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

Daily Morning Lesson. January 11, 2026

The Agenda of the Assembly - 1. 17-2 (1984)

(01-06-03)

Part 1: Writings of  Rabash. 

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we'll learn a lesson from Rav, which is on the 6th of January, 2003, and it's based on the article, “The Agenda of the Assembly.” This article is in the Hebrew version of the writings of Rabash on page 50, and we will read it together in the Ten, and after you finish reading the article, if there's time left, you're welcome to continue discussing things that you heard about in the article.

Reading: (00:42)The Agenda of the Assembly

Article No. 17, Part 2, 1984

In the beginning of the assembly, there should be an agenda. Everyone should speak of the importance of the society as much as he can, describing the profits that society will give him and the important things he hopes society will bring him, which he cannot obtain by himself, and how he appreciates the society accordingly.

It is as our sages wrote (Berachot 32), “Rabbi Shamlai said, ‘One should always praise the Creator, and then pray.’ Where did we get that? From Moses, as it is written, ‘And I besought the Lord at that time.’ It is also written, ‘O Lord God, Thou hast begun,’ and it is written, ‘Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land.’”

And the reason we need to begin with praising the Creator is that it is natural that there are two conditions when one asks for something of another:

That he has what I ask of him, such as wealth, power, and repute as being wealthy and affluent.

That he will have a kind heart, meaning a desire to do good to others.

From such a person you can ask for a favor. This is why they said, “One should always praise the Creator, and then pray.” This means that after one believes in the greatness of the Creator, that He has all sorts of pleasures to give to the creatures and He wishes to do good, then it is pertinent to say that he is praying to the Creator, who will certainly help him since He wishes to do good. And then the Creator can give him what he wishes. Then, also, the prayer can be with confidence that the Creator will grant it.

Similarly, with love of friends, at the very beginning of the assembly, when gathering, we should praise the friends, the importance of each of the friends. To the extent that one assumes the greatness of the society, one can appreciate the society.

“And then pray” means that everyone should examine himself and see how much effort he is giving to the society. Then, when he sees that he is powerless to do anything for society, there is room for prayer to the Creator to help him and give him strength and desire to engage in love of others.

And afterwards, everyone should behave the same as in the last three of the “Eighteen Prayer.” In other words, after having pleaded before the Creator, The Zohar says that in the last three of the “Eighteen Prayer,” one should think as though the Creator has already granted his request and he has departed.

In love of friends we should behave the same: After examining ourselves and following the known advice of praying, we should think as though our prayer has been answered and rejoice with our friends, as though all the friends are one body. And as the body wishes for all its organs to enjoy, we, too, want all our friends to enjoy themselves now.

Hence, after all the calculations comes the time of joy and love of friends. At that time, everyone should feel happy, as though one had just sealed a very good deal that will earn him lots of money. And it is customary that at such a time he gives drinks to the friends.

Similarly, here each one needs his friends to drink and eat cakes, etc. Because now he is happy, he wishes his friends to feel good, too. Hence, the dispersion of the assembly should be in a state of joy and elation.

This follows the way of “a time of Torah” and “a time of prayer.” “A time of Torah” means wholeness, when there are no deficiencies. This is called “right,” as it is written, “at His right hand was a fiery law.”

But “a time of prayer” is called “left,” since a place of deficiency is a place that needs correction. This is called “the correction of the Kelim (vessels).” But in the state of Torah, called “right,” there is no room for correction, and this is why Torah is called a “gift.”

It is customary to give presents to a person you love. And it is also customary not to love one who is deficient. Hence, at a “time of Torah,” there is no room for thoughts of correction. Thus, when leaving the assembly, it should be as in the last three of the “Eighteen Prayer.” And for this reason, everyone will feel wholeness. 

Reader: We'll enter the lesson with Rav from the 6th of January, 2003.

M. Laitman: (10:25) We read the article, “The Agenda of the Assembly,” on page 41, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Volume 1, or rather, Volume 5. We know that the only free choice we have in this world, meaning in everything we do in this world - in our work, and the relationships we have at home, and in our workplace, in army service, in our business, and engagements with other external factors, and our own inner life, and everything that's important to us, the things that are necessary, critical as well, as well as hobbies, things which aren't that important, but are pleasant and fun - everything we do in this world, there is no free choice there at all. 

All our engagements in this world, the same way our body operates without asking us for opinions, how it operates, how it absorbs different substances, and all the chemical reactions which go on in there, that's the same way we act without asking ourselves. We operate according to our Reshimot [records], and the light that influences these records, without compelling these records to be executed, to be realized. There is no consideration. There is no way to, in any way, be involved in those things I do. Even in things which are not that important, which I do just to fill up my time, not only the crucial, critical things that I have no choice about I must do, but also the things that are opposite to that. I do that with no intervention of my own. I have no freedom to execute on those things or not. The freedom comes from this external form of if to do it or not. There's no such thing. The body doesn't ask, it just does. And my intellect, where I think that now I'm thinking this, and then I do, then I act on my thought. I'm not thinking it and acting on the thought. I just am on the outside, with no way to intervene in the actual process of everything that happens to me. And all these external thoughts where I think about what's happening to me, what's happening to me inside of me, I think that I'm participating, and not only participating, that I'm the one operating and I'm the only operator. This feeling, this erroneous feeling that I have is called concealment. And behind this picture, this whole picture, if we see it true we will remain with just this one question: how can we be active participants, at least in something of what is happening to us? 

And if we emerge to the right perspective, so that we can see ourselves properly, then we will see that we are just created beings. Which according to the operating system, the program of nature that runs in them are executing nature's commands, and that's it. And certainly, if we look at ourselves as the will to receive, and the records, and the light that affects them, operating from without, then we won't find any hole there, any loophole, any parameter that we can somehow change by ourselves from within, and not only as a result of the meeting of light with the records within the will. 

