MONDAY PRAYER: YESOD-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN

READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Monday

Pesach (Passover)

Morning Lesson April 8, 2023

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

Part 1:

Passover – Selected Excerpts from the Sources. (The people’s complaints against Moses. #164)

1. Rav’s Introduction: (0:13) Yes, here we begin to see that it’s not so simple the relations between the people and Moses and we can feel that also on ourselves, on each and every one that there is this exit and how do we go out and why is there such resistance here from our nature, from all kinds of disturbances. Well let’s learn why it has to be this way. Why precisely when we want to do something in order to get out of Egypt, to have some awakening towards connection then on the one hand seemingly we see that this is the way and to the same extent we see how much along the way there are so many problems. And then as usual one who walks the path he stumbles across all kinds of obstacles, stones along the way, internal ones, and he falls and rises and continues and here each one shall help his friend that we must hold each other.

We especially should pay attention to the new friends that still may not understand and feel how much we have to pay attention specifically to the disturbances and to overcome them and learn from them and get from them a response and add it to our previous experience. And so this is how we advance, this is the way until we will learn all of these movements in our advancement towards the purpose of creation that we have to learn, on each and every step, in each interval of the way we cannot come out because of these things later on we will have to work with them in spirituality truly. Now it is only a preparation and so if I see that I did not complete my connection with the friends that I don’t feel the mutual support between us then we are not yet ready for the exodus from Egypt because all in all we have to reach a state where we are as one man with one heart. Is there already such a feeling? How to be connected in our hearts with everyone meaning with the desire to get out of in order to receive and enter a desire which is in order to bestow to each other and out of that altogether as a result of that to reach the Creator, bestow to the Creator.

And according to that, to feel what kinds of disturbances we have and to learn from that. What kinds of disturbances and that it truly comes from the Creator and this is how he teaches us as we teach children in order for them to do something on their own a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. By that they begin to be ready for self work. So it is very similar to what we do with children. This actually is our work now. The moment that we are ready for connection we begin to feel how the Creator works with us. How much he is allowing us or not allowing us, how much we forget about the need to connect.

And according to that we get closer to the opening, to the exit from Egypt. That’s it. This is the work and according to that there are certainly complaints from the people, from the groups to the Creator which is called to Moses, to the force that needs to direct us. Each and every ten should feel that they have ahead of them forces that pull them out of Egypt and a force that obstructs them from connecting and by working with them we have to establish ourselves such that we are ready to go through the exit. This is the topic for the time being okay. I hope that you also received something yesterday from the meal and from the preparation, well let’s go please.

Reading excerpt #164 (06:41) “We should interpret their complaints to Moses..”

2. R. (08:17) This means that the way begins to be a lot more difficult with many disturbances, there aren’t so much forces as we had before and bit by bit we feel some fatigue and disinterest. It is not clear, forgetfulness, all kinds of such disturbances in our mind and in our heart so that we don’t feel like it, it is difficult. We don’t know how to answer the evil force in the person that holds them, that doesn’t let them overcome and as it is written that the body despises this spiritual work. How much can we do it and when is it going to be over, when will we reach something? It doesn’t want to get closer to in order to bestow. This happens along the way, this is already a sign that we are in the middle of the path. In the beginning there is a desire then it all cools down and then we start having problems and we should already see here how do we work with it. Please read it again.

Reading excerpt #164 again. (10:13)

3. R. (11:44) Yes, we feel that we are crying out in this work that they don’t have the same energy, that they don’t have the same power, the same enthusiasm, upliftment, joy but rather out of lack of choice. Well part of their work was done out of lack of choice and certainly they would replace the work that they are doing with something else. These are the signs that we are in the middle of the way. That they have already truly entered the work of coming closer to the exit but still of course they can’t feel that they are getting closer to the exit because their desire constantly turns off and things become more ordinary so that you can no let longer become inspired by them and another day goes by and another day and they are not quite enthusiastic.

Reading excerpt #165 (13:16) “They had grievances against the Creator..”

4. R. (14:15) This means that they want to advance as they understood it and Moses explained it to them that all of the advancement is only in the unity between them in how much they come closer to each other to the extent of the nearing they disconnect from Pharaoh, disconnect from Egypt seemingly they get out of it. This is not about walking there on the surface but rather this is about them getting tighter and tighter keeping each other and here they feel that they know that they cannot work in the exodus from Egypt by increasing connection between them so what do we do? That way we want to get out.

