The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: February 7, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 29, 1990. What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person’s Strength,” in the Work?
Original lesson date: 03-24-2003
Reader: Hello dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we will learn a lesson from Rav, in 2003, about the article, “What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person's Strength,” in the Work?” We will read it together in the Tens. Tens that finish before the time is up are invited to do a workshop about the main points from the article.
We're reading in Hebrew, it's page Ten98 in the second volume of the writings of Rabash.
The article is, What is the Torah Exhausts a Person's Strength in the Work?
Reading: (00:58) What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person’s Strength,” in the Work?
Article No. 29, 1990
Our sages said (Sanhedrin 26b), “Rabbi Hanin said, ‘Why is the name of the Torah Tushia [gumption/resourcefulness]? It is because she Mateshet [exhausts] a person’s strength.’” We should understand this. After all, our sages said (Avot, Chapter 6:7), “Great is the Torah, for she gives life to those who make her, as it was said, ‘For they are life to those who find them, and a healing to all his flesh.’” They also said (Iruvin 54), “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah; if his throat aches, let him engage in Torah; if his stomach aches, let him engage in Torah, as was said, ‘a healing to all his flesh.’” Thus, this contradicts the above said.
To understand this, we must first understand what is the Torah. That is, for what purpose did the Creator give us the Torah? Our sages said (Kidushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” This seems to mean that if there were no evil inclination, He would not create the Torah, as it is written, “I have created the Torah as a spice.” Can it be said that the Torah was created for the evil inclination?
The Zohar says (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1): “The Mitzvot in the Torah are called Pekudin [Aramaic: commands/deposits], as well as 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels/tips]. The difference between them is that in all things there is Panim [anterior/face] and Achor [posterior/back].
The preparation for something is called Achor, and the attainment of the matter is called Panim. Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] there are ‘We shall do’ and ‘We shall hear.’ When observing Torah and Mitzvot as ‘doers of His word,’ prior to being rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the Mitzvot are called ‘613 Eitin,’ and are regarded as Achor. When rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the 613 Mitzvot become Pekudin, from the word Pikadon [deposit]. This is so because there are 613 Mitzvot, where in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], the light of a unique degree is deposited, opposite a unique organ in the 613 organs and tendons of the soul and of the body.”
According to the above, it means that the Torah and Mitzvot are discerned in two degrees:
1) An advice, as it is written, “613 Eitin.” That is, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, they will have the strength to cancel the evil inclination. By this we should interpret what is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, the Torah is considered a spice for the evil inclination. In The Zohar, this is called “613 Eitin.”
2) Torah for the sake of Torah, which are regarded as 613 Pekudin.
This Torah is the names of the Creator. We attain this Torah after we have corrected our actions and can work in order to bestow and not for our own sake.
However, when beginning to walk toward attainment of the vessels of bestowal, we said that for this we need the Torah as Eitin, called 613 Eitin. There is also work before this, namely the first manner in which we begin to observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and this is the first discernment.
The second manner is when we want to work Lishma [for Her sake]. At that time, we must do everything we can in order to achieve Lishma, meaning to be able to come to do everything in order to bestow.
Afterward, we arrive at the third manner, when we are rewarded with the Torah, called “the names of the Creator,” which The Zohar calls “613 Pekudin.”
Therefore, when beginning to observe Torah and Mitzvot in the first manner, meaning in Lo Lishma and in order to receive reward, as it is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation”), The beginning of man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot is because of reward and punishment in this world, or reward and punishment in the next world. In this state, he still does not need the Torah and Mitzvot as Eitin.
Rather, to the extent that he believes in reward and punishment, the reward and punishment obligate him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, and not because of the advice, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” where the Torah is the counsel against the evil inclination within man, and the man wants to emerge from its control. That is, a person wants to emerge from self-love and do everything for the sake of the Creator, and this is why he observes Torah and Mitzvot. Instead, the will to receive for himself obligates him to observe Torah and Mitzvot.
