The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: September 15, 2025
Part 1: Recorded lesson - Nov 22, 2021
Baal HaSulam. Shamati 66. Concerning the Giving of the Torah – 1
Reader: Hello, we're in the first part of the lesson, we'll learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam, the articles of Shamati 66, “Concerning the Giving of the Torah 1.” We'll connect to a lesson from November 22nd, 2021.
Reader: Hello, we are reading in the writings of Baal HaSulam, the articles of Shamati, article number 66, “Concerning the Giving of the Torah.” You can find the study material on the site and in the Arvut system. You should click on the study material button in the upper menu. You can ask questions on the site, and selected questions that are relevant to the topic will be asked during the lesson.
M. Laitman: The giving of the Torah, with respect to the name Torah, and the action of the giving of the Torah, from whom, to where, to whom, does it take place, when does it take place, how can a person reach the reception of the Torah, there are many questions in all of that, and this is what we will try to understand. So in the meantime, let's read.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:45) Concerning the giving of the Torah, the matter of the giving of the Torah that occurred on Mount Sinai, that's a question already, was there this occasion on Mount Sinai, did they get the Torah there, what about those who are not there, does not mean that the Torah was given once, and then the giving stopped. Rather, there is no absence in spirituality, since spirituality is an eternal matter, unending, meaning it always exists for each and every one, when he is qualified, suitable for the reception of the Torah. But since from the perspective of the Giver, we are unfit to receive the Torah, we say that the cessation is by the upper one, meaning the upper light comes down to us, we exist in it. In truth, there is no change in it, we speak in this way because it's easier for us to understand the matter of our connection with the Creator, that He is taking care of us in order to promote us, in order to elevate us from degree to degree. So we say that the upper light comes and it goes, and it's on different degrees. However, in truth, it is not so, and this is why he says there is no absence in spirituality, the upper light always shines, it's an eternal matter, unending, but since from the perspective of the Giver, we are unfit to receive the Torah, there are conditions for us to be able to receive this upper light called Torah. So we say that the cessation is by the upper one, but in truth, it is all from the side of the lower one. From the upper one, it's impossible that there is anything which is less than a hundred percent giving, because that would be against His nature. However, then, at the foot of Mount Sinai, meaning there is a particular and a general issue, so the whole of Israel, we're ready to receive the Torah, as it is written, and the people camped at the bottom of the mount as one man in one heart. At that time, the public was prepared. They had but one intention, which is a single thought about the reception of the Torah. However, there are no changes from the perspective of the Giver, the Creator. He always gives, as it is written, that each day one must hear the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. Meaning there is a state, a special connection between the person and the Creator. And that special connection is called the occasion of Mount Sinai, when a person rises above his hatred, above his ego, his will to receive, his hatred to others; and then in that state, when he has ascended above it, it is then called Moshe, Moses, meaning that he has reached a light that pulls him, a state that pulls him from his ego above it. And then it is considered that he is in the state “the occasion of Mount Sinai,” and he is rewarded with the ten commandments. Meaning that he starts to understand, to feel, to connect with the upper one, the higher degree, and he starts to receive from it forces and conditions for how to be connected to it. And then he begins to understand, to feel and to acquire that higher degree, which is called the reception of the Torah. And he continues, the
(06:46) Torah is called the “potion of life” and the “potion of death.” We must understand how two opposites can be said about a single subject. That the light, that's the same light that shines in such a high occasion, even more than that, it has two qualities in it, and when it comes to the person, it can perform two opposite actions: to bring him, to come to him as a potion of life, or to come to him and bring him the potion of death. How can it be that these two things, which are opposite from end to end, remain and exist in a single place, they come from a single source from the Creator. So, he says the following: We must know that we cannot attain any reality as it is in itself. Rather, we attain everything only according to our sensations, because the upper light, when it comes, well, we have no choice, we speak the way that we perceive things, the way we can understand them, it comes for our senses, for our qualities, until we perceive it, because it exists in certain vessels of perception that we have in our mind and in our emotions, and therefore, we then say that, what he says is, the Torah is called the “potion of life” and the “potion of death." We must understand how two opposites can be said about a single subject in such high matter, and he continues and says, we must know that we cannot attain any reality as it is in itself, rather, we attain everything only according to our sensations, and reality as it is in itself is of no interest to us at all, and we don't even know what it is, we have no vessels for it, we never tasted it, we have no records of it, and without records, we cannot say that this is interesting to us, that we belong to it, we're advancing towards something, it's just as we see it with the still, vegetative and animate on the degrees that are below the degree of Adam, of the human, each of them operates within its boundaries, from here to there. The person and the human we see, and we can see it a little bit also in animals as they develop, that they undergo changes in their vessels of perception, in their behavior, and so on, but also only in that range in which they grow, they develop, and not above it. So this is what he says, we must know that we cannot attain any reality as it is in itself, including the upper light, including the Creator, including the friend, including everything that we feel in our senses. The thing in itself, we do not attain it. We have no sense for it, no ability, because everything that we attain, we attain it in our vessels of reception or perception. That a certain influence enters our senses, and our senses, according to the way that they are constructed at that moment, they give us a certain sensation, and that sensation, then we can talk about it. However, we attain everything only according to our sensations, and reality as it is in itself is of no interest to us at all. Hence, we do not attain the Torah as it is in itself. It is an abstract upper light, entirely abstract. We do not attain it at all. We attain only our sensations. Thus all of our impressions follow only our sensations.
