The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: April 6, 2026
Part 1: Recorded Lesson Rabash. 14 (1986). What Is the Need to Borrow Kelim [Vessels] from the Egyptians?
Original lesson date: 04/12/2002
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we'll learn a lesson with the Rav from April 12, 2002. The lesson is based on the article by Rabash, "What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians." You can find it in the study material, and we'll read it together in the Ten. We have 33 minutes, and the Tens that we'll finish ahead of time are invited to start a workshop on the main principles from the article.
Reading: (00:42) Rabash. What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?
Article No. 14, 1986
It is written (Exodus 11), “Speak now in the ears of the people that each man will borrow from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor vessels of silver and vessels of gold. And the Lord gave the people’s favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.”
Our sages said (Berachot, 9b), “The disciples of Rabbi Yanai said, ‘‘‘Do’ means please. The Creator said to Moses, ‘Please go and tell them, Israel, to please borrow vessels of silver and vessels of gold from the Egyptians so that that righteous will not say, ‘He kept, ‘And they enslaved them and afflicted them,’ and then, He did not keep ‘And they will come out with many possessions.’’’”
This is perplexing. If the Creator wanted to keep His promise to Abraham, as it is written, “And afterwards they will come out with many possessions,” could He not make the people of Israel wealthy without borrowing vessels from the Egyptians? It seems like fraud, for it seems that they initially borrowed by deceit, meaning without intending to return.
We should also understand why the Creator said to Moses to implore Israel to borrow vessels from the Egyptians, as is said above, that “Do” means please [request]. Also, what is this imploring? It seems to mean that the Creator knew that they would object to it, so He asked Moses to speak to Israel. Thus, we should understand the reason for Israel’s objection to this.
We should also understand the words, “And the Lord gave the people’s favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.” How can we understand such a thing, which is completely contradictory? Although anything is possible from the perspective of the Creator, but from the literal perspective this is difficult to grasp, as it is written (Exodus, 1:12), “And the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, and they detested the sons of Israel.” Our sages said, “It shows that they were as thorns in their eyes” (Sutah, 11).
It follows that from thorns, meaning being unable to stand the people of Israel and seeing them as thorns, they now turned completely around and the Egyptians liked the people of Israel.
In the Creator’s promise to Abraham, “And afterwards they will come out with many possessions,” we should understand the whole matter that is presented there (Genesis, 15:6), “And He said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Lord God, by what will I know that I will inherit it?’ And He said to Abram, … ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years … and afterward they will come out with many possessions.’”
Here, too, we should understand the answer that Abraham received to the question, “By what will I know that I will inherit it?” since the Creator’s answer was to this question, as it is written, “And He said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years … and afterward they will come out with many possessions.’” Thus, the question was about guarantees on the inheritance, and the answer to the guarantee was that the people of Israel will be in exile. But is exile a guarantee for inheriting the land?
Baal HaSulam explained the meaning of this question: It is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. That is, it is impossible to receive filling if there is no lack. A lack is called a Kli, and when Abraham saw what the Creator wanted to give his sons, he said, “I do not see that my sons will have a need for that spiritual inheritance of the land.” He said, “If they receive a small illumination they will be content because the smallest degree in spirituality brings more pleasure than all the corporeal pleasures in the world. Accordingly, when they receive some small illumination they might think that there are no greater degrees than what they have attained, and will therefore have no need to ask for anything more.”
And because of this, Abraham’s question to the Creator was, “By what will I know that they will have the need to inherit the spiritual land?” Thus, he was asking the Creator to tell him how it might happen that they will have light without a Kli. Abram understood that the Creator gives the light, but the Kelim, meaning a desire for greater lights than they already received, who would make them see that they need to achieve greater ascension than they feel now?
There is a rule in spirituality that anything spiritual that comes to a person makes him feel unsurpassable wholeness, since anything spiritual is a complete feeling, without any deficiency. Otherwise it is not regarded as “spiritual,” for only in a corporeal matter can there be pleasure, and still we feel that there is a greater pleasure. This is not so in spirituality.
Thus, Abraham wondered how and through what they would have a need to ask the Creator to give them greater degrees, called “inheritance of the land.” He said that the Creator’s reply to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs” means that from here, meaning from the exile in Egypt they will have a need to ask the Creator to give them greater strength each time.
The reason is that when a person begins to advance in the work of the Creator and wants all his actions to be in order to bestow, he sees that he cannot prevail. At that time one asks the Creator to help him, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided,” and the holy Zohar asks, “How is he aided? With a holy soul.”
Indeed, everything that they overcame in the work sank in the earth, as he says about their building of Pithom and Ramesses. That is, each day they had to start their work anew because everything they built went into the abyss and they always saw themselves as though they had never begun to work because they did not remember any word of Torah that concerns work and always reflect on themselves, “Where is our work, the efforts we put into the work? Where did they go?”
It is even more difficult to understand how the Klipa [shell/peel] of Pharaoh could swallow all their work to the point that they did not feel that they ever engaged in serving the Creator, that their goal was to achieve wholeness, and they knew what they wanted. Suddenly, they have come to a state where they forgot everything and no Reshimot [recollections] remained in them from their work.
All this was deliberate. The Creator has prepared a Klipa for this purpose so as to constantly keep them in a state of beginning. It is known that all beginnings are tough, so they will be forced to ask the Creator to help them, as said above, that “He who comes to purify is aided,” and as the holy Zohar says that each time they receive a “holy soul,” which is a force from above, meaning that each time they receive additions to the soul. This accumulates into a great amount, as it is known that “What is given from Heaven is not taken back” (Hulin 60).
However, although each illumination received from above departs for the time being, in the end, when he completes the amount of labor that one must do, as in “Everything that is in the might of your hand to do, that do,” he receives at once everything he had received one at a time. He thought that it all went to the Klipot, but then he receives everything back.
According to the above, it follows that the whole matter of the exile in Egypt was in order to receive Kelim [vessels] and a need for the great lights, called “inheritance of the land.” This is what Abraham was perplexed about and said that he did not see that his sons would have a need for these great lights. And since there is no light without a Kli, it turns out that even if there is a desire to give them, they have no Kelim in which to receive.
For this reason they were given the exile in Egypt where through the questions and arguments of the Egyptians they will be continuously emptied from what little Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] they had acquired, for they suckled from them. For this reason they will always need to ask the Creator to illuminate their way for them so they can go forward. But they say that they kept going backwards, which is why the ARI wrote that at the time of the exodus from Egypt the people of Israel were in forty-nine gates of impurity until the King of Kings appeared to them and redeemed them.
