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

Daily Lesson (Morning) Sept. 11, 2024.

Part 1: Rabash. According to What is Explained Concerning, “Love Thy Friend as Thyself”. 7 (1984)

Reader: Hello, we are studying from the writings of Rabash, article 19,” According To What Is Explained Concerning Love Thy Friend As Thyself.” The study material appears on our website, Sviva Tova and also in the Arvut system. You can also ask questions during live broadcast through those websites, here in the study hall. Anyone who wants to ask a question is requested to stand up, hold the mic close to their mouth, and speak clearly and concisely. Pay attention, there are microphones on the table so whoever is close to a mic, make sure you're passing it to the people so that they can ask questions. And now we're going to start with According To What Is Explained Concerning Love Thy Friend As Thyself. 

Reading: (00:54) According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself”, 

Article 7, 1984

According to what is explained concerning “Love thy friend as thyself,” all the details of the 612 Mitzvot [commandments] are contained in this rule. It is as our sages say, “The rest is its commentary; go study.” This means that by keeping the 612 Mitzvot we will be rewarded with the rule, “Love thy friend,” and following that, the love of God.

Thus, what does love of friends give us? It is written that by gathering a few friends together, since they each have but a small force of love of others—meaning they can carry out the love of others only potentially—when they implement it, they remember that they have decided to relinquish self-love in favor of love of others. But in fact, one sees that he cannot relinquish any pleasure of the will to receive in favor of another, not even a bit.

However, by assembling a few people who agree that they have to achieve the love of others, when they annul themselves before one another, they are all intermingled. Thus, in each person there accumulates a great force, according to the size of the association. And then each can execute the love of others in actual fact.

So what do the details of the 612 Mitzvot give us, which we said are in order to keep the rule, since the rule is kept by love of friends? And we see that in reality, there is love of friends among the secular, too. They, too, gather in various circles in order to have love of friends. What, then, is the difference between religious and secular?

The verse says (Psalms 1), “…nor sat in the seat of the scornful.” We must understand the prohibition of the “seat of the scornful.” If he slanders or speaks idle words, then the prohibition is not because of a “seat of scornful.” So what does the “seat of the scornful” give us?

Actually, the meaning is that when a few people come together for the purpose of love of friends, with the intention that each and every one will help his friend improve his corporeal state, each anticipates that by having more meetings they will profit from society and improve their corporeal state.

However, after all the meetings, everyone calculates and sees how much they have received from the association for the self-love, what the will to receive has gained by that, since they invested time and effort to benefit society. So what have they gained by it? One could probably succeed more if engaged in self-benefit, at least the part of his own efforts. But, “I entered the association because I thought that through it, I would be able to gain more than I could gain alone. But now I see that I have gained nothing.”

Then one regrets it and says, “I would be better off using my own little strength instead of giving my time to society. However, now that I have given my time to society, in order to gain more properties through help from the society, I finally realize that not only did I not gain anything from society, I even lost what I could have gained alone.”

When someone wishes to say that love of friends should be engaged in for the purpose of bestowal, that everyone should work to benefit others, everyone laughs and mocks him. It seems to them like a kind of joke, and this is a seat of seculars. It is said about it, “but sin is a reproach to any people, and every grace that they do, they do for themselves.” Such a society detaches one from holiness and casts him into the world of mockery. This is the prohibition of the seat of the scornful.

Our sages said about such societies, “Disperse the wicked; better for them and better for the world.” In other words, it is better that they do not exist. However, it is the opposite with the righteous: “Assemble the righteous; better for them and better for the world.”

What is the meaning of “righteous”? It is those who want to keep the rule, “Love thy friend as thyself.” Their sole intention is to exit self-love and assume a different nature of love of others. And although it is a Mitzva [commandment] that should be kept, and that one can force oneself to keep, love is still something that is given to the heart, and the heart disagrees with it by nature. What, then, can one do to make love of others touch the heart?

This is why we were given the 612 Mitzvot: they have the power to induce a sensation in the heart. However, since it is against nature, that sensation is too small to have the ability to keep love of friends de facto, even though one has a need for it. Hence, now he must seek advice on how to actually implement it.

The advice for one to be able to increase his strength in the rule, “Love thy friend,” is by love of friends. If everyone is nullified before his friend and mingles with him, they become one mass where all the little parts that want the love of others unite in a collective force that consists of many parts. And when one has great strength, he can execute the love of others.

And then he can achieve the love of God. But the condition is that each will annul before the other. However, when he is separated from his friend, he cannot receive the share he should receive from his friend.

Thus, everyone should say that he is nothing compared to his friend. It is like writing numbers: If you first write “1” and then “0,” it is ten times more. And when you write “00” it is a hundred times more. In other words, if his friend is number one, and the zero follows it, it is considered that one receives from his friend ten (10) times more. And if he says that he is double zero compared to his friend, he receives from his friend a hundred (100) times more.

