The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 1, 2026
Part1: Rabash. These Are the Generations of Noah. Art. 4 (1985)
(Original lesson 01-03-2002)
Reader: Hello, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from January 3rd, 2002, based on the article, “These Are the Generations of Noah.” We'll read the article together in the Ten, we have 19 minutes for that. Go ahead.
Reading: (00:32) Rabash. These Are the Generations of Noah. Art. 4 (1985)
Article No. 4, 1985
“These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. He was complete in his generations. Noah walked with God.”
RASHI interprets, to teach you that the generations of the righteous are primarily good deeds. RASHI explains why he says, “These are the generations of Noah.” It should have said the names of his sons, meaning Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And why does it say, “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man?” He explains that it is because the generations of the righteous are primarily good deeds.
“In his generations,” since some of our sages praise him—that if he were in a generation of righteous, he would have been more righteous. Others condemn him—if he were in the generation of Abraham, he would be regarded as nothing.
“Noah walked with God.” RASHI interprets, with Abraham he says, “Before whom I walked.” Noah needed assistance to support him, but Abraham was strong and walked with his righteousness by himself.
To explain all the above in the work, we should know that father and son, fathers and generations [offspring], mean cause and consequence. Normally, when a person does something, he is certain that this act will engender something. For example, a person who goes to work in some factory wants to beget a salary through his actions, so he can provide for himself. It turns out that the father is the labor and the generation is the provision. Likewise, when a person learns some wisdom he wants to be appreciated as wise by that, meaning that everything a person does is only to see generations from his actions.
Therefore, when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], he certainly wants some generations to be born out of his actions.
According to what is written in the holy Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” item 189) and in the Sulam, and these are its words (in the Sulam, item 190), “Fear is interpreted in three ways, two of which do not have the proper root, and one is the root of fear. There is person who fears the Creator so his sons will live and not die, or fears a monetary punishment. For this reason, he always fears Him. It turns out that his fear of the Creator is not the root, since his own benefit is the root, and the fear is its consequence [generation]. And there is a person who fears the Creator because he fears the punishment of that world, and the punishment of hell. Those two fears—fear of punishment in this world and fear of punishment in the next world—are not the essence of the fear and its root.” (In item 191) “Fear, which is the essence, is that one should fear one’s Master because He is great and ruling, the essence and root of all the worlds, and everything is regarded as nothing compared to Him.”
It follows from the above that from the work in which a person labors, which is called the “father,” he wants to see generations from his work, which is called the “fruit of his work.”
There are three types of generations we should see here. 1) Reward in this world, meaning that his sons will live and he will succeed in provision, etc. 2) Reward in the next world. 3) Because He is great and ruling. This means that all the generations he aspires for are to be able to bestow contentment upon the Creator.
It follows from the above that there is the matter of generations which are called “good deeds,” and good means bestowing upon the Creator, as it is written (Psalms 45), “My heart overflows with a good thing. I say, ‘My work is for the King.’” This means that he wants all of his actions to be for the Creator, and this is called “good deeds.” For his own benefit he wants no reward, and all the reward he hopes for is to be able to do things that bring contentment to the Creator without any reward for his own labor. This means that his reward is that he will be given that gift of being able to do things only for the sake of the Creator, without any mixture of intention to benefit himself. This is the reward for which he engages in Torah and Mitzvot. For such good deeds he hopes to attain this by his labor. It was said about this (Kidushin 30): “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”
Accordingly, what are the generations of the righteous? Only good deeds, meaning the result that stems from the reason, and the reason is the labor in Torah and Mitzvot. For the rest of the people, the results of the reason are reward in this world or reward in the next world. But to the righteous, their result from the reason is that their father, who begets generations, is only good deeds. This is the only reward they hope for—to be able to bring contentment to the Creator.
This is the meaning of what RASHI interprets, “That the generations of the righteous is primarily good deeds.” This is regarded as all their actions being only to bestow contentment upon the Creator. However, we should understand what RASHI interprets about the essence of the generations of the righteous, and what they consider secondary, which they do not regard as the essence.
It is known that there are actions and there is understanding and knowing. That is, that which is within reason is called understanding and knowing, meaning that the body, too, agrees that we should engage in Torah and Mitzvot, since once a person has achieved the degree of Lishma [for Her sake], he is rewarded with the light of life, which is found in Torah and Mitzvot. It is as it is written (Psalms 19), “More desirable than gold, then much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.” This is called “understanding,” where the body, too, understands that it is worthwhile to be a servant of the Creator.
Rabbi Meir says (Avot, Chapter 6), “Anyone who engages in Torah Lishma is rewarded with many things. Moreover, the whole world is worthwhile for him, and the secrets of Torah are revealed to him.”
To the righteous, all these things attained by engaging in Lishma are not regarded as the essence. That is, this is not their intention in the work in Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, what is most important for them is good deeds, meaning to bestow contentment upon the Creator. It is in that regard that they expected to achieve a degree of deeds above reason. Their intention was not to have generations of understanding and knowing, but rather, their intention was only the actions. This is the meaning of what RASHI explained, “To teach you that the generations of the righteous are primarily good deeds.”
According to the above, we can interpret what RASHI explains about, “in his generations.” “Some of our sages praise him: Moreover, if he were in a generation of righteous, he would have been more righteous. Others condemn him: If he were in Abraham’s generation, he would be regarded as nothing.”
