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

Daily Morning Lesson: June 19, 2026

Part 1: Concerning the Slanderers. Rabash. Article No. 18, 1985.

Reader: Hello, dear friends! In the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from April 24, 2002, based on the article Concerning the Slanderer – The Writings of Rabash, Concerning the Slanderers. We'll read the article together in the Ten, we have twenty-one minutes to do that.

Reading: (00:43) Concerning the Slanderers

Article No. 18, 1985

It is written in The Zohar (Bo, item 1): “Rabbi Yehuda started and said, ‘Happy are the people who know the cheer.’ See how people must follow the path of the Creator and keep the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah so that through it they will be rewarded with the next world and be saved from all the slanderers above and below. This is so because as there are slanderers in the world below, there are slanderers above who stand ready to slander people.”

We should understand what are the slanderers below. This is understandable with regard to the above, that if we want to give something to a person, slanderers come and complain about that person saying he should not be given what he is about to be given. But below? This begs the question, “Before whom are they complaining about the person?”

We should interpret that the slanderers come to the person himself. If a person wants to go by the path that ascends toward bestowal upon the Creator, slanderers come and tell him: “The way of bestowal is not for you; this way is suitable only for a chosen few, with special qualities and talents, brave hearts, strong, and who are able to overcome. But not you, for you don’t have the qualities of those above the common folk. Therefore, it is better for you to dwell among your own people, meaning follow the path of the general public and not aspire to be exceptional.”

In that regard, Rabbi Yehuda comes and tells us the verse, “Happy are the people who know the cheer.” RASHI interpreted that they know how to appease their maker. How do they appease Him? By Him pouring abundance upon them. Rabbi Yehuda interprets about that that they must go by the path of the Creator and observe the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah.” We should understand what are the “ways of the Creator.” The verse comes and tells us about that, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways.”

That is, only above reason can one walk by the path of the Creator. But within reason, the body itself is his slanderer and accuser, making him understand that the path of bestowing upon the Creator is not for him.

By this you will understand the verse (Exodus, 23): “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the words of the righteous.” We therefore see that when one comes to scrutinize the order of his work and sees the conditions required of him, he decides that he cannot take upon himself this path, which is the work of bestowal, for two reasons:

1) He is not one hundred percent certain about the reward for the work, since he does not see anyone who has received the reward for which he labored. That is, when he comes to criticize people who he sees that they did toil and tolerated the conditions of the work, he sees that they really did make great efforts. However, he does not find that they have already received the reward for their work. If he asks himself why they did not receive reward, he comes up with a great excuse: One who keeps all the conditions of the work certainly receives reward. However, they made great efforts, but not the one hundred percent required of them. This is why they are in a state where they believe He is ejecting them (from the work, for they believe that they are right and the work of bestowal is not for them).

2) At that time a second question comes up: “Who knows if he will be more capable then they are, and he will be able to give the full one hundred percent required to be brought to Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator?”

After those two reasons he decides that he is one hundred percent right in not wanting to take upon himself this path, which is built on faith above reason and on the basis of bestowal. He is so certain that he is right that he is sure that no one can criticize his unwillingness to take this path.

Accordingly, there is a question: “Those people who did commence on this path, who have taken upon themselves to walk on the path of bestowal, how did they overcome those questions?” Certainly, when one is told, “Go work, but not in order to receive reward,” immediately asks all these questions, since these questions give one no rest. Thus, by which force could they emerge from the state of questions, which are called “evil waters”?

The only way is to go above reason and say, “What I see—that I am right and I must take the path that everyone takes—is not the truth, as I see it. Only one whose eyes are open can see the truth, but one whose eyes are not open cannot see the truth. When a person asks these questions he is biased toward his will to receive, since he is considering only the benefit he can derive for himself. Therefore, he can no longer see the truth. The verse comes and tells us about that: “You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted.”

Therefore, it cannot be said that he is right according to his view because he is bribed by the will to receive, so he no longer has open eyes to see the truth. Instead, he should say, “Although I heard all your correct questions, now I am unable to answer you. But once I have been rewarded with the desire to bestow I will have open eyes. Then, if you come to me with all your questions, I will certainly give you the right answers.

“But now I have no choice but to go above reason because all the reason that I see comes from the side of biasness. And although I think that all my calculations are correct, it should be said about them what the verse tells us, ‘distorts the words of the righteous,’ that I am unable to see who is right, meaning say that everything that must be done in order to bestow was not said about me, and ‘I dwell among my own people,’ like everyone else who settles for keeping Torah and Mitzvot saying, ‘I do what I must do.’

“Concerning intentions, this pertains to one who feels he needs it. I, for one, do not feel that I need to be smarter than everyone and I am content with less.” It was said about this, “distorts the words of the righteous,” but I go above reason.

This is the meaning of the great importance of “cleanness,” which is presented in all the books, that one must be clean before every Mitzva [commandment] one is about to do. And regarding cleanness, Baal HaSulam said that one should be careful that everything will be on the side of truth, and that no falsehood will be involved there. He also said that as there is a difference between people concerning keeping clean—there are people who make sure there is no dirt on their clothes, and there are people who are not so meticulous and the dirt is plainly visible, so they remove it. That is, it depends on the measure of loathing that one has for the dirt.

