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

Daily Morning Lesson August 23, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. Jacob Went Out. Article No. 10, (1985).

Reader: Hello friends. In the first part of the lesson, we'll learn a lesson from Rav, from the date February 8, 2002, and the article is "Jacob Went Out." It is article number 10 from 1985. We will read the article in Tens for 23 minutes.

Reading: (00:30) Jacob Went Out

Article No. 10, 1985

“Jacob went out.” According to RASHI’s interpretation, “It should have written only ‘Jacob went to Haran.’ Why does it mention his exit? It says that the exit of a righteous from a place leaves an impression. When the righteous is in town, he is its splendor, he is its brilliance, he is its majesty. When he exits it, its splendor exits, its brilliance exits, and its majesty exits.” Thus far his words.

We should understand the above in the work. What is a righteous, and what is the impression that a righteous makes upon his exit?

We should interpret that the Creator is called “righteous,” as it is written, “The Lord is the righteous, and I and my people are the wicked.” This means that when a person is close to the Creator, meaning feels that the Creator is close to him, he feels how the Creator does him good. At that time he feels good taste in Torah and in prayer, and in all his engagements, he feels that the Creator is close to him. Whatever he does, he does it with joy and elation.

Afterwards he comes into a descent, feeling tastelessness in the study of Torah and good deeds. However, he is left with the impression that he had during the ascent, when he felt good taste in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], and was in a state of joy. That remaining impression make him long to return to the previous state. That is, after some time he awakens through the impression left in him, so as to seek advice how to return to the state he had, which was called a “state of ascent,” while now he feels his lowliness—how remote he is from anything spiritual.

This brings up the question, “Why did he get this descent? Who is gaining by this?” Or, perhaps it came to him as a punishment, for now he must correct himself for his sin.

However, he does not know what was the sin for which he has descended from the state of ascent he was in. Thus, he does not know what to correct. It follows that on the one hand he does not see any deficiency in himself that could have caused him a descent, so he is compelled to say that it came from the Creator. This begs the question, “What did He gain from lowering him from his degree?”

By this we can interpret what our sages said, “The exit of the righteous from the place leaves an impression.” During the ascent it is regarded as the Creator being present in the place, meaning in the body. At that time He causes him the sensation of excitement from Torah and Mitzvot. But he could not give that importance—that the Creator is in him, as it is written, “I am the Lord, who dwells within them, in the midst of their impurity—to appreciate it, to know who is in him and pay the due respect. Thus, they could never help him receive a higher degree, since he was satisfied with the work.

Therefore, he was lowered from heaven so as to know once more how to appreciate it, since from above they raised him and brought him closer, but he did not value it. If you should ask, “Why must one value his state of ascent?” It is as I heard from Baal HaSulam, that there is no distinction of degrees in the light. Rather the matter of Gadlut [adulthood/greatness] and Katnut [infancy/smallness] depends on the attainment of the Kelim [vessels]. According to the vessels’ attainment of the light, so is the measure of the light. This is why he said that if a person receives something from above, and has the sense to value it, to that extent the illumination grows for him and he does not need a greater light at all. Rather, by himself, by appreciating (the illumination), it grows and illuminates for him each time on a higher degree.

It follows that the whole sin for which he fell from his degree was that he did not value his condition and was content. It therefore follows that he would have had to stay in this degree forever. Therefore, the descent he had received was for his own good, so as to give him the ability to ascend in the degrees of holiness.

Therefore, “The exit of a righteous from a place leaves an impression. When the righteous is in town, he is its splendor, he is its brilliance, he is its majesty,” means that all the importance was in it, but he did not know how to appreciate its value. Hence, “its splendor departs, its brilliance departs, and its majesty departs.”

It follows that “The exit of a righteous from a place leaves an impression.” He should know that when the righteous was in town, he did not pay attention to appreciating it: its splendor, its brilliance, and its majesty.” Instead, he turned, meaning that he did not have the importance of all the above-mentioned degrees of importance.

