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

Daily Morning Lesson: September 25, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. The Mitzva of Sukkah. Record 625

Reader: Hello friends. We will start our lesson. We will try, as we were directed in the preparation, to be as one man in one heart, in love, in order to discover between us the upper force of love. We heard many times from Rav about this holiday of Sukkot in which there was a special opportunity and an invitation for an attack. Let's repeat these words so that they will be as a direction for us. Excerpt number one. Rav tells us, 

Reading: (00:47) We had the holiday of Sukkot, one holiday of Sukkot, when we were with a great inspiration. And I asked Rabash on the second or the third day of the holiday, “We are in a good state. What do we lack?” And he said, “Indeed, we lack a few additional grams of an attack. And you can now realize it in the group.” And it was about 30 or 40 people, students that I brought, it was in 1986. And he said back then, in order to bring out this whole group to spirituality now, all we lack is an attack, a few additional grams of a pushing force. That's it. You only need to add an attack, and the holiday can bring that about. It didn't work for us back then to do it for a few dozen people together. But I'm telling you, these things are very close to us.

Reader: So Rav says, these things are very close to us, and in the upcoming lesson, we will try to feel Rav together, to drink his words, to discover what do we have to attack, with which force do we attack. Soon, we will enter a lesson by Rav. In the lesson, he will start from explaining an article from Rabash, Volume 3. In Hebrew, it's page 928, Rabash, Article 625. It's a short article. I'll read it.

So Rabash, Part 3, page 928 in Hebrew, Article 625, “The Mitzva [Commandment] of Sukkah.” 

Reading: (02:59) Rabash. The Mitzva of Sukkah. 625

In the Yotzer [prayer] of the Monday morning prayer, the poet says there: “Let the Mitzva [commandment] of Sukkah not be light in your eyes, for it is equal to all the Mitzvot [commandments] of His laws.”

We should ask why a Sukkah is equal to all the Mitzvot. Baal HaSulam explained that Sukkah means faith, a “shadow of faith.” Naturally, we understand that faith is equal to all the Mitzvot. That is, to the extent of the faith, so he observes the Mitzvot.

Likewise, we can understand what is written there: “For no harm will come to all who observe it.” That is, one who has faith cannot be harmed by anything. “In the future, He will curse all who despise it,” since they have no faith. Therefore, they did not observe the Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator but rather Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], so from whom can they demand reward if they engaged not for the sake of the Creator?

As I interpreted concerning a minor Mitzva, in which there is no lack of money, it means that aiming for the sake of the Creator does not require special funds or a special time.

Reader: Now we will enter a lesson by Rav from the 26th of September 2002, exactly 24 years ago.

M. Laitman: (05:00) In “The Rungs of the Ladder,” Volume 2, page 69, “Why is the Mitzva of Sukkah tantamount to all the Mitzvot?” Simply because the Sukkah symbolizes for us faith, and faith means a screen and reflected light. According to the screen and the reflected light, a person can keep their Mitzvot. Bestowal to the Creator means a commandment, matching the Creator means Mitzva, adhesion with the Creator is called a Mitzva. This means this is work with the will to receive in order to bestow, and this is possible only according to the measure of the screen and the reflected light. Therefore, he says, “all those who despise it are cursed.” Rather, it means one who is not capable of working with the intention in order to bestow, he doesn't have a screen and reflected light, he doesn't have faith, he receives a curse instead of a blessing. That's all. What more can we say about it? Are there any questions? There is “no harm will come to all who observe it.” That is the main thing: to always keep the faith so faith will be more than knowledge, which means to always be concerned about the intention in order to bestow, that the measure of the intention in order to bestow will be the measure of the vessel with which the person works. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (06:44) Faith is always the most important to attain. It's not specifically in Sukkot. 

M. Laitman: It's the only thing that we have to attain. There is nothing besides faith, right? "The righteous shall live by his faith," and so on. Besides the screen and reflected light, the light of Bina in which the light of Hochma clothes, besides that, there is nothing more. And therefore, this is what we should be concerned about. Why is this the matter of Sukkot? Because after a person has gone through the exodus from Egypt, and he received the Torah, and in the light of the Torah, he saw himself as weak and despicable in his initial qualities with which he was created, and he reached the recognition of his soul fully on the day of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, now he reaches a stage where he corrects himself. And this stage is called Sukkot. “Sukkot” means Schach, means thatch, and thatch means the screen and reflected light, and the matter of the shade, right? "In its shade, I sat, and its fruit was sweet to my palate." This means the shade, enjoying the shade, enjoying bestowal to the Creator, and not the light that comes without clothing in the shade, without clothing in the light of Bina. These are symbols. Okay? It's a very simple matter. Actually, we need to see this in each and every Mitzva, in each and every question that is there. There is nothing besides that: light, vessels and the screen between them. Everything, all joins into the same thing. Just that sometimes we don't know what this is about. But if we go and elaborate the commandments, because in general, just like that, some great Mitzva like Sukkah that it's tantamount to all of the Mitzvot, that's clear; we can imagine this easily. But there are commandments which speak about particular corrections of the vessel. In the second correction, when we add the AHP of ascent, and we make a correction on Yesod but not on Malchut, and all kinds of… So there, it's already a problem to somehow how to grasp the precision and the specific states that are there. But altogether, in those, as well as in all of the spiritual actions, spiritual actions mean commandments, all in all, the essence of the action is the correction of the screen, where the measure of the screen means the measure of the faith. And inside the faith, we already receive knowledge, the revelation of godliness. Also, there is the revelation of godliness before faith, for the sake of faith. This is called, "Know the Lord your God and serve Him." We need the revelation of godliness also, so that from that, a screen will be formed in us, so it will build the screen in us. If for that purpose we ask the Creator to be revealed, and He is revealed, and then a person surrenders, and that submission becomes his screen.

