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

Daily Morning Lesson: May 19, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. The Difference between Charity and Gift Article No. 24.(1986)

Original lesson date: 06/19/2003

Reader: Dear friends, given that it's the holiday of Shavuot, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 19th of June, 2003, based on Rabash's letter number 52. So let's read it together in the Tens. We have 14 minutes for that.

Reading: (00:31) Rabash. Letter No. 52

April 30, 1960 (48^th day of the Omer Count), Vienna

To the friends, may they live forever

The festival of Shavuot—the time of the giving of our Torah—is approaching. It is known that Shavuot is regarded as Malchut in the worlds and the heart in man. It is as Baal HaSulam interpreted about Mekadesh Shevi’i (seventh sanctifier) that Shevi’i comes from the words Shebi-Hu (who is in me).

He means that the Creator is clothed in the heart, and the time when we can interpret that the Torah dresses in the soul. This is why it is called Shavuot and “the giving of the Torah,” meaning that at that time the Torah dresses in the hearts of each and every one from the whole of Israel. During the count from Passover to Shavuot it is the purification of the Kelim (vessels), which is purification in heart and mind. When the Kelim have been perfected, we are rewarded with the Torah.

Therefore, before Passover, the preparation of purifying the Kelim was with faith, called Mitzva (commandment/good deed). Through the exodus from Egypt they were rewarded with faith, as in “I am the Lord your God who took you out from the land of Egypt.” After Passover begins the work on purification as preparation for reception of the Torah. When the Torah dresses in the soul it is called “Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah.”

We need heaven’s mercy, to be given the strength to come out of Egypt and be awarded faith, since we go through many states before we are rewarded with faith. Sometimes, a person has no need for pure faith because he thinks that it is better to go by the usual ways, as it seems to him, since all the Hassidim and practical people do as they were taught, meaning the usual way. He wishes that in this way he will have the complete desire to keep Torah and Mitzvot (pl. of Mitzva), since he sees that in this, too, he is declining and sometimes has no time to think about it. That is, he engages in Torah and Mitzvot without any introspections, that in the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing, it is not worthwhile to introspect.

The calculations that a person does are in order to gain something. In that state he is in a state where it is preferable to reflect on his corporeal needs, since his vitality is specifically in corporeality.

However, we must remember the rule that Baal HaSulam said, that the punishments are mainly on the time when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot. Concerning the time when he is in a state where his vitality is only corporeality, his sentence is as the sentence of a beast. Only when engaging in Torah and Mitzvot without being careful to keep it pure, this is called “idolatry.”

Therefore, when a person agrees to do something in Torah and Mitzvot, it is preferable to work for the Creator, since the work begins primarily in the mind, but with the heart it is a completely different work. At that time his work is regarded as exiting the beast and becoming a man, and it was said about it, “You are called ‘man,’” and then begins man’s work in the mind, when beginning to weigh on a scale which is more worthwhile, knowledge or faith. At that time he becomes angry that the Creator is not rewarding him with faith.

By that we can interpret the words of the Gemarah, “Rabbi Yehuda said, ‘Rabbi Shmuel said in the name of Rabbi Meir: ‘While I was learning with Rabbi Akiva, I would put the ink into the inkwell. When I came to Rabbi Ishmael, he said to me, ‘My son, be careful with your work, for your work is the work of heaven. If you omit one letter or add one letter, you are destroying the entire world.’ I said to him, ‘I have one thing, and it is called ink, which I put into the inkwell.’ He replied, ‘But do you put ink into the inkwell? The Torah said, ‘write, and erase,’ writing that can erase. What did he tell him and what did he reply to him? This is what he said to him: ‘Not only am I not mistaken to think I know about omitting or adding, I am not even afraid that a fly will come ,land on the Dalet (Hebrew letter, ), and turn it into a Reish (a similar looking letter, )’ (Iruvin 13a).’’”

We should interpret the scribe. When a person engages in the work of the Creator he is called a “scribe,” as in “Write them on the tablet of your heart.” Omitting or adding means that either he is lacking right or adding left, meaning two times “nest” (also 150 in Gematria), as our sages said, “We can purify the pest with 150 reasons (also flavors).” This is why there are two times: impure nest and pure nest. Also, ink is called “blackness,” since the labor is regarded as darkness.

We should understand that if Rabbi Ishmael told him, “Be careful with omitting and adding,” what is the reason that Rabbi Meir told him that he was putting ink into the inkwell?

We should interpret that when Rabbi Meir told him that he was a scribe, meaning engaging in the work with purity, he told him, “Be careful with omitting and adding,” meaning that he will not have too little faith and too much knowledge. To that he replied to him that he was putting the ink in the inkwell. That is, during the labor, called “blackness,” he throws his (hands) there, as in, impure nest and pure nest, so he always has room for faith because to him the nests are equal.

He asked, “But do you put ink into the inkwell?” Can you place a pure nest from a place of darkness? It should be writing that you can erase. That is, during the labor, which is the time of reception of faith, it is precisely when we can erase the writing. And yet, he did not erase, for in that state, when he determines and takes upon himself the faith, it is regarded as “completed writing,” which is a Kli fit for holding the light of the Creator.

