Morning Lesson December 26, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 10, 1988. What Are the Four Qualities of Those Who Go to the Seminary, in the Work?

https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/108WXSGi

1. Rav intro: What do you think?

2. S. (29:00) How does the holy soul help the one who comes to purify?

R. If he is included with the rest of his friends to the extent he is able, even if he just annuls towards them, so in that he is rewarded in being in Neshama, in connection between them, between everyone, and he receives fulfillment which comes to everyone.

3. S. (29:39) Not receiving a reward is an intellectual action that you constantly receive, we receive with each and every thing?

R. No, here the reward is the intention to come closer to the Creator according to equivalence of form. It becomes more and more and more similar to the Creator in small doses that he comes closer and that is called, that he rises in the degrees.

4. S. (30:19) What does it mean that man's soul shall teach him? What does it teach us?

R. Man’s soul will teach him that everything is received in the Kli of the soul, which is Malchut in terms of the Ten Sefirot, and a person who directs himself, who aims himself to receive in such a way, a connection with the Creator then he is considered that he is in contact with Him.

5. S. (31:09) What is the difference between going and doing?

R. Actions there are many. It's possible that he doesn't even mean to move forward, but this advancement, this walking, means that every time he comes a little closer towards the Creator.

6. S. (31:50) In this case what does it mean that he is going? He wants to get closer to the Creator, but he is not doing, how can that be? What is he not doing?

R. We'll just say that a person is in some contact with his Ten, he studies, he could be in whatever is, whatever he needs to be in with the friends. So how does he measure if he's walking or isn't walking on the path? He is walking according to the extent that he becomes sensitive to that same force that dwells in this environment. He sees it, he measures it to the extent that he is together with the friends in connection and to the extent that they, from time to time, from state to state, feel themselves that each one receives this additional fulfillment.

S. What is he not doing if he's going and not doing, what is he not adding, intention? What is considered doing if he's already in going and advancing? He’s with the friends, but it says going and not doing. What else is he supposed to do?

R. He individually doesn’t, isn't keeping this coming closer to the Creator.

S. I’ll think about it.

R. Okay.

7. S. (33:45) Why is one who settles for Lo Lishma also seen as holy?

R. Because it's not the end of the path of course and he’ll need to keep receiving further down, more degrees and rise above them but for the time being, to what he wants to reach to have equivalence a form with the Creator, the force of bestowal and because he is adhered that way he is considered holy.

S. Rav, in the very last paragraph of the article it says, at the end he has mitzvot and good deeds, but he does not want to walk on the path that leads to, “in order to bestow.” Instead he settles for Lo Lishma, he too is called holy because in terms of the act he is fine, and he has nothing to add in actions?

R. Yes, what he receives he receives in order to bestow. He isn't prepared, let's say to annul himself anymore, then he is as if he is standing. Can you say he is walking on the path towards sanctity, towards holiness? I don't think so, as soon as he stops yearning for the next degree he already falls from his current state.

8. S. (36:15) How does a person go from quality to quality? What does the person want? Quality to the next quality?

R. Questions, questions, problems along the path that he needs to be closer to the friends, closer to the Creator upon the new conditions and he isn't really taking care of it.

S. Difficulties, questions, move a person from going and not doing, and not going, to not doing and all of the other qualities here?

R. Yes.

S. If I take it to the connection with the ten, what is going with walking?

R. Going means that, walking means that with all the questions that he has in relation to connection with the friends, he tries to arrange them and to give them the correct answer that he lacks adhesion in the group.

S. What's the matter of doing or not doing?

R. That’s considered that he receives new conditions that the Creator is showing him, how in his connection, there are corrupted desires that need to be arranged and fixed, and then he works on them.

S. What is the correct quality in the ten?

R. Of what?

S. Among the four qualities of those that go to the Seminary, what is the correct quality we should have in the ten?

R. That everyone connects with one common desire and are supporting each other in order to reach this one action.

9. S. (38:19) Seeing that friends are friends, who are in different states and different qualities on the path, seeing that creates a different attitude towards these friends?

