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The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 5, 2026
Reader: Hello friends! In the first part of the lesson, we'll learn from a lesson from 2002 – it's based on the article, The Life of Sarah. You can find it in the Writings of Rabash, Volume 2; we'll read it together in the Ten, we have fifteen minutes. Let's go!
Reading: (01:06) The Life of Sarah
Article No. 7, 1985
It is written in The Zohar, in the portion, Hayei Sarah [The Life of Sarah] (item 17), “Another interpretation: ‘A king is a woman who fears the Lord, as you say, ‘A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised,’ meaning the Shechina [Divinity]. ‘…to a cultivated field’ is foreign fire, meaning the Sitra Achra, as you say, ‘to protect you from a foreign woman,’ for there is a field and there is a field. There is a field that all the blessings and sanctities are in it, as you say, ‘as the scent of a field which the Lord has blessed,’ meaning the Shechina. There is a field that every ruin, impurity, destruction, killing, and war is in it, meaning the Sitra Achra,” thus far its words.
According to our way, the meaning is that we have two ways—either to follow the path of those who come to the Creator, whose way is the path of bestowal, or a path that leads to people, which is reception, since the creatures are called “creatures” only with respect to reception and self-love, which comes to us from the core of creation.
There was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on that aspect, for in this place it is not evident that the whole earth is full of His glory, as it is possible to attain that the whole earth is full of His glory only when one exits the place of reception. But prior to exiting reception, one can only believe that this is so.
To be able to feel this, we are given the advice to exit the place of reception, which the place of darkness and death. That is, the light of life cannot appear although it is present, but it is covered from man, and one who comes to that place becomes separated from the source of life.
Hence, that place is called “darkness and death,” and every kind of calamity is present there. This is called the Sitra Achra [other side], meaning it is the opposite of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity]. A place of Kedusha, called a “place of bestowal,” is a place of equivalence of form. This is why in that place appear all the delight and pleasure, as it is a place of blessing and holiness. This is called “a woman who fears the Lord.” Our work is only to come to fear the Lord, called “assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven.”
By this we will understand what our sages said about the verse, “as black as a raven” (Iruvin, 22): “In whom do you find them? Raba said, ‘In one who pretends to be as cruel as a raven to his sons and to his household.’ And some say, ‘In whom you exclude the orders of Torah.’” RASHI interprets that a raven is cruel to its young, as it is written, “to the young ravens which cry.”
The word Orev [raven] comes from the word Arev [pleasant], as it is written, “for your voice is Arev [pleasant].” It is the opposite of the dove, as our sages said about the verse, “The dove came to him … and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf” (Iruvin 18). “Rabbi Yirmiah Ben Elazar said, ‘Why is it is written, ‘and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf’?’ The dove said to the Creator, ‘Lord of the world, let my food be as bitter as an olive but be given by You, and let them not be as sweet as honey but be given by flesh and blood.’’”
It is known that when a person works in order to receive, when his direction is only self-love, that work is called “sweet work.” This is why the dove said, “let my food be as bitter as an olive but be given by the Creator.” This refers to his sustenance, on which one sustains oneself, the sustenance on which one lives. If his work is intended for the Creator, even though it is bitter because the body does not agree with his nourishment, it will be dependent on the measure of his ability to aim to bestow, since it is against the nature in which the body was born.
The body was born with a desire to receive. It craves only that which can sustain self-love. This is regarded as provision that comes from “flesh and blood.” The body enjoys this provision and finds it sweet. It is regarded as Orev [raven] because only provision of flesh and blood is Arev [pleasant] to it. But it runs from provision that is given from above—meaning from being able to work for the Creator—since it feels bitterness in acts of bestowal.
It therefore follows that the raven is called “work of self-love.” Since there was a restriction on the will to receive, which is concealment and the upper light does not appear there, the work of the raven is black. This is the meaning of “as black as a raven.” That is, where is the Torah found? In whom can the light of Torah shine? Only in one who has come to realize that a raven, meaning work in reception, causes only blackness, that he can receive only darkness and not light. Our sages said about this that the Torah is found only “in one who pretends to be as cruel as a raven to his sons and to his household.”
It is known that father and son are cause and consequence. Therefore, we should interpret the above words to mean that one who has realized that by serving flesh and blood, which is work in self-love, though it is sweet work, it is a raven. However, by this he knows the outcome, meaning what will come out of such work—only darkness, called “blackness.” At that time he knows that he has become cruel to his sons, meaning he has no mercy on the results that will come out of this.
It follows that if he knows he has become cruel by walking on the degree of raven, he changes his way and begins to walk on the path of the dove, agreeing to work for the Creator even though these nourishments are as bitter as olives. But the results, meaning the sons, will enjoy his work, since because it is in order to bestow, abundance will flow into that place. This is the opposite from the raven, who becomes cruel to his sons.
