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

Daily Morning Lesson: October 20, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Dec 20, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 175. And If the Way Be Too Far for You

Reader: Hello, friends. In the first part of the lesson, we will learn from the lesson from the date of December 20, 2021, about the article “And If the Way Be Too Far for You.” The article is in the Arvut system and in the book writings of Baal HaSulam, page 640. 

Reader: Hello. We are reading from writings of Baal HaSulam in Shamati, article 175, “And If the Way Be Too Far for You.” You can find the study material on our site or in the Arvut system. You can press in the Study materials button, you can also ask questions through the system. Chosen questions will be asked during the course of the lesson. 

M. Laitman: Yes, this too is a short article, it's an important one, very practical. We encounter it because it's about our relation, our attitude to the path, to the goal, how we feel all kinds of interferences, distractions, and it's hard for us to convince ourselves that these disturbances are necessary, that specifically through them we rise and don't continue on the same plane. On the same plane, meaning like everyone else in this world. Precisely because there are interferences, disturbances, we have to overcome them, rise above them, and in this way we gradually reach the spiritual world. So let's see. 

Reader: Shamati, 175, “And If the Way Be Too Far for You.”

Reading: (02:20) 175. And If the Way Be Too Far for You

I heard during a Shevat meal, portion Behar-BeHukotai, Iyar 22, May 21, 1949

“And if the way be too far for you, so that you are not able to carry it.”

He interpreted, Why is the way so far? Because “you are not able to carry it.” This is because he cannot carry the burden of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], and hence he regards the way as far. The advice for it, says the verse, “Bind up the money in your hand.” Kesef [silver/money] means Kisufin [longing], to draw longing in the work. Thus, through the desire, the craving for the Creator, he will be able to carry the burden of Torah and Mitzvot. Kesef also concerns shame. This is because one is created for the goal of glorifying heaven, as it is written, “Blessed is… who created us for His glory.”

In general, Torah and Mitzvot are things that one does in order to be favored by Him. This is because it is the slave’s nature to want to be liked by his master, since then his master’s heart is for him. So it is here: The many actions and meticulousness that one becomes proficient in are but a means by which to be favored in His eyes, and then he will have the desired goal of Him.

And a person observes Torah and Mitzvot to be liked by people. And he turns the needs of heaven into a means. Meaning, through them he will be liked by people. And as long as one has not been rewarded with the Torah Lishma [for Her sake], he works for people.

Although one has no other choice but to work for people, he should still be ashamed of such servitude. Then, through this Kesef, he will be awarded the Kesef of Kedusha [holiness], meaning to want Kedusha.

“And bind up the money in your hand.” This means that even though the craving is not up to man, if he has no desire for it, he cannot do a thing. Nevertheless, he should show the desire for the Kisufin, the desire to want (and perhaps VeTzarta [bind] comes from the word Ratzita [wanted]). One needs to show a desire for it, to show the desire and the craving to want the Creator, meaning to want to increase the glory of heaven, to bestow contentment upon Him, to be favored by Him.

There is a discernment of Zahav [gold], and there is a discernment of Kesef. Kesef means having Kisufin [longing] in general, and Zahav [gold, made of the words “give this”] means that he wants only one thing, and all the longing and the craving that he had for several things are canceled in this desire. And he says “give this” only, meaning he does not want anything but to raise the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust. This is all that he wants.

It follows that even though one sees that he does not have the proper yearning and desire, he should still see and exert in deeds and thoughts to obtain the desire. This is called “And bind up the money in your hand.” One should not think that if it is in the hands of man, it is a small thing. Rather, “for oxen (with grace), or for sheep,” etc., for only by this will he be rewarded with the most sublime lights. 