In his generations means his two generations, because two is plural. But concerning the work, each and every state is called a “generation.” This is the meaning of, “One generation shall praise your work to another.” It means that whether a person is in a generation of wicked, meaning if a person has thoughts and desires of the wicked, at which time a person has great exertion to be able to overcome the arguments of the wicked, which peck his mind and thought with the questions of who and what. At that time, he cannot overcome them unless with the power of faith above reason. This is regarded as subduing the arguments of the wicked not with answers within reason, but rather only with the power of faith above reason can he defeat them.
This is called an “act,” meaning without intellect, and this is called, “If he has performed one Mitzva [commandment] he is happy, for he has sentenced himself and the entire world to a scale of merit,” for only with an act can we defeat the argument of the wicked, and not with intellect and reason.
Accordingly, we should say that Noah’s generation refers to a generation of wicked. He should be praised because then he has the primary hard work. But he should be condemned because in the end, he is in a generation of wicked, meaning he has foreign thoughts, and it is unbecoming of a servant of the Creator to have such wickedness in his mind and heart.
We should also say, that in the generation of Abraham, meaning in a generation where there are righteous, namely when he has good thoughts, of righteous, it is when there only one desire is in his mind and heart—to bring contentment to the Creator—and thoughts and desires of the wicked never crossed his mind or heart. Such a person is in a generation of righteous.
Others praise, for if Noah had been in the state of righteous, meaning if he had equalized the powers of overcoming that he had in the generation of the wicked, what would he have felt then compared to the feeling he has now, which is the pleasantness and sweetness of the Torah? Certainly, the time of Noah’s generation, which was called a “generation of wicked,” that time was regarded as nothing, for then he still did not feel the delight and pleasure that he feels in a generation of righteous.
But with respect to the work, the time when he was in a generation of wicked was a place for work. It turns out that Noah’s generation is more important because he has what to do, for the generations of the righteous are primarily good deeds.
“Noah walked with God.” RASHI interprets that with Abraham he says, “Before whom I walked.” Noah needed assistance to support him, but Abraham was strong and walked by his righteousness. This means that there are two types of forces in a person, which are called “vessels of reception” and “vessels of bestowal.” Vessels of bestowal relate to the Creator, as the Creator is the giver, and vessels of reception relate to the creature, who is the receiver.
The vessels of reception, which relate to the receiver, come before the vessels of bestowal. In the words of Kabbalah, the vessels of bestowal are called Keter, Hochma, and Gar de Bina, and below them are the vessels of reception, which are Zat de Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.
Accordingly, the vessels of bestowal are called, “God walked with Noah,” meaning that in a place of vessels of bestowal, it was possible to walk in holiness, meaning vessels of bestowal that relate to the Creator, which are vessels of bestowal. This is called, “Noah needed assistance to support him,” since the upper one gives the vessels of bestowal, which is regarded as Noah needing assistance to support him.
This means that the upper one awakens him to work, called “awakening from above,” as it is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (part 9, p 735, item 6, and in Ohr Pnimi): “However, in the beginning, in the first time, the MAN that were not by ZON in AVI went up, and then the ZON were made of those MAN. After ZON were established, they raised MAN a second time. Once he has the vessels of bestowal, which he acquired through awakening from above, which is called, ‘Noah needed assistance to support him,’ which comes from the upper one, and this was the degree of Noah.”
But Abraham did not need assistance to support him. RASHI makes that precision from the words, “Before whom I walked.” It means, that he walked with vessels of reception, which stand before the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of bestowal—which are Keter, Hochma, and Gar de Bina—stand above, and below them stand the vessels of reception, which are Zat de Bina and ZON.
Since Abraham walked with vessels that are before him, before the vessels of bestowal, which relate to the Creator, and we relate the vessels of reception to the receivers, this is why using the vessels of reception is called “awakening from below,” which is attributed to the lower one.
This is the meaning of Abraham not needing assistance to support him because he walked with vessels of reception. With those Kelim [vessels] he was serving the Creator. But the words, “God walked with Noah,” mean the Kelim that are attributed to God, which are vessels of bestowal, which are vessels of the Creator, and those Kelim the Creator gives.
Reader: Let's continue to the lesson, to the recorded lesson.
M. Laitman: (20:30) We read the article “These Are the Generations of Noah,” from the writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder.” What generations of Noah, what are the generations? First of all, he was a righteous man, complete in his generations, meaning his degree - “and Noah walked with God,” meaning he walked with the quality of Elohim, meaning Bina. “Righteous” means, it's called Bina, complete is Bina, and Elohim is Bina. Noah is vessels of bestowal, preparation. Whereas Abraham, that's already one who engages with vessels of reception. He is then considered to be walking on the path of Abraham. First we acquire vessels of bestowal, qualities of the Creator, then with the qualities of the Creator we correct the qualities of the created being. This is really the entire process. To bring us to this process, we need to mix the vessels of bestowal and vessels of reception, the Creator had to enter and settle inside the created being, shatter it. The created being had to reach a state where, by understanding himself as whole, with the power of understanding, his intellect, the ability to attain something, to feel something, to control life, he has to reach a state where he, from that, he had to reach a state where he feels that, he discovers inside of him that he's a shattered vessel, that everything is mixed up, that he's divided in his thoughts and actions, his reason, into two parts that are in contradiction to one another, they're running around in his mind - one time this way, one time that way. And when he reaches that state, then he comes to a state where he doesn't feel himself righteous and so powerful, rather the opposite, that he can begin to make corrections from this mixing of vessels of bestowal with vessels of reception. And then beyond it, when he goes and he assembles of his experience, he sees that he's entirely made of vessels of reception and he has no forces of himself. The vessels of bestowal, if they will come from above, then maybe, only in this condition, he will receive help and support, something to be able to do something with his nature. And he sees that there's a clear disconnection between himself and the vessels of bestowal, the vessels of bestowal and the forces of the Creator. And in that state, he comes to a state where he begins to hate his own vessels and love that's above him, above the barrier on the other side, until the feeling begins to be felt in him to the point where he can truly not exist unless he will receive the qualities of bestowal in place of his own qualities.
