The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) December 29, 2024.
Part 3: “Miracles Happen When We Unite - Unity Day for Hanukkah”
Reader: Dear friends, hello. Good Morning to everyone Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays. We’re starting our lesson on this unity day for the Hanukkah holiday. A few technology announcements. First of all the study material can be found under the study material tab in the Arvut system. As usual in the system, put up your question mark and we know the routine. Whoever’s in the front of study hall there are microphones for both men and left side women. Whoever is sitting in middle, put your hand up and you will get a microphone. Those in back come forward there are two microphones there snd ask questions. We’re going to start our lesson now. We have study material called “Miracles Happen when we Unite”. Unity day for Hanukkah.
1. RABASH, Letter No. 68.
Reading: (01:43) Hanukkah was a spiritual miracle, and in spirituality we must ask “What?” or we do not feel the miracle. This is why they said, “What is Hanukkah?” So that each one will ask about the miracle of spirituality. Meaning, so as to first know the meaning of spiritual exile, and then be able to be granted spiritual redemption.
And because of it we should divulge it publicly, to make everyone interested. Otherwise, we do not feel the exile or the redemption.
M. Laitman: Meaning, first we have to feel the exile
That state we're in before redemption, before Hanukkah, which is the exit from spiritual exile, it's a spiritual miracle. That is why we first need to feel the exile. And give, put, all our work toward each other to feel the exile. And to the extent that we feel the exile : Where is it from, why is it there, to that extent we will be rewarded with feeling redemption? This is the essence of this holiday, this festivity, it's a very big festival. We're talking about a miracle that comes to us from above, from the heavens, from the Creator. A very special force which lets us rise above this life to such an extent that we will be rewarded with a spiritual life. Everything will be revealed and we will be rewarded with it. So, Hanukkah is a spiritual miracle and we must first of all feel the exile where we have no contact with spirituality. And then from that state we will want to rise to redemption and then we will be rewarded with spiritual redemption. And, because of that, we wish each and every one, all of us together to reach spiritual redemption. Spiritual redemption means the revelation of the Creator, the upper light, that shines to everyone. And then we will be rewarded with coming out of the exile, all of us together. Okay? Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (06:37) How will we know that we are in spiritual exile and that we need redemption?
M. Laitman: Exile means a feeling that we lack spirituality – spirituality is the feeling of the Creator. So, when we feel that there is no spirituality, we don't have the feeling of the Creator, this is the meaning of being in exile. And how can we come out of it? As much as we wish to come out of the exile, that we want nothing else besides that, besides the appearance of the Creator in our lives. This is what it means to need redemption. The difference between exile and redemption, Galut and Geula, is the letter Aleph, Geula Which is the appearance of the Creator among its people, Israel. No questions, we'll continue.
Reader: We're going to move to excerpt number two. Before we continue, make sure your phones are all on silence or vibrate. Make sure that all those noisy devices are silenced.
2. RABASH, Article No. 638, "Man’s Inclination"
Reading: (08:29) Anything that is above nature is regarded as a miracle.
All the miracles are attributed to the Creator, meaning regarded as an awakening from above and not as an awakening from below, since the lower one cannot do something that is above nature. But in order for a miracle to be done to him, a person should pray that a miracle be done to him.
M. Laitman: Meaning, man's inclination overcomes him day by day. And tries to pull him away from spirituality, and we need to try and awaken in us the awakening from below, as we call it. So, from within this world, from within our place, the lowest, the basest, the darkest place, we turn to the Creator and we want Him to give us an opportunity to feel Him, to get to know Him by appearing between us. And in this way, we will be rewarded with redemption. This is why we have the evil inclination, the good inclination, and we need to pass ourselves, shift ourselves, from the evil inclination to the good inclination. And that's how the Creator will be revealed and pull us from our state called exile. And the revelation of the Creator is when we are in darkness. And He will be revealed to us in His complete form, and that is called redemption. The difference between exile and redemption, Gola and Geula, is the letter Aleph, which hints at the champion of the world, the Creator. If you have questions, don't be shy.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:34) Rabash talks clearly to a person. He says, to him, it's like he's talking about an individual person. Can that happen in our times also?
M. Laitman: The Torah always addresses the person, an individual, not the group, not the Ten, but the person. Certainly, everything that is being said holds for our time as well.
Student: The question is, is there any room for a personal request for a miracle? Is there such a thing?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, of course.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:36) I wanted to ask, what is the redemption? What is it, bottom line in our lives right now, in our personal life?
