The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) April 10, 2024.
Part 1. Rabash. Come Unto Pharaoh-2. Article 13. (1986)
Reader: Hello, we are reading Rabash's article “Come unto Pharaoh-2. From the writings of Rabash. It's on page 249 in the Hebrew version. You can ask questions on Sviva Tova and also in the Arvut system. You can ask us the questions through those broadcast systems in the chat area. Everyone who wants to ask a question in the hall, please get up, hold the mic close to the mouth and say the question clearly.
Reading article 13: (00:38) “Come Unto Pharaoh-2”
The Zohar asks, “It is written, ‘Come unto Pharaoh,’ but it should have said, ‘Go unto Pharaoh,’ etc. Since the Creator saw that Moses was afraid and other appointed emissaries could not approach him, the Creator said, ‘Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his Niles.’ The Creator had to wage war against him, and none other, as it is written, ‘I am the Lord,’ which they explained, ‘I and not a messenger.’” Thus far its words (in the beginning of the portion, Bo [Come]).
The difference between “come” and “go” is that “come” means that we should walk together, like a person who tells his friend, “Come.”
We should understand it because The Zohar asks why the Creator needed to go with Moses. It is because Moses alone could not fight him, but the Creator Himself and none other. Thus, why did he need Moses to go with the Creator? After all, it says, “I and not a messenger.” Thus, what is the point of the Creator going to Pharaoh, who is called “great monster,” with Moses? He could have gone to Pharaoh without Moses.
We should also understand what our sages said (Kidushin [Matrimony] 30b), “Rish Lakish said, ‘Man’s inclination overcomes him every day and seeks to kill him, as it is said, ‘The wicked watches the righteous,’ and if the Creator did not help him, he would not overcome it, as it is said, ‘The Lord will not leave him in his hand.’’”
Here, too, arises the question, “If a person cannot prevail by himself and needs the Creator’s help, why this doubling?” In other words, either the Creator gives a person the strength to overcome alone, or the Creator will do everything. Why is it that two forces seem to be required here, one of man and subsequently the force of the Creator? It is as though only the two of them can conquer evil, and one force is insufficient.
It is known that man’s perfection is that he must reach the purpose of creation to obtain the purpose for which the world was created, which is called “to do good to His creations.” In other words, the creatures should come to receive the delight and pleasure that He contemplated to delight them.
Prior to that, creation is still not considered a creation that befits the Creator, since it is known that from the perfect Operator, perfect operations should emerge. This means that everyone should feel the beauty of creation and will be able to praise and glorify creation, that everyone will be able to glorify and thank the Creator for the creation He has created, and that everyone will be able to say, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world.’” In other words, everyone should bless the Creator for having created a good world filled with pleasures, where everyone is joyful and happy from the contentment they feel from all the pleasures they are experiencing in the world.
However, when a person begins to examine if he is truly satisfied with his life and how much contentment he is really deriving from himself and from his environment, he sees the opposite—everyone is suffering, in torment, and each person suffers differently. But one should say, “Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world,’” so he sees that he is only saying it superficially.
However, it is known that the delight and pleasure cannot appear in the world before the world has Kelim [vessels] of bestowal, since our vessels of reception are still contaminated by self-reception, which is heavily restricted in its measure and separates us from the Creator (meaning that there was the first restriction on the vessels of reception so the abundance would not shine there, see in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” p 138).
Obtaining the vessels of bestowal is where disputes and wars begin, since it is against our nature. And this is why we were given Torah and Mitzvot, to achieve the degree of bestowal, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the spice of Torah” (Kidushin 30).
Also, we were given the Mitzva [commandment/good deed] of “love thy friend as thyself,” and Rabbi Akiva said, “This is the great rule of the Torah” (Beresheet Rabbah, Parasha 24). In other words, by working in love of friends, a person accustoms himself to exit self-love and achieve love of others.
However, we should understand what we see before us, that there are people who exert in love of friends and still do not come an inch closer to love of the Creator so they can work in Torah and Mitzvot, due to the love of the Creator. This means that they say they are in fact advancing a little in love of friends, but they see no progress in love of the Creator. However, we should know that in love of friends, too, there are degrees, meaning we must contemplate the obligation of love of friends.
We can compare it to a two-story building with a ground floor, as well. The King is on the second floor, and one who wishes to come to the King—whose only goal is to converse with the King face-to-face—is told that he must first climb to the first floor, since it is impossible to climb to the second floor without first climbing to the first floor.
Certainly, everyone understands that this is so. However, there is a reason why they must first climb to the first floor—it is called “corrections.” In other words, by climbing to the first floor, one can learn how to address the King face-to-face, and will be able to ask the King for his wish.
That person, who hears that he must first climb to the first floor and subsequently to the second floor, understands it very well. But since his only wish is to see the King’s face and he cares for nothing else, this makes what he is told—that he must climb to the first floor—a burden and a toil for him.
However, he has no choice, so he climbs to the first floor. He is not interested in seeing what is there, although he heard that the first floor is where one learns how to speak with the King. But he pays no attention to that, for this is not his goal. His goal is the King, not what he can learn on the first floor. His goal is not the study, but to see the King’s face. Why should he waste time on trifles, since everything is naught compared to the King? Thus, why should he take interest in what is taught on the first floor?
Hence, when he climbs to the first floor, he has no desire to stay there. Instead, he wishes to quickly climb to the second, to the King Himself, for this is all he wants. However, he is told, “Without knowing the rules that abide on the first floor, you will certainly blemish the King’s honor. For this reason, you cannot hope to be able to climb to the second floor before you learn all that there is to learn on the first floor.”
Similarly, with love of friends, we heard that it was impossible to be rewarded with love of the Creator before one was rewarded with love of friends, as Rabbi Akiva said, “love thy friend as thyself is the great rule of the Torah.” Therefore, while engaging in love of friends, he is not considering love of friends as being valuable, but as redundant.
He keeps it because he has no choice, but he is constantly looking for the time when “I will be rewarded with the love of the Creator, and I’ll be able to rid myself of the love of friends. This work is burdensome to me because I can hardly stand my friends, for I see that they all have different traits than mine and I have nothing in common with them. But I have no choice, since I was told that without love of friends I won’t be able to achieve love of the Creator. So against my will, I sit with them.
“However, I can ask myself, ‘What am I getting from the friends?’ Only one thing: I am correcting myself through self-torment by sitting with them and tolerating their talks, which I dislike and which are against my nature. But what can I do? I am told that I must suffer in this world, so I do: I sit and wait for the time when I can run from them and avoid seeing the lowliness that I see in them.”
It turns out that he is not taking from the love of friends the remedy called, “love of others,” but only because he was told that he has no choice, for otherwise he will not achieve love of the Creator. This is the reason why he engages in love of friends and keeps all the obligations to which the friends commit him. But what he should learn from them is miles away from him.