M. Laitman: (25:00) Then he receives from above the power to perform a restriction on his qualities and begin to acquire qualities of bestowal, meaning a person goes through stages from thinking himself righteous to the point where he sees that he's not so righteous. Meaning, when he sees himself as righteous, then he doesn't feel himself at all as such, that vessels of bestowal are mixed in him. When he begins to work from the point in the heart and then vessels of bestowal begin to work in him more and more, then he begins to see that he's included of these two opposite things and they're constantly run around inside of him and there's no rest, and he doesn't know what to do or what to think until he sees that these vessels of bestowal grow in him in mixture with the vessels of reception, and he sees that his nature is to receive, that's worse than bestow. Then he sees that the nature of bestowal is something he doesn't possess at all, only to receive. Then he begins to hate his nature of reception and to love the nature of bestowal and see that all the good things are beyond the barrier and he's below it until he's attracted to everything that's beyond the barrier and he's willing to give up everything that he has joyfully, and then when that force comes from above, he accepts it with a blessing. And all these stages a person goes through, each time they're also not revealed themselves clearly, all at once, and the person knows what he's going through. Rather, it goes, and it accumulates. So one time part of the path he's going, as it says, “Noah walked with God”, and other times he goes in vessels like Abraham, where from Abram to Avraham, he changes his name, meaning he changes his place by changing his barrier. The Hebrew, Ivri, because he crossed the barrier between the two worlds.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:57) What is the difference between the shattering and a person moving from state to state?
M. Laitman: We never actually shatter, we are the result of Adam HaRishon, the result of the shattering and the preparation and the worlds. The worlds don't belong to us, the worlds are an external mechanism where the shattering took place in order for the worlds to contain all the relationships, all the abilities of how to later take care of the soul of man. After there was a shattering in the world of Nekudim and then the correction in the world of Atzilut of the world of Nekudim, and there was nothing left to correct except for the stony heart, everything but the end of correction. Until the end of correction, the worlds were corrected, then Adam HaRishon was born and it also shattered, and all his parts that underwent additional shattering, they fell to the lowest point, a point without even the need for correction, that's how low they fall. This is called “this world.” We don't have to correct anything here, unless a point is revealed inside man, a point in the heart, then he has something to do, he has what to engage in. And we work from below up on developing the point in the heart. So what is the question? By starting to work from below up, we don't need to go through additional shatterings. There is no more shatterings. From below up, they only raise you up the level, the degrees of sanctity, they never lower you down. We only acquire each time higher and higher degrees. Even when it seems to us that we enter worse degrees in our feeling, because our feeling is inside the will to receive, inside our ego, then we determine or we measure, we weigh what we have in our egoism, in our will to receive. This is something that's not congruent with the purpose of creation. It's possible that relative to the purpose of creation, I'm actually much higher, and I feel in my vessels of reception, my egoistic vessels, that I have nothing. I have nothing, so the goal appears more distant, because the goal means, has to mean, that I have everything. You get it? But I have everything in vessels of bestowal, and in vessels of reception I will have nothing. So if a person uses his mind to criticize and analyze his state, then he can justify the Creator. But if he's not able to justify Him in his mind, his intellect, to criticize himself, then according to the feeling, sometimes he is in a good mood, and sometimes he's in a bad mood. And if he weighs things according to his mood, what is his state, then he cannot relate to him like a righteous or a wicked one, rather he should relate to him like a, like to a beast, where a beast works only out of its feeling. And a person, a man, works from the mind. What does it mean from the mind? That he's using the mind to analyze and criticize the feeling. He's, God forbid, not a machine, man, but he has Mocha and he has Liba, mind and heart, and his correction is where true and false are more important to him, compared to bitter and sweet. Did I answer?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:48) In page 94 in the line, “and he walked”, towards the end, so it's written that there are two kinds of forces in a person called the vessels of reception and the vessels of bestowal. What vessels of bestowal does a person have?