Thus, what does “From Lo Lishma we come to Lishma” mean? since we see no connection between a person observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to receive reward, that should make it a springboard for him to shift from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Our sages said, “because the light in it reforms him.” That is, the light in the Torah shines to a person so he will feel that he is not regarded as human, but that he is like any other animal, as it is written (Yevamot 61), “You are called ‘man,’ and the idol-worshippers are not called ‘man.’”
By this we should interpret what we asked, What does it mean that they said, “Why is the Torah called Tushia?” It is because she exhausts a person’s strength. But they said the opposite: “a healing to all his flesh.”
The meaning is that when a person learns Lo Lishma, the Torah makes him feel that the quality of “man” in him is very weak. That is, the “man” power within him is very weak and he is like all other animals. But what is the form that the man sees? It is that the “man” in him is very weak.
We know that the main difference between man and beast is that a beast has no sensation of the other. This is called “will to receive only for one’s own sake.” This is also called “evil.”
In other words, the will to receive for oneself is called “evil’ because the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment were on it, so that no light of Kedusha [holiness] may reach into this will to receive. Since this will to receive is all that interferes, so we cannot receive the delight and pleasure that He wished to give to the created beings, this is why it is called “evil,” or “evil inclination.”
However, it is difficult to understand why when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot with the aim, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” it bring a person the feeling that there is evil in him, meaning that he was happy at the time of ascent, and then he suffered a descent and feels the bad in him, and why does he have many descents?
It is because the Torah is the spice for the evil inclination. Thus, why do we not see that the evil inclination loses its power? Instead, each time, the evil appears anew. We see that there are many descents when we begin to walk on the path of doing everything in order to bestow. That is, each time, the evil is renewed with greater forcefulness than before he began the work with the aim to achieve a state where all his actions are for the sake of the Creator.
The thing is that the part of the will to receive for himself that is called “evil” has already been cancelled in him, yet there are other parts that he has not cancelled through the light in the Torah.
We can understand this through an allegory. Let us say that the will to receive contains 100 kilograms of pleasure. Yet, a person cannot cancel 100 kilograms of pleasure all at once. If he were to see the size of the evil within him, he would immediately escape the campaign. Therefore, this takes place gradually.
In other words, in the beginning, a person feels that he can receive one kilogram of the corporeal pleasures. When he receives an ascent, the power of the evil is cancelled in him, meaning he can overcome the one kilogram of pleasure that he felt in corporeal things. But since he must receive the strength to cancel all 100 kilograms of pleasure that there is in corporeality, and he cannot overcome 100 kilograms of pleasure right away, he is given one more kilogram of flavor for corporeality.
Consequently, he suffers a descent, since he had the power to overcome only one kilo of pleasure. When he is given a feeling of greater pleasure, he suffers a descent as a result, since he surrenders under a great pleasure. When he overcomes, which is called “an ascent,” he is made to feel three kilograms of pleasure in corporeality, until he completes all the overcoming that there is in work in order to bestow in corporeal pleasures.
Assume he can already overcome all the corporeal pleasures and work with them in order to bestow. Certainly, this requires constant help from above; otherwise, one cannot overcome even the smallest pleasure, as it is written, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day. Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not overcome it.”
However, a person must always seek help. If he were to be shown the measure of the lust in the will to receive, he would immediately see that this work is not for him. Hence, in the beginning, he is shown small flavors in corporeal lusts. But afterward, once he has received the power to overcome all the corporeal lusts, a person is rewarded with receiving spiritual lusts, where there is the matter of Masachim [screens], which is about overcoming the light of spiritual pleasures.
But there, too, it follows an order. That is, we begin, for example, from a small degree, meaning light of Nefesh. When he can receive this in order to bestow, he is given the light of Ruach, until he is rewarded with all the NRNHY, as it is written in The Zohar, “When he is born, he is given Nefesh. If he is rewarded further, he is given Ruach.”
This is as our sages said (Sukkah 52), “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” “Great” means that he has been granted an ascent in spirituality, meaning that he can already overcome a certain measure of pleasure and receive it in order to bestow. Then he is given pleasure once again, and on that measure of pleasure he is still unable to overcome.
