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

Daily Morning Lesson August 24, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. 1985. Who Testifies to a Person? Article No. 37.

Reader: Hello friends! First of all, there are friends working right now, here, in the building, let's include them with us in the lesson. Today we will watch a recorded lesson from the 9th of October, 2002, based on the article, Who Testifies to a Person? This is in The Writings of Rabash; we will read the article together in the Ten, we have 42 minutes for that.

Reading: (00:42) Who Testifies to a Person?

Article No. 37, 1985

It is written in The Zohar, Shoftim [judges] (and in the Sulam Commentary p 8, Item 11), “It is a Mitzva [commandment/good deed] to testify in court so that his friend will not lose money because he is not testifying. This is why the authors of the Mishnah said, ‘Who testifies to a person? The walls of his house.’

“What is the meaning of ‘The walls of his house’? These are the walls of his heart, as it is written, ‘Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall.’ The authors of the Mishnah asserted that it teaches that Hezekiah prayed from the walls of his heart. Moreover, his household testifies to him. His household are his 248 organs, since the body is called ‘house.’

“This is what the authors of the Mishnah asserted: ‘A wicked one, his iniquities are engraved in his bones. Likewise, a righteous one, his merits are engraved in his bones.’ This is the reason why David said, ‘All my bones shall say.’ But why are the iniquities engraved in the bones more than in the flesh, tendons, and skin? This is because the bones are white, and a black writing is visible only from within white. It is like the Torah, which is white from within, meaning the parchment, and black from without, meaning the ink. Black and white are darkness and light. And moreover, the body is destined to rise on its bones, hence the sins and merits are engraved in its bones. If he is rewarded, the body will rise on its bones. If he is not rewarded, it will not rise and will not have revival of the dead.” Thus far its words.

We should understand why The Zohar interprets that a person should testify before a court so that his friend will not lose money. This is interpreted in the work of the Creator. Thus, we should understand what it is that one is demanding, and from whom he is demanding it. And to make it reliable, a person must testify.

In the work of the Creator, a person demands of the Creator to give him what he wants of the Creator. Thus, to show that his argument is true, doesn’t the Creator know whether or not a person is telling the truth? However, if the man testifies, then he knows that his argument is true. Moreover, how can one be trusted to testify for himself? And we should also understand why the testimony must be from the walls of his heart, since he brings evidence to the meaning of “walls of his house” from Hezekiah in the words, “Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall,” which we interpreted to mean “the walls of his heart.”

Thus, a person’s testimony should also be from the walls of his heart. However, it is known that a testimony must be from his mouth, as our sages said, “From their mouths, not from their writings,” and here he says that it should be from the walls of his heart and not from the mouth.

We should also understand why it says, “This is what the authors of the Mishnah asserted: ‘A wicked one, his iniquities are engraved in his bones. And likewise, a righteous one, his merits are engraved in his bones.’”

But are sins and merits engraved in corporeal bones? How is a spiritual matter, which is sins and Mitzvot, engraved in bones? And it is even more difficult to understand his answer, “This is because the bones are white, and a black writing is visible only from within white.”

Also, we should understand why he says, “And moreover, the body is destined to rise on its bones.” Why particularly, “On its bones,” which means that whether or not he is revived depends on his bones?

To understand the above in the work, we must remember the known rule that “There is no light without a Kli [vessel],” meaning that it is impossible to receive any fulfillment if there is no hole or deficiency there, where the filling can enter. For example, a person cannot eat a meal if he is not hungry. Moreover, the amount of pleasure that a person can derive from the meal is measured by the amount of desire he has for the meal.

It follows that where one does not feel any lack, he will not experience any pleasure, which he will be able to receive, since there is no room to receive any filling. Thus, when we speak of the order of the work, when a person begins to enter the work, meaning when he wishes to do the work of holiness with the aim to bestow contentment upon his Maker, according to the above-mentioned rule, he must have a need for it—to feel that he needs to bestow upon the Creator. And we can say that he has a Kli to the extent of his need to give to the Creator. And the filling for that Kli is while he gives to the Creator, meaning when he wishes to bring Him contentment. This means that the body already agrees to bestow upon the Creator.

And since man is born with a nature for reception and not for bestowal, if one wishes to engage in bestowal the body will certainly resist it. And if a person wants to engage in bestowal, meaning that he has a desire to obtain such a Kli, and a Kli means a desire and deficiency, then the body immediately comes and asks, “Why do you want to change the nature you were created in? What is the deficiency that you feel you are lacking? Are you one hundred percent sure that you understand that you need to work in order to bestow? Look at how the majority do the work of holiness; they are not meticulous about what they do. In other words, in their engagement in Torah or Mitzvot, they see primarily that the act will be proper, with all its precisions and details, but not the intent. They say, ‘We certainly do what we can.’ They pay no mind to the intent because they say that the work Lishma [for Her name] belongs to a chosen few, and not to everyone.”

It follows that the body, which comes and asks its questions, is probably asking to the point. And since it is not given a sufficient answer, it doesn’t allow a person to think thoughts of desire to bestow, since it is right, there is no light without a Kli. In other words, “If you don’t feel the need to engage in bestowal, why are you making a fuss?” So first it tells him, “Give me this need, the desire to bestow, and then we’ll talk.” But according to the above-said, the need for the desire must be present, meaning that he should suffer at not being able to bestow. Thus, since he has no Kli, he certainly cannot be granted the light, meaning the filling.

