Morning Lesson January 11, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
"The most important is the prayer" - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WoOQxSNLdKc0dUinHG5o306uUX_rfChnWsW6rNH7X20/edit
1. Rav’s Introduction: The truth is the most important thing is the prayer and we need to try as much as possible to incorporate with these words, with the reading, because without organizing the prayer from each of us and all of us together, it is not enough for each of us to want, we should all have the same request to the Creator, then we can receive the answer from the Creator as he answers only a complete plea. As much as we want to connect and into the connection between us we want to receive and feel him together in the connection together, accordingly he comes closer, the upper light comes closer to our desire. We then begin to feel His bestowal on us, therefore this is actually the central action of ours after all the wisdom we learn, all the means and states we go through, behind it the main thing is the prayer. We cannot receive anything if we don’t ask, to ask correctly we have to feel who we are, as impossible it is to attain something without prayer, without receiving an answer from the Creator and with this answer we change and advance to the purpose of creation step after step. This is our way, everything is measured through the force of prayer to the point it is more purposeful, pinpointed, powerful, the more it includes all the necessary conditions we connect before that, knowing who we are addressing, what way to address and with what questions to appeal. What is the deficiency to raise above all our lacks, sorting the deficiencies and after we try to understand what the correct deficiency is, then to raise it. What do we need so our deficiency will arise to the Creator so it will obligate him to answer us. This is already different work which our appeal needs to be what we call our prayer to the public as we care for, asking for us all together from one heart, one desire to one Creator. We turn to him and stabilize our request to him and from our one desire which is against the Creator, this way we establish ourselves correctly this will certainly be the apex of our efforts and work of the group connection, study, everything as an expression in prayer. This is why we need to collect all our impressions from the previous states and to know how we arrange them such that they all connect to that which we call the prayer of the public, from all we do and want to happen, from the individuals of each of us if we unite the Creator hears with certainty. If as much as we can we will have changes in each of us and all of us together in our connection in which we come to different deficiencies, we will advance more and more. First to take into consideration the conditions without which our prayer or deficiency will not reach the Creator. We need to think which degree we want to pray to, the degree of Bina which does not understand anything except bestowal and connection and this is what we need to pray for. We don’t understand or want and it is not important to us but if we understand what is happening to the extent which the gap between us and the Creator is great and opposite and as much as we ask we get our prayer to be established from time to time more correctly. This is how we come to the understanding of what 125 degrees from us, adhesion with the Creator are and how we can pace upon this path in the right way every moment. Let us learn these verses and we will see how we can implement them.
Reading Excerpt #1 Twice (08:29)
R. (09:49) Meaning it is no wonder that we discover the extent in which we are lowly and weak, smaller than our intellect, small with our forces, our expression, our execution, our connection. This is actually very good meaning that this is the desirable result from all of our efforts and we don't need to despair from seeing such a result. A person can be on the path for several years and discover that he is weaker and weaker, and doesn't understand and doesn't feel, but on the contrary once he understood more and felt more, grasped more, was stronger and now he is weaker, more foolish and limited, and this is a result of the study, a result of working in the group with all kinds of things and this is the result that should be. Yes. This is the desirable result that should take place, just as it is written that the Torah weakens one's forces. It brings a person to a state unto his true state, the state of truth of who a person is, just a will to receive that has nothing of itself, from himself he has nothing and that is what he needs to reach. There is none wiser than the experienced in this, where only after he learns a lot and falls a lot and more and more, these accumulate inside a person such discernments that you cannot acquire in any other way except from great exertion and great efforts. Over time where even more and even more, he invests and even more and more sees that he has none, he has no results, no desirable results and here he needs to see, so what is a desirable state that needs to be?
For me to be more powerful, more wise, more strong, a hero, more holy but on the contrary, for me to attain my lowliness, my smallness, for me to be the zero of zeros towards the ten and the Creator and there is no hope for me if the Creator doesn't build it in me. If the Creator does not build a home then we have called upon him for nothing and this is actually, these are actually the correct states therefore we need to be ready and specifically now after the convention that we have done with great success, where each is a little more established on his own. Then we can discover what we have, I don't have anything, who am I, I am a zero, where am I, not even in the same place that I was in before.