The Gemarah asks about this: “What did he tell him and what did he reply to him?” (RASHI interprets that he warned him about omitting and adding, and replied to him that he has ink. RASHI interpreted that “ink” means writing that cannot be erased because its writing is visible).

The Gemarah answers that he replied to him that he was careful with omitting and adding, and also even that a fly might come and land on the tip of the Dalet and erase it, turning it into a Reish. A fly means a foreign thought that erases the Dalet and turns it into a Reish (see the beginning of “Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 200).

That is, at the time of Mitzva, when he should be careful with omitting or adding, meaning that he will not want faith to be less important than knowledge, which means that he lacks the importance of faith, and too much means that he gives excessive importance to knowledge.

During the writing of the ink of the Torah, it is considered that he is careful with the tip of the Dalet, which is “doing mercy.” If he has a fly, meaning an impure thought, then he does not want to do mercy, and then he is regarded as completely destitute. By that he always puts the ink, meaning that he is always careful to keep them equal, and then he is certain to be steadfast in his state, since when he sees that he is always at a crossroads, he is naturally under keeping, and by that achieves the full completeness.

May the Creator grant us with full completeness and with coming out to the light of Torah in purity.

Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag

Reader: We will now continue to a lesson from the 19th of June, 2003.

M. Laitman: (14:36) What does Rabash tell us? That our work is divided into several parts, several stages. The first stage is where we need to acquire faith, and the second one is where we need to acquire knowledge. We also know that from the process of the shattering of the vessels, from above down we have in the cascading two major actions in the creation of our vessels. It's the shattering of the vessels of reception, the four first  kings DaHGaT, which is the bestowal, and the four Melachim, four kings of TaNHYM. This is called the first Temple, which had, as it's described, Mochin of Haya, and the second Temple where there is Mochin of Neshama, the shattering of the Temples, as we call them. The first Partzuf that emerged from the Rosh of AVI, and the second Partzuf which emerged from YESHSUT in the world of Nekudim. Against this, we have two stages in the correction of the vessels, where we first correct vessels of bestowal, we acquire a vessel of faith, as we call it, and this whole process is called, this is all considered until the exit from Egypt. When we acquire vessels of bestowal, the qualities of Bina, then there's a preparation there, 40 more days within Bina, and we reach Shavuot, the reception of the Torah. For them, the reception of Torah is already the reception of Hochma, of wisdom. And from here, we have all the laws that we go through, and all the statements that we, one way or another, depict these states as one man in one heart, meaning already vessels of bestowal, and contemplations, meaning against Hochma, against knowledge, which is the mountain in the reception of the Torah. And also before that, in the exile in Egypt, in the exodus from there, working on None Else Besides Him, which is the matter of faith. That is, the two major actions in this acquisition of the vessel is to bestow in order to bestow, until the giving of the Torah, and the acquiring of the corrections on the vessels of reception in order to bestow, which is from the giving of the Torah onwards. That's what Rabash tells us, and accordingly, he tells us what the advantages and disadvantages are here in this. That it always needs to be balanced and measured in a way that you can work with vessels of faith in relation to the vessels of knowledge that he has. Although they both need to be in such a way, we always have to always keep there not to be more knowledge than faith. Otherwise, it will be reception in order to receive, falling into the shells. Rather, we need to constantly be concerned with there being faith above reason, above knowledge, much greater than the knowledge on one hand. On the other hand, if we don't work as much as possible and as much as faith allows, we don't work with the knowledge, so that too is called a lack of bestowal. That is, we need to have these two lines to be balanced. That is what he is explaining to us here. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:24) In our state, what are knowledge and faith?

M. Laitman: Also in our state, prior to entering the actual spiritual actions, we have against it such a reflection, a copy - from our states to faith and knowledge. Faith in us is called the faith of the sages, the faith in his Rav, and knowledge is all those inner facts that we have that our vessels of reception demand for us to fill and vitalize according to how our body agrees to live and work and feel oneself safe and that he’s standing on a solid foundation. So in a more practical way we could say that every thought that is against spiritual advancement in which the Creator controls us, the only one in all of reality — in all of reality that's already in me mostly, yes, that each needs to say that He controls me. So anything that denies it in me, all those obstructions are actually a place for my work. It's against them that I need to work. This is especially our work in which in our state we go through until we cross the barrier in double concealment and then regular concealment, as we work against the concealed. What's concealed? Concealed is the control of the quality of the Creator upon the created beings, and this is something we need to complete by faith. What is by faith? Meaning, to accept it as a fact. Faith is not yet the light, it's not the revelation of godliness that we receive from above, but rather we simply need to receive, to complete this darkness through our labor, where although I don't see this in my vessels and I don't feel it, but I take upon myself this as a fact, and according to this condition I live. Why is this not called simple faith, since that what the whole world says? But rather with us it's like the opposite of even of the whole world. This is because this comes each time with disturbances against our knowledge, where the world does not support this. And we need to eventually come to a state in which we ask the Creator to give me the power to be revealed in such a way that it's not that I will receive knowledge and I need this knowledge, but rather that I receive faith, a force from above that will help me deal with the darkness. It's not that I want to erase the darkness, darkness will shine as light. I actually agree to be in the darkness because I understand that if there won't be darkness but there will be light I will serve the King because He is in control, because He's great, because I have some gains from Him. There's a gap that I feel from Him where I will grow my vessels through, because I'll only be in the Klipot, in the shells. Rather I ask the Creator to remain in the darkness from my vessels of reception, this is called to remain in the darkness, only He should give me the ability to work with Him, to relate to Him, to be with Him, connected as if I see Him. Then my vessels of reception are under protection, they don't jump up, because there's no pleasure or some knowledge to jump up towards, and to want to receive it, to be filled. My vessels of reception are calm so I can work with vessels that I receive from above, vessels of bestowal, vessels of Bina. What are the vessels of Bina? What is that altogether? That's such a feeling of the presence of the Creator that it doesn't give facts to the desire to receive, where we enjoy and we're certain and we receive a filling within them, but rather it's a force above knowledge and acquisition in the vessels of reception, in which I can be above my vessels of reception, to ride above them and not be dependent on them.

