WEDNESDAY: MALCHUT-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
READING: FROM MIDNIGHT TO DAWN WEDNESDAY
Rabash. What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?. 28 (1988)
LESSON MATERIAL
What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?
Article 28, 1988
Midrash Rabbah, Ruth (Chapter 2:11) asks, “One verse says, ‘For the Lord will not abandon His people and will not leave His inheritance,’ and another verse says, ‘For the Lord will not abandon His people for the sake of His great name.’ Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachmani said, ‘At times He does for the sake of His people and His inheritance, and at times He does for the sake of His great name.’ Rabbi Ibi said, ‘When Israel are worthy—for the sake of His people and His inheritance. When Israel are not worthy—for the sake of His great name. And our sages said, ‘In the land of Israel, for the sake of His people and inheritance. Abroad, for the sake of His great name, as it was said, ‘For My sake, for My sake I will do.’’”
We should understand the meaning of “His great name,” and the meaning of “His people and His inheritance.” We should also understand the difference between “abroad,” attributed to His great name, and “the land of Israel,” which is “for the sake of His people and inheritance.”
We are told to believe in His guidance—that He leads the world as good and doing good. We must believe that the purpose of creation was because He desires to do good to His creations. We must believe even though we suffer from what Providence sends us to feel. Nonetheless, we should believe that the punishments we suffer for not observing the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] of the Creator, which the Creator has commanded us, these punishments are not due to vengeance, as it occurs among flesh and blood, who punish because their honor was tarnished when their orders are disobeyed. Instead, here there is a matter of correction.
That is, the torments a person suffers for not observing the Creator’s commandments is because the giving of Torah and Mitzvot was for man’s sake. Through them, he is to receive Kelim [vessels] that can receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator has prepared for the creatures. For this reason, when a person does not observe Torah and Mitzvot, he is devoid of those Kelim. Hence, the Creator sends him suffering so he would take upon himself the Torah and Mitzvot. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that we must believe that the sin is the punishment and the punishment is the correction. This is the opposite of the common view.
It is as the Nahmanides says (presented in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 1), “Nahmanides had already explained to us the matter of His uniqueness, as expressed in the words, ‘One, Unique, and Unified.’ There is a difference between ‘One,’ ‘Unique,’ and ‘Unified’: When He unites to act with one force, He is called ‘Unified.’ When He divides to act His act, each part of Him is called ‘Unique.’ When He is in a single evenness, He is called ‘One.’ Interpretation: Uniting to act with one force, when He works to bestow, as is fitting of His oneness, and His operations are unchanging. When He divides to act His act, meaning when His operations differ, and He seems to be doing good and bad, He is called ‘Unique,’ since all His different operations have a single outcome: doing good. We find that He is unique in every single act and does not change by His various actions. When He is in a single evenness, He is called ‘One.’ ‘One’ points to His essence.” He also writes there, “‘One’ indicates a single evenness. ‘Unique’ implies that all those multiplicities are in Him as single as His essence. ‘Unified’ shows that although He performs many actions, one force performs all those, and they all return and unite in the form of ‘Unique.’”
We see that all of Guidance is in the form of corrections. Although it is difficult to understand this, we must take upon ourselves faith in the sages, which is called “oral Torah [law].” That is, we must believe what they are telling us about what to do and what to believe, and we must follow their views blindly and without criticism because our reason cannot understand the ways of His Providence. Thus, everything must be in faith above reason, and specifically by this we are then rewarded with the delight and pleasure, since we are following the ways of the sages, who have determined for us in which way and manner to go, and not the way our intellect understands.
Specifically in this way of above reason, we are later rewarded with feeling in the organs that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good. At that time we do not have to believe because we can already feel this, and then we ourselves testify that the creation of the world was with the intention to do good to His creations.
We must believe that the Creator leads the world as Elokim [God], which is called Teva [nature], as it is written, the Gematria of “nature” is “God,” which is the quality of judgment.