It is likewise in spirituality: No person is like another, and it depends on the extent to which one loathes falsehood. To the extent that he cannot tolerate falsehood, he comes closer to the path of truth.

He also said that we must know that this dirt in matters of the soul is the true harm-doer. Since the soul is eternal, one should be very careful with falsehood and keep one’s truth clean from any manner of falsehood.

By this we will understand what our sages said (Shabbat 114), “Rabbi Hiya Bar Aba said, ‘Rabbi Yohanan said, ‘Every wise disciple who is found with a blemish on his clothes must die, as it was said, ‘All who hate Me, love death.’ Do not call it ‘hate Me,’ but ‘cause to hate Me.’ RASHI interprets that ‘cause to hate Me’ means that they make themselves loathsome in the eyes of people, and the people say, ‘Woe unto the disciples of Torah for they are loathsome and dishonorable.’ It turns out that they make the Torah loathsome.’’”

Superficially, this is difficult to understand. If he has a blemish on his clothes, does he deserve to die? He brings evidence from the verse, “All who hate Me, love death.” Here, too, we should understand: If he hates Me, is this a sign that he loves death?

According to what we explained above, that cleanness pertains to the need to be clean, so there will be no mixture of falsehood there when he wants to walk on the path of truth. Truth is called Lishma [for Her sake], as Maimonides says (Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 10), “One who works out of love, engages in Torah and Mitzvot, and follows the paths of wisdom not because of anything in the world, or because of fear of harm, and not in order to inherit goodness. Rather, he does the truth because it is the truth, and the good will finally come because of it.”

Therefore, it means that concerning finding a blemish in his clothes—which are regarded as clothes within which one receives goodness and life—they must be cleansed from any mixture of self-love, and be only for the Creator. According to this we will interpret “All who hate Me love death.” We asked, “Why does the verse say, ‘All who hate Me,’ meaning the reason he hates Me is that he loves death?

According to the above, this is simple: The meaning of death is clarified, since precisely one who is adhered to the life of lives has life. But one who is separated from Him is separated from life.

This is why it was said, “All who hate Me,” meaning who do not love the Creator, to work only for the Creator, but mix there a little bit of self-love, and self-love is death because it causes separation from the life of lives. For this reason, one who loves death, meaning self-love, becomes hateful of the Creator because of it.

RASHI interprets “cause to hate Me” to mean that they make themselves loathsome in the eyes of people. People say, “Woe unto the disciples of Torah, for they are loathsome and dishonorable.” It follows that they cause to hate the Torah.

This is difficult to understand. If there is a stain on his clothes, is he already loathsome in the eyes of people? And also, does the Torah cause people to hate the Torah so much that for this he deserves a punishment of death, as our sages said, “Every wise disciple who is found with a blemish on his clothes must die”?

In the work, we should interpret that “making themselves loathsome in the eyes of people” means one’s own organs, desires, and thoughts. Man’s body is called “a world in and of itself.” The organs of the body say, “Woe unto them who study Torah, for they are loathsome.” But it is written, “For they are our lives and the length of our days,” and they are “More desirable than gold, then much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb,” but we don’t see this with our disciples of Torah.

The reason why we do not see all those precious things in disciples of Torah is that there is a blemish on their clothes, meaning that there is self-love mingled in our disciples of Torah during the work. It follows that this blemish causes the good and the life in the Torah not to be able to clothe in these clothes, since they are not clean where everything is for the Creator. At that time the “people in our body” fall into despair. It follows they are causing them to hate the Torah.

That is, where the disciples of Torah should have revealed the preciousness of Torah, as it is written, “For it is your wisdom and understanding before the eyes of the nations,” here they see the opposite. And who caused all this? It is all because they were not careful with cleanness, which is called a “blemish.”

By this we will understand why he must die if there is a blemish on his clothes. It tells us that that blemish that he makes in his clothes separates him from the life of lives. This is why this is considered that he is compelling himself to come to a state of death. And it is all because he was not careful with cleanness, but falsehood, called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] was mixed into his work. Rather, everything must be for the Creator. 

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Reader: We'll go to the lesson from the date the 24th of April, 2002.

M. Laitman: (20:44) The article, Who are the Slanderers? Rungs of the Ladder, Volume 2, page 71. Who are the slanderers? Adam HaRishon – Adam, the first – that is the soul or root of all the created beings; it went through a spiritual crisis, a shattering, shattered, divided into thousands of billions of sparks. These sparks come and clothe in the bodies in this world, what does it mean? The clothing of the spark, the ego, the ultimate and final, on the final degree, that is called the beastly body, our body, our body, and then, a person in this world receives a spark. How can he grow it? How can he work with it? That spark needs to work within the person, it's not that the person works with the spark. How does the spark work with the person? This spark is an outcome of the shattering of Adam HaRishon meaning this is his corrupted vessel. In this spark exists all the information, all the shattered qualities, everything that exists in the great vessel of Adam. He has, as we say, a chain of records which, one-by-one, have to bring a person to the end of correction meaning to return in a corrected form to his roots in the general Adam HaRishon where he was. 

