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

Daily Morning Lesson: January 26, 2026

Reading of the Article in the Ten

Rabash. Article No. 29, 1986. Lishma and Lo Lishma

Recorded lesson - April 8, 2003

Reader: Hello friends, today we will study the article “Lishma and Lo Lishma.” You can find it in “The Rabash Writings,” Volume 1. The reading of the article will take place over two lessons, like in the original lessons. Tens who finish before time is over are welcome to open up with a workshop about major things that rise from the article. Today we will read the first part, which is from a lesson from April 8, 2003. Tomorrow we will continue to the second part. We will read together the article in the Ten. Where do we start and where do we end? We start in “The Writings of Rabash,” the article number 29, “Lishma and Lo Lishma.” We start from the beginning, until the words which start with, “We need to understand the difference between enough and everything.”

Reading: (01:30) Lishma and Lo Lishma

Article No. 29, 1986

We find four kinds among observers of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments]:

The first kind: Sometimes a person observes Shabbat because his employer forces him. That is, the rule is that if a person has an employee who is desecrating the Shabbat, if he tells the employee, “If you don’t stop desecrating the Shabbat I will fire you,” the rule is that he has to say that he will observe Shabbat or he will fire him from his job. And where there are no other jobs, he promises the employer to observe Shabbat. It follows that he is observing Shabbat because the employer forces him.

This brings up the question, “Whose Shabbat is he observing? Is it the Shabbat that the Creator has commanded to observe?” Accordingly, is he keeping the Mitzvot of the Creator or the Mitzvot of the employer, since the employer commanded him to observe Shabbat or he will have no provision? Nevertheless, according to the Halacha [Jewish law], he is regarded as “observing Shabbat.”

The same rule applies to the rest of the Mitzvot. We can put it differently: If a father knows that if he tells his son that he must observe Torah and Mitzvot or he will not support him, since the father knows that if he does not support him he will have no provision, and according to the Halacha, the father must see that the son observes Torah and Mitzvot, here, too, there is the question, “Whose Torah and Mitzvot is he observing? Is it the Creator’s, who has commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot, or is he observing his father’s Torah and Mitzvot?”

Whatever the case may be, he belongs to people who observe Torah and Mitzvot. These are the words of Maimonides (Hilchot De’ot, Chapter 6): “He who admonishes his friend first, will not speak harshly to him.” What is this about? It is about matters that concern man and man. However, with Godly matters, if he does not secretly repent, he is shamed in public, his sin is made known, he is cursed to his face, and disparaged and cursed until he reforms.”

Here, too, there is the question, “Whose Mitzvot is he observing, those of the Creator or those of the people who are cursing him?” However, here, too, we see that at the end of the day he is regarded as “observing Torah and Mitzvot.” That is, when we consider the act he is performing, we find that there is nothing to add to the action. The only question pertains to the intention, meaning to the reason that compels him to observe the Torah and Mitzvot. This is the first kind of observing Torah and Mitzvot.

The second kind: He observes Torah and Mitzvot because of upbringing, since he was born into an orthodox environment, or he was not born into an orthodox environment but later came into one, and it influenced him into observing Torah and Mitzvot. The reason for which he observes Torah and Mitzvot is that he was told that by this he will have both the life of this world and the life of the next world. Afterwards he began to see that people who are meticulous about Torah and Mitzvot are respected and appreciated, and saw how others speak to such people who pray more enthusiastically and dedicate more time to studying Torah. The respect they receive gives him a thrust; it is a fuel for him, and he, too, begins to pray more enthusiastically, and he is more meticulous with each commandment and gesture. By this he has strength to add time in studying Torah.

This is already the second kind of observing Torah and Mitzvot, since he wants to observe Torah and Mitzvot out of choice, since he understands that by this the Creator will reward him for keeping His commandments. However, he adds another name to the reason that commits him to observe Torah and Mitzvot. That is, the respect that he sees that those who observe Torah and Mitzvot more diligently than others receive. And besides the respect, those who are meticulous about Torah and Mitzvot have other things that the public commit them to work more. It can be money or anything, but there is another reason for which he must observe Torah and Mitzvot.

It follows that on the one hand he is higher than the first kind, since here he is observing the Torah and Mitzvot of the Creator, since he believes in the Creator. It is unlike the first kind, which does not believe in the Creator and observes Torah and Mitzvot out of knowing the punishment—that the employer might fire him—and this is why he has taken upon himself to observe Torah and Mitzvot.

However, the second kind was educated into believing in the Creator and observing Torah and Mitzvot because the Creator has commanded us to observe Torah and Mitzvot. The reward and punishment are not in knowing. Rather, he must believe in reward and punishment, that the Creator is the one who pays the reward, as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2, 21), “You can trust your landlord to pay you for your work, and know that the reward of the righteous is in the future.”