When he is rewarded with overcoming this pleasure and becomes great again, meaning achieves Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], which is called “an ascent,” he is given an even higher degree, which he has never overcome. Therefore, now he sees that he is worse. That is, he is unable to overcome this degree.
Now, too, the same sequence takes place, where he asks the Creator to give him the strength from above to be able to overcome this great measure of will to receive, as well. This is regarded as the lower one ascending to the upper one to seek the power of the Masach [screen].
By this we should interpret what our sages said, “Why is her name Tushia? It is because she Mateshet [exhausts] a person’s strength.” That is, each time, according to his greatness, he receives a greater measure of evil. In other words, the greater the pleasure, the harder it is to overcome it. It follows that “man” means “a giver,” as it is known that “man” in Gematria is MA, and MA is called ZA, a Giver. BON is called Malchut, the receiver. MA is the male, “man,” a giver, whereas Behema [beast], which is BON in Gematria, means female, receiving and not giving.
It follows that in Gadlut, which is the greater light, it is harder to overcome. Thus, the quality of “man” grows weaker every time because each time, he has a greater light.
By this we should interpret what we asked, “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah.” According to what Baal HaSulam said, “If his head aches” means that his thoughts are not in order. “If his stomach aches” means that everything that comes into his stomach is for his will to receive. “Let him engage in Torah,” as was said, “It is a healing to all his flesh.” That is, through the Torah, he is rewarded with Gadlut because “The light in it reforms him” and he is rewarded with being great.
Afterward, he is rewarded with a higher degree on which he still did not have the power to overcome, and he must ask the Creator to be given help to be able to overcome this, as well. It follows that each time, we should speak of two opposite things.
We should always discern two sides in each degree:
1) The lower one ascending to Gadlut, which is called “an ascent” in degree. He begins to appreciate what it means to be close to the Creator. Now he understands that he should be concerned only with the benefit of the Creator, and he himself should not merit a name. That is, he does not need anything for himself and he can relinquish both corporeality and spirituality. Where it concerns his own benefit, he relinquishes, and all his actions will be only to bring contentment to his Maker. This is considered that the Torah gives life to all, as it is written, “Great is the Torah, for she gives life to who make her, and a healing to all his flesh.”
2) “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” That is, afterward, he receives a greater pleasure. In other words, as long as he has not been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he is still attached to corporeal pleasures. Then, each time, he receives a greater taste for corporeal things so he will have to overcome the will to receive for himself, for a person is not shown the measure of the pleasure that is found in corporeality because he will not be able to overcome. Rather, there is a certain measure that each one feels in corporeal pleasures.
But when a person begins to walk on the path toward doing everything in order to bestow and not for his own benefit, he is given from above more sweetness in self-love. It follows that when he begins to enter the Gadlut of the work, meaning that he wants to be among those who work in order to bestow, then each time, he is given more taste for self-love, so naturally, each time, he sees that he has more evil.
According to the above, we see that even during the preparation, when a person wants to begin to work in order to bestow, although he was still not rewarded with this, the matter of “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him” already begins. That is, when a person wants to begin the work of great ones, who engage in order to bestow, he receives many ascents in the form of “the light in it reforms him.” At that time, he is regarded as “great.”
Afterward, he is given more evil to taste, so he will ask the Creator to help him. It follows that we should make two discernments here: 1) The Torah gives him life and he becomes great. 2) Afterward, he is given bad, as said above, that “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.”
It follows that then he is in a state where through the Torah, he has become great. He came to see the truth, that the strength of the quality of “man” in him has exhausted its strength and he is like a beast, in the sense that the will to receive for himself in him grows stronger in him every time, to the extent of the good that he received from the Torah, which reforms him.
Therefore, we should explain why the name of the Torah is Tushia. It is because through the Torah, he sees that the “man” power within him is weak, and only his “beast” power has strengthened.
It is the same in spirituality. That is, once a person has been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, there is constant overcoming of his Aviut [thickness]. Each time, he must ascend to his upper one and ask for the power to overcome the will to receive, which is now greater than his strength to overcome that he has from what he received before, since now he received greater Aviut. Hence, there, too, meaning after he has been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he must always go forward in order to correct the will to receive, each according to his degree.