Continuing Reading. (15:31)

5. R. (15:49) Meaning before they started to get out of Egypt to overcome the disturbances of the will to receive, to be above it they felt that they were advancing and now when they are already in some connection between them it stops them. It truly hinders them. So in such a way seemingly we will not get out, we are not going to get out so what do we do? How come it is written that through connection between us we will get out of Egypt if we cannot intensify the connection.

Continuing Reading. (16:36)

6. R. (17:47) This means that with such words that Rabash describes here the feeling that they truly put before the exodus from Egypt when we feel that the whole spiritual work, that we want to connect to get closer, to be tighter together we have to go out forcefully by our own strength with a single force, a united force then instead of that we see that we don’t have these forces and if this is the means the connection between us in order to get out of Egypt and this means apparently it is not going to work we will not be able to get out. Instead of earlier we now discover the friends such that I am happily connecting with them now I see the friends I have no strength to connect with them and they also don’t have an inclination to connect with me in order to be as one man with one heart so then we can exit Egypt so what are we to do? This is the hard work, the work in labor and it is completely against what they were thinking before and what they learned before. They felt that they have all of the powers and the plan for the work was written before them and here it becomes more and more clear to them from one side to the other how much they are not capable of it, they don’t want to and how much it doesn’t work. So what are we going to do? This is the point that now becomes revealed on the path okay?

7. S. (20:19) How did they agree to follow Moses in the darkness, what happened, how did they agree?

R. This is what we have to learn now how to follow Moses even though there is darkness ahead of them. Meaning they don’t see where are the means by which they can advance, meaning to go against Pharaoh, the will to receive in them constantly grows and shows itself as more scary and in control and how can they connect between them when there is so much resistance to this connection, this is the question. But this question now stands before them in a way that is much more clear, that their problem is to achieve connection in the present state. If they will not be able to overcome the pulling between them, the distancing between them then they will not be able to get out of Egypt, they will remain in Egypt in a state that is even worse than before.

Earlier they didn’t feel that they were slaves, that Pharaoh is holding them and not allowing them to get out. They didn’t feel before that they are opposite to Pharaoh and the Egyptians inside of them, inside of the person. But now they feel that it is truly difficult for them to move themselves in all kinds of works towards the exit. Pharaoh actually doesn’t give them any hard work, any hard work. If you want to stay in Egypt, go ahead, I will give you everything, you can have a good life, you can enjoy life. Let’s say just like secular people, like people on the street and only to those who want to get out specifically from Pharaoh’s control they begin to feel such a heaviness that falls on them and how much they are not capable of doing anything all the more so to run away from Pharaoh’s control.

S. I can’t convince Moses within me against Pharaoh. So how can I sort out these two forces within me?

R. Well for the time being I don’t know how, we are just learning this state itself that each and every person who wants to run away from in order to receive to in order to bestow is called to exit Egypt to the land of Israel to Yashar El, Eretz, Land is called Ratzon, desire and El means straight, straight to the Creator. So anyone who truly wants to perform such an action on himself it is not a simple action and well soon we will see how nevertheless we can do it but in the meantime according to the state as it is, now what we are learning, now we have the great complaints from all the people to Moses and to the Creator and they feel on themselves that they are locked inside of Egypt truly in chains, in handcuffs.

8. S. (25:14) What are the complaints on the people of Israel from the article? Do the children of Israel complain that Pharaoh hates them as it is written?

R. Those who want to get out of Egypt as much as they want to get out and are willing to put forces into it in order to run away, from in order to receive from the slavery, in that they feel how much Pharaoh is hated by them, that he is obstructing them and they don’t know what to do. They are confused, they have complaints against Moses, complaints against the Creator, complaints against the whole of creation. One who doesn’t want to run away, he doesn’t feel any difficulty, he doesn’t feel any difficulty. This is how it works for the time being. Let’s see what it says next.

Reading excerpt #166 (26:43) “Once the people of Israel heard..”

