Morning Lesson October 09, 2021, Transcription
Part 1:
Baal HaSulam - What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?
1. Rav’s Introduction: We are continuing to study the Shamati articles according to order. The order doesn’t determine anything and we can see that also there is a date at the articles and a topic. Rather they are appearing so we study them. Let's get into it, let's open our hearts, let's try to pay more attention to what it says. Let’s try to be as close as possible to the text and to the understanding of the text. Let's get more excited from it and in this way, we will see this each and every day and of course every day we feel different. The day must always start from the night, and we must understand in our studies also as we start to get into what it says and we want to connect with what it says, then we discover ourselves as impervious, not understanding, not feeling or remembering, not being in the same excitement that we had yesterday. In spite of that, more effort and a bit more pressure, feeling together and through that we begin to come back to consciousness, understanding and feeling and in that way, we will advance and it into the day. What is the day of the Lord and the night of the Lord in the work.
Shamati Article 16 (02:33 - 03:32)
2. R. Because he knows that there is a matter of seeing here but he doesn't have eyes and so if there is light then one who does not have eyes is considered for him that he is losing his flaws, whereas if there is no light if there is darkness then one who has eyes or doesn’t have eyes there is no difference. It is the light of the lord and when it comes to the bat it comes in order to emphasize that the bat is missing his eyes.
Reader continues (04:08 -17:41)
3. R. Let's awaken a few questions and then we will think, maybe we can make a workshop from this.
4. S. (17:57) When one has no eyes does the light create darkness for him?
R. Because he sees the difference between him and the others. For them they have eyes and they attain and they feel a different world and he does not.
5. S. (18:30) He writes here that there will be no difference between faith and knowledge within reason. What does that mean, how can that be?
R. You should reach a state where both the faith and the reason, the knowledge will be as one, that they are not in contradiction. This is, well, when we reach that, we start to understand how one closes in the other that they are not in contradiction. In our world we can feel bad and nevertheless by the thought to rise above the bad feeling and to try to understand that it is to our benefit. Nevertheless, there is a difference between this and that. The purpose of creation is that it won't remain as doubts but also the darkness will shine as light. That we will understand that all of these bad things that we have been through the will to receive felt them as bad because it is the opposite of the Creator. Therefore, we discover it as the opposite by feeling bad in it and then we have changed our view about it and we turn it into help made against us and good and this is how we reach it.
6. S. (20:22) The comparison to the thief is not clear. At night he is a thief, and at the day he is a murderer?
R. Because the will to receive it depends on what kind of general state reaches the person. Either an accent or a descent and a descent can pull a person even further down and disconnect him from the path of spiritual development, then it is considered that it truly kills him. At a different time when it awakens in a person and the person knows how to use it correctly, then it actually adds a liveliness to the person because then the person understands how much difference there is between his perception of the world and the perception of the world through the will to receive. We will talk more about it.
7. S (22:22) What I read in the text, is that the Creator has no deficiency towards creation and that to him it is like a game, so it feels like it is not important.
R. Who says we're not important?
S. (22:52) We have to add importance to the Creator.
R. No, we are very important to the Creator. The fact that he relates to us seemingly as if to in a game. A game means that the action itself doesn’t matter, but above the action itself we determine very important things. A game refers just to the action. That through this action we will want to achieve something more important and then the action is considered a game.
8. S (23:39) The one before the last paragraph, it is written that when the desire to receive receives no reward for its work he becomes sad and idle. In the last sentence it says that sometimes he comes to a state that he regrets it. He regrets what he did.
R. When a person is despaired and he regrets that he has invested a few years in coming closer to the Creator and did not succeed. Those few years that he invested he thinks that it was for no reason. He truly is upset with us and I heard it a few times from several students who left us in the past, so they say “I invested in this, let’s say, five years or even ten years, and I didn’t get anything. Where is my reward for investing so much?” Out of the will to receive he is turning to us correctly,
He doesn’t understand that in order to reach the will to bestow and to start to discover that the will to bestow in him is growing and he is actually getting a reward, payment, that he doesn’t feel yet. He hasn’t yet crossed this boundary called from Lo Lishma to Lishma, from in order to receive to in order to bestow and this is why he has complaints. The complaints are according to the situation that he is in are just complaints. What can you do, what can you tell him? Nothing. If he didn’t finish his quota of exertion that is what it is called, then he cannot demand anything. ven the fact that he is demanding, that is already an indication that he didn’t finish that quota and he is still in the form of the receiver, demanding. The form that we need to reach is the form of bestowal. When I do not demand anything. Specifically in the fact that I do not demand anything is a reward for me. This for me is the reward. I can go forward and give more and more and help more and this is all of the reward for me. Just like with the Creator who is constantly giving and this is what he enjoys. I need to reach a state where I am willing to give everyone and pass to everyone, arrange and at the time that I am working in such a way, I feel the reward, satisfaction, wholeness like the Creator. To reach the nature of bestowal that’s our goal. Then we enter a world that is all good. This is called the next world, the higher world and if we don’t reach that then we are empty handed on both sides. The spiritual world from bestowal I do not enjoy, and from being in reception and wanting to receive but I don’t receive anything and am not given anything, so I am not being harmed from both sides, I am empty on both sides. So, what can I do? This is that special state that actually helps me to advance. This is how we should understand it and agree with it and actually advance.
9. S (28:47) How can I know when the day of the lord has come?
R. When the day of the Lord comes you begin to see that each act of bestowal that you’re performing, it brings you fulfillment, light, coming closer to the Creator, understanding creation, getting to know the true reality, this is called the day of the lord. When you open up your spiritual eyes and you see the world in its true form.
10. S. (30:00) The day of the lord is when he obtains the power to bestow. Is this the degree that brings us to bestowal? Can you explain what he writes about the day of the lord?
R. The day of the Lord means that for me the quality of bestowal is considered true, it shines, it is full of forces, of values, when I am in the degree of Bina. If I bestow to others, I feel good in that. And if I see the actions of others, I look at them through the quality of Bina, that they actually want to bestow good to one another. You might put it this way, that the quality of Bina is when I look not according to the act itself but rather according to the intention. The act of bestowal, only the Creator can do it because He is the source, He is the supplier of power. We can only receive. But if I receive from others in order to bestow to them, in order to give them an opportunity to give to me, if we have such relations of love and connection and I give them an opportunity to bestow to me, I am doing it out of love. Because prior to that I made a restriction over myself and I don’t want to receive. So out of this game between us, this is why the whole of creation is called a game, that the Creator is playing with the whale, so if we do this then we have such a connection between us in the group and we realize that each and every one is helping the other. Try to play in that I am giving to the other, and by me taking from the other, look at the actions not according to the act itself but rather according to the intention. It's as if we are making the negative into a positive, it's as if we are replacing the screen, that’s it. And this is called I saw an opposite world. When I see not the actions of people but rather their intentions. And this is how we will advance to the truth. We will need more and more to try it, question these things, to try to understand the answers, and this is how we will advance.
