The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), May 23, 2024.
Part 1: Rabash, Letters 1 - 3
Reader: Hello, we are reading from the letters of Rabash, we are reading letter number one. You can find the material in the study materials tab in the Arvut system, you can also send questions live. If you are asking a question here in the hall, hold the microphone close to your mouth and ask loudly and clearly. We will read from letter one of Rabash.
Reading Letter: (00:40) Rabash. Letter No.1.
Tuesday, Portion Tetzave, “And you shall speak unto all the wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom,” etc.
To My Honorable Father, may he live long and happily.
Concerning what we spoke about regarding the Study of Kabbalah in purity, etc., and what I don't know I will write, and you will answer all my questions.
I see that I have not much to write, but only general things. I cannot learn even one word in purity, since the way is to sort out the doubts from the many certainties, and not the certainties from the many doubts, but then one must learn properly.
This depends on whether a person is already qualified for it, namely that all his receptions are in purity, meaning receiving in order to bestow. When one who is not at that degree learns, his studies of Kabbalah cannot be in purity, as it is written, “And you shall speak unto all the wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom,” namely whose heart is already purified with the spirit of the Creator.
Otherwise, it is utterly impossible, as our sages said, “A man sins only if a spirit of folly has entered him.” It follows that one cannot be called a sinner unless he has the spirit of wisdom. And although one does not feel that he is forever a sinner, it is because one does not see one’s own flaws. But the truth is that as long as one is not rewarded with the spirit of wisdom he is called a sinner. It is necessarily so, and precisely this depends on the Creator to fulfill…
M. Laitman: (03:46) Any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (04:01) According to what I understand, he says until there is a spirit of wisdom, there is nothing to clarify. And he also says you can't clarify the certainty from the doubts, but the doubts from the certainty. So, what do you do until there is a spirit of wisdom?
M. Laitman: Still, you learn nevertheless. The intention is in order to come to purify ourselves, that's the goal, and then we'll learn in such a way that we'll be able to see with certainty good and bad, true and false, all the sides that we have. But before that, we read. We read in order to awaken to some extent the upper source that will shine a light to us and correct us, that it would bring us to the correct form.
Student: And what is that state when there is spirit of wisdom, when we can really do the scrutinies?
M. Laitman: He has light, a reforming light, a light relative to which he can say where he's at, his position, but we are completely unaware of our position.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:57) If I understand correctly, he wrote this letter to his father with questions when his father was still alive?
M. Laitman: I don’t know.
Student: Just, it says in the beginning, to my honorable father. If I understand correctly, the rest of the letters are correspondence between him and students. The question is whether it's relevant to us who he wrote to, or to whom, or in studying the letters.
M. Laitman: It's almost not important. It's practically not important because we're learning from him, from Rabash. And it's important to us what he writes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (07:03) What does it mean to be wise-hearted?
M. Laitman: The heart means the will to receive of a person; and it's probably one that can already work with wisdom, Hochma.
Student: We learn that the work is not inside the desire, so what does it mean to work with the heart?
M. Laitman: Even if it's above the heart, above the desire, nevertheless it's with the desire, that’s what a person working with.
M. Laitman: The wise of heart are those who can control their heart.
Question (PT 31): (07:53) How do we work correctly with the letters? We just moved from articles to letters of Rabash.
M. Laitman: We'll read them, we'll ask questions as we're starting to ask right now, and in this way we'll advance. No more than that. I didn't study it with other people who were with Rabash. The articles that he wrote, we all learned next to him, but letters, never. I simply collected them, and that's how it is.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (08:55) It says that if a person wasn't awarded with a spirit of wisdom, he's a sinner. How is he a sinner?
M. Laitman: By using his will to receive in order to receive. He did not invite the upper force, the upper light, the spirit of Hochma to purify him.
Student: But why does he write it? What should a person understand from it before he was awarded?
M. Laitman: He must take care that the light of Hochma will shine to him, the spirit of Hochma will shine to him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:51) What does it mean to study in purity?
M. Laitman: When a person intends to reach a state where each time he is purer and purer.
Student: He writes that you have to be in a state where all of your reception is in order to bestow. But is bestowing in order to bestow insufficient? It sounds that it isn't sufficient. Why isn't the intention enough in order to learn that way?
