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

Daily Morning Lesson: January 13, 2026

Reading of the Article in the Ten

Rabash. Article No. 2, (1985). The Meaning of Branch and Root

Recorded lesson - April 13, 2003

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part we'll learn from a lesson from April 13, 2003. It's based on the article, “The Meaning of Branch and Root” from Rabash, Volume 1. We'll read the article together in the Tens. The Tens that finish reading ahead of time are invited to have a workshop on the main principles from the article. “The Meaning of Branch and Root.”

Reading: (00:42) The Meaning of Branch and Root

Article 2, 1985

The meaning of root and branch. The land of Israel is a branch from the Sefira Malchut. Malchut is called the Kli [vessel] that was emanated by the Emanator to become a Kli for the reception of the abundance that the Emanator wanted to bestow upon His creations. That Kli is called Malchut.

The order was that first was the vessel of reception in order to receive, and then there was a correction that it is forbidden to receive in that Kli, unless we can aim in order to bestow, and then the abundance is drawn into that Kli. That correction was made so that when the abundance comes to the creatures, there will not be any deficiency in them, called “bread of shame.”

Instead, they will be able to receive the abundance unboundedly because there will be no shame in them upon the reception of the abundance. Rather, they will aim all the delight and pleasure they receive only to the benefit of the Creator. Then they will continually extend abundance because they will not be able to say they have given the Creator enough and they do not need to bestow upon Him anymore. Therefore, they will always have a reason to extend abundance.

This is not so if they receive the abundance for themselves, meaning because of self-love. At that time they must be limited because of the shame. They will have to say that the delight and pleasure that He has given us is enough. Because of it there was the correction called restriction so as not to receive light into the Kli of Malchut unless we can receive in order to bestow.

From the root of Malchut extends downward into the corporeal branch the Eretz [land] which is a branch of Malchut of above. That land is called the Holy Land. For this reason, here in the Holy Land there are special corrections, meaning Mitzvot [commandments] that are dependent upon the earth, such as donations and tithing. This is not so in the rest of the lands.

And also there is a special root to Jordan, a special root to Syria, a special root to Babylon, and a special root to the rest of the lands (See Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 16, p 1930). For this reason, with respect to the branch and root, the place of the Temple is precisely the Holy Land, which is the land of Israel. This is so after it was sanctified.

But before the people of Israel came into this land, it was a place of seven nations, which correspond to the seven holy Sefirot. They were the opposite of holiness, extending from Malchut, where there is no correction of the Masach [screen] which is the intention to bestow. For this reason, first the nations of the world came there, for so was the order in spirituality: 1) the coming of the will to receive came, 2) the correction of making it in order to bestow. For this reason for the Holy Land: 1) The nations of the world had to come first, for they belong to Malchut before it was corrected with a Masach so that everything will be in order to bestow. 2) Afterwards, Israel will come and conquer them.

It turns out that the Holy Land extends from Malchut and the will to receive in a person also extends from Malchut. For this reason there were 1) the nations of the world in the land first, 2) then the people of Israel came.

It is likewise in man’s heart: 1) First comes the evil inclination; 2) and then comes the good inclination. Everything extends from the upper roots.

However, there’s a difference between man’s heart, which extends from Malchut, and the land of Israel, which extends from Malchut, since we should discern between internality and externality. In the externality, there should be the place of the branch that corresponds to the root. But in internality, it is not necessarily the place of the branch that corresponds to it.

In the land of Israel, which aims to a person’s heart, which extends from the root of Malchut, a person does not need to be specifically in the land of Israel to be awarded with the kingdom of heaven, called the “land of Israel.” Internally, a person can be rewarded with the instilling of the Shechina [divinity] and with the greatest attainments overseas as well, just like all of our great sages who were overseas.

Also, people who live in the land of Israel can be the worst criminals. The land of Israel, called the “Holy Land,” does not obligate them in any way to keep Torah and Mitzvot, since what concerns the internality, the externality does not obligate them at all, as internality is the work in the heart and it is completely unrelated to the externality.

However, at the same time there is the matter of externality. That is, there is a rule that it is forbidden to say Kaddish unless ten men are present. And we do not check if these ten men are with complete fear, but rather when ten simple men come together they can say Kaddish, and “Bless,” and read in the Torah, etc. However, if there are nine righteous sages, they are forbidden to say Kaddish, and “Bless” because the revealed law is according to the externality and not according to the quality of the internality.

You can similarly find in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (item 65). He writes, “Hence, we could ask, Why, then, is it forbidden to disagree with the first in the revealed Torah?” It is because, as far as the practical part of the Mitzvot [commandments] is concerned, it is to the contrary: the first were more complete in them than the last. This is because the act extends from the holy Kelim [vessels] of the Sefirot (called ‘externality’ because Kelim are called ‘externality’ with respect to the lights, and the lights are called ‘internality’). And the secrets of the Torah and the Taamim [flavors] of the Mitzva [commandment] extend from the Lights in the Sefirot. You already know that there is an inverse relation between Lights and vessels.”

It turns out that with respect to the revealed, meaning the practical part, belongs to the externality. Therefore, with respect to the practical part, there are things that can be done only in the land of Israel, such as the prohibition on building the Temple abroad.

But in the internality, which concerns man’s heart, it does not have to be specifically in the land of Israel, although the branch of Malchut is specifically the land of Israel. Yet, there are unifications that if one wants to make a unification on the outside, as well, they have to make that unification specifically in the external land.

It is as we find, that there is a unification of ASHAN, which is an acronym for Olam, Shanah, Nefesh [world, year, soul respectively], meaning that that unification should be specifically according to these three conditions which are: Olam [world]—specifically the place of the Holy of Holies; Shanah—with respect to time, it should be specifically on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], which is regarded as Shanah [year]; Nefesh [soul]—with respect to Nefesh, it should be specifically through the high priest.

