Morning Lesson November 17, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 25, 1989. What Is “He Who Has a Flaw Shall Not Offer A [Sacrifice]” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Intro: (00:41) It's a tough question. First of all, to what extent can we see our defects, our flaws, and our will receive in order to receive, it's called a flaw, it’s clear. How to reveal it and how to know exactly where do we need to work, that's the question. The condition is relatively clear but in practice how do we scrutinize it, what do we do with it, let's see. 

Reading Article: (01:41) Rabash. Article No. 25 What Is “He Who Has a Flaw Shall Not Offer A [Sacrifice]” in the Work?

2. S. (35:03:) The heading is a person who has flaws should not sacrifice, and then I'm reading this sentence because he's missing faith. Because if a person had faith in the Creator who governs the world as the Good That Does Good and believes in the greatness and the importance of the Creator it would be impossible for there to be resistance on behalf of a person. Actually, what is the faith that he's talking about here?

R. Faith is the power a person feels when he has a connection with the Creator, and with the help of this power he can go against his evil inclination and take care of it so it won't disturb him, it won't be a separator between him and the Creator.

S. Meaning according to what he writes here we have to come to the deficiency for faith and this is the whole story here, is to how to come to that lack, that's our work?

R. Yes.

S. How do we do that, how do you come to such a lack that you will have faith in the Creator?

R. Search for contact with the Creator.

S. What's the process?

R. Through the ten.

S. Only?

R. Yes through the ten you need to search for my attitude to the world, to the ten this is called addressing the Creator.

S. What's the main thing in the work, I understand what you're saying in the ten, but what is the essence of the main part in the ten to come to that lack?

R. I connect everyone in the center of our connection, and I want to bestow all my feelings to it, all my heart to be there. 

3. S. (37:46) What is a blessing? He writes he needs to aim first his blessing for what he blesses, meaning what for is he giving thanks to the Creator that's called, that he didn't bless in the Torah first?

R. The blessing is the attitude to the Creator who allowed us to engage in the Torah, in the system in general which brings us to adhesion with the Creator.

S. He says that the left and right will not mix for him so to be cautious of that?

R. Yes.

S. How can that mix for us, what's the danger here?

R. Right is when I am constantly walking on the path of bestowal and never leave it, and left, is only in order to grow the right.

S. Why does he warn us not to mix between them, meaning you have to have this and that?

R. Of course you need the left in order to build the right from it but to pass from the left to the right and to grow the right.

S. He writes that a person should be cautious not to mix the lines in one another otherwise a person can't see the real reality of each line?

R. Yes.

S. Meaning what I understand from this is that you have to know where you are at any given moment and that is how you engage in the work?

R. Yes. 

4. S. (39:45) What is an action in spirituality?

R. An action in spirituality means that I turn to the Creator and I'm looking for ways to get even closer to Him.

5. S. (40:12) How to become a true student of the Creator and what do we need for that?

R. A true student of the Creator is one who annuls himself toward the group where he feels the Creator dwells, and he constantly wants to approach this reality more and more.

6. S. (40:43) How can you be refined, purified from blemishes that will be able to come to faith?

R. To be purified of the flaws we can do it only according to what he writes here that each time we check who do we turn to, what are we asking for, with what can we advance from side to side. The main thing here is that we don't lose contact with the Creator, and we hold ourselves forcefully to be in contact with Him. We don't lose the connection between us and with the Creator. 

7. S. (42:59) Rabash describes that when a person tries to do actions in order to bestow, he sees that his work is not in perfection and that state of imperfection is a lack of faith?

R. Yes.

S. Why when a person is working in order to bestow, he doesn't feel that he has wholeness in the work, is it because he has no faith?

R. Meaning, he is lacking vessels of bestowal still. It's good that he feels that he's lacking, and he has work to advance.

S. Why is it called, meaning he doesn't have perfection in the work meaning if he's trying to bestow and he feels there are flaws and not all his organs agree, and how does he feel this wholeness let's say, if he doesn't have faith. What does he have to do now if he feels these flaws?

R. Connect with the group. Without a group, we don't know how to approach the Creator. First of all, we need to locate all of these discernments in the group.

S. Then if he's with the group, what does he have to do then with those flaws that he feels? How do they feel, those flaws? How does it work and where would he get the force of faith from this? 

R. If he's in the group and through them he receives all the powers, through them he connects to the Creator.

S. What does it mean from the Creator?

R. The power of faith.

S. What happens with all those flaws that he has?

R. They're mitigated.

S. Meaning that he didn't have flaws to begin with only the lack of faith? Is there a difference between the flaws he has and the lack of faith he has?

R. He has a lack of faith but the flaws he's now correcting the flaws by completing them with faith, complimenting them with faith. 

8. S. (46:22) From what measure did we delight from separation to where we are preparing ourselves to come from a state where we're touching Him already?

R. The moment that we begin to work on the connection between us even when it's not entirely clear what is the connection, what is the level of connection, and what do we do with our connection, nevertheless, we are already advancing. We connect to that system called Adam and in it, we approach the revelation of the Creator. 

9. S. (47:28) It's written that the body needs to cancel itself and only work for the benefit of the Creator. What does it mean in our daily life?

R. It means we constantly need to see what to look for during the entire 24 hours, and how to increase the connection between us in order to increase the connection with the Creator.  

S. This is something that we only have to do with the friends or how is this expressed all together in life?

R. With the friends we relate to the world in the good we wish them all the best, but we have no way to connect with them and to work with them together, no.

10. S. (48:59) In the article Rabash says, “However a person should be careful not to mix the lines with one another or else he will not be able to see the actual reality of each line.” What does mixing the lines mean and how can we avoid mixing the lines?

