The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: October 28, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator? Article No. 19, 1987
Reader: Hello, dear friends. In the first part, we'll study from a lesson from the 22nd of December 2002. It's based on the article, "What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator?" It's from “The Writings of the Rabash.” You can find it on the website. We'll read it in the Ten. We have 38 minutes for this.
Reading: (00:49) What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator?
Article No. 19, 1987
The writing says (Micah 6:8), “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Here in this verse we see two things revealed before us: 1) “To do justice,” where we see that He does justice. 2) “Love mercy,” where we see that He loves mercy. How do we know this? We see that He does mercy. He must certainly love it or He would not do mercy. And one thing that was said here is concealed, as it is written, “and to walk humbly with the Lord your God.”
We need to understand the meaning of walking humbly. In the literal, it is interpreted that the two above-mentioned things—doing justice and loving mercy—should be in concealment, so no one will see his good deeds. But what does this mean in the work?
It is known that there are the acts of Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] and the intention of the Mitzvot. In the actions, everyone is equal; there is no difference between a great righteous and an ordinary person, since it was said about the practicing Mitzvot, “Do not add and do not subtract.” We do not say that the righteous has two mezuzahs [text from the Torah placed on the right hand doorpost], one on the right side of the door and on the left side. Rather, the difference between great and small is only in the intention.
In the intention we should also make two discernments: 1) to aim that now he is performing the Mitzvot of the Creator, 2) aim for the reason that makes him observe the Mitzvot of the Creator.
However, in this regard we should make several discernments: 1) He is observing the Mitzvot of the Creator for by this, people around him will respect him and so forth. It follows that what compels him to keep the Creator’s Mitzvot is people and not the Creator. That is, if there were no people around him, he would not observe the Mitzvot of the Creator.
And in this discernment, too, we should discern whether he is doing this out of coercion. That is, a person who desecrates the Shabbat [Sabbath] might work for a religious person. The rule is that if he can force him not to desecrate the Shabbat, the rule is that he must force him. For example, if he does not observe the Shabbat, he will fire him from the job. If he has no place else to work, he will certainly promise him that he will not desecrate the Shabbat.
It turns out that he is observing the Mitzvot of his boss, meaning he follows the commandments of the giver of the work, and he has no connection with the Creator. However, in terms of the law, we see that this, too, is regarded as observing Mitzvot. Otherwise, why would he need to force him to observe Mitzvot?
It turns out that this servant is only working out of coercion. It is as we said (Article No. 29, Tav-Shin-Mem-Vav) that Maimonides said (Hilchot De’ot, Chapter 6), “In matters of above, if he did not revert in concealment, he is shamed in public. He is despised and cursed until he repents.” It follows that he is observing the Mitzvot because the public is forcing him.
Concerning the reason that people are compelling him, we should discern whether he enjoys performing that Mitzva or not. When he performs the Mitzvot because he is respected and so forth, he enjoys observing the Mitzvot. But if he is observing Torah and Mitzvot because of coercion, he always yearns to come out of that exile so he will not suffer from the Torah and Mitzvot, which is to him as “will pass on his own will, and will not be killed” by the people compelling him to observe the Torah and Mitzvot.
It therefore follows that one who observes because of respect from people can observe the Torah and Mitzvot gladly. But one who observes coercively, cannot be in happiness. Rather, he sits and waits for an opportunity to escape from this exile, since he is not observing the Mitzvot of the Creator because he wants to observe what the Creator said, but he must observe because people on the outside are chasing him, and he cannot suffer greater torments than the torments of observing Mitzvot. For this reason, this manner is worse than the first.
It follows that there are two discernments in aiming to observe Torah and Mitzvot: 1) out of fear and coercion, 2) out of love, when he is happy when he observes Torah and Mitzvot.
There is also another discernment in the reason that makes him observe Torah and Mitzvot. It is called “walking humbly.” This refers to the actions—so everything he does, no one sees or hears of his good deeds, and he does everything in concealment. In terms of the intention, it is certainly hidden from the eye of every living thing.
But in the intention, there are two discernments to make: 1) He is observing Torah and Mitzvot and there is nothing here that is because of people, since no one knows about his work. Rather, the reward that the Creator pays for listening to Him is the reason compelling him to observe Torah and Mitzvot.
This manner is regarded as believing in the Creator and believing in reward and punishment. Thus, the reward and punishment is the reason compelling him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. We can call this manner “working Lishma [for Her sake],” meaning for the Creator and not for people to respect him.
This is certainly clean work, which is entirely for the Creator: 1) With respect to actions, he does not want anyone to see his good deeds so they will reward him for it. 2) With respect to intention, he does not require people to pay him anything for this work in Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, he wants the Creator to pay his reward for his work.
However, this manner of walking humbly is still incomplete, although it is more important than the two prior manners, which is when people compel him: 1) the first is because of fear and coercion, 2) the second is because of love.
Here, however, the reason is only that the Creator compels him. Yet, since he wants reward in return for his work, by this he becomes separated from the Creator due to disparity of form. For this reason, his work is still incomplete.
Complete work means that he works in concealment, his intention is that only the Creator compels him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and other people have no grip on his work. At the same time, he is working not in order to receive reward, but only for the Creator. This is regarded as wanting to adhere to the Creator, as in, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.”
This means that all his work is in order to bestow, and he derives great satisfaction from the privilege of serving the King. From this he derives pleasure and joy, and he has no other need to be given anything. Rather, when he observes Torah and Mitzvot in utter simplicity and cannot aim any intentions, he settles for this as though he can serve the King with an important service.