So, there are no questions. The other side can also write down questions and pass them down, pass them here with notes. That's it. What else did you want to read? He's saying, Ushpizin, 624.

Reader: Article 624, Ushpizin.

Reading: (11:11) 624. Ushpizin

Baal HaSulam interpreted the matter of Ushpizin [Sukkot guests], that it is a matter that is introduced in The Zohar, a way by which to pass, for the light of Hochma cannot shine in it consistently.

This is the meaning of “luck,” that “Sons, life, and nourishment depend on luck,” as written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 13).

M. Laitman: We need to make some small correction here. Nourishment, we need to look at the precise verse. 

Reading: (11:49) 624. Ushpizin

This comes from the words, “Water will pour out from his buckets.” Pouring means that it is only dripping, meaning it illuminates intermittently, whereas a stream means illuminating ceaselessly.

For this reason, the guests love that he will have a spacious place. But when they come and the place is narrow, they cannot enter. This means that the light of Hochma cannot shine unless by clothing of Hassadim, and Hassadim is called “wide,” as explained in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. The light of Hochma is called Ushpizin; therefore, if he has no Hassadim, it cannot clothe.

M. Laitman: (12:38) This means that until the end of correction, all of our corrections are corrections that come in dripping, because we cannot have a Zivug, a coupling with a complete vessel. It's not that there are intermissions: a little bit yes, a little bit no, a little bit yes, a little bit no. The matter of this dripping, it doesn't mean with cessations as it is for us: there is, there isn't, there is, there isn't. But rather, dripping means that we work with a vessel which is incomplete. And when we work not with Malchut, but with Malchut, which is incorporated in Yesod, then it is considered that we're working with a vessel. This vessel means the Searot [the hairs], this vessel, and the water that come down, it drips. Meaning, the vessels, the reflected light of faith are such that in them, the light of Hochma cannot come down without any limitation, streaming. This is why it says here that this depends on the… “sons, life and nourishment depend on luck.” So, this means it depends only on the luck, only on the limitations of these vessels. So the main work is on keeping the vessels, not to expand the vessel more than it is possible to work with it under the second restriction until the end of correction. Not to touch the stony heart. That's it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:28) He said yesterday that the first thing is to break the shell of the “I”.

M. Laitman: According to how we need to all connect together to one vessel, each one, if he thinks that he is growing, maybe by mistake he thinks that he is growing, but there's never such a thing where an individual grows, and he becomes greater, and greater, and greater, but rather he grows by connecting with a second, with a third, with a fourth. This means that he is growing. This stigma that I can grow, not expanding by connecting with others, but I myself can grow even if there's nobody else there, it doesn't exist. It's very simple. Adam HaRishon was broken into shards, into small pieces, right? If we will put them back together, it will become a great vessel. If we don't connect them together, then each shard will remain as it is. It cannot grow. There's no such thing as growing. You understand what a mistake we have, to grow? Yes, please start connecting it to the vessel as it was before. It's like we have some big jar. How can you make every piece of clay that's in it, that it will grow, or you take one piece of clay and you build it into a complete vessel? You have to glue together all the pieces that were broken. This is something that we don't grasp. We don't want to grasp that. Our nature doesn't enable us. But if you think about it again and again, a bit more and a bit more, and we give ourselves all kinds of interpretations, and we imagine this thing, we start to realize that there's no choice, that my vessel actually exists in the others, as much as I hate it, as much as I am not even capable of understanding it. And a minute later, I forget it again, but this is how it is. So out of that, he says that our problem in the work and in general of our work is divided into several stages. The first stage is to break my “I,” myself, the force that seemingly isolates me from the others. It's like breaking this wall. And after I break the wall, then connecting with others, it means to break through the walls, that I begin to see that the friend has my vessel. What does it mean that my vessel is in the friend? That his deficiencies, his desires, the things that he's concerned about, these are actually those same desires, those same elements with which I have to work, like my own elements. This means, let me now cancel my own concerns and start to live in his concerns. This means that I shift from my domain to his domain. I take it from him. This is what it means that I'm going to connect with him. This work is work that we certainly are incapable of doing. Meaning, again, there is a mistake here. When a person thinks that, well, this is what it says in the Torah, so I have to do it, and he goes and tries, and he sees that it doesn't work, and he breaks. And in truth, he should try and be broken only because he's incapable of it. And being incapable should bring him to a state where he will ask the Creator, that the Creator will bring about his adhesion with the friend.

M. Laitman: (19:16) You see, so here, the whole issue is that a person who is working on connecting with the other, and there are many people who have done that throughout history, and the Christians also work on that, and the ancient Greeks, all kinds of people wanted to do this kind of work, but then this work is lacking. This means that they are going to connect with the other without enlarging the greatness of the Creator in their eyes. Those who ultimately make this mistake, they leave the path of Kabbalah. That I need to go and adhere to the friend and take his deficiencies, and try to live with his concerns, that I do it only for the sake of connecting with the Creator. You remember, he writes about it, that if they don't do that, then it's just like in Russia, they wanted to build there communism, or in the Kibbutzim, that it brings about ruin. But rather, if I do it in order to ultimately connect with the Creator, and this is just as a helpful means for me, then I have to constantly enlarge the importance of the Creator, His greatness. And if I see that it doesn't work for me with a friend, then I cry out to the Creator to help me. Then the Creator is revealed, and His revelation already doesn't bring me some tranquility and a feeling, but rather His revelation brings me the screen; it brings me the ability to indeed connect with the other, to actually connect my vessel with another vessel that is similar to me, with someone else, and by that to enlarge the vessel. Once I enlarge the vessel, already I begin to truly feel the Creator. Besides what I felt Him earlier as a correction, now I start to feel Him as a filling, as an ability also. What is a filling? As the ability to, within me, to also do something for Him. This means that the work has to be on two parallel tracks: to try to work in order to bestow with the other, and to keep it so that this thing will only be as a means to reach bestowal to the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:03) When he writes that the light of Hochma cannot shine but through the clothing of Hassadim, what does that mean? 

