The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson August 5, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is, “The Children of Esau and Ishmael Did Not Want to Receive the Torah,” in the Work? Article No. 36, (1990).
Reader: Hello dear friends. In the first part of the lesson, we will study from a lesson with the Rav from 2002. The topic is the article, What Is, The Children of Esau and Ishmael Did Not Want to Receive the Torah, in the Work? We will read the article together in the Tens. We have thirty-three minutes, please.
Reading: (00:51) What Is, “The Children of Esau and Ishmael Did Not Want to Receive the Torah,” in the Work?
Article No. 36, 1990
It is written in The Zohar (Balak, Item 138), “When the Creator wanted to give the Torah to Israel, He went and invited the children of Esau, and they did not accept it, as it is written, ‘The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir,’ meaning that they did not want to receive it. He went to the children of Ishmael, and they did not want to receive it, as it is written, ‘appeared from Mount Paran.’ Since they did not want, He returned to Israel.”
It is said in The Zohar (Balak, Item 140), “Rabbi Shimon said to him: ‘This question is settled. The Lord came from Sinai, and from Sinai He came and was revealed to them. ‘And dawned on them from Seir’ means that from what the dwellers of Seir said, that they did not want to receive, from this it shown for Israel and added to them much light and love. Likewise, He appeared and shown to Israel from Mount Paran, from what the dwellers of Paran said, that they did not want to receive, from this, extra love and illumination were added to Israel, as it should be.’”
We should understand why it says that because the children of Esau and Ishmael declined to receive the Torah, it added extra love and illumination to Israel. It seems as though no one wanted to receive the Torah, and only Israel saved the day, and this is why He shown for Israel and added more light to them. It seems that otherwise, the additional love and illumination would be missing from Israel.
In the corporeal world, we can say that sometimes a person wants to give to someone something nice, but there is no one who wants to receive, and this pains the person. Therefore, someone feels sorry for him and accepts it, and then the person loves the person who did him a favor by accepting that thing. But how can such a thing be said with regard to the Creator, that the extra love and illumination that the Creator gives to Israel is because the children of Esau and Ishmael did not want to receive the Torah, while Israel did receive it?
To understand this in the work, we must remember that in the work, man himself is a small world, as it is written in The Zohar, that “Man consists of all seventy nations and contains the quality of Esau, the quality of Ishmael, as well as the quality of Israel.” As we learn, the quality of Israel is in exile under the governance of the seventy nations of the world, which are generally called “will to receive for oneself,” while Israel are called “desire to bestow upon the Creator.”
It is known that there are two discernments:
1) The purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, namely for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. The Creator’s desire to bestow created in the creatures a desire to receive delight and pleasure, meaning that wherever the created being sees that there is something to enjoy, it immediately yearns to receive the pleasure. This is called “the Kli [vessel] that the Creator created,” as it is written, “Which God has created.”
2) The correction of creation. However, there is the matter of the correction of creation, meaning that in order to prevent the shame, a correction took place, where it is impossible to receive with the Kli that the Creator created, and which is called “will to receive for oneself.” Rather, man must make a new Kli, called “desire to bestow,” like the Creator, whose desire is to bestow upon His creations. Likewise, the creatures must make this Kli, or the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to impart upon His creations lie under concealment and hiding. This is the meaning of the words, “which God has created,” meaning the will to receive, “to do,” meaning what the creatures must do, which is the desire to bestow, which is absent in the creatures and they must make it, so they will have a desire to bestow.
We should ask, How is it possible to do the opposite of what the Creator created, which is the will to receive for oneself? How is it possible to revoke the work of the Creator, called “will to receive,” and do the opposite? It seems as though a person is acting against the Creator?
The answer is that man cannot revoke the will to receive that the Creator created. Thus, why is it required of us to do everything for the sake of the Creator, since it is against our nature?!
However, there is the matter of light and Kli. A Kli is called “desire,” and desire is called “a lack,” and “light” is the filling of the lack. The rule is, “There is no light without a Kli.” Hence, the creatures must provide for themselves a Kli, meaning a lack, for there is a rule that any lack pertains specifically to the creatures, and not to the Creator.
It follows that the creatures must perform actions and seek ways to find in themselves a lack, which is that they want all their actions to be for the sake of the Creator, but they cannot, so the creatures see and feel this lack of a desire to bestow, which they cannot obtain by themselves.
However, in order for it to be clear that they cannot obtain the desire to bestow, the creatures must first exert on their own. Otherwise, how will they know that they cannot obtain that lack by themselves? However, we should ask, Who needs this awareness that man is incapable of obtaining the desire to bestow by himself?
The answer is that man himself needs this awareness. Otherwise, he will not ask the Creator to help him, since he will think that he has time to do everything in order to bestow, since it is within his power to do everything in order to bestow whenever he wants.
For this reason, man must first work by himself to obtain the desire to bestow, and only then can he make an earnest, heartfelt prayer, meaning have a real need for the salvation of the Creator, that He will give him this desire to do everything for the sake of the Creator.
By this we can interpret what is written (Psalms 119), “Happy are those who treasure His testimonies, who demand of Him with all their heart.” We must understand the connection between his saying, “Happy are those who treasure His testimonies,” meaning that they observe the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] of the Torah, and “who demand of Him with all their heart.” As said above, we must obtain a need to feel that we are lacking the desire to bestow. Before we obtain this, meaning before we obtain the desire to bestow, we are unfit to receive the delight and pleasure, that the Creator wants to give to the created beings.
