The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 22, 2026
Part 1: Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived. Rabash. article 12 (1985)
Original lesson date: 02/28/2002
Reader: Hello, friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 28th of February, 2002, based on the article, "Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived." “Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived.” We'll read the article together in the Ten. We have 28 minutes for that.
Reading: (00:34) Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived
Article No. 12, 1985
“Jacob dwelled in the land where his father had lived, in the land of Canaan.” It is written in The Zohar (Vayeshev, item 11): “Rabbi Hiya started and said, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’ But the righteous who fears his master, how much affliction he suffers in this world so as not to believe or partake with the evil inclination? And the Creator saves him from them all. This is the meaning of what is written, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’ It does not say ‘many to the righteous,’ but ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ This indicates that that one who suffers many afflictions is righteous because the Creator desires him, since the afflictions he suffers remove him from the evil inclination, and therefore the Creator desires that person and saves him from them all.”
We should understand these words:
This implies that one who suffers many afflictions is righteous, and one who does not suffer many afflictions is not righteous.
Why must he suffer many afflictions if he does not want the evil inclination to partake with him?
Do the words, “And for this reason the Creator desires that person and saves him from all of them,” mean that the Creator does not save other people, God forbid? Can this be?
Even more perplexing, on the one hand it says that the troubles he suffers remove him from the evil inclination. On the other hand it says that the Creator saves him from all of them, meaning saves him from many afflictions. Thus, he will bring himself close to the evil inclination once again, since the reason that removed him from the evil inclination has been cancelled.
We should interpret his words. Here is a verse that concerns this (Kidushin 30b): “Rabbi Shimon Ben Levi said, ‘Man’s inclination overpowers him each day and seeks to put him to death, as it was said, ‘The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.’ Were it not for the Creator’s help, he would not have overcome it, as it was said, ‘God will not leave him in his hand.’’”
In Masechet Sukkah (p 52), there is another similar verse: “The evil inclination has seven names. Solomon called it “enemy,” as it is said (Proverbs, 25), “If your enemy is hungry feed him bread; if he is thirsty give him water to drink, for you are burning coals on his head and the Lord will pay you.” Do not pronounce it as Yashlim [pay], but as Yashlimenu [complement] you.
According to RASHI, “If your inclination is hungry and craves transgression, feed it bread and trouble it with the war of Torah, as it is written (Proverbs, 9): ‘Go, eat of my bread.’ ‘Give him the water of Torah to drink,’ as it is written about it (Isaiah, 25), “All who are thirsty, go to the water.’ ‘Will complement you’ means that your inclination will be completely with you, love you, and will not incite you to sin and be lost from the world.”
To understand all the above we must know that the essence of the evil inclination—which is called the “essence of creation,” which the Creator created existence from absence—is the will to receive. It is known (see in the introductions) that this is something new that did not exist before He has created it. Man’s work is only to work the opposite of his nature, meaning that he will want only to bestow. But since it is against his nature—since by nature he needs to see only to the needs of self-love—he has no desire to work for others.
Although we see that sometimes people do work for others, this is possible only if they see that they will be rewarded for their work, namely that the will to receive will be satisfied by it. That is, the reward should satisfy the self-love; otherwise one cannot exit the vessels of reception by nature.
However, being able to perform acts in order to bestow and not receive any reward is unnatural. And although we see that there are people who kill themselves for their country and do not want anything in return, it is because their country is very important to them, and that importance is also natural, as our sages said, “The favor of the place is with its dwellers.”
However, there is certainly a difference in the measure of favor, for not everyone favors the same. This is why there are many who volunteer to the army because of the importance of their homeland, but think that this is not so dangerous that their lives are at stake, “because I see that many people return unharmed from the war.”
And if there is sometimes a danger of certain death, they are not willing to go to certain death, except for a chosen few for whom the homeland is important. But here, too, the power of reward is involved, because he thinks that after his death everyone will know that he was dedicated to the public and that he was above everyone else because he cared for the public’s well-being.
But in the work of the Creator, when a person is walking on the path of truth, he must work in humbleness so that the external ones will have no grip. That is, in serving the Creator he will not have the grip of working for the outer ones, meaning that people outside of him will know about his work, so he is working devotedly so that people outside will say that he was above the common folk. This assists him in his ability to work without return, so that people outside will say that he was working only for the Creator. The Creator gave this power to the creatures because “from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] he will come to Lishma [for Her sake],” and he will not have any assistance from outside. He can achieve that if he first has Lo Lishma, but he should not remain in Lo Lishma, God forbid.
This is the meaning of what our sages said (Sukkah, 45), “Anyone who joins working for the Creator with something else is uprooted from the world, as it is said, ‘Only for the Lord.’” The meaning of “only for the Lord” is that there will be no mingling of self-love at all, but only for the Creator. This is the meaning of the word, “only.”
Still, there is a fundamental issue to understand here. We should discern if a person is devoted in order to acquire something. Even if he receives the reward for the public, this is certainly a great thing because if the reward he is receiving is not for self-love but for love of others, because he loves the others and puts himself to death for them, to benefit the public, but there is no doubt that if he could achieve the same thing not by giving up his life, he would have chosen that other way. This is so because to him the key is to receive a reward for the public, and not the work. The contentment he can bring his homeland is what makes him work, therefore he does not regard the means by which to obtain that thing for the homeland. If he sees that specifically by giving up his life for the country (he can bring contentment to the country), he is willing to do this, too.
Conversely, with love of the Creator, we say that a person should work only for the Creator, meaning without any reward. This means that he is ready for complete devotion without any reward, without any return being born out of his devotion. Rather, this is the core—his purpose, that he wants to annul his self before the Creator, meaning (cancel) his will to receive, which is the existence of the creature. This is what he wants to annul before the Creator. It follows that this is his goal, meaning his goal is to give his soul to the Creator.
This is not so in corporeality with respect to love of others. Although this is a great degree, and not all the people can work for the general public, still, devotion is only a means and not a goal, and he would be happier if he could save the public without giving up his life.
