The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: July 5, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work? Art. 24 (1990)
Original lesson date: 05/30/2002
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will watch a recorded lesson from May 30th, 2002, based on the article, "What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work?" We will read the article together in the Ten. We have 32 minutes for that.
Reading: (00:40) Rabash. What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work?
Article No. 24, 1990
It is written in The Zohar (VaYikra, Item 70), “‘If his offering is a burnt offering.’ Rabbi Hiya started, ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts.’ The thought of the Creator is superior and the beginning of everything. From that thought, ways and paths extend to devise the holy name. And from that thought emanate the written Torah and the oral Torah, which is Malchut. Man’s thought is the beginning of everything. Ways and paths extend from that thought to divert one’s ways in this world and in the next world, and from that thought emerges the filth of the evil inclination to harm oneself and all others. Also, transgressions, sins, and evil doing come from that thought, as well as idolatry, incest, and bloodshed. It is written about that, ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts.’”
In Item 73, it says, “Everything that comes to be a burnt offering is male and not female, since the burnt offering rises [“rises” is spelled the same as “offering” in Hebrew] over the heart, meaning on the thought, which is above the heart, since the thought, which is Hochma [wisdom], is regarded as male and the heart as female, meaning Bina [understanding], as in ‘the heart understands.’”
We should understand what is “the thought of the Creator” in the work, and what is “the thought of man” in the work, of which the writing says, according to what is written in The Zohar, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” We should also understand what it implies to us when he says, “a burnt offering is male,” since it atones for the thought, which is male. What does this imply to us in the work, so we will know how to behave?
It is known that although the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure, in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, a correction was done, called “Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment,” on the delight and pleasure. Since all creations were created with a desire to receive delight and pleasure, it follows that man cannot do anything unless he knows he can receive delight and pleasure from that thing. Otherwise, he cannot make a single move, since it will contradict the root of the creatures.
Sometimes, when a person does act, although he derives no pleasure from these actions, it is because he knows that by this he will receive delight and pleasure later, which he will be given in return for his work, meaning for the actions he took and in which he took no pleasure. Only because of the pleasure he will receive after the work, it gives him strength to do the work from which he does not enjoy at the moment, but will in the future.
Yet, if the reward is not certain, he has no power to work when he does not enjoy it. For example, a mother feeds her children. Although it is work to buy the groceries and prepare them for eating, and she also feeds them, we should discern two actions here: 1) actions she would give up, 2) actions she does not intend to give up.
Buying groceries and preparing them for eating, she would give up. We see that among the rich, there are people who buy the groceries and there is a cook. This shows that the mother can do without them. But the mother looking at the children eating, although while looking at the children eat, the mother does not eat, in that state she gives up on herself but she enjoys seeing the children eat. It will never occur to the mother to think, “What do I get out of watching the little children eat?”
She does not want “the next world” for this, or “this world,” since she derives pleasure from this act, so she needs no reward. Hence, if the taste in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] were revealed, as our sages said, that the 613 Mitzvot are called “613 Pekudin [Aramaic: deposits],” as is explained in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] there is a special light that shines in it, if this were revealed and they would not have to believe it, the whole world would engage only in Torah and Mitzvot.
However, since a concealment was placed on the delight and pleasure, and it is not revealed before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, there are disturbances from the body, which cry out, “Why do you want to go against the nature with which the Creator created man, to receive delight and pleasure? You want to give this up?” Although a person promises the body that it will be rewarded, in that it observes the commandments of the Torah, meaning it will be rewarded, the body seemingly asks, “In what Kelim [vessels] will I receive reward, in vessels of reception or in vessels of bestowal?”
At that time, if the person says to it, “You will receive the reward in vessels of reception,” the body asks, “Why did the Creator give us so many commandments? After all, He is a merciful Father and is good and does good, so why does He not give us all the reward He wants to give for observing all 613 Mitzvot in return for observing half of the 613 Mitzvot? Why does He mind if He gives the full reward for observing a small part of the Torah and Mitzvot? Also, why do we need to work so hard to observe the full 613 Mitzvot?”
This is similar to the allegory about the mother who feeds her children with food and drink, but she must buy the groceries and cook them and so forth, which she would forego. What she does not forego is that she sees and looks at how her children eat. The little children, she herself feeds and enjoys it. She does not want to relinquish this work, since she enjoys the work itself and does not need any reward for this work.
