THURSDAY: KETER-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN

READING: FROM MIDNIGHT TO DAWN THURSDAY

Rabash. A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering. 38 (1985)

Morning Lesson August 1, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 38 (1985). A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering

1. Rav’s Introduction: (40:44) Anyone wants to say anything about the article?

2. S. (40:57) It’s an amazing article, really, the way he very clearly details the states although it’s talking about very high things here. Two phases, repentance from fear, repentance from love, these are states that we are clearly very far from them. But I read this article yesterday before going to bed and didn’t understand everything and now that we sit here, there is this clarity, he shows you where you are. I had a feeling as we were reading about how Rabash, I’ll ask you now, how did Rabash dare to open so clearly that state and why didn’t others do it before him or they did and we don’t know?

R. This is a general question about what he did; it was simply time, a generation arrived, and that’s why he opened it up. That’s how it was, I think that’s what happened.

3. S. (42:23) It’s really an amazing article. In the end what I understand is this, the order is this: We should say, ‘if I’m not for me, who is for me’, and we should wait for an awakening from above. And number two, after the fact, believe that everything is private Providence. Meaning it doesn’t matter if I’m in the fourth, third degree, I should make an awakening from below and not wait.

R. Beautiful.

4. S. (43:07) Exactly on the same point he says that a person should say ‘if not for me, who for me’ and everything is in his hands. But before that, he described the fourth state where a person loses any contact with spirituality, he becomes a beast like everyone else. So how does he say suddenly, “if I’m not for me, who is for me”, I should wait and all that, how from being totally disconnected he jumps into not waiting and jumps and does?

R. It’s probably in the same action that he did, there’s the beginning and the end.

5. S. (43:49) I see Rabash in his greatness here, he also says, at the end of the day we’re not our own bosses, the Creator is the Boss and we should let Him be the Boss.

R. How?

S. That’s my question.

R. Ask the friends, what are you asking me for? How to let the Creator be the Host, the Landlord instead of our evil inclination that wishes to grab everything?

5. S. (44:51) What I did not understand is why Rabash gives us all of these discernments which I’ve heard many times. I heard many times the ‘who’ and ‘what’ questions come, we should not start answering them and we should just ‘blunt their teeth’ and shut our eyes and keep going and hold on to the friends no matter what keep going forward, there’s the example of Rabbi Akiva, to float over the waves, so why does Rabash open up this, this relation towards objections, resistance?

R. Yes, that is also a question.

7. S. (45:43) If I understand correctly, when the question comes to a question he is always in the fourth state, in the beginning when he does not understand that he is being tested and only in retrospect he discovers it. Meaning, I look and say, “man yesterday I was a cat chasing mice and only now I see it, so then what? because that was yesterday, what do I do with it?

R. Keep going. Make a conclusion on yesterday and start today.

S. Today what?

R. I don’t know.

S. So the next time the questions come to me, I will skip the first step and come to the more advanced state, or because it is always like that, because that is how it feels?

R. I don’t know.

8. S. (46:39) What I understand from Rabbi Yonatan is that our nature, we cannot change, only the Creator can change it therefore, all of our requests should be to the Creator?

R. That is correct, yes.

9. S. (47:12) There is a strong impression from the article, that a person needs to have a strong society to prepare him for whatever state the Creator sends him, and also that there is where to advance, the course of advancement here is very clear. The question is, when a person arranges his life in the corporeal sense, he should not burnden himself beyond what is in the Creator is going to send to him right? He should organize his life in the way that he can deal with anything that the Creator sends him in the spiritual path right?

R. Yes.

S. Another question, what is the difference when he writes about the state where ‘a person turns sins into merits’ and also ‘sins into mistakes’? I understand that in both cases the person overcomes, he overcomes the thoughts that the Creator gives him.

R. In order to change it, yes.

S. So why does he call in the second state ‘sins’ and ‘mistakes’, I understand it’s a repentance from fear not love, but in both cases he turns them into merits no?

R. He cannot turn them into merits immediately, first he goes to the level of ‘mistakes’.

S. Let’s put it simpler, a person feels thoughts that disconnect him from the ten, from connection, from connection with the friends and then he works on it until he obtains a new connection. In both cases he obtains the connection, in the first and the second states, so what is the difference between them?

R. There is a difference between mistakes and transgression.

S. I don’t understand the difference, what is the difference between ‘mistakes’ and ‘sins’?

R. What is ‘a mistake’?

S. It sounds in Hebrew as something that he did not mean to do, it’s a mistake.

R. Let’s say, yes. And ‘sins’? On the contrary.

S. It is deliberate. But In both cases he achieved connection, in both cases a person receives a bad thought that pushes him away?

