PART 2
Selected Excerpts From The Book “Yosher Divrei Emet”
41. R. I would like to say a few words about this book if you haven't heard it was a group of Kabbalists in Poland, a few hundreds of years ago and it was a very special group, they used to live in a very humble way they were all poor, they couldn't work and they used to engage in Kabbalah all day and all night. Truly. In a way that they took upon themselves rules and such forms of behavior that it was really hard for us to understand how a person can live this way. they were especially, internally, they were very honest with each other straight forward, they canceled everything external and the main thing for them was the intention, the thought. They only engaged in that all day long. Their Rabbi, their teacher wrote a book, a small book called Yosher Divrei Emet, Integrity, Words of Truth, we don't learn it there's not a lot to learn but it includes all of the verses we are about to learn, we just want to taste a little bit of what a kabbalistic approach is for one who wishes to be a Kabbalist, for his life, for his intentions, for his group what should be the way to look at things. This group is very special, Rabash used to say that if this group would be here in our days he would certainly go as a member and be with them. So this is why we are going to read what their leader rights to us.
Passage 1 Reader (03:11 - 04:21) reads twice
42. R. This means one who truly comes to a true feeling of reality, he's not in reality at all, he has nothing that he can say is his, that is him. But rather he has complete devotion to the upper force to the Creator and in truth except for the upper force there is nothing in reality, there is none else besides Him.
43. S. (04:54) He writes here on one hand we must repel our haughtiness, our pride on the other side, I need to see my loneliness, the inferiority.
R. All of these things he ascribes to the Creator, he created the evil inclination, of course I have many faults which I acknowledge, I want to get rid of it, to cancel them and rise above them. What does he say, that he shouldn't seem that he has any merit, there is no merit, everything is one big fault, as the Creator said I have created the evil inclination. Because he agrees with that, he has studied and scrutinized it and he rose above it and this is why he agrees with it.
S. What is spoken about here that needs to be the greatness of the Creator so much before me that I can just be ready to fall before it?
R. No, you can't see the Creator if you see him you fall, this is something everyone can do even in this world if you see some great person you fall. No, we have to do it by the force of faith when I do all of the efforts, all of the actions as much as possible in order to bring myself to a state, there is none else besides Him. When I bring the Creator which is now zero before me, he doesn't exist, it's even less than zero and then I raised him to a degree that he fills the entire reality. It is not that he discovers, he fills over the entire reality and then I fall. That this is how the Creator affects my ego, that cancels my ego, no. What I should do with everything that I have and to do it in a way that I annul myself to the group and through the group to the Creator, it's not that he does it forcefully we can't understand and want, but rather it's me doing it. That is a whole thing of devotion. Soul devotion, otherwise I will be sitting and waiting for a thousand years and nothing will happen that the Creator will organize it for me.
S. It turns out that I need to reveal the Creator through it
R. You need to think about the sentence “you have made Me”, it is not that the Creator is showing himself and then we annul our selves, you can ask for it to happen this way but actually we should make him, build him out of our relations, out of our qualities out of the forces that we get from him. We should build him, you have made me and then it is considered that I am not even annulling my ego, I can't even practically annul it, all I can do is make a form of the Creator upon it. This is what I get from him and in this new form I want to work with my ego, to be in order to bestow. Think about it, here there is an inversion of what we may have thought before and what we should think. It is a great thing and this is why he writes that so is the truth to the enlightened one, that he gets the enlightenment from the Creator, he sees that one has no merit and this is why he hands himself and his soul to the Creator because everything he received from the Creator even the seemingly bad things a person has nothing of himself and that is how he annuls.
Passage 2 Reader (10:03 - 12:38) reads twice
44. S. (12:44) You say Rabash was very much impressed by this group, should he be jealous of them that they had attained this high level of bestowal towards the Creator?
R. Of course, with anything you want to resemble the Creator you have to respect what he respects, of course. We will go over that, that we will have some memory of it in the lessons. These are not things that we have to realize now today, as we say today we have learned about devotion, these are more general things that we hear from the teacher who was there in that group. I'm not really certain what you want to ask as these are general impressions of that person about spirituality.