M. Laitman: The light of Hochma, he writes at the end of this article, can clothe only, or can shine only by clothing in the light of Hassadim. When the light of Hochma clothed in the light of Hassadim - light of Hassadim, means the reflected light that comes from the vessel upwards, this reflected light is actually the vessel instead of the desire itself, the desire itself was disqualified after the first restriction from being a vessel of reception - instead of it, comes the screen and the reflected light in exchange. This is what he writes. So this reflected light now rises from the screen upwards and now serves as the vessel of reception. It is called the light of Bina, the light of faith and confidence, the light of Hassadim. Why Hassadim? Because actually, in this action, when you raise this reflected light, you want to perform the same action as the Creator performs an act of mercy towards you. It's not that you do mercies with Him, you do some mercy with Him, but rather you resemble His quality of Hesed, of mercy. So, it is impossible for the light of Hochma to shine following the first restriction inside the will to receive, unless, if earlier, the light of Hassadim clothes in the will to receive. And as much as the light of Hassadim clothes in the will to receive, only to the same measure and in those same places, only with the same power and intensity of the light of Hassadim, will it be suitable to clothe the light of Hochma.

Student: That’s what we call “the inner light?”

M. Laitman: The inner light that clothes in the vessel is already the light of Hassadim in which the light of Hochma is clothed, or the direct light that clothes in the reflected light. It's one and the same.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:15) What's the connection between the Sukkah and the thatch and faith?

M. Laitman: The thatch and faith, it's one and the same.

Student: What's the essence of connection between the thatch and faith? 

M. Laitman: What is the essence of the connection between the thatch and faith? If it's the same thing, what does it mean? What is the essence of the connection? It's the same thing. If these were two different things, you could ask about the connection. But it's not a connection. It's simply one and the same.

Student: But the thatch is something corporeal, and the faith is spiritual.

M. Laitman: What thatch is corporeal? Oh, you mean that? We're not talking about thatch. When we speak about the thatch, it means the screen that a person builds above his head. These thatches are things that were once alive, vegetative things that died and became something that already finished its livelihood, its life. A person once enjoyed it, but this thing is now dead. It is now without a spirit of life, and the person doesn't feel in it any importance. He doesn't feel that it is even worthy for the advancement. Now he takes these things that are unimportant, that seem to him as dead, and he elevates them above his head, when he goes with such an understanding that these things that according to the will to receive are like thatch. What is thatch? These are things that have no use. Pieces of wood, leaves, branches, that you can't really use them. You can burn them, maybe warm up the water. I don't know. What can you do with these things? You can't build with it because the thatch is built from things that are not really useful for serious uses, like true pieces of wood. There are all kinds of laws about that. So, a person who elevates things, that according to the will to receive have no importance, above his head, meaning he goes with faith above reason, then this thatch is called “faith.” And his reason is inside, inside the Sukkah, and he's willing to work with reason, which is less than faith. According to the measure of his faith, he's willing to activate his reason. This is considered that his entire vessel of reception is under the guard of not receiving for himself, under the guard of the thatch, under the guard of the screen. And he sits at the shade of the Sukkah. As it says, "its shade should be greater than the light of the sun," meaning the light of the sun should be diminished, hardly existing. Rabash was very concerned that through these pieces of wood, we would cover the thatch with these very narrow logs of wood, very thin. He made sure that they'll connect them so close to each other that they will hardly see any light in them, not the sky or the stars, completely. You know, when I came and started asking about it, it looks really almost like a house, you know, like an ugly ceiling, but truly a ceiling, you understand? So he told me that this was their custom to make it really, really dense, truly dense. And this is also a symbol, right? That the intensity, the power of the Hassadim, of the thatch, is very great. And we have to be concerned about that, not about how much light will pass through it. You see, it's an intimation. That's it.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:54) Sound is inaudible.

M. Laitman: You're saying, if I work on a corporeal Mitzva, that I build the Sukkah, and I decorate it, and I'm in it, and I make all of the decorations that are in it, am I not transgressing the prohibition on "do not build for yourself any statue, any image?" meaning that I connect to the matter more than the spirit, right? It's true?

