The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning) November 23, 2024.
Part 1: Baal HaSulam. Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot. #152.
Reader: Hello, we are reading in the writings of Baal HaSulam,in Hebrew, page 803, from the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”, we are in item 152. You can find the study materials on Sviva Tova and in the Arvut system.
You can also send us questions live through those websites. Anyone asking a question in the study hall is asked to stand up, hold the microphone close to his mouth and speak loud and clear. The writings of Baal HaSulam, page 803 in Hebrew.
We are in “The Introduction of the Ten Sefirot”, item 152.
Reading: (00:47) Item 152) This is the meaning of what is written in Tree of Life, that the world of Atzilut of the Klipot stands opposite the world of Beria, and not opposite from Atzilut. This is so because only the fourth discernment of love extends from the world of Atzilut of Kedusha. Hence, there is no dominion to the Klipot there at all, since he has already sentenced the whole world to the side of merit and knows all the dealings of the Creator in His Providence on people, too, from the Providence of His name, “The Good who does good to the good and to the bad.”
However, in the world of Beria, from which extends the third discernment, there is still no sentencing of the whole world. Therefore, there is still a hold for the Klipot. Yet, these Klipot are considered the Atzilut of the Klipa, since they are opposite the third discernment, the unconditional love, and this love is considered Atzilut.
M. Laitman: I don't know, what can I add? It means that with respect to this state, there is no Klipah. Anyone want to ask anything?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (03:27) What does it mean to be in a world, to be in a world of Assiya, to be in a world of Yetzirah? What does it mean to be in a world?
M. Laitman: Meaning that he attains these worlds he is above, and therefore everything that happens in them, he attains.
Student: Let's say he describes that a person is in a state where he condemns, or he can't, and he says it's double concealment, or only one concealment, then something opens up for him and he is on the degree of the medium. So that's a certain way to relate to reality. But here he says there is a world here. Why doesn't he say that is the way I relate? There is how the person relates to reality, and that changes. Let's say in the beginning he condemns, he can't overcome it, then he says it's double concealment or a single concealment, then something opens up for him and he says this is already fear. This is how he relates to reality. Why? According to this, now he says, now in the world of Assiya, now in the world of Yetzirah, why does he say that he is in a world, something external? This is how he relates to reality.
M. Laitman: No. Clearly it's his relation, but what he attains, he attains because he exists in a certain specific attitude towards the Creator called a world. Atzilut, Beria, Assiya. And that's why he describes that, that this is how providence becomes revealed or concealed.
Student: So when a person says beyond what I attain, there's also a world outside of me, is that how the Creator relates to me?
M. Laitman: It's the Creator's attitude to him, of course.
Student: So why doesn't he say the Creator has now opened up for me a possibility, and now I see the degree of fear. Now I see the quality of love, the first degree of love. So it means that the Creator has opened up for him this perspective of the world. Why does he say outside of me now? There's the world of Assiya, Yetzirah, Beria.
M. Laitman: No, no, it's not outside of him. It's actually with respect to him. It's not with respect to others.
Student: So a world, Olam, is a degree of concealment, that he discovers how the Creator is concealing so that he will be in that state?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (07:18) Maybe to continue, what does it mean that a world stands opposite another world?
M. Laitman: An example.
Student: The world of Kedusha, opposite the world of Tuma’a (impurity).
M. Laitman: Ah, that. The Creator made this against that, means that if a person doesn't yet reach the world of Kedusha, then he's in a world of Klipa.
Student: So I'm either in this world or in that world, but I can't feel the tension between the two?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: How do we move, shift from one world to another?
M. Laitman: By labor. That you discover all kinds of forms of attitude from the Creator towards you?
Student: How do I use what is revealed to me? If one is opposite the other, how do I use what is revealed to me right now in order to shift it to the other side?
M. Laitman: It doesn't work that way. You discover what the world discovers. That's basically what appears to you, and thus you understand that you're in this or that degree or world.
Student: What does it mean, one opposite the other? That they're parallel?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And in the two of them being parallel, however opposite in their values, so can we learn one from the other? Can we somehow get help through this in order to advance?
M. Laitman: We'll learn that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:29) Can we say that there is the reality, the single reality that the Creator created, and this world before the correction was the shell, Klipa, and that same world following the correction is already Kedusha, sanctity?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (10:00) The discernment of what he says, that Atzilut is in such a state where it is absolute love, this principle of one stands opposite the other, where the Klipa, the shell, always dominates, other than Atzilut, it always dominates the same degree, or is it that in general, the Klipa, the shells always dominate the lower world, a lower world than them?
M. Laitman: No, from that degree and below.
Student: And in which way does the shell help us to understand the benefit from the correct way to relate to Kedusha?
M. Laitman: Because if we overcome the Klipa, then we merit the Kedusha.
Student: And when one attains Kedusha, what happens with the Klipa, the shell? Is it in his feeling, or is it covered in such a way that it simply disappears? Let's say that a student in his advancement, he's already in spiritual work, in one of the rungs on the ladder, and he feels from his records, whatever it is, he feels that the shell is guarding him, keeping something, but it prevents him from operating with greater love towards the friends, through his corrections, his prayers. So he does what's required, I don't know what it is, but in the upper world, what happens with the shell? He places a screen over it and everything, he performs such an action where the X plus one was revealed in him, of greater mercy, greater love. Now what happens with the shell that was opposite him? Before the action he performed, which was a spiritual action?
M. Laitman: It disappears from him. Because on top of it, he came to a higher attainment, to a greater grasp of the Creator.
Student: And it itself, not its bigger sister, but it in itself will not harm him anymore, won't bother him?
M. Laitman: No, it stops being a shell.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:56) What in general is the world of shell, of Klipa?