M. Laitman: First of all, it doesn't matter the time we're in. If it's two or three thousand years ago or in some time in the future. Rather, redemption means the appearance of the Creator. His power, His influence, His bestowal among us. When all of us begin to feel how much we miss it, how much we lack being in mutual bestowal, mutual connection. And only this we lack.
Student: Meaning that, actually, the feeling of togetherness with others?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: It's not a person alone with the Creator but a feeling that we are all together in the same boat.
M. Laitman: That is certain but, also, an individual, if an individual feels this way and prays for it, that's also received.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:14) He writes, we need to advertise this, publicly. Now that we have many more here, is it easier for us to discover that we're in exile and redemption?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How?
M. Laitman: When we pray that we lack connection and that is the feeling of exile. And we wish to reach a state of redemption, meaning, to come to a place where we're all connected. That's the entire difference between exile and redemption. The appearance of the Creator among the people of Israel from exile to redemption. But it brings the entire people, the entire nation, also, from exile to redemption. Can we read something?
3. RABASH, Article No. 11 (1990), "What Placing the Hanukkah Candle on the Left Means in the Work" Twice
Reading: (15:26) “ A miracle” implies something that a person cannot obtain. That is, it is impossible for one to obtain it unless through a miracle from above. Only in this way is it called “a miracle.”
M. Laitman: Yes. Meaning it doesn't matter what state, what times we're in. The main thing that is to happen with us is the miracle. We are aimed at that, we pray for that and we wish to attain that. It says, it has to be a miracle from above; only in this way, it's called a miracle. We need to understand, the fact that we don't understand how it's happening, and how we actually receive the miracle, how do we rise through it with its help, up the spiritual degrees, it doesn't matter to us. What matters to us is that we're calling upon a miracle. Hence, there are no excuses here, only to ask for this miracle to happen.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (17:58) Us being here now, is it a miracle?
M. Laitman: No. You were here also a week ago, and a month ago, we didn't call our assembly a miracle.
Student: So what will the miracle be, what should we ask for now?
M. Laitman: There's a miracle in Hanukkah and a miracle in Purim. A miracle in Hanukkah is when we aim ourselves to the connection between us, and through the connection, with the help of the connection, we ask the Creator to appear, to tie us together as one man in one heart. Then we'll be able to feel ourselves rising above the exile, as meriting redemption which is called a miracle.
Student: Will it help if we take your words now, and try together to awaken the heart in some inner prayer?
M. Laitman: It's what's promised to us, that if we truly want to connect together, in order to compose our prayer together from our common heart, then it will happen.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:15) We read now that it's called a miracle only if it's a miracle from above. What is a miracle from above?
M. Laitman: A miracle from above is when we ask the Creator to make a certain action that we are unable to make.
Student: So actually, what is our role to be able to seemingly obligate the Creator to do this miracle?
M. Laitman: To activate our request.
Student: To reach a common prayer?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:14) The word miracle in gematria is one hundred and ten, fifty and sixty, one hundred and ten. In small gematria it's two, I and the Creator. That's what I wanted to say.
M. Laitman: Okay. I don't know how much it adds to us.
Student: The connection, alone there's no miracle, only together?
M. Laitman: Right.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:54) In my request to the Creator for connection or any other action, my sensation is shame, meaning I can't approach her or approach it without even receiving such a thing.
M. Laitman: Why?
Student: I don't know, it's a matter of feeling. I feel like I really want, and it's kind of like I'm not capable of giving this push on behalf of the, I don't know, shame, fear, I don't know what to call it. That's that place.
M. Laitman: Okay. That's really a clear decision, a clear feeling, but try to activate it a little less.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:55) We understand that we need to generate a common prayer. In practice, each time we gather, this point rises. How in our gathering do we raise MAN? So in practice, what does it mean if we now, let's say you take us out in some kind of matter of prayer, or a friend, or someone else, and together from the silence we kind of aim ourselves and raise a prayer. Many times in our conventions there are times where we sing together with some inner intention, it's the most powerful moments in the convention in my taste. So how do we now practically create this prayer, because we're all here for that?
M. Laitman: Go ahead.
Student: Please.
M. Laitman: No, you propose such things, meaning you are ready to activate your request to the Creator, to the heavens. So, start and sweep us together.
Student: First of all, let's put our arm on one another and feel as one, embrace. We'll take our hearts, because that's why we're here. Silence all diversions, smile inward, and from our heart, feel the one besides me and together as one man in one heart. With all our attempts, and experience, and study, and desire, from the understanding that only the Creator can bring us this great miracle, the redemption, the feeling of Him between us, we will ask now as one man in one heart. We are one Kli. Dwell amongst us. Simply give us the power to be in your force of bestowal, to be in love, in giving, in one desire to bring you contentment.
