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

Daily Morning Lesson: March 19, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. Concerning Hesed [Mercy]. 4 (1986)

Original lesson date: 11/05/2003

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will learn a lesson of the Rav from November 5th, 2003, based on an article called “Concerning Hesed, (Mercy),” from Rabash. We'll read it together into the Ten. We have 25 minutes to do so. Tens that finished before that time can do a workshop on the main points from the article.

Reading: (00:35) Rabash, Concerning Hesed [Mercy]

Article No. 4, 1986

It is written in the holy Zohar concerning Hesed [mercy] (Lech Lecha, item 382): “Why was he not called Abraham thus far? We explained that thus far he was not circumcised, and now he has been circumcised. Once he was circumcised he connected with the Hey, which is the Shechina [Divinity], and the Shechina was in him. This is why now he is called Abraham, with a Hey. It is written, ‘These are the generations of the heaven and earth when they were created.’ We learned that He created them with a Hey, and we learned, in Abraham, meaning that BeHibaraam [when they were created] has the letters of Be Avraham [in Abraham]. This means that the world was created for Abraham.

“He asks, ‘What are they saying?’ That is, ‘Why are they disputed in interpreting BeHibaraam?’ He replies, ‘It is Hesed. When he says that BeHibaraam implies Avraham, who is Hesed, and the world, which is the Shechina, was created for Hesed. This is why he says that He created them with a Hey, meaning the Shechina.

“But one does not dispute the other because everything comes down together. That is, if there is Hesed in the world, the Shechina is in the world, as well, and vice versa. Hence, the two meanings—Hesed and Shechina—are one thing, and the world was created for Hesed and for the Shechina. We should understand why he interprets that BeHibaraam means Be Avraham, which is Hesed, meaning that the world was created for Hesed.”

We should understand the matter of Hesed. Is this not something that concerns only what is between man and man? Did the Creator create the upper worlds—the world of the angels, and the seraphim—only so that each one will deal with mercy with one’s friend, so that Reuben will deal with mercy with Shimon? What will the Creator get out of this? Can such a thing be said? Accordingly, we must understand what is Hesed [mercy], as he said that the world was created for Hesed.

It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. Therefore, we should ask, “Why are there two explanations about the verse, ‘These are the generations of the heaven … when they were created,’” one because of the Shechina and the other because of Abraham, who is Hesed?

We should say that from the verse, “When they were created,” they explain only how to achieve the goal, called “to do good to His creations.” This means that the creatures must attain the complete delight and pleasure. That is, when they receive delight and pleasure, they should not feel any unpleasantness, called the “bread of shame.”

To correct this, there was the Tzimtzum [restriction], which is a concealment on the delight and pleasure. It is as the holy ARI says (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, p 1): “Know, that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures created, an upper simple light filled the whole of reality, and there was no vacant place. … When it came into His simple will to create the worlds … to bring to light the perfection of His deeds … then He restricted Himself.”

It follows that the concealment we see on spirituality, meaning, although we should believe that “The whole earth is full of His glory,” but if all the creatures in the world felt the glory of the Creator, who would want to engage in lowly things when they see the importance of the glory of spirituality? After all, a person can receive an image of what he had in the past.

If, for example, a person imagines that the most important period he had was when he felt that it was worthwhile to adhere to spirituality, and he looked at himself and the entire world, how time passes aimlessly and pointlessly, and engages only in trivialities. Then, when he is high-spirited, the world seemed to him like little children playing with toys.

Similarly, we sometimes see a little child taking a rope, putting it on another’s shoulder and telling him, “You be the horse and I’ll pull the reigns.” They both enjoy this game. And if we tell the children, “Why are you playing with false things? You are not a wagon-driver and he is not a horse,” they will not understand what we are telling them.

When a person depicts the time when he had the most important state in life, he looked at how people engage only in corporeality as a grownup looking at little children playing. It follows that all we need so we can engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is the revelation. That is, to reveal the delight and pleasure hidden in them so we will see them openly. Then, who would not want delight and pleasure? Who would be able to degrade himself and walk into a henhouse and peck in the trash like them, and be happy and joyful about it, when he can enjoy the life of a human? That is, his sustenance would be what delights people and not what delights beasts and animals. All this is said when he feels the difference between the vitality of people and the vitality of beasts, animals, and fowls.

But during the concealment, when he does not see any other life in the world but that the one that he enjoys is the vitality of the whole world, when he looks at other people relinquishing corporeal matters in search for spiritual life, they look at them as foolish, mindless children. Little children are allowed to play with important things, and they throw them away and take meaningless things instead.

While they can enjoy corporeal things, they throw them away and contemplate attaining spiritual possessions. To them, the spiritual matters are meaningless, meaning things that have no value. But it is all because of the concealment on spirituality.

Now we will explain the two interpretations of the word Hibaraam [when they were created], where the first means Hesed, and the second means Shechina. We ask, “Is it worthwhile to create the next world and this world for Hesed?” As we explained above, according to the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, the delight and pleasure cannot be revealed before they can receive in order to bestow. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve the goal in full.

This is why we need to explain what is said about BeHibaraam, meaning that through them they will fulfill the purpose of creation, and without them it is impossible to achieve the purpose of creation in full. This is why interpreting that Be Avraham [in Abraham] is Hesed means that by engaging in the quality of Hesed they can achieve the quality of bestowal, after which they will be able to receive the pleasure, and that reception will be regarded as bestowal.

It is as he says in the Sulam [commentary on The Zohar] (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 175), where he brings the words of our sages: “Upon the creation of the world, when He said to the angels, ‘Let us make man in our image,’ Hesed said, ‘Let him be created, for he does mercy.’ Truth said, ‘Let him not be created, for he is all lies.’”

