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

Daily Morning Lesson: July 7, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work? Article 28 (1991) 

Original lesson date: 06/17/2002

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part, we'll learn a lesson with Rav from June 17, 2002, based on the article, “What are Holiness and Purity in the Work?” You can find it in “The Writings of RABASH,” Volume Two. We'll read the article together in the Ten. We have 33 minutes.

Reading: (00:43) What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?

Article No. 28, 1991

It is written in The Zohar (Kedoshim, Item 13), “The Torah is called ‘holy,’ for it is written, ‘for I the Lord am holy.’ This is the Torah, which is the upper, Holy Name. Hence, one who engages in it is purified and then sanctified, as it is written, ‘You will be holy.’ It does not say, ‘were holy,’ but ‘will be holy,’ will be indeed. That is, it is a promise that through the Torah, you will be holy.”

We should understand what it means when it says that through the Torah you will be holy, and then says, “Hence, one who engages in it is purified and then sanctified.” Therefore, we should understand why he begins by saying that through the Torah, he will be holy, and then says that through the Torah he will have purity, and only afterward will the Torah bring him Kedusha [holiness]. Also, we should understand what are the promises that he will certainly achieve Kedusha, meaning what is the cause and the reason for the certainty that it will bring him to Kedusha.

It is known that the purpose of creation is that His desire is to do good to His creations. Accordingly, the created beings should have received the delight and pleasure. Yet, we must understand that the delight and pleasure that the Creator wishes to give to the created beings is not the same delight and pleasure that is appropriate for beasts, but what is appropriate for humans. We must believe what the ARI says, that all the corporeal pleasures extend only from what fell through the breaking of the vessels (that were in the world of Nekudim), when holy sparks fell from there into the Klipot [shells/peels]. But the main pleasures are in Kedusha, and they are called “the holy names.”

In order for the creatures to be able to receive the delight and pleasure, and in order not to have shame while receiving the pleasure, a correction was placed on it. The correction was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on the upper light. That is, before one receives the correction on the will to receive, which is the aim to bestow, there is no disclosure of the upper light. The Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] that we observe, where we should have tasted the flavor of delight and pleasure, we cannot feel this taste because of the above-mentioned reason, so there will not be shame while receiving the pleasure, for which there was a correction that when we receive the pleasure, we must aim to bestow. Otherwise, there are concealment and hiding on the actions.

Hence, we must observe the Torah and Mitzvot so it will bring us purity, where purity means purification of the Kelim from the will to receive for oneself, which is called “dirt,” since it is in disparity of form from the Creator, who is all to bestow. For this reason, before we clean the Kelim, it is impossible to place within them anything good, for anything we might place in a dirty Kli [vessel] will be spoiled.

Hence, we must receive good advice, things that will purify our Kelim [vessels], which is called “making kosher [fit to be eaten according to Jewish laws]” and “preparation” so we can receive the delight and pleasure. Because of this, we were given 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], which The Zohar calls “613 counsels,” namely counsels about how to purify ourselves from the filth of our vessels of reception.

This is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (“General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1): “The Mitzvot in the Torah are called Pekudin [Aramaic: deposits], as well as 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels]. The difference between them is that in all things there is Panim [anterior/face] and Achor [posterior/back]. The preparation for something is called Achor, and the attainment of the matter is called Panim. Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot there are ‘We shall do’ and ‘We shall hear.’ When observing Torah and Mitzvot as ‘doers of His word,’ prior to being rewarded with hearing, the Mitzvot are called ‘613 Eitin,’ and are regarded as Achor. When rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the 613 Mitzvot become Pekudin, from the word Pikadon [Hebrew: deposit].”

We should interpret his words, that in order for one to be able to receive the delight and pleasure and that they will be in a manner of Dvekut, which is equivalence of form, since man was created with a desire to receive for oneself, man should cleanse himself from self-reception. But this is not within man’s power, as it is against nature. Hence, we need His help, to give us this power called “desire to bestow.” And how do we receive this desire? This is done through the Torah, as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’”

It follows that the fact that we observe the Torah and Mitzvot is with the aim that the Torah and Mitzvot will bring us purity. This is called “613 counsels.” The 613 Eitin are counsels concerning two things—the light and the Kli, called a “need.” In other words, it is impossible to receive something unless there is a need for it.

Therefore, a person must learn the Torah so as to feel the bad and understand that the will to receive for oneself is bad. Put differently, he should ask the Creator to give him the need to obtain the desire to bestow, since the fact that one understands that he must obtain the desire to bestow is still not considered a need. Rather, first one must know why he needs the desire to bestow, meaning what he loses by not having the desire to bestow. If he does not see the great loss from not having this desire, he certainly cannot ask from the bottom of the heart that the Creator will give him the desire to bestow.

Moreover, sometimes a person does not want the Creator to give him that desire, and how can one pray for something that he is not certain that he needs? And the evidence that he does not need it so much is that many times he does not even want to be given that desire. It therefore follows that one should pray to the Creator to make him feel the need for this desire, meaning to yearn for the Creator to give him that desire, since he does not always understand the need for this desire.

By this we can interpret what is said in the supplementary prayer (for Rosh Hashanah [beginning of the year] and Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement]), “And be in the mouths of Your people, the house of Israel, who are standing up to ask. Inform them what to ask.” In other words, the Creator should give them, the messengers of Your people. That is, each person is a community in itself and has a messenger of the public, meaning a person who is going to pray for himself. It is known that man is called “a small world in and of itself.” Hence, first we must ask the Creator to send him what to ask, meaning that one should first ask to feel the need for the desire to bestow, and only the Creator can give him that need.

It follows that the beginning of his work is the recognition of evil, meaning that a person asks the Creator to feel how bad is the will to receive. This awareness that the will to receive is called “bad,” only the Creator can make him feel. This is considered that through the Torah, a person can achieve recognition of evil, meaning to understand how much his will to receive is bad, and then he can ask to replace the will to receive and give him instead the desire to bestow.