M. Laitman: (25:52) In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is considered that I'm acquiring the qualities of the first nine, where I'm above in Malchut, which is the tenth Sefira. I perform a restriction upon it, do not fill it, but rather I work with the first nine, as my filling is the screen and the reflected light. In such a way, I ask the Creator to help me work, and later when a revelation comes, the revelation does not erase the faith I received earlier, rather on the contrary, the revelation comes in order to add to the faith that I had the lack, to splendor, to adorn. Meaning I, even in opportunities of knowledge and control and all the assets the vessels of reception can have, I use vessels of Hochma that come in order to grow even more my vessel of faith. And above my desire to receive, where I fill it with the light of Hochma, even though I fill it with the light of Hochma, I'm above it. Meaning, with the acquiring of the vessel of faith to bestow in order to bestow, it is not considered that my desire to receive does not receive filling, and I'm above with vessels of faith. Then comes a period in which I work in receiving in order to bestow, where I even fill the desire to receive, and nevertheless, it is above, with my vessels of faith, and this is considered in order to bestow. Words cannot pass along the content certainly, but what here… I always said that faith is the feeling of the Creator, and I really see that from the responses that I was not precise enough with this, that the feeling of the Creator, of course it's called faith, but what feeling of the Creator? Not the feeling of the Creator for the sake of filling the vessels of reception, but rather the feeling of the Creator that gives a person the power to be above vessels of reception, that is as we say, that in the upper light there are two appearances: it's appearance as the light of Hassadim, and as the light of Hochma. So certainly, faith comes to us as a consequence of the revelation of the Creator, but His revelation is what we call, “I and not a messenger,” like in Egypt, the reception of faith in the exodus from Egypt. And all of our work is towards this. We must not forget that we exit through blows, the 10 blows of Pharaoh, 250 blows of the Egyptians, and before that the people of Israel are also in seven years of hunger and sorrow. Meaning, all the phases in a person - also the Egyptians in a person, and also Pharaoh in a man, also Moses and Aaron that are in a person, and the people of Israel that are inside of a person - all those distinguishments, all those discernments are in a state of sorrow and blows. The process until the exit from Egypt is a process that you cannot say that has some pleasant and good thing. According to the story of Egypt, it all seems that way, yes? And only in acquiring the vessel of faith in the exit from Egypt and onwards, we can already talk about the work somewhat in a balanced way in a person,  where he's already working with vessels of bestowal that he acquires. But no matter what, on the path, all the path, from the very beginning of the point in the heart during the period of the double concealment and single concealment, and then when we cross the barrier, and reward and punishment, and with love - in this only path, this whole path, the person does not work with his desire to receive, rather he steps on it and works above it. Even when he receives in order to bestow, he receives in order to show that he is the bestower, and he works above his desire to receive, even though his desire to receive is filled with pleasures. This is truly opposite the work on our daily basis, where we naturally want to fill ourselves.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:05) What does it mean when he writes about putting the KHB TM into the... 

M. Laitman: I don't want to get into that. It's important for you to philosophize. 

Student: What is the right regard for a place? What is correct or incorrect in this attitude more? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: I mean, we always say that we yearn for the revelation of the Creator, and here I yearn for the revelation of the Creator so that I can use that revelation to bestow back to Him? 

M. Laitman: If we will cry out, “Be revealed, be revealed,” we won't get anything, because then we're receiving like for the shells, we want to receive the pleasures from Him. The Creator gave us the pleasures of this world so that upon them we will reveal through these... You want this revelation to be revealed as the force of faith. This entire world, meaning the desire to receive in this, this whole degree with its desire, is given to me so that I will not want to fill my vessels of reception, but rather to acquire vessels of faith against this world. If I reach this, and this is called the maximal of not for Her sake, Lo Lishma, that I can reach, where from Lo Lishma one comes to Lishma. What does this mean, it comes to Lishma? That certainly, this Lo Lishma, this not for Lishma, with that I long to certainly, nevertheless, reach Lishma. So it turns out that I receive this ability to be above my vessels of reception, as my vessels of reception is at the extent of all the pleasures of this world. And then we start also to grow my vessels of reception on which I build even greater faith, in bestowing in order to bestow, which means I'm entering Ibur, gestation, and later, such vessels are added to me of reception, upon which I also build my will to bestow, but that's already to receive in order to bestow. Meaning, even though I have fillings within the vessels of reception, I can stand and be above those fillings, then that's considered that I'm truly resembling the Creator, where I'm above vessels of reception. So I, too, acquired the force of faith to be above the vessels of reception. 

