The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), April 01, 2024
Part 1: Rabash. Article 41. “What does It mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered in the Work?”
Reader: Shalom, we are reading the Rabash article, “What Does it Mean that before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered in the Work? The article is in the Arvut System as well as in the Rabash articles.
Reading article: (00:22) The article, “What Does it Mean that before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered in the Work?
The Zohar (Shemot [Exodus], Item 341) says, “As long as their minister had dominion over Israel, Israel’s outcry was not heard. When their minister fell, it is written, ‘The king of Egypt died.’ And promptly, ‘And the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried, and their outcry went up unto God.’ But until that time, their outcry was not answered.”
We should understand this: If he says that before their minister fell, their outcry was not answered, who caused their minister to fall so that afterward it will be possible to hear their outcry? We should also understand why, if their minister had dominion, it is impossible for their outcry to be answered. Does their minister have the power to detain the prayers of Israel? We should also understand what is written (Exodus 5:22), “Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not saved Your people at all.’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them.’”
We should understand Moses’ argument when he said, “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not saved Your people at all.” It appears as though Moses’ complaint was true, since it implies from the Creator’s reply that what Moses said was true. But the Creator said, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.” In other words, he would see what the Creator would do to Pharaoh. It seems as though it should have said, “You will see,” meaning that Moses will see, meaning Atah [you] with an Aleph [which changes the meaning from “now” to “you”]. Why is it written Atah with an Ayin [which means “now”], which implies that now he will see? It means that when he came to Pharaoh previously, and he harmed this people, there could not be an exodus from Egypt. But now there will be a place for with a mighty hand he will send them and drive them out.
We should understand why specifically now is the place of the exodus from Egypt. There are two things to understand here: 1) why when he came as the Creator’s messenger, the situation of the people of Israel grew worse. 2) why specifically now, after the situation has deteriorated, there can be an exodus from Egypt.
We should interpret this in the work. The ARI says that the exile in Egypt was that the view of Kedusha [holiness] was in exile. This means that the Klipa of Egypt ruled over the people of Israel. We should interpret that the people of Israel means that the whole nation wanted to work for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake, as it is known that “Israel” means Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], meaning everything for the Creator.
The governance of Pharaoh is the opposite: to work only for one’s own sake. For this reason, the view of Kedusha means that we must work for the sake of the Creator, meaning to bestow. This discernment was in exile under the rule of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, where Mitzrayim [Egypt] has the letters of Metzar-Yam [narrow sea], and it is known that “narrow” means scarce in Hassadim [mercies].
It is like the [Hebrew] expression, “narrow eyed” [jealous], meaning that he can only receive and not give anything. “Wide” means expansive, meaning giving much, and “narrow” is the opposite, not giving, which means that the Klipa [shell/peel] of Egypt was that each one could work only in order to receive in return. But without return, meaning only to bestow, he does not permit any action. This is considered that Egypt was narrowing [constraining] the quality of Israel.
By this we can interpret what our sages said, “Anyone who constrains Israel becomes a Rosh [head].” That is, who can control the quality of Israel? Only he who is the Rosh, he governs. Then he constrains the quality of Israel, not letting one work for the sake of the Creator, which is called to engage in Hesed [mercy], but only in reception for oneself. This is called “the Klipa of Egypt.”
Therefore, the order of the work is as our sages said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and from Lo Lishma, we come to Lishma [for Her sake], since the light in it reforms him.” This is so because man was born with a desire to receive for himself. Hence, if we want him to do something, to emerge from the state where he is used to working for his sustenance, meaning a person is told, “Until now you knew that all your pleasures, by which you sustain the body so it can exist, came only from corporeal things. You found pleasure only in corporeal things, and this is called ‘the sustenance of the body.’ Engage in Torah and Mitzvot, where greater pleasure is clothed, so it is better for you to engage in Torah and Mitzvot because by this you will have more pleasure.”
It is like a person being told, “Stop working where you are used to work; there is a company where you can earn ten times more.” If he believes what he is told, he will certainly leave the job he was used to doing all the time and go work at the new place, since he will receive a higher return.
This is called Lo Lishma. However, from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma. Therefore, it is worthwhile to begin even in Lo Lishma, since in the end, he will come to Lishma. It is as Maimonides says, “Therefore, when teaching little ones, women, and uneducated people, it is in order to receive reward, until they gain knowledge.”
All this is because the body understands only the mother tongue. That is, if the first language that the mother speaks to it is the language of reception, meaning to work only for the will to receive for oneself, meaning to act only for its own benefit, and the language of bestowal is something new to it and it does not understand it, it is very difficult to learn this language. That is, understanding this language requires help from above, so as to be able to grasp this language of the desire to bestow.
It was said about this, “He who comes to purify is aided,” to understand this language. This is called “the generation of Babylon,” as it is written (Genesis 7:11), “They will not hear one another’s language.” In other words, when they were given work of bestowal, for each to work for one’s friend, the package soon fell apart.