It therefore follows that when a person wants to begin the work of bestowal, he sees that he has only a little bit of evil. That is, he knows about himself that he has a little bit of evil. It follows, that the bad he has comes from what he knows about himself. For this reason, a person understands that he has the power to overcome by himself. Therefore, as was said, “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.”
It follows that from above, he is given the awareness of the evil, meaning that the evil that has now been revealed to him comes from above. At that time a person stands and thinks, “From where did this evil come to me? since, according to the rule, ‘The light in it reforms him,’ in the beginning, I already felt that I received an ascent in spirituality. Thus, what is the reason that now I have more bad?”
He regards this bad that he received now as coming to him from above reason. That is, the reason cannot understand how he fell to a state of lowliness, called “evil,” meaning that now he received a feeling for all the corporeal things that before he began the work of bestowal, he was already far from them, but now he received greater closeness to self-love.
This is as it is written in the book Panim Meirot: “The meaning of ‘a good reward for the righteous’ is their own attainment of those degrees that through their good deeds, they returned the lights to the upper ZON. The punishment of the wicked is the meaning of the words, ‘One opposite the other.’ To the same extent that a person is rejected from attaining the eternal light, he descends into the pleasures of the filthy Klipot [shells/peels], which are called Sheol [netherworld] and Avadon [oblivion], since a certain attitude has emerged within him that enables him to tolerate them.
It follows that the bad that appears in a person does not come from himself. Rather, he sees as though this bad has come to him above his own reason. At that time, a person sees that there is no way he can overcome this bad that has been added to him now by giving work and labor. But what was the result? He received more bad. Thus, he asks, “What will be the end?” since no work and labor help him out of the governance of evil, which is self-love.
The answer is that a person must know that as the bad came to him from above, so his emergence from the bad will come to him through help from above. Therefore, a person should not be impressed with the fact that he sees that he is utterly incapable of emerging from the governance of evil by himself. Instead, he must know that as the evil in him has been added to him each time not by his own strength, since he did not labor in order to get more bad, but it came from above, namely above reason, which a person does not understand, likewise, he should believe that he will also receive from above the strength to emerge from the evil.
In other words, everything that comes from above reason is cancelled above reason, and we can say that the fact that a person is in exile, under the governance of reason, did not come to a person by his own doing. Rather, it is from above. Likewise, redemption, too, comes from above.
It therefore follows that when a person begins the work of bestowal and knows that he has a little bit of evil, he still does not find such great flavor in self-love. However, when he wants to cancel his self-love and work in order to bestow, he receives from above more passion for self-love. That is, he is shown what was hidden from him, the size and power of control that exist in self-love.
At that time, a person sees that he is on the complete opposite end of the Creator, for the Creator is all to bestow, and man is all to receive. When the Creator helps him, a person feels the greatness of the Creator, how the Creator is treating him in order to deliver him from the governance of evil. Then, each time more bad appears in a person, meaning that a person is lowlier, he sees that the Creator is tending to a lowlier person.
By this we should interpret what our sages said, “Rabbi Yonatan said, ‘Wherever you see the greatness of the Creator, there you find His humbleness.’” This means that wherever a person sees the greatness of the Creator, he sees that the Creator is humble, tending to him personally, in private Providence. Therefore, when the Creator becomes greater, the person sees that the Creator is more humble.
Reader: We're going to enter into a lesson with Rav now, from March 24th to 2003.
M. Laitman: (33:29) We heard an article from the Rungs of the Ladder, "What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person's Strength,” in the Work?" There's a great question here. On one hand, we say it is a remedy to all his flesh. The Torah is the upper force that guides a person, that heals him; meaning we're sick, then we get healed, a healthy person always feels stronger, better. We need to reach high degrees of eternal work, eternity, wholeness, to enter into upper worlds. And relative to this world, they're huge, this world is like a grain of sand in the Universe in relation to the upper worlds. So how can a person be going to control or ruling over all of creation?
