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

Daily Lesson (Morning) February 1, 2026

Part 1: Rav a Recorded Lesson 05/24/2002. 

Rabash. What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work? Art.43. (1991) 

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a lesson with Rav from May 24, 2002. It's based on the article, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen, in the Work?” This is from Rabash, we'll read the article together in the Ten. Tens who finish before the time can start a workshop about the main points from the article.

Reading: (00:54) Rabash, What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work?

It is known that the order of the work in order to achieve the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, is in two manners:

1) The manner of the “mind,” which is faith above reason, is a manner that is called “against reason.” That is, the reason of a person determines whether something is worth doing or not. According to the rule that one cannot go against reason, it follows that a person takes upon himself to serve the Creator even if the mind does not understand that it is worthwhile. And yet, a person takes upon himself faith in the sages, who determined for us how to serve the Creator.

They said that we must follow the rules of the Torah and not according to the intellect, and this is called “mind.”

2) The manner of the “heart,” meaning the will to receive, and he must work against the desire, meaning work and do things in order to obtain the desire to bestow. This is called “heart.”

Since man, by nature, is born with a will to receive for himself, when he wants to work in order to bestow, he is shown so he will know that the will to receive is bad. However, he must not see right away how much the will to receive controls him, meaning to know how bad it is and that it controls us to the point that one is unable to emerge from its control by himself.

If one were to see the power of the evil within him, and how far he is from the Creator because of this evil, he would say, “The control of the evil in me is bigger than in the rest of the people, so how can I defeat it? I am wasting my effort since it will all go to waste, for I see no way out of the control of the will to receive, and the will to receive is all the bad, meaning the only obstructor from achieving Dvekut [adhesion] and equivalence of form. Therefore, it is better for me to escape this campaign.

But since the bad is not shown at once, but bit by bit, by giving him an ascent, so he thinks he no longer has any bad, since during the ascent he feels that he is close to the Creator and no longer needs the Creator to help him anymore because he thinks that he will remain in this accent forever, for now he sees that everything is folly and all that matters is nearing the Creator, but since a person should see all the bad within him, so he can pray with all his heart, for only then does he have a complete Kli [vessel], meaning a real lack, he therefore receives a descent from above.

In other words, he is shown some more of the evil that is found in the will to receive, and which he did not think about. This continues repeatedly and each time, a little more evil is revealed to him. If he does not escape the campaign, when he reaches the bottom of his evil, the Creator gives him the required help, which comes to him in order to save him from the control of the evil within him. At that time, a person is rewarded with the desire to bestow, called “second nature,” and then he receives the “opening of the eyes in the Torah.”

It therefore follows that it is not as one thinks about how the order of the work should be according to his view. Rather, the Creator has a different order. It should be said about this, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55). In other words, a person understands that the order of the world is that a person learns some science or profession, and each day he advances and understands more and more until he grasps his field of expertise in full.

Therefore, once he is accustomed to the work, as he received while learning, meaning that all that we should work on is the practice. In other words, one is taught to take upon himself faith, to believe in the Creator, and believe in the sages who set up for us the way by which to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and all that one needs to remember while engaging in Torah and Mitzvot is that he is observing the Mitzvot of the Creator, who commanded us through Moses and sages that followed him, and by this we will be rewarded in this world and in the next world. This is the manner of the beginning of man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot.

This is called “work in practice,” meaning that one should remember while observing Torah and Mitzvot, that he is observing the commandment of the Creator. This is called “work of the general public.” This is also called “still of Kedusha [holiness].”

Afterward, when he is accustomed to work in practice and gladly observes it, since he was rewarded with observing the Mitzvot of the Creator, we can speak of the intention. However, before one observes the Torah and Mitzvot like the general public, meaning in practice, we cannot speak to that person about the intention. This is as Maimonides said, that the intention, which is called Lishma [for Her sake], is not revealed to any person. Rather, “Until they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are shown that secret bit by bit.”

This means that Israel in general, which are called “still of Kedusha,” faith shines for them as “Surrounding Light,” and from this, a person can observe Torah and Mitzvot in practice. However, those who are still not observing Torah and Mitzvot even in the manner of the general public, it is certainly impossible to speak with them about the intention.

