Morning Lesson May 14, 2022, Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
The Approach to Studying the Wisdom of Kabbalah - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1.Rav’s Introduction: Yes, it is suggested for us to have an entrance all of us together, this is the main thing and then we will go into the Forward which we have talked about. So somebody is preparing these parts for us and every time we are going to try to read one of these texts before the lesson, what the friends found and recommended for us.
Item 1 (00:54)
2. R. (02:17) These are very unique words, very special because in other places we also read that the Kabbalists when they used to learn they, later prayed to forget what they have learned, they did not want attainment or understanding or anything else. Start from a blank page, a clean slate even though there they made so much effort to understand and remember suddenly after they study it there is a kind of action that they want to forget everything and start anew as if nothing, as if they were just born and now he is coming to the first lesson of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, why is this? It is because everything comes from deficiency and the cleaner that deficiency that he has nothing, he does not feel, he does not know anything but only according to what the Creator awakens in him, this is how he acts in a more correct way. This is why it is not for us to try to forget what we learned but the main thing is that tendency to be simple, to be direct from the heart, to pull the light that reforms on us and this is all, if we do this together then we will succeed big time and let's move on to the material itself.
Baal HaSulam. Foreword to The Book of Zohar. #22
Reading 22 (04:12)
3. R. (08:05) For the time being these are all questions; how can it be that it is complete Godliness and comes from the Creator? How do we certainly put it into some definitions, colors, the sounds, all kinds of changes and differences between them, there is he and then there is his name. Since everything comes to us and is revealed as one and it does not even come to as we are in it, so how is it divided into so many details and connections which is the entire Wisdom of Kabbalah. The way the created beings received the revelation of godliness, which is one, it is not divided into parts it does not change.
Reading 2 (09:01)
4. R. (11:19) This means that everything returns to Ein Sof, and this is where we come to in all our actions, come there and this is where everything starts and everything ends, we are in some connection on the way that accumulates everything and then brings it back.
Reader Continues: (11:40) “This is what we name above…”
5. R. (12:03) It is difficult to speak about this because it really brings us many questions that in the meantime we cannot really engage in but there are a few things we have to know for sure. One, everything that comes to us coming from Ein Sof ,coming from Ein Sof means that we have to go through these things, and we have to respond somehow to them, we have to come closer to the right response more and more until we come to a state that we understand that we exist in Ein Sof the first way. We also exist in Ein Sof in the final form, the final correction and it is only that when we short-circuit these two different forms, this is where we have to be between the two writings and to try to become like a conduit between these two. Meaning between the Creator prior to the created beings and the Creator that is established by the created beings.
6. S. (13:36) In the previous text at the beginning it says that good deeds and the bad deeds that created being wakes up in the ten Sefirot, what are these operations and how can we wake up anything as created beings?
R. Of course we are doing it because we are the Malchut of these days ten Sefirot, the upper light the Creator is bestowing to us in many different ways and we as Malchut we receive to reunite it and we return it to the Creator with our intentions in a way that, in a way that we basically close the whole circle and this is why are whole work although it is called the work of the lower ones by the Malchut, by that we illuminate the light, we ignite the light, we turn up the light in all the Sefirot from below upwards because we open the way for the light both the direct light and the reflected light. This is why our work is the most important work and it depends on us how the Creator will be revealed for the whole creation because without us doing it there is no Creator and there is no creation.
S. Can you maybe explain that we are like Malchut and in some way we can delight the operations of the Creator, so how do we become this Malchut, what does it mean that we delight the operations of the Creator?
R. First of all that we are Malchut it is clear because we are Malchut of the direct light we have to elevate ourselves where Malchut of the direct light becomes the Keter of the reflected light and by that we turn on the lights in all of the worlds because by this we are making the reflected light. In the reflected light all the Sefirot of the direct light starts shining to the extent that the reflected light turns them on. Meaning gives a restriction as screen and reflected light and then the direct light can shine because without that it cannot shine ,this is why there is this verse that there is no Creator without created being. The created being is the work of the lower ones when they try to overcome their own ego and to relate to the Creator the way the Creator relates to them, then it turns out that the direct light starts shining within the reflected light. This is why we come here to the degree of the Creator, he passes the keys to us, the reins to us to govern the entire reality. He created the entire reality, and he gave it to us and the to the extent we can correctly organize the relation between the direct and reflected lights we reveal the Creator for everybody. This is why just as there is no created being without the Creator there is no Creator without the created being.
7. S. (17:34) Can it be that the Baal HaSulam is turning our intention to the natural tendency of the colors to relate to what we see and not that he allows or enables us to see?
R. I do not know.
S. I would not see anything black over black, we see everything on the background because the Malchut is white, and it is receiving Hochma?
