The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) April 13, 2024.
Part 1. Baal HaSulam. Shamati Article 86. And They Built Arei Miskenot.
Reader: Hello, we are reading Shamati 86, And They Built Arei Miskenot, you can find this in the writings of Baal HaSulam or in Shamati. Again, Shamati 86, And They Built Arei Miskenot.
Reading Article: (00:25) Shamati 86. “And They Built Arei Miskenot.”
The writing says (Exodus 1): “And they built for Pharaoh Arei Miskenot, 1. Pithom and Raamses.” We should ask, “Pithom and Raamses means that they are beautiful cities, while the words Arei Miskenot imply poverty and meagerness [see footnote], and they also imply danger!” And we must also understand what Abraham the Patriarch asked, “And he said … ‘How will I know that I will inherit it?’” (Genesis 15:8). What did the Creator reply? It is written, “And He said unto Abram: Know for certain that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years.”
The literal meaning is hard to understand, since the question was that he wanted guarantees on the inheritance, and there is no apparent guarantee in the Creator’s answer, that your seed will be in exile, but it seems that this was a sufficient answer for him. Moreover, we see that when Abraham had an argument with the Creator regarding the people of Sodom, he had a long argument with the Creator, and he kept saying “perhaps.” Here, however, when the Creator said that his seed would be in exile, he immediately accepted it as a sufficient answer and did not argue or say, “perhaps?” Instead, he accepted it as a guarantee for the inheritance of the land.
We must understand this answer, and we must also understand what The Zohar interprets about the verse “Pharaoh brought near.” It interprets that he drew them toward repentance. Can it be that wicked Pharaoh would want to draw them toward repentance?
In order to understand all that, we must understand what our sages said (Sukkah 52a): “Rabbi Yehuda says, ‘At the end of days, the Creator brings the evil inclination and slaughters it before the righteous and before the wicked. To the righteous, it seems like a high mountain. To the wicked, it seems as a thread of a hairsbreadth. These cry and those cry. The righteous cry and say ‘How could we conquer such a high mountain?’ and the wicked cry and say ‘How could we not conquer this hairsbreadth?’’”
This verse is perplexing through and through:
If the evil inclination has already been slaughtered, how are there still wicked?
Why do the righteous cry? Quite the contrary, they should have been happy!
How can there be two opinions in reality when they have both arrived at the state of truth? This verse speaks of the end of days, which is certainly a state of truth, so how can there be such a difference in reality between a hairsbreadth and a high mountain?
He explains this with the words of our sages (there): “Rabbi Assi says, ‘In the beginning, the evil inclination seems like a spiderweb, and in the end, it seems like cart-ropes,’ as was said, ‘Woe unto them who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as though with a cart rope’” (Isaiah 5).
There is a great rule we must know. Our work, which was given to us to be based on faith above reason, is not because we are unworthy of a high degree. Hence, this was given to us so as to take it all in a Kli [vessel] of faith. It appears to us as ignominy and worthlessness, and we are anxious for the time we can rid ourselves of this burden called “faith above reason.” However, it is a great and very important degree, whose exaltedness is immeasurable.
The reason it appears to us as ignominy is because of the will to receive in us. We must discern a Rosh [head] and a Guf [body] in the will to receive. The Rosh is called “knowing,” and the Guf is called “receiving.” Because of this, we consider anything that is against knowing as low and beastly.
Now we can interpret what Abraham the Patriarch asked of the Creator: “How will I know that I will inherit it?” For how will they be able to accept the burden of faith, since it is against reason, and who can go against reason? Thus, how will they come to be granted the light of faith, since perfection depends on this alone?
The Creator answered him about this: “Know for certain, etc., that they will be in exile.” This means that He prepared a Klipa [shell], which is the evil inclination, an evil person, Pharaoh king of Egypt. The letters of the word Pharaoh are like the letters of the word Oref [back of the neck], as the ARI wrote (Shaar HaKavanot for Pesach) that Pharaoh is considered the Oref, the narrow in the sea. He would suck out the abundance that comes to the lower ones with his question (Exodus 5:2), “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” By this very question, they are in the hands of the Klipot [shells], as the Maimonides says (Hilchot Deot) regarding not turning to idol gods, that with this approach alone, meaning with the very question, the prohibition on turning to them is broken.
