The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), August 17, 2024.
Part 1: Baal HaSulam. Letter 54.
Reader: Hello, we're reading in the Writings of Baal HaSulam. In Hebrew it's page 755, we're reading Letter 54. You can find the study materials in the Sviva Tova, in the Arvut system. You can also ask questions live through our websites. Anyone asking a question here in the study hall is asked to stand up, hold the microphone close to his mouth and speak loud and clear. Again, the Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 54.
Reading Letter 54: (00:36) 15 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het, January 8, 1928
To my soul mate … may his candle burn:
Today I received your letter with all the adventures that had happened to you, and what you wrote from the night of fourth of [the Torah portion] VaYechi [Jacob Lived]: “If the light had surrounded your entire body, you would have been saved from all your troubles.”
It seems that you have not fully grasped what I said to you before your journey: “There is no other salvation but the attainment of the Torah.” The whole Merkava [chariot/structure] of the Sitra Achra [other side] is only to fool people in other matters in order to deny them this truth. This is the meaning of the exile in Egypt in mortar and bricks, and the boasting of their king, “My Nile is mine and I have made it.”
See what is written in that portion: “This shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” That is, when the Creator wished to verify for him the sacred situation with which he has been rewarded then (as explained in the writings), He verified it with that sign, that he will undoubtedly be once again rewarded with the reception of the Torah in that place.
Understand that thoroughly: Even though the face of the Creator appeared to Moses in complete clarity, so much so that he was afraid to look at the Creator, he still needed the guarantee of the Torah, for otherwise the Creator would certainly not make him look.
It is written, “Seek the Lord while He is found, call upon Him while He is near.” “Seek the Lord while He is found” means where He is present, and you will not fail with the Sitra Achra, who always deflects a person to seek Him where He is not present. Thus, one scatters one’s labor in vain. Hence the prophet warns, “Seek the Lord where He is found,” meaning in a place of Torah, and not in a place where there is no Torah, for He is not present there at all.
He also says, “Call upon Him while He is near.” When the Creator shows you a bright face, it is the time to call Him—to contemplate and reflect on the secrets and the reasons [also flavors] of Torah, which is the reading—perhaps the Creator will open man’s heart to be rewarded with the blessing of the Torah.
This is the meaning of “The Creator, the Torah, and Israel are one.” By this you can also observe the need that the Creator had at the event of the first prophecy to Moses to pledge to him with this sign of acceptance of the Torah.
This is the meaning of the words, “Who will ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.”
It is said that prior to a person’s exit from the mother’s womb, he is sworn: “Even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, be as a wicked one in your eyes.” This matter requires explanation: Our sages have already said, “Do not be wicked in your own eyes,” much less when the whole world testifies that he is righteous, should he regard himself as wicked? I wonder. We should also understand the words, “Be as a wicked one in your eyes,” which implies that in his own heart he can know the truth—that he is righteous.
The thing is that there are two works: one is in the heart, and one is in the mind. That is, to turn the vessels of reception in both of them to work in order to bestow. At the time and moment when a person purifies the vessels of reception of the heart, he immediately becomes worthy of His light, which pours out incessantly. That light is called Nefesh [soul], after the disclosure of the Nefisha [rest] in all the organs.
This is the meaning of the words, “Who will ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand ...?” meaning gain an eternal level and will not fall again. It is precisely “He ... who has not lifted up his soul in vain.” In other words, once the Creator has turned to him and brought him a little closer, he needs to strengthen himself immensely and take that light for scrutiny of the Torah, to find its secrets and increase his knowledge of the Creator. This is the meaning of raising the eyes of the Shechina [Divinity], as it is written, “A bride whose eyes are beautiful, the rest of her body does not require examination.”
If a person does not pay attention to raising the eyes, then he carries the light of Nefesh futilely. Even worse, he swears deceitfully, for at the time of birth he was sworn, “Even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous.” That is, even if he is rewarded with the light of Nefesh, where all the organs and tendons of his small world feel that he is a complete righteous, placed in the Garden of Eden, he must still not believe it whatsoever until he raises up the eyes of Kedusha [holiness].
This is the meaning of “Who will ascend” and “Who will stand”—precisely “He who has clean hands,” who has been rewarded with cleaning both his forms of reception—of mind and of heart. “And a pure heart” means that he has already been rewarded with attaining the flavors [also “reasons”] of Torah and all its secrets, as it is written, “And you will know this day and reply to your heart that the Lord, He is the God ... there is none else.”
“Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood” means that he understood how to work and use the light of Nefesh that the Creator illuminated for him, “And has not sworn deceitfully,” but raised the eyes, as said above. Delve deeply into all that is said here for it is a true and sincere counsel to avoid being trapped by the counsel of the Sitra Achra, who always fools into seeking the Creator where He is not found. Hence, each day one should remind oneself of this.
But what can I do for you if you do not appreciate my words properly, and therefore scatter your energy futilely? I wish you would hear me from now on because my words are always in “neither add nor take away,” and are therefore still standing and waiting for a listening heart.
