READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN MONDAY

Rabash. What Is the Prohibition to Bless on an Empty Table, in the Work?. 16 (1989)

LESSON MATERIAL

What Is the Prohibition to Bless on an Empty Table, in the Work?

Article No. 16, 1989

It is written in The Zohar, Yitro (Item 437): “‘You shall not take the name of your God in vain.’ Rabbi Shimon started, ‘And Elisha said unto her: ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me; what do you have in the house?’ Elisha said to her, ‘Do you have anything on which the blessing of the Creator can be?’ We learned that a person must not bless on an empty table. What is the reason? It is because the blessing above is not present on an empty place.’” (In 442) It says, “Hence, we must not mention the holy name in vain, as it is written, ‘You shall not take the name of your God in vain.’”

We should understand why there cannot be an upper blessing on an empty table. After all, the blessing is that the Creator wants to give to the created beings delight and pleasure. Thus, why must the receivers first prepare in order to make room for the blessing to be, meaning that they must set up a suitable place to receive the upper blessing?

The thing is that the table is a place on which we eat, meaning the place from which one sustains oneself, and on which various pleasures are set in order to enjoy them. This is called a “table.” It must not be empty, but have something from which one enjoys, and only then can one bless the Creator. This means that if one blesses the Creator but there is no pleasure set on the table, it is forbidden, as it is written, “a person must not bless on an empty table.”

It is also difficult to understand what Rabbi Shimon brings as evidence, that Elisha asked her, “What do you have in the house?” The question was, Do you have something from which to enjoy? or else, the blessing cannot come. Yet, we see that the cessation of the oil, which is called a “blessing,” was because there were no empty Kelim [vessels], as it is written, “And he said, ‘Go, borrow vessels for yourself, empty vessels, do not get a few.’ …And he said to her, ‘There is not one vessel more,’ and the oil stopped.”

It follows that the cessation of the blessing was not because the table was empty. Rather, the cessation of the blessing of the oil was for lack of empty Kelim. This means that there must be empty Kelim, as well.

To understand this in the work, we should know about the oppositeness we have in the order of the work. On one hand, we see that a person should establish the praise of the Creator, and then pray. Clearly, while he establishes the praises, he says that the Creator is good and does good to the bad and to the good, and that He is merciful and gracious. At that time, it cannot be said that a person is deficient, meaning that he lacks something whether in spirituality or in corporeality. Otherwise, it means that he is merely saying but his heart is not with him. That is, in his heart, he thinks differently from what he says with his mouth. For this reason, it is impossible to sing and thank the Creator and say His virtues, but a person says about himself that he has abundance and that he lacks nothing. Thus, how can one say so when he finds himself bare and destitute?

Baal HaSulam said about this that a person should depict to himself as though he has already been rewarded with complete faith in the Creator and already feels that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good. Although when he looks at himself and the world and sees that he and the whole world are deficient, each according to his degree, he should say about this, “They have eyes and see not,” meaning above reason. In this way, he can say that he is a complete person and lacks nothing. Naturally, he can establish the praise of the Creator above reason.

He also said that a person should walk on the right line, which is to introspect and say that everything is under guidance and man has no free choice at all. Accordingly, The Baal Shem Tov said that before the fact, a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” and after the fact, a person should say, “Everything is under Providence.” In other words, the Creator gave him a thought and desire to do something in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and chose him not only from among all the nations to give him a thought and desire to serve Him, meaning to observe Torah and Mitzvot, but even within the people of Israel themselves, He chose him from the rest of the people to give him a place to serve Him.

Although it is a small service, meaning that He let him work outside His palace, which is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and still did not permit him to enter the palace, meaning He still did not receive permission from the Creator, namely a desire and yearning to work in order to bestow, and everything he does is only for his own sake, regarded as “outside the King’s palace,” but he considers this, too, a great privilege that He has chosen him from the rest of the people. He feels happy about this, and this can satisfy a person and make him praise and thank the Creator for rewarding him with accepting him into the work.

This is called “right line” in the work. That is, he feels happy when he looks at the rest of the people, who do not have this privilege of serving the King, even if Lo Lishma. Still, it is very important, since in terms of the action, he is serving the King, and on actions, we should not add. That is, even if he wants to add to the performance of Mitzvot, it is forbidden, as it is written, “You shall not add and you shall not take away.” Thus, he considers it a great privilege.

For this reason, when he looks at others, that they have no contact with Torah and Mitzvot, and sees their lowliness, in what they are immersed, meaning that all the pleasures they can have are only pleasures clothed in dresses that every animal enjoys, that they were permitted from above to enjoy only these dresses and have no connection whatsoever to Torah and Mitzvot, and he believes that everything comes from above, from this a person should derive joy and happiness.