Let us ask all those who volunteer to go to war for their country. If someone could advise them how to save their country without losing their lives, they would certainly be happy. But when there is no choice, they are willing to go, for the public, so that the public will receive the reward, while they are giving up everything. Although this is a great force, it has nothing to do with devotion to the Creator, where devotion is the goal, and what comes out as a result is not their purpose, as this was not their intention. Therefore, devotion in spirituality is worthless to corporeal people, since for them devotion is a means and not the goal, while in spirituality it is the opposite: devotion is the goal.
By this we will understand the meaning of receiving in order to bestow. Man’s purpose is only to bestow upon the Creator, for this is the meaning of equivalence of form, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” When he achieves the degree of devotion to the Creator because he wants to annul himself in order to delight the Creator, he sees that the purpose of the Creator, as it was in the thought of creation, is to do good to His creations. At that time he wants to receive the delight and pleasure that was in the purpose of creation—to delight His creatures.
This is called “receiving in order to bestow.” Otherwise, he might want to receive the delight and pleasure and this is why he gives everything, so he can receive. This is regarded as “bestowing in order to receive.” But if his purpose is to bestow, and he has no desire to receive for his own benefit at all, but only for the Creator, then he can become a receiver in order to bestow.
Concerning devotion, I heard from Baal HaSulam that one should depict devotion as we find with Rabbi Akiva (Berachot 61b): He said to his disciples, “My whole life I have regretted the verse, ‘With all your soul, even if He takes your soul.’ I said, ‘When will I be able to keep it?’ And now that this has come to me, will I not keep it?”
Certainly with such a desire to bestow, when a person says that he wants to receive delight and pleasure because this is the purpose of creation, he certainly means (only) to receive in order to bestow upon the Creator.
By this we will understand the four above questions:
Question no. 1) It seems from the words of The Zohar that only one who suffers many afflictions is righteous, but one who does not suffer afflictions cannot be righteous. Can this be? The thing is that afflictions refer to the evil inclination. That is, specifically one who feels that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions by not letting him approach the Creator is called “righteous.” But if a person does not feel that it is removing him from the Creator and does not feel that by this it is causing him afflictions, is not considered righteous because he has not achieved recognition of evil, meaning that it hurts him.
Question no. 2) Why must he suffer many afflictions if he wants the evil inclination not to take part in him? This means that there is no other choice but to suffer afflictions. According to the above-said, this is very simple: Afflictions refer to the evil inclination. If he does not feel that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions, he does not regard it as evil inclination that he does not want to have a part in him. Rather, he regards it as a good inclination, which brings him only good, so why should it not have a part in him? But if he sees the afflictions that the evil inclination causes him then he does not partake with it.
Question no. 3) The Zohar says that the Creator desires a person who suffers many afflictions. This means that the Creator does not desire one who does not suffer afflictions. Can this be? The answer is that if a person feels that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions, and the person cries out to the Creator to help him, the Creator desires that person. But when a person does not feel that the evil inclination is afflicting him, the Creator does not want him because he has no Kli [vessel], meaning desire that the Creator will save him.
Question no. 4) If the Creator saves him from afflictions, he will reconnect with the evil inclination.
Answer: Salvation that comes from the Creator is a different matter than salvation that occurs in corporeality. The evil that takes place at the time of the Achoraim [posterior], which is the time of concealment of the face, when he sees that he is under concealment, for it is known that the little one is annulled before the great one, and certainly here, in serving the Creator, a person must annul before the Creator as a candle before a torch. Yet, he sees that his body does not annul, and it is hard for him to subdue it and take upon himself faith above reason. At that time he sees that the body is afflicting him by not wanting to assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven, by which he is removed from all the spirituality.
It follows that one must believe that the Creator has created the world with benevolence, and the evil in his body removes him from all the good. That is, when he comes to learn Torah, he finds it utterly tasteless. And also, when he comes to perform some Mitzva [good deed/correction], he finds it utterly tasteless because the evil inclination in his body has the power not to let him believe in the Creator above reason by taking out every flavor. Whenever he begins to approach something spiritual, he feels that everything is dry without any moisture of life.
When the person began his work, he was told—and he believed what he was told—that the Torah is a Torah of life, as it is written, “For they are your life and the length of your days,” and as it is written (Psalms 19), “More desirable than gold, than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”
But when one considers this and sees that the evil inclination is to blame for everything, and strongly feels the bad that it is causing him, then he feels on himself what is written (Psalms 34) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” That is, that verse was said about him.
At that time, he looks at what the verse says afterwards, “but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” At that time, he begins to cry out to the Creator to help him because he has already done everything that he could think of doing, but nothing helped, and he thinks that “Everything that you find within your power to do, that do,” was said about him. At that time comes the time of salvation—the salvation of the Creator delivering him from the evil inclination—to the extent that from this day forth the evil inclination will surrender before him and will not be able to incite him into any transgression.
It is written in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 54): “When the Creator sees that one has completed one’s measure of exertion and finished everything he had to do in strengthening his choice in faith in the Creator, the Creator helps him. Then, one attains open Providence, meaning the revelation of the face. Then, he is rewarded with complete repentance, meaning he cleaves to the Creator once more with all his heart, soul, and might, as though naturally drawn by the attainment of the open Providence.”
It is also written there (item 56): “What is repentance like? When He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly.” The words, ‘What is repentance like?’ mean “When can one be certain that he has been rewarded with complete repentance?” For this he was given a clear sign: “When He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly.” This means that he has been rewarded with disclosure of the face, and then His salvation itself testifies that he will not turn back to folly.
This answers the fourth question, that if the Creator saves him from the evil inclination so it does not afflict him, and The Zohar says that the afflictions that the righteous suffers are in order not to partake with it, it follows that if the Creator saves him and he sees that He will not afflict him, then he will reconnect with the evil inclination, since the only reason that the evil inclination is afflicting him is in order not to partake with it. But since the reason has been cancelled, the situation returns as before.