M. Laitman: He's not working with his desires.
Student: Well, it's a question, really, what does it mean that he's in order to bestow? What does he work if not within his desires?
M. Laitman: He is working with his desires but not in order to use his desires.
Student: And here is the question really, why only when he uses his desires, he's called learning in purity and not before that?
M. Laitman: Because then he needs to correct his desires to be in order to bestow. The desires themselves.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (11:29) What are the certainties that he talks about?
M. Laitman: Yes, it says there. Where?
Student: The many certainties that we should study from the doubts, what are those certainties that he talks about?
M. Laitman: The certainties mean things that are seemingly clear to him, to him, of course.
Student: So, seemingly everything needs to be clear to me, and then some doubt awakens regarding the quality of bestowal, or something of that sort.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:15) Why is it built in such a way that a person never sees his own flaws? How will he ask for a correction? How will he understand he's a sinner if he never sees his corruption?
M. Laitman: If you could see your own afflictions, your flaws, you wouldn't be able to move. You wouldn't be able to do anything. In all directions, you'd be as if you're tied down from head to toe in shackles.
Student: So, just a little bit, something?
M. Laitman: No, not a little bit. You wouldn't be able to, you wouldn't have been able to do anything. That is why a person begins to see his own afflictions, his flaws, only according to how much of them he wants to see and to correct.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:38) He writes that the way is that we clarify the doubts from the certainties and not the certainties from the doubts. How do you scrutinize the doubts?
M. Laitman: We try to scrutinize our path by correcting desires one after the other, and then the next, and so on and so forth. This is called day by day. In this way, we always have doubts here. Yes, no, what I corrected yesterday, can I use it today? And what will be tomorrow, and so on and so forth. A person scrutinizes his own desires to the extent that he is able to correct them and to trust his correction.
Student: What's the purpose of the doubt?
M. Laitman: To know for certain that he is correcting them.
Student: And if he has a doubt that he doesn't know?
M. Laitman: Then he can't do anything with it.
Student: So what does he do in a state of doubt that he doesn't know how to advance with?
M. Laitman: He has to scrutinize it until it becomes clear to him.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:18) He says, from doubts you won't come to certainty, as far as I understand. Rather, when you have certainty, you can open up the doubts. Many times we say, it's better to even go wrong with the mind of the Ten rather than being right with your own mind.
M. Laitman: I'm not going to solve such things, no.
Student: Do I have, though, any ability to, through the Ten, by nullifying towards the Ten, to go with the certainty of the Ten? Is there some certainty that we're going towards the goal?
M. Laitman: No, there isn't.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:03) I heard that we need to be in an intention to become purer and purer each time. What does it mean?
M. Laitman: That's what he writes, to use everything within your power to reach the truth.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:40) When he writes, one does not see his own flaws, do the friends do see the friends' flaws?
M. Laitman: Maybe yes, maybe not.
Student: Can they help him somewhat?
M. Laitman: Accordingly, it's possible that yes.
Student: What do I do if I think I see corruption in the friend?
M. Laitman: You have to check if this appears to you. What's going on? How can you come out of that state, meaning to use it correctly, relative to the friend, relative to yourself?
Student: Clearly, if I see it alone, then I need help from the friends here to see whether it's correct or incorrect. There is something to do here about this.
M. Laitman: Probably, you're probably right. You see that these letters awaken many questions.
Reader: We're going to move to letter 2. This is from the writings of Rabash.
Reading Letter: (18:28) Rabash. Letter No.2.
Tuesday, Portion Toldot (Generations), November 23, 1954, Tel Aviv
To my courageous friends … may the Creator be with you.
Concerning what we spoke about while standing by the car, see in the book, Beit Shaar Hakavanot (Gatehouse of Intentions), item 70, and you will find an answer.