Thus, he must believe in reward and punishment. This is not so in the first kind. They do not have to believe in reward and punishment. Rather, the reward and the punishment are revealed. This means that if he does not obey the employer and observes Torah and Mitzvot he will certainly be punished, meaning he will be fired and will be jobless.

Also, according to the above-mentioned words of Maimonides that he must be degraded, etc., here, too, he does not need to believe in reward and punishment because he feels the suffering of being chased into taking upon himself to observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is something else because he is actually observing the commandment of the employer and not because of the commandment of the Creator, so it is regarded as only the first kind of work of the Creator.

In the second kind he observes the commandments of the Creator but adds another thing, meaning adds another reason to have fuel to observe Torah and Mitzvot, such as honor or money, or other things. That is, he has other reasons for which he observes Torah and Mitzvot. In the words of our sages (Sukkah 45b), this is called “Anyone who joins working for the Creator with another thing is uprooted from the world, as it is said, ‘For the Lord alone.’”

We should interpret what it means to combine the Creator with something else. According to our way, we should interpret that if he receives another reason that compels him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, it is regarded as being uprooted from the world, since the reason that the cause for observing Torah and Mitzvot should be “for the Lord alone,” meaning that he observes Torah and Mitzvot because it is the Creator’s commandment, without an addition of another reason.

It therefore follows that the main flaw with the act is that he blemishes the Lishma [for Her sake], since observing Mitzvot should be because he works and observes the commandments of the Creator, and because he is working and serving the Creator, and this is why he later comes to ask the Creator to reward him for his work. At that time he is told, “But you also worked for others, so you had others who obligated you to work for them. Go to them so they will pay you the reward for the work you did for them.”

This is similar to someone working for Dan [Israeli bus company], and asking for a salary from EGED [another bus company]. They do not want to pay his salary since he did not work for them. Likewise, when a person demands of the Creator to reward him for his work, he is told, “You worked for people, so they will give you honor or money. Go to them and they will pay you.” And indeed, they pay him: to the extent of his work, so he is respected.

It turns out that by combining the Creator with another thing—meaning that people, too, commit him to work—he blemishes the Lishma. This is why this is regarded as only the second kind, and his work is still not complete, perfect, and clean.

The third kind: He works only for the Creator and not for people. He works humbly and no one knows how much he prays and how much he learns. Therefore, we cannot say that he is working for people, so they will give him something for his work. Rather, he is working only for the Creator, meaning that the only reason that compels him to observe Torah and Mitzvot is that he wants to keep the Creator’s will.

However, he works for a reward. It is as Maimonides said, “So that no calamities will come to him, and to receive reward in this world,” meaning so the Creator will give him health, provision, and contentment from the children, etc., or so He will give him the next world. This is the reason that gives him fuel so he can do the holy work. For this reason, this work is regarded as Lishma, since the reason that causes him to observe Torah and Mitzvot is only the Creator, meaning that he is working only for the Creator and does not add other things to it.

That is, he has no other reason that causes him to observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is regarded as the third kind because he has no desire to work for anyone; only for the Creator. But the reason that obligates him to observe the commandments of the Creator is fear of punishment, or love of the reward.

This is as it is written in the Sulam [commentary on The Zohar] (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 190): “There is a person who fears the Creator so that his sons will live and not die, or fears a bodily punishment, or a punishment to one’s money, hence he always fears Him. It follows that he does not place the fear he fears of the Creator as the root, for his own benefit is the root, and the fear is its result. And there is a person who fears the Creator because he fears the punishment of that world and the punishment of Hell. Those two kinds of fear—fear of punishment in this world and fear of punishment in the next world—are not the essence of fear and its root.”

For this reason, since they are not primarily for fear of heaven, we discern this as the third kind. It follows that this work is called Lishma, since he worked for the Creator and not for others, too. That is, he did not take anyone else for whom to work, meaning for others, too, so others will respect him. Rather, he comes to the Creator with the complaint: “Since I have been working only for You, and no one knows what I did in observing Torah and Mitzvot because I have been working humbly, it is only right that You should reward me for my work.”

In this way we should interpret what our sages said, “He who gives a rock to charity so that his sons will live is a complete righteous.” The reason is that he is observing the commandments of the Creator. Because the Creator has commanded us to give charity, we give. It turns out that with respect to giving there are no deficiencies here, since he is observing the Mitzva [commandment] Lishma, meaning for the Creator, and there is no one else obligating him to give charity.

Rather, he is asking for a reward from the Creator, that He will pay for the Mitzva that he is observing, and will pay him for the labor he has given only for the Creator and for none other. That is, it is not like the second kind, where he combined another, meaning people from the outside who also caused him to observe and be meticulous with observing Torah and Mitzvot.

It is as they said (Pesachim, 8a), “And the Tania, he who says, ‘This rock is for charity, so that his sons will live, or that I will go to the next world,’ he is a complete righteous.” RASHI interprets, “He is a complete righteous” in this. They did not say that he is working Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], but that he has kept the commandment of his Creator, who commanded to give charity, and even if he intends for his own pleasure, to be rewarded with the next world or that his sons will live.

