Morning Lesson October 7, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio

Part 1:

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 8. What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra?

1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:44) Well, we are here with you in special days during which we celebrate our opportunity to choose even more to have more contact with the Creator, adhesion with the Creator through the Torah and to feel how much we have a means through which to reach in this short life, through this lowly life to reach a high and eternal place. Well, let's see. In order to reach identification with the upper Force and to enter eternity and wholeness, we first of all need to build within us a system, inside each and every one of us, a system where we distinguish between the force of reception and the force of bestowal, between hatred and love, between nearing and distancing. This is the most important and then according to these forces that will operate within us, we will see ourselves, how do we advance towards the purpose of creation. So let's read. 

Reading (02:57) “It is written, “Until the day...”

2. S. (11:33) I have one problem, I don't understand. He says a person wholeheartedly agrees because a person doesn't look at what he can please him but what can please the Creator?

R. Well, that's the problem.

S. How can we know that He really enjoys what we do? How can I feel it, if at all?

R. You need to get used to thinking first of all about the friends, first of all. There's no choice, it repels us so much that it's even impossible to move. The moment that I think about the friends, I remember, “oh, no, the ten, the group, what is it that we have to do, am I supposed to do with them and them towards me, how will we connect with each other.” But if I know that specifically in the connection between us, this is where we find the entrance to the upper World, then there is no choice. Then I already try to find it and to adhere to it and to always be there. This is my work and after I locate the way to it and I forcefully stand so that I have no choice, I have to bring the Creator before me all the time and to depict Him in such a way that He exists before me and I must be before Him and constantly yearn to Him and constantly get closer to Him; then here is actually the beginning of the true work.

S. But what is the shade? Why does he say it twice? What does that mean?

R. A shade, a shadow, means that I detect something, that it exists but not in its right, true form but rather the shade of it; seemingly the posterior.

S. He writes that this shade brings me life. Is it concealment? How does it bring life if it's concealment and then he says it brings life, how?

R. Well, but at least I know according to the feeling of this shade that I'm on the right path and I'm getting closer to the Creator.

S. What is shade, it's darkness?

R. Shade is the feeling of the posterior, the feeling of the oppositeness, that you see something that you're correctly directed towards the thing that you want to see but you cannot detect the thing in itself.

S. What is our work basically, is it to remove the shade?

R. Our work is to adhere to the Creator in every state there is both shadow and also light.

3. S. (15:58) Rabash writes here that on the one hand I need to pray in that state that the Creator will take me out of it. He also writes here that I need to agree with that state, it doesn't coincide for me.

R. When we begin to work of course we want the revelation of the face as much as possible. That He will always be before me and I don't want anything else besides that but later on, when we distinguish more and more between light and darkness, shade and clarity, then we realize that these opposite things have to go over us and they have to teach us how we can relate. We should relate to the revelation of the Creator, as it is written, “Under its shadow I coveted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.” And afterwards even from the shade, I can receive pleasure and discernments and directions and advance in this way. We will talk more about it soon.

4. S. (17:33) We should work in faith above reason when we have the chance to come above reason we should do it. If we don't do it, we come in a sort of second concealment. What does it mean that we are pushed, let's say to a second shadow and we don't grab our opportunity to adhere to the Creator?

R. We, bit by bit, get closer to a state where behind the concealments, all kinds of concealments we can detect the concealment of the Creator. It's not that I don't have anything before me like in total darkness but rather I need to begin to detect, to identify the changes that the Creator is making with me and out of these changes when I want to adhere to them, it doesn't matter which changes, what's important is that I always hold myself in that what is hidden from me is the Creator Himself. And as much as I yearn to this form it becomes, I become, I feel greater and greater happiness in that. Happiness because as it is written, “There is no greater joy than the untangling of the doubts.” Meaning that there was a doubt, and we didn't know, we didn't feel and suddenly it all becomes revealed. This moment when everything becomes revealed, it is truly the greatest moment. That's it. This is what we need, meaning always constantly yearn to detect the Creator inside the concealment.