M. Laitman: (35:10) Maybe I will draw it in some way. Well, the fact that I can express this is already truly… We receive a certain extent of the desire to receive here, yes? The will to receive. This will to receive with all its desire - of this world. When I want to acquire faith above, from knowledge. This is called knowledge, yes. And I want to acquire my faith to be above the knowledge, so that I will work above my desire to receive. Let's do it this way. What does this mean? That I won't be dependent on Him. If I acquire this faith, I ask for it to be—let's say I worked—here I worked for thousands of years, thousands of years. Then, here, it's the point in the heart. I have come to a state in which I certainly want to receive a vessel of faith. This is considered that I've come to a state in which “until it doesn't let me sleep,” and all kinds of other—this is considered maximum Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], yes? And then I start to receive this faith in practice. It starts to be the reception of faith. Meaning, I acquire here, vessels of Bina, the qualities of Bina, to bestow in order to bestow. And I don't know how to draw this. When, let's say, I acquired the qualities of Bina, I stand at the height of Bina, and then begin … But also as I'm acquiring Bina, the qualities of Bina in me are also upon the desire to receive. Upon the desire to receive, their growth is in coarseness root, one, well, let's say root and one, without two. That's called Katnut [smallness]. Later, when I work onwards, here too, I have reception of faith, but now I already work upon the desires of three and four. Whereas, even though I receive inside these desires three and four, I remain in faith above reason. That is, I use... I don't know how to say this.

M. Laitman: (39:58) I have, like this—a desire of this world, a desire of this world, above which I want to build faith. So it's as if I put a restriction upon this world, and for me, it's more important to adhere to the Creator. So if I do this, where everything is more important in faith still, then I cross the barrier. It's called, I am lovesick. That is, that all my desires are above. Later, I begin, of this world, and upon desires that I receive in the revelation of the Creator, in root and in one, to build a vessel of faith. So this state is called Katnut, smallness. Here I am before the barrier, yes? That's already Katnut, smallness. And then, as I build my vessel of faith by beginning to fill the vessels of this world, and that root and one, and then three and four, and also above them, build my faith. That's called Gadlut already, like adulthood or maturity, to receive in order to bestow. What I'm trying to say here in this whole attempt to somewhat express this, that if I don't receive anything, and I don't receive anything here, I acquire vessels of bestowal, or I acquire vessels of reception already in order to bestow, I'm constantly working above some pleasures in order to acquire a vessel of faith. So once I work in vessels that are completely not, and I don't fill them, I completely do not fill them, and I long to have a vessel of faith above them, and once, even if I fill them, and with all these vessels and fillings and pleasures in them, I only use this as a basis in order to build above them vessels of faith. And it's not just enough for me to say, “Oh this world’s not worth a thing,” but rather I receive all the pleasures in this world, and nevertheless, above them, build faith. Well, words, what can I do? That is, a person always longs to be above his vessels, above his desires - where to take a desire for this, how to nevertheless rise up above this, that's only our work. That's the group, and that's a request from above for this force to come and give it to us. This is work, to constantly rise above the vessels of reception. Work, and then there's Egypt, and then the desert, etc. But the principle is the same - to work above the will to receive. Either as a will to receive which is empty, working without paying attention to its fulfillment, yearning for above what he asks for, regardless if it is in the direction of adhesion or even if it's fulfilled, deliberately I fulfill it such that it shows me all the flavors and the beautiful fulfillments, everything, all the life in it, and still I work above it. This is working with the vessels of reception in order to bestow, well let's hope that we will have some way of saying this more clearly. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:13) What does a group need to demand in order to start looking for that first point of working above these vessels? Where does it need to aim towards? 

M. Laitman: Rabash writes about it in various articles, where he writes about faith above reason, always above reason, every time. This is actually the intention, to always be in this yearning to rise above the desires within the person. Later we will know, we will see how all these desires, this point that this darkness gave us, how crucial they are, they are things that the Creator created so that above that point we can build His image within us, to build within us His image; because it's impossible otherwise if not for that point, that point of all the desires, the middle point. So either you restrict it and grow in faith, or even you fill it with pleasures and rise above that with faith. And faith is called equivalence with the Creator, compatibility with the Creator, simply. So faith is bestowal, and the Creator is bestowal. So here I bestow and so I'm adapted to Him. Then I bestow in the vessels of reception as well, meaning without filling my own vessels. This is called working with the coarseness, or rather he said bestowing in the vessels of bestowal, without filling my own vessels. This is called working with coarseness levels, Shoresh and Aleph, and even if I do fill my vessels, I still resemble Him, because, well, I bestow. It also works in, well, faith. The problem for us is that with beginners the word faith confuses them. The connotation, the context that this world invests in this word is wrong. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:33) Could it be that in the preparation stage, I will truly long for filling, and not connected? Could there be a discernment in the stage of preparation that I long for a filling, but I I'm not ready to receive it? 