Therefore, with respect to internality, when we speak of man’s heart, where he begins to serve the Creator, meaning the work of exiting self-love, which is called the “land of the peoples,” and instill the people of Israel instead of them, meaning that his intention will be only to love the Creator, then there is the matter of day and night.

“Day” means that he has high spirits without any need for corrections, such as when the sun shines and a person does not need to make any correction to make the sun shine. However, one needs to be careful not to put interferences so that the sun will not be able to shine where it should shine, such as not entering a house with no windows, for this interrupts the shining of the sun.

Conversely, “night” is the time when a person should make corrections so it will illuminate for him. For example, in corporeality, night is the time when it is dark in the house. Through corrections, meaning by placing a candle or a lamp there, there is light. Without corrections, even if one does not pose any interferences, still, without effort, which is called corrections, nothing will shine for him. Instead, wherever he looks it is as though he is looking through black glasses: everything is dark.

This is a time when one should reflect on one’s current state, how remote he is from spirituality and immersed in self-love, and that he has no chance of exiting his situation by himself. At that time he must see his real situation—how by nature a person cannot do anything. Rather, as our sages said, “Were it not for the Creator’s help, he would not have overcome it.”

However, we should know that the Creator created the night, and He certainly created it for a purpose, which is to do good to His creations. Therefore, each one is asking: Why did He create darkness which is night? After all, according to the purpose of creation, He should have created only day and not night. The verse says, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” That is, specifically through both, which are night and day, comes one day.

However, the night was created deliberately as not illuminating without corrections, in order to perform the corrections that the night reveals to a person. This is so because the Kelim are founded over the sensation of darkness. These are needed in order for them to have a need for the Creator to help them. Otherwise, there is no need for the Creator’s salvation. That is, at that time there is no need for the Torah, which is regarded as “the light in it reforms him.”

For this come corrections called “Torah and Mitzvot.” Torah is what is revealed to us in the part that is called revealed, which is rules and stories of the fathers, etc. All of this is called Torah. This part is called the revealed Torah, and the Torah teaches us to perform Mitzvot, and how to do them. It also tells us the stories of the fathers.

However, we should know that there is a hidden part in the Torah, meaning that that Torah is hidden from us. We should know that the whole Torah is the names of the Creator, meaning the revelation of Godliness, called the “secrets of Torah,” which a person begins to attain specifically after he has been rewarded with Torah Lishma [for Her sake].

In the words of Rabbi Meir (Avot, Chapter 6), “Rabbi Meir says, ‘Anyone who engages in Torah Lishma is rewarded with many things, the secrets of Torah are revealed to him, and he becomes like an ever-flowing fountain.’” It turns out that the revealed part in the Torah is to bring us, by its merit, into Lishma, meaning to have the ability to aim every thought, word, and action to be in order to bestow.

Afterwards, once he has been rewarded with Lishma, begins the engagement in the hidden Torah and the flavors of the Mitzvot. By doing them, he extends upper abundance downward. And we have already spoken about the 613 Mitzvot being called “613 counsels,” as well as “613 deposits.”

It is written in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” “The Zohar calls the Mitzvot in the Torah by the name “deposits.” However, they are also called “613 counsels.” The difference between them is that in everything there is anterior and posterior. The preparation for something is called the “posterior” and attainment of that thing is called the “anterior.” With that respect of the anterior of the Mitzvot, which are then called “deposits,” Rabbi Shimon explains the fourteen above-mentioned deposits.

We see from above that the hidden part is called “anterior,” and one is rewarded with the anterior after one is rewarded with attaining Lishma.

Reader: Friends, now we're going to go to a lesson with Rav from April 13, 2003. Please. 

M. Laitman: Matter of root and branch. There is a spiritual world, actually it's not a world, it is a system of worlds, degrees, and states. Beneath it, there is what we call the corporeal world. All of the worlds have the same fixed, unchanging structure. And in every world, out of all these worlds, AK and ABYA, and this world, there is the same structure. However, the difference between this world and all of the worlds above it is that they have a certain association or relation as root and branch. Above the barrier, in the upper worlds, these are our roots. And we have a branch of that. And you can also say about each and every part, every element, every detail in the upper world, that it is a root, and a branch emerges from it to a lower world. But in the spiritual worlds there is no true difference in the substance between the worlds. Because the difference there is only in the size of the screen. Whereas, for us, because we lack the screen entirely, therefore, the branch and the root are attributed to the difference between the spiritual worlds and this world. And accordingly, since there are the spiritual worlds and this world, root and branch, therefore, we also have the revealed Torah and the hidden Torah. What we call each and every word, each and every concept that we can relate to the connection with the Creator. This means the Torah, Mitzvot, Kedusha, Klipa [shell], everything other than beastliness - for every such concept, we have two meanings, either its meaning in the roots or its meaning in the branches. And as a result, we always have some kind of lack of orientation and confusion about what we hear and read. So we attribute these things to a person who is on a degree which we call this world, or to a person who is in a degree which is beyond the barrier, in the roots, the spiritual world.

For example, Torah and Mitzvot. You can ask every person about the Torah and he will tell you what the Torah is. The Torah is what we have to keep, what we have to read and study and engage in. These are rules that we have to study. And it is all of our inheritance and history, everything that pertains to Judaism, it is all called Torah. And the Mitzvot, the commandments are what we have to keep. The Lord has commanded, and we shall keep. This is how it is in the branches. In the roots, the Torah and the Mitzvot are something else. Torah is light, and the Mitzvot, commandments, are the reception of that light in order to bestow. 

