Morning Lesson November 13, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 21, 1988. What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?
1. Rav intro:(00:28) The last part is especially very difficult. I would repeat again from but now that he's entered the work of bestowal...” do you have that but now that “he is entered the work of bestowal and has entered great efforts it sees that he's not progressing and worse yet after all the labor he has fallen into despair now he sees the evil in him is so great” right so please continue.
Reading (00:14) “that he decides that the work...”
2. S. (34:31) Here in the article I see that if in the Ten everything is wonderful everyone is connected is loving it feels as if we're in the end of correction but in practice it turns out that we haven't even started the work if we don't have difficulties in the work?
R. In principle I guess you're right. I don't know we need to scrutinize, you should scrutinize it between you. You should do some spiritual work between you out of wish you'll discover whether you're even in it or not.
S. If we don't have thoughts that it's hard to connect we are unsuccessful and the desire to turn to the Creator to the friends that means that there's no work?
R. Yes, that means you don't have work yet.
3. S. (35:52) What is the difference nevertheless between keeping the Torah out of the darkness and keeping it out of the desire for light? There's a gap here but I can't seem to grasp the gap between these two types of work?
R. Try to keep the laws of connection between all the elements of creation. Let's see how much you're coming closer to keeping them.
S. What does it mean? Keeping it out of the darkness?
R. Yes, out of whatever you have, then you will also feel that you are in darkness or maybe not in darkness in light.
4. S. (36:55) The article talks about the light of Torah gives a person a deficiency, to the study of Torah gives a person the deficiency but we study the Ten even if you don't have a deficiency for what if the study gives me deficiency if I require a deficiency from the study how does that influence my work, my group how does the deficiency that will influence the Ten. What will change in my Ten?
R. I didn't understand that.
S. If the study gives me a deficiency, I acquire a deficiency from the study? How does that influence the group?
R. You mean become incorporated with the Ten, so the Ten becomes incorporated with your desire. Then all your desires that are inside each and everyone they are similar to your desire they also awaken and they connect. However, from one small deficiency that becomes a deficiency of everyone. This is how it is. It's like in physics and technology where it's enough that you throw into water that has a lot of salt, for example like a speck of dust, all the water starts to show the sand with them and it becomes murky.
5. S. () How can I tell that I'm lacking the light of Torah and accordingly how can I continue to work with the effort for the friends?
R. That you lack the light of Torah? You need to feel it from your heart. That the heart feels that it lacks it it wants to know what it is living for or why it is living, in what state he is and what is the state that he wants to reach, all of this is in the heart.
S. In this state how can you keep additional efforts?
R. Ask, pray together with the friends, yearn for Him. We need to put in effort.
6. S. (40:52) He writes in the article that after he is rewarded with vessels of the bestowal he discovers the secrets of Torah, what does it mean secrets of Torah?
R. There is the Torah and there's the secrets of the Torah. When we reached the Torah through labor then we discovered that in the Torah there's an additional part, a more hidden part which is called the secrets of the Torah. I don't have more to say about it.
S. Meaning there is a special light that is revealed there?
R. I don't know exactly, it doesn't say here, it says the secrets of the Torah, that's it.
7. S. (41:38) How do we aim our deficiencies toward vessels of bestowal and not vessels of reception?
R. We connect together and we want to discover the vessels of bestowal and what's in them. We want to discover what is in our vessel of bestowal, that is all.
8. S. (42:24) How to solve an ongoing conflict between the evil inclination and the need to do everything for the sake of heaven? Because we constantly pursue a person. How to solve this ongoing conflict between the evil inclination and the need to do everything for the sake of heaven because it pursues every person in the state?
R. In this the Ten was given to us, the group in which we exist and with its help we can emerge from our personal egoism.
S. How do we do it?
R. Become more incorporated in the friends than you will see how much additional forces are revealed in you with which you can go forward.
9. S. (43:35) How do I reach a feeling of darkness as a result of lacking vessels of bestowal?
R. You need to feel that with your efforts what is it that you're lacking?
S. But during the work we work with what's revealed in the heart, right now or we pray less for vessels of bestowal
R. We pray for the vessels of bestowal for us to have such vessels.
10. S. (44:28) In the last part he writes the intention over the action which is a revealed portion, the ability to aim in the heart to work for the sake of the Creator is revealed in the heart. This is called work as it is written which God has created to do doing refer to the heart so that men will have the strength to work so the heart will want to work for the sake of the Creator.