M. Laitman: Yes, well, the article talks about the deficiency that we have to develop. We are given it, given a little bit of it, and we have to increase it, and give it shape, the right direction, and then we'll reach the goal. Otherwise the road will be long and hard. It all depends on how we process what we are given in order to advance toward the goal. If we process it correctly, we advance in the shortest way, in a straight line from where we are, and straight to the goal, and then we can really, ideally, go through the path, as we read in the introduction to the study of the Ten Sefirot, we can do it within three to five years. But if we don't accept the conditions, if we can't process them correctly, add them, join them from one person to the next, to increase them through all kinds of activities, such as unity in the group and all kinds of forms of correct study, then we prolong the way. This is what it says. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (08:57) And if the way be too long for you, too far for you, that the road becomes long and far, and then he cannot bear it. It seems impossible, too long, too hard. Interpretation, why is the way so far, so long? Because you are not able to carry it, to bear it. You can't overcome it. Why? Because he cannot carry the burden of Torah and Mitzvot [the commandments], carry the burden of the kingdom of heaven. That's why the road seems too far and long. 

M. Laitman: He's probably not using correctly all the instruments, all the means, because the Creator makes no concessions. We are in the opposite nature from His in the beginning of the way, and we have to discover, time and time again, how opposite we are from Him. But by this, we correct ourselves more and more in adjusting and adapting ourselves to Him. That's the whole path. This is why we walk on both feet, two lines. On the left, we discover how opposite we are from the Creator, on the right. And accordingly, we can correct ourselves and see how similar we are to the Creator. In this way, we go left, right, left, right - darkness, light, darkness, light - night, day, night, day. This is how we advance. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (10:49) So, he interpreted, why is the road so long? Because He cannot bear it or carry it. Because he cannot carry the burden of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments]. Commandments are all kinds of actions we take in order to bring ourselves back to the correct form of the vessel of Adam HaRishon, where we are all connected together. First of all, those who have a yearning for it, those who are called Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]; and following them - all the people in the world. As Bal HaSulam writes: red, black, white, yellow - everyone should come to it. And the advice for it, the verse says, “Bind up the money or the silver in your hand.” Kesef, silver or money, means Kisufin [longing]. In other words, there is a desire. We receive the beginning of the desire from above. But the main thing we need to develop, in addition to the desire, is the longing. This is called Kisufin. This is what we have to come to. That's what we have to come to. How? Through the work between us. To draw, to extend the Kisufin in the work, the longing in the work. I'm willing to work in order to have a desire for the spiritual goal. Through the yearning and longing for the work of the Creator, we can carry the burden of the kingdom of heaven or the burden of Torah and Mitzvot. So I'll be able to maintain the laws of connection, because the main thing is love. Love your friend as yourself - this is the great rule of the Torah. And also, Kesef, that's the longing, concerns shame. Because one was created for the goal of glorifying the Creator. Meaning that every time I grow, I see how the Creator grows bigger, greater in my eyes, more important, more comprehensive, all-encompassing. And accordingly, I check my own situation. This is called existing in order to increase the glory of heaven. As it is written, “Blessed is our God who has created us for His glory.” The Creator created us in order for us to appreciate Him, exalt Him, extol Him, seemingly. Because by doing this, we rise, we grow; and in this way, we discover Him. The matter of Torah and Mitzvot in general are things that one does in order to be favored by the Creator. Because the nature of the slave is to want to be liked by his master, since then his master heart is for him. To the extent that we are dedicated to the Creator, to the power of bestowal, the power of connection, to that extent we begin to see how it is the great, all-encompassing law of nature, that everything is in it, all of creation, all the worlds. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (15:04) And so it is here, continues Baal HaSulam, the many actions and meticulousness that one becomes proficient in are but a means, meaning all the commandments, all the activities, all the exercises we do are only instruments, means by which to be favored by the Creator. And then he will have the desired goal from Him. Meaning, to the extent that we try to approach the Creator and to keep His condition of connection among us in order to approach Him - this is the only condition, we build the vessel and expect Him to be revealed in the vessel according to the equivalence of form between Him and our vessel, our connection - then accordingly, we approach the goal. So it is here, all the many actions and strictness that a person becomes proficient in, are only a means by which to be favored by the Creator. And then He will have the goal, the desired goal in His eyes. Then we will approach and be incorporated in the goal and we will realize it. And a person observes Torah