R. We can say that there is something in what you say but I do not see it here.
8. S. (18:18) We asked in the ten what is the thought of creation actually?
R. The thought of creation is the intention of the Creator prior to creation, when he wanted to create the created beings in order to do good to them because this is a nature of the good to do good.
S. So basically all the states that we received in the connection between is out of the thought of creation?
R. Because there is no other source but the Creator for all of creation.
Reading 24 (19:00)
9. R. (20:52) Which is the world of Ein Sof? Which is the world of Atzilut?
10. R. (22:32) Meaning everything that is said in the Wisdom of Kabbalah, every word, every line that the Kabbalists understand, attain, and wanted to pass on to us everything is only in respect to humans, only in respect to the souls of the people. From Ein Sof as it cascades and comes down to us and only what is related to us, if it is not related to us they do not speak any word about it. First of all there is a question, can we perceive any something that is not related to us which is maybe a different kind of reality, we cannot even imagine it, but no matter what we have to understand that if it is written we can research it, we can understand it and feel it and above it there is nothing to do. Why is he saying this to us, what he wants to do is to increase, to define, to give some barrier or limit to our imagination and our engagement and whatever is above as in spirituality. Whatever that we cannot attain in our vessels we can’t name, we cannot give it a name, the main thing for us is to acquire the screen, that reflected light and as much as we get we get, we get. Above that nothing, what does it mean “know”, how can I develop, you have to increase the screen and increase your reflected light and what you get there it is yours, there is no limitation there. Outside of the restriction that screen and reflected light you have no way to attain anything so do not break these boundaries, this is the main instruction here, the warning here because you will never get something real there it will only belong to your imagination that's it.
11. S. (24:55) What does it mean to collect thoughts in our world so we can rise above it?
R. We always ask questions at bit above what we attain, and this is good, but we do it within our boundary. When I try to see my own future if suppose my ten would be more connected how much could we feel more and attain more, the Creator. I do not go out of this boundary of attainment, and all of these are rules of attainment but instead I want to progress within them in order to enlarge the vessel.
12. S. (25:54) Every word describes something in the world but there are some concepts here then on the other side there is nothing, how to relate to it, again the question you are saying that in the essence we have no attainment, but it is as if there is a word, essence, but on the other side there is nothing. If I say dog I know what is the dog and I know how to relate to this so how to relate to such words when there is nothing behind them?
R. You simply need to know that you have no attainment, there is also our boundary, there is a limit there for your attainment, this gives you some orientation, and establishes you in a certain state.
S. So it is like an anchor?
R. Yes it is an anchor.
Reading Item 25 (27:01)
13. R. (27:13) It belongs to the world of Assiya.
14. R. (28:07) This means that we have a Keter which is the world of Ein Sof then there is the next world of Adam Kadmon, it doesn't matter how we call it and then we have the world of Atzilut which is the root for everything. Then from that, the other worlds of BYA expand where the lower ones are so we are talking about the world of Atzilut where the light of Hochma shines to the worlds of BYA, the lower ones, and even though these words of BYA are not godliness but the light from the upper world can expand in them and this is what we are talking about.
15. S. (28:57) This picture described here the worlds of Atzilut, BYA, our world, is it a picture that we can attain completely or is it in separate degrees?
R. Usually a person attains this generally and then something personal of each and everything, but both are attained individually and in the collective because everything is incorporated in everything, in everybody, so you cannot attain a certain Sefira, you have to attain ten Sefirot and a certain Sefira within the ten Sefirot this is how it happens.
S. So can we say that when we attained the ten Sefirot in the connection between us in the ten by this we attain the whole creation and all the world?
R. Correct, yes, it by that you start feeling more and more the entire reality, of course you do not feel all the details however you feel them in general as much as you are in it by attaining a certain spiritual discernment by that you also get an impression of the entire reality because everything is connected to everything else and it really gives us an opportunity to talk in general about the entire reality even though we attain only a part of it.
Reading 26 (31:00)
19. R. (31:34) From the perspective of the Creator, he starts from the end, he created the final picture he wants creation to come to and then from that final picture, seemingly, this is only the way we perceive it in our logic, in our common sense, this is how we explain it. So accordingly the Creator starts building from the beginning until the end, that's why there are no mistakes, even if we could say such things about the Creator, there are no mistakes, there are no problems because from the end we go back to the beginning and the beginning is entirely exact with all of its details in order to reach the end.
Reader continues: (32:28) “Also one does not execute….”
20. R. (32:40) That's why there is the verse that the final deed is in the preliminary thought.
Reader continues: (32:48) “Thus concerning the worlds, you see….”