11. S. (34:25) You teach us that we should learn to live in two realities, the corporeal and the spiritual. In our corporeal reality daylight is something that is connected to hope, to opportunities. Day and night in the spiritual world, according to what we learn, creates in us pain and suffering. We see that our qualities and the qualities of the Creator are completely opposite. Why does the Creator make us go into these sufferings, maybe there is a different way without suffering?
R. A way which is without suffering? That’s our way. Because you are given opportunities to transition from suffering to joy and pleasure, but this is on the condition that you will understand what the Creator is doing with you. First of all, you need to recognize that what is happening with you comes only from the Creator and not to disconnect from that fact. That there is none else besides Him. Second, you need to see in each and every action that it comes from the good who does good, this is what the Creator is called. Good, Himself, and doing good to everyone and benefiting everyone. If you will try to see Him and His actions in such a way then you will discover the entire system of forces that exist between all of the created beings and the Creator, and this is called the upper world. And this is what we have to do.
S. But this understanding still comes through suffering.
R. No, why?
S. Are you saying that it comes automatically, that we have to understand because we have a point in the heart?
R. We need to sustain ourselves, precisely to know the Creator as the good who does good, always and for everyone. And if you don’t discover Him in this way, it's a sign you don’t know how to discover Him. It's a sign that it’s not the Creator who is in your mind and heart but another force. That’s what I can say. Besides, I don’t know how often you are in our lessons but if you’re not present every day then you’re not going with us, you’re not getting a daily correction. You can complain for another thousand years, nothing will help.
12. S. (38:25) What I understand from the article is that our reward is to work in concealment. The greatest gift of the Creator is that He conceals Himself. Is this correct?
R. Yes, this is the answer.
13. S. (39:23) How do we reach the right understanding in our work of Creator’s game?
R. Play the way Kabbalists are telling you, play with Him. He’s giving you special conditions and He’s giving you certain activities within what He created, what He built within you, around you. And you should try to seemingly answer Him, just like in a game of chess. He does something to you and you answer Him with different things. In other words, how you relate, because our thoughts are our actions. Normally they are enough, if not do something physical as well. But what determines is your thoughts, your relation so try to determine, to establish a correct relation to everything that the Creator does around you, to the family, society, work, to you personally, to the world, with everything there is. Try to build a network of your relation to reality, of how you want to relate to reality. Out of this you will build your spiritual self. Try to build this relation correctly, spiritually. As much as possible uphold it and sustain it. The important thing here is you will determine that the Creator is the good that does good to the bad and to the good. He is interested in promoting every single thing, every single person toward correction and final adhesion, this is His concern. He is in all of us in order to eventually, according to the network of Adam HaRishon, to bring us closer in relationships and ties between us, more and more correct, so we become as one man with one heart. To that extent we are also incorporated in Him.
14. S. (42:28) Do the sorrow and idleness grow stronger specifically when we don’t have the importance of the goal?
R. Yes, that’s correct. When we don’t feel the goal clearly, we feel idleness and also sadness accordingly as a result.
15. S. (43:25) In response to the Creator’s game with us should we play with Him through the 10 and if so, how do we do it correctly, seriously and not light-headedly?
R. It depends on the extent that we accept His game as something serious. We see it with children that through playing they grow. You see how it happens with children, with us it should happen the same. The more we play, play at building spiritual relationships between us, by this we draw reforming light which will organize us so we will truly begin to feel the spiritual world that we are in. What is the world? The spiritual relationships that we are in. It all depends on the game. Just as in corporeality, it is especially so in spirituality.
16. S. (44:41) Does the Creator see our intentions?
R. It’s not that He sees our intention, He feels our intention, He’s in our intention. The Creator is a network of forces that connects us and to the extent that we ourselves want to be connected correctly, more or less we try, we add to it our own disposition that we do want to live according to the equivalence between us, to a more correct spiritual connection between us. And by this we awaken in the Creator contentment and accordingly we become partners with Him.
17. S. (45:43) If I am a will to receive then to want to bestow, is that already considered actual bestowal?
R. Yes, we cannot really bestow with our actions, we always perform actions of receiving in order to bestow.
18. S. (46:11) What should we ask for when the Creator is hidden, when we are at night.
R. We should ask of Him for the strength to bestow, the power of bestowal. It is called working at night. It's not like we ask Him to give us light or day, but to give us the ability to bestow. In the darkness and the night as well. It is not work, it is not a problem only to be able to bestow.
R. (47:35) Rav reads: Our sages said about the verse,
Article number 16 from Shamati, what is the day of the Lord and the night of the Lord in the work.
Our sages said about the verse "woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord. Why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light. There is an allegory about the rooster and the bat that are awaiting the light. The rooster said to the bat I am waiting for the light since the light is mine but you, why do you need the light?
Because the bat doesn't feel the light with its eyes, it doesn't get the sun rays of light, but the rooster is happy, it gets up and sings before the sun. The interpretation is that since the bat has no eyes to see what does it gain from the sunlight?
Rav continues: On the contrary to one who has no eyes sunlight only makes it darker, because if we have no light from the outside then both the rooster and the bat are in the same situation, equal. But if light does come, then the rooster sees the light and the bat does not and there is a difference. So why does it happen that both await the light?
"We must understand the allegory, meaning how the eyes are connected to looking in the light of the Creator which the text names the day of the Lord. They give an allegory about the bat, that one who has no eyes remains in the dark. We must also understand what is the day of the Lord and what is the night of the Lord and what is the difference between them. We discern the day of people by the sunrise, but with the day of the Lord in what do we discern it?
Rav: What should change within us, in people, so we will feel that this was for me a day and now it is a night, or that this was a night for me and now it is a day for me. It is not a matter of these astronomical processes where the sun rises or the moon rises or the stars. What are the day and the night in our work, in our inner situations?
Rav reads: The answer is, as the appearance of the Sun, in other words when the sun shines on the ground we call it day, when it does not shine it is called darkness. It is the same with the Creator, a day is called revelation and darkness is called concealment of the face.
This is called the day of the Lord and the night of the Lord.
This means that the day of the Lord means that the guidance of which the Creator leads the world is clear, it is in the form of good and doing good. For example, when one prays his prayer, it is immediately answered and he receives what he has prayed for, and one succeeds wherever he turns. "This he calls the day of the Lord" because he has a good connection with the Creator and whatever he asks the Creator does, from him to the Creator.
