TIFERET: TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
Baal HaSulam. Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1
Morning Lesson August 29, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Baal HaSulam. Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1
1. R. (00:14) Yes, I just wanted to say that it’s not an article, it’s Baal HaSulam who wrote these excerpts for himself and you can find them in the archive. I simply think it’s a good idea to read it because he wrote it shortly for himself. Perhaps he wanted to expand on it and do something with it, who knows, nevertheless there is quite a lot in it, let’s read it.
Reading Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator – 1 (00:50)
2. R. (03:05) If he accepts what he receives and his feeling is unpleasant and not nice, suffering, diseases and all kinds of things but nevertheless he feels that he understands that this comes to him from the Creator. Meaning to some extent he justifies perhaps his negative feelings, and he tries constantly, to believe that he has contact with the Creator and it is coming from the Creator, then it means that he is in the first concealment.
Reading the second concealment (03:58)
3. R. (07:37) This is called the second concealment or double concealment, meaning one concealment, the first concealment when he receives all kinds of problems and troubles and unpleasant things but nevertheless he can justify the Creator by behaving in such a way, that he deserves to receive these sufferings from the Creator. The double concealment is because of all the suffering he receives, he disconnects from the idea that it’s coming from the Creator, and he accepts his life is coming from nature without any providence, without any goal or purpose or plan. Therefore he has no Creator and he has no powers that he needs to accept in order to change towards someone or something, he rejects all of it. This is the form of the second or double concealment.
4. S. (08:53) The question is can we be in concealment, can we be both in single and double concealment at the same time, he says that it comes phase by phase but it could be in parallel?
R. No, it could be either this or this or that, it depends on the person but how much he strives but it cannot be together, both concealment and double concealment or concealment and revelation, it’s either or.
5. S. (09:48) What great tranquility does he talk about when the righteous, they feel suffering and at the end he wished to give them great tranquility, being what?
R. When they are filled with the light of Hassadim in their entire vessel.
6. S. (10:10) What’s interesting here is that he touches upon corporeal matters in a person’s life, it seems like it’s unrelated in sickness and illness and this and that and here he says that it’s his sign of a concealment of the Creator.
R. Of course, according to what you’re saying, the Creator controls only the spiritual part of a man and the corporeal part is all given to the government of the local authorities.
S. No, but it’s just that then I’ll ask from a different way but turns out that Kabbalists we already know that their life, their corporeal life, is non simple like the Baal HaSulam and Rabash were but the problems that they experienced in life doesn’t mean that they weren’t in concealment, right, it doesn’t point to that we know that they were in a great attainment so how are these things related then?
R. We’ll get through it and you’ll see and then you will see.
7. S. (11:29) I tried to annul myself the entire Congress. I was shocked, it was the very first time that we mixed with the other tens and I think that it is great, and I felt like I was a lost child who is calling to his parents and they do not come. I had a strong urge, desire, where to find my friends where were they, but the bottom line was that it was exceptional. The question is the righteous they start off with the suffering because the Creator eventually wants to give them great tranquility. I remember when I started to study I only had problems and trouble and when I came to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, I used to get a thousand blows but my friend who is not studying up a lot he’s got everything, great, a beautiful wife, kids are great, why?
R. I cannot tell you to turn to the Creator and ask him according to what we are reading here, it all comes from above, so turn to the one who is sending it all to you and scrutinize it.
S. A person who comes to study Kabbalah, he is supposed to feel good, to get good things in life, suddenly starts studying and it turns out to be the complete opposite but it is only blows, why, is there a rational answer?
R. Yes in order to push you quickly to changes, to corrections. You who study Kabbalah receive all kinds of unpleasant influences.
S. Don’t people run away from Kabbalah?
R. So where are you going to run to?
S. So if I get blows and I study Kabbalah, I will carry on with life.
R. No, we learn that those blows that are we getting it they’re not for nothing, randomly, they are in order to teach us to advance correctly towards the purpose of creation.
S. But that is what what is missing when you start studying Kabbalah there’s no one to explain it to you.
R. When you start study, you don’t get blows right away, I don’t want to argue.
8. S. (14:55) Concealment within concealment is a state that could suddenly appear, can I ask for help from the ten, send to a link to the zoom, ask the friends the come in to create a connection
R. Perhaps. Perhaps.
9. S. (15:19) What is the difference between double concealment and escaping from the battle or the act altogether?
R. He’s not escaping, he is in double concealment, he’s continuing, he’s in the lessons and all kinds of activity. He thinks that he advances but the Creator places such things that are hard to tolerate and he doesn’t believe that this is the Upper Providence, nevertheless he’s going and he’s doing something.
S. Everything but leave, leave what, leave the way, the path, the concealment?
R. No, a person does not decide on the entering or exiting the first concealment to the second, everything but leave, is leave the path.
S. What determines where person is, concealment, revelation, is it from above?
R. It’s according to the person’s efforts and to what they place in front of them as an obstacle from above.
S. Can I take myself out of concealment to revelation?
R. Of course if you pray to the Creator to help, to grow stronger in the group and with this you can advance
Continue reading (16:52) Heading: “Depiction of Disclosure of the Face”
10. R. (17:48) Everything through prayer, through the demand, through the demand of turning to the Creator but as much as possible through the ten. It should be as powerful as possible, of a plea.