That is, it is as it is written, “and they stopped building the city,” since when they were told that each one should work for his friend, they did not know this language, and no one wanted to work for another. Hence, they immediately “stopped building the city,” as they had no motivation to work for the sake of others.
For this reason, when the people of Israel were in exile in Egypt and were under the governance of Pharaoh, King of Metzar-Yam [Narrow Sea/Egypt], and wanted to emerge from his governance, they could not. It was still unclear to them what it means to work in order to bestow and not for one’s own sake. Although they wanted to work for the sake of the Creator, they saw that they could not. Yet, they always had excuses as to why they cannot aim in order to bestow, and they did not feel that they were so far from the Creator.
However, when Moses came to the people of Israel and spoke to the quality of Pharaoh in each and every one, meaning to the will to receive in their hearts, and told them that he wanted that the quality of Pharaoh in them would not dominate the quality of Israel in them, but that it would allow working for the sake of the Creator and not for the sake of the body, when the Pharaoh in the nation heard what Moses had told them—to work only for the sake of the Creator—they understood what it means to bestow and not receive and were promptly weakened in the work, since the body resisted with all its might so they would not perform any act of Kedusha.
In other words, even the Lo Lishma now became difficult for them to do. Before Moses came, they had strength to work because they still did not know what “for the sake of the Creator” meant. But when Moses came and explained to them what it means to bestow and not receive anything, the Pharaoh of each one started asking questions: 1) As it is written, Pharaoh asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” 2) Then came the wicked one’s question, who asked, “What is this work for you?”
It follows that once the people of Israel heard from Moses that they must work for the sake of the Creator, the real resistance of the evil in man began. This is the meaning of the words, “Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people.’” In other words, the body, which is called Pharaoh, began to resist the work.
It follows that Moses’ question was in order. That is, intellectually, we understand that if we observe the Torah and Mitzvot that the Creator commanded, the order should be that if we engage on the path of truth, the work should certainly be stronger, since we are marching on the path of truth, whereas Lo Lishma is not on the path of truth.
Hence, when Moses came to speak in the name of the Creator, the work should have been stronger, meaning to overcome the evil with the quality of truth. Yet, what did Moses see? It is written, “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people,” meaning the work to overcome the evil has become harder. In other words, not only did they not become better, meaning had more power to overcome the evil, but on the contrary, the evil gained more power.
Yet, the truth is that before we know what it means to do everything in order to bestow, the evil in man does not show its resistance all that much, since it is given a holding place while engaging in Torah and Mitzvot. Yet, when the body hears what it means to bestow upon the Creator and not receive anything for one’s own sake, meaning wanting to completely uproot the evil and not give it any grip on one’s Torah and Mitzvot, of course it resists with all its might and does not allow being cancelled.
It therefore follows that it is not that something new occurred in the evil. That is, it is not that now he received the evil, but that the evil that was in him had nothing to do and was virtually idle within him. But when a person wants to give all his actions to the Creator and not give anything to his body, called “will to receive for oneself,” it begins to show its strength and resists being overthrown from governance over the body.
It is written in The Zohar that the evil inclination in a man is called “a foolish old king.” It says, Why is it called “king”? Because it controls the body. And why is it called “old”? Because as soon as one is born, it is present in a person, whereas the good inclination comes to a person after thirteen years.
It therefore follows that as long as the evil is not revealed, there is still no one to cancel. But once its might has been exposed in full, it is possible to revoke it, since then, when he revokes it, he revokes it entirely. When the evil is not revealed, only a part of it can be canceled, and this is not wholeness, since from above, when a person is given something, he is given a complete thing.
Otherwise, if one were to be given the power to be able to work for the sake of the Creator, if a bad part that has not been revealed remains in a person, it follows that a part that is bad and is still not revealed remains within a person and works with the intention for the sake of the Creator, and this is not considered wholeness. This is as our sages said (Sukkah 48), “Anyone who associates ‘for the sake of the Creator’ with another thing is uprooted from the world.”
We should interpret this in the work. This means that if a person observes Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator, but does part of the work also for the sake of the body, meaning that it will yield benefit to the body, too, he is uprooted from the world, meaning from the spiritual world, since everything must be for the sake of the Creator, and not at all for one’s own sake.
It follows that before the evil reveals its true form, it is impossible to give the person the power to uproot it, since he still does not have the measure of the bad that will give him the power to overcome, as it is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel], meaning no filling without a lack.
According to the above, we can understand the Creator’s answer when He told him, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.” We asked, it should have said Atah with an Aleph [meaning “you”], meaning that Moses would see that the Creator will do to Pharaoh. Why does it say Atah with an Ayin [meaning “now”]?