Yet, if he has no lack, meaning torments at the fact that he is dirty and immersed in the filth of the will to receive for himself, then he asks the Creator to satisfy other desires for him, which pain him, meaning whose absence of feels. He wants the Creator to satisfy all that his heart desires. Although a person does not say verbally to the Creator to satisfy all his wishes, it is as we said in the previous article, that the request is not that which one says with his mouth, for a request of the Creator is only a lack, and a lack is recognized in the heart, and not in the mouth. Thus, we should know that we do not need to say out loud what we are asking of the Creator, for only that which is in the heart is regarded as a request. Therefore, even if one does not say to the Creator, “Satisfy all my heart’s wishes,” the demand within the heart is already considered a request.

Therefore, one must know that the Creator takes into consideration only that which is in one’s heart. And since man cannot live without pleasure, because His desire is to do good, if a person cannot receive pleasure from Kedusha, the body must receive pleasure from corporeal lusts. And if a person is accustomed to sometimes receive pleasure from Torah and Mitzvot, then during the descent, when he does not feel the lack for spirituality, he should work in order to obtain that lack, so he will suffer at not having the need for spirituality. Then a person receives a greater need for corporeal lusts, to complement what he was used to occasionally receive from Torah and Mitzvot.

Hence, during the descent, one must be mindful that he engages in Torah and Mitzvot so that the light of the Torah will shine for him and he will feel its absence, meaning that he will suffer at not having love and fear of the Creator. In order for one to feel suffering in the heart from being far from Kedusha, we can receive this feeling by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, so it brings us to feel the truth about what one needs. By this he will be able to achieve wholeness. At that time, a person receives through this the Torah, and this is called that he receives the need from above, meaning through the power of the Torah. Afterward, a person receives the filling, which is the light, meaning the power of the desire to bestow, which is a second nature. This is regarded as receiving purity, where by the desire to bestow that he received, he is now in a state of “purification of the Kelim.”

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked concerning what The Zohar says, that through the Torah you will be holy, and afterward it says, “Hence, one who engages in it is purified and then sanctified.” The answer is that the Torah does two things: 1) Purifies, meaning gives the Kli, namely the lack. 2) Afterward, the Torah gives him the light.

There is a rule that when a person is told, “I will give you something good,” first he is told what is the good thing, and then he is given details. This means that first, one is told, “You will be awarded Kedusha,” and then he is given details, meaning that you cannot enjoy from the Kedusha, for you should know that this is something very important.

Hence, first the Torah must give you the Kli to receive the Kedusha.” Before a person has the Kli, he cannot receive the filling. It follows that the Torah gives the light, as well as the Kli. But at first, we do not speak of the Kli, but of the light, and then we also speak about the Kli. This is why it is written, “You will be holy.”

Now we can understand what we asked, “What is the guarantee that ‘You will be holy,’ for he says, ‘You will indeed be holy,’” meaning that through the Torah you will be holy. We should interpret that since His desire is to do good to His creations, but because of the disparity of form there was a correction of Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment, where the light does not shine to the lower ones before they have Kelim that are fit to receive, meaning that the Kelim have the correction of the aim to bestow, which is called “purity,” since through the Torah they will receive purification, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that the Kelim can be purified by the Torah, since “the light in it reforms him.”

Hence, if they have pure Kelim, they will certainly be rewarded with the light, and the light is called Kedusha. There is no shortage of lights; only Kelim are missing. Thus, purity is called a Kli, meaning the correction of receiving in order to bestow, and the work of the Kelim is an order in and of itself, meaning that all the work that one must do is only Kelim that are fit to receive. This is as it is said, “More than the calf wants to eat, the cow wants to feed.” It follows that the most important is the purification of the Kelim.

For this reason, once a person engages in Torah and the Torah brings him to purity, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” he will certainly be rewarded with Kedusha, which is called “light,” which is the names of the Creator. This is why he says that the Torah is called Kedusha, as it is written, “for I the Lord am holy.”

This is the meaning of what he says, “It does not say, ‘were holy,’ but ‘will be holy,’ will be indeed. That is, it is a promise that through the Torah, you will be holy.” And at that time one is rewarded with wholeness and he can observe “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” meaning with both your inclinations—the good inclination and the evil inclination, due to the Kedusha that he received from above. At that time, the whole body annuls before the Kedusha. It follows that the evil inclination, too, agrees to work for the sake of the Creator. By this we should interpret what our sages said (Berachot 35b), “When Israel do the Creator’s will, their work is done by others.”

That is, when one has been rewarded with doing the Creator’s will, meaning that as the Creator wants to bestow, so man wants to bestow upon the Creator. At that time, their work, meaning one who wants his work to be in wholeness, which comes to him from working with the good inclination, once he has been rewarded with the desire to bestow, the work of heaven is done by others. Who are the others? It is the evil inclination, who is the “other” of Kedusha, meaning the other side, which is against Kedusha. However, when one works for the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow, the other, too, the evil inclination, also does the Creator’s work.

However, before one has been rewarded with being among the people who do the Creator’s will, the good inclination is also unable to work, since the evil inclination controls it. For this reason, the evil inclination is called “an old and foolish king.” It is called “a king” because it controls the person and each time, thoughts and desires of every kind in the world come to a person. Hence, when a good thought or desire comes to a person, he should believe that it came to him from above, and he should be thankful to the Creator for it, since by thanking the Creator for it, spirituality becomes more important to him each time.

A person should know that in spirituality, exile means that the importance of Kedusha has departed from him. This is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust.” It follows that by thanking the Creator for a small thing in Kedusha, regardless of the quantity, since this gives some assistance to spirituality, he should be thankful to the Creator. According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1:15), “Welcome every person with a bright face.”

Therefore, since thoughts and desires always come to a person, whether beastly or human, meaning that a thought and desire that do not pertain to the beastly level, normally a person weighs its benefit, meaning that one weighs which is preferable to which. In other words, a person can repel beastly lusts in order to receive lusts that are suitable for the human level. But the person says, “I want to relinquish beastly lusts, but in return, receive the status of a great and important person. That is, if by conceding corporeality, I will feel a good taste in Torah and prayer, it is worthwhile for me to relinquish.” But on the level of a small person, meaning that he does not feel any flavor in Torah and Mitzvot, and for this, I must relinquish corporeal needs and be happier than with beastliness? About this, a person says that it is not worth relinquishing.

