The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: July 24, 2026
Reader: Dear friends! In the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a lesson of the Rav's on the 7th of July, 2002, it is based on the article, What Israel Do the Creator's Will Means in the Work. The article is article Number 32 from 1990 of Rabash, Kabbalist Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, we will read it together in the Ten.
Reading: (00:36) What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work?
Article No. 32, 1990
Our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Nasso, Portion 11:7), One verse says, “The Lord will favor you,” and another verse says, “who will not be biased.” How do these two verses coexist? When Israel do the Creator’s will, He favors them. When they do not do the Creator’s will, He “will not be biased.”
This is perplexing: 1) If they do the Creator’s will, why do they need partiality? After all, they are fine, so what else do they need to do in order to be fine? 2) The verse says (Deuteronomy 10), “who will not be biased and will not take a bribe.” But if we do the Creator’s will, there is no greater bribe than this. It is the same as among people, when someone wants the judge to be on his side in a trial, he does what the judge wants and in return the judge leans toward him in the trial and acquits him. So what is the answer that if they do the Creator’s will, He will be biased, as though He would take a bribe?
To understand these two questions, we need to understand the following:
1) What is “the face of the Creator” [in Hebrew, “turning the face to someone” means being biased toward him], and what is “will not turn lift up the face [be biased]”?
2) What is doing the Creator’s will and what is not doing the Creator’s will?
3) Our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” We should understand what is the evil inclination and what is the spice.
4) Our sages also said, “I labored and found, believe; I did not labor but found; do not believe.” We should understand what is the meaning of labor. That is, why did they say that there is labor specifically in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and without labor, nothing is given. Where is the novelty here? After all, in the corporeal world, where there is no connection to the work of the Creator, nothing is given without work and labor, too. As we can see, the custom is that a person goes to work, as it is written, “One should leave for one’s toil and labor until evening.” Thus, where is the novelty in that Torah and Mitzvot require labor, and without labor no reward is given, to the point that they say, “I found but did not labor, do not believe”? After all, in corporeality, too, there is no such thing as a person obtaining something without labor. Therefore, we should understand why they said, “I did not labor but found, do not believe.”
We know that there are two matters before us: 1) the purpose of creation, 2) the correction of creation.
The purpose of creation is for the creatures to receive delight, to feel contentment. The correction of creation is for the Creator to have contentment. That is, there must be equivalence of form, where as the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy, as it is written, that the creation of the world was because of His desire to do good to His creations, and since the Creator is the giver and the creatures the receivers, the creatures should also bestow contentment upon the Creator. Then it is considered that the creatures seemingly give and the Creator receives, as our sages said, “Israel furnish their father in heaven.” This is called “correction.” That is, in order to have equivalence of form with the Creator, there must be “Cling unto His attributes.”
However, how does one achieve a state where he wants to do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, while man is born with a desire to receive for his own sake? As we learned, this desire—that the Creator wants to delight the creatures—the Creator created in the creatures this desire, a desire to receive, to want and to yearn to satisfy their deficiencies. That is, the Creator created in the creatures a lack. This lack demands its satisfaction, or this lack yields in us suffering, which forces a person to do everything he can to satisfy his lack.
Thus, when a person has a desire and a yearning to satisfy his lack, how can he relinquish the satisfaction of his lack and say that he receives the filling because he wants to satisfy the Creator’s will? That is, since the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy abundance, therefore, he receives only for this reason. This is against the way that the Creator created nature!
To this comes the answer, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” This means that the will to receive for oneself is called the “evil inclination,” since it obstructs us from achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form.” Through the Torah, there is the light of Torah that reforms him so as to have the power to overcome the will to receive for himself and do everything for the sake of the Creator.
It therefore follows that the reason that should compel a person to engage in Torah and Mitzvot is in order to obtain vessels of bestowal, which is called the “correction of creation.” When a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot with this intention, it is regarded as “working Lishma [for Her sake].” That is, he works and labors in order to obtain something that does not exist in nature. For this reason, he needs the Segula [remedy/virtue] of Torah and Mitzvot to make him obtain these Kelim [vessels], which he cannot obtain by himself unless with the help of the Creator. This Segula is found in Torah and Mitzvot, and this is called the “light of Torah,” as was said, “the light in it reforms him.”
However, our sages said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot, even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma [for Her sake].” That is, the beginning of man’s work is Lo Lishma, meaning to receive reward, as it is written in The Zohar, “either for a reward in this world, or a reward in the next world.” When a person works for a reward, he must believe in reward and punishment. If he believes in this, his work is regarded as “according to nature,” meaning that the body does not resist his work in Torah and Mitzvot because at that time he is working for his own sake.
