Afternoon Lesson. March 25, 2023.
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
The Work Is The Reward - Selected Excerpts from the Sources. #5
Reading excerpt #5. (00:17) “If a person calculates and says..”twice.
R. No, it’s the other way and lighter Mitzvot are easier to do.
S. Does a person have less importance for them?
R. To observe them you don't need so much of the greatness of the Creator, such a Mitzva is called a light Mitzva since its execution does not require too much greatness of the Creator.
S. If we need so much greatness of the Creator this is why a person is not in control here and it becomes harder?
R. Let it for the time being be according to your opinion.
2. S. (05:49) What are the light Mitzvot and grave ones if we are working in love your friend as yourself and it seems like it’s always the heaviest one?
R. No, it's according to how a person grasps it. It's like whatever appears to him as being a light Mitzva in which he can easily execute it, he doesn't need to exert too much to overcome his evil inclination for it or really there's a problem here, that he is not capable of overcoming himself in order to execute this Mitzva.
S. Here it is talking about a certain Mitzva from the 612?
R. Yes.
S. And we just don't know them, we don't learn about them?
R. Mostly it's towards the friends, love thy friend as yourself is the great rule in the Torah since it includes in it all the Mitzvot.
3. S. (07:09) The problem here is that it's impossible to know what is a Mitzva. I have read for two years and it still gives me pain. Sometimes I cannot see what the Creator wants from me of course, dissemination, morning lessons but I want to see what He wants with my own eyes. What can you recommend?
R. You need to reach love of friends and with them together to come to love of the Creator. That includes within it, inside this command it includes within it, everything, everything. That's it. If you carry this out you correct your will to receive from in order to receive to in order to bestow fully. If you start entering into all the Mitzvot that are written, in all kinds of books, then you will see it is pretty misunderstood and far from the whole matter of love of others and love of the Creator.
4. S. (08:41) How are we supposed to understand this discernment to study? Do I please the Creator or my ego?
R. That is exactly what is given in the Mitzva, love thy friend as thyself. Towards the Creator we can always be mistaken, therefore, before that we need to attain the love of others as there is nothing we can mistake with here. We have the group and within the group we need to come to a state of being as one in the group. Then we are certain that we have come to love others and the next degree already is the love of the Creator.
5. S. (09:50) The way we are working with this oppositeness, these light Mitzvot, they are a state when we ourselves are putting these situations upon us, we don't know where to look like it will be some critical amount?
R. No, no, that's not even for the calculation of a person. That is when the light Mitzva or a grave one that is according to our ego we can't check that and it's all not correct, no, no. We will learn for the time being all the Mitzvot are just towards the friends and towards the Creator and that is what we need to be aimed towards.
6. S. (10:45) Is there a discernment between a Mitzva and an offense?
R. A Mitzva is to perform what the Creator tells me to do and a transgression or an offense is to do the opposite of what He wants or not to do what He wants.
S. Is it part of the correction basically, in the attitude, in my attitude towards the Creator that I need to make an effort in every situation for it to be the same?
R. Well, let's say, you start and we'll see. The main thing is the correction of the desire where our desire that moves from delighting for oneself, enjoying oneself will be inverted and become in order to bestow contentment to the Creator.
7. S. (11:47) The study gives a lot of opportunities for a person to bestow and what I heard from this excerpt is that it is forbidden to say that this is more important and this is less, is this correct?
R. Correct, correct. We don't know what's more important or less important, what's more difficult or less difficult. It's all according to our ego that confuses us. We need to make the light one like we do the grave one.
8. S. (12:22) How can I guard the importance to serve the Creator for the friends? For me it is very difficult to perform certain Mitzvot. How do we guard the importance?
R. You should first of all think towards the importance, towards the friends, that’s first of all and if you do it all according to their desire, in order to bring them contentment from yourself, then you are already doing the right things and you are advancing towards correction.
