Morning Lesson November 03, 2022 Transcription

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article 14, 1988. The Need for Love of Friends

1. Rav’s Introduction: In the framework of our general study of the writings of Rabash and Baal HaSulam we have to go over a few other articles and it is not a matter of whether we studied it or not actually we did not study it, the question is how all of us together want to understand this and feel this and to bring it closer in to enter into this and in this way we connect to the source and then it begins to work on us, therefore let us hope that we will swallow the material and chew it and incorporate with it, and then come to a state in which the virtue of this material will operate upon us.

Reading The Need for Love of Friends (01:18)

2. S. (17:47) Here he summarizes that the adhesion. that the thoughts and desires move from one to another by their adhesion, this is the where we find we are in Lishma, and this is what works in every condition.

R. In general it works in every condition and there's always between us, like it or not, of course there is a difference in the power of bestowal of a person upon his friends, but there is always the influence of one upon the other, even in all of humanity. There are thoughts, desires, opinions, that wander in the world and move from one to another.

S. How do we do it in a way that adhesion of the thoughts, those who are the connected to the Creator that is what passes to us?

R. That depends on how much we want this to happen, how much we want to be close to another, to incorporate in one another, that already depends on us.

S. Let's say I am in the ten, here in the lesson, and I really want, now, that the Creator, the force of the Creator, to come and dwell and it depends on me and it depends on the thoughts of the friends.

R. Think exactly about that, if you want to bestow to the friends, then you need to think about you wanting to bestow to them, what to bestow, to bestow upon them your desire, for us all to think about the connection between us, to reach one goal. That is it, that is how it works. We read about it many times, it's wonderful that we understand more and more about how it works.

S. What is the connection between these thoughts and Lishma, is this already Lishma or not?

R. No but we get there through this, by us wanting to integrate together, we come closer to one another in our opinions, we aim the Creator to bestow upon us one force, one connection between us, and then we come to Lishma.

3. S. (20:42) Why does Rabash warn us here, from incorporating in different societies, but then at the same time to keep the Torah and Mitzvot?

R. To protect ourselves from including ourselves in other societies so that they do not spoil our direction. Our direction is very unique, very special, because it is completely in order to bestow and not to receive for oneself, meaning it is against the nature of the whole world, against our ego of ourselves, so therefore if we want to advance on that same path, we have a problem of protecting ourselves so that we do not lose our direction.

That’s one thing, the second thing is that at any given moment when entering this path, we are also under foreign influences from our relatives, from further away people from us, from the whole world, from what awakens within me, from the shattered records, and that is why I must care and check what awakens in me and how I am working with all of the desires and thoughts that awaken in me at any given moment for now. That is why our work is meticulous work and it’s nonstop.

4. S. (23:02) If a friend leaves a ten should we continue to pray for him to come back?

R. We need to somewhat try and draw him back to us to see if it is really a decision that he had that is serious, or maybe he was under the control of his mood. Then we need to decide, are we continuing to think about him, praying for him, influence him or not or that’s it.

5. S. (24:19) In the first paragraph here Rabash writes that the world was not created in order to do good to one another, but for each one to receive pleasure for himself, and this is a thought, the body agrees with this, and the rest of the texts is like, yes, I'm ready even to bestow, as long as I can receive this pleasure which the Creator prepared for me, it’s this inner contradiction here that is somehow Lo Lishma still?

R. It does not matter that you are still in Lo Lishma, but you are starting to understand that the true pleasure can be only in the state where you are above your egoism and this is what you attain in the first degree and afterwards you continue onwards.

S. So it is okay right, that I am ready to give up on my ego in replacement for this great pleasure?

R. Yes, yes, it is on purpose, he gives us this exercise along the way.

6. S (25:52) In the middle of the article Rabash writes that if a person is not always in the connection with his friends and it is very difficult for him to hold onto this yearning for bestowal and the question is, how can we find ourselves always in the connection with the friends?

R. Well my dear one, that is already a technical problem, we need to do everything for you to be busy all the time with some work with the friends, in dissemination, in connection, in preparing texts, and so on. Everything that you can do to not fall to our world with all of its problems, which draw a person and divert one’s attention. Do everything you can with all your might and with that you will understand that every moment that you invest in dissemination, in study and so on, brings you closer to the goal. It influences you, it refines and purifies you.

S. Rabash also writes in this article not to connect with those same people that do not know that the main work should be for the sake of the Creator, even me, theoretically I can know.

