and I receive spirituality from him without him even noticing.
M. Laitman: Yes, yes.
Student: (52:50) So this is, Rav writes that behind every friend stands the Creator, is that what this is about? There's an article with that. So, the Rav can be any person through whom I receive a connection to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Maybe he doesn't feel it, he doesn't know about it but because I work with him, through him towards the upper one, for me, he's a Rav.
M. Laitman: Yes, yes.
Student: But how does that work with the matter of the degrees? You always have an upper one and a lower one. How can the lower one have several upper ones? If a person now turns the friends into his Rav multiple, do they become his upper ones?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But we said that a person has one Rav, he cannot have more than one Rav.
M. Laitman: No, could be a few. Make for yourself a Rav, it says.
Student: I want to understand this systematically: How does it work? For you, your upper one is the Rabash?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And Baal HaSulam is your upper one?
M. Laitman: More than that.
Student: The higher, upper one, right? But everything you receive, you receive through the Rabash. So, as far as we're concerned, as the students, you are our upper one. And the one above that is Rabash, and above that Baal HaSulam. So how all of a sudden, all the friends, I bring all the friends to a place where they're also the upper ones, like you. How do I turn all the friends all of a sudden to the upper one for me, like the Rav?
M. Laitman: How you accept them, however you accept them.
Student: Is it not the system? Is it not built in such a way where you can change the order in it?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: (55:25) Anyone who comes after the current generation's Rav, they're his lower ones, right?
M. Laitman.: I didn't understand.
Student: All the students who came to Bnei Baruch over the years, as far as you're concerned, isn't that all the lower one with which you work?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And you will always be their upper one,
M. Laitman: Supposedly, yes.
Student: So how can they create for themselves a different upper one? How can it be that the lower one, born out of view, will suddenly create for himself a different upper one, Rav?
M. Laitman: I don't know, but everything can happen.
Student: (56:24) You said that the opinion of the Ten is the same as the Rav's opinion. So, I have you, and I have the Ten. And suddenly, maybe, there is some contradiction between the Rav's opinion and the Ten's opinion. And then I have two different Rabbis, who do I listen to? You understand what can happen here, I'm not talking about the friend as Rav, even. That could also be. But beyond that, we're talking about the reason of the Ten, the opinion of the Ten. We're talking about how the opinion of the Ten is one, and the opinion of the Rav is different, or maybe the Rav is constant, and the Ten sometimes I elevate. But you said that the Ten is always the upper one for a person to what? So, what's going on here?
M. Laitman: This is all by your decision. Who do you choose? Who is your upper one?
Student: But what to choose? There's the opinion of the Ten and the opinion of the Rav. Which is the right one to pick?
M. Laitman: You pick.
Student: According to what? I want to pick correctly, of course I'll choose but?
M. Laitman: According to your choice.
Student: (57:47) Everything depends on the individual, right? If I know myself towards the friend and see him as great and make the friend out to be Rav, I can receive spirituality through him.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, again, it says every person, not a friend, if I know myself towards every man, without him knowing. I can also extract something from him, right? Receive some powers through him, right?
M. Laitman: Somewhat, yes.
Student: And so, why do I not annul myself before people who are not friends? Rather, I only judge them favorably?
M. Laitman: You can annul yourself before whoever you wish, but what will you gain from it?
Student: Spiritual power, even though he is not in attainment, I hear that I can receive from him. It depends on me, not on him.
M. Laitman: You will very quickly see that there's nothing to receive.
Student: There's nothing to receive from him? So, what is there in the friend that I can receive? Is it in the friend or is it in how I relate to the friend?
M. Laitman: In how you relate to him.
Student: So, I don't understand, it all depends on my attitude and not on the character in front of me. He's a friend, not a friend. Someone else can be sitting here with us and I can receive something from him? If someone I never met, maybe I'm told he's one of our friends. Maybe I think he's a friend and he's not and I annul myself towards him. Can I receive something from him?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (59:41) He writes that through your friends you receive spirituality. If you annul yourself, you make him out to be great and you receive. So, you go to university, you need to annul yourself before the lecturer, to receive his knowledge from him. If you don't annul yourself, you remain ignorant, you don't learn anything, it's the same way everywhere. But in spirituality, you can only receive from the Ten. You can't receive spirituality in university, you can only get knowledge. But there too, you have to annul yourself in order to receive what he wants to give to you. So, it depends on where you are, your environment is your Ten, for the purpose of spirituality. What can you receive from a person who is not a friend, doesn't belong to the Bnei Baruch? Like the waiter who just went by, any person. Can you receive anything from him?