The question is if the action is the intention then what is the action itself?
R. This is something we will see later is still ahead of us.
S. How do we talk about it in the end? How do we make the heart do for the sake of heaven?
R. Through exercises when our heart begins to understand that without us having the intention for the sake of the Creator it will not be filled with the Creator.
S. Is the exercise where the heart doesn't want something and then I do it nevertheless with the correct intention even though He doesn't want it, it makes it want it in the end?
R. Yes.
11. S. (45:56) What does it mean to keep the 613 commandments in practice? Right now each Ten has actions of the defendant size will advance them what is the 613?
R. Well we don't yet know what 613 means but the fact that all of our desires will want to keep actions that are in order to bestow is considered that we will keep the 613 Mitzvot, commandments.
S. Is there a way to check that every day that added desire that we can connect...
R. It's exactly by increasing the connection between us.
12. S. (47:00) Do we receive the Torah in darkness so we can work on the deficiency and work with the intention to bestow and thus be like the Creator?
R. Yes.
13. S. (47:28) The end of the day a person cannot aim in order to bestow as he writes, at the end of the article, since we see that we cannot do actions of bestow without the lead of Torah he needs to help with the Creator for it so what is the difference between the intention and the prayer?
R. Adhesion with the Creator that just like with a child we see that he depends on the mother and he wants to attach to her body and nothing else matters to him it's the same with us. We need to reach a state where we hear the Creator we are riding the horse says it is called.
S. The action of intention what is it is it an action of prayer what kind of action is it what is it?
R. the action of intention is that I want to be in a state where I intend for him.
S. But in practice is that a prayer how does a Kabbalist’s aim?
R. That could be an aim, it could be an action. It doesn't matter, the most important is that I intend for a state of completed adhesion with the Creator.
S. Is there a state where I aim for the state of adhesion completed with the Creator but I in practice?
R. No.
S. That I only think about it speak about/.
R. No, then you become Incorporated in this new deficiency out of which you pray to the Creator you truly beg to him he brings you to that state.
S. When Rabash gave you the example about the intention when you were sorting the coffee beans and said well I hope this coffee bean will give contentment to my teacher. The story you were telling us with this action he has the intention he prays over each and every Coffee Bean there is a prayer..
R. Yes, for each and every coffee bean, yes.
S. The section of the prayer is it repetitive action to be locked into this contentment or a monologue of a developing monologue of sorts?
R. I didn't understand your question.
S. Is the action of the intention that the person keeps?
R. You have to renew it all the time with each and every coffee bean.
S. Renew it? t it being locked in this knocking again and again on the contentment on this repetitive action
R. Yes, you don't let go of it. It's like children sometimes we see how much they are attached to something and that's it.
14. S. (51:10) The article says in one of the sentences I'll read “which God has created to do. This means that all that the creatures must do is only to be able to aim to bestow” so the Creator has created the evil inclination and he wants the creatures to aim to bestow to build to build on to the evil inclination
R. Yes.
S. How do we do this? How do we rise up to the level of degree that as creatures we are able to build the vessels of bestowal on the vessels of reception? Thank you.
R. Through the reforming light. We demand from the Creator that he will bring us a force so that with the help of this force from all of our egoistic vessels we will be able to perform acts of bestowal. This is called and it shall be inverted.
15. S. (52:55) The evil inclination which doesn't want to work for the Creator, is it something that a person discovers on his own or thanks to the group?
R. Thanks to the group because alone by yourself you cannot discover the evil inclination is truly evil.
S. But sometimes one is mistaken about himself that only the group can reveal it.
R. Correct.
16. S. (53:39) What does it mean doing? Meaning the intention for the act which is revealed can you explain why how is the intention revealed? To whom is it revealed?
R. I don't understand , the intention can be revealed so what is he asking?
S. How can it be that the intention is revealed? We always think that the intention is concealed. The person doesn't quite know what his intention is, who knows what the intention is? How come it's revealed now.
