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

Daily Morning Lesson: June 9, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah. Art. 3 (1986)

Original lesson date: 01/13/2002

Reader: Dear friends, we'll learn a lesson from Rav from January 13, 2002, based on the article "Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace Through the Torah." You can find the article in the “Writings of Rabash,” volume 1. We'll read the article together in the Ten. We have 19 minutes, please.

Reading: (00:48) Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace Through the Torah

Article No. 3, 1986

In The Zohar (Lech Lecha, item 1), Rabbi Aba explains why Abraham was rewarded with the Creator telling him Lech Lecha [Go forth] more than all his contemporaries. It writes, “Rabbi Aba started and said, ‘Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness.’ ‘Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted’ means how hard are the hearts of the wicked. They see the trails and ways of Torah and do not look at them. Their hearts are hard since they do not return to their Master in repentance. This is why they are called, ‘Stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness,’ meaning far from the Torah, and hence far from righteousness.”

Rabbi Hizkiya said, “They are far from the Creator. And because they are far from the Creator they are called stubborn-hearted.” The meaning of the verse is “far from righteousness.” Why? It is because they do not wish to approach the Creator, for they are stubborn-hearted. And because of it, they are far from righteousness.

Because they are far from righteousness, they are far from peace, meaning they have no peace, as it is written, “‘There is no peace,’ said the Lord to the wicked.” What is the reason? It is because they are far from righteousness, hence they have no peace.

We should understand why when Rabbi Aba says that being far from righteousness means that they are far from the Torah, and therefore far from righteousness. On the one hand, he says that righteousness is called Torah, and then he says that by moving away from the Torah they move away from righteousness. This implies that the Torah is the reason for righteousness, but we do not see any connection between Torah and righteousness.

We see that the nations of the world have no Torah, as our sages said, “He says His words to Jacob,” and still they give Tzedakah [righteousness/almsgiving].” Does giving Tzedakah require believing in the Creator and keeping the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], and only then can one give Tzedakah? Rather, he says that they are far from Tzedakah because they are far from the Torah.

He also said that because they are far from the Torah, they are far from Tzedakah. This implies that the Torah is the reason by which we can keep Tzedakah. That is, the most important thing for us is to achieve Tzedakah. How can we achieve such a high degree? Through the Torah.

Thus, we should understand the greatness and importance of Tzedakah, which means that the Torah is a lower degree than Tzedakah because through the Torah we can achieve Tzedakah. We need to understand this.

Also, it is difficult to understand the words of Rabbi Hizkiya in what he adds to the words of Rabbi Aba and says, “Who are the stubborn-hearted? Those who do not want to approach the Creator. And because they do not want to approach the Creator they are far from Tzedakah.” How can we understand this? Does this mean that through approaching the Creator they will be rewarded with a higher degree, which is Tzedakah?

We should also understand why Rabbi Hizkiya says, “Since they are far from Tzedakah, they are far from peace.” This is even more perplexing because once he has clarified for us the importance of Tzedakah, meaning in Rabbi Aba’s view, Tzedakah is more important than Torah, and in Rabbi Hizkiya’s view, Tzedakah is greater than approaching the Creator. Now he comes and says that if they do not have the degree of Tzedakah, they cannot achieve the degree of peace.

Thus, we should understand what is the degree of peace. It is implied that after all the work he will achieve the degree of peace. That is, the first degree is either Torah or approaching the Creator, the second is Tzedakah, and the third is peace. This requires clarification.

We find that Tzedakah is called “faith,” as it is written about Abraham, “And he believed in the Lord, and He regarded it for him as righteousness.” Thus, because faith is regarded as Tzedakah, we can already know the importance of Tzedakah. It is not as it seems literally. Rather, Tzedakah implies faith.

What is faith? It is regarded as Tzedakah? We see that one who gives Tzedakah [almsgiving] to the poor does not expect the poor to repay him in some way for the almsgiving he has given him. It is especially so with concealed almsgiving; he certainly does not plan to receive anything in return. Therefore, Tzedakah means that he is doing something without any reward.

But since the faith we should take upon ourselves must be without anything in return, it means that we must believe in the greatness of the Creator, which holy Zohar calls, “For He is great and ruling.” He is to have no thought that he is taking upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven and by this he will receive from Him some reward. Rather, he is working entirely in order to bestow. This is why faith is called Tzedakah, to interpret for us the form that the faith we are taking on ourselves should have.

