The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), May 3, 2024.
Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 12, (1985). Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived.
Reader: (00:02) Hello, we will be reading the writings of Rabash, “Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived.” You can also find the article on kabbalahmedia.info, you can send us questions also, online. Anyone who has a question, please let us know, speak clearly into the microphone, and we'll now read the article. Rabash, “Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived.”
Reading: (00:46) “Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived.”
“Jacob dwelled in the land where his father had lived, in the land of Canaan.” It is written in The Zohar (Vayeshev, item 11): “Rabbi Hiya started and said, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’ But the righteous who fears his master, how much affliction he suffers in this world so as not to believe or partake with the evil inclination? And the Creator saves him from them all. This is the meaning of what is written, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’ It does not say ‘many to the righteous,’ but ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ This indicates that that one who suffers many afflictions is righteous because the Creator desires him, since the afflictions he suffers remove him from the evil inclination, and therefore the Creator desires that person and saves him from them all.”
We should understand these words:
This implies that one who suffers many afflictions is righteous, and one who does not suffer many afflictions is not righteous.
Why must he suffer many afflictions if he does not want the evil inclination to partake with him?
Do the words, “And for this reason the Creator desires that person and saves him from all of them,” mean that the Creator does not save other people, God forbid? Can this be?
Even more perplexing, on the one hand it says that the troubles he suffers remove him from the evil inclination. On the other hand it says that the Creator saves him from all of them, meaning saves him from many afflictions. Thus, he will bring himself close to the evil inclination once again, since the reason that removed him from the evil inclination has been cancelled.
We should interpret his words. Here is a verse that concerns this (Kidushin 30b): “Rabbi Shimon Ben Levi said, ‘Man’s inclination overpowers him each day and seeks to put him to death, as it was said, ‘The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.’ Were it not for the Creator’s help, he would not have overcome it, as it was said, ‘God will not leave him in his hand.’’”
In Masechet Sukkah (p 52), there is another similar verse: “The evil inclination has seven names. Solomon called it “enemy,” as it is said (Proverbs, 25), “If your enemy is hungry feed him bread; if he is thirsty give him water to drink, for you are burning coals on his head and the Lord will pay you.” Do not pronounce it as Yashlim [pay], but as Yashlimenu [complement] you.
According to RASHI, “If your inclination is hungry and craves transgression, feed it bread and trouble it with the war of Torah, as it is written (Proverbs, 9): ‘Go, eat of my bread.’ ‘Give him the water of Torah to drink,’ as it is written about it (Isaiah, 25), “All who are thirsty, go to the water.’ ‘Will complement you’ means that your inclination will be completely with you, love you, and will not incite you to sin and be lost from the world.”
To understand all the above we must know that the essence of the evil inclination—which is called the “essence of creation,” which the Creator created existence from absence—is the will to receive. It is known (see in the introductions) that this is something new that did not exist before He has created it. Man’s work is only to work the opposite of his nature, meaning that he will want only to bestow. But since it is against his nature—since by nature he needs to see only to the needs of self-love—he has no desire to work for others.
Although we see that sometimes people do work for others, this is possible only if they see that they will be rewarded for their work, namely that the will to receive will be satisfied by it. That is, the reward should satisfy the self-love; otherwise one cannot exit the vessels of reception by nature.
However, being able to perform acts in order to bestow and not receive any reward is unnatural. And although we see that there are people who kill themselves for their country and do not want anything in return, it is because their country is very important to them, and that importance is also natural, as our sages said, “The favor of the place is with its dwellers.”
However, there is certainly a difference in the measure of favor, for not everyone favors the same. This is why there are many who volunteer to the army because of the importance of their homeland, but think that this is not so dangerous that their lives are at stake, “because I see that many people return unharmed from the war.”
And if there is sometimes a danger of certain death, they are not willing to go to certain death, except for a chosen few for whom the homeland is important. But here, too, the power of reward is involved, because he thinks that after his death everyone will know that he was dedicated to the public and that he was above everyone else because he cared for the public’s well-being.
But in the work of the Creator, when a person is walking on the path of truth, he must work in humbleness so that the external ones will have no grip. That is, in serving the Creator he will not have the grip of working for the outer ones, meaning that people outside of him will know about his work, so he is working devotedly so that people outside will say that he was above the common folk. This assists him in his ability to work without return, so that people outside will say that he was working only for the Creator. The Creator gave this power to the creatures because “from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] he will come to Lishma [for Her sake],” and he will not have any assistance from outside. He can achieve that if he first has Lo Lishma, but he should not remain in Lo Lishma, God forbid.
This is the meaning of what our sages said (Sukkah, 45), “Anyone who joins working for the Creator with something else is uprooted from the world, as it is said, ‘Only for the Lord.’” The meaning of “only for the Lord” is that there will be no mingling of self-love at all, but only for the Creator. This is the meaning of the word, “only.”
Still, there is a fundamental issue to understand here. We should discern if a person is devoted in order to acquire something. Even if he receives the reward for the public, this is certainly a great thing because if the reward he is receiving is not for self-love but for love of others, because he loves the others and puts himself to death for them, to benefit the public, but there is no doubt that if he could achieve the same thing not by giving up his life, he would have chosen that other way. This is so because to him the key is to receive a reward for the public, and not the work. The contentment he can bring his homeland is what makes him work, therefore he does not regard the means by which to obtain that thing for the homeland. If he sees that specifically by giving up his life for the country (he can bring contentment to the country), he is willing to do this, too.