It is also the matter of Yehudi, the Jew, and goy, one of the nations, a gentile. For us in this world, it's clear who is a Jew and who is a Gentile. They established it once according to the mother, or one who converted, he became a Jew. One who did not convert, or his mother is not Jewish, he's called a goy, nation, or gentile. In spirituality, a Jew is one who yearns for unification with the Creator, even though he hasn't reached it yet, but he yearns for it. Because what is required of a man is a yearning, a vessel. And whether he reached it or did not reach it yet, that depends already on the Creator. Therefore, when we speak about a person, we speak according to his vessel. 

Next, It is the same with respect to the classification of still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. We have the land of Israel, inside of it - Jerusalem, inside of Jerusalem - the Temple Mount, inside the Temple Mount we have the Temple, the Holy of Holies, the high priest within the Holy of Holies, and on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that's the greatest status. The Gemara tells us there were priests who bought this position with money, and they were truly thieves and more corrupt than the ordinary people. So in the branches, that is possible, because it all follows the externality. But according to the heart, according to the intention and the internality, that is something different altogether. Because if we take the degree of the land of Israel in spirituality, and in that, inside of it, we will define the degree of Olam, Shana, Nefesh [world, year, and soul], then Olam [world] will be that degree, Shana [year] is a special time, it's an inner, the inner state of the person, and Neshama [soul], means that he has reached with his inner structure of the soul to a special state that corresponds to a special degree, which is called the Holy of Holies. Then this person is called the high priest. This is the highest, greatest, best quality. This is how it is in each and every state, with each and every thing. We need to distinguish whether we're talking about the language of the branches or the language of the roots. This is our whole problem. In the study of Kabbalah, we try to speak only about the roots and the language of the roots, which is called the language of Kabbalah - Sefirot, Partzufim, all kinds of names and definitions that we can immediately attribute to spirituality. And only on the condition that the person does not get confused, then he's permitted to also use the language of the branches, meaning that he takes names from this world and attributes them to spirituality. But you have to attribute everything to spirituality, not at all to this world. Later on, if he's no longer confused and he understands the roots well, then it is also possible to study a little bit also about the branches of this world. Otherwise, there is danger that he will confuse the roots and the branches and will start to bring the forces and the Kedusha of the roots into the branches of this world, and then he will become a Hassid instead of a Kabbalist.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (29:46) We see on the one hand the Kabbalists built the language of branches so that Moishele, if at one point in his point in the heart will awaken, that he will already live in a framework that will allow him to understand more about spirituality. On the other hand we say that from the branches you can't understand anything about the roots. So what's the point in creating this world? Is there still a level of sanctity inside of it? 

M. Laitman: You're making these statements with the assumption that you're certain, that you're basing yourself on the correct things. 

Student: What do you mean, assumption? 

M. Laitman: There are other things that are missing here. Kabbalists certainly have founded for us everything that there is in Judaism, the general Judaism and the internal Judaism. There is the general Judaism, which is Judaism. And there is the personal Judaism, which is called Kabbalah. Personal means that I unite Judaism from Yechud, unification, that I unite with the Creator in a personal way. There is the view of the Torah and the view of the landlords, and they are opposite of each other. The Kabbalists have built the laws of the branches according to the laws that exist in the roots. So that the beast in this world will behave according to its nature as a beast. And where one needs to be Adam, a human, he should behave as much as possible according to the roots, without an intention. Without an intention means without an intention in order to bestow, because that is already spirituality, so there's no point to talk about that. And without an intention to even reach in order to bestow. Even just like that, if his actions are according to the intention that is done in the roots. In the roots, each and every act is not done with the hands and legs, but with an intention, with the inner relation. The way that the desire, the heart is aimed. The branches, we do it with our substance. Not in the desire, but in action. Now, by action, can one reach the deficiency of, what am I doing it for? That depends on the environment, and it depends on the person. We haven't seen so many people like that. This means that the deed itself certainly can never bring a person to the questions of, what is the point in my life, etc. The deed itself is a deed that he continues to do as a beast, just like everyone. However, it's with special deeds that correspond to them, there is a certain illumination from the roots. And then there is a keeping of them as a nation. Just like we were once saved as a nation, as People, as beasts, but still that we have a certain connection, a certain relation, a certain characteristic, because we kept those things. Because a person keeps them just like that, as it is written, meaning with an act, but without an intention, from that he cannot awaken to the work of the Lord. He can awaken to the work of the Lord if he has a point in the heart. That is, if he reaches his development to a state where the point in the heart awakens in him, and it starts to pinch him within, then that person begins to ask. And then he asks, and it doesn't matter if he's secular or religious, if he's a gentile or a Jew, he can be anyone- an Italian barber or a mafiosi or I don't know what else. If you go to south Italy, you'll see. You know, I was there I saw what kind of form they have, these mafiosi. Right? I'm just giving it, you know as an example. It doesn't matter who it is. He can be a Kurd, it doesn't matter who it is, Black, Arab, it doesn't matter whom. 

If suddenly he gets a point in his heart, he'll start searching. So, now we're already talking not about the Torah or the earlier commandments or anything, but about that pinch. Now, is there any connection between the fact that earlier he kept the Torah and the Mitzvot only in the form of practice to that pinch in the heart? No. For the time being, we can't see that. Is there a connection between the fact that he's a Jew in this world or a Gentile? You know, you saw here, we had this guest from Holland. So he was teaching Jews back there in Amsterdam. I don't remember, where is he from? I think from there. I think it was Amsterdam. So he said, I had ten or twelve Jews. They didn't come. They did come. They wanted to do it. They didn't want to. Suddenly, they started to come. He himself is a professor. Suddenly, my professor started coming to me and asked me, and I started a little bit to explain to them more as philosophy, not something else. And I found out that they have such an interest, and they were willing to invest in it so seriously. And really, they didn't even care. And today he says, those Jews left. Earlier, he had two groups. But now even from the group of the Jews, nothing remained. They were orthodox. He was also orthodox. Suddenly, he found himself teaching Kabbalah to the goyim, to the nation. So he wrote a letter to me and asked, what should I do? Oh, look what I am right now. And he was afraid. He didn't know what to do, he was too confused. So, I wrote back to him that he should not be concerned. Throughout our history, over hundreds of years we had Kabbalists who had also all kinds of students, even groups of gentiles, and they taught them Kabbalah. That means that the internality pertains to each and every one. You can teach the internality to anyone. The externality, no, that belongs to the people of Israel, to the Jews of this world. You need to give that to the Jews. In this world, the externality belongs to the Jews, the internality to everyone. Everyone must reach that. “They shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them.” So, we see how much the existence of the internality and the point in heart, that's not within our hands. It is simply because the Creator wants to bring some created being to himself, so He does it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:12) So, why did Kabbalists create this framework? 

