The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: March 16, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. Art. 5 (1991). What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?
Original lesson date: 11/02/2003
Reader: Dear friends, in the first part, we will study a lesson of the Rav, from November 02, 2003, based on an article, "What is the Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations in the Work?" You can find the article in the Rabash writings. At first, we will read it in the Ten. We have 35 minutes for this. Tens that finish before the time is over; you can do a workshop on the main points from the article.
Reading: (00:43) What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?
Article No. 5, 1991
RASHI brings the words our sages about “These are the generations [offspring] of Noah; Noah was a righteous man.” Why does it not mention the names of the sons, Shem, Ham, and Yaphet, but rather “These are the generations [offspring] of Noah; Noah was a righteous man”? It is to teach you that the offspring of the righteous are primarily good deeds.
We should understand if saying that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds, is this information for other people to know or is it something that the righteous themselves should know? It is known that in the work, we learn everything within one person. It follows that the rest of the people having to know that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds is also in the same body. That is, the righteous himself should know that his offspring should be good deeds. We should know this with relation to the righteous himself, what this information adds to him in the work.
To understand this, we first need to know what are good deeds or bad deeds in the work. Good deeds means that it is known that in observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], we should discern the practice, when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot in practice, meaning that he believes in the Creator, observes His Mitzvot, and allocates times for the Torah. However, he does not pay attention to the intention, meaning for whose sake he is working, whether it is for himself, so that he will be rewarded for observing Torah and Mitzvot, which is called “self-benefit,” or is he working for the sake of the Creator, which is not in order to receive reward.
The difference between them is that when a person still works for his own benefit and is still immersed in self-reception, on this reception there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment. That is, concerning the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, he cannot receive the delight and pleasure. It follows that the deeds where the aim is for one’s own benefit are called “bad deeds,” since these actions move him away from receiving the delight and pleasure. It follows that when a person does deeds, he should gain, but here he is losing because he is separated from the Creator.
But if a person does everything for the sake of the Creator, so the Creator will enjoy it, then he is walking on a line and a path leading to Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is called “equivalence of form.” When there is equivalence of form, the Tzimtzum and concealment are removed from him, and a person is rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations. For this reason, what a person does for the sake of the Creator is called “good deeds,” since these actions lead him to be rewarded with the good.
According to the above, we should interpret that the righteous should know that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds. Offspring are called “fruits,” which are the results of the previous state. This is called “cause and consequence,” or “father and offspring.” It follows that when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot and wants to be righteous, how can he know whether or not he is righteous, as our sages said (Berachot 61), “Rabba said, ‘One should know in one’s heart whether he is righteous or wicked’”? Yet, how can one know this?
For this reason, they said, “the generations [offspring] of righteous are good deeds.” If a person sees that his engagement in Torah and Mitzvot yields for him good deeds, meaning that the Torah and Mitzvot he does causes him to do everything in order to bestow, which is for the sake of the Creator, it is a sign that he is righteous.
However, if the Torah and Mitzvot he performs do not yield for him the offspring of good deeds, but rather bad deeds, meaning that he works only for his own benefit and does not bring him the ability to do good deeds, which is for the sake of the Creator, then he does not fall into the category of “righteous,” even if he observes Torah and Mitzvot in all their details and precisions. However, this is so only in the work. For the general public, one who observes Torah and Mitzvot with all the precisions is considered righteous.
This is why concerning the verse, “Noah was a righteous man, complete in his generations,” RASHI brings the words of our sages, “Some praise him and some condemn him.” We should interpret why they praise and why they condemn, meaning which is the truth.
In the work, when relating everything to one person, the offspring, too, do not pertain to several bodies but to one body at several times. Therefore, what is the meaning of praising and condemning? It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 140), “‘Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.’ Often, the guidance of good and evil causes us ascents and descents. You should know that for this reason, each ascent is regarded as a separate day because due to the great descent that he had, pondering the beginning, during the ascent he is as a newly born child. This is why each ascent is considered a specific day, and similarly, each descent is considered a specific night. At the end of correction they will be rewarded with repentance from love, for they will complete the correction of the vessels of reception, so they will work only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator, and all of the great delight and pleasure of the thought of creation will appear to us. At that time, we will evidently see that all those punishments from the time of descents, these sins will be inverted into actual merits. And this is ‘Day to day pours forth speech.’”
According to the above, we should interpret “Noah was a righteous man, complete in his generations,” that there should be praise here, as well as condemnation, and both are true. In other words, if it is written, “in his generations,” in plural form, it means that the generation divided into several intervals. Hence, there are many generations. This is possible when during the work he had ups and downs; hence, they divided into several generations.
It follows that the time of descent is considered a condemnation, as he says in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], that sometimes we come to a state of “pondering the beginning.” There is no worse condemnation than this. It follows that condemnations pertain to the descents. Also, there are praises, meaning the time of ascents. It is praise because then he has connection with the Kedusha [holiness].