This is called “the natural way,” as in corporeal affairs, when we work we get reward. Yet, in corporeality, he sees the reward in the same place, so the reward mandates the work, while in Torah and Mitzvot he must believe in the reward, so there is work to believe in reward and punishment. But when he believes in reward and punishment, the body can do the holy work.
However, when a person wants to engage in Torah and Mitzvot not in order to receive reward, the body objects to this, as it is against nature. By nature, a person can work only for his own sake. Therefore, when he wants to work for the sake of the Creator, the body objects to this.
Here begins the labor, as our sages said, “I labored but did not find, do not believe; I did not labor but found, do not believe.” Indeed, it is difficult to understand how a person can deceive himself and say, “I did not labor but found.” After all, in corporeality, we do not see that a person finds provision without labor. And here, in the work, where our sages said, “A thousand walk into a room and one comes out to teach,” we see that acquiring Torah is harder than obtaining corporeality. And in corporeality, we do not obtain anything without labor, so how can a person say that he has obtained something without labor?
We should also understand what they said, “I labored but did not find.” Does one lie when he says, “I did not find,” of which they said, “do not believe”? After all, we are speaking of a person who wants to obtain something in the Torah, would he lie?
The thing is that when a person wants to work and achieve the degree of Dvekut, which is equivalence of form, as the Creator wants to bestow upon the creatures, man, too, wants to come to be able to do the Creator’s will. That is, as the Creator wants to bestow, so man wants to do everything in order to bestow. But since bestowing is against nature, man cannot obtain this desire, as it contradicts human nature, for the Creator created man with a desire to receive, so how can man go against the nature with which the Creator created him? Only the Creator can change nature, but not man, as our sages said (Taanit 25), “He who said to the oil, ‘Burn!’ will say to the vinegar, ‘Burn!’”
Therefore, here, too, in work matters, we must say, “He who created in the creatures the desire to receive for oneself will give the creatures the desire to bestow.” That is, only the Creator can change nature, and not man. This is why it is called “a miracle from above,” as it is above nature. This is called “the miracle of the exodus from Egypt,” when the Creator delivered them from control of the Egyptians, which is the control of the will to receive.
Accordingly, “I labored but did not find” means that I have made great efforts to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, meaning I have done everything I could but did not find within me the desire to bestow and I remained with the will to receive for myself even more than when I began the work on obtaining the desire to bestow, which is the Creator’s will, whose desire is only to bestow. When I began to labor, I saw that each time I found myself immersed deeper in the will to receive for myself. Then, I decided that it is true that I labored but did not find, but the Creator helped me find in me the desire to bestow. This is as The Zohar says, “He who comes to purify is aided.” And it asks, “With what?” It replies, “With a holy soul. When he is born, he is given a soul. He is rewarded more…”
It follows that the Creator gives him the soul, each time a higher degree, and this is called the “face of the Creator,” meaning the light of the Creator, called when it is a complete degree by the name NRNHY. This is the assistance he receives from above.
It therefore follows that when a person says, “I did not labor,” it means that the labor did not help him at all, so as to be able to say that through the labor he has found within him the desire to bestow. If the Creator had not given him the light of His face, called a “holy soul,” he would remain in the will to receive for himself, and nothing more. It follows that when he says, “I labored but did not find,” he is telling the truth, meaning that his labor did not help him whatsoever.
Here we should ask, If he is right when he says “I did not labor,” why did they say, “Do not believe”? The answer is that one is not given something for which he has no need, since one who has a need and asks the Creator to satisfy his need receives from above a filling for his need. Therefore, the person’s labor and desire to be rewarded with vessels of bestowal, and his labor and toil for this, for obtaining the desire of the Creator, called “desire to bestow,” this is the Kli [vessel], and the light is called “The desire to bestow.” Only the Creator can give this desire. That is, just as He has given to man the desire to receive when he was born, He can later give him the desire to bestow. But if a person does not labor in order to obtain the desire to bestow, then he has no need. And the evidence that it is not worth his while to exert and toil in order to be rewarded with it is that he cannot receive from above this desire that will change the workings of nature.
By this we can interpret what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:21), “It is not for you to finish the work, nor are you free to idle away from it.” We should interpret that if a person knows that he cannot obtain the desire to bestow, but only the Creator can give it to him, then why does he need to labor in vain, since he cannot obtain it? Therefore, we should ask, Why do I need this work? since in any case, he cannot obtain this by himself.
