The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: October 21, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. What Is, “An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,” in the Work? Article No. 42, 1991.

Reader: Hello, dear friends. In the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a recorded lesson from December 9, 2002, based on the article "What Is 'An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., and Israel Does Not Know,' in the Work?" This is in “The Writings of Rabash.” We will read the article together in the Ten. We have 34 minutes for that.

Reading: (00:50) What Is, “An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,” in the Work?

Article No. 42, 1991

It is written, “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” We should understand what is the question, for he says that the ox knows, and the donkey knows its master’s manger, but Israel do not. That is, man certainly has more brains than a beast, so he asks, Why does Israel not know and “My people does not understand” who is the Provider and Giver of nourishments to the created beings?

We could say that “The ox knows its owner” is not like Israel. The ox and the donkey see who feeds them, unlike Israel, and the people of Israel do not see who is their Provider, and they must only believe that the Creator gives them all they need.

In other words, the people of Israel must believe that the Creator nourishes and provides for the world. So what is the question, Why do the ox and the donkey know who provides for them and Israel do not know? If Israel could see the Creator giving them food, like the ox and the donkey, they would be like the ox and the donkey, with the same knowledge as those of the ox and the donkey. But we must believe what is written, “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing,” for this can be only by faith and not by knowledge like the ox.

Therefore, we should understand what is the question, “Why does Israel not know?” First, we must understand why He gave faith to man. That is, anyone who has some brains understands that if the Creator wants people to observe the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], if man could see His Providence openly, and would not have to believe that the Creator leads the world with a guidance of good and doing good, but rather each one would see His Providence, then the whole world would be servants of the Creator and would observe the Torah and Mitzvot with love.

Open Providence is as it is written (“Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 43), “If, for example, the Creator were to establish open Providence with His creations in that, for instance, anyone who eats a forbidden thing would immediately choke, and anyone who performed a commandment would discover wonderful pleasures in it, similar to the finest delights in this corporeal world. Then, what fool would even think of tasting a forbidden thing, knowing that he would immediately lose his life because of it? Also, what fool would leave any commandment without performing it as quickly as possible?”

So why did the Creator not do this, but did everything in a manner that we must believe, and not by way of knowing? Baal HaSulam said that we must believe that the Creator is almighty. So why did He choose that we would go specifically by the way of faith and not by the way of knowledge? It must be that the Creator understood that the way of faith is better in order to ultimately achieve the purpose of creation, and this is why He gave us the way of faith.

Concerning faith, there are many interpretations. That is, each one has his own meaning. But in truth, any meaning of faith that a person chooses is called “faith.” This is as is presented in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 14), “‘He whose Torah is his trade,’ we should interpret that the measure of his faith is apparent in his practice of Torah because the letters of the word Umanuto [his trade] are the same [in Hebrew] as the letters of the word Emunato [his faith]. It is like a person who trusts his friend and lends him money. He may trust him with a pound, and if he asks for two pounds he will refuse to lend him. He might also trust him with one hundred pounds, but not more. Also, he might trust him with all his properties without a hint of fear. This last faith is considered ‘whole faith,’ and the previous forms are considered ‘incomplete faith,’ but rather as ‘partial faith.’ Similarly, one allots oneself only one hour a day to practice Torah and work out of the measure of his faith in the Creator, and the third does not neglect even a single moment of his free time without engaging in Torah and work.”

According to the above, we see that every Jew has the quality of faith. Yet, why did the Creator choose specifically the way of faith? It is because as said above, the way of faith is the most successful for a person to thereby achieve the purpose of creation, meaning to receive the delight and pleasure that He had in the thought of creation, which is “His desire to do good to His creations.”

However, we should understand what are the ways that one can follow in order to achieve the completion of the goal. The answer is that man must perform the correction of creation. This means that the vessels of reception that the Creator created in the creatures, this desire is in oppositeness of form from the Creator, whose desire is to bestow. Hence, man should correct himself by obtaining the desire to bestow. This is called the “correction of creation,” and this is all of man’s work, to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is the meaning of “equivalence of form.”

Hence, if it were revealed that the guidance by which the Creator leads the world is in a manner of good and doing good, it would be utterly impossible for man to choose, meaning to observe Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow. Rather, another reason would compel him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, which is the punishment, meaning out of self-benefit and not because of the commandment of the Creator, as said in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot.”

Hence, His guidance is concealed and man must believe, and then there is room for choice. In other words, there is room to say that he works in order to bestow. That is, a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot although he still does not feel any taste in Torah and Mitzvot, meaning the taste of Torah and the taste of Mitzvot cannot be said to be the reason that obligates him to observe them, since he still does not feel any flavor.

But with corporal pleasures, where the pleasure is known and not believed in, the pleasure that a person sees in something compels him to receive the pleasure. For this reason, if the pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot were revealed—that there is the real pleasure, as the ARI said, that corporeal pleasures have no more than the holy sparks that fell into the Klipot [shells/peels], which is only a “thin light”—if the pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot were revealed, the creatures would certainly be compelled to observe Torah and Mitzvot out of self-benefit.

This is not so when one observes Torah and Mitzvot not because he feels any flavor in it. Rather, sometimes he performs the acts of Torah and Mitzvot by coercion, even though the body objects to this. Yet, we should ask, Why does one force oneself and overcomes the will to receive, which wants rest? The person says that this is the whole difference between man and beast. A beast has no brains; only the pleasure determines what to do or not to do.

But man, who was born with reason, no longer looks at the pleasure as the basis, meaning that this is his guide and where there is more pleasure, this is where he should go. Rather, a person always thinks that he must walk on the path of truth, meaning that the measurement of the work is the truth. He walks on this path and does not look at the sensation of pleasure, that this is his guide. Instead, a person always thinks about the truth, whether what he is about to do now will truly yield a good thing for him.

For this reason, when one takes upon oneself the kingdom of heaven, called “faith,” when one wants to engage in Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator, and he wants to bring contentment to his Maker, a person does not regard the thing he is doing, but he regards the truth. In other words, since the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, we want to do His will so as to delight Him, by observing His Mitzvot.

