The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: April 13, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What Is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?
Original lesson date: 12/25/2002
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson we will study a lesson from the Rav from December 25, 2002. It's based on an article, "What is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?" You can find it in the Rabash writings or in the study material. We'll read it together in the Ten, we have 35 minutes to do so. Tens that finish before the time is up are invited to a workshop about the main points from the article.
Reading: (00:36) Rabash. What Is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?
Article No. 26, 1991
We should understand this matter of “revealing a portion.” This means that previously, a portion was covered here, and then one came and revealed a portion but concealed two portions. Thus, now it became more concealed than before he revealed. This means that he came and made a greater concealment now than before. Would it not be better if he did not reveal the portion?
We should interpret that when he comes and says, “I revealed a portion and I covered two portions,” he comes and tells us that there is a place of scrutiny here, to examine what he revealed, since the matter should not be revealed to all, but only to those who need to know. For this reason, he had to cover two portions so that people who have no need to know would not exert in order to understand the matters, while those who feel that they are lacking this knowledge in order to complete themselves will exert in order to reveal the matter that he concealed.
By this we should interpret in matters of work, which is man’s engagement in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in order to achieve completion, and for which man was created. We should make two discernments here:
1) The purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is for the creatures to come to a state where they receive delight and pleasure from the Creator.
2) The correction of creation. The correction of creation is to achieve Dvekut [adhesion], called “equivalence of form,” meaning that all their actions will be only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Therefore, when there is some revelation and a person cannot receive it in order to bestow, he blemishes it. For this reason, everything must be in concealment until a person can receive it in order to bestow.
Hence, when he says, “I revealed a portion and I concealed two portions,” it means that those who have no need for the matter will not exert to work and reveal, while those who do have a need, when they are told, “I revealed a portion and I concealed two portions,” they are willing to work until they attain the portion he revealed, since the Creator helps them. When a person gives the awakening from below, he receives help from above.
It follows that He did reveal the matter to those worthy of them. Who is worthy? Those who make an effort. To them, the portion they revealed is revealed to them. That is, those who do not have the quality of the correction of creation cannot receive anything from the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations.
Yet, this matter of revealing a portion and covering two portions applies also during the preparation for the work. In other words, it applies even in the beginning, when a person wants to begin the work, since those who have been rewarded from above are shown some illumination that shines for them, and they begin to work with great enthusiasm and power.
This is so because they received a revelation from above and they see that the most important thing in life in this world is spirituality and not corporeality. They feel confident that soon they will be rewarded with entering the King’s palace and will be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator and the flavors and secrets of the Torah. A person feels all this by the revelation of the portion that has been revealed to him from above.
However, after some time, when it is seen above that the person has begun the work of bestowal, in order for him to grow on his own toward nearing the Creator, and also to feel what it is like to be remote from Kedusha [holiness], so he will discern “the advantage of the light from within the darkness,” subsequently, a person comes into a state of “covering two portions.”
One cannot understand why at first, when he did not know what the work of bestowal was like, spirituality illuminated for him as a revelation, and in his mind, he understood that after this revelation he should advance and go forward, but in the end he sees that now he is worse than before he began the work of bestowal. A person cannot provide answers to these states.
But the answer is that in order for him to begin to work, he had to be given from above the revelation, to give him the strength to emerge from the state he was in before he began the work. This is called “an awakening from above.” Afterward, this revelation was taken from him so that now he would be able to give the awakening from below.
This is the meaning of what the ARI says, that on Passover night, when the Creator had to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, a great light appeared upon them in a manner of an awakening from above. For this reason, at that time Mochin of Haya illuminated, and all by the power of the awakening from above. But afterward, they all fell once more to their places, meaning that afterward, the people of Israel had to work in a manner of an awakening from below in order to continue in the manner of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] of the Mochin.
Similarly, here we should interpret that when a person begins the work, he is shown a portion. Namely, he is shown from above some illumination, and that illumination gives him the power to serve the Creator. He begins to feel that this is the goal for which man was created in this world, and that feeling comes to him as a revelation from above in order to give him momentum for the holy work.
Therefore, afterward, when a person sees that he is not advancing but regressing, and now he is even far from the state he was in before he revealed to him a portion of the holy work, that person thinks that it is because he was thrown out from the work.
Therefore, a person must know that such is the work, that in order to admit a person into the work, there is such a correction called “awakening from above,” which is given to a person who is capable of entering the holy work, meaning that afterward he will be able to work by an awakening from below, since a person obtains the real Kelim [vessels] specifically through the awakening from below. This is why afterward he loses the light of confidence he had in the beginning of his work.
Accordingly, we should discern concerning the words “revealing a portion and covering two portions”:
1) In the beginning of his work, he is in a state of “still of Kedusha,” meaning he only acts and does not contemplate the thought.
2) He is shown a portion from above. At that time, he begins to feel that there is a new world, meaning that he feels that if he makes an effort, he will be rewarded with entering the King’s palace and will be granted attainment of Godliness. At that time, he will see that his confidence is so strong that he will achieve real wholeness. When he looks at other people, how they engage in Torah and Mitzvot in the “still” manner, he says about them that they are acting as beasts—doing without reason, and that they have no feeling of what is within the Torah and Mitzvot. All this is built in him on the basis that he was rewarded with revealing a portion.