This is called “leaves an impression,” meaning that it had to be imprinted in him that the exit of the righteous from the place was because of the turning, meaning that in fact, all the degrees were there, but he did not notice it because he should have known that there are no changes in the light, but everything depends on the Kelim [vessels]. It follows that we can say that this departure was not due to a sin, but so as to allow him to rise in the degrees of holiness.

We should also interpret regarding the above-mentioned verse, that the exit of a righteous from the place leaves an impression refers to a person, for when the righteous is in town, it means that a person can justify Providence. Then, when he overcomes the state he is in and says, “There is no doubt that the Creator, who is good and does good, is behaving benevolently with me.

However, He wants me to feel as I do.” It follows that he is justifying Providence. At that time he immediately sees the importance of the work of bestowal and above reason. This is called, “When the righteous is in town, he is its splendor, he is its brilliance, he is its majesty,” for then he (sees) all the virtues.

“When he departs from there” means that he has departed from justifying Providence and wants to see everything within reason. At that time he feels no taste in the work in order to bestow. And then, “its splendor departs, its brilliance departs, and its majesty departs,” and he falls once more into self-love. In other words, at that time he knows nothing but work that is built on a basis of within reason.

This is regarded as the “exit of the righteous from the place leaves an impression.” It means that only then, through the exit of the righteous, when he thinks, “Now that I feel good taste in the work, I no longer need to work above reason,” it causes him the exit of the righteous from the place. This creates in him an impression, so he will know how to keep himself from exiting the work of above reason from here on. As I heard from Baal HaSulam, when a person says, “Now that he has support and no longer stands between heaven and earth,” he must fall from his degree because then he flaws the discernment of above reason.

It therefore follows that precisely the departure of the degree he had leaves an impression on him so he will know how to be careful next time and will not blemish the faith above reason, but always justify Providence.

“And behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” The interpreters ask, “It should have said, ‘descending,’ and then ‘ascending.’” To understand this in the work we need to explain that the ladder implies a person: A person stands below, on the earth, but the man’s head reaches the heaven. That is, when a person begins to advance upward, he reaches the heaven, and he should not complain that the ladder is set on the earth.

However, first we need to understand what “on the earth,” means. We see that the earth is the lowest thing. And yet, we also see that all the stately buildings and wholesome fruits come specifically from the earth.

It is known that Eretz [earth] implies the will to receive, which is the foundation, since all of creation and all the bad that exists in the world extend from this desire, as it is known that all the wars, murders, and so forth are rooted in the will to receive. This is called “a ladder set on the earth,” for when a person first comes to the world, he is placed on the Eretz [earth], from the word Ertzeh [I will want], meaning I want to receive. This is regarded as lowliness, that there is nothing lower than that. However, “its top reaching to heaven.” That is, precisely through the ladder being set on the earth, I will want, for Ertzeh [“earth,” “I will want”] has two meanings: 1) from the word, Ertzeh, meaning “I want,” 2) from the word Eretz [land], which is regarded as lowliness.

It is known that the essence of creation is only the desire to receive, that in the beginning of creation only the will to receive emerged. Afterwards there were corrections, called “equivalence of form,” which means that the lower one, called “earth,” achieves equivalence with heaven, which is called the “giver.” We can interpret this as man, although he is in worldliness, can still correct, by his head—called “the end of the ladder”—reaching to heaven, namely being in equivalence of form with the heaven, which is regarded as receiving in order to bestow.

As in the beginning of creation, the receiver emerged first, and then was corrected in order to bestow, so is the ladder, which is akin to a person standing on the earth. The beginning is on the earth, and then he reaches heaven. This means that we should not be impressed when we see that man is full of worldliness and has no sparks of bestowal, and he cannot believe that it is realistic that his body will ever agree to work only in order to bestow. Instead, he should believe that it is the way and the order of the work that the Creator wants it specifically in this way—that a ladder will be placed on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.

By this we will understand what is written, “The angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” The interprets ask, “Angels are in the sky, so it should have been written there ‘descending’ and then ‘ascending.’” We should interpret that this refers to man, who is the emissary of the Creator, since an angel is called a “messenger.” These men, who are walking on the path of the Creator, are called “God’s angels.” First they ascend, by the ladder being set on the earth, and reach the top of the ladder, regarded as “its head reaching to heaven.” Afterwards they descend, meaning that all the ascents and descents are because there are two ends to the ladder: 1) “set on the earth,” meaning the place of lowliness, 2) but “its top reaching to heaven.”