M. Laitman: Well, it says here that there are two forces in a man, called the vessels of reception and vessels of bestowal. In truth, we also don't possess vessels of reception. From the starting point, when we reincarnate in this world many times for over thousands of years, our soul is wrapped up inside the beastly will to receive, meaning desires for lusts, for beastly lusts, honor, money, knowledge, and that's this way we reincarnate each and every time, until this outer shell of this world, this desire, until this desire begins to be so pure, so refined, through the suffering and the torments a person suffers from generation to generation, thanks to the process of development of whole humanity. And when this desire grows, which is a great desire for both money, and honor, and knowledge, beastly lusts. Look how many things we have in our world. If you were to look around 5,000, 4,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, you couldn't find so many people who desire honor. They would agree to be slaves, just let them have something to eat. Even today, there are many people like that. How many people actually want money? Let me be, leave me be. I'm just sitting under my banana tree and it's enough for me. Or knowledge, how many people are actually thirsty for science, for wisdom? From generation to generation, these things improve. And don't say that in our generation, the desires for beastliness, for sex, for food and all kinds of things, that they're passing. No, they are also growing, intensifying. And together with them, also the desires for control and for science, they also grow more intense. Everything grows. Not that back then, these desires you had, these desires, first, they were beastly, and today they're only for science - no. Meaning, humanity comes to a state where it wants everything. And together with that, it comes truly to a state where it wants everything. And then, next to it, you reveal the point in the heart, and the poor person begins to see that he has such a strong desire for all these pleasures, and suddenly, he can't fill it, because the point in the heart cancels the filling, no matter how much he receives. I can have the greatest lust, and I have all the possibilities. I have money like Rothschild. And like former president Clinton, I have control, let's say. And like Einstein, I have science and wisdom. But if next to it, I have a point in the heart, it doesn't matter how much I've got to fill these desires in this world, I'll feel empty because the point in the heart gives me a feeling that I have nothing from spirituality. I don't know what is spirituality, but suddenly, I feel like I have nothing. See, so I'm left empty from here and from here. And this is the outcome that we're slowly getting to, people are getting to. They are more despaired in our generation. How many psychological problems, psychosomatic problems, mental problems, depression people are suffering from? A hundred years ago, people would be satisfied with all things, everything they've got. Today, it's a problem. What, people didn't have drugs a thousand years ago? Nobody needed it.
M. Laitman: (37:51) Even a hundred or fifty years ago, it was rare that people used it. They only started to use it from the 50s, 60s of the 20th century. Before that, it was just - whatever. So, those who did it, did it, and those who didn't, didn't, and that was it. People weren't particularly attracted to it. It's only because the point in the heart is revealed next to all those desires, and these desires could be full. Typically, all those things came from cultured countries. Where are people using drugs? Europe, America, Russia, places where people can more or less fill themselves with things, right? Well, they can't. Learn, do whatever you want. He wants nothing. He can't fill, he can't feel the fulfillment. He can't feel full. All those underdeveloped countries that are still in the process of development, when the point in the heart does not shine strongly to point to their emptiness, then they are producing those drugs and selling them; and they fill themselves with money, and food, and TV, and all those things that still exist that precede the European development, let's say. By themselves, they don't need it. They eat, there they want food, and here, they don't want food, they want drugs. And that's unnatural. It's not natural, but because the point of the heart is revealed, and it points to the emptiness and all the other desires, and the rest of the desires are strong, except they're empty. There's no fulfillment. I'm a king with all the possibilities. So what were you asking?
Student: There are two forces in a person.
M. Laitman: So when a person starts having these two forces, a desire to bestow what comes from the point of the heart, it's not the desire to bestow yet, but, you know, and the will to receive, they brought this explosion to a person. So now, this talks about our state, but in general, in spiritual degrees, the desire to bestow is… There's no such thing as a desire to bestow - a desire to receive, a corrected desire, we call it a desire to bestow. Or the light that comes, and according to its qualities, it's a desire to bestow, it's godly light, but the desire to bestow, just like that, it's the Creator. If we talk about a desire to bestow in the created being, it's either the desire to receive that received correction, to bestow in order to bestow, or even to receive in order to bestow, or it's the light that appears in the vessel, and it brings the vessel this correction. So this light, this force that the vessel acquires is called the will to bestow, the desire to bestow. So the language is short, it is contracted, so we are confused. So when he said that there are two forces in man, called vessels of reception and vessels of bestow, there are no vessels of bestow. Just think about it, vessels of bestow, it's a very strange concept. Deficiency, a vessel is a deficiency, deficiency to bestow. What is a deficiency to bestow, a lack for bestow, what does it mean? That I fill him, if I'm bestowing? So I'm working in order to fill him? What is a desire to bestow? A desire, means a place, so we already understand that vessels of bestow speak of egoistic vessels that acquired correction of bestow, and they fill themselves only when they bestow. And how do they bestow? By filling themselves, and if they will not fill themselves, they will not be able to bestow. So in order to bestow, that obligates them to fill themselves, meaning using the place, the vessel, in order to bestow, this is called vessels of bestow. Then we are talking about a created being.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:20) You said now that because the point in the heart is revealed amongst the cultured peoples, then you get drugs and all sorts. So, why don't I see the point in the heart lead them to Kabbalah? You said that the point in the heart…
M. Laitman: The point in the heart in civilized cultures, as we talked about it, is showing to them only emptiness through their five senses, and trying to fill their lives when they fill themselves with drugs only to escape the despair, they don't know that they're at a dead end. You'll see, all of Europe will gradually sink, there will be no more development, there's no courage for it, no impulse for it, all the countries. That's why we have all these things - ascent, descent, ascent, descent. You'll see all the Americans crying and shouting about progress, and work, and money, and everything. Gradually, you'll see that the people want to do nothing. That's according to their development. So what are you asking, why they don't reach, why don't they come to Kabbalah? It's not time yet, they're still revealing the nothingness of the fillings of this world. They're still not revealing it, it's the beginning. But you’ll see, according to all the signs, culture is not important any longer, literature is not important, development itself is not important. Even in Japan, you'll see those things, the whole world will enter such… If not the desires will come out of fear, not for acquiring something but rather from fear about existence itself, the world would have atrophied a long time ago. That's the way, the world is like a man. A person who feels he can't fulfill himself is in this kind of maze, have you seen it? Look at yourself, look at others also, they don't want to get up, they don't want to work, why, what for? A person is confused, he goes mad, doesn't find his path, why make an effort? He looks for something, leaves everything behind, he doesn't want to work, of course. And so it is with the whole world, gradually, until it is discovered that the whole of this development, what is it for? If we're not happier than those who lived in the caves, what for then? You have a hundred channels on the television, you look at it, fine, and gradually you start feeling in each and everything that it doesn't satisfy you. And that's right before the revelation of the point in the heart, very clearly so. But those are the, those are good stages, stages of progress, very clear stages. You can see how in a hundred years' time, how much humanity has advanced in the awareness, awareness towards the reality it's living in.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:21) You said a person with a point in the heart feels emptiness in his beastly senses, so how not to be impressed by the emptiness of the vessels of this world?