However, if it is to the contrary, and he says that his friend is zero and he is one, then he is ten times less than his friend 0.1. And if he can say that he is one and he has two friends who are both zeros compared to him, then he is considered a hundred times less than them, meaning he is 0.01. Thus, his degree lessens according to the number of zeros he has from his friends.

Yet, even once he acquires that strength and can keep the love of others in actual fact, and feels his own gratification as bad for him, still, do not believe in yourself. There must be fear of falling into self-love in the middle of the work. In other words, should one be given a greater pleasure than he is used to receiving, although he can already work in order to bestow with small pleasures and is willing to relinquish them, he lives in fear of great pleasures.

This is called “fear,” and this is the gate to receive the Light of faith, called “The inspiration of the Shechina [Divinity],” as it is written in The Sulam Commentary, “By the measure of fear is the measure of faith.”

Hence, we must remember that the matter of “Love thy friend as thyself” should be kept because it is a Mitzva, since the Creator commanded to engage in love of friends. And Rabbi Akiva only interprets this Mitzva that the Creator commanded. He intended to make this Mitzva into a rule by which to be able to keep all the Mitzvot because of the commandment of the Creator, and not because of self-benefit.

In other words, it is not that the Mitzvot should expand our will to receive, meaning that by keeping the Mitzvot we would be generously rewarded. Quite the contrary; by keeping the Mitzvot we will reach the reward of being able to annul our self-love and achieve the love of others, and subsequently the love of God.

Now we can understand what our sages said about the verse, VeSamtem [Place them]. It comes from the word, Sam [“potion,” as well as “placing”]. “If granted, it is a potion of life; if not granted, it is a potion of death.”

Not granted means that one engages in Torah and Mitzvot to multiply self-love, so the body would acquire possessions in return for its work. If granted, one’s self-love is nullified and he aims to receive a reward that is the strength for love of others. By this he will reach the love of the Creator—that his only wish will be to give contentment to the Creator.

M. Laitman: (16:41) So we heard this article, in which Rabash explains what love of others is. According to what is explained concerning love your friend, this thing seems as something easy. This is how they speak to people when you want to make a speech to them. Or to children, so that they will be good friends of each other and they won't punch each other. But it doesn't seem like a serious article, it's not a serious topic. And this is the problem, that we do not understand that this is actually the point, or the line, that divides reality into our corporeal reality in which we exist in self love. And a reality that is called, the upper reality, where only those who reach love of others exist. And we have to realize that this boundary is a very strong, sharp boundary. And the forces that keep what is above the line, which is the spiritual world. And below the line, which is the corporeal world, these are very firm, very strong forces, very precise forces. And those who hold, they are the ones that hold those who are in the lower reality, our reality, and those who are in the upper reality, in the next world, the upper world, the spiritual world. This is why all of our work is actually how to transition from the lower reality that we feel, now. We're not aware of it, that this is the lower reality, that we are down below, below some boundary. But rather, simply, this is our life, this is our world, this is us. But in truth, Kabbalists explain to us that the most important is to cross this boundary, to enter the upper world and to continue, there, additional ascents and ascents. And not to let the forces of nature to influence us, confuse us, bring us back down to the laws of this world, the egoistic laws. This is actually the entire topic of the wisdom of Kabbalah, mostly: How to cross this boundary, and then once we cross this boundary, how can we get to know the laws of the upper world and use them. To take advantage of them in order to truly be knowledgeable of and ready to exist in the Creator's world. He is on the highest degree of the upper world, this is why the whole topic of the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn't really touch this world, what is below the boundary between this world and the spiritual world, at all. But only to those who cross over to the upper world, the spiritual world. There we already begin to learn the laws of the upper world and to discover them on ourselves and how to use them, correctly. Before that, we don't quite have really what to learn from the wisdom of Kabbalah because the wisdom of Kabbalah, actually, all speaks only about the laws of the upper world. This is why we actually need to pay attention and put all our forces into how do we cross over from this world to the upper world in our feeling, in our intellect, in our mind, in our awareness, in our understanding. And whatever pertains truly to this world, that is not the reality in which we want to remain. Our soul, which is called a godly part from above, that exists in each and every one, it yearns to be in that state, in that reality, which is like the Creator, which is the upper world. And only towards It, we measure ourselves, not below the boundary between the worlds. But rather, whatever we do, we have to do everything only for the sake of the ascent from this world to the upper world. So far, is everything clear, are there any questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:16) You spoke now about the concept of the boundary, how significant it is. And you said that we need to understand how much that boundary is strong. What does it mean that that boundary is strong? What do I need to understand from the boundary being strong, how is that expressed?

M. Laitman: That you can't just in some form cross it, jump above it, or in some other way go through it. But rather is only according to your congruence with the spiritual laws, that is all. 

Student: Is that a boundary that should break through one time? Or it's something that always expands the more that you advance? 

