READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN TUESDAY

Rabash. Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?. 28 (1989)

Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?

LESSON MATERIAL

Article No. 28, 1989

The Zohar says (BaMidbar, Item 7), “When the Torah and the tabernacle were erected, the Creator wished to count the armies of the Torah, how many armies are in the Torah, in ZA, and how many armies are in the tabernacle. …For this reason, Israel, who are the armies of ZA and Malchut, are counted, so they are known by them.”

We should understand this matter, to know that the Creator wanted to count Israel in order to know how many armies there are. Who needs to know? Is it the Creator? But everything is revealed and known to Him. Does He need to actually count them below in order to know the number? Thus, for whose need can we say that the Creator said to count Israel in order to know the number of the armies of ZA and Malchut, as it is written, “the Creator wished to count the armies of the Torah, how many armies are in the Torah”?

Baal HaSulam asked a similar question concerning what it says in regard to Abraham: “And He said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God.’” He asked, Did the Creator not know that Abraham feared God before the test? Thus, what does “for now I know” mean? He said that “for now I know” means that you know that you fear God, since you withstood the test.

Still, we should understand for what purpose a person should know that he fears God. This can give him satisfaction in the work, since what else is there to do in the world, as our sages said (Berachot 33), “Rabbi Hanina said, ‘Everything is in the hands of God except for the fear of God.’” This means that the Creator does everything, and all that man needs to do is fear God, as was said, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but fear?” Thus, why does one need to undergo a test in order to know that he fears God? It would be better if he did not know whether he fears God, and this would make him need to increase the holy work so as to come to be God fearing.

We see that our sages said (Berachot 61b), “Raba said, ‘One should know in one’s soul if he is a complete righteous or not.’” Here, too, there is the same question: Why does one need to know one’s state, since knowing this will give him satisfaction, so what is the benefit in the work from knowing this?

To understand all this, we must remember the two tenets we have in the holy work: 1) The purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, namely for the created beings to receive delight and pleasure. Before we achieve this state, of receiving delight and pleasure, we have not achieved completion, meaning the purpose of creation. 2) The correction of creation. It is known that in order not to have the bread of shame, meaning for the creatures to feel unpleasantness upon reception of the delight and pleasure, the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment were made, so they would not feel the delight and pleasure in the purpose of creation, and would be able to work for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake. This would remove the shame from man because everything he enjoys in the world would not be for his own sake, but because the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy in the world, and this is the only reason they enjoy. For themselves, meaning to enjoy because they want to enjoy, they do not want this and relinquish all the pleasures in the world.

That is, he does not want to receive anything for his own sake, but in everything, he thinks that if receiving the pleasure and enjoying will bring contentment above, only then does he receive the delight and pleasure. Otherwise, he relinquishes it. This is called the “correction of creation,” meaning that the purpose of creation is received in a clothing, and this clothing does not let the shame come in when the pleasure is received. That clothing is called “desire to bestow.”

Now we can understand what is fear in the work. It was said about fear, “Everything is in the hands of God but fear of God.” But why is it not in the hands of God? As we learn, we attribute everything to the Creator, that the Creator gives everything to the created beings. Not giving does not belong to the Creator, since His will is to do good to His creations.

Since the meaning of fear is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 203), “Fear means that he is afraid that he will decline in bringing contentment to his Maker.” For this reason, he avoids asking the Creator to impart upon him delight and pleasure, as it might not be for the Creator’s sake, but for his own, which is regarded as the abundance going to the Klipot [shells/peels]. It follows that fear not to receive pertains to man, meaning that man does not want to receive, for fear that it will not be for the sake of the Creator. This work pertains to man. That is, we attribute not receiving in order to receive to the lower ones, since from the perspective of the Creator, He only bestows.

This is called the name HaVaYaH, where there are no differences, as it is written, “I the Lord [HaVaYaH] do not change.” Rather, He always wants to give. For this reason, fear, where he is afraid to receive, belongs to the creatures, and this is all of their work. All the corrections in the world concern this point—correcting ourselves in order to come to a degree where we do not receive anything for our own sake, but as our sages said, “All your works will be for the sake of heaven.”

