The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 7, 2026
Reader: Hello, dear friends. In the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 29th of January 2002, based on the article "What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?" by Rabash. “What are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?” We will read the article together in the Ten, we have 29 minutes for that. Let's go.
Reading: (00:40) What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?
Article No. 7, 1990
Our sages said (Berachot 32), “One should always establish the praise of the Creator, and then pray.” They also said (Rosh Hashanah 35), “Rabbi Elazar said, ‘One should always establish one’s prayer, and then pray.’”
We should understand why we must first establish the praise of the Creator. When a person is in a state of deficiency and wants to pray to the Creator to satiate his lack, then he needs His help. Thus, why should one first establish the praise of the Creator?
With a flesh and blood king, we can understand that first we must show our respect for the king so the king will see that we are among those who love him, and for this reason the king will grant our wish. But how can this be said with regard to the Creator? Does the Creator need a person to show Him that he is among those who love the Creator, and then He will help him, and otherwise He will not?
After all, the Creator is merciful and gracious. Although one is unworthy, the Creator helps those who pray to Him, as Baal HaSulam explained what we say in the Eighteen Prayer, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth,” meaning that it does not matter what mouth prays, but the prayer of any mouth, even if this mouth is unimportant, still, the Creator hears it. Thus, why must we first establish the praise of the Creator?
In order to interpret this, we should first present the words of The Zohar (Chayei Sarah, Item 224), “Come and see, ‘And it came to pass, before he concluded speaking, that, behold, Rebecca came out.’ He asks, it should have said, ‘Came,’ as it is written, ‘Rachel his daughter comes.’ Why does it say, ‘came out’? He says that this indicates that the Creator took her out from among the town’s people, who were all wicked, and Rebecca came out and parted from the rest of the people in the city because she was righteous.”
RASHI interprets the verse (Genesis 24:39), “Suppose the woman does not walk.” He writes, “It says, ‘to me’ [in Hebrew, “suppose” and “to me” are spelled the same]. Eliezer had a daughter. He was looking for a reason that Abraham would turn to him to marry his daughter. Abraham said to him: ‘My son is blessed and you are cursed, and the cursed does not cling to the blessed.’”
We should interpret the meaning of Isaac and Rebecca, as well as the meaning of the matter of the daughter of Eliezer in the work. The Zohar writes (Chayei Sarah, Item 94), “He said to him, ‘My master shall say if he heard how the authors of the Mishnah said this portion, which they interpreted concerning the soul, that Abraham is the soul and Sarah is the body.’”
In this manner, we should interpret the matter of Isaac and Rebecca, as it is written in The Zohar (Chayei Sarah, Item 249), “Rabbi Yehuda said, ‘His mother Sarah,’ since as the form of Isaac was as the form of Abraham, similarly, Rebecca’s form was just as Sarah’s. This is why it is written, ‘His mother Sarah.’”
By this we should also interpret that Isaac was the soul and Rebecca the body. In the order of man’s work, when he wants to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, he should always walk on two lines—right and left. “Right” means wholeness, when a person feels satisfaction in the work and praises and thanks the Creator for rewarding him with being among the King’s servants. He sees that he has achieved a degree in spirituality, which is not so among the rest of the workers of the Creator. Yet, he recognizes his lowliness and does not know why the Creator chose him over other people, who have not reached this degree. For this reason, he thanks and praises the King and can observe what is written, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” At that time he has nothing for which to pray to the Creator to help him, since he feels no lack in his situation.
However, later, when a person goes to work on the left line, when he criticizes the state he is in and sees that he is flawed in mind and in heart, and even worse, he sometimes sees that he is immersed in self-love more than usual, sometimes he comes to such lowliness that he does not want the Creator to help him out of his lowliness. On the contrary, he is angry that he is not receiving delight and pleasure from the corporeal life. It follows that sometimes the left does not let him even pray and ask of the Creator. Thus, how can he feel himself as a whole person and thank the Creator?
However, we must know that the work is mainly during the ascent, for only during an ascent can we speak of man’s work in two lines—right and left. Conversely, during a descent, a person is considered dead. Can we say that we are speaking to the dead, or that we want something from the dead, that he will do something?
For this reason, when a person is in a state of work, it can be said that a person should work in two ways: 1) right, 2) left. “Right” means primarily that the wholeness in him is built on above reason, while the left in him is built on the reason and intellect. That is, at that time he sentences himself as he sees, as our sages said, “A judge has only what his eyes see” (Baba Batra 131).
It turns out that when he engages in the left and sees the truth, how lowly and immersed in self-love he is, how can he then say that he is in a state of wholeness and be grateful to the Creator for giving him such a great gift that he is in Kedusha [holiness]? This is the complete opposite of the truth he sees, and how can one be happy when he sees the truth?
The answer is in two ways: 1) It is written in the essay from Tav-Shin-Gimel (Shamati, Article No. 40, 1943) concerning faith in his teacher, that Baal HaSulam said that a person should go with faith in the sages, as they have arranged for us. These are his words, slightly changed: The student must believe as his teacher tells him, to walk on the path of “right” and wholeness. The student should depict to himself that he has already been rewarded with complete faith in the Creator, and already feels in his organs that the Creator leads the whole world as The Good Who Does Good. This means that the whole world receives from Him only good, and although when he looks at himself, he sees that he is bare and destitute, and when he looks at the world, he also sees that the world suffers torments—each suffering according to his own degree—he should say about this what is written, “They have eyes and see not.” That is, as long as a person is in a state of “they,” that “they” have two authorities, “they” cannot see the truth. For this reason, a person must believe above reason that he is in wholeness, and so is the whole world.