M. Laitman: One of our work in the stage of preparation, in double concealment and regular concealment, is to yearn for a connection with the Creator, despite all the disruptions, pleasures, lacks, whatever it may be, just to yearn for that. Now the question is, how do you bring these word “a connection with the Creator?” 

Student: I want to not take my state into consideration, but... 

M. Laitman: So we want to be connected, adhered, similar, to feel Him without any connection to what goes through my desires, above the desires. 

Student: Can such a state be revealed, considered in my state? 

M. Laitman: Could be. This is called love. I am lovesick, it is written. Love is a desire for connection. And of course, in this yearning, there is much of the will to receive, to satisfy oneself, to fulfill oneself through that connection. And even though we don't admit to that, we're not aware of it and cannot check if it's in us or not, we can't see ourselves that deeply. But it's there. That's why it's called Lo Lishma, not for Her sake. But nonetheless, the yearning is for a connection with the Creator, above all the disruptions and the vessels that we have in this world. That this is the most important thing to me. Let’s say, he has this sentence, or a trial, rather. The Creator awakens him in that way to connect to Him, and later, even without a trial, or if there are trials, it doesn't matter. The main thing is for that connection to remain. Then I search. If it's because of the trial, that's not good. I want to yearn for good things from Him, or where it doesn't matter to me if they're good or bad things. Meaning that there are all sorts of discernments, where it doesn't matter if I feel bad or good, I still yearn for Him. From good, maybe I don't need Him, or from both good and bad, or above them, good and bad, I yearn for Him because the yearning itself is, for me, fulfillment. That means that I'm close to having the reflected light become my fulfillment, and that is actually the true fulfillment which Malchut receives, as we say that the light of Malchut is screen and reflected light. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:35) How can I nevertheless check that I'm maximally working in Lo Lishma and not Lishma, and not a different direction? 

M. Laitman: If my yearning is specifically for the Creator, and not connected to various things which are below Him, meaning below Him, that is, myself, the world, all those things, but rather only for “in Him our hearts will be gladdened.” You understand? To be in Him. You, behind the scenes, imagine to yourself that you will be rewarded from this, you'll have it good, well, it's fine. This criticism, these examinations, this will all become clear later. That should be the trend right now. That's, as we say, that in the group, he asked here, what is the work in the group here? To keep connected, to keep being connected to that idea. I, through the group, through which I receive upliftment, awakening, power, I'm being reminded of it and everything, through that I connect to the Creator. Why the Creator? How the Creator? Because I relate to the group as my own force. I can connect my desires and the desires of the group as one man in one heart, so to speak, and then it means that I'm truly in a state where I'm aiming towards the Creator, ready to receive the Torah, as we say. That is the condition, for otherwise I'm not next to Mount Sinai at all, if I don't reach that connection with the others. We can check this in our world, to see when we get close to becoming a vessel for the reception of the Torah and the light of faith. It is when we yearn to prepare ourselves as one man in one heart. We yearn for it, but we're incapable of it. That correction comes from above, but we yearn for it because we see that this is the necessary thing, and it's the most sublime of all other options. Where do we receive that from? It is not naturally in us. It's through the study, through exertion, the upper light, the surrounding light comes, and makes this preparation in us called Chen de Kedusha, the grace of sanctity, a thing which exists in the spiritual world beyond the barrier, but in us we begin to have some appreciation for it, some inclination. We feel its importance. I want it. Why? I just want it. It's like with love - we cannot say, it's just because.

Student: But one way or another, it's work. 

M. Laitman: You make a hand motion, you know. In love, it is as you say, either I love or I don't. The surrounding light gives that. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:42) When does a person start to work and long even without the group? 

M. Laitman: The beginning of the yearning, its inception, that's through the point in the heart. But the point in the heart is just a very small force, and if one does not magnify it through that group, that force, and if one does not direct himself correctly towards the Creator specifically, where the group serves for him as a kind of test to see if he's truly yearning to bestow upon the Creator, something like that, at least to an extent, the force of bestowal. If he doesn't use it, then he's only in his point, which later becomes the point of death. The elixir of life becomes the elixir of death. He becomes a bat, turns from a fighting rooster to a bat. And this is only if he chooses the correct society, or maybe not. If he thinks about going it alone, without connecting himself to the society by which he directs himself towards the Creator, checks himself, magnifying his will, if he thinks that he can do it alone, then certainly it won't work out for him. He'll turn to a bat for sure.

Student: What does it mean to check himself? 