M. Laitman: It could be that you have a few steps, when you're already standing at the border but actually it is once, usually. And because we don't have spiritual forces before we cross this boundary, and also, after we cross the boundary there are no spiritual forces that we can actually use. So, we use our own forces, whatever exists between men and his friend. This is why the love of friends is the most important here. It's the main thing that can help us, that can assist us to cross over from one world to the other. 

Student: We spoke in the preparation after the morning lesson about this common force, this mutual force that we create between us all the time. What is special about this force that helps you overcome that boundary? We feel that force each time that it gives us a bit more and a bit more to progress. And friends, without them, you find that you cannot do anything. What is special about that force? 

M. Laitman: What is special about this force is that all of us, even though we hardly have any spiritual force, and we also don't have a desire for spirituality, the true desire. We don't know what else we need to do in spirituality so that it would attract us, or maybe it's the other way around, maybe we need to run away from it. So, it turns out that, first of all, we need an environment. Baal HaSulam, he explains it to us in many articles about the importance of the environment in achieving the spiritual force. And we have friends that are next to us so that we support each other, and each one will try to be an example for his friends and they towards him. And in this way, we will actually attain, maybe we will attain, we stand a chance, we have a possibility. An opportunity, the ability to reach the entrance to the spiritual world, even though we don't actually feel in it anything for the time being. But rather we're being given some attraction towards it, towards the spiritual world from above, from its source, from the Creator so that we can use this force.

Student: Why is it said that only through love can we pass that boundary? Is it correct that only through love can we go through that boundary? 

M. Laitman: Yes, this is why it is called, love your friend as yourself, and also, it's the title for the text we now read. According to what is explained concerning Love Your Friend as Yourself, meaning, what is this secret, we're so used to these words. You should go into a kindergarten, you'll hear it there all the time. Yes, at school it's a bit less, and later on, I mean, who talks about that? So, love of others is actually what is felt in every soul that crosses the boundary between our world and the upper world. This is the main thing that we have to acquire because once we have love of others, we also acquire the love of the Creator, the love of friends and the love of the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:13) A tough question for many, annulment toward a friend. Rabash writes that there is a force in annulling toward a friend to the extent that there is 0.1 or 0.01. What is the difference between them, what is the criteria?

M. Laitman: First of all, the criteria is different for each and every one according to the root of one's soul, and so, I cannot say which force you need in order to attain the force of bestowal and love, in order to rise to the first, or second, or third degree. In general, we can say what it is but, nevertheless, a person who hasn't yet acquired these qualities can't measure them with respect to himself. So, of course, we will go through all of that. But just realize that all of this will be attained by you as a result of your non-stop work between you in the group. When you will try to relate to the friends, as it is written here in the text. And the friends, also towards you, will try to do the same thing, then through your technique, you will apply, you will digest. You will absorb these spiritual qualities, these spiritual degrees and you will be able to rise and realize what exists in them.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:29) You said that what's most important is to attain the next world. What is the boundary that we need to cross? 

M. Laitman: The boundary?

Student: Yes?

M. Laitman: We need to cross the boundary between this world and the next world, where this boundary means the following: That I acquire a force that gives me the possibility to be above my ego. Because my ego is my general egoistic force that compels me only to see what is good for me. And if it is at the expense of others, maybe it's even better. And so this boundary is in that I make a restriction, as we call it; meaning I shut, I close all of my desires to receive for myself. And I start to open up the desires to bestow to others. By this I get closer to others and I make with them, with those who are also interested in it, in being connected. And from the connection to attain the degrees of bestowal, of love of others.

Student: It is written that the fear of the Creator is, how can we receive the light from above, directly, here?

M. Laitman: It doesn't happen immediately but after we rise a few degrees and somehow we begin to be oriented in the qualities, the forces that influence u. And we feel that they are operating within us, then we begin to work with spiritual forces. And then we begin to be concerned about this matter that you mentioned. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:29) What a special feeling! Is annulment, which is the vessel for love, is that faith above reason for annulment at the end of it all?

M. Laitman: Let's say so, I don't want to talk about things that are above what the audience understands, and you, too. So let's only speak about what we have before us. 

Student: We are entering the Congress and we want to annul ourselves, what is the most important in this process? 

M. Laitman: To annul. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:28) So here, the sole responsibility for us is to annul ourselves and just let the Creator approach us, all of us? 

M. Laitman: Yes, it's true but also no, yes and no. We need to give the Creator the opportunity to work, to operate. Meaning there are apparently such forces within us so that we cannot allow Him to work, not allow Him to operate within us. And so, everything depends also on the relation between the Creator and the person and the way that the person relates to the Creator. How do we measure the combination of these forces? By the way a person relates to his friends, so if a person relates to his friends which he chose and they are going together towards the ascent to the degree of the Creator, then this person can measure where he was yesterday, where he is today. Where does he intend to be tomorrow ad the wisdom of Kabbalah explains it in such a way, what is it that he should do in order to rise to degrees that are closer and closer to the Creator. That's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:32) The most important for us is to cross the boundary. How not to let these forces confuse us and pull us back down to the corporeal world? 