According to what we explained, it is impossible to give half a thing. Rather, first, the full evil must be disclosed, and then comes the help from above over a complete thing. Therefore, after Moses said, “Why have You brought harm to this people and did not save at all,” but rather the bad manifested in all its might, now is the time when the salvation will come from above. This is why He said, “now,” meaning that now you will see that I will give them the necessary help, as it is written, “For with a mighty hand he will send them, and with a mighty hand he will drive them out from his land.” For only now is it the time, since all the bad has been revealed in them.
Now we can understand why when Moses came as the Creator’s emissary, their situation grew worse. The reason is that this is not regarded that they grew worse, but that when Moses let them see what it means that they must work for the sake of the Creator, as it is written, “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name,” meaning that we must work for the sake of the Creator and the quality of Pharaoh must descend from its throne, there was room for the revelation of the evil.
It follows that by Moses explaining to them the meaning of working in order to bestow, they advanced in the work and achieved the degree of truth, to know how the bad controls them. Before Moses came to them as an emissary of the Creator, they did not know the truth—how far they were from the Creator. It follows that although in action, they grew worse, in truth, they advanced, for only now do they have Kelim [vessels] that the Creator can fill with His help, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”
Now we can also understand the second question: Why specifically after they grew worse, the time came when the Creator gave the help. This was so because only now do they have Kelim that are ready to receive a complete thing. This is why it is written, “Now you will see” with an Ayin.
Concerning what we asked about what The Zohar says, that before their minister fell, the outcry of Israel was not heard, as it is written, “And the king of Egypt died,” and promptly, “And their cry went up unto God.” But until that time their outcry was not answered. We asked, 1) Who caused their minister to fall? 2) Why does their minister have the strength to detain their prayer?
We can understand this the way Baal HaSulam said, as is presented in the book A Sage’s Fruit (Part 1, p 103): “The thing is that to the extent that the children of Israel thought that Egypt were enslaving them and impeding them from worshipping the Creator, they truly were in the exile in Egypt. Hence, the redeemer’s only work was to reveal to them that there was no other force involved here, that ‘I and not a messenger,’ for there is no other force but Him. This was indeed the light of redemption.”
It follows that the exile is primarily that we think that there is a minister of Egypt, meaning that their minister is given authority and he governs Israel. When a person thinks so, their minister rules. When the people of Israel want to emerge from the governance of the minister of Egypt and see that they are asking the Creator to deliver them from his dominion but the Creator does not deliver them from exile and they are under his governance, then they say that the Creator does not hear their prayer.
The evidence of this is that He does not hear their outcry, since they see that they keep regressing instead of progressing. In other words, each time, they see that they are farther from the work of bestowal, since it makes sense that according to the work and toil that a person gives and prays to the Creator, He would deliver him from Pharaoh’s governance.
Yet, each day he sees the opposite. That is, each day, he sees that Pharaoh is ruling over him with more power, meaning he sees that he is more connected to the will to receive, and also more remote from the desire to bestow. For this reason, a person says that the Creator does not hear a prayer.
This is the meaning of what The Zohar says, that as long as their minister was given dominion over Israel, Israel’s outcry was not heard. This is considered that their minister detains the prayers of Israel. That is, the people of Israel say so; otherwise, why does the Creator not hear their outcry?
And what happens in the end, meaning after the full form of the evil has been revealed to them and they did not escape the campaign in the middle of the work? At that time they are rewarded with seeing the truth, that there is no minister of theirs here, who was detaining their prayers, but the Creator Himself did everything, as it is written, “for I have hardened his heart.” That is, the Creator made them see each time how far they were from Kedusha, meaning that the Creator revealed to them the bad “that I may set these signs of Mine.” Thus, specifically by revealing all the bad, the Creator can give them the help for a complete thing.
Accordingly, it means that when they were rewarded with seeing, “And the king of Egypt died,” which The Zohar calls “the fall of their minister,” this awareness, that they thought that there was a minister to Egypt and that he had authority and was detaining their outcry so it would not be heard above, that view has fallen from the people of Israel.
Instead, now they were rewarded with seeing that there was no minister to Egypt who detained the prayers of Israel from being accepted. Rather, the Creator did hear their prayer and the Creator hardened their hearts. That is, the Creator wanted the real form of evil, called “will to receive for oneself,” to be revealed.
It follows that He did hear their outcry. Were it not for the awakening from below of the people of Israel, who want to emerge from Egypt’s governance, meaning when they saw that all their work was in favor of the will to receive for themselves, called “Pharaoh king of Egypt,” without this awakening, the Creator would not reveal to them the form of the bad.
The Creator shows the form of the bad only to those who want to emerge from the governance of the bad. They think that they are growing worse each time, when in truth, it is common sense that everything in which we exert, we advance more or less, but we do not regress. The answer is that we are not regressing. Rather, we are advancing to the form of the truth of how much the bad can work within them. Then, when they have a complete Kli of evil, the Creator gives them the help, and then everyone sees that the Creator did hear the prayer the whole time.
