Morning Lesson November 09, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 39, 1989. What Is, “The Torah Speaks Only Against the Evil Inclination,” in the Work?
1. Rav intro: The whole of creation that the Creator created as He himself says is I created the evil inclination and against it, I created the spice of Torah. Through the Torah, through the reforming light meaning the force of bestowal that comes from the Creator, we need to correct our evil inclination, which is opposite the Creator, and reach the desire to bestow, the Creator's desire. Therefore, it turns out as it says here in the title, the Torah was created only opposite of the evil inclination that’s the purpose of the Torah. This is all of our work only to invert the evil inclination within us to a good inclination to a force of bestowal. Let's see what Rabash writes about it.
Reading: Rabash Article No. 39 (01:46)
2. R. (32:04) A little bit of an article that spins a certain way, we'll see the questions and then we'll think how we can sort it in a manner that is easier to swallow.
3. S. (32:39) He gives a question in the beginning of an article about the permission of a beautiful woman and in the end his answer for why there is such a permission is because the Creator is above our intellect, and we won't be able to attain it. I didn't quite understand, maybe you can explain a little bit what is this permission and what it's trying to tell us in this article because I didn't really understand what it's trying to tell us?
R. That we need to learn how to go above reason and therefore there is special work here against that pleasure that we cannot overcome. However, in the manner in which we receive it in order to observe it, and specifically by this we come to a state in which all the revelations of the desire to receive and desire to bestow will be received in us in a direct manner.
S. He also mentions throughout the article this matter of permission in a position to keep the Mitzvah or keeping the prohibition, but the pleasure that he describes here is actually a great pleasure, so how is it permitted permission, didn't quite understand that context?
R. The optional permission is not that he's given it to a big one or a small one, it's the kind of pleasure and not according to the size. We will see, for the time being, think.
4. S. (34:45) Should we really take this beautiful woman and marry her and just avoid everything from the evil inclination?
R. How will you work with that pleasure called a beautiful woman?
S. We really don't know what this beautiful woman is, who she is, what is the beautiful woman in relation to the evil inclination and how do we differentiate one from the other?
R. It's according to what you feel. A beautiful woman is a woman or it's anything else no matter what, that you see that you cannot relate to, but rather to that which it evokes in your desire to receive.
5. S. (36:19) We see that in our world when we eat something there is a different filling in the belly versus the taste that we feel. How does it work in spirituality this distinction?
R. In spirituality only works according to the feeling of the pleasure in which you need to upon the pleasure perform and create a vessel.
S. What about the flavors, what are the flavors?
R. The taste of the flavors you have to work according to the pleasure.
6. S. (37:09) It says here there are things that are not permitted to use even in order to bestow, does it mean do not do to your friend, that what you hate?
R. It could be.
S. Can you direct me maybe, what does it mean here?
R. No, it is not associated at all with what we're talking about.
7. S. (37:39) He gives the example with the spice that even though the spice would be poignant when it's mixed with food it has its good taste to the food, so when we want to acquire a will to bestow so that the Creator can be revealed with his light, so what does he add? I mean we don't feel that the taste becomes better, it's actually the opposite we might feel that the taste is like dust. The question is what is the spice in our work so that we will feel sweetness on our way to acquire vessels of the bestowal?
R. The spices that flavor that taste that adds to us yearning, without this taste, we wouldn't feel an attraction or yearning to that which we receive or that which we use.
8. S. (38:57) Psychology engages a lot in the qualities of a person, his childhood, and his experiences. Here it says that no matter what is in the thought, the thought of your qualities, the spice will come and correct everything. The question is should we be careful about what is in our thoughts, or everything is okay and it doesn't matter, everything can be corrected?
R. Everything is correctable, yes.
9. S. (39:38) All the evil that is in the world is the bad that stems from the evil inclination, it seems like it's a mistake in design or some sort of a game which is a really bad one. What hope do we have that the world will advance towards correction as the Creator has intended?
R. The Creator spins the whole world upon either suffering or pleasure, that's why we are certain that we will advance in the right direction. The question is to what extent we receive this path and to what extent we hasten our development and combine ourselves in that which the Creator wants to reveal to us, this is the whole question.
10. S. (41:03) How do I pray for this intention to bestow; do I pray that I can annul myself to zero or do I pray that I can receive in order to give?
R. That depends already on what degree we’re at.
11. S. (41:42) It says that the most important thing is the permission, what is this permission in our work now, what does he mean?
R. Today in the work for us it's that a person feels that he has before him several discernments and several actions and a few decisions. He needs to choose from them what the path is that leads him all the way to adhesion to the Creator.