Our sages said about this, “Welcome every person with a bright face.” That is, when a thought and desire to be human comes to a person, which is considered that now he received the quality of “man,” one should not say, “First, I want to see the greatness of this person and what he promises me.” The answer to this is “every person,” meaning that he should not distinguish between a great and important person or a simple person. “Every” means every person, without distinctions, as long as he is in the quality of “man,” meaning if the thought and desire belong to being human, we should welcome it with a bright face, meaning be happy with it, with this thought and desire, as though he feels it as a great man.

He must be thankful to the Creator for sending him this desire, and by thanking the Creator, it is not because He needs gratitude. Rather, it is because by focusing one’s thought when he thanks the Creator, he has some Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, since it is impossible to thank someone unless we love that person.

Since we normally thank one who has done something good for us, by nature, the one who receives the benefit loves him. It follows that this causes love of the Creator when a person thinks about the gratitude he gives to the Creator; hence, the measure and importance of the quality of man that he received is not important (but we must remember that the quality of “man” means what our sages said, “You are called ‘man,’ and not the nations of the world”). Rather, “a bright face” expresses the joy he has when receiving the quality of man. This means that one should exert to be able to have the strength to broaden the importance of the matter. He must believe that the Creator sent him this desire, so he must depict in his mind as though the Creator speaks to him and tells him, “My son, behave as I am telling you.”

However, when a person wants to appreciate the thought and desire that came to him, and wants to execute it, the desires and thoughts about the seventy nations that are in his body come to him and laugh at him: “For such a small taste that you feel that there is something in spirituality, you want to betray corporeal needs?” They tell him, “Do you want to lose all importance for self-benefit for such a small and worthless thing?”

Then the person begins to say, “I hope and believe in the words of our sages, who said, “A Mitzva [commandment/good deed] induces a Mitzva.” Therefore, I am certain that by this, I will be rewarded with achieving wholeness, as this is what I hope.” The person should overcome and say as it is written (in the litany following the Eighteen Prayer), “Look from above and see that we have been the laughingstock of the nations.” “Nations” means the seventy nations within one’s body. They mock the person when he wants to do the holy work, and he must ask for the Creator’s help.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said, that one should not be ashamed of people who mock him in the work of the Creator. It means that man consists of the whole world. Hence, there are discernments within man that mock a person wanting to appreciate small words and actions that a person wants to do, and say about such small actions, meaning about a Mitzva on which he cannot make any intentions, that it is not worth exerting in order to do them. Therefore, the sages said that they should not be ashamed from those who mock. Rather, one should believe that anything pertaining to the work of the Creator is important, and certainly, if one can aim while performing the Mitzvot, it is even better. Nevertheless, even the smallest act is priceless and one cannot evaluate it.

We already said that Baal HaSulam said that one should believe that according to man’s view, who knows that an act Lishma [for Her sake] is a great thing above, he should believe that an act Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] is even greater and more important above than one thinks that the Lishma is great and important. Hence, we must exert and believe in the sages in everything we do, that we are rewarded with performing acts of Kedusha. Even without any intention, that, too, is a great and important thing, and we should thank the Creator for it.

Reader: We will move on to the lesson from June 17, 2002. 

M. Laitman: (32:34) We heard the article, “What are Holiness and Purity in the Work?” from the portion of Kedushim, Rungs of the Ladder, Volume Two, page 114. Rabash, as is his habit for him, goes over several things here, he touches many points in the work. The main thing is that there is work during the time of ascent and work during the time of descent, and a person has to try and find for himself what is close to him during these two states. But mostly, they obligate the person to work during the ascent, because during the descent, there is no one to obligate. He might be in such a state where he can't hear anything, he's unable to move himself, sometimes not only internally, but also externally, he's not able to. 

But during the ascent when he has a feeling of upliftment he shouldn't simply enjoy the state when he feels good, and then it appears to him he's in a perfect state. Rather, he should understand that he's given this perfect state from above. He doesn't deserve it, in truth, but they gave it to him from above just like they give the state of descent from above, in order to advance in both of these states. 

There's no reward and punishment for suffering earlier that I put in a certain amount of suffering, and now I'm given a reward to feel good. It's not the correct thought, it's not the right attitude to the process we're going through here. 

Rather, they give a state that we call descent in order to feel our qualities. They give you a state called ascent in order to feel the qualities of the Creator, and with the feeling of our qualities during the descent and the feeling of the qualities of the Creator during the ascent. We have to work in those states and extract as much benefit toward our advancement. If we go through these states without relating to them beneficially to advance for the purpose of creation, then they'll just pass; they'll do to us once, twice, these ascents and descents, and then they will stop doing it. 

Rather, they'll do it once, or every six months or a year, and the years will just pass. Meaning, it all depends how a person can relate purposefully to each and every state he's in. And he's not thinking about the state he's receiving now, that it comes to him as reward or punishment. It's neither a reward nor punishment. It's simply a state for work, where during the ascent they give him especially an illumination from above, and then he feels wholeness, and he calls it an ascent. And they give him this wholeness from above, not that he necessarily earned it. Rather they give it to him so he would feel good. He could have a good feeling of the qualities of the Creator. What is spirituality? They should feel it a little bit, and from that he will go deeper into the Torah. He will delve into the study, into the articles, letters, the material where he previously wasn't able to understand anything. But now he should study it and take something for himself that he will use it well, and to want to extract the most of it during the ascent, that the Creator brought him closer. And then he will grasp as much as possible from this knowledge, feelings and discernments. 

Then later, when they bring him down, you should understand that now they're giving him the state opposite the ascent. Now they are giving him a feeling of being remote from the Creator, to feel what he is without the illumination of the surrounding light. But nevertheless, the light, the surrounding light shines on him so he will see that he does not understand, does not feel anything. He's in the dark, he's remote, he's falling. This is the illumination of the surrounding lights, but in the state of Achoraim [posterior]. 