Now we can interpret this awareness—that he has fear of God. A person should know this in order to want to go and ask the Creator to give him the light of Torah, where there is the real pleasure, called “His will to do good to His creations.” He sees for himself that he has already been through several trials and have endured them because he already has fear of heaven, meaning that he is already certain of himself, that anything he receives will be in order to bestow. Otherwise, he would not have withstood his tests because the only reason a person cannot withstand a test is because he is immersed in his will to receive for himself. But a person who has already departed from receiving pleasures for his own sake, and in every pleasure, he first examines what contentment this will bring to the Creator, then he receives the pleasure.

This is called “for now I know that you fear God,” meaning a person already has this awareness. At that time, that state is called “bestowing in order to bestow.” Afterward, when he has acquired this degree of fearing God, which is called “man’s work,” a person should go forward and ask the Creator to give him the delight and pleasure that He wishes to give to the created beings, since he wants to impart pleasure upon the Creator, and his pleasure is in carrying out His thought—that the creatures receive from Him delight and pleasure. This is all of his delight. For this reason, a person needs the awareness.

Now we can interpret what we asked about what The Zohar says, “When the Torah and the tabernacle were erected, the Creator wished to count the armies of the Torah, how many armies are in the tabernacle.” We asked, Who needs to know this? Does the Creator not know even without actually counting? The answer is the same as with Abraham, “for now I know,” meaning that the Creator knows that now Abraham, too, knows that he fears God.

Likewise, we should interpret similarly, meaning that the people of Israel needed this awareness so as to know to which degree they now belong, whether to the quality of the Torah or to the quality of the tabernacle. He says there that Torah and tabernacle pertain to ZA and Malchut, meaning the “unification of the Creator with His Shechina [Divinity].” This is why The Zohar says, “how many armies are in the Torah,” meaning to know to which degree they belong, “how many armies are in the tabernacle,” meaning how many of them belong to the Shechina. It follows that the whole point of counting is only for man to know. But as for the Creator, He certainly knows everything without actually counting.

It follows that the most important is for man to know to which state he belongs. It is as Rabba said, “One should know in one’s soul if he is a complete righteous or not.” It is all in order for man to know whether he is on the right track, meaning knows what he must do in order to achieve the goal for which he was created, as was said, “so we will not toil in vain.”

In order to understand how an ordinary person can be taken after the general public, and in order for one to have the strength to emerge from what is accepted by the general public and become an individual worker, meaning to understand what he must do individually, and how to be extremely careful, how to be saved from having to work only for his own benefit, I will present here a story by The Seer of Lublin, presented in the book Talks of Life (p 34).

“The Rabbi of Mogalitza once said that when the Rabbi of Lublin was confined in his room on the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath] before the Kiddush [the beginning of the Sabbath], the rabbi suddenly opened the door and the house was full of great rabbis and sages from his greatest disciples. The rabbi turned to them and said, ‘It is written, ‘and repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them.’ The translation is, He pays His enemies with good deeds that they do in this world in order to lose them from the next world (explanation: The Creator pays His enemies for good deeds that they did in this world in order to lose them, so they will not have the next world). Therefore, I ask you, I can understand that if a wicked man is taken after money, fine, he is paid much money. And if the wicked man takes after respect, he is given great respect. But if the wicked man wants neither respect nor money, but rather loves degrees or wants to be a rabbi or a teacher, how is he paid? The good deeds he did in this world—to remove him from the next world (explanation: How are those people who did good in this world paid so they will not have the next world?). Indeed, one who wants to be a rabbi or a teacher is given this from above, and one who loves degrees is given degrees so he will lose the next world.’ Promptly, he shut the door.” Thus far the story.

This story shows that there are people who think that they are complete because they relinquish lusts and respect. They look at people who are immersed in lusts or pursuit of honor as unworthy of looking at, much less speaking with them. That is, they see people observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in order to satisfy their will to receive, though certainly it is permitted lusts, or they would not be regarded as doing good deeds, and also those who observe Torah and Mitzvot in order to receive respect, while they, meaning those who want high degrees or to be a rabbi or a teacher, probably think that they want this for the sake of the general public.