How are these stages revealed that we need to follow? They are revealed in the form of slanderers, meaning because our vessel which is in us, to begin with, is corrupted. And each time, according to demand, according to the correction where we make corrections from the easy to the hard. Another slanderer is revealed and another and another meaning another corrupted quality and another corrupted quality and another. And if a person goes over all these qualities in the right way, above reason and why above reason? Because this is what the slanderer tells him, he tells him, you need to use the will to receive in order to receive and to make sure that in this vessel, in the intention to receive, you’ll receive the fulfillment because the slanderer was once corrected, in a corrected form, and now he took on a corrupted form.

M. Laitman: (24:12) How can a person work with that slanderer to transition to the corrected state? He needs to add to that slanderer a screen, an intention in order to bestow – for us, this is called, above reason. For us, this is called, above reason meaning that over every interruption, it's really assistance; so every such thing that floats up, bubbles up into his consciousness, a person has to overcome and to say, Great, I'm happy that this opportunity came to me to work on this interruption. And I have to go above it to bestow, meaning, despite this interruption, to continue on my path towards the goal. This is very similar to what we see in illness. In a disease, we see all sorts of symptoms, symptoms. Indications, what is it? Tasminim is the word in Hebrew, Tasminim, right, from TES, he says, right. When we see that, we can understand that these things are opposite to good health. Accordingly, we go and take care of it to return these symptoms to their corrected situation, corrected state. It's the same thing, here, really; meaning, the cure, healing, has to be—it has to take into account these symptoms and to go above them, above reason. Why, above reason? Because until I have the intention, or rather so long as I have the intention in order to receive which is called the slanderer, I cannot see anything. And so healing needs to be such that even though I don't see, I walk in the corrected form. By advancing in the corrected form even though I can't see, I drop on myself surrounding light and it brings me good health, it brings me the power. It brings me the strength to truly advance and correct myself and to reach the corrected state. 

There are a few other disruptions here, other than that slanderer that keeps popping up in me, seducing me, so-to-speak, giving me bad advice. There are slanderers which seem to give me good advice. The problem, the biggest problem, is not that thoughts come and I see them as foreign to my path – then, it's not a problem anymore, it's, as we say, if we have a diagnosis, this is already a very large part of the healing process. It's not yet healing but it's a significant part of it. The true recognition of the evil when we know the cause, the reason, what everything depends on, maybe that's even the main part. And, afterwards, we just need to find the right medicine, if it exists. A very significant part of the money, the investment, goes towards correctly diagnosing the issue, many x-rays and examinations and thousands of things. Our problem, it's not that a person discovers the slanderer, it's when he doesn't discover the slanderer because the slanderer is coming to him in a good way. 

M. Laitman: (29:00) The issue is that because we are looking at the world from the will to receive always, the will to receive automatically, subconsciously, always manipulates things such that it's as if they're to one's benefit. He doesn't see them as bad things but things which will ultimately be good for him. We don't think, we don't suspect the world to be bad for us. We think that, Okay, we get some kind of punishment, some blow that's awful to us, we never expected this – why do I deserve it? We don't think about the bad as we think about the good because we are always attracted towards the good, naturally, from the will to receive. So, our problem is that everything that happens around us, we interpret to be to our benefit and that is a great obstacle. We cannot be objective, independent of the will to receive because if we were truly, completely, absolutely free in determining our position, we should have determined that everything that happens around us, within us, is actually to our detriment because we are the will to receive. This whole cascade, everything that happens to us, this process of development, is to the detriment of the will to receive. It's to prove to it that it has to develop towards the opposite, towards holiness in order to bestow. If a person interpreted all these things that happen as not being to his benefit, that he needs to watch out, that he needs to check, double-check why this happens and that happens, he would have reached the purpose, the goal, very quickly. But now, he just thinks that everything is moving towards the good and he fails in this again and again and it causes him to forget. 

I've been speaking, the last few days, with people, Israelis are in a state of euphoria! We already solved the issue, we destroyed a few ammunition stocks, dumps – we did this and that, it's done! I look at people, each and every one feels relief as if it's done. Now, investments will come again, tourists, everything will work out fine! We'll hit them a bit more here and there, the Arabs that hate us. But they don't take into account the source of the problem, who it is that sends them, that's the Creator. Nothing, we think it's all being worked out already. People don't want to hear about anything—Never mind your Zohar, your Kabbalah, I can get along just fine without it. A person interprets everything as happening to his benefit, he doesn't think about how this time was given to him in order to make haste as much as possible. And he's just not ready to be in that process of change, to change the world, to change his ways. To draw, through him, a light into the world, to be a light unto the nations, no. This is all rooted in the will to receive, interpreting everything to be to one's benefit, causing forgetfulness through that. And everything that one feels, well, it wants to prove to you that you feel good now, you see? It's good for you with me, that's what the will to receive tells a person, it's good for you with me, so stay. 