3) Afterward, meaning after the work, when he begins to advance in the intention, through the power of the awakening from above, he comes to a state of “covering two portions.” That is, he falls into a descent. This is on purpose, so that now he will give the awakening from below, since specifically from this work he receives Kelim for the light.
In other words, it is impossible to discern any flavors in the light before we taste the taste of darkness, as it is written, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” This means that although anyone can tell between light and darkness, to enjoy the light as it is possible to enjoy, this is impossible, as we see in corporeality.
We must believe that all this extends from spirituality as a “branch and root,” as we can see for ourselves. We walk on our legs and use our hands. Although we are glad that we are well, at the same time, we cannot rejoice over the fact that we are healthy. However, if we visit a hospital where there are patients with paralyses, some in their legs, some in their hands, if someone went in there and gave them a cure so they would regain their health and would be able to use their hands and legs, what joy would they have at being healthy?
It follows that the darkness they are suffering from not being able to use their hands and legs is the cause of their joy. This is the meaning of “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” In spirituality, the light does not only add joy to them. We must know that in spirituality, the joy is used only to obtain the light. Put differently, the joy is a dressing for the spirit of the Creator.
In other words, attainment of Godliness dresses in many names. In general, this is called “Torah” or Hochma [wisdom]. That is, spiritual pleasure is not merely pleasure; it is the revelation of the names of the Creator. We are awarded this through the lack, called Kelim and “a need.” This is why we need an awakening from below, for specifically by our work in Torah and Mitzvot we obtain those Kelim called “the need for the light of Torah.”
Therefore, a person must be careful not to be alarmed by the descents he suffers, since from this he learns how to appreciate the importance of nearing the Creator, as in “the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” It follows that the meaning of “revealing a portion and covering two portions” in the work is that we must make three discernments in the work until we achieve Dvekut with the Creator: 1) When he is in a state of “still of Kedusha,” working only in action. This is called one line. 2) When he is shown one portion, meaning he is shown from above, as Surrounding Light, what there is to attain in Godliness. By this he gains confidence that he will achieve great attainments and understand that this is worth living for, and his life will not be like those of the rest of the people, who are living aimlessly. 3) Afterward he comes to the third state, which is a descent. This is when he is required to show an awakening from below. That state is called “covering two portions.” In other words, not only has the state of revelation been concealed from him, but now even the “still” state has been concealed from him and it is difficult for him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot even in actions without the intention.
It follows that now he has two covers: 1) the state of revealing the portion, 2) the state of the still, when he engaged in Torah and Mitzvot with enthusiasm. That state has also disappeared from him.
Why is all of this? Why is there is a need for it to be more covered now than even in the first state, called “still of Kedusha”? The answer is that it is so that now he will not be content with less and will remain in a state of “still.” It follows that the whole revelation of the portion was for nothing, meaning he did not do any action of nearing the Creator. But now that he cannot do anything unless by coercion, so he must think and find ways to be able to do the holy work once more. For this reason, now he must be twice as covered.
However, a person must be careful not to look down on the forced work, although during the coercion the body finds no taste in this work. We can learn about the importance of work in coercion from what we understand and see in the way the world behaves in corporeal matters.
Let us take eating, for example, which is something that applies to both grownups and children. There is love in this, and there is fear, meaning fear of punishment. We see that there are little children who do not want to eat. What do the parents do? Sometimes the parents tell the children nice stories to make the children eat. Because the children want to hear nice stories, they eat. And sometimes, when the parents have no patience, they hit the children to make them eat. And sometimes, when a person has no appetite, he forces himself to eat, also because of fear, since he is afraid that if he does not eat for several days he will grow weak, and if he does not eat for a long time he might even die.
It follows that he is eating by coercion, out of fear. No one will say that it is not good that he is eating by coercion, although it would certainly be better if he ate from love. But it is good if he can at least eat by coercion. However, sometimes, a healthy man must eat later for some reason. In that state, he eats with love. It is so much so that sometimes he regrets that when he begins to eat, the love departs from him. In other words, to the extent that he begins to eat, after every bite he eats the love for eating wanes in him because the satiation drives out the love of eating. Still, it is clear to all that a person must eat whether from love or from fear.
The same applies to the work of the Creator. In the things a person does when he observes Torah and Mitzvot there is also the matter of love and fear. That is, sometimes he enjoys engaging in Torah and Mitzvot and is high spirited, and the reasons do not matter. This means that a person has a good mood from observing Torah and Mitzvot, since by this he will later be rewarded, called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake].
Or, another reason, he is happy that he is serving the King. We should separate the reasons from the actions. In other words, we take into consideration what a person feels and not the reason that caused him the feeling.
That is, the fact that a person is happy is regarded as “working from love.” That is, he is happy because he will later be rewarded, or because he is serving the King, but first of all, he is happy. This is called “working from love.”
Sometimes a person works out of fear. That is, he is afraid that he will suffer punishments in this world, or that he will suffer punishments in the next world. At that time, a person is not happy with this, since he does everything by coercion. “Coercion” means that a person would be happier if this did not exist, and he would not be punished for it.