However, we must pay attention to how we achieve such faith, which is in order to bestow. Our nature is only to receive and not to bestow. Therefore, what can one do in order to achieve bestowal? He is telling us that it is done precisely through the Torah, as our sages said (Kidushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”

In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 11) he says, “However, we find and see in the words of the sages of the Talmud that they have made the path of Torah easier for us more than the sages of the Mishnah. This is because they said, ‘One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot, even Lo Lishma, and from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma.’ That is, the light in it reforms him. Thus, they have provided us with a new means instead of the penance presented in the above-mentioned Mishnah, Avot: the ‘Light in the Torah.’ It bears sufficient power to reform one and bring him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.”

By this we will understand the words of Rabbi Aba, who said that “far from Tzedakah” means that they are moving away from the Torah, hence they are far from Tzedakah. We asked, “Is the Torah the reason for achieving Tzedakah? Is it impossible to give Tzedakah without Torah?” The thing is that Tzedakah refers to faith. It is impossible to achieve real faith before one has equivalence of form with the Creator, meaning that all of one’s actions are only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator.

He says in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar” (item 138): “It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer. Hence, when one feels bad, to the same extent, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him, and the Operator is concealed from him.”

The reason is that before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal he is unfit to receive the delight and pleasure from Him. It follows that he feels bad and therefore cannot be awarded real faith before he has corrected the evil in him, called “receiving in order to receive.”

It follows that through the Torah, which reforms him, meaning that by receiving vessels of bestowal he will be rewarded with faith, which is called Tzedakah, which is “faith because He is great and ruling,” and not that the basis of his faith is in order to receive some reward.

Now we will understand what we asked about the words of Rabbi Hizkiya, where he explains the meaning of “stubborn-hearted.” He explains that because they move away from the Creator, they move away from Tzedakah. We asked, Can approaching the Creator be a reason that we will have the ability to do Tzedakah? What is the connection between them? It is written in the Sulam [commentary on The Zohar], Rabbi Hizkiya does not dispute Rabbi Aba.

Rather, he interprets more than him. We asked, But Rabbi Hizkiya’s explanation is even more difficult to understand!

According to what we explained above, Rabbi Hizkiya explains more what it means that they are called “stubborn-hearted,” for which they are far from Tzedakah, since regarding what Rabbi Aba says, that they have moved away from the Torah, they think that they simply need to learn Torah and by this they will be rewarded with Tzedakah, called “faith.” However, Rabbi Aba’s intention is that through Torah they will achieve equivalence of form, called “vessels of bestowal,” since they cannot achieve real faith before they have vessels of bestowal, as it is written in the Sulam (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar”).

This is why Rabbi Hizkiya elaborates more and says more simply that “stubborn-hearted” are those who move away from the Creator. That is, they do not want to approach the Creator because they are stubborn-hearted, therefore they are far from Tzedakah. This is as we said above, that it is impossible to be rewarded with faith, which is Tzedakah, before we are rewarded with nearing the Creator, called equivalence of form, which are vessels of bestowal.

Perhaps that reason why Rabbi Aba does not interpret the same as Rabbi Hizkiya is that Rabbi Aba wants to tell us two things at once, meaning the reason and the advice. The reason why they have no faith is that they have no vessels of bestowal. The advice for this is to engage in Torah, where by the light of Torah they will be awarded equivalence of form, regarded as all their actions being only to bestow. At that time they will be rewarded with Tzedakah, which is real faith.

And concerning Rabbi Hizkiya’s addition that through Tzedakah they will be rewarded with peace, we asked, “If Tzedakah is such a great thing, which refers to faith, then what is peace? It implies that peace is even more important!”

We should interpret that peace is the completion of the work. Before one is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he has no room for faith. Once he has vessels of bestowal and has been rewarded with faith, he obtains the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations. This means that then he feels the delight and pleasure that the Creator has created to do good to His creations. At that time one is rewarded with peace.

But before one has been rewarded with Tzedakah, which is faith, on the basis of vessels of bestowal, he does not have the Kelim to obtain the delight and pleasure, since the good is lacking the correction of not being the bread of shame, for which there was the correction of Tzimtzum Aleph [first restriction]. Only when the creatures have that correction, called “vessels of bestowal,” there will be a place where the light of the Creator (which is to benefit His creations) can be present.