M. Laitman: If you want to.
Student: You're a Kabbalist, can you receive anything from him?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: You can’t extract anything from him? By judging him favorably, do you not receive from him? Do you not see the upper force working through him towards you?
M. Laitman: I don't think you can see anything through him.
Student: (01:00:58) Isn't it written that behind the face of each and every person stands the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what he says, you need to judge them favorably because the Creator is operating them. So, you as a Kabbalist, can't you see behind every person?
M. Laitman: There's the recognition of the spiritual force.
Student: Does the person operate through that person?
M. Laitman: Yes, but it depends on what you're going for. You can't just take a person and start playing with it as if he's great.
Student: No, not great, it's just the Creator. The Creator sends to you, let's say, an enemy, just to make it clear. Through that enemy, who wants to harm you, you try to judge him favorably. Through that, you begin to understand what the Creator wants from you. Is that how it works?
M. Laitman: It could be.
Student: Why am I asking? Because usually the friends are outside of the physical framework of Bnei Baruch, outside of the lessons. They're with their families, at their workplace, dealing with their neighbors and so on, many situations. So how to utilize each and every situation when you're not with the Ten, to continue receiving spirituality, to squeeze something out of it. The Creator placed me with other people who are not my friends, how do I receive anything from that? Your wife influences you, your boss, your children, someone in the street at random. A person who studies the wisdom of Kabbalah wants to judge them favorably, and use these situations also for the purpose of advancement, what do you recommend?
M. Laitman: My recommendation? To try to connect with them on the ordinary street level.
Student: Can't you identify through all these occasions with the boss at work, the wife, the kids, can't you recognize the upper force working upon you?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: You can't identify? So, what, the time I spend with them is just, it's nothing?
M. Laitman: That, you can connect with them and try to receive through them connection with the Creator.
Student: So, you can receive, so, that's what I'm asking.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: You can, by judging them favorably. With the friends it's something else, with them I need to buy them within reason, above reason, below reason. Also, when I judge them favorably, that's internal, right, internal, to the extent that I'm capable of doing so. It's written, to the extent, as much as a person can. So, why is it that I need to operate according to the laws of this world, in this world? Why this duality: On the one hand, I judge him favorably. And also, I can go to the police, the courts, the doctor and so on, why? What does that add with respect to my advancement towards the Creator? Why can't I just annul myself all the way, completely? Like in the, for example, people sat in a coffee house and then a soldier came and some Rabbi came, the soldier wanted to kill him and the Rabbi didn‘ t relate to it at all. He just said let’s go drink, this duality what does it give us?
M. Laitman: It's not simple, it's not simple. How can you erase what is coming to you through the impression from a higher degree?
Student: (01:05:30) Maybe, in other words: How do I combine There’s None Else Besides you and if there’s no one for me who will be for me? How can you combine both in the same place? On the one hand, to understand that it comes from the Creator. It will judge that person favorably or I act as I do with this world, as though the Creator does not exist. How can I do both things and also why is such a question? Why is it that There Is None Else Besides Him? Baal HaSulam writes that when a person gets up in the morning, even though he knows that he will receive a salary, he needs to go and do everything. In the evening, he needs to come home and say that this was all given to him. So, throughout your days’ work supposedly something is happening and ultimately after everything you can say that There Is None Else Besides Him?
M. Laitman: You want to maintain your attitude to the Creator.
Student: Everything that I do at work – with my wife, children – this is what the Creator wants me to do. If I don't do that I will disconnect from the Creator, if I don't get up and act, then I didn’t do what the Creator wanted.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Perhaps, I won't receive any impression from it, if I don't act in this world as though if there’s no one for me who will be for me.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Then, There Is None Else Besides Him will not be imprinted on my flesh. If you try to utilize this day properly, we have days of connection ahead of us. I’d like to see every friend as great. I want to turn each friend into a Rav, so as to receive more from him, for the benefit of the entire Ten. Maybe, before asking what to do in what is the friend greater than me, in what is each friend here is greater than me?
M. Laitman: You accept him as such, according to how you appreciate him, he becomes great.
Student: What should I tell myself that he has which I don’t when he has something that’s greater than what I do?
M. Laitman: Connection to the Creator,
Student: But if it’s a system and each one has a role and each one has some connection why should I be envious of what he has? What’s in him that doesn’t exist in me?
M. Laitman: You made it.
Student: What did I make?
