The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: July 15, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is, Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson, in the Work? Article 30, (1990)
Reader: Shalom, dear friends! In the first part of the lesson, we will watch a lesson with the Rav from April 2002. It's based on the article from Rabash, What Is 'Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Lay Person' in the Work? You can find the article on kabbalahmedia.info. We'll read the article together in the Ten, we have twenty-seven minutes.
Reading: (00:55) What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?
Article No. 24, 1989
The Zohar (Nasso, Item 10) says, “Do not slight the blessing of a layperson.” This is, ‘In the daytime, the Lord will command His mercy.’” In the Megillah (p 15) he says, “Never slight the blessing of a layperson.”
We should understand what this comes to teach us in the work of the Creator, meaning when we learn within one person, what is the meaning of “layperson.” First, we need to understand the meaning of a “layperson” altogether.
In Masechet Megillah (p 12b), Rav Kahana said, “It follows that a layperson jumps first.” This means that the meaning of “layperson” is said in his condemnation, that he is a simple person, who nonetheless likes to show himself and appear as wise. Thus, how should we interpret “the blessing of a layperson” in the work? Also, we need to understand what The Zohar says, “Do not slight the blessing of a layperson.” This is, ‘In the daytime, the Lord will command His mercy.’” What is the connection between the blessing of a layperson and His mercy?
It is known that man’s work is in two lines, called “two writings that deny one another until the third writing comes and decides between them.” It is as our sages said (Sotah 47), “The left always pushes away, and the right pulls near.”
In the work, we should interpret “the right pulls near.” When a person is advancing in the work and wants to be in a state nearing the Creator, and does not want to see any deficiency in himself because now he wants to engage in songs and praises for the Creator, and if he sees some deficiency in himself he will not be able to thank the Creator with all his heart because he has deficiencies and he wants the Creator to fill his deficiencies. It follows that now he is praying for the Creator to fill the lacks. Thus, his gratitude is already deficient. That is, in the midst of saying thanks, he claims that the Creator has not given him everything he needs. Therefore, when he wants to engage in wholeness so that the thanks he gives to the Creator will be from the bottom of the heart, he must not see any lack in himself.
However, we must understand how a person can say that he has no lacks, and instead, he thanks and praises the Creator that he is working for the Creator, when he sees that his work is full of flaws. How can he lie when he sees his own incompleteness in the Torah and work? The answer is that when one introspects and sees his lowliness, that he is worse than the rest of the people in skills and qualities, and yet the Creator has given him a thought and desire to do something in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and he knows that this service is worthless and sees that there are many people more important than him, yet the Creator did not give them a thought or desire to do something in matters of Kedusha [holiness], and He did give him a thought and desire. For this he thanks the Creator as though he has obtained a fortune in corporeality. What spirit would the corporeal things yield in them? From this depiction, he receives joy and happiness and it gives him satisfaction.
This causes him to later have ears to hear things toward which previously his ears were deaf. Now, through the joy, all his organs have become alert and understand and contemplate everything, since the joy that came to him through the joy of Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] causes him that in corporeality, too, he will be a completely different person now. All this came to him because he appreciated matters in Kedusha.
However, one must believe that even though he appreciates the importance of Kedusha with all his might, he still has not come to give the measure of importance where there is the real importance, because no person can evaluate the measure of importance of the Kedusha, and only those who have ascended know how to appreciate a spiritual matter.
Our sages knew what importance to attribute to spirituality, as our sages said (Berachot 7), “Rabbi Zira said, ‘The reward of learning is in running.’” RASHI interpreted that the reward of people who run to hear a lesson from a sage is mainly the reward for running, since most of them do not understand. The MAHARSHA interprets that “The wise do not need the learning, for they already know the laws, as was said, that in any case, their reward is the running,” meaning the reward for running.
“Abaye said, ‘The reward of the Kallah [Shabbat before a pilgrim festival] is in the squeezing.’” RASHI interpreted, “On a Shabbat before the pilgrimage, everyone gathers to hear the laws of the pilgrimage.” The meaning is that although there are people who do not understand the laws, they still have reward for standing pressed together. The MAHARSHA says about this, too, “If the listener is a wise disciple and has no need for this, he has the reward for squeezing.”
Accordingly, we can see how our sages appreciated the importance of spirituality, for they said, “Even if people do not understand what the sage is saying, they still have reward in that they run to hear the sage’s words.” Moreover, we see that the MAHARSHA says, that even those who are themselves wise disciples and know the laws on their own, still, if they come to listen to the sage’s words, they have reward. And certainly, reward is given only for work.
It follows that a person should be happy that he has been rewarded with the work of the Creator. Even if he comes to the seminary or the synagogue and does not learn, he has the reward for walking, meaning that it is defined as work of the Creator. The evidence of this is that there is reward for this work.