(11:47) Well, for the time being I don't see any questions, so let's continue. Therefore, when a person learns Torah, and the Torah removes him from the love of the Creator. Let's say that it removes him, distances him, earlier he felt himself as closer, and with a greater inclination towards the Creator, this Torah is certainly considered a potion of death, if it removes him, distances him from the Creator. This is how we should accept it, as a definition. Conversely, if this Torah that he is learning brings him closer to the love of the Creator, it is certainly considered a potion of life, meaning, everything is according to the feeling. But the Torah itself, the existence of the Torah in and of itself, without consideration of the lower one who must attain it, is considered a light without a Kli, [vessel], where there is no attainment whatsoever. We cannot perceive it, grasp it as it is on its own, if there is no impression of it, because everything has to pass through our vessels, and according to the discernments, coming closer, moving away, good, bad, it is all according to our will to receive. With respect to how I attain it, how I feel it, according to that, I actually measure that thing. However, without the consideration of the lower one who must attain it, the Torah is considered a light without a Kli, where there is no attainment whatsoever. Hence, when we speak of the Torah, it refers to the sensations that a person receives from the Torah, the impression, the excitement, and only they, those sensations in the person, determine the reality for the created beings. We don't know what exists outside of us, ever, but only whatever we feel. What is working on us, we don't know. Who is operating, working, we also don't know. We can know from what we feel according to our vessels, who is operating and how does he operate, and it is all according to our vessels. Before the upper influence passes through our senses and we perceive it, we understand it, we feel it, we can make some discernments in it, before that we know nothing about it. Does it even exist or no, and how? When one works for oneself, it is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. But from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma [for her sake]. Hence, if one has not yet been rewarded with the reception of the Torah, he hopes to be rewarded with the reception of the Torah in the following year. The following year could be in a minute, or in a month, or in ten years. That is, a year, Shana is from the word Shinuy [change], so with the next new change he can be rewarded. But when one has been awarded the wholeness of Lishma, when he is in some mutual contact with the Creator, he has nothing more to do in this world, meaning in the present will to receive that he had, since he has already corrected everything, he corrected his will to receive, to be in the wholeness of Lishma.
(16:28) Then he starts to feel, to a certain measure, the Creator's influence on him. For this reason, each and every year, there is the time of the reception of the Torah. Since that time is ready for an awakening from below. The awakening from below. So, we also need to understand that there is no good time or bad time. Those times, we can determine it. About this it says that Israel, meaning those who yearn for the revelation of the Creator, they are above the stars and charms, that we can always determine in what states we want to be. And from above there is no limitation. The Creator gave us a desire towards him, and all the rest - “My sons, have defeated me.” As much as we are able to defeat the egoistic desire that is separating us from the Creator. Therefore, for this reason, each and every year, there is the time of the reception of the Torah, since that time is ready or suitable for an awakening from below. This is because it is the awakening of the time when the light of the giving of the Torah was revealed in the lower ones. There was such a thing in general. In everything that we discover, we discover it with things that should have occurred in our root. They already are in potential, and later on they actually arrive in actuality. As we learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah itself, that there are actions in the Rosh and there are actions in the Guf. So the actions in the Rosh are called actions that are in the root, in potential, and the actions in the Guf are called actions that are in the branch, or already in practice, in actuality.