However, according to what we explained, the salvation of the Creator is the revelation of the face, until the Creator testifies that he will not sin. The afflictions that the righteous suffers are for him to be able to ask of the Creator, as is said above, “If there is no Achoraim [posterior/back], there is no disclosure of the Panim [face/anterior].” It follows that when there is disclosure of the face of the Creator, everything is as it should be.
Reader: Let's continue to the lesson from the 28th of February, 2002.
M. Laitman: (28:15) We read the article, "Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived." This is from the “Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 1, writings of Rabash. “Many afflictions to the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all,” is basically the first stage of our work, that one who is destined to get closer is sent difficulties. As it's written, the Torah weakens man's force. The issue is to link these things to the Creator, to the source, to the One who brings that to us, to None Else Besides Him, seeing that. The problem is also seeing bad things and good things - all the more so, how they're tied to the Creator, how He turns it all around. If a person saw that - the connection, not the Creator, not the bad - the connection, the connection is the problem - if he felt it, then surely the path would be made easy. Why is it difficult? Because the main thing is the connection between everything that happens, for better or for worse, and the Creator. The revelation of Godliness could be not who He is, but “from Your actions we know You.” “From Your actions we know You” - well, it's exactly the actions we see, and Him can be recognized through the action, and that's called the connection. So the problem is to always maintain the right angle, see through the right perspective reality. So, an eternal question, an ongoing question a person should ask after any change in perception of reality is, why does the Creator do this to me? That's it, permanently. If that question would surface in us, we would advance very fast. The problem is that the Klipot, the shells, hide the reality of the Creator, and we don't ask why is He doing this to us. Rather, we are submerged in the external picture, what happens in front of our eyes, and that's the problem. That asking a bit deeper into the reason correctly, meaning not the reason of why am I suffering, but who is providing me this sensation and for what need - that's the problem. Only the group, by awakening each and every one, can help the person to, each time, awaken faster to the correct perception of reality. Otherwise it could take weeks and months, and a person will just completely forget about how he has to relate everything around him and in his sensation with the Creator. And then time passes without any use.
M. Laitman: (32:56) What does the help from the friends depend on? To the extent that they are appreciated. If I appreciate the friends, that they are truly in more advanced stages than I am, then any word or movement I see in them, they will naturally say a lot to me. They awaken a lot of meaning in me. And then I approach the awareness faster and more correctly, the analysis of the incidents that I'm going through. Because a person by himself, until he awakens, meaning until he's being awakened from above, in due time, that can take months, so he has to prepare the hastening path for himself through the group.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:27) So actually everything depends on the extent to which I can submit to the society? That determines how later I can emerge from the bad state.
M. Laitman: There are many factors in man's development. In terms of how much he can influence his progress, that's only, like Baal HaSulam writes - the society. Not the society, but what surrounds the person. That's impression from the books, from the authors, and from the friends. That's it. You can be better impressed by radio and television than the group - that's your choice. You can be inspired more by a newspaper than our books - that's your choice. You can be impressed more by what some philosopher tells you or some, I don't know what, than the friends - it's your choice. Meaning, you choose whom to be impressed by. That's it. But after you've made that scrutiny of whom to be impressed by - and you're going to be impressed by someone - you're already under his control. He's going to determine your whole observation, your future, meaning the next degree is already in his hand.
Student: But I can't be impressed by a goal-oriented newspaper. Only by…
M. Laitman: I don't know, I know that people go overseas or some other place and they change. They simply get brainwashed, as it's called. So, I'll tell you differently. People who are with us here and are also under some control, some influence, let's not call it control, just some side influence, then they're also in some sort of a split, some inner conflict, and in progress that is not satisfactory. There are many such people that are in kind of two worlds, so to speak, meaning they haven't yet made a choice. That is given to each and every one in order to strengthen his approach. Everyone is given that. The mind is being confused until the Creator is revealed in breaking through the barrier. The more you advance, there are always disturbances, so that on top of the disturbances you strengthen the connection to Kabbalah. But the choice is the only thing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:08) The disruptions are of a kind where I might choose something wrong but prefer the goal? These are the disruptions? I'm given the option to choose something else?
M. Laitman: You are now given an opportunity, say, instead of investing in the society, investing in something aside. It could be a matter of thoughts, inner effort, not physically even that you're going somewhere and it's clear to you that instead of sitting in a gathering of friends or doing something with them, you prefer to sit at home or somewhere else and do something else. These are very obvious things. I'm talking about inner things, that a person could even be in the whole process, in the whole battle, and yet in his thought and his desire he's not there. So, the choice is to the very subtleties, the very final depth of the desire. And here you can see the progress, the pace of progress of each and every one. Disturbances are always good, meaning it's to the point. What's a disturbance? It's something you have to correct, you're being shown. But the approach is …
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:47) On page 333, first line, “but in the work of the Creator, when a person walks the path of truth, he must work humbly.” How does this connect to the state where actually, when each one does something good, then...