Rav reads: Conversely, darkness which is night will mean concealment of the face of the Creator, meaning that the force that governs us is hidden. This brings one doubt in the guidance of good and doing good, and foreign thoughts. In other words, the concealment of the guidance brings one all these foreign views and thoughts and this is called night and darkness",
The fact that instead of seeing and agreeing with Providence, I see that it is opposite. "This is what I call darkness and night." Meaning the connection with the Creator, even if I don't see him, but his activities toward me I call it good and day, and if I don't see the Creator’s actions towards me it gives me foreign thoughts and actions that I don't understand, and this is what I call night, darkness and night. This is the definition of darkness.
Rav Reads: Now we can interpret what is written, woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord, why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light. Why? Why is it written this way about what we yearn for?
Those who await the day of the Lord it means that they are waiting to be imparted faith above reason, those who are called roosters. That faith will be so strong as if they see with their eyes with certainty that they don't need to add anything else to themselves besides faith, that this is so, that the Creator is good who does good and everything is working properly.
Meaning the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good.
Rav Reads: In other words, they do not want to see how the Creator leads the world as the good who does good since seeing is contradictory to faith. In other words, faith is precisely where it is against reason. And when one does what is against one's reason, this is called faith above reason.
R. In other words, the fact that we are not following what we see but what we are receiving above, what we have before us, this is called going with faith above reason. Sometimes there are such states between us, even though I do something bad I want people to see that I am good inside, that I want them to accept me as good even though my external actions seem to them as though I am bad. Our children also, we want them to understand us, that even though I am mad at my kids for what they did and I punish them and even yell at them. I want them to feel this, to feel my relation in this as opposite, that despite my relation to them in this way they will come to me and hug me and understand me correctly. That there are two lines here to providence. On the one hand there is judgment and even though it is correct, it is against the will to receive of a person, and on the other hand there is love. The love Is concealed, it is revealed only on the condition that there is an effort on the part of the receiver of the providence. To the extent that he is willing to accept the love which is hidden in the pressure and the blows and the demands from the upper one. In this way we begin to be in contact with the Creator. Such things happen in our world as well between us.
Rav reads: This means that they believe that the guidance of the Creator over the creatures is in a manner of good and doing good. While they do not see it with absolute certainty, they do not say to the Creator we want to see the quality of good and doing good, as seeing within reason. When one does what is against one’s reason, this is called “faith above reason.”
R. Rather they want it to remain in them as faith above reason. I want to continue my relation to the Creator in this way, or as a child toward a father. So let the relation toward me be bad as I feel it, because it promotes and teaches me to constantly decipher the true relation of the father or the Creator as good. By this I grow in understanding this behavior in two lines.
But they ask of the Creator to give them such strength that this faith will be so strong, that the Creator is good and doing good, so strong as if they see it within reason, that there will be no difference between faith and knowledge in the mind.
R. This is what they, those who want to adhere to the Creator, refer to as the day of the Lord. In other words, if they feel it as knowledge, the light of the Creator called the upper abundance will go to the vessels of reception, if there is no difference between faith and knowledge. Then I see, it is as if I see everything, it is all open before me.
Rav reads: “If they feel it as knowledge then the light of the Creator called the upper abundance will go to the vessels of reception called vessels of separation. In other words, if they feel it as knowledge, the light of the Creator, called “the upper abundance,” will go to the vessels of reception, called “Kelim [vessels] of separation.” They do not want this since it will go to the will to receive, which is the opposite of Kedusha [holiness], which is against the will to receive for one’s own sake. Instead, they want to adhere to the Creator, and this can be only through equivalence of form.
R. Therefore, they have no problem in feeling the Creator's relation in the opposite way. It actually helps them to compliment and to determine that according to their nature, they see it as bad, and according to how they want to accept the Creator, it comes from His good relation to them. By this He wants to promote us and educate us, and elevate us to His level, to teach us to be human beings similar to The Creator
Rav reads: However, to achieve this, meaning in order for one to have a desire to adhere to the Creator, since one is born with a nature of a will to receive only for one's own benefit, how is it possible to achieve something that is completely against nature? For this reason, one must make great efforts until he acquires a second nature which is a desire to bestow.
When one is imparted the desire to bestow, he is qualified to receive the upper abundance and not blemish, since all of the flaws come only through the will to receive for oneself. That is even when doing something in order to bestow, deep inside there is a thought that he will receive something, a little bit. In a word, man is unable to do anything if he does not receive something in return for the act.
R. It is in our nature, we have to receive some compensation, some satisfaction, reaction, we have to.
Rav reads: In other words, he must enjoy any pleasure that one receives for one’s own benefit, that pleasure must cause him separation from the life of lives, from the Creator, because of the separation. This stops one from adhering to the Creator since adhesion is measured by the equivalence of form, to the extent that one gives to the other. It is thus impossible to have pure bestowal without a mixture of reception from one's own powers.
19. S. (01:4:30) Why is it important not to see you within reason that the Creator is leading the world as good who does good, why does this separate us from the Creator?
R. If you see Him, well you can't see the Creator because there is no image, it is a force who operates in all reality, and as a result of this force we feel in our world meaning in our feeling, many forces. We can even build instruments to discover even more forces that operate around us. They are all phenomena that come from the power of the Creator but the Creator is the causal force, what He does and the forces that we discover are only mechanical forces. It turns out that you want to attain ‘why,’ what is the reason that these forces operate on us? You have to rise above them. This is called ‘attainment of the Creator,’ the cause of these forces – all of these forces come from Him, emerge from Him but we perceive only the result of their influence on us. The reason we cannot discover for now. The wisdom of Kabbalah revealed to us, meaning explains to us, more correctly, how we can reveal the forces in the manner of intention from the Creator’s perspective, how to understand the intention, the reason why He operates on us the way He does, this is the question. We do not have the intellect or feeling to study, to research what emerges from the Creator toward us. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us and this is why it is called ‘the wisdom of reception,’ Kabbalah. How to receive, perceive, how do you understand and feel what the Creator sends us. How it is that he relates to us, what He gives us. It is not important to us what forces we are receiving, what is important for us is with which intention and which thoughts the Creator sends us these forces.