If a person agrees with that and doesn't go above reason against this slanderer – because against the slanderers, we can only go above reason – only to take into account the purpose of creation. As he says, Israel, the path of the Torah and the Creator are one so the goal is just the Creator, that's it. Everything in the middle, you need to see either as an obstruction or as some form of assistance; but in truth, everything is an interruption, a disruption. If a person doesn't see it as an interruption and is just calm, relatively – he sees it as some good thing that happens. He can't see in that slanderer the evil because of how he clothes, he has nice clothes, good clothes, right, it's very bad. 

M. Laitman: (34:03) Now, we feel that we are in a quiet time. This is maybe even more damaging than the time when we were truly in trouble and crying. We don't understand this. It's not for nothing that it's written that you need to thank, to offer thanks for the bad as you do for the good, as both bring a person closer to the purpose. After this explanation, it's clear to us what brings us closer, more. So what a person should be, should be offering blessings for? More. The matter of the slanderers as he writes here is very deep, very deep, it's simply, it's daily work. That we get stuck with, we're confused, we cannot distinguish – we cannot tell if this is a slanderer or maybe this is the Creator treating me well. It can't be the Creator treating me well, it cannot be, it's only through my corrupted system. So, it cannot be that I will receive something good today because I am in the will to receive. Good means through a screen, receiving fulfillment through a screen: The Creator satisfies me, fulfills me in my uncorrected vessel, if I have no quality that can bestow, that can work in order to bestow upon the Creator through equivalence of form with the Creator, it cannot be that I'll get anything good from Him. If I feel good, it's coming through the shells so a person has to relate to everything that he feels and thinks as coming to him through the shell. Therefore, the slanderers are actually, it's only they, it's only them around me that I'm constantly in contact with, engaging with.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:13) What is the light of holiness? 

M. Laitman: The grace of holiness the person receives, that's an outcome of the surrounding light. He's been advancing for a while towards a state where he wants to discover the Creator within each and every slanderer. There, inside, he has this meeting with the Creator if he goes above reason, if he wants to discover that the Creator is there. Then, gradually, he receives this grace of sanctity, what is the grace of sanctity? Where even through these obstructions, he begins to feel that by inverting these obstructions, he can reach holiness. Then, this grace of holiness or sanctity reaches him, it's truly an illumination from above. Meaning, it seems to the person that in his life, he doesn't have so many moments of connection to spirituality. But spirituality is always in front of him, it just arrives in the form of the slanderers through such clothings, concealed. But, in truth, it's always, all the time, every thought, every desire you have, everything you have now; in all of it you can begin to discern what form it's coming to you in and in what way this is directing you to contact the Creator, through what interruptions. The slanderers, it's a great disruption but if a person knows how to work with it, that's all our vessels. 

Now, I have Taryag – corrupted vessels – each one of them can manipulate me, this is according to who I am, what I am. It relates to the soul, the structure of the soul, yes, and all these qualities, the Taryag qualities that I have, these are the organs and limbs of the soul, as we call it. In the corrupted form, they now give me this or that, they give me a feeling of pain, a feeling of sickness. But if I see that this is my sickness and I look for ways to heal it, this organ, for a way to assemble a screen over it. How to draw to it a certain illumination – I'm not talking about Lishma beyond the barrier – but in some way, to relate to it correctly. Gradually, in that way, I take care of all the symptoms, all the symptoms, yes, of the disease, I relate to my structure, my formation correctly. We need to understand that these slanderers are actual organs of my vessel, parts of my vessel. In their corrupted form, I'll correct them and they'll turn into assistants, turning one's enemy to one's friend, that's what the person needs to do.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:46) A symptom that is unpleasant, then he draws attention but a symptom that is for the ego? 

M. Laitman: That's what I'm talking about: the pleasant symptom. It gives us a feeling of calm, everything's fine, everything's great. Why are you shouting that, God forbid, soon we'll be annihilated? You see, everything worked out fine, the Creator turned everything to our benefit so let's continue living our lives. They don't see that there is a goal to this. That as the evil was shown to us, now we're being shown an even greater obstruction. Then, it was clear to you that you need to flee but now it's not clear to you, this is a much worse state. The concealment is even greater; then, the concealment was—it could, very directly, through the shortest path bring you to spirituality, right—the danger of annihilation. Now, there's no danger, it seems, everything's fine, you were pushed into a much worse state. You were pushed backwards, now, you feel that everything is working itself out. It's a much more refined, improved slanderer, much more cunning, that's now at work. The naive person thinks, God bless, I don't need to do anything anymore. By this, are you ridding yourself of the task to bring this certain thing to the world, to be a light unto the nations? You didn't solve anything, meaning, after such a thing, God forbid, God forbid, but an even greater blow will come. If you don't use, as with the previous slanderer, if you don't use this slanderer as well, if you don't use it, correctly, meaning to go above reason. To feel that this state is at least as bad as the previous and even more because, now, I'm weakened and I have no choice here. I'm too relaxed, weakened, and this is very dangerous. In this, I add the component of time, and time works in such a way where if I don't use the blow now for the purpose of healing, for good, then the next blow needs to be much greater and much more painful – it's also because I'm in a weakened state, relaxed, I think that it's over already. Everything now needs to be good, that is the issue of the slanderers, it's a very major thing. We need to look at our entire lives, our entire lives as clarion calls from above, right, announcements from above. All these announcements are actually purposeful, and not to pay attention to what I feel from these slanderers, not to be bribed. It's like a devious person coming to you with a smile, with a nice touch, all sorts of things. He's much more dangerous than the enemy that you could see from afar, much more dangerous, much more, it's a double concealment and, now, we feel in these days, quiet, no terrorist attacks, nothing. Now, we can sort everything out with Beith Lechem and in Europe, again, everything will work. We'll work it all out, they'll love us again, right? The situation is so—by this, we enter a much greater darkness. We agree with the shells and we begin to live in them. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:47) What is the matter of justification, the justification of the Creator in concealment? 