Our sages said about this, “You are not free to rid yourself of it.” This is so because man’s labor is required not because man can obtain the desire to bestow, since the desire to bestow is called “light,” as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided,” and the aid, says The Zohar, is the light of Neshama, as it is written that he is assisted by giving him a holy Neshama [soul]. Rather, we need the labor for the Kli, meaning to obtain the lack—how much he needs the Creator’s help, to help him and give him the light of Neshama.
However, when a person begins to work in order to obtain the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow, just as the Creator wants to bestow, and a person thinks that he must obtain this by himself, during the work, he sees that each time he becomes more immersed in self-love. At that time, a person escapes the campaign because he sees that he is not advancing. Then the person tells himself that this work of obtaining the desire of the Creator is not for him. Why? Because he sees that each time he becomes worse.
Yet, if a person believes that only the Creator gives the desire to bestow, then why should he escape the campaign and say that it is for more gifted people? After all, the Creator helps with this, so why is it important to the Creator to differentiate one person from other people?
It is known that to the Creator, small and great are equal. Hence, when a person says that working only to bestow is only for a chosen few and not for ordinary people, it is a sign that he thinks that it is within man’s hands to obtain the desire to bestow. For this reason, a person must be strong-minded and believe that he is not required to achieve this desire. Rather, he is required to have a need to achieve the desire to bestow. And when he has a true desire and need to achieve this, the Creator will help him, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” All the labor that one should give is only to obtain the need and desire to bestow, and nothing else.
Yet, there is a question: When a person feels the bad, to the extent that the will to receive obstructs him from achieving Dvekut, and he prays to the Creator to help him and give him the desire to bestow, why after several efforts that a person has given in order to obtain the desire to bestow, it makes sense that the Creator should give him the desire to bestow? But in the end, what does one receive? Not only did he not get help by the Creator giving him the desire to bestow, but instead, in return for the effort he made, he receives an even stronger desire. That is, each time, he sees that his will to receive has grown more excessive. Therefore, he sees here the opposite work of what should have happened.
The answer is that a person cannot be shown how much evil there is in him, meaning the full measure of evil with which one is born, as it is written in The Zohar about the verse “Sin crouches at the door,” that as soon as one comes out of the womb, the evil, called “sin,” comes along with it. If one were to see all the evil in him, he would immediately say that this work of doing everything for the sake of the Creator is not for him, and he would not even want to begin the work. He would give up in advance.
For this reason, only a little bit of evil is shown to a person, and for the little bit of evil, a person begins to ask the Creator to help him. At that time, some more evil is revealed to a person and he begins to ask the Creator for help once more. Therefore, after every request for help, he can be shown a little more evil, and so he adds requests, and more revelation of evil within him is added to him. Finally, a person gives all the prayers about all the evil that is in him, and then he receives the good he asks for, meaning the desire to bestow, for which he begins to work in order to obtain this desire, which is the will of the Creator, whose desire is only to bestow.
It follows that if a person receives the desire to bestow on a little bit of evil, he will think that this is enough for him. If he is satisfied in the work, then all the evil that is left in him, for which he did not receive the correction of a desire to bestow, this bad will stay within him uncorrected. Conversely, when they see above that each time he asks for help over the bad that is revealed in him each day, then all the bad within him, meaning which was revealed to him, he asks for help from above, and the help he receives through his prayers now is that evil is revealed to him so that in this way, all the evil will be revealed in him.
Afterward, when he receives the help from above, all the bad will be corrected into work in order to bestow. Because he did not receive the desire to bestow in the middle of the work, he does not have anything from which to derive satisfaction. For this reason, he prays each time to be given the desire to bestow. Then, through his prayers, when he asks the Creator to give him the help, there is room for the evil to be revealed in him because he is standing and crying out to be given the help he needs.
This is similar to an expert physician who comes to the country, who heals all of man’s sicknesses in the world. However, a person can only see him once. Any patient who comes to him, whatever illnesses the patient tells him, he heals. One patient came to him with stomach problems, and the doctor healed him. Afterward, the patient learned he had a heart disease, for example, and wanted to go see the doctor. But since he has already been to the doctor and the doctor does not see patients twice, then he was left with a heart disease for the rest of his life. Another patient went in and said, “I have a heart disease and arthritis, and my gallbladder is also troubling me,” since other doctors told him he was suffering from this illness, too. He went to the expert doctor, who healed everything at once. But other patients, who did not know their illnesses, remained with the illnesses they had.