M. Laitman: (16:15) There's only one thing, and this happened due to the shattering of Adam HaRishon, and it's that there are other parts of myself, parts of me, which are outside external factors, other than the Creator, which I can add to myself, join with, and then I have an actual addition, a real addition in me, which didn't exist before, a new will, new records, and correspondingly, new light. And I can be the cause of that, and this happens only according to how I connect to the other souls, the same way I was connected with them on the spiritual degree, before we fell into this state of separation from one another. If I skip over that separation, I bring myself back to the spiritual state, so to speak, that we actually want to reach. If I attempt to do that, it doesn't matter how it turns out, it could turn out well, maybe not so well, but if I try to do it, it turns out that this is the only action by which I can push myself, propel myself towards the spiritual state. Because I'm the vessel, and from the perspective of the vessel, there's only one action that can be performed - increasing the lack, and then more light will come to that lack, and I can increase, enlarge the lack, only by, despite having this screen that separates between us, this barrier which was formed by the shattering of the vessels, as a result of the shattering of the vessels, the state which glues all the desires, all the organs and limbs of Adam HaRishon, that screen broke. 

And then that screen which adhered us, which glued us together, it became the separating screen, and if I skip over those screens that were made between the 600,000 parts of the soul, well, that's the only action I can actually perform, because I'm small, and by that I form a bigger vessel. Other than that, there's nothing I can determine in my path, in my advancement, or development. 

And also, when I attach to myself these other parts, then in them also, those parts which I bring closer to myself, inside of them, I can't determine anything. The desire is preset, the records are preset, the upper light acts upon them according to those desires, according to each and every desire. So in all those parts of the soul, I don't have anything I can do. 

M. Laitman: (19:51) All my work is only in connecting between these parts of Adam HaRishon, connecting that soul of Adam HaRishon together, back together. Baal HaSulam explains to us in “The Freedom” that from all the four factors, elements of the development of man, and the substrate, and the plan of the development of that substrate or that source, the environment, and the plan through which the environment develops. Well, actually the only thing I can do is to choose for myself a better environment. 

Meaning, each time to bring upon myself this influence, meaning connection with the rest of the souls with whom I was connected previously in the spiritual state, when I want to return to that spiritual state by my own power, to yearn for spirituality. That means to yearn for connection with all the other souls, because that's my spiritual state. We cannot describe spirituality outside of that operation. All the other images, the states that we can imagine to ourselves, they will not be spiritual. They will not be spirituality. 

As it is written, “Love your friend as yourself,” is the great rule of the Torah.” That is the construction of the vessel, and certainly the Torah, the light, the Creator can then settle in that. And so here, in “The Agenda of the Assembly,” Rabash describes to us the lack with which a person needs to approach the society, what he comes there with, what thoughts, what outcomes he wants to see from the assembly, and all his lack and the sense of greatness that he has, he has to somehow plant into the society for it to bloom. 

So, accordingly, we have to make sure that the assembly of friends will provide energy, power for the rest of the day, the week. And certainly, this is as we learned in the previous article, he says that the main thing we should reach is the greatness of the Creator. The greatness of the society brings about praise for the society, which brings about praise for the greatness of the Creator. And with that feeling, one should emerge from the assembly with the feeling that he did attain, he did receive these powers that can assist him in reaching the purpose of creation. He has nothing else that he should be expecting, no other force. He needs to work on the construction of his vessel, and his vessel necessarily includes all the other souls. So, he needs to see his friends as parts of his vessel. The Creator invited them there for him. And that's what he has available. And he should work with those who are next to him. They are his field of work. If he connects with them, each one of his friends is like a representative of millions, billions of other people in the world. Each one of his friends is a representative of thousands of parts of vessels from the vessel of Adam HaRishon. We don't see it, but when we will, we will see that it is truly so. Therefore, this is how we need to relate to the friends, to the society, to the importance of the assembly. And this is what we need to demand of ourselves and of the environment that we are building. If there are any questions, go ahead. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:02) I heard that the people sitting here contain within them thousands of desires. 

M. Laitman: Let's say, the people who are next to you, towards you, well, you have a group in America, you have a group in Russia. Yesterday, we saw the Lithuanian group. They had a convention. I talked to them. Many people gathered there. So, each one is in his situation, but with respect to each one, this is, again, when this group assembles, when this group happens to be next to a person, next to him they are the representatives of the rest of the parts of Adam HaRishon towards that person. The most profound example, the most well-known, that's Rabbi Shimon and his friends, ten Kabbalists, ten souls, which included within them all the souls of Israel. And that's how you should see it, how each and every one should see it. 

Student: So, it's not in an objective way. 

M. Laitman: No, it is objective towards me. It's objective. If I have, let's say, five, six people around me, no more, but these five or six people, with respect to me - I am one point in the vessel of Adam HaRishon, and they, it's like a pyramid, like, how do you call it? A chain reaction? 

Student: Chain reaction. 

M. Laitman: Chain reaction. You know how you have, by chain reaction, 600,000 souls arrive, they connect and connect together, and then, ultimately, with respect to me, only six souls exist. That's how they concentrate, aggregate, towards me. That's how the Creator invites me to this work. He invites them there for me. Towards someone else, it can be in a different way. It can change in different ways as well, but this is how I need to see the society. If I connect to that specific quantity of people who are with me on the path, connecting together, mutually, not just sitting and studying, because I can sit and study with the whole world today, we have the lines of communication and all that, but when I see that, yes, in this way I'm being invited to connect and build a group, then I need to accept that, yes, they are the representatives of all the parts of the soul of Adam HaRishon towards me. That's how I need to relate to them. If I do this work with them, I don't need to now go out to the world and search, where are there any other parts. No, through them I can connect to the entire public and feel the sorrow of the public and be awarded with the joy of the public. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (28:39) He writes here in item 12, how a person can feel such a state if he's only prayed, and it might be that he's not yet received an answer to his prayer, but he needs to think that he's already been given it? How can a person feel that state if he's just prayed, and he doesn't yet feel that he's received the answer to his prayer, but he needs to think that he's already been given it? 