We therefore have two things:
1) It is not so far from the intellect. That is, one who wants to receive reward in vessels of reception but asks why the Creator wants us to observe so many Mitzvot, meaning that He should have given all the reward He wants to give for observing half of the 613 Mitzvot, since there is no pleasure in the work he is doing, but rather in the reward he will receive afterward, this is regarded as “receiving reward in the next world.” That is, during the work, he feels no pleasure, and the only reason he wants to work is for the reward that will come later.
2) We can discern in the reward that he wants to receive the reward in vessels of bestowal, meaning to have love of the Creator and to feel that he is serving the King. It follows that he hopes to receive a reward, and he will receive this reward later, in Kelim [vessels] that are in this world, meaning in the present. Then, when he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin, when he receives each Mitzva in the manner of “this world,” he does not say, “Why were we given so many Mitzvot?”
Likewise, in the corporeal world there is no one who is angry at the Creator for preparing for us so many corporeal pleasures. In the same way, when he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin, at that time he feels in each Mitzva a different taste and does not intend to relinquish it.
But there is a big flaw here while working in the form of 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels], meaning when the Torah and Mitzvot are only “tips” that concern how to receive the vessels of bestowal, since the body’s resistance is intense because it is completely against his will to receive with which man was born.
It follows that they (work and reward) are two separate discernments. When the reward is in vessels of reception, he has fuel because he can receive reward. However, he always has exertion since the reward he receives is in “the next world,” meaning not now but some other time, when he comes, he will receive reward. In other words, he looks at the reward he will receive later.
It follows that he would be happier if he received a greater reward for less work, since he is looking at the reward. It turns out that he always has exertion because to him, the reward is the reason that compels him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. This is similar to the corporeal world: When we are paid for the work, the work is only a means. If he could receive the reward for less work, certainly, each one would choose a place that gives more reward for less work.
Conversely, when a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, the concealment and Tzimtzum that were placed on the Torah and Mitzvot are lifted from him and he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin. That is, in each Mitzva that he performs, he obtains the taste in the Mitzva. It follows that the reward is in this world, meaning in the present state that a person is in. Certainly, it cannot be said that a person should relinquish the work, since the work itself is the place to receive the reward. It follows that in “vessels of bestowal,” the 613 Mitzvot are considered “rest,” and not “work and labor.”
According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar says about the verse, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” We asked, What does this imply to us in the work when it says that ways and paths extend from the thought of the Creator “to devise the holy name,” whereas from the thought of man extend “the filth of the evil inclination to harm oneself and all others. Also, transgressions, sins, and evil doing come from that thought, as well as idolatry, incest, and bloodshed.”
The text says about this, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” The “thought of the Creator” refers to the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations. That is, He wants only to bestow abundance upon the creatures. For this reason, the Torah and Mitzvot that He has given us to do, we must say that His intention is not that we will give Him this work and He will accept it. After all, His desire is only to bestow. This is why he says that from the thought of the Creator “ways and paths extend to devise the holy name.”
We should understand the meaning of “to devise the holy name.” According to what we learn, the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. It follows that the “holy name” of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. Because that name is hidden from the creatures as long as they do not have vessels of bestowal, we were given the Torah and Mitzvot as Eitin, meaning counsels by which to obtain the vessels of bestowal, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.”
It follows that our work in Torah and Mitzvot is not because He needs us to observe His Mitzva. Rather, the created beings observe His Mitzvot, for by this the created beings correct themselves so they can be rewarded with vessels of bestowal. This is the meaning of what is written, “to devise the holy name,” for by this, each one will feel that the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good.
But (from) man’s thoughts extend “the filth of the evil inclination” because man, who is a “created being,” existence from absence, thinks only about how to receive and not bestow. Although this is the root of man, concealment and Tzimtzum were placed on that will to receive, which is why the evil inclination extends from this thought in man. In other words, when a person must perform acts of bestowal in order to have Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form,” that desire depicts to a person depictions that he will suffer by giving of his strength to others.
Therefore, when a person wants to observe Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to bestow and not receive anything that concerns his own benefit, this thought depicts to him how he will suffer. With that power of depiction, it prevents a person from achieving Dvekut with the Creator.
This is the meaning of the words “From that thought emerges the filth of the evil inclination,” as Baal HaSulam said about what our sages said, “The serpent came over Eve and cast filth within her.” He said that Zuhama [filth] is Zu-Ma [what is this?], meaning that in every matter of Kedusha [holiness], the serpent, which is the evil inclination, comes and says to a person, “What is this?” meaning “What will you get out of wanting to work and do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for your own sake?” It follows that “for My thoughts are not your thoughts” means that the thought of the Creator is to bestow, while the thought of man is only to receive.