45. S. (14:14) We learned in the past that a person must see himself as half righteous and half wicked but in this first excerpt it says a person must reach a degree of recognition that his faults seemed to him that he has no merit, so what kind of recognition is this referring to and how do we undergo such high levels of recognition of evil?
R. Very nice, I am happy to hear such a question that truly either a person needs to see himself half worthy or half not or he has to nullify himself entirely that all of his flaws in the breaking, you are right. If I am standing before some action then I need to see myself half worthy and half not, that I precisely, from the point where I turn to the Creator I start to scrutinize from there. That is a matter of half worthy and half not.
46. S. (15:32) You said we read this to get a general impression when we read the excerpts it causes such an impression to a person he really wants to be in this group.
R. That is called a general impression, that is enough and we can't learn anything from here as a method it is just a general impression.
S. Why are we reading this, is there a more profound reason we're reading this today?
R. I told you this was a very special group of Kabbalists who worked very much on nullification of themselves and devotion, as such today we chose to read these passages to add to this lesson on devotion.
S. Can we also reach such a degree of devotion as they reached?
R. Make an effort but truly we must desire to be like them.
Passage 3 Reader (16:55 - 18:17) reads twice
Passage 4 Reader (18:18 - 19:37) reads twice
Passage 5 Reader (19:38 - 21:47) reads twice
47. R. We must by force, to nullify ourselves before the Creator in states that we are still not attaining, that we are nullified, as we are working through nullification in devotion feeling in ourselves that this is how it is, that we are truly zero, truly nothing, that all of the good things and bad things everything that happens is all from the Creator and we only feel it and we need in our feeling, to receive all of these things from the upper force and that I have nothing. Action thought intention and then we reach the true nullification.
Excerpt 6 Reader (22:38 - 23:40)
48.. R. In every moment I must be at war to discover the evil force dwelling in me and then I am always trying to hold myself above it.
Excerpt 7 Reader (23:58 - 25:00)
Excerpt 8 Reader (25:01 - 26:08)
Excerpt 9 Reader (26:09 - 27:27)
Excerpt 10 Reader (27:28 - 28:30)
49. S. I just wanted to say that there is a great impression from these excerpts thank you very much to those who collected them.
50. S. (28:51) Basically what we are learning now for 3 hours already he's talking about this thing that we have to annul ourselves and the more that you adhere to the good you see the distance you have from the good and then you can come closer to the truth on the one hand. On the other hand everything that he does is by the force of the Creator who gave him the strength to do it so we are doing nothing, everything is done by the Creator.
R. Of course the Creator is doing everything, you haven't heard or read before in your life. Where do you have the force to do something by yourself? This is why devotion, nullification this is why the Kabbalists are telling us about it, you don't have forces by yourself, when they give you these forces you have to reveal that what you did is not you and that it is all in order to prove to you that you did nothing.
S. So how do I discern what he writes here that there is no end to evil because after all of the action of the inclination, even if he committed many crimes, how can I notice and differentiate between what's true and false?
R. You make an effort to do what the Kabbalists tell you to do, what they advise you and you will see that this is how we exist, that only one force operates everything from beginning to end in from end to beginning.
S. Everything we just read as I always ask you, can you say it about the ten or it is only an internal work of a person?
R. It is the internal work of the person, they are looking how they are connected and that they are truly a 10, they are not just some five or six through ten people but rather that you see people who are working on nullification, each one first to incorporate together above all of your egos and then you have the coarseness, nullification and connection above the coarseness and in that you are already turning into something spiritual. Desire with a Masach, restriction and a screen that don't want to work with your ego. This is already the beginning of this Partzuf.
S.You started the lesson by saying the sentence that entered my mind, they annulled everything external what do you mean, should we also annul our externality in the ten?