The Torah, in place of giving him forces it wears down the forces of a person. We see this in Egypt as well. The people of Israel sighed from the work, and we too see this in ourselves. Why should we go to all the sources? We see this on ourselves that when we begin to study, we begin to reach the wisdom of Kabbalah from the question of what is the purpose of our life? We want to find something here, and so then we're full of energy, and certainly we have the willingness to reach the purpose of creation, to find a taste in life, and we have a very strong inner drive for that. And when we begin to study, a few months go by, and suddenly we feel how the desire diminishes, the inner pressure disappears, and somehow again I enter some kind of routine, some sort of a dark state, what we call Parve, kind of tasteless.
He speaks about it very nicely in this poem that we sing at the end of Shabbat. He was a Hasidic man without food and livelihood, no garment to put on, lacking everything. Why? Because you learned Torah. This too is unclear. What kind of connection is it between him truly, apparently, having possessions and powers, and suddenly because you studied Torah, so what can we eat from here on that there is nothing to eat; meaning no forces, maybe not even goals, there's no power to achieve anything, do anything. We see this from all of the sources, and also from ourselves. The thing is that creation includes four phases: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. The still, vegetative, and animate do not need to undergo corrections on their own, I'm adding. They also undergo corrections, but their corrections depend on man.
M. Laitman: (37:44) This means that only phase four, which is Adam it undergoes corrections. And therefore, that phase is actually the one that changes. We, in our ordinary life, as our teachers explain to us they say that actually, we are a beast, not Adam, not human, you are called man, that is already a great degree to be Adam. But rather, we might say that the degree of Adam within us starts from a point that brought us to the Creator. Adam means Edameh le’Elyon, I will resemble the Upper One.
That part within us that takes on a form that is similar to the Creator. Before that, when we reach the study of Kabbalah, then there is a part in us called a beast, basically what animals have as a living body. And we have a part that we call Adam. It's not a part that resembles the Upper One. It is something which is above the beastliness of this world. There, their is a matter of culture, intellectual development, some kind of ability to choose freely something.
It's a will to receive that changes, above the beastliness. And this part…Let's say, let's imagine to ourselves that we include two parts, the lower part within us is called the beast, and there is an upper part within us called Adam. So, this upper part within us, through the study of Kabbalah, when we begin to study through the reforming light, it starts to become smaller. We begin to see how this part, the Adam, the human within us, seemingly disappears. We see ourselves more as beasts, operating more according to instincts, according to the simple will to receive, and besides that, we have nothing. All of our culture, all the education we have, it seemingly disappears. We can see that all of this is not worth much. This is in order to show us, that in truth we are not human beings. In truth, we are just animals. And all of this upper part that we were thinking that in that we're humans, it's not human, it's not Adam, it's simply some kind of a psychological addition to the beast, which is a bit more developed in various feelings, but not more. And when we truly reach this awareness, when we reach what is written that the Torah exhausts man's strength, that the Adam within us, it exhausts him, it diminishes him until we hardly have this Adam within us, no longer appreciated. From the study we can see that in truth, there is no value to it that we can truly be proud of, that we can appreciate. And then, bit by bit, we'll begin to understand that the Adam is something that we need to grow within us, to cultivate within us. That this is the part that will truly be above the beastliness, which is Edameh la-Boreh, I will resemble the Upper One, the Creator.
M. Laitman: (42:00) And the Torah, from that stage where it exhausts man's strength, it truly creates man, as it is written, through the Torah, the Creator created the world and created man. So, we have two stages in our development. Therefore, the first stage, where certainly the Torah exhausts man's strength, is an unpleasant stage. It is a stage of the revelation of the deficiencies in creation, and we, as the sentient part in creation. So certainly, we undergo these revelations with an unpleasant feeling, until, along with this feeling, we also agree and we regret our nature, and we want the upper nature. Then the Torah already comes to us as counsels, how to do it, and it brings us forces, so that beyond the counsels, after we implement the counsels, we are rewarded with deposits, meaning to receive the light within the vessels. Then this part of the Adam, within us, certainly begins to be similar to the Creator. What else did he say? Are there any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:49) He says that the same work, there's always a greater will to receive added, both before the barrier-Machsom and after the Machsom. What is then the difference between working before the Machsom and afterwards?