S. What does it mean that you come in the second concealment to a state that you cannot even pray anymore? You need a prayer to come out. What does the Creator give you as an opportunity to come back again like the article says? How does that work?

R. Oh, we will check that. I don't want to say it in advance but you will see when it is a concealment, when it is concealment within concealment and how between these two kinds of concealment, we actually reach revelation, soon.

5. S. (20:45) A shade is an intermediate stage between light and darkness?

R. Yes, when I feel that there is something, however it’s concealed.

S. What's the work during the shade?

R. That I want to discover what is hiding and this is work that depends only on me, as much as I correct myself and bring myself closer to discovering who is hiding.

S. I don't want to stay in the shade?

R. No, the purpose of our work is to discover the Creator and adhere to Him face to face.

S. What does a person determine, that demand during the state of shade?

R. To get closer to the Creator. Nevertheless, the shade repels the person but the person wants to get closer.

6. S. (21:55) In continuation to that he writes, “Under its shade I coveted.” Meaning he covers the state where he can make some overcoming above reason. What is it in above reason that gives the person the strength to continue?

R. That he does not depend on his qualities, he does not depend on his emotion and the mind, he only goes through the stages in which he for sure will discover the Creator.

S. This matter of going for certain and above reason, it doesn't coincide?

R. It actually does.

S. How?

R. Because within reason I'm always wrong, even in this framework of this life. However, in above reason, when I go according to how much I can bestow and disconnect from myself and rise above myself, in such states and actions I actually feel that here I have what to do.

S. In that state where a person receives this push, so he can walk, how does he pray correctly or usually in prayer you ask to make the thing go away, to feel better, to give some confidence, something, but then you fall to your self-reception. How to pray correctly in that state?

R. Well, we learn that, we learn that over time. It doesn't depend on the words and that I will now give you and you will write them down and later you'll say them.

7. S. (23:55) He said that a person looks for achieving revelation of the Creator beyond the shade. How does a person make this revelation in mutuality and not that it will come to him as a big sun that will burn him with shame. How does he know that it will appear like a friend, in mutuality?

R. This is what he's asking for, this is what he's asking for. First of all he has to connect with the friends, after he connects with the friends in heart and soul then he tries to reach the essence of the connection which is the Creator who is hidden between them and they altogether discover Him between them.

S. When the yearning for the revelation, the chasing, the revelation happens in the ten, in the connection, then the Creator at best appears as a friend between us?

R. No, He's revealed as the One who accompanies them, arranges them, organizes them.

S. Yes, yes, as a friend but not as something that can burn with shame those that are in the ten?

R. I don't want to talk about that. It's not for now.

8. S. (25:40) When there are problems in the ten, the reason is not the Creator but a friend in the ten. How can we see that everything comes to us from the Creator? How to internalize that?

R. I didn't understand.

S. If we have a problem in our ten?

R. In our case?

S. We think it's coming from the friend. We don't think it's coming from the Creator. How can we work in the correct way when we always feel that it's coming from the Creator and None Else Besides Him is causing everything?

R. Return to the Creator and we ask of Him to detect the and locate the disturbance that exists between us and to remove it, that's all. And then it becomes His work. Our work is to ask for correction, the Creator's work is to carry out the correction.

S. When there's something happening in the ten, it's clear that He wants to tell us something but I don't understand what the Creator is trying to say, to tell us and I don't want to suffer a stronger blow, so what do I do? If I don't understand the Creator, what should I do?

R. Ask of Him to become revealed and to explain what it is that He wants from me more clearly and that He will not hide and that I will know precisely Who I'm connected with and what it is I should do.