M. Laitman: The Kabbalists established this framework because just as there is a root, which is called the people of Israel. In spirituality, the people of Israel means that the whole world rise and adhere to the Creator, and they create truly a single system with Him, a single body. They enter Him, or He fills them, it doesn't matter how you depict this to yourself, and then all of these souls are called Israel. Likewise, in our world, there is a branch of that called the people of Israel, and there's a branch called the goyim, the nations. In one branch, the souls are seemingly not yet corrected, and in the other branch, they are corrected in externality. This means that in our world, there is also an image as there is in spirituality. So do you understand what does it mean, root and branch? 

Student: Yes, but… 

M. Laitman: Okay, so now you're asking, but there's no role to this branch called the people of Israel. In externality, right, in this world, how come there is no role? Why there's no role? The people of Israel have to pass their internality to the nations. Those in the people of Israel who hold on to the internality, not the externality, but the internality, they must pass on that internality to everyone without any relation to whom and why, because with the internality everyone must reach the degree and the state of the spiritual people of Israel. 

Student: But 90% of the people of Israel are to deliver the internality, what's the logic of its existence? 

M. Laitman: So in the people of Israel, well in our generation you can't talk at all about it, there's no one to talk about, but in the previous generation also you're saying in every generation there were two, three, ten, maybe fifteen a generation, but not in our generation, they're all orphans. Meaning, why should the people exist just in order to have 50 Kabbalists in it? Yes, because everything must incorporate internality and externality, so it's impossible that this method, which is called the unification of the Creator, will be passed on through the nations and not through those who are Jews in the externality in this world. And all of the nation, the people around him must provide the conditions for this unique Jew, who is a Jew both in the externality and in internality, in order for him to pass on this Torah, this internality, both to the Jews and to the nations according to their desire, according to the point in their heart. This is how it has to be. This system is built precisely like that also above, there is nothing in it which is artificial in any way, the internality and the externality and the structure, it is precisely like that in all of the worlds and also in this world. No one created the people of Israel, they emerged around Abraham in circles, more and more external around Abraham and Abraham in the future, meaning the children of Abraham. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:15) He writes here, like the greatest of the nations that lived abroad and they came to great attainments where there's no connection between internality and externality. On the other hand, I heard from you that someone that leaves the country, it is as if these forces toss him out and now the return to Israel has to come. 

M. Laitman: There are forces that operate in all of the places and in every place there is a different force, it stems from the branch and root. With the roots we know that the land of Israel, we have the land of Israel, below the land of Israel we have Lebanon, and Syria, and Jordan, and Babylon. This comes from part 16 of “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” it's written there. There is a table there. This is how it is in spirituality. Corresponding to that, we should also say that in this world there is importance not only to the sand, the dust like we have, compared to the importance in Lebanon where they have let's say nice grass, like Switzerland, nature there is very nice, not the way it is for us. We have a special land where we have only rocks, stones. However, the forces that are operating, they are special and we can feel that. As much as each one feels it, well whoever feels it - feels it, one who doesn't feel it - doesn't feel it, but this is how we should say it. Therefore, what I'm saying is that certainly, a Kabbalist can be anywhere in the world and be a Kabbalist because he does not belong to this world. Someone who has a point in the heart can be in a spaceship above planet Earth, it doesn't matter. Through the point in the heart, he has a connection with the Creator. He might be hanging up there above the moon in some box, it doesn't matter, he has a point in the heart and through that point, he's connected with the Creator. What does it have to do with this world, with all of the beastiness, with all of the matter? It doesn't relate, it's not related in any way. So for him, this point in the heart, around this point in the heart, he assembles the forces, that everything he has in his thoughts, in his heart, except for the point in the heart. He wants to relate to this point in the heart in order to give this push, a yearning for the Creator. Whereas those who are not in the point in their heart, but in their heart, for them it's a different law. Now we see also here in the land of Israel, the corporeal land of Israel, that the people of Israel and the land of Israel, you know this slogan, people of Israel and the land of Israel, you see that nothing happens with those who immigrate here. The only one thing that's happening, they want to run away immediately, that's it. But however you look at it, there's internality and externality in it. And Baal HaSulam writes, you can understand it or not understand it, but you should accept his words as law. At one point you'll understand it and you'll see it, you'll feel it, it will exist in you, meaning he says those who have an attraction for spirituality, have an attraction for the land of Israel. He refers to corporeality, the corporeal land of Israel. You remember, from giving of the Torah.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:59) So, why Kabbalists like Rambam and Rabash, before they became Kabbalists, they still felt an attraction to the land of Israel? 