However, how can one obtain that lack? We are told that observing the Mitzvot of the Torah, this can bring one this awareness that he must obtain the desire to bestow. That is, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, when a person aims—by observing the Torah and Mitzvot—to come closer to the Creator, meaning to achieve Dvekut [adhesion], called “equivalence of form,” this can bring him to feel the lack of the desire to bestow. It is written, “Happy are those who treasure His testimonies,” meaning that this will give him a lack, after which he will be able to ask the Creator to give him this lack.
This is the meaning of the words, “who demand of Him with all their heart,” meaning that afterward, he can demand of the Creator to give him wholeheartedly, meaning to give him the desire to bestow, so that everything he does for the Creator will be with all his heart. It follows that then, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, he will come to a state where he can demand of the Creator to give him the quality of “with all his heart,” meaning that it will be for the Creator. In other words, he demands that the Creator will give him the desire to bestow, called “with all his heart,” since this is the only reward he demands in return for observing Torah and Mitzvot.
It follows that man’s work is to obtain a lack and a need that the Creator will give him a desire to bestow instead of the desire to receive that He has given him upon creation, for by this he will be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator. Hence, although he asks for a different desire than the one that the Creator gave him, the Creator wants this. Baal HaSulam said about this that the Creator said, “My sons defeated Me,” in that they want a different desire than the one that the Creator gave them, meaning that they demand of the Creator to give them a different desire from the one He originally gave them.
Yet, the will to receive that the Creator gave, which is called “existence from absence,” is the axis of the whole of creation. However, the will to receive must undergo correction, which is called “the correction of creation.” That is, creation is called “will to receive for oneself,” and on it, an intention to bestow is placed. It follows that in the end, the will to receive remains, but has acquired a correction of the aim to bestow.
It follows that we should ask, According to the above, when a person begins to ask of the Creator to give him the desire to bestow, meaning to be able to do all his deeds for the sake of the Creator, why does the Creator not give him the desire to bestow as the person demands and asks? In the order of the work, we see that when a person wants to walk on the path toward obtaining the desire to bestow, he sees that he is going backward instead of forward. That is, the evil appears in him more intensely than it was disclosed in him while he was working in order to receive reward.
The thing is that we must know that the desire to bestow is only the correction of creation and not the purpose of creation, for the purpose of creation is that His desire is to do good to His creations, meaning for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. Hence, if He gave them what they want right away, meaning the desire to bestow, they would be satisfied with the work in that they are bestowing upon the Creator and have Dvekut with the Creator, so what else do they need? For themselves, they need nothing, which is called “desiring mercy,” and they have no need to receive anything from the Creator, so the matter of the purpose of creation, which is His desire to give to them, would remain untouched.
But the purpose of creation, which is the objective, as it is known that everything is calculated according to the goal and not according to the means, for the desire to bestow is only a means by which to achieve the goal, so if he were to receive the desire to bestow, he would be satisfied with it and the goal would remain as an unturned stone, since no one would need it because they would already be satisfied in the work.
This is as it is written in the book A Sage’s Fruit (Vol. 1, p 118): “From all the above, you find that the soul is destined to acquire all 620 holy names, its entire stature, which is 620 times more than it had before it came. Its stature appears in the 620 Mitzvot where the light of the Torah is clothed, and the Creator in the collective light of the Torah. Thus you see that ‘the Torah, the Creator, and Israel’ are one.”
This means that this is the purpose of creation—that a person must achieve his completion and be rewarded with the Torah in the manner of the names of the Creator. It is not enough that He wants to bestow upon the Creator. Although this is a great thing, it is not the goal. Rather, man must achieve 620 times the amount that his soul had had before it clothed in a body. However, if he were to receive the desire to bestow immediately after a few prayers and litanies, he would have no need to obtain the goal for which he was created. This is the reason why a person does not receive the desire to bestow, and moreover, sees that he is receiving an even more excessive desire to receive than he had before he began the work on bestowal.
However, we should understand why after a person makes efforts to come closer to the Creator, which means equivalence of form, called Dvekut, as it is written, “And to cleave on to Him,” and they explained, “Cleave unto His attributes, as He is merciful, so you are merciful,” it was enough that a person did not receive what he asked for, meaning the desire to bestow. But why is he now getting an excessive amount of the will to receive, each time more than he had before he prayed to be given the desire to bestow? It seems as though it is a mistake from above, as though it is thought above that he is asking for a desire to receive, and is therefore given a greater will to receive. But he asked for a desire to bestow, so why is he given from above a greater will to receive?
The answer is that in order for him to need to receive the purpose of creation, to be rewarded with the Torah, called “the names of the Creator,” he is given a bigger will to receive each time. That is, to the extent that he does things in order to achieve the desire to bestow, he receives from above a desire to receive. And since when he asks for help from above, since he sees that he cannot emerge from its control, what is the help? It is as it is said in The Zohar about the words, “He who comes to purify is aided.” He asks, “How is he aided?” He replies, “with a holy soul. If he is rewarded more, he is given Ruach.” That is, through the help he receives from above, he is rewarded with assistance until he obtains his NRNHY. It follows that each time, he sees that he has more bad, and must ask for greater help each time.
This is as I heard from Baal HaSulam, who said about what is written regarding Abraham (Genesis 15), “And He said unto him, ‘I am the Lord, to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘How will I know that I will inherit it?’ And He said unto Abraham, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and tormented four hundred years, and afterward, they will come out with many possessions.’”
He asked about the answer that the Creator gave him, “How will I know,” that the people of Israel will be in exile in Egypt. That is, this is the guarantee by which Abraham could know that after this act of being in a land that is not theirs, from this Abraham knew for certain that they would inherit the land. He asked, What is the answer? meaning that Abraham understood that this was the right answer. As we see, Abraham could argue with the Creator in Sodom, where Abraham kept asking, “Perhaps?” But here it is implied that he understood that this was the right answer and asked no further.
