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

Daily Morning Lesson: May 15, 2026

Part 1: A lesson based on the articles of Rabash

Rabash. Article No. 39 (1990). What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?

Original lesson date: 02/06/2003

Reader: Dear friends, today is Jerusalem Day, so in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from the 6th of February, 2003, based on the article, Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy – or rather, What Is Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy in the Work. We have 33 minutes to read the article in the Ten.

Reading: (00:46) What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?

Article No. 39, 1990

Our sages said (Taanit, p 30b), “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its joy.” Taken literally, this is hard to understand. Certainly, there were many righteous who mourned for Jerusalem, yet Jerusalem was still not built, so how were they rewarded with seeing its joy? In the literal explanation, there are probably many answers to this, but we should interpret it in the work.

It is known that Malchut is called “Jerusalem.” Hence, when we say, “the ruin of Jerusalem,” it refers to the ruin of the Temple. This is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust” or “Shechina in exile.” In other words, a person should take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven and believe that the Creator leads the world with a guidance of The Good Who Does Good, since it is hidden from us.

Malchut is the one who gives to the souls and to BYA. Everything that comes from above to the creatures is considered Malchut. Thus, Malchut is not respected by the creatures because they do not see her importance, meaning what she gives to us. This is called “Jerusalem in its ruin.” In other words, where she should have been giving delight and pleasure to the creatures, and where everyone should have seen her merit, they see that everything is ruined in her and she has nothing to give, instead. It is said about it (in the Nachem [comfort] prayer on the 9^th of Av), “The mourners for Jerusalem, and the lamenting, ruined, degraded, and desolate city.” In other words, everything is ruined and destroyed, and this is called “Shechina in the dust.” Hence, when a person should take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, the body resists vigorously.

Thus, if a person overcomes and takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven although he sees no importance, and mourns for the importance of Jerusalem being so hidden from us, and prays about why Malchut has no importance, and asks of the Creator to raise Jerusalem from the dust it is in, to the extent that one regrets its ruin, he is rewarded with the Creator hearing his prayer.

And that man is rewarded with seeing its joy, meaning that it does bestow upon him delight and pleasure. It follows that the meaning will be that he who regrets and mourns for Jerusalem, for the Shechina being in the dust, that person is rewarded with seeing its joy, since there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. Since he has the Kli, meaning the lack—his regret that Shechina is in the dust—he is therefore rewarded with seeing the comfort of Jerusalem.

According to the above-said, we should interpret what is written (Isaiah 1), “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; Israel does not know; My people do not understand.” We should understand the difference between an ox and a donkey in the work, as well as the difference between Israel and My people in the work. Baal HaSulam said that the difference between an ox and a donkey is that an ox is considered “mind,” which is faith above reason. This is the meaning of “The ox knows its owner.” A donkey is considered “heart,” meaning the will to receive, which is “And the donkey, its master's crib.”

Thus, there are two discernments to make here:

1) Those who work for a reward, who observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in order to receive reward. Their question is primarily “How much reward will I receive, and what will be the reward, meaning is this reward worth the labor in Torah and Mitzvot?”

2) Those who want to work in order to bestow because, as it is written in The Zohar, “He is great and ruling.” In other words, they work only because of the greatness of the Creator. That is, they feel very privileged serving a great King. It follows that those who work in order to bestow need to know who they are serving, that He is truly a great and important King, worth serving.

However, when they begin to work in order to bestow, and the whole reason that they have the strength to work is the importance of the Creator, then begins the work in the form of “Shechina in the dust.” In other words, where spirituality, meaning working to benefit the Creator, should have been more important each time, a person gets such thoughts that demonstrate the opposite. And instead of a person going forward and working more gladly because he is serving a great and important King, he gets pictures of insignificance. In other words, he does not feel His greatness, and this causes him constant descents.

This means that even when he overcomes the descents he cannot always endure and fight against these thoughts. And what these thoughts show him is that the Shechina is in the dust. He wishes to work with joy for serving a great and important King, and this should bring him joy, but he feels the complete opposite—rejection. It is as though he is being repelled from the work.