R. No. He knows what that thought is; he is not in it, he knows of it.

10. S. (50:03) It is not clear from the article if Rabash is giving us a connection in order between these states or he’s not talking about it here and we should look for it?

R. Of course you have to look for it, he is giving us, he’s outlining a path for our states. He approaches them from several angles and we should read it again and again, and then maybe we may understand what he means.

S. Can we say that the third state is built over the second state?

R. Yes.

S. Because I see that at one time, we are starting from one to four and another time, it feels like we’re going from four to one, can that be?

R. Also, yes.

11. S. (51:11) The first state is not clear, where did the bad go, we always said that the bad doesn’t go away, we always cover it with love, but here it’s gone?

R. It did not merely disappear, it became good. Here, eventually the bad, that evil becomes good and the whole world is corrected and reaches the highest degree.

S. So in the end, the bad does disappear? 

R. Yes, if we use it correctly.

S. So, it still exists but here he writes that it disappears?

R. Disappears from its original evil form because we have transformed the good.

S. So the intention disappears but the desire remains?

R. Yes.

12. S. (52:22) He describes the phases but he does not say a person can advance from stage to stage. He described what happens in each stage but if I feel that I’m on four or even below, I don’t know, what should I do in order to advance in these degrees or is the reforming light the answer?

R. No, what is three and what is four? try to compare and see what changes in you.

S. In three, there’s recognition of evil, in four there’s no recognition of evil?

R. And?

S. So what is now? Should i in every state that i’m in, should I scrutinize and clarify the bad and come to the recognition of evil and that is the jump to the next degree?.

R. Yes, ultimately this is always the difference between the degrees.

S. Does the recognition of evil is something that happens to a person by himself or is something that we can work on in the ten?

R. Of course in the ten.

S. How?

R. You will not have the recognition of evil and you won’t have the power against the evil and you will reach nothing unless you have connection with the ten.

S. That is not my question, I did not ask if I should not be in the connection with the ten, of course I have to be in the connection with ten, the question is: Do we make the scrutiny of the bad and come to the recognition of evil together, or do we not talk about it in the ten? That’s my question.

R. They speak about it or they don’t, you are bringing all kinds of new discernments into it. 

We need to reach the recognition of evil in the ten; where all of us, more or less each one in his structure, understand what is evil? What does it mean to move away from evil? To hate evil? So on and so forth.

S. But in the end, it is a person’s scrutiny with himself, it’s not like I look at the friend and say, this is the bad there is in you.

R. No. You can’t see it.

13. S. (55:05) In the fourth state, is it complete disconnection, or can a person determine, decide that he is in that state?

R. A person can determine.

14. S. (55:22) In the first and second state I understand that a person overcomes by himself; in the third state a person discovers that he cannot by himself and needs the Creator’s help and he prays for it. And then there’s a connection there with the Creator, that is what it is felt that it is in the way that the third state is the highest state, it’s the state of work, a real state. So I wanted to understand that, because it describes the first and second state as higher but the third state is the one that we needs the connection with the Creator?

R. And, what is the question?

S. So it feels that the third state is higher.

R. It’s not higher, it’s a higher deficiency, it’s a correct deficiency that from that he advances forward.

S. That is what we need and want, the deficiency of connection with the Creator; in the first and second states, what deficiency do you have?

R. But it is not the end of the path, that deficiency. The fact that you arrived at the deficiency, it’s great, but what is next?

S. Next is the fillings that come from the Creator, what is higher than that?

R. Okay, but you need to arrange your current deficiency into a Kli in which you will receive the fulfillment.

S. So, in the third state a person establishes the deficiency, in the first and second state he didn’t even stabilize from the deficiency, he could overcome it by himself; so isn’t it higher when he has formed a deficiency and needs the Creator?

R. Yes. Of course. The deficiency is complete .

15. S. (57:18) First of all, the article brings a great gratitude to Rabash and to you for opening a map of all the states that the person can be in, we can read this article our entire life. Also, it is clear that without a society where a person can immerse his life into, he cannot be in the lowest state, there is no connection to this article without the close society. The question is, when he talks about ‘merits and sins and ‘mistakes’, is he describing what seems to him as the Creator’s relationship to him or how he defines the Creator?

R. I did not understand that, he ‘defines’ the Creator, what does that mean?

S. That he says now the Creator is treating me malicious, and now He gives me a merit?

R. No, it’s only towards the group, only relative to the ten. You cannot check, you cannot discuss, you cannot do anything; you can’t relate to the Creator unless He places in front of you or against you a group.