Baal HaSulam said that if a person receives from this joy and happiness, through the joy he is regarded as blessed, and then “The blessed clings to The Blessed.” This is called “From Lo Lishma, we come to Lishma [for Her sake],” since the light in it reforms him, as now he feels that he is blessed and then the upper blessing can be on him, which is regarded as equivalence of form.

But if a person feels cursed, deficient, he has no equivalence with the Creator because the Creator is utterly complete. Consequently, there is no place where the blessing can be due to disparity of form.

That state is called “right line,” meaning wholeness, in which there are no deficiencies. And what should one do when he engages in a manner of “right”? He should praise and thank the Creator, and engage in the Torah, for then is the time to receive the light of Torah, since he is in a state of wholeness, regarded as being a person who has blessing and no lacks. Naturally, this is the time for the blessing to be on him, as said above, “The blessed clings to The Blessed.”
However, it is impossible to walk on one leg. That is, a person cannot progress on one leg. Since there is a rule, “There is no light without a Kli,” meaning “No filling without a lack,” and since on the right line he is in wholeness, it follows that he has nowhere to progress, no need for the Creator to satisfy his needs, since he has no needs at all.

For this reason, at that time a person must try to see his faults, so as to have room for prayer that the Creator will satisfy his needs. This is regarded as a person having to provide empty Kelim that the Creator may fill with upper abundance, which is called “a blessing.” If there are no empty Kelim, meaning deficiencies, with what can he fill them?

This is regarded as a person walking on the “left line.” In spirituality, “left” means something that requires correction. This means that a person should dedicate a small portion of his time to criticize himself and see how much effort he can put into working solely for the sake of the Creator, and not for his own sake, and if he can say that if he does not work in order to bring contentment to his Maker, he does not want to live, and so forth.

At that time he realizes that he cannot do this on his own, but only the Creator can help. It follows that now is the time when he can pray from the bottom of the heart. That is, he sees and feels that he is powerless to change the nature with which he was created, called “will to receive for himself and not to bestow.”

But in truth, one must believe that this lack, that he cannot change himself alone, namely his nature, this awareness comes from above. That is, from above, he is notified of this truth that he cannot work in order to bestow.

A person must know that not everyone is shown this. Usually, meaning for people who work like the general public, since they take strength for work like the sacred still, and have no connection to the vegetative, they do not see flaws in themselves. Rather, those who try to walk on the path of individuals, to the extent that they yearn to achieve the degrees of Dvekut [adhesion], they receive help from above to see the truth, how far the created beings are from being givers.

It therefore follows that the upper one does not necessarily give them the help to be able to work in order to bestow. Rather, the upper one also gives the Kli, meaning the need to get help from above, since they cannot work in order to bestow by themselves. In other words, the upper one also gives the need, meaning the empty Kelim—that they are unable to overcome the vessels of reception. This, too, the upper one gives.

Yet, help with this lack is given specifically to those who want to walk on the path of individuals. People who work in the manner of the general public are not revealed this knowledge, for the simple reason that they have no desire to work in order to bestow, so what will they reveal to them?

However, there is an issue here, that it is difficult for a beginner to walk on the path of individuals, and he begins to see that bestowing is difficult, and he cannot say that he was given this awareness from above as a gift. Rather, this awareness came to him due to the lowliness of the body itself. He says that all those who walk in the path of the work of bestowal is because “They do not have so much evil in their nature; this is why they can walk on this path. But for me, this is difficult.” It is hard for him to believe that this is hard for everyone by nature, and there is no way that a person will have the power to emerge from the control of self-love unless the Creator Himself helps him out of this governance.

This is regarded as the Creator delivering His people from the exile in Egypt, as it is written in the Passover Haggadah [story/narrative], “I and not a messenger, I and not a seraph [type of angel], I the Lord and not another.” We should interpret that the Creator said that only He had brought His people out of Egypt, as it is written, “I and not a seraph.” This means that the person had the power of the fire of a seraph, which is why he could emerge from self-love. Even if a person has a burning fire, he will still not have the strength to go against nature, but rather the Creator brought them out.

This is the meaning of the words, “I and not a messenger.” It means that it will not help a person that he wants to do God’s mission, and will thereby have the power to emerge from their control. Rather, nothing will help him. Even if he is the mightiest of the mighty, he will not be able to emerge from this control of the self-benefit, unless the Creator gives the strength to emerge from this exile.