9. S. (28:20) What's the difference between suffering from the first shade and the second shade?

R. There are many states here. It could be that I'm in the shade and I don't feel that I'm in the shade. There is concealment for us to feel that there is concealment. We already need to feel the light to a certain extent and the light is absent. It was turned off, that's one thing. Second, is that I need to know what the light brings, what it gives me, then I understand what is the essence of the concealment, what exactly the concealment hides and this is how, bit by bit, out of the darkness, we discover the Creator, who He is, what He is; the advantage of light out of darkness. That's it. 

10. S. (29:45) He writes that the prayer is like a remedy for the darkness. What is the power of the prayer?

R. Everything, everything because we have nothing else to do besides execute a prayer. But a prayer, a request from the Creator to help us, it should be practical, meaning that I do something. Nevertheless, some actions of coming closer, discussions with the friends, building the connection between us in a deeper way, more connected and then when following all of my efforts I ask the Creator to help us to be closer to each other, to be together and I feel that it works and the Creator answers.

S. How do I strengthen the prayer? How do I strengthen it all the time?

R. You can't really strengthen the prayer by yourself but if you're with the friends and you operate in connecting between you more and more, then the prayer becomes what we call a prayer in the public. Then for sure, the Creator hears the prayer.

11. S. (31:40) The first part sounds like a flirt between man and the Creator. It's like you said, a person is aimed and then there's a shade, a kind of resistance, a rejection. But this shade, it says, is intended to reveal a prayer and to yearn to adhere to Him, and in the second part it writes, if he doesn't do that, then there's a double concealment. Meaning, first thing is to enter a state or prayer. How do we start in the group to help each other to see the shade so we start in prayer, not that we know how to do it but what is the concealment because the concealment is designed for an action of prayer like you said?

R. We ask of the Creator that He will reveal to us our true state, where am I, because concealment is concealment, it covers everything more or less and so we ask of the Creator for revelation that He will reveal to us our state. Where we are in relation to each other and how each and every one of us is with respect to the Creator and all of us together and with respect to the Creator and in such a way we get closer, we get closer to the Creator through our requests and He opens it up for us eventually.

S. Yeah, that's clear. We have a set time between concealment and double concealment, the first concealment is for us to be much more precise in our actions and prayers?

R. Yes.

S. How do we identify that?

R. Well, we see our state and we want that this state will be more clear.

S. I'm asking on a personal level: Is it possible that fear increases when there is a concealment?

R. No, no.

12. S. (34:19) He describes two states here: either a person is in prayer here or not. If he's in this first concealment he's still in praise and he wants and then he’s in double concealment it’s already and then he says that a person needs to accept all the states because that's how the Creator wants him to work in above reason?

R. Of course the Creator generates all the states, He arranges all of them and a person should see it this way.

S. The question is whether it's correct to agree, if you see that the friend is not in a prayer you think so or that you pray for it, fight for it and you don't agree?

R. We ask in our prayer for help for everyone. That all in all, the Creator will be revealed in the connection between us and out of that we will understand and feel the true connection between us, that we will be able to work with it, in it.

S. Okay, again. If it seems that the friend is not in the prayer, it seems this way that he is in his daily life not thinking about what he should be thinking of, about that, is it correct, should we agree with it? Well, you can say, “Well, this is what the Creator wants, that’s his state, it'll pass later on.”

R. No, I need to connect with all the friends. I need to feel a tight, constant connection with them and I need to pray for them.

S. There's no compromise about that so we don't give up on that?

R. No compromises until we achieve at least some minimal prayer, each for his friend. Until then we don't reach our common vessel.

13. S. (36:47) About the second state of the shade when a person can no longer pray and he reaches a state of heresy, is this a state which is necessary to reach on the path or is there a way to avoid it?

R. Again.

S. The second shade when a person can no longer pray, he can't overcome, he reaches a state of heresy, is this a necessary state on the path or is there a way to avoid reaching such a state?

R. Theoretically you can avoid it but I don't think so. I think that to some extent even if it's a fragment of a second, a person has to go through that state.

S. Another question, to continue, are there any preparations that we wish to make before we reach the state of the shade or is the state of shade desirable?