Look, if my problem is not to connect to the matter more than the spirit but to see in the matter, in the substance, only hints about the spirit, and that these hints that the sages wrote about will only bring me questions about the spirit, how should I be internally in relation to the Creator, in relation to my inner qualities, then I truly use both the branches and also the literal in the correct way. Meaning, for the sake of my advancement. But if I indeed put aside, I leave the whole matter of the spirituality and the commandment, and advancing through the commandment, and connecting the spiritual act with the spiritual intention, with the spiritual ability to advance, then it's true - I just build a nice thatch and a nice Sukkah, and I sit inside, and I eat and drink, but I don't think about spiritual advancement. Then I wouldn't call it a statue or an image, and that this is something that is prohibited, but the benefit from that, it's just a benefit that at some point, nevertheless, I will have a desire to achieve a Sukkah in spirituality, to build it inside of me. As the Ibn Ezra writes, that all the commandments that we were given are not in order to do them, as you're saying, to make adornments in them, but to correct the heart. So, if a person towards the corporeal Mitzvot, the palm branch, and the citrus fruit, and the thatch, and all of these things, he relates to them as to the correction of the heart, and by that he also wants to connect a bit more to the internality, to the intimations, the hints that are in all of these branches, then it truly works in a good way. And then he truly sanctifies this world also. And then the whole world is worth his while. But this is only for one who takes everything that there is in this world for the purpose of spiritual advancement. You see, people think that we're against the deeds. We're not against the deeds. For us, the deeds do become weaker, it's true, because we think and we constantly discuss how to do things in spirituality, in the internality, and how to keep them, to observe them inside the person. But if a person already is within himself and desires to keep, and to do, and reach a certain spiritual existence, then these corporeal things do not hinder him. It's actually quite the opposite, they help him again and again to come back to his intentions if he runs away from them. He finds in them all kinds of subtleties and all kinds of nice things that also connect him nevertheless with the same idea. So, there are things that we slight. There are the initial times when a person greatly slights corporeality and keeping all of these corporeal things, and later on, it seemingly comes back. It will come. It will come, it's not too bad. You see, it's better to cry out about what we don't do in spirituality, which is the matter of bestowal to the Creator. In corporeality, it will come. If you don't let go of it, it's desirable to try to do both in parallel, even though one time this one is limping, another time the other one is limping.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:48) So the first thing is bestowal to the friend. How does it manifest in a broader way than just in small specific states that happen once in a while that I make his concerns come first? Let's say we both lack something, and I'll prefer that he will have it than me. I'm asking, how does it manifest in a broader way or more frequently? 

M. Laitman: How can I increase the urgency to participate in the friend's sorrow, to work with his desire within, like with my engine, right? As if I take things and I move things with my car, right? So, I'm working with my engine for your problems and troubles, instead of you, yes? First of all, you should know that the whole world does that whether they want it or not. Everyone is working for the Creator, and whether we want it or not, we carry these things out, and we are all making a living off each other, so to speak. Meaning, no one is actually working for himself. Everyone is in the end of correction and working that way, but our goal is to come to this consciously, not just to see that I do it because my nature forces me and the Creator orchestrates me like that, but that I myself want to do it, and then based on the size of my desire, He will open this up to me and show me that I'm already there. So, how to make my progress and see the true correct state of my bestowal to others as existing? It's just correcting my desire that I truly want to bestow to others, and then I'll see that I'm truly in bestowal. How to want to bestow to others? Probably, I have to see that this is important, that this is worthwhile for me. I'm now in a will to receive, right? So, what does it mean that it's worthwhile? The matter of worthiness comes from the result of advertising. Look, why in this world, I understand that in this world, it's important to enjoy a house, food, wife, family, kids, beastly things. I realize they do give pleasure. The body understands this. I don't need anything smart for this, but honor, money, some sort of medal, having this car and not that car, you know, to wear pajamas or something slick, you know. So all of these are artificial things we get importance for because it's important for others. He thinks it's important, and I then also accept it as important, and I start working my whole life for it. You understand? To just provide for myself with the necessities is not a problem. You can almost not work that much and do it pretty easily. Rather, we work our entire life because others told us that it's worthwhile to work to achieve some things that are important to them, and they become important to us. And that's it, I'm then sold to the opinion of society as a servant. So I see that the society can force me towards any values it wants, and I'll kill myself to achieve them. If so, I need to look for a society whose values for spirituality will be the highest, the greatest, and it will influence me specifically with its order of values. Where is spirituality, where is corporeality, and what exactly is the relationship, how much one is more important than the other, that will permeate me, that will necessitate me to do any work necessary. You understand, you can take a child, you can educate him however you want. It all depends on the group, the society where you put him in.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:56) Still unclear. Where is that point where, here in the inner group? I'm not talking about the daily life here, but where is it manifested here that I bestow to the friend? 

M. Laitman: Where in our group is my expression of bestowing to the friends? You identify that if you want to see it. Whether you want it or not, you are working in the group, and  you do duties, you participate in some works together. There's no such thing that you're not doing anything. I saw you handing out some tea sometimes, things like that, right? Now, it's possible that maybe once in six months you gave out tea. Now the question is, how much intention did you put into it? What is this supposed to give you? Because if you couldn't, didn't, weren't thinking about putting the intention into the action, adding the intention to the action, then the society is to blame, not you. The society is guilty for not providing you with the necessity for the intention in order to bestow. And the society itself, which does not influence you, also depends on you, to the extent that you demanded the society to influence you. So it's a reciprocal thing.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:38) Is there any benefit from how to connect to the friend?

M. Laitman: We'll see that ultimately, if you take all the advice from Baal HaSulam and Rabash, you can write them on a single page, two pages, let's say, that's all. And however you turn, twist and turn with your ego that confuses you into whatever you're getting into, this advice will still settle for you as a…, will suffice for you as an answer. The problem is we want to escape that.

Student: Is there any benefit in connecting with someone before he's great in my eyes, connecting with some friend before I make him great in my eyes? 

M. Laitman: Is it important to connect to the friend even before he's great in my eyes? There are several things here. First of all, if he's still not important in my eyes, can I even connect with him at all, right? So then, what do you call “connecting?” That's one thing. Second thing, can I work coercively on that? They say, it's possible. And then specifically through this coercion, you come to hear that it's worthwhile and possible to connect. A person should never wait for some desire from above to come, and then based on the desire he'll work. Because working according to the desire is called “a beast.” Working according to the desire means you're no longer working, you're just fulfilling the desire you were given from above. Rather, our work is to have a desire, to have a desire before you, you understand? To do all kinds of tactics, ploys to receive a certain desire, of bestowal of course, that's what we mean, right? No, you don't agree. You want to want that first and do it later. If you want first and do later, it doesn't mean that you're even doing anything.

Student: Does it mean that I receive from him if I receive from him coercively? So what do I get from the friend if I receive it by coercion?