We therefore see that actions work on the body in corporeality even when we do them out of fear, meaning compulsively. We should learn from this and believe that so it is in the work, as well, meaning even by coercion. This means that even when a person does not find any flavor in Torah and prayer, he should do this by coercion because the act does its thing. As in the corporeal act, when he acts compulsively, it works whether for better or for worse even when he works out of coercion. So it is in the work. Even though he observes Torah and Mitzvot by coercion, it works within the person.
However, there is certainly a difference in the work whether he does it from love or from fear. Yet, we should know that even in work he does out of love, there is a difference between working from love and saying “The Creator needs me to observe Torah and Mitzvot, but I have no need that I can say that I am observing the Torah and Mitzvot for myself.” He says that he does not see for what purpose he must observe them, since he says, “What will it give me if I observe Torah and Mitzvot?”
However, a person believes in the reward he will receive for this, and this is why he observes Torah and Mitzvot. This follows the rule that one who needs to be given something for his needs should pay. Therefore, he works from love because the Creator will certainly pay him for his work.
But if a person observes Torah and Mitzvot because the Torah and Mitzvot will correct him, meaning that he feels that he needs correction, this is as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” It follows that one should observe Torah and Mitzvot for oneself. He certainly cannot ask the Creator to pay him for observing Torah and Mitzvot, since he is not observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to benefit the Creator, since the Creator does not need the lower ones to observe Torah and Mitzvot for the Creator. Rather, this is for the sake of man. It follows that he is working out of love, for by this he will be a complete person, a corrected person. In that case, it cannot be said that the Creator should reward him for his work in observing Torah and Mitzvot.
It follows that his observing Torah and Mitzvot out of love is not because he will later be rewarded. Rather, he thanks and praises the Creator for giving him a cure to correct the body. As in corporeality, one who gives someone a cure, the recipient of the medicine pays the doctor, and the doctor does not pay the patient for taking the medicine.
However, we should ask, What evil is there in man that should be corrected by observing Torah and Mitzvot? meaning that without Torah and Mitzvot he will remain with his evil and will suffer. Otherwise, why should he mind if he remains with the bad within him? This means that he must remove the bad in him, or he will suffer from the bad and will not be able to live in the world and will have to die. But through the merit of Torah and Mitzvot, the evil will depart from him and he will have a good life and peace at home.
The answer is the will to receive with which man was created. This desire cares for its own benefit, and has no feeling or perception of the benefit of others. A person can understand working for the sake of others only when the will to receive for his own sake gains from this. This is called “bestowing in order to receive.”
For this reason, people go to work, Jews for gentiles and gentiles for Jews, all according to the reward that the will to receive for himself will receive. But actually for the sake of others? A person has no feeling that there can be such a thing in reality. A person can only believe that there is such a thing as working for the sake of others, but we should ask why indeed should one work for the sake of others.
To this comes the answer that there is the matter of the purpose of creation and the correction of creation. The purpose of creation is that His desire is to do good to His creations, meaning for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. Hence, the general name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. However, there was a correction so there would be no shame while receiving that good, that a person must receive in order to bestow. Since man was created with a nature of reception and not with a nature of bestowal, he must correct himself so as to be able to work in order to bestow.
Before he has this desire, he is left bare and destitute due to the disparity of form between the Creator and the created beings. This is called “evil,” meaning the will to receive for himself. If he does not correct it to work in order to bestow, he will remain in the dark. For this reason, a person must observe Torah and Mitzvot in order to correct his evil and acquire a second nature, which is in order to bestow.
It follows that a person observes Torah and Mitzvot for his own sake. That is, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, which is the spice, he will achieve the purpose of creation: to do good to His creations.
By this, man will be rewarded with “peace at home.” “Home” is man’s heart, as it is written in The Zohar, which says, “A handsome abode is his heart.” Man’s heart is not at peace with the Creator, since he has complaints to the Creator that He is not satisfying all his wishes. But the reason is “disparity of form.” Therefore, when a person corrects himself to work in order to bestow, he receives the delight and pleasure from the Creator, and then peace is made. This is called “peace at home.”
Reader: We'll go to a lesson from December 25th, 2002.
M. Laitman: (35:57) "What is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two in the Work?" from the “Rungs of the Ladder.” There's coercion in our actions, fear and love. And we need to reach to the best possible thing. The best thing is, if the created being is the desire to receive, so no matter how we turn it, the best for me will be for him to receive. And for him to receive precisely the same thing by which the desire to receive was created for. If my desire to receive was created by 200 grams of water, if I fill it with 200 grams of water, I'll feel good. This is considered that I fill myself with my purpose of creation, the purpose of creation of my desire to receive. How could it be that the purpose of creation is to come to adhesion with the Creator and to bestowal, and with that, we come to reception? It's very simple. By coming to equivalence of form. I don't come to bestowing to the Creator, I come to the status of the Creator. And the status of the Creator is to do good to His created beings. So I come to a state in which I do good to His created beings. And who was created? I was created, so I come to a state where I fill myself. That is, the biggest desire to receive fills itself in a state, in the most perfect whole state, specifically by reaching the status of the Creator because that's its entire role, and I equalize with Him in this role. Yes? That we don't quite grasp, but this is what happens. What the Creator wants? Without the bread of shame, come to My state, and then you will fill yourself in wholeness. And on the way to this, when I reach this highest state in which I fill myself in “to do good to His created beings,” on the way to this, there's the correction of the vessels from me working in necessities to working due to fear, and to already working due to love. This is considered the correction of the home, or the home peace. We gradually reach the peace at home. The house, the home, is called the heart of a person; and when a person completes his path, then all the dwellers in the home are in peace and calm. In order to reveal to a person each time how to make the steps towards this exalted state in which he will reach the purpose of creation, to do good to His created beings, the Creator does this by revealing a little and covering a little, revealing a little and covering a little. What does this mean? He reveals to a person how to advance, and a person advances on one side, and He opens for him a double deficiency than he had before. Meaning, He covers two portions, but when He covers the portions that He's already covering, it's considered revealing a greater deficiency. That's called the covering of two portions, at which point a person feels that once more he's standing before great work, a greater void than before, and once more corrects it and fills it, acquires it, which is considered making one step by the Creator revealing this portion to him, and once more the Creator reveals an even greater deficiency, double the one he had before. That's how it is, and through such steps a person reaches a state of the purpose of creation. Are there any questions?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:11) What does it mean that he writes on page two, below, that they revealed to him, and then they took from him this revelation?