This means that although he is asking for reward for observing the Mitzva [commandment], meaning so that his sons will live, or because he wants the reward of the next world for this Mitzva, he is a righteous. The fact that he wants the next world is also regarded as wanting reward, such as so that his sons will live. It is like the above words of the holy Zohar, “Whether he wants a reward in this world or in the next world in return for the Mitzvot, it is not regarded as the essential fear,” since his own benefit is the cause for observing the Mitzvot, and not the Creator. Still our sages said here, “He is a complete righteous.” It is as RASHI interprets, “Because he is observing the Mitzvot of his Creator, who has commanded him to give charity, and also intends for his own pleasure, therefore he is called ‘complete righteous.’”

This is as we explained, that because he is working because the Creator has commanded him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, and he has no one else who obligates him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, this is called Lishma, as RASHI interpreted above. It is like the above-mentioned allegory, meaning that he works for Reuven but asks for a salary from Shimon. This is certainly called Lo Lishma, for he was working for others at the same time, which is called Lo Lishma, and also “the second kind.”

(I heard that there are those who try to explain our sages, who said, “One who says, ‘this rock is for charity, so that my sons will live,’ is a complete righteous.” But he conditioning the observing of the Mitzva, so they are trying to say that it was written in initials, “he is a Tzadi-Gimel [CR].” Afterwards, when they wrote it in explicit words, they turned the Tzadi-Gimel into Tzadik Gamur [Complete Righteous]. However, they were mistaken in interpreting the initials, since Tzadi-Gimel means Tzedakah Gedolah [Great Righteousness/Charity], and not Tzadik Gamur. However, this is probably not the case, since they cannot explain the other verse, which says, “Or that I will have the next world,” since by “next world” he also aims to please himself, the same as “so that my sons will live,” as the above words of the holy Zohar.)

However, the third kind means that he is working for the Creator, as the Creator has commanded us through Moses to observe Torah and Mitzvot, and we are asking for reward from Him, since we worked only for Him, because of the commandment of the Creator, and not for any other reason. This is why it is called Lishma. However, this is only the third kind.

The fourth kind observes Torah and Mitzvot not in order to receive reward, as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1, 3), “Antiganos, Man of Socho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, ‘Be not as servants serving the master in order to receive reward, but be as servants serving the master not in order to receive reward, and let the fear of heaven be upon you.’”

This means that it is specifically not in order to receive reward that is regarded as “for the Creator,” as he concludes and says, “and let the fear of heaven be upon you.” This means that real fear of heaven is specifically in Lishma [for Her sake] without any reward. That is, he does not intend for self-gratification, but his only intention is to bring contentment to the Creator. This is regarded as “clean Lishma,” without any mixture of self-gratification. This is called the “fourth kind.”

However, we know the question, “Is the Creator deficient that He needs the creatures to work only for Him and not at all for themselves, but only for the Creator without a shred of self-gratification? And if they want to enjoy their work, as well, is this work disqualified and not accepted above as a Mitzva that is worthy of being received by the King? Why should the Creator mind that man, too, enjoys the work?”

The answer is that it is because there needs to be equivalence of form so there will not be bread of shame. The rule is that the branch wants to resemble its root, and as the Creator is the giver, when a person must receive from someone, he feels it as unpleasant. It follows that the restriction and concealment on our vessels of reception so we do not work in order to receive reward were made in our favor.

Otherwise, it would not be possible to have choice. That is, man would never be able to do and to keep the Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow, since man would not be able to overcome the pleasure that he tasted in Torah and Mitzvot, were it not for the restriction and concealment, as it is known that the greater the pleasure, the harder it is to relinquish it.

For this reason, we were given corporeal pleasures where there is only very thin light, which the holy Zohar calls “thin light,” which fell into the Klipot [shells/peels] at the time of the breaking of the vessels. Also, sparks of holiness were added to them after the sin of the tree of knowledge when Adam HaRishon sinned. These are the pleasures that all created beings pursue. All the wars, murders, thefts, and so forth, that exist in the world are because each one aspires to receive pleasure.

We are meant to overcome these pleasures and receive everything for the Creator. But a person sees how hard it is to exit self-love and relinquish little pleasures. For this reason, were it not for the Tzimtzum [restriction], had the real pleasure that exists in Torah and Mitzvot were revealed, there is no doubt that they would not be able to relinquish the pleasures and say that he is observing Torah and Mitzvot because he wants to bring contentment to the Creator.

However, man cannot agree to observe Torah and Mitzvot without any pleasure because of our nature—that we were born with a Kli [vessel] called “desire to receive delight and pleasure,” so how can we work without any reward?

