Morning Lesson April 11, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Passover - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. (Staff and the Serpent. #186)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XP5ooz4RHehfbpZdSR1SUXF6tOU49z-gvnqPlDuX1JU/edit
Passover - Main page for all chapters
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pv7Nu30djF2Uj_D59RMySdb6zfiZzgs8Jd8QUaG_w_4/edit
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:20) Yes, we continue the same order of commonality, exile, coming out of Egypt, coming out of our ego toward the quality of bestowal, love and connection. And we will try not to stop along the way but to truly advance as much as possible. We learn that we have a group that's named according to its goal, Yashar-El [straight to the Creator] and this group of Israel, Yashar-El, it can progress, it is advancing. At its head there is a force guiding it towards the goal called Moshe [Moses]. It is a very special force that was raised in the house of Pharaoh and absorbed from Egypt all of the culture and education and knowledge and character and desire of the Egyptians, meaning of the will to receive on one hand, and on the other hand, like the entire group that has to come out of its ego, it feels that it has the desire, the power, the inclination, the attraction to come out of his ego. And he must take with him all the other parts of his character, parts of his desire called the nation of Israel and he has to perform this task. So, we are in a state where the Creator turns to Moses and awakens him to be the leader of the nation of Israel; to correction.
Reading excerpt #185 (03:40) “The Creator said to Moses..”
2. R. (05:33) Meaning the Creator is teaching him how to perform such actions by which he can bring out the entirety of his will to receive, all his qualities that exist in order to receive in the exile in Egypt, where we don't understand what it means to be outside of Egypt. But then he begins to see the truth and he joins the nation of Israel in exile. Meaning, he is capable of seeing, he wants to see all the desires, thoughts, qualities, actions, everything that there is that gradually combines together and they help one another and they approach the exit from Egypt.
Reading excerpt #186 (07:10) “This is the meaning of the question..”
3. R. (09:23) We already know about ourselves, how our intellect, our feeling and how much they change from moment to moment and they are unreliable, so what to do? And that's why the certain thing is to go above reason. What is above reason? Where we imagine to ourselves what is the desire of the Creator, what does the Creator want and we want to ascribe ourselves to that, to the extent we try to do it, we begin to feel that way rise above reason, above our intellect, above our habits, above this world and gradually we rise above it. The Creator helps us; he brings us to such qualities, such ideas, His inclinations and we rise from the degree of the created being to the degree of the Creator.
And everything depends on what is up and what is down in importance, what is higher and what is lower in importance, that is why the Creator asks, “What is in your hand,” He asks Moses. And Moses says, “a staff,” meaning, if he tries to walk with his thoughts, with his qualities, with his desires as down below and everything that has to do with the Creator held up then by that he raises himself from the degree of this world to the degree of the upper world. And what used to be before as the qualities of bestowal, as small qualities, as nothing in them no feeling, no intellect, no confidence, no power, now they are starting to feel that only in this way when he is moving into the qualities of bestowal he has a possibility to bring himself to the degree of the upper force, the upper confidence, faith. And all of it is called above reason, above his corporeal reason and there he gets into spiritual discernments.
Reading excerpt #187 (13:33) “One who has no other choice..” twice.
4. R. (17:30) Here what does it mean he who is proud? He places his intellect and his understanding above where he should be going in faith above reason. If his intellect is higher, his decisions come from his calculations then he can no longer be in the same place where the Creator is; “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.”
Reading excerpt #188 (18:40) “If one throws the discernment of the staff..” twice.
5. S. (20:02) What will convince me to throw the staff to the ground? How to rise above the ego and hear the Creator?
R. Two things: on the one hand, I make calculations from experience. How much I walked, I made mistakes, I fell, I got up, and from the connection with the friends, how much they are holding me up and they don't let me fall. So, from all of these states that I arrange within me, I acquire the power to advance above my reason, above my feeling only by relying on the society, depending on them. And there is nothing of me, there is nothing of me that I can believe, a certain calculation of any power of mine because I see that all of it is the will to receive that is only confusing me and it is built intentionally in order to confuse me so I would let him go and grab hold of the society like a baby who is grabbing hold of his mother and he sits in her arms and it doesn't want to let her go because for him, this is the safest place, the right place to be. And we need to see ourselves in the same way as we advance towards the purpose of creation.
S. Moses is the upper force, so accordingly, the ego and his will to receive are the biggest, so how did he overcome his ego?
R. He has no intellect, no power, he has got only one thing: he knows that he has no intellect and no power, no mind and no power and all that he has is the ability to hold on to the Creator, only that. So he grabs all of the group, he also doesn't come to the Creator with his desire that I wish to adhere to You, rather he assembles all of the deficiencies, all of the desires, inclinations that exist in his society and he raises them to the Creator, he cries and he asks, “help them” and then everyone rises. Each one of us needs to be like Moshe.
6. S. (24:24) The ego is hiding from our eyes. How can we recognize that our intention is correct, that we are rising above reason and to see above what our eyes see and what our ears hear?
R. Try to be incorporated with the friends, try to feel what they want, what the Creator is telling us from the text and with all that to organize everything that reality is showing you as if you are Moses and you are looking at all those things and how can you introduce them, all of them for the Creator. And receive forces for them, through you and together with them to take more steps forward.
7. S. (26:15) I am sitting on the chair and I don't feel all these discernments that are spoken about here. How can I begin to detect them to even get into it?
R. You need to feel yourself as one of those who is under the control of the ego in Egypt and what can they do? They can only connect around this force called Moshe, who will pull them from in order to receive to in order to bestow and that's what we need to feel, to be ready for connection. Others, it doesn't matter their level of understanding or the power that you are in, you have to understand that no one has the intellect, the feeling, the power to help them come out of Egypt. We cannot part with our nature, instead if friends come, a great power and it pulls us, each one of us, pulls us out then we stand a chance to come out of Egypt to come out of in order to receive and to that extent we begin to feel the Creator and the friends, I feel that they are already a little bit different around me. I used to think before that it could change from moment to moment and in this way we rise above our ego and we start to reveal the Creator and our forces will be in order to bestow. With that, what can I say, we will also feel how we wake up and rise above our calculations, our previous calculations and we come to in order to bestow. It is a new calculation altogether. A new calculation.
8. S. (30:00) We learn that in order to work with the higher attribute, we have to lower ourselves and here it says raises himself to work with the higher attribute. What is the calculation that we need to do in order to work with the higher attribute?
R. That I leave my quality and I take the higher qualities from the society. I join them and I lower my head towards them and that's how I continue. Meaning, all the time I am incorporated into the society and in this way I rise with them. And it doesn't matter if it is a small group or a great big society, a wise society or a stupid society, a righteous society or not. Rather it all depends on how I connect to the society like with Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma who was a great, wise man of attainment but in order to rise to higher degrees he was incorporated in his simple friends and he did it and he rose higher.
9. S. (32:32) It is not clear why he writes that throwing his staff to the ground means that he wants to work with a higher attribute?
R. He doesn't work with his own intellect and feeling but instead he takes the intellect and feeling of the society and the environment.
S. So why is it throwing the staff to the ground, it's lifting it up, no?
R. No, what he has, he stops going with it.
10. S. (33:13) If you can explain the first sentence in 188 because it says that it is actually a serpent, in the first sentence?
R. If he throws the discernment of the staff to the ground and raises oneself to work with a higher attribute, this is already a serpent and there is no middle. There is either a serpent or Kedusha.This is how the Torah in the work that one has with the discernment of a staff, …[low] or has now entered the discernment of the serpent: so what is the question?
S. You explain that working with a higher attribute means looking for the reason of the group and annulling myself but he says about this that it is a serpent and it is not clear?
R. If he annuls himself towards the group even though he may have a different opinion and he rises.
S. Why does it say at the end of the sentence, this is already a serpent?
R. He raises himself to work with a higher discernment; this is now a serpent, he doesn't want to accept the higher discernment he wants to throw himself down, he wants to lower himself but then he rises specifically in this way. We will clarify it.
11. S. (35:15) So now we said what is attainment of spirituality and the importance of faith. I wanted to ask how we can calculate correctly, make correct calculations?
R. The best thing is to be incorporated in the ten and do as they do. As much as it feels in opposition to your mind and feeling, it is even better, it means that you are advancing in the right direction. I'm speaking of states that are somewhere updated. That's it. We have nothing more to rely on.
S. What when we have difficult states that contradict our mind and heart but if I don’t feel the importance of faith then I can’t calculate correctly. If I can’t have faith then I can’t see the importance of the group, the friends. So I need to feel faith in all of the states, right?
R. If you can’t feel but you hear, you read what the Kabbalists recommend to you, to subjugate yourself before the ten, before the society, then what do you do then?