It is like a person working for the king as a cleaner compared to one who is the king’s minister and advises the king wherever the king needs his help. There is certainly a great difference from the king’s cleaning man, both in salary and in the respect of the king’s minister.
The lesson is that there is certainly a difference between one who is serving the king when he has been rewarded with “The secrets of Torah are revealed to him and he entertains himself with the King,” and one who is a commoner, observing Torah and Mitzvot without any understanding of the intellect of the Torah. Rather, he is happy that he has been privileged with observing the King’s Mitzvot, which He has given to him. He enjoys this more than any worldly pleasure, since the pleasures of this world seem to him as though they are serving the body, which is flesh and blood. But when he engages in utter simplicity, which is the simplest work, like a cleaner in the King’s house, but says, “At the end of the day, whom do I want to please? The King.” He does not want to serve himself, called “will to receive for his own sake,” but his intention is that the Creator will enjoy his work.
It follows that a person should receive pleasure, since without pleasure a person cannot work. Because of the nature that the Creator has created, according to the thought of creation, which is His desire to do good to His creations, a desire and yearning to receive pleasure are imprinted in us.
However, there are great differences regarding the things from which we can receive pleasure. That is, pleasure is called “light,” and there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. It follows that the pleasure that one wants to receive is placed in some Kli. This means that there are pleasures clothed in corporeal pleasures, such as lust. Yet, in lust, too, there are several discernments to make. It is likewise with respect, and one can also derive pleasure from learning knowledge. Every person can derive pleasure from the Kelim [vessels], which are generally called “lust,” “respect,” and “knowledge.”
However, there is a fourth degree, which is serving the Creator. Baal HaSulam said in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that there are four degrees called SVAS (still, vegetative, animate, and speaking): 1) “Still” is called “lust,” 2) “Vegetative” is called “honor,” 3) “Animate” is called “knowledge,” and 4) “Speaking” is called “serving the Creator.”
It follows that each one must receive pleasure, except there is a difference from which clothing a person can derive delight and pleasure. In this we should distinguish one from the other. For this reason, it turns out that the beginning of man’s work on the path of truth is to achieve the degree of “walk humbly with your God.”
That is, his work is in concealment, where no one has any contact with his Torah and Mitzvot because he is concealed from people. However, there is another thing that should be here: “Walk humbly with your God.” “With” means in Dvekut [adhesion]. His work should be in Dvekut with your God and not in separation. This is so because specifically when he works not in order to receive reward, but entirely to bestow, he has equivalence of form, called “Dvekut with the Creator.” But if his intention is to receive reward from the Creator for his work, then he is deemed a receiver, and the Creator is the giver. It follows that there is no Dvekut with the Creator here, but to the contrary, there is separation, for he is in oppositeness of form from the Creator.
By this we will understand what we asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Walk humbly with your God’?” The literal meaning is that here is the beginning of the work called Lishma. It is as Rabbi Meir said, “He who learns Torah Lishma [for Her sake], henceforth, he is rewarded with many things and the secrets of Torah are revealed to him, and he becomes like a springing stream.”
It therefore follows that we should distinguish between the work of the general public and the work of the individual.
The work of the general public refers to the whole of Israel, who learn Torah as a practice. In other words, in actual fact. There are seventy nations in the world, and there are good people with good qualities, and there are the opposite: wicked. In other words, in the world in general, there are many people. There, the order of the work is that the act is what matters. It is impossible that they will mind the intention, to make it Lishma. Instead, they are told, “From Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], we come to Lishma.”
Also, their work does not need to be in concealment. Instead, the order is that each one tells his friend how much good deeds he has and how much time he dedicates to Torah and work. This is so on purpose, and there are two benefits from it: 1) It benefits the teller, since when he sees that someone is envious of him, it motivates him to work. That is, he has the power to work for others because he thinks that his friend will respect him for his work. It follows that this gives him fuel for work.
The reason is that anyone who makes any effort must have reward in return for it. The reward can be in money or in respect. That is, sometimes, the act that he does makes people respect him. This is already regarded as reward, like money. That is, some people work for respect, and respect pertains precisely to where there are people who see his actions.
However, there is a difference between money and respect from the perspective of the giver. Where one works for money, he does not care who gives the money. The giver can be a common person, but if he pays a higher price than a respectable person, in monetary payment, it is not the giver’s personality that determines if the work is worthwhile, but the sum of money determines the place of the work.
This is not so with one who works for respect. Here, the giver is precisely the one who determines. If the giver is a distinguished person, it is not so difficult to work for respect. However, this depends on the level to which the person is regarded by the public as an important personality.
It therefore follows that it is difficult to serve the Creator not in order to receive reward, and a person expects some return. It is not enough for a person to serve the King because he lacks the faith in the greatness of the Creator, since otherwise, it is natural that the small one annuls before the great one, when a person is accepted by the public as a great personality.
For this reason, when a person can no longer feel the greatness of the Creator, he must work in Lo Lishma. This is why a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot in order for people to respect him. However, this is so only where he is in an environment that respects servants of the Creator. When one is among secular people, he certainly works in concealment so as not to receive contempt from them instead of respect.
However, once a person has crossed the stage of the general public, if a person awakens and wants to come out of the general public, meaning be to enslaved to the public, meaning that according to what the general public determines as the work of the Creator, this is what he can observe.
