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

Daily Morning Lesson: October 28, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Dec 22, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 113. The Eighteen Prayer

Reader: Hello friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a lesson from Rav about the article of Shamati 113, which you can find in the writings of Baal HaSulam or in the Shamati book. It's from December 22nd, 2021.

Reader: Hello, we are reading from the writings of Baal HaSulam, page 616 in the Hebrew book, the Shamati article 113, “The Eighteen Prayer.” You can find the study material on our websites and in the Arvut system, when you click the study material button at the top menu. You can send in your questions through the system, and selected questions on the material will be asked during the lesson. 

M. Laitman: The Eighteen Prayer is a well-known ancient prayer, very ancient, very old. Why is it called eighteen? Because altogether, the Creator's influence or bestowal to a person goes from Keter to Malchut - those are nine Sefirot, not including the Keter, of course, and the bestowal of the person back to the Creator - these are called 9 Sefirot  of Ohr Hozer [reflected light], from Malchut to Keter. And so with the nine of direct light and nine of reflected light, the created being and the Creator connect, become incorporated together, and they bestow and operate together. This is why the desire of the created being to reach equivalence of form with the Creator, that is to bestow to the Creator as the Creator bestows to him, this is actually expressed in that prayer. 

Let's hope that we will also do that. And of course, as much as we understand, all of this can be done only on the condition that a person, to begin with, is connected with his Ten, that is, that he has left his in order to receive, and he spreads himself among the friends with a desire to bestow through them to the Creator. Through them, means that he prepares himself for bestowal, and in that way he reaches them. And therefore, this is how we should look at this prayer, in general. So, let's see what Baal HaSulam writes about it. About the prayer, the Eighteen Prayer, a lot is written, many things, but we just need to understand its principle.

Reader: So, Article 113, the 18th prayer. 

Reading: (03:35) Shamati 113. The Eighteen Prayer

I heard on Kislev 15, Shabbat

In the Shmone Esrei [eighteen] Prayer, “for You hear the prayer of every mouth in Your people, Israel, with mercy,” it seems perplexing since first we say, “for You hear the prayer of every mouth,” 

M. Laitman: Every mouth, every mouth, yes.

Reading: (03:53) Shamati 113. The Eighteen Prayer

[…] meaning even an unworthy mouth—the Creator still hears. It is written, “every mouth,” meaning even an unworthy one. Afterward, it says, “Your people, Israel, with mercy,” 

meaning specifically a prayer that is in mercy. Otherwise, it is not heard.

The thing is that we must know all the heaviness in the work of the Creator is because of the oppositeness that is in every step. For example, there is a rule that man must be humble. But if we follow this end, although our sages said, “be very, very humble,” this end still does not mean that it should be a rule, since it is known that one should go against the whole world and not be canceled by the many views that abound in the world, as it is written, “And his heart was high in the ways of the Lord.” Hence, this rule is not a rule that we can call complete.

And if we go by the other end, which is pride, that, too, is wrong, since “Anyone who is proud,” says the Creator, “he and I cannot dwell in the same abode.” And we can also see oppositeness in the matter of suffering. That is, if the Creator sends suffering to some person, and we should believe that the Creator is good and does good, then the suffering He sent is necessarily to that person’s benefit. Thus, why do we pray for the Creator to remove the suffering from us?

And concerning suffering, we should know that suffering only comes to correct us to be qualified to receive the light of the Creator. The role of the suffering is only to cleanse the body, as our sages said, “as salt sweetens meat, suffering cleanses the body.” In the matter of prayer, they constituted that it would be instead of suffering. Thus, prayer, too, cleanses the body.

However, a prayer is called “the path of Torah.” This is why prayer is more effective in sweetening the body than suffering. Therefore, it is a Mitzva [commandment] to pray over the suffering, since additional benefit stems from that to the individual and to the whole.

For this reason, the oppositeness causes one heaviness and cessations in the work of the Creator, and he cannot continue the work and feels bad. It seems to him that he is unworthy of assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.” Thus, at that time, he is called “unwanted.”

However, since one’s sole intention is to extend faith, called Malchut, meaning to raise the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust, meaning that his aim is to glorify His Name in the world, His greatness, so the Shechina will not take the form of meagerness and poverty, so the Creator hears “the prayer of every mouth,” even of one who is not so worthy, who feels that he is still far from the work of the Creator.