S. So I receive the power of faith from the friends?
R. So, nevertheless, you need to subjugate yourself and try to receive through your group, through your ten, the power of faith. Who do you get the power of faith from? From the Creator. Meaning the group here is a certain condition where to the extent you can subjugate yourself before the group, accordingly you receive greater spiritual power from the Creator.
12. S. (38:36) When Moses threw the staff on the ground did the serpent appear or did it appear to him as a snake when it lost its significance?
R. No, the Creator tells you what is in your hand: “a staff throw it, throw it to the ground.” In other words don't go according to this but rather go in a different way: rise above reason.
S. When Moses threw it down it felt like he's losing the importance, is this connected to that?
R. Correct, correct, bit by bit soon we will read some more excerpts and it will be clear to you this is something very very important. It is essential how we switch from corporeality to spirituality.
13. S. (40:24) What influences the appearance of the power of faith in the ten?
R. In the ten by being connected they create a power by themselves, a force by themselves and that force begins to manifest itself in the ten.
14. S. (40:55) Why is Moses running away when he throws down the staff, he is next to the Creator?
R. We will clarify these things. It's not a problem. The important thing for us is to understand the content itself of what happens here, if what I think in the degree of my thoughts, where I show myself is no longer important to me, if it's not important to me anymore but what is important to me is the principle of through the ten reaching the Creator for the common force of the ten, then I am throwing down the staff and going with a new principle. Soon, soon everything will fall into place.
Reading Excerpt #188 again. (43:00) twice.
Reading excerpt #189 (44:24) “In order for a person..” twice
15. S. (46:46) Do I build the stuff from within the work with my intellect, my reason and when the Creator tells me to throw it, I understand that this is the serpent. Does the Creator give me the intellect, the reason, the understanding and the staff?
R. Yes. Even though I am in that state I keep the staff in low importance which is called faith above reason when it is of low importance and then I advance if I cannot keep it then I fail and this is how I learn and advance. It is impossible to advance without falling and learning that it is possible to also go above reason. Only with faith about reason which is really the only thing in which we can advance. If a person takes upon themself that state and accepts that state then he does advance and rises. We need to feel it upon ourselves what are those things that happen to us if we go above reason, if we don't go, if we leave the discernment of staff, the phase of staff and fall into a phase of serpent or the other way around. We have to feel how it works within us so it is still not present. If we think about it more and talk about it more, study more then it will enter us and it will be revealed in us. We will be able to understand what it is about.
16. S. (50:18) Baal HaSulam specifies that this topic of faith equals loneliness. Can you explain what is the meaning of that?
R. No no I do not want to explain these things. I want you to remain in questions and doubts and that situation and not that you will understand intellectually and you will be calm.
S. There are states where a person comes to state of the serpent not a staff and then he goes through all kinds of states that the Creator gives them and he needs to understand that he is in that state of loneliness and that he needs to come out of this is the issue that I would like to bring up.
R. Keep going and demand understanding.
17. S. (51:25) It seems as if the Creator is looking after a person so that you would always stay in the state of spiritual fear relative to connection with Him. How do we take advantage of the state and work correctly and not take the work to ourselves again?
R. We get an example from the group. A person has one view and the group has another view. so if a person bows his head, lowers himself then he begins to understand what it means to be in faith above reason but he gets some example from it.
S. So how do we keep and protect this state of spiritual fear and not just wait for another gift from the Creator.
R. If you are incorporated, actually you do not have a choice, if you are Incorporated in a group you are willing to bow yourself before them on the one hand, on the other hand to be as Moses meaning with all your might to help them advance, it turns out that you gradually begin to rise along with the group. These states are not very clear. we still have not encountered them but this is the path, that is the way.
18. S. (54:00) To go to the discrement of the serpent is the way to escape the Sitra Achra meaning how do we take the next step?
R. When we get there we will understand what is the next step. The important thing is that it will be clear to us now that we do not see the next step. That for us there's some sort of a mist a fog. It is not clear from us what the Creator wants from us, how we should get organized, how do we take the next step.
S. You said that when we lower ourselves and we accept the think of the 10 the group, does that not mean to throw the stuff down?
R. Perhaps could be
19. S (55:34) When I'm in the state of serpent myself I try to connect to to the friends with my thought and my actions then I feel that I rise only not on mentally but the heart also begins to Cling to the friends. Do I need to expect a full incorporation of my heart with the heart of the friends?
R. Well we should always expect that but will it happen I don't know.
S. So I should not settle for certain sensation but look for prayers and thoughts about the friends?
R. You see that I'm not giving clear answers. And this is exactly the situation where we need to scrutinize the next step. It is very very essential very important. So the more we feel that we cannot understand, scrutinize, clarify the situation it will be better for us. because this is exactly transition between within reason and above reason, between being within Egypt and out of Egypt etc, okay.
20. S (57:50) Does faith above reason come to us as a sensation since any intellectual calculation even if we think we are going above reason we cannot trust it? So in short is faith above reason come to us as a sensation or a feeling?
R. I don't understand what a sensation or feeling means. I don't understand the difference between those two words. Faith above reason comes through the intellect to the feeling that is how it works.
21. S (59:21) The Creator gives us a state where when we throw the staff we descend into our reason. And sometimes because of that we throw the state of faith above reason to feel the state of serpent. I was confused what is the staff? Does it change?
R. We have to scrutinize we have to scrutinize it. I'm not giving you solutions, I'm not explaining. When you start talking about faith above reason that is where I stopped explaining. Because you need to scrunize these things by yourself and even if you need to leave the lesson confused, keep it this way.
S. So in other words we don't need to we're not required to clarify ourselves in faith?
R. I did not say this I said that I'm not giving you a clear answer.
S. The answer will come from the group and the Creator?
R. The answer always comes from the Creator but that not that's not an answer that is obvious.
22. S (01:01:08) To throw the staff to the ground sounds like a conscious act. When it is when we agree with the Creator that’s the connection that we have now has to be broken and not try to hold on to it?
R. But it is falling into a state of serpent.
S. But it says here that he throws it, is not like falling he's throwing it down?
R. Yes
S. Meaning it is a conscious act?
R. Yes but to where does he falls, he falls into failures into problems.
S. Do we need to inspire for it to fall or constantly try to hold on to it.
R. I will not answer you.
23. S (01:02:50) How important is it to see the truth from my state from my attainment?
R. I did not understand
S. How important is it that I will scrutinize the truth on the level where I am at?
R. Well it is important. How important to the extent that I need in order to rise to the next degree.
S. So I need to believe what the sages are saying eventhough I see a total different reality, also according to my knowledge also according to what I truly see?
R. Yes
S. So then I say ok, Actually I say I am going to hold the staff now like this and I see something totally different and I hold the staff up. Is that what it means to hold the staff up?
R. Yes
S. If I throw it down that means I’m not going in faith above reason what the sages are saying that means I follow my reason?
R. Yes, yes
24. S (01:04:25) He writes that we fall to the serpent and so we will not stay there we begin to feel the failures that pushes towards the correction, what are those failures?
R. That we are constantly going for mistake to mistake until when we come out of those mistakes we see that we already received acquired some understanding some discernments in order to get the faith above reason.
I want to tell you to explain to you again. This concept of faith above reason is a very confusing concept very confusing. We cannot demand to understand it now and immediately. But rather we need try more and more to perform actions that are against our intellect against our feeling for the connection and then we will feel what he means when he says faith about reason. when he says throw the staff and why the staff when it was in Moses's hand and with which he walked forward towards the purpose of the creation immediately becomes a serpent and there is no middle nothing in between them either serpent or a staff. So all those things we need to process until we discover them in a way that they are clear to us because of our tasting because of our internal understanding. It is not simple but this is the most important point in acquiring the method. How to understand the inversion of serpent to staff and staff to serpent? How to rise from this world to the upper world? How to understand the Creator instead of to understanding myself? All of this we should now scrutinize.
25. S (01:08:00) You said to perform actions in the group, how from those actions we can what is the mechanism here that works within because seemingly there are very simple actions?
R. The actions themselves do not matter what matters is what situation you are in order to do them the actions may be simple but the mind and the heart you add to them increase the importance of the actions.
26. S (01:08:55) When I throw the staff down I'm not where the Creator is, is that what obligating me to raise the prayer for the friends?
R. Let's say it is
27. S (01:09:30) What is the state between the staff and serpent, what is the middle line?
Reader - I think she is asking about “there is no discernment of middle either serpent or holiness, can you explain it?
R. There is a connection but there's no state in between where both in order to receive and in order to bestow are connected. A state that contains both, such a thing does not exist it does not exist in reality. otherwise there would be something between the Creator and the created being. It does exist but only in a systemic way.
28. S. (1:11:02) I hear that the transition between reason and above reason between Egypt and coming out of Egypt this is really our next step, the essence of the method, the most important thing right now but we also do not know how to scrutinize it, it's like a fog the way you present it.