The Seer of Lublin said about them that they are those who hate the Creator. However, since they do engage in Torah and Mitzvot, the Creator rewards them according to what they want, meaning according to what they pray to the Creator to give them. It follows that the Creator fulfills their wishes. However, they must know that what they are receiving is because the Creator is fulfilling their wish, but they must know that by wanting the Creator to grant their wishes, they lose the next world since by this they become haters of the Creator, as it is written, “and repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them.” Thus, they must know that by receiving what they want, meaning by His fulfilling their wish, they will thereby lose the next world.

There are two things to understand here: 1) Why if they are rewarded in this world, they must lose the next world? After all, our sages said (Berachot 8a), “Great is he who enjoys his labor more than he who fears God.” And concerning one who fears God, it is written, “Happy is the man who fears the Lord.” Concerning one who enjoys his labor, it is written, “If you eat through your own labor, happy are you in this world and happy are you in the next world.” We therefore see that one who is rewarded in this world does not have to lose the next world. Thus, why, concerning those who hate the Creator, if he receives reward in this world, we say that he is losing?

2) We should understand, if he observes Torah and Mitzvot, which is called “good deeds,” why is he regarded as hating the Creator?

We see that the evil inclination is called “enemy” [hating], as it is written, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread.” We should understand why the evil inclination is man’s enemy. On the contrary, he advises man to commit transgression not in order for man to torment himself, but in order for him to enjoy himself. It follows that one who brings joy to a person should certainly be called “loving,” so why is it called “hating”?

We must believe in our sages, who said that all of our work in this world is to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. That is, He wishes to give delight and pleasure to the creatures, which is called “the purpose of creation.” Yet, this is impossible to give us before we correct our will to receive to work in order to bestow, or we will feel shame.

Therefore, we need Dvekut, called “equivalence of form,” meaning that all the delight and pleasure we want to receive from the Creator is not for our own sake, since we want to annul our authority and to have (only) one authority: the authority of the Creator. Then we will have the real pleasure, in that “He said, and His will was done,” meaning that the will of the Creator was fulfilled completely, meaning that the creatures can receive what the Creator wants to give them, namely the delight and pleasure.

It follows that the evil inclination incites a person not to work for the sake of the Creator but for one’s own sake, and thereby harms a person. This is why it is called “evil inclination.”

Now we can understand the question, Why is it that when one observes Torah and Mitzvot and does good deeds—and the evidence that they are good deeds is that the Creator rewards him for the good deeds—yet he is called an “enemy of the Creator,” as it is written, “and repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them”? This is so because although he does good deeds, it is not because he loves the Creator, but because he believes that the Creator will reward him for this. He does not work and observe Torah and Mitzvot because he loves the Creator, but because of his own benefit.

However, we must understand, 1) Does one who works for another and aims for the reward and does not work for him or does and observes his commandments out of his love for him, should he therefore be regarded as his enemy? We can only say that he does not work for him for love, but because that person loves himself. But why is he regarded as an enemy of the Creator? What makes him the Creator’s enemy if he is working for his own sake?

2) What is the meaning of the commandment to love the Creator? Does He want us to love Him? Does He need our love? Is He deficient and this is why He has commanded us to love Him, as it is written, “And you shall love the Lord your God”? The answer is that He has commanded us to love Him for our sake. That is, loving Him will make us observe Torah and Mitzvot. In other words, we observe Torah and Mitzvot because we want to please Him, to give Him contentment, for it is the nature of those who love that the love obligates them to want to bring them contentment.

It is like parents’ love for their children. They want their children to enjoy and try to give to the children because they love them, so they will enjoy life. The lesson is that they observe Torah and Mitzvot because of their love for the Creator. Naturally, they want nothing in return. Thus, they will not receive all the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give them in the vessels of reception, but in the vessels of bestowal. That is, they receive the delight and pleasure because they know that the Creator enjoys it, that the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, is carried out, as He wants it. In other words, there is wholeness in their receiving the delight and pleasure and there is no shame in them.

It follows that one who observes Torah and Mitzvot for a reward, meaning that he wants a reward, is considered the Creator’s enemy because he obstructs the Creator, delaying what the Creator wants—to give to the created beings, as this is the pleasure of the Creator, and that person delays carrying it out because the Kli [vessel] and clothing are missing there, which remove the shame upon reception of the abundance. This is why he is considered an enemy of the Creator.