It follows that in this way he can and should thank the Creator for giving us abundance. This is called the “right line,” which is the complete opposite of the left line. That is, in the left line, we walk within reason, as was said, that “A judge has only what his eyes see.” In other words, it is specifically with the intellect and not above the intellect. But when shifting to work with the “right,” the left is the cause that the right is built on the basis of above reason.
This is as our sages said, “The left pushes away and the right pulls near.” In other words, the state of “left” shows a person how he is rejected and separated from the work of the Creator. “The right pulls near” means that it shows him that he is close to the work of the Creator. This means that when he engages in the left, the left should bring him to see a state of rejection, that he is rejected and separated from the work. When he engages in the right, he should come to a state where he sees that he is close to the Creator. He should thank the Creator for the “right,” and pray to the Creator for the “left,” for only on two legs can a person walk in corporeality. This extends from spirituality, which shows that a person should walk on two lines.
Concerning the wholeness, there is another manner. If a person comes to a state where he sees that he is bare and destitute, since he is behind both in mind and in heart, meaning sees that he is immersed in self-love and that he has not a single organ that has any desire to work for the sake of the Creator, now he sees that he has come to his true state called “recognition of evil.”
He says that the fact that now he sees the recognition of evil is a gift from above that he was shown the truth. Otherwise, he would deceive himself and think that he need not change his way, since he is certainly walking on the path of truth. Thus, he could remain with his evil forever. But now, a revelation from above came to him, to see the truth.
This is as it is written in The Zohar about the verse, “Or make his sin known to him.” It interprets that the Creator notified him that he sinned, meaning he was informed from above that he sinned. In other words, recognition of evil is a revelation from above. For this reason, he rejoices at the fact that the Creator tends to him and guides him, and shows him his true state. This gives him wholeness from being rewarded with the revelation of the truth at the hands of the Creator. This discernment, that he receives wholeness, means that he says that the Creator is bringing him closer and shows him the truth.
It follows that now he is not in a state where he says that the Creator has rejected him from Kedusha because he feels the bad. On the contrary, this makes him feel that the Creator is pulling him closer. This is called “the right pulls near.” Naturally, in that state, when he sees that he is all bad, he can overcome and seek advice how to emerge from this bad. Hence, he thanks and praises the Creator.
It follows that now he is regarded as blessed, in that he sees that he has received awareness from above about the recognition of evil. When he thanks the Creator, he is certainly called “blessed,” since he received a blessing from the Creator, and then he can come to Dvekut with the Creator since “the blessed clings to the blessed.”
This is as Baal HaSulam interpreted what our sages said, “The world was created either for the complete wicked or for the complete righteous” (Berachot 61). He asked, “We can understand that it is for the complete righteous, but can it be said, ‘for the complete wicked’?”
He explained that when a person knows about himself that he is wicked, he will certainly do all that he can to repent. We should interpret his words, “For the complete righteous,” who then enjoy the world in that they are rewarded with the delight and pleasure that the Creator wanted to give at the time of the creation of the world, since they already have Kelim [vessels] to receive the light of the Creator in order to bestow, for in these Kelim, the purpose of creation is revealed, which is called “His desire to do good to His creations.”
Likewise, when he has already been rewarded with the recognition of evil, it is Kelim, for he has an inner drive to do what he can to emerge from the state of wicked. But when he does not feel the bad, he has no one to awaken him to emerge from that bad state, since he does not feel so bad that he must do all that he can in order to emerge from it.
It follows that the fact that he has come to a state where he sees that he is all bad, already has a great merit to it. The evidence is that he can already say that the world was created for him, as was said, “The world was created either for the complete wicked.” But before he discovered the bad state, he had no right to exist in the world, as was said, “The world was created either for the complete wicked or for the complete righteous.” It follows that prior to the recognition of evil, he has no right to exist in the world.
It therefore follows that if he has achieved the recognition of evil, it is regarded that he already has a grip in the world. In that respect, it is considered that he has wholeness and he can already praise and thank the Creator for this, and he already has connection with the Creator and it can already be said that he is called “blessed,” and “the blessed clings to the blessed.”
At that time, he can be, and this is the time when he can ascend in degree, meaning that at the time of gladness, he can receive all the prayers he has given over his deficiencies. It is as our sages said, “The Shechina [Divinity] is present only out of joy,” as it is written, “And he will be as a musician playing, and the spirit of the Lord shall be upon him.” It follows that the primary time when one is rewarded with instilling the Shechina is specifically the time of wholeness, for specifically at the time of wholeness is the time when he can receive his soul.
According to the above, we can interpret what our sages said, “Eliezer had a daughter. He wanted her to be a wife for Isaac.” Literally, this is difficult to understand. After all, Eliezer’s daughter was the daughter of a sage, as our sages said (Yoma 28b), “And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that was his. Rabbi Eliezer said that the governor of the teaching of his master is of the household of Eliezer.” They also said there, “Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, was old and sat in a seminary.”