M. Laitman: In the work before the Machsom, we have to reach a decision that everything that we were thinking that it is above the beasts within us is truly of no value. About the beast, there's no point in saying it has no value, or there is a value, because this is something that doesn't change, it doesn't need to change, its nature. Whereas this part of the Adam within us we need to certainly want to concentrate, to focus all of it towards the work of the Creator. This means that with all the forces within us, which are called Adam, we should yearn for godliness. And our beast, well, the beast certainly changes also. Bit by bit, we discover that this part of the beast within us, it's just a necessity, not more. It's not to be praised or denounced, and therefore in animals and beasts, they have no counsels how to change, how to improve, because this is just nature. It's not in any kind of free choice. Also, it doesn't receive less or receive more than what it needs. That's what they pray for. Do you see any issue of obesity in some kind of beast? Unless it is sick, but an ordinary animal, it doesn't eat more than it needs. That's it, I mean everything functions just according to nature. So to reach that same measure of necessity in our life that we don't need anymore, but rather all of our desires and passions, all of our awareness it is all directed only towards the achievement of the goal, towards adhesion to this idea of being connected with godliness.
This is actually our direction before the Machsom and in that, besides wanting that, we should also reach the feeling of the exhaustion of our powers. And this is why it takes a lot of time until the person goes through it, that all of these passions for godliness are accumulated within him, along with the disappointment of his own powers. I remember when I came to Israel there was this called the war of exhaustion- attrition. And every day there was this atmosphere like that. Somebody else wanted to ask?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:57) So during an ascent, when a person looks backwards, can he map the discernments that he made, or he has no such option?
M. Laitman: Whether a person when he is walking can he take his prior experience of all kinds of impressions, and use them in one way or another how he thinks and now monitors, criticizes his whole process. Hardly not. The more a person advances, so he sees that each and every moment in his reality, he truly lives out of the data elements, we call them Reshimot, that are revealed in him. And he only realizes them and to somehow scrutinize which records- Reshimot from the past I should use, or which kinds of pieces of knowledge, or attainments, or results I can now draw from my prior intellect and feelings and live accordingly and make decisions accordingly, a person is not capable of that.
The more we advance, we feel that we are certainly executing the Reshimot that surface from within us. And every state of ours is just a realization of those Reshimot, to such an extent that a person begins to feel more and more that he is completely under the control of these Reshimot. But rather, he then becomes more clear. I'm talking about the stages before the Machsom. It becomes more and more clear that what we need to do is, we need to live those Reshimot and just to try within them as much as possible to realize them in a way that is the closest to godliness. But it's not like we can go back to some previous states and draw some strength or experience because every new degree is greater than the previous degrees. So my previous experience essentially doesn't help the person. What helps the person is only the general experience, this general knowing that's what’s added to him. That he must now, in whatever happens, whatever state he is in, he must be in, He and His name are one.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:46) On the one hand, we say that a person should give maximum labor. On the other hand, he comes with a lack of forces. So what does lack of forces mean on the side of the person? What does it mean he has no forces?
M. Laitman: A person who advances on his path towards the Creator, he feels that the previous human part in him gradually just dissipates, declines in him. This human that was in him that now declines, is his culture, his education, his upbringing, some life experience, awareness. All of those things disappear. He begins to feel that he understands less, he knows less, he's less capable, like some little child in the world, because certainly his whole confidence, or even his bulliness, so to speak, right, like the man in him, that sensation was just an illusion. Now, instead of it, he has to acquire the true sensation of man, which means the sensation of the Creator. Feeling the Creator in me is what's called Adam, man, from the word Edameh le’Elyon, I shall resemble the Upper One. So what's your question?
Student: So what does it mean, lack of forces?
