The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Lesson (Morning), July 6, 2024. 

Part 2: Rabash. Letter 66.

Reader:  We are reading in the writings of Rabash, in Hebrew it's the second volume. We are reading Letter 66. Again, the writings of Rabash, Letter 66. We remind you that  of course, you can find the study materials in our website, in Sviva Tova and in the Arvut and you can also ask questions live through our websites.

Reading Letter 66: (00:32) Hello and all the best to my dear friend,

In Psachim (116b), “Begins with admonition and ends with praise.” Why admonition? Rav said, “In the beginning, our fathers were idol worshipers,” etc. And we also say in the Passover story, (Haggadah), “In the beginning our fathers were idol worshipers, and now the Creator has brought us closer to His work.”

To understand the matter, what we can learn from what they were before, we should interpret this in ethics. A person needs to know, when he engages in man’s exodus from the exile in Egypt (and we see that all the Mitzvot [commandments] are dependent on this matter, because in every thing we say: “In memory of the exodus from Egypt,” which means that it is impossible to keep a commandment to the fullest before a person comes out of the exile in Egypt. Although generally we have already come out of Egypt, but in person, each person must come out of this exile). It is impossible to come out of the exile in Egypt before entering the exile. Only then can it be said that we are coming out of the exile.

The author of the Haggadah tells us about this that we need to know that in the beginning our fathers were idol worshipers, meaning that they were in exile under the rule of idol worshipers, and only then the Creator brought our fathers closer. But if they did not feel that they were placed under the rule of idol worshipers, it could not be said that the Creator had brought them closer. Only when a person is remote from the Creator can it be said that the Creator is bringing him closer, because the absence should always come before the presence, for the absence is the Kli [vessel] and the presence is the light that fills the absence and the darkness.

Therefore, we have to know that we have to prepare ourselves thoroughly, meaning that a person should check himself meticulously and carefully, to see his real condition, what his faith in the Creator is like, if he has complete faith, meaning, is it truthful or superficial, meaning only going by rote, which means that he does it only out of habit and not because of his own desire.

And also whether his qualities are in order. That is, is he in the form of, “All of your actions will be for the Creator,” or God forbid to the contrary, meaning that everything he does is only with the intention to please himself? Our sages said about the verse, “And the grace of the nations is sin. All the good that they do, they do for themselves,” and they cannot do anything for the Creator.

And if a person is placed under this rule, like the nations of the world, then he is in exile, and then he is regarded as an idol worshiper. And then there is room for prayer that the Creator will help him out of this exile. And then it can be said: Now, meaning once he is in exile and regarded as an idol worshiper., it can be said, “Now the Creator has brought us closer to His work,” meaning, to work in the work of the Creator, and to not work for the governance of idol worshiping.

This is called the “exodus from Egypt,” when all the works are for the Creator. For this reason, we relate the commandments to the memory of the exodus from Egypt. Only then, once we have come out of the exile in Egypt, can we keep the commandments because of the Creator’s commandment and not for other reasons. This is the meaning of what the Tanah says, “Beginning with admonition and ending with praise.” This means that when a person wants to begin with the work of the Creator, he must begin with admonition, meaning, with how we are placed under the governance of idol worshipers. Then we can come to the degree of, “Now the Creator has brought us closer to His work.” And this is “ending with praise.”

The order of the work is in two ways, meaning in faith in the Creator, as well as in qualities, meaning that all of his work will be for the Creator. By that we should interpret what our sages said, “Our sages said, when Rabbi Elazar ben Parta and Rabbi Haninah ben Tardion were captured, Rabbi Elazar ben Parta said to Rabbi Haninah ben Tardion, “Happy are you for being caught for one thing. Woe to me for being caught for five things.” Rabbi Haninah said to him, “Happy are you for being caught for five things and you are saved. Woe unto me, for being caught for one thing and I am not saved. You engaged in Torah and in charity, or doing mercy, etc., as Rav Hunah said, ‘All who engage only in Torah is as one who has no God, as it was said, ‘and many days for Israel without a true God.’ What is without a true God? All who engage only in Torah is as one who has no God.’”