God is the quality of judgment, and HaVaYaH [the Lord] is the quality of mercy. Hence, the for the world in general, who do not believe in the Creator, they say that the guidance of the world follows the quality of nature, that nature determines the guidance of the world. However, they do not say that nature is God, but that it is nature, without any leader. We see that this nature, which the Creator created with the quality of judgment, has no mercy in the judgment, since nature has no intellect from which to ask for mercy so it does not punish us so harshly because we are so weak that we cannot follow its commandments.
The answer to this is “There is no mercy in the judgment.” For example, if someone throws his friend in the water, and the water wants to drown him, he says to the water, “Is it my fault that my friend threw me into your domain? Therefore, I’m asking you to please have mercy on me, since I have a big family with many children and no one to take care of them. So please forgive me for entering your domain.” The answer is “There is no mercy in the judgment” to those who break nature’s laws, which is God, who is the quality of judgment. This is as it is written, “Judgment will puncture the mountain [justice should be done at all costs].” Only those who believe that nature is God, meaning that there is a leader to nature, through prayer, they can induce change in nature, since there is a landlord to nature, and therefore He can change nature.
It is written (Taanit 25a) that when Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa saw on the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath] that his daughter was sad, he told her: “‘My daughter, why are you sad?’ She said to him: ‘I swapped the jar of oil with the jar of vinegar, and I placed the vinegar in the candle. The candle will quench and it will be dark on Shabbat.’ He replied, ‘He who said to the oil, ‘Burn!’ will tell the vinegar, ‘Burn!’’”
We see that one who believes that nature has a landlord can change nature. For this reason, those righteous for whom nature is regarded as God, meaning that the Creator is nature’s landlord, through their prayer, the Creator changes nature because of them. This is why we pray to the Creator to help us change nature, meaning that even if as far as nature is concerned, all the doctors have given up on that person, and medicine gives him no chance of recovery, the Creator can still heal and change nature.
It is written (Berachot 10), “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck, he should not deny himself mercy.” Although from the perspective of nature, there is a judgment that he will certainly die, a Jew believes that there is a leader to nature and that He has mercy, which is called HaVaYaH. Therefore, they said, “he should not deny himself mercy.” This is the meaning of the words, “HaVaYaH is Elokim” [the Lord is God].
Conversely, those who say that nature is without a landlord and there is no one to lead it have no mercy in the judgment. Therefore, they have no complaints to nature because there is no one to be angry with, since it has no mind that you can speak to or ask for mercy.
This is similar to an old custom: Before the invention of road-signs as a means to put order in traffic, police officers would stand and streamline traffic. At that time, many people were angry and had grievances against the officers for not doing their job right, and that they were not noticing the line of cars. Sometimes, a person would approach the officer and ask for a favor, since he has a sick person at home, etc., or ask for some special treatment, and the officer would act on his own judgment. At that time everyone thought that the officers were not working properly. Many people were happy, and many were not.
But today, the streamliner of traffic has become inanimate, mindless. So, now each one accepts the verdict of the road-sign (traffic light), and no one gets angry with it or asks it for favors. For example, sometimes an ambulance drives with a sick person that must be rushed to the hospital on a life or death situation. He does not speak to the road-sign, which is similar to nature, “streamlining the conduct of creation,” to let him through, since it is similar to nature, which is judgment, and there is no mercy in judgment.
Accordingly, we can understand that when the Creator wanted the physical world to exist and for the species to continue, and that generations will continue in succession and man will not be able to spoil the order of the existence of the world, for this reason, He has created the world as “nature.” Since it is not revealed as orderly guidance and everyone thinks that there is no landlord to the world, and that man can do whatever he wants, since when they do not know that there is a landlord watching over the world, each one does as he pleases and they might spoil the world. What did He do? He revealed the reward and punishment. That is, anyone who wants to break nature’s laws, which He did, will immediately be punished. And if they observe nature’s laws they will be rewarded for their work. This is called “revealed reward and punishment.”
