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

Daily Morning Lesson: May 5, 2026

Part 1: Rabash. Lag BaOmer.

Selected excerpts for Lag BaOmer

Original lesson date: 05/02/2018

Reader: Dear friends, in the first part of the lesson, we will learn from a lesson of Rav for Lag BaOmer, which is today. It's from May 2, 2018. It's based on selected excerpts from the sources on this topic of Lag BaOmer.

Reader: Hello, we are reading selected passages from the sources about Lag BaOmer. We remind you that you can ask questions on the website. You can ask questions on KAB.tv and selected questions will be asked live.

M. Laitman: (00:39) We study. We learn that the beginning of creation is from the desire to do good to His created beings. That's why four phases of direct light came out. The worlds, the shattering of the worlds, the correction of the world of ABYA, and then the soul of Adam HaRishon that also grew and then shattered. And from this huge preparation, both in the worlds and in the soul we need to now return to the corrected state, where if we reassemble those fragments, we come to the understanding of creation, the plan of creation, the Creator. 

We become like Him. That is the goal. And in this process, we're going through several stages. There are stages where we have to perform, have to put an effort to connect, to collect these fragments, and to the extent that we pressure ourselves to be as close as possible in the brain and in the heart, then accordingly we awaken the reforming light, and it works on us and it helps us connect in the right way. There are times where we don't get along so well. We don't succeed in connecting and bringing ourselves closer to one another. And then the upper light, according to the plan of creation, works on us. And then, if we are behind on the plan then it works even more, and it pressures us. Then we feel problems, troubles, various issues in our life, in our existence, which also bring us closer, but not in the desirable form, not in our eyes and not in the Creator's eyes, although it does exist. 

Besides that, in this plan there are those special processes that take place during special times called holidays, festive days. Which have a special illumination, a different kind of illumination that appears at a certain frequency, which is days, nights, weeks, months, and so on. Those are all names of illuminations that shine from above and push us, pull us towards correction. And we also need to know how to use them. In these corrections, we distinguish a particular correction, which is Egypt, the exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, receiving the Arvut [mutual guarantee], and the preparation and the reception of the Torah. 

There are many stages in that, but for the most part, the Exodus from Egypt happens before Passover. The holiday of Passover is the beginning of freedom, and during Passover we acquire the vessels of bestowal in order to bestow. Then we take those vessels and we correct them until Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the count of the Omer. Those are the vessels of bestowal that we correct. That's why it's called the times of Katnut with all the laws that exist there. And then from Lag, from 33rd day and onward, this is a correction of the vessels of receiving in order to bestow. That's the time of Gadlut, until we correct all the vessels, and we're able to receive all the light inside our vessel in order to bestow, which is called the reception of Torah. These are the stages we are in. We should know about it. We should talk about it. Because by that, we also awaken these upper sources to influence us and to advance us towards sanctity. Let's go.

Reader: The first excerpt is from Rabash, Part 2, Letter 52.

Reading: (05:47) 1. Rabash- 2. Letter 52 - Twice

The festival of Shavuot—the time of the giving of our Torah—is approaching. It is known that Shavuot is regarded as Malchut in the worlds and the heart in man. It is as Baal HaSulam interpreted about Mekadesh Shevi’i (seventh sanctifier) that Shevi’i comes from the words Shebi-Hu (who is in me).

He means that the Creator is clothed in the heart, and the time when we can interpret that the Torah dresses in the soul. This is why it is called Shavuot and “the giving of the Torah,” meaning that at that time the Torah dresses in the hearts of each and every one from the whole of Israel. During the count from Passover to Shavuot it is the purification of the Kelim (vessels), which is purification in heart and mind. When the Kelim have been perfected, we are rewarded with the Torah

Therefore, before Passover, the preparation of purifying the Kelim was with faith, called Mitzva (commandment/good deed). Through the exodus from Egypt they were rewarded with faith, as in “I am the Lord your God who took you out from the land of Egypt.” After Passover begins the work on purification as preparation for reception of the Torah. When the Torah dresses in the soul it is called “Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah.”  

M. Laitman: Questions? None. Read it again.

M. Laitman: (09:27) Meaning, today we are celebrating Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day on the count of the Omer. “Lag” means that the vessels of bestowal are concluded. Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod inside Hod. It's the Hod of Hod. And we begin to enter vessels of reception, correct them in order to bestow. That's from Hod in Hod down to Malchut. That's why it's 33 days, corrections of Chafetz Chesed [delighted in mercy], the time of Katnut, the degree of Bina that we acquire over the vessels with which they left Egypt. And why is it a holiday, a festivity? 

First of all, because we've done the preparation to correct all those vessels in Katnut. And it's clear to us that we can reach also Gadlut. What does it mean that we correct? We corrected only part of the vessels. No, it's incorrect. There's no sum or just a little in spirituality. We correct all the vessels, all ten Sefirot, all the vessels in the soul of Adam HaRishon, but from the perspective of bestowal, in order to bestow. And that's why if we speak of the Sefirot, it's down to the degree of Malchut in the first nine Sefirot, which is Hod—Hod in Hod. And that's why we can say that if we corrected everything, all the desires in bestowal in order to bestow, then of course we can come to receiving in order to bestow. And that's why it's a festivity. 

But from now on, we have to be connected even more, and more devoted to one another, and between us to prepare the vessel to receiving in order to bestow. To receive the light in order to bestow, means receiving of the Torah. Torah is the light of Hochma that we receive in the vessels of reception, to receive in order to bestow. That's why it's a more important second stage. 

But nevertheless, this point, Lag, the 33rd day, is a critical point. It's on the border between vessels of bestowal and vessels of reception, and that's why we celebrate it. And together with that, we can understand those occurrences in history that on Lag BaOmer, this festive day, 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva have died or were killed.They were divided into 12,000 pairs. Why did they die? Because it's written, they stopped respecting one another. And those are corrections, of course. They need to have the shattering for the vessel. But this festivity of Lag BaOmer symbolizes connection, unity. Like all the Israeli holidays, festive days, they speak of unity and correction. He says when the vessels are concluded, you're rewarded with the discernment of Torah. Questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (13:44) He says that before Passover, there is preparation in the purification of the Kelim in terms of faith. What is that? 

M. Laitman: Faith is bestowal in order to bestow.

Student: What is the purification of the Kelim?

M. Laitman: Purification, meaning correction of the vessels, purify them from being under the influence of the will to receive. 

Student: He says that after Passover begins the work in preparation for the reception of the Torah. So what's the difference between the two? 

M. Laitman: The difference is that before the Passover, we have to say that there was only an escape from the vessels of reception. From Passover until Lag BaOmer we have the correction of the vessels in bestowal in order to bestow. And from Lag BaOmer till Shavuot, the holiday of Pentecost, it's receiving in order to bestow. Only the correction, the fulfillment is in Shavuot.

