READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN MONDAY

Rabash. What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?. 19 (1991)

LESSON MATERIAL

What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?

Article No. 19, 1991

The Jerusalem Talmud says, “The Tanna Rashbi says, ‘If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah, stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.’”

We should understand the meaning of people giving up on the Torah. Giving up has to do with a person who has made great efforts to obtain something but saw that all his efforts did not help him and he still did not obtain that thing. At that time, a person comes to despair. It follows that if a person sees that people have given up on finding the Torah, it must be that they have made efforts, so how can it be said, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? After all, we see that the labor did not help them, so with what can we reinforce ourselves?

It is known that in the work, we learn everything within one body. It follows that seeing people whose hands have given up on the Torah is in one person. Thus, what does it mean that he sees that they have given up on the Torah? We should understand why he says that their hands have given up on the Torah. It is known that “hands” means that which we take with our hands. Thus, what does it mean that “their hands have given up”? It means that they saw that it is impossible to receive in their hands from the Torah what they want to receive. Thus, we should know what it is they wanted to receive from the Torah but have given up.

It is known that man was created with the evil inclination and the good inclination. The evil inclination was created as soon as one is born. A person does not need to work to acquire this desire, since the Creator created man with this nature, called “desire to receive delight and pleasure.” Therefore, since it comes by nature, it is very strong and needs no assistance. Wherever one sees that he can enjoy something, he immediately does all that he can to obtain that pleasure. Accordingly, we should ask, “If it tries to bring one pleasures, why is it called “evil inclination”? After all, it is concerned with bringing pleasures, not bad things, to a person.

The answer is that since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, in order not to have the matter of shame, there was a correction that the abundance does not reach the vessels of reception. This is called “the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction].” Only a very thin light shines into the vessels of reception. This is the meaning of what the ARI interprets, that Malchut sustains the Klipot [shells/peels], as in “Her legs go down to death,” and the corporeal world is nourished by this.

Yet, the real delight and pleasure, of which He thought, does not shine into the vessels of reception. It therefore follows that the evil inclination, called “will to receive for one’s own sake,” cannot receive the real delight and pleasure. Hence, since the will to receive for oneself is the disruptor, it is called “evil inclination,” as it disrupts a person from receiving the abundance.

For this reason, since man was created with a nature of wanting to receive for himself, how can he have the power to emerge from the control of the evil inclination? The answer of our sages to this is “Thus the Creator said to Israel: ‘My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the spice of Torah. And if you engage in Torah, you will not be given into its hands’” (Kidushin 30).

This means that only through the Torah can we emerge from the control of the evil inclination. That is, when one learns Torah, he should always see whether he has taken from the Torah the subjugation of the evil inclination. Hence, if one learns Torah, he sees that he did not receive from the Torah the cure of the Torah, which subdues the evil inclination.

It follows that to the extent of the time and effort that one has given to learn Torah, and yet did not move at all from his evil, but sometimes sees the opposite, that he has retreated, and each day he thinks that he is a new creation, meaning that each day he thinks, “Perhaps today I will be rewarded with the Torah giving me the cure to persuade the evil inclination,” but since he sees that he is not succeeding, he falls into despair. Then he says that although our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” this might be so for a person who was born with good qualities. Yet, he sees his own lowliness, that he cannot achieve this level. Thus, he must leave the campaign since it is not for him, and he is wasting his time working in vain. This brings him to a state called “pondering the beginning.”

This is the meaning of what is written, “If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah,” meaning that all those days when he engaged in Torah with the aim to obtain from the Torah the cure of annulling the bad, and since each day was a new creation for him, it follows that he has many creations within him. Now, their hands have given up on the Torah because he is in a state where he will never receive this cure from the Torah. Yet, in this way, he is under the control of the will to receive. Hence, what should he do now? Normally, when one gives up on something that he wants to obtain, he quits it and runs from it. Thus, he should escape the campaign.

Rashbi says about this, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.” We should understand what Rashbi says and adds, “You will receive everyone’s reward.” Why is it not enough that he says that he should believe what he is saying, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? In other words, we must believe in the sages that we must not give up, and believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. Why does he add and say, “and you will receive everyone’s reward”? If he does not receive everyone’s reward, should he not reinforce himself and not give up?