R. But you know this.

S. I'm just guessing that it is this way.

R. It is okay, it's already normal. There are people that don’t even understand what they're, how they’re doing it, remember yourself in the first stages of study, in such a case you cannot connect with them, you can teach them, somewhat help them, but at the same thing isolate yourself from them internally.

7. S. (28:29) It is easier to say that connection happens for those who have upper sublime thoughts and desires, and whoever is in need of it more, that’s who receives it?

R. Of course.

8. S (28:55) What is it here that he writes here of observing the commandments of loving your neighbor as yourself?

R. There does not need to be a gap, a difference between love your friend as yourself and love your the Lord your God with all your might. They need to be completely identical, those tendencies one’s heart to everyone.

S. What does it mean to keep this for the sake of the Creator specifically?

R. Since this is a very severe addition, because you are not doing it because it is pleasant or good for you, but rather because the Creator commanded it, this is a very severe addition, where if it wasn't for this, you would love them and you would not engage in it with them, meaning your entire attitude towards the love of of others is only due to the commandant of the Creator.

S. So how can you really check that, that this is my correct attitude?

R. Feel that if it was not for the commandant of the Creator you would not engage in it.

S. And we can measure it if we are in the love of friends where there is already the goal of coming to love the Creator?

R. Yes.

9. S. (30:44) What is the correct incorporation in the ten and how can we be careful from an incorrect incorporation in the ten?

R. The correct incorporation is when each feels himself able to be in place of the friend.

S. How should we be careful that we are not incorporating incorrectly with one another?

R. We feel that there is a gap or a distance that you have from you to the friends then you need to think how you are canceling it out.

S. How should we isolate ourselves?

R. Through annulment before the society. Look at what he writes in the fifth row before the end. ‘Hence, one must cling to the society and since they are united, they are regarded as a collective too. However theirs is a big collector, while his society is a small collective and a collective does not annul before a collective.

10. S (32:26) It seems to be an important thing to feel the shame between the friends in order to reach the love of friends. So what can we do in order to increase the feeling of shame between us?

R. Give good examples to one another, to the extent that each is in good thoughts and wants to adhere to the friends.

11. S. (33:50) I do not know if I understood you correctly. You said a moment ago that but for the fear of the Creator we would not love our friends. How can that be Lishma, it is plain will to receive?

R. We will scrutinize this. We cannot go back to what was. And we did not understand the question.

12. S. (34:25) How should we understand it where there are some moments where you really feel that you are on the threshold of Lishma and you are being held back, and then you feel that you are so far away from it and you can barely hold on to that yearning?

R. Yes. It happens this way and that way. It's not too bad. Continue.

13. S. (34:56) What is this law where a collective cannot nullify a collective?

R. Very simply, because each collective has a law of all of reality, only in the small measure. Therefore neither nullifies before the other. They have sufficient forces, internal systems that they can live within and they do not need anything from the outside.

14. S. (35:40) You said that a correct incorporation is where you can be instead of the friend. What kind and how's that? What does it mean to be inplace of him?

R. That you can fulfill his role in the 10, in his place. We have yet to talk about this a lot, but it is still ahead of us.

15. S. (36:19) What does it mean to adhere to the society?

R. To adhere to the society is to think about it all the time and how to benefit it.

S. He writes here that from adhesion to the friends a person receives strength and forces. I am reading here in the last line: Therefore each person is one, he has the power of the whole society. What forces is he talking about here?

R. All the power, all the forces of the society, he gets from the adhesion to them.

S. What if I don't have the strength to think about the society and I think only about myself, so how do I adhere to them?

R. He will not adhere.

S. So where does it come from?

R. It starts from him wanting to nullify and he asks the Creator to give him the possibility to adhere to the society.

S. But the question is from where will he want to cancel himself?

R. From him asking the Creator to annul himself.

16. S (37:26) It is written: ‘..and if he is in a society where there is a group of people that are connected in one thought and one opinion looking at the goal and not at the work. Then the goal is not weakened.’ What does it mean in the ten when we are looking at the work, and how should I understand that in the ten that we need to look at the goal and not at the work?

R. The main thing is connection. That is what they are concerned with.

17. S (38:41) Rambam writes: ‘That the people are working from fear in order to receive strength and it is revealed to them.’ What should small people with little wisdom come to?

R. To annulment. Advancement comes only from annulment and according to the measure of the annulment we advance.

18. S (39:21) It is written that ‘a person is awakened a few times and if he does not exert to respond to that then he receives a few excuses and then he has to escape the campaign. What effort should I make to really feel the need to love the friends?