Conversely, those who are fine in terms of the general public, yet feel an inner drive that there is also the matter of intention, since they heard that there is also the matter of having to do all the deeds for the sake of the Creator, called Lishma, a desire awakens in their hearts to be among the people who engage in Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator.

There are several interpretations concerning “for the sake of the Creator.” 1) He engages in Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator, meaning he is not observing Torah and Mitzvot for respect or for money, but only because the Creator commanded us through Moses, that we must observe His Mitzvot. This is why we observe and not for respect or for money. It follows that this is called “for the sake of the Creator,” meaning because the Creator commanded us to observe the Torah and Mitzvot.

However, in return for this, a person wants the Creator to reward him, as our sages said, “You can trust your landlord to reward you for your work” (Avot, Chapter 2:21).

There is a second meaning to the matter of “for the sake of the Creator.” Self-benefit is not the reason that obligates him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, but the importance and greatness of the Creator obligates him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. In other words, the reason he wants to engage in Torah and Mitzvot is to serve the King and observe His commandments.

It follows that the reward is not the reason, as we explained about the first manner of “for the sake of the Creator,” where the reason why he observes Torah and Mitzvot is his desire that the Creator will reward him, since he does not observe Torah and Mitzvot for people, but he works in concealment so that no one knows of his work in Torah and Mitzvot but the Creator, so he wants the Creator to reward him. It follows that self-benefit is the reason.

But when he wants to work only because of the greatness of the King, this is called “for the sake of the Creator,” meaning that the intention of the reward is that he is serving the Creator. This is as it is written in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 191), “that he should fear the Creator (which is why he observes Torah and Mitzvot) because He is great and rules over everything.

”

It therefore follows that precisely when one works not in order to receive reward, but his intention is for the sake of the Creator, namely that the greatness of the Creator obligates him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, this is called Lishma. That is, it is not the reward but the greatness of the Creator that is the reason why he observes Torah and Mitzvot. Therefore, we should ask, What does it mean that they said, “You can trust your landlord to reward you for your work” if the person is not working for a reward?

We should interpret that those who work not in order to receive reward, it means that they want to work in order to bestow. However, the body objects to this and they cannot overcome the will to receive for themselves. Yet, they desire this and pray to the Creator to help them be able to work without any reward. At that time, the Creator hears their prayer and gives them a second nature, called “desire to bestow,” and this is their reward, that they are rewarded with working only for the sake of the Creator.

However, we should know that precisely when one begins to work in order to bestow, when he wants to achieve this degree, since it is against nature and one cannot come to this by himself, but the Creator must give him the desire to bestow, since there is a rule that there is no filling without a lack, for it is impossible to fill something where there is no receptacle, called “lack,” and since the lack over inability to perform acts of bestowal is also not in one’s hands to feel, but this feeling, that a person must work in order to bestow, a person asks, “For what purpose do I want to perform acts of bestowal?” So one must first feel that without the desire to bestow he is deficient, meaning separated from the Creator due to disparity of form.

Yet, this, too, one cannot feel, but rather this, too, meaning the feeling of the evil that exists in the will to receive for oneself, that by this he becomes separated from the Creator, this, too, he cannot understand, since he asks, “What will you get out of doing everything in order to bestow?” With these questions, he loses the desire and the need to do everything in order to bestow.

Thus, precisely through the light in the Torah, which shines for a person even when he learns Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], this light gives a person the ability to feel the lack and the need to obtain the desire to bestow.

However, one is not shown all the bad that is in the will to receive, but is shown a little bit each time. After each descent, when he sees that he is separated and has no desire to work, he is given an ascent. And after each ascent he gets another descent until all the bad is revealed to him. Then, once he has a complete lack, he receives from above the desire to bestow. But in the middle of the work, when a person suffers a descent, he wants to escape from the campaign.

This state is called Achoraim [posterior/back], meaning that the faith he draws in the work does not illuminate for him, and he understands that the Creator should behave with him as he understands, yet the Creator does what He wants, and not what the person wants—who thinks that the order in the work should be similar to every profession that a person learns, and that each day he advances. Here, however, a person sees that each day he is regressing, meaning each day, he sees that he is in a state of Achoraim. But in truth, the Creator behaves with him as He thinks, and not as the person thinks.

Accordingly, we see that the order of the work is opposite from man’s view, for man understands that by having an ascent in degree each time, he will achieve the completion of the goal, but the Creator thinks to the contrary—since if a person were to remain in a state of ascent, he would think of himself as complete.