My words are being said in due time because the above-mentioned precise work is very capable in these days, which are called in the books, “Tikkun Shovavim TaT [correction of the naughty, Tav-Tav (acronym)].”
Let me disclose to you that the books offer only intimations that are completely abstruse to the masses. Indeed, its mark is Shovavim TaT as an acronym for Talmud Torah [Torah study], and there is no other correction but TaT, and “One who does not know the commandment of the upper one,” etc.
The thing is that the upper light that approaches a person to direct him toward revival is called Nefesh, due to the reception of Nefisha [rest] in the organs, each according to its measure in its time. However, it cannot exist without Ruach [spirit], meaning attainment of the Torah.
This is why that person is called “naughty,” like a little boy who places both hands in a bag full of money, jumping and dancing about, not knowing what to do with the money because he does not know the shape of the money or how to trade. It turns out that one who gives a gift of a bag of money to a little boy does not do him any good by this. On the contrary, he makes him naughty and drives him crazy.
This is the meaning of the words, “He will make my soul naughty.” In other words, if the Creator does not give the Ruach, but only the Nefesh, He makes a person naughty and crazy. However, from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] one comes to Lishma [for Her sake], meaning as he ends, “for His name,” meaning that through this he will be rewarded with Lishma.
This is why he said, “Return, oh naughty boys,” meaning those who have not yet been granted with Ruach. This is the meaning of attainment of the Torah. Also, as I spoke to you prior to your journey, this is the meaning of the Klipa [shell] of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, which was such a hard Klipa that no slave could escape from Egypt because of the lights that they had to give to all those who fell into their hands, until they could not retire from them.
It is as is written, “My Nile is mine and I have made it,” as I interpreted for you while you were still here ... This is why the enslavement in the [Torah] portion Shemot [Exodus] begins with the exile in Egypt, and does not end before the portion Yitro [Jethro], at the time of the reception of the Torah, as in “This shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain,” as I have explained above.
Therefore, it is very possible for any person who wishes to complete what is desired of him, for in these sequences—Shovavim, Teruma [donation/contribution], Tetzaveh [command (verb, imperative form)]—he will examine his works and correct his ways for the reception of Torah.... He will gather all the sparks of light of his soul that were captured by the Klipa of Egypt into a place of Torah with great longing and yearning. Through studying with the external mind, as in “Whatever you find that your hand can do by your strength, that do,” we will be rewarded with our hearts’ opening in His law and the depths of His secrets, and we will be granted the reception of Torah as explained in the portion, Yitro. The rest of the sequences, Mishpatim [ordinances], Teruma [donation/contribution], Tetzaveh [command] are the teaching from the making of the calf and the breaking of the tablets.
The Tikkun Shovavim is implied in the books in relation to ejaculation in vain, called “nocturnal ejaculation.” However, they are the same issue, as I have explained that one who did not purify the vessels of reception of the heart, the vessels of reception of the mind are necessarily filthy, too, and his faith is flawed because he cannot believe what his eyes do not see.
Just so, one whose vessels of reception of the heart are flawed necessarily contemplates once a day or so and will come to nocturnal ejaculation.
At the same time, it is necessary that he will come by a thought of heresy, called “a bag of ejaculation,” since the vessels of reception of the heart and the vessels of reception of the mind go hand in hand, and then “The righteousness of the righteous will not save him on the day of his transgression.”
It follows that all the lights he had received fall into the hands of the Sitra Achra, and delve in it, for I have been brief. All this continues until one is rewarded with extending Ruach along with the Nefesh, meaning reception of the Torah.
I cannot continue with this any longer, and it is time you took my words to heart, perhaps the Creator will resolve to pour upon us spirit from on high until the will of the Creator succeeds by you...
Yehuda Leib
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:52) Can you explain what he is saying here, that one who receives Nefesh, or the Shovavim, the naughty or playful, has to work on it immediately and demand the light of Torah? What does it mean?
M. Laitman: That the Creator made the first step with him, giving him the light of Nefesh. So, has this spirit, meaning the movement, that a person already has to move.
Student: If he stays in that state and doesn't do anything with it, it makes him fall?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is the demand? The secret of the Torah, or the demand of the Torah in that state?
M. Laitman: He wants to understand, what exactly moves him, operates him. That’s it. And that's how he might advance.
Student: Advance towards what? Greater understanding, greater connection in the Ten, more what? What is the stage that he should aspire to after?
M. Laitman: Certainly, he will feel how much he belongs to a Ten, and that will bring him more understanding in that way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:48) In that state of the heart, when the whole world tells him, you're righteous, if there's no one who tells him that you're wicked, from where will he take that step in the direction of the Creator? The whole world tells him that you're righteous.
M. Laitman: Yes, So where will he take it from? From his relationship with the Creator, where he sees that he's still in a state called wicked.
Student: He writes, he should inspect his deeds and correct his ways. Even if the whole world tells him he's righteous, in that state he should inspect his deeds. What exactly is that?