4. RABASH, Letter No. 68 - Twice
Reading: (26:30) Spirituality is in exile under corporeality. A person cannot come out of this exile, and only the Creator can deliver him, as our sages said, “Man’s inclination overpowers him each day and seeks to put him to death. Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not have prevailed over it.” From this we see that only the Creator can help, and this is why it is called a “miracle.”
Reader: (28:13) Maybe if he could tell us where he came from, even though we know this friend from Jerusalem, but there are new friends, so introduce yourself.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:20) I am a friend from Jerusalem. What comes first? Which state precedes, or what stage does a person need to have that will lead him to a stage in which we will ask from the Creator? Something before that has to happen. What is that condition?
M. Laitman: The condition is simple. He tried many times perhaps, and he did not get anything. And then he has the strength and the foundation to ask.
Student: What does it mean that he has attempted?
M. Laitman: He attempted to ask, to pray, to reach something. He sees that all his requests are going into space.
Student: It seems like another condition is missing here. I have been asking for years. How do I know if I am asking correctly? How should I know? Something is missing, there’s some factor missing.
M. Laitman: We want to ask for a miracle of Hanukkah, where a person has to pray and ask for a miracle, for the Creator to be revealed, the Creator who is connecting all of us, pulling all of us together toward Him. That’s what we’ve read.
Student: I will ask it differently. According to what Rav sees, are we close to this miracle?
M. Laitman: We are close to a single prayer. Meaning, if we would truly want to reveal in our hearts that we do want connection and want to support all of our friends with mutual help together, then it will happen, it will happen.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (31:26) A question from our Ten. For us to feel, we need to pray. Does each feel this miracle on his own, or do we have to feel it together?
M. Laitman: Even each one individually.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:05) I want to share with you, I had a miracle. One of the alarms, I wanted to close the window of the shelter and I got, my finger got pinched, I had like stitches, etcetera, hospital. But what's important is that at that moment really, I felt the Creator, I felt that it's a miracle. I felt that I'm connected to the Ten on such a level that I even asked from them for a prayer. I want to ask you whether beyond the fact that it's a miracle, that I felt that, did the Creator want to say to me something in this? Is it maybe, I don't know how to explain it, but I felt as if the Creator wants something from me and I don't know what.
M. Laitman: The Creator wants only one thing, that we would want to connect, invite everyone, all of us to our connection, men, women, and for this connection to exist. And in it we will realize our holiday, our festivity.
Student: I'm sorry that I'm going back to it. Was something demanded of me at that moment or was I supposed to think about something?
M. Laitman: As usual, from all of us. As usual, from all of us. Because you were hurt in your pinky finger, there's no more than what you felt.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:23) How do I take the thoughts and desires from potential to practice? I have a lot of thoughts and feelings for bestowal but I feel stuck, and I can't execute them in practice. What do we do?
M. Laitman: Connect, connect together friends. Then from the connection, they will understand more correctly how to reach the realization of that request.
Reader: Women who are putting their hands up in the back part, I'm asking you, don't put your hands up in the back part. That only confuses us, okay? Just walk forward. You see the two stations with the microphones, with the red hats? Go right to them, where the question stations are, and ask there. Or next to me, right there, there's another station. Please.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:36) Is exiting exile a one-time thing, or does it happen each time on a new degree?
M. Laitman: It's a one-time exit.
Student: Well, can it also happen individually or only in general?
M. Laitman: Both.
Student: And does it have to do with our perception of reality?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:07) To enter Lishma, is it a miracle?
M. Laitman: To enter Lishma is a miracle.
Student: A miracle is something I cannot do or cannot understand?
M. Laitman: Both.
Student: I cannot enter Lishma, I. But I understand this process. If I understand that He will do it according to my request, or our request, if I understand that, then for me it's not a miracle?
M. Laitman: Nevertheless, it's a miracle.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:58) I have a question about the miracle. On a private providence, if a person is very sick and he prays to the Creator, meaning there's this conditioning of prayer, he also feels a connection to all the people of Israel, if he's a Kabbalah student, to his Ten, etc. And as far as he's concerned, if he heals, it's a miracle. Is that not considered a miracle? Or is a person saved from an accident? And he prayed before he traveled, is that not a miracle?
M. Laitman: A miracle, it's a miracle.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:50) It's me again. Sorry, I have a lot of questions.