Therefore, a person should try to have a great deficiency because he is unable to bestow upon the Creator. And it is known that a deficiency is determined by the sensation of suffering that he feels because of the deficiency. Otherwise, although he does not have what he is asking, it is still not considered a deficiency because a real lack is measured by the pain that he feels at not having. Otherwise, it is nothing but empty words.

Now we can understand what our sages said (Taanit, 2a), “‘To love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart.’ What is the work of the heart? It is a prayer. We should understand why they extended the prayer beyond the literal meaning. Usually, when one wants another person to give him something, he asks him to, verbally, as it is written, ‘For You hear the prayer of every mouth.’ So why did they say that a prayer is called ‘the work of the heart’?”

We said above that a prayer is called “a deficiency,” and he wants his deficiency to be filled. And yet, no deficiency is sensed in a person’s mouth; rather, all of man’s sensations are sensed in the heart. This is why if a person doesn’t feel a lack in his heart, what he utters in his mouth does not count at all, so we could say that he truly needs what he is asking for with his mouth. This is so because the filling he is asking for should enter a place of deficiency, which is the heart. This is why our sages said that a prayer should be from the bottom of the heart, meaning that the whole heart will sense the lack for which he is asking.

It is known that light and Kli are called “deficiency” and “filling” (or “fulfillment”). We ascribe the light, which is the filling, to the Creator, and the Kli, which is the lack, to the creatures. Thus, a person should prepare the Kli so the Creator will pour the abundance there, or there will be no room for the abundance. For this reason, when a person asks the Creator to help him so he can aim his actions to bestow, the body comes and asks him, “Why are you praying this prayer? What are you missing without it?”

For this reason, we must study and scrutinize the books that discus the necessity of the work of bestowal until we understand and feel that if we don’t have this Kli, we will not be able to enter the Kedusha. We should not look at the majority, who say that the most important thing is the act and here is where all the energy should go, and that the acts of Mitzvot and establishing of the Torah that we do are enough for us.

Instead, he must perform every act of Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring himself into the aim to bestow. Afterwards, when he has a complete understanding of how much he needs to engage in order to bestow, and he feels pain and suffering at not having this force, then it is considered that he already has something for which to pray—for work in the heart—since the heart feels what it needs.

For such a prayer comes the answer to the prayer. This means that he is given this strength from above so he will be able to aim in order to bestow, for then he already has the light and Kli. However, what can one do if, after all the efforts he has made, he still does not feel the lack of not being able to bestow as pain and suffering? The solution is to ask the Creator to give him the Kli called, “A lack from not feeling,” and that he is unconscious, without any pain from being unable to bestow.

It follows that if he can regret and ache over not having the deficiency, for not feeling how remote he is from Kedusha [holiness], that he is utterly mundane and doesn’t understand that the life he is living—wanting to satisfy the corporeal needs—is no more important than that of any other animal that he sees, and that if he paid attention to see how similar he is to them with all their aspirations, and that the only difference is man’s cunningness and his ability to exploit others while animals are not clever enough to exploit others.

Sometimes, even though he sees that he is studying Torah and keeping the Mitzvot, he cannot remember—while keeping the Mitzvot or while studying Torah—that he should obtain connection with the Creator by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot. It is as though they are separate things for him—the Torah and Mitzvot are one thing, and the Creator is another.

And if he regrets not having any sensation of deficiency, that he is like an animal, this is called “work in the heart,” as well. It is called, “a prayer.” This means that for this deficiency, he already has a place in which to receive fulfillment from the Creator, to give him the sense of deficiency, which is the Kli that the Creator fills with a filling.

Now we can understand the question, “why is a prayer in the heart and not in the mouth?” It is because a prayer is called, “a deficiency,” and it cannot be said that he has a deficiency in the mouth. Rather, the deficiency is a sensation in the heart.

Now we should explain why we asked about his saying that the merits and the sins are engraved on the bones, and he can revive from the bones or not. The Zohar compares the bones, which are white, to the Torah, which is black over white, where the black is darkness and the white is light.

We should explain the meaning of bones being white. This is why both the merits and the sins are written on them, since concerning the work of the Creator, it should be interpreted that a person who engages in Torah and Mitzvot is called “a bone.” The primary part of Torah and Mitzvot is considered white, since something in which there are no deficiencies is called “white.” And since there is nothing to add to the actions that a person does, for it is said about it, “You shall neither add nor subtract,” his engagement in the Torah is called “bones.” They are white because the merits and sins of a person are engraved in them.

However, if a person criticizes his actions—the reason why he is building his foundation (the reason that compels him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, his aim while doing the deeds)—and tries to see if he is truly doing those deeds for the Creator, to bestow contentment upon his Maker, then he can see the truth: he is inside the nature he was born in, called “receiving in order to receive,” and he doesn’t want to engage in Torah and Mitzvot without any reward.

And the real reason why one cannot exit his nature is that he doesn’t see the need for it, so he would have to change the nature that was imprinted in him, which is called “self-love,” and assume the love of others in order to achieve the love of the Creator. This is so because a person feels that he is deficient of the love of his surroundings, meaning that the family will love him, and his town’s people, etc. But what will he gain from loving the Creator? Also, what will he gain if he loves his friends? After all, he is always considering the profits related to self-love. Thus, how can he exit this love?

And if he asks himself why he is keeping Torah and Mitzvot in actions, and is even meticulous about all its precisions and details, then he answers himself that he received faith through education. In education, you begin to guide a person to engage in Torah and Mitzvot in Lo Lishma [not for Her name], as Maimonides says (end of Hilchot Teshuva [Laws of Repentance]). It follows that he has taken it upon himself to believe in the Creator, that he will serve in the holy work, and in return will be rewarded in this world and in the next world.