This means that to the extent that he appreciates “its top reaching to heaven,” he can feel the lowliness of being “set on the earth,” and regret being in worldliness. But if he has no real clue about “its top reaching to heaven,” he has nothing to impress him about being in a state of descent.

It follows that to the extent that he ascends and “its top reaching to heaven,” he can appreciate the measure of lowliness of the descent. This is why it is first written “ascending”, and then “descending,” since one can feel that he is in a state of descent only to the extent that he feels the importance of reaching to heaven.

This is the meaning of “ascending” and then “descending,” since the ladder that one should climb in order to carry out his vocation—for he was sent to this world by the Creator—begins from the degree of “a ladder set on the earth with its top reaching the heaven,” meaning from the beginning of lowliness, which is the will to receive, which is his nature. “Its head” means that at the end of the ladder he should reach the heaven, which is only to bestow. This is called “heaven,” as earth is called “receiving,” and heaven is called “giving.”

We should also interpret ascending and descending as a person having to know that when he feels that he is in descent, such as when he engages in commerce or works at a factory, or simply walks on the street, and he suddenly wakes up from his sleep and finds himself in a state of descent, at that time he should know that knowing that he is in a descent has come to him from the ascent. This is called “ascending” first, and then “descending,” for if there were no ascent in degree, owing to the awakening from above, he would not come to feel this. However, he is being called upon from above.

It follows according to the above that our entire work is as “a ladder set on the earth with its top reaching the heaven.” That is, man’s ladder has two discernments, and with those two discernments he ascends on the ladder of the living.

1) From his perspective, the “ladder set on the earth,” which is the will to receive, is set on the earth, which is lowliness. Earth means receiving, Nukva [female], who receives from the heaven, where heaven is called “male,” giver. “Its head reaching to heaven” means that bestowal, called “heaven,” is to him the head, meaning important. To the extent that he regards bestowal as the head, he regards the earth, which is the will to receive, as “earth,” meaning lowliness.

2) He regards the Eretz, meaning Ertzeh [I will want], as the head, and heaven is regarded as lowliness.

Also, “angels of God” means that one who makes the calculation that he has come to this world on a mission from the Creator to correct corrections is called “angels of God ascending and descending” on it. That is, they see the ladder of the living set on the earth, meaning that the will to receive is regarded as lowliness.

“Its top reaching to heaven” means that to him bestowal means heaven. That is, they are awaiting bestowal because the essence of their work is to bestow contentment upon the Creator, and this is what they regard as “head.” When they receive a desire with which they can bestow, they consider it elation, and this is what they wait for. Conversely, when they are placed under the rule of the earth, they feel lowliness, and are looking only to bestow upon the Creator.

Reader: And now, friends, let's continue to our lesson on the article from the 8th of February, 2002. 

M. Laitman: (23:41) We read an article from Volume 1 of Shlavey HaSulam, "Steps of the Ladder," page 245, Jacob went out. Little Jacob, meaning a person who has only a small desire for spirituality, in order to reach the goal, needs to leave his place toward the goal, and then, in his dream, meaning in his surrounding lights in what shows him the future, he sees that he needs to go along the path, along the ladder of the degrees so that he'll have to — that he'll have to go through. The ladder is always set toward the earth. What does "set toward the earth" mean? That every time he wants to change his state from one degree to another he needs to descend to the earth- to the lowest degree, and check whether he is standing upon corporeality. 

Whether his desires, from the coarsest desire all the way to the highest desire that he now wants to reach and correct, are all found on that same ladder of degrees. So each time we have the angels ascending and descending. A person who wants to be an angel of the Creator, meaning that all his movements, all his thoughts, all his steps will be in accordance with what is in the thought of creation. So much so that there will be no difference at all between him and the plan of the thought of creation. To such an extent that even if there were no plan he wants to be corrected such that he himself would create and program that plan. 