R. We didn't learn about it exactly, so it's not recommended for us to get into it. The question is good and correct but out of place for the time being. In a month and a half will be inside the work with the lines. 

11. S. (49:56) It is written, “If a person sees that he has prayed but was not answered he must pray again.” Is praying again enough for the Creator to hear, what needs to change within us before this other prayer takes place?

R. All the prayers in our work are not for us to reach the Creator and for Him to hear us, but for us to hear ourselves, for us to perform a complete action by ourselves. Meaning that we will reach a state where the Creator will accept us and receive us. 

12. S. (51:15) You told the friend that faith and bestowal are the same thing?

R. Because of the quality of Bina. The quality of bestowal which is Bina is called faith.

S. What is in faith that makes it be called in order to bestow?

R. It's simply the quality of bestowal in the vessel, in the will to receive, and that is called faith. 

13. S. (52:16) It is some emphasis about the body overcoming its inclination and preparation for this article. What does it mean truly that the body should annul its entire being, are we talking about this physical body or the body of the ten?

R. The body is always the will to receive in the wisdom of Kabbalah, that's how we remember this definition, what else?

S. What does it mean to overcome the evil inclination?

R. To overcome it means to begin to work with it in order to bestow. You can't leave it, you can't escape it, you can't distance yourself from it. Rather you can only work from it in a different style, not the way I wanted from the beginning in order to receive, but restriction, screen, reflected light on all the states we're learning about.  

14. S. (53:52) How to nullify the flaw in the work of holiness, how to annul the flaw in the work of holiness?

R. To rise above. You have a flaw, and you have to rise above that flaw. 

15. S. (54:38) Does the Creator help us reach faith or when we come to faith does the Creator help us then?

R. We need to ask the Creator to come closer to Him, in the process of approaching the Creator we go through different degrees and different stages. One of them is the degree of faith, the degree of Bina. We yearn for that; we bless the Creator over that and that's how we advance. 

16. S. (55:51) What does it mean that the wise disciples are connected between them?

R. They're connected in their studies as one man and one heart.

17. S. (56:15) It's written in the article that the blessing of the Creator is not enough and that a person must make a very precise calculation in relation to what degree of the Torah and Mitzvot need to lead him. How do you make such a calculation?

R. It's not for us, we don't know how to do it and what this thing is made of.

S. Meaning, we need to just remain and bless the Creator?

R. We work in a general manner like small kids. 

18. S. (57:05) What is to bless the Torah first?

R. Before we begin to study our approach to the study of the Torah is in order to receive a blessing from above.

S. If you do it in order to do a blessing from above isn't that from the well to receive itself?

R. Well it depends on how a person begins to approach the study but nevertheless it's already something.

S. If I do bless first what impact does it have on this study, what happens then?

R. Then your study brings you to what you aim for in the blessing, you are trying to reach the degree of bestowal.

S. Meaning before I come to bestowal, I need to bless for the opportunity to even try to do it?

R. There are many states, gradual states but we can reach and carry out on the way to Lishma. 

19. S. (58:23) In the state where a person doesn't feel the taste in the work and doesn't feel that there's pleasure from it, the organs resist exerting. How does he move onwards, what does it mean he goes above reason?

R. To go above reason means to want to judge his state, the state of the world not in his vessels of reception but in vessels of bestowal, that he imagines as being adhered to the Creator.

20. S. (59:10) What is our role to try and rid ourselves of the flaws that are in us, or do we discover this or use this in the work?

R. We need to scrutinize our flaws, uproot them, and come closer to the Creator. To the extent we can come closer to Him, we begin to discover the light that corrects us, the light of Hassidim, the light that brings us closer, and glues us together.

S. Meaning that we need to praise the Creator for giving us and sending us all those who rise on us, yes or no?

R. Yes.

21. S. (01:00:26) American psychologist has a thing that if you talk to God, it's prayer, and if God talks to you, it’s schizophrenia. There are people who believe that they have an open channel to communicate with God, but we learn in Kabbalah that you need a Masach, a screen, and reflected light which could be attained with the help of the Creator only in the ten. How to convince those who have been weakened and left the group, and ourselves, that the time of the individuals has passed and only together we will be able to leave the servitude of self-love for spiritual freedom?

R. I think that according to what the world is opening up before us more and more, showing us its nature, it has to be clear to us that there's no other path but through connection between us and through that to find contact with Godliness.

22. S. (01:01:50) What should we pay attention to in the work so that we are assured that our work is done with all our hearts?

R. How can we see that our work is done from the bottom of our hearts, through the connection between us and the mutual embrace between us. That is that state from which the complete work has to come out, first of all, is the connection between us from the love of the created beings to love the Creator that's how it works and no other way.

23. S. (01:02:55) We have two questions about faith, the flaws that are revealed in Lo Lishma do they help us develop in faith above reason?

R. Yes.

S. Is enjoying the quality of above reason, is that an act of bestowal?

R. It's not an act, if I enjoy something it's not an action.

S. Is faith above reason the enjoyment of faith above reason is for ourselves the very fact that I enjoy faith above reason and is actually an act that I am giving myself pleasure?

R. Yes even the pleasure from faith above reason the pleasure from them Mitzvot from the commandment, we are to invert it, turn it toward the next degree, the next commandment, one commandment begets another commandment, that's what it's called.

24. S. (01:04:28) What does it mean to complete one's flaws with faith?

R. To complete our flaws with faith means that I develop the power of faith and through it, I can see more and more of my flaws, to such an extent that it's clear to me how to behave with myself and with the group in order to advance.