It follows that when a person walks on the right line and wants to engage in work of singing and praising the Creator, he must see that he has wholeness. That is, he must appreciate his lowliness and how the Creator has given him a desire and yearning at least to walk to the seminary, although he understands nothing, and to say, “I cannot appreciate the importance of my fortune that the Creator has chosen me for at least some service.” He should be happy as though he has struck a fortune in corporeality, how he would be happy. That joy gives him the strength to believe in the Creator, that He is good and does good.
But when a person begins to calculate how much he earned in spirituality through the labor he has already given, and begins to see that he did not advance, although what he sees is true according to his attainment, in that state, he is separated from the Kedusha [holiness] because in that state, he is slandering His Providence and cannot say that the guidance of the Creator is in the form of good and doing good.
It follows that by this he becomes more remote from the Kedusha. That is, to the extent that he sees that he is deficient, and sees all that he is lacking, and that he has prayed to the Creator several times but the Creator did not give him anything for his plea, he immediately blemishes the belief that “You hear the prayer of every mouth.”
It follows that in this state, he says that now he is walking on the path of truth and does not want to deceive himself that he is a person who has wholeness, and he is certain that the road he is marching is true. However, a person cannot make ways for himself, but must accept the path that our sages have arranged for us.
About such matters, Baal HaSulam asked about what we say (in “You Have Chosen Us”), “And lifted us from among all the tongues.” Yet, there is only one tongue in the world, that of the evil inclination. Thus, it should have said, “And lifted us from all the tongue.” What is the meaning of “all the tongues,” in plural form? He said that there are holy angels and there are impure angels. That is, sometimes, the evil inclination prevents us from doing something good through a power that incites us and says that we have no need to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, since we will not gain anything from this. Sometimes it comes to us and tells us, “You should not do this; it will only interfere with your engagement in Torah and Mitzvot.” It follows that it says to us the opposite, that he wants us to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, which is why he advises us not to do what we want to do, or learn, or think, etc.
It follows that when a person should walk on the “right line,” the holy angel comes to him and tells him, “Look at your baseness, see how you are devoid of Torah and devoid of faith, and you are also lacking in observing Mitzvot.” He lowers him to the netherworld and speaks to him like a holy angel.
And what happens? In the end, the person falls into a descent and cannot think of doing anything in Kedusha. For this reason, when he must walk on the right line, he must fight against all those who object to the wholeness of the right, and believe above reason that the Sitra Achra [other side] speaks to him dressed as a holy angel.
However, afterward a person must shift to the other side, called “left line,” where great care is required. He must be ready, when he sees his past, that he is full of flaws, to have the ability to pray for the flaws. Otherwise, it is forbidden to begin the work on the left, as it is written in The Zohar, that it is “forbidden to raise the hands without prayer and plea.” “Raising the hands” means that he looks in his hands, meaning what spirituality he already has in his hands, if he has advanced a bit or not.
It is forbidden to look, except in a way that he is willing to make an honest prayer and plea right away. Otherwise, he will fall into despair and sadness and melancholy, and will have to escape the campaign. It follows that where he should have received from the left line a place for prayer, that this is the only reason he should move to the left line, hence, if he cannot be certain that he can make an instantaneous prayer, he should remain on the right line until he is certain that by this he will have the strength to pray that the Creator will help him, and he will believe that “The Lord hears the prayer of every mouth.”
Otherwise, it is forbidden because in that state, he cannot give thanks and also cannot pray to the Creator to deliver him from that state. When a person is in a state where he begins to slander Providence, he immediately loses the power of prayer because the body does not believe that the Creator “hears the prayer of every mouth.” It follows that he remains empty handed both ways. For this reason, he must stay on the right line and not enter the left line.
This is the meaning of what our sages said (Yoma 16), “Any turn you take should be only through the right.” The meaning of “any” is “generally.” That is, generally, a person should walk on the right line. It is permitted to walk on the left line only when he is certain he will be able to pray for his deficiencies. Otherwise, he must remain on the right until he feels that he is ready for it.
Therefore, if thoughts that he is at fault have awakened in him against his will, and how can he speak words of Torah and prayer to the Creator when his thoughts tell him, “You are filthy! How are you not ashamed to engage in matters of Kedusha?!” About this, a person (must) say that it is written, “I am the Lord, who dwells with them in the midst of their Tuma’a [impurity].” That is, even though I am in the lowest possible baseness, I still believe what is written, that the Creator dwells even in the worst lowliness.
However, He is not among the proud, as our sages said, “Anyone who is proud, the Creator says, ‘I and he cannot dwell in the same abode.’” For this reason, when a person feels whole, according to the right line, when he appreciates his lowliness and says that nonetheless, the Creator has given him some grip on Kedusha, and that “some,” compared to the Kedusha that a person should attain, that “some” is called “layperson.”
But if he says according to his lowliness, “I thank and praise the Creator for this,” it can be said about this what is written, “I am the Lord, who dwells with them in the midst of their Tuma’a.” When he is happy about this, he can be rewarded with, “The Shechina [Divinity] is present only out of joy.”