Meaning that his steps, thoughts, and actions would even be faster than his receiving commands from above. That person is called an angel of the Creator. Nevertheless, his work is in ascents and descents. The greater the ascents, the descents corresponding to them are also deeper into the greater corporeality that a person discovers he is in. This is how he progresses until Jacob becomes Israel, which is the Gadlut, the greatness of the state of Jacob. And then he already reaches the top of the ladder, and through that, the end of correction. Are there questions about this?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:29) He writes here about a person who is studying and seemingly did not appreciate the significance of the degree he was in. My question is, each time a person rises to some degree, can he truly appreciate the importance of that degree?

M. Laitman: In other words this is what you're asking: why does a person need to descend? What does it mean that since he does not appreciate the importance of the degree, he needs to descend? If a person is in some state and wants to rise to a higher degree, where will he want to rise from? 

In this state where he is now he needs to reveal a certain lack, some flaw, that this state is not sufficiently perfect. Otherwise, what does it mean to rise higher? What am I lacking here? If I'm in perfection, and spirituality is perfection, then in every state I am in spirituality I need to feel really good, Ein Sof, eternity. No lack whatsoever then the state is dead, and a person cannot grow from it. So the smallest degree in spirituality would finish him off, it would bury him, and that would be it. So how would he rise? 

When he’s in a certain spiritual state and attains the perfection and eternity, because every degree, every spiritual state is some small measure of Ein Sof- of the end of correction. Whether one hundredth or one tenth, it doesn't matter it's a measure of the final degree. 

Because every degree has ten Sefirot, it has all the discernments from Keter to Malchut. It only depends on how he discerns them, how he feels them. Either somewhat through a fog, or more and more clearly until with all the details he enters the end of correction. So, if he is even on the smallest degree, in perfection and eternity, then how will he move from that place and ever reach the true measure of eternity that the Creator has designated for him? All right? 

For that, from above they simply shine greater lights from an even greater degree. And a person starts feeling within those lights — he doesn't start feeling in those lights that he's lacking something, because essentially it is not his lack. Instead, he starts to feel that there is much more in spirituality, that spirituality is much more exalted, it's much more important than he had previously thought. And from that, he begins to move. 

Meaning, this can be compared to two forces that act upon us. One force acts by revealing the left line to us — our lacks, our deficiencies, how flawed we are, and this force pushes us from behind, through suffering. 

And the second force pulls us forward through pleasures, by revealing to us how much more important spirituality is, how much more special and good the right line is than what had previously been revealed to us. And this pulls us forward. Meaning these two forces act upon a person. Certainly, it's better to progress through the force that pulls us toward pleasures, to eternity, rather than the force that pushes us from behind, the deficiencies, the suffering. 

It depends on the person to the extent to which he can change the relationship between these two forces acting on him. It might be that he succeeds to do so in such a way that he hardly feels any deficiencies of his own at all, but instead he always proceeds with deficiencies on the right line. Where  he always has an urge to bestow to the Creator, an urge to discover more opportunities to give. That's called the sufferings of love. He replaces the suffering that pushes him from behind, which compels him to move, like a stick with a thorn on it. 

So instead of that, he constantly works on how to discover the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of spirituality so that he will have sufferings of love and how much I still do not love, how much I am still incapable of bestowing. 

And then he exchanges one for the other and certainly advances in the desired way. In the eyes of every upper degree, in the eyes of the Creator. Certainly if a person advances by being drawn forward, that's preferable to development compelling him and pricking him from behind. But you see how it is in this world. We're constantly lagging behind. We develop our means, we develop our intellect, we develop in science, in desires and everything, but we don't develop accordingly in how to use these tools. So we constantly lag behind. 

And this lag accumulates. And you see that from one generation to the next. People find themselves more and more frustrated in proportion to how they seemingly create more opportunities for themselves, yet are less and less capable of enjoying them. This is because we simply do not know people, right? Ordinary people, let's say they don't know how to use the law of development correctly.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:18) It's written that suddenly he awakens from his sleep and he sees that he's in a state of descent. He doesn't feel. Why is it sudden? Why isn't…  Well, as soon as it's taken from you, as soon as you descend a little bit from the feeling of holiness, and you feel it, so why is it sudden?

