KETER: TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
Baal HaSulam. Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot, item 7
Morning Lesson July 25, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Baal HaSulam. Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot. #7
Reading Panim Meirot uMasbirot. Item #7: (00:12) “Now you will understand the words that…”
S. 1. (04:54) What does it mean to be rewarded with attention?
R. That you’ll have connection and you’ll understand and feel because it’s attention, what it’s all about, what do the Creator, the Torah turn to you with, address you with?
2. S. (05:31) There’s this term here you will understand, I am the Lord and they weren’t rewarded and in its time. It’s like the lottery, what does it mean if they won or they are rewarded or what does it depend on?
R. It depends on either you scrutinize all these things on the way yourself and shorten the path, or you wait for the suffering to come to you and force you.
S. It depends on me if I was rewarded or not?
R. It depends on you so it says.
S. Why does it depend on me?
R. Because the Creator is giving you an opportunity, with all the parameters that he created you with, with the goal that he set for you, it’s either by your own effort, that you try to connect to others and ask the Creator to give you connection with them and that way to achieve your spiritual states, the correction of your soul, or you don’t want it and you’re waiting until the forces of nature will force you and that’s called Beito, in due time.
S. So how do we really hasten it truly? I want to ask you something, we’re really doing a lot of work, I’m not trying to show off we’re all working working, but we don’t see that it’s hastening, we don’t see that something is shortening from 30 years to a year-and-a-half somewhere it says 5 years, I really don’t know what to do?
R. We need to try and connect with each other and to demand of the Creator to strengthen our connection so much so that in that connection He himself will be revealed and that’s it, there’s nothing else to, do but to connect between us and ask the Creator to strengthen, strengthen our connection so much so that He will be able to reveal himself in it.
S. That’s called…
R. This is the problem that the entire world is facing, the whole of mankind, from one day to the next you need to see how in this world are revealed forces and states that are the opposite of connection, and that’s in order to force us to think, how do we come closer to connection.
S. What we see becomes worse from day-to-day, look at the world.
R. And things are going to get even worse until we will ask the Creator for him to correct us for him to do it, and we on our part need to make an effort in that direction, to at least somehow come closer to each other it’s something that we need to do.
S. So what’s preventing us from doing it as you say, we have to do it and we don’t do it?
R. So we have the group of Bnei Baruch that as if wants to connect then they need to make an effort and discover to what measure can it or can’t it, and then it will exactly be positioned in the place where it will see that suppose it can’t, and then it cries out to the Creator, and the Creator helps, but we’re not even reaching a state where we reach the boundary.
S. So what’s the problem?
R. Ask yourself.
S. I’m asking you, where do you see a problem, maybe we’ll solve it once and for all.
R. In each of us there’s laziness that a person doesn’t want to force himself, coerce himself to take steps to take measures to connect to the other person, we need to shut her eyes and really do it without taking the disturbances and wise ideas that each of us has.
S. Who does it depend on, me or the Creator?
R. Only you.
S. Only me?
R. Yes.
S. What’s considered revelation of the Creator in the minimum degree in the ten?
R. How to put it, that a person starts feeling that there’s an upper force that dwells upon everyone, and that he’s gathering us, expecting for us to aspire for an even greater connection, and that we really start feeling his presence. That it’s as something that fulfills us.
3. S. (11:10) Do we have a vessel to even check or compare the matter of …? Or is it only work above reason?
R. We don’t and we don’t need it we don’t and we don’t need it we simply need to yearn endlessly as much as we can, and in an unlimited fashion, that that’s what we need to do and it’s all ahead of us. This is what’s ahead of us and we need to aspire for it.
S. So that’s the test of working in Lishma?
R. Yes, that’s exactly what that is. Besides that there is nothing, this is the only thing the Creator is demanding of us and if we do it, then He too will keep his part. He will reveal himself in it and will and will start gathering us.
4. S. (12:18) We see how lately in the world there’s a lot of climate changes, blows, things they said would happen 20 years from now, but it’s happening today, it’s not waiting for 20 years and if you look around at humanity and you see even simple things that have nothing to do with connection, things that they can do to benefit themselves they are not doing, so after our dissemination they will understand that they need connection, because even these trivial, corporeal things they are not doing to help themselves, it’s very strange was happening lately.