For this reason, in the physical world, because of the correction called “equivalence of form,” it is forbidden to receive for one’s own sake. Rather, as it is written (Avot, Chapter 2:17), “All your actions will be for the sake of heaven.” Since the greatest pleasure is when a person feels that he is standing in the King’s palace and speaking with the King, and since any reception of pleasure must be for the sake of the Creator and not for one’s own sake, it means that a person should aim—while receiving the pleasure—to receive because the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy. But for himself, he would relinquish the pleasure.
It is known that the greater the pleasure, the harder it is to relinquish it. For this reason, if the Creator were revealed and they would not have to believe in Him, it would be impossible for man to be able to aim in order to bestow, since a person is utterly unable to say that if the Creator did not want us near Him and to feel how we speak to Him, we would relinquish the pleasure of this meeting.
Hence, a concealment was made, so there would be room for choice. That is, we must believe that “The whole Earth is full of His glory.” Before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, a person cannot have permanent faith, as it is said in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar.” For this reason, there is a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on spirituality. And in order not to have corruption in the world, the reward and punishment are revealed.
Conversely, if the reward and punishment in spirituality were revealed, there would not be any need to observe Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator. Instead, the reason mandating observing Torah and Mitzvot would remain in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. That is, where there are revealed reward and punishment, which is called “open Providence,” there is no need to observe Torah and Mitzvot because the Creator has commanded us to do so, and we want to do His will, and not because of reward and punishment.
Since we must observe Torah and Mitzvot because “He is great and ruling,” it is a great privilege if we can do His will and observe His commandments. But if the reward and punishment were revealed, it would not matter to us who gives us the reward or punishment. It follows that if this were so, man would have no choice as to whether to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, since he would have no need for this because the reward and punishment would instruct man to keep the rules. The reward and punishment are as man’s two legs, by which he walks and advances toward the goal to which his legs lead him, since from a place where he feels suffering, which is a punishment, he runs, and to a place where he feels he can derive delight and pleasure, he runs.
Naturally, at that time he has no need to know who is the landlord of the world, for what will it add to him to know that there is a leader to the world; he would only be interested in scrutinies of pleasure and suffering. Where one can derive more pleasure, in this he is immersed, and all his calculations in life are only about these matters. For this reason, the Creator hid Himself in the Torah, meaning that by engaging in Torah he can find Him, for otherwise He is hidden.
It follows that to the entire world, who have no connection to spirituality and He is hidden from them, He must lead the world with open Providence, meaning that the reward and punishment will be revealed. Naturally, they will not spoil the conducts of creation, for the Creator has created the world in nature, and they say that there is no landlord here, but only nature—which is seemingly inanimate—is the leader of the world.
And when there is no landlord to fear, each does as he pleases and they might spoil creation. (But because the Creator) leads (the whole world) in open Providence, naturally, they will observe every condition that nature stipulates, or nature will punish them. It follows that He can be hidden and everyone do His will, as He has arranged the world by nature, which is called “God,” “the quality of judgment.” It follows that He is hidden and the reward and punishment are revealed.
This is not so in spirituality, where He wants to be revealed to the lower ones. At that time Providence is covered, meaning that the reward and punishment are not revealed. Instead, one must believe that there are reward and punishment. Why are the reward and punishment concealed? It is because He wants them to search Him, meaning that the quality of “great and ruling” will compel them to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and not the reward, but rather that everything will be Lishma [for Her sake], namely that the Creator is the reason for engaging in Torah and Mitzvot because this is His will.
Conversely, if we feel reward and punishment while observing the Mitzvot, this is called Lo Lishma, as it is written, “Crave His commandments” (Psalms 112:1). They interpreted, His commandments and not the reward for His commandments, but rather to observe because the Creator has commanded to do and a person wants to bring contentment to the Creator, and this is why he observes His commandments. It is as the RADAK says there: “Crave His commandments” is the positive Mitzvot [commandments to certain actions]. He does them willingly, out of love of the Creator, who commanded him to do them. For this reason, he says, “crave,” meaning that he chases the Mitzva [sing. of Mitzvot] and exerts to do it with all his might, with his body and his wealth.