M. Laitman: In the study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam doesn't really clarify it, but in the Tree of Life, written by the ARI, there you have an explanation of the world of Klipot.
Student: Shells, as I understand it mean in order to receive. That's their gap opposite the Kedusha, which is in order to bestow. So there are degrees in order to receive?
M. Laitman: There are degrees in order to receive, sure. Just as there are degrees in order to bestow.
Student: And they're one above the other, they're actually closer to Kedusha?
M. Laitman: Close or not, that's a unique order there. But yes, there are bigger Klipot, smaller Klipot.
Student: Last question, the more I advance in sanctity, the more a student advances in sanctity, in Kedusha, and he reaches, let's say, the world of Yetzirah, of Kedusha, and then he falls from that degree, where does he fall? Does he fall into Yetzirah of Klipa or does he fall down to the world of Assiya, or it doesn't even work that way?
M. Laitman: This I can't say. It depends on where does he fall from and where to. That depends on his iniquity. I can't say.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:17) I heard that the shell means in order to receive. How can there be in order to receive in spirituality? Because the world of the shell stands opposite Kedusha, doesn't it?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And it's working in order to receive. This is what characterizes the world of the Klipa?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So can in order to receive exist in spirituality?
M. Laitman: In the degrees, the ladder of degrees of the Klipot, yes.
Student: How can it be? I understand that in order to receive cuts a person off from spirituality. So how can it be?
M. Laitman: No, but it isn't the same place where he is. He exists in order to receive. And opposite him are degrees in order to bestow.
Student: What characterizes the in order to receive of the shell? Or what differentiates a shell from an ordinary disruption?
M. Laitman: That it's in order to receive.
Student: An ordinary disruption can also be in order to receive.
M. Laitman: I say got a desire all of a sudden that detaches me.
Student: I receive the desire that disconnects me?
M. Laitman: So in the same desire you are in Klipa.
Student: So the desire, the disruptions that it begets within the incidents of this world, they are actually already shells in our advancement or not?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So what's the difference?
M. Laitman: It's like in Kedusha. It's one opposite the other. Meaning that if I were in a degree of Kedusha and God forbid I fall from it, then I'm in a degree of Klipa. The world of Klipot contains degrees and worlds and Partzufim, everything.
Student: Yes, I understand. I'm asking, is there some principle that characterizes the shell and differentiates it from a disruption that isn't below the barrier, a corporeal disruption. It doesn't matter if it's internal or external. What is the shell? What characterizes this special resistance or disruption that we call Klipa, shell?
M. Laitman: That you fall from the spiritual degree that you've attained before.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:32) What is the relation between the lines, left and right, versus the shells?
M. Laitman: What's the relation between left and right and Klipot?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: Simply, man can be on the left or on the right. And this is still Kedusha. And he can be in left or right and it will be Klipa.
Student: Let's say it is written that the world of Assiya is all shells.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So how does the correction work? I correct the shell of the left by the shell of the right?
M. Laitman: No, no, no. That's not how it is. For now, just scrutinize what we're reading.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:51) Can we say that the shells, the concealment. That in fact, it's falling to the shells means to fall back to concealment. And on the other side you have revelation? Can we say that?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, you can say that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:29) How can we be cautious of giving the shells control?
M. Laitman: By being connected together and thinking about bestowal together.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:51) He starts the item 152 by saying the word of Atzilut, of the shells, stands opposite the word of Beria. So the word that stands opposite that is not shells, it's a complete world. So what's the difference between the world of Klipot, of shells, and a general world? Because we know that in corporeality we have the Klipa, the shell, or peel, and there's a fruit inside of it. And the shell or the peel protects the fruit. So is there an analog here between these two things?
M. Laitman: No, he wants no more than that, what he says. That the world of Atzilut, of the Klipa, is opposite the world of Beria.
Student: And what does that mean in spirituality? It's something external versus something internal?
M. Laitman: It indicates that the world of Atzilut is now at the degree of the world of Beria.
Student: We know that all the corrections occur in the world of Atzilut. So?
M. Laitman: Don't get confused. Not worthwhile. This is not a way to clarify anything.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (22:32) I’d like to continue the friend. He asked you what characterizes the shell. And you said that it's a state where a person falls from the spiritual degree. This is actually the shell. So the question is, if a person is now in some corporeal desire, and from there, immediately another corporeal desire awakens. That's not a shell?
M. Laitman: No. Klipa, shell, has to be opposite the Kedusha. If one had no Kedusha, he can't have Klipa.
Student: At the moment of that state of the shell that Rav described, what should a person do in that state when he fell from the spiritual degree, when the shell was revealed?
M. Laitman: He does all kinds of actions in order to rise. From there, higher.
Student: Praying, for example?
M. Laitman: Prayer too, yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:41) How does the prayer rise from the world of the shells? Is there a certain order there?
M. Laitman: Yes, all the worlds are arranged in such a way. One opposite the other.
Student: Let's say we raise a prayer from the world of Assiya. Is there some order, some sequence of how it rises?
M. Laitman: That's not for now to learn, but it's possible to learn.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:24) If I'm in a state of concealment, and I see everything is bad, and I condemn the whole world to the side of fault, this means that I'm in a world of Assiya?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So what state is that?
M. Laitman: A Klipa.
Student: And how do I reach the world of Assiya?
M. Laitman: By studying and connecting to others, and this way, through them, you attract the light from above that will shine on you and correct your state.
Student: But he writes that in the world of Assiya, everything is bad, you condemn the whole world to the side of fault. That's what I read. So if I'm in such a state where I see everything is bad, and I'm condemning the whole world to the side of fault, then?
M. Laitman: It's not yet the world of Assiya.
Student: So what do you feel in the world of Assiya? Something else?