R. We need to see those things that are related to us that we need to correct and we needn’t intermingle with the business of the world, but when we will reach spirituality, then we’ll be able to connect them to and help them practically, whereas now, the only thing that we can do is in our free time, to go out and publicize the method of correction, that’s it.
So obviously the world is suffering and will suffer even more as Baal HaSulam writes, what do you think, third and fourth world wars that are ahead of us that are better than what we have now, it’s multiplied by I don’t know how much worse, and we need to see these things as bound to happen, the Creator he is not going to relinquish his law of to do to benefit his created beings through the correction of man, you need to understand it and accept this seriously and here, no one can be saved but only the only thing we can do is to help each other to be saved, only mutually.
S. There’s a feeling of, I don’t know, like the stupidity in the world, as if the world sees that it’s on the edge of the cliff but they’re still going as if nothing happened, what can awaken them, what can change this?
R. We need to nonetheless wake up, get ourselves together, shake off this slumber, the stupidity, and perform the correct actions and then for sure the world will approach us and follow us.
Reading item #8: (15:25) “Therefore come and see how grateful we should be …”
5. R. (16:29) On their part they’re willing to do anything to save humanity and bring them closer to correction.
Continues reading: (16:40)
6. S. (23:47) He said that the wisdom was, that it’s not clear what he wrote here for others not to teach for the Chaim Vital not to teach others?
R. That they didn’t understand it so they couldn’t pass it onward, it was also due to that special time, that in all times the souls that come down to this world and clothe in bodies of this world, so they have differences, every generation and its soul, as we say.
S. And in your opinion today we do understand what the Ari meant?
R. I’m going according from what I got from Rabash, you see I have I don’t understand much, I don’t attain much, but what I got from him that’s what I want to remain in, that’s it, that’s what I pass to you.
S. You’re doing things fine, we’re the ones who don’t get it so is there some kind of problem.
R. You get it, don’t say that, you’re advancing and you need more time and more efforts, the main thing is the connection between us because all of the spiritual perception depends on as much as we’re connected between us, not our minds and not each one feelings separately but as much as we can connect our minds and feelings together, everybody’s into one head and one heart, by that we attain what they wrote, the Kabbalists.
S. So time will do what needs to be done?
R. No, completely not, we’re already at a time when it won’t do its thing we will do our thing, and by that we will cause all the changes.
S. And then they’ll understand, everyone will understand?
R. I’m not adding words like you, I hear what they say, the Kabbalists, and that’s how I absorb it, you always want to add something of yourself.
S. No I mean is it suitable, are the times today suitable for reaching the end of correction?
R. Yes.
7. S. (26:17) I was talking about the inability of passing the wisdom of Kabbalah on to others, now it’s talking about expecting salvation, maybe now we’re on the verge of a serious leap in our dissemination. My question is what can we do in order to adjust our message for the unity of the nation and humanity altogether for the public to be able to hear our message and that we will be able to reach positions in which we can make a difference, influence?
R. I think we need to give a dissemination blow of the wisdom of Kabbalah, of the wisdom of connection, of the remedy to all of humanity, against wars, against this breakage that we see and everything. We are at a time when we can get the remedy before the blow, that’s what we need to explain to humanity not to scare them with the third and fourth world war and so on but to simply explain that we have a practical correct means that with it, we can implement this.
S. Maybe they will be able to accept our message in a good way, maybe they’ll be able to hear that the solution is unity?
R. We need to try to do it and the rest the Creator will finish for us.
8. S. (28:49) How does it happen that comes the genius like the Ari, that it takes another five hundred years to arrange his writings?
R. Why was time stretched and spread out in such a way? That depends on the development of the next stage of the coming of the souls, that they all come, like in the Sefirot, that you have the differences between the Sefirot. Each and every Sefirot is opposite from its adjacent one above it and opposite from the adjacent one below, each Sefirot is like something completely new, a new world according to its character according to its intensity, according to everything in her.
That’s why since that time, so we see that there are periods of 1000, 1500, 2000, years and supposedly nothing happens. Then in a different period you suddenly you have many, many changes that are very close, that’s nothing to do with us, it is a spiritual nature that we will attain and then we will understand why i is like that, we won’t have any complaints about it and we’ll see that this is how it’s all working again like clockwork according to nature.
