https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/lessons/cu/beF0kXpN

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

Daily Lesson (Afternoon) November 3. 2024

Part 1: Rabash. Lesson on the topic of “We Have Gathered Here” Article No. 1 (1984)

Reader: Hello, dear friends. We are in a lesson. We'll read selected excerpts from the sources from “We Have Gathered Here”. You can find the study materials on Sviva Tova and Arvut. You can ask questions on these websites. Today we have a special lesson, a real special event. Today we have thirty-eight new Tens of graduates of the MAK, the Academy of Kabbalah in Russian. We see them all in the screen. Tens of men and women have prepared for this meeting with the Kabbalists. I will give preference to them, and before we start, we will ask Women Info to say a few words. 

Women Info: (01:07) Hello, dear friends. Let me introduce you to our graduates of the spring of 2024. Today we have six men's and eighteen women's Tens who graduated and entered our group. They were supported by 166 curators and tutors, people who cared for them and brought them to the point of entering our group.

Right now, during our course, we usually have 800 people. Right now, we have 800 people who graduated, and today, truly, each Ten prepared questions according to the article. Let's try to feel them, and good luck.

M. Laitman: (02:01) From my end, I'm very happy that we advance good, advance forward, and we have new students who organize in the Tens. This way we get more and more and more, a bigger amount of members for our association. And the lesson is built upon the fact that in 1984, when I had to give a lecture in the academy. We still didn't have an academy like this, like the MAK International Academy of Kabbalah.

So, as usual, I asked Rav Baruch from Rabash, what shall I speak about. What shall I say? And he said, I'll tell you, and he gave me this article, Matrata Khevra , The Goal of the Group. And according to it, I gave this first lesson, from how I could understand, how I could grasp it, how I could express it. This way we went on with our studies, and to this day, we see that since, how many years have passed?

Moderator: Forty years. 

M. Laitman: So we have grown, and we have a lot of materials that we have studied, and let's hope that we will continue like this going forth. 

Moderator: If, in 1984, you began teaching the first group of students, after forty years, you are before dozens of groups, what can you say about the beginning of that path? 

M. Laitman: We have to treat the studies in a serious way, because at the end of the day, we find ourselves in the spiritual system, in the upper system, and also in the corporeal system. It's like any study system. Therefore, what I recommend from the get-go, accept the law. You try not to skip any lesson, and help all your friends to keep this order of lessons, arriving on time, know what we have passed, what we study right now, and what we have to go through next time. You all have to help each other. Know what is happening in the system of our lessons, and everything else will come as a result of our studies. 

I'm very happy that we have a lot of women, maybe twice as many as men, and they are more loyal, more consistent, and they don't skip lessons. Therefore, this women's basis makes me very happy. It means that we will advance in a correct way, in a serious way, step by step, until we arrive, in time, to the state where we will start feeling our entrance to the spiritual world.

RABASH. "Purpose of Society – 1"

Reading Excerpt 1: (07:35) We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam, the way by which to climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast, as our sages said (Yevamot, 61a) about the verse, “And you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are men. You are called ‘men’.”

M. Laitman: (08:14) Yes, this is what we want to study. We want to enter the system of studies so that we go through all these degrees, that the studies can get us through. We will do it together, so that in time we would arrive to the state where we will feel what is the spiritual part of reality. How can we utilize it? How can we advance through the ladder of spiritual states, and to meet along the way all the greats of this world and the spiritual world on our path.

Question (Women MAK 139): (09:25) What actions should we perform every day to correct and annul our ego, to unite in the group, to achieve our elevated goal, to become similar to the Creator, to His quality of bestowal? 

M. Laitman: In order to reach the goal of creation, we have to familiarize ourselves with the upper spiritual system that is above us. And through her we have to familiarize with the Creator who exists in the center of the spiritual system and to bring ourselves to the feeling, to the revelation of the system. We have to study, and except for studying, we also have to in our actions try to unite, be as all in one desire, going towards one goal, and that's how we will achieve the perception of the goal of creation. 

Question Women MAK 151): (11:04) How do we come to mutual guarantee? What can we do precisely today to come to mutual guarantee? 

M. Laitman: In order to reach the goal of creation, this we need to connect between us, be as one man in one desire, meaning in one heart, and think only about how do we attain the goal of creation. This means to reveal the Creator for us, so that He in this system would manifest Himself as a center of this system, so that we would also feel what this goal of creation is in. Why do we exist; what for? And this is basically the goal of our studies. We have to, in the coming time, start revealing. It depends on our efforts, from us trying not to skip the studies. We're trying to be united with each other. We also try to write down the main definitions of our studies, ask questions in accordance to our studies, and this way we will feel that in a couple of months—a lot of you were studying before; it doesn't matter—but we will feel that in a couple of months, we feel a connection, and in the center of our connection, we start feeling the upper world. 