M. Laitman: In the world of Assiya, what's felt is how the Klipot are ruling.
Student: Okay, so I connected with friends, I reached a prayer, a cry, the Creator raised me to such a state, and I see the Creator is now governing and dominating half good, half bad, maybe even praying a little bit. It's a better state. And I see my world, my state is good, but around me people are suffering, there are wars here too, besides prayer and connection. There's nothing I can do?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But above that, He doesn't raise me any higher. And I don't want to just be medium.
M. Laitman: First become intermediate or medium.
Student: But sometimes I have such states.
M. Laitman: Oh, you got a report?
Student: Sometimes I feel that He relates well to me.
M. Laitman: Sometimes I feel, well?
Student: So it should be permanent? How do we rise from there?
M. Laitman: How to rise.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:35) What comes first? The world of Kedusha or the world of the Klipa? In terms of our ascent from our work, from here, what do I discover first?
M. Laitman: In terms of ascent, we rise from the world of Klipa to the world of Kedusha.
Student: So I attain a world of Klipa before I attain the world of Kedusha?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: But how can I be in the world of Klipa if I didn't first ascend to the world of Kedusha and then fell from there to the world of Klipa?
M. Laitman: No, because according to your nature, that's what becomes revealed.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:27) In the context of what the friend now asked, we always go towards the right. The world of Kedusha is the world on the right, right? It's a world of mercy. So first we should be there so that we will be able to discover the shells?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: It's a bit the opposite of how you answered, the way I heard, at least. Maybe I didn't hear well. The left or the line of the shell is revealed first in a person?
M. Laitman: Yes. Yes, the left appears first.
Student: And only then he asks for the right? From there he brings out the prayer?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So how come we should always walk on the right side, towards the right?
M. Laitman: Try to be making efforts in order to go on the right.
Student: Ah, but the left will always be revealed first?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:39) In the Ten, not only in mine, there's a state right now where people have more yearning. They come more into the lessons and the connections on the other side. We also have frictions, not only in my Ten, but much stronger frictions. Seemingly one opposite the other. And then people continue because they have something that attracts them. So what are these states? Because it's not only happening in my Ten. And how do we take care of it inside the Ten?
M. Laitman: What's written that we have to take care of?
Student: What does it say? To talk between us, to pray. But it's a new state. Both of these states are new. The kind of friction and its intensity. And also the yearning that comes. It's not a familiar state in my Ten or in other Tens right now.
M. Laitman: New states are always unfamiliar, so what? We have to we have to nevertheless go against anything that appears, that whatever state that becomes revealed, awakens us to ascend.
Student: There is what I call the smell of it, of what you're saying, but we don't have the knowledge of how to take the first step?
M. Laitman: It is sufficient. What's already apparent is sufficient.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:28) I heard two answers. One is that we first discover the world of the shells, that we correct it, and what you told the friend, that we fall from sanctity to the shell. So in what states does it happen?
M. Laitman: That's not a question. What states? A thousand different states.
Student: No, but if he rises from the shell to the sanctity, he makes corrections in order to reach the sanctity, and then he falls from the sanctity of, let's say, one state towards the shell of a higher state. Is that how it works?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (31:24) From what point can a person say that he is in the world of Assiya, from a double concealment or single concealment? But he already begins to feel something. He discovers the inclination, he works with it. So is it a double concealment or single concealment?
M. Laitman: I didn't understand. Did he have some concealment?
Student: He starts the work. He's in the group for years. He's in the state of double concealment. He has no feeling, not the face, not the posterior of the Creator. That's double concealment, right?
M. Laitman: I don't think so. If you say double concealment, it means that the person feels that he's in double concealment.
Student: So my question is, from what point does he begin the work in the world of Assiya, from double concealment or from a single concealment, where he already feels the posterior of the Creator?
M. Laitman: He has a feeling that he's in the posterior of the Creator.
Student: Meaning from a single concealment, he feels that he has an evil inclination. It's not the same evil inclination he was thinking of before. I have some problems with the friends. Sometimes I disagree with them. This is already a force that comes to him from outside of himself. And from that point, he begins to work in the world of Assiya, which is all bad. Meaning he constantly has to discover his evil inclination and restrict it. So this whole work that one does in the world of Assiya, well, besides the revelation of the darkness and restriction, there is nothing else.
M. Laitman: And to overcome that and come to some final point and conclude the process of Tzimtzum and then maybe feel something.
Student: So there's a question. Let's say a person made a restriction. He finished the world of Asaiya. He has a little bit of a feeling, I guess, with Hassadim. And immediately following that, when he finished the restriction, again, the control of, you know, the received begins. Because there's more an addition of coarseness, right?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So what's the difference between making a restriction and later on guarding that restriction?
M. Laitman: I don't understand.
Student: In the world of Assiya, I only make restrictions. I discover the evil inclination, I make a restriction. I discover more evil inclination, I make more restrictions, right? Through the reforming light.
M. Laitman: Well.
Student: I finished the world of Assiya. Now, I mean, in the first course, that's right. The restriction was in the courses of zero root, right?
M. Laitman: Go ahead.
Student: And again, there is the control of the evil inclination in order to receive. The work there is a bit different, it seems to me. It's not a restriction, but to keep the restriction. What does it mean? To maintain, to keep the hardness of the screen, or what? We don't make the restriction twice, right? We come out of Egypt once. A person finished his whole desire, to the depth of his desire. He discovered the inclination, made a restriction, has a feeling of the light, let's say the light of Hassadim, and again he begins to feel that he is controlled by the in-order to receive. Like that story in the Torah, that the people of Israel came out of Egypt, and again they meet Amalek, so it's the same thing inside of the person. How does he now work, after the exodus from Egypt, how does he work with the in-order to receive? It’s a restriction again, or is it a different kind of action?