R. Let's say.

S. Some say we need to have an equal attitude towards the friends, they are all great, they’re all in the same inclination but nevertheless there is this attitude that you constantly relate differently to the friends according to let’s say, how they relate to the ten. Should we try to come out of it, should we see it as incorrect? How do we arrange this point? How to succeed seeing the friends either with the same relation or according to what reality shows me?

R. Reality shows you? What is reality? That's unknown. You need to receive the response of the friends regarding what's happening because they are in connection, in perfection, the good, positive, direct inclination with the Creator, face to face. You want to join that and in order to join that you search how you could join. What else can you personally add to that same connection that the others have with the Creator. Then if you have deficiencies, you have prayers. What can you do?

S. That’s it, there are friends like you describe now with whom it’s very easy for me to see them that I want to join and learn from them, they give me an example so there's a positive example. Then there's also examples that's not so good and I don't want to take an example for that. So what should I do with that?

R. For that you need to justify them and understand that you're not able to see the truth. They have eyes but they cannot see the truth. One of the corrections.

10. S. (41:00) Which quality should someone who is walking to the seminary, going to the seminary reach?

R. To the fact that he connects with his ten, through his ten, he connects to all of the external Kli and participates in it to such an extent that there is no difference between them.

S. It describes four qualities that look according to what he says that we have to erase the degree of wicked, that's the result of a person who is going to the seminary? Is this considered a good result?

R. No, I don't think that this is a good result, but it is revealed in him in the left line, and he immediately goes to correct it.

S. He describes a state where a person is a result of his good work he invested, he attains the state of Shechina in the dust. What's the difference between adhesion to the path and adhesion to the Creator?

R. Adhesion to the path is according to what he defines as the path; what definition does he give to the path and to advancing in the path, from time to time, from side to side. The main thing is the adhesion.

S. What’s for us is adhesion to the Creator, what should we aspire to?

R. The force of bestowal which is unlimited. That's it.

S. We attain this at the end of the correction or along the path? Where do we get that?

R. That you get at the end of correction; until then we work partially, with whatever is revealed.

11. S. (43:43) He talks here about four degrees of gratitude, really he says here that every minute you have to give thanks even if he just wants to walk on the path but doesn't yet have the quality of bestowal, he should be thankful. If he wants and already observes something but he forgot that he’s on the way and he should be going, he should still be thankful. If he's a Hassid for sure he should be thankful because he's already in the quality of bestowal. Even if he's in a state where he’s neither this or that and that he regressed, still he should be thankful for. Where do you take this power to constantly be in gratitude?

R. Because in each and every state you receive from the Creator means to advance.

S. Yes. That makes sense when a person is in it, he's in it. But, how can it be, where do you take this feeling of gratitude every moment in life in relation to the work?

R. Because in every moment in life you received from the Creator means to eventually reach the final correction.

S. How can you see it as that and truly be in gratitude all the time?

R. This is specifically through the deficiencies, the corruptions that are revealed along the path. If you work in them then you will discover their Aviut, their coarseness, their deficiencies, and this what awakens you to know the importance of that same degree that you are on and the uniqueness of the Creator that brings you to it, and this is how you advance.

S. I should be grateful and bless these corruptions?

R. Yes, yes. Specifically by the fact that there are negative results it helps us advance. We can build on them the correct, good attitude, to rise above them and by that rise from one degree to the next. Meaning, what we see in front of us, the obstacles are true, and it’s natural to be this way.

S. Yes, but If the obstacle doesn't make a person fall and he forgets about giving thanks?

R. No obstacle can knock down a person. It's not intended for that. These are in very special cases but usually there aren't such obstacles. And a person mustn't say, I have in front of me an obstacle and I'm going to fall and whatever will be, will be. 

No, it's prohibited.

