Morning Lesson December 17, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam. Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot. #6
Reading Item 6. (00:16) “And now sons do hear me: The wisdom cries…”
S. 1. (08:58) What is the meaning when they say that the whole world was made to serve me, and I am to serve my maker?
R. From the system of incorporation in one another this is how it works out. The entire world has to bring you what you need in order to serve the Creator and that’s relevant to each and everyone.
S. It's not that the Creator created in order to serve us we have to serve Him eventually?
R. Yes.
S. It's all created for Him actually?
R. Yes and “I to serve my maker,” that's the end of the verse.
Reading Item #7 (09:59) “Now you will understand their words, that the Shechina…”
2. S. (15:09) He writes here about either through attention from them, how do you keep that attention?
R. Well, that depends on group work, each one ensures that all the friends will be aimed at the same goal using the same means.
S. How can a person make sure that the friends will be in that attention?
R. Each one should warm himself up and bring himself closer to others.
S. Why is it that through closeness?
R. As he writes, either through the attention of their own called the path of redemption. If they are rewarded it will be called the path of ‘I shall hasten it’ for the time meaning, there’s no set time but when they are rewarded the correction ends.
S. Why specifically through closeness is this attention kept?
R. We all maintain the same principles that advance us toward correction. We help one another, we support one another.
3. S. (16:35) The example that he gives with the king who prepared everything for the child and the child is not capable of enjoying anything is a horrible example, truly horrible.
R. What can you do if there’s a law and a person wants to pass it on to his descendants, what do you do? What would you do?
S. I don't know, it says he's sick and blind and deaf, we need to come to such a feeling that we don't bring pleasure to the Creator because we’re stuck?
R. The King sees the beginning of the path and the end of the path, and he knows and understands what’s going on with the son and consequently we need to learn what we have to do here.
S. On behalf of the son at least does he feel that he has a father that cares for him?
R. Yes and no, just like with us.
S. Why did he give this example? Baal HaSulam doesn't like to give too many examples but why did he give such an example?
R. It's a true example.
S On behalf of who, who feels it?
R. The examples he gives are truthful examples. Who feels it? We feel it, we feel it. If we don't strengthen ourselves, we can’t feel that we have a good father but instead, nature behaves wildly and if we do connect and wish to look for our father then we reach Him. All in all, we come to the good solution, the correct solution.
4. S. (19:05) He writes here about a time that was given either in its due time or in haste. Also, when we read the previous item, if we connect it to the previous article, it's like we’re in a field of clashes constantly, and you go out and know that you can have all kinds of accidents. Baal HaSulam also wrote that here and now it doesn't have to do with the soul, it is not yours, you have to bring it to the final correction. The body that you were given is like that vehicle. Why does that person have this tendency to come to these crashes to these clashes, it's like we're all the time in that field. You know in advance that you're wrapping yourself in a shield and a helmet and you know that you’re going to go out and you’re going to be clashing as much as possible, that’s our life it appears.
R. It's not us, the Creator’s doing it, what can you do?
S. Also our children that we’re preparing for such a life, that you're going out to the world, you're going to be clashing into someone else, that's what I see.
R. You don't have to run into someone else, but you have to be ready for a collision.
S. Exactly.
R. That's the world, it's built on the evil inclination.
S. We can die this way, you understand?
R. No, no, no, the Creator knows what to do when he's sustaining us, each of us, every moment. Don't worry about it, you have to worry about how you will be aimed more according to his definitions.
S. Where does the person have the desire to cause pain to another, that's what?
R. The evil inclination the Creator created. It’s the power of the Creator that exists in each one, the evil inclination. If the Creator would not get it going and then feed it we would be without the evil inclination, we wouldn't feel the other, rise against the other. Meaning the Creator from the get-go created everything, “I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah as a spice,” I guess without that you cannot reveal the Torah.
S. We need to move to another lane it appears in order to drive.
R. That's a matter of dissemination you have to do.
5. S. (22:38) How does ‘in haste’ work on the will to receive?
R. That by connecting between us we draw the upper light to influence us and to bring us closer from the path of ‘in its time’ to the understanding of the necessary connection.
S. This ass that he's describing here that raises his head only through blows, is it the same thing that happens in the path of haste, or what happens there?