M. Laitman: Of course restrictions.
Student: So it's always restrictions, restrictions, restrictions.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (35:54) The root of the shell, what is that?
M. Laitman: The will to receive.
Student: In-order to receive before Adam was created?
M. Laitman: The root of the shell is the will to receive, where the Creator initiated creation.
Student: The force of the shell is what we call the force of an angel, angels?
M. Laitman: To the extent that the will to receive can resemble forces of bestowal, that means that he is working as an angel, how to put it.
Student: And the shell, before we attain it, it is felt in us during the preparation, sometimes as good things maybe, it can seem to us as a good mood and connection and everything. If we're not sensitive enough to see where we add, maybe the shell is already working there.
M. Laitman: We feel from one end to the other throughout all these discernments.
Student: When we, at least most of us, are in the time of preparation, so when we arrange a prayer, will it be insolence or pretense, or maybe not even to the point, to use the word shell. And say, dear world, I don't know what the shells are, I just see it's written in the letters in TES, that this and that is called shell, so I'm asking in advance, please take it away from my friends. So, I don't want to be so gullible, that I so easily disqualify, take this whole story away from us, to begin with, even though there's nothing to it really.
M. Laitman: That's not good.
Student: It's not good. So, the work should always be ready for us.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:58) The world of Klipot and the world of Kedusha, if you compare them, can we say that Lo Lishma is the world of Klipot, and Lishma is the world of Kedusha?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, this means that the worlds of ABYA are also in Lo Lishma. Are there worlds there?
M. Laitman: It depends on what you're talking about.
Student: If we draw the parallel, then in Lo Lishma, you also have to go through four worlds, of the Klipot of ABYA?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So how does that happen then?
M. Laitman: Well, you're right that we need, in order to rise to the ladder of Kedusha, we have to go through the ladder of the shells. Yes. But we will see.
Student: So, to conclude, in the worlds of Klipa, in Lo Lishma, a person can discern what world he's at?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: So, only in Lishmah, he can diagnose where he is, and in Lo Lishma, one cannot determine that.
M. Laitman: We will see.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:44) The Klipot develops the person towards the spiritual. How does the Klipot develop the person on the spiritual path? In what way do the shells advance a person on the spiritual path?
M. Laitman: By opening up a greater and greater will to receive within him. And then the person discovers to what extent he is opposite the Kedusha, and he tries to correct that.
Question (MAK 6): (41:23) The Sitra Achra and the Klipot, are they the same thing?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Women Heb 2): (41:29) What's the difference between the Evil Inclination and the Klipot?
M. Laitman: It's the same thing.
Reading: (41:47) Item 153) Now we have thoroughly explained the four worlds ABYA of Kedusha and the Klipot, which are the “vis-à-vis” of each and every world. They are considered the deficiency that exists in their corresponding world in Kedusha, and they are the ones named “the four worlds ABYA of Klipot.”
Reading: (42:24) Item 154) 154) These words suffice for any observer to feel the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah to some degree. You should know that the majority of authors of books of Kabbalah intended their books only to such readers who have already attained a disclosure of the face and all the sublime attainments.
We should not ask, “If they have already been awarded attainments then they know everything through their own attainment, so why then would they still need to delve in books of Kabbalah by others?”
However, it is not wise to ask that question. It is like one who engages in the literal Torah but has no knowledge of the conducts of this world with respect to the “world, year, soul” of this world, and does not know people’s behavior and their conducts with themselves and with others. And he also does not know the beasts and the animals and birds in this world. Would you even consider that such a person would be able to understand even a single issue in the Torah correctly? He would invert the issues in the Torah from good to bad and from bad to good, and he would not find his hands or legs in anything.
So is the matter before us: Even if one has been awarded attainment, and even at the level of the Torah of Atzilut, he will still not perceive more than relates to his own soul. Yet, one must know all three discernments, “world, year, soul,” in their every incident and conduct in full consciousness, to be able to understand the issues in the Torah that relate to that world.
These issues are explained in The Book of Zohar and the genuine books of Kabbalah with all their details and intricacies. Thus, every sage and one who understands with his own mind must contemplate them day and night.
M. Laitman: Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:42) Yesterday in the meal I spoke a little bit with your wife outside, because I wanted to know how was your teacher as a person. Not the books and the articles, how did he behave to people around him? Was he nice and pleasant, or was he stubborn and so on? What she emphasized was that he had control over his desires.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So when a person uses Torah of Atzilut, it's not just to bestow in order to bestow, to relate to the Creator, to increase the faith more, rather, with the power of your screen, you can go down to the Klipot and pull out sparks of Kedusha, vessels that you can raise to correction?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So that's a different work. Is that a correct direction? Is that okay to say that?
M. Laitman: Yes, this is what Rabash did. There was no desire of any kind that he was not able to rise above, and by himself determine how this desire will appear in him.
Student: Inside this Kli that appears, he was able to really navigate it inside?
Student: Yes, he was able to do it, and we will also need to do it.
Reading: (47:53) Item 155) 155) Therefore, we must ask, Why then did the Kabbalists obligate every person to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Indeed, there is a great thing about it, which should be publicized: There is a wonderful, invaluable remedy to those who engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the lights that surround their souls.
This means that every person from Israel is guaranteed to finally attain all the wonderful attainments with which the Creator contemplated in the thought of creation to delight every creature. And one who has not been awarded in this life will be granted in the next life, etc., until one is awarded completing His thought, which He had planned for him, as it is written in The Zohar.
And while one has not attained perfection, the lights that are destined to reach him are considered surrounding lights. This means that they stand ready for him but are waiting for him to purify his vessels of reception, and then these lights will clothe the able vessels.