M. Laitman: Walking humbly means, it's said, “walk humbly with the Creator.” Meaning, since each and every one of us is still not corrected, still an egoist, we can disturb each other. One can disturb the other in terms of the connection; one's connection with the Creator. Put it simply, I have some source from which I receive a thousand dollars every month. That source just, you know, has the heart. And I ask, and once a month, he gives me. I told you that. Now you come instead of me, and you want to get that thousand dollars. Right? So then what happens? Is that nice? No? Yes? We, with our egoism, whether we like it or not, in spirituality, it is certainly made that way. Meaning, if we know this, just imagine yourself, instead of me, you can receive from the Creator. That's it. I revealed it. I did it all. You can't stop yourself. Come instead of me and do it. And then you'll harm both yourself and me. So let's just say, from this example, we can somehow understand what it means, not deficiency, the need for walking humbly. You understand? So until a person comes to the point where he is truly in bestowal, where he has no interest for himself, that he will never harm his friend, until then one cannot open his heart towards the Creator, in front of the other at all. You are with the Creator in your lane, and he is in his lane. But what can we do? The general greatness of the goal, the general greatness of the goal, and each one can share with the other how much he did for the society and for the others. I gave a gift to the friend; I have to write it down on the present that I sent it. Why? So he'll give me something in return. That's nice. Yes, that's nice, because it increases the connection between us. Very simple. I'm interested in him knowing about me. He will see that I love him. He will love me. There will be a connection between us, and together we'll be a greater force than each one separately. That's it. Very simple. The whole principle, all these rules, they're all aimed at the goal. And from there we have to see, should we or should we not do it? So what I do with the Creator is my personal business, and how I am towards the matter in general, this has to be revealed. By this I show everyone how much I've done, and by that I encourage everyone to do this as well. And therefore a person who wants it or not, but if he shows us disregard, that is a destructive power in the group, destructive power. So if he's new and he comes maybe once a week, oh, now he started coming twice a week maybe, then he's giving us an addition. But if a person who was very, very tied to the group and the friends and everything, then all of a sudden he started declining, and he shows everyone how much he doesn't care - and we read, according to the articles, that, on the contrary, everyone should show the other how much he's impressed and how much he's working - then this person is just destroying us. So we have to be very cautious and move away from people who show it that way. Now, we have to also tell the difference whether the person is simply in a descent, in a fall. That's a different thing. Then we have to encourage him, to help him, tomorrow I'll be in that state. But if he already agreed with his deterioration, then we have to remove him from our eyes - it's a bad example. I should always see good examples, you understand? So we have to fight against these examples to the point that there are no such examples among us. To remove them to some outer circle, to forget about him, not see him, until he grows stronger, maybe in a few years, who knows? Then go ahead. Meaning, I don't look at him, I don't look at anything, I'm just looking at whether this is a positive or a negative example for me. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:10) I don't understand, when do you actually get to walking humbly?
M. Laitman: Walking humbly has to be only in what has to do between you and the Creator. Again I say, it stems from people around you, even the closest friends, who are not yet in such cleanliness that they won't blemish you and themselves. It's the same whether they blemish you or themselves in spirituality. In corporeality, we don't see it as the same thing, but in spirituality it's just the same. It's a single soul, that's how it is. Now, that's with regard to the friends. And with regard to the world, walking humbly should be such that you don't awaken forces towards you that can harm you. If in general we awaken all kinds of responses from the world about us, then there's no choice because we engage in dissemination. But let's say, at work or some places you go, among relatives, do these things in a way that no one will notice them. That's it. That's the best. Spiritual calculations - only with your group. With all the rest - just simple corporeal calculations.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:04) How can I make my friend greater than myself? It's completely against my nature. I can't. I'm always the best possible.
M. Laitman: I don't know how to tell you, but it's really necessary, this thing. It's necessary.
Student: And it's so necessary, but I find that I simply... There are people who... Well, the moment I try, I annul them, I cancel them.
M. Laitman: I don't know what to say. It's a blessing. It's a blessing from above when a person begins to see it that way. When you see it, you can see that each one who has the truly smallest desire for the Creator, someone who's sitting in here now and maybe just came here, or he's here for years, doesn't matter, but he has... When he's not in a decline, when he's, well, in yearning upwards, if he has a little bit of that desire, one gram of a desire upwards, if you would be able to slightly open your eyes, you would see that he's greater than you. That's it. You would have an urge to connect.
Student: The urge to connect I can have, but without the greatness of...
M. Laitman: No, no, no, no, no, only from that. Why else to connect?
Student: He has something to give me, which I... Let's say, I have a lot, he has little. I want his little also. That is also an urge.
M. Laitman: (49:56) No, I have a lot, he has a little. No, no, there's no “a lot” and “a little.” He has the most important thing, which I don't have at all. That's it. I don't know, these feelings can't be communicated, but that's how it is. You won't believe, people come, could be just someone beginner, or someone small, it doesn't matter who, and could not even know anything, and I still feel like I went through something, I feel that towards him. That perhaps requires work, but this feeling comes as a result from a desire to reach, to attain, on the one hand, and that … I'll tell you, where can such a thing even come from? How could there be someone small, who just comes in for the first time, can awaken a desire in me to adhere to him, and specifically, as if he has something I don't. Because the root of his soul, his deficiencies, are unique, and I don't have them. His feeling, his connection with the Creator is not what I have. Everyone has a different point from the structure of Adam HaRishon. And from there, I feel that he is unique. I cannot explain this, meaning, there's an explanation in what I'm saying, but it should be easier. One who doesn't reach some true love or emotional attraction to connect with the others, meaning, inside, inside of the person, then he won't be able to advance. Only from that tendency can he draw new strength and new vessels. We've learned that not him and not me are creating the vessels ourselves. The vessels are made from the connection between us, between one and the other. Bestowal, you understand? There's me, there's him - I'm nothing and he's nothing - if we can bestow to each other, then what we build between us, this bridge called bestowal, that's the vessel. You understand? That's the soul. Or we could explain differently what the soul is. It's a black point, that on top of it, the person builds reflected light. In the reflected light, which is a result, it's something that comes from below upwards, above the screen, above the will to receive, that's where we receive the revelation of godliness. The soul exists as if above the body of the Partzuf. So the spiritual vessel is built only in connection, one with the other, in bestowal, as we say. So there's no other way. Just to find those you can be drawn to and love them spiritually, because corporeally everything just crumbles, and only with them you can build such a vessel. There's no other way. So one who doesn't enter any group - people still don't understand this, they don't feel the need for it - but you're going to feel very fast now that without it, there's nothing you can do. Why study and why do everything else? The practical, not experience, but the creation we need to make is in our relation to each other. That's where we build vessels of bestowal. We aim to build them, and later we actually receive them from the Creator, and the vessels of bestowal are made towards Him, but it happens from the experience and the preparation that we make. Why is it called the time of preparation? Because we do that between us. Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that, why don't we write about love of friends? Because that's… “Why don't you write to me about love of friends? That's what our whole good future depends on,” right? So you know, what is it? Some nice words, or are we building some Kibbutz?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:58) How to remain positive, so it's not like in the example?