Student: What is the difference in the work between the first and the second? What do we do in the work here versus there? 

M. Laitman: To bestow in order to bestow is a correction of Katnut in the vessels, when we work only with vessels of Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet of Aviut of coarseness. In all of the Sefirot, Shoresh, Aleph, and Bet, of Aviut, that are purified in order to receive, and raised to the degree of Bina, to bestow, in order to bestow.

Student: Yes, I get that, but what is the connection? What is the kind of work? What is it that we need to do in this state versus that state? 

M. Laitman: Don't do to your friend, what you hate.

Student: On both of these degrees?

M. Laitman: No, that's bestow in order to bestow. The second is “love thy friend as yourself.” More? Wake up a little bit. It's a special day. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (15:40) That same work we had between Chanukah and Purim. What is the difference now in the correction of the Kelim? 

M. Laitman: Chanukah is the correction of vessels that is similar to Lag BaOmer. There too, we spoke about bestowal in order to bestow, the correction of vessels of bestowal. And Lag BaOmer is also a correction of vessels of bestowal, but those are different states. Here is an exodus from the exile in Egypt. All of the vessels are revealed and they are corrected, and we are rewarded with the Torah. And then those corrections of bestow, in order to bestow, receive, in order to bestow, and then reception of the Torah is only in order to begin to correct the vessels. Even when we correct the vessels of bestowal in order to bestow, Katnut, and from Lag BaOmer until the giving of the Torah, receive in order to bestow, that's still only in order to receive the Torah. Only to begin to receive the Torah, the light that now begins to correct the vessels. That's not the end of correction, it's receiving of the light with which you can work. Now, Chanukah is after a special shattering. Purim is after also the revelation of the sin of the shattering, the ruin to some extent. And all those festive days are signs, corrections, milestones that we have to go through in order to reach the final end of correction. That's why those festivities, those signs repeat themselves in various forms throughout the process of correction that is called the history of the people of Israel. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (17:56) Are these the same Kelim or different Kelim? 

M. Laitman: Different states, different vessels, shatterings, corrections, shattering corrections. How shall I put it? You can't correct your vessels all at once because each time you correct in order to see that the shattering is deeper. You correct - again, you see a deeper shattering. What's the difference between AB and Galgalta? AB is that Galgalta that sees itself, the extent to which it can add and correct itself. Whereas, in the first expansion it cannot correct it. So, now it discovers this addition. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:57) How do they correct it if they haven't yet received the method? Or how to correct that will only come on Shavuot? So how do you correct that stage? Using what?

M. Laitman: There's a light that comes to the correction of the vessels. It comes according to the efforts. Receiving the Torah is, when you're ready to receive the light that fills the vessels, corrects the vessels, but in special ways. Not at the end of correction, yet. It's still in stages. And when you escape from Egypt, meaning you don't want to use the vessels of reception, in other words, then you deserve to be in the restriction, Tzimtzum. 

When you perform a restriction and you move away from Egypt, you distance yourself from Egypt, you go through the parting of the Red Sea, then it turns out that you are going to correct yourself in bestowal in order to bestow and later even in receiving in order to bestow—meaning you want to do it. 

So, what do you want to do? You want to have the light that you are going to receive to correct the vessels of reception as well. The receiving of the Torah is not the filling of the vessels. Rather, it's receiving the reforming light. So, reforming light for Katnut and the reforming light for Gadlut. Besides that, just understand that there are gradual corrections here, just as we learn, and again Rosh Hashanah, and Chanukah, and Passover, and Purim and Shavuot—the circle of the year. It's a kind of work. In each and every stage, we have to perform those corrections throughout the 6,000 years of the existence of the world. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (21:29) All of these years, I didn't understand what is the counting of the Omer. We had it even on the walls, you know, we count seemingly those days. It's something special also, that … 

M. Laitman: We're not counting walls. We're not counting days. We're counting discernments. Sefirot means discernments. To count, meaning to count the discernments that are desired that we need to correct. 

Student: It's also something special that as much as Kabbalah was concealed in the nation, it is actually penetrated through all the layers, and it was something that people engage in, in a Kabbalistic sense. 

M. Laitman: Yes, but you saw how they read it. That's it. And we're done. No one is talking about corrections in actuality. What corrections? And now I'm correcting how I blemished this Sefira or that Sefira. Of course, it's clear that it's not talking about that. Rather, like all the other Mitzvot. 

Student: It's also something really annoying. Seemingly, it was impossible to even touch that. You know, we have to do, we have to do something, and even now it's felt on the one hand, but... 

M. Laitman: Yes, the Creator created it in order for us to do. And that's it. What do we do, when we wash our hands? Or, you know, the other commandments? All the commandments are, they don't belong to the corporeal meaning. What do they have of corporeality? They have nothing. You can say that kosher food is healthier, and a prayer will bring you more health as well, and other such things? No, you shouldn't even say that. This is an irrational thing. It's above nature. But if you do it, you're seemingly connected with the upper force, and that's what a person should do. 

When you are going out at night, the first day of the month, and you jump towards the moon, and you bless it, just like I danced before you, and all that. So what do I get out of it? Anyone who sees it from the outside thinks that this person has fallen among some indigenous tribe somewhere, you know, and is celebrating something. Next thing you know, there'll be a fireplace. They'll take a certain corpse of something, and they will roast it and eat it, right? What kind of customs are those? 

That's why people have such an attitude towards the Mitzvot, the commandments. They don't see anything rational about it. What can you do? But in truth, the text itself, the text of Lag BaOmer is a special text that's written in the prayer book. How I blemished this Sefira and that Sefira. It's very close to Kabbalah. 

Student: On the one hand, it's very seemingly measured. On the other hand, it's like the entire correction, as it says in this excerpt, is going towards faith, faith in I, the Lord, your God, etc. And there too, in the Ten Sefirot, it begins with “I am.” What is the general correction and why, on the one hand, we have something which is very much prescribed, the Sefirot, and on the other hand, it's not so—it doesn't follow some specific structure. I don't know how to say it. 

M. Laitman: You are correcting all the Sefirot from beginning to end in bestowal in order to bestow until the degree of Bina, and then in receiving in order to bestow from Bina down to Malchut. And when you conclude all the corrections, you can begin to work with the lights, with the vessels. That's already a reception of the Torah. You have all the lights, all the vessels. You can work with them, correct them, fill them with the Upper Light. To you, the Lord, Hesed, Netzach, Gevura, Tifferet, Hod, etc, it refers to the vessels of bestowal that we need to correct, and then vessels of reception. I don't see anything here. Let's read some more. Let's read further. Maybe we'll see something else, but the bottom line is that this is a very clear and simple process. 