S. So what is my relationship now, do I relate to the group with malevolence or is the group treating me with malevolence, or I treat them with merit or I think that they’re treating me this way?

R. Yes, both. Both ways.

16.S. (59:38) It is a beautiful article, Rabash so beautifully describes it. My question is what does the Creator want from a person, when the Creator shows him, what truth does the Creator want to show when he shows a person that he does not control the situation or a situation where you can fall? What does the Creator want to show, what truth does the Creator want to expose?

R. He wants to bring us to a state where a person will understand Him; why He relates to Creation this way, and a person on the way through these four stages will also reach the same attitude towards creation.

S. But why does it say that it brings us closer to the truth, how it is connected to the truth? Maybe it’s closer to falsehood, that we are not connected and everything is broken and the truth is the connection, so why did he say it in this way, that everything is closer to the truth or maybe I misunderstand?

R. The thing is, it is all about revealing the true state, that is the main thing; then, according to that true state man decides where he needs to be and what he needs to do. The final call is on a person.

17. S. (01:01:59) The process that we are going through in our tens concerning these four phases makes me ask, to adhere to the Creator we need to justify, this is exactly this attempt to go through these four scrutinies and come to a state where we can adhere in the best way to the Creator?

R. I did not hear a question. Was there a question?

S. Yes. Through the experience that we experience in the ten, in the work of these four screenings of the four phases, Rabash does he want to bring us to a state where we will contain these four departments within us in order to be able to justify the Creator and adhere to Him? or will we always have to go through reason or can we go above reason right away to justify the Creator?

R. We cannot jump immediately to faith above reason. You have to go through reason and you have to determine that it is false, and that we cannot use it to reach the truth; and the truth is always found above reason.

18. S. (01:04:27) Somehow I feel like that the second state, the one that the fear of overcoming is the hardest one, because I know that sometimes even though the situation has passed and you do know that that’s sin was really an opportunity, something in the back still makes you feel like it was your fault, just like you were still in control?

R. Okay.

18. S. (01:05:18) Just to understand the allegory about the cats correctly, habit becomes second nature in the allegory about cats that we want through habit to come out of our nature, from the habit that becomes second nature or the habit that is only the clothing of the cat?

R. It is really not simple to imagine to ourselves how we through special exercises, that shines on us the light that reforms and we can clothe in the cats, or the contrary.

S. Is there a type of habit that is the clothing of the cat that later will run away, or there is this habit that becomes second nature and we should simply be persistent and the Creator will complete it?

R. I did not understand.

S. When we set up a habit for ourselves to try to change, are there some habits that we put something specific or clothing that’s covered or that it really becomes second nature, or is it a matter of persistence and doesn’t matter what habits we decide on and the Creator will eventually complete it?

R. The Creator completes eventually; He corrects, He completes, connects. He works from within our intellect and our habits and out of external examples. That is what He does each time, to bring us to a state where we can Partzuf a problem, understand it and know how to solve it.

20. S. (01:08:08) I also have a question about the example with the cats, it’s not very clear. In the example, there is no way to influence these cats and only the Creator can do something. But to imagine to yourself that something will happen, that their internal code will change and they won’t run after the mice?

R. Well.

S. What should we do in order for this inner cat not to chase after the mice?

R. It is only if the Creator will change it. Then, we will have a second nature, a different nature.

S. How do we even ask, what should we do? because we are going to see the control of the evil inclination over you?

R. When you want to clearly exchange the control of the ego with a different authority, then you will be able to turn to the Creator. Then you will find the words how to turn to the Creator so that He will hear you. The Creator will understand that you are truly asking for the desire that is in you from the recognition of evil.

S. Here in the article it says that the first and the highest state is when I go through all the sins of the body and choose, that I’m above the body slender and I’m happy with it. But in the fourth it also says that I’m happy and my intellect convinces me that I’ve heard all the slander of the body and I made my choice and I’m happy. So, this article created a big doubt in me, how do I discover that now I am happy because in the fourth state where I did not even go through the real scrutiny of the recognition of evil, and didn’t even approach it, and each day I seemingly hear something and I overcome all kinds of doubts. How should I understand that, maybe I’m not doing it at all, the real work although my reason tells me that everything is good?

R. The Creator does everything. He is the one who puts egoistic desires and altruistic desires He Himself creates everything, absolutely everything; those delays, those actions, by which He bestows to a person are also a person will eventually understand the thought of the Creator.

S. I see a risk here, I think that I’m happy that I’m in the first state, in the best state, so I stopped working in it, I stay in that good state.

R. We’ll see that, tell us about it later.