Meaning I can now see with my eyes that I am worse than what I was, not that I may be worse than what I was, but today I understand more, who I am and therefore I see that I am terrible, that I am much worse and I have more of the recognition of evil. Meaning the evil remains the same but the recognition of the evil is more. If it is possible to say that that is advancement, well it could be that that is advancement but that is not what a person expects. Therefore if who we are, what we are, what we have attained and what we expected then from that I can already reach the correct discernments such that from them we can come to a prayer. What does it mean? That I have no forces, no spiritual force and I never will have spiritual force and what I can do is just receive the discernments between the friends in our common efforts to the extent in which I don't have that spiritual state which I yearn for. What spiritual state? We try to connect together, we did, let's say a convention, some gathering, some connection and we saw that maybe for a time, for a few minutes, we reach something but also each remains inside of his ego. So what did we come to? We came to the recognition of evil from which we cannot exit ourselves. Is that good or not? I think it's good, it is the recognition of evil but it is the recognition of the truth in that which we are in. Therefore if we don't take into consideration our feelings but rather according to the measure of truth, then we need to understand and decide our state is better. We are closer to the recognition of evil and especially we came a little closer maybe to a very special discernment that nothing will help us other than if we raise the correct prayer to the Creator. In this we need to see our purpose and our goal, how we come close to a state in which we can ask in the right way, meaning all of us together, for the right goal, for us to understand it all as one and in assembling our hearts so that we will all be, each and every heart will truly be, inside, constricted towards that goal and on the way towards the goal.
It will constrict and connect to all the other hearts and also as one heart will be able to ask for the Creator, to attain the goal. Then the goal itself as well and which it will be more clear for us which is in the connection between us and will reveal the force of bestowal and certainly deepen in this we will see that we have a few more details that we need to add to that effort to that request, that deficiency through which the Creator will really enjoy and give us permission to enter his world. Therefore prior to that we need just as Baal HaSulam says here, there is nothing small or great obtained only by the power of prayer and all the labor and work to which we are obliged, are only in order to discover our lack of strength and lowliness. The lack of strength and our lowliness. What does this mean? It means that we are unfit for anything by our own strength but you ask for then we are qualified to pour our wholehearted prayer towards the Creator, only then can we raise the request of the Creator and he will answer. When?
When we recognize our lowliness, the lack of strength. We are capable of being in a state in which this is revealed to us and we will see it as the desirable goal for the time being, in our time which we will be glad to come to where we discover the extent and which we are as zeros. We will rejoice in that where to the extent where we are not capable of anything we will also rejoice in that, to the extent that we will have nothing and also be happy in that and as much as we give forth efforts and give more and more and discover more and more that we are not succeeding in our efforts, we will also be happy about that. Because then when we come to the degree of zero then we can receive help from the Creator with the forces of bestowal in the connection between us and then we will receive them with joy and understanding that this is our salvation at which point we will begin to ascend. That is why after we had in the convention great success in the stage that we went through, now the stage is organizing the true prayer to the Creator.
2. S. (21:49) Yesterday in the ten we went over this article and for the first time there was such a strong impression like the heart flip, for the first time we tried to truly feel each thing written here and out of this the question rises, what does it mean the small thing is like a big one?
R. It seems to us that there are things that are great or small, more important lessons, less important but they all need to connect in the direction of bestowal. So therefore they all need to be entered into the prayer and what appears to us in spirituality as small things were great things, important or not important. It is all according to our feeling, our examination, which is of course still corrupted, it is not corrected yet. Therefore we need to relate to all of these things that belong to our correction, we could say even on the same level, the same degree of importance
3. S. (23:26) Maybe if we can be more accurate on this question, is there a prayer that is small or great?
R. We will learn it all together, the clarification of the prayer is not a simple part and it's not a small part of the wisdom of Kabbalah just like we are already reading that you cannot attain anything but through the force of prayer.
4. S. (24:01) What is the purpose of the prayer?
R. The essence of the prayer is to raise our deficiency to a higher degree from Malchut to Bina from us to the Creator in order for us to invite upon ourselves a response. Just like we learned according to the degrees, we are in such things and we'll start to discover them. How to raise from Malchut to bestowal is called MAN. This is a deficiency for receiving for bestowal and then from our prayers we will see a result. Then what we are asking, if the request is correct we receive but it is only on the condition that our request is for spiritual advancement.