M. Laitman: So, you're asking this. If I was told that I need to leave the assembly of friends happy because finally we connected, and we have some hope of reaching a good future, the good future, but I need to visualize this state where I received everything, I reached the end. Why? It's an illusion, it's a lie. Yes, and one should stay away from lies, right? It's written. Meaning, if I really, if I corrupt my vision, my perspective, what will I get from that? I simply don't see the truth, I won't be on the path of truth. I need to see myself as though I received everything, I have everything, I lack nothing. Because if I truly realize my connection with the friends, according to the rule of “love thy friend as thyself,” I will have the vessel where, according to the law of equivalence of form, the light will immediately appear there and reveal everything. Everything depends only on the vessel that I need to construct. That's the only thing that's upon me to do. And so, if now we can, so to speak, we took a step forward, we did a part of it, and now I need to feel that I did everything that was up to me. And accordingly, I should certainly feel perfection in that action, to the point where if we understand that what's up to us to do is only to build the vessel, then I'm not concerned with what will enter the vessel. Building the vessel is already the fulfillment of that vessel, because building the vessel, that's called bestowing upon the Creator. And the filling of the vessel, that's not bestowal upon Him, that's an outcome of what I did. So, if I relate only to my action that I performed towards Him, it's enough for me to now go and connect with the friends. That's enough, because the connection of the vessel, that's the forming of the vessel, that's the pleasure that I can aim towards Him, my only action that could ever be. Therefore, if we got to reach the realization of this one only free choice that we have, then I have to emerge from that act with joy and a feeling of perfection, without examining the result at all.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:42) So, it turns out that the person, whatever he wants to ask from the Creator, he should first ask it from his friends. 

M. Laitman: Again, excuse me. 

Student: I'm saying that everything a person wants to ask from the Creator, what he sees as directed at the Creator, he should first ask it from his friends.

M. Laitman: We need to reach love of friends, yes? Love thy friend as thyself. In the Torah, we also have the continuation, love the Lord your God, to reach eternal love. There are a few degrees to love. Eternal love, the highest one, that is the last commandment. And it is said that it cannot be forced, but it was mandated so that all the other 612 commandments will be performed in order to reach that one. When you observe all the 612 commandments, then that one commandment which you aim for, it's not just another number that pops up, and that's it, 613. No, if you aim to reach that through all the other commandments, then certainly you reach it by default. So, that is with respect to the Creator, “Love the Lord your God.” Now, love your friend as yourself,  if we can do that, also, if we can achieve it through some other actions, later it just pops up by itself, simply. From what he writes, we understand that love of the created beings brings about the love of God. Meaning that it's the same vessel, just to the extent that a person discovers the state he needs to be in, the state he needs to reach, he can then see that there is no difference between the end-state, me and the Creator, and my state, the light that fulfills me, the vessel that receives the light - it's all one without any distinction of parts and elements, not even between cause and effect. “I am the first, and I am the last,” it is written. Everything then appears as one single state, where there is no division into elements and factors, anything. And so, the work we have, the work of connecting with the friends, that in itself is the work by which we connect to the Creator. Because in truth, I cannot connect with them unless the glue between us, between all these parts, the parts of the soul of Adam HaRishon, that glue will be the Creator Himself, His presence. 

His presence will glue us to each other. That is what we call divinity dwelling between us. What does it mean between us? Between me and you, by that we will then adhere together. Without that, will cause separation, right? Meaning that the presence of the Creator in the love of friends, in the love of others, it must exist. If it doesn't, it will be a gang of criminals. As Baal HaSulam said, that the greatest sin that Russia committed was that they began to work in connecting people together, but dissociated from the Creator. Then they came to, well, what they came to? Complete separation, hatred. We know the results. And it's not for nothing that he said that if they worked on adhesion between them with the right fuel, which is the Creator, then it would have been possible to glue all these parts together and build a vessel. Because how do you glue the parts together? It's not by causing them to influence one another on the level of this world, but rather influence, bestowal upon one another with the intention to bestow upon the Creator. That's the meaning of introducing the Creator as the glue between all the parts of Adam HaRishon. 

And if you do that, then the work of connecting with the friend becomes the work of connecting to the Creator. He must be there in the middle. It's written, man and woman, divinity between them, divinity, Shechina, that's the presence of the Creator, the revelation of the Creator, meaning there is no difference in this work. And so one who flees from it, he’s right to flee, because that is exactly our one free action, our one action we can take. And whoever flees, we understand in our will to receive, instinctively, in our beastly will to receive, we understand that this is exactly against us. We can do anything except for that. 

Question (Internet): (39:15) Through the friends in the group, does a person ultimately receive a spiritual connection with the whole world? Is it that this is how a person receives from the whole world, from all the souls of humanity?

M. Laitman: Yes, through the friends in the group, a person receives through them, together with them, meaning not him and them, but rather that he connects them to himself and makes this into one vessel, then certainly in that vessel he receives a connection with the whole world, with all the other souls. That is correct. They are, for him, his primary vessel, and all the rest of humanity are already like waves. There are more and more and more waves around them, which also work toward connecting to them. 

Question (Internet): (40:23) If it is enough to work with the group around me, why don't we perform joint actions of all the groups in order to create a common vessel? Why shouldn't we work each one in their own group if they represent the part of the soul that they need to connect with? 

M. Laitman: Very nice, Baal HaSulam writes this in the article “Matan Torah” [The Giving of the Torah], that in the multitude of the people is the King's glory. Meaning that to the extent that the vessel is bigger, even though what appears to be given to me now is my group, and they are the representatives of all the vessels of Adam HaRishon, I would liken it to seeing some large picture from afar. So I see, for instance, five or six big parts from which a single picture is assembled. This is a forest, this is the sea, this is the people on the shore, these are the people on the beach, this is the ship in the sea. I saw five parts with which I connect. That's called my group. 