Abraham did not agree to this match and replied, “The cursed does not cling to the blessed.” This was not so about the match with Rebecca, who was the daughter of Betuel and the sister of wicked Lavan. Our sages said that Betuel sought to feed Eliezer the potion of death so they would be left with the wealth. In other words, he was not merely wicked; he was also a murderer. Yet, Gabriel came and replaced the bowl and gave it to Betuel, and he died.
Rebecca, too, came from an environment of wicked, yet, this match is a good match, as it is written, “And Rebecca came out.” In other words, the Creator brought her out from among all the town’s people, who were wicked. “Rebecca came out” because she was righteous. In the literal, if a person is offered two matches, where one is a daughter of a sage, and the other comes from the house of wicked people and a city of wicked people, of course he would choose the daughter of the sage.
But in the work, we should interpret that the state of Eliezer is a state of “left,” for he was yelling all the time, “Eli [My God], Ezer [help!], since I am under the governance of the evil.” It follows that this woman, the daughter of the left, who prayed to be given the quality of Isaac, who is called Neshama [soul] as a “wife,” which is the body, in order to receive the soul, Abraham did not agree because when a person is in the left and cries out, “Lord, help me emerge from the evil,” that body is in a state of “cursed.” He told him that Isaac, meaning the soul, was “blessed,” and “the cursed does not cling to the blessed.”
It is written in The Zohar (Toldot, Item 49), Therefore, although Eliezer was a sage, he felt that he lacked the quality of truth. He was always in the state of “the left,” and always had grievances, why the Creator would not hear him and give him a soul, since “the light in it reforms him.” Although the left “speaks to the point,” since everything is built on reason, as was said, that “the judge has only what his eyes see,” but in truth, he is cursed.
This is why Abraham told him, “The cursed,” meaning the body in a state of “cursed,” cannot receive the instilling of the Shechina, regarded as one’s personal soul. This is so because the Shechina is called Malchut, which is the collection of the souls. For this reason, Malchut is called “the assembly of Israel.” Hence, in this state, the body is unfit to receive the quality of Isaac, who is called a “soul,” as was said that the body is called “wife,” and the soul is called “husband.”
However, Rebecca, means in the work that the body sees everything that the left shows it, its true state, that all its organs are wicked, that it understands only that which concerns self-love, but with regard to the benefit of the Creator, it cannot do a thing, just as the “left” shows it.
This is the meaning of “all the town’s people were wicked,” since the body is called “city,” as it is written (Ecclesiastes 9:14), “A small city with few people in it. A great king came to it and found in it a poor wise man, who saved the city with his wisdom.” Rebecca, who was a single righteous woman, came out from among all the town’s people.
Why does it say “came out”? He says that “It indicates that the Creator took her out from among all the town’s people.” This means that this body felt itself as whole, meaning as righteous, because the Creator notified it the truth. From this, it is glad, and this in itself is regarded as wholeness, that the Creator notified it, or, for the second above-mentioned reason, that he believes above reason that he has wholeness because he believes in faith in his teacher that we must go above reason and say, “They have eyes and see not.”
In a state of wholeness, we can be rewarded with the state of Isaac, who is called a “soul.” This means that the two opposites are in one body but in two times. We are told that the most important is to walk on the right line, once he has a little bit of the left line. This is the meaning of “One should always establish the praise of the Creator,” which is called “right,” “and then pray,” regarded as “left,” and then he returns to the right.
Reader: Now, friends, we will go to a lesson of Rav from the date 29 January 2003.
M. Laitman: (29:41) So we have read the article from “Rungs of the Ladder”, volume 1, page 164, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?” Everything stems from the fact that we have two sides in reality — Creator and created being. The force that bestows and the force that receives, the desire that bestows, the desire to receive. And if it ended like that, with Creator and created being, then the Creator would have created the created being, filled that created being with every abundance, and everything would have been wrapped up there. But the Creator has another intention with respect to the created being. He wants to bring the created being to His own wholeness, His own state of perfection, the degree of the Creator.
And so the Creator, other than creating the created being with the will to receive, He gives the will to receive this option, opportunity to reach the desire to bestow. And here starts the struggle, the work, the exertion of the created being, despite of his will to receive, to reach the opposite of his nature, which is the desire to bestow.
And so in the created being there are two forces: Keter and Malchut, the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. The point in the heart opposite his body, yes, light and vessel, as we call them, or soul and body, or the people of Israel and the nations of the world, yes, and so forth.
It doesn't matter how you call them, these two forces. On each and every degree, they have different names, different appellations. But this stems from the fact that we have the Creator and the created being. And the created being, in order to reach the degree of the Creator, must incorporate the qualities of the Creator.
And so the created being is put under stress and pressure, various changes, transformations, various forces. At one time he's in his nature, and then he's called complete evil, or wicked, or incomplete, depending on the degree.
At another point, he's awarded with being adhered to the Creator. Adhering to the Creator, this means to acquire the nature of the Creator, whereupon he's called righteous, and everything in between as well. What are the good times for working, exerting, advancing? All times. There is no time that isn't good for that.
However, in each and every state, there's the opportunity to perform this advancement towards the purpose of creation, to become like the Creator, eternal, whole, all the attainments, bestowal, in a different way. And there are states where a person is in a state where he can only offer prayer. And the prayer itself also includes gratitude and request. And there are times when a person can offer only gratitude, but the gratitude by itself, without a lack, which it rides on, then from who, from what, for what?