M. Laitman: A person who's being developed, I think, gradually begins to feel emptiness in the beastly vessels, because the point in the heart shows him that he's empty. He can fulfill himself with food, beastly pleasures, honor, money, knowledge. But beside that, there is a higher vessel, which shows him that it's empty, that vessel, and the person feels that everything he tried satisfying himself with does not suffice. Yes? That's before he begins to take care of himself using Kabbalah. When he starts taking care of himself using Kabbalah, then it's a different kind of malfunction, so to speak. Then he receives, different conditions begin to be arranged inside of him. He begins again to receive pleasure through food and women and his work, maybe, and various other things. But this is an aid against him. Before he starts learning Kabbalah, before there's this natural process, it's the natural process that comes from above. But when he begins to study according to how much he studies, according to how much energy he invests, then this imbalance is cultivated within him more and more. And, again, instead of desire for spirituality, he receives a desire for corporeality. Usually, it's for sex. It's written that it's the foundation of all of our passions, lusts, desires. This is according to the spiritual root. So he begins to perceive that as a disruption, most especially. Or sometimes it's with work, money, respect, knowledge, but not really much, because all the other desires, other than sex, are desires which depend on the society, and here, perhaps, we can explain this as well. A person who advances, he's brought out of his connection to the society, he's busy with himself all the time, and so he doesn't engage with himself, and so he doesn't have problems of money, respect, knowledge, but only bodily passions that awakens in him, most especially. But this is a different process, from above, it's awakened in him, according to how much he invests in the study.
Student: Can you overcome these disturbances in the mind?
M. Laitman: Overcoming these disruptions, that is done intellectually. A person, intellectually, decides that he must erase his intellect and work like an ox to the burden, and how does it go?
Student: Ox to the burden and donkey to the load.
M. Laitman: Ox to the burden and donkey to the load, yes, right, like that. What I'm told, I will do, why? If they say, I guess they know. I'm confused, I don't know, or I mustn't hear what I myself am thinking.
Student: Do we consider additional coarseness, additional disturbances?
M. Laitman: If I heard what Rav would tell me, I can now, perhaps, account for how many months and years I would save, but it's impossible. It's nice to say, how I was, how I could, but I couldn't listen. But in truth, seemingly, if to compare one to the other… What are you saying?
Student: I want to ask if these additional disturbances, means that there is additional coarseness?
M. Laitman: Addition in disturbances, that it brings additional coarseness, if you absorb these disturbances and you truly work with them. But if these disturbances come as disturbances that you don't truly absorb, you don't perceive, you don't realize them, you don't use them, then these disturbances… If you use them, if you actualize them, you rise in coarseness, you rise a degree, ultimately. You fall deeper down and then rise higher. But if you don't want these disruptions to begin with, you sort of limit yourself, don't accept them, then you become, well, you descend in degree, you become more pure, more refined. You're let go, let's say, and maybe from above you'll get an awakening in some time. It's unknown. You understand? In states that come to a person as difficult, it's preferable to somehow use these states.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:14) You said that a person has to intellectually cancel his mind and do what he's told, but relative to what or to whom should one cancel his intellect? And toward what should you go with reason? Can you scrutinize that?
M. Laitman: Maybe give me an example instead of a question.
Student: About annulment, cancelling, how do you do that?
M. Laitman: I'm in some state. Then suddenly something new comes, right? Something new. Is that bad or good, as I feel it? So tell me what you're asking about, I don't know.
Student: For example, something in society, what do I need to annul, and toward what not? Do I need to leave my work, and that’s it?
