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

Daily Lesson (Morning) January 31, 2025.

Part 1: Baal HaSulam. The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee). #28.

Reader: Hello friends, we will be reading “The Arvut” article, Item 28. You can find all of our texts on kabbalahmedia.info, as well as through the Arvut system, where you can send us questions live. Anyone asking a question is requested to ask succinctly – to the point. Anyone asking, here, in the study hall is requested to stand up, hold the microphone close to his mouth and to speak loudly and clearly. And also, please listen to the guidance of the ushers, here, in the hall. So, “The Arvut” [mutual guarantee], Item 28.

Reading: (00:51) The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]. Item 28

Now we fully understand the previous words, for he says, “Now, if you surely listen to My voice and keep My covenant,” meaning make a covenant on what I am telling you here: to be My Segula from among all peoples. This means that you will be My Segula, and sparks of purification and cleansing of the body will pass through you onto all the peoples and the nations of the world, for the nations of the world are not yet ready for this, and at any rate, I need one nation to start with now, so it will be as a remedy for all the nations. For this reason, He ends, “for all the earth is Mine,” meaning all the peoples of the earth belong to Me, as do you, and are destined to adhere to Me, as written in Item 20.

But now, while they are still incapable of performing that task, I need a virtuous people. If you agree to be the remedy for all the nations, I command you to “be unto Me a kingdom of priests,” which is the love of others in its final form of “Love your friend as yourself,” the axis of all the Torah and Mitzvot. And “a holy nation” is the reward in its final form of Dvekut with Him, which includes all the rewards that can even be conceived.

These are the words of our sages in clarifying the ending, “These are the words which you will say to the children of Israel.” They made the precision, “These are the words,” no more and no less. This is perplexing: How can you say that Moses would add or take away from the words of the Creator to the point that the Creator had to warn him about it? We find no such example in the whole of the Torah. On the contrary, the Torah says about him: “for he is the trusted one in all My house.”

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (04:30) He says here, and therefore, he says “The whole land is Mine, meaning the entire land belongs to Me, and you are destined to adhere to Me at that time”. So, the entire land – that's the desire – so, why does he say, for the whole earth belongs to Me, all the peoples? What does it mean, all the land and all the peoples belong to Me. What does it mean?

M. Laitman: According to what is written, simply, all the created beings belong to the Creator, who created them and shaped them. And in order to make something out of them – out of the greatest degree of the still, vegetative, animate – meaning the speaking degree. He has to raise the speaking degree to Him, to adhesion with Him, and who will do that? So, He needs a special nation that will work, that will do this work and give an example to everyone. And this is why He determined that this example will be the people of Israel. This is why He has chosen you.

Student: And He says that they're not yet capable of this role and so I need a special people, a people of Segula. What does it mean, they can't do it and so you need one people of Segula, who is that?

M. Laitman: He can't talk to them, directly, they're not yet on that degree, where they can correctly understand the Creator's appeal to them. But rather, He needs to have such an example that it will be like people, like everyone. But internally, within them, they will already have what the Torah intends for - to be friends, to be in adhesion, to be as one man in one heart. And it's such a way, to develop more and more until they reach the general correction.

Student: What is a people of Segula? Is that only the people who study the wisdom of Kabbalah?

M. Laitman: A Segula, a special nation or a nation of special power, is a group that has an obligation, you might say. That they are under this obligation, all of them, and they begin to understand and feel, and change themselves, according to what they need.

Student: Yes, but I know that everyone has the potential, the whole world, everyone has that potential, right? It's not something special; the potential is there in everyone. So, who are those Am Segula [special people] if everyone has that potential? Why does it matter? What is the people with Segula and the people who are not with Segula?

M. Laitman: So, he tells us that because they were earlier in Egypt, they had preparation such that they were ready to accept this work and prepare themselves for a change.

Student: “We shall do, and we shall hear”?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:14) Israel gives an example to the nations; Israel serves as an example to the nations; but who serves as an example to Israel?

M. Laitman: There is no example for Israel.

Student: So, how can the Creator expect Israel to be an example to all?