However, we were given one place on which we can work without any reward. That is, even when we still do not have a taste for Torah and Mitzvot due to the Tzimtzum, there is one advice, which is to work in greatness of the Creator, how privileged we are to be serving the King.

This, we do have in our nature—that the little one annuls before the great one. We have the strength and motivation to work for the great one, whom the generation regards as the most important and venerable in the world. To the extent of his importance, we enjoy serving him. This pleasure is permitted to receive because enjoying giving is not regarded as bestowing in order to receive, for bestowing in order to receive means that he desires a reward specifically for the service he is giving him.

Conversely, if he works at a factory and knows that the owner enjoys everyone being productive, and anyone who produces more than the usual gives the owner great joy. Therefore, he tries to produce more than other workers do so as to delight the owner. However, afterwards he wants the owner to reward him for trying to please him. This is considered that on the one hand he gives, but on the other hand he wants reward. This is called “bestowing in order to receive reward.”

This is not so if a person is serving the king, and says to the king, “I do not want anything in return for the service because I enjoy the service alone, and I do not need to receive any reward, since I feel that anything you give me for the service I am doing for you will blemish my service. All I want is the service. Do not give me any reward, and this is my pleasure, for it is a great honor for me to be rewarded with serving the king.”

Of course, he cannot say that he is bestowing in order to receive, since he does not want to receive anything in return. And why does he not want? It is because he derives great pleasure from serving the king. It follows that this is regarded as “bestowing in order to bestow upon an important person,” and a person measures the importance of the king according to the extent of his joy of serving the king, since the more the king is important, the more he enjoys, for one who serves the greatest in the city is not as one who serves the greatest in the country, or the greatest in the world.

This is regarded as true bestowal. That is, he enjoys the giving itself, since the main point of bestowing was for the purpose of equivalence of form. That is, as the Creator is the giver, so the creatures want to be givers, and we should certainly say that the Creator enjoys His giving.

It follows that if the creatures bestow upon the Creator and He derives no joy, there is still no equivalence of form here, since the Creator enjoys when He gives to the lower ones. This means that the joy results from the act of bestowal, and if we must receive something in return for the act, then we are blemishing the act and say that there is no wholeness in the act. Rather, to have wholeness we must add something, meaning receive something in return for the act, while the act itself is not so important.

In truth, if we want to do an act of bestowal upon the Creator we must try to enjoy it because the joy of an act of bestowal regards the action, since every single thing that a person wants to do and which is important to him, he gives it a priority to do it first. And the meter by which a person chooses what is most important is that which he enjoys the most.

It therefore follows that if one wants to appreciate the work he is doing for the Creator, he can appreciate it only by receiving great joy. That is, if one can try to derive great joy then he can know that now he is bringing great contentment to the Creator by giving to the Creator when he observes His commandments.

That is, a man desires to bestow contentment upon the Creator but does not know what he can give to the Creator that will delight Him. For this reason, when it is revealed to us that He has given us Torah and Mitzvot, and if we observe them He will enjoy, we are certainly happy that now we know what to do for Him. We therefore see that we were given the blessing to do while observing Torah and Mitzvot, since we say, “Blessed are You the Lord, Giver of the Torah.”

It is written in the Mitzvot that we thank Him for giving to us, for example, the Mitzva of the Sukkah [the hut on Tabernacle Feast]. For example, we are all happy that He instructs us what to do that will delight Him, and we do not need to search for things that will delight the Creator. But the question is, how can we increase our pleasure while performing the Mitzvot?

Answer: There is only one way—to try to attain the greatness of the Creator. That is, in all that we do in Torah and Mitzvot, we want our reward to be the feeling of the greatness of the Creator, and all our prayers should be to “raise the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust,” since the Creator is hidden from us due to the Tzimtzum that took place and we cannot appreciate His importance and greatness.

Therefore, we pray to the Creator to remove His concealment from us and to raise the glory of Torah. As we say in the Eighteen Prayer of Rosh Hashanah [New Year service], “Indeed, give glory to Your people.” That is, “Give the glory of the Lord to Your people,” so they will feel the glory of the King.

For this reason, one must try to remember the goal while studying Torah, so it will always be before his eyes what he wants to receive from the study, that the study will impart greatness and importance of the Creator. Also, while observing the Mitzvot, not to forget the intention that thanks to observing the Mitzvot, the Creator will lift the concealment on spirituality from him and he will receive a feeling of the greatness of the Creator.

However, it is hard work observing Torah and Mitzvot with the intention to thereby be rewarded with approaching the Creator—to obtain the greatness of the Creator so he can bring Him contentment because of the importance of the Creator, that this will be his reward and he has no desire for any other reward for his work. The body does not agree to work with this intention.