We should interpret what he says, “and you will receive everyone’s reward,” that this is the reason why he must not give up on receiving the cure from the Torah that brings to us the cancellation of the evil inclination. The thing is that we must believe that when one begins the work of bestowal, he sees each time that he is more immersed in self-love. Each day he adds in the work, which is regarded as a new creation, as our sages said, “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child,” which means in the work that each day when one takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, he becomes “Israel,” and this is called “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child.”

It follows that man consists of many creations. And the more creations there are, he sees that he has still not been rewarded with permanent faith and he is still far from the Creator due to disparity of form, which causes separation from the Creator. This is called that he sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, meaning that they have given up on receiving the medicine called “annulment of the evil.”

The question is, Why does the Creator not give them what He promised us, as He said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice”? Why does He not give the spice to those people who want to work in order to bestow?

The answer is, as we explained in previous articles, that “There is no light without a Kli [vessel], no filling without a lack.” Since one is not shown more lack than he can receive, meaning to the extent of the good within him, meaning since he engages in overcoming the bad and does things in order to cancel the bad, therefore, he is shown a greater lack each time, according to the value of his work, and how far he is from the desire to bestow.

It follows that in truth, the Creator does hear a prayer, but the answering of the prayer is not the way the person thinks he needs it, meaning the filling, since what man really needs is the lack, meaning a real desire, to want to be rewarded in his life with only a desire to give contentment to the Creator. But in the beginning of his work, a person thinks that he needs a little bit desire to bestow, meaning that he still does not have a need to be able to bring contentment to the Creator. It is not a big desire because he is not as materialized with self-love.

Rather, he thinks that whenever he wants to work in order to bestow, he will be able to do so. Thus, he still does not have a real need to feel how far he is from doing anything not for his own sake. This is why this is still not regarded as a real need for the Creator to satisfy.

Hence, the beginning of answering the prayer of a person who wants to walk on the path of bestowal is that the Creator shows him each time a greater lack, that he is removed from the work of bestowal. It follows that the fact that one sees that the Torah is not giving him the spice is for his sake, since by this he receives a Kli, called “lack,” for the Creator to later give him the filling for the lack.

Thus, to the extent that each time he receives a greater lack for the desire to bestow, he thereby receives more Kelim [vessels] that can receive the filling of the lack. In other words, if he has a big desire to obtain the desire to bestow, it follows that the increase in desires is called “increase in the Kelim for the reception of the filling,” called “desire to bestow.” That is, he receives a big desire to bestow, according to his Kelim. This means that according to the measure of the lack, to that extent he can receive the spice from the Torah. It follows that according to the increase in the Kelim, to that extent he receives light.

Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, What does Rashbi add to us when he says that he takes everyone’s reward? We should interpret that when one sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, that they see that they are not receiving into their hands the spice that the Torah is meant to give them, namely the annulment of the evil inclination, but on the contrary, Rashbi says about this, “Know that all the rejections you feel, that each time, you are pushed farther away from nearing the Creator, from equivalence of form called ‘Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator,’ it is in order for you to acquire Kelim in which to receive the spice.”

It follows that now that you have many Kelim, which come from many rejections, now all the Kelim will receive reward, meaning the filling, and this is called that he will receive reward for everyone, for all the rejections, since these rejections are Kelim in which to receive the filling called “reward.”

It follows that by seeing that one is in thoughts and desires of the will to receive, which are called “wicked,” since they harm a person so he cannot achieve the delight and pleasure that is in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations, we must know that they are also called “enemies of the Creator” because they obstruct the Creator and He cannot carry out His plan to do good to His creations. Because of the will to receive for one’s own sake, the Creator cannot bestow upon them because it will all go to the vessels of reception, which are the Sitra Achra [other side]. Thus, these wicked, the desires of reception that have accumulated within man, are considered “the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man.”

Now we can interpret what is written (Psalms 34), “I sought the Lord and He answered me.” The RADAK interpreted “I sought,” since while in their hands, he sought the Creator in his heart and begged before Him in his heart to save him from them.