That is, he would not see any deficiency in his work, and then he would remain in a state of still. He would not feel that the bad in him due to the will to receive is bad, since he would not see that it obstructs him from engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, and he would not know what is Achoraim, meaning what it means that the Torah and Mitzvot do not shine.

Rather, he would always be happy that he is serving the Creator and observing His commandments. There is a rule that from above, no redundancies are given, meaning that when one does not feel that he is missing the essence, it is forbidden to give him extras.

There is a rule that when a person is deficient on life’s necessities, meaning when he is deficient of the breath of life, called “Dvekut with the Creator,” called “whole faith,” it cannot be said that he should be given extras, namely things that a person does not feel he needs, and without which he cannot live. In spirituality, this is called “extras.” That is, precisely when a person asks the Creator to give him something that he needs so much, to the point that without it, his life is worthless, this is called “necessity,” and this is called “a real desire,” meaning a lack that is worthy of being satisfied. But if his desire is not as great, it is regarded as “redundancies.”

Therefore, when one is satisfied with Torah and Mitzvot in practice, it cannot be said that he should be given a greater degree, since he is not so needy of salvation. It follows that one cannot ascend the rungs of holiness unless he feels that he is in utter lowliness. This is called “a state of Achoraim.” Thus, when he is in a state of Achoraim, he can receive a Kli [vessel], called “desire to receive help from above.” And the help that comes from above is called “a soul,” as it is written in The Zohar, “He who comes to purify is aided.” He asks, “With what?” and the answer is “with a holy soul.”

Each time he asks for help, he receives a greater degree until he is rewarded with attaining the NRNHY in his soul.

By this we should interpret what we asked, What is, “And you will see My back, but My face shall not be seen”? We should interpret “And you shall see.” It means that if a person wants to be rewarded with “seeing,” meaning with opening the eyes in the Torah, namely the Torah that is the names of the Creator, a person cannot be rewarded with this during an ascent, when he sees that the Torah and Mitzvot shine for him and give him satisfaction, and he wants to have a higher degree each time, as is done in corporeal matters, where each time a person sees that he is adding in obtaining what he wants, both when he learns some profession or some science. It follows that the person is always in ascent, called Panim [face/anterior].

In spirituality, it is to the contrary. Specifically from the state of Achoraim, from states that do not illuminate, meaning specifically from descents, when more bad appears in him each time, meaning the measure of the bad in the will to receive, how it obstructs one from achieving the goal for which he was created. This is so because a person cannot receive help from the Creator unless in a state where he feels the real deficiency. It follows that a person cannot say that the Creator is not looking at him when he sees that he is regressing. Rather, this Achoraim that a person feels comes from above. That is, the Creator has given him help by his seeing the bad that is in the will to receive.

It follows that the person is advancing, but not according to the person’s view, but according to the Creator’s view, as it is written, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts.” This means that the Creator first helps him by making him feel each time more of the measure of evil that is in the will to receive, for as said above, it is impossible to reveal to him all the bad at once, but each time, a small amount is revealed in him, since if a person sees all the bad at once, he will escape the campaign. Therefore, it is revealed to him little by little until he sees its real measure. At that time he has a real need for His help, and then he is rewarded with extending the NRNHY in his soul.

This is the meaning of what is written, “And you will see My back.” Precisely through the states of Achoraim can one be rewarded with the goal.

By this we can interpret what is written (Deuteronomy 7:7), “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the least of all peoples.”

We should ask, What does this come to teach us? Does anyone think that the people of Israel are more numerous than all the nations, so the verse comes to tell us so we will not be mistaken that the Creator chose us because the people of Israel are more numerous than all the nations? Rather, we should interpret that when we speak of the work, whether we speak of Israel, or whether we speak of the nations of the world, we are speaking within the same person, as it is written in The Zohar, “Every person is a small world in and of itself.”

Therefore, we should interpret that sometimes, a person is in a state where the quality of Israel within him is greater than the quality of the nations of the world in him. In other words, he is in a state of ascent. This is so when he feels that he is complete in Torah and Mitzvot. Therefore, by this one can be rewarded with the love of the Creator, since it makes sense that when one feels that he is walking in the right path, according to one’s view, when he is working in the manner of the general public, and because of this the Creator should love him, to this comes the answer, “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people.”