Accordingly, where we want the Creator Himself to be revealed to a person in the form of Dvekut, the reward and punishment are in concealed guidance. Otherwise, he will have no need to connect to Him. Instead, they would observe Torah and Mitzvot because of his own benefit, and from this they will derive satisfaction in their lives. But where it is impossible that they would be interested to know if there is a leader or not, which means that the world is governed only by corporeal things, it follows that the Creator is concealed there because they have no need to know if there is a landlord and a leader to the world. Instead, they say that the leader is nature, as though inanimate.
And what did the Creator do in order not to spoil nature’s order? He placed a correction on nature, and that correction is called “revealed reward and punishment.” This is a strict guarding that they will not spoil the nature that the Creator has created.
For this reason, we should say that where the Creator remains concealed, the reward and punishment are revealed. And where the Creator must be felt among the lower ones, the reward and punishment must be concealed from the lower ones.
Now we can interpret what we asked, What does it mean that they said about the verse, “For the Lord will not abandon His people,” for two reasons: 1) for the sake of His people and His inheritance, 2) for the sake of His great name.
We asked, What is the difference between them? Our sages said (Masechet Sanhedrin 98) about the verse, “‘For My sake, for My sake I will do,’ Rabbi Alexandri said, ‘Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi Rami, ‘It is written, ‘in its time’ and it is written ‘I will hasten it.’ If they are rewarded, I will hasten it. If they are not rewarded, in its time.’’” We should interpret the meaning of “I will hasten it.” We learn that the creatures must come to be rewarded with the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, and all of our work is to correct ourselves with vessels of bestowal, for only in those Kelim can the upper lights clothe, so there will be equivalence of form between the light and the Kli. This is the correction of the Tzimtzum, in order not to have the bread of shame. It follows that it is within man’s power to correct this.
This is called “accelerating the achieving of the goal,” which is to do good to His creations. We can do this only by annulling the authority, and only then is it possible to receive everything in order to bestow. For this reason, when the Creator imparts the abundance, He imparts to “His people and His inheritance.” That is, everything is regarded as His, and the lower one has no authority of his own because he has annulled his own authority. For this reason, “He will not abandon,” but He rather bestows upon “His people and His inheritance.”
But if they are “not rewarded,” meaning that they do not want to annul their authority and are unworthy of receiving the abundance, this is called “in its time.” At that time the Creator works “for the sake of His great name,” and the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. For this reason, He bestows upon them because He is good and does good, which is called “His great name.”
This is the meaning of what is written, “Our great sages say, ‘In the land of Israel, for the sake of His people and His inheritance. Abroad, for the sake of His great name.” What is the relation in the work between “the land of Israel” and “His people and His inheritance”? In the work, “the land of Israel” is when a person has already been rewarded with all his actions being Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], and he does not do anything for his own sake. It follows that “The Lord will not abandon.” Instead, He bestows upon them delight and pleasure because they have vessels of bestowal. This is why they are called “His people and His inheritance,” since they have no authority of their own.
Conversely, abroad, while they are still not in the land of Israel, when their actions are still not for the sake of the Creator, called Yashar-El, it is only by an awakening from above, regarded as “on the part of the upper one,” whose purpose is His will to do good to His creations. This is called “in its time,” and it is called “for the sake of His great name,” where His great name is the name of the Creator, which is The Good Who Does Good. Also, “great” means Hesed [mercy], meaning that His manner is to bestow. For this reason, “The Lord will not abandon” only from the perspective of the awakening from above, since from the perspective of the lower ones, they are still not worthy of the Creator bestowing upon them delight and pleasure.