S. How do we keep in the Ten this quality of gratitude all the time, to always be in gratitude?

R. You need to not escape; to be grateful for the great ones in Torah; not to detach from the Creator and that's it. The most important thing is to be as close as possible to the ten and as close as possible to the Creator.

12. S. (47:44) How is a person rewarded with canceling his own authority?

R. It is through the friends; with the friends he advances, and he comes closer to revelation of the Creator, that includes everything. So from that he has the opportunity to annul himself.

S. That's the thing, the example has to come through the friends, and I can't always…?

R. Without the example you can't see anything, without the connection with the friends.

S. The example of the annulment already exists in the Ten. How can I see it?

R. That's not possible; it can't be that the ten can exist, and it is existing in annulment and some people that are in the Ten are searching for this annulment.

S. How do I find this example in the friends?

R. How do I find that example in the friends? you need to annul. I see how they are on the path, they don't miss anything, and they help each other and so on.

S. So, I have to see it practically and work on it and not just imagine that it is there?

R. No, no, no. That's why we need to enter the society and there, the society will help. Society also has such actions on a person that without them he does not reach corrections. So, it's not that he entered the ten in order to be able to correct himself in relation to the Creator and so on; but he entered also so that the environment, the society will work on him.

13. S. (50:08) It’s written that all of the sacred things have the shape of dirt, which is a taste of dirt, and for every little thing that he does for him it's difficult for him as the opening of the Red Sea? What is the meaning of the example here of the Red Sea?

R. Because we have no greater obstacle than the Red Sea along the way; that the Creator opened up the Sea and the people of Israel crossed through it as if through dry land. So this is why we have to be in complete faith; that by us being together and all of us are willing to enter the sea meaning to drown, by that we do open up the sea.

S. How do we do this crossing of the Red Sea, what do we need to do?

R. For that we need faith in the Creator, complete and great faith; that we are going towards the land of Israel, and only if we cross this obstacle then we will enter the area of the land of Israel.

14. S. (52:02) What does it mean to be independent and on the path? 

R. To be independent on the path? Independent according to the desire, independent according to the corrections, independent according to the goal, according to your influence on the friends. I don't know, in each and every discernment there is this concept of being independent.

S. I'm asking because he gave an example here that if a kid works for his father he's not yet independent he can't yet demand a salary. So here we're on the path and we're all always asking the Creator all kinds of deficiencies. The question is, if I ask Him with the right intention, am I truly doing this the right way that He can fulfill me with these deficiencies? Because if I don't feel that I'm working towards Him with the right intention and I don't even feel it's not even a correct prayer, is it even a correct work? Is it always destined to fail from the start, because 'm not even reaching out to Him correctly, to the Creator?

R. That doesn't matter so much, even though you're turning to Him incorrectly; the Creator interprets you correctly, He understands you, He knows your heart, and He interprets it correctly.

S. You gave one of the answers to the friend, the connection between us and the ten from state to state we need to feel the fulfillment of the creator. How is that expressed that I feel the fulfillment of the Creator between us?

R. That we feel more and more that we are close to each other, in our hearts, in our goal and in the study and in all the spiritual things; that pertain to the definition of the goal. This is what we are coming closer to more and more.

S. So how do I receive this fulfillment, there are these friends in the ten who aren't giving themselves like we want, they barely come, they come once in a while, how should I see the Creator’s attitude towards these friends, is this a fulfillment, this isn't fulfillment? or do I only need to interact with the friends who are with me all the time?

R. When I came to Rabash there were four people there who would come every day; it was Itzhak Miller, Abraham. What’s this old man’s name, Renberger, and Hillel, four people; that's what remained. I'm talking about the morning lessons. This was in 1979 and then 1980. That’s it, so the group existed as we called it. Sometimes people came from the street, not that anybody could just walk in but still nevertheless seldom people would come who were there before then left and heard of this special time when suddenly someone came and followed him a second, then a third. And I think one morning four veterans actually came. So there are all kinds. We shouldn't make calculations about it; as much as the Creator gives you support for the environment, use that.