M. Laitman: (37:56) Then he should also do the work during the state of descent, meaning as much as possible not to be immersed in the state of descent, not to study his vessels — there's nothing to study there. You can only study the vessels as they collide with the lights. But as much as he tries to come out of the state of descent, as much as he tries to do all kinds of actions, and he may not be able to study, to learn, he cannot be in himself - then he should do some physical work inside the group, the kitchen, it doesn't matter what. And these actions, even if he does them with his hands and legs and he cannot activate his heart and mind, but they will be considered as true spiritual actions, spiritual vessels, because he's doing it. Since this is the maximum spiritual expression for what he's capable of doing. 

So even physical actions, mechanical, truly mechanical actions without any intention, without his mind, without his heart, it will be considered as if he's doing spiritual actions. And from that he will understand what are the qualities, what are his qualities that he falls into during the descent. These are the two states man has to go through. And again, after the time of descent passes, and light starts to shine for him then he shouldn't think that it's a result of his work, and he overcame, and now he made it. 

Rather he's given from above now another state where he has to work, and it might be called an ascent. We don't know quite what is an ascent, what is a descent. Ascent and descent we need to calculate according to — not how close or far we are standing according to what the awakening from above determines for us. 

Rather according to how much in the awakening from below we yearn to be closer or further away. It's possible that a person has a great yearning for the Creator during the descent, more than during the time of the ascent. So the time of descent is a time of ascent, clear?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:41) What happens, if I am in a descent is not just an unpleasant feeling; a descent could be a state where he even feels good, but he doesn't even remember that there is the Creator or things like that. So what does a person do? 

M. Laitman: A descent, an ascent is something a person determines either according to the reality of a situation or according to his attitude to the situation, to the state. I forget that I'm here, and now I'm wandering somewhere. I'm wondering how yesterday I played cards with the friends, I had some beer, it was good, time was passing, a good way. The this time might be called an ascent for me- feel good, right? 

Later, I suddenly awaken and I'm thinking, what am I thinking about. Where am I? Where am I immersed? Then I begin to feel it's actually a descent. In other words we can calculate an ascent and a descent according to the equivalence with the surrounding light, that's it. Only because of that if we wish to have a true discernment for our place, it's only according to that.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:04) What can a person do in such a state, even sitting here in the lesson? 

M. Laitman: A person can sit here, certainly with his body on a chair, and have trips around the world, right? It says a person is where his thoughts are. Now we're not talking about it, we're not … 

We're saying that, let's say, he's in the study, but he torments himself, so he's also not in the same exact thought, or he's thinking about things that have to do with his actions in the group or something, but it's also not that in the study. During the study he must feel himself one with the whole group- connected to the Creator through the material that he studies. That's the only thing for which we should yearn. 

Student: But how can we remember that? 

M. Laitman: How can we remember that? We need preparation for it. Certainly during the study you cannot remember it unless a person aims himself before the study. He knows a few times during the study that he tried and it did not work out, so he begins to worry that today, also tomorrow, I'll wake up like that without any benefit, and I'll sit here, and what will I get out of it? 

So he begins to think before the study- what will I get out of the study? So this concern, this worry before the study has to prepare a person to think correctly during the study, and that is possible. A person has to tame himself- it works, gradually it happens. There are many things that we need to do, not in a sophisticated way, but a simple way, like an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:16) We say — I mean you said — that now he was given these states in order to understand the descents and ascents, in order to actually understand the difference, the gap between the qualities of the created being and the Creator. And if he does not understand it. I mean, what does it mean, he doesn't understand? He understands it by words, in thought, but then the state is replaced, and whatever he understood, he forgot it. So now... 

M. Laitman: We don't know why and in which order they bring all these states down on us. We don't know. I don't know- in truth how I actually exist. It's like you're looking at the baby. He doesn't know why he exists. They give him this, and this, and that. He wants this, and that, and the other. Meaning they give him all kinds of desires, all kinds of impulses from within, changing qualities, changing environmental conditions, and that's how he exists. That's how he rolls, and that's how we roll, or incarnate, reincarnate. 

Meaning it seems to us that we determine something, or we control something, and it's bullshit. It's really a complete lie. Rather, what we need to be looking for, meaning why are we given the mind and the thoughts to search for the only thing that we should grasp. It's to study, to learn what is going on with us, to learn; and this learning is to bring us to this resolution- called the recognition of evil. I don't need to resist anything. I don't need to forcefully do anything. It doesn't help. 

I need only a little bit of attention- to pay attention to what is He doing with me. And from that I begin to understand who am I, who He is, and what He wants. Why is He arranging things for me this way, in what cunning He does things to me, and from that I gradually get to know my nature. 

Kabbalah is the study of nature, except nature- the wider nature that includes also the world of causes- where everything is being cooked and prepared, and it also includes our own nature, us, the environment. 

Through ourselves, our self-study, right? The study of ourselves - “From Your actions we shall know You,” right? “From my own flesh I will perceive God”. From that I learn the upper reality- the general reality.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:21) The question is, do I truly learn something new? What happens in spirituality, having all these discernments? Sometimes we see, even in the stage of preparation, you see you're coming back, suddenly discover things that seem to be new, and then you go back, or you talk to the friends, and you say, I knew that a week ago, I knew this is the truth, and seemingly where did it all go? So the study here seems like each time I'm going back to discernments that I already had.

M. Laitman: You say that each time it appears new, but when you look at how it's written you see that the words are old. We learn that all reality is ten original Sefirot, that's it. As we say, there's nothing more. The worlds are in it, the souls are in it, everything is in it - ten Sefirot, right, that's it. What is the difference? 

The difference is in feeling those ten Sefirot. There's depth in how we feel them. The depth of feeling them is 125 degrees. We are even before degree zero of attainment. There are steps in that too, before we begin discernments, before we begin to attain the ten Sefirot before the barrier. 