R. Yes.
6. S. (23:47) I wanted to ask whether there's room for this feeling: the king who knows that there are two ways by which the child will come to receive the good, either the path of suffering or in the correct and good way?
R. Yes?
S. Now sometimes when your child, I'm talking now about this world, he goes through some state, you as a father can sometimes from the side stand and feel pretty well that he's going through an unpleasant state because you know it’s going to lead him to the right point. I wanted to know if in that situation, in the world, sometimes I find myself in a feeling that it's pretty good the suffering that we're going through now, the people, the nation. The question is whether it’s right. I feel that it's not as pure as possible and maybe I need to ask so that only in a good way and not to be like that here the suffering will awaken us a little and advance us.
R. I didn't understand your question.
S. I'm asking whether today in the state that our nation is going through and also the whole world is going through suffering, we can say that we're not advancing in a good way. I look at these things and I can just like I look at my child to feel whether it's good, that it’s wonderful, it will advance them, us, not them, us. Is that feeling that I’m even satisfied from the fact that we’re going through suffering, is there room for that?
R. Yes, those sufferings we’re going through today are also in our favor, they are in our favor.
7. S. (26:25) What is this tower filled with abundance that stands before humanity today?
R. That's a state of the end of the correction, the connection between everyone, and the final fulfillment of the upper light in everyone.
8. S. (26:47) At the beginning of item 6 we read “And now sons do hear me,” for the wisdom on the outside shall rejoice and here on the streets and call upon you who to the Lord unto me and I am your life and the way of your life. We also talked about this yesterday. Can you explain this, how it happens this feeling, ‘who to the Lord to me?’
R. We need to draw all the people in the world to us in order to connect to everyone and in that connection make room for the Creator to be revealed.
9. S. (27:32) Is there free choice in haste or is that also forced upon us by the Creator?
R. What’s the free choice in I shall hasten it? I shall hasten it is already a choice, you’re working correctly in order to attain the goal with all your might.
S. Also those desires the Creator gives us so that we will want.
R. Of course the Creator is behind all of our actions, there is no doubt there.
10. S. (28:21) He completes the item and says he will return to adhere to his root and complete his aim, that’s the whole thought of the Creator and there's a feeling like all the incarnations a person goes through are in order to use his thought correctly, to not harm and use it in anything that's not beneficial. Is that basically everything we’re going through in order to come to just that point? How does this world actually lead us to this, just like the friend said now you can actually see that this world is leading to clashes and to harm one another, how does this lead us to benefit one another?
R. Out of that we’ll understand what needs to be.
S. We see that from day to day it’s becoming worse not better.
R. We haven’t gotten to the recognition of evil, first we have to reach the recognition of evil and then only later we’ll see the good, there is no other way.
11. S. (29:36) The friends have been asking non-stop for the last couple of months and also today, why don’t we learn that we need to do the correction of the middle line and unite all the Klipot on the left and the right, then they will perform all these corrections? Why are we not learning this system, I know that it's complex but that's the solution.
R. Show me where it’s written about it in such a way, and then we’ll see.
Reading Item 8. (30:42) “Therefore, come and see how grateful we…”
12. S. (40:16) He writes here that whoever yearns to enter into the King's palace needs purity and to be washed and shaved and wear pure clothes, what is the meaning?
R. The meaning is as it’s written, we need to purify ourselves from all the foreign thoughts.
13. S. (41:05) He writes according to the deep questions that they asked each one according to his own interests, what is a deep question?
R. Again?
S. “Satan’s work succeeded, and obstacles were placed along the path of expansion of his wisdom into the holy nation and only a very few have come to conquer them this is so primarily because the words were written by hearsay as he had interpreted the wisdom day to day before his disciples who were already elderly and with the great proficiency in the Zohar and the Tikkunim. In most cases, his the holy sayings were arranged according to the profound questions that they asked him each according to his own interest.” What is a profound question?
R. A profound question demands preparation for the one who wants to ask it.
14. S. (42:36) The students of the ARI, in general, his group and the fact that they didn't understand him, and he forbade them from engaging in the wisdom and only Chaim Vital was allowed to engage in it. Was that even up to the student to not understand his method?