“Complete” means that all the generations have become wholeness, which is called “complete.” In other words, he has been rewarded with the end of correction, meaning that they have completed the correction of the vessels of reception to receive in order to bestow. It follows that the proliferation of generations, where there were intervals in between, meaning descents, have been corrected and he became complete in his generation. This is the meaning of condemning and praising, and both are true, and both become one matter, called “complete in his generations.”
However, for the most part, those who engage in Torah and Mitzvot in practice have no ascents or descents to the point that they can come to a state of pondering the beginning, since as long as they do not want to blemish the will to receive, the body does not object to the work so much. Hence, these people regard themselves as complete. When they look in the Torah, they see themselves as not so bad, more or less fine.
This is called “Ayin [eye/seventy] faces to the Torah,” meaning that there are two discernments to make here:
1) Narrow-eyed turns his face to the Torah. That is, he interprets the Torah in the manner of a narrow-eyed, called “narrow in Hassadim [mercies].” In other words, he does not understand how there can anything more than self-benefit. For this reason, he interprets the Torah in a manner that no harm will come to his self-benefit. This is as our sages said (Avoda Zara 19), “One learns only where one’s heart desires.” That is, if he is narrow-eyed, the Ayin faces of the Torah are in a manner that will yield self-love.
2) There is the blessed Ayin, as it is written, “The good-eyed, he will be blessed.” This means that one who has a good eye, who likes to bestow, which is the opposite of the narrow-eyed, since he wants to work in order to bestow, when he looks in the Torah, he sees that in all the places in the Torah, a person must work in order to bestow. This is regarded as learning from the place where he is. In other words, he sees that we must work only in order to bestow. It follows that the good-eyed is rewarded with the blessings called Hesed [mercy/grace], namely with Dvekut [adhesion]. By this, he is later rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the thought of creation.
It follows that a person must work in order to obtain the need that the Creator will help him and give him the second nature, called “desire to bestow.” However, each person wants the reward first, and to work next. That is, each one wants to first be given the desire to bestow, although he still does not understand that he needs the desire, but he heard that the reward one receives for the work is that from above he is given the desire to bestow. Hence, he wants to be given that desire, but his intention is only that he will not have to work in order to obtain it.
However, there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. That is, a person must first toil in order to have a desire and a need for it, since there is no filling without a lack. Therefore, a person must accept descents each time, since through the descents he acquires a need that the Creator will help him and give him the strength to be able to defeat the will to receive in him so he is rewarded with the desire to bestow.
Therefore, we ask the Creator to give us the desire to bestow in order to have Dvekut with the Creator, while for our part, we are unable to overcome our will to receive and subdue it so it will cancel itself and give its place so that the desire to bestow will govern the body.
The order of the prayer is as it is written, “Our Father, our King, do for Your sake if not for our sake.” This phrasing is perplexing. Normally, when we ask a person for a favor, we tell him, “Do me a favor for you, meaning for your sake. If you do not want to do me a favor because it will be to your benefit, do it only for my benefit.”
But it is certain that if he does not want to help him although it will be for his own benefit, too, and he still does not want to, then if he does not derive any benefit from this, he will not do him the favor. So what does it mean “Do for Your sake,” and if not, meaning if not for Your sake, then “Do for our sake,” meaning only for our benefit? Can this be?
We should interpret this: We say, “Our Father, our King, do for Your sake.” We ask the Creator to give us the strength so we can perform all our actions for You, meaning for the sake of the Creator. Otherwise, meaning if You do not help us, all our actions will be only for our own benefit. That is, “If not,” meaning “If You do not help us, all our actions will be only for ourselves, for our own benefit, for we are powerless to overcome our will to receive. Therefore, help us be able to work for You. Hence, You must help us.” This is called “Do for Your sake,” meaning do this, give us the power of the desire to bestow. Otherwise, we are doomed; we will remain in the will to receive for our own sake.
However, a person must know that there is no light without a Kli, no filling without a lack. For this reason, he must first feel that he lacks the desire to bestow. In other words, he does not regard wanting the desire to bestow as an accessory, that he is actually fine but he would like to be more complete. We should know that this is not regarded as a lack with respect to spirituality. In spirituality, everything must be complete, meaning a complete light, complete lack. Accessories are not regarded as complete lacks, and therefore the complete light cannot enter.