M. Laitman: When a person is going to connect with a friend coercively, what's coercively? Against the desire. You can't do anything against the desire, but you're making an effort to connect against your desire, and you discover that you cannot. And if with it the society reveals to you that this is the most important thing, that without connecting to the friend, you can't increase your vessel and receive the light, right? As your vessel grows at the account of connecting with more, and more, and more pieces of the vessels of Adam HaRishon. So then you see that connecting to the friend is important, is necessary, it's the only thing that you can do on your part from below to receive the abundance from above. Then you finally turn to the Creator and cry to Him that He'll help you connect to the friend, connect to the friend against your will to receive. So, the Creator is revealed and you surrender, meaning your will to receive surrenders to the greatness of the Creator. Then you connect with the friend. When the Creator shines, there are no troubles, no difficulties. Everything falls into place, the will to receive immediately is silenced. And then that's it. It doesn't cry. Why? Because the will to receive is the posterior of the same Creator. That's it. The practical conclusion is: a person should never wait for a desire to come in order to work with the desire. If that's what he's thinking about, he just doesn't understand that beasts follow the desire, work according to the desire. And the sacred still work according to the desire, the masses, the public, but the Kabbalist who enters spirituality does not work according to the desire. He works to have a desire. He builds his desire. And when the desire is built by the light, then there's no more to do. He immediately begins a new degree, so that a new desire will come.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:26) Inaudible.

M. Laitman: Look, we one time, let's hope, maybe with God's help, the next Sukkot, we'll be able to open the Pentateuch and read what's written, you know, in kind of in simplicity, not really in depth, but to just go through the stages. Not to take one sentence and, you know, how do we see, how do we understand it? But, no, not that each and every word and each and every sentence to interpret that spiritually, but just to kind of tell it and look at what's happening in the soul. Perhaps we'll be able to do this. But before that, I wouldn't recommend to open the Pentateuch at all. It will only confuse you.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:32) Yesterday, you talked a little bit about breaking the pride, that this is what we lack a little bit. Now, usually we don't bring down our pride. So, how do we turn it into a practical, concrete means? 

M. Laitman: Well, it's not correct that we… We're not going to break the pride. Meaning, we don't work directly against the uncorrected qualities we have in order to correct them. Because correcting them is impossible to do by us. Correcting them is possible only by the light that reforms. The light, as much as it shines, then to the extent that it shines, it inverts one quality to the opposite by the intention, replacing the intention. So, there's no reason for us to relate to our nature, our intentions, our desires, in general to us. We need to turn to the Creator, that He will take care of it. But, in order to turn to the Creator to take care of us, we have to come to recognition of evil. And recognition of evil is achieved also through the light of the Creator. When the light shines, then in His light, I understand how opposite I am to the Creator, because the light and the darkness are weighed against each other. By the way, in the tractate Pesachim, really in the first pages, there's a discussion there of when the leaven bread is examined, that they check it in the light of a candle. And so, it says there, “Orta.” “Orta” means darkness, not light, even though it's light, Ohr, but it's darkness in Aramaic, because Aramaic is the posterior, the opposite of Hebrew. And so, there is such a matter that what in Hebrew, for instance, is light, so in Aramaic, it's darkness, meaning what's in Hebrew is from the side of Kedusha, so in Aramaic, the same word could reference the opposite to us.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:25) Inside of, I don't know, the lights of Sukkot, but having so many people here, the state is created where each one becomes isolated inside of “I did this and that, or I belong to that, or I did that, or I'm important, or I…” And this in some way is truly the opposite of the state where we receive this opportunity to break through. Seemingly, we have this kind of a weight here that something is lacking that will truly create the breakthrough outside of the entire group, together.

M. Laitman: Look, ultimately, we only need to work against forgetfulness. We forget that adhering, the adhesion of friends, makes the Kli, that's it. There's nothing, no action here that can bring us to the goal other than that. That's it. So, someone who's not in a group where they work on this idea there, then he has just zero hope. Nothing will help. He'll come to us in 30 years and say, I was in Bnei Baruch, I'm an old friend, a veteran friend. Okay, you're a veteran, yes, but other than that, you have nothing. So how to work against forgetfulness? Well, you know, put a stamp on each and every one, "Are you thinking of me?" So whenever you see a friend, you’ll be reminded. I don't know, it's a spiritual matter, that if we all think about it, if it's in the air, if the air is thick with it, thick with this electricity, then that's really called “attack.” He writes about this forgetfulness in many places. It's an angel, forgetfulness. It's a name of an angel. Meaning, it's a special force that always hides, always contradicts, always destroys, and by that it helps us rebuild new, new, new discernments again and again until they connect into some complete product, right? And then the forgetfulness will no longer work, but all the actions where we've lost it, that as if the adhesion with the friend, the idea, the Creator from the darkness, then they'll all merge to one, but there's no other solution. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:31) Baal HaSulam writes that the commandment of the Sukkah symbolizes faith, because of that it is over and beyond all the other commandments. On the other hand, we learned that the commandment of "love your friend as yourself" is the one that is above and beyond all the commandments. So, there are all kinds of places where...

M. Laitman: Not that Sukkah beyond all the commandments, and not love thy friend as their self is beyond, it includes it. If you say it's more than that, then you have 612 commandments, and the 613th one corresponds to that. Meaning, it's not more than them, it includes all of them. You understand, it's not an additional action, it's rather an action that appears as a sum total of all the previous actions. You understand that there's a tomato, and a cucumber, and some onion, and garlic, and parsley. You cut it all together, you have a salad. The salad is something new, but is there anything new in it? Other than the connection of all the previous things, there's nothing else. Same thing with “love thy friend as thyself,” as the great rule of the Torah, or the Sukkah being the collective, the whole of all the Mitzvot. Put all the Mitzvot together, you get a Sukkah.