21. R. (33:19) From here we can see how much we are in our world in a state that is pitiful it is small. We are always, in each and every moment we may be wrong and to understand that we are wrong and to take a step forward not knowing which direction and then to make mistakes again and then to correct the mistakes again, again not knowing how to progress. Each and every time however by this we attain the vessels and the lights that misunderstanding and the understanding, the miss-attainment and the attainment, the degree of the Creator and the created being. Because he made it this way for us to be able to be in the two ends of reality, both instead of the created being and instead of the Creator. This is how we relate to our children as well, this is how we build our games for the children and all kinds of things for them to be around and understand where they made the mistake, where they should and should not and this is how they progress. We ourselves have to find the right solutions and to execute it and in smaller things it is not so clear but in creation it is, we can also see in reality what is happening, different wars and problems and the children are born and people dying and suffering and what we go through. Thousands of years of suffering and mistakes and searching and still we are not in a state where we would know what is good or bad, what we should do in every place there are doubts so out of it we scrutinize the final form, the final state to which we are progressing to bit by bit, we will talk about it soon.
Reader continues: (35:49)
22. S. (37:44) We are very impressed by everything that is complete in the Creator, there is no time in him, he broke, and he corrected everything, everything is whole in him, and that Torah tells us that it speaks in the language of people. If we correct us everything is corrected, so my question is when should we replace our deficiency, correcting what is corrupted in our eyes or in our deficiency in the state where the Creator sees when we are corrected, and we should aspire there?
R. Both this and that and everything. I should see myself both as whole and as flawed and as the one who is performing the correction and makes mistakes and whatever I do it is all just for justification of creation, to justify the actions of the Creator and this is all I want to do as a created being.
S. Because when we talk about justifying creation does it mean to justify the corrupted creation and from there we have to grow? Do we have to justify the corrupted creation?
R. Of course. By the Creator breaking creation he gave us an opportunity to put it together like a child building a toy car from bricks and then by this we are putting together the creation and by this we are building the Creator, you have made me as he says, and this is how we progress.
S. So you said that we have to combine the two both the corrected state and the uncorrected state?
R. Yes we have to be like a little kids putting together creation on the other hand we also have to be more like grown-ups to understand he created this on purpose and in our whole life there is nothing real, but everything comes so we would come closer to attaining the Creator and understanding and justifying the Creator. To justify him in every detail that we encounter in our life whatever it is. To be able to say about every single thing thanks God for creating it and giving it to me and I am correcting my relation to it even though initially it was spoilt, corrupted and in the end I bless him, and I thank him. By this we come closer to the degree of the Creator.
23. S. (40:58) What is the difference between the action of Kedusha, holiness and the action that is unholy, that is impure that can lead us to a higher degree of connection between us. What is the difference between these two actions?
R. Everything is arranged in such a way that we cannot make mistakes just like that because everything comes from under the providence from above, from guidance from above. It organizes us, it allows us to make mistakes and to go through all of those things in all kinds of ways that seem to us as if they were incidental by chance but it is all in order to allow us, to give us again and again the possibility to be incorporated in it more correctly and more independently in the whole process that the Creator created for us. Everything depends on how much hold we have on the principals, on the tennis, which is the ten, the study, the unity of Israel and the Torah and the Creator. Meaning a person in a ten and the Creator and he tries to put together this system and constantly tries to be in it. If he does not exit it as much as he can, he does not escape then he really continuously progress and progressive directly and correctly and if not then he is brought through such operations when he makes mistakes and mistakes and mistakes until through these mistakes he begins to see what is correct all because he wants to diminish his suffering or because he wants to understand better and so on so that already depends on the character of the soul.
24. S. (43:39) Is it possible that the Creator, that there is a feeling that the Creator expects nullification not only in the group but rather that it used to be normal there is a feeling for a demand for annulment?
R. Yes it can be. I do not know what is happening to you but in the end he is requesting from you every following stage to understand him, to feel him, to connect to him more tightly.
25. S. (44:29) How can the created being perceive the thought of creation that extended from Ein Sof to Atzilut? This is higher than the world of Beria that is part of the created beings is it through imagination?
R. No through imagination can get nothing but from Ein Sof it comes to the world of Atzilut. In the world of Atzilut although we have no perception in it is already arranged according to the Sefirot and the Partzufim as we learn in the world of Adam Kadmon so the light already enters the vessel and it is organized, arranged in the vessel, inside the vessel although he still cannot control these vessels but in the worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira and Assiya there the light is closer to the vessels although in Atzilut it is all light it is still the light of Hochma which operates but in the worlds of ABYA it is more to the extent it can be in the light of mercy because the power of the lights of the worlds, of BYA there it is the light of Hassadim. To the extent we can be in the light of Hassadim, bestowing in order to bestow to that extent we come to be incorporated in the world of Atzilut and start receiving in order to bestow. This is how we attain this, so everything follows the definitions and the rules of the ten Sefirot.