M. Laitman: We can be in a state either by, we determine it ourselves, we submit ourselves to that state and come to it, or that state comes to us from outside of us, from who knows where, right? That it's not under my control. 

If the state comes not under my control then it too was prepared beforehand. If you could see the future you would see that it might happen. But when that state comes and you are already in it, you still do not recognize that you are in it. We need to go through several actions before you recognize it. We also learned this from the construction of the vessels that there are Ta'amim, Nekudot, Tagin, and Otiot. 

And only after a vessel is filled and emptied can a person truly feel what state he is in. Therefore, when a person discovers his state, he actually discovers that he is already in it. On spiritual degrees this is expressed in a clear and very prominent way. A person feels himself good and good and good and good, because he wants spirituality and to bestow, and he searches and everything. 

Afterward, what happens is that he starts to forget that he wants to bestow and that this is spirituality, and instead he begins simply to enjoy his state- that he feels good. Then he forgets about the goal and feels only the good. From the moment he feels only the good, they begin working on him to lower him from the degree, but he still feels the good. 

And then after some time, he suddenly discovers that he is no longer in spirituality at all, and he’s no longer in the good. And he immediately discovers where he is, and only then does he awaken. 

Therefore, in order not to reach such states the method is simple. If you worked on some spiritual progress and you feel that you are in it, you must not cling only to the feeling. You always need to come up with additional deficiencies for yourself, so as not to stop, but to constantly advance. There can be no stopping in spirituality,  either forward or backward. This is a very big problem for a person, because it's very hard to constantly hold himself on the goal. 

Therefore, if a person is in a group where other people around him are working and he becomes incorporated in them, then even if he forgets or something they are working. So it's as though he is traveling together with them. But if he's not in a group, if he's alone everything really depends on him. The moment he forgets about the goal and clings only to the feeling, the descent immediately begins. This almost doesn't happen with us because, after all, even now you're sitting with another hundred people around you, so you're already incorporated in this, whether you want to be or not. So you already have some kind of damper — I don't know how to put it — a brake that doesn't immediately act as… It's not a stop, but it's really a brake that they don't immediately activate. You have a certain cushion, you understand that you don't immediately fall. This is work that you need to do.

M. Laitman: (38:58) In any case, according to the law, spirituality is incessant movement. There cannot be any stopping. There cannot be the same state existing one beside the other. It would be like this, a straight horizontal line. It cannot be. Otherwise, there is either a descent or an ascent. Or if there's no ascent, then in order to awaken the ascent, a descent immediately comes. 

Therefore, he writes that angels, angels of God, ascend and descend. So, if that's the case then a person, even if he wants to be an angel and obey the spiritual laws 100%, nevertheless he has to descend. So he says, no, you can descend without descending. How? If each time you find new deficiencies in your state through which you can rise higher, then the new deficiency that you find already serves you in place of a descent, and then you don't need to descend. 

In other words, this is considered a descent. In any case, angels ascend and descend. But this descent, which you immediately discover within yourself, and which you yourself want to find, you attach it to the ascent. This is what he says about the righteous one, that an old man walks with his head bent down in order to search for deficiencies. There are many things about this.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:39) When a person is beyond the barrier and has a descent, does he descend to a state where he doesn't feel the Creator, or does he only descend to a state where he can't bestow?

M. Laitman: A person who descends, even though he is beyond the barrier, how does he descend? He knows that he descends, but nevertheless he cannot do anything. What does it mean that he is beyond the barrier? 

There are two kinds of nature. He has the force of the Creator, and he has the force of the created being. Then he is no longer only within his animate nature, his beastly nature, but he has this divine part from which he can on one side, see the other side. By the way, this already begins to develop within the person before the barrier, and the person begins to feel himself as consisting of two parts. 

For this, one does not need to cross the barrier, because when the point in the heart grows, such that it begins to show its action, this remains in a person. But what does happen is that before the barrier, a person passes from double concealment to single concealment. 