This means that he is not exiting self-love and he is not reaching love of others. He is observing the love of friends not out of love, but out of fear, since he is not allowed into love of the Creator before he enters the love of friends. As a result, he fears not observing love of friends because he will not be allowed into love of the Creator.
This is similar to the allegory about not being allowed onto the second floor where the King sits, until he climbs to the first floor. The idea is that he will learn the rules of how to keep the King’s honor, so it would seem reasonable that he would be happy to go onto the first floor, since now he is learning how to be watchful of the King’s honor.
It would benefit him because afterwards, when he enters the King’s palace, he will not blemish the King’s honor. And therefore, while he is on the first floor, he pays attention to all the rules that apply there and to becoming accustomed to them, since he wants to come into the King, to bestow upon the King, and not at all to be contemptuous of the King’s honor.
This relates only to one who wishes to come before the King to give contentment to Him. But one who wishes to come in before the King for self-reception considers what is found on the first floor as redundant. It is of no interest to him. He goes up to the first floor only because he is afraid, since he knows that he will not be allowed to climb to the second floor before he climbs to the first floor. He feels no need to study the laws that are taught there—how to avoid blemishing the King’s honor—since the only reason he wants to come before the King is for purposes of self-love.
Therefore, we should know that we were given love of friends to learn how to avoid blemishing the King’s honor. In other words, unless he has no other desire except to give contentment to the King, he will certainly blemish the King’s honor, which is called “Passing on Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] to the external ones.” For this reason, we mustn’t underestimate the importance of the work in love of friends, for by that he will learn how to exit self-love and enter the path of love of others. And when he completes the work of love of friends, he will be able to be rewarded with love of the Creator.
We should know that there is a virtue to love of friends. One cannot deceive himself and say that he loves the friends, if in fact he doesn’t love them. Here he can examine whether he truly has love of friends or not. But with love of the Creator, one cannot examine oneself as to whether his intention is the love of the Creator, meaning that he wants to bestow upon the Creator, or his desire is to receive in order to receive.
But we should know that after all the corrections that man is given to do without the Creator’s help, he will not be granted any progress in the work of bestowal. And we asked, “Why, then, should one do things in order to later be rewarded with the help of the Creator? After all, the Creator can help even without the work of the lower ones, and man’s work on progress in the work will not help in any case.”
However, if one does not begin to work, he doesn’t know that he cannot triumph over the inclination. But when a person begins to walk in the work of the Creator and does what he can do, then he can offer a true prayer for the Creator to help him.
But why would the Creator want him to offer a true prayer? With a flesh and blood, you can say that he wants him to make a genuine plea because when a person makes a genuine plea of his friend, his friend gives him true gratitude. The flesh and blood, who chase honors, the gratitude that he gives him is as though he is belittling himself before him and he enjoys it.
But as for the Creator, does He need to be given people’s respect? Therefore, why would the Creator want a person to make a heartfelt prayer?
The thing is that it is known that there is no light without a Kli. It is impossible for one to give something that is very important, and if one has no desire for something, he will slight it and discard it. It will be lost because the need for something matches what he needs; this gives the importance. To the extent of the importance, he keeps the gift from being lost, for otherwise everything will go to the Klipot.
This is called “nursing the Klipot,” meaning that everything goes to the vessels of reception, which take into their authority everything that a person slights in matters of Kedusha. From this we know why one should begin the work. But why doesn’t the Creator give one the strength to complete the work alone, without His help?
It is known what The Zohar interprets concerning what our sages said, “He who comes to be purified is aided.” It asks, “With what?” And it says, “With a holy soul,” meaning he receives illumination from above, which is called Neshama [a soul], called “attaining Godliness,” which means that he is included in the thought of creation to do good to His creations.
It follows that by having a Kli and a desire for vessels of bestowal, he receives the light, called Neshama. Thus, both are required. In other words, a person should begin, and by that he receives a Kli. And by being unable to finish, he cries out to the Creator for help, and then he receives the light.
Now we can understand what is written, “Come unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these signs of Mine within him.”
A question arises, “Why did the Creator harden Pharaoh’s heart?” The text answers, “That I might show these My signs in the midst of them.” And the interpretation is, “Why has the Creator hardened man’s heart and he cannot win the war against the inclination by himself?”
The answer is, so man will cry out to the Creator, and by that will have the Kli. And then the Creator will be able to place the letters of Torah within him, inside the Kli. This is the soul that the Creator gives him as help.
This is considered, “The Torah and the Creator are one.” “My signs” refers to the letters of the Torah, as in the names of the Creator. This is the “doing good to His creations,” which is the thought of creation to do good to His creations. This comes to a person specifically when he has a Kli, and this Kli comes through the hardening of the heart, for then there is a place where he can cry out to the Creator for help, and He helps him with a holy soul.
Now we can see the matter of “Come unto Pharaoh,” meaning both of us, together. In other words, a person should begin and then see that he cannot defeat it, and this is implied in Moses being afraid to approach him. And then the Creator said, “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh,” meaning that then comes the help from the Creator. And with what? With a holy soul, as written in The Zohar.
It follows that the hardening of the heart, in the words, “For I have hardened his heart,” was to make a place for a prayer. And this prayer is not like one of flesh and blood, who wants respect, to be asked so he will be respected. Rather, the purpose of the prayer is for him to have a Kli, a need for the help of the Creator, for there is no light without a Kli. And when a person sees that he cannot help himself in any way, then he has a need for the Creator’s help.
This is the meaning of what our sages said, “The Creator craves the prayer of the righteous.” Here, too, there arises the question, “But does the Creator need man’s surrender, that he will ask of Him?” However, since His wish is to benefit His creations, but there is no light without a Kli, He craves the prayer of the righteous, for by that they disclose the Kelim [vessels] into which He can impart. It follows that when a person sees that he cannot overcome the evil in him, this is really the time for asking for the help of the Creator.
Now we can understand what the Creator said (Exodus 6), “And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
In Masechet Berachot (38a), our sages wrote about it as follows, “‘Who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’ The sages ... Thus said the Creator unto Israel: ‘When I bring you out, I will do for you something to show you that it is I who brought you out from Egypt, as it is written, ‘That I am the Lord your God, who brought you out.’’”
This means that it is not enough that the Creator brings the people of Israel out of Egypt, that they were liberated from the torment that they suffered there. When speaking of the work of the Creator, there arises the question, “Was this not enough?” Now they have been liberated from the enslavement of the exile after not being able to serve the Creator due to Pharaoh’s rule, and all that they built for themselves, whatever position in the work, was all swallowed in the earth, as our sages said (Sotah p 11), “Pithom and Ramses. Rav and Shmuel, one said her name was Pithom. And why was her name Ramses? For his head Mitroses [splinters] first.” RASHI interprets, “When they built some, it would splinter and fall. They would rebuild, and it would fall. And one said, ‘Her name is Ramses, and why was her name Pithom? It is because first is first, it was swallowed by the Pi Tehom [mouth of the abyss].’”