R. The state of the shade is desirable, we begin from it, we're all in concealment.

S. Because it says there that only through suffering, so are we talking about torments of love because we don't have the revelation of the Creator, or is it only through suffering and blows?

R. We'll see on the way.

14. S. (38:28) We need to find the Creator inside the concealment and adhere to Him. How do we hold on to this connection with the Creator, how do we not disconnect?

R. I'm confused between what's being said and what's being translated.

S. How not to disconnect from the connection with the Creator that we had in the Congress?

R. This depends on us. How will we feel ourselves farther in a corporeal way and yet closer spiritually to each other, that all depends on us. Then we’ll understand why we even exist in such a world that is completely corporeal and still we have to bring spirituality into it, spiritual connection.

15. S. (40:14) You said that so long as every friend won't stop asking for the whole ten we won't be able to reach this common request. Why?

R. The Creator set up the connection for us and we’re in a group. We have to connect between us in the group in order to pray to the Creator and ask Him to relate to us as spiritual created beings; that He will show us His path and our path, that's His work. Our work is to ask and expect it to happen, His work is to connect us and give the connection between us, His revelation.

S. You say we need to ask. This is already the Kli? Sometimes you say these are not your calculations, don't get to it, your work is just to ask for the ten.

R. I don’t understand you.

S. It brings up many concerns that if the whole ten doesn’t pray for the Creator we won’t be able to get closer to Him until everybody asks.

R. Well more or less.

16. S. (42:16) Concealment is over There's None Else Besides Him, He’s good and does good, that's the shade that a person feels?

R. Yes.

S. This whole period in the Congress and yesterday in the lesson we heard that it’s safer to check oneself opposite the friends, not the opposite the Creator.

R. Yes.

S. Yesterday a friend told me during the meal that for fourteen years he was speaking bad about another friend. Only when he had a duty in the Congress with him he discovered that the friend only wanted his good, he didn't understand him correctly. Can we check ourselves in this way in relation to the Creator before we check ourselves opposite the friends and justify them?

R. No, from love of the created beings to love of the Creator, we first have to set up our relationship in the group. If I have some problem with the friends the Creator will not help me, I have to first set up the relationship with them, I have to first turn to Him and ask Him to make changes between us, to bring us closer. We first have to build a Kli, a vessel and after there's a vessel there's we can already talk about the connection between us.

S. And in the relations with the friends there's also a way that you can do it faster and not fall into such fourteen years when you think something like that about a friend?

R. Perhaps, possibly but it depends on the person, how seriously he builds this connection with the friends, how much he's concerned about that, it all depends on the person. The Creator always tries to bring us to the goal in the most optimal way.

17. S. (44:45) The recognition of one's lowliness invites an awakening from Above for the whole ten?

R. Relatively, to the extent that they're incorporated in each other.

S. The good sign and indication that such an awakening was given is, let's say, when he notices that the friends are taking care of each other, that the principles have awakened within him? What brings the upper One to replace the first shade with the second shade?

R. Only by prayer, connection between us and prayer to Him.

S. What causes our relation to change so that as a result of that the upper One replaces one shade with another?

R. Again, it's only according to our attitude, to our connection between us.

S. What it means is that if I stop paying attention to what my work really is in the ten and I look at my state as an individual instead of as an equal part then I become disconnected and the shade becomes replaced?

R. This I can't say any more, that's more of a higher calculation. I can't say that this will be so.

18. S. (46:49) This process of concealment being the shade and revelation, does it repeat itself in every stage of the way as we’re progressing?

R. Yes.

S. Does the whole ten go through that whole process simultaneously or individually? Is one in the shade and another one in revelation and concealment?

R. Both this and that, it already doesn't depend on us.

S. How to go through all those states quicker?

R. Accelerating is possible only according to the intensity of connection between us that we have to attain. In what form will it be that I can't say, that no longer depends on us, that's according to the inner nature of the ten.