M. Laitman: You can justify the Creator only above reason, how can I justify Him? Justifying means, well, over what, with what to justify? If He does good to me, should I justify Him? That's over suffering. When I feel good, it doesn't mean that I'm justifying Him. When I feel good, my heart, in a subconscious way, when it feels good also feels some kind of gratitude to the one fulfilling it, that's how we're built. But justifying is when I feel bad and in that bad, I need to discover the purpose of that blow; and the purpose of the blow needs to be much bigger, much greater than the bad I feel right now in my will to receive. Then, I need to reach through that awareness, a state where I'm grateful for the blow, I treat it as healing. This is what you call justifying the Creator, Tzaddik, righteous. The righteous one justifies the Creator with all the suffering—for all the suffering he went through, all the transgressions and mistakes he made, that is called righteous—complete or not complete righteous but why is he righteous? If he's in the spiritual world and everything is fine and good, that makes him righteous? Righteous is above the barrier; because he's above the barrier he draws to himself the mistakes and transgressions he made and then he begins to see that he truly needed to justify them.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:45) It's not just to invert a state that's unpleasant to, seemingly, pleasant?

M. Laitman: Pleasant or unpleasant, that depends on recognizing the purpose of the blow. If I know that now, after the punishment, I'm going to get better, to heal, to get something good out of it, then the blow is considered healing, a cure. That's our problem, we don't understand that cure is bitter – the cure is bitter. It cannot be medicine unless it's poison. Our world, our world, our lie, makes the cure sweet.

Student: It's still unclear how it's possible to identify the slanderer that comes in a good way?

M. Laitman: How can you identify the slanderer that approaches you in a good way? I'll tell you differently: everything that comes to you, call it a slanderer, first of all. It's not that I recommend you be overly cautious. It's simply, that's how it is, you receive this life through your body, the inner body, of course, not the beastly body, that's not what I'm talking about, although that also. But through the corrupted body as a result of the shattering that existed and that took place in Adam HaRishon. If, now, you receive some disruptions, thoughts, desires – everything, everything that you receive is in the corrupted form that's opposite of the truth – if there was some uncorrupted form, rather, you would feel the Creator in that without a doubt, naturally, but we don't have it. The shattering was 100% on every vessel, every Sefira, even the most particular, the smallest. 

Everything you think actually stems from your will to receive, it's the opposite of correction. Now, how to discover that, here, there needs to be an illumination from above, sometimes, sometimes you do see it. After learning something, you see, the more you learn, the more you can discern, well, more discernments in states, in relations. From where does it come, from you just gaining knowledge – what does it mean to gain knowledge? You're building, by yourself, all sorts of vessels from day and night, right, from opposite things, from the friction, from what you learn in life. Then, corresponding to that, you feel an illumination from above and in that illumination, you begin to understand what it's all about. You begin to be a little more full inside, you begin to feel within you some kind of volume already where you can work with these qualities. You can attribute each and every thing to some quality, something within you, that is the future vessel that will be born. 

Someone who just arrived, he doesn't know what it's about, he can't understand any word because for that word, it enters the mind and the heart and the ear. But it has nowhere to go,nowhere to fall into, there's no volume there, still, where that concept can enter. Through much reading, a lot of learning, troubles, also, that you go through, most especially, then some void, rather, some space, begins to form inside and a person begins to work there in it. That's the beginning of the soul, slowly you begin to feel it, these qualities within, discernments. It's not yet a spiritual vessel but opposite that, it's something, something of the sort.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:14) How to use the ego to connect to the Creator? How to use these slanderers? 