Conversely, with love of the Creator, we say that a person should work only for the Creator, meaning without any reward. This means that he is ready for complete devotion without any reward, without any return being born out of his devotion. Rather, this is the core—his purpose, that he wants to annul his self before the Creator, meaning (cancel) his will to receive, which is the existence of the creature. This is what he wants to annul before the Creator. It follows that this is his goal, meaning his goal is to give his soul to the Creator.
This is not so in corporeality with respect to love of others. Although this is a great degree, and not all the people can work for the general public, still, devotion is only a means and not a goal, and he would be happier if he could save the public without giving up his life.
Let us ask all those who volunteer to go to war for their country. If someone could advise them how to save their country without losing their lives, they would certainly be happy. But when there is no choice, they are willing to go, for the public, so that the public will receive the reward, while they are giving up everything. Although this is a great force, it has nothing to do with devotion to the Creator, where devotion is the goal, and what comes out as a result is not their purpose, as this was not their intention. Therefore, devotion in spirituality is worthless to corporeal people, since for them devotion is a means and not the goal, while in spirituality it is the opposite: devotion is the goal.
By this we will understand the meaning of receiving in order to bestow. Man’s purpose is only to bestow upon the Creator, for this is the meaning of equivalence of form, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” When he achieves the degree of devotion to the Creator because he wants to annul himself in order to delight the Creator, he sees that the purpose of the Creator, as it was in the thought of creation, is to do good to His creations. At that time he wants to receive the delight and pleasure that was in the purpose of creation—to delight His creatures.
This is called “receiving in order to bestow.” Otherwise, he might want to receive the delight and pleasure and this is why he gives everything, so he can receive. This is regarded as “bestowing in order to receive.” But if his purpose is to bestow, and he has no desire to receive for his own benefit at all, but only for the Creator, then he can become a receiver in order to bestow.
Concerning devotion, I heard from Baal HaSulam that one should depict devotion as we find with Rabbi Akiva (Berachot 61b): He said to his disciples, “My whole life I have regretted the verse, ‘With all your soul, even if He takes your soul.’ I said, ‘When will I be able to keep it?’ And now that this has come to me, will I not keep it?”
Certainly with such a desire to bestow, when a person says that he wants to receive delight and pleasure because this is the purpose of creation, he certainly means (only) to receive in order to bestow upon the Creator.
By this we will understand the four above questions:
Question no. 1) It seems from the words of The Zohar that only one who suffers many afflictions is righteous, but one who does not suffer afflictions cannot be righteous. Can this be? The thing is that afflictions refer to the evil inclination. That is, specifically one who feels that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions by not letting him approach the Creator is called “righteous.” But if a person does not feel that it is removing him from the Creator and does not feel that by this it is causing him afflictions, is not considered righteous because he has not achieved recognition of evil, meaning that it hurts him.
Question no. 2) Why must he suffer many afflictions if he wants the evil inclination not to take part in him? This means that there is no other choice but to suffer afflictions. According to the above-said, this is very simple: Afflictions refer to the evil inclination. If he does not feel that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions, he does not regard it as evil inclination that he does not want to have a part in him. Rather, he regards it as a good inclination, which brings him only good, so why should it not have a part in him? But if he sees the afflictions that the evil inclination causes him then he does not partake with it.
Question no. 3) The Zohar says that the Creator desires a person who suffers many afflictions. This means that the Creator does not desire one who does not suffer afflictions. Can this be? The answer is that if a person feels that the evil inclination is causing him many afflictions, and the person cries out to the Creator to help him, the Creator desires that person. But when a person does not feel that the evil inclination is afflicting him, the Creator does not want him because he has no Kli [vessel], meaning desire that the Creator will save him.
Question no. 4) If the Creator saves him from afflictions, he will reconnect with the evil inclination.
Answer: Salvation that comes from the Creator is a different matter than salvation that occurs in corporeality. The evil that takes place at the time of the Achoraim [posterior], which is the time of concealment of the face, when he sees that he is under concealment, for it is known that the little one is annulled before the great one, and certainly here, in serving the Creator, a person must annul before the Creator as a candle before a torch. Yet, he sees that his body does not annul, and it is hard for him to subdue it and take upon himself faith above reason. At that time he sees that the body is afflicting him by not wanting to assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven, by which he is removed from all the spirituality.
It follows that one must believe that the Creator has created the world with benevolence, and the evil in his body removes him from all the good. That is, when he comes to learn Torah, he finds it utterly tasteless. And also, when he comes to perform some Mitzva [good deed/correction], he finds it utterly tasteless because the evil inclination in his body has the power not to let him believe in the Creator above reason by taking out every flavor. Whenever he begins to approach something spiritual, he feels that everything is dry without any moisture of life.
When the person began his work, he was told—and he believed what he was told—that the Torah is a Torah of life, as it is written, “For they are your life and the length of your days,” and as it is written (Psalms 19), “More desirable than gold, than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”
But when one considers this and sees that the evil inclination is to blame for everything, and strongly feels the bad that it is causing him, then he feels on himself what is written (Psalms 34) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” That is, that verse was said about him.
At that time, he looks at what the verse says afterwards, “but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” At that time, he begins to cry out to the Creator to help him because he has already done everything that he could think of doing, but nothing helped, and he thinks that “Everything that you find within your power to do, that do,” was said about him. At that time comes the time of salvation—the salvation of the Creator delivering him from the evil inclination—to the extent that from this day forth the evil inclination will surrender before him and will not be able to incite him into any transgression.
