MONDAY PRAYER: GEVURAH-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Monday
Zohar for All. Introduction of The Book of Zohar. General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation, item 1
Morning Lesson March 4, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Zohar for All. “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”. General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Are Divided into the Seven Days of Creation. #1
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:50) The Torah, meaning the way in which we come to the state that we are in to the state of the Creator is the path itself. Divided in many degrees, many states which we need to ascend upon, we need to improve. Where each and every one of us must improve within his qualities until he comes from where he is to where the Creator is. Of course each and every one has a path of his own, degrees of his own, states of his own but actually this is how we advance. So here he tells us about a rule that our entire path includes fourteen stages. We can divide them to all sorts of differentiations and signs for this path just like kilometers and meters etc. inches and all kinds of other science so he tells us that in the Torah there are 613 Mitzvot, states that we have to go through and how we do this. These Mitzvot are also called councils where we need to observe them and then by them we more and more adapt ourselves to the Creator until we reach adhesion to him which is the complete perfection of the goal.
Reading item one (03:05) “The 613 commandments in the Torah…”
2. S. (04:24) It said that these commandments are practical advice of how to be closer to the Creator but it is written in such a lofty language that it is unclear how to use them practically?
R. Well we will never the less try to enter and penetrate them and to use them meaning to change ourselves such that we will constantly be closer and more similar to the Creator.
S. How now by reading the text do we direct ourselves to use this advice to change ourselves and get closer to the Creator? How to direct ourselves?
R. First of all, what does he write? He writes altogether there are 613 commandments, a Mitzva from the word commandment, meaning that it is something that we are obliged to attain. These 613 Mitzvot, commandments and the Torah are referred to as deposits as well as councils, they contain something within them. And they are also called councils because he writes that every such appeal to the Creator as the Creator towards us called posterior and the attainment of the matter is called face. Meaning the Creator offers us some action if we observe it then accordingly we receive some spiritual upliftment, some new qualities are revealed in us and in such a way we make a step towards the Creator.
Meaning when we do the action itself this is called the Achoraim, posterior, when we don’t understand anything but when we finish the action then we discover a certain quality, a certain degree, a certain new state in the Creator. This is called Panim, face. That’s why he writes in the Torah we shall do and we shall hear. When we do a certain action what is written clearly not something that we invent, then we discover in us the ability to hear and we get the next degree. So these steps or degrees there are 613 of them in total, so there are 613 degrees of preparation, and when we raise ourselves to the degree we get the side of the face and after the preparation we begin to to hear to understand what we are talking about, something new is revealed to us. This is called to hear, hearing. And then we retain the meaning of those Mitzvot, commandments.
3. S. (09:08) What state of consciousness do we need to achieve as a group in order to understand the 613 commandments?
R. When we gradually keep the 613 commandments we come closer to one another we become one desire, this is cold one body and in this way we begin to hear more, to understand more what the Creator wants of us. And we do these actions and we become like him, gradually.
4. S. (10:35) In performing these Mitzvot, the 613 commandments, you say that they are councils but also deposits so what are we doing, what does it mean for us deposits or councils it is as if we are doing something as if the Mitzvot are split into two sorts of actions, can you explain this?
R. The Creator has a treasure, a next world, call it whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. And it’s dividing it into 613 pieces. When you keep each one of those 613 pieces inside of your desire meaning you correct your desire to some extent, then you begin to hear, to understand, to see, to want to receive this part in you. And this part in you that you receive, you already begin to change according to the Creator and that is why it is called the preparation for what you are doing in order to be similar to the Creator, this is called “eitin” [advice] and when you can do it and discover what is in it this is called “Pqudin” [deposits] you discover what is inside that box let’s say, one of 613 boxes that you have attained.
S. And that’s exactly what you explain before when you are actually doing you the action that is the backside the Achoraim and then when you perform the action already you are in the face the Panim. Is that actually the difference between the deposits and councils?