Question (Women MAK 143): (13:58) How do we begin to give without being afraid to lose? 

M. Laitman: If we study the upper world, we start understanding and gradually realizing that it's based on bestowal and not reception, as in our world. Therefore, we study, we learn with bestowal, even though our science is called wisdom of reception, but it's completely built on bestowal, so we'll learn how to bestow.

Question (Women MAK 81): (14:55) Kabbalists say that the whole humanity has to come to correction, but most people are far away from spirituality, and they are still far. Can we expect that in the near future there will be a major shift in the correction of humanity, thanks to Kabbalah, or is this our individual path? 

M. Laitman: We have to study the wisdom of kabbalah, and at the same time to strive to be connected between us, everyone in their respective Ten. Then we will feel, from the Tens, we'll be able to gather maybe a bigger group inside of the Ten, and further, we'll be able to reveal the Creator. That's our path.

Question (Women MAK 116): (16:19) What is the meaning of spiritual love in the group? 

M. Laitman: Spiritual love in the group—we’ll be studying it gradually—is the connection of friends between themselves, when everyone feels their dependence on the others, and the need to be in the connection with the others, so that in this connection we would gradually reveal the Creator and the whole spiritual world. 

Question (Women MAK 147): (17:05) If we assume that we've all acquired the qualities of the Creator and united in the general soul of Adam HaRishon, what's next? 

M. Laitman: Nothing. By this, we reach the spirit of the creation. And what's after this, we don't know. But this is the goal of our development.

Question (Women MAK 83): (17:45) What is the screen of the Ten and how to increase it? 

M. Laitman: The screen of the Ten is an organ that kabbalists wish to create between themselves in order to feel the Creator. In this screen, they reveal the connection between themselves and the Creator, and this way they are able to advance further.

Question (Women MAK 14): (18:29) There's a big force from the Ten that gives us the strength to overcome our ego. And does the strength, the size of the ego, increase as well? 

M. Laitman: No, it does not really increase. It just reveals itself in accordance to our spiritual rays in order for us to feel our connection with the spiritual ladder that we climb, and so that we would realize our connection with the Creator and the friends more on each step, on each degree.

Question (MAK 50): (19:24) Why should I feel a fear of the Creator and not awe and gratitude to Him? 

M. Laitman: We feel trepidation, awe when we reveal the Creator. This is when we feel awe from realizing His revelation, but it's not mandatory.  It comes on its own. So, we'll try gradually, step by step, to be closer to the Creator, reveal Him, and we'll see what it invokes in us. 

Question (MAK 45): (20:30) After the course in Kabbalah, I have a feeling that the Creator only shows us a path to spiritual advancement, and He checks us by obstacles. He checks our preparedness to follow this path. Are we correct in this? 

M. Laitman: Yes, you're absolutely right. What you say is correct. 

Question (MAK 47): (21:09) How do we realize the awe we feel before the Creator for our unity and for the love in the group? 

M. Laitman: Address the Creator together. as a whole Ten, and demand, ask, beg Him to start raising you so that He would bring you towards Himself in the simplest words. He will understand you. 

Question (Women MAK 154): (22:07) How do we check the sincerity of our intention for bestowal, because I can't be sure that I'm sincerely asking for them, but I'm being egotistical.

M. Laitman: Gradually, it will be revealed to you, and you will feel that you are already in the state of bestowal and in the love of friends, but later on. Gradually, it will be revealed to you that it's not the case. And no worries. That's the system. There's nothing bad about it. It's the system of the revelation of the ego.

Question (MAK 46): (22:57) How, when annulling before each other, is the Creator revealed? 

M. Laitman: The Creator is revealed gradually in accordance with how we are able to rise above our ego and be connected with the friends only in bestowal, in love, together. In this common desire, the Creator is revealed. 

Question (Women MAK 146): (24:06) Will we be able to build the Creator in the group if not all friends are working for bestowal?

M. Laitman: You will. Even if half of the group is working, you'll be able to build the visibility of the Creator in order to imagine Him correctly in front of you and to present yourselves correctly in front of Him. In this way, everything will be all right. 