Meaning, even in his falls, he knows that they apparently come from the Creator. And beyond the barrier as well, there is descent, and there is departure of the Mochin until he acquires the next degree and begins to ascend to it, adhere to it, and rise with impregnation, suckling and Mochin — Ibur, Yenika, Mochin. 

So, certainly he has states like Rabbi Shimon becoming Shimon from the market, when Rabbi Shimon felt that he was like Shimon from the market. But nevertheless, he felt that he was Rabbi Shimon who feels himself as Shimon from the market. 

It's not that this knowledge of who he is completely disappears, because this comes in order to give you a sharper discernment between the two extremes, where you can be either adhered to the Creator or adhered to a market stall. You understand what the full meaning of what a stall in the market is? That's the simplest occupation a person can have, without offending the shopkeepers there.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:30) We know that in spirituality there are no descents. Can we understand from this that the moment a person ascends to some degree, the state of descent from it is that he begins to feel a lack toward further degrees, that he feels there is something more above him?

M. Laitman: There is no descent, no actual descent. Rather, each descent is the acquisition of a new force of the left, which is still not corrected, and through that you see yourself in a negative light relative to the Upper One, and that pushes you forward. 

It's impossible to call it a descent. An ascent in the left line is called a descent. And that's what it is, essentially. Or we picture it as though we descend lower than our previous position. But it's all for the sake of ascending, because the two lines, ABYA of holiness and on ABYA of the shells- they're one opposite the other. As you rise in holiness you have to have the same revelation of the force of evil. Otherwise, what do you use in order to correct the vessel? All right? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:50) He says that whenever a person feels as though he's in a descent, if at that very moment he begins to think about other deficiencies, then essentially he will prevent, as though a greater descent of the left line?

M. Laitman: Yes. I need to rise from one degree to the next according to the plan of creation. There's no avoiding it, that's how it is. Now, in order to ascend, how is that possible? I have a lack. This lack I correct with the intention to bestow, in order to bestow, and then it becomes a bigger corrected vessel. Into it I receive the revelation of the Creator, and that is called an ascent. There are no ascents, descents, none of that. It's just my vessel always growing, growing, growing, and then the reality I feel in it.  Well, I feel reality in it more and more. 

Now, from where will I keep taking a larger vessel every time? So, I have a vessel here. I have an infinite vessel from Adam HaRishon- from all of these- each one of us. But this vessel I need to discover. I need to myself feel the lack in it. 

Let's say now I have a corrected vessel of 10 grams, through which I feel the spiritual reality, and I now need to reach the next degree where I'll have 20 grams of corrected vessel, in which I will reveal twice over the spiritual reality. So, how do I discover these additional 10 grams in my will, in my desires? 

So, I can discover it by being drawn towards spirituality, and then I discover these 10 grams immediately as a lack, an attraction to spirituality. It's a lack that's in the right direction. Or I can discover it by having it revealed to me from above, but then it is revealed to me as a bad thing. That I want corporeality, I want to enjoy this, I'm immersed in that, and I can't emerge from all this. This whole process can take place here over a very extended duration, until I discover that it's to my detriment. And this will to receive, I should correct it, and instead of yearning for this, maybe I should yearn for spirituality. You understand? 

Suddenly, the difference between walking in Beito, "in its time," compared to Achishena, "hastening it," meaning until I get the revelation of the lack from above, and I enjoy it, and then slowly I discover that enjoying it is awful, it's the opposite of the purpose it only brings me corporeal suffering, spiritual suffering, until I despair of it completely. 

Until instead of it I want something different. Until I understand what that other thing is, that it's spirituality, the Creator, all that until I switch this direction with that direction in terms of how I use the desire to switch it to the other direction it can take years. 

So, what this method, this whole method teaches you is how to discover a lack, not in the way of in its time, but in the natural way that it happens and takes a long time. But rather through Achishena- hastening it, Achishena you discover the lack, you preempt the enlargement of the vessel, the growing of the vessel, before it's revealed to you from above, you do it first. And how can you do that? 

