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

Daily Lesson (Morning), July 13, 2024. 

Part 2: Writings of the Rabash, Letter 76.

Reader: We are reading in the writings of Rabash, Letter 76. 

To my friend,  

I long to hear from you and from your family, in general and in particular.

“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to do them.” The holy Zohar asks, “Since he already said, ‘walk’ and ‘keep,’ why also ‘do’?” It replies, “One who does the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah and walks in His ways, it is as though he has made Him above. The Creator said, ‘as though he had made Me.’ This is the meaning of ‘to do them,’ as though you have made Me” (Behukotai, item 18).

We should understand what it means that one who walks in the way of the Creator makes the Creator. How can one think such a thing?

It is known that “The whole earth is full of His glory.” This is what every person should believe, as it is written, “I fill the heaven and the earth.” However, the Creator has made the concealment so that we cannot see Him so as to have room for choice, and then there is room for faith—to believe that the Creator “fills all the worlds and encompasses all the worlds.” And after a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot and keeps the commandment of choice, the Creator reveals Himself to him, and then he sees that the Creator is the ruler of the world.

Thus, at that time a person makes the king who will rule over him. That is, a person feels that the Creator is the ruler of the world, and this is regarded as a person making the Creator king over him. As long as one has not come to such a feeling, the Creator’s kingship is concealed. This is why we say, “On that day, the Lord will be one and His name, ‘One.’” That is, the glory of His kingship will appear over us.

This is the whole correction we must do in this world, and by that we extend abundance in the world, for all the bestowals from above are drawn by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to extend His kingship on us.

This is the meaning of Moses sentencing the people, as it is written in the portion, Yitro [Jethro]: “And the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. …and I judge between a man and his neighbor.” In ethics, “between a man and his neighbor” means between the good inclination and the evil inclination, to show them the statutes of the Creator, so they will know the thoughts and desires of the good inclination and the thoughts and desires of the evil inclination, and will know what to sort, as it is difficult for one to scrutinize alone if the good inclination is speaking to him or that they are the words of the evil inclination.

By this we will understand what our sages said about the verse, “‘Who is the wise man that may understand this? …Why is the land ruined?’ Rav Yehuda said, ‘Rav said that they did not bless in the Torah first.’ The RAN introduces there in the name of our Rav Jonah, and these are his words: ‘This verse is accurate—the land was lost because they did not bless in the Torah first. If it says, ‘because they left My law,’ literally, that they had left the Torah and did not engage in it, when we ask the sages and the prophets why they did not interpret it, for it is revealed and easy to interpret, they certainly always engaged in Torah. This is why the sages, and the prophets were perplexed by why was the land ruined?

Finally, the Creator Himself explained it. He knows the depths of the heart—that they did not bless in the Torah first. That is, the Torah was not important enough to them that it would be worth blessing, meaning they did not engage in it Lishma [for Her sake], and therefore slighted its blessing.” Thus far his words.

This means that the study of Torah and observing the Mitzvot is primarily in order to draw the disclosure of the light of His face downward. This is regarded as “the light in it reforms him,” which appears through the choice, and when engaging Lishma. At that time what Rabbi Meir said comes true—“The secrets of Torah are revealed to he who learns Torah Lishma.” This is regarded as His kingship appearing below, and this the meaning of “do them,” as though you are making Me.

May the Creator help us merit drawing and may the glory of the Creator appear over all the earth soon in our days, Amen.

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

Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, son of Baal HaSulam.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (08:40) Before we read Baal HaSulam's article, you told us that to implement, put this whole system into practice, that depends on our development. So, I ask, the commandment of choice, choice is what allows us to develop, right? That will truly make us attach to Him, to the Creator. To draw the light and to develop more and more, is that the correct thing I feel? 

M. Laitman: Yes, of course. Creator is our purpose.

Student: So, when we say the commandment of choice, at every given moment, I attribute everything to the Creator? 

M. Laitman: Right 

Student: And there's nothing else, actually. 

M. Laitman: There's nothing else in the whole world. 

Student: So, where's the problem, here? Why is it so difficult for us in every given moment to attribute everything that happens here, or in the world, in general, to the Creator? Why is it so hard? 

M. Laitman: The problem is the concealment.

Student: But we're told that due to the concealment, we have freedom of choice. So even more so, it should allow us to keep that commandment even more. 

M. Laitman: Correct but we're still on concealment.

Student: I tell myself, I'm talking to myself, I say, okay, there is concealment, there is concealment, but due to that, He allows me to make an effort, along with the friends, to discover Him more and more. And the effort to discover Him draws the light and that light corrects us, develops us more. So, where here is, you know, it sounds simple but where here on this path, where is the problem? 