And concerning your joining the society, to which I conceded, I must admit that I did not examine it sufficiently. The reason is that while I was in Tiberias, I was thinking about the conflicting opinions existing in Tiberias, so I said that there is no need to consider them, and only the truth will show the way. But upon arrival at Tel Aviv I immediately sensed that there are views among our former friends, as well, meaning prior to the departure of the Light. Now their Kelim (vessels) are, and a hint suffices, and they will seek iniquities and transgressions to justify their deeds, namely that truth is only in Jerusalem, the place of ruin. So now I have come to revert from this, meaning not to join the above mentioned society.
As for your question about the meaning of the verse, “Anyone with whom the spirit of people is pleased,” I have found that I have written in the name of my father, who was asking, saying that there was a difference of opinions even among the greatest and most famous. He reasoned saying that if they had said that “Anyone with whom people are pleased,” then they could have asked that question. But since they said precisely “Anyone with whom the spirit of people is pleased,” meaning that there are creations, meaning bodies, and the bodies have no relation to the spirit of the Creator. On the contrary, the view of landlords is opposite to the view of Torah. But the spirit of people is holy.
This is the spirit to which our sages referred, since “whosoever keeps one commandment,” namely the commandment of faith, called “one letter,” “sentences himself and the whole world to the side of merit.”
This brings up the question, “But do we neither see nor feel any merit in the public while there are righteous in the generation?” Baal HaSulam said about that, that the righteous draws the abundance for the entire collective, but those who do not have vessels to clothe the Light cannot enjoy this abundance. However, the souls of each and every person receives a Surrounding Light from the abundance, hence “the spirit of people is pleased with him” since the spirit of the Creator illuminates into the spirit of people.
However, we are not speaking of, or concerned with, all those who have not yet clothed their spirits.
May you merit going from strength to strength.
Your friend who sends you regards and wishes you well,
Baruch Shalom Ashlag
M. Laitman: (23:03) Questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:17) So why does he need the created beings, their coarseness? On the one hand, he warns not to incorporate with them. On the other hand, he says yes, they're needed, the spirit of the created beings.
M. Laitman: He is taking what's written in the sources and he explains it.
Student: At the end, he writes. In the beginning of the article, he writes that one should not join that society to be kept from it. At the end, he writes that he must have these vessels.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So that's why I asked, he needs the coarseness of these vessels? We learned that the clothing of the light, the greatest light is clothed in the purest or refined vessels. So, he's trying to describe the connection between the vessels.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (24:50) To continue that, how to be with the created beings only to get their spirit and not the views of the bodies, like he writes?
M. Laitman: If it's possible.
Student: I think it's written that it's necessary, that he writes at the end of the article, it says that it has to be. So, how to correctly incorporate with the others to only catch the spirit of holiness that he writes here, but the bodies could be totally opposite?
M. Laitman: We haven't discussed it yet. I don't know how to do it in practice. We didn't get to work with the collective in this way, the way he writes about it, and to relate to the collective in this way.
Student: I feel that in our work we are demanded to do this all the time, because what we see as friends and so forth, we see many sins, but we are taught to see them as great, above reason and accept the Creator behind them. So, we have to know how to do that. Maybe the crowd, the public that's being talked about, is not just external people but also the people of the Ten.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I had another question: He writes here that we don't see any merit of the public when they are righteous in the generation, that the righteous continues the abundance for the whole generation. Why when there's a righteous in the generation, we can't see the merit of the collective?
M. Laitman: Because the righteous certainly compensates for the entire generation; He covers the entire generation and thanks to him the generation exists and receives and requires corrections.
Student: It seems that there's a need to hide the merit of the public if there's a righteous, like it's hidden behind the righteous.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What does that give? And just to continue that, if the righteous departs, then the merit of the public or the collective appears in everyone's eyes?
M. Laitman: If they reach such a degree where the righteous depart, then it's likely they are able to work and continue further.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:10) We can ask about the form, because friends called it an article, but it's a letter. And in the articles, we were used to him starting with a topic and then taking us all the way. Here, it seems like there's three topics here: He tells him about the topic we discussed, look at the Gatehouse of Intentions. Then he says concerning your joining the society, don't go to them, those who were in Tel Aviv, who left and so forth. Then according to your question he says later about the meaning of this and that verse. So I think it kind of confuses us because we think about it as an article, one move, but it's more like Q&A here?