19. S. (48:11) You said that we need to build a Kli. What does it mean to build a Kli and how do I know that I'm operating in the right direction?

R. You have to be together with friends, together with them build it and that is called “one shall help his friend.” You will feel how it's best for them to connect, like building a Lego structure.

20. S. (49:05) He starts the article quoting from The Song of Songs, “until the day breathes and the shadows flee away.” Why should the shadows flee away, what's wrong with the shade?

R. That there will be more revelation, more shadows, more changes of states.

S. That the system, the relationship with the concealment of the shade it’s not clear. Should a person ask for the shade to go away? He says that he shouldn't.

R. This is not the goal of our upper development, to be in the shade. Our goal of development is that even though there are shades, we connect together and the shades or shadows also, somewhat help us so that we each join to the other in the correct way.

S. The purpose of the shade of the concealment is to create a yearning in a person, a demand, a prayer?

R. Well, not only that but that, too, yes.

S. What else?

R. That we will know that when we maintain these shades we advance in a very special way.

S. Exactly, so what does it mean to demand revelation of the face? What does it mean that the Creator shines His face, there can't be a revelation without concealment, right?

R. Correct.

S. So what does it mean, the revelation of the face?

R. That it’s the revelation through concealment.

S. What does it mean in terms of the shade? The shade does not go away.

R. Does not go away, this is called the book of concealment. Meaning to the extent that we reveal the concealment we reveal the correct connection between us.

S. So what characterizes a true revelation of the face?

R. The true revelation of the face reveals to me that I need to yearn for a unique closeness with my friends so that in this puzzle we build the image of the Creator.

S. The yearning for that is sufficient for the person?

R. Yes.

21. S. (52:10) Shadow, shade is troubles, the feeling of troubles?

R. Not necessarily. A shade is what I wish to attain but in the meantime is hidden from me and demands of me a greater effort.

S. Meaning I'm in a state where I'm not pleased right now, I'm not in a state of tranquility, I'm not at peace. If I'm at peace and everything is fine that would not be called a shadow?

R. No.

S. “And under His shadow I coveted,” means I'm pleased with this shadow, I'm pleased with this trouble, with my disquiet because it actually helps me connect? I'm completely disconnected, the shadow is in the will to receive and here it's on a totally different plane, it's like an incentive for me?

R. Well, let's say so but it's not that clear and decisive.

S. This is correct in the work in the ten or it’s correct in general, in every state?

R. (No Translation)

S. And with people who are not on the way, they have so much trouble, is this related or unrelated?

R. Unrelated. They don't come to connect in order to reveal the Creator, the upper Force, the force of bestowal, that doesn't worry them.

22. S. (53:51) How come specifically this shade that he talks about here that leads to work above reason, it actually builds the right vessel in the ten?

R. Because by the shade you see that there has to be revelation here.

S. What does this shade hide and what does it reveal?

R. It can be different each time but typically the shade hides and reveals the correct connection between you and the friends and to you and the Creator.

S. So we have to always be in this connection where each one prays for the other, that each one prays for the other all the time.

R. Yes.

S. So how does the shade help in that?

R. When there's a concealment, inside the concealment there are unique qualities that appear to a person who feels the concealment. The concealment attracts, it's like a flirt because it both reveals and it conceals. A person goes through many changes of states and he wants to reconcile them all, that's how he advances.

S. That is seemingly his state but from that he needs to emerge to concern and think about the ten beyond whatever his state is.

R. That happens in accordance to how much he feels inconvenienced in the concealment and then he begins to reveal how he can come out of it. It turns out that he then discovers that the concealment is designed not for him to cancel it but that he actually has to enjoy it, as it is said “Under its shadow I coveted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my palate.”

S. That he enjoys it or that the friends enjoy it?

R. No, he himself also.

S. Meaning in the concealment for a person, I mean the fruit is not in him, the fruit is in ten, right? How does his personal state bring him to the feeling of the ten so that he can become liberated of himself and go to the ten? That's really my question.