This is because then the time awakens when the light of the giving of the Torah was revealed in the lower ones. Hence, there is an awakening from above, which gives strength to the lower ones to be able to perform the qualifying act to receive the Torah, for them to qualify themselves, to elevate themselves with a sensitivity that is suitable for the feeling of the upper light, as it was then, when they were ready to receive the Torah. Therefore, if one marches on a path where the Lo Lishma brings him the Lishma, so that the transition from Lo Lishma to Lishma is called the reception of the Torah, then he's marching on the path of truth. One should hope that he will eventually be rewarded with achieving Lishma, and the reception of the Torah, that his elements will change within him, and that he will reach the intention of in order to bestow, truly, at least to some extent. And then, according to that, he will start to get to know the upper world, the Creator. Yet, caution is required to constantly keep the goal before his eyes, or else he will march on an opposite line, since the root of the body is reception for itself. Thus, it always draws to its root, it always, his body of the person, the Guf, the will to receive, always pulls, draws to its root, which is the aim, to receive the opposite of the Torah, that is called “the tree of life.” This is why the body considers the Torah as the potion of death.
This, actually, is this small article concerning the giving of the Torah.
Question (ITA 4): (21:50) You said before that we have to acquire a new sense of bestowal, otherwise the Torah becomes the potion of death. What does that mean?
M. Laitman: It means that if a person is in the preparation, he hasn't yet reached Lishma, so that he will have at least the first degree of in order to bestow in his desire, but rather all of his desires for the time being, all of them are in order to receive, then it is considered that he is under the control of the angel of death. Because in order to receive is called the angel of death, because everything that he receives enters the intention of in order to receive, and in such a way it disappears, it is considered that it disappears in the ocean of the Sitra Achra [the other side].
Question (MAK 3): (23:14) In this article, there is this sentence with the word Reshimot [records]. As I understand it, when there was an expansion from above downwards, all this accumulation creates a foundation for the world to rise up. So it's not clear what is the connection between the records and what we have to do.
M. Laitman: We get from above an illumination, each and every one of us. The still, the vegetative, the animate, and also people, everyone gets an illumination from above. Illumination after illumination, each and every moment, this is what is happening to us. And we develop by that. And this is called “the times.” This is how the whole of humanity is developing, and for that we don't need to be special. We simply exist, and we see that even the still and all the more so, the vegetative and the animate, they also develop. Those created beings that were alive a few years ago, hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, they are different than how we are today. So everything develops through the reforming light that develops each and every part, each and every quality in nature according to their qualities, according to its plan. And we're also all interconnected, each kind, and also in between the different kinds, between the different degrees. Everyone influences everyone. As we say about man that he has a special influence about everyone, his hand reaches everyone and everyone's hand reaches him. So the question now is, when the upper light works on us and it develops us, can we influence it? For the better or for the worse? So they say that the upper light, when it influences us or bestows to us, you can influence it to the extent that you come closer to it, as much as you and it are in common actions, in actions where you understand each other, you're close to each other, then according to how the light operates, you also want to operate. And then you certainly develop together much more than some part of creation that is not making such an effort. And this is how it was for us in the past. And therefore Baal HaSulam writes about it, that we have developed a lot more than other groups of people, because we had the opportunity to connect with the upper light, according to our actions, that we were going towards it, with equivalence of form with it, meaning through connection between us. And then it worked on us in a way that we advanced and we advanced well. And we were highly developed until we ourselves corrupted it, spoiled it. That's it. And it's the same here. The upper light influences us, it has a plan, the plan of creation itself. And we can try to come closer to that plan and to execute it. This is what we try to do. This is what we learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah, how to receive the influence of the upper light, not instinctively, that it simply works and we change without any…, coercively, with no choice. But rather how can we connect and come closer and identify with the upper light and even awaken it more than how it changes according to the plan of creation. So, this is how we can do it. And in that, the whole wisdom of Kabbalah is there, meaning it's the wisdom of how to receive the influence of the upper light. Either we receive it late, behind the time that we don't manage to complete ourselves, or we try to be with it, or we try to draw, to pull this light from above. It is constantly changing and growing, and this is how it brings us our whole development, to each and every kind and at every time. And so, what do we learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah? How to hasten our development by us drawing the upper light, by wanting it to influence us more. This is considered that it means that we have to raise such deficiencies to it, such that they will be even more than how it needs to grow according to the plan of creation. This is called in Israel, those who yearn for the Creator, Yisrael, they hasten the times, they sanctify the times. Well, in that there are many things, but in general, you know already what this is about.