M. Laitman: The fact that a person is disclosed to, and then it's taken away from him, this revelation, it's not that they're taking it back, there is no such thing, only simply the great degree, which now comes in its posterior, conceals the previous degree that already entered revelation. We need to understand that the thing that has been realized, there's no longer a need for it, we need to move onwards already. And this we can also see in our lives - by me filling myself now with food, or with some kind of animalistic pleasure, do I come down from this? Almost immediately, I begin to long for something else, yes? Another kind of pleasure, doesn't matter, but immediately. Therefore, it's impossible to remain, until the final correction, in a state in which he can exist more than that which he is doing or executing. But rather the moment it's performed, at that second - as if there's a moment, there's no time in spirituality, only in corporeality, there is none, only we just don't understand yet, it's still in our subconscious, because the laws are similar laws, or equal laws - so I immediately search for another pleasure, because the desire to receive that was filled, will no longer feel the pleasure, it's already needing something else. That's why the path itself is non-stop, it's endless, there are no stops along the way, there's nothing that stands in its place, and not that it returns, or goes back, but rather it must continue. We just don't feel this movement, this non-stop movement. This depends on the extent of our participation in this movement, and the measure in which we want to participate in it, or hasten it, then we begin to become cautious and sensitive to the smallest movements, whereas if I don't want the movement, then I kind of try to not feel it, I try for my senses to be more kind of blunt, for them not to feel the change. A person wants to sleep, even to die, just not to feel what he doesn't want. This is why the transition from enslavement, from necessity, from having no choice, from coercion as we call it, to the desire - a desire due to fear or a desire even from the aspect of love, it opens for a person additional vessels, at which point he enters into the pace of advancement. Meaning, this pace of his advancement does not depend on how much more I will learn, or how many more things I will do, but rather to what extent I will want this process itself more. Then I'll be more sensitive to every small change, if I want that process. And then if I assist it, I will actually hasten it myself. There are very delicate and refined matters here that gradually get clarified during the work, not through the guidance in spirituality. It's not like a guidance of something I said, and someone can do it. This guidance is in how we nevertheless let the Upper One help us understand what we are told, and when we understand, we understand it with our heart. The heart understands, not with intellect. And when the heart understands, it knows how to do what it needs to do. My participation with my mind here is very small. Let's put it this way. Your intellect, your mind gives you to your externality to understand or feel what the heart is already performing. And the heart executes without asking the intellect. So the light that operates through the study, through the work in the group, the light which operates, operates on the heart itself, on the point in the heart directly. And when the heart changes and performs actions or participates in actions, it is already giving this knowledge to the mind, at which point you understand what the heart is doing. You don't have, from the intellect to the heart, there's no possibility to supervise this or control this. The desire precedes, and the intellect is secondary.
M. Laitman: (46:56) You can only, from the side of the intellect, to coerce yourself to do all kinds of actions that will invite the Upper Light to operate more on the heart. That the mind, the intellect is capable of doing. That's why we were given it. Otherwise, we don't need it. The desire to receive was created. The intellect, which is besides the desire to receive, operates according to the development of the desire to receive. Only for that. The intellect is needed only to draw the Upper Light, only in order to compel us to work with the society. Meaning, that our intellect, that we need to have there, where we already have our desire to receive, it doesn't tell us that it's worthwhile, doesn't tell us to perform it already. Meaning, to precede some action that is taking place in the heart with the intellect, we can do only one thing - to draw the Upper Light upon us, to the heart. There's no other action with which we can perform. The mechanism is very simple. The heart, before the Upper Light, the Upper Light operates on the heart of a person and constantly changes him, advances him, more and more, towards the final correction throughout thousands of years. I have, besides my heart, an intellect, and with this intellect, you can cause the Upper Light to, not draw, there's no drawing anymore, but rather, through the intellect, you can cause the Upper Light to operate upon the heart in a more efficient way. That's when you receive the desire from the society, when you somehow coerce yourself through the society, through an external desire, which you acquire from friends, to be more sensitive to the light. The light does not change. You can put the desire in your heart from the group, and this is through the intellect, the only action that remains for us, only that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:23) He talks about three aspects of the work to reach adhesion with the Creator. He says, one - the state of still of holiness, meaning he only acts in the “still” of sanctity. It's called one line. So what is one line? The second question, when you come to the third state, he writes that that state of revelation is concealed from him, but it's concealed also the state of “still.” Meaning, so what is that thing that from “still of sanctity” is one line, and what is that in the third state, it's covered now, the “still” state?