26. S. (46:28) If I can continue the previous question, who am I? Who are we? Am I like a child that cannot put the Lego pieces together or am I the cement that is going to be mixed with water to become concrete?
R. You are a part of creation that wants to depict inside you what is creation and build within you a model, a mold, a form, a shape of all of creation and then you want to be incorporated with all the created beings and with the Creator and to design this shape. Do not think that you are like a child even though you feel like a child. You are a smart kid who wants to build something big, something great. This little one is going to be great.
S. Meaning as the one who asks and not like matter?
R. Yes to be operator. The Creator wants us to be partners, he begins creation, and we complete it, we finish it.
27. S. (48:06) On one hand you said that we should be operators in creation but previously you said that we have to justify. How can I justify, what is this action of justifying, what should I do?
R. The act of justifying is by accepting what there is and, well if you can put it this way, accept receiving it in the light of Hassadim and from this to continue to build out of this the right response. You accept the governance of the Creator; the authority of the Creator and you want to attach yourself to him through the ten and from this you learn what to do next.
S. Accepting the Creator and it starts from me not understanding what I see so this is what I have to justify somehow?
R. Yes.
S. So what is the next step?
R. The next step is to see that you disagree and you do not want it and you are against the Creator and now you understand that these things that come not from you but also from the force that the Creator wakes up in you which is the evil inclination, the other side, the Sitra Achra and that here you have to do something. How to do it, how to work against this desire which does not bring you to the goal but comes in order to deviate you to take you off the path but from this deviation, this opposite direction it is also directing you so accordingly you work against this desire and you try as much as possible and if you are already smart and understand that you do not work against it directly but you turn to the Creator and ask him to help, to do this work for you because you already know that against your evil inclination you are very weak so you ask the Creator to organize this successfully against the evil inclination and then you adhere to the Creator not only with the good inclination but also through the evil inclination and in this way the world, how to put it, in this way the angel of death becomes a holy angel because it also brings you to holiness, to the Creator, to bestowal.
S. So the end of the action is this point or the end of the action when something dresses into my feelings that I feel that the Creator was right.
R. That is also correct: the end of the act is adhesion to the Creator.
28. S. (51:18) What is the mistake of a person if basically every is already whole in the thought of creation?
R. A person's mistake is that he is disconnected from the root, he forgets that there is someone who manages him through all the states both the good and bad. This is the only mistake, disconnection from the root.
S. But even these states are approved by the Creator?
R. Of course everything is him, but we have to see how we operate correctly, and the correct form begins by connecting to the root and saying that there is None Else Besides Him, and he is good that does good and from this I begin my return to spiritual awareness, consciousness.
S. So all the actions are only a response?
R. We are always created beings, so we are always acting in a way of responding.
S. The question is, we can’t avoid mistakes?
R. I do not see any mistakes, I see in them corrections. When we speak of the process we are going through then everything is only corrections, and the person does not perform a commandment a good deed unless first he fails in it.
S. So there are the corrections and then there is the purpose of creation or the thought of creation, which is complete, so what connects the two?
R. The mistakes, specifically the mistakes. When you begin you make a mistake and that brings you back to correction, a person is not performing a commandment unless he fails in it.
S. So this brings you back to the purpose of creation?
R. Because by this you are building the light and the vessel. The mistake is an element or a state that is necessary every step of the way.
29. S. (54:05) As far as being in preparation, preparation is everything and we are here right now we have an opportunity to connect to the world Kli with the ten so now as far as a preparation for now and opening our eyes somewhere if we failed to do what we need to do right now somewhere like a bird, like nature sounds correct as if you're not doing corrections right now so how is it important for the preparation?
R. The importance of the preparation, the preparation is important because without the preparation we do not have the right prayer to reach the end. The preparation should awaken you and direct you. Awaken in the current state and direct you to the state that you have to reach.
30. S. (55:39) So we should seemingly be happy when the Creator allows us to be mistaken?
R. Of course, we have to be happy both with the mistakes because it all comes from the Creator, in every single moment whenever I'm receiving it is certain I am receiving something this moment from the Creator, and it is certain that I have to be thankful for it and progress from it onward whatever it is that I feel. No matter what I go through I have to accept it as a thing that I have to go through, and this is why I progress in this way and advance towards the goal.
31. S. (56:33) Is this approach that everything is temporary and when certain states come from the Creator they seem to be forever so how can we learn this approach that everything is temporary or an attempt to run away from our prayer?
