Morning Lesson October 29, 2021, Transcription
Part 1:
Baal HaSulam - The Fear of God Is His Treasure
https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/CjOoVMfG?language=en
1. Rav’s Introduction: We are going over the same article as yesterday because it's very important. Let's hope that it will turn us so that we can relate correctly to what we feel on the path. A person sees that he is not successful after a few years and he asks himself why. He begins to hear about the fact that we need to change our attitude to the Creator. How should he relate to the Creator if he has business with the Creator, if There is None Else Besides Him and he gets everything from Him? How should we actually relate to what we receive from the Creator? Our whole attitude to the Creator influences our bestowal to the Creator and is actually about how we relate to whatever we get from Him. We are receivers and we express our attitude to the Creator, to whatever we receive and how we receive. We have nothing to give to the Creator but only our attitude to whatever we get from Him. Our whole life, everything that we feel, all comes from Him, there is None Else Besides Him. How do I relate to whatever I feel in my world, whatever I feel in my life?
This is why we need to see how we relate to whatever we get from the Creator. My action should be such that whatever I get from the Creator I seemingly need to make a restriction, a Tzimtzum, over it, to stop it, to check and relate back to Him just like we do between ourselves. I need to reach a state where I don't want to receive whatever comes to me directly but only checking the feeling that I am standing opposite the Creator. I am stopping the reception of whatever comes from Him and making the calculation that I want to enter a connection with the Creator in order to bestow contentment to Him, to make Him happy, to relate to Him correctly. This means that we are organizing the Rosh of our soul, the Rosh of the Partzuf, where we make a restriction.
That is, we do not allow the lights, the Creator's attitude, to bestow to us, and we don't draw anything from Him, but we want to stop it and arrange the relations between us. This is considered that we have a restriction and a screen and by that we build such relations as ‘I to my beloved and my beloved to me.’ We build the Rosh of the Partzuf, a vessel, a Kli, for whatever we get from the Creator. Baal HaSulam asks why the fear of God is his treasure. A treasure is what we want to get and in order to receive it I have to come with a vessel and that vessel is fear that I will be able to correctly receive. Rav reads: “A treasure is a Kli [vessel] in which the possession is placed. Grain, for example, is placed in the barn, and precious things are placed in a more guarded place. Thus, everything that is received is called by its correlation to the light, and the Kli must be able to receive the things. It is as we learn that there is no light without a Kli, and this applies even in corporeality…” I need to be ready for whatever I am going to receive.
All of our senses, hearing, sight, smell, and taste need to be arranged properly in order for me to perceive the world and it is the same for me here. I want to receive, to capture whatever I get from the Creator but I don't have the proper Kli so I need to build it. So, he says that the vessel that I need to prepare in order to receive what He wants to give me is called fear. Rav reads. “Yet, what is the Kli in spirituality, in which we can receive the spiritual abundance that the Creator wants to give, which will match the light? That is, as in corporeality, where the Kli needs a correlation with the object that is placed in it. For example, we cannot say that we have treasures of wine, which we poured in new sacks to keep the wine from turning sour…” It is not appropriate in order to keep wine. Rav reads: “or that we took a lot of flour in barrels…” Clearly flour will spoil in a barrel. It needs something like a sack. Rav reads: “...Instead, there is a conduct that the container of wine is barrels and jars, and the container for the flour is sacks and not barrels, etc.” That is, any kind of abundance requires a special vessel, both in order to discover the abundance and to keep it. Rav reads: “Thus, there is a question, what is the spiritual container…” In corporeality we see that any kind of abundance has a special vessel that is suitable for it. Rav reads: Thus, there is a question, what is the spiritual container, the Kelim [vessels] from which we can make a big treasure of the upper abundance?”
The Creator may want to give us many things. I don't even know what wine or flour I am getting from Him, I cannot see in advance what I am getting from Him so that I will be able to make the proper vessels for His light, for His abundance. How can we build appropriate vessels each time according to His attitude to us? We would be in darkness as we are now if they are inappropriate. We need to develop the vessel, a desire, perception, understanding, and feeling so that whatever comes from Him will be exactly suitable from our side to receive His relation to us. This is what he says. Rav reads: “Thus, there is a question, what is the spiritual container, the Kelim [vessels] from which we can make a big treasure of the upper abundance? There is a rule that the cow wants to feed more than the calf wants to eat…” The Creator wants to give us the light of Ein Sof, infinite light and infinite desire in us. However, to match our desire to the light is something that we have to do on our own because precisely according to that match, the congruence we achieve is the pleasure, the depth that is in the Creator's gift. Rav reads: “There is a rule that the cow wants to feed more than the calf wants to eat. This is because His wish is to do good to His creations, and the reason for the Tzimtzum [restriction], we must believe, is for our own good…” The restriction is for our own good. We don't see or feel it but to the extent that we will position the vessels correctly to the light we will get it and feel it. Rav reads: “And the reason must be that we do not have the right Kelim where the abundance can be, like the corporeal Kelim, which must be right for what is placed there. Hence, we must say that if we add the Kelim, there will be something to hold the added abundance…” Meaning that as much as we have vessels, and as much as they are perfected, to that extent we will receive inside of them. That should be clear.