It is written in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 54): “When the Creator sees that one has completed one’s measure of exertion and finished everything he had to do in strengthening his choice in faith in the Creator, the Creator helps him. Then, one attains open Providence, meaning the revelation of the face. Then, he is rewarded with complete repentance, meaning he cleaves to the Creator once more with all his heart, soul, and might, as though naturally drawn by the attainment of the open Providence.”
It is also written there (item 56): “What is repentance like? When He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly.” The words, ‘What is repentance like?’ mean “When can one be certain that he has been rewarded with complete repentance?” For this he was given a clear sign: “When He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly.” This means that he has been rewarded with disclosure of the face, and then His salvation itself testifies that he will not turn back to folly.
This answers the fourth question, that if the Creator saves him from the evil inclination so it does not afflict him, and The Zohar says that the afflictions that the righteous suffers are in order not to partake with it, it follows that if the Creator saves him and he sees that He will not afflict him, then he will reconnect with the evil inclination, since the only reason that the evil inclination is afflicting him is in order not to partake with it. But since the reason has been cancelled, the situation returns as before.
However, according to what we explained, the salvation of the Creator is the revelation of the face, until the Creator testifies that he will not sin. The afflictions that the righteous suffers are for him to be able to ask of the Creator, as is said above, “If there is no Achoraim [posterior/back], there is no disclosure of the Panim [face/anterior].” It follows that when there is disclosure of the face of the Creator, everything is as it should be.
M. Laitman: (29:33) Thank you, Reader. What else should we do? Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:03) It's written here many things in an opposite way. One is told that the Torah is a Torah is life. That it’s your days and the length of your days; it's all sweeter than gold and honey. You read and you accept that and you say, oh, how good, we're studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, it's all good. On the other hand, he says many afflictions afflict the righteous. Why, why must you suffer? As he writes here, first, you must suffer. Afterwards, with God's help, you also get what you, what you, all this honeycomb and all that stuff written here, and what they say that the Torah is a Torah of life. Why do you need these contradictions, these two opposites? Why not immediately receive the good, what he writes here, that the Torah is good. Why do you need all this?
M. Laitman: Just like we now read, it's understood that there's no punishments here or how the Creator wants it to happen, rather, the person has to go through these stages in order to refrain from his evil inclination. To be willing to only work with the good inclination.
Student: More is written here, very odd. He says the more afflictions, the more, and the worse the afflictions a person receives, the more he advances. If he doesn't get afflicted enough, he advances, slowly, meaning..?
M. Laitman: You're asking correctly.
Student: What?
M. Laitman: It's a correct question, yes, it's really so.
Student: Yes, why is it necessary, can people not work without these afflictions? You know, in a different form of study, or different intention, maybe. Can we, how to say, lower the flames of these afflictions, can you do such a thing?
M. Laitman: These afflictions, they're not a punishment, rather, it's so that a person will feel on what degree can he already be in order to bestow.
Student: In any case, you have to go through this path. There's no way to circumvent it, a little bit?
M. Laitman: But the righteous, meaning a person who goes through these degrees, he enjoys it, because he understands and feels that he has no way to get close to the Creator, if not by rising above the afflictions.
Student: Yes, I wanted to ask you yesterday, and also for a few days, you've been talking about the matter of the Reshimot, right? When a person receives those Reshimot, the records, in the study of the Ten Sefirot, very nice lessons, lately. You say, look, there's nothing for it. You have Reshimot, and you need to work with those Reshimot. Meaning, not everyone has the same ones, and you need to kind of flow with those Reshimot. Those afflictions, are they in our Reshimot? Does anyone get his afflictions inside the Reshimot of his life?
M. Laitman: That's according to the will to receive that is in the foundation of your soul.
Student: Each and every one gets what he's allotted?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What do you do with those Reshimot? What does a person have to do with the Reshimot you speak of?
M. Laitman: He has to awaken all of these Reshimot and work with them in order to bestow.
Student: How do you work with those Reshimot? How should you relate to those Reshimot when you receive them? There are many afflictions, troubles, that you get. How do you relate to that, how do you rise above it?
M. Laitman: I don't rise above that, I wait for it and expect it, because it gives me an opportunity to rise above them. And then with the height that I rose to, and I didn't rise by them, I rose by the Creator's force, but using them, I rose higher.
Student: You can't do that alone, right? Only with a Ten, alone is very difficult.
M. Laitman: Then I'm capable of bestowing to the Creator from that height.
Student: With the Ten?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:13) If we understand correctly, the afflictions he speaks of here, that's when one feels that the evil inclination is removing him from the Creator, right? He feels bad because he's not near to the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Is that feeling in one's will to receive? Or already in the will to bestow that one has acquired?
M. Laitman: It's all in a will to bestow, already.
Student: How can it be that someone will feel bad in the will to bestow?
M. Laitman: Because he can't express himself. If he won't feel bad, then how will he advance? Tell me.
Student: I understand the feeling but I can't express it. Also, I thought perhaps it's possible to express the difference between feeling bad in one's will to receive and feeling bad in the will to bestow. What's the actual difference between those two sensations because one attributes the bad to the will to receive in him. Then he thinks he's going to suffer afflictions but what are afflictions in the will to bestow? What's the difference, actually?
M. Laitman: In the will to bestow, so that he still can't bestow the way he would like to.
Student: He can receive joy from that?
M. Laitman: He gets joy because he still goes on track, on the path. And you have to take both the right and the left. What can he do?
