Morning Lesson February 11, 2024

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 15, 1991. What Is the Blessing, “Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,” in the Work?

1. Rav intro: (41:38) Thank you to the reader. 

2. S. (42:08) What does it mean to be a slave for six years, and on the seventh, to go out free? What does it mean in our work?

R. No meaning.

S. No meaning to this?

R. There is a period which you can count in years where you feel that you are enslaved to your will to receive. Then you exit on the condition that you make efforts.

S. Yes because I feel it almost every day.

R. Very well.

S. This slavery in this work but I want to express another thing, I know how I take it in my daily work and to give an example of an alarm clock that I set in the morning, and I want to go to the seminary and the body doesn’t let me get up and I really felt that this morning. It was very difficult for me to get up. But I still did and here in the preparation for the lesson I saw the friends and you suddenly feel this joy that you are here. When you get up, you don't know where you're going. You walk like a blind person, you come here, and you suddenly feel this special thing here, this common force. I'm asking you, you need to depict yourself how you got up in the morning, so you get new vessels. How do I take this state every time in order to acquire new vessels and really feel that the Creator wants to bring me closer? How do I work with it on a daily basis?

R. Think about it more and then the feeling will grow.

3. S. (44:10) We are used to working according to our desire and our experience according to what we go through. Here it is written, Rabash writes that “although we come out of Egypt, we have to be happy about the redemption from Egypt. This is what we must remember the exile in Egypt, meaning remember and depict how the people of Israel suffered in the exiled in Egypt and then we can enjoy the redemption from the exile today as well.”

R. Yes, it is a Mitzvah.

S. Exactly, it's as if there is something in our personal experience that we can be incorporated in and use it to get strength or joy on the path? Or what he says here to feel redemption? 

R. Yes.

S. How do we become incorporated in something that happened or that exists if humanity or people of Israel have already attained? How can I be incorporated in this?

R. By your desire, how do you do everything? By your desire, that you pray that you want, that you are drawn to it.

S. But it is as if, it is not something I feel on my flesh, that I went through, that I experienced the exile in Egypt. It's something that happened to us, it is not something that just happened in this generation. Maybe it did, but maybe there's something here. It says to us that you have to do this. How do we become incorporated in something that did not happen to us in practice, now?

R. We have to depict to ourselves that it did happen and that we did emerge, exited, and thus we will continue.

S. Do you think there's a point in making efforts in this action?

R. Of course, of course there is the more a person makes efforts, the more feeling he obtains.

S. How does it help us in connection in the Ten if we try to depict together the redemption from Egypt that it already happened. We want to feel the slavery we had in the redemption. Is it an exercise we should do?

R. Yes, you want to discuss it and awaken it and inspire it and you should do it and feel and not forget.

4. S. (47:07) He recommends in the states of descent to depict a state what it was like in the state of descent and give thanks for it, a blessing, so it is a preparation for the states of descent?

R. Yes.

S. Is he preparing himself for the states? How do we, in our work, in a state of descent? How do we as a Ten use it, how do we help the friend, how do we use it correctly? Because he recommends that we depict the states of descent when you are in an ascent, how you would feel it, how you feel it?

R. Yes, you have Reshimot from the state of descent, don’t you?

S.  If I'm in a state of descent, suffering, how to depict an opposite state do you understand?

R.  Work on that.

S. How?

R. Work on it through adhesion with the friends, through going above reason.

S. In an opposite state a person cannot do anything.

R. What he can't do well, he can pray.

S. To pray?

R. Yes, that is the main thing.

5. S. (49:05) Rabash is describing a certain type of suffering when a person says I am far from having a bigger flat, more furniture, what is the relation I should get where it is what I deserve, that is a certain type of suffering that the person suffers from and there's another kind that he describes which is why can't I give to the friends. Why am I stuck in the will to receive and can’t emerge from its control? The transition from one kind to another is a true miracle, when the person cannot decide one morning that I have a new kind of suffering. It is a miracle that happens from above, but the Creator does not necessarily make that miracle to a person. He may be stuck in this first type of suffering his whole life. The question is, why or what brought the Creator to make that miracle to one person and not make it to another person?

R. This we do not know; it depends on the soul.

S. What depends on the person?

R. What depends on the person is a desire to scrutinize his state, where it originates from. Why does the person receive it and how to realize it, inside of the circle of the person.

S. While being stuck in the suffering of why I'm not getting what I deserve, the scrutinies within the suffering is within the calculation of why I'm not getting. Even this thought you just described is above this calculation.