R. Try to understand only one thing. It does not depend on knowledge, nor on your sharp question, but rather to the extent to which you want to be in my heart. That is it. We need to return to the system of Adam and Eve. Where all the men are in one man assembled with the thoughts, desires and intentions. And all the women are united in one woman, in one such character. Then we come to the correction of the world.

19. S (40:45) According to the parable of the person who is going down the river, what is this push from behind, is this only adhesion in society?

R. We have no more than that. We have to correct the sin of the tree of knowledge from which we all shattered from. The connections between us were breached and we are no longer connected to one another. Just like we can see. Even as much as we see, we see that there is a complete disconnect between us. So our entire correction is in the connection between us.

20. S. (41:35) If we are able to reach Lishma can we get rid of or be released from the desires that the Creator has given us?

R. No we cannot free ourselves from their desires just correct them and then incorporate them.

21. S. (41:56) Is the love of friends an Lishma does that include seeing the friends as good that do good?

R. I did not understand.

S. Is the state of Lishma necessarily whenever I see friends as the good that do good?

R. Yes, because anybody who negates does so in their own flaws. If I come to a state in which I see all of my friends corrected,it is called that I am corrected.

22. S. (42:42) If from within the .. a person has a new field of work open within him and if so what should he do in this new place of nullification

R. In that gap of annulment we need to continue our annulment towards the friends to extend it towards our friends to the Creator and then to connect them together from the love of the created beings to the Creator and in this way to advance to the general correction of the world.

23. S. (43:29 ) How can we be incorporated with friends in the Ten where we barely feel them and come to all different meetings but not really to the lessons?

R. Don't they know one another? Aren't they integrated into the lessons? Don't they have meetings between them?

S. Yes and in meetings yes but not in the lessons.

R. In the lesson it is pretty difficult to not be connected with your friends. Try, try to be more connected

24. S. (44:16) It is written that only when a  person sees that he is being pushed does he begin swimming himself and then he gives him more more, in this condition why keep swimming? Does this happen in this Ten or between the person and the Creator?

R. There are different ways I cannot say about it.  I feel that the women are in such a state that I can not explain to them what they're asking. What they are asking is on a higher degree than where they are. It  is like a student from our first grade is asking questions from the second grade.

25. S. (45:20) Here they're asking that also they are not in the meetings, they are also not coming to the meetings

R. Then there's no point in incorporation, there's nothing incorporation there is nothing if they are not coming through the incorporation points if they are not in the studies at least. In our lessons in our big meetings between us, they are not building a Ten. A weekly meeting with the Ten is a must.  Rabash used to be very meticulous about this.

26. S. (46:13) What does it mean to notify before the Ten. What measurement do we have toward that?

R. It is to the extent of the annulment before the friends, Behind the friends stands the Creator, if I nullify before the friends altogether I am annulling before the Creator.

27. S. (46:47) Here he says in the second paragraph that even though he has friends in the society that want to reach Lishma they still have this general population that are yearning for Lo Lishma. What is this rule here that says that he wants to reach Lishma and he keeps himself from those that are engaging in Lo Lishma?

R. Everyone tries to adhere to the successful ones. What is successful? Those who appear in my eyes as those who appear in all kinds of lessons and ask questions in studies and relate to their friends accordingly and so on and so forth and hold up the society so whoever wants to advance should adhere to such people.

S. This population that engages in Lo Lishma, how do we make sure that they don't influence the others?

R. We dragged them together.

S. How to drag by example?

R. In what way? In all kinds of activities that we do with them.

S. The same group that wants to reach Lishma, what is the force that keeps them, that holds them?

R. That they want to be connected together and connected to the Creator and with their prayer they are constantly turning toHim with every opportunity to help them be more and more in connection and to reveal the Creator in the adhesion between you. What does it mean to reveal the Creator? To reveal the force of bestowal and love. That is called Bore, come and see, the Creator to reveal that force of love and bestowal that needs to be revealed between them. To dwell between them.

S. If in society those who are sticking to Lo Lishma, does it not create a flaw in those who want to reach Lishma?

R. Of course it creates a flaw but this flaw should be inverted instead of them dragging us. those of us who are in Lishma to Lo Lishma god forbid, we do the opposite. We draw them from Lo Lishma to Lishma.

S. So you draw them?

R. By example

S. How does an example look to them?

R. I simply showed them how I work and also all my friends who are connected to me. That is how we show it to everyone and gradually this works.