Student: These afflictions aren't the kind we can imagine to ourselves?
M. Laitman: No, he accepts these afflictions where, even though he suffers within the desire, with that, within the soul, he's happy. This is all about the process of the birth of the soul. And, therefore, he's happy because he understands and sees in his eyes, literally, that otherwise he cannot get close to the Creator and become righteous.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:03) What is the revelation of evil? One who is on the spiritual path, we see that the Creator reveals the evil to him, right? What is the revelation of evil?
M. Laitman: The revelation of evil is, basically, the Creator created the evil. He shaped it as a disturbance on the path to bestow. When we want to nullify the evil and only be in good. The recognition of evil is the recognition of our nature that the Creator created and we have to try and cancel the evil, and we're happy that we have such an opportunity. And the revelation of evil depends only on how much we adhere to the friends by which we can discover the evil, and other than revealing it, we also want to take control over it, rise above it, and that's how we advance.
Student: In essence, throughout the entire path, the Creator introduces the evil to us. It's all the path of the revelation of evil.
M. Laitman: Yes, it's a means by which to adhere to the Creator.
Student: He says here in the article that the more we advance, the Creator reveals the evil to us more and more. He shows it to me according to what I can actually receive in our vessels, and ask Him for correction on that. How do I check that I did everything in my power to correct the evil because sometimes I can turn to the Creator, but maybe my appeal to Him isn't deep enough, yet, the lack is not large enough yet. How do I know that my plea to the Creator is real?
M. Laitman: You can't be certain of that except by being drawn to the action of bestowal, the goal of bestowal. And by that, from time to time, from degree to degree, you better and better discover that you're drawn to actions of bestowal, actions of goodness because they're in equivalence of form with the Creator.
Student: The more I want to push in the direction of connection and love.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I see that I can't, it's very difficult. There comes the true lack to turn to the Creator for assistance?
M. Laitman: Yes, but now too, even though it's not yet a great deficiency. Still, by working with Him in such a way, you want to enjoy the evil inclination in that He is showing you the good path.
Student: Where here does help from the friends in the Ten fit in?
M. Laitman: Everything because ultimately you're not on your own. You begin to receive awakenings from Above, only by and through being connected to the friends below.
Student: Meaning, that you get the matter of Arvut, and to the same, I need Arvut from the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, here there has to be a connection between man and his friend, and man and the place, the Creator. He wants to combine both of these directions together.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:19) He describes two situations here which seem to be the same, but with a different outcome, so I want to scrutinize this point. There's a person who wants to adhere to the Creator. The Creator, because He wants to help that person adhere to Him, He shows that person his evil inclination. Then the person performs all sorts of exercises to overcome the evil inclination. He fails and ultimately he turns to the Creator. Here we say that the person suffers and from that suffering he turns to the Creator, and then he achieves adhesion, that's one image. Then you have a second image, which is exactly the same. The person wants to adhere to the Creator, the Creator shows him the evil inclination, the person turns to the Creator, but here, we say that the person is glad, joyous. He's in the will to bestow, he's happy with this state.
M. Laitman: Yes, he goes through another stage where he identifies his will to receive that now appears as accompanying him on the path to the Creator.
Student: That's what I'm failing to understand. What's the difference between these two states? Here we say the person suffers, here we say the person is joyous. It's the same situation, the same state, exactly. What's different, what I'm actually asking, if I can be more accurate, what changes in a person when he transitions to that will to bestow?
M. Laitman: What changes is that he wants to be in bestowal and it’s for the Creator in a correct way, as he now sees. And therefore, from the will to receive that has appeared to him, he rises to a will to bestow, where he wants to bestow to the Creator above the will to receive.
Student: Let's say a person reaches that state, does he still say there are many afflictions? Does he still identify the evil inclination as the evil inclination because suddenly it's not an evil inclination, it becomes an aid against oneself.
M. Laitman: Even if it's help made against him, it's still the same evil inclination. Only now he realizes that he needs the evil inclination so as to rise from degree to degree.
Student: Okay, the difference between..?
M. Laitman: If his inclination will stay the same, then fine. He'll get to some degree of a will to bestow and then stop, complete everything there. But if he realizes it's one degree after another, that's how he works. Where the evil inclination keeps overcoming him and he has to overcome the evil inclination. Then he now realizes that, thanks to the evil inclination, he rises. This is called, twice as good, that not only there's one evil inclination, but he sees it as a two-fold helper, or lover.
Student: What gives the person that perception of the transition from the first stage to the second? It sounds outside of my ability to grasp, I can say it, intellectually, you know, it sounds like a miracle. The transition between the first stage and the second, maybe I'm not understanding something here.
M. Laitman: The evil inclination that appears to the person now appears to the person against the person, meaning against getting close to the Creator. And that helps the person see the situation with respect to the evil inclination. See his true state where the evil inclination rules him, and nullify the evil inclination, and thus come to adhesion with the Creator. The evil inclination does become the help made against the evil. It's seemingly against the person and against the Creator but it does its role. Why did the Creator create it? I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah as a spice, meaning it's the Upper Force of light that works on the evil inclination that works and becomes revealed, and that a person can crown the good inclination over the bad inclination.
Student: I'll ask it, perhaps in a childish way.
M. Laitman: You can freely ask however you want.
Student: Okay, I'll say this. What do I lack in order to be in that place, it sounds like an excellent place to be. What am I missing in order to be there so that I will look at the evil inclination and see it as an aid against myself and be adhered to the Creator? It sounds all..