But what is not accepted by the public, and he feels that the work of the general public is not the final stage, but he has an inner drive that there is the issue of work that pertains specifically to individuals, where each individual contains the collective, then the matter of Lishma begins to be revealed to him. It is as Maimonides says (end of Hilchot Teshuva), “Until they gain more knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are shown that secret bit by bit. They are accustomed to this matter calmly until they attain Him and know Him, and serve Him with love.”
It follows from all the above that there is the wholeness of the action and the wholeness of the intention. Once a person keeps the wholeness of the action, which pertains to the general public, then begins the work on the wholeness of the intention. This is when one must try to make the cause compelling him to observe Torah and Mitzvot be the Creator, since he wants to bestow upon the Creator because he believes in the greatness and importance of the Creator.
For this reason, he regards it as a great merit if he succeeds in serving the King. This work is called “concealed work.” Here, the work is primarily on the intention, which is not revealed to anyone. That is, not a single person in the world can know the reason that compels his friend to work in Torah and Mitzvot.
But in the work of the general public, called Lo Lishma, this is the revealed work, which is the practical part. This means that their wholeness is in the action. However, they were not given work on the intention, to make the intention whole, as well, meaning Lishma. Instead, they are taught to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma, as Maimonides says.
It is written in The Zohar (Nasso, Item 50): “‘The concealed things belong to the Lord our God’ are fear and love, which are in the mind and in the heart. These are the Yod-Hey. ‘And the revealed things belong to us and to our children,’ meaning the Torah and the Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], which are in the externality of the Guf [body] and the Rosh [head]. This is the Vav-Hey. The meaning of the matter is that no one knows if a person fears the Creator or loves Him, since it is something that is revealed only between him and his Maker.”
But a person who engages in Torah and engages in practical Mitzvot, this is revealed to everyone, since here the Creator has made it that he should engage in Torah openly, and eyes to look at it and ears to hear it. The Creator has also made man hands, legs, and a body with which to perform Mitzvot.
It is known that the name HaVaYaH comprises five worlds, called AK and ABYA. The tip of the Yod consists of AK. They contain five Partzufim called Galgalta, AB, SAG, MA, and BON. These comprise five Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut. This means that each and every Behina [discernment] is included in one letter in the name HaVaYaH.
The Zohar says about the verse, “This is My name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations,” “My name” with Yod-Hey [in Hebrew] is 365 in Gematria, which implies to the 365 negatives [commandments not to perform certain actions]. “My remembrance” with Vav-Hey [in Hebrew] is 248 in Gematria, implying the positive Mitzvot [commandments to perform certain actions].
Baal HaSulam explained why the negatives are implied in Yod-Hey, which imply Hochma and Bina, and why the positive Mitzvot, which are certainly things with which to serve the Creator, are at a lower degree and are implied only in the Vav-Hey. He said that in the world of Tikkun [correction], it is in order to prevent another breaking of the vessels, since the reason for the breaking was that there were great lights in small vessels.
Hence, a correction was made that only small lights would shine, called “lights of VAK.” And because it is forbidden to extend lights of GAR, and GAR is called Yod-Hey, which are Hochma and Bina, it is nonetheless necessary to extend lights of VAK. For this reason, the lights of VAK are implied in the name Vav-Hey. Therefore, the positive Mitzvot are in Vav-Hey, which is VAK, but the lights of GAR, which are forbidden to extend, are called “negative Mitzvot,” meaning that it is forbidden to extend.
Accordingly, we can explain the meaning of HaVaYaH that includes fear and love, which are Yod-Hey, and Torah and Mitzva, which are Vav-Hey. We will explain them one at a time.
1) Fear means that one should be afraid lest he will bring little contentment to his Maker, as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 203): “Both the first fear and the second fear are not for his own benefit, but only for fear that he will lessen bringing contentment to his Maker.”
Fear is the first Mitzva because it is impossible to truly believe in whole faith that he will not come into heresy before he has been rewarded with fear. It is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 138): “It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer. Hence, when one feels bad, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him to the same extent, and the superior Operator is concealed from him.”
Yet, when a person does all his works in order to bestow, at that time the Kelim are fit to receive the delight and pleasure, and then there is faith upon him because in that state, he attains the Creator as the good who does good. It is as it is written in the Sulam [Ladder commentary]: “Thus, it is no wonder that we are still unworthy of receiving His complete benefit. For this reason, His guidance of good and evil has been prescribed for us.” It follows that this is the root of faith by which we can be rewarded with permanent faith.
2) Love. Since through fear he is rewarded with delight and pleasure, at that time love appears. In love, too, we should discern between conditional love and unconditional love, as it is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot.”
3) Torah. This extends from fear, since precisely through fear we can obtain the desire to bestow, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.” For this reason, specifically through Torah we can come to fear and trepidation lest he will not be able to bring contentment to his Maker.
This is why the Torah is over the disclosure of fear. That is, if he is truly learning Torah on the path of truth and not for the sake of knowledge, and his intention in the Torah is to achieve fear. For this reason, the order of the work is from below upward. This is why the Torah, which is Vav of HaVaYaH, comes first, since through it he later achieves fear.
However, one who learns Torah with a different aim, not in order to achieve fear of heaven, this is not regarded as Torah, but as knowledge. It is as our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha Rabatti 2:17), “Should a man tell you, ‘There is wisdom in the nations,’ believe, ‘There is Torah in the nations,’ do not believe,” since Torah belongs to those who learn in order to achieve fear of heaven.
4) Mitzva. This is Hey of HaVaYaH, and extends from love, which is the first Hey of HaVaYaH. Because of this, performing the Mitzvot should be with love and joy of observing the King’s commandments. Here, too, we learn from below upward, meaning by a person exerting to observe the King’s Mitzvot with love, by an awakening from below that causes an awakening of above, where the Creator reveals His love for Israel, as it is written, “You loved us and wanted us.”