We therefore see that there is no dispute between Rav and Shmuel regarding the facts, only regarding the interpretation. The fact was that everything that they built would fall. This means that every time they built for themselves some structure in the work, the Egyptians came, meaning the alien thoughts of the Egyptians, and ruined all their work. In other words, all the work that they did with all their efforts to overcome and to serve in the work of holiness was swallowed in the ground.
Thus, each day they had to start over, and it seemed to them as though they were never engaged in the work of holiness. Moreover, each time they contemplated moving forward, they saw that not only did they not progress, they even regressed, since new “who” and “what” questions would always surface in their minds.
Accordingly, we should understand this exodus from Egypt as their finally having the ability to serve the Creator without the alien thoughts of the Egyptians. Thus, what does this knowing in the words, “And you shall know,” come to tell us? That we must know that it is the Creator who delivered them from the land of Egypt. And there is more we should wonder about, since we began the examination at the enslavement in Egypt, when they were being worked in hard labor, and they were liberated from that, so what else did they miss?
But what is hard labor? Our sages explained the verse, “All their labors which they rigorously imposed on them” (Sutah 11b). “Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nahmany said, ‘Rabbi Yonatan said, ‘They replaced men’s work with women’s work, and women’s work with men’s work. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve Ba-Parech [with rigor].’’ Rabbi Elazar says, Be Peh Rach [with a soft mouth].’”
We should also understand the matter of hard labor in the work of holiness. We should make two discernments:
The act called “the revealed part,” which a person can see and where one cannot say that he is erring or deceiving himself, since it cannot be said that there is a mistake about something that is visibly apparent. This is so because with the act of Mitzvot and the study of Torah, he sees, and others can also see if he is carrying out actions of Torah and Mitzvot or not.
The intention. This is called “the hidden part,” since others cannot see the intention behind one’s acts. And he, too, cannot see the intention in the act, since with intentions, it is possible to mislead himself and deceive himself, for only in apparent things, called “the revealed part,” everyone can see the truth. But when it comes to intentions in the heart or thoughts in the mind, one cannot trust himself. It follows that this is hidden from himself and from others.
Now we can interpret the meaning of hard labor, which was said to be “Replacing men’s work with women’s work.” “Men’s work” means that he is already a Gever [man], that he can Lehitgaber [overcome] his evil and engage in Torah and Mitzvot in action. Thus, what should he do when he is already called “a man,” meaning a man of war, who can fight with his evil in action? Now it is time for him to begin his work in the second discernment, meaning in the concealed, which is the intention. In other words, henceforth, he should try to aim all his actions to be in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator and not for his own benefit.
And what did the Egyptians do when they saw that he was a man who could exit their rule and enter holiness? They swapped their work and gave them women’s work. This means that all their work was in women’s work, that is, the Egyptians made them think, “Who needs intentions? The actions are what count, and here, in actions, you will succeed, as you can see—you are a man, you can prevail over the evil in you and engage in Torah and Mitzvot in every detail and precision, and you must put all your efforts into being more meticulous in Torah and Mitzvot.
“However, you should not engage in intentions! This work is not for you, but only for a chosen few. If you begin with the work of bestowing, meaning noticing that you must aim everything to be in order to bestow, you will not have the energy to be so meticulous in the revealed action, where you will not deceive yourself because you see what you are doing. Therefore, there is where you can expand in every detail and precision in your actions.
“But with regard to intentions, you have no real test. Thus, we advise you for your own good, and do not think, God forbid, that we want to divert you from the work of holiness. On the contrary, we want you to rise in the degrees of holiness.”
This is called, “Replacing men’s work with women’s work.” Where they should have done work that belongs to men, they explained to the people of Israel that it would be best for them to do women’s work, meaning what belongs to women.
“And women’s work with men’s work” means that those people do not have the power to overcome. Rather, “They are as feeble as a female,” meaning that they were weak in keeping Torah and Mitzvot and didn’t have the strength to keep and observe the Mitzvot, even in the revealed form, which is called “only in action.” And all the work of overcoming was only in the action, not in the intention.
The Egyptians came to them and made them think, “We don’t want to interrupt your holy work. On the contrary, we want you to be true servants of the Creator. In other words, we see that you wish to serve in the work of holiness, so we are advising you that the most important thing is not the action; it is the intention. Therefore, instead of exerting to overcome in action, accustoming yourselves to overcome your body, to study for another hour or to pray for another half hour trying to answer ‘Blessed be He,’ and ‘Blessed be His name,’ and ‘Amen,’ not to mention in the middle of the repetition of the cantor. Who needs it?
“The main aim is for the Creator. That is where you need to focus all your efforts. Why waste your strength on trifling things? Indeed, the Halacha [religious law] says that you must keep all those little things, but this work is not for you; it’s work for women. You need to engage in men’s work. The fact that you want to engage only in action is unbecoming to you. You should focus primarily on the intent, meaning use every bit of energy you have to aim that everything will be for the Creator. However, don’t think for a minute that we are trying, God forbid, to interrupt your work of the Creator. We want the contrary—for you to rise up the ladder of holiness and achieve perfection, meaning that all your actions will be only in order to bestow contentment upon your Maker.”
And since they were at the degree called “women” and still did not have the strength to overcome, not even in the part of the action—considered that they are as feeble as females—the Egyptians made them see that the important thing was the aim Lishma [for Her name]. By that, the Egyptians made certain that they would not have the strength to continue and overcome in the work of holiness.
It is as Maimonides says when he wrote (Hilchot Teshuva [Laws of Repentance], Parasha no. 10), “The sages said, ‘One should always engage in Torah, even in Lo Lishma [not for Her name], since from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma [for Her name].’ Therefore, when teaching the little ones, the women, and the illiterate in general, they must be taught to work out of fear and to receive reward. When they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are to be shown that secret bit by bit, and must be accustomed to it with ease, until they attain it, and know Him and serve Him out of love.”
The Egyptians advised those who were under the discernment of women not to follow the words of Maimonides. On the contrary, even though they were at the degree of women and little ones, they made them understand that they should immediately begin the work on aiming Lishma. By that, the Egyptians made certain that they would remain in their domain, outside of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity].
Thus, this is called “hard labor,” as Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nahmany interpreted, “Ba-Parech [with toil] means BePricha [fragile/crumbling].” And RASHI interpreted, “In crumbling and breaking of the body and the waist.” The reason is that when replacing men’s work with women’s work, and women’s work with men’s work, it will be as we explained, since men’s work was to overcome and advance and aim for the intention Lishma, but they weakened them in this work because the Egyptians resisted this work. Hence, besides having to toil in overcoming so they could aim in order to bestow, they had more work in that the Egyptians made them think that all of this work was redundant, that the work of bestowal did not relate to them, but only to a chosen few.