The evil inclination wishes to suck abundance from the Kedusha [holiness]. Thus, what does it do to suck abundance from the Kedusha? The writing tells us, “and Pharaoh brought near.” The Zohar interprets that he brought them near to repentance. It asked how can we say that Pharaoh brought them close to repentance if the conduct of the Klipot is to turn one away from the Creator.
We must understand this by what is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” p 41 [in Hebrew]): “Transgression is concealed within you, like the serpent that strikes and hides its head inside its body.” Also, in the Sulam [“Ladder” commentary on The Zohar]: “Like, etc. Since that transgression is concealed, the force of the serpent that strikes the people of the world and brings death to the world is still in all its power and cannot be revoked. It is like a serpent that bites a person and immediately puts its head in its body, and then it is impossible to kill it.”
There is yet another saying in The Zohar—that the serpent bows its head and strikes with its tail. This means that sometimes it lets one take upon himself the burden of faith, which is above reason, which is the bowing of the head, but it strikes with its tail. The tail can be interpreted as “the end,” that it bowed its head so as to ultimately receive in order to receive. In other words, it first gave one permission to take upon himself faith so that afterward it would take everything into its own authority, for the Klipa [shell/peel] knows that there is no way to receive abundance except through Kedusha [holiness].
This is the meaning of Pharaoh bringing them near. It is explained that he deliberately brought Israel to repentance, so as to afterward take everything from them into his own authority. This is why the ARI wrote that Pharaoh sucked all the abundance that came down to the lower ones. He sucked from the Oref and from the throat, which is considered the head of the body, meaning it would take everything in its vessels of reception.
This is the meaning of “And they built Arei Miskenot,” meaning that this was for Israel. In other words, all their work during the exile was taken into Pharaoh’s custody, and Israel remained poor, for Miskena means poor.
We should also interpret Miskenot from the word Sakana [danger], meaning that they were in great danger of remaining in that state for the rest of their lives. However, to Pharaoh, the work of Israel was Pithom and Raamses, meaning very beautiful cities.
Thus, the meaning of “And they built Arei Miskenot” (to Israel), and to Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses. This is because all the work of Israel fell into the Klipot, and they saw no blessing in their work.
When they prevailed in their work in faith and bestowal, they did see fertility. And the moment they fell into knowing and receiving, they fell into the hands of the Klipa of Pharaoh. Finally, they came to a determined resolution that the work must be in faith above reason and in bestowal.
However, they saw that they were unable to come out of Pharaoh’s power by themselves. This is why it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work,” since they feared that they might stay in exile forever. Then, “their cry came up unto God,” and they were rewarded with exiting from the exile in Egypt.
It turns out that before they saw the situation—that they are in the hands of the Klipot, and were hurting and afraid that they would remain there forever—they had no need for the Creator’s help from vessels of reception, if they do not feel the shortcoming and detriment caused by them, that this is all that obstructs them from adhering to the Creator. This is because otherwise one has a higher regard for work in the form of knowledge and reception, and faith is considered lowliness. They prefer knowledge and reception since this is what man’s exterior mind necessitates.
Hence, they were given the exile, to feel that they do not progress in nearing the Creator, and all their work sinks in the Klipa of Egypt. Finally, they saw that they had no other choice but to take upon themselves the work of lowliness, which is faith above reason, and yearn for bestowal. Otherwise, they feel that they are in the domain of the Sitra Achra [other side].
It turns out that the faith that they took upon themselves was because they saw that otherwise they would have no counsel, and hence agreed to a work of lowliness. This is called “conditional work,” that they accepted this work so they would not fall into the net of the Klipot. This is why they had taken upon themselves this work.
However, if the reason is revoked, the love for this work is revoked, too. This means that if the evil inclination is canceled, and there is nothing that brings them thoughts of not turning to idol gods, then the love for the work in lowliness is canceled.