Student: The question is, is there some Mitzva, some commandment that not include all the commandments, just like we speak about the desires, that every small desire contains, includes all the other desires? And if it is so, how can we focus on the correct demand? One demand. Not one time to demand faith, another time to demand love of friends, but to truly know one demand, and to know that I'm focused, I'm focused on that. If I'm not, I'm not. At least I will know it.

M. Laitman: I'm sorry that you don't know. He's asking something correct. He says this: I am a small beast, right? I have no mind, no concentration, no nothing. What do you want from me? I'm a, I have a small mind. He's right. Other than that, I'm also confused, and I'm this, I'm this, I'm that, right? Give me one thing, one thing that I'll remember, and that's it. And in truth, that's us. You're right. It's not only you. And therefore, we were given really just one thing: "None Else Besides Him." Always think of that, and from that, everything else will come, no doubt. You can extract the whole Torah from this one sentence. It's not a sentence, it's an idea, that you want to live it, that you always grab hold of it, that means you live it. You'll see how from that begins to unfold the whole ladder of degrees, and so on. That's the end of the rope. So, don't forget about it, and also remind it to me, okay? We have a deal. And if you forget, but before that you remind me, then I will later remind you.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:52) With all the effort to connect to the friend, the person also goes through difficult states within himself. So question one is, is there a connection between these two things? Second question, how can we take advantage of it maximally? Again, with all of the effort to connect to the friend, the person also goes through difficult states within himself. So, is there a connection between these two things? And the second question is, how can we use this in a maximal way?

M. Laitman: That was a question I answered in the forum just before the lesson there in 2 a.m. The question was about suffering. There was also such a question that someone who starts studying Kabbalah. He feels that he enters great suffering, and he begins to get all kinds of troubles at home: wife, family, work, all kinds of things suddenly come to him, and he can't find rest and success in anything, everything becomes difficult. So we talked about it, and we said that yes, correct, that a person feels that way. And in that feeling, is it just a feeling or an actual reality? First of all, the feeling itself is sufficient. You don't need the actual reality or not. The feeling is what determines. But certainly, it's only happening in your feeling, because anything you used to engage in in corporeality joyfully, or enthusiastically, or with some anger to break it and do it because you saw it as important in favor of it or against it, now you don't feel like it, you don't want it. It's like it's strangling you, you don't know how to get rid of it, even the good things as you had before. So now the good and the bad comes as something you don't need, you don't want, it's redundant, it burdens you. That's one thing. Secondly, as written, it is said “Israel hastens the time,” compresses the time, right? Instead of 500 years, I just wrote that in the forum, instead of 500 years, let's say, we want to do something in ten years. We want it right away, but let's say 10-20 years, will give the Creator an opportunity. We'll, you know, we'll wait, we'll wait for Him to come in 20 years. A friend disagrees, I see. Yesterday it was an ultimatum, what to do and that's it. This is correct, but in such a way, it'll truly be 20 years. No, no, I'm kidding. But if in 500 years we have to go through all kinds of suffering, let's say, the path of light and the path of suffering. Let's do the math. Within 500 years, let's say, we have to take a thousand kilograms of troubles. And now we want to do it instead of in 500 years, we want to do it in five years, right? So a hundred times less time. This means every moment I have to feel a hundred times more trouble. Can you imagine how to even exist that way? So we don't feel a hundred times more troubles. No, we even feel less troubles than usual. But the troubles we feel, we feel that at a greater intensity because we want to feel spirituality rather than good or bad things corporeally. So you understand, that's the problem. Because even the previous intensity, if I would only shorten the time, but the intensity of troubles would remain, that would still be sufficient to feel that it's not okay, that it's worse than before. Corporeality becomes despised by me.

M. Laitman: (01:01:22) What can you do? Yes, it's true that someone who starts engaging in Kabbalah, he has no patience, so to speak. That's how we call it, no patience to his work, or to family, to other things. Rabash says, talks about this, that the Chassid comes home and he goes to his Rabbi and he says to his wife, “I need to replace the work, the house, the furniture, I don't love you enough, the health care, all kinds of things. Let's go to the Rabbi. He will give some good, good grace, I'll kiss his hand, he'll give me a blessing, I'll come back home, I will love you more, the kids will be healthy, the home, the work, everything will be okay.” And his wife is happy that he's going to the Rabbi. Meaning, we begin to feel as trouble the ordinary things that a person feels. And we don't want those things, good or bad. That's why it feels like everything becomes more difficult. Now, for those who are a little religious, it's even worse for them, because they did a little Mitzvot before that, all kinds of things. Now they see themselves, imagine to yourself what a blow that is. Prior to that, he had some kind of justification that he's appealing to the Creator, he has the Garden of Eden, some action and reward. Well, you know, it doesn't go. How is it in that song in Russian? Oh, there's no such song in Hebrew? So you understand. You don't have luck with cards, you have luck with money, not with money, then with love. Yes, here, you understand, there's nothing, it's a problem. And this is all in order to hasten or to push us and to hasten our development. Altogether, these sufferings are already called either love suffering or the suffering of labor, of birth. The suffering of love that draw you to the enlightened world to bestow the intention, that's some, you know, it's going to be beautiful out there in some big retreat, you know, storefronts with beautiful glass and stuff. No, it's… but the labor pains, it's like, it's like the the pain of being born, where you really want to take him out with force, that as it's written, the host comes and expels the the guest outwards. So, these are forces without which we won't exit.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:24) So what's the difference between bestowal and holiness? 