R. I'm not presenting the mist.
S. No, for us it is felt like a mist.
R. I want you to feel that indeed within reason and above reason are hard for us to scruitinize and to clarify. So what do we do? What do we do?
S. That is this question: how to scrutinize it?
R. I guess it's by the exercise that is given, what is written in the Torah.
29. S . (1:12:12) How can a person cleanse everything that he has in his mind and his heart and that is not connected to the relation with the Creator?
R. How does he clean it?
S. Yeah cleaning all the thoughts and feeling that they're not connected to the Creator.
R. Only by annulling before the ten. You have no other means.
S. But in each degree it is growing stronger and every once in a while a person loses the group connection with the group, the faithe.
R. It is in order for you time and time again to find the connection over and over again. Okay?
30. S. (1:13:25) How can the Torah sometimes be a staff and sometimes a serpent?
R. We will study. There are many excerpts about it. We have nowhere to rush. if we do not understand these things.
31. S. (1:14:36) What does it mean that everything that goes into the reason becomes a higher state of faith and why whatever goes into the reason becomes a Klipa?
R. That we will still scrutinize even the question itself is not fully scrutinized and also the answer to it is not prepared.
32. S. (115:28) Can I say that the staff gives me confidence on the path?
R. Yes.
S. What comes first, faith or confidence?
R. That we need to scrutinize.
33. S. (1:16:10) If the Creator gives us the quality of faith about reason will we see the next step and know how to take it correctly?
R. Of course, of course, yes.
34. S. (1:16:50) Does annulment towards my friend against my desire also be considered above reason?
R. It could be. Above reason anything can be done.
S. So in each and every action we go down into a reason and rise above it again?
R. You can say maybe yes and maybe not.
35. R. (1:17:45) I see for the time being that we are in some kind of a pause.
36. S. (1:18:18) Why does nature always has an intermediate state and here there isn't?
R. That is how it seems to you
37. S (01:18:55) Every good thing that we will be able to do will instantly bring an a failure afterwards, so how to see a correction in that in the failures too?
R. How to see correction from this failure? If you look at the action that is one thing if you look at the intention that is another thing. I don't know what you mean? Where are you learning about failure to correct?
S. We read about the serpent and the staff that the more a person wants to do something for the Creator and tries to hold on to it. So, he will find himself the next moment in different thoughts?
R. Yes
S. Which is a failure than the state he was in earlier so why is that a correction? The failure iteslf?
R. The failure itself is a correction because nevertheless a person went through the state and felt that he has failed and then he does not repeat it.
S. And that will bring birth to the next state?
R. Yes
S. And the next failure?
R. Until he didn’t experience it he cannot say.
38. R (01:20:45) Do you want to give an answer or question? Questions I have from here until years a head, Does anyone has an answer? Is there a woman there who has an answer with her hand up?
39. S (01:21:15) If I understand correctly, the staff is to aim myself towards faith and when I fall in a reason after tossed the staff that obligate me to raise a prayer. so the staff is where I aim myself towards? If a faith is a below reason so I descent?
Reading #190 (01:22:30) “It turns out that in any case they do not have any other choice but to assume the discernment..” twice.
40. R () Meaning that the person brought to a state where he must rise to the degree above reason
Continue #190 () “.. the staff should be in the hand, the staff should not be thrown…”
41. R (01:25:357) is it clear? if it's not clear it's also good.
Reading #191 (01:26:05) “And cast it to the ground meaning then the shell was given Authority..” twice
42. S (01:29:30) There is a feeling that we are like in a pause waiting?
R. Yes we were reached the state that we need to try and accumulate forces and take a leap.
S. How can we aim ourselves because it is like a baby that is already hold to 7 months till 9 months when he comse out. He actually just gains weight that time?
R. Okay, I don't know
S. The question is, how do we do the action of being included with the friends? What else do we open in our heart?
R. We learn try to understand what is written and that this will take place in us in the connection between us.
43. S (01:30:36) I do not know if you feel good in an answer but I have a question. What does it mean that the serpent hits us with the tail? What is that sort of failure that we constantly feel or experience?
R. That we are unable to rise above our mind our emotion to go against ourselves, we cannot.
S. It says that we constantly fail in a matter of faith that we do not full faith?
R. Yes
S. When will the Creator help? When does it invert ? What in our work awakens the Creator to get to the state that he will come and help us that the serpent will stop striking us?
R. In Israel's side from the work that we all understand to a certain extent that we will feel that it is not upon us to do these actions of faith above reason that the Creator is doing it. But it is near it's near. Hopefully we will experience it still and get closer to it today. Even though we are all now in some kind of pause emotional, intellectual as a group, it will pass. Instead let us sing
Song
Reading #192 (01:36:50) “When a person is his own servant he cannot be a servant of the creator because it is impossible..”
44. R (01:37:39) That's clear right, when a person comes out of Egypt then he acquires new forces and with them he can then advance. To come out from self love sorry self reception to already begin exiting.
Reading #192 again (01:38:10)
45. R (01:38:55) And all of the rest of the innovations will come after the Exodus.
Reading #193 (01:39:05) “If a person is placed under this rule like the nations of the world..”
46. R. (01:40:50) Okay, just to hear for the time being.
47. S. (01:40:55) In these two excerpts he's talking about two kinds of statuses; working for himself or working for the Creator. What is the intermediate point from working from oneself..?
R. Working for himself is working in Egypt then he cannot do a thing, that he necessarily works for himself and when he receives strength and states in the Exodus then he is already working for the Creator. And just like before he could not work for the Creator but for himself so now he's working for the Creator and not for himself.
S. So what is the intermediate point, what is the condition to be released from working for himself?
R. The condition is In the Exodus, is exiting the dominance of the will to receive; he rises above it, and by that he is already released.
S. For one that can overcome how is it possible if he is still working for himself, what gives him the force to rise?
R. He gets strength from the Creator that can raise him above his state and that is considered that he comes out of Egypt.
S. Under what condition do you get that force?
R. When it comes to a person, when he deserves it, when everything that was required of him to be done until now was done and then according to the order he receives strength to rise above the degree called the worker of Egypt, the worker of Pharaoh, and he is rewarded with exiting that dominance.
48. S. (01:43:13) Do we begin to work for the Creator as soon as we come out of Egypt?
R. Otherwise it is not exodus. Otherwise it is not exodus. it is not that we are going out walking and some distance we begin to work in a new way. It is all changing the balance of forces within us; that the forces of bestow start dominating and ruling controlling the person and giving him the opportunity to be in order to bestow.
S. When we come out, we enter the desert and not Israel?
R. That is correct, we have ahead of us a lot of things. But the most important thing is that we come out form in order to receive, we come out of Egypt.
S. So the state of the desert is difficult for our ego, so how long till we get to the land of Israel?
R. 40 years. Until we reach from Malchut to Bina.
S. Will I be alive?
R. You are still young. It's not according to our corporal calculations. okay?
49. S. (01:45:56) The state of darkness becomes more desired in our eyes. Should we allow the darkness, should we relinquish our reason? My feeling is to believe in Moses that he's going to lead us to a new good land, that something good will come out of it, is that looking at reality correctly am I depicting it correctly?
R. Everything you think is true for the time being and later on it will change.
S. There is a feeling of happiness before a certain state, I am expecting something that I don't know.
R. Because this still will be a solution to the previous state.
50. S. (01:57:58) We said we have two states compare to our reason and they depend on as much as I connect to the group, because the group is the condition to receive forces from the Creator and through Rabash will learn how to organize the group and live in it, so what is the discernment of Aaron?
R. We didn't learn anything from here. Why is she asking about this?
S. We mentioned how the staff of Aaron's budded and blossomed.
R. Okay, just from that.
51. S. (01:49:28) Can you give a practical example of an action between working for myself and bestowing, and can the ego lift me and show me if I'm working for the Creator or not?
R. For the time being we are in the will to receive; that if I do every single action no matter what I always do it because I feel profit in my will to receive, and it won't help to escape it this is called escaping Egypt. Try and imagine to the extent that you are under this nature and unable to let go of it. You are unable, so what do you do? Here's the question. Does anyone have some advice?
Answering Rav’s question:
S. (01:51:22) Faith is unification with the Creator, complete adhesion. We have got to have faith in the sages, faith and the Rav, teacher. And the reason I said this, is because many times it is our intellect that blocks us from connection and the intellect has to be annulled. Throughout the work we use the intellect to make judgments about connection but we need to get to the point where we trust in the sages, trust in the Rav, and be prepared to work without using the intellect and just unify and trust the system. I don't think that with my intellect I would never be here and all we need to do is connection and annul, then we will unify with the Creator.
R. You are a smart woman.
S. The answer to your question is that if we stay under the dominance of Pharaoh we reach a spiritual death.
R. What is spiritual death? Why do I care?
S. We all aspire for the upper abundance. We all yearn to resemble and if we stay under the dominance of Pharaoh then we are basically disabling our spiritual future.