Hence, the light, regarded as the Creator giving a person the desire to bestow, is called “light of repentance,” since before a person receives the desire to bestow, he is placed under the governance of the will to receive, which is the opposite of Kedusha [holiness], called desire to bestow, as the will to receive belongs to the Klipot [shells/peels]. This is why our sages said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”
This is the meaning of what is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 17), “For that reason, the Klipot are called ‘dead,’ since their oppositeness of form from the Life of Lives cuts them off from Him and they have nothing of His Abundance. Hence, the body, too, which feeds on the leavings of the Klipot, is also severed from the Life of Lives. All this is because of the will only to receive. Thus, ‘The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”
Accordingly, a person cannot acquire the desire to bestow, which the Creator will bestow upon him, before he has a complete lack, meaning that he feels that he is wicked because he is under the governance of the will to receive and is separated from the Creator, and he wants to repent, to adhere once more to the Creator so as not to be separated, since separation causes death, as was said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”
It follows that unless a person feels himself as wicked, he does not have a complete lack for the Creator to give him the help, the power of the desire to bestow, which Baal HaSulam calls “a second nature.” Hence, in terms of the work, it is not considered that he has repented before he first feels that he is wicked.
Afterward, he asks the Creator to help him because he wants to repent. Yet, he sees that he is powerless to repent without the Creator’s help. In such a state he has a complete lack, called “a complete Kli,” and then he is fit to receive the complete help from the Creator, namely the desire to bestow.
However, our sages said, “A person does not regard himself as wicked” (Ketubot 18). The reason is that in the work, “transgressing and repeating,” our sages said “becomes to him as permitted.” Thus, a person does not view himself as wicked and can say that he has a complete Kli, that he is so truly remote from the Creator that he feels himself as dead. That is, we should interpret that “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead’” is when a person can say that he feels that he is wicked before the Creator. That is, when he feels himself as dead—that has no vitality of Kedusha—he feels himself as wicked.
But from where does one take such a feeling? The answer is as we said in previous articles: Such awareness and feeling come from above, as it is written in The Zohar about the verse, “Or, make it known to him that he has sinned.” He asks, “Who made it known?” And he replies, “The Creator made it known to him.” It follows that the awareness and feeling that he has sinned also comes from above. In other words, both lack and filling, both light and Kli, come from above.
However, it is known that everything requires an awakening from below. The answer is that first a person must do good deeds. That is, the work begins when a person wants to do good deeds, which is considered that he wants to work for the benefit of the Creator, regarded as working for the sake of the Creator. Then, by wanting to come closer to the Creator and thinking that he needs only a little bit of wholeness, but in fact, he is fine, since it is seen above that he wants to approach the Creator, he is given each time the deficiency that is in him—that he is actually completely removed from the Creator.
It is not as he thought before, that he lacked a little bit of wholeness. Rather, he is shown from above that he is remote from the Creator to the point of oppositeness of form, to the point that the person feels that he is wicked toward the Creator and cannot do anything in order to bring contentment to his Maker.
At that time, he achieves the degree of “wicked” and sees that he has no vitality of Kedusha, and that he is truly “dead.” Then, he has a complete lack, called a “complete Kli,” and then the Creator can give him a complete light, meaning complete help, which is the desire to bestow. This is considered that he has repented.
However, we should know that in the work, we should discern that there is faith, which is above reason, called “law,” and there is the Torah, called “sentence” [verdict]. Baal HaSulam said that “Law means faith above reason, and sentence means the Torah,” where it is specifically within reason. He said that “One who does not know the commandment of the upper one, how will he serve Him?” Hence, a person must try to understand the words of Torah, called “sentence.”
By this we should interpret what is written (Genesis 4:19), “Lemech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Tzillah.” We should understand what it teaches us in the work, how many wives he had, as well as their names. The thing is that Lemech has the letters of Melech [king], which implies that a person should make good conjunctions, meaning to be rewarded with feeling that there is a King to the world, and it is a great privilege for a person if he is rewarded with serving the King of the world.
“Wives” means assistants, as it is written, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make for him a help made against him,” so a woman means an assistant. That is, how does she help? She is called “wife” in her assistance to him, meaning she completes his work by his using her quality. This is why it is considered that she helps him achieve his completion.
We should know that the completion of the work is in two discernments: 1) Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], 2) Torah. It is known that Mitzva is called “faith above reason,” and “reason” is considered “sun,” as it is written, “If the matter is as clear to you as day.” It follows that “above reason” is the opposite of the sun. This is called “a shadow.”
By this we should interpret that if a person wants to feel that there is a king, he must take a shadow, meaning faith above reason. This is the meaning of the words, “and the name of the other, Tzillah [Hebrew: shade].” In other words, he receives help to be rewarded with serving the King through faith. However, this is still not considered wholeness because the shade on the sun, meaning the above reason, which should be on the faith, is still not regarded as complete work.
The Torah is also required, which is called “sentence” and knowing, since what we do not understand does not fall into the category of Torah but into the category of faith. Torah, on the other hand, is called “testimony.” It is known that there is no testimony by hearing, but by seeing, since seeing is considered knowing.
This is the meaning of the words “The name of the one was Adah,” from the word Edut [testimony], where a person should receive help from the assistant, called “wife,” who helps him in a manner of Torah, which is light and not shadow. Precisely when he has Torah and Mitzva, he is considered a complete human being.