9. R. (27:09) This means that as much as a person’s intentions are more directed towards in order to bestow, towards connection then according to that he feels how difficult it is for him and this is completely, entirely, it doesn’t go along with his intention to get out of in order to receive to in order to bestow, to bestow to others it is hard work if it is possible at all. And we reach such a state and then we will see how Moses, the force that nevertheless pulls them out of Egypt, how much it can help them. That is the people of Israel once they heard from Moses that they must work for the sake of the Creator, meaning only in order to bestow, that through such actions they will get out of Egypt the real resistance of the evil in man began. That nobody felt that they wanted to get out, that they wanted to run away, that they want to be in order to bestow because now the true resistance to in order to bestow becomes revealed from the side of nature, from the side of Pharaoh. This is the meaning of the words then Moses returned to the lord and said: “O Lord why have you brought harm to His people?” Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, specifically in your name he has done harm to His people, meaning when do they feel bad and who feels bad of those who were in Egypt? Those who go to Pharaoh and ask to be freed from his control certainly Pharaoh rejects that when they want to get out of his control. In other words the body which is called Pharaoh. The body which is called Pharaoh began to resist the work. And what do we do then?

10. S. (30:00) I feel like the Creator always examines our agreements to continue working for Him above all the weights that He sends us as if He essentially always confuses us. How do we work with it?

R. First of all, we truly need to see that as much as we advance in each and every step along the way, as much as we nevertheless want to advance even though Pharaoh more and more is making it difficult for us. We don’t get help but rather we get more and more burdening of the heart. It becomes more and more difficult with each step forward as though we are climbing a mountain. And the more we climb there is greater resistance, so what do we do? And then they ask and they don’t yet get an answer. This is what Rabash tells us in 167, so please.

Reading excerpt #167 (32:00) “Ever since I came to Pharaoh..”

11. R. (33:16) That they reach such a state where this resistance stops them so much, the resistance of the body, of their inner desire to go in order to bestow that they think that maybe we will just stay as it was before in in order to receive and continue in this way as much as possible. We see that indeed to get out of Egypt we are not capable of advancing even a single step forward. Maybe if the Creator will come and take us and we will cross the border of Egypt, if He will make some miracle for us then we will be able to do it. Meaning we are now expecting the Creator this is not our work. This is what they think that maybe we are becoming worse when we advance and we want to get out of Egypt. Maybe it comes to us from above this burdening of the conditions becoming worse but in between what we do see is that we are not capable of it, this is the point. That the people of Israel are willing to connect between them willing to perform all kinds of actions that they were doing before in connection, in mutual help but not so much that all of us will be ready for the conditions of exiting Egypt. There is no such thing that each and every one of us and all of us together will be in in order to bestow.

12. S. (35:30) When a person merits this feeling that you have to work only for the sake of the Creator and in parallel he also feels how the rule of Pharaoh even more strongly holds him in resistance. Does that mean that we go from Lo Lishma to Lishma?

R. No, not yet.

13. S. (35:58) How to cope with the evil inclination that we discover on the path and as we advance in the study how do we continue on the path despite the difficulty?

R. Well this we didn’t learn yet. Now we are just learning that lack of strength is revealed in them and disturbances in the connection between them and in the connection between them and the Creator and they don’t know what to do about it or how to advance. Soon we will also learn, the question is: what is the answer?

14. S. (37:10) Both Moses and Pharaoh and the children of Israel, it’s all inside the person, so what is this point of Moses that has connection with the Creator and tells him since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name and so forth. What is then the person that still feels some connection to the Upper Force in that harsh state?

R. Yes, of course he doesn’t disconnect like an ordinary person on the street. He nevertheless feels that here he is on some mission, some spiritual work. However, he is not capable of doing it for now.

S. So what is still that part of Moses? What does it give the person confidence? What is it?

R. To the contrary it gives him the feeling of weakness. That the person is incapable of advancing. Well, so what? Even though we have Moses ahead of us and we are going forward and we discover how much our path is unknown that we cannot do it, that the Creator is demanding of us to advance, nevertheless but we don’t know with which forces and in what direction and so on. Well that’s the situation, we are confused, perplexed, and this is the reason for the subtitle of these excerpts: Moses’ complaints to the Creator.

15. S. (39:12) How do we use Pharaoh as assistance rather than heaviness?

R. I don’t know yet. You are already asking about what will be. I don’t know but according to what it says we have no way to relate to Pharaoh or to relate to the Creator or relate to anything, we are in a state where we want to discover what is happening to us and that out of that there is no way out.

S. What are we supposed to do in that state? What is our role?

R. To feel, to feel that state that’s all. To feel the state as it is, that I am under the rule of Pharaoh and I cannot do anything and I understand all of the arguments of Pharaoh and the arguments of the Creator and this is the point that I am in and I complain.