R. Okay I understand, it is written that, “he who wants to live should bring himself to death”.
S. I would like to add to what was said before, there is an impression that we all need to reach this connection to the point of Moses which we are in, and to believe that a friend has this point of Moses and to connect together with Moses to come out of Egypt.
R. You said it nicely. You said it nicely.
52. S. (01:55:40) Continue what you said before: what is required for a person to do so he will know that he's truly taking the next step in scrutinizing correctly the actions in oeder to come out of egypt?
R. Constantly cancel yourself towards the group.
S. How do I scrutinize this annulment that I don't do it from a different place?
R. I don't know what to tell you, but annulling yourself towards the group is something we learned many times; towards the desire of the group, the intentions of the group, the connection between the friends and so on.
S. You say we always need to scrutinize the next step, how do we do this together in the ten?
R. In the ten anything can be scrutinized, everything; if I annul towards them I can scrutinize everything.
S. That is clear, but this thing of catching on to the next step?
R. I don't know what the next step is. What do you mean? I can't see myself a few steps ahead, I can just be ready and prepared for anything that comes to me, to connect to that above my reason.
S. When we do this in the ten, by default is the Creator is there or do we need to put Him in the process?
R. The Creator is in everything.
S. that is clear, the question is do we need to activate some forces on our behalf or just to…?
R. I need to be in constant adhesion to the Creator and the group.
53. S. (01:58:18) Is the care for others, is that open up the gates above reason?
R. Yes, of course.
54. S. (1:58:47) My question is are we too spoiled because in the state that I am in, I was placed in the state of life or death and now it is to rise about reason. So we need to reach this state or the connection between us is strong and we need to work and take everything seriously. Is this what will raise us?
R. The connection between us has to raise us to faith above reason; and in that connection we need to see ourselves, discover ourselves in the correct form and the Creator between us. That is it, only connect as much as possible as closer to each other. Soon, soon.
55. S. (02:00:55) How could a person come out of themselves, when he will come to a state of Matan Torah?
R. By the giving of the Torah.
S. How?
R. By accepting The Torah, which is the upper light, the upper force that takes us out from in order to receive. Today for the first time we really started touching our nature: What it means in order to receive and how we can come out of that? The first time.
I'm very happy that we have got to this and we will try to advance. We will try to advance.
Reading Excerpt #194 twice (02:02:54)
56. S. (02:05:57) When a person starts touching this concept of not being in order to receive, what causes this?
R. When he comes closer to the ability to bestow.
S. What enables the person to connect in order to bestow?
R. The root of his soul.
S. From his side can he do something about it or is it just…?
R. According to the inner software that is in him he gets an awakening from above and advances in such a way, and it is all because he's built in such a way.
S. We spoke a lot about faith above reason during the lesson there is some kind of fogginess around it
R. That's fine we'll work on it.
S. My question is the first time that the person is able to do this action called above reason, is this something that he can do or…?
R. No no no, that all comes from above but under the condition that a person is suitable for it.
S. What does it mean to be with the dead above reason?
R. That they'll do anything they need of him.
S. What do they need?
R. Thoughts, intentions, actions, in order to bestow not for oneself, as much as he can advance towards that. Clear?
S. It became very clear in our path that all of the advancement it’s done on you and you yourself don't really have the ability to do something other than being part of the process you are being taken through.
R. That's fine.
S. Where's the person here in this story?
R. By agreeing that all these actions take place upon him. I gave the example that they told me maybe today we will do an operation on you and I felt such a need for it that I myself ran to the operation room and I got upon the bed on that table and that is it. I just wanted them to start already.
S. What determines the ability of a person to agree?
R. The desire that I have no other choice and finally it is coming and from here onward I can already come out to a state of life, of true life, that I'd rather be dead than alive than the life I used to have.
S. How to build this willingness on behalf of a person to be like a bestower?
R. Annulling towards the friends but not annulment that he disappears but annulment in actions and all kinds of his actions towards the group, towards the friends, that he does it. That’s work.
S. Now if we spoke about it that this transition to in order to bestow depends on the root to one’s soul, so how does this transition take, it’s such a big mess like we have in the world Kli, if it depends on the root of one’s soul?
R. You have a door and you yourself cannot go through it but if you divide yourself into thousands of pieces and put those pieces in the others so they cannot go through the door and take you with them. Okay?
S. How do we take it through the door?
R. You don't, you just incorporate in them and they take you through.
S. What is this door we go through? Where do we go through towards?
R. That is the Machsom, the barrier into the world of truth.
S. What are we depicting, that our desire will be focused? What are we imagining, what are we depicting?
R. I want to annul to incorporate into the friends.
57. S. (02:12:12) Does faith above reason and annulling one’s self, is that the same?
R. Let's see it's the same thing.
S. If in the will to receive it doesn't matter what I do, there isn't an intention so I need to annul one’s self because then I will be able to feel the next degree?
R. Yes.
58. S. (02:13:02) If a person is included correctly in the group, he doesn't feel his own needs?
R. No.
S. It says in the excerpt they didn't feel their own need.
R. Right.
59. S. (02:14:06) It says here in 194 one must not exclude one’s self from the public and ask for oneself not to even bring contentment to one's maker so to do good to the community to the society. Does that cancel doing good to the Creator?
R. No, we need through our community to bestow to the Creator? You heard?
60. S. (02:15:03) You answered the question that there is a door to enter spirituality and I can't enter there myself. The goal is to put my friend into there?
R. I need to divide myself into thousands of pieces, incorporate in all the friends, then the friends go through and I am there in them. I am divided into thousands of pieces.
S. Friends can enter only as a result of me praying for them to penetrate?
R. The Creator will organize that.
S. What effort is required for me?
R. To incorporate in them.
S. I can't include myself with the friends either?
R. Ask of the Creator, in heart and soul incorporate them, that is it.
S. To be included in who?
R. With the friends in your ten.
S. This also as a result of me turning to the Creator?
R. Yes.
S. How to be certain that He will answer?
R. You do what is upon you to do. You do what you are supposed to do.
61. S. (02:17:30) I wanted to continue about what a friend asked before, what does it mean the root of the soul and does that change or not?
R. No, it doesn't change. That is your place in the general vessel of Adam HaRashon. It is what you need to do. You need to help that point adhere to all the other points.
62. S. (02:18:44) Baal HaSulam warns us from praying for one’s self to not bring destruction to our soul. Now I'm driving in the car listening to a lesson and desire arises. How do I make sure that I don’t fall into a state of praying for one’s self?
R. You hear the lesson, you hear the friends, you hear me, so you are incorporating in all this.
S. It’s something that’s part of the public, it's already not an individual's prayer because even if I'm alone?
R. Physically can be alone. The main thing is how you incorporate in everyone.
63. S. (02:19:47) When we say all of our Kli is one ten meaning our goal is to include and hold in our hearts each and every friend, or to break my heart into pieces and to give each one a piece of my heart? Is this the action for this transition in order to bestow into holding the staff?
R. If we want to connect with the group and the whole world–no matter, it doesn’t matter with who–so that is not essential in what way we divide them or sort them out. There is nothing special about it, we just have to incorporate with them together.
64. S. (02:21:21) Regarding the staff, it seems like the Creator gives a person a ten, He says connect them and when you decide to do it you realize you have no strength and then you need to escape, adhere to the friends and the Creator. That’s the conclusion, you always need to act for the friends and that's the greatest gift that we have got?
R. Yes.
65. S. (02:23:00) Regarding where you asked about today. Today, throughout the day ,also in the afternoon lesson, also in the Gathering of Friends, the meals, everything will be dedicated to exiting Egypt, to the action of Nachshon, not leaving anyone behind, in what we spoke about taking the friends through this door. How is it correct to prepare for such a day to get the most out of it?
R. Simply the more we can incorporate in this, talk about this, listen, hear about this, and with each and every word we get a little portion from the upper force that brings us closer gradually to the exit and it is close, it's close, it all happens suddenly.
66. S. (02:24:45) First time that I'm here in Passover and we did such Egypt here with the pots of meat, meals, and lessons, and we got such a an injection of connection of care for the group and the friends served us quietly with humbleness and even asked us to join the duties. We got a feeling of female connection in the gathering of friends. Thank you very much to all the women, and the warm sensation is felt in the heart. How to understand this great gift from the Creator and to understand that all of us together have the opportunity to turn to the Creator?
R. This will remain in the heart and it will escort us towards the end of correction, Gmar Tikkun..
R. We got to the end of this lesson. We’ll keep going tomorrow morning? Oh, we have the noon lesson so we will continue at noon, the continuation of this, right? We have the miracle of coming out of Egypt before us so for now. a song.