According to the above, it is clear what they thought, that there is a minister of Egypt who detains the prayers. We asked, Why does this minister have the power to control the prayers of Israel? The answer is that this is what they thought.
The second question, Who caused their minister to fall from his authority? It is that they worked all the time and did not escape the campaign until there was room to reveal all the bad. Then, they were rewarded with the truth. Until then, there was also no minister here of theirs, but they thought so. It follows that two things came at once, which our sages call, “His divorce and his hand come as one.”
According to the above, we need great strengthening and not to escape the campaign, but to believe that “The Lord hears the prayer of every mouth,” and there is no other force in the world but only one force—that of the Creator, and He always hears everything that is turned to Him.
Student: (37:55) All along the article he speaks about the revelation of all evil, the revelation of a complete Kli. Why can't we begin to receive correction in stages? Each time a little evil is revealed, the Creator gives correction for that, and more evil is revealed, and that's corrected too. Why can't it be corrected that way?
M. Laitman: Why do you think it is not that way?
Student: He writes that all the evil needs to be revealed and then the Creator gives the help. It's written that when they have a complete vessel of evil, then the Creator gives them the help.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Why not when there's part of the Kli, when only part of the bad desires are revealed, then you ask for correction for that, and advance that way?
M. Laitman: Well, what do you think? Yes.
Student: (39:04) It's like you have to lift up 100 kilos, if you divide it to 10 kilos each time, and you move 10 kilos at a time, it's okay. But In the end you've moved 100 kilos, but you have the strength to only lift 10 kilos, not 100 kilos. I hope that's clear.
M. Laitman: No, I didn't understand it.
Student: The Creator wants us...
M. Laitman: That I understood. What next?
Student: So The Creator isn't giving us each time a little slice of the desire to receive, but rather we must feel all the desire to receive as difficult, that which we corrected before some little portion of the will to receive. It's as if we can't receive the completion to feel the whole will to receive, we have to really feel it in its full intensity.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (39:55) The complete Kli that's talked about in the article, it's the Kli itself that defines whether it's complete. Every stage along the way, it decides, now I'm a complete vessel and the Creator gives correction on that prayer.
M. Laitman: Maybe. More.
Reader: (40:27) He writes in the article “It turns out, accordingly, that as long as the evil is not revealed, there is not yet who to nullify. But after all its power is revealed, there can be a place to cancel it. Because then, when he annuls it, he completely cancels it. Whereas when the evil is not revealed, we can only cancel some of it, and that's not wholeness. Because from above, when we're given to a person, we're given a whole matter. Otherwise, if a person is given the strength to have the ability to do something for the sake of the Creator, and if it remains a bad part in a person, what's not revealed yet, it turns out that what remains in a person is the bad part that is not revealed yet, and works together with the intention for the sake of the Creator. This is not called wholeness. And then, as the sages said, ‘whoever shares the matter of the Creator in another thing, is uprooted from the world’. We have to interpret this according to the work, that if a person sanctify Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator, but shares part of that work also for the sake of the body, meaning for also to his own benefit this time from this, is uprooted from the world. Meaning from the spiritual world, since everything must be for the sake of the Creator, and not at all for one's own sake. It follows that before the evil reveals its true form, it is impossible to give the person the power to uproot it, since he still does not have the measure of the bad that will give him the power to overcome, as it is known that there is no light without a Kli, meaning no filling without a lack.”
M. Laitman: (42:55) Questions?
Student: (43:08) In a conversation with friends not too long ago you said to everyone, you said if I understood correctly, that 99% of the students leave because they get despaired. They don't feel that they're getting an answer. Where is that which I worked upon?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And In the end he says, “we need great strengthening and not to escape the campaign, but to believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth, and there is no other power in the world but one force, and it is the force of the Creator, and it always hears what is brought before Him”. How can we get that great strengthening where also when we don't feel that the Creator hears, He hears, so not so many will leave?
M. Laitman: Where can we get strengthening from besides the group? We don't have anything. The Creator? Not really. We can turn to Him but what to do? Does anyone have an answer? Yes.
Student: (44:46) Every time we come closer to Pesach, it's a special period of time, because we go back to this group of articles and every year they're felt even more relevant. I feel that every time we come to them also as individuals and as a Ten to a much more mature outlook, where our ego is more measured and it's delightful because we can truly see that we're going in the way of Rabash. All these discernments, we're not deviating from his path and in that it’s really strengthening us in this way it’s above reason and if we can even add and make it more of a conundrum, in the last week we had many conversations where we need to check the results, and why aren't we doing enough, and where's this and where's that? If we go according to the article and the way of Rabash, it's an amazing proof that we're going in the path of truth. So, each time checking these results within reason shakes us and diverts us from side to side, and then weakens us. That's also maybe my question, because we can rejoice from this, look how wonderful we're going on the path of truth, L'Chaim, but every time we say, where are the results, what didn't we do? That's when it starts to fall apart but probably we need that too that somewhere to check within reason what are those results?