5. S. (25:20) Is the prayer the building of Adam?
R. We build the prayer together in the group, in our big world group, we build the prayer from the verses that we read and from the light that influences us and all together when we advance, our entire advancement is only through the request, through the prayer, through the questions, through the correct appeal to the Creator. The correct appeal to the Creator solves everything that is what we come to, that is the summary of our entire spiritual work. That is called ‘I for my beloved and my beloved for me’.
6. S. (26:26) Every day we make an effort to build this prayer in the ten and in the meantime we haven’t succeeded to scrutinize what to build in the prayer, how to gather our mutual desires and mutual yearnings?
R. We will talk about all of that. How you will need to connect between you so that you will have a unified and corrected prayer. That will gradually, that is what we need to work on but it is good that you are asking.
7. S. 27:13() That I pray for the ten then to pray for the ten the lack of each friend in the ten or the pray for the mutual lack of all of us?
R. We will see from the excerpts. I want you to discover it and not from here for me the already made answer. Ask to have the strength and if you don't have the strength to ask from the Creator then ask for you to have the strength to turn to him, for you to have the strength and the mind to be able to know how and where and who to turn to. It all begins from the deficiency and if you have the deficiency that the Creator actually awakens in you, called the point in the heart and from it onwards you can open yourself till complete the end of the path.
S. And what are you saying about the question as if you are talking to yourself?
R. Sometimes that happens and then between those people there are half of those that are sick and half of those that are healthy.
8. S. (29:20) What does the quality of our common prayer depend on and we as a ten want to rise above the evil inclination?
R. It depends on the unity of the connection between us. Only on the connection between us even if we are beginners and don't understand anything but we really want to connect in order to ask for the Creator, to turn to the Creator, then even though we are small but we are connecting and crying out together, that comes to the Creator. Whereas if we are smart and big but not so connected between us and then it does not come to the Creator. The Creator gets the complete prayer. The complete prayer is the cry from the heart. See how a baby asks, does he ask for important things or not so important but he demands with all of his might and you have no choice you have to give to him.
9. S. (30:51) We got so many things in the Congress, one of the things that we got, I think it already happened before the Congress, is like the feeling of a whole new structure between us, a whole new structure of devotion and importance, unity not from this world, how do we in our prayer make that connection with this new structure?
R. That will be clarified slowly. I can't in one sentence give you an answer. You will find the answer from our study today, tomorrow but it will be established. It is good and that is how we need to see our construction, all the questions of the convention in the near time will receive fulfillments and forms.
10. S. (32:07) On what prayer is it correct to imagine to ourselves faith above reason that…..that all of our thoughts will be in connection and give us positive sensations and that whatever causes separation from connection gives us the opposite?
R. You could be correct but we need to check that, I wouldn't rely on my positive or negative feelings and according to my feelings I wouldn't sort things to the right or the wrong things.
11. S. (32:57) Everything is obtained in the force of prayer, does this mean that it is the answer to the prayer, a response to the prayer everything is revealed in the prayer?
R. I will tell you that it's not like this or like that. We simply need to be ready for what the Creator is leading us towards. Meaning to the extent in which He gives us to feel new things, this is how we advance and the main thing is to simply flow in a way that you do not obligate the Creator to do anything but rather let Him work. You just want one thing which is to be connected more to the group, otherwise you will not feel what delights the Creator, what the Creator wants to talk to you about. You can feel only in the center of the group only to the extent you are in a connection between you. It could be that He is already sending you your whole good fate but because you are not in the center of the group, you could not reach it because from the center of the group we come to there when everyone wants to connect as one man with one heart, hence this is what happens.
S. The prayer is like a means of annulment before the Creator rather than a demand?
R. You can say that prayer is all the preparations and actions and appeals of ours towards the Creator, are all called prayer. It includes everything that we do actually. Every single thing we do even if we don't feel like we are doing it that way, but we are doing it before the Creator, before the upper light and in accordance with all of our movements and our feelings in our intellect and all kinds of actions of ours where we do not yet know that we are being called like this. In a desire, in a screen, restriction, in all kinds of ways of connections between us, in all of that we have an influence on the upper light where on its own is an absolute rest but the entering of our desires, of our vessels in the connections between them which are different by that we awaken Him all the time. Meaning you could say it this way, that the Creator is the absolute and in absolute rest and we, by establishing before him all kinds of forms of connection with these forms if they become more and more internal, deep and that they are more an inclination towards connection, intellect and force in our efforts, in our exertion then by that we awaken the upper light which is an absolute rest. This is how He influences us and certainly from all of our actions, our work in the building of it, the true deficiency to the prayer, to the Creator, to the upper force this is the main thing. Therefore the degree of bestowal which we want to turn to, to come closer is for us the most important.
