Morning Lesson April 17, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam. The Love of God and the Love of Man (One Mitzva [Commandment])
1. S. (09:15) How from implementing the commandment of love your friend as yourself, do you reach adhesion through this?
R. Because the commandment love thy friend, is a commandment that leads to adhesion. What's adhesion? Adhesion is that you receive and love and understand, and feel everything that there is in the friend, just like you understand and feel and receive and love what there is in you.
S. Adhesion is with the friend or with the Creator?
R. First of all, in the friend from love of friends to love of the Creator and then in the Creator.
S. So how do I make this transition from the adhesion between friends to the Creator?
R. Friends are the individuals. And when you come closer to them, you gradually discover the general, which is the Creator.
2. (10:35) It sounds like Baal HaSulam spoke about between a friend and a friend and then between man and in the Creator, but then he started adding the whole world in there and that confused me?
R. First of all the whole world meaning the purpose of creation that everyone needs to reach the connection between them and from that to the connection to the Creator.
S. How does the whole matter of commandments between man and the Creator? Because that's what the previous article talked about. Between man and his friend it's clear we have to be in love towards one another.
R. Right.
S. But how do we solve the commandments between man and the Creator?
R. Where is here?
S. He solves the question about man and the Creator by saying the love of others?
R. Yes.
S. So how does he connect the love of others to Him and the place of the Creator?
R. What is this place, the Creator?
S. I don't know. I don't understand how he connects these things.
R. The question here is as follows. Does the Creator exist? Yes?
S. Yes.
R. So if you take all kinds of sources, then you say before this and that, there was the upper light that fulfilled all of reality and so on. So based on that he most likely exists, but in what way does he exist? In a way that no one can feel Him. So how can we even discuss it? In other words the question of existence with or without the Creator or the Creator existing with or without us, it is not a question, there is no answer to that question. It is philosophy. We can say only one thing, that we exist in the Creator and on the other hand, the Creator exists in us.
3. S. (13:33) I don't understand what a practical commandment means: what is a practical commandment and what is not a practical commandment?
R. Practical commandment is one that we can do the action and feel in it the desired outcome.
S. Is there a commandment that is not practical?
R. Yes. It's written about them usually, that if you do them you will receive a reward.
S. It's written in the second, now there's no question about the Mitzvot between man and the Creator because the practical ones among them have the same purpose of cleansing the body. What is cleansing the body in this case?
R. That you receive more and more screens upon your will to receive and by that, you become closer to the Creator. then you can understand Him, feel Him.
S. But still, Baal HaSulam puts an emphasis that love your friend as yourself is a practical commandment which brings you to the purpose. So what does it mean that it's a practical commandment?
R. That we connect through love between us that same shattered vessel that we connect, and we come to a state of a complete vessel as there was before the shattering. That the male and female parts, Adam and Eve, are connected together.
S. But we don't learn that there's anything but this, and here he says that our sages were only talking about the practical part of the Torah. What the Torah has a different part? Something else?
R. The practical, meaning we can participate with the Creator in the act of connecting all of the parts of the broken vessel.
S. So it's in our hands?
R. Yes, participation in that is in our hands.
4. S. (16:22) What does it mean that we exist in the Creator?
R. In the Creator is that the Creator includes everything, a desire to bestow from the start and desire to receive that was created later on. And from those two systems he is included and includes all of creation. That's it that we exist within the Creator.
S. What do we have to depict to ourselves emotionally by existing in the Creator?
R. Because he does everything, everything revolves around Him, we exist within Him that all of these forces that are called "All In All Creator", they turn us around, they hold us.
S. And then where should that bring us?
R. Adhesion to Him.
S. Why is that the only thing we can say you said we can say only one thing, we exist in the Creator. Why is that our foundation?
R. Because we are receiving what Kabbalists say to us, what it includes, it all comes from Him. So it all comes from him, he turns everything around, he does everything. There's None Else besides Him.
5. S. (18:35) This article is on behalf of the Creator, what can we do on behalf of the created being?
R. We need to adhere ourselves to each other, until we will become a single created being.
6. S. (19:09) What does it mean to determine himself and the world to the side of merit?
R. That all the forces of the world are as a result of you, are prepared for mutual connection to one single, integral system.
S. It's written that there's no division where it starts from, from the general or particular. The main thing is to start and not walk in the middle until we reach our goal? What does it mean that there's no difference where we begin?
R. If all of creation is like a sphere that went through this shattering and in it there is no beginning nor end, it doesn't matter where it begins. Most important is to think that eventually we all need to be connected as one man in one heart.
7. S. (20:35) How to connect two things that on one hand we exist in the Creator, on the other hand the Creator exists in us?