Hence, even when he does not have the vessels, when he engages in this wisdom, mentioning the names of the lights and the vessels related to his soul, they immediately illuminate upon him to a certain extent. However, they illuminate for him without clothing the interior of his soul, for lack of vessels able to receive them. Yet, the illumination one receives time after time during the engagement draws upon him grace from above, and imparts him with abundance of sanctity and purity, which bring him much closer to achieving his wholeness.
M. Laitman: Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:03) It's a very famous item that we study with beginners, and then of course we always go back to it. So, in the beginning of the path, clearly a person doesn't understand anything, and he reads the names and the terms, and he says, at least something shines on me, something influences me. But then, bit by bit, there's all kinds of perceptions. You begin to perceive some subtle things here and there, through the work, that is, not necessarily the knowledge. So, how does the light influence us? The work in the Ten and our work?
M. Laitman: The light influences in that it brings us forces, so that we will be able to overcome ourselves, our will to receive. And with these forces of bestowal, we'll be able to create spiritual vessels.
Student: I'm asking because we divide our work to what we read here, then there's what we read in the TES, or the Zohar, then in the part where we study among friends at the end, and so on. How to relate to that part of the study correctly? We already know the terms and the names.
M. Laitman: I don't understand what you're saying. What is it that you want? You want from the words that you're reading, to extract what?
Student: To come up with a better, more precise work in the Ten.
M. Laitman: I don't know. Maybe other questions about that?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:37) We're very close to the end of this introduction, and I wanted to ask, when we read it, I'll put it differently. This time we read the introduction and got to the end, and I at least feel that I didn't come away with some big package of understanding, I didn't understand more. Actually, I feel today that before we studied it, I thought I understood something about it, and today I understand less. That's at least how I feel. And the question arises, when does a person finish studying this introduction and can begin studying the actual study the Ten Sefirot, or it's not connected to it. I can go straight to the study of the Ten Sefirot, where I don't understand anything anyway, and then study this and that?
M. Laitman: Yes?
Student: So, what's the difference between studying the introduction and studying TES itself?
M. Laitman: In the introduction, he gives you a direction for your thoughts, your perceptions, your relations. And afterwards, when you study TES, then you apply it.
Student: I'll say something the way I feel it, but my feeling now is that in another item, we'll conclude this introduction, and we'll start it again from the beginning, because it seems like there's an ocean here, an ocean of understanding and knowledge, and?
M. Laitman: Yes, because indeed, this is the introduction to TES.
Student: So what a person should always just complete the introduction and go back to the beginning and read it again and again?
M. Laitman: Maybe that's true, yes.
Student: So that could be good, correct studying for us?
M. Laitman: I don't know, but it's possible.
Student: We are facing a congress, and we have a very high goal of reaching Lishma, and we started this introduction to have some preparation for this. That's how I understand it. So what we need to do is conclude that we're going to do this soon, then what will be right for us to engage in, to really come prepared for the congress and anywhere we want to go? What, to study it again now, for two months, until we come to the congress, or something else?
M. Laitman: That too might be good, maybe.
Student: I'm asking what you think that we should do? Who am I to say?
M. Laitman: Who am I. We're all pretty much on a degree that is more or less, with respect to these things, we're all equal. I think that we should pay more attention to the connection between us, that each one will truly care for his friend, in the Ten, and in between the Tens, and then according to that, we will feel how much this elevates us and changes us. That’s it.
Student: And the material we read is less influential, yes, so it's less important. We could read this, we could read the Arvut article, the Freedom article, it matters less.
M. Laitman: Now, this is the introduction to TES, nevertheless. This is an introduction for his message to the entire world, for all generations. I wouldn't call it like that.
Student: So there's something very special about this material, specifically the introduction to TES.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:01) I heard that we are to engage in the connection between us, in the Tens, between the Tens, and it's truly the main piece of advice we hear from you throughout the years. I wanted to ask, what is the connection between the work of connection between us and the advice he gives here, a great desire and yearning to understand what they learn?
M. Laitman: Yes, a strong desire and yearning to understand what they're studying, this is very important.
Student: So what's the connection between the work of connection between us and the strong desire and yearning to understand what we learn?
M. Laitman: We can't attain this, we can't understand what we're learning if we're not connected in a special way, one to the other and each one to the other.
Student: Okay, so what is a strong desire and yearning to understand what we learn?
M. Laitman: That we want to become incorporated with these materials in order to be inside of it, truly. And then we will be able to absorb what we are learning.
Student: What he writes, to understand specifically?
M. Laitman: Because this is something that relates to everyone. Anyone can grasp something from these words and sentences.
Student: At face value, it seems like a person can really desire and yearn to understand by himself. It's a desire for wisdom?
M. Laitman: God forbid.
Student: Why God forbid?
M. Laitman: Because when he reaches such a desire to study by himself what is written, it means he doesn't take the Creator with him.
Student: Not take the Creator into account? No, it's only him and the Creator. Him and the Creator and Baal HaSulam who's guiding him how to connect to the Creator.
M. Laitman: Well, if it is so, that's okay.
Student: Why is it then okay?
M. Laitman: Because you already have three things here. A person, the Creator, and what's in between them, the materials of TES.
Student: So a person yearns to understand what he's learning in the introduction to TES and in the wisdom of Kabbalah and that is supposed to bring him, according to what Baal HaSulam writes, it's supposed to awaken the surrounding lights upon him?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Now, what's the difference between this yearning, being individual, it's man opposite the Creator and the wisdom that is between them? It's completely personal, could be completely personal?
M. Laitman: I don't understand what you're trying to ask.
Student: What's the difference between that and the work of connection?
M. Laitman: The work of connection is already the work of connection.
Student: So it seems like two pieces of advice for advancement. There is the work we hear you say is the main thing, and that's the work of connection between us; and then there's the work which Baal HaSulam, you could seemingly interpret what he writes here, as individual work of yearning for knowledge, to understand what we are learning in order to be in contact with the Creator. So it's two forms that are just heaven and earth?