S. We usually learn that all of our actions need to be aimed to the revelation of the Creator but in the excerpt it is written that all of our efforts, exertion needs to be to discover our lack of power and weakness, how can we exacerbate our forces for the attainment in the greatness of the goal?
R. We need to reach a state where despite all we do all the actions and these actions don't bring us any result, any correct result along with this we need to understand that we cannot reach that same result that we desire. Because we have no forces, we have no preparations, we have nothing in our hands with which we can attain the spiritual state. The force of bestowal we don't have, the force of restriction we don't have, understanding what to do we don't have, how to connect above myself and above reason, we don't know. So what could I do and this is how it is in each and every degree his friends his inclination is bigger and he is in no less a confounded or confused as us, even more so. All of our work is only to reveal our zeroness in our state and to begin each time anew. Each time to make a 0 and from the degree of zero, that I am a zero and what I did until now is zero. There is none wiser than the experience, that I understand in me that there is no opportunity to attain the goal, rather if I connect with others and request of the Creator. If I will understand such, I need to do so. If this remains for me in this manner then accordingly I can continue, the foundation is correct.
12. S. (40:50) Practically if we build a prayer after all we talked about the fact that we cannot ask in prayer for something negative and here it turns out as if we need in parallel to ask in our prayer and also for connection and to discover that we cannot connect so how is it correct to relate if it is if we are not capable of doing anything?
R. It is good if we are going to request all the things, the upper light needs to show us all these things our zero forces, our zero understanding, our lowliness and our lack of ability even to request correctly. To appeal and plea correctly to the Creator and call them to help us arrange ourselves, to form ourselves and to make such requests we reach already to the spiritual degree. In a spiritual degree, in each and every degree we will once again need to request the same thing that we are not capable of rising, we are not capable of doing anything and we are lowering ourselves before the upper light, requesting for him to influence us and give us his conditions and forces and such we will rise higher and higher. Only in such a manner and so each time to reveal zero forces but in a higher degree. It is actually the correct sensation, the correct attainment.
13. S. (42:51) How is the prayer expressed at this stage?
R. We are always talking only about this. We need to understand that only our correct plea to the Creator will save us. To save us, meaning to bring us to the degree of bestowal and now it seems to us that bestowal is some great reward, great benefits in our vessels perception, meaning we are truly requesting incorrectly. So how can we turn ourselves before we receive the spiritual force, how could I request of the Creator forces of bestowal if I do not want it? And that is by envy, lust and honor that we feel in the ten and then I for myself by the ten as such, I am incorporated in them, in the force of Arvut and by this I'm incorporated in our mutual prayer and on this I am sure the Creator answers. We cannot now, out of one verse that we read, to understand all the matters that we've gone into, we need to continue.
Reading Excerpt #2 (44:38)
14. S. (46:48) According to the excerpt, what are the great actions and toils that a person needs to do?
R. Our entire direction to attain both the correct lacks and the fulfillment for the lacks is actually what we need to develop.
S. Other than prayer at the end of the day do we have something else to do?
R. No, but all the actions before the prayer are incorporated in the prayer. The prayer is actually this summary of my correct actions on my part?
Reading Excerpt #2 Again (47:50)
15. S. (49:40) From this excerpt and the previous one, can you say they're asking that the prayer of the heart is going to obligate us to come to a state of zero, is it the same with true annulment?
R. The Creator gradually brings us to it.
16. S. (50:08) How will we attain a common prayer, if with our desires, if our desires and prayers are different?
R. It is not important it will all work out, it will all establish inform itself by our work. We only need to begin and then the light that influences it arranges us to the correct vessel.
17. S. (50:42) What can be the criteria that the ten is advancing in the work of the Creator?
R. As much as it feels itself in zero forces and despair, dependent on the connection of the friends and to this extent dependent on the Creator.
18. S. (51:10) What should I pray for when I am asking in the name of my friends?
R. To advance them that we are all in a boat and first of all, I am requesting mutual guarantee that there will be between us such a sensation that we are all in complete dependency with one another.