M. Laitman: You should avoid it.
Student: I wanted to ask, here in this group of ours, the Bnei Baruch group, it's easy to feel connected. And in truth, everyone comes here in advance with the intention to connect with an open heart. What happens with what's happening outside, with the society outside? And I'm talking about the circle of family, friends, and broader circles. It's a little, kind of, where does it place me, us?
M. Laitman: It places us in a question, are we doing something in order to break through our circle and try to connect more and more circles into our circle? That's it. And then, and then we'll succeed.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:32) What does the light of the Menorah symbolize, as far as the lights?
M. Laitman: It symbolizes the light.
Student: Is there a connection between the Hanukkah miracle and redemption?
M. Laitman: Of course.
Student: Which connection?
M. Laitman: It's that same force, except we connect in a form that's incomplete for the time being.
Student: You're saying that we're in exile right now. Is being in exile the punishment towards qualifying us to come to redemption?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:05) A scrutiny from the Ten. During the state of the Hanukkah miracle, can you ask for the miracle of Purim? Is that a state that changes in every degree, like a ping pong?
M. Laitman: No.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:44) Yesterday, you said that we have to come connect with everyone and to define this leaning place between them, a place for revelation, and it's assured for you that the gates of heaven will open.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What does it mean that the Creator opens the upper gates?
M. Laitman: We'll merit it and we'll see.
Student: Does it have to do with us asking for the force to open our hearts?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course it's in the heart of these gates.
Student: And now it's supposed to be for an entire Kli, including the world Kli and everyone?
M. Laitman: I don't know, it depends on what we gain.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:40) I'm asking for a friend. Hanukkah is a spiritual miracle. Today we gathered for a very meaningful unity day. What should we pay attention to emotionally today to not miss the miracle of Hannukah?
M. Laitman: We need to connect in one heart, in one desire, to raise ourselves high above our place.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:14) I came here today with this feeling of urgency, a feeling that our people truly need us, there's great distress, and we must, we have to hit it hard, as we say. We can't miss the opportunity of this meeting here. I simply want to ask from all the friends, let's open our hearts and simply enter everyone into our hearts.
M. Laitman: That's very important. We'll try to connect to you through such a prayer.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:20) We are a new Ten. We study in the point in the heart, and we felt that it's most important for us to connect, to compose a prayer that is from all of us, which we say twice a day at certain times together, each of us. And I wanted to ask you, if you could tell us, what do we need to be most important in the prayer? Is it the intention, or is there something else that you think that you can tell us, help us?
M. Laitman: The intention for connection together in one heart, together with the Creator, so that all of us, all of us together will be connected. And in one heart, the Creator will also clothe in us. That's what we need, that's the goal, the end goal of all the good days that are ahead of us, and I hope we will be rewarded with it. Connection together, inside the hearts, into one heart.
Question (MAK 24): (47:33) Is it not a miracle what is happening here, what we're seeing? Is it the prayer of a giant Kabbalist, Baal HaSulam, Rabash, and your prayer, is it not a miracle what is happening here today? Because it wasn't always like that. We see Bnei Baruch, everyone connected, and there's love, and there's a strong prayer. Is it not a miracle? And how do we take that miracle forward so we want that another generation will have this miracle?
M. Laitman: We need to pass it from heart to heart to heart. And this way, tie together all the hearts as one. And then, within them, we will feel ourselves united with the Creator, and other than that, we will feel the final correction of all creation.
5. RABASH, Article No. 24 (1988), "What Is 'The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,' in the Work?" - Twice
Reading: (49:08) A person having to “light up,” to do things “until the flame rises by itself,” and not by a person’s own strength. Thus, “by itself” means by the power of the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:27) I'd like to ask about a miracle. Is it possible, for example, let's say great and small miracles happen to us. Is it okay to share with people a miracle that happened to us, or do we need to keep it to ourselves because it's our connection with the Creator, and we have to therefore keep it to ourselves?
M. Laitman: If it doesn't cause an accumulation of people, connection of people, then it's better to not share, to not spill it out.
Student: Another small question. What is happening in the Ten, I see in it a miracle. Can I use this miracle in my day-to-day life or not?
M. Laitman: It depends what you're talking about, I don't know.
Student: Okay, then I have to tell. I had some difficulty, and I was thinking about my Ten, I was thinking about each and every one, imagining her, and I overcame the difficulty thanks to my Ten. Can I use this on a day-to-day basis?
M. Laitman: Probably so.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:02) We read that exile is a condition for redemption. How can we feel exile on a day of unity?