This is called “twofold work”: 1) straining to aim in order to bestow, and 2) fighting them and saying that it is not true, that they will be able to achieve Lishma, and not as the Egyptians said, that they should do women’s work. And this was the Egyptians’ whole intention, to prevent them from approaching the work of bestowal.
Also, they replaced the work of men with that of women, which, as we said, is worthless because it is keeping Torah and Mitzvot only in action. This means that their entire war against the inclination is only over the action, and not, as Maimonides says, that women’s work should be only about doing things and not teaching them that they must intend Lishma.
Therefore, when the Egyptians came and told them that they had to do men’s work, meaning aim to bestow, it was hard work for them: 1) Concerning Lishma, you are totally incapable of it. 2) Overcoming the body and keeping practical Mitzvot was harder for them before the Egyptians’ alien thoughts came and made them think that the act of Mitzvot without intention was completely worthless and degraded the importance of Torah and Mitzvot in Lo Lishma. Thus, now, through the Egyptians, the work in the form of women was degraded, and this caused them hard labor, as it was said that it is the breaking of the body and the waist.
It follows from all the above that there are three meanings to the word Perech [toil/hard labor], yet there is no contradiction between one interpretation and the other. Rather, all three things were there, and each interpreted according to his own issue:
In the first interpretation of Parech, Rabbi Elazar says it is “in Peh Rach [soft mouth].”
Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nahmany said “In Pericha,” which means breaking.
Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nahmany, “Rabbi Yonatan said, ‘They replaced men’s work with women’s work, and women’s work with men’s work.’”
However, they all interpret hard labor as Pericha [shattering], meaning the breaking of the body. And the reason why it was hard work to the point that they called this work, “Labor that breaks the body and the waist,” is that they replaced men’s work with women’s work, and women’s work with men’s work. This caused them the hard labor.
And yet, why did they listen to the views of the Egyptians? It is because they spoke to Israel with Peh Rach [a soft mouth], meaning that the thoughts of the Egyptians came to Israel with a soft mouth. That is, everything they told them to do was not to turn them away from serving the Creator, God forbid. On the contrary, they wished to guide them to walk in the ways of the Creator successfully, so they would not waste time in vain, meaning that they would see no progress in the work of holiness. And since they were spoken to with a soft mouth, it was hard for them to overcome these thoughts.
This implies that when he says that they replaced men’s work with that of women, he explains why they listened to the Egyptians. The answer is, because of the Perech—that they spoke to Israel with Peh Rach [a soft mouth]. Thus, it is for the two above reasons that they came to work in hard labor, as Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nahmany says, Perech means work of Pericha [breaking], which is work that breaks the body.
Accordingly, we should understand why it is not enough for the people of Israel that the Creator brought them out of Egypt, out of their enslavement so they could engage in Torah and Mitzvot, each according to his attainment, and the Klipa of Egypt didn’t have the strength to resist their work.
Indeed, how great is the miracle and who can appreciate the importance of the matter? When a person considers the amount of suffering and torment that he feels while being in exile under the enslavement of Pharaoh King of Egypt, and to the extent of the darkness of Pithom and Ramses that he assumes in his heart, which they were building. And now, the gates of the Klipa of Egypt were opened before them all at once and they came under their own authority. This means that now they were free to engage in Torah and Mitzvot as they wished, without any interruptions. What joy and elation it brings to a person when he compares the time of darkness to the time when it illuminates. It is as it is said, “He who separates between darkness and light.”
According to the above, we should understand the necessity to know that only the Creator delivers them from the burdens of the Egyptians, as our sages said, “When I bring you out, I will do for you something to show you that it is I who brought you out from Egypt, as it is written, ‘That I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’”
The thing is that we must always remember the goal that we must reach. And since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, our goal is to receive the delight and pleasure that He has contemplated on our behalf. But for the purpose of correction, called Dvekut [adhesion], which is about equivalence of form, we have to work to obtain the vessels of bestowal.
Yet, this is only the correction of creation; it is not wholeness. Wholeness means knowing the Creator, knowing and attaining the Torah, which is called “the names of the Creator.”
Accordingly, it is not enough that we already have the strength to keep Torah and Mitzvot without any interruptions, for this is only a correction, not the complete goal. The complete goal is to obtain the knowledge of the Torah, as in, “The Torah, Israel, and the Creator are one.” This is why our sages said, “This is what the Creator said to Israel, ‘And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out,’ I and not a messenger.” This means that every single one should come to know the Creator, and this is called “Torah,” the names of the Creator.
M. Laitman: What do I have to say? It is really an article. Does anyone have anything to add about what we read and heard?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:10) I got confused with the work of men and women, and what is the complete work there. What is the mistake in replacing men's work with women's work, and vice versa? What is he trying to tell us here, really?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:58) What is in our work, Come to Pharaoh and Go to Pharaoh?
M. Laitman: Go is alone and come is with two.
Student: How do I identify? What does it tell me practically that I'm going to Pharaoh?
M. Laitman: That you go alone. And come unto Pharaoh it's two.
Student: Do I have to be awarded with go to Pharaoh? It's something man is awarded with?
M. Laitman: Apparently, yes. Otherwise, we don't succeed to come closer to Pharaoh. To exit from him, to bring the nation out from Pharaoh's rule.
Student: Is come to Pharaoh a meeting point with the Creator? He tells us to come to Pharaoh, there I'll meet you?
M. Laitman: Yes. Each one understands this according to what he attains.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:37) Really about the work of men and women, a person can always add actions. When does he know that he needs to engage in the work of women or enter the work of intention, which is also unclear what is the labor with the intention?
M. Laitman: Well?
Student: We generally say that our whole direction should be that every free moment it sounds like we do need to add an action. Maybe that brings, maybe we don't need to be more meticulous in making more actions, taking another role, doing another thing, and also putting pressure on the friends in regard to that is maybe completely wrong. Maybe we just have to raise the importance of the intention and not the actions? When this way, when that way.
M. Laitman: Yes, that’s a question?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:58) He gave an allegory of a two-story building. In the first floor there is love of friends, in the second floor there is love of the Creator, and that a person needs to do work on the first floor to love that state because that is how he can reach the second floor without hurting, blemishing the King's glory, let's say. Then he can rise to the second floor, which was his initial goal. And then he gives us another division into two, that there is Torah and Mitzvot in action and in intention, like two kinds of work. So, the question is, if here too there is something that needs to be done first, and then, like with love of friends and love of the Creator, do we first need to do actions and then be rewarded with intentions?
M. Laitman: It's a question.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:13) He writes, to whom he replaced the work of men and women to those who are capable of leaving the Egyptians' rule. Then the question arises, who are these people who are capable of that, and who are they? Those who have a desire to bestow, those who are on the right track, those who don't, or not?