Adah = Ed [witness] of the Creator about the Creator is the Torah, called Edut.
Tzillah = Tzel [shade] of the Creator is a shadow on the Creator, meaning faith.
Reader: We'll enter a lesson with the Rav now from November 2nd, 2003,
M. Laitman: (35:49) We heard an article from “The Rungs of the Ladder,” volume 1, that is associated with the portion of Noah, ‘What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?’ Anything we want to attain in spirituality, we can only attain if we precede it with vessels, because the goal is to get there on our own, on our own power, with our labor, to the degree of the Creator. And if from above down, when the entire creation came from the Creator and emerges and develops from Him, it develops, and it comes from something that is whole to something that's not whole. So it turns out that the lights precede the vessels, and they beget the vessels, arrange the vessels, and then the vessels are revealed, but only in relation to the lights, not in relation to themselves. That is, there's no created being yet, the created being begins only when all the vessels cascade and the connection between the Kli and the light is over completely, the Kli is without any light, seemingly is completely under its own authority, in disconnection from the light, and then the Kli can have work and labor in order to discover his desire, and upon his desire to add more, to install or build longing. And this longing does not depend on the desire or the same direction, and it's not natural, it does not come from within the light, and certainly not from the nature of the Kli, but rather the Kli attains a longing for the Creator and not for the filling. This is actually the work of the Kli by which it becomes free, independent, and to the extent of the longing for the Creator - to be like the Creator, which is not his nature, and not his inclination - if he builds this from within himself, certainly out of the details in him, but with his labor and his work, it turns out that he builds within himself a certain very individual, personal, special, independent discernment, which is what we actually need to do.
M. Laitman: (39:54) It turns out that when a person starts to work, he doesn't know how to go and what way he's going. That's why the test is simple: is his intention to reach Lishma or not? He performs all kinds of actions. Well, if he doesn't do anything, then there's no question whatsoever. But if he performs actions, then there's a question of whether these actions are with the intention to reach a certain special state called Lishma, to adhesion with the Creator, which is examined according to the measure of revelation of the Creator towards him, the measure of equivalence of form to the Creator, which brings the revelation of the Creator and adhesion with the Creator, a tangible connection with the Creator that is revealed on every level in a person, or that all the actions a person does, he doesn't put before him a certain goal, but rather does them, calls those actions Mitzvot, he performs them in actuality, and the goal is not important for him, but rather he counts his deeds and accordingly justifies himself, sees himself as correct, and that's it. From these two approaches, we actually have the seemingly two Torahs. There's the Torah of the general, and there's the Torah of the individual. The Torah of the general is those who engage in actions and do not demand a result, but rather the action itself is the result, that, thank God, we're observing what's upon us to do, and the reward - this world, the next world, or maybe I don't even demand a reward. And if I don't demand reward, meaning, it's not here nor there, he is called a truly complete righteous, meaning that the actions themselves are seemingly all that they need to be. And the second kind is, he seems to himself like he's worse each time. Nothing seems to bring him results - all his actions, all the labor he does, he studies, he wants to reach something, if he wants to get there, then it seems to him that he's in deficiencies. Where's the wholeness? And also that which he wants to reach, it's not revealed to him that he's reaching it. That's the Torah of the individual, where it's written that the reason of Torah is opposite the reason of the Torah of the landlords. But nevertheless, when they come to examine, the examination is according to the results. And then we need to understand that all the mistakes and all the sins a person goes through at the beginning of his path, only later become a true Kli, called Mitzvot, commandments, privileges. That is, when the sins and mistakes are revealed in a person, that his Aviut is getting greater coarseness and worse, it is revealed in the form of failures, as he wants to reach a certain action of in order to bestow, an action that appears to him as spiritual. And he discovers that he's not capable, doesn't want to, and he is actually all against it. When such qualities of himself are revealed to him, in which he truly sees how opposite he is to everything, that he's to blame for everything, that he is the absolute worst, and that everyone suffers because of him, at which point he comes to determine the sins and mistakes, where each time he goes and fails, discovers his failures, and then when they gather, when they collect together, they become merits. Meaning, it's not for a person to correct his nature, and if he aims his nature to the Creator, and that's one who blames the Creator, that's also not correct. Rather, one must understand that all the sins and mistakes are signs of revealing the separation that will build upon it the correct prayer, the correct request, the correct demand, where he wants from this, not for them to disappear, these qualities, but rather for them to become, so that as they appear, if they're opposite to the qualities of the Creator, and they must invert to be resembling the Creator. If a person rises above these qualities, and sees them as beneficial, as whole on behalf of the Creator, then certainly his prayer will be correct, as he reaches the correct deficiency, to correct all his blemishes in order to bestow to the Creator. And it's not that he's sorry for doing to him or to others damage or bad, rather, there is no bad, and all the revelation of evil is only in order to see the oppositeness of himself towards the Creator. That is, all our work from now onwards needs to be arranged in how we will build the appeal, the ascendence, that which I'm sending to the Creator, how I build it in a correct manner, with the correct formula, which expresses that I am ready to receive His correction. And if I build this appeal correctly, then it's a sign that I know myself, and I know what needs to be inverted in me, and I'm truly ready for this on His behalf, and then He executes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): What's to check the results during the time of preparation?