Reading: (27:10) 2. Kedushat Levi, VaYetze

That phase of the exodus from Egypt shines until Lag BaOmer [33rd day of the Omer Count], and from Lag BaOmer begins the illumination of the occasion at Mt. Sinai, which is the reception of the Torah.  

M. Laitman: That's already in the vessels of reception, the light of Hochma that we receive. That's from the 33rd day onwards.

Reading: (27:33) 2. Kedushat Levi, VaYetze

This is “But Jacob called it Gal-Ed,” meaning that since he reaches Gal [33 in Gematria], which implies Lag BaOmer, the reception of the Torah begins to shine. And the word Ed is from the word Adi, Adayim [jewels], meaning that until Lab BaOmer, it was the illumination of the exodus from Egypt, and from Lag BaOmer shines the illumination of the reception of the Torah, implied in the word Ed, which implies the Torah.

M. Laitman: It's a very principle point, Lag, the 33rd day. From that point onwards, we sanctify the vessels for the reception of Torah. Next. 

Reader: The third excerpt from Rabash, second volume, letter 59.

Reading: (28:29) 3. Rabash - 2. Letter 59

Concerning the Omer count [a count of seven weeks beginning on Passover eve and ending in Shavuot], it is known that man’s primary work is to connect himself to the Creator.

Omer comes from the word [in Hebrew] “gathering sheaves.” RASHI interpreted, “as it is translated, gathering sheaves, collecting.” It means that by becoming mute and not opening the mouth with complaints against the Creator, but rather, for that person ‘Everything that the Merciful One does, He does for the best’ (Berachot 9), and says that he, meaning his thought and desire, will be only for the Creator, then he is gathering.

That is, by connecting all of one’s thoughts and desires with a tight connection of having only one goal—to bring contentment to the maker—a person is regarded as “gathering.”

The interpreters say that the Omer count comes from the words, “and under His feet there appeared to be sapphire brick, as pure as the bodies of the sky.” This means that by a person connecting himself to the Creator, he is rewarded with the revelation of the light of the Creator appearing on him. It follows that by a person gathering, tying all the desires in one knot, meaning to one purpose—for the Creator—then that Omer shines. This is the meaning of the Omer [gathering] count, where a person shines with the light of the Creator.

And since a Jew consists of seven qualities, which must be corrected into being for the Creator, and there is a rule that each quality comprises the others, then we have seven times seven, thus forty-nine days.  

M. Laitman: Yehudi jew means soul from the word Yichud unity has to connect all those parts seven times seven, forty nine.

Reading: (30:57) 3. Rabash - 2. Letter 59

This is why we count forty-nine days the days of the reception of the Torah.

Omer comes from the word Seorim [barley/measures]. This means that it comes from measures, by measuring in the heart the greatness of the Creator, as the holy Zohar interprets the verse, “Her husband is known at the gates.” The holy Zohar says, “Each according to what he assumes in his heart,” to that extent the light of the Creator is on that person.

This is called “faith.” When a person is rewarded with faith in the Creator, it is regarded as a “beast.” This is the meaning of the Omer being of barley, which is animal food, meaning that he has not yet been rewarded with the view of Torah. But on Shavuot, when rewarded with the reception of the Torah, one receives the view of Torah. For this reason, we offer the offering of wheat, which is food for man, who is the speaking. But before one is rewarded with Torah, which is the speaking, it is regarded as an offering of barley, which is animal food. At that time it is called “gathering sheaves,” regarded as being mute, which is only animate, and not speaking, for only by the Torah are they rewarded with being “speaking.” 

Jo M. Laitman: (32:45) Meaning, the revelation of the light. It's the light of Hochma that appears in the vessels of reception. Is that clear? But to the point, don't confuse us.

Question (Haifa): (33:03) What does it mean to correct the Sefira in order to bestow, and then to receive in order to bestow? 

M. Laitman: To correct, means correction. It's restriction, Masach, Ohr Hozer [reflected light] and everything that needs to be there. Also in Katnut, smallness. Katnut, meaning Chafetz Chesed. If the Kli is in Chafetz Chesed [delighted in mercy], it is already corrected for the work. It cannot yet begin to do some work. Maybe, we need to get some addition of Hassadim and everything, but it is already in a state, where it's not for itself. It is already on the degree of Bina. This is considered that it is corrected.

Question (Piter): (33:49) The first Are there degrees in transition from Lo Lishma to Lishma?

M. Laitman: There are many degrees on this transition from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Even on the first day of the counting or the seventh of the counting, we are correcting already. We are already shifting from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Each time, more, and more, and more. It's not that it's done at once, that there is a correction. Everything that I blemished on this and this Sefira—Keter of Keter, Hochma of Keter, Bina of Keter, etc. is So, it's seven times seven. 

Student: Can I ask about the text? 

M. Laitman: Yes, of course.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:45) I heard in lessons of Rav Laitman that we're sometimes beasts. And here in the text, we're not a beast, but

M. Laitman: What do you mean, a beast? A beast that is just eating or... To bestow in order to bestow is called a beast. To receive in order to bestow is called Adam, human. So these are two holy levels.

Student: I'm confused. 

M. Laitman: Well, what can I do? It's, you know, the gift or the offering of the barley versus the offering of wheat. The animal eats the same thing as human, but it eats grain. A man has to make food out of it. Well, go ahead and ask. 

Student: So what are we, and what is our work? 

M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (35:47) Our work is to rise to the degree of Adam in the end, human. However, I don't know what to tell you, to rise to the degree of Adam, that's the goal, who is similar to the Creator, in receiving in order to bestow. Equivalence of form. Regarding the counting of the Omer, it is known that the essence, the primary work of man is to connect himself to the Creator. That's the most important throughout all 50 days. Omer comes from the word gathering sheaves. Rashi interpreted, as it is translated, gathering sheaves, collecting. It means that by becoming mute, when a person becomes mute, he makes a restriction and not opening his mouth with any complaints against the Creator, but rather for that person, everything that a Merciful One does, He does for the best, and he says that he, meaning his thoughts and desires will only be for the sake of heaven, then he is gathering. He is in a state of Omer, meaning he tries to do everything in the direction of the Creator. 

That is, by connecting all of one's thoughts and desires with a tight connection of having only one goal, to bring contentment to one's Maker, that person is regarded as Omer, as gathering. The counting, the Omer count, the interpreters say, it comes from the words, and under his feet there appeared to be a sapphire brick as pure as the bodies of the sky, of the heavens. 