M. Laitman: To check to see how they all seem well to the Creator.
Student: He continues and says, he speaks about the exile of Egypt, where all the lights of Nefesh that were captured by the Sitra Achra, where you have to gather them into one place. What is that action?
M. Laitman: I can't explain that.
Student: But they are gathered at the end, meaning in the exodus from Egypt. They’re all gathered, or do you have to gather them one by one?
M. Laitman: One by one.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:35) He writes to him in the beginning of the letter, that ‘if the light had surrounded your entire body, you would have been saved from all your troubles or wars.’ The question is, what does a person lack, so that the surrounding light will surround all of his body?
M. Laitman: One has to rise above all the transgressions, let's say. And thus, he'll be saved.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:37) You said, we need to make that same inspection all the time towards the Creator, and how we relate to the Creator. What inspection exactly do I need to do every day, opposite the Creator, in order to see that I relate to Him correctly and precisely?
M. Laitman: In your thoughts and desires, do you have something, where you're not nullifying towards the Creator? That's it.
Student: I need in my relation to compare myself to the friends and opposite the friends, and see that I relate to the friends as the Creator wants us to relate to each other in giving and love?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I would like to continue the question, because here he says that actually the Creator checks us, our stature each and every day. What does it mean that He checks us every day, our stature?
M. Laitman: That we each day have to always try to do this test as much as it's possible on our part, and to expect receiving from the Creator, a good sign.
Student: How do I know that in this examination at the end of the day, how do I know that my criticism is correct? That I'm in the right direction, and that I'm doing things correctly, opposite the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes. Well, there's several aspects to this. Typically, along with the friends, you have to examine the depth and quality of your relationship. Does it more or less match what you are envisioning among you towards the Creator? Are you creating a place where the Creator can be revealed?
Student: This means to prepare a vessel every day, a common vessel, a common lack, so that He will be revealed between us.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: This revelation is expressed in what? Greater love, a better attitude towards each other?
M. Laitman: That you from below wish to receive the Creator from above? And thus, advance.
Student: Now at the end of the day, when I see the gap between what we receive at the end of the day, what's desired and what we want next, this prayer that we seemingly give to the Creator, a common prayer. This is actually supposed to direct us each and every day to adhere to Him more?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: This is what it means to seek the Lord and demand the Lord every day, or am I wrong?
M. Laitman: Think.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:35) It says, and if the Creator doesn't give Ruach, but only Nefesh. What is Nefesh, really?
M. Laitman: Nefesh means it doesn't move, it doesn't change, from the word Nefisha, stillness.
Question (Kyiv): (31:00) According to the following excerpt, he says, Return, O naughty boys, meaning those who have not yet been granted with Ruach. This is the meaning of the attainment of the Torah. Under what conditions does the Creator give the Ruach, spirit?
M. Laitman: Well, you can put it like this. When a person yearns to adhere to the Creator in all the states, and he doesn't surrender to the problems, the obstructions that come to him from all directions, then it means that he's suitable for Ruach, spirit.
Question (PT 23 and Darom 10): (32:00) What does it mean, do not be wicked in your own eyes? Why is this counsel so important?
M. Laitman: I think that, first, it is an advice to guard oneself from falling and not doing anything. Thinking that he can no longer succeed. But rather, a person is in a state where he can always lift himself up, and he must lift himself up and go forward once again.
Question (Turkiye 8): (32:48) It is written, Who will ascend on the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand in the place of His Holiness, one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who did not use my soul in vain, and did not swear decidedly? How can we keep this state of clean hands and a pure heart, if there is no righteous who did not transgress?
M. Laitman: It all comes from above. All the forces come from above. Therefore, the time will come or the state where we can receive these forces.
Question( PT 23): (33:32) It is written, Who will ascend and who will stand, specifically the one who has clean hands, meaning that he was rewarded with cleaning both of his qualities of reception in mind and heart. What is the difference between these two qualities of reception in mind and heart?
M. Laitman: We'll discover that.
Question (Haifa): (33:59) They’re asking how to serve the mind, but also the work in the heart in the Ten.
M. Laitman: That's what we can understand. That all of our work is in the mind and heart, and to what extent, we can use the mind, so as to awaken the work of the heart.
Question (PT 10): (34:37) It says, perhaps the Creator will resolve to open man's heart to be rewarded with the blessing of the Torah. On what does it depend if the Creator will resolve and open man's heart?
M. Laitman: This is only through awakening from above. Only awakening from above.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:13) When a person is under the influence of the light of Nefesh, the Sitra Achra, the other side, tells the person to scatter his forces, but the Creator is not present. This is what he writes. How is it possible if the light of Nefesh already gives him some initial direction?
M. Laitman: Nefesh doesn't yet provide direction. It only somewhat enlivens the person.
Student: So, where should one invest his forces if he already annulled himself to a certain extent? How does he add in the work?
M. Laitman: Through connection.
Student: Last question, what's the danger with the light of Nefesh, actually?
M. Laitman: This is the danger. That he doesn't know what direction to go and what to do. But if he connects to the friends, then whenever, wherever they have a direction, a tendency together, thus, they advance.