We can interpret that this is why Israel are compared to a dove. This is the assembly of Israel, which is regarded as Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. This means that everything that the people of Israel do is with the intention Yashar-El. Conversely, the nations of the world are regarded as a foreign God, not wanting to dedicate their work to the Creator.
By this we can interpret the verse, “He gives to the beast its bread, and to the young ravens which cry.” We should understand the reason for the proximity of “beast” to “raven.” It is as our sages said about the verse, “Man and beast” (Hulin, 5): “Rav Yehuda said, ‘Rav said, ‘these people are cunning and pretend to be as a beast.’’” Baal HaSulam interpreted that it is faith above reason, whose basis is vessels of bestowal.
The young of the raven—when one looks and sees one’s results, meaning what will come out of self-love—begin to call out to the Creator to give them vessels of bestowal and faith above reason, once they have realized what results self-love, called “raven,” will bring them. We can say that this is called “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
Baal HaSulam interpreted what is written in the songs of Shabbat, “Extend Your mercy to one who knows You, O jealous and vengeful God.” This means that since one has acknowledged that if he does not walk on the path of bestowal he will immediately suffer revenge, he is guaranteed to keep himself from failing and entering the road that leads to self-love, since he knows he will lose his life, meaning that he will fall into a place of darkness and the shadow of death. At that time he says, “Extend Your mercy to those who know You,” who is a “jealous and vengeful God.”
This is why they ask of the Creator to give them the mercy, for they know that otherwise they are doomed. Only through the mercy that the Creator will give them they will receive vessels of bestowal. This is regarded as a “dove.” But the raven, meaning the sweetness that they demand as a condition in their work, which is called “raven,” makes them cruel, meaning killing all their sons. That is, by measuring his work according to the sweetness that he feels in his work, when his only consideration is how his will to receive guides him, he loses all his future.
This is the meaning of “He gives to the beast its bread.” When does he give them bread, which is called “faith”? When the young of the raven cry. That is, they understand that the results, called “sons,” which are born to the raven, are destined to die, for it is separation from the life of lives. Then, when they call upon the Creator to help them, they call upon the Creator in truth. This is the meaning of what is written, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
_______________________
Reader: We'll go through a lesson from January 28, 2002.
M. Laitman: (15:42) We read an article from The Steps of the Ladder, Volume 1, the Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, page 161, The Life of Sarah, which talks about what kind of cry needs to be directed at the Creator. A raven, or Orev, symbolizes self-love; from this self-love comes the result that develops from it, a person begins from self-love. The work begins from self-love and the sons of the raven, those who are truly called sons of the raven, are those who come to a genuine cry, one that truly receives an answer. Why is this stage called the aspect of a raven? A raven is the opposite of truth, the opposite of openness, uprightness, and all those states. Specifically from these states which are opposite to the Creator, a person begins, and from them emerges the result called, the sons of the raven. This means that we should not be afraid, despair, or pay too much attention to the states we go through because every state is a state of a raven until something good emerges from it. No correction, no perfected thing can come before the corruption becomes revealed in all its terrible and wild form to the point where it becomes unbearable. Only afterward, according to the extent of hatred that it awakens in a person – and the degree of rejection it arouses – does the person distance himself from it because hatred and rejection of a particular quality are what separate a person from that quality.
Therefore, what we need is simply recognition of evil, recognition of evil comes to us through the reforming light, the light brings us its qualities, during the study, the surrounding light, the Ohr Makif acts upon us and then we see more clearly the evil within us. To the extent that we see the evil within ourselves, we want to get rid of it, we want to push it away and thus we distance ourselves from it. Overall, the process itself is simple. The execution is hard because it happens to us. We are not merely observers watching the process from the side. But since we are inside it, we are within the process, so we cannot calmly determine from the side with cool logic and composure what is happening to the person undergoing these changes but
M. Laitman: (19:33) we're immersed in it and our whole intellect and understanding are influenced by these changes. Only occasionally can we see ourselves from the side and relate to the matter somewhat objectively, but the process is emotional. Simply, since we enter into the process, and since it passes through all of our feelings and occupies our entire awareness. We simply need to obey what is written in our books because we are the very material upon which the correction operates. Everything that we go through and learn and do in this world lets us differentiate between myself and what I do. Other than those who perform all kinds of psychological and psychiatric experiments, they can observe what is happening and draw conclusions. But a person who enters the experiment himself, he doesn't know what's happening to him anymore. Let's say I give him some kind of substance that changes my entire perception of life; in spirituality, it's even more so. Every time a person enters a new state, he receives that state and becomes it. It's not that he can always observe himself from the side and say, now I'm on this degree and in another moment I'm going to enter another degree. It's impossible to know that upon myself: where I am, what I'm doing. Therefore, there's a time of preparation, a time of execution, and a time of the result for every spiritual action. Between actions, a person can examine what is happening to him, that's why these articles are written in such a way that they explain things to us from the side – look at what's being done to you.
