THURSDAY: NETZACH-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Thursday.
Rabash. What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?. 22 (1987)
Morning Lesson June 6, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio.
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 22, 1987. What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?
1.Rav’s Introduction: (00:45) Well, like all of the Rabash articles the more we read and delve into it we see that you can’t say that this is more and that is less and whether it is short or long, that there’s really a difference between them. They all really point to the goal in a very sharp way; in a decisive way. So as the years pass, I can at least say about myself, I more and more appreciate these articles as opposed to what I thought at first, where it’s like okay, so he wrote, he had to write once a week, about what Rabash wrote once a week, meaning he wrote the whole week but for one day, Thursday, where we would all connect in the tens and each ten would read the article in their gathering. So sometimes I would think, okay, probably he has to do it for our gathering so we will have something to read, until that nonsense came out of me, until I began to understand that in each and every article there is a great secret and a unique approach and how much he thinks about it.
So that even though it seems easy and simple to us, but through that, we have a connection with the center of creation, the purpose of creation. So as the years pass, I better and better appreciate these articles, what Rabash wrote in them and his greatness always keeps growing and growing in my eyes and becomes loftier and more special. What he did here is really a work of sanctifying the Creator. Without these articles we can’t unlock the soul and reach connection with the Creator in an open and correct manner. So let’s read and enjoy what he wrote and if we think that there is something simple, light or not so important, then we should pay attention because probably there we don’t understand at all what he’s trying to say. Please.
Reading Article (04:34) “It is written in The Zohar..”
2. R. (43:00) Well the article is not difficult, it is long but in terms of the difficulty I don’t see a problem. What are you on strike?
3. S. (43:23) This inclination of the will to receive, if I don’t succeed in something, I don’t have an inclination to think I might succeed in it to ask something of someone who can help me?
R. Because you don’t feel His presence, you don’t feel the Creator exists so you don’t turn to Him.
S. My whole life I feel this way. Who can help me, what can help my life or so shows me that?
R. That’s why you were given a means to get to the Creator which is the group.
S. I also can’t show any success with the group. It’s something that I see, this one is giving me this, this one is helping me and then I am drawn to it.
R. Okay, but still you understand that through this you can advance.
S. I still do.
R. If you won’t add your own effort to it nothing will happen because exactly at this point the Creator lets you activate free choice.
S. So what is this point that he calls it, this cry, this point where he places this need on the created being, for the created being to develop it by himself?
R. The created being cannot develop anything, it can demand, it can ask but he can’t do anything on his own, what he’s not the kickball of actions, only possibly a deficiency.
S. So afterwards he describes in the article, he tries many times and he sees that he is not succeeding and then..?
R. And then he turns to the Creator and he begins to discover what deficiencies he has and how much he can activate them, the deficiencies.
S. Here, too, he writes that after he has already asked the Creator several times and he sees that the Creator doesn’t want to listen to him, he didn’t receive strength from the Creator, he goes against Him. It is exactly what we are going through and then he tells him that he should believe that that’s always the point of crisis that He can give him, so from that crisis how do you overcome that crisis?
R. By the ten, by the ten, that you see an example in front of what is hidden in spirituality, you see in the ten corporeally.
S. Can you see an example of overcoming in the ten?
R. You hear from them, you see on them and yes, it awakens you and positions you.
S. In other words through the ten I can make my will to receive see that it can overcome it?
R. Yes.
4. S. (47:22) Rabash writes that there is a matter of the wicked and he remains wicked in that state, he can’t overcome, he can’t make this transition, so and that is also man’s choice to remain wicked, when he is not succeeding in seeing through the ten and asking for the strength?
R. He has a possibility.
S. He has a possibility and he may also feel it and understand it but can’t make a decision in the right direction, he feels like he remains wicked and he can’t get out of it?
R. But he has a commandment, there is an instruction that he has to connect to the friends and nullify before them.
S. Yes, he cannot take this opposite decision?
R. I understand but we have to continue to try to connect and get closer to the friends. There is no other way, this is the bridge that connects us to spirituality.
S. At this point where we have to continue making an effort I see that there are several degrees in it. We just remain in the environment and expect something to happen over time. What if we can’t make an extra effort not in one millimeter?
R. Fine but we still remain connected to the environment.
S. And the ability is just like a miracle to give this extra effort?
R. This can come through envy, lust and honor.
5. S. (49:37) I wanted to ask about what he writes as a true need, that a person is given that only if he feels without it can’t live. How do you reach the true need for vessels of bestowal?