Moving on, if I want to work in a more beneficial and effective way, and also in a more subtle way, so that the flavors emerge and become clarified, and my relationship with the Creator in all these aspects also becomes clarified, so I need to bring this picture closer to me to see many more details in it. And then, through my group, I attach to myself more and more and more until each of the 600,000 parts of Adam HaRishon in me are felt as a truly distinct and unique part. 

Through all these qualities, I feel the Creator's attitude toward me, and that's called that I am rising the degrees, ascending the degrees, how I connect with Him, how I bring this picture closer and see more and more parts of it. That's how the Creator's revealed to me, and through this I attain more flavors, more of His qualities, “from Your actions, we know You,” more and more, and so on. That is, we should not suffice with connecting to a small group and closing ourselves off, but on the contrary, Baal HaSulam says that one who has a bigger vessel doesn't care only for himself, his family, his friends, even his country, and even for the whole world. He attaches to himself the vessels of the whole world, and that is truly how we speak about the final general correction, how it will be. 

But in the meantime, it's still in the multitude of the people is the King's glory, and we need to yearn to connect with the other groups, and all the technology, and all these things are not for nothing. Recently, we've been working especially on the communication, and this will continue and increase, and communication will really blossom, because this is mainly what we need in order to carry out these actions until the end of correction. 

M. Laitman: (44:11) A very interesting question. If the group is weak, and it weakens me, it doesn't hold me, and it doesn't strengthen me in this task of connecting with the friends and doing serious work, am I allowed to leave it, and move to a stronger group, or to create another stronger group of my own? There is no answer to that question. There is none. We simply need to see according to what there truly is for the person. Is he indeed among people who can progress, who wish to progress? Or is it really a group in which that is not felt in such a way? Is his desire to make his own group simply an escape from subduing himself before the current group in order to connect with them? We need to check that each time. It's quite complex. 

I cannot say that it's always obligatory to work with the society that you currently find yourself in, even if it appears that these are friends who work and engage in spirituality and progress together. No, not necessarily. It might be that in such a group, after scrutinizing it, it's worthwhile to distance oneself and choose another group. That's why Baal HaSulam writes in “Freedom of Choice,” in “The Freedom,” that each time a person chooses a better environment, that that one who each time chooses a better environment is the one who advances toward the goal. A better environment can mean that I truly look for a better group and try to move to it, to be connected to it. It doesn't matter whether I'm physically present there. It could be that I'm connected with them only virtually. We need to check that. 

But certainly, we do need to ensure that each time the group we are in will be better either through one's own actions or through our demands of them, or that I indeed choose a better group, with the caveat that the examination needs to be objective, not through one's will to receive. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:28) [short question, no translation]

M. Laitman: It's a matter of resolution. You know what resolution is, right? What is it in Hebrew? Scale? Density? Yes, separation capacity. I can see the thing in general, where the entire picture, the picture of reality, it's divided into only five or six parts, all in all. Or I can see it divided into 600,000 parts, right? You're a computer person, right? You work with pixels, right? What do you call it then? So each pixel gives me a different feeling, a different color, a different relationship, a different connection, a different character. And altogether, from all these types of character, I learn the Creator's attitude towards me. 

So from this, certainly in the multitude of people, is the King's glory. According to this, I can attain the Creator more because He is higher, because He's more unique, because it's more... because according to the degree of familiarity, the degree of adhesion, the degree of our perception, we perceive that as more and more. Therefore, until each and every part of this whole body, which is called the soul of Adam HaRishon, of this entire vessel, is felt in me as an integral part of mine, however, at the same time, each one is distinct, and at the same time, each one is connected, and there is no difference between them, and yet, each one is unique - so without that, I will not feel the complete revelation of the Creator maximally. I don't know how to put it. Everything that is revealed is revealed only from the thing and its opposite. So precisely the connection between them, and the difference between them, is what brings inspiration and awareness. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:59) The order of the work, is it such where I connect with these five or six people that we have, and then ten more friends from campus show up and I connect with them, and so that's how I grow? The order of the work.

M. Laitman: The order of the work, as Baal HaSulam and Rabash write, is that a person needs to choose for himself a small group and begin from that. That's how he writes. If we, say, have a hundred people, or they say 250, that's how big our group is, they say, I don't know, I don't see such an amount, so I can't say. But certainly, with such an amount of people, you cannot work with that amount of people. I, as one person, can hold, according to my nature, in my field of visual, no more than ten people. That's how I'm built. What can I do? You too, each one of us - no more than ten. That's in the best case, when we truly realize our capacity. And if not, then even fewer than that, say five or six, a palmful is enough for now, you understand? More than that is hard. 

So from that amount, we need to start. When we start with that amount, let's say, we start with four or five others around me, and we make a group with them, a connection, and we are as one, and afterward, we relate to another group, as if we are one person, and they are as one person, and there is a connection between two such persons, you understand? And afterward, a third and a fourth, meaning every group is like one, and thus, as they connect together, according to this, until there will be one for the whole world, one vessel. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:35) Is it a right sign of advancement, when this small group isn't insular, but rather is ready to connect? 

M. Laitman: If a group closes in on itself that is not a sign that they are moving toward the Creator. Connection with the Creator opens a person to connection with others. If there is a tendency to close off, to isolate oneself, then certainly that is not a group in spiritual development. It cannot be. There are many such groups. They study intensively, and really, but what do we care about what is outside? They have all kinds of justifications, oh, those outside haven't yet developed, there is no reason to deal with them, they don't want Kabbalah, or why do we need this, they are still like that, or in general, they hate us, a thousand and one reasons, but they are all excuses. Development to the Creator obliges the person to leave this world, if it is truly to the Creator. Otherwise it is simply an egoistic urge. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:01) If I did the work of connecting with those ten people, later when we connect to more people, do I receive through them, or through me? How to preserve the connection between us? 