19. S. (51:42) Did the Creator give us also his great greatness and of the Creator, where's the role in the friends here?
R. The role of all the friends is to give support first of all to each and every friend in order that each one will feel that he is in connection with everyone. That he cannot exit this connection and only in this connection he received the spiritual progress. The amplification of this connection is called spiritual progress until the connection will be such to an extent that it will begin to reveal the upper desire and this desire we actually need to form from our part. It needs to be in us, the Creator is revealed in us, come and see, he is revealed in us, out of this that we want to reach such a form of bestowal between us. The form of a soul between us such that we will feel this quality of the Creator, what is revealed is between us as the force of bestowal, the force of connection, force of love that is called the Creator, come and see. So please make Him and see that it exists.
20. S. (53:40) What is the difference between bringing contentment to the Creator and bestowing to Him?
R. It is the same thing. We can't now divide and differentiate between such relation or other towards the Creator. There is only one thing to request in the connection between us, so that out of this we will give Him contentment that is it.
21. S. (54:14) What happens to the heart when it is closed off from the Creator and doesn't want to talk to Him? What is that period?
R. We request, cry, and mainly envy the friends that have it and I don't, and that is it. Then I raise myself to prayer. “Envy, last and honor take a person out of the world” meaning I need to see how they are developing, I need that to. Without envy, lust and honor that I reveal that I am developing in it too, I won't grow. Because the one who is larger than his friend, his inclination is bigger as well, I need my ego to grow too. You are yet to learn how all of these things the Creator created He created by necessity, from zero. There was nothing to look at and take an example, but rather only out of His idea to create some reality where we will not be like Him meaning the opposite of Him, in something; but we will understand, and feel, and attain Him, the Creator, meaning will be incorporated of all the qualities of the Creator; thoughts and desires and so on, and still exist outside of this. Because in spirituality attainment is adhesion; out of adhesion whoever attains, supposed to disappear. But here no, he needs to be, even though attained and also the opposite. That from a thing and its opposite such each and every one needs to see his final form, and thus we grow both in our ego more and more and also in our force of bestowal more, more, this is necessary. And what comes out in the end is the middle line between them, that will be incorporated in both this and that. So Adam is whoever is similar to the Creator, only similar.
22. S. (56:57) The Creator feels the heart of man, why do we need this action of building a Prayer?
R. Without a lack we cannot feel anything, so prayer expresses our correct lack on the path. And thus we must reach a state that we must reveal it as correctly: that I'm in front of the Creator and along with this I feel the Creator, and that means that there are all these qualities and preparations that I prepare to be in adhesion with Him. “A thing and its opposite.”
Reading Excerpt #3 Twice
23. S. (01:00:53) We say that there is no light without a vessel and every day we ask for bestowal meaning the light but we cannot feel what that is, should we instead ask for the lack of bestowal, meaning vessel instead?
R. Hissaron for bestowal, lack for bestowal, that is nice. Yes, request. But if you don't have a lack for bestowal, in any case you need first of all to find it between the friends and the entire world vessel of ours. And then, as much as you impressed by them and as much as you appreciate them then, accordingly you can advance to the correct lack and even request of the Creator to give it to you
24. S. (01:02:02) If I feel a 0 to the extent in which I cannot even ask, what can I do?
R. You will enter between the friends, and imagine to yourself that you are like a baby in the hands of his mother that doesn't need anything; but just to be in her hands. That is how you annul before the friends as truly a 0. And then you will see that you will begin to absorb everything in them, and you will be wiser than them, and you will also receive more forces than them. The main thing is to annul oneself, then you will see just how not simple it is, how hard and then, you will have room for prayer.
25. S. (01:03:33) Prayers are thoughts, words or actions, how do we build the prayer accordingly?
R. A prayer is a lack. The prayer is Hissaron. Raising the lack, raising MAN is called prayer. We need to understand this and realize it; the raising of the prayer; raising of the Lack. That's it.
26. S. (01:04:35) Student is asking if the intermediate stage in our work is when we come to a state where we don't just write down what is going through us, but also the reason for what is happening to us. Is that the prayer?
