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

Morning Lesson February 15, 2024

Part 1: Rabash. Article No. 12, 1988. What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?

Reading article: What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator? (00:38) “In the “Introduction to the..”

1. (31:28) Rav intro: Questions, impressions?

2. S. (31:40) What does it mean that the Creator is clothed in the Torah?

R. That through the correct study of the Torah we can reveal the Creator.

S. What does the clothes he describes there the letters of the Torah?

R. There are many types of clothings and when we are studying the Torah correctly we reach the Creator, the revelation of the Creator.

S. Why isn't it enough to study the Torah for His sake in order to bring contentment to the Creator?

R. Because you are then not connecting the Creator with the Torah but if you say that He's clothed in the Torah that you through all these clothings that you reveal by studying the Torah you'll reach the Creator Himself; these are all kinds of revelations of Him that in some subtotal they all combine and represent for you the Creator.

S. What is one in this Torah and what does it mean that the Creator is clothed in the Torah?

R. One who studies Torah who learns Torah is a person who wishes to reveal the Creator by studying the Torah.

S. What is one who learns by?

R. He wants to reveal the Creator.

S. Is it an action, is it a thought, is it a desire?

R. It is total of his attitude to the study; he wishes to reveal the Creator.

S. It's through study?

R. Yes.

S. Does he want to reveal the Creator’s that makes the difference between one who studies the Torah for his sake or for her sake?

R. Yes.

S. That he simply wants to reveal the Creator through this?

R. Yes.

S. Why is this so essential?

R. It depends on what he wants to get out of the study.

3. S. (34:22) We're looking for the Creator in our study of the Torah and we're looking for the Creator in the Ten. Can we combine between these two things?

R. In general from our engagement we are looking for the Creator we have no other goal other than finding the Creator and connecting to Him, cleaving to Him, adhering to Him.

S. How do we connect our work in the study and the work in the Ten as they both have the same goal actually as we just heard?

R. Yes because it's the same. We wish to find the Creator behind the study, behind the connection and all of our actions we need to be looking for Him.

S. Here he says that Israel and the Torah and the Creator are one. How can we say that Israel and Torah and the Ten are one?

R. If we are speaking of the correct form in all of reality then it's one.

S. We are seeking the what’s behind the clothing, when we are learning for the quality of bestowal of the faith. How do we seek the one who's wearing it inside the Ten too? What's the connection between these two searches?

R. If we are looking for the one who is wearing it where we are to be looking for him in the Ten. If we are raising the importance of the Ten above everything else. This way we begin to respect all the friends; that each one of them is greater than what we can imagine to ourselves and then we reach a Ten who is in the highest degree.

S. So the Ten at the highest degree is the wearing or the connection of the one that's wearing?

R. Is the one that is wearing, yes, and the Creator is revealed in it, inside this clothing.

S. When I learn now, am I learning or is it the Ten that's learning?

R. This all depends on how you imagine it to yourself.

4. S. (38:20) I still can't understand this order of studying Lishmo, for His sake to studying Lishma for her sake? At first when he's in the study for his sake it's like engaged in the Torah for His sake, then the second stage where he comes to engages in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. And then he says that the other way around is that when the one learns the Torah is only the clothing from there you have to come to the one that's clothed in it. So it's like an opposite order?

R. I guess we have to get into it, and get confused there. Try to connect all the different modes that are revealed to you.

S. When it comes to our feelings, not for Her name it’s clear. I depict to myself all kinds of rewards that I'll receive from it, that's clear. What is the study of Torah for His sake? What does such a person feel?

R. Lishmo, for his sake, meaning the Creator revealed in the Torah.

S. What is Lishma? What is that feeling?

R. Lishma, for her sake, is when the Creator and the Torah and the person who studies become one.

S. I didn't understand the difference between the Creator being revealed in the Torah or the three of them entering together. Which feeling is the more advanced here?

R. Because they're all connected.

S. How does a person feel that the Creator is being revealed in the Torah if he is outside of it?

R. Why does he feel outside of it? He already reveals himself inside of it, he's the one connecting the Creator and Torah.