Student: Also sometimes there is this like an inspiration that puts one to sleep. When we look for a lack, we can't find it. Seemingly, there's no power in the connection. Everything seems static. So in the connection, from where do we bring a lack? Inside the connection, inside this search?
M. Laitman: In the search, in the search, we reveal the places where there are lacks.
Student: And the Creator will help there, if we will search and search, we will get help?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:11) He writes here, ‘seek the Lord where He is found.’ What does that mean?
M. Laitman: That especially, when you reveal the Creator and can somewhat get close to Him, that's the place to work.
Student: And before that, when we don't discover Him, we shouldn't seek Him?
M. Laitman: We try to discover, but we still don't have who to demand from.
Student: So seek the Lord where He is found, it's in the place where He's present, where He's found. Where is He present and found?
M. Laitman: I don't know. Try.
Student: He also writes that at the time when He shines on you with His face, that's the time to call upon Him, etc.. Perhaps the Lord will resolve and open man's heart to be rewarded, etc.. What does it mean, maybe the Creator will resolve? On what does it depend? If He's already there and we demand Him, we seek Him, that He will resolve and open our heart?
M. Laitman: He's expecting us to show everyone our desire, our labor, our work. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:48) In Egypt, there is the light of Nefesh?
M. Laitman: Let's say so.
Student: That's what we can understand from what he writes? That they had lights that held them and didn't let them go. Is there a connection in that state of Egypt?
M. Laitman: There's the beginning.
Student: And that's what brings light? Because, if the Kli is not corrected, how can it receive light? It's a gift.
M. Laitman: Well, the entire exodus from Egypt is a miracle.
Student: Meaning the Creator awakens them in such a way that they are drawn to Him, and so to some extent they have some connection.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So he says, the solution is the study of Torah, that we have to study. Well, what is that, which is presented as the solution?
M. Laitman: The study of Torah means that we want to discover in what form we can advance towards the knowledge of the Creator, recognizing the Creator.
Student: We're in a morning lesson now and we have an opportunity. How can we, just in the Ten, we had a meeting yesterday, and the topic was how to study together as a Ten in the lesson?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is the most important thing here? That we will learn together that we can call study of Torah?
M. Laitman: To connect, to join what each one says and to depict it all together.
Student: So an effort to drink what's in the lesson and incorporate together in that, that's the effort?
M. Laitman: Well, at least that, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:22) What is worthy, worthy of what when he says here?
M. Laitman: As it should be.
Student: How do we know what it should be?
M. Laitman: We ask, we pray that it will be more clear to us how it should be, and then we're drawn towards that.
Student: Why am I asking? Because later on he writes, ‘you're spending efforts in vain and I wish you heard me now because I always say what you should not subtract and not add and those who wait.’
M. Laitman: But he still cannot correctly interpret the words of Baal HaSulam.
Student: It feels like Baal HaSulam prays, begs for something to be opened in this blocked heart.
M. Laitman: Yes, it's the same thing really.
Student: So how can you put a stent into this heart?
M. Laitman: How can you put a catheter there? Usually it's by working together in the Tens. But with the intention in each and every moment, that it will cause the opening of the heart.
Student: He ends and says, who will give?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:25) It's a very moving letter and it feels like we are just little by little, we scratch the surface of what's here and there's infinite depth here. And to some extent we can understand call upon him when he is close, that the Creator opens up an opening for you. You should make an effort to just understand that as much as possible and against that he gives advice I really don't understand, and I wanted to ask about it. He writes here the true, straightforward advice to not be caught in the net of the other side that always works is to demand as it tries to make you demand the Creator where He's not there. What is this danger of calling for the Creator, where He is not?
M. Laitman: That from there he cannot be revealed to us. It's a dead place.
Student: If I hear correctly, our work is to always strive to connect with the Creator. Not to make a calculation, what I feel, more or less just to try to make that connection, so…
M. Laitman: So, it tells you that you have to discern where you have more of the revelation of the Creator or less of it.
Student: So, if there's less, doesn't it mean I have to exert even more? Why does it say don't try?
M. Laitman: Because He's not there. There, seemingly, the Creator is not present. He cannot be revealed.
Student: Well, I don't understand that. I'll think.
M. Laitman: Well, think.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:21) It describes the first stage of correction and he says it's a correction of the vessels of reception in the sense of the heart. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: What does it mean? There is the correction in the quality of the heart and there is a correction in the quality of the mind. In the heart, it's already a correction that is closer. There has to be work in the heart and also work in the mind, so that they will complete each other. One is in the feeling, one is in the understanding, if we can say it in such a way. That's it.
Student: So, the first correction a person should do is in the heart, not the mind?
M. Laitman: If he doesn't have a correction in the heart, how will he work with the mind?
Student: Before there is feeling, if I understand correctly, the heart is a matter of feeling. Mocha is maybe intention, thought.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: If a person, well, of course, a person starts from being broken, receiving in order to receive, and he also feels that. Now he needs to want to go forward on the path. This is the process that a person wants to advance. This is called the correction of the heart or mind? It sounds like the mind, because at first I don't have any feeling.