It therefore follows that in all the descents that a person suffers in the work, he must believe in reward and punishment although he does not see. Instead, he must believe that the Creator will not leave him even when he is in descent. Although it is a punishment when the Creator removes him from the work, since the fact that he feels no flavor in the work is only because the Creator has thrown him out, so that a person will not think that now he does not want to be a worker of the Creator, but it is the Creator who does not want him. He must believe that this is a punishment, but he must also believe that it is not out of vengeance, but that it is corrections by which he will be rewarded with ascending and achieving the desired goal.
LESSON
Morning Lesson August 21, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 1:
Rabash. Article No. 28, (1988). What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?
Reading: (00:28) Twice
1. R. Very important article, very deep, profound. I don’t know what to tell you, do you want to read it again? This is what I feel from many friends, who’s in favor? Whoa whoa whoa, so many, well you’ll have to do some work here.
2. S. (01:10:50) What is annulling the authority?
R. The annulment of the authority, it’s also as we understand in this world the annulment of control.
S. What control?
R. Man’s control, that beforehand he thought that he is in control of the world or at least parts of the world, and now he understands that he has no control and it’s correct and good, and he is happy of it and he accepts the annulment of his authority completely let’s say.
S. What for?
R. In order, in this to give room to the Creator to control his world.
3. S. (01:11:57) He writes that to work because he is great and ruling is called Lishma.
Why is it for Lishma,sounds egoistic because he is great and ruining so I annul myself before him naturally.
R. Why is it not good that I annul?
S. It’s the nature of the small one too I annul before the great one why should it be in his nature why is it called Lishma?
R. But if I reach a state that I reveal that he is the good that does good.He controls everything and ‘There’s None Else Besides Him’ and then I am annulled.
S. Right, because he is great at ruling and because I want to serve him so that he will serve me. Just like a baby annuls before the mother naturally because she serves him and she is the great one and she is the ruler it’s the same, why is that Lishma?
R. Lishma, for her sake, because in this he feels the desire of the Creator, and he decides to annul towards Him.
S. Where is my overcoming?
R. Inside.
S. But why?
R. Inside this, you should decide that this is what you want to have.
S. If I already discover what is the force that rules reality it’s better for me to annul myself before this force that is ruling reality?
R. Correct.
S. Why is this coming out of this?
R. By what do you reveal this? By this He is great in ruling.
S. Let me ask differently, is it possible to discover that He’s great and ruling before we come out of our nature?
R. You want that to be so.
S. I want it but, in order to discover that He is great and ruling, do you first have to be in Lishma and you have to rise above reason?
R. Yes.
S. Then you discover that He is great and ruling?
R. Yes.
S. So it turns out you find out the revelation that He is great and ruling.That is like a testimony, it’s like evidence that He is in Lishma?
R. Yes, we have understood one another.
4. S. (01:14:58) He is speaking about how the punishment is a correction, why does he make that difference? What’s the difference between what people think? What punishment is and what He wants us to understand through this article?
R. Because there are no punishments. In truth there are no punishments, there are corrections. The Creator doesn’t need to punish them, He’s not interested in that. He doesn’t correct us through punishments.
S. What’s the difference between what we think about godliness as a reward and punishment compared to how we see it in the wisdom of Kabbalah? What’s the difference?
R. The difference is that there are no punishments in the world, but only the Creator guiding us toward eternity each time, toward the complete thing, the whole thing.
5. S. (01:16:16) He writes that if the Creator would be revealed, we wouldn’t need to believe in Him and there wouldn’t be any reality that a person could aim in order to bestow, so it turns out that for them to be vessels of bestowal in reality, He always has to be concealed?
R. To the extent that He is concealed there’s the ability to develop vessels of bestowal.
S. He’s not revealed?
R. He’s not revealed, rather you discover vessels of bestowal.
S. What’s revelation of the Creator if he’s never revealed himself?
R. You have made me and so on and so forth.
S. Why is it like that and what is the revelation of the Creator? if you build him?
R. The revelation of the Creator to the created beings means that the created beings specifically out of all the concealments, is building the Creator.