R. Yes, yes, yes it is exactly so.
5. S. (12:23) In a deposit in the corporeal world sometimes the deposit can be returned is there such an option here?
R. I don’t know, it doesn’t say anything about that here so don’t ask about it. We will learn about it for now what he’s saying and then later on we will understand more the approach should be simple. What is written I wish to understand, to perceive, to absorb what is written. To return the deposit or not returned deposit or what is happening with it later these questions are off-topic.
6. S. (14:13) We finish reading these commandments, and there was a feeling that while reading (maybe just me), that is, a purely informative something. And how now in my heart to return these commandments? I just want to open this book again and start all over again, and already through the heart to skip. How do we do that?
R.This is true, this is true. You can start reading the introduction to the Book of Zohar from the top, from the beginning because it includes in it really the entire Book of Zohar. Meaning why, what four does the Book of Zohar exist in order to get us to know the path, the transformation that we need to go through. So we still do not transform ourselves and of course we didn’t yet, we need to go over it again and read it meticulously. What does the introduction of the Book of Zohar has to offer to us. We will do it, don’t worry, nothing will elude us. Now we are learning about it in general, in broad strokes. What does the Zohar telling us, what does it want to tell us? He wants to tell us about the path that we have to go across in our inner observation in order to become similar to the Creator each one of us and all of us together.
S. It seems that reading the Zohar is what prepared the Congress that we had. That it happened the way it happened because we put the Zohar through ourselves.
R. Yes, that is true.
7. S. (16:34) How can I discover or feel these conditions of posterior and face in order to really realize these conditions and enter these conditions in the ten. What kind of deficiency do we have to build to realize the conditions discussed here?
R. The deficiency has to be for resembling the Creator that is one thing. And to do it, to keep it in the connection with the friends, and from love of the created beings to love of the Creator, that’s how it is. Exactly what we discussed.
8. S. (17:27) In the text it talks about the face and the back and also we shall do and we’re still hear, so how can I hold myself in the back before I reach the state of Lishma?
R. It is actually the other way around Achoraim, the posterior or back means that I am doing the preparation that I try to do anything within my power in order to connect to the friends and to be together with them in one group, one desire, one heart, one action. To pray to the Creator to help us come closer between us and in that come closer to him because he is present in the center between us. In this way we advance.
9. S. (18:41) The 613 commandments are the 612 that are supposed to lead us to the primary commandment which is love thy friend as thyself that is what I understood in the beginning. These are the 613 organs of the soul that we build after we acquire the Masach I don’t really understand that we have to carry out these commandments already in our world without a screen and if so […]
R. Only relative to the relationship between us all 613 commandments, conditions that we have to realise in the relationships between us.
S. Shall we are already doing it before the screen?
R. Whoever can and as much he or she can need to try and realize it now.
Continuing Reading, Twice. (19:58) “This is so because in each commandment..”
10. R. (21:56) Meaning a person is made of a body and a soul. When they divide into 613 parts, pieces, 613 parts of the desires called organs tendons and lights that fill those parts. Then it works out that gradually when we keep the connection between us, we correct these 613 pieces by getting them closer to the light, to in order to bestow and that’s how we continue to extend the light into those vessels and man’s spiritual body is filled with the upper light.
Continuing Reading. (23:06) It follows that by performing..”
11. R. (23:28) Meaning the posterior or the back of the commandments means that we are collecting the vessels, our desires to be in order to bestow, to be in connection with others this is the back side, posterior, the preparation and Panim, face is when they can actually be filled with the upper light because the actions that they are doing are like the light itself and hence the light can clothes in them according to the law of equivalent of form.
12. S. (24:03) Here in the second paragraph it says that the commandments are connected to the days of the week meaning each commandment has a certain day from the days of creation so it turns out that to carry out a commandant there is a condition called day?
R. I can’t add on top of what he says I can’t add anything. Let it settle in our hearts and minds I can’t go deeper than that at least not for now.
Continuing Reading. (24:59) “Hence the face of the commandments are called deposits..”
