Morning Lesson November 02, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.

Part 2:

Baal HaSulam. "Study of the Ten Sefirot" (TES). Vol. 1. Part 1.

 Inner Observation. Chapter 1. #5

Reading item #5: (00:41) “How can there be disparity of form in creation….”

1. S. (04:52) He says here, what is disparity of form in the soul that makes a difference from godliness. What is the reason for the disparity of form, and what should be our work?

R. The Creator is entirely to bestow, and the soul also is entirely to bestow but there's something in it in order to receive, and that's the disparity of form between them; there's nothing else that can be in disparity, only in that.

S. What's the reason for the disparity, and why should there be disparity of form?

R. I guess it's rooted in before the creation.

S. And what should our work be in the wisdom of Kabbalah?

R. We need to bring the soul to a complete identification with the Creator.

S. This is our whole work to bring about the equivalence of form with Him?

R. Yes.

2. S. (06:09) The Reshimot that resulted from the shattering is that an image of Adam HaRishon before the shattering or is it more than that or is it the corrected form of Adam HaRishon?

R. No, the Reshimot, the records come from the state they went through meaning from the shattering, and in all those records there is shattering, and the shattering also includes the states that came before the shattering and also what was also shattered, and we need to relate to what we have after the shattering.

3. S. (07:04) I wanted to ask about the mountain and the rock that's carved of the mountain, they both have the same essence, in the rock, in the soul is where you find the Creator, according to my understanding. So, the question is, if everything is in the soul and there's where you make all the connections, what connections should we make outside of us because the whole work is inside?

R. Yes.

S. So, what’s the connection we should make outside of us between the friends, it’s as if there's no such thing as only you and the Creator?

R. You need to relate to one another just as the Creator is relating to each one of you, and that will be a correction.

S. The connection itself, the work itself the labor, and the connection between the points, the hearts, the sparks, it's all inside a person, not between me and the friend or between me and the ten, it's not outside it's not outside of me?

R. Yes.

4. S. (08:40) As long as the created being has not reached his own authority, he couldn't name those relations with the Creator he had to completely disconnect in order to be able to rise from below and apply the names as it is written here?

R. Yes.

5. S. (09:18) I heard here the term his-self, is light without a Kli, a vessel is his-self?

R. Check in the (TES) in the definitions, what Atzmuto, His-self means, that's the best thing.

6. S. (09:45) How is it possible that a Godly part will be a created being?

R. I don't understand what he was asking.

S. How is it possible that we have within us a part of God while we are created beings?

R. If we work in the will to bestow so that the will to bestow we acquired upon the will to receive, is called the divine part from above, and we work with it. Meaning, that we are in that with the Creator in adhesion, that's it. We never become as a Creator, God forbid, we only want to resemble Him. Man comes from the word Adam, Domeh, resembles the Creator.

7. S. (11:10) We learned that in spirituality the differences are according to the differences in qualities, in forms, but here it says that the argument that there is a difference in qualities is incorrect?

R. We will get there soon.

8. S. (11:53) It is said that the soul is a part of the Creator. It turns out that on one hand, we have the separation, and on the other hand, the equivalence, how are there two in one?

R. We will gradually reach it, wait, it's still before us, he's just asking questions here.

9. S. (12:22) Why did He give us a part of God above, to each of us, within us?

R. So we can take that part and unite and resemble Him.

10. S. (12:44) I'm trying to understand what he's asking in item five, where does our attainment begin… he’s breaking out badly.

R. Check your microphone.

11. S. (13:18) The light has a name, and the Creator has a name. What is the difference between them?

R. The Creator we call according to the way that He relates to us, how we feel His relation towards us; and the same thing with the light that comes from Him.

S. What is the difference?

R. The difference is that the Creator is the source, and the light is the action.

S. How do we perceive it?

R. We perceive it the way it was said, “The Creator is the source of the light, and the light is the action of the Creator.”

S. In other words, will we be able to discern between His action and the source?

R. That's why it’s what the Kabbalists write. 

12. S. (14:33) I think I heard you say, answering a friend, that we have to work to relate the work as after the shattering. The question is, why is it in order for us to have room for faith above reason and maintain the concealment?