S. Why does revelation of the Creator annul the ability to have vessels of bestowal in reality?
R. Because well, it’s not precisely this way, but, the revelation of the Creator gives the created being and allows a creative being to be on the level of the Creator.
S. Why does it affect the vessels?
R. With which vessels the created being is in?
S. He writes if the Creator is revealed so there’s no reality that a person can be in order to bestow, so it turns out that I’ll never be revealed?
R. Yes.
S. That’s my question, why if the Creator is revealed there’s no reason to be in order to bestow?
R. You come to the form of bestowal because you are making it, you are building it and doing it, you’re arranging it.
S. You’re doing and where is the Creator if you’re doing it?
R. You have made him.
S. That’s called the Creator what you do?
R. Yes.
6. S. (01:19:40) He describes two systems of providence, two types of laws, the laws that are revealed that we see reward and punishment and more concealed law that gives us an ability to choose the laws of the Torah. It’s beautiful how he spreads it out but it’s just not clear how both those laws cannot touch each other. How do they still conduct us, could we say that revealed laws are the laws of reception and concealed laws are the laws of bestowal or how is that?
R. It’ll come together, let’s wait.
S. Because that’s what our destiny depends on we also see that these laws that are more revealed maybe belong to the still the more that we ascend to the degree of a human degree let’s say. There also let’s say those laws are not so clear and then we go into this kind of gray area where not the laws of bestowal not the laws of reception and we are confusing we make mistakes.
R. It’ll all get clarified.It will all get clarified.
7. S. (01:21:18) I don’t understand why in the place where the Creator remains revealed that’s where the reward and punishment is in the place where the Creator should be felt in the lower ones ,then the reward and punishment has to be concealed from the lower ones?
R. To allow for free choice.
S. What is revelation of the Creator or revelation of his reward and punishment?
R. You need to think about it. Those are beautiful questions.
8. S. (01:22:22:) He says that he relates the Creator to the guidance in this world, in the way of judgment. When we connect we feel mercy and we don’t feel judgment in that connection between us. It is said as if we take the judgments of this world and unite them and connect it all in the connection between us, is that right?
R. It’s not correct but this is our path for the time being this is how it is.
S. How should it be then?
R. We will find out. We will discover it. I don’t want to answer all these questions. I want you to discuss them and stew in them when I give an answer. The answer blocks the question and that’s it and there’s no more development. It’s good if you walk with them and think about them and talk with the friends about them, Workshop but there isn’t one question here there are many questions. I didn’t ask to read it again for nothing.
9. S. (01:24:39) Rabash writes in an interesting way how nature changes, and thanks to our prayer it can change because there is a Landlord. How much force does the prayer have by Kabbalists that can really change the laws of nature?
R. I don’t know this word that he said in Russian, it’s a lie that’s accepted in this world, that if we do nothing then there is a process by which nature develops. Of course that’s how it works but this is the path of suffering, and there is nothing original or natural about it. We’ll have to understand that nature, in nature there is no path of development rather everything that happens happens around us, it’s all happening around us, all the galaxies that you wish to see if you want to see changes and developments in stars and planets and certainly in human society on this planet, all of it are results, reactions to our behavior.
S. There’s a concrete example here where he writes about the vinegar and the oil, that she added vinegar and the father said whoever told the oil to burn he should tell the vinegar to burn, so how much can a prayer really change something like that?
R. It’s possible that the laws of nature can change, contrary to what we discovered earlier, yes.
S. What should the prayer be? We’re speaking about a prayer here, how can it be that strong that it will be aimed correctly?
R. The prayer has to be such that it emerges from the connection between us, and it has to be against corporeal laws of nature, and it has to be corrected using the spiritual laws of nature because we want it to happen, you don’t actually make any changes in nature, you simply raise the degree of existence to a higher level. There’s no miracles here. It’s very simple. Try and you will see.