This means that by a person connecting himself to the Creator, he is rewarded with the revelation of the light of the Creator appearing on him, as much as he brings himself closer to the Creator. It follows that by a person gathering, tying all of his desires in one knot, meaning for one purpose, which is for the sake of heaven, then this Omer shines. This is the meaning of the Omer count. If a person connects in such a way, he receives a certain illumination. And it is also a matter of special times here, when a person shines with the light of the Creator. And since a Jew, that is, one who receives that illumination, he is called a Jew. There, all of these Sefirot are already tied together. This is why he is called Yehudi, from the word Yichud, unification. He consists of seven qualities. They have to be corrected so that it will all be for the sake of the Creator. And there is a rule that each quality is comprised of the others. That's why we end up with seven times seven, that's 49 days. This is why we count 49 days until the reception of the Torah. The Omer comes from the word Seorim, barley, or also measures. This means that it comes from measures, by measuring in the heart the greatness of the Creator. As the Zohar interprets the verse, her husband is known at the gates, and the Holy Zohar says, each according to what he assumes in his heart. To that extent, as much as one assumes in his heart the greatness of the Creator, to that extent the light of the Creator is on that person. This is called faith.

And in That is, as much as the Creator is great in one's eyes and he yearns for Him, light from above shines on him and corrects him, for the time it's called the light of faith. When a person is rewarded with faith in the Creator, it is regarded as a beast. That's not simple, to be in the state of beast. This is the meaning of the Omer being of barley, which is animal food, meaning that one has not yet been rewarded with the view of Torah. But on Shavuot, Pentecost, when rewarded with the reception of the Torah, one receives the view of Torah. For this reason, we offer the offering of wheat, which is food for men, who is the speaking degree. However, before one is rewarded with Torah, which is the speaking degree, it is regarded as an offering of barley, which is animal food. At that time, it is called gathering sheaves, regarded as being mute, which is only the animate degree, but not the speaking degree. And only by the Torah, one is rewarded with being speaking. Any questions? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (40:53) You said that the light of... What's the difference between the light of faith that you spoke of and faith itself? 

M. Laitman: The light of faith means the upper light that comes to me, and it gives me the ability to be in faith above my will to receive—not yet to receive in order to bestow, however, to be in bestowing in order to bestow. This is called the light of faith. When I rise above my will to receive. 

Student: How do you do it? 

M. Laitman: I can't resemble the Creator in actions of bestowal actively. However, I cannot belong to my will to receive. Not to belong to it, that is, to rise above it.

Student: How do we do it, that the light of faith will come to me? 

M. Laitman: It has to come to me. 

Student: How? 

M. Laitman: From the Upper Light. In the Upper Light, there is no faith. It's the Upper Light. When it influences you according to your degree, it brings you correction. Correction where you rise above your will to receive, and can be not under its authority. Its restriction means that you receive the light of faith. 

Student: What is it about Lag BaOmer that is Hod in Hod? What is that concept, Hod in Hod?

M. Laitman: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach. How many are those? 

Student: Four. 

M. Laitman: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, right? Four times seven. Do you know how to multiply? How much is it? Four times seven? 

Student: Twenty-eight. 

M. Laitman: Right. And you have... Until you get to thirty-three, how many more do you have?

Student: Five. 

M. Laitman: I'm not testing you in arithmetic, right? Five. So, you had Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, and you now have Hod. In Hod, you have Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, and Hod in Hod. Why Hod in Hod? From there begin the vessels of reception, Malchut. From Hod in Hod, right? Listen, later on you will ask. And therefore, in such a place, in that place, we already enter a different purification of the Kelim, to receive in order to bestow. Therefore, there we have to start connecting between us even more. Is everyone listening? We need to connect even more. Therefore, on Lag BaOmer, 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died. They apparently were in bestowing in order to bestow between them yet, connected. But to receive in order to bestow, they couldn't do it. This is why they died. So, Hod in Hod, it's like in Sidur, the prayer book. Look, take that. Take the prayer book and you'll find it there, right? You can also find it in the blessings before … Well, in Shacharit, the morning blessing: “To you, the Lord, is Gevura, Netzach, Tifferet, Hod and the glory of heaven.”

Student: It says that Rabbi Shimon left the heavens in Hod of Hod, in Lag BaOmer.

M. Laitman: That's in the Hilula, the festival of Lag BaOmer. It's that he left the world in Hod in Hod.

Student: I didn't still understand what it means in the Sefira itself. Is it so high, Hod in Hod? Is it so exalted? 

M. Laitman: The vessels of reception, we begin to correct them in order to bestow. Because to bestow in order to bestow, we already corrected that. Please, let's continue. 

Reader: Excerpt number 4, from Maor VaShemesh, Light and Sun, the portion of Emor.

Reading: (45:09) 4. Maor VaShemesh, Emor

The days of the count indicate unity, as it is written in the holy books. This is why the disciples of Rabbi Akiva died between Pesach [Passover] and Atzeret [Feast of Weeks] as those days indicate unity, and they did not treat each other with respect. This is why he presented the story of Bar Kafra in the middle of the Omer sermons, for all that angered Bar Kafra was that, he did not invite him with his friends. For during the days of the count, one must correct this attribute of unity; and by this, one is rewarded with obtaining the Torah on the Feast of Weeks.  

Bar Kapra was only upset about not being invited with his friends. And on the days of the counting, one has to correct this quality of unity, and by that he is rewarded with the attainment of the Torah on Shavuot, Pentecost. 

M. Laitman: So, he couldn't overcome his hatred in receiving in order to bestow. So, there's a whole story about that. Next, please. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:23) What does it mean that a person is in bestowal in order to bestow, and he doesn't respect his friends? I mean, in bestowal in order to bestow he is adhered… 

M. Laitman: Bestow in order to bestow means that my ego doesn't control me; however, I don't have to connect with others. I can't if you're talking about sanctity. I cannot. I'm not going for it. My vessels do not allow me that. Do you want me to embrace him, to hug him? I can't hug him. I won't do anything bad to him. That is true. I've reached such a correction, where I do not cause harm to anyone. And that is a big correction. This is Bina. It's above reason, above all of my vessels of reception. However, it's not that I'm working with my vessels of reception also in order to bestow. That I can't do. 

Student: And this means to disrespect the friends? 

M. Laitman: Apparently so.

Student: What does it mean not to respect? Not to connect with them? 

M. Laitman: Not to connect with them. Not to bestow to them. Not to give yourself to them. Rather like that, it's the degree of correction. This is what the upper light... Don't think that this is about people, who are corrupted or idiots, small or whatever. These are very great people, however, still. Well, I wish we reached that. Do you understand what we're talking about? It's the Upper Light that bestows to the, and it influences them in such a way that they are protected from their own egoistic desire. However, they cannot actively work with it in order to connect with others. So that I will bestow to others. I will be as a source of light, of force for them— that I cannot do. I won't steal. I'll be good to others in a way that I'm not harming anyone. As we call it, I'm a good citizen. But for me to truly be the bestower, I didn't get such a correction yet. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (48:59) What kind of greater connection does transition from bestowing in order to bestow to receiving in order to bestow demands? 