What are the vessels? Maybe we have many vessels for all kinds of feelings, like we have in our world. How will we improve them? What kind of abundance can we receive in them? In corporeality I know in advance what the filling in the abundance is that needs to be revealed and accordingly I build a vessel, sacks, jars, barrels, all kinds of boxes. How do I do this in spirituality if I don’t know what I am about to receive? How do I prepare something for the Creator so I can say that I have a vessel for any pleasure to be revealed and ask Him to please reveal it? Am I certain that what I present to Him is the appropriate vessel for what He is about to reveal to me? Rav reads: “The answer to this is that, in His treasury, the Creator has only the treasure of fear of heaven…” This is the most important thing that we now need to scrutinize.
What is the fear of heaven? Rav reads: “Yet, we should interpret what is fear: It is the Kli, and the treasure is made of this Kli, and all the important things are placed in it…” How do we build the vessel from our desire, the Creator's desire, how do we build such a vessel from whatever we have with our feeling and our understanding to feel and understand the Creator? There is nothing else in reality so this is what we have to discover. Rav reads: “He said that fear is as it is written about Moses: Our sages said (Berachot, p 7), “The reward for ‘And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look,’ he was rewarded with ‘the image of the Lord does he behold….’” Moses was the closest person to the Creator ever and he hid himself, he didn't want to come closer to the Creator with his ordinary desires but rather he hid himself. Specifically, because he hid himself, he was able to get closer to the Creator, precisely through something and its opposite. It says that he was afraid to look, meaning he was afraid to see the Creator directly. Rav reads: “Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure that is there, that he will not be able to receive it in order to bestow….” To be in equivalence of form with the Creator, that he will not be able to receive it in order to bestow and that he won't be able to understand and feel the Creator in the right way. Like a baby who can learn only one thing, how to receive and receive. This is the instinct that is working inside of it but later on we gradually teach it how to receive things like we are asking, because it wants to delight us properly and correctly, meaning for it to rise above the animate level to receive whatever it is given, to participate in a mutual interconnection. It also notices and participates with us by giving us a smile or a thank-you or something. Rav reads: “Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure that is there…”
In the reception of the abundance from the Creator, whatever He wants to give us, that we will not be able to receive it and bestow back to Him, that we won't be able to give Him thanks. Rav reads: “The reward for this, for having was afraid, is that thus he had made for himself a Kli in which to receive the upper abundance…” What did Moses make the vessel from? He was afraid to receive what the Creator wanted to give him directly. He stopped it and he said, ‘no, I don't want to receive like that.’ He hid himself and shut his eyes saying that he doesn't want to see these things. Through this action, which is considered that he made a restriction, following that act of restriction he developed a new attitude to the source of the upper light so that he would be able to relate to it equally, that he is doing it in order to bestow just like the upper light, the Creator wants to bestow. It is then considered that he is with the Creator in equivalence of form. He positions himself in such a way toward the Creator so that he stops himself and he makes a condition that he is willing to receive only on the condition that by that he is bestowing to the Creator. Even though he very much wants to receive, he is holding himself and develops his attitude to the Creator so that it will be only for His benefit, just like the Creator does everything for the benefit of man. To the extent that he reaches the mutual connection which is called ‘I to my beloved and my beloved to me’ he begins to discover the Creator's attitude to him because he accordingly develops his attitude to the Creator.
We have nothing in the whole of reality, besides the Creator, there is None Else Besides Him. this is how we need to discover, to reveal our relations, that is, to try to stop our reception. I don't want to feel anything directly, even though I very much do want to, but only in a form that I developed in my attitude back to the Creator. This is considered making a restriction, a screen, and reflected light before the construction of the Partzuf of the soul. Baal HaSulam says that fear is a treasure where we put all the important things. Rav reads: “The reward for ‘And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look…” He didn’t want to receive whatever comes from the Creator directly in his egoistic vessels. Rav reads: “...he was rewarded with ‘the image of the Lord does he behold.’” if instead of the gift itself he started to discover the Giver of the gift. Rav reads: “Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure that is there, that he will not be able to receive it in order to bestow. The reward for this, for having was afraid, is that thus he had made for himself a Kli in which to receive the upper abundance…” This is what he did. He didn’t allow himself to receive anything from the Creator but only through rejection and according to the equivalence. We learned there is a restriction, screen, and reflected light and only following these calculations do I want to receive something from Him, even though I very much want to, but I work above my desire. If we will do such exercises, especially when in the tens, each one will feel that he has possibilities to stop whatever they want to receive and to make a calculation that they are willing to receive only on the condition that this will be a mutual action. If the Creator wants me to receive then I will receive as much as He wants and no more. I myself do not want to receive but only in order to be in equivalence of form with Him, in equality. If I can receive one gram, I will do that and not more. We will advance in this way.