R. I recommend to feel these matters, the words, as much as possible more and more inwards, in sensation and not in mind. I understand that beginners still don't have the sensations to be able to work with them. But in any case, understand that the entire wisdom of Kabbalah talks about man's feelings and sensations. Because we are talking about our desires, that everything in us is first of all desire, for, against, good or bad; but desire. And only after that the mind comes to make all sorts of connections between the desires. And in this connection to the desires that it makes each time in this way or another then, we begin to be wiser and connect between us and so on. This is the entire essence of life: The extent of connections that there is between the parts. And the connections are simple as we know, like plus and minus, like in the brain, like in the computer in these synapses. But the quantity of connections is huge, enormous, and so in sum total it brings us sensations of mind, feelings, all sorts of actions, all sorts of elements. Look at what we feel ultimately. Each one feels that around him there is a world, and none of it is around us, it is inside of us, in our mind and out of all these connections between these small desires in us. We will reach it and we will understand it out of our work, alright?
27. S. (01:07:11) I want you to know that my ten never prayed and after this convention we all realized how important the prayer is, the importance of a prayer and we fell in love with it. So now I really want to ask you, we are ten people and have ten different requests. How do we come to a common prayer?
R. We will talk about this in the future, soon, shortly. There is an answer but there is a topic in itself of how we reach prayer. Prayer can be a prayer of an individual or the prayer of many. Two, there are already many and how to reach the prayer of many? That's a problem, and it needs to be realized; it's not simple, but that is our goal. The moment there is a prayer of many, two that is it, the Creator already hears.
28. S. (01:08:36) In this excerpt Rabash writes that even though the body does not agree to this work, in order to bestow, he asked the Creator to be able to work with gladness. So if the body does not agree and I really don't want to work in gladness, how will the Creator answer me?
R. You in any case make the effort to do it. Make the effort. So you request that you will have joy, you request that you will connect with the others; although the heart does not want. Despite that the heart does not want it, you are doing it and you are saying it, yes? And requesting seemingly that it will happen, seemingly because the desire is not there, but you are requesting that this will happen. Try and see if it works.
S. So I simply need to compel myself to do something that I don't want?
R. You once thought that it would go according to your desire? It will never go according to your desire. Rather by the restriction of your desire and by the force of the screen, meaning, the action against the desire; and above the desire you'll begin to reveal your forces of bestowal that you will receive from above. Then, you will be able to activate yourself in the form of bestowal, similar to The Creator, and not otherwise. If you would want to bestow, truly want to bestow then, you would be entirely spiritual, like an angel, truly an angel. Angels are forces they have no feeling no mind; they just perform the commandments of the Creator. That's it.
29. S. (11:11:01) How do we come to our prayers from our hearts?
R. You want your heart to change and understand the greatness and importance of the forces of bestowal, the forces of connection, yes? That is called “the heart understands.” And then you will be able to bestow why? Because it is important. It’s important. Because that is the Creator, and I want to be similar to Him. I can never be like Him, that I will want it from myself. But rather I want to make such corrections on my egoistic desire, that this desire will understand that this is what is important and will desire to do it itself also; with restriction and a screen and also reflected light, and with the force of bestowal above itself and in opposition of itself, and it will do it.
S. Eventually what request certainly receives an answer from the Creator?
R. I received an answer from the Creator, when I request from Him to be similar to Him: to be Adam, a man.
30. S. (01:12:55) The personal prayer is to ask, to feel the need to pray for my friends even though I have no feeling for it?
R. Of course. You understand that it is important and thus you request from the Creator that you will have this quality, although you don't truly feel a need for it yourself. We need to begin from things that we have no sensation in or understanding of their importance. But gradually because kabbalists said to look at them and I do, why? Because people I respect tell me that this is important, and then I begin to work out of this. That is also how we do it in our world. Is that clear? Alright.
31. S (01:14:17) Why is it important to be in joy, when you are in the work? In this world when I'm working out because I want to gain muscle, I hate working out. It is not joyful to do this. Is it a different kind of joy we are talking about?
R. We are talking about Joy from being closer to the Creator. Where am I taking Joy from? From this, that the Creator has become important in my eyes, and how He became important in my eyes? From that I'm impressed by the group that respects Him; and to that extent the Creator becomes great in my eyes. And so on.
32. S. (01:15:23) How can we use the power of reception in working on annulment? How can we build this screen and how can we use the force of reception in order to enhance our work?