In the work, we should interpret that David saw that when he was in their hands, under the rule of thoughts and desires of the will to receive, his heart sought the Creator. That is, although he saw that they controlled him, his heart demanded of the Creator to save him from them. In other words, even though on the outside they governed him, within the heart he protested their governance and begged the Creator to save him from them. In his heart, he demanded and begged the Creator to save him from them and did not give up because they controlled him on the outside. This is as our sages said (Berachot 10), “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck, he should not deny himself mercy.” Thus, the descents, too, cause the filling of the lack.

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, “What is ‘Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You’?” In the work, we should interpret who are the Creator’s enemies in the work, who do not let one work for the sake of the Creator. These are the desires within us to work only for our own sake. These desires are called “enemies of the Creator and enemies of man.”

Being unable to work for the sake of the Creator is called “enemies of the Creator.” Yet, it is not that the Creator needs to be served. Rather, by working for Him, they receive Dvekut with the Creator, called “vessels of bestowal,” and in these Kelim the Creator can give them the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation. Since these desires of self-reception interrupt this, it follows that they are disrupting the desire to do good to His creations from being carried out.

Thus, they are also called “man’s enemies,” since the desires to receive interrupt people from being able to receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give them. These desires for reception for themselves can receive only from the light called “very thin light,” which shines into the Klipot [shells/peels]. This thin light can illuminate to the vessels of reception that belong to the Klipot.

But on the real light, there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] so it will shine only in vessels of Kedusha [holiness] called “vessels of bestowal,” meaning specifically on the desire to bestow contentment to one’s Maker and not for one’s own sake. This is why we ask, “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” since all the power in the will to receive is because the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust, the Shechina is in exile. That is, since the Kedusha is concealed and hidden, and we do not see its importance, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man raise their heads and want to rule.

But this is not so if the Creator helps us during the concealment, when Malchut is regarded as dust, when the creatures do not feel the existence of the Creator but the Klipot stand before us and the Kedusha is concealed and we do not see its importance. At that time, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of Israel are the rulers.

As is said in The Zohar about Malchut, she is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he is rewarded, it is good, meaning that the bad is covered and not seen outside. Naturally, the evil does not rule because it is concealed. If he is not rewarded, it is bad, meaning that the good is concealed and the bad is revealed outward. At that time, the bad rules because the bad is revealed and the good is concealed.

Hence, a person sees that sometimes he understands that man’s purpose is to work for the sake of the Creator. He has no doubt about it and thinks that it is natural, that it cannot be otherwise. Afterward, after this state when he understands that what matters is only to do the holy work and not to follow the majority, and moreover, sometimes when he looks at the general public, he cannot understand how intelligent people can be so immersed in superficial things and not engage in the holy work.

Afterward, the person himself falls into all kinds of foolish penchants that he previously ridiculed and could not comprehend. Now, he is in there himself.

We should understand how such a thing can happen. The answer is that later, when one has come to a state of “not rewarded,” the good disappears from him and the bad becomes revealed in him. Hence, he is taken after what is revealed outside, which is the bad. He has no choice; he does only that which is revealed outside.

This is the meaning of the words “Malchut is called ‘the tree of good and evil.’” However, the whole matter of choice is about what is revealed, namely the choice to be “rewarded” or “not rewarded.” It follows that man must do only one thing—to pray to the Creator that the bad will be covered and the good will be revealed. Then, he will consider working for the sake of the Creator as labor, since he will not be able to understand otherwise than to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, he will have no effort annulling himself before the Creator, since he will think that this is natural. Hence, everything he previously thought was impossible, now he sees that it is natural and he wants to annul before the Creator like a candle before a torch. And all this is because the bad is concealed and the good is revealed outside.

This is the meaning of the words “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered.” We pray that the Creator will “rise up,” the way we pray and say, “The Merciful One will raise for us the fallen Sukkah [hut] of David,” where the “Sukkah of David” is Malchut, which is the Shechina in the dust. We ask the Creator to raise her from her falling and that she will rise, meaning stand upright.