Now we can understand what our sages wrote: “In the beginning, the evil inclination seems like a spiderweb, and in the end, it seems like cart-ropes.” We know that there is a discernment of “coercive,” “mistaken,” and “deliberate.” The will to receive that is imprinted in man is considered “coercive,” since one cannot revoke it, and it is therefore not considered a sin, but an iniquity, as it is written, “Woe unto them who draw iniquity with cords of vanity.” It cannot be rejected or hated, since he does not feel that it will be a sin.
However, afterward, it becomes a “sin, as it was with cart-ropes,” and the Klipot were then made of this will to receive, which have a complete structure, as in “God has made one opposite the other.” This is where the evil inclination comes from, meaning everything comes from this hairsbreadth.
Since it has already been revealed that it is a sin, then everyone knows to guard themselves from this hairsbreadth, and they understand that there is no other choice if they want to enter Kedusha, except to resolve to work in lowliness, meaning faith and bestowal. Otherwise, they see that they are under the control of the Klipa of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.
It follows that the benefit in the exile was the feeling that the will to receive is a sin, and this is the reason to decide that there is no other choice but to try and acquire vessels of bestowal. This is the meaning of the Creator’s answer to Abraham the Patriarch about his request for guarantees for the inheritance of the land: “Know for certain that your seed, etc., and they shall afflict them, etc.” Through the exile they would come to discover that the hairsbreadth is a sin, and then they would accept the real work in order to detach themselves from the sin.
This is the meaning of what Rabbi Yehuda said, that in the future, death shall be swallowed up forever, meaning the Creator will slaughter the evil inclination, and all that will be left of it is but a hairsbreadth, which is not even felt as a sin (The hairsbreadth is something that cannot be seen with the eye).
Yet, some wicked and righteous do remain, and they all want to adhere to Him. The wicked have not yet corrected their hairsbreadth, when the evil inclination still existed, and they could feel that it is a sin. Now, however, when there is no evil inclination, all that is left is but a hairsbreadth, so they have no reason to make them turn their vessels of reception into vessels of bestowal, since a hairsbreadth is unfelt. But nevertheless, they cannot adhere to Him because there is disparity of form, and He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.
Their correction is to be dust under the feet of the righteous. This means that since the evil inclination has been canceled, the righteous have no reason to have to go with faith above reason. Hence, since they have no reason, who would make them?
They see that the wicked are left with the hairsbreadth and did not correct the hairsbreadth while there was evil inclination, and it was the time to correct it since then the will to receive was evidently a sin, whereas now it does not seem like a sin, but like a hairsbreadth. Hence, if there is no reason, there is no place to correct.
Yet, there is also no place for Dvekut [adhesion], since the disparity of form remains, and all their correction is that the righteous walk on them. This means that they now see that there is no fear from the network of the Klipot since the evil inclination has been slaughtered.
Thus, why do they now have to work in faith above reason? Now they see that the wicked cannot reach Dvekut because now they have no reason, meaning an evil inclination that will be distinguished as a sin, yet they remain outside for there is still disparity of form.
Hence, when the righteous see this, they understand how good it was for them that they had a reason to work in bestowal. They thought they were engaged in bestowal only because of the evil inclination, but they see that the sin they saw was for their own good. In other words, this is the real work, and it is not because of fear of falling into the hands of the Klipot that they do this work. The evidence of this is that they see that the wicked, who did not correct the hairsbreadth, now they have no reason to, and they remain outside and cannot come to Dvekut with the Creator.
It follows that the righteous receive the strength to go from strength to strength through the wicked, the wicked have become dust under the feet of the righteous, and the righteous walk on the discernments that remain as wicked.
Hence, in retrospect, specifically this work is important. And it is not because of coercion, as it seemed to them before while they had the evil inclination. Now they see that even without the evil inclination, it is worthwhile to work in bestowal and faith.
Regarding “these cry and those cry,” it is known that weeping is Katnut [smallness/infancy], VAK. There is a difference between GAR and VAK. Mochin de VAK illuminate from the past, meaning they take sustenance and light from what they experienced in the past. Mochin de GAR, however, shine in the present by uniting the Zivug [coupling].