R. Because it's revealed, I don't grasp the question.
S. The intention has to do with the revealed part or the concealed part?
R. It can belong to both.
S. What is concealed if the intention is revealed, what is concealed?
R. The intention can be revealed, the intention can be concealed
S. Second question, what is learning versus work or doing with respect to the Ten?
R. Learning is a learning of what the Ten is doing and doing or the action is the result of the learning where they go out and they carry out an action of connection between them and a new act of bestowal towards the Creator.
17. S. (55:40) To add to this last answer and question, what is the emphasis of our study of Kabbalah? Is it more on the learning or more emphasis on the doing or the work and why?
R. We have several actions in the wisdom of Kabbalah. First of all it's together in the Ten. Both during the study and during the action and including the intentions. If we try to be together and all these actions then we begin to feel how by that we are drawing the reforming light and it changes us. Is that clear?
S. Where do we start mostly with learning or in the work?
R. There's almost no difference because that's how we do it, part of the work, the learning, the part of the actions.
18. S. (57:25) When does learning bring one to doing?
R. I can't tell if it's when the part, when the part of learning is concluded and then we begin the action on top of it.
S. What does it mean that the learning is done,
R. Everything works in portions.
19. S. (57:53) All our actions are they connected, and are they rearranging the Reshimot?
R. Again?
S. Do our efforts towards connection in between us reorganize the records of the Reshimot?
R. Yes, certainly our attitude determines it.
20. S. (58:40) How can I scrutinize or analyze if my intention is correct or not?
R. By joining your friends and together with them you're trying to incorporate in the Creator.
21. S. (59:23) Our Ten today did an attack and we used our prayer to focus on our prayer all day and part of our prayer was to based on a lesson a couple days ago when we heard we need to suffer out of the need to do everything for the sake of the Creator or want to die if we cannot do it. There was a lot of gratitude felt in the work today as we focused on this prayer collectively just sort of gratitude for every little thing, is this a sign of drawing the reforming light?
R. Yes, you've made some contact with Him.
22. S. (01:0:03 ) Where do the explorations come here before the doing and the learning of the Torah?
R. The investigation is ours. We wish to investigate where we are, from what state we are going to and which state and what connection we have with the Creator compared to what we had before.
S. What should we put the emphasis on when we do it between actions and the request?
R. How close we are to the Creator only that.
23. S. (00:01:29) It says that the Torah was given out of the darkness, we come to this work because we feel in this world is darkness so after we come to the study why do we not yet have a desire to bestow?
R. We don't want to have a desire to bestow. We have from the beginning only a desire to receive, so the desire to bestow is something that we need to attain through all kinds of tactics. The more we get around it the more we think we are chasing the desire to bestow but in truth, we wish to reach the desire to receive.
24. S. (01:02:47) What exercises can help us to direct us towards the intention for the sake of the Creator?
R. Only the connection between us, you have the ten, connect and aim to approach the Creator and you will feel how beneficial that is.
S. The intention for the sake of the Creator becomes, over time, it becomes permanent, we feel it all the time?
R. Yes.
25. S. (01:03:30) You said that we connect together and we want to discover what is in our vessels of bestowal, what is in our vessels of bestowal?
R. I don't know what we have in our vessels of bestowal but I hope that with the help of the upper light these vessels will begin to change, and we will reveal in them a desire to bestow, a desire to connect.
26. S. (01:04:15) Before the actions that I do are in order to direct myself to the Creator, why do we work all the time to awaken others?
R. I didn’t get it.
S. If everything that I do is in order to direct myself and my intention to the Creator, why do we constantly work towards others and I try to awaken them?
R. These are not others, these are parts of your vessel since you cannot work on yourself directly, you turn to them and you seemingly influence them, but through them, you are working on yourself. That's how it is.
27. S. (01:05:43) It happened to me, that we come to a state where there's no power to continue, I begin to speak badly of others, so that they are not listening, they're not working together with me, and I start a process of really quitting the path, what can I do in such a state?