R. That was a very special group, very special conditions and special time that this is how they worked upon themselves with their leader who brought them to such a degree, he was known among all the Kabbalists who lived after them that the Kotsk group, was a very special group.
S. Kotsk?
R. Yes this is this Kotsk, there are many books written about them they had a very difficult physical life and a very great labor in spiritual devotion, today this that we are learning about devotion, I chose also specifically that we can add this to our first lesson about it.
S. It is amazing. He used to walk with bread crumbs in his beard on Yom Kippur.
R. This is to emphasize even more how much they want to be disconnected from the material.
51. S. (33:28) It really sounds like words at Baal HaSlum wrote is it can Maor vShemesh
R. Maor vShemesh is written more in Rachamim, and this is more Din, judgments, it is more harsh, screaming and demanding in such a manner expressing himself. In Maor vShemesh it is more speaking in a nice manner, gentle, caressing as it is a different group, different person and different style. This is more left and the other book is more right, more Hassidut, Kabbalah yes but more the direction of Hassidut, Hasidism.
52. S. (34:46) These beautiful excerpts show a person to examine himself every moment and to delve into himself when should one go into himself and when should he think about others?
R. We are always in this and that together, it cannot be that you are taking care of yourself then to take care of others, you are taking care of others and your connection is in order to know what else you need to nullify in yourself in order to connect with them. This is a labor that is done at the same time. It is two forms of one work, nullification of the self of a person. Where else can we see the devotion especially in this that we are in connection with others, in our nullification towards the group.
53. S. (36:06) What is the difference between Kabbalah and Hasidism?
R. It all comes from the study of Kabbalah, the same group of Abraham who came out of Babylon with the nations, there was a whole civilization there and that group began to connect above all of their differences, that is a group of Kabbalists. The entire Torah is how we nullify our ego to reach adhesion with the Creator. The entire Torah is only speaking about the spiritual degrees that we go through them and now until we reach the complete adhesion. As usual when we see even to this day, the people are incapable of holding on to their internal war to rise above their ego, to match themselves to the spiritual demands. People then started doing this corporeally, corporeal Mitzvot, corporeal actions not spiritual ones to understand the spiritual demands of the correction of the soul as a corporeal action.
S. Where does Hasidism come in here because this is a much earlier time.
R. On the way from Kabbalah to religion, I don't want to speak about it too much because it's not really to do with us and we don't want to touch upon this as it's not important to us. We need to go according to the method of Baal HaSulam and in this to see that he is truly going along with the method of Kabbalah which is called the Torah of Truth.
54. S. (38:30) When you say in the excerpts we just read, they are nice excerpts but they are not a method, for instance Rabash has a method in his texts what you mean is that there's a middle line in the text?
R. No, what does that have to do with anything, it is all truth and not that here yes and they're no, what is spoken about is in the writings of Baal HaSulam, Rabash and others we see that they explain to us and in a methodical manner what to do, how to operate how to reach the purpose of creation. Here you don't have such a thing, there are passages that he wrote here that he's spilled out and everything is related to some state where he says something specific but not that if I will go methodically to realize what he says then I will correct my soul, no. It is not a book from which we can learn how to correct our soul. Simply small instructions that are cut out.
55. S. (40:12) How can we cause our tens to have the same wonderful impression that we just felt from these excerpts?
R. We need to repeat the passages again, maybe read them in the 10 but maybe to realize them, what you receive from me in the lesson is only to afterwards make the effort until the next effort, to realize them. If all of your work is only during the lesson that is not good. When is the correct realization that must bring us to the revelation of the Creator and the upper worlds.
56. S. (41:09) You mentioned a few times that this was a very special group of friends, what is so special about them, what do we take and learn from them?
R. Devotion, what we learned in the first lesson here he is explaining it in different words but it is the same matter, devotion. Tomorrow we will also continue on this matter what we did not finish today.