Part 2:
The Conditions for Connection in the Ten- Selected Excerpts from the Sources (Annulment before the Friends. #5)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1trUY-ZEFTX-9kuFkx1v-SttxanN6bynfO79hdRE-NpU/edit
Morning Lesson April 11, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Passover - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. (Staff and the Serpent. #186)
Passover - Main page for all chapters
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:20) Yes, we continue the same order of commonality, exile, coming out of Egypt, coming out of our ego toward the quality of bestowal, love and connection. And we will try not to stop along the way but to truly advance as much as possible. We learn that we have a group that's named according to its goal, Yashar-El [straight to the Creator] and this group of Israel, Yashar-El, it can progress, it is advancing. At its head there is a force guiding it towards the goal called Moshe [Moses]. It is a very special force that was raised in the house of Pharaoh and absorbed from Egypt all of the culture and education and knowledge and character and desire of the Egyptians, meaning of the will to receive on one hand, and on the other hand, like the entire group that has to come out of its ego, it feels that it has the desire, the power, the inclination, the attraction to come out of his ego. And he must take with him all the other parts of his character, parts of his desire called the nation of Israel and he has to perform this task. So, we are in a state where the Creator turns to Moses and awakens him to be the leader of the nation of Israel; to correction.
Reading excerpt #185 (03:40) “The Creator said to Moses..”
2. R. (05:33) Meaning the Creator is teaching him how to perform such actions by which he can bring out the entirety of his will to receive, all his qualities that exist in order to receive in the exile in Egypt, where we don't understand what it means to be outside of Egypt. But then he begins to see the truth and he joins the nation of Israel in exile. Meaning, he is capable of seeing, he wants to see all the desires, thoughts, qualities, actions, everything that there is that gradually combines together and they help one another and they approach the exit from Egypt.
Reading excerpt #186 (07:10) “This is the meaning of the question..”
3. R. (09:23) We already know about ourselves, how our intellect, our feeling and how much they change from moment to moment and they are unreliable, so what to do? And that's why the certain thing is to go above reason. What is above reason? Where we imagine to ourselves what is the desire of the Creator, what does the Creator want and we want to ascribe ourselves to that, to the extent we try to do it, we begin to feel that way rise above reason, above our intellect, above our habits, above this world and gradually we rise above it. The Creator helps us; he brings us to such qualities, such ideas, His inclinations and we rise from the degree of the created being to the degree of the Creator.
And everything depends on what is up and what is down in importance, what is higher and what is lower in importance, that is why the Creator asks, “What is in your hand,” He asks Moses. And Moses says, “a staff,” meaning, if he tries to walk with his thoughts, with his qualities, with his desires as down below and everything that has to do with the Creator held up then by that he raises himself from the degree of this world to the degree of the upper world. And what used to be before as the qualities of bestowal, as small qualities, as nothing in them no feeling, no intellect, no confidence, no power, now they are starting to feel that only in this way when he is moving into the qualities of bestowal he has a possibility to bring himself to the degree of the upper force, the upper confidence, faith. And all of it is called above reason, above his corporeal reason and there he gets into spiritual discernments.
Reading excerpt #187 (13:33) “One who has no other choice..” twice.
4. R. (17:30) Here what does it mean he who is proud? He places his intellect and his understanding above where he should be going in faith above reason. If his intellect is higher, his decisions come from his calculations then he can no longer be in the same place where the Creator is; “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.”
Reading excerpt #188 (18:40) “If one throws the discernment of the staff..” twice.
5. S. (20:02) What will convince me to throw the staff to the ground? How to rise above the ego and hear the Creator?
R. Two things: on the one hand, I make calculations from experience. How much I walked, I made mistakes, I fell, I got up, and from the connection with the friends, how much they are holding me up and they don't let me fall. So, from all of these states that I arrange within me, I acquire the power to advance above my reason, above my feeling only by relying on the society, depending on them. And there is nothing of me, there is nothing of me that I can believe, a certain calculation of any power of mine because I see that all of it is the will to receive that is only confusing me and it is built intentionally in order to confuse me so I would let him go and grab hold of the society like a baby who is grabbing hold of his mother and he sits in her arms and it doesn't want to let her go because for him, this is the safest place, the right place to be. And we need to see ourselves in the same way as we advance towards the purpose of creation.
S. Moses is the upper force, so accordingly, the ego and his will to receive are the biggest, so how did he overcome his ego?
R. He has no intellect, no power, he has got only one thing: he knows that he has no intellect and no power, no mind and no power and all that he has is the ability to hold on to the Creator, only that. So he grabs all of the group, he also doesn't come to the Creator with his desire that I wish to adhere to You, rather he assembles all of the deficiencies, all of the desires, inclinations that exist in his society and he raises them to the Creator, he cries and he asks, “help them” and then everyone rises. Each one of us needs to be like Moshe.
6. S. (24:24) The ego is hiding from our eyes. How can we recognize that our intention is correct, that we are rising above reason and to see above what our eyes see and what our ears hear?
R. Try to be incorporated with the friends, try to feel what they want, what the Creator is telling us from the text and with all that to organize everything that reality is showing you as if you are Moses and you are looking at all those things and how can you introduce them, all of them for the Creator. And receive forces for them, through you and together with them to take more steps forward.
7. S. (26:15) I am sitting on the chair and I don't feel all these discernments that are spoken about here. How can I begin to detect them to even get into it?
R. You need to feel yourself as one of those who is under the control of the ego in Egypt and what can they do? They can only connect around this force called Moshe, who will pull them from in order to receive to in order to bestow and that's what we need to feel, to be ready for connection. Others, it doesn't matter their level of understanding or the power that you are in, you have to understand that no one has the intellect, the feeling, the power to help them come out of Egypt. We cannot part with our nature, instead if friends come, a great power and it pulls us, each one of us, pulls us out then we stand a chance to come out of Egypt to come out of in order to receive and to that extent we begin to feel the Creator and the friends, I feel that they are already a little bit different around me. I used to think before that it could change from moment to moment and in this way we rise above our ego and we start to reveal the Creator and our forces will be in order to bestow. With that, what can I say, we will also feel how we wake up and rise above our calculations, our previous calculations and we come to in order to bestow. It is a new calculation altogether. A new calculation.
8. S. (30:00) We learn that in order to work with the higher attribute, we have to lower ourselves and here it says raises himself to work with the higher attribute. What is the calculation that we need to do in order to work with the higher attribute?
R. That I leave my quality and I take the higher qualities from the society. I join them and I lower my head towards them and that's how I continue. Meaning, all the time I am incorporated into the society and in this way I rise with them. And it doesn't matter if it is a small group or a great big society, a wise society or a stupid society, a righteous society or not. Rather it all depends on how I connect to the society like with Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma who was a great, wise man of attainment but in order to rise to higher degrees he was incorporated in his simple friends and he did it and he rose higher.
9. S. (32:32) It is not clear why he writes that throwing his staff to the ground means that he wants to work with a higher attribute?
R. He doesn't work with his own intellect and feeling but instead he takes the intellect and feeling of the society and the environment.
S. So why is it throwing the staff to the ground, it's lifting it up, no?
R. No, what he has, he stops going with it.
10. S. (33:13) If you can explain the first sentence in 188 because it says that it is actually a serpent, in the first sentence?
R. If he throws the discernment of the staff to the ground and raises oneself to work with a higher attribute, this is already a serpent and there is no middle. There is either a serpent or Kedusha.This is how the Torah in the work that one has with the discernment of a staff, …. or has now entered the discernment of the serpent: So what is the question?
S. You explain that working with a higher attribute means looking for the reason of the group and annulling myself but he says about this that it is a serpent and it is not clear?
R. If he annuls himself towards the group even though he may have a different opinion and he rises.
S. Why does it say at the end of the sentence, this is already a serpent?
R. He raises himself to work with a higher discernment; this is now a serpent, he doesn't want to accept the higher discernment he wants to throw himself down, he wants to lower himself but then he rises specifically in this way. We will clarify it.
11. S. (35:15) So now we said what is attainment of spirituality and the importance of faith. I wanted to ask how we can calculate correctly, make correct calculations?
R. The best thing is to be incorporated in the ten and do as they do. As much as it feels in opposition to your mind and feeling, it is even better, it means that you are advancing in the right direction. I'm speaking of states that are somewhere updated. That's it. We have nothing more to rely on.
S. What when we have difficult states that contradict our mind and heart but if I don’t feel the importance of faith then I can’t calculate correctly. If I can’t have faith then I can’t see the importance of the group, the friends. So I need to feel faith in all of the states, right?
R. If you can’t feel but you hear, you read what the Kabbalists recommend to you, to subjugate yourself before the ten, before the society, then what do you do then?