This seems to contradict reason, since it is known that Moses and Aaron came to Egypt and spoke to the sons of Israel about the Creator wanting to bring them out from Egypt. They performed all the tokens in Egypt, and they saw the ten plagues that the Egyptians suffered, and this must have brought Israel closer to Kedusha, and not the opposite—that they kept falling to a deeper gate of Tuma’a [impurity], to the point that when it was time to come out of Egypt, meaning when they had to have the best preparation for reception of the light of redemption, we see that when they received the light of redemption they were in forty-nine gates of Tuma’a. Is this possible?
As Baal HaSulam explained, the exile in Egypt was in order to obtain the Kelim of the Egyptians. But it was only to borrow, and later to return to them. He interpreted that this matter of the Creator saying to Abraham, “Your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs,” was a guarantee of the inheritance. This meant that they would have a need to receive the abundance from the Creator, since wanting to come out of the enslavement of the Egyptians can be only through the help of a holy soul. Then they will need the Creator’s help each time, and from this they will have a need to draw higher degrees.
Now we will explain the meaning of the exile in Egypt and the borrowing of the Kelim from the Egyptians. We see that when Moses and Aaron came to the sons of Israel, as it is written (Exodus, 4:29), “And Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel, and Aaron said all the words that the Creator had said to Moses, and performed the tokens before the eyes of the people, and the people believed and heard.”
We see from this that as soon as Moses and Aaron came to the sons of Israel they accepted all the words that the Creator had said to Moses with faith above reason. And everything that the Egyptians made them understand with all the questions and doubts about the faith of Israel did not count at all because they went above reason. For this reason, the fact that the whole time they were in exile could not impact them at all now.
That is, once Moses and Aaron came to the sons of Israel with the Creator’s desire to take them out of exile, they promptly took it upon themselves not to listen henceforth to the arguments of the Egyptians, who came in the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt—that it is better for them to remain under their governance, and who tried to make them see that the way of the Egyptians was true and they should not listen to what Moses and Aaron were telling them. “We see that you are yelling, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ This made you think that you should leave Egypt and follow them. And we understand that you want to listen to all that they are telling you with eyes shut. Can this be, while we are making perfect sense? You have nothing to reply to us, yet you insist that you are willing to go all the way according to the words of Moses and Aaron.”
From this we see that after Moses and Aaron came with the message of the redemption—that now they were coming out of enslavement, for they were unable to do the holy work, they were happy with this message and did not need any exaggerations of flavors of Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, they were happy precisely with this, meaning with being able to simply observe in practice. This gave them complete satisfaction and they delighted in doing their Master’s will, as it is written, “Therefore they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God’” (Exodus, 5:8).
It follows that now that they are coming out from the exile in Egypt with Kelim that do not need anything, but as it is written, “And the people believed and heard,” and they have no need to inherit the land that the Creator had promised to Abraham, as it is written, “Know for certain … and afterwards they will come out with many possessions,” meaning that the exile was a guarantee that they would have the need to receive the delight and pleasure, which is the inheritance of the land that the Creator sought to give to his descendants but they still did not have the Kelim for this and were content with little.
This is why, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak now in the ears of the people that each man will borrow from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor vessels of silver and vessels of gold.’” According to what Baal HaSulam interpreted, we should say that it means that they will take the vessels of silver and vessels of gold that the Egyptians have, meaning take their desires and longings, namely all the doubts that they had about the way of the people of Israel.
The Egyptians were always demanding that everything you do must be with reason and understanding, and your engagement in overcoming in order to exit self-love and to do everything in order to bestow is the wrong way because the Creator is good and does good. When He created the world, He certainly did it to benefit His creations, meaning that we, creatures, will enjoy the delight and pleasure. But you are leaving the right path and taking on a path that is completely against the purpose of creation. You are telling us that this is the true way, that you do not need anything for self-love but to do everything in order to bestow contentment upon the Maker.
But whenever the people of Israel heard the Egyptians slandering the path of bestowal they would run from them, meaning they ran from these thoughts when they came to confuse the thoughts of the sons of Israel and instill their views in the hearts of the sons of Israel.
For this reason, the Creator knew that they would not want to hear Egypt’s questions and doubts of “who” and “what,” but they did not have the Kelim in which to place the many possessions, since there is no light without a Kli. That is, a person cannot be given anything for which he has no desire. Therefore, if He were to ask the sons of Israel, “What do you want Me to give you?” They would say, “We do not want anything from You. On the contrary, our only aspiration is to give to You, and not that You will give to us.” Thus, how can they receive the delight and pleasure, called “many possessions,” which is considered that He wants to give them Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida? They have no need for this!
This is why the Creator wanted them to take the Egyptians’ Kelim, meaning their questions and doubts, and all their desires, which are the Kelim of the Egyptians. But they were not to really take those Kelim, only borrow them. That is, they would take the Egyptians’ Kelim only to have a need to satisfy those deficiencies, but not to really keep those Kelim because the Kelim, meaning these thoughts and desires do not belong to the people of Israel. It is only a temporary borrowing, so as to later return to them.
That is, afterwards, meaning once they received the filling that belongs to these questions, precisely through them it will be possible to bestow upon them the filling. This is similar to receiving the lights that belong to their Kelim, which are called “vessels of reception in order to receive.” However, they promptly threw away their Kelim and used the lights that belong to their Kelim, but received everything in order to bestow contentment upon the Maker.
This is similar to what Baal HaSulam interpreted regarding Haman and Mordechai. He said that we see that when Ahasuerus wanted to glorify Mordechai, as it is written (Esther 6:3), “And the king said, ‘What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordechai for this?’ … and the king said to him, ‘What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?’ … Haman said to the king … let them bring royal apparel.’”
Accordingly, he asked, “How can such a thing be? If the King wants to honor Mordechai, he asks Haman ‘What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?’” He answers that this implies to the order of imparting abundance upon the lower ones. The Creator certainly wants to give honor and greatness to the righteous, which is Mordechai the righteous. But should He ask the righteous, “What do you want Me to give you?” the righteous will say that he does not want to receive anything. On the contrary, all he wants is to bestow upon the King.
This is why he had to ask the Haman in him, who understands that it is good to receive, and then he said, “And do so to Mordechai the Jew,” meaning that he will receive the honor and greatness not in the Kelim of Haman, which are called “receiving in order to receive,” but in receiving in order to bestow.
Similarly, we should explain concerning the borrowing of the Kelim from the Egyptians, when the Creator asked Moses to ask Israel to borrow Kelim from the Egyptians. We asked, “Why did the Creator have to ask Israel for such a thing? Why would the people of Israel not want to borrow these Kelim?” The answer is that when Moses and Aaron came as the Creator’s emissaries to bring the people of Israel out from the exile, it is written, “And the people believed and heard,” meaning with faith above reason. They did not need anything or had any desire for high degrees. They were content with being able to engage in Torah and Mitzvot without any disturbances from the Egyptians.