But generally speaking, it's the same picture, just as we learn now- all the worlds are built according to the same template. Five Partzufim, ten Sefirot - it doesn't matter how you say it, it's all the same. You are repeating. Look either a three-year-old, four-year-old, five-year-old child who's taught to read the five books of the Torah, or an old man. Even a Kabbalist like Rabbi Shimon reading that same Torah. But the question is, what does one understand. What does the other understand? What does the child say? Look mommy, Abraham wanted to kill Isaac. That's what he sees in the Torah, even the children who grew old, so to speak. 

The Kabbalist, he knows what is the correction the Torah is talking about, and he attains it. He sees it with the spiritual forces, eternity- when he's already beyond this world. But the expression has the same letters, the same words. You started to study just now, and already you discover new things in what we're studying. That's how it will be. 

Let's say, you're now sitting here and reading an article, and I'm sitting and reading an article. Then you will ask me, well can you tell me something? You tell, and then where am I telling you more than what you already know? Because I'm reading, and I see a little deeper than you, so I'm telling you using different words. 

Also, I can't pass to you what I'm feeling, so I'm telling you what I see using different words. That's it. So for you things are visible to a certain depth. For me, it appears a little deeper. And there are those who see nothing, and they will just read it like that. They will have no reaction in their hearts. They don't have a spiritual vessel, and you are starting to have one. That's how it is. So what's the difference here? 

The difference is that when I'm telling you about it, I give you a little illumination from the depth where I'm in compared to where you are, and that helps you. Meaning, I add to the surrounding light that you awaken during the study also of my own. But the group can also add to you, where each one understands in some depth. Each one here understands there's nobody here who is truly like a person on the street, each one. And there are those who truly have a good understanding, emotional understanding, I mean. 

So when we study together, when we think we study together, because I intended in the explanation to pass it on to you, you intend while you are studying to pass everything to each other. This is what it means to study together. If so, the surrounding lights of everyone, they come together and operate on everyone. Do you understand what it is? What kind of an amplifier we have here? An amplifier of the spiritual force.

It doesn't matter, even if you know a little bit. Each one a little bit less, a little bit more - it doesn't matter. Even if I'm here, and you all know less than me, but each one with his different character of his own, because each one has a different role of the soul. 

So I enjoy from that I receive an addition from this incorporation, because there are things that I would not understand without you, and without him, and without him. Even though you are truly zero, zero, one, compared to what I have- one followed by a few zeros. It doesn't matter. Each one is unique. Do you understand?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:28) I say that in order to receive, to accept what's coming with the resistance. On the other hand, it seems that resistance, it seems that specifically resistance helps, reveals more than what it is. You said that you have to receive what's coming without resistance. Simply receive it, accept it as something that comes from the Creator, and learn from it. But part of the study is that it works on you, and it causes you resistance. It's part of the...

M. Laitman: First of all, no, I meant what is written, that whatever comes, it comes. First of all, the state that comes, I accept it as it is. I look at it, and I want to monitor it, to examine it without how good or bad it is for me. This is how it's done, right? According to whatever the Lord did, it is all for the better.

That is that I relate to this thing, that there is room for it, and it comes to correct me as much as it is, until, if a sharp sword is laid on his neck he should not despair of mercy. That is, everything is a correction. Okay, good. 

Now, after I look at it, well, it's easy to say, it doesn't work for us all the time, that's obvious. So, after the point where we relate to it in such a way, in the first moment you're not able to do it. In the first moment you're willing to resist and destroy and do everything, but with a second thought you begin to relate to it, let's say, correctly, yes? Now, what are you asking beyond that?

Student: After that, the vessel of feeling feels resistance after that.

M. Laitman: You don't feel the resistance. If you remember that this thing ultimately comes in order to correct you, then from here you have to approach the third state, that “there is none else besides you,” and in that state, through the sorrow and the pain, you begin to discover Him, and immediately you reach sweetness, the sweetening of the judgments.

Student: I thought you're talking about after that. After that, the vessel that feels, feels certain resistance. Again, it grows, it develops, meaning resistance is a necessary part of the process, not that you have to wait.

M. Laitman: It's not that resistance is a necessary part. You don't erase the resistance of the body by you wanting to say that it's for the better. You just want to arrange it in such a way that it's as if by that you make a restriction. You don't want to just receive it, but to receive it so that together with it, opposite that, there will be the qualities of the Creator, that I and Him and my whole method, they're all together, and then I can extract benefit from this state in a beneficial way. 

If I only enter the resistance, only the bad qualities, and there is nothing opposite them, then by that I entirely do not achieve anything. As much as it seems to us that if I will feel suffering, then later on, with this pain that I'm suffering, I attain something - that is incorrect. 

There's no commandment to suffer, not even for a second. This is the problem of the Guf, the shells, that they constantly confuse us, and they want to show us that through suffering we can achieve something - nothing. That's it. Simply write it down, that there is a great commandment to be in joy. It is truly so. The moment that a person can shift to joy, he shouldn't think that, well, but I haven't felt suffering yet, I need to be in it, this is the whole of creation, the evil inclination, how can I… No. You don't need to. In such a way you won't achieve anything from suffering. You don't attain from the evil inclination. Shift to joy. Don't consider it to be levity. If upon the suffering, you immediately shift to joy, it's not levity. They'll let you come back again and again to the suffering, and again you'll have to make exits from them and from Zion. 

The exits, when you come out of them, from the suffering, and the Torah emerges. This is how you enter the destruction. 

Student: So there's always the concern. 

M. Laitman: Right? Zion, when the Torah comes out, this emptiness remains. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:14) The concern is that you'll forget about the existence of the Creator. If the existence of the Creator is more important than what we feel, then the concern is that we will forget about the existence of the Creator, not that the emotional state will change. That's not the problem. It's like…

M. Laitman: So you want to say the following: the state for me is such that suffering brings me back to think about the Creator. Is that what you mean? Yes or no? I'm asking you.

Student: Yes, sometimes.