M. Laitman: (48:08) What’s to check the results during the time of preparation when we have yet to reach the revelation of the actions and the revelation of the results? How can we check the results? According to the signs that our teachers give us. What do they say? If a person is in the society, and the society constantly pressures him, protects him to not run away, and he feels himself as always needy of the increasing forces in order to hold himself in the society and not run away, both in action and in desire and in intention, that's considered that he's advancing. That's one test. Another examination is to the extent in which… Well, that's seemingly with the society, it's an external examination. An internal examination - a person checks within himself to which extent, in which kinds of states, no matter which exactly, but all the internal actions change in him. Meaning, all the internal states, to which extent and in what pace do they change in him, where a person must go throughout the day through such changes, that... I remember, one day we went out with Rabash, as usual, at 9 a.m., and there were many events in Tel Aviv, and I parked incorrectly on the beach, and they towed the car, and we took a taxi, we had to go and get from the yard there, from the impound, and more, and more. It turns out that the day was such that at 5 p.m. we actually came back, right towards the lesson. And then five minutes into the lesson, he says, do you remember what we went through? I had a clear mind, that is as if nothing had passed. I remember it was in the very beginning, so I really, it was truly a wonder how so many disturbances and things, and running after, and everything, and after that - nothing. And you can't even say at what pace, or what was, or what order. It was a race to such an extent, the past, and you're just living in the present all the time. I remember that initial feeling of it leaving an impression. So what I wanted to say is, to the extent in which a person feels these kinds of changes that go over him during the day, that's good. There can be a million that go by, but you don't feel them. It all falls and goes, falls and goes, and it must go through you. Let it go through. We check this according to a pace, but again, this passes because you're yearning for one thing, and then all these disturbances that are going through, you kind of take them into account at the moment, and they replace one another, because you finish them quickly.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:04) So how do I make these scrutinies? Because you said more than once that we need to scrutinize things with ourselves as well.
M. Laitman: Maybe it's worthwhile to do less, I don't know. What are you saying? How do I, how do I make scrutinies?
Student: Yes, you say to keep moving forward, not to engage with the past, not to engage with anything, only accept.
M. Laitman: Don't deal with the past, God forbid. If you deal with the past, you're eating yourself up, and you're living, either good or bad, an illusion. The past does not belong to you, just like actually the future doesn't belong to you as well. These are things that, no matter what clothes in the body right now, you're not working with it, it simply doesn't exist. The past has already passed, and the future, you don't know what, and really no form of the future can you assume in advance and expect for it to happen. So what do you have to do with this?
Student: But when do I scrutinize the where, and when do I make the calculation that I have to do with myself, if I act accordingly or not? When do you do the scrutiny?
M. Laitman: The correct scrutiny is if you, in every moment of your reality in life, when you're conscious in life, aware, that I feel, I feel that I have some kind of mission. If you adhere yourself to Him, that's it. How is it written in the song? There's a small moment between the past and the future, called life. That's the minute that you need to adhere, and that's what He gave you, and this is how you scrutinize the records. There's no more work here. If we concentrate only on this, it's very good, because the past and the future beget in us, because we came from similar things, they give birth in us to all kinds of calculations, fears, all kinds of things that are not related to reality.
Student: But specifically, as humans, who have great burden of things, the information, they constantly encounter things.