A person should believe the words of our sages, who said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” This means that once a person has come to purify, meaning feels that he is in Tuma’a [impurity] and is still far from Kedusha [holiness], he should say that this awareness comes from above. That is, the fact that he came to purify is because he received help from above and was notified that he is far from Kedusha.

This means that he should appreciate this awareness and say that this is called “revelation from above,” when he was notified that he should feel about himself unpleasantness in that he is far from Kedusha. Normally, a person has no concern for lack of Dvekut with the Creator. A person might feel a lack about anything, and hurt because he does not have it. But to feel pain at being far from the Creator, although a person is remote, he does not notice it because he has more important worries whose absence he feels.

Only sometimes does he feel that he is beginning to feel shame that he is in such a lowly state. Before this, although he was previously in that state, too, he did not notice it. At that time, a person should believe that this came to him from above, as in “He who comes to purify is aided.” In other words, why has he now come to purify and cannot tolerate his state of lowliness? He should say that this came to him from above.

However, a person must not say, “I’ll wait until this awareness comes to me from above, and then I’ll think that I should purify myself.” Baal HaSulam said about this, that before the fact, a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” meaning that only I can help myself, if I brace myself and do things that lead to Dvekut. Afterward, meaning after the fact, a person should say that everything comes from above and he must not say, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.”

We therefore see that on one hand, a person should say that from all the tests that the person has withstood, he should know that on the one hand, he is a mighty man, as was said, “for now I know that you fear God,” meaning that the person is the mighty one. On the other hand, he must say, “The Creator helped me.” But from whichever side, he sees that he has withstood the test. Knowing this gives one confidence that now he can demand of the Creator to let him go and achieve the goal.

LESSON

Morning Lesson November 19, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 28, 1989. Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?

Reading Article. (00:33) “The Zohar says, “When the Torah..”

1. S. (43:17) It is written that with every pleasure he first looks at what contentment the Creator will receive from it and then he receives the pleasure?

R. Well, of course. How can he decide whether he receives it or not, what kind of pleasure and from several pleasures?

S. Are we talking about pleasure he’s receiving from work with the friends or any pleasure, even guilty ones?

R. Know about pleasures of this world, I don’t think this is about that.

2. S. (44:01) It is written that those who hate the Creator are actually asking the Creator to satisfy, to fulfill their wishes. So the question is: Does it mean that the fact that they are asking pleasures for themselves to receive in order to receive?

R. Possibly.

S. Basically I want to know in our work if I ask the Creator to fulfill my wish, if I am asking for the strength to bestow upon the friends, it’s okay if he satisfies my wish, right?

R. Maybe.

S. Maybe, so in some cases yes and in some cases, no?

R. Well.

3. S. (44:54) A state of fear. How will I notice if I’m in the right place because rarely do I allow myself to think about the friends, to fight with them, to judge them negatively, all kinds of things. It says that a person has to discern the state of fear. I have to discern it. I have to know that I am in the state where I am truly in the state of fear so everything that I do will be correct. How will I discern it? He gives the example of a person, of Abraham, he says Abraham, he knows that he fears the Creator but I personally have to notice that I am in a state of fear in relation to the friends, in everything that I think, in everything that I do, in everything that I feel will be engraved in my heart that everything is..?

R. Understood, yes, how will one know?

S. What is the discernment, that within me, everything within me that everything I do will have to direct it towards the goal so that I will not have a situation where, I, yesterday for example, in the morning lesson a friend came to me and said, “This is my seat.” That’s it, I started, he took my seat, he took my chair from under me and I was getting ready. I wanted to come to the lesson and I was in the intention and someone came over and said, “This is my chair.” It is written here, “You don’t know what I did, how I reacted.”

R. Very well, so? What do I understand? I understand what you’ve done to him, what you’ve done, so what’s next, what are you asking?

S. I’m asking: I can’t control the state of fear, everything that I think, everything that I aim, I want it to really be correct.