Mitzvot, meaning all kinds of activities in order to achieve correction, but to be liked by people. If he does it, not for the purpose of actual correction, but for the sake of people, because he can do these things for people. And he turns the needs of heaven into a means by which to succeed in corporeal life. In other words, he wants to advance in spirituality in order to get corporeal success from this. Meaning through them, he will be liked by people, and as long as one has not been rewarded with the Torah Lishma [for Her sake], he works for people, for the sake of people. Meaning whether we want to or not, as long as we haven't achieved the actual intention to bestow, we are necessarily in the aim to bestow in corporeality, the low, the small one. And we're working for the sake of people. It's the law, it is our nature. And although one has no other choice to do anything except to work for people, meaning to take pride, to exalt himself, to glorify himself in their eyes, he should still be ashamed of such servitude. That is because he has no choice, he's working only to glorify himself in the eyes of the world. This is what is happening to him, and this is what obligates him. Then through this Kesef, this Kisufin [the longing], meaning these yearnings to be liked by people, he will be rewarded with the Kesef, the longing, of Kedusha [holiness]. Even by this, gradually, if he works, and against his will he's still working, it's called integrating intention to bestow with intention to receive the reward from the environment. So they will appreciate him, for example. He's still yearning for Kedusha, for holiness, and gradually it operates on him. “And bind up the money or the silver in your hand.” This means that even though the craving is not up to man, what he wants and why he wants it, it all comes from above, if he has no desire for it, he cannot do anything. We know this about ourselves, that sometimes we lose the yearning, the desire, and see how then we fall and we can't do anything.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (19:54) Nevertheless, he should show the desire for the Kisufin, for the longing, meaning I want to long. I want to be burning with longing, meaning the desire to want, to yearn. We have to show the desire for it, meaning we have to show the desire and longing to yearn for the Creator, meaning to yearn to increase the glory of heaven, meaning the Creator, the power of bestowal, the power of connection will be great and prominent in controlling all of reality. So I have to behave in such a way as if I am only in this force, and I yearn to increase and glorify it. And in this way I come to a state where I am liked by the Creator. And there are small additions to it, to this article. There's a discernment of Zahav [gold], and there's a discernment of Kesef [silver]. What are silver and gold in the wisdom of Kabbalah? Kesef means he has Kisufin, longing in general, general longing for spirituality. Zahav, meaning give this gold, it's when he wants only one thing, when he's more directed and he's working specifically for this. And all the longing and yearning he has for several things are canceled in this one desire. And he says, give this only, Zahav [give this]. Meaning, he does not want anything but to raise the Shechina [divinity] from the dust. It follows that even though one sees that he does not have the proper yearning and desire as it should be for achieving the goal, he should still see and exert in deeds and thoughts to obtain the desire. It's as if I have no yearning, why am I coming to the wisdom of Kabbalah, to the group, to the learning, to all those things. I see others, people have gathered here, they have the desire, the yearning, and they get up and they run and they do stuff. The Creator gave it to them and He didn't give it to me. If He didn't give it to me, I can sit quietly. No, not necessarily. You need to, nevertheless, come to such a society and yearn to do all kinds of activities to immerse yourself in them, to bond with them, to dilute yourself, dissolve in them. By this you will receive the impressions from them. Do what they do, even if they do it willingly, and you're doing it unwillingly, like a little child who looks at grown-ups and does the same things they do without knowing why he does it, but he looks at them and does it. If we do the same, it will give us the desire. Through them, through those people who have a great deficiency, great desire, we will receive the deficiency through them. The important thing is to annul before them and try to be like children before grown-ups. This way we can obtain the desire.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (23:50) This is called bind up the money or the silver in your hand. One should not think of it as a small thing. If I'm not given it now, I'm just going to go to sleep. No, it is in your hands, in your hands to do. Rather, for oxen (with grace) or sheep, meaning by this you will be rewarded with the most sublime lights. This is called helping one another. This is called using the general will they receive, the vessel that we yearn for, which is a complete vessel, not a broken one. So if we, even though we're broken pieces from the vessel, we yearn to return, to unite ourselves as much as possible. Accordingly, we can raise ourselves in a new vessel. We can do that. This is what we have to do. Therefore, what does the article try to say? If the way be too long for you, when it gets harder and too heavy on you, it is just an opportunity that you are given now to advance more substantially, for real, if you know how to do it. Through connection, through trying to be liked, by the environment; the environment takes you as if on a boat, and with it, you reach the shore.