Question (Women MAK 149): (24:50) In order to rise on the degrees of love, we build a group, we build mutual guarantee. At the same time, we isolate ourselves from the external environment so that it doesn't influence us in a bad way. Will it not distance us from what's happening in the world?

M. Laitman: No, you don't carry any responsibility for what is happening in the world for now. That's one. And the second thing is gradually you will be rising, and your horizon will widen and you will see what way do you affect the other groups, how all the groups together affect the Creator, how the Creator treats every group, and you will study it all and study in practice. So, don't be afraid of anything. The main thing is to not skip the studies and strive as much as possible to master them.

Question (Women MAK 152): (26:10) What practical actions can we perform to help a friend that's in a descent so that the whole group gets to a higher degree? 

M. Laitman: If one person from the group is in the descent, the whole group has to connect as one person and with their thoughts and prayers try to pull them to themselves. You will see how capable you are for that. 

Question (MAK): (27:05) Where is the strength of the Ten above the ego if the ego is the fuel? How do we rise in a way that we feel good and we also don't harm the ego?

M. Laitman: This is what we learn in every lesson, how we can ascend exactly above the ego by using the same ego as fuel, as energy. This is what we will study.

Question (MAK 45): (27:53) Until what moment will the trials happen? 

M. Laitman: The trials will stay until you work with your ego. Once you rise above it, there won't be any more trials. 

Question (Women MAK 143): (28:53) How do we practically learn to annul ourselves and at the same time take part equally in the spiritual work of the group? 

M. Laitman: Just work this way. 

Student: How do we find the balance? 

M. Laitman: Annulling yourself before the whole group is our work starting from the beginning of today, let's say, and in ten, twenty years. This is the whole work that we have to conduct upon ourselves, annulling ourselves each time, connecting ourselves more with the friends. That's all what our work is about. 

Question (Women MAK 155): (29:57) How do we act correctly when in a descent? Should we be in the state by ourselves or go to the group? 

M. Laitman: For sure, for sure to the group, and it doesn't matter what you have to do. Cry or act in joy, but only the group. As soon as a person leaves the group, that's it, he's gone, He has no connection to spirituality anymore. The group is his contact, his connection to the spiritual world.

Question (Women MAK 145): (30:50) By equalizing ourselves with the friends, I equalize myself with the group. Otherwise, I can't be equal. I'm on the lower degree right now.

How can I equalize myself with the group and why do I need it for this state? 

M. Laitman: We need to try to get closer with the friends in one common desire, and by this desire of ours, we come closer to the Creator and connect with Him. As soon as we start doing it, connecting between ourselves and trying to get this connection closer to the Creator, we will begin to feel how the Creator,, from His side, addresses us more and rises us. This is how we'll move towards knowing each other, our group, from one and the Creator on the other. 

Question (Women MAK 14): (32:10) How can we feel this state in practice, that the Shechina is present between us? Should everyone in the group feel it at the same time, or can everyone feel it individually at their own time? 

M. Laitman: More or less, everyone in the group has to feel it, not necessarily now. Some will feel it now, some will feel in a week, some will feel in two, in a month, but eventually everyone has to feel it, of course.

Question (Women MAK 123): (32:51) How do we strengthen the Hissaron that helps us to rise on the degrees together with the group? 

M. Laitman: For this, you have to hear what the friends are saying and try to feel their desire, their spirituality, and feel it. 

Question (Women MAK 153): (33:29) How do we ask the Creator to help us hold on to the importance in the group? 

M. Laitman: Address Him and ask Him. That's it. I repeat, you address Him and you ask.

Question (Women MAK 148): (34:01) Why does the Rabash consider the group necessary for spiritual ascent? 

M. Laitman: It’s not just Rabash. It’s from the very beginning, from the first revelation of the Creator in our world. The ones who reveal the Creator are called Kabbalists from the word to receive, the receivers, so to speak. So, as soon as they started revealing the Creator in our world, the wisdom of Kabbalah revealed itself and they have established it

as a law, that the main thing for the ones who study the wisdom of Kabbalah is to strive towards the Creator.

Question (MAK 49): (35:02) Why can the thoughts of the environment weaken the desire for spirituality? 

M. Laitman: We see how in our world people affect each other, and in Kabbalah we're all really small. We don't understand anything, and it's very easy to divert us from the path. And therefore, if a person studies alone, even if he's wrong, still it's his personal distortions and issues. If he absorbs all these absolutely not needed conditions from the others, then it's an issue. So, we will study that our main issue is how to stay independent. This is very important.