R. When you reacted to him or when he did something to you did you make some calculations?

S. I didn’t do anything, only what I had in my head, only what I had in my head.

R. Why did you do this? You didn’t ask him or yourself.

S. I gave it to him, take it, take it. But my mind was..?

R. But then all your thoughts and feelings?

S. They gradually went in that direction.

R. So you were on fire and then bit by bit it came down, so what did you feel?

S. Until now we just read the article, now I’m beginning to think what did I do? No fear, nothing. It feels like everything, every thought, every intention makes a difference, doesn’t it, especially with respect to the friends, we have a common goal, everything, we become, we have to attain it together. Now it’s my own personal fear, too, so how do we, all of us, be responsible for each other with the same fear? How do we as a ten build everything that we do, to come to the lesson, to be in a common preparation? You certainly feel that everything you do has consequences.

R. Yes, so the question still is?

S. When I am talking about the discernment of fear, when will I feel it as..?

R. Fear of what, for what, from Whom? Just any fear, fear has to be dependent on something.

S. It is still hard for me to…?

R. Difficult, well, fear of the Creator, fear of punishment?

S. No, I’m not afraid of punishment, fear that I am responsible for the friends and how it will not go away?

R. Alright, we will discuss it more.

4. S. (50:28) How do we measure if I am receiving or not receiving for the sake of the Creator or not, if there is no feeling that there is pleasure?

R. I don’t know, try.

S. Because to do scrutinies that the friend talked about, you can do it about everything but it is not related to pleasure, so how do we not turn it into morals?

R. Read the article again, read the article again and think.

5. S. (51:15) I just wanted to say that when I came to Bnei Baruch, a friend gave me an example of what is the example of love for the society, not for the friend. I don’t think he knows that it is written that when they observe Torah and Mitzvot it’s because of the love that we have for the Creator, so it can only be love for the Creator or love himself, if I understand correctly? How do we advance then because when you look at yourself, when I look at myself I can’t find any correct action that is out of complete love for the Creator?

R. All that you do you do out of love for self, yes.

S. I’m necessarily always wicked? So how do you advance?

R. You advance probably by prayer, if you see that nothing can help you, then it’s only the Creator.

S. The question is like in the allegory, it says that this prayer, too, can be in the end because even when a person wants spiritual degrees, he writes that it can be in the end for his own sake, so how do we come to this point of loving the Creator?

R. Also in prayer, a prayer means a request, what you put into the request is how you express yourself, what do you want to scrutinize, who you want to scrutinize it for you?

6. S. (53:04) He writes that there are people that they get a lot of respect but if the wicked does not want respect or wealth or wants degrees or wants to be a rabbi or a teacher how is he paid, and then it continues, he is given from above what he wants, degrees so he would lose the next world and he promptly shut the door, thus far the story. What does it mean because I totally sympathize with it? My whole desire is to be connected to feel this force?

R. Yes.

S. So how should I come out of this toward bestowal to the friends?

R. Through the friends, through the friends, grab hold of the friends and don’t let go, don’t detach and that’s how you come out.

S. Can I ask for the strength for them?

R. You can if you have more place left in your heart to ask for them then ask but here it’s about bestowal.

7. S. (54:44) I thought that the idea to connect to those worlds was part of our goal? Here it says not; the reason you connect, not just your intention, the reason you connect, so fortunately now I have a ten and I have a different vessel toward which I can direct myself in order to change, so how do I do this? How do I do this same thing that is deeply entrenched in me?

R. So what’s the problem, glue yourself to the ten and wherever they direct themselves you move there as well.

S. Move with them where they move? Okay, this is clear to me.

R. That’s it, all right.

8. S. (55:35) What should we love in the Creator?

R. That He is The Good That Does Good, encompasses everything, fills everything and that There Is None Else Besides Him.

S. How is love in the fact that He’s The Good That Does Good not egoistic?

R. If I believe that the Creator leads us to the final correction in a correct path then that’s not egoistic, it’s not egoistic because if I think of the final correction that I’m thinking about the entirety of correction, about everyone and that from all of those, everyone, it will be good for the Creator.

9. S. (56:53) First I want to say that this article, Rabash, I feel that this article is giving us a wholeness of his work, how he wants us to relate to each other the way he relates to us, and I’m asking you, how in my work with the friends, how do I really feel I am doing everything like a complete person? There are many friends here. I sometimes imagine that I’m doing this completely, in a whole way. How do I check that I’m doing my work completely like the Creator wants me to do it?