M. Laitman: We will talk about it later, about how we connect one group to another. A group connects with a group as one person, and with another group as another person. And it's not that each one connects with others there in another group. No, but we decide, and we connect in the connection between us. Who connects? The connection between us connects with the connection between them. And a third connection is formed between one group and the other group. If one of us simply connects with someone from that other group, it is not called a connection from one group to the next. It is called a personal connection, not a group connection. It is not group with group at all.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:19) If I connect to, let's say, five, and one of these five is now connected to me through friends, he connects to them differently. Does it have to be a closed group where all the five work together? And it cannot be that one is connected to someone else, connected to other people? 

M. Laitman: It is not a closed group, but it is forbidden for him to be disconnected with me. Otherwise, it is not a group. He must connect to them not as one person who has several groups of connection, but as one of our group, as a representative of our group to connection with someone external. The connection between us must come first, and it determines for him the entire manner of connection with a foreign person. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:31) If the connection between us is measured by the greatness of the goal that we give to each other... 

M. Laitman: Let's say that's right. 

Student: What does it do if one connects to someone else? But to give and receive greatness from them, let's say it's more convenient for me to work with this specific friend, and another friend finds it more convenient to connect to others.

M. Laitman: Why does he go to connect with others? 

Student: To give them greatness and receive greatness for them, but for me, it's more convenient to work with this individual friend. 

M. Laitman: So, each and every one has a group. There are groups. Fine. But how can it be? And what is a group? I don't understand it. A group is defined by the fact that we have decided for you that we wrote a protocol. Does that make it a group? No. So what does the connection between us? To the extent that there is connection between us, and we maintain that connection, and from within that connection we connect to someone outside. It could be that one connects to you from outside, but it must be from within the connection between us. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:51) What is from within the connection between us? What is the principle in this work? What is the connection between us? 

M. Laitman: That he feels himself, and presents himself, and connects with someone as a group.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:08) What does it mean that I feel the group as a group? 

M. Laitman: I can't tell you what it means to feel as a group. That's already something personal. But if there is connection between the friends, then in each and every one of them, in the place where the “I,” the self, used to be, then that concept of myself is erased, and there is the concept of the group. So, if I am erased and in place of that “I,” that self, there is already a group, then with this entity of mine, which is called group, I already connect with someone. 

Student: So it's a natural thing that as a part of my advancement, I now have a part where I know this part is from this friend, that part is from the other friend. It's not a matter of the work here. It's a matter of feeling. 

M. Laitman: I have nothing to say.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:14) When you receive some people, you have someone from outside who is close to you anyway… 

M. Laitman: I don't understand what it means to be in a group. You determine a group according to what you wrote on paper. If I'm close to someone, and I go to connect with him, then he is in my group as well. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:40) Among those in the group, you also have two, three who are closer to each other, because you can't connect more than that. And the others are seemingly outside of their personal connection.

M. Laitman: I don't know what you're saying. I don't want to talk about the cases you're bringing me, because you can't connect really with more than two or three. You can't really connect with more than two or three. You can't connect. Fine. I'm telling you, you and one more person are enough. The majority of the minority is two. What do you want from me? What are you complaining about? You're saying, I have a group, and there's someone else outside the group. I don't understand what it means, I have a group, and I also have someone outside the group. If I am connected to him as well, then he is inside my group. How can it be otherwise? What's a group? Is it something you write down on paper, or someone you're connected to in the heart? If I'm connected to him in the heart, then write whatever you want on paper. It won't help. So, you should choose those with whom you're connected. Don't write them anywhere. There's no need to write, otherwise it confuses you. My group is the department I work in. Why? But obviously from the outset, when you go to connect with others, who and what please, that is what was arranged for you, so at work you should work with them. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:01:15) So, the group, that's the friends that I choose to connect with, and it doesn't matter to me if they're connected amongst themselves or not. I'm building a group for myself, a few friends that I'll be with, and then... 

M. Laitman: In other words, you're saying this, I choose me and my friends, number one, two, and three. But there is no connection between them, and I want to be connected with them. How could that be? How could it be? How would you work on the connection? How could you be connected with them? How do you choose them if they are so different and not connected among themselves? There needs to be a certain kind of preparation, a certain kind of mutuality, something common between them. If you choose them, what is the criterion that you choose them with? What, just because they're all redheads? Right? So, according to what? According to what qualities? And how could it be that according to those qualities, they are also not close to one another, or is it impossible that they wouldn't be close? It's a sign that you're not choosing people according to the same measure.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:00) If I choose someone according to the extent of the greatness of the goal that he provides me with, according to how impressed I am by him, and I receive from him, and according to how much power he gives me, to make me happy on the path, can I not choose someone that I am impressed by and has opposite qualities to someone else, and they don't get along, those two? 

M. Laitman: We connect together only according to one thing, that we understand one another and connect to the Creator. I have no other complaints about you. Do I choose you because you're beautiful? You're not beautiful. Is it because you're educated? You're not educated. Because you're... I don't know what. I don't look at that. That's why our society looks the way it is, you see? Are there beautiful people here, educated people? No. I choose a society only according to their desire for the Creator. Now, this desire toward the Creator also has various external expressions. If it were only the inner desire toward the Creator, then everyone could be the same. One a bit more, one a bit less. No, for each person, the desire for the Creator has its own external character. One does it in silence. Another is impulsive. The third one is always angry. The fourth one is with joy, even with laughter. There's all kinds of different external clothing. So it's worthwhile for me to find people in whom the yearning for the Creator is certainly present, but whose external expression is also understandable to me. It's because I'm still learning how to connect. I'm only at the beginning of the path. I can't yet break through that external shell and see the burning heart inside. It could be that he's joking all the time, or he's silent all the time. So, if two people are silent types, they can sit silently and love each other like two true men, like that, not just speaking like blah, blah, blah, blah, right? That's it, you see? So you need to choose someone who works like that nonstop. It's neither good nor bad, it's simply necessary. You understand? For example, I couldn't be together with this friend. He's nervous, and I'm nervous. He always wants to talk, and I always want to talk. Who could stand that? I'm telling you seriously, we only need to choose people according to that. In other words, it is according to the yearning for the Creator and according to the form that that yearning takes. Certainly, there could be other qualities that I still can't tolerate and still can't overcome. There are such things, but somehow that must be the only criterion.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:34) So, what is my work with him? 