Meaning, it's certainly impossible to turn to the Creator if in that appeal there aren't two discernments: negative as well as positive. Otherwise, there is no plea. As we learn that the advantage of light is out of darkness, that it's impossible to distinguish any discernment without a thing that's opposite to it. The letters can be seen, the black letters only on a white background, on the background of the light.
So there has to be this discernment in a person, this discernment that he feels, he sees, he expresses - it always comprises two opposites.
M. Laitman: (34:49) And we too, in our lives, walking the path, although each time we are amazed by the extent to which we can just be thrown from place to place, from state to state, like a slingshot, it's called. But we have to understand that this exists in the created being, and in the created being there exists the nature of the Creator, as well as the nature of the created being.
In each and every state I can observe the state from the nature of the created being and from the nature of the Creator. And then it follows that I can decide, with every phenomenon, different decisions, so to speak. Either I go above reason and I don't care about it at all, like that, or the opposite - I can't even move. And right now I can justify each and every state, and maybe I can do the opposite, to turn it into, to obliterate it. Which is the truth?
The truth exists only at the end. Before reaching the end of correction, where all the opposite things settle together, there is no truth. There's just a path, and there are states.
Therefore, we can never, we can never determine anything in a decisive fashion, it's childish to do so. Rather, we need to always understand that we are the part of reality that feels, that everything happens upon us, happens to us in such a way that we understand, grow wiser, feel it, become experienced, gather the records, and with that we advance, and we don't need to be impressed by any extreme state.
That's what he brings us here, these examples of Eliezer, Lavan, from where the daughters are taken, the desires from opposite states, in order to bring them to the highest holiness. That's how it is. Don't be overly impressed by that. A person rises and rises, and falls into the abyss, and again some bad things come to him from various directions, places. Suddenly, things which- how can this be a part of my work where I want the Creator, and suddenly look what happens to me at work, at home, my nation, everywhere? We don't know. We need to accept these things as the best suited for advancement. And especially now as we've started to work a little bit around understanding the exertion, the quality of exertion, then more questions will come accordingly in order for us to truly scrutinize the proper, real intention.
How to demand the reforming lights? What is exactly this compatibility with godliness? All these things come slowly, gradually. A person polishes them. You need to clean them until extracting a pearl from this mountain of garbage, which before he can't see how to distinguish between one thing and another. So don't be afraid. The more we enter higher, loftier things, more bad things open up — bad, evil, absolutely terrible. However, although it's impossible not to be afraid, because every degree, every subsequent degrees are greater than the previous. It appears, well, the bear looks bigger, and the person appears to himself to be a smaller baby, terrified of this bear.
M. Laitman: (39:47) afterwards, well each degree, every degree passes gradually. A person grows through that degree. He begins, how to say, when he, the bear, how you say, animals that you begin to, yes, to tame that bear. He turns it into a force of, yes, it becomes a teddy bear. He turns it into a teddy bear, a useful, a useful force.
So each and every time what Baal HaSulam writes in the article "Matan Torah" (The Giving of the Torah) is that a person, the greater a person is, the more concerned he is with things which are further away from his body. First he's worried only about his body, after that, someone outside of it - children, family, friends, his society, then his city, right? Maybe his region, nation, the whole world. After that - the whole of reality we need to include in our prayer, when we study, the current state as well. The fact that we want equivalence of form with the Creator, and for the upper force to come and correct us and give us this transformation — we need this transformation not for us. And not even to bestow contentment upon the Creator from me, that is also egoistic, although in a different way already. But nonetheless, I want all created beings, all created beings to come to this recognition, to this degree where they understand what the purpose is and grow closer to it. Why? This stems from concern for the world, concern for all existence. A person who includes himself not only with the group, but the whole of humanity, he activates more of the forces of his soul, which exist in him, activates them towards that request. We incorporate all the forces in the world, each one of us. So in our request, the more we expand the request, we're simply activating our soul with greater force towards the Creator. And to think here, why do we need to do that? Because as we received from above the privilege to advance, to ask, to demand of the Creator, to make demands of the Creator, this privilege was given to us in order to realize what is upon us. It is upon us to be a light unto the nations and to bring to our nation and to the whole world the message regarding what the purpose of creation is, and how to advance towards it, execute on it. A person needs to understand that if the world is still not corrected, this is his own fault and to ask for corrections for this.
M. Laitman: (44:45) I remember the Lebanon War. We then drove with Rabash—when was it, 81, 82? Eighty two. We drove with Rabash, as usual, taking a walk in the park, and here and there. Constantly, he would listen. Every five minutes, he'd listen to the radio. And in Bnei Brak, usually, people wouldn't do that. In those times, especially, it was this kind of a village—it's only in the past ten years that it developed—well, not that, from the 80s to the 90s, there was this change.
So, I told him, look, nobody's so interested in the radio. And he said, they're not interested because they don't feel that it's their own children there. That's what he felt. He had that feeling. So, we need at least intellectually to understand, that as he writes at the end of the introduction to the Book of Zohar, that if something bad happens in the world and to us, our nation, this is because those who received from above this message of how to correct the world, how to draw humanity to the Creator. They are still not doing these things correctly. They're still not doing their work in a complete way. So, we have what to pray for. We need to ask for forces other than what we usually ask for and demand. Yes, we need to feel that we are guilty for what's happening.