Therefore, when, for example, a person wears a Tzitzit [a mandatory Jewish fringed undergarment], he does not look at whether the body will enjoy his wearing the Tzitzit, especially when he is careful to wear a very fine Tzitzit, as our sages said (Shabbat 133), “This is my God, and I will praise Him. Adorn yourself before Him with Mitzvot. Make for Him a handsome Sukkah [Tabernacles Feast booth], and a handsome Lulav [Tabernacles Feast palm branch], and a handsome Shofar [ram’s horn to blow in], a handsome Tzitzit, a handsome book of Torah.”

However, a person always looks at how he can please the Creator. That is, he understands with this mind that the fact that the Creator gave us the commandment to love the Creator is not because the Creator needs our love. Rather, everything that the Creator has commanded us to do and to observe His commandments is only for our sake. In other words, by this, a person will achieve the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations.

But a person knows that he has a nature called “will to receive” for his own sake and not for the sake of others. This makes it difficult for him to say, although he understands that man is not like a beast, that we can say that specifically where one feels that he will receive pleasure, there he can exert to obtain the pleasure. However, if one is told that he should love the Creator, a person can understand this only when he sees the greatness and importance of the Creator, then we can speak of love.

But when a person does not see the importance of the Creator and must believe, here begins man’s work, meaning work that pertains to the quality of man and not to the quality of beast, for the matter of faith belongs to man’s work, and not to the work of a beast.

However, the measure of faith should be the same as the measure of knowledge that the beast has. Otherwise, this is still not regarded as “faith,” if there is a difference for him between faith and knowledge.

In other words, man should be like a beast: As the beast knows only what it sees, so man should go with faith, as a beast does with knowing. Otherwise, what is the difference between man and beast? Thus, faith should be as knowledge.

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked about what is written, “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” How does he compare Israel to an ox and a donkey? After all, the ox and the donkey see who feeds them, whereas Israel do not see and must believe, so where is the similarity?

The answer is that the main difference between man and beast is that a beast has no knowledge. Therefore, among the beasts, the sensation of pleasure is all that determines whether or not to perform an action. But for man, who has brains and knowledge, he should not consider the pleasure in the matter but rather the truth in the matter.

Therefore, when we are given faith, as it is written, “and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses,” when He gave us this work, Israel should be in a state of knowing, meaning faith, which Israel must take upon themselves as knowing is for beasts.

There is a question regarding this: Why must faith in Israel be the same as knowing is for beasts, as this is their basis? And also, why does Israel “not understand,” meaning that their faith is not like knowledge?

It is written, “My people does not understand.” “My people” means “ordinary people,” whereas “Israel” is already a higher degree, as it is known that Israel has the letters of Li-Rosh [lit. I have a head]. This is why he says, “Israel does not understand.” Why? Because “My people does not understand.” When they were “My people,” to understand the measure of faith that they must obtain, they thought that partial faith was enough for faith. Hence, they settled for little and thought of themselves as “Israel,” although they were still not rewarded with “complete faith,” so that it is similar to knowing in beasts.

It follows that the order of the work should be that a person should achieve faith that is as knowing. In other words, a person begins to understand that we must do everything in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker. Therefore, when one walks on this path, when he sees that the body does not enjoy the thing he wants to do, he should say to his body, “I am not going to do something that you will enjoy; I am going to do something that the Creator will enjoy. Therefore, what you are asking of me, to avoid doing this until you agree, you do not count as far as the thing I am doing for the sake of the Creator.”

But the body asks, “What will you get out of working for the sake of the Creator?” meaning “What pleasure will you derive from this?” After all, one does not do anything without reward, so “What is the reward that you hope to receive in return for this?”

The answer should be that we were given the Mitzva [sing. of Mitzvot] of faith, as it is written, “And they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses,” “so I believe that I am serving a great King, although I still have no feeling of the greatness of the Creator. Yet, I believe in His greatness and I enjoy serving a great King, and this is my pleasure. Therefore, all your questions can be only about faith—why I believe. But when I believe in complete faith, my faith is like knowing.”

We see that when we know of a person who is superior, such as a king or a high ranking minister, or someone who is famous, a great person, it is inherent in nature that we surrender before that great person. This has nothing to do with religion; it is a law of nature that it is a privilege for the small to serve the great. But in work, where greatness and smallness are not revealed and we must believe, there is work there because by nature, a person cannot do anything unless he sees and understands with his mind.

Hence, when one takes upon himself faith like knowing, he no longer needs to argue with the body, since he tells the body, “I see that you are telling me anything because you are saying only one thing, that you cannot accept the faith that I have taken upon myself. Therefore, with such an argument about faith, I have nothing to argue with you about. Therefore, I am telling you what I am doing now, and you disagree. Yet, I am not waiting for your consent, since to me, faith is like knowledge.”

It therefore follows that all of man’s work is to obtain the power of faith, since man is unable to defeat the evil in him by arguing, since in the external mind, the body is always right. Only if a person answers to the body with faith above reason can he defeat the body.

Therefore, one should prepare before he does something in Kedusha [holiness], that thanks to the act of Kedusha that he is going to do now, he will receive faith in return for the work. He should believe that he does not need anything other than faith in the Creator, and he can obtain faith when the Creator gives it to him by his doing things above reason, meaning by coercion. That is, many times, he should force himself and aim that thanks to the coercion he will be rewarded with faith in the greatness and importance of the Creator.

However, one should know that when he works in order to bestow, he has ascents and descents. This is so because through the ascents and descents, a person receives the ability and possibility to tell good from bad, for it is known that one cannot understand anything sufficiently if he does not have the opposite of what he has.

It is written about this, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness,” meaning that we cannot recognize the importance of the light unless from within the darkness. He suffered and was tormented by the darkness, so when the light came, he knew how to appreciate it. Likewise, a person cannot appreciate the importance of the state of ascent unless he has descents opposite it. Only then can he appreciate the importance of the light, meaning the ascent.

Otherwise, it is like giving gems and jewels to an infant, and the infant does not know how to value them, and people come and take from him the good things, since the baby does not know why he needs to keep the jewels. Naturally, anyone who wants, takes from the children the good things.