Then, all the patients who did not know their illnesses came to consult with the doctor about how they might know all their illnesses when he gives them the medicine, so it will cure all their sicknesses. Then, the doctor said that anyone who wants to see him, while he makes an appointment, he will give him a pill, and this pill that the doctor gives them will show them all their illnesses. Afterward, when they come to him, he will cure them. Thus, all the illnesses that each one has will be cured at once.
But the patients did not understand what the doctor told them. When they took the pill that the doctor gave them when they made an appointment with him. Therefore, each one saw that he was a little sick, and the doctor gave them a cure and they were healed. Now he sees the doctor’s expertise, that now he has become sicker than before. Previously, he suffered from one disease, and now he sees that each time his situation worsens. That is, sometimes he had headaches, but now he has heartaches, or stomachaches, and so on. Everyone yells at the mediators for advising them to go to this doctor, since they have become worse since they went to the doctor, and still the doctor himself did not treat them, only the doctor’s secretary when he made an appointment to see the doctor. She gave him a pill and his situation has worsened each day.
The lesson is that when a person signs up to do the holy work, which is to achieve the desire of the Creator, the desire to bestow, he is told that the doctor heals all the illnesses at once, and our illness is called “will to receive for ourselves.” In order for the desire to receive to be revealed within man to its full meanness, otherwise, if he asks the Creator to be given help to be able to overcome the will to receive and perform actions in order to bestow, then that person will be satisfied with the work of the desire to bestow.
Thus, the bad will remain in him but will not be revealed, as in corporeality when a person is sick but does not know his illness and must take tests to know the illness. Likewise, a person who wants to work and labor in order to be able to do the Creator’s will, the person does not know his illness, and only through Torah and work can we know his illness.
This is as our sages said, “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah.” Baal HaSulam interpreted that it means he has foreign thoughts. “If his stomach aches,” this means that the will to receive in his guts controls him, and so forth. Hence, first, all the evil in a person must be revealed, and he does not receive the desire to bestow immediately after he has labored. Rather, it is until all the evil in him is revealed. Then, when he receives the desire to bestow, it is over all the evil in him.
It follows that the fact that one sees that he is growing worse each time is a sign that he is walking on the path of truth. The evidence is that the way he is walking on is doing its thing. It is like a person giving a medicine to the sick person once, and he comes to the doctor and tells him, “Now, through your medicine, the illness has become worse.” Then the doctor tells him, “On the contrary, now I see that my medicine has begun to work. It is simply that first it works in one way, and then it works in another way until he regains his health.”
According to the above, we will understand what we asked, What is “doing the Creator’s will”? We should interpret, a desire to bestow, meaning that His will is to do good to His creations, and He wants the created beings to enjoy. Likewise, man wants to obtain that desire because he wants adhesion with the Creator, which is the meaning of equivalence of form. Since man was created with an opposite desire—a desire only to receive and not to bestow—he therefore has much labor to obtain it.
Conversely, when a person works and receives reward in corporeality, it is not regarded as “labor,” since it is not against nature, since everything he does is for his own benefit.
This is not so in the work to obtain the will of the Creator, namely the desire to bestow, where one does only that which yields benefit to the Creator and not to himself. This is labor, since it is against nature. Such a person cannot obtain this desire by himself, but needs the Creator to give it to him. This is called the Creator “favoring him,” since it is impossible to obtain this unless miraculously, above nature.
It follows that there is no other way to obtain this desire unless by being favored. This is the meaning of the words, “The Lord will favor you.” The Midrash explains that when they do the Creator’s will, when they work on obtaining this desire, the Creator must give man the Panim [face/anterior] of the Creator, called a Neshama [soul]. That is, he is assisted by giving him a holy soul, which is the face of the Creator, as there is no other way to be rewarded with the will of the Creator unless through the Creator’s face [favor]. This is the meaning of “The Lord will favor you.”
This is not so with people who do not engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to be rewarded with the will of the Creator, but engage in Torah and Mitzvot for a reward. They do not need the face of the Creator, called a “soul,” since they are not going against nature. Hence, to the extent that they believe in reward and punishment, they can engage in Torah and Mitzvot, since the reward awakens them to work. It follows that when they do not do the Creator’s will, meaning engage in Torah and Mitzvot, they do not want reward for their work—that the Creator will give them the desire to bestow, but rather a reward for the will to receive. It is written about them that He “will not be biased,” since they do not need a soul, that He would give them, for the face of the Creator is the light of the Creator, called a “holy soul,” which a person receives in order to reform him, and which is called “help from above.”