Question (Women MAK 149): (36:26) We have a question from women's Ten number 45. How do we hold on to the desire and intention for the goal and not burn in the process? 

M. Laitman: If you are working in good connection between yourselves, in a calm atmosphere, you won't get burnt out and you won't get thrown out. You will be advancing correctly to the great goal of creation, to reveal the Creator in our world to everyone who wishes for it.

Question (Women MAK 145): (37:11) Do I understand correctly that until full revelation or full correction, we cannot estimate the closeness to this state, and everything we have before that is fear of the Creator? And can it be that there will be revelation of the Creator, and someone will stay on the level of a child and not the greatest partner? 

M. Laitman: Revelation of the Creator happens only to a person who is able to receive this revelation correctly and with its help to come closer to the Creator. So, we don't need to be afraid of that. 

Question (Women MAK 80): (38:02) How can the group feel a descent of a group? How can we ascend together? 

M. Laitman: You can understand the descent of a friend from her participation with you together, in the studies, in her questions, and her attitude towards our studies, to the connection with the friends. This way you'll be able to be in constant connection with your friends and help each other mutually to raise, to ascend.

Question (MAK 45): (38:56) How can we break the stony heart of the friends? 

M. Laitman: You have to attract them all together in one common connection, and then there, when you will be all connected together, you have to start thinking about how to make this connection as a boiling bath that boils the stones, the Stones that are hearts of the friends. They boil and melt, and out of this, one big stone is being created. This is what we will have to be passing.

Question (Women MAK 68): (40:36) How do we build the relationships inside a group in order to hasten, accelerate the spiritual growth? 

M. Laitman: To be as close as possible between all the participants and try to squeeze into one heart, and from this heart, ask the Creator.

Question (English 1): (41:10) So we're mind, body, soul; we're intellectual beings. How do we overcome a state of confusion as to where we are in these, and which one is the right vehicle to progress to spirituality? 

M. Laitman: We'll learn this yet, soon. But, of course, the body, Guf, soul, Nefesh, Neshama, we'll study this soon.

Question (MAK 49): (42:19) The Creator has gathered out to the group all our thoughts, all our hearts, et cetera. Nothing depends on me? What's my role and my responsibility? 

M. Laitman: Your role and your responsibility are expressed exactly in this complex group when you bring everyone, all your friends, including yourself, to one state where you are all similar to the Creator.

Question (Women MAK 151): (43:07) What does every participant of the Ten have to do in order to reveal, after our graduation, the common soul, and what steps do we need to execute in order to learn altruism and resemblance of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: You, perhaps, do not understand our goal. Our goal is to achieve a state where we ascend to the highest degree of creation. Nobody will leave you halfway so that you don't know where to go. You have to unite all together up to such a point where we all attain the Creator and the whole system of creation. The whole system. So, be prepared for this. 

Question Women MAK 146): (44:19) The article of Rabash says, I don't have to go through these horrible states of devastation worse than death. I simply have to realize that by feeling even the smallest piece of suffering, I can switch to pleasures, and I simply have to feel the suffering and the lack of pleasure. What does it mean? 

M. Laitman: This is not for us yet. 

Student: Why do we read this article? 

M. Laitman: He wrote it. Don't be afraid of this. By the way, the articles aren't written just for beginners. 

Question (MAK 45): (45:17): What's the difference of the result between the groups that strive towards the material goals and the spiritual group? 

M. Laitman: Each one has their own goal. 

Question (MAK): (45:44) What is the formation of the group? Let's say we sit in different rooms, the graduates of MAK of different years; we have a certain formation. 

M. Laitman: What you build between you will make it stand out, make it different from the way it is now. 

Student: What are the fundamentals upon which we want to build ourselves? 

M. Laitman: The foundations are there, and you will go through it.

Question (MAK  46): (46:28) When we come here, we come with a certain lack, and then we understand that we lack the light of the Creator. The problem is when we want to receive the light of the Creator, we cannot receive it. So, we have to form a Kli of bestowal. 

Even in the group, I can think that I work for a friend, but in reality, I want to receive the light for myself. How do I advance from the desire to receive the light to the desire to bestow it?

 M. Laitman: We'll study this. This is the main question in grasping the wisdom of Kabbalah, when bestowal becomes a means for receiving the light of the Creator. 

Question (MAK 50): (47:33) How do we study? How do we learn how to contemplate all the bad things in the world through the prism of the greatness of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: This will come to you. By studying His actions, you'll understand why He acts like this.

Question (Women MAK 116): (48:15) What is the most effective way to build our mutual guarantee? 

