READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN TUESDAY

Rabash. What Is, “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,” in the Work?. 18 (1989)

LESSON MATERIAL

What Is, “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,” in the Work?

Article No. 18, 1989

It is written in The Zohar (Ki Tissa, Item 2): “Come and see: It was established that there is no blessing above on that which is counted. And if you say, ‘How were Israel counted?’ He took from them ransom for their souls, and they established that they did not calculate until all the ransom was collected and reached the number. It follows that in the beginning, Israel are blessed when receiving the ransom. Afterward, they count the ransom and bless Israel once more. It turns out that Israel were blessed in the beginning and in the end, and there was no plague in them. He asks, ‘Why does a plague appear because of the count?’ He answers, ‘It is because there is no blessing in that which is counted. And since the blessing has departed, the Sitra Achra [other side] is on it and can do harm.’”

We should understand the following: 1) If there is no blessing in that which is counted, what is the difference if we count people or the ransom instead of the people, since in the end, we know the number of people? Thus, how does it help if we swap the ransom because finally, we know their number? 2) Why is the ransom specifically a half shekel and not a full or a quarter shekel? What does half mean to us? 3) Why does the verse say, “The rich will not give more and the poor will not give less”? Is there anyone who does not know that if we need to know a certain number and swap, so that instead of counting people, we count something else, it must be the same thing for everyone, or it will not be possible to know the count? What does this come to teach us? 4) How does it benefit us if we are blessed in the beginning and in the end if there is counting in the middle? Do the blessings spoil the counting if there cannot be a blessing in that which is counted?

To understand all this in the work, we must pay attention to the purpose that we must achieve. It is known that every purpose that we want to achieve requires labor. Without labor, nothing can be accomplished. Thus, in the work of the Creator, what is the purpose of that we want to achieve and for which we labor?

The answer is, achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is called “equivalence of form.” That is, as the goal of the Creator in creating the world was to do good to His creations, our goal should be to do good to the Creator. In other words, man should do things to please the Creator. This is called “equivalence of form.”

This means that when the two forms come as one, the purpose of the Creator dresses in the purpose of the created beings. It follows that His will to do good to His creations, which is the purpose of creation, dresses in the desire to bestow contentment upon his Maker, and this is called “receiving in order to bestow.” It follows that we should say that our reward for the labor is the obtainment of the goal, much like corporeal matters, when we exert, and in return achieve the goal that we aspire for, for nothing is given without an effort.

It follows that when a person wants to walk on the path of truth in order to achieve his goal, called “Dvekut with the Creator,” where all his actions are in order to bestow, he must put in labor, which is called “suffering.” This means that a person has to go against his nature, meaning that man was created with Kelim [vessels] to delight himself, and he must walk on the path that will lead to pleasing the Creator and not for his own sake.

However, the body resists it. There are wars over this. Once, the desire to bestow prevails, and once, the will to receive triumphs. Yet, we must know that all the powers we will have so we can go against the will to receive, we must receive from the Torah. It is as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

That is, what is the reward one expects when he engages in Torah and labors in the Torah? It is to aim to be rewarded with the desire to bestow upon the Creator. This is considered that he is learning Torah in order to achieve Lishma [for Her sake], called “in order to bestow.” This is regarded as “cling unto His attributes.”

Accordingly, there are two manners in labor in the Torah: 1) He labors in the study of Torah in order to thereby obtain self-benefit, such as in order to be called “Rabbi” or for payment of money. 2) He labors in the Torah in order to obtain the power to go against self-benefit. It follows that here there is a different discernment to make in the labor. That is, a person must make great efforts in order to have the strength to labor in the Torah for this intention which is against the body. Moreover, the body resists him as much as it can and does not want to give him energy to exert in the Torah with this intention. But in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], the body sees that if it gets what it wants to receive in return, the body gives him fuel to work so he can exert in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], since the reward it expects to receive does not go against the body. Hence, the body can give him energy to work.

Therefore, when a person sees that he can obtain self-benefit through labor, he has the power to do things and make great efforts, and there is no weakness in his work. This is how “women, little ones, and uneducated people” are first educated, since it is possible to convince a person to engage in Torah and Mitzvot only through Lo Lishma.

However, when a person should replace the goal, meaning where in the beginning of his work in Torah and Mitzvot, his goal—which he wanted to achieve through the labor—was self-benefit, now he replaces the goal. That is, where he thought, “When will I achieve the goal for my will to receive so I can enjoy?” now he yearns for the goal and says, “When will I be able to delight the Creator and relinquish self-benefit?”

Since this purpose is against nature, he needs more faith in the Creator, since he must always exert to obtain the greatness of the Creator. That is, to the extent that he believes in the greatness of the Creator, to that extent he can work with this intention. For this reason, it is upon a person to pray each day that the Creator will open his eyes so he will recognize the greatness and importance of the Creator, so he has fuel to labor with the aim to bestow.