For this reason, a person must say and believe that nothing is difficult for the Creator. Therefore, a person cannot say that this work of bestowal is not for him because it is hard for him. Instead, he must believe that all those descents he has are because with each descent, he gets a need for the Creator’s help, since a need is called a Kli, and in this Kli, the Creator can place light, as it is known that there is no light without a Kli.

However, the Kli is not made all at once. Rather, each descent gives one a need for His help. For example, one descent creates a one centimeter worth of need, and in the second descent, he gets a need once more, where he must say that only the Creator can help him. It follows that he has received another centimeter, and he has a Kli that is only two centimeters deep. When he has a hundred descents, he has a Kli that is one hundred centimeters deep. Thus, the Kli (grows), meaning the need and the desire that the Creator will help him (and give him) a big Kli.

Yet, we should ask, What is the measure of the Kli? Baal HaSulam said about this that a person should believe that the Creator knows how much need and desire the size of the Kli should have. When the Creator sees that the Kli can receive the light, the Creator immediately fills the Kli as much as He can. Thus, one should not be impressed by the descents. Instead, he should say, “The salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye,” and a person must believe that immediately following each descent it may be enough to give him a Kli, a desire that the Creator can instantly fill.

However, when he sees that he still did not receive the help from the Creator, he must increase his praying that the Creator will help him and not fall into despair. This order is called “left line,” meaning that specifically now he should feel his lowliness, how far he is from the work of bestowal.

However, he must not prolong this work on the left line. He should take only a short time of his work for the Creator to work with the lack. Most of the time, he should engage in work in wholeness, called “right,” when he is content with little. That is, whatever taste and feeling in the work he has, he is happy with his lot and feels complete, thanks the Creator for it, and feels that he is the happiest person in the world.

At that time he can bless the Creator because of this good that He has given him—that he has the ability to be a worker of the Creator even at the smallest degree, it does not matter for him. This is so because he sees that he is important to the Creator because he believes that the Creator has chosen him to stand before him and do even the smallest service, while to others, He has not given even this service. For this, he blesses the Creator.

Now we can understand the question we asked, Why is the Creator unable to give His blessing unless there is some food on the table, and it is forbidden to bless on an empty table? The reason is that there must be equivalence of form, as our sages said, “The cursed does not cling to The Blessed.” Therefore, when a person blesses the Creator and derives pleasure from the fact that the Creator has given him the meal, meaning a grip on Kedusha [holiness], this is regarded as the table not being empty, and the blessing can be in it. This is called “right line,” and in this one should be most of the day’s work.

We should also interpret what he brings as evidence, that he asked the woman what she has in the house. He learns from this that the table must not be empty. But we see that we do need empty Kelim, since the stopping of the oil, called “blessing,” was because there were no more empty Kelim?

The answer is that in order to advance in the work, we also need the left line, called “deficiencies,” which are empty Kelim. However, it is one thing to make the Kelim, which is when he works on the left line, and the pouring of the abundance into the empty Kelim. This is done specifically when a person is in a state where he is blessed and lacks nothing, and “The blessed clings to The Blessed.”

LESSON

Morning Lesson December 16, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 16, 1989. What Is the Prohibition to Bless on an Empty Table, in the Work?

Reading article: (00:35) “It is written in The Zohar, Yitro: You shall…”

1. S. (34:50) This state that is called the right line meaning wholeness when he engages in the right, this is the time to praise and give gratitude to the Creator and engage in Torah which is the time to receive the light of Torah. There are a few questions just about this paragraph, what does it mean to give praise and gratitude to the Creator and what does it mean to engage in Torah while he’s on the right line?

R. Well first of all a person should feel that he is receiving from the Creator’s forces, strengthening, the determination of the goal and accordingly thank the Creator, this is what he should feel towards the Creator.

S. Meaning the praises and gratitude, meaning his inner feeling?

R. Yes, yes because he received already.

S. What does it mean to engage in Torah while on the right?

R. To engage in the Torah meaning that by bringing himself closer to the Creator he discovers more and more how much the Creator dresses in him.

S. Meaning he continues bestowing?

R. Yes, of course.

S. The next sentence says then is the time to receive the light of Torah but he’s still not there, he’s only on the right he can’t receive.

R. Why?

S. He has no vessels of reception, he’s only in wholeness.

R. Wholeness means a deficiency, no.

S. Whole means there is no deficiency. 

R. So?

S. Receiving is with empty vessels.

R. Yes.

S. How can he say that this is the time to receive the light of Torah since he’s in a state of wholeness which is called a man who has a blessing and has no deficiency?

R. There are other vessels, he discovers that the Creator wants to bestow, then he opens himself up in order to receive this bestowal from the Creator.