R. Of course it is above, why I do not receive, because I am receiving.

S. Where do you get this string that pulls up a person so they can see that there is another scrutiny you need to get into? Where does it come from?

R. That is typically from the environment, from the environment.

6. S. (51:33) On the one hand, he writes when a person turns to the Creator it means the Creator has answered him, He brings him close, and he should be happy about it. On the other hand, if he thinks of doing something for the sake of the Creator, he is expected to have a road accident because the will to receive will not let him do it. The question is as you advised us, how can we in the Ten maintain the prayer twenty-four hours a day? Because from here will be the solution.

R. We’ve read about how the students of RamchaI, I believe, had a certain order. A roaster with their duties, where let's say, every two hours or so. I don't know too much; everyone was to think and to pray for the others. What else to do, I am not sure.

S. Should we exert in this all day long?

R. To exert in that all day long, yes. 

7. S. (52:55) It is written that we need to depict to himself a descent and it causes the ascent he received. Basically, I do not have to wait for a descent to happen. I can do something called depicting to himself a descent and I don't have to really fall into the descent?

R. Well, try it.

S. Let's say if I'm in an ascent or in some state, what is this action called depicting a descent?

R. When you depict a descent, meaning a state worse than where you are now. Then by that you guard yourself from not truly descending to such a state. Meaning it is sufficient for you to already begin to pray in an ascent.

S. What am I supposed to depict?

R. That you are already in a descent.

S. One who waits for a descent has already descended basically?

R. Yes.

8. S. (54:18) Besides from the work, Rabash says it is suffering. What kind of suffering is it? Is it suffering from not from not being able to exit Pharaoh's control or from not succeeding, being frustrated for not succeeding in exiting ourselves?

R. No, from the rulership of Pharaoh, that is the true suffering.

9. S. (54:52) What is the technique or the alarm clock that reminds a person during the ascent if you got an opportunity now to draw the state of a descent?

R. Yes.

S. What reminds a person to do this work?

R. What reminds him, the day of his dying as it is written, a person should always look how deep inside the will to receive he is in.

S. But now he is in an ascent, he was in a certain state and now in an ascent and according to what he writes here, he simply forgets the state of descent, we have to set some sort of an alarm clock that will remind him. Here we have a chance now to not enjoy the ascent but to draw the state of descent to increase the situation even more, so how?

R. By an alarm clock, by the friends, by the environment, we forget about it. But there is no other cause that can help us.

S. How should the environment prepare us so that every moment we will remember it?

R. We do not need to remember, we need to always be in it. Meaning that I depend on the environment and the more I appreciate it, the more I rise. 

S. But now a person is in the state of ascent, he sees his society is great and everything there is to it in the ascent, the friends are great and all that, something needs to wake him up and tell him: “hello, don't enjoy it but draw the state of descent you had before because otherwise first of all you will lose it, second you won’t really be in an ascent?

R. One should self-scrutinize, yes.

S. What will remind him to draw that state of descent into the state of ascent?

R. When he sees that he’s not truly in the final correction. What are the vessels that he had that he did not correct, how can he get closer to them?

S. If he already sees that he's not at the end of correction so he'll remember to do it but what will remind him that now he has a state of descent and bring it to him?

R. If he has no deficiency, no beginning for it then only the Creator, only the Creator, there’s no other choice, all of the beginnings it's all Him.

10. S. (58:27) How do we come to feel suffering that we are removed from the Creator and not from anything else?

R. We do not have what to measure ourselves against but the Creator.

S. How can we come to feel suffering from being far from the Creator and not from anything else that I imagine from being far from it?

R. This is by being in a society and then each one is impressed through his friend, from that place the Creator that is with us.

S. He writes, before a person comes to a prayer the Creator has already answered his prayer. Where does the person get the answer?

R. A person receives an answer in the vessels that he presents to the Creator, and he wants to scrutinize his true state.

S. Did a person turn to the Creator with a deficiency or complaint or something and now the fact that he has the privilege of turning to the Creator, this connection, is this supposed to be enough for him? Is this supposed to cancel his initial deficiency, the prayer, what motivated him initially?

R. No, it will pull him from that deficiency to a more advanced deficiency.

S. To what deficiency does it take him?

R. To wanting to bring correction to the whole world, to all humanity.

S. This is what, is this a prayer to his previous prayer or what?

R. This will include everything.

S. Is this called prayer, a new prayer he has?

R. Yes and it includes all the rest of the prayers.

11. S. (01:00:40) What is this action depicting the exile in Egypt? We went through that state, it’s a spiritual state and a certain coarseness. Now we are on a different status and our status here now, what does it mean to depict the exile in Egypt?