Now, when we're searching for how to compose that sentence, that request from within me, through the group to the Creator, in this and that, we need to also include in that those things, because they're coming right now towards us and entering.
It's not for nothing that we see our lives in this way, we feel our lives to be as they are. We need to react to that as well. Right. Any questions about the article itself?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:51) It's written that a judge has what his eyes can see. Does it mean that we also cannot attribute good things to Him if we do not see them? Only good things that we actually perceive, or something like that?
M. Laitman: “A judge has only what his eyes can see,” meaning that a person should see reality as he sees it in his vessels. I'm 20% developed, so I see reality according to my degree, and I cannot see it otherwise. I want to see it differently, but I have to elevate myself at least to the degree of development of 30%.
But each time anyone who sees flaws, judges others, he's judging his own flaws. So each time I look at something, I can see only through my eyes, from my own vessel. This is what I see. That is what I understand. This is how I can conduct criticism. That's how it is. So, it's impossible to demand that a person understands differently. You will cause corrections for him, and from the corrections he will behave and understand things differently. But it cannot be that he just changes with no reason. There need to be many blows, a lot of learning, persuasion maybe from outside, many things. But how could it be otherwise? And therefore, the judge cannot accept this reality other than what his eyes can see according to what his vessel receives.
Student: If he wants to talk about good things that he doesn’t see, does it also corrupted?
M. Laitman: If his eyes do not see them then it is simply not real for him. It changes from moment to moment and never truly belongs to the person. Instead, it belongs to various things that are not his. He will not take hold of it. He will not be able to maintain it. I don't know exactly how to put it. Only through an original, inner correction within the person can you be sure that he will stand by it, because it becomes his nature.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:23) I'll continue to what you said before. Do we need to relate to what's written at the end of the introduction to the Book of Zohar, the parts where we don't engage in internality? So us, that we always attribute it in a certain sense to others?
M. Laitman: Regarding what is written at the end of the introduction to the Book of Zohar, where he says that those who ought to engage in the inner part of the Torah are occupied with the external part. I first look at myself and see that I, too, am certainly engaging with externality.
And there is this inner dimension that I have not yet attained and with which I am not yet engaged, certainly. What do I gain from looking at others and blaming them? So, I point my finger at various organizations and institutions. So what? From the Ministry of Education and downward through all the... I can look at this group and that group. I don't know who else. I can blame everyone. That's fine. But what comes of it? Practically speaking, where can I act? How can I become, to the extent possible, the part through which the entire order he describes there as a functioning pyramid can operate correctly?
What do I gain by blaming someone? Will I correct him? Will I correct myself? At most, I will just add pride and negligence.
We actually received this message from above, and not from them, those who generally don't even understand where they are. You understand? I cannot really say anything about them. They are like babies. But about myself, I can say that if I understand, then I'm obligated to act accordingly with 100% of my ability. That's all. As much as possible. And the situation will worsen. They will give us opportunities to carry out our work.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:11) All of our thoughts, intentions, everything comes from the body. Maybe you can give us a few rules about how to maintain the physical body, the simple flesh and blood. Because…
M. Laitman: So you're saying that the healthier your body is, you're more prepared for inner work. That's right. So what do you want? Everybody knows that. What do you mean sometimes? You need to give the body what it needs? You know, “mens sana in corpore sano," as those Romans used to say in Latin, right? A healthy mind, a healthy soul. A healthy body, a healthy soul.
Their idea of a soul is an animal soul, but never mind. First of all, you have to do what needs to be done. How many rules are there? You have to sleep, eat, watch the body, take care of it properly.
When I lived in Rehovot, there was a young fellow near me, and he raised a horse. A very expensive one, something like $17,000 or $18,000. It was a very valuable horse. I watched how he cared for it all the time. It was remarkable. It was his whole life. That image became engraved in my memory. That's how one should take care of the body. Not that your whole life should revolve around it, but you should give it what it needs. I remember how he would clean her and provide her with everything she needed. Later, he sold her and made a good profit. That's how we should relate to the body. It should work for me, the human being within me. For that, I'm willing to take care of it.
The Rebbe was very concerned about this. Yes, my Rav. He was very concerned about it. What do I mean? I used to buy him chocolate, vegetables, and fruit. If something seemed wrong, even with a finger or some small issue, we paid attention to it. Every few months he would go for blood tests to check things like blood sugar, which was borderline in his case. All sorts of things like that. He cared very much about being healthy, even almost to an extreme. When he went into the sea, he would make 600 strokes. He counted them, until he completed 600, counting them, he would not come out. He would say, in the sea all kinds of thoughts can come. I don't know. This is my work. Until he reached 600 strokes, he stayed in the water.
That's how it was, you understand? If there was no swimming, then it was an hour and a half walk. I would have to sing “Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai,” to keep the rhythm, and we would walk at that pace for an hour and a half. In the middle, we would sit for another 10 minutes. Then I would be allowed to ask a question, then it was back to marching forward. I'm talking about a man who was 80 years old. Many times, we went to a swimming center or a gym. We’d buy an annual membership. It was constant. That's how it was all the time.