Let each one of us try to perform these actions. Let's talk about it in the tens and in the lessons. This is practical Kabbalah which we can start to perform. We can also talk about it with each other, as nothing can be spoiled by that. We are already under the care of the upper one and He will manage our development. Rav reads: “Yet, we should interpret what is fear: It is the Kli, and the treasure is made of this Kli, and all the important things are placed in it. He said that fear is as it is written about Moses: Our sages said (Berachot, p 7), “The reward for ‘And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look,’...” Moses shut himself saying ‘I don't want anything’ even though he very much wanted it but will not receive. He was rewarded with discovering the Creator through this action, not what the Creator wanted to give to him but rather the Creator Himself, the one who is giving. Rav reads: “Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure that is there, that he will not be able to receive it in order to bestow. The reward for this, for having was afraid, is that thus he had made for himself a Kli …” Specifically out of the fear by stopping and saying, ‘No, I want to work in a different style. I want to give this to You, for my attitude to be equal to some extent toward You, in how You relate to me.’ First of all, I make a restriction, a concealment. I don't want to be able to receive the upper abundance. This is the vessel that we need to make, this is man's work, and besides this, we need to attribute everything to the Creator. Our first work is that work of restriction that I do, that I say that ‘I don't want to receive and it is only for You,’ that I reject and I don't want or need anything. This is man's work and besides that we attribute everything to the Creator. Later on, the Creator will keep adding above that and He brings us to higher states, but that it is not so with fear.
There has to be fear in a person. A person should be afraid to reach a state where he is afraid of receiving directly from the Creator because this will throw him off immediately to the other side of creation. He becomes the receiver, the Creator is the bestower, and then there is no connection between them and there is an infinite distance between them. The meaning of fear is not to receive and whatever the Creator gives is given only to be received. This is the meaning of ‘everything is in the hands of Heaven except for the fear of Heaven.’ Everything, all different forms of abundance come from the Creator. A person should say, ‘No. I want to be in connection with You. I am not severing the connection with You, however I don't want to directly receive what You want to give me. I want to build a relationship here. It is not enough for me to just receive because by receiving I become opposite of You and fly away from You. I distance myself from You to the other end of creation. I want to first build my attitude to You so that whatever You give me it will help me to be in adhesion with You, in the same state as You.’ First of all, like a baby who is developing in the hands of the mother and then bigger and bigger as it says, “return Of Israel to the Lord your God.” This is what I want. I prefer that instead of the corporeal development He can arrange for me.
Rav
reads:
“This
is
the
Kli
that
we
need….”
This
attitude
to
the
Creator,
that
I
stop
His
attitude
to
me,
and
I
actually
stop
my
will
to
receive
that
I
want
to
discover
and
see
Him,
to
feel
and
to
understand
Him.
First
of
all,
I
want
to
manage
my
desires,
my
inclinations
towards
the
revelation
of
the
Creator,
I
want
to
manage
them
by
myself.
Rav
reads:
“This
is
the
Kli
that
we
need.
Otherwise,
we
will
be
considered
fools,
as
our
sages
said,
“Who
is
a
fool?
He
who
loses
what
he
is
given.
“This
is
the
vessel
that
we
need
otherwise
we
will
be
considered
fools…”
If
we
receive
without
any
calculation
regarding
the
Creator
then
we
cannot
receive
other
than
what
all
people
feel
in
this
world,
meaning
of
very
small
illumination
that
is
sustaining
us
on
the
beastly
level.
Rav
reads:
“This
means
that
the
Sitra
Achra
[other
side]
will
take
the
abundance
from
us…”
Our
will
to
receive
will
extract
everything
from
us
if
we
cannot
aim
in
order
to
bestow
and
leaves
us
with
just
a
feeling
of
corporeal
existence,
that
we
feel
ourselves
existing
in
this
world
in
the
lowest
possible
degree
that
exists
in
reality.
It
exists
only
for
us
to
rise
from
it
to
the
true
spiritual
degrees.
If
we
don't
receive
correctly
in
order
to
bestow
then
it
goes
to
the
vessels
of
reception
and
those
vessels
are
the
Sitra
Achra
and
Tumaa,
impurity,
meaning
they
distance
us
entirely
from
the
upper
light,
from
the
Creator.
Rav
reads:
“This
is
the
meaning
of
“And
you
shall
observe
the
commandment…”
Commandments
are
all
of
the
actions
that
we
need
to
correctly
perform
to
get
closer
to
the
Creator
so
that
it
will
not
throw
us
out
but
rather
the
opposite.
It
will
pull
us
forward
and
reveal
to
us
the
forces
of
bestowal,
the
forces
of
adhesion.
Rav
reads:
“This
is
the
meaning
of
“And
you
shall
observe
the
commandment
of
unleavened
bread.”
Observing
means
fear…”
As
it
says
about
Moses,
that
I
am
afraid
that
I
might
be
receiving
for
myself,
I
don't
want
that.
Rather
I
specifically
want
to
develop
a
suitable
form
to
the
Creator
from
His
attitude
towards
me.
To
some
extent
being
like
Him.
I
get
to
know
Him
and
be
in
a
dialog
with
Him.
I
am
not
thrown
outside
of
Him
but
rather
I
get
closer
to
Him
more
and
more,
to
understand
and
feel
Him.