He said that the answer was to the question that Abraham had asked. This is perplexing. There is a question about Abraham, of whom it is written, “And he believed in the Lord,” so why did he suddenly ask such a question as “How will I know that I will inherit it?” He said that Abraham saw what inheritance the Creator wanted to give him, namely the inheritance of the land, and the whole purpose of creation is included in this land. But since there is a rule that there is no light without a Kli, meaning no filling without a lack, he therefore asked how it was possible that they would inherit the land when they have no need for it. As soon as they would receive some spiritual illumination they will be satisfied and serve the Creator with gladness and will not worry about anything, since they do not need more. Thus, they will have no need to inherit this land, which is the purpose of creation. Therefore, the question was that he did not see that they would have any need, and without a need, nothing is given, especially something as serious as the inheritance of the land.
To this the Creator replied, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs.” Eretz [Land] means Ratzon [desire]. That is, they will be under the rule of the will to receive, which does not belong to the people of Israel but to Egypt, and this is called “a land that is not theirs.” And they will be tormented four hundred years. “Four” is a complete degree, which the four Behinot [discernments/qualities] of HaVaYaH, which are from Bina, who is regarded as vessels of bestowal. It follows that “tormented” means that the Egyptians did not let them work with vessels of bestowal. “They will be enslaved and tormented,” in what? in “four hundred years,” meaning in the Sefirot of Bina.
It is known from the book of Sefirot that Malchut is called “units,” ZA is tens, and Bina is hundreds. This is the meaning of “four hundred,” that they were not permitted to work. When they prevailed and worked in the quality of Bina, which are vessels of bestowal, they had a big war with the Egyptians. It follows that Egypt enslaved Israel when the people of Israel worked in a manner of bestowal, and then they felt that they were in exile. But when we do not work with vessels of bestowal, we do not know that the Egyptians resist this work.
This is the meaning of what he says (Exodus 2:23), “And the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry went up to God from the work.” That is, by asking for help, they had to be given new lights each time, as he says in The Zohar, that the help that is given from above is regarded as a “holy soul,” and by this, the people of Israel will need the great lights because otherwise, they cannot emerge from the control of the Egyptians.
It follows that the Creator’s reply was that He would give them the need to ask for help, which is that each time, He will show them more bad, so they will constantly need to ask for bigger help. By this, the light of the purpose of creation will be revealed to them. This is called “this land to inherit it.” It follows that had they received from above the desire to bestow when they asked for it, they would have been content and would have no need to inherit the land. But since He gave them the will to receive and not the will to bestow, they received a need for the Creator’s help, by which it became certain that they would not be satisfied, but would receive the inheritance of the land.
It follows that specifically by being in a lowly state, it caused them to receive the great lights. This explains why when they wanted a desire to bestow, they were given a desire to receive, meaning that the will to receive grows where the lower ones should have received the desire to bestow when they asked for it. Hence, a person cannot say that he sees that his prayer is not heard above, and the evidence of this is that he is not given the desire to bestow. Instead, he must know that his prayer is being considered, and the evidence of this is that he is given an answer from above by being given what is good for him now, since now he will have a need for wholeness.
According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, Why does The Zohar say, “and dawned on them from Seir,” meaning that because the dwellers of Seir said that they did not want to receive, it illuminated to Israel and added to them much light and love? Likewise, “He appeared and shown to Israel from Mount Paran,” from the dwellers of Paran saying that they did not want to receive, this added extra love and illumination to Israel, as it should be.
We asked, Can such a thing pertain to the Creator, meaning that in truth, the children of Israel did not deserve to be given much light and love? Because they did not want to receive the Torah, for this reason He gave to Israel, meaning added to them. Otherwise, He would not be able to add to Israel much light and love.
When we speak of the work, we speak of one person. That is, if the children of Esau in a person and the children of Ishmael in a person did not resist the Torah but would agree to take upon themselves the desire to bestow, the quality of Israel in a person would be content and would not need the purpose of creation, as mentioned in the Creator’s reply to Abraham, saying, “Know for certain that [your descendants will be] strangers.” Specifically by being enslaved under the governance of Egypt, they will have a need to ask to be given help. And through the help, it will be possible to reveal to them the purpose of creation. It follows that precisely when there is resistance in the body, when we do not want to receive the Torah, it enables the Creator to add to them much light and love.
Reader: We will now continue to the recorded lesson from the 2nd of August, 2002.
M. Laitman: (31:57) The Rabash speaks about the construction of the Kli. He says this:
We have a small desire with which we enter spirituality.
Until we have that deficiency, we're not even talking about the human. We're talking about the human from the beginning of the desire of the human, Adam and that's from the word, Edame LaElyon, To resemble the upper one. Resembling the Creator starts from a desire to want the Creator. In our world we see bodies, a human body which actually reincarnates for thousands and hundreds of thousands of years. They say a million years but we're not going to discuss all those periods where man came out of the caves and so on, it doesn't matter to us. Why? Because then, in humans, there were no greater desires than just for existence, that's where we begin. And about 5,700 years ago, what we relate to as the birth of Adam HaRishon – according to the Hebrew calendar – then, in a corporeal person in this world, began to form a desire for spirituality, a beginning of it. And still, it wasn't felt besides two unique individuals, the one who's called Adam and his descendants. So it was until Abraham and in Abraham, that desire towards Godliness was felt in a more conspicuous way. Meaning for individuals, a handful of people in this world, they had a desire for spirituality. That's what we're talking about, these souls, souls that clothe in a body, meaning the soul is called a part of God from Above. And if a person has that part, he feels a desire for the Creator. If he doesn't have that, he doesn't feel a desire for the Creator. According to history, we see how few were the people who had a desire for the Creator. What is called Adam and all of his descendants, it's just a few until Abraham and from Abraham, this desire becomes more inspected. Abraham discovered from within that there is spirituality, of course, he was given a desire to reveal that but he was also given a method of how to go and reveal, to reveal spirituality, reveal Godliness, contact Him. And in this, in this communication with the Creator, to see all of creation and come out to a different level of existence above time, above death, above the concealment, above what we feel as this world only.