He interprets there the words of our sages, that Hesed said, “Let him be created”: “But Hesed said, ‘Let him be created because he does mercy,’ since the Mitzva [commandment] to do good that he does is necessarily a clear act of bestowal by which he will gradually become corrected until he can engage in all the Mitzvot [commandments] in order to bestow. Thus, he is guaranteed to finally achieve his goal of engaging Lishma [for Her sake]. This is why Hesed argued that he should be created.”

It follows that saying BeHibaraam means that Hibaraam is needed only as a means but not as a goal, as it is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. Rather, it is counsels how the creatures can receive the goal, meaning be able to receive the delight and pleasure. Because there must be equivalence of form between the giver and the receiver, and since they are opposite in form, they will never be able to receive the delight and pleasure.

This is why one is saying that the means is Hesed, where through the quality of Hesed that each does with the other, they will be rewarded with vessels of bestowal and be able to receive the delight and pleasure, and another says that it is BeHibaraam, meaning Hey Beraam [created them], namely the Shechina. This does not mean that he disputes him, but when he says that He created them with a Hey, it means that Malchut, which is the Shechina, is implied here in BeHibaraam, meaning a small Hey.

The holy ARI interprets (presented in Gatehouse of Intentions, item 43), “This is the meaning of BeHibaraam, BeHey Beraam [created them with a Hey], since all the creatures were five Partzufim, both in Atzilut and in BYA. This is the meaning of the small Hey of Malchut de AK after she was diminished at the end of her ZAT.”

He interprets there (in Ohr Pashut [commentary below the text]) that the world of Tikkun [correction], called ABYA, emerged from another Malchut, that was mitigated by the quality of Rachamim [mercy], called Tzimtzum Bet [second restriction], where there was diminution in Malchut. This is why Malchut is called “small Hey.”

This means that the Hey in BeHibaraam is interpreted to refer to the Shechina who received correction called “the association of the quality of mercy with judgment.” This means that Malchut, called “the quality of judgment,” is the root of the creatures, namely the will to receive, the Kli [vessel] that must receive the purpose of creation—to benefit His creations—and is the vessel of reception for the delight and pleasure that is the substance of the creatures, meaning the desire to receive delight and pleasure from Him. But due to the correction of equivalence of form, there was a rule that this vessel of reception must not be used unless it can aim to bestow. This is called “restriction and judgment.”

The world cannot exist without this correction, called “receiving in order to bestow,” or there is no disclosure of abundance to the lower ones due to the Tzimtzum and judgment that was made for the purpose of correcting the world. However, how is it possible to change the nature of creation, which is reception, into one of bestowal?

Therefore, to be able to correct the vessels of reception to work in order to bestow, there had to be a correction called “association of the quality of mercy with judgment,” known as Tzimtzum Bet. This means that Bina, the quality of mercy, called “bestowal,” mingled with Malchut, which is reception. Through that merger of mercy with judgment that is done by the remedy of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], we can achieve the abundance although it is against our nature.

This matter is presented in “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (item 58): “This is the meaning of our sages’ words: ‘In the beginning, He contemplated creating the world with the quality of Din [judgment]. He saw that the world does not exist and preceded the quality of Rachamim [mercy], and associated it with the quality of Din.’ …‘He saw that the world does not exist’ means that in this way, it was impossible for man, who was to be created from this Behina Dalet, to assume acts of bestowal. …Therefore, He preceded the quality of Rachamim and associated it with the quality of Din. Through this association, Behina Dalet—Midat ha Din—was incorporated with sparks of bestowal in the Kli of Bina.”

According to the above-said, it follows that we have the means by which to achieve the purpose of creation to do good to His creations, only thanks to the small Hey. This is because the judgment in the Hey, which is the quality of judgment, diminished into the quality of mercy. This means that part of the desire to receive diminished and received into it the quality of Rachamim, as was said above, that in the roots, the vessels of reception included the quality of bestowal, called Rachamim.

By this we will understand why the holy Zohar concludes that “one does not dispute the other because everything comes down together. That is, if there is Hesed in the world, the Shechina is in the world, as well, and vice versa. …and the world was created for Hesed and for the Shechina.”

This implies that it means that both, meaning the quality of Hesed and the Shechina, which was corrected with the quality of Rachamim, aim for the same thing—that through them the creatures would achieve the purpose of creation, which is to delight His creatures. This is why he says, “If there is no Hesed there is no Shechina.”

That is, without the correction of Hesed in the world, where through the quality of Hesed they can receive in order to bestow, there would not be the Shechina. That is, the correction that was done in Malchut, called “association of the quality of mercy with judgment,” would not help. However, the quality of Hesed does exist in the world, meaning that Malchut was corrected with the quality of Hesed, which is Rachamim, and this helps to achieve the goal.

However, we should understand why Malchut is called Shechina. Baal HaSulam said that the holy Zohar says, “He is Shochen [dweller]; she is Shechina.” This means that where the Creator is revealed it is called Shechina. This is called “instilling of the Shechina,” meaning that there the Creator is revealed.

For this reason one should always pray to be rewarded with the kingdom of heaven, also known as “faith.” That is, one should pray that he will be rewarded with faith. But there is a question: If he knows that he lacks faith in the Creator, then to whom is he praying, for only when he believes in the Creator can it be said that he is asking the Creator to give him what he wants?

We can interpret this according to what is written in the “Introduction to the study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 14): “‘He whose Torah is his trade.’ The measure of his faith is apparent in his practice of Torah because the letters of Umanuto [his trade], are the same [in Hebrew] as in 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 enough to lend him half his property, but not all his property. Finally, he may trust him with all his property without a hint of fear. This last faith is considered ‘whole faith,’ and the previous forms are considered ‘incomplete faith.’ Rather it is partial faith, whether more or less.”

