Morning Lesson June 21, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 38, 1990. What Is, “A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Introduction: The cup of blessing should be full in the work, it should be full with prayer, with our expectations, with a deficiency that we have reached being opposite to the Creator and then this whole preparation in our heart it is called a cup of blessing, that we ask for the blessing that the Creator will transform us, will change our heart, so that instead of thoughts and desires that are in order to receive you will invert it to be in order to bestow through everyone else to Him, to the Creator.

This is called a cup of blessing is full, that when we bless Him in such a way and we thank Him for creating us with this cruel, opaque, will to receive, blocked will to receive, but nevertheless, He gave us the possibility to actually invert it to be in order to bestow to the opposite, so we understand this change that we have to make and we are grateful to Him for giving us the possibility to be incorporated with these two opposite forms: our ego, reception and bestowal, so that by connecting the two of them we will be close to the Creator, like the Creator, we will rise to Him, we will reach a state where we understand and feel and truly become like Him.

This is why before we begin to enter a contact with the Creator we need to feel where we truly exist and why did He create us in such a way and what is it that we have to do in order to invert ourselves to resemble Him, and that specifically from these two forms we will be as created beings on one hand and as the Creator on the other hand. This is how we will reach our complete correction.

Reading Article (04:44) “It is written in The Zohar..”

2. S. (39:15) It says that rather in the work we should say that a blemish is called a lack, meaning a lack in the faith of the Creator. Necessarily anyone who has a blemish cannot approach, he will not be able to approach the Creator,but rather first one hs to correct his blemishes, meaning one has to do good deeds with the intention to be rewarded with faith in the Creator, that He watches over the world as the good who does good. Can you open it up and please explain what does it mean good deeds with this intention?

R. Man has to reach a state where he believes, he sees, he feels, he accepts, that the Creator is the only ruler over all of reality and that He directs all of reality to a state that is good that does good so he can do good and that state of doing good will be good for the person, for the human. And that's really the goal of our corrections.

S. When a person receives these feeling he has to continue in the direction that the Creator is showing him. How does he take the next step? Does he wait? What does he do?

R. From what state to what state and then I will understand.

S. We see that the will to receive is bad for me.

R. Yes.

S. For example I thought I was thinking enough about my ten and then an ugly state came to me and I see that I think about myself 24 by 7 and then I smile and I tell myself, see you weren't thinking enough about Me, the Creator smiles He says you weren't thinking about Me you should think about Me more, but then I say to myself okay,I need to do better. How do I use it? What do I do now?

R. You keep going. If you understood what is the right progress then expand it, very simple just expand it. You have an example, you have support, what else do you need? Only your own effort and your own prayer for the effort and then you will attain the next degree because each time you need a greater participation on your part.

S. A greater participation on my part?

R. Yes.

S. To find my way of doing it?

R. Of course. You awaken the next state, that's what you wish to achieve.

3. S. (42:52) In the article he talked about praying without any confidence, any guarantee. I wanted to ask when there is a lack, let's say, for something that is necessary and you realize that with your hand and legs you won't be able to answer it and you come to understand that only the Creator can help you. To be in that state of prayer you don't know how long it is going to take, it could take a day, it could take a week, it could take much longer. So how do you hold on in that state?

R. In the prayer you are facing the Creator, you have a certain contact with Him, you turn to Him you want or even demand, ask for a response. In the prayer itself you already have connection with the Creator. It's not that you stand in front of a void and you have no one to hang your prayer onto. If you already have some connection, some belonging to the prayer, then certainly in your prayer there's an opportunity to feel who you are turning to.

S. I remember from the past that there was a prayer, there's this knowledge and the prayer was answered so this knowledge in your head, actually on the one hand, it lets you persist in your next prayer, in the future prayers because you feel that it is becoming harder and harder, it takes a lot of effort, many times you fall in the prayer. The question, these falls is something that prolongs the time, there's no choice, you have to fall from the prayer or…?

R. No, like it says, a righteous will fall a thousand times and will rise, meaning that specifically from the falls and the awakenings to new states that's how we pave the way forward.

S. In the prayer is there some quota that we have to fill? Is there some process that we have to go through?

R. Yes, of course. We don't know in advance what is the right measure but it’s clearly there is.

S. In that state of prayer what happens inside the person? Does the Creator work on him, format him, prepare the next stage for him, what is happening during that state?

R. To the extent that.we, say the question again.

S. When that person is in the state of prayer he holds onto it forcefully. What is the Creator doing inside of him? Is He preparing for the next state or is He taking him through all sorts of internal things?

R. Yes, of course yes.

S. So you said about the falls, a thousand times should the righteous fall and get up, rise, so these forces can happen until the very last moment or the prayer in the process of the prayer there should be a point where he manages to hold on or..?

R. Until the last moment, until the last moment and we can't even wait for it or expect it and so forth. We have to move forward, not in a sense that I am waiting for it to happen already, on the contrary, actually a person who advances to the goal correctly he ultimately doesn't expect it to end.

S. When you say it's the opposite I should feel that now I have this privilege to have a need towards the Creator, I should appreciate the fact that I need Him?

R. That it's all for His benefit.

4. S. (47:50) You answered a friend now that a person understands it’s all to his benefit that he feels himself in the process.

R. Yes.

S. In the article he describes a state of great lowliness when a person cannot hear any more advice. He hears the advice of one who comes to be purified is aided, he can't hear the advice of, I created the evil inclination I created the spice of Torah, he can’t hear any of them of this advice because he despairs of everything and Rabash writes that in that state, in that place, the advises to have a prayer which is above reason. Now I am trying to depict this state and I ask where does a person have the strength when he no longer believes in everything, he doesn't agree with any of the advice, he thinks it's not for him, in that state where does the person have the strength to raise a prayer above reason?

R. If it's the way you describe it then he has nothing.

S. I am describing what is written here.

R. I don't know about what’s written. I am hearing from you how you understand what’s written that a person has nothing, if he has nothing then there's nothing.

S. He writes here that he says that all the advice is not for him, he doesn't know what to do, he's in the worst state.

R. Yes.

S. He doesn't know how to run away from this state.

R. Yes.

S. Rabash says that at that time the only advice is prayer.

R. Yes.

S. This prayer is also without any guarantee so he has to believe that the Creator does hear the prayer and this can only be above reason. I am asking where does one get the strength when he no longer believes all the advice to come up with such a prayer?

R. Above reason you find the strength. You’ll find the strength above reason.

S. How?

R. Find it. When there's nothing and nothing can help and before you there is no hope you climb to above reason.

5. S. (50:14) Is it correct to say that precisely in that state is the opportunity that a person has to pray above reason. The Creator is now giving him a possibility to truly pray above his reason, when he really feels he has no strength of his own by which to achieve anything then his prayer, for the very first time maybe, can be above reason. So this is actually the Creator's help to enable us to rise above reason is that He doesn't give us any forces?

R. Right, yes.

6. S. (51:00) So what is a spiritual ascent then?

R. A spiritual ascent is that from a state where he has no strength he tries to annul himself with his very last strength and thus the Creator raises him.

S. So this is the opposite of how one feels?

R. I don't know what is opposite of the feeling but if a person has nothing more to do, if he has no strength, no beginning of action of his own, and from that state where there is nothing there is no past, present, future anything, if he cries to the Creator and only relies on the Creator and even that he can barely hold on to but that saves him.

S. This will be considered an ascent?

R. Afterwards yes.

S. Meaning this feeling that this action was, I don't know what to say benefit, but that it was actually useful, beneficial, that this state was beneficial for the person, that will come later?

R. Yes.

7. S. (52:49) He gives a very interesting explanation here about that first state that we have to reach which is Ibur impregnation and later on birth and Yenika suckling. I want to ask about Ibur, the state that is closest to us. He writes the following, after a person reached the knowledge that the will to receive for himself is called waste then he receives the will to bestow and this is all considered that the upper one is doing it and the lower one just annuls itself without any criticism, this is considered as having no mouth and this is called mute. I wanted to ask, if our work is only in the ten how can one annul himself without any criticism, how can we do it?

R. Tell me, is it easier with or without criticism?

S. I am not looking for what's easy, I'm looking for how to advance.

R. Yes.

S. In order to advance we need criticism and then to overcome it, meaning the criticism is there and the will to receive is the opposite of course there's no doubt about that. The question is how when the criticism appears, how can we not take it into account?

R. No, not to take it into account at all is not to do any kind of criticism rather, to do the criticism and take it into account and then go above the criticism.

S. How can we go above the criticism?

R. Even though it is all clear and everything is facing the person and he sees that he has no other way to do anything he nevertheless goes above what he sees.

S. If he sees that a friend is criticizing and he doesn't manage to work with it?

R. What does that matter?

S. Should he pray in a different way, should he work on himself so that he will not see that criticism?

R. That he won't see, no, that he will help the friend maybe that way.

S. How to help a friend who is criticizing?

R. When he has criticism on the friend?

S. Not necessarily on himself but In general that he has criticism.

R. No, we are not going to be able to clarify anything this way.

S. Okay, so maybe he’s criticizing some other friend in the work between us in the ten?

R. I have to help him. I have to get closer to him and help him.

S. But the friend doesn't let me approach him when he's criticizing, how can I break through?

R. Start from far away, we already discussed that.

8. S. (56:56) He writes that Ibur is Avera and Dinim?

R. Yes, Avera and Dinim.

S. So Ibur, from the Creator’s part it is called a Avera because it is the first Tzimtzum?

R. Ibur is a state where the lower one feels that he is beginning to become depicted and formed in the upper One.

S. But he also feels separated from the upper One, no?

R. Yes, and in that he feels how much he is separated, and how much he is the opposite.

S. So that's why it's called Avera (transgression)?

R. It's not Avera (transgression), it is Evra, (anger, difficulty, effort).

S. Is it on our part this effort and difficulty? It's an action that already happens consciously?

R. Yes, it is on our part, we are going to feel it, we will feel it.

9. S. (58:35) What does it really mean to go all the way in this entire process?

R. It's to agree even though you disagree. In each and every step on the way that we have ahead of us everything that is revealed to you.

S. When I discover a state like you said before that I reach faith above reason, that's a state where I no longer listen to my personal desire and I completely annul before the Creator?

R. Yes.

S. It's a state that is before birth - at the end of conception and before birth?

R. It's in each and every state in spirituality that I have to annul before the upper one. The moment that I cannot annul before the upper one, I become an abortion.

S. What is the state afterwards where he says that the Creator will be impregnated in me for your sake?

R. That the Creator is inside of me, and He makes of me a new creation, a new creation.

S. What does a new creation mean? That I understand in my feeling that whatever I receive is for the friends and not for myself, can I say that way?

R. Yes.

10. S. (01:00:25) It is written, when a person already corrected himself to the authority of Kedusha (holiness) this is called a complete vessel and a cup of blessing. Meaning that the blessing can dwell in it because the Kli (vessel) is corrected that everything that will be received will remain in Kedusha. The question is: how does a person correct himself to enter the authority of the Kedusha?

R. By annulling himself all the time, more, and more, and more, so in such a way he comes closer to it in order to bestow.

11. S (01:01:15) It is written, “And then when a person receives the desire to bestow from the Creator he becomes whole with the Creator, meaning that he merits equivalence of form, which is called unification. What is the meaning equivalence of form with the Creator?

R. As he is merciful, so are you merciful. As he is gracious, so are you gracious. This is called equivalence of form.

12. S. (01:01:45) Why does he say that when the person comes to despair and he is powerless, still the prayer is without any confidence?

R. Because he did not acquire this confidence. He does not have forces, he does not have anything. He feels despair. So, from where will he have confidence? One completes the other.

13. S. (01:02:15) What is the state where a person eats waste that is suitable for animals?

R. That is when he is willing “to receive in order to receive,” which lowers him from the degree of man to the degree of beast, animal.

14. S. (01:02:45) How to nullify before the control of the upper one and nullify during the anger and judgments?

R. How to overcome the anger and judgments? To annul himself, that is what he has to do.

15. S. (01:03:12) How does the attainment of faith above reason look like between the friends and the ten?

R. Between the friends, it is that they connect together, and they rise above themselves into the connection. What was the question again?

S. How does the attainment of “faith above reason” look between the friends in the ten?

R. Between the friends, we usually learn how it is inside each and every one. And not that it is between them. First, we have to connect and begin to rise together as a single vessel, then they will feel what it means to be in a single attainment.

16. S. (01:04:45) At the end it is written that then comes the degree of birth and nursing where he already has a desire of his own and he knows what to do. So what does it mean that the embryo has some desire of his own?

R. He is capable of performing actions against his desire. Actions against his desire, meaning “in order to bestow,” and from that moment on, it is the beginning of the Yenika (suckling) the period of the Ibur (conception) hence, in the beginning In the period of Yenika, the suckling begins.

S. So the embryo has no desire to overcome?

R. Well the embryo only has the power to annul himself, only the ability to annul itself.

17. S (01:06:18) This “complete cup” between us in the ten, what does that mean?

R. When we can be together in a single direction?

18. S. (01:06:35) What is the right response to anger and judgment? Is it to cover it with Chassadim and justify these states? When we do that, when we want to cover the judgments with mercy is there an awakening from above or is it already in a revelation?

R. It could be both this and that. It depends on the state that we are in. A person can receive because it fills him and the person can bestow because it fills him.

S. I heard that the light of Chassadim always comes with the light of Hochma clothed within it if I'm not confusing it.

R. Go ahead.

S. Does that mean that these states of seeing anger and judgments in me or the friends, I want to relate to it with Chassadim and justify it, and from above I'm given strength to act that way and that leads to the revelation of spiritual attainment?

R. Yes.

19. S. (01:08:08) If I have no prayer or demand from the Creator should I join the prayer of the ten? Is that considered a real prayer?

R Yes.

S. How can we understand in our birth in spirituality, is it the birth of a person or of the ten? Is it about a person as individual or the ten, what is born in spirituality?

R. There's no meaning to this, we will understand it later.

20. S (01:10:15) Do we need to wait for the final correction in order to be in the feeling of the complete prayer?

R. Yes. I don't know what you mean by the end of the correction. The complete prayer, also we did not reach that yet. But we are already approaching it.

21. S (01:09:52) If a person who is on the path crashes, like it is written, so much so that he reaches the state of a beast, how can the beast even pray? What connection does he have?

R. But if he is with a group, then through the group, as the change in states change, nevertheless between all of them, even the beast can feel the flaw in it and advance in this way.

S. Let's say I'm in the state that I'm really despaired, there is no lower place, so I look at the friends and I see them as great and I strengthen. Do I tell them about my state or I avoid it because it might lower them?

R. Well you need to see that according to the situation.

22. S (01:11:10) In the third paragraph from the end it says that when he already has the ability, the authority, to make a choice on his own, can you explain that?

R. It is the fourth or fifth paragraph from the end: “Afterward come the states of “birth” and Yenika [nursing]. At that time, he already has a mouth, meaning that he has his own authority and he already knows what he is doing. He already has permission to make his own choices, which is regarded as being on his own. This is regarded as receiving Ruach, which illuminates when he already has his own authority in Kedusha. But in Ibur, he had only Nefesh, from the word Nefisha [rest/stillness], meaning still, which has no independent movement but the upper one moves it in every action.” So, there's no awakening on behalf of the lower one. What is the question?

S. I thought the Creator always shakes us and moves us. So what is the Yenika (nursing) when he suddenly has an authority of his own, to make a choice of his own?

R. This is what he does through all kinds of means. We are always under the control of the Creator, even in the end of the correction. However, the question is how do we discover it, and feel it, and agree with it?

S. What does he discover in terms of the birth and the nursing?

R. He discovers how much he is under the control of the upper one.

S. Why does he write that he is in his own authority?

R. But rather what?

S. If he discovers how much he is under the rulership of the upper one, in his hands, why does he write that?

R. He discovers how much he is not in adhesion with the Creator.