M. Laitman: That’s a question, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:49) Also with regards to the first floor, second floor, he writes about the state of working in love of friends that only because he has to, but he does it due to self-mortification, he suffers this work and then he writes, so he's not taking the remedy from love of friends called love of others, but he just does it for lack of other choice. The question is, what is that remedy in love of friends? What does it mean to miss the remedy? What does it mean to take the remedy?
M. Laitman: That the person needs to know whether it's important to him or not.
Student: He understood it's important before all, but he did it because there's no choice. He says, when a person just does it because there's no choice, he understands it's important, but it's just that there's no choice, then he misses the remedy?
M. Laitman: Yes, because he needs to work not from that in which he has no choice, but from the importance of the Creator.
Student: Meaning that we work in love of friends due to the importance of the Creator, and that brings remedy? And what's the remedy?
M. Laitman: Yes, and we continue.
Student: The remedy is the progress?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:24) What does man get out of a state where he says, I suffer, I sit and wait for when I can escape the friends, and not look at their lowliness that I see in them? What's the advice for that state?
M. Laitman: That he sees how weak he is and how much he doesn't want to progress in the work.
Student: That's him seeing his state, but what's the advice that he can't stand that state?
M. Laitman: From not tolerating this state, he gives a prayer for the Creator to save him.
Student: He also writes, in love of friends, they see they advance a bit, and in love of the Creator, they don't see any progress. And what if a person feels the opposite? He feels like he advances in love of the Creator, but not in love of friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What's the, what about that state?
M. Laitman: We have to correct all those things along the way. The fact that he does not come close to the friends, he sees and his work with the Creator, he does advance. Why? Because he doesn't have love for others. And the Creator is also in that definition of love of others. So it turns out that a person isn't walking correctly. Love of friends helps him here to understand with what intention he relates to the Creator.
Student: Can there be a reality where he has love of the Creator, but no love of friends?
M. Laitman: Then it's not correct. That's what he discovers. That if he's drawn to the Creator, but not to the friends first, then the love of the Creator is not whole. There's a certain blemish in it.
Student: Love of friends and love of the Creator, do they come together?
M. Laitman: A person needs to compare it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:07) In general, love of friends, he writes that you can't be rewarded with love of the Creator before a person is rewarded with love of friends. As Rav Akiva said, love your friend as yourself. What does it mean to love the friend?
M. Laitman: That you care for his correction. Like you care for yourself.
Student: We know that along the way we discovered that you also don't worry about yourself, that spirituality is important to you, but you're not worried about it as you would like to be. The question is, how can you succeed in loving the friend as much as you love yourself? How will you see that your friend has a desire for spirituality, energy for spirituality when you can't have it for yourself?
M. Laitman: Meaning, in this case, you are starting to discover that caring for a friend or caring for yourself, for a person, it's the same thing.
Student: Then, there is the question, from this point, how do you succeed in loving friends? Caring for him, that he will really succeed?
M. Laitman: You will succeed at caring for a friend specifically because you see that caring for a friend or caring for yourself is the same thing.
Student: Knowing this already has the strength and energy to come closer to the friend?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: He also writes that we have to know that the fact that we were given the matter of love of friends is in order to learn from this, not to blemish the honor of the King. I noticed that in the work, we are trying not to hurt, not to offend the friend. Gradually, over time, we say, if I say something wrong, if I show the wrong approach, I see that it's misunderstood, and then each one becomes very careful, you know, not to touch, not to. So, that creates a situation where each friend is in his own place, and he wants to stay in his own place, and each one is like in his own little box, and says, it's better for me not to offend the friend. The question is, is it important to be so careful not to offend the friend, and then not to show extra emotions, or not to be afraid of making mistakes? Is it better to relate or not to relate to the friends?
M. Laitman: Good. Yes, what is more correct for advancement?
Student: It seems to me, personally, that it's better to interact, to sometimes…
M. Laitman: Meaning, to discover?
Student: To reveal, yes, to expose.
M. Laitman: Even if the relation is not appropriate, still, we reveal it, we discover it.
Student: Yes, it's better to reveal, right?
M. Laitman: I am not deciding anything here. So, wait, so if you say that to discover, to reveal, and by that, you go and harm a friend, does that help you?
Student: You blemish the honor or glory of the King.
M. Laitman: Well?
Student: Are you careful here? And if you already blemished it, how do you correct it? What is this caution not to hurt a friend, but then also not to be afraid to interact with him, to break the barriers, the partitions? That's the question. There is a boundary here?
M. Laitman: Okay. What do friends think?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:25) At one time, the Egyptians say that they recommend a person to work in intentions and another time to work in action. I want to ask, in what case do they suggest working intentions, and in what case do they recommend actions? And also, what is an action in our work?
M. Laitman: An action in our work as he writes there that we need, through the action, to reach the intentions.
Student: An action is to connect, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: To engage in love of others, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: He says that if you engage in love of others, then you have to engage in intentions. Forget about the actions, they don't matter. And another time, when a person who works engages in intentions, he says, forget it, it's only for a chosen few. You need to work in actions. And by this, they fail a person, according to Maimonides?
M. Laitman: Correct.
Student: How do we not listen to them? How do we come out of it?
M. Laitman: I hear. Okay.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:55) What does it mean to learn to speak to the Creator face-to-face? He says when I go up to the first floor I learn to speak to the Creator there, face-to-face. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: That you start to discover what connection you have with the Creator all together.
Student: To continue the friends' questions. If I want to correct myself and come from love of friends to love of the Creator, and I take the deficiencies of the friends and I ask for the deficiencies of the friends, they are more important than my deficiency and I ask for this all the time. Is this really speaking with the Creator, asking the Creator, and speaking to Him face-to-face, by asking for the deficiencies of the friends? That the friends are more important than I am?
M. Laitman: If it's so, you can ask. To demand.
Student: We keep saying that the connection with the Creator is through the friends. And if I discover that the friends' deficiencies are more important than mine is this how we build the common deficiency, that we want to come from love of friends to love of the Creator? This is how I feel it?
M. Laitman: Yes, when you take their deficiencies and open them before the Creator, and that for you is more important than your lacks.
Student: On what deficiencies do I need to ask? It's not every deficiency. I need such deficiencies that direct us toward the goal?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Right? Not every deficiency. There are all kinds of deficiencies. There are degrees in that?
M. Laitman: The deficiencies of the friends are all if you observe them and they lead you to the goal.
Student: I shouldn't make any calculations. Every deficiency of the friend exists, and I have to ask for it.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:30) I want to continue the point that the friend brought up. Maimonides warns us, from the Egyptians, telling us to go toward the intention that the young people, how not to be lured by the Egyptians who want us to work in holiness for the sake of the world to receive. How do we not fall into that place? How do we not come to this?