M. Laitman: I'm not telling you that you're working on your work and you're working with the inanimate, with people, with plans. You need to do a certain work, and you know how you perform it. I'm saying this about your internal discernments of spirituality that are connected to spirituality, meaning godliness. With godliness you have a simple calculation - I am not the owner of the past, nor of the present, nor of the future. My work is only what I have at the moment, what I'm given. That record I must implement in my implementation of this record and adhesion with the Creator for this current moment, period. I'm not saying that we should relate to life like that, altogether - no, but to the spirituality in life, towards our spiritual states. And in the work, I can plan work for a month, a year. In the work, I work with the inanimate.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:45) But all our lives are states that prepare us. They work with us for this goal, all the states in life. Nothing truly belongs…
M. Laitman: Do you have a problem with connecting your life to the internal work with the Creator? Don't connect between them. Don't connect, otherwise you'll be similar to all those people who see in every movement around them, that it's the hand of the Creator. Ah, he did this, and this happened, and this and that, and I'm doing to Him like this, and He's doing like this to me, with my feet and hands. That's truly spirituality, and angels here are wandering around. You'll just get confused, and it's not correct. Spirituality is above reason. It's in order to bestow. It's a nature that is not in our matter, beyond our matter. You want to reveal it? You can reveal it only if you work on those two planes, completely disconnected from one another. The animalistic part with animalistic, and the spirituality with spirituality. Otherwise, you'll have such a confusion of all those who are seemingly engaging in spirituality. Then they start looking at the stars, and the planets, and the horoscopes, and they do by cards, and all kinds of signs on your face, and they put some red string on you. Or they, you know, also give a cow a red string, and she'll maybe give them a little bit more milk, I don't know. There's a certain, when matter influences matter, it's a psychological part of this, and there are people who feel like there's a certain psychological strengthening, but that's not spirituality, so don't clothe this on that. There is no connection between spirituality and corporeality, a complete disconnect. That's why I'm not just like that, saying that all our corporeal actions do not beget spirituality. But if you put into them the intention to reach spirituality and start doing the love of friends, just like that, it will lead you even to the opposite, and not to the goal. Because the action itself doesn't do a thing, on the contrary, maybe it even does - it reveals to you how much it doesn't do anything, which is work that destroys you. So don't enter corporeality into spirituality, and vice versa. It's simply incorrect. For you, spirituality is now how you imagine yourself connected with the Creator. That's it. There's none else besides Him, the Good that does good upon me, and all that I think, and all that I can think of Him. I understand that this brings forth confusion, because we can't distinguish within us the relation to our life, and our relation with spirituality, we can't. But this will gradually happen, and then when we start discovering spirituality in practice, then we will gradually see how gradually one clothes on the other but in a different way than that which we can imagine now. In all the mistakes in the whole world, in all the methods and religions and everything, it is that they enter spirituality into corporeality. They lower it and think that in all kinds of ways, in all kinds of things, objects, all kinds of bodies, you have some part of spirituality from holiness. They kiss the hand, they kiss a tree, some picture, some puppet, some doll. That's the whole confusion of humanity. Whereas to the extent in which Judaism battled this, certainly not outside, but within, also amongst the people does not succeed greatly. They do all kinds of red strings, living water, they change names, and perform all kinds of so-called virtues. They think they are drawing upon themselves a good illumination from above, the abundance from above. By what? By me calling you today “Tzahi” instead of “Shmahi?” What will be, let's say, well, tell me, what will be? That's how it is, it brings luck. We use the psychology of a person and the forces of nature, but we think that it's spirituality. Certainly we're capable of doing in the plane of this world many things with a person's strength, with a person's thought, the force of desire. Certainly in our world there are also many other laws that we don't understand, why it happens this way or that way, and we think that it all comes from spirituality. But yes, that's still a problem. It's not simple to reveal, and it's very difficult. You see, even people who engage in Torah think that their study is spirituality. What's spiritual about it? Spirituality remained during the destruction of the Temple, up above, disconnected from us. No, we study, this is called spirituality. Life proves there's nothing in it. Look what's happening with all the people. No spirituality. You see, the confusion runs very deep.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:31) We say, in the next paragraph, that all the desires come to us, and this structure of above reason. I don't understand if it's relevant for now. But the previous questions that engaged me, I have sometimes very harsh feelings when I'm trying to attack and scrutinize what I'm asking about. If I do it, if I don't do it in order to receive, where's this boundary? Where's this distinction of if I get in trouble, where I will lower myself in those bad feelings between my will to receive and to really go in another way? I actually feel that in some place, I'm comfortable with myself, because I know that if I do this in kind of a method to overcome the difficulty and the bad feelings…
M. Laitman: You say it like that. When they reveal something to me, who am I? What am I? I see, truly, I'm not always 100% right. I do for my own benefit, not for the benefit of the collective. I first think of my own gain, not of those close to me or my friends. To what extent do I see this evil? To the extent that they reveal it to me. If they did not reveal it, I wouldn't be able to see it. I would reveal more of it, I would, I couldn't stand myself, I would suffer, I would run away, I would come out of my own skin, I don't know, I would fly away from myself somehow, just to leave all these qualities. But they also don't give it, maybe if they would give it to me at some point, how hard it is to tolerate it, it's really hell, right? Maybe I would cry out to get rid of these qualities. Also they wouldn't let me, you understand? As if they are keeping me like that on a slow simmer, on all sides, they flip me this way and that way, and this is what's happening in life. From here, maybe we have a question, what is it, what will be the end? They reveal a little bit of who I am to me, and it's not enough, not for good corporeal life, where, you know, I don't know about it, and I just live life normally, I deal with all kinds of nonsense, but that's it, that's life, like in a kindergarten. I'm busy with that. As you see in the news, the world keeps doing as it used to do. Or maybe, to come out of spirituality, go through the stage where I suffer from my own nature, and I want a different one, and truly, somehow it's a state where I'm not in order to receive. Maybe like that, maybe they should show it to me. It's true that it's possible that this will be a difficult phase until I truly see, and I suffer from what I have relative to the Creator, compared to Him. This opposition that is felt, I guess it's not good, but you go through it, and that's it. If a person is making these kinds of decisions, he's already okay, because he demonstrates his willingness, as much as possible, to go through and to attack that state, and get through it quickly and not remain hanging between heaven and earth. And here, he needs supporters, a Creator, a group, in order to put in the required effort and go quickly through the stage. But every time you say that, oh, I sometimes feel this way, other times I feel that way, I feel myself good, sometimes not so good, sometimes very bad, I take advantage of the other, and so on and so forth. It doesn't depend on you. That's how they reveal things to you, the truth. You know, in the police, those who investigate, they say in order to advance the investigation in the best possible way, you need to ask each time, who is it worthwhile to do?
