The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), March 27, 2024.
Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 4, 1985. These Are the Generations of Noah (00:37)
Reader: Hello, we are reading the Rabash article. “These Are the Generations of Noah.” You can ask questions on Sviva Tova at kabbalahgroup.info and also on the Arvut system.
In Hebrew, it's in the writings of Rabash, page 74. Here, if you're in the study hall, anyone who asks a question, we ask you to stand up and hold the mic close to your mouth and speak loudly and clearly. “These Are the Generations of Noah.”
M. Laitman: (22:56) Yes, that's the article. Questions?
Student: (23:04) What does it mean that Abraham walked with the vessels of reception which came from above and that they became the vessels of bestowal which is awakening from above? Is that the will to receive of Abraham and the first one and then the second one is a certain quality of bestowal? It's not really understood by me, this thing.
M. Laitman: What is written?
Student: It's written that the generation of Abraham within the person as it seems went according to the vessels of reception, meaning that he was in the generation of righteousness and it comes from within him and that's the continuation of Noah. Noah was the first one and that's as if it seems the opposite to me. It's unclear to me that thing.
M. Laitman: Well, fine. Find it in the text and read it to us.
Student: (24:30) To continue maybe the same question, he writes that Noah are the vessels of bestowal and Abraham are the vessels of reception but then he says that Noah is in the generation of wicked and Abraham is in the generation of righteous, and the development needs to be the opposite, as much as we develop, it takes more vessels of reception so it should be the generation of the wicked. So how do we organize that?
M. Laitman: Where is that written? Let us read.
Reader: (25:18) And God walked with Noah. There is a paragraph that starts with, and God walked with Noah. And God walked with Noah. Rashi interprets that Noah got strengthened and went according to his righteousness. Since there are two forces in the person, which are called vessels of reception and vessels of bestowal.
Vessels of bestowal relate to the Creator, as the Creator is the giver and vessels of reception relate to the creature, who is the receiver. The vessels of reception which relate to the receiver come before the vessels of bestowal.
In the words of Kabbalah, the vessels of bestowal are called Keter, Hochma, and GAR of Bina and below them are the vessels of reception, which are ZAT of Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Accordingly the vessels of bestowal are called, God walked with Noah, meaning that in a place of vessels of bestowal it was possible to walk in holiness, meaning vessels of bestowal that relate to the Creator which are vessels of bestowal. This is called Noah needing assistance to support him. Since the upper one gives the vessels of bestowal which are regarded as Noah needing assistance to support him. This means that the upper one awakens him to work called awakening from above.
Maybe just until here. We'll continue some more. As it is written in the study of the Ten Sefirot, however in the beginning for the first time the MAN that were not by ZON in Abba V Ima went up and then the ZON were made of those MAN. After ZON were established they raised MAN a second time. Once he has the vessels of bestowal, which he acquired through awakening from above which is called, Noah needed assistance to support him, which comes from the upper one and this was the degree of Noah. Abraham did not need assistance to support him, Rashi makes that precision from the words, before whom I walked. It means that he walked with vessels of reception which stand before the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of bestowal which are Keter, Hochma, and GAR of Bina, stand above and below them stand the vessels of reception, which are ZAT of Bina and ZON. Since Abraham walked with vessels that are before him, before the vessels of bestowal which relate to the Creator, and we relate the vessels of reception to the receivers, this is why using the vessels of reception is called awakening from below. Which is attributed to the lower one.
This is the meaning of Abraham not needing assistance to support him because he walked with vessels of reception. With those Kelim/vessels he was serving the Creator. The words God walked with Noah mean the Kelim that are attributed to God which are vessels of bestowal, which are vessels of the Creator and those vessels the Creator gives.
Student: (30:16) To continue the order isn't clear. Abraham was before Noah, right? In the historical order. Sorry. Noah was before Abraham, correct? So, we always hear about how Abraham is the right line.
M. Laitman: Abraham is the right line.
Student: (31:07) I understand here according to the article that Noah, since he had an environment of wicked, needed to always raise him unto the Creator to ask Him for corrections all the time and to awaken the day for these corrections. However, Abraham was in faith above reason. All of his work was directly toward the Creator so here, as if to this comparison between one degree of Abraham and another degree of Noah and they say that precisely Noah's degree is higher because he gave more exertion, more effort in order to demand the upper force than Abraham. That's what I understood from the article.