Likewise, a person who does not know the value of Kedusha [holiness], if he is given some Kedusha so as to advance in the work, the Sitra Achra [other side] comes and takes it from him, since he is unable to understand that the little bit of Kedusha he has acquired requires care so that the Sitra Achra will not pull the Kedusha out of his hand.

Hence, when he has descents, he remains with Reshimot [recollections/memories] of what he had, and then he knows how to be careful so that the Sitra Achra will not pull it out of his hand. For this reason, a person believes that the Creator does everything, and there is no doubt that the Creator does everything for man’s sake, so the descents that he receives, he says that the Creator sent him these states for his own benefit.

This gives a person strength not to escape the campaign although he does not see that the Creator watches over him, meaning feels that the Creator helps him. Rather, not only is he not advancing in the work, but he has even regressed. Yet, if he believes that the Creator helps him by sending him the descents, then he no longer escapes the campaign.

Instead, he says that the Creator does help him, but not in a way that the person understands, meaning in ascents. Rather, the Creator helps him through descents. This is why this faith makes him stronger so he does not escape the campaign. Instead, he waits for the help of the Creator and prays that he will have the strength to continue the work until the Creator opens his eyes and he will be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Berachot 54), “One must bless on the bad as he blesses on the good.” This means that if one believes that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good, why does he feel that there is bad in him? It is as though the Creator is giving him evil. Therefore, our sages said that one should believe that this bad must be for the better.

In the work, we should interpret that we see that when one begins to work in a manner where “all his actions are for the sake of the Creator,” meaning that everything he does is because he wants to bestow upon the Creator and not for his own sake, at that time, he comes into states of ascents and descents.

When faith shines for him, he is in a state of ascent. That is, he understands that it is worthwhile to work only for the sake of the Creator. Afterward comes a descent, where thoughts come to him—“What will I get out of working for the sake of the Creator and not for my own sake?” Sometimes, the descent he suffers is so deep that he wants to escape from the campaign.

At that time, the question is, Why is it that before he began the work of bestowal, he was always in high spirits, and now he often feels that he is far from the work altogether and does everything by force? But there is a rule, “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva,” so why did he receive a descent?

The answer is that the fact that a person feels that he is in descent, called “a state of evil,” is also for his best, for specifically by both can he be rewarded with help from the Creator. This is the meaning of “One must bless on the bad.” 

Reader: We'll move to the lesson from December 2002. 

M. Laitman: We heard the article from “Rungs of the Ladder,” Volume 4, page 5, "What Is 'The Ox Knows Its Owner, and So On, and Israel Does Not Know' in the Work?"

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (34:56) This is from Nevi'im, Prophets. "The ox knows its owner." This means that if a person has not yet come to the degree of man, he hasn’t acquired the degree of man, then he works like the inanimate, growing, living, who work due to exertion. Meaning that in the inanimate, the still, vegetative and animate, they have qualities from nature, and so they act from these qualities, they perform actions, and they have no deviation from nature. Of course, there is no free choice then, because they act according to the laws of nature, and if there is no discrepancy, no deviation from nature, meaning there is no free choice, everything according to the program, then there’s no reward, no punishment, no wickedness, no righteousness. Each and every creation acts according to what's in it. And then it doesn't exist in spirituality, because spirituality is the action that comes from the created being.

In spirituality, it's called “the created being,” who is an entity, has a personality, free choice in some situation, where in some area, some place, there is free choice. In the area where he's free, that area is called spirituality, him existing in spirituality, either as a shell or holiness, but he has it, it's under his domain. And if there's no, none of the domain of the created being, but everything is the domain of the Creator, He created these rules, and the nature of the created being, and so there is no created being. And therefore the inanimate, vegetative, and animate of nature in this world, and also the human being who still has the degrees of the inanimate and growing and living, they still do not exist in spirituality. And so it is called simulated or false existence, which is felt in our vessels, but in spirituality, in the true eternal vessels, he does not exist.

If we looked not at the body's matter: atoms, molecules, proteins, and so on, only at forces, then we wouldn't have seen this, we wouldn't be seeing this whole universe, and this earth of ours, and everything that happens on it. And this is called existence according to knowledge, according to the program, the things that are imbued into the matter itself, the substance. Above this matter, from the side of the created being, only one thing can exist: his address to the Creator. To the extent that he has this inclination, this address, this awakening, rising towards that, then the created being is called “the created being.” And this attraction from the created being towards the Creator is called “faith.” And according to its magnitude, the magnitude of the created being is determined, his height, his spiritual height.

Therefore, one who develops within him the human, the man in him, he then does not look at the actions, events that happened to him, and he doesn't look at the actions that he is forced by nature to engage in, which belong to the degrees of the inanimate, growing and living, but in him, as a created being, the only thing that matters is how he, above these actions, above his life, builds a connection to the Creator. The strength of the connection, its power, over and upon which disruptions and actions he builds that, well, that connection is called “Adam,” the human, the created being. And the disruptions which then come, and all the events, everything that transpires within him and around him, he accepts only as conditions, above which he needs to build his faith, his connection to divinity. And therefore, it is said that Israel does not know its owner. The Creator is concealed, concealed deliberately, to give, to allow the created being to build that connection, to allow the created being to build himself. And that is above the degree of the beast.

Therefore, up to the degree of knowledge, this is, "The ox knows its owner." What does it know? He knows, according to its nature, how it behaves, what qualities he has, what desires he has. From that, it knows how it's built and what the Creator demands of it. Whereas above the degree of the beast, there begins to form, how to say, there it begins to be an empty space, which the created being has to fill up with his attitude towards the Creator. That's it. That’s the article in essence. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:19) From faith, we come to knowing? 

M. Laitman: After faith, we come to knowing. But knowing, we reach, again, as a beast knows who the Creator is: the Creator is the one who created me, who created me in my shape and form, the way I am, with my qualities, desires, impulses, all sorts of thoughts and abilities. So who is the Creator? My knowledge of myself and of my environment. From that, I can derive conclusions regarding who the Creator is, and no more. Yes? That's it. That is called knowing. Knowledge of the Creator, according to, "From Your actions, we shall know You."