This is the meaning of “for You hear the prayer of every mouth.” When does He hear every mouth? When Your people, Israel, pray with mercy, meaning simple mercy, when one prays to raise the Shechina from the dust, to receive faith.

It is similar to one who has not eaten in three days. Then, when he asks of another to be given something to eat, he is not asking for any luxuries or extras; he is simply asking to be given something to revive his soul.

Similarly, in the work of the Creator, when one finds himself standing between heaven and earth, he is not asking the Creator for something redundant, but only for the light of faith, for the Creator to open his eyes so he can take upon himself the quality of faith. This is called “raising the Shechina from the dust.” This prayer is accepted from “every mouth.” That is, whatever state a person is in, if he asks to revive his soul with faith, his prayer will be answered.

This is called “with mercy,” when one’s prayer is only to be pitied from above so he can sustain his vitality. This is the meaning of what is written in The Zohar, that a prayer for the poor is immediately accepted. That is, when it is for the Shechina, it is immediately accepted.  

M. Laitman: Yes, this is what Baal HaSulam said about the Eighteen Prayer. How should we reach the true request, in what form, and what relations between us and the Creator need to be? That is, with mercy, with a request of every mouth, meaning together. This is how we are able to do it. The Eighteen Prayer can only be prayed in a minyan, in a quorum, meaning ten people, only ten people can pray, not less, because ten is the complete number for the expression of connection between people, and then they can turn from themselves to the Creator, and the Creator hears it. Meaning from the love of people, from connection between people, we will reach connection with the Creator. 

If we don't have connection between us, then we have nothing with which to approach the Creator. Maybe with what we call a prayer before the prayer, that He will help us to see in our friends, true partners on the path, and ask the Creator that He will connect us in such a way that we will be able to bestow to Him out of our connection, and He will be able to bestow to us.

Question (Merkaz 1): (12:53) What are the conditions for the prayer to be received?

M. Laitman: The condition is to ask together, and that we're asking for mercy, that it's certain that we understand the Creator is not connected with us according to our qualities, that we are opposite to Him. We ask Him to connect to us, even though we are opposite, and to take care of us, to correct us, as we are identifying with Him, and then according to the correction, that we will be connected with Him. To that extent that it appears to him that He is one, and we are as one, then He can bestow to us, and He can bestow to us the forces of bestowal, the forces of connection, and in this way we'll connect into a correct vessel in which to reveal Him. And the revelation of the Creator, gradually inside our desires, our connected desires, this is called the revelation of the upper world, to the extent the Creator appears in us, we reveal the upper world, the upper reality, and we raise ourselves to the degrees of the next world.

Question (ITA 4): (14:44) We, for the most part, find ourselves in a situation where we can pray, but we feel that no answer is coming. Nevertheless, the Creator might answer, but we don't understand His answer. So the question is, how can we discern the Creator's response? 

M. Laitman: I saw Rabash, the way he was getting up from sleep, getting off the bed, and beginning to move a little bit, sitting down next to the table, thinking a little bit, taking a cup of coffee, and bit by bit coming back to life. There was a big difference between how he was sleeping and how he was awake. It's a process that he went through inside until he would wake up and come back to life, really, becoming revived. 

We need to check how much there is a difference between how we get up and prepare ourselves for the lesson, and come to the lesson, and become incorporated together, and start to feel this awakening that we are being shown before the lesson, towards the lesson. I also come with you half an hour before the lesson. I already sit and wait for when we will start the preparation. And together with that, well, even before that I work on my own, but when I begin the preparation, I feel that I'm getting up, I'm getting excited, I become incorporated in this whole Kli, which is also preparing itself for the lesson, and this greatly excites me. 

According to that, I even measure how much my state today is different from my state yesterday, how much today I'm in a better state, that I feel a gap between how I was before the preparation for the lesson and following the preparation for the lesson, and how much this influences me.

This depends only on my connection, on my annulment toward the world group. And this is how I see that I'm improving, changing, and accordingly, I later on have an excitement towards Lishma, [for Her sake], that I need to acquire through my annulment in the society. And this is how I truly advance. This is clear?