M. Laitman: There are different relationships here between the writer and the reader, and also between those who read it amongst themselves. Because Baal HaSulam spent many years teaching, and many people were connected to him. And they were going through different states and different societies under different influences. We need to nevertheless take that into consideration that we do not take anything in the same way he is writing in his articles. There, what he writes, he says it, and he says it correctly, properly. He is addressing us, the readers, who want to understand and advance. But in the letters, it is a little different: There are many impressions, politics and things, and so on and so forth. We learn from this, we study it but how much to use it in practice? We will study it together. Again, I didn't study those letters with Rabash and in general I barely read those because I had the impression that I can't open it, I can't. It is a correspondence between people who lived 100 years ago, and the states that they were in. Nevertheless those letters I can't say with certainty what their intention is.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (31:21) He really awakens many questions about the type of attitude a Kabbalist has to life. According to what I understood of course, he says, you asked me about a question about concerning joining some society. I was in Tiberias, I gave you a certain answer based on those opinions. Now, I came to Tel Aviv, I'm immediately influenced by another environment, and my answer is changing: don't go into that society. What is this thing that location influences this way?
M. Laitman: I don't know, Tiberias, it was known to be a conservative place. You find people there who are hardliners, they are hard to move. Tel Aviv is a modern place. But frankly, we can't feel exactly what he’s trying to say about either of those places. So throughout the time that we're going to spend reading these letters, I will have to tell you that I don't have full grasp on those letters.
Student: I am not asking about the specific case because we are not historians, it’s not the point. Just the attitude of a Kabbalist when he says, I thought about something but I didn't have enough data. Now, I see other data, I was wrong. What can we learn from that?
M. Laitman: We can learn that he's speaking out of what is being revealed to him, revealed in him. He is not ashamed to say that, now he can see that he needs to change his point of observation.
Reading Letter: (33:58) Rabash. Letter No. 3.
Vayechi Yaakov (And Jacob Lived), January 2, 1955, Tel-Aviv
To my Dear and Faithful friends,
I read the letter signed by … and I thoroughly enjoyed your taking upon yourself the work in love of friends. Concerning your first question, I cannot answer it in writing because they are matters for oral discussion and it is not advisable to write them down.
Concerning the second question, I am writing you an article about what I heard from my father, Baal HaSulam: “You preserve man and beast, O Lord.” Our sages explained that “these are cunning people who pretend to be as beasts,” and you are writing me that it is good to actually be a beast! Instead, you must walk in the ways of Torah and wisdom, and draw from the brightness of the upper pleasantness the sweetness of the palatable pleasure of the upper light. However, it must be as “The shepherds of Abraham’s cattle,” and not as “The shepherds of Lot’s cattle.”
You should understand these matters with what I said yesterday at the third meal before our friends concerning the verse, “I will go down to Egypt with you and also bring you up” … as well as the verse, “And he said, ‘For EKYEH (I will be) with you, and this shall be a sign unto you that Anochi (I) have sent you. When I shall bring the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this Har (mountain).’” What is the connection between EKYEH (I will), Anochi (I am) and the Har (mountain)?
In the book, Letters of Rabbi Akiva, item 5, it is written, EKYEH Asher EKYEH (I will be what I will be), said the Creator. I have created the world with the quality of goodness, with the quality of goodness I lead it, and with the quality of goodness I will make it new.” Another thing, EKYEH Asher EKYEH, said the Creator. With the quality of faith I have created the world, with the quality of faith I guide it, and with the quality of faith I will make it new.” We should understand the meaning of the verse “I will be what I will be (EKYEH Asher EKYEH)” with respect to the quality of goodness and the quality of faith. Our sages interpreted the verse, EKYEH Asher EKYEH, to mean, “I will be in this trouble, for I will be with them in their enslavement to the other kingdoms.”