This is why a person is told that the real work is to believe in the Creator who gave us Torah and Mitzvot to keep, and by that, we will achieve equivalence of form, called “Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.” This means that one should exit self-love and assume love of others. And to the extent that he exits self-love, he can be rewarded with complete faith. Otherwise he is separated, as written in the Sulam Commentary (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” p 138), “It is a law that the creature cannot receive apparent harm from Him, for it is a flaw in His glory that the creature should perceive Him as doing harm, for it is inappropriate for the perfect Operator. Hence, when one feels bad, to the extent that there is denial of His guidance upon him and the Operator is hidden from him, this is the biggest punishment in the world.”

If a person introspects, he recognizes the truth that the Torah and Mitzvot should be for the Creator. He feels how remote he is from the truth, and the scrutiny brings him into pain and suffering at constantly marching on the wrong road from being called a “servant of the Creator.” Rather, all his work is for his own sake, which is called, “working for himself,” which is the way of all the animals, but is inappropriate for the speaking.

It follows that through those sufferings, he receives a Kli, meaning a deficiency. And since he sees that he is incapable of exiting self-love by himself, for he doesn’t have the strength to go against nature, the solution is to ask the Creator to help him, as our sages said, “He who comes to be purified is aided.” It follows that then he has room for filling the deficiency, since there is no light without a Kli.

This brings up the question that we asked earlier: “What can one do if, even though he understands that it is worthwhile to work in order to bestow, he still doesn’t have the pain and suffering at not being able aim in order to bestow? In that case, he should know that this does not mean that he has complete faith in the Creator, only that he cannot aim in order to bestow. He should know that he is lacking whole faith, since when he has whole faith in the Creator, there is a natural law that the small annuls itself before the big. Thus, if he truly had whole faith in the greatness of the Creator, he would be annulled before the Creator naturally, and he would wish to serve Him without any reward.

It follows that there is no deficiency here, for he cannot prevail over nature. Rather, there is lack of whole faith here, although he has faith. The evidence of that is that he is keeping Torah and Mitzvot. However, it is not whole faith, as it should be.

In other words, the entire wholeness is that they believe in His greatness, and if one wishes to know if he has whole faith, he can see how much he is willing to work in order to bestow and how much the body is annulled before the Creator. Thus, a person’s inability to work in order to bestow is the deficiency, but there is a greater deficiency here—that he lacks whole faith—and this is the main one.

But what can one do if, even though he sees that he lacks whole faith, that deficiency still does not beget in him pain and suffering at his being deficient? The real reason is that he is looking at the majority, and sees that they are important people, of influence and status, and it is not apparent that they lack whole faith. When speaking to them, they say that this is only for a chosen few, which is their well-known view. This is the great partition, which becomes a barrier for a person, arresting his progress on the right path.

This is the reason why we need an environment, meaning a group of people who are all of the view that they must achieve whole faith. This is the only thing that can save a person from the views of the collective. At that time, everyone strengthens everyone else to crave to achieve whole faith, that he can bestow contentment upon the Creator, and that this will be his only aspiration.

However, this does not conclude the solution for achieving a deficiency for whole faith. Rather, one must exert in actions more than one is accustomed in both quantity and quality. And the body will certainly resist that and ask, “How is today different from other days?” And he will reply, “I am picturing myself as a servant of the Creator, how I would serve the Creator if I had whole faith. This is why I want to serve Him at the same pace as though I were already rewarded with whole faith.” This creates in him a deficiency and pain at not having whole faith, since the resistance of the body causes him to have a need for whole faith. But this is certainly said specifically where he goes against the body, in coercion, when he works with the body not according to his will.

It follows that those two actions, his working more than he is accustomed to, and the resistance of the body, cause him to need whole faith. Only then is a Kli formed in him so that afterwards the light will clothe within it, since now he has room for prayer in his heart, meaning a place of deficiency. And then the Creator, who hears a prayer, gives him the light of faith by which he can serve the King not in order to be rewarded.

Now we can understand what we asked about the meaning of the merits and sins being engraved in corporeal bones. “Bones” refer to the heart of the matter (“bone of the matter” is an idiom in Hebrew), referring to the Torah and Mitzvot that he is keeping. We were given it to keep it in action, and there is nothing to add to it, as it is written, “You shall neither add nor subtract.”

And on these actions, the sins and merits are engraved, meaning that if he wishes to walk on the path of truth and criticize his actions—whether they are with the intent to bestow or not—and he is a man who loves the truth and is not interested in what others do, but wants to know if he is engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma [for Her name] or is it all for himself, then he sees that he is immersed in self-love and cannot come out of it by himself.

Then he cries for the Creator to help him out of self-love and be rewarded with the love of others and the love of the Creator, and “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” This is why he is rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.

It follows that then, the merits are engraved in his bones, meaning that the Torah and Mitzvot that he kept are called “white,” since in terms of the actions, everything is white, positive, and there is nothing to add to them. But afterwards, he scrutinized and saw that the aim was not in order, and that there was darkness on them because he was separated and didn’t have Dvekut, called “equivalence of form,” that he will do everything with the aim to bestow. Instead, he is ruled by self-love.

Thus, he has darkness placed over the white, which are the white bones, as written in the words of The Zohar. This means that he sees that there is darkness on the Torah and Mitzvot that he performed, that he is separated from the light, since the light wants to bestow, while he does everything in order to receive and cannot do anything except what concerns self-love.