M. Laitman: What's the difference between bestowal and holiness? He is asking now questions that are like the same. It's kind of like connecting one to the other. I also thought once about the Creator - some old man, this nice, beautiful white beard, kind of merciful, does all the good things. And then I was told  that there's none else besides Him. “None else besides Him,” meaning all the things around me, and I see bad things, and no matter what, all the troubles are from Him, there's none else besides Him. So He's no longer this good-looking, white-bearded grandpa with a big beard. Well, it starts being… You understand, you start connecting all these things, right? Bestowal, and what else? And the Creator, and spirituality, and holiness - it's the same thing. But it would be better to say bestowal, instead of Creator, say “the bestowing force.” That won't confuse you that you need to resemble the bestower. You say Creator, it's, what, is it bad to be like the Creator? No, why not? When you say “the bestowing force” and to resemble that, then it becomes a little problematic. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:57) Recognition of evil is equality of form with the Creator? 

M. Laitman: No, no, no. The recognition of evil is not equivalence of form with the Creator. What, it's like I'm bad, He's bad? Are we equal in that? What is that considered equivalence of form? 

Student: No, maybe it comes out of it as a result. 

M. Laitman: No. Well, let's continue. But first of all, it's incorrect. There's a certain imprecision here.

Student: In what is the recognition of evil before the barrier?  

M. Laitman: In what is the recognition of evil before the barrier? In the way that the Creator lets me have the possibility of seeing myself as opposite to Him. Where in the things that I feel that I'm opposite to Him, I cry out from, and then by this I can cross the barrier. And there are many things that I'm opposite to Him. But it's not too bad, I can work, I can cross the barrier with them. We all together cross the barrier with our corrected beastliness, basically. It's such a small desire compared to spiritual desires, and that's considered to cross the barrier. And then begin desires to be revealed that are truly opposite the Creator, what we call the Pharaoh, true Klipot, shells. But to cross the barrier, those shells don't bother us. They are what we call beyond. Why do we say that all the worlds of Klipa are against the worlds of holiness, and with both of them we have to be beyond the barrier? Because that doesn't bother me. I'm now just connected to my animalistic self, and just making a restriction upon it is enough in order to cross the barrier. Let's say that that was the question, I don't know.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:48) How should I prepare myself to receive from the friends the greatness of the Creator, since each one expresses it differently? So, how to understand everyone in order so that they will live in me as part of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: How do I need to advertise the greatness of the Creator to the friends? 

Student: How to prepare myself to receive the greatness of the Creator from the friends? 

M. Laitman: Oh, that's something else, that's nice. In order to prepare myself to be impressed, to be given an impression and receive from the friends the greatness of the Creator, we learn that everything we perceive, we perceive in accordance with equivalence of form with this specific matter. Just like a radio receiver that can receive something if the inner wave is equalized with the external wave, yes? If I don't, if I'm not aimed to absorb from the friends the greatness of the Creator, then nothing will help me. It's like you start giving, start telling a cat why it's not walking on two legs and teach it how to behave more, you know, morally. No, that won't help, because she's not on the same wave that you want to give her. It's the same with human beings. It's even worse. If he's not aimed to absorb or receive completely, not calibrated in order to perceive this thing that you're broadcasting to him about the greatness of the Creator, he won't perceive it. He won't receive it. Meaning, we need each of us to talk with each other, to read articles in which we try to be ready to hear about the greatness of the Creator, whereas all together this topic will be the only topic in our society. When we have such a general agreement, it operates on all of us, and in truth, now we will truly hear. Now the question is, how will I personally tune myself in such a way that now that I have this small piece of knowledge that I also obligated to everyone, and each obligated to everyone, to hear about the greatness of the Creator, how can I raise my sensitivity to receive this message, this knowledge, even more? Yes? Where here is my work? So here, I need to work more and more on feeling what the society is saying. You know, just like there's a certain problem, I want to hear the news, what happened there? I open the radio up, where's that channel? Yes, is it this channel? The other channel? Is there channel one or two? Oh, that's there. Meaning, I need to constantly work on the importance, the importance of receiving, of perceiving. And we need to read about this, and everything that Rabash writes in his initial articles about the society, read them together and work on it. But beside that, there's nothing. There's nothing besides that. Look at the articles about free choice, about the society, all these things altogether point to one point. That's why there are people amongst us, and I said this yesterday and the day before yesterday, there are people amongst us that are concentrating on their work in the society, and they think that's it. They go to the booths, to the external groups, to anything. He takes upon himself this mission and feels like this mission will help him. It won't help him. It won't help him. The only thing that will help him is if he uses it as a means. It'll definitely help him, he's going down the path, but at what pace? At some point he'll hear, but at what pace will it happen? So don't run away from, don't run into all kinds of different directions like that. “There's something, it works, and I'm working, and leave me. And I demand a spiritual compensation for it.” No, you can receive compensation if you prepare the Kli, you'll receive.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:34) I think the question here was, if there's an impression, I get an impression from some of the friends or a certain quality, how do we impress by all the qualities of the friends so everyone will add to the greatness of the Creator? Not that will be a preference for one, perhaps, to create an equal attitude to everyone, to have an opportunity to be impressed by everyone from all the qualities of the friends.

M. Laitman: Again?

Student: Again, how to be impressed by all the qualities of the friends, of all the friends, or all the qualities of all of the friends.

M. Laitman: How to be impressed by all the qualities of the friends? God forbid. But you have here thieves, people with lust, kind of twisted in this way or that way, what I have to be impressed from all kinds of such things? We here, you can look at their faces, we need to be impressed by one another and what's in the friend? 

Student: For what they do.