M. Laitman: We have a society. In that society there are various laws, let's say, agreements. Which of those must I annul myself before, or have to want to annul myself at least? Which should I approach with criticism, perhaps, and to object, and to demand they be changed? Because if I don't relate to it in that way, then where am I, and where is the society? It won't influence me. If I'm just integrated in the society with no struggle at all against it, then I'm like an embryo, and they won't really influence me. I won't feel any influence towards me from them. Influence, well, we feel that with power you enter and you truly make a difference, right? All the good outcomes come from using power, using energy towards one another, yes? The more opposed these forces are, the more contrast, contradiction, the more powerful it is, then there's more benefit from it. It yields more fruit. So, how should I relate to the society now? First of all, of course, with my mind and my heart, fully. And here there's a very clear and well-defined approach. Under any circumstances, I mustn't change anything of what is agreed upon in the society without everyone agreeing to that. Meaning, I have to participate in everything that the society demands of me, even though I can't, you know, air quotes, can't. Emotionally, it's difficult - I don't agree, but I must participate. Otherwise, it doesn't mean… Or rather, it's not called being in the society. And alongside that, I have to examine with criticism, in a reasoned way, and collect, perhaps, advices or summaries, to bring them to the society, arguments, to try and convince, to persuade, to persuade them as much as possible. This is also accepted in external societies. That's how they want to do. You can see in the Knesset, the parliament, the rules are clear. There's no going above reason and doing something there. Above reason, we need to accept just one thing, this principle - that we're going to make ourselves compatible with the upper force. That is all. From that, we do not deviate. Adhesion to the Creator, that is the first sentence, after which you can add all the other sentences, and we can examine if they belong to that or not.
M. Laitman: (57:49) And accordingly, we will decide if this is good for us or that is bad for us, and so on. So, if you see in the society some things which aren't good, seemingly, that aren't congruent with or do not support adhesion to the Creator, then you need to organize things properly, one, two, three, four, to bring quotes, verses, to speak to people, to bring it to the society. And if the society is truly, really going in that direction, then probably we'll see that there is room for improvement. But again, the first sentence you need to start with, and it's not just a slogan, you know, “we need to adhere to the Creator,” and therefore we need to beat up that one, that guy, and so on, something like that. No, in a very clear and reasoned manner, very clear to everyone, to show that there is room for improvement here, and only in such a way where you tie it to the goal, but in a very clear way, and also very practical way, not some kind of, you know, starting to philosophize. And practical. What does that mean? Because he says that in an abstract way you can destroy the whole world, right? Form devoid of substance. We need “to in order to bestow.” Whoever doesn't want to bestow is thrown away from the, thrown from the society, something like that, I don't know. Or whoever is the biggest egoist here, he has no room here, right? Egoism is the opposite, of course, those kinds of things, those kinds of things. So we need to advance only with form clothed in substance, meaning only in actual reality, which can now be realized and determines what we should be doing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:47) We can divide the disturbances in two kinds: those that bring pleasure and those that bring suffering. Which is preferred or less preferred?
M. Laitman: Another question, anyone?
Student: Can you give an example for something Rabash told you to do and you didn't? What Rabash told you to do and you didn't do?
M. Laitman: Another question?
Student: What are disturbances, and what does it mean to overcome disturbances?
M. Laitman: You see, I thought they will follow your question, they don't care, yes?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:28) The donkey, if you close his eyes, then it can begin to work, it's easy. But if it's constantly happening, it's very difficult. The question is even during the stage of adhesion, how to do it? To put foot before him?
M. Laitman: The same way as with the donkey, where you shut his eyes, block his eyes, and he walks. You need to shut your eyes and walk, so we say. Now, how to shut your eyes and walk? The society needs to carry you. The fact that you yourself can't, I believe you, true. Truly, I have nothing to say, I have no complaints to you. But the society, if not for the society, there are states where a person, or it could be time, “what the mind doesn't do, time does.” I know this about myself, that it is so. I had such cases where I was sitting at home, and Rabash would call my home and shout, “come!” And I'm sitting and crying on the phone, feeling that I cannot come, I cannot go, I just can't. And I feel this force stopping me. I can't walk. And he tells me over the phone, “Michael, come here immediately.” And I tell him, “I can't, I can't come.” You don't know what kind of spiritual forces are at work yet. You wait. That's why we need to determine the states we could take, the steps we could take in advance.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:12) After I signed this contract with the society, and the society starts, you know, I read the contract, and it looks like to me that this contract is something that will advance me on the path. But later, the society starts to invent all kinds of laws that, to me, seem to distance me from the path, meaning one of the items in the contract is that anything society decides I have to keep. Or can I criticize it?
M. Laitman: Right, so you enter the society not in such a way where these clauses, the agreement I sign and I keep, and those I don't, and that's what I sign. No, you enter the society when you sign on all the clauses. There are many clauses to the contract, and you can work according to the accepted laws and clauses. Or you can change them. Please, you're welcome, come in and change them. And it's not that you go to the society and you see that all the clauses are good and bad, and tomorrow you will see that this is good and that is bad. But I've already signed, yes? No, you have to accept everything. You can also change everything.
Student: If the laws of the society change, how should I respond to it, meaning I have to accept it somehow?