Prior to this he is in strife with the Creator, as he says in the Sulam (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 175): “Peace, too, complained that he was all strife because he cannot engage in Mitzvot [commandments] in order to bestow, but with a mixture of self-pleasing.” By this he is always in strife with the Creator, since he thinks he is a complete righteous and does not feel his faults at all. That is, he does not feel that his entire engagement in Torah and Mitzvot is Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and he is angry at the Creator for not rewarding him as much as a complete righteous should be rewarded.

Thus, we see that before one is rewarded with Tzedakah, which is faith in the Creator on the basis of vessels of bestowal, which brings one to approach the Creator, it is impossible to have peace. It follows that the end of the work, when the goal is achieved, is when we achieve the degree of peace. That peace cannot be achieved before we go through the preliminary stages, which are approaching the Creator, then faith, called Tzedakah, and finally the goal, which is called “peace.”

Reader: Now we'll go into the lesson from January 13, 2002.

M. Laitman: (20:37) We read from volume 1 of “Rungs of the Ladder,” from portion of “Lech Lecha” [Go forth] article by Rabash. “Go forth,” the Creator says to Abraham, complete gentile, who was given a point in the heart, and then there's the commandment to go forth with this point and develop it. How to develop it?

Here, Rabash explains in this article the stages. The stages were using the force from above. There is no other force in this world to reach spirituality, to develop the point in the heart, develop the soul. The point in the heart is the root of the soul, a godly part from above that clothes in a person. If it clothes, a person is rewarded with being the son of Abraham.

Meaning, that the point in the heart clothes in him as well, then comes the commandment to “go forth from your land,” meaning start to acquire a spiritual desire in place of your beastly desires. How? Using the light, the upper force. How do you invite the upper force?

He explains that you have to do it through the study: draw the reforming light, the surrounding lights, and then advance. So the trick is to study in such a way that you'll be able to draw the reforming light. Then the study is called Torah, meaning the means for receiving the upper force.

The surrounding light that shines on a person, if he studies correctly, it brings correction to the person, meaning the development of the soul. Or to the extent the soul develops a person feels in this vessel godly revelation, or revelation of godliness. The quality that a person acquires, meaning this point that develops into a vessel — a person acquires in this way the quality called faith.

What is faith? The ability to go above one's senses and beastly desires and live inside this vessel called faith, inside the soul. And this is the vessel of bestowal. And certainly this vessel, which is the desire to bestow, is still not the purpose, it's only the means by which one can reach the purpose.

And the purpose is after the soul is corrected with the qualities of Bina, then it acquires there a revelation of godliness. A person receives a light, a pleasure, in order to bestow. This means that by that, he is giving to the Creator, he reaches equivalence of form with the Creator, he reaches peace. These are the stages. What does it mean, “go forth?” It means: take the Torah, the upper force, use it to develop the soul, called faith, the qualities of bestowal. In the quality of bestowal and the desire to bestow you will receive revelation of godliness, called revelation of godliness- the pleasure, the purpose of creation called peace.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:50) Baal HaSulam writes that the faith one who takes upon himself should be without any reward, as if it's a person's choice. Afterwards, he writes, and it's with the Torah that reforms him, he will receive vessels of bestowal, then he'll be rewarded with faith, meaning it's not already so...

M. Laitman: What's the question? How does a person acquire the quality of faith?

Student: On the one hand, he writes that he cannot be rewarded with complete faith unless he takes it upon himself. On the other hand, he writes that

M. Laitman: What upon himself?

Student: you cannot reach real faith before he has equivalence of form with the Creator. On the other hand, he writes, without equivalence of form with the Creator, there's no complete faith. So it's as if it's a…

M. Laitman: Right, right. It's contradictory. You cannot reach faith without equivalence of form, and you can't reach equivalence of form without faith, that's true. There's no transition from this world, where a person cares about his corporeality, what he has, and the next world, where a person begins to care about how much he gives. There's no smooth transition. You can't have one be the cause and the other be the consequence, no.