It follows that through this lowliness, that because the Creator has given him some grip on Kedusha, he can climb the rungs of holiness if he only takes from this the joy and appreciates it. Then, a person can say, “Raise the poor from the dust,” “He will raise the destitute from the litter.” That is, when a person feels his lowliness, that he is meager, meaning poor, as our sages said (Nedarim 41), “Abaye said, ‘In our tradition, there is no poor but in knowledge.’” That is, it has been handed down from our father, a custom from our forefathers that “there is no poor but in knowledge.”
This is why he says that he is meager, meaning poor, for he has no knowledge of Kedusha—he is called “poor and meager.” Then, if there is any grip on Kedusha, even though he is poor, he says, “Raises the poor from the dust.” That is, he says a prayer, for even though he is poor, the Creator still raised him. “He raises the destitute from the litter.” Although he feels that he is destitute, the Creator still lifted him, and for this, he praises the Creator. If there is any grip on Kedusha, we can already praise and thank the Creator.
We can interpret what is written (Psalms 97), “Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to the memory of His holy name.” We should interpret that “righteous” is one who says that the Creator is righteous, since any grip that he has on Kedusha, he immediately says, “The Lord is righteous” in that He gives one who is as poor and destitute as him some grip on spirituality. These are called “righteous,” as it is written, “Who is righteous? He who justifies his Maker.”
The measure of grip on spirituality is that he can say about it, “I am happy with it.” The verse says, “And give thanks to the memory of His holy name,” meaning they thank “the memory of His holy name,” the fact that they remember His holiness—for this they thank and praise. This is the meaning of the words, “Give thanks to the memory of His holy name.” That is, if they merely remember the Holy name, for this alone they already thank the Creator, meaning on the mere remembering, they are immediately awakened to thank the Creator.
But one who has some pride and says that “The rest of the people, who have no brains, can come to be servants of the Creator without any intellect and reason, but a man like me, who has brains and is not as stupid as other people,” he says, “If the Creator wants me to work for Him, He must be considerate with me and give me the taste of Torah and prayer. Otherwise, I will serve the way I understand it and not the way You require.”
It is written about this, “The Lord is King, He dresses in pride.” That is, the Creator behaves toward such people a garment of pride and is not impressed with them, and they remain with nothing but their pride. This is why it is written, “The Lord is high and the low will see.” With his lowliness, a man can see. But one who is high, who considers himself higher than others, is called “And the high from afar,” meaning he moves afar from Kedusha.
Now we can understand what we asked, What is “Do not slight the blessing of a layperson”? It means that when a person feels that he is a layperson, that he has only a slight contact with Kedusha, which is considered “layperson” compared to the wholeness that one should achieve, still, when he blesses and thanks the Creator, “Do not slight it.” Rather, a person must appreciate it as though he has obtained a fortune and thank and bless the Creator as though he has attained true wholeness. With his lowliness, a man can see, but one who is high, who considers himself higher than others, is called "the high from afar," meaning he moves afar from Kedusha. Now we can understand what we asked, what is "Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Lay Person." It means that when a person feels that he is a lay person, that he has only a slight contact with the Kedusha, which is considered a lay person compared to the wholeness that one should achieve.
Still, when he blesses and thanks the Creator, do not slight it. Rather, a person must appreciate it as though he has obtained a fortune, and thank and bless the Creator as though he has attained true wholeness.
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Reader: We'll move to a lesson from 2002.
M. Laitman: (25:55) What Is, Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Lay Person, in the Work? Rungs of the Ladder, Volume 3, page 43, portion of Nasso. What does it mean, Don't slight it, that it won't, don't disregard it, don't discount it? It's not a simple thing, it's a very difficult thing for a person to reach a state where he thinks about himself, that he's just a normal person and lesser than everyone else. That he doesn't deserve more than everyone; that he needs some special conditions in the work and only then he can work but otherwise not. And how does the Creator, how the Creator behaves with him, he needs some kind of revelation otherwise he can't move. Maybe other people can but he can't. Anything that a person demands as a condition in connection to others, no relation to others, whether he admits it or not. If that thing exists, demanding some condition be met but only then he'll be able to do any kind of work. That means that he has pride, and until he drives this demand away from his heart, he won't be able to move. It's a state that a person never usually admits to. He can't discern it, he appears to himself to be fine, like everyone, maybe even a friendly character. But certainly if this condition, if his work is conditioned on anything such that he cannot offer his heart, his very soul, to be dedicated to advancement, to continuing to be drawn towards the goal. Then, it means that he still has some kind of condition that the Creator supposedly has to keep. That person may wait a long time, and until this condition is not cancelled in him, he will not advance. Only when he cancels all these conditions – and, again, I say he doesn't even admit this, this is some inner state where he waits – and thinks that something will happen and then he will act. If he has such an inner state, then the Creator is not connected to him at all, it means that the person is in pride. And then the Creator also wears a garment of pride, not wanting to be connected to a person posing these conditions. It's not for nothing that it is written that, One must accept the work as an ox to the load, to the burden, a donkey to the load. Without any conditions regardless of what state the person is in, the conditions that the Creator placed on him.