It therefore follows that what they said, that when they do not do the Creator’s will, the Creator will not favor them, it is because they do not need the Creator to give them the soul that will reform them, since they feel that they are good, that they are observing Torah and Mitzvot in all its details and intricacies. And what is the reason for which they engage in Torah and Mitzvot? It is the reward. To the extent that they believe in reward and punishment, they can do the holy work, since this does not contradict the desire to receive.
Therefore, precisely when they do the Creator’s will, meaning when their work in Torah and Mitzvot is because “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” then they are learning Torah in order to emerge from the control of the will to receive, which is called the “evil inclination.” They need the light of Torah, for by this they will be rewarded with the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow. By this we will understand what we asked, What is the “face of the Creator”? The answer is that it is a light, the holy soul that the Creator gives to a person in order to reform him.
Now we can also understand what we asked, What is “who … will not take a bribe”? After all, doing the Creator’s will seems to be a bribery in itself. The answer is that he wants the Creator to favor him, meaning give him a holy soul, not for his own sake. On the contrary, he wants the Creator to favor him so he can emerge from self-benefit and be able to work only for the sake of the Creator, and not for his own sake.
Thus, he does not want the Creator to give him something for his own sake, that we can say that the person is bribing the Creator the way one bribes by giving someone a gift with the aim that the receiver of the gift will give the giver of the gift something for his own sake. Conversely, here, a person doing the Creator’s will means that he wants to be able to do the Creator’s will and asks Him to favor him so he can do all that he does for the sake of the Creator.
By this we understand that the “evil inclination” is the will to receive, and the “spice” is the power to emerge from the control of the will to receive, and the Torah is called “the light of Torah,” which is the interior of the Torah, the soul of the Torah.
Reader: The face of the Creator is called a holy soul, which a person receives in order to reform him, and which is called help from Above. It therefore follows that what they said, that when they do not do the Creator's will, the Creator would not favor them, it is because they do not need the Creator to give them the soul that will reform them, since they feel that they are good, that they are observing Torah and Mitzvot in all its details and intricacies. And what is the reason for which they engage in Torah and Mitzvot? It is the reward. To the extent that they believe in reward and punishment, they can do the holy work.
Since this does not contradict the desire to receive, therefore, precisely when they do the Creator's will, meaning when their work in Torah and Mitzvot is because "I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice," then they are learning Torah in order to emerge from the control of the will to receive, which is called the evil inclination. They need the light of Torah, for by this they will be rewarded with the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow.
By this we will understand what we asked: What is the face of the Creator? The answer is that it is light, the holy soul that the Creator gives to a person in order to reform him.
Now we can also understand what we asked: What is "Who will not take a bribe"? After all, doing the Creator's will seems to be a bribery in itself. The answer is that he wants the Creator to favor him, meaning give him a holy soul, not for his own sake. On the contrary, the Creator, he wants the Creator to favor him, so he can emerge from self-benefit and be able to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake.
Thus, he does not want the Creator to give him something for his own sake, so that we can say that the person is bribing the Creator the way one bribes by giving someone a gift with the aim that the receiver of the gift will give the giver of the gift something for his own sake. Conversely, here a person doing the Creator's will means that he wants to be able to do the Creator's will, and he asks Him to favor him so he can do all that he does for the sake of the Creator.
By this we understand that the evil inclination is the will to receive, and the spice is the power to emerge from the control of the will to receive. And the Torah is called the light of Torah, which is the interior of the Torah, the soul of the Torah.
Reader: We'll go to the lesson from the date 7th of July, 2002.
M. Laitman: (43:43) We read part of the article in Volume 3 of Shlavey HaSulam, Rungs of the Ladder, Parashat Nasso, What Israel Do the Creator's Will Means in the Work. Rabash explains to us that what is written, The path of Torah, is opposite to the opinion of the landlords. The opinion of Torah is opposite to the opinion of the landlords, what does it mean? A landlord is someone who goes straight, directly, according to his nature, according to the will to receive that the Creator created in him. Then, in a simple way, openly, before his eyes, he works and demands a reward and works according to reward and punishment. And understands that the way he works is all well and good, and to this extent, we know that it is possible to reveal very small pleasures in the will to receive. Only what can be received in the will to receive in order to receive – limited pleasures are called corporeal or animal pleasures. Corporeal is called that because of the intention to receive and this is how the entire world works; it runs after all these pleasures, knowing that according to the effort it can receive, it will have reward according to its effort, according to its labor. Whereas those who enter into real work, that is, they do not work according to the will to receive and the pleasure opposite it. But go to acquire a screen that separates the will to receive from pleasure, and work according to the principle of how much it is possible to bestow through the will to receive. That is, in a way opposite to the initial nature that exists in reality, there the responses are different.