M. Laitman: Fine. This is why He gave them to you, precisely. Until now, you were just playing cards, as we call it, or flying, I don't know, in some worlds. It's as if you're sailing in the ocean, right? You forget everyone. And now, He sends you some suffering, mainly in order to awaken you. So what are you asking about? This is His instrument.

Student: The thing is, how to constantly prefer the connection with Him over what He gives you. On the other hand, we say that it's a great Mitzvah to be in joy. 

M. Laitman: This means how to always understand that besides the connection with Him, all the other things, good feelings, bad feelings, good incidents, bad incidents. Everything that happens is only in order to strengthen the connection with Him. 

Meaning, at the top level, I should constantly have within me- in my awareness and in my heart, searching for the connection with Him and constantly holding on to that point. And everything that happens is only in order to add to the connection with Him more and more. So, how to do it? How to hold on to it? Build a system, internally and externally.

Student: Meaning, when a person is in some form of suffering, the smallest, it doesn't matter. It's clear it's not a real connection with Him, because the connection has to be felt as pleasure. On the other hand, if that's what took him out of his double concealment or took him out of a certain state, why give up on it? It's better than to be disconnected. How to reconcile it?

M. Laitman: Well, that's what I said before, that it seems to you that through the suffering, you at least remember the Creator, right? So, once again, just realize that this suffering that you now feel, right? That through this suffering, it seems to you that you recalled the Creator. He sent you the suffering, and because of the suffering, right, you felt Him inside the suffering. So, this thing is not... 

Of course, it comes with a certain purpose, but it's not deterministic. This is not the purpose. The purpose is not to feel Him through suffering but to feel Him through adhesion, feel Him as near, to remind you about it. Certainly, you're being reminded. This is called the path of suffering. Through the suffering, it reminds you to the point that you need Him. But what after you need Him? You say, fine, so I'll just remain in the suffering. It's worthwhile for me to be in the suffering, just not to forget about Him. 

Student: No. 

M. Laitman: Why not? You don't have such thoughts? 

Student: It's best to be in joy. 

M. Laitman: It's best to be in joy, then shift to joy.

Student: But there's a concern.

M. Laitman: (01:02:02) What? There is a concern. No, again, I'm saying it's the shells that say that to the person. This is how they keep him in the suffering. Now, the question is, what do you have? Just depict that state. The fact that the Creator reminds you about Him through the suffering, that is His vessel, His instrument, right? By poking you with a thorn, you remember Him. That's it. 

Now, once He has done that, what happens to you? You think about Him, that He stuck this thorn in you, that He does something bad to you. You understand what is this thought? Ultimately, what it is? Now, do you want to remain in this kind of connection? No. What does it mean? You are now in the system of the shell, and it suckles the upper abundance exactly by this connection that you agree to remain in that. She suckles it. 

This shell is now growing stronger, because what is the shell? The bad that you feel from the Creator, right? This is truly the opposite of what is needed. Now, how can I persuade myself that I'm in the domain of the shells, that I need to shift and do the exact opposite, to feel from the Creator good and pleasure? And also to feel that it's not me and Him, and I receive this bad from Him, but I recall Him. I have a connection with Him. 

But to make it so that I am in compatibility, in adhesion, in connection with Him by both of us having this shared joy. The pain cannot be shared. The shell also tells you that as the Shechina hurts, she's in sorrow, I'm also in sorrow, meaning I want to elevate you even higher on the left line. These are things that...So in short, search for a connection which is according to the qualities. And according to the qualities, it cannot be that you will feel bad.  

Student: Does that make sense? In such a state, what does the person do? 

M. Laitman: What does he do? He is searching, how can I delight the Creator? In feeling the sorrow, I'm not enjoying, so I'm not delighting Him. I'm not delighting Him. That's it. And then he tries to get rid of this feeling. And a moment later, the shell again puts him into it, and he forgets. From one moment to the next, everything is erased. This is how it is. This is called being thrown from one side to the other.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:14) You said we have to construct two systems: external and internal. What does it mean to construct an internal system?

M. Laitman: We need to build the internal system and the external system so that the topmost thought should be that I am connected with Him. With every act, with every thought, with every desire that I have within me now, we are connected together. Through what? Through the thought, or the desire, or the act that I'm doing now. That I act somehow, it doesn't matter on which level, and through this action, we are together. The act could be a thought, a desire, an actual deed. Now, how can I constantly be in that? It's very difficult. It's impossible. 

It's only after the Creator truly shines to you. But to try, to try to always be in that. This is considered giving the necessary sum of exertion so that He will open it up to you, and then you will see Him, and then you will also be in it all the time. 

Now, how to constantly do these exercises with a greater and greater frequency? Because each time it is erased, a moment later, and a moment later again to come back to it- not to waste those moments. 

So, they say you have to make an inner preparation for it, and external preparation. Inner preparation is that you constantly think about it whenever you can think about it. You understand? You're simply doing this inner training. Exercise, right? Exercise. 

Now, externally, that each time you will have all kinds of signs around you that will remind you about it. Suddenly, once every five minutes, you hear some gong. Boom! Right? And you shudder, and then you remember something. Now, if you'll just hear it every five minutes, you'll stop hearing it. Ultimately, you know that, right? We're built in such a way, so instead of it, you need that somebody will come every five minutes, maybe slap you. And later on again, you'll just get mad at him, and you'll forget about the reason, the agreement you had. You see how you read an article. Well, what else did they read? I mean, let's move on, right? 

You forget the reason already, why they sent it to you, and what is it about. So, the person should constantly... This is also called to give the sum of the exertion that you constantly generate for yourself. You look for all kinds of supporters who, what can bring you in again to that same point of connection with the Creator. By some external signs. 

So, the inner and external exercise that truly lets a person reach this sum of exertion, these entries to return to the connection, to the connection with the Creator, to that point, to enter it more, and enter it more, and enter it more with all kinds of thoughts, and deeds, and desires, just like that, until he constantly stings, pokes at that point. This is called, like on page 17, the letters that he wants in the same woman, in the same place, at the same times, until the times will make that sanctity for him. 