M. Laitman: (29:53) If a person, at a certain moment, can reveal that he is standing in some state without thinking and without thinking without any kind of calculation. If he accepts the work then it means that he has no pride and, accordingly, it can be the very worst state. The Creator still resides within that person, in that state and helps him, driving away the pride, driving the pride away. And removing this state of the conditions where he conditions his labor on something. That's possible only when you feel the greatness of the Creator. If a person waits to feel the greatness of the Creator and only then he will drive pride away, supposedly that's how it should work, by reason. There is no other force that can pressure him to lower my pride, my natural pride. So I tell the Creator, Come on Creator, be revealed so I can lower my pride, and then I won't set conditions in our work. If a person does that, it may be that the Creator will be revealed, but the person can't really ask for this unless he receives power from the society. And this force of the importance of the Creator that he received from the society will be greater than his pride because even though a person in his natural state has some pride, there is no importance and greatness of the Creator opposite that. Rather, this pride is Pharaoh standing against him and he cannot annul, Pharaoh. Unless the sons of Israel groaned under their labor where a person truly collects all the forces that he can, receiving this importance from the society, then he receives additional importance of the Creator which can be greater than the measure of his pride. Then, he annuls pride, he annuls the pride and asks the Creator to be revealed to him and give him the power to truly cover the pride, yes? To cover it and to really hold it under him, there's no other alternative here; there's no way other than to come to the Creator to give one such forces and that demand, one receives from the society.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:49) We say that on the one hand in the work, the more a person develops, the more he sees the greatness of the Creator and he sees how lowly he is, the gap appears more and more. On the other hand, we say a person advances incorrectly, the questions of who and what increase in him. How do these two things coincide in the person, how can they?
M. Laitman: How can it be that these two polarities, these two opposite states, the force of evil and the force of good, grow in a person in parallel all throughout the line until the end of correction, that's what you're asking? During the preparation period and also above the barrier when he's already walking through spiritual steps. How can it be that the evil is revealed opposite the good and one does not cancel out the other, and will never cancel out the other? A person must make a proper combination between them, to use the evil and the good in a goal-oriented way. You're asking, how can these things which exist in a person—they exist in the same time, in the same state? How can it be that one who is completely wicked will be with one who is completely righteous. That Pharaoh and the Creator would be together in the same person, they cannot be together. They can be together only if the screen connects them and through striking, performing a coupling between them, a connection, without the screen, no. These are two opposite things, and the greater Pharaoh is and the greater the Creator is, the person is in this collision between them and these are the two ends, the two extremes in him. If he finds the screen, then the angel of death becomes a holy angel, tying them together towards one goal. For us, this is still without a screen, before the barrier, before we've received the first screen that can tie these two, these two factors together for us: the will to receive and the will to bestow, light and vessel.
So, how can it be that these two states exist? They cannot coexist at the same time if there is no screen. For us, that's why we're being thrown like from a sling from one extreme to the other. One time we're under the control of Pharaoh, another we're under the Creator's control. This is actually, Come to Pharaoh, right, because I have no choice so I go to Pharaoh because the Creator pushes me towards that and with His light He shows me who Pharaoh is. And He stands there orienting me towards Pharaoh. Otherwise, I would simply run away. Moses, he killed this Egyptian, just some Egyptian and already he cannot stand there, he flees Egypt immediately, right? Until the Creator tells him, Come to Pharaoh, it's impossible, otherwise he cannot return; it's a very big problem contending with Egypt. Then, indeed, the person is constantly in these extreme, polar states – one time he's willing to give everything for the sake of connection with the Creator because some light shines on him; and another time he's either in his own evil, feeling that it's evil. Or he's in his will to receive without feeling that it's evil, rather, this is good. You can at least enjoy something, use it for the time being, to steal a little bit here and there for your life. Otherwise, what? Will you die and so on. Until he crosses the barrier, this doesn't end, it doesn't end. After he crosses the barrier, then he has shells, holiness, then different states already. But before the barrier, Don't believe in yourself until the day you die. Until the will to receive dies under the screen which controls it, right. Do not believe that anything will happen, that you can do anything. No, what does it mean, do not believe? You have to walk, yes, with certainty and confidence that the Creator will help you but it's not that you're doing it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:01) He writes here in the article that we have the right line and the left line. He says we have to always choose the right but where is our choice because in the time of preparation, we're always thrown out?
M. Laitman: A person needs to choose the right line all the time, again and again, as it is written, to rotate towards the right, to turn towards the right. In all of our preferences, we always have to prefer the right over the left. Right, when we tie our shoes, wear clothes, all these things, these are hints to—it's according to what's happening in spirituality. How can we prefer the right over the left, through what actions?