S. This is what’s called receiving a desire to bestow?

R. Yes.

S. To continue, at the end of the article last paragraph, he writes that in order to advance in the work we also need the left line called deficiencies which are empty Kelim, however, it is one thing to make the Kelim which is when he works on the left line. Can you explain what’s the difference between receiving a desire to bestow and what is the deficiency here, can you say words?

R. You can receive a desire to bestow from the right side and you can receive a desire to bestow from the left side. From both of them, he wants to receive the power of bestowal so that later on he will be able to delight the Creator. 

2. S. (38:48) He writes that it’s forbidden to bless over an empty table. Who put something on the table, man or the Creator?

R. The Creator and the Creator fills the table, man’s vessels of reception.

S. I’m asking because when a person starts working typically his vessels are empty.

R. Well yes, it depends on how he interprets it, how he accepts it.

S. The question is what can you put on the table to start the work if the Kli is empty? He has to start the work somehow.

R. The fact that he wants to start the work means that he already received from the Creator a desire and with this desire he wants to thank the Creator.

S. You can always find what to be thankful for?

R. Yes.

3. S. (40:00) Rabash says a few times this gratitude, thank you for choosing us, and look at the other people who have no desire, they’re just busy with nonsense. How does that turn the person to, “The blessed that clings to the blessed,” to have the quality of bestowal by looking at others who didn’t receive any contact with the Creator and he does have contact? How does that push him to come out of his nature and cleave to the quality of the giver?

R. Yes, yes.

S. It seems to be something like he’s patronizing.

R. This is that others did receive a desire?

S. No, he says thank you for giving me while not giving anything to others, they are in some low desires, and I was given even just the slightest contact with the Creator and I’m thanking you for that. Rabash says that by thanking like this immediately, “The blessed clings to the blessed,” which gives him some connection with wholeness.

R. Yes.

S. I’m saying the person’s attitude is that is like an egoistic attitude of sorts, how does that lead him to a state of wholeness? All of you have chosen us is that we have a role towards the world if you look at the purpose of creation. Ultimately, it’s for all created beings, for everyone so by feeling unique that the Creator chose him how does that correct him?

R. He feels responsible. It’s not that the Creator fills him but rather the Creator gives him a role, that he needs to work, to get closer to others, to explain to them what reality is, and where there is there the work of the Creator for a person. 

4. S. (42:28) He writes that every descent and disconnection increase the need for the Creator’s help. We sometimes see in the work that there’s a descent but there’s no sufficient urgency, we see from the work it’s not that you get the same urge to pray with every descent.

R. Yes, go ahead.

S. That’s what I’m asking about, he says you get a descent of one centimeter, then you have one centimeter deep of the need to work for the Creator, then you get a hundred, then you have one hundred, and so forth.

R. If it shines for you but if it doesn’t shine for you but rather you receive the descent then seemingly you agree with this dissent, you don’t respond to it and thus you just continue.

S. The ability to respond is only from the Ten, the environment?

R. Well it depends on how you interpret the changing attitude of the Creator.

S. There’s always a question of how by increasing the descents a person doesn’t become kind of blunt in his sentence, you know indifferent. That’s from our work in the Ten these powers?

R. Yes this is our work that we actually have to awaken ourselves and make ourselves more sensitive. 

5. S. (44:35) I wanted to ask about this discernment that if there’s no Kli you can’t give to the person. It turns out that the whole work is to reach prayer that the Creator will give man the Kli.

R. Yes.

S. How do you begin to enter the work of prayer, it seems like other than that a person has nothing to do?

R. Again.

S. Ultimately, we have to get to a Kli, to reach a Kli we have to ask of the Creator to be in a prayer, so how can you enter the work of prayer?

R. When a person sees that that’s the only thing that is left for him, that he’s incapable of anything except that. What you are saying for now indicates that you feel that there is a need, a desire, and there is where to advance to but a person who feels that he has nowhere to advance, that he doesn’t have the vessels what will he do?

S. Exactly about that, the whole article Rabash leads you to that you need vessels otherwise you can’t give, and you can’t get these Kelim unless the Creator gives them.

R. Right.

S. How do you take all of life and all you do in the direction of prayer, right? How do you do it, how do you conduct yourself that way?

R. You learn from the friends, you learn from the friends that everyone is yearning to pray, to demand from the Creator because only He can give, only He can do.

S. I see that many times the actions actually blur the prayer, you go to actions and you’re sure that you’re doing something so when looking at the friends and wanting to learn from them, how do you identify that they have a tendency for prayer in them?

R. You see that other than prayer nothing else remains but only a request to the Creator, that you’ll help me, us, all of us, that without that we’re doomed. 