Student: What's the motive?
M. Laitman: What's the motive, exactly. What is the motive, meaning, who is it worthwhile to do it? For whom? So, when things happen to you, ask each time, who is it benefiting? Meaning, what does the Creator do with me? What does He want from me? That's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:08:01) I turn to Him, and then I feel that when I'm turning to Him to correct some state, and it's like, again, I'm returning to a state of the will to receive. Why am I doing this? So that He will lower for me this load? You have to try something.
M. Laitman: No one, we agree with you that your request to take away the will to receive from you, this is a heartfelt request. You suffer; you wish to get rid of it. But however, there are a few other things. First of all, they still haven't revealed to you that you are a transgressor, right? You have many more cases there that they have to open and show to you. Then you will become aware, right? And you'll also be grateful for each and every one. And accordingly, they'll close each and every case. Also, according to the depth in which you can see your will to receive, how much of an egoist you are, nevertheless, even though you thought previously that you're not - you see that together with that, you didn't actually ask precisely to get rid of the will to receive. Rather, you asked to get rid of the will to receive because it makes you feel bad, but not from this quality in such a way that it is disconnected from you. Do you hate it not because I feel bad, but I hate it because it is against the Creator? And this is revealed slowly, gradually, together with the revelation of the desire. Meaning the more you go down, you descend according to the amount of ego, you also see qualitatively how much you didn't ask for the disconnection from the will to receive, because it's the desire itself, this quality itself, not because it doesn't feel good with it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:10:14) What does it mean that he is pondering on his first decisions?
M. Laitman: Pondering the beginnings, meaning that I begin to think why I entered into this whole thing. Begin to blame himself, and others, and the Creator, why did he even get himself into this path? He could have settled for his beastly life, and everything would have been fine. Why do I get out of all these things? I got to know Kabbalah, and this group, and this Rav. Why do I need them, and him? It's all a lie, and I can't understand it. I can come to a certain state, and it's not for us. All kinds of things like that. Who is capable of that?
Student: So, it's this discernment you have to reach?
M. Laitman: Pondering the beginnings, meaning if a person comes to it and is truly allowing himself to be in it, then he flies, he's ejected from the path. It's really a disconnection, disparity of form. First of all, he also hangs it on corporeal things and not on the Creator. Meaning, he just leaves this path completely.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:11:51) You were saying, out of a higher degree which is close to us, that clothes in our actions, what actions are you talking about?
M. Laitman: The close degree, or what a person always needs to see in front of him is the revelation of the Shechina, how it dresses into the entire world, everything that's in him, and the friends, and in all of the world, and how the one unique, unified force unifies all the actions of the world, and they're all under this force. That's exactly what we see from "None Else Besides Him," from the article, and that's what we have to hold in front of our eyes all the time.
Student: We were talking about not getting confused with corporeality.
M. Laitman: It's not to get confused with corporeality. It's not that I'm going to try to interpret all the actions in corporeality without revealing this true state that the Shechina is dressed in the entire world. That's already called revelation. So without revealing it, then I won't get confused and try to explain each and every corporeal action that it happens because of some spiritual reason, or to put into some corporeal objects spiritual forces that I know that this is how it's like. What kind of special force exists in a red string; I haven't yet found? Trust me, I don't know. Well, okay, there's something written in the Zohar. We already know that we read the Zohar according to the roots or the branches. If you take a red string at its root, what that is, and you start to engage with that, then you understand it's a spiritual action. How does that have to do with taking a red string here and tying it on your hand, or your leg, or your ear? What do you get from that? People use it to strengthen the person like they did in Hasidism. What? Our ancestors 2,000 years ago went with this or that kind of hat, or the Gartel, or the Chalat, or the socks. I'm not ruling this out, no, God forbid, because it holds people, but just not to turn that into some holiness. Yes, it keeps us within a framework, it separates our actions, and thoughts, and directs the person, but don't put any forces of holiness into it. Just say, yes, we are animals, we're beasts, and our psychology is built that way, that this kind of externality influences us, strengthens us, sure. This is being used in all kinds of movements and political parties, and it was always used. There are all kinds of examples in the army, right? There are all kinds of ranks, and flags, and symbols, and it's all to strengthen the person. Of course. Ask psychologists, and they'll tell you a whole wisdom, a whole teaching about how to influence the person. But don't put any forces of holiness into it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:04) How to see my actions clothed in the world?