M. Laitman: That's a correct question, it's in the right place. It's a simple answer, only through that in which I have friends and I and them together, it is desirable that it is Ten friends, a group. Where we support each other and we go together step by step, really. Each step forward that we take, so the first step, the second step, the third step and accordingly we go through together in the Ten, the group. It's worthwhile that it'll be Ten and accordingly in the Ten we go through our path, we go through that boundary from here to the spiritual world. And afterward we continue but already according to spiritual laws. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:57) When we read in the articles this word, “was rewarded.” What is this being rewarded made of, my efforts, the efforts of the Ten? Because this is something that is given to us from above, from the Creator for all of us together, what does it mean to be rewarded? 

M. Laitman: Rewarded means that when a person gets permission for spiritual ascent, from the current degree to the next degree. And then from the next degree to the degree after it, etc., that means that he is rewarded. He has nothing else and there cannot be anything else. If he is correctly directed at the attainment of the spiritual world, the upper world, that is his sole purpose. And then he is rewarded, time after time, to rise another degree, if he receives upper spiritual forces. And then gradually, in that he acquires them, he rises. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:28) How can we be rewarded right now, and that all of us together will cross over and be in a state where we give and receive from each other. How can we hold all of these things together? 

M. Laitman: When you connect with another person, you think what you can give to them and receive from them. These motions, these mutual and opposing motions, one toward the other, obligate you to act. If he recommends for you to receive something, so receive, or if to give, so to give. And then he in such a way toward you, only in this mutual common work, one toward the other, you will be able to progress together. 

Student: In the state where we already crossed, what is that? 

M. Laitman: It just appears to you that way. We have gone through something, a little something but it's only the beginning.

Student: Love, fear, and faith? 

M. Laitman: We will learn that. It's quite complex.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:17) What is spiritual love of friends, between the friends?

M. Laitman: Love of friends between the friends is relations between two people where they both want to rise upward; and in their ascent, they help each other.

Student: How to develop the spiritual fear that I will not be able to bestow to the friends?

M. Laitman: To think about it, and then there will surface in you such an attitude to think and depict that to yourself.

Student: What are the ramifications, if I don't manage to bestow to the friends on the right time? 

M. Laitman: The worst possible ramifications, a spiritual fall, a spiritual ejection. Or in general, this blocking of the path. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:58) I've got a question from a friend: To be able to reach the boundary, what sort of environment is needed to reach love your friend as yourself? What do we need to take care of?

M. Laitman: Our society is enough for us and it's very suitable. We just need to implement in the society what we learn in the articles.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:18) Yesterday, you said that our root is love. Why is it so difficult to awaken the love?

M. Laitman: There is nothing more against us, contradictory to us, opposite from our nature, from our outlook, from inclinations of ours – like the love of others. We are all the most egoistic that we could possibly be and even a change from our attitude of hatred to others to the love of others. For us, that is very, very difficult and we need to incorporate in a lot of actions in order to attract the reforming light, the upper force, the upper light. To influence us and create changes, small changes in us, many, many of them in many actions, one after another. Until we start feeling that we truly acquire some spiritual force, we are opposite to spiritual forces. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:23) When we speak about keeping the Mitzvot, the commandments, in order to reach love of our friends, we connect in the Ten, we read articles, we have workshops. But I know that a friend is not paying Maaser and not keeping our framework. So how should I relate to her, how should I relate to such a friend even though she's not keeping this commandment of tithing? 

M. Laitman: Depends on your agreement between you. If you incorporate in the group where there are minimal conditions of the Kabbalists. So then you are obligated to observe them, therefore, your attitude to the friend needs to come from that in which how much she observes the conditions that the group needs to accept upon itself.

Student: If she doesn’t keep these commandments, this framework, that I cannot enter into relations with her? 

M. Laitman: Yes, you cannot.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:30) If I understand correctly, when I came here every friend that I approached I felt from them the same emotions that I feel towards my Ten. And I’m excited, sorry, and my Ten is like a good trainer. So it’s not clear, how do I feel the same emotions, even towards an external person like a taxi driver or someone, similarly? It seems like the Ten trains me, and then I begin to feel, I don’t know if I should call it love. But it’s something that I never felt before the wisdom of Kabbalah, is this how it works?  

M. Laitman: Yes, that’s how it gradually develops in you. 

Student: That, besides that feeling love your friend as yourself towards each and everyone?

M. Laitman: It's still not the full observance of this condition, but it’s on the way.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:19) Earlier you talked about the hatred that appears on the way to love. What is the best way to work with this hatred which is on the way to love?

M. Laitman: We need not to just erase the hatred but to see how much we can invert it to its opposite, to love. In other words, to try so that in every force that awakens in us, for or against connection. That we will use it in either to increase the connection between us, or to decrease the hatred between us.

Student: How can I use it, how can I transform, turn, the hatred into love?