This is called “Shechina in the dust”—this feeling that he is being pushed outside. In other words, he feels that while wishing to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, Pharaoh’s questions come to him, asking “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” This is considered that Malchut, meaning the Shechina, is in exile with Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who shows the lowliness of the kingdom of heaven.

At that time, one can only ask for Malchut [kingdom] to be built, meaning that Malchut will not remain in a form of lowliness, since one cannot receive joy from this lowliness when he sees that it has no importance. This is considered that one should pray for the ruin of the Temple, for the world not being able to see the receiving of the kingdom of heaven as a good thing, meaning consider working for the Creator a respectable, dignified work.

Hence, when one prays for the exile of the Shechina, he should not pray that it is in the dust only for him. Rather, one should pray about its lowliness in the whole world, that the whole world gives no thought to spirituality. And he prays for the whole world, as we pray, “And build Jerusalem soon in our days,” so it will be glorified in the whole world, as it is said in the Rosh Hashanah [the beginning of the year] prayer, “Be King over all the whole world with Your glory.” But since the general public does not feel the lack, how can they pray?

However, such a person, who was rewarded with obtaining the need, who has attained the exile, he can ask for redemption. But those who do not feel that there is an exile, how can they ask that He will deliver them from exile? It follows that a person’s feeling of being in exile is already considered an ascent in degree, and he must ask for fulfillment for the general public.

As was mentioned above, “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its joy.” In other words, the one who feels the exile of the Shechina and mourns is the one who is rewarded with seeing its joy, since in terms of Kelim [vessels], only he has Kelim that are ready for redemption because Kelim are a desire for fulfillment.

Hence, he mourns when he feels how the Shechina is in exile and her greatness is not seen. But one who wishes to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven because He is great and ruling gets thoughts and imaginations, and these thoughts repel him outside of Kedusha [holiness], and only by overcoming and coercion above reason can he endure.

And each time he wishes to believe that His Providence is in the manner of good and doing good, he gets thoughts that slander the Creator and it pains him that he must hear slander. He believes that it is only because the nations of the world rule over the Kedusha, meaning that there is concealment, and for those who wish to enter the holy work, the Sitra Achra [other side] hides the importance of Kedusha. It follows that it is precisely the one who mourns who needs heaven’s mercy, to be able to overcome the evil in him, and he mourns and cries for the Creator to help him.

But he should certainly pray for the whole public, or it is considered that he is praying only for his own sake, that is, that only he will be delivered from exile. And if one truly asks for the sake of the Creator, to have the glory of heaven revealed in the world, how can he ask only for himself? Thus, one should ask for the glory of heaven to be revealed to the whole world, as our sages said (Baba Kamah 92), “Anyone who pleads mercy for his friend, and needs the same, is granted first.”

In the work, we should understand why a person is answered first if he pleads mercy for his friend. It seems as though the mercy he is asking is not because he wishes to evoke mercy on his friend. It seems like deceit. Because our sages said that he will be answered first, he is pleading mercy for his friend.

And yet, we should understand why he is answered first. Can’t the prayer be granted for both of them together? Must it be one at a time and not both at once? We should understand what is it about him being answered first.

We should interpret that when a person asks for mercy for his friend in the work—when one begins to walk on the path of achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator through observing Torah and Mitzvot, considered that all his actions will be for the Creator and not for himself—the body begins to resist this work. It brings him thoughts of how this work is not for him, since the nature of the body is for its own sake, while he wishes to work for the sake of the Creator. Thus, the body, called “will to receive,” always shows him that it is not worthwhile to work for the Creator. And since one cannot make a single move without pleasure—for this is the nature of creation, since He wishes to delight His creatures, which is the reason for creation—hence, one cannot work unless he receives pleasure from the work.

Thus, everything that a man does is only to enjoy, meaning receive reward for the exertion he is making. Therefore, in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], when one believes in reward and punishment, one has fuel for work during the labor because he is looking at the reward he will receive. But when one works in order to bestow, meaning he does not wish to receive any reward for the labor, how can he work without pleasure?

The Zohar says about this that we must work because the Creator is great and ruling, meaning because of the greatness of the Creator. This is so because we see that in nature, the smaller one receives pleasure when serving the greater one, since naturally, one has strength to work in service of an important person. Especially, it is a great pleasure to serve a great king. One does not need to work on it; it is in the nature of creation. What one should work on is to know and to feel that he is an important person, and then he will be able to serve him.