9. S. (13:15) What does it mean to perform these light or grave Mitzvot?
R. It's not worthwhile to divide our Mitzvot towards others to light actions and grave actions but rather, we need to do everything in order to bring forth our ten with contentment, advancement.
10. S. (14:00) If the main Mitzva is the most important is love your friend as yourself, why do we have all the other commitments?
R. The Mitzva love thy friend as thyself includes within it all the Mitzvot and later on we will learn how that happens but certainly besides this Mitzva there's only the Mitzva of loving the Creator. To love the people this is where we start from in the ten and in them we reach the love of the Creator and that's all that we need because by this we completely correct our egotistical desire.
11. S. (15:00) Lately, after what we read now, I actually feel as if I reveal a lot of bad things within me. All of the Mitzvot that I thought that I did they were only for my own benefit, so what do we do with this? How do we start?
R. You still don't understand how the stages are explaining this to us. Leave all those things on the side and observe just one thing: love of friends. This is the first stage and the second stage from love of friends, come to the love of the Creator and then you'll understand in observing these two Mitzvot, these main ones that they include all of the corrections of your will to receive.
S. I thought that is what I am doing but suddenly it gets revealed I'm doing the opposite?
R. Well, leave that for yourself. You examine yourself with that.
12. S. (16:40) In the excerpt that we read he is giving us a certain procedure of how to check ourselves, to check if our intention is to serve the King or basically to serve ourselves. The question is what does our intention need to be before we are performing this examination?
R. That we want to bring contentment to the friends by this if we already reach that, then the next step will be to bring contentment to the Creator. By this we have completed all the Mitzvot the entire correction of our will to receive.
13. S. (17:34) Love of friends is that a light Mitzva or a grave Mitzva?
R. Love of friends is not a simple Mitzva.
S. How do I check whether it's a light or a great one?
R. We will learn that gradually, slowly, slowly but the Mitzva itself is not simple. It actually includes within it all of the corrections the person goes through, all of them. After that, reaching love of the Creator is just one more step.
14. S. (18:21) The Creator is inviting us to do these Mitzvot, so what do we need to do to accept all the limitations and opportunities, whether it a light one or grave one, we simply need to perform all the Mitzvot?
R. If a person is in the ten, then nearing the ten includes all the corrections for the time being; his whole correction. Also, even the love of the Creator partially enters love of the created beings; love of the ten.
S. Every Mitzva that the Creator gives me, I'm relating to it as a light or a grave one, it doesn't matter, I'm just performing it?
R. Yes, of course. A Mitzva meaning we are being commanded to correct our will to receive in this way that the Creator created us.
S. If I'm not making any calculation what kind of Mitzva it is then I'm on the right path?
R. Yes.
15. S. (19:40) How do I ask, what is the effort that each time happens when we measure the friends, whether he is making a small Mitzva or he can perform grave ones and that we value him more, what do we request? How do we request here?
R. To transfer all the Mitzvot to love of friends and then you won't have these ones that are bigger or smaller, that's it. The entire Mitzva of the Creator is for us to come to adhesion of friends, okay?
16. S. (20:30) You answered a moment ago to a friend, that from the love of friends it's another step and then we reach the love of the Creator and we need to understand that it includes, it's included in love your friend as yourself?
R. Love thy friend as thyself and then love thy Lord, your God.
17. S. (21:04) We are standing in front of the Passover convention and there's going to be a lot of meals and each meal demands a lot of duties and for me it seems that it's like something easy because we are doing it together. But nonetheless, I see that my ego is performing all sorts of calculations, rejecting the registration for it and things like that. What do I do when I reveal that my ego says it’s not right away doing it?
R. Ask the Creator to give you the forces, the strength, ask the Creator to give you the strength. And it's very difficult if we receive these things as Mitzvot. I know this from myself, how difficult it is to execute. If the Great One says to you, do it. If you are doing that calculation within yourself and it's not a problem but if you are being told to do it, then it becomes a big problem. That's why the Commander and the one who does is much more difficult than one who is not commanded and does.