M. Laitman: From a positive perspective, you can only keep the urgency that it's important.
Student: And if I want to steal this from the friend, his yearning?
M. Laitman: I look at myself, I see advertisements, and out of ten, maybe one impresses me. What can it do? At least one. Maybe out of five, one goes into the mind or the heart a little bit. That's how you do it, a bit by bit. And then you feel a little bit more benefit out of that, and a bit more.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:38) How to maintain this positive stance, and not to want to steal from the friend his yearning for spirituality?
M. Laitman: No, no, no. So why steal? How can you steal the friend's yearning for spirituality? You can be impressed by his yearning, and want to have the same. You can't steal his spirituality. No, these are things that… What spirituality do you see? Also, the Creator, you don't see that you can steal his Creator. You understand? You can only see that it exists in him. From envy, you will reach the point where you seek to have that same impression.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:43) It's not clear what it means to connect to someone else, to his point of lack. You said that each one has something, which I do not have at all. And I need to connect to that part, to that point.
M. Laitman: I said, why do I feel, I explained, why do I feel in someone who basically has no basic understanding even, certainly no attainment in our method, and in generally studying Kabbalah and anything? Why can a beginner who comes impress me? I can be impressed by him. Meaning, it doesn't matter to us in the group, if I enter some group now, I don't care about what is the level of people in the group. Do they have some yearning for the Source, the Creator? Internally, they still don't even understand, they don't know and feel and didn't even go through some ups and downs yet - nothing, didn't go through anything yet, but they have a little bit of yearning for the Creator, their yearning to the Creator. From their point - and each and every one comes from a different point, different root in Adam HaRishon, therefore what he is going to attain and how he is going to connect with the Creator is not my approach and my attainment and recognition and connection with the Creator, and that's why it appears to me that in that person, in that beginner, there is something that I don't have. And because his approach is different from my approach in that, in the root of his soul, then I already feel him as more than me, because he has something that I don't have. So, give me a group, and all of them are beginners, they don't know a word, they don't know anything; but if they have these desires, I'll feel myself in it as someone who can receive from each and every one there. Meaning, in the group, we must not criticize each and every one, and how many years he's here, how much he knows, how much he remembers what is written, how much he can brag with knowing some verses or something, it's all unrelated. Rather, he has a yearning, that is the only matter. He has a yearning, and that's what I need to be impressed by. Nothing more. And therefore, some say, there's this group and that group, they know more, they are more practical, it's not… I'm saying, you can shuffle everyone and arrange the groups however you want, and anyone who truly wants will not care about who he's sitting with.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:11) I don't understand what connection means.
M. Laitman: What connection?
Student: You said that connection between two people, that that is called a spiritual vessel. So, I connect to someone else…
M. Laitman: The spiritual vessel is called bestowal. Bestowal is what I have in relation to someone: to the friend, the Creator, right? That's called bestowal; it's not in me, it's not in him, it's in the connection, in my relation to him, right? Or not? I'm asking you.
Student: I don't know, I'm asking you.
M. Laitman: Well, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, then we're done, I have no reason to continue. I can't continue if you don't understand what I'm talking about, I'm sorry. Bestowal is my attitude to someone, you understand? There's me, and my desires, and my frustrations, and all kinds of things - that's me. And then there's someone else with his desires and his fulfillments, right? There's a vessel, and there's a Creator, and there's a relationship between them. Spirituality is called the relationship between the Creator and the created being, that's all. So, a spiritual vessel is between the Creator and the created being, in the middle. How do we make it? Now, during the time of preparation, we're making it not between me and the Creator, even though I sometimes have a hope or some intention that this is so, but it's between you and me. In the meantime, we are building this vessel. Why? You, I can see, you are great in my eyes, you are beautiful, you have all kinds of good qualities, you awaken all kinds of things in me, and as a result, I want to bestow to you. So I learn how I am going to do this - am I able, am I not able? This is called the time of preparation, when you write it with chalk on the board. It comes out like this, like that, it doesn't matter, but we learn how to build, and when we become learned, then we are allowed to engage in this in a serious way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:53) It's easier to bestow to one friend and annul before him. How to do it with a group? And also, you need to make sure it's all equal between everyone.
M. Laitman: It's easy to connect to a single friend and bestow to him, and it's difficult to do it to everyone, to the group. Some say the opposite, that it's easy towards a group, but to a certain person, it's difficult. Because to the group, you can lie to yourself that you're bestowing. You're going to the kitchen, you're working on a carrot or something, and then you think you're bestowing to all of Bnei Baruch. But you're actually not bestowing to anyone besides the carrot. You understand? So that's what it means “to everyone.” But if you start connecting with one of them, and speak to them, and somehow truly find how you can be impressed by him, and how much am I even willing to submit myself towards each and every one. So, they say, that's difficult. And you say, this is difficult. Well, you see, there's this and that. What to do? What the mind doesn't do, the time will. That's it. We just have to continue.
Student: But we talked about how we need to treat everyone equally.
M. Laitman: The right relation to everyone certainly means that I am not deviating from the intention in order to bestow. Because the intention in order to bestow should detach me from any personal, beastly attitude towards a person. How pleasant he is to me externally, or what other calculations I have with him, you understand? Rather, a person I'm fighting with all the time, and I don't know, I'm yelling at him, it doesn't influence that inner connection with him. There's externality with respect to corporeal things, and there's internality from one soul to another. You don't understand my relationship with this friend, for example. On the outside, it seems the way it seems. I'm saying seriously; one thing doesn't relate to another. His appearance, expression, I can't bear it. So what? But internally, we know, we see, he's longing, and that's a different thing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:52) The state of not returning to folly, is that a one-time thing, or does it apply on each and every degree?