The holy Zohar (Nasso, items 102-104) says, “Mighty men roam from city to city and are not pardoned. The mixed-multitude ban them among them, and in many places they are given only rations. Thus, there were will be no rise to their fall, not even momentarily. And all the sages and mighty men who fear sin are afflicted, pressed and in grief. They are regarded as dogs, children weighed against fine gold, how they are regarded as clay jars out on every street, etc. These mixed-multitude are rich, peaceful, joyous, without sorrow or affliction whatsoever, robbers and bribers; they are the judges, the heads of the people.”

We see in these words of The Zohar that it distinguishes between sages and mighty men who fear sin, and judges and the heads of the people, who are regarded as the mixed-multitude. He says that the sages and the mighty men who fear sin are afflicted and stressed, while the judges and the heads of the people are rich, peaceful, and joyous. Why? Because they are the mixed-multitude.

We should understand the meaning of mixed-multitude, that because they are the mixed-multitude they have joy and peace. We see that in the argument that Jacob had with Esau, Esau said to Jacob, I have enough, and Jacob replied, “I have everything.” We need to understand the difference between enough and everything.

Reader: We will enter now into a lesson with Rav from April 8, 2003.

M. Laitman: (40:20) Lishma and Lo Lishma in Volume 5 of “The Rungs of the Ladder,” that's another half of an article, Rabash wants to discern here what is the difference between Lishma and Lo Lishma, the major difference between the fuel that drives a person to perform these actions. First of all, we need to understand what these actions are, whether we are in charge of these actions or not. If we are from the will to receive, and each time we see a certain pleasure, a filling to the will to receive, then without any calculation, we immediately want it. The desire precedes the calculation. First the desire was created, then the intellect. The intellect wasn't created whatsoever; the intellect is in addition to the desire in order to attain the desirable. Since the moment the desire to receive sees some filling, he wants it. And only then can he start making calculations of how to achieve it, how to get it, how to get the filling. If it's possible, directly, to simply fill himself, if it were possible. If the desire was before the filling, and there was no limitation here whatsoever, then the desire would be filled, and would not demand beforehand any action of planning, calculation. Thus we see how it's made in the first phase of the four phases of direct life. Also in phase three and phase four, we still see it as such. Meaning, there was no developed intellect besides the will to receive then. What does he need it for, calculations, if there's pleasure and the desire is filled by a simple action from the pleasure? Rather, if there are conditions in order to fill oneself with the pleasure, then the desire to receive must perform some process to perform, to make calculations to how to actually get to the filling. And then the desire develops beside itself a system which we call intellect. We call that system intellect, calculation, Rosh, the Rosh of the Partzuf, the head of the Partzuf. These things are born out of not being able to directly receive, filling into the will to receive. It turns out the more detainment there is in filling the desire and receiving pleasures, then there are more possibilities for intellectual development, for a personal involvement of the desire to receive in this entire campaign.

M. Laitman: (44:06) Meaning, in order to give this will to receive independence, before that, we need to make before it 100% in all the distinguishments, and all the discernments, and all the desires, in all his ways to fill oneself, we need to perform detainments here, pauses. Only these detainments will give the desire to receive the possibility to scrutinize what I want, for what I want, how do I reach the filling, is the filling in this manner or another, is this what I want, is this what fills me? What is preferred upon what? That is, these detainments cause, first and foremost, the intellect to develop. And then there's certainly a possibility for free choice. If the desire to receive does not immediately have the ability to be filled, and does not feel the ability to be filled, he starts to study in what way this is possible. So he builds himself his personal system, and especially when he's not under the pressure of the pleasure that's before him, so he has an opportunity to build a relation towards the pleasure that does not depend on his desire, but rather on the greatness of the giver of the pleasure. This is called the transition from Lo Lishma to Lishma, where he's not working for the sake of the pleasure, not in the calculation of how he fills himself, but rather how he fills the landlord, the giver of the pleasure by his action, since the landlord wants him to receive, and the landlord enjoys a person receiving. And if a person receives in order to delight the landlord, it's considered that his pleasure and all his actions are no longer reception, but rather giving. Meaning, we must here do two actions. One, is to circumvent or detain himself from the pleasure, perform a restriction. And the second action is to use the desire to receive and the pleasure only to the extent that he can fill the host, the landlord. Meaning, to check how much greatness of the landlord I have, how much I appreciate Him. To the extent in which I appreciate Him, if I disconnect it from my pleasures to the extent in which I appreciate Him, it determines what I'm doing now. It turns out that the entire action is for His sake, for the sake of the landlord. Meaning, there's no multitude of actions happening here besides one action in one direction. That is, to transfer the decisive point from the feeling inside my will to receive to the feeling of the importance of the landlord, whereas the Creator will be more important to me than what I feel in my desire to receive. That is considered that I've crossed the barrier at this moment. And to the extent in which He will be important in me more than the feeling of my pleasure, this will determine the height of the degree that I am in the spiritual world.