M. Laitman: Okay, we hear more.
Student: (32:15) It is written that Noah, the vessels of GAR, the first three Sefirot, and Abraham is Hessed, which are the lower ones, which relate to the vessels of reception. So, there is this thing called the right of the vessels of reception, right, and also in the seven lower ones there are right and left. So, Noah was in GAR. What does it mean the vessels of GAR, the vessels of bestowal of GAR? What did he need to do there and the main part of the question is why are they wicked there?
M. Laitman: You have Hessed, Ruach, Tifferet.
Student: That's already Abraham, Hessed, that's already reception and Noah were the first three Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, and Bina, GAR of Bina. So, what does it mean that he was in the generation of the wicked? What is the connection between the first three Sefirot and the wicked?
M. Laitman: Okay, more.
Student: (33:30) He says that Noah needed something from the Creator and he said that the Creator gives him the Kli, that gives support to Noah and the work of Noah is in delighting in mercy, in bestowal, the vessels of bestowal. As it is written, he who comes to purify in the Creator. Here it's clear. There is the part of the creation which the Creator helps. He gives him SAG, which shows him how to go on the path. Then he gives him that example and goes on the path and then he gives him that example and he goes on the path, he calls that smallness, Katnut. What is that stage that the person himself creates a Kli with which he works the Creator and then what happens with that Kli with the first part of the vessels of bestowal comes from the Creator because we always say that we increase in connection and here it appears as if it's supposed to detach from the first Kli and start working with another Kli that he could not work with beforehand?
M. Laitman: Can anyone answer?
Student: (35:05) It depends on where a person gets the awakening either from the upper one or from his desires to receive. It depends where he starts the action from.
M. Laitman: Explain, explain more.
Student: Noah receives the awakening from the upper one. He's incapable of working with his vessels of reception. The upper one gives him forces and then he can work with them. Abraham checks his desires and every desire is already capable of asking from the upper one and do good deeds for the sake of the Creator.
M. Laitman: Good. More? Okay, more.
Student: (36:06) A person can connect to the Creator only through his vessels of reception, meaning more vessels of reception he can connect to the Creator. The more he works with them he brings correction to them. What I understood is that Noah didn't have those vessels. Maybe not enough and then in the awakening from above the Creator awakens in him the vessels of reception and Abraham already came with those vessels. That's what I understood. It's like, it reminds me of the Ibur Aleph and Ibur Bet, first and second conceptions.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (36:56) Actually, I don't really understand, but this time it sounds clear. Receiving in order to receive and receiving in order to bestow. The first stage is he gets the vessels of bestowal receiving in order to bestow and then he can use the vessels of bestowal and receive in order to bestow.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (37:23) Maybe it's a difference between the Rosh of the Partzuf before it expands to the Guf as he explains in the awakening from above, in Abba V Ima.
M. Laitman: Explain, elaborate.
Student: Afterwards the raising of MAN of ZON.
M. Laitman: Okay. You can think about it that way, too.
Student: (37:55) Maybe it's in the first part, Noah is the stemming down of the vessels from above downward and that's why they're wicked because they cannot receive from the Creator because they're cascading from above downward and on behalf of Abraham, which is the generation of the righteous, he can work with the vessels of reception and therefore he can work with his vessels toward the Creator, toward upward.
Student: (38:26) That's the matter that's unclear that it's depicted in the article or in general. This whole story of Noah and Abraham, is it cascading from above downward and how do we look from below upward? Is there first Noah in the correction or is there first Abraham in the correction? What do we correct first, vessels of reception or vessels of bestowal?
M. Laitman: Vessels of bestowal.
Student: That's even less clear. Why does Abraham, why is he considered the generation of the righteous and Noah is considered the generation of the wicked? How do we look at the article in relation to correction or in terms of the cascading down of the worlds?
M. Laitman: Basically, the unfolding of the worlds.
Student: So how do we see our correction in that if that's the case?
M. Laitman: If it's clear to you how the decline of the generations happens then the opposite form is correction.
Student: If that's the case what vessels do we correct? Because if we return so first the vessels that we have are the vessels of reception, the ones that reveal.
M. Laitman: But that's impossible before vessels of bestowal.
Student: That's a conflict.