In order to know these forces, to recognize and to begin to understand and study them, we need to rise above the good and bad that they do to us because from the Creator everything emanates as good. Afterwards it divides, from our perspective, into good in bad and into all kinds of other phenomena by which the Creator shakes us. Out of all of those shake ups that the Creator gives us, on all levels and forms, we have to relate to Him as the source, to accept in advance that it is good and doing good and this is how I want to see and study Him, what it is that He wants. He wants for the best, how can I know this? I can know this if I also relate to it as good. In other words, in that case, I have to rise from the level of the forces that operated on me and then I feel in them good and bad, I have to rise above them to the intentions of the Creator which are all good and for our benefit to the extent that I can receive the Creator's relation, the good relation of the Creator as good, and the bad as good as equally as good, this is called ‘getting closer to Him’, rising more and more above myself toward the Creator because you have everything emanated good; afterwards it divides its influence on me into good influences and bad, ostensibly, bad influences – positive and negative. This is what I want to do. This ascent from feeling the forces to their intentions which are all good, according to my equivalence with these intentions, this ascent is called an ‘ascent from reason,’ from feeling the actions themselves, to faith above reason. To the Creator bestowing upon us from the level of Bina to Malchut, and this is how we approach Him; we begin to understand truthfully our forces.
20. S. (01:10:32) Usually there is a certain descent, despair at this time: how do we identify the forces that the Creator is giving us; how can we be more above time with the ability to use the Creator's force to go through this time?
R. I will tell you, you don't detect the forces of the Creator, who are you? Who are you, sir? You, too, are also a force of the Creator, I have nothing to say. You just need to take everything you have in you and begin to relate to all of those things from the side. ‘From a side’ is also something that precedes you, but in the way which the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches you. Decipher everything you have – thoughts, desires, how and to what extent you think correctly or incorrectly, or if you’re thinking at all, maybe you should think about it, etc. And by this, you are beginning to scrutinize what the Creator is doing in you, and how you relate to what He does. Because everything you have, your worst thoughts and the worst desires, never mind, they all come from the Creator; now how do you relate to it, for now, right now? Tomorrow it might change, it depends on how much you advance in your corporal education, your spiritual education. Start criticizing it and monitoring the operations of the Creator. Check your list, to what extent do you agree or disagree with Him. In this, you have a lot of work – this is our main work: for a person to review and to do this internal scrutiny of who he is, which certainly comes from the Creator, and what he wants to have, what he wants to be, and in the gap between the two he should ask for the corrections. It is not complicated, we just need to ask even if you don't know what to do and you can't read yourself more or less clearly, ask for that as well, for anything.
21. S. (01:14:04) How can I shift from ‘work’ to ‘a game’, playing? How do we shift from working to playing?
R. I don't think that besides the game that we have anything. From the very beginning it is written, “the Creator plays with the whale.” What we need is only to know the rules of this game and to use them. That is it.
22. S. (01:14:50) What correction do we need to do in order to feel the good that does good in the group?
R. Only connection between us in order to reach connection with the Creator, that is it.
23. S. (01:15:29) In the text of Shamati, the sages say of the verse, “woe to you who desire the day of the Lord.” Why do they say, “woe to you”?
R. I want to say that people who desire to reveal the Creator expect the day of the Creator, the revelation of the Creator in order to reveal the Creator, it is possible only to the extent that I build in me, assemble in me a quality similar to the Creator. Then from these qualities similar to the Creator I can understand and feel Him. I have to build within me a model where I give form to the Creator, this is why it is called ‘come and see,’ that’s why I built it within me, a Partzuf, 10 Sefirot, where I, in these 10 Sefirot, called ‘my sou’, I can build and feel Him, envision Him so that this image that I establish me, accordingly I beginning to get into dialogue with Him. There is something in me that I can depict as the Creator. It is not the true Creator that we can't actually know who or what He is, to attain Him, but at least to the extent of what we build in our soul, it gives us an opportunity to cling to Him and to solve all the problems in Him to see where we need to advance until we come to adhesion with Him in all of the qualities, desires, thoughts, in complete Accord. That’s how we do it.
24. S. (01:18:16) Is faith above reason the reason of the Creator?
R. Yes.
25. S. (01:18:45) How can the Creator have an intention if He is the will to bestow, what is the intention?
R. The intention of the Creator is to benefit the created beings.
26. S. (01:19:01) Is the intention of the Creator constant?
R. Yes, there are no changes in the Creator from the beginning to the end of creation, there is no change. And there are no actions, in fact, there is only one action that He doesn't move from and that is bestowing to the created beings in the optimal way.
27. S. (01:19:30) In the article, it says ‘they asked the Creator to give force, that faith will be so strong as if they see it within reason, that there won't be a gap between the faith and knowing in their mind’. What is that state that there is no difference between them?
R. That if I would identify the actions of the Creator in my will to receive in full, this would be like how I now want to identify them but, in my will, to bestow and then faith becomes like reason then I don't need the reason. I want to be in faith, I want to not to receive anything but to be in this understanding that the Creator is the Bestower who is good that does good.
28. S. (01:20:39) The rooster and the bat work in the darkness. Is it right that the difference is that the rooster is in contact with the Creator and working in faith above reason, and the bat is working in the ego?
R. I cannot say about the rooster and the bad, I am not a veterinarian, and I don't know how they think. I only know one thing: that if we don't see the intentions of the Creator and His actions are not seen as good and beautiful to us yet we do wish to see them as good and beautiful. l even though it is against our nature, our desire to receive – by this we are bonded with the purpose of creation and not the actions. It is like a child who, let's say his father is hitting him and he still realizes that otherwise his father can't educate him because his evil inclination is so evil that it can't be influenced any other way. And then the child agrees with his father, even though the body suffers, but his soul agrees and in it he actually aimed at the father. This is what Rabash used to say by pointing at himself saying “let it suffer,” he would say that in some incidents in life and this is something we should not forget. We, each time consciously or unconsciously, want to move towards bodily indulgence, we always look for this indulgence.
29. S. (01:23:06) What kind of suffering does a Kabbalist have? Does he never suffer?
R. The Kabbalists suffer just like all people suffer and in addition to that, he suffers from not being able to only suffer spiritually. His will to receive brings him corporeal suffering each time as well and he has to decipher it, raise it to a spiritual level. Well, if he has students, then he has the sorrow of growing pains, that’s obvious, and that’s it. But most importantly for a Kabbalist is that he suffers from wanting to push all people of the world to correction. And he is not feeling that it is working out, that he is successful in that. The Creator expects it and that he is unsuccessful and it's really so, it is a very great sorrow. You see how the world keeps going round, every day what is happening, and the Kabbalist is involved in all the news, he hears a little bit of what's going on and sees all the crises and all the problems ahead; and knows how it can all be somewhat stopped, mitigated yet it doesn't depend on him, it depends on the extent to which ordinary people change their attitude towards the world. For a Kabbalist, it's much worse. He sees, let's say, some volcanic eruption covering a city or other blows of nature are coming in different ways, states and he can't do anything about it, nothing. Imagine that you'll see, God forbid, that something is going to happen soon to your kid and you can't do anything about it unless you will awaken the other people to think about that nothing will happen to your kid. This way you can save the situation, so a Kabbalist in such states that are much worse than an ordinary person. Okay, let's go back to the article, we have another part of the article.