M. Laitman: With respect to all the nations, they will have Israel, as an example, but with respect to Israel, they don't need an example.

Student: Why?

M. Laitman: Simply, it's impossible that people who exist on such a low degree will awaken towards spirituality. But rather, what the Creator does is He brings them already this example of a special people, special nation, where it's not just each one but all of them, together, are in a special framework. And they keep a special relation between them, and they understand the world and how it grows stronger and rises. And it is impossible to think about that, with a group of people that were not worthy of that, that were not on a special degree.

Student: It's still not clear, we always say that we learn only from example. And Israel, they have nothing to learn from, no one to learn from?

M. Laitman: Israel has no one to learn from, no, but rather, from Israel, itself, such people start to grow.

Student: Where does it grow from? Where do they get?

M. Laitman: Out of the fact that in Israel, the general soul is revealed that such souls exist. So that from them the prophets grow and other such special people.

Student: So, this comes to them, naturally, inherently by nature, right, Israel has a clear example.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, why doesn't the Creator work the same way with every person in the world, all the nations?

M. Laitman: According to how we understand it, this is an exceptional thing. And only from Israel who had a prior evolution, through suffering and all kinds of events. So, they are capable of accepting this pressure and changing while all the nations of the world are not. They don't feel that they need it.

Student: Why don't you see souls today growing in this nation, like prophets, like those special people?

M. Laitman: We've already gone through these stages. And nowadays, in no part of the nations of the world are there such desires that will push them to rise up.

Student: Something seems to be missing, here, always. If Israel works naturally, from that general soul, and from there they receive an example, the Creator operates in them. Now something seems to have stopped, you don't see these people advancing powerfully towards spirituality, to the contrary.

M. Laitman: That they're advancing in the opposite direction, I can't say that. But, indeed, something seems to be changing. What is changing, I think, is that we are expecting for a force to come and push us; and it's not that we need to reveal and establish this force and advance by it.

Student: And why not expect that force, really?

M. Laitman: We see it's not happening. Over thousands of years, it's not happening by itself.

Student: But isn't it the right thing, ultimately? That you need to expect the upper force to come, push us, work within us, act upon us?

M. Laitman: I don't see that the Creator is telling us or promising us that through our exertion, if we perform such and such actions, then He will come and He will do it, and even complete the work.

Student: So, what is expected of us, exactly? What does it mean to shape that force?

M. Laitman: That we will connect and become one nation; this is what He's expecting.

Student: And that, from where would we get an example of what it means to be a single nation, one people? We don't have an example; it's not coming up from within us. So, how do you generate that force, what motivates us?

M. Laitman: I think that we – to be as one nation – we can take an example of how it was in the prior development before us, and we can keep it, as they kept it. We must do it out of the law of the Arvut that awakens these forces, this connection between us. We will have sufficient forces in order for us to carry out such actions, such that we will understand. It will come and clothe within us this whole matter of Arvut and Matan Torah [the giving of the Torah].

Student: The people of Israel, we find, do have the powers. If they connect together, they'll find the powers to advance within them.

M. Laitman: Yes, in the people of Israel, you have many powers, everything that is required until the end of Correction.

Student: So, why the person asked at the end of his life, “Did you expect salvation”?

M. Laitman: Apparently, he should have been waiting for it. Within his life, he should see to which direction he needs to develop in order to reach that goal that the Creator is expecting of him.

Student: A person needs to look for forces within himself? Or to turn immediately to the upper force and expect that from Him.

M. Laitman: No, he shouldn't turn to the upper force, but rather he needs to connect with others, and expect among them, – among everyone – to find the upper force.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:04) I want to clarify something about the text from Item 26, which wasn't clear to me. He writes that, “And you were a Segula for me from all peoples, because the whole earth is Mine, and you will be a holy nation to Me”. And then, he says that some of the interpreters changed the word “Ki” for the words “Afal Pi” instead, from “because” to “even though”. So, what does that change indicate, what is the meaning of that change?