R. We don't know that.
S. I'm asking in the context of we are also students of a Kabbalist, how much does it depend on us how deep we can understand the teacher and receive his method?
R. We need to accept all that we receive, and that its implementation depends on us and only on us. Therefore, the closer we come to one another the more connected in a tighter way we are, thus we will be able to rise above the conditions placed before us in order to attain the purpose of creation. We’re not so far from it, we have to organize, sort in our hearts, and make order in our mind and heart and the work itself is not much more, the work that remains for us after these great generations that came before us.
S. How to correctly arrange things in the heart and mind, in what way to make this order?
R. Overcome the natural rejection that exists in us and come to our hearts connecting between us and then the upper light will enter in them as well, and from that feeling, we will see everything.
S. This natural repulsion towards whom?
R. One towards the other.
S. Is it in the Ten or relative to the world Kli or the world at large?
R. In the Ten and in our world Kli.
15. S. (45:37) To follow up on the friend’s questions, if I hear this article now or some other article, I don't always hear them, I feel like I'm not truly internalizing them and I would like as you said now to be able to actualize things. Maybe you can speak from your own perspective a little closer to the people. It will be easier to reach the goal.
R. If each of us thinks about the friends we will succeed in everything.
16. S. (46:27) The fact that we’re working on the correction and we’re advancing, we are influencing our surroundings to some extent, our relatives, those who are close to us.
R. Yes of course, we’re bestowing.
17. S. (47:03) A question about the questions we’re asking, sometimes I wish to ask a question but a question that will truly be a deep one, we say that we require a profound one. What kind of preparation do we need, how to prepare for asking questions?
R. Discuss these questions between you and the friends and it will succeed.
18. S. (47:34) He writes until he understands how to lift his head from the beastly trough in order to rise higher and climb the rungs of the ladder for success and happiness. Often times what prevents us from lifting our heads from the beastly trough is pride, it’s like a prison. What’s the best advice you have for coming out of this prison of pride?
R. Only connection with the friends, I see no other solution.
S. For that it’s allowed to do anything, anything but leave?
R. Yes.
S. How do I know I'm not harming the friends?
R. Since you want to connect from all your heart and to do everything with them even to put yourself to death in order to be connected with them and not leave the connection with them.
S. Sometimes I struggle with this pride, you feel like you can interrupt, you can harm, you can do things that are not good for the friends. Where is the boundary if you can’t identify this inner intention?
R. Prayer to the Creator, prayer to the Creator. Cry out, scream, breaking the heart and that's how you’ll succeed.
19. S. (49:21) How does a Ten look where all the friends try to open their hearts to one another? What does this Ten look like?
R. In truth I have not seen such a Ten, that's why I cannot say how it appears in practice but rather as one man in one heart as we read. We see a Ten that is in connection, connected in a true manner, and it can be only by a spiritual upper force to which they're willing to nullify themselves to such an extent that the Creator manages them already. I hope that we will come to a state in which there will be Tens between us that will want to be in such a state even though it's not simple, it's not a one-time decision in one moment but rather we need to be on the continuation of the path. We have to hold on truly by our teeth, undo our ego, and hold on in an embrace to everyone and thus hold it in a way that no friend can escape our embrace, and this is how we bring ourselves closer to redemption.
20. S. (51:46) You just said that the Ten has to cancel itself, can you be more precise?
R. Annul all their personal engagements, and only be concerned with the general connection and to be as one man in one heart.
21. S. (52:21) When we correct ourselves, we influence our more external circles, they are also advancing on the path of ‘I shall hasten it’ in this way, no?
R. By no means don't leave the external circles, they support you, without them you won’t come closer to the Creator. This is work that must be. You have to do it all the time and in a very serious and exalted manner.
22. S. (53:12) Baal HaSulam tells us here about the greatest of the wisdom of Kabbalah, of the RAMAK, and his students who asked profound questions, showed interest or great people perhaps, that’s how he writes about them and they were not worthy of receiving this tower full of good that the Creator had to give, that the wisdom was concealed at that time seemingly and today they say about us that we are worthy of receiving it. What has changed, what corrected from that generation to ours?