M. Laitman: Where we need to be in love of others as far as the action.
Student: What does that mean? To be in love of others in action?
M. Laitman: That we don't have for the time being any engagement with intentions. That's it.
Student: That's exactly a very dangerous point in our work, how do we not fall into the Egyptians, to the place where the Egyptians tell you to work on intentions, because that's what the Creator wants? The Creator says, come to Pharaoh, but if we defeat Pharaoh, you'll see that in actions you can't do anything, and then you come to a prayer, and then together we will defeat Pharaoh. In the end with the intention, not the action?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: That's the goal. How do we not get confused here, and not fall? How do you know that you're in the right prayer, that you're in the right place?
M. Laitman: How can you be certain that you are asking, and upon your request, the Creator performs the action?
Student: Correct, that's the question. Maybe we can leave it as a question because that's the scrutiny?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:35) There's a part here where he writes that in love of friends there is a merit. That a person cannot deceive himself and say that he loves the society if he doesn't really love them, because here he can criticize himself if he really has love of friends or not. Whereas, with the love of the Creator a person cannot criticize himself, whether his intention is to love the Creator, meaning that his desire is to bestow upon the Creator, or to receive for himself in order to receive. With regard to the love for the society, I notice in myself that everything that I define for love of friends, working for the society, greatness of the goal, the root of all of it is egoistic. How can I really criticize myself about something where I love the society if in the end, I discover that it's egoistic? What is love?
M. Laitman: What does he recommend?
Student: Afterward he writes that he recommends to begin with the work only by trying, by engaging in it. This is what will bring him to a prayer, but I still don't understand what love is.
M. Laitman: You don't understand what love is, but you, nevertheless, come to the prayer, to the request, and that actually leads us to the solution.
Student: I keep feeling that my prayer is also false. It becomes empty because the ego twists me, fools me, and shows me that this way too is for myself.
M. Laitman: What prayer can be not from your behalf? Well, help him. Do you have an answer?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:16) When I discover an egoistic desire within me, I turn it toward the friend. I raise it to the Creator instead of the friend? I place the friend instead of me?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Each time I come more quickly, I heard from you that we need to worry about the correction of the friend. I discover every time that the friend does not need correction, that I'm the one who needs to be corrected. So, asking about the friend, is it only a mechanism not to ask for myself? Placing all the feelings for myself toward the friend, even though the friend doesn't need correction. Somehow, I'm full of emotion, and then the emotion drops out because I pointed in another direction, but then I'm like it seems that only my desire now is redundant, because the friend is inside the Creator and doesn't need correction. So, then I'm back at the beginning, where I'm just crying for myself. Because I need the correction. But what then, just to ask because the Creator enjoys it? That's where you arrive.
M. Laitman: To come out of that loop, it's only by doing the action.
Student: What action? To care for the corrections of a friend. But again, I'm in a loop. Because the friend, I discovered that he doesn't need correction, I'm the one who needs correction?
M. Laitman: Yes, well?
Student: So, I have to ask for the correction of the friend. Because it's the mechanism. It's like the medicine to love a friend. How do you love a friend? You care for his correction, but I discovered that he doesn't need correction, I need correction. How do I come out of the loop?
M. Laitman: Did you now discover what you need?
Student: What I need? I need to ask for the Creator to enjoy the vessel. I need a vessel to bestow.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Asking for myself, it's like the friends are like light or something like that. The reforming light comes in the form of the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: My ten constantly moves me. They're trying to move me in the right direction to make me do the things I need to do in order to give contentment like they do. I want the right vessel. But not for myself but the only one who needs correction is me.
M. Laitman: How do you come to such a solution that only you need correction?
Student: It's clear to me that time and time again I do things as if I am righteous. I am right. And everyone is wrong, etc. They're doing wrong, etc. But the Creator is around me and they are so bestowing upon each other and caring for me. Sorry, I see only what to envy. I only want to be like that but I'm a terrible example. I'm not a good example. And they always give me an amazing example. How can I then want them to be better than what I see? I want to be like them. They're waiting for me.
M. Laitman: If you feel that way, then you already just need to raise that prayer, and that's it. It seems to me that that is the solution.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:13) I want to continue in the same place. When a person discovers that the Creator helps him see that he has a problem with himself, the ego immediately enters there and spoils the connection. It doesn't let you annul enough to ask for correction for this. You see it, and you immediately run away from this. What's the advice? Because you see that it's not, over and over again, you miss out on a correction. So, what environment should there be around a person so he cannot run away from this correction and will be able to ask for it?
M. Laitman: Why is the point specifically, well. What does a person need to feel, first of all?
Student: A person feels that he has an enemy within. He has something in him that stops him from asking for others. He sees that he cannot. It's as if he stops the light from spreading outwards.
M. Laitman: And that he truly has to ask for the others. And he's not asking for the others, and what is he asking for himself?
Student: No, now he's got a new situation. He understands the truth, but he can't deal with it. He can't change it.
M. Laitman: He is at a dead-end basically.
Student: A person feels what is the way out. He needs to ask the Creator to nevertheless allow him to be like that. But the ego immediately interferes and spoils the connection, and it's not clear why. Because a person already understands that he needs it. It seems like attacking it needs to come from a different way. When a person discovers it in this place, it doesn't mean that the solution is there. In other words, the war is not in that place. It's like you discover it, but to really solve it, you need to work differently. That's what it seems like. But where?
M. Laitman: Well, yes. It's a special state.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:38:17) What does it mean to love others? Is it to be equal to them or to fill them?
M. Laitman: To love others is to fill them.
Student: How can I fill them if I'm only a desire? What does that mean? What can I give them?
M. Laitman: What do they need for correction?
Student: They need the Creator to be among us.
M. Laitman: Okay, and?
Student: Here's where I get stuck.
M. Laitman: All right, we'll get there. We will get there.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:39:11) Another discernment. When a person is in a state of women, when he has the strength to work in love of others, only in action, not with intention. So, the Egyptians come and say, drop this work of connecting love of others. You need to work on intentions. And by this, they fail a person even more. So, what can be done here?
M. Laitman: That a person is told that he only needs to work on the intentions.
Student: A person has the strength to work in love of others, to make a meal for them, disseminate connection on the physical level. But then the Egyptians come and say, forget about these actions. The intentions are what matters. And by this, they make it even heavier and harder.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, they slight the work in Lo Lishma, love of others. Because even when you don't have the intention, you need to work. And then from this, you'll get to the intention.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what can you answer to such thoughts?
M. Laitman: Maybe we need to read the last two pages again.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:41:02) To continue he writes that in order to obtain the vessels of bestowal, here is where the war and the disputes begin because it's against our nature. And from this, how can a person accustom himself to emerge from self-love and come to love others? How is it possible? What does it mean to accustom yourself?
M. Laitman: Accustoming himself means that he should try forcefully to perform actions.
Student: He can only feel that he doesn't have the strength as a result.