After a person transcends the degree of the beast, builds his connection to the Creator, which is called faith, and begins to feel the Creator, where does he begin to feel the Creator? In that he builds the connection upon all the disruptions. All the disruptions are also it’s the Creator's program for the beast. That's how the Creator sends it to me, but as disruptions above the degree of the beast. And if above, well, above these disruptions, I build a connection to Him, it then follows that from the disruptions - it's also "From Your actions, we shall know You" - I begin to know Him. He sends me all sorts of desires, human desires, like a human. He sends me disruptions to the connection with Him, for me to forget, to get confused, to make mistakes, to not want it, and above all these disruptions when I build a connection with Him, by that I build my image, my body, which is called “Adam,” that spiritual part of me. And so through that I also get to know the Creator, as the ox knows its owner through its beastly nature, without building anything. But me, by building my attitude to the Creator above the disruptions He sends, I come to know Him, and then I reach knowing.

But this is called knowledge or knowing above reason, because I built it above my beastly reason, above the knowledge of the ox. And this is called “complete faith.” What does it mean complete? It means that my attitude towards the Creator, which is called faith, is filled with my knowledge of Him, He fills me. Let's say, like in the Guf of the Partzuf, I have this attitude of in order to bestow, and according to this inclination, in order to bestow, my Guf, my body, is filled with the light of Hochma. That is called complete faith. The light of Hassadim, with the illumination of Hochma, is called complete faith. So I come to knowledge, to knowing, like Adam, human, yes, and by that I can continue growing. And this is above the knowledge of the ox.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:11) It said in the beginning of the article that a man, in contrast to animals, needs to follow the truth. And that's not very clear to me, the quality of truth. What does it mean that a person needs to go by truth? There is a kind of a contradiction here.

M. Laitman: I don't exactly understand what you're saying. What does it mean, not revealed first of all, undisclosed? Ask any person on the street, “Is the Creator revealed or not revealed?” There are those who will tell you, “What, can't you see? Look, He's here and here and there, all around us, clothed in everything, don't you feel Him?” And there are some who will say, “Leave me alone, I'm completely not… Where revealed, where does He exist?” And there are those who will say, “Look, each one is different.” So, when can we say that the Creator is concealed? If I want to connect to Him, and He sends me a disruption against it, the measure of that disruption, I say that this is the measure of concealment.

For example, I want to think about it all the time, and He gives me some confusion, some fear of, I don't know what, police, the police. So, I'm constantly thinking about the police, now they will find me, I don't know, something, all sorts of things, yes, and I'm very much afraid, and that disconnects me from my connection to the Creator. So, now I can say that the Creator is concealed, to the extent that I feel this fear, the magnitude of this fear, which disconnects me from thoughts of Him. I cannot attribute this disruption to Him, that He's sending this to me, and that above this disruption, I can connect to Him, and be even more tightly bound to Him, like a child, he needs his mother. When? When he sees something he's afraid of something, he runs to his mom, he wants to adhere to her, literally, right?

So, what is our work? Our work is that of the child seeing the mother. Well, we don't see the Creator, let's say, yes? So, He gives us this measure of concealment. In what? In that He Himself is concealed, and so He sends us disruptions, which we can't know that He is sending, right, those disruptions. So, I need here to discover my attitude towards Him, as though in two parameters, yes?

To discover that through this disruption, to discover that He is in the disruption, and then the disruption itself becomes revelation. It itself becomes revelation. We need to tie these two things together. If a person cannot attribute what happens in his life to the Creator, it doesn't mean that he's in concealment, he doesn't feel that he's in concealment. And on the other hand, the moment he does feel that he's under this concealment, that it's truly probably the Creator spinning all these things for him, then he has an opening for revelation, meaning this concealment is the back side of the revelation. It comes one after the other, each time like that, by sequence: it grows, one brings about the other, right? Concealment, revelation, concealment, revelation; night, day, night, day - that's how it goes. And so that's why I don't understand what you're asking.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:45) It's written in the beginning of the article that a person opposite to animals must act according to truth, and this measure, this quality of truth is unclear to me. What does it mean that a person has to follow the path of truth?

M. Laitman: The path of truth, means that all the actions, all thoughts, all the desires, everything that transpires in the created being transpires only according to the Creator's will. We have four angels - that's maybe something we should study - these are four forces within us. Accordingly, we operate. Okay, this requires a separate study. We'll leave this stuff for now. How truth is actually an outcome, it's a quality that is achieved as an outcome of the entire work. It says, "Truth will come forth out of the land," and so on.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:06) He writes here that to attain the power of faith, one must work above reason, meaning in coercion. What is coercion? By what powers? 

M. Laitman: Above coercion, means against the body, against my awareness, against my mind, that all that I understand and see and receive from my beastly bodily senses - I don't work like an ox that already knows - I have to rise above that and work above the beastly degree.

Student: You need to, but by force, where do they take that from? 

M. Laitman: Ah, where to take forces? If you had knowledge of the Creator, then there would be no problem. Then instead of an ox, you'd be just a bigger ox. So, it's the essential difference between man and beast. Man is not like a bigger ox with just more knowledge. If it's more knowledge, then it's a person in this world. But the spiritual degree that we acquire above the root degree, this means that we are going above reason, meaning we're not working according to our senses, but according to our connection with the Creator. 

Student: This is all internal, how to do this? 

M. Laitman: How to do it? The light that reforms. Search. I gave an exercise yesterday. Well, it was in that virtual session. I told him, from now on, we are doing an exercise. Since “there is nothing besides Him”, that's written, now we have to reach a state where we are living that every moment. That all of the disruptions that we have from now on, we don't need to accept it like everyone else and just relate them to the Creator. And on top of all of these disruptions, we work just like everyone else, we sort it out. "If I'm not for myself, then who?" And at the same time, in spirituality, I have to relate them to the Creator, and on top of all those disturbances, to connect me to Him and make a real connection. That's all. But it's a compensation. It ends up that you're going to get rid of all the disruptions and rearrange yourself in this world and in spirituality. In spirituality I also get rid of these disruptions, but it's in a different way, it's different work. I want to tie them to the source where they're coming from, meaning to my body I have to relate in a bodily way, because it belongs to the degree of the ox, and to my soul I need to relate as human, man, because it belongs to the degree of man.