It follows that through Torah, fear appears, and through Mitzva, love appears. This means that a person should begin the order of the work from below upward: 1) first Mitzva, which is the last Hey of HaVaYaH, 2) then Torah, which is Vav of HaVaYaH, 3) then love, which is the first Hey of HaVaYaH, 4) and then fear, which is the Yod of HaVaYaH.
But in the order of bestowal that comes from above, fear appears first, then love, then a person attains love, and then he attains Torah, and then Mitzva.
However, the matter of the inclusion of the souls in the name HaVaYaH is specifically in the last Hey. It is as the holy ARI says, that the soul of Adam HaRishon is from the internality of BYA, and BYA emerged from Malchut of Atzilut, called “last Hey of the whole of Atzilut.” For this reason, Malchut is called the “Assembly of Israel,” as it includes within it all the souls.
And for this reason, man’s work belongs to Malchut. That is, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, they cause the unification of the Creator and His Shechina [Divinity], since Malchut is called “a vessel of reception for the upper abundance,” and the Creator is called “the Giver.” This is why there is no unification here, called “equivalence of form.” But when we engage here below in acts of bestowal, each one causes equivalence of form in the root of his soul, and this is called “unification,” like the Creator, who is the Giver.
It is as it is written in The Zohar (Nasso, Item 29): “The letter Hey is a confirmation of things.” The meaning of the matter is “Take with you things and return to the Creator. Certainly, when a person sins, he causes the Hey to move farther from the Vav, since Ben Yod-Hey, which is Vav, comprises Yod-Hey-Vav, and departed from the letter Hey. This is why the Temple was ruined and Israel were removed from there and were exiled among the nations. And this is why anyone who repents causes the Hey to return to the letter Vav, and redemption depends upon this.
Reader: We will now continue to the recorded lesson from the 22nd of December 2002.
M. Laitman: (39:33) We heard the article "What Is Concealed and Revealed in the Work of the Creator." That's from “The Rungs of the Ladder,” where Rabash explains how we go from concealment to revelation. It's things that are very humble in this article. Even starting from that there's the intention that he performs the commandments of the Creator, and the reason for keeping the commandment, then keeping the commandment from fear or love. Whether coercion, whichever way, when we start advancing to adhesion, it takes place by a commandment. With a vessel, with the intention to bestow, the light can enter that fills it according to equivalence of form between light and vessel. And in the vessel there's a state called “adhesion” within the soul, that the dweller dwells in the soul and fills it. And there is the adhesion that is attained through a commandment. So the commandment, coupling by striking, and unification by the reflected light, which becomes as a clothing on the direct light, and then there's inner light where the act of adhesion takes place. How does it happen? By starting the work from the top layer of the will to receive, when you work in it in the smallest coarseness, from fear, then from fear you go to love. Fear and love are two degrees of revelation beyond the barrier. By revealing the right relation to the Creator, we have reward and punishment, and then we have eternal love, beyond the barrier. Before the barrier, we have double concealment and regular concealment. Whether of mistakes, since we start from sins in double concealment, then we go to mistakes from being in a regular concealment, pass the barrier, start participating in reward and punishment, and that is already called “fear.” Not fear like Rabbi Shimon explains in “The Commandments of the Light” in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” that there's fear of this world, from all kinds of things in this world, but there already begins fear from in order to bestow, and also the reward is already expressed in order to bestow, with the ability to bestow. That's called reward and punishment, acquiring fear, the Yud of HaVaYaH. And then the first Hey in HaVaYaH is when we attain love. That's the next stage, that we already receive in order to bestow. And when we receive in order to bestow, what really happens in the vessels, that's already Vav. We receive in order to bestow, that is still the Vav, that of the action. And then there's a lower Hey, which is already the commandment, that we truly reach a state, the final state, a result of these actions. That their result will be adhesion. Then a person acquires the Yud Hey Vav Hey, the full name. There's a bit of confusion with these names. The confusion starts that, on one hand, we learn what are these names? Yud Hey Vav Hey, it's the names of the vessels. Root, Shoresh, is the tip of the Yud, there's no sign except for point, it's the tip of the Yud. Then Yud Hey Vav Hey are phase one, two, three, and four. Or afterwards, when it's in Sefirot, so the Keter is the tip of the Yud, and then the rest are Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.
M. Laitman: (45:47) But when we learn through attainment, we learned that Ta'amim, Nekudot, Tagin, and Otiot are Yud Hey Vav Hey. And before the Ta'amim, where we calculate, that is the tip of the Yud. That's the attainment of the lower ones. Now, if we go before the lower ones attain, how a person approaches this attainment, comes closer to it, so we also have Yud Hey Vav Hey, just in a different form. Meaning, there's Yud Hey Vav Hey in direct light from above downward, then there's Yud Hey Vav Hey from the reflected light from below upward. And when we start attaining, we come not to Ta'amim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot, but we start from the Otiot and reach wholeness, adhesion. Then, when a person gathers the letters from this world and copies them into spirituality, and when he starts working in spirituality, all his letters gather to the actual records of the letters. And then, by these records, he goes from the records of a light to the records…from the records of the vessels to the records of the light to Tagin and then to Nekudot from the deficiencies, that he's lacking these lights, why it departed first and shattered, and so on. He starts attaining the reasons, the deficiencies, what he's lacking in reaching holiness, and then he reaches the Ta'amim, he's rewarded in the Ta'amim, in the tastes of the Torah. So our path is different. We're not talking about the structure of the Yud Hey Vav Hey of the Sefirot, but of attaining them from below upward. It's Ta'amim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot, and from below upward, there is as if it's a different form. There are a lot of discernments in this. Also the Rabash says here that we have the commandment of Torah, Mitzva fear and love. So how could it be that a commandment is Malchut, Torah is ZA, love is Bina, fear is Hochma? How can that be? Because Malchut is called the fear of the Creator, right? He also explains it in the Zohar, that the fear of the Creator starts from Hochma. It's Malchut. Malchut that correct herself is the first to attain the Hochma, until Malchut attains, it fills with the light of Hochma like Hochma, like the Sefira of Hochma. And then he starts from the commandment, which is the last thing. So he explains that once we're speaking from below upward and once from up downward. So it's two forms of revelation that come one towards the other, supposedly. Are there questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:35) When a person emerges to revelation, and he sees the guidance of reward and punishment, he begins working in fear. Why does he begin working in fear? What does it mean to work in fear?