16. S. (40:48) After all the miracles and wonders that the people of Israel saw, Moses wanted to show them that there is a force of the Creator that pulls them out and so forth. And so all that process, that they left Egypt and so on, so what is happening? Is there a force that comes from the status that we feel towards the Creator. Is this what raises their ego that they were chosen by the Creator?

R. Yes. Well so what? The unique people that have a great ego and by using it they want to reach the revelation of the Creator, to get closer to Him, to connect with Him. Along with that they discover how much they don’t have the required elements and they don’t have the forces with which to perform this action.

S. But still they are connecting?

R. As much as they are capable of connecting they do connect

S. But there is a force created against here. The whole complaint to the Creator, I am just trying to clarify these points. On the one hand, they emerged, on the other hand they have complaints?

R. They didn’t come out yet they are in the exit, they want to come out.

S. And this feeling that they were chosen is that what is bothering them and hindering them?

R. What is hindering them is that they cannot disconnect from the rule of Pharaoh over them.

17. S. (43:03) When we go to the Creator and feel this depends on what we get from Pharaoh, is it just a feeling or is it really that He is giving us Pharaoh?

R. Pharaoh is an inner force of ours just like in general it is written “that man is a small word.” Meaning, includes within him all the forces of nature, also the Creator, it is all revealed inside of the person. So certainly Pharaoh is also our nature, our egoistic nature.

18. S. (44:54) What does it mean to disconnect from Pharaoh’s control?

R. That the will to receive will stop confusing me, very simple. I don’t want to listen to his voice, I don’t want to be under his influence, in a good spirit or in a bad spirit, if it’s yes or no, if it’s going to rule me, who is going to manage me, I don’t want to feel that. I want to be above all of these thoughts and desires and to be directed only towards the Creator, to open up my hands until I adhere to the Creator and I hold on to Him like a child holding his mother.

S. This confusion, the situation where a person is thrown from side to side, where does he run to from this confusion?

R. The person wants to run away from this state such that he won’t be thinking about himself but only about connection with the group and in the connection with the group he also wants to discover the Creator there. And here he sees that he’s not capable of thinking about it, that all of his thoughts and desires are actually working seemingly for his self-benefit, he cannot get rid of the in order to receive.

S. So this confusion, the entanglement, it’s not in order to choose a side but just to run away?

R. Take it slowly and in a few minutes you will understand it better.

19. S. (47:15) Does it help us to reveal our fear?

R. Yes, yes but so what.

S. This revelation it’s not in order for us to go back but at least for us to stand still in a stand-by-state? The revelation of the fear, let’s say for me the revelation of the fear is from I just give up but I don’t want to give up, this is the greatest fear, to just take a step back so I can take advantage of this situation when the fear is revealed?

R. We will soon learn how to take advantage of these states. Each state that is revealed is revealed for the benefit of our advancement; it is for the purpose of creation.

20. S. (48:08) When can we say that we are making a common effort in the ten and together to do the work with an open heart?

R. We will learn about it. You are already talking about a solution. We will nevertheless do something, so let’s read a few more excerpts and then we will see what it is telling us.

21. S. (48:48) In general when I see that I have the force and I have the strength to do the work I actually feel the wall when I get into the ten. And I see the flaws in others but I don’t see my own flaws. Is this a place where I am blocked, is this the point that I need to overcome? Will we succeed in overcoming this or should we just agree with it and live with it the way it is?

R. I don’t want to give you answers because you have to search for them and find them on your own.

Reading excerpt #168 (49:55) “Moses’ question was in order..” twice.

22. R. (52:53) Meaning if we speak in Pharaoh’s name, we want to overcome such a great will to receive then of course the work becomes greater and more difficult. Yes.

23. S. (53:10) Why is it that when a person separates himself from the evil it actually increases the feeling of evil, the bad?

R. He wants to separate himself from evil but he can’t for now. That is first, and second that when he does want to come out of the evil, then his evil is being shown more so that he will overcome the true evil. So he is shown the evil to the level, to the extent that if he overcomes it he makes contact with the Creator. The evil is like an elevator the raises him higher and higher to the height of the revelation of the Creator, let’s say, coarseness of the root level, level one, level two, the evil has to unfold on different degrees of coarseness, and accordingly, a person begins to feel the spiritual world, the Creator, everyone in his inner world according to the degree that he achieves. That is the need for the evil to grow.