Question (Santiago): (18:56) How can we aim our desire to receive pleasure in the lesson towards bestowal? 

M. Laitman: This is a man's inner work. In the beginning, maybe he enjoys being in a group, and he values the group and the friends. Usually, this comes to him when he starts. He gets such guidance from the heavens, and this is what he feels. But later on, more advanced discernments arrive, that he's being rejected, and he has to come closer, and he has to search by what means he can be excited from the society.

Meaning, he has to elevate the importance of the society in himself, because without that, he sees that he has no connection with spirituality whatsoever, that even if he studies by himself compared to studying in the group, it is totally different. When he studies by himself, he can study wisdom, but if he connects to the Ten, and all the more so to the great Kli, there he studies Torah. 

The difference is that in the study of the wisdom, he attains wisdom - he can study better, he can arrange things in his mind. But to arrange his emotions, meaning the true spiritual vessels, which are the emotion, not the intellect, the intellect was given to us only in order to help us, how to put together vessels of emotion, of feeling, but the most important are the vessels of the will to receive. 

To what extent are they aimed in the right direction, and to what extent, even though they are different vessels, even opposite vessels, their direction, their intention will be to a single place. Then it turns out that this is how we also connect between us in the group. Even though we're different, and we even discover how much we are in contradiction, in conflict, up to hatred, like the students of Rabbi Shimon, but along with that, when we rise above the will to receive, that is always in oppositeness towards each other, with our intentions, we do connect. And then we reach from the mutual bestowal between us, to bestowal to the Creator. This is our primary work during the lesson, and in general throughout the day. 

Question (Latin 7): (22:39) It says here in the article that we have to pray for the sufferings. What does it mean to pray for the suffering? Why do we have to pray for them? 

M. Laitman: We get suffering, bodily suffering, and spiritual suffering. Bodily suffering, means that we feel bad, in all kinds of different forms. Spiritual suffering, means that we are not reaching the goal. In those sufferings, there is suffering which is corrupted, uncorrected suffering, that we want a goal, we want to achieve spirituality, that is, we want to receive fulfillment in our egoistic desire. I want it. And in this form, we on the one hand come closer, on the other hand, move away from the true goal. 

But that too is good, because nevertheless, it enlarges our desire for the goal. Even though the goal brings us closer and also pushes us away, because we want to receive the goal, not in order to bestow, but to receive. And here, we have a problem. How do we invert our relation to the goal, so it will be not in order for me to reach reception, and fulfillment, and revelation, and understanding, all kinds of incidents by which I fill my vessels of the mind and the heart? But rather, as much as I will regret the fact that I don't have equivalence of form with the Creator. 

Then I pay attention to the friends. How much can I bestow to them? This is considered that I am bestowing to the Creator and according to that, I need to think by which means can I reach bestowal to the friends? And here, we truly begin to search for forms for how to connect between us in the Ten. And as much as we understand that we need more and more to be connected in the Ten, and as much as we feel that we're not reaching it, then we have a place for prayer. Then we discover that there's no choice, we have to connect between us in order to activate our prayer to the Creator. Because otherwise we will not connect between us, and without connecting between us, we will have nothing with which to bestow to the Creator. 

So, and how can we then receive from Him? And so, it turns out that all of these scrutinies bring us again to the same principle: “From the love of people to the love of the Creator.” And this is how we advance. Here, there's a lot to talk about, but this is the direction.  

Question (Unity 3): (26:47) You just answered the question, but I didn't get it. We know that we're not looking for suffering, but here it says that we have to pray for the suffering. 

M. Laitman: The fact that we pray for the suffering means that we want to replace the suffering. It's not that we take them into consideration and appreciate them, but rather that the Creator's relation, when He bestows to us, it passes through our egoistic will to receive. And it is felt in the egoistic will to receive, how much this will to receive is the opposite of receiving the fulfillment that comes to it. Therefore, we pray that the Creator will take away, replace the suffering, and give us the ability to reveal the prayer. Through the prayer, it's not that we want to run away from suffering, not even that. We simply want to activate our prayer, because it corrects us in a way that is more beautiful, more accepted, desirable in the eyes of the Creator. In a way that is preferable to the Creator than suffering. 