The friend remembers, it was absolutely mandatory. He would spend three or four hours a day engaged in sports or physical activity. His body was also of a type that required movement. Some people can sit all day, but by his nature and physical makeup, he couldn't. He needed effort.
M. Laitman: (57:15) I bought him a bicycle, and he would do 400 revolutions just like that. In the evening, among other things, 400 revolutions. You understand? It's not so simple; every day, it's not a joke.
Once, I was in this descent, and we had this yoga instructor who used to come to my house just for the exercises, not the philosophy. A young guy from Netanya. He taught us stretching and flexibility exercises. I was in such a descent that I told him, I can't do it. He replied, you can't? Fine. So leave. I'll continue. He took the instructor to his house. He continued with him for a few days, and later I came back. That's how it was, there was no such thing as giving up. I couldn't keep up with it. Every activity, he did according to time, according to a schedule. He said, now it's time to eat. Now it's time for this. He also had habits. If he was drinking, he wasn't eating. If he was eating, he wasn't drinking. All kinds of things like that. His attitude toward the body was very clear and structured, its behavior.
There were also things I simply couldn't handle around him. For example, he never allowed air conditioning. He would say, this is natural heat. What can you do? You endure it. If you want a little fan, that's like a natural breeze, that's somewhat permissible. I would be exploding sitting next to him. I remember my blood pressure was terrible. For him, it was 40 degrees, 50 degrees Celsius. So what? In other words, he tried to live as simply and as naturally as possible, in harmony with nature.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:23) In our work, sometimes you know what to do. You're just afraid of going all the way. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to my brother or something.
M. Laitman: What are you talking about? I don't understand.
Student: You told us so many times, five cups of coffee you drank during the lesson to keep things up. You remember? You told us.
M. Laitman: Look, drinking coffee was customary among us because they're all Jerusalemites. Jerusalemites, traditionally, they don't drink tea. They don't even know what tea is. And they hardly drink coffee with milk either. Coffee is coffee. That's it. That's how Jerusalemites are. He grew up in Jerusalem, and his wife was also a Jerusalemite from a family that had been there for hundreds of years, an extremely old Jerusalem family. If she wasn't feeling well, something with her heart, I'd bring her a cup of coffee. That's just how it was. What do you mean? Drink water? A cup of coffee? Alongside it, maybe a little cold water, right? You know, that's how it was.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:43) Can I ask about the article? Why doesn't it say, the article doesn't speak about three lines, only two lines. He talks about two lines.
M. Laitman: In this article, he speaks about two lines and not three, because he wants to explain to us the qualities that exist within us. The third line is something we already construct ourselves. These two lines come to us from above.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:12) We talked about how thinking and performing acts of bestowal all day, that's only towards the members of the group. Today, you said something else.
M. Laitman: I'm not saying that you should perform acts of bestowal outside the group. No. You need to be within the group. According to your soul, you're built in a much broader way than the group alone. And you should not forget that your task is not merely to bestow upon the group, but to bring about the general correction of everyone. I want you to feel that way, that you should go out— not that you should go out and start bestowing to all of humanity. Humanity has nothing you can bestow to directly. But you need to care, think, and feel responsible for what is happening to humanity and to your people, and to be concerned from that place.
You're also seeking, what should I ask for? What should I request? What should I think about? So read the end of the introduction to the Book of Zohar, and you will see that all the bad things that happen, they happen because of you. Then you will have something to ask for, something to pray about.
Otherwise, I hear people who seem not to know how to turn to the Creator. Is everything really so good for you? Then at least look at what's happening outside yourself. You might be righteous in relation to yourself, Hafetz Hesed- delighting in mercy. But know that every bad thing that happens in the world, you are to blame for it. And it's you to blame because you have received the solution. The keys have been placed in your hands. The rest of humanity does not know, they have received nothing. So instead of thinking that you are righteous, and you deserve a reward you can think more truthfully that you are wicked, and you deserve punishment, just as all of humanity suffers. Because ultimately, once you have received this knowledge, you are responsible. As he writes, one way or another, a person can no longer exempt himself from judgment.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:54) It says here on page 165, even though this mouth is not so important, the Creator still hears it. What is this unimportant mouth? Who is he talking about?
M. Laitman: The mouth is not important. What he writes about here does not refer to the importance you may have in your work, in the state, or in society. Instead, not important means that a person has not yet reached the degrees where he truly has the means to turn to the Creator. He is still speaking from his small, undeveloped discernments, from a lack of understanding and a lack of scrutiny. It doesn't matter.
Even so, to the extent that he tries to do something, and to the extent that he understands although his understanding is also insignificant it does not matter. What matters is his effort. According to that, he's given a response. Look at the way you'd look at a child. We don't want anything from a child except effort. What do I care if he actually accomplishes something? The main thing is that he expresses a desire, and according to that desire I give to him.
As a person grows, I no longer look at his desire alone, I look at the result, at the product of his work. We need to understand this relationship. We're not demanded to be wise. They demand of us to exert ourselves. What comes out of it is not important. Whether you are truly able to perform correctly and successfully is not important. You wanted to do it, and you acted toward it. That's what counts.