28. S (50:11) In the second paragraph you gave you mercy. We always learn that from Lo Lishma you come to Lishma, meaning towards society like you said before, in one of the paragraphs towards the end is expressed by our habits changing towards the Ten, more and more. How do we relate to this paragraph here? Does it matter?

R. That is their nature and we will try and draw them in the opposite direction.

29. S. (51:07) What is the force in thought.. What is there in thought?

R. We have a heart and mind and we need to use them both in order to come to in order to bestow, to resemble the Creator in both

S. What is a thought? That I am supposed to work with thoughts? They also go from one to another and you think about the friends and the thought is given to me from up above so how am I supposed to work with this thing called the thoughts of the friends.

R. It is not only that you were given this from above you also decide these things from which society you are in, what books you read etc. It's not that it is all coming just like that and falling into your head and your heart in a person. Rather a person prepares himself to receive something specific from above.

S. I'm trying to connect to the Ten and implement 'love your neighbor as yourself ' and from that reach adhesion with the Creator. I am always getting foreign thoughts that deviate me from the path,these thoughts I have, do I have control over them?

R. No, but you have control of what pace and what power they will awaken in you. It depends on what you engage in.

S. What do you mean by what I am engaging in?

R. Whether you are letting these thoughts and desires awaken in you or not.

S. But how? I am trying to get the thoughts of 'love of friends' and then I receive all these kinds of rejections and thoughts.

R. The thoughts and rejections that you are receiving are awakened in you in order to push you even more forward.

S. How do you not lose this going forward, this push from behind?

R. You advance towards the good and you will see what connection you have with the bad that is revealed that is awakened and then you will see that through that bad, the Creator is advancing you to the good.

S. It is not really clear,somehow within me the feeling is clear but I'm not really able to work with that.

R. Write a short article about this and read it and you can also send it to me.

30. S (54:04) Rabash here is recommending to us to be careful from connecting with people who are engaging in love with your neighbor for their own sake. How can I know what the intention of a person is? Maybe I need to do some kind of selection between friends? Maybe these friends and those friends? Even on my own intentions ,I am not 100 percent sure what the direction is.

R. You don't need to examine the others or examine yourself because for sure you will be wrong in this 1000 times. You need to do what the Kabbalists recommend. That's it. What do you have that you want to build and approach towards the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the revelation of the Creator which is new.

S. He recommends us to be careful and to know the people that you are connecting with.

R. Yes, so look at the friends and see who it is worthwhile to connect with and who not. Those that you are in the Ten with you need to check with them meticulously and go with them. If they are in the Ten in a right and regular way. Do actions together.

S. He recommends that we should, what does it mean, How should I serve the friends?

R. By you helping them and them helping you and through such a physical incorporation you are also included more generally, internally and then you are coming closer towards spirituality. One will help his friend.

31. S (56:05) In your answer before you said that the personal example is the main thing in society. This is what I can bring to others and he writes that the thoughts and opinions but the others are much stronger than the actions.

R. But can we bestow through them? Can I activate my thoughts that will influence the friends?

S. The stronger thoughts of some of those who are engaging in Lo Lishma words I can go into a little bit.

R. No. That is not correct. I can through my actions influence the friends, give them an example of how we need to be connected to one another. What did we read? Where are all these articles?

S. It is not clear, personal examples, external is that stronger than thought?

R. The external example is more powerful than the force of thought. Yes, if I see it I am incorporated in it. The friend that is influencing me. He is talking to me. He is showing me something and I am influenced by it.

32. S. (57:43) If I'm working on bestowing to the friends, how can I feel that my friends are also bestowing to me?

R. To the extent to which you want to bestow to your friends you become more sensitive to their bestowal upon you and then you have the possibility of changing your behavior towards the society and to understand the society more in the way that they bestow to you. Try, try and you'll see how it works. It all depends on that sensitivity, that delicate measure that you relate to them and they to you.

33. S. (58:54) With all this scrutiny that we heard one time I asked you, how can you avoid criticizing friends because one time I asked you why do I need to hear the questions of the friends. They are asking all kinds of questions and you said if you relate to them like they are your own children then you will change your attitude.  How do we not worry about whether we succeed or not succeed. We are one collective and we need to hold on to one another and say that one is more successful than the other, we are still kind of on this log in the middle of the ocean.

R. We need to continue in advance and ask the Creator to add more sensitivity to us and consideration with one another and connection with one another and then slowly slowly through my appeal to the Creator and the request to sharpen my senses and to open my heart to the friends, I connect to them more and more and understand what is happening between us. That's it . There is nothing that we can do. This meticulous work all the time.