Student: How can we choose? Where is our choice?
M. Laitman: I don't choose the right over the left, what does it mean, I choose? I perform all the actions through which my choice in the right will come to be. I never perform the action itself. Forget about you performing some action, you're an outcome, a result from the combination of forces descending from above, that’s it.
Student: How to get to that anyhow?
M. Laitman: You need to cause this, that in whatever way you can, that these forces that descend from above will determine that you will be more connected to the right than the left in you, how to do that? Well, he gives you advice: to study more and to ask through that, to ask, meaning to ask that this will happen to me. To be with the friends, to hear from them all sorts of advice and recognizing the right opposite the left: what is the right, what is the left? At least scrutinize these things, scrutinize them so that the right will truly be preferable for me over the left. So start thinking about it, you know, you don't need anything more, start thinking: how will I know what the right is and for this to be greater than the left for me? That's it, we're done, start engaging in this. Walk at least one day with a heavy head, thinking that you need to crack this concept. That's what we're learning. I was in, last evening, wasn’t there—how to come to a good, proper decision? He doesn't know how to explain this pretty well, that guy, but we will learn. That is a very true approach, it's what you do, right? As we did with the friend, scrutinizing the goals, scrutinizing the means, scrutinizing the state accurately, wanting to tie all these things together. On Friday, I'll ask that the Israeli guys will come and we will engage in how to come to a decision regarding how our books should look, the Hebrew books that we're about to publish. I told him at the end of the lesson that I have a question, I have a problem and his profession is, he can help us come to the right decision. He'll help us come to the right decision on how the covering of the book should look like, what shape, what images, all these things, how to approach this problem. Yes, I need to know what the problem is, what exactly it comprises: what things I need to solve it, what exactly I need to come to. In short, how do I get to a state where, a situation where, I'm sure, where I'm certain that this is the best way, the best way. This will give us, you know—I don't want philosophies and all that – just very practical, we'll engage in that Friday because these are very true things, what he said. I saw yesterday that people didn't really feel that this applies to us, this relates to us. But it does relate to us very much. The work in the group, also, anything you do in life, if you know how to approach it correctly, you will not be mistaken. You're young and single, many mistakes are still ahead of you, possibly.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:58) It's a process of scrutiny.
M. Laitman: It's a process of scrutiny and coming to a decision but coming to that, he says, we don't know exactly how to determine, what to determine. Our work is just, it's—the right decision will come as a result of the order of the process, if it is correct. We have to structure a process for how to come to the right decision and, then, the decision will be right and that is also, that's very correct, it's very true, it's exactly according to our spiritual rules, spiritual laws. And I see that this is, really such revelations in science which—and it's very practical. You can even find, maybe, another language by which to explain the inner work of a person. We will see. In some time, we will see.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:12) You said that in the article that there are two states for a person, that he doesn't have the strength to work so he turns to the Creator and asks for the strength to do something, that means he has pride. In the second state, he needs to turn to the group to receive importance and then turn to the Creator. What's the difference, you had address to the Creator here and address to the Creator there, what is the force from society?
M. Laitman: I cannot turn to the Creator with my own power, with the conditions that exist in me, He gives me, let's say, from above, the initial urge. With that initial urge, initial impulse, I cannot perform any scrutiny. I cannot see the depth of the problem and His importance as the one who is capable of solving it. I don't have these data, you know, to truly turn to Him and ask Him to solve the problem. For me to turn to Him, you know what, let's say there is one great man who can sort your entire life out but you're prideful, you cannot turn to him. You can kill me, I can't turn to him, I'm ashamed. That's one thing, or it's simply that I have to trample myself, trample, trample myself, step over myself, I can't do that, what can I do? I'm incapable of it, it's our nature, the man, with his pride, with his self, he's ready to be killed. But that my self, my I, the self will remain because the self is the eternal part of me. It's the soul and I don't care if the body dies but my idea, it's stronger than the beastly life, we see this. There are many people in the world who are ready to insist on something, they cannot step over it. They cannot pass this over, they can't, even if they want to. There's one person that I can go to and ask for a million dollars, and he'll give me if I ask, but I can't come and ask. There's another person who can organize all sorts of other things in the world, family, I can't do it. All sorts of such people, we stumble on such things day and night, every day, these things. That's the power of the pride of the self, the force which actually separates us from the Creator. He calls that force, this is the force of the shattering in The Sages Fruit articles.