In other words, a person who goes to work the way the whole world works knows that the more he exerts himself, the more he earns in his will to receive. A person who goes to develop his will to bestow and receives a reward in it, in the will to bestow must also examine the product, the result in the will to bestow, and not through the eyes of the will to receive. If he now goes to build a vessel of the will to bestow, then according to the principles of bestowal, he needs to also examine how he is progressing. What happens to us is that we are confused: on one hand, I am in a society, a method, a study, a guidance in which I am going to develop a vessel, to build a vessel of the will to bestow. But I check in this vessel how much I receive according to my initial nature of the will to receive. And then, of course, I find that I have nothing, even worse, every single day I feel myself becoming emptier, and this is correct, yes! We build one vessel and check its filling according to the second vessel – it won't work. Therefore, whoever advances to spirituality, that is, to the in order to bestow, should interpret spirituality as not meaning that I will have additional pleasures, but spirituality is called, in Torah, To bestow, that's the definition of what spirituality is. So, the more he discovers that his nature is worse in his will to receive, the worse it is that he is more egoistic each time and farther from the will to bestow. He should see that a vessel is being revealed to him through this and that is his reward, and he should be happy about it.
M. Laitman: (48:15) Why? Because until a person discovers the entire vessel of his will to receive, and regrets it, and cries out, Save me! Meaning he regrets that he is wholly in order to receive, and checks that he himself cannot correct his vessel to be in order to bestow, and cries out, Save me, give me a screen, I want to be different! Until this work has been done on the whole vessel of the will to receive, he does not emerge into teaching, into spirituality – he does not cross the barrier, the Machsom. Therefore, every time he advances, that is, discovers his emptiness more, how opposite he is, how weak he is, how he is not in it at all. He should be happy, he should examine himself in the new vessel of in order to bestow and see that he is in these constant gains, in these constant profits; rather than checking himself in the vessel of those who receive, of those who enjoy – these simply do not go together.
Therefore, this needs to be the work, meaning that the work is also effort to acquire a vessel of in order to bestow, and an effort also to measure, examine, and see the vessel correctly in vessels of in order to bestow, that's it. Therefore, here is the work of the mind and the heart, there's this internal split: a person is still in the will to receive, yet he has to look at it from this other side, from the side of the will to bestow, how it develops. There is certainly some kind of inner contradiction in a person here until he crosses the barrier. This is how it is. And as Baal HaSulam says there in The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Only the heroes whose patience stood by them, so they truly defeated those guards who stand at the entrance, and then they entered the King's palace. Only through patience, continuing to discover the evil, continuing to feel that it's unpleasant, that one is weak, et cetera. But seeing this as a good result each time, an addition to the vessels of bestowal, then it's not hard. The society needs to support that: the books, the whole path really needs to be such that in our society we value the revelation of evil. Not that the evil itself should become sweet or good for us — no, otherwise, it would no longer be evil. Rather, the revelation of evil, the revelation of weakness, that should be for us a sign of goodness. We should not take pride in it, otherwise we once again turn it into a shell, a Klipa. We should not take pride in it and should not rejoice in it. Meaning rejoicing means enjoying it, as if it's some kind of masochism. That too is a shell, it says, Enjoy this, suffer from this, all suffering comes from the shell, from the Klipa. Rather, it simply needs to be an appreciation of what is happening now. That new stages toward in order to bestow are being revealed to me.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:07) I have a problem with this thing of in order to bestow. Okay, so I perform actions, no matter what I do, I discover within me truly each time how much I'm with more desire here. It's bad, it truly feels bad, this is what it feels.
M. Laitman: It's not so noticeable on you, but let's say, okay.
Student: It doesn't matter, but this is what I feel, the thing is that I want to say, I want in order to bestow, I want Him to change my nature, turn into something, I don't know. But if I just say it, In order to bestow, just words, it remains in words, I don't have the feeling of what it is, what I want. So how can I make the scrutiny and tell Him I want it? Or, you know, I want Him to change it, take away this illness — I don't know what it means to be healthy.