Rather, there's something simple here. It's a condition. You will do such and such work, and for that you will receive something that is not connected to these previous things, but it's connected according to the condition. The condition connects these two things, between this world and the next. The connection between them is the condition of exertion. I labored and I found. I did not labor, I did not find. But don't think that your labor gives you the finding.

Rather, the finding is something totally different, that the Creator gives you. That is why there's certainly some logical break, irrational, where we cannot connect these two worlds, right? After all, what do I have to do to be rewarded with faith? Everything you can do, you should do. Jump, do this, do that - just do. The things that you do in this world are seemingly not connected, seemingly, not connected to spirituality. What can you do? Your desires in order to receive, your thoughts in order to receive, your actions in order to receive — how can you influence spirituality? Even when you study and you invite the surrounding light, the surrounding light only grows your ego. It pulls you even more to spirituality. You want more and more — best case scenario, let's say, you want more and more spirituality until “it doesn't let me sleep.” Then you become even more cruel and distant from spirituality, seemingly, according to your form, until “it doesn't let me sleep.”

So you come from the still to the vegetative, to the animate, to the speaking. In corporeality, you become more cruel and vicious with your desires, your character, your desire to receive, and everything. You go through a desire for money, for honor, for control, for knowledge — everything. And you also want spirituality, and you wish to swallow it. Of course, these qualities cannot be the entrance to spirituality. The finest people — take some Indian, native American from the jungle - he's more… he's closer to spirituality compared to you. He feels also spirituality - they feel nature, they feel such forces, subtle forces in nature that you cannot feel, because their coarseness is root of root. What does he need in life? He doesn't want any more than just eating some snail that he found, a blade of some grass. That's it. What does he need?

M. Laitman: (29:31) Meaning, the qualities that we acquire using the means, called the Torah, the reforming Torah — what kind of... how does it reform me? It turns me into something worse. Also, we have to remember that what we get now, throughout the time of preparation, is additional qualities, desires, habits, and our original character doesn't change. Because we work on the development of the will to receive, I never become less than before in any of my qualities. And you see how much you develop. There are people who have been here for a few years already; you see that nothing has changed in you. Did something change in you, in your previous character? No. The way you came here, the friend from Haifa — yeah, that's how you left. Even more negative things were added to you, that's it.

Meaning, we develop a different vessel for this, in spirituality- a soul, and this corporeality remains. Corporeality, relative to spirituality, is called inanimate; it never changes. You can see a Kabbalist, 80 years old, he achieved all sorts of things, and in corporeality he's got the same habits he was born with — they don't change. Because he's old, he's not as fast, as rushed, but really, none of his characteristics change.

Meaning, we have to understand that there's a process here, there's a cessation in the process: what you receive from above is a reward, it's your soul, it's a reward, it's the force of bestowal. And when you receive this force, you got it, and that's it. Why? Because that's why it's called rewarded — I found. And not how rationally, once we come to the great, greatest will to receive, I suddenly receive vessels of bestowal.

Again, vessels of bestowal are the opposite of how I prepare for them. When I'm before the barrier I'm in the greatest will to receive, and the vessels of bestowal are the opposite, it's the other way around - I want to give. What do you mean, receive? Receive what? So the transition is very — how shall I say it — there's a severance between two worlds. There's nothing, you know; it's not smooth where you sort of slide from one world to the next. There's no connection between your previous qualities, that you came with, and the fact that you want everything, and what you later acquire — the additional spiritual qualities that begin to rule over the previous qualities. The previous qualities remain, but the quality that you now receive, what we call faith, the vessel of the soul, it begins to be in control.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:39) What does it mean that through the Torah which reforms him, when he's receiving vessels of bestowal, he'll be rewarded with faith, which is called Tzedakah, which is faith, because he is great and willing? So what is it — is faith a feeling?

M. Laitman: Faith is a feeling. Our problem is to stop using the definitions that we are accustomed to from this world. In this world, faith means uncertainty: what I do not know, it's not clear to me, it's not in my hand, I can't hear it, I can't see it. There are things that I accept as a result of seeing, some things I accept as a result of hearing, other things I accept after tasting, like little children.

Before he puts it in his mouth, it doesn't exist. He doesn't feel with his hands. Eyes are not enough. He needs to taste it. So we have this inner test: what's sufficient for me in order to get to know something? So for us, in our world, to get to know something, it's enough for me to use my senses. So I'm satisfied; it's satisfying. If not, then I can rely on something called faith, which equals uncertainty. But if we go to spirituality, faith is revelation. It's a type of revelation inside our vessels.