This is similar to what we said above, that he said that if the king were to ask Mordechai the righteous, “What honor and greatness do you want me give you?” He would reply that he does not want to receive anything from the king, but on the contrary, he wants to give to the king. This is why the king asked Haman what to do with a man whom the king desires to honor. Haman knew what to ask. He said, “Let them bring royal apparel which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed.” This is why the king needed Haman’s Kelim, meaning what Haman understood that one should receive from the king.
For this reason he had to ask Moses to ask Israel for a favor—that they will borrow the Kelim of the Egyptians, meaning temporarily, so they will have desire and craving to satisfy all the lacks that the Egyptians demanded to satisfy. He had to ask because the people of Israel would settle for what they had and would always run from their thoughts and desires, but now they are told to listen to the questions and doubts of the Egyptians.
And since He promised Abraham that afterwards they will come out with many possessions, He needed them to take the Egyptians’ Kelim only as borrowing and then give them back. That is, they have nothing to do with their borrowing, and what they took was only temporarily, to be able to receive the lights, called “inheritance of the land,” which the Creator had promised to Abraham.
Now we can understand what we asked about how the matter was turned from one end to the other, since the writing says, “and they detested the sons of Israel,” meaning that they were as thorns, and afterwards, “And the Lord gave the people’s favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.” Wanting to hear their questions gave “favor” because they thought they were going their way. “And the Lord gave the people’s favor” by telling them to borrow the Kelim from them, since this was what the Egyptians wanted.
Reader: We'll go through a lesson from April 12, 2002.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (33:51) “What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?”
It is written, "Speak now in the ears of the people that each man will borrow from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor vessels of silver and vessels of gold. And the Lord gave the people's favor in the eyes of the Egyptians."
Our Sages said, “The disciples of Rabbi Yanai said, "Do" means please. The Creator said to Moses, "Please go and tell them, Israel, to please borrow vessels of silver and vessels of gold from the Egyptians so that the righteous will not say, “He kept, and they enslaved them and afflicted them,” and then, He did not keep, and they will come out with many possessions."
This is perplexing. If the Creator wanted to keep His promise to Abraham, as it is written, "And afterwards they will come out with many possessions," could He not make the people of Israel wealthy without borrowing vessels from the Egyptians? It seems like fraud, for it seems that they initially borrowed by deceit, meaning without intending to return.
We should also understand why the Creator said to Moses to implore Israel to borrow vessels from the Egyptians, as is said above, that “Do” means please [request]. Also, what is this imploring? It seems to mean that the Creator knew that they would object to it, so He asked Moses to speak to Israel. Thus, we should understand the reason for Israel’s objection to this.
M. Laitman: (36:00) When we hear this article, we need to think not of the externality of this article, but about its internality, meaning that it's not speaking of some deed, some action, some tale that took place thousands of years ago in the country of Egypt, of pharaohs — rather, Kabbalists write about what's happening with a person on the degrees that he climbs from the time of his birth to the end of correction. But they have no way to explain to us this topic using spiritual words, such concepts with which we will not understand anything. I have such writings of Baal HaSulam where he writes in such forms that you cannot understand at all what he's referring to. Those are short variants of words, letter combinations that cannot connect according to the grammar at all, letter within letter, all kinds of things that we don't understand this language. One who is in the spiritual world above the barrier, meaning he has a screen, and he feels, and he sees how the lights spread and expand in him, this person necessarily understands what the writer writes, since he's also in the spiritual world. And then he has no problem. But we, who are before the barrier, below it, we have no way to hear or to see these signs and symbols and accordingly imagine somehow what it's talking about. That is why Kabbalists chose for themselves the language of the branches, meaning they found a solution. Because what exists in the spiritual world also exists in this world, and in order to talk about the spiritual world, they borrow names from this world and speak about it using these words to describe the spiritual world. So when we hear, or we read, or speak of a spiritual world, meaning the states that a person undergoes in his internal development until he comes to the recognition of godliness, and later when he gets to know godliness more and more until he connects with the Creator and becomes like Him, we should never forget that in all our books, everything that's written is written only in the language of the branches. And if we are now reading about Egypt and Pharaoh and Moses, then too, we need to come out of this historic picture. There's no history, there's no story or fairy tale or legend, rather we're talking about discernments inside of us. Moses is the point in the heart, Pharaoh is what seemingly resists this point, and the Creator is the general force that develops us. And the nation of Israel has all the desires of a person that are willing to join this spiritual development, and Egypt, or all the desires of a person that, against it, pull a person back or sideways. And if a person imagines this general inner picture of his, how all the desires and thoughts and impulses, discernments, his qualities are on such a map — Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, nation of Israel, Egypt in general, meaning the rule of Pharaoh over Israel, the dominion of these thoughts over other thoughts, such desires dominating other desires - if he's trying to depict this map, gradually he can begin to feel and then enter this picture and see what it's talking about. It says in Shamati that there's nothing a person cannot make himself accustomed to. I mean from this picture that he imagines, and that could be totally false and unfounded, and he simply hears it and he depicts something imaginary, he can gradually begin to feel the forces that work, and how it's truly in him. And from this picture that's before his eyes, he will feel where it's in him, inside of him, and then he will begin to discover that all those forces are in him. And he himself is becoming a spiritual Partzuf with all the lights around him: the surrounding light, the inner light, the general surrounding light, and so on and so forth, and he will enter this picture more truly. Therefore the key to success is to imagine this picture not literally, but using a spiritual interpretation. Is that clear? Continue.
Reader:
Reading: (42:43) Rabash. What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?
We should also understand why the Creator said to Moses to implore Israel to borrow vessels from the Egyptians, as is said above, that “Do” means please [request]. Also, what is this imploring? It seems to mean that the Creator knew that they would object to it, so He asked Moses to speak to Israel. Thus, we should understand the reason for Israel’s objection to this.
We should also understand the words, “And the Lord gave the people’s favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.” How can we understand such a thing, which is completely contradictory? Although anything is possible from the perspective of the Creator, but from the literal perspective this is difficult to grasp, as it is written, “And the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, and they detested the sons of Israel.” Our sages said, “It shows that they were as thorns in their eyes”.
It follows that from thorns, meaning being unable to stand the people of Israel and seeing them as thorns, they now turned completely around and the Egyptians liked the people of Israel.