S. So I receive the power of faith from the friends?
R. So, nevertheless, you need to subjugate yourself and try to receive through your group, through your ten, the power of faith. Who do you get the power of faith from? From the Creator. Meaning the group here is a certain condition where to the extent you can subjugate yourself before the group, accordingly you receive greater spiritual power from the Creator.
12. S. (38:36) When Moses threw the staff on the ground did the serpent appear or did it appear to him as a snake when it lost its significance?
R. No, the Creator tells you what is in your hand: “a staff throw it, throw it to the ground.” In other words don't go according to this but rather go in a different way: rise above reason.
S. When Moses threw it down it felt like he's losing the importance, is this connected to that?
R. Correct, correct, bit by bit soon we will read some more excerpts and it will be clear to you this is something very very important. It is essential how we switch from corporeality to spirituality.
13. S. (40:24) What influences the appearance of the power of faith in the ten?
R. In the ten by being connected they create a power by themselves, a force by themselves and that force begins to manifest itself in the ten.
14. S. (40:55) Why is Moses running away when he throws down the staff, he is next to the Creator?
R. We will clarify these things. It's not a problem. The important thing for us is to understand the content itself of what happens here, if what I think in the degree of my thoughts, where I show myself is no longer important to me, if it's not important to me anymore but what is important to me is the principle of through the ten reaching the Creator for the common force of the ten, then I am throwing down the staff and going with a new principle. Soon, soon everything will fall into place.
Reading Excerpt #188 again. (43:00) twice.
Reading excerpt #189 (44:24) “In order for a person..” twice
15. S. (46:46) Do I build the stuff from within the work with my intellect, my reason and when the Creator tells me to throw it, I understand that this is the serpent. Does the Creator give me the intellect, the reason, the understanding and the staff?
R. Yes. Even though I am in that state I keep the staff in low importance which is called faith above reason when it is of low importance and then I advance if I cannot keep it then I fail and this is how I learn and advance. It is impossible to advance without falling and learning that it is possible to also go above reason. Only with faith about reason which is really the only thing in which we can advance. If a person takes upon themself that state and accepts that state then he does advance and rises. We need to feel it upon ourselves what are those things that happen to us if we go above reason, if we don't go, if we leave the discernment of staff, the phase of staff and fall into a phase of serpent or the other way around. We have to feel how it works within us so it is still not present. If we think about it more and talk about it more, study more then it will enter us and it will be revealed in us. We will be able to understand what it is about.
16. S. (50:18) Baal HaSulam specifies that this topic of faith equals loneliness. Can you explain what is the meaning of that?
R. No no, I do not want to explain these things. I want you to remain in questions and doubts and that situation and not that you will understand intellectually and you will be calm.
S. There are states where a person comes to state of the serpent not a staff and then he goes through all kinds of states that the Creator gives them and he needs to understand that he is in that state of loneliness and that he needs to come out of this is the issue that I would like to bring up.
R. Keep going and demand understanding.
17. S. (51:25) It seems as if the Creator is looking after a person so that you would always stay in the state of spiritual fear relative to connection with Him. How do we take advantage of the state and work correctly and not take the work to ourselves again?
R. We get an example from the group. A person has one view and the group has another view. so if a person bows his head, lowers himself then he begins to understand what it means to be in faith above reason but he gets some example from it.
S. So how do we keep and protect this state of spiritual fear and not just wait for another gift from the Creator.
R. If you are incorporated, actually you do not have a choice, if you are Incorporated in a group you are willing to bow yourself before them on the one hand, on the other hand to be as Moses meaning with all your might to help them advance, it turns out that you gradually begin to rise along with the group. These states are not very clear. we still have not encountered them but this is the path, that is the way.
18. S. (54:00) To go to the discrement of the serpent is the way to escape the Sitra Achra meaning how do we take the next step?
R. When we get there we will understand what is the next step. The important thing is that it will be clear to us now that we do not see the next step. That for us there's some sort of a mist a fog. It is not clear from us what the Creator wants from us, how we should get organized, how do we take the next step.
S. You said that when we lower ourselves and we accept the think of the 10 the group, does that not mean to throw the stuff down?
R. Perhaps could be.
19. S. (55:34) When I'm in the state of serpent myself I try to connect to to the friends with my thought and my actions then I feel that I rise only not on mentally but the heart also begins to Cling to the friends. Do I need to expect a full incorporation of my heart with the heart of the friends?
R. Well we should always expect that but will it happen I don't know.
S. So I should not settle for certain sensation but look for prayers and thoughts about the friends?
R. You see that I'm not giving clear answers. And this is exactly the situation where we need to scrutinize the next step. It is very very essential very important. So the more we feel that we cannot understand, scrutinize, clarify the situation it will be better for us. because this is exactly transition between within reason and above reason, between being within Egypt and out of Egypt etc, okay.
20. S. (57:50) Does faith above reason come to us as a sensation since any intellectual calculation even if we think we are going above reason we cannot trust it? So in short is faith above reason come to us as a sensation or a feeling?
R. I don't understand what a sensation or feeling means. I don't understand the difference between those two words. Faith above reason comes through the intellect to the feeling that is how it works.
21. S. (59:21) The Creator gives us a state where when we throw the staff we descend into our reason. And sometimes because of that we throw the state of faith above reason to feel the state of serpent. I was confused what is the staff? Does it change?
R. We have to scrutinize we have to scrutinize it. I'm not giving you solutions, I'm not explaining. When you start talking about faith above reason that is where I stopped explaining. Because you need to scrunize these things by yourself and even if you need to leave the lesson confused, keep it this way.
S. So in other words we don't need to we're not required to clarify ourselves in faith?
R. I did not say this I said that I'm not giving you a clear answer.
S. The answer will come from the group and the Creator?
R. The answer always comes from the Creator but that not that's not an answer that is obvious.
22. S. (01:01:08) To throw the staff to the ground sounds like a conscious act. When it is when we agree with the Creator that’s the connection that we have now has to be broken and not try to hold on to it?
R. But it is falling into a state of serpent.
S. But it says here that he throws it, is not like falling he's throwing it down?
R. Yes.
S. Meaning it is a conscious act?
R. Yes, but to where does he falls, he falls into failures into problems.
S. Do we need to inspire for it to fall or constantly try to hold on to it.
R. I will not answer you.
23. S. (01:02:50) How important is it to see the truth from my state from my attainment?
R. I did not understand.
S, How important is it that I will scrutinize the truth on the level where I am at?
R. Well it is important. How important to the extent that I need in order to rise to the next degree.
S. So I need to believe what the sages are saying eventhough I see a total different reality, also according to my knowledge also according to what I truly see?
R. Yes.
S. So then I say ok, Actually I say I am going to hold the staff now like this and I see something totally different and I hold the staff up. Is that what it means to hold the staff up?
R. Yes.
S. If I throw it down that means I’m not going in faith above reason what the sages are saying that means I follow my reason?
R. Yes, yes.
24. S. (01:04:25) He writes that we fall to the serpent and so we will not stay there we begin to feel the failures that pushes towards the correction, what are those failures?
R. That we are constantly going for mistake to mistake until when we come out of those mistakes we see that we already received acquired some understanding some discernments in order to get the faith above reason.
I want to tell you to explain to you again. This concept of faith above reason is a very confusing concept very confusing. We cannot demand to understand it now and immediately. But rather we need try more and more to perform actions that are against our intellect against our feeling for the connection and then we will feel what he means when he says faith about reason. when he says throw the staff and why the staff when it was in Moses's hand and with which he walked forward towards the purpose of the creation immediately becomes a serpent and there is no middle nothing in between them either serpent or a staff. So all those things we need to process until we discover them in a way that they are clear to us because of our tasting because of our internal understanding. It is not simple but this is the most important point in acquiring the method. How to understand the inversion of serpent to staff and staff to serpent? How to rise from this world to the upper world? How to understand the Creator instead of to understanding myself? All of this we should now scrutinize.
25. S. (01:08:00) You said to perform actions in the group, how from those actions we can what is the mechanism here that works within because seemingly there are very simple actions?
R. The actions themselves do not matter what matters is what situation you are in order to do them the actions may be simple but the mind and the heart you add to them increase the importance of the actions.
26. S (01:08:55) When I throw the staff down I'm not where the Creator is, is that what obligating me to raise the prayer for the friends?
R. Let's say it is.
27. S. (01:09:30) What is the state between the staff and serpent, what is the middle line?
Reader - I think she is asking about “there is no discernment of middle either serpent or holiness, can you explain it?
R. There is a connection but there's no state in between where both in order to receive and in order to bestow are connected. A state that contains both, such a thing does not exist it does not exist in reality. otherwise there would be something between the Creator and the created being. It does exist but only in a systemic way.
28. S. (01:11:02) I hear that the transition between reason and above reason between Egypt and coming out of Egypt this is really our next step, the essence of the method, the most important thing right now but we also do not know how to scrutinize it, it's like a fog the way you present it.