So the revelation of godliness in the vessels, the revelation that He is great and ruling, that He causes everything and He fills everything — this is called faith. Why? Because this revelation gives me the power to be bestowing in my desire to receive. If my will to receive is filled with the Creator, with the feeling that He's everything, my will to receive surrenders and is willing to do everything, anything, in order to bestow. That's why this quality is called faith, Bina, the line of Hassadim, call it however you want. It's a state of the desire to receive that acquired a certain kind of correction. It's called faith, the vessel of Bina.

Student: You said I have to accept it without any reward for it.

M. Laitman: When a person receives it, this vessel, then he's really willing to work without any reward. That's a quality that he acquires. They don't ask you to jump above your head. That's our problem: we think, from this world, that they demand some things from us, that we have to make this leap. You receive a correction called faith or Bina — you can work with it. If you don't get it, you cannot work accordingly.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:00) Why is it called Tzedakah, almsgiving?

M. Laitman: Tzedakah, almsgiving — what is it? When you give without thinking, without making any calculations about getting it back somehow, this quality that allows you to do it is called Bina, Tzedakah, faith. But how do you cover it when you give it? Using the same correction in you. There's always a calculation. Without calculation, nothing gets done in spirituality. You also make a calculation on almsgiving, Tzedakah: how much I can do it, how much I can't, what will cover this vessel for me. So the will to receive is a necessary thing; it's always there. If you give, then you must receive fulfillment in this desire. You need to give him the light of Hassadim in place of the light of Hochma. Otherwise, what is it? Are we in some illusion? We're speaking of science. We're speaking about what's happening to us in the vessels.

Student: And this is called the correction of Bina?

M. Laitman: The correction of Bina is sufficient, eventually, for the will to receive to be in order to bestow in full. Meaning, he will receive in order to bestow, so that all the pleasures that he will feel will be in order to bestow. It's not just...

Student: What's the difference between faith and attainment?

M. Laitman: The difference between faith and attainment is that faith is the light of Hassadim, and attainment is the light of Hochma. In faith, we do not attain godliness. You can attain Him through the revelation of the Creator, the light. Don't stray too far from these two things — light and vessel. You may not go farther than that, but you're certainly sitting on something correct and you're not getting confused. So either you have fulfillment of faith, the light of Hassadim, or you have fulfillment of the light of Hochma, which is also called attainment. What do you attain? “From Your actions, we shall know You” - to the extent you resemble Him, you see your corrected qualities and you say that this is the Creator. You never feel more than your corrected qualities, and accordingly, you have the image of the Creator.

When Yud, Hey, Vav, Hey is filled with light, it's called the name of the Creator. By that, you call the Creator. What is the Creator? That's my soul, Yud, Hey, Vav, Hey, which is filled by the corrections of the upper light. With the upper light — so the lights together with corrected vessels that give me the entirety of this feeling, lights and vessels — this is what I call the Creator. It's me — true; your soul is the Creator, and this is you, there His name is one. Everything is Israel, the Creator, and the light, or the Torah — they are one. Now, the main thing is not to be too smart — speak simply. If you see that you cannot connect a certain word or concept to the previous one, let it go for the time being.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:43) I think, we're straying from the point, because no one thinks exactly about what faith is beyond the barrier, and faith in the popular concept - it seems like everyone disconnected from it. The question is, what is faith during the work? When you go through the barrier, it's probably worked out already.

M. Laitman: I don't speak of masses — their Torah is the opposite of ours, and we need, as much as possible, not to be inside of them, among them, in order not to receive their influence. Rather, there is a society from which I can receive an influence, and that's our society. So you're saying, what is faith, or what?

Student: What is faith for us?

M. Laitman: What is faith for us?

Student: Before the barrier.

M. Laitman: Before the barrier, he says that there's this thing: there's faith in the books and the authors, belief in the sages, faith in the sages, faith in the Rav. He writes articles about it. These things come to a person only if he somehow receives it through the society.