This is the meaning of the righteous crying and saying, “How could we conquer such a high mountain?” Now they see what was prior to the slaughtering of the evil inclination, that its dominion was indeed great, as it is written, “God has made one opposite the other,” and they received great mercy from the Creator, Who gave them the power to win the war against the inclination, and now they rejoice in the miracle that they had then, meaning in the past. This is called Mochin de Katnut.
The wicked cry because now they have no way to adhere to Him, even though now they see that it is only a hairsbreadth. But since now there is no evil inclination, they have no reason to turn the vessels of reception to bestowal; they can only see that they are outside; this is why they cry.
However, their correction is in becoming dust under the feet of the righteous. In other words, by the righteous seeing that although now there is no evil inclination, the wicked still cannot attain Dvekut, they say about their thought that they had to follow the path of bestowal only because of the evil inclination, they see that this is the real vessel. This means that even if there were no evil inclination, this path is still true, that the path of faith is a wonderful path.
Now we understand why wicked remain after the slaughtering of the evil inclination; it is so that they will become dust under the feet of the righteous. If no wicked would remain, there would not be anyone to show this great thing, that the path of faith is not because of conditional love. That is, it is not because of the evil inclination that we should follow the path of faith, but this is unconditional love, since now there is no longer any evil inclination, and still, only through faith can we attain Dvekut with the Creator.
I heard on another occasion: The reason we need faith specifically is the pride within us, for then it is difficult for us to accept faith. This means that although faith is an exalted and wonderful degree, which the lower one cannot attain and understand its preciousness and sublimity, it is only because of our pride, meaning the will to receive. We imagine it as low and beastly, and for this reason we were given the evil person.
And I heard on another occasion: We see that when we do not want to accept faith, we fall from our state. We rise and fall each time until we resolve that we have no other choice but to set faith permanently. This was in order to receive faith, and this is “And they built Arei Miskenot” (for Israel), for Pharaoh.
Arei Miskenot means store-cities, but also “cities of affliction” and “cities of poverty.”
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:25) Every Passover there is this interesting phenomenon, at least that's how I feel it, that all of the order of our path becomes completely confused, it becomes unclear.
M. Laitman: Before Passover?
Student: In Passover, the entire study of Passover seemingly renews the definitions. What does it mean Lo Lishma, what does it mean preparation, what does it mean Lishma, what does it mean spiritual fear, what does it mean love? The entire path suddenly becomes unclear.
M. Laitman: Yes. It always happens in life, a person changes his attitude to things that are important in life. From here it's clear to us that the reason appears, why the Creator created it in the opposite form, and we have to unpack it in a direct way and see how it aligns with our path.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:29) It appears that Pharaoh builds within us a correct approach to faith about reason, and he writes here that Pharaoh, he says that he would suck all the abundance, and indeed he leaves us with poor cities, which are the thoughts in order to receive. He also says that the poor are dangerous cities, meaning there is a danger that this thought about the will to receive would simply remain in us. In that state, we will always develop faith above reason and why? Pharaoh throws us to the shells, to the descents, and then we have a need for us to rise from that, to develop faith above reason. About that, it really seems to me that part of the insights that we get from this conversation, this is a complex article and I want to, can you say if indeed this is how we should see these things?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:52) Can we understand, what is this state of crying? He says they reached a state where the evil inclination is slaughtered already, then these will cry and those cry, but it's actually a great state of a great merriment of joy, so why crying?
M. Laitman: They said how can we cope with this and that, meaning how those things that were arranged for us, how we were so easily tricked.
Student: Well, in the work, maybe it's about the state of the end of correction and I don't understand anything about that, but in the work we always say that we need to look at our state and the state that we want to reach, and always aspire to equal, to compare between them and say, what is it that we need in order to reach the next state? That's the work, pretty much.
M. Laitman: It's not more or less, but for lack of a better choice because who knows what's the right, correct, final state?
Student: What does it mean to look at the state we went through and to be in a state of crying of the righteous or the wicked? What is this discernment?