S. I didn't quite understand. In the duties I need to do it myself to come and myself to do it?
R. Yes, that is very important. These duties you do before Passover is a very big opportunity to incorporate yourself within the friends and to to take from the heart a good and warm attitude towards them.
18. S. (23:23) How does this transition happen from the love of friends to the love of the Creator and what does it end with?
R. If we come to love of friends, then in this we start, after some time when we more or less conclude this Mitzva, we begin to feel within it also the love of the Creator. One comes out of the other.
19. S. (24:04) To take a duty, this is to do a Mitzva?
R. Yes.
20. S. (24:24) There are a few people out of nature that are doing things like the big one as a small one. We in the ten can decide that the connection between us, that we will give it its maximum strength and leave the rest alone and from there I get the second nature?
R. Correct, concentrate on that, concentrate on connecting yourselves to one connection and that will be enough in order to cover all of the Mitzvot and all the traditions and everything. It is written that way.
21. S. (25:15) How do we all together, come to a singular, to carrying out a serious Mitzva and to put in it the Creator?
R. The greatness of the Creator needs to be included in all the Mitzvot or deeds because specifically He obligates us, His greatness obligates us to do all kinds of actions of connection between us, connection between us etc..
22. S. (26:09) If we are carrying out a Mitzva what can pass us from that state of looking for a reward as opposed to us looking at that of serving the King?
R. Only the greatness that the friends give us in performing the Mitzva. Receiving the reward and the type of reward that we need to demand. Well, we need to demand reward, yes? As it is written, do and demand reward but what reward are we asking for? For us to have the powers to bestow.
23. S. (27:03) Carrying out the Mitzvot, we are feeling it as a light or heavy one and it happens out of each one's personal vessels, whereas each one as a personal feeling or a collective one of the ten?
R. This is an individual, personal, perception for a person, where he is. When he feels that the influence of the environment on himself it all depends on a person's feeling in what he does but it also depends on what environment he is in. It's something we will learn.
24. S. (28:05) In order to come to a state as one, to carry out the Mitzvot, how important is the participation of all the friends in the life of the ten?
R. It's important, it's very important.
25. S. (28:35) What to do if any action towards the friend seems very complex and internally everything is against all of this?
R. To ask for the Creator to give forces, ask for the Creator to give you the forces for this. Of course, we don't have any forces, we have no desire to do anything for the benefit of the friends but we need to ask for the Creator to give.
26. S. (29:25) I don't like my egoistic qualities in me but I like the spiritual inclination in me. And towards the friends in my ten, do I need to relate in the same way? Do I need to not like their egoistic qualities or do I need to accept them as a whole because everything comes from the Creator?
R. It is written ‘love thy friend, as thyself,’ so to the extent, in the same way that you love yourself and what you don't love inside yourself that's how you should relate to the friends.
27. S. (30:30) When we started learning ‘The Zohar' you recommended for us to relate to this like little kids, just to be fulfilled with what's written and this advice really helped us and now we are starting to learn Pticha: what advice can you give us?
R. We need to learn ‘The Pticha' as if we are studying a profession, meaning to write down, to inscribe here and there, just like you learned physics and math at school, that's how we need to learn ‘The Pticha.’
S. What about internally?
R. And then it will have an impact on us internally as well. We will also feel it. We will start to feel what it gives us, the words themselves, the text, the form will influence us and bring us to connection. In the connection we will start to discover what is happening with the system of creation.
28. S. (31:50) Carrying out a light Mitzva and a grave one: is it equal in the work of Lo Lishma and Lishma, so can we say it in this way?
R. No, we can't compare things that way. We will wait a few more lessons and then we will talk about that.
29. S. (32:20) Tell me please in any situation, whatever situation, I need to ask for strength from the Creator but what is our group work here? How do I feel that the friend needs this? How do we strengthen this, where can we help each other to ask for strength straight from the Creator?