Rav
reads:
“Although
the
nature
of
the
light
is
that
it
keeps
itself,
meaning
that
the
light
leaves
before
one
wants
to
receive
the
light
into
the
vessels
of
reception…”
The light departs even before that so it doesn't help if I do want to receive, the light will depart. I need to prepare the vessel in such a way that the light will not depart but rather it will fill my vessel. My vessel needs to be suitable for the light, let's say like the sack for flour or a bucket for water. Rav reads: “yet one must do it by himself, as much as he can…” Certainly I try to make an appropriate vessel for the light, for what I am about to receive from the Creator, but the Creator does that. I want and I'm obligated to ask Him to build this vessel for me because He can do it. Why? How do I know what I am going to receive and how do I know what kind of vessel that I need to build in advance before I ever taste it? How do I check it and to presume what it is suitable for? We can see how this is in our world. First, we develop inside the mother and then outside of the mother. She is taking care of us and giving us, whatever is good for us and we by nature receive whatever she gives us. We have no choice in this. Only after that do we gradually grow in relation to the world we build for ourselves, from the environment that nourishes us. We see it and enter reciprocity with it and it is the same here. Rav reads: “As our sages said, “You will keep yourselves a little from below, and I will keep you a lot from above.” We guard ourselves in the right contact with the Creator, as much as we are able to, saying that we don't want to receive anything unless it will bring us into contact with the Creator, if it will bring us to in order to bestow. I want Him to enjoy and out of that I will enjoy performing this action. The result of the action will not be what He brings me directly, but through my action, what we call Ohr Hozer, the reflected light, that I reject whatever He has given me. Afterwards I check and I enter identification with Him. ‘I and my Beloved, and my Beloved to me,’ and to that extent, I receive from Him.
We don’t need to do a lot, only this intention a little bit and all the rest, the true intention, the power, and the screen is all done from above. We don’t need to be concerned about that. It is like we developed in the trusted hands of the mother. Rav reads: “The reason we attribute fear to people, as our sages said, “Everything is in the hands of heaven but the fear of heaven,” is because He can give everything but fear…” Everyone must develop that illumination by themselves, the entire world, all of the souls, are obligated to do that on our own. Rav reads: “is because He can give everything but fear. This is because what the Creator gives is more love, not fear…” He has nothing besides love, only to add and add love. As much as we are in contrast to that we feel sorrow, suffering, and problems. To the extent that we develop love, the correct attitude towards connection, we are in equivalence of form with Him.
Rav reads: “Acquiring fear is through the Segula [power/remedy] of Torah and Mitzvot…” Meaning through the actions that invite the upper light, the actions that we do to come closer to the Creator, according to what the Kabbalists define, are called Mitzvot. These are commandments from the Creator for us to do and what we receive from it are called ‘lights’ or ‘Torah.’ Torah is from the word Ohr, light, meaning the lights that come to us gradually and teach us and adapt us to the upper light, which is the Creator. We can acquire fear through the virtue of Torah and Mitzvot. This is not just fear, but it is a spiritual concept that has to do with giving and receiving in the right attitude toward the Creator. Rav reads: “that when one engages in Torah and Mitzvot with the intention to be rewarded with bringing contentment to one’s Maker, that aim that rests on the acts of Mitzvot and the study of Torah brings one to attain it. Otherwise, one might remain—although he observes Torah and Mitzvot in every item and detail—he will still remain merely in the degree of still of Kedusha [holiness]...” The degree of still of holiness is considered that one who engages in corporeal actions in a very meticulous manner but doesn't think of reaching equivalence of form with the Creator through this, meaning he has no connection with receiving of the light in order to bestow with the correction of his measure to invert himself from vessels of reception to vessels of bestowal. He is only meticulous with the corporeal actions and that is why he is called the degree of still of Kedusha because he doesn’t develop. The next spiritual degree is vegetative, a person in this world who does all kinds of actions that are written in the books and tries to do them as well as possible and he doesn't want to reach anything except for this. There is no engagement in correcting his inner measures or values and only observes them physically. This is considered that he is in equivalence of some form with the Creator but in such a way that he cannot grow anything beyond that, like the earth. Rav reads: “Our sages said (Berachot 20), “Everything there is in keeping, there is in remembering.” This means that all those who engage in observing Torah and Mitzvot and aim all they have back towards the Creator as much as they can, through this they will enter mutually with Him ‘I for my Beloved and my Beloved for me’ and will advance by adapting themselves towards Him. Rav reads: “This means that all those who engage in observing Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to achieve “remembering,” by way of “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep...” Meaning to the extent that they will constantly be connected to the Creator they will not have the possibility of forgetting or disconnecting from Him. Rav reads: “It follows, that the keeping is primarily in order to be awarded remembering.” Where I don’t leave the tendency towards the Creator and I don’t leave that feeling for a moment, where it is constantly with me.