S. Meaning to look at the ten as one and not just analyze each and every friend and do all these calculations but to see the ten as one, if everyone is advancing on the path it’s ok?

R. Yes. The most important thing is that you continue. That’s the most important thing, to continue. What are you going to do?

S. Yes, sometimes it is not easy when you see friends that you want to feel them closer, you want to work with them in this work of connection and you can't, you can't work with them. So you say okay fine I have fourteen friends in my ten but it's actually not fourteen it's many less. I need to work with what I can and treat it as one? It’s not always easy to relate to it this way.

R. There is nothing you can do about it. You have to grow stronger with whatever you have and keep going, and to pray to the Creator and the Creator will arrange for you a different environment.

15. S. (58:25) To continue what the friend was asking, Rabash writes here that, while a person wants to reach adhesion to the Creator, which is equivalent of form, and the body resists everything. He continues and says that a person sees that he's not advancing in terms of bestowal and every action needs overcoming, it is difficult for him to pray. Then he asks, why does a person, after he has invested so much effort and exertion because he wants to go on the path of truth, why does a person receive such a state? He answers that this is the form of how the Creator wants to bring him closer, to give you an opportunity. So the question is, in this intersection when a person invests in the path of truth and he understands, does he actually receive such a state he doesn't advance, he doesn't bestow? He doesn't want to do anything about bestowal. To the extent that a person prays, he'll just start overcoming, it'll look like on the outside that he's just having less respect. So, what would make a person true to the Creator or get pushed back?

R. Well, if the person doesn't want to leave the path leaving the path towards correction and he keeps going, and he prays to the Creator and to the friends. This is how he hopes he will have the forces, that's it.

S. Prayer is a desire; a person needs to reach a state that he wants to bestow and he can't, he's not capable.

R. But he wants to connect with the friends.

S. Connect with friends but he's not succeeding.

R. You should ask the Creator, more and more.

S. Rabash writes that he sees that he has a taste of dirt, he doesn't want it, where’s the prayer?

R. He doesn't want to because he's lacking taste, he doesn't want connection; because there's dust in the connection doesn't mean he doesn't want connection. He realizes that now he comes to a state where he doesn't have a taste in connection, so what?

S. So where to take a prayer from, where is his desire to even connect from?

R. Above his desire; where do we want to connect, when we come to a sweet feeling?

S. Where does a person get such a desire? When you say desire, what I see in my own vessel is that I want something, I yearn for something, I can imagine it. But a desire to bestow, where does a person want something like that?

R. Now with respect to the friends, has an opportunity to show the desire to bestow that he has towards them. He has an opportunity and he's asking of the Creator that he will have the power, that he will have the power to bestow to them, but there is no choice.

S. The fact that there’s no choice, I understand, that’s why I hold on to the path because there’s no choice, but a prayer, a desire.

R. Yes, a desire that I will have a desire.

S. Let's say I'm here now and I'm reading this article and included with the friends. I feel that now a desire awakens in me, I want what I read, I want to know and scrutinize.

R. Because the environment is working on you, and it influences you and gives you a desire. Envy, lust, and honor bring a person out of this world.

S. That's considered that I want to an extent?

R. The friends want it, but you receive this desire from them, right?

S. Yes, I understand. How do I maintain this yearning that I only make it grow?

R. Now take this influence of the environment, and try to connect with them, and together with them to also turn to the Creator. This is how you will feel that you already have the power, the support, and you can ask. You can see according to all the texts that this is the correct state. 

16. S. (01:03:53) There are states where friends, after a certain period of time, they feel that they want to advance, and they see that they are not advancing. And also they see that society is not advancing, that is how it is revealed in a certain state.

R. What do they do, they awaken society to have a scrutiny and criticism regarding correction?

S. Correction, I don’t know, but they want and try to infuse their deficiency into the group; they are searching how to do an active advanced searching for additional actions that need to be done. We see we do not know what, but we feel that we're stuck in the same place and not being able to advance more.