M. Laitman: Well, you can't. It collides, so you have other days.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:39) You said a miracle is not something that's in our hands, but a person is in the hands of the Creator. And for a miracle of Hanukkah to happen, as far as I understand, we have to connect and raise the prayer from below upwards. My question is, we connected, we are here. Now, what do I personally ask the Creator, for what miracle? For my friends in the Ten, because to me a miracle is everything. It's a revelation of the Creator, it's redemption, it's connection, it's love. What specifically should I ask for them so that they will feel the miracle of Hanukkah.
M. Laitman: You have to search within to see exactly what you want from all your requests. And that single request, to raise it upwards.
Student: But what of all that I said is the most important?
M. Laitman: That you have to decide.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:59) In the excerpt, he says we have to keep doing things until the flame rises. What are the things we need to do in order for the flame to rise?
M. Laitman: Actions of connection. Connection and more and more connection. Keep adding connection until it starts to burn on its own.
Student: Can I ask another question?
M. Laitman: No.
Reader: (55:47) It's just that I'm so inspired. I think one of the most overt miracles, palpable day-to-day miracles, is the word Kli. It's just that there are so many friends we have from so many different places, religions, nationalities, time zones, places. Look at these gatherings, Turkey, Bulgaria, everywhere. friends are traveling, gathering. It's unbelievable.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reader: So maybe we can let some of the groups ask questions?
M. Laitman: Go ahead.
Reader: Turkey? There's a big gathering in Bulgaria.
M. Laitman: Turkey is always in front of us.
Reader: Bulgaria, Berlin. Moscow, where are they? Let's see before we saw it. There's a huge gathering in Moscow. It's the foundation, the bedrock of the word Kli.
M. Laitman: Go ahead.
Reader: You choose Rav.
M. Laitman: No, I don't choose. You want it.
Reader: Well, I wanted Turkiye, but okay, let's go to Almaty.
M. Laitman: All right, Turkiye, then.
Question (Turkiye): (57:46) What is the deficiency we have to come to in order to pray and the miracle will happen?
M. Laitman: To be in a single heart, nothing besides that. Meaning to come together into a single desire and there, in an embrace, we attain everything.
Reader: Oh, I choose?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reader: Okay, so Moscow. Moscow is the bedrock, the axis of the world Kli.
Question (Moscow): (58:42) There is a feeling that everyone who is in this place, in the World Kli, in all the cities and countries, we're all connected. We feel this connection between us. And a strong prayer is intensely felt, and that this connection will even grow stronger. So, what prayer can we add so that the miracle that the Creator gives will be revealed all over the world? We already have a connection between us, but what do we pray for so that we see a miracle happening in the world around us?
M. Laitman: Well friend, what can we answer?
Reader: Do you want to repeat the question? Can you repeat the question?
Student: What prayer? What prayer should we add so that we see a miracle in the outside world, in the nations of the world?
M. Laitman: Well, do you have an answer?
Reader: Me? I think perhaps we will answer it with a common prayer, with a song from the band, something to wake us up.
Song: (01:00:13)
6. RABASH, Article No. 9 (1984), "One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House" - Twice.
Reading: (01:03:25) Each of them had a spark of love of others, but the spark could not ignite the light of love to shine in each, so they agreed that by uniting, the sparks would become a big flame.
M. Laitman: Okay, we'll continue.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:56) Is it possible to raise a prayer from the bottom of the heart, which is not egoistic?
M. Laitman: Probably so. That's what the sages talk about. That when we're connecting, so specifically through the connection, each one comes out of his small ego and connects to everyone. And along with them, he can activate his prayer in such a way that everyone comes out of exile.
Student: When I pray for the friends, such as the prayer that we had in the beginning, I was praying for the friends to have the power of Bestowal, but I feel that it's still for myself. How do we come out of this loop?
M. Laitman: You're discovering the truth. That still, even though you pray, according to connection with the whole, but your prayer is still an individual prayer.
Student: And if I ask the Creator to give me the strength to pray for the friends, not egoistically, that too feels like it's for me.
M. Laitman: Have you tried?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: So this means that you are thinking that for now, you cannot come out of your ego. Narrow ego. Yes. What do you do?
Student: I think only the friends can help.
M. Laitman: Do you have such friends?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: Have you asked?
Student: Not today, but when I'm in difficult states, I do ask.
M. Laitman: Try again.
Student: Thank you.
M. Laitman: Keep trying.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:48) If I'm in the dark, and I have a Ten, there are friends who are in the lights, and I manage to hold on to the edge of that string, that thread, is that a miracle?
M. Laitman: That depends on how you accept it.
Student: I totally relate to it as a miracle.