M. Laitman: How can we use the slanderers in order to create a connection with the Creator? The slanderer is exactly a thought, let's say, through which you need to connect to the Creator. Let's say now I have a thought about a certain thing that's not so good. How can I, let's say, sleep during the lesson? I want to fall asleep, I need to understand that after I gave my body as much as it needs – let's say after five or six hours in the day – I gave it a little bit to sleep, I don't think you can function with less than five hours; anyone who does that is simply mistaken, he doesn't treat what he needs to. Five, six, seven hours, over time that cannot work, he won't have the mental capabilities to work, he'll just constantly be sleeping and that's it. So, let's say, after you give him this minimum demanded of food, rest, exercise, then he demands more, that's already a slanderer, that's already a slanderer, that's a sign of it. Or some thoughts of all kinds of beastly pleasures. In that it comes to you, that's actually nice, they give you seemingly, now, through that to connect with the Creator. The Creator reminds you about Himself, about the pleasure, that He is the source of pleasures through all kinds of dressings, clothings, because He has no other way other than through this broken vessel. If through that broken vessel you connect to Him, above reason, you don't adhere to the clothing that supplies you with pleasure, but you adhere to the source from which that pleasure comes out to the Creator ;and the dressing isn't important, right? The dressing itself doesn't give you pleasure but the source, that spark that you aim for the light and not the dressing. Then, you aim above reason, above that disturbance to connect with the Creator. Meaning every disturbance is not a disturbance, it's an opportunity for connection, for work. We need to trust that in which, in a certain situation that awakens in us, every disturbance that awakens in us, it's exactly in the order that we need to grow and to correct ourselves and to rise.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:33) How, in our situation, to be careful of this good slanderer? That good slanderer exists in us, he's good, he's advanced. It's good, he's interesting. Rav said very great things. 

M. Laitman: No, you're saying, Okay, I had a good lesson. I was happy with it. I understood something, I'm happy from that, I'm pleased with that. The question is, does that slander or not? We need to see the things that relate to Kedusha, to holiness and also the things that do not relate to holiness, to Kedusha. Here, there can truly be a mistake, a person cannot live out of the negative, he needs to live out of the positive. But his positive needs to be—there's a positive in the Klipa and there’s a positive in the Kedusha – meaning if I'm enjoying study, it's permitted to enjoy the study. The Torah gives the person joy, that's why on Tisha B'Av it's forbidden to study the Torah because the Torah brings joy. We don't need to yearn for bad, but that the good that we need to yearn for will come through all the garments through the slanderers, what does it mean? That the pleasure will be from the goal because in his heart we feel pleasure. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:11) So the pleasure will come from the goal and not the clothing? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Ultimately we connect to the clothing. 

M. Laitman: If we connect to the clothing and if we find pleasure in the clothing, if we rise above that, then we've adhered to truth. What pleasure do I need to adhere to the Creator? Only reflected light; that I'll just have this thought that I only want to receive good from Him but from You, not from anything else, from the connection with You, Lo Lishma but direct Lo Lishma – I love you, I want to be connected with you in the simplest way possible until it doesn't let me sleep. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:01) Can a person really calculate this properly? 

M. Laitman: The more we can create true calculations, then we will know through every true calculation, then we'll see how much we were mistaken beforehand. But, in any case, that search, that scrutiny is called the time of preparation. We are not required to be truly genuine or truly great, rather as much as possible according to your present state, like a baby or a child who plays.

Student: The question is, are we required to see that we're not true? 

M. Laitman: What is required of us is to see how true or untrue we are, how genuine or ungenuine we are according to our degree. Certainly, when many people speak, it doesn't matter what they say. I understand from where they're speaking and according to what they agree, they are saying this or that, whether it is good or bad or how they think or how they determine a particular situation. So, each person speaks according to their degree. It's like a child growing from a young age to an older age; each time you see that their perspective changes. 

Student: Many times we talked about disruptions, always with a negative example. My boss talks to me about something, my wife, God forbid, something with her health. It's always a disruption, a negative thing that comes to me from above. What are these disruptions in quotes, right, if they're good? 

M. Laitman: Pleasant disturbances mislead me much more than unpleasant ones because from the bad ones, from the unpleasant ones, I simply run away from them. Or maybe I manage to overcome them, but I see that that is the enemy, the enemy that is dressed in beautiful garments and appears friendly toward me, so that's truly terrible! Someone comes to you with a smile, they tell you—once, I read a book about spies back in Russia – it told stories about spies throughout human history. The most cunning spies were women, they dress attractively, they come with a pleasant smile. They approach you in such a way that they press on all sorts of points that seem completely unrelated to what they actually want from you. And because of that, they get what they want, it's this double lie: they wish you harm, they dress themselves up in a certain appearance and in a certain behavior. And that misleads you to such an extent that you cannot connect that woman with the enemy, with the hater, the slanderer, you understand? What could be worse than that?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:33) So how to identify the good slanderer?

M. Laitman: That is called a good slanderer – wait, that is called a good slanderer, one that appears good to you. A slanderer cannot truly be good, what's he slandering? He's slandering on behalf of the Creator, he really slanders on behalf of the Creator. He claims that the justice is with him, and that goodness is with him, and you're actually about to agree with him.

Student: So, it can be goal-oriented also, in the direction of the goal?

M. Laitman: Certainly in the direction of the goal, We'll be a great collective throughout the world, we'll make things good for everyone. I want world peace, let's make peace with the Arabs. You see, such ideas bring more harm than anything else; you cannot do anything against them, because their dressing is so deceptive that you're unable to tear it away. What can you do? To go above reason in the best case scenario, and destroy them. Well, didn't all those movements for peace, didn't they bring about all the losses that exist in the country today? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:09) If the slanderer comes with a disruption, where I try to deal with it externally as well as internally. How do I handle the internal interruption through the external one? When a disruption comes to me in this world, I need to take care of it on two levels: the inner level and the external level. I need to take care of the problem, so when I take care of the external problem, how do I not forget about the inner one? 