I ask not to be rid of the suffering, but rather actually understand that the suffering is what awakens me, what directs me, aims me for the time being, that I have no other way to wake up. I cannot awaken the will to bestow within me without suffering. 

Nevertheless, I ask, instead of suffering to be given an opportunity to rise to a degree where I activate myself through prayer. I elevate myself above the suffering to prayer. 

Question (Latin 2): (29:20) You said that the prayer can take place only in a Minyan. Is every Ten a Minyan, a quorum, even if we don't have ten friends? Can we awaken this prayer with the whole Kli, so it would be accepted, received? 

M. Laitman: Yes, even two. If  they're connected correctly, it's a Minyan, a quorum. Even though we would like, it's preferable to have up to ten. This is how we are built, that the complete vessel is ten.

Question (Belarus): (30:16) If you can explain who is the “unwanted person?” 

M. Laitman: A person who is not desired. Unworthy is one who hasn't found his connection with the Ten. So, he has nothing to do in his relation to the Creator, because he has no vessel. That's what it's about. To aim himself correctly to the Creator, a person cannot do it by himself, but only in a form that he annuls inside of the others.

By this, he aims himself, he prepares himself, he arranges himself, he calibrates himself towards connection with the Creator. Before that, no. It seems to him that yes, he's able and he wants to, but it will not happen at all. And even two or three is maybe not so good. But if it is Ten, then for sure, you'll be able to annul before them according to the nature of creation. This is how it is built. And then he can have a way that is straight towards connection with the Creator.

Question (Baltia 4): (31:49) How to understand that you don't need to be humble? In what to be humble and in what not to be humble, relative to the world? 

M. Laitman: That he doesn't want anything for himself besides existing in order to attain spirituality, in order to attain the quality of bestowal. This is what we actually need, because according to our body, we exist on the animate level. So it's not that we have to eat grass or hunt like animals, but give the body whatever it needs in order to exist. And not to have all kinds of diets, but rather in a balanced form. And all the rest we need to invest only in connection with the Ten, and in a prayer for the Ten and for the world. 

This actually is the right direction. This is what the Creator, the upper light, is pushing us towards. And he wants us to reach that. We will reach it. However, the question is, how much will we have to suffer along the way until we understand it and accept it and start to also come closer towards that? That I don't need anything but only to exist with my body and to develop, as much as possible- my soul.

Question (Unity 2): (34:00) What is special about a prayer that it relieves one from suffering? 

M. Laitman: The prayer corrects the person more than suffering, because the suffering until they bring him to the recognition of evil and the good direction, it takes a lot of time. 

Whereas the prayer, when a person tries out of himself to reach the understanding of why does he feel bad, and what kind of bad feeling is he given, and how to rise above the bad, and how to rise, not in order to get rid of the bad, but in order to reach resembling the Creator, and that is called good. 

So, the prayer changes it and corrects the person from one end to the other, because in the prayer, he doesn't turn to his suffering, to his evil inclination, rather he turns to the Creator, and then he asks from the Creator. He depends on the Creator, and he becomes connected with Him in a mutual manner. 

So, it's not that he prays, it's a different kind of connection with the source of his life, so that he doesn't get a connection with the source of his life through the evil, the bad, the egoistic system, the Sitra Achra [the other side], but rather he turns to the Creator, he tries to be aimed towards Him, and only from there to get a change in his life. This is why the prayer corrects quickly, and more easily, the person.

Question (PT 31): (36:02) We decided in the Ten to pray so that more friends will arrive at the morning lesson, and we see that sometimes we succeed more, sometimes we succeed less. How to correctly relate to this result, and how in general to relate to the result of a prayer? 

M. Laitman: First of all technically, I think that you have to connect between you in your Ten before the lesson. Let’s say, half an hour before the lesson, and talk a little bit about words of awakening, and later on to incorporate in the preparation for the lesson that we all incorporate in. 

So each and every Ten should be connected beforehand inside of itself, and later on from within itself to connect with our whole world Kli. That it's impossible that someone is not there. You have to connect truly in all the different forms of connection, through the computer, through the telephone, truly, somehow, to get the phone numbers of people in the family and call them if the person is not able to get up, and in this way to advance. 

Student: How do we relate to the result of a prayer? If we see that we did not attain what we wanted, how do we relate to that? 