24. S. (54:40) In these excerpts we can feel the state of heaviness, even the tragic situation, on the other hand we overcome similar states each day because if we wouldn’t overcome them we wouldn’t be sitting here. And when we are on the way, each time they add the forces to us, the more difficult it is. We are also stronger, then we will get through the state that is described here. Should we have disposals, such forces that the situation shouldn’t be so tragic, so what is the uniqueness of this specific state?

R. I don’t really agree with you. The evil force, the force of the ego becomes revealed each time in a more and more difficult way and we ultimately don’t know what to do. It is like a wall that appears before us and we cannot climb it and ultimately we come to the Red Sea which is waters that come and try to swallow us and disconnect us from life in such a way. This is called malicious water. That is how we advance towards feeling all of the forces of nature, even though when we go through them, when we are incorporated with them we become wiser, stronger and that is our progress, okay.

25. S. (57:25) There is an expression here of the true evil: what is the true evil and how do we overcome it?

R. When a person feels that it is truly the evil that is against the Creator and against his whole state of being drawn to the Creator, that is how it is.

26. S. (58:20) In the eyes of the Pharaoh the force of Moses becomes visible against the obstacles in the mind and heart. What is the meaning of this and do we have the means to connect them?

R. We at the moment are incapable of doing anything. All we need to do is become aware of what is written in the verses that which we can’t discover within us and nothing more. So don’t try to even take a step forward, skip a step forward. It is important to feel the situation the way he tells us about it in depth, to the depth of it, that’s it.

Reading Excerpt #169 (01:00:29) “It is written that Moses answered..”

27. R. (01:02:04) So there is some entrance towards progress but the question is will it go for it or not, what is the opening? What is the possibility in other words? What’s the possibility for one who wants to advance forward to come out of the control of the Klipa? What’s written, if they believed in the loyal shepherd as worthy, Moses, the children of Israel would be able to listen to Moses who is above the mouth and speech. And if they strengthen themselves in that they would certainly be saved from the Klipa of Pharaoh. So what can you say about that in your own words? So?

S.(01:03:32) That only the force of faith above the thoughts and all the disturbances, that the force of Moses reveals that they were not righteous, that they were only working for reward and only the force of faith is what can bring them out. And if we strengthen ourselves specifically in the work or in the force of faith above reason, only that can save them in the connection between them. Something like that maybe?

R. (01:04:06) Something like that, who can add?

S. (01:04:15) I’m very confused. Is it that they’re working, they’re righteous but they are not intending to leave Egypt and when Moses is then giving them the message the new thing is that they have to leave Egypt and that’s what is revealing the evil?

R. (01:04:56) Let’s say so, yes. What’s next? Keep going.

S. (01:05:32) Maybe it’s the force of Arvut, the nation that is willing to do this work even if Pharaoh and the Klipot don’t allow them to do it but they’re willing to do it for their friends?

R. (01:06:03) You know you’re right, did you learn in school or you’re so old that you forgot minus with minus gives you plus, remember that? So this is what can happen here. If they all, well it doesn’t have to be all but most, if most want to try the rulership of the Creator in order to bestow then they can obligate Him to to pull them there. It’s not coming out really, I’ll think how to put it in words but it’s very similar to that mathematical action where minus times minus gives you plus.

Reading Excerpt 170 twice and two songs (01:07:53)

28. R. (01:16:37) It is written in several places, in the writings of Rabash and Baal HaSulam, that from above they don’t give half a thing, don’t give half. You have to come to a complete measure and then it is revealed. It’s the same here, it’s impossible to give a half a thing first. The bad, all the bad has to be revealed and then the help comes from above for a complete thing. Therefore we can be dissatisfied, we can complain but until we fill up the quota of our labor that’s required for our situation, and we don’t know what it is, what’s required for our situation, we just have to fill up our quota. Only then and only in the end when we fill up the quota and come up to the very last coin of labor in our box, then we reach the goal.

29. S. (01:18:25) It’s very difficult to come to a question because we cannot go to your deficiency so we have to be in this state. That’s bothering me actually, it’s withholding me to come to a question. But it’s interesting to be in the state, to feel we want to connect and the more we connect the more resistance you get, it’s a build up there. How do we do this? Do we need to hold this state, to scrutinize it correctly, this plus and minus?