M. Laitman: You can get closer both in the heart and in the mind. It needs to be together.
Student: Describe the state here where the person makes a correction over the heart. How can I correct my feeling?
M. Laitman: That you hope that all of your desires that are all included in the heart, that they will all undergo some change. And they will feel more of the Creator's action over them.
Student: And let's say I took some desire and managed to make this correction of the heart.
M. Laitman: So now you want to understand exactly what this correction is, where you were before, where you are now, what is the difference between the past and the present, and advance in such a way.
Student: And this is called the correction in the mind, what you just described?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, the first stage is really a correction of the heart that one should do.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So I don't even know if that's correct to ask this way. Can a person himself make a correction over his heart, or is it just common work?
M. Laitman: A person can never perform corrections. It's not within his power.
Student: It's what I thought, but he writes differently. He writes, as soon as a person describes the aspect of the heart. He says the person, not the Creator.
M. Laitman: Okay, but the person invites it.
Student: So I want to invite the correction of the heart. Where are the friends with me in this story of the heart?
M. Laitman: Guys, you need to discover all of this by yourselves. It turns out that I'm seemingly standing equally in parallel to Baal HaSulam, and I explain to you these things as if it was some corporeal lesson.
Student: So what do you expect us to do?
M. Laitman: I expect you to pray. I expect that you'll be closer to each other. That you'll demand more and also have correct questions, all the more so the answers to them, and that this will be your work. Otherwise, you see something unclear in the book, and you come to me and you ask. So, where is your spiritual effort?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:12) I'm asking about the level that stands at the mountain of His sanctity, which is the minimal conditions to be in holiness. I'm asking about the movement from the present state to that. He says that in the light of Nefesh, there is no movement. That's a stationary state from Nefisha, stillness. And to do that, the movement is in the light of Ruach, and for that we have to engage in the Torah. My question is, this engagement in the light of Torah, does it mean that I look at the friends in my Ten, and every moment they change in my eyes from great righteous to great villains, and I work on that? Or the Moses that's in the Ten changes in my eyes and keeps growing until he becomes additionally powerful and great and huge, so that He can take us out, and we have to completely nullify before Him? He always grows. So, the question is, where is the change, or is it in both of these places?
M. Laitman: You will discover. It's interesting what I hear. You are asking questions that seemingly are correct, but why should I answer them?
Student: Because in the letter, he says that the Sitra Achra, the other side, deflects me from the path all the time, distracts me. He calls it eyes here, that my view that I'm still a wicked, and it doesn't let me work in the right place. So, I'm asking, should my attention be in drawing the light of Torah, only my friend in the Ten, or should I only focus on the Moses, and increase that? Where do I put the attention of my strength?
M. Laitman: In prayer.
Student: That who will grow?
M. Laitman: You don't know. It could be from a third side. You don't know. You need to exert, to search. Where will you have that point of connection with the Creator? From there, you'll receive the salvation, the answer.
Student: He says here that in the beginning, a person receives the point of connection, and an example of what it means to stand in His holy mountain, and it's an eternal state that I have to reach. At the moment, the gap is too big, because this is eternal, and I'm unchanging, and I'm there, and in every observation of it, I'm a complete villain. And He gave me my friends to change this eternal state where I'm a complete wicked. And my question is, in order to change this state of being complete wicked, where do I focus on my work? In making the friends greater on the path, or making the Moses, the example at the center of the Ten, greater?
M. Laitman: We need to scrutinize it. I'm saying again and again. If you ask me that, I'm very limited in what I can answer. You will have to search.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:25) Actually, Rav, in this letter, it's really clear how much we need the questions. Because he says that, it's always the confusion and chaos of the other side.
M. Laitman: Our whole way includes questions and answers, our whole path. He writes about that. And so to ask, it's not a wise thing. I mean, it does require wisdom and preparation, but that is not what will save you. But rather, what saves you is when you search, and along the way you go through other questions and other answers until you find what exactly is it that you're asking, that you should be asking. So you delve to the crux of the issue, of the problem, and then you understand the answer by yourself or from some hint that he gives you. An answer is not given in a revealed manner, but rather in such a way that you need to exert more in adhesion to the One who is answering you and more. That's how it works.
Student: Is it better to first ask the Creator before asking the Rav?
M. Laitman: Write down questions, yes. Write down, so you'll have a list of questions. And about this letter, certainly it will be good.
Student: If you agree to answer the following question as well. It seems like every man's sins are just because he's confused or he's being lied to, and only when he feels truth, he acts correctly. So asking for truth and asking for bestowal is basically the same thing?
M. Laitman: Not always. Not always. It's according to what you're asking.
Student: Because if the moment a person, well, okay, if I can ask something else, small. He says the advice of ‘call upon Him when He's close’ is to engage in the words of Torah, that this is the reading in the sources. The question is, how to identify this awakening that we must first turn to the reading of Torah and how do we identify such an awakening that this is what we should do, and what should we read?