Then, if I'm not currently in a particular state and I can connect to the article, then I can look from the side and think, yes, apparently I may go through these kinds of states. But once I, myself, enter these experiences, this process that the article describes, I can no longer see from the side what is happening to me, but it's me. Sometimes I'm given a certain place in my intellect to examine myself and see myself from the side while going through certain processes and events, and sometimes I'm not. Therefore, when we are unable to see ourselves from the side, we must follow exactly what they recommend: to accept every state according to the principle, If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Afterward, we should accept every state according to the principle that There Is None Else Besides Him. Only later should we make various calculations, once we are no longer fully immersed in the process, in short, it is experience – There is none as wise as the experienced – only it teaches us how to relate to such things. But, at the very least, we should not forget this principle, this rule: that there must be the aspect of the raven, self-love, what are later called foreign thoughts later. Although, at first, they are not foreign, they’re egoistic thoughts are still me. For the time being, I'm connected to them, they are my internality. Until through the correct study and the exercises I perform in the group and during the study, I begin to draw upon myself some
M. Laitman: (24:31) upper light. I don't see it and I don't feel it but something acts upon me from above and, then gradually, I begin to feel how different I am from it – how much greater it is than I am, and how lowly I am in comparison to it – then, the scrutiny begins. In other words, we always begin with the raven and it is desirable to reach the sons of the raven who truly cry out, whose cry genuinely emerges as a result as the offspring of the raven. This is the cry through which a person leaves the intention to receive for himself and reaches the intention to bestow.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:34) I don't know exactly when, how I can come out of the state and look at it from the outside and try to judge it, if I did it this way or that way. Is it even possible, I didn't understand that point?
M. Laitman: A person who undergoes corrections, and even a person who does not yet undergo corrections who is still in what is called animalistic development meaning with an animal soul. Progressing from the desire for sex to the desire for money, honor, and knowledge and who still feels no point in the heart beginning to develop within him. That person and, later, as well, from the point in the heart until the Machsom, the barrier, until the Machsom—until the barrier, means that we go through two periods: the first period is what's called animalistic development with the animal soul. The second period is already from the point in the heart until the barrier. That's the beginning of the spiritual soul. A person who develops, develops in both stages but the most important is certainly the second stage, the stage of the point in the heart. That person is under the influence of the upper light, there is a light that does not change. It fills our entire universe and sustains the existence of the still, vegetative, and animate which do not need to change, they only need to exist.
This light is the light of Hassadim with still a little bit of the light of Hochma within but it's only minimal, it's just enough to sustain the corporeal reality. In a person, there is an animal soul, but it needs to become refined and developed. A person is not simply born, he also enters a process of human development. You see that humanity develops, humanity evolves, look at our history. Humanity develops continuously, people constantly want more things, discover more things, and seek more things. That's because the light that comes specifically to man, that light continually changes in its intensity. Accordingly, it constantly reveals a greater desire within a person. The light builds the vessel. It builds a greater desire. Then a person begins to aspire more than simply being like an animal with a family, a yard, and a house. He wants to become wealthy, he wants to gain control over other people. He wants to become well-known, famous, a scientist, to know more, etc. We see the results of this all around us, that's human development, it's the result of how the light acts upon humanity. We, too, are part of this human development, although we are immersed in it chasing discoveries, inventions, and all kinds of things that we want to invent and create. At the same time, we occasionally look at ourselves from the side and observe this process as if from the outside. I can also view this entire process in myself and I can see what process I have been through from childhood until now: I was a small child, I went to the kindergarten. I thought about certain things; afterward, came school and more and more stages. In other words, I can view these states and learn from them, drawing conclusions, even though I do not understand the entire process and especially because I don't understand its purpose. So those conclusions might be completely inaccurate, nevertheless, we still try to learn from them.
So there are two states: one, is when I'm inside the state itself, inside the process itself and then I cannot examine it very well because I'm immersed in it. The other is when I stand outside of it and can examine it, observe it, somewhat understanding it to some degree, and investigate it, the same applies in spirituality. In spirituality, however, there's a much greater difficulty than in corporeality because in corporeality, I get support, knowledge, attitudes, science, and impressions from the environment. Not only do I go through it, alone, but everyone in my generation goes through it – there's this mutual sensation, somewhat. We exist in one world and go through the same things together, one doctor can treat everyone, one engineer can build machines for everyone, right? Meaning, we have many things in common; therefore, there is great support and assistance from the environment. Even in corporeality, it's clear to me that I cannot exist without society, that I need it, and that I exploit it in an acceptable manner. In spirituality, that is, in the development of the point in the heart, the picture is pretty much the same, we just don't see it clearly but the same picture exists. Around the point in the heart there is its own world, it has its own society – we still need to discover that but it exists. It has its own society, has, certainly its own laws. One person must also receive help from others in order to correct himself and make use of various means from the side. A person can observe himself, there, just as he observes himself in his animalistic corporeal development. Sometimes, when he enters the process, he knows nothing, sees nothing, he's completely absorbed in it. In other words, the light influences him and the vessel annuls itself. It becomes canceled and he simply does what the light dictates. There are other times when a person can observe the process from the side, examine it with understanding and reason and somewhat draw conclusions from the past and go with them, using them for the future. What are you asking?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (33:24) I got an answer.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: At the beginning of the article, it says that we are in a restriction and concealment. What you can do is only to have faith or believe. At the end of the paragraph, it says you can only believe this is so. What we learned, at least, I heard from you also in Shamati, is that faith is when you already have the feeling of the Creator?