M. Laitman: Yes, without questions even within reason we wouldn't be able to nag, to advance.
Student: (46:52) What does a person need to expect on the path, where he says here in the article, the revelation of all the evil?
M. Laitman: Apparently, the revelation of all of the bad.
Student: Is this bad, is it bad like maybe I depict to myself a very big desire to receive, or are we talking about something that is really entering into the intentions to bestow, or something that's entering the study, the spirituality? Meaning, what is this bad? What are we talking about here, is there something that I will want in life, will I want more things?
M. Laitman: What is written that you're asking about?
Student: I'm asking, what is the revelation of all the bad that I need to come to in order for me to finally be able to go to redemption?
M. Laitman: They won't reveal to you all of the bad. No. All that is revealed to you is a small portion, only a small one that you discover by yourself, in yourself. Then you cry over that, and you ask the Creator to rise above this bad. Then to the extent that you're capable of rising above it, and already you have there the force of the bad, and the force of the good and you can work with both of them; somehow you're being taught, like a baby, how to stand on both legs, then you begin to become better at it, become more perfected at it.
Student: What is that thing that there was no minister?
M. Laitman: There was no..?
Student: Like the people of Israel discovered that there was no minister that detains the prayers?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How do I? Am I detaining the prayers?
M. Laitman: Later they will discover that.
Student: (49:18) He writes here that a person feels that he's going backwards, and I remember that the deficiency that I once had disappears with the years everything becomes routine. Where is the deficiency that was, or does it need to be a different deficiency? What needs to happen?
M. Laitman: Do you regret it? That you don't have it?
Student: I want it, yes.
M. Laitman: Why? It's a deficiency.
Student: Why shouldn't there be a deficiency? I think there needs to be a desire for spirituality, a desire for the Creator.
M. Laitman: The deficiency that you had already and now you wanted to have it back?
Student: No, let it be different, stronger, new, but there has to be a deficiency. It's like everything is calm, there isn't, I don't know.
M. Laitman: The fact that everything is calm, this is how you feel. Where is the deficiency that was shaking you? Yes, indeed, we need to try to detect it: Why today doesn't make me jump out of my seat? You are Right. These questions are very important.
Student: (50:44) If we try to zoom out on all these states, then the only conclusion is to not leave and to try to awaken the reforming light as much as possible, because all the discernments he's talking about here is that the light is going to be built in us step by step.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, sometimes we get confused with all kinds of scrutinies and when we understand this matter that it’s only depends on the drawing of the light. There are many scrutinies that are seemingly not relevant. They're just, you're going into some kind of philosophy, and like this, and the Creator, and the Ten?
M. Laitman: Because the questions apparently disappear, well, at least some of them.
Student: What is necessary for me to fall into some kind of confusion in order to stabilize again and return to the reforming light?
M. Laitman: Yes, and the children of Israel sighed from the work, apparently, this also refers to questions that they were not able to detect. They didn't know what exactly they should work on: Where are we? Where is the Creator? Where is Egypt? Where is our work? Seemingly, everything slips through the fingers.
Student: (52:18) In the beginning of the article, back to the minister, Rabash adds that Baal HaSulam said, he quotes a letter there, where the whole light of redemption is to reveal that there isn't no minister that burdens them, but rather it's the Creator Himself, and that is the redemption. It's like an addition of Baal HaSulam to that story, to understand what Rabash says here. Meaning, that it's a special thing here that Baal HaSulam is disclosing to us. Is that how we need to understand this? He says, Baal HaSulam said about this, that all that we had to reveal, which is not the minister that is burdening us, but we can see this as the addition of Baal HaSulam to the story?
M. Laitman: No. It comes from the same goal that the Creator points to.
Student: So what is this special guidance? Because they entered Egypt and that question of Abraham, and the whole story to discover the bad, the deficiency, the whole Kli. Then he enters into this, but actually the whole goal was that it was just to reveal that the Creator does all this for them and this is the light of redemption. He kind of like refined it somehow, and gave us this kind of some manner from what was in here. It's not the minister, it's from the Creator and you're outside. What is that exit from Egypt according to this discernment? Is that a discernment we need to discover and that's it, and by that we exit?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (54:18) Related to scrutinize and critique within the reason that the friends talked about earlier, which seemingly confused us. Do we actually have to have these things and cannot just concentrate on drawing the light otherwise, it comes out below reason?
M. Laitman: I don't understand.
Student: If I do these scrutinies and check within reason where I am, maybe it's not so necessary? Maybe I can just concentrate on the light, the Ten, read the articles, and not really perform these scrutinies. Maybe it's not necessary? Because seemingly what is detaining us, that's kind of like the reason why people leave, get despaired, they see that there's no advancement that they're expecting for?