Therefore, particularly when one wishes to work because of the greatness of the Creator, bad thoughts come to him and do not let him feel the greatness of the Creator, but actually show him the opposite. Indeed, this concealment governs the whole public. But for those who do not work because of the greatness of the Creator, the body does not need to hide the greatness of the Creator from them, since as long as they do not make the greatness of the Creator the reason for the work, the body is not working for free because it considers the reward, not the giver of the reward.

It follows that particularly for people who wish to work only because of the greatness of the Creator, there is resistance and the nations of the world cover and hide the Israel in man. Thus, naturally, the majority of slander against the greatness of the Creator is in those who wish to achieve Dvekut with the Creator. Those who feel that discernment called “Shechina in the dust” are the ones who feel the need to ask of the Creator to deliver her from exile, from being among the nations, meaning that the nations rule over her and hide the greatness and importance of the holy Shechina.

Therefore, those who feel that the Shechina is in the dust should pray for the glory of heaven to be revealed throughout the world. However, it is not the whole world that needs it—to raise the Shechina from the dust—and so he is answered first, since he needs the same thing. But afterward this brings disclosure to the whole generation. And yet, as long as they do not have the proper Kelim for it, it cannot be so disclosed in them. It is as our sages said, “If he performs one Mitzva [commandment/good deed], happy is he, for he has sentenced himself and the entire world to the side of merit.”

Thus, only that person—who feels the concealment over spirituality, over the desire to bestow because of the greatness of the Creator—must ask for mercy for the whole generation. And since he needs the same thing, he will be answered first. This is why it is said about him, “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its joy.” And the reason is, as we said above, that he needs the same thing, and not the public. This is why he who pleads mercy for his friend, they cannot both receive the granting of the prayer at once because only he needs that thing, meaning that salvation—to feel the greatness of Kedusha [holiness] called “raising the Shechina from the dust.”

But those who work in the first above-mentioned manner, who work for a reward, they consider the reward. There is a rule: The one who gives is important. It follows that if they believe that they will receive reward, that the Creator will pay their reward, then He is already important to them. But those who are not working for a reward should now feel His greatness, and on that there is the concealment that is placed on the Kedusha—its greatness is unseen. For that, we were given the request from the Creator to remove the concealment, as it is written, “Hide not Your face from me.”

Now we can understand what we asked about what is “Israel does not know,” and what is “My people does not understand.” Israel are those who work with the aim to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, to be rewarded with achieving the degree Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], and not for their own benefit. They belong to the intention called “knowing,” since they need to come to clear knowledge that they must achieve the greatness of the Creator. This knowledge comes specifically through faith above reason, since the reason is dominated by the nations of the world, who hide the greatness of the Kedusha and degrade the kingdom of heaven to the dust.

And particularly by overcoming with faith above reason, when one carries out his actions by coercion, when bad thoughts of the Sitra Achra come to him, which slander and say that it is not worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, that the reason for this work is only the greatness of the Creator, then there is nothing one can do except believe in the sages, who tell us that it is specifically this work that a person does above reason that the Creator enjoys. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that the majority of the work is when a person gives something to the Creator precisely when he goes above reason.

This means that reason tells him that it is not worth it to do things in order to bestow. But one overcomes it and works above reason. This is considered that a person gave something to the Creator. But when the Creator gives him an awakening from above, there is nothing that one can do, about which he can say that he is giving something to the Creator, since then a man is annulled before the Creator as a candle before a torch, without any choice.

In that state, one is giving nothing because he has no choice. But when he must go above reason, since reason states otherwise, he can say that he is giving something to the Creator. And he said that we must believe that this work is more important to the Creator than the rest of the works.

The prophet said, “The ox knows its owner.” This belongs to the quality of Israel, who are considered the heads of the people. Israel means Li Rosh [The head is mine]. Knowledge belongs to them, and this is why he said, “Israel does not know,” since they were not engaging in labor in order to come to know the Creator, as it is written, “Know this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God.”