Thus, we see that there is partial faith. When he has partial faith, it can be said that a person should pray to the Creator to help him since he has only partial faith, so he wants the Creator to help him achieve complete faith. And since it is impossible to be awarded complete faith before one is rewarded with equivalence of form, as said in the previous articles and presented in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar” (p 138), hence there are those corrections, as written above concerning BeHibaraam: 1) through the quality of Hesed they will achieve equivalence of form, which is regarded as Abraham; 2) he says that he is Hey, meaning the Shechina. That is, Malchut received into her the quality of Rachamim by which they will come into bestowal, and then the purpose of creation to do good to His creations will come true.

Reader: Friends, we are going to move to the lesson now from November 5, 2003.

M. Laitman: (21:21) In portion “Lech Lecha,” the matter of mercy, of Hesed, although the desire to receive is the whole matter of creation, but to the extent in which the will to receive will be corrected in the quality of Bina in order to bestow, it will be able to be used correctly and lead it to wholeness and eternality. Therefore, Abraham, who arrived first to this correction, is called Av, the father of the nation, and received the additional Hey, from Abram to Abraham, meaning attaining the quality of Bina, and he is found to be the first to receive this quality. His quality is called Hesed. Mercy, where Bina, that belongs to GAR, to the upper three, as she gives her quality to ZAT, to the lower seven vessels of reception of the lower ones, then her quality is Hesed. This is what a person needs to acquire in order to perform corrections to the vessel of his soul, and to the extent in which he acquires the correction of Bina upon his Malchut, to that extent we can measure his spiritual degree and ability to receive in order to bestow. Meaning, everything is measured not according to Malchut, but rather to the extent in which you can use Malchut in accordance with the correction of Bina in her, and to bring the created being to a state in which he will be able to engage in the correction of Malchut by Bina. The created being turns out to be, through the shattering of the vessels, where all the points of Bina entered points of Malchut, and are all in a manner that they're intermingled in one another according to the desire of Malchut, the desire to receive of Malchut, where in every place in Malchut there is the quality of Bina, to the extent in which Malchut can receive her, absorb her, can acquire this quality for her own benefit. It's not just that there was some kind of intermingling between Malchut and Bina on a spiritual degree, but rather this mixing of Bina and Malchut needs to be in the lowest possible degree according to Malchut's desire. For only then in this manner can the Malchut be discerned and corrected in every state she is and every desire she's in. She will use the quality of Bina in order to take the manner of Bina, and in place of attributing Bina to her, opposite to that, in place of being a shell, a Klipa, instead of using the Kedusha for the benefit of reception, she will do it differently. She will adhere herself to Bina and using the qualities of Bina first, only, and then share herself in the qualities of Bina, in bestowing in order to bestow, and then receiving in order to bestow. The correct use of Bina a person needs to scrutinize and to perform, to execute. Meaning, to acquire the quality of Hesed, of mercy, and make it the initial, highest, most respectable of all qualities and discernments - this is actually all of man's work. Then we really see that the desire to receive was created as a means to reach the degree of the Creator, because with all its power it joins the quality of Hesed, the quality of Bina, the quality of the Creator - to bestow. The created being joins the Creator. When Malchut joins Bina she reaches Keter. She uses the quality of Bina in all her power. That's about it. We see that all these matters of the joining, of association of Malchut and Bina, besides it being our entire path, our entire work, everything outside of that has to do with the commandment that the Creator says to Abraham, go unto the land, and etc. Meaning, a person who receives from his nature, to his nature the addition of Bina already has now the possibility to work, because he has these two means, by which only in the correct merging, in the correct work between them, he can reach the purpose of creation. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:55) And then what will he ask from Bina? One time it's the light of Hesed, and another time... 

M. Laitman: Bina is the quality of the Creator. GAR, Keter, Hochma, Bina, belong to above the Guf, above the created being. The created being begins from ZAT, from the lower seven. As we learn from the four phases of direct light, from the Creator expands light, which is called the phase of root, or Keter, where existence from absence takes out the first phase, the desire to enjoy Him, to enjoy the light, and this is a desire that comes directly from the light. Directly, hence, this is called four phases of direct light. And certainly this desire is not independent, it's completely included in light. The light expands within him and it gradually becomes a desire. Meaning, you can't yet say that there is something besides the light here, outside of it. That's why it's called four phases of direct light. Afterwards, in this light and in the desire that happens in this light, there’s a response upon this light where this desire wants to resemble the light. This is all through the expansion of the light. And this desire seemingly wants to adhere to the light in return. Meaning, the moment it feels it’s different from the light, it now expands more from the light and now returns wanting to adhere to the light. These are the qualities in the light. And afterwards, this desire that already wants to adhere to the light and has a certain response on its behalf, although it's also not its own, a direct response from the action of the light upon it; but nevertheless, if it's against the first one, the addition to the first one and the opposite to it, then I think, by what can I truly be like the light? Besides me wanting, can I perform the same action like the light does? And then the action it does, it's already called Zeir Anpin, phase three, which is already the beginning of the created being, the root of the created being. And we learned that in Zeir Anpin, we have six aspects: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod. And after this, Zeir Anpin develops, meaning that there’s a certain response, after that, an additional desire comes to continue this pleasure more than it was in phase one and two, and phase three, to extend the pleasure that is in the root, in the light itself, in phase four.