Rav reading (01:27:03) Therefore, for one to have the powers of bestowal, we need a second nature, so one will have the strength to achieve equivalence of form. In other words, the Creator is the giver and does not receive anything, for He lacks nothing, meaning that what He gives is also not because of a lack, that if He has no one to give to, He feels it as a lack. Rather, we must perceive this as a game. That is, it is not that when He wants to give, it is something that He needs. Instead, this is all like a game.
R. (01:28:04) Why is it like a game? That is when he doesn’t want to give, it is something he needs. Instead, it's like a game, it’s all in order to advance us.
Rav reading (01:28:15) It is as our sages said regarding the queen: She asked, “What does the Creator do after He has created the world?” The answer was, “He sits and plays with a whale,” as it is written, “This whale You have created to play with” (Avoda Zarah, p 3). The matter of the whale refers to Dvekut and connection (as it is written, “according to the opening of man and the connections”) This means that the purpose, which is the connection of the Creator with the creatures, is only a game; it is not a matter of a desire and a need.
R. (01:28:44) Meaning that the Creator Himself has no desire or need for creation, but in order to reveal Himself to the created beings.
Rav reading (01:28:52) The difference between a game and a desire is that everything that comes in the desire is a necessity. If one does not obtain one’s desire, he is deficient. But with games, even if one does not obtain the thing, it is not considered a lack, as they say, “It is not so bad that I did not get what I planned because it is not so important.” This is so because the desire he had for it was only a game and not serious. It follows, that the whole purpose is for one’s work to be entirely in bestowal, and he will not have any desire or craving to receive pleasure for his work. This is a high degree, as it is what happens in the Creator. And this is called “the day of the Lord.” The day of the Lord is called “wholeness,”
R. (01:29:56) Meaning complete bestowal on behalf of the created beings towards everything, this is called ‘The Day of the Lord.’ Then, accordingly he begins to see all of reality as if filled with light of bestowal from the Creator. So according to the bestowal of the lower one, he attains bestowal of the upper one.
Rav reading (01:30:29) When one acquires the second nature, the desire to bestow that the Creator gives him after the first nature, the will to receive, now he receives the desire to bestow, and then one is qualified to serve the Creator in completeness. This is considered “the day of the Lord.”
R. (01:30:50) That the darkness shines as light – there is only one day, there is no night and this is the conclusion of all the corrections.
Rav reading (01:31:00) Thus, one who has not been rewarded with the second nature, to be able to serve the Creator in the manner of bestowal, and waits to be rewarded with this, meaning with bestowal, meaning he has already exerted and did what he could to obtain that force, he is considered to be awaiting the day of the Lord—to have equivalence of form with the Creator.
When the day of the Lord comes, he is elated. He is happy that he has emerged from the control of the will to receive for himself which separated him from the Creator. Now he clings to the Creator and considers it as having risen to the top. It is the opposite for one whose work is only in self-reception: He is happy as long as he thinks that he will receive some reward from his work. When he sees that the will to receive will not receive any reward for his work, he becomes sad and idle. Sometimes he comes to doubt the beginning.
R. (01:32:43) What is that state of doubting the beginning, that it’s a shame I studied so many years and did so many things, and didn't succeed in other things in life perhaps, this is called doubting the beginning. There are such states.
Rav reading (01:33:02) Thus, moreover, the day of the Lord is attaining the power to bestow. If one were to be told, “This will be your profit from engaging in Torah and Mitzvot,” he would say, “I consider it darkness, and not light,” since this knowledge brings one to darkness.
R. (01:33:24) Meaning the people who attain ‘the day of the Lord,’ they attain the true eternity and wholeness in creation and they keep it for eternity, because our soul is eternal. And those who don’t, then, there will be corrections. Everything has to be corrected. Another life cycle, another something else, we will learn that. Ultimately, we all come to the final state of ‘the good that does good’ to the bad ones and the good ones, when those who don’t want, the Creator wins.
S. (01:34:06) According to what I understand, ‘the day of the Lord,’ it comes when there is equivalence of form?
R. Yes, this is the condition.
S. What is equivalence of form?
R. That we bestow just like the Creator, to some extent as opposed to Him. He bestows 100% according to the extent of creation that He created and we, to some extent, should adapt ourselves to Him. Each one in his part and even in a part of his part. Meaning I have to bestow to all of creation according to my abilities, according to how I’m built. So, let's say I am one of 600,000 pieces who are making corrections. In one part of that, I have to make the corrections from 0 to 100%, That's it. If I, do it, that's it, I've come to my personal and final correction. And by that I also have to cause other corrections. When we all come to that this is called ‘the general end of Correction,’ and then we go forward but it's no longer Corrections, it's only a unique ascent of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th millennium. Meaning we can only raise the Malchut to Bina, raising it to GAR of Bina, and Hochma and Keter, that we can’t do on our own, this happens afterwards. There are special kinds of ascents that are called the ‘7th, 8th, 9th and 10th millennium’. But until then, for each and every one, there is unique, individual personal work that he has to do in his personal role; correct his connection to everyone and thus we advance. After that we come to a connection which is a conclusion or a summary of all the efforts and connections, and we come to the concept that is called Keter of Igulim.
S. So the path we have to go through in order to reach equivalence of form – that’s all he wrote about before, it’s all preparation? Because when we reach equivalence of form, is there still this feeling of day and night or it’s just a preparation?
R. Yes, of course in attaining equivalence of form, we have ‘day and night,’ ‘posterior and face,’ and we have to make everything ‘face.’ We see ‘the day of the Lord’ that exists beyond the cycles of planet Earth, let's say. We go to a state where the sun always shines.