The question is, Why does the Creator not favor a person when he feels that he is serving the Creator in completeness? The answer is as said above, that the person does not need the Creator’s help in order to be rewarded with the Creator’s love, since he feels that he is complete in terms of the practice, that he is a “still of Kedusha.”

But the verse says, I favor you “for you were the least of all peoples.” In other words, specifically from the state where you feel that you are the least of all the peoples, that all the desires of the nations of the world govern you, and the Israel in you does not merit a name, and you see the bad within you to its true extent, then you pray that I will help you. And since now you have a real need, since you feel how far you are from doing anything in order to bestow, then comes the right time to help you, since then you are asking for necessity and not for extras.

In a state of ascent, a person does not need the Creator to help him, except for extras, as it is written, “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people,” for then you do not need Me for necessities, since your state is “more in number than any people,” and you feel that you are governing the evil in you in the quality of the general public, which is the practice. So why did the Creator want you? It is precisely from the states where you are “the least of all peoples,” when the nations of the world govern the quality of Israel in you, and you cry out to Me, “Help!” with all your hearts.

Then I love you, and only then can I keep all that I promised the forefathers concerning the inheritance of the land, for now you have the Kelim [vessels] to receive My blessing, meaning vessels of bestowal, for when one has vessels of bestowal, he can receive the blessing from above.

It follows from all the above, that a person does not need to be impressed when during the descent, the bad comes to him to argue with him, and makes him think, “You see that you are not advancing in the work, so I advise you to run from this path, which is work of bestowal, and go work in the manner that the general public work, meaning only in practice.” This is the time of choice—to overcome and say, “Now I see the truth, how far I am from the Creator and only He can help,” and to believe what is written, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth,” meaning even though he is not worthy of being helped, the Creator still helps. Therefore, he says, “I will certainly get help from above, since I feel that the help that the Creator will give me now is truly “reviving the dead.” But if a person is not rewarded, he escapes from the campaign and says that this work belongs to those who are gifted, but he is unfit for it. Yet, our sages said about this, “The ways of the Lord are straight; the righteous walk in it, and the wicked fail in it.” Therefore, do not run away!

Reader: Now friends, we're going to go into a lesson with Rav from the 24th of May 2002. 

M. Laitman: (31:29) What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work? It's a very difficult article, Rabash writes it in a very abstruse manner, he hides many things in it, as if he uses such sentences that everyone else can take from him from other sources. We need to realize that Kabbalah speaks to a person, a person who lives in our world and explains to him the laws of creation. Kabbalah is the wisdom of Kabbalah, is destined, designed to explain to a person how the world is built. Not just this world, what we now feel, but all of reality that is felt in all possible states, from the state where we are in concealment to a state where we are rewarded with revelation.

So it explains to us how to unlock our senses and feel all of reality that we exist in, but we feel only a portion of it. He says that in the complete attainment of reality, our feeling divides to two parts, our attainment divides to two parts, called mind and heart. The mind is what we have to attain in the desire to bestow, which is typically called faith above reason. Why faith above reason? What I now attain is called reason, that's knowing, and I attain a certain special layer of reality that based on my vessels, my understanding, my perception, I can perceive and feel. If I want to be awarded a higher degree, meaning understand more, feel more, see more, then I need what we call “faith.” What's faith? Climbing somehow to a higher degree. How do I rise from degree to degree? If I'm built with my senses, with my ability, the way I now see, how do I acquire something I don't have? This essentially is what Kabbalah teaches the person, because rising from one degree to the next in spirituality means acquiring additional vessels which we don't initially have. This is a special vessel called “a soul,” and we were born like beasts, and we don't have that. And bit by bit, a person starts studying in the right method, and then he acquires this vessel, becoming greater and greater each time. And then in this vessel, he feels a greater reality than what people who just are born and don't develop it feel. And then what he receives in this vessel we call a soul, is called the upper world, the spiritual world. So, attaining this vessel requires the aspect of Mocha [mind], which means faith above reason. To take upon ourselves each time, in the degree that I'm in, laws of a higher degree, slightly higher than mine. And then when I absorb these laws, so within them I begin to feel a higher degree. 