M. Laitman: (32:42) So the created being begins from ZAT, the lower seven of Bina, that's its Rosh, and it itself begins from the quality of Hesed. Therefore, when the development comes from the root to the branches in this world, where the end of the process of development from Adam through Noah to Abraham, then Abraham is already the quality or the phase of Hesed. Adam and Noah belong to the Rosh, to the head of the degree. And Abraham, Hesed, is already the materialization, we could say, of the quality of bestowal in the first Kabbalist, who therefore began to develop the attainment of the Creator, and to implement it, and pass it along to others. All the Creator's work, all the attainment of spirituality, meaning an additional world that there is besides that which we feel and which we also exist now as well, even before it is clothing in the body, even after the emergence from the body, all that comes to us from Abraham. He’s the researcher, the first Kabbalist. He’s the first within which, in practice, the connection between Bina and Malchut took place. It is from this connection he began to feel the question, what's the meaning of our lives? That is, is there someone who governs the capital? He had such questions about the general force, the Creator, the one who governs and manages all of nature. And from this he came to his investigation and revelation of the Creator. That's what's written in the Midrash. By what? Since in him the connection between Bina and Malchut was revealed, in the clash, in the comparison of the equivalence between Malchut and Bina, that's where a person studies and understands what the difference and what the connection is between these two kinds of creation: spirituality, which is Bina, and corporeality, which is Malchut. And then, on the border between them, he builds himself in the combination between them. That's why Abraham is called the first Jew, since he is the first who reached unification with the Creator through the correct combination, correct correction of Malchut by Bina. That's why it's written about him, “go from your land,” from the desire of Malchut to the desire of Bina. Because in him it was revealed, since in this root he's called the father of the nation, the first Kabbalist. And he actually founded in his life all those conditions, rules, that until this day all the Kabbalists are actually doing. The study, dissemination - all that we have, we see that it is what happened to him, what he had.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:45) Rabash says that Baal HaSulam wrote in the "Preface,” item 58, as if seemingly the Creator wanted to first create the world in the measure of judgment. 

M. Laitman: Well, what is it considered? To create the world in the measure of judgment, where first Malchut was created, and then to Malchut joins Bina in a corrupted manner. What's in a corrupted manner? Since Bina cannot be corrupted, but rather when Malchut uses this quality according to her desire, according to how to enjoy more. That's considered the shattering of the vessels. That's called the corrupted form. And you can ask, could the Creator have made the intermingling between Bina and Malchut in a different way, where they won't be corrupted, these two, but rather for them to intermingle correctly. But if they were, let's say, I don't know in what way, but just like that, if they were intermingled correctly, first of all, we wouldn't attain anything from this, because it would not be under our control, it wouldn't be ours. It would be the Creator, actually. That's one thing. The second thing is actually that we wouldn't be able to distinguish between these qualities, or be able to choose how to use them. We wouldn't have independence. In this way, as we choose Malchut, from within Malchut, to be under the control of Bina, we choose to acquire it and adhere to her quality, then by that, we choose to exit one nature into a second nature. That's the entire choice. This is all of the building of man, of Adam in us. Since also Malchut is a quality before us, the Creator created it, and also Bina is a quality that the Creator founded. Hence there isn't here anything on our behalf. On our behalf is just to choose, to sort, discern, and to prefer the quality of Bina over the quality of Malchut. Meaning, put Malchut under the control of Bina and not the opposite way as we received it after the shattering of the vessels, where Bina is under the hostage of Malchut.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:32) How can a man eventually attain also the thought of the Creator, which is existence out of absence, if He was seemingly never there? 

M. Laitman: How can a person attain the thoughts of the Creator if He is never there? As it is written, “From Your actions we know You,”  if we perform the same actions, acts of bestowal like Bina does, like Bina wants to do. What does phase two say? “I want to be like You.” Yes? What is “like You?” Like Keter. She revealed in Hochma the action of the Keter, so she says: “I don't want to be like Hochma, and I don't want to enjoy from the light of Hochma that fills the Kli of Hochma. I want to be like the root, the Keter, which gives pleasure to Hochma. This is what she wants, to be just like Keter - she gives, bestows. Then she reaches an understanding of what the pleasures in Keter are, pleasures to enjoy. And then she wants specifically these, to enjoy these pleasures specifically, from the degree of Keter, from Him giving. 

Let's put it this way. The baby comes to enjoying what his mother gives him. And now he's thinking, he goes to an understanding to what extent his mother enjoys giving him. That the pleasure of the bestower, of the mother, by giving him a candy - it's not a candy that he feels the pleasure in, and also not the pleasure that's after the candy, that he passes along to his mother. He understands that in his mother, it's like a million times the candies of pleasure that is measured there, when he receives from her and she will enjoy. So he understands that he wants to enjoy the million times of candies from what's in his mother, which is called that Malchut, in phase four, has an additional desire that we didn't have before, which is called to attain this desire. Therefore, Malchut is called Malchut, the phase which comes directly from the Creator, and it's the root of the created beings. She's still connected to the Creator. She's still filled with light, but not distinguished from the light. But her desire does not come directly. This baby that attained his mother enjoys a million times from this candy, from what she gives me. Why? Because she loves me. She has to bestow. And he wants this, because the measure of bestowal is immense. And this is what he wants to enjoy from his mother. And that's why this desire, this additional desire that comes not directly from the root, the created being can't do a screen upon it. He can't say anything about it. But I want to bestow. I want to be like him. He can't. He's not capable. He wants to enjoy now from bestowal. Like the Creator enjoys bestowal, he wants to enjoy this pleasure, to feel this pleasure, to enjoy it in his desire to receive. Therefore, he can only perform a restriction here. Here's where the big question comes from. Where does he get the strength to perform a restriction? Therefore, what is revealed here is the gap between him and the Creator called ”shame.” Not simple questions. 