It is difficult to understand this excerpt. We should interpret that the main thing that a person should do in the world is to make all his works be for the Creator. And since man was created with a quality of delighting only himself, to the point that it is impossible for him to do anything unless he sees that some good will come out of it for himself, then how can one work for the Creator?

But the Creator has given us commandments between man and man, by which man accustoms himself to work in favor of his neighbor. By that he comes to a higher degree, to having the ability to work for the Creator as well. Otherwise, even though a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot, he cannot engage for the Creator. It therefore follows that if he engages only in Torah, and not in doing good, he cannot work in order to bestow because he lacks the quality of love of others. It therefore follows that although he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, if it is not for the Creator, it is as one who has no God, for if he truly had the sensation of Godliness, he would certainly be engaging in order to bestow. But if he had engaged in doing good, then he would have the quality of love of others, by which he would also come to love the Creator, and would have the ability to observe Torah and Mitzvot for the Creator.

It turns out that a person should have the power and force to overcome his qualities, to turn them into being in favor of others, for by that he will later be rewarded with working with those qualities for the Creator.

Because once a person has already been corrected in his qualities so he can work in favor of others, he can work on the matter of faith in the Creator, for then he is fit to be rewarded with faith, for then he already has equivalence of form, called, “Cleave onto his attributes,” as in, “As He is merciful, be you merciful.”

And may the Creator help us come out of the exile and be rewarded with the complete redemption soon in our days, amen.

May you rise in the degrees of blessing and success and happiness, and happy and kosher festival.

From your friend who wishes you and your family all the best,

Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, son of Baal HaSulam.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:14) He writes Mitzvot, commandments between man and friend. He doesn't write love your friend as yourself as one commandment, so what are commandments between man and man? 

M. Laitman: There are many like that. It's not only love your neighbor as yourself. 

Student: Do we need to know what they are and how to observe them? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What, for example, is a commandment between man and his friend?

M. Laitman: Between a man and his friend, how you can lend money, receive money, to give in some way? If you take the Shulchan Aruch, the set table, the Jewish code of law, you'll see some of the commandments that pertain to a man and his friend.

Student: Should we individually know what each commandment is and keep it? 

M. Laitman: No, no, no. Love your friend or love your neighbor as yourself covers everything. 

Student: So that's actually what we're working on in the Ten, love your friend as yourself.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So should we understand from this more individually how to work between man and man? 

M. Laitman: No, don't do to your friend what you hate. 

Student: How, when it connects to the Torah, how does it bring a person to work for the sake of heavens, what's the connection between them? 

M. Laitman: From the right relation between the person and his friend he gets to the right relation between the person and the Creator.

Student: How does that stage work, what's the right attitude or relation between man and the Creator? It's his general relation towards all the others, or is it something else? Is a person's relation, let's say towards a Ten, does that somehow become his relation towards the Creator or does it get a different kind of form?

M. Laitman: No, but this is how he learns how he should relate to the Creator. This is why from commandments between man and man, he comes to commandments between man and the Creator. 

Student: And the Creator is like something else than the others for him, or does it become a... 

M. Laitman: No, because from his relation towards the friends, he gets used to, understands, learns, what is the right relation between him and his friend.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:32) What's almsgiving or charity that you have to work in in order to reach a remedy of love of others? 

M. Laitman: Almsgiving, you don't know what it is? 

Student: Can you explain what almsgiving that brings you to the love of others? What is that? 

M. Laitman: It is that we do things, do actions by which we help others, by which we do good to others. This is called almsgiving.

Student: Even though it's for my own benefit? 

M. Laitman: That's the intention. No one sees the intention. 

Student: But the action itself, in almsgiving, 

M. Laitman: Even the action itself helps.

Student: It says that a person has to check himself seven times to see his true state, how his faith in the Creator, if he has complete faith on the path of truth, or if it's just regular. How can a person check his faith?

M. Laitman: How, to the extent that he's willing to relinquish every word in all kinds of ways for a good relation toward him from the environment, on all those things, only in order to give to others. More. Yes?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:13) What is almsgiving between us and the Ten? I understand what it is on the outside. What is it between us?

M. Laitman: Do the same in the Ten.

Student: What does that mean, that every physical need a friend has, there's a group that should be concerned of giving it to him, helping him?