M. Laitman: My work with him is to receive from him awakening, upliftment, importance, the greatness of the Creator, praise of the Creator, right? From that in which he can give that to me, I value the connection with him. And that is called valuing the connection of the society, and then one supports the other. However, everything I check in him, everything I measure, my whole attitude towards him is according to his attitude toward the Creator, as much as it appears to me to be so. I don't pry into him and tell him, now tell me how you relate to the Creator. No, I can't say to him, I can't say that to him, it's personal. But his external form, his external language, his lips, his hands, his actions, I don't know what, makes it clear to me that there is something there, that he does yearn. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:41) Now, what's the difference if I now, let's say I want to provide greatness, I try to awaken a group of ten people, but from among them I work closely with four. What's the difference in the work? What should I emphasize, focus on? Or should I give that greatness to everyone to the same degree? 

M. Laitman: If it is a group, then you need to try to give greatness to everyone to the same extent.

Student: So, what is a group? We said it's an inner thing that exists in me. 

M. Laitman: No, you choose it. It could be that you're always swinging from one place to another, as if today I'm with them, tomorrow I'm with others, and the day after that with someone else. Truly, that can also happen, but it does interfere. We're not in a state where that's how it works. In spirituality, everything constantly changes. In spirituality, desires change, the connection between them changes. But we, however, need to choose a certain kind of framework that is more or less fixed. 

Student: But don't I stand to lose that way? 

M. Laitman: Let's start with that. You can lose, yes or no. Of course, you lose all the time. So what? That's life. So, if you start running around to see what else you haven't yet gained, usually people like that lose. Because then the running itself becomes more important to them than the glue that could exist between the friends that they already have. But before any action, any thought, calculation, decision, the Creator has to be the determining element. The connection with Him determines everything we do every single moment. Without bringing Him between us, we don't decide anything.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:05) We see that the natural, only place for me to choose is to choose my society. 

M. Laitman: He who chooses a better society every time, a more beneficial, effective, instrumental society, advances to connection with the Creator. Now, what does it mean to choose? There's a choice in that. You're saying, oh, they're better, they're better. You're going to jump like that. Each time, according to what you see, it may be completely false, right? On the one hand. On the other hand, the judge has only what his eyes see. So how can you check? This is why they say, in these articles that Rabash clarifies, that you should choose people who are more or less in the same direction and who don't repel you. You're not repelled by them. And then start making a connection with them according to your calculation to the Creator. 

Student: But according to the qualities, I can see them only in the state that I gave them something. 

M. Laitman: You see their envelope. Never mind. Their envelope influences you. It lifts you more to appreciate the Creator more and the connection with Him more. That's enough. What do you want, to get into each one's soul? No. To get into the soul of each one. You don't bring their vessel closer to you. It's as if you want to get into their point in the heart. That's never yours. That personal thing will remain. 600,000 pieces of Adam HaRishon must remain as 600,000 pieces. They shouldn't connect as one. The glue between them, the adhesive between them, should make them as if one. The external work should be one. The manner of the work, the truth, meaning the intention to one source. But all 600,000 pieces are 600,000 pieces, and each one remains completely distinct in his desire and connected with the other in his intention toward the one Creator for everyone. This, do not forget. So I must not take each and every individual, there's a guarding of the individual, okay? But his connection to the Creator and my connection to the Creator, that we need to connect. Our intention should be one. This is why I said that first I need to see if they have a yearning for the Creator. If they do, great. The external way that they do toward the Creator in their work, is it suitable for me or not? If it's suitable, then I will connect with them.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:15) How is it connected to how I connect to him externally? With one, I can with… 

M. Laitman: No, so there's the way they write. How do I connect? Through congregating, talks, articles, working together, all kinds of things. 

Student: But on a basic, beastly level, if he doesn't give me importance to the goal, it's easier for me with him because it's good for me with him.

M. Laitman: No, it doesn't matter how you make the connection, as long as in the connection you make with him, what determines, and what is present all the time, is the Creator. That's it.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:10) It's like, to go, when I see greatness every minute, how to move from that to… 

M. Laitman: How to go through what? 

Student: When I see what they're doing every minute, and we build the greatness of the Creator inside this environment, I see someone….

M. Laitman: First of all, if you see that a person comes to connect with the Creator, and he's here, and invested his sleeping hours, his health, his success in life, and rest, and calmness, and he doesn't care about this life at all, he's willing to fill this life only with attainment of the Creator, and with anything else, he's got nothing else. The fact that he's carried away into corporeal things sometimes, it's coercion. He's coerced into that, so I relate it this way. Sometimes people come to me complaining, he did this, he did that, look at this, look at that, what a mean action. It's coercion, it's done to us in order to put us into your filth, so you would see who you are. You need these discernments on the path. What can you do? But if you see that they are here, and are really ready for it, this is called the Creator bringing them before you. And accordingly, you should relate to them in a special way. The Creator chose each of those who are here. It's no joke. You don't have a choice, but He has a choice, and He chose them. From this, you should start developing a relation toward all of society. From all of society, you should find someone or a few someones with whom you see that it's easier for you. Their external expressions, their character, all kinds of external qualities, because through them, we nevertheless connect. But what you determine is how he relates to the study.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:55) Is it possible to talk to a friend and not work with all the rest? But I don't know what's happening with the rest. 