M. Laitman: Then excellent. Keep going that way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:32) Rabash says in their connection, in the excerpt that the friend just read, what does it mean that we connect?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: In what do they connect?
M. Laitman: When each and every one looks for friends that he can connect with, and also the action that they wish to carry out.
Student: I have a Ten.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And I feel that in my Ten, there is one demand for connection.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: We are here, one Ten, in a big audience.
M. Laitman:Yes.
Student: How does that join into one choice, into one request? How can each one? We're all desires to receive. One person got something in his finger, or some other problem. Everyone has his own problem that he feels on his own flesh. How do we disconnect from all our personal pains and focus and concentrate on one request?
M. Laitman: We have to think. But first think, then decide, then act.
Student: On these stages, thinking, deciding, carrying out.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Is it now, this day?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, of course.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:58) I feel great fear for the Creator making this miracle that I'm here. The Creator gives us a certain state, presses us. It's a miracle that he is giving us this pressure, and as a result, I can begin to pray. I begin to cry like a baby, and I can cry out for myself. But when I ask, when I try to ask for everyone out of this pain, I immediately get this distraction. What should I look for? What should I hold on to so that this prayer will continue? Because it's like a quick touch.
M. Laitman: Keep going.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:16) You said before that we are very close to a common prayer. The common prayer, is it, will it make a change in the billions of people on earth? Or is it only in our perception of reality that it will change?
M. Laitman: No, it changes in all aspects of reality.
Student: Was it, was such a state before us in history ever?
M. Laitman: Let's say there was.
Student: Why am I asking? Because if we come to a common prayer and influence the whole world, the way we continue from this point, will it be already with the whole world?
M. Laitman: No. It will nevertheless be with those who are in our hearts.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:48) You just said to the friend, think, decide, and do. Can you elaborate? What does it mean to think, decide, and do?
M. Laitman: What, in the meantime, a person always does. He goes into his desires, thoughts, and navigates them how he thinks, and then he tries to do it.
Student: But it's an egoistic thinking, thought, and decision.
M. Laitman: That depends on his desire.
Student: Shouldn't it be a decision of the Ten?
M. Laitman: It depends on how he thinks. What can you do?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:06) I wanted to ask. We always talk about connection. Connection is obviously a great thing. It's a miracle. But a group of criminals that connects, that miracle happens to them, as Baal HaSulam writes, that it's impossible to take a city, to overtake a city, if they are united. So in our request, to what extent is it necessary, even subconsciously, the purpose of the connection? Because connection is a means, it's an instrument, and we want that through the connection, we'll open a channel of communication to the Creator so we can bring Him contentment. So to what extent is that important in our request? Not only connection, but why we want it and why we need it, to what extent we need it?
M. Laitman: How urgent, how necessary. I can't weigh that. I can't say how much. I can't weigh that. That goes through your hearts.
Student: Sorry, I didn't understand. If we only want to connect, something happens. But if there is no purpose for the connection, then we can't approach Him.
M. Laitman: Correct.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:40) How do we connect a miracle with bringing contentment to the Creator?
M. Laitman: I didn't understand.
Student: How to connect a miracle with bringing contentment to the Creator?
M. Laitman: You want to bring contentment to the Creator through some action, and therefore you come together, and you pray that your connection will become practical.
Student: During the prayer, can we also ask for contentment?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:42) I am trying to understand. We need to connect into one heart and one desire. So the desire in which we need to connect, is it that we connect in order to bestow upon the Creator in practice? Is this what we should ask? For everyone to receive the desire?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Bishkek): (01:18:48) Dear teacher, how is the miracle of connection expressed in overcoming internal and external disputes, disagreements?
M. Laitman: When you connect, you have to try to reach a singular root. Where do we get the action from, and what action do we need to achieve? That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:48) The flame consists of oil, and the string, the wick. We want to bring contentment to the Creator. We are desires to receive, that's how He created us. We are totally different from each other here, but He wants to be revealed, and we nevertheless want to help Him. How can we lift up our tiny forces and ask to connect all of us, so He will clothe in us, and the light will shine and illuminate all of us, the whole world?
M. Laitman: How can we do it? By wanting to connect together, where each one becomes incorporated with everyone, and that will make room for the Creator to dress into us and become revealed through us.
Student: We very, very much want it, and the friends are trying really hard.
M. Laitman: So put a bit more effort.
Student: What exactly should we ask? How to make the request more precise?
M. Laitman: That you all want to be together in a single vessel, and you all want to become incorporated in Him, in the Creator. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:58) I wanted to ask if we are connected right now.