M. Laitman: That too. But mainly it's spiritual, in the spiritual sense.

Student: That's what I'm asking. I don't understand what spiritual almsgiving is.

M. Laitman: That you support each friend who needs support.

Student: So that's something we do. I think, at least. At least we're trying. 

M. Laitman: Okay, that's it. And don't go to all kinds of physical things.

M. Laitman: No. What else? Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:28) What's the difference in checking if my faith is okay, or if his virtues are okay? He writes there's two orders to work.

M. Laitman: Who can check the faith?, qualities are, you can measure them in greater detail. More specifically. That's what I think.

Student: So the first stage is to check the qualities and then faith? 

M. Laitman: Yes. Okay. 

Student: I don't know if we can relate to other letters where he writes that faith is the foundation for fear, and... 

M. Laitman: So what? 

Student: That faith is the first thing you need to advance. That through faith, through the darkness and no light, then is when you can perform an action of equivalence of form. 

M. Laitman: Yes, because the whole, all of the observing of Torah and Mitzvot is built on observing these commandments.

Student: So what's the difference between qualities and faith? 

M. Laitman: Where is it written? 

Student: It's written. Because once a person has already been corrected in his qualities, so he can work for the favor of others, he can work on the matter of faith in the Creator, for then he is fit to be rewarded with faith and then he can, there's already equivalence of form called cleave onto his attributes and so on. So the work with the qualities comes before faith and I'm asking what is the work in those qualities?

M. Laitman: Well, as much as a person has qualities. In each and every desire that he needs to work with and specifically by which to approach the Creator, he has to know what will be, when it will be a corrected desire and what is happening with him now. And this will give him a direction for development. 

Oh boy, all the lazy bums. Wait, wait, wait, wait, it's not for you. You always think that everyone thinks of you and speaks of you. Okay, sit down.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:44) About those qualities, let's say persistence, just for an example. So, to see the friend's virtues is to adhere to his good qualities. In the Ten, that's our work on one hand. And what example do you give the example of qualities? So, that's the base of the work, the beginning of it. That's the way I see it, that the qualities is our work in the Ten. Prayer, and inviting the Shechina. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:29) General question, all the writings of Rabash and Baal HaSulam say that the world is inside me and I have to correct myself. And I don't have to correct the world. But in the writings of the last generation, it's like the opposite. The world is corrupted, democracy is corrupted and I have to correct the world. It's like a contradiction between…

M. Laitman: Probably not.

Student: So, everything in the last generation, he says democracy is wrong, we have to change politicians. Everything's corrupted outside of me, not in me. 

M. Laitman: Correct yourself until you see the world is corrected.

Student: So, to put the communism and to tell people they have to change themselves and correct themselves. 

M. Laitman: Correct yourself.

Student: So, the last generation writings aren't for me? 

M. Laitman: Probably not.

Question (Women PT 38): (24:31) What does it mean to only engage in the Torah, how is that possible without working in love of others? He writes that you can only engage in the Torah. 

M. Laitman: Only engage in the Torah, what does he mean by that?

Student: Without working in love of others. So, how can you work? How is it possible?

M. Laitman: This is completely, completely without physical actions, without any relation to matter. 

Student: And then that's called to engage in the Torah? Is it possible?

M. Laitman: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Question (Latin 1): (25:40) Where do we get the forces to overcome the evil inclination and do actions for the sake of the others? 

M. Laitman: Only from learning the operations of the Creator, from the wisdom of Kabbalah. From this we receive the way, the strength, how to work for the sake of others.

Question (Women Turkiye 8): (26:16) How can you be merciful like the Creator? What can we do?

M. Laitman: Merciful like the Creator. For this we need to be in the same nature, the same nature as the Creator. So let's think about the correction and from it we will come to being identical to the Creator. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:54) He says to check seven times if he has complete faith or if he's working through a habit. How can you do that check and also how often to do it? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. We need to look into it some more. 

Student: Can you do it any, like once a week or every... 

M. Laitman: I don't know. You understand? If I answer this way then that's the way it is.

Question (Beer Sheva): (27:44) Good Morning Rav, world Ten, with your permission. It's written to only engage in the Torah is still without almsgiving, so it's not the complete work. So my question is, does engaging in almsgiving along with the Torah, does that bring Israel the light and the Creator are one which is the complete end of correction? 