M. Laitman: What kind of advancement should there be?
Student: He's talking about this last point, this connection between Lo Lishma and Lishma, where I specifically don't receive anything.
M. Laitman: I don't understand you. Do you have a question? Are you raising it to the Creator? You're not letting go of it? You grow stronger every day, that you need a stronger and stronger demand, and you need the answer more and more, or not? Well? Okay, he doesn't have either an answer or a question.
Student: (56:12) Actually the whole article he speaks about the quality of Moses, that speaks in a person and reveals to him what is the work of bestowal. This is what awakens all the bad in him, so that later he will shift it to the other side. My question is, how can we bring this state closer to us? How do we accelerate this state so that the quality of Moses will speak within us and will reveal to us, will awaken actually all the bad within us so that we will be able to shift to the other side?
M. Laitman: If we try to feel ourselves instead of in a broken vessel that is scrutinizing its qualities and all its inclinations; then against that, we will know what we need to reveal in Moses, so that he will help us to correct ourselves, to shift ourselves over and come closer to the truth this way.
Student: How do we generate a power in our society, in the group, to accelerate this state, to draw it to us, so that we will reach it quicker?
M. Laitman: Together, all of us. You see what I'm doing here today? I'm asking you and you're still asleep, somewhere, look at yourselves. Maybe there are 10, 15 that are actually listening. What to do? You need to,,
Student: (58:22) To continue what the friend was saying now, we are in a certain state where the revelation of evil in this way or another goes over each one of us.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: We can see that the will to receive is not something. But the yearning, because it's not enough of a vessel to be similar to the Creator, It's just a recognition that you don't want to be similar to the Creator. How out of this lack of desire and your oppositeness you reach the desire and the yearning for a Kli, a vessel so as to be similar to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes. Probably through these questions, that Rabash is asking. They need to advance us.
Student: (59:30) He writes two questions here. One is Pharaoh's, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice, and the other one is the wicked question. What is the difference between the questions, between Pharaoh and the wicked?
M. Laitman: What does the wicked say?
Student: The wicked says, what will I get out of it?
M. Laitman: "What is that work for you”?
Student: “What is this work for you? And Pharaoh says, “who is the Lord that I should obey his voice”? First of all, what is this question, who is the Lord, does Pharaoh not know who’s the Lord?
M. Laitman: No. He doesn't accept Him as the upper One. Why are you pointing to something that I completely don't feel or think that it needs to be associated or belonging to the goal?
Student: In our work, what is this question? When a person is asking, why should I even bestow? Who says that we need to bestow?
M. Laitman: Also, yes.
Student: Somebody wrote that we need to bestow so now I have to bestow. I mean, where do you see such a thing, right? That's one question. And the other one, the question of the wicked.
M. Laitman: The wicked question is like, he doesn't want to use the force of the Creator.
Student: What is this work? The question is about the result. What will I get out of it?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: He distinguishes them as two different questions.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (01:01:01) I wanted to ask In relation to the bad that is revealed. He writes that until all the evil, all the bad is revealed, they do not reveal Moses to them. What is this bad? The bad that should be revealed stands opposite to what?
M. Laitman: The bad is the desire of a person that wants to fill himself with all kinds of things that will calm him, give him a good life. Meaning, that is actually the bad in him that's demanding.
Student: He also writes the opposite, that until a person knows what in order to bestow means, they don't disclose the bad to him. They don't disclose the complete bad. What exactly is the role of Moses in this whole story? Because on the one hand, they don't disclose the bad to him until he knows what it means in order to bestow. On the other hand, they disclose the bad to him only for the moment that he has the complete bad, they reveal Moses to him. What does Moses work on?
M. Laitman: Moses works in order to bring the people of Israel closer to the goal, to the recognition of evil for the time being.
Student: So how does he bring them closer to the recognition of evil? Recognition of evil in what?
M. Laitman: For the bad to appear more real to them, and in its true size, its greatness.
Student: I get that, but it's clear what is recognition of evil, but from what point a person truly sees it as bad and he no longer agrees, he's no longer willing to accept this evil, but rather he has to go along with Moses?
M. Laitman: At what point does he need to be?
Student: Yes, that he can no longer, he does not accept the bad anymore, and he has to follow Moses.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is that point where I simply must?
M. Laitman: That he sees the truth; that I must follow Moses.
Student: What is the truth? What is it that you see so that you decide, that's it? I'm going to go for it.
M. Laitman: That is the solution.
Student: For what?
M. Laitman: To my question.
Student: (01:04:16) Rav, he writes that if he works for the sake of the Creator, but also to some extent for himself, he's uprooted from the spiritual world because everything should be for the sake of the Creator and nothing for his own benefit. How do we check in an act of bestowal, if there is something there for one's own benefit? What is the technique?