M. Laitman: I need only one thing from a friend, I need to only be impressed in the Creator being great from the friend. That's it. Nothing besides that. He can bring me all kinds of other impressions in life, each of us is filled with all kinds of such things, and I need to perceive only that selectively, and him from me as well, and I'm from him, and so on. For that to grow between us and the rest can sink down in relation to it, all the impressions from all the nonsense, and the fashion, and all things. Nothing disappears, nothing grows on its own. Everything grows through connection with similar things, and everything falls by in relation to it, by growing and connecting to other things. If we were to connect between us, all of us, the recognition of the greatness and the desire to recognize the greatness of the Creator, then each of us will grow from that. And relative to that, all the rest of the things will drop. In relation to that, they will be small, not that they themselves will become smaller. So, how will I go to be impressed also from... Look. Oh, good. I won't say exactly, but you also have here other impressions, right? Look at his face. Yes, there is. You can see. Well, what will you do? Will you perceive in addition to your lusts also his lusts, and his, and his, and his? No way. That's why it was said that each of us needs to see his friend as a righteous. What is this “righteous?” This is a righteous? I'm lying. And I'm not righteous either. So what is it to see as a righteous? To be aimed like the radio receiver only towards the holy things to be absorbed from him. That's it. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:48) In some friends, you don't see at all greatness of the Creator. I'm not impressed by it at all. I have to scrutinize within that point or I have to work on it myself on the greatness of the Creator in him?

M. Laitman: If I look at someone, yes. Let's say, at this friend, yes? And I don't see through him that the Creator is great. Well, what can I do? His face doesn't bring me the greatness of the Creator. What should I do, right? Well, give advice. He doesn't want to say. He's giving me the work. 

Student: Maybe we can ask another friend why I can't see? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. Give advice. What to do? Not one. I have around me, thank God, maybe 99% of such people. Well, maybe 100% of these friends that I'm with, and through them, yes, and through them, I don't feel any impression of the greatness of the Creator. What to do? If there was one or two, let's say it's not too bad. Yes, right.  

Student: No, only when he looks in the mirror, he gets the greatness of the Creator.

M. Laitman: Yes. But what do we say? If I see some kind of bad things, I say, “eh, the Creator did that.” When I look at the friend, I don't say the Creator did that. It's him to blame, the friend himself. So what will I do? Well, what do you think? How will I nevertheless be impressed? Look, the problem probably has two sides: either the friend is a little lazy in showing me that he's working, studying due to the greatness of the Creator, so the society really needs to be ready to obligate each and everyone to show everyone that only due to the greatness of the Creator, he is serving in the society, he's studying, he comes early. Every smallest thing that he does, that, you understand, he should show to everyone that he's doing it. It's written, "One who gives a gift to his friend must announce it to him." Meaning that he's to blame that I don't see through him. And also I have to blame that I don't see through him. How can I aim myself better to see? Well, say. I'm trying, but not capable. 

Student: I can show him that I have the greatness of the Creator, and then with his force to think as if he's absorbing it. And then...

M. Laitman: Well, then what do we do?

Student: I can scrutinize it with him, asking him why am I not seeing it? I can work by myself. But if I'm working by myself, then it's like I'm not working on the greatness of the Creator. Then I'm not demanding this from him, then he will remain like this.

M. Laitman: Well, what do we do? Well, bottom line, what do we do? Tell us your experience and let's see. Well, say, what do you recommend for us to do? Give advice. 

Student: To invest in the friend, to give him this attitude.

M. Laitman: (01:19:51) He's saying that what's missing is just close, animalistic nearing of being to friends. Just start to do like some duty with him, let's say, night duty or something. And then you'll suddenly see. And I heard this from the guys that remained here at night, one with the other. Suddenly you hear what things he's speaking. I thought he was stupid and doesn't understand a thing. I didn't even know that he's working on this and on that. He's there with the articles on the computer there. He's doing something. Look at what… Suddenly I start to see that I didn't see. I thought, I looked at his face, I was not impressed at all. So, I thought that that's all there. But I heard a lot from the people on such duties when you put like two people on duty together and they spoke, and suddenly they discover that they're next to really special people. Relative to what they thought before, it's truly so. So from this you see that we simply need to get to know the person. So we need to invent all kinds of opportunities for ourselves to enter ourselves together this way. We learn this. In truth, it's not simple. We learn this. Why did Joseph sit in prison with… what was he called? The minister of the... 

Student: Minister of bakers. 

M. Laitman: The bakers and the drinks. Is that what they're called? Bakers? Chefs? 

Student: Well, the pastry chef. 

M. Laitman: The minister of bakers? I don't remember. Oh, yes, okay. So, why did he sit with them together in prison? Specifically, since he connected with them, he ascended then to rule. Meaning, well, these are matters that... We need to find a framework whether, if we want or not, the general framework enters us together to some work, to certain activity, where, like it or not, I suddenly am with someone together and start to get to know that, hey, he's a buddy, he's a guy, he's a man, and what a man, and what he has. This is still missing for us. What did I say? Even to put on a table and see on that table each person, what he's doing. We have a plan to do so, right? You think that it's just like that?  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:20) I think it's not such a big problem to be impressed by the friends. The problem is what vessel to put it in later. Your vessel is really not that great. The problem is more concrete. It's like, what do I collect all these impressions into something that is mine, or something that is great, that belongs to everyone? This is the difficulty. I have no problem being impressed by the friends.

M. Laitman: You have your little basket and the big basket of the whole society, and you don't know where to throw these things. It's like you're saying, like, here you are...

Student: On the other hand, I have no problem with it. You say that here, in my basket, there's nothing. That's what's not clear to me. Where do I collect all these impressions, ultimately?

M. Laitman: Like it or not, all these impressions, if you're impressed, you're impressed. Now, if you're impressed, then you want to, I don't know, to be... Not be impressed for this, but to impress the whole society. To cause the impression of all this. We don't have such a verb in Hebrew. But you first need to be impressed. Otherwise, how could you do this? If you're not impressed, how will you impress the society? From what thing are you going to do this to society? From what desire, from what vessel? You must first have all these vibrations and then you can pass it along. Should we study something?