R. Normally we cannot overcome what is before us by understanding, feeling, locating it and connecting to it. We have to first of all go from our situation to that situation. In other words I don’t jump on it right away and seemingly acquire it, devour it, consume it and it’s mine. It doesn’t happen this way because we need to come from in order to receive to in order to bestow, from disconnection to connection. We need in order to be in connection to gradually acquire the qualities of the thing we want to connect with, we want to adhere to. So there’s work here, it’s not like it’s a jump.

S. (01:20:42) I feel this build-up, you just sit, it needs to build up to the whole, you don’t get a half. How do we hold that, that you can have this build-up, that it can come to this so-called maximum before you start asking for help? It can be a huge force there. Do you need discipline there, what do you need there to hold it?

R. No, a complete thing is not a big thing, it’s complete. Meaning it is clothed in ten Sefirot, in one phenomenon, that the ten reaches that phenomenon and reveals it and can reveal it according to its vessels. So it’s not something big in terms of volume or quantity, the quality has to be suitable.

S. Is there some sort of a balance point that we should search here to work with these two forces, to hold this before it gets filled to the maximum? How do you do this? We need a counter force somewhere.

R. We need to depict to ourselves the pushing force and the greatness of the Creator. That this is what will pull me and I don’t want anything other than to discover the greatness of the Creator to the whole world, I don’t want to receive anything else besides that. Then I advance correctly.

S. How do I work, let’s say with this resistance that is building up? I need to balance it somewhere because I need to scrutinize it, I need to make a choice somewhere.

R. During your experience in the work you have to see how you advance in such a way that you have two approaches, two hands or mind and heart, from this side or that side that you approach. And like in anything when you come to study it you have to approach from this angle, from that angle, how you open it up, how you accept it, absorb it, like that. But we will learn it practically, it is very soon, very soon we’ll get into it okay?

S. [No translation]

R. No, I think you have it all together the fact that sometimes you explode from within, sometimes from without as well, it’s natural, it’s natural, I like it.

30. S. (01:25:07) The question is we came here into this group with a huge minus. As we are together here the force of Moses has helped us to feel this togetherness. Now we are reading the passages, we have to get more minus so how can we step into that to take the full advantage of the passages we’re reading? Thank you so much.

R. I think that what we’re doing is correct, we cannot advance more quickly. Our progress is according to our absorption, to how much we can receive, swallow, absorb everything we go through both in terms of knowledge but mainly it’s internal, internally. We need to give room to our vessels, to our desires and thoughts, to change a little bit every time from every word. So it will happen, it will happen.

31. S. (01:27:35) Hello dear world Kli. The question is the feeling we get from the excerpts is that Moses is fighting Pharaoh in a partnership with the Creator and it’s as if the people of Israel don’t see the struggle. How can we be turned on and be the ones who support Moses and follow him?

R. This is really the goal, that we have to come to adhere to the Creator and before that we have to adhere to Moses. To believe fully with blind faith that we are following him, following Moses, it’s with faith above reason. Moses takes us to these degrees each time more and more, this is what he does and in this way we are built as a result of it.

S. We sometimes talk about Moses and sometimes the people of Israel so who should we ascribe ourselves to, Moses or the people of Israel?

R. To the people of Israel, to the people of Israel but the people of Israel normally identifies with or sympathizes with Moses

Reading Excerpt #171 (01:29:47)

32. S. (01:31:20) As we get out of Pharaoh’s control our actions get closer to revealing spirituality but we cannot do it in action to the same extent. Do we actually reach a desire that is truly spiritual or act that we do, this main action to be towards the Creator?

R. A spiritual action is to direct ourselves to the Creator and to try to be adhered to Him and then out of adhesion to understand what He wants from us. In other words it’s not like we understand Him and feel Him and afterwards we achieve adhesion but rather we try to be first in adhesion and from the adhesion to understand and feel Him. In other words first we need to be equipped with the light of mercy.

33. S. (01:33:28) As much as I understand, in Arvut there are two roles towards the friends. On one hand, on the background of this connection I discover my ego and the more we advance I reveal its depth. On the other hand I promise the friend that I won’t run away from the work and keep working in bestowal. I’m just trying to feel the question, on one hand I feel the depth of the will to receive and on the other hand the plea to the Creator?

R. To the extent that I can use my ego to be above it, connected with the friends I begin to take pride in this, to feel the ascent, elevation, rising, getting closer to the Creator. In my work toward the friend I feel how much by this I become closer to the Creator. Maybe that is what I would answer.

