Morning Lesson December 20, 2020 Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves possibility for errors

Envy - Selected Excerpts from the Sources

1. Rav’s Introduction: This is a very good example that stands out how much we can work with all those qualities the Creator has made in us, placed in us, nurtured in us and we can turn each and every quality He created and use it correctly. So that throughout all creation there is nothing that the Creator created frivolously, eventually it is shown to us that it all depends on how we use the most prominent example, that is the quality of hatred, I'm sorry, sorry not hatred, but envy. When we feel from the moment as a small child starts to notice that there are other kids next to him and they have something so he immediately wants what the others have, even if he has the same no, he wants what the other as well and for the other kid to have nothing and he should have everything. Meaning, envy is the fundamental quality of our desire to receive, we cannot get rid of it, we cannot get rid of anything because we have to use the whole desire to receive and we have to turn it to a desire to bestow and we have to learn how to work with being envious in such a way that it will not disappear, it will not obscure it blur it out. We look at all the friends and see how big they are, how smart they are, how much they understand more, how more sensitive they are, how they advance together, they connect together, to what extent they are closer to the Creator.

I have to be grateful to the Creator for showing me this, that I am not indifferent to the friends but they do appear bigger, better and I am lagging behind and I have the strength to chase them, I have to glue myself to them. I thank the Creator to awaken such an envious feeling in me to see how much they are connected to each other, they have the bond between them and I am feeling outside, to me it feels that I am standing outside I am not exactly one among them. I feel envy and in general I have to check myself, I have to feel my envy is a positive one, is it becoming more scrutinized, clarified. I pay attention to more and more discernments in the friends which I want for myself and I don't want them to decrease there but I will have their qualities which I feel envious about. So it turns out that envy is the first instrument that helps the person to progress on the spiritual path to the Creator. It is written that envy, lust and honor take a person out of this world, they are three means, envy is the first one and there I use it not to be above them since in spirituality it is the other way around. I use envy to be below them.

Each time I have greater envy and I have to see myself lower than the other, I am willing to serve everybody and this way I progress all the time. The person who is advancing this way is becoming very sensitive and strong together with that as for the sake of the goal, that use of envy thanks to that, the person becomes stronger, tougher. He is building in himself the envy is building the person but we always need to check the essence of envy and is awakening in us. Whether it should be always there, I cannot be a zero to the group as Rabash writes unless I feel them as great, to the extent I feel them as great and myself little, I can advance and I do not erase this gap, this image of the friends being above me that they appear bigger and bigger to me. I don't want my envy to disappear but each time each day I need to make sure that it remains and if I wake up in the morning and I do not have it. It is natural the person awakens, arises as a beast and other than this animal, the human awakens in him and this feeling of envy has to awaken in the person and we have to make sure it does not disappear. Envy does not cancel the others, does not diminish them in my eyes. I use this feeling in order to uncover the deficiency in me to what I see in the friends, to the extent I see in them such things that develop it to the attainment of the goal, to the connection between them, knowledge intellect, feelings, perseverance, persistence. God forbid, I do not think how to lower them in my eyes, on the contrary, how to grow them and raise those qualities which appear to me. I am grateful that the Creator tries to show me constantly how I am not equal to the friends, that I am lower than them. I ask him to constantly grow the feeling of envy in me as much as possible more and more. Just to have the power to realize it.

The test for the good envy is according to the deficiency it gets, the correct envy we get a deficiency for the connection with the friends and the Creator. To this direction I need to envy the friends how much they advance, how much envy they provoke in me and I see these qualities as necessary for advancement towards the Creator, how happy I am about this that I see the others greater than me. This is the test, is my envy the positive one, how great they are, how great the other ones are, because I see how great they are, my attitude to it is positive. I come closer to them, I want to be like them and that this envy becomes a leverage, the power which develops me positively to the goal, that envy of the Lord of Hosts. Thus, we can talk about this in spiritual terms, we have to learn how to use it if there was no envy without this the person would remain at rest and would have nothing to propel him forward, so we must not close our eyes to spiritual envy. But we have to constantly develop it and see how by that, my thoughts, my desires, they grow and I think only about one thing, my desire to receive, my Malchut, should be like a black point which is missing the upper 9. This upper 9 is in the friends and outside of the friends I do not have any spirituality since everything I attain in the friends, all the qualities which I discover in the friends, these 9 qualities, the upper 9. The more I scrutinize and reveal it in them I receive the revelation of the Creator, the greatness of the Creator and the qualities I receive from the friends I reveal the Creator in them, these are the upper 9 of my soul. I am just the Malchut that annuls itself to live inside the upper 9 so I have to nullify myself to live in this upper 9 to exist in them only as reflected light.

What does that mean that all my wants to absorb the upper nine and I want to realize in them and to the extent absorb them and attach these upper nine to the Malchut, the friends, in them I reveal the friends. Then it is clear I cannot reveal the Creator if I don't feel envy to the friends, if I don't integrate in them, if I don't make myself a zero, that serve them unconditionally and specifically this way I acquired the spiritual vessel the upper 9 of the soul by nullifying the Malchut. I ascribe myself to this upper 9 and this is how we advance and each and every day I have to check myself to see how much I am capable of revealing my friends higher and higher degrees and how much I want to be together with them. Turning to the friends equals to turning to the Creator and there I am sure that both the forces of the Creator and the forces of the Creator through the friends will influence me and by that I advance myself and I will be able to arrange myself correctly. So this is the introduction to the lesson and we will see a few questions and we go to the excerpts.

2. S. (14:17) I feel guilty as I do not attend the meeting due to my physical work. I feel envy towards the friends. Will this guilt help me to advance?

R. If you use this correctly it will help you advance again on the condition you use it correctly.

3. S. (15:11) Is the good envy is like a prayer from the bottom of the heart?

R. The envy is only showing you that there are people who are closer to the Creator on the spiritual path, what is envy, someone is ahead of me on the way to the Creator. So accordingly, I have to perform a calculation, what do I do, either I don't want to see it because it makes me feel bad or I want to learn from the other to acquire his qualities. Like he has, he learns more, advanced more, he is more connected to the friends and so on. Meaning the judgement of envy is the most beneficial for our correction if we arrange ourselves correctly that I want to be together with the friends I turn to the Creator to help me with this. The more I look at the friends and I see them more successful than myself, this is the power that advances me as there is nothing greater than envy, the will to receive is immersed in this I do not have any more beneficial means to advance.

4. S. (17:00) The in materialistic psychology uses envy as an engine, can you explain the relationship between envy as an engine fuel and how to use it spirituality?

R. I constantly explain nothing else it is not materialistically, but only what appears in the wisdom of Kabbalah about envy as it is written the envy of counters increases wisdom to the extent I looked at and the friends and I are impressed by the spiritual qualities they seem to have. They help each other, they come closer to each other, they study together, they desire to reach the Creator by nullifying themselves. All these things are what Rabash writes about in the group I feel they have more of those qualities compared to me and that I feel envy, it hurts my desire to receive on one hand on the other hand it advances me.

5. S. (18:35) How does the Creator appear when I am happy seeing the good qualities in the friends, am I envious of that or I try to discover it?

R. In both, I envy the friends when I see their qualities, I am happy that my friends have such great qualities I can follow because that advances me and if I am by myself, I see myself, I know how much I cannot make any movement. It can be a day or a few months and I am not moving, I do not have any attraction, drive to spirituality and I am like a rock in this life. Then suddenly I am impressed by the friends and I start to move, I am uncomfortable, I don't feel good, I want to be like them, why am I not like them, such an envy but a good kind which develops me towards equivalence with the Creator. At least nearing the Creator, this is the good kind of envy and I tend to them, I ask how to be included in them, how to be with them. I turn it to the Creator to be with the friends and all the time I see as much as I advance to be included in them as much as I want to get closer to the Creator, it is not enough. So, I get more and more stressed about how to reach adhesion with the friends and how to reach adhesion with the Creator and only motivated through envy. It is worthwhile to develop it and check that each and everyone has the attainment of envy and to use this correctly and that is for a good future.

6. S. (21:01) What kind of work awakens envy in the friends and how to do it not to awaken negative envy more, we say good things about the friends how...?

R. The best thing is if the friends see that the group is united, cohesive the friends see that they like the connection with the others compared to the connections that group already has. They see with big eyes when they look at the group, I feel ok, I'm also connected like them but it always seems I am less than everybody else, I do not have enough tendencies, qualities pulling me to the goal between them there is more closeness, they speak more together they feel the connection between them. I am somehow outside of it so what can I do? I am constantly in this deficiency, always want more and I need to add to this deficiency the prayer to the Creator.

S.

R. No, we do not need to do it purposefully, maybe you can do it but it might not be misconstrued and it will cause more harm. For the time being we are speaking about the current form to have the connection between us to show this to everybody and to provoke in everybody a good envy not artificially but that truly we want this connection where each feels that he is not the best in this and then he can improve still.

7. S. (23:35) What is more important for me to reach similarity of form being envious of the friend or even more being envious of the teacher?

R. You cannot really be envious of the teacher because it will not bring you closer to the goal practically, the most important is envy of the friends because this will bring you closer to them you have to connect to them and then you build the place for the revelation of the Creator.

8. S. (24:26) When you feel envious of specific friends in the world group or in the ten and how other tens advance compared to my ten, is this negative envy or can we use it for progress?

R. The difference between good and negative envy is portrayed in the result, not in the picture you see but what does this invoke in you as a result of the influence of the group do you want to connect more? Do you want to advance with them, dissolve in them or do you feel calm and relaxed by yourself?

9. S. (25:21) Which demand should I ask from the Creator first a friend to feel envy to others or I need to envy others?

R. First of all I have to strengthen my envy so that I will truly feel a good envy for the friends who are connected and yearn together to the Creator, after this all the other kinds of envy but this is the most important thing. This will place me deeper into the ten this is what we need to care about until we build this ten as one body.

10. S. (26:18) How does the order of envy, lust and honor influence the vessel, why did the Kabbalists put the envy before the other two?

R. Because they saw that the envy is the thing that is closest to the will to receive, to the person's egoistic heart, and this is the most powerful means to change the person, like we read in those parables, if I give you one portion and your friend two portions than the person says poke out one of my eye if you poke out both eyes of the friend. Envy is something very powerful it does not give the person any rest, it is the strongest engine of our advancement.

11. S. (27:36) What does it mean that the envy pulls the person out of this world?

R. From this world, from the will to receive to the will to bestowal, this is what envy does, if I see that somebody is more successful than me in bestowal, in being in love of friends, in advancement to the Creator to the quality of bestowal, then I pray and I want that. It is exactly like this in the parable with the two eyes and one eye, they can harm me but my enemy should be harmed twice. The inverse of this is also true in respect to advancement to the Creator the envy is inside the desire to receive and one feels that the other has more, and it is enough for me to advance, we will soon read the excerpts and you will understand it more.

12. S. (29:00) I will feel envy towards the friends but at the same time I see them above me, how is this possible?

R. Yes, you see the friends above you because he is greater, because otherwise you don't feel envy, you have to portray the friend as great, this is what Rabash writes in his articles that we have to see ourselves as zero and more and more zero compared to the friends, and this is the recipe for advancement.

13. S. (29:47) Is the positive envy directly connected to the connection or to bestowal?

R. Both connection and bestowal, it is simply the development, it is only the matter of development.

14. S. (30:17) Ultimately what do I have to feel envy for, is it the quality of connection or each and everyone of them?

R. Both.

15. S. (30:39) How to correctly develop envy towards each friend in the ten?

R. Whatever you see in them that you lack, you have to think that you need to increase it and help to attain this.

16. S. (31:00) Positive envy brings inspiration and connection to the friends and negative envy brings hatred and separation?

R. Yes.

17. S. (31:23) Envy is a state where I have to empty my vessel to be filled by the qualities of the friends?

R. Yes.

18. S. (32:09) In the physical world envy comes naturally but in spirituality we always have to do the restriction over Malchut to get the impression?

R. We need to look at the friends to see what is in them, and ask myself, do I feel envy them or not, maybe in place of envy I have some derision, they connect between them, or they have a intimate connection and this is me, this is where I am, they care for each other, they sit, they learn, they talk and I'm off to the side. It is a pride and this pride destroys the person, throws him away, off the path of spirituality. There is nothing worse than pride and there is nothing better than envy. In order to mitigate the suffering of envy the person is willing to close his eyes and hold himself higher, they connect, they learn I do not need this, I have my own path. This is pride and corresponding to that there is envy, on the other side where I feel envy, they are greater, they are better, they are more connected. Of course, the Creator gives us these feelings but to develop these feelings, this is something the person has to do, the person has to work on that. Hence, we have to pay attention, how we are advancing in this. I need to check myself constantly am I in a positive envy, do I want to be together with them, do I want to run to them, do I want to be among the friends and so on. God forbid, I should not have a certain thought, even the smallest thought at the back of my head that it is not too bad, that I will be there later and they can run forward. I have to be 100% in the feeling of envy in a great burning envy that develops me, advances me, it is not even about the friends in the group, but it is a force that attracts you to the goal.

S. How can I do this, do I emotionally look for examples each time?

R. Not necessarily even generally you come to a state where you wish to be integrated in them, included in them to have the same tendency they have. Again, there is not much to speak of, I want us to reach the excerpts finally and from them we will understand more.

Excerpt 1 Reader (35:57 - 36:42)

19. R. It turns out that I am separate from the entire vessel of Adam HaRishon, I only have my personal tiny deficiency, a point in the heart, I don't know where to go, I don't know what to do, I am lacking something but I do not know what. Everybody knows this deficiency that exists in him, now we try to gradually learn where it is most worthwhile for me to aim my point in the heart, what does it want, I do not know what I want from my life, this inner point does not give us a direction. So the Creator brings someone to the good fortune, to the group and it tells you to take it, and the direction a person acquires is how to nullify to the group, it does not matter if it is a big group or a small group as long as in general it is a purposeful group, somehow. Already the person begins to aim his point in the heart in the right direction, and by this begins to develop. This development is from the point in the heart to be included in the upper 9 of his soul as we learned about it especially now, this can be done only by envy until one starts to envy the Creator, all these higher forces, and by this he acquires the qualities and this is how we advance. We need to understand that envy is the biggest leverage, the most beneficial force that can actually propel us, push us towards the purpose of creation.

Excerpt 2 Reader (38:56 - 39:50)

20. R. First of all we have to see how the Creator arranged everything for us, this is how we developed in this world, how the whole of humanity developed until we reach the state where we have to rise above the beastly corporeal goals and begin to discover the spiritual means how to rise above this world, this life. Look what is happening now with humanity in the past one hundred years, how humanity started to chase various achievements, corporeal achievements and slightly spiritual achievements as well, before nothing like this existed, we see this is the development of humanity, and this way we will come to the goal. What we do in the group is merely the acceleration of one’s spiritual development towards the path of Torah instead of the path of suffering. Consequently, we don't wait for the forces of nature to push us through suffering, like it is happening with humanity with wars, crisis, all kinds of problems, but we want to run to the spiritual goal by ourselves and quickly. It is very while for us to develop the forces which can push and develop us to the goal quickly and better, this is the meaning of advancing on the path of Achishena.

21. S. (41:49) How to move from being envious of the friend's qualities to actually acquire the friend's qualities?

R. By wanting to be similar to them, by learning from them, like your mother used to say, try to be like your friends, so keep doing it yourself, trying to learn from them.

22. S. (42:19) We learn together how to draw the reforming light but I cannot understand how this light has to do with envy?

R. Use envy more and from your efforts you will understand how consequently you require the reforming light, you will be more of a person of actions and less of a philosopher, you will work less with your intellect and more with practical actions.

23. S. (43:03) If for instance I see that a friend is talented in dissemination it works for him very well because of his abilities, as I cannot disseminate this way.

R. We are not talking right now about success in various external actions only in those actions we can realize and implement in the group. It is good that you asked about it because I did not say this line before, especially when we speak about envy we speak about those qualities, actions which we realize in the connection between the friends, this is the most important.

24. S. (44:06) Can we say that envy of the greatness of the friend has to make me happy in my heart?

R. Of course it has to be joy, happiness, if I see the friends’ success and I feel envy for the success, I do not torment myself when I feel envy, it is in the contrary because it advances me to the goal. So even this negative quality such as envy I am happy to have it, and the more the better, because ultimately it brings me to the purpose of creation, so I am not hiding this quality in me. On the contrary, I am happy that I feel envy to all my friends, how great they are. The fact that we talked about the writings of Rabash, that we have to see the others 10x 100x, thousands of times more, this is envy, I have to see them like that and want to be like them, or maybe I want to erase them, so they all become zeros, but this is the negative envy. So on the contrary I want them to be the greatest and I am the smallest and I want to advance alongside them, this is how it happens.

25. S. (45:42) It happens to me that I come to a brief state of wholeness and I feel that the friends are already there, and they left it long time ago, is this state showing me the work which is not complete to the ten, or is it a correct step to feel the whole ten?

R. Everything is right, correct, it is good to see the friends more advanced and then I can chase them.

26. S. (46:24) What can I do when envy makes me feel that this path is not for me, because the friends are too great and I cannot reach them?

R. This is very good, I used to be among the people who studied with Baal HaSulam and they told me how they learned, how they got to him, nobody had cars or buses and Baal HaSulam started teaching around midnight, in short it was not simple at all. Sometimes they would come to him and they stay in the previous evening and remain sleeping on the benches. These were the stories and when I was there among them, between such great scholars of TES and I was just a little boy, I was 30 years old and they were 60 years old, and it was good. I am like a little child sitting on the lap of the grown-ups and I hear what they talk about, I learn from them, is this bad, why is it negative, if I am in such a group where everybody is so great and I can be together when I just need to integrate with them, to belong to them, to be like them, to open my mouth and a swallow everything they say, everything they do, participate in all their states and actions, this is all good. If I could see today there is a group somewhere or a person, but let's say a group, because one person is not enough, a group which is better more successful than ours, then I would go there, I would check it a few times of course, but I would go, I would move there to learn from them, since only among those who are a greater, among the grownups who are suitable for my advancement, only the next to them can I advance, this is a very important

27. S. (49:15) How is it possible to connect envy and nullification, they seem opposite, how to bring them together?

R. No envy and being nullified are not opposite, I nullify myself to reach the right envy, I want to be like them, I want to integrate, I want to do what they do so I have to nullify myself, this goes hand-in-hand.

28. S. (50:00) With a focused view I see the friends greater, but in practice during the day, when there is an action which one does, and it has to awaken envy in me, I see that my body blurs it

R. Ok so wage war on your body what is the problem, you have certain discernments so do it in a way that your body that disturbs you, so do not erase it but against it integrate with the envy.

S. What you say is clear, but my body is still blurring it, is there practical advice to get into this even though we know that the body blurs it?

R. And it will happen more and more, you will have to overcome more and more this is the path.

29. S. (51:04) You said that the best envy advances the person, to what level should we reach this?

R. Until the final correction, until the end of correction, even feeling envy to the Creator because the person has the desire to receive the Creator created for him, specifically using this desire everybody can advance even to the 7th 8th and 9th Millennium.

30. S. (51:50) In the group we generally play, sometimes play as a Malchut sometimes as Keter, so the envy, do we have to stimulate it on one hand and suppress it on the other hand?

R. This is exactly what happens to us with the envy, with the envy I see myself as lower than everybody else, when I compare myself to them, so I want to make an action which is greater than the others’ action, so envy is pushing me to feel below the others and above the others at the same time.

31. S. (52:44) Is it correct to say that envy has to bring such a spirit of competition of bestowal?

R. Correct the envy should provide a feeling of competition between us in bestowal, how much the friends want to bestow compared to the others and there is no shame here, it is not against spirituality it is in the direction of spirituality because we give each other example how each tries to be the best giver.

32. S. (53:28) What is the best possible way of using envy in the work?

R. Constantly feel that you are envious, constantly and that it eats you up, it does not let you rest until you eventually try to resemble them, this is the correct use of envy.

33. S. (54:01) How does the Creator relate to the prayer when the reason of the prayer is envy?

R. The Creator relates as he relates, don't ask about the Creator ask about yourself what you need to do.

Excerpt Rabash Article 140 The Difference Between Envy and Lust. Reader (54:49 - 56:21)

34. R. We should have that example, it is like a funny allegory that we have from life as well, that is what we have to see the judgment of envy as a very important one and we need to use it.

Excerpt 3 Reader (56:43 - 57:58)

35. S. If I discovered myself having bad envy, meaning envy that forces me to erase the source of envy what should I do?

R. In principle we don't perform any action if it happens in our desires or our thoughts, rather we understand that we receive it all from the Creator into our thoughts and our desires. Consequently, we have to respond to the Creator that there is none else besides Him, so whatever happens to me I turn to the Creator and I am talking to the Creator. Together with that I can activate myself towards the friends and the group but mostly all of our reactions are towards the Creator because the Creator stands behind the friends and He influences me through the group and I need to try and return that to Him and not to blur it out. So good things bad things in thought and desire, I always have to turn to the source, otherwise I don't advance towards that source or to revealing it.

S. Sometimes there is a state even for a fraction of a second that covers you with hate for the friend?

R. You can't do anything if hate comes and you feel you are shaking like that you have such hate, you can't do anything about it, if it is a true feeling. Gradually through the influence of the environment that you have prepared in advance, the support of the group, you bring yourself back to balance and then begin to analyze the situation. I received this from the Creator so He would show me just how much I am in His hands or through Him I am in my egoistic inclination and what should I do to balance myself, to advance with the feeling towards the group and the Creator. I can't approach the Creator directly only to the extent that I connect to the group in the center of the group I connect to the Creator. I have to see this simply spread before me. There is none as wise as the experienced to have to do it repeatedly again in various forms and you will see you will find the golden path.

36. S. (01:01:44) We are moving towards love as one man and one heart, it doesn't work for me how we say that you don't envy those you love, like kids.

R. No, you envy them but through good envy. How can you learn from your teacher, a music teacher, it doesn't matter, only through envy I look how he does it so well I want to do it as well. This is envy, it is not negative or positive there is nothing in the world that is negative or positive it only depends upon how the person uses it. Each and everything. For every hate there is love it depends only how you scrutinize those things and use them.

37. S. (01:03:23) Can we speak about envy in the ten towards the friends?

R. If it is a good example and it can advance everyone's and of course yes.

Excerpt 4 Reader (01:04:26 - 01:05:54) reads twice

38. R. In the group in the ten each one needs to try to raise the ten, the connection between the friends, the purpose of the ten should be as big as possible and each one should try for everyone to be impressed by it.

Excerpt 5 Reader (01:26:21 - 01:07:20)

39. R. This is the crux of the matter if I advance towards the spiritual goal, bestowal, love of friends, if I am in a society of great people this is the best and the worst I fail in seeing them as great is a sign I am not properly aimed at the goal and the Creator.

Excerpt 6 Reader (01:07:55 - 01:08:45) reads twice

40. R. To the extent that we feel ourselves as small compared to this society with this condition we can receive from society everything they have and behind all of the friends stands the Creator and these friends can be very small, very small, however if I wish to receive through them from the Creator who stands behind them I can receive Ein Sof, you remember the story about Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma who says how can I leave my group of students, they are little ones, they are new and small but they have a desire for spirituality therefore through them I connect through the Creator and I can receive all of Ein Sof. Although my students, these kids are small it doesn't matter, great ones or small ones, friends. It all depends how much I aim myself to receive from the Creator who stands behind them. Is that clear? So my attitude towards the society who is a whole society, because behind them stands the Creator it wants and yearns to come to him even if they did not reach spiritual degrees they yearn for it and it is enough for me and does not limit me and I can advance.

41. S. (01:10:48) How does envy work on the vessels of the Masach that causes the ascent of the degree?

R. It grows the desire in a certain direction and I can move in that direction and because I received this envy from my impression of the group then thanks to the envy I can be included in the group and through it I am included in the Creator. This is how I advance towards the goal, the envy aims me on that axis, I the group and the Creator, simile of I, Israel and the Creator are one.

42. S. (01:11:45) What is the right way to show greatness to the friends?

R. I think that if we are advancing correctly in a group, in the studies, in our gathering of friends and being connected toward one another daily, I think it comes and it comes by itself as I feel myself connected to them, gradual it comes but in me there is such an impression that I can truly come to the goal where we are in a connection. I'm starting to feel the importance of the connection with the friends more than the importance of the connection with the Creator. I can feel the friends as more important than the Creator since specifically the connection with them is what raises me to connect to the Creator and if I pray, I pray for my connection with the friends, the connection between us. From this connection if I can attain it then already I begin to pray to the Creator I begin to yearn to the connection for Him and in the time being, I am on one side the Creator's on the other side, the group is in the middle and I'm asking the Creator to perform the connection between me and the group.

Baal HaSulam Article The Freedom (01:13:36 - 01:17:23)

Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma (Avot, Chapter 6), who replied to a person who offered him to live in his town, and he would give him millions of gold coins for it: “Even if you give me all the gold and silver and jewels in the world, I will live only in a place of Torah.” These words seem inconceivable to our simple mind, for how could he relinquish millions of gold coins for such a small thing as living in a place where there are no disciples of Torah, while he himself was a great sage who needed to learn from no one? Indeed, a mystery.

But as we have seen, it is a simple thing and should be observed by each and every one of us. Although everyone has his own source, the forces are revealed openly only through the environment one is in. This is similar to the wheat sown in the ground, whose forces become apparent only through its environment, which is the soil, rain, and sunlight.

Thus, Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma correctly assumed that if he were to leave the good environment he had chosen and fall into a harmful environment in a city where there is no Torah, not only would his former concepts be compromised, but all the other forces hidden in his source, which he had not yet revealed in action, would remain concealed. This is because they would not be subject to the right environment that would be able to activate them.

And as we have clarified above, only in the matter of the choice of environment is man’s reign over himself measured, and for this he should receive reward or punishment. Therefore, one must not wonder that a sage such as Rabbi Yosi Ben Kisma chose the good and declined the bad, and was not tempted by material or corporeal things, as he deduces there: “When one dies, one does not take with him silver, gold, or jewels, but only Torah and good deeds.”

And so our sages warned, “Make for yourself a rav and buy for yourself a friend.” And there is also the choice of books, as we have mentioned, for only in this is one rebuked or praised—in his choice of the environment. But once he has chosen an environment, he is at its hands as clay in the hands of the potter.

43. S. (01:17:24) When I identify that I am envious of the friends in the ten, is it me or my soul that wishes to advance what is the right approach?

R. I don't know how to distinguish between one's self and the soul, the desire, what is his desire he should check precisely. Should not be confused about books or something, what is his desire? How can I aim my desire towards connection with the friends in order to uncover the connection with the Creator this is all we need. Clear?

44. S. (01:18:37) How can we help a friend who on one hand chose envy towards the friends and on the other hand you see that it burdens him?

R. So he's still not capable of working correctly with envy but the fact that he feels the friends and the group is advancing and he is not 100% with the connection, that is good. We should feel this way each time that we have a lot to add in order to be in connection with the friends and with the Creator. The fact that I feel like I am lacking, in order to aim myself at them and at the Creator.

S. In our part as a ten we need to stop everything and focus on him?

R. No, no one stops, all of us advance together towards the Creator, each one and what he feels that he is lacking and he should try to complete it. Each one should also care about providing a good example towards the friends.

45. S. (01:20:00) If a person doesn’t see the friends as great and can’t be envious of them is thought a good device to change the emotion?

R. Do everything in your power and beyond that in order to see the friends as great in the connection between them, the tendency towards attaining the goal. Everything that you can do possibly to be impressed by it as without it you have no advancement.

46. S. (01:20:40) ....

R. We need to distinguish from where a person is in this world looking for ways to advance and then the Creator twists him until He brings him to a group, the right place and then he begins to advance correctly and if he doesn't have it he needs to look for it. Today it's through the internet, through various means where he is looking for the place that fits that is suitable for his spiritual development.

Excerpt 7 Reader (01:21:51 - 01:22:55)

47. R. It all depends on the measure of envy, how much I wish to resemble the friends, how much I want to be a part of them and their path.

Excerpt 8 Reader (01:23:09 - 01:24:24) reads twice

48. R. I think this is the most powerful envy. Maor VaShemesh is the book that was extremely loved by Baal HaSulam if you would ask where he took it from him he would say look in that book. Truly so.

49. S. (01:24:51) What about envy from one ten towards another ten?

R. We're not talking about other tens.

S. We get inspiration from seeing, let's say one group from coming to the preparation a half hour before everyone. Is this something we can use to awaken others or to strengthen the tens this way?

R. Of course it is worthwhile, but we're not learning about working between the tens just yet. You will be able to work in that when you have a feeling of unity in the ten at least for the first few degrees that we are already connected and we have our own identification for the group. That we have a picture of the group, the image of the group and in that image we also have a name, numbers, something that we attain together. Before you have that in the group there is no one to connect with someone else.

S. This is to have envy of......

R. This will confuse us until then I need to work on the connection in the ten and not look at other tens. It is important for me to come to a stage where I am in a ten that has a certain modicum of connection, what we call identification. It is a ten, it is a being, and entity and from there we can move forward.

50. S. (01:26:57) I have envy for some of my friends but not others, what do I do?

R. At least you try to resemble the friends that you envy.

S. Should a friend that I am envious of know it and know which qualities I am envious of?

R. If I envy someone I need to know exactly what I envy, how can I envy someone without clarifying what those qualities are?

S. Should the friend himself know that one is envious of him?

R. No that is not a must, we will clarify it later what kind of relationship and feedback might exist here but it can corrupt things. It is enough to feel envy towards a friend and work on myself.

S. If Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma was offered a better environment would he leave his group?

R. This I don't know you will have to ask him so let us rise to his degree and ask him along the way you can reach that to ask.

51. S. (01:28:31) What is the better envy, if I see the friends uplifting above their coarseness or if they give me an example for bestowing in unity?

R. How can you have one without the other I don't know, but let's say how they rise above the coarseness that is clearer but again that is a confused question.

52. S. (01:29:20) The jealousy towards the friends when I see them connected, it gives me gratitude to the Creator, should I see them corrected more?

R. Of course yes this is a well-respected and very correct prayer.

53. S. (01:29:49) When a Kabbalist writes the word envy he is speaking about the spiritual world or this world because it speaks about something that I have really tried everything but I can't force myself to be envious so what is it writing about?

R. It's a problem if you don't see the friends that you envy, it's not good. It is a sign that you feel that you are higher. You don't appreciate them enough, we always have to show them as greater or someone else as greater that it doesn't interfere with the connection between us as it is recommended that I see myself as a smallest as Rabash writes and it sounds like you didn't read those group articles enough and you need to go over them again what Rabash writes about the group and then you will see how to realize them.

Excerpt 9 Reader (01:31:03 - 01:32:55)

54. R. These are things we don't really understand but the main thing is that we have to come to a state where we unite in mind and heart among us in such a way that the Creator can be revealed, that is it and that is enough. This simple picture.

Excerpt 10 Reader (01:33:17 - 01:34:44)

Excerpt 11 Reader (01:34:45 - 01:35:28)

55. R. This should be the prayer to ask the Creator to show me that the friends are greater than I, it doesn't matter how great they are or not, the Creator stands behind all of the friends and the more He shines through them the greater I will see them. So, when I ask to see the friends as great it is actually turning to the Creator and asking Him in this way to influence and promote me. I have to see the friends as a means for adhesion for advancement towards the Creator and not that in themselves have some sort of authority. Just like me, we are all only operating in the system that advances us towards adhesion with the Creator.

Excerpt 12 Reader (01:36:27 - 01:37:11)

56. S. What is the advice if I hear friends who say that I see the friends are great in reason but that it doesn't give me envy so what can I do as a friend?

R. If it can't stir up envy in you it is a sign that you are behind, you are behind in your development. It is like a child, looking at the children around him he can play with the ball he can jump, he can do something like this or like that. This child looks at them and it doesn't stir anything up in him, how would you look at that child? What would you say about him? Likewise, you with friends, when they engage in all kinds of activities and connections amongst themselves, that don't wake you up, it is a sign that you are behind in your spiritual growth. You can still participate with them physically, it is called faith in the sages, if the sages tell you to do this you do it even if you have no desire and you don't understand what for you just do the activities and then from Lo Lishma you come to Lishma. This is what it is called.

57. S. (01:39:10) What is the connection between envy and jealousy and how does jealousy influence envy if there is a connection?

R. For now we just need to know what it means to be envious, how to look at the friend and learn from him what I have to do, how to resemble the friend through adhesion with a friend through prayer to the Creator, through all of the actions that I do.

58. S. (01:39:49) We were speaking about the need to increase the envy that it will grow, give advice on what to focus on?

R. Connection, connection among everyone when I see a friend learns more that he is more active in the group that he is willing to take upon himself all kinds of activities to connect to everyone and his main concern is for everyone to be connected. He advertises it among the friends, this is what I should envy, this is what I should learn from him.

59. S. (01:40:38) Do I need to invest efforts in seeing the friends as great if the friend doesn't come to the morning lesson everyday?

R. It is a problem, I'm not certain we may not be able to say about a friend that he is great if he doesn't come to the lesson every day but we still have to try to learn from him other things that pertain to spirituality. Of course, it is a big flaw in our inspiration that we take from him.

60. S. (01:41:20) What we read before, the last part of it ...

R. Send it in writing and I will answer in front of everyone and to you as well, send it in writing.

61. S. (01:42:11) What should I do not to fall out of study...do we heal the relationship between friends or improve the bond between each other?

R. All of the improvement among the friends is only in connection and we didn't think about what happened in the past, what happened is what the Creator corrupted, now he gave us a chance to correct and we engage only in corrections and we don't go back, we don't look at what happened only what is ahead. The connection that awaits us for us to be included in it and in this way to reveal the Creator.

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Copyright © 2003-2026 Бней Барух – Асоціація Кабала Ла-Ам, Всі права захищені