Now we can understand what we asked, What does it imply to us when The Zohar says, “a burnt offering is male,” since it atones for the thought, which is male, since a thought is Hochma and is considered male, and the heart, which is Bina [understanding], is female, as in “the heart understands.”
Our sages said, “The eye sees and the heart covets.” We should understand what the “eye” implies. It is known that eyes are called Hochma [wisdom], meaning thought, and the thought is considered male. It is said about it in The Zohar that when a person must take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, this faith that a person believes is called “mind.” That thought impacts the heart, and then the heart begins to covet this thing that came as a thought in his mind. In that sense, the eye is called “a thought.” The wisdom, what he sees and likes, is what he gives to the heart; hence, the heart covets the thing that is in the mind.
According to the above, the thought of the Creator is to bestow. We should interpret about this as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:1), “Know what is above you; an eye that sees.” We should interpret that man should know what is above him, meaning what is above his thought, that there is the thought of the Creator there, which is called “an eye that sees.” It is as The Zohar says, that “eye” is called “thought,” and thought is called “wisdom,” which is male.
As we learned, the light of Hochma comes from the Giver to the receiver. Hence, man must resemble the “eye” of above and be a giver to the Creator. This is called “equivalence of form,” and it is called “faith in the Creator.” It is called “mind,” meaning a thought that man should be in equivalence of form with the Creator.
This is as it is written in the essay, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: “Similarly, all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit others. Thus, you will equalize your form with the form of the qualities of the Creator, and this is spiritual Dvekut. There is a discernment of ‘mind’ and a discernment of ‘heart’ in the above-mentioned equivalence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the mind. This is because the Creator does not think of Himself—whether He exists or whether He watches over His creations, and other such doubts. Similarly, one who wishes to achieve equivalence of form must not think of these things, as well, when it is clear that the Creator does not think of them, since there is no greater disparity of form than that. Hence, anyone who thinks of such matters is certainly separated from Him.”
It therefore follows that if a person believes in “Know what is above you; the eye sees,” “know” means Daat [knowledge], and Daat means connection and Dvekut. “What is above you, an eye that sees,” meaning that the eye of the Creator, which is Hochma [wisdom], and “know” refers to Dvekut, when a person adheres to “above you,” which is the “mind,” meaning faith.
According to the rule, “The eye sees and the heart covets,” meaning that the thought, which is “male,” gives to the heart, which is “coveting and desire,” then as the thought, which is “faith,” has equivalence with the Creator, the heart, too, which is the will to receive, does not want to use its own quality, which is reception, but rather to be influenced by the thought and wants to be a giver like the thought. It follows that if a person is complete with equivalence of form in the “mind,” it influences the heart, so the heart, too, will be as in “All your works will be for the sake of the Creator.”
This is as we explained about what our sages said, “Anyone in whom there is fear of heaven, his words are heard.” This means that anyone who assumes the burden of the kingdom of heaven, which is faith, the body hears his words, meaning that the whole body obeys his voice for the above reason that if the thought is faith above reason, equivalence of form, then the thought, which is male, influences the heart, which is female, as it is written, “The heart understands.” This is the meaning of what The Zohar says, “Bina is the heart,” and she is female.
Therefore, if it is a burnt offering, it is male. He says that the reason is that a burnt offering comes to atone for the thought, which is male, Hochma. That is, if a person sinned, meaning blemished his thought, which is faith above reason, he must correct what he has blemished. Since faith is discerned as “the eye sees,” which is “wisdom of above,” meaning that the thought of the Creator is His desire to do good to His creations, meaning to bestow upon the lower ones, and that person blemished this, meaning he does not believe that there is a leader to the world, who watches over the creations as The Good Who Does Good, and man must praise and thank the Creator, if a person does not believe that the Creator is the Giver, called “male,” the person must bring a male offering, which is its corresponding discernment, which he blemished.
For this reason, the blemish of the thought is very serious, since this is the whole matter of the purpose of creation. When a person does not believe this, it is regarded that he sinned and blemished the thought, and must make the correction in the same discernment.
According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar says about the words, “If his offering is a burnt offering,” “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” He says, “Also, the written Torah and the oral Torah, which is Malchut, were emanated from that thought.” We should interpret that in the work, Malchut means “the kingdom of heaven,” which is faith, while “Oral Torah” is called Torah. In other words, it is impossible to be rewarded with the Torah if one has not been rewarded with faith, as our sages said, “It is forbidden to teach idol-worshippers the Torah.”