M. Laitman: (45:12) But then he performs a restriction. And after the restriction, he can perform an action that's similar to Bina, like she did in Zeir Anpin, to take this new desire in Malchut with the quality of Bina and invert it in order to bestow. He's not capable. Because also what he learns from Bina that she's bestowing, he doesn't learn sufficiently for Malchut. Bina can balance the desire in Hochma. But to give to Malchut all the power to be in receiving in order to bestow, she's not capable. Here, a person needs to distinguish between what is capable and what is not. And this new desire he acquired is for the stony heart. There's more to talk about here.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:11) What is the root of this feeling that she wants to grasp His thought? Where's the root in the phases? Is there a root for it? Is there a root for that feeling that she seemingly wants to assume His status, stature? 

M. Laitman: Malchut that wants to enjoy, like he enjoys from the phase of root, which enjoys wanting to bestow, which is His desire to do good to His created being. The first desire towards the created being, this is called the stance of the Creator. That which the mother feels towards her baby. Only what's in her. So the created being discovers this status, this what's in the giver and sees what a pleasure it is to bestow. Not according to that which is in the candy, what he receives, where he can appreciate and value and feel, but what he feels there inside, inside the bestower.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:24) Why wasn't it in phase two already? 

M. Laitman: Why not in phase two? Because phase two's desire to bestow was born from the feeling of pleasure that you feel in phase one, from the feeling of the candy. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:45) And this is the highest state? The phase root is the highest state there is? 

M. Laitman: The root phase is the highest state. The rest is philosophy. We can't discuss anything above it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:07) How can you come to a state where we actually see the true reward there is in bestowal and that's why we start running there? You're actually saying that we need to do some, what's written there in the article, that we need to see the pleasure that awaits us and naturally we'll run to that pleasure, run to the quality of bestowal, like a baby, that you're saying. 

M. Laitman: I do not know. You're taking such a foundation that I'm not so familiar with. If we could reveal right now that there are all those pleasures in bestowal, we would be like a thief chasing the quality of bestowal in order to gain some pleasures. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:58) And what can push a person to such a thing if not the pleasure, if it's our nature? 

M. Laitman: What pushes us toward bestowal, yes, seemingly the expected, the anticipated pleasure. We anticipate it, on the one hand. On the other hand, it's suffering, the torments we feel in our current state. But when we walk on the path, we see that this is a great pleasure that they disclose to us, the profit from bestowal in our will to receive. We're so excited to bestow because it will bring us pleasure. If it were like that, we would follow the shells. We would be incorporated only in chasing the pleasures of the shells. We would never be able to come out of it. That's why our path is called MiZion Tetze Torah, Torah will come out of Zion, from the exits, from the disappointments, the confusions, certainly not the pleasures. If it's through the pleasures, it's through the shell. The shell owns you; it gives you pleasure and says: “work for me.” With us, it's not happening. This is the sign that we're following the correct path. The actions that they do on you from above are actions designed to turn you into a bestower. It's not simple. It's difficult. You don't know how because in our vessels of reception, our egoistic view of things, you cannot see it. But the path is certainly without any pleasure. They don't give you any payment on the path for which it is worthwhile for you to work. Only this abstract idea, the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the group, la-la-la - something. Bottom line - what for? Where? What? What is it? Tell me. There's nothing. Nothing. Last night, I gave a broadcast in America at 6:30. They arranged the meeting with an American group in New York, and those who were here. So certainly, I'm saying that a person who starts, begins to study Kabbalah, begins to discover reality, learns how to walk, how to twist feet. It's actually false. Yes, he will do it after he will acquire the mind above the barrier. He will acquire the higher awareness. He will learn how to truly behave and what to live for. Then to that extent, they'll open up for him the ability to control the world to the extent that he will be in equivalence to the form of the Creator. But before that, no. Only in as much as to attract them. I don't lie to them, except I don't tell them that they have to first correct themselves, equip themselves with the right order, the right intellect, mind, the understanding of the process, of reality. Otherwise, what kind of fate will be in control here? That you wish to earn something? What, stock market? Beastly pleasures? Of course, not. So I don't tell them about it. Just like the Rav taught me. He said, you only have to talk about the second half. You're not lying about the first half. You're simply not talking about it.

M. Laitman: (53:07) So what we see about ourselves, we do not advance through pleasure. So you have nothing to worry about. You're not going to receive any pleasures. Only to the extent that you'll truly be able to carry out an act of bestowal, you'll be able to enjoy it in order to bestow. The game is sold like that, like double.

Student:  So what do we actually do? If let's say, we're trying to give the greatness of the goal, of the Creator, all kinds of things to the friend, what do I actually do? 

M. Laitman: Well, the fact that when you come to the group and you say to them: “Guys, you need to constantly bestow to me the greatness of the Creator.” How to tell them, you don't care, it doesn't cost you much. With your own ego, you can apply pressure on them, and they represent this foreign force that you can demand from them. You can’t demand from yourself, but you can demand from them. So I want you to influence me with the greatness of the Creator. They begin to bestow to you the greatness of the Creator. And then you surrender.

Student: So should I go towards the direction of the pleasure? 