M. Laitman: No. If the Creator is revealed to a person in true revelation, there are some stages, not stages, but incidents on our path until we cross the barrier, that a person is amazed that he suddenly begins to feel, somehow. How does he feel, he doesn't know, but there is some kind of clarity, some sense of the Creator's presence, and some sense of providence. These things are not… Well, it's a revelation, yes. It's a kind of opening of the eyes, but a temporary one, that still, from all kinds of calculations above, that's given to a person, and then it passes. It's not a testimony yet, of course, as it says, that one will not return to folly, but the true opening of the eyes in the Torah, the crossing of the barrier, the attainment of the force of restriction over all of man's desires, - that is attained only by the Creator being revealed to him, that he truly feels that presence, and then he can't do anything else. That's called the testimony. And then, there's no retreating from that. What does it mean, no retreating? There are falls, where the Creator seemingly disappears, and then one fights the negative forces again, but it's a different kind of fighting now. And there is the exit to the left line, but it's in order to go back to the right line, and then to the middle line, meaning each time it's rising in sanctity.
Student: Do these things coincide: treating everyone equally on the one hand, and on the other, what we're working on now, which is to choose one friend that I can annul myself before more, who has more positive qualities?
M. Laitman: I didn't understand.
Student: We talked about it on Saturday, that the whole group will work on choosing someone who is the best at it. How does that work together with treating everyone equally? Choosing a leader, you said, we need to choose a leader, someone.
M. Laitman: (01:09:47) We need to choose someone as a leader, meaning someone from the group. Why do I need to work on that? In order to appreciate each and every one as much as possible. I'm never going to do this like, oh, look at what he's doing, and the other one's not doing anything. Let's say, with regard to a certain quality, and in another quality, the other one does more, the other one does less. So, I'm never saying that one is not doing anything. Meaning, in any approach I have to my 15 friends, I'm not going to do anything negative. Nothing negative, no negative line. You know, it's like a game. We have to keep it like a game. There are such games where I'm supposed to not think negatively about anyone. Rather, who am I thinking about in the most positive way? So I choose him as a leader, and now once a week, I should tell all the friends why did I choose him? Let's say, in this group, Israel is the leader for this week in the group. Why? I've seen such things in him, this, and this, and this, and that, that are more exalted than everyone. And I have to tell everyone, tell good things about everyone else as well, and even more in Israel. Why? Why does this help me? Because we nevertheless work by comparison. Our whole world is based on comparison, our senses, and everything. We can't measure, we can't advance, we can't do anything without comparison. But the comparison should be positive, and that's the exercise. You can't do it otherwise. Of course, if I'm saying that one is greater than another, of course, it makes the latter lesser, but it's still positively.
Student: Doesn't it ruin the equal relation?
M. Laitman: It doesn't ruin the equal relation. No. Equal relationship doesn't mean that…Equal relationship, means I love everyone. With respect to love for everyone in the group, there has to be an equal relation. Meaning, it can't be that this guy's nose is not nice in my eyes, and I love him less than someone else's beautiful eyes. You understand? Equal relation needs to be with respect to love, but behind the love measuring who's greater than another in terms of qualities is a different thing. It's like in a family; a mother can love all the children, but say he's more like this, and he's more like that. But she loves everyone, you understand? And still, each one to her is… Maybe that's understandable.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:56) In my experience, to bestow to a friend, what's more important, my desire to bestow, or his true desire?
M. Laitman: What does it mean to bestow to the friend? You can't bestow to the friend anything besides showing him an example of how much you appreciate our work. You appreciate the study, the books, the friends, the authors, the work in the group, all those things. That is the great and only benefit you can give him. What do you want? To give him five shekels? To help him fix something at home? All those things are human things. We are talking about what we contribute to the other. So, other than that, you have nothing to contribute. To truly give to him what no one else in this world can give: upliftment, according to your example. Now, we said that this upliftment can happen with no connection to yourself. Yesterday, a friend wrote some advertisement, some announcement, I can't remember. I saw it on the phone. What did he write there? No, not for me. Something general. How much the Creator loves you, something like that. You have that? I really liked it. “Beloved friends, lovers of the Creator. You have wonderful qualities that only the Creator, who is Good, that does good, can come up with.” Very beautiful. So, I was impressed by his message, how he did that. And in truth, it could be... Well, almost no, but it could be that he is actually kind of in a lowly state. And he did it not emotionally, but intellectually. Maybe he read it a week ago and was truly impressed by it, and now he's just throwing it at us, you know. But it works on me. And I'm thinking how great he is, and how he did that, how he felt it. And he, perhaps, could be, doesn't matter in what degree and in what state, even opposite state. So, that's the great good that he can do to the friends. And I don't understand at all what his internality is until this message appears to me. Maybe he already fell, and who knows in what state he is now. But it's working on me. That needs to be taken into account when we bestow to each other.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:36) When we say there's only me and the Creator... So, what's the difference between me, and the society, and the Creator?
M. Laitman: A person who comes here to study is confused for a few years. Poor thing. I remember myself, even before Rabash, I was a little confused. So when I came to him, I was somewhat a little organized inside, with my intellect and a little like that. But in truth, you know what revolutions each person goes through, and what confusions, and what deviations, and clashes. And there's more before us. And the main thing is that's not scrutinized is the connection with the Creator. Where to enter, where to put Him in. The study, the friends, the society, family, work - in each detail in his life, where is it? It's like He's bothering me. He doesn't enter any... Will they hit in any... Where? If not, no. But if yes, then where yes? This disturbance must gradually build in me the correct attitude towards Him, so I will see in everything, I feel Him, but simply in a different way. But that is only through such disturbances where I don't get along with Him. This is called to at least take Him out of double concealment to regular concealment.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:56) So, what are disturbances? It's a vessel?
M. Laitman: The disturbances actually eventually have to become a vessel where He's revealed. Look, negative things are negative because now He's doing something negative to you because He wants to be revealed in it. That's called something negative. Where it hurts me, there I need to pay attention to where the Creator will be revealed. That's it. That's how it is on all my levels of suffering. So, if so, we can see that it is all the reality of the Kli, the building of the Kli.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:46) When we build a spiritual vessel between us, how is it then aimed towards the Creator?