But once he has been rewarded with faith, he can be rewarded with the Torah. This is the meaning of the words, “from that thought,” meaning from the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations, extend faith and Torah. That is, the fact that we were given faith, where everyone asks why He placed a concealment on His guidance and we need faith for this, the answer is that this, too, is in order to do good to His creations, called “in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds.” It follows that when we are adhered to His thought, we have everything. This is unlike what man’s thought says, but from that thought emerge transgressions, sins, and evil deeds, as it is written, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.”
Therefore, man must exert to focus all his work on being only in Dvekut with His thought, and believe that He watches over the world as The Good Who Does Good. When
Reader: And now friends, we're going to go to a lesson of the 30th of May, 2002.
M. Laitman: (31:20) We read an article from the “Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 2, page 12, from the portion of “Vayikra,” “What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work?” The work appears to us to be a means for the attainment of the goal. The goal is — they say it's good, nice, comfortable. The goal is called eternal living rest, eternal rest. Why? Is this written for lazy people? Now you work, God bless, later on at least, you get to rest. There are such interpretations regarding this. What, do I need to die in order to rest? What do I need to attain in order to rest? You know, it's like in the joke, a person is lying under a tree, and he's told, “go work.” What for? You work, you’ll make a lot of money, and then you can lie under a tree. He's already lying under a tree, resting. So, it is the same way here. What does it mean that now I need to work, and then later I come to rest? And rest is said to be the actual purpose of creation, to reach a state of rest. We learn that reality does not change. The upper light is in a state of complete rest, absolute rest within his vessel, and this state is preordained- pre-prepared, that we are in that state.
However, right now, it's under concealment, and Baal HaSulam gives a lot of examples about this. The son of the wealthy man who is in the cellar until he gets to grow up and understand where he is, really. Many such examples of people running to the king's hall until they get there, but ultimately, and I ate of the old and ancient, it's written. We are in the state we just need to prepare the vessels in order to feel it. The preparation of the vessels is called work, exertion and work; and after a person prepares his vessels, then he comes to equivalence of form with the light. The light is in absolute rest, and so the person comes to that state of absolute rest, just like the light.
M. Laitman: (34:19) That's a little bit of an excuse for why the goal is said to be rest. What does it mean, if so? This concept of rest, maybe it's not exactly the kind of resting that I do now. And what is my state now, where I need not to be, to be not at rest? What do I know about rest, not rest? I remember being a child, constantly running around with a ball. And I would get shouted at, “stop, sit down a little bit, just rest a little bit.” I didn't know, I didn't feel it's rest, if I just sit and hold myself back. For me, that was the opposite, it was great exertion. What was convenient and good for me was to run with the ball.
So how can we measure if it's rest, exertion, if it's work at all? You measure according to the vessels. If a vessel feels tension between the existing and the desired, what he wants and where he is, then he's not at rest, because that divide, that gap he feels, pushes him towards some spiritual motion. And then of course he's not at rest. And a vessel that has achieved a state where it equalizes with the goal, then he feels no gap, and so can fly like a child with a ball, yes, and feel that he is at rest. This is also according to Einstein's theories, right?
It doesn't matter what speed you're flying at, the main thing is that you don't add or reduce, right? That this thing doesn't come with a deficit behind and in front. You're in balance with the state you're in, and then you feel rest. How to come to that? Through equivalence of form with the environment, meaning with the light that we're in. How to come to that, to equivalence of form with the light?
So he says, for that you have the written Torah and the oral Torah, and by one of those we gain the intention in order to bestow, by the other we learn what to do in order to bestow, and then we acquire these two actions, to receive in order to bestow, to observe the commandments, spiritual acts which are in order to bestow, and then you reach the goal. That's it. That's actually all I can say. Any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:45) On page 17, the first paragraph, he says...
M. Laitman: Where?
Student: Page 17, the first paragraph, in the line that begins with flowing, he says, Then the heart begins to desire the thing that first arose as a thought in the mind. When we talk about the work regarding thought and desire, we usually say that thought is a servant of the desire, that it serves the desire and stems from it. So according to what he writes here, it seems that the heart, that is the desire, begins to want something in response to a thought that has been established in the mind. How does that fit together?
M. Laitman: We have work in Mocha and Liba, mind and heart, meaning the intention in order to bestow and the act itself. This is, in truth, a very difficult thing, which is... It's not possible to explain until a person feels it. Where he writes Mocha and Liba, mind and heart, you can read it, but there's no commandment to get confused with this. Slowly, gradually, a person comes to feel where it comes from. In truth, both mind and heart come from the heart. The heart understands. In the heart, there are, you could say, two parts. A part that feels without discernments, and a part that feels with discernments. And then according to the discernments, one can somehow separate from the feeling. Both things are in the heart. We also see that in the spiritual Partzuf phase. The Creator created a desire, and then that desire, out of feeling itself, and feeling the host, feeling the shame, feeling the goal, from that it builds for itself a Rosh, a head.