M. Laitman: (44:16) Meaning he, Rabash, is describing to us how from the beginning there's only one point that yearns for spirituality, one small desire called “Moses.” In order to insert a person to spirituality, to feel the upper world, to feel the upper force, eternity, wholeness, to live in identification with the soul, not with the body, such small despicable life, but eternal life above the incarnations. And for that a person needs to grow the point of Moses and to add to it many more desires, forces, vessels. So the essence of man will connect to this point and then there will be a Partzuf. As we study in the preface, in the “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” what is the spiritual Partzuf? But if from a point it becomes a Partzuf, it means that this person has a soul. So how to make this point into a Partzuf? We need to add to this point desires, all kinds of forces: desires to bestow, desires to receive, screens - seemingly opposing qualities that specifically in the struggle between them, in the tension between darkness and light, there will be all kinds of discernment between good and evil, and light and darkness, Creator and created being. And then from that, as much as these discernments will be more opposed to one another and greater, this is called the soul. A person is greater. Therefore, Moses has no other advice but to go to Pharaoh and to carry on the one hand the nation of Israel behind them and on the other hand to add to himself the opposing forces, Pharaoh and the vessels of Egypt. And that's really the whole matter of the exile in Egypt, where when we add it to the point in the heart, we receive from above. That what we receive from above, which is Moses, if we can add to it also the good forces, the people of Israel, that they also object to connection with Moses, they object to connection with Pharaoh and with Egypt, because the people of Israel is called Galgalta ve Eynaim, the vessels of bestowal, and Egypt is called the vessels of reception, AHP. They are opposed to one another, they're unable to work with one another directly. We see how in this world we don't understand what it means to receive in order to bestow. How can it be that I will receive and enjoy and by that I will give pleasure to someone, I will delight someone? That is something completely unnatural. You can give, seemingly directly, you can receive, but how can you receive in order to bestow? This is very difficult. But its essence is giving. It's an action of reception, but its essence is giving. Therefore the people of Israel, also Egypt, also Moses and Pharaoh, they're perplexed. They don't know what to do and in the beginning they're not willing to connect. So what do you do? So what can they do? The Creator says to him: "Come to Pharaoh," meaning, "I'm coming with you.” If not, if you're not coming, if not the decisive action of the Creator — come and I will connect you; and only if you connect, you and Pharaoh, the people of Israel with Egypt, only after you connect together, you'll be able to come out of Egypt and acquire the spiritual world. You'll have vessels of reception called Egypt, vessels of bestowal called Israel, and together with them you'll be able to come out, you'll have what to work with, you'll have a soul, and then you'll have all the vessels of the soul, both Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, and gradually you'll be able to correct them from the barrier onwards for 6,000 years, which is called walking through the desert and coming to Israel. That's why we have to understand how difficult is this story, but he's describing our exact state right now, how we have to mingle with all those forces, for spirituality and against spirituality, and connect them.
Reader:
Reading: (49:37) Rabash. What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?
In the Creator’s promise to Abraham, “And afterwards they will come out with many possessions,” we should understand the whole matter that is presented there, “And He said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Lord God, by what will I know that I will inherit it?’ And He said to Abram, … ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years … and afterward they will come out with many possessions.’”
M. Laitman: (50:20) That was with Abraham. Abraham was called the first Jew. What is the first Jew? A point, a point of light inside the will to receive. Existence out of absence is the desire to receive, the only created being. How to bring the created being to wholeness, eternity? For that, we need to give him the power to bestow, the power of the Creator. The purpose of the Creator was to create the created being and bring him to the highest degree possible. The highest degree is the Creator Himself. Less than Him is not wholeness. That is why that point, existence out of absence, must reach the scale and all the qualities that the Creator has. How do you do it? The Creator introduces a spark of light into this point and begins to develop it. So there are two opposing forces in the created being: this black point, existence out of absence, and the spark of light that works in it. This spark of light is called “Abraham.” The black point itself is all of humanity. And Abraham is asking about this point, how can I be like You? He turns to the Creator, and the Creator says: "Don't worry, I will place you in Egypt." You, meaning your children, to Egypt. By mingling with all these desires against it, the nations of the world, you will acquire all the desires from them. And these desires will work for the same goal, the same mission to come closer to Me, which is your desire, and out of that, your size will grow to be like My size, meaning the spark will grow to be a Partzuf, as great as the Partzuf of the Creator, the force of the Creator. We learn this from ZON of Atzilut. And then when the Creator tells Abraham that you will be in exile, Abraham completely calms down, meaning he knows that he now has the ability to grow his force until it matches that of the Creator's.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:38) The Abraham within a person, is that, that became Moses?
M. Laitman: The quality of Abraham in a person, after the preparations, becomes the quality of Moses. And that's what it says, that your children will be in Egypt.
Student: Why is that point, that spark, grows from me being in Egypt? What makes it grow?
M. Laitman: At whose expense is this spark growing in Egypt? At the expense of the Egyptians. It can only grow out of the desire to receive. The desire to bestow is a tiny spark that comes from the Creator, and there's something there that you can only grasp the idea of bestow, but this bestowal has no power, no action, no ability to do anything. Later, it's expressed in us. When we are in this world, with all of the desires to receive, and suddenly, a person receives a spark that ignites him about spirituality. There's something that doesn't let him rest. It's called the desire to bestow, the spark, Abraham or Moses. And then we read the story of Egypt, and we also wish to depict all this tale, how it's happening with us. Because in the coming months, as I advance toward the barrier, these things need to happen in me. That is really the purpose of the article, to show me how I will advance in stages, in the near stages, in the near time, until I enter spirituality. After I enter spirituality, there, I can see. There is no problem there. You barely need to write anything for me. There, you write like you write a book for a traveler, a tourist, you know, that it's simply helping you to quickly get your bearing: where you are, go there, this is there, you make a right, this is like this. This way you receive the “Preface for the Study of Ten Sefirot.” Our problem is to reach that. That is why we need to decipher these articles correctly. They will help us when we're still blind.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:16) When we say someone's sons, like Abraham's sons, it's clear that it's his next states that are coming, not corporeal sons. So the way he's asking…
M. Laitman: Abraham is called the right line, then you have from him the left line, the middle line, these are preparations. Later, Moses, that already matures in Egypt, from this will to receive this spark comes out. And Abraham and Moses are the same line. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. Abraham is Hesed, Moses is Netzach.
Student: What isn't clear is, he's speaking about the outcomes, the sons of Israel. He's saying, how will I know that they will come out of Egypt? It sounds like he himself didn't cross the barrier.