It follows that his bones, meaning the practical Torah and Mitzvot, are white, which means that there is no deficiency in the act that requires any additions. But through the criticism that he puts on this white, he sees that there is darkness there. And if he pays attention to mending it because it causes him pain and suffering that he is in the dark, and he prays for the Creator to help him and deliver him from self-love, by that, he is later rewarded with adhering to the Creator.

This is called, “A righteous one—his merits are engraved in his bones,” meaning that his criticism of his white bones caused him to be rewarded with revival of the dead, since “the wicked in their lives are called ‘dead,’” for they are separated from the Life of Lives. Thus, when they are rewarded with clinging to the Creator, it is considered that they have been rewarded with the revival of the dead.

But, “A wicked one, his iniquities are engraved in his bones,” since a wicked one is one who is still immersed in self-love, and a righteous one is called “good,” and “good” is called “bestowal,” as it is written, “My heart overflows with a good thing; I say, ‘My work is for the King.’” In other words, what is a good thing? It is when one can say, “My work is for the King,” meaning that all his actions are for the Creator and not for his own sake.

This is why, “He who has a good eye will be blessed.” For this reason, those people who have practical Torah and Mitzvot, which is considered the core, that the Torah and Mitzvot were given by the Creator to keep them, this is called “whites,” since the actions have no deficiencies, as it is written, “You shall neither add nor subtract.” This is why his bones are white.

“His iniquities are engraved in his bones,” which are white, because he did not criticize his actions, whether or not they are in order to bestow. Instead, he trusted the majority and how they keep Torah and Mitzvot. And they say that working for the Creator is work that belongs to a chosen few, and not everyone must take this path of being concerned with his work being with the aim to bestow.

This is called “the view of landlords.” But “the view of Torah” is different. It is known that “the view of landlords is opposite from the view of Torah,” since the view of landlords is that by a person engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, his possessions grow and expand, since he becomes an owner of a bigger house. In other words, everything he does goes into self-love.

But the view of Torah is as our sages said about the verse, “When a man dies in a tent.” They said, “The Torah exists only in one who puts himself to death over it.” This means that he puts his self to death, meaning it is the self-love that he puts to death. Thus, he has no possessions, as there is no landlord to whom we can relate possessions, since his only aim is to bestow, not to receive. Thus, he annuls his self.

It follows that “A wicked one, his iniquities are engraved in his bones” means that he did not walk in the path of Torah, since the Torah is called “black over white.” The Zohar says that this is why his merits are engraved in his bones, “Since the bones are white, and a black writing is visible only from within white.” Like the Torah, meaning if there is white, which means that he keeps Torah and Mitzvot, it can be said that he is like the Torah, that he has black over the white. Then, he is trying to achieve Dvekut or remains with the white bones and doesn’t write anything on them.

This is why he is called “wicked,” for his iniquities are engraved in his bones. But those who have no white in them, who have no practical Torah and Mitzvot, do not belong to the discernment of “wicked.” Rather, they belong to the discernment of animals, meaning they are only beasts.

Reader: We will now continue to the lesson from the 9th of October, 2002.

M. Laitman: (42:48) We read the article, Who Testifies to a Person? What does Rabash say? That after a person receives what we call grace of holiness from above; that by the study, by investing in all kinds of efforts, and, All that your ability allows you to do, you shall do, as written. After all that, he begins to realize that truly the actions of bestowal are likely the best and most exalted, except he can't do them. And what's missing in order to perform them is the feeling of the greatness of the Creator – which is called faith – which brings to man's heart the power to cope, to rise above the desires, on top of the intentions in order to receive, and finally acquire the intention in order to bestow. The feeling of the Creator is what transforms the person from feeling, from thinking about himself to thinking about the Creator, and where do you take this faith?

So he says that here only the environment can help. And according to what we learned, and it's written in the rest of the places, this is the only thing that actually depends on the person. If he engages in that, he receives strength, power, faith; through his work in society, he then merits the intention in order to bestow and that means that he crosses the barrier. And in each and every stage that he goes through, we have to tell the difference in each and every state between lights and vessels, meaning that if he needs to be in a certain state, in that state there's both a deficiency and a filling. If he wants to reach the next state, then in that state there's both a lack and a filling, and we don't need to worry about the filling, but about the lack. And that's our whole work, to take care of the vessel, the vessel determines what is the person's state.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:59) He says here that the iniquities are engraved in the bones more than in the flesh, tendons, and skin. What does it mean?

M. Laitman: Bones refers to the bone of the matter, he doesn't interpret now the bones, tendons, and flesh, and skin – it's five aspects of the Partzuf. In every Partzuf, we have Moach, Atzamot, Gidim, Basar, Or, whether we like it or not, it's part of the Partzuf. These are levels that are at the same degree of coarseness, from inside out, there are the Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Malchut, from above downwards. And then there are aspects of Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Malchut from inside out, in width or thickness. And so, to not be confused, these aspects are called by the names Moach, Atzamot, Gidim, Basar, Or — the marrow, bones, tendons, flesh, and skin. And same with the height of the Partzuf, it has to be in the width of the Partzuf as well. These five aspects, they have to be there, and there can't be less than five, otherwise, there's no deficiency in the Malchut, and then there's no vessel. Only we use these names to emphasize that there's five aspects, or ten Sefirot, ten and not eleven and not nine, and that can't be more or less. And these names, we use them to indicate what level a person is in. That we take some Partzuf as an example, and relating to it, we measure the rest of the Partzufim adjacent to it. So we say, for instance, he only has Bina and ZON, and he doesn't have Keter and Hochma. Or the other way around, he has Keter and Hochma, but he doesn't have Bina and ZON. And here, too, there's a confusion between whether it's by the name of the lights or by the name of vessels. Because we can always call the lights by the name of the vessels, and vice versa.