M. Laitman: Exactly as I said, either to increase the forces that awaken in you to love. Or to erase or decrease the forces that awaken for hatred, separation.

Student: Meaning, it pays off to reject the hatred, and use it as a power with which we can love?

M. Laitman: Yes, certainly, we also need to understand that our heart, we all act according to spiritual laws but we just don’t pay attention to it. For instance, our heart, it compresses and relaxes, compresses and relaxes, it acts this way, like a pump. And accordingly, we need to learn how to use all of those forces – the force of attraction and the force of rejection. And then we elevate ourselves on the degree because in our corrections, we have corrections that are called, bestowing in order to bestow, which is the force of bestowal, positive forces; and receiving in order to bestow, where the egoistic forces turn into forces of bestowal. Then, and only then, do we reach the full correction. We will still learn that. Is that okay? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:39) He says that the force to keep love your friend as yourself is through incorporation and annulment towards the friends. 

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: What's the difference between saying that my friend is ten times greater than me, or saying that my friend is a hundred times greater than me? 

M. Laitman: You work according to that in order to connect with him.

Student: But when I make the friends greater, I see that I'm also doing it because of the ego.

M. Laitman: Even from the ego, it doesn't matter. 

Student: How to truly make the friend great, to truly do it so it's outside of these boundaries of the ego? 

M. Laitman: No, you still cannot exit the boundaries of the ego, that's still before you, and it will be before you for a lot more time. But, already, to see that you go in advance, that soon you'll be able to do. 

Student: How to make the friend greater, how to truly make him greater? 

M. Laitman: You can make him greater by depicting to yourself that he is great. In every way that you want to grow, he is already great in that growth. 

Student: What are the measurements of the greatness of the friend and why is it measured with respect to my own greatness? How can I use that? 

M. Laitman: The extent of the greatness of the friend is how much you can appreciate him and his good qualities. And how you can come closer to him, so you do all kinds of actions, even in this world where you cannot carry out spiritual actions of what he does. But corporeal actions you can perform, and through those, you come closer to him. 

Student: How does it help that I have to measure it with respect to my own greatness? I mean, he says that the friend is ten times greater than me, a hundred times greater than me. 

M. Laitman: Well, that says how much you appreciate how much you value yourself.

Student: So, in order to elevate the friend, I have to lower myself? 

M. Laitman: No, not really. It could be but you just need to increase his greatness, as Rabash writes in the article. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:42) I have a problem with annulment, I don't understand how I can annul myself before two friends. Yes, I love them, I miss them, I'm happy to see them. But the problem is that I look at them as my competitors, as if there is some competition between us, I'm jealous, I'm envious of you, of the Creator. How can I start relating to the friend not as opponents but as partners on the way towards the Creator, as particles of my soul, without envy, without comparing, without anger. 

M. Laitman: It's a problem to transition from hatred to love. We're not given to do that in one leap but we can do that, gradually. First, we need to, constantly, ask that from the Creator, that He will give us the opportunity to see in the friends only positive qualities. And in such a way, you would value them upon the good that reveals to you because in every person there is good and bad, and you want to see only the good. It's like parents, they see in their little baby only the good; but if you speak with someone else, what would they say about that baby, only bad things. Therefore, everything depends on how each one perceives. We should thus try to view everyone with these completely unconditional qualities and then we'll be able to look properly. Independent qualities, and then we'll be able to appreciate everyone. And then that is everything. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:07) The more this boundary is firm, can we say that we're entering greater coarseness?

M. Laitman: It's not determined by me, this attitude.

Student: When I execute the annulment, I should be interested in that this boundary will be hard?

M. Laitman: No, the main thing is to be in equivalence with this boundary. And you have enough of that toughness, too much.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:22) My question: You say to see everything positive. Does it mean that you see the good and the bad? Or when you see the bad you transform it to good? 

M. Laitman: We need to first see the truth – what is before us and what outcome do we want to reach. So, there is this phenomenon before us and we want that phenomenon, we want to reveal that phenomenon is coming to us. And that it explains to us the act of bestowal or an act of reception, and in such a way we decide and act with how we use what reveals. That is all, I would put it that way. 

Reader: The question of the friend is do we see the bad as bad also, and then we have to invert it into good? Or do we only see good, do we only seek good? 

M. Laitman: We seek only good. There are a few matters, here: It could be that I'm in good and feel good and see good. It could be that I'm in bad and then I feel bad; or I feel good, etc. It depends on the attitude between one and the other, between what I see and what I am. And that is how we can discuss this but, in any case, after I come to an action, I need to calibrate myself so that I see where truth is and where I am. That's usually the case, you're on one side and on the other side, where the friends are, where the whole world is. Meaning, from all of these approaches, I, at the end of it all, more or less, understand the truth. And then I see the extent to which I can help it to reach that truth. Is that okay?  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:08) If we're going in the opposite direction with this toughness? I feel that what we call, this is what it means what we say, to open the heart. But I have to resist this flow that occurs through me, or to constantly go with greater annulment. So, what is hardness? 

M. Laitman: After a lot of quality of

Student: So, what is hardness? 

M. Laitman: Hardness is the quality of the Masach, of the screen. 

Student: How is this quality of the screen manifested, with greater annulment? 

M. Laitman: Yes, it is in more ascent above your ego.

Student: It means that I'm entering the course, as you know, that is to rise above my ego?

M. Laitman: Don't get too smart. It's the easiest thing to protect yourself, and also, to get confused by doing so. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:34) The forces of nature?

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: You said in the beginning that we shouldn't let the forces of nature confuse us. So, it turns out that if the spiritual forces and the forces of nature are one and the same. It depends on the corrected qualities in a person the way he feels these forces, When he's in a stage where he doesn't yet distinguish whether these are spiritual forces or natural forces?

M. Laitman: It is the same thing. 

Student:  How can a person make this inner choice in order to realize that his forces are not confusing him but rather helping him?

M. Laitman: If he positions himself on a state that is as neutral as possible, then he can evaluate, as correctly as possible, what influences him and why he responds in such a way. Then he can select the correct path. 

Student: Where does this neutral state begin?

M. Laitman: From that in which he annuls himself toward the friends. For him, that is the correct calibration, and that tuning to position yourself in a neutral manner toward the friend. To receive them as higher to oneself, you will have no measurement in this world. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:12) It says in the article, it speaks about the seat of the scornful. Why they have to be dispersed, whereas the assembly of the righteous should be strengthened. You invest so many forces in the lesson to be in the right direction. And in the meetings we have of the various Tens and the meals that we have, there, we don't have a spiritual teacher. And it's possible that what now you have inserted into us, later, in some other meetings we'll have a bit of frivolity and everything will be lost. Now, in the period of Rabash, there were no such Zoom meetings but, today, nobody is managing the situation. I'm not even talking about new friends. How does it work? You invest and invest in the lessons. And then you have some meeting of the Ten, and somebody, let's say, lowers the importance? 

M. Laitman: That depends on you, what we now read, it is written here, that is from the year 1984, that is the time when Rabash wrote this article. I don't even remember the year that I read it but certainly, some time there. Maybe 40 years ago, I don't know how much, meaning, you need to depict to yourself the different states that we can be in. And that the group can be in and how we receive or accept what our teacher writes to us. Rabash is the greatest teacher in practical Kabbalah, and accordingly, we need to study him, seriously. 

Student: It is, also, written that sit and do nothing is better than doing something that we are not sure if it will promote us, elevate us. But we already have a meeting planned, every day. Somebody becomes smart, somebody says something that maybe doesn't match what Rabash says, we don't know. We don't have in the Ten a person who can manage this process?

M. Laitman: In every Ten, there should be such a person. 

Student: Maybe, until we reach some degree of understanding the articles – again, I'm saying there are many new friends studying, also in the Tens. So there might be some illusion that we are operating according to Rabash, even in veteran Tens this can happen. We can miss out on something, maybe it's worthwhile for us to focus more on reading articles. Or maybe like in your times, lesson, lesson, lesson. I'm certain that if a Ten comes to the lesson, you always add more to us, but in all of these meetings, I'm not so certain that we're not missing out. Or maybe it's okay, it will fall into place, and the lesson will take care of everything, it will cover everything?

M. Laitman: Nothing is covered by anything, by itself, everything needs to be chewed by you. So, you have to come to all the lessons, to all the meetings, to all your gatherings, to absorb everything. And besides, you need to read previous materials, this article we read today is from 1984. 

Student: Meaning, if we focus only on reading articles, what do I mean? In limiting, just like you give a lesson, that's how we do the discussions and workshops because we're all equal in the Ten. So, each adds something, and then a certain, like, it's like a porridge comes out of it. Not exactly according to the precise direction that you give us.

M. Laitman: That's clear but, still, the most important is the scrutiny with the friends. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:39) I have an internal question: Self-annulment, is it the beginning of this unconditional love? 

M. Laitman: Yes, the annulment of my ego, to phrase it more accurately. Self-annulment will only confuse you, we should annul, cancel our ego, specifically. 

Student: Meaning, it's not like a step towards love of others? 

M. Laitman: It's a step towards love of others but it's still before the real cancellation of myself. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:36) I'm asking forgiveness but I always get confused. What is intuition: Is it actually a hint that the Creator is giving m, or is it the ego that's leading me somewhere; and I'm afraid to choose? 

M. Laitman: Yes, it's your ego. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:16) It is written that the 613 Mitzvot intensify the feeling in love of friends.

M. Laitman: Yes? 

Student: So what is this talking about? 

M. Laitman: It talks about the 613 commandments, meaning desires that a person uses in order to bestow, which is why they're called commandments. They increase a person's vessel of bestowal, each and every commandment. 

Student: We need to discern desires and try to aim them towards the friends, or? 

M. Laitman: If you're already going to work with them, then, of course you do it. 

Student: Why is it a matter of so many details or individual things?

M. Laitman: Our will to receive is so complex. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:55) You said that the ego is the egoistic force that helps me, you know, against me. Question: This feeling that we are really strong in our point of unification. What are we being advised so that we will be able to examine ourselves, examine one another in this inner point of unification and not break? What could help us stop us, stop ourselves and not fall? 

M. Laitman: To stop ourselves from performing egoistic actions for my own benefit and to use that same force, which I have corrected, only for the sake of others; this is what we need to do. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:25) You said that to stop the egoistic actions and use the force that I corrected for the benefit of others. This is actually according to what he says in the article of moving it from a commandment of the Creator to a Kli? Is that what he means, here? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:01) You said that we need today to think about what we're giving and what we're receiving. Our thoughts need to be about reception since we're measuring our giving and receiving towards the Creator? How much does this bring us closer to Him? And is this reception that I receive that actually receiving love from the friends? What thoughts need to be about reception from the friends to be close to that love? 

M. Laitman: That you show love and respect to the friends, that you do good things for them. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:05) First of all, great gratitude for the exercise you gave us, at the moment, where we must hold on to our Ten while we're all praying together. It's like running with a heavy weight and it doesn't let us disconnect, on the other hand, we see the burdening on the other side. We're going through certain states, as we're moving the light onwards. And it's really felt how much more difficult it is for friends to incorporate, for those who are not here. How can we hold on to the connection from both sides? What is our work, and what is the work of all the World Kli that's not here? 

M. Laitman: The whole World Kli should do exactly the same things you're doing here. We are broadcasting this through all our possibilities and all the languages, and all the means so everyone has this possibility, that's it. So, they should be connected to you, to me and we will help everyone – send the materials, be in touch with them. 

Student: If possible, another small scrutiny. Can we ask questions in their name?

M. Laitman: Of course! 

Student: On their behalf and keep that connection? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:26:00) You said that there are no questions, and really this convention is felt. Truly, from the very beginning, everything feels different, I feel like we came here not in order to ask questions and get answers. But to practically do what we have to do, we already want to enter inwards. We want to feel everyone as one. We have already many questions, we know all the answer. And we simply need to practically do it, right now. How to do it, all that you're telling us, how to pass that border together in this Convention? 

M. Laitman: It depends on how close you are to each other and how much you help each other, and feel yourselves being in one desire, that's it. 

Student: It sounds so simple.

M. Laitman: Do you want me to say it in a more complicated way? 

Student: It's the whole thing, what do we have to ask, if we know what we need to do? 

M. Laitman: Ask yourself, ask yourself.

Student: What? 

M. Laitman: What? What stops me, what should I do in order to be in a certain way in order to change from one state to another? Ask. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:53) Rabash gives us, he also aims us to a very important tool, which is the fear. 

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: Because a person can fall in the middle to self-love.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: How does a person organize within himself this great enough fear that he will be able to preserve the love and the spirit that we need? 

M. Laitman: By having thousands and thousands of people in front of him, and kind of on top of them, over them, he can raise, increase within him the power of fear. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:44) You said Rabash is the greatest teacher in the study of practical Kabbalah and we need to study him seriously. I think we already feel this and we're already studying him, seriously. But the question is what does it mean to study a Kabbalist seriously? 

M. Laitman: To study seriously, from a Kabbalist means, first of all, to learn what he wrote, to study it. To be impressed by his disciples, his students, perhaps; there are many, there are all kinds, so we don't want to be confused by them. But the most important is to read, to read what he wrote. To take from there the things you have to do to change the way you have to. And in this way to be incorporated and to come closer. 

Student: How do we pass on this serious study to people who don't feel this connection with the Rabash? 

M. Laitman: There is no chance, no way. You might confuse them, don't do it this way. 

Student: Okay, so what's the correct way to pass on this impression because, I think, in Bnei Baruch I see many people and I don't see faces, I see Rabash in them. They speak and you hear Rabash, everything they do feels like you're in the presence of the Rabash. And this impression is very overwhelming to the extent that when you go outside, it's almost impossible to keep quiet about it. And you feel pushed to pass it on, even any conversation that comes up. You have nothing to say but things from the Rabash and you want to pass on this impression. So, what's the correct way to pass on this impression without confusing them?

M. Laitman: The right way to convey to people, the right way is to give people the URL of our site in English or other languages, we have almost all the languages. And for them to study from there, to write to us. They'll have teachers here, friends, and this way they will advance.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:32:00) Rabash had a very particular situation in which his teacher was also his father, which made annulling harder. In all the years that you spent next to him, did you ever ask him how he was able to succeed because it seems like?

M. Laitman: Yes, of course I asked, he said it's much more difficult than it is for me to annul before him. Because Baal HaSulam was far higher, spiritually, and much more powerful. And this is why Rabash said that it was very difficult for him to annul before his father, especially, it was his dad! Because every child towards his father feels powerful, so, but that didn't really help me. But we still, need to continue, to you, it's even easier, I see that it's easier for you. You have far less opportunities, or fewer opportunities, to go the wrong way. As much as it seems that it's not like that, it is like that. That's it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:34:05) Many times I feel states, one state, where I put myself lower and lower than the friends and I feel that I am nothing, and then I feel my prayer toward the friends. And on the other hand, I feel the support and power before the friends, and at that state, there's no prayer. How to use these two states in order to breach into the spiritual world?

M. Laitman: As seriously as you can, with scrutinizing where is the place that you can determine? 

Student: How do you scrutinize this? Is it some intermediate state between the two of them? 

M. Laitman: A request. 

Student: A request to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:29) What does it mean to hold on to the connection, and thanks to what are we doing it?

M. Laitman: Maintaining the connection means that I cannot disconnect from my connection with the friends with whom I have connected in this Congress. We, already, have a connection between us and this is how we remain in this connection.

Student: What does it mean, the correct level of holiness? 

M. Laitman: When each one feels everyone the way he feels himself. 

Student: Why is it important to hold on to the love and the connection, and not just enjoy from the light of life? 

M. Laitman: Enjoying the light of life is an egoistic pleasure. You can ask anyone, any alcoholic person, any bum, anyone. But if you're talking about spiritual nearing to the Creator, then you need to position in front of you, to place in front of you a ladder and on each step determine exactly how you're going to keep climbing. 

Student: What does it mean to hold on to spiritual love between us? 

M. Laitman: It is the connection between you which is supported by the Creator. You are connected with Him and with the friends and you, constantly. rise with the help of one another on this ladder toward the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:38:14) Sometimes I don't know how I can go through this border, crossing this border. What do we need to do here in order to cross this boundary, this border? 

M. Laitman: We have to, internally, as much as possible experience, live. As much as possible, we need to internally experience all your questions, feel them – your own and others – to permeate each of these questions. And then, check how you can answer all these questions from the point of view of pure, clean, connection with the Creator. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:40:20) I felt the fear for the first time, here in Bnei Baruch. A friend today said that we're missing practical actions, and I thought that now, all of us, as we gathered in this home, we will be able to do something with the intention for the sake of others. Will we be able to, all those who are here, can we do something with the intention, the feeling of love to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: I am with you.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:41:37) When we talk about practical actions in order to feel this work, we don't pay attention that every day we do acts of justification where we don't appreciate these actions because they're fundamental. So, how can we uplift these actions until we reach to identifying them as good deeds? 

M. Laitman: Just try, keep trying more and more, and it will succeed.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:42:36) You did this transition, this transcension, also did Rabash. How can you do this through love of others towards one another, to copy these qualities of bestowal, of stubbornness, of persistence in this transition? 

M. Laitman: Through efforts, efforts, consult among yourselves, take a common decision or several common decisions together and do them. And you will see what works and what works less, and what's not clear, turn to me. The Congress is beginning the day after tomorrow, right? All right, so we have time. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:43:57) How to feel through my correction that I'm changing the world towards correction when the world around us seems opposite to what we're seeing here? After all, our work needs to start with confidence that our work impacts the world. But if we don't see it, how can you go in faith above reason specifically in this? 

M. Laitman: Exactly then we have to go with faith above reason, because within reason, within our rationality, we cannot do this work. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:44:46) Does the correction happen by the friend upon me or is there giving me an ability to rise above the ego. If a friend doesn't care for me, doesn't care for my correction, is it possible to make that transition? 

M. Laitman: No, it's not enough, it's not enough, each one needs a few more friends. For this reason, this is why a Ten consists of ten people in which each one is concerned with the others. And that's a Ten that can rise, ascend. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:45:43) If I see the hatred of my friend, what to do?

M. Laitman: Show him you love him.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:46:25) You talked about connection with the teacher, how are you connected with Rabash? I came to the wisdom of Kabbalah through your book. I live in the center of South America and I only had this book which I read. And I came all the way, here. My question is egotistical. 

M. Laitman: Okay.

Student: How can I connect with my teacher, meaning with you? 

M. Laitman: Only through studying, when you listen and read what I give, and by this, there will be more connection between us. 

Student: It's easier for me to connect with my Ten. Or there's a question: Is it easier to connect with the teacher or with the Ten? 

M. Laitman: It is easier and more effective with the Ten. Good luck. Alright, I see that we are already running out of time. Al right, so, we will stop here. And we have, what else do we have after this? 

Reader: (01:48:45) We have other parts if we want to. 

M. Laitman: No, no, according to the schedule.

Reader: The schedule? We'll have a summary of the lesson, then we'll have the Noon Lesson here. There'll be breakfast at noon, you're giving a lesson here.

M. Laitman: We don't have like a schedule? 

Reader: There is a schedule for the day. 

M. Laitman: So tell them so it won't be in the air. 

Reader: (01:49:11) Schedule then Lesson Summary Workshop