6. S. (47:40) Following that there’s importance to the depth of the Kli, the more descents the deeper the Kli, and then there’s more chance that the Creator will help if I understood?

R. No, this is not a chance and it’s also not a guarantee or anything but rather from the very first moment when we discover some opportunity to pray, to ask for help we do it and not wait that next time it will more and sometime later even more. 

7. S. (48:39) You said we have to bestow both from the right and from the left, that’s the desire we wish to ask for. Is it that the Creator wants us to enjoy the path and the whole journey?

R. We do not enjoy the process itself but rather the fact that this process has a goal, and that goal is something that we accept, we consider holy.

S. The question is we say that the Creator wants to benefit the created beings, so He wants me to enjoy this whole process, to feel that my connection to Him through the friends happens joyfully?

R. The Creator wants you to enjoy the process when you are constantly directing yourself to the process but not just that He gives you bestowal, a feeling and you enjoy it. Rather you need to enter into His bestowal, His influence, and then make corrections for yourself, then you will enjoy.

S. Meaning to always be in self-inspection towards my work towards the Creator.

R. Yes certainly, of course.

S. He says that it’s not enough that you come with a deficiency, there has to be a Kli worthy of receiving the light. What’s a Kli worthy of receiving the light?

R. The vessel that is ready to receive the light, it’s the vessel that yearns only for adhesion, only for adhesion, well as much as possible according to one’s degree.

8. S. (50:48) He writes that a person should believe that after every descent it could be sufficient for him to be a Kli for the Creator to fill and right afterwards he writes when he sees that he didn’t get receive the help he should increase the prayer. How does it work together, where’s the limit?

R. He detects his own states and accordingly he relates to the force that manages him, well accordingly, according to what he receives.

S. When does he move from a state where he says he has to have faith to a state of prayer?

R. I think that one should yearn for the state of prayer all the time, all the time to be in a request, in an appeal, not to let go and ask as much as possible.

S. He continues and says not to reach despair from that state.

R. Yes, exactly. 

9. S. (52:20) He writes that it in the time of the right you have to give praise and engage in Torah, which means the time to receive the light of Torah. Then he says you can’t walk on one leg and so forth so how does a person know when to say that’s it, I have enough right and now I want to awaken deficiency, how does he identify that?

R. When he lacks a deficiency then he awakens his deficiency by himself.

S. Meaning, he also receives the awakening of the lack, it’s not that he decides?

R. Yes, both the right and the left.

10. S. (53:07) Most of the time a person needs to be in wholeness.

R. On the right.

S. In the right, what does he ask in that state, how does he ask if he has no lack?

R. He by himself should scrutinize the deficiency that is required, the deficiency towards connection, towards bestowal, and all kinds of signs of nearing, getting closer to the Creator. Does he have a deficiency for that or no, and according to that he raises his request.

S. If he begins to engage in that deficiency and scrutinize it, doesn’t he leave the right immediately? 

R. Why would he immediately exit the right?

S. How does he not leave the right?

R. Through his prayer that he now wants to develop and raise it to the Creator, by that he wants even more to be incorporated in the right.

S. What’s the difference actually between a prayer that a person raises from the right or from the left? If he has to pray all day and be in a request all day what’s the difference between this and that?

R. To be on the right.

S. On the right we say that it’s not a prayer, it’s praise and gratitude and so forth so there’s no engagement in deficiencies and flaws and empty vessels.

R. You might be correct, so?

S. On the other hand, we always have to feel the empty vessels so we can raise the prayer so how do we reconcile this? I understand if it’s one time this and the other time that and so forth but simultaneously you can’t hold these two states.

R. Simultaneously you’re right but how will we reach wholeness without entering the left, this is what you’re asking, how will we increase the right without the left? We actually receive the left also from above, we receive it from above and then if I am directed to be on the right towards adhesion then I can always feel that I lack adhesion.

S. Can it be about just examining the vessels, the empty vessels that need correction so in the right a person is looking more towards the vessels of the collective, the friends, and only on the left he’s examining his own vessels?

R. Well I don’t know if you can say that already, how does one detect if it’s his or not his?

S. It seems that in the right a person doesn’t even need to go into the state where he’s lowly and despaired and opposite from the Creator but with empty vessels he has no other choice but to look at the empty vessels of the friends, the whole as Rabash says, to share the sorrow of the troubles of the whole and there’s nothing to give but prayer. Could this be a solution to staying in the sense of wholeness on the one hand, and on the other hand praying and not coming out of that?

R. Yes, also but just realize that we cannot be on the right all the time. The descents, falls, such states that throw us off, that Kabbalists go through are very deep. We will feel that, we are going to visit them. 