So, in short we have to always go deep into the matter itself and understand what it's about, and not the words, which, of course, can change each time. You can change one word for another word, and so on. So, what he mentions here about bones — he's not referring to bones in the sense of marrow, bones, tendons, flesh, and skin, where the bones are something inner. The marrow, we don't even reach there, so bones become the innermost thing. But he says that if a person wants to reach a deficiency, that deficiency has to truly reach the foundation, the core of the Partzuf, which means the bones.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:03) Is there a specific lack that we should always be asking about, always have it with us, always think about? What is the lack?

M. Laitman: After all the thinking that a person does, it turns out that the only deficiency you need to care about having is a deficiency for the greatness of the Creator. That only recognizing the greatness of the Creator, the feeling of the Creator, knowing the Creator in general – with greatness, without greatness, it doesn’t matter how you call it, in short – an impression of the Creator can change me so that instead of being a servant of my will to receive, I'll be a servant to His will to bestow, that's it. And here, man has to work precisely on this deficiency, that the light will come from above, in other words, and change me. The Creator will be revealed in such a way that I'll be transformed. So, there has to be a recognition that I want a change, to the extent that I'm capable of wanting that, and for that, I turn to the Creator to change me. Why do I have to turn to the Creator? Is it not sufficient to have the desire to change, and then He'll do it? Because my change isn't the goal, rather, asking for it is how I cling to Him, and that's the goal. The change itself is also essentially the means.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:53) So, you'll never get the solution, you'll always be lacking, He won't give you?

M. Laitman: It turns out that each time we work on one deficiency, the same deficiency: how to be more adhered, how to be closer. Because that also brings me the power to be more adhered – deficiency for adhesion. In short, everything comes from the same source.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:21) He writes that we need to emerge from self-love and to take upon himself the love of others. So, first of all, a question: if he emerges from himself, then how do you receive the love of others? If there's no self, he can't receive the love of others.

M. Laitman: You can't acquire love of others without exiting oneself. The desire is one desire, who exists in this desire, me or outside of me? Outside of me is actually the Creator, but to not delude myself, to not lie to myself, as if I want the Creator. So instead of the Creator, I have to think about the environment, the friends. And if I can relate to them with love, it's a sign that this is how I relate to the Creator. Because what's outside the person's body, it doesn't matter if it's the Creator or the friends. Anything foreign that I have no direct benefit from, that to me just doesn't exist. That doesn't exist, meaning I don't think about it. When do I start caring about someone? When I see that I depend on him — in some incident, some state, some connection – if I don't depend on him, I don't feel any concern. Are you concerned about life in Australia, what's going to happen there, who's going to be the Prime Minister there or something, I don't know? You barely get reminded of that, say once a year, why? Because you don't depend on that. But if you, say, would depend on water — we have some water issues here in Israel — and if we could receive water only from Australia, then you would see what would happen on the news and what would people think about and talk about—only Australia. Is everything okay with Australia, how should we get along with Australia? So, what doesn't belong to me doesn't exist in my field of view, and the same with the friends for now. They don't exist in my field of view. This is a sign, a true sign, 100%, that the Creator is at the same state for me: if I depict the Creator correctly, I can think about Him as Good That Does Good, that gives to me and does for me and this and that. That's true, that's Him towards me; but how am I towards Him? That I can check only according to how I relate to the friends, that's the true test.

What does Baal HaSulam say? He says the following that, A person who's somewhat great cares about the group, he's greater, he cares about society; if he's greater, he cares about the country, if he's greater, he cares about the entire world. Accordingly, you can see how much do you care about the Creator, because it's Him, what's outside of you, simple, the test is very straightforward, there's nowhere to run.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:03) Exiting self-love means to care about the environment?

M. Laitman: You can't come out of self-love just like that. If you come out of self-love, it means you have to enter love of others, there's nothing in between. Can't be, there are only two authorities: the rulership of the created being or the rulership of the Creator. Either the will to receive or the will to bestow, so choose, if a person ultimately decides that he has to come out to bestowal. As a result of that, there has to be a decision that says, I have to engage with society, with the friends. Because that's the lever, let's say, the only instrument, the only means by which I reach connection with the Creator. What's connection? Equivalence of form, meaning, if you haven't yet reached the urgency to connect with the society, you have no true pressure to connect with the Creator, it's literally the same. Accordingly, you can see how far you are from spirituality, how much you have no point of contact, no approach to it, no tendency for it, that's it. The society, meaning the people who are like-minded, like you – not better, not worse, just like you – in your environment, they also want it, as if they want it. You see that you don't want it, and they perhaps don't want it yet either, but they have some direction still. The Creator gave them the same thoughts and desires.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:32) No Translation

M. Laitman: In the dissemination enterprise, we need to work in creating material, product. And the product includes the dissemination of it and anything else, even if we're making coffee somewhere or making books somewhere, it doesn't matter, that's stuff we have to do. In that execution, there's also relationships between people: why am I doing this? Why am I in this dissemination enterprise? What does this give me? What is the benefit I'm looking for? I'm working for eight hours a day in some other factory, and I receive, let's say, 5,000 shekels. Now, when I work here in the dissemination organization, then what is the reward I demand and what do I invest? And the truth is, what we invest is not someone's work online or someone producing a book. The main investment is in the social relationships in the factory, that's where the main effort is. Start doing that, you'll succeed, and if you don't, as written, This will be your burial place, that's it. We've reached a point where you need others.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:15) No Translation