Continue reading (18:10)
11. S. (22:00) What he writes here, it is something wonderful if something like this falls upon an egoist, everything is great, I feel good, the Creator is the quality of love and bestowal, how do you rise from feeling so good??
R. Who told you that he is receiving everything in the vessels of reception, he is receiving in the vessels of bestowal. It is written all of his acquaintances who go in bestowal, they have work, they’re healthy Conversely those that do not follow the path of Torah in order to bestow, they are poor, they are troubled by debt and illness He does not tell that it’s good for the egoist, he tells you it if you come to the state of revelation of the face, then the actions of bestowal you make the more you feel good qualities. This is the disclosure of the face, but before that you have to correct yourself and go through a period of the concealment of the face. This helps you correct yourself from in order to receive to in order to bestow and then you enter the disclosure of the face.
12. S. (24:03) The terrible double concealment is this necessary to go to or something you can leap from single concealment to revelation?
R. If you are a good kid that you can leap, don’t think that these are such sharp things as Baal HaSulam writes, we go in the states in the incorporation between us, each one of us gets a little bit of suffering only in order to advance another step and another step. It’s not as it seems to you and gradually we, nevertheless, are making progress.
13. S. (25:07) When a person reaches the revelation of the face, on the one hand everything is great for those who study Torah and for those that do not, they suffer illness, sicknesses, but that is also torment?
R. You are confused, what does it mean Torah, Torah means Kabbalah those who work in the wisdom of Kabbalah and follow the path then each bad time he discovers new states, he understands why he’s revealing them and how to overcome them. This is how he advances from step to step, just like you are climbing a ladder. Those who do not take this in order to advance in the ladder of degrees, he received blows and advances nevertheless but through blows, that is what he’s trying to say.
S. [ no translation]
R. Yes, but what can you do? He cannot do anything. He can receive from them a little bit and observe a little bit of the trouble but to correct our lives, he is unable to. Unless they work with the wisdom of Kabbalah and draw the reforming light to them.
14. S. (27:19) Excellent Congress I like to thank the world Kli. Question is, I got confused, Baal HaSulam describes the situation where a person does not study Torah he has debts, he cannot make a living, is he talking us, those that study Kabbalah and suddenly stopped studying or is he talking about society in general?
R. He is telling you things in general here.
15. S. (28:12) Everyday we go through different many states where the ego conceals the revolution of the Creator from us, he decrease is the importance but there’s something that he can’t hide, you cannot disregard, which are the stories that people tell from congress’s. Where the friends physically come to the place of the Congress and the Creator gives them so many obstacles on the way that you cannot ignore it and in those places they feel very comfortable and usually get very confused, that they are trying to push you off track.
R. First of all there is none else besides Him and I guess you need to invest in more effort, that happens. That is a good sign actually. If a person invests more strength in order to reach connection.
S. In relation to that another question, why is it so that in suppose in our ten, most friends were not able to overcome their physical problems and be physically present because of the widely dispersed geographically. So why do some of the friends get the opportunity to physically present some stay virtual. Does it point to a certain distance that the person is in because at the Congress as you get experience?
R. This means nothing, we cannot derive any agreements from this, any consensus, any results. We cannot talk like people who look in their cards, fortune tellers, why this is happening, why that is happening. We do not do these things in the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is incorrect, this is imprecise so there is nothing to do except simply to connect more, help one another more in connection and by that we are advancing in this. Surest, shortest most optimal way towards correction and the goal.
16. S. (31:46) How much time or place does the second concealment take place in the study?
R. It all depends on the person. As much as a person resists being in the second concealment and wants to reach disclosure, accordingly he hastens the path, there is no time for it, it’s not like in school that you have one year and then another year until you finish school, here it all depends on the person.
17. S. (33:22) The reality around us does not change, only the way we feel reality changes according to concealment and revelation, namely if my inclination is outwards then I feel a different reality as opposed to if I’m focusing inwards, is that true?
R. Yes.
18. S. (34:00) What is the work in the second concealment?
R. The work is the same work from the beginning of the path to the end of the path. Constantly be in ever-growing adhesion with the friends and inside of that try to locate the form of the Creator. That you need to detect this face from the connection with your friends by connecting more and more to those friends, that’s what needs to be there, from the beginning the path to the end of the path it is the same work.
S. It says that in the second concealment he prays and not is not answered and when he stops praying?
R. That is why it’s called a second concealment.
S. So that how do you pray when you are not answered?
R. What can you do, it is the Creator that makes these states, these conditions multifaceted, diverse, he’s either in more concealment or less concealment, more or less than connection with the friends, he nevertheless advances what do you think he stays by himself, the Creator does not leave anybody behind.
19. S. (35:50) Does everyone in the ten feel something else can be a friend in revelation and another one in concealment?
R. Of course, that is how it can be.
S. Is the most advanced state to see the revelation of the ten to feel like it is happening in the ten?
R. If you advance you see the tens spiritual state.