M. Laitman: So that's where he finds, where the person finds his lack of strength. Meaning it's not the forces that he will need to go forward actually, it's the forces that he thought before made him human, now he's being shown that all those things don't belong to the true degree of man, the spiritual man. Rather, they belong to the corporeal level of man in this world. We have seven billion people, each of which you could call a human, man, not because he's walking on two, like a rooster with an upright stature, but because he has something in him that is beyond the beast. Somewhat from culture, education, passion for development perhaps, which beasts don't have. And these things, by the study of Kabbalah, truly decline right away. We begin to see them as insignificant, not as we saw them before. And this is called that the Torah exhausts man's strength. And as a result, we certainly have no forces to advance, because at first we thought that our progress is about our view, our understanding, our inner development, cultural, intellectual, psychological, something, right? Now all of a sudden, we discover that all those things appear as just insignificant and without any real practicality to them. And so we have no strength then, because we thought that was the human. Now we discover that it's nothing. And then there's this disregard that a person has both about himself and about others, and he calls himself and others beasts, which is correct from a Kabbalistic view.
But when he discovers now that instead of the beastly man in him he has to acquire the godly man in him, this he begins to feel that he cannot own this; that it doesn't come through his education or studying something or acquiring some knowledge, some wisdom, some habits. That's not going to work this way. But rather, this already depends on the upper force. And this is the second part that the Torah gives him. And after the Torah exhausts the beastly human, the Torah then brings him the godly human.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:49) You know that in spirituality, no matter what will be opened up, what kind of new state, there is a permanent state, there is a restriction, something that I cannot fall below that. But in the stage of preparation, there's no such thing. So how a person doesn't know what will be opened up for him a second from now, and he's afraid. How does he build this permanent state for himself, but he won't fall from that, so he'll still have this general knowledge?
M. Laitman: So the question is in spirituality, we know there's a constant state that below it, a person doesn't go. In corporeality, we haven't heard of such a thing. So, how can a person be assured that he won't completely fall off? First of all, I'm happy to hear that you know how it works in spirituality.
Student: Well, that's what they say.
M. Laitman: That's what they say. So both in spirituality and in corporeality, there's no promise in our feeling about what we learn. Theoretically, when we rise in holiness and we don't decline, that has to do both in our stages and above the Machsom. But it all depends on the time, so to speak. Say, if someone now is negligent, and he doesn't realize his free choice to receive additional strength from the society, and gradually he will leave the society, like what happened before he was here. We had a few friends who just detached from the society to such a point that we felt that they're no longer here. And indeed, they left ultimately to the point where even now they don't feel any lack for that. So it could take a few more years, and they will wake up. It could be a few more life cycles, and they will wake up. But what they got, what they acquired, is there. It doesn't disappear. There is no such thing that anything disappears, whether in corporeality or spirituality. I don't even know what corporeality is if we're going to check. What is it, just in order to receive? Therefore, we rise in holiness, and we don't descend in holiness. That's always the case. And the scrutinies and corrections and advancement towards the end of correction is perpetual for all of creation.
The question is the amount of time, the actions, the hastening. So, just like a person is not assured before the Machsom, it's the same after the Machsom. You imagine that after the Machsom, a person goes with just open eyes, everything's revealed, like I'm now openly going to acquire something in my ego. I'm going to get more and more. Let's say I want to be the prime minister, so I'm going to gather all the means for it, and it becomes clearer and clearer what I need to do when I'm moving forward. And then, certainly, with my confidence and certainty, I know what to do, and I don't decline. It doesn't work this way in spirituality, you don't advance that way. This is an egoistic form. Rather, the opposite. The dependence on the Upper One is absolute, above reason, and it is true devotion. Devotion, meaning giving away yourself, that nothing's left from your promises, your guarantees, nothing. So, what feeling of, I'm taken up and I won't be taken down, are we talking about?
Student: But when you reach every moment a state where every second he should be able to give his soul, for that he needs something.
M. Laitman: Don't think that in spirituality you feel every moment that you can devote yourself. If you can, there's no work and there's nothing to talk about. We're talking about the fact that the person is incapable. Acquiring the upper degree each time means that I'm incapable, and I climb over that, over my inability. And that's how it is each time, without any solid ground under my feet.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:54) So, what is this big switch that changes in work, if the work is so similar?