M. Laitman: He writes here that in a state of darkness, a person must believe. What does it mean to believe? I believe that if I read this book, something good will come of it. What does this thing called belief mean, can you explain it to me?
Student: I wouldn’t ask, if I'd known.
M. Laitman: Rather, what kind of assurance is it? What is this matter called faith? What is this feeling called faith? It means that I rely on someone's opinion, on some fact that exists for another person. For him, it is a fact but for me it is not yet a fact – I do not see it, I do not possess it, I simply make use of your fact. I derive some confidence from it that I, too, can engage in this book and attain something. What am I relying on? I rely on the fact that I know you; you tell me it is worthwhile to do this. Go ask psychologists, they will tell you what belief is – it's brainwashing! I see you, maybe you're an important person, you have a big hat, you have all sorts of impressive things, you know? In religions, people have rituals and symbols, it's a positive thing – person is supposed to be impressed by these things In the multitude of people is the king's glory. There must be numbers, there must be something impressive, somehow, it affects a person.
In our times, however, since we're approaching the end of correction, these things are gradually falling away. They're becoming less effective, we're becoming wiser, it's harder to confuse us with such things but, essentially, all these things help me acquire your opinion. In other words, I somewhat transfer your reason and confidence into my own mind, I acquire it. Since human beings have the ability to absorb impressions and emotions from one another, I absorb that from you. It becomes not exactly like a fact but almost like a fact for me; then, it gives me fuel, the ability to engage in it. And I work and I eventually attain as well. How do I know that if I study for 20 years I'll become a professor? In some cases, I can see clear evidence, but where I cannot see, people must come to me who I can believe, that they influence me strongly enough and convince me so deeply that it becomes almost a fact for me. What do I acquire from them? I acquire strength; instead of a fact, I acquire strength. This strength functions in me as though it were a fact. It gives me confidence and fuel to attain and do what is necessary as if I already see the result – this is what we call faith. I can receive this faith from the environment, from society, from books, I become impressed by them and thus I work. An animal cannot do this. An animal acts only according to what it sees. How can I act, not according to human knowledge but according to divine knowledge? Suppose you say, if the Creator tells me, I will do it but if you tell me, I will not do it. How can I make it so that the Creator tells me?
Each time we seek to attain the next degree, we encounter this same problem: I need to attain a higher degree but I do not see it or feel it, yet. I need to work hard to correct my will to receive, to transform it into a will to bestow, to do things that are entirely outside this world. I have no strength for that because these are not ordinary human powers. How can I change my very nature, you understand? Where will I get all of these tools? They say, the power of faith, so what's faith, who should I believe in, who should I receive inspiration from?
M. Laitman: (39:32) What, from the holy books? I can read them and be impressed by them – it's exactly the same in our world. If I want to do something but I do not yet see any benefit in it, I need to be inspired by someone. The same applies with the Creator, therefore, he writes that the sensation of the Creator brings a person faith. If I feel Him, if I see Him, if I somehow grasp Him, that serves as fuel for me. What does that mean? Suppose I want to buy some luxury, huge, beautiful car, like a Cadillac; if I see the showroom, the owner, the factory, all these impressive surroundings. Everything is very rich, I become inspired by it, so I don't need the car, right now. What I need is the impression of the one who owns it, who radiates confidence that I can obtain it if I earn it. The same applies to the Creator, if He reveals Himself – not as the source of pleasure but as the Great One who possesses everything and can provide everything – then I'm already willing to work, I'm confident. This confidence that I receive from the Creator appearing to me in such a way is called faith. The result of the light of faith is a feeling of confidence in a person.
According to the strength of one's faith, one can work, that's why it is written, The righteous shall live by his faith. Where can I obtain that faith? Only from the study, they say that if you wish to receive the power of faith, then you need to direct yourself toward it during the study. That is explained in Item 17 The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot. That's why it's written, Therefore, before the study, a person must strengthen himself in faith. Where, if you truly want it then you will receive it; it's because you're not asking for pleasure. You're not asking for some kind of personal advancement or gain that enters into the will to receive, you want to be impressed by the greatness of the Creator, otherwise, your body, your egoism, will certainly not change. The Creator is great, He should reveal Himself such that I can humble myself before Him, hear Him, and become similar to Him – come on, let Him reveal Himself, I study for that purpose. If a person reaches a state where he genuinely wants correction and not to grasp angels by the tail or to chase after all kinds of mystical phenomena and pleasures, then certainly he receives it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (43:15) What does it mean that the Creator is revealed to me?