M. Laitman: (35:37) From Abraham onwards, man began to develop the desire for spirituality, to develop the sixth sense in a systematic way. Then, we see that from Abraham onwards, who wanted himself to get closer, didn't want to wait for something to be revealed from above, the Creator said, I'll make it so that your descendants, your children, will enter Egypt. Then, Abraham calmed down because he understood that by entering Egypt they'll acquire something good, something sufficient to reach the purpose of creation. Meaning the deficiencies, the vessels, the sense of enslavement to the will to receive. What is felt in the enslavement of Egypt is something such that no more is needed. This recognition of evil leads a person all the way to the end of correction without mistakes. But we see that entering Egypt and exiting Egypt means entering the will to receive that a person begins – it's not that we need to go to Egypt now and travel in Egypt – rather, a person who starts studying the method like Abraham asked the Creator, and the Creator said, You will start studying My method and you'll see how your descendants, meaning the desires that will come will lead you to a state called Egypt. And then you will truly come out to redemption, to reveal spirituality.
Since a person is born with a very small deficiency—a person born, man is born means that a person at the age of twenty or thirty or forty is born, meaning a desire for spirituality is born in him, that's the human in us, all the rest in us is like what animals have. When the desire for spirituality is born, it is a very small desire and other than being small, it's also opposite to spirituality. That is, we need two things here: first, to make it great like spirituality itself; and then also to make it have an intention like in spirituality, in order to bestow, meaning using it as the desires are used in spirituality. Our desire, to begin with, in order to receive, is egoistic and small and then it needs to become big and egoistic. And then, afterwards, when it becomes in order to bestow, it's altruistic which is called spiritual, opposite of this world. How to do this? If a person advanced somewhat, just a step towards it and acquired more will to receive, more ego. And he wants more to devour the world and we would immediately give him the opportunity to make a correction, to be in order to bestow like in spirituality, then a person settles for that because spirituality is wholeness. If a small desire that he has now grew ten percent than what he had before, or even double than what he had before, still, compared to spirituality, it's nothing. If we give him an intention to bestow over that desire and he'll use it and he'll feel wholeness opposite that desire, eternity, spirituality, he will not want to advance further, it will fill him. It's impossible with the desire we have to make a correction and fulfillment. Even if we advance a little bit to spirituality, meaning our egoistic desire becomes a little bit bigger; still, it can't receive an immediate correction and fulfillment. Because then it'll be blocked on a little bit of a higher level; therefore, we have to descend to Egypt and be there for 400 years. 400 refers to a complete degree, it's the four phases of the will to receive until we come to the opposite of Bina. Bina is also 400 and what did he say here —that the units, the single digits are Malchut and the double digits are Zeir Anpin and the triple digits are in Bina, it's the opposite value between lights and vessels.
M. Laitman: (40:54) Where do we get these numbers from the letters? The single digits according to the lights is Bina, the double digits in Zeir Anpin, and hundreds in Malchut. In Malchut, it's only the letters of Kuf, Resh, Shin, Taf, until 400, and this is called a complete vessel. The Creator told him, You will go down to Egypt and you will be in Egypt for 400 years. Baal HaSulam writes that the fact that we were in Egypt not for 400 years but 210. Then, this flaw that we weren't there for 400 years caused all the rest of the exiles, that we didn't complete the vessel in Egypt and we exited before time. Well, this is something we'll have to learn, how and why it happens. But, however it happens, we have to first understand that, first, we have to acquire a very big vessel at the height of spirituality, the size, magnitude, and volume of spirituality. And only then correct it and receive in it the revelation of Godliness, spirituality, eternity, wholeness. The Creator fills this vessel, this is called, The dweller residing or dwelling in the Shechina or the Shechina residing in the souls, then, the state will be called the end of correction.
But if we begin through the study to advance and acquire a greater vessel, we, each time, see ourselves as worse, coarser, more egoistic. And thus we feel opposite to what we should be, to where we should go, and it confuses us. We forget that, first, we have to acquire the vessel but our goal is to reveal spirituality, and instead of that I reveal how bad my qualities are, and how opposite I am to spirituality. It seems to me, in my feeling that if I feel more and more opposite to spirituality, then the gap between us grows. I get further away and a person is incapable, as much as he tries to explain to himself each time that no, the fact that I become worse is progress because the feeling that I'm opposite to spirituality controls us. Since when we study, we attract surrounding lights, it's light that comes to us from our soul that already stands at the end of correction where we already are. But in our feeling, in our current feeling, we exist in this world. And so from the state of the end of correction through the study, the light shines to our current state in this world. And then we feel ourselves always towards that surrounding light. We don't feel it directly, we feel rather the gap of sorts between us and it. And if, each time, I feel worse and worse, then I feel far and far from the surrounding light. I'm more egoist, meaning with respect to the surrounding light, I feel further away, so this feeling controls the person and the person enters despair.