Meaning, it will open up for him, and he will enter spirituality. This is the message that he gives there. This is what is written: that we surround that point, circle around that point all day and all night. I want to have a connection with you, like as he writes there- someone with lust who is searching I only want her- only that love, and I think besides that. I don't see the world. I don't see anything else, that it should not move away from your eyes, all days and all nights. 

You see all the examples. Baal HaSulam gives them to us from life, from the bodily, physical life, the beastly life, because this exists. We can learn from that. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:40) On the one hand, it follows that we need to, as if, make of it a habit. 

M. Laitman: It won't be a habit. It will be as if it's a habit. There's also an element of a habit in it, but habit is made upon the previous degree, and each time you will be given a higher degree to do it, this point of connection with the Creator, where there is no habit, and so on.

Student: We say that by relating correctly to reality, a person can paint a picture of his own qualities and a picture of the Creator's qualities. Now, my question is, how can a person even know how to picture this? If it's a negative image, in relation to pictures, right? You feel yourself, you can feel yourself, but the Creator is something… How can you imagine His image at all, His qualities, His true qualities?

M. Laitman: You don't need to imagine the image of the Creator, or the picture of the Creator. I don't know what, when you say the picture, the image of the Creator, what do you mean? Is it like a white beard, big eyes, what?

Student: The Creator's qualities.

M. Laitman: Qualities, well… 

Student: So, how can I tell if these qualities that I imagine, maybe I'm starting to feel them, maybe on myself, how do I know it's not my imagination? 

M. Laitman: How can you imagine His qualities? How do you imagine qualities?

Student: I imagine that He's, well, you know… 

M. Laitman: Good.

Student: Eternal.

M. Laitman: Eternal, okay. Well, so, what will you have from Him being eternal? How can you depict something that's eternal? Something that's long, tall, something that's really big like this? What is eternality? I don't know. In truth, within, we don't have an image. In our work, an image is not created, because the search for the point of connection with Him, is there's a certain inner point which you'll gradually feel, and with that point you want to connect. But what is that point? You can't explain, because it's truly a point, and you don't yet feel any volume in it for you to be able to be said something about what it is. A point. With that point, which it seems to me that it's kind of like the Creator in me, I want to connect. That's how it is. 

Student: Ultimately, it'll grow, it'll be greater in volume, but in essence… 

M. Laitman: Later, when it will be inflated, then you'll feel the 10 Sefirot, and that will be your Kli. The soul is the godly part from above. So, in that, you will feel, in that point that will be inflated, you will feel the Creator inside, within it. And you will feel it as your attitude to Him, meaning the ball itself will be your attitude towards what fills the ball. What fills the ball is the Creator, and the walls of the ball, so to speak, are your relationship towards Him. Maybe in such a way, I don't know. Lately, I started to kind of like try to simplify things, which I don't…  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:20) It says here in page 116, third paragraph, that the person asks the Creator to feel how evil the will to receive is. Since when do we ask for the recognition of evil? We always say that we need to ask for the Creator's importance. And from here, it follows that I need to ask to see my evil. I hear the opposite. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:13:46) What's written here? It turns out… It's the third paragraph. It turns out that the beginning of the work is the recognition of evil. Meaning you ask a person, a person asks the Creator to feel how bad his desire to receive is. And this knowledge that the desire to receive is evil, only the Creator can let him feel, and this is called that through the Torah a person can reach the recognition of evil, which means to recognize how evil the will to receive is. Then after that, he can ask to replace the desire to receive, and for in place of it, give him the desire to bestow. Well, so you're asking now, we talked about how to escape the evil from the bad feeling to a feeling of good. 

And here he's writing that a person needs to ask for the Creator to give him, but not give him the bad, but the recognition of what's bad. Those are two completely, completely different things. 

Either I just feel like he's beating me and I feel bad from that, or that with knowledge, with understanding- understand that those blows were not blows upon me, but rather, I identify now with another point- those blows were upon my qualities, which are contradicted to Him. The recognition of evil when I feel bad, it's like a baby or a child, when you give him bad, when you give him, he's given a beating, whatever the blow could be, or he's not giving a lollipop. It doesn't mean that you have to hit him with a stick. 

So he identifies with that bad- he's in that bad. So, we say that if we feel bad from the Creator, we need to escape from that feeling. Why? We need to exit from that evil and to look at him as we would look from the outside, from a different point, that's considered to kind of make a restriction. I feel bad, but what do I feel? The bad. Who feels? My eye feels the bad, meaning these are two contradicting things. And who do I receive this from? I receive this from the Creator. 

Meaning I put my eye outside of the Creator and outside of my body, which feels bad. And this is called the recognition of evil. Otherwise, I don't know him; otherwise, I just feel Him. 

They write in a very precise manner that this is called the recognition of evil and not the feeling. And then, as you look from the outside upon this evil, you understand why, and for what it was made, and what I need to do with it. Then the actual recognition of evil leads you to correction. 

Hence, it is worthwhile for you. But when you're in the recognition of evil, you're asking, you're seemingly asking to get to know Him even deeper so it will give you the strength to emerge from Him, to ask for corrections. But you're not asking to feel more bad, you're asking to recognize it more as bad. 

It could be that it's a sweet and good thing. I love to smoke so much. Who could give me the recognition of evil in this? I would pay him a lot of money. So, I continue to smoke and to enjoy. And with that, I want a certain hatred for it to grow in me. Gradually, I start to feel that this is bad, that this is bad for me, even more, even deeper, to see how bad this is for me and bad for me until it becomes so bad that I'm afraid of it, that I'm fed up with it, and I'm willing to run away from it. 

Meaning these are two completely different things. Maybe someone can add, I can't find maybe the words, but the recognition of evil is not the feeling of evil. The feeling of bad, even a beast feels bad. 

The recognition is a person who works in spiritual work and begins to distinguish that this is bad, and according to what is it bad, and in accordance with distancing and nearing to the Creator. It's not just like that that I feel a blow. And I feel not who is giving me the blow; I feel that this blow shows me the quality that doesn't let me connect and adhere to Him. The bad is not because I feel pain, but rather the bad is that by this specific quality where I feel the pain, I'm distancing from Him. 