M. Laitman: You will tell me. Repeat the question again.
Student: Maybe I'll read from the text, okay? It's in Hebrew, page 594. It says, the matter of these cry and those cry, it is known that crying means, let's say, which is a seed of VAK. There is a difference between GAR and VAK. Mochin of VAK shine from the past, meaning they take sustenance and light from what they experienced in the past, whereas the Mochin of GAR shine in the present by uniting the Zivug, the coupling.
This is the meaning of the righteous crying and saying, how could we conquer such a high mountain? Now they see what was prior to the slaughtering of the evil inclination, that its dominion was indeed great, as it is written, God has made one opposite the other and they received great mercy from the bitter who gave them the power to win the war against the inclination and now they rejoice in the miracle they had then, meaning in the past. This is called the Mochin of Katnut. It's crying, but it's still rejoicing. Why is it called crying, weeping?
M. Laitman: Rejection is, sorry, crying is that state, each and every state in itself, that they were very afraid of remaining in the rule of the evil inclination.
Student: Now they've already gone through this state?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Now they're happy that they went through it?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: The way they relate to the past is crying, but the way they relate to the present is joy, or..?
M. Laitman: What's written? Those cry and those cry.
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: Why?
Student: It says, these cry, the righteous cry because they say, how could we conquer such a high mountain? The wicked cry about, it's only hair's breadth, how come we couldn't get through it?
M. Laitman: Yes. Basically, both of them have a reason to cry.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:34) What is the conclusion of Egypt? We always say memory of the exodus from Egypt. Here he says that a person from all the disturbances, the obstructions that he had to cope with, the evil inclination, this is what caused him to be in faith. Later he says that this should not be the reason for being in faith.
M. Laitman: The reason is that the Creator took us out of Egypt.
Student: What is this engraved in the heart of the person from that moment of the exodus? It's not only because of the obstructions that he needs to be in faith, but rather he has another approach, another reason to adhere to the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How does a Kabbalist remain adherent to the Creator, even unrelated to the obstructions, even if there are no disturbances? What is the conclusion of Egypt? That following it there is adhesion even without disturbances? I mean, how does it work exactly?
M. Laitman: It's not a matter of whether there are disturbances or not. I'm not so focused.
Student: Can I read the answer, maybe? It says here.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I found it. There would be no one to reveal this great thing, that the path of faith is not because of conditional love, that it is not because of the evil inclination that we should follow the path of faith, but this is unconditional love. Since now there is no longer any evil inclination, and still only through faith can we attain adhesion with the Creator.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Meaning there is a certain scrutiny that after we get out of Egypt, all of the past, when we were fighting with the evil inclination…?
M. Laitman: I want to take everything upon myself, even though I have the opportunity to get rid of it.
Student: Let's say after a congress or a very strong connection, when we were doing very strong inner work, and now we suddenly come out to the end of the world.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: We have more work there, that we can pressure really hard on this matter, on this point of adhesion, without having some external event.
M. Laitman: Only the Creator, that He will become revealed and take us out of Egypt. There’s nothing else for us to do.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:01) I want to ask about the need to get out of Egypt. He writes here, page 592. The people of Israel sighed from work because they were afraid that they might stay in exile forever. Then their outcry rose up to God, and they were rewarded with coming out from Egypt. I want to ask, I'm going to read another excerpt, and then ask about that. It turns out that before they saw the state, that they were in the hands of the shells, and they were hurting and afraid that they would remain there forever, they had no need for the Creator's help from the vessels of reception, if they do not feel the damage and detriment caused by that. This is all that obstructs them from adhering to the Creator. This is because otherwise one has a higher regard for the work in the form of knowledge and reception and faith is considered lowliness. They prefer knowledge and reception, and this is what men's exterior mind necessitates. So I'd like to ask about that. He says they do not go out of Egypt before they feel the damage and the fear that they are in the will to receive. Where does this fear suddenly come from?
M. Laitman: They see within the will to receive their situation, and it becomes clear to them. That which holds them.
Student: It gives them a feeling, satisfaction.
M. Laitman: So what?
Student: He feels them. Where does this fear appear, or this feeling?
M. Laitman: That's the whole problem. That it gives them fulfillment.
Student: Meaning, until a person is afraid or feels that his nature actually harms him, he will never receive the need to get out of his nature.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: The question is, from where does this feeling come from? The feeling that my nature is actually detrimental, it's bad for me. When do I start being afraid? I mean, we need to be afraid. Where does that come from?