And the prophet said that they were not engaged in this. Also, the prophet spoke to the public, meaning to the populace, whose work is only to receive reward and this is why they engage in Torah and Mitzvot. They did not consider the matter of “And the donkey, its master's crib.” The donkey, as we said above, is the will to receive called “only self-love.” And then the prophet told them that the donkey, meaning he who looks at his master’s crib—the reward—did not consider that the Creator is giving them the reward, meaning that by considering, they will receive the love of the Creator, just as there is love for one who gives presents to people. But they did not notice the Giver; they only thought that they would have reward.

It follows that what they did, they did for reward were without love and fear, meaning they did not give any thought to “His master’s crib,” meaning to the landlord—that the Creator is the Giver. Instead, they cut the Mitzvot from the giver of Torah and Mitzvot and did not think of the Giver of the work during the work. Also, when they thought about the reward, they were not thinking of who was the Giver of the reward.

This means that the prophet stands and warns both Israel—who work on the intention but do not give sufficient heed to achieving Dvekut with the Creator—and those who work only in action and their aim is only to receive reward, and they do not consider who it is who gives the reward. This is why “My people do not understand.” And naturally, they lack the love of the Creator.

It follows that a man should reflect on what to pray for before he comes to pray. This is why Baal HaSulam said that one should pray for only one thing, and this includes many things: It is that he asks of the Creator to give him a desire to work in order to bestow and not for his own sake. This is so because to have a desire to bestow, he must have faith in the Creator and believe in the greatness of the Creator. But the prayer that he wishes for the Creator to give him the desire to bestow means that a person tells the Creator, “I want that while I engage in Torah and Mitzvot, the intention will be that I will believe that the Creator takes pleasure in my actions.”

In other words, even though one does not taste or feel anything during his labor, he will have the strength to say to his body—while the body argues, “You see that the study of Torah and the prayer are tasteless to you,” a person wishes to have the strength to tell the body, “since I am working only for the Creator’s pleasure, why should I care if it feels tasteless to me or not? If I were working for my own benefit, you would be right in what you are telling me, that you are tasting nothing in your work. Likewise, a person who does not enjoy his food does not eat. I, however, am working to benefit the Creator, so it makes no difference to me what flavor I am tasting.” This is what he asks of the Creator, and this is called unconditional surrender.

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Reader: (33:48) We will now continue to the recorded lesson from the 6th of February, 2003.

M. Laitman: Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing the Joy of Jerusalem in the work, from Rungs of the Ladder, Volume 5, page 143. Again and again, the Rabash returns to the same topic: because the created being wants to reach perfection, the restriction was prepared for him, concealment; concealment over the Creator's greatness. For him to work above reason, to be able to emerge from the will to receive for oneself, for that purpose, the Creator is concealed, and all our work is on how to attain the greatness of the Creator for ourselves. Otherwise, we have no power, no fuel with which to work – redemption and exile. So, it's not that all of these pleasures, perfection, eternality are hidden from us, it's just an outcome of us attaining the greatness of the Creator. So, we are in exile from the greatness, from the recognition of the Creator. From the recognition of the Creator, that is what we call Shechina, divinity being in exile. Shechina, that's the revelation of the Creator to the created beings, so she's in exile – the feeling of the Creator – and what we need is to return to Jerusalem. The exile, that's an exile from Jerusalem – Yerushalayim, Yir Shlema, the whole city, or Yir Ah Shlema, complete fear, complete reverence.

So, in order to assume the burden of the Kingdom of Heaven: what is the burden of the Kingdom of Heaven? The burden of the Kingdom of Heaven is that the Creator is the Good Who Does Good. So, all of the forces work in us against that. All the forces of separation, which are called either the person's will to receive, or the nations of the world. And if we overcome them, and attain the greatness of the Creator, complete fear, meaning that I'm afraid, not of what I'll have in my vessels and if they'll be emptied or not, but about the extent to which I will be able to fill His vessels. Then it is said that I'm working only due to the Creator's greatness, and by nature we lack nothing, we need nothing more in order to feel the Creator's greatness. It's like with the people, if we feel that a person is great in some sense, or maybe he has money that I need. Or he has control, rulership over me, and I surrender before him, naturally. Or everyone respects him, and then I also relate to him in a certain way, not of my own desire, right, I'm just carried by the current so I go with the flow. So, I have the ability, the desire to serve him, because he is great, for whatever reason. But of course, what I respect, or what I'm afraid of, what I respect.