R. The true need, the real need for vessels of bestowal, it’s truly a need. When we see that otherwise we will not achieve connection between us. That’s it, this is why we begin to ask.
S. But also the requests for vessels of bestowal, the will to receive doesn’t want it. So I am asking: how do you bring your nature to want something it doesn’t and not just that but if it doesn’t have that it is worse than death?
R. Through shame, lust and honor, when I begin to see that if I cannot show that I am giving, I will not receive any support from them, any respect and any closeness and a good relation. So I have to be in bestowal at least superficially but I have to.
S. External influence I understand, what I don’t get is how does it become a true need?
R. Let the light do this, he writes about it, we need to do things on the outside and the light turns them into internal qualities.
6. S. (52:15) Can we say that the difference between righteous and the wicked is that both of them are committing sins, but the righteous is demanding? Can we say this is the difference, the demand?
R. I don’t understand, the demand of the righteous is to perform connection, the demand of the wicked is to perform separation.
S. The question is that both of them are committing sins, but the difference is that wicked is okay with it but righteous doesn’t want to stay in this state, so the thing that separates the righteous from the wicked is the demand.
R. Yes, yes.
S. Also throughout the years in the path I see that if the Creator doesn’t let me turn to Him, I cannot turn to Him?
R. Of course.
S. I’m having some periods that I’m in a descent but I’m not even noticing that I’m in a descent and I’m turning myself, how, for such a long time I didn’t turn to the Creator, every day and morning lesson I’m translating the lesson with the ten but I didn’t even turn to the Creator. How can this happen? I’m asking myself and probably He doesn’t awaken the Reshimot inside of me, so what can I do in order that the Creator will awaken a prayer inside me to Him?
R. But what you’re saying now is already a prayer, you understand? In other words, continue and you will see that the Creator only waits; He expects from you a big desire and correctly directed.
7. S. (55:05) It’s written that a person has to reach one-hundred percent deficiency and as long as he comes to that, he escapes that, I just wanted to clarify what does it mean to flee the campaign?
R. Yes but we have to scrutinize exactly what it means that the Creator didn’t help me, this we need to scrutinize and to clarify. That’s it.
8. S. (56:06) It is written that Malchut prepared a new Kli called the desire to bestow. What does it mean that the Malchut made a new Kli if everything comes from the Creator?
R. No, the fact that the force, the strength is coming from the Creator that’s fine but when Malchut, the will to receive begins to attribute herself and relate herself, she wants the desire of to bestow upon the Creator, really she wants it to be formed in her, that’s already her inner work.
S. And what does he write that she made it up?
R. She made it up means it didn’t exist before but now it does.
S. It says in spirituality that there’s no changes but only additions, what does that mean?
R. That all the forces come from the Creator and we just have to use them in the right way and in the right order.
9. S. (57:12) The essence of the article he says in the end is that the matter of asking for the gift is the need and by Torah and Mitzvot you receive the need, so what is Torah and Mitzvot?
R. The Torah is the reforming light and the Mitzvot, the commandments are actions that we try to do through the reforming light.
S. Again it’s not clear, if the Creator gives the need, ultimately then where’s the created being, it’s like another circle here?
R. No, the Creator gives everything for sure, where’s the created being?
S. It’s the difference between saying that the created being has to bring the need or the need for the need?
R. I don’t think that’s the main point, the main point is for us to constantly yearn to bring contentment to the Creator.
S. Which is the desire to bestow, no?
R. It’s a desire to bestow, yes.
S. It’s the same need because before he said that Torah and Mitzvot, it’s not clear, ultimately what the created being does, only waits for the light to work on him or what?
R. That’s the question: what should the created being give?
S. Yeah, me the person?
R. You have to give only the deficiency you want to receive from above an explanation, the strength and direction, an entry into the right place, in the right direction, into the right deficiency; yes, you need to receive everything.
S. So that’s a request from the Creator, man from the Creator?
R. Yes, to the Creator.
S. Right and sometimes you say the ten and envy, lust and honor, which sounds like a different direction, looking at the friends and absorbing some deficiency from them?
R. That, too, that, too, I need to receive. I cannot create anything in me, I only receive from the environment.
S. So I’m asking sometimes, it seems like the person needs to come and demand from the Creator?
R. If he has what to demand.
S. Another time people do corporeal actions and like in this world and looks at the friends in this world, he does envy, lust and honor and somehow, from these corporeal actions or comparing himself to others, something spiritual is born, so which is it, two or both?