R. The exile in Egypt means that we are outside the general quality of bestowal, and we have to see whether we’re truly in that or not.

12. S. (01:01:42) What does it mean to bless the Creator for the miracle and how does it advance a person?

R. A miracle means something that’s above nature, so we’re in a state where what happened to us was that we were in a pit and suddenly a miracle happened, and we came out of it. Then we make a prayer of gratitude for coming out of that state.

13. S. (01:02:46) What are the conditions for a person to be rewarded with a miracle in the work?

R. He has to always look for how to adhere to the Creator, then he will be rewarded with finding that state.

14. S. (01:03:14) What is a spiritual miracle in the work of the Ten?

R. That we receive spiritual forces in order to bestow and we can then transcend our own desire to receive to an opposite state, which is in order to bestow.

15. S. (01:03:44) Why does the Creator send him, throw him into the pit to begin with?

R. The Creator, to begin with lets a person feel in what kind of state he's in so that the person will see and develop all of the qualities, prayers, desires, passions for the state that is outside of the pit.

16. S. (01:04:33) To the extent that a person thanks the Creator it becomes revealed to a person that the Creator’s good. How to increase the gratitude within you so, it’s not only one word, and you have the recognition of good that comes first and then the Creator’s gift becomes revealed. How to increase the gratitude into yourself, to expand it into yourself? 

R. That I review all of my past and see how the Creator would help the whole time, as far as I can remember, to each time climb out of the pit.

17. S. (01:05:28) We can feel the Creator's mercy in for her sake or only in not for her sake?

R. No it's both, but certainly in Lishma it’s a lot more powerful.

S. On what desires do we get the Creator's mercy?

R. It depends on what states we go through you can’t say that for all the degrees.

18. S. (01:06:28) What is the difference between filling the desire and coming out of exile?

R. Fulfilling the desire and coming out of the exile can essentially be the same thing but it might not be the same thing because not necessarily fulfilling the desire is the exit. The exit from the exile could be through light of Hassadim, it could be through various different states.

19. S. (01:07:14) Should we depict to ourselves descents as grave, more grave each time? Meaning to compare disconnection from the Creator because of a corporeal pleasure and consider that a descent or something more advanced? Let's say I'm connected with the friends but I'm not thinking of the Creator, then I should regard this as a descent?

R. Possible, it is possible, try.

20. S. (01:08:00) There are two kinds of suffering, there is suffering from not being able to receive and there’s suffering from not being able to give. Egypt is like the transition from one kind to another kind of suffering. Can you say this?

R. Yes.

21. S. (01:08:27) It says here that a slave is a bad thing and yet sometimes a person wants to remain a slave. Why would a person want to remain a slave?

R. Well, if you're just interpreting it literally, simply then the slave doesn't need to think, the master cares for his clothing and food and place to sleep. Essentially, a slave is actually the most free.

S. How does one fight a situation where he thinks this way?

R. Try, try to be responsible for his state and thus advance.

22. S. (01:09:30) The ascent that a person feels and should thank for, as it says here in the article is in an ascent in that now he appreciates the greatness of the Creator? He sees how much He helped him, how he is filled with Him, something like that?

R. An ascent is typically when we want to bestow more to the Creator, that is an ascent.

S. So wanting to bestow to the Creator, I see it as an ascent but how does bestowing upon the Creator connect to the Ten?

R. If it is out of my own Ten, then it is truly great and important shared work.

S. Do I feel the Ten, I feel their deficiencies and I want them to rise? Is this it and should we be thankful for it? He should remember that before that he wasn't in this, he was in other nonsense and that dropped him into a kind of pit, and then he started suffering from corporeality and all of that.

R. What is the question?

23. S. (01:10:55) In the article a person goes through adhesion then goes through ascents and descents. When he's in descent he can come to despair and from the despair to doubts and a desire to run away and then all of a sudden he gets an awakening from above that gives him life and passion. What brings a person, when he wants to run away from the awakening from above?

R. Who?

S. That's what I'm asking, who brings a person an awakening from above?

R. Who can it be?

S. Either his friends or from way up.

R. And?

S. I'm asking in terms of the work in practice in the Ten. Sometimes you see that a friend has a state that he wants to run away or even does run away in practice and the friends make efforts. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don't, in awakening him suddenly. What should the Ten do in order to be able when a friend wants to run away to suddenly give an awakening from above, how can you reignite what a person has lost?