There are two discernments to make in this: 1) to have a desire to bestow contentment upon his Maker, that this will be his only aspiration, 2) to do things with the aim that the actions will bring him a desire to do things in order to please the Creator. In other words, he must work and toil extensively to obtain light and Kli [vessel]. Light means that he received from the Creator a desire where he craves all day to bring contentment to the Creator. A Kli is a desire, meaning that he wants to bestow upon the Creator. Those two, he should receive from the Creator, meaning both the light and the Kli.

However, a person should demand this, and it is written about this, “Zion, no one requires her.” Our sages said, “This means that she ought to be sought,” meaning that there must be a demand on the part of the lower ones that the Creator will give them both the light and the Kli.

Accordingly, we should interpret what is written (in the Musaf [supplemental] prayer of Rosh Hashanah): “The far will hear and come, and will give You a crown of kingship.” It is known that the order of the work is as it is written, “We will do and we will hear.” “Doing” pertains to the created beings. This is called “which God has created to do.” That is, the part of doing pertains to us, and by this we will be rewarded with hearing, which is what the Creator lets us hear. But of themselves, the creatures cannot take upon themselves the work for the Creator, which is only for the Creator, without interference of self-benefit.

Yet, the hearing comes from the Creator, as it was at the time of the giving of the Torah, when the people of Israel heard from the Creator “I,” and “You shall not have.” But preceding this was a preparation to receive the Torah, as our sages said (Shabbat 87) that there was the matter of limiting and abstaining, as it is written, “And you shall dedicate today and tomorrow.” Subsequently, they were rewarded with hearing the Torah.

By this we should interpret, “The far will hear and come,” meaning the fact that they are far, that there is a Torah [law] of life, which is called as it is written, “For with You is a source of life,” which is Dvekut with the Creator, but man is far from it. This distancing comes also from the Creator, since it is possible to be far from something only when a person clearly knows that there is a reality but he, for some reason, is far from it.

Hence, first a person must have faith in the Creator, and then he can say that he feels far from the Creator. It follows that this feeling that he is far must give him a feeling that the Creator watches over the world, and there is judgment and a judge, except he feels this from afar. Otherwise, who will tell him that he is far from the Creator?

For this reason, when a person feels far from the Creator, the Creator alerts him to this by appearing to a person from afar. This means that when the Creator is hidden from him, a person cannot be in a state of remoteness, for who tells him that he is far? However, by the Creator appearing to him a little bit, the feeling comes to him that he is far.

This is the meaning of “The far will hear,” meaning that the Creator sends them hearing so they will feel that they are far and will come near, meaning demand of the Creator to bring them closer so they can achieve equivalence of form, which is vessels of bestowal. However, a person can obtain these Kelim only through help from above. This is called “a light that dresses in a Kli,” meaning in the desire for this power.

This is as it is written (Psalms 127), “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in it in vain.” The meaning of “Unless the Lord builds a house” is that the heart becomes a building of Kedusha [holiness]. “Labor in it in vain” means that the labor is futile. “Its builders” are those who want to build a structure of Kedusha. They must know and believe that without His help, for He both gives the Kli, the desire and yearning to bestow, as well as the light, which is the power that a person receives so he can work in order to bestow. He gives everything, but a person must first act. That is, before the work, a person must say, “If I am not for me, who is for me.” Afterward, he should say, “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in it in vain.”

As it was prior to the giving of the Torah, meaning in order for the people of Israel to be able to hear the Torah that was given on Mt. Sinai, there was preparation on the part of the people of Israel, who were given limitation and abstention. This is considered preparation on the part of the lower one. Afterward, it is possible to receive the Torah from the Creator.

However, during the preparation, before a person is rewarded with a Kli called “a need to be able to work so that all his actions are in order to bestow,” that need ascends and descends in him. At times he yearns for the Creator to give him the power to be able to do everything for the sake of the Creator and asks the Creator to help him. At times, he later suffers a descent, meaning that he feels no need to bring contentment to the Creator. Rather, he craves only counsels and tactics to satisfy himself with pleasures for the will to receive for himself.

If, during the descent, a thought concerning spirituality comes to him—that he must work in order to bestow—he begins to think about the Creator, why the Creator forbade working for self-benefit and why should the Creator mind if a person does work for his own benefit.

At that time he doubts the Torah and Mitzvot altogether, why He wants to afflict us and has given us laws that are hard to observe? If He really is a merciful father, why has He made us observe His Mitzvot through many prohibitions? etc. Sometimes, during an ascent, he also thinks about the Creator and why He has given us commandments of interest, such as “Keep your souls.”

That is, the fact that man must eat, drink, and so forth, for what purpose did the Creator create these things? Does the existence of these things make a person smarter and more heaven-fearing? Therefore, the person asks, Why are corporeal pleasures needed? since he sees no spiritual benefit from it.