M. Laitman: Check himself, that means, if you have the importance of the society equal to your own self-importance, at least, although love your friend as yourself, it needs to be much more than that, yes, but at least if you feel that degree of importance, then it means that you're oriented towards the Creator. The Creator is concealed, hidden, let's say, a white wall. How do I, where do I find Him on that white wall? Where is that point? Well, if I look exactly at that point, I will suddenly see a hole there, and beyond it, the spiritual world, yes? How do I find that point, which will then turn into that hole? So it is said, you can do this if you place before you the group, and you work according to the principle of as “one man in one heart,” “love your friend as yourself.” Then, by crossing yourself with the will of the group, you find that point, where exactly to look, and it becomes the opening to spirituality, the condition for the reception of the Torah. Meaning, instead of concealing the Creator, we were given the group in this world, a society that we can use instead of the concealment. The same condition that is concealed from us, in order to bestow, you were given the group in order to find that condition in it, and to apply it. And if you try to do it, then lights come from above, which gradually bring you into that, they give you that grace of sanctity, and you begin to ask more, to truly ask, which is a supernatural thing. And then you are given that force of in order to bestow, that's it. Why is it done that way? Because this is the only way to build faith - from darkness, from the will to receive, which is not receiving fulfillment. Because if to begin with, the will to receive would receive fulfillment, you would just run to fulfill the will to receive constantly. If you're not given fulfillment in the will to receive, you're being assisted, actually. You're given the will to receive, and it's given to you without fulfillment, which is that form, the minus, the opposite of spirituality, actually helps you, in a way, to come closer to the concept of faith. If you were without a will to receive, you would never need faith. You would have no need, no urge, there would be no suffering pushing you from behind to run away from them, right, towards faith. You would never yearn for that, and so you are given the will to receive, and the feeling of this world, which is full of suffering and inconvenience, that you want to escape, so it's easier for you to give up the will to receive, and to ask for the force of faith. And so this concealment is to our benefit. It's the Creator, He gave you, He didn't place you in some hospice, right? He put you in a prison, yes, so that you'll want to run away from it, otherwise you would never ask for the power of faith. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:01) Is it correct to say that I demand the force of faith first for the group, and then for myself? 

M. Laitman: The truth is that a person, the truth is that a person discovers within him this inclination towards faith, and then he comes to the group, then he begins to feel that the group is the laboratory, the system, the mechanism through which, by which, he can somehow begin to taste what faith is. So it begins to become, for him, it's a kind of passion for it, a yearning for it. And the group then becomes a means for acquiring it. Even in this world, the desire of the other, those who are yearning alongside me, their desires and their yearnings become, for me, a kind of means, a good thing. Then I begin to want the group. This comes slowly. And then the concept of the group and love your friend, it takes on, certainly takes on a different, a new form, which you will soon discover what that is. It's not, it's a concept, it's a spiritual category. It's a kind of thing where our words still are the words of this world. But it's true what you said, that the urge, the need for faith needs to come from the person. It will gradually come from the person. And that urge is called the point in the heart. That's what it is, the point of Bina, we say. And before that, it's just some yearning for spirituality, it's still not a clear point. You are all advancing. I can say more, every day, there is more clarity. Really, much more, from day to day.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:49) Are the thoughts of each of the friends dependent on him, or on all the friends in the group? 

M. Laitman: Of course, this is mutual. However, the Creator places man's hand. The Creator brings the person into the group. The person needs to only fortify himself in that, to try to be in the group. Formally, maybe you are in the group, but it doesn't mean that you're actually in the group, you understand? Or maybe it's to the point where you're thrown away from here. Or that you yourself exit, or the group ejects you. They say, you know what, we don't need you. Go away. You're harming us. You're causing harm. There are various options here, from exiting, to being inside but not really inside, and to the point where you're really inside, among the active ones. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:59) It really appears like the Creator did put a person's hand on the choice of the environment. 

M. Laitman: A person needs only fortification where he is, strengthening. Only proper scrutiny towards the goal, and to strengthen in that. To scrutinize a bit more, and to strengthen a bit more. And that's it. 

Student: My question is, if let's say we have... 

M. Laitman: You're not given two kinds of records. You're given just one pair. You're always given just a specific state. You're never given two states. It may seem to us to be so, but it never is. You're only given one state, and in it, within that state where we are, we need to find the opening to the higher state, closer to divinity. And again, a certain state, and again, in all this mess in that state, to again find the opening to a state which is closer to the Creator. That is all. The state isn't being changed. Within the state, you scrutinize. 

Student: So how do we deepen the scrutiny? How do we do it more... 

M. Laitman: So, to deepen in that scrutiny, that's possible only through the work of the group, because you will not find in what's before you... What does it mean to be closer to spirituality? So you're told, being closer to spirituality means more love of friends. That's it. In the darkness, you don't have any other indication.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:39) Is the necessity for the society, is that also something that…  

M. Laitman: Necessity for the society begins with a person feeling the necessity for faith, to be above himself, his own being, his points, his will to receive. This is after the surrounding light works for some time already. After much exertion, the person begins to feel that he needs that force, that square called faith above reason and knowledge. Meaning that the person must have it, for him, this is air, where spiritual life is probably there, above his self. The surrounding light gradually brings him that feeling. So if so  then, how do I acquire that square, faith above reason, above knowledge, above this desire? How can I acquire it? So I begin to yearn for the society more, because the society can bring that thing to me. Because in the attitude to the friend, where I regard him as more important than myself, then I begin to discover that this brings me the force of faith. Then the friend becomes, for me, the source through which I acquire the force of faith, the light of faith. When I relate to him that way, with the annulment of the self, I see him as a provider of spiritual life. Then it becomes really, how to say, not yearning, need, necessity, a need for the society. So again, each and everything, well first there must be a lack, and a lack for the group. Before that, there needs to be a lack for faith, and the lack for faith, that is an illumination from above already. Otherwise, my life will be inside me, and not above me. This, I can do figure eights for you, dance, it won't help, right? But it's a good sign that we are talking about more subtle discernments already. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:40) Is this direction that I take from within the group,  the group, the Creator, it needs to be felt in some kind of entry and exit, or exit and entry? Or do we need to aspire for it to be one thing, let's say? Let’s say, “until it doesn't let me sleep.” How does the group clothe on such a sentence? Because it's a true way of relating to Him. How? 