M. Laitman: Kabbalists in all ages felt this attraction to come to the land of Israel and they came, unless they were obligated to remain in their countries and do their work there according to the commandment of the Creator. Undoubtedly if they had the opportunity to come on their part, they were ready and willing. The moment Baal HaSulam felt, as Rabash told me, the moment he felt that his teacher, the rabbi from Pursov, could not satisfy him as a teacher, meaning nothing was holding him in Poland, he packed everything up and came to Israel. That was in 1922, that's it, immediately. Why stay there among the gentiles in Poland, if you can be in Jerusalem, even in corporeality? Rather, first, before he had a teacher, he would drink and nourish from him. Once there was nothing more to receive, he left. Rabash said that he remembers how Baal HaSulam came home and said, “That's it, there's nothing more to receive,” in such words, I can't remember precisely, and that “We have to go.”

Student: So what is that, is it some sort of a mission or what is it? 

M. Laitman: A Kabbalist, according to his degree, feels what he has to do. There's externality, there are groups, there are students, there's a place where he can disseminate, a place where he can be more with the Creator because of the environment where he doesn't disseminate publicly, where everybody knows he teaches and everything. Even if it's not like that, nevertheless, he has all those different jobs, tasks with the audience. It's important what audience surrounds you, what thoughts are around you and what things happen around you. Remember, which article it was from? Also, in the article, “The Freedom,” where they came to the Rav to remember his name and they offered him money to move to a place where there's no Torah. He said, you can give me all the money in the world, but the spiritual world is more important to me compared to money. Because of that, I must remain in a place where there is Torah. Although he was a great Kabbalist, as it's written there. That's it. 

And besides that, the Kabbalist receives an order from the Creator. The Creator tells him what to do. The degree that's revealed in him is called the Creator. And the Creator is the inner light that fills a person. This is the presence of the Creator inside a person, and from that he feels what he must do. And there is no question for him, he must act accordingly. Meaning, it becomes his nature. He has additional desires that are uncorrected. He still has vessels that he did not unite with the Creator. But with those vessels that he did unite with the Creator that are already entirely in order to bestow from them, he seemingly receives the Torah, the inner light in him, in those vessels. And from that, he understands what the Creator demands of him.

Student: Even though in spirituality, the work is also about faith above reason, it's opposite the degree that you now feel. 

M. Laitman: Also above reason he sees, he feels how he has to conduct himself in one environment or another. He has no questions about corporeality. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:12) He writes here that the order was that earlier there was a vessel of reception in order to receive. What is that? That before the restriction, I was in order to receive. What is that? 

M. Laitman: You can read half a sentence and ask. It's like the doctor will enter, you know, right? Matter of root and branch. Israel is the branch from the Sefira of Malchut. Malchut is called the vessel that was emanated by the Emanator to become a vessel for the reception of the abundance that the Emanator wanted to bestow upon his creations. That vessel is called Malchut, and the order was the first. You ask where it was first, before what? Before he created it, the Creator. So the vessel of reception was in order to receive. This cascading down all the way to the shattering. From the shattering, you have vessels in order to receive, and then those vessels are corrected in order to bestow. We are not before the shattering. 

We come out not from Ein Sof. Our root is from the shattering and onward, that's where it begins to show itself. The desires in us, when we receive them, all those desires are in receiving in order to receive, because our root is not in Ein Sof, it's in the shattering. 

But to receive, in order to receive on a simple, smallest, beastly degree. And later, when we advance, with the help of the reforming light, we draw surrounding light, as we talked about yesterday. 

And then it turns out that we grow up in this will to receive in order to receive, until we come to a state where all the mistakes and all the intentional transgressions, they pass our inner desires. And when we finish it, it means when the will to receive grows sufficiently. We don't know what it means, sufficiently. Then we begin to correct it. First, we need it to be a desire to receive in order to receive, and then to grow, and then to come to correction.

Student: So what is the difference in the desires which are only in order to receive before the barrier, and after the barrier? 

M. Laitman: The difference between the will to receive, the desires to receive after the barrier, and before the barrier, and after the barrier, it's completely different in everything. Meaning, the will to receive has a certain power, intensity, and there's an intention over it. If before the barrier - all my desires are receiving in order to receive on the corporeal level, and I'm able to correct them when I cross the barrier, then I acquire the force of correction on those desires. Meaning everything that's below the barrier I already write it with a screen. This is my conception in spirituality where I control all of my corporeal desires. Then begins to be an additional process where I begin to grow my will to receive from the shells - we call it from the left line - and also to correct it in order to bestow. 

What is the corporeal will to receive compared to the spiritual will to receive, meaning the desire that I have here up to the barrier, and the will to receive that I receive above the barrier from the left line, from the Klipot, the shells? The difference is that those desires to receive up to the barrier are small desires to receive. They're not really identified with the Creator. I don't feel in them that it's the Creator in them. I don't feel in those pleasures that I yearn for that this is the light of the Creator, it's really Him before me. Later, as we advance closer to the barrier, I begin to yearn to the Creator. I'm lovesick. Then a certain attitude to spirituality in me that I wish to have that specifically relative to the entire world, that I come to this with my great desire for spirituality compared to this entire world. That’s  when I cross the barrier. Also, the will to receive in order to receive for spirituality - this is the matter of Lo Lishma there, not for Her sake. There's also this belonging to the Creator, to bestow to the Creator, the way I love Him. These are more advanced stages. But the bottom line, the difference is in the concealment. In spiritual desires above the barrier, I feel my source, the origin, like a host that is standing next to the table with all the dishes. Then I look down at the host and I just want the foods, or I use the foods to bestow pleasure to the host. That's the matter of the right line and the left line, sanctity and shell. That's it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:42) Beyond the barrier, what is the difference between faith and adhesion? 

M. Laitman: Beyond the barrier, what is the difference between faith and adhesion? Faith is called force of bestowal, that I receive from the revelation of godliness to me. I can't simply find faith, force of bestowal - it's not in me. Rather the will to receive that's receiving from above revelation, the light of AB SAG, as we call it. It sees the importance of the Creator, he derives from it the force to bestow to the Creator. And this force, the force of Bina, bestow, it's called the force of faith, light of faith. And what are you asking? 