M. Laitman: What should we read? How to recognize it? Recognize it like you say that you recognize it. What Kabbalists give us as an answer, it's also not really an answer. It is a place for effort. And if we do not labor, we will not understand the depth of their answer. So much so that it will just pass us by. Just a question, answer, question, answer. It won't change us. Okay?
Student: So to read according to what the heart wishes, Shamati or something else, doesn't matter what it is. If there's an awakening, just to read or?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:45) What does it mean to demand the Creator in a place of Torah?
M. Laitman: It's that you, together with your friends, arrange the place correctly. And then you ask the owner of the place, which is the Creator, about the question. First, you need to understand the question, the way it seems to Him, to the Creator. And then to ask for an answer.
Student: What does it mean to understand the question, how it seems to the Creator?
M. Laitman: From what state He is sending you the question?
Student: Thank you, another question. What does it mean to raise the eyes of Kedusha?
M. Laitman: These are deeper things. The eyes of the Shechina. The Shechina has eyes, and we can discover them, and well, it will come.
Question (Belarus): (01:00:53) What is the nocturnal emission. How does it have to do with anger?
M. Laitman: With a bag of nocturnal emission, there is a connection between one and the other, and we will have to discover it. It's a correct question.
Student: What is it exactly in our work?
M. Laitman: We haven't reached that, yet.
Question (Zafon 1): (01:01:52) Baal HaSulam explains in the letter, that the whole work of the Sitra Achra is to distract a person to other things, to prevent him from knowing the truth that there is no other salvation, but attaining the Torah. It's also explained in the letter that the other side scatters man's efforts to in vain and idleness. Do all these thoughts that distract us again and again from the spiritual path and make us fall into the trap of self-love, that's the other side? And without the Creator's help, we have no chance?
M. Laitman: Yes, He does direct us to the goal, but in the opposite way, opposite manner.
Question (Turkiye 2): (01:03:01) I heard you say to one of the friends in the beginning of the lesson to check if there is a place where there are thoughts or desires that he cannot subdue to the Creator. And the friend says, I found such places, I can't subdue them towards the Creator. What to do? How to achieve that state of submission?
M. Laitman: To understand them, to feel them, and direct towards them with a prayer that the Creator will correct them.
Question: (ITA 1) (01:04:12) I don’t understand his point, where it says the righteousness of the righteous will not save you on the day of his transgression. So, he must always transgress and transgress, and that’s going to be the whole process. I don’t understand that.
M. Laitman: When a person is given disruptions in order for him to advance on the path. It's as though they pave a path, a road ahead of him. And then we see what does a person do? How much is he able to learn from the way he went through, about the upcoming way? And this is how he's being taught.
Student: How do we correct our thoughts? The thoughts that we have in the heart, so they won't always lead me to a mistake, to a transgression?
M. Laitman: Through the connection between us. Through the connection between us, more and more, we get closer on the path. Look at what is the end of the way. The complete correction, the complete redemption, when we all become one soul, the soul of Adam HaRishon. We return to that same form where we come from. And in such a way, we advance to that form. We advance.
Question (Moscow): (01:06:36) When you discover yourself with a clothing of love, the person discovers himself as a black dot. And as much as he is incorporated with his Ten, that black point dissolves more and more. So, the question is, over a long time in every lesson, when I hear Rav, I feel that Rav is reading from his heart. Then there was some time, where every article by Rabash, I felt it was really written inside the heart, inside my heart. So, how long does this period of time extend the dissolving of the black dot? How long is this period of time? And does it depend directly on how much your group, your Ten has to enter this feeling of that point of Moses?
M. Laitman: There are a few manners to that. I can't even say. But you will see. Along the way, it will become clear. This is not what matters.
Student: There was an article by Rabash, where he cautioned us. He directed us more precisely, that the black dot dissolves according to the degree of your incorporation with the Ten, with the group. It's no longer a state of anticipation. But rather, as you described now, the longing, not even for an effort, but for every opportunity to become incorporated in a friend's. It makes you more transparent, seemingly. And it doesn't allow you to come out of the state of prayer.
M. Laitman: Yes, correct.
Student: And what is left is only to ask patiently, to ask the friends. So, question: How does Rav build a desire according to the measure of the incorporation in the group?
M. Laitman: There's no such thing. It will be built by itself. The most important is that the heart will long.
Student: So only care about that, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Can I ask another question, Rav, with your permission? I try to keep a correct proportion, a correct balance between the heart and the mind. But my whole focus is on how through annulment of myself, I can reach the Ruach and let the Creator grow within me the right intention.
M. Laitman: The Creator does it by Himself without any preparation on your side. You can't guide Him and tell Him which actions to perform with you right now.
Question (Moscow 1): (01:11:01) Ruach, or spirit, is that when we feel the pressure on us to operate from all the states together?
M. Laitman: You're asking me a question?
Student: Yes, what is Ruach? It’s when we feel pressure, and we start to operate all at once from all the different states. We understand that salvation will come from that. Is that the Ruach?
M. Laitman: When you unite all the different influences over you into one influence.
Student: And Neshama, these are all the states that I have an approach to from all the possible states?