M. Laitman: No, no, no, no, no. Abraham is asking not how they will come out of Egypt, Abraham is asking how will I be able to receive Your inheritance? You wish to give me everything. Where will I receive it? I have no vessels; I have a small desire for You. Where can I get a great desire for You, that I will want to be like You? So He says, "Don't worry, I'll arrange such a desire for you, receive exactly of My size."
Student: So Abraham did not go out, did not cross the barrier?
M. Laitman: Hold on a second, no. No, he did not go. He did not cross it. Let's say, he did not cross it, okay? So, when many desires that are opposed to spirituality add, joined later to this spark, and he pulls — it's the only thing that pulls a person to spirituality — then it becomes, everything becomes a great force to spirituality, and the person can cross the barrier with it. All of these desires, aside from the spark, are desires that are called Egypt. Look how much we can take from the Egyptians. And this is a time of preparation before we cross the barrier. It's all to conduct the right struggle between our attraction to spirituality compared to our attraction to corporeality. And if we join all these forces together, we'll be able to break through. Now we're asking, but Abraham was a Kabbalist. He already, he was in spiritual attainment. He's speaking to the Creator. What do you mean? He sees the upper forces, to see is possible only through screens, so it's certain that it's beyond it. How come he's asking how to cross the barrier and what to do there? The thing is, we have what we call the fathers, and we have the sons. Fathers are the cascading from above down. These are discernments that descend from above. And a person feels spirituality in them, but a highly refined version of it, with a very small coarseness. It's a very refined version of it. So, to feel the Creator and to be with the Creator, Abraham only had to be in his quality, the quality of Hesed, where Hesed is actually Bina. It's the same quality, only in the Guf of the Partzuf. That is why it has; there are no limitations on it. And because of its refined nature, these qualities with which he was born, he could already feel godliness with them. He had no work there. But for the others below him, his sons, where Isaac is already the left line, and Isaac begets Esau, and all the problems there, right? He's asking, how can it be that with these qualities that I'm now acquiring in order to reach You, I will acquire bad things, evil qualities that pull me away from You, below. The Creator tells him, promises him, "Don't worry, you'll enter into exile. I'll give blows to these qualities, and by that, you will be aimed correctly. You will want to rid yourself of using these qualities incorrectly, and you'll find out how to use them correctly in order to rise."
Reader:
Reading: (01:01:00) Rabash. What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?
Here, too, we should understand the answer that Abraham received to the question, “By what will I know that I will inherit it?” since the Creator’s answer was to this question, as it is written, “And He said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years … and afterward they will come out with many possessions.’” Thus, the question was about guarantees on the inheritance, and the answer to the guarantee was that the people of Israel will be in exile. But is exile a guarantee for inheriting the land?
Baal HaSulam explained the meaning of this question: It is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. That is, it is impossible to receive filling if there is no lack. A lack is called a Kli, and when Abraham saw what the Creator wanted to give his sons, he said, “I do not see that my sons will have a need for that spiritual inheritance of the land.” He said, “If they receive a small illumination they will be content because the smallest degree in spirituality brings more pleasure than all the corporeal pleasures in the world.
M. Laitman: (01:2:27) He is asking about our state. You are here because something is pressuring you, bothering you, doesn't let you sleep. This body makes a calculation, if I'll stay in bed, then I'll torment myself, something, stuff is not going to work out, who knows. So, you're coming here. Now, we'll give you some small satisfaction, you'll be happy and calm, you're going home, you're going to bed, you go out to have fun, you're done. Meaning, a small desire for spirituality, that's all you have, and that's what you're sitting here with. If you fill this desire from above, it will be extinguished. Where can you take a greater desire and a greater desire, since the desire needs to reach the size of the Creator, right? If I wish to receive all the light from Him, I need to have a correspondingly huge desire. Where will I take it from? That's our problem. That is the entire problem, right? You see, you come here almost every morning, in the evening, sometimes yes, sometimes no. During the day, you think about it sometimes, and sometimes you don't, meaning it all depends on the desire. Sometimes you fall, and you don't even want to think about it, you're tired of this, you run away from it. Later it ignites again, it turns on again. How to acquire desire for truth? Well, theoretically, I know it's true, I know it's the truth, but if there's no desire, this beautiful goal, nothing, I'll have no strength to attain it. Where will I take the necessity for it, the need? So, they give you a solution here, you have no other choice but to take these vessels, meaning desires, the impulse for it, specifically from Pharaoh, there's no other choice.
Reader:
Reading: (01:04:36) Rabash. What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?
Accordingly, when they receive some small illumination they might think that there are no greater degrees than what they have attained, and will therefore have no need to ask for anything more.”
And because of this, Abraham’s question to the Creator was, “By what will I know that they will have the need to inherit the spiritual land?” Thus, he was asking the Creator to tell him how it might happen that they will have light without a Kli. Abram understood that the Creator gives the light, but the Kelim, meaning a desire for greater lights than they already received, who would make them see that they need to achieve greater ascension than they feel now?
There is a rule in spirituality that anything spiritual that comes to a person makes him feel unsurpassable wholeness, since anything spiritual is a complete feeling, without any deficiency. Otherwise it is not regarded as “spiritual,” for only in a corporeal matter can there be pleasure, and still we feel that there is a greater pleasure. This is not so in spirituality.
Thus, Abraham wondered how and through what they would have a need to ask the Creator to give them greater degrees, called “inheritance of the land.” He said that the Creator’s reply to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs” means that from here, meaning from the exile in Egypt they will have a need to ask the Creator to give them greater strength each time.
The reason is that when a person begins to advance in the work of the Creator and wants all his actions to be in order to bestow, he sees that he cannot prevail. At that time one asks the Creator to help him, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided,” and the holy Zohar asks, “How is he aided? With a holy soul.”