Student: Compared to adhesion?

M. Laitman: Compared to adhesion. As a result of faith that I'm trying to acquire, when I make corrections on my vessels, vessels of reception, if they become like the Creator in their action, bestowing, that I say that this vessel is equal to the Creator, or that this vessel adheres to the Creator. 

Student: So faith is a feeling? Do I feel the presence of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: No, no, the presence of the Creator is the reason for having faith. The importance of the Creator is the reason for having faith. It's like without it I can't acquire faith. Before that I have faith in the sages, belief in the sages, meaning they say, do such and such actions and you'll reach true faith. And I believe that, I believe Baal HaSulam, let's say, and all those who say, start working in a group, in the study, and all those things, and I have a general desire for the Creator, inside of me I have this willingness to listen to the sages. 

There are those who come here, and they have no willingness to hear those things, and they suffer. They have a question of what's the meaning in life and all those things, but they can't hear, they have no belief in the sages. Belief in the sages is not something that I acquire, rather there's in me a certain respect, certain attitude to the book and to the one who wrote the book, I don't, it's like a point in the heart. It comes from above and that's it. Meaning, let's say me, without any connection to Judaism, no connection to Kabbalah, nothing. From within I could feel a certain faith in those books, that here. They’re truly speaking the truth compared to other philosophical books and other books, very wise books where I did not feel it. Why? Because their are people who are completely the opposite, and it's like how you receive the point in the heart, but on top of it you have to acquire faith, the original, meaning true faith, which is the force of bestowal.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:53) Can the environment create faith in the sages in a person? 

M. Laitman: Environment can awaken the forces that exist in us, but if we don't have the preparations for it, if these preparations, meaning, we have not scrutinized properly, of course, it's in each and every one. But if it still did not blossom in me, by myself, this attitude to the books, to the Creator, to all those things, I still don't have those. This information, this data, then a group is not going to help me, neither the group nor the Rav, not the books, I will simply not feel that I can advance through them. 

Student: But if I'll create around me many people who will appreciate an education system that processes a person from the age of zero…

M. Laitman: If I will create around me a system of education and many people who will speak about this importance from morning till night, then I can be. If not a Kabbalist, then a Hassid, a disciple, a follower of these people, that's okay. Baal HaSulam writes about it in “The Last Generation” that there are desires to receive on such a level that he will nevertheless remain there, like a Hassid, like a follower. He's ready because he will receive education, because society obligates him, because this is good, all kinds of reasons, it's not the connection with the Creator that is obligating him, it's not the host, but all kinds of reasons outside of the host, that's the difference between a Kabbalist and all the other, how do you call them, the landlords, generally speaking they're called landlords. The opinion of Torah is opposite, the reason of the Torah, the opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the landlords. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:58)  Rabash writes here about thought, speech and action, what is this order, 

M. Laitman: Thought, speech and action is the entire person, what a person elicits from himself, it's the thought, speech and action, aside from them, instead of a person, there's his desire, and the intellect of mind that serves the desire, right? That's the inner structure of a person. Desire, heart, with a point in the heart. Next to it is the mind or the intellect to attain what the heart and the point in the heart want. And the external expression of the heart with the intellect. Mochin and Liba, brain and heart, it's thought, speech and action. So, what are you asking? 

Student: I don't know. What do we hold on to in the inner work? 

M. Laitman: Both in inner work and outer work, external work, there are all those things. But to talk about it, I don't know exactly what's written. 

Student: I look at how you teach, for example. You always leave opportunities for the students.

M. Laitman: I leave certain possibilities for the students and I distance them. I push them away from me so they have a free place, a place for free action. I never hold the person, try to keep him here, not to run away. Because Baal HaSulam writes about it in “The Freedom,” that you should not coerce a person, not tie him down. By tying a person to me, I will create irreversible damage to his life. I will make him into a Hassid, a follower. And there are those who wish to be like that. And then using great forces for many years, you have to reject them, reject them, until they become independent. It's like the child, you reject him, reject him, until he comes out. You know how they say, he doesn't know how to swim, you throw him into the water to swim. So, that's the difference between the attitude of a Kabbalist and the attitude for a follower, a Hassid. And there are those who don't. They hypnotize you. They tie them to you to be next to them, around them. They engender in you such desires that you wish to serve them, and you see, and you feel that you belong to this person, you must be next to him. You're attracted to him, and that's disqualified with us, that's incorrect. We have such an example, sadly, I don't know what to do. It's a very specific example. I must bring it out now so everyone will see it as an example so it will not become an error for other people later. There are people with a tendency to be Hassid, to be followers of someone. And there are people who have a tendency to become a Rabbi, a Rav. And with us, it's the opposite, it shouldn't be. 

Meaning, if there isn't a person, a willingness to advance, you must really forcefully, you must provide for him a free place where he can develop. There are many people, or not many, but a few people who wanted very much to be connected to me, they really wanted it. And I pushed, pushed, I pushed them for years, a few like that. It's about giving a person a place to develop, it's the other way around, not to tie him, not to lock him to you, onto you. It's very important, by that you're killing him and you're killing yourself. Baal HaSulam writes about it in “The Freedom,” how will I put it? This is the inner interpretation of what he's trying to say, that you're destroying a person. I think you're going to some primitive tribes somewhere and you sell them European culture. It's one beastliness in place of another. It's true that you corrupt them, they will develop better in their own beastly life. Maybe not, but the intention here is about the internality, that is where the true problem lies. 

Student: But how to do it the way you do it with your answers, that you leave possibilities open? I mean, you can reject a person, you can draw him closer, but how do you give answers to the audience? 