Building the head above the heart, so to speak, above the feeling, but it builds it according to the feeling, yes? It's written that in Ein Sof, infinity, “before the emanated beings were emanated and the created beings were created, the upper light filled all of reality, and there was no beginning or end,” but everything was Toch, the inside, right, the inside of the vessel. And when it came to His thought to create the created beings, and emanate the emanated beings, then after the restriction and the installation of the screen, a Rosh, a head was made, thinking about how much to receive into the Toch, the inside part, and then leaving part of the Toch with the name Sof [end], where it doesn't receive.
So ultimately, because of that feeling of various circumstances, could you say circumstances, yes, the feeling, the will to receive that the Creator created, creates for itself a Rosh, a head, where it plans out the actions by which to resemble the Creator's actions. And so we say that the heart understands, the heart determines. Within the heart, there can be just a feeling without restriction, without a screen, with none of that, and then it can be a heart that understands. Understanding means that in the will to receive, there will also be the qualities of Bina, Bina, which gives Havana, understanding. And then the will to receive, Malchut, with Bina together, meaning with the quality of bestowal, they together build this concept called the Rosh of the Partzuf.
Student: (41:47) So you're saying that over time, we gradually acquire…
M. Laitman: And then we can talk about the work in mind and heart, and how to acquire these two kinds of works, and how to connect them together.
Student: So you're saying that as we progress, we actually acquire more discernments?
M. Laitman: Excuse me?
Student: We say that as we advance along the path, we acquire more discernments in those same sensations, but there are really two aspects to it. For example, let's say I'm in darkness, and then suddenly certain discernments come to me, and I come out of the darkness, then I realize that those discernments are ones that I already experienced before. So there already seems to be the element of experience, because we say that every time we acquire...
M. Laitman: A person that goes through states can only learn from states that were in the past, that came by and passed. He can't learn from the current state, because the current state he's in controls him. The state governs the person. He can't, in the current state, determine anything about himself, because those are the desires and thoughts which now work within him.
What he can do in the current state — and that is also a question, how he does that — he can pray, he can adhere to the Upper One, devote himself to the Upper One, whereupon the Upper One will determine what he, the person, will do. But it's not that the person himself will take the forces and powers, I don't know where from, from whose side, by which to see his state and to work against his state. How? That simply cannot be. We don't have the ability to be two in one state. I don't even know how to say it.
I can know what my records are from the past, what the current state is, relatively speaking, and to receive an illumination from the Upper One, to raise a prayer to the Upper One, to ask Him to rule over me. It turns out that I have only two options: either my state controls me, or the state of the Upper One controls me. That's it. And I choose.
If I take from the society the greatness, the exaltedness of the Upper One — and this I can take only from the society, because in me, as I said, my state governs me, I cannot find within me powers which are beyond what I have. And if I take from the society the exaltedness of the Upper One, then I can, from my state, using that desire that I received from the society, to turn to the Upper One, so that He will govern me. But if not for the society, I could never turn to the Upper One.
From where will I take the recognition of the Upper One as being greater than me, more important than I? I'm in some state, and that state now determines what I think, what I want, what I see, what I understand. Now you could say, but still, there is some feeling, right? We learn, and so and so. Sure, yes, there is. But this understanding only helps a person understand that he must turn to the society. But it's not that this understanding will give him the power to turn to the Upper One. He still turns to the society, takes forces from the society, and then turns to the Upper One.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:02) But we seem to be left with this contradiction between two discernments. On one hand, we say that our discernments come from our experience, and on the other hand, we're saying that now that our discernments actually come from the society. Or is it that every spiritual state is completely different, that there's no such thing as experience, and darkness is simply darkness?
M. Laitman: Yes, you don't have any experience from the previous state. You don't know what the previous state is. This is called going above reason. True, the Upper One appears to you dark. He doesn't appear to you even, He's concealed, and you need to believe. This is not in your feelings, therefore it is in the vessels of bestowal, which are called faith.
In the vessels of bestowal, above you, you can only assume that He's truly great and above you, although in the vessels of reception, meaning in your actual vessels where you're in, even though they're smaller, even though they're vessels in order to bestow, but they're small in comparison with the Upper One. In them, you don't feel that the Upper One is greater. You have some screen, let's say, and you receive in order to bestow.