M. Laitman: (01:07:14) Basically, here in these words there is a key to understand why the Creator puts the person through this spin. Why do we need then the bad forces that hinder us and bring us so much trouble and suffering? And as if give us thoughts of heresy, that it's not true the Creator is good that does good, it's not true that He even exists, and so forth. Why do I always have to reveal Him from the negative, from the opposite? According to reason, we would think that if I want to attract someone, I give him a candy, I give him a cake, something else, and then he's drawn to me more and more. Why do we need to as if give him opposite forces, rejecting him from me? The problem is that if I give someone pleasures, he'll get close to me because of the pleasures. And to get closer for pleasures, that's not a problem, that's beastly proximity, a person doesn't acquire anything besides pleasures here. The goal of the Creator is that man will be like Him, meaning to have His qualities, to reach eternity, to reach the greatness, adulthood, which is called the wholeness of existence, certainly above life and death and above all the events we experience. Achieving that is possible only if a person is similar to the Creator in his inner qualities. How can that be done? That can be done, that can be given to a person, these qualities, only if a person wants to be like the Creator, meaning not just to receive from Him, but to be like Him. That's a totally different thing. Either I'm going to receive from you, or I'm not looking at what I get from you, but rather how similar I am to you. And to begin with, we don't have a desire to be similar to the Creator. How come? We have our own desires, our own qualities, and we don't feel that there's a need for something else, because what's in me is my life. It's me. Therefore, that's why the Creator must take a person to a state in which he will want to come closer to Him, and not receive from Him, but to receive from Him as a means. That's why the Creator needs to arrange a person such that he would want to resemble Him. How is this done? A person is given problems, and difficulties, disappointments, fears and anxieties, so that in order to come out of that, in order to exit this, a person gradually comes to a state in which the Creator is doing this for him. This is what we need to discover in the matter of the general nation of ours. That what we're feeling now, what's happening to us is because the Creator Himself is arranging it for us. He is the one who's battling with us, through the Arabs, through the Americans, through everyone. It doesn't matter. But He is doing the bad for us. No one else. Rather, through those puppets. When a person begins to discover this and sees he has no choice, no solution remains for him but to turn to the Creator; that's already a solution. So, he turns to the Creator to help him. And when he turns to the Creator, this brings a connection between them. And then, in accordance with as much as the person wants to be close to the Creator, he receives from Him forces, qualities, and desires of the Creator. And then he rises a degree. It's not that he remains below, and his life begins to be better than before, a little better than before. Oh, he has a wife, he has children, a good living, he's blossoming financially, silence, peace, calm, what's in this world - the Creator corrupts that on purpose, so that you will turn to Him, seemingly in order to receive this so-called peaceful, beastly life. But you have no choice, because you need Him, you come closer to Him. You start not to build your life that is better here, but rather you start to rise, and rise, and rise more above to be more and more similar to Him. And then He brings you to a spiritual life. By erasing your good and peaceful, calm, corporeal life He actually obligates you to rise to spiritual life. If a person can decipher correctly and see the picture before him correctly, he truly sees it as a purposeful guidance and providence of every second that's happening to each person in the nation and every state in all the world. This is what he's about to explain to us here, that the governance of the Creator, and the exit from Egypt, and the servitude in Egypt, and the exit from Egypt will accompany the person from a good life. In Egypt, Jews lived well. In corporeality, they had everything. But to take them out to spirituality, they had to go through blows for which they will want to escape there. Oh, I see that here. Now it sounds like something relevant to our times. It didn't look like that. It looked like you just received some blows, and it's already something.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:38) If I have an animal, so let's say a dog, and I want to raise it, so I give him a treat every time he understands something. So, why through suffering it is not more beastly than through pleasure? What's the difference?
M. Laitman: Meaning, you're asking, why does the Creator advance us in such a way through the sufferings?
Student: Why is it less beastly?
M. Laitman: Through the suffering, you start to ask about the source of the suffering. If the Creator were to just give you blows, and you were like a beast, and the beast has no inner connection with the Creator, and a person does, so in truth, all the blows that go over animals, and beasts, and inanimate, and vegetative, inanimate - what those blows we'll talk about later — but what's the connection between their blows and our blows? But a person who goes through blows, these blows gradually bring him to development until he starts to discover their source. And when he discovers their source being the Creator, this begins to be for him some light. He starts to already see that there's a reason, and there might be a justified reason, or maybe an unjustified reason, but it's already a causality, meaning these blows have some form of way, or they're coming with a purpose. A person has a point in the heart, and through the blows, he discovers it, his point in the heart and its connection with the Creator, and that there's spiritual life above the corporeal life, above the blows. If this point was not inside a person, then in truth, the blows would have no justification.
Student: So, why not create the pleasure that I'm searching for extra incentives, except for the pleasure? If he fills me 90%, now I'm searching for another 10.
M. Laitman: If you were to come closer to the Creator through the pleasures, so let's say, I received a candy, and He's also showing me that He gave me the candy, okay, wonderful, thank you very much. Now He gave a cake, and also discovers, reveals Himself that He gave the cake. So, I'm constantly locked on Him, honed into Him, in the manner that it's good for me. The other way we could say it is that I can never exit my desire to receive because I constantly need more and more gifts from Him to receive from Him more and more. So, my connection with Him is a beastly connection, to just receive. By this, I can never exit and to be like Him, to bestow. By this, I can only increase my vessels in order to receive. I don't attain the goal by this. That's why our path is opposite. It's hard, it's hard to grasp this. We don't yet have a spiritual rationale. We're still below the barrier in a kind of a unilateral nature, in a corporeal nature, only to receive, and calculations are only by this. When we cross the barrier, we'll have the spiritual nature and corporeal nature together, we'll start to understand the system and why He's spinning us this way. But at least we can understand that if He were to draw us only through pleasures, our will to receive would grow, and we would never be able to depict ourselves, there is such a thing like giving. That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:55) Can we get an example of how I can connect Pharaoh to Moses?
M. Laitman: It's written that the people of Israel exit Egypt with the vessels of the Egyptians, meaning that the maximum, every bit that you can take out of the desire to receive and you can join to the desire to bestow, called Israel, this we take, we join them, and we exit Egypt. Meaning we receive forces to use the Galgalta Eynaim and also with the AHP of ascent, with the Egyptians who have joined them. The question is, in what way do we join desires to receive to the desire to bestow? Yes? How do you join the Egyptians to Israel? The adjoining of the Egyptians to Israel is made in the actual exit from Egypt. Baal HaSulam describes it in a letter where he describes the connection between a person and the Creator in “Olam, Shana, Nefesh” [world, year, soul], and says that when a person reaches the barrier, is in the biggest desire to receive towards the Creator, and this is called being lovesick, that "I am lovesick," and he wants, just like you, yearn for some greatest corporeal pleasure there is, that you can't even sleep because it catches you that way, yes? That's how you long for the Creator, to the pleasure that you feel that comes from Him. And when you cross the barrier, this greatest pleasure, that you wanted to receive from, becomes by the influence of the light to a possibility to receive in order to bestow. You receive a screen upon that great desire. This is considered that the Egyptians join Israel. Going through the barrier, or joining vessels of reception to vessels of bestowal, are the same.
Student: So, is there a state that I have some desire, I don't know?