Question (Turkiye 4): (30:52) What is the qualifying act to receive the Torah, and how can we know that we are ready for the receiving Torah?
M. Laitman: The actions that qualifies us for the reception of the Torah is mostly one, the primary one, which is an inclination towards connection between us in the same style, in the same form, as we were before the shattering, before the sin of the tree of knowledge. Because then we were as one desire, and the upper light that is the Creator, the presence of the Creator, filled us. This is called Adam HaRishon in the garden of Eden. Following the shattering, we need to collect those connections between us into the same form that was there before, but according to the desire that was revealed between us, as the shattering. And of course, we don't know, not the form that existed before the shattering, and how to do it. However, there are a few advice here. There is some advice from the Creator, from the Kabbalists, those who did it, and all together, all of this advice about the correct connection, it is called the Wisdom of Kabbalah. And we try to implement it, and in that way to advance to the point where the upper light will influence our connection in the right way. And later on, it will fill us according to our connection.
Question (Almaty 1): (33:11) The quality of Lishma, is it above reason?
M. Laitman: Lishma is in order to bestow above the will to receive. This is how we turn each one to the others, in order to achieve connection between us, just like in the Guf, in the body of Adam HaRishon. And in order to bestow also, it's that same action that we have to talk about, that we have to achieve.
Student: Right now, if Lishma [for her sake] is above the will to receive, and my whole perception is within reason, within the will to receive, it doesn't let me rise above reason.
M. Laitman: No, no, it doesn't hinder it. One doesn't hinder the other. It doesn't hinder you. I can yearn to have knowledge, and at the same time I'm yearning even more to be above reason, which means to be above the will to receive. And in order to be above the will to receive, you need a will to receive, and the greater it is, you need to be above it, and then you will be a great person. And therefore we don't need to get rid of knowledge, knowing, or none of that. To the contrary, you need to pull all of these pieces of knowledge; you need to know everything, and Kabbalists also write about it because it's unrelated to faith above reason. Faith above reason is your attitude to your qualities relative to the qualities of the Creator, which are the opposite. However, it's unrelated to knowledge. You can be a carpenter, sorry, shoemaker or you could be Einstein, it doesn't matter. As a shoemaker or as Einstein, you have to be concerned about being in faith above reason. Faith above reason refers to the quality of bestowal that it is more important for you than the quality of reception. But it's not that you throw away the quality of reception. "One who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater." You constantly, if you go forward, you will grow more and more in your qualities of reception, and this is so that above it, above the quality of reception, you will determine, establish the quality of bestowal. We'll talk more about it, but this is how it is.
Question (Baltia 1): (36:55) It's not clear. To receive the Torah and the upper light we have to be similar with our qualities to the Giver. How does the learning of Torah bring us into the potion of death? How can that be?