R. I don't know. What do you mean in relieving himself from the ten?

S. Well to feel the ten, to be between the friends, to be between us, not inside of himself. How does the concealment bring a person to the center of the ten, let's call it that?

R. When he feels that he is in concealment and this concealment comes from above, then as a result he has a special prayer each time more and more aimed at the goal.

23. S. (58:15) In the concealment can a person be a bestower or only to keep justifying?

R. No, within the concealment there are all kinds of actions and the Creator awakens him through the concealment to those actions. This is how a person advances.

24. S. (58:49) You answered a friend when she asked how can we speed up this process and go through the stages quicker, you said according to the intensity of the connection but it doesn't depend on us it's according to the inner nature of the ten. Can you explain what that means the inner nature of the ten? Is it like a mechanism that we create or something that we're not aware of?

R. Each and every ten has its own character, style, work and therefore this is how we work this way, in tens and not more.

S. So you mean that inner net of connections, not something that we created through our awareness?

R. No, no, no. We were born and connected this way, it's not up to us. What's up to us is only to make the connection tighter.

25. S. (01:00:10) In the end should the shadows bring us to the revelation?

R. Yes.

26. S. (01:00:33) When a person is in concealment, what is this cause that brings the person to joy, what brings joy and happiness to a person?

R. Because the concealment is a big and important step forward toward connection where the advantage of the light is from within the darkness. So the more the concealment is felt in him, he will reveal when it passes away, when it dissolves.

S. When we search for something, you said that when I yearn for something that I didn't discover yet, that that’s the concealment, how by not finding it yet, how can I still be in happiness? I did not reveal the Creator yet through His shadow?

R. Also the shade not yet, because who is the Creator, how is He revealed, what is His shade, how do we approach Him, in what steps? We haven't, we still don't attain it, the concealment will bring this to us. The concealment will bring us to it.

S. Specifically in this state we have to go in faith about reason?

R. Yes.

27. S. (01:02:30) What's the difference between concealment to ‘a fall’ and ‘coarseness’?

R. No, no, no, concealment, you don't feel it as a fall, you feel that it as a new state has come to you.

S. So it's overcoming of coarseness, too?

R. You can put it this way.

S. It’s something you can work with?

R. Yes.

28. S. (01:04:08) What is the relation between the screen below and the concealment from above?

R. What’s the relation between the screen from below and the concealment from above? The Masach, the screen, comes from below from the created beings through prayer, and the created beings, what else did you want to say? The concealment comes from above, from the Creator.

S. What's the relation between them? There is equivalence of form between the screen and the concealment, and our actions from below through the screen, there is a light of mercy and that brings happiness.

R. Yes?

S. So it's not exactly annulling the concealment but it's working above the concealment as if to put the shade in the darkness?

R. Yes.

S. So the light, is that an action, instead of asking for myself, not that I won't be under concealment, “I want to reveal”, no, I'm asking for the friend to be together in greatness of the Creator, face to face, that's my action?

R. Looking at your face, I think yes!

29. S. (01:06:33) In the second shade, second concealment, what makes it still concealment and not like just thought of loss, not full completely into beast mode?

R. We have not learned it yet, where is it written?

S. We heard there is a first shade and the second shade.

R. Yes.

S. So in this second shade is there some kind of connection because he says he doesn't believe anymore?

R. There's no connection, there's no concealment; concealment is like revelation, it directs a person toward the Creator, and in the second concealment he stops feeling that there is a connection with the Creator.

S. So what makes the concealment and not a beast?

R. He still has the ability to return to revelation, to one concealment and to revelation.

S. How?

R. Through his work because he's still in the group, he's in the system, he can still pray.

S. It's written that he can't pray?

R. Well, somehow, somehow, he can't but he has a tendency toward it, he hasn't completely disconnected himself from the work.