(37:52) So, our work is not work in attaining something of the attainments, the status, these powers, whatever powers. It will all be a simple outcome of us attaining the Creator's greatness. If we attain the Creator's greatness, we will have the power, the force of will, the yearning, the vigor. The energy to reach anything – to turn to Him, to make demands of Him, to recognize Him, everything. And so, all of the work focuses on this one point, reaching a state where the Creator is great, in my estimation. And only opposite that do we have all the forces of concealment and foreign thoughts. If we pay attention to how we keep escaping, forgetting, running away from the path, forgetting about the mission, then we will see that it is only one thing that the nations of the world in us want to hide from us, and that is the greatness of the Creator.

But still, how do we, nonetheless, get a bit closer to recognizing the Creator's greatness? Maybe to somehow yearn for it, demand it. To see that I must have it, this can come to me either through necessity, after great suffering. Me, suffering until due to all the suffering, I finally begin to study this situation and see that without the recognition of the greatness of the Creator. There is no way out of my terrible situation, this is the only force that can extract me from this evil. And so I work directly with my will to receive, or I organize ahead of time a system of advertisement: the Creator is important; the recognition of His greatness is the key to all that's good. I'm working by the will to receive, for the time being, not above reason, not by the will to bestow. And then I hasten my development and I do not need suffering. Here, this is why Baal HaSulam says that our only choice is the society; the society can, like in this world, provide me, the society provides me various values due to which I run in this way, that way. I respect this trade, this profession, I respect this kind of clothing and not that kind of clothing. So everything that I see before me, that's in a way the society's control over me; of course, a little bit according to my nature, according to my character, according to the situation in which I live, to some extent. But ultimately the society determines everything that we want, our values, how we appreciate each and everything. And so I need to build and I need to find and build for myself a society for the necessity to feel the Creator's greatness, to recognize it. If I receive that from the society, then I need nothing more – then I have the power, the fuel, the upliftment, the energy, the yearning for this single, most important, the main thing that is hidden from us.

M. Laitman: (43:00) And beyond that, we have all the other stages in the actual attainment of the Creator and adhesion to Him. Until I reach that state of Ein Sof, infinity, where actually in truth, nothing was missing there. No points except what we now understand to be the importance of the Creator with respect to the Malchut of Ein Sof; that's the only thing that's concealed through the first restriction, the second restriction, all restrictions and concealments that exist in the world, the greatness, that's it. When we reach that greatness – only now from below upwards through above reason – and then we will work not like the ox that he mentions, not like the donkey, rather, but like the ox. We're still talking about how to work with the will to receive towards the Creator because it's worthwhile for me, for Him to be revealed, for Him to be great. But afterwards, when we start truly getting closer, after we really work on it, we also acquire the grace of sanctity, it's a special point. We begin to think that, yes, I want to work because the Creator is great. But me wanting to feel that He's great, He begins to be great, in my estimation, not because I receive things in my pockets, but in my vessels, right? I enjoy that He's great, I enjoy the fact that He's great, like a rich person, that I can receive something a little bit from Him, yes? Rather, I begin to appreciate His greatness in potential, I begin to value His status; I begin to appreciate His qualities of bestowal as great. And then, other than my ego where I want to just take from Him, I also begin from that egoism to feel a little bit of kind of dirt in my work. Where in me, this point of grace begins to be formed towards Him, towards His qualities. Until I also want what's best for Him and until I want to be like Him, and this is also rooted in our nature, to be truthful.

We see and we feel that if a person is great, it doesn't matter if he's good or bad. It doesn't matter how I evaluate him, in my will to receive towards me, right? The very fact that he's great already invites my attention, right? A kind of response towards him, where I want to be next to him, close to him. And so, there's a beginning, the start of a road, here, where we can certainly think in Lo Lishma, not for her sake, for myself, and also for the Creator's sake, and this is called Lo Lishma, from which we come to Lishma, for her sake. These things come as the stages of development in a person but on the condition that he doesn't have, without great intellect and philosophy – no mind. He might be very, very bright, but he takes for himself this one mission: to reach the state where he needs the greatness of the Creator, and he wants nothing else. He wants to recognize nothing else, and for that purpose, he founds a society, and so he arranges his attitude towards the society, and demands the friends to relate to him that way.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:01) To work on greatness and faith above reason, does it mean that if right now, within reason, I see Him as great by 10 kilos, then now He should appear as 20 kilos in my eyes?