Now, what can I do? I have to preserve this force, on the one hand, on the other, I can't turn to the Creator until this force is under my control. Upon it, I turn to the Creator and ask Him, meaning I have to make of myself something that's completely smeared – how to say it in Hebrew more correctly, more clearly, that state? It's an emotional thing, that your self doesn't exist in front of the Creator. And a person can't do that, can't because it's something from nothing, existence from absence, there's no correction for this until the end of correction. It's possible to correct it, supposedly, to fix it by receiving additional force, additional power from the group. You can see how the force of the group has to be unique, special, outside of all things, outside of the connection between me and the Creator. It's actually a third part, a third thing which I can add to myself as an aid from the side. It's not something from nothing or something from something – not mine, not the Creator's – but something, a third thing which exists, supposedly, in nature. Because I stand opposite the Creator in such a manner where my pride, it's one opposite the other, Pharaoh against the Creator stands here and they stand here and there's nothing to do. It's only from the side that I can truly provide for myself these additional forces. So I can somehow step over myself and turn to the Creator; otherwise, Pharaoh shouts, Who is the Lord that I should hear Him? However many blows come to him, it won't help, you understand? Here, it's the force, it's the power of the group. That's why he says that this is the only thing that can help us. Baal HaSulam writes that our entire good future depends on that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:44) In the explanation as he gave yesterday, there's a point between the goal and me. The goal and me, that's, let's say, crossing the barrier. Why doesn't it work?
M. Laitman: I didn't receive an answer from him, yesterday: where do I choose the point that's closest to me, based on what conditions? Do I choose that point based on the means that I have at my disposal and I determine that the next stage needs to be ten centimeters from me forward? Why ten centimeters? Because I don't see more than that, I don't have the means, I don't have possibilities. Or perhaps, I see more goals, targets, but I need to examine the means. Like he says, that in order for the decision to be, if the making of the decision is right, the decision is right. According to the wall on the right, in accordance with the wall on the left, if I choose the close target, then I come to determine the next degree, the next step correctly. Well, we'll see, we'll see but, again I say, there is an element of society here that cannot be ignored because He and I, one opposite the other, it's like two walls. It's not going to help, nothing's going to work. Two things that cannot be cancelled, they stand there and He doesn't become revealed. If the Creator would become revealed then my I would nevertheless fall but He doesn't become revealed. If He becomes revealed, I'll just be immediately nullified towards Him. How do I ask Him to become revealed so that afterwards, when my I becomes nullified, it'll be on my account? I'll be the owner of the action even though He is working, I summoned it. How to, then, get to the beginning? That's by receiving additional strength from the side, additional necessity.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:17) The group, how does it belong to something from nothing? How does it provide me with the power for something I don't need?
M. Laitman: The group does not belong to existence from absence and that's why it can provide additional force.
Student: Through what connection?
M. Laitman: Through the connection we all have at the root where all the souls are interconnected. That's why here in this world by external actions, I can awaken the force from above and, there, my force is not my singular force like in this world. But, there, with my, I, all of the other 599 others are there, too. At the root, I'm in the degree of Adam HaRishon, all of me, and each and every soul like that, it doesn't matter, it's at the degree of Adam. And here in this world, I am a minor fragment from it so I draw the strength from there.
Student: We have groups so what is the primary thing that a person should choose all the time in the right environment? According to, by what criteria should a person measure, every second, if he's in the right environment? And, accordingly, to decide what his environment should be?
M. Laitman: According to what criterion a person examines every moment, let's say, if he's in the right environment, if he is in the correct environment? The correct environment is called an environment that it directs the person to connection, to adhesion, relation to the Creator at maximum strength and desire and thought that the person has. The correct environment means all of my inner conditions, that's the environment with respect to the point in the heart which is the point of contact between me and Him. Everything else in me has to assist this point in connecting to the Creator and all the rest of the forces, conditions, thoughts, desires, urges – doesn't matter what, they are called, environment. My, I, which is called the Moshe in me, right? It's literally a point, it's the seed from which I develop my soul. It can grow only from having an environment, the correct environment. He says there that there is the source and ways by which the source develops through the environmental conditions And the ways they develop and all those four, if they work together and in the right direction. Then the soul develops in the optimal way, so I need to care about these four parameters, these four variables. What exactly can I influence and what I think I can influence but I actually can't and it's a waste of time, and this is the work. There are people who make a lot of noise but, still, they don't understand that it's just noise. Later, it will be revealed gradually but, in the meantime, the efforts are only to find out where the mistake is but if I just say it, they won't hear it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:53) How does it help a person that—we said that it's possible to mix the groups together. How does that help me? What—why should I do that, why do we need to mix together in the groups so that we, the ripening will be with as much incorporation as possible, how will that contribute?
M. Laitman: Being mingled with other people physically, what does it mean physically? That you invest your efforts in them, let's say the friend who's sitting next to you and now studying near you. You invest your efforts in him because you want his urge to the Creator to join your urge to the Creator, and then you'll have double. Let's say, that he has the same desire and same ability as yours. So you won't be one Macial but double, is that bad? On top of whatever forces you have and disruptions and whatever it is, you'll have double the force. Imagine, you will be strong in yearning to the Creator twice as much. Imagine there's a rocket and now it is twice as powerful, you understand? With the same weight, carrying the same ego, same will to receive but now it has double the strength, the strength of movement, motion. You're already shortening your path in half; instead of ten years, five years, that's how it turns out.