11. S. (58:32) When a person prays and he receives no answer he reaches a state where he feels deep sorrow from not getting an answer and he doesn’t have the power to pray anymore. He feels that the Creator is not answering him, he doesn’t understand the reason. On the one hand, the Creator knows what I have in my heart, that what remains is only this deep sorrow that He’s not answering me so we need to annul but on the other hand, we need to keep praying so what should we do in such a state?

R. He has to understand that it nevertheless is related to his vessels, and he has no choice, he must get closer to the Creator and demand. The Creator really enjoys our requests, and our prayers and so when we demand He enjoys it, He enjoys it because we demand vessels of bestowal, we demand closeness and in that, we bring Him pleasure.

S. It says in the article that if the table is empty a person cannot bless, meaning ask also for the possibility to bless?

R. I don’t understand.

S. Ask for the possibility to bless because there’s no answer and I cannot bless because of that.

R. Well, if the Creator doesn’t give you the possibility to bless Him then perhaps you need to settle for that, otherwise you’ll always demand and demand and demand good influences from the Creator in order to bless Him.

S. A person should make the Creator happy, we need to delight Him, yearn for Him, and when this is taken away from him. 

R. Meaning, a person asks for a good attitude from the Creator in order to bless Him for that good attitude.

S. No, the person prays to the Creator for bestowal, for the ability to yearn to Him but he’s not capable of it, he’s not capable because he’s an egoist, he has all kinds of desires, and yearnings. He asks, he doesn’t get any answer, then what?

R. I don’t understand your question, ask again.

S. A person prays to the Creator for a desire to bestow, for love towards the friends but he doesn’t get an answer from the Creator, he doesn’t get this force of bestowal. He reaches a state like I said where there is this sorrow that the Creator is not answering and then he no longer has the forces to pray. Then once again he comes to a state where nevertheless we have to pray and the Creator wants you to pray, He wants you to continue asking for the correction. It turns out that you’re not capable of blessing, on the one hand, you do feel sorrow and on the other hand, you don’t have vessels of bestowal or vessels of reception so you cannot even thank Him. Maybe only thank Him for giving you such a state where you’re not capable of asking and only being in a state of faith above reason, this is the last remaining state, what to do next?

R. To ask that the Creator will do it properly, what else can you do?

12. S. (01:04:17) It says that man has no choice. When he thanks, he gives gratitude is that the person’s choice or did the Creator send him that?

R. Everything is done by the Creator including the deficiency that a person feels, it’s also coming from Him.

13. S. (01:04:51) Can we scrutinize the article a little bit? It seems like a process which is upon all the states, every moment we have to go through this so I want to scrutinize. He starts with the right, that seemingly a person should say it’s enough that the Creator has chosen me, He gave me a point in the heart, He brought me to the lesson, and I can bless Him for that. It’s like a person ignores the disturbances, he doesn’t relate to them, so I want to scrutinize, is it the right twice because later on when he has the power he awakens the left by himself then he awakens the right by himself? It seems like when he wants to bless the Creator the second time he already needs the Creator in the first one, seemingly he simply throws himself. Do you understand what I’m saying? It’s as if in the beginning of the work he doesn’t really ask the Creator for help, that He will help him and save him, he seems simply to cling to Him. Let’s say I want to get up for the lesson, but I don’t want to come to the lesson. If I start to scrutinize this deficiency I’ll just stay in bed so I just throw myself out and I come to the lesson so in that, I feel that I’m already here and can bless the Creator for giving me the opportunity to be here this morning, but later on, he says keep going, there is this state where you should also see the deficiencies again by yourself, you have to awaken them, not all day long but for a minute. When you’re able to then you have to reach the blessed and bless the Creator, after that ask for help, for the deficiencies that you have now awakened. I feel that there is twice the right and twice the left and the resistance, do you understand what I’m saying?

R. I understand, I do, what do you ask about it? You have deficiencies of your own, deficiencies from the Creator, and also responses of your own and from the Creator, yes.

S. Is every moment, not every moment but that every day there’s this kind of process we have to go through?

R. Even several times a day, sure. You’re saying it correctly.

S. It says that we have to bless when there is food on the table.

R. Yes.

S. In this process when you awaken and now you have the strength, you’re supported by the Ten, you’re in the Ten, this deficiency that now you want to awaken, is it something that later on you’ll be able to bring a vessel to the Creator to fill so that there is something on the table to bless for, to truly bless?

R. You want to bring a Kli to the Creator, to bless for it, to carry it out, to establish it so that He helps you so that this Kli will help you reach through the friends adhesion with the Creator Himself.

14. S. (01:08:54) We’re giving you greetings from the center of Asia, please tell us to what extent can a person give thanks and praise the Creator?