S. That's in the degree of Lishmo, for his sake, where a person is inside the Torah. And that's the degree he called Lishmo and it's not Lishma yet?

R. Yes.

S. What is added in this higher degree of Lishma?

R. That The Torah is above everyone; it includes all those components both the person and the revelation of the Creator in it.

S. What does it mean that the Torah is above the Creator?

R. The Creator created the Torah as his complete revelation.

S. How can the means be above the goal?

R. That's how you determine it.

S. He is saying that the Torah is a means to reach the Creator?

R. Torah which is the means and then there is Torah which is the goal, and it includes everything. You don't understand, you don't understand. What can you do? That’s how it is for now.

5. S. (41:45) It's written only because he wants to serve the King he needs to know the greatness of the King, as the measure of his work depends on the measure in which he believes in the greatness of the king. My question is how can you want to serve the king if you don't yet have the greatness?

R. He's got a Ten and he's among them. Then he receives an impression from them, and that helps him, allowing him to advance.

S. Meaning the beginning of the desire to serve the upper One calls him before we have the greatness of the Creator, is it from having envy, lust and honor which are awakened in the Ten actually?

R. Yes.

6. S. (42:57) What does it mean to first receive a reward in the light of the Torah and then in the Torah itself? What is the difference between reward and the light of Torah and the reward in the Torah itself?

R. The light of Torah is what corrects a person's qualities and afterwards he gets to be incorporated completely, fully with all the components in the Kli, and he discovers the Torah itself in its complete form.

7. S. (43:43) What is it to find in the Creator?

R. To find the Creator means that a person finds the wholeness of all the nature that surrounds him.

8. S. (44:27) What discernments can the Ten notice when it's drawing the reforming light and it operates upon them?

R. It's revealed as a result of the wholeness of the system.

9. S. (44:57) We have been rewarded with being here in Tens and to receive this impression like you said of the greatness of the Creator and of the goal, but still as much as I understand from the articles it's not enough rather in a person true need a demand needs to awaken so we have what to ask for the Torah to have an influence what in a person needs to happen so that this demand will awaken?

R. It comes slowly as a result of the Upper light when a person begins to feel that he has a deficiency for acquiring the general vessel.

S. I need to say to myself that it's a matter of time or that the vessels are being acquired and not yet see meaning?

R. All these things are correct but the demand has to be there constantly.

S. But the demand is kind of like not real because it's not?

R. It's clear that the Reshimot, the records are not revealed yet.

S. To say to myself these things or to try and come to this demand is done by what?

R. You try to work towards connection more and more and more.

S. Because connection is a condition or connection is..?

R. Connection is the condition, and never let go in the matter of connection. It appears to us as things that are not so important that are aimed at beginners but they are actually the heart of the matter; that's the main thing that the whole Torah is for us to connect.

S. There’s a connection in order to come to the need and then connection comes in order to work after this need has been revealed, these are two different things?

R. Yes, different measures.

10. S. (48:10) Why is the reading of the article also tiring and also delighting?

R. That's how it influences us.

S. Why does suffering cause a person to ask to come out of his donkey state in order to resemble the upper pure and simple light that fills all of reality?

R. That is the nature of the disturbances.

11. S. (49:02) In the article he says that the Torah that gentile studies is wisdom, and I wanted to understand, they also say that his wisdom is more than his action in his deeds there's is there a certain amount of action here and where's this Torah from wisdom to light that corrects and fills so what's the correct relationship here that we have to build between light, Israel the Creator? How do we build this so it will be the study of Torah and not Wisdom?

R. The illumination that comes to us, it comes by bringing us closer; it can bring us closer and connect us, so we begin to see and to feel that we are inside a whole system and in this way to advance, and it can also bring us only the filling of connection, external connection which does not bring us the light from within. The whole thing is about the essence of the connection that we attain, it's possible that we attain connection in the form where it's only systemic and it's possible that it's also essential and that’s the difference between Torah and Wisdom.