Rav reads: “Thus, one’s desire to remember that the Creator is the cause for observing Torah and Mitzvot…” I have to do all kinds of actions in order to constantly remain in contact with Him, to
discover what he wants from me and what I want from Him in return. Rav reads: “Thus, one’s desire to remember that the Creator is the cause for observing Torah and Mitzvot…” Meaning my relationship with the Creator is the Creator and not my ego. Rav reads: “This is so because it follows that the reason and the cause to observe the Torah and Mitzvot is the Creator, as without it one cannot adhere to the Creator, since “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode” due to the disparity of form…” Only in such a way where we feel we are in a common inclination towards one another with an extension from one to the other in a way that He wants to give me I am drawn to want to give Him and each of us thinks of the other, to that extent we can begin to meet in the middle. Rav reads: “The reason that the reward and Punishment, in our work and our advancements are not revealed.” We don't feel immediately when we do something good that we receive something good or if we did something and it's not good and we receive a sign that it's not good. There is no such thing. We must only believe in reward and punishment. Why is it concealed? Rav reads: “is because the Creator wants everyone to work for Him, and not for themselves…” To say that this is good or this is bad I would then discover in my egotistical desires that it would be something that binds me even more to do something that is good for me and to distance myself from something that makes me feel bad. We need to rise above our egos, therefore these direct relations with the Creator are concealed. Rav reads: “This is discerned as disparity of form from the Creator. If the reward and punishment were revealed, one would work because of self-love, so the Creator would love him, or because of self-hate, for fear that the Creator would hate him. It follows that the reason for the work is only the person, not the Creator, and the Creator wants that He will be the compelling reason…” To be disconnected from our ego. Rav reads: “It turns out that fear is precisely when one recognizes one’s lowliness and says that his serving the King, meaning that one’s wish to bestow upon Him is considered a great privilege...” Meaning that it is a really great thing that he has merited to have a desire to bestow to the Creator. Rav reads: “and it is more valuable to him than he can say. It is according to the rule that with an important person, what is given to him is considered receiving from him…” That from the example of the bride and the groom, if he is important, it's not that he's giving her a ring but on the contrary she gives to him and he is willing to receive from her and buy that sanctifies her. Rav reads: “To the extent that one feels one’s lowliness, to that extent he can begin to appreciate the greatness of the Creator…” It is considered as if he received from him and according to one's lowness, the way he feels himself, that is the emphasis, how he feels himself, to that extent he can begin to appreciate the greatness of the Creator. It is written that to the extent one makes himself lowly is how you can discover how He is great. Rav reads: “and the desire to serve Him will awaken…” Meaning to do something for the Creator, that it won't be difficult but as a prize, as a reward that Creator gives him the possibility to serve. This is already the work in receiving in order to bestow. Rav reads: “However, if one is proud, the Creator says, “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.” To the extent in which one has ego we are distant from the Creator. Rav reads: “This is the meaning of “A fool, a wicked one, and a rude one go together.” The reason is that since one has no fear, meaning he cannot lower himself before the Creator and say that it is a great honor for him to be able to serve Him without any reward, he cannot receive any wisdom from the Creator, and he remains a fool, and he who is a fool is wicked, as our sages said, “One does not sin unless the spirit of folly entered him.” Meaning that we need to try here to do all kinds of actions that will bring us closer to the Creator according to equivalence of form; equivalence of form begins by us lowering ourselves.
2. S. (53:14) Practically, we know that we need to restrict all kinds of negative influences of the ego over us, but should we also restrict the pleasure that we get from the work in the group, and from dissemination?
R. No, we don't need to. We can use this when it will be fuel for us to continue. Here, we are only talking about our attitude towards the Creator.
3. S. (53:47) How can I know for certain that I am in equivalence of form with the Creator?
R. To the extent in which every single moment feel that you are about to receive something from Him, depict to yourself that you are about to receive something from Him, you are stopping it and you are saying, I will be willing to receive this only under the condition that through this, in return, I am bringing contentment to the Creator, I am deleting Him through that. Only in that I am willing to receive that which He wants to give me. Because then, you are developing the vessel like that sack for flour or the barrel for the wine, you are creating the correct vessel. You don't have that vessel. If you do not think in what way you can delight the Creator, that you are wanting to receive from Him, then you are not allowed to receive because, first of all, you won't receive anything and it will distance you from Him. Hence, prior to doing this action, which is called restriction, Masach [screen], reflected light. As much as I can bestow to the Creator, by that I want to bring Him contentment like that. Before that, I don't start to enter into any connection with Him. I don't ask anything from Him, except for those forces of the Tzimtzum [restriction] and Ohr Hozer [reflected light], that I want to do this all also in return to Him. To the extent in which we are equalized, which is something that we will be able to measure later. The extent in which we equalize is called, ‘’I for my Beloved, and my Beloved for me,” then to that extent I can open up my relations with the Creator. Then, it turns out that we feel one another. I feel the Creator with my Ohr Hozer [reflected light], and He fills my reflected light with His direct light [Ohr Yashar]. We enter into mutuality, reciprocity.
S. This is how I need to relate to the friend in the ten, also?
R. No, no, no. We are not talking about the ten, or about anything, I already said about that. We are talking only now in relation to the Creator. All the actions that we do in the ten that is preparation for our relationship with the Creator, that’s it. Now, it is only to the Creator we are talking, that’s it. Our actions that we do in the ten, in dissemination in the broad world, these are all in order for us to eventually have the force, the vessel, to relate correctly to the Creator. Everything is built and exists just for that.
4. S. (57:54) According to the text, why is there this approach that we cannot receive anything from the Creator with the purpose of bestowing to Him? How can we feel that this is impossible?
R. Because you never did it. So, I am telling you in a practical manner. Let's say, you want to receive something from Him, you don't know what or who, or what, although you receive all the time, your whole life, is from Him. But these things that you receive and live from are below the restriction, meaning you can receive it and enjoy it because it's on the degree of still, vegetative, and animate. On the degree of speaking, you cannot receive from the Creator anything. Rather, you must begin to develop a special relation in return to Him. So, it turns out that you need to begin to develop this attitude, this relation, as much as I can receive from the Creator in order to bestow to Him. Let’s say, how do you know, what do you know, you perform a restriction, first of all. I don't want to receive anything from the Creator even though I want to. But in practice, I put a prohibition on myself, a restriction. We put a restriction on the desire that wants. When there is no desire, there is no restriction. So first of all, we perform the restriction that I don't want for myself. Try to go like that for some time, and to depict to yourself that you don't want to receive from the Creator in a personal direct manner. That is number one.