13. S. (25:50) How to understand the phrase we shall do and we show hear? What are we to do in order to hear?
R. We need to correct our ego then we shall hear meaning we will discover in it the light of Bina called hearing. Well that’s for now it is but eventually this is the direction our work as to take to collect, assemble into one vessel which is currently broken we see how this is currently between us and then we will discover more and more and then we reveal the light that dwells between us that fills us. This will be the light of hearing because Bina, this is the same light of Hassadim that gives us the opportunity to rise above our ego.
14. S. (27:26) What does it mean that Rabbi Shimon explains that shouldn’t each person explain to himself?
R. Rabbi Shimon teaches them what is written here. He teaches them. This is the meaning of interpreting. They hear it, they study and that’s how they advance.
S. He also writes that it is worthwhile exerting to keep each day so that each person can carry out 613 commandments or some of it?
R. Each day a person has to keep all of the Mitzvot, all of the commandments otherwise he is not corrected.
S. But how is it possible to carry out the 613 commandments each day?
R. He has to check himself to what extent he is connected to all of creation, to all created beings to the Creator in all of his discernments, in all of his desires, hearts and actions to see that he is incorporated into them as an integral part of all of creation.
S. And then what’s the difference between day and the present day and the day after?
R. The day after will be another day we will have new conditions and we will have to keep the commandments again in a new form. One day is not like the previous day or the next. One is not like another each day a person is new.
15. S. (29:13) What are the organs and tendons of the soul?
R. Parts, parts that exist in our desires, our thoughts and that we need to keep and in this way we need to move forward.
16. S. (29:41) The 613 commandments they are all included in love thy friend as thyself?
R. All in all, all of the commandments are included in the condition love your friend as yourself because love your friend as yourself is the condition for the general connection of everyone with everyone.
17. S. (30:29) How can we examine whether we carried out a certain commandment in the ten?
R. If we keep a certain commandment then we acquire the light that belongs to that commandment called deposit and it clothes in us. That’s why we have 613 advices, in order to keep the connection between us and the Creator and 613 commands which is when we receive the lights that belong to those orders, those commands. And that’s how we fill ourselves according to the vessels in the 613 advices and according to the lights in 613 deposits.
S. We still can’t tell between them?
R. For the time being we still can’t distinguish between them but soon we will.
18. S. (32:09) We’re talking about day in this part that we read. Are we talking about states of day and night or are we talking about days in the sense of corporeal time?
R. No, no these are not days of corporeal time although for the time being it might be easier for us to think this way.
19. S. (32:46) Getting up for the lesson and participating in it, is that a commandment that I carry out?
R. It’s not a commandant, it’s a preparation.
S. Connecting to a workshop, is that a commandant? I just want to better clarify what is a commandant for us.
R. A commandant means connection, but practical connection between myself and the friends.
20. S. (33:28) Is carrying out the commandments something a person does internally towards the friends or do we have to do together so that it happens?
R. You can do it both ways as long as you advance, that is the main thing.
21. S. (33:56) How do the commandments come into play in the prayer? Do we ask something for it?
R. A prayer is what comes out of the heart. So the result of what you think, of what you want will come out and this is called prayer, the Creator feels it.
22. S. (34:29) To check if a person is doing a commandant and not some external action, how does he check that?
R. If you perform a true internal action you receive as a result light that fills you, that advances you, that elevates you. However, if this is not action, is not a commandment but a preparation for a certain commandment then there is no practical outcome from it, then you might not feel anything. Soon you will feel the differences.
23. S. (35:59) Why are there commandments that receive a very meticulous, corporeal manifestation like we know with Baal HaSulam regarding Passover and Sukkot, and there are other things that are less expressed externally?
R. It’s not important. Commandments in spirituality are something totally different than what you’re thinking.
24. S. (36:26) We heard in the past in previous lessons that there is no space and time in spirituality but here it talks about 7 days, a week, 7000 years. Can you explain what are all these terms that seem to be time?