M. Laitman: No, no, no, it stays help made against you because it's pulling you away from the Creator. It stays help made against you. It's pulling you and telling you, say, like a bad friend. You know, he tells you, oh, come on, don't do that. Let's play with something else, why work so hard with the Creator?
Student: The difference, the thing that exists beyond in the world of bestowal, perhaps that's the greatness of the goal which is very, very high. Then the person has the strength to stand against that bad friend, as you said.
M. Laitman: The person gradually reveals the system that he's in. And in that system, he reveals the bad force that is intended to help man see the good force. Otherwise, one would not be able to see the good force.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:19) He writes in the beginning of the article about this twice good. That the Creator desires the person, then He awakens the point of the heart in that person, and He sends him many afflictions so he starts to work. Then, if he works, then the Creator desires him, and then He saves him. There's this twofold work on behalf of the Upper One, seemingly. The first time, the Creator doesn't ask him, doesn't demand anything of him. Rather, He just awakens him, wakes him up. That second time, the salvation of the person, in the end of the article, he lists a list of very harsh conditions. He says that if the Creator sees that the person has completed his exertion, what he needed to do, everything he needed to do, he finished. And he strengthened himself with faith in the Creator, only then does the Creator help him. How can a person attest to himself that, yeah, I finished all my work, I did everything I had to do. Also, I grew strong in faith, what conditions are these?
M. Laitman: He writes to you a sign that if you can go through that state, it's a sign that the Creator gave you help.
Student: Before reaching that state, the entire event, let's say, ends with prayer, right, for help. How can a person, before he turns to prayer, how does he check that he did everything he could? Or rather, why do I pray, I know I didn't do everything I could. Why pray? I know I have to work more in love of friends. I know I have to know myself more before the path and Kabbalists, I know I did not complete my work. How can a person even come to pray?
M. Laitman: It comes out, it's all a matter of accumulation, accumulation of forces, accumulation of impressions. It all comes from accumulation, that's it. You'll see that it happens, you'll see that it happens. It's actually not, you don't need to do anything here. You just need to always yearn for a connection from the friends to the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:27) He explains here about devotion, and he gives, he makes a comparison between corporeal and spiritual devotion. He writes that all those who volunteer are asked to go to war for the homeland, but if someone could advise them on how to save the homeland without giving up their lives, certainly they would be glad. But for lack of choice, they're willing to work for the public so that the public will enjoy their action, and they work for the public. They give up everything, and even though it's very difficult, this has nothing to do with spiritual devotion to the Creator, where devotion is itself the goal, and what it begets, is not the person's goal. Just before that, he wrote about spiritual devotion, saying that it's when one wants to annul himself before the Creator, his will to receive, which is the very existence of the created being, that he wants to annul. That is his goal, to give his soul to the Creator, to devote his soul to the Creator. It turns out that he doesn't care about what happens to the public. He doesn't care about what happens to them at all. He just looks at himself, did I annul myself or not? If yes, I succeeded, it turns out he's thinking just about himself, not about the public at all. How does this work, can you explain, maybe using other words?
M. Laitman: He is willing to nullify before the Creator with all the strength he's got, and on top of everything, only to nullify to the Creator, that is a very great degree. What's the question?
Student: Yes, let's say we need to apply this in practice, in the Ten. Annulling yourself before the Creator, that's resembling His qualities. Thinking about the friends, what's good for them, not to think about myself and how I advance. Here it says the opposite.
M. Laitman: I do my calculation towards the Creator: Can I nullify towards Him or not, that's my question.
Student: Yes, that's what he says here but what about all the quotes where it says that one doesn't ask the Creator to bring him closer. But he annuls himself and asks for others instead? Not about he will annul but how will he help others?
M. Laitman: If before him there is an opportunity for him or the whole collective, then he has to reach the nullification towards the collective.
Student: This is a question about the principle, right? In the Ten, everyone wants to actually apply what's written here. One must always check himself inside to see if he annulled himself or not, if he's still using his desires or not. Or should he instead look to the friends and think about what's happening with them and how he can help? What's the correct way to approach this?
M. Laitman: This is a matter of degrees, you can't jump higher than where you are, you can't. There will come a time when you will think about annulment towards the friends, and that this will be in front of you as the desired state.
Student: First, a person has to start with looking at himself and checking if he is, himself, annulled before thinking about the others, about the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Isn't that the same as thinking about a white elephant, right? Where I'm just locked within myself, constantly examining myself, thinking within myself?
M. Laitman: That's the degrees of annulment, that first of all, I nullify myself and then the friends, for the friends.
Student: This act where I annul myself, it has to be, if not me, then what, something, something else. What is that action where I annul myself, what is that?
M. Laitman: So, the question is towards what do you nullify yourself? What’s standing before you? What are you willing to nullify in order to advance towards the Creator?
Student: Right, exactly for that, I have the friends. If not for the friends, I have nothing I can do.
M. Laitman: I think we're not understanding each other. Perhaps the friends can assist.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:13) Yes, so to continue, one who agrees to go to war, volunteers, he has this image of the collective and of himself, and he's willing to sacrifice his life, himself, for the collective. And he says this is in corporeality. But in the spiritual, on the spiritual side of this, what is that collective that the person imagines he's willing to sacrifice himself for, the Creator isn't felt as the collective. What depiction is there?