M. Laitman: Working in fear is called that the beast can move, the will to receive, the initial will to receive can work and move; meaning to do a type of action, a change within itself, only from calculating if it's lacking or filled, with no intentions for something foreign, but the only intention is that I'll be more filled. This fear to be empty, to lose the fulfillment, that's called beastly fear. Now, a person has all types of fear. It also depends on his development, whether he's only afraid for himself, or his relatives, his family, or his friends, his city, his state, the whole world. Baal HaSulam writes about it; depends on a person's development, but eventually, in that development, there's only recognition that my fulfillment depends on them. Just the measure of awareness gives a person the size of the spiritual fear. Why am I afraid of the world? Because I'm dependent on them even though it seems to me that I'm really thinking about the world. That's our beastly, well, let's say a human fear. Afterwards, there's fear towards the Creator. That already depends on faith, that the Creator controls that. First, I was in fear that something would be lacking to receive from the environment. So in this world, I already start depending on the Creator, that I'll be lacking something to receive from Him, that I start depending on Him. So, is it worth doing the commandments? I'll do good, He's going do good, that's His desire, I'll do it. Why? Because somebody's paying me, whoever's doing His will. So, that is called that he's already expecting a payment, a reward, whether to feel good in this world, or for the next world also, it’s good for the future. Or even if he neglects this world only for the sake of the next world, that's a big righteous; really doesn't want anything in this world, only in the next world. Well, that's a very big will to receive, because there is wholeness, eternity. And what's here? How much can you enjoy this world especially when you get old. So what's left of life? I'm not allowed to eat sweet, I can't eat any fatty foods, I also can't drink. Beastly pleasures, you're not drawn to it anymore, so you only have your future to be worried about, and then you're called a righteous. And a different type of fear, meaning as much as I work for the sake of the Creator, what does He get from me with nothing in return to me. That can only be after the restriction, because the restriction means that me, for myself, I'm not taking anything back from what I'm causing to the Creator. And this check is that I don't see my results. I do something, I don't know whether He gets it or not. I don't know does He know me or not, I do not know if He feels that He's getting from me or not. So where can I take the fuel to do that? So here, we're demanding that the Creator will be revealed, only for me to have the opportunity to do that. That's called humbleness. It's written here, someone is asking, he didn't write who he is, where he's from, but
Question (Internet): (54:42) what is humility, walk humbly in spirituality?
M. Laitman: So this is called walking humbly: where a person doesn't know who he's working for and what exactly it is he's doing, what bestowal is coming from him, and if the one receiving it feels that he's receiving that bestowal from him. Meaning, various circumstances that I can interpret as though they come back to me for my benefit. And then when we delve into that, we feel that it is not possible even in terms of planning it, and much more so actually executing on it. For that, we need the mind, as well as the heart, as well as planning and execution. For all of that, we need a force from above. But before that, we need to come to a necessity for that thing. And the necessity for it is above the barrier. And transitioning to such a state, that's called crossing the barrier, meaning emerging to a state which is completely independent of myself or giving something back to me. To the point that the Creator doesn't know me, He doesn't know that I'm doing anything for Him, and I also can't see it, and I don't see Him, and I don't see that I'm doing anything for Him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:29) How can a person increase his deficiency to enter spirituality and increase his pace?
M. Laitman: How can we increase our desire? To increase, first you need to have it. I don't know what it means to increase. If there is something there already, then you can imagine to yourself what it means to have it bigger. But if there's nothing there, then we can't tell small from big. Increasing, magnifying, that's a different problem altogether, different to acquiring something. They say that from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], where we think only about our own benefit. And there is also a little bit there in relation to the Creator, wanting something for His benefit—to the extent that the surrounding light gives us some sort of understanding that this is also recommended, worthwhile, by yearning for it, like chasing after a great lust for the Creator to fulfill me—from that, salvation is given from above. The person is brought a different desire, a different intention, detachment from the self. So, he can certainly emerge from himself and disconnect from these thoughts, thoughts about himself, these desires for himself. It's a thing which we don't feel what that means. It's a completely different creation. It's completely, completely thoughts, calculations - it's a different approach to life and reality as a whole.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:22) So, what should I do to look at myself from the side?
M. Laitman: To come to that and look at yourself from the side, you need the upper force to do this for you. If I am entirely the will to receive, how can I emerge from the will to receive? The light reforms. It brings me out of the will to receive and positions me off to the side.
Student: For that demand, what actions do I need?