R. You have a ten, try to be bonded with them. That’s all. Accept what they decide, do what they do and that’s for starters.

S. The fact that all the time I am only in the ten, there is nothing else, so I’m asking again, personally, how do I really feel that I’m doing everything that is best for the friends, so I will feel that the friends are receiving through me from the Creator everything that they need because that is our goal?

R. If you are always in these thoughts then what are you missing? What else are you lacking?

S. You always think that it is not enough, what’s missing, you keep asking the Creator what more should I do?

R. And what do you hear?

S. That I need to be constantly for them and not to let go.

R. And very well.

10. S. (58:54) Rabash mentions here several times the matter of shame. Is all our work to ask the Creator to turn the shame into a great honor?

R. Yes.

11. S. (59:33) It’s written in the article, why, he’s asking, what does it mean to be hating the Creator?

R. The enemy of the Creator meaning according to the wisdom of Kabbalah it’s not wanting the same thing the Creator wants and actually wanting the opposite things, this means being the hater of the Creator.

12. S. (01:01:01) In this article Rabash spoke about pleasure from many angles. There is an understanding but I don’t feel the Creator or the friends from my group. How can I feel that this pleasure is permitted and that pleasure, that the Creator enjoys certain pleasures and certain pleasures He doesn’t enjoy, how can I use this knowledge from the article practically? How to work with pleasure because I don’t know what the Creator enjoys and I don’t know what the friends enjoy. I can only think based on what I’m learning but I don’t feel it, so how do I work practically with the pleasure that the article speaks about?

R. You have to imagine to yourself that you are together with the friends and when you are emotionally far from them and try to always get closer and closer to the friends. That from the internality of your common feelings you have to choose those emotions where you are participating together, where you overlap.

S. To try to feel the emotional connection?

R. Yes.

13. S. (01:03:21) How to check that the feeling of joy comes specifically from getting closer to the Creator?

R. This depends on the friends. They have to get closer to the Creator together and feel joy, pleasure from being together. The Creator fulfills your common desire.

14. S. (01:04:13) What characterizes the test that a person is given?

R. That we all feel the response that we received from the Creator.

15. S. (01:04:35) Fear of heaven, is it when I annul my authority before the Creator’s? There’s always a desire to leave a little bit of my own authority, how do I reach annulment?

R. To incorporate into connection, to really cling to it, adhere to it.

16. S. (01:05:07) It’s a very powerful article. What I got is everything is in the hands of heaven besides the fear of heaven, that phrase that everything but fear demands of me. Afterwards he says what the Creator asks of you. Meaning the Creator asks to have us asking?

R. The Creator wants us to ask Him for fear.

S. Yes, is this the meaning of Rabash saying why didn’t you ask?

R. Yes.

17. S. (01:05:52) So Abraham withstood the test and now he fears God. What about the principle of faith above reason?

R. He knows that he fears God, that’s after the experience, the attempt.

S. But if he knows, it’s within reason where is the faith above reason? If he knows, he knows.

R. No, his test was already above reason.

S. And how do we come to such a state?

R. Keep going and see, for now in the meantime.

18. S. (01:06:41) Is it possible, can there be a situation that what a person wants is the same as what the Creator wants to give him?

R. I don’t understand the question.

S. Can the person come to a state where he wants what the Creator wants to give? Again, is it possible that what I want is the same thing as what the Creator wants to give me?

R. It’s possible, yes.

S. How do we scrutinize, how do we clarify it?

R. How do you scrutinize? Ask, scrutinize, that’s all our work these scrutinies.

19. S. (01:07:50) How can I hate the evil more?

R. How can I what?

S. Hate the evil more.

R. Hate the evil more and more each time? It’s to the extent that I get closer to the friends. I have nowhere else to get any strength and favor or against, only through them.

20. S. (01:08:32) How can a person work unconditionally?

R. Working unconditionally, what do you mean unconditionally?

S. That’s the question: how to work unconditionally? Maybe he means that I will not set conditions for the Creator?

R. That I’m not giving any conditions to the Creator, I’m willing to work with Him without any conditions. How to do that? It’s only through the environment. We understand that the answer here is only the environment. We think we can get closer to the Creator, farther from the Creator, make all kinds of movements. That is only possible by the group, there’s no other way, there’s no other strength besides the group which can change man’s direction.