Reading item # 9: (30:30) “In return for that we are privileged by him …”
9. R. (31:11) This is what Baal HaSulam writes, that we were rewarded that was already, it was closer to us 200 years ago, that we were rewarded with a very great Kabbalist called Baal Shem Tov. Not everybody accepted him, not everybody mentioned him and not everybody studied him, he hardly wrote anything on his own, he just, simply, anywhere he used to go and give a speech he used to simply publish the wisdom of Kabbalah and advertise it that’s why there are many students and Kabbalists that came from the period of Baal Shem Tov. That’s why his method is the foundation of the wisdom of Kabbalah that is developing in our days.
Continues reading: (32:20) “It is true that the light of his Torah and holy wisdom….”
10. R. (35:20) What’s he trying to say, after many years we had a man very great, a Kabbalist who was very important called Baal Shem Tov. He interpreted the wisdom of Kabbalah and he spoke about it a lot even though he almost wrote nothing of himself, that’s why we don’t really have his actual words but what he revealed, he told it to people in his generation. He talked a lot and whoever accepted his method remained a Kabbalist until today, that’s his method. Afterwards, after Baal Shem Tov, more Kabbalists came especially in Eastern Europe and they continued the wisdom of Kabbalah, among them also Baal HaSulam that entirely based himself on the Kabbalah of the Ari and Baal Shem Tov.
The Ari was speaking about the structure of the Upper worlds and Baal Shem Tov spoke about man’s work in order to attain the Upper worlds. So what he says that two are better than one, that we in such a way we need to grab the both of them Baal HaSulam and Baal Shem Tov and in this way we need to come closer to the revelation of the Creator, that actually Baal HaSulam passes it all to us in his writings.
11. S. (37:30) How do we see that we are making progress in adhesion with the Creator?
R. According to the true adhesion between us, we can more or less see if we are advancing ahead and come in closer. According to the prayer, the deficiency, that we are rising from the connection between us and the Creator we can see how we advance, that’s it.
12. S. (38:14) He gives the beautiful example of a person drowning in the river and according to what floats, the part that floats, tries to grab him and get him out. The Ari, he says, tried to save him through the head and Baal Shem Tov through the heart. How can we use this principle? How can we save people in our time?
R. We need to use both, the heart and the head but obviously the heart is the main part that’s why when we speak about the connection between us, in the connection between us and that’s what we need to raise and the whole matter of building the world and the Sefirot and Partzufim, everything all Baal HaSulam talks about in the study of the ten Sefirot, that’s not so important to us because we will attain it, we will attain it. The main thing is the connection between us in order to perform this attainment and make it tangible and not in our minds but in our feelings, in our vessels between us.
S. There’s like a feeling that in our time, you know a person’s completely drowned, you don’t see the head or the heart and especially among Israel?
R. No, we’re still coming closer to spirituality, according to the heart because our desires are big, our ego is big and outstanding and we can be connected between us and conduct the connection between us more.
13. S. (40:23) These two paths in due time and in hastening, so suppose these are two ways that can be related to a person, a nation of ten?
R. If people don’t connect between them they can’t draw the Creator in there to bestow upon them because they’re not about to annul their egos one toward the other, they aren’t trying to reach the love of the created beings and then the love of the Creator. That’s why if they’re not coming close between them they’re not nearing the Creator and then it is impossible to reach the goal.
That’s why we first have to connect between us and then to the Creator, the goal obviously has to be that we reach the complete, correct connection between us to the Creator but the stages of implementing it should be first. Connection between us but also for that we need the Creator but where does that connection, where is it expressed between us and afterwards we connect but we reveal the Creator in the connection between us. Actually all the work it turns out that it’s in the connection between us, all the work and also look as much as this whole process that humanity is going through it always scrutinizes the connection between humans. Types of connections closeness farness, and its continuing for thousands of years that we are all only in this.
Meaning in order to scrutinize that it’s the main thing that the connection between humans that is the main part and even before us, many stages that we will feel resistance in it. resistance from nature and we will want to uplift above it and still be in connection. Otherwise humanity won’t be able to reach corrections, meaning they’ll reach corrections but in very, very difficult forms. It’s just impossible, against our nature, you can’t go against our nature, we need the help of the Creator, that’s why to connect and to constantly cry out to him to help us connect, the fact that were crying to him nothing will help but to cry in order to connect that will help.