R. In connection with what we would want for ourselves we should ask that for the friend.
S. How can we feel that the friend really needs this?
R. To feel depends on your persistence. It will gradually come to your feelings.
30. S. (33:09) If we reach a spiritual degree through our Mitzva then why can't we reach adhesion?
R. We can lose our Dvekut in a second, that's why we receive from above. The Creator gives and the Creator takes; that's how it happens.
31. S. (34:00) The month of Ramadan is starting [..]
R. No, no, one has nothing to do with the other. You can fast whenever you want but it doesn't come to love of friends, it has nothing to do with it.
32. S. (34:50) What does it mean to please the friends, does it mean that she needs support and I need to be ready to help her?
R. It could be.
33. S. (35:25) We start first from the Mitzva of do not do and first of all meaning to not harm the connection with the friends?
R. Yes, of course. First what you shouldn't do and then what you should do.
34. S. (35:55) I don't know what is important and not important in the study but in the work I am choosing what I do not want: Is this a correct approach?
R. Yes, that's usually correct.
Reading excerpt #6. (36:25) “When a person wants to walk..” twice.
35. S. (38:58) Is there a point to awakening the ten from the left side?
R. Sometimes yes but usually not. We usually want to awaken them from the side of the right, from the side of the importance of the Creator.
S. And if there's no possibility or there's no strength like he writes here?
R. Talk with the friends and find the forces.
36. S. (39:37) If I am asking for the friend and for the ten, for the ten to connect but beforehand I know that whoever is asking received first and this is, as if it corrupts my intention, it is not so clean. Is there something here or is it not so important?
R. The main thing is to come to a connection with the Creator and if you still have such thoughts and desires that you cannot purify it ,then let them accompany what you are doing. It's not too bad as long as you are constantly being drawn to the Creator and the connection with them.
37. S. (40:40) I want to understand what are the lighter Mitzvot and if you say love your friend as yourself it's impossible, it is against our nature and it is also not simple to nullify towards the friend or to give an example or to get a deficiency for spirituality?
R. No, but if we are talking about all kinds of corporeal actions and there we can divide them into easier ones and more difficult ones. Let's say a Sukkah is a light Mitzva, that's what they say. We will talk more about this.
S. The attitude to the friends, is it all not so simple?
R. Right, you are correct.
38. S. (41:33) How do we correctly form the intention for the reward?
R. The intention for the reward can only be in one thing: for me to have the possibility to delight the creator, for the Creator to be pleased from me. More than that, I don't want anything else. That is my whole intention.
39. S. (42:08) Before we start to study, let's say ‘The Pticha,’ my attention needs to be to understand, to ask the Creator for me to understand this knowledge or my intention is nonetheless to please the Creator and connect the ten even more. With which intention do I need to start the study?
R. With the intention to delight the Creator.
40. S. (42:50) How do I understand that the Creator is pleased and is enjoying, what is the indicator for that?
R. That's not important. We need to examine only our intention and the permission from the Creator. We don't need to receive, otherwise it will be in order to receive a reward.
41. S. (43:30) What advice can you give us when we have these great bodily things, sufferings and we don't know why the Creator is giving them to us?
R. Our work to begin with has to only be in order to come closer to the friends and to find there our place. And when we connect together there, this is what we need. To just come to connection between us and for us all to enjoy the connection.
42. S. (44:37) This article that we just read is: what are the dirty hands in the work? Is this my intention for myself?
R. Yes.
43. S. (44:57) My ability to bring contentment to the Creator that we get it out of raising His greatness in the ten. How do we develop this greatness of His greatness? What do we need to do?
R. What's demanded for you to do it was said about this from love of friends to the love of the Creator. To the extent in which you respect the friends you will be able to attain respect towards the Creator. That's it, so work on it.
44. S. (45:48) How do we keep the intention to bring contentment to the Creator and how to do it in every action in the ten?
R. If the friends want to keep some intention together it will be easy for everyone. Try and you will see how the intentions move from one to the other and it will be easier for everyone. The wisdom of Kabbalah, as it is written, is light, it is an easy thing, it is light as long as we do the actions together.