M. Laitman: What does it mean that the Creator is revealed? The Creator's revelation is not some old man suddenly coming to your house, knocking on the door and saying, How are you, friend? How are you feeling? I've come to visit you, you know? He doesn't come in that form nor as any kind of image or figure. Instead, you feel within yourself confidence, confidence to go against simply everything you received from your education, society, parents, spouse, family, everyone, and even yourself. In other words, everything you have, against everything you have. Suddenly, you see that you have this strength, this understanding, this certain inner assurance that lets you go against all of that – not to take it into consideration, not to be governed by that – not to take it into consideration.
M. Laitman: (44:30) This ability is the result of the upper light operating on you. Don't look for some image within yourself, you could experience various sensations. But in the end those sensations will bring you a feeling of strength and confidence ,and that is the light of faith, the power of faith that you receive. Now, this is still not the actual sensation of the Creator, it's the result of the upper light acting upon you while you are still uncorrected. The result of receiving this power is called a screen; with this power, you can work against your previous conclusions, your desires, and what your body tells you. You can begin taking into account things that do not belong to this world at all. You start making calculations according to something different, according to spiritual values. After you feel these forces and acquire them in this consistent manner, they will come and go at first, appear and disappear. But after you acquire them permanently, the power of faith, the light of faith, not intermittently but constantly, even in the smallest measure. Then it's called that you have a screen and reflected light, Ohr Hozer, even at least on the level of Nefesh to Nefesh, then, to that extent you begin to feel Godliness, the Creator.
In other words, the Creator then begins to reveal Himself to you through His qualities, His warmth, His delights – what does it mean that He reveals Himself to you? It means that within that very thought, desire, and force called faith and confidence in the Creator, you begin to feel His presence, you begin to sense the source of the power of faith. That is all, this is what we call the vessel and the light that fills the vessel. And all of it comes as a result of correct study and the correct approach: Israel, meaning me, the point in the heart, my yearning for Him, and he can be connected through study, through the Torah. Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one, what is called I? It is the yearning for the Creator, the point in the heart, that desire alone. All the other desires are not really me, they are simply a help against it. Who is the Creator? He is the one toward whom I yearn; I don't know who He is but I yearn for something beyond this world. What is the Torah? The Torah is all the means that can connect me with the Creator. First of all, it's the holy books and we know what those are. It's what the souls of Rabbi Shimon, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam wrote to us. It is also the Rav, the teacher, who tells me what to do, and the group around me that carries out these things together based on what we receive from the books and the Rav, the teacher – all of this together is called the Torah. When, during study, you use all these means and wish to attain the light of faith, then, all these conditions together bring you the light of faith. They bring you the light of faith steadily over a period of three to five years. We need to get used to that, we need to connect to it more and more, and we need to scrutinize everything that's given to us from above, repeatedly, all the disturbances.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:08) What is the connection between faith, vessels of bestowal, and vessels of reception? Can faith only dress itself in vessels of reception, but they are constantly operating in bestowal?
M. Laitman: We are, in our current state, only with vessels of reception; even our vessels of bestowal are to bestow in order to receive. Now, when the light of faith comes, it first gives me corrections to vessels of bestowal. Meaning it brings me to the degree where I can bestow in order to bestow, to be an embryo a little, and later I can even receive in order to bestow, to be an adult, I’ll be great, in greatness. This is according to the force of the screen that I can acquire as a result of the light that shines on me. The screen is a direct result of the intensity of the light that shines.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:29) How does the connection among the friends lead to the greatness of the Creator?
M. Laitman: How does the connection between the friends bring us to the greatness of the Creator? Well, first of all we need to talk about it, that's what Rabash writes in his articles. That I have to talk to the friends about the greatness of the Creator—not how each one is impressed by the greatness of the Creator, personally, Oh, I'm so impressed like this, oh, I'm impressed like that, no, God forbid. Rather, what we read, what we understand about it – don't bring the sort of deepest secrets of your heart –rather, show everyone where it's written. What can this bring us? It depends how to speak about it, you understand? Not from the point of view of personal impression, rather how a third party seemingly brings it to us like the author is bringing this to us, right, and to read about it in the articles. That's one thing, the other thing is that during the study, we decide that we work on this. The problem is that in our corporeal world, it seems to us that our thoughts and desires are not working. But in spirituality, you say that this is the actions of desires, right, what is spirituality? Spirituality is, let's say, a virtual world where desires work without matter, without this material clothing.
