Morning Lesson November 02, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 46, 1991. What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work?

1. Rav intro: Let’s study it. It's a very interesting article. Let’s start.

Reading Article No. 46 (00:36) What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work?

2. S. (39:19) I have two questions. How does one know if he's laboring for the desire to bestow and not deceiving himself?

R. Usually we learn that Kabbalist advises to do it in a society and if we work together with mutual help supporting each other then already our efforts are going towards in order to bestow, this is how we advance. 

S. How then, the article goes into many ways of the evil inclination leads him astray. How does this play out in the Ten that he's not deceiving himself when he wants to work for the Creator?

R. There are two conditions here, the first condition is to be in a group and the second condition is that the group will engage in connection. But the goal is to reach such a connection in which the Creator will be revealed. That is all. Then on the way to this connection they asked the Creator that since they want to get closer to him they ask the Creator that will go towards them and will become revealed to them and this is how they get closer.

S. It says Torah and Mitzvot at one point are under concealment. I haven't heard that before. What does it mean that the Torah and Mitzvot are under concealment because later when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot and this is redemption so what does it mean?

R. No it's not repentance the way you think about it Torah and Mitzvot means to bring the person closer to the Creator and it's not that he should perform all kinds of actions in this world physical actions, this is entirely incorrect.

S. I didn't say repentance, I said restriction. what does it mean that Torah and Mitzvot are under restriction? What does it mean that the Torah and Mitzvot are under restriction?

R. That they are revealed only to the extent that a person is suitable for the revelation of Torah and Mitzvot which means that he performs on himself actions that are opposite to his nature in order to bestow.

3. S. () What does it mean to hold on to the Torah and Mitzvot in practice in order to awaken to below?

R. It means to be in a Ten, and to try in the Ten to reach a connection between them so much so that between us we become connected, bonded so that we can keep all the Mitzvot in love your friend as yourself." And according to that we will feel how much the Creator is coming closer to us. 

4. S. (44:04) What does it mean why is it written that the Creator is man?

R. If a person resembles the Creator in his feelings, his thoughts and his actions it is considered that he and the Creator unite together, the Creator is seemingly inside of the person. 

5. S. (44:51) In the middle of the article he writes here that a person can work in the collective or individually, what do we need to do to move from the collective to the individual work? Is it in a person's power to do so?

R. No, it's not within the forces of the person by himself but the Creator is willing and he has to help the person in anything, so there is nothing here that is impossible to overcome.

S. We need to ask the Creator to move from the work of not understood work to the work of the creator only?

R. I didn't understand the question.

S. Rabash writes I can work as the collective and get the surrounding light and illumination or I can work with the intention for the sake of the creator, and I don't really understand, is it so bad on one hand to receive the surrounding light and on the other hand Rabash writes that it's really not enough?

R. If we are connected between us, all the time we want to be closer and closer, in our spiritual actions and our spiritual connection between us so that ultimately the spiritual connection between us will resemble the Creator, that is that it will become a vessel in which we want to hold the Creator between us, then we become one whole. 

S. I understood, how to say this, the state in which according to what he describes here, when a person wants to work in the matter of the individual and for his intention to be for the sake of the Creator and then he comes to the state of greatness, that's something we can do only when the Creator decides that we are worthy of being in this work?

R. Of course.

S. In order to encourage the Creator for us to be able to have the opportunity?

R. Well, it should be enough for us in order for us to unite the closer we are to each other the more we will resemble the Creator and with such greater attention and effort this is how he relates to us.

6. S. (48:32) Rabash writes also a person needs to come to a feeling that if he doesn't have the desire to bestow that he can come to a state of adhesion with the Creator also he doesn't have life or pleasure in this world. Why does he write that also in this world he doesn't have life and pleasure?

R. He doesn't receive any pleasure not from what he does in this world and not from what he does in spirituality, this is why it says so.