We're talking about some theoretical state, let's say, spiritual state, yes, and you're on some degree, X, that's what you have. But X plus one for you is darkness, because X plus one is an additional desire to bestow, which you don't have. And this action in relation to your vessel, it's dark. You don't feel that this action is more sublime, greater.
To feel it as greater, to appreciate it as greater, a greater thing, you can do that only on the condition that you have a vessel of bestowal for that action. But if you haven't acquired that yet, then more bestowal appears to you as darkness. What to do?
Student: At the end of it all, the discernments themselves, I have to receive them from the society. I can’t find those discernments from within myself regarding my state.
M. Laitman: Discernments you can't take from the society. From the society, you take only the exaltedness of the Upper One, in general, that's the force of the society. I also explained that this stems from, that you also can't take from the society. You receive it from the society, through the society, from above. Everything that you receive, you receive from Ein Sof, infinity. You receive only from Ein Sof, either directly or indirectly, through the friends. What does it mean, through the friends? Through the souls with which you're connected in Ein Sof as one soul. Because in Ein Sof you are one soul, then you have there more discernments, additional illumination for each one.
Let's say, we're a Ten, yes, in the group, connected together in Ein Sof, infinity. So each one of us in Ein Sof has ten discernments, yes? If we all have ten, then each one has ten. And so I draw through these friends, my friends, right now, yes, let's say ten more discernments. I draw them from Ein Sof because I want here in this world to resemble that state in Ein Sof where we are connected. By wanting to connect with them here, I, so to speak, of course, this is not light and not, well, it's a small illumination, an addition.
I draw through them the same state that we have in Ein Sof, where each one gains from everyone, profits off of everyone. So here you can understand that it doesn't depend on the friends, what they are. It depends on me and how I relate to them, because there we are connected, whether we want to or not, we're connected there. You understand? That's it. And so a person doesn't need to go and conduct criticism over the friends. Maybe the opposite. They can resist and do something. It doesn't matter. But he draws from that same place where the forces of everyone are, and then by that, he draws upon himself the power of bestowal, meaning to that same place. It's a very simple thing. You just need to describe that state, how above everything is connected, and how below it's not connected. And if below, you make a little effort to recreate that image, according to your efforts, you summon that force.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:09) On the same page, page 17, fourth paragraph, he says, As the Creator does not think about Himself, if He exists or if He watches over all His creations and so on, meaning, in short, he tells us that we…
M. Laitman: What Rabash quotes here from Baal HaSulam's article, "The Speech for the Completion of the Zohar," there Baal HaSulam writes that a person's disparity of form with the Creator is first and foremost determined by what the person thinks. If a person thinks about himself, whether I exist or I do not exist, what will happen to me, what about me, who am I, what am I, all kinds of questions like these; what is the meaning of life, which is where everything usually begins. If a person thinks this introspection, how do you say it, toward oneself, that means that he is inside himself, he's inside his own shell. And then certainly he's detached from the Creator because the Creator has no inward-directed thought about Himself. All of His thought is directed at doing good, outward. Therefore, when a person thinks about himself, even if it's only the faintest trace of self-concern, do I exist? — that alone separates him from the Creator. So what's your question about this?
Student: We say that actually the thoughts, and we're constantly talking about thoughts, they also come from the Creator, so I'm just…
M. Laitman: Of course those thoughts come from the Creator, everything comes from Him, but they come so that you'll pay attention to them. Now, a person's never punished for who he happens to be at a given moment. There's no such thing, that's how it is in our world. Oh, you stole, we put you in prison. No, in the Torah it doesn't work that way. You stole, that itself means that you've already received the punishment, now you need to make corrections.
A person's action itself becomes either a reward or a punishment, but punishment is not a punishment in that they punish you, but instead, according to your actions, you now reach a different degree, and from that degree you continue your path.
Student: Meaning that I need to change my attitude towards these thoughts that I'm given?
M. Laitman: You need to change your attitude to everything that happens to you. You need to define it in true spiritual terms and not according to how it merely appears to you. Our world is not a world of action, it's a world of results. It means that everything you see within yourself and around you is an outcome of what comes from above. The roots are above, the branches are below. If you look at things this way, then you at least establish the correct picture. Now, how should you respond to it - that's another matter.
But if that is the result, your attitude toward everything and toward yourself changes. That's how it descended from above, what can I do about that? Now the question becomes, what should I do so that a different form will descend from above? Again, the planning needs to become correct. How can I bring about a different picture from above? That's an entirely different approach to life. Everything then becomes directed upward for you. And then you look at this world just as if you're doing experiments, like you're working on some project. You perform an experiment, and then you observe the result. So what do I need to do?