S. Can you give an example maybe I understand but practically during the day what does it mean that I'm realizing the permission?
R. When I am in every state, every action, every movement, and every decision I choose in order to bestow in place of in order to receive.
S In the end it seems like our main concern is about how much reforming light we can awaken in ourselves, so we've been through many times in our society. Today what is the most effective awakening, the maximum reforming light in all the actions we do?
R. What he writes for us it's not dependent on the article that we're reading but on the extent to which we understand that we are on the path, that we decide the essence of the action which we choose to advance on the way. We need to reach love, very simply, love. Here is the whole point that we're not capable of.
S. If I summarize both your answers, there's a sentence here where he writes that the war is precisely about the inclination. This is what I should take, we have to fight over the inclination together in the ten?
R. Yes of course the fact we can connect is for sure, but the work is what we want to achieve by the connection that we have and that's our intention.
12. S. (44:53) We read that the Torah speaks only against the evil inclination, so the question is what characterizes the recognition of evil before the entrance to the king's palace?
R. Prior to entering the king's world we agree and go and try to go on the path that leads us to the king's palace.
S. What does it mean we agree?
R. We accept the conditions that the Creator placed for us.
S. What characterizes it before entering the king's palace that we accept it, we agree and that's what it means?
R. Yes.
13. S. (45:54) He writes here about the mitigation or sweetening of the judgments, when I want to receive in order to receive, I draw judgments on myself?
R. Of course.
S. At some point I reach a certain limit and I take it into account, and they punish me?
R. Yes.
S. This is manifested in a blow?
R. Usually.
14. S. (46:39) When it speaks about the fact that you should take a beautiful woman for yourself, it says a lot about why it is permitted but if you take it from your enemies if these are captive enemies what does it mean?
R. It's a complete system, let's leave it on the side for now this question.
S. When will we come back to it?
R. Scrutinize first what's before us and then we will come back to that question.
15. S. (47:38) He writes that a person receives because the Creator wants him to receive, as for himself it would have been better if he wouldn't receive. The question is how the pleasure that a person wants so much in order to receive becomes a pleasure that he would be better off not to receive and what about the lust that is there?
R. That passion doesn't disappear, it's just that it's more convenient for him, he can't overcome this coveting at this point in order to correct it, and his attitude towards it, but rather he simply distances himself from it.
S. When we want to activate the intention, we're not drawn to it and all the pleasure he wants to receive so much in order to receive, what do we replace it with so that we will want to perform an act with an intention for the benefit of the Creator?
R. That's the whole thing that you have to receive it in order to bestow this passion, this yearning.
S. There is no such lust, there is no drive to do such an action, such a thing?
R. Okay we will learn how to receive in order to bestow, nevertheless.
16. S. (49:16) Why do I have a feeling that according to the article the Torah is not enough to give us yearning for bestowal?
R. Torah does not push us to acts of bestowal that's clear; that's something that we need to establish in the connections between us, and out of us wanting to come to acts of bestowal then we will be able to gradually come closer to implementing them.
S. What is in the article was a word that I didn't understand what it means?
Reader: I will read the quote from the article, “By this, we can understand what Rashi explains, you took for yourself a wife that brings the words of our sages, the Torah only speaks against the evil inclination, it is better to eat flesh of slaughtered carcasses but not carcasses that are not slaughtered? What does it mean?
R. Slaughtered carcasses is the one that you're permitted to use in order to bestow, but we're not supposed to be using carcasses that were not slaughtered.
17. S. (51:18) I want to scrutinize the matter of shame because actually, shame is what creates pleasures, so can we relate to shame according to the few things that are mentioned in the Torah? Shame means a Mitzvah and it depends on the permission that is directed towards me?
R. Don't understand what you're saying.
S. We should only be ashamed of one thing that we will disappoint the Creator with our deeds?
R. No, it's not clear at all what you're trying to say.
S. Everything actually comes from the shame, it is what allows us to stop us from enjoying because it stops us from receiving all the abundance that the Creator wants to give us.
R. We will come closer to that concept and work on it, for the time being, no.
18. S. (52:41) Is there a way to retire the ego to exhaustion, so that we will have more space?
R. Only through the connection between us, only by the connection between us.
19. S. (53:14) He writes the following that if he receives but does not have pleasure this reception is not considered as doing good, we're talking about what he receives. Meaning that the upper one wants the lower one to enjoy and if the person doesn't have pleasure, it means that he received nothing from the Creator, and this is called mitigation of the judgments. What's the relation between mitigation of the judgments and the fact that the person doesn't receive anything from the upper one?
R. He didn't receive it because he didn't feel any pleasure from it.
S. Where's the mitigation in the sweetening here?
R. Because he's having some form of contact there is mitigation of the judgments, but he is not yet receiving in order to bestow.