Naturally, each one will cancel his self and will want to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for himself. Through “Rise up, O Lord,” the “Let Your enemies be scattered” will happen. In other words, the desires in the creatures, which are the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man, will be scattered, “and let those who hate You flee before You.” That is, when there is “Rise up, O Lord,” when the Kedusha is in the state of Panim [anterior/face], then “and let those who hate You flee before You” will come true, meaning that all the enemies and haters will flee.

Concerning “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” we should know that scattering the enemies is not the end of the work, although it is the heart of it, as it is written, “And you shall uproot the evil from the midst of you.” However, this is only the correction of creation, and not the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is for the lower ones to receive delight and pleasure, which is called “Torah,” as in “the names of the Creator.”

It follows that the first discernment is “faith,” the kingdom of heaven, and then comes the Torah. This is the meaning of the verse “For the Torah shall come forth out of Zion.” Man must be rewarded with the quality of the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, namely the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation.

However, we must not forget that man should primarily exert to walk on the “right,” called “wholeness,” and believe in the sages, who said that one should be happy that the Creator has awarded him the ability to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. That is, when a person sees that everything he does is only for his own sake, and that he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator, this is also a great thing. One should be happy about this and thank the Creator for it. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that the Lo Lishma that one does is more important to the Creator than the importance a person ascribes to the Lishma [for Her sake]. Clearly, the Lishma is more important, but the Lo Lishma is also important to the Creator. Hence, one should be happy even with the Lo Lishma.

LESSON

Morning Lesson October 21, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 19, 1991. What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Introduction: (0:26) Yes, this is a very important and beautiful article in which Rabash describes in a broad manner a few important things, so let’s listen.

2. S. (34:32) It says here that when a person learns Torah he must always see whether he receives some specification for his specified evil inclination. How can we see if we engage in our connection if we are pacifying the evil inclination?

R. Nevertheless, when a person subjugates himself and he’s willing to flow along with the Torah even though he doesn’t quite have the forces for it and he doesn’t have a drive for it so he tries, he nevertheless tries to be somehow in the direction of bestowal, in the direction of connection and the direction of subjugation.

S. What does it mean to flow along with the Torah?

R. Anything that happens to me in life I try to do it in order to bestow.

S. How can I check each and every action if I’m doing it in order to bestow?

R. Well, if you’re with the friends then you can see it; are you aimed towards their benefit or not.

3. S. (36:18) What is the Torah in that case?

R. The Torah is everything, it is the force of bestowal that comes from the Creator that takes care of us in order to bring us to correction, to identification with the Creator.

4. S. (36:49) What does it mean that a person can feel in his body all of the created beings?

R. That he feels that he is animated, according to his body he belongs to the animate degree.

S. Can we say that from this you receive the reward of everyone?

R. No, no, it’s not related.

5. S. (37:23) What is the thing that can guarantee a person he will be rewarded with revelation?

R. To the extent that he cancels, annuls himself, he can be rewarded with the filling.

S. Revelation I mean.

R. Yes, filling or revelation.

6. S. (37:45) He writes according to the deficiency he receives for the will to bestow, he receives by that multiple vessels that are able to receive the filling of that deficiency. The question is, what should happen so that the deficiency he has will become vessels?

R. If your deficiencies will receive an additional intention of in order to bestow they become vessels.

S. How do I do it? How if I have the deficiency I add to it the intention to bestow?

R. Pay attention, the Creator’s giving you an opportunity.

S. How do I use that deficiency for bestowal, this I have to see?

R. Yes, yes.

7. S. (38:50) He writes, the teacher said in Lo Lishma the person does what is important to the Creator even more than what a person thinks he’s in Lishma. Certainly the Lishma is more important however Lo Lishma is also important for the Creator. Can you interpret it; what’s more important and why?

R. Because the person makes efforts and in that state where he’s still in Lo Lishma he tries to perform actions as though he’s in Lishma and these actions correct him this is why it is important.

S. We always learn that we use the enemies to rise above it. What does it mean to scatter your enemies?

R. To distance them, push them away, you push them away.

8. S. (40:22) In the beginning he speaks of growing stronger and receiving reward. If we look at the ten as parts of one body, in a sea my friends, in such a state then the true action would be aimed at a prayer and by enforcing my study in Torah that there will be corrections?