M. Laitman: We have work. We're all in the world, and like it or not, we're also not for this world. We are Creator's workers. What are the Creator's workers? The desire to receive performs commandments from the light. If he wants it or doesn't want it, he has no choice. He was created this way, he was impressed by it this way, and performs all that are being operated upon. So we're all desiring or not desiring, we are servants of the Creator, which means that we do His will. We do His will coercively or not knowing, either subconsciously when we do it this way, we have no choice, or because of fear, or because of love. There are several degrees here. Some of these states are subconsciously, where you don't feel them, and some of these states we already are somewhat in some degree of consciousness, or complete consciousness - performing these actions from love, where even if I didn't need it or want it, I had no results from it, but rather only because there's someone who wants. It's His desire, not mine. Those that are still outside the awareness of their actions, their spiritual actions, are divided into two parts. Those are like inanimate, vegetative, and animal live according to the laws of nature. This includes all the human beings in the world, besides the people who observe Torah and commandments on the degree of inanimate of holiness. Those who observe Torah and commandments in “still of holiness”, observe it because this is what the Creator commands, and they understand that this is what He commanded. So they observe them for all kinds of reasons. But this is actually considered in one line, only in one line below a reason, meaning they don't check, they don't operate their desire to receive, they have no negation factor. They only go by the commandment, the Creator commanded - I observe. Due to fear, due to love, doesn't matter, yes? This is due to education. There is also in this, in every state, we have all of its integrated parts, every state, if it's got ten Sefirot in spirituality, then also in corporeality has all this entire, seemingly, sum of all the states.
And there are those who, through the work, their personal work towards the Creator, begin to feel their nature against the nature of the Creator. Then a person's nature is felt as the left line, and the nature of the Creator as the right line. And despite this seemingly clash here, they go and execute these states, perform the commandment of the Creator, and this is called the middle line, above reason. That is, no matter what, they do what they feel the right line is, the desire of the Creator. So they also reach with one line to the middle line. So these observe, and those observe. These - before checking and before the struggle and the correction, and those - after the examination and correction. That's the difference. Either this way you're working, not from your desire, or you're working willingly. What does it mean, that you're willing? You corrected your desire in accordance with His desire.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:30) So, what does it mean that you come to the third state, which is descent? So, it's not enough that the state of revelation is concealed from him, but also the inanimate state is concealed from him. What does it mean that it disappears?
M. Laitman: If a person, where is this written?
Student: It's written in, where it says, from that state.
M. Laitman: It's written there in number three.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (55:00) Then he comes to the third state, which is a matter of descent, where it is wanted for him to reveal the awakening from below. This state is called covering two portions, meaning it's not enough that the state of revelation has been covered for him, but rather now also the state “still” has been concealed from him, meaning now it's hard for him to engage in Torah and commandments, even in the actions without intention. Well, I interpreted the covering of two portions a little differently. I interpreted it as the covering of portions that he has now a revelation of the desire to receive in a higher degree. But here he's putting it this way: that a person who reaches a certain state. If a person rises from still of holiness, a Jew who observes Torah and commandments, and he starts to ascend higher than that when two lines are revealed to him, and he starts to work in two lines, and he seemingly reaches the implementation of the middle line, and in the middle line he needs to advance, so again, he needs to advance in the middle line above reason. Meaning, he had one line, then upon this line he built two lines, he started to come out of the “still of holiness.” There are two states, and the struggle between them in order to build the middle line even higher than them, and when he built the middle line to the smallest extent, now he needs to rise onwards, and so he ascends onwards, he cancels the “still of holiness,” the line that's below reason in order to move to the above reason. He cancels it. And then those people feel that they don't have any taste in observing Torah and commandments, even in “still of holiness.” And from this, they're very afraid, and they're right. And I truly have a few students who are Orthodox, who claim that really they have no longer a desire to observe any of that. They feel that from advancing in spirituality, corporeality falls, and there's no taste and no forces to observe this. And this is given on purpose. This is why he says this, that now it's hard for him to engage in Torah and commandments, even in the action without intention. This is natural, and we feel this in ourselves. Although we had no merits in the observing of Torah and commandments in “still of holiness,” but also these things fall in importance. And this is so that we will build a middle line above reason. This is called the covering of two portions.
Student: So, what do I have to do with preparation?