R. Delete what there was before and start anew.

S. By what?

R. By once again talking about the purpose of life, the purpose of creation, what we have as created beings in the current state, in the advanced state.

S. When a person wants to run away, he doesn't listen, he’s unconscious, when you’re unconscious we can't explain anything to a person. We had a situation in the Ten where a friend was in difficulties and suddenly wanted to run away. We spoke among us, what we should do, should we pray, should we speak to him, should we speak to him urgently, assertively or with warmth and love. We did everything and it was fine, he's back. We don't know where to place the emphasis and say this is the place where the Ten can help a friend to suddenly bring him back to life in the work?

R. In the Ten there are many such opportunities, envy, lust, honor, many things that can obligate a person in different actions and as a result a person receives importance and ascent. 

S. There are many questions around this process, the Ten may be stealing labor from a person, many small discernments. When the Ten comes to a person and says wake up. What should we put the finger on, how do we bring the Creator into the picture, there are many issues around it. What's the most important point in the work of the Ten with a friend, that's the question?

R. To give him some job and by that job he will awaken. Think about it, discuss it with everyone and see how that’s possible, to give something to the person that will awaken him towards spirituality. 

24. S. (01:15:01) The work of being reminded of the ascent during the descent, is it to prevent from suffering and not for something else?

R. That is good.

S. What’s the conclusion a person should take out of the state of ascent that reminds him of the descent? What's the conclusion he should receive in the end from this action?

R. That you have to be in greater connection with the friends.

S. In all the last articles he's talking that only from the right you can look at the left. Is it actually the same thing we’re talking about here?

R. Yes.

25. S. (01:16:02) If the vessels of the friends create an environment of development how can we combine between them so that each one has different coarseness?

R. Why do we need that? Of course, everyone has a different coarseness but why should we think about it now? The important thing for us is to combine all the coarseness that is revealed and to construct the forces of ascent on top of that and expect the Creator to tie us together and give us a screen for that coarseness.

26. S. (01:17:18) In the article, he talks about ascents and descents, being in Kedusha. Was he talking about us or one who’s already in spirituality because he's talking about very high degrees, being in Kedusha?

R. Yes, you can say that about all the ascents and descents, it depends how you want to relate to them.

27. S. (01:17:57) We give our friend something to do for the Ten, but he doesn't do it. When we ask why not, he says There is None Else Besides Him. What should we do?

R. Give him something else so he won't be able to say There Is None Else Besides Him. What can I propose to you?

28. S. (01:18:51) There is a verse in the third paragraph in the end, it says that “When a person asks the Creator to bring him closer to his work and to do something for the sake of the Creator, a person can ask for Him to give him an intention for his own benefit.” Can we ask that way if I feel suffering from working for my own benefit?

R. No, you cannot.

S. What are my actions? I feel suffering from working for my own benefit. What should I ask?

R. Ask the Creator to give you an opportunity to bestow to others, to work for Him.

29. S. (01:19:54) What does it mean to come to a state of before he came to pray the Creator already answered his prayer?

R. We think from below up and the Creator gives us from above down, meaning for him the end of the action is in the initial thought and we need to get to that at one point as well. In other words, what He wants from us already exists in action for Him.

S. How do you get the answer, so how can you receive the answer in this way?

R. By wanting to cleave to the Creator, as much as he’s willing to do it.

S. But you already have the answer actually?

R. I do not have it, but the Creator does.

S. How can you see this answer?

R. Through adhesion, through adhesion, There Is None Else Besides Him. What can I propose to you?

28. S. (01:18:51) There is a verse in the third paragraph in the end, it says that when a person asks the Creator to bring him closer to his work and to do something for the sake of the Creator, a person can ask for Him to give him an intention for his own benefit. Can we ask that way if I feel suffering from working for my own benefit?

R. No, you cannot.

S. What are my actions? I feel suffering from working for my own benefit. What should I ask?

R. Ask the Creator to give you an opportunity to bestow to others, to work for Him.

29. S. (01:19:54) What does it mean to come to a state of before he came to pray the Creator already answered his prayer?

R. We think from below up and the Creator gives us from above down, meaning for him the end of the action is in the initial thought and we need to get to that at one point as well. In other words what He wants from us already exists in action for Him.

S. How do you get the answer, so how can you receive the answer in this way?

R. By wanting to cleave to the Creator, as much as he’s willing to do it.

S. But you already have the answer actually?

R. I do not have it, but the Creator does.

S. How can you see this answer?

R. Through adhesion, through adhesion.