M. Laitman: (35:49) How do I perceive these laws from the upper degree? There are several stages here. First stage is that I need a desire for it. The desire for it comes to me through the study. Everything comes through the study essentially, but each time the study gives me new things. It builds within me stages sometimes could be contrasting, conflicting stages, completely different outcomes, but everything is through the study. During the study, we awaken the surrounding lights, and the light that comes from above builds for me a new vessel. How does it build a new vessel?

By its illumination. This is called, “its face shines to me.” I feel upliftment, I feel an opening of my eyes, my senses, pleasure, attainment, some new sensation. And then it shows me the posterior, which is the opposite. I feel how much I don't know anything, I don't attain anything, I don't see anything. And this feeling of posterior, after the face when I suddenly fall and deteriorate, this feeling is worse than what I've ever felt in my previous life, because I didn't have any ups and downs, I didn't feel light or darkness. Why? Because now for the first time a deficiency was created in me. I've tasted something of the upper degree, and now when I don't taste it I don't just descend to the state I was in before without gaining this new insight, this new sensation of the upper degree, rather now I feel who I am without that degree. It's not that I just feel the lower degree. Along with the lower degree I also feel a deficiency for the upper degree, from the higher more illuminated state that I somewhat felt. And then it ruins my life I descend, I don't feel anything, I feel despair, helplessness, just desperate.

And after, I nevertheless continue to study and carry out the framework in a general external way. Internally I'm dead certainly, but I'm still under this light that sort of pours on me from above, and I participate in the studies, and bit by bit the light once again gives me an ascent, gives me a feeling of openness. It opens my senses, I once again feel somewhat of the upper degree again. And through these ups and downs pictures of the higher degree begin to shape, to be painted within me. To attain the upper degree, I'm going to need many such ups and downs.

Now- again I don't understand, I don't feel, but these ups and downs are still to me mostly about my mood I feel better or worse I awaken towards spirituality the study- something, or I fall back to indifference. But in truth, each and every time, through these inner changes there are discernments that we still don't feel, they are always with respect to other discernments of the higher degree, the upper degree. And I have to collect all these discernments, gather them, and then I enter that upper degree permanently. Because every degree includes within it many details. And for each and every detail I need an ascent and descent, an ascent and descent. And then, after many ascents and descents a person merits an upper degree permanently.

Then, with respect to the still higher degree it happens in the same way. Then each time that he ascends it means that he attains a greater desire to bestow. This means that every degree concludes with what we call “recognition of evil,” that I am an egoist, opposite to the light. And in this way I suffer. And feeling that I suffer from being in a desire that is only to receive and is opposite to the light, I feel that that's not worthwhile. Then this quality in me that I only want to think of myself and not the light, not the Creator, the upper force, I determine for myself that this is evil, that this is bad, because I lose from it.

So we're talking about feeling in our senses and determining facts according to our rational mind. Not about some states where a person as if is floating in air or doing things that aren't being examined or not knowing exactly what's happening to him.

M. Laitman: (42:20) Meaning, only after the recognition of evil that a person feels through his evil that is where he always wants to pull to himself because that separates him from the upper force, and that is the worst, and it's not worthwhile.

So he determines that his ego is bad for him. And to the extent that he feels that it's bad for him, he wants to let go of it, to relinquish it. That inner aversion to the will to receive essentially distances him from the will to receive. And to that extent he begins to acquire qualities from the light- from the desire to bestow.

So each time we change ourselves, no one needs to change themselves by force. We can't use our hands or legs or some device, like a surgeon that will put in some chip within us, like in a computer, or do some surgery on us. That's not possible. It is according to how much a person attains that his present evil, his present nature is evil and he wants to change it to good. Then he certainly gains it. And again I say that each and every time he attains these matters, he attains it as written, “You shall  see my backside, my posterior, and not my face.” Meaning through the feeling, the decision that his state is a bad state, and the advanced state- the higher state is a good state, and it is more worthwhile, and that's how we advance.

So ultimately, after all this knowledge, and we can hear a lot more about that,then we can only make a simple single conclusion that the outcomes come only as a result of the correct study. During the study if a person truly thinks of the goal - what's he studying for as much as he studies and how he studies, and what is bad for him in life, and what would you like to attain- through these questions- that are sometimes more clear and sometimes less - it doesn't matter so much - but what's important is that the study is built in such a way that if one is in it, he receives an illumination from above, and then it already brings the person all of the order of transformation.