R. Both, both and they come alternately.
10. S. (01:00:19) If I understand correctly, he describes like a sandwich, where the Creator first gives this will to receive which he calls evil, He gives birth to the will to receive and the created beings. And there’s a stage where the created beings need to give gratitude for that, one step back, the will to receive that the Creator gives birth to, gives a true need, as what he calls it and then the created being raises a prayer for it and the fulfillment which is again the Creator is when he’s given a desire to bestow. So now there is the emphasis on the middle, the sandwich, which is our work. If I understand correctly, he writes this is where many fall, at this point, specifically because he has to go through many stages of praying and not receiving a response the way he thinks and that’s where friends fall. How do we shape the force in the society so that a person understands that this decision point is critical, that all the years that he put in this is now the place and we hold him there and don’t let him fall? What kind of force does the ten need to create?
R. Only example, example can be external or more internal but we have nothing more, but rather the friends need to see that we are continuing on the path and each and every day we try to find another place where we can break through, forward, where we can break ahead.
11. S. (01:02:35) You just said we only need to give the deficiency and this is considered a lot of effort and work to reach this true lack, the vessel of bestowal and what is free about this gift, you put a lot of work into it?
R. What can you do, a lot of work, but together we can do it pretty quickly, I have nothing else to say.
S. I don’t understand what is free about the gift, can you explain this?
M. He’s asking about the free gift. Why is it free?
R. A lot is written about it, “As you are for free, I am for free,” etc., it means here it’s a free gift, I don’t know what else to add.
12. S. (01:04:44) Even if we are aware that we are still prisoners of our will to receive, we don’t always do the actions to reach the true need. The question is: How much depends on us and how much depends on the Creator to reach the true need?
R. Everything depends on our patience and everything depends on the Creator. From us it seems like we have to develop patience, which is the yardstick, the gauge of our advancement toward the Creator and our adhesion with the Creator.
13. S. (01:05:52) You said that he discovers that from the connection he receives, strength and then he surrenders to the group. That’s how he can receive the strength and that’s already a desire to bestow?
R. No, he still doesn’t know and we don’t know why it is a desire to bestow, he’s only asking for the strength, when he receives the strength you will see how much they belong to the will to bestow or the will to receive.
14. S. (01:06:46) As a ten, how can we draw the light from the articles of Rabash and add it to our life? Why can’t we reach this deficiency that’s discussed here?
R. We’re not asking, we don’t need this deficiency, this is why we’re not receiving it, we cannot detect it. The whole point is that everything depends on our desire, it’s like reflected light that with it, as with a flashlight, we begin to see that we have a desire before us but if we don’t have the desire to reveal Him then we are revealing the darkness.
15. S. (01:08:03) It says here every time I ask for help, if I don’t feel the help that I receive I have to have faith above reason that the Creator helps me. How to reach this confidence, this awareness in the ten?
R. In the ten, it’s actually easier in the ten, we help each other, we can support each other, we can give each other confidence that the Creator is with us and He is accompanying us through our search and all of our actions.
16. S. (01:09:00) To be realistic we need a desire that is very well tuned. How to organize this kind of direction of desire?
R. I didn’t understand.
M. He’s saying to have a demand our desire has to be really aimed, how to direct this aim of the desire?
R. To what?
M. Towards the goal.
R. Repeat please.
S. In order to be realistic we need a desire that is very aimed, so what’s the order of the work to achieve this very fine-tuned desire?
R. We need to think together about the same goal and want it and want in connection between us and then the rest is what we say, what we elevate in that connection between us to the Creator.
17. S. (01:11:10) Is it sufficient if I ask for the friend to receive the need or the friend himself has to ask for himself to receive the need?
R. Both, of course, but if you’re asking for the friend then you first need to receive the same thing that you are asking for the friend and then it passes on to the friend.
S. If I have the need, I want the friend to have the need?
R. Yes, so you are praying for him so what’s the question then?
S. He’s asking if he can ask for the friend, that’s it or if the friend also has to ask for that need himself?
R. No, the two are unrelated, as long as the important thing is for him to pray for the friends, this will expand his vessels of perception.
18. S. (01:13:28) I have to reach a deficiency that I’m better off dead until there is such a deficiency the Creator will not give the gift?
R. Well, it’s not accurate but let’s put it this way.
S. He’s talking about the true need. There is a matter that if a person comes and says okay, I haven’t reached it yet but I come and do what I can and it will happen. When it happens meaning there is some calming down and you said that only the ten can awaken the person from that state and take him out of it?
R. Yes.
S. Now, the question is: the ten tries to give examples but it seems that not only a person is uninspired but he’s even rejected, he doesn’t want to see these examples. So how can you continue from there?