R. Without a force of reception we can do anything. Because first of all we are created beings and the force of reception is our foundation. Only the force of reception helps us resemble the Creator. The problem is not in the will to receive and in the force of the reception, but in the intention. For what benefit am I using my force of reception? If I will use my force of reception on the intention to bestow, then I will be entirely similar to the Creator. If I will use it for my own benefit then, I'm opposite to the Creator. So it is all measured not by the force of reception, but by the intention. For whose benefit am I doing this, and this is what we need to pay attention to. That is the main thing: The intention. The will to receive itself is not bad, it is the matter of creation. But what are you building out of this matter? That is already called the intention. What are you intending to?
33. S. (01:17:33) What do we need to add for our prayers to be answered?
R. That is what we are learning. You need to discuss this over the course of today, tomorrow, the day after until the prayers will be accepted. To connect more and more in details and more things but in sum total everything is attained in prayer.
34. S. (01:18:12) It is unclear what we get as a result of our efforts to connect, and by turning to the Creator because it seems that through annulment, envy, last and honor a person gets everything he needs. When do you turn to the Creator actually?
R. To begin with, we turn to the Creator and afterwards we think in what connection we can turn to him. Why are our prayers not reaching Him? What else do we need to add to our pleas? And this is how we advance.
S. When we turn to the Creator, it creates some kind of a separation between the Creator and the group. It's like there's the group and there is the Creator and helping to get along with them.
R. Let it be like that. So what's so bad?
S. Because the Creator and the group aren't turning into one. The plea itself, the request itself creates a separation.
R. Very correct. Why does it need to be as one when you are still not as such?
S. But this is what we aspire for.
R. So you are yearning for the Creator to clothe in the group. But what are you doing for the group to be similar to the Creator, suitable for Him? Work on that.
S. I'm asking only about the prayer. How do we bring it closer to a truth correct prayer that really brings the group closer to be one with the Creator?
R. Think about this and if it will truly be your true question: you will succeed. I cannot answer this for you because you need to reveal this lack.
35. S. (01:20:30) I heard you say that first of all we need to integrate in the group and incorporate before we raise the prayer. How do I know that I'm doing it properly, that I'm not just talking to myself?
R. When a person wants, askes for, speaks, it is always towards the Creator, even if he talks to himself. He nevertheless speaks to the Creator. But how do we turn this conversation of ours, to a conversation with the Creator? is by combining, by adding a goal to all of our talks. What do I want to attend? This is the main thing. This is what separates a conversation from an actual plea to the Creator: what do I want to get out of it. If I turn to the Creator because I have no strength, no mind, no nothing and together with that, I'm happy that I have someone to turn to. Because that is the goal: our goal is not to receive from the Creator and to have Him arrange us in a certain form. Rather it's to remain in contact with the Creator all the time; raising MAN. Although I will receive an answer for it but it will remain as a deficiency, and I will constantly maintain that connection with the Creator, that thread of connection will remain. It is not that I get something from Him and then, be well and I'm out of here. No, I want to constantly be with Him and add more deficiency from me and more MAD from Him. I see in my ability to be connected with the Creator constantly; a special opportunity, an eternal opportunity, eternal. That I constantly want to renew this opportunity. I want it to keep growing more and more so that this thread of connection will remain and grow, expand. I want the prayer, the deficiency to remain forever. So I will constantly be able to turn to the Creator, and I will constantly want to receive a response from Him. What’s important to me it’s not what I'm getting from Him but that I'm connected to Him. Who I turn to, is the main thing. Hence, we have to pay attention in our work to the prayer. How much the prayer itself is about who I'm talking to, and what I'm saying is not so important; the Creator understands us without even saying a single word, because He, Himself is building the deficiency in us. So why does he have to actually hear us? Rather If I want to use this opportunity to connect to Him? This is what I want. Then it does not matter so much to me, with what deficiency I turned to Him, it doesn't matter what He is responding with, if you could say that. Rather what is important to me is that I'm connected to Him, that we have this mutual connection. This two-way connection is what is important to me.
36. S. (01:25:15) After every lesson we have this kind of summary and then we move to the prayer when a friend writes it and everyone says something and that is our prayer. Maybe before we do it we need to do some kind of workshop and ask and scrutinize what does our ten need right now in order to advance according to the situation that we are in right now, to scrutinize the deficiency and only then to move on to this one request?
R. Keep going, one thing keep going and may you succeed a little bit more and be on point if you have questions.
37. S. (01:26:43) You said that by annulling oneself a person gets the strength the forces of the friends. Can you annul yourself toward the friends with that intention to get this force from?