S. What's the definition of the mitigation of the sweetening of the judgments, it talks about the intention to bestow that is sweetening of the judgments if a person doesn't receive from the upper one, how is it related to the intention to bestow?
R. I don't have an answer, I don't have an answer according to what you're asking.
20. S. (54:32) When he writes that he receives because the Creator wants him to receive, the question in what situation that we come upon in our daily lives, is there a hidden something wanting to give to Him?
R. Of course there is.
S. How do you identify in every situation what the Creator wants to give?
R. Delve into what you have before you and you will see.
S. Is it a matter of scrutiny?
R. Yes, of course.
21. S. (55:18) My Kli is not suitable so that light will clothe in it and when I do manage to draw it there's this feeling of emptiness just increases, so how can you acquire the vessel that would truly suit the upper abundance?
R. Well they need to be sorted and scrutinized. In the meantime, you don't feel them.
S. But they're inside the friends?
R. In the friends, in you, between you, they're there; they exist.
22. S. (56:11) There are two things I would like to read one is in the middle somewhere where it's written the war can be only for the intention the person wants to be for the benefit of the Creator and not for the benefit of the body and on the other paragraph on the next page it says, to correct and put into Kedusha even before the end of correction since it's for that we were given the Mitzvot and the Torah was also permitting beautiful women. Meaning this indicates to us that we can work with the evil inclination when we do it with the intention to bestow. My question Rav, it is written here, that there is the end of correction for the 613 Mitzvot, and the seven Mitzvot of the son of Noah are not included within it, meaning the nations of the world can receive to work this correctly as well, without doing the 613 Mitzvot?
R. Yes.
S. An additional question with your permission: It's written that we have to work above reason because this is the way the Creator gave us to work with the Torah in order to understand because we have no ability to understand it, meaning that until the end of correction, we have to be above reason?
R. We need in all of our actions to be above reason. Above in order to receive.
23. S. (58:04) The beautiful woman, do we see her only with our intellect and our senses, or is it something that we can see truly when we bestow to the Creator?
R. It's when the Creator bestows to us; we distinguish in his bestowal the beautiful woman.
24. S. (58:52) He writes that in the matter of permission, there's no problem but when they do it for the sake of the Creator it enters Kedusha, my question is if we effort in love with this friend is it permission for a Mitzvah?
R. It's a Mitzvah, a commandment.
S. Meaning there's no choice in it?
R. There's no choice in it, none; love your friends, love your friends as yourself, it's the greatest Mitzvah.
S. Can we get a tangible example of what the matter of permission is?
R. Well, try.
25. S. (59:39) What is the meaning of being a passive operator and doing things that are permitted?
R. There is a Mitzvah, commandment and there’s transgression, and there's something which is permitted; I guess that is what he means.
S. What does it mean, “Sit and do not do, it’s better” and if I do not do I'm actually doing by not doing?
Reader: it’s written in the paragraph: just as the sages said, “He sat and did not transgress is just as if he did a Mitzvah, but when you tell me to do something with permission even if I cannot aim for the sake of the Creator, it is not a Mitzvah, and if so I did not do a thing and I don't want to be an idol work, meaning where I'm performing an action and this action is idle.” So, he's asking what does it mean to be an idle worker, what does it mean that he's doing something Idol?
R. That by this, he does not do anything, he does not advance, he does not move away, that's what it means to be an idle worker.
26. S. (01:01:26) How to battle the evil inclination correctly and make it a good inclination? Is there some kind of recommendation on how to do so?
R. First of all we need to understand what the evil inclination is, in which actions of ours cause the sorting, the scrutiny of the evil inclination, and then we will be able to work opposite of it.
27. S. (01:02:03) What is beauty in spirituality?
R. Beauty in spirituality is the ability to receive in order to receive or in order to bestow; depending on which kind of beauty.
S. Does it depend on the amount of corrections?
R. Well, if it is in one direction then yes, if it's in the other direction no.
S. Meaning, is it an acquired quality? Can we acquire it, yes?
R. Beauty in spirituality is only what you can acquire in clothing in reflected light.
28. S. (01:03:23) This example of the beautiful woman is the example of using lust in order to bestow?
R. In general yes.
S. What is the depth of that we can use such a powerful desire and how to use it in order to bestow?
R. We will see, we need to learn more. In the meantime, it is not clear how it is possible to receive in order to bestow?
S. If we are talking about every desire which is strong that appears in a person, it's written there, that we need to prepare the vessel to receive the abundance from the Creator, how can we prepare in such a state the vessel to receive the abundance, does he want us to receive it?