M. Laitman: The question is: if within reason, I see the Creator as great to the measure of 10 kilos, then above reason, I need to see Him as now equaling 20 kilos, to yearn for that, to yearn for 40 kilos. No, the question is wrong from the beginning, from its inception: if you come to the recognition, well, not recognition, recognition, we come, of course, we're talking about before the barrier, before the Machsom. If you reach a state where you succeed in turning to the Creator and feeling some kind of respect for Him, to the measure of 10 kilos of importance, it'll immediately be raised for you, not immediately, but after a few minutes, you'll be confused by foreign thoughts. Different desires over which you didn't assemble the greatness of the Creator yet, and you will fall from these 10 kilos to minus 10, you understand? From positive to positive, to constantly go from success to success and not to fall, we cannot do that. We, with what lesson? What we have now, it's the same with every degree, and on every degree, we can say that there's disappointment, the fall will be greater, corresponding to the forces you have right now, right? The forces you have, yes?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:38) You said earlier that because each person is different, each one will work differently as a result of the greatness of the Creator. But in the end, everyone has to reach a state where from the greatness itself, they're ready to completely annul themselves, no? So what remains of them, what remains of that unique root of the soul if I completely annul myself?

M. Laitman: I want to completely annul myself before the Creator, so what do I want? I want to annul myself before what, and what do I want to annul? We need to interpret, I want to annul myself before the Creator, so to annul myself towards someone, that's fine. But who is the Creator, and who is the one I that I am annulling, what is being nullified before what? So the Creator becomes the core of the soul, the core of the soul, the core of the soul. The concept of bestowal, the desire to bestow, in general, what is bestowal, this category? That bestowal is an enormously great, tremendous thing in comparison with my egoistic desire which works only by absorbing into itself. Ultimately, that's the picture a person gets and that's an outcome of me working on the greatness of the Creator, I receive that as an outcome. Meaning there are things here which change in us, not according to how we want them to, and it's not that we are yearning for it, but it's a result. Yearning for the greatness of the Creator in order to receive, you will then receive from Him the grace of holiness and desires to bestow, as we learn in the four phases of direct light. Did phase one ever think that phase two will emerge from it? Never, this is behind the scenes, the influence of the Creator influences the will to receive, such that the will to receive begins to yearn for a greater phase, a greater discernment, because the second discernment is coarser than the first.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:49) But we say that in Kabbalah we don't work directly on desires, qualities, and things like that. But I say that if I have desires and qualities that are ruining this whole matter of working on the greatness of the Creator, can't I ask that the greatness of the Creator change something in them?

M. Laitman: All things that exist in me – good and bad, something which I consider horrific at the moment, and something that's so good that I feel, oh, I don't want to lose this, I hope this remains, maybe through this I can catch spirituality – they're all regarded as one. They're all equal, there is no preference, there is no deficiency in any one of them compared to another, no completely not. I need to relate to them all as the right, proper things for the purpose of connecting to the Creator. The child needs his mother's love, he needs to also hold his mother, to be a little bit cruel and demanding and insolent; and to give her a little bit of happiness and joy, all of these things. All these things, in all of them there's nothing which we deem evil, we need it to the same degree. Anything that's revealed in us, every single moment, all the things, good or bad as one. I see in myself bad things, I'm so ashamed, I don't even want to remember them, you understand? I remember sometimes, this is bad for me, I want to immediately hide it from my – how to say it, my awareness, yes – my awareness, so you understand? They all stand the same line in terms of importance: whatever is revealed in a certain moment is considered equal. It's only the yearning for the Creator's greatness, that's all; and this yearning will turn itself into all different kinds. What exactly is the importance and what exactly do I want from it, for myself, for Him, how do I evaluate it, what exactly am I evaluating, what does it mean to bestow exactly and receiving? All these things will gradually take on a different form until you reach this special form called, Until He does not let me sleep. All these things, which, with that you cross the Machsom, the barrier. And here we need to distinguish between two things, are you working on the greatness of the Creator, then from the greatness of the Creator, all sorts of things change in you indirectly, like phase one turns into phase two, there's an inversion here.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:45) So what is the difference between the "who" question and the "what is the work" question, the "who" and the "what"?