M. Laitman: He needs to nevertheless put forth the course and do those actions.
Student: The question is, should the connection between us be based on the need for help from above? Should the connection between us rely on this?
M. Laitman: Meaning, do we need to connect in our negativity where we're not capable, none of us? And from that, we cry out to the Creator?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: Or?
Student: Now this, the need for the negativity, that it will come from Him, from above.
M. Laitman: Meaning, that's the solution.
Student: I'm asking because I don't see how a person can accustom himself to love others.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:42:34) I'm not sure if the friend was asking or answering, but from all the questions, every question here is amazing, because we're all going through the same states. So, the question is, no matter what we are shown now, that I'm an egoist, that the friend is correction, whatever we are shown, how do we appreciate the one who revealed it to us and grab this, first of all, to appreciate the greatness of the Creator, who now revealed this state? So great, it's good. We should be thankful for it. And from here, begin to work, not get into a state where we seem to be forgetting the main thing. How do we keep the greatness of the Creator above everything, along with the revelations?
M. Laitman: But if you discover that what you understand now, feel now, comes to you from the Creator, what else do you need?
Student: First of all, to say thank you. It's a terrible state, but thank you for showing it, first of all, from here, begin. Because then everything becomes clearer because otherwise, you can sink into endless states and never come out of it. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm asking. How do we do it? So, we don't keep fumbling in what is revealed to us, and why it's revealed?
M. Laitman: It's revealed so that we will reach the solution, probably. That's clear. In what case do we come to the solution?
Student: I think he says here that the wholeness of the goal is to obtain the knowledge of the Creator in the form of the Creator and the Torah and Israel are One, so we should always combine all of them. You can't leave out one of them because then we're lost. If it's just either one, then you're lost, there's no solution.
M. Laitman: So, what's the solution, nonetheless? To ask, demand, what? What should we demand?
Student: To keep the Creator between us.
M. Laitman: Only together does the automatic solution comes?
Student: Otherwise, we'll have nothing to hold on to. If we don't ask for this, then what do we have? Drowning in a state that we're falling into?
M. Laitman: Meaning we need to ask for connection because in our connection we collect all our deficiencies, and we can present them to the Creator. Maybe like that?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:46:16) Is the connection between us, as you just said, is this the ground floor and by elevating the deficiencies, this is the first floor and we deal with love of friends and the minute we manage to deal with it, we rise to the second floor?
M. Laitman: You can say it that way, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:46:39) What does it mean to uphold, to keep, love of friends? Not because of love, but because of fear, as he writes here.
M. Laitman: We can lose our approach to it, our access.
Student: Basically, I remain selfish. It's not because I really love the friend, but because I want to enter the king's hall. I want to reach the king's hall.
M. Laitman: No, I want to reach love of friends. I don't have it yet.
Student: Again, he writes here that he engages in love of friends not because of love, but because of fear, because he's not allowed to come to love the Creator, because before he loves the friends first. Therefore, he's afraid not to keep love of friends, because he's afraid of not entering the king's hall.
M. Laitman: He doesn't have too much of a drive towards love of friends, right?
Student: Right.
M. Laitman: So what does he do?
Student: Before that, he writes that he doesn't come out of self-love, and he doesn't reach love of others. So, I connect not because of love, because I really love the friends, but it's still something that is my own selfish way. I still remain selfish.
M. Laitman: If you ask for love of friends because you have no other way but through them to reach the love of the Creator.
Student: It should be a prayer from the bottom of the heart, from real recognition.
M. Laitman: So there's what to ask for.
Student: Should this request to the Creator come through the friends, through the effort to connect?
M. Laitman: Yes.
M. Laitman: Here comes the question of whether we can ask two steps ahead.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:49:02) To continue what the friend was trying to scrutinize about the Egyptians wanting to switch to work. Joseph came to his brothers with love of friends that they wanted to aim for the Creator without love of friends, probably, right? They went into Egypt threw him the pit and Moses says, let my people go so we can aim all our actions toward the Creator. So, when the Egyptians want to change a person's work, what do they notice? That someone can already work in love of friends, and they want to fail him, so he'll aim for the Creator without love of friends, so he will return to intentions as if before Joseph came to his brothers, to send them back to before the exile. I'm working directly toward the Creator, love of friends, it's only actions. So, when a person can be in love with friends and aim for the Creator, so they want to fail him from the accurate intention, with love of friends, and drop him into only actions without being able to direct the actions toward the Creator, is this confusion?
M. Laitman: Yes, seemingly. Meaning, the thing is really on this point?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:50:50) Also, to elaborate on that point. First question, the Creator takes us through these states. Is there anything we can do with the fact that our ego pulls us in this way and changes our work of men to the work of women. Can we do something about it? Or just read Rabash and say, even with gratitude, thank God we're on the path, and you feel these things, and one day we'll be redeemed. Is there anything we can do about it? He writes here that a person is on the path, and then the Pharaoh pulls him, changes his work of men to the work of women, and you do things in love of friends, and getting closer, and the ego tells him, you don't need actions, you need intentions, he tries to have intentions, he says, no, you need actions, so he fools him all the time, so he doesn't reach the goal.
M. Laitman: That's not correct. The ego is also, it's the Creator's angel. It doesn't just like that confuse a person. There's no such thing in nature of something that has no need. It's redundant. Meaning, that if something operates upon a person, it's only in order to aim him, bring him closer to his redemption. Otherwise, it doesn't work. It's clear, yes? The whole world is angels, so what are you trying to say?
Student: What you're saying is clear to me. All those things that are happening to us along the way, when our work is replaced, that it's all the angels that the Creator accompanies us to the goal eventually. But besides observing the process we're going through, is there anything we can do? I'll elaborate some more. He says it's all in order to break us, so we turn to the Creator, the hard labor, etc. So, in the end, we will turn to the Creator because that's the goal. In the end, we'll get there.
M. Laitman: What states need to be for us to be able to turn to the Creator in this outcry, this final outcry?
Student: Hence the question because I'm afraid. I look at the process, and I'm thinking, what is the difference between reaching a shattering and turning to the Creator, or just shattering and becoming indifferent? Because a person works along the way. I read about the states. I'm impressed. Oh, it's beautiful. It's such a privilege to be here, to meet this Kabbalist. And I get pleasure from it, and gratitude, as the friend says. But in the end, when I have to come to the shattering and the outcry, I'm afraid that out of these states, I will just continue on the path, and continue, and continue, and I'll die on the path. And the outcry from the breaking that should come, will not come. The question is, from what we're going through, should we wait for the outcry to come in the end will the Creator give us this outcry, or is there something I can do?