R. We need to rise above the shattering and then we correct all of creation. 

13. S. (15:29) When the light is absent, it's a state where we are unconscious. When a gradual relation begins, is that a state of consciousness or awareness already, and does it enable the revelation of the names and forms?

R. Very right, very right.

14. S. (16:08) Does the light come from his-self or from the Creator?

R. That we cannot say. The light comes, that's it. We cannot talk about that. 

Reading item #6 (16:35) “Explanation about the texts of our sages….” 

15. R. (19:30) That means that there is actually one thing here: The Creator is the one bestowing, and we are the ones receiving in order to bring us to resemble Him. He gives in the will to receive the feeling of the difference between it and the Creator, and this feeling is called shame. It is clear to us from this world just as we when we have to receive from someone as much as we are ashamed of it; there are a lot of cases in which we reject something that is given to us and we don’t want to receive it, because the shame burns us, lowers us, and in order to make the created beings to be as the Creator, on the same degree of the giving, the bestowing of the exalted. 

So, the Creator performs the corrections, He created all the souls and all the degrees, and what we are doing, all in all, is done in order to correct, to skip, to rise above this gap that is between the receiver and the bestower. We do not have any way to do it but only through working through The Wisdom of Kabbalah. Until we grow as babies or in the mother, or either we are born, and we do not feel ourselves yet as disconnected from the mother, so we demand and demand everything that we deserve. But, when we do correct ourselves, we reach a place where we can receive in order to bestow, and then our actions become equal in their essence to the actions of the Creator. We give to Him and He gives to us. We give Him the vessel and He gives us the fulfillment, the light. Then we reach identification, and equivalence with the Creator and it turns out that in this way we can reach His degree.

16. S. (22:49) It's not clear to me, he says in any free gift there is a shame to the created beings, what’s the reason for the shame of the free gift? 

R. Because there is a receiver and a bestower. The bestower is whole; he has everything, and the receiver has nothing. That is why when he wants to complete himself, he must receive from the bestower.

S. But how can I not be ashamed when I receive something? What should I do so as not to be ashamed when I receive something from the Creator?

R. You need to be like Him.

S. Like Him? And then I will have no shame?

R. Yes. You will have no shame. If you bestow with your actions and you do not receive you will be like the Creator.

S. What is the root of the problem, why does He want me to be ashamed of my actions?

R. The root is that you are a receiver.

S. So what if I am receiving, should I be ashamed of it?

R. Of course.

S. Why? Why should I be ashamed? He is giving it to me, why should I be ashamed? 

R. You never feel in your life that you are ashamed if you receive?

S. Many times if I receive something for free of course it is unpleasant. Is this what he wants to do to make it feel unpleasant when He gives? It is as if He does things He gives me so I'll be ashamed of receiving from Him?

R. The Creator wants to give to you, but you cannot receive because in your reception you will feel shame; so, you reject the reception.

S. If I'm receiving something from the Creator, do I have to feel ashamed anyhow of what I'm receiving from Him? 

R. If you receive, you will feel shame.

17. S. (25:53) Can we say that shame comes from a lack of intention?

R. Shame comes from a lack of intention, correct, from the lack of the intention in order to bestow from the created being.

18. S. (26:15) How can we feel spiritual shame because the shame of this world is that a person hides his ego and spiritual shame is when he already has a restriction, let's say that he stole, but he can't steal, the restriction says he cannot steal. So how can we even feel spiritual shame?

R. Spiritual shame is felt in a person's intentions.

19. S. (26:52) He writes here that in any free gift, there is a flaw of shame, and to prevent the blemish of shame He created this world where there is a reality of work and labor. What is the connection between shame and this world and work, what kind of work is he talking about in this world?

R. That a person connects to the friends and between them he builds above his will to receive, a common vessel, a desire to bestow; and then with that vessel, he comes to the Creator and asks for corrections and for fulfillments.

S. In this way, he prevents the shame?

R. Yes, by this he prevents the shame. Because he doesn't receive for himself, he receives for his friends and in this way, each one for everyone.

20. S. (27:55) Usually when we have enough forces, we connect the parts that are similar, that are equivalent to the Creator, and sometimes the descents are so big that you cannot hold on to the Creator, so how to connect in those states that you cannot hold on to anything?