M. Laitman: (45:15) Again, there's the giver and there's the receiver. The giver gives pleasure. The receiver wants to enjoy, to receive the pleasure. That's the beginning state. Correction - if the receiver does a restriction upon himself. What does it mean, restriction? There's no action in spirituality that we can perform externally upon oneself and to restrict, to shut one's mouth. Restriction is considered that I stop relating to my personal pleasure. When does this happen? When the landlord, the giver in my eyes is more important to me than what's happening. This is considered that I begin to take Him into consideration and not myself. It's considered that I performed a restriction upon my will to receive and don't use it. Rather, I look at the giver. That's the degree of zero, which is called crossing the barrier. Now, to the extent in which the giver is greater than my desire to receive in my eyes, when I measure both, and I'm willing to work for the giver without taking into account my desire to receive, this determines the extent in which I come closer to the giver, grow, rise to Him. In order to give an opportunity to come closer to the giver, my desire to receive constantly grows until it reaches the greatness of the giver, gradually. And accordingly, I gradually, each time, need to rise in my eyes the importance of the giver such that it will be more than the importance of my desire to receive. And this determines each time my degree in the spiritual world. Understood or not? This is how we move from Lo Lishma to Lishma.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:44) So, disclosure of the face is really the disclosure of the new form that a person discovers by himself, this new form?

M. Laitman: The revelation of face of the Creator is considered the revelation of His importance, since this is actually what I'm asking for. It's not the revelation of the pleasures. It's a revelation of His supremacy, His sublimity. It's the revelation of the giver, the quality of the giver. It's the revelation of His perfection, where this revelation helps me respect Him more than I respect my will to receive. So, each time his will to receive grows in a person, meaning the records float up and are greater and greater, more left line is added to him, in other words, more and more. And then he must discover the face of the Creator as more respectable, more bestowing upon him in such a way that it's against the will to receive, and to respect the Creator more than his degree. It's called that he will have the forces in order to bestow. And this is how he grows each time. The will to receive was created, to begin with, at the height of the Creator. They're both equal, but the will to receive opened up in a person where he feels His greatness. He only feels it to the extent to which he can deal with the desire to receive against the extent to which the Creator can reveal as important. Each time it's a game. To begin with, the desire to receive is concealed from us, only a small part of it, within which we feel the reality of this world. It's also the general reality. It's just called this world because we feel it, this reality, without any calculation with the Creator. And all the rest beyond this degree, this state, we already feel in accordance with this reality of the Creator. That is, we actually feel the Creator, which is called the upper world. All the rest, the meaning is that we're already taking into consideration the importance of the Creator in relation to the importance of the will to receive. And our desire to receive grows from the degree of this world, from the lowest state, such a size, and then more and more to the size of the Creator. And this helps us each time to ask from the Creator to show His importance, greatness, His exaltedness, more and more. And when we reveal Him and prefer to bestow to Him in relation to our desire to receive, relative to serving our will to receive, it turns out that we are adhering to this form of the Creator, and we absorb it, and it becomes our actual form.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:38) How do we move to this feeling that the only thing that exists is just the Creator? Okay, no one argues with it being like that, but if we have such desires that we want to actually feel like that.

M. Laitman: Well, why are you lying to us? What are you saying? Okay, we're not arguing on the fact that the Creator is great. What do you mean, argue or not argue? I don't argue because I can't even see it. You can argue when you have something that, you know, it seems one way in my eyes and another way in your eyes, or you think this is more, I think this is more, but based on something. But if you don't see anything, I see it, don't feel it, then it doesn't exist for me. It's written in the book? Everything is written.

Student: That's the question. If there's all these kinds of forms and ways…

M. Laitman: So, we're not talking about our state, where we don't feel anything, and sadly we are still not even in this picture that the book describes, rather people write when they already feel Him, and they discuss it somehow. For me, it's irrelevant. Well, the Creator exists, He's great, He's small - it's all theory, because they speak of the wisdom of Kabbalah. How do we reveal Him, how do we weigh Him, evaluate Him, how can a person deal with it? I'm still before that. The wisdom of Kabbalah is how to reveal the Creator. The revelation of the Creator to the created being in this world, it hasn't happened for me yet. So for me, all those things that they are writing about, it might be the future, maybe it'll happen, maybe not. How can I even believe them? There's this motivation in me to nevertheless reach what they're writing about, this motivation. They gave me a little bit from the heavens, and it's based on two things. There's a point in me that is pulling me toward it, I don't quite understand how it works. And the second motivation is because my life, according to my intellect, the way I reveal it, is without any purpose, there's no cause and no outcome. Meaning, there's no reason for this life, it's just for nothing, and there's no result from it. Everything goes to waste, and they'll bury me, like everyone, in a grave soon. And in the middle of this life, I also have no pleasure and only torments. So, meaning this life and this point in the heart, they push me toward this book and what's written here. But in truth, what's written here is not in me yet. So what do I do when I'm in this state, before the book? What can I do? So he tells me, Baal HaSulam, he says, you must understand the state you're in, that it's not so respectable. After all, they give you a very lowly state, quite humiliating even, when you discover that you're an unnecessary creature, and this state is not respected, and there's no cause and no purpose for it. From here, a person has to, as he writes, use his free choice, meaning, nevertheless, he must find forces in the environment, because outside the environment, we're like animals. If not for the environment, I would live in the woods, I would be with a woman, I would bring kids, I would bring food for myself also, like all the animals and all the beasts. I would live in a pack, in a family, as we call it, and that's it. Rather, the environment, the will to receive in me, is growing, not like with animals and beasts. For them, the will to receive does not change.