S. There's a systemic connection and an essential connection, are these stages after stages or?

R. No, no no. They're two different things, two different things, it depends on what a person is drawn to.

S. This has to do with the intention the person arranges?

R. Yes, yes, what he's drawn to depends on his intention.

12. S. (51:51) What does it mean that in the connection between us we become one with the Torah in the Creator?

R. That we begin to attain ourselves that we are connecting both to the Torah and to the Creator; Israel, the light, and the Creator are one.

S. What's that discernment of the giver of the Torah?

R. It's the source.

S. Sometimes we say that we're working on the connection and we're drawing the light. Sometimes we say that the Creator is the light?

R. Yes, but when he influences us we begin to reveal him as our source.

S. So it's very important to aim to the source and not just drawing the light. Is there a certain discernment?

R. Yes, drawing the light is the action, but the light itself that is the source.

S. How can you go deeper in the feeling of the giver or the feeling of the source?

R. Only from the deficiency that a person acquires from the environment.

S. And another question, let's say a person feels that he's lacking knowledge in the Torah let's say he doesn't know about the world of Atzilut or all kinds of discernment that we study. How will that not become wisdom and specifically become Torah?

R. That depends on his environment, that is why we need to try and raise the environment higher, as high as possible.

13. S. (53:53) The simplest point may be what does it mean to study Torah? What does it mean to learn Torah?

R. To study the Torah to learn the Torah means that I am learning about the qualities of the Creator; I study the quality of the Creator and how they are revealed by the Torah.

S. We are just doing this while we're sitting together in front of the books and the Rav or are there other actions throughout the day?

R. That all depends on the deficiency with which you are going forward, the one that you carry with you all day long.

S. We can learn Torah throughout the day even on a corporal level?

R. Yes, yes even if you're walking through the market but you're thinking, you're thinking of your deficiency so you are constantly walking around with these questions.

S. A deficiency to be in adhesion or in faith and complete faith? What is the deficiency through which deficiency can we learn throughout the day?

R. I wish to attain the Creator who is clothed in all of nature in each and every person and everyone together. I wish to attain Him and cleave to Him.

14. S. (56:18) What can we add to the intention to bring contentment to the Creator? It's like the tip of the intention, what else can we add to it? Many times it feels like it kind of shuts off the attainment, it's like that’s the edge and that's it, the boundary?

R. To give Him contentment.

S. Yes, you reach that border and everything closes up. How from that point, because he is describing Torah as something broader, stronger, a system that the Creator created for us and I feel like to me it's like bringing Him contentment is kind of like this straight line that closes everything and everything is round?

R. Okay, I agree with you.

S. What do we need to add to bring contentment to one’s Maker?

R. No, nothing. Only that this tendency to give contentment to the Creator will be according to all of your vessels.

15. S. (58.35) I heard there's systemic connection and essential connection?

R. Let's not get confused.

S. Systemic connections sound very attractive, interesting. Is that actually the wisdom? Is that drawing to the wisdom?

R. Yes.

S. How can you make the essential connection more powerful than systemic connection?

R. It's hard to explain. Here we can be walking in place.

Let’s leave it for now.

16. S. (58:52) Continuing the question of the friend, what is the difference in our work in the Ten if you work Lishmo or Lishma and what makes this Lishma the second degree, more advanced?

R. By this, it's like we are in this and that and we can investigate things. That's why I don't really see in this now, to stop and perform scrutinies. Let’s leave it, it's good that we'll have it, we won't run away. He explains that Torah Lishma is for the sake of the Torah, and so on. But it's not enough yet.

S. It's difficult to understand Rav. Mostly we work, we heard that we learn Lishma actually. This is actually the first time that we hear Lishmo, so I'm trying to place it, what we can do with it, where is this in the process of our work?

R. Let's let go of this for now. Soon it will be understood and naturally we will begin to discover it. These things are essential in our path and in our study and therefore it will not run away, it will not elude us..

17. S. (01:00:40) What does it mean that we as a Ten we are now engaged in the Torah?

R. We are now engaged in the Torah, is that we want to reveal ways to come closer to the Creator and to adhere to Him and organizing from us all means to bestow and connecting them together and coming to contact with the Creator.