Student: Doesn't it say in the article, Buy Yourself A Friend, that if there's a synagogue with a hundred people, I choose ten that I work with, those are my friends? The other ninety, why do I need to mingle with them, to choose?
M. Laitman: No, no, no, if you chose your friends and you're certain that they are your friends and through them you receive additional forces and it satisfies your progress, then, that's great! If, in each and every moment, you check and you see that you have nothing more to add, and this is what truly satisfies you. Then please, then stay, but you're told that if you think that you have some other means to press on it, on the same path. Or even take a more precise path like if you go through some village or you go through the highway, right? Look, look for a way—either you improve them or you improve your connection with them – so they influence you more in return. Or maybe add a few more or replace them but this is called, The one who chooses a better environment each time, the choice is yours.
Now, the environment could be that you are making preparations to be more influenced by them or you are changing them, you are infusing them with importance of the Creator which will return to you several times more. Or you have to maybe add more friends or replace them, that might also be. For example, I knew that I had Rabash and I cannot change him and I can't replace him, what can I do? I would be interested but I couldn't, these are the conditions. I have no other work towards him left besides just being, just making him as great in my eyes as possible, there's no other way. Because there's no other way to do something here; not to truly make him greater, I can't really influence that and I can't also replace him. It's just about how much can I be more influenced by him? The smaller I am, the greater he is, the way I imagine that to myself so, accordingly, I'll be more influenced but that's with respect to something that cannot be replaced. At first, I'm thinking about replacing, that's clear; but with respect to the friends, you have several possibilities. To replace them, to change, to change yourself also, and the relation between them and you, tt's all in your hands. But after you made a choice, just know that you've made a choice and that's it. Now, you're given to that state that you've created for yourself. After that, you can't do more, meaning your choice, the change that you can make is only in the connection between you and the environment.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:47) We talked about pride before, so can I choose the ones who are least prideful, for example?
M. Laitman: Look, I don't want to go into those things, whether she's less prideful or more and how it works with women. Talk to the woman inside of you, that's more important and how to choose a woman? Rabash said very simply: you look at her, you see her once. If her shape doesn't repel you and she agrees with your principles in life, kind of superficially, that is sufficient to get married. Second time, you shouldn’t go to a second meeting because the second time we start examining: is she good enough for me? And that's already not good, because then you're lying, you think that you're good. Is she good enough for me, meaning I'm something, she might not be, and that's not worthwhile doing, that's already false. That's what he said, and that's truly what he recommended to do. He would say, Look, they live 10 years together, they don't know anything about each other. When you get married, you make the Chuppah, after that problems begin, what happened, isn't it the same? Why? There's a lot of couples today, think about it, why has it changed? Just that I signed and she signed somewhere? Look what's happening, we see that it is such a deep psychological, somewhat spiritual matter here that influences everything. So, it doesn't matter how much you're going to research that and how much you're going to think about that, nothing helps. So, the best is the simple way. Just finish these things, and that's it.
Student: If we say that a person's only choice is the society, and on the other hand, the society is the most influential thing that a person can have. So, the question is, how to cause a person to choose a group? Meaning, I don't know how it works, how can the group cause a person to choose the group more?
M. Laitman: Say, we are a group and some guy comes here and he seems very worthy of being among us. How can we cause him to connect to us, yes?
Student: No, not a person from outside, a person within the group. How can he cause all the other people in the group to choose the group even more?
M. Laitman: So, it's the same problem, we in the group want everyone that's already in the group to adhere to the group even more, right? It's the same thing like with a person who comes from outside. It's the same thing because to the extent that we want to attract someone already in the group, it's the same. The problem is simple, you have to induce in him the recognition of the importance of the group, that the group will answer him for that question that he wants to solve. He is not certain, that's our whole problem, that we are not certain that the solution lies in the group, in my connection to it, in my annulment to it, we don't know that. So, my relation to the group is so – kind of disrespectful. So, the group has to show me, has to help me really understand it, that here lies the problem. Show that man, or the person who's already in the group how much the group can help him. A bit of importance of the goal and how much the group is in that, and he'll see how much he lacks being at at least the same level as the group. And the group can do several times more than him, but at least he'll see that the group is much more than him, and that's it. That's why we need to praise the group, to praise the love of friends, and not to work in secrecy, here. Our group is the best thing, nothing can be greater, we can receive everything from it, and so on – this infects the person. Look at all kinds of societies, any company, or organization, or some business, or political party, or something. We are, this is our banner, and why? It gives force to everyone.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:03) But in such a situation, how can we do the inner work in the group? If everything's pink, how can we improve things?