We can read a thousand articles and read a thousand times each article, and still a person before he feels something new, he doesn't know what's written. Before he has attained something internal, the article stays external. Meaning these articles just as all the books of Kabbalah, they're written in such a way that they have to bring the person's surrounding light. Meaning, we learn, we hear, we read, only in order to actually benefit from the outcomes of this surrounding light that influences us during the study. As we talk about it, think about it, study it - the result of the light upon us is what we're waiting for. And the intellect here is the last thing. The intellect is just to feel that we're connected to some material so it's easier for us to discuss it, but it's really just a rope by which we tie ourselves to the book. All the rest comes through the influence of the light on our desire. Any questions?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:56) How can we shorten processes? How can we reduce, shorten, the descents as well as the ascents, it doesn't matter. How do we do it as quickly as possible?

M. Laitman: He's asking wisely because he's hearing, he's here for a while. Certainly, because our soul, each and everyone's soul, descends from the source of souls all the way to the degree of this world, meaning it becomes broken. It's broken through 620 times called degrees, or transgressions. And we need to arrive while we're living here to the place from which the soul has descended, which means rising through 620 degrees. Every degree we rise, meaning we correct our state that was broken in the soul - we correct it. That means we rise onto that degree. So within me there are 620 corruptions. Each time I correct something I feel in it the spiritual world more. If I corrected more- another corruption I feel the spiritual world more. Until I return to the root of my soul where I was before I was given this, my broken soul. This means from this picture you understand, right, there's what's called the source or the origin of the soul that's in the world of Atzilut. We could put it in a diagram to make it easier. You have the world of Atzilut. Here are the souls. All the souls essentially are called Adam HaRishon. From here each and every soul descends through the worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya down to this world. And here we are. And from our state of the souls, we have 620 degrees, which are also called Mitzvot. If so, it's clear that each and every one whose soul descends to this world becomes broken 620 times, has to make corrections correspondingly when rising upwards. So each and every one already has a paved path that he cannot change. He has to undergo the same degrees in the opposite way. Meaning you can't shorten or skip or add. That's why it is said, don't add or subtract regarding the Mitzvot, which is impossible- meaning you're doing the same actions. What's important is how to not waste time, so that each and every action we do or think, in our hands and legs or mind and heart, whatever we can all our possible vessels, all of my being, how will I do the maximum to complete it and finish it. Right? That's the most desired thing, and that is what we can actually help here. Meaning, if we participate more in the study and everything related to the study then we attract a greater, stronger surrounding light, and then it makes faster actions in us. And still, you can't jump through a few degrees, skip a few steps or actions. Rather, you can make it so that the actions happen very frequently. There are such stories in Hassidic books and others where a student tells his Rav, I today say, in half an hour in the morning I felt ten ups and downs, and the Rav tells the student, and I felt 400. Meaning, from such stories where we run into them here and there, you can see that's the difference basically, meaning the difference is how much can a person put himself under a stronger influence.

M. Laitman: (52:24) Essentially, the surrounding light comes as a result of study, but the concept of study includes a lot of details. You have to approach the right book, and before that, you have to come to it with the right preparation you are truly demanding this surrounding light. You want it, you want it to correct you. You already feel an inner deficiency. It's not that you pinch yourself, and then you feel bad. You've made the preparation so that it's very important to you. These things also require some preliminary study and some other influences. Ultimately, everything is done by the surrounding light. And even if you do the maximum effort, let's say, theoretically, that you're just locked on it 100%, still, it won't be sufficient to advance in a way that is reasonable, because when we are here in this world, then each and every soul is separate from the other souls. And here we exist as a single soul, Adam HaRishon. Therefore, if you wish to advance, then every degree you go upwards. So in this lower degree, let's say, in this world, you're on your own, and your neighbor is also alone, but on the upper degree, you're already together. In an even higher degree, it's as if you and another soul come together. You understand? Until all the souls sort of accumulate from thousands and thousands of souls into one soul, which means that the more you advance, the more you have to care about connection between the souls. Or the opposite. In order to advance, you will have to connect with others. What does it mean? That if the light shines from above, it shines in a way that if you connect with more and more and more people during the study, then the light that comes to you can be the same light that comes to everyone, because on the upper degree you're connected. If so, if you connect here on the level of this world, by some external actions with your friends, then you already merit ten times or a hundred times more. Essentially to the extent that you cause this world to connect together and get closer to the root of the souls, to that extent, you are awarded with the surrounding light that influences these souls. That's why dissemination and connection in the group are things that, without them, you can't achieve the sufficient surrounding light to pull us upwards. That's why we engage in that, meaning anything that you see here actually has a reason. Otherwise we wouldn't do it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:25) Is there a difference in the work we need to do between a state when we are in an ascent and a state when we're in a descent? Meaning when we're running toward the goal and when we don't feel like it? 