We have to understand that if, let's say, you're sitting in the study hall—with you and another seventy, eighty, or ninety people studying—if you take spirituality out of here, right, in place of each and every one here in the same space, you know, there will be only a vacant space. There will be nothing, nothing will be here, no tables, no chairs, no walls, nothing. In place of each and every one, there will be only his force; so those forces, imagine, are now working, they're truly working, so in what way they can connect, what way they can—when they connect, they can act more, and when they move apart, they can act less, they can lose. As much as they're closer, and how they think toward the upper thought, the upper force, accordingly they receive help, they receive support, correction, and so on and so forth. When you need to see your friends, not as 15 people, rather as 15 forces, thoughts, desires. Where the closer they get between them, it becomes a beneficial force; and if we say that we need a revelation of the force of faith, then let's think about it together – it's a tremendous vessel!
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:40) So it turns out that the preparation before the lesson needs to be through the connection among the friends. And the more connected the friends are, the more this thought awakens, and then it becomes possible to increase the light.
M. Laitman: The preparation before the lesson has to work on two levels. Each one should be impressed by his friends, personally, so that in me, inside of me, my individual force will grow, my personal desire for corrections, for the goal. Meaning, I want to take advantage of the group so they would all influence me, brainwash me – me, and each one here must demand it from the group. If the group does not provide it to him, it's a problem. After each — each and every one — received maximum from the group as far as impressions go, and this maximum has no limit, it's clear, then we have to work already on number two. What is number two, the connection between them, with all those thoughts and desires that we received, each one personally. Now, where I'm going is not me toward the Creator alone, rather all of us together toward Him. But these two things can be worked separately, I can have a personal line of work toward the Creator, and this could be a group work toward the Creator, collective work. Both of those things work, there's a connection between them, but it's not important right now. We're not going to talk about the formula that connects them. But these two things, you need them both. There is a person who may not be able to work on connection with others, and during the study to see himself through the society, through the general vessel toward the Creator, to connect to Him and demand the force of correction for himself, for the group. Is not able to see through the glass of the society, through the prism of society. Society is really like glasses, I have glasses, and I look at the whole world and the Creator through them. There are those who are more capable, less capable — it's not, it's not too bad, these are stages, but at least the demand from the society, the power to be impressed by Godliness, by the goal, by how great it is. I came here, yes, I wanted. After a few days, less; a few months later, a little less. So after the matter, society, it would not be less but rather it would be more and more each day.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:28) If I have to see through this prism, through the friends, I need to see the problems that demand correction. Or I can — if I don't see these problems in society, can I just simply see the society?
M. Laitman: The attitude to the society also includes these two types of attitudes: one type of attitude is critical. I go, I criticize, I shout, I awaken everyone to be more serious, more together, more working in it, right? And after we do it as much as possible — maybe I want a million percent out of myself, maybe, maybe, maybe not — and from the society as much as possible. After that, meaning, this demand is like the Malchut of my Partzuf; that in order to receive an impression from the society, I need to be refined like the Keter. So, afterwards I say: what my society did, this is the best, they're the greatest, the sweetest, they are — it's everything for me, understand? Then according to my refinement, I can receive an impression from them and work with that impression. We always have two opposite points in every attitude, in every discernment, and one should not contradict the other; it's both. Otherwise I lose — I lose the connection – and the more, the greater the distance between them, it means the level of intensity of how much I can receive. I cry out, I demand, and everything; to that extent, I can also annul later, then I have a good vessel, I will receive well from them. That's why the more a person advances, he demands more firmly, and he also sees that he is the worst of everyone.
Student: I still don't understand, if I don't feel my friend, how can my friend's thought help me?
M. Laitman: You can't feel how the friend's thoughts can help you, because the thoughts belong to the spiritual world. It's not spiritual, spiritual, but it's spiritual compared to our world, in our world, right? How can the thoughts help?
Student: No.
M. Laitman: If you go to today's scientists, they'll tell you that if you think badly of a plant, it will feel it and die; if you feel good about something, you bestow, you influence it positively. They begin to discover the force that exists in the thought of people, and indeed ,there is a great force in the thoughts. We just can't measure it, we can't connect all kinds of causes and consequences. Look, if we could do in science — you know, there are things like x-rays, you see something that you cannot see with your eyes. There are some devices you can use to see in the dark, all kinds of waves, right, frequencies, infra, it doesn't matter. If you could see, if you can use an instrument to see how thoughts are working, you would see how all of our thoughts from our mind, from the brain, like these electric waves. They go up, and then they go up and influence the upper world, and then from the upper world they come back down, all kinds of forces, instances, things. You would see it and you would say that yes, our thoughts are active. Let's interchange thoughts and desires — thoughts and desires are the same thing — let's, you know, interchange it, let's improve it. Now that you don't see it and you don't do it. So, what are you asking? You can't believe that the society can change something in life through thinking. So, I'm asking you something else: by what do you think you can change something, if not through the thought? Everything will be clarified in the thought. So, by what, what other forces do you have? What, with your hands,? You can't touch spirituality – tell me, what else?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:34) I can't touch spirituality with my thought either?