Question (ITA 4): (26:10) How can the environment influence me in a moment when I have no desire or yearning for progress? 

M. Laitman: You're like a sick person who is on people's hands, and they take care of you. But you have to get as close to them as you can, and they will take care of you, because you have made a covenant among you, an agreement, that within the Ten, you reveal the connection between you, and you exalt it to such an extent that in this connection, you reveal the Creator. This is the pact. We started as a Ten, and now we have to continue, and each one should see himself, how, as much as he can, according to the power and the opportunity that he has right now, he takes part in it. So, even though he is sick, sick not physically, but spiritually, meaning he is powerless, he is unable, it doesn't matter, he should nevertheless maintain, keep his place in the covenant. And likewise, when each one helps the others, they all reach the goal. And we need to understand that every moment, what each one feels, thinks, and can do, all this, the Shechina [divinity], the Creator gives it to us. He stands inside and wants to reveal to us Himself. Meaning, how He is working with us. So, if we begin, every single moment, we try to want to be His partners, to be a little more connected through our efforts, a little closer to what the Creator is doing with us - so that all our states, we relate to them as exercises, and on top of these exercises from Him, we reciprocate, we perform our own activities, our own responses to them. So, through all our responses and our activities, where we respond, and He acts again, and we respond, this is called a dance. By this, we connect among ourselves and with the Creator, and the Creator, through the center of the Ten, connects to us. And then we begin to discover the mutual, the reciprocal activities between us and Him. And then, by this, the group becomes organized - a Ten, which is then called the individual soul. Today, we have many such groups, and we can certainly, through this work, as long as we perform these activities in the right order, so we can awaken the whole world. We can awaken the whole world to really perform a spiritual revolution. All the revolutions happen through a small team of people. And here, we are already a big team, a spiritual one connected to the upper force. We really do, we really can do great things. This is what he's saying. 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (30:22) And if the way be too far for you, as he writes here in this article, it is when we feel each time that the road is long, but it's because the Creator has revealed to us, layer by layer, more and more, results of the shattering. So it seems to us as if we're farther and farther away, but we're not farther away, not at all. It happens to us in order for us to make greater and greater efforts and reveal our connection to the goal precisely, with more precision than before, with higher resolution than before. And in this way, we aim ourselves more and more precisely toward the goal. It's as when you fly from the United States to Europe. So first of all, you fly out of the United States, you are crossing the ocean, you go over places, you fly over them, and then you still don't see where you're flying, but you're already on the way. And it's the same here. Even though we don't see the goal, we need to try to keep it on our sights, at the center of our vision, so that all the things that we receive and do, even though they're still far, we're still far from achieving the goal, they are all necessary and are revealed in order to achieve the goal. They all stem from the soul of Adam HaRishon, when we were all together in one desire, and from the shattering, when we lost the connections between us, in order to now reconstruct by ourselves these connections that we had before. And as we reconstruct them - when we search by ourselves how we should be connected, and it's against our broken desire, because we don't want to connect, we don't want to achieve the goal of the intention to bestow, its opposite from our nature - so by this, we create the vessel with the right power, against our will. Precisely because it's against our will, it gives us the power of bestowal, the power of connection that are very great. And then we rise from the level of the created being to the level of the Creator. 