Thus, a person ascends and descends. At times he does not understand why corporeal pleasures were given to us in the first place, since now he understands that man’s main purpose is to adhere to the Creator, so why were these corporeal pleasures created?

During the descent, it is the complete opposite. He asks himself, Why were many things prohibited to us? and in general, Why is it forbidden to work for self-benefit and we are as though compelled to work for the sake of the Creator, and if not, then we must suffer in this world and in the next?

This is the order of the work during the preparation period. That is, before a person is rewarded with permanent faith, he is in the catapult, thrown from end to end, and seeing that he has no freedom of choice. Rather, what they want above is what they do with him, while he is like clay in the hands of a potter without any say about himself.

The person should believe that all the states he goes through are for his sake. That is, specifically through the ups and downs he will achieve the desirable completion, as it is written, “A king who puts to death, and brings to life, and brings forth salvation.” Through the descents, which are regarded as death in the work, and “brings to life,” which is regarded as an ascent in the work, specifically by this He “brings forth salvation,” meaning that man achieves wholeness.

Now we can understand what we asked, Why do we need to count Israel in the first place? That is, who needs to know the number when counting is a dangerous matter, as it is written, “There is no blessing in that which is counted.” And also, what difference does the correction they were given—of giving ransom—make if in the end, we know the number of Israel? Also, what does it add to us if we bless in the beginning and in the end of the count?

In the work, when speaking of everything within one person, we should know what is the counting of Israel. The work to achieve Lishma, meaning to bestow, begins on the right line, called “wholeness.” This is regarded as a man on whom there is blessing. From this, a person should be happy and praise and thank the Creator for rewarding him with some grip on Kedusha, however much he has, since he knows that this, too, he does not deserve.

This is regarded as being content with little. Thus, he has no reason to count him, to see how many qualities of Israel he has, meaning what percentage of his work can he say is Yashar-El, meaning how much effort he is willing to make for the Kedusha, called “for the sake of the Creator.” This is not interesting at all because he says, “Whatever grip I have in Torah and Mitzvot is more important than all the pleasures in the world.”

We could ask about this, If this is so important, why does he settle for little? To this he answers himself, “I probably do not deserve to be given by the Creator a bigger share than I have, and I also see that there are people who do not have even this.” It follows that he is a person in whom there is blessing since he has something with which to be happy, and he sees that the rest of the people are joyful and happy over nonsense, while the Creator has given him the intellect and understanding to grasp that he should rejoice with the Creator.

This is considered that before he comes to count the Yashar-El in him, meaning what he has inside the heart, he first blesses Israel. That is, he says that the Israel in him is blessed, meaning that he has a reason for gladness since he is blessed, and he is content with the little that he has.

Afterward, Israel are counted, meaning he shifts to the quality of the left and begins to introspect how much Torah and fear of heaven he has. At that time, he sees that he is full of faults, and then there can be a plague, meaning that he might come into despair and escape the campaign and say that this work of bestowal is not for him. Yet, he can no longer work in one line because he can no longer fool himself and say that this is real work, since the left keeps telling him what is the work of truth.

This is the meaning of “There is no blessing in that which is counted,” since he always has deficiencies, as it is written, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and sins not.” It follows that according to the rule that where there is a lack, there is a grip to the Klipot [shells/peels], meaning that the Klipa [singular for Klipot] shows him that this is not for him. With these complaints, she kills him, meaning that whatever he had in spirituality, she takes away from him and he remains in the form of “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

This is the meaning of what is written, that anything that is counted holds no blessing, since it is always deficient and in every lack there is a grip to the Klipot. This is called a “plague,” as it is written, “And there will be no plague in them when you count them.” That is, through the ransom, there will not be death because of the counting. This means that when working in the left line, meaning although we are walking on the left line and there can be a plague, through the ransom, there will be no plague in them.

For this reason, we were given the advice that the deficiency must be visible to the Klipot: “And they shall each give the ransom for his soul when you count them.” That is, they should not regard the deficiencies they find when a person calculates what percentage are included in the quality of Israel.

Rather, they should calculate how many corrections they must do in order to have ransom for their souls to the Creator, meaning that they will not look at the deficiencies, but at the correction of the deficiencies, by which their soul, which was in the Klipot, will emerge from them and cling to the Creator. This is called “And they gave each one the ransom for his soul,” counting the corrections they must perform.

Thus, they can only see corrections, as our sages said (Yevamot 38), “A bill that is about to be collected is deemed collected.” It follows that when looking at the corrections, it is as though he has already performed them and there is no place of deficiency here.

This is the meaning of the verse, “This is what everyone who is numbered shall give.” We should interpret that seeing the deficiencies is regarded as “everyone who is numbered.” “Half a shekel” means as it is written (A Sage’s Fruit, Vol. 1, p 95), “A prayer makes half.” It is the conduct of one who prays for himself that he has no wholeness but only half, since one who is whole has nothing to pray for. Hence our sages warned us not to work in order to receive reward, but for wholeness.