S. What does it mean that in this engagement we reveal the Creator who is clothed?

R. In all kinds of incidents that we study; we learn the actions of bestowal and in them we discover the Creator, the actions of the Creator, and ourselves in the manner in which we want to participate in them.

18. S. (01:02:01) How can I increase my faith in the Torah?

R. I seek how to address the Creator and ask Him for the force of faith, and to ask Him for the power of faith.

19. S. (01:02:45) The article is amazing. To summarize everything we have gone through, we’ve gone through lots in the article. Are the names of the Creator and the Book of Heaven one in the same or two different things?

R. We have not reached that yet.

20. S. (01:03:21) It’s written in the Holy Zohar, the angel of death is destined to be the holy angel. Is the Adam Kadmon the holy angel? Who is the holy angel?

R. That too needs to be clarified for us, very nice.

21. S. (01:04:08) It says in the article the Creator clothed Himself in the Torah. It’s this the reforming light actually? It turns out that we can draw the light in the correction of faith above reason and that's how we rise above and we draw the light and it corrects. And what actually gives us the faith above reason? It is only the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning it’s the only wisdom that can bring us to correction?

R. Yes.

22. S. (01:04:55) Does Israel, the light, and the Creator are one, is to reveal the holiness of the Torah?

R. Yes.

S. Does it invoke great love and gratitude for all there is?

R. Yes.

23. S. (01:05:40) It says in the article that prayer without an intention is like a body without a soul. How should we prepare the intention in order to raise a prayer?

R. That it will be precisely clear to a person what exactly he wants.

S. When we started reading the article I got this question. When you arrive in the hall and you reveal the Bestower, why were all these halls given, all these twists and turns? During the lesson the answer came to me that it’s in order for until we live like that in this degree, we don’t receive access to the next degree, like from one floor to the next, is this correct?

R. Go there, and you will receive it.

24. S. (01:07:10) What's the difference between attaining the Creator and adherence to the Creator, adhesion to the Creator?

R. To the extent of our adhesion we reveal the Creator.

S. Is it not clear to me?

R. To the extent in which we are adhered to the Creator we attain Him.

25. S. (01:07:44) Why does the Creator say that he sold the Torah and not that He gave the Torah?

R. Again.

S. Why does the Creator say I have sold you the Torah and not that I gave it to you?

R. Maybe because He doesn't give it for nothing.

26. S. (01:08:28) We can say that we can find the Creator also in the Ten because our means to do that come from the Torah itself with the commandment especially of ‘love thy friend as yourself’, is that true?

R. Yes, yes, correct.

27. S. (01:09:13) A friend is asking, is participation in the daily lessons with the intention to draw the reforming light to correct us, is it enough to bring us to the end of correction?

R. Yes.

S. From the path and the illumination of the light, all the discernments and corrections we need to do will be revealed?

R. Yes.

S. I heard that we don't receive the Torah for free. What are we paying for the Torah?

R. Our exertion. Our efforts.

28. S. (01:10:04) We say that the whole Torah is for us to be united so why do Kabbalists leave us such a huge amount of content where by studying content we have this illusion that here now you’ll attain something inside the study, something more. Why didn't they just write one article or a short number of articles that we have to learn over and over again in a circle, so that we won’t run away from the idea that the whole thing is about connection and we won't be confused by all the explanations about different things?

R. It all depends on the way the souls are divided up and the different variations of connections between them. That's why we need so much material.

S. Put differently, if I take an article, let's say “There's None Else Besides Him” and I or a group of friends will advance only according to that article, they will not attain the goal?

R. No, they will not attain it. No article covers all the souls.

29. S. (01:11:50) We read that the purpose of the study of the Torah is in order to come to feel the Giver of the Torah. The question is, what are we lacking in order to feel the Giver of Torah?

R. To feel that we are connected together.

30. S. (01:12:14) What kind of remedies do we need to have in our environment in order to grow stronger in faith?

R. Only the virtue of connection between them, and between and the Creator.