M. Laitman: (01:01:24) It's written, a day-old calf is like an ox, a newborn calf knows how to walk, a day or two, he knows everything he needs to do, he's not going to harm himself. He's still small in size, but he has the same brain as a big cow, he already, he can already look after himself. He's just not that strong, but he's got the mind of a cow, a newborn calf, even one day, oh, they could call him an ox, a bull. And with me, no, in me, the will to receive constantly grows, and as it grows, it grows above the beastly level, and I have nothing to do with it. Therefore, there are methods, let’s say, you will suppress this will to receive, you will be like a beast, and then you will not feel any trouble, you will live like a beast, like a beast - food, you'll always be able to obtain a little bit of food, life - you need a corner somewhere on the street, you'll find a place to sleep. Not too bad: family, you'll find a woman like that, and have kids, everything will work itself out. So, if you do not demand much, and you enter such a small level, they tell you, a food restriction is good, and to breathe less is good, and in general, you should diminish everything, diminish everything. They say, this will make you righteous. Then you begin to feel good, you go down to the beastly level, the level of necessity, and that there are no trouble there, the beast has fewer trouble than a man. We say, dog's life, but dog's life is for man, not for the dog. And there's another method for not suffering, but the opposite - to know how to use the will to receive, you then have to take it in full, not suppress it, but learn how to use it correctly. And how to use it correctly, for that, you need a method, not a method of suppression, these are usually eastern methods, or the methods of various religions, these are methods of suppression. Rather the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the only one that says, the other way around - use the will to receive as much as possible. You need everything in this life, in addition to this world, also the upper world, you should want it. But to use that you need a suitable society, books, you need a different method. So, you're sitting here now. You say, there's a book, and you understand what's in it, what you have to do. So there's a method for what to do. But there's no other way. If you don't want to suffer, you must go either toward a method for suppressing the will to receive or the method of developing the will to receive in full; even nurturing it. That's why it's called the method of Kabbalah, reception - truly to receive, to use the will to receive in full. And it's true that the world has always historically preferred to diminish the will to receive, not to suffer so much, because it's less, it's more convenient, it's better. But this was possible in past generations, where it wasn't so much on fire inside a person. You know, "He who adds wisdom, adds pain" - it's clear. But today, when the will to receive is burning people to such an extent that it would grow even more in the coming years, a person would not be able to run away from it. They won't be able to restrict it and go down to the level to be vegan, or to practice some yoga, or when they say to him, "Be a good boy, go to a convent, sit quietly there in your tent, be satisfied with little, be like everyone." All those things are not going to work. And then there will truly be no other way but to approach this method. If you can’t suppress the will to receive, then how to use it correctly? Because to remain like that in the middle - neither the method of suppression nor the method of Kabbalah - it will be a great deal of suffering. And in the method of suppression, eventually there will be torments and inability to suppress it even more than compared to the method of Kabbalah, because if the will to receive is really big, you cannot suppress it. You simply can't. We are in this time of transition. All those methods of suppression are done, are over. You know, "Be a good kid" - this is all over. We're entering a new phase. The will to receive will obligate a person to approach the method of Kabbalah.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:42) He writes here in page 364, where it starts, "this world." It starts with "this world." On top there it says, "this world."

M. Laitman: You know how we say, we say: page 364, second paragraph, line starting with "this world," okay? It starts with the words, "this world," okay.