R. There is no connection between what we call days, hours in our world, weeks, months and spirituality, there is no connection whatsoever. Hence whatever you are reading here are certain definitions but we can’t see them, we can’t feel them, we can’t work in them. Rather in our world we nevertheless divide everything into hours and days and weeks and months but there is no connection between that and spirituality.
25. S. (38:01) What’s the difference between the 613 commandments and the Ten Commandments that were received in Mount Sinai?
R. I’m not going to answer anything that doesn’t belong to what we are learning now so don’t be so smart as to bring these things in your questions. You can write it down off to the side and later we will certainly scrutinize it. It’s enough for me with what we are learning for you to understand this, that’s enough.
26. S. (39:01) What is the correspondence between 613 deposits and 14 commandments that the introduction of the book of the Zohar mentions?
R. We will learn, we will learn but certainly there is a close connection here.
27. S. (39:40) He says there are 613 organs and tendons in both the body and the soul: body is desires and souls are desires in which there is light?
R. Yes.
Reading item #2, Twice. (40:06) “The first commandment is fear because he is great and rules..”
28. R. (44:32) Okay, he is not giving us any interpretation of these things, we are going to learn about them a little later. No questions? We are reading this for the first time, not too bad.
29. S. (45:00) They say the first commandment is fear. How can we use fear to wake up each day anew?
R. We need preparation for it, each commandment needs preparation. If I awaken myself I am small compared to the Creator who is great. I don’t determine anything, He determines everything and I am under His power, in His world, in His program. Gradually I approach fear, at least corporeal fear. Who am I, what am I, what’s happening today, what will happen in a minute? It’s all in the Creator, the whole thing on the one hand. On the other hand, when I look at how I exist, I exist thanks to the love of the Creator. Wherever He is pushing me, pressuring me even seemingly the blows it’s all for me to advance, to grow up. So love and fear they have to be two sides. They are holding me so that I will advance directly forward towards the goal.
30. S. (47:28) Here it’s talking about commandments or commands. How do we know if we’re keeping them correctly?
R. We’re going to have to learn that, this is something we’re going to have to learn. We now have to simply learn all the commandments and deposits. It’s not much and then see how they’re interconnected, and what comes out of what, and how they connect to us, how we can perform them. And that’s how we’ll advance, in feeling what the Creator wants from us and how we respond to that.
31. S. (48:38) There’s such a feeling when we read about the commandments, it sounds beautiful but not all the terms can be grasped with our mind, our feeling. How to include such instructional text with our work in the ten?
R. We will clarify that later on, it is still early for now. Be together with us and just try to understand what this is about mechanically.
32. S. (49:31) Why does the Zohar teach us about the main 14 commandments and then about the 613? What’s the connection between the 14 commandments and the 613?
R. All of the 14 commandments, all of the 613 commandments divide into 14 groups. How does that happen, we will see later. For now pay attention to that.
33. S. (50:08) It says here that this is a general scrutiny, an adaptation of each day of the week. What is he trying to tell us?
R. He wants to tell us what we have to carry out in order to become like the Creator. That’s it, short and concrete.
S. What is the addition here compared to what we read earlier in the commandments?
R. Well here we have more precise instructions, then we’ll have even more precise instructions and so forth. Gradually we’ll start understanding what is actually required of us.
34. S. (51:14) How to determine what is the desire of the Creator and what is our responsibility?
R. That we’ll learn through the relationship between us because all of this appears not in our attitude towards the Creator but in our relationship between us in the group. If I am in the group then I can analyze all of the relationships between us in the group and in such a way understand what relationships exists between me and the Creator.
35. S. (52:11) Can you explain this concept of…?
R. No.
36. S. (52:23) There is a concealed light, what do I need to do for the light to come out of concealment so that I can receive it?
R. The hidden light means that once we reach it and we can build and make a Kli, then this light appears in the Kli.
S. What is this Kli?
R. We will learn, for now we have no connection to it. It’s like how we also don’t see direct light until we activate reflected light.
37. S. (53:28) The ability to keep the commandments, is this something the Creator gives or a person can do it on their own?