M. Laitman: Okay, we will have to read again perhaps.
Student: (40:11) The first part of the article is about coming to the correct form of fear. That the main fear is that a person will be afraid of the Creator because He is great and ruling and then the whole unfolding of the world is considered nothing compared to Him and that is the goal. What is not the main thing is understanding and knowing. That's unimportant. Afterwards he speaks about Noah. That there are generations like this and generations like that. You could say that there is a generation because there was wicked in the generation and the same thing with Abraham. What are these ones who demand? What are these situations, these complaints about those who say about Noah and those who are about Abraham? If the main thing is to come to good deeds.
M. Laitman: Yes, but you have vessels of reception and vessels of bestowal. What do you work with?
Student: There's a state. There are those who say that Noah, that he is righteous in his generation. That's something to be praised because there are those among the wicked that is righteous and then there are those who say that they condemn it because they say that among wicked, to be righteous, it's easy and then about Abraham, the same thing. All these ones who talk about them, there's just this force of, there's this quality of bestowal here. This whole thing in the article. I'll ask simply, why do we need all these ones who speak about them when in practice you need to reach bestowal to the Creator?
M. Laitman: How do you get there, in what order?
Student: At first you don't need understanding because it's not important, the understanding and all the questions are those that it seems as if it's understanding.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (42:37) Maybe it's possible to add to the scrutiny. All of Rabash's articles he speaks about the correction of creation and the purpose of creation. The correction of creation is the correction of the Kli here it's the vessels of bestowal, here it's called Noah and the purpose of creation it seems it's Abraham the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of reception. Fulfillment.
Student: (43:08) Noah's degree is the question of who and what, meaning a person asks questions about who is the Creator, what is his work and then when he reaches the degree of Abraham, he reaches the degree of faith above reason. Meaning he has no choice, he reaches the upper Hessed and without the upper one we will remain with these questions and then he needs to reach the degree of where he sees that he has the vessels of reception and then he sees that everything is in the treatment of the Creator and these are the processes that constantly cycle in the person and the advancement in the work.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (44:10) I could say that Noah is love of the created beings and Abraham's love of the Creator and these are two degrees in order to reach love of the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (44:48) In relation to what the friend said, he writes here that they expected to reach the degree of actions above reason and they had no intention to reach understanding and knowing but only in the actions alone did they have that understanding. My question is that point that will determine in the end whether they will come to Lishma or not, is the intentions during the Mitzvot, during the actions, because he directs that, because it's something very sensitive there. The question is, how do you know now we're doing this Mitzvah, we're learning together, how do we intend that it will be actions above reason because it seems that knowledge doesn't work that way and here it says it's really spiritual work here. What is the knowledge? What is the difference between knowledge and the intention for good actions, good deeds?
M. Laitman: Okay, so I see that you have more questions than answers.
Student: (46:26) To add, we didn't speak about this much but he begins the article with the matter of the work in reward and punishment, which is basically closer to us. He says there's three types of fear. The first is reward and punishment in this world, then reward and punishment in the next world, and the true root of fear that we should aspire to is because He's great and ruling, meaning that all the generations that he's hoping for is that he can bestow contentment to the Creator. So perhaps regarding that, this work in Lo Lishma, the first stages we have are that constant progress to a higher fear, more exalted fear, until we come to that fear of because He's great and ruling, which seems to be work that's closer to us.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: (47:30) To continue, Rabash writes here in the middle of page 76 that it turns out that the generation of Noah is more important since he has what to do, since that's the good deeds of the righteous, meaning the more we ask the Creator for His help, His assistance, and we don't let go of that connection, we actually make all our actions with the outcome of bringing contentment to the Creator. Relating it to today, we say we are the last generation where the environment is really important to reach the final correction.
Student: (48:25) Asia they’re adding that Noah is after one moves closer to the friends he has to rise above himself and connect them to the Creator without self-reception and Abraham is the vessel of getting closer to the friends and loving them. Noah did it in desire and thought and not in practice and Abraham is like the general correction, whereas Noah is the personal correction.
M. Laitman: Nice. More?
Student: (49:00) How I understand it the first degree is Noah working in a generation of evil ones and he has to go above reason so his kind of adhesion with the Creator is above reason and we can say that in praise because he works in a generation of wicked ones and goes above reason and there's a higher degree of Abraham already in faith above reason, now he has to correct the vessels of reception which seems to be the aspect of Torah.
M. Laitman: What I think is that it's important for us to read it again. We'll read the article again.
Reader: (49:44) These are the generations of Noah. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man…
M. Laitman: (01:11:33) Okay. Alright. Well let’s go to the next part.
Reader: We will go to the next part and before that we’ll sing a song together.