R. About 500 years have passed since that generation and many Kabbalists toiled and corrected the relations between the corporeal will to receive and the spiritual desire to bestow and the main ones are the RAMAK, the ARI, and others who exerted in this manner. Altogether they built the bridge between the force of correction and this generation in which we can advance all of the human society which already made many actions that led it to a state of despair and the end of the way. Everyone already sees that this world has no goal and no place and seemingly agree that something needs to be revealed and that it’s worthwhile to exist due to that, otherwise, no. I think we exist in an excellent time, and we can aim ourselves towards the correction of the world and this is all through the small humanity which we are part of.
S. All the questions that took place in the will to receive that you just described, is that because of the time, does time play a role in it or it’s only thanks to the work the Kabbalists did?
R. Time does its own also and also the corrections that the Kabbalists do advance all of us towards the stages of correction such that humanity itself will rise to a height, be connected as this corporeal world where it's prepared in the upper system for everyone. We’re already close to this.
S. Baal HaSulam describes here the advancement by explaining how the writings of the ARI were arranged better and more correctly and advancement depends on that. We learned that advancement depends on internal changes in humanity, in generations. What’s the connection between the writings of the ARI and the order, and the arrangement, of them and the inner advancement of each and every generation up to ours?
R. There are different times that don't have to do with our work, times for good, times for bad and therefore, we need to understand that we exist in systems, many systems and they impact us. Hence, we need to try in every generation, at any given time to understand what we need to do. Now is the time that we need to understand that finally the closeness of people, and souls to one another is what nature demands and what we need to give as an example for everyone.
S. How did the Kabbalah of the ARI bring us closer to this perception? We see the ARI who came with his deep wisdom and knowledge of how the system’s workings from within, what’s the connection between that and our perception that we have to connect?
R. The ARI gave us detailing of all the actions we need to do in order to adapt ourselves to this system of nature, the general nature, and all we have to do is to observe it. We never had anyone higher than the ARI at this.
S. Back to the point where I started, in what are we preferable in carrying out these actions over these great ones who lived back then and were not able to carry them out?
R. In my opinion, it’s because they simply lived in a time in which it was not yet possible to observe what we have to do, and we have come to a time in which you can reveal it and discover it.
23. S. (01:00:39) Who needs the writings of ARI today?
R. The writings of the ARI himself that we have like in “The Tree of Life,” I don't know who can use them, no, I don't know.
S. We, ourselves, don't read them, don't use them, but we rely on Baal HaSulam, Rabash, and you for our development, for humanity’s. Who needs the writings of the ARI in all those who preceded him, we’re respecting them, but what?
R. I understand that there's a certain respect but understand that the writings themselves are Holy ones, since he wrote word by work out of upper attainment and therefore, we don't have after Moses and the “Book of Zohar,” of Rabbi Shimon, we don't have more true writings.
S. I'm asking about how to use them.
R. The use depends on us and those who use it, but we can somewhat here and there use them. We can see how Baal HaSulam takes from there excerpts and verses interprets them and builds upon that, the “Study of the Ten Sefirot.”
S. For us the “Study of the Ten Sefirot” is enough to develop and reach spiritual attainment.
R. There’s the matter of it being enough, it’s closer, and there’s the matter of it being closer to the root, where undoubtedly “The Tree of Life” and “The Eight Gates” are closer to the root.
S. The more humanity develops it will come closer to the authentic sources of the ARI or vice versa.
R. I don't think I'm authorized or permitted to answer that, it seems to me that not. I think that humanity is actually in a state of deteriorating in understanding of the sources and it will come in another way to it.
S. This other form will be Baal HaSulam and Rabash, they will accept the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash?
R. Maybe, maybe. The doubt is that they won’t understand that either.
S. Will it be humanity’s spiritual nourishment?
R. What we write will be closer to humanity, closer to them. By that they can connect and come to us and from us onwards, higher.
S. Where are the sources as mediators to the spiritual world, they disappeared, and became our understanding of things?
R. Let's hope that through us a path will open up of the true Torah.
S. Humanity will need the sources, or the simplest explanations and the heartfelt connection will be enough for us to advance?
R. Humanity will want it to be revealed in the heart and let's hope that we will supply them with this path, of course through the writings of the ARI, Rabash, and Baal HaSulam.
S. What will be the role of the sources?
R. The role of the sources will appear later, it will come after a long time. Okay, we will conclude the lesson with this.