M. Laitman: He gives there some explanation, even a few.

Student: The way I understood it, “even though” means even though it's yours, there's resistance here, right? Even though I'm the Lord of the earth, you will be a special people, special nation, right? If it's “because”, or “for”, then there's a circumstance, here, but it's cause and effect. If it's “because”, then it's a gift; but if it's “even though”, then it forces us to make an effort. So, what is the truth? How do we use these two different things? What is the truth here?

M. Laitman: I accept them the way that Baal HaSulam writes, and I don't get stuck in them.

Student: I think both are correct, somehow, because we don't cancel anything here, but how do you work with these two forces?

M. Laitman: Again, I'm telling you, I don't have a special sensitivity to the Hebrew language; and therefore, it could be that I'm not hearing anything special in it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:32) According to the article, Baal HaSulam, he explains that there should have been some special preparation.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What special preparation or what is the connection between people in whom the point in the heart awakens in this generation who come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. And what's required of them in order to reach Arvut, which is the preparation of “Egypt”. Is there a connection between the two?

M. Laitman: Of course, but for the Arvut, there has to be a general inclination that awakens in a people. And therefore, those who are drawn to Arvut, ultimately, are also drawn to be a leader in something. Those who lead Israel in a certain way, lead the group towards a connection called, “Israel”.

Student: For there to be an inclination towards Arvut, mutual guarantee, it's written that they had some special preparation for that?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And the Creator chose them to lead because they have that preparation.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What preparation exists in this generation for that inclination towards Arvut?

M. Laitman: Apparently, there is, not only in this generation but even in previous generations, that's what I think. However, why did He choose? There are many explanations, here, but apparently, he writes that their entire history of this group, Israel, was comprising persecutions and pressures from all the nations. And therefore, they understood and felt a special development and a special reward that exists in love of others.

Student: And do we have that connection to the same tribulations, same preparations?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What connection? How does a person identify that preparation that he has within?

M. Laitman: I don't think that in our time, this appeals to each and every one. But rather to a group called “the Jews”, “Israel”, and this group should connect. And we see how it connects in a special time, a special place, through qualities and forces that, all in all, lead them, this group, to the necessity for connection.

Student: Does a person need to recognize that he's Jewish, that he's Israel?

M. Laitman: He recognizes that.

Student: And this is a mandatory stage, in order to receive inspiration from that nation which grew, which received the Torah back then. Is there some emanation that's supposed to reach us from back there?

M. Laitman: Apparently so, there is a very long history that includes all kinds of incidents and events. So, that it doesn't necessarily mean there has to be revelation towards each one, towards certain groups or towards the entire nation. But rather, we see that this history is long, and it develops through generations upon generations.

Student: And from generation to generation, somehow, passes deep, deeply within?

M. Laitman: From generation to generation, apparently there are changes, mostly in the souls. And eventually, we reach a generation like us, where on the one hand, we feel pressure from all the nations. And on the other hand, we are ready, relatively freely, willingly, to join this generation.

Student: So, the focal point of the scrutiny, now, is how can we cause the Creator, as He chose them back then, promoted them, chose them to be an Am Segula [a special people] from all peoples? How do we propel the Creator or become worthy of becoming the nation which in this generation leads the world?

M. Laitman: I don't think that we should already be born with all this knowledge. But nevertheless, there is a group of people called “the Jews” – apparently based on the future, according to the future, this is how they are called. And this group accompanies all the groups, all the nations; and during our time, this awakens.

Student: So, something is pulling us towards it, right, towards a more corrected state?

M. Laitman: Or it pushes us from behind, it's the same thing really.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:35) What does it mean to listen to the Lord's voice? How do we listen to the Creator's words, the Creator's voice?

M. Laitman: To hear the voice of the Creator means to be alert enough to those forces that awaken within you. And pull you to some higher goal than what people usually have.

Student: I heard that we need to feel what we need; what we require in the Ten.

M. Laitman: You heard what?

Student: I heard that we need to feel what we require, we need to feel what we actually require.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, I'm asking, in the Ten, when the sensitivity to the connection between us rises. And we feel that indeed you do these things, those things, you try various ways to come closer together and to the Creator. And sometimes you feel that you're doing the right things, and sometimes you're doing the wrong things, which aren't in the right direction. So, as I tried to work in that way and to say, here the Creator is guiding the Ten towards the connection between us, through the connection. And we need to listen to, to hear the Lord's words, that we all need to have the same direction.