M. Laitman: If I work on the cabbage, not on the friend, then I'm working on the cabbage. If I'm working on preparing food for the society, then I'm preparing food for the society. In this work, I may be looking for recognition of the society in me, so I will become greater. I will truly be rewarded with all kinds of, what is it called, all kinds of praises from them, for example. Or I may do it in order to bestow upon them and merit their love. The question is, what do I want from this action? If I'm working on the cabbage, there's a question, am I working on the cabbage? I'm preparing for the society, and the rest of the connection with them, I leave it. So, it's kind of an escape. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:11) And what about the intention to connect? 

M. Laitman: If there's an intention to connect, that intention should go along with the action, with the action. I cannot love without anyone knowing it. We need to show it. We need to realize it. Otherwise, there will be no connection. We need to connect. We need to create a common vessel. The fact that I do such an external thing for my friends, although I may put in there, it seems to me like it's tons of love, but it's not connection. Connection is mutual. I have to work vis-à-vis others, and they work vis-à-vis me in order to connect. 

Student: What is mutual? 

M. Laitman: Mutual, from both sides. 

Student: There has to be a mutual connection? 

M. Laitman: Of course. Of course. Now, I have this image. I love him.  I connect with him. I bestow upon him. I do for him. There's no such thing. I have to be influenced by him. I have to increase my desires through connection with him. I have to be in kind of a give-and-take negotiation, in mutual reciprocal connection, back and forth. Otherwise, I'm working on a cabbage. I'm not working on the person. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:50) And how's that in the dissemination factory? 

M. Laitman: In the factory, we can bring people who will work here for a thousand years, and will bestow, and do and create good products, but there will be no connection between them. Everyone will think that they are doing it for the sake of the society, for the Creator. But it will not be a group in a common vessel, meaning inclusive. Of course, there will be advancement, because we're nevertheless working with the material of the wisdom of Kabbalah, bestowing upon the world, bringing the knowledge of the Creator to the world, so everyone will know that there's one overseer, etc., etc. No doubt. But our work in this, our vessel, we will not be creating by this. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:45) How can you make sure that you keep the fuel being connected to the Creator and not envy or other things? 

M. Laitman: How do we make sure that the fuel between us is connected with the Creator, not envy and what, competition? Anything that comes after we yearn for the Creator, meaning that the yearning for the Creator is the reason, and everything else, we need them as an auxiliary force. They are very helpful, because that competition and that envy are the best things if they come as a result of me wanting to attain the Creator, connect to Him, and they can, in the best way, actually truly wonderful, to increase my desire, to give me strength. But desire and strength for what? To be closer to the Creator, and not greater than that other group next to me. 

Student: What's the indicator that won't invert or change? 

M. Laitman: The control is a person's internal control, that in each action he does, in every step he takes, as he writes in the letters, he and his action and the Creator must be connected together. And which of them comes first? The Creator.

Student: Is it worthwhile to connect with people that didn't connect yet in the groups ever, or does it not matter? 

M. Laitman: I don't think it really matters who I connect with. If I'm strong in his opinion, of really doing something and breaking the iron wall between us, then I need to take people, only people who are truly regular here and come here regularly, and begin to work with them. That's it. Because really, this whole world, I can't. It'll just be disbursement and dispersion. It'll seem to me like I'm working, but in fact, I'm doing nothing, I'm only losing the connection with each one. I have to work opposite people and feel what I'm creating in them, and how they create in me, in return, impressions and great praise and greatness of the Creator.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:19) A practical question. When in this work do you need to start? 

M. Laitman: When should we begin this work? 

Student: When can you?

M. Laitman: When can we? This work should begin every moment, because every moment it will disappear from my awareness, my feeling, my understanding, my field of vision. I will not be able to remember it all the time, it's real work. Why? Because in this work, I need the Creator to be present all the time. And that's already a problem. In other words, why should He be present? There's None Else Besides Him, except for the act that I can do now. So I take Him, this is called, come to Pharaoh; so now, I take Him, and I am going to connect with you. In this, I am the point in the heart, and your image toward me is like Pharaoh. And the Creator, meaning Moses and the Creator come to Pharaoh together. And here, I need to do the work. Pharaoh is my relation to you. Not you yourself, my relation to you, the way all the forces that are contradictory to it. Every moment, you'll have to renew that thing. This, you can begin each moment, and in every situation, and with anyone who has some relation to the Creator, to spiritual advancement. Even if spirituality is not clear to him still, and he doesn't know what the Creator is, never mind. Begin from the point where you are told to begin, when they bring you to this hearsay. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:25:38) In the same way, you can only advance to the goal with a certain group? 

M. Laitman: It doesn't matter with which group. I'm telling you again. The fact that we once made all kinds of surveys, who wants to connect, or we once did it according to, to a lot, to a lottery. Who wants to connect? And once according to the desire of each one. I don't think it makes any difference. I only know it was very difficult for me with one friend, for example. Say, with Rabash, with the Rebbe, because he's like that friend, for example, just imagine. It's my problem. I'm not saying it isn't. The Rebbe Rabash told me you and him should connect. And I felt that it's very difficult, that it's impossible. I didn't succeed. I couldn't. I admit it. I couldn't succeed. Neither did he. Afterwards, he went to connect with another friend. Rabash said, you see, they're connecting. That's not good. And I couldn't do anything. I saw things that I was weak in. And I couldn't go above his character and mine. I couldn't. Every word, this, I can't. So, the external form should nevertheless be taken into account. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:27:29) Is the management, or some body have the permission to say to friends not to connect, and that it's causing damage to the factory? 

M. Laitman: The management has permission to warn certain people not to connect with certain people, yes. 

Student: Is there a permission for the management to connect between people? Do we need permission? 

M. Laitman: We don't need permission, but there are some cases where I can say no. The management, yes, we can say. There are certain cases. Why? Connection of the wicked is bad for them and bad for the world, yes? A bad child should be put into a good group, right? So, one wicked is enough for us among the... 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:28:20) Does connection become connected to the factory or the foundation of the factory? 