M. Laitman: You can touch spirituality using your thoughts, and they tell you that, if during the study, if you think correctly, you awaken the surrounding light in you. They tell you this is the point of contact between you and the upper world — this surrounding light.
Student: But that's my thought inside me, that thought that is inside my friend, I?
M. Laitman: Now your thought and a thought of a friend, and it's saying, now how can we work? So it will become one thought.
Student: Is that even possible?
M. Laitman: It is possible? So they tell you — these guys who are beyond our thoughts, in the world of truth — they say, yes, it's possible, because there's a law about thoughts, that similar thoughts are close. And thoughts that are entirely the same, they connect into one thought, that's a physical law, what does it mean? If my direction is in a certain direction, a special vector, and someone else's thought is moving in the same direction, the same vector, they connect and they act together. Like it or not, even if you want to connect them or not, understand? If many, many people don't think that they connect together, but simply think the same thing, that also causes all these thoughts to connect. But certainly there's a deficiency, here, what for, why? The force of connection is different, but nevertheless, you're learning spiritual laws, it's not for nothing. They teach you these spiritual laws, they teach you how to use them. The law of equivalence of form is the only law, the only law, the main law that works above all the forces. So then you ask how our thoughts work and connect, they explain it to you.
Student: What are you talking about when you say thought?
M. Laitman: When I say thought, I mean desire.
Student: (01:07:13) Let's say there are two people thinking about spirituality, one wants spirituality in order to dominate and humiliate everyone else; the other one wants spirituality so his family will be healthy. Are they close to each other because they both want spirituality? Or are they far apart because each one wants something completely different?
M. Laitman: You ask me, you're asking me: how can one thought connect to another thought? According to the goal — or what the thought has to reach — or according to the goal of what this thought wants to receive, acquire? We all aim ourselves at that but each one of us wants something else from the Creator. Are our thoughts, are they connecting in any way, no, why? Because then we are aimed not at the same Creator. For you, it's the Creator who gives money; for me, it's the Creator who gives honor; for another one, it's the Creator who gives lust. For another one, the Creator gives spirituality, whatever. That, and so on and so forth, each one has his own Creator, it's like the Greeks who thought that there's a different God sitting in different places. The Creator with us is only one thing, a desire to bestow. And He gives you only one thing, a desire to bestow, and how does He give this desire? Through your desire to bestow and there's nothing besides that. If you don't have such a thing, even a tiny intention in that direction, then there's no connection to Him at all.
To the extent that you grasp it, and you feel it, and you want it, and you somehow, you want to distinguish that thing - to bestow – to that extent you have the Creator, and in any other way, it's not the Creator, you think about something else. If they want to be rich, it's not the Creator – it's not the Creator the way we speak of it, the way we mean it. Of course, it all comes from Him, even riches you can receive from Him; but then you are impressed, you pray to a different Creator, a different garment.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:07) So, does the difference lie in from whom we ask, or in what we ask? I didn't quite understand.
M. Laitman: We need two points. Also mine — the point called Israel — and also the Creator, to know more or less what the Creator means. Then between those two points, to make an arrow; that arrow is done by all the deeds that we are performing here. The point below is me — who's that? Israel. Not anyone else, the Israel, meaning the one who yearns for the Creator, it wasn't given a different name than that. And the upper point has to be the Creator, meaning only the force of bestowal. And by the deeds, I have to bring myself that my small desire will unite with His desire to bestow. So, all in all, why am I making this arrow from me to Him? That I can gradually reach His intensity to bestow, that's it. If I don't want to lift myself from my state here, upward, through the light, through all the deeds I do, to His state to bestow, so we're not even talking about me. Then I go to the Wailing Wall, stick a note in there: I want to make some money in the lottery, and I go home. That's why we have to work also on Israel, also on the Creator, and also on the light, those three points have to be worked on.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:31) When a person decides to hold those three causes in one line, and then he's constantly burdened that he won't miss any of them, so he doesn't connect — not to the friends, not to the book, not to the Rav — meaning that concern can take him out of connection?
M. Laitman: That's why I say it's very difficult to concentrate on these three points together. Besides the fact that Baal HaSulam says that whoever wants to go on a straight path and not deviate from the path, he has to make sure those three things are equal in him, because that's how he, in every single point, makes everything correct, and from point to point, he builds this line straight from him to the Creator. Under the condition that every point along the line — Israel, the light, and the Creator — will be equal, in an equal measure and intensity in relation to a person. Because if I long for the measure of Israel, I want to long to the Creator – who are you longing to, tell me? Who's the Creator? So I want to know who the Creator is, wonderful! You want to know now, but how do you know it's like that? But I need to long for the Creator, that's called to perform all the conditions for the Torah, for the light. What are those? Love thy friend as thyself is a great rule in the Torah, all the things that will take me out of my desire to receive. So who should I yearn for? Those three things need to be as one. So, if you say you're not capable of doing those as one, then Rabash is there, and also Baal HaSulam, he says at the end of his letter, Therefore, we need to long to know the one who's commanding it. If you know who's the commander of things, then you know what to do.