Question (Kyiv 1): (33:52) We connect all our yearnings in order to reach the eye of the needle in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Ask. Of course we can't. All we can is with our intellect, maybe with some feelings, or by words, we can express how important it is to us. It's important. Okay. But other than increasing the importance, we can't do anything. But to the extent that we scrutinize the importance, to that extent, we should see that it's not up to us, it's not in our hands, and we only need to turn to the Creator and do this with Him. Do this business, this partnership with Him where we try to yearn, and the Creator helps us with the yearning, with making the vessel, and we ourselves receive from Him all the powers, all the means, we connect among us and build for Him a place to be revealed in all the created beings, in all the created beings.  

Student: He writes here, there is this mutual desire, that we all reach the same desire, and then it needs to be more scrutinized. That I decide that I want only to bestow, and then you can raise divinity from the dust. What are the steps in the work? 

M. Laitman: When we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we just want to know what we're living for, it's a general question. Besides this, each one, whether he's aware of it or not, he dresses in all kinds of clothing of his own, why, what for, how he wants to discover the essence of life, the purpose of life? This is number one. Number two, as we work, we begin to learn to work, to know the shape, the form, we encounter many questions, we immediately, as much as we understand, we begin to learn that we are a desire to receive opposite from the Creator, we are bad, we don't, we can't do anything, we're opposite from spirituality. And in this way, we don't know what to do with ourselves. And then we come into despair, a feeling of remoteness. It's called a fall, darkness, etc. In other words, I don't feel satisfaction in my will to receive, that is willing to somehow be filled. But it can't be filled because it's opposite from the source of light, and in this way, we begin to really, seemingly… It gets complicated, we want to be filled, to receive, to know, to feel; and we're told - no, you need to put these things aside and develop a desire to work without the goal, without an egoistic goal. You need to make efforts precisely in things that you don't really want, don't feel as important. Why would you do it? Do it because you look at others and they look at you, and together you come to a state where what wasn't important to you before becomes important. Why? Because there's no other choice, if you want to reach the truth, you have to rise above the falsehood, above the egoistic will to receive, and this is how we advance. It's not simple, against our will, but we have the upper force, which nevertheless nurtures us, operates on us, we feel that we are changing every so often, that He's helping us, and He improves us every time, makes us better, and this is how we achieve corrections. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:07) Regarding the article, we say that we go from the love of people to the love of the Creator. Meaning, we have to build bestowal toward the friends in such a way that the Creator is present. Here it says, a person should be ashamed. 

M. Laitman: A person needs to be embarrassed, that his entire life is in this - that he wants to do what's pleasing to the eyes of the audience, of the world. That's what each one wants to do, because then we receive appreciation from the audience. Look, he's wise, he's big, he's brave, and so on. All our work in this world that we do, all humans, what they do, is only in order to be bigger in the eyes of the environment, of the society, humanity. Look what they're doing; from the biggest managers to the smallest people, each and every one measures himself with respect to the environment. And he doesn't want anything that fills himself like a beast, right, that's clear. And besides that, only to enlarge himself, his ego, in the eyes of the people. That's the most important thing to a person. Animals don't have such a thing. Still, vegetative, animate - they don't have that. Rather instinctively, let's say, by the wolves, all sorts of animals, they have groups or packs where they may have struggles, like who is the leader of the group, but it's on the degree of instinct. They can't do anything about it; it's not in their choice. It's simply the instinct that pushes these animals to behave as such. But rather by us, it's also instinct that it's called evil inclination, the will to receive. But it pushes us already for things that are bigger. And that's how we do, all our work is to find favor in the eyes of the people. And there is nothing worse than when a person is degraded, is put down, when he is caused shame. That's the worst. And we, in our spiritual path, need to be ready that spirituality is so important to us, that it doesn't matter to us what the whole world will tell us. The main thing is that you, with your friends, can be adhered in the Creator. That's the most important thing. And so, with the opinions of the whole world, we don't look down at it, we understand them. And we know our place and their place. But not that we work in order to find favor in their eyes.

Question (Moscow 4): (43:00) When a person initially observes Torah and commandments in order to receive, to be liked by the Creator, what is the need for it? It seems like a person is working for the Creator. He wants to work for the Creator, but initially, he's only working for his environment, the friends, to be liked by them. That's why he's working.