7. S. (49:16) By what can we improve the intentions so that they will be for the sake of the Creator?

R. By working with the friends and praying to the Creator.

8. S. (49:33) A question about the exertion, the more efforts I make the more exertion in connection between us, that's how I feel that in my heart I am more distant to connection, truly a wall of hatred and then of course a prayer arises, is the answer of the Creator is that he's actually giving me the forces to operate like a soldier to simply do what I need to and that's it or do I have to come to the feeling and that's different?

R. I don't know how much you'll be able to dig into it but at least you should yearn so that with all your heart and all your forces you will yearn for the Creator this is something you need to depict to yourself.

S. If I do dig into this if I feel like I want to dig into this feeling?

R. Then you have to dig inside all of you, every emotion you have every thought you have, you have to purify it from your egoism and direct it to the Creator.

S. We do this by our request by changing our intention, correct?

R. Yes, correct.

9. S. (51:07) How can a person go from a descent to an ascent?

R. Shift from a descent to an ascent, one can do that the moment that he disconnects from himself and connects to the friends. This is the closest action for him.

S. How to connect during the descent with one’s friend?

R. A descent, it's very difficult to connect with anyone because the person is in a descent But if he will annul himself to some extent that he will be able to connect with others, and then to start an ascent.

10. S. (52:25) There's a possibility of not going to a lower degree but rather build such a connection with the friends so that we can confidently overcome the evil inclination in the Ten?

R. I didn't quite understand the question.

S. That means we can destroy the evil inclination when it's born or does it have to be revealed?

R. We need to define it. Define why is it evil, why is it inside of you, why do you aspire to destroy it. You need to define all this to yourself. Without that you cannot hate the evil inclination and you cannot get rid of it.

S. If it doesn't let me and let the Creator destroy it?

R. Well, try and you will see.

S. The desire to bestow comes as a result of the effort, what effort is that?

R. The effort to annul yourself before the friends and connect with them.

11. S. (53:48) We read that first I engage in Torah and Mitzvot and action, I do it for the sake of myself and I have the forces for it. Then my forces end and I start to use the force of the group that we are talking about importance and we learn that in the group I can already do spiritual work but Rabash writes that at some point this condition needs to be observed. I have this despair from which I turn to the Creator to spare from my own forces so if I expect to spare then also the outcry is included. How can I be in the group and come there as well?

R. If you are in the Ten and you try to be connected with them into one whole, and before you ahead of you there is a goal which you attain the Creator, then you begin to see how much this task is impossible to achieve for you and for the ten and then you start to cry out to the Creator.

S. I start out to the Creator or does the Ten need to cry out?

R. First of all you.

S. It works out that I get despaired from the Ten?

R. No, you see that you are placing yourself above the Ten and with that you cannot agree.

S. Meaning it's that despair that we're talking about?

R. Yes. 

12. S. (55:59) It is written in the article that the evil inclination is also an angel under the forces of the Creator but it deviates us from the path so how can we say that our evil inclination also protects a person on the way on the path?

R. He gives one such desires and thoughts that the person cannot run away and it is in these thoughts and desires until he reaches a state where he sees where they are truly killing him and in this way the evil inclination kicks him for the time being.

13. S. (57:06) It is written in the article, “Thus I saw the blood and I pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you so here.” What does it mean, this blood? What is this blood that a person can?

R. Within man there is man and beast here we are talking about the part of the Adam, the man within the man

S. What is this matter of this blood?

R. Adam, Rabbi is talking about man, the blood. Adam means he has to be similar to the Creator after the correction.

14. S. (58:10) before one prays, as one to discern his love to his hatred to the hated one meaning he is half merit half still owes in the Ten on the scale of merit here?

R. He needs to try to do it as much as he is able to do it.

15. S. (58:47) Good morning my question is, relative to annulment, how do I nullify myself what intentions one deeds? What feelings for that is actually the question?

R. We will scrutinize that in the path on the way.

16. S. (59:12) How can you work regularly with your hated wife and be in joy and adhesion with the Creator?

R. Permanently it's impossible but there are accents and descents along the way and we can nevertheless be in all kinds of changing states but we are constantly going to the same goal, the same goal. It's like a ship in the sea so there are changes in the wind, there are changes with the waves, and the ship needs to constantly change itself, but in aiming itself constantly for the same goal, that's how we learn to do.