S. If a person in the second concealment, can a ten take him out of there?

R. Yes, yes.

30. S. (01:08:17) In order to say that I am in concealment, a person had to do some sort of exertion compared to the ten, I can’t just say I'm in concealment, it's not right to say.

R. Right, right.

S. So to feel what I had before, the yearning to connect, forces to connect, it all disappears.

R. Yes.

S. So when you feel such a state of coming out of concealment, it's only in work above reason because all of my desire doesn't feel that yearning that I had. So then just to pray, to ask for forces, not to change the concealment but to rise above it?

R. Yes.

S. And coming out from concealment through revelation, that's already the balance between my will to receive and the intention to bestow, is it the right balance?

R. Well, that is still far but yes.

31. S. (01:09:33) It is written that “the shade brings life”, what ‘life’?

R. ‘Life’ is connection with the Creator through the ten where in the pattern of the ten, in the vessel of the ten, I discover the upper Force. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the created being.

32. S. (01:10:25) We are in a very strong period, we see that our feelings are interconnected to one another and they become thoughts. How can we strengthen the friends and move ahead?

R. Only by example, if you create, make a connection between you, the friends will see it, feel it and yearn for it as well!

33. S. (01:11:22) In the state that you feel that all concealments come from the Creator, and then you don't anymore, can it not reach “concealment in concealment”?

R. It is possible, try. If one concealment influences you to such an extent that you can use it correctly and fully, then perhaps it will be enough so that the Creator will shine above it.

S. What can we do for the light to shine on it?

R. We all have to want together as much as possible but all the way as much as each one can. To connect together so the Creator will be revealed in the connection between us.

S. So the goal is to shine upon us so He will be revealed?

R. Yes, His goal is to be revealed within us.

S. When such a concealment comes, how not to to miss out on it, how to make sure it burns in the ten and the friends will hold on to it and advance?

R. Try, we have to build such a system where you’re constantly on guard in connection between you.

S. But the second concealment sometimes shows up, even not as a result of the first concealment, you just go out of the lesson into life and the concealment falls on you without any preparations and you just disconnect from it for five hours?

R. On the contrary, my exit from the lesson to the world, my emergence from the lesson to the world gives me the opportunity to rise above the concealment. I'm always holding myself above the concealment.

S. Such a sensation is felt that you, not you can't come out into the world, but when you just tossed out there, it's like an exercise you can't work with, you're just thrown and that's it?

R. We have to practice, we have to practice, every time we come out of the lesson with the connection with the friends, you have to strengthen that connection and only afterwards come out, you should control yourself every moment.

S. What is it, like I mark an X on my hand?

R. Yes, I have these Xs that I would write, I would write with Rabash and here on my hand, and on the other hand I would mark something in order not to forget, that's what I used to do.

S. What would you not want to forget when you did those Xs?

R. To keep myself in faith above reason, not simple but possible.

34. S. (01:15:52) About the concealment before the friends: When we're in the good connection and they're shining upon me and I love them, but when there is a connection and I see them through my beastly eyes with all their human qualities?

R. Only if you're connected with the friends, agree with them and together yearn, this is called, ‘helping one another’, meaning each one can help his friend and everyone helps each other this way and then nothing terrible will happen.

35. S. (01:17:17) I'm asking about the equivalence of form: The Creator works before the ten through the shade, the first shade, the second shade. I learned about it and I want to implement like you said now “one man will help his friend”, I want to be like the Creator towards my friends, so what does it mean “working with the friend in the shades”?

R. That he, within the shades and the concealments, gives an example to everyone in the ten how they have to be connected between them.

S. The shade on my behalf, I'm not the one generating it, the shade on my behalf, what does it cover?

R. ‘The shadow’ conceals the Creator, covers the Creator.

S. The Creator?

R. Yes, the shadow covers the Creator and I'm willing to work in the shadow, in concealment. I do not care that it's concealment. I don't care that the Creator is hiding. I want only to keep the laws of connection between us in order to enable Him, whenever He wants, to be revealed.