M. Laitman: I don't understand what you're now talking about.
Student: He says that people who volunteer to go to war, they sacrifice themselves, but that is corporeality. And they sacrifice themselves for some image they create for themselves, a collective called the homeland.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But he says that in spirituality, the goal is to give his soul to God. So, what does a person imagine that he's giving his soul to?
M. Laitman: That's already a different thing. This is how he depicts the Creator to himself.
Student: Yes. When you give up something, you give it up for, as you said, something else. So, what is that something else that person imagines to himself?
M. Laitman: For the Upper Force that governs me, that does everything, that encompasses everyone, and actually contains all of reality.
Student: But until a person has the clear sensation of that, meaning it's seemingly only after a person devoted his soul to the Creator, he has a clear depiction of what the Creator is. So, how can he advance in this?
M. Laitman: As you say it, it's a matter of trade and commerce, like you say it. If the Creator appears and begins to be more than everything in the world, then I bow before Him. If He's less, then I bow before the world.
Student: Yes, so that's corporeality, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: All right. So what is spiritual soul devotion?
M. Laitman: Spiritual devotion is that I'm willing to do anything to pay with my life, anything in order to live and be on the degree of the Creator.
Student: He says, he describes it as follows, he doesn't look to what outcome there will be from his devotion, but rather devotion itself is his goal, right? So, what does he imagine to himself, that person?
M. Laitman: Annulment, annulment.
Student: His will to receive doesn't govern him where he vanishes?
M. Laitman: It doesn't vanish. On the contrary, his will to receive becomes very big, but the Creator is above it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:41) So, the Creator is the main thing, but we learn that from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator. So, he wanting to annul himself so that only the Creator receives joy, the application of that, it's in the same work, it has to be through others.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, he says that he doesn't think about his own benefit, but rather the benefit of the others, and that's the actual implementation of his annulment towards the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, that is exactly the question. Here he says that this is actually corporeality, because he's thinking about the others, the collective.
M. Laitman: He's not thinking of the benefit of the collective, he's thinking about the benefit of the Creator.
Student: I understand.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:42) Seemingly this all speaks about a person's work with the evil inclination. So, I'm trying to understand the advice of King Solomon, who says that if your enemy is hungry, feed him bread. What is that advice?
M. Laitman: That you have to take care of your evil inclination as you would for the good inclination, because only thanks to both of them you achieve the purpose of creation.
Student: It seems to take care of himself fine without me, also. What does it mean that I take care of it?
M. Laitman: No, that's the matter of your attitude. That you relate to the evil inclination as you relate to the good inclination. It should be in your eyes alive and existing in order to allow you to climb over it.
Student: But what is the concrete work here? If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: That the more you work correctly with the evil inclination, the more it grows.
Student: What does it mean when it's hungry? It's always hungry. What hunger does this speak about?
M. Laitman: What it wants, what it demands.
Student: I don't understand. Most of the time it demands corporeal fulfillments which confuse me, distance me.
M. Laitman: That's not confusing. It's all part of the path.
Student: Yes, but I'm not supposed to feed him those discontentments. That's not the meaning of feeding him bread, right?
M. Laitman: Yes, but even if you resist it, it still means that you feed it.
Student: Here he says that feeding him bread means to bother it with the toil of Torah. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: That the evil inclination is intended in order to organize the war between man and the evil inclination.
Student: What needs to be done with it?
M. Laitman: I cannot agree.
Student: So to actually fight it?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Okay, so if I understand correctly, I should always pay attention to the evil inclination and try to fight it, never ignore it, right?
M. Laitman: No, not to ignore. So what, the work of the Creator is just for free?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:40) To continue that, he says that the punishments distance one from the evil inclination, the afflictions. So what's the right way to treat the evil inclination? The afflictions bring one closer to the evil inclination. He disconnects from spirituality, he begins to engage with the evil inclination, right? So what is actually the right approach here the person should adopt?
M. Laitman: Well, there are many wrong approaches or actions that a person does. He teaches us how to approach it correctly, that what the evil inclination awakens in me, I should see that as a barrier in front of me and see how do I cross it.
Student: What is the right way to relate to the evil inclination in such a way where it becomes an aid against oneself?
M. Laitman: That I use it in order to be against it, to be opposite to it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:10) So, previously I heard you say that you wait for the evil. Why wait for the evil?
M. Laitman: If a person is on the path and he's confused and he doesn't know what's up with him, what are the next actions that should happen to him? So, he waits. Typically, as the evil inclination increases, it helps him.
Student: This is confusing. So, usually, a person shouldn't expect to wait for the evil, because every time we get a new state, a new state always comes around, and the will to receive automatically wants to receive fulfillment directly, work according to the will to receive. At the moment you halt its action, you block it, you feel bad. So, you don't need to wait. This constantly takes place. This ability to halt the evil always exists. You don't need to wait for it.
M. Laitman: It's true.
Student: So, when you said to wait, is that only when a person fails to initiate the work, and then he needs to wait, so to speak?
M. Laitman: Yes. And even then, no. Meaning, always try to go forward, and the evil inclination, don't worry about it, it will always be involved in something.
Student: And in that work of constantly going forward, you said previously that one feels, on one hand, bad, and on the other hand, joy, because you're working correctly. So, when do you arrive at that feeling? Me, when I'm content with these situations, right now, I don't feel joy. Intellectually, I know that this is what is said, this is the advice given, so that's how I am. But in actual feeling, there's no feeling of joy. When does the feeling come?
M. Laitman: All in all, if you understand the path and the stages of it, then you can enjoy each and every stage. You understand its goal.