M. Laitman:  You don't understand the text. The text is translated not exactly correct. And so, I'm explaining it to you, always. Each and every text, I read and explain. What I recommend doing is what I once did with myself in the beginning of the path. I would take an article from Shamati and I would paraphrase it in my language, my language. It doesn't matter to me how he's writing there, “money in your hand” and “the way before for you,” all sorts of such things. What do I need all these nice words for? I need to know what I need and not all this poeticism and this nice literature. I need something for myself, short and to the point, that I shall not be mistaken. So, what I recommend for you, after the lesson, whenever you have some time during the day, take this article and you write it out in your language, in your words, that you should understand what it's talking about. This is what you should do with each and every article of Shamati. First of all, it will be shorter and clearer, and you won't have questions. I promise you, that whatever questions you may have, you yourself in this paraphrasing, this work you're doing, you will scrutinize it. That's it.

Question (ITA 1): (46:18) The more we advance, the farther we feel from the Creator. What gives us the power, the strength to yearn, to continue to advance? 

M. Laitman: This, that we went through some previous state, this previous state is already in us, and it's our good foundation, a certain degree, and then it's revealed to us a new degree. You've seen how the little kids, they climb stairs, right? You walk the stairs, right? And go up, right? But the kid, he sits on one step, then he begins to rise to the next degree, like it's hard for him. We all see it, right? That's exactly how we are. So, first of all, we have our own step, and we need now to rise on the next degree. The next degree - of course, we need forces for it, we need appreciation of the next degree, that it should be bigger, not to be afraid of it, to reveal desire for it. It could be we don't have enough desire for it. I need to connect with the society, because each and every degree is that we connect more and more. And when I look at them, I don't see that we're connecting more. I don't see it. Rather, it seems to me nothing's changing, but that's not correct. Not correct. Otherwise, we'd have no opportunity to rise. What's written? “And if the way be too far for you,” right? That the way appears to be farther is because you're capable of putting up with seeing it as far and difficult, and you know how to overcome the distance and the hardship. And for you, this path shall turn into pleasure. For truly like mountain climbers - people climb mountains, but what's the point, right? Why are they doing this for? What is there? So difficult, so dangerous. But no, they say this sensation that you climb the mountain, there's nothing more than that, nothing bigger. And I believe them, because it's by root and branch, that's how it occurs. So, we don't want to climb these mountains, but what we have before us is what's called the mountain of the Creator. And here, we need only to come together between us with importance. It's called that you shall accumulate the Kesef in your hands. That's from the word Kisufin [longing]. And if you generate this longing in your hands along with the friends, there's no problem. Because envy, lust, and honor bring a person out of the world, from the place where he is in, that's called his world, to a higher place. And thus, envy, lust, and honor, it all depends on the society, your connection with the society. 

Question (Baltia 1): (50:26) What is the quality of silver and gold in the work in the Ten? What is the meaning of the quality of gold and the quality of silver in our work in the Ten, and how should we work with it? 

M. Laitman: Kesef, silver, money, he generates a tendency, a desire for it, and Zahav is that he's already found the correct desire, and he's progressing, that all the Kisufin, all the yearnings he had before, he already processed them and is advancing correctly. He already has a desire, which is called Zahav. We've spoken about this, that in Hebrew, there's no words that just came to us from some incidentally. Rather, they all come from the influence of light on the vessels. That's where all the vocabulary, the dictionary of words in Hebrew comes from. It's, I mean, now we speak this language, right? But usually, it wasn't actually spoken. It was only used for scrutinizing spiritual vessels. 

Question (Almaty 1): (52:04) What is the reason, what should happen for a person to shift from Lo Lishma, not for Her sake, to for Her sake, Lishma? 