R. Yes. Ultimately the creator is interested that we will receive everything in the reflected light.
S. How can we build such a reflected light?
R. This is what we learn; only when we connect together and then our reflected light will be sufficient to receive in order to bestow.
29. S. (01:04:59) It says in the document that the sages said, “That the Torah exists in only one who puts himself to death over it.” What does it mean to put myself to death over the Torah?
R. That a person in order to get closer to the Mitzvah has to revoke his will to receive: to receive in order to receive and then be corrected so that it is in order to bestow, and then receive it in order to bestow whatever he has in front of him.
30. S. (01:05:55) I wanted to ask the same question as the previous friend.
R. Okay thanks.
31. S. (01:06:25) It was described so beautifully that there is a vessel and in it, these flavors, and these flavors and tastes are created by the spices and the spice is the Torah and the light. The question is every day in the ten we are trying to connect and there is some rejection, some kind of nearing, how can we draw this light so that Torah is a spice so that we will connect fully?
R. How can we draw the spice in order to connect? Did I understand you correctly?
S. That the light, the light as a spice?
R. Repeat your question again.
S. How to do it so that the relationships we have, that we want to connect in the ten, how do we pray, how to draw the light?
R. To draw light that will connect us is our common intention; try to connect with the friends and together pray and ask for unity, then you will succeed. That is actually very simple, suddenly many questions came up, how to do it, etc. In principle, this is the answer.
32. S. (01:08:40) What is the work in the ten in order to receive the correct vessels to receive the true pleasures and what are the true pleasures?
R. The true pleasures are when we can receive them, they will not run away from us because they will be in the vessels of bestowal; like the pleasure itself, likewise, the vessel will be in the same quality of to bestow. This is considered true pleasure, that is if we receive in the vessel of receiving in order to bestow then the pleasure remains inside the vessel, and it is possible to enjoy it.
33. S. (01:09:53) Is it correct to say that when we're talking about the Torah we are talking about the reflected light and that’s what connects us together to the Creator?
R. You can say so. It's not precise, but you can say so.
34. S. (01:10:33) What is the secrecy and the shame that is hidden in order to receive?
R. I didn’t understand.
S. Where do I see the shame in order to receive that when it's concealed a person doesn’t feel it?
R. The shame exists inside the person in his will to receive. If he doesn’t cover the will to receive with an intention to bestow then he feels the shame that he didn't cover it. If he does cover the shame, that is he has an intention to bestow and it covers the shame and then he doesn’t feel it, he doesn’t feel the shame. If he continues to cover the shame, he reaches honor and glory, and then he already has a positive outcome from his action. Is this clear?
35. S. (01:12:16) What can help a person break away from the corporeal depictions of the articles and adhere to or use the Kabbalistic definitions?
R. Repeat, please.
S. What can help a person break away from the corporeal depictions from the article, but instead use the Kabbalistic definitions?
R. To relate to what he is reading with respect to his will to receive in order to receive, in order to bestow; shifting from one time to another, one side to the other; replacing the intention in order to bestow or in order to receive, connection with the friends and that’s it, there is no more than that.
36. S. (01:13:55) The evil inclination is revealed only when we merit the intention in order to bestow and he writes here that the intention specifically makes it a reality that enters Kedusha and that actually does it. What can you say about the reality of the intentions?
R. Intention is everything, intention is everything. What we exist and what we want to correct in ourselves, how we are coming into contact with the Creator everything is in the intention.
S. Still it is only an inner reality?
R. It is an inner reality, but it is connected and related to the upper light.
S. That is also internal that is also felt in a person.
R. I don't understand why you're so…?
S. No. I want to feel the reality of intention.
R. What am I stopping you from doing it?
S. No, I don't have words. Thank you.
37. S. (01:15:22) How do we reveal in our ten the sentence that says the evil inclination and the Torah as a spice? How is that revealed in the ten?
R. The evil inclination is revealed we know how it is made of the relationships between us in the ten which we have not corrected yet and the spice of Torah is what we want through the study in our connection to come closer to each other.
38. S. (01:16:27) When we receive the reflected light, should we connect in order to see what is happening outside of ourselves?
R. No, we will see this within us.
39. S. (01:17:04) What is the connection between receiving in order to bestow and connection with the friends?
R. Connection with the friends might still be some external connection, not a vessel but receiving in order to bestow is already a real connection and within that connection, we create the spiritual vessel.
S. How do we make the plane connection to a correct connection?
R. By adding to it the intention to bestow.
40. S. (01:17:47) Where can we find the intention to bestow?
R. The intention to bestow we can find it only in the Creator, who will bestow upon us and give us the intention to bestow.