M. Laitman: The Torah means the upper light which comes to us from the Creator. Actually, it is the Creator Himself, but with respect to us, the way we receive His influence over us, the way we accept it, what He does to us. So we're talking about a certain phenomenon that is divided into many phenomena. So there is the source, which is the upper force. And besides the fact that He created our feeling - I mean deliberately, I'm speaking like that - He didn't create us, He created our sensation, our feeling. Because who are we? We are a feeling. This is how I feel. Feeling can stop, and then where am I? I disappear. So the Creator created a feeling, a sensation, and that sensation is called a desire, a will to receive, a desire to feel that it exists, that it wants to feel itself as existing even more. And this desire to feel itself as existing, we say that it rules the reality. And so we then talk about both of them, about the Creator and the created being, about the source of bestowal and the receiver of the bestowal. And the entire wisdom of Kabbalah talks in between these two, about the Creator and the created being. And the created being, when he was created, he was born through the influence of the upper force, the upper light, the Creator. So that created being undergoes all kinds of changes, and the process that he goes through eventually will bring him to get to know his Creator. And that recognition can be only by attaining the qualities of the Creator. How else is it possible to know Him? We have to make of ourselves a collection of those qualities that exist in the Creator. The Creator, Boreh, is called Bo-U-Reh [come and see]. Meaning as much as He wants us to attain Him, so we have to research it and take upon ourselves those same qualities, arrange ourselves such that we will be similar to the Creator. That form where we are coming closer and closer to the form of the Creator is called evolution, and it exists in all of the degrees, in all of our qualities. This is how we go through different discernments of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking from the beginning of creation, from the point where there was something besides the Creator. He created this small will to receive that was a little bit different than Him. And this is actually the act of creation, and all the rest, that's already the development. The Creator, the word “Creator” refers specifically to that action, that operation where He created what we call “existence from absence.”
Student: So, maybe it's actually good that we discover the Torah as the potion of death, as we advance?
M. Laitman: We reveal the Torah as the influence of the upper light on us, influence from the Creator. This light passes through all kinds of operations, goes through all kinds of changes, filters, so that we will be as opposite as possible from the Creator. Meaning, created beings that are as developed as possible in and of ourselves, but our development is opposite from the Creator. So the difference between the light and the darkness, between His qualities and our qualities, by this we can reveal Him more intensely, more powerfully, in every manner, in every way, in a way that He initially decided that we have to know Him, in this way. We will talk about it. These are things we can talk about a lot.
Question (Kyiv 1): (43:15) So, in the article it says that there is an illumination from above that enables the preparation for the Torah, but we say that from above comes the light and the Torah. So how is that different from what we have from below?
M. Laitman: Well, there are many types of influence that come from the Creator to the created being. Pleasant influence, or pleasant bestowal, or unpleasant, good, not good. These bestowals or influences are called times, because they are building us the feeling of time, the feeling of changes, a sequence, the order of changes. And we want to attain the source of these changes, who is called the Creator. Boreh, Bo-U-Reh [come and see]. So, with that source itself, we have no connection, but only by attaining the changes in us. This is called, “By Your actions we know You.” In other words, by His actions, which He does, He performs on us, and I am a result of his actions. According to these actions, I have to research and come to a state where I know Him 100 percent. What does it mean 100 percent? 100 percent of His influence on us. In it, I discover these influences, and out of this, I compile, I put together the image of the Creator, who He is. This research is called the wisdom of Kabbalah, or the science of Kabbalah, meaning we receive influences or bestowals from the upper one. We study them. Through these influences, we want to relate, we want to relate to these influences in a way that we interfere as less as possible with these influences. It's like science, say physicists, they want to be as objective as possible, and not instill their interference in the research, not instill any signs of their own, signs of interference, to observe the phenomena themselves as clean, the way they come and influence a person. In order to come to such research, and that's the main thing, because the Creator wants us to know Him, and know Him according to what we discover and come closer and do like Him. So we can know Him only by interfering as less as possible in what He does in us. So, on the one hand, I have to study all of His operations, because that's the commandment, that's His will. On the other hand, I have to study as deeply as possible, but interfere as less as possible, meaning to influence it as less as possible, to interfere with it, intervene in it as less as possible. In every realm of science that we research, when we study some natural phenomenon, that's what we want it to be like. So, when I go in there, I see everything and study everything, but it's as if I don't exist. To be kind of clean, pure, to be in this pure manner in every operation of the Creator. So, we want to do it this way. How can we? The Creator gave us ways and signs for it. You have to perform the restriction on the will to receive, you have to work above the will to receive. Similar to Me, in order to bestow. In this way, with a reflected light, you will begin to know all My operations in a clean, pure way as it is in itself, without you intervening in it. And He says even more, I have built for you a ladder of attainment, where as much as you can gradually adapt yourself to being not interfering in your research of Me, accordingly, you will discover Me and do with Me whatever you want. No problem. I'm ready and willing for all those things. I anticipate them. And that study is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. And this whole process, we call it the process of the giving of the Torah.