M. Laitman: When you build the Kli between you and your friend, it seems like you're building it towards the friend. It appears to you that way now, because that's why it's called time. And why is the world so big, with so many people that I need to get along with? Because it includes, it's the inclusive. And besides it, it's his private details. I cannot not relate by them. I'm not capable in the degree of this inclusive one. This is the degree of in order to bestow. I don't relate… I relate first to all his details, not on the spiritual degree but rather lower them to the corporeal level. And then through the connection with the bodies, I come to this so-called internality of each and every one. And through the internality, I then reach to the souls. And when I begin to connect with the souls, I'm actually connecting to... What does it mean that I'm connecting to the souls? It's as if the Creator divided Himself to 600,000 blocks, and I need to connect to myself. You know, there used to be such a thing like a phone station where people would have to, like an operator, they'd connect everyone. So I need to connect myself in like 600,000 wires to Him. So I need to connect, so all the rest of the souls are His presence towards me. So if I connect to Him that way, I'm connected with Him. And this means that each needs to see that the Creator being divided to 600,000 parts towards me is in order to make my connection with Him easier.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:15) About being inspired from a friend, I know that when I see a friend in labor, doing something that is specific labor, like organizing the books on the tables. So, can I steal his labor from him?
M. Laitman: Say it in a different way. Today, I discovered that someone is coming five minutes before tree and arranging books on the tables. I'm wise, I want to benefit, so I come here at ten to three and arrange all the books in his place. He comes, and he sees, that's it, I stole his labor from him, I stole his reward from him, and that's it. What to tell you? What did you think about when you did these things? That's important. Do you understand? Here is the gain or loss. When spirituality doesn't divide, there are no parts in spirituality. If you do together, even, you know what? Once in Rabash's group, I gave an idea: we together will make a box. It takes one person to make this box 5 minutes, but we'll do it together. Even if it takes a minute or half an hour, it doesn't matter, but we're doing it together, and you have the same benefit to all. And it's a multiple of that, because you're together, one for the other. And it doesn't matter what you're doing or how you're doing. What's important is what you're adding in your relation to it, in your connection to it. So you can't steal by dividing or sharing within these books. You know what? Let's say, tomorrow we'll come at five minutes to three, with all the 80 people sitting here, and each will take the book of the other and put it in its place. No, it's not how each does it for himself. Rather, each for another. And it will be the same work. It's a matter of what you want from it, and spirituality itself has what's supplied to everyone. It's not according to the number of books that you'll put out or share. Rather, our work in sustaining the society, we need also these works, and those works, which we simply need to do. But with the intention where you add, there's room for all.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:11) You said that the Creator is revealed in the relations between us. So, there's a third thing: there's the Creator, the relation, and us.
M. Laitman: Of course, there's the Creator, there's the relation, and there's us. There are three things: the light, the Kli, and the screen between them. Very nice. The intention, in order to bestow, yes - three elements, three components in reality. There's no more.
Student: How can I discover them in the relation?
M. Laitman: The Creator does not depend on us. We, the created being, do not depend on us. Rather, our attitude, our relation is what we need to do, to build.
Student: Where is the vessel that we feel Him? We say a screen. That's the vessel?
M. Laitman: The screen is considered that I have five friends, and now I'm stepping on all kinds of my desires in order to connect with them and be good with them because of the goal, because of the Creator who obligates us to do so.
Student: Where is the Creator?
M. Laitman: I don't know. Something that compels me from above. I don't know what it is. Certainly, I don't know. But only through the work in the group I can come to Him later; for the time being He's not there, for the time being, just like that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:26:40) Where is that limit that I have to think, to come, to work on it? Where is that limit that He will be revealed? Not the friend, the Creator, Him.
M. Laitman: When will you move to work not in relation towards a friend but towards the Creator? That will be revealed equally. Very simply, you'll start to, through the group, to see the Creator. Very simply, I'm telling you, true. You'll start to see the Creator's attitude towards you through them and not through anything else. There isn't. Understand. You're building a Kli, you're building by this a Kli, you're building it by discovering the only thing through the souls that can be revealed. After all, in what can He be revealed? In vessels, vessels through which you connect with them, and you discover through them the Creator. In your point, in your Kli, your personal Kli you can reveal only darkness, only deficiency towards Him, but His revelation, you can reveal it only in other points, theirs, in their attitude of bestowing upon you. I don't know how to… what, should I draw this for you? This is the black point, me. It's only a deficiency. Only a deficiency. A deficiency, not a needing, or a needing. Now, on this point in me, this is a black point. I can't feel a thing. Where do I feel? I feel that there are other such 599,999, let's say, points, and also in them, in each of them, there's nothing. There's nothing, but in the relation that I build towards each and every one, that's what is called “one who has the sorrow of the public, merits the comfort of the public.” Meaning, in me relating to them in bestowal, this bestowal is the Kli. It's a Kli. You understand? That's it, that's what I'm saying. And then I feel the Creator clothing in each of them. And all together, I then attain Him through these vessels. No other vessels will be revealed to you. What is the Shechina, where the Creator will be revealed? The collection of all the souls. So, how can you connect and be a part of the Shechina, which connects with the Creator? All the souls connect with the Creator only in such a way. There's no... Do you understand? We don't understand how simple this matter is. We read, and we can't move it to the...
Student: So this is all made for me, not to deal with myself but with a friend. That's bestowal. For ten minutes, I'm not thinking about myself, so...
Student: Our entire study, the whole method we're studying, all these wisdoms that we're... wise things we're learning are only so that in the end, we will gradually, finally, enter us into the correct relation of the souls, and through them to the Creator. There's nothing else.
Student: Can I ask about the drawing?
M. Laitman: Yes. The picture is kind of an incidental picture like that. It's just something that came to me for me to... Just be able to explain. It's not like Baal HaSulam.
Student: The arrows from above is what I think the Creator is revealing in the friends?