M. Laitman: To the extent in which you grow now, during the time of preparation, until you cross the barrier, you are growing your desire to receive for spirituality, more, and more, and more. Therefore, if in general you feel that you are more drawn, more attracted to spirituality, even though you have all kinds of questions, and even though you have disappointments, and even though you have all kinds of problems of this world that are added to you on purpose from above, but altogether you are more into this, and less into the other life. There ascends in this, and descends, but altogether, it is a sign that you are advancing, until you reach a state in which you are burnt on this. That's it. More than this, I don't want anything. How can you advance towards this? Only by… you can advance to this, it's possible… So, how can you advance towards this? You can only advance to this through the force from above, which are the lights. Well, the Creator gives the lights. He gives and doesn't give, I'm not the owner of that, I don't know. Or, through increasing the importance from below. Importance, I can't suddenly find in me some supplier that will give me more importance for spirituality. The importance for spirituality can be in me if I will feel, really feel, that it's worthwhile for me. But because a person is in a group, in the society, he can use the group and the society in such a way that they will supply him with the importance for spirituality. That's why we need the group, the books.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:48) If I understand that the goal of all this suffering is for the best, so, I kind of lose meaning for it.
M. Laitman: You're saying, now I hear that all the suffering is for my benefit. Come on, bring me more suffering, I'll suffer more, and we're done, yes? It doesn't bother you until you get a blow. The moment you get a blow; you forget about that sentence that the suffering is beneficial to you. Yes, there is some kind of spark, that's correct. That's called the meeting point between the mind and heart. In the mind you understand that it's to your benefit, and in the heart you feel bad from this. And then, there's this whole game that we need, and from this clash you start making discernments, and the more you collect these discernments within you until you're filled with them, then you breach and break through the barrier, and you're ready to enter the spiritual world.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:57) Is it right to say that according to the development and the preparation time, that you feel blows that get bigger, and that's the way till the barrier, when you really reach a yearning for spirituality?
M. Laitman: It's not correct to say that the more a person advances he feels greater blows. Only that his blows, his sufferings become more from animalistic sufferings to spiritual ones. Meaning, it's I care of why I don't have connection with godliness, why don't I want Him so greatly, why am I disappointed from Him, all kinds of sufferings that are kind of like soul suffering, we should say, instead of sufferings that I'm missing money, or honor, or a better job, or less, and so on. Meaning, this is what we need to actually do, to live in the spiritual process. The corporeal process is not really harmed by this so much.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:26:07) We speak a lot about spiritual and corporeal, and that society is the main thing that can help us reach a spiritual desire.
M. Laitman: The society is the main factor that can help us, yes.
Student: So, we're still in the corporeal world. So how can the friends help or support also go through the corporeal issues we're going through?
M. Laitman: No, no, no. Society — there are the articles about the society, did you read them? You know, the society is considered where people that are in it are connected to the goal, and the connection between them is only through the Creator. Meaning, I need to truly depict to myself in the clearest possible way that if it's not the godliness that I wanted to attain, I would have no connection with you. And this is correct, this is good. If it would only be this way, it'll be more true, and it's hard, because the more you're in the society, then we don't get the kind of social friendly connections, we help one another. I need to come to the state where I help the other only because I have a connection to godliness, to Him. Only through Ein Sof I reach you, and if someone has something and I need to help him, I help him. Why? Because we're connected together in one mission, and that's why I'm helping, that's why I love him, because he helps me, and I'm helping him reach the path. We need to be connected only because of this. If we build besides this system of relationships another kind of humane one, nice, it's good for us, we drink, we eat, have fun together, that is simply not correct, it's not good. Gradually, we need… it's impossible to create such an ideal system, relations only through the Creator. But in truth, we need to gradually build it only this way, and we're given help from above with this. We're given difficulties, fights between people, yes, we have hatred, and honor, and all kinds of… yes. Especially envy, a very big force, and all these things help us build a system in which I have a very clear feeling that I need them, that my spiritual life depends on them, and that besides this, I truly have no connection with them. But that which I have is above any other value that could possibly be. Clear? And I don't need to hide this from everyone. I need to actually show it to everyone, that I love you because I need you for spirituality and for nothing else. This strengthens the group; it strengthens its purposefulness.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:32) It is called a passive suffering. So I can discover what giving is and try and equalize to the Creator. And they tell me that there's choice between me and the Creator, what I can do. But now every person off the street, you put him in my shoes, with my will to receive, with all the conclusions I got in life, so what freedom does he have? It's just choosing a bigger pleasure and will run towards it. It's the only thing he sees.
M. Laitman: You're asking about choice.
Student: No, I'm asking that supposedly from the path of suffering, so you can know what giving is, you can equalize. You're not doing it because you're truly trying to equalize, it's just your will to receive. I still don't understand the difference.
M. Laitman: You're saying that all your discernments come from within the desire to receive.
Student: Correct.
M. Laitman: Well, and so what are you asking about that?
Student: So if I take a person off the street, that he knows there's a path and he can come out of the state, like we do in dissemination.
M. Laitman: I mean, you're saying it this way, if I were to go in any other kind of business, to develop, to study, to reach some kind of achievements, because now also I'm in some kind of business to develop here: to learn, to reach certain achievements. And there I use all kinds of my qualities, and here I'm using all kinds of qualities of mine. What's the difference? The difference is that what drives you there is the profit that you see in this world, as we say. Here, for the time being, yes, you're also thinking to benefit something in this world, but gradually it will be clarified to you, within this false goal, that there's a higher goal, higher and higher goal, that is on another plane than the rest of the achievements. Now we learn this way, that when a person develops from desire for business, for money, to honor, to knowledge, and then to godliness. What is godliness? Everything that's in this world; there's something more than that. What's more than this world? More than that which I can receive here. Give me millions, give me as many beastly pleasures, money, honor. That’s towards these people, I don't want to look at them, what's good in their eyes, I'll be greater than them, and that won't satisfy me. I want more than that. I want to disconnect from them, that it's more than them, towards them, but disconnect from their degree, even more above them. This is what I want. This is also egoism, it's also the goal, also human forces that you want to reach, but gradually you start to build values for spirituality. What does it mean to be above them, above this world, above humanity? And then you'll see that for this you need to improve. Do you want to be above humanity? Then you need to be not like them. So exit your qualities, receive qualities that are truly above humanity, which are called the qualities of the Creator, and be like Him, please. This is called to be above the barrier. Of course, for now it's still the candy just you're being attracted to, just like you're attracted to every pleasure in this world, there's no doubt. But gradually, throughout the few years until you advance towards the barrier — three, five, seven years — it could take years, I'm not hiding that, you will see that you receive from the surrounding light that illuminates upon you, advance through your animalistic drive, you advance through the surrounding light, and it gives you the charm, this spark of sanctity. And when you start to grow, your point in the heart, it starts to show its actions. You start to want to receive different qualities from humanity. This is something that we don't know how it happens in us and we don't understand it, but this is what a person gradually feels and receives. And then, accordingly, he starts to feel the recognition of evil, to what extent his now corporeal qualities that everyone has here and now, they are bad, meaning opposite to the qualities that are above the barrier. How does he know what's above the barrier? After all, he's still below the barrier. He knows, since the surrounding light comes to him and illuminates for him the qualities from above. And then he starts to want this. What is this? Not pleasure from this light, but to be similar to Him, like Him. Then, within a person, there start to be two demands. One demand, which is to enjoy spirituality, pleasures that are above this world, that's called Lo Lishma, not for Her sake. And also to be similar to the surrounding light, which is called similar to the Creator, and is already called Lishma, for Her sake. He already has these things, and he has these two things, and he enters spirituality. What does this mean? It's like he has a Galgalta ve Eynaim, desires to be similar to the Creator, to the Creator, and the AHP, to enjoy the surrounding light. And then this AHP wants to enjoy spirituality, really like we think here. So the AHP becomes the left line, the shell, impurity, and the true Pharaoh, that we said here, becomes the three impure shells on the right that he acquires. This becomes the qualities of the Creator, right line.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:36:32) By suffering, I'm advancing. But there's a state, that I do everything I can do. But it's a situation that I don't know what to do. The suffering keeps coming, and I can't sweeten them even a bit in order to advance. A bit to sweeten it, a bit less of suffering. What should I do at that moment, if He organized everything?