M. Laitman: Why don't we have this outcry? Why? What's missing?
Student: I don't know. I read the article and I say, I did many things to come closer to the friends, a lot of friends, and I'm told, no, you have to do the intentions. I'm in the intentions, so I'm told to do actions. I'm in the process of what he's talking about, but the outcry, it's as if I can continue for years with actions and intentions and being confused by an outcry. It's not coming out.
M. Laitman: Nice. Good discernments.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:55:35) We're going so deep today. What happens here? What burdens him that causes this in a person right now?
M. Laitman: When a person doesn't feel confused, but he is confused. Afterward, yes, it depends on how connected he is to the friends. So, he feels that he is confused.
Student: I'll ask something else differently. It's written that for 400 years we have to labor.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: It's not years, it's degrees, probably.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What's the difference between degree to degree in the work in Egypt?
M. Laitman: The person feels himself more deeply, more deeply in the work.
Student: The revelation that a person reveals that he's under her, does that happen at one stage, or does a person understand this each time anew during these 400 years?
M. Laitman: A person understands it anew. He understands better the reasons and the results from what he went through.
Student: We work a lot until the serpent appears. Like amongst all the desires and all the things, we suddenly see where the serpent is. It's like it's revealed. Then the moment we see it, before we grab it by the tail, to grab it, it disappears, it kind of like crawls away. This brings great sorrow after you've done so much work and you manage to ask to see the truth, it manages to elude you, to run away. Maybe that's the burden each time, the hardship each time a person gets, that he's kind of like, maybe that's the intention of the hardship, the burdening that happens.
M. Laitman: Yes, that we can't grab the serpent and discover the truth.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:58:25) To continue the friends how do we hasten this process? Is it more personal work?
M. Laitman: Through each one's attention and everyone together.
Student: Okay, let's say there is such an attention. Everyone here is kind of doing this work, so we're trying to see these states more and more. The question is, what does this hastening of time depend upon?
M. Laitman: The hastening of time depends, again, on the intention, attention.
Student: Is that my personal work? Does each of us have to do this attention himself?
M. Laitman: All of us.
Student: Let's say in the Ten, do we need to go through these states in quantity or quality of states that have to go by? Or is it just the feeling that the friend said, the feeling that it's like you're being moved from one side to another. Now you're here, now you're there, and it's kind of like daily work. He just tries to work. There are days you work more, there are days you work less, but the question is, how do we hurry this up, hasten it, and move with this?
M. Laitman: How do we hasten it? Through connecting together in a prayer.
Student: What are we exactly connecting?
M. Laitman: We're connecting our personal outcries into one big outcry, and the children of Israel side from the work.
Student: What does it mean to connect our outcries?
M. Laitman: That we feel each other, and from the general frustration, we elevate, we raise the outcry from the deficiency of the man.
Student: We're sitting in the Ten, we meet in our zooms, we scrutinize these things, we read, we share, I feel like we're, again, constantly moving around these things. Yesterday you said, well, scrutinize 20, 30 times a day, I feel like yesterday was a day with a lot of going back to it, but I can't say that I'm feeling that we united our outcries. I don't know if we've connected our outcries.
M. Laitman: You didn't feel that you were connecting through the outcry to more friends?
Student: I don't even know if I can measure that. We come to such moments. You come, you enter the zoom sometimes, and a few friends open their heart, and you suddenly feel, wow, we're all feeling some kind of a thing like that. But to tell you that I know, oh, that's the point, and that's where we have to come to every day, all the time, meaning if we could understand what we need to reach each time, so to hasten that, then maybe I think now we don't even feel the necessity in that direction.
M. Laitman: We should probably come to a state where in the outcry we feel the connection between us.
Student: Look, there were throughout the years many states. There were what we call dramatic states where you come, and you really, everything is focused on one point, and you are even willing to not sleep now for two days in order to really. The feeling is, we're not talking about such a moment, or maybe we are, I don't know, but more about life. This is the point here. If we want to come to a certain dramatic state where everything works out in a certain way, sorted that way from those external states to the nearest ones, and where you're just addressing Him, and that's it, nothing else remains in reality. It's us and the upper force, and He will somehow perform a miracle, and it's clear that we're going to reach a certain way of life of Kabbalists who every day, they build this connection with the Creator anew.
M. Laitman: Every day already exists, but what kind of state should it be where I say the Creator will finish for me?
Student: That's the question. He says here, he writes that by Him having a Kli and a desire for a vessel of bestowal, he receives the light called the Neshama, meaning a person begins, that's called a Kli, and by not being able to complete it, he makes an outcry to the Creator to complete it. So it's clear to us that none of us can finish the work. There's no such question here. No one thinks that. But what didn't we do in the first half? What outcry did we not reach?
M. Laitman: Yes. Good. Okay. There needs to be more preparation. Another part of the preparation.
Question (Kyiv 1): (02:04:26) He writes several times in the article that we are operating through all kinds of deeds and try to acquire love of friends. This is a very definitive statement about how to hold on to the intention in every single action of ours. What does it mean that each time I hold on to that intention before my eyes?
M. Laitman: Well, it's a matter of inner feeling, how else can you put it, what does it mean to hold the intention or to keep the intention?
Student: What is that inner feeling?
M. Laitman: That we are bewildered. How can we demand help from the Creator? This today is unclear, this is what I'm hearing. As if the Creator is asking what do you want and we cannot say practically what it is we are lacking.
Student: What's the correct answer to a question to answer?
M. Laitman: We have to find it.
Question (Moscow 1): (02:06:32) Seems like the questions from the friends are long and there is nothing to answer and to pray for. That's exactly what's not clear what do we need to pray for?
M. Laitman: It's not like we don't understand. We don't feel in our heart that deficiency that sorrow that pain we have to cry out for and then the Creator becomes revealed in that sorrow. We still don't have it, okay, that's the situation. That situation is coming from the Creator and we have to find the right answer for it.
Question (Moscow 8): (02:07:32) It's written here that a person needs to say blessed is He who said let the world be, and then he sees that he says it not honestly and sincerely. How can we become sincere?
M. Laitman: It is a problem we need to scrutinize it I understand.
Question (Moscow 7): (02:08:06) There's still a question if we can ask for a state that is two steps ahead of us and I understood we have to come to a state where we feel connection. Can we ask two steps ahead of us for the request to be, to feel the outcry for the connection between us?
M. Laitman: Okay in short, we have more to scrutinize. We have more to scrutinize.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (02:08:50) Is it correct to simply ask for us to have a common request, a common demand?
M. Laitman: We see that it's not enough. There has to be a deeper question.
Student: We heard all throughout the lesson a big diversity of requests meaning whoever stood up and asked, asked for something different?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Why shouldn't we ask together? Scrutinize for us what's the correct demand from all of us?
M. Laitman: All right, what else do we have in the lesson, otherwise we…
Reader: “This is for Judah.”
M. Laitman: We have enough time now?
Reader: (02:09:59) We can start. We are going to move to the next part of the lesson.