M. Laitman: Yes, certainly, according to that if a person feels an upliftment and a desire for Kabbalah and all those things, or suddenly he has dissent and indifference, then he behaves accordingly. But in order to save time we have to care about the states where we have lack of strength, lack of desire. Power is an outcome of desire. That's one. And two, the truth is that only in the states where we are in despair and dissent and lack of desire, in those states we can gain. Because when you're given an awakening, you're given it from above. It's the influence of the light. It's not your achievements, essentially.

However, when you're in lack of light, as a result you have lack of strength and desire.
Now, if you make any kind of movement, effort, it brings a lot of outcome. And that effort you also can't do on your own, because you are a result, we're all a result of the force of the light that shines on us. If the light stops, we die completely. If it shines less, we are sick. If it shines more, we're healthy. If it shines more, we want godliness, and so forth. And so, in a state where it reduces its power, shines less, I have nothing I can do. Meaning, my body automatically reacts in a way that I just want to lie down. Then how can I awaken myself? By the society. Meaning, if I carry myself to the study, through them or on my own, doesn't matter, but I participate next to them, and they are now in the reception of the light; not everyone is messed up as I am, some have an upliftment. And then, when I connect with them on a corporeal level, just like that, I receive a little bit of the light that is poured on them, some force, and then I emerge to a better state. And that's already my achievement. It's my gain that I gained on my own, and that gives me much more progress than if I just waste time and wait until I have something good. Meaning, the work in the group helps. In the good state, I receive, let's say, there's 150 people here, so, I receive from everyone. And in each one there's no stopping, no cessation in spirituality. Everyone receives from the collective light that descends on us now. And also in a state where I'm incapable.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:49) This collective soul, is that the Shechina? 

M. Laitman: The collective soul is the Shechina, yes. 

Student: Is it also called the soul of Adam HaRishon? 

M. Laitman: The soul of Adam HaRishon and the Shechina is not exactly the same thing. Because the soul of Adam HaRishon is when we talk about the soul in its various states. And Shechina, we say with regard to the collective soul in its corrected form. Meaning that it already exists there, in a way that we will feel in the future. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:26) You spoke about the aspect of Mocha, mind. And in connection with that, that the demand of the desire is to bestow there. And then in the aspect of Liba, heart, that it goes against the desire. In the aspect of mind, it is above reason. So, what's the difference between above reason and against the desire? 

M. Laitman: I find it a bit difficult to explain clearly to beginners what is mind and heart. I just want you to understand that as much as we think of these two definitions, it's not that simple. Let's say that the heart means the will to receive. That we need to go against the desire. Give me an example of going against the desire. 

Student: For instance, in the morning, I don't want to get up.

M. Laitman: You don't want to get up, and you still do it. So, why is that against the desire? You have several desires. You make a calculation. If I follow this desire to stay home, I'll suffer blows. I should go to work and then I'll have some money to hang out in the evening. So you don't want to get up, but in order to hang out in the evening you get up and go to work, right? So you're going against the desire? Not according to one desire, but according to another desire? So it's the same thing here. There's a calculation. It's like going to a store. I want to buy something, but what does it mean to buy? I don't want to pay, but he doesn't want to give to me. He only wants my money, and I want the shirt. So what do I do? So, I give up on some of my desire, and he gives up on his, and then we trade. So in everything, we have a calculation of worthiness. That doesn't mean that I go against the desire. How can there be a state? Is there a state we can give as an example of doing something against the desire? 

Student: Against the desire. It's what he writes. That we want this thing of bestowal. 