This means that what a person gives is regarded as half, meaning the Kli, which is the will to receive for himself, which has drifted from the Creator and we must pray that this Kli will connect to the Creator, who is called “the light.” When the light shines in the Kli, it is considered wholeness. This is the meaning of “a prayer makes half,” where “half” means the Kli, for there is no light without a Kli.

Therefore, when he prays and feels his lack, there is room to fill the lack. It follows that the words “this they will give,” mean the Kli, which is half, called “awakening from below,” as was said, that the prayer for the deficiency is already considered a correction.

For example, one person gave his coat to the cleaner to remove stains. He tells the owner of the laundromat, “I’m counting the number of corrections you should make so that I will know how much to pay you.” He asks the owner of the laundromat to fix and remove the stains. But then, it cannot be said that a person despairs when he sees that he has many stains, since he is not counting the stains so as to see how many deficiencies are in his coat. Rather, he counts how many corrections he must do.

It follows that now he is not thinking of his deficiencies, but about the corrections. Naturally, it cannot be said that there is a plague in them (the stains), meaning that he should escape the campaign and say that the work on the path of truth does not pertain to him.

It follows that it is a great correction that we count the ransom and not the deficiencies in people. This is as our sages said, “A bill that is about to be collected is deemed collected.” That is, when we engage in corrections, it is as though it is already corrected because now he is looking at the corrections and not at the deficiencies.

In addition to the abovementioned correction of the ransom, called “ransom for his soul to the Creator,” meaning when we speak of corrections, that there will be Dvekut with the Creator, we must bless before the count. This means that we must walk on the right line, called “blessing,” meaning that he is a person who has no lacks. Afterward, we shift to the left, called “counting,” and then again to the right, which is called “blessing.” This is the meaning of what is written, that through blessing in the beginning and in the end, the count will come true and there will be no plague in them, but rather by this they will achieve real wholeness.

LESSON

Morning Lesson October 29, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 18, 1989. What Is, “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,” in the Work?

1. Rav’s Introduction: Yes, the article is not a short one but it is worthwhile to go through it bit by bit. Please.

Reading Article. (0:50) “It is written in The Zohar..”

2. R. (43:40) Yes, this article is actually whole, complete. What are we going to do now? Well we have many questions, okay.

3. S. (44:04) Is it necessary to count the states that we go through on the path? Is that a necessary condition?

R. Otherwise how do we know what we are asking for?

S. In other words that’s the work in the left line, do I understand correctly?

R. Let’s say so.

S. We have never done such work of making conclusions in the ten of how much we attained. What are we lacking?

R. A person should feel by himself where he is and what he is drawn to, to which side he is moving, advancing?

S. How before I do such work, how do I calibrate myself correctly? It says first it needs to be a blessing and then at the end there needs to be a blessing, how to bless that the building will be correct?

R. Well this is what he writes, that you bless the Creator for the fact that He allows you to see your faults and then you bless Him for correcting these faults.

4. S. (45:55) What kind of preparation a person needs to make in order to hear the Torah in his heart and why is such a need necessary?

R. To hear the Torah in his heart means that we have to aim our heart to the same purpose as the Torah brings us to, and in this way we will feel in that the whole Nigun, melody of the Torah, what it is drawing us to, what it is directing us to and in this way we will reach knowing the correction.

5. S. (47:02) It is written, it turns out that one blesses Israel before the ransom, then there is the counting of it and then the blessing for Israel again. What does Rabash mean here, in the blessing before and after, what does that have to do with the structure of the prayer?

R. We bless the Creator for revealing to us,, well gradually, all of the, how shall I put it? Well, look, look what’s happening to me. All of the deficiencies, the faults, the flaws, all of the mistakes, the flaws, then we thank Him for correcting these flaws within us. This is how we shift from so that we have both the faults and the corrections and for all of that we thank the Creator. Both for the deficiencies, the faults that He to begin with created in us and also for those steps through which we correct these faults and this is how we advance forward.

S. He writes that all the actions need to be for the sake of heaven and one needs to labor which is referred to as suffering, meaning that a person needs to go against his nature. The question is: The suffering itself is a correction or it needs to lead us to what corrects us?

R. Partially the suffering itself are also corrections.

6. S. (50:45) If you say to hear the Torah it means that within my heart I need to be happy in that the Creator shows me where my flaws are so I can demand Him for correction? If I understand correctly, meaning by revealing my corruptions through the friends and I ask Him to correct these flaws, so by that I am happy I have contact with Him that I demanded from Him?

R. On the one hand you are right but on the other hand you do have flaws; you can’t adhere to Him.

S. The second question I wanted to ask, it says that specifically by ups and downs one will come to the desired wholeness. What is the wholeness that I need to reach?