M. Laitman: (01:14:31) So what do we need to know? To know His commands, His guidance, the upper Commandments, what are these upper Commandments? They are advice on how to get rid of the desire to receive, gradually to reach His nature. And that is through study, it's enough that through the study, you'll yearn to know how I perform the actions that are written in the book. And then, the light will come down from above and bring you all those things. For the time being, it's like that, there's greater depth in this, but for now, it's all right. I'm very happy that we're at last talking about how to approach this. You know, should we really approach the study now? It's very important, preparation is very important – I'm willing to talk like this every day. But will we be able to continue this now? We have another hour and 45 minutes to study. So, now we will try, during the time of the study, to really connect these three points: Israel, the Creator, and the light, together, so they will all be in us, within us. Meaning, Israel is me, my desire, and in this desire I want to have the desire of the Creator, since my desire is not quite like the desire of the Creator,but I want it to receive exactly the same form like the Creator. And I want to do this through all the actions I do and for me to be told what other actions I need to do, I'm willing. Actions, what are actions? The actions in order to bestow, for the time being, without a screen, without knowing what to do. And later, with a screen, later, it's expressed in a Partzuf — the striking of coupling, the reflected light — because Malchut becomes Keter through the Masach, through the screen. Malchut is Israel, the Keter is the Creator, and the Masach, the screen, is the actions of the light – the commandments, the upper commandments.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:09) The upper commandments are connected to the ways of the light?
M. Laitman: The upper commandments are 613 commands a person needs to perform in order to correct his vessel. For the time being in me, they're not clarified or scrutinized. I don't know them one by one, I don't know each and every spiritual desire in me that I will be able to acquire, a screen over, and be able to receive in order to bestow, and thus be in a corrected manner with each and every desire. Altogether, all those desires will later connect together and will be as one complete Kli. I don't quite know the upper commandments, yet. Every single desire in me is not yet, but for the time being, it's in general.
Student: What's in general?
M. Laitman: I know we need to observe commandments.
Student: What are these Mitzvot, what are these commandments?
M. Laitman: To be in order to bestow.
Student: But what is it to be in order to bestow?
M. Laitman: I don't know, but I feel that we need to do so – it's like a little child. Later, accordingly, understandings are revealed upon each and every action that are possible to do. For the time being, all these commandments, these are spiritual actions that are called Mitzvot. So, I have 613 desires, the correction of each desire is called a Mitzva; so still, these Mitzvot in me are also called organs of the body. They're not clarified, that's why my body is still called like a drop of semen, there's nothing there yet that is clarified. Later, from that drop when I go through impregnation, Ibur, I start having discernments. Already in the fetus, there's a body, and in his mother, there are already 613 parts. But still, with those 613 parts, he doesn't know what to do. He has it, but he can't work it; but he already has somewhat of a knowledge that he is made up of those 613 parts, he doesn't even know the number, but something. And then it becomes clearer and clearer what his body is, and the more clear it is what his body is, the more correctly he can use his body.
That's what Baal HaSulam writes that even in this world, a baby is not given forces before he's given the intellect. If he has the forces without the intellect, he could actually be harmful to himself. So, the more understanding he has, the more powers he's given. If he has a very small understanding, he's not given to walk, he can fall and, God forbid, damage himself. A little bit more mind, accordingly — ah, you grew, now you're one year old, you have enough of a mindset, then you can walk. You have enough of an understanding to be able to walk. That's how it is in spirituality, a person receives the brain for it and starts to see that he can use these desires, those desires, and he starts to discern that they're in him like this. And this is what he can do with his feet, this is what he can do with his hands; instead of suckling from his mother, he can eat on his own and clarify what's food, what's waste. This is considered to know the commandment, the upper commandments, and how to work with them.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:19) So, we don't need each other? A person just has to connect those three points?
M. Laitman: Connecting these three points is permanent work from now until the final correction. There are no changes, here, because it includes everything – what is there besides them in reality? There is no reality outside of this: Malchut, the Creator, and the light that corrects Malchut until she rises to the degree of the Creator, that's it. The method won't change. There are no other components other than these three things, and it's also not three that are inclusive, it's two: the Creator and the created being. Existence from existence, and existence from absence, we just say the Creator and the light, why? Because His power, His force, its presence in us is made of these two things: the correcting force, and the abundance that fills.
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Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson, and what from it we're taking to implement in the Tens, then let's go to the next part, but sing a song first!
Song: (01:28:51)