M. Laitman: To forget or not to forget how to overcome a disturbance, that is already the whole wisdom, the entire method. It includes books, the teacher, friends, Rav –  Everything that is in your hand and within your power to do, do – there's no single piece of advice here. There are a thousand pieces of advice, and you constantly have to run around and search. The scrutiny, itself, is your work because through scrutinizing you create new vessels. You don't need to – if you had an opportunity to destroy that entire building of the Klipa, you wouldn't gain anything from it. Because in the clash between the Klipa and the Kedusha, you develop new vessels, new discernments. 

Why do we then need to be these two opposite forces? Because only from between them, at the boundary, where there is friction between them, and you create that friction. So you extract discernments from there, like internality and externality, certainly, from that, you build the vessel of the soul. These two forces the Creator gives you, both the positive and the negative, they don't come at your expense. What is at your expense is that you extract something from both of them. These two forces, these two angels, collide with you, they clash within you, and you need to, through your understanding, place them opposite one another. And then, through your investigation, you begin to see the differences between them. And the differences among the forms contained within each one; and from that, you create a new vessel, new feelings, new discernments, and new tastes.

Student: The scrutiny happens when I can't do anything?

M. Laitman: You're not yet capable of doing it but you'll do it! Don't worry about it, you'll do it, these are things that cannot be escaped.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:10) When the Creator gives me suffering, and I perform scrutiny, and I understand that this is a punishment. How can I justify it if it hurts?

M. Laitman: The question is, how can I justify suffering? I cannot justify suffering. If I'm given a blow and I feel it as a blow, and then I say, Thank you very much for that blow, thank you very much – that would be a lie! That would be flattery and it's forbidden to do such a thing, what does it mean forbidden? It simply means that it doesn't act, it doesn't work, you're only lying to yourself, you cannot lie to the Creator, you can only lie to yourself. We see examples of this even in the still, in the holy still level, where a person behaves in such a way. In order to reach a state where one justifies the Creator and thanks Him, one must change the feeling in the heart. The appeal to the Creator is what the heart feels, and from the heart it, already, goes directly to the Creator. You do not stand between your heart and the Creator where you're able to wrap the feeling in your heart with something and then send it to Him. No, whatever's in your heart, He feels it, directly; therefore, you need to bring about a change in the feeling of the heart, there is no choice. It is true that you receive a blow, it is true that your heart feels it as a blow, it's true that the Creator feels what is in your heart. But the heart that feels a blow thereby blemishes the Creator, so you need to change the heart so it no longer feels a blow, you need to feel something else in the blow. How can it be? If you connect the blow with the goal and understand that through that blow you attain something, and you'll see that it's a blow that doesn't come from the Creator, but in his corrupted vessel, so then instead of the blow, you'll understand that the Creator is not a clarion call but there's this opportunity to connect to Him. So then instead of the blow, you'll feel a blessing, when is it possible to do this? Only when you feel the Creator and you see the entire system; before that, you cannot. 

Therefore, until we cross the Machsom, we're either complete wicked in double concealment or we're ordinary wicked in single concealment. But when we cross the Machsom, we begin to see and we begin to feel, then we begin to become righteous. We become those who justify the Creator. There are no tricks here, you cannot receive a blow and say, I bless you for it, you can't. In our world, you might be able to lie to your wall but here it doesn't work. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:28) How is it possible to combine this perspective where everything around, it's all slanders, even good things?

M. Laitman: Everything around me is a slander unless I connect it with the Creator. Whether it appears good or bad, it doesn't matter. Just take it and that's it, very simply, I don't look at it as being good or bad, I don't look at it in those terms at all. Whether my body feels good or bad, that's a lie. But you know, the things that are the worst for our health are often those that give us the greatest pleasure. I'm not allowed sugar but I love sugar. I'm not allowed meat or certain other things but I love them. In general, the things that are worst for our health are usually the tastiest, and the things that are best for our health have no taste. It's some kind of herb, like the spinach Popeye eats, things like that! I remember once when I was a child, I bought spinach from a shop, exactly like the spinach that he eats – it was spinach with salt, it was something terrible, and I forced myself to eat it! I remember that, thinking, So what, this is it? It's interesting how they turn it into a symbol of strength. It's very interesting, I recommend buying that and try to be Popeye – really, how he does that. 

So what do I want to say? It's forbidden for us to relate to what we feel in the body, we need to simply, very objectively, approach things good, bad, it doesn't matter. Until I connect it with the Creator, it's bad, this is called a goal-oriented approach. Israel, the light and the Creator have to be one! I don't care if it feels good or bad, only if I'm in a confusion that I don't think about it, that's something else. But if I remember that task so I don't look at good or bad, I have to feel the Creator through it. That, for sure, will be a remedy for a sweet lie or a bitter lie. It's a bit more clear what those slanders are now.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:21) If this is a result of the environment that each one is in the group, so how can they recognize it like a group slander?