Question (Moscow 7): (49:33) In the second paragraph, Baal HaSulam describes the degree of the preparation of the people for the reception of the Torah, and he says it gives such conditions that people have to be whole as one man in one heart, with one intention for everyone, and there has to be preparation from the side of the entire vessel, the entire people. So, how can we project those conditions on us?
M. Laitman: In the development of this broken Adam, from the system of Adam HaRishon, meaning to the extent that his vessels are, through the influence of the upper light, to the extent that they are drawn toward connection, toward unity, we study it as processes that happen in time and place and motion. And we learn that there are times for corrections of the still level, the vegetative level, the animate level, and the speaking level. We have come to a state called “the last generation.” It is the period when we correct the speaking level. On this level, there are no limitations. On the contrary, all the forms of creation should achieve complete correction, each in its own way, and each according to its own degree. So, there are no limitations on studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, the development of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the spreading of it. On the contrary, we have to abide by the will of the Creator, and in this way establish Him.
Student: Baal HaSulam describes here the conditions for the reception of the Torah by the people. “And the people camped under the bottom of the mountain as one man in one heart.”
M. Laitman: Well, that's clear. We need to establish ourselves as much as possible from corporeality to spirituality, establish ourselves like a vessel that's going through correction from the shattering to the correction. So, we have to get closer to each other on the physical level and the spiritual level, gradually.
Student: He describes here the condition that the preparation should be from the side of the entire vessel, from the public, from everyone. Meaning, if someone does not take part in that preparation, this projects on the entire public, on everyone?
M. Laitman: Well, it depends on each one. You saw more than once what happens with people in this world. Each one has a role, each one is born with different qualities and different conditions, and each one functions. It's called “Go and live off of each other.” In other words, either we are together instinctively in one system and in this way operate on each other, or we already understand that we have to be connected, and then we perform more deliberate acts toward connection.
Student: Later on, he writes that Israel were ready completely to receive the Torah.
M. Laitman: That they wanted to unite, that mutual help, mutual support, mutual connection would tie them together like cells in a single body. In other words, they make of themselves whatever possible, but at the same time, it's what they can do, and the rest is done by the upper light. That's the way it is. The corrections are certainly from above. “Turn to me and I will redeem.”
Student: What does it mean that one must hear the ten Commandments on Mount Sinai each and every day?
M. Laitman: That in each and every correction, we have to come to a state where all the conditions we receive, we realize them by correcting the complete Partzuf, ten Sefirot. This is called “hearing the ten commandments on Mount Sinai.” We will talk about what are the ten Sefirot, what is Mount Sinai. In those things, of course, there's nothing historic or geographical about them. They are only conditions for the connection of the group within it in order to receive the upper light, so it will correct it. This is called the reception of the Torah. And being ready so that the upper light that will correct it will also fill it, fill us.
Question (ITA 3): (56:44) When the Creator gives us obstacles, does it depend on us how do we perceive them, how do we overcome them? For example, loving the friend, is that considered an awakening from below?
M. Laitman: On purpose. He broke the vessel of Adma HaRishon. What could be more than that?
Student: So, he is asking, does it depend on us how we perceive these obstacles, and also how we overcome them. And he is asking, if we do overcome them, is that considering an awakening from below?
M. Laitman: When is it considered an awakening from above and when is it considered an awakening from below? It's still difficult for us to understand. We really have to have the power to distinguish between the sources of awakening. I would put it this way for now, for our matter. I can't say what will happen later. It depends a lot on a feeling, and the preparation, and how much we build a common desire. You could say that if the vessel feels that it is creating a common force among the friends and that force is the operator, and it begins to be an independent force that exists in and of itself, it is considered that they have seemingly engendered from within them. They're like a womb, they are engendering the Adam out of them, meaning some new quality in their connection, which is similar to the Creator. And then, this already exists in and of itself.
Student: So, when we make this effort, like you said, to overcome resentment towards the friends and love the friends, is that considered that we're drawing the reforming light?
M. Laitman: What does it mean to overcome the friends? We have to overcome our will to receive.
Student: When we put in the effort to overcome all the obstacles in some form, are we actually drawing the reforming light?
M. Laitman: To the extent that we have this disposition to connect according to the vessels, by this, we influence the upper light so it will come closer to us, approach us, and will influence our efforts to connect. This is called the light operating as reforming light, which returns us to the good state we were in before the shattering. And to the extent that we complete our quota, for the time being, when we have completed our efforts to connect, accordingly, we advance, and likewise, every time.