S. Shouldn't it be the opposite that one actually wants to be with the loved wife and not the hated wife?

R. You can't work with the loved wife because you love her and the goal is specifically behind the hated wife, the desire to bestow. 

17. S. (01:00:08) Usually I feel that the Creator wants to cancel all of my confidence in order to bring me closer to him, why is it so? 

R. To be closer to the Creator, you need to simply try to annul all of you that you have, thoughts desires, opinions, to receive the desire, the need the inclination to receive the goal, just like he has and then you will succeed.

S. Will it be correct to say that I don't need to receive any pleasures besides adhesion with the creator? Is this what he wants?

R. Yes, that will teach you everything. 

18. S. (01:02:36) It says that the Creator lowers us from our degree, and this makes MAN account to himself. What is this order that we have to make a calculation and account for ourselves. How should it be that we can return to our higher degree?

R. We just need from moment to moment more connected between us. That for us is the most correct measurement for advancement.

19. S. (01:03:26) Our evil inclination on the path constantly defeats us. Will there be an end to it or will it always continue like that?

R. I don't understand

S. Our evil inclination always succeeds in defeating and can manage to overcome it, so he's asking if it will continue like that? or is there an end to this work so that one can continue and succeed and overcoming his evil inclination?

R. He can, if he demands from the Creator then the Creator will raise him more than his evil inclination.

S. Is there an end to it?

R. Of course, in the end of correction.

20. S. (01:04:42) In the end of the article it says hence when a person walks on one line, he can observe Torah and Mitzvot in every way. What does that mean?

R. If a man goes correctly then he is constantly closer to the friends, through them closer to the Creator, and that's how he enters more into the center of creation.

21. S. (01:05:37) In light of the events that are happening I discovered inside of me so much bad on the one hand and on the other hand, all of my friends are righteous and they're such a great gap between us, what should be the continuation of my work in order to be more similar to the friends so that I can rise higher?

R. To rise up above these differences, to connect and to embrace between you, between us all, no matter what problems we have. Depict yourself that these problems come to us from the Creator and not from, because there is None Else Besides Him and we nevertheless embrace between us and connect between us and become one whole, that is our work.

22. S. (01:06:59) At the end of the article in the third paragraph from the bottom, he says however one walks on one line meaning he satisfied with the practice because he doesn't have a deficiency, etc. he moves from one line to the right line and then they see their lowliness, I didn't quite understand how it works. Usually we learn that on the left line a person feels his lowliness and he's criticizing himself but on the right line he's on in wholeness? 

R. Well, here he writes like this. Soon we'll scrutinize it.

S. What's the difference between this one line and the right line because of both of them a person is satisfied?

R. One line, so that there is no critique over the state he is in, he's simply going in one line. If he goes in three lines then he is already under the control of each of his states, right, left and middle.

S. The lowliness that a person feels should come from the place of criticism that he does towards himself right?

R. Yes.

S. That is the left line, so what does it mean that precisely on the right line it says on the right line that he sees their lowliness and the last paragraph he says when a person walks on the last line he can observe Torah and Mitzvot in every way but when he goes on the right line and when the work is on the path of correction a person should already make great efforts to walk in the path of the right. This is why they need strength and overcoming. Can you explain that, the last paragraph?

R. Tomorrow, not today, that demands time.

S. I see his advice throughout the whole article is to do, actions, to perform actions, for us we don't have many actions as the people in the general public they have the practice. For us actions are really restricted in terms to actually doing things and most of the work is in thought, think about the friends all day long, to persist, to be in a thought and to be in a prayer. Is this considered actions or should we think about other actions?

R. You have actions of bestowal, actions of advertising, many actions. It depends on how you incorporate in it.

S. What actions does he intend that we can do? What kind of actions?

R. All of the actions.

S. All the actions between the members of Bnei Baruch can be connected as one body, there are many such actions that we can do. This is what, the fact that we do not do enough of that , that's a problem, with hands and legs, in practice and not in thought right? Real actions?