S. And that's how I build the faith in the ten, that is okay, but how by covering the Creator in the ten, how does that strengthen the faith in my friend? Why does it strengthen his faith. I supposedly prevent the approach to the source of the force, how by clothing the shutter I help the friends see better?

R. It does not work this way, it doesn't work this way, you don't have direct influence on the friends but only an external example.

S. So that example, that clothing, what clothing is beneficial for my friend in working with the shadows, what are my clothing in?

R. No, no, no, that is philosophy, drop it, you're going back to philosophy again.

36. S. (01:20:23) Is one of the important qualities of the concealment of the shadow is for the person to be independent from the Creator?

R. A person doesn't want to be independent from the Creator, those who are on the path to the purpose of creation. On the contrary they want adhesion because He has nothing in Him to begin with that you can keep and develop.

S. Right, but is there freedom of choice or should I choose to be dependent on the Creator?

R. Put it this way.

S. But I can't be in adhesion if I don't choose it myself because the Creator is independent, He chooses it.

R. Our free choice is in faith above reason; it's in bestowal above the force of reception in us.

S. So this choice is it around this point where I relate to the shade or try to justify, try to relate to it?

R. You want to be attached to the concealment and take it on yourself, accept it on yourself until you feel that actually within the concealment the Creator is revealed completely.

S. What Rabash writes in the article, I want to leave the shadow, but the way I relate to it, that's what I have to pray for?

R. Yes.

37. S. (01:22:29) He writes in the state of I sat in your shade that he agrees in heart and soul with what the Creator’s sending him and then he writes that if he doesn't add in prayer that He’ll bring him closer he falls into the second concealment. This article isn't clear.

R. A person has to receive what he receives from the Creator openly so his heart is open from every influence and disturbance.

S. So it seems that he agrees with everything?

R. Yes, he agrees with everything.

S. And now he has to add prayer to come closer?

R. Yes, so what?

S. So it's not clear because he's already in that whole state. What can he add?

R. No, now he has the burdening of the heart and he's asking for more strength that will advance him into being above the work of the heart.

S. So when he agrees with heart and soul that’s the burdening of the heart?

R. Yes.

38. S. (01:23:57) Sometimes in the ten we say that it's not important whether I'm in revelation or concealment, the main thing is to push the friends to the Creator. Is it the right approach?

R. It’s the right approach but it's not that you run to that state in order to receive some reward, some prize.

S. Yes, there's like pride in it, so how to make it pure?

R. This is your work.

39. S. (01:24:44) Is it right to want revelation or should a person stay in concealment? I see the Creator’s forcing me to go in faith above reason. A friend said when you go out into the world with thoughts, everything gets erased and you put the check mark in going in faith above reason. There are a lot of shadows. Is it better to remain in the shadow and go in faith above reason? Kabbalists write that we better stay in faith above reason and because there is a friend between me and the Creator can I use a friend in order to conceal the Creator, to prefer that the friend is in the revelation and I'll stay in the shade of the friend?

R. It’s a very correct action and it allows us to march toward the Creator without making mistakes.

40. S. (01:26:14) When a person is in the second concealment it means that he didn’t exert enough when he was in the first concealment. That’s what brought him to the second concealment?

R. It's not like he didn't labor but according to the plan of creation he has to go through that too.

S. In the second concealment can the person realize he's in it and try to come out of it or only the friends can..?

R. In the second concealment he needs the friends and the Creator.

41. S. (01:26:53) This moment we feel we are advancing as a ten. How can we keep this feeling while we know that the concealment will come to us? How to always keep going with all our forces?

R. Just keep going, I don't see anything else but that. Just keep going and be more sensitive to what we are going through. Try through all those states, all those events to be as connected as possible to the ten and to the Creator. The minute we try to be connected to the ten and to the Creator then there we suffer blows and all kinds of problems and we have to try to raise ourselves with faith above reason.

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