Today's episode discusses an excerpt from The Zohar, Beresheet Bet [Genesis 2], “Reconciliation and Receiving Permission,” Item 215 “One who connects with his wife should make peace with her and mitigate her with words. If he does not appease her, he will not stay the night with her because their desire must be as one, without coercion.”

Today's episode discusses an excerpt from Midrash Rabbah, Beresheet, 17. “There is a story about a Hassid [one who belongs to the Hassidut movement] who was married to a woman but they could not have children. They said, ‘We are not helping the Creator whatsoever.’ He divorced her and married a wicked woman who made him wicked, while she [the former wife] married a wicked man and made him [her new husband] righteous. It follows that everything is from the woman.”

Today's episode discusses an excerpt from Kabbalist Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (RABASH). He writes in his article Discernments in States: “A man and a woman, if they are rewarded, the Shechina [Divinity] is between them.” We should ask, If they are opposite, how can there be peace between them? “It is specifically when one becomes worthy, when he inverts reception into bestowal, called ‘receiving in order to bestow,’ there is peace between them. Otherwise, they are in dispute or that one yields before the other. Yielding is not regarded as love in wholeness, for the one who yields always waits for when he will regain the power of control.”

A strong relationship is like an animal that you need to constantly feed in order to continuously grow it. You feed this animal with mutual concessions. Moreover, for those who have their own families, the mutual concessions need to include all family members, and you need to teach children about this animal that you need to concede to. That is the basic principle of holding a strong relationship, and enjoying it. While it might appear as if you do not enjoy conceding to your relationship partner, because you might think that the other side subdues you—you will actually find that you do enjoy it, because by doing so, you enliven the “animal,” the relationship. It seems as if the weak side concedes, but if we do what the other side cannot do, then we are not weak—we come out the hero. The hero is actually the one who concedes. We need to respect that quality more. Your partner should be proud of you and honor your overcoming of yourself and your concession to them. If you have children, then your partner would tell them about it, and how it brings them real satisfaction.