R. Do not be a child. You always enter a new state that will seem to you as perhaps at terrible state or a good state, that can also be, and when you are in that state you are in it with all the way, completely immersed in it over the top so you cannot look at every state the that you go through from the side, it is always going to be like that. What can happen regarding what you are asking the group that stands next to you, it can be you for you as an anchor. It can grab you, hold you, help you, watch over you, lift you. The group that is next to you but you yourself are nothing, zero.
32. S. (58:13) The way of the thought of somebody who designs a house, he starts from the end and goes back to the beginning. How can we take that and have this kind of thought?
R. To go and build and hope that we’re building correctly.
S. Even with the plan he has a clear plan.
R. The plan is simple: to build a ten as much as possible until the other tens join it and this way you will have one vessel in Adam HaRishon.
33. S. (58:58) We learn that the purpose of the whole process is for us to discover the Creator’s state 620 times moreover. In this example of the house, what can we discover more?
R. Its elements, because the whole wisdom is dependent on the number of components that the wisdom stands on.
S. Meaning more and more details in the house?
R. Yes, yes, yes.
S. In that we discover He's the desire to do good?
R. Everything depends on the number of components, on the same principle that doesn't change from the beginning.
34. S. (59:54) Can the reflected light come out of a person even if he doesn't really understand that he’s reflecting the light, or it requires complete consciousness?
R. No, even without complete consciousness, complete awareness.
35. S. (01:00:22) About the perception of reality, you explained that we can only see it through the screen, and we shouldn't imagine things. What can I do when I understand that my life is completely ego, we are not screen, so are we like dead?
R. Through the ten you don't make mistakes, even if you do foolish things; if you do them together it is considered correct.
36. S. (01:01:07) If I understand correctly, if we do not reach the recognition of evil with the adaptation for a true deficiency we have no reason to ask. How can we acquire that?
R. This is Possible only through the work in the group. You have no other way to find the right reaction, the right answer to where you are, it is possible only by operating in the group. In the group you will receive everything, in the group you would work and in the group you will send all your answers back to the Creator. Everything is from the group. If you come out of it then you are as if in mid-air.
37. S. (01:02:09) I understand that attainment comes after the restriction, the screen, and the reflected light. How can we do that in the lesson?
R. During the lesson we have to connect among us as much as possible and not separate. Because specifically during the lesson we all want to be with own intellect, our own feelings but here is exactly how we need to be together with everyone as much as possible. Therefore all the learning in the wisdom of Kabbalah is always in groups and was in groups since the group of Rabbi Shimon until today, and this is how it should remain. The more efforts we show to be connected among us during the lesson, this is considered correct learning even if we learned just a little bit, but we make an effort to be connected.
Item 27 (01:03:55) “Now you can understand that all these changes…”
38. R. (01:06:30) Just like in our world we have seven colors and from that we have all the combinations of colors. I heard that on the computer you have fifteen million colors? I don't know what they take it from but..
39. S. (01:07:16) Baal HaSulam writes that the meaning of He is the essence of the Sefirot of Ein Sof. Meaning the essence of everything is the same for everything?
R. Everything comes from Ein Sof, it contains everything.
40. S. (01:07:38) What is the difference between the Creator before the created being attains Him and after he attains Him? What changes in the Creator?
R. We cannot speak of the Creator without the attainment of the created being. Even the word Creator, BoReh, come and see, it talks about how we come to this depiction within us of how our inner vessel, feelings, thoughts are impressed by something called Creator. This is how we talk about Him. There is no Creator without a created being. In other words the Creator is something that is impressed, that is renewed, that appears, manifests within the created being, within the person. There is no Creator without the person. You tell me how else does He exist? Only what we can imagine, can depict. In other words the created being builds Him.
41. S. (01:08:50) What is the material used for the spiritual building like the allegory with the wood and the bricks?
R. Our raw material is the will to receive which He created existence from absence. In this manner, through the influence of the light in it, this existence from absence receives all kinds of forms. But from where does it get these shapes? From the influence of the light on it which gradually changes it, influences it again and changes it some more until it comes to such four phases, to a state where it is the opposite of what it was in the first phase, and then it is considered that this final phase is the created being, opposite from the Creator. From here on we can talk about how this created being goes through corrections, how it adapts itself, adjusts itself to the Creator. This is what it's all about
42. S. (01:10:00) What does it mean to acquire a screen?
R. Acquiring a screen means that I want to be above my ego, meaning connect to the Creator, to be like Him to some extent. But in practice I can do it only on the condition that I can connect to the friends against me. When I disconnect from me and attach myself, adhere to the friends, and this is in the group before me, this is a possibility that is always at my disposal. Then if every single moment I want to connect to the friends in contrast to what I would like to do myself, then my operations are correct.