Student: Right. So, if I make a parallel with corporeality, if I workout in the gym, if there's some muscle that's not yet developed, I start working on it, it hurts, it's not pleasant. After it's more developed, I enjoy the work even more. I understand that it'll continue to grow. The question is, does the same principle apply in spirituality? If I now work, if I now initiate the work, I'm not happy, but then afterwards I see it was worth it, and then again and again, the same. Ultimately, do you reach a state where you feel bad, but are also happy? Do you reach such a feeling with experience, with practice?
M. Laitman: It's always like that. After some difficult stage, comes some well, at least some submission, some satisfaction.
Student: So, there's the evil that's revealed, there's like a limit that the new state is born, and before that, we also use the word born, it's like a process of birth?
M. Laitman: That depends on what stage you're in.
Student: I mean that a person, before that new stage comes, there's like labor, there's like a process you have to go through, because here it's also written that before he did everything he could, only in that final point…?
M. Laitman: I don't know. Also, I don't understand why you need this. You need to follow what is in front of you, and now you're trying to write an encyclopedia.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:10) It's said that there's many bad for the righteous, so the bad states are the disturbances that the righteous has to overcome. It's even difficult. It says that a person's inclination grows every day, and how does it grow? I guess that it's through building the vessel, and then the Creator helps us. And in question number three, it said that when a person builds a vessel and when he needs the Creator, so the Creator answers him and each one according to his vessel. So, my question is, and I want to continue what a friend said, I'm quoting, the Creator does not want him because he has no vessel, meaning desire that the Creator will save him. So my question is, could there be a state that the Creator won't want someone? Because we're all his sons, us, Israel, the nations, how can there be a state that there's a person who doesn't need the Creator yet, but the Creator doesn't want him? Because it seems like a human quality. I just want to understand that.
M. Laitman: Certainly, the Creator wants everyone who will fulfill his role completely. But each and every one needs to reveal in that a desire. As the Creator had a desire to create the person, and each and every one individually had a desire to give birth to it, we too, need to approach each and every one of our states in a way where we discover interest in that, that we want to give birth, that we want it to happen. Now, giving birth in relation to us means that we are interested in being in a system that exists, that is established, formulated, that we know what's before us, etc.. So, that is how we need to relate to our development.
Student: So, thank you. Now the point is clear. That was really unclear before, so thank you.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:10) He says that a person has to reach a state that his goal is to devote his soul to the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And then he separates between different types of the will to receive, that the will to receive changes, he sees it's bad, and again, until he reaches the state that he has one purpose, to devote his soul to the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes, I hear.
Student: What's the difference between that and all other desires? What is devotion of the soul to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Devotion of the soul to the Creator means that the person wants nothing for himself, and he is ready to be in every condition, adhered to the Creator, unconditionally.
Student: Yes, but he wants that devotion, and he wants to be in that state.
M. Laitman: He certainly wants to be in that state. There's nothing spiritual that you are in that you do not want.
Student: Why does he want to be in that state?
M. Laitman: That is because it's the highest state that one can picture to oneself in relation to the Creator.
Student: So again, what's the difference between that and what there was before? He wanted one, two, three, now he wants devotion to the Creator. What's the difference?
M. Laitman: It is higher than all previous states.
Student: What's higher?
M. Laitman: That he devotes himself completely.
Student: But does he enjoy it? Devoting his soul completely, or is there something else that he enjoys there?
M. Laitman: If he enjoyed it himself, then it would be in order to receive, we are speaking here about in order to bestow.
Student: So why does he devote his soul?
M. Laitman: Because he sees in that the degree of adhesion with the Creator, which is the highest possible degree.
Student: He gives an example of Rabbi Akiva.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I guess it's a very high degree that we can't even imagine, but he gives it so I'll ask about it. He says that he was waiting his whole life to say, with all my soul. And the opportunity came and he said, I don't have the powers for it. Is that right?
M. Laitman: I understand that Rabbi Akiva in any case said that he was ready. And whoever wanted to interfere with him, rejected him. And that is all. It doesn't matter this degree of Rabbi Akiva, we don't understand that.
Student: It's an example. It's something that when it comes, it surprises, it's unexpected, or…?
M. Laitman: I don't know, I still haven't reached that in practice.
Student: I'm speaking about just devotion of the soul, on the lowest degree, not Rabbi Akiva.
M. Laitman: Yes, he's ready.
Student: How do you depict such a state? How can we, in our state, depict the state of devoting the soul to the Creator?
M. Laitman: That I am not concerned for myself, neither now, nor for the future. And I completely want to participate in bringing pleasure to the Creator.
Student: Can we, let's say, depict it as something that we do together? Or is it something personal? Let's say now we're preparing for a congress.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: We've started, we're already in it. Can we depict it as a sort of devotion that we'll reach?
M. Laitman: Excellent. Precisely in that way, it's the most beneficial way. That we want to be connected, all of us as one man with one heart. And the convention is a matter of our connection between us and with the Creator.
Student: And supposedly in the congress, nobody will be thinking of himself, and we'll all be devoted to this.
M. Laitman: Yes, in one thought.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:22:45) I'm trying to ask about something that I don't have attainment in, and then I heard you answer a friend, that a person will reveal the system he's in, with the evil inclination and good inclination. How do we get the recognition that we're in the system? How do we not lose it when we come out of here?
M. Laitman: That is through, that happens in that I connect all kinds of my personal states to a process, where I can identify in that process cause and effect, and the effect of the cause, and so on and so forth. And in that I can see from the beginning until today, what has gone, passed through me, more or less, and where I am drawn herein.