R. That all of the ascents and descents will bring you to a complete connection with the Creator.

S. That I am certain that everything that I’m asking Him is a true deficiency that I receive from the Creator?

R. Yes.

7. S. (52:06) Where do the doubts come from? What the Creator sends there?

R. The doubts regarding what?

S. Doubt about what the Creator is even?

R. It’s a result of the fact that I don’t have a clear connection with Him?

S. How to turn to Him, how to pray?

R. Turn to Him as much as you can, turn as much as is possible for you and bit by bit, gradually, the Creator will become more and more revealed to you according to your requests.

S. There’s a feeling that He rejects me?

R. This is done deliberately, it is done deliberately so that you will yearn more to Him.

8. S. (53:20) In the article Rabash writes that correcting the deficiencies that appear in the person it offers the person rewards and then he has motivation to engage in corrections. What is our reward now while we are forbidden to see the reward and so..?

R. That we get closer to the Creator according to equivalence of form. This is the reward.

S. I understand intellectually but these corrections, I am saying in the ten as if preserve our structure we don’t awaken deficiencies, try to keep it but how to reach a correction that it is more advanced, more challenging, it’s as if we are afraid to reach something that undermines the structure of the ten? How to approach correction that will give us more and more deficiency to advance to a higher state to a greater connection. I feel like we are missing something.

R. We have nothing to be afraid of. It’s the opposite: we should shake the Creator so that He will elevate us to Him, so that He will give us both the questions as well as the answers for anything that might awaken in us. This is what we are expecting.

9. S. (55:40) You described the state before of hearing the sounds of the Torah. What is that state?

R. Well the Nigunim, the melodies specifically the Torah plays in a person in such a way.

S. Is that something that refers to the sense of hearing or why?

R. The inner sense of hearing, it is not what you hear with your ears.

S. Right but still this is the word they chose, so I’ll let it go if it’s not an issue but why is it hearing?

R. Hearing is the force of bestowal, the force of Bina.

10. S. (56:51) When we pray for corrections are we building a Masach and do we affect the Reshimot?

R. Certainly, certainly, precisely by this we advance.

11. S. (57:25) What is the force that drives change that allows the person to change the intention and get closer to the Creator?

R. It’s the force that awakens in a person on the side of the Creator. That if the Creator wouldn’t awaken the person then he wouldn’t ascend at all, he wouldn’t change. Specifically by the Creator shaking him he begins to ask why, from where and so on.

12. S. (58:34) What is permanent faith and how can we reach it?

R. Permanent faith is a result of the feeling of the Creator in a complete manner that fills a person. That is all.

13. S. (59:12) You said light is called that he received the desire from the Creator, that he longs to bring contentment to the Creator all day and Kli means a desire, meaning that it will have a desire to want to bestow to the Creator, so this is a desire, that is a desire, what is the difference between light and Kli, really?

R. There is a desire that he wants to bestow and there is a desire that is capable of bestowing. This is the difference between the vessel and the light.

14. S. (01:00:02) How to increase faith in the Creator in order to feel how far I am from the Creator?

R. As much as we want to get closer to the Creator we discover that we don’t yet have the same qualities in which we can adhere to the Creator, this is how we attain Him.

15. S. (01:00:55) We learn that we have to be in joy, in gratitude, in praise in the work. I wanted to focus it: What is the point at which each one should be grateful and be happy that he has a ten? What to be grateful for regarding this means?

R. That the Creator accompanies us towards the complete correction and on the way connects us and guides us, He, Himself.

S. What is special about it, that I have a ten, that the Creator arranged such a means for me?

R. What is special? That He gave you conditions by which you can develop and attain Him.

S. How do I value these conditions more so that they truly become such that I’ll be in gratitude that He arranged these conditions for me, the conditions called the ten?

R. This depends on how you appreciate the ten. That’s it.

16. S. (01:02:34) It says that first the blessing comes and then the counting and then again the blessing. Is the blessing in the beginning, can we say that it’s the reference point about how far we are from the Creator and the counting is a place to come closer. The moment we relate to the deficiency, the deficiencies that push us away, that is the Keter for the corrections that bring us closer to the Creator? Once we see a deficiency we have to shift it, give it to the Creator as clay in the hands of the potter then we reach a greater blessing?

R. Yes, you can say that, correct.

17. S. (01:03:20) During the whole article it says that the Creator does everything, He gives us the desire, He gives us the correction and a person only counts the corrections that the Creator makes, a person seemingly observes the work of the Creator and yet in the article it says, “If I am not for myself who is for me?” So in the end, what is man’s work if the Creator does everything?