43. S. (01:11:07) Baal HaSulam writes that everything is complete godliness. How can we understand the changes that the lower ones induce there? Can you explain how this happens?
R. Everything is complete godliness, of course, but it's not in the way that we see it. We have to say that yes, we are in the world of Ein Sof, in the Creator and the indeed we are in this wonderful form, sublime form, but it's not the way it seems to us. It is not how it seems to us. It is according to how we should discover, reveal ourselves. This is what we should try to see. How do we do it? Only through adhesion.
44. S. (01:12:15) What does it mean to attain a spiritual portion?
R. A spiritual portion. This is regarding as me disconnecting from myself to some extent, from my ego. I elevate myself to a higher degree than my ego, as if I don't want anything for myself. Then I begin to calculate. How do I become incorporated in the friends who are also disconnected from themselves? So as much as we can hold each other by the hand and disconnect from our personal egos, each of us, and then through it when we connect among us, we connect to something that is common between us which is the Creator. He is not present, but only to the extent that we disconnect from ourselves and want to connect among us, we build this kind of image, this special definition which is called the Creator. Then all of a sudden through this searching: what does it mean to disconnect from myself, what does it mean to all connect among us to something common between us, we find Him. All of a sudden we discover that yes, such a thing exists, our common root. This is how we found the Creator.
45. S. (01:14:04) is there a difference between a vessel and a soul?
R. Well there are many things about this, I don't even know where to begin, the vessel and the soul. The vessel is a desire intended for, destined to receive the light, otherwise it’s not a vessel. A soul is a desire that is arranged with a restriction, screen and reflected light and it's congruent with the light, the light fills it to some extent. This desire is called soul.
46. S. (01:14:52) What do we need this corporeal world with all the experiences and pressures in order to bring us to the spiritual, corrected state?
R. We are in this world until the end of correction because in every spiritual scrutiny we must insist on the point of the egoistic desire, we must discern that, this is the point we’re starting from. Each and every desire that’s revealed in us is a new egoistic desire that was not apparent before. So, we have to always start from the point of this world.
47. S. (01:15:46) What does it mean to justify all actions of the Creator, how does it happen? Is there a process we need to go through?
R. Of course. To reach justification of the Creator, it’s a great process where I need to feel myself, feel the Creator, and arrange myself in such a way that I disconnect from myself. I have to feel myself in place, instead of the Creator and then I return to myself, who I am. I begin to compare my state with the Creator’s state, Malchut and Bina, Bina and Malchut until I come from all these forms of connection and contradiction and reach a state where both Malchut and Bina help me rise to Keter. There I discover my adhesion in the Creator and how in this adhesion there are many components and they all come from a thing and it's opposite. There is no Keter without Malchut and there's no Malchut without Keter, the way they support one another.
48. S. (01:17:48) How do we do this process in practice in our state?
R. In hate and in love as much as we do it in a group like the students of Rabbi Shimon who wanted to kill each other then connected and attained the upper Zohar, the upper light. That's how we advance.
49. S. (01:18:14) Can we seen the disturbances of this world the material to build the ten?
R. Of course. If something is revealed in all the degrees, in all the worlds let alone in this world it’s only so that each one of us will be impressed necessarily towards His correction. Therefore everything that’s happening now to each and every one, how this world is influencing us, how we are impressed by it all, this is so we know how to arrange ourselves towards the end of correction.
50. S. (01:19:10) In the thought of creation does it contain all of states and corrections we have to go through or only the already corrected states?
R. All the states must be there, none are missing, there's no absence in spirituality. Everything is spirituality, there is no corporeality. Hence everything we are going through is included in Ein Sof and it positions us in the final form.
51. S. (01:20:01) If everything follows the thought and plan of the Creator which is predetermined why do we need a prayer on man's part?
R. Hey, you can even ask? If everything is predetermined where are we, why are we needed here, what’s in us? We have the agreement that I lower my head humbly to accept everything that comes to me from above, that's one thing. Another thing is that I check it and I see how much I resist those things both from the side of reception and the force of bestowal, from the side of the will to receive and the side of the will to bestow. So I seemingly divide myself into four aspects, four discernments and then I annul myself and I ascribe myself only to the reception of the Creator, or the acceptance of Him. That He will dwell here and fill me with His control completely. That's how we get to adhesion.