R. I'm not presenting the mist.
S. No, for us it is felt like a mist.
R. I want you to feel that indeed within reason and above reason are hard for us to scruitinize and to clarify. So what do we do? What do we do?
S. That is this question: how to scrutinize it?
R. I guess it's by the exercise that is given, what is written in the Torah.
29. S. (01:12:12) How can a person cleanse everything that he has in his mind and his heart and that is not connected to the relation with the Creator?
R. How does he clean it?
S. Yes, cleaning all the thoughts and feeling that they're not connected to the Creator.
R. Only by annulling before the ten. You have no other means.
S. But in each degree it is growing stronger and every once in a while a person loses the group connection with the group, the faithe.
R. It is in order for you time and time again to find the connection over and over again. Okay?
30. S. (1:13:25) How can the Torah sometimes be a staff and sometimes a serpent?
R. We will study. There are many excerpts about it. We have nowhere to rush. if we do not understand these things.
31. S. (01:14:36) What does it mean that everything that goes into the reason becomes a higher state of faith and why whatever goes into the reason becomes a Klipa?
R. That we will still scrutinize even the question itself is not fully scrutinized and also the answer to it is not prepared.
32. S. (01:15:28) Can I say that the staff gives me confidence on the path?
R. Yes.
S. What comes first, faith or confidence?
R. That we need to scrutinize.
33. S. (01:16:10) If the Creator gives us the quality of faith about reason will we see the next step and know how to take it correctly?
R. Of course, of course, yes.
34. S. (01:16:50) Does annulment towards my friend against my desire also be considered above reason?
R. It could be. Above reason anything can be done.
S. So in each and every action we go down into a reason and rise above it again?
R. You can say maybe yes and maybe not.
35. R. (01:17:45) I see for the time being that we are in some kind of a pause.
36. S. (01:18:18) Why does nature always has an intermediate state and here there isn't?
R. That is how it seems to you
37. S. (01:18:55) Every good thing that we will be able to do will instantly bring an a failure afterwards, so how to see a correction in that in the failures too?
R. How to see correction from this failure? If you look at the action that is one thing if you look at the intention that is another thing. I don't know what you mean? Where are you learning about failure to correct?
S. We read about the serpent and the staff that the more a person wants to do something for the Creator and tries to hold on to it. So, he will find himself the next moment in different thoughts?
R. Yes
S. Which is a failure than the state he was in earlier so why is that a correction? The failure iteslf?
R. The failure itself is a correction because nevertheless a person went through the state and felt that he has failed and then he does not repeat it.
S. And that will bring birth to the next state?
R. Yes.
S.A nd the next failure?
R. Until he didn’t experience it he cannot say.
38. R. (01:20:45) Do you want to give an answer or question? Questions I have from here until years a head, Does anyone has an answer? Is there a woman there who has an answer with her hand up?
39. S (01:2115) If I understand correctly, the staff is to aim myself towards faith and when I fall in a reason after tossed the staff that obligate me to raise a prayer. so the staff is where I aim myself towards? If a faith is a below reason so I descent?
Reading #190 (01:22:30) “It turns out that in any case they do not have any other choice but to assume the discernment..” twice.
40. R. Meaning that the person brought to a state where he must rise to the degree above reason
Continue #190 “.. the staff should be in the hand, the staff should not be thrown…”
41. R (01:25:357) is it clear? if it's not clear it's also good.
Reading #191 (01:26:05) “And cast it to the ground meaning then the shell was given Authority..” twice
42. S (01:29:30) There is a feeling that we are like in a pause waiting?
R. Yes we were reached the state that we need to try and accumulate forces and take a leap.
S. How can we aim ourselves because it is like a baby that is already hold to 7 months till 9 months when he comse out. He actually just gains weight that time?
R. Okay, I don't know.
S. The question is, how do we do the action of being included with the friends? What else do we open in our heart?
R. We learn try to understand what is written and that this will take place in us in the connection between us.
43. S. (01:30:36) I do not know if you feel good in an answer but I have a question. What does it mean that the serpent hits us with the tail? What is that sort of failure that we constantly feel or experience?
R. That we are unable to rise above our mind our emotion to go against ourselves, we cannot.
S. It says that we constantly fail in a matter of faith that we do not full faith?
R. Yes.
S. When will the Creator help? When does it invert ? What in our work awakens the Creator to get to the state that he will come and help us that the serpent will stop striking us?
R. In Israel's side from the work that we all understand to a certain extent that we will feel that it is not upon us to do these actions of faith above reason that the Creator is doing it. But it is near it's near. Hopefully we will experience it still and get closer to it today. Even though we are all now in some kind of pause emotional, intellectual as a group, it will pass. Instead let us sing.
Reading #192 (01:36:50) “When a person is his own servant he cannot be a servant of the creator because it is impossible..”
44. R (01:37:39) That's clear right, when a person comes out of Egypt then he acquires new forces and with them he can then advance. To come out from self love sorry self reception to already begin exiting.
Reading #192 again (01:38:10)
45. R (01:38:55) And all of the rest of the innovations will come after the Exodus.
Reading #193 (01:39:05) “If a person is placed under this rule like the nations of the world..”
46. R. (01:40:50) Okay, just to hear for the time being.
47. S. (01:40:55) In these two excerpts he's talking about two kinds of statuses; working for himself or working for the Creator. What is the intermediate point from working from oneself..?
R. Working for himself is working in Egypt then he cannot do a thing, that he necessarily works for himself and when he receives strength and states in the Exodus then he is already working for the Creator. And just like before he could not work for the Creator but for himself so now he's working for the Creator and not for himself.
S. So what is the intermediate point, what is the condition to be released from working for himself?
R. The condition is In the Exodus, is exiting the dominance of the will to receive; he rises above it, and by that he is already released.
S. For one that can overcome how is it possible if he is still working for himself, what gives him the force to rise?
R. He gets strength from the Creator that can raise him above his state and that is considered that he comes out of Egypt.
S. Under what condition do you get that force?
R. When it comes to a person, when he deserves it, when everything that was required of him to be done until now was done and then according to the order he receives strength to rise above the degree called the worker of Egypt, the worker of Pharaoh, and he is rewarded with exiting that dominance.
48. S. (01:43:13) Do we begin to work for the Creator as soon as we come out of Egypt?
R. Otherwise it is not exodus. Otherwise it is not exodus. it is not that we are going out walking and some distance we begin to work in a new way. It is all changing the balance of forces within us; that the forces of bestow start dominating and ruling controlling the person and giving him the opportunity to be in order to bestow.
S. When we come out, we enter the desert and not Israel?
R. That is correct, we have ahead of us a lot of things. But the most important thing is that we come out form in order to receive, we come out of Egypt.
S. So the state of the desert is difficult for our ego, so how long till we get to the land of Israel?
R. 40 years. Until we reach from Malchut to Bina.
S. Will I be alive?
R. You are still young. It's not according to our corporal calculations, okay?
49. S. (01:45:56) The state of darkness becomes more desired in our eyes. Should we allow the darkness, should we relinquish our reason? My feeling is to believe in Moses that he's going to lead us to a new good land, that something good will come out of it, is that looking at reality correctly am I depicting it correctly?
R. Everything you think is true for the time being and later on it will change.
S. There is a feeling of happiness before a certain state, I am expecting something that I don't know.
R. Because this still will be a solution to the previous state.
50. S. (01:57:58) We said we have two states compare to our reason and they depend on as much as I connect to the group, because the group is the condition to receive forces from the Creator and through Rabash will learn how to organize the group and live in it, so what is the discernment of Aaron?
R. We didn't learn anything from here. Why is she asking about this?
S. We mentioned how the staff of Aaron's budded and blossomed.
R. Okay, just from that.
51. S. (01:49:28) Can you give a practical example of an action between working for myself and bestowing, and can the ego lift me and show me if I'm working for the Creator or not?
R. For the time being we are in the will to receive; that if I do every single action no matter what I always do it because I feel profit in my will to receive, and it won't help to escape it this is called escaping Egypt. Try and imagine to the extent that you are under this nature and unable to let go of it. You are unable, so what do you do? Here's the question. Does anyone have some advice?
Answering Rav’s question:
S. (01:51:22) Faith is unification with the Creator, complete adhesion. We have got to have faith in the sages, faith and the Rav, teacher. And the reason I said this, is because many times it is our intellect that blocks us from connection and the intellect has to be annulled. Throughout the work we use the intellect to make judgments about connection but we need to get to the point where we trust in the sages, trust in the Rav, and be prepared to work without using the intellect and just unify and trust the system. I don't think that with my intellect I would never be here and all we need to do is connection and annul, then we will unify with the Creator.