R. Yes.

S. But the flavors, the spice of Torah were names of the Creator, is the spice of the Torah then without the names of the Creator, it’s tasteless?

R. The spice is what a person feels in the taste of it.

S. That means that you can enjoy the flavors of the light only during the correction of the Mitzvot?

R. Yes.

S. And without it there is no flavor in the will to receive or..?

R. The will to receive is not corrected, that is only harmful.

S. It’s a bad taste?

R. Yes.

9. S. (42:42) It says that the spice of Torah is the remedy. In the group work what is that exactly, that the Torah can heal?

R. You receive a little bit of illumination of the upper Light and you begin to receive more, to feel more where you are, this is how.

10. S. (43:19) In Lo Lishma can we reach a true deficiency?

R. Yes.

S. And what is that true deficiency?

R. That I want to rise above my ego and only to perform actions that are outside of me towards the others.

S. And be in connection with the Creator for the sake of the friends so He will bring me closer to them, help me?

R. Yes, yes.

11. S. (44:26) The question is during this article there’s a feeling that we are coming to the end of an important period and we’re headed towards a new degree, is this correct?

R. Yes.

S. Can we say that soon we will be able to receive a screen?

R. Yes.

S. And that’s the receiving of the Torah?

R. What we will receive through the screen will be called Torah.

12. S. (45:06) It says that “when a person is in a state where the evil is revealed and the good is concealed he has no choice and he’s doing only that which is revealed outward”. And then Rabash writes that there is a matter of choice, a person can choose between ‘rewarded’ and ‘not rewarded’, so what is that switch of the choice that he’s able to merit it, to be rewarded? And the second question is: he says that prayer is a kind of answer, prayer, both the environment and the ten and the lessons and everything we’re doing?

R. The prayer means a deficiency that rises from a person to the Creator, that is all.

S. But how does it make the switch: if he’s in the evil that’s revealed, they say there’s no choice, so where is exactly that, how does he bring the deficiency of his choice?

R. He brings himself closer to the group and becomes incorporated in the group and together with it he begins to pray to the Creator.

13. S. (46:30) At the very end he says there that, “the Lo Lishma matters to the Creator more than Lishma”, it’s a bit unclear to understand that, can you help understand that a little more?

R. A person is making efforts and he wants to reach Lishma but he cannot still and he’s in Lo Lishma; however, because he does make efforts, he wants to reach it through the group, through the prayer, through the Creator, so his work is important.

S. Can we say that the state of Lishma is when I’ve done the corrections on the certain bad that I’ve seen in me and then the Lo Lishma is the work that I do to get to that correction?

R. Yes, that’s true.

S. So there’s no more work in Lishma?

R. That is correct.

14. S. (48:08) On the one hand, we can’t be connected to the Creator when you’re in the will to receive but how, where can the correction be without the will to receive that needs correction?

R. We do not separate from the will to receive, we only rise above it, we know how to work with it in order to bestow.

S. Rise above meaning ignore?

R. Rising above it and controlling it.

S. It exists on a higher level?

R. The will to receive, always.

15. S. (48:51) In the article he writes about two discernments, one is faith, the other is the Torah; does it mean that faith is Chafetz Hesed, bestowing in order to bestow, and the Torah is receiving in order to bestow?

R. Well, it’s close to that, that is right.

16. S. (49:21) Well, he says, he speaks in the article about the wicked, he says that they don’t let the Creator give out the good and abundance and therefore they are called the ‘enemies of the Creator’. If we say There Is None Else besides Him, who can be an enemy to the Creator, how to reconcile it?

R. Repeat the question?

S. It speaks in the article, he says, “they are called wicked because they harm a person so they won’t reach the good and abundance, the thought of creation which is the desire to do good to His creatures, and so we should also know that they are also called workers, servants of the Creator but they don’t allow the Creator to reveal His abundance, the thought of creation to the created beings. Why do we use this concept, how to understand it correctly?