The second thing is that besides the restriction, you also want to do for Him in return. You want to give back to Him the attitude that He has towards you, so that your attitude to Him will be like His upon you, in return. When you begin thinking in these ways and begin to try and arrange such relations from you towards the Creator in this way, through this you will start to see that there is the matter of restriction, screen and reflected light. This is actually what you want to do, try. You will also begin to feel somewhat the extent in which in this action you have the possibility to succeed, to do this. Try.
Then, after several such actions, that could be days or weeks, we will talk about that. That is how we will advance, this is already considered practical Kabbalah where in practice through your intentions, your actions, your forces, you want to make from yourself a vessel to bestow to the Creator. That is where we begin, from me not wanting to receive anything in practice, maybe I do want, but I don't want to receive anything. I want my attitude to the Creator to be just like His attitude towards me, to give to Him. I am willing to receive under the condition that I am giving, but first, I want to know that I am giving. Otherwise, I am thrown into the Klipa [shell]. Try to do this this way and you will see the extent in which you rise from those calculations that were incorrect for so long.
5. S. (01:03:30) In practice, in action, what hinders me from connecting each and every day with my friends and with the Creator? It is felt as though it is because I don't manage to justify them. Is it correct that as much as I manage to restrict myself through prayer, I also feel fear and this is what allows me to justify them?
R. We agreed that we are not talking about the work in the group now. We are not talking about the group work. It is a problem, I am afraid that you will start to get confused even though you are talking correctly, but I don't really think that it can advance us towards the Creator. Also, Baal HaSulam writes this way for us that this is what we need to receive here. To confuse my attitude to the Creator with the friends, I don't want. First of all, the friends are not the source of the light. Towards them I need to connect corporeally in a manner that seems to us in our eyes, and this is different work. Let us go according to the article, what is written in the article. Let us, first of all, implement it. This is relative to the person and the Creator. Later, we will see from that how we can implement it through the connection between us in the ten.
6. S. (01:05:30) Can we use our efforts as a vessel for overcoming fear?
R. Certainly. Yes. All the negative things that we are in, we can rise from them by ascribing everything that happens to us to the Creator. Connect all of those things to the Creator and to the extent in which you are capable of doing so, but only by that. You raise your fears to being thankful to Him for everything that He does to you.
7. S. (01:06:32) Why is the fear of the Creator His treasure? It seems to be our treasure.
R. Fear is that vessel in which I reveal. To the extent of the fear, I reveal the attitude of the Creator towards me. I can reveal and I can use it and sustain it. That is part of the treasure, the Creator that I receive inside my vessel, my cup. According to that, I know Him, I feel Him, I connect to Him. Therefore, the fear that I am afraid to receive only to the extent in which I will remain in connection with Him. Meaning, in order to bestow, that fear is which helps me remain connected and in His feeling.
S. How can I check myself that I am bestowing correctly?
R. According to what we are speaking now, that everything that I feel, that I want to receive, I need to perform a restriction upon it and to say that I want to use this in order to bestow. Am I capable? Let's try to feel that let’s try to place myself in such a way before the Creator. You will see the extent in which this becomes something that you feel. From that, we will move onwards.
8. S. (01:08:46) In which occasions can I use to reach this equal attitude?
R. Everything you feel as the attitude of the Creator towards you. Don't sit and wait until it happens. Try to be more delicate, more sensitive to the relation, the attitude of the Creator towards you. Try in your mind and your heart to somewhat come closer to Him, to the bestower, the giver, the cause of everything. Then, try to stop your will to receive to the extent in which you feel, in order to arrange these mutual relations between you, that you are willing to receive from Him but only under the condition that you are doing it as a mutual action in order to bring Him contentment. In order to delight the host, you must receive from the host. But your intention is in order to delight the host where you need to first measure your intention, examine it, and only after that enter into mutual, reciprocal relations.
9. S. (01:10:34) Why did Moses turn away, what was he afraid of? Was he afraid of losing something?
R. Yes. If we want to receive in our vessels, light, the Creator, the revelation of the Creator, the knowledge of the Creator, then by that we distance ourselves from Him because every form of reception for us needs to be only in order to bestow, for us to come closer to Him. Therefore, there is a matter of a certain order of actions that we need to do in preparing ourselves to be in contact with the Creator. Just like in our world, where we can't be just like that in relations with all kinds of people, but rather according to your degree, according to your state in the world, accordingly you can come to them. For everything you need to prepare yourself for it. Therefore, here he is talking about that preparation which is called ‘the fear of the Creator’ which is the correct vessel for the revelation of the Creator. To the extent in which we will have greater and greater fear, to that extent we reveal the Creator more and more.
10. S. (01:12:25) If I discover that, for a moment, I have forgotten about these actions and I started to feel some pleasure, do I need to regret it or maybe remove myself from the source of this pleasure?
R. You need to return as fast as possible to the correct relations. It is not too bad. It is written about that, ‘’A righteous will fall a thousand times, and rise again.’’ There will be many more states like that, but we need as fast as possible to return to the correct state.