M. Laitman: (57:57) What do we need to do? Read onwards, and you'll see what needs to be done. Actually, a person needs to nevertheless hold himself in a framework, and to try and build himself in such a way that his beast, his “still of holiness,” will remain nevertheless in some state, that if he falls, he falls to “still of holiness.” Otherwise, he can fall suddenly who knows where. It's not terrible. He won't fall too far, but his time, the time to return to the path, he can shorten. Meaning, it's worthwhile to be in a society that will obligate you to perform corporeal actions as “still of holiness.” It won't obligate in a way that we're truly obligated on the outside, where you're truly coerced, and it maybe starts, but this nevertheless needs to be in the form, in a conscious form, where it's worthwhile for us to perform this in order to not run away too far from the path and save time. This state keeps him, kind of. The religious education is what Kabbalists did. It's not some fanatic person who came from nowhere and said, let's do something. Kabbalists established the matter of observing Torah and commandments within the framework of this world, which has nothing to do with spirituality, but it's in order to maintain the framework and bring a person in such a way to a state where the point in the heart will erupt in him, and he can continue. It's a justified state. Otherwise, where would you find people today? I don't know where. And it's not important, you know. So, you wouldn't find them, let's say, as the nation of Israel, undoubtedly. But when a person begins to work, this framework reminds him of the inner observance. You need to start to make a blessing of something, right? So you make this blessing because you were taught this way from early age, or you simply have to do it because society obligates you. But for you, this act reminds you that there's truly the existence of the same thing, but only spiritually. Meaning, you can't say that the “still" state is canceled. Everything comes from the state, from the “still” state. It's written, and those who advance in spirituality, they must establish a framework as much as possible, because if you run away too far, you may remember about this only after a few years. As we say that through the society we can add the will to receive, right? We could be impressed by society, add to our will to receive, and then the light that comes to us will influence us more according to our will to receive. So, we realize this here. Same thing here. We build the society in such a way that won't let us run away too much. That's the reason for the dissemination factory and all those things here, right? Although this is on the still level, it's a bit more than the still level because the work here, I'm not simply making boxes here. I do things that advance the dissemination of Kabbalah to the masses. But nevertheless, for me, relative to me, it's the still state. But this still state nevertheless returns me to the reason for which I'm doing everything, and what am I, and so on so forth. Meaning, this framework is a must, and somehow this framework covers our flaws in observing Torah and commandments on the still level. The people are not so orthodox about it, let's say.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:19) What is it that there's no connection? Let's say, I put my head into such a thought that it's against the commandment of Tefillin, and it's against some work on the screen, that's called the Tefillin?
M. Laitman: Corresponding to what? Corresponding to the corporeal Tefillin, the phylacteries? There's also work with inner work with spiritual phylacteries, right? So what are you asking? But what does it have to do with the wearing of the corporeal phylacteries with the spiritual phylacteries, and what if a person has no body before he was born or after he dies, right? When he's rid of that beastly body. So, he cannot wear the phylactery? This is the adulthood, the greatness of Zeir Anpin of Atzilut. If you're included in this state of greatness, means that you're wearing phylacteries. You corrected your left side, right? Your blunt side, the weak hand that needs correction. You have two lines to that extent that you have the light that comes out in the phylacteries of the Rosh, of the head, and specifically in the connection from the back. All those things are symbols, signs for a very exalted spiritual state. And keeping one, and keeping the other, there's seemingly no connection between them. Although, I'll tell you, for example, Rabash during the time of the baking of the Passover Matza one year he came down with the phylacteries. The last year before he departed, and nobody saw it, but I saw it, when I corrected something there, I was working on something. He didn't want us to see it, without us to see it. He covered it, but he did it. And there were a few things especially that he was extremely meticulous about. Meaning, because we don't understand the connection between spirituality and corporeality, or the importance of one or the other, we can't simply erase things. We have to believe that all of creation is a single creation, all of its parts are connected to one another, and there's no such thing where one thing is simply revoked or redundant. It's simply because of our small state that we say it this way. On the other hand, you see that it's clear to us that one who ascends to a higher degree, that this ascent is felt in him as a descent, because he enters only to the AHP of the upper degree. So, both the spiritual observance and the corporeal observance drop in importance. He's in a descent in both, and then he can't even do the actions of the “still” level of holiness. And that's why I hear the complaints from my orthodox religious friends. It's like that, and it's hard to explain to them otherwise, that you know, you have to do it, and all that, because the person can't do it. He can barely keep himself. So, you have to accelerate the state, either eliminate it completely, not touch it, let it fall to the “still” level of holiness, and let him stay there, or to create all kinds of supporters that will help him go through the time quickly, the time of weakness, and will enter a state where for him, the corporeal observance and the spiritual observance, or corporeal existence and spiritual existence will not be a problem any longer.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:34) For it to be, for these actions to have more validity, these physical actions that we do, can we aim towards something that when we're doing them, so it'll be more...
M. Laitman: When I do a corporeal action of Torah and commandments, if I add the intentions, does it help me in the spiritual Torah and commandments?
Student: More than that, what to think about, what to aim towards?
M. Laitman: With the corporeal Torah and commandments, I have nothing to think about because it's corporeal. If you think and you can add the intention to it, that's already a spiritual action. The intention is the action, and in truth, it's not connected to the corporeal observance.
Student: So, what? Let's say, just like that, the Yarmulke, the shawl, the Tefillin, just put them and that's it?
M. Laitman: The Yarmulke, the prayer shawl, the phylacteries, just put it, and that's it. That's what you have to do. It doesn't matter in your state, in your desire, as he writes here, you feel like it or you don't, still is still, it doesn't change. What is still level? There's no change in it. It doesn't show any change. If you rise it to the vegetative degree and the animate degree, you begin to change. But these changes, you have to ensure that they will not influence the “still” level. Although they do influence. You see what he writes here. There's no way around it, because the upper degree controls the lower degree, but nevertheless, we have to maintain the framework. So, I don't trust you to build yourself correctly on the level of “still level of holiness”, and that you will maintain this framework also by observing Torah and commandments in action and the body. So, we build also the factory, the dissemination factory, because it helps us more. It's more beneficial. Your actions are for the benefit of the society, the collective. And they're also done in society. They're not in isolation like the observing of Torah and commandments on the corporeal level. And then all those things work a bit more. But you have to try in both things, and understand that if you relate to these actions as actions that help you in spirituality, you already raise them to a spiritual degree. It's already support for your spiritual path. It's something else.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:18) We're told here that a person's home is the heart, and we need to come to peace at home. And it's like...