M. Laitman: We'll learn about that at the Pesach, on Passover, yes.

Student: Here on page 145, it says that when a person prays over the exile of divinity, he needs to pray over the exile of divinity of the whole world, of his friends, without praying over the exile of the divinity of himself. He says that when I study, I demand, I need to demand the correction of the whole world, the correction of the friends, before I ask for my own correction. Is that the way I need to ask?

M. Laitman: Look, there are those who say, you know, some great important person advises you to first think about what happened to your friend, can you do it? If these are good things, then first I want them for myself; if they're not such good things, then I shout to everyone, why are you taking this, right? If somewhere there is a treasure lying open and no one knows about it, suppose I discovered some treasure, do I shout to everyone, come take it? No, I hide it even more carefully; come quietly and take from it little by little, right, somehow, but only for myself. When do you go and shout to others? When you want them to receive first, and afterward I see that it's good somehow, then maybe I too will get a little of it – fine, but first them – that's how we understand it. So what does it mean that a person should think about how the greatness of the Creator will exist? How great it will be in his society or in his world. Either I shout before everyone, you evil people, you must recognize the greatness of the Creator, right? Or I plead, friends, if you don't have the greatness of the Creator, then you will not influence me and I will never have it. So it depends on how I concern myself with it: either I am selling it to them or I simply have no other way except through them to receive it myself, you understand? That's the problem, how a person relates to this matter, the greatness of the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:24) If I already come to the understanding that from the fear of the sensation of evil, I understand that the only thing I need to not return to that is for the society to provide me with the greatness of the Creator. But if a friend of mine doesn't yet understand the necessity I live with, and he receives what I give him as a kind of game without understanding?

M. Laitman: Look, once I saw a part of some comedy film: someone's lying in a hospital bed, and another person comes and unknowingly presses on his oxygen tube or something like that; and the patient starts suffocating while the other one doesn't even realize what he's doing. If we knew that each one is pressing on the other's oxygen tube, then we would have no problem. So first let's speak about the fact that truly, without you, I depend on you, do you know what that means? It means absolute dependence, if you do not sign I will not cross the barrier, the Machsom. What can I do? Tell me, how should I relate to you? Killing you would not help me, I need your signature, if I could kill everyone and thereby cross the Machsom, the barrier, wonderful. Then I wouldn't need anyone's agreement, but I need to receive agreement from everyone, so what can I do?

Student: What is agreement?

M. Laitman: The agreement is that only if you have the greatness of the Creator will you sign for me; that is, you will influence me with it. And then, too, I'll have such greatness of the Creator that I'll cross the barrier. So see how much I must care about you. Otherwise, would I even look at you, tell me? But now, when I think about it, every single person, what am I going to do with them? I don't know, I hate them, I don't need them – but the greatness of the Creator, the recognition of the goal or the suffering, the awareness that I'm dying. All this nevertheless obligates me, it brings me back to the society and to somehow saying, friends, we have no choice. Let's try, none of us wants the other, but maybe somehow, otherwise, we're finished. As Baal HaSulam says, the ship is sinking at sea, and each person needs to plug the hole beneath them in the side of the ship, so I begin to plead with them somehow. There are people sitting here already who have spent many years on this path and they already have vessels to feel something of this, to feel the bitterness of their state. And we need to use this, meaning we have people to turn to. We have discernments within each and every one that we can appeal to, and we need to use it. Until I receive from each and every person their influence upon me to the degree that from above we are already arranged together as a society, I will not have enough strength. One gram will be missing and I will not cross the barrier; and that one gram might depend on some insignificant person who doesn't want to give it to me, you understand? So what can I do with him? His desire, what can I do against his desire? Hit him, what can I do? Imagine I need to convince him that if he gives this to me, then he too receives the same appreciation from me, and he also crosses together with me. And then I promise that either no one here passes or everyone does, that's how it is. Each one thinks that he is at the peak, that he's like the tip of the spear. And truly, each one is a tip of the spear, but that alone is not enough. There's no passage permit except with the signatures of everyone.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:40) What is the Creator's greatness? What's the greatness of the Creator?