M. Laitman: Well, so-and-so.
Student: Really? No, really. Are we? Because we constantly hear about connecting, connecting, connecting. If we are, fine. If not, can we get guidance?
M. Laitman: No. I'm asking the group, the band again. Instruct them how to connect.
Reader: All right, let's excite the friends.
Song: (01:22:45)
7. RABASH, Article No. 15 (1991), "What Is the Blessing, 'Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,' in the Work?"
Reading: (01:26:44) A person should accustom himself with anything to compare between the time of suffering and the time of pleasure, and to bless for the miracle of delivering him from suffering to a state of pleasure. By this, he will be able to thank the Creator and enjoy in the new Kelim that have been added to him now when he compares the two times to one another. From this, a person can advance in the work.
This is as Baal HaSulam said, that it does not matter whether a person receives from the Creator something great or small. What matters is how much a person thanks the Creator. To the extent of his gratitude, so grows the giving that the Creator gives. Therefore, we must take note to be grateful, to appreciate His gift, so we can approach the Creator.
M. Laitman: This means that as much as we can be grateful, say thanks, and also ask for forgiveness along with it, accordingly, we can connect to the Creator, and accordingly, the Creator can also bring us closer to him. Any questions on this quote?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:33) There are miracles every minute, every second. It's all a miracle. You may not see it. Is it correct to think that revealed, open miracles are the revelation of the Creator in our perception of reality, meaning that we are grateful for everything when we see everything? I'll give an example. A prayer for the soldiers that they will see the miracles openly, meaning there are many miracles in all the difficulties as well that we experience. Well, that's actually the question, to see a miracle in everything. Is that the revelation of the Creator, or maybe nearing the Creator?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:30:54) Is the world going through a process of recognition of evil, too? If so, what should we ask, if at all? And is there a point in asking if this is an essential, a necessary process?
M. Laitman: That doesn't matter what goes on with the world and with us. Rather, what matters is what we, how we feel all those states we go through. Okay?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:31:55) Rav, you said that according to our gratitude, we can connect to the Creator. What is that gratitude? I guess it's not just saying thank you, it's something deeper. So what is the gratitude that he writes about here?
M. Laitman: As much as we can thank the Creator that in all our pleas, requests, prayers we nevertheless get closer and closer to Him and reveal His relation to us as good that does good.
Student: Can I ask another question? We learned in the lesson that every act of the Creator toward us is called a miracle. I want to ask Rav personally, what is the biggest miracle you would like to see in your life?
M. Laitman: I won't be exaggerating if I say that essentially I would like all the people of Israel to enter a connection with the Creator.
8. RABASH, Article No. 13 (1985), "Mighty Rock of My Salvation"
Reading: (01:33:55) It says, “To praise You is a delight,” meaning we thank and praise You for the good we have received from You. It is as our sages said, “One should always praise the Creator and then pray” (Berachot [Blessings], 32).
The reason is that one who believes that the Creator is merciful and gracious, and that He desires to do good to the creations, has room for prayer. This is why we must first establish the praise of the Creator, meaning a person himself should establish praise of the Creator. This does not mean that the Creator should see that the person is praising Him, since the Creator doesn’t need people. Rather, the person himself should see the praise of the Creator, and then he can ask Him to help him, since His conduct is to do good to His creations.
Yes. In corporeality, it is very easy to say, thank you.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:31) In corporeality it is easy for me to be thankful that I have a body, that I am healthy, I have a family, friends. In spirituality, it feels to me like it is more difficult to say thank you. When I meet the friends here, I really have to make an effort. So in gratitude too, should I make an effort to say thank you, or is it only when I really feel something, I feel some connection with the Creator, then I should say thank you?
M. Laitman: Think, and then try to arrange the prayer.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:36:52) Rav, we're talking about gratitude here, and we know that gratitude has countless things, but Rav, can you, in your own words, explain? What is it about gratitude to the Creator that creates big vessels in a person?
M. Laitman: That a person reveals himself as a receiver from the Creator, and that is what positions a person in the right spot, in the right state. That's it.
Student: That's it? Simple?
M. Laitman: All the rest is already inside your request.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:37:55) He tells us in the excerpt we read that the Creator doesn't need the creations. Basically, before we pray, we have to praise Him, but it appears from the excerpt that it is to praise Him in the heart, not necessarily in words, verbally. So what does it mean to praise the Creator?