M. Laitman: It's not in the direction of the pleasure. Yes, in the direction of the pleasure. It's because the society convinces you, because you're built in such a way, you're subjugated to the opinion of the society. Of course, you derive pleasure from incorporating in the opinion of the many. It gives you confidence, a feeling of belonging. Of course, it's measured in the vessels of reception. So you begin to chase the greatness of the Creator. It's worthwhile for me to be next to Him. But you can’t see these pleasures. If you could see them, you would chase them of your own accord. But because you can't, you rely on the society to tell you that it's worthwhile. Just like the example I gave you. In order to be a professor, go convince the child that it's worthwhile. And he doesn't see any pleasure in that. And gradually you invoke, you summon by that the surrounding lights, and they truly change you. The action is not really done by us, but we have to provide the means for it, only by wanting the greatness of the Creator because the society obligates me. He's concealed, I don't need Him, but the society tells me that I need Him. And then I seemingly need Him. I don't know exactly who is He? What is He? But I somehow make this action, and corresponding to this action is the surrounding light that actually does the work. Everything does in the disconnection from the will to receive. The will to receive here feels nothing in these actions. No profit whatsoever. If they ask you from the outside, what do you have? What do you get here? They say, well, your life is also garbage. Or you can say that I enjoy, that I'm investigating the reality of something. I have something more than your beastly life. But bottom line, is there anything? No, nothing. That's a sign you advance in the correct way without the interference, inclusion of the will to receive. Until the surrounding light changes us, there is no difference. There's no way out of it. There's no other means. That's why you constantly get into despair and there's nothing to feel proud about. And you don't know, you can't see the end. And where's this barrier? And where is it? You know, each time it's seemingly more. On the one hand, you get more forces. You accumulate some experience. On the other hand, none of it gives you any foundation. It's all in order to disconnect, to sever the will to receive from the result, that truly does not belong to it. Until he says, I want it. There's some grace of sanctity when you acquire some surrounding light and you can't do it any other way. I want it. Why? I received this grace. I love it. That's it. There's no answer. The light constructs this attraction. But in your mind, and the correct feeling, and in justification, there's none, you have no leg to stand on. That's why we can't go out on the street and convincingly say: “Look, what are you doing? Look what we have. A hundred-fold, a thousand-fold, a million-fold.” No, you have nothing to show for it. Nothing. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:47) May you convince yourself to go forward? 

M. Laitman: Others you convince because of your own pride and ego when you apply pressure on them. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:06) Rabash writes, when friends gather, they need to talk about the benefits. What does he mean? What benefits are we talking about with the friends? 

M. Laitman: When the friends gather, you need to talk about the profits. The profit is an abstract one. Profit can be only in as much as I have a desire and I see some future fulfillment that could come to me corresponding to this desire. That I can gain this, and I can gain it in investing less than the pleasure that I will receive. This is called profit, right? I invest 99 and I receive a hundred. But I have to be in the desire for it, and a desire that's greater than the anticipated exertion. Otherwise my calculation in the will to receive will be such that my will to receive is not going to allow me to exert. We make this calculation each and every time with all of our pleasures and deficiencies and efforts. So what are you asking?

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:55) If it's clear that there is some kind of benefit, some profits, what should I tell him?

M. Laitman: The profit that we're after from this process we're going through is the kind of profit you cannot transfer to someone else. If a person is still looking for profit in terms of food, rest, family, sex, physical pleasures or pleasures of money, honor, knowledge, that he can't give him in place of these pleasures that he feels that he's lacking, you can't get him, you can't show him pleasures that are entirely not related to this, abstract, that are not clothed in what he can understand. He can't feel it; it has to be a different vessel. The vessels that we have from the onset are vessels where I feel pleasures that are clothed in this world to some extent: control, knowledge, physical pleasures through the five senses that I can feel. And the closer the pleasure to me, the more tangible it is, the greater it is. These two pleasures, right, the tactile sense is the greatest, then vision, then you have more abstract things like money, honor, things that require certain development, nevertheless that comes clothed in something. They bow down to me, they respect me, or I know how this is included in that, and how this spins this way or that way. It's a form of control, knowledge, ultimately, is a form of control, it's a bit more abstract but it has to do with the development of control. But if they are even more abstract, the pleasures, they have no hold, no grasp and they don't clothe in vessels of reception, they belong to the Bina in the Malchut. Even the shells, the pleasures that are received in the Bina in the Malchut, not Malchut itself, and you cannot explain it to people who don't possess it, it has to be preceded by some level of development before that. That's why when they asked me yesterday, well what is it about Kabbalah, how come it's revealed now? What do you want to happen? In the radio, in America. I said, what do you mean? We're in a state, we can't see what will be tomorrow. Life is not good. People are looking for drugs. There's no family, no connection between children and parents. We don't know what can happen the next moment, we enter such a complicated life, such an unknown life. We must know about reality, how to control our destiny, our fate, how to ensure that my actions will bring me pleasure, confidence, security, the good life. That's what I said, because you cannot speak about it more abstractly. That's what they understand. This is something they understand. So, how do you do it? Well, come and learn. Anything we wish to do logically in this life; you have to first learn. Every profession, even a cobbler, shoemaker, even there, there are secrets you have to first reveal, learn how to do, and only then can you do it. All the more so here. So, I'm not lying. I'm simply not explaining what they're unable to grasp, which is everything has to do with the equivalence of form, that you need to have that in order to enter the correct reality. You have to acquire a second nature in order to occupy the entire volume of reality. I'm not talking about that, because it's beyond their grasp. 

Student: I'm talking about the friends. What do I tell them? Well, they know about this state. I think they know. They know that they're... 

M. Laitman: How do I convince the friends to advance on the path? I simply put into them my own joy, and my motivation, artificially. Artificially. I come, everybody's all bummed out, and me too, but I activate this radio, and it begins to play, because what? Because it's an inanimate object, right? And although they are on the animate degree compared to the inanimate degree, I'm not saying they're on the speaking degree; let's say they're on the animate level. Not everybody's out of it, but this inanimate object can activate them. You see that this is how it is? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:16) If I invest 100% in a friend, and also on Saturday you said that the benefit from it would be 100%. So what does it mean? How can you scrutinize from my labor? 

M. Laitman: I didn't get it.

Student: On Saturday, you said that we need to invest 100% exertion, although the reward from it would also be, you said it could be 50%. To the friend, you said that the reward will also come from this labor. 