R. You are a smart woman.
S. The answer to your question is that if we stay under the dominance of Pharaoh we reach a spiritual death.
R. What is spiritual death? Why do I care?
S. We all aspire for the upper abundance. We all yearn to resemble and if we stay under the dominance of Pharaoh then we are basically disabling our spiritual future.
R. Okay I understand, it is written that, “he who wants to live should bring himself to death”.
S. I would like to add to what was said before, there is an impression that we all need to reach this connection to the point of Moses which we are in, and to believe that a friend has this point of Moses and to connect together with Moses to come out of Egypt.
R. You said it nicely. You said it nicely.
52. S. (01:55:40) Continue what you said before: what is required for a person to do so he will know that he's truly taking the next step in scrutinizing correctly the actions in oeder to come out of egypt?
R. Constantly cancel yourself towards the group.
S. How do I scrutinize this annulment that I don't do it from a different place?
R. I don't know what to tell you, but annulling yourself towards the group is something we learned many times; towards the desire of the group, the intentions of the group, the connection between the friends and so on.
S. You say we always need to scrutinize the next step, how do we do this together in the ten?
R. In the ten anything can be scrutinized, everything; if I annul towards them I can scrutinize everything.
S. That is clear, but this thing of catching on to the next step?
R. I don't know what the next step is. What do you mean? I can't see myself a few steps ahead, I can just be ready and prepared for anything that comes to me, to connect to that above my reason.
S. When we do this in the ten, by default is the Creator is there or do we need to put Him in the process?
R. The Creator is in everything.
S. that is clear, the question is do we need to activate some forces on our behalf or just to…?
R. I need to be in constant adhesion to the Creator and the group.
53. S. (01:58:18) Is the care for others, is that open up the gates above reason?
R. Yes, of course.
54. S. (01:58:47) My question is are we too spoiled because in the state that I am in, I was placed in the state of life or death and now it is to rise about reason. So we need to reach this state or the connection between us is strong and we need to work and take everything seriously. Is this what will raise us?
R. The connection between us has to raise us to faith above reason; and in that connection we need to see ourselves, discover ourselves in the correct form and the Creator between us. That is it, only connect as much as possible as closer to each other. Soon, soon.
55. S. (02:00:55) How could a person come out of themselves, when he will come to a state of Matan Torah?
R. By the giving of the Torah.
S. How?
R. By accepting The Torah, which is the upper light, the upper force that takes us out from in order to receive. Today for the first time we really started touching our nature: What it means in order to receive and how we can come out of that? The first time. I'm very happy that we have got to this and we will try to advance. We will try to advance.
Reading Excerpt #194 twice (02:02:54)
56. S. (02:05:57) When a person starts touching this concept of not being in order to receive, what causes this?
R. When he comes closer to the ability to bestow.
S. What enables the person to connect in order to bestow?
R. The root of his soul.
S. From his side can he do something about it or is it just…?
R. According to the inner software that is in him he gets an awakening from above and advances in such a way, and it is all because he's built in such a way.
S. We spoke a lot about faith above reason during the lesson there is some kind of fogginess around it
R. That's fine we'll work on it.
S. My question is the first time that the person is able to do this action called above reason, is this something that he can do or…?
R. No no no, that all comes from above but under the condition that a person is suitable for it.
S. What does it mean to be with the dead above reason?
R. That they'll do anything they need of him.
S. What do they need?
R. Thoughts, intentions, actions, in order to bestow not for oneself, as much as he can advance towards that. Clear?
S. It became very clear in our path that all of the advancement it’s done on you and you yourself don't really have the ability to do something other than being part of the process you are being taken through.
R. That's fine.
S. Where's the person here in this story?
R. By agreeing that all these actions take place upon him. I gave the example that they told me maybe today we will do an operation on you and I felt such a need for it that I myself ran to the operation room and I got upon the bed on that table and that is it. I just wanted them to start already.
S. What determines the ability of a person to agree?
R. The desire that I have no other choice and finally it is coming and from here onward I can already come out to a state of life, of true life, that I'd rather be dead than alive than the life I used to have.
S. How to build this willingness on behalf of a person to be like a bestower?
R. Annulling towards the friends but not annulment that he disappears but annulment in actions and all kinds of his actions towards the group, towards the friends, that he does it. That’s work.
S. Now if we spoke about it that this transition to in order to bestow depends on the root to one’s soul, so how does this transition take, it’s such a big mess like we have in the world Kli, if it depends on the root of one’s soul?
R. You have a door and you yourself cannot go through it but if you divide yourself into thousands of pieces and put those pieces in the others so they cannot go through the door and take you with them. Okay?
S. How do we take it through the door?
R. You don't, you just incorporate in them and they take you through.
S. What is this door we go through? Where do we go through towards?
R. That is the Machsom, the barrier into the world of truth.
S. What are we depicting, that our desire will be focused? What are we imagining, what are we depicting?
R. I want to annul to incorporate into the friends.
57. S. (02:12:12) Does faith above reason and annulling one’s self, is that the same?
R. Let's see it's the same thing.
S. If in the will to receive it doesn't matter what I do, there isn't an intention so I need to annul one’s self because then I will be able to feel the next degree?
R. Yes.
58. S. (02:13:02) If a person is included correctly in the group, he doesn't feel his own needs?
R. No.
S. It says in the excerpt they didn't feel their own need.
R. Right.
59. S. (02:14:06) It says here in 194 one must not exclude one’s self from the public and ask for oneself not to even bring contentment to one's maker so to do good to the community to the society. Does that cancel doing good to the Creator?
R. No, we need through our community to bestow to the Creator? You heard?
60. S. (02:15:03) You answered the question that there is a door to enter spirituality and I can't enter there myself. The goal is to put my friend into there?
R. I need to divide myself into thousands of pieces, incorporate in all the friends, then the friends go through and I am there in them. I am divided into thousands of pieces.
S. Friends can enter only as a result of me praying for them to penetrate?
R. The Creator will organize that.
S. What effort is required for me?
R. To incorporate in them.
S. I can't include myself with the friends either?
R. Ask of the Creator, in heart and soul incorporate them, that is it.
S. To be included in who?
R. With the friends in your ten.
S. This also as a result of me turning to the Creator?
R. Yes.
S. How to be certain that He will answer?
R. You do what is upon you to do. You do what you are supposed to do.
61. S. (02:17:30) I wanted to continue about what a friend asked before, what does it mean the root of the soul and does that change or not?
R. No, it doesn't change. That is your place in the general vessel of Adam HaRishon. It is what you need to do. You need to help that point adhere to all the other points.
62. S. (02:18:44) Baal HaSulam warns us from praying for one’s self to not bring destruction to our soul. Now I'm driving in the car listening to a lesson and desire arises. How do I make sure that I don’t fall into a state of praying for one’s self?
R. You hear the lesson, you hear the friends, you hear me, so you are incorporating in all this.
S. It’s something that’s part of the public, it's already not an individual's prayer because even if I'm alone?
R. Physically can be alone. The main thing is how you incorporate in everyone.
63. S. (02:19:47) When we say all of our Kli is one ten meaning our goal is to include and hold in our hearts each and every friend, or to break my heart into pieces and to give each one a piece of my heart? Is this the action for this transition in order to bestow into holding the staff?
R. If we want to connect with the group and the whole world–no matter, it doesn’t matter with who–so that is not essential in what way we divide them or sort them out. There is nothing special about it, we just have to incorporate with them together.
64. S. (02:21:21) Regarding the staff, it seems like the Creator gives a person a ten, He says connect them and when you decide to do it you realize you have no strength and then you need to escape, adhere to the friends and the Creator. That’s the conclusion, you always need to act for the friends and that's the greatest gift that we have got?
R. Yes.
65. S. (02:23:00) Regarding where you asked about today. Today, throughout the day ,also in the afternoon lesson, also in the Gathering of Friends, the meals, everything will be dedicated to exiting Egypt, to the action of Nachshon, not leaving anyone behind, in what we spoke about taking the friends through this door. How is it correct to prepare for such a day to get the most out of it?
R. Simply the more we can incorporate in this, talk about this, listen, hear about this, and with each and every word we get a little portion from the upper force that brings us closer gradually to the exit and it is close, it's close, it all happens suddenly.
66. S. (02:24:45) First time that I'm here in Passover and we did such Egypt here with the pots of meat, meals, and lessons, and we got such a an injection of connection of care for the group and the friends served us quietly with humbleness and even asked us to join the duties. We got a feeling of female connection in the gathering of friends. Thank you very much to all the women, and the warm sensation is felt in the heart. How to understand this great gift from the Creator and to understand that all of us together have the opportunity to turn to the Creator?
R. This will remain in the heart and it will escort us towards the end of correction, Gmar Tikkun.
R. We got to the end of this lesson. We’ll keep going tomorrow morning? Oh, we have the noon lesson so we will continue at noon, the continuation of this, right? We have the miracle of coming out of Egypt before us so for now. a song.