M. Laitman: The Creator arranged everything around you besides the appreciation of the situation. The way to appreciate the state, you need to arrange the relation, the attitude towards the state that He arranges for you. And this relation to it can invert the picture of this state from completely negative to completely positive. I'm telling you seriously. How does it happen with us sometimes? I look, what cruelty, what things, what… Then it's explained to me, and I calm down, I understand, I agree. It all depends on the consciousness of it, the awareness. The awareness of one's deeds, of His actions upon me. Meaning, if I reveal the goal in everything that He does with me, then I have no problem to agree with anything He does. Meaning, what am I missing? What are you asking that I can mitigate or sweeten the situation? What am I missing in order to feel better? To see Him and to see what He does in me. Why is He doing this to me? That's the solution. From now until the final correction, each of us is in one edge and needs to come to the other side of the path. Now one state we're below, and we have to reach all the way to the top of the degrees. How do we do this? Through the development of the records. The soul descended from above downwards, and she needs to rise above through the same processes by my deeds, my labor. So, my path is clear, it's already determined in advance. Each and every state I have to go through to acquire the left line, the right line, the middle line, left line, right line. That's the way of degrees and states that I have to go through - I have no way to touch this, I can't decide about anything here. Each and every state is defined according to the chain of records in me. It's like a gene that needs to constantly develop according to its qualities. I have nothing. I can only determine the pace of my advancement. Why do they talk about the pace? Because my development depends on the extent to which I recognize it, understand it, agree with it, to the extent in which I identify with it. I'm given a blow. If I work on this in order to understand the blow, then the moment I understand the blow and see the Creator operating in it and making it, identifying with it, kind of crosses them over, these things, until I'm in this whole state as one case, and I understood that this is how it needs to be. And in this, in all of my I, by this, it changes, it needs to change and replace, change to the other side, and so on. Meaning, every state, time that I remain in, I am in, depends on, until one understands it all the way to the end, and I'm identifying with it, I'm with it, I then, you know, I justify, connect with the Creator. Causing a greater pace, that is what I'm capable of only. I receive the blow, immediately when I receive the blow, so that I will feel with the blow that it's not a blow, that it's a force that obligates me to develop for my benefit. I feel purposefulness, I feel spirituality, I'm done. The state changes, again changes, and again changes. Each time in a new state, I should recognize it. That's it, and we do this through the crossing of these three things: I, which is called Israel, the Creator, and what He does for me. What intention, what blows He does, which is called the ways to the light, the degrees, or the ways to the Creator, to the light. If I manage to do this in each and every state, the moment I succeeded, comes the next state.
M. Laitman: (01:42:46) Another realization, another realization, another record, and that's how I pace, I walk until the end of correction. The pace, the frequency is the only thing that I am capable of increasing from a natural pace, which is years in each and every state that can be, to die and be born and again be in the same state. So I can, from years, shorten it to a few seconds, to a fraction of a second. There's a Hasidic story, there are such Hasidic stories, the Hasidim who were Kabbalists, not like today's Hassidim, that when, in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, we'll say, yes, a great, very great Kabbalist, that a student complains to the teacher that during the last ten minutes he had two or three descents, and then ascents, and changes of form. So the Rav tells the student, he had 400. And you can also count it, in spirituality you can actually count it, because these are the actual degrees that you go through.
Student: But I'm before the barrier.
M. Laitman: That's not important. You're not before the barrier or after the barrier. I'm telling you, altogether we learn about ourselves. Kabbalah is a self-study about oneself. The more you recognize, appreciate your state, yourself, who gave it to you, why you were given it, meaning the more you — it's really, the more you know yourself, get to know yourself in a state that you're going through, you move faster to the next states. That's it. A person is a small world. You have nothing to learn outside of you, only through you, you move into the next reality. This way we're not learning, not the article or anything, right?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:45:46) What you were speaking about, how to connect the things, so it's great advice, but …
M. Laitman: It's written in the letter from Baal HaSulam. It's not that I'm recommending or inventing something.
Student: But there, if he puts the qualities in me, the negative ones, I want to change while I'm connecting those points. But I see that I have disturbances.
M. Laitman: You don't need to be concerned with the qualities, which qualities bother me and which don't bother me. There's no quality in you, and between us, you have some that we don't talk about before everyone. Nothing was created for no reason, and it has no necessity or need to reach the goal. That's why, and you don't know, you're not so smart that you can know, you're not so wise that you can know which relationship, this quality with that quality, and what connection, etc. You can't now depict yourself as spiritual Partzuf, the soul, which is built and is whole, it's truly developed. That's impossible. We don't need to therefore care for any pinpoint treatment of ourselves. We just need to be concerned with the light coming as much as possible from above, care for us, and correct us. He already knows against my soul what to do in it precisely. Meaning, when He gets there, each time comes from a higher degree, and a higher degree, and a higher degree. Accordingly, He opens in me a lower layer of egoism, even lower, and even lower, and lower. And this is how He corrects it, from the light to the heavy. And I can't know what will happen to me in any minute, what qualities will jump up in me, and the desires and thoughts. We see that suddenly you receive all kinds of thoughts and desires that are different. This needs to be worked on, and whoever goes to take care of the measures is truly a dummy, not as if he knows how to control the system. Okay, well, let's move to our studies.