M. Laitman: These are very different corrections. Very different ones. Because you begin to work with your will to receive again. As you are in Egypt, as you are in the shattering, you awaken these Kelim in which you enjoy inside of them.

And now, by enjoying in your vessels of reception, you now have to shift these pleasures to the host, to others, sorry. It's something that is not clear at all. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:50) It speaks of that Ten that is in a certain degree of a second kind of connection has to reach a different kind of connection? 

M. Laitman: Each time, we have to come to a new kind of connection. 

Student: So, what's missing in the connection to transition from one stage to another?

M. Laitman: To start connecting in our vessels between us? I can't explain about it. We don't have a feeling about it, yet. All right. Next.

Reader: Excerpt number five from Maor VaShemesh, about the hints of Lag BaOmer.

Reading:(50:24) 5. Maor VaShemesh, “Intimations of Lag BaOmer”

We have found that the rabbi said, “Be careful with your friends’ honor, meaning that one should be thankful for the other’s words. The disciples of Rabbi Akiva died because they did not treat each other with brotherhood, meaning they were not thankful for each other’s words, and did not correct the quality of Hod properly. On the 33rd day of the [Omer] count, which is Hod in Hod, at that time, all the Gevurot [judgments] are sweetened in their roots, the Gevurot thank the Hassadim [mercies], and that quality is corrected. This is why that day was turned for them from death to life. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai would always caution his friends about the unity, and would elevate the Gevurot to their root through repentance, and the Gevurot thank the Hassadim that will be revealed over the assembly of Israel. This is why we make a festivity on his day, a good day, for the on day of Lag BaOmer [33rd day of the Omer Count], which is Hod in Hod, all the Gevurot were corrected in their root, and we thank and praise God because on that day, the Gevurot thank the Hassadim and agree that they will be revealed over the assembly of Israel, and this is Hod in Hod.  

M. Laitman: When we begin to work with the vessels of reception, in short, to correct them. Everybody is so calm. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (52:26) He writes here that Shimon Bar Yochai would always warn his friends about unity and would raise the Gevurot to their roots. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: What does it mean that he warned the friends? 

M. Laitman: Oh, you're asking about Rabbi Shimon, come on. 

Student: What's written? 

M. Laitman: Well, this is what it says, but I didn't write it. 

Student: What does it mean, ‘by raising the Gevurot to their roots?’ 

M. Laitman: Raise Gevurot to their roots, meaning that he was awakening the corrections over the vessels of reception. 

Student: What did I say? Because you also warn us in the lesson.

M. Laitman: I'm warning you to truly prepare ourselves for more connection. I'm not saying what connections—to bestow in order to bestow vessels of Katnut or Gadlut or Hitkalelut [incorporation]. I'm just telling you, as much as possible, engage in Hitkalelut. These are special times for it, and also the Congress we're going to have is very much to the point in the right time. And we have to try to use it. But it's only about unity. There's nothing else to do. And that has to do with all the days of the year, but especially in Congresses and in such times. 

Student: He writes here that it's through repentance. He keeps saying it's through Teshuva, repentance or returning. What does it mean for repentance? 

M. Laitman: Repentance or returning means the Hey should return to the Vav when the will to receive begins to work under the influence of Bina. When Bina determines the will to receive, the intention of bestowal, it determines how much I use my will to receive. That's it. The problem is not to understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, but to implement it. All in all, there's nothing here. The problem is just to do it. Let's continue. 

Reader: Excerpt number six from Likutey Halachot.

Reading: (54:36)  6. Likutei Halachot, “Blood Rules,” Rule No. 1

The main flaw in the disciples of Rabbi Akiva was that there was no love of mercy among them, for by this is the main drawing of the Torah that they had to extend from Rabbi Akiva, their teacher, who was regarded as the revelation of the Torah. This is why Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, “In us, the matter depends on love,” that we must have great love among us, that this is the most important. It is also brought by the disciples of the ARI that the ARI had cautioned them quite a few times that there should be great love among them.
Also, he once said that he would be willing to come to Jerusalem so redemption would come through them, but the matter was spoiled by the dispute that occurred among the friends through their wives (as detailed in Praises of the ARI), since the main drawing of Torah is through love and mercy, by which we are rewarded with reception of the Torah and with abundance. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:04) The previous excerpt was written about being grateful to the friends, the words of the friends. They also did workshops? 

M. Laitman: I don't think it's called workshops. We need to understand where this word Sadnaot, workshops, comes from. I did not make it up, but the fact that they were discussing things, that it's called Hitvaadut [gathering] or Yeshivot [assemblies, meetings], that was always the case, that was always there. Connection before the lesson, during the lesson, after the lesson, it's very important to know what you're entering the lesson with, in what way you have the lesson, what do you commit to, what are you trying to get from the lesson, to know what it is that we have attained in order to correct and draw and prepare for the future. It was always there. There's a big difference between studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and the other parts of the Torah. In truth, the other parts of the Torah should also be studied in such a way. But because there they don't talk about connection as the means for spiritual attainment, because of that it doesn't quite take place that way. Rather to the contrary, the most important is to show the wisdom, one's ability to kind of show off in a way. Here it's not. Here, it's only connection. That's the desirable outcome.

Student: What is that form of connection to thank the words of the friends? 

M. Laitman: The form of connection?

Student: Yes, if it's all connection, what is that form of connection to thank the words of the friends? 

M. Laitman: We want to connect in order to receive in the connection between us the revelation of godliness. What is the whole of the Torah? It's the revelation of godliness. What is the whole wisdom of Kabbalah? It's a method for the revelation of the Creator to the created being in this world. That's the reason for which we're studying. This is what we're looking for, expecting. So, I'm not expecting anything else other than the revelation of godliness. What is the revelation of godliness? To bestow in order to bestow, as we attain from the Exodus from Egypt until Lag BaOmer, and later on to receive in order to bestow when we correct the Kelim until Shavuot. In Shavuot, we already begin to truly receive the light of Hochma in the vessels of reception in order to bestow. This is how it is. That is the reception of the Torah. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (59:24) Friends, we're going now to the airport.

We wanted to say a few words. First of all, we're very, very excited. It's not the first time we're doing it, but never, never have we had such preparation, such participation of the whole world Kli as one, such greatness, such awe, such fear, such good preparation. In general, we've undergone great lessons in the preparation for this Congress. What does it mean to meet representatives, and friends, and students, and you'll be close to us, not just in the schedule, but in the heart. It's a Congress, where each group throughout our entire world Kli is the representative, is the spearhead, is holding, is the Keter of the whole Congress. It's a Congress, which is the beginning of a new wave of our whole world Kli—all as one, connecting throughout the world. Throughout the world, friends, and we have to prepare ourselves to absorb the entire world Kli. The heart of each and every one of us. So, we truly yearn to feel you as one, and the Creator will help us, and we will do it. Let's be together, friends. L'chaim. 