21. S. (01:10:05) Out of the emotional connection with the friends, how do we let pleasures in there in order to check if it is pleasure for the sake of the Creator or not?

R. We measure that towards society towards the group we don’t have a feeling of the Creator if not through feeling society.

S. How in the feeling of society can we check how much the pleasure is desirable for the Creator, how much He wants it?

R. Exactly through the ten. We have no other way, there’s no other vessel, no other means that we can measure, see, feel, only through the ten.

S. That’s the feeling of the ten in our connection and outside of it there’s also some pleasure. How do we bring them closer or choose what to enjoy, what not to enjoy?

R. Try to have some discussion about what the ten thinks it enjoys and what the ten thinks it feels sad about and then you will see. Put yourself together a bit more like a single body and then it will be clearer to you.

22. S. (01:12:12) A person feels pleasure from adhering to the group but he doesn’t feel from what he’s enjoying. Is this regarded as real adhesion?

R. No, that’s just being sociable so to speak, someone who likes socializing and feels good there.

23. S. (01:12:44) This talks about being tested, are we tested all along the way in the same manner?

R. When the Creator puts us in front of this trial, it’s not that we choose it.

S. Then forgive this kindergarten question but what’s the test?

R. Typically the trial that we’re faced with is what am I drawn towards more: corporeality or spirituality, friends or honor and so forth. That’s all in order to clarify a more precise path for us towards the purpose of creation.

S. Aren’t we tested with that all along the way, aren’t we always supposed to be asking ourselves what desire am I fulfilling?

R. Ask.

S. What’s the difference?

R. We are constantly in a place of choice, this or that, this or that, all kinds of possibilities the Creator’s placing before us; and through that we need to constantly change ourselves this way or that way. Then in this fashion we’ll become ready, prepared, adapted to the purpose of creation.

24. S. (01:15:00) In what is the fear corrected, with which force?

R. When we wish to correct ourselves relative to the upper force it’s a sign that we’re ready to neutralize ourselves relative to it and that’s already a correction.

25. S. (01:15:43) How can I control myself that my actions will be without any hate?

R. Again.

S. How can I take control over what I do, that my deeds will be without hatred?

R. With no hate? I don’t understand.

S. How do I make sure that all my actions will be without any hate? That I won’t hate the things I’m doing.

R. I didn’t get it.

S. Self-control: how can I control myself so that all my deeds won’t have hate in them, that I’ll do everything through love?

R. Okay, how will I do it? Adhesion in the friends and in the text, how much I wish to cleave to the text, that’s what brings me to a state where I remove myself from hate. That’s how it is.

26. S. (01:17:40) How can we attain fear of the Creator, constantly?

R. You can’t do it permanently, constantly. You have to constantly worry, care about raising the fear of the Creator more and more.

27. S. (01:18:15) In the past you said that there are different types of fear. What type of fear are we talking about in this article?

R. Fear of going to the Creator.

28. S. (01:18:48) This article starts with Rabash taking all kinds of excerpts from the bible, that the Creator wanted to count his army and so on and my whole childhood was filled with being careful of counting people. So what’s the secret behind this?

R. I don’t know any secrets. You have to read the article and try to understand what it’s talking about, that’s it.

29. S. (01:19:29) Two questions, the first: do we need fear towards our friends, the first towards the Creator and the second: can I pray to have fear for the friends and the Creator?

R. Yes, those things are related, fear before the friends and fear before the Creator. Start with fear before the friends and then fear before the Creator but you can also start with fear before the Creator and then go to fear before the friends in order to have true fear before the Creator.

S. Can we pray for this fear?

R. Yes, you can pray. This fear is extremely needed. It increases a person’s strength, forces and how he is connected to the group.

30. S. (01:20:47) It is written in the article if not for me who is for me? Who else except for me can do the work? Can you explain how to work with that expression?

R. You need to think about how you will advance. For that you have to be incorporated in the group, you have to approach the friends, give them an example so in turn they’ll do the same with their circles and as a result you’ll have a great power that wants connection, it will simply suck you into it.