M. Laitman: Relates always to the Creator. God forbid, never to the group alone, or the friend alone, or the act alone, or this world alone. But first, comes the Creator, and then everything else, those are all means to bring me to Him. Otherwise, for what, what do you start with, what do you begin with? Why are you doing everything? What is faith? Just to have faith? So you want… Why do I want faith, right? This is, well, let's go for it, yes. So, why do I want faith? Ah, there we have spiritual life, I rise above my will, I float, I'm like an angel, then it is called to bestow in order to receive. This is Klipa, shell. You're already talking about the shell, you understand? So, if you don't set the Creator as the goal, but rather the will to receive, then it turns out that you're not going with your will to receive below and faith above. But rather you're willing to have faith above your will to receive. Yes, this is the will. You're willing, you're ready to acquire faith, so that here you will have a sated, fulfilled desire, right? So, very simple, you're willing to make a restriction over this now, because you see that in the regular way it's impossible, and then you yearn for faith so that through it you will reach fulfillment again. But if it's here, then it is the shell. This is called bestowal, you're willing to bestow in order to receive, yes? And so you're told, if you perform the right action, it needs to be such that here you'll have the Creator, and then you make the restriction over your will to receive so that through faith you can reach Him, where faith, this square, where faith is and the Creator, it'll be simply compatible, equal, this is equal to that. So how do you even describe faith? You describe it according to how you describe the Creator, right? So now, how can you describe the Creator and faith if you don't know what this or that are like? So here, you introduce the group. Did I write it correctly? That's it, and then you don't go wrong, you're truly heading in the right direction. You're not wrong about neutralizing your will to receive, because if the importance of the group can replace your own desires, then you're not wrong. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:13) But we say that from Lo Lishma, we want a little. 

M. Laitman: Our yearning here, where we are in this and that, both, it doesn't matter, we still don't know how to scrutinize it. And that's why we say that we are in Lo Lishma, not for Her sake. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:36) So can we say that faith is actually my attitude towards the Creator without any connection to what He gives me in my vessels of reception? 

M. Laitman: Faith is my attitude towards the Creator, regard for the Creator, without any connection to what I receive from Him. Or maybe to put it differently, what does it mean, without any connection to what I receive? Without any connection to my desires to receive.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:01) One needs to be in our intention during the study to acquire faith or to reach revealed providence? 

M. Laitman: So, open item seventeen in the introduction to TES, and you will see, and therefore, the student pledges before the study to equip himself with, what is the word there? To fortify himself with faith in the Creator. Of course, this is the only thing that we need to demand from the study. You see? Everything clothes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:44) What is the annulment towards the group, towards common judgment? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:50) Why Kabbalists write you have to be in joy and upliftment? Why do I need to hold on to the restriction to see how much I don't have the power in my will to receive? From that I'll understand the necessity in society. Because you’ll tell me, don't run away from the darkness, hold on to this darkness, see how much you are imprisoned in it. See how it controls you, and not the desire for the Creator. From that, there is necessity for society, so it can give you the connection with the Creator, the desire for Him. So, why do they tell me, try to be in joy, you don't need what.. Why annulment? 

M. Laitman: No, when you are told, try to be in gladness, not that the goal is to be in joyfulness. But if you're not in joy, it means that you're not adhering to the higher ideal. Rather, you're in your vessels and you're just examining your vessels: I got nothing for now, the Creator is not so good, this life is garbage, and so on. It's a sign, it's an indication. If you're detached from vessels of reception, it can't be that you're not in joy. If you are in them, you could have joy if you have some possession, or you're in sadness where you see you have nothing there. So, the joy is just, it's a test, simply. It's an outcome of being detached from vessels of reception. 

Student: Let's say, there was a time when people lived a harsh life, right? Because the Kabbalists without the…the will to receive was small, they had to live a life of sorrow, and from that, I understand. But you tell a person, “Look, look what you don't have.” He sees what he has, he sees how it controls him, and he has a need for society, because he understands how much desires are controlling him. Here, if you're trying to constantly to come out of this darkness, they tell you, continue life as usual, maybe… You're constantly in the illusion that you might reach some fulfillment. 