M. Laitman: Let's say that people chose me as a maintenance person, and I take with me a few other people who have good hands. I don't need that much of their mind but they need to have good hands. So I chose, say, five people, ten people, they agree with me to be with me together, and we are now the maintenance department – it doesn't matter what people. Perhaps I'm sad that I want to be connected to those who engage in the Internet or some other department. Maybe there are more gentle people there who understand better or study more or have a certain kind of character. But it doesn't matter, the truth is, it doesn't matter at all. Meaning, if you chose your department based on just the hands they have, right, you would never want to connect with a certain friend otherwise. But he's a painter, and you need a painter, so you take him, what can you do, you took him just according to this principle. Now, start doing actions there, as in a department, in a work department, so that everything ticks like a clock! Like in any normal working department in any other business, and when there are already connections and an understanding and some general plan, then we know what to do, and no one can run away from it. If someone escapes, so fine, you're fired from the factory in general. And some people are incompatible but if a person completely refuses, then he has nothing to do here. He should just go out to some more external group, and that's it. After you have a real team; after that, we start caring about the inner life in that group, in that department, and that's already inner work.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:52) How is it possible to find the sentence, judge the work with the friends and the work, otherwise?

M. Laitman: In the work there are no friends, and in the group there are friends, right, everyone are friends, yes? I don't understand, I do not understand what the difficulty here is: if you are honest with yourself and with the friends, if you're direct, you won't feel any difficulty. Take your clothes off and his, and you're all naked, and there's nothing to be done here except to engage and succeed in the main goal, the objective, so what is the problem here? Work relationships and social relationships, what's the problem? I can shout about work matters, right? Ask that friend a few times a day, and this is related to how I treat him as a student, or what? Or other friends or someone—whoever does more, whoever is more active, gets more reproach, more shouts, yes, it's clear!

So what is the connection? When we work together, then of course there are more opportunities for friction at work. But above that, we build our connections more, right, what about it? You don't see, I now saw the internet cafe—not internet, Kabbalah Coffee, right? One friend was shouting at me every morning, gently, but you know, a little shout, a little bit like this other friend. We don't understand that the revelation of the lack is the very best thing, the best thing, that's it! There's nothing else to go for. If there is no lack, you should know that you don't know how to take any step forward, any step. And corrections, if the lack is not revealed, if the wound is not revealed, if you don't discover that you're evil, then how can you do good? Because we do not create, we do not generate in our world from ourselves anything new, yes, we only correct. Our whole work is called, in general, correction, we correct. So, first of all, we need to reveal the evil and then correct it, reveal the evil and correct it. And if it's not revealed, then there's nothing to do; to the extent that it is revealed, only to that extent you can correct it and then advance, so the more evil there is, God bless.

So, I don't mind the shouting, you understand? As long as they're not shouting against the general direction of our advancement, yes. But on the way, shouting and conducting criticism, that is a blessed thing! And it can never be destructive, if it's really good criticism, in depth, on various sides, these are scrutinies. From that, we begin to scrutinize and see who's right, who isn't, why, and how to do things. If it relates to the goal, only a blessing will come from it, there's nothing to be afraid of. On the contrary, dig into it, don't always be in it, you know, don't start enjoying the suffering – there is such a thing – but it's very good!

M. Laitman: (01:06:23) We don't know, but this is known in medicine also, and in psychology: pain and joy are the same thing. Meaning suffering and joy, they're felt in the body in the same way, and you can't have one without the other, either. Look, it's not for nothing that it is said that if you don't have any conflict with the wife, then the love between you does not renew, right? It's not for nothing, it's true, it needs to be upon something which is the opposite. If there wasn't this criticism about that coffee, then they would also have continued in the same way, you understand? Now they see that they truly need to take care of it and do it more professionally and stop with all the you know.

We are now going with him to America, right? He has a month and a half, every day I shout at him: I want the exact order of the lecture, how to appear, what you think. I said there are too many people to ask, to ask about what to wear, how to perform, and everything, I scrutinize everything. And I can stand here, you know, I can stand here. Tell me to speak for two hours, and I'll speak. I start a sentence, and I look for how to finish it, right, no problem, this comes out. But with that, there has to be preparation and there was not sufficient, there wasn't sufficient preparation there. So the lack, the deficiency was revealed – good, nice. I wish I'm told after what I do, tell me all the flaws, but you protect me, you don't speak. And that's not for the best, it's not beneficial, I can't improve, there is no examination of criticism.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:58) I have a question about the prayer.

M. Laitman: Prayer?

Student: Prayer for a deficiency, prayer for a vessel, prayer for bringing the light in the vessel. Well, prayer is supposedly?

M. Laitman: A prayer is called a deficiency that is already in a person, in a scrutinized manner, a deficiency that is ready to receive its filling, its answer, yes? Now, to reach that deficiency, that is the labor, that's the exertion. The deficiency, itself, the prayer, that's already prayer, that's already okay, the whole thing is the work before it.

Student: I'm asking about the prayer itself, what is the prayer? My deepest intention, or?

M. Laitman: Prayer?

Student: Or something I'm searching for?