R. The opportunity to carry out the commandment is given to man by the Creator and then man can already make some effort and carry out the commandment of the Creator.
38. S. (54:11) Seemingly we’re going to make it necessarily from the posterior to the face so what kind of fear are we talking about here?
R. Fear that I won’t be able to carry out the will of the Creator, that should be the constant fear within the person. Am I now, right now in this moment doesn’t matter when, am I now carrying out the will of the Creator?
39. S. (55:05) If you aim for the commandment ‘love your neighbor as yourself’, can you come quietly to the disclosure of all the other commandments?
R. Of course but it’s very difficult, we have to do the opposite. We’ll do it because ultimately love is not the first commandment, it appears later but we’ll get there, we’ll learn it.
40. S. (55:48) What is the connection between the commandments and the reforming light?
R. The reforming light is the light that changes our inclinations, our elements and then we can do actions with the intention to bestow, and that’s already corrections. That is it.
Reading Item #3 twice (56:33)
41. S. (01:02:45) Is faith above reason from fear and act of fear towards the Creator?
R. Yes.
42. S. (01:03:27) What does it mean to reveal love from the side of mercy and from the side of judgment?
R. From both sides you can love, both from the side of harsh judgment and also from the side of mercy. And both have to be in man’s attitude towards the Creator just as the Creator’s attitude towards man.
S. From the side of mercy it’s clear it’s clear how love is related but how is love from the harsh judgment?
R. We will talk about it, we don’t yet have such examples.
43. S. (01:04:29) How can we live the commandments in our day-to-day life so we can attain better connection in the ten and with the Creator?
R. It’s only by awakening each other. We have nothing more to do, only to awaken each other. We see the group that is gathered in Moscow now, it’s really excellent.
44. S. (01:05:27) How to relate correctly to be in commandments? Are those restrictions or degrees of freedom that the ego will help us keep?
R. It’s a very correct question. I’ll put it like this, the commandments are the channels through which we can connect between us. Even though we’re very different between us and the Creator but thanks to this kind of package where we connect with each other through these channels, in these channels we increase the connection between us and we turn that connection to be more purposeful, more goal-oriented. And thus we can connect and complement each other. That is what we are studying but we will learn that the connection between us are like channels between us.
45. S. (01:07:35) Why bring fear and judgment?
R. It’s in order for us to feel ourselves limited on the one hand. On the other hand if you rise above our limitedness then we’re not limited in anything. So on the one hand we are created beings, we were created and on the other hand we have to attain the degree of the Creator who is above all the created beings. So how to overcome these conditions, how to transcend them? We have to attain the degree of the Creator that is above all the created beings and we have to rise above all these conditions, that’s why we learn the 613 commandments. If we realize them we rise to the degree of the Creator, we rise above all of nature and somewhat even above the Creator.
S. It says that in order to reveal the measure of love and judgment it took the life to the next world. Does that mean it made a scrutiny and reflected light?
R. Yes.
S. And what does it mean that in this case you concealed it?
R. Concealed the upper light of GAR until the final correction and only then you reveal it to us and until then we just have to become corrected and receive the light only for the correction.
46. S. (01:09:39) What does it mean in practice to include fear and love always and never to separate them?
R. Say it again.
S. What does it mean in practice, we heard what is written to include spiritual fear and love always, to not separate one from the other?
R. Yes, that both will be working like we say that even though there is coarseness this coarseness can turn to refinement. Actually on the account of the coarseness we can receive the upper light even though they’re opposite, same thing here. We learn how to use both in order to be well positioned opposite to the Creator.
Reading Item #4 twice (01:10:53)
47. S. (01:16:29) I heard you say that these commandments are like these types of connection. If I have a very small ego can I discover these channels of connection through my friends?
R. It doesn’t matter if it’s small, big, if it’s through you or through your friends. don’t worry. You will have a connection with the Creator and your personal commandments and you won’t be lacking these connections. Don’t worry, no one will be lacking.