M. Laitman: Fine.
Student: So, I want to ask about these two forms. How do we bridge them? What is the connection between them?
M. Laitman: What is the connection between them? One is on the line of knowledge and one is on the line of connection. There is feeling, emotion, and there is intellect. So, then we can connect to the Creator in our intellect and also in our emotion.
Student: What's the emotion and what's the intellect here?
M. Laitman: To understand what he writes and to feel what he writes.
Student: Okay, because here, too, there could be a lot of emotion. He desires it, he wants it, he’s inspired by it, excited by it.
M. Laitman: Okay.
Student: Meaning the work of connection, what is it? Is it a condition, a precondition, or a person has to first establish himself that way before the study?
M. Laitman: In what way? That through the study he will reach adhesion with the Creator.
Student: But how do you not study in this personal way?
M. Laitman: It depends on the person.
Student: The study has to bring one to at least a tendency and an inclination to understand that this isn't the path to advance in such an individualistic way?
M. Laitman: Yes, because he needs to advance through the Ten, through his Ten. And therefore, he has no choice. He must seemingly divide himself to the Ten, give a part of his heart to each and every friend, and then he's between them, among them.
Student: It sounds like a very complex system. He has to be connected in the Ten, and he has to yearn to understand what's written, and how do you put all of these things together into one picture?
M. Laitman: I would recommend, I would recommend to become immersed in them, drown in them. Let the Creator divide it.
Student: And how does that have to do with the main advice here, that he needs to have the yearning to understand?
M. Laitman: The desire to understand comes later as a result of the connection, so first, there has to be connection.
Student: And how are the sources related to bringing man to the connection, meaning how does the wisdom of Kabbalah ultimately bring him the light? So how will a person working in connection with the friends bring the light?
M. Laitman: If he's working in order to draw light, then the light already arranges him in the right form of connection.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:54) But how do you awaken a strong desire and yearning?
M. Laitman: By the influence of the society over a person.
Student: How do I know, let's say like, and now a little bit more than an hour passed from the lesson, how do I know that I took advantage from the lesson fully, that I drew the lights that surround my soul?
M. Laitman: Through the prayer.
Student: The prayer is throughout the lesson. How do I know that I acted correctly or not?
M. Laitman: You have no more. What you feel before the lesson, what you feel after the lesson, and the way that you approach the next lesson.
Student: After a lesson, what am I supposed to feel? Am I supposed to feel better or maybe even the opposite? How do I measure and what's the outcome?
M. Laitman: According to how much you have attained, achieved, out of what you wanted to achieve.
Student: Intellectually, I could say I have more new things I know now, new insights.
M. Laitman: No, this is not what it's about. It's about the connection.
Student: So what's the desired result, that I feel closer to the friends?
M. Laitman: The desired outcome is that you feel that you are with the friends in one body, truly in one soul, and there is no distance between you.
Student: And if I came out of a lesson not in a feeling that we are one soul and None Else Besides Him, then what? It indicates that I didn't study correctly?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And what haven't I done correctly before, that I didn't learn properly?
M. Laitman: So there is the prayer before the study, that I asked the Creator that through the study I will reach a correct connection with all the friends.
Student: And if I will pray to this prayer before prayer, do I need to demand such a result that ultimately at the end I'll feel as one soul?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So even if I ask Him, I expect it? But how can it be like I asked, that even if I don't feel, I give a condition to the Creator, I ask to give me, or I ask to give me an outcome, to feel them. What is my part that I need to fulfill, and what is the Creator's part? Maybe I'm trying to… maybe I've done my part, but I'm trying to come into the lesson and come out with a result, or not?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Yes, what?
M. Laitman: That you need to enter the lesson with a complete intention that now you are going to establish with the Creator, adhesion with the society.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:37) So let's say I now read TES and I want to get the benefit of drawing the light that reforms from it. Now there's the method that Baal HaSulam writes to us, because I have a strong desire to know what Baal HaSulam writes. Then without connection to the Ten and to the connection, I just pray and ask the Creator to give me some hint, because without it I can't understand anything, or the method we just heard from Rav, that I just read, because it's difficult to focus on reading TES as well as prayers and intentions. I can read and maintain the intention if I just read kind of technically, you know?
M. Laitman: It's clear.
Student: So what method draws more light that reforms? When I just pray and I read whatever text, and I just pray for connection with the friends, or that I ask the Creator specifically for some hint.
M. Laitman: No, the first one.
Student: So connection with the friends.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:04) What draws light that reforms? What's the thing that most influences the light that reforms?
M. Laitman: Only the relations between us. The fact that we want to be connected in mutual bestowal, mutual support, this is what awakens the light of Hassadim between us.
Student: So it's man's desire to connect to the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: To bring contentment to the Creator?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Does it matter what source writings he reads?
M. Laitman: No, the most important is that they will direct him towards that.
Student: So if we take the great Kabbalists that we study, the ARI, Baal HaSulam, Rabash, we don't understand about them really. For us they're like stars in the sky that reached the final correction. So when a person comes with a desire to connect, does it matter if he reads the Rabash writings, the Baal HaSulam articles, or let's say the writings of the ARI, which is TES?
M. Laitman: Not so much.
Student: But there's a difference?
M. Laitman: No, it's just the style.
Student: So the difference is only with respect to us, those who understand, of course?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And if there are writings, certain writings, that awaken him more, meaning he feels closer to them, it doesn't matter why. Is it better to take these parts, or the parts he has more challenge with, or it doesn't matter?
M. Laitman: It's better if he doesn't choose them, but rather what Baal HaSulam recommends.
Student: Baal HaSulam wrote both The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and not just articles.
M. Laitman: He doesn't recommend the study of the Ten Sefirot just as a book for reading for his students, but rather we need to try through his writings as much as possible to yearn more for the light of Torah.
Student: Does it matter though that there will be both? Meaning in the study, is it important to study both articles and TES?
M. Laitman: The way we divide it, yes. That too comes to us from Baal HaSulam.
Question (Women PT 6): (01:16:12) Rav said yesterday that we can attain only in an attack. What is an attack?
M. Laitman: An attack when everybody understands that we need to go forward with a strong force, warm, to be persistent, and not to look at disturbances. That's an attack.
Student: Rav said that we are worthy, and each of us should check himself if he is ready for it. What does it mean to be ready for the attack?
M. Laitman: That he really wants to attain the purpose of life, and understands that there is no other means but only to be in connection and in attack with his friends.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:15) I'd like to ask about the Reforming Light, continuing to what the friend asked, that you told him that we can draw the light as a result of the connection between us.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So the question is, according to the level of resistance to connection, so is the drawing of the light powerful?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:17:51) Considering the preparation, and continuing with the friends about the two methods, to understand means the depth of the personal feeling, and in our books, at least for me, there is not much there. But the yearning and the desire are canceled when I take the responsibility to prepare myself for the readings. So if for example we decided to have a Zoom meeting, and go over something from the morning lesson, an excerpt, if I prepare myself for it, even if I don't read it right before the lesson, I don't go over the material before the lesson, it's already close, because it's my feeling, it's my yearning. And there, there are different discernments in my relation to the friends. If there is resistance, that's where it's revealed more than when we listen to the reader during the lesson, with our eyes in the letters. The work of the Ten is a testimony of the vessel. In the discernment, we jump into a source excerpt, so you kind of check the check mark and you feel that you're fine. Okay, so we made an effort. But there's a lot less joy in the work when there's preparation for the Zoom meeting, or when we come here to Petah Tikva. I personally work nights, so every time I get a chance, there's an awakening of desire that is much greater than to be in the Arvut system, even though it's such a sacred place for us. Toward the Congress that the friends are working so hard to prepare for us, it's all a matter of the preparation and how I become more attentive to receiving that assistance to drawing that light. I can speak in the name of the Ten. It's difficult for us, the preparation, our tools of preparation are not polished, are not sharpened. If I had to go into battle with them right now, I'd be in a problem. I wouldn't be very precise and calibrated, and that blemishes my Arvut, my guarantee to the friends.
M. Laitman: That's good. He expressed himself correctly.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:46) I'd like to ask about the introduction itself. Baal HaSulam explains in the beginning why it's necessary to study the Wisdom of Kabbalah compared to other sources. But afterwards, he explains to us what levels, what degrees we have to achieve and what it means in practice, what are these worlds in the Wisdom of Kabbalah. I know I'm not there, but at least it awakens in me a yearning to reach it, and I guess that's what Baal HaSulam wants us to feel when he writes this for us. So, intellectually, it's very hard to grasp. But after this introduction, if you begin to study the study of the Ten Sefirot through this intention, it explains your discovery that the study of the Ten Sefirot is filled with feeling, and we grasp this feeling through the connection between us. This is why TES and the connection between us are… You can learn TES in such a way that we attain all the wisdom precisely through the connection between us and the feelings. So, I'd like to ask, why is it that we have a perception that TES is something intellectual, scholarly, that it's some sort of a science that we need to learn? There's a different approach.
M. Laitman: It's wisdom, but every number or letter in it, we need to connect to our heart, with our feelings. It's as if like threads of wisdom, but when we sew, it brings us feelings.
Student: On weekdays, we've been studying together The Study of the Ten Sefirot. How do we help each other learn it emotionally?
M. Laitman: I don't know, I don't teach that last part.
Student: We're learning together.
M. Laitman: Okay.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:14) A question about the attack. We spoke now with regard to the preparation for the Congress, and yesterday you were asked about how to reach Lishma, and you said, Rabash always said, attack. Now we're reading about the 155, the reforming light, we have to attack it. Is there an order of action that we in the Ten, for example, can do in order to awaken an attack on any topic?
M. Laitman: Any topic?
Student: Yes, it could be the Congress, could be reaching Lishma, it could be the reforming light. These are all different forms in order to give this extra push in our walk along the way.
M. Laitman: If you decide together, I hope you won't mistake.
Student: Every time there's a new topic we should make a common decision about how to go on the attack?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: That decision… the decision in the Ten is something that makes sense because we are 10 people, 12 people who can formulate an opinion about something. How as a society, as a world Bnei Baruch, can we make a resolution to go out on the attack?
M. Laitman: Wait for the Congress.
Student: Why wait until the Congress?
M. Laitman: Because there, there'll be a connection between all the Tens where everyone, when they come to the Congress, so I understand that they're all prepared for the connection with everybody.
Student: This is what is happening now. Look, all over the world there are Tens, look at Moscow, there are conventions, people are getting together. Everyone is coming in order to reach Lishma. How do we, as one big Kli, vessel, can make a resolution now to go out on the attack?
M. Laitman: Take it, do it.
Student: How? We can't have a discussion right now, right? There's something internal here that has to take all of us. I don't know, something like that.
M. Laitman: Yes, turn to the Creator that will help us rise on the wings of the eagles.
Student: I feel a little, I don't know, dislocated.
M. Laitman: So the fact that it won't happen in this way to many people, we need more preparation. Another month, two months.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:36) What is an attack?
M. Laitman: An attack when all of us, like in the army, prepare ourselves to go out to an attack on the enemy that is in front of us. And they are also formulated that we're going into them in order to extract what they want to take from us.
Student: Is the attack a preparation for the attack?
M. Laitman: Yes, for us it's a preparation.
Student: Talking about what is an attack, is it already an attack or is there something more accurate?
M. Laitman: That's enough.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:35) As much as I understand, it's important for the reforming light to work on me according to the root of my soul, is that correct?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Before holiness, should we reveal the shame?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: In the Torah, there is all of reality, because this is the connection between the Creator and the created being, is that correct?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:16) I'd like to get back to the connection between the friends and the learning itself. I heard you many times say that in the end everything is revealed within a person. How do we make this work internal and disconnect from the corporeality? Because we're sitting in meals, we do social activities, we do physical connections. How in the end, should it be something spiritual, internal, in a person?
M. Laitman: That depends on the person, on each and every one. I have nothing to add.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:30:10) Can I ask something about dissemination or approach to dissemination?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: There's something happening in the world today that I'm shocked by it, at least me. We started talking about it in several meetings that we had. It is artificial intelligence. Now, it turns out that everything you said Ten years ago and more is happening now, within just a few months or a few years or not more than that. We're talking about many, many people becoming unemployed very, very soon, not ten years from now, perhaps not even five years from now, less than that. Every profession that you could do via Zoom or like an accountant, lawyer, economists, counselors, all of that is going to be eradicated from the world because an employee would pay a fraction of what he pays human workers. Companies are buying power stations in order to operate AI, to create electricity for this AI. Robots are developing and they're going to replace people, they will look like people. Everything I'm saying is not science fiction, it is happening now. Within the next three, maybe to five years, they're saying this is how it will be. Now, I'm not talking about what to do. What to do? We sit and think. How should we relate as a group that's doing inner work, that's advancing toward Lishma? How should we relate to what is happening in the world today? How should we relate to it?
M. Laitman: Everything is for the best, that's it. Meaning, there is no problem. Time will go by, the days will go by, months, years, and we will see the benefits from people having nothing to do. And the new order will already determine itself, the new relations between people. And that's how we're going to keep going.
Student: And what is our role here in this world now?
M. Laitman: Our work won't change. As it was, it's now and it will be. Ascending from a beastly state to, from Lo Lishma and then to Lishma, on all the degrees that are incorporated in that.
Student: Do you anticipate that all those unemployed people who will have nothing to do will be knocking on our doors, and say help us, what do we do?
M. Laitman: If they'll see that there's something like a source of income for them, a source of something to do, something, so they'll come. If not, so only after they repent.
Student: So it won't make people to look for meaning in life.
M. Laitman: Maybe.
Student: If there's no work, just like you said, I don't want to go over it again, you talked about it so many times, people will get some sort of an income from the state because there will be nothing to do with them. So the state will buy them, will pay them to sit at home.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So will that cause people to say, wait a minute, what am I living for? Previously my work was the meaning of my life and now you'll ask different questions.
M. Laitman: No, no. Black light will come closer to earth.
Student: What does that mean?
M. Laitman: That people don't know what for. What am I going to get of this, what am I going to get out of this? That's the problem. We'll see. We have the Creator and He will organize everything.
Student: So we need to relate to it as that it's for the better and and bless for it.
M. Laitman: Exactly, us as usual in our things and it's sure we're going to go closer to the Creator and find the solutions there.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:33) It's not something we Bnei Baruch should be troubled by, what is happening in the world?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: It doesn't require that we get ready for it?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: Why does the Creator bring this dark light to planet earth, humanity?
M. Laitman: It's periods, it's the periods of time that go by.
Student: But I see that at the end of this period, I don't see a question, I don't see a greater concern than it was before. But the world continues as before. I don't know what's happening now, what's coming now. I don't know. We can speculate a thousand situations, the worst it can be, and then there are predictions and what not. But the world and the nation are not awakening. It doesn't bring about a clear cut realization. Why?
M. Laitman: I see reality, I try to see reality, and why it's this way, that's already above my attainment in the ascent.
Student: What should we learn from it? That the Creator is bringing humanity black light and doesn't shine for them with white light?
M. Laitman: Yes, that's exactly what it does.
Student: But what should we learn from this, from the Creator's actions in these states?
M. Laitman: From the actions of the Creator, we need to learn that whatever He does it's all for the best, it's all for the corrections, and it's aimed towards the end of corrections. And that's it, that's what it's going to be. That all the created beings will connect as one body and in this way will attain the Creator and rise to His degree. That is what's going to be.
Student: I understand, but if I hit someone, then I want him to ask why; understand something, learn a lesson, that something will change in his relation, in his behavior. And here we see that the Creator is hitting humanity and it's not waking up, it's not asking why. Nothing corresponding to it awakens. So, you know, it's like chemistry. You're doing something, but there's no reaction. So what's wrong here?
M. Laitman: The Creator, on purpose, created humanity in this way, that they won't wake up so easily.
Student: What will awaken it, what should awaken it, if at all?
M. Laitman: Trouble.
Student: There are troubles. Not enough trouble?
M. Laitman: Not enough.
Student: So what needs to be added is more trouble to humanity so people ask, what am I living for?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:39:15) I hope this question is appropriate. I heard you say in the past, and things that are happening now which you mentioned before, and they're not pleasant, is that countries will cut off internet lines. Much of the communication goes through the internet between people, including our material. And today, like last week, there was an incident in Europe, and the fear is what will happen if countries stop the connection between them?
M. Laitman: Nothing’s going to happen. There’ll be more seriousness in the air of the world, from all this confusion that everyone's giving each other, that's it. There's nothing to be afraid of. All the media is actually working by showing everyone as much as they're not connecting.
Student: So, just like our approach to AI, everything is from the Creator, for the best, and we are continuing.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reader: (01:40:43) We have the weekly portion, The Life of Sarah, selected excerpts from the sources. So we'll sing a song, and we'll move to the next part.
Song: (01:40:58)