M. Laitman: You don't know what you're looking for, you don't know what you're looking for – forgive me, but I'll tell you – you have, we call it a spiritual gene. There's a chain of Reshimot and this entire chain is in you, because your soul from above, which descended to the current state—this low, corrupted one. Then all those stages, all those degrees it descended through, all those degrees are within it. Only in the manner of records, in the form of records, meaning information about each and every degree. Now, you can acquire that degree with this information if you add forces to it, to conquer it. The force to conquer that degree is called a screen, a Masach, intention in order to bestow. Our work altogether is through all kinds of actions to discover the next upcoming record. I implemented it, I realized it, that's it, I continue, and I discover the next one in line. The higher one, the higher one, the higher one, and that's how I return to that place from which my soul has descended; meaning, I can't search for what desire I will have so that I will discover the next record. How will I appear as I discover the next Reshimo? My thoughts, my desires, all kinds of: who will I be, what will I be like, when the next Reshimo is revealed in me? I can't, it's simple foolishness to describe to myself today a state that I'm not in yet. From what, based on what am I saying it? And we can see that through all the states that we go through, there are ones that you could probably never plan — not just not plan, imagine, expect, expect, or assume that that will be our next state – so, I don't need to think all those future states, those future desires, future thoughts. There's a reason why it's written, As an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load. In a very primitive manner, I want to reach more, and what is more, really, if I were to imagine something, it's not okay.

Student: Well, there wasn't really a question, but

M. Laitman: Oh, I'm sorry.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:02) My question was simple: prayer. When I pray, when I want something from the Creator? To grow, to advance, to ask for deficiency, to ask for a vessel, to ask for anything that will help me advance on the path — so the prayer itself. What is the most correct prayer, is it actually the intention to get a deficiency? It's the intention that comes from the purest, deepest place, is that enough? Is that the real prayer, or do I need to paint the intention with words and say it in words?

M. Laitman: Does a prayer need to be in words? You know, the Creator doesn't see the body, so what words are you talking about that you need in prayer? Words, you maybe mean scrutinies of the desires, of the intentions, but what are words? There are no words in spirituality, in spirituality, it's a naked feeling without clothings. Feelings, discernments that are nameless, you can adhere to them any name or any number you want, just for it to be either acceptable by others — that that's what you want to connect to them through — or somehow. So, towards the Creator, you need to reach a certain combination, or how should we say it, altogether of discernments, feelings, thoughts, intentions. There are no words in this, you can call this a Reshimo, the record of X of clothing and Y of coarseness, I don't know. And altogether, when the record is revealed, that's it, you can call it, well, we call it NRN of the righteous, it doesn't matter, it's names but inside, it's a feeling.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:25) So, the intention, the feeling is the intention. Each time I try to describe my intention in words, I laugh at myself. Why do I even need the words? The intention reaches where it should?

M. Laitman: Yes, meaning prayer is a feeling in the heart, the heart is not called our heart. Rather, all of a person's desires are called the heart. Hence, if all the desires altogether, and within them there's a certain general feeling which is correct, aimed truly to the Creator — the Creator, meaning to receive also such a form like He has – that is called that it's aimed to Him, that's called a prayer.

Student: The greatness of the Creator, that's the environment that will make me want to be His servant, to annul before Him? The environment, that's called The greatness of the Creator?

M. Laitman: The environment needs to bring forth any connection to me. There are many words here, my entire connection with the Creator.

Student: I'm asking specifically, I'm trying to define greatness of the Creator?

M. Laitman: The society needs to tell me that without the greatness of the Creator, I will not reach the goal. That the greatness of the Creator opens the new vessel for me. That, in short, it needs to aim me to the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:09) What's greatness of the Creator, what is that term?

M. Laitman: The greatness of the Creator? One is that He rules me in every corner. Enter into yourself, any nook and cranny there is, somewhere inside you, you'll find Him. That, the society needs to hint at you, imply to you, and then you'll find it. So that when you see this, and you also hear this from the society, then you'll truly begin. What is great? Great means stronger than me, that's the impression I need to receive from the society, that He is stronger than me, that He's greater than me. The fact that He gives me blows because He's stronger than me, then what? I'm going to curse Him, despair and fall. Stronger, meaning in greatness.

Student: The society also should give me happiness or good mood, why? It can help you feel greatness of the Creator?

M. Laitman: The society should supply to me, together with the importance of the Creator, upliftment. The importance of the Creator without uplifted spirits is not importance; meaning, it needs to give you – let's put it this way – in the place where the Creator is closed up, concealed, hidden, the society needs to do this role. In short, the Creator is concealed and in His place, He gave you the society, why? Because with Him, you can't enter into contact if it's not in order to bestow. With the society, you can play however you want, but the real playing with the society can be also only in order to bestow. Meaning, you have in this world, in your egoistic state, the possibility to do spiritual work.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:32) I know that in my egoistic state, if I take any society on the outside, I know how the society is built. That gives me a desire to belong to something or annul to something. It's a society that gives me a big show and tricks all my senses to tell me there's something good there; then I don't care about myself, I'm only adhered to that good. But it's so deep into the will to receive, it's so artificial. The question is, how do you change it in a place like here, that on one hand, you need internal work of searching, but also to let a person uplift here?

M. Laitman: Our problem in our society is that we don't, we're not concerned with building a society, we need to start with that. If I want the society to bestow upon me, influence me, and for it to build me, then I need to be concerned with it being strong, with the right intention, in the right direction, drive, in upliftment. And all that I want to receive from it should be in her, in it. And if it will be in the society, then I need to give to it. Where can I give it from? I can give, each can give, each can give not for himself, but the other, yes. You know, you give lectures. You come to a lecture, they think, what a righteous you are, Oh, you're so corrected. What, why? Because you're influencing them, you're pouring upon them, right and left, what you read and what you didn't read.