To understand the above, we need to know that when a person begins to observe Torah and Mitzvot on the line of Lishma, he feels that he is in trouble, called “Egypt,” meaning that the king of Egypt constantly asks, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” This is when the labors of the mind arrive, when his thoughts begin with Zivugim de Hakaa that batter his mind. At times one thinks that all these foreign thoughts are only spies who come “to see the nakedness of the land,” meaning to look through the chimneys and not more, and there is no connection between these thoughts and the work of the Creator. Other times one thinks, “We are honest, the sons of one father,” namely that all our thoughts are only to cling to the one Creator, and we are strengthened and prevail over all the thoughts of “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” and “What is this work for you?” which is called the “exile in Egypt.”
The matter of EKYEH is the state of “from you onward,” which is the state of above reason. This time is called, “I will go down to Egypt with you,” for “I am the Lord your God,” which is the burden of faith, regarded for him as having descended by the exile in Egypt. When we want to calm the body and make for it promises of reward, in the form of the will to receive, we tell it: “and I will also bring you up,” meaning that afterwards you will also remain in the state of Anochi ( “I am,” or “selfish”), which is the state of faith.
And this is Asher EKYEH (what I will be), meaning afterwards, too, he will remain in the state of EKYEH, meaning that even “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Har (mountain) comes from the word Hirhurim (reflections), namely that afterwards, too, he will be built on the foundation of the mountain, which is “as mountains hanging by a thread,” as in “He hangs up the earth on nothing.”
But afterwards, when we achieve Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator, the “nothing” becomes “without what,” where there is no place for the “what” to awaken. Instead, the EKYEH Asher becomes, “I have created it by the quality of goodness.” And when we feel that He is all the goodness, we understand, “I created the world by the quality of faith.”
This is the meaning of “My heart overflows with a good thing.” Baal HaSulam explained that feeling is only in the heart, that it is not revealed from the heart to the mouth. The mouth refers to knowledge, meaning that the mouth reveals one’s mind and thoughts, whereas the heart is only the reception in the heart, only a potential. Then, when one takes upon himself this potential, he is rewarded with a good thing, a feeling that there is nothing better in the world than faith. At that point he can say, “My works are for the king,” namely to bestow and not to receive. From this one is rewarded with the state of “My tongue is the pen of a quick writer,” which is the state of Moses.
This is the meaning of, “I will go down to Egypt with you,” namely that during the exile one sees that nothing is worse or lower than the state of “Anochi” (“I Am” or “selfish”). But when rewarded, they see that it is also the state of “I will also bring you up,” that all the ascents are the state of Anochi. This is EKYEH Asher EKYEH, meaning that first it was as trouble but now he regards it as good. This is “And it is time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved from it,” for all the salvations are regarded as Anochi.
I conclude my letter with a wish that we may merit receiving the burden of the kingdom heaven in the state of Anochi.
M. Laitman: (44:00) This article, different impressions from the different letters. Anything to ask about this?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:26) When reading these letters, we feel closer, the support of the Kabbalists. In articles and other writings, you feel the wisdom as if it's disconnected from the Kabbalists. Here we feel more closeness to the Kabbalists, it's warmer, it's nice that there's someone big next to you. How much is this feeling inside of you when you're engaged in Torah and Mitzvot?
M. Laitman: That very much depends, depends in what way it becomes revealed. On the one hand, it's convenient, pleasant, radiates confidence and other such positive feelings and thoughts. And at the same time, it also leads to questions: So what about you, who are you, that you can't hide behind it. Rather, if you discover yourself, then where will you be? So, it depends.
Student: Ideally, would you rather work relative to the upper system through the feeling of the Kabbalists? Or the more abstract form, you get when reading TES or other such articles, when they speak from the side of the system, not even there?
M. Laitman: No, that's not possible, if you study Kabbalah then you can't be working only with your feeling or only with your mind, if I understood you correctly.
Student: No, it's a feeling, nevertheless, but in any case there is a feeling where you are under the Kabbalists. They’re showing you the upper one and through the upper one, feelings you experience it; compared to articles we read where he describes the system only without any sort of personal connection. I don't feel Rabash, himself, rather, only what he's trying to convey. You can't feel him, you can feel what he's trying to convey to us behind the scenes. Here, it's like I'm feeling him, I'm not sure how to enjoy it, to accept it, to work with it. Obviously, to take it toward reading articles, or when we read articles or should we strengthen or renew this feeling with the Kabbalists?