M. Laitman: Neshama is already the relation of all of your common desires. The way that they yearn together towards the goal.
Student: This means that when we direct ourselves, when we become incorporated in all of the desires, then we all direct ourselves to the Creator. So what's the difference between that and Ruach then?
M. Laitman: You'll attain these things. And when you attain them, you'll understand it. You haven't yet attained it, so you don't even have the privilege of knowing it.
Student: But there is a desire to talk about it.
M. Laitman: You can talk to whomever you want about it. That's your business, but don't talk to me. But this is not pleasant for me, because this is something that is forbidden to do. Okay, now we will know it. You push yourselves into such things, where you want to bring down the Kabbalah down to this world, to make out of it a science of this world. But the person can't talk at all about what he hasn't attained yet. This was always the rule of the Kabbalists.
You have questions as though you're up there. As though you have taken the study of the Ten Sefirot and broken it down, and put it on shelves in different pieces. And now you can perform analysis and synthesis out of what you understood; seemingly, what you did with all of these parts you have. This is something that is strictly forbidden. Only to the extent that a person acquires the power of faith, he can attain the Torah. And if there is no faith, if there is no bestowal, if he doesn't yearn for it, then it all becomes shells. So, don't ask me about it anymore. Such questions, I don't intend to receive them or fulfill them.
Question (CzechSlovak 4): (01:15:21) He writes, the whole Merkava of the Sitra Achra is only to fool people in other matters in order to deny them this truth. What is Merkava, and do we have to build Merkava of any kind?
M. Laitman: Merkava or a chariot, is a whole vessel. That all the discernments in it are already revealed and go into action. So, it's still not for us.
Question (PT 6): (01:16:21) I wanted to ask, sometimes in the morning, before I wake up, I'm half asleep, half awake. There are all kinds of, well, sometimes it happens, there are all kinds of thoughts, feelings that come. The question is, should I relate to it, write them down, or is it all just nonsense?
M. Laitman: Nonsense.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:59) Not long ago, you answered a friend who asked about reading the text of an article or a letter about the feeling that you have to be adhered to the Creator while reading the text.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: In order to feel, not to understand.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I wanted to know what it means to be adhered to the Creator, while reading the text.
M. Laitman: I don't remember what I was talking about.
Student: I'm asking you now, what it means to be adhered to the Creator while reading the text.
M. Laitman: That from the reading, you feel that you have an opportunity, an ability, even maybe a command to come closer to the Creator.
Student: Can I ask another question?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Concerning the letter we read. He wrote, therefore they are still standing and waiting for a hearing heart. What is that hearing heart of the Ten?
M. Laitman: Guys, you're asking today as if you fell out of the sky. You have to discover all these things. You have to reach them. Suddenly, anything that isn't clear, answer us. How can I answer you, if you didn't get there, yet?
Student: We want to get there.
M. Laitman: Okay, so where do you want to get to? By standing here before me?
Student: No.
M. Laitman: Good, so go and exert yourself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:55) A question concerning necessities. It's basically a yes-no question. There's a necessary check toward the connection in the Ten to make sure we're not falling into a crime, a place of death?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: We have to find it. In addition to prayer, what is the necessary correction to return to the straight line?
M. Laitman: What's the necessary correction to return to the straight line? We must. We must advance on that middle line, the straight line, as much as you can.
Student: If we find that we have been negligent, and we understand that by this we're dragging the whole world Kli to a bad place, so what necessary action should we take in order to return to that straightness that we should establish?
M. Laitman: You need to connect in the Tens, that in each and every one of them there's an understanding of the path and advancing on the middle line towards the center of the Ten. All the Tens that will be directed on that straight line to the center of our general connection. Then in that way we aim the general connection to the Creator.
Student: Every once in a while, we have a Zoom meeting with another Ten from Ashkelon and with Netanya Ten. Is it correct to scrutinize how we do this?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:10) I want to ask about how to ask? It sounds like the questions in the lesson are something very important, basic. So what is the correct question that will direct us and not confuse us, so we don't deviate? There are things we should think about alone?
M. Laitman: Actually, everything. Everything, except for the text itself, if it's not clear. But after the text is clear, clear verbally. But after that's clear, there's nothing to ask about. It all depends on your work.
Student: Our whole lesson is questions. We read for maybe 20 minutes and then there are questions, many questions.
M. Laitman: That's exactly the problem.
Student: And I feel like you're angry, because the questions are incorrect and they're confusing everyone.
M. Laitman: They're all incorrect. What's that? What's this? What's that? You have to discover it. Instead of exerting, you're asking for a result.
Student: I'd be happy if we scrutinized together because it seems like something critical to me. If we're asking in the wrong way, we're going in the opposite direction.
M. Laitman: Yes. You need inside to try and exert in all kinds of ways, private little ones, each and every one. And by connecting between you to see in which states you can advance. But these states, you have to conduct them within everyone and in the Ten together. Then you'll get answers as a result of those efforts. And not from your brain, like I give an answer and everything's okay.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:30) Is the nature of the lesson correct, the way we're holding it today?