M. Laitman: He’s got something you don’t.
Student: He truly has what I don’t have?
M. Laitman: Yes, because you want him to be greater.
Student: (01:08:39) What does it mean in practice? What do I need to do with the friend to turn him into a Rav, to someone who is greater than me, above me?
M. Laitman: Behave towards him like a Rav.
Student: Is it not enough to see the friends as equal? Do I need to make him higher than myself? What can I learn from the friend?
M. Laitman: If you relate to the friend who is above you, you raise him above yourself, then he becomes your Rav.
Student: (01:10:16) He writes here, “he understands that the majority of his exertion should be to bestow upon the Creator, this is against his nature since the person was created with and therefore he was given the Segula, the special power, cure, for exiting self-love and rising to love of others”. What is the Segula, the unique power, remedy for exiting self-love, what is that Segula?
M. Laitman: That if you do some action called Segula, you will receive the upper force that will open your path.
Student: How to receive the Segula, what does it mean?
M. Laitman: To receive the merit, the remedy means to do something called remedy.
Student: I wanted to ask, for a person to enter spirituality, how does that entrance to spirituality come about, how does it happen?
M. Laitman: The entrance to spirituality is that you receive someone greater than yourself.
Student: And by turning a person great, does that mean I enter spirituality?
M. Laitman: You get closer.
Student: I get closer, so first of all, what does it mean that a person enters spirituality? What is that thing where a person becomes one who has a spiritual degree?
M. Laitman: It's that he feels the spiritual field.
Student: So, to feel the spiritual field, how do you begin to feel the spiritual field?
M. Laitman: According to your importance for spiritual things.
Student: And only the importance brings a person into spirituality?
M. Laitman: Only the importance, yes, it ties the person to spirituality.
Student: So, where are all the vessels of bestowal we talk about? We say that a person needs to have vessels of bestowal to bestow.
M. Laitman: Yes?
Student: Where is all that, if he has no importance? If everything ultimately is about importance, entering spirituality, it's all about importance. So where do his vessels change, where he suddenly has vessels of bestowal, where are those? A person walking the path has vessels of reception.
M. Laitman: Yes?
Student: Now for him to be in spirituality, he needs to have vessels of bestowal,
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How does a person having importance for spirituality, how does that give him vessels of bestowal?
M. Laitman: He begins to attribute to actions of the friends a spiritual importance.
Student: So, a person's entrance into spirituality, is that a thing which depends only on the individual?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And is something done to him, to the person, to bring him into spirituality, or does it depend only on the person?
M. Laitman: No, he's given an awakening,
Student: He's given just an awakening, and everything depends on the way he responds to that awakening, so
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: In spirituality you don't have any tricks, right, nepotism and so on. There's no way to enter unless you did the work you had to do.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (01:14:37) What does Rav do for the students?
M. Laitman: Gives them exercises.
Student: He gives them exercises and what does it mean that the students succeeded in the exercises?
M. Laitman: That they give spiritual qualities, spiritual actions, importance and energy.
Student: But Rav can't admit the students into spirituality, right, it'll still be their work. So why is it like that where ultimately everything depends on the exertion of the lower one.
M. Laitman: That comes from the nature of creation.
Student: And the whole of creation is built on the exertion of the lower one. And when he exerts himself correctly, what does he receive from the upper one?
M. Laitman: Support.
Student: Support for what? To give even more exertion?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (01:15:57) We learned and we learned that there's only one soul. And this soul is what we have. Why is it so difficult to understand this simple thing? It sounds so simple, there was one soul and then there was a shattering. We're a result of it, all our work is to return to that place of the one soul. Why is it so difficult, you can break your head like this way; why is it like this and like that? Altogether the whole goal is to reconnect everything and correct the shattering. Why is it this way, why is it so difficult to agree with each thing and so many confusions and scrutinies? After all, it's clear that if you understand this fundamental thing – this seemingly simple matter, then you understand. Just like he asked earlier, he says, what, am I dependent on each person? Of course you're dependent, if each of us is a sort of shattering, then of course you're dependent. So why is that difficult, why is it, you can't agree with that.
M. Laitman: Because the Creator puts a spike in your wheel.
Student: You can't agree with that, so what to do?
M. Laitman: To continue this way? To ask, to pray, to turn.
Student: (01:17:47) I need to always see myself more smaller than the friends or
M. Laitman: Always.
Reader: (01:18:03) Friends, we are going to summarize the lesson now.
Song: (01:30:00)