M. Laitman: (45:13) Why do we need this sort of path? Again, for the same reason, the purpose of creation is not that you will be in order to bestow. The Creator doesn't need your altruism. Stay an egoist from His point of view, as if but in the egoistic vessel you cannot receive much. And His goal is to give infinity, and infinity cannot be revealed in an egoistic vessel. It's very simple because the egoistic vessel, as much as it receives, it's blocked right away and it doesn't want more, and if it doesn't want more, it can't grow more. To make it that the Kli will grow each time without limitation and will be able to become fulfilled more and more with pleasures, without limitations, with knowledge and sensation of eternity, of wholeness, of life, of attainment. That's possible only with a vessel that, each time, grows; growing is possible only by acquiring deficiencies from outside, always increasing deficiencies. How can you increase deficiencies from outside? It's when I think of the others, by this, I acquire the vessels of others. I feel that something pains him so I want him to not have pain. By this, I already draw more abundance through myself. I want him to feel good, I want him to feel good, so before that, I didn't want anything. Suddenly, I want him to feel good so now I attach his vessels to mine. My vessel is growing and I can receive more, and to bestow to him and so on. Meaning, the solution is to be in order to bestow, and that comes from the desire of the Creator to benefit the created beings. If He wasn't to benefit the created beings, He wouldn't create the nature of, in order to bestow. But because He wants to benefit the created beings infinitely, unboundedly, then the vessel has to be in order to bestow which helps him, each time, acquire more and more deficiencies.
There's another problem here, that: when we, through the study, go and increase our vessels, increase our deficiencies, then it's insufficient because these are deficiencies for anything in the world. How can we want the most perfect thing and not get stuck at some sidelines? Until we see that it's not it, and then we have to look for a higher priority and look for some dead end here or there – is this correct or not like we do in this world? We try to get interested in this or that and life just gets wasted in all kinds of things until we're too tired and everything ends and then we're done. How can we, how can we determine the correct direction from the beginning, to not get stuck in the sidelines and not to waste time and actually speed up our development?
The matter is that besides making the deficiency great, we need to have a specific deficiency, a certain deficiency that has a certain character, meaning, what do we yearn for exactly? If we look at the end of an act, at the end of the act, we see that there are vessels, our vessel is, our soul is very great with an intention to bestow. And in fulfillment with the upper light that gives all of the pleasure and delight and attainment and wholeness, eternity in everything. This light, in general, is called the Creator, so how can we exactly determine our move, our gear from this present state to that final point without all kinds of backtracking? Wherever I am, whatever state I'm in, I'll imagine myself as though I'm in the final state. Meaning that I have a deficiency and I have a request that the deficiency will be great and corrected and filled with the Creator. Meaning to aim my deficiency to the state that I reach at the end, and then, I won't go wrong, I'll go in this exact direction and not all kinds of other directions towards some goals or states different from the one of the end of correction.
And so when we study and invite upon us the surrounding light and this light builds in us all kinds of deficiencies in the infrastructure to advance. Then during the study, during our actions, in everything, in dissemination, in our social life, we, to begin with, have to think of how we're aiming our desire to exactly the right direction To not miss the north, meaning that I already aim myself to come to the great desire, to the end of correction where I will be in unity with the Creator, then we advance fast.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:11) What is a Jew?
M. Laitman: A Jew? A Jew, that is, one who aspires to unite with the Creator. Yehudi, Jewish comes from the word Yechud, Yehudi, Yechud. Yechud means unification, to unite, to adhere.
Student: What's the difference between Jewish and Israel?
M. Laitman: The difference between Jewish and Israel—Israel is already the attainment of that state. Israel, Yashar El—straight towards God, having the desire for that thing. Israel is Zeir Anpin in the state of Gadlut, greatness, or adulthood; Zeir Anpin of Atzilut in the state of Gadlut is called Israel, already attaining that desire. During Katnut, smallness, Israel is called Yaakov, Jacob, small, little Jacob, still demanding corrections. Meaning it's all about the will to receive, in the soul there are various states, that's all there is. Yehudi, Jewish, that's one who yearns.
In spirituality, let's say you are called a Kabbalist, why Kabbalist, how? How many lessons have you attended and you still have no Kabbalah, no reception from above. There's still no vessel into which you receive through the screen the revelation of spirituality, the revelation of Divinity. Kabbalah is the method for discovering Divinity, the upper force that governs, that created, that leads and guides everything. You still don't, you're still not in a state where you are actually revealing Him. But according to your desire, your yearning, your aspiration, the goal you have, the goal you set for yourself, you are already called a Kabbalist. That is how it works in Kabbalah, that's how you name things. So, Israel, on the one hand, it's a state where you reach the greatness of an adhesion to the Creator. Also, it's made of two words, Yashar El, Israel, Yashar El, straight towards the Creator, straight, the direction towards the Creator and you walk in that direction. The name is given after the future state; so usually, names refer to a degree, the degree itself, or the intention to reach it.
Student: Yehudi, Jewish, comes from the word Yehudi?
M. Laitman: Not Yehudi, unique—unique is something specific, particular, special, separate. Yehudi, Jew, comes from the word, Yechud, unification, something else; unification, uniting with the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:11) If each and every moment I need to tie myself to the goal and to Him. If I don't do that, then maybe it's better for me to not do anything. It turns out I do one or two percent of what I want to do?
M. Laitman: You are saying that if I am now below the barrier and above me is the barrier to entry into the spiritual world. And then I advance in the spiritual world until I reach the end of correction, yes, so it's a long road. Especially now, as I'm below the barrier until I reach the barrier. This is a path where everything is concealed, I don't see where I'm heading. What does it mean, I don't know where I'm advancing? The road, the path is internal within the person, there's no actual road with a few lanes and I need to choose my lane. The lanes are inside, within my desires, so how can I aim these desires? How can I combine them? How can I discern what the goal is, where it is, more or less? It's like being in the desert and you don't know anything, you're just guessing somehow where to go – let's go this way, that way, you don't know, simply. You're told, in this darkness when you shut your eyes, you want to know in what direction to go like you spin the child around with his eyes closed and then you say, Go, advance, after all the revolutions. How will I know where to go? Now, I need to make this, to come to this contact within. The states, me and the state I'm in now, and the action that I will perform now, my next action and the Creator. Meaning the ultimate, final state where I'm united with Him, together with Him—all that needs to exist together right now. If I aim correctly, orient them correctly as if aiming down the sight like with a gun, with a weapon, it means I have the eye. I have the barrel of the gun, there's the target and they're all aligned, that's how I unite all of my desires and then I don't make mistakes.