M. Laitman: I don't know what I said. Well, certainly, if I do something to enjoy, bestow, bestow in order to receive, I don't know. Maybe enough of that. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:12) He says here, if there's no Chesed, there's no Shechina. 

M. Laitman: No Chesed, no Shechina, yes? Shechina is the measure of bestowal that's revealed in Malchut. Malchut that's connected with Bina is called Shechina. Malchut by itself is Malchut, Bina by itself is something abstract, it's the quality of bestowal, but Shechina is the collection, the assembly of all the souls in the corrected form, the connection between Bina and Malchut in the ideal form. 

Student: He says that in the place where the Creator is revealed.

M. Laitman: Yes, there the Creator is revealed, in the Shechina.

Student: The article we read yesterday, he said there that it's possible to try to connect the two articles from what he says there, and they don't have… they don't have how to get to that point. 

M. Laitman: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we shouldn't get confused. We also don't have time right now. 

Student: Nevertheless, if a person feels during the study an impression from the books, from the society, is that not pleasure? 

M. Laitman: A person who enjoys the study, the society, the fact that he is inside this process, is this pleasure that he's feeling. Is it wrong? There are several things here. The question is, what obligates you? Right? I mean, what's the reason? There are many things that come. And everybody comes 100% because they feel bad. And they're looking to feel good, confidence. It's a thousand and one reasons, but ultimately, it's the inability to feel the future. That's what we call confidence, or security. Confidence is the upshot of attaining faith. But the question is like that: it's true that it's activating us, and it's true that we're working out of that, that I am feeling bad now, and I'll feel good later, but am I changing my values along the way? Do I constantly remain in the feeling of wanting to feel good to the same extent or with the same vessels that I had before or are my vessels constantly improving? Or maybe, I'm actually drawn to something beyond the material, and I begin to approach this grace from above. That I don't interpret things the way I used to do it at the beginning, that good, means to fill myself with all kinds of beastly pleasures. Beastly for us is mostly honor, and power, or control. Honor, control, and knowledge. Right? Or I begin to see that control and knowledge, they don't bring me to the purpose. I begin to feel how empty it is by itself. If this exists in the process, then it's a sign a person is developing. But if not, it's a sign that he remains as he is, the way he came. And then he exits the group. A person who doesn't change his values cannot be here. He will be in disparity of form. He will feel the group ejecting him. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:45) Meaning that the only pleasure is from the greatness of the goal? 

M. Laitman: Until the only pleasure will be in attaining the connection with the Creator. You don't know exactly how, but it's almost like folly. Derangement. What does it mean? Nobody sees it. You also don't see it, and you also don't know, but it's something that you're attracted to, you're drawn to it. It's a result of the surrounding light that shines to you from afar, and it builds in you the yearning for it. As he says there, right? Until he revolves around this all day and all night long. Right? It's called this hardening, that he truly wants it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:38) We said that our next degree is the barrier. And we need to create a spiritual bylaw according to what's happening in the crossing of the barrier. So, how can we have the ability to read articles of Rabash and to write? How we need to write such a bylaw? 

M. Laitman: How can we create a statute or bylaw? I would ask differently. If we don't do it to ourselves, then who will? 

Student: No, I'm saying that... 

M. Laitman: You want to say this. You want to say this. When I go to school, there's a building. I go in. Everything is built for me to sit down. And there's me, and there's other kids like me. And there's a teacher, and there's a whiteboard. And he's standing there and telling us, and he knows what to say. He is authorized. He studied this for 20 years, and he has plans and programs that are accepted upon the public. The public examines him, the public sends him to teach our children, and so we're certain that we're in the right hands. And he advances us to what most of the public and our parents inside them agree and determine that that's how the education system is built. 

Student: And here, where we put our life for it, how do we advance? By what plan? Who's advancing us? Where is the agreement, the agreement of society or something? Where's the Creator who perhaps signs this and puts a signature somewhere? How does it happen? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:28) No, I'm saying that, like, kind of like about the school that you're saying, there's the management that decides and knows the next state, and defines what will needs to be. So maybe here, too, when you know what the first degree is after the barrier, maybe you can tell us what does this statute need to be, to be in that degree?

M. Laitman: Oh, so the statute, as we agreed, needs to be not for our current correct life. If we can do it already, then the statute is written within us. It doesn't need to be written on the wall. On the wall needs to be written something that we should attain, right? Our close future state. It has to be an example in front of us, printed in front of us, yes? Okay. So perhaps we should print out the current state and the future state, the closest future state. Who determines what state that is? So you're asking, you're saying there needs to be some teacher who knows exactly the degree that is X and X plus one, and he should write it down for us, and each time write down these two degrees and measure us and plus one. Us and plus one, and see how we advance, and that's how we'll advance, yes? Like a teacher going to school every day, so every day he gives you another portion, and another portion, and another portion, and thus gradually you grow, yes? So, why doesn't it happen like that here? Because our path is a path that you are building, and you build the human out of yourself. You have to find the desires, and scrutinize them, and choose between them, what's correct or incorrect. You build yourself. This search builds the human from you, because at school, you're just acquiring knowledge that already exists in the world, but you're a child, and others know, and here you need to build from yourself a human that doesn't yet exist. It's not in your body, in all your desires, and all your qualities, and everything that's in you. There's nothing yet that you build within yourself. You build from a point, you build a Partzuf that doesn't exist. And you, only by your criticism, and inspection, and your whole work between Bina and Malchut, everything you're given, all of your qualities and environmental circumstances, by that you build yourself. No one can go into that. There's no teacher who can get into that, to there and build, including the Creator. Because you, bit by bit, with your own discernments, from a point, you build a Partzuf. 