I need to plan in order to receive a different result. Then the direction of your action, your intention, your heart, everything is aimed upward to the place where we can truly bestow, where we can truly influence. But if we keep running around within the framework of this world, without connecting these things to the upper world, then it's simply a waste of time. That's why this world is called the imaginary world, because it shows you the results on some pane of glass or on a screen, like watching television and nothing else. You can yell at the television because of what's happening on the screen. Will that help?
You have to turn to the living people behind the broadcast. Perhaps if something changes there, then what appears on the television will also change. That's how it is with us. What we see here is only the picture.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:26) The issue is, I always go into this little loop with this. I always go into this kind of knot, this kind of loop. We say that what we are is basically just the way we relate to our thoughts, but our relation to our thoughts, the way we relate, that also comes from Him, also comes from Him. So how? Where?
M. Laitman: So you're saying this: my thoughts come from Him, my actions come from Him, my state comes from Him, what I'll one day want and what I'll think and do one day, that also comes from Him. And everything that's already happened also came from Him. So who am I and what am I?
So you have this article called "The Freedom," where Baal HaSulam explains. Right, you are a machine. Biologically and physiologically you understand that, in short, in every aspect of your makeup there's nothing independent. So if our desires are not ours and our thoughts are not ours, and a person is a product of society and of what comes from above, from every direction.
So Baal HaSulam explains there that a person in this world has one single point of free choice- to be impressed by the society's exaltation of the goal, the greatness of the goal in order to attain it. Just as I explained above, everyone is connected. And from there, through the friends, you can draw strength. Only that depends on the person. Nothing else in this world depends on the person. We do not realize every single thing I want to do today in life, whether to travel or not to travel, to get on a bus or not, to get off, to come back, to sit down or not, eat, drink, go somewhere, every one of these calculations.
It’s simply hidden from us how impossible it is to insert into those calculations some separate desire or independent cause that it's not already within us, that it's not in me. But out of this uncertainty throughout this entire inner process, it seems to me that I'm the one deciding, seeking, searching, thinking, measuring things. It's only a certain kind of uncertainty, that’s all. It's like watching a baby or a small child. We already know what the child's going to do, it's obvious to us.
Likewise, when we rise to a higher degree, it's going to be even more obvious with regard to us. So it's worthwhile to leave aside all other nonsense and take hold of that one point. It's an extremely narrow point, a tiny opening, a very small hole through which we can bring into ourselves, into our vessel, through that one very narrow opening to insert this force from the side, an external force. That force is the greatness of the Creator received from the friends. That's it. If a person works on that hole, that opening, cleans it out and constantly wants to draw, draw and attract through it, then it works. If not, then it doesn't. I just want to add that friends also include books and authors. It's not just the friends themselves. You can sit with a book, you can listen to the music of Kabbalists, you can simply listen to them speaking from a recording or something similar, or even without understanding the language, it doesn't matter - all of that is called an external force. That is the one thing. Everything else is simply, completely imaginary.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:03) What is the exaltedness of the Creator? Unclear to me.
M. Laitman: The greatness of the Creator and the importance of the goal is greater than the importance of what I think about myself. That's enough. It means that He or the goal is more important than whatever is currently arising from within me. Either Him or the goal, it's the same.
Student: It sounds like something that exists in abundance, very common in the world. There are many people with a sense that He is great, that there is some force greater than I, governing all things, in comparison to which I am as nothing.
M. Laitman: I don't know what you mean by that or how you understand it. I'm telling you that it has to become an inner balance within me, perhaps an inner imbalance, if you prefer that. The greatness of the goal, the greatness of the Creator, which I've now received, gives me more strength than the forces I naturally have to invest in my own life, in my own progress, etc. Then, through that, I can rise a little higher, I can turn to Him, I can be dependent on Him, and so on.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:14) Previously, you talked about the exaltedness of the Creator as a state in which a person feels darkness, and he still tries to adhere within that darkness, through some knowledge that there is a solution there for the problem.