M. Laitman: In the concealment.

Student: So, how do we work opposite that concealment? 

M. Laitman: We need to reach a state that we're relating to the Creator, supposedly as if He wasn't in concealment. That the whole world is full of His glory, and we attain it that way. And according to that, we work. 

Student: One of the approaches, I say that I need to believe that the Creator stands behind every friend. 

M. Laitman: That too.

Student: So, one of the angles of our work is it to really make an effort to apply that into our connection and to truly believe that the Creator stands behind every friend. Does that allow us to uncover our connection with Him? 

M. Laitman: Of course, that's the main thing. 

Student: That's the main thing? When you say the main thing, this is out of the hundred percent, how much is that? 

M. Laitman: That's what you start from.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:03) He writes that then we find that the person makes the Creator king over himself. Meaning that the person feels that the Creator rules over the whole world. That means that the person crowns the Creator king over himself. So, I wanted to ask, when a person crowns the Creator king over himself, how does that?

M. Laitman: He tries to see the Creator in every place, the way He controls all his thoughts, desires and actions of a person. And by that, he brings himself to a feeling that the Creator is controlling everything.

Student: So, if we take an example, just to understand it better: At your place of work, you see someone who is much more professional than you, on a much higher level,

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: it's very easy for you to place him above yourself, and to look at him as one who is better and to learn from him. You see that he is several degrees above you. So, the question is, how do we see the Creator as being on a higher degree? He's concealed so how do we see it?

M. Laitman: You try to discover, you try to reveal, even though He's concealed. That's why the wisdom of Kabbalah is given to us. And it is also called concealed, the wisdom of the concealed, because it reveals to us what is concealed.

Student: And how do we identify it because the Creator, according to what's written, according to what we know, is constantly talking to us, constantly giving us signs. So how do we develop this sensitivity so as to recognize His language, the ways in which He speaks to us?

M. Laitman: Because of the concealment.

Student: So how do you develop that way of identifying?

M. Laitman: We try, through the concealment, to see the Creator in every place, in thought, in deeds, in everything.

Student: Is there a connection between the ability to be sensitive, to identify the Creator. And sensitivity towards the friends in the Ten?

M. Laitman: I need, first of all, on my friends, to reveal the Creator.

Student: How do I discover, how do I do this work because according to my understanding, there's a connection, right? If I'm not connected to the friends, then I cannot be connected to the Creator, right? I won't see the Creator, I won't feel Him, nothing, right?

M. Laitman: Right.

Student: So how does the work on being sensitive towards the friends, if I'm now sensitive towards the friend, I make an effort at least, even though I don't feel so much. Through that will I manage to develop a sensitivity towards the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: All right. And the more, the people in the, the more different the people are in the Ten. So is it possible to develop sensitivity towards each one, although it's not easy. But if we succeed in that, we get to know the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:49) So we speak here about the concealment. And it sounds like that's a very important quality because if He were not concealed, we would not be able to adhere to Him. What does this concealment really offer?

M. Laitman: The concealment, on one hand, draws us, because it's concealed, it's unknown, it's not clear. He's in control but we don't feel Him, on one hand. On the other hand, we're in a state that because of the concealment, we're not chasing Him.

Student: Is it bad for us to chase after Him, run after Him?

M. Laitman: No, it's not bad, on the contrary, we need to be in a race after the Creator. But we don't have enough forces for that.

Student: But let's say He was revealed. Would that mean that I cannot adhere to Him, if He's revealed?

M. Laitman: You could adhere to Him because He answers all your desires.

Student: So, I wouldn't adhere to Him, I'd adhere to, in order to receive.

M. Laitman: Okay.

Student: So, is that the reason he's concealed?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Because if he's not concealed, I cannot truly adhere to him.

M. Laitman: Correct.

Student: So is it true that the revelation we're talking about is such that we need to build His image within us, within each one of us. And then that image will ultimately resemble him?

M. Laitman: Eventually, yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (10:03) What does it mean that they did not bless over the Torah, first, and then lost the land due to that?

M. Laitman: They didn't bless the Torah first, meaning that that wasn't the reason they got to such a connection between them, and they wanted to reveal the Creator. And in this way to keep going until they want to reveal all of reality.

Student: How do we then, in our studies, now? We read Rabash, or when we read Baal HaSulam, or some different texts. What does it mean that we’re bless by the Torah?

M. Laitman: We're blessing the Torah that the Creator's concealed in it, and through being drawn towards Him, we discover the Torah in all its actions; and that's how we reveal the Creator.

Student: Is that an action that we can take before we read excerpts or is it something that goes beyond that?