M. Laitman: Each and every one needs to see that, all the time, how he can assure himself that that's how it is.
Student: What does it mean? How to check? What is the test? I want to bestow, I think about the friends, about their deficiency?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I want the Creator to fill their deficiency. Let’s say that I want such a thing?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But I need to check myself, whether I actually want this thing? whether I get some kind of filling? I have to search, will I actually get some sort of a filling from it, from this action, or avoid it, or…?
M. Laitman: It could be there, yes.
Student: Maybe there's a trick, or how to perform an act of bestowal without self-benefit?
M. Laitman: That too will come, but for the time being, not yet.
Student: (01:06:01) You said to the friend the sentence about the revelation of the bad, that what does the person discover? He discovers that he only wants to be filled by something that will make him feel good, that will make him feel comfortable in his life. I want to ask this revelation. Let's say I agree, this is how it is, really but it's still not really a revelation of the bad, of evil. It doesn't make me cry out, as we call it. I somehow simply accept it. How to overcome that point?
M. Laitman: Just like upon all the rest of the points.
Student: This week you gave us a beautiful description. I was really impressed by it. You said, you are every day just like yesterday, and tomorrow it's going to be the same, same thoughts, same desires. This is considered that a person is actually dead and I really caught myself that I'm completely dead, and I can't, I don't even have the inner power to do something about it. It's really so. It is truly death.
M. Laitman: And?
Student: Ever since then I'm asking myself…
M. Laitman: Oh, wonderful that you're asking.
Student: Can I ask you about it?
M. Laitman: No, it would be too bad for me to break your question. Until it explodes.
Student: (01:07:24) It's so clear what is happening here in Egypt. The people of Israel want to get closer to the Creator so the Creator, first of all, awakens them to work and He tells them, what is this work that you do? We need this question in order to awaken to the work. Without it, I can't really respond because later He asks him, who is the Creator, meaning, what is your intention for the sake of the Creator if you want to strengthen it? Pharaoh really only brings you closer to the Creator every day anew.
M. Laitman: Well, of course, that's what he's called. He is the greatest servant of the Creator.
Student: If I come in the morning and I don't have these questions then I'm dead?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: If I have them, I feel that He's awakening me for the work. It's the Creator who is awakening me for the work, not Pharaoh. It's just that this discernment, it's slippery. If we need to define the bad, why is he bad? Before we come out of Egypt, why is he called bad?
M. Laitman: Does he distance to the Creator or bring him closer?
Student: Or the person feels that He is distancing him.
M. Laitman: That's also good.
Student: In the exodus it feels like He actually brought him closer. No?
M. Laitman: Also, as long as there will be change to that discernment. Yes.
Student: (01:09:10) The Creator also demands from us that we will awaken ourselves all the time to the direction of bestowal and you also said before that some of us, or most of us, are asleep and also, he says here in the article that we always look for excuses, how not to aim in order to bestow. I feel it also in the work between us we look for all kinds of excuses, how to justify ourselves, I have problems here, I have problems there, I have children and family, and so I'm asking how do we truly stop with all of these excuses and really understand that we have a very sublime goal here and it all depends on us. We have everything, it all depends on us, and stop with these excuses. How do we really overcome this whole thing, all of us, together, as one force?
M. Laitman: Talk about this. Make a list of things that you recommend to do to not fall asleep here, and how you can awaken yourself constantly, in order to be like in a ball game, where each time the ball is in someone's hands, and he throws it, and the other grabs it and throws it, and the third one catches it and throws it, and that's how you're constantly wanting the ball to remain in the air.
Student: Not to let the ball fall down, keep raising the importance.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Kiev One): (01:11:01) It's written in the article that they stopped building the city, when they were told that each one should work for the others. They didn't know this language, and they couldn't keep building the city of Babylon. What is the city we're building together?
M. Laitman: We build a society, and this society should feel that in it everyone is concentrated, holding on to one another. The Creator is in that measure also between us and each time they're examining to the extent in which they can connect even stronger because by that they make the Creator greater and the moment the Creator is truly receiving augmentation by them, then we all feel how the filling of the light in us becomes greater. That's our work.
Student: You say that we feel the filling, the light that keeps growing, and it's truly so. We feel inspiration, a great impression, a huge impression from our work, from the friends, from the greatness of the goal, but apparently we need to discover something else actually our inability, lack of ability in the work, our lack of forces, according to the logic of the article that we reach the recognition that we don't have the power.
M. Laitman: That is so that we will pray to the Creator and have all our good future dependent on Him and for Him to answer. Our desire to receive is more and more, it grows more and more and climbs to such things and catches himself dependent on this and that and that until he comes to the Creator and cries out to Him that he must receive salvation from the Creator, then the Creator gives the forces and we receive it and this is how we can grow to reach our final form.
Student: The last question, throughout the years I've been studying I've never felt any kind of heaviness that I don't want to. On the contrary it's always interesting. It's interesting to do it. I see the greatness of the friends, I see we're advancing as a group more and more over the years. Am I doing something wrong?