Student: To engage in the Torah is not the whole work according to what he wrote here in the article. Yes. And almsgiving is also needed. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So when we engage in the both that brings us to Israel the light and the Creator are one which is the correction.

M. Laitman: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Question (Tel Aviv 1): (28:47) He writes that a person has to overcome his qualities and invert them to be for the benefit of the others. How can a person do this himself, this overcoming by force in order to reach it? He puts it on a person's shoulders to do so. How should we? 

M. Laitman: Through the upper force. To begin with, a person has nothing, but through connecting with the upper force, he can do anything.

Student: That's my prayer as an individual before the Creator?

M. Laitman: No, it's the general prayer of the Ten. It’s a fun one.

Question (Zafon 1): (29:45) Rabash says that in general we already came out of the exile, but individually every person still has to come out of the exile. In many articles Rabash writes that whoever doesn't feel that he's enslaved under Pharaoh, king of Egypt, cannot come out of the exile. We also read in the letter that whoever engages in the Torah only without almsgiving is idol worshiping because from the almsgiving we reach the love of others and from that to the love of the Creator. So the question is, is it right that almsgiving for us is disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah between the 70 nations of the world? And how far behind are we in that dissemination? 

M. Laitman: We must disseminate, as you said correctly, among all the nations of the world, disseminate our vocation, our goal and then we will see when we can rise another step, another phase toward adhesion with the Creator. 

That's it.

Question (PT 6): (31:24) If we don't perform almsgiving but only study Torah, can we call that the control of foreign work?

M. Laitman: No, it's just not, okay, it's incomplete work.

Student: When does the Creator bring us closer to His work? What's written in now, He brought us closer to His work. When does that happen?

M. Laitman: But you're not doing what you're supposed to. You are not doing what you are supposed to. 

Student: So when does He bring us closer? Before we work with no God or after when we have Israel with us?

M. Laitman: When you do what He asks and when you do it and you don't succeed, then you will feel His help. 

Student: And He brings us closer or do we ourselves come close to Him?

M. Laitman: He. 

Student: He's the one who brings us closer.

M. Laitman: Yes. What does it give you to ask about it? 

Student: If He brings us closer, so it's like He takes away our choice.

M. Laitman: Why? 

Student: It feels like there's a strong force that doesn't let anyone leave, He formulates us more and strengthens us and we are working on a vision and we're listening to lessons that we don't understand much but it's like we feel that He is pulling us, that we, I'm saying about myself, there's no control anymore, I'm just in it, I don't know what's even going on with me.

M. Laitman: Okay. 

Student: It's not like that.

M. Laitman: Correct. Okay.

Question (Georgia): (33:42) What's written about almsgiving? If I'm in annulment to the Creator, can I relate any actions to myself? Because I'm saying that the Creator does everything, also the good deeds. Is that the right way to be annulled before the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So it could be that the Creator did the good deeds?

M. Laitman: Of course.

Student: And I'm just observing it?

Student: If you can, then yes. 

Question (Kyiv): (34:27) You said that by connecting to the upper force, only then this work of correction can happen. That's a prayer of the Ten. How should this prayer, this demand take place, that there will really be a connection to the upper force? 

Student: As much as possible, from the whole Ten. And as much as possible, it should be toward the one Creator from a Ten that is united as one.

Student: As a result of that request, what does it mean that we connect to the Creator's force and that we can use it?

M. Laitman: To receive something from the Creator you have to be like Him, unite into one system.

Student: It's a sign that we connected to this force and we can work with it. What is this sign?

M. Laitman: It's what you started to receive from the Creator.

Student: What does it mean that we receive from the Creator?

M. Laitman: You're beginning to receive from the Creator support, correction, all kinds of influences. Clear?, should we go to...

Reader: (36:16) To, we move to another part?

M. Laitman: You said the on word.

Reader: No, no. What do you want?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:30) How do we reach eternal connection?

M. Laitman: Through actions and prayer.

Student: Thank you.  

M. Laitman: Okay, that's it. So, what, we're moving to Chapters of the Fathers?