Meaning, this brainwashing from the society constructs in me a quality — not quality, such knowledge — that I don't attain them, but because the force from the outside controls me, it introduces this into me as a fact. We see this with the masses on the outside, and we have to use that here among us as well. In other words, if we decide to speak of Baal HaSulam, and about Rabash, and about The ARI, the Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon, as people who are our teachers — they're our leaders, and what they said is, for us, exalted; it's holy, it's above everything. So the society needs to brainwash me with this, and then the force I get from this is called faith.

If I don't know it, what's written in the book is written in the book. I don't attain it with my five senses, and it then becomes certainty for me. I'm not yet at the end of correction, where I'll say that it's good and the Creator is good, and so on and so forth. All those things are — I don't know — it's just written somewhere, so you just say it. But the fact that you have a society, and I can receive it from the society in such a way that it's facts — it becomes, for me it becomes, it's inverted into facts — and these facts, meaning the force from the facts, when these things will be as facts for me, this force is called the force of faith.

Meaning, in place of knowledge of attainment, I use the force of faith in the same way. I can do, I can use it to stand up. I can, for example — I have a cup of tea before me, I'm willing to pay ten Shekels for it — so that I can come with the power of faith and pay for something, ten Shekels. I don't see it, I don't know. They say, what — you know what, take a glass of beer. I don't know what beer is, I don't know anything. But they say it's good, it's like this way, that way, it's worth this much. I believe it, I give them 10 Shekels. And I can also believe in such a way that I will now give a million Shekels. I will give my life to attain it. This depends on the force of faith I receive from the society.

Meaning, faith is in place of knowledge, where there is still no knowledge. We are not corrected. I did not acquire these vessels. I cannot attain spirituality. When I'm under the barrier, I have no other force by which to advance toward the goal. I don't attain it. I have no taste of flavors, no seeing or hearing - nothing. Only the force of faith that I receive from the friends. Nothing else can be used by me as fuel.

Student: (45:05) And faith above reason? What is the difference between this and that? Between after the barrier and before the barrier?

M. Laitman: Look, I don't know how to explain "above reason" before the barrier. Let's say, you accept it above reason. To put it more simply, above reason, means you, yourself…. I would interpret it this way: before the barrier, at the time of preparation, a person, because he is in the society, can sit here. And this is not called being in the society, sitting in the society.

Being in the society means that he makes an effort to submit himself before the society. He accepts what is in the society above his reason. What does it mean, above his reason? He wants to be influenced by them.

Meaning, he does all kinds of exercises on himself. He begins to convince himself that what he hears from them is true. It's true. It's truly brainwashing. Rabash writes that habit becomes second nature. And I'll tell you something else - we are in a society; we're all a society. In this society, there is something revealed and something concealed — hidden forces that we don't know, which is how we truly are, in a way that is concealed from us. That's already a spiritual force. And there is a force that is revealed to us, that we see how we are still incomplete. A beginner who enters the society and makes himself small — he doesn't mind. The level of the people who are here is not important to him. But when he convinces himself to be small, he receives the influence on himself from the hidden force in the society. Meaning, the whole society might be very small in spirituality, but he, through it, receives powers from the spiritual root of the society, from which they still don't receive. So, there can be a society of 20 people, who are all kind of so-so — not really something. Someone new comes, or someone from them, and he decides that he wants to be influenced by the society 100%. So he's influenced by the inner force, the spiritual force of the society, and receives such things that they don't know where it's from, or even that these things exist. We shouldn't think that someone who subjugates himself to the society receives what everyone has in general, or becomes corrected at the same level as everyone else. Much more. Much more. He can reach spirituality by using the forces of spirituality, while all the society is still in corporeality.

These two things are unrelated. What comes to them, comes to them according to their personal work. What comes to him is according to his personal work. This is why, to me personally, I don't mind what's happening with you. Well, if you could put it this way. Of course, I mean, it's my body. But in truth? No. I learn from all my students. The students can be like that, and through them, you can receive huge wisdom.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:41) Can you bring yourself to a state where you're smaller than the society?

M. Laitman: Of course. Why not? Because it's a spiritual force.

Student: What does it mean to make oneself smaller relative to the society?

M. Laitman: Try. You don't see it on the outside. In this, you need to work in concealment sometimes. There are many things about it. We haven't even started talking about it. That's already a different topic.

Student: We didn't hear the question.