M. Laitman: We already received in our generation many books, even customs, books of history, etc. So, all of this should yet be established, stabilized and bring us a map of development so that we can understand what is it that we have to do, even more so, and what we haven't done so far. I think that, as Baal HaSulam writes for us in “The Arvut” article, achieving the Arvut is actually what we have to keep and nothing besides that.

Student: You said that we need to face pressures and to undergo the transformation. So, I feel that withstanding these pressures, what does it mean to withstand the pressure and to make the changes? What kind of pressures do we need to undergo in order to receive the Law of Arvut?

M. Laitman: We need to see, to feel, that all the nations of the world – each one in a different way – but all in all, they are pressuring us and pushing us towards a change. And we, opposite that, need to see where we're headed, to which form we truly need to change and how can we influence others. So, in our time it seems to me that these things are becoming clear. And we will truly be rewarded with scrutinizing them and make them clear.

Student: In our work in the Ten, to what extent do we change through our entire vessel, our entire environment? We get up every morning lesson, we direct ourselves together. How does a Ten, to what extent does a Ten learn how to orient itself from the environment? To walk in the same way, to head the same way as the entire environment?

M. Laitman: We exist in a special environment; we only lack the revelation of the Arvut. We have to assist the revelation of the Arvut between us. And then, this whole great group, called the Worldwide Bnei Baruch, will see and feel and discover that it is in the right direction.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:48) If I understood correctly, you explained previously that we're not born with all the knowledge. Rather, there's a group of people called “Jews”, and they're called that according to their future. So, I wanted to ask, this group of Jews who are called that due to their future state, so what exists today? Are there no Jews?

M. Laitman: Well, there are, there is a nation who call themselves “Jews”, but according to the precise definitions that we read about, it's not exactly so. And therefore, according to Baal HaSulam, we need to see, we need to hear, to detect, to what further development we need to belong. And then, it will affect us and push us to the right form.

Student: That exactly is my question: What does it mean that there are Jews and there are no Jews? What's the difference?

M. Laitman: The difference is, today, there are those who are willing to be Jews, meaning to connect and belong to a single nation, a single group. The keeping of special operations that pertain to them; they will be called “Jews”.

Student: Is there a way in which we can, actually, accelerate not only the advancement of those Jews? Because that's what we're doing now all the time, we're trying, but rather to accelerate the appearance of these Jews in the world at large?

M. Laitman: We can. I think that our organization, specifically, this is why it is called Worldwide Bnei Baruch organization. In its dissemination by giving lessons to people, it tries to show the world – anyone who is interested without any limitations – to open up all the way, all the conditions that exist before us. And give each and every one a place to get closer and closer to our general message.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:50) You said that in the people of Israel there are many forces which are required through to the end of Correction. What are these special forces?

M. Laitman: They should all accumulate and become a single system, a single force, that is pulling this whole group to the end of Correction.

Student: You also said that we need to discover the map of progression, of advancement. How do we read that map, correctly?

M. Laitman: It doesn't have a name.

Student: How do we use it, correctly, how do we work with it?

M. Laitman: We try to discover the force of Arvut that, ultimately, should bring us to the correct final form.

Student: And it's the force of Arvut which will change us?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:02) It says, here, that the Creator, seemingly, the Creator needs Am Segula [a special people] in order to relay to the rest of humanity, to convey to them this idea, to convey to the rest of the nation's sparks of refinement and purity of the body. So, he made a covenant with a certain group to be the ones who convey to the nations the refinement of the body and sparks of holiness, and so on. What does it mean to be the people who convey to the nations the sparks of refinement and the purity of the body?

M. Laitman: That this group, those who were born, and belong to this group, they feel they have a role, a duty. That they must make groups, Tens, where they will all unite and become one group. Having up to the point where there are many groups, their whole direction, what they would like to develop within themselves and also pass on to the whole world. Is that everyone should be connected into Tens and from the Tens, even to hundreds and thousands. And in such a way, this is how we need to connect and adhere to each other.