52. S. (01:21:25) Is it possible to minimize the amount of mistakes on the path?
R. It says that “a person cannot perform a Mitzvah before he fails in it”. Mitzvah means a correct action, Mitzvah from the word Tzivuy, commandant. The Creator commands us to do it and we try to do it. So in trying to perform acts of bestowal we certainly discover first how much we are in the will to receive. Therefore we first want to receive, we want to perform of kind of actions against, we want to make mistakes and that’s how we advance. Later we see that is incorrect. We regret it, we get mad at ourselves, the Creator, the world and so on so forth until we get to the stage where we agree. Out of this agreement comes connection, adhesion, and that's how we correct the state.
53. S. (01:22:50) My disagreement with what’s happening is my lack of correction?
R. This agreement is part of the correction. This means a person cannot perform a Mitzvah before he first fails in it. He doesn't want to do it, he doesn't want to bestow, he doesn't want to do anything. He is seemingly working against the Creator, and eventually he latter attains that the Creator is correct, He's right and he subjugates himself and he works in place of the Creator, like the Creator.
54. S. (01:23:32) How does the ability to justify the Creator depend on the connection between us in the ten?
R. The ability to justify the Creator can come only in the ten where we can give examples to one another. So it turns out that none of us wants it, but when we give examples then each one out of shame, look how it works in reverse, each one out of shame works seemingly more correctly. Because he feels ashamed to show himself as a failure, as lowly in the eyes of the friends. Then in this way they gradually begin to push one another to acts of bestowal.
55. S. (01:24:31) How come we become partners with the Creator if we never attain His essence?
R. We are partners of the Creator in actions, makes your desires like His desire, not in essence. I don't even know what is the Creator's essence. He is depicted before me or in me as the force of bestowal, love, connection, giving. But who is He, what is He, we never attain that. There are additional degrees where I cannot say what is happening there but in essence it’s written that from your actions we shall know you. We perform actions like Him and out of that we will understand a little bit who is He and what is He. But it is nevertheless not Him because His essence is much higher than this.
56. S. (01:25:37) How we put together that we need to justify everything and turn to the Creator to correct the line of connection?
R. We turned to the Creator not for the correcting of the world, we turn to the Creator for the correction of us if you’re talking about the wisdom of Kabbalah. We’re not like people on the street that believe in certain things and work in such a way that they pray to the Creator to change reality. We pray to the Creator to change us. Then from working in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of reception we will feel and we will see that all the actions in this world are different actions. Not that they appear to us as horrific acts that kill and rape and do all sorts of terrible actions, no we will discover that it’s not so because we change our vessels. Each one flaws according to his own flaws though it all depends on our vessels. If we correct our vessels we’ll see the world of Ein Sof. Will the world change? Yes, because the world is what a person feels inside his vessels. If he corrects his vessels he we will see a different world. That's why the angel of death will become a holy angel. How could it be? If he is all those horrible things, everything that is so near to me you will see that it will appear different to you. There's nothing bad in the world from the beginning of creation till the end of creation including all the angels of death and all the worst possible states. None of them did anything bad. Everyone only kept the commandments of the Creator in the best, most beautiful way possible. Everything was only the light of Ein Sof that was controlling all of reality. You need to digest these things gradually. But nevertheless to look at reality in this way is very helpful for us to incorporate together, to continue in our direction.
57. S. (01:28:29) Can you give an example of how you can look at all the horrors that we seeing in corporeality from a spiritual perspective?
R. That is the reality and what’s above reality. So on the one hand, if they come to you and try to kill you then you have to get up and kill them first, you have to protect your life. On the other hand, you have to nevertheless move towards a state where you see that it’s all coming from the Creator. We are not actually in those states in order to tie them together. Here there’s time, space, motion, and there’s many discernments as you see what’s happening here, but we will learn about it, we will learn how to do it. Understand it first. You will feel everything and you will reveal everything and our time today is such that we are going pretty quickly through all those states.
58. S. (01:29:41) How would we know if we’re making mistakes or advancing correctly in this path?
R. You cannot see it yet, maybe a little bit by seeing that you understand more, you feel more, you connect more, you understand one another a bit better. The women represent a very special kind of matter in creation; the Creator first designed man, Adam, the bestowing force in corporeality and then the woman out of him, the force of reception, the receiving force in reality. So we can learn a lot about it from this and we will, I am afraid of confusion. The pedagogy, the correct attitude toward the studies, divide it and to give it, like to a baby: the right quantity, the right temperature, the right consistency, all those things. So you understand that is like feeding a baby, a growing child, you have to give everything in its time and in such conditions where he can receive it and grow as strong. So that's where we are with our study, we are growing into a higher world therefore we have to be careful about the steps that we are taking.
59. S. (01:31:53) We are a very young ten, the first time for us to study the Forward to the Book of Zohar. We got to the conclusion that we are not understanding anything in this Forward. Does it mean that it is still early for us and we have to learn something corporeal first?