Question (Moscow 1): (01:01:08) If we don't interfere with the Creator's influence on us through the restriction, then this lack of intervention later accumulates, or how does it work?
M. Laitman: I don't know what you mean by not… The fact that we don't interfere, intervene with the Creator in creation, this is called not existing, that we are less than the inanimate, we are still. Afterwards, we have the vegetative, animate, meaning, we operate in some way more actively. What does it mean? The still is still. Nothing influences it. It's got only one quality: to maintain itself. The way the Creator creates it, it doesn't resist it in any way. The vegetative already wants to absorb something on its own from the environment and accordingly to grow toward the Creator. This is what's called vegetative. An animate receives even more powers to know reality, to be active in the perception of reality, and so forth. That's the animate level. The speaking level wants to attain even the upper force, meaning His thoughts, His plan, His desire, His will, His goal, and himself tries to achieve that same goal. So, the difference between the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in spirituality is huge.
Question (Queens): (01:03:46) When we engage in the Torah, meaning engage in bestowal, we can receive a lot of correction. What does it mean to receive the Torah?
M. Laitman: Receiving the Torah, there are many things about it. It is called, first and foremost, understanding the plan of creation, according to a person's degree, advancing toward a state where you are involved in this program, you participate in it. This is called that you're changing yourself in order to realize the Torah. This is called learning Torah.
The learning cannot be passive, when I know that something is written. Rather, it is on our flesh, as it's called. Meaning, I perform all kinds of operations according to the light. The light influences me, and I, through my operations, influence the reception of the light. And this way we work together with it. This is called working the Torah, with the Torah. Practically, just like working with a machine. When I work, I change something in it, then I study what has changed, and I change something else, and I study what changed then. And in this way, we learn Torah. And by this, when I influence the system as a created being, and the system is what connects me to the Creator, so out of this, we study the Creator.
Question (PT 19): (01:06:04) What is the first degree that we have to acquire in order to bestow?
M. Laitman: The first quality is that within the same will to receive that I have, I want only to bestow. To resemble the Creator as much as possible, to be like Him as much as possible. So, there are necessities that my body needs in order to exist, to be healthy. It is written about them, neither praised nor condemned. You just have to do them. Just like if you want to drive a car, you need to see that the car is working properly, but not more than that. More than that, means you want to receive pleasures already. So, relate to the body as to a machine. You take care of it and nothing more. That's it.
Student: You said to a friend once that we also have to attain the knowledge that it's important, and above it, to cover it with a desire to bestow. Sometimes a friend asks a question, and you call him “a smart Aleck wise at night.” So, how does that work together?
M. Laitman: If that student reveals desires only to know, like scientists in this world, not in order to change, improve toward connection with the friends, and by this cause the revelation of the Creator in order to bring Him contentment. In other words, he doesn't want to awaken the upper light so it shines on us. He is called smart because he wants knowledge, but at night, because his intention is not to bring the light.
Question (PT 31): (01:08:30) How do we know in the Ten that we are walking on the path of the potion of life and not the potion of death?
M. Laitman: He touches on it in several articles. If I am going with the potion of life, I feel elation, awakening, inspiration. I see before me what I have to do. I may not want it so much according to my nature, but according to my connection to the Torah, I understand that there has to be an ascension here, an ascent above my nature, which is called faith above reason.
Student: What is felt in the Ten during the time of the potion of death versus the potion of life?
M. Laitman: When we feel the potion of life, we connect. We feel in it that the potion of life is the upper light which circulates. It's circulating among them, connecting them. That's the potion of life, when the Creator awakens in them and in this way sustains them, to that extent they feel adhered among themselves and with the Creator. The potion of death is to the contrary.
Student: Why does Baal HaSulam use the word potion or drug?
M. Laitman: A drug or a potion is a medicine. That's why it's called the potion of life. And in medicine too. All the medicines are drugs. But the medicines that put to death, it's hard to call them medicines. Medications are something that helps. It doesn't necessarily have to be a chemical pill that you take and you feel better. Anything that helps you is called “medicine.” This is how lawyers use this word. That's the word.