M. Laitman: You can describe it that way, that from within the darkness I rise to Him. That's also possible. It depends on what I define as darkness. It could be that I'm full of life. The World Cup has started, thank God, I've got something to live for from morning to night. You see how people are crazy about it. I'm not joking. I look at them and think, if I could interest them in the purpose of creation, the way they're interested in that ball, that would be something. For them, it all revolves around football. You understand? So it all depends on what darkness is. But if I'm really drawn to that World Cup, and now I realize that this is my darkness, and all my thoughts are about it, all my desires are wrapped up in it, and I can't do anything about it, well, compared to that, the purpose of creation, well, what's that purpose of creation? It's the meaning of life. Then I define my present state as darkness. What does that mean, darkness? Objectively, it's actually light for me. I enjoy it. But my attitude towards it — states what I now call darkness, so I begin to search. Of course, at first I search artificially, hoping that perhaps someone will somehow change this state for me, so I deliberately place myself in a society that will wash my brain, so to speak, so I'll receive different thoughts from it. It all depends on what you call darkness.
Student: How to make it so that the desire for the Creator will be the greatest desire? Every time you receive some desire, let's say for tea, let's think it's about tea, you have ten different flavors, and you can...
M. Laitman: I choose for myself what I'm going to drink. You see what I'm drinking? Do you call this tea? Do you know what this is? Is this tea? Well, why do I drink it? Because the doctor told me that if I drink this, it'll be good for me. So I believe the doctor, and the Torah also says that the doctor is given permission to heal, so I go to the doctor and he tells me, you need to drink this. Believe me, if you're asking whether it tastes good, go ahead and taste it. There's no taste in it whatsoever. But still, I drink it and enjoy it. Why? Because the future health that I believe in already begins to shine for me. I believe that's what will happen. So I decide what's tasty and what isn't. Because of that, this is now tastier to me than ordinary tea. Yes, it's some kind of herbal tea. I don't even know exactly what it is.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:21) How to receive into that desire, different elements?
M. Laitman: In other words, we need to add importance, and there are only two possibilities: either I increase my own importance or I increase the Creator's importance. That's all we really have.
Student: I don't have any flavor for the Creator.
M. Laitman: It doesn't matter that you don't have flavor for the Creator. Enter the society and constantly listen to what they're talking about. And as for everything else, disconnect from it. Turn off the TV. Don't watch football. That's it. And sit here and keep listening to what they're saying. But they say that this alone is not enough. You also have to work with the society, you have to invest your own exertion into them so that what they say becomes important to you. You need to connect with them so that their thoughts become important to you.
If your own children tell you something, you listen to them. Why? Because it's important to you what they think of you and what they say. I know this from myself. I see myself, I examine myself, I see. The evening before last, my daughter said she wanted to take a driving lesson. I told her I don't have the money. The next day, she booked the lesson anyway. So yesterday morning, I asked a friend. This friend drove me home at six in the morning. Actually, we got there at five minutes before six. We caught her on the way, and I gave her the 100 shekels. She said, oh, thank you. You understand?
It was so important for me that I rushed home to bring her that 100 shekels so she could pay for the lesson. Would I do that for you? I don’t know. Probably not. You'd have to become as important to me as my daughter. Well, I need to work on that. Why do you need to become important to me? Why should you care? There are several others like that as well. You understand? This is the work. I have to invest in you the way I invested in her. Imagine it. I've been investing in her for 20 years already, constantly giving, giving, giving. How much have I given her? I love saying those things that come from me, living inside her.
If you take a baby away from its mother the moment it's born, then after a while she'll forget it. There might remain some faint feeling, but she'll forget. Everything depends on the investment. That's all. I looked at myself yesterday, and I realized I couldn't rest. She had booked this lesson. She would go to it, and it'd be uncomfortable for her to say, I'll pay later or something like that. So I ran home. The friend saw it. And then she said, “oh, thank you, dad.” And I got this satisfaction. I feel it. It doesn't just go by purposelessly. You saw it, didn't you, the way she said it, how much I enjoyed it.
Now imagine if I could do that with a friend. That's quite complicated. Okay. We're moving on to the study of the “Ten Sefirot.”
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:54) I'm told everything is in the hands of the heavens, meaning everything is in the hands of the Creator, even my actions. On the other hand, I'm told a hero is one who conquers his inclination. If you conquer your inclination, you will be a hero. You will be a human being. But still…
M. Laitman: You're saying this: everything is in the hands of heaven. Still, it's written, "Who is a hero? One who conquers his inclination." So I can conquer my inclination. It's as if it's my choice. It's not up to the Creator. Otherwise what? Am I such a hero? So, it's written, he who conquers his inclination. It's also written, everything is in the hands of heaven, besides the fear of heaven. So fear is probably what I can purportedly nurture within myself, and by this I will really be like a hero, conquering my own inclination through fear. Fear, he says, is either fear of punishment in this world or in the next world, or it is fear of lack of bestowal, he says it in the first commandment.