M. Laitman: It's the desire of the Creator. The desire of the Creator. In order that you shall awaken the Creator, that He will bring you from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], to Lishma [for Her sake] you need to awaken Him. And in order to awaken Him, you need to make correct preparations for the reception of Lishma from above. But you need to make these preparations below, meaning you need to be in a Ten, you need to be tied to them in whatever you're in. Not something unrealistic - whatever you're in, whatever the Creator gives you. Meaning, with all the conditions He gives you, that you use them in order to be tied with a Ten. That's actually the condition for the reception of Lishma. Where will He give you Lishma from? Lishma is called the intention to bestow. It's called above the ego. Where does He give? You need to be ready in such a network of connection with the friends in order to receive this illumination from above called Lishma. Lishma is upper light that influences you, and fills you, changes you from the intention to receive to the intention to bestow. So, how will you receive it if you're not ready, if the environment's not ready? But to prepare yourself and the environment, you must. You must. And then you'll advance. 

Question (MAK 3): (54:14) Why do we want to resemble, on the one hand, on the other hand, we want to stand out, each of us? What's the root of this?

M. Laitman: I, as an egoist, I feel my ego only with respect to the environment. Without the environment, I'm not an egoist. I have no one to feel myself above, to be bigger than, to control. Meaning, if a person lives inside his family, primitively, like thousands of years ago, that's not called an egoist. The ego begins to develop from when people began to connect into some bigger groups, and then the will to receive awakened in order to control others, to dominate others, and so on. In order to develop the ego, needs to be a bigger society. The bigger the society is, the ego can develop more. Then we have hierarchy, we have all sorts of layers, levels, and so on. That's how the ego builds us. And accordingly, we seemingly build the environment, the society, humanity. It's all by the increasing of the ego. In all of us, in each one, and all of us together, according to how the upper light influences us. 

Question (KabU 7): (55:58) What does, with grace, or sheep, mean?

M. Laitman: Right. “One should not think that if it is in the hands of man, it is a small thing. Rather, for oxen (with grace) or for sheep, etc.” Meaning, that we can increase the awakening that we receive from above and bring it to realization below as the most important thing. He continues. “Meaning, for only by this will he be rewarded with the most sublime light.” Meaning, don't think that what you're receiving is small vessels, small desires. No. If you arrange them correctly, you'll reach a state that, specifically by the oxen or sheep, you'll advance. There's a lot of commentary on this oxen and sheep, but ultimately, in sum-total, it is a light of mercy and light of Hochma, light of wisdom, that will advance. This is in parallel to Kesef and Zahav. Kesef, the light of mercy, vessels of bestowal, and Zehav, vessels of reception, light of Hochma. 

Question (Zafon 2): (57:50) How far are we really from the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Good question. Truly good question. As much as your will to receive controls you, I have no other opportunity to answer you. You need to cut your will to receive off and use it in intention to bestow. And not just cut it off - maybe today you'll begin to stop eating, then stop drinking, then the day after stop breathing - no. You're cutting off from your will to receive as much as you're capable to more and more concentrate all these matters, to be directed to connection with the environment and connection through it with the Creator. That's it. To what extent? That depends on us. We now are, as you also see now with the external world, in acceleration, in very rapid development. So, it's hard to say, what the distance is. But Baal HaSulam says we're in the last generation, so we must make the effort to truly live like in the last generation. And all the rest is not important to me. The baby who's born today, does he know what period of time he's in, what conditions? He doesn't know. I look at my grandkids; they have no idea. I have, the youngest one is a year and a half, what does he know? Look at him and then look at a baby who lived a hundred or a thousand years ago. Same thing, same thing. Thus, we don't understand yet where we are, but we need to believe in Kabbalists and do actions like they say, and then we will feel very quickly how much the time is unique, how much we receive a reaction and advance. Our goal is to hasten the times, the times of development. 

Question (PT 31): (01:00:44) If we could describe the ideal Ten that can hasten time in the most correct way and every friend's yearning for spirituality, how would we describe the relationships among the friends in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: Each one wants to help the others to reach spirituality as quickly as possible. That's it, that's called each one shall help his friend. We don't need anything besides that. You can say that all our work, the distance, all our stops along the path, we should understand that the main thing is to help the friends. And in such a mutual manner, we push all of us, the entire Ten to spirituality. That if I care for the friends, that I truly stand like behind them and push them forward to spirituality, that actually, in this I am realizing myself. And such, each and every one is as Malchut with respect to the first nine Sefirot. That's how we need to work. That Malchut works in opposition from itself, rejection of itself in order to support the first nine Sefirot, and this is its entire goal. And if we will operate in this manner towards the goal, towards the group, we advance very quickly. 