Now, I understand there's still a contradiction here for people who don't exactly get how it works, but body and soul are really two things that don't coincide together for us, and still we just see the bodies. So, soon, when we don't see them, we'll identify with the soul and then we won't have such a problem. That's the first exercise that I gave them yesterday. This is called beginning to acquire the degree of man.

What do you want to ask about that? Let's say now your lady yells at you, “You're not okay, you're waking up in the middle of the night to go to study, the house is neglected,” something of that sort. What do you do? On the corporeal level, you now have to rearrange stuff at home. And this could be the order, just to do what needs to be done. You do it like there's nothing else, as if there's nothing else. "If I'm not for myself, then who?"

And on the spiritual level, you have to understand, this is a disturbance coming from the Creator, that you're probably not sufficiently aiming strongly towards Him. Or He wants you to grow in connection with Him, so He sends you a disturbance, and by that disturbance, you want to try to be more in contact with Him. Meaning, to see Him means to try each time to hold on to Him, despite that disturbance. And in a moment, new disturbances will come and so forth, until you will use all these disturbances as a means to connect more with Him, until you adhere to Him for all day and night, and then this iron gateway will open up. That’s all. But also, to solve the problem of this world in a normal, ordinary way, like an ox. In that, you're an ox. That's the example I gave them yesterday. This is now the second lesson, you know.

Student: (57:43) You now explained to the friends that you relate to the Creator the same way you relate to the friend. But now, sometimes you explain that the Creator is a system of laws.

M. Laitman: The Creator is a system of laws that we feel in our body and in our society. Meaning, in me and everything around me, everything that's happening here is the Creator, And I need to relate to it as though it is just Him, and I have to fulfill these laws. This means that I'm on the degree of an ox, a beast. So I have to go to the doctor, I have to eat healthy food, I have to work and bring sustenance, it's not going to just fall on me from above, and relate to the level of this world like everyone else. Do not look for miracles. This is a big mistake. Only ignorant people think this could happen. And people run, not just Jews, everyone just running towards miracles. There are no miracles. Don't rely on miracles, and there can't be any miracles. There's no miracle here, it's just laws. The world behaves as it does.

However, if you want to really be on a higher realm, go ahead. It's your connection with the Creator, only. This is what's called “Adam,” man. And if He doesn't send disturbances, you'll have nothing with which to build connection with Him. You won't have the necessity to turn to Him. What will make you turn? You will just remain as a beast. So great is the person that the Creator is great for him, meaning the more a person is capable of advancing, the greater disturbances he's being sent.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:01) How to decipher the connection in a more real sense? 

M. Laitman: How to better decipher the connection? Let's say, I have a subpoena. I think we had that situation, right? I'm afraid, what will happen to me, oh boy, it's not going to be pleasant. But I wasn't put into prison. I'm not going to be killed. It's unpleasant, but to turn to the Creator, not to turn to Him, to connect to Him, connection with Him or not. Maybe I'll go to the friends so they calm me down, or the other way around. I'll go to the friends and they'll awaken me, so that by this little disturbance I can make a great connection. So it depends on how a person relates to what's happening to him. If the Creator is great in his eyes, then even the smallest disturbance to him becomes comprised of many, many discernments. And over the littlest thing, he can already build a very rich, multifaceted attitude towards the Creator. This is called that the Creator is precise with the righteous by the hair's breadth, meaning He gives something very small, but for them, how much He opens up.

And if you say this to a person outside, what is that? He doesn't have any sensitivity to that. Talk to people from outside about what we're discussing here, even though we're discussing things that are very crude for spiritual discernments, meaning from outside they won't really understand what's discussed here. For two hours you're talking about what? It’s just enough already. 

Everything depends on attention. How do you open, unlock this point? It's really just a point. The entrance to spirituality is a very small hole. It's barely a hole, even though it's like a hole for sewing, where you can put the needle into work. It's a very small hole, but if through that you see how to open it, open just the eye of the needle, and a person tries through this hole to make the connection. And then a truly big pipeline or hose opens up to the point of Ein Sof, until you see from all directions, you see that this is the connection where you're wrapped and enveloped from all directions in connection with the Creator.

And this is only through disturbances, parts of the shattering, because without these parts from the shattering - you'll use them in relation to the Creator - you have nothing to build that connection with otherwise. And all those pieces are both spiritual and corporeal things, meaning that in corporeality you have disturbances, and in spirituality you have disturbances from the same action of the Creator, that in corporeality you relate to this in a corporeal way, and in spirituality in a spiritual way, and then you tie together both worlds. This is called tying together HaVaYaH Elokim, that one is in nature and the other one is above nature.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:06) What's the difference between disruptions in the group and the society and outside?

M. Laitman: The difference between disturbances in the group and outside? In the group and in the society, it's closer to spirituality, you have to solve them on a spiritual level. Almost everything is on the spiritual level. It could be disturbances as if in the corporeal action, but if you won't solve the problem on a spiritual level, you won't solve it otherwise. Like you're told, you have to work in the kitchen, and I'm lying down, I'm dead, I can't get up, just kill me, I can't. So my work, because I can't find fuel for myself, any justification to work in our kitchen. So I have to solve my problem with the Creator, with the importance of the society. I can probably inflate myself differently. If I won't go, I'll be thrown out, what will I do? Here I still spend my time and I have some friends and so on. So I solve the problem on the ox level, the beastly level. But if I ultimately reach a state where I'm not allowed to solve it like this from above, I truly need the greatness of the Creator to be in my eyes, so I have to turn to the society. It provides me with the greatness of the Creator, this gives me power to come to the kitchen. So the kitchen becomes a kind of a sign to what extent did I connect with the Creator, to what extent is He great in my eyes. He's great to the extent of all this effort that I now put into the kitchen. So in the meantime, we have justification only on the beastly level. It's a good society and I’ll feel nice doing that, our Rav is cranky and yelling at this all the time all kinds of things like that. We don't want to shift the problems to the spiritual level, where I have to receive fuel from the Creator.