45. S. (47:24) He writes when a person wants to go on the path of truth we need to observe the Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow which we do. The advice for this is first of all to aim before the action to which reward we expect for the action that we are about to do. It seems as if there is something very egoistic here, as if I am going to do something for the benefit of the ten or the Creator. Why do I need to check with the reward at all?
R. That's correct and incorrect because you want to examine whether you are really working for the correct reward which is in order to bestow through the group to the Creator, that's one thing. And what can be less before you, that there are several opportunities, several possibilities, yes, so there is the matter of the reward and the reward is how much by something that you can do: that you make more contentment, greater contentment.
S. It's correct what you are saying but when I am going to do something for the benefit of someone then what do I care what I'm about to receive? I just want to do it to bring the Creator contentment. This is the intention, so why do I need to think about it in general? What are the rewards?
R. You are right but nevertheless, try to examine it.
46. S. (49:10) If I have self-hatred, how should I love the friends if I hate myself so much?
R. Think less about yourself and relate to yourself as to an instrument with which you can do something good for your friends and to the Creator and then you will have no other thoughts. Let’s say like hating yourself, for what? With what the Creator created in you to bring joy to your friends and to the Creator.
47. S. (50:15) Mitzvot are vessels which enable us to connect to the light?
R. Correct, correct.
48. S. (50:36) The Mitzvot, do they have a certain order even if we don't feel them? Or do we need to work first with the light ones?
R. Yes, don't worry, these Mitzvot in order to bestow they come to us in a certain order from above, yes.
Reading excerpt #7 (51:20) “If one considers what one receives..”
49. R. (52:43) Meaning that everything depends on how a person relates to what he needs to do. He can be filled with pleasures at all times and in all actions and in all the states.
Reading excerpt #8 (53:03) “When one comes and says that he..”
50. S. (54:49) Do I really love my friends or do I just think that I love them. How can I check that if it is really from my heart, that I really love them or just pretend that I love them, is there any sign?
R. How to check? Only through connection with the friends, when we discuss, scrutinize and check these things, then we understand more and more what each says.
51. S. (56:22) What is the spiritual scrutiny in the ten? A lot of times when friends ask questions you say clarify it in the ten. What is this scrutiny, this spiritual scrutiny that we do when a friend raises a question about spirituality and what is it in the ten, how is it expressed?
R. A scrutiny in the ten is considered that a whole ten sits and discusses a certain topic and each hears everyone and gradually these things are clarified out of everyone wanting to come to a connection between them and the topic that they are discussing now, it actually helps them be closer to one another.
52. S. (57:39) On the one hand when we work together the work is easy and on the other hand it says that we need to reach this outcry from the work, from this hard work. How does one coincide with the other?
R. We will continue to work and we will see how all those sides connect together.
53. S. (58:12) The last few years we went through a lot of huge changes in our Kli. Our women are participating everyday and you teach us that spiritual advancement of the women and the men is the same thing, that there is no difference and together with this, you and the sources explain to us that thanks to righteous women, Israel came out of Egypt.
We have a very special question: How important is it through the Passover convention to have a certain time for women together, for them to open their hearts and to have a common prayer and Gathering of Friends?
R. It's very important but I think if we do it, all of us together, in our studies, in our meals that will be good. And if women can't commit themselves to do in addition, let's say a couple of meetings a week during the week of Pesach, just the women between them, then we will be happy of course to support this on behalf of the men and it will be very strong and good.
That's what I recommend. A couple more gatherings from the side of the women if they can do it in that week of Pesach that will be excellent. We really hope that you will advance because thanks to righteous women we too will exit, we too will advance. That's why men need to try and help the women, in all that the women want to do during this holiday, to make it more a holiday of the exit from exile.
S. Does it add?
R. It doesn't just add it saves. It saves.
R. All the best to everyone. As usual we will see you in the morning lesson. Good luck.
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