57. S. (42:00) We are getting many messages at this is a great impression from this book.
R. It is a great book, he really puts it here strongly, go into the site and read it, I think it is only in Hebrew.
S. It is being translated into other languages.
R. At least in a few languages we should have it.
S. What is this awakening?
R. He writes in the left line, like there is nothing more to do like that, if you want it this is the way to do it, the whole group was like this and for many years they were like this with this dedication is how they lived. There are many books written not by them but about them.
S. We are going to bring others about Kotsk.
58. S. (43:32) Is there a special characteristic in the 10 like you described the judgment and the Rachamim.
R. First we need to nullify yourself, then we will speak about each one to expresses himself above the nullification, for now it is only nullification.
S. And the externality you said they canceled their externality ....
R. We don't want to talk about that now we are not canceling anything except for the ego in each and every one, we are not nullifying some externality going into some cave and live there like some caveman, what are we doing is good enough like this.
59. S. (44:45) We should always see the friend’s merit but also to see what we're missing to rise to the next degree?
R. Yes, that other than nullifying myself and raising the friends in my eyes I don't need anything in order to rise to the next degree, only in such a manner, as much as I can so myself before my friends what Rabash writes in his articles, everything is written there. Begin now to go over those same articles about the group and you will see that it has everything there in such a manner that is direct for realization.
60. S. (45:56) What we talked about I have a question made of two parts, the first part is detaching from the ego and feeling as nothing when you do that, can you be thoughtless?
R. You mean to make a vegetable or a plant out of yourself, who said you need to cancel your thoughts or your desires, you need to nullify your ego, your “I”, yourself, you can still go on to be a scientist or a big businessman one has nothing to do with the other, you need to learn how to combine these things together. There is this world and everything I exist with here and towards the Creator, towards the group I exist differently, one does not confuse with the other in no manner.
S. Today I heard the sentence when we ascribe all of our faults to the Creator, we annul ourselves and we leave the ego below but that is our faults or we aim the ego ....
R. We need to learn how to correct our ego and use it correctly, first of all we understand that we are receiving it from the Creator, that I receive my ego from the Creator and then I will relate to it in a manner that is realistic and practical, correct, not that I am afraid or that I hate it, or want to throw it away and get rid of it, but rather that towards my ego I will have an approach that is to the point because I am getting it from the Creator, I need to do something with it. Not that I just want to cut it off and throw it away, in this I am degrading the work of the Creator, the Creator created the evil inclination and raises this evil inclination inside of us and we only need to learn how to correctly work with the evil inclination and if the evil inclination doesn't grow on a daily basis, we cannot rise. Because all who is greater than his friend his inclination is greater than him read every spiritual degree is that the evil inclination grows, it is revealed more.
61. S. (49:15) I identify a big difference in the words of Yosher Divrei Emet and Baal HaSulam and Rabash, in the Yosher Divrei Emet they annul the ego by .... and in the wisdom we learn we annul the ego by love of others and it seems like they're two different approaches or are they the same?
R. No, he wrote this book in a personal manner, he is not speaking about it in terms of the group but there are some passages that you will see just how much he relates to the person as the group, he is expressing it in an internal manner. Here it is not that his method is different, it is the same method from which Baal HaSulam also came from, the same foundation. It's not like in music or science where we have different approaches and methods, the truth is the truth so it is used either in certain periods or certain conditions. We're talking about the correction of man. But truly there is no difference as Rabash said he would enter the group if it were possible because it's true they are very close, Baal HaSulam, Rabash and Yosher Divrei Emet. I, on the beginning of my path I read this book before I even got to Rabash, I read many books and this was one of them and when with Rabash, he said we have some time and said what can we learn and I said before everybody let's read this book and he said no, just not that, anything but that. Even when I was with him afterwards, solitarily we rarely ever touched it. The truth is we can understand them. I also took things that we learn, we need to respect such a group as it was so unique we can't really recognize them today in any reality even the books written about them in such nice words, nice literature as we can't relate to depict to ourselves these things because they are written by people who are not Kabbalists, the books that are written about them. Whatever we need to learn it will just add a bit of color and not more.