R. What to do? Until the end of correction, there are many such states where we are in a state where we don't know what to do, and in these states specifically we need to know how to cleave to the Creator, how to receive from Him the power, the reason. There is no other way. We are growing old, we are growing weak, but along with that we are becoming more experienced, and in that we arrange our soul. It's not like we are changing physically or even intellectually or mentally; these are all external things. The main thing is that we arrange ourselves inside, internally, in the soul, this is the eternal part of the person, that's it. That's how we advance.
28. S. (01:08:00) The expression which God has created to do is the most beautiful expression I ever heard in the work of the Creator. I want to thank you for everything that you do for us, everything that you did in order for us to discover the Torah and the Mitzvot. I wish that your soul will be with us along the whole path together with all the friends, thank you, Rav, I love you very much.
R. We'll learn more and more, continue, connect and reach the end of correction.
29. S. (01:08:48) The vessel of bestowal, it's a desire that receives a desire to bestow?
R. Yes, the intention to bestow.
S. The question is whether the vessel of bestowal receives a desire and the intention is the ability?
R. Let's say, we can say that.
S. What is intention?
R. Intention is not through my action, regardless of the action, I wish to bestow to the friends and through them to the Creator, something.
S. It could be a desire to bestow but without an intention?
R. No. If there's a desire without an intention, only when someone is mentally insane.
S. So, again I'm trying to understand: what is a vessel of bestowal and what is an intention?
R. Vessel of bestowal is a desire to receive that acquired through the light the ability to bestow.
S. So that's already an ability?
R. Yes.
30. S. (01:10:33) If the Torah is given from darkness and we can only bring it to light through the desire for unity, am I responsible for correcting my friends' will to receive in this process?
R. We are in a single vessel, all of us connected together, and there's no way to disconnect from one another. At the end of the day this is a round vessel, meaning there's no difference between those who are closer to someone else or farther away, we are all equally distanced from each other, so everything depends on everyone. How much we can illuminate our friends and how much can we draw them towards corrections.
31. S. (01:12:10) What is actually the problem, how can we determine where is the limit in the relationships between the friends when we have this concept of love of friends but in my opinion sometimes it becomes a kind of restriction. It doesn't matter what the friend did or what he said, we accept everything and then there's another limit for this problem, another extremity where sometimes a friend says something which is harmful to our connection in the ten, in our society, so I don't know how to relate to it because on the one hand, I'll give an example with a baby, there's a baby you love, you don’t take him something sharp and put it into his eyes, you're going to stop him, you are going to take it from his hand. But in our situation, if you want to say something, let him say it, and any such action by a friend is destructive to the connection between us, it simply disintegrates our society because a bad examples, our ego immediately absorbs it, it's very hard to be good, and when you see that a friend gives you a bad example, you also feel that you can be like that. So how do we place a limit here, in between love of friends, containing the friend, accepting him as he is versus setting limits that will guard the connection between us?
R. The important thing is to be open with the friends, not to hide anything other than what can create some harm right here and now, meaning my revealed, my exposed egoism that can harm us, but invisible, you have nothing to hide from one another, we must, on the contrary, we must show everyone how close we wish to be to one another. That's how it should be.
S. But what if the whole ten tells a certain friend that, “You're not right, that's not the way to behave,” and the friend says, “No, I think that I should behave this way?” It just makes me lose my mind.
R. If he's acting against the whole ten then he has no room in the ten. There's no point in tolerating him.
32. S. (01:15:28) Can we get forces and mind from the Creator to create the soul and not ask for us egoistically?
R. Well, ask that way. Only that which you can with what you receive to do as good, for the benefit of the group, to connect between them even more. That's how you should act.
33. S. (01:16:26) About the practical Mitzvot that we do with our hands and legs, there’s things that we do on our path that we take more seriously like the holidays, Passover, we emphasize them more, and every so often you emphasize something specific in deeds. For instance, when we, a little while ago, we learned about not looking directly at women or reading the Shema prayer, so every so often you add something. My question is: Can we in the practical commandments only go by the direction of our teacher or can we know sometime what details or deeds we should do with our hands and legs that will bring us closer to spirituality?
R. We go through all kinds of advices from the Creator and accordingly each time we get another dose of the reforming light. That's it, so that's how we will continue until it starts arranging itself in us more and more. I hope that we are already on the second half of the path and soon we'll start feeling practically how this is beneficial to us.