M. Laitman: This is a sign that we cannot attach all the ingredients to the prayer. Meaning friends, deficiencies, the goal, the importance of the goal, turning to the Creator - everything that we need to have. And then it's certain, that if we insist on it and we demand it we'll succeed. Tfila [prayer] comes from the word Lehitpalel [to pray], to judge oneself in Hebrew. What does it mean that a person prays? He judges himself, he sentences himself, he scrutinizes who he is, what is he, what is he lacking to come closer to the Creator so the Creator will hear him. This is called a prayer. 

Student: So, if we don't achieve the desirable result, then we should keep scrutinizing between us what else is missing?

M. Laitman: What's between us and what's in each and every one, yes. 

Student: And not to let go, not to let go until we achieve that result? 

M. Laitman: Where can you go? You can run away for a few years until the end of this desolate life. You can skip the campaign but you can’t really leave. You're in the vessel of Adam HaRishon, and you have to correct your part in it. The quicker you do it the easier it is. 

Student: If we decided in our Ten to pray for something specific that we want to achieve, and we didn't achieve it yet, then we have to keep scrutinizing between us what else is missing in our connection, what else is missing in our actions, in order for us to succeed, right?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Bulgaria 1): (40:17) From the quote, it seems clear that a prayer that comes as a result of suffering is more clean. How can we reach a prayer if we don't feel great suffering, but we understand that we do need to reach the right prayer? 

M. Laitman: On that, it says, don't depart from the public. See how much the world is suffering, how much your friends wish to reach the goal. It's different than what the world wants, but nevertheless, as long as we have what to attain, in order for each one to realize his part in Adam HaRishon, and how distant we are from the connection between us, in order to establish the minimal conditions from the vessel of Adam HaRishon. Think about it, see, and also think that all the problems, all the sufferings, each and everything that we cannot keep in our desire, each and every moment, it comes from the fact that we do not identify with the Creator. It is said that if a person wants to take out of his pocket, let's say, a dollar, he reaches in and he pulls out two dollars. This is suffering already. Why suffering? I thought it was one dollar there, and I found two. Because it goes against your desire, even if it's in the direction of the good thing. That what you want, you receive on the spot. So how much we wish to correct ourselves, so all of our desires will be connected with the Creator, and we'll receive exactly their fulfillment according to the desire. Because we do, as it's written, make your desire as His. And then, by that, you can have, you can make His desire as yours.

Student: For what did the great Kabbalists suffer? 

M. Laitman: Typically, that we couldn't bring about the correction for the whole world. Because if they were great, it's a sign that they could have corrected themselves, brought themselves to Lishma, maybe even to the end of correction. But the fact that they couldn't bestow or influence in practice the whole world, that was their problem. They influenced, certainly, but not in such a way that this world can turn upside down, can get inverted, and can begin to receive the method of adhesion in the Creator. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (44:06) Baal HaSulam writes here about the prayer with the blessings, but we never use the prayer with the blessings, so how can we relate to it,  The Eighteen Prayer? Should we even use it in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: It doesn't matter, we're not praying according to the prayer book, the Siddur. The Siddur is the book where all kinds of prayers are arranged, assembled. Rather, we work between us, and from between us, we wish to turn to the Creator. And in that, we find our own words. We will advance to the place where we'll also have that, where we'll read certain verses from psalms. 

Prayers is not something that ancient, it's about 2,000 years old. 2,000 and some years when we had the Great Assembly, spiritual government in Israel, and the people who were sitting there in the Great Assembly were all great Kabbalists, all in high degrees of attainment, and they've compiled for us those prayers, because they saw that pretty soon everything will come to an end, everything will fall, and people will not be able to pray. Meaning, to turn to the Creator correctly. 

So at the very least, we can speak in such a way that is accepted, that brings us closer to the Creator, and that's why they've compiled for us a book called Siddur. It's the order of turning to the Creator from a person, or more correctly, from the Ten, what we call a quorum. And that's how we... We're not using it exactly, but let's hope that we'll get to it, we'll come to it and take it, and read those prayers, and understand what they had in mind. That's the main thing, not to simply recite the words in the book, but to feel to some extent that intention, that plea that the people of the Great Assembly felt when they wrote those words. They wrote it 2,500 years ago, more or less. 