M. Laitman: No, the Creator is really all the 599,999 besides me is called toward me, the Shechina. I don't have other colors here. This, all of this, is called Shechina. And this, where I am. That's the dweller, the Shochen, the Creator. This is the Shochen, the Creator. So, how can I reveal Him? Only if I connect with the rest of the souls, and in a certain measure in which He's revealed there altogether, these souls, that's how I reveal Him. We have no other possibility. Now, why did He make this system in such a way? Because to the extent in which I'm in bestowal, I reveal Him. It is all truly enclosed in the same system. It's very compact and simple.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:33:14) Why does Malchut want to bestow? It's a lot stronger than the giver.
M. Laitman: Why the Shechina, which is called Malchut of Atzilut, wants to be in bestowal? Because it's in revelation. The Creator is revealed towards her. Whereas the souls are in the shells, in the Klipot. My “I” is in the Klipa. The Shechina is in revelation. In order to connect with the Shechina, I need to reach the Machsom, the barrier. You can see that between them is the Machsom. So, the desire of the Shechina, you're asking, the Shechina is called Malchut of Ein Sof. Then Malchut of Ein Sof also felt the presence of the Creator and immediately wants to be the bestowing and performs a restriction so that a part of her, of some soul of her that is interested to seemingly be in its corruption, not interested in Kedusha, in holiness, in order to bestow, it's like she takes herself out of it. It's considered that she's not sharing her desire in the connection with the Creator. This desire is considered to be in the shell, in the Klipa.
Student: The feeling of being with the Creator is better than being the receiver.
M. Laitman: The feeling of the landlord in relation to the receiving pleasure from the landlord is much more powerful. You'll see, come to me, and you'll see how much you'll be ashamed. Come, I'll show you.
Student: I know how to be ashamed.
M. Laitman: You know how to be ashamed? So that's it. So, what's the problem with the Creator? That He's not revealed. If He was revealed, you would be ashamed, believe me.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:23) When we study TES…
M. Laitman: The place for the study of TES that we're finally going to go and study now, and it's always hard for us, is for you to have a deficiency to study TES, because through the study, you attain the force, the power. Now you're about to connect with the Creator, with the friends through the Creator. That's the goal. Where do you truly attain these forces from? You say, I am in a group. The friends just now caused me all kinds of impressions, and I really want... What's next that you want? How do you realize this desire?
Student: Between the friends.
M. Laitman: Well, then why do you bestow to the friends?
Student: That they will bestow back to me.
M. Laitman: So they'll bestow to you. Why? For what? So that you'll have a stronger desire for godliness, yes? And what next do you do with this desire?
Student: I discover the Creator in them.
M. Laitman: In this desire, the Creator is revealed?
Student: No, in bestowal.
M. Laitman: But what bestowal do you have towards friends? It's egoistic bestowal. How do you correct that bestowal so it will truly be bestowal? That needs to come from above, the light, and to correct you. Something doesn't connect with him.
Student: I, from your explanation...
M. Laitman: Wait, wait. Listen for a second. You're at a certain level of connection with the friends. You want to raise the level of your connection in a higher way. Why do you want to raise your connection with the friends more? You were impressed by them. You saw how much greater they are. You look at him, and him, and him, and what they are, and where am I? Yes? Your egoism truly doesn't let you sleep. They are all more than me. What will be with me? Where am I? What will be with me? Is that a measure of bestowal, forgive me?
Student: That's not bestowal.
M. Laitman: That's not bestowal. And when you bestow to them bestowal, it's also not bestowal. It's all from your egoism. So how will I raise now the level of our relation such that if I am now in 10% bestowal, let's say, and 90% egoism, how will it become 20% bestowal and 80% egoism, let's say? Where will I get the power for that? From where will I be able to change my attitude with the friends a little in which I'm interested to receive an impression from them? I'm interested in receiving from them the desire. They will awaken me to the Creator. But how to correct this awakening so it will be in order to bestow? This is only through the reforming light. All of our bestowal between us for the time being is in order to receive an impression from one another how the second is greater than me.
Student: For what?
M. Laitman: So that I want more. So I long more.
Student: And with the book, it's not possible? We're just taking the impression to bestow?
M. Laitman: Of course. Otherwise, why would I open a book? Otherwise, I'd open a book just to study wisdom.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:39:24) How does a person know that? What motivates a person to think that what is bestowing is really to bestow?
M. Laitman: We think that what we're doing to friends is bestowal. But we're thinking of that because we don't know what bestowal is. In order to truly reach bestowal, I need the reforming light. That's what I said. To raise the level of my bestowal from my degree to a higher degree. Where is to a higher degree? Where I will truly have some real bestowal. For this, I need the light that will come and correct all my qualities.
Student: Clear. Where does that deficiency come from?
M. Laitman: The deficiency for this comes from the friends.
Student: They explain that….
M. Laitman: That they show me how much they long for spirituality, the extent in which they're willing to contribute and work. Yesterday, I read this message, this announcement on the cell phone, and I saw how he felt this good and powerful, how great he is. So, I immediately felt that I'm small, and that I am less than him. And my ego began to work, and my fear that he will have it better and be able to start to work. So, what will be with me? After I think of such things of what will be with me, so what do I need to do? I immediately open a book and start to study. For what? To receive improvement? What do you look at me? I'm not joking.
Student: But where is it to bestow, the friend explains, where is it?
M. Laitman: I see that in him, in order to bestow is more than me. I see that in him; his intentions and desires are greater than me.
Student: How can you see that? It's the desires.
M. Laitman: That's how I felt.
Student: That's something else.
M. Laitman: Not to see is what to see.
Student: You're saying that the group gives me desires and yearning for the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, this yearning?
M. Laitman: Not the yearning that the group gives me. The group gives me a picture in which everyone in the group is much greater than me. Yes? And it counts and multiplies wisdom. I start counting that they're greater than me, and what about me? What will be with me? This stimulates me to open a book and start studying. Why? In the book, I heard that from the book, a correction will come. Hence, before one starts to study, he needs to strengthen himself with the faith, and so on. You remember that? Well, enough. It's not enough in order to open a book?