R. Why not, if I want to receive the force of bestowal that is the reason I came to the group that is why I'm connecting with the Creator. This is all my work to acquire the force of bestowal since by that I can be like Him. I can rise above myself above who I am to perform a restriction on the screen, the reflected light. Of course we want to receive the force of bestowal and that is why we come to Arvut and everything else.
38. S. (01:27:32) In relation to what you said to the friend, that was really exciting. Many times when we scrutinize our prayer, a person comes to a situation where he generates this connection between him and the friends, the Creator, None Else Besides Him and then the only thing left to do is to be thankful for being able to turn to the Creator?
R. What is wrong about it?
S. But he stops and there's no reason to continue?
R. Meaning he spent his entire deficiency?
S. Yes.
R. But his friends are also in the same feeling? He doesn't want to work for them?
S. Yes it's for them right. But at a certain point the conversation exhausts itself, that you've established a connection with the Creator?
R. But there's no connection, you have not discovered the Creator yet.
S. We're not revealing Him yet but we are turning to Him?
R. Turn but please not the end, where is the response to the prayer, why don't you demand of Him to respond. He should respond by appearing in you, this is how you receive the answer.
S. Why doesn’t He need to answer us with the ability to turn to Him, why is that not enough?
R. It doesn’t satisfy the vessels, it doesn't fill your vessels and His.
S. That is what I'm saying there's a feeling like it fulfills you, you're grateful for it?
R. You will see it is not so. You cannot bestow to the Creator if you do not receive it from Him and He cannot bestow contentment to you if he does not receive from you. This feeling, this connection has to be mutual, I to my beloved and my beloved to me. It will develop, for now it’s beautiful.
39. S. (01:30:08) He writes that the main thing is prayer. I also heard you say that the prayer is the sum total of all of our effort. The question is what are these efforts that we need to make?
R. In the connection between us and then turning to the Creator.
S. Practically wise, in the ten we pray for more friends to come to the morning lesson. Now these efforts, it means that they are practical actions that we need to do together saying that this is what we are doing, these are the actions that we are taking and for means is the stage of the prayer that creates the common prayer?
R. Yes.
40. S. (01:31:34) What does it mean that the Creator appears and becomes revealed in us?
R. I cannot convey this feeling to you. You have to feel the Creator as a field that fills everything, ties you together, fills all the air, there are no words to describe it. You have to make efforts, it’s not worthwhile to give you this feeling because it will erase your efforts. That is why Kabbalists were very cautious about providing such examples to their students.
41. S. (01:32:42) How do we pray to be like the Creator if we do not know what that is?
R. We can imagine what it is because it is the Good That Does Good, it’s the force of bestowal, the force of Love. Therefore this way it is enough for us to depict Him and to pray to Him.
42. S. (01:33:18) It is said that a prayer is a deficiency. If a person does not have his basic needs how can you ask for more exalted things like spirituality?
R. Nevertheless it's possible. I understand the way it is written, if there's no flour if there is no bread, there is no Torah. There's nothing you can do, we must nevertheless try to raise ourselves a bit higher.
43. S. (01:33:55) How do we understand our next degree that we turn to in order to get the Creator's answer?
R. I don't know how to answer your questions because it all comes from this little effort that we need to make otherwise we will not make it. You want to receive an answer before you reach the solution and I do not want to give you an answer. It is like in school and a teacher tells you about everything that's going to be in the solution to the problem, then what's the benefit of the lesson. Therefore you have to put in a bit more effort and try to attain.
44. S. (01:35:06) What are those efforts that you are talking about?
R. The efforts that I'm talking about are mostly the connection between us and from the connection between us to turn to the Creator. If a person as we read before wants to turn to him individually it is as if he is ruining everything instead of building. He asks himself after a while, even after a few years why do I fail. You failed because you could not connect even to the smallest extent with your friends, when you're not raising a deficiency from within that together with them. Therefore anyone who sits there in one of those little squares on the screens, everyone who sits alone there, if he will remain alone there, not physically but internally, he will fail and he will not succeed. He will not succeed in his spiritual attainment. He will remain as he is in an uncorrected soul in his square.
45. S. (01:36:27) How do you correctly take into account the ten’s deficiencies?
R. Try as hard as you can to help him to connect, simply. As much as you can.