R. We have to find ways to bestow, to influence him, we have to look for ways.
S. Maybe stop what they’re trying and try something else?
R. Well, look for something but whatever it may be we need to influence one another in order to awaken everyone until he will care about the purpose and goal of the ten.
19. S. (01:15:10) The article is amazing and each time you see how Rabash puts us through all kinds of hidden points where your discover that is like this and like that then but it’s a very intricate path and I see that I’m trying to always simplify the work and see what I need to do this and this and that, and is it a correct tendency to try to simplify what I’m supposed to do during the day or maybe to actually dig deeper into these points that Rabash puts us through?
R. It’s also good but to engage with it that’s also good.
20. S. (01:16:08) The Creator’s help, the gift, the intention to bestow, what is it and how can we depict the state correctly to ask for it?
R. Simply ask, if you aim yourself constantly at the request, you will reach and you will come to the right request, you will come to it.
S. I asked, give me the intention in order to bestow but it’s just words, there’s no pain in them, there’s no inner tension. If I understood what it is so then, yes, so how can we add to this tension, how can we add it?
R. This is the power of the prayer of many.
S. How can we correctly use the force of the prayer of many?
R. [….]
21. S. (01:17:45) When we connect in the ten and integrate with our friends we receive the desires, is that what would be considered free gifts, it will expand our own desires through connections?
R. It will get later into free gift, for now no, for now it’s connection.
22. S. (01:18:20) When the Creator gives the deficiency it’s felt like a gift, like something very valuable, you want it to stay and you want this deficiency to bestow, to remain. It’s felt that nothing more is needed, so why is it considered that it’s like, free?
R. First of all we have to attain that deficiency and feel that what we’re demanding, we have no personal need for it, therefore, what the Creator gives is called free.
23. S. (01:19:20) Rabash writes whatever the desire with the upper one becomes a law for the lower one, how can we work with this law?
R. A desire in the upper one is a desire on an upper level and it comes down to a lower level as a law, it’s obligating the lower one and we have to accept it as such.
S. Let’s say in the ten, how can we depict the desire of the upper one and how does it become a law for us?
R. I think it’s so natural, it’s not even spiritual. Even in our world a desire in the upper one becomes a law in the lower one.
24. S. (01:20:40) Do our friends show us our deficiencies and by that it causes us to reach a true prayer? What prayer should I have when I feel this is happening?
R. The prayer has to be on the deficiency that the friends are showing me and I’m taking it as my own and we connect through that, there is the meaning of being, “as one man in one heart.”
25. S. (01:21:35) First half of the article, it feels like there is no other prayer other than a prayer for correction of the vessels; the vessels of bestowal. And at the end of the article, Rabash says about love, that we can get these vessels of bestowal as a gift and if so, what are the other conditions?
R. Yes we receive vessels of bestowal from the Creator on the condition that we know how to use them, how to use them, and hence we need to try to be in mutual bestowal in the society in order to learn how to show qualities, intentions to bestow to one another and from that we will be rewarded with vessels of bestowal.
26. S. (01:22:58) I’m a little confused here with the topic, if to change my state from receiving in order to bestow, I need to go through the entire path and in addition what needs to happen? I need to raise a good prayer, then what does the Creator give like for free, does He give me some kind of gift or?
R. The Creator gives us vessels of reception and we need to add them to our intentions of bestowal and connect them into one vessel and then we will be able to work with that vessel in reception in order to bestow.
27. S. (01:24:19) Does the Creator build in us vessels of bestowal through the Mitzvot [commandments]?
R. Certainly.
S. In other words, He changes our intentions from receiving in order to receive to in order to bestow through the Mitzvot?
R. Yes.
28. S. (01:24:48) He says that’s what’s most important is to reach a true deficiency, so how can we ask for a gift for the entire ten if we don’t know what exactly the deficiency that the ten needs to achieve is?
R. The deficiency the ten has to attain, is first of all the connection between them for determining their goal and the forces for how to attain their goal together and how to realize it together.
29. S. (01:30:55) In the beginning of the article he says, “he who comes to purify is aided,” what is this that we need to do in the ten?
R. Anyone who comes to correct himself is incorporated in the ten and is rewarded with correction.
S. What does it mean to be included in the ten, what do I need to do in practice?
R. Connect with his ten and then he is rewarded with the force of correction that can dwell on them. Otherwise I don’t understand what you are asking, what’s not clear about being incorporated in the ten, you’re asking now after a year or two of us studying this.
30. S. (01:27:05) If we can take the Creator’s desire to do good to his created being, is that the true desire, that we do something with that intention?
R. Yes, yes.