31. S. (01:21:46) To continue that scrutiny a question from the friend: in order to check if I’m in fear of the Creator should a person be prepared like Abraham to destroy the thing that is most precious to his heart?

R. For the time being we’re not being tested on that, we’re not being pulled but we need to understand that the assignment for us is to connect with the friends and through that with the Creator. That’s what it is right now.

32. S. (01:22:52) It says that one should know in one’s soul if he is a complete righteous or not and I find that puzzling because I think that most of us know that we’re not, we’re always walking with two legs. So why is the question phrased that way?

R. A person should be concerned nevertheless whether he’s righteous or wicked and to walk around with this question; and with this question approach the Creator, approach the friends and first of all approach himself. Then this question will be clarified to him and he will be rewarded with an answer.

33. S. (01:23:56) How to increase the fear of the Creator in the group?

R. How to increase the fear of Heaven in the group? By being dependent on one another. Who knows if we are truly committed to be dependent on one another in order to reach the goal. We need to be as one man in one heart. Can I truly reach a state where this is how it is? I don’t know.

34. S. (01:24:55) I want to understand what fear before the friends is better. Let’s say if I’m concerned about deviating the friends from the path and it happens instantly. I need to be concerned in my approach?

R. Yes.

35. S. (01:25:23) How does self annulment work along with the pleasure we feel when we can overcome all the attempts that the Creator’s putting before us?

R. I didn’t understand the question.

S. On one hand we need self annulment, on the other hand there’s pleasure that we get when we can overcome the attempts that the Creator gives us. How does that work out because we can feel pride that we’re able to stand before the Creator?

R. Also that.

S. How does that work with self-annulment?

R. Also in self-annulment I can still be prideful. Pride can exist even on the last degree of correction, that’s why it is such a great problem.

36. S. (01:26:40) Let’s say a person never felt the Creator, never felt His importance and he comes here. Can he without the fear of the Creator reach connection with the friends or concessions in order to really enter the connection with them?

R. He can approach the friends relatively speaking but there’s a matter of corporeal closeness and spiritual closeness. Spiritually he cannot get close to them.

S. That means we need fear also in the process of the connection, fear of whether I won’t keep the commandments of the Creator. Is that something we get naturally from incorporation or should there be man’s personal work to get that feeling?

R. This is part of our individual work that we do between us. We begin to feel that we need help from above, we must get it.

S. And do we also feel the importance in reaching that connection?

R. Yes.

S. Without, not to do with the feeling of the Creator because we’re bestowing to one another in a society.

R. Yes.

37. S. (01:28:12) What characterizes a state that is called an attempt?

R. Trial: and trial it depends from whom and about what but trial gives a person an answer.

S. We go through a lot of states and every time we have to choose between one and the other in importance, one or the other corporeality, spirituality but not every state is a trial, right? Or is every state a trial?

R. That depends on how a person accepts it.

S. So what is that trial?

R. A trial is when a person understands that now he’s being tested, like he’s on a test.

S. But is it on big things, little things?

R. In fact it doesn’t matter, it’s up to a person.

S. So any state can turn into a trial for a person and is it hugely something that repeats itself if a person doesn’t solve it?

R. Yes but it may assume a different form.

S. It’s something private usually right?

R. Yes.

38. S. (01:29:49) I don’t understand the story about the Rabbi from Lublin that if a person wants something from the degrees or to be a Rabbi that’s given to him but then he loses the next world. How to understand that correctly?

R. I wasn’t there to tell you. Simply put you can understand that I also don’t think that he spoke simply, he was a great man.

S. A person who studies on our path, I think we all go through points that we won’t understand something and also we enjoy that understanding. Are we putting an obstacle before us for that?

R. For some yes, for some no.

S. Because if the Creator wants to help a person who falls, He shouldn’t give him the knowledge or the pleasure; and from not giving it he’ll understand that he has to search for something else.

R. I am not going to check the Creator’s plans in his styles of activation in a person.

S. I will ask in the opposite way: a lot of times a person feels that he understood something and it’s pleasure so it’s not good. How to prevent myself from it?

R. It’s possible that it advances him, it’s possible that it doesn’t. The question is: is it not in that place where he understands something or feels something, rather what is he doing with it later, afterwards; how does he advance from it? That’s it.