11. S. (01:13:12) The article says that I need to make a restriction over what the Creator gives me. What exactly does the Creator give me?
R. See how much you want to receive and what you want to receive from Him, that’s it. According to your desire, you can’t see what the Creator is giving you. Rather, what desires of yours are awakening. According to that, try to do the opposite, aim yourself in an opposite way.
12. S. (01:13:57) Some pleasure comes from the Creator and you try to stop it, what next? What kind of attitude should you build towards this pleasure?
R. You search in what you can delight the Creator, very simply. In what can I bring Him pleasure. Meaning, you are searching for a Kli [vessel] l that you don't have for the time being, and sometimes you don't even discover what the Creator wants to give you, so you are looking in what can I delight Him.
S. So this is the pleasure in that same pleasure that comes to me, or in general?
R. It doesn't matter in what. Certainly, if you are in that state, see how you can invert which you received from Him to the address to the Creator.
S. For instance, some pleasure comes to me from the Creator and now I can't receive it in order to bestow. So, I restrict it and I say now I can do something for the group, for the path?
R. Yes, that is possible as well. You will learn from it. You will start and you will learn how to do it in a more advanced way.
13. S. (0:15:15) He writes that the meaning of fear is not to receive, and what the Creator gives is only to receive. If the Creator gives only for receiving, it means that I am receiving only in order to receive and it is moving me away from Him?
R. No. You have a will to receive, you ultimately transform it in order to bestow. You are using your will to receive afterwards, you just have to make a correction so that your intentions will be to bestow. Then, in order to bestow you are willing to receive.
S. Now I feel that I'm only receiving pleasures that are low and corporal, and it is just moving me away from Him, and I don’t really feel He is good.
R. So make a restriction on that, prepare yourself in such a way that I am willing to receive only on the condition that I am giving you back contentment, that first of all, I am sure that I am bringing You contentment and I am preparing myself for that. Meaning, I have prepared the correct Kli [vessel] which is fear, that I will not receive for myself, that I will only be in order to bestow. I am certain that is how it is going to work, then I am willing to receive the abundance from You.
S. The restrictions shouldn't be on higher pleasures?
R. It doesn't matter, it does not matter what. Whatever you receive, it all comes from the Creator, the source is the same source.
14. S. (1:17:56) Sometimes, the Creator shines upon us and gives us pleasure, and we can extend the pleasure as long as I want to receive to please Him. But one point is not clear, the calculation in the screen. How much am I capable to receive in order to please Him, and where to put the restriction? How can I do this calculation in the right way?
R. You continue in practice each and every moment. Ask for exercises, do them and then you will see how much it asks you. It is like a little child. As much as he does things, some successful, some less, but it advances him to understanding the world. So, you will see that is how we learn, that is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is a very practical wisdom. This is called, ‘From your actions we know you.’’
S. Should we work on the desires below the Tzimtzum [restriction], meaning the still, vegetative, and animate desires? Should we also work on them later?
R. That we will see, we are not discussing this now. It doesn't matter to us so much right now. Let us first be ready so that everything that comes to us seemingly from the Creator. You can say everything does come from the Creator and that is correct. But I am relating to the spiritual matters, the exercises that the Creator is doing with us. So, we want to do them only in a spiritual manner. Meaning, stop and make a calculation. How much can we receive in order to bestow, this is called maintaining the correct Kli [vessel] and receiving the upper light in the correct Kli [vessel], like he says in this article.
15. S. (1:2:35) We learn how to work with the pleasures that the Creator is sending, or what desires, things we want to attain. How do we work when the Creator sends us things that we do not want to receive? Let's say, pain, suffering?
R. We are now only talking about things that we are certainly receiving from the Creator, and He sends this to us in order for us to respond correctly. All the negative things or corporal things in general we are not touching that right now. We do not have the ability to scrutinize that.
16. S. (1:21:3) ‘’When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep.’’ How can one achieve equilibrium and rest between the sleepless nights? How can one balance the remembering?
R. If you keep yourself, as much as you can, seeing that everything that comes to you is ‘’None else besides Him,’’ and it is given to you so that you will be able to respond to your emotions in the way that you are getting this from the Creator, so that you will transform whatever He is sending to you into a response that is correct, that He will be happy about. First of all, you understand clearly that you are getting it from Him and by accepting it correctly, you receive correctly in order to bring Him contentment. Otherwise, you do not receive. So, try to position yourself like that and you will see how you discover the attitude to the Creator as a new world.
17. S. (1:23:10) Can you help me scrutinize correctly and sort it out. Everything you sense, everything actually, comes from the Creator. What do you mean, how can I divide it between what He sends to what comes as a result of our efforts?
R. I do not understand what you are asking. Of course, everything that we receive comes from the Creator. The question is how much we can identify and detect it in everything. Of course, we are not capable yet. But with regards to what has to do with our spiritual progress, yes. This is what we can differentiate from the corporeal things which, of course, comes from the Creator, but we respond to what has to do with spirituality in a way that Baal HaSulam directs us, meaning preparing our Kli [vessel] for it. What does he tell us what to do all in all? That we have to restrict what we received from the Creator in a spiritual sense, meaning the things that involve spirituality. So, we have to stop there, stop that, and respond to it in such a way that I want to receive this in order to bring Him contentment only, only to do good to You. That is first. This is already Tzimtzum [restriction], Masach [screen], and Ohr Hozer [reflected light], to some extent. That is where spiritual action begins, that is all what it is about. Do not get confused with everything else, even what has to do with the group. Right now, we are only talking about man's attitude to how he accepts the spiritual discernments, that everything comes from the Creator and everything is in order for him to respond correctly, in that he stops these things and says only for the benefit of the Creator. I want to relate to Him, to have this opposite relation towards Him.