M. Laitman: It's simply greatness. For the time being, think about it that way. Afterwards, as I told you, each time you will receive a different form of greatness. Great in this, great in that – great because He wishes to give to me, or simply great in general, that He influences everyone, He bestows to everyone. Suddenly everyone matters to me, or maybe they don't, but He influences me, all kinds of such forms. Later, truly great in bestowal, great in the sense that I also want to become similar somewhat to Him.

Question (Israel): (01:01:24) What does it mean to pray for the ruin of the temple?

M. Laitman: To pray for the ruin of the temple. The temple means the heart of a person who should be corrected towards the Creator, yes? All the work of the temple, all the work of the holy temple is called the temple; that is, all the desires of a person that work in order to bestow to the Creator, that's called the corrected work of the temple. There are priests there, Levites, the high priest, Israel, the nations of the world, women. They are helpers for each and every one, for each desire and every discernment, and they all work in a corrected way. There is the work of sacrifices; there are songs, prayers, water, blood, and all these discernments. There are also the weekdays, everything is organized corresponding to all of our work with all of our desires to adhesion with the Creator in a corrected form, in equivalence with Him. That is called the work of the temple, and we need to pray for that, that we'll have the forces, the strength, the desire, the screen, to work with all of our desires in such a way.

Question (Internet): (01:02:56) How can I increase the desire, the greatness of the Creator in me, and convince every one of the friends to engage in it?

M. Laitman: That's the work, here, we simply need to think about how we do it – the advice is everywhere.

Question (Paris): (01:03:24) Why is Judah in the Torah a donkey?

M. Laitman: Well, let's talk about it: why is Issachar in the Torah a donkey? Good, you know the Torah.!I wouldn't read the Torah so literally, Mr. Judah from Paris, because you might begin to find corporeal forms in it, to materialize it.

Question (Internet): (01:03:52) What does it mean to annul myself, and what do I annul myself?

M. Laitman: Well, supposedly before the Creator, yes, but even that's unclear. What does it mean for the Creator, or before the Creator, or according to the Creator? To annul, or to increase, or to diminish, that already, this speaks about two opinions, two discernments. So, according to how I discern who the Creator is, and according to who I am, from this I already have some evaluation – who I am and who He is – in relation to every single thing, in the will to receive, in the will to bestow, in all kinds of qualities of giving or receiving, according to how I evaluate each thing. In that He is great or small, or perhaps non-existent at all in my eyes; we don't understand how we don't consider godliness. Someone small before me, even if they merely exist within my field of vision, meaning within my field of sensation, so they are more important to me than the Creator. A small child could come and start shouting at me, or doing something to me, I'd become upset, and I'd somehow react to him; he will belittle me, right, he'll do something. But to the Creator, I have no relation at all, the concealment is absolute. We need to build it from zero. And time and again, some measure of greatness or awareness is attained somehow for me, even by some small percentage or degree. Then it immediately disappears, why does it disappear? It disappears so that we'll continue drawing it again and again, so what should I constantly annul myself to? Only to the recognition of the greatness of the Creator. Here, I simply need to bow my head, and at any cost through every action possible, I need to do everything I can to reach it. So he asks,

Student: How do we begin this? How do we do it?

M. Laitman: Maybe we can start like this: let each person write a page about what the greatness of the Creator means to him, that's it – but a big page, let's say 40 sentences. Do we even have something to hold on to, what do we think, even intellectually, without pouring out your heart on it? Intellectually, how do I picture that to myself? Start writing, and then you'll see how difficult it is. If you do not use phrases that we already know from books but from yourself. Do such an exercise, begin discussing it in a simple, surface-level way, not to reveal the heart, but to see how we overcome the problem, this general problem. That's it.

Reader: (01:08:10) Let's share our impressions from the lesson, and what from it we take to implement in the Ten before we move to the next part of the lesson. But first we'll sing a song!

Song: (01:14:20)