R. But on what does their success depend?

S. I can only say what I feel that the feeling that there is some kind of closeness to the purpose of creation, to the essence. So there is a question: what does it mean advance, what is advancement? It seems that from the friends that, that there isn't sufficient enough advantage, the reasons can vary but the desire feels that it is not fulfilled. Now, we want to add in actions, and it is possible that you are doing actions that we are not yet prepared for it. So we do all kinds of different things, maybe the Ten is not participating with that, or cooperating, and the friends could be frustrated by that. So what I'm asking, what to do with this desire that wants to increase the actions, according to what we read, that he’ll have more actions, that there is but there is this agreement in the Ten for this? How does he cope with this state?

R. He prays to the Creator that he wants to get closer to his general correction, inside this group, and enter together with them into the Creator, into adhesion with the Creator, and this is his request.

S. The action that he's searching to do, that he wants to do these things, this should be directed it's towards this internality that you just mentioned?

R. Yes, of course, what will we do in externality?

S. Yes, that is the question, because a person feels that he feels that he wants to do more. He feels that he's not giving enough exertion in the correct way, or that the society isn’t. He feels all the environment as not acting enough.

R. What actions are they lacking?

S. One friend can say we should do this kind of action, and another friend can say we should do other kind of actions.

R. Well, they can talk between them, all the more so! Make a list of what they recommend and then check according to this list, and vote on how can we add in our actions.

S. Okay, so then another step forward, we do this scrutiny, and the Ten isn't participating really, it isn’t every friend but as a Ten, we do not take any of these actions in the way that it comes from the Ten. So what can friends do with this over time?

R. So in the Ten, there are few friends that, technically, manage the Ten. They say, we are going to gather in the evening for this and that, and we will talk about it, and about this and that. These are the issues that we have to decide about. So discuss it and try to connect around that.

S. This effort to delve into it and connect, that could possibly give some kind of satisfaction for the friends that are asking to do some kind of actions, this will balance out this feeling of theirs, it calms it down?

R. It will pacify a desire that may not be good, but it will give them a new connection.

17. S. (01:09:18) The Creator does not give a person anything bad or put an obstacle, but nevertheless we see that humanity is suffering from endless things and pain. It is known that it all comes from the Creator, There Is None Else Besides Him. The question is where does the suffering come from, even the person who studies and gives a lot of exertion, he may have even more suffering, why does this happen?

R. In order to accelerate a person, he needs the right actions towards correction.

S. So who gives it, does it come from the person?

R. Of course the Creator, There Is None Else Besides Him.

S. So that’s what I said, He doesn't cause bad to a person or put an obstacle?

R. It's not bad.

S. So what?

R. The Creator is pressuring the person and obligating the person to get closer to the correction.

S. By causing the person suffering?

R. Yes, otherwise, a person cannot understand any other way.

S. Why can’t the Creator give something that a person will do in a good way only by causing him pain, he thinks he needs to correct himself?

R. Yes.

S. Why through a negative side, He's the Good that does good.

R. Because there are only two forces: positive and negative, and a person cannot advance through the positive, but only through the negative force.

S. It is a little weird.

R. Well, look at the way you behave towards your children.

S. Sometimes it happens with kids, yes no doubt! Okay, thank you very much.

18. S. (01:11:15) If I understand correctly, in the article he's talking in the article about actions and intentions, more or less. In the ten, there are friends that are more inclined towards actions and there are friends who are more inclined towards intentions. I want to ask about my attitude towards these and those, and should my approach and my attitude always be to aim to awaken the balance because we need them both?

R. I don't have the vessels with which to measure this balance and check it, to relate and sort the friends according to that.

S. I don't have vessels for that, okay; so let's say, for example, a friend is inclined more towards actions. What is the work of this friend, meaning that his exertion is in the intention, more work, more possibly even the taste of dirt. So a friend that is inclined to certain directions, should he invest into this new thing that he is lacking.