34. S. (01:00:51) There's a very interesting ten here. Some have been learning for five years, some have been learning for ten years, fifteen years, some people have just finished, we only have four that are appearing here but there's many in concealment. Sometimes someone falls, sometimes one never comes but if there is a danger to connect with someone with the wrong intention, how can you work at all in a ten when you don't even know whether these people in the ten are coming, it's hard for me to understand.

R. It's also hard for me to understand this, I don't know what to do with it, it was the same for all the Kabbalists throughout all times. I gave you an example, that once with Rabash, someone came and sits down and studies during the lesson, Rabash says to me silently, he wasn't here for maybe ten years, ten minutes after him another guy comes sits down and studies, as if he went out to the bathroom and came back,

Rabash says to me that one studies here maybe 15 years ago, they sat down and studied with us and asked all kinds of questions and never came back, and never came back. What am I trying to say? We don't know what's happening with people. We need to help and support and we need to attract but whoever continues continues whoever doesn't there's nothing that you can do, if there is a group here, a ten, and now from ten there are four, well, what to do? That is what is happening to them. I don't know. We need to nevertheless try to hold on to everyone.

S. How can we know what each friend needs help and support in for him to continue on the path because at the moment…?

R. With the importance of the goal, nothing else is important. He doesn't need anything else but the importance of the goal.

S. But it depends only on how much importance that we bestow to him as a ten?

R. Yes.

S. How much each day or the intensity of it or maybe that we're returning to it a few times?

R. No, it's to the extent in which in our spirit there is the importance of the goal and we have a goal in life and we are going towards this purpose and we are coming closer to it and we have a future that we can somehow depict to ourselves that we are attaining the purpose of life the purpose of creation.

S. And if a friend has a natural rejection or resistance to it because like we say coming to Lishma it's not easy so it means that we as a ten...?

R. If he has a natural resistance he will leave, we are not allowed to hold him with force.

35. S. (01:04:46) In order to disseminate and reach people where they are I need to go and feel them but when I get close to them I begin to absorb their desires, so the question is how to be protected but also get close enough that we can bring them the material?

R. We're not allowed to go out of our circle, out of our faction. We are not allowed to do that, what are you even talking about? Rather we need without disconnecting from our friends to come closer to the foreign people and to try and draw them just like we learn through our lectures and conversations and discussions and all kinds of things but it's not that I am leaving my method in order to be closer to the external ones.

S. God forbid, we are not leaving our method, what I mean is to feel their kind of music, to write in a way that they can absorb it, to make a video clip, we have to feel. They have all the tools and we have the content but we need to feel how they make a song and how they make a video, that we have to get close.

R. I think that through your means like you said clips and music and all those things we will distance more and more from our path and incorporate more and more in their path and nothing good will come out of it. We will just waste our forces. That's what I think

 

S. So when we disseminate we make clips, we make songs, this is how we disseminate, we write.

R. Okay, I said what I think.

36. S. (01:07:07) So how do we disseminate?

R. Not by me incorporating in something and going with someone to do some movies and music but rather if he wants to incorporate with us he should come and incorporate with us, that's what I was trying to say.

37. S. (01:07:36) I'm going to continue the question from the friend, we have friends that participate less and for sure we need to understand how to incorporate everyone but this influence on those who come less does the ten need to receive them in a little different way?

R. No, to the extent that each comes and influences and bestows to the society. I respect people who come every day. We, with Rabash, had several people that would come and fall asleep, from the beginning of the lesson to its end he would sit and sleep and not wake up during the three hours that the lesson went on. The lesson ends, he gets up and he goes home and it would be that way for years, for years and everyone would respect him and consider him as a friend because he cannot not fall asleep.

S. I don't get it you said on one side yes and on the other hand to the extent that the friend comes and then to that extent you receive from him some kind of influence so to the extent that he is incorporated we need to receive this influence or does it matter?

R. To the extent to which he incorporates.

38. S. (01:09:36) A person who's on the path of truth already in his incorporation feels like he's a few circles. One inner Circle that he wants to receive bestowal and another Circle more externally he wants to bestow to it, what is the right way to hold on to this outer circle, to keep it but also bestow to it?

R. Try to disseminate and try to study. That’s what he needs to do, that's it.

39. S. (01:10:19) It is written that there's a special remedy in the adhesion of friends that the thoughts and opinions move from one to another by their adhesion in them. How do we reach this adhesion and what is this adhesion between friends? If we're gathering together we're already in adhesion?

R. No, adhesion means that we have an internal feeling and connection between all of us.