R. Until the complete adhesion, until the complete adhesion.

S. This means that I can go under the rain and the storm, and I can still bless Him, I can bless Him to the full depth, but I need to have a deficiency also, right?

R. What deficiency?

S. I mean to praise the Creator is the right line. I can praise Him to the full depth of, I don’t know until He takes my soul away, but a person should also awaken the left line, meaning to what extent should he bless the Creator before he awakens the left line?

R. If he exists on the right line how can he immediately switch to the left line?

S. That’s what I’m asking.

R. You’re asking about states that don’t exist.

15. S. (01:10:33) Does creation or the created being have the ability to agree or not to agree with the descent? Does the Ten have the possibility to agree with the descent or not to agree with it?

R. In any state we’re in together, we have to find the benefit of it and the usefulness of it and then lead ourselves to success.

S. Is there a choice or isn’t there, I didn’t hear you.

R. I didn’t understand.

M. He’s asking if there is a choice or not.

R. There is there’s always a choice, there’s always a choice.

16. S. (01:11:52) We need to reach a feeling of a single deficiency?

R. The deficiency towards the Creator, that’s a deficiency that everyone should have, just to make it one, that I don’t know. It certainly could be the state when we get closer to the final correction.

S. When we scrutinize let’s say, each one of us has his own deficiency so how do we connect them or does each one raise his own deficiency?

R. Each one joins his deficiency.

17. S. (01:12:47) You answered it before already, that a lot depends on the sensitivity and he also pointed out to us that there is just a descent but there’s also a descent with an upper illumination. My question is what is the relation, the connection between man’s sensitivity, the spiritual work, and the upper illumination during the descent?

R. One determines the other.

S. If we go back to the question if I heard it correctly, when I pray from the Ten to the Creator I don’t get any answer. What enables me by becoming incorporated in the Ten to detect, to get to know the answer, the Creator’s response, to feel this illumination in the Ten?

R. If you’re incorporated in the Ten of course you’ll get an answer in the Ten, from the Creator through the Ten.

18. S. (01:14:11) How do we use the name of the Creator correctly?

R. It’s written you shouldn’t utter the Lord’s name in vain. How do you use the Lord’s name, the Creator’s name correctly? Correctly, only as it’s written in the Bible, as it’s written in the prayer, then we use it and the rest of the time we simply say HaShem, the name, we don’t say the name of the Creator explicitly.

19. S. (01:15:23) When working on the left line what does it mean that the Kelim will be filled specifically when we lack nothing, we have no deficiency?

R. We have to see what is written here more correctly, what is written there, can you find the place?

S. It says they walk on two legs and then it says the right line and the left line the deficiencies, all the abundance seems to be through the empty Kelim, this is done when a person is in a state where he is blessed and lacks nothing. The question is what does it mean that the Kelim will be filled specifically when he lacks nothing?

R. That the vessels will be filled until he has no deficiency, maybe that’s the meaning?

S. I don’t understand this piece of text that’s why I’m asking the question. 

M. I’ll read the quote: “He says it’s impossible to walk on one leg, that is a person cannot progress on one leg since there is a rule there is no light without a Kli, meaning no filling without a lack and since on the right line he’s in wholeness it then follows that he has nowhere to progress, no need for the Creator to satisfy his needs since he has no needs at all. For this reason, at that time, the person must try to see his faults so as to have room for prayer that the Creator will satisfy his needs. This is regarded as a person having to provide empty Kelim that the Creator may fill with upper abundance which is called a blessing and if there are no empty vessels, meaning deficiencies with what can He fill them?” I think that’s what the friend is asking about.

R. Okay, so it’s not clear?

M. He’s asking what’s the meaning here, that if there are no empty vessels meaning deficiencies with what can he fill them? Maybe he should ask again. 

S. What does it mean that Kelim will be filled specifically when he lacks nothing?

R. Then he has to pray for a deficiency, to have a deficiency and then he’ll pray to the Creator that now thank God he has a deficiency, and the Creator will fill it.

S. You said in the beginning that you receive vessels of bestowal from the right side, you also need to receive vessels of the bestowal from the left side, so does that mean we always need to ask for vessels of bestowal independent of left and right side?

R. We need to ask for vessels of bestowal always, yes, and a deficiency for the vessels of bestowal comes to us, and then afterward all kinds of bestowals when we receive the vessels themselves.

S. What does it mean when the table is empty and it’s forbidden to bless when the table is empty?

R. Of course, an empty table and your blessing how can that be?

S. What does forbidden mean?

R. Forbidden means it’s impossible.

S. We should always bless the state we’re in because the Creator’s the Good Who Does Good so we should always bless, why when the table is empty it’s forbidden, why is it impossible?