M. Laitman: What does it mean to be small toward the society, or before the society? So, I'm saying that here too there's a matter of concealment. We will talk about it later. It's a very broad topic, but it's good that we really... It's a vast world.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:52) What is Tzedakah [almsgiving], charity in spirituality? Is that the same as in corporeality?

M. Laitman: I don't know what Tzedakah is in corporeality. When they knock on my door, regrettably, I live in Bnei Brack — so 20 times a day people knock on my door asking for charity.

Student: Also in Hod HaSharon, they knock 20 times.

M. Laitman: Really? Really? Okay, maybe. I know that during the day, for me, it's already... So I open the door. Someone comes and asks for almsgiving. Should I give? Shouldn't I give? Maybe I'm embarrassed. Everyone gives. There are all kinds of calculations. Maybe I should — I'll be healthier, I'll get something, I'll get satisfaction from giving. All kinds of calculations. Sometimes without calculation: I was brought up this way, so my upbringing makes me be this way, so I give it. That too is a calculation. If I don't follow my upbringing, I'll feel bad. So it's a kind of habit.

So this is almsgiving in corporeality. In spirituality, almsgiving — Tzedakah — is when you can give something of your own, but of your own, without anything in return, without any return. Meaning, if you make all kinds of calculations, it is clear to you as day that you will get nothing out of it. Nothing at all. Will you have the strength, the power to give or not? From where will you take it? We know that anything the will to receive does, it demands fuel, and that fuel gives it the possibility to do something. Our substance, our will to receive, is built this way, so this machine cannot move unless you drop a dime into it. So if I give, I have to drop some dime into my machine, so it would give, so it would act. So what am I giving to the machine? And here they're telling it, "You're not giving it anything, so how can it move?" It's something completely fictitious, imaginary. It cannot be done. They're saying, it can be done, but when we say that you cannot receive anything in return — meaning, into the same desire that works, you really cannot get anything in return — otherwise it will not be Tzedakah. It will be a trade-off: I give them five shekels, so I will be healthy, so I will get the next world, so I will be happy, so I will feel satisfaction.

Today I give Tzedakah, you know. You walk onto the bus. In order for the bus not to be blown up by a terror act, you put something in the charity box. Is this Tzedakah? I'm just paying for the upper force to guard me. I tell the Creator, "I gave my charity, so now You make sure that, as long as I'm on the bus, nothing will happen." It's a contract, it's not Tzedakah.

So, of course, the vessels of reception don't receive anything in return for it, but the vessels of bestowal do. I have to receive a special correction called will to bestow, and in this will to bestow, I receive a cover, a return, or a reward. And that — that I gave, is the reward, and it's the fuel; and without that fuel, I cannot act at all. In other words, there's no such act, there's no act in reality that I can do without receiving some compensation, some reward for it. The reward that comes to the will to receive is called beastly, corporeal, in order to receive — not spiritual.

If I can give and receive a reward in the will to bestow, it's called performing an act in order to bestow, and this is called doing Tzedakah. And I, in fact, didn't receive anything in return but I did receive. What did I receive? I received the power, the compensation, in the will to bestow. So the fuel I received in the will to bestow, I used it for the act of giving Tzedakah. It gave me the power to do the Tzedakah. You get it? Just give, just give.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:14) A person — it's enough for him to attain a degree of fear, or repentance, not a degree of reward and punishment, and only then complete love. So how is it that when a person attains a degree of reward and punishment, this is called spiritual attainment? And as I understood, when he gives, when he was engaged in almsgiving, then he gives it because he attains...

M. Laitman: We're talking about a different reward and punishment. No — the reward and punishment we are talking about is when a person crosses the Machsom, the barrier, and enters the revelation of Providence and reveals Providence gradually, throughout the 620 actions, on his 620 desires. He reveals the Providence as providence of reward and punishment. So it's not like he performs an act because of the reward and because of the punishment — or because of the punishment he performs an act. No, it's how Providence is revealed to him. But if he does it for this, it's called in order to receive — that's below the barrier. No, so that's not his motivation for doing the act in order to bestow, for performing the commandments. The providence, or guidance, of reward and punishment is already spirituality.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:48) We read that the Creator cannot be revealed as bad. So what does that mean — the recognition of evil? Let's say — is there a Creator?

M. Laitman: The Creator cannot be revealed as an evildoer. Is He revealed as doing good?

Student: Well, after the barrier, maybe.