R. We are, look, reading an article with you now. For example, is everything clear about this article? Of course not, also what we see that we do understand it just seems to us right now that we understand, later we’ll find some question marks there, then that question mark will transform to other question marks and so forth meaning we gradually go deeper into the meaning of what we are studying and that’s how we get closer to the Rabash, let’s say, to the author and through him to the Creator.

S. This means that our work sums up to the work of the observer? How much do we always want to go and follow the Kabbalists and create the right relation to the Creator?

R. Yes, what else, every article is teaching us. It’s only how to correct and further calibrate ourselves towards the Creator.

S. So ultimately, eventually what is the Adam that grows in a person? How’s the relation to the Creator?

R. Right, that’s why it is also called that way, Adam, man.

18. S. (01:05:44) What does it mean to observe, to look at the corrections and not at the deficiencies?

R. I don’t exactly know what was said there but the issue is that the deficiency is good only in that it pushes us. When we acquire the correction, then we understand what was the meaning in being shown our deficiencies.

S. There is a feeling that if we focus on the deficiencies on the left line that’s incorrect, we need to focus on the corrections, so how should we operate exactly?

R. To be similar to the corrected state.

19. S. (01:06:46) In the article it says that there has to be a demand from the side of the lower one, that the Creator will give both the light and the Kli, the vessel. What is the difference between these two things? How do we demand the light, how do we demand the Kli?

R. How to demand the light and how to demand the Kli? That already depends on the person. The Kli as much as we understand that’s the uncorrected qualities in the beginning that the Creator places before us and we have to appreciate these qualities and raise them to the Creator so that He corrects them. And thus, we go through our path gradually from a state that is not corrected to a state that is corrected. That’s it.

S. How do we demand the light?

R. What do you mean by demanding the light?

S. In the article it says that we should demand the light and also demand the vessel, the light and the vessel?

R. The light is the force of correction, the force that corrects.

20. S. (01:08:28) Our goal is adhesion with the Creator and my relation to the Creator is that when I pray to Him for the benefit of the friends and I ask that He will connect us to a single vessel with the intention that I’m doing it for the Creator, by this I draw the force of faith, meaning confidence in the Creator to our connection. Will every friend that is incorporated in this work, in mutual Arvut also receives this force, is this the principle?

R. Yes, that in principle is our entire work in the ten.

S. Why when a friend receives a certain trouble there is resistance to work with this deficiency in the ten?

R. There is a resistance because it’s not a personal deficiency, it’s like a foreign deficiency. The Creator especially creates the burdening of the heart here so that we overcome it.

S. Maybe He wants to show us by that that the friend himself had a prayer to the Creator, that he will feel a force so that he can..?

R. The friend himself can’t do anything, no one can do anything except by raising a prayer to the Creator, by asking Him.

21. S. (01:10:19) What is the plague in our work and how can we avoid such a plague?

R. To avoid it is possible only on the condition that we incorporate with each other and then we are not allowing this plague to stand out, to show itself between us.

22. S. (01:11:10) It speaks a lot here about the blessing. It sounds as though it pertains to faith in the greatness of the Creator. Is that correct? How are these two things related? Throughout the whole article it speaks of the blessing before the counting, after the counting. Is this related to faith in the greatness of the Creator?

R. Yes.

S. The blessing reveals to us the greatness of the Creator? Can you explain it more?

R. When we bless the Creator, by that we elevate Him above us more and more and this is how we can draw more of His light onto ourselves.

23. S. (01:12:21) This article talks about us bringing our half shekel and a prayer makes half. My question is, are my friends this other half shekel of wholeness or is this other half shekel a prayer I need to come to for this wholeness?

R. The half of the shekel is what we can receive from the society and to put all those halves together until we get a complete shekel.

24. S. (01:13:23) What is the connection between confidence in the Creator and the blessing?

R. To the extent of confidence in the Creator, you can be awarded with blessing.

S. How do we increase our confidence in the Creator?

R. Confidence in the Creator, we can measure that according to how capable we are of giving to the Creator. That’s how it is.

25. S. (01:14:18) It seems that in this article he’s describing our work on the right and then on the left. For instance, if we got a blessing we’re in the right and there’s a danger that we’ll get enthusiastic of that state and lose contact with the Creator, then we right away have to look in the direction of what we’re lacking in order to come closer to the Creator. I ask for a new vessel, the left line to be open and then when I reach the left line and see what a deficiency I have I also look in the direction towards the Creator and see how much I’m remaining in order to reach the corrections, so I’m asking for the light. Constantly on the right, I’m asking for the vessel and on the left I’m asking for the light, right?

R. Yes, you can say that for now, sure.

26. S. (01:15:34) The article says that if the Creator won’t build His home, His workers were working for no reason. What efforts does the Creator want from us, what will really bring us closer to the goal?

R. Only connection between us. This is called the temple, the house, only that. Our connection to a point that we feel that there’s a complete soul within us. Okay?