S. It turns out that it's not what comes but with how I take it?
R. Right. You will discover that everything is actually for your own good.
18. S. (01:25:37) Fear is what is between the cow and the calf?
R. Yes, you could say that. It is a reciprocal Kli [vessel] between the created beings and the Creator.
19. S. (01:26:25) How can I learn to be in fear correctly?
R. I, in each and every moment, wish to the detect the Creator's relation to me, and be ready to respond to it in such a way that I withhold the Creator's attitude to me, and I want to direct my response, my relation to Him, as the good that does good that orchestrates everything for me, meaning with love and connection, gratitude, everything.
20. S. (01:27:22) What do I receive from the Creator that I am supposed to restrict, that I am supposed to say, that I do not want to receive?
R. What I feel that I receive from the Creator, I immediately restrict. What I do not feel that I receive from the Creator, I do not restrict. Meaning, it turns out like this; whatever comes from the Creator, I make a restriction over that, and rearrange it in such a way that I want to give to the Creator contentment with that. This means that I am going to develop restriction, screen, and reflected light.
21. S. (01:28:10) What is the meaning of lowering ourselves before the Creator?
R. To lower we to the Creator means that whatever I receive from Him, even though I really want perhaps to just take it into my ego and enjoy it, I am trying to make a restriction over that. My relation to the Creator, or the Creator, is more important than whatever I can enjoy for myself. I begin to rise above that. It is like a mother. Even though she is very tired, let's say, but if the baby demands, then she awakes and takes care of him. So, I am not taking myself into account, but rather how much can I bestow to the Creator. This is already our good and clean work where we begin to rise up the ladder.
22. S. (01:29:20) The ego doesn't like the feeling of lowliness. How to quickly go from the state that the ego hates the Creator for what He is doing to desire to do something good for Him?
R. It all depends on our scrutiny. We need to scrutinize it the least as possible, and just shift to the vessels of bestowal, to turn to the Creator with our face and just think about how I can bring Him contentment.
23. S. (01:29:56) How can a person reveal that lowliness, it is the result of what actions?
R. Our lowliness is also not into our account. It is not up to us, it is how the Creator created us. So, I am not responsible for my lowliness, I rather have to discover it. If I discover it, I am proud of discovering my lowliness, I have no problem with that.
24. S. (01:3:24) Until a person doesn't discover the lowliness, he will not be able to reach fear?
R. No, he will not. He will not be able to because our lowliness is a part of the new Kli [vessel] that we need to establish in order to keep all the upper light there.
25. S. (01:30:47) How to actually practically overcome the feelings that are stronger than the calculations we did?
R. Probably, together in the group you will be able to overcome.
26. S. (01:31:02) How can we feel that it was my choice that the Creator will be concealed from me in order to prepare myself, and be ready for His revelation?
R. It is only the work in the group. We are now going into more serious articles that require us to not just be emotional about it, be moved by it, but also make changes in our relationships between us in the ten. This is called practical Kabbalah. So please, try to do that. Otherwise, you will not be able to get feedback, responses, and make mistakes and correct mistakes, you will not be able to to do what the wisdom of Kabbalah requires. It is a shame. We have to make practical actions.
27. S. (01:32:15) What does it mean that I want to use what comes from the Creator in order to bestow? In what? In my thoughts, in my feelings, that the Creator is giving me?
R. Thoughts and emotions, but first, thoughts. Meaning, that I would like to do it like so and so. Meaning, that what I receive from the Creator, I will be able to relate to Him the same way, and not just in desire, but also in practice. If I can do that in practice, then I am actually receiving in order to bestow. So then, all of this pleasure enters me and I feel both the pleasure and the giver of the pleasure. By that, I unlock the spiritual world, the upper world, the eternal world.
28. S. (01:33:15) You said that the first state is that I do not want to receive anything from the Creator. The second is to organize my attitude towards Him, that there is a matter of restriction, screen, and reflected light. What do I not want to receive from the Creator? Are we speaking about anything that feels good in my ego?
R. Yes. Anything that does good to my ego directly, I do not want to receive it, as we also tell our children, right, or a child, be careful what you do, you might harm yourself instead of getting benefit from it, don't just follow what you want to do. You have to think first, see why, and what you are doing. Only then, try to do it.
29. S. (01:34:10) You are telling us to do practical exercises in restriction. Can you give an actual practice that we can do?
R. It's very simple, there is no more to add. It is just everything that I received, besides the corporeal things that I need for my existence. Let’s put that aside for now. All the rest in the relationship between us, and our relationship with the Creator, I need to scrutinize that, to inspect it. From all that I feel, you relate to the Creator in such a way that I relate to Him in that I want to bestow to Him in return. These are the exercises we need to do now. Anything that I think I received from the Creator, I am making a restriction over that, Masach [screen], and reflected light. This means that this is how I want to relate to Him.