M. Laitman: Try, as much as possible, to be close to the Kabbalists, to hear his inner voice that appears in you. And be in an effort, and to be cautious of your will to receive. So, we're done with this part of the lesson, and I don't have much to say because with the letters, of course I spoke to Rabash somewhat. But we didn't actually study that and I didn't receive any specific paths or discernments about that from him. But I'm happy that somehow it influences us, all of us.
Question (Bulgaria 1): (49:36) By people who think that we are learning the wisdom of Kabbalah, it's a certain set of morals and ethics. No, it's much more than that, so what is it, Rav?
M. Laitman: I don't know how to say it in a succinct way because understand that we are reading writings of Kabbalists, and then we enter an entire world, from which somewhat of an illumination of its wholeness shines on us. And then we, somewhat, taste it, just as much as we can receive into our vessels that, that are still very, very, very initial for us. So, I also can't really recommend you what to do: How to open the heart, how to open the mind, how to behave with each other and with the world and with the writings of the Kabbalists, and in general with, with other writings. I think that, bit by bit, we will understand how we have to, in what kind of disposition, or attitude, or direction to see these matters. So another day or two, or a week, but it'll become clearer to us what we're in contact with. It will change our attitude to Baal HaSulam, Rabash, the Creator, between us, so on. Meaning it will give us new discernments about all of our surroundings, everyone's surroundings.
Question (Turkiye 1): (52:35) The article says, whoever keeps one commandment, namely the commandment of faith, called one letter. Can you explain this sentence?
M. Laitman: No, we'll learn about faith and why it's called one letter. And sometimes what we engage in is called the study of faith. We'll get into that and go deeper into it, but not now.
Question (MAK 4): (54:07) We work with the desire of a friend to fill him. In this case we need to build a screen to make all kinds of scrutinies. It’s as if the friends’ desires are not filled until it’s corrected. Let's put it this way. When I’m incorporated in his desire, he automatically connects to the Creator, and then he doesn’t have the right to be filled?
M. Laitman: Well, perhaps you can put it that way, I don't know, typically, that's not how we talk about it. Our work, each and every one's work, is as much as possible, by connecting to our entire group, that is, our Ten. To try to be as close as possible to the Creator, in a general way, that's it.
Question (Holland): (55:11) This letter number three, let's say the last sentence I'm referring to. It says, I conclude my letter with a wish that we may merit receiving the burden of the Kingdom of Heaven in the state of Anochi. What does it mean here, Anochi, what state is he talking about?
M. Laitman: As far as I understand, it aims towards his personal state, meaning he talks about himself.
Student: Can this change, can this have different meanings, this Anochi? Because once he says, I am, or it can be selfish. What does the Anochi mean here?
M. Laitman: It refers to the person to which we can relate that.
Question (Turkiye 7): (57:02) It says here that my heart overflowed with a good thing. The meaning is that the overflowing is only in the heart? Meaning, we see that from the heart to the mouth, it's not revealed. The question is: Can he speak good if he feels that there's nothing better in the world than faith, can you explain that?
M. Laitman: That, the light of faith, the quality of faith, unlocks to a person, it unlocks the entire world, and in the light of faith he now sees the entire world in a transparent manner from one end of the world to the other because the light of faith has no limitation, that's it, that's what we must understand. Achieving faith or complete faith or the light of faith is a very great thing. It's a quality that is not limiting to the person.
Question (Turkiye 2): (58:54) How can I connect to the feeling of one day in the life of a Kabbalist?
M. Laitman: You have to read, right now as we're going to read these letters, you're going to have more and more feeling of the Kabbalist. Who is he, what is he, how does he think, how does he relate to things? You'll get an impression, and from that, you can come to a state where you think about his day, his life. And that's how we'll open it up.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:54) I wanted to ask about what he's writing here about faith. He says all the exile is relative to faith, the exile of Egypt is relative to faith?
M. Laitman: You could say so.
Student: How do we reach a state where in the heart he determines the need for faith?