27. S. (01:16:29) How long do we need to be in the left in order for the Minian to take place and that we’ll see our distance from the Creator? How long do we have to do this before the prayer?

R. This depends on the group, the people and the connection between them. I can’t say exactly how many minutes, how many hours, I don’t know. But we have to know what we have to reach, what kind of connection we have to reach in order to raise a complete prayer. Okay?

28. S. (01:17:29) What is the ransom and what is that in the ten?

R. A ransom is a form of payment.

S. What does it mean a payment? What are we paying, the Creator, the ten, what is this action in our life?

R. When we must pay ransom that means that we have to give forces to the society by which we attain the soul. Ransom for my soul.

29. S. (01:18:48) About this topic he says that instead of thinking of the deficiencies we have to think of the corrections. So what’s the difference between thinking of a deficiency to thinking of a correction?

R. There is a great difference there. This is a fundamental point. Are we thinking that the Creator created everything in order to take us through suffering or to take us through the path where we collect the broken pieces and by that to rise to correction.

S. What is this payment in the ten? How do we think not of deficiencies but of corrections in the ten?

R. This has to do with the connection between us, the connection between friends, men, women in the ten. That’s what we need.

S. How do we not fall in the deficiencies but work in the corrections?

R. We hold on to one another. We have no other power, only to support each other. I don’t have the strength for myself, I have the strength for the friends and so on among the friends. We have to hold one another, uplift one another and in this way we’ll be able to see the complete vessel.

30. S. (01:20:48) You were saying how we demand the vessel and you said that it depends on as much as we understand that our uncorrected qualities are presented before us by the Creator and we have to value them in order to raise them to the Creator to correct. What you describe is man’s work with the vessels of reception in order to bestow?

R. Yes.

S. Can a person ask the Creator to open uncorrected qualities before him?

R. No, the Creator does it according to His plan. You don’t need to ask for the deficiencies, we have to ask for the correction of the deficiencies.

S. How can you ask for corrections on your uncorrected qualities if you don’t feel that they’re being revealed? How could a person work with the vessels of reception? What step can he take to start working with the vessels of reception without asking for uncorrected qualities?

R. If the Creator doesn’t open up these qualities for him, these corrupt qualities then perhaps in this way he’s not able to correct them, to feel them, to detect them. That’s why you need to still work in connection in the group.

31. S. (01:22:41) Rabash describes extreme states that he’s thrown from one end to the other. Would it help a person to conceal the work in greatness and work in concealment and smallness in order to not fall into those extreme states?

R. I didn’t understand. The Creator doesn’t do anything and the person himself imagines all those states, invents all those states?

S. No, a person looks in relation to the group, he’s connected to the group so if a person conceals his ego before the group and works with the Creator, is that possible?

R. For example?

S. Like in order to not fall into an extreme right state like Rabash is describing or to the left; in order for that person to somehow preserve himself, to go in faith and not fall into extreme states.

R. Only if he’s absolutely connected to the friends, only in this case.

32. S. (01:24:18) The central concept in the article is that he is saying that if we count deficiencies, the Klipot have a grasp on it. That brings diseases and then you pay a ransom and all the deficiencies turn to corrections. Can you explain how all that is done?

R. No, we have another article about ransom, so we’ll see it there.

33. S. (01:24:52) It is written in the article that when a person is in a descent his thoughts come and he starts contemplating all together on the Torah – why it gives us sorrow and laws that are hard to keep and is He really the merciful. Why is He letting us perform these commandments with so much suffering? How to overcome these thoughts and be happy with what the Creator is bringing us and even giving us a part in this work?

R. Everything we receive we receive it because the Creator awakens it in us behind the scenes. He twists us and turns us in all directions and in all kinds of states and we have to follow it and try to be in adhesion with Him through all those states, both the ascents and the descents. That’s the main thing, this is the main thing.

34. S. (01:26:25) What is the sign before asking for correction? Let’s say when I want these stains to be removed from the laundry for instance, it looks like we pray that all the stains will be removed. I don’t care about every single stain, I just want clean laundry. Do I need to know all the specific stains and ask for specific corrections or can I say, “Okay, Mr. Laundry, clean the whole laundry at once,” because I’m only interested in the clean laundry?

R. It depends on what kind of state you are on the path. It’s possible that for you all those stains look like one thing, your foundation for the time being is like that and it’s possible that you are paying attention to each and every one of them and not allowing yourself even one stain to go unnoticed.

35. S. (01:27:39) I want you to scrutinize about that first step. He writes that you are to give a blessing before the counting. If a person sits at home and thinks of his friends in the ten and tries like you said to fill them with his forces and he’s not lacking anything in that state but just remains in some plea that the Creator will help him remain in that state, is that the first state of blessing?