R. We will never ask, we’ll always bless, and be thankful. No, we need to read it again and understand it more deeply.

20. S. (01:21:09) When the created being sees that everything he has, everything he thought was him, himself, it was from the Creator, he receives from the Creator then he begins to feel great shame. The question is, this shame is that the vessel that opens up the place for prayer?

R. Yes.

21. S. (01:21:57) This table over which we should bless what is it really? What does it mean that it’s empty, is this an opportunity to ask, to be asking?

R. The table is what comes from the Creator. If it’s empty it means the Creator isn’t offering us anything. We have to constantly feel that we are seated before a set table, this is how we should feel.

S. The set table, is it the opportunity to turn to the Creator and ask of Him?

R. It’s what comes from the Creator and is received by you.

S. What’s the main thing here? You said the Creator enjoys it when we turn to Him but if the table is set I don’t turn to Him.

R. You thank Him, your plea is gratitude and not a request, everything is in front of you.

S. Do I need to have an appetite for the table?

R. Yes.

S. How does each time anew to build this appetite if you constantly discover that the table is set?

R. You don’t discover that it’s set right away, you have friends to connect with, to develop a new feeling of hunger and only afterward you’ll see before you a set table.

22. S. (01:24:17) I hope I can express myself correctly, everything comes from the Creator, all the deficiencies, all the pleasures and we simply yearn for things and pray for things. The question is, it sounds as if we’re only experiencing, how can I understand the process that I’m going through, what is the correct awareness of the state I’m in?

R. You need to connect to the friends and together with them constantly scrutinize the states you’re going through and then through those changing states, from state to state you will understand how the Creator relates to you and what He wants from you, and it will be clear to you your present state and your future state.

23. S. (01:26:01) How in the Ten can we correct the place for receiving the upper blessing?

R. The place you need to correct through the mutual connection to all the friends in the group.

24. S. (01:26:30) What is the condition for being rewarded with the blessing in the work which is the vessel and the filling of the vessel?

R. The condition is to have a common vessel with the friends and they will search how to come to a state where the Creator fills the vessel.

S. They look for it, what does it mean to search for it?

R. In the connection between them, in the connection between them, the Creator is also hiding there.

S. In the connection between them?

R. Yes.

25. S. (01:27:14) Falls, descents, it’s not something a person craves so how to understand that you are already in a descent because you constantly yearn for connection, how to feel that in a descent?

R. To the extent that the friends look at each other, according to this you can reach this conclusion, you can define it.

26. S. (01:27:52) How can we distinguish if my actions are actions of bestowal or simply my ego telling me that I’m in bestowal?

R. Just continue with the tendency to reach an act of bestowal toward the friends and then you will see if you’re in this you’re only lying to yourselves.

27. S. (01:28:41) It says when he arranges his prayers the Creator is good to the wicked and to the good. What connects the good and the wicked to the Good Who Does Good?

R. Again?

S. It says while he arranges the praises and says the Creator is Good Who Does Good to the evil and to the righteous. What connects the righteous and the wicked to the Good Who Does Good? 

R. It’s one source, the Creator who awakens them in all kinds of ways in order to build in them the deficiencies for Him.

28. S. (01:29:38) How do we come to empty Kelim and increase our deficiency in the work?

R. By thinking about it and influencing each other in this way, then our vessels grow.

29. S. (01:30:13) In the article it says that when we speak of the right line that we should not add nor detract, it says we should not add on the deeds, meaning even if he wants to add on the act of the Mitzvot, commandment it is forbidden. What does it mean not to add to the actual commandment?

R. Again read it from the article.

S. From the point of view of the deed, he’s serving the King. There’s no need to add to the deeds meaning even if he would like to add on the commandment it is forbidden, it says you should not add nor detract meaning it will be a great reward for him. What does it mean not to add?

R. That what he did is enough, there’s a matter of overdoing the commandments which is no less than the harm of not doing. Doing more, doing less, you need to do exactly what the commandment requires.

S. How do we find this boundary this limit?

R. According to the sensation of the connection with the friends it changes to the extent that you have connection with the friends because this is how we open up our relation to the Creator. We have no direct contact with the Creator that we can understand how much we bestow upon Him and that’s enough but rather if we want to bestow upon the friends and we attribute it to the Creator, this is correct, this is called from the love of people to love of the Creator, love of friends.

S. Meaning the more connected I’ll be to the friends I’ll feel the boundary of where He is and not to add?

R. Yes.

30. S. (01:32:36) The Ten can see that the friend is in the descent, how to use that state to build the vessