The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Lesson (Morning) June 9, 2024. 

Part 2: Baal HaSulam. Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]. Item 16.

Reader: We're reading in the writings of Baal HaSulam, the article, the giving of the Torah. We're in item 16. Item 16.

Reading Item 16: (00:16)

16) In the above words, we find a way to understand our concept from above (Items 3 and 4) about the contents of that Mitzva, “Love your friend as yourself,” how the Torah compels us to do something that cannot be done.

Indeed, know that for this reason, the Torah was not given to our holy fathers—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—but was held until the exodus from Egypt, when they came out and became a complete nation of six hundred thousand men of twenty years of age or more. For then, each member of the nation was asked if he agreed to that exalted work. And once each and every one in the nation agreed to it with heart and soul, and said “We will do and we will hear,” it became possible to observe the whole of the Torah, and that which was previously impossible became possible.

This is because it is certain that if six hundred thousand men abandon their work for the satisfaction of their own needs and worry about nothing but standing guard so their friends will not lack a thing, and moreover, they will engage in this with great love, with their very heart and soul, in the full meaning of the Mitzva, “Love your friend as yourself,” it is then beyond doubt that no one in the nation will need to worry about his own well-being.

Because of this, one becomes completely free of securing his own survival and can easily observe the Mitzva, “Love your friend as yourself,” obeying all the conditions given in Items 3 and 4. After all, why would he worry about his own survival when six hundred thousand loyal lovers stand by, ready with great care to make sure he lacks nothing of his needs?

Therefore, once all the members of the nation agreed, they were immediately given the Torah, for now they were capable of observing it. But before they grew into a complete nation, and certainly during the time of the fathers, who were unique in the land, they were not truly qualified to observe the Torah in its desirable form, since with a small number of people it is impossible to even begin with engagement in Mitzvot between man and man to the extent of “Love your friend as yourself,” as explained in Items 3 and 4. This is why they were not given the Torah.

M. Laitman: (05:07) Are there any questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:14) There are many questions here, Rav. 

M. Laitman: Go ahead. 

Student: First of all, let's start with It being written. Many times the Torah spoke about, spoke in the language of one man. How do we understand this split, where on one hand we talk about a quantity of people, unless you can understand it another way, that there was Abraham and Isaac and they were individuals in their land, even if it's happening within a person and now there's all of a sudden 600,000 people. What does that mean? 

M. Laitman: A desire grows in a person and that is why he begins to find himself among all those desires.

Student: Okay, another question. It's written there that in a few people, it was impossible to observe love your friend as yourself. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: What is it in a person, or maybe in a different way, what does it mean that now there are enough people that it's possible to observe this commandment? 

M. Laitman: Nevertheless, in the multitude of the people is the glory of the King. We know that there are such actions that we are unable to determine anything relative to an individual, but rather we must make sure that everyone keeps it. 

Student: So, here we're compelled to look at the guidance here as a number of people.

M. Laitman: Yes. That's what he writes. 

Student: Yes.

M. Laitman: That in a small number, as it was before the giving of the Torah, they couldn't observe it.

Student: Another stage we learn about comes where the Shechina dwells in every Ten. Seemingly, ten should be sufficient. He also taught us this way, that in ten you can attain all the degrees, ten friends. 

M. Laitman: Yes. In ten. In ten friends you can draw the light of Torah and acquire those discernments that the Torah wishes to deliver to us 

Student: And also to reach the end of correction. 

M. Laitman: Perhaps. I don't know.

Student: The question is here again. Love your friend as yourself. Can it be observed in ten people? And is that unit, that nucleus, sufficient?

M. Laitman: I don't know. I can speak only within those boundaries where we are today. 

Student: Another question if possible. What is that feeling that 600,000 people stand there for you and why that number? Is it a tangible number or is it?

M. Laitman: Perhaps it should be.

Student: Where will I find 600,000 like that? Where is that revealed to me in my reality, external reality, that I will see 600,000 people that are with me in friendship doing this action and are trying to observe this commandment? Or is this some other feeling? 

M. Laitman: We are in a state where we don't know anything. Certainly, we can't say that this is what the Torah means.

Student: Thank you Rav.

M. Laitman: Unfortunately, that's how it is. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:34) Also, that same matter. What is to be standing on guard always that no need of any of the friends will be lacking? 

M. Laitman: Simply as you hear it, as it sounds. You are in a group, a relatively small group, even 600,000. And you worry that we will all maintain a certain condition of connection fully.

Student: It sounds like a certain level of love, some commitment to love. What is even that, that none of my friends will lack anything?

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: How can I feel every moment the feeling of the friend and what he's missing and? 

M. Laitman: Let's see. Maybe it depends only on you. No, you don't depend on 600,000. You depend only on you, yourself. 

Student: How can I feel? How can I feel that no one else is missing anything, even for one? 

M. Laitman: There are such questions. But I'm telling you, let's read it and learn. The article is entirely about that. 

Student: So I will just ask, what kind of power or level of love does there need to be when you're in such a state? That you feel that nothing is lacking for the friends. That that's what actually concerns a person, that only that the friends are not going to lack a thing. 

M. Laitman: Perhaps they reach such a connection where they can say what is in their friend's heart and to what extent they can be guarantors to one another. 

Student: Do the friends have to say what they're lacking, or does a person need to feel what they're lacking? 

M. Laitman: It's not written, but perhaps it's according to their feeling.

Student: It sounds fantastical. It's wonderful. 

M. Laitman: It could be. I don't know. I don't know what to say. If you say that it's positive, I wouldn’t say that it's fantastic. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:43) Why do you need a nation to receive the Torah? 

M. Laitman: That's what's written. That's the condition.

Student: It's also the condition of the least of the plurals too.

M. Laitman: I can sign off on that one. 

Student: Two people? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. It's not written like that. It's written that 600,000 is a condition. 

Student: What agreement brings to the receiving of the Torah? 

M. Laitman: An agreement that you can reach love for 600,000.

Student: The moment a person agrees to act that way, you'll receive the Torah?

M. Laitman: I guess. 

Student: Thank you.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:45) Sorry for being annoying, but we know there's all kinds of concepts in the Torah and here it's the matter of 600,000 people. It's certainly talking about exactly the number, because that's not how I heard it. Let's ask this way, what happened in Egypt that suddenly after that, we were capable of receiving the Torah?

M. Laitman: I guess we acquired some internal change.

Student: So I'm sorry if I'm asking again, who received that? The soul, the humanity, how to depict it?

M. Laitman: I don't know. We'll see it in the future. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:31) Rav, I want to ask in the same direction that the friend asked. The whole situation feels like the chicken and the egg. Only if they agree to the great rule, they can receive the Torah. But without receiving the light of the Torah, how can they observe the great rule? 

M. Laitman: For now, it's unknown. What, so we're not going to take it even one step forward? 

Student: So it's only in faith that the Creator will take care of it? 

M. Laitman: Yes, yes. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:32) Rav, he says that the Torah was not given to the forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, only after they went down to Egypt, and here I'm assuming we're talking about Joseph already, meaning Netzach Hod. 

M. Laitman: I don't know all these philosophizing. 

Student: Not philosophizations, I'm trying to understand the inner work that a person comes to the middle line. 

M. Laitman: I don't know.

Student: It's like it's really written here but. 

M. Laitman: I don't know, that's it. How many times can I tell you?  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:16) The whole article of Baal HaSulam explains that altogether to reach love your friend as yourself, we need to accept the other, that just as I exist right now, it cannot be done. So it's not clear how altogether, because in a person there's two forces, as I understand, that are operating. The force of exploiting the other, and you can't do that like that, you have to reach the love of the other. In order to reach the love of the other, I need help from the Creator. He allows me, He'll give me the forces to love Him. And then in this triangle, let's say I, the friend in the Creator, in this triangle comes an agreement to receive the Torah. What are the conditions to receive like that? 

M. Laitman: We'll live, we'll try, we'll see. There are many questions. If not now, then a moment from now, a day or two from now, and so on and so forth. We need to understand that these things will be clarified slowly. It doesn't depend on how much we're going to ask. It depends on how much we would want to be inside those states that the Torah speaks of. That's it. Okay. Read on.

Reading Item 17: (16:50) 

17) From all the above, we can understand one of the most perplexing phrases of our sages: “All of Israel are responsible for one another.” This seems to be completely unjust, for is it possible that if someone sins or commits a sin that upsets his Maker, and I have no acquaintance with him, the Creator will collect his debt from me? It is written, “Fathers will not be put to death for children,” etc., and “Each man will be put to death for his own sin,” so how can they say that I am responsible for the sins of even a complete stranger, of whom I know neither him nor his whereabouts?

And if that is not enough for you, see Masechet Kidushin, 40b: “Rabbi Elazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon, says: ‘Since the world is judged by its majority and the individual is judged by its majority, if he performed one Mitzva, happy is he, for he has sentenced the world to the side of merit. And if he commits one sin, woe unto him, for he has sentenced himself and the world to the side of sin, as it is said, ‘one sinner destroys much good.’’”

Thus, Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, has made me responsible for the whole world, since he thinks all the people in the world are responsible for one another, and each person brings merit or sin to the whole world by his deeds. This is twice as perplexing.

But according to the above said, we can understand their words very simply; we have shown that each of the 613 Mitzvot in the Torah revolves around that single Mitzva: “Love your friend as yourself.” And we find that such a state can only exist in a complete nation whose every member agrees to it.

M. Laitman: (20:12) That's the condition, to start observing it, where we all agree to observe it. Okay? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:30) Rav, what is a nation? 

M. Laitman: A nation is a group that shares a certain initial connection.

Student: Because if we say we have an international nation that you created around the world of students, and on the other hand, the only thing that we can guarantee for a friend is to give them the importance of the goal. We have nothing materialistic to give, after all. But we do give every member of the world, clearly, the importance of the goal that you give us and lead us through. Then, do we need to come to a state of a nation that can also, on a corporeal level, care for the statutes, or is it only spiritually that we're talking about here? 

M. Laitman: We need to care about both, perhaps. 

Student: Because we see that the Creator created this virtual nation. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Will it ever assemble in a physical place, and we'll start those 600,000 there somewhere? Or will it always remain?

M. Laitman: I don't know. These are speculations, I can't say.

Student: If today, in the current state, what should we focus on in order to attain this Arvut, on a degree that it will raise us above? 

M. Laitman: Only dissemination, a general, all-inclusive dissemination that fits everyone.

Student: Meaning our Arvut between us is the same Arvut that we have to give in our explanation to the world? 

M. Laitman: Yes. It would be not to that extent, but it's recommended. 

Student: What's the essence of that Arvut that we need to broadcast to the world? 

M. Laitman: That each one is a guarantor for the other. And the world cannot exist unless we attain the Arvut.

Student: A guarantor in what? We see that corporeally we can't care for one another yet, but in what else is the essence of the Arvut? Meaning in what is my guarantee to every friend here and to every friend in the world? Maybe I can't pay for his necessities, but what can I be responsible for and guarantee? 

M. Laitman: We'll see. We'll see. We need to develop ourselves within our own framework and then from that we will also understand in what are we guarantors to one another, in what way we should connect in this mutual guarantee, whether the boundaries of this mutual guarantee and this way we'll know how and in what way should we obligate ourselves. But it's certain that this is a condition before us. Okay. 

M. Laitman: We agreed that starting today, we begin at five.

Reader: (24:26) Yes, we're going to move to the next step, and the friend has a report, first. 

Student (Petah Tikva Center): (20:30) Just to update something short about the afternoon lessons, at the moment they're recorded lessons. We used to watch repeats of recordings of lessons from the past, but as the request of our friends, we'll start watching the morning lesson of the same day in the afternoon lesson. Many friends are asking to repeat the lesson again, so what will happen today at noon Israel time, we'll watch the letter that we read this morning, and that's how it will be every day.

It will also be comfortable for our women and for people that cannot listen to the lesson live, and that's how we'll be able to incorporate in the lesson again. Thank you. 

M. Laitman: What did you have before that? 

Student: We used to watch the afternoon lessons that we've already been through with you in the past.

M. Laitman: Okay. Well, it's always the case at noon. 

Student: Yes, and now we're going to start watching the morning lesson and the afternoon lesson, meaning a recorded lesson of the morning lesson in the afternoon. That's the request from the people who watch every day. 

M. Laitman: Okay. And now.

Student: And now a prayer, Friend.

Reader: (25:39) Announcements. And we'll conclude with a song.

Song: (26:10)