Student: So, that's when you look back and you suddenly…?
M. Laitman: No, but also for the future, where I can conclude what I need to do in order to progress to the good future.
Student: The way reality meets me is that I'm not dormant and forgetting that I'm in a system that has maybe two drivers, the good inclination and the evil inclination. How do I remain alive and not fall asleep?
M. Laitman: That I always think about the purpose of these actions, and accordingly, I want to progress.
Student: How not to forget what you answered me a moment after I go out of the classroom.
M. Laitman: If you want to reach the purpose of life, then you will always hold that matter before you, and you'll always be in this search, through which next step can I progress to that same goal.
Student: Another question about devotion. I want to depict the state that I'm in the system, like a spaceship that has two drivers: One is the will to receive, the evil inclination, and also the soul. So, am I the soul that needs to annul and bend over the evil driver to the soul, am I the soul?
M. Laitman: Yes, but why do you need so many actors on the way? It's enough that you want to be the driver of that spaceship. And you want to reach with it, to detect the Creator. And then you search, where is that point that is in, let's say, in the best possible point on the path, and then each time you need to identify yourself as being in one point, and another point, and another point, etc., in such a way, in this series of points that bring you to the purpose of creation.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:36) About devotion of the soul, and using it. If I look at a friend in my Ten, and I recognize that he's working in devotion of the soul to the Creator without any conditions on his behalf, how do I serve him, how do I use him, and how is all this for the benefit of the Ten?
M. Laitman: You do not need to check him, and identify him in order to serve him, and help him reach the purpose of creation. There is no need in that. You simply need to help each and every one, and like you identify him, and not from the state that you depict to yourself, as if it could be that he is devoted, or in some kind of attainment of the goal, and accordingly, you need to relate to him, and simply.
Student: On our path, we work according to example. I see an example in the friends, a role model, how to reach adhesion in the Creator, and I use that example. If I research my friend for a long time, I observe him, and I recognize that he is really... I put a stamp on him, that he is in devotion of the soul, towards the Creator, the path, and the friends. How can I take this thing that I discovered?
M. Laitman: You cannot identify that in anyone, and you cannot receive that from anyone. That is all. You simply need to find in yourself where is that state where I will be devoted to the Creator?
Student: When I look at you, I recognize something called devotion of the soul to your Rav, to the wisdom, and to the students.
M. Laitman: That could all be a lie. That could all be a lie.
Student: Okay, but according to what I am accepting as a reality for me, for the true reality for me, how do I take this and use it in the Ten for our benefit?
M. Laitman: Depict to yourself the Rav as you wish, which is what happens. And in that way, try to come closer to him, to equalize with him.
Question (Women Turkiye 7): (01:31:13) We have two questions: First one, in what stage does the evil inclination not pull me into the evil anymore?
M. Laitman: What does it do?
Student: In what stage does the evil inclination complete me and not draw me into the evil anymore?
M. Laitman: That I am in the attainment of the force of the will to receive more than what I am in now.
Reader: Maybe the friend means, in the beginning there it is written that it will be whole with you and not make you sin. When does that state come? That the evil inclination doesn't disturb a person anymore, doesn't deviate him, doesn't make him lose himself from the world?
M. Laitman: That is a state that I do not understand. That happens, but after the person annuls all of his evil inclination, and not just annul but also joins it to the good inclination, then there happen all kinds of things.
Question (Turkiye 2): (01:33:05) What deficiency should a person have in order to reach spiritual devotion?
M. Laitman: A deficiency, a deficiency for truth. Truth. It doesn't matter what it is, but it's this concept that lives with no connection to anything. It's the name of the Creator, the whole, complete name of the Creator more than any other name.
Question (Turkiye 7): (01:34:07) Two questions please, the first one: Is the lack of ability to believe in faith above reason that everything comes from the Creator, The Good That Does Good, does that mean that I'm far from Him, from faith in the Creator?
M. Laitman: Again.
Student: Does it mean that I am far from faith in the Creator? How can I completely annul my reason and come closer to faith?
M. Laitman: It's impossible. There is reason and there is faith. And through reason, we come to faith. And from that, we receive a higher reason. You had another question?
Student: I heard that devotion of the soul in spirituality is a state that I am willing to do anything to bestow. So, what's the difference between spiritual devotion of the soul to blind faith?
M. Laitman: Devotion is a state from which we, from which can, devotion is a state from which a soul, the general soul, can be born.
Question (Kyiv 1): (01:36:38) You said that if the Creator wouldn't send us trouble, a person wouldn't have a necessity to connect to Him correctly. What is the right way to connect to the Creator correctly in order to use the troubles effectively?
M. Laitman: For that, we need to rise above all troubles, to be independent of them, and afterwards to awaken them, one after the other. And according to that, we will build our states.
Student: What does it mean that I overcome my trouble and then I awaken it? What's to awaken trouble?
M. Laitman: I rise above them in order for them to seemingly not touch me. And afterward, I already awaken them from within my spiritual state.
Student: And what do I want to happen from awakening that trouble?
M. Laitman: I lost connection with you. Not an audio connection, but an inner connection. I already can't answer questions, at least these questions that relate to spiritual work. You tell me what to do next.
Reader: We can go to the next part. There's another article to read. There's a social part coming up. We can go to the next part.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reader: Announcement regarding World Kabbalah Convention, “Rising Above Reason,” May 18th and 19th, 2024.
Song: (01:39:18)