M. Laitman: A demand for that. I also can come to a demand for that if I'm within the will to receive. The demand for it begins to form within my will to receive a little bit through the study. From the study and during the study, I'm thinking about how to achieve something like that. But all of the desires are still within the will to receive. But by me making an effort, by seemingly performing some, by making some efforts through that, well, due to that, I'm pulled out beyond the barrier.
Student: I understand that you're saying there's no control, but how can I...
M. Laitman: There is none. There is none, I'm telling you. This is the maximum that you can do. Meaning, within the will to receive, to make all sorts of efforts, to want only what appears to you to be spirituality, but to want only that, to reach the maximal will to receive. It's as he writes about one who is lustful and really, really longs for what he loves. He wants only that. That goal does not move from his eyes day or night. He just revolves around that axis his entire life. He doesn't see anything… that anything can exist outside of it, like being driven mad by love.
Student: Maybe to make a nice depiction of it.
M. Laitman: This depiction, don't you know this a little bit from our lives? Take this example of love, and you will see. That's it. You'll see what it is. And that's why we have such examples in this world, because from there, from there we need to gather all of the letters, the discernments in order to imagine spirituality. Of course, it's different in spirituality, but to begin in that, from Lo Lishma, for that we need to be in this world. To start, to begin with spirituality, well, we have some, it's called letters, examples in this world, which are beastly, but we can still nonetheless imagine to ourselves that it might be that, although it's not true. That's why it's called “not for Her sake,” Lo Lishma.
Student: I feel that I hear, I don't hear…
M. Laitman: You hear, you hear, but you can't touch on that thing.
Student: But still, I'm not...
M. Laitman: Okay, it's exactly like you loving someone, wanting to be with them, but you can't reach them. So, yes, nice, very good. It's very good that you want to catch, right? Now you just need to increase it. You asked about how to increase the will. Well, work on increasing the will, magnifying the will. That needs to come to you from the society. First of all, they need to tell you that this is the only thing that's important. Nothing else besides exists. And also from yourself, if you pray during the study that you want only that, that it will be clear to you that this is the only thing you want.
Student: You said to define?
M. Laitman: To magnify.
Student: I asked about increasing.
M. Laitman: Yes, making larger, increasing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:30) We say that you need to advance from greatness, from the positive and not from the negative. But Pharaoh doesn't see greatness in the positive. He, only the blows make him let you leave. It's like you have to hope for something to come, but Pharaoh won't let me go to the positive.
M. Laitman: Your example is incomplete. It does not encompass the entire image, the entire picture. The Creator tells Moses and Aaron, both these discernments within the person, He's revealed to them in the burning bush and various other occasions. He tells them, I deliver you from Egypt, but not alone. Although you are now awarded with everything, you are already worthy of the entirety of the land of Israel and so on, meaning rising to adhesion with Me, no problem. But these qualities aren't sufficient, aren't enough for Me to save. These thoughts, these intentions are good, but there is more in you, in the person. Many, many more things, which in total are called Pharaoh, the Egyptians. Also the Jews, the people of Israel. And we need to wage some kind of war. You have the punishments, the plagues on Pharaoh in front of the entirety of Egypt, all the Egyptians, and also all the Jews mainly. So, the Jews will want to be freed from that Pharaoh and escape him. The Pharaoh himself is the heart of stone, yes? The Jews and a few of the Egyptians which are of the mixed multitude and various things, that's what can join Moses and Aaron, yes, inside the soul. These seemingly corrected vessels, corrected intentions, you have only two of those, Moses and Aaron. The others? No. All the other Jews are under Pharaoh's governance. It's only Moses and Aaron that already feel to be free, feel themselves to be free, and they go against him, yes, with the demand of "Let My people go."
So it's not that the Creator isn't revealed to the person. He is revealed. It's just that the person now has to work to truly unite with all of his desires, to want in all of his desires to cross the barrier. This is called being lovesick, maddened by love, to increase the love until he desires such that there's nothing else besides. That's the work. The Creator reveals Himself to Moses and tells him, "Come to Pharaoh." And he starts all these things, but you need to stand against that. And when Pharaoh receives the blows, well, that's not us, it's the Pharaoh in us, only. Other than him, there are more discernments for whom the plagues actually help detach from this world and to want spirituality. The plagues, the blows, they come to show you the inferiority of your state. They come to the discernments that tie you to this world so that you detach from them. It's not worthwhile to be so bound. These blows help you disconnect from a thing that you could never disconnect from otherwise.
So, your claim is wrong. The blows come only to a part of our desires. And alongside each such blow, things become clear to you, which are against the blow. The people of Israel grow strong, they want to exit Egypt. They forget that also Pharaoh also burdens everyone, right? He says not to give them bricks, let them make their own. They should build my houses and these buildings. I will enjoy these buildings and not them. They begin to see more and more clearly through these blows. The Egyptians within the person then begin to suffer from all the blows, and the Jews within the person, those who have never seen previously that they are Jewish, previously they saw themselves to be servants of Pharaoh, slaves. They tied themselves to Pharaoh, working for him. They never connected themselves to the Creator, being servants of the Lord, connecting to spirituality, those desires. And now through the punishments, there is now a differentiation between Pharaoh and the Egyptians and the Jews. Without the punishments, how is that possible?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:44) There's a force that pulls, that closes, that won't let anything open, that if he sees that there's death, he's still, what does he count on? On what basis does he hold on and what's fueled to pull into him? He sees there's death, he sees there's nothing, but he still won't let you advance. He won't let you move, the force that's pulling you. How do you disconnect it?