M. Laitman: Correct, we do not know what in order to bestow is and in general what we are heading toward, we do not know. But according to what is being revealed to me on the path now, I see that I am, indeed, heading toward in order to bestow, toward something that is the opposite of nature. According to the signs, I can say that, how am I going, I don't know. How it operates on me — they say the surrounding light operates on me — I also don't know. How suddenly it changes and why it even comes to me, through what efforts, I also don't really know, right? But you see that it's happening, right? So, now you still don't understand who is working on you, or how they work, but maybe they're simply telling you, you make an effort, while in the meantime they're just keeping you occupied with something and working on you. It doesn't matter, what matters is that you see signs along the way; these signs are the revelation of the evil within you. You already feel the will to receive as evil, and as something — you're beginning to suffer from it, right? To be ashamed of it, so to speak, although afterwards you overcome it, not so much, you live with it and continue. But there are periods when a person truly feels it as evil, right? You also understand intellectually, accordingly, that you are progressing, usually too, after the revelation of evil and such states, when you feel some kind of renewal in the will to bestow and in the will to receive. Somehow new discernments come to you one against the other.
You also get some kind of flashes of insight, a new understanding, a somewhat different new perception. So these are the signs, these are the signs; of course, when you take the next step, you still don't know where you're going, and once again you have confusion. And everything is as though, however wise you were before, everything is lost again. But if you look at all these things as signs that are written for you in the instruction — yes, in the instruction manual it says this is how it should be — then you can already be happy about it. Not happy that you're confused or that you're despairing or lacking strength, not about the state itself. But because truth is becoming revealed to you, if you're happy about the state itself, then you don't want to continue anymore. Then you're a fool sitting with folded hands, eating his own flesh, and you don't want to move from the place, that's no good. It's not that I'm dissatisfied with this place, but I'm grateful that this place, this state, has now come to me. From here onward, I can continue, it's a sign that I'm on the path!
Afterward, it'll turn into sufferings of love. In other words, we need to work with the intellect, with an intellectual scrutiny, and this scrutiny needs to be real. Although I'm still in the will to receive, I already understand what it means to bestow in contrast to it. Why do I understand, if I'm already beginning to see that I suffer from the will to receive in some way, it's already because in contrast to it, the light has been revealed. And then, in the difference between the qualities of the light and the qualities of the self, my will to receive, the difference between them evokes in me the feeling of shame, the feeling of suffering. So, we should be happy about the signs.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:57) What actions can one take, even artificial ones, for a friend, that resemble bestowal?
M. Laitman: For a friend?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: What actions can we do for a friend in order to bestow? Well, I don't know, if let's say I like flowers, you should bring me flowers. If I cannot get up to study, you will wake me up, you will bring me here to study, right? If you know it will be good for me to feel from you some kind of a reminder, a warm reminder during the day, then call me! If it's important for you that I too will think about the goal, and this will also come back to you later in some form — an egoistic form, that's okay — then call me. Remind me about it. Anything that can be beneficial in the context of the goal.
Student: You can do anything for the sake of the goal and you see that egoism is doing it.
M. Laitman: The fact that I now want to achieve the goal through my egoism is correct, so what? If I want to use the egoism, what else can I use, what else do I have at my disposal? Only that I should not be ashamed about it, I should operate it as I am, with all the power, in the right direction, as much as I understand it. And this will be revealed to me bit by bit, both the direction and also the power of my ego, and its willingness to go or not, and so on. This is called Lo Lishma, what does it mean, Lo Lishma, that I am now going to acquire a goal? The goal is spiritual, in order to bestow, but I'm going in order to receive now, to acquire this goal in order to bestow. Do you understand how opposite it is? But I have no choice, so this is how I go, this is what I want, I want as Rabash wrote here, You want spirituality, you want to work in this world and gain something in this world? Later on, you change your mind, you saw that this whole world is rubbish, it's not worthwhile to work for it, so you operated a greater egoism, isn't it? You look at all of these people with contempt: what is it, this is life, this is what you live for? Why finish this whole life and burn it away, what for? Even if you will make millions. What, in the end, they'll make a tombstone out of gold for you? You're going to gain something better, right? It's very good, a bigger ego, it's excellent.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:46) So, how is it possible to annul oneself before a friend if you also have the goal that you want to press on as hard as possible, and at the same time you have to annul yourself?