S. (01:38:08) Can you explain what our sages said regarding ‘the Queen’ which is mentioned in the article?
R. The general Malchut is asking as if she’s not understanding why all these actions are needed. The answer to that is that the Creator wants to play with ‘the whale.’ ‘The whale’ means this desire of Malchut which is the most internal Malchut and in its beginning, she can't find this desire in her. But when creation becomes revealed, gradually, then we begin to understand that within Malchut we there is some future baby that has to be born. And to him, the Phase 4 of phase 4, which comes from the labor of the lower ones that are, they themselves, in their efforts they cause such a human, Adam, to become revealed within the Malchut. Because still, vegetative and animate appear naturally, what's this edition of Adam, of the human? What is the advantage of this additional degree that makes it similar to the Creator. So that's what the Creator intends in His desire to play with the whale. We'll talk about it – these things are very anecdotal. And it's related to our work because we all come from that desire that slowly crystallizes within the Malchut over millions of years of the still, vegetative and animate levels develop and they’re developing in order to form this desire within the Malchut, the most internal called the Adam, human. And within that degree there will be such humans that will yearn for the Creator. In the innermost layer of the Malchut, there is truly an inclination towards the highest possible point of the thought of the creation which is the Keter. And all the rest of the degree between the highest points of Keter, the thought of creation and the Malchut of Malchut, which is the corporealization of the created being in all those degrees, it is unclear why and what for. That's why there are all these allegories in stories about the angels asking the stories about why you created the world, it is unclear. Also, in this world when you see it, when you go to the street and you try to explain something to someone, they don't know what you're talking about, they’ll say, “yeah it's interesting, sure, it's stimulating,” like a movie. But really there is no real deficiency within. That's why we should be appreciating this desire and try to develop it.
S. (01:42:49) You said that our purpose is to raise Malchut to Bina every time. You said it in connection to the private end of correction. What is the work before man? What is his perspective? What is the work in the future that he must do?
R. Our work includes two parts. The first part is recognition of evil, meaning our nature as opposed to the Creator. The second part, Tzimtzum (restriction). Then, after the Tzimtzum (restriction), above the Tzimtzum (restriction), how much can I resemble the Creator. You've heard about this for sure. This can be divided into a few more steps, but it's not going to change the essence of the correction.
S. (01:44:04) Is he preparing us for the feeling of shame, not to receive for myself?
R. I didn't understand, repeat.
S. Is he preparing us to bestow through the feeling of shame from receiving, from shame to bestowing, to not receiving for myself?
R. The shame we are talking about in this world is beastly shame, what the others will say about me, it’s completely dependent on society. There are such societies, cultures, where I can walk around naked and even if I put on clothes that will make me shameful. It depends, it all depends on the culture. Here, we’re talking about shame where my environment is the Creator and I feel shame towards Him.
S. Yes, I mean spiritual not corporeal. It's after torments of love?
R. Okay, so continue.
S. (01:45:32) If you can help scrutinize. In the last two paragraphs, he was speaking that if there's compensation, there is happiness. If there isn't, then he becomes lazy and sad. In the beginning of the lesson, you recommended to act in bestowing. Is there a moment in the work where we supposedly tame our will to receive, that I do an action and get a sugar cube, or not to play games with the will to receive? Let’s say, lately I see that I can’t obligate myself to go meet the ten, if I don't find the piece of candy that I can get from it. Because you see as the time goes by, it is more difficult to find those perks.
R. We can't perform on our own actions of bestowal, only by submitting ourselves to the ten. In none of us, there is any force to make a slight movement towards connection, incorporation, in bestowal, nothing. The more we advance, the worse it becomes, until we might feel hatred and rejection towards the teacher, the students, the friends, everyone. It is natural, but if a person doesn't overcome that, then he is thrown away and becomes like a beast, meaning like everyone else. So here we have to guard each other and understand we’re all in this together, in this plight. You don't understand in what state Rabash would get up from his sleep, and how he would go to wash himself until he would sit down to study. That was very difficult to watch, it wasn't a human, it was just a corpse that rises from the grave and suddenly gets a little bit of vitality to sit next to the table. Sometimes it was very difficult and we also see from Baal Shem Tov. Rabash would also sit sometimes, like this, literally. Then, I would start reading and he, bit by bit, would close his mouth and hear a bit more, a bit more. Then, I would also say, I don't understand this word or that exactly, then you had no choice, I would pressure him in like that and he would want to explain something, he had to, then that would bring him back to awareness. Afterwards, he gets such powers that would emerge from him, and that was the beginning. What I'm saying is we have to be very watchful towards the friends, and by the friends, each one by everyone else, and for everyone else to keep everyone alert, keep everyone awake. Bring back the Gabai, the responsible people on connection duties of sorts, that will do that.
S. (01:50:06) We have a good friend that we can’t get him enough inspiration to come in a constant way to the morning lesson. Should we be busy in giving him inspiration or to make it sweet that he has a desire to come to the lesson? How to work with the friend, or not to even go into that?
R. When you sit together you have to discuss the importance of some action in the group. Let him take responsibility for that action so he knows that this is an important action, and this is something that the group let him do so he will feel responsible. Then by that, he'll be more connected. Besides that, also give him some symbols of importance for what he is doing, when being present, and so one. You can even raise he's importance through his siblings or your women who can speak to his wife. If his wife tells him about his importance that will influence, because it's about how the group thinks about him, and if it passes through his wife that’s very important for the person, that’s our weakness. We will talk about it at some point, but the upper roots to these connections.
S. (01:52:18) Man searches for an opportunity to bestow, wants to reach bestowal. When it happens, it says, ‘’as if his eyes open, he sees the true world’’, what’s written here, that he is on a peak. All those sensations, they disconnect a person from The Creator? It has to be that way?
R. We weigh or measure each and everything towards the Creator, even if we are unaware of it, this how it happens. In each and every moment, when we do any action in our world, it doesn't matter what action. Adams move molecules, animals, people, it doesn't matter what. All those things only happen in order to reassemble the only shape of the Malchut of Ein Sof, that is what's going on.
S. The most confusing thing is that it’s shown to us that we read the Kabbalists, and they describe these pleasures, but we can't receive them. That’s the impression from this article, because it's written that a person wants to bestow, but along with it a pleasure comes, but it’s for himself. There is like a concealed thought here. It has to be that way, that if it’s pleasure, it’s for ourselves? Or can we enjoy for the friends, for the Creator?
R. Of course, the goal of creation is to enjoy, to be completely, hundred percent, filled with pleasure. That's the goal, and we have to achieve it. If you don't want to reach pleasure, then you're not doing what the Creator wants you to do. The reception of pleasure needs to be in giving it to the host, that you receive the best possible cake with all the layers that you like and whatever, and you are full of pleasure with it, but who are you doing this for? In order to give pleasure to the host. You have to open up all your vessels, all your senses, completely fulfill yourself, and do all that because that's how you can connect with the host. Receiving the pleasures becomes a means to be bonded with Him and to fulfill Him. So, should I buy you a cake?
S. It’s a daily problem.
R. Of course, you have to do that every day, sure, so what’s the problem? Try to do that every day. Be in, just this example I just gave you, don’t go out there to other examples. Then you'll see how easy it becomes and from that you’ll start getting accustomed to receiving in order to bestow, in the meantime, kind of, try it.
S. (01:56:16) No, trying is great but like he writes says in the excerpt that you always feel like there’s a little something inside that was for yourself.