Student: Let's say?
M. Laitman: You're saying, how can I be certain if I'm in darkness? What does it mean, darkness? Just my senses are all dimmed, no clear knowledge, who is the Creator? I don't know anything, I describe Him this way, that way, I'm told there's an upper force that's in charge, maybe great, maybe small, who, what, I don't know anything, right? Maybe I have some stigma, some tales my grandma told me, right, that's one thing. The other thing is I don't even know my own state, where I am, what my thoughts are exactly. I don't know. Later, I discover, maybe it's better to go study psychology so I can tell something about myself more but, later, we see that that is also false. In short, what should I do when I'm in darkness? You're told, it's simple, you, as you are now in the darkness, continue – don't be any more wise than what's given to you from above. You need to adjust to the state you're in. So, like a baby he rises and falls, gets up and falls, he tries to do something, he breaks something. He does something else, he makes some mistakes and he's given games to play and then he learns something, that's how he grows. You just make the same efforts as the baby, you see, he takes no rest, not even a moment, otherwise, he wouldn't develop. We're already lazy, you can look at children all the time, nature gives them new lacks so they develop – so you do the same. The main thing is that you act, and that's why it's written, Everything within your power to do, you should do. If that comes together with studying, ultimately that facilitates development; if you wait, sit and wait until I'm smart and then I'll perform some actions, you will never become smart. You need to act without the mind first, like children. Our path through, to the barrier until the entrance into spirituality, it's called the time of preparation. Preparation, you know like children, that's how we need to develop.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:13) If Israel—four spiritual phases then, through the spiritual phase of Israel, what happens to the corporeal Israel?
M. Laitman: You're asking, in the wisdom of Kabbalah we learn only about the spiritual discernments: Israel, Abraham, the land of Israel, the people of Israel. All those we read about in the Torah, our history, and all that happens within the person – these are all discernments within a person. In our world, we also have the same things except in corporeality, right? We have Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Jerusalem, the Temple, all those things, the people and everything. In spirituality, we have a soul and that soul comprises many different parts. That soul includes parts of four discernments, four phases or degrees which are called the inanimate and growing, living, speaking. Or the speaking within the person in that soul, Adam HaRishon, Adam the first—that is called Adam. Then you have animals called angels, souls, spirits, so on. We learn about it and this is all within the soul, we learn about that soul. Where do we start getting confused? We read about these parts of our soul, or rather we start using names of objects in this world, things of this world. In spirituality, there are no names, either you refer to all these things with numbers, that's one way but numbers is very difficult. Then I need to agree with all the Kabbalists about 1,001 numbers by which to define each part of the soul. So, the Kabbalists who live in two worlds, it's easy for them to give names to the parts of the soul according to their branches in this world. This world was created as an outcome of the soul. Now, let's see, we have the one created being, there's the Creator and the Creator created the created being; this created being is called Adam HaRishon or the soul. This Adam HaRishon will divide into 600,000 parts and then into further millions and billions of parts. Each part of Adam HaRishon that split off, here and again, we have in total 600,000 main parts and those divided as well, and each part of that division is called an individual soul.
M. Laitman: (01:03:48) This individual soul is built in the same way as the general soul, and also divides within it into many parts. Between this soul and this world exists the distance of the worlds of BYA: Briah, Yetzira, Assiya. Let's say that this is all, this is a distance called 6,000 years, why years? 2,000 degrees in each world, so in total, 6,000 degrees, called years. Now, your soul, which is here in Adam HaRishon, falls into its state here in this world. And that soul then begins to reincarnate through many, many years, thousands of years, until it comes to a state where you begin to feel a point in the heart. You begin to feel — from this time, let's say, 2002 – up to here you were just rolling on, reincarnating, without feeling it. You only felt corporeal pleasures, that's it, and from now on, you also want, from now on, spiritual pleasure. You don't know what it is yet, but you see that you want it.
Now, it is said, if you use the wisdom of Kabbalah properly, between three to five years, you can already reach the barrier. And then, after the barrier you will need to climb the degrees to reach the end of correction, what is the end of correction? Where you reach the exact state that your soul is in, where it was. But you need to reach the state of the end of correction while also being here, alive in this world. So, this entire path, you need to cross from here up to here throughout your life, meaning this life now, this one incarnation, in one incarnation, that's it. If you don't manage it this time, you'll reincarnate again and you'll do it then. You'll have better preparation, and maybe you'll do it next time, and if not then, then the time after that. But from the point in the heart through to the end of correction, that's the path we have to cross, this life, in your life.