Student: How to transition to the spiritual plane?

M. Laitman: How to transition? This is man's inner work, no one can say anything about that.

Student: Can't you push?

M. Laitman: I can't push you, you have to push yourself in some way, look for some source, some fuel source. You have to fuel, fuel up, not from the society or me or anything, but from the Creator.

Student: Maybe we can shut off our corporeal fuel?

M. Laitman: Bit by bit, we can't turn off the corporeal fuel, we can't, we're in such kinds of states that without it we won't exist. It's like there's an enterprise that, you know, it's such a corporeal thing, we work like donkeys, we have to give, there's a plan, we have to publish, there's 10 kilograms of material that we print, 20 kilos we sell, 30 kilos we spread out. What is this? If you don't do this, you'll have nothing to build your attitude, your correct attitude to the Creator upon. Now, the action is an action, the relationship is up to you.

Perhaps there needs to be such a committee, spiritual committee, that will awaken us during our work time, saying, guys, where are you taking your fuel? Are you reminding to each other? Are you awakening each other? Are you coming to work the way you should come to a lesson: that I come to receive strength and revelation of godliness? And so forth.

Student: (01:08:31) So, why can't we shut off the fear, respect, honor, all these things?

M. Laitman: You can't shut off the fear and honor and all those things you receive as fuel, because on them you have to build your attitude to the Creator. That despite I feel fear from the subpoena, I want to receive a connection with You, this fear awakens me now, I want to run to You because I'm afraid. And I want to be connected to You not because I'm afraid, rather I just prefer to be with You together. And this fear, it's very good that I had it, because on top of it I made contact with You. Thank You, very much. You are blessing, like he writes, that you bless for the blow as if it's a good thing, because it really becomes a good thing, you reveal that it's a hint of love from Him. But you see, you went through a trial, and it's a shame. Ask Him to send you a few others like this. We're not worthwhile. No, better to do it in a good way, yes? So why don't you ask in a good way? That's what you're asking me. So let's throw all those things that we have, what we have in this society, and just go with upliftment. And how will you go forward if not on top of disturbances? 

I'm asking you, please, can you now awaken in your beast the same upliftment, and awakening, and fear, and urgency that you don't know where to run? And look what a nonsense they throw at you, things like this, like to a child or a baby, all those things. And if you tell someone, he'll say, “Oh, you know, all those trials, and police, and all those things can just burn.” And this could be from the littlest nonsense. It's really so. This is like when you tell a child, “There's a bear outside,” and he's afraid, and he's at home because there's a bear outside. These are imaginary things. There's nothing real in them, but without them, we can't move. So, we don't need to focus on the issues themselves, but just as quickly as possible, use them to connect with the Creator. And this is called making unifications. We unify all of our disturbances to the Creator. But that's only on the human level. On the corporeal level, I have to solve these things in a purely corporeal way. Like when Baal HaSulam writes that you have to go to a doctor, and pay for a good one, and even more than one, and pay a few experts, and pay good money, and listen to what he demands, and his advice, and follow the instructions and so on. How can these two things connect together? You don't need to connect them together. They'll connect together afterwards. When you solve them on two levels, you're already beginning to connect. But you still don't see how one is clothed in the other. Afterwards, you'll see, and it won't be difficult, but if you do this now, you have no vessel to connect it. Then you do it artificially, distortingly, and then you end up with some complete other Torah that's opposite or something. I don't know what's going on there. Because you can start building from it.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:41) How should I explain the word Boreh, Creator? 

M. Laitman: Boreh, Creator. Boreh is “Bo-U-Reh,” come and see. Bo Reh. It's not me. He explains it in, what do you call it? “Even Sapir,” I think. “Ohr HaBahir.” “Even Sapir” is such nonsense. I gave him a notebook of Baal HaSulam, which is OK, but for the definitions of the “Study of Ten Sefirot,” why call it some other name? He simply gathered everything that's written there in the definitions. It's confusing. It's as if it's a book all by itself. So what are you asking? You found it? Boreh, Creator, it's what we reveal, what we grasp as the attitude of the upper degree toward us. That's it. The upper degree toward us, the way we feel it, understand it, sense it, with all that's possible for us in our vessel, what is called, in general, “the Creator.” That's why it's called Bo Reh. If you're asking, who is the Creator outside of me? There is no such thing. There's no such concept, it doesn't exist. What do you mean, outside of me? If I don't feel it, He doesn't exist. He does not exist.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:50) The connection with the Creator and the correct relationship... 

M. Laitman: Oh, you have to believe that He exists. Okay, what does that mean to believe that He exists? I don't understand. To believe, for us, means the degree of connection with Him according to my equivalence to Him, my desire to bestow to Him. This is called faith, complete faith. When I adapt myself to Him, I become like Him in action, this is called complete faith. I'm filled with the light of Hochma. He fills me, but then I have this complete recognition in Him. But outside my vessel, there's nothing. They say, abstract light. I don't know what is abstract light. I cannot feel it, I have no way of ever feeling what is abstract. What is abstract light? It's simply a concept that doesn't exist. Rather, we say it this way. When we say that the light of Ein Sof fills all of reality, it's not abstract. All of reality is Malchut of Ein Sof.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:11) My connection with the Creator, my correct relationship to the ideal state that I imagine, how do I build the connection with the Creator, which is the upper degree?