M. Laitman: Connection doesn't have to be connected to the factory, but as we said, it's not so important with whom we start. So, those people who are close to me in our occupation, that I have a common language with them, external ones, and their external thoughts, and through them, I can also seemingly understand them better internally, their reactions. Then I would be in favor of that. But again, I'm not deciding. It just seems to me that still, we have opportunities, etc. So, if I'm in a department with someone.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:29:12) What is to connect? I don't understand.

M. Laitman: What is to connect? 

Student: If I say it's the only thing I can give is greatness, and he'll give me greatness, then what's to connect? 

M. Laitman: To connect means that I want to be in contact with the Creator. Regrettably, I cannot reach this without connecting with you. And you, too, should come to that state, that understanding, the recognition that if you do not connect with me, you will also not reach the Creator. The Creator is our goal, yours and mine, right? Adhesion with Him, equivalence of form with Him. That's our goal. And no one can achieve it without connecting to the other. Through the other, yes.

Student: So, what is the connection itself? 

M. Laitman: The connection itself means that the vessel to reach the Creator is in your friend. The vessel is called inspiration, yearning, elation, the exaltedness of the Creator. It's all in him. If you receive it from him, not that you're, I'm burning for the Creator, I want Him. No, that's all not you. He put it in you. This is nothing, zero level. When you absorb from your friend, wow, the Creator, how I want it. When you absorb from your friend in return for your investment, it can only happen. Your submission and your greatness are both work toward Him. If you do this, that will be the vessel. That will already be the vessel in which you yearn for the Creator. You yearn. Before you connected with the friend, it's the Creator gave you the yearning. It's the Creator kind of yearns for Himself and not you to Him.

Student: So, why does it need to be mutual? I can go all day and be quiet, and it's like I'm gathering impressions from around. What's mutual here? I could look at people, not talk at them at all, and just, they don't even know I'm looking at them, and it's like I'm gathering their desire to myself to be impressed by how much they want. So, what's the mutuality here? What's the connection here? I need to take some yearning to me to join them.

M. Laitman: If you can be impressed with the society, each time to the maximum, without giving them your impression, without connecting with them, do it, do it. From this, in the end, after that, you will be in a huge descent. You will work on their fuel, and then you'll fall. Why? Because you'll have the point of Keter without the point of Malchut. You need deficiencies along with the greatness. You will not know who you are by this. The sentence that determines this, I am yearning for the Creator. There should be He and I here, Malchut and Keter. By taking from them inspiration, I'll be like an angel. I'm impressed. I want it. After you do this work, and you'll really be inflated by them, you'll have a fall. I guarantee you. Because by this, you haven't connected with your own self. It's not yourself. You took from them inspiration. It's as if a record of clothing without your own record of coarseness. You need to see that you don't want it, that you are unable who you are, your own point should be in this.

Student: What am I not capable? To give them greatness? 

M. Laitman: Not to give them greatness, that you also are unable to connect to the Creator. You can't. They can. And they project their impression, their inspiration on you. So, it's not your own inspiration. You understand that there is... Look, listen. Bit by bit, maybe I didn't clarify that point. I need to create a vessel for the Creator. If I receive from the Creator inspiration that's His, clear to us, that's clear to us. If I get inspiration from the friends just like that, it's theirs. There has to be, I took inspiration from the friends, mean me, who has nothing. I cannot connect with them. I cannot want the Creator. I can't want anything. I take from them that inspiration. And with this, I work. I myself attained that inspiration. There must be two points here. Me, who is absolutely...degraded, a total zero, right? 

Student: That I know. 

M. Laitman: No, no, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. The lowest, I'm the lowest, and I received from them their inspiration because I raised them very high. So, the impression I got from them, by working toward them, right? In me, this is called like Keter, and I'm like Malchut. So, I have a record of clothing and a record of courseness  here, so to speak. In this, I operate. I don't know, help me express it, but there's no other way. If I just take inspiration from the Creator, it's the Creator's inspiration. If I take inspiration from the friends, just like that, it's an inspiration from the friend. How does it become my inspiration? There should be two points here. Me, who is not impressed, inspired toward the Creator, toward anything, I took the inspiration from the friend. There must be two points. Where is the point of me here? How do I develop it if I don't act in love your neighbor as yourself, your friend as yourself? 

Student: Why? I see that from my root, I see that I'm not capable of doing anything, nothing. With everything, it's nothing. With all of this, I just take from the society. I have no interest to do anything without that.

M. Laitman: What force do you take from the society? 

Student: Impression. 

M. Laitman: It's an impression from the society. 

Student: But it's an impression I attain because I can't myself, so I'm taking it from them. I don't understand why, by me not showing them greatness, so I see that I cannot do it myself. 

M. Laitman: You show them greatness so that they will show you greatness in return. 

Student: Right.

M. Laitman: Now, what are you asking? 

Student: I'm asking, what's the difference between the state in which I'm now saying I'm not capable? It's clear to me I'm not capable. I know I'm not capable. Without the impression from the society, I'm not capable. So what's the difference between I'm not capable and I take from them, that's like an angel? Or I'm not capable and I take from them, and I connect it to them? That I didn't understand. What's the difference between the two of them? In both, I'm not capable. I'm coming out of this point that I'm assuming that I'm not capable.

M. Laitman: How do you know that you're incapable? 

Student: Otherwise, why am I here? 

M. Laitman: No, that's theoretical. You can come to know that you're incapable only if you tried on the friend, then you see in practice that you're incapable. Toward the Creator, you cannot see it. It turns out that both the point of Malchut and the point of Keter, you should receive from the society, from the friends. 

Student: What am I not capable of doing towards them? 

M. Laitman: No bestowal. Well, we'll talk about it. That's enough. Okay, now, with all these thoughts and intensions, we're going to study TES. Good. But don't forget. 

Reader: I will just say, for the benefit of the new friends, to understand the context of the discussion and the lesson, the lesson was from 24 years ago, and therefore, there were no Tens in the society back then. And we'll move to the next part of the lesson, but beforehand, we'll sing a song.

Song: (01:38:05)