M. Laitman: Good luck. 

Reader: Excerpt 7 from Talmud Bavli, Masechet Yevamot.

Reading: (01:01:12) 7. Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot, 62b

It is said, “Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students, from Gevat to Antipatris, and they all died in one period because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to our teachers in the south and taught them—Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua—and it was they who upheld the Torah at that time. 

M. Laitman: So, they were trying to follow the same method, the same direction of connection, relating to each other with respect up to  “love your friend as yourself.”

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:17) What does it mean to be friends? To be friends. Not Keter and Malchut, friends. 

M. Laitman: Friends means connected. Everyone together for one purpose. And everything that we need to have in that goal, each one is willing to sacrifice for it, to add to the general account.

Student: And what are the friends equal? 

M. Laitman: They are equal in that each one gives himself completely for the attainment of the goal. Each one in whatever he can. Number 8, please.

Reader: Excerpt number 8 from Adir BaMaon.

Reading: (01:02:58) 8. Adir Bamarom, Part 1, “When a Person Is Guided by One Authority”

Until the time of the Idra [Rashbi’s cave], although there were the connection and the covenant between them, it was as though it was temporary. Because of it, it was called “a covenant of one column,” meaning one knot. And now Rashbi wished to tie the second knot, to have a strong and steadfast connection, and the correction that will result from them will be a great correction. These ten friends were actually already connected in their root, in the Ten Hassadim of Aba ve Ima, as explained in the words of the holy ARI: And Rashbi was the Yesod itself, which connects them. Now, with this correction of the Idra, the covenant was strengthened with two knots, and from then on there is no satan and no evildoer. 

Question (Kyiv): (01:04:12) What does it mean that we're tying all the desires together? What is that band of that sheaf that we're talking about? 

M. Laitman: For the same goal, for our heart will rejoice in Him. For the same goal. We don't know what it means to tie the hearts, rather the common goal is what obligates us, and it does it. We just want, as much as possible, that each one will connect himself to the friends and to the Creator. 

So, don't forget, it has to be through the friends to the Creator. And then from above, specifically from the Creator, will come the force that is connecting all of us. It's not that we are doing it. We need to. And it might be difficult, but we just need to realize, to know, to feel that we are not capable of doing anything. And we don't have to do anything. And what is demanded of us is only one thing. Turn with your request. Ask. Nothing other than that. Don't do anything other than a request. That's it. So,each one in the group has to only ask. And as correctly as possible, as precisely as possible, to scrutinize the request. And all the time to be in a request. That is, you are nagging the Creator, but in a way that it's more precise and more precise, more scrutiny and more scrutiny. It's all within the request only. This is called the work of the Lord. This is called overcoming. Everything is towards the request.  

Question (Internet): (01:06:15) How as a group can we become like the students of Rabbi Akiva and not fall, to stop hugging each other? 

M. Laitman: Well, first we need to be on the level of the students of Rabbi Akiva. And to fall from their degree, that's... And besides that, we don't understand what it is. Besides that, we are in a completely different time, when we already have to reach the end of correction. We're being taken by the ear, and we're being pulled in the direction of Gmar Tikkun. It's not going to happen to us. We are already after the final exile, the great exile, and now it should be only corrections and ascents.

Question (Monterrey): (01:07:16) What does he relate to when he says that the students of Rabbi Akiva died? Are we talking about desires? Or what is that is being disclosed without correction, without lack of light? What is it relating to, exactly?

M. Laitman: I can't tell you. Of course, we're talking about the shattering, which is a continuation of the destruction of the Temple. That's it. The falling of the vessels. The falling of the vessels more and more as it occurred until all of the Kelim fell completely—the whole of the people of Israel went out to exile, and the exile started. So, they were the last ones, you might say, who would conclude the shattering, the ruin of the Second Temple. Next.

Reader: Excerpt number nine, Adir BaMarom.

Reading: (01:08:30) 9. Adir BaMarom 24

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was revealing the secrets of the Torah, and the friends were listening to his voice and connected with him to be in this composition; each one answer his part. As the Mishnah was made by the Tanaaim, and our holy teacher compiled the reflections of everyone and made them into the book of Mishnah, so Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai wanted to do—that a book comprising all the words of the members of his seminary would be comprised. The book will be composed about the Torah, since the compositions speak of specific matters, but The Zohar was done about the Torah. This is called “the great door to the Torah as a whole.”  

M. Laitman: Well, that is for the sake of the Book of Zohar. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:37) In quote number 8, I didn't understand what is the first connection and the second connection. 

M. Laitman: Where is that? 

Reading: (01:09:45) And until now, until the time of the Idra, even though the connection and covenant was between them, but it was called the covenant of one pillar, meaning the first connection. And now, Rashbi wanted to make the second connection, and to make it a strong, bold connection, and the correction from them will be a great correction. 

M. Laitman: I think that that's to bestow in order to bestow, and to receive in order to bestow. That's how it seems to me. Next. 

Reader: Excerpt number 10, Baal HaSulam, the speech for the completion of the Zohar.

Reading: (01:10:17) 10.  Baal Hasulam, A Speech for the Completion of the Zohar 

The complete Dvekut and complete attainment is divided into 125 degrees overall. Accordingly, prior to the days of the Messiah, it is impossible to be granted all 125 degrees. And there are two differences between the generation of the Messiah and all other generations:

1. Only in the generation of the Messiah is it possible to attain all 125 degrees, and in no other generation.

2. Throughout the generations, those who ascended and were rewarded with Dvekut were few, as our sages wrote about the verse, "I have found one person in a thousand; a thousand enter the room, and one comes out to teach," meaning to Dvekut and attainment. It is as they said, "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know the Lord’; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them."

An exception is Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Zohar, who were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah. It was said about him and his disciples: "A sage is preferable to a prophet." Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King. This is why his composition made such a great impact in the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees.  

M. Laitman: From this, first of all, we need to understand what degree Baal HaSulam was in the fact that he could understand the Zohar and interpret it. And that really, this book that is open before us, how much great power there is in it. And that we, by using the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Book of Zohar, we can come to the end of correction. To all 125 degrees. 

Question (German): (01:13:21) In Excerpt No. 7, it says that the disciples of Rabbi Akiva died out of lack of respect between each other or for each other. And this is the stage that we're coping with now. So how can we use the Congress in order to build love between us? 