Student: We write a prayer each and every day with the friends after the lesson. How can we at least come closer to those Kabbalists in our prayer? 

M. Laitman: For that, you need first to reach Lishma, in order to bestow, and then you'll be able to understand their state compared to your state, and in the gap between the two, you'll understand your degree and their degree, but otherwise you won't be able to see it. They write it, you can open up the book, you have these books of the prayer book, but it doesn't look like we're going to understand it properly. If you want, we can add to our studies, not in place of those studies, but add as much as you want. If you want a few more hours a day, go ahead. The question is how prepared you are. 

Student: Those few hours a day that we can add, how to better use them? 

M. Laitman: I don't want to get into it, leave me be, I have other people to get to. 

Question (Moscow 6): (48:59) Can I raise a prayer independently through the Ten, incorporating the friends, or does it have to be all the friends in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: No, no, you can also do it by yourself. 

Question (Turkiye 3): (49:18) Is there a situation where the Ten praise from the bottom of their hearts, praying with one intention together? If so, what prayer should it be?

M. Laitman: Correct prayer. What do you mean, what does it have to be? I don't understand. This prayer has to be from the bottom of the heart of ten people, and it goes up to the Creator, so it's certain the Creator uses it to clothe His answer. And they feel it, the connection between Him and between them and Him.

Question (H 10): (50:12) At what stage does the Ten begin to feel the path as a common one, instead of each one feeling it for himself? 

M. Laitman: As much as each one does his individual work, annuls himself for the sake of connecting with others, then this annulment of each and every one connects to everyone, and they begin to feel that they are willing to annul themselves, and then they discover that there is a center between them, the center of the connection between them, the center of the Ten. And there, in the center of the Ten, they begin to discover their connection with the Creator. 

Question (Tel Aviv 4): (51:10) Baal HaSulam says here, similarly, in the work of the Creator, when one finds himself standing between the heavens and the earth, he doesn't ask anything special from the Creator, but only the light of faith. So, is this the only condition by which we can raise the right MAN?

M. Laitman: Right. 

Student: And he also said that we raise our MAN only through the Ten. So, everyone should be in the same state? 

M. Laitman: No. Where are you taking all those questions from? How long have you been studying? You don't understand what we're talking about? To such an extent, everyone in the same state, how can we all be in the same state? Everyone, ten or not ten, if it'll be five or six, it's not enough. It's not about the numbers or… No, I'm sorry. You need to perhaps listen to previous lessons.

Question (Zafon 2): (52:18) What is the difference between a true prayer or a spiritual prayer? What's the… Sorry, a religious prayer and a spiritual prayer. What's the difference? 

M. Laitman: A religious prayer and a spiritual prayer? I don't know. A spiritual prayer means that I pray in order to receive spiritual qualities, qualities of love and bestowal. That's what I know. And we have to yearn for that. This is the purpose of the organization of our studies. And I don't know what is a religious prayer. I completely don’t… I never studied it. I don't know.

Question (Hadera 1): (53:18) The Torah is written in the language of people. And in that language, we can say that the higher layer turns to an even higher layer. And we are searching for a common language, and the moment we speak in the same language, meaning if we direct ourselves correctly, we get an answer, a bestowal or influence on us that changes us. But maybe we can say it in a different way, that there is a broadcasting station that is constantly broadcasting signals, let's call that the Creator, and we, through our efforts, aim ourselves, direct ourselves so as to find the right frequency, and then the moment that we succeed, then we simply start to feel that station, and it changes us. And the Creator, let's say, He doesn't do anything. It's just that we, through our efforts, we tune ourselves correctly, and we begin to feel His bestowal, His influence, and we change. Can we say it in that way? 

M. Laitman: What's the difference between this stop and the Creator? 

Student: Well, if you say it's the Creator, we give Him all kinds of qualities which are like a human being, that He wants to do something. He's simply broadcasting, transmitting. That's his frequency. And only in a Ten we can reach the right frequencies. 

M. Laitman: Okay, let's say that, there's something about this picture you painted. Okay. I'm not canceling it. I'm not canceling it. But let's hope that it will change even more.