M. Laitman: Where?

Student: After the barrier.

M. Laitman: After the barrier, He's also revealed as doing evil, doing harm — and you have to justify Him. Otherwise, what does it mean to justify? Who is righteous? When His action seems to you like a bad action, and you justify His action — by this, you become righteous. And, opposite that, you see that He did good.

Student: So what does it say — that He always conceals from our feeling?

M. Laitman: From our feeling — the minute Providence acts on us not in a good way, well, in our feelings it's not good — then we don't feel godliness. What does it mean, we don't feel? We don't remember, purportedly, that He exists. People think that it comes because the pain switches off the mind, and because of it, we don't remember that it came from the Creator.

It hurts me, so I'm crying because it hurts, but that's incorrect. There's no such thing as... Everything that is in us comes, in the end, in order to scrutinize: is there a revelation of Godliness or isn't there? Is there the revelation of His action or isn't there? These two things have to be. The fact that the Creator hides Himself while doing purportedly bad things to us is not in order for us not to curse Him, to forget about Him and just suffer, and that's it. What do you get out of this suffering? So why does He do it?

He does it in order for you to correct the vessels and bring them to such a state where you will not care if you feel bad, as long as He does not move away from you. You understand? That bitter and sweet, you will not mind it; only truth and falsehood: His presence in your awareness or not? Then you begin to judge your situation. You begin to judge your situation according to the presence of the Creator in you, when you feel connection with Him, and then, bitter and sweet, you don't mind it. This is why they say that the Creator is never revealed as evildoing: because then you don't feel bad, because you accept the pain as something purposeful. Yes?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:30) We don't reach the level of almsgiving and Tzedakah. We can't give Lishma. Below the barrier, we need to work on almsgiving in Lo Lishma? Is there a Lo Lishma quality in the work on Tzedakah, almsgiving?

M. Laitman: How to work in Tzedakah below the barrier? Very simple. I want to come to a state where all my actions are... I don't think of myself. Toward whom? Toward what? He says that it's expressed here toward the society. The more a person gives to the society, in the end, it comes back to him as acquiring of the power of Tzedakah. There is no other Tzedakah here in this world. What they do in corporeality here — people are running home to all kinds of places to do good deeds. It's good that people do it, but it's...

Student: But it says charity, almsgiving, can save you from death.

M. Laitman: The fact that it's written "charity saves from death," it's true, because death is the will to receive, and that's death; and Tzedakah saves from the will to receive, from death. Death, as you think of death in life — Kabbalah doesn't talk about it. There's no such thing. Everything is eternal. There is nothing that is not eternal. Everything is eternal. So, what is death? Death is disconnection from Godliness, and Tzedakah is a correction of Bina, which connects you to Godliness. Because of it, it saves from death. If you acquire the power of Tzedakah, you enter Godliness, and you begin to live. If you don't give Tzedakah... Every second, every second, you have to give Tzedakah, you have to have the strength to bestow. If you don't have it, it's considered that you are dead. That's it. This is what is written. What people think in the world is...

Student: The specific example?

M. Laitman: Which?

Student: What saves you from death.

M. Laitman: If it weren't written, "charity saves from death," no one would give anything — and it would be good that no one gives. Why do something? I really need to do things with an intention by which I'm rewarded with life. Why do I need the powers of Bina? Why do I need in order to bestow? Therefore, choose life. He writes, in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, that a person shouldn't just come to the power of Tzedakah, the power in order to bestow, just to be a giver. I don't need it. That's not the purpose of creation.

The purpose of creation is for me to enjoy, to reach life, spiritual life. This is why I need to think, while I'm giving Tzedakah, that I come from Bina to Keter, that I'm receiving in order to bestow completely. Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:52) How does the will to receive agree to give, and the will to bestow receive a reward — that he himself will not receive a reward? These are two opposite types of reward. It's like, worse than not getting a reward: the one who's opposite to you is receiving the reward.

M. Laitman: Today, you're going a little deeper in your level of questions. We'll talk about it some other time. You need to kind of ripen. Right, Yaakov? Think for yourselves. What, am I going to steal the labor from you? By hearing an answer, nothing will change. You know, you have to hear the answer from within. And what I say is just to sweeten, in the meantime, the situation.

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What is a soul?

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