M. Laitman: The students of Rabbi Akiva were in bestowing in order to bestow, but not in receiving in order to bestow. That's how I understand. Therefore, they died. They died. In spirituality it is the departure of Mochin, which is called death. What do we need to do? We need to try to connect. All of us are dead. That's how it is too. We need to connect between us to try to be so connected between us, that we will supply each other the light, the Upper Light, the reforming Light, so it will move through us, and when we connect between us, each will help the other to be connected, and to be in a way that he will receive the reforming light. And that way, when one doesn't do, the other will do, like throwing a rope to each other, helping each other, supporting each other. That's how we are constructed, to be in a system in which each and everyone, if he helps the other, specifically by helping the other, then each of them succeeds. No one can correct himself. No one can draw himself from the Klipa, from the will to receive. A prisoner cannot save himself from the house of imprisonment. Only the others can draw him out. Therefore, if there's a connection between us, that which was not there in those times for the students of Rabbi Akiva, so if we will have such a connection—certainly, we are much less than them. Who are we relative to them? But in our degree, if we try, we, from below upwards, we can ascend. The main thing is the connection, because once again I'm saying, because no one corrects himself. If he's connected to the others, and the others are responsible for him; they take him out of this swamp, of this swamp of in order to receive. And that's how each is saved by the others. If you don't have before you such a picture, such a depiction, if you don't feel it in your heart, that's a very big problem. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:35) Does it mean practically that the spirituality of the friends is more important than my spirituality? Practically speaking?

M. Laitman: Practically, it means that what the friends have is what you'll have, and you'll never have more than that, and if they don't want, you won't have a thing. If they won't give it to you, you won't have it. Simply. 

Student: But, I'm trying to understand the difference between bestow in order to bestow, and receiving in order to bestow. To bestow in order to receive, in order to bestow, it means I receive for the friends? 

M. Laitman: Of course. Where are the Kelim that you need to fill? We always spoke about the fact that we're a point, and we're raising the Kelim that are outside that point. Yes? This whole Kli is mine. 

Student: So, I'm trying to understand what it means, when the spirituality of the friends, the concern for the friends is more important than my reception.

M. Laitman: That's considered your reception. 

Student: I'm ready to receive only for them. Only for them. 

M. Laitman: You can't ever receive for the sake of yourself. We're talking about a spiritual Kli, which is completely in order to bestow. What's in order to bestow? You need to be towards them great, upper, who's filling them, and exist only for that, as a pipe. And each on his own, remains Chafetz Chesed, delighted in mercy. And the addition is the knowledge that he needs to fill them. And my vessels of reception, my vessels of reception are the AHP of the upper, which I use in order to fill the lower one. Who's the lower one? All my nine friends. Towards my friends, each can be an upper. Is that clear? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:18:40) I didn't understand what it means to give the friends spirituality. What can you give them? 

M. Laitman: To give the friends spirituality is called to receive from them their ambitions, their deficiencies, their goals, all that they want, and to fill them with the force of the correction of Chafetz Chesed, and the reforming light, and to pass on to them everything. Their deficiencies to raise above me, to incorporate in them, and raise them above me, and then through me, to pass it on through me to them. To be as the firstborn, who takes twice as much as the upper, as the one who's responsible. That's what I am towards the others. In such a way when I work that way, it's considered that I'm working in bestowal. What do I have from this? The fact that I'm giving them, that's what I have. More than that, nothing. What I invest in them is all my pleasure, my whole life, everything. 

Student: Before, you said that you cannot be higher than your friends. You can't be higher than the friends.

M. Laitman: I can't be higher than the friends; because altogether, I live from their deficiency. 

Student: So, how do you give them if you live on their deficiency? 

M. Laitman: I take their deficiency because I am integrated in their deficiency, so I have the ability to raise their lack to the Creator, to the Upper Upper. 

Student: So everyone, the deficiency that he has is for the friend? 

M. Laitman: Only. That's the integral system. That's how it works. 

Student: Okay, so we spoke that we have to keep investing in the prayer to constantly scrutinize the request. Is it the same request that is based on the friend's deficiencies?

M. Laitman: That and only that. Wait, if I'm in bestowal in order to bestowal in preparing the Kelim, then I'm working with my desire. I want to then rise above my ego, above my desire.

Student: I just can't get out. Well, a person has a tendency to implement his desire as well.

M. Laitman: That is my desire. My desire is to fill them, and through them, the Creator. 

Student: So, how do you make it so that their desire will be your desire? How do you make such a transformation? 

M. Laitman: It's called make your desire His desire. With what desire will I work if not with their desire? My desire is just a beast. The desire that I receive from them, despite the fact that you can say, what is their desire, spiritual? No. But when I receive their desire, in me, it's spiritual. It's called “the corporeality of the friend is your spirituality.” 

Question (German): (01:22:35) How can we use the Congress in order to build and strengthen the connection between us and to obtain such love between us? 

M. Laitman: Understand, that it's an opportunity. That I can truly be integrated with everyone to receive a deficiency from everyone. I can raise this deficiency to the Creator, to want to immerse myself in them. Where even if I don't ask and don't answer and nothing, I'm incorporated in them already. There's an inclusion. I'm in this work that they're all doing already. This is the work in the conventions could be very, very intensive work. I don't know how to say the word intensive in Hebrew. Forced. It's adaptive, concentrated, and we can be rewarded greatly. Specifically during the time of a convention. Specifically through connection, incorporation, subjugation, help, here and there, all such things. I come to dissolve in them and to fill them as much as I'm capable of receiving from them their ambitions and to raise them to the Creator and to constantly be the one who's sorting between them and the Creator. Between the Creator and them. All the time just to be as a pipe. Try to do that and you will see how much this raises you. It all of a sudden gives you that feeling of the system. 

Reader: Text 11, Baal HaSulam, a speech for the completion of the Zohar.

Reading: (01:24:46) 11.  Baal Hasulam, A Speech for the Completion of the Zohar

It is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment.

And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zohar could not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah.
And this is a clear proof that our generation has come to the days of the Messiah. We can see that all the interpretations of The Book of Zohar before ours did not clarify as much as ten percent of the difficult places in The Zohar. And in the little they did clarify, their words are almost as abstruse as the words of The Zohar itself.

But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam (Ladder) commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zohar without interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any intermediate student can understand. And since The Zohar appeared in our generation, it is a clear proof that we are already in the days of the Messiah, at the outset of that generation upon which it was said, "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord."  

M. Laitman: And that's why we need to use the Book of Zohar as much as possible in order to get close to the corrections. .

Reader: Excerpt number 12, Baal HaSulam, Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot.

Reading: (01:27:11) 12. Baal Hasulam, Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot, Item 5 

It is written in The Zohar: “With this composition, the Children of Israel will be redeemed from exile.” Also, in many other places, only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption.