Student: It seems like in the Ten, there are friends that you don't need to help them, it seems like they manage to overcome. And some friends don't manage, and they have more difficulties. 

M. Laitman: Spiritually, nobody can overcome without assistance from you in your Ten. Nobody. No such thing that they're advancing on their own. That's not progress. They can be wiser, they can be speaking nicer, but spiritually, in spiritual degrees, nobody can rise even to the smallest of degrees if he doesn't receive a push from the friends. Nobody. And so, if somebody feels that he has advanced, it's a sign that the friends have thought about him. 

Question (Merkaz 1): (01:03:31) What should we do in order to accelerate the yearning while there is a burdening of the heart? 

M. Laitman: Very simple, give an example to others. If I see, let's say, that somebody is not in such a good mood, he's weakened, so I come to him and I tell him, “Listen, you see that other guy from the group, it doesn't matter, let's say John. You see, I think he really needs some help. Let's go together with you and begin to think about him and show him how much we can advance.” That's it. And I'm not even, let's say, intending to this John, right? I'm intending to this first friend, that I'm talking to him, that I want to make of him a partner, to help that same third friend. So, I'm awakening him with this. But in such a manner, it's the best way. And then he feels responsibility, he feels some goal on the way, importance, action. And in such a manner, he exits his state. And the best thing to exit each and every state is to incorporate in an action of bestowal. 

Question (W MAK 36): (01:05:25) What's the difference between working for people to working for the Creator? 

M. Laitman: We cannot be directed to the Creator, because the Creator is everything. It's force, mind, desire, intention, state, includes everything. He swallows everything. And so I must yearn through everyone to the Creator. And it cannot be that I am directed to Him on my own. It cannot be. I must take the entire vessel into account. Because on my own, I am a very small Sefira in the general vessel of Adam HaRishon. And if I'm not tying to the others, I'm not even a Sefira. Because a Sefira is illuminating. But I can only illuminate when I have Ten. And so the question is then, what are we doing? How do we reach that? So, we connect. And we turn to the Creator from this connection. And we request of Him to connect us in a correct manner. Because who knows how I'm connected, correct or not correct? And the Creator corrects the connection between us. And that's how we reach the correction. And when we come closer to one another in this extent, we're getting closer to the Creator. This is the most precise measurement. If I could just identify how much I am close to the friends, but in this, I am measuring actually my closeness to the Creator. I have no other vessel, and we don't need. Because in the extent that we are connecting in the Ten, in this extent, we get closer to the Creator. He is within us, inside. And so, to measure, we can only by this, that we feel the friends close. And here, the friends, of course, it's not simple. I don't feel them so close. I always have something against them, something that stops me, that's cooling me down. And we need to work on that. Once again, how do we work? It's desirable that we together, each one, that he feels some distance from the other, then it doesn't matter that we're sitting even in a round table, right, with big distance from each one. Like you see it's in the U.N. or all sorts of places, how politicians do. But we turn to the Creator to connect between us from lack of choice. First of all, tell Him that you don't want, and that you are rejecting and pushing one another. Yes, reveal the evil, how much it is present. And then suddenly you begin to reveal how it's so silly. What are we talking about? Where are we? What, I'm rejecting them, my friends? Yes. What for? What do I get from this? What is this life that I am making such calculations compared to before us, we have an eternal goal? How is it possible that suddenly I am like in some swamp of egoistic calculations? And then you scrutinize, and you'll have a renewed force that you turn to the Creator and you request. Women are more capable of this than men, so please do it and give us an example. Because specifically from the will to receive, women can succeed and save the men. “In the privilege of the righteous women, do Israel exit Egypt.” Specifically women. That's what's in the Torah. So, we're ready and expecting of you.