The recognition of evil is the recognition of the distancing from the Creator and not the feeling of sorrow within some organ. Is that okay? Okay, so it's understood. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:19) So we don't always, we say that we don't need to ask for the recognition of evil, but ask for the importance of the Creator, and out of that, the outcome is… from that, you get the outcome, the recognition of evil.

M. Laitman: What you're saying is that we always said that we need to ask for the revelation of the Creator, the importance of the Creator, the exaltedness of the Creator, and then from that all these things will come. But if I'm in bad, I can't ask from the bad to get the greatness and importance of the Creator. I'm not capable. I'm immersed in the bad. 

But to exit this bad, I can to the extent in which I start exiting it, recognizing the evil in it in relation to the Creator already. To the extent in which I exit the evil, to the same extent I can recognize how much that bad is in oppositeness to the Creator, In what way do I exit the evil? By my “I” coming closer to the Creator and my body remaining in the same place. So by exiting my body towards the Creator, in that point, my “I,” my conscious point I can start seeing how distant I am from Him. 

It's as if from the whole concept that I was “I,” with my body, with this pain, a certain point emerges called the point of my awareness. It comes closer to the Creator, and by coming closer to the Creator it can expect  to observe the body already and see how distant it is from the Creator- according to how it feels that He's far from the Creator. 

Towards the Creator, it cannot examine how far it is. It can examine how far He is from the place that she came out of. Many words, one small feeling until you understand it, and also, you see, this world doesn't give any communication means. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:38) We say that the Creator is the one who gives us everything. On the other hand, we just talked about the shells as some kind of force, which can confuse us. How can we ascribe everything to the Creator, ultimately? How does the Creator act through connection? What's the connection between them? How does this system work? 

M. Laitman: How does the Creator operate through the shells, the Klipot? The Klipot are your uncorrected desires altogether. Besides you and the Creator, there is nothing. Did you learn about anything that exists besides the desire to receive that He created and the light, which is Him? Does anything else exist? No. That's it. 

So, what are you looking for? What shells? Everything is within the Kli, the vessel that the Creator created. The desires are corrected, are not corrected, are close, are far. The desires after the shattering, which cannot be corrected until the final correction, and are in their quality in order to receive, those desires are called Klipot, shells. Whose are they? Yours. Who else? Do you think that this is far from me? It's there. Don't get close to them. It's written, "don't come close." Yes, because it's far, and I can go close. "Don't come close" means don't touch them, don't use them. Well? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:24) So, the Creator spins these screens for me. The contact of His light with my vessel spins this state, creates this state. How does this happen? How is the state created? 

M. Laitman: It's written that the light reverberates the Kli. There's no other way because if it's more or less- accordingly the Kli uplifts or descends. There's no other force besides the light that can influence the vessel. Now, the light influences the vessel selectively upon all its parts. It's not just like that, you know some flashlight that's shining. But accordingly, according to how the vessel can advance, that's how it illuminates. The light actually is a simple, abstract light.

And it just illuminates the vessel you could say like a flashlight, in truth. But it created a special system between Him and the vessel, called the worlds. And the light that goes through the worlds and illuminates in the vessel takes on a certain special form, that when it comes through the worlds to that Kli it illuminates specifically that part of the Kli that needs to enter into action right now. 

And in a manner, and power, and precise manner in which that organ needs to do an action and correct itself now. So you will feel exactly that now. Do you understand? Those worlds that are between the light and the vessel arrange the light precisely in adaptation to each vessel specifically. And then each vessel receives exactly, precisely what it needs and accordingly responds and is corrected. 

That's the whole matter of the worlds. This is why we say the worlds is a control system, a governance system, a providence system. It's simply the light that comes through those worlds, because what are the worlds? The worlds are constructed according to the vessels, only in an opposite manner. 

Meaning they precisely understand what the lacks in the vessels are. In the worlds it's in a positive manner when we will learn about the world of Atzilut, not like this, like we're learning so far, kind of like as he writes formally. But rather, start seeing how the world of Atzilut prepares its bestowal for the souls in what wise way it knows precisely what to prepare and why for each and every soul within its bestowal. 

It's in fact a picture, I don't know how to say. Meaning, this is something we study in a simple way where there was a reflection of the shattering of the world of Nekudim. From that shattering, the worlds were created. 

Hence, we begin to count from the world of Atzilut all the worlds. And the world of Adam Kadmon is the light that illuminates from Ein Sof. Ein Sof is a complete abstract light. In the world of Adam Kadmon- this light is sorted according to five original lights according to five parts in the vessels in the original vessel, the four phases of direct light. 

So you have five original lights. And then the world of Atzilut, which arises from the remnants of the shattering. So, it is precisely what transfers through it the lights to the souls that are in the worlds of BYA, and arranges those lights precisely to bestow upon each part and every soul according to the corrections that need to be in each soul. That's why we learn mostly about the world of Atzilut. This explains everything that happens. And from the world of Atzilut, we can study the souls, because it is adapted absolutely to what needs to be in the soul. 

Hence, we don't learn about the souls themselves. That we need to learn already “From your actions, we know you,” about ourselves. 

But about the world of Atzilut we do learn, because it's truly one against the other. It's truly almost the same. But I'm saying this as a study that is fascinating, truly wondrous. I don't know how to say it. Where you understand the extent in which how it was built, and what each and every detail and part of the light that descends, what changes it receives what is about to go correct, what's inside the soul that awakens, how it responds consciously, unconsciously, subconsciously, how it awakens from being a created being, from completely not being a created being, and how this begins. It's truly a wondrous picture. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:12) How do I distinguish between the shell and the recognition of evil?

M. Laitman: According to the fact that the light shines to a person in such a way, he can distinguish. 

Reader: We will now share our impressions of the lesson and what we learned. From it we take to implementing the Ten. 

Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson, but first sing a song together.

Song: (01:35:42)