R. That’s fine, the Creator will forgive that. I’m going to do the maximum I can.
S. Yes, but it's like the example you once gave that you take the best cake you won or the million dollars that you won in the lottery, you really want it, you’re hungry, but if you’re able to give it and even to your hater so that’s an action of bestowal?
R. So I enjoy in giving Him pleasure. We have real pleasure, so for me it's just means to give pleasure to him and the Creator enjoys me doing that.
S. So why should I eat the cake?
R. How can I give pleasure without that? How can I not give my pleasure to the Creator, I’ll have nothing to give. I have to have means, I need all this matter. Without it, I’m not going to be able to advance.
S. There is always this confusion between the purpose. Is it in the Rosh or in the Guf? In the reason that expands, or faith above reason, where is the purpose?
R. It has to be in the guts. If you feel pleasure in your vessels of reception and your intention is in your Rosh then you are doing the right action. You can’t have one without the other. Intention without doing it in your stomach that is just philosophy and reception in your belly without intention in your head, that is just beastliness.
S. When we are with the friends in the 10 and we catch such pleasures and if we scrutinize it and realize that it all comes from Him and we want Him to enjoy even if we just say it in words does that bring us closer?
R. Yes, for sure it’s helping you advance.
S. (02:02:49) Is the goal of the game to bring us to a true sense of deficiency?
R. Of course we are in spirituality doing the same actions as we are doing in corporeality, like raising children giving birth to children by the coupling between a man and a woman how does the embryo develop in a woman, how it’s born, how he goes through the years of feeding breastfeeding and how he grows afterwards how we raise him until he reaches the age of what we call Bar Mitzvah that he's supposedly an adult and educate onwards. Where do we get this copy into the corporeal world, it's from spirituality that in such a way the soul develops, we're not aware of it but when we are in corporeality, from corporeality we can learn about the development of the soul in spirituality and then we can aid it in its development because the soul doesn't develop, only with our participation in desires in actions in thought with its own desire to do it. We help the soul develop but the stages of development are exactly like in corporeality, that's why there is nothing new or unique about it and there are a lot of things that we can learn from corporeality towards spirituality. We see the stages of development and through that we can imagine to ourselves what it means in spirituality, only give it new spiritual discernments instead of corporeal, what is day, what is night, what is conception, what is birth. But it is all speaking about desires to receive and intentions to bestow, that they grow and stabilize inside us.
S. (02:05:42) You talked about the suffering of the Kabbalists, what does it mean to raise the material suffering to a spiritual degree?
R. We suffer from corporeal things and spiritual things, well let's say emotional. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that it comes from one source which is divided into a few different influences on us in order to shake us up and to bring us to correction. There is nothing in the world in each and everything, even in an atom or a molecule, or in the whole galaxy or even in the mind and the heart. In human society whatever happens that isn't, that it comes from the purpose of creation that is called, the end of an action begins with a thought. The Creator sees the end, and for Him is something that exists already and in order to attain that Sof the end, He plans He does all the actions for us to reach that end and it comes not from the beginning to the end but from Him the end was determined and from that the goal is determined. We also do it in our plans, he explains to us also when somebody wants to build a home, he makes a drawing and it becomes more like an external drawing and then it goes into detail and he starts to build it with specifications, from what parts are you going to use and all that all these actions. What we need to understand is that in this way, we have to relate to the whole structure that for us in an internal way it develops from the darkness and then gradually we discover the light and the order. Just like we see nature, that it comes from the darkness and afterwards all these actions start to accumulate, gas and from accumulation of gas to molecules and then bigger lumps. Actually, it only seems this way for us, towards the Creator it all appears in its final form. And in order to realize that final form, there is a descent till this world, till this universe, this form that we discover here and then the created beings they go through all these stages and reach the correction. They are able to understand the whole thought of creation and all the corrections they go through and how needed it is and how it comes from the love of the Creator towards us.
S. What does it mean to raise the material suffering to a spiritual degree?
R. That I need to try I'm not sure it’s so easy but with my suffering to think, that just as I am suffering also the Malchut of Ein Sof the Shechina, suffering and I'm only the small part of the divinity and she's suffering and I can't be connected in her, in a form of bestowal mutual bestowal between us, she loves me and wants me to also with my love back to adhere to her and I can't do it that's why she suffers. If I feel sorrow, I need to change my sorrow that I'm suffering to the divinity suffering, that she is suffering and by that I can rise to her and connect to her that is called, the Tzar of the Shechina, the suffering of the Shechina.
S. Should we be happy that we didn't receive a reward for our work, is the lack of reward indicate a good direction?
R. We are always getting a reward, always. What we have is a result of each and every action of ours, corporeal spiritual, it’s always a reward but we can't see it, decipher it or can't understand it correctly because we relate to it in any egoistic way. My small son succeeded in something and I gave him a package of books, he looks at them and he says I want a ball, is that a reward for him? I gave him amazing books that you can learn so much from and he wants a ball, meaning we always get a reward but do we see that it is our reward.
S. (02:12:27) How does a Kabbalist achieve maximum humility, lowliness in order to create and accept all the pleasures?
R. It is a tricky question, it's deceiving. I agree to get all the pleasures that will come from the Creator but only in a way, that the Creator will enjoy, that I will enjoy better. I don't agree to enjoy on my own, let's say that we love each other, I don’t want to enjoy on my own. I know that if now I discover pleasure from what I'm receiving from the other, as much as I'm giving pleasure, he enjoys and I enjoy and it's called that we are all covered in one blanket that love covers us together that's what I want. In such a way I can receive pleasure and see that with the Creator we are in a hug and I give Him my pleasure and that I'm doing it for Him and I’m happy He enjoys me enjoying, so I get the pleasure and then the pleasure is for me. It is in order to give Him, it's not that I'm suffering from it but that I enjoyed the pleasure but mainly I enjoyed being able to give pleasure to the Creator and by that the pleasure of giving Him that's already a spiritual pleasure, you raise me to the degree of the Creator.
S. (02:14:30) Is the Creator the totality of the connection between us so bestowing to the Creator is bestowing to our connection?
R. The Creator is between us just like, if we are in a pool let's say and the Creator is there between us. We are not touching each other, we can't connect to one another, it's always through the Creator, always. It is like a field that fills that area that's called, the field that was blessed by The Creator. We must turn this field, the relationships between us into a field of love and then we can discover the Creator and that is how we need to correct the relationships between us. That is love with no calculation towards me, only towards the others if we will be able to change our hearts to be aimed towards everyone from each and every one, we reach the Gmar Tikkun.
S. (02:15:56) To bestow to the Creator means to bestow to our connection?
R. To bestow to the Creator, it's bestowing on the connections between us, it’s the path to it. The Creator is not only the connection between us but we find Him in the connections.