M. Laitman: Why not?
Student: Because he writes, here, that he does not make any revelation from the heart to the mouth. Because the mouth reveals the thought and opinion of a person, the heart is only about perception in the heart, it's a power, and when he receives this power, he merits a good thing, and he feels that there's nothing better in the world than faith. How do you reach a state where in the heart you determine that thing?
M. Laitman: If I wish to incorporate with the quality of Bina, yes? So I feel that I'm filled with the force of faith.
Student: What is this action to be incorporated in the quality of Bina?
M. Laitman: That the light of Hassadim which shines in me, it fills up all my desires, and all the vacancies, the voids. And I can then draw into those voids that are now filled with light of Hassadim, also the light of Hochma. To the extent that I wish to bestow, to be bestowing to the Creator.
Student: How to make this transition from talking about those things and actually expressing them from within the heart. It won't be just from the mouth and outside but from the heart toward it?
M. Laitman: This already happens by the light that reforms.
Student: The light has to come, the need for faith, that the heart would suddenly desire faith?
M. Laitman: Yes, the heart will want faith.
Student: Is there a way to accelerate the changes in the heart?
M. Laitman: Only by work, as we discussed between us in the Ten and everything. Okay, we will find more words and it will become clearer.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:27) When we learn articles and everything we learned up until we started the letters, you get the feeling the Kabbalist is writing about laws. With these personal letters, you get the picture of a Kabbalist who is dressed in flesh and blood, like us, with these kinds of inclinations and others. Here he speaks of the departure of the light, I mean, like the students of Baal HaSulam, who departed and his attitude changes. I want to ask about the attitude of the Kabbalist, it feels like he is changing his mind. He thought this way in Tiberias until he met some people in Tel Aviv and he thinks differently.
M. Laitman: Yes, so what?
Student: I mean, it seems as if the eternity and the sanctity that is seemingly eternal, changes according to the attitude. A new picture is created, new data. On what depends the attitude of the Kabbalists, and our attitude toward the Kabbalists, if he changes his mind? On what depends the Kabbalists' opinion to reality? How does his opinion change, and on what depends my attitude to the Kabbalists, who is changing his mind?
M. Laitman: If conditions change, his attitude changes, of course, that's why it's called an attitude. Because it's his attitude toward something and if that something is changing, then his view also changes.
Student: The Kabbalist sees the root of the matter, he sees where it stems from.
M. Laitman: Not always and not completely, he doesn't see from the entire world, from one end to the other, the way you're thinking about it.
Student: How should I accept the opinion of the upper one, of the Rav, if now he thinks differently? Up until now, we thought I need to grasp the Rav with faith, the student. He also needs to change his mind, to turn his head and to follow Rav.
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, that's how he needs to be. It's not simple, you're talking about things that are very profound that you're not even really feeling yet. But to follow the Rav is very, very difficult and dangerous.
Student: Even Rabbi Akiva thought about him being the Messiah. Sometimes they say, look at that one, he's the continuation of our generation. He's the greatest in the generation. Meaning, it seems as if the Kabbalists thought differently, and in reality, you see that it's a Messiah, or not a Messiah. The student has to take his opinion, no matter what.
M. Laitman: The student has to go after his Rav with eyes like this, shut, and that's it. Not with his mind, he only exists in a process where he receives through the upper one. And in such a state, he cannot inspect or criticize the upper one but only study his footsteps and take them by faith above reason.
Student: With your eyes, you can see it's not a Messiah, it's a Bar Kokhba.
M. Laitman: The eyes, as it says, they have eyes and see not.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:54) Who is the Kabbalist making his calculations with?
M. Laitman: With whom does he take into account?
Student: Yes, when he changes his mind. Here he was in Tel Aviv, here in Tiberias, here in Jerusalem, it looks like he's changing his mind each time. Who is he considering when making those changes?
M. Laitman: His attitude to the Creator.
Student: People can influence a Kabbalist, other people?
M. Laitman: It depends what, if you're talking about spiritual discernments, certainly not.
Student: Can students influence the Rav?
M. Laitman: To the extent that they share together spiritual discernments.
Student: If today Rav was one way and tomorrow he's saying differently, the change that's coming. The student doesn't care, even if he sees how Rav flipped in his mind, the student shouldn't be of any interest. He should simply follow the last direction?