M. Laitman: In connections between us, between women, a connection of women, between men, a connection of men, and we ask the Creator to bring us closer and bring us closer to Him. That's it. Our work is in prayer. 

Question (Women MAK 155): (49:22) After coming to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we started perfecting the understanding of the spiritual world and to start our path towards the Creator. How do we understand our… 

M. Laitman: Your purpose in the corporeal and spiritual is so that you're able to, from this world, ascend to the Creator and be connected with him. 

Question (Women MAK 147): (50:12) What will bring the world closer to the correction, the quality of connection in our Ten or dissemination and attraction of new students? 

M. Laitman: Work in the Ten. 

Question (Women MAK 145): (50:34) If a Ten or a couple of people in a Ten start some common activities in the world, do we have to separate it, or do we have to keep the same principles? 

M. Laitman: It's best not to do this at all. If they're connected in the spiritual, then in the spiritual. If they're connected in the corporeal, then in the corporeal. Do not connect, not mingle these things together. 

Question (Women MAK 152): (51:22) If everyone is annulling himself before the friends in the group, how can we know what to help with and how to love, and how to perform the guarantee? 

M. Laitman: Consult with the friends, hold a gathering, because this is an important relevant question, and you'll hear from them.

Question (Women MAK 154): (51:58) Can we, through fear from the lack of discipline, develop a fear of the Creator? 

M. Laitman: This will go through practically.

Question (MAK 45): (52:23) What expectations of ours does everyone have to annul, and which does he have to express to the group in order to come closer, faster, so that from one hand you bravely express yourselves in the group, and from the other hand to be careful not to bring your egoistical expectations? 

M. Laitman: Participation in the study. You will feel soon to what extent it elevates you, purifies you, from all the egotistical desires.

Question (MAK 47): (53:20) How do we correctly create a prayer so that it would be targeted to the Creator for our connection? 

M. Laitman: Do it yourselves. Write a prayer, and then ask the Creator if this is correct or not. 

Question (MAK 11): (53:54) I don’t have a question. I just want to express my gratitude through you, through Rabash, Baal HaSulam. I have a group and a revelation of the Creator, and I'm grateful for the graduation. One of the students is my wife, and I'm grateful to the Creator that I don't only have a group, but a great woman friend that helps me conquer my ego and achieve the Creator. Thank you, Rav, for this opportunity and to the whole Academy.

M. Laitman: Use this opportunity.

Question (Women MAK 146): (55:16) How do we strengthen the connection with the friends, so that we will get the opportunity to get the quality of a bestowal? 

M. Laitman: You have to find a common language with the friends. Otherwise, the Creator won't elevate you. You can only rise to the Creator if you unite in the group. 

Question (Women MAK 149): (56:02) Studying the article for our lesson, I had a question. Even though we haven't reached this goal yet, and we have a desire to reach this state, even though we're only on the beginning of the path, we hope to reach this state. We say we hope because we cannot guarantee the others? 

M. Laitman: No, it's because we are hoping for the Creator's help that will raise us and give us good thoughts and actions,

Question (Women MAK 153): (56:58) So that the Shechina would dwell between us, we annul ourselves before each other, and we're proud for the Creator has chosen us. We are equals, but on the other hand, we are praising each other. But how do we exactly feel the revelation of the Shechina? 

M. Laitman: When you feel it, you feel it. Maybe I will suggest something. 

Question (Women MAK 148): (57:51) How do we understand that the group is working in the right direction? 

M. Laitman: This is also a question to the Creator. Turn to Him, so He explains to you whether it's correct or not, and if not, why not.

Question (Women MAK 80) (58:17) The Creator sends us its difficulties, obstacles, so that we would learn how to overcome them and resist them, and by this we would raise and enlarge the connection with the Creator. When will the struggle end? 

M. Laitman: It will finish when you finish. It's different for each one. 

Question (Women MAK 146): (58:59) How can we 24/7 keep focus on spirituality in the group and not drop into corporeality? 

M. Laitman: Try to create a schedule so that everyone is responsible for the group, so that they turn to the Creator and constantly hold on to the connection with Him.

Question (MAK 49): (59:41) What is the role of the group in strengthening the spiritual path and the protection from the influence of the egoistical environment? 

M. Laitman: One hundred percent. Without this help, we can't achieve a spiritual goal, even the smallest goal.

We've run out of time. Our hour is done. Bye-bye until the next lesson.

Announcements: (1:00:21)

Song: (1:01:16)