M. Laitman: The laws of the society, truly they change according to the development of the society. If a society determines for itself unnatural laws, well, first of all, either it delays its development for a time, or at some point, sooner or later, it sees that what was decided upon is simply not practical. It cannot be kept. And so, this law, maybe it's written down somewhere, but who keeps it? It's like in America. It's forbidden for an elephant to walk on the street. You have all kinds of laws. Where do you have elephants? But you understand, all sorts. So, it's the same thing here. It's good that some law is written down, very good, but in the society, it's not… Certainly, I always say that the concern we have for examining our inner laws, that is actually the most important thing, because by that a person examines himself, but he needs to relate to the laws of the society like his own inner laws. That he should organize himself internally, accordingly, and that's how he should compose himself. It's not that this determines my attitude to the people in the society. It determines the attitude within me, between all the desires and forces, and passions I have in me. That's it. So, first of all, I need to look at it as if it's a model of how I want to see my inner self, and not externally: me and other people, and more friends, and somehow this is how we can get along, or each one jumps up and down, this way, that way. No, first of all, the agreement needs to be my own inner contract. There doesn't need to be a difference between the external and the internal contract.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:48) A person typically advances through importance. If there's an importance for something, then I do everything. Suddenly, if I'm a beast, I lose the importance. That's it. Can you make these beastly laws on a person? Let's say, I'm giving an example now, something we did with these times. As we said, it's important to come at 3 a.m. We could never really live up to it, but now we made a law, and everybody's doing it. Everybody's coming at 3 a.m. a month already. Because of envy, lust, shame, a person sits, it's unpleasant.
M. Laitman: All right, so you established some means by which a person keeps the law that you decided upon ahead of time. Before it was impossible to keep. Very good. What is your question?
Student: Can we use those things in other things?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course. What do you mean? A law that a country makes, they say, if you don't follow this law, it'll be a capital punishment. If it's a lesser infringement, then it's a fine, $100,000. And if less, maybe conditional, and so on. What to do with all these punishments, according to how to bring a person, gradually.
Student: So, the agreement is about every law that we took upon ourselves. We have to write it down. What will happen if he doesn't do it?
M. Laitman: It's not about a person not keeping the agreement. What will happen with a person if he doesn't keep it? It's his own personal account with the Creator, right? Because the law that you decide upon in the society, that you set in the society, is actually, well, you don't know how, to what extent it is accepted above, right? We didn't talk about it yet. He writes in “Matan Torah,” “The Giving of the Torah,” that the leadership that comes through the nation, the people, and the Creator's leadership are… it's the same thing, how to put it, naturally turns out that way. What is decided, let's put it this way - what a group decides, or a big crowd of people, a big group, it begins to become the law of the upper providence upon them from above. We'll talk about it. Don't just accept it as given, we'll talk about it. But what do I want to say by this? By you trying to keep even the most seemingly silly law, the least important from your regulations, almost trivial, by that, you'll scrutinize the regulations, the contracts better. You'll see how these are things that don't belong to us, and this does belong to us, this is more important, that's less important, but ultimately, you're working on your inner regulations, code of laws, or external, it doesn't matter. You're working to scrutinize it, and by that, the scrutiny advances you. So, how do you advance? A person scrutinizes a degree, the degree where he is, and if that degree is good or bad, how useful it is or not for myself, for the society, for the goal, and so on. And by finishing that scrutiny, he advances to the next degree. And so, the work with the regulations, with the contract, it's a very useful thing. Each person examines himself. If I tell you now there is a different problem, I'd say that in the society we need to discuss the code of laws. So you'll do, you'll now hold meetings from now till I don't know when. You'll constantly be in meetings and discussions. This is a person's inner work, it's not just blah blah blah. Through talking, you don't achieve anything. Nothing is done through talking, nothing. You didn't get an answer?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:58) As you said, there are laws, and a charter, or an agreement. So now if it's important to me, I do it, I keep it. If it's not important, then neither the Creator nor the group…
M. Laitman: When I fall, of course I don't care about all these laws and the bylaws that we made, and I don't want to relate to them. And so, who holds me, who sustains me? Only the society can hold me. The society needs to obligate me even if I don't want to observe things on the level that I'm in, those laws. In a state in which I'm in spirituality, I want to support the society also spiritually. But in a state where I'm only in my animalistic beastly self, I need to support myself in an animalistic way. My animalistic level cannot go up or down, I have to participate in the society on the so-called beastly level as much as possible. And I'm not just, I'm telling you about all my weaknesses, that we had times, there were times, there was a time where I couldn't come to Rabash. This wasn't just a case, this is, however… it will be clarified.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:56) I'm asking, like five or six years ago we weren't allowed to be late for the lesson. And also now, we can't be late to the lesson. So what do we write down on our agreement? What change should we make? On the outside, nothing changes, we signed like four years ago - we are not allowed to be late to the lesson.