R. But he’s not asking for anything.

S. He’s asking to remain in that state, that for himself he doesn’t need anything.

R. And for others?

S. For the others he’s asking to have an ability to remain in a tendency towards them.

R. No, don’t run away from the way, from you’re expressing it, that’s a problem.

S. You’re asking what he asks for the others?

R. In general what is his deficiency? Without revealing a deficiency a person is dead.

S. That’s the second stage, where he turns to the left and scrutinizes what he’s lacking. I’m asking about the first state.

R. Let it be the way that you think.

S. No, I’m asking about you, I don’t understand.

R. A man without a deficiency is not a man and as much as he glues his deficiency to the society, by that he measures the height of the human in him.

S. But what does he want for society?

R. He wants for the society general connection and advancement, advancement meaning also connection with the Creator.

36. S. (01:29:51) When a person ascends he asks why there are corporeal pleasures and in a descent he’s asking why he’s not getting fulfillment for them. How do we come out of this loop?

R. It means that we always have deficiencies either those or the others and we have to detect always where we are relative to them. We are either closed to these or to those and how we connect all those deficiencies, combine them and bring ourselves to the Creator.

S. To be with a different intention from one state to the other or in both states to be with the same intention and prayer?

R. In the same intention.

37. S. (01:30:57) Is a person in prayer through the Klipot?

R. Yes.

S. And when a person is in the state of prayer is that hearing the Torah?

R. Yes, you can say that.

38. S. (01:31:37) When I ask for deficiency I ask to correct my attitude towards the friends and when I ask for light I’m asking to fill their desire?

R. Yes, you can say that.

39. S. (01:32:00) Does it depend on us in what way the Creator will lead us through suffering or through gathering the shatterings?

R. Yes, it’s up to us. It depends on how much we are collected together, how much we yearn to be together.

40. S. (01:32:29) It says that there was a preparation in the sons of Israel, that they were given limitations which are preparations from the lower ones and then there’s a place to receive the Torah from the Creator. What is that and how to implement it in the ten?

R. We cannot scrutinize it just yet.

41. S. (01:33:00) To glue my deficiency to the ten, is that through examples and concern about their spirituality?

R. Certainly, but also corporeal.

S. Also corporeal?

R. Yes, yes, don’t to cancel their corporeality it says, “the friend’s corporeality is your spirituality”.

42. S. (01:33:50) What is the true deficiency for correction?

R. The true deficiency for correction is adhesion in the Creator.

43. S. (01:34:26) In the third paragraph he writes, “the Creator gives him the mind to be happy with the Creator, that before he is going to count the Yashar-El in him, so first he blesses the Israel in his heart, that the Israel in him is blessed and he has what to rejoice with, because a has the blessing and works in happiness”. Then it says that, “he has to go to the left side to reveal the deficiency”, and here it is interesting that he writes since the left tells him every time what the work of truth is, is the truth working in the left?

R. No, but the left shows him how much he is in it.

S. Then once it goes through both those processes Rabash writes that, “it becomes as if he gets a state of a disease and is tossed out”?

R. Yes.

S. So the Creator throws the person from the right to the left?

R. Yes.

S. And he needs to remain in the blessing of what he got in Bina, in happiness, in all this process?

R. Yes, because by all of that he corrects himself, of course he doesn’t look at his feeling, he looks at his goal!

44. S. (01:36:10) If there is no deficiency the friend is considered as ‘dead’, so in that state how to acquire the deficiency for the friend?

R. Only through your friends, he needs to cleave to them and receive from them the deficiency and he should work with this deficiency.

S. What can awaken him to adhere to the friends?

R. This doesn’t matter that he doesn’t feel anything, he should see how much he is not in the state of being like the others, as it is written, “envy, lust and honor take a person out of this world”, meaning he should look at the others and envy them, he must do it, that’s what will save him.

45. S. (01:37:20) When the Creator shows a person how far he is from Him, by that does the Creator actually want a person to ascend to a higher degree and start working Lishma?

R. Yes.

S. How does that transition happen, because in the article he says that, “he starts working for the goal that is for the sake of the heavens”, so how does this transition happen?

R. Which transition, he sees where he is and negates that state. He wants to be in the correct state, not more advanced but correct, more correct. Then he performs actions that take him to it, through the connection with the friends, of course.

46. S. (01:38:28) It says that, “the created beings do the deeds and through that will reach ‘hearing’”, what does it mean ‘hearing’ in our work, how do we attain it?

R. ‘Hearing’ is a very high degree. It’s a degree of Bina, it’s a spiritual degree, and therefore we need to greatly respect it.

S. How do you reach it, how do we attain the degree of ‘hearing’?

R. By connecting, and each and everyone wants to hear what is in his friend’s heart; and then gradually the heart opens and a person starts to hear what’s there, and through the heart of the friend he comes to ‘hearing’.

47. S. (01:40:08) Can we say that fear of the Creator becomes an action of praying for the friends?

R. Yes, yes from fear of the Creator you come to a prayer.