R. It's not difficult. We exist in the Creator because other than Him there's nothing, he includes in Him everything. Also what we don't understand or see, or attain, He includes everything. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, we need to say everything depends on our perception. What he did with creation, that there is some kind of freedom of choice and creation called man, that depends on man. And when this man, this created being will begin to feel the wholeness and perfection in creation. That's why even though we're small and miserable and lowly, but we are also very important because we can determine If the Creator is one unique and unified and we want to include Him, the same Creator that there's nothing else beside Him and good that does good. It all depends on us. That's the wonder of creation. The Creator is above everything and on the other hand, He depends on us entirely.
8. S. (22:43) It's written that he who performs one commandment determines himself and the world to the scale of merit. What does it mean to determine the whole, huge diverse world to the scale of merit?
R. The one commandment is the commandment of love, the commandment of connection. That is why that is what it is called. If we keep it, we keep everything.
9. S. (22:37) Adhesion is when we are interested in new states and not just be aware of them.
R. So what's the question?
S. According to what we learned in the first part about for her sake, so equivalence of form or adhesion with the Creator, is when we are in the desire of states that haven't been clothed in our feelings yet?
R. Yes, yes okay.
10. S. (24:45) There's an excerpt talking about the general and the particular and not to walk in the middle. What does that mean?
R. To go for everything. To try and include everything in Him.
11. S. (25:20) What does it mean that the Creator depends on us?
R. The Creator of course is higher than all, and only He controls everything in reality. But he gave us the opportunity to determine each and every state in reality from the beginning of reality to the end of it. That he gave to us, and that is why we need to act according to this process. It's like a resemblance of relations between parents and kids. Of course parents can do anything, but their love for their children drives them to do what the children need, want.
12. S. (26:20) He writes that there's one commandment, says love your friend as yourself with that commandment alone, you'll reach the true purpose of adhesion with the Creator. So everybody speaks about love your friend as yourself, so what's the difference between us and the rest of the world? We're speaking about it, they're speaking about it? And to reach adhesion with the Creator, is it even possible to love someone else like yourself?
R. I don't know, you scrutinize this and then explain.
S. What do you mean scrutinize it? I'm asking you?
R. You scrutinize it and explain it to me.
S. What does it mean love your friend as yourself? Everybody's talking about it, what is that term?
R. I'm not going to argue with anyone about this.
S. So what do you know that I don't know?
R. Each one knows what he needs to know.
S. What is that term I have to love someone as myself, I can even do that?
R. I don't know.
S. So you don't have an answer for me?
R. I don't. Each one needs to get an answer themselves.
S. How do you reach this term love your friend as yourself, he says it's one commandment, how do you reach it?
R. Ask the friends.
S. My friends don't know and I don't know?
R. I have nothing else to suggest.
S. Okay thank you anyway.
13. S. (28:25) How can I accelerate the process of he who flaws does it in his own flaws? Because I have to see the flaw in me so I can ask for it. I see friends that disregard, make the lesson cheap, mumble nonsense, or even sleep?
R. Everything negative you're seeing in the friends, it's all seeing yourself.
S. That's why I'm asking, I want to feel it in me so I can ask for it. I can't complain about a friend right? I have to feel that it's me? Then I could ask for it, a correction?
R. Rabash writes a lot about this in the articles, I have nothing to add. You need more and more and more to come closer to the friends to see how you constantly disregard them.
S. But the ones who make it cheap you see it's?
R. It's you, it's you flawing, it's you stabilizing this.
S. And if I feel it in me and be able to ask about it correctly, you have to change your correction so?
R. So you'll change and you'll see how they change.
S. It'll come back in worse qualities?
R. It's possible, I can't say that it won't. That already depends on your path, how each one advances. From their own final correction, but it's worthwhile.
14. S. (30:33) You're showing us an example that you're raising us with endless love and a lot of mercy. It's something that you can't comprehend, and we really want to come close to your example even a bit. Even though it seems impossible. You show an example how you relate to the men, to the women. You also talked about man's connection to society. It sounds so exalted, but how do you expect that the women will relate to the men and the men to the women so we can support each other and help each other? On the level of something approachable, something we can approach. Even in thought to support each other that we all succeed, that every question of the men or the women, it'll be questions that are as if it was my own, equal?
R. I don't understand what you're saying.
M. How should the men and women support each other practically?
R. I don't know.
15. S. (32:26) how can we have brotherly love between us? Because there's a man growing to be a Kabbalist and a woman growing to be a Kabbalist and there has to be room for everyone because we have a teacher, and you give an endless example about it so how can we even absorb a bit from your example of endless love you're giving all of us?
R. I don't know. I don't know what to say, other than the fact that I really do love you, I want you to grow and to get married and to bring us another generation and another generation after this and by that we will advance and we will grow. Yes, so hurry up.
16. S. (33:55) The more we advance the world vessel in the commandments of loving the others, will it be easier for the next generations for them to advance towards adhesion with the Creator?
R. No. Every generation in its state. I don't think it'll be easier, they'll have work which is in more subtle vessels I would say.