R. To understand it correctly is that from the Creator emerges both the good and the bad and He operates through both of these ways on the person in order to give the person the understanding and the feeling of where he is and where is his right, his correct choice.

17. S. (50:44) He says, “collect many vessels along the way from all the states that we go through”, what turns these vessels into one, decisive deficiency?

R. Connection between people, people who are in a group, this is the most important.

18. S. (51:12) How’s the light of Torah, how can you turn it into ‘the light of life’ and not ‘the potion of death’; also, how to receive the light that comes from the lesson?

R. All of this depends only on our intention, if we want that our appeal to the Creator will awaken within Him the correct response, the suitable response, then we have to connect together and ask of Him only one thing, that He will bring us closer to Him.

19. S. (52:03) When we see the truth, meaning how distant we are from the Creator, how opposite we are from the Creator, are we seeing a kind of Illusion because it’s precisely from this realization of this truth that we can actually unite with the Creator?

R. Repeat, please?

S. When we see the truth you often say we need to see the truth of where we are, which is opposite the Creator, where we’re distant from the Creator. And when we see that, when we come to that realization, is it kind of like an illusion because from that truth we can then become one with the Creator?

R. Yes, certainly through such exercises we come closer and we unite with the Creator.

20. S. (53:25) The Torah is the method of our corrections, so the question is how to want to have this knowledge as ‘a spice’?

R. Well, bit by bit, we go forward and we get closer between us each time, and because each time we come closer between us over new desires and additions, so by that we begin to understand all of the forces and an operations that exist in the will to receive and how to rise above it in the will to bestow, that’s it. And so the Creator created the evil inclination, didn’t have to build anything more, to create anything more because when we rise above or through the evil inclination all the time, by that we understand what does it mean the good inclination, the Creator Himself, the light, the forces, etc..

21. S. (55:59) I feel that all of us receive rejections, consciously, unconsciously, but considering everything that’s happened today, in order to feel this general rejection according and additionally, the general projection that should correct something in each one of us, how is this possible that we’re still don’t feel suitable desire?

R. These rejections beget a deficiency to come back close, to return and get close to the Creator again as much as possible. And according to our efforts we begin to feel that we are getting closer and from that we already get what we call “the letters of work” from the rejections and nearing, this is it. This is how we approach it, it’s like a wheel, it makes half a turn backwards and half a turn forward, half a turn backwards and half a turn forwards, but nevertheless, it does go forward.

22. S. (57:36) What’s the difference in prayer between wanting to push away the enemies and the prayer where he wants to only bestow contentment to the Creator?

R. There is no difference because the intention is the same intention; to give contentment.

23. S. (58:01) When we revealed that all of your deficiency, your effort, all of your advancement, all of it, is thanks to the friends, how in that state can we come out to a state of bestowal, not out of shame but love?

R. We have to get connected to them, to adhere to them, and together with them keep working!

24. S. (58:41) In our life and in spirituality also, when we have a deficiency we enjoy it much more than when we get a feeling; in terms of the system, what brings contentment to the Creator more, when we ask to increase our deficiency or when we ask for a filling?

R. When we asked to come closer to Him, to reach adhesion in Him, that’s what brings Him pleasure from us.

25. S. (59:23) It is written in the article about David that even when he was in the hands of the Klipot, of the external ones, it was hard to keep looking for the Creator. But my question is: How can we get such a strong heart as David, what did he do that he was favored by the Creator in such a way that he never lost Achoraim, that his heart always kept looking for the Creator even though he was in descents?

R. You went through all these states, read Psalms that he wrote, read the Psalms those are his prayers and you’ll see what kind of terrible states he’s been through, in general. What kind of difficult life he had, that’s something you can’t imagine, but it’s written about it. Maybe we should bring those to the lesson to read in English from our archive, we have all the text.

26. S. (01:00:56) In order to advance in the work, how can I replace my perception regarding everything that is outside, in the world, outside of me. These are actually states that I have to correct in order to correct, not only myself but my whole group, how can I become more sensitive?

R. You simply need to return to this prayer and gradually you will feel it more and more inside and you also have the correct words for it, simply be precise with your prayer.