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

Daily Lesson (Morning) May 15, 2025.

Part 2: Lesson on the Topic of Preparation to Convention.

Lesson 3: If I Am Not For Me, Who Is For Me

Reader: We are in preparation for the World Kabbalah Convention, connecting to “None Else Besides Him”, May 25. Lesson number three, the topic is, “If Not For Me, Who Is For Me?” Continuing from excerpt number two. You can find the study materials on Sviva Tova and the Arvut system, and ask questions through there.

Excerpt 2: Shamati, Baal HaSulam.

Reading: (00:32) If I am not for me, who is for me? And when I am for myself, what am I? This is an inherent contradiction. The thing is that one should do all of one's work by way of, If I am not for me, who is for me? That no one can save him but by your mouth and by your heart to do it. That is a discernment of reward and punishment.

However, to oneself in private, one should know that when I am for myself, what am I? This means that everything is in private providence and no one can do anything. If you say that if everything is private providence, why is there the issue of working in the form of I, if I am not for me, who is for me? Yet through working in the form of, If I am not for me, who is for me? One is awarded private providence, meaning attains it. Thus, everything follows the path of correction and the distribution of added fondness, called children of the Creator, is not revealed unless it is preceded by work in the form of, If I am not for me, who is for me? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (03:03) What is the difficulty in scrutinizing the “If I am not for me, who is for me?” And what difficulty do we have in None Else Besides Him? I can't understand that.

M. Laitman: I don't hear well. 

Student: I am asking, what difficulty do we have in scrutinizing “If I am not for me, who is for me?” And what difficulty do we have in scrutinizing None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: For that, we need, seemingly, in practice, to try this and that. If I am not for me, then who is for me? There is a law that acts on us. And we cannot go against it. And there is None Else Besides Him. 

Student: What is the right definition of “If not for me, who is for me?” Whoever wrote it, what did he mean?

M. Laitman: What it means is that there is one force that acts throughout reality. And that is how it exists. That is how it acts and influences.

Student: But the force working in If not for me, who is for me and the force working in None Else Besides Him, in creation. Because we don't go outside of creation. 

M. Laitman: Yes?

Student: So what's the difficulty? Where don't we understand, what if not for me, who is for me? Maybe we're not interpreting it right. More like saying it in a childish way. So, I'm trying to understand how to understand it correctly. If not for me, who is for me? And not just in a simple manner.

M. Laitman: We live in a world that is managed by a unique Upper Force, which we need to reveal. If I am not for me, who is for me? 

Student: So what is it discussing? If I am not for me, who is for me?” Who does it regard? 

M. Laitman: It's speaking about the person. 

Student: That will reveal the Upper Force. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, “if I am not for me, who is for me” is the condition that the Upper Force gave us in order to reveal Him.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, there's no contradiction between “if I am not for me, who is for me” and None Else Besides Him. They are conditions to discover None Else Besides Him. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (07:10) What's in your mouth and heart to do good? What does that mean? 

M. Laitman: To open all of the qualities, abilities, and to try through that to attain the root of the whole of reality. 

Student: Can you maybe add a bit more about it? What exactly do I need to open up there? 

M. Laitman: We need to try to open ourselves from all those qualities that conceal from us the world that we are living in. 

Student: So, “if I am not for me, who is for me” is work I'm doing on myself. In my attitude, actually. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: Not creation itself, where I have no contact? 

M. Laitman: No. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:15) I heard that I have to try to open myself from all those qualities that are concealed before me that exist, and in this way, I'm revealing myself towards the upper world. The article says that if not for me who is for me, everything is in private providence and no one can do anything else about it. So, where is the force of society here? What does it mean that nobody can do anything about it? 

M. Laitman: If we live in a system that has a beginning, and a goal, and that it is in this transition from its starting state until the state where it entirely needs to become revealed toward the person. And that is what we learn.

Student: So, continuing what I just heard Rav, how important is it that I open myself towards the society of the environment I'm in in order to take everything I need through them from the Creator, all that's concealed. How important is that actually? 

M. Laitman: First, if I am not for me, who is for me? So, from here we understand that everything depends on the person. We will learn onward.

Student: How do I connect between “if not for me, who is for me” to the force of the environment I'm in, the Ten? How do I connect that to one another? Because in the end, they say “if not for me, who is for me?” And I have to connect it to None Else Besides Him, which I get from my environment. 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, how do I connect the two together? 

M. Laitman: The discovery of There is None Else Besides Him is possible only through it becoming clear to me that there is nothing in the world other than me and the Upper Force. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (12:48) What does it mean that a person discovers private providence? What is private providence? 

M. Laitman: That the whole of reality, from its beginning until its end, exists in order to reveal the whole of reality to the person.

Student: Why, “if I'm not for me, who is for me” is the key to reach private providence like he writes here? 

M. Laitman: It is because that is the condition where if the person goes into exile of the whole system of heaven and earth, he needs to receive as a condition “if I am not for me, then who is for me?” 

Student: Is it right to say that this condition of “if not for me, who is for me” means that I am obligated to exert in order to reveal the Creator? That's the right interpretation of it? 

M. Laitman: Yes.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:42) Our work, it's clear that we're speaking about spiritual work. Sometimes they will write about something personal, like work, or throughout the day, things that are egoistic, but we need to only think of spiritual matters. Who am I? What is my identity? We work to discover that I am my Ten, that's my identity. So, if I don't work towards the Ten, who will work towards the Ten? Or is it only talking about my private work? 

M. Laitman: That speaks about individual work. 

Student: So, in the Ten, everything I do reflects on the state of my Ten. So, where is the border between the individual work and the work that reflects my Ten? 

M. Laitman: That's a problem, because we need to understand that the Creator, who is Good, Who Does good, and there is None Else Besides Him, that He is one. So, again the question… 

Student: Where is the limit? You said this excerpt is regarding my individual work. 

M. Laitman: Well? 

Student: We learned that my identity is in the Ten. The Ten is me. So, where is the border between that individual work and the common work in the Ten? 

M. Laitman: We need to reveal that.  

Question (Center 1): (19:07) When “if I am not for me, who is for me” brings a result of there is None else besides Him? 

M. Laitman: It is when you come to that, and when you reveal that, and that you are in that.

Question (Woman Heb 1): (19:33) What does it mean that in the world there's nothing but me and an upper force? How could that be right for so many people at the same time? 

M. Laitman: That is how we learn. And gradually we increasingly recognize the system of reality, and we learn from that that it does not interfere, that it is not opposed one from the other.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (20:53) What does “if I am not for me, who is for me” add upon there is None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: If I am not for me, who is for me points to the person, that it is the person's individual work, and there is None Else Besides Him is already a question about the essence of the operator. 

Student: What's the point of independence of a person where he becomes independent? 

M. Laitman: Yes? 

Student: It seems that the whole system builds some kind of independence, like a point that is outside the Creator.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So, what is this existence that there is a Creator and a point outside of him? 

M. Laitman: That is what you could say He created. 

Student: So what's “if not for me, who is for me?” 

M. Laitman: It is that I can reveal the creation from within that point of “if I am not for me, who is for me”  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (23:15) What am I doing for myself? What is my work for myself? Because usually our work is to be a guarantor, to be concerned of a friend, to be concerned of his reality. Because concern about myself is only a necessity. So, what are we speaking about here, if not for me, who is for me? It's like there is a certain type of work that I am only doing for myself. So, what is that? 

M. Laitman: It is that you, by doing so, you want to include the whole of creation and feel from within that connection the Creator's attitude to it.

Student: It's hard to understand it. To include all of creation, is there something more concrete? What does a person do that the Creator can't do, and friends can't do, that only I can do? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: What's this action of to include, to encompass all of creation? 

M. Laitman: It is that we ask to be in the sum of all the created beings, and to feel how the Creator then relates to us.

Student: It sounds like a prayer. 

M. Laitman: It could be that that also exists here. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (26:01) When a person defines “if I am not for me, who is for me,” does he come out of None Else Besides Him, or does that not exist for him yet? When he says “if I am not for me, who is for me.” 

M. Laitman: In the beginning, we attain the Creator's attitude toward the creation, that there is None Else Besides Him. Afterward, we attain the attitude of the created being toward the Creator. 

Student: So, what's so unique about “if I am not for me, who is for me?” What's special about it? Why do you need that action? 

M. Laitman: If I am not for me, who is for me? It speaks about the uniqueness of the created being. That it… again the question? 

Student: I'm asking, what's unique about the created being? Why do I need this action of “if I am not for me, who is for me?” 

M. Laitman: It is seemingly a question about the forces that exist outside of the person's sensation.

Student: If a person's purpose is to attain the Creator, or just say that there is None Else Besides Him, why does he need this action of “if I am not for me, who is for me?” Why must he come out of that into the day? 

M. Laitman: It is in order to be independent. 

Student: But in what is the independence? Because we say that your choice is to define that there is None Else Besides Him, that's the independence, to see Him in everything? 

M. Laitman: It is impossible to attain that the operator alone is the Creator. 

Student: When a person defines “if not for me, who is for me,” isn't that independence of the will to receive? He is working from within his own desire. When he defines that to himself, if I am not for me, who is for me? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, where is the correction here? We say that we want to reach None Else Besides Him. So, where is the correction if you have to come out from the state of “if I am not for me, who is for me?” 

M. Laitman: “If I am not for me, who is for me” discusses only the goal of the exertion. And there is None Else Besides Him discusses already in relation to the created being itself.

Student: So, a person that is in attainment, he goes with both of them together, on one hand, if I am not for me, who is for me in order to exert, and in parallel, on the other hand, he holds on to, there is None Else Besides Him, or does he cancel None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: If I am not for me, who is for me, it speaks about a person, it is directed toward the person on behalf of the Creator. And there is None Else Besides Him, this discusses the uniqueness of the Creator in the whole of creation, that He is the only one, and no one can be in His place.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:25) Where in a person does that point connect? Between “If I am not for me, who is for me”, and None Else Besides Him?

M. Laitman: If I am not for me, who is for me connects to these two conditions. If I am not for me, who is for me, and there is None Else Besides Him. Can... They can... 

Student: Should I ask again? Where do those two conditions: if not for me, who is for me, and None Else Besides Him connect inside the person? Where is that point where they become one in a person? 

M. Laitman: That is the connection of the desire and the intellect. 

Student: And then what happens in a person, actually? What is that combination between None Else Besides Him, and if not for me, who is for me? Because it is two things that contradict. What is there in that point where they combine? 

M. Laitman: In that combination, the person receives strength. An additional strength. A new strength. And this force needs to rise above this force even more. And thus attain that same point from which the Creator relates to him. 

Student: What is the definition of “me”? When I say, if not for me, who is for me? What is the definition of that “me”?

M. Laitman: The definition of “me” is the person's perception which can, from within that point, where he tries from within that point to connect the heaven and the earth. 

Student: This whole language isn't clear. It sounds like “if not for me, who is for me” is speaking about an individual. And if None Else Besides Him. But in the end, there's a person and a Creator. So, that link of the Ten is missing. Where is that? Where does that enter this concept of if not for me, who is for me? This me, Is that the individual? Is that the Ten? 

M. Laitman: The “me” is the point of connection of all the details. 

Student: There's me and there's a Creator. If not for me, who is for me, and None Else Besides Him. Where is the Ten here in the middle? 

M. Laitman: It speaks about that in which a person connects to the Ten. 

Reader: We gathered a lot of nice sources. We can keep reading if you want. You can elaborate on it. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (42:04) The work in “if I am not for me, who is for me” sounds to me like we need to build a Kli. A Kli is like a Merkava that brings us to the center of creation. What is this Kli? What is this Merkava? 

M. Laitman: Merkava is a common vessel that we build. That each and every one has his own place in there. And all in all, in the connection of all those parts, we built something that the result from the exertion only depends on the exertion of people that connect. Meaning, each and every one has, let's say, some desire. But those desires that want to share between them, to connect between them, that's what we're talking about. 

Student: Great. So is it true that each of us builds his own Merkava at the beginning of the day? And then we build a common Merkava? Or how does the process work?

M. Laitman: We need, every time, to feel ourselves. We are drawn to Merkava. Merkava is a collective, a collection.

Student: And could you please name the parts of this common vessel? What are the parts? 

M. Laitman: All the parts of the common vessel need to feel everyone in connection, and in that connection that they attain the unity. They don't need anything else but that. 

Student: Beautiful, and can we say that when we build this common Kli, when we build this Merkava, that it allows us to become partners of the Creator?

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: How does it allow us, how does it support us to become partners of the Creator?  

M. Laitman: We discover the purpose of the existence of all of reality and receive it as our purpose. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (47:05) These two states sound total. That there is None of us besides Him is complete control of the Creator, and if I am not for me, who is for me, then he needs to be completely in this state where if the person doesn't do it, then nothing will happen. It sounds as if, where do they meet? How can there be in one time those two states meeting? 

M. Laitman: Again? 

Student: Again, if I am not for me, who is for me sounds very total. That if I don't do everything until the very end, with all my efforts, then nothing will happen. And there is None of us besides Him is the complete control of the Creator. Only the Creator exists. And each of them is as if no place for the other side. How can they meet? How in one time can the two of them exist? 

M. Laitman: Again? 

Student: We say that there is None Else Besides Him is on behalf of the created being that He gathers all. That if I don't do it all now, it won't succeed and won't reach the goal. None of us Besides Him is on behalf of the Creator. Certainly, the Being feels it. And that is also something that is total. That this is only this control of the Creator. How can there be a certain place or time when they are both one? How can it be? Because each one is full in and of itself. How do they meet? What happens in the meeting point between them? 

M. Laitman: When the created being reaches a deficiency to connect with the Creator, that already turns all of his qualities to become correct for that connection. 

Student: So, if that's the case, if I'm not for me, who is for me is only in order to reach that extreme point of despair from if I am not for me, who is for me. Because otherwise, if he is full with his feeling of “if I'm not for me, who is for me,” so how does he let the Creator go in to do something there? 

M. Laitman: You're right.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:23) Can we say that only when we reach the quality of bestowal, meaning that we acquire the second nature, then we can say that there is None else besides Him? And beforehand, I'm always in “if I am not for me, who is for me.” Before we attain the quality of bestowal, if I am not for me, who is for me, then we need to rise above the ego to acquire the second nature, and then I can say and know that there is None Else Besides Him.

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And when I am in “if I am not for me, who is for me,” then he is in reward and punishment. He is still in there is None Else Besides Him, but the Upper Force makes him feel that he is in his own individual forces. 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: And that is reward and punishment. When we rise above reward and punishment and we're in complete bestowal, then he reveals that, and then there is None Else Besides Him. 

Reader: Excerpt 3, Rabash. 

Reading: (54:42) One should believe that there is none else besides Him, that the Creator does everything. In other words, as Baal HaSulam said, for each action, one should say that man was given only a choice, since if I am not for me, who is for me? Thus, everything depends on one's choice. However, after the fact, one should say that everything is private providence, and that one does nothing on his own. 

M. Laitman: Is that clear? You understand that? What's written here, is that clear? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:44) Yes, I don't know if I'm certain if I understand what action is it. I understand the action that we do in this world. Or could it be maybe an internal action, or maybe both? What does he mean by action? 

M. Laitman: That's not important. That is not important.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (57:22) According to what he says here, my attitude should always be that He is the first and He is the last, that there is None Else Besides Him. In practice, if I am not for me, who is for me? It is our choice to help the Creator to create a vessel, which is called one choice, which is called the fear of heaven. Meaning that without if I am not for me, who is for me, I cannot reach the fear of heaven. Meaning that it is a vessel not to be a fool that sits with his arms folded, with his arms crossed. Is that correct? That it is a choice not to be a fool that sits with his arms crossed, and to always see the Creator as the first and the last? 

M. Laitman: Yes.  

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:28) It is written in the excerpt that the person needs to believe that there is None else besides Him, that the Creator does everything. In other words, as Baal HaSulam said, before each action, one should say that man was given only one choice. Choice in what? 

M. Laitman: In which reason he chooses. 

Student: The reason for what? 

M. Laitman: He sees a world before him. In the world, there are billions of people. Who is forcing him to point on each one of them or all of them together, and how he accepts it and how he relates to it. 

Student: Meaning if he accepts it as there is None Else Besides Him, that is his choice? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: So it is as if, turns out, that if I am not for me, who is for me is the constant effort of the person to constantly reveal there is None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And the Creator, as a method, always distances the person from Him, sends him people, situations, obstacles, things in life. 

M. Laitman: Let's say so. 

Student: And the person needs to choose anew, to renew the efforts to reveal there is None else besides Him.

M. Laitman: Yes. 

Student: And when he reveals it, he needs to justify that it comes from the Creator and not from himself? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:37) I also wanted to ask about the excerpt. If after the person chooses and reveals at the end of the day that there is None Else Besides Him, what is his motivation to continue onward, that gradually he understands that everything is private providence? 

M. Laitman: Yes.

Student: So, what is his motivation to continue? In advance, he approaches this, even this small understanding that the Creator organizes everything. 

M. Laitman: And then, what's left? 

Student: It neutralizes him a bit to insert his own forces, because at the end, nothing happens with his own forces. Let's say we're one week before a convention. We're doing these preparations with our own strength to prepare, to invest, and exert. And then we come to the convention. And then when we come to the convention, there is None Else Besides Him. That we didn't do anything. Everything took place through private providence, right? So, what is the motivation to continue onward? Because you gradually start getting used to the Creator doing everything. There is this landlord that organizes everything, so why should I even invest and exert? Where is the person's motivation here? 

M. Laitman: What's he left with? 

Student: To adhere to there is None Else Besides Him. 

M. Laitman: How can he influence the advancement of the world? 

Student: The advancement of the world? As much as he corrects himself? 

M. Laitman: Okay, yes? 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:00) I wanted to ask you, in the law of “if I am not for me, who is for me.” It's more alive, more simple. I feel that we all live according to that law, that all actions, the person does. And when we talk about there is None Else Besides Him, so then immediately there are calculations. Because what Creator? What, that I believe in something, or I revealed something, because the deficiency to reveal Him is more my feeling. It's not that He is revealed, because the revelation of there is None Else Besides Him, the person feels that more in his mind. It doesn't exist. It's this pleasant feeling. So what's more important here? What do we want to do? To be in the deficiency that He doesn't exist and we want to reveal Him, or to be in the state of there is None Else Besides Him, that He already exists, and everything is pleasant and okay, and He is in every single one of my desires, He is in every one of my states.

M. Laitman: Okay.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:51) It's written in the excerpt that the person needs to believe that the Creator does everything, and the Creator needs to believe that the choice was given to him. How do we combine those two? Where does the Creator do everything and where is everything up on the person? 

M. Laitman: We have to find an answer that will include both those conditions. 

Student: How can a person know how to relate to, or when to relate to, there is None Else Besides Him, and when I should act according to “if I am not for me, who is for me?” 

M. Laitman: Doesn't that depend on a person? 

Student: What doesn't depend on the person? 

M. Laitman: How he relates to creation? 

Student: It does depend on the person. My question is, how does a person know when to say, if I am not for me, who is for me, and when to say there is None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: Okay.

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:06:21) Is it possible to ask the Rav for a advice about traveling to the convention next week? 

M. Laitman: No, that's not for now. 

Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:14) When the Creator invites us to the convention and we need to build the convention, is that there is None Else Besides Him, or is that “if I am not for me, who is for me?” 

M. Laitman: You decide. 

Student: We say that there is a convention, its goal is to reveal there is None Else Besides Him. That's the title of the convention: Connecting to there is None Else Besides Him. What is our work here in “if I am not for me, who is for me” in order for the convention to be, there is None Else Besides Him? 

M. Laitman: It's a good question. Yes.

Student: What is the responsibility of the Ten? 

M. Laitman: On the right decision? 

Student: Yes. 

M. Laitman: That's already implanted in the answer of the first question. 

Student: It's very much felt here that on one hand, everyone has this work with “if I am not for me, who is for me.” And on the other hand, it very much depends on the connection of each and every one toward the Ten. How? What determines the extent to which a person demands from within the Ten, and how much he demands from within himself, detached from the Ten? 

M. Laitman: That's also a question to discuss. All right. We are already broke through to the last hour.