Student: So, with respect to conveying that, there are many ways to convey or relay something. The person who comes to give a package to someone, he's also conveying something. He doesn't open the box, right, the delivery man, he just takes the box from one place to another. And if you want to convey something to a child, you need an example. Nothing helps besides you give him an example, and then he looks at it and, gradually, absorbs it and so on. So, it seems that we need to serve as an example for this work with the corrected will to receive?

M. Laitman: Probably so.

Student: So, this feeling is the people of Israel needing to be an example to the nations, it's the rule of the general and particular are the same. So, the Ten need to give an example to the individual, and the individual needs to give an example to the Ten. The Ten needs to give an example to the world Kli, and the world Kli needs to give an example to the world, right?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And if that doesn't work, what do we need to fix?

M. Laitman: If it doesn't work, we need to check why it doesn't work and correct our development. It could be that we do not understand; it could be that our path, the path of development, is in parallel to us and we're not in it. There are many questions along the path.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:47) He writes, here, that you don't need to work with the individual except to fulfill the friend's wishes.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: You said that the Arvut needs to take place in the Ten, not to jump to towards the group or the people of Israel, or the world. So, I don't know, I don't feel that we're in the Ten working on fulfilling the wishes of each and every friend. We're mostly giving spiritual support, whatever the friend lacks for his spiritual advancement. But here he says all his wishes, let's say, I can check in a small group what each one wishes for, so?

M. Laitman: So, in the Tens as you're all connected so that every Ten has everything that needs to be in the great, the big society. That's it and continue in this way. All in all, we are the first generation that is building the Tens and, let's hope, that we will manage to even build hundreds according to what he writes, here, about the connection, and that we will advance in such a way.

Student: You used to say that the friend's corporeality is my spirituality. What do we mean by the friend's corporeality?

M. Laitman: That as much as I help in the simple, earthly things to the friend, by that I build my spirituality.

Student: It sounds like two different things altogether. Sometimes, I heard you say that you need to take care only of the friend's spirituality. Me, coming to the lesson, connecting to the Zoom meeting; that's an example already in that I'm a guarantor for him, I keep the framework. But on the other hand, to fulfill all his wishes and corporeality, that's a different story, entirely. From where will I take the resources, the forces, with the will to receive I can barely take care of myself, even?

M. Laitman: Well, apparently this will be a different kind of development, closer to the spiritual satisfaction, we just got started.

Student: But ultimately, we need to reach that, right? That the friend won't lack, as he writes here, won't lack anything?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:51) What are hundreds, that state of hundreds? Tens and hundreds, right? We have Tens and hundreds and thousands. What are hundreds, what is the form of connection for hundreds?

M. Laitman: This is the number of people – hundreds – who are connected within them, between them in the force of the Ten.

Student: If I look at Bnei Baruch, what does it mean? A few Tens which feel as one, together?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What characterizes them?

M. Laitman: I don't think it's necessary, Tens, I don't know, we don't see it, yet. We don't yet see in our structure that there is a need for hundreds.

Student: Can you paint us, depict, this formation, can we see a picture of it?

M. Laitman: No, I think that there will be Tens that they will feel that they have a need within them to combine their spiritual work from their Ten with other Tens. And in such a way they would connect together.

Student: And then what are they called together, “a group”?

M. Laitman: Well, also a group, a group is a general name.

Student: When you say that each Ten has everything it needs or rather in each Ten there's everything that the society requires, there's everything in each Ten. So, when we meet for the Congress in like three weeks, what is the benefit of this General Assembly, if each Ten has everything it needs?

M. Laitman: Well, there are small Tens, bigger Tens; Tens that are restricted or expanding, there are many things to it. Nevertheless, we should see how do we promote ourselves to a form where we can feel that we are taking part in all of the spiritual actions.

Student: If a Ten contains everything, what does it need from other Tens?

M. Laitman: Well, this is what we say, that in a corrected, complete Ten there is everything. But where do you see such a Ten? In order to see it, to identify it, we have to develop.