M. Laitman: So, only one thing can be against the desire. Where I see a phenomena in which I cannot make an exchange whatsoever, like I do with a sales person or with myself, where instead of using one point I'm using the other. And this can only be the desire to bestow. There's a desire to bestow, so suddenly I start to see what is this, and I see it's so against my desire, I cannot change. Because what I exchange, I exchange one desire to receive for another desire to receive. Is it worthwhile for me to receive the desire to receive, to lay down all day and exchange it for a desire to have fun at night? So, I need to work a little bit during the day. Meaning, I'm replacing the will to receive for the will to receive. A small pleasure for another greater pleasure. And then I work in this, convincing myself that it's worthwhile for, let's say, ten years of studying, let's say it's worthwhile to become a professor, a professor is honorable, a professor has a lot of money, let's say, yes. So I need to convince myself that I should toil in order to receive a greater pleasure. Why? Meaning, I need to wash my mind and brainwash myself to become a professor that is a greater pleasure than being a laborer. But nevertheless, I'm just exchanging one desire upon the other where both are reception. And then I can say that I'm not working against the desire. Like in the praying, they bring us all kinds of nonsense, and convince us that we need it for it to give us pleasure. So, I go to attain it, and I'm willing to work to do this, yes? This is not considered working against the desire; it's the desire that the TV screen is bringing me that gives me all kinds of these examples, yes? Now, the work against the desire is only to the work in acquiring the desire to bestow, because it's completely the opposite, and I can't make such a trade with Him. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:15) It sounds as if you're still doing it with your nature.

M. Laitman: Yes. Until we cross the barrier, we don't exit this world to the spiritual world, then even the desire to bestow is felt in us in the desire to receive. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:41) And why is it that when he first feels a desire to bestow, there's immediately a sensation? Why doesn't that sensation grow in him, and then the development would be immediate? Why does he seem to feel the Achoraim, the posterior all the time, this state of bestowal, so why doesn't he advance? 

M. Laitman: The soul that is in us includes many parts, and each and every part, I need to feel in it its essence, its nature, its measure of corruption, and its measure of correction, which I need to do. Without me feeling that, without me learning this well and feeling it I won't be able to enjoy it. I need from every fruit that comes to me in the final correction, and they’re already at the root of my soul. I need against every feeling there, feel all the deficiencies, in all their manners, and this can't be given at once. Some great light, and then darkness, and then a person sees and knows what's going on, because the general feeling is made of many, or endless individual thoughts and feelings. 

Student:  In every degree there are 620 ... ?

M. Laitman: In every degree there are 620 such distinguishments, or discernments that reach the depth of 620 discernments from the lower degree. We'll talk about this, they're very complex things. Altogether, what I want to say is that by the light during the study, we arrange or sort ourselves in a way that is correct. This is the actual, only thing, the means by which we attain the goal. All things we're obligated with, yes, all the conditions, this that's all around. The light only comes when a person studies. Not studies, you know sits next to the book. You know a page a day, it doesn't matter. He studies a page a day that's enough. But how much did he prepared himself for that page a day. There's people that can study for 20 hours, there's people who are working to work for 20 hours and only study half an hour, and no more. That's not important. Altogether, each according to his nature will use and will receive the surrounding light maximally, as much as he deserves. It doesn't matter, he can work half an hour, and study, and five hours to work, and then dissemination, and teaching, and all kinds of things there, yes? And the other way around also. It doesn't matter really, all that's asked is the sum of the labours, we call it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:49) How does a person feel what is the right and effective study if he constantly feels the posterior? 

M. Laitman: When a person feels that he's in a state of posterior, he doesn't feel any advancement. But if he feels the posterior, it's a sign that he's working in them. If he feels that he's like in despair, in a deficiency, and he's not left, he's not letting the feeling of forgetfulness or something. He goes like an animal in the street. It's a sign that he's in the process, and to the extent to which he arranges the process in a more effective way to work on, then he will progress. 

Student: That's his work. 

M. Laitman: That's his work. I can work in despair for several months, and it could be that after a few hours, I exit it. This depends on the way I relate to the friends. Let them take me to some pub, really, let them have a discussion with me, draw me to some place, you understand? In short, the society can do whatever they want with me. If it's a society altogether in general studies, they can take me and forcefully take me out of that state, and it will be considered as I have done this, because in any other case, I would do it like that for them, okay? 

Reader: Now friends, let's share impressions from the lesson, and what we take from it to implement in the ten. Six minutes, please. 

Reader: Now we’ll move to the next part of the lesson, and before that, we'll sing a song together. 

Song: (01:17:01)