M. Laitman: Everything's okay. It's all okay. It's just that now we want to increase our speed of our development. To check as much as we're directed precisely towards the meaning of creation, the purpose and what depends on when we will reach it exactly. We all connect in that same point with the Creator, the light, the vessel, it all connects together. Except for that point there is nothing else.
Question (Holland): (01:15:54) It says in the article the Creator shows the form of bad only to those who want to emerge from the governance of the bad. The question is, how can you want to emerge from the governance of the bad when it’s not yet revealed to you?
M. Laitman: I want to reach the good. That's more important than coming out of the evil.
Student: What does it mean in the end of the article, it says we need great strengthening not to escape the campaign, but to believe that the Lord hears the prayer of every mouth. What does this believe mean? But to believe.
M. Laitman: We have to believe that we're on the path even if we lose all the discernments when we advance, that we're advancing on the path even if we don't have, even if we don't have maybe qualities that we're scrutinizing, certain qualities.
Question (Africa): (01:18:03) If Pharaoh died what is the force that brings Israel to despair so they will raise their outcry to the Creator?
M. Laitman: I don’t understand.
Reader: If Pharaoh is dead, what is the force that brings Israel to an outcry to the Creator, to despair and to cry out to the Creator?
M. Laitman: The Creator Himself. The Creator Himself.
Student: If the will to receive is dead in us then what is the force that will lead us to adhesion with the Creator?
M. Laitman: The will to receive doesn't die. It can't.
Student: If for example, Pharaoh is like the will to receive in us, and if it's dead then what is the force that helps us, that brings us to adhesion with the Creator?
M. Laitman: There will be other forces, that doesn't matter. There will be other forces.
Student: (01:20:04) What's the difference between the study we do and a prayer?
M. Laitman: It's good if the study becomes a prayer.
Student: It's just that I see that all the Passover articles, before Moses stands the people of Israel so it's no longer a person. Let's say now we're sitting here. How do we turn our study into a prayer? Where does the state transition in the study itself?
M. Laitman: That depends on your efforts, on the quality of the efforts.
Student: He says that all the trouble of the redeemer was only to show them that there's no other force involved here and it is I, not a messenger. There's no other force but His, but Him so how do we bring the Creator in so we will feel Him involved here in our learning?
M. Laitman: We need to recognize it. If you search for Him in every word, in every letter, by this you'll recognize Him quicker. You'll discover Him as your partner.
Student: Yes, but that's me as a person doing it. Can it happen as a group?
M. Laitman: As a group, of course.
Student: How do we come to this? What should we do? We're learning. We want to feel together in this.
M. Laitman: Gather your attention and start working. Now you see we have to go back to the first lesson.
Student: (01:22:06) I heard before that we have to toss the ball between us and keep it in the air. Can you explain it?
M. Laitman: That each and every one feels that he's a partner of all the friends and all the friends are together with him and they have one goal, to hold that ball in the air and that's why the whole goal is between them, in the air, and their whole work is how to hold that one ball for everybody up in the air.
Student: I heard this after you said that there's a feeling that most of us are asleep and only some are awake. Is it the responsibility of each of us to keep this ball in the air?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Following the article, is there a state of the king of Egypt died when it's a state of the whole ten, not just of a person?
M. Laitman: That's something else. That's good.
Student: It's a state of an outcry of all of us together? Is this what we should come to?
M. Laitman: Not that he's dead but the desire, the cry out from the heart, it rises to the Creator and that causes their common will to receive to die, but that's from the recognition of evil and not from just crying out for no reason.
Student: Can we aspire to advance towards it? Let's say now we have a month until Passover and we want to come to this?
M. Laitman: There are times for the good and this is a good time for correction.
Student: Can we define where we want to reach, what we want to achieve this Passover?
M. Laitman: In Passover we have to reach recognition of evil. That's why we can't remain in Egypt anymore and we're willing to run away from there under any condition, meaning we must go out of our ego from our will to receive that is just grabbing us and it doesn't let us run away. We are asking the Creator and we're doing all kinds of actions between us to be able to come out.
Student: Everything we read in the articles now and in the new lessons too, is describing our current state. It's not some…
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Thank you.
Student: (01:25:08) You said we have to constantly feel that we are tossing the ball between us in the air. When you said it, it seemed like this is what you want the lesson to look like. That we will constantly read an article for 40 minutes and now we have to toss some impressions between us, that there's something that's flowing between us. What are you in this situation?
M. Laitman: I'm happy that you are holding the lesson, scrutinizing it correctly, in a purposeful way that you want to scrutinize every detail in this state.
Student: In other words, even when we turn a question toward Rav, a person shouldn't feel like he's asking Rav a question for himself, to get an answer for himself but it's part of the impression we are passing between us?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes. Guys, guys, it's starting to be as usual, a turnaround, second round, third round, until the end of the lesson.