M. Laitman: He sees how opposite that is to the true final state.
Student: But he also writes here that the correct final state, the state of faith, is considered as lowliness. And a person doesn't regard it.
M. Laitman: This is a problem.
Student: I understand the problem. I'm asking about it. How do we resolve it? How do we get out of it?
M. Laitman: You solve it when the light of faith comes and fills everything, and then a person can rise by the power, by the light of faith, and then there's no problem. Yes?
Student: The light of faith. How do we… What makes it come? What makes it appear suddenly inside a person, that light of faith that suddenly shows him, gives him a feeling that he's afraid of being in the will to receive? It builds a need in him to get out, to ask, to cry out, to sigh. This light of faith, what makes it suddenly appear in the heart of the person?
M. Laitman: Well, is everyone thinking or not? Okay, is everyone thinking or not? Have you got an answer?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:54) Answer, the light of faith will give us the answer. With our mind, we cannot understand it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:06) Maybe according to the question that would also be the answer. The fact that I ask for the quality of bestowal with no reason, I have no reason for it, no taste. Does that draw the light of faith?
M. Laitman: Possibly, it's not in the direction of the solution.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:43) If a person discovers that besides the will to receive there is nothing in him, does the person truly choose to get out of his nature, or is it like a movie that is simply projected to us and we just watch it?
M. Laitman: This is a question, but let's say that yes, that he sees his evil inclination in him is to his own detriment, then what?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:29) How does the light of faith influence the heart?
M. Laitman: The heart begins to feel the light of faith.
Student: Here he says in the very last paragraph of the article, he says that each and every time we rise and fall until we resolve that we have no other counsel or other choice but to set faith permanently.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I thought that faith actually is against reason, but here he says that faith has to be set inside our heart. How does it influence the heart?
M. Laitman: It fills the heart.
Student: What does that do? I mean, the heart should want to love, to bestow, what is the difference?
M. Laitman: The light of faith that enters the heart gives the heart the ability to extract these feelings out of it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:55) A few days ago, I met the son of a friend on the street. He's a four-year-old child, maybe five-year-old, and we were talking and talking about fear. I told him I'm afraid of forgetting about my friends, so he looked at me and said, what do you mean, everybody's afraid of that. I was thinking, how can a four-year-old who is with us, who grew up in this way, he's a part of that, where does he have this knowledge, this feeling that everyone is afraid of that? Then I realized that what influences one is really the environment, it's only the friends, those around him. If that's all they tell him all day long, this is what he feels, that everyone is afraid of losing their connection with their friends.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:15) It kind of dissolved, I mean, we need to feel fear. I know what it's like to feel fear, I think each one of us knows what does it mean to be afraid, and I read here that I need to be afraid because I'm in the will to receive. I learn one day or two more days. I never felt such a fear. I want to understand, how do I reach this feeling of fear because if I don't have the fear that I'm in the will to receive, I will never truly sigh and cry out to get out of it, so from where does this feeling come, this fear?
M. Laitman: From the Creator.
Student: What would make him evoke such fear within me so that I...?
M. Laitman: Fear of exactly what?
Student: That I'm in the nature of in order to receive and this puts me at risk, I'm in danger. I read about it, I can understand it, but this feeling of fear, of anxiety that actually eventually causes me to pray, I can't figure out what will really bring it. You know what, I can even feel bad because I'm in this nature, but fear? I mean, he writes here, black over white, that a person should be afraid, he writes it more than once or twice here. What is this fear? Maybe I'm not even depicting this fear correctly.
M. Laitman: No, but fear is something that a person knows, except here there's a unique matter of what is one afraid of, so how do you reach that kind of fear?
Student: This is what I'm asking, how do I reach a fear that I will not be able to bestow? A person can tell himself stories, then it will happen in your next life, eventually you'll bestow, but this need, where does it come from?
M. Laitman: Interesting, so I can even calm myself down with that, if it's not now, then in the next life cycle.
Student: Yes, even that.