M. Laitman: That means to give room for Him in creation, as He arranges all of the relationships between Him and us, and between us and the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:39:09) Establishing the praise of the Creator, saying thank you and asking for forgiveness each day, for all the opportunities He gives us. Why? We shouldn't wait for the feeling, but strengthen ourselves in faith, because King Solomon said that the Creator arranged it so He would be feared, meaning He is everywhere with us. Everything is opportunities, everything is gifts. And I wanted to ask you to ask forgiveness for every time I shed tears and I thought that there's no such thing as good who does good, that it's the revelation of the evil, but it was always for my best.
M. Laitman: Good. We'll listen to a melody.
Song: (01:40:36)
9. Rav Kook - Twice.
Reading: (01:43:41) Each one should know and understand that within him burns a candle, that his candle is not as his friend’s candle, and there is no person who has no candle. Each one should know and understand that he must toil to reveal the candle to everyone, and to light it into a great torch and to illuminate the whole world.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:45:12) Rav, you taught us that those who are far are near. I feel that we would all benefit if we dedicate the remaining time to the World Kli and we'll be inspired and connect with them. Sorry.
M. Laitman: Okay, so what to do?
Reader: Let them ask. The whole screen is full of their questions.
M. Laitman: Okay. Well. Let's begin.
Question (Bulgaria): (01:46:24) Exile is when you are rejected because you are the biggest egoist. And a miracle is when the Creator The Creator gives you a chance to connect and advance.
M. Laitman: What's the question?
Student: The question is, I want to thank the Creator for giving me my Ten maximum. And that each one, through the Creator, will feel that he is good and does good through his heart. And we'll pass it on to all the rest. Happy Hanukkah again to everyone.
M. Laitman: Happy holiday for all of you as well.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:47:38) What is the difference, let's say, in blessing in a state before the miracle of Hanukkah and after the miracle of Hanukkah?
M. Laitman: Well, that's clear, that before the miracle, we aim for the miracle that the Creator can deliver to us. And after the miracle, the Creator already made that miracle for us. And then we can only get closer to him and thank him.
Student: Rav, I have another question, it's about the excerpt from Rav Kook. It says that the person must toil to reveal the candle to everyone and to light it into a great torch and to illuminate the whole world. Sometimes we feel very much disconnected from connection, very distanced. But to illuminate the whole world seems even much farther away, feels impossible. How can we use the deficiency of the world to strengthen our prayer?
M. Laitman: To be connected and from everyone together, try to rise to the general connection. That's it, what we read today.
Question (Astana): (01:50:34) I'm happy to see everyone. Do we have a question? Right now we feel great joy, great gratitude. How can we pass it on?
M. Laitman: I think that without words, if we hug and relate this way from heart to heart, that will be exactly right.
Question (Kyiv): (01:51:36) You asked a question, what miracle you would like to see? And you said the miracle that the whole of the people of Israel would be in connection with the Creator. Who did you mean when you talked about the people of Israel?
M. Laitman: Anyone who can connect. They are called the people of Israel, and it's regardless of who they are and what they are.
Question (Berlin): (01:52:30) Beloved friends, we want to share our gratitude. It's been a long time since we had an opportunity to meet in Düsseldorf too and in Nuremberg, and the beauty is that we're all connected. And we have, of course, a question. When we make this effort to unite, when we unite and meet physically, how does it contribute to becoming worthy of this miracle happening on us from above?
M. Laitman: Connected together in such a way that the miracle that comes from the Creator will spread between us, among everyone. This is called being worthy of a miracle. That's it.
Student: You said we should connect without words.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How can this be if we do it now? If we connect in our hearts, without words, all of us together, at this moment.
M. Laitman: How can it be? That's exactly right. That if we now try to be connected in one heart, then we'll succeed. In such a connection that the upper light will spread towards us and fill us equally. That's all.
Reader: (01:54:57) Rav, we are approaching the end of the lesson. And we have many more items during the day, items of connection. We have a break. We have a meal. How do we renew the prayer every moment? How do we not miss out on opportunities? How can we constantly stay on top of it, of the point?
M. Laitman: I don't know what to answer you. To me, it seems that we've already done everything, all the rest. What we have left is just to elevate our connected heart as one to the One Creator. And then we'll receive from Him such a relation to us, that in His relation to us, we can also reveal the world at the end. That's all. That's it. I'm asking all of you. Don't detach, don't disconnect from all the friends. In our world, Kli, everyone outside this hall, and let's feel them all with us. That's what we can add. But other than that, everything is just fine. I have great pleasure in feeling this gathering. Thank you all.
Reader: Thank you very much to our Rav. friends, we are continuing, but before we take a break and go on with our schedule, we have a few announcements. The main announcement that I'd like to give you now consists of these four books. I want to go over them very shortly, because we're all waiting for you in the bookstand.