M. Laitman: Because my goal is to give you an opportunity to continue your thought further. So, every time I say something, I certain part I will not say, so you would first of all remain with your appetite, right? With the feeling that something is lacking here, and that this is something you will be able to fill with what we discussed earlier. So, from our discussion, there is already preparation, you have forces, understandings, and also in a vacant place where with what you received, all the preparation and the understanding, you can maybe continue by yourself in this. 

Student: So how do you do it? How do you do it? 

M. Laitman: It's simple, it's not that I'm unique in this. It's that in the fact that a person has a spiritual feeling, he can't do any other way.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:28) What kind of criticism, us as Bnei Baruch, and you as our Rav, that students won't become like a Hassidic group that you were mentioning, that you have a responsibility maybe on other teachers too, because they have a strong influence on students.

M. Laitman: Look, I'll tell you.

Student: We have a strong influence. 

M. Laitman: Correct. Each who goes to teach in another group, in an external group, has great bestowal. Not like I have the influence here, right? It's correct, I know, I know, I know this. Yes, it's, you know, it's like a childhood sickness. You know, there's an age, a year old, two year old, three, five year old, where kids go through all kinds of diseases. They're not diseases, but they're so that they will get immunity, so that they will become immune altogether. But they have to go through these things. Here too, by going to teach, he checks himself, he builds himself. And I push each and every one to feel it as much as he wants to control and rule, how much honor is important and all kinds of things. And it simply helps grow fast. And if he belongs to this group here, I am concerned that here will be the iron core. Over here, we will truly take all his pride out and all those things as much as possible. So that gradually, as he's here in the group and he learns from me, each time less and less they'll be there like the Rebbe or the ruler. You rule in externality. I try to, in externality, I try to cry out, scream, keep the framework, the times, the roles, whatever has to do with the dissemination factory, yes.

Student: But he can ruin generations. 

M. Laitman: No, no, no, he won't destroy anything. No, no, no. It bothers, yes, but more correctly, we have no choice. We have to operate this way. We also learn this way about them, and they learn about us. It's mutual. It's like the nation and the government. It's not the government to blame that we have such a people or the people to blame that we have such a government. But both are equal in this, yes? That's why there's this relationship between them in such a form, to both. So, we don't have a choice here. We must do this way, and this is the form it will be. But it's a problem. It's a very big problem, where in us, within us, we have to make sure there won't be groups, there won't be such people that will start to connect others to themselves in such a way. Otherwise, they rob the freedom from a person, from everyone, from each and everyone. I just demand from each and everyone to fulfill a role. You have a place here. You operate here in our organization, a role that you have to observe 100%. That's it. Besides that, I don't belong to me in this role. There's managers, you know what I'm saying? And the more we advance, this freedom will be even more. Meaning, a feeling of... Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:35) What should we do with students who study in other places? 

M. Laitman: There are sometimes... look, we're expanding. To start doing a selection to those who can come and don't, we can't. It will create in us such problems. And why do I need to go and scrutinize someone and follow someone? There's people that come here, and there's several other places. Yes, let them go. They just should scrutinize these things quickly. It's not important to me. It's important that if he's here and there and that he comes here with all kinds of others' opinions, so each of us hears those foreign opinions, needs to tell him, "Shut up and decide where you are." But the fact that he wants to scrutinize for himself is legitimate. He doesn't have to just believe you that this is the only place, the only best place in the world. There's a fact that there are many other places - greater, more grand and fancy. And maybe there's wise things there. There's studies there are burning in such a way. And also when I asked Rabash, he said, "Go and check." And I myself think that that's what you have to do - go and check. It only matters how much to check. If he's one foot here, one foot there, and it's like that for months, you need to throw him away from here. Let him go there. Maybe then he'll scrutinize things, you understand? So we'll all the time have this - someone who's transferring this infection, this thing to us. That's not okay. But the fact that he has a right to scrutinize, there's no doubt. Again, this is also because we want the internal development of a person and not to make him a Hassid. Again, God forbid, we're not allowed to. Once Ephraim Hozan came to us. Good guy. So, he was a Hassid beforehand in some place. He was an Orthodox Hassid there, with Rabash's brother, Shlomo. Rebbe's brother was this Hassid. So, he said to Ephraim, "When you go to the synagogue in ChaZON Ish, where I was, you have to close your eyes like that, because the root of your soul is here." And this poor Ephraim, he was an electrical engineer, he was a developed person intellectually. He was in the United States, he worked on ships, he saw the world. So, it's not important. It really isn't. He would go by our synagogue and he would go like that. He was on his path, he had to walk through there. And he came and told us that in a very naive way. This is called making a Hassid. So, without critique. So once, there was an opportunity to sit next to me at a wedding. There was some common wedding for the Ashlag families. And I went into him, and he opened his eyes. He could talk in a normal way, like electricity, like all the things. And he really couldn't be there. The next day he came. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:38) Can a Kabbalist be able to feel that the whole world has a true yearning for the Creator even though it's not discussed, or you can't see it, but he will feel it even though it's not apparent? 

M. Laitman: Does a Kabbalist see, according to the external form of a person, that he has a point of the heart, that he has an inclination to the Creator?

Student: The whole world. 

M. Laitman: Yes, even in the whole world, that the whole world is inclined to the Creator. There's a general inclination towards the Creator, to the world, even though rocks are crying due to the lack of the feeling of Godliness. I'm telling you this seriously. In seriousness, I'm saying this. There's no matter that doesn't need more filling than what it has and to the true feeling of closeness to Godliness. The fact that we, in truth, do not raise the animal, and the vegetative, and the inanimate to a higher degree because they depend on us, this also comes back to us as the stick, as a blow, as blows. 