M. Laitman: Yes. So what do we do?
Student: We ask Rav?
M. Laitman: No, you pray to the Creator with this kind of question, and what do we expect?
Student: He will give us a need, a desire to bestow.
M. Laitman: Otherwise?
Student: Well, if there was some other feedback, if I was able to tell myself in some other way it would be bad for you otherwise. I mean, I can tell, I can say many things, but what it's about is really that the heart wants it, I want to bestow, fine. Tomorrow I'll also want to bestow, the day after, also. Maybe I'll even truly have such a request to bestow because the friends will suddenly awaken it.
M Laitman: Yes.
Student: This anxiety, I mean it should be, the way that I'm impressed is that there has to be a demand, I need to be in a way that I can't even, for not even one second I will be without this demand, but where does this demand come from? I understand it comes from the Creator, the Upper light, the light of faith. Clearly it's a different force, but what will make it finally come?
M. Laitman: Well, does anyone have an answer?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:35) As always, the answer is in a form of a question, is that okay? How to replace vessels, to replace the Ayin with Aleph, that Pharaoh will become Rofe, a doctor, that we add faith instead of Hochma there's a desire for that, but instead of that we want Bina to first enter, we want faith above reason, and how to replace one type of vessel with another?
M. Laitman: Well, to replace it's by the prayer.
Student: What's happening with Peh, Ayin, Reish, Rofe, Pharaoh, Paro, it's all around these three letters, or it doesn't matter, it's just confusing?
M. Laitman: But the fact that we have to invert these upon those discernments, that is true, it is true.
Question (Turkiye 2): (01:02:32) When a person is in a state where he is afraid to fall to the Klipot, how can one transcend his corporeal will to receive?
M. Laitman: Again.
Student: When a person is in a state where he is afraid to fall to the Klipot, how can he transcend that state above his corporeal desire?
M. Laitman: Let's say so, that this is the question. So, how do we answer, how can we answer it?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:30) Well in myself, if I look into myself, I'm immersed in the will to receive, certainly everything will go to the Klipot the test is towards the friends, also maybe it's a partial answer to the friend.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:54) I agree and continue. We read some parable of Baal HaSulam this week about a room, when you open the light, turn on the light, then you see the room is dirty, and it's an unpleasant state when you feel that the room is dirty, but on the other hand the light that enters shows truth. The question is, who opens that window to the person so that some light enters and so he understands what's going on, and then you understand that it's the friends and the books and the Rav that open this light to you. It also puts you in an unpleasant way, because you can't just go to sleep and not think of anything, but you have to think about your connection to the path and to the friends so that light will enter the room, otherwise you'll just die without nothing. There’s this subtlety towards faith, because any faith can go into reason and then the work disappears. We say things for many years, and a person can agree with it, and if he agrees with it, it's good on the one hand, on the other hand, it kind of steals his work. How to maintain this subtlety of choosing the path of faith and not try to put it into our intellect?
M. Laitman: I understand the question. To pray. Only to pray.
Student: I'll give an example, I feel like I learn a lot from the friends, little things. I sat in a meal next to a friend, he threw a question, he said that Rav said that a meal is more important than a lesson. I also heard this a thousand times and I know that the daily lesson is the most important thing in my life for many years, it's salvation, and that just goes into autopilot. I understand, I don't, I'm happy, I'm sad. There's a lesson, a meal, okay Rav once said it and it's customary, but it doesn't really sit within me that there is in a meal something more than being with the writings of the Kabbalists and so on. It's a meal, so I still hold that as, say, faith. But yesterday when he talked about it, it started to be felt like there is something special in a meal that can't be in a lesson, but I'm afraid that if I put it into my autopilot, then there's no work any more. Okay, now I understand it, great, now what do I get out of it? I lost the necessity to hold something higher that my mind doesn't grasp, and agree with it that way when it's above me, so there's something that's not locked here for me.