M. Laitman: No, not rosy I'm not telling you to create a rosy life in the group. Only one thing needs to be lifted in the group – can I say lifted – lifted in the group. Its ability to improve man's spirituality, to push him forward, to attract him forward. Otherwise, no, there's nothing other than that. Now, if you ask, does the group truly have the power to do this? No, it comes from the Creator, but it comes through the group.
Student: (01:09:49) The real difficulty in love of riends, it's in love of friends, in the inner work, and the natural inclination is to go and take various external steps, external replacements, external structures, external changes, and so on. To replace four instead of six, eight instead of 12, and so on.
M. Laitman: We don't have a choice. We're still connected to externality. We don't engage in internality. By replacing, you know, instead of 10 members, 15 members in the group, instead of that 20 or something like that. At least these things will let us engage in something that will lead us to a question: what is it that we really want to do? And so, these external matters we engage in, they gradually lead us to a deeper question. I don't know if you can approach the inner engagement in our state. It still doesn't kind of happen. It's too early. But the external engagement is, well, in every action, there's still some inner question and action.
BStudent: Do these structures, these structural changes that are external not lead a couple of weeks from now to the same question, what am I saving here altogether?
M. Laitman: Perhaps after two or three weeks, I regret, but I still have to search for something otherwise, nothing will happen. I'm not saying that every moment you have to change something, I'm saying every moment you have to think of changes. To change in practice, that requires more cautiousness, and only on the condition that the previous foundations, what we call necessity or minimum sustenance, infancy, has to be constant. And the addition can only be through AHP of ascent, meaning whatever is better. So we have to learn here: how do we cause a state where at least what we had before, we won't have anything worse, and that things will be better? This, too, has to do with decision-making processes; and for this, we perhaps don't need to wait for that wisdom. Even though here we are being told just how we need to think, just simply whatever we're capable of. But if a person is not occupied, bothered by improving his state through improving the society, the environment, or by how the environment influences him — you don't need to improve society itself, perhaps you need to improve one's own status towards society — but if he's not bothered by that, then what is he doing?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:48) I want to ask about a precise point, not just in general. By me going and doing external actions, am I not running away from the work, the real internal work, and how does the society influence me more?
M. Laitman: So, I'm saying, I don't see an external action, an escape from internal action, because the external action brings us to think: what am I really doing, did I do anything? I cannot engage in internality itself, proper, I have to have it through some external expression. There's no other choice, that is why, well, you see, as much as we talk about it — I don't know how I think about it or not — doing it in practice, in externality, no. But internally, we think about it, we care about it, I don't know how much. I don't see that people nevertheless understand that social change has to be permanent. Change, again, relative to me, to my, I, if a society doesn't change each time more and more from one shape to another, from how I change internally, from one state to the next, from one desire to another. With any desire that awakens in me, anywhere I change inside from state to state, the society has to appear externally as greater for me, corresponding to my internality.
Student: Again, you're describing internal changes, not external changes?
M. Laitman: These are internal changes and for the internal changes to take place, I have to also do something, perhaps in externality.
Student: But how not to fall to the state where I'm changing this with that?
M. Laitman: How not to fall into a state where one replaces the other? If you work in it, then gradually you begin to feel what is the motivation, what I'm just replacing it?. For example, your face, it doesn't look right to me, let's take him out of the group, why? I don't like his face. Or I'm going to now discuss with my friends that you, something is wrong about you. So we check: you're not okay, or we're not okay relative to you, or our state is not okay, or something else. As much as Rabash wrote, he didn't write more than that, the rest we somehow need to check, to scrutinize what to do. The problem is not to do it correctly or incorrectly, to want to change. I didn't see in me change from yesterday to today. Yesterday, when I looked at society, and today when I'm looking at society, it seems to me the same, nothing changed. Some people came, some did not, the same state from yesterday is today. It's what I feel through my own senses, so if a person agrees to it, then it's a sign that today, compared to yesterday, is not about to advance.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:08) But does the person have the intellect to govern such a thing, of how one is advancing?
M. Laitman: If a person doesn't think about it, he doesn't sharpen his senses for that, he will never feel how he is relative to society. And consequently will not come to the feeling of how he is doing relative to the Creator. We are nevertheless moving forward, but at what pace? Certainly, the surrounding light is working, and those who are here are walking toward the goal but I'm talking about realizing it in the most beneficial way. I'm not saying we should shut it down and go home, we're advancing, and then how? But compared to what we can do, we're moving like a turtle. I'm asking about Friday, if you can bring young people, Israeli especially, we're going to have this exercise. For example, we need to publish four books, so this decision, in what way it should look: the book jacket, the photograph, the letters, the name, the font. We'll see how to make the right decision. We don't know in advance what should be, we don't know what's good for the audience, we don't know how to do it, we're not experts. Just the way we are in spirituality, we're standing in front of this fog and we have no idea, no understanding: how from this state can we still make the right decision. Let's see how we will do it!
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Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson, and what from it we're taking to implement in the Ten, then we’ll move to the next part of the lesson but first, sing a song!
Song: (01:25:41)