Student: What does the global Bnei Baruch group lack in order to discover Arvut?

M. Laitman: All in all, we have groups which we divided according to Tens. And we expect that these groups will reach a demand for Arvut. That the emotion, the feeling of Arvut will be revealed in them, the necessity for Arvut. And, to some extent, also the implementation of Arvut; and accordingly, we will discover in these Tens an inclination towards connection, which is Arvut. Meaning that each one truly feels the Ten, that they are all connected with him, caring for him and he is caring for the others in the Ten. And in such a way, the Ten becomes a complete, closed group. And then we will feel the need for connection between the Tens in a way that each and every Ten feels itself that it is incorporating all the Ten. And this is how all of them begin to feel what does it mean to be as one. And then, from the Ten and hundred and thousand, and so on, the more they'll be connected, we – all of us – will feel ourselves. We will look back and check how from one hundred we feel the Ten and from the Ten we feel one, the individuals. This will be the check, the special check of our unity.

Student: The next state, at least as you've laid it out going forward, that's our steps that we need to take, right? So, what do we lack in order to reach within the Ten, within that complete closed group. What do we need to reach Arvut? What do we lack in order to find that emotion, that feeling of Arvut?

M. Laitman: If each one of the Ten will feel himself that he's incorporated in all of the Ten, and this is how it is in each and every group of ours. Then we will truly be connected in the right way.

Student: And what does it mean that I'm incorporated with others, to feel that I'm incorporated with the others?

M. Laitman: That your qualities are the result of their qualities and in that you're also in them.

Student: Right, so that's incorporation; what is Arvut [mutual guarantee]?

M. Laitman: The Arvut stems from the incorporation. Just as you feel the others, that they are built like you, and they are connected like you. Then you truly feel that you are connected and mixed in the same qualities.

Student: So, Arvut is an outcome of incorporation?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: When we say that I need to be a guarantor for the friends, in Arvut with them, what does it mean, here?

M. Laitman: That you're connected with the others in such a way that you're called “a guarantor”.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:37) What is the most correct way to divide the Tens, we divide it randomly? So, what is the best way that's closest to spirituality?

M. Laitman: There's nothing to it.

Student: There's no rule to it?

M. Laitman: No.

Student: Maybe it's better to have long-time students together, and so on?

M. Laitman: But you can't do these things unless you're in a Ten and you work in it, and you discover certain qualities.

Student: Yes, but we have new students which we can join together with the long-time students. Take an example from them and learn from them, that's one way to do it. Another way is new students, they are assembled together, and they start by themselves. Or you can divide them according to – I don't know – personal characteristics or temperament, or what way?

M. Laitman: No, it has to be a living system so that you can always move anyone from one place to another without harming the entire structure, so, you can't move someone. For example, each one who is in a certain place takes on the form of that place; and therefore, it's not worthwhile to simply move people from one place to another.

Student: I'm talking about a new group forming so we can either join them together with the long-time students, or to make them a group by themselves. Or according to how often they come to the lesson, or we did it completely randomly with a computer, right? So, the question is what form is closest to spirituality or is it altogether meaningless?

M. Laitman: Well, in the end there will be no significance. Each one receives his form from the place where he exists, and the Creator arranges the place for him.

Student: Yes, that's at the end but in the beginning, is it meaningful? Is there any meaning? How do you form a new Ten, how to generate a new Ten? With what criteria?

M. Laitman: No, let them be established, be formed by themselves. I don't think that we have the mind, the understanding, to see the final state.

Student: And the way we are now in our Tens, do you foresee any changes to that? Or do we simply continue like this until the end of our lives?

M. Laitman: Just continue, you'll get used to what you have, and you'll receive the form, the imprint, of what you have.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:23) It is written that all the nations of the earth belong to Me, as do you. Does it mean that we all start from the same place?

M. Laitman: No, no, the moment that they arrange the groups of Arvut, so that they are connected. Then this is how, he says, that we need to look at them.

Student: Meaning, that through spirituality, there's a place to separate our people that we're unique.

M. Laitman: Specifically, through spirituality, there's a place for connection.

Song: (01:03:44)