Student: But what can we write in the statute? 

M. Laitman: What can you write in the statute? I don't know. Write what you know, what you think. Don't ask what to write. I'm just telling you, more or less, the statute is about what I have now and how I think I should be in the next state. That's it. That's all I can give you. More than that, I can't say.

Student: What if you will do it? You'll take away from us our free choice? 

M. Laitman: Not only that I'll take your choice, I also cannot do it instead of you. How will I take your mind and your heart and start thinking and doing. The search itself is what builds the vessels. How will I then do that search instead of you? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:44) Why does it contradict? If you know the state of the group better than what it does? 

M. Laitman: So I can only give the group general advice. Guys, think through who you are today, who you should be in, say, a day, a week, doesn't matter, in the next state. No one has the ability to enter this work instead of a person. 

Student: Can this be a statute about the inner aspirations we need to reach, and also states of... 

M. Laitman: There's something similar to this, say, in music, or someone who's engaging in any kind of art or something. You teach a person some external advice. When he starts following that, he begins to feel the substance, how to do things. He becomes the artist, and then within him, what's created is a kind of... Well, that's what we call art. But if he doesn't do it, if he doesn't know, if he doesn't fail here and succeed there, how will he build himself? And that's just in corporeality, all the more so in spirituality, where you can't even give examples. Even the examples, one has to do, to extract by himself. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:32) If this statute is like my personal business, it's something that no one else can enter there and discern, so, what does it mean that we need to gather with friends, agree a statute for everyone? What does it mean? If it's a personal thing and the statute is a result of scrutinies, records, what do I need to do with everyone? So how do I... So, I don't have the needs with everyone in the statute.

M. Laitman: You're asking for no reason. We went through this so much. If I depend on society, I need to know who society is. I need to determine, because society is my future. What do you mean the statute is something personal? I write it to myself, and that's it. What can I write to myself? I'll write to myself, Michael, you are now in this and that state. Tomorrow, you want to be in that, this, and that state? Good. What's good? I need to go to the society to be in such a state tomorrow. If I don't turn to society, if I don't go there, how can I advance from X to X plus 1? 

Student: But what do I need this for? 

M. Laitman: All right. After you determine you need to turn to society to reach a better, more advanced state, then you go to the society, and you write a statute with the society; how the society needs to influence you so that you advance one degree forward. How otherwise? What other means you have to advance? I don't understand you guys. It's like we haven't learned, haven't spoken, haven't gone through anything. 

Student: So, what do I need to sit and talk to them and... 

M. Laitman: You know what, let's make it simple. We'll take you out of society now, go home, and we'll see you after two months. See what you are without a society.

Student: So I'm in the group, let's say, physically. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: I'm here, I'm incorporated, but what do I need all this for? 

M. Laitman: But I need to be certain that they'll influence me, and they'll influence me in accordance with what I want to have. If I determine I want to be in a certain degree, in a certain state, next state, so I need the society to transition me from this state to that state. 

Student: What do I need to tell them?

M. Laitman: Of course, I should tell them, I need to determine all the processes, that they will influence me through these processes.

Student: And if it changes, then what? 

M. Laitman: So tomorrow it will change, and I will change tomorrow also, of course. 

Student: So every day we need to gather? 

M. Laitman: Oh, now you're saying that, of course, every day, every moment. That's called the work. Every moment I have to change my statute, as much as I understand. The next moment I understand better, that my statute internally and my relation to society, what I'll demand from it, will also change. 

Student: Virtually or qualitatively? 

M. Laitman: I don't know whether it's virtual or psychological or...There is a Kabbalist called Baal HaSulam. He has an article called “The Freedom,” about free choice. So please, read it.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:24:47) Meaning, it's possible that the source of weakness in a society is where each does not make the calculation of what exactly he wants from it? 

M. Laitman: Each one doesn't make a calculation of what he wants for himself, and to want for himself also means to understand that I myself am incapable, and if I need that, I turn to society. Otherwise, I won't turn to society. Why do I care about society if I don't want to move from state A to state B? And if I know that from state A to state B I can't move if not through them, by their influence, then I go to them, and to the extent that I require it, then I already pressure them, and I don't know what I do with them. I just get in there with cruelty and change everything. To the extent that I need to advance from state to state, to the extent that I discover that without them I can't do it, to that extent I pressure, and change, and demand the society to be in a certain way that will influence me so that I'll move from state A to state B. But if I don't have that urgency, I don't turn to the society, and I don't care about society, and I'm just kind of, you know, I have a nice time with them, you know, let's celebrate.

Student: Meaning, there's a place where even the society can't change a person, and that's the place where he has to make his calculation, yes? 

M. Laitman: What does it mean society influences the person? How can the society influence me if I don't want that influence, that I don't perceive its influence upon me? So they want me to dance, I'll dance. Why? Because it's worthwhile for me to stay and dance, but I'm among the friends, we're advancing, we're prideful and, you know, there's all kinds of inner calculations here. That's what I'm saying. Without a statute, without you caring for it, what's a statute? It means, my demand to the society, how does it influence me? And we don't see so much that society influences us, and it doesn't pressure us. I'll give you an example. New folks came and said about a few people here that they're not doing the correct work. They criticized you and a few others, right? How that moved you, you were under pressure, how that influenced you, right? So, at least to that extent, you should always feel pressure from society, then we will succeed.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:13) In order to determine our current state, we kind of need to raise the sensitivity, meaning the noise that we seemingly feel. 

M. Laitman: Even if you are in a sleepy state, and you don't demand anything, I don't know, first state, second state, the society still has to shake you. And if you are not resurrected, then just to throw you and bury you, and that's it. Everything depends on society.