R. No, it says “it’s not that wise who learns.” Meaning, the wise never learns he cannot learn. The study is for us to annul ourselves, connect between us, and want to receive something from above. And, what we read in the book even if we don't know how to read, we don't even speak the language, let alone knowing what is written. Who actually understands these things, tell me? Who does? The one who understands is the one who is on the degree of Baal HaSulam, the way he wrote it here, and then this person can say, yes I understand what he wants to tell me. But outside of that there’s nothing, so what is it for? It’s in order for us to annul ourselves and then the light that appears from the Creator, through the Kabbalists, through this text relative to us who do not understand anything but annul ourselves, this light will influence us and will gradually begin to fill ourselves with this upper influence, upper bestowal, not through our intellect that is influencing us. How does a small child begin to develop? He simply feels from the outside what’s influencing him, all those different things, things that he hears, different sounds, different attitudes, touch, that's how he develops and we are the same thing. That's what it says, “it is not the wise who learns”, it's not through the intellect that it enters into us, understanding, awareness, advancement, is not through intellect, it’s through, I will say, ‘alternative channels’, side channels. So, the more we connect together, the more we want together, that’s the main thing. The more we want together we will get to a state where the light will influence us more and consequently will develop and understand and feel and attain. I don’t understand, what’s happening to us is typical for women: first they say there are no question, now there’s no end to questions!
60. S. (01:35:17) When is an action considered an action through the group?
R. When they are connected even to a small extent, even when we are not connected but they understand that they are not connected and they lament the fact that they are not connected and they want to be connected to some extent, and already they have a deficiency, a lack because they're not connected and that lack is already a vessel and they receive something from above from the upper illumination. If I, even when I'm learning the wisdom of Kabbalah and I don’t want to study it, but I constantly say, “I don’t want to learn it”, I will receive something. As Rabash said, “a woman tells her husband “I don't need you but sit next to me and hear and listen”. “But why do I have to sit here?” “Sit and listen to how much I don't need you”. The attitude towards the Creator, towards the Wisdom, has to be there, it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, that’s what he wanted to say. It doesn't matter what kind of attitude as long as the attitude and the connection are there. That's why if there are fights it’s better than indifference.
61. S. (01:37:10) How can tens of women connect if women are all Malchut?
R. Yes, but no one is like the other, women have great differences between them. Men are not so different. See, that’s why kids, they play and there’s not a lot of problem for them to play together. You wouldn't see a group of women who are playing together, like basketball or something, this is only in recent years that it became a sport but for women, two or three, if there’s a little bit more of them then they begin to divide, it is hard to be together. Only if they are men among them then the men can connect the women but each and every woman has this rejection from her friends. So, we have to understand that this is how we should behave as well, also in our groups, in the woman groups, we will talk about it. We haven't started to take care of the world, to come out of ourselves towards the world, then we will talk about the nature of creation from the point of view of men, women, and how we can arrange the whole world as one reality, the masculine and feminine reality correctly, as Adam and Eve.
62. S. (01:39:16) So if only two or three women can connect then why are we organized in tens?
R. That’s for the time being, we’ll see later, I don't even know myself. I myself do not know because what we are doing in many instances we are going blindly, instinctively: the way we see it, that's why we do it and then ‘from your actions we shall know you’.
63. S. (01:39:49) Is my personal connection to connect with the Creator event through the ten, is it egoistic?
R. It doesn't matter, everyone begins from their ego, from their broken vessels, as long as the desire will be as big as possible so you will later have what to correct.
64. S. (01:40:14) What is the difference between Masach and agreement?
R. Masach, screen is going against agreement, agreement is when I agree; because of problems, troubles, or some rewards, it doesn’t matter, I agree; and the screen goes against my agreement, against desire. When I get up and I act opposite to the desire, that's the screen. Let's say I don't want to be connected with my friend but because I was told that I have to be together with her in one ten then I come closer to her and I do everything to give her and to arrange everything for her and connect her and connect to her, that's how I work, why, because this is the path to the Creator. So then, I must come to connection, it is the Creator who placed this condition for me, and eventually I have to be connected, man or woman it doesn't matter, I have to be connected with all the people in the world, gradually of course. But eventually we will come to a state where the whole world will be connected, and we will all feel that we belong to one upper force and that's the force of love.
65. S. (01:42:06) What is a strong ten that influences all the other tens?
R. The ones that sets an example of how connected they are, how much they support one another, how much they can in their connection rise above their differences, above the quarrels that are revealed and truly great quarrels, great conflicts, great fights, great differences and nevertheless they awaken to be above it. We have to take a break and we will go to the next part. We will also have an afternoon lesson.