M. Laitman: The group slander is the influence, the deceiving calmness on the group and each and every one; also, you can confuse the group and keep putting all kinds of things that will shake them up without any – it has to be a sportive atmosphere but with pressure and a constant attack. And that it won't be in the speed but constantly acceleration and acceleration and acceleration. As if you're pushing on the gas but a bit more and a bit more and a bit more, constantly, more and more on the pedal.

Student: And in what can you measure more or less? 

M. Laitman: In what do you measure? If your spirit is uplifted towards the purpose of creation, the goal towards the creation. There's nothing else for us to measure the rate of acceleration in the group, and also in the person, himself.

Student: Also, the Breslevim are uplifted all the time?

M. Laitman: I don't know what other people have, some kind of Hassidus, if they're uplifted, okay, whatever! I'm not going to go measure them, I know that I'm working, I have disturbances, I constantly have issues, whether personal or group, I'm talking towards the goal. And I have to go through them and to be constantly in a positive acceleration. To add speed, what speed, yearning, uplifting, importance, that's it; and then even more, those slanders awaken, even group slanders as a group. That, there's something in the group, either a thought or it's something that we have to that's confusing the whole group that you have to do maybe this or maybe that. And in that way, every thought or task, we don't connect it to the Creator. So then it's not worth anything, it's a disturbance, a group disturbance, that's why you can do many things and the benefit isn't a benefit. 

Student: There are things that still, when we do them?

M. Laitman: We can't be 24 hours a day connected to the goal, we disconnect, so we have to determine certain deeds that group actions. That, they will bring us back to the goal as quickly as possible every time. That there will be the most beneficial to remind me why I'm doing things. Just like he says about the study in The Introduction to TES, I think it's item 26 or 27; he says why do you study Kabbalah instead of Gemara, that it's a different clothing. But here what we learn, we learn about the actual actions of the Creator, and by that, we remember Him, we understand what we're studying for, we're more connected to the goal. That's the whole remedy, by that, we draw the lights; and in the other book we study about beasts, so that's what we remember: here, the Creator, and their beasts – about the damage they do. Meaning, the Gemara teaches through the negative, also about spirituality but it's built on the negative, and here, it's through the positive. There were great people that studied through the Gemara but who can do that? Okay, so, should we learn? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:10) We said that if we were to interpret everything that happens to us correctly, we would advance towards the goal much faster.

M. Laitman: Incorrect! I did not say that if we would interpret what's happening with us correctly, we would advance to the goal quicker, that's not right. We cannot interpret at all whether something is right or not, what's happening with us. We have to go above every disturbance, above reason, and if you start interpreting it, so you'll say, This happened because this and that, this happened because this and that. You'll go into all kinds of calculations that are false, and you'll never get out of it. Because you'll think that whatever happens around you are signs of the Creator for this and for that. You'll deviate from the path, you won't connect yourself with the Creator above these deeds. I don't have to enter each and every disturbance. When such a disturbance and then a disturbance comes to me, that's not important, I have to connect to the Creator above them, even though there's a disturbance. Let's say some anxiety comes about something. That anxiety was sent by the Creator, that even though I'm anxious I have to be in contact with Him until that anxiety disappears and I feel a connection with Him, calmness and peace. As a result of the connection with Him, I'm speaking about Lo Lishma, in a beastly manner. If I do it, then I've implemented what should have been; and then I don't care what disturbance exactly, what anxiety, what, how. The main thing is that I have to connect to the Creator. And the disturbance for me becomes just a springboard, I'm not going to go deep in it and try and understand it, that's not needed. If it is needed, it will awaken more and more, and then above that, I also have to go above it. I don't have to enter it. I never have to check the shells, themselves. I have to yearn for the light, and in the light that ascends, that another disturbance comes. It will come up and scrutinize in its appearance all the points I need, I don't have to be connected and immersed in these disturbances.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:08) How can I know that I built a correct connection, except for remembering that it comes from the Creator? How can I know that I built a connection with Him?

M. Laitman: How to know if I built a connection with Him or not, that's according to the results. Now I feel myself connected to Him, now this disturbance disappeared. Now I can think about having a goal, I'm speaking about Lo Lishma in a way that I feel good of it, right? I'm locked on it, I want to keep this thing, that's enough. If a thought comes – that because of this, I'm only thinking about myself, and where is there some kind of relation to Him? And should I relate to Him or respond to Him that I'm thinking about Him and not myself? If, as a result of that, more thoughts come, that's something else, so there's also a bit of Lishma there. But if it doesn't come, so it doesn't, that's a more advanced stage; I start feeling shame, supposedly, that I want to run from the suffering in order to feel good next time – I use the connection with Him in order to feel good. If as a result of that, a thought will come that I need to relate to Him in a certain way to give gratitude, it's not, it doesn't feel right to be such an egoist, that's already a mutual connection. Then a person reaches a state that he doesn't mind feeling suffering or anxiety, but as long as he's in contact with the Creator, then I don't mind whether I'm in suffering, just to be in contact with Him in order to cause pleasure for Him. That's already, there's a lot of stages in the way outward towards Him. Alright, should we study? It's a short article and we talked a lot. 

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Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson and what are we taking to realize in the Ten.