R. Through the friends and not otherwise.

S. Usually when we invest in the friends, they are so precious and you are in the work, but sometimes a heaviness comes, and you cannot see any value in what is going on, so what should we ask of the Creator in those states?

R. That He will raise the value of the friends in your eyes.

21. S. (28:58) So the Creator wants to give us everything but in order for us not to feel the shame, the Creator puts us in this reality where we need to exert in order, so we do not feel the same, when we receive everything that He wants to give us?

R. Yes.

22. S. (29:36) What does it mean that we aim all of our desires to the Creator, what does it mean in practice?

R. That we want in every opportunity to bestow upon Him so that the benefit, the feeling that we get out of it, He will receive it and enjoy.

23. S. (30:22) Work in dissemination will that let us receive the light of the Creator without shame?

R. Yes, of course, by this you draw upon yourselves additional desires, you place these desires under a common screen, and you ask for everyone a filling with light so that the light will fill them, correct them, and raise them to the level of the Creator. What more than that, what can be more than that, so it turns out that the most important thing is the work in the group.

24. S. (31:30) Sorry, it’s still the thing about the shame: So, envy, lust, and honor, it is easy to find those feelings in the group and advance; but shame, how do you find a feeling of shame as a force to advancement, where is that?

R. That is a problem because shame we cover it even before it surfaces in our feelings.

S. So that is exactly it, how do I find that feeling?

R. How do I find it, I try to be together with the friends and then among them, with them, I gradually discover what a nothing I am compared to the group, and this is how I come to shame.

25. S. (32:33) I also want to ask about shame in our world, I see for myself, that it doesn't awaken any shame. The person who receives, he is not embarrassed by it or ashamed, he wants to receive as much as he can! He feels shame only when someone discovers his ego, let us say everyone discovers that he stole, so then the feeling of shame can only be under the influence of the upper light.

R. Yes.

S. And this bestowal of the light awakens shame, not at the moment he received, but once he had an opportunity to receive.

R. Correct, so what is your question?

S.  I just want to make sure I understand correctly.

R.  You understand everything correctly, you understand everything correctly, don't worry, we just need a little more time, patience, and diligence, and everything will be revealed; you can see what is happening in the world. 

Reading Item 7: (34:28) “What is the connection between working seventy years and eternal delight, as there is no greater free gift than this?”

26. R. (34:40) This is something very special, we live in, let’s call it seventy years, this is what Kabbalists write, seventy years in this world, and even if we work properly in this world for the duration of the seventy years, the wisdom of Kabbalah, Kabbalists say that we have before us Infinity and an endless pleasure, and we are just talking about shame; so how can it be that we will work seventy years, even if it is from the day of birth to the day of death, absolutely, it is still limited. So how can it be that in return for this, we will receive the world of Infinity, Ein Sof?

Continues reading Item 7: (35:43) “These words of theirs are perplexing….” Twice.

27. R. (39:25) In other words, in this world now we can work in giving in connection and bestowal in anything good for the entire life, let us say, that it is seventy years. And in return for this, we will receive an eternal world complete, perfect, full of all the pleasures without any limitations, how can it be such a thing? Let us say that it happens after that, aren't we left with a free gift, the feeling of shame, is this clear, what he is asking?

28. S. (40:25) I don't understand what the next world is, what are we going to receive there, is this something that is going to happen now, in this world, in a different reality, what? I do not understand.

R. That doesn't matter, the next world is the next state in which you receive reward, that’s it.

29. S. (40:59) It sounds here that his friend tells him that this work doesn't sound reasonable, so really what are we doing, almost nothing in this world, and he'll give you all the upper worlds and all that and all this, so that is not shame that He is bringing us? We still want to attain the upper world even though there is shame, what is happening here?

R. I don't know, I recommend to keep reading and not jump.

Continues reading Item 7: (41:58) “These words of theirs are perplexing.…”

30. R. (45:10) He writes beautifully, and do we at least understand what he’s asking?

31. S. (45:22) What you were asking about the shame, can we ask about it?

R. No, first of all, what we were talking about here, don’t confuse us.

32. S. (45:40) The state of bestowal neutralizes the shame?

R. Yes. So in general, other questions?

33. S. (46:13) We learned that if a person knows for sure that what the Creator gives a person, first contentment, joy to the Creator, so why is he embarrassed to receive if he knows for sure from this that the Creator is getting pleasure?