M. Laitman: This method that a Kabbalist would live a life of sorrow, and by that he would neutralize the will to receive and get closer to spirituality, that method is not necessarily obligating being in a group. Then a person would work on neutralizing the will to receive straightforward, literally. Simply through habit, he would cancel the taste for the will to receive. The will to receive was that weak. I'll give you my example. In my life, I used to love sweet. Now, I'm forbidden to have sweet. I'm also forbidden to have white bread, things like that. I, for several months, let's say six months, I'm trying to do that. I've lost taste in that. Yesterday, my lady wanted to give me some candy, which is sugarless, and you know, they make all those things, these lies today, no sugar, no cholesterol, and not a candy, right? I don't feel a taste in sweet. I don't feel a taste in sweet. I was amazed. I just don't need it. Sweet, even in spirituality, sweet is considered, it refers to pleasure, to flavor, to adornment. You understand? So, by habit, a person can stop wanting to use a certain desire. By habit, a person can bring himself to feel things he didn't feel before. So, that's how those Kabbalists would work. And that's not, no group, nothing, no surrounding lights, only from the will to receive. That's the kind of work that, yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:28) I'll try differently. It's easier for me to see that I'm not connected with the Creator, or to relate to this point at all, that I have no contact with the Creator out of suffering, emptiness. Because when I'm full, it confuses me. I also have a feeling that I attained this fulfillment by myself. It doesn't show me my weakness, that now I need the connection with the Creator. So, why don’t Kabbalists obligate a person to enter, I don't know, sorrow, or deeper into his emptiness? Because from that, the person reaches more serious discernments. It's easier to want faith out of darkness. Why is it not part of the work? 

M. Laitman: Are you asking about our time? 

Student: Yes. 

M. Laitman: We were given a will to receive. In that will to receive, around it, we are given all kinds of pleasures. And the will to receive, with the pleasures around it, this situation is called this world. Right? That's it. It's not that… Forget about the objects you see in this world. Right? Rather, just desire and pleasures around it on a certain level, on a certain plateau. That's called this world. And the will to receive, in that situation, was given lack of fulfillment. That is an assistance, to step over this will to receive, cope with it, and want to be above it. So, what are you asking? 

Student: I'm asking, why is it not part of the work? 

M. Laitman: What part of the work? 

Student: Why in our method, they don't tell me, don't chase after… 

M. Laitman: If the will to receive would be filled with pleasures around it of this world,  if it didn't need to acquire them for great labor, each pleasure, correspondingly, there's a sum of labor. Or even without the labor, if you could acquire it or not, then we wouldn't be able to leave this world. Because I am, all in all, a will-to-receive. If my will-to-receive is satisfied, then what else do I need? And I got no urge for anything. 

Student: That is my question - why do they obligate me to work and get married? 

M. Laitman: I am given a will-to-receive and pleasures around me, and I can't grab hold of those pleasures. I try, and it escapes. Or I fill myself for a second, and I'm done, I'm empty again. I was given that in order specifically to be able to rise above that. This world was created not to fail us in exiting to spirituality, but to help us to come out of it to spirituality. Here the will to receive helps me. This is called that Pharaoh prepares or  brings the people of Israel closer to the Exodus. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:42) But when I get full for a day, two, a week, two weeks, it costs me time. Why do I feel fulfilled? 

M. Laitman: You don't feel satisfied. You go and check yourself again and again and again, and see that your will to receive cannot be satisfied in this world. You think you're chasing pleasures. That's your concealment. You're not chasing pleasures. You're being pushed to run after pleasures, so that you quickly examine that you can't reach them, so that ultimately it'll be easier for you. After you despair from it, you'll have a decision that I need to rise above. Nothing here is worth it. It's assistance. How will you build a different kind of assistance? If you are given a draw, an attraction to spirituality, you'll become a Klipa, a shell. So, you were given this anti-state, anti-spiritual state, from which you will want spirituality in a holy way, somehow, in order to bestow. There is no other way to build the mechanism so that you will enter from zero, from nothing, into spirituality. Let's say, you're the Creator of the world. You want to make a created being similar to you, from zero, not from plus. If it's from plus, then you're the Creator, and not the created being creating himself. The Creator needs to give the created being the whole possibility of building himself from zero. So, you can't do it from zero, only from minus, so that minus will be the support. So from the will to receive, in order to receive in such a way, and then the shells, the Klipot, they are only the assistance. I don't have the words. You're going to see how the system completes itself, and that's why there are these questions about why the Creator revives the Klipot, why did He create the Klipot, how could it come out of Him. But for Him, it's a single system. Nothing's divided. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:05) We said earlier, a person exerts, like really good, as a result, he receives a deficiency, a lack for faith, and as a result of that, a lack for the group. 

M. Laitman: Right, the deficiency for the group cannot be before I have deficiency for faith. Meaning, I have, you know, it's like, what we say that we have, so we have that, but it's not, you know, it's not a need, how to put it, like it's urgent, it's necessary. It's, you know, yeah, the group, sometimes I remember about them during the day, or I need a phone call to be reminded. 

Student: So what is that first stop, which is the exertion to, for it to be effective, so it will give birth to this chain, right, to give me a need for faith, to give me a need for the group? What is this first exertion to draw the surrounding lights, to build in me this thing, the second thing, the need for faith, and then the third thing, the need for the group? What was in that first square.

M. Laitman: Everything here has to be integrated, both the yearning for the Creator, and the yearning for spiritual life, which give me pleasures in order to receive. The person works where he is, and also his group, that I am told that I might need them. Okay, I agree that I need them, fine. All these different forms in which a person starts working, and surrounding light does the rest. Now we are going to study, so that surrounding lights will do that for us. Pledge before the study as my student, right? That’s it. As much as we talk, it is all is done by surrounding light.