M. Laitman: I am capable of annulling myself before a friend only on the condition that I will truly understand that I have no choice but to be connected with him. If I am in some elite commando unit and we truly depend on each other for life or death, then I have no choice and I don't have such a problem to annul before the others. I was several times in my life in such states, where my life depended on other people; I annulled before them and I felt joy in it, even in a hospital, let's say. Those things that everybody knows, even the simplest things. A person comes to me and says, I'm not going to put you to sleep, I'm going to cut you open, I'm going to make some correction in your body. You'll be healthy, I'll save your life. I kiss his hands, I pay him money, whatever, just go ahead and do it. Do I have a problem with it? I want to be his friend, he brings me to life. So, my ego is the opposite, my ego is working at full volume just to connect to him. I search for how I can do good to him — this, maybe that, so long as he will save me – isn't that true? And this was very well revealed to me. Also in other places where I truly was dependent on it for my life, I learned from all of these things. You enter some clerk that you depend on him, you want to be his friend at that moment, why not? You depend on him. I see that my daughter comes to me to ask for money, Daddy, how are you? At that moment, I'm daddy! At that moment, I'm her friend, afterwards, they don't need you, that's it! This is how I should also, it's good, it's good, it's normal, this is how I should be dependent on someone. And really, we need to have this inner awareness, some feeling that without him, I'm not going to make it. It is difficult.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:22) If you see that he is supposedly making a mistake regarding the goal, you see it from within yourself. And then you also see that there's nowhere to attach yourself to him. But nevertheless, you have to annul yourself before him, so you annul yourself.
M. Laitman: I didn't understand.
Student: Regarding the goal, you see that the goal is more important, to direct him in another direction.
M. Laitman: Yes, the importance of the goal obligates me to annul before the friend? Yes, yes, certainly the importance of the goal, that the goal is more important, that my individual ego, my individual life,I can't sit at home. But without reaching the goal, that's for me, that's the most important. So, I annul myself, yes, just like with the doctor, it's a simple example.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:13) We say that the society is essentially the most significant factor that causes a person to move forward. However, all the time we say that I need a society, that it will increase the importance of the Creator for me. On the other hand, we say that progress itself is made through the recognition of evil. So, why shouldn't I take, say, instead of 10 people who shout at me, The Creator is great, five who shout, You're just a piece of garbage, a little creature in order to receive, who constantly give me this counterpoint? That's also from the outside, it will make it easier for me to make this scrutiny from within?
M. Laitman: The society gives a person many discernments, both positive and also negative, everything. I don't know what you're quite, maybe your question is, can you buy them with money? Let's say I have money, I'm a rich person, I will now buy 10 people, I buy a million people, they will constantly shout out to me that this is important, and this, and this, and that. Will it work or not? It will work because all in all, I'm now in my will to receive, in my beast; my beast is impressed from what it hears, what it sees. If I could buy with money a million people who will constantly work in such a way that will shout out to me that it is important, the work of the Lord. And they'll act before me, truly act — ask the friend, he will tell you, that's it. So, I pay each one of them 10,000 shekels a month, and they're all around me, truly acting before me as though they're all adhered to the Creator. I truly stage something that is huge, and then I go inside, and even though I paid for it, I myself paid for it, I myself gave them the order, Start acting, I myself know in advance that they're doing it only for money. But I go in, a minute later, we're done, I'm influenced by them, they give me strength, they give me an impression, they give me upliftment. I truly go, and I acquire spirituality, and they acquire their paycheck. Because I need to be influenced by them inside my will to receive. My will to receive, it's fine, it will be impressed by it, this is what we demand in a society. Otherwise, I need a society which is not like you; otherwise, I need around me the group of Rabbi Shimon, or Baal HaSulam, or people like that. And here they say, no, take ordinary people just like you. It's just that they want the goal and make toward each other these efforts in acting.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:13) What I'm asking is the following: it's clear why I need the society to increase the importance of the goal for me, and make me want to go toward the goal. But if, within the goal, the work is essentially the recognition of evil, so let that be a part of the society that also constantly shouts at me, You messed up, you're evil, so I'll see it.
M. Laitman: If I yell at you that you are bad, you won't feel that you're bad, you won't feel it. The recognition of evil should be as a result of the influence of the surrounding light, you see? All of these things that the society does, it stimulates you, provokes you to be more sensitive to the surrounding light. That you will seemingly draw it more, discover it more. And you should feel the results only in your effort towards it, towards the surrounding light. And if they just yell at you, Bad, bad, bad, just like that, it's not going to help. It also helps sometimes, in a human form, but actually, our advancement should be not from negation but only from the positive side. When I'm drawn to the goal and from the fact that I'm drawn to the goal, and it shines to me according to the measure of the importance of the goal for me. Then according to what it shines, I see the evil in me. From the friends, I actually need to receive only the awareness of the importance of the Creator. I need to advance through the light, not by them yelling at me that I'm bad. This will never bring about love of friends and the correct result, never, that's it! Meaning, what did we talk about? That if we're going towards spirituality, then there has to be measurement and monitoring, and awareness, and the check – the examination should be also in spiritual vessels, meaning with spiritual principles.
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Reader: Let's share our impressions from the lesson and what we're going to implement in the Ten.