S. (02:16:21) Is ‘the day of the Lord’ when we feel pleasure from the effort, we make to bring contentment to the 10 and through that, to the Creator.
R. Yes, you can say that this is the day of the Creator. Nice!
S. (02:16:42) How to relieve ourselves from doubts and bring back confidence from the path?
R. Only by the connection between us. In the whole world there is no other group that is closer to the Creator that wants to reach Him, that wants to bestow to Him, that is aiming their hearts to the Creator of the world – there is no other group. You are the most chosen, perfected – I don't know how to say it – just please try to raise even more.
S. (02:17:50) On the one hand we learn about the prayer and necessity to bestow; on the other hand, he writes here about the attitude of ‘game,’ and it says that “if it's not a game, that it's not even considered a deficiency.” How do these things work together?
R. That is not important to me. The main thing that is important is to bestow. As much as the Creator gives me an opportunity, by that I'm fulfilled.
S. (02:18:37) Can someone reach equivalence of form before the Correction of the whole world, before the final Correction?
R. Yes, there’s an individual end of Correction of the soul and there is a common or a general end of Correction to the entire soul. When we say Gmar Tikkun, the end of Correction, we’re usually talking about the general one, when all the people reach adhesion between them and the Creator. But you can also reach these things in an individual, private way. It's not that we attend the general and of correction but it's part of it.
S. (02:19:33) If we are talking about pleasure, is it possible to call the attitude to the friends a spiritual pleasure?
R. I cannot answer that clearly now.
S. (02:19:59) In our daily work we always try and make an effort to come to the lessons and some on. At a certain moment, the reward can be light but when light comes more than the vessel can contain, what can happen because in the beginning the vessel perceives the light as a reward, and then more comes and it becomes damaged. Do we need to find a way to protect ourselves?
R. Only check that you are connected to the group in a maximum way and don’t let it go; and then also the light or the darkness, the waves of the dark, or light won’t toss your boat out into the abyss. The only salvation is to hold on to the 10. No matter what you say now, there is one answer to all these states.
S. (02:22:24) this whole game is not so real. How can we even agree to all these sufferings, how to achieve corrections when we talk about such lofty matters?
R. Exchange your tension and efforts into love, very simple; try instead of that to feel love. The place where you feel nervous and angry bring love in there and you will see that it’s possible.
S. How, from where does the love come?
R. From where, imagine that’s what you feel. Don't go deep into the suffering and hatred, not only love.
S. I don't want to sink into the hatred.
R. Try it for a few days and then we’ll talk.
S. (02:23:13) How to build on each state of the posterior, the revelation of the face until we feel no difference?
R. Through the group, through the world, through the 10 – what do you mean. Each and every state is first established in the 10, in the center of the 10 and that's where we depict the Creator in the center of the 10. Every state you want to establish in the group, you actually ascribe it to the Creator and the opposite, every state that you want to ascribe to the Creator, you have to stabilize it in the group.
S. (02:24:09) Rabash and the great Kabbalists, did they suffer or enjoy on the whole of it?
R. What is the difference between suffering and pleasure, can you explain it? If you start checking according to all kinds of tests, you won’t feel a difference in body phenomena, in your tissues or nerve system, you won’t feel any difference whether it’s pleasure or pain. You feel something happening but pleasure or pain depends on the way it contacts your brain with the goal you are aimed to, who’s enjoying and so on, and it doesn’t depend on the bodily phenomenon. That's why we need to try and first of all connect ourselves to the goal and then all the states that we feel that we go through, we will be able to ascribe them to the Creator correctly. There is no evil in the world, no bad only good.
S (02:25:57) We said at the beginning of the lesson that we can do a workshop. Maybe we can do a workshop?
R. A workshop according to this article is something huge. The article is long and it has a lot of information in it. It’s something we have to prepare. If you want, maybe prepare a workshop today according to this excerpt and we’ll do it, according to this article – we’ll do it. To prepare a workshop is not simple for this – there’s a lot of questions – but it’s good. There's a lot of information here that you can ask about and discuss. Try and organize a connection between you, a workshop on what you can ask and what we can discuss between us, and that's how we advance.
R. (02:27:43) I’ve got a report that we have 1362 men and 675 Women so we have many women along with us. You decide until the afternoon and then we can have a big workshop in the afternoon lesson about this article. I’m not against anything you decide.
S. (02:28:29) We heard that the Creator relates to the deficiency like some sort of a game, do we need to also try to develop this kind of attitude towards deficiencies?
R. The deficiencies are important on one hand, on the other hand they aren’t because deficiencies awaken only so I, through them will aim the pleasure towards the Creator, fill the Creator through working with the deficiency. Meaning the deficiency is just a reason, a feeling in Malchut that I can aim all the actions to the Creator, to the Keter. So that's why obviously we live through the deficiency, but to uplift above that deficiency and to see it as a means and not the essence, that is our work, that is the difference between a beast, still, vegetative, animal and man who wants to resemble the Creator. He takes the deficiency and works with it as a means to bestow to the Creator. By that he uplifts above nature.
S. (02:30:20) I am breaking my mind and heart all the time about how we can't communicate the message to external people about the importance of spirituality. I'm asking a Kabbalist. We are in The Last Generation. Kabbalists in the past wrote that if people knew about the pleasure in the spiritual world the picture would be totally different. What can we communicate of the pleasures from the spiritual world so that people will begin to walk in the path of truth?
R. We explain that if we attain the spiritual world we can manage our life without mistakes, in the best convenient way. That we can manage ourselves, manage our world as we say, that we can bring ourselves to a state, a nice, good state in this corporeal life, in this world, and also after we die. Man has no other place, a secure place, a safe place, also to supply himself with the correct entrance to the upper world or the opposite. As it is written, you will see your world in this life. That we attain, not completely, but we start to attain the existence of a soul without a body. The body exists but we are making restrictions on it and can somewhat overcome it. That is why we already attain the existence above the body. It's not given to regular people, only through Faith above reason. We learn about it and we want to implement it. I don't think you can really explain it but try.
S (02:33:07). What comes before the day of the Lord?
R. The Night of the Lord comes before, that you have darkness before the light, it all starts from the darkness. There will be night, there will be day, as one day as it is written in the Torah. That's why we need to understand that in attaining night in our life that we have nothing in the corporeal life, and nothing in the spiritual life and we need the state that we need to reach the day. And the day means that we start knowing creation, we know the Creator, everything. We know our state where we exist all together. Let's discover that and for us it will be the day of the Creator. We can all be there in that state, men and women, let's try. For now, I'm saying goodbye and I'll see you in the afternoon lesson all the best to you all and have a rest.