M. Laitman: Okay, well he has a good state.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:32) The direction I had was someone who committed a serious crime but he gained a lot from it, and he's happy. Sometimes he thinks about all the money that he has and how he did it, and how he succeeded, and all of a sudden he discovers that he left something open, not locked, and there is some evidence that can enable him to be caught. He made a little mistake and then he became anxious that maybe someday, someone will ask who did this, and this evidence can bring his... So the light has to show each of us personally our crimes, meaning that what we do is bad, is evil, and that's the state we should yearn for, and as long as we're not there, our nature kind of covers it, our natural defense, inclination to defend ourselves covers it from us.
M. Laitman: So what to pray for?
Student: That light of faith that will really come and show us our nature, because without having that, without feeling, the person doesn't feel himself as a criminal. Then he also won't have the requests because there's no fear.
Question (KabU 9): (01:09:46) I want to read what I want to tell you Rav, because I can’t just remember it. In the text it says, it's not just because of the will to receive that we should have faith, that would be conditional love. I think that to get faith above reason, it comes like we have to have a Kli for it and then a filling.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: A Kli would be like knowing that we need the help of the Creator in any situation, in anything. We need it like the air that we breathe. Once we get that sense, then the Creator will give us the filling, and that's how we get faith above reason. That's what I'm learning.
M. Laitman: I didn’t understand, what two stages do we have here?
Student: To get faith above reason we have to have a Kli for it, and the Kli is knowing that we need the help of the Creator for anything, we need it like the air that we breathe. Once we get to that state then the Creator can give us the filling for that lack and that becomes faith above reason, that's how I'm feeling now.
M. Laitman: Yes, I understand you. On your side, this is how it should be.
Question (Zichron 2): (01:11:48) I think the question is, we always try to look for it in the article. The friend's question, where do we bring this fear and prayer, and that the Creator will help us understand what Rabash writes to us, what his father told him, and it says the evil or the wicked cry because now they have no way to cling to Him. Even though now they see it as a hair's breadth, but because there's no evil inclination they have no reason to transform the vessels to vessels of bestowal, but we can see them crying from the outside. I think that's a good reason, you can interpret it within a single person and also within the whole society. Then he continues, their correction is in that, meaning of the righteous, that they become dust under the feet of the righteous, and they see that even though there's no evil inclination now, the wicked cannot achieve adhesion, so they say that only because of the reason of the evil inclination, they need to go in bestowal. However, they see that this is the true vessel, meaning even though there was no evil inclination, this too is a path of truth.
M. Laitman: Okay, so how do the wicked nevertheless reach adhesion?
Student: They don't reach adhesion, that's what I understand him to be saying and maybe I'm misunderstanding.
M. Laitman: The end of correction is for everyone.
Student: What?
M. Laitman: The end of correction isn't for everyone?
Student: It is for everyone. There won't be evil inclination but there's a wicked and a righteous. The question is, are you those that are being stepped on, or you're in adhesion with Him? Everything will be revealed, there's no more choice. We know the concealment is for us once everything is corrected. One who didn't correct during the concealment will not be able to correct in the revelation, then this is a good reason for fear.
M. Laitman: Okay. Alright.
Question (Women PT 38): (01:14:40) To answer the friend's question, he asked where we can get that demand from, to change our nature. I thought that you only get anything from the incorporation of the friends in the Ten, the group, that you hear them and you want to incorporate and take their desires, that's one thing. The other, it's from the commitment that you get from the friends, that they demand and we get it.
M. Laitman: Okay, thank you.
Question (Hadera 1): (01:15:37) I also identify with the friend's question and I want to ask about prayer. Supposedly if prayer doesn't come from the heart, it's not beneficial. If I don't have true fear, how can we reach a true prayer? Or can an artificial prayer bring me to it, because I sometimes remember in my mind, but how to reach a true need, a true fear?
M. Laitman: We need to act, we need to play.
Student: Can I also ask? I think that if we don't see ourselves as a small world and the Creator is shining around us, showing all the evil in the world, we're rejecting Him. We're saying it's not from me, it's someone else. Until we don't see all the evil in the world as our own, so we won't feel this fear. This fear is around us, the Creator shines and shows us the dirt, we're just saying it's not our dirt. Until we don't take this dirt upon us, we won't feel this fear.
Reader: (01:17:00) So, let’s sing a song first.
Song: (01:17:05)