S. But from what we read here, humanity is advancing in due time or in haste but who decides?
R. Only nature, the Upper force, a general nature, that’s it. There’s no one who can do this, call it Creator.
S. I mean this is my question, who can look at it and say, evaluate that now the shattering is happening by way of hastening or by way of due time, meaning there needs to be a Kabbalist that sees broadly enough that his attainment is strong enough in order for him to be able to evaluate the situation of mankind?
R. Towards humanity, we can say that humanity is advancing in the path of Beito, in it’s time that they are not doing anything in order to advance correctly or quickly toward the right goal but let’s say we as a group from all of humanity, we’re coming closer to that goal in a different way. That we, from day-to-day, want to connect to more, we’re speaking about it more, we need to organize more prayers to the Creator to help us. Please, requests and in such a way we were hastening our development otherwise before us there it will really be a third world war.
S. You just said if we look at humanity all throughout history we will see how we scrutinize the connection, the types of connection between people, there’s a constant discourse.
R. Yes, only that we’re not aware only as much as we throughout his whole life, a man with himself, a man with his family in a small society, in his village, in his city, his country and the connection between countries. It’s all revolving towards Gmar Tikkun only in an unpleasant manner, not a good way that we can participate in this, mix in this and change it to a short, quick, convenient advancement.
S. How is the scrutiny of the connection between people, how is it expressed today as opposed to other times?
R. As much as we’re coming closer to Gmar Tikkun, these actions are becoming more scrutinized, now we’re entering the last stage that is becoming clear to us and to all people. We can explain where we are, why can we explain it to the whole world because the last stage is destined to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah because we can, all the people in the world, we can participate in this, be part of this and cause to help speed it up.
S. In item 8 it says we need to be grateful to all the Kabbalists that stand on the path between repentance and the path of suffering, how do we, how can we thank them for what they are doing?
R. What do you think a person if he dies physically so he’s dead there’s no death, it’s something strange all together in spirituality that there’s such a thing, no. there isn’t. That’s why we, when we keep the words of Baal HaSulam and study him and want to do what he wrote, so we’re together with him with that energy, with that soul.
S. Where are we with Baal HaSulam, where are we in contact with him?
R. When we read when we study, when we want to keep it with him, when we speak about when we want to keep his words.
S. The fact that we read him, this is already called high intention?
R. Yes, yes of course, on the still degree which is very light, very vague, still we are in contact.
S. Still it says that we need to thank all Kabbalists throughout history. We’re connected to the entire world network of Kabbalists?
R. Since we are drawn to the Creator according to the correction of the will to receive, we’re in contact with all the Kabbalists in contact, and they are standing behind us and we are the generation that came after them as their children.
S. We’re connected to the words, or it is all through you, through the teacher?
R. No, not only through me, not only through me, you are an actual connection with them. We will discover this soon what it means, all this general soul and how we’re connected to these parts that are with the Creator in contact or not yet and so on, we will discover this, this is all in all the Shechina.
Continues reading: (50;10) “We should not be blamed for the brevity of my….”
14. R. (51:33) Everyone who is drawn after Baal HaSulam will eventually discover the Creator and find everything and we will also try to reach it.
15. S. (51:46) In dissemination there’s such rules, creating video content for that we need video editors. Could it be someone from the outside world or does the video editor need to be necessarily someone from Bnei Baruch?
R. So in what way will they work for you?
S. I don’t know, suppose that I asked a relative of mine?
R. I don’t know I’m sorry I don’t know what exactly that role is and as much as that he is to going to enter the whole matter of the texts and everything. I don’t know, I think that the best, is that people who work for us or people who belong to our spiritual work at least this is what we have in our center. SOmetimes we have no voice and we accept for some certain role only technical, we will ask for someone on the outside to do. But usually I don’t think it’s good.
16. S. (53:25) If there is any value to describe that you’re with your ten at the Congress because I was at work and I felt everything that was happening in the Congress?
R. It could be that it’s affecting you in such a way. I see all our friends that were at the Congress, that they were all my representatives, I didn’t feel that I was lacking. I didn’t feel that. I want to say thank you to all the organizers and let’s hope that the next Congress that is coming towards us, that Northern European Congress. That it will also take place and be even better than what we had in Baltia and every Congress more and more. Again, I want to thank all those who organized it and all those who participated in it and I really enjoyed seeing as much as we are advancing. I already see that the organizers of the next Congress, I guess of Northern Europe, they are already here with us.