But whether a Kabbalist feels a person this way or not, yes and no. Because what belongs to another soul, there are many nuances. I'll give you an example. In Rehovot, I had, he's living now also, his name was Rav Mahpuh(sp). I lived in a Yemenite area in Sharaim, the neighborhood. I was connected with the community there. I used to come to him, and he engaged in Kabbalah. So, he saw me one time from afar and he said, “Come here, come here.” He's not a person that just pulls people to himself or something. He says, you know, your heart wants Torah. He spoke in this Yemenite style. Then I understood that he really had something with it. And then I spoke to him a lot, and he was telling me, he's a person who saw, he saw upon other people all kinds of things. In relation to that, another example. Rebbe, Rabash, my Rebbe, I used to bring him all kinds of people. Sometimes he would say, “I don't want to accept this person.” 

A guy, 25 years old, brilliant, intellectual, everything, you know, secular without any past, as we say. Not drugs, and not orthodoxy, and not anything. It's like almost the same thing, actually. Doesn't want to accept him. What happened? “I don't want.” And really later I saw that he was right. That in truth. Well, and there were other cases when I would bring him someone, a guy, I remember one guy, he says, you know, do everything so he stays. I really want him to stay. What did I do with that person? I begged, I give him a ride each time and everything, you know, special service. A true special service for everything. He left. Until this day, he has no connection to it. He's like some big accountant in Jerusalem. That's it. He feels no attraction until this day. No special attraction. Maybe he has a Kippah on his head, but you know, from some kind of… for the sign, or it's worthwhile for him, who knows what. And there were also cases where we'd go to different places, and met all kinds of people. And we spoke with them, me with one guy and Rebbe on the other side. Or I was present in the conversation because what would I enter between the two of them? I was also, I came to Rabash. I was 33 years old, you understand? So, two are sitting there, 60, 70 years old. You give them coffee and tea, and you hear what they're speaking, and you shut up. You don't enter their conversation. And later when I asked the Rav, well, what is he? Who is he? How is he? Because I can't feel, I look at two great ones like this. So, he says, I couldn't distinguish. I couldn't, no. Why? He closed himself. Either he has nothing and I couldn't discern anything, or he closed himself so much that it's as if he has nothing. One can close himself before the other. Meaning, it's not that simple. These relations, we are parts of the soul of Adam HaRishon, and not that a Kabbalist becomes the Creator. You understand? So don't make these speculations here where it's like you're starting to change the world, making noise there in all of reality, throwing the angels this way, the demons that way. You understand? You are in a part where you're connected to the Creator, you're really connected, and there you understand Him, feel Him. But it also doesn't give you, as a person who is born from a woman altogether, as a Kabbalist, you only corrected your desire. It does not give you by this any power how you want to enter and rule over other souls. To the extent that they want to connect to you, if, and they demand help from you, then to that extent, in that vessel, for the sake of correction you can bestow upon them. You understand? There are very fine matters here, very delicate matters here that appear to us, then I would do, then you're even more limited. Now you would do. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:51) Is Hassidut a character in a person, or what can you do with it? We know we can't change a person's character. 

M. Laitman: If Hassidism or Hassidut is your attributes, your character, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do. You can't spoil it, you can't correct it. It's impossible. Until a person has a point in the heart, there's nothing you can do. Until a person has a point in the heart, he's a Hassid, it doesn't matter, he could be a religious Hassid, and he could be a secular Hassid. The fact that he belongs to some idea or something, he could be a Hassid in science, a Hassid in being a vegetarian, no matter what, it's being a belonging to something, attributing to something, that he's like suckling from this, and his development for himself is only dependent by this big one. That's it. If not for the Creator's work, we are all like that. Only there are people that all their life belong to some nipple, to some pacifier, and there's people that are constantly changing things because it seems to them that it's here and there, and every moment they're associating themselves with something. You can belong to the Creator and you're not a Hassid, because it gives you the development, because it gives you the free choice to grow, or you belong to being a Hassid to suckle in some places a little here and there without developing, because you have no possibility to develop there, to develop your “I.” That's why it's called a Hassid, and it doesn't matter how you say it, whether you're a Vizhnitz Hassid, or you're a Hassid of, I don't know, of a football club. It's the same thing. It's the same, well, towards spirituality at least.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:55) If a person advances in spirituality, and the preparation time, not from listening to some Rav or a group at the same time, but only that he feels that he's ready for it. Does it mean that he's missing out on exertion or time? 

M. Laitman: He's asking differently. He says, oh, so to be a Hassid is not good. And if I hear the Rav, if I'm in a group, am I not entering a Hassid by this? I see here everyone's going with a white shirt on Shabbat. They have a Kippah on their head. Yes, black pants. There's bylaws here. It's like, really? We're doing like, maybe this is a Hasidut. So maybe we're just talking that it's not, but it's actually like that. Yes? Yes? The question again is, the answer is whether you're being given room for inner development. And specifically, that place is where you're constantly being stabbed in order to find it yourself. And in that place, you will grow it. If the society does that for you, in your presence here, that's called that you're in the right place. That you're not missing the purpose of your life. If you don't have that, your life is just going by like a beast. Whether you're, as it was, just as it was born, it dies. 

Student: Well, it doesn't listen to them. 

M. Laitman: You need to listen to just one thing. Awakening towards the Creator. Besides that, don't listen to anything that's in the society. That is what you need to receive from the society. That's it. If we could receive it without the books, and without the tables, and without eating together, without anything, that's it. Or by some injection of sorts. Then we would do that. This you need to receive. If you go out of the lesson and you don't have that for even a moment, for even nothing, even on the level of not… even just a little bit, then your time went by, as we say. It didn't go by also. It begins to gradually work. Quantity becomes quality. But we need to demand that.

Reader: We will study from a lesson of TES with Rabash. 

Song: (01:33:48)