R. Not necessarily.

S. Not necessarily?

R. You should go according to as it is written.

S. “A person studies only where his heart desires.” 

R. Yes, “a person studies only where his desire is”.

19. S. (01:13:06) Other than the Creator, has any person freed from asking to be a speaking?

R. Yes.

20. S. (01:13:58) Adding to the scrutiny, what does it really mean, he who is not going to the seminary and is doing?

R. It's still doing, how can he perform actions when he doesn't go into the seminary? It is when he slights actions that are accessible to him, approachable to him, in a corporeal way.

21. S. (01:15:10) Why does the Creator need our true prayer if He actually is not even taking our opinion into consideration, so why should we raise a true prayer?

R. Because it shows the levels, the degrees, by which we grow. This is why it is very important for Him, our response, our reaction.

22. S. (01:16:00) One who doesn't do and doesn't walk, so he has nothing in his hands, he feels lost, how can he pray at that moment if he's asking the Creator to save him? He is asking for himself and not in order to remain in bestowal, how does he ask the Creator to save him and remain in bestowal?

R. But he did not do anything, so how does he ask at all? In short, he has a problem, he needs to close his eyes and go into the group and be the smallest among them. To hear what is in them, to listen to what is in them.

23. S. (01:17:35) When a person annuls himself before the Creator, he does not have anymore deeds from his own, the Creator starts working through him. How can I know myself so that no deeds remain in me how do I do it?

R. It is done gradually by the Creator, Himself.

S. When I want to annul myself before the Creator to such an extent that sometimes I don't even feel that moving a finger comes from myself. How to give the control to the Creator and keep going?

R. It means equalizing the form with the Creator in desires and actions.

24. S. (01:18:39) As much as I understood, we have to reach the state from complete wicked to complete righteous. Where, in that transition, do we go above reason?

R. In all of those states, in the transitions between the states, we go in faith above reason.

S. Also, in the state of going and not doing, and doing and not going?

R. Yes, yes, we simply need to give the right definition to every situation.

25. S. (01:19:21) Today, there were two scrutinies about obstacles and disturbances, that the Creator does not give the obstacles in order to break the person but only to bring him closer to Him. So these obstacles, are they deficiencies for the Ten in order to raise the prayer to the Creator?

R. In principle, yes.

S. What should the Ten ask for?

R. The Ten should first of all should ask for the connection so that each one of us will feel instead of himself, the common Kli. The way this common Kli, common vessel, relates to the Creator, how I can offer myself to the Creator.

S. Towards the friend, do you want the friend to overcome the obstacle?

R. It is necessary, it is a preliminary phrase.

26. S. (01:20:39) We, about the relating about the friends in the Ten, we assumed that every friend is doing his maximum, and we see him as great. Along with that, what is the minimum relation that the Ten needs to demand from the friends?

R. What is the minimal relation that the Ten should demand from the friends? Simple relation, to be in a group, as much as possible adhere to the purpose of the Ten, and to participate in all of the activities that strengthen the connection between the Ten to become as one.

S. I want to do the work with the Ten, and now I see that a friend that cannot come to the lesson, and that is okay. I feel him, I understand he's doing his maximum that is what he was given. The question is if I need to demand an attitude, or at least a friend to say, look I can only do one, two, three. I can only do this. Or even that, not to demand from my friend, he doesn’t need to say anything and do whatever he does, whenever he wants, where’s the border?

R. We have to try to give him an example, to give him an example. Each one with what he does in the society and where he can truly be an example.

S. We give examples. Let's say I work somewhere, so someone has a full-time job someone has a half-time job, everyone works according to?

R. Each one according to his ability.

S. Let's say I work once a week in a place, and I tell everybody, look I can’t come, I will come on Tuesday. Because this disturbs us in the work; is this something that I can ask a friend to give such a relation, not what to do but just let us know whether you're coming or not, basic things?

R. No, you are demanding, it does not induce correction, you are demanding, it does not cause correction. You have to set a good example, and then through the good example, your friend will understand what you need, that is it.