M. Laitman: Of course, it's through reading the writings, too, because the Creator's concealed in the Torah.

M. Laitman: As much as we search for the Creator in the Torah, the more we come closer to Him. But we discover him only under the condition, and according to the extent, we're connected between us as one man with one heart, in one desire. In that desire that we connect from all the desires, we discover the Creator, and in this way, we're obligating him to be revealed. 

Question (PT 22): (20:24) How can a person conduct a scrutiny by himself and see if the evil inclination is speaking to him? Or perhaps, if it's the good inclination?

M. Laitman: We try, also in the evil inclination, also in the good inclination, to discover the Creator.

Question (Women Turkiye 7): (20:54) How to see the study working for a person who’s reach is staged where he understands that the Creator rules over everything and no one else can help?

M. Laitman: I didn't understand the question.

Student: Today we're studying but we're not yet in attainment. So maybe she's asking, how will the study take place when a person is in attainment? How to describe such a study?

M. Laitman: When a person is in attainment, meaning he discovers the Creator, obviously, it's according to different degrees, according to questions, responses. But attainment starts becoming clear in him, not in his brain, but in the sense he reveals the Creator. And in this way he starts revealing for himself the upper world.

Question (H12): (22:06) How to work in a state where some of the friends in the Ten are giving a negative example opposite to worry, concern, and support. While some of the friends do show good examples of bestowal or support? So, how to work on our attitude?

M. Laitman: This is what every person gets, his environment. Parts supposedly pro, some con and sometimes the opposite. And that speeds up his development. Okay, more? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:04) So, through the Internet it was, but there was the scrutiny attempted. I'll try to delve deeper into it. It's written that “by way of ethics between a person and another, meaning between the good inclination and the evil inclination, to show them the laws of the Creator, so they know the thoughts and desires of the good inclination and of the bad inclination, the evil inclination, so as to know how to scrutinize, because it's difficult for a person to scrutinize by himself and see if it's the good inclination speaking to him or the evil inclination”. So, what are those scrutinies? Where are they conducted? How?

M. Laitman: We can't understand anything only from a thing and its opposite, meaning that if something is revealed, so it has to be revealed from its oppositeness, light from darkness, and the same way in everything; otherwise, we can't feel. Also, the first one, if something isn't revealed, against it, the second. That is the principle of our studies.

Student: He writes that it is difficult for a person to scrutinize that by himself, what you just said.

M. Laitman: Yes, because if he's in society, he sees in society, he reveals in society all kinds of phenomena that are for and against each and everything. And by that he is advanced.

Student: Meaning that I need to let my friends know about these scrutinies I conduct over myself?

M. Laitman: It's not a must but you reveal it anyway.

Student: It's written that they should know the thoughts and desires.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, they need to know.

M. Laitman: Yes.

M. Laitman: More?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:15) It's written here that the Torah was not important to them so much that it was worth the blessing over, meaning that they did not engage in it in Lishma, for her sake and so they would disregard its blessing and so on. What's the connection between not blessing the Torah and lo Lishma and Lishma? In lo Lishma there is no importance, how does it work?

M. Laitman: Relatively, lo Lishma compared to Lishma, obviously there is no importance. It's a degree that brings you to Lishma for His sake.

Student: So, our work, even in lo Lishma, is such that we need to bless and then we reach Lishma?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:13) Lishma also means for the sake of the Torah?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, the Creator's revelation will always be out of the Torah, always come out of the Torah?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:36) To work one opposite the other, King Solomon wrote to us about that. That the Creator made the concealment for us, and the concealment is not such that he is hiding here behind the curtain. Rather, there is a force of rejection called doubt and in the Ten, we contend with those doubts and so on. I wanted to put it in King Solomon's actual words: One versus the opposite the Creator made. So, as he made the concealment, He put all the hurdles there on the way to adhesion with him. That way, He arranged everything for us, one thing opposite another. So, it's a means by which to develop and we can see that in The Writings Of The Last Generation as well Baal HaSulam knows very well how to write such things as the article, There's None Else Besides Him, an article which is short and concise, clear. Yet he wants us to develop means and ways of thinking. He wants us to be independent.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:05) This article, this letter, from it we can understand that studying the Torah should lead us to a point where His glory is revealed over us. Meaning a person needs to reveal the Creator, so the question is, a friend who dries up doesn't feel the Creator in the study, what should he do?

M. Laitman: What does he need to do? First of all, of course, to come closer to society and to try to adhere to them as much as possible, to forget about himself. The main thing is to annul towards society. Then it's sure that someone can take him out of the state he's in.

Student: Another question about this. So, the train is moving, right, and those who hold on to it hold on and catch on. So, should there be some examination in the society by which people can examine themselves individually? Or maybe there should be a group of friends checking each friend to see what he's doing wrong in his study, why he's deviating from the path and so on?