M. Laitman: You're talking about Pharaoh himself, which is the heart of stone, and there's nothing you can do with him. You see, he also does not die. You simply flee from him. There's nothing that can be done. There's nothing to be done. The Creator, as he gives blows to Pharaoh, He gives them to Pharaoh only in order to free the Jews, and the Egyptians remain living in their Egypt. Yes, all these discernments remain, because they, well, only the Jews move to the land of Israel, and they come to the Torah and corrections, and the other desires are still missing. Later, in the end of correction, but not to descend further into Egypt, a person is forbidden to ever go to Egypt from the land of Israel. Also, there's a prohibition on going abroad at all, much more so descending to go to Egypt. That is a complete prohibition, going to Egypt, according to the Halakha. Meaning, because in Egypt remain those discernments of ours, which cannot be corrected until the end of correction. They cannot be touched. And they are alive.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:37) How can you run away from him? What are you running to? You have nowhere to escape from. He pulls, he closes everything.
M. Laitman: No, Pharaoh's problem is that he cannot understand that he has a different path, because he incorporates the sparks of Bina. It's the heart of stone which cannot perceive, cannot understand what it means to bestow. He simply cannot feel that. None of the Creator's qualities enter into him. It's the degree of the will to receive, four of four, which that's how it is, you see. They can even, they make the body; even if the body dies, it's not dead, it's alive, so to speak. You know, mummification, those mummies, you can see what they were doing.
Student: Where's the point through which you run away from him? Where's the point through which you escape and exit?
M. Laitman: I can emerge only through that desire that is brought to me from above. The Creator reveals to me from above one small, weak desire through which I'm seemingly connected to Him. This is called a point in the heart. It's just a point. I need to take that point and magnify it to the size of the entire world so that only that point exists in front of me, only that goal; that's how it needs to be.
Student: From everything that went over him, through what desires can they grow? Let's say there's forces in his picture, they're incapable.
M. Laitman: That point is called Moses, Moshe, and they say that other than Moshe, there are 600,000 more men, all in all three million Jews, but in that 600,000 men, 600,000 souls around that point that I can join to it, and then I exit Egypt. And until I join these points, these souls to me so they're incorporated in me, I do not leave Egypt. I must leave. Moses cannot leave alone. He wanted to flee, he killed one Egyptian, but he was brought back.
Student: How does he identify those 600,000 within Egypt, especially when he does not belong to Egypt?
M. Laitman: He recognizes them by returning to Egypt and beginning this whole campaign for how to leave, how to discover Pharaoh, and how to talk to him. And the Creator is arranging this whole process for him. The Creator tells him, "Come to Pharaoh." Moses doesn't want that. He says, “I don't have anything to say, I have nothing to, I can't convince them. How will I convince them?” He doesn't talk about convincing Pharaoh. He's talking about convincing the Jews. He has nothing to tell them. He cannot scrutinize them. So, the Creator says, “You just be there, present.” Well, you need to participate in those miracles, right? The rod becomes a serpent, the serpent becomes a rod. These are things which, all these things exist in a person who is on the way towards, on the path to exiting this world through the barrier.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:44) Where's the AHP of the upper in Egypt? Where's that next degree of the Exodus already in the current state of Egypt? Where is it there? What things?
M. Laitman: Moses himself is a part of the land of Israel. He, himself, so to speak, the qualities Aaron and Moses, these are qualities which don't belong to the people of Israel who are in Egypt. It's something that is revealed from above. That's how it is. He grew in the house of Pharaoh. He was adopted by Batia, the daughter of Pharaoh. That's how he grew.
Student: Do you make these discernments in concealment or only in retrospect?
M. Laitman: A person discovers this only when it is revealed, slowly, slowly. It's Passover soon, we will talk about that more. Nothing will help us until we find within us this click for every name, every action that we read of in the Haggadah. We need to see the corresponding discernments in us, all of them. And that is what you want, actually. That's what you're asking about. You want to ask this: where are all these things in me? Each and everything, so I can take it in my hands and lead it and guide it the way I understand, that I need to lead, and then the same way I know how to drive, I sit in my car, and I drive, right? I know the rules, I drive according to the laws, but I see, and I'm in control, and I know everything. That's what you're asking. How will you go around there within the soul, between all the desires and forces, and whenever you need, you will take the forces and desires and qualities, and you'll make of them what you need. It's a good desire, but the Creator is not in that yet, in this whole process, and that is the problem. And that approach is soon to change, I hope. And you will see that it's not you sitting in the car, driving, leading, organizing all things. Rather, you want Him to do it. And you want to just agree in advance with all things, though they seem to you the complete opposite of what should be.
Student: But seemingly, it doesn't work that way. It works in a way that He subdues you.
M. Laitman: It will work, it will work. What do you mean, He subdues you? He shows you it's not you, it's your will to receive. Your will to receive He subdues. That's the meaning of Him fighting Pharaoh next to you, before your eyes. He shows you all the bad things and the good, for and against this war, and you acquire both sides. That's it. He tells Moses, "Come, you'll see what I do with him." But see what a hero Pharaoh is, that he knows too, he can act very wisely, what things he knows how to do.
Student: So what is the caution here? If He needs to bring me something now so that I'll cook in it, see how bad it is and gather all the things around it. And then He subdues me naturally, because He doesn't accept the vessels that I think I want. Because what I want is from the will to receive. So anyway, He gives me something completely different and subdues me then.