M. Laitman: No. No. Because we need to read, actually. Maybe read in a different way, maybe slower. With maybe pauses, short breaks in the article. And you need afterwards to think, to write for yourself some impressions. And afterwards, maybe what isn't clear yet in the text, so that you can ask about.
Student: So we turn to you only to explain the text, verbally?
M. Laitman: Even not to me. You turn to whoever knows better. Who knows the language better. But what happened now, that's not good. There was like a small regression, and then it became a complete lesson like at school.
Student: With what questions do we turn to the Rav?
M. Laitman: Questions about strengthening on the path, not that it belongs to understanding the article itself.
Student: So in the lesson itself, should it be more like a conversation with questions and answers about getting stronger on the path? Or should we just read sources and read and look for questions, for answers within us?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:53) I see that questions come here to the question computer, that you usually respond better to questions that pertain to a person's work. Are these more appropriate questions? I have two such questions.
M. Laitman: Could be.
Question (Croatia): (01:26:14) I constantly discover that the Creator directs me to where I'm wicked. So is the Creator always where I'm flawed, where I'm wicked?
M. Laitman: That's called a good relation. That's the Creator showing him his weakness points or what he's lacking. Yes.
Student: So is it always like that? Is this the path?
M. Laitman: Not always. There are other states, too.
Question (Turkiye 4): (01:26:47) In relation to what is written, ‘his faith is flawed, because he cannot believe what his eyes don't see.’ How can I believe something my eyes don't see?
M. Laitman: We need to reach faith that in the forces of the Ten, we reach spirituality, to unity with the Creator. As much as we unite with the Creator, we'll discover our world, we can say, and so on. Meaning, not only what his eyes see. What does that mean? The eyes of faith, the eyes of the mind. That's what they mean.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:06) To continue the friend’s question, maybe after we read the article, we should do more workshops and maybe follow the scrutinies?
M. Laitman: That's more correct.
Student: And then to bring questions from the work, from the scrutinies, more correct questions for the work between us.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:37) Can we ask like this? I read a text and now I understand it. And I wait for an answer, if it's correct or not. If it's correct, it's good, if not, incorrect. I continue to search for the answer.
M. Laitman: You, in that way, can ask me from morning to night.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:22) I understand what Rav is saying. That there are questions that don't come as a result of labor. They're not good. A question has to result from an effort. When a person has tried by himself with what is written here. On the other hand, how do we become incorporated? Because I hear a friend's question, so I suddenly see another direction of thought, and another one, and I feel like new things are born in me, and that's what fertilizes us. So if we don't ask questions about what is written with more experience or less, we all remain with our own thoughts. Whatever we understand, we understand, if we understand in thought. And there's no mutual fertilization here.
M. Laitman: We need to ask from the understanding of the text, by studying and knowing the definitions, the laws that exist in spirituality, and not that, whatever comes to me.
Student: You say we shouldn't ask about states that are far from us? How can you ask about something that's a thousand miles from you? You won't understand the answer. On the other hand, what are the writings he's talking about with Baal HaSulam? Everything talks about high attainments, things that are states that are far from us, so there's no point in asking about anything. He's talking about the Exodus from Egypt, reception of the Torah, Nefesh, Ruach, I have neither. So shouldn't I ask?
M. Laitman: Ask. Ask.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:31:44) I'd like to ask, in what way did you ask about? What did you talk about during the lessons? We hear recordings, but I'll give you an example. Here it says that along with it, he's talking about those whose vessels of the heart are filthy. If he thinks about it during the day, he'll come to ejaculation at night. He necessarily will have thoughts of stealing, God forbid. So in order to do the work internally and in the group, I need to know what is this thought of stealing that I want to avoid. How then should I be asking, searching, or not searching, asking you, not asking you?
M. Laitman: Usually, we understand that language. If you don't understand the words or what the sentence is speaking about, so ask. But that's not what you're asking about. You're asking in a way that I have to search how to reveal the article itself. Well, we'll try.
Question (Women MAK 105): (01:33:55) Searching for the Creator in the place of Torah, not where there is no Torah, because He's not there at all.
M. Laitman: The place of Sitra Achra, filth, and rejection from connection. Things that are opposite of what the Torah demands. That's a place of filth, the Sitra Achra, the other side, and so on.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:34:42) First of all, I have a lot of gratitude for the scrutiny we're doing now regarding the lesson. We can feel how we're going into a new phase of our study where we can receive much more strength and understanding than just reading each paragraph at a time and then scrutinizing it together in the Ten, for five, seven minutes, other than just throwing questions. And that way the article opens up more. And we see from practice that when we read an article in the Ten and we do it together and connect around the article itself, how it opens up to us. And from these questions, the questions might be different, too. So maybe we need to see how we can concentrate on how we can change a lesson, not just questions and answers, but go more into the article itself.
M. Laitman: Okay. So we're completely late already, right?
Reader: So we'll move to the next part of the lesson. We'll sing a song first.
Song: (01:35:55)