MALCHUT: TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN

Baal HaSulam. Study of the Ten Sefirot. Vol. 1. Part 2. Inner Observation. Chapter 7, item 79

Morning Lesson June 4, 2022, Transcription 

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

Part 1:

Baal HaSulam. “Study of the Ten Sefirot” (TES). Vol. 1. Part 2. Inner Observation. Chapter Seven. #79 (“The rule is that any extension of light must only be…”)

1. Rav’s Introduction: Yes for the time being we are continuing with the study of the ten sephirot inner observation item 79 and we remain with the same intention. The friends spoke so nicely about it, and I actually enjoy this part before the lesson when they speak about the necessity for the connection, for opening the heart, to come closer between us. That in our common desire we build the Creator truly, from absence to existence and to the state where it becomes clarified in us and it appears in us. This part before the lesson is as an intention, as a title, a heading. It is the most important. It includes in it the entire correct connection for the lesson and so let’s now go to the lesson but let us not forget and constantly aim ourselves in each and every moment and focus and pray for the friends that they do not forget. That we constantly want only to connect between us in order for our common effort to be felt in the Creator who will pull us to become incorporated in him. Please let’s read. 

Reading 79 (02:15) Twice

2. R. This is where the essence of the desire to receive is in. The previous phases before phase four only build the desire towards this phase.

79 Continued (03:02)

3. R. Because there is no desire. Before this phase four there is no truthful desire. The desire to receive but only in phase four there is already a desire to receive when there is root one, two, three, four and there in phase four there we draw the light and we want the light and all of the work is in them and all the previous phases before phase four there they are only in order to clarify whatever is coming to this phase four.

79 Continues (04:04)

4. R. This is because on the one hand it pretty much wants that light but on the other hand it cannot allow herself to receive the light inside because it would cause disconnection from the source of the light from the Creator.

79 Continues (05:17)

5. R. If you do not have any questions and this is relatively clear then we should continue.

6. S. (06:01) You said that phase four, before phase four there is no desire, what are the three phases before it and how can you describe it?

R. We build that desire, let’s say when you breathe, when you taste, when you feel in certain forms something that is given to you until the will to receive awakens and when the will to receive awakens then with this will to receive you can already start to work. You truly want yes, no, under which conditions, how close it is to you, how precious it is to you to receive. This is how our will to receive actually is built from the moment that it starts to feel something the desire itself when it starts to respond to it, until it is ready to perform certain actions and to put in effort this is how the desire is measured, how much it is willing to put in effort in order to attain what it desires.

S. Yesterday you told us that the yearning comes before the desire, can we say that these examinations are examinations of the desire and that this are the phases of yearning?

R. The yearning is above the desire than we already have a desire beyond the desire the craving is created, or it becomes clear. The yearning means that if I want something I want it but if I also long for what I desire that is already above it, it is beyond the desire, it is like the cream that we have above the desire.

7. S. (08:01) It says here that the moment the light spreads and it is achieving phase four the screen wakes up and reflects the light back to its source. What does it reflect back? Is it the same light? Does it build its own intention?

R. We will learn this later. Certainly that same response that there is from the created being to the pleasure that he feels comes his way, the response is already there, the created being’s desire to receive, its character, its coarseness, all of the conditions of the created being with which it responds. So the reflected light is the vessel to the reception of the direct light because there it is already the will to receive of the created being with all of the conditions in the desire. Each one has his own particular kind of desire, a certain coarseness, a certain manner with which it is discovered but it is different between all the people and between all the desires. 

8. S. (09:20) We said that the screen is not activated by phase four.

R. No the screen is the consequence of phase four that feels a pleasure that comes to her and she is already built in such a way, develop in such a way that she does not want to receive the pleasure, she preserves, she has a special kind of connection with the pleasure in order to discover the source of the pleasure, the Creator, like the guest and the guest sitting opposite to the host refers to have contact with the host and not just contact with the pleasure whatever he feels in front of it on the plate.

S. In other words; the screen is a reaction from the Creator?

R. Yes. 

9. S. (10:40) So the concept of drawing light cannot happen anywhere else but phase four. We learnt before that in fact there are two drawings of light, that also phase two is pulling the light?

R. The will to receive starts to be felt in the created being in phase two and that’s why this phase two develops an attitude, a relation to the Creator, to the light as the light of Hassadim and then out of that, the light of Hassadim is extended from the Creator to her but in phase four it already discovers that it wants the light of Hochma and it draws that light and when it comes to her then indeed there is a collision, a resistance, a difference between the pleasure that comes to her and the pleasure that she actually wants to receive from the meeting with the host, with the Creator, with the light that she wants to receive it only in order to bestow, to give back, only in order to restrict it, not to have a direct encounter and to use it in a way that she gets to know the host. That by this she enters contact with the host, this is actually the opportunity that exists in phase four with respect to the upper light, with respect to the Creator, with respect to the host. You have to make it more tangible; it is not simple, it is truly a game and interplay between multiple desires, it is an opportunity that phase four now has.

10. S. (12:37) From this meeting, this collision stems from the screens. Is the screen an intention with a fixed speed? What is it?

R. The screen is everything. The entire entity of the spiritual created being is included, it is accumulated in the screen, his whole relation, the person’s relation to the Creator actually accumulates and converges and appears in what we call the screen, Masach. In this screen the created being makes a restriction over himself, he overcomes his desire to enjoy for himself. This desire does not disappear, the created being stands and feels and understands what the pleasure is coming to him, what he would feel and how he would have felt himself if he received whatever the Creator wanted to give him however he decides that he is not going for the pleasure instead he must reject this, he prefers to be in contact with the host, with the Creator and then he has a feeling for all the pleasures he makes a restriction over them so he does not receive them for himself. 

Above these treasures he begins to recognize the host and to connect with him. He prefers to reject all the pleasures only in order to be in more and more contact with the host. Imaging to yourself that you reject all of the refreshments that you have before you on the table, that the host places before you and you do not want the refreshments even though you can feel it, you can taste it almost, it is pressuring you. You can feel it in all of your desire, with the smell and the taste you can already feel it in advance, you can imagine that taste and then you reject it and by this rejection you connect to the host because you want to be connected with him and not with the pleasure from the refreshments. It turns out that the you are seemingly rejecting the refreshments and this is a crude action seemingly, it is not a nice action to the host but it is not coming from disregard but out of the fact that you want to connect with him as he is connecting with you and by this you want to feel each other, you want to feel the Creator in a close manner, in order to connect to him and not out of what you are receiving from him so much so that you get your whole life from him and I do not want this life if it comes without a connection with you.

11. S. (16:15) What is the screen guard? This is phase four because after the restriction he builds the screen that reflects the light back to the source and then he gets the light again but what does the screen protect here?

R. That the created being will not start to enjoy in his will to receive but instead that he will be able to precisely through the rejection from the will to receive bestow to the Creator and to determine his connection with the Creator above the will to receive.

12. S. (17:12) So what is the final goal for which he prepared a table and all the delicacies? 

R. The final purpose is attachment to the Creator, to be similar to the Creator in order to give contentment to the Creator by the fact that I am like him. 

13. S. (17:36) You said that the created being rejects all the pleasure because he does not want it if it does not come from the Creator, should this be the direction of all the pleasures that come from the Creator?

R. Yes of course.

S. This is called building the reflected light? 

R. Yes. 

S. How in this pleasure the created being rejects he should find the Creator in the end? 

R. Then you actually discover him when you reject the pleasure, not receiving for yourself and by this you build in your will to receive a form by which you can feel the Creator. Specifically by this you build the ability to discover the Creator; come and see because by stopping your will to receive and building it in order to bestow by that you become similar to the Creator and in this structure which resembles the Creator you begin to feel him, you start to feel his relation to you, what he does, you discover all the things that he prepared for you and why he prepare this, his thoughts, his desires and his plans, everything you discover specifically by making a restriction and having reflected light. In the reflected light, the greater the will to receive so the restriction is greater, the reflected light is greater so you discover the Creator to a greater depth and this is considered that the reflected light becomes higher and greater so you are building out of yourself the image of the Creator and in that image of the Creator you understand him, you discover him, you feel him. The Creator himself does not exist but instead by you playing with your will to receive that he created and with the pleasure that he sends you, with these two when you position them one against the other, you build the image of the Creator. This is why it says; you have made me and out of what you do to make as it says from your actions we know you, out of that you get to know him, to understand him, to feel him, meaning that you have work with the Creator which you have created with this model, with this template that you established before you because the Creator himself does not exist in respect to the created beings.

S. That, this screen, this action, what is this?

R. The screen is what the created being places, establishes, in order not to be a receiver. This first action is restriction, and the second action is the screen and then by the screen, because in the screen you have the restriction, the coarseness, the rejection, bestowal, and the elevation of the light from below upwards, from the created being to the Creator and by this the created being built himself and positions himself to be like the Creator. Just like the guest and the host when we reject the refreshments we begin a little bit to agree to receive the refreshments later on and by this we make ourselves similar to the host he is giving to us, and we are giving back to him. He gives us the refreshments and the pleasure in the refreshments, and we give him in return the restriction over our will to receive and the pleasure in this reception we want to bestow contentment to him. It turns out that we reach equivalence with him.

14. S. (22:27) Normally in our daily life a person has a desire first and acts accordingly. If there is a screen then first of all it is not a desire but what comes first?

R. Please repeat. 

S. In the daily life of a regular person he has a desire first that awakens in him and accordingly he starts to act, then there’s another desire. What happens with the screen, does he first discover a place and then it dictates to him the desire? 

R. We learned this earlier. Before the inner observation, the person who comes to the host or to a friend and the friend wants to bestow to him and the person rejects it because he feels shame. Then through these rejections he builds for himself a certain status whereby he comes to the point that if now he were to receive following a few rejections if he receives from the host it will not be reception but bestowing back to the host. Then the two of them will be equal, I towards the host and the host towards me. And then I can measure where I can be like the host, so that I’m doing it not for myself because I want to enjoy but instead I want to delight the host, and in place there is already a calculation. 

S. It turns out as if habit becomes a second nature where I never take directly what comes to me from the desire. First I have to balance myself in this place and then examine what next?

R. Yes, this is why the restriction comes first and then there is a calculation of how much it is possible to receive in order to bestow and think first before you ask. Your questions are correct, but we have been through this already.

15. S. (25:04) What in the reflected light builds the qualities of the Creator in the created being? 

R. The will to receive that the Creator created, when he does not want to receive in this will to receive and he rejects it, this builds out of the light that comes to him the image of the Creator. It turns out that, what is the image of the Creator, is it truly the image of the Creator? No, it is that the Creator, what the Creator created in the will to receive of the created being. So then the created being is called Adam, similar to the Creator, in his will to receive he makes himself similar to the Creator. Think about it. These are profound things.

S. He writes here that the vessels of  reception are made in the reflected light, what does that mean?

R. That reflected light becomes the vessel of reception when the created being wants to bestow to the Creator it becomes the vessel of reception for the created being for the upper light. In it he then builds the infrastructure for receiving the image of the Creator in him and then the light enters, the direct light enters into the reflected light, establishes it, clothes within it. This is called the revelation of the Creator inside of the created being and one feels that he has contact with the Creator. It has a will to receive, restriction, a screen, reflected light and in this reflected light clothes the direct light and then there is contact between the created being and the Creator, and this is actually the state that we need to reach.

S. But it is only an infrastructure, it is not real? 

R. This is everything, wait a minute now, besides that there is nothing. All the rest are all kinds of forms that are revealed but actually there is no more. The will to bestow from the Creator, the will to receive from the created being, the light, the pleasure that comes from the Creator, the restriction, and the screen in the created being; according to that there is reflected light from the created being because he wants to bestow back to the Creator. Inside this reflected light clothes the direct light, inside the reflected light from the created being clothes the direct flight from the Creator. This encounter and the clothing of one light inside of the other, this is called Dvekut,  adhesion. So what do you want to ask about this?

S. It is charming, but why do we need this inner light, what is inner light?

R. The inner light is the clothing of the direct light inside the reflected light, this is inner light that appears in the created being. It is the appearance of the Creator inside of the created being.

S. What does it mean it’s inside, it’s outside it’s in it, that the upper light dresses in the reflected light?

R. Why do you say it is outside, it is all inside the will to receive of the created being. 

S. This is what I don’t understand, so what is the reflected light, what is it? 

R. That the created being wants to give back what he is receiving, the refreshments from the host. 

S. It is only the prayer, the request? 

R. It is the nine Sefirot. Inside the nine Sefirot of direct light there are nine Sefirot of  reflected light and when they match each other in this way when they meet, nine Sefirot of direct light and nine Sefirot of reflected light, there is the revelation of the Creator inside of the created being, not outside of the created being. What is outside of the created being? There is nothing outside of the created being.

16. S. (29:42) Does my ego suffer from the condition of not receiving for myself, if it is so how can I turn this pain into reflected light ?

R. The fact that you limit yourself and you say that I do not want to receive anything besides what is necessary for me for my life and all of the other things, all of my forces there are, I want to focus them only to the construction of the spiritual vessel in me. This is your work and then in the group, inside that group you build such relation with the friends that you want to give back everything through your connection with them to the Creator. Everything that we are talking about is all revealed inside your connection with the friends. the direct light, the reflected light, the restriction and connection, distancing, nearing to be closer to each other, accordingly all of us in mutual guarantee to the Creator is revealed in such a way. So try to clarify this because there is nothing else besides that, whatever we learn later on, it is only the same connection, the same form however we will elaborate it and detail it into all kinds of particular discernments. With which coarseness they are working in what form they are connecting with each other but all in all there is nothing besides that in the whole wisdom of Kabbalah, there is nothing else this form of connection between us and with the Creator this is actually everything.

17. S. (31:51) At what phase does the created being discern the flavors in the light before or after the restriction? 

R. The flavors in the light, the created being feels when after he makes restriction and the screen and reflected light, that is a coupling by striking by the direct light starts to receive that direct light according to how much that directly clothes into him and then the connection between the reflected light with the direct light which stands out of the coarseness in the created being and the hardness and the screen. All of these things are included in a single coupling between them and then they bring the forms to the light that the created being feels, so there is the direct light and reflected light, the screen, restriction, and the mutual clothing into each other and so on. It is all existing in this coupling by striking that appears and is felt in the Creator, this is the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is it, there are many details, but they also exist in this process.

18. S. (33:23) The fact that phase four is the only one that draws light, and she must have received it but not for himself, it is the condition that wakes up, that it needs for the screen and the reflected light to wake up in her so she could receive the upper light?

R. Yes. 

S. Are these the only conditions? 

R. Rest of it we will talk later if there is much more, but we just started to talk about it. The matter of reception of the light inside the created being and out of the fact that he makes restriction, a screen, reflected light and then he begins to adapt himself to the Creator. This is the entire Wisdom of Kabbalah, however he just started with this.

Reading 80 (34:18) “Regarding the extension of light from Ein Sof”

19. R. (35:50) Yes that is everything, that first there is the restriction and through the coarseness into hardness and according to that we measure the level of the created being as much as he is able to make himself similar to the Creator.

Reading 81 (36:13) ‘The emergence of the degree of Hochma ..”

20. R. (37:36) Meaning that everything depends on the screen, to the extent that the vessel in the work of the screen, the hardness of the screen with a greater coarseness or with the other way around. Actually on one hand everything depends on the coarseness of phase four on the other hand everything depends on the hardness of the screen above phase four but both of them are equivalence, equal in the spiritual vessel so it turns out that they determine the degree, the height, how much reflected light comes from the Malchut and how much the created being is able to attain the Creator according to the height of the reflected light that it elevate as Malchut elevate from itself to the Keter this is how it works.

21. S. (38:33) It says here that she elevates the Ohr Hozer up to the Keter, how does that work ?

R. He has, whatever desire to receive he has, even one gram of a desire to receive but if he can work with all of its desire to receive to restrict it and work with it, with all of it in order to bestow this is called raising the reflected light to Keter.

S. What is the entire level in parts or how? 

R. We will talk about it later. In phase four there are four phases, and it can divide itself into different parts, or phases, these are called degrees.

S. So the address to which we want to bring it back, does it matter, is it important?

R. The host remains the same host; it is always the Creator.

S. The reception of the pleasure, does that mean the feeling that we have in our world? 

R. Yes, what does it have to do with this world, the pleasure that we are talking about is pleasure from sensing the Creator within the created being, we are not repelling the pleasures of this world, we are not talking about that. This we restrict and then everything that is possible how we can position it so we would become similar to the Creator, you do not need to stop eating or drinking or resting or anything in this world, you actually need only your attitude to creation to change from one thing, to use it for yourself into using it only in order to bestow to the Creator, you begin with the restriction, we will talk about it, we need to be built gradually. 

22. S. (41:11) In phase four before the refinement of the screen we have the screen over the entire coarseness, for the refinement of the screen this, actually the clarification of the scrutiny of the vessel in respect to the host. So if he has a screen, if he has the ability to withstand the entire pleasure and this whole refinement makes him distant from the host. So I do not understand where is the scrutiny in the relation, where is the most scrutinized relation, what is happening?

R. There are two opposites here, on one hand the bigger the desire to receive of the created being the more it can be closer to feeling the Creator, he has desire to receive for the whole of the Creator let’s say but until it creates an equivalence of form with the Creator through restriction, screen and reflected light and then comes into the striking with the bestowal of the Creator and then the coupling it takes time and the energy.

S. So the entire process of refinement, we are talking about the refinement of the desire, the refinement of the…

R. The refinement of the screen, the desire doesn’t come refined, we are talking about the refinement of the screen, but we use the desire in spirituality, we use desire only as much as we have a screen.

S. So this means that the screen becomes refined along with the longing growing so the screen becomes refined and the longing grows?

R. Perhaps it is but it doesn’t have to be this way, the screen is like money when you walk into a store you can buy as much as you have money, so it is not much what I want. What matters is how much money I have.

S. That is true but here we are talking about an accumulation of the coarseness more and more desire, so it distances him, he loses the equivalence of form with the influence of the light?

R. What process are you talking about, of receiving the light or when the screen is refining? 

S. Whatever just read in item 80. 

R. I do not know what you want, so I read Item 80, so the extension of the light, the phase four the screen is as one and in drawing the light they draw the higher light and establish it in the Partzuf, so what are you asking about?

S. I am asking regarding the longing, the desire in phase four that screen can withstand the entire influence of the light for bestowal from the Creator. There is an equivalence of form and now the screen is refined, gradually loses its coarseness so that’s it. What I’m asking about so the yearning grows during this time as the screen is refined along with that the yearning grows?

R. Why does it grow? 

S. I am asking. 

R. You can ask whatever you want but where are you asking it from so the yearning grows because the screen is refined?

S. Yes that’s it so the fact that the screen is refined, what does it mean that the created being wants to resemble more the Creator?

R. No, it does not want to become more similar, it is to the contrary if the screen is refined he loses its strength, the created being loses his strength, and this is what we call that his screen is refined.

S. This is why I am asking, so when the screen becomes more scrutinized, at the point when phase four has the whole screen or the other way around during the process when he loses desire. The desire becomes more scrutinized, or the opposite becomes more distant?

R. I cannot go with you, you are talking about several things together, so please scrutinize this, write it down before you and then we will scrutinize it. There is nothing here that can confuse, everything is clear, let’s continue and you will see how it works out for you.

23. S. (46:35) Does the screen change within us or it remains constant from the moment it exists?

R. The screen changes according to the created being, the screen is a result of the extent to which the created being wants to attach to the Creator, to become similar to the Creator. 

24. S. (47:02) What does it mean that there is no Creator without the created being? 

R. That if there is no created being, meaning he does not have the coarseness, the screen, and the reflected light that he elevates, and it does not discover that there is a Creator before him this is why there is no Creator without created being because the created being is the desire to receive with the restriction and the screen.

S. You said that the reflected light is inside of the desire, it is felt inside the desire ,that we feel all the lights inside the desire but what about the surrounding light?

R. You have no other place that is outside of the desire of the created being, everything that we are talking about is what happens within the desire of the created being, this is why it is called Hochma de Kabbalah, the wisdom of reception we can never feel like anything outside of our desire. 

S. The question is that there are lights that we call surrounding. 

R. They, also, you feel inside the vessel even though they are called surrounding.

25. S. (51:50) So now I have a desire, my strongest desire right now is to get married with somebody from the Kli, someone from Kharkov, where should I put the screen and do it for bestowal?

R. Ask the group to help you, that they would all think that you would be happy. 

26. S. (52:39) The building of the screen, is it the same thing as annulling or canceling the ego? 

R. Yes, of course. All of the spiritual attainment is above our ego. Meaning through restriction, screen and reflected light as much as we can invert our will to receive, to work in order to bestow, by this we are building the spiritual vessel in which the Creator is revealed. 

27. S. (53:28) How does the desire that grows reach restriction? 

R. The bigger the will to receive it is regarded as having a greater opportunity to have a bigger screen, a bigger reflected light and to resemble the Creator more and more. From above the person is always given states that he can overcome and turn reception into bestowal, hatred into love, separation into connection.

28. S. (54:20) We are talking about the evolution of the desire from below up, is this correct? 

R. Yes. 

S. So we say that there was a restriction and then the screen was built over the entire  coarseness and then it was broken and then there was a weaker screen and a weaker screen? 

R. Yes, and the light causes the refinement of the screen. We will see it soon. 

29. S. (54:59)  I am astonished by your reply that the screen is like money. How can we understand this? 

R. In our world, as much as I have money I can pay for the pleasure I want to receive. Therefore it is not like the money is the screen but in our world it is an example of the screen, like the screen. For a pleasure I want to receive I can pay for it with money and get the pleasure, so likewise in spirituality. For advancement in spirituality I have to pay. With what do I pay? With rising above my will to receive and using my will to receive in order to bestow. This is called paying. Also in our world you exert, you make efforts at work, you get money, you get some salary and then with it you buy what you want. This is the same, it is a projection from spirituality to corporeality. The whole of the corporeal world is built as similar to the spiritual, not one to one completely because our ego spoils everything, but as a direct extension there are the same lines here.

30. S. (56:53) That screen in phase four rejects the light of Hochma, it loses strength and becomes refined. So the question is the light of Bina entering into…

R. We haven’t learned about it yet, so do not ask.

31. S. (57:18) Raising reflected light over the entire coarseness, does it complete it’s part in the Rosh, Toch, Sof and becomes a Partzuf on its own? 

R. This too we have not learned. Don’t be wise guys. I have to go with everyone, I have to go with what we have read now and not with what you feel like asking.

S. it says it is written in the text. 

R. We just read it now? You are not considering everyone; I have to consider everyone. The fact that you disrespect everyone else, and you care only about your own question, by this you are harming yourself. You have to ask about the same things from which everybody will benefit and not only you. This is the right approach to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

32. S. (58:20) What is this concept of the screen? We heard a lot of that, the screen is refined. What is the essence of this? How do you reach the refinement of the screen? 

R. When I do not want to receive because I want to reveal the Creator and bestow contentment upon Him. I want to receive from the Creator only on the condition that I give to Him.

S. But before the refinement of the screen shouldn’t there be a coupling by striking? 

R. No. Before you decide that you want to bestow upon the Creator you have no possibility to create a screen. For what? 

S. So how to reach refinement, a coupling by striking shouldn’t refinement come later?

R. No, I do not understand. 

S. So please describe this process to me, I don’t understand what comes first.

R. So write it down please. First comes the light and builds your desire. In this will to receive that you feel, you gradually discover that there is someone who is working with you, and this is the Creator, the upper one. Then you begin to feel gradually that you have connection with Him, with the Creator and the Creator is aimed at you. He builds in you a will to receive and in your will to receive He gives you a feeling that you are receiving, and you want to know Him, the Creator. Gradually, initially you only want to receive pleasures from Him as much as possible, so the Creator hides behind this whole life and gives you pleasure as we do with little children. Afterwards through all kinds of discernments, phases, He gives you a feeling that He exists and  is in contact with you and then you begin to come closer to a calculation, do I want to be in contact with the Creator or do I want to be in contact with the pleasures? If only in contact with the pressures then you are still on the levels of still, vegetative and animate. You still don’t want to become similar to the Creator, you do not want to be on the human level that is similar to the Creator. But if you are saying already that I want to be similar to the Creator, I want to be like Him, I want to bestow upon Him as He bestows upon me then here you already have a possibility to begin a different work toward the host, toward the Creator. So now you need to perform a restriction here where you do not want to receive because otherwise it throws you completely opposite from the Creator to the degrees of still, vegetative and animal once more, into this world. Rather you want to rise above this degree to bestowal upon the Creator, to the degree of man who is similar to the Creator and then you approach it. Now in bestowal upon the Creator you need a group in order to receive through it the forces of bestowal, so as to behave with them in some sort of activities of bestowal and only in this way when you begin to become similar to the Creator, from the love of people to the love of the Creator, in this way you begin to approach Him until you begin to discover Him and in this way you advance.

S. So it’s all based on annulling first, is this how it starts, I have to annul first?

R. Always, always before any spiritual activity you have to perform an annulment, restriction and only then a screen, reflected light, etc.

33. S. (01:03:08) How in a given moment in the lesson can I build the screen, by which actions?

R. We can build the screen only through our efforts from below and only through help, and this from above, from the Creator. Because the screen is already the power of bestowal, it’s not in us, but it’s built according to our efforts and our plea to the Creator and with the help of the Creator to us. This is what we are basically trying to have built.

34. S. (01:04:01) From where do I take the hardness, I feel I lack hardness. Where do I take it from?

R. From the group. Hardness should be over the coarseness. First you have a desire and then you have the ability to overcome the desire and work with it in the opposite way. We don’t have the power of bestowal. All the power of bestowal we attain comes to us from our force of reception and the upper light. When we want to invert our force of reception into a force of bestowal, to that extent the upper light comes, influences our force of reception and then instead of the coarseness we acquire the force of hardness, the restriction, the screen, and the reflected light. And then in this way we build ourselves. Otherwise we don’t have any harness. Do I have any powers to resist my egoistic will to receive? None, none. What we do, it is only restrain ourselves from receiving so we do not become embarrassed, so we don’t suffer. But it is an egoistic form, it is called swapping a cow for a donkey because you don’t want to be embarrassed, so you don’t show your will to receive to everyone. Or even more, I want to receive to get respect, so I present myself as if I have a desire to bestow.

35. S. (01:06:08) Restriction is the result of what feeling, is it because of shame?

R. It could be as a result of shame, this is what we see in our will to receive in this world. Let’s say I’m visiting someone, and I’m giving something, and I say no, no, no, no, no, I don’t want it. Do I really not want it, or do I not want to receive in order not to be embarrassed, not to position myself as the receiver because the receiver is inferior to the giver. This is not regarded as actually restricting my will to receive, the will to receive remains, I’m only restricting the action, the operation. How do I make my will to receive so that it will be under the restriction? This is only by the will to receive itself feeling that using it is bad. Then I get from above the power, the reforming light and in this will to receive in which I feel bad when I use it, this is restricted. I cannot use it not because others will see or not see but because I myself determine, resolve that such a form doesn’t exist in the Creator, and this is why I don’t use it. In other words I am already beginning to measure myself compared to the Creator, not compared to what people might say.

36. S. (01:08:14) What is the difference between just the desire and coarseness? Under what condition does the desire become coarseness?

R. The desire is a desire but the coarseness of the desire, we reveal it to the extent that it is opposite to bestowal. In other words I have before me an example of bestowal so I can measure my desire compared to that quality of bestowal and say to what extent it is far from the quality of bestowal and perhaps how much power I’ll have to put in in order to come to that quality of bestowal.

37. S. (01:09:25) Is there some connection or some indication we can get regarding the readiness of a person for restriction and screen and of his ability to reject the pleasures of this world?

R. No. Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him. A person who cannot reject pleasures of this world, we cannot say that he’s weak compared to a person who can reject all the pleasures, that he is strong. No, we can’t. Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him. Meaning to an extent that a Reshimo, a record of a person who is in the system of Adam HaRishon is in the general system. So the more a person has a central desire, his desire is greater and deeper, his ego is greater so much so that he doesn’t seem smart because his will to receive hides the intelligence and directs him according to the desire and not according to the intellect. So in short it is a problem. It depends on the size of the soul as it is called, meaning the power of the will to receive that is posed for correction, that is about to be corrected. We still cannot see it or weigh it. We need to work with what we have. It is like kids when they go to school, they don’t know why they do it, what they need to do, why they’re made to do it, no. They just do what they are told and that’s how they advance, just like little animals. This is what we’re like for the time being. But gradually all those discernments that  we learn accumulate in us more and more, and we will know how to work with them, it’ll be easier for us to talk. Today I answered many of the questions as if I am answering them. Sometimes I even say that there are no questions, or I cannot answer. So the more we advance the more we will be able to scrutinize, to clarify both the questions and the answers. So you need to understand that this is our way, this is how we will advance.

38. S. (01:12:33) With the screen should we be in a state of constant alert, constant resistance to our will to receive?

R. No, we need to be more directed towards connection between us because in the connection between us we are closer to the Creator than if we reject all kinds of pleasures which is still not so important. What’s important is the connection between us. This is why Rabash in his articles which are the social articles from which he started, he talks there only about the connection, only about the mutual responsibility and this is what we need.

39. S. (01:13:37) How to build the common screen in our ten?

R. To the extent that we feel, and we will feel that we are dependent on each other, highly dependent on each other, so much so that a person alone counts as nothing but when friends connect to him they determine for him his spiritual future. So, the more we understand it through the reforming light because it is already a spiritual discernment, the more we will advance in the right direction.

40. S. (01:14:31) Is it relevant to even ask why the screen refines itself?

R. We will learn it, the wisdom of Kabbalah talks about it a lot because there is the Bitush, the beating, between the reflected light and the surrounding light that beat the screen, the inner light from within it and the surrounding light from without then the screen separates them and does let the surrounding light inside and also to fill all the desires that the inner light didn’t fill. Therefore, this is why the screen is refined, it is made so deliberately from above on purpose in order to allow the created being to advance.

41. S. (01:15:29) Can you say that after the restriction this screen is the vessel?

R. Yes, of course, after the restriction, instead of a will to receive the vessel is the screen, yes.

S. The greater the coarseness, the greater the bestowal, too?

R. Yes, if the coarseness is corrected with the screen then it tells us about the size of the response of what it is returned of assembling the Creator of bestowal.

Item 82 (01:16:43) “The emergence of the degree of Bina from phase two…”

42. R. (01:17:38) Okay, here we are starting something new, so let’s move to women’s questions, and again I should want to turn to the management. We have to correct all kinds of commas and punctuation marks here in TES, I don’t know who did that, certainly not me, and I still can’t read it, it’s really that corrupted, it doesn’t go in the right flow. So, we do not need to see right now who did that and killed them, but we just need to see how to correct it, it is very confusing. For now let’s move to the women.

43. S. (01:18:31) Does the reflected light create an empty space above the screen?

R. Above the screen we are not discussing, we are discussing what is in the screen and what is below the screen, the will to receive, and the space above the screen, we can talk about it but for what? We have not read about it for now, I’m asking you to ask about what we have covered.

44. S. (01:19:18) Does the screen become more refined or more coarse as a result of the rejection of the light?

R. Yes, the light that influences the screen and the will to receive that influences the screen so both cause the coarseness of the screen or its refinement?

45. S. (01:19:41) How can the created being measure as much as it can receive in order to bestow?

R. That is the whole matter of the wisdom of Kabbalah: that we are in a state where our will to receive is clear to us and the pleasure in front of us and how much we can receive it in order to bestow, yes. This is how we build ourselves, prepare ourselves and position ourselves towards the influence of the redirect light, restriction, reflected light and so on.

46. S. (01:20:28) What causes the coupling itself during the ‘coupling by striking’?

R. That the created being wants to resemble the Creator and therefore, he rejects the direct pleasure that comes to him, rejects himself from the direct pleasure and says I want to connect to the Creator only in the condition that I bestowed to Him as He bestows to me.

47. S. (01:20:57) When we reject what we receive from the Creator and pass our focus to the connection with the Giver, that’s what gives Him contentment?

R. The Creator receives contentment from us coming to His state. Like when we look at little children and we enjoy that they grow, that’s it. To the extent that a person resembles himself to the Creator that is the pleasure we give to the Creator from us.

48. S. (01:21:43) Is the purpose of the screen and the restriction in phase four is to create a place where Malchut and the upper light can meet?

R. Yes.

49. S. (01:22:02) Can we say that the screen is the means of connection with the Creator?

R. Yes.

50. S. (01:22:10) When a friend goes through great suffering should we ask for him to have connection to the Creator or should he want it himself?

R. We should strengthen him, we should help him, pray for him, yes. Ask of the Creator to help the friend; perhaps he doesn’t have the power to pray, and we need to pray for him.

51. S. (01:22:42) If we’re speaking everything towards the connection to the ten so what pleasures should a person reject?

R. All the pleasures that prevent us from connecting in the ten, all the rest of the pleasures we basically should reject. Of course besides the necessities, our family, and kids and so on but other than necessities, all the rest what is most necessary is that we connect between us and from our connection we want to bestow to the Creator and to bestow to the Creator is to bring ourselves to a state where we are able to receive from Him.

52. S. (01:23:3) We said, “everything but the necessities have to be aimed toward the connection with the Creator”, so it is not clear what I’m receiving from the Creator except from necessities, it seems like everything is necessities?

R. Okay it will become clearer, the most important thing is that we begin to connect between us and then we will see what else we need to receive from the Creator to connect. What is necessary between us is to connect and then in the connection we will reveal the Creator, that’s what’s missing. There is no other place for Him to be revealed, that place is what we need to build in our connection, in our common desire, that will connect between us like this (locking fingers together to show connection) and there the Creator will be revealed, that’s what is most important.

53. S. (01:24:40) Why when the light reaches phase four the screen rejects it back to the root?

R. Because the created being doesn’t want to receive the light and the great light that comes to phase four, meaning that phase four attracts, is the light of Yechida, and it rejects that light so when it rejects it,  the light goes back to its source which is the root phase.

54. S. (01:25:07) What exactly do we need to refine the screen from?

R. The light refines the screen when it comes, and above the will to receive wants to enter, the screen rejects it. We will still learn how these mechanics work.

55. S. (01:25:35) What happens with the desire itself when this screen refines itself and loses its forces?

R. What happens to the desire when the screen?

S. When the screen refines itself, what happens with that desire?

R. When the screen is refined then the desire remains without a screen, what state are you talking about? The screen covers the desire and doesn’t allow the direct flight to enter the desire and when the screen departs the light also the parts. If the light will not depart then it will enter the desire and we’ll have a shattering. This screen always stands between the light and the desire.

56. S. (01:26:39) What is the refining of the screen essentially, what happens there towards the vessel?

R. The force of resistance towards the light which refines gradually wanes and disappears, so accordingly the vessel becomes less and less ready to receive the light in order to bestow and the upper light departs from the Kli.

57. S. (01:27:11) Is the screen the intention to bestow?

R. Yes, exactly.

58. S. (01:27:21) Why when the screen refines itself, it gets a hardness?

R. The screen becomes refined and then what it does, it comes closer to the upper light because it is refined from its coarseness and then is received from the upper light an addition of strength and perhaps stronger than before.

59. S. (01:27:56) Is the restriction actually to annul towards the friends in the ten? 

R. Correct.

60. S. (01:28:10) You said the screen is built from above and we can’t do it ourselves so when we’re included in the deficiencies of the friends and annul, I help them build the screen?

R. By that we awaken the Creator to build our screen because the screen depends only on the Creator’s treatment of us. If we connect and want us to have a common desire that includes all our desires in mutual bestowal between us and towards the Creator, accordingly we invite the upper light’s action upon us that builds in us a screen; and then between us there is a screen where we mutually want to really bestow between us between us and from us to the Creator as well and that’s what happens to you.

61. S. (01:29:06) In what feeling can I measure what part of my desire is aimed towards bestow, how does it feel?

R. This we still can’t measure, in what part of my desire can bestow, no, that is still far.

62. S. (01:29:29) Is the restriction, screen and reflected light, can we perform that only if we have greatness of the Creator?

R. If I don’t have greatness of the Creator, how do I perform a restriction? The Creator has to be greater in my eyes than the pleasures that is in front of me, just like with the Host and the guest, simple. 

63. S. (01:29:56) Could there be a restriction without the screen and reflected light, only the restriction?

R. Only the restriction can be without a screen and reflected light, yes that’s where we begin. The screen and the reflected light is already an action of the bestowal, back towards the source of pleasure, the Creator, but before that we can only make a restriction.

64. S. (01:30:26) How can we measure our coarseness?

R. How to measure our coarseness, we cannot do that in the meantime. That is, according to how much we can connect and bestow to each other and to the Creator, accordingly, we can then later measure coarseness, that still requires work.

65. S. (01:30:57) How does the new degree begin after the screen is refined?

R. New light comes and builds new vessels and again we start with the restriction, screen, reflected light, Ibur, Yenicka, Mochin, there are levels here of building the Kli.

66. S. (01:31:30) Is the coarseness only in the screen?

R. What does it mean, the coarseness means the level of revelation, or the thickness of the desires is this coarse desire already under the screen or not. Do I overcome my desire, my coarseness and I want to use it to bestow? Then I make a restriction and reflected lights at the action of bestow because I want to receive. If I didn’t want to receive I wouldn’t be able to bestow, I have nothing to bestow,  nothing to give to the Creator. But if I want to receive from Him like the guest from the host, let’s say, then I can bestow. So there can’t be a measure of bestowal more than that of reception and there has to be a restriction over the will to receive, meaning over  receiving for oneself and then reflected light where I want to transform my will to receive in order to bestow to the host.

67. S. (01:33:02) Can we explain coarseness and hardness through the example of the guest and the host?

R. That’s what I’m doing right now.

68. S. (01:33:13) What exercises can we do in the ten in order to come close to the action of restriction?

R. To discuss what we are now discussing: what is the will to receive, how to come to a will to bestow through the restriction, screen and reflected light, so forth.

69. S. (01:3:33) Where is the ten in the example or the relationships between the guest and the Host? 

R. The whole ten is like the guest and the Creator is like the host above them.

70. S. (01:33:50) Did Kabbalists discover what’s happening in their feelings and that’s what they wrote in TES, is it a depiction of an emotional system of the Kabbalists?

R. Yes, correct, correct.

71. R. (01:34:15) Let’s do a survey, either we continue with TES, or we move to the article “Peace In The World”.