34. S. (01:35:33) In our work towards the friends do we need to remain till the last penny like you said, to give the last we have? Does that mean to come out of the control of Pharaoh?

R. Well you could put it this way, you could put it this way but it becomes a lot easier if we work with the friends. So it turns out that in the work with them I cover my ability to be adhered to the group.

Reading Excerpt #172 (01:36:49)

35. S. (01:37:22) When a person wants to surrender and be done with this burden how can Moses help him?

R. Through friends.

36. S. (01:37:48) You said in the beginning of the lesson that we build the mutual intention with the friends and to prepare ourselves with Shabbat lessons in workshops and to be ready to come out of Egypt and it was a very strong intention. So how can we turn this agreement into something, this mutual agreement into practical actions and what vessel do we have to make this transition?

R. As much as we advance in our world, in our life, in technology and science, in anything, we advance not in physical work but in what is called delicate work, subtle work. We don’t need millions of workers because we have machines, millions of people to calculate because we have computers, etc. In other words the world doesn’t need that many people. What I’m trying to say is in our spiritual work the more we advance we will feel that we need more and more of the quality of the labor, not the quantity of the labor and in this way we will go forward, if you’re asking about this, I’m not sure, that’s how it seemed to me.

37. S. (01:40:44) What does it mean that Moses asked why haven’t you not sent me, so Moses has doubts?

R. He has doubts about his role, not in his faith or in his mission that he has to do but within it what does he say? Moses brought Israel’s complaints to the Creator, meaning Israel’s doubts. Moses has to bring them to the Creator and then Moses asks the Creator why have you sent me? Because probably according to this he will know the answers to many of the questions he has from Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, replied as it is written, now you will see that which I will do to Pharaoh for with a mighty hand you will send them. Meaning the Creator is interested in showing those people who want to emerge from Pharaoh’s governance how much with a great force they come in, in order to exit Pharaoh. On one hand you can say Pharaoh has such a huge force that against him you need to bring many powers, on the other hand you could say the Creator is great because he is giving these forces to the people in order to fight against Pharaoh.

So the truth is of course Pharaoh is also a servant of the Creator like Moses and they are working only in order to reveal the ability of nature’s forces, the forces of the Creator to build man on the level of the Creator. How should I say it? There are many things here. The Creator shows by this how it is possible to turn the evil inclination into a good inclination, how there is no evil in the world at all, that it’s all done in order to bring into the person discernments between the good and bad. And in between these discernments every person can reveal the Creator as the advantage of the light from within the darkness, otherwise he won’t know how to see light out of the darkness. And therefore in this way we need a person to feel reality in this way because without it there’s no need for the evil inclination or for the darkness.

38. S. (01:44:57) In our state what does it mean that in each one of us Moses is afraid that they won’t believe him and won’t follow him?

R. That he won’t be able to activate, to use all the forces that the Creator placed in a person and that all these forces will connect between them in such a way that they will be directed toward the revelation of the Creator. This is Moses’s problem, if he can take all the forces that the Creator’s prepared in every person and help, so they help reveal the Creator.

39. S. (01:46:00) I want to continue, that it seems like Moses doesn’t understand the process. He’s saying why are you doing harm to these people, it’s like he’s asking why it is happening to them. How can that be?

R. He’s playing with them. Moses is a degree that is the closest to the Creator. We don’t have if you can call it one who was born out of a woman, someone who is so close to the upper force.

S. So these complaints are sort of a game, it’s not true complaints towards the Creator by Moses?

R. The truth is Moses has no complaints to the Creator, he’s the faithful Shepherd. But in order to be a medium between the Creator and the people he has to be in the middle.

40. S. (01:47:13) You said minus times minus is plus. So it looks like we have this evil inclination, it’s Pharaoh which is building up and this is a negative force. And we need to fight it like in medicine, like with a snake and its poison you fight it with medicine from poison. So what is the medicine here, the other minus to come to the cure?

R. The recognition of evil, that we don’t need anything more besides recognition of evil. Because to the extent of the recognition of evil we can then rise to the degree of the Creator. Why don’t we do a workshop or something?

S. Maybe you should ask a question Rav.

R. What possibilities does the Creator have in the situation that we have now scrutinized to bring Israel out of Egypt? That’s the question.

S. Active workshop friends, also in the Arvut system the question will be written on the screen. “What possibilities does the Creator have to take the people of Israel out of Egypt?”