Question (Baltia 1): (55:30) He gives the example here that a person didn't eat for three days, and he's not asking for luxuries. So, how in the prayer can we bring ourselves to such a hunger so it's not considered asking for luxuries, for something redundant?

M. Laitman: We need to scrutinize everything between us. Each shall help his friend, and then we will understand what's important. 

Each one scrutinizes himself relative to the others. He checks how much he is aimed in the right direction. He understands correctly. And all this he checks relative to the Ten. Then accordingly, as much as he could subjugate before them, clothe in them, lower himself towards them. In this way, he sees that he truly has the possibility of adapting himself to the Creator. That's our work. 

Student: It also says here that the moment that a person finds himself standing between heaven and earth, that too is a request not for something redundant, not for luxuries. How do we understand that? 

M. Laitman: We need to constantly try, I may be repeating myself, but we need to constantly try to be connected with the Ten. Because without connection with the Ten, I remain on the degree of animals. To the extent I wish to be incorporated in them, included in them, I'm already on the degree of men, Adam, similar to the Creator, because I annul myself to some extent. I connect to others, and through that, I approach the Creator. Then from that degree where I'm connected to the friends, I can start to ask, I can start to make requests in advance. Our work is not that complicated. Our ego, our will to receive, constantly pulls us back. But not more than that. 

Question (ITA 1): (58:15) The prayer is incorrect because we lack faith. So, should we pray to the Creator only to get faith, and then He will figure out how to solve everything?

M. Laitman: Go ahead, of course, it's worthwhile if you can turn to the Creator like that. But you have to do it from the Ten; otherwise, He can't hear it. 

As I see now, there are Ten friends before you in Ita 1. There's ten of you, okay. All the more so, turn right now with everything you've got. And because you wish to receive the force of faith, it's a force of bestowal. It's a force whereby you connect together. No one wants anything for himself except to be connected with others in order to bestow to the Creator. Of course you will immediately get connection with Him. 

Question (Turkiye 1): (59:26) Can you explain a little on what exactly it is to want the quality of bestowal? And when we pray, do we get a definite answer? 

M. Laitman: You understand that we cannot explain what is a quality unless it resides in a person. There's no such thing, especially when that quality is completely absent from us. It's also opposite from what we've got. We have nothing that's opposite from a person, distant from a person, as the quality of bestowal. Because everything we can imagine, in terms of what is bestowal, belongs to the will to receive, in order to enjoy himself, to feel pleasure. 

So, what does it mean to bestow? We don't know. We need to get certain energy, certain attitude, certain something from above that allows a person to see the world as inverted. That's why it's called “above reason”. Opposite compared to what a person can imagine. And also this opposition, oppositeness, he cannot imagine it properly. Rather, we need to be as an ox to the burden and donkey to the load, with our eyes closed to demand it, and to keep what Kabbalists are recommending, we keep and implement, and this will happen, and not to run away from these means. Then it will happen.

This work is daily. It's not so difficult, because we already have and we're arranged in Tens, in the groups, we're in the lessons, and the connection to the true material. We simply have to take it seriously and want it, want that as much as possible. And we all have preparation for it. It's called the point in the heart. Each one has it. 

Question (MAK 20): (01:02:20) We pray, we are just beginning to do it, and I'd like to understand the scrutiny of the prayer in the Ten. How do we do it correctly so that we're not asking for luxuries? 

M. Laitman: I think that if you start, and you wish to scrutinize something, the best scrutiny is for you to read, read, read, read, read those texts that Kabbalists wrote. As much as you scrutinize it between you, it will be a great confusion. It's better to read a lot, to incorporate yourself with what Kabbalists have written for us. This is especially good for beginners, and not only for beginners. I think it's preferable to read some more material and speak to the friends, but just a little portion of the time. Okay, so if that's the case, we are done. We don't have the women part today. What's up? Can someone explain to us? This is some great malfunction. Either women are protesting something. Or the one responsible for Louis McLeish just ran off and has no one to replace him. Where is that? It's Munich. No, in the meantime, Unity 4, okay. Unity 4. Look for someone in his place, or maybe a woman. Is there a group of women who can be responsible for Unity 4? 

Reader: Dear friends, a lesson with Rav, but first let's sing together. 

Song: (01:05:04)