R. In thoughts, in writings, in disseminations and in actions.

S. Dissemination that's clear but Rav said some time ago that dissemination is not really a spiritual action?

R. Then what if you walk for miles by your feet, on your feet that's going to be the work?

S. What I thought was that the actions that I was referring to are actions that are in connection between us? 

R. Well, so what it's an action if we do it with our hands?

S. No, exactly not. That's why I'm asking.

R. Most of it is in your heart.

23. S. (01:11:01) I feel the feeling of guilt is what really ruins my work in the Ten. What other feeling can I replace the feeling of guilt with so that I don't destroy the work in the Ten?

R. Integrate in this work fully heart and soul.

24. S. (01:11:44) According to the text what is the degree of still, of Kedusha, of holiness.

R. It's when a person has no forces to do something and he passively participates.

25. S. (01:1212) When I am unable to overcome and I feel shame, does the Creator give me this feeling of shame? Does he increase my desire or do I feel shame because I'm farther away from the Creator?

R. No, I feel shame when I come closer to the Creator. Then I feel more of how my qualities and his qualities are contradicted.

26. S. (01:13:14) The evil, the bad that is revealed to a person that is in relation to his work in heaven?

R. Of course.

S. Then it is truly a revelation of evil?

R. Yes,, otherwise how is it called evil?

27. S. (01:13:38) What is this action that will allow the angel of death to pass me by?

R. To stop contact with the Creator, if you stop the contact with the friends, that is called the angel of death for us, it's what causes a disconnection. 

S. But we are managed from above. It's not that we want to break the connection from the friends, so the Creator thinks that.

R. We're always conducted from above but still we have to try and conduct ourselves on our own.

28. S. (01:14:41) Is the correct reassembly of the different broken pieces through our corrections or connections that the change our perception of reality and is that change the discovery of the Creator or Gmar Tikkun?

R. Yes. 

29. S. (01:15:24) It is written in the article, he who comes to purify is aided, what is the help here for a person who comes to purify himself?

R. That he has aided by connecting to others and draws the reforming light.

30. S. (01:16:10) Why does a person who learned Torah pretend that he is a beast as it is written that they pretend that he is a beast? Why is it good to be naked in knowledge as it is written here if the Creator still reads what is in your heart?

R. For now they feel that they are empty, that's why they are rewarded with the ascent.

31. S. (01:17:00) How is it possible to help a friend in the Ten, to be rewarded with the desire to bestow?

R. Help him just help him. that's it.

32. S. (91:17:23) It is said here that until a person reaches a state where he cannot make efforts several times and he wants to escape the campaign and he has to go through these states several times, these changes it's not like in our world when a person evolves gradually. Here you have to go through the state where you want to run away several times and only then you are rewarded with something.

R. Yes.

S. Why several times why not once?

R. Because the ego has many layers, many layers until it convinces itself that it needs to change so many actions are performed on it in a long time goes by.

S. But each time it increases more and more until I reach the last layer?

R. In general, yes.

S. How do you keep from running away when your strengthen the Ten and strengthen yourself?

R. Yourself and the Ten, the main thing is the Ten.

33. S. (01:018:25) Is work with the friends in the Ten is the effective work with them the work with hatred and not with love?

R. Again.

S. Is the work with the friends in the ten, is the effect of work with them is with the feeling of hate and not with the feeling of love?

R. That also happens, yes.

34. S. (01:19:42) The wisdom of Kabbalah is the wisdom of intentions so by what do we improve the intentions?

R. Through the connection between us and the plea to the Creator.

35. S. (01:19:56) Is the choice whether to observe a certain commandment in externality as well should be the extent that I can try also add intention to bestow over that external physical action?

R Again?

S. Is the choice whether or not to observe a certain commandment in the physical level should be to the extent that I can try on that physical action to add intention to bestow?

R. Yes and no, because it could be that I'm already in that degree, and maybe no.