Accordingly, a person receives a response, only according to exertion. It's not said that you need to reach a particular result. The work is not upon you to complete it in the first place.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:49) You said that the keys are in our hands, so if something happens, we are to blame for that. In what way can we convey this message to the world that there is something that…
M. Laitman: How can we convey this message to the world? I'll tell you. I don't think, it doesn't seem to me that if you start shouting in the streets, or if I continue writing things, for example, like I wrote there about the danger of annihilation that the people will awaken due to that. We know the level of development at which the public exists. Even though it's a developed nation, or whatever else you may say, people are incapable of absorbing a spiritual message that is contained within. And we cannot demand from anyone any particular response.
In other words, I need to act without looking at how people respond. You understand? Because the one who acts is me, not them. I activate this law, that all of humanity must reach equivalence of form and attain the Creator's degree. I activate it because I know I've received this knowledge from above. You received it too, and there are dozens more people here. Those are those who understand it and receive it in some form and are conscious of it. Why are they conscious of it? Because they have developed to that level. This is what he asked earlier, that if a person has not developed, you can tell him whatever you like, but for him it will become like some kind of mantra, like, “Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman,” and so on.
What difference does it make if they repeat it, write it, or talk about it? What comes from that? Nothing. There's hardly anything more foolish than that. Can they actually act through it? Not at all. At best, it supports them psychologically. Fine. Let it support them. Every good thing on the human level has its place.
Therefore, we certainly need to disseminate, but we need to understand that the main work is our inner work, more than the external work. You might say, then, why disseminate at all? Let's close ourselves off with these 10 or 20 guys or 100 or 200 friends and however many you can gather and focus solely on the work. We cannot do that. We cannot exist without support from outside and without drawing in the new forces from the outside. You understand? So, we need those things as well.
Besides, raising all of humanity by even one millimeter is like raising ourselves by 10 meters. You understand? So, we need both kinds of work. And Baal HaSulam writes about this. Therefore, we need the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah among the masses, and so on. But in truth, we cannot demand a desired response from the public, nor can we determine where it will lead. But there, the process operates according to the laws of the masses, whereas with us, it operates according to the laws of individuals.
Therefore, the action is ours, and the support comes from them. In the end, they will be the external force that follows you, but for them to follow you, you need to distribute the material of yours among them, which will give them the ability simply to follow you.
Meanwhile, you move forward, you continually choose the goal more accurately, and you will attract everyone along. There's no choice. Therefore, I say that we should seemingly not transfer all the responsibility onto someone else.
As he writes, those who engage only in the externality of the Torah and not its internality are to blame. But what difference does it make to me whether they're guilty or not? Am I supposed to sit and wait for them? They'll do nothing. They cannot do anything. I have to act. That's how each person needs to think. And that's how we also should teach in the groups. To the extent that a person receives this knowledge, he already becomes an active individual, every single person. And for that, we need to bring them to a feeling of obligation and responsibility. Because the situation is going to become very unpleasant. Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:55) When we started the lesson, you said that the state of the country depends on us. And as much as I was trying to think, I couldn't. Such responsibility. So, I understand that what we are lacking is faith. Where do you take it?
M. Laitman: It's either a positive force from above, or a negative force because there's no choice from below. One of the two. You understand?
A person who sees that there's nothing to do and really no one has at all any clear opinion of what to do and how we come out of a state with endless problems and each time it's worse… So, to the extent in which you can, you take the forces from the Torah and whatnot, then we won't be able to have such a decision, because you're in such a dead end that simply not even life and death help here.
We will stand before eternity, in which simply the problem doesn't end with me being alive or dead, but rather, it'll be higher than that. We will see this wall not just in this world, but this wall, we will see that it goes up to the upper world as well, and is between us and the solution. You won't see this existence just as an existence in this world. Take a bullet in my head and I'm done with all my problems. No. People will feel these things and feel these things above life. That is, a person will feel these problems in their eternal form, in their spiritual form. Life and death is not a big thing. They will feel much more than that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:04) A question I’m debating. To what extent is the right division between the physical, personal work in the group and the general work? Where just by engaging it, the nature of its engagement is more general. It cannot be internal to the same extent. I also came across how, as a result of, let's say, going deeper into things, so when it comes out, it comes out too complicated, too deep.
M. Laitman: I don't understand you.
Student: A person has two kinds of work. One is internal, into the group. That's his personal work. The other is external. It's called dissemination. I'm asking about the division between the two things.
M. Laitman: To the extent in which a person needs to divide himself between his personal work, and his group, and his dissemination, and his even more external life, his materialistic life.
Student: I'm not talking about material now.
M. Laitman: That too. Why did he ask about the body? So, there is, with us, there is no other law other than the measure of what we call necessities, what a person decides. The measure of necessities.
Student: How can you determine what is necessary in dissemination? It's unlimited.
M. Laitman: No, the measure of necessity where you simply determine according to your degree that this, and that, and that, and that, I must engage in all those things to a certain measure. I have to sleep six hours, I need to eat, I need to be an hour with… for an hour with the children, I need to give one evening lesson here and one there. You need to divide these things.
Student: I'm not talking about these things.
M. Laitman: But internally, mentally, you need to divide your attention.
Student: Internally, when we do it here between us in the group, dissemination is naturally more external, general work. It turns to the general audience. Where's the division between these two things? I'm not talking about sleep and things like that.
M. Laitman: How much you should devote forces or thought?
Student: Both.