R. In no place is it said that the Creator enjoys giving to a person.

34. S. (46:56) In our world it is easy to feel shame, everyone understands that, and there is a clear example of that, but why is it hard to feel it towards the Creator?

R. Because we do not feel Him, we cannot depict Him to ourselves and that's why it is difficult to understand, to feel what the Creator feels, what He receives from us, and what we receive from Him, all of this is still hidden from us, that is why our state is called concealment.

S. Can acting help, is the development of our feelings to act and imagine the Creator for ourselves and so on. Towards the group, you can somehow feel it because we get a lot from it, but what is behind the group that the Creator is there, it’s harder.

R. When you come closer to the group you will begin to feel the Creator who is behind it, you have to get closer to the group with all your soul, with all of your heart, just come closer to them and then you will feel, you will start to feel the Creator who is behind the group.

35. S. (48:37) I want to understand what Baal HaSulam means here, I thought, maybe this example that when I studied in school and my parents told me, ‘you learn well, you'll have a good future’, so I understood that and I wanted to believe them. It was in some distant perspective, that I saw examples that even people that did study well didn’t always get what they wanted. Here, downstairs they were calling me to come play soccer, which was closer; it was hard to hold on to this gap, on the one hand, it is clear, on the other hand, nature is stronger than you, in every given moment it reveals itself. So, when Baal HaSulam gives such a perspective that is so broad that in our mind it is clear, but how does he not take into account that our desire to receive can’t implement this, I don't know how to express it.

R. We cannot realize ourselves in a desire to bestow, and in a desire to receive it is very limited for us, so it turns out that from both ends we receive nothing.

36. S. (50:21) Except for the seventy years of his life, what can a person pay the Creator for his advancement; if those seventy years were also given as a gift to a person, it turns out that I'm working for the Creator and thanks to that, I can receive but it is not the right?

R. Of course, it’s a proper reward, he writes it, he says, “What is the connection in the work of the seventy years and eternal reward, what is the connection between them?” In other words, let us say that we exert for seventy years, and let us say we make all our efforts, how can it compare to that infinite pleasure, both in time and in volume, that the Creator has prepared for us? We even think that we need to do something in order to correct ourselves and not feel shame, how can that be, in other words, he is, in this excerpt, he is bringing us into a state of dead end.

S. It sounds like an exchange, a different kind of reward.

R. And where’s the shame?

S. It’s shame if I have the will to receive and I see it is worth it for me, so life itself was given to me from the Creator, I did not give Him anything, He to begin with, gave me everything, and gave me this reward?

R. In other words, you enjoy for seventy years, and you do not see yourself, whatsoever, in any kind of debt to the Creator.

S. But the whole matter is that I feel like He gave me this life as a gift, and here I’m offered, like here I’m offered another bonus of eternal life. Even though my regular life doesn't belong to me, He gives me everything and then He says I'm also going to give you eternal life afterward, and then I'm giving even more shame?

R. Yes, so that's a shame you will experience, called a punishment in hell, torments in hell. You will feel it as terrible torments, so there's no point speaking now about what awaits you, nothing awaits us, but only to the extent that we attain adhesion with a Creator, understand?

S. So the fact that now we have a feeling of receiving, that’s not even shame, the real shame is in the future?

R. You're not actually receiving yet, you’re like a baby in its mother's bosom and she hasn't released it.

S. I understand that everyone studies that Kabbalah has a certain feeling, that you have to bestow more than He gives to you, but we don’t know what to bestow to Him yet?  

R. Of course, you're right.

37. S. (54:51) You can feel shame but that's once you've built a relationship with someone or you are aspiring to build a relationship because if you are indifferent, you don't have any feeling that you need to come into any contact with anybody or discover any qualities inside you or between you and the others, because only then shame could come and that is what helps you reach the right prayer and quantity and quality?

R. You are right, dear, you are absolutely right, and your questions are good! With this, we will conclude our lesson today.