M. Laitman: Our home is called man's heart. Man's heart is full of all kinds of desires, right? How many desires in the heart?
Student: Millions.
M. Laitman: Not millions, 600,000. Why millions? It's enough for us. It's not enough for you, 600,000? That's it. That's what we have in the heart. One of them is the point in the heart. It's not even one of them; it's simply, it's an intention, it's not a desire. The point in the heart, more correctly, is the intention. So, in order for you to have peace at home, you have to correct the desires in your heart, so they will all have a single intention. Each desire is different than the other, and one desire doesn't understand the other. If I wish to drink, or I wish to eat, or sleep, or hike, I wish to run, or sit, each desire is individual, unique. How can they be together? Also, I can’t correct them together, so they'll all be together, so they'll work together simultaneously. If they are in a single direction, where I use each and every desire with the intention to bestow to the Creator, I don't need to use them all at once, simultaneously. It's impossible, because some of the actions contradict each other. In spirituality, it's not like that, but we'll see it. There, the right and the left, and all those things, they unite in one action as the organs of one body. But however it is, I need to aim the way I use them toward one source, and then there will be peace at home between them. Meaning, there cannot be peace at home, unless it's a man and a woman, and there's Shechina between them, and the Creator between them. Then there'll be peace in the household; not before that. That's why today, you see what's happening with the family. There's no family anymore. Everybody is getting a divorce very easily. The kids are not important. The kids are there, or here. It's not important. One lives with a woman and her kids from her ex, and he, himself with his kids, he goes to the other woman's kids. You'll see, another generation will get into such times where everybody will be like this. Meaning, you cannot even create this glue on the corporeal level, unless we introduce here the obligatory force, that love, that has to be through the third force, through the Creator. In spirituality, it's impossible. Between right and left, how can you create adhesion between them? Only if they have the same intention toward the same goal. They remain in opposite desires - the right and the left, but the intention, singular intention unites them. Meaning, in action, in the direction of the One. That's how it should be. Also, peace in the world in general, right? He writes about it in "Peace in the World." There cannot be such a thing, because each one from the get-go is born with different thoughts, different qualities, and you can't simply make one person similar to the other. Only if we have one something, one person, someone toward whom we aim ourselves. What are you asking?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:08) Our task is in the heart. We learn according to our feeling. We say that to work according to the mind. How can we do that? If we work according to the mind, we're like a robot programming us like a computer or something.
M. Laitman: You can't work according to the feeling, because only the beast works according to the feeling. You can't work according to the mind, because the mind is a robot and a dummy, right? But to work with the mind for the sake of the feeling, to increase the feeling and its intentions toward the goal, that's the role of the mind, of the intellect. And for that, we were given the intellect. For that, only in us, in humans, there's mind and feelings, and besides that, the mind and the feeling that can be in opposition. Can a beast harm itself? No. Man, I'm going to harm myself. In what way? If I'm a beast, it is also not possible. I make a calculation, even if I'm going to die, I make a calculation that it's worthwhile to die. But I'm making a calculation that I have to do the first restriction, to go through the barrier, to acquire something in order to bestow. I can't even think about it. A beast is not able to do it because it goes against its nature. And there certainly, this talking about true peace in the household, peace at home, in short. Well, ask, I want to get into it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:44) How many times do you work according to your emotions and not your mind? Let's say, about your children or...
M. Laitman: How many times do I act according to the feeling and not to the mind? All the time, as long as I don't use my mind, my intellect, to raise my sensitivity toward the upper light. Only this action is done according to the mind. All the rest of my actions are according to the feeling. The feeling determines what has to be in the mind. Meaning, you're asking the following: when can I precede the mind before the feeling, right? That means for us to be Adam, man, human. But is the mind a man? Mind is a dummy. When I make an action in my mind, when I want to selectively, critically work on the feeling, that's the work of man, because a beast works according to the feeling. A person who can have oversight over his feeling with the mind, to grow it toward a certain direction, certain action, certain bestowal, this is called the work of man. Then the work of man can be only toward the upper light.
Student: But it's written, “love with all your heart.”
M. Laitman: That's the first thing, “love the Lord your God with all your heart.” That's the first, that's the last, that's the end of correction. What do you mean? “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” That's the end of all the degrees. That's the goal you have to reach. And later, it's the interpretation. You want to learn? We can learn according to the Zohar. What is “Shema Yisrael,” “Hear, O Israel?” It's not work; it's determining the final state to which we come. And it includes everything, and explains to us both about the vessel and the fulfillment on the degree of the end of the path, the end of correction. Can we do this now? The commandment of love is the last commandment. After the 613 commandments, you have the commandment of love, that we corrected all the vessels. Well, what are you asking? I don't get it.
Student: So why didn't they start with that?