It's only by drawing to yourself more of the recognition of the greatness of the Creator. How great the Creator is, more and more and more, more than I thought. And then a new desire comes to you for Him, more and more and more. And if you discover it that way, then you don't need descents or suffering. And then you save a lot of time and a lot of suffering, and all sorts of bad discernments that you need to discover. 

Where you need to discover that what you thought was good brings you only bad results. You wanted to enjoy this, but you only received suffering. How can we constantly develop a source for attraction to spirituality, so that it will always pull us forward as a pulling force, instead of our pushing force that motivates us? How can I do that? So he writes that this can be done only through the society, because all of the qualities in me and the qualities outside of me, all the phenomena outside of me work on me in a deterministic fashion. I was born with a certain nature, I have nothing to do with it. I'm in a society, I can't do anything with that. 

So by what can I change? I'm being changed from above. But how can I determine those changes? So he says, only by determining your society. If now you know that you need to find a society that will reveal to you the importance of the Creator, the importance of spirituality, then look for a society that will awaken in you those sensations. That is your choice, all of it. By that, you save yourself from the path of suffering, bringing yourself to the path of the Torah, the path of Light, which pulls you forward. If you will succeed — yes, no, maybe you'll have a little bit of suffering and a little bit of Torah, both paths together. Well, what can you do? 

But nonetheless, and what is the profit? The more you're not suffering, the more you advance and the more you are in suffering, then you stay there, and you wait until you grasp intellectually that being in this suffering is not progress, it's not good. And so you save time, you spare yourself blows, punishments, and that's the difference. In any case, you'll get there. It's all an issue of how many more years you'll suffer for each discernment. So it's both suffering and years, right? Instead of finding some force that will pull you to spirituality without descending into this corporeality into this suffering. Yes, that is all.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:07) Can a person be in a state of joy from recognizing the greatness of the Creator and still be sorrowful about his own state, about his lacks?

M. Laitman: During the preparation period, everything, well anything could happen. It may be that a person is sorrowful about the greatness of the Creator, that he doesn't have it, that he does have it, and he's happy, and with that he's still regretting not having something in corporeality. In the time of concealment, the Creator is revealed partially, and the will to receive is also partially revealed, and not directly, but the Creator is revealed through the surrounding lights. So it may be that next to His revelation in the surrounding lights all sorts of bad things are also revealed. It's called one concealment- when a person feels the suffering, but also feels that it's coming from the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:05) Why do we advance more during the nighttime hours, when we study during the nighttime hours?

M. Laitman: Why do we study during the nighttime? There are a few conditions set. The Kabbalists set them as absolute conditions, it's mandatory. Studying, starting midnight, 12 a.m., which if we go according to root and branch, then 12 a.m. We call it Chatzot from the word Chetzi- half, half the night. It's not our 12 hours, so half the night that's his midnight. It might change, it can be 3 a.m. or 11 p.m., depending on which clock, it's all relative. But you see this is the true time, according to the sun you understand that's how it is. 

Now, starting at midnight, the surrounding lights begin to awaken, and corrections which proceed the day according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we learned this. In what part is this? Yes, 12, 11. And then AVI begin their correction as the morning approaches, and then in the morning they begin correcting the vessels, and the lights come to fill them, and so on. 

This is according to root and branch. So if a person wants to keep these laws in the root he also tries to keep them in the branch. And also we have the, well with respect to the surrounding lights, there's a certain relation from this. It applies to the person too. If he tries to study Kabbalah in those hours, then these surrounding lights come to him in those hours more strongly. 

Opposite each discernment of this world you have discernments in spirituality. And so in the surrounding lights these things act one opposite the other. They correspond. So it's worthwhile to get up at midnight, relatively speaking, and to begin to engage in corrections, the correction of the vessels. We have a correction called the Correction of Chatzot- the correction of midnight, and we have special things we study, special prayers for us and also for the common people. That's one thing, and you asked about this, yes? 

So there are a few more conditions a person has to meet to advance to spirituality, although he doesn't know why. Yes, and one of them that's the time, and studying in the evening that's not mandatory. And into the night, it was never a custom for Kabbalists. With Baal HaSulam, it was always the custom to go to sleep as it becomes dark, right? Let's say it's 7 p.m. in the evening. It's already dark. You go to sleep. That's it. That's how it was. That is natural. And then to get up at midnight and to begin the corrections. The time to sleep is from the time the stars come out and then until night begins and through to midnight. That's the time to sleep.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:22) What about the other things that a person needs to do?