They also said, “The Light in it reforms him.” They were intentionally meticulous about it, to show us that only the Light enclosed within it… in it lies the cure that reforms a person. Both the individual and the nation will not complete the aim for which they were created, except by attaining the internality of the Torah and its secrets…
Hence, it is the great expansion of the wisdom of truth within the nation that we need first, so we may merit receiving the benefit from our Messiah. Consequently, the expansion of the wisdom and the coming of our Messiah are interdependent. Therefore, we must establish seminaries and compose books to hasten the distribution of the wisdom throughout the nation.   

M. Laitman: Okay, we are going to read now from Volume 12 of Zohar for All, excerpts about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, which is his special day for him today. And what we don't suffice to do today, of course, we'll do in the evening in the Zohar lesson before our meal. Please.

Reader: Reading from Volume 12, the Book of Zohar, from page 322 in Hebrew. Again, the “Zohar for All,” Volume 12, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, 159, “Shimon from the market.”

Reading:(01:29:48) Zohar for All, Beresheet-1 [Genesis] "Let Us Make Man", Item 159

“And God said, ‘Let us make man,’” there is a secret revealed only to those who fear Him. That elder of the elders started and said, “Shimon, Shimon, who is it who said, ‘Let us make man,’ and of whom is it written, ‘And God said’? Who is that name ‘God’ here?” As Rabbi Shimon heard that he was calling him Shimon and not Rabbi Shimon, he said to his friends, “This must be the Creator, of whom it is written, ‘And the ancient of days [Atik Yomin] is sitting.’ Therefore, now is the time to disclose that secret, for there is a secret here that was not permitted to be disclosed, and now it means that permission to disclose has been given.”

It is known that the secrets that were revealed to the sages of The Zohar were by attainment of the lights of the upper degrees by instilling. There are Panim and Achoraim [anterior and posterior respectively] in them, meaning concealment and disclosure. According to the extent of the Panim of the degree, so is the extent of its Achoraim. The instilling of the Achoraim is a calling and an invitation to instill the Panim. This is why by the measure of the concealment of the Achoraim that they attained, they knew the measure of disclosure that they were about to attain.

As Rabbi Shimon heard, he was calling him Shimon and not Rabbi Shimon. This means that the instilling of the Achoraim, which is a calling, was so strong that he lost all his degrees and became a simple person, Shimon from the market. By that, he recognized that it was a calling and an invitation for very high attainment of Panim.

This is why he promptly said to his friends, “This must be the Creator, of whom it is written, ‘And the ancient of days [Atik Yomin] is sitting,’” of whose degree there is no higher. And he said, “And now it means that permission to disclose has been given,” meaning that now it was seen that he obtained permission to disclose that high secret.

Reading: (01:33:12) (Introduction to The Book of Zohar "The Donkey Driver") 

119) Rabbi Shimon wept and said, “I, too, was afraid of the Creator, of what I heard.” He put his hands on his head and said, “But Rav Hamnuna Saba is the light of the Torah. You were granted seeing him face-to-face, and I was not.” He bowed down and saw him uprooting mountains and lighting candles in the hall of the Messiah King. Rav Hamnuna Saba said to him, “My Rav, in that world, you will be next to the heads of the seminaries before the Creator.” From that day forth he would call Rabbi Elazar, his son, and Rabbi Aba, Pnei’el [face of God], as it is written, “For I have seen God face-to-face.”

He praised himself that he, too, was using that same fear of Prophet Habakkuk, from what he had heard of the past, in the verse “I have heard the report of You and I am afraid.”

In the hall of the Messiah King, all the corrections that should be revealed at the end of correction—upon the arrival of the Messiah King—are already prepared and ready. Not a single detail is missing, and those souls in the hall of the Messiah King are all those who have already been rewarded with the end of correction from the root of their own souls.

This is why he said that he saw him uprooting mountains and lighting candles in the hall of the Messiah King, since Rav Hamnuna Saba is the doer of these corrections in the hall of the Messiah. He uproots the mountains of the Sitra Achra, which seem to the righteous as a high mountain, he lights candles, and corrects the new screen of SAG for raising MAN at the end of correction, since the MAN is called “lights of fire.” This is as it is written, “Man’s soul is the Lord’s candle,” since the light of the sun indicates the descent of the MAD, like the light of the sun that comes down to us from above downward.

Also, the “lights of fire” is reflected light [reflected light] that rises from below upwards like a flame rising from the candle. These are the two corrections: 1) to remove the Sitra Achra, 2) to raise and to light the candles in the hall of the Messiah King. They are in the hands of Rav Hamnuna Saba.

Those complete righteous who need those two corrections are rewarded with them through the discovery of the soul of Rav Hamnuna Saba. He told him that he and his students, Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba would also be rewarded with serving in the hall of the Messiah King after their demise. They would be there next to him and be heads of seminaries there before the Creator.

M. Laitman: Meaning they weren’t yet in the complete correction before they passed. 

(Introduction to The Book of Zohar "The Donkey Driver") 

Reading: (01:36:46) Zohar for All, Introduction of The Book of Zohar, “Rabbi Shimon’s Exit from the Cave”, Items 187-188

He saw two birds coming and flying over the sea. He raised his voice and said, “Birds, birds, since you fly over the sea, have you seen the place where Yochai is?” He waited a little, then said, “Birds, birds, go and tell me.” They flew away into the sea and departed.

Commentary: Rabbi Shimon fled from the kingship, which ordered that he should be killed. He and his son hid in a cave, and they did not know his whereabouts. This is why Rabbi Pinhas, son of Yair, went to look for him in the islands of the sea.

188. (01:37:33)

Before he went out to the ship, the birds came and one of them held a letter in her beak. It said, “Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai has come out of the cave with his son, Rabbi Elazar.” Rabbi Pinhas went to him and found that he has changed. His body was filled with holes and sores from sitting in the cave. He wept over him and said, “Woe that I have seen you so.” Rabbi Shimon told him, “Happy I am that you have seen me so, for had you not seen me so, I would not be so.” Rabbi Shimon started with the Mitzvot of the Torah and said, “All the Mitzvot of the Torah that the Creator gave to Israel are written in the Torah in a general way.”

Commentary: For all the years that he had to dwell in a cave, he had to sit there inside the sand to cover his nakedness and engage in Torah, and his flesh was punctured and with sores because of it. Rabbi Pinhas wept over him and said, “Woe unto me that I have seen you so.” Rabbi Shimon replied to him, “Happy I am that you have seen me so, for had you not seen me so, I would not be so,” meaning I would not have been rewarded with the revelations of the secrets of the Torah, for he was awarded all the great sublimity of his wisdom during those 13 years of hiding in the cave.

Song: (01:45:28)