10. S. (01:28:20) So when I correct my perception so I don’t suffer anymore and see that it wasn’t a punishment, is that right?
R. Yes.
11. S. (01:29:00) It’s written, ‘And I put the vinegar in the candle and it was dark on Sabbath.’ Why is it important that it’s lit on Sabbath and what does a candle mean?
R. The candle is typically the soul of man, of the person, the Sabbath is called the connection with the Creator, that’s it.
12. S. (01:29:50) We are being developed by a myriad of Reshimot; interactive Reshimot. How does this development, that man, ‘You have made me,’ and how does the Reshimot help us or hinder us, so that we can say that, ‘You have made me.’ What is the relationship?
R. The development of the Reshimot [records] goes according to the plan of creation from the lightest to the heaviest as we see in all the laws of nature, we can only influence the speed in which the records come out but not the order in which they come out, because from the beginning of creation to the end of creation the order of the records is determined according to the development of all the Sefirot and Partzufim and so on and so forth.
13. S. (01:31:10) How can we attain the ability to discern whether we’re getting pleasure from the Creator for His pleasure or for our pleasure and what separates the two forms of reception of pleasure that way?
R. The main thing is through the society, if I connect with the society and I turn to the Creator, then my path, the step I take is correct.
14. S. (01:31:53) When the Creator tosses a person from the work and what is that a correction if he just moves away from the correction?
R. Maybe he’s moving away from correction but it becomes clear to him that he is further away from the correction and it brings him back to the correct action.
15. S. (01:32:28) The prayer that we have in the ten, does it help us change our perception of reality?
R. Yes.
16. S. (01:33:14) You answered a friend that there are no punishments in the world, but the Creator that leads us to Him. So why in the article does he speak about reward and punishment, is it in order to push us into the work and annul ourselves?
R. Because from there is judgment and mercy and of course we develop through both towards the purpose of creation from the Upper One’s perspective there’s no other direction except toward correction, so this is how we speak, reward, punishment but in truth it’s all in order to bring us to correction.
17. S. (01:34:40) What they say about the Creator, that He is merciful and that’s His quality, and you said that He advances us in two paths, also in judgment. So how should we relate to the Creator? What should be the attitude towards one another, only judgment, only mercy, both of them?
R. It has to include both. The Creator is whole, is one whole that includes all the forces and from His side there is nothing bad, only a style of force in order to feel and direct us more correctly, more accurately towards the goal.
S. So why do Kabbalists emphasize that He is the Good and merciful? Why do they emphasize that quality?
R. Because that’s what a person should choose when turning to the Creator.
18. S. (01:36:10) I want advice, I don’t have a question.You recommended that we scrutinize questions before us because they’re a lot of questions about the article and I guess we’re going to do it after the lesson already during the day and then there’s a special state here in the room. There’s a feeling that we could open it and speak about it and during the day when we study they will be in a different place. So then I have a list of questions here that I wrote. I know that when we’re going to start discussing them during the day, it’s going to come from a completely different place, not from the state that we’re in?
R. But you wrote it, so what do you want now?
S. So I’m asking, how should we ask these questions during the day and supposedly restore or hold the state now because we’re going to be in a different state during work each one on their break, this will all be in reason already and not in the place we’re in now. So how to scrutinize in the right place but not right now like you explained?
R. I don’t know what to tell you, what to answer, what’s burning for you so much?
S. I am asking what is the advice?
R. There is no advice there isn’t because a few minutes ago you started to raise your hand and not before that and not after reading the article and not when others asked. So it’s so important to you and that’s why you are pressuring?
S. I’m trying to realize what you recommended. You said there are a lot of questions that I don’t want to answer all of them, so scrutinize them between you. So that is what I want to talk about, how to scrutinize between us?
R. I don’t know, scrutinize it, you have all kinds of different forms of connection, when you connect, you speak during the day. So scrutinize it. I’m not going to get into it.