M. Laitman: I build a connection with the Creator from the disturbances that He brings me. When He seemingly lowers His AHP, and I accept this AHP as opposite from me because it's truly so, and He's distant from me, and relative to it I feel my state is unpleasant, not good. He brings me obstructions, bad things, because my qualities are different. His qualities are different than my qualities, and I feel the gap between the qualities as a blow. If I take this blow as truly a gap between me and Him in one discernment, and from that—because it's a blow, because I cannot agree with Him, He's higher, He's in other qualities - but I take it in order to nevertheless build a connection to Him. I cannot adopt this quality, this blow, to be my own quality. No, it appears as a blow, this quality. But if on top of that, I nevertheless want to build a connection with Him so it would not be a disturbance, I accept my connection to Him. After all, this is called, "Love covers all transgressions." Just like a mother - the child, he's a bad child, he's a bad kid, I don't know, drugs, he steals, I don't know, they beat him - I want a connection with him. He's my kid; it doesn't matter what's going on between us, regardless of what terrible things, I love him. It doesn't matter how many blows he's giving to me by his actions. But if you build such an attitude toward the Creator, then this blow, you begin to feel it becoming as part of you, as part of your qualities, and out of that, you begin to love it, to justify it, it becomes part of you, your part. That's how you acquire the next degree. And so, the AHP of the upper one connects to the Galgalta ve Eynaim according to your concession, you understand? And then it becomes your body, because you connect with the upper one and you rise to it, you enter it first as an embryo inside this AHP, later as a small one, and the AHP provides you everything, and then as a grown-up, as an adult, and the AHP becomes your vessels of reception. And then you truly separate from it and you do everything, just as we learn, Ibur [conception], Yenika [suckling], and Mochin [adulthood]. Where's this article about working with the AHP? “In Association of the measure of Mercy with Judgment.” Bring it to me. ?Kabbalah for the Students,” yes? Page 106.

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:19:57) The main work is the choice, when you chose life, in spite of the disturbances, which is adhesion, which is the quality of Lishma, by which we are awarded with being adhered to the life of lives. We reach the goal. The goal is adhesion, and when there's revealed providence, there's no place for choice. You can't acquire anything with revealed providence, you're working like an ox. And because of that, the upper one raised his Malchut, which is the measure of judgment, to the eyes. By that, we have concealment relative to the lower one. Meaning, the lower one feels that there's a deficiency in the upper one, and it doesn't have Gadlut in the upper one, meaning the upper one gives me blows. It's not great in my eyes. And then the virtues of the upper one are laid with the lower one. In what? In the disturbances, the unpleasant things. Meaning, they are in a deficiency. You find that these vessels have equivalence with the lower one. Meaning just like there's no livelihood to the lower one, there's no livelihood in the upper one. 

Okay, we are using different words right now. And then there's room for choice, that the lower one should say that all this concealment, all the blows that he feels is because the upper one restricted himself for the sake of the lower one. The Creator gives you now an opportunity through the blows, through the bad feelings, specifically to connect to Him with understanding, with love. This is called, when Israel are exiled, the Shechina is with them. What do you mean that the Shechina is with them in the exile? It awakens them for connection. You cannot connect except from the time of exile, the state of exile. That's whatever flavor he tastes, that's what he says. Meaning, this is the bitter taste. Don't run away from the disturbance. Don't say, “Oh, beautiful, You're giving me such great things,” and you feel blows. That's a lie. I don't know, he's not to blame. It's not his fault that he doesn't feel the taste of livelihood, or the way he thinks there's no life in the upper one. That's how he feels. The beast makes no mistakes. And if a man overcomes, now he goes from checking that this is what I'm feeling: fear, torments, delays, everything. And if I overcome and I say that the bitter taste in these nourishments is because he lacks the proper vessels to receive the abundance, because his vessels are to receive and not to bestow - meaning, they're in contradiction with the higher degree, that's why I feel his qualities, the AHP of the upper one, I feel that it's unpleasant for me, it appears like a blow - and he laments the fact that the upper one has to conceal himself. And for that, there's a place for the lower one to slander, which is raising of MAN, and the lower one raises it. And by that, the upper one brings up his AHP. Meaning, if I overcome and I say that this is all in order to help me, then the upper one begins to be revealed, and so on and so forth. Meaning, we have no other place to work except from these states. That's the only thing that a person should not run away from. 

There are people here sitting five years and more, and they might be sitting here another 20 and 30 years. If they don't persist on this point, that's how time will pass. If they persist in this point, to the point that they do apply pressure on it, they will accelerate their development. It depends only on that. It's written about it everywhere.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:15) What's the connection between corporeality and the shells? 

M. Laitman: I don't know. Corporeality and the shells. Corporeality, means corporeality, I have to solve things corporeally. I either go see a doctor, or go to work, or arrange everything with my next-door neighbor corporeally. When I have some problems with someone in this world, I have to go and compensate them, or do something. In short, take care of it as is the custom according to the laws of the state. Even if I'm among the nations of the world, the Gentiles, I have to behave according to their laws. The Creator is everywhere, and all the laws around the world He determined, and He arranges these things through these people, and I have to uphold them where I live. That's one thing. The second thing is, in spirituality, it's the attitude toward Him. Spirituality is called the attitude to the Creator; it's not the angels in the heavens, and not miracles, the attitude to the Creator.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:37) In the middle of the reading, it was written, just like the Holy ARI said, that in corporeal pleasures, there's no more than some sparks of holiness that fell into the shells. So, what's the connection there?

M. Laitman: As the Holy ARI said, in corporeal pleasures, there's no more than holy sparks that fell into the shells, which is only a thin candle, a thin light. Meaning, just like in the spiritual world, we have shells, and these shells, meaning desires without a screen, but desires for the Creator to derive pleasure from Him, to hold on to Him, to take, to devour from Him, they live because they have sparks of sanctity, this tiny illumination from the light that shines into the Klipot, into the shells. That's how it is in our world. In each and every desire of ours, there are sparks of bestowal that fell into our desire. And because of that, out of that, even on the degree where we are, below the barrier, we can understand how to behave according to what they're telling us. If they wouldn't tell us, we would be unable, completely unable to find in us the reaction to what they write. Rather, nevertheless, gradually, there develops in us a certain sense of capability over thousands of years, that when we're reading, we can somehow feel a certain response to what they're saying, a reaction. Stand next to the donkey and start explaining to it that he doesn't keep the laws of the state, of the country. It's no joke. It's actually much closer than how we are relative to spiritual laws. It's much closer because they belong to the same world, except this is the human degree and then the animal degree. But here, this is a totally different world. It's a greater distance. It's fundamentally different, essentially different. We don't understand how spirituality, we have nothing in us related to it except for these sparks. So through these sparks, we can somehow reach some connection in the work; not in understanding, but in working.

How can we, how can I grow my sensitivity to the disturbances, to seeing in the disturbances, all kinds of hues and shades that I have. I have such a question, someone from Israel sent it. 