M. Laitman: How much to invest to dissemination? We see that in practice, I need to be in dissemination one evening in the week. Yes, maybe you twice. That's an excessive or out of the norm. But as we say in practice, to be in dissemination, you know, a few hours a week to contribute somewhat, to, I don't know, translate, prepare something. I don't understand the question exactly. What does it mean, how much to divide it?
Student: Either his heart is here in the group or it's…
M. Laitman: It has nothing to do with your heart, what heart?
Student: No, he's asking about the attention, whether it's here between us or it's in the…
M. Laitman: (01:16:26) He doesn't put his heart's attention to between us, or in the group, or within himself, nor to dissemination, but to the Creator. From this, he chooses the measure of necessity that he thinks each stage he needs to invest in all things. And it's impossible to say, like, oh, let me do a table where I put in a spreadsheet with my free time. It's impossible to do such a spreadsheet. But let's say we do something between us to divide the burden between us. But internally, a person, how is that possible? He's constantly changing, and he can't determine how much to invest in each thing.
There's some guy who's sitting there, he doesn't care anything about this and doesn't care about that. A couple of months later, he'll change, and he'll see how important it is. First, he'll see how it's important for his egoistic personal development, and then he'll see that he can control everyone, rule over everyone, because they'll listen to him, and they'll respect him. And then in the group, he understands in another way that he will understand big things, and advance himself, and doesn't care about the honor or anything he receives from there.
After the materialistic advancement and everything, understand that he is rising spiritually and that he won't even think about rising spiritually, but rather think about how he's raising them up. The person changes, so his values change also. But to cut each thing the best I can, to the extent that I'm capable, not in some kind of fantasy manner, but in a realistic way, I connect myself to the Creator, and with this, I make a cold calculation, delicately, and make this division of how much and how. For example, I know I have to go to a lecture today in the evening, so I have a lecture in Ashdod, so I am thinking, will I have, and then at three. I have this [Tzanker?], oh at one, oh, okay, that's even worse.
So I have this at one, and then I have to work from four to six, then I have to prepare materials for him and everything. I'm already thinking about when will I go to sleep for an hour, because otherwise in the evening, I won't be strong. I have to have power. Really, I'm concerned about that already now. So what are you asking? All these things compel me to arrange my life differently.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:57) You're telling us today as a task to think that the whole world depends on us. In me, it naturally awakens a thought, what do we do? Why are we only sitting and concentrating on…
M. Laitman: Slowly, slowly. I already, I said just today about the connection to your prayer, that you don't know how to appeal, who to appeal to, how to turn to the Creator during the study. So, in order to add to you this deficiency, explaining to you that the situation in the country, in the state, of all humanity, in the whole world, everything is there. That you are to blame and that it's happening this way. No nation is to blame. No one is to blame besides you. That's it. That's what we, how we should say it. The world was created for me and I must correct it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:57) At what stage or level or decision or knowledge should a person be able to begin to understand, so he can disseminate it to people as a teaching?
M. Laitman: In order to start teaching, a person has to go through a course here of the Preface, or part of the Preface, the Pticha, and study a few other things around here, go through a course of, well, how do you call it, for lecturers, for instructors, where he's taught all kinds of things there, and to gradually enter it. Not a huge preparation, because to start teaching in some small group, you grow together with the group. You start to already understand what? Besides that, we have the materials, printed, ready. I saw that you're already teaching here. You sat here and you taught. No, really. You called everyone and everything, you read for everyone and everything. And I saw that you're happy from that. Very good. And they were also happier to hear you than [lists two other friends], yes? So, come on. Yes, well, let's continue.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:18) He writes here. It says, the city, meaning that this body felt itself as complete, meaning it's righteous because the Creator told him the truth. And from this, he's happy. It's as if the revelation of the truth is a revelation of all the evil and all the deficiencies. How can one be glad about it?
M. Laitman: How can you be happy from knowing something? Is that what you're asking?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): From deficiencies, from the evil, from revealing, even though it's the truth.
M. Laitman: It's written in the Torah. They ask, what is true joy? And it's written, there's no greater joy than freeing ourselves from doubts, where there's no doubt. When there's no doubt, everything becomes clear for a person. He's not divided in between Creator and created being. Because all our doubts, no matter what, stem from the fact that there's a part of the Creator and part of the created being in each of us. So, when that's clear to you, you already know what to do onwards. It's already something in your hands. Uncertainty, if you don't know, is not considered uncertainty, but uncertainty is where you know that you're in uncertainty and you're split, kind of like that. That's something that causes all the problems. Also, all our diseases. And also everything, it all stems only from a person still being in doubt. Put a person into a war, where he knows that he's in the danger of annihilation and all kinds of things. He will survive. He'll come out of it healthy. He'll never have a cold or anything. The war will be over. The state will be a little calmer and all that. He'll start having problems. Meaning, either to be in good or in bad, but clear, that is a good state. The moment a person starts to have two parts in clash within him, and he doesn't know how to choose, that is the base for a problem.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:05) Is this the joy we should be looking for, the joy of certainty?
M. Laitman: No. So it's written that there's no greater joy than the releasing of doubts, that's the clarifying of doubts. And this is what we seek, because it's clear to me that then I know how to act for, against, etc. Okay, guys, we are drawing out our time.
Reader: Now, friends, we will summarize what we heard in the lesson, what we take to realize, to implement in the Ten. Six minutes, workshop.