M. Laitman: On the path we get everything; also, all these checkings.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (29:50) If possible, is there some special emphasis we need to think about when we study the letters, right? Because they're written different to the articles.

M. Laitman: Right.

Student: First time you read, it seems very intellectual, right?, he takes some text from here, some source from there, and interprets but I don't think this is the right way to go about it. What should the emphasis be in this study because the articles, it's easier for us. This needs some special effort, it seems.

M. Laitman: That's according to the way a person observes it. According to the way a person observes it, I have nothing to say. Obviously, it's a different form of writing and understanding, and an attitude between the writer to whoever he wrote for, but as much as we understand.

Student: How should we in the Ten connect better to the contents of the letters? 

M. Laitman: Usually, we need to put ourselves as the same person that he's writing for, and to try to feel ourselves as if we are receiving that letter from Baal HaSulam or Rabash. And in this way, try and connect to it emotionally, in order to adhere to whoever received it, the letter, and to feel what he felt.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:09) Is the revelation of the Creator something that depends on the degree of a person?

M. Laitman: Yes, only in that, the Creator is a force that fills all of reality and exists everywhere, there is no difference where a person is and how he even turns to the Creator. And everything depends on the deficiency in a person, as much as he wants to be connected to the essence of creation, to the center of creation. And according to that, the Creator is revealed to him, as much as a person wants to overcome, uplift, towards the Creator in order to fill himself from the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:33) If they don't engage in the Torah for her sake, they lose the land, that's pretty clear. The desire given from above will be lost if it's not used in order to bestow. But I want to ask about this idea he speaks of here, he speaks in plural, right? If all of you keep my laws, if all of you follow my ways and so on, and you all made them. So, what does it mean, in plural form, to keep the commandments, observe the commandments and so on? Is he speaking to the nation, do all the people have to do that, the majority or is a small group enough?

M. Laitman: He speaks in plural, it means that we're all incorporated in one another. And it doesn't matter if everybody performs some commandment or are connected, or also directed to the Creator. But all in all, it has to be everybody's tendency.

Student: So, for example, if in a group of a Ten, there are such friends who can be more directed towards Lishma, and those who are less so, we have all of them in the group. But if the group together engages in the Torah, does that mean that they're doing it together?

M. Laitman: Yes, it's considered as everyone doing it and each one does his own work, there.

Question (Woman Turkiye 8): (35:38) I feel that my friends who are more active in the work than me are closer to me, are closer than me to the Creator. One part of me envies them and the other part of me wants to support them. How should I deal with this situation? 

M. Laitman: You need to try and feel good envy between you. As it's written, envy, lust and honor raise a person from the world, take a person out of the world. So, envy is something very important. It's the first that works on us in order to raise us to a higher degree. So, we need to know the friends better and to see exactly how I want to be more than them, special, and so on. 

Question (Moscow): (37:05) The sum total of the constant connection between us is the acquisition of the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, a lack that fulfills, that’s what will appear?

M. Laitman: Yes, a person has to reach such a state that in all of his desires he wants to discover the Creator, to feel Him.

Question (Woman MAK 56): (37:57) How to choose correctly within the concealment so the place of faith is revealed?

M. Laitman: We just need to ascend from concealment to revelation with the help of the Creator. Meaning to constantly ask of Him to bring us closer to Him, and in that way we will overcome until we reach His qualities.

Question (Woman Moscow 18): (38:55) Can I ask about the first part of the lesson?

M. Laitman: What part?

Student: The Last Generation.

M. Laitman: No.

Question (Haifa 3): (39:18) The word work appears here several times, or rather blessing. What is a blessing and how do we find the blessing?

M. Laitman: A blessing comes from above to a person who wants to resemble the Creator. And that is something that the Creator Himself brings us the force of blessing.

Student: Is it not formed within the person?

M. Laitman: It is felt as something that awakens in man, but actually it is a blessing from the Creator. The Creator blesses man and then he feels that he is in that blessing towards revealing the Creator.

Question (Darom 1): (40:14) Can a person scrutinize something without drawing the reforming light?

M. Laitman: No, we cannot. Everything we get, we receive it from bestowal from above. 

Question (PT 6): (40:41) What does it mean that His virtue will protect us?

M. Laitman: That there are such forces from above that the upper one can pass on to us and by them we can attain whatever we want to attain.

Question (Woman Unity): (41:06) I heard that you need to run and chase after the concealment. How to feel the concealment at every moment?

M. Laitman: To try and discover what is disturbing and that will be over the concealment.

Student: Is it possible to feel the thin boundary between revelation and concealment?

M. Laitman: It is possible.

Reader: (42:12) We have another part to the lesson, so we'll continue to the next part. Let's have a little transition and then we read excerpts.