M. Laitman: I'll tell you. It's prohibited to be late for the lesson, you see, it is a great obstacle. Do an exercise, I'll recommend this. During the day, throughout the day, you call one another, but not where there will be phone calls all day and non-stop confusion. We need to lower that a little bit also, and it seems to me that there's a little much talk going on, unnecessary talk, immediately we call. Something, some thought comes, just like comes in my mind, but before it even passed away at the speed of light, already we call. We need a little holding back on this as well. When it comes to speaking, you know, calm down for a moment, and you'll see how much it wasn't necessary. So, but call one another, either on the phone or just in speaking about the topic of the importance of coming to lesson and preparing ourselves to being present here at five minutes to three. Each should listen to the others. “Guys, we're not allowed to come later than the time of preparation for lesson.” Start preparing yourselves for that. If you wash your brain with this, with this information, then you'll see how you will observe it with no problems, without efforts. You won't not be able to observe it. Plan yourself in your mind for that. See? We did try it for a week, and you'll see that it's right. I'll tell you only one thing. It could be that maybe out of five to ten cases where I was late for the lesson. Ever. I also don't think it was that much. If yes, there was a real, justified reason for something. I don't remember that. I'm telling you seriously. I don't care, not my wife, not my children, not nothing. The way Rabash shared it when the first time I heard it from him, he says, “It's already late. It's really dark in the streets. It's dark outside. I'm going to sleep.” And I was used to, you know, 12, 1 a.m., that's when we go to sleep. It is so, it shook me up within to such an extent. Meaning, what, six hours before I think that we need to go to sleep, he already thought to go to sleep at 7 p.m. If you, for three days, instead of talking around here, you were at home, and out of those two times, you'd go to sleep at 7 p.m., it would be better for your home, and for you, and for the friends. You would be also confusing everyone less with your nonsense and also connecting more to everyone. You know, “the sleep for the wicked is good for them and for the world.” I'm talking seriously. You don't hear what I'm saying to you. Do the Creator's work in sleep.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:22) He writes in the article that there's fear of this world and fear of the next world, and there's fear of the heavens. Why are we speaking about signing agreements? There's things that help a person advance with no fear, or he can get an awakening without it. Or is there no need for such an awakening?
M. Laitman: One needs to use all the forces he has, and especially fear, in order to come to the desirable state. We have no inclination, even the worst of them, that was not created in order to bring us to the goal. Even the worst, that you can be ashamed of yourself, but to say that you have it. There is nothing that was created for nothing. The use of it was not correct if that inclination is possible, but nothing was created redundantly. We may think that there's something that the Creator didn't correct everything in a most corrected way, and there's crazy people, there's dyslexic, there's autistic spectrum, there's…I'm not even talking about ailment, diseases, but even other problems. We think that there's some diversion in this, or some deviation. It's not. It's the Providence who makes these actions in a persistent and wise way. And later, it will be revealed why, specifically by you having a runny nose, or someone was bored with a spiritual diversion of some sort, some kind of psychosis or something, then what corrections this brings forth. So, therefore, don't look at a person who is suitable or not suitable in some way. Rather, just look according to the degree of his ripeness to be with us. And we certainly need to use all the means that…well, if you don't activate this fear upon himself, so he will…so if he doesn't come to study, then gradually he'll fall away from…he'll drop off from the society, he'll fall. So, if he doesn't admit this, then you need to come to him and say to him, “Buddy, three more times you're late, we simply throw you from the group. Come to study when you want, but our attitude towards you, you'll see what it will be.” Like to someone who's just, he came today, and we don't know who he is, what he is, and whether he's with us or not. And you need to relate to him this way. Start relating this way in disparagement. And I'm showing you this something. In front of everyone, I said to everyone, how I relate to them. Just like that, do you think it's nice what I'm doing? But there's no choice. And you're not taking the example from me. You're okay, it's fine, it'll pass. What will pass? Give him even more blows than I do. What you're allowed, I'm not so permitted to do. You're like caressing him, it's like a father kind of gives the blow, and the mother kind of does the opposite, spoils all the efforts of the father. Well, the child suffers more in the end. I'm not doing this for no reason. Start relating to him like, look, he's sitting and sleeping, and I'm looking at him like that. No, no, sit like you sat a moment ago. You're sick, I know you're sick. That's it. You're an example, very good. At least you have a reward, the fact that you're an example. Start relating to him with disparagement, and you'll see how this helps. He comes, he won't come tomorrow. He'll be here at two o'clock, before me he'll sit here. You're not using what you have. How can you grow in such a society? I'm talking seriously. I don't know how you do without this. The attitude is so, everyone just covering their butts. We don't need anything more than that.
M. Laitman: (01:21:51) There's a few people that are somehow making sure to relate to one another according to the participation in the society, only a few of those. And the rest… And the lesson, like a lesson, and after lesson, everyone's buddy, like everything else. Why is it like everything else? Why do I need to be connected to him more than I am to someone else? Like to the friend, for example, who participates each time and does all the things, and stands the times, and does everything in society. I want to be adhered to this person more than to that one. And you don't have that, that, that distinguishment between the way you relate. Why isn't there? On one hand, we need to help. But on the other hand, we have to show that, why should I be connected to such? Meaning, don't let him go. Don't leave him. But, but don't show him that we're, show to him as someone who's distant from you. Why does this society do this? Only me, I stand in front of everyone, and I make performances. I chose two people, one and the other, and I'm constantly doing it upon them. I don't see this on your behalf at all. It's not good. What forces are you talking about activating? It's the greatest force of all. Use shame, envy, use it. It's the biggest influence. Well, do you know what it is to be ostracized from the, from the society? That's… yes. In the end, nothing impacts him. You'll say, well, why do you even want to come here? Leave us, sit at home. You have some kind of obligations here. So, let's finish our calculations, finish our, and that's it. That's it. No one talks. No one appeals to them. No one answers his appeals. Nothing. And see what happens with that person. He'll feel what a society is, and what he's losing. Use, use it. But of course, with refinement, with delicacy. Let's start with something at least. You need to go with the assumption that no one wants to observe the laws of the society, no one cares about anything, each and every one is weak and doesn't want to do anything. And how specifically from here can we activate the help for a person? And you relate to everyone, well everyone's participating, everyone's doing.