M. Laitman: It's not that the work is similar. We think that after the Machsom, everything's opened up and opens up, and that's it. Thank God, I have no doubts anymore. I see the Creator, He's truly great, it's great to work for Him, and now we're buddies. That's it. Or even not buddies. You are the Host, I agree, of course. Sure, I have a doubt. That's not how it works. In this case, we would not acquire any additional force of bestowal from the smallest degree in spirituality. Rather, the path is always in labor above reason, above my reason.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:56) So, what changes?
M. Laitman: What changes is that you work in three lines. I don't know how to put it. We'll find some words. They don't come up for now. The labor remains. Of course, it's of a different character, but it's still above anything that is describable. It's detached from my reason. It's opposite to what's revealed to me.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:27) The revelation of godliness at the present degree is opposite to the higher degree, completely opposite?
Student: By opposite I give it a different name?
M. Laitman: Opposite in that the Creator as if has to become revealed as Good That Does good, you see and you feel Good That Does Good in your degree which you've revealed, and all of a sudden you discover that after that stands some kind of horrible intention of His, that He wants to set me up. For example, let's say I'm your friend, truly a soulmate, and suddenly you discover that I'm tricking you. Your entire life I was tricking you, and I manipulated you with the most precious things for you, and in all those things, all I've done with you, you didn't even know and suddenly you discover, so who is He towards me, and that is my friend and everything, that's what he gave to me and did to me and all that. And then you see that I am his greater enemy. And then you have to accept above reason that no, even though you feel this way, and it appears to you, and suddenly everyone says it to you. It's just your eyes have been opened, and you have to accept above reason that I'm your best possible friend, against all the reason that you've now experienced. Based on what?
Student: What is the vision of correcting my attitude about the present and the past, if I don't understand what it is, what it was?
M. Laitman: Buddy, I don't have more examples. We'll get there. Why give you an example? You need to get there, and that's it. Ultimately, it's indescribable anyway. Above reason is something that I don't know how to say it, above reason, that's it. I have just one small piece of knowledge, that I see what I see 100% the way I see it, and there's some little knowledge from above, it's called a point of the AHP of the Upper One, that points to me that I need to go above that, and it's just impossible. It's, you know, the friend's example, that you grab a hold of the cliff, and you're hanging, and the Creator tells you, let's go. Come on, I'm with you, just let it go. Let's say.
Student: This knowledge, it's permanent, or?
M. Laitman: Guys, that's it. I am not capable of describing more than that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:48) What, or whom, interferes with a person, hinders a person from building an additional desire?
M. Laitman: What disturbs a person from acquiring an additional desire? That the problem is to bow before the environment, that's what prevents him from acquiring more desire, pride. Man's pride shall lower him. If I have a desire to acquire a new desire for the Creator, greater than my present desire for the Creator, if it's just a desire for the Creator that He'll be so important, then I'll go to the society to acquire from them this desire. But if so, I will go to the society consciously. There's the Creator, and there's me, the created being, and I want to go to the Creator, get closer to Him. I lack the desire for it, so I go to the society to acquire a desire from them. This is seemingly a rational action, but it doesn't happen this way. You see that it doesn't happen this way to us. Why? Because here you have to have faith in the sages. You are now being taught that you have to relinquish your mind and your calculations. You aren't given such a great desire for the Creator that it's worthwhile to go to the environment and bow before them and acquire the desire. You're not given that. The Creator's hidden. If He were revealed, then it's all just, you know, trade-offs. Trade and commerce, I go to the environment, I give them this, I get that, and I go to the Creator, just like I go to work. I bring money thanks to my labor, and I live. Then there would be no problem, everyone would do that. But the Creator is hidden, concealed. Meaning, here I have to equip myself with faith in the sages. You see, no one of you is going to the society to get an impression to go to the Creator. There's no such need to turn to the society to begin with. And if I have no need for it, why will I do it? I'm willing to do all kinds of works with the society, to make things better, to have a good society. We'll eat, we'll drink, we'll have some picnics, we'll celebrate holidays. Why not? But to turn to the society for more than that, I don't have a need.
Reader: Let’s share with impressions from the lesson. What are we taking to implement in the Ten?
Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson, and before that we'll sing a song together.
Song: (01:17:16)
Reader: We will learn from the Study of the Ten Sefirot with Rabash, Part 5, Item 25.