M. Laitman: Yes, yes, yes.
Student: Is there room to criticize, to comment?
M. Laitman: No, quite the opposite. The more sharp and contrasting are the changes, and he keeps in line with that and follows his Rav, then he's more devoted.
Student: The changes that come to the Rav, they feel sudden?
M. Laitman: If what comes to the Rav, we don't care. What we care about is how we follow him in all of our mind, our feeling. We have to limit it to following the Rav exactly.
Student: You said before, try, as much as possible, to be close to the Kabbalist, to hear his inner voice that's revealed in you.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How to hear the inner voice of the Kabbalist in you, the teacher, in you?
M. Laitman: To the extent that you try to follow him step by step. Then you begin to better understand why he's going this way and not another way.
Student: If a person reveals a disagreement with a decision that Rav has made, he can't understand it, what now? What should he do in a state where a person cannot accept the decision? He will do it but he does not accept it inside.
M. Laitman: That's good, that's a place where he can go above reason, above his reason.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:20) I follow the footsteps of the Kabbalist. I'm asking about what's happening today in our wider group. It feels that following the Kabbalist depends on following the friends. The friends know what it means to follow the Kabbalist and I, with my eyes, I can't exactly always see it or understand it. How to relate to it?
M. Laitman: However you relate to it.
Question (Moscow 7): (01:12:06) Using these letters, especially the third letter, we got an example for an answer a Kabbalist wrote to his students. Lately, we've been getting very short, iconic answers from you. The question is about the format of the study, was Rabash able to give a great, detailed answer orally? Or what depends the answer of the Kabbalist, of the teacher?
M. Laitman: The student, the answer depends on the student.
Question (Beer Sheva): (01:12:55) About the letters, my feeling, with everything we've gone through, with the congress, with faith above reason. You brought us to a state where to accept the essence of the work as our work, without reward. These letters are actually stages on the same path. The first letter speaks about correction of one's virtue. The second one talks about receiving additional coarseness through the people of Tel Aviv that seemingly awakened the left line. The third letter is how to work for the sake of the Creator. I think it's how you've led the Kli, is there some resemblance between the things that the Creator is bringing the Kli to state it's been through but in a more advanced..?
M. Laitman: I guess you have such an imagination that I don't have, so, we'll see. It will become revealed.
Question (Kyiv 1): (01:14:17) It says in the last line, it's a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved from it. That all the salvations are regarded as Anochi. We learned that you have to rise above the selfishness, and reach bestowal, so what does it mean that all the salvations are regarded as Anochi?
M. Laitman: Salvation happens when, it comes when the created being is completely devoted to the Creator. This is the actual reason for the redemption, when he adheres to the Creator, unconditionally.
Student: Can you do it out of every state, can you reach that devotion?
M. Laitman: Whatever is given to you, in those states, you'll reach it.
Question (Women Heb 1): We came with a feeling that students that came from Bnei Baruch to Tel Aviv have this sensation of freedom. I'm free, I can do whatever I want but part of the students enter this, that if I feel good, I can do anything. On the other hand, by incorporating in the society, there's a lot of wisdom, a lot of light in there, great coarseness, great connection. Why, when we feel good and fun, are we so bad? This dissonance between Bnei Baruch and Tel Aviv, it doesn't let anybody be in the right balance they can be in. That's my feeling that I always had in Tel Aviv, the person feels so good, everything's great. Why deal with this thing that's separating between us if everything's good?
M. Laitman: We have to adhere to one another over, above all the conditions that the Creator shows us, that's our work. And we shouldn't intellectualize with all this, like this, like that. Why does the Creator do this, why not that, clear, okay? If you can bow your head a little bit, it'll be better. I promise you.
(Women Turkiye 6): (01:17:35) From this, he was rewarded to be like Moses. What does it mean, my tongue is like the pen of a poet?
M. Laitman: It's a line from Psalms, we will talk about it, we will mention it many times. My tongue is a pen of a quick writer, it's the Creator speaking through his tongue, through his heart. This is what he's singing about, King David.
Reader: (01:19:02) So next part, and let's sing a song first.
Song: (01:19:05)