M. Laitman: What do you mean He doesn't help you with anything? He does, He builds in you such desires where ultimately, you will want what you need. Nothing can ever exist within a person against his desire. Otherwise, it's not according to your vessels. There is no coercion in spirituality. Rather, first, the desires have to be changed. And then, according to the new desires, comes the execution.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:43) I'm asking about hastening the process. Why is it necessary every time to let the desire grow to the very end, and then it's impossible to make some change in the process when it's still growing, but to accelerate the time?
M. Laitman: Yes, no, no, hastening, accelerating the time. That means to assist the will to grow as fast as possible, as much as possible, to be scrutinized, to grow, to be actualized, to use it as quickly as possible, for, yes, to exhaust it.
Student: So, how do you accelerate this desire? How do you let it grow as much as possible?
M. Laitman: We learned that mainly this is through the lights, when you study, pray. If it's so difficult for you right now, then we'll study something. From that, the light will come. You will pray for that light to come only for this purpose. If I know that I'm very ill, it's only this one disease, and I care about nothing else in life, then I'm thinking only about that. And then it actually does help. Here also, they ask,
Question (Odessa): (01:20:03) how can I be in control, meaning supervising my states when I'm expecting a blow, and then I feel the blow, and the blow to spirituality or to corporeality, where I have free choice to feel that, to be in this discernment? Restriction is a state where a person does not want to use his desires, or does he not want to receive pleasures in his desires?
M. Laitman: It's the same thing. The desires remain. I very much want, as it is written, this. He simply is not reading the discernments. We have the definitions. We have a dictionary. What is the restriction? Yearning, stopping himself. What does it say there? Delaying his will even though he yearns greatly, something like that. Meaning, you cannot change the desire; only its usage. And that's the problem. We don't understand here. I want, but I delay, I hinder that. Because in our world, if I delay it, it's a sign I don't want it. It's a sign that I want something else instead. And in spirituality, no, I remain within that desire, wanting that thing. But the problem is, the problem is the intention. If it was only in the desires, then another desire, and another, various calculations, we would understand that. But here, it's all about the intention. It's a completely different thing, completely new. And in that intention, I begin to see the spiritual world. What I feel within my desires, that is called this world. What I feel in the intention is called that world, spirituality. And that truly is an addition that cannot be foreseen, cannot be described in advance.
Question (Internet): (01:22:41) When we do the spiritual work for the sake of the Creator, then it may be that we don't know that we're doing something, but how can the Creator not know that we're working for Him?
Student: It's unclear, the question. Can you repeat it?
M. Laitman: He's asking, I don't know who this is, a man or a woman. I don't know who I'm working for. Fine, that is me, but how can the Creator not tell that I'm working for Him? There is some kind of trick here. Of course He knows, but it's just... that's how it is. Meaning, what's missing is the revelation that I can truly act in a way where He doesn't know that it comes from me, and I agree with that, and I want to come to that state so that I have no way to say that there is any kind of profit for myself. Meaning, I truly ask to have the quality of Bina in a complete, perfect, pure way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:58) How can a person make sure that he's walking the path of faith and not falling to studying only with the intellect?
M. Laitman: It's a question in Hebrew: how can a person check that he's following the path of faith and not just the mind? It depends on what he's demanding from the study. Accordingly, he can check. What does he demand of the study? I demand faith. Faith, that is, I thought about the Creator, let's say. In order to bestow, we don't know exactly, but I want the Creator to be the ruler. Or even a thought about the Creator, even if it's in order to receive. Of course, not Lishma, we're not talking about Lishma. Not Lishma, not for Her sake. I simply want to think about Him always. Not to forget Him for even a moment, yes? If I'm worried about that, and that is my true prayer during the study, it means that I'm studying for the sake of faith, and that is sufficient. Later, that light will come and reform me, and who knows what it does there, but at least that. Well, and the rest is…
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:07) In this article, there's something here where he's speaking about the society, from what I understood, regarding the fuel that's received in the work. Is receiving fuel from the society in the form of honor, is that a bad thing? Or should one receive from the society only the greatness of the goal and not agree to receive honor from it?
M. Laitman: Is it good to receive honor from the society, or not? We mustn't shut ourselves off from receiving pleasant influences. First of all, they magnify the will to receive. I'm talking about influences which are on the path. Secondly, a person can't live off of negation, negativity; only positivity. You know, how do children grow? You just give them food, and that's it. You don't need to work. He doesn't need to suffer to be given food or something, he doesn't need to work, the child. Well, you can grow only by being filled. And it's not for no reason that in Judaism, also, we have these symbols where the Rav gives bread. You show, well, there's things related to honoring people. This is especially in the Hasidic movement, right? And you need to talk about people who benefited the society, who contribute a lot to the synagogue, for example. These customs, all these customs, ultimately, certainly emerged from the spiritual actions. They were established by Kabbalists. There's no doubt in that. Now, how a person perceives them, that is his problem. That's his work. We're talking about the revelation of the upper light. The Creator Himself needs to be revealed within the person to fill my entire soul. He needs to be in me. You understand? He needs to be within me. The Creator needs to fill me. Yes, all of my desires, all of my vessels, all of my thoughts, all my intentions, inside of me, I'm full of the Creator. You look at me, whatever I do, what I think, what I intend, everything that I have, it's the Creator. No? Who am I? I just move my hands and legs according to how He determines. I have no independence at all. So, when such a thing is revealed in the person, doesn't it carry him to honor and self-importance, also?
It's, Mr., look, he's full to the brim, you know. And here the problem is if this is in order to bestow or to receive. But the outcome is that the Creator does indeed fill the person, the soul of the person. What is the soul? Desires, in order to bestow, that is called the soul. Simple.