It's only through the correct attitude, as we discussed. Look, talk to a doctor, or a musician, or a physician, physicist, or someone who's an expert in his field. So he works with… You know, my daughter, for example, she's doing her PhD on a special virus, and inside this virus, she's taking one of these qualities, one is special qualities, and from there it's a whole world, and all those things, and they do an entire research, and I'm looking at the money, the exertion and everything on this bit of nonsense, and for them… it's, oh my God, she can cry, she can be overjoyed, right? She revealed a certain special response in a virus, you understand? It's sensitivity through exertion. This is what she acquired, and this is what I lack. That's called expertise in anything as being a specialist. The same thing in the wisdom of Kabbalah. You have to be wise in order to discern, distinguish between the discernments that previously you couldn't see, and through the wisdom you bring that thing closer. Then you can see those discernments, the hues, and all those shades, only through the exertion. I see how it is. I didn't just ask for nothing. I see that she's very serious, she's sitting on it for hours. And that's in everything. How is it? And it becomes extremely important though, a person invests. 

That's what we're lacking. What are we lacking? Our problem is that we invest a lot but we don't connect it with this virus or the object of our work. We forget why we're doing what we're doing. I'm making films, I'm translating, I'm writing, I'm doing, I'm running around for hours, thousands of hours. What for? For her, it's clear: I wish to discover this thing, I want to have my PhD. I don't know what. Something is clear. So, there's an outcome in that direction. We? We don't ask for gains, not gains, for a reward. We don't ask for a reward where we have to ask for it. That's a problem. Investment is an investment, but the investment comes out in quantity, not in quality. Investment in quality, a qualitative investment is when I demand specifically this payment. I demand a payment of connection with Him. If I would ask this way in my investment, then it says maximum three years, I think even less, and we are already good. The group we have today and the efforts that we made, none of it is lost. Even if we didn't mean it, but this is with an attack in a very short time, you can do it, but to demand the correct reward in the correct place, to know about it, to connect to it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:32:32) I don't understand. Now I take the example of the virus. It demands a reward because it knows what the reward is. It knows what to ask. Here you're asking, receiving, you don't even receive the correct thing. You don't know what to ask. And if you are doing it correctly, yes, you give it a bigger disturbance. So how can you really ask for such a thing? You can't really ask for such a thing. But I need to ask now to give a bigger blow and then I'll work out things? I know that I'm still demanding this connection with Him and how painful it is. And He's doing these things that feel so unpleasant. So it's like that, and it's important, but still the feeling doesn't change. It becomes more important, but from importance, I don't receive joy, I don't receive fuel.

M. Laitman: You're trying to say something. Say it. I don't hear you saying anything.

Student: I'm asking, how can you ask for a reward?

M. Laitman: Okay, that's a question. Before that, there was some noise. I don't know. How can you receive a reward? To ask for the reward, that's not the problem. You're not asking for blows, you're asking for a reward. You're simply, simply to scrutinize more and more, what is that reward? So, it becomes important to you. You say, for her, it's clear. She researches viruses. So knowing about this virus is her reward. Knowing about the Creator is my reward. Oh, what will it get me? On the virus, she knows what she's going to receive, a PhD, honor, money, I don't know. With the Creator, you have no idea. So, the society has to provide you with these ideas. You yourself, you're saying simply: this is not important. One word, not important. So, this is all of our work.

Student: I'm not saying it's not important. I'm asking. She knows what the reward will be. She knows that in a week, what the reward will be as far as she's concerned, what advancement will be. I don't know that. 

M. Laitman: You don't know what advancement means? 

Student: I don't know it.

M. Laitman: I understood from the society, from the books and everything, and from people who are on fire around me, that the greatest reward is to, you know, the reward from the commandment is to know the One who commanded it. Right? Adhesion. They told me. Nothing greater in the world. So, I'm like a baby. I want it. Why? Because everybody told me that. All the rest is just nonsense.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:35:40) When you try to adhere everything to Him, in a state of the current feeling that you have, you feel worse, you don't feel better. Because if once you had bad of why do you feel bad this way, today it's already clear to you why it's bad for you. So, as purposeful as this is, and it's still important for you, you still can't ask.

M. Laitman: Sir, if you cannot overcome the disturbances, and they appear to you as really big blows, it's because the fact that you're ready for them, you are, because otherwise you wouldn't get any. That's without a doubt. But the fact that you can't get along with them, it's also because you have no connection with the forces, with the sources from which you can receive the forces. I don't know how you study, I don't know where you are, I don't know where you spend your free time - that's the main thing. And I don't know why or how do you receive your forces from society. I don't know. They tell you that here we have only one choice: to assemble around you, books, authors, group, Rav, friends, everything around you for this goal. But it can't be that they gave you more blows than that. Meaning that you will fail in it completely, utterly. Meaning that nothing will, how to say it, nothing will, no good will come out of it. A good lesson. It can't be, since all these states are cause and consequence according to the records. It knows in advance what you'll do from above. This is a result of our shattering. We can't. Each and every state is more advanced than the previous one. Unless you're not using what you were given, as he says here, they give you an angel to do the work. You're not, you don't get along with this angel. They bring down this angel, this force, this situation. They give you something else. Where does he write about it? "You have hemmed me from before, from behind." That's it. You didn't get along, you didn't get along, but you should have gotten along. 

Student: But five minutes ago, here's people sitting here for five years, people surrounding themselves in society, investing their whole free time, and…

M. Laitman: You can say whatever you want. He writes in the Introduction to TES, and after the Creator gave the Torah, the question of Job is no longer a question; rather, you have someone to turn to, a force that has to provide you the possibilities for each and every state for you to be able to advance in each and every state. Otherwise, Job's question or challenge stands. Otherwise, you're right, the world is evil, the forces are bad, everything is according to what's evil, right. Like Job wanted to say. Job is seemingly the left line disconnected from the right, that there's nothing corresponding to it from the right. And they say there's no such thing, such a person, Job, never existed. A person like that never existed. Also, his torment and everything, that he couldn't receive mitigation. Well, to be continued. Now, through the “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” we'll know what to ask for.