Student: But I'm working on the will to receive.

M. Laitman: Yes, you're working on their desire to receive, so you're bestowing upon them the upliftment that you don't have. Sometimes you're so messed up that you're even impressed by yourself and how I am, yes, just like that. It's not just like that, but we'll talk about it once, but you see that no matter what your state is in, when you want to give the society, you can with your words, not from the heart, only on the outside, you understand? You can influence true upliftment to them.

The second—who hears, thinks that it comes to him from the heavens. Truly, Elijah the prophet has just landed here. Do the same on purpose towards your society, and each should do this mutually towards one another. You can't imagine to yourself what forces you will receive, you won't be able to sleep, you won't be able to sleep! It's like you maybe had several days like that when you got to know this idea of Kabbalah or something. There were some days like that also; let's say the holiday, where what happens in Sukkot or in Pesach, the upliftment kind of around the clock. You'll see that this is how you will live. And it will be, you'll be obligated to do so, like it or not, they will influence you in such a way. The problem is that they don't want to influence you, and they don't care about themselves, yet. They don't yet understand that this is truly the main point and that's it, and they let go.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:56) Let's say I take this state, I can't sleep. You feel that you're alive all the time, everything's burning inside.

M. Laitman: You will feel that you're alive and burning every single moment. Why and how is this happening to you, in what way? There's a society where everyone's sitting, and everyone's hearing, and I'm also there, sitting there and working hours, etc. You're hearing from the outside many times that it's important, and that it's special, and then you get ignited on this also, from what else? The spiritual forces that are in this, let them go for the moment.

Student: But how do I build this relation that as long as I'm alive, I don't scrutinize?

M. Laitman: If you receive upliftment from society, you're saying, it will prevent me from doing scrutinies – why will this prevent me from doing scrutinies? My scrutinies are that I'm in a state that I'm messed up. In your state of being messed up, you should know that there are no scrutinies, you're just eating yourself up here. The scrutinies need to come from a state where the light comes and you see a gap between you and this light. The society will not disconnect you, it will not disconnect you altogether from scrutinies, don't worry. Be constantly in maximal upliftment, don't worry, because the scrutinies will come. But if you fall to some thought or discernment, you'll fall for a second and that will be enough. That's considered, Hastening time, shortening time, and for you, no, it's scrutinies where I sit down for, I fall for a few days, and I can exit this, and then I understand what depth of a hole I fell into, and what things I'm discovering in me, and what a trash I am. No, we don't need that, even for a second, if you didn't even feel in your feelings, it can go by you in a way that – that's spirituality. Maybe you will need it, I don't know, and how and where it will accumulate this way. Don't ever be concerned about the bad, you need to always be concerned with upliftment and with the thoughts of the Creator, that's where the scrutiny will come from. The light scrutinizes the vessel.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:17) And how do you keep that thin line between people that will be in society now not for the goal but for the uplifting? I feel good with my will to receive in society, there could be people like that, I know where I teach.

M. Laitman: Wait, wait. You're saying like this: they're in our society, there's people that come here because of the goal; and there are those who come because they don't want to sit at home. I come in the evening, I sometimes, I see there's people sitting here — what are they doing? They're running away from home, at home, there's their wife, and the children, they're screaming and all that. So, they sit here, and they do it like that. It could be that way. It could be that we're all like that and we're really all like that, we're running away from our troubles. You're saying, in my society, they're not thinking about uplifted spirits, they're not thinking about spirituality – correct, they're not thinking. Accept it as a correct assumption, you too, you are all together running away from your troubles. What's the meaning of our life? That's what you came from, and that's what you're continuing with. If it seems to you that it's not correct, then it's a sign that you really didn't scrutinize the depth of the reason that you're here for. Each of us who's here, in the end, is running away from the bad, and that's very good. That's a respectable foundation to begin with. No, we need to be yearning for spirituality, bestowal, to altruism, to communism – nonsense – we don't need to yearn for anything but for one thing, to flee our troubles.

Student: (01:27:05) But let's say I go to a hotel, so, I don't know, they constantly fill my desire.

M. Laitman: What's the difference between a group that helps me not think about my troubles, and some hotel in Eilat that also offers me now a week of not thinking about my troubles, yes? The difference is simple: if really these are purposeful troubles, in Eilat you won't be able to flee them, you'll sit in the hotel room with all that glory and you'll eat yourself up and nothing will help you. And only here, you will be able to run away from it. And it's very good if you flee them. It's very good if you came here and forget about all kinds of troubles; beastly ones, spiritual ones, doesn't matter which, and don't remember them. You don't need to think when the recognition of evil will come to you, it comes only as a consequence of the light. If you don't invite more light upon yourself, you won't discover more bad, and more bad, and more bad. And whoever wants to feel the bad before he invites the light simply sits eating himself up. It's not a revelation of new discernments. That's called, A fool who sits, his hands folded over, and eats his own flesh – sits, he's not advancing. He writes in many articles, he writes, You only need to be connected to the source of the light, to the Creator. As a result of that, all the rest of the things will come to you. And don't be afraid that by that you're separating from your, I, from your desire to receive, no. It's arranged in such a way, the method is arranged in such a way, that the blows will come to you, and don't worry, and in what pace they'll come. Alright, but in relation to building the organization factory and the relations within it, I'm saying this now is the essential thing here: it will happen. It'll happen. If it won't happen, nothing will happen.

Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson. What from it are we taking to implement in the Ten? Then we’ll go to the next part of the lesson and sing a song first!

Song: (01:35:57)