M. Laitman: You're asking why in the morning, the dawn, very dawn, you start with “Shema Yisrael?”
Student: Yes, that should be first. You know how long it takes to pray that.
M. Laitman: Well, the way you pray, you'll tell yourself, I'm not going to check it. I'm not going to probe in your prayer shawl, as the saying goes. But that's how it is.
Student: It's written, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your essence.
M. Laitman: We'll learn again Part 12 in TES, and you'll see why you have to say, “Shema Yisrael,” “Hear, O Israel.” And when, why in the morning - yes, and in the evening - yes. In the evening is a correction ahead of the night. In the morning is a correction in the transition from night to day. What corrections you have there? I have nothing to add. You wish to find your answers to what you observe as “still level of holiness?” There are no answers there. I can raise questions for each and every word.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:33) In my character, I work according to my emotions. And now, if you poke me, I'll jump right away.
M. Laitman: The mind is just a result of the emotion, and it's given to the person, this external intellect, in accord with how much he can truly work to increase the emotion towards the Upper Light. If a person doesn't amplify his emotion towards the Upper Light, he stays with his beastly mind, just as everyone else. Take the professors and see how shallow they are, dumb they are. They're experts in only that aspect that they studied. If a person tries to increase his emotion towards the light that reforms, then the mind truly begins to work. But also, it's the mind that goes toward the light. It's not going to work to get you to know some more nonsense of this world. All right. But in truth, we are using 2% of our mind.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:20:03) We read in the Bible that there are things like fear in the work, and also written about shame. So, what is the result of shame, or spiritual fear? What's the fulfillment of shame? What's the fulfillment of fear? What are these things?
M. Laitman: Shame is a feeling that is present in special lofty souls that truly feel themselves facing the Creator. Fear is something that happens in anyone, either beastly or spiritually. Like he writes in the Zohar, either you have fear of losing in corporeality, in your vessels of the will to receive, your corporeal desires that you're not filling, or you're not filling your spiritual desires. So, fear of this world or fear of the next world - lack of fulfillment. And fear might already be towards the Creator. Am I fulfilling Him? Not myself in fulfillments of this world or the next world, rather, am I fulfilling Him? Then you already made that inversion. You've transformed. You're already thinking of Him, not yourself. You're thinking about what exists in Him and His desire. Is His desire becoming fulfilled through your actions? That too is fear. But this is a different fear. This is the fear of Bina. She wants to give; she wants to bestow. Then comes love - when you're receiving in order to bestow. Now, in all those degrees, there are many parts, many segments and steps. What are you asking?
Student: What is the reason, and what is the result?
M. Laitman: What do you mean, what's the reason, and what's the result?
Student: What comes first, shame or spiritual fear?
M. Laitman: Shame comes from feeling the status of the Creator opposite your status. From comparing these two states, the result that arises is shame. Meaning you no longer just have a feeling of myself, how much I want, how much I'm fulfilled, who fulfills me, and so forth? You already have, rather, the sensation of the Creator, who is He, His desire, His attitude to me. So, from comparing His attitude to me and my attitude to Him comes the shame, if you're talking about this type of shame. There's a different type of shame. There's shame where you tell the Creator, be ashamed. Maybe you are afraid of saying that, so you don't be, you're not damaged, but the heart says it. When? When you're not happy. Your heart says that every second, any second you're not happy about life. Look at your friends. See that each one is crying to the Creator this way, because no one's happy from what he receives from Him. And by that, you already judge Him to the scale of demerit. Each and every action divides into several stages. The stage that truly determines that I will perform the action, that state is called recognizing the necessity, the urgency. That's what we need to achieve. Urgency that without the help from the friends - and that's in order to receive, I need help from them, without them, I cannot attain the goal. Meaning, I work as a receiver towards them, even a cruel one, I want to use them, how to put it? To exploit them. But at least that, right? From here comes the attitude to them, that they're important to me. I have no choice. I need them. Why aren't they working? Why aren't they influencing me? Why aren't they impacting me properly? Other than them and the Creator, there's no one to influence me. The Creator is not going to do more. They have to do. Why aren't they doing? So then I start thinking, how will I influence them so they influence me? And if I want to influence them, if I want them to influence me with greater desire and awakening towards spirituality, I myself have to put that into them and aim them like that to influence me in return. So, everything depends on the necessity. Now, how will I awaken to these things? So again, it's group work where we decide. That's also why we have the Rav and the books. That's where we get the beginning from. some initial push. And for that, we have to start working. Each one of the 600 desires of the soul that is in my heart has a special name. Yes, it has a special name. That's really... It's a number of souls. Here we have the portion of Deuteronomy, right? The Exodus. Yes, when we begin to see then the names of the children of Israel, right? Before that, we don't know. It's some sort of a people. Not even a people, it's a nation from a nation. So, when do you begin to feel the names, which is 600,000, right? There were 600,000 men. So, that begins to be felt when they leave Egypt. That's exactly the weekly portion. So, one's asking from Israel.
Question (Internet): (01:27:42) You begin to feel them and their names, not before that?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is in spirituality, what is children from another husband?
M. Laitman: That... I don't want to get into that, but there's a correction in everything. What can you do? That will be revealed later. Each and everything have a justified reason. We just have to see the state and keep moving forward with it to the right, in the right direction.