M. Laitman: The other things? A person must make a Rav, buy a friend. These things relate more to externality, all sorts. Baal HaSulam, for example, had a condition where if a person doesn't pay for the lesson, he can't come to the lesson. You come here. Someone's standing over there, a collector. Give him 10 shekels. If not, you can't come in. That's how he would do it. In a way, which really — and people then didn't have where to make that kind of money. It's not about wanting or not wanting. There's nowhere to take it from. Okay, go take a loan. Meaning, for the screen, for the acts that we learn to be exertion you also have to match them in this world. Otherwise, you can't buy. It's about buying, right? Because Kesef, money, comes from Kisufa, yearning, concealment, screen. That's how it is. 

I remember coming to the Rabash, and after two months well, I started asking after about a month. I was at this over the internet today. I was asking, how can I pay for the tea, the coffee, the things you get to drink and eat? And so the collector came to me and he says, you think you need to pay for this? You need to pay also for the electricity, the water, all these things. And I started thinking, well, I was sorry for asking about the coffee. What's going on? And so he says, no, this is how it is, right? And in addition, he says, here you have to bring the Rav, the Maaser, the tithe. 

For me, this was odd. I was walking around people who are converting back to Judaism, and I had all these types, but the tithe was a few good paychecks, just the tithe. And you can't pay what you get, you need to pay also from what you steal, right? You need to also pay the tithe from that. It's not simple, so I didn't understand the principle of it. But after two years or so, a year and a half, after coming and studying and becoming Rabash's assistant, I started managing his bank account, and then I saw what the tithe was. Meaning, like that. So, the Kabbalists demanded of the students, and more such things — in short, they would pressure them. There was pressure. They tell there about other things Baal HaSulam more conditions he set to the students. But group, society, studying at night it's simple, and without that you don't meet the conditions for advancing at all. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:10) I have a question about… can we say for Kabbalists that the use of a screen is something that's constantly available, or does it depend on the state they are in? Meaning, the use of the screen which it depends on. 

M. Laitman: The screen is the intention towards the Creator: my thoughts, my desires, my passions, everything is aimed towards Him. That is called the screen. That's it. Like a mother constantly thinks about her baby, all the time towards Him, locked on Him, right? That is the screen. If you start imagining a screen in some other way, I don't know if it's… But that is called a screen. The screen is the intention to bestow. But intention, intellectually, in order to bestow, that's…No, no, it's an emotional thing, emotional intention. It can't be where now I need to give Him this and that, let's measure it out for Him, that's not a screen.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:16) You said that a screen is turning towards sensitivity and turning towards the Creator. Sensitivity and turning towards the Creator. The question is whether it is constantly available, as if…

M. Laitman: In spirituality, entering spirituality that's where you gain a screen over the will to receive that's present in you at that time. What does it mean? You developed in this world up to the biggest will to receive that can exist in this world, let's say, and over that you acquire a screen. Meaning, it cannot be that instead of spirituality you look at corporeality anymore. That's it. This is called making a restriction over the pleasures of this world, that's how I call it. Because for certain, you will have nothing to do with that anymore. 

Now, with respect to spirituality, there are two options that begin to become apparent. You're done with this world, and suddenly there's something in front of you which, something that greatly confuses you, very strong, special pleasures, eternality, perfection, I don't know what. Now, what to do with that? If you start falling into these pleasures in order to receive, this is called a shell. But if you gain the power to relate to that with the intention to bestow, that is called holiness. But both are above this world, both the shell and holiness. This world, it's not that you don't belong to it anymore. You can discern various pleasures here and so on, but it's not that you will ever prefer corporeality to spirituality. That can no longer happen. You're above that choice already, for certain.

Reader: Now, friends, we will summarize what we were impressed by from the lesson and what we want to implement in the Ten. A workshop, six minutes.

Reader: We'll move to the next part of the lesson.