Student: He writes that the fear from punishment of the next world…

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): fear of punishment in this world and fear of punishment in the next world—are not the essence of fear and its root. What does it mean? What pushes us forward is fear. What is fear anyway? In my medicine, there are 780 kinds of fear. It is said that there are different methods where there are even more kinds of fear. But what is fear? Fear is a sensation of lack of fulfillment. Fear might be from the past, from the present, or from the future. Fear might be from suffering, feeling bad now, or feeling bad later; feeling bad in this world, or feeling bad in the next world. What more could there be? Tell me. That's it. Fear from something bad. It is said that there is another fear. Not that I will suffer here until 120 or afterwards, after the 120. These are the two kinds of fear that relate to me, and there's fear that's not toward me, but I'm still afraid. It's when I want to do good to someone else, I love him, so it's as if I acquire his will to receive like my own, and I care about satisfying him, so I also have fear about his will to receive. Will he be satisfied or not? Just like a mother is afraid for her children. She's afraid for what will be good for her now or in the next world, and she's also afraid for the child, what will be good for him now or in the next world. We say when a person is afraid for himself and for another beast next to him, it's as if it's his own. It's the same kind of fear. But there's another fear with respect to the giver, to the Creator. If I acquire His will to receive, if I feel Him, if I have a relation to Him, if I begin to love Him, then to that extent, I begin to worry about what He will have. I am concerned with my understanding, with my intellect, what He will have. So you can say, what will the Creator have? Is there even someone to talk about? What do you mean, what He will have? Oh, trust Him. He's the only one, the first one, complete and everything, but I feel in me that because I acquire vessels from Him, that He is dependent on me, and when He's dependent on me, I begin to worry. How do I fulfill Him, satisfy Him? Then I have another concern. Besides or instead of what I will have now and what I'll have after 120, I'm concerned with what He will have for me. These things contradict one another. When I'm thinking about Him I'm not thinking about myself. This is called replacing the animate human fear with the fear of love. It's called pains of love. Instead of thinking about my feelings, I think about His feeling. That's it. In “The Introduction of the Zohar,” there, the commandment of the Torah, the first commandment explains to us about these kinds of fear: fear from this world or fear from the next world - these are the two egoistic kinds of fear; and there's another spiritual fear - fear with respect to the Creator. Will I be able to give Him? First fear is, will I be able to receive from Him? The second fear is, will I be able to give Him? That's all. Not clear? What could be simpler here? I'm already explaining on my fingers. You just need to know two, I and He. That's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:05) Why does a person sometimes supposedly turn outside and sometimes it turns to the Creator inside?

M. Laitman: I don't understand.

Student: Will there be a fear that He won't give to you?

M. Laitman: I constantly have a fear that He will not give me. If I have some faith that I am receiving from Him, then of course I'm afraid that He will not give me. So I run to the shul, I give charity, I do all kinds of… only so He would give me. That's the basis of all the religions. I do all kinds of things in order to be rewarded in this world and in the next world. That's the whole matter of religion, all the faiths. How to do good to Him so He would do good to me. It has nothing to do with Kabbalah. Kabbalah talks about how I relate to Him in such a way that it will be good to Him without any connection to me. We first make the restriction and acquire the qualities of Bina, so I have no calculation of myself. This is called only in order to bestow; we cover our will to receive so it doesn't have any contact with reception, and then we begin to bestow, to receive in order to bestow. The method of Kabbalah is the only one that works in the opposite direction. All the other methods are based on I will give you; you will give to me. It's a trade-off, simply, calculation. You want commandments, I'll do your commandments. You satisfy my life, give me health, some money, respect, families, everything's okay. Hassidut, followers, all kinds of other methods.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:24) When we read in the books about the word spiritual fear, so it explains the second state that you described, or also the first fear of this world and the next world?

M. Laitman: Ira, spiritual fear. Fear, Ira, spiritual fear. It's fear, yes. It's fear.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:00) In the beginning, he says that there's one thing that we can work without a reward.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): Where are you reading? Page 367, which paragraph? But we were given, from the beginning of the page, we were given one place on which we can work without any reward. Meaning, even when we still do not have a taste for Torah and Mitzvot due to the Tzimtzum, there is one advice, which is to work in greatness of the Creator, how privileged we are to be serving the King. What are you asking?

Student: So, does it relate to those who are in this world? Or we can’t do anything in this world?

M. Laitman: Look. I want to enjoy. That's me. My will to receive doesn't understand anything else. I understand about the pleasure in this way. I have something in front of me, and I receive it and enjoy. How can I work differently? I can work differently if I nevertheless receive some kind of pleasure. Without pleasure, it's impossible to live. Without pleasure, it's impossible to move. Pleasure might be from receiving. Now, my question. We get confused in this. It is only two things, but we are confused because that's our foundation. But it's not clarified until it becomes clarified. It takes years and a lot of work. In other words, you're asking me this. Can you move from your place where you are in some direction one meter? I'm telling you I can on condition that you will fill up for me, let's say, one liter of gasoline, or 100 calories, so I can move from this place to that place. From where do I get these 100 calories? Either, in all kinds of ways, but I have to receive it. So I have two options. Either I receive these 100 calories from all kinds of pleasures that are seemingly around me, or I will receive these 100 calories from seeing that the Creator is great. Two fueling stations I have in order to activate my will to receive. That's all. So, it is said that if I can work because of the greatness of the Creator, I become a Perpetuum Mobile, working constantly, completely. I'm no longer dependent on anything. My machine can work nonstop. It is no longer dependent on any external elements, small ones. That's our entire goal.

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An inside look

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An inside look

Cabalá MediaDerecho de autor 2003-2026 Benei Baruj ‘ Cabalá LaAm

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Cabalá Media
Derecho de autor 2003-2026 Benei Baruj ‘ Cabalá LaAm