M. Laitman: What does it mean to see how the Creator dresses into all of creation? It's not that we're seeing it, and we're going to decipher it. Rather, we want Him to be revealed to us. We want to feel how it truly happens, how it exists, but not that before this happens, we already begin to use our intellect to link all kinds of things together.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:56) From my experience, imagining that I'm already rising, from those attempts that I pretend I'm already feeling it, that it...
M. Laitman: No, we must not imagine these states. We need to yearn for these states and not to imagine that this is how it happens, because from your imagination, you start building all kinds of forms that as if it's already happening, and it's based on your beastliness. I'm talking about yearning, longing. You're asking what to long for, so Baal HaSulam writes in "None Else Besides Him," long for the revelation of the godliness or the Shechina that it's dressed in the entire world. That's it.
Student: But how to... for longing, I need some kind of feeling.
M. Laitman: Before you reveal, you won't have a feeling. Before you reveal, you'll have no picture, but you yearn for it.
Student: What yearning, what longing, how to search for it?
M. Laitman: To search for it means that you're yearning for it to be revealed, but not that before it's revealed, you're already building all kinds of forms. You are already imagining to yourself what that is.
Student: If it should be in a feeling, so...
M. Laitman: I can't explain more than that, I don't have more words.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:49) You said that the Creator is like a mother, that I can't fall from that connection. Like a baby, I can't just run away. So, a state I already went through, how do I say "There is None Else Besides Him?" That it all happened exactly what the Creator wanted? Did I have a choice there or nothing? Was it determined?
M. Laitman: If I have to say that now I have free choice, in looking at the past, my past, can I say, I had free choice? No. No. How? Of course not. Also not for the future. And at present, where do I have free choice at present? Only in strengthening, in agreeing, in wanting it to happen fast, and happen exactly the way the Creator wants. Not the action itself, but the execution of the act, in that, I have free choice. That it will happen. Not that I'll want under pressure, and threats, and troubles, where I already agree that it will happen. But with my desire, with advancing myself forward, I want it to happen; each and everything that He is planning in advance. Actions in general, whatever happens to us, we're not free about that at all. Everything is already written, what I have to go through. But if I don't want these states, if I don't want to each time move towards more bestowal, that from now on, all my stages are to be more bestowing, to be more of a bestower, and I don't want that, I hate that. So, I necessarily reveal these states as suffering, and I have no choice. I advance, but with suffering, and I suffer more and more. Or, on the contrary, if I persuade myself that these states are good, they're beneficial, I want them in advance, then they appear to me as good, as pleasure, as abundance and eternity. But the stages I go through are necessary stages. I can determine the pace, but not being in this or that state.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:21:52) On the pace of the past, did I choose that?
M. Laitman: About the pace of the past, it is called that it was not your choice.
Student: So, I didn't really have freedom of choice?
M. Laitman: You had, and you didn't choose.
Student: So, I'm trying to understand, I had choice, but I deviated from the choice, and the Creator made it right for me?
M. Laitman: With the pace, you were free. Let's leave it alone. With the pace, you're free. No, I'm telling you, in terms of the pace, that's where you're free. We're not going to be able to understand these discernments in greater precision. We have to have faith, and it's truly so, that in our present state, from our labor, and that's what our pace depends on, depends on the feeling, how we go through it, the agreement, the relation to the Creator. It depends on our labor. If I labor, I will ultimately relate to all those things. I justify Him, I'll reach love towards Him, and if not, then I go through the same states in a bad way.
Student: From what I think, how is it connected? Let's say there's a past, I had left and right, and I made a mistake. So, the Creator organized it, that I took a left anyway.
M. Laitman: With respect to the past, you've never made any mistake.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:46) Can I remember states, let's say, if I was in my previous ascent, in order to feel it in the future?
M. Laitman: Is it worthwhile to remember the previous good states to receive strengthening for the present and for what's next? Yes, you do that. It doesn't matter whether it's worthwhile, possible, or impossible. That's how you do. That's what you do. A person who advances a bit further, he doesn't want to receive strengthening from the past. He's always looking for how to strengthen the Creator in detaching himself from the past. This is called “every day will be new in your eyes.” Everything's new. That's it. I don't want to receive support from before. Each time from my search, I want to receive support from connection to the Creator. But in the meantime, where the body truly demands it that way, then fine as well. What can I do? These are stages on the way.