M. Laitman: (01:08:01) Now, Kabbalists, when they are in some place, yes, in the spiritual world, let's say on the path here. Or already at the end of correction, they write books to us, they write books for us. I don't know how, I'm not a painter – they write a book for us. Now, when we read this book here in this world, then we awaken upon ourselves the surrounding light from above. From the same place where that book was written – the upper light, and from here onwards comes the surrounding light upon me. Because the light can't go below the barrier, so it stands above the barrier and illuminates me from here as a surrounding light. And then, if I'm here, in my state, and I invite upon myself the surrounding light — this is everything they wrote the book for us, otherwise they wouldn't write. What do they write in the book? They write in the book what they see in this degree that they wrote the book in, in this degree. But they can't write what they feel because feeling has no language. I feel, it feels good – go and explain that! You need a thousand and one words, and also the other one will imagine it according to his understanding, his vessels. How can we describe some spiritual state so it will be as precise as possible, in a way that we will be able to draw upon ourselves the surrounding light in a more correct way, a closer way to Him? So, the Kabbalists took words from this world, yes? They take words from here, and here, what they see, the reality, or how should we say, what they see. And then they take a word and adhere it to what they see, and that's how they write. So in their book appears some word — let's say the Holy Temple - they write, and then the Holy Temple is considered a special vessel that's in the degree of Bina in some specific place. We understand the Holy Temple as some building in Jerusalem, yes? But if you intend, during the study that you really want to understand what the Holy Temple is, what in spirituality the Holy Temple is? Because that's what you're yearning for — not to go for a stroll in Jerusalem there, but rather to see it truly, what it is. So, to the extent in which you long to see the spiritual Temple, what it is within me, inside me, what discernments, what it means to feel this. Then you invite the surrounding light specifically from that point of the Holy Temple that he writes about, upon you, who's here below the barrier, reading the book. Now you understand how not simple it is to read books in Kabbalah. But when you're reading, you're truly drawing from above the upper force that's correcting you.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:12) We talked about that everything is, seemingly, the parallel between the upper one. Meaning, what's written in the book, and this corporeal world, it's only because of the law, of the law, the principle of law in the upper ones and a law in the lower ones?
M. Laitman: No, no, no, law, it's not, the principle is branch and root. What there is in this world, what you see in this world below the barrier, no matter what it is, this entire volume is called this world. What's in this world? It all came down from spirituality, and all the objects you see here, all the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, it all has a root in spirituality. In this world, we are, and in this world, let's say we call some thing a tree, and some other thing we call a chair, something we call a person, something we call a certain animal – it doesn't matter what. Look how many types and kinds there are in this world and whatnot. Only in birds, only in animals, only in some plant, what things. So, all those things have a root above, we take a word here, the name of the thing, and we use this name to call the root. Because the root has no name, there are no names in spirituality, only in this world we invented language; in spirituality, you don't need language. What is spirituality? Spirituality is called a revealed desire, a revealed fulfillment. If I were to come to spirituality, then I don't need language any longer, because I simply feel what it is. I feel you, I don't need words, our feeling is common, we're together within. You, in my desire, with my feeling. I, in your desire, with your feeling. Hence, we need no words, it's just like we have a form of telepathy, you understand? A connection in thought, a connection in desire, without words, without having to emerge words. So, the words will go through the air, from my mouth to your ear, to your intellect, etc. There's no such thing in spirituality, in spirituality, it's directly from my desire within to your desire within, and vice versa.
Hence, there are no words in this; only we need words because we're not in spirituality, connected between us. Because each of us is an egoist, so the egoistic shell distinguishes between one and another. If we break this egoistic shell, it's considered receiving a screen, and being able then to connect without the egoism, directly in the connection between us. In love, it's called, according to the rule, Love your friend as yourself, which is the rule in spirituality, so we need no words.
So how, nevertheless, for us to express what we feel without words, in words? So, they take words from our world and use them, that's what the Kabbalists do. Because otherwise, they would have nothing to write, they would have nothing to do. Because what they feel is clear to them, they have no problem with communication.
M. Laitman: (01:16:01) So, they invented for us a language called, The language of the branches. We, as the branches of spirituality, have yet to reach the roots like they are in, in the connection between them, in the connection with the Creator. Hence, in order to help us draw the surrounding light, they write about what happens in spirituality in words. But if we only read the words, we remain only with the words, we remain in some imaginary thing. And then it seems to us like Egypt, the land of Israel, and all that remains is just here in this world, that's called Pshat, or the simple explanation of it. And then we don't draw surrounding lights, we're not connected to the spiritual reality from which lights can come. And then you see the result, where they study Torah for thousands of years, and they study it strong and good. You can go now to Bnei Baruch, and you'll see many people are studying at night, but they're studying in a way that they're not drawing lights, they don't know about this. So if you study, and you, from your world, as you read the words, want to resemble, to rise up to a state where there are no words, where the connection is without words, so you invite the force that will help you reach that, that force is called the surrounding light. At first, in Inner Observation of The Study of the Ten Sefirot, there's part one of The Study of the Ten Sefirot. There, in part one, there's a part called, Inner Observation, and at the very beginning of the Inner Observation, he writes about this, you can read it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:55) When we speak all the time in parallel about two states — the state of Ein Sof, infinite state, as if our soul is here in the end of correction all the time. And then we talk about the process of development, chronologically, of the desire in a person. Is there a point where I can actually connect these two things and understand them? Meaning, because if there is Ein Sof, infinity, eternity, then we're talking about the development of the vessel?
M. Laitman: I still didn't understand?
Student: When we speak of the spiritual world, before you came here, or before we were speaking about this world, we know we're talking about Ein Sof, there's something like that there. But how can we talk about development, there, chronologically, in Ein Sof?
M. Laitman: What you're saying is, we're talking about the spiritual world where there's a state called Ein Sof, infinite. How can such a thing that's Ein Sof, that has no end, develop? So in Ein Sof there's an intention, probably some kind of thing that is some deficiency, some lack that needs to be corrected. And therefore, the process from there onwards is in order to correct this blemish and complete it. And in Ein Sof, only one thing is missing and that's the intention in order to bestow. In order to acquire the intention in order to bestow, Ein Sof, Malchut of Ein Sof, makes this whole trip from descending from Ein Sof to this world, from this world she rises back. And in the descent from Ein Sof to this world she acquires independence, disconnection from the Creator, and can be independent. And when she's independent, she can gradually acquire the intention in order to bestow, meaning she needs to be on her side that way. And then she rises back to Ein Sof and stands in Ein Sof, not through the annulment towards Godliness, but as independent and defining it. And then she comes to the degree of the Creator where she exists, and comes to a degree that is like the Creator in every way. And that's the purpose of creation, To do good to His created beings. And you can't do this in any other way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:18) According to what you say, two Kabbalists meet — what, they don't speak? They meet and they don't speak?
M. Laitman: Kabbalists don't need to speak, I'm telling you this because it's a matter of feeling. Spirituality is called, Naked desires, what does it mean, naked? Like with the body, let's say me and you are without a body – say we're rid of our bodies and we're like that – we're free, you're a soul and I'm a soul, yes? So, you don't have a mouth, or I don't have an ear to hear from you or you from me, so what will we do? So, what does it mean to be rid of the body? To be rid of the body means to throw the ego, rid ourselves of the ego that separates between us. Where, if I think of myself, that's called egoism, so I'm drawing to me; and you're thinking of yourself, and you're drawing to you — by that, we're distinguished from one another. If this intention falls, then we are one, we don't understand what one is, we don't have such an understanding of that. Love your friend as yourself, means that there's me and my friend, but rather I join his desire to me, and his desire and my desire become one.
Student: Practically, what does it look like?
M. Laitman: Practically, it's very simple, that there's no difference between yours and my desires.
Student: But you and I, we're walking down the street, so what?
M. Laitman: How do we walk down the street? You walk down the street in San Francisco, and I, in Petah Tikva, so what? What does that corporeal distance have to do with spiritual connection? There's no such distance in spirituality. Spirituality, this internal feeling in a person towards others, or towards the Creator, is called spirituality. And if he connects to this upper force, then he immediately, to the extent in which one connects with the Creator, his body becomes not felt, seemingly. It's not that he doesn't feel it, it doesn't bother him, would be more correct to say – sorry, it doesn't bother him. To the extent in which he rids himself of this body and doesn't feel it, he's dead. He identifies with his soul already, and then, accordingly, if we are in such communication, such connection, we certainly need no words. He writes about this in the, Speech for the Conclusion of The Zohar, where he writes that there's the study from mouth to ear, and the study of mouth to mouth. Mouth to ear, is considered that there are two degrees: a teacher and a student; and from mouth to mouth, where there's already such a connection, where simply there's a transfer without any limitation between the two, and what words? There are no words. He also writes in his last letter, in Pri Hacham, that there is an upper language, a language for the upper ones, and a language for the lower ones. Baal HaSulam wrote this letter in Aramaic especially, so read in those places, maybe you'll see something there, but we certainly need no words. How are the souls outside of this world? That's all together, there's no need for language. Also in this world, if two people feel one another, are connected together, how many words do they need? They understand one another without words. language is out of a lack of inner connection, so we built for ourselves some form of communication, that's it.
This speaks of our deficiency, not about, they say, oh, he has a developed language, he's so special there. Yes, Pushkin wrote 300,000 words in his dictionary, it's correct, he can express more feelings in a more precise way, on one hand. On the other hand, it's a deeper corporeality than that which one can imagine. It's not what, well, you see, a little patience. Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:10) When I read a book, and I draw the reforming light, surrounding light, when a certain vessel is created, I will receive the surrounding light?
M. Laitman: When you read the book, through the surrounding light a Kli is created, and then you're reading the book to begin with because you have a Kli. You approach it just like that, let's say you're sitting here now at 4 o'clock in the morning. What crazy person would come and sit here at 4 o'clock in the morning and just hear what I'm saying, just like that? How many such people do you have? Meaning, you have a deficiency to begin with. You were given from above a lack that is worth more, this deficiency is worth, it bothers you more than sleeping in bed, and then you come here. You mean to receive in this deficiency a filling that will be more than the filling you get from sleep, that is the calculation your body made, and it brought you here this way.
So, there's already a deficiency to begin with, but it's a deficiency that you don't know what it is yet. But now, as you're reading, and you're hearing, and gradually depicting yourself somewhat in a spiritual state, what is spirituality? So, the surrounding light operates upon you and builds for you a vessel for himself. He builds a mold within you so that the form of your Kli will be precisely for Him. What does it mean, the form of the Kli? The qualities, the intentions, the feelings, all kinds of thoughts, the approach to different things. He builds a form in you and this form that He is building eventually, we call that form, Adam. Just the desire to receive, raw material, raw matter, is not an Adam, that's the desire to receive. The Adam is what afterwards, with the desire to receive and by the light that operates on him all the way to the end and gives this final form to this matter of clay that's here, that like you build out of Play-Doh — that will be called an Adam.
Student: And it will change my qualities?
M. Laitman: It will change the qualities, what is it that it will change? All your qualities will remain but they will take on a form. That's considered that it will change, you won't have new qualities, and no quality will be removed from you. All that's in you is good, if when you receive a correction upon it in order to bestow. And bad in its current state where there's no correction, and they're all in order to receive. And besides that, each and every quality will grow to a huge extent, to a huge state. Meaning, you need like a seed that has all that it has but we need to develop it in the need, in the extent, and the growth, and we need to develop it in quality. So, in your records, you have everything, all the conditions, and all that's missing is the surrounding light that will operate there, nourish it, and give correction to each of these, to do this drop, that's it. The light builds the Kli and there's already a record from which this clay grows, that's it.
Let's study, and then more questions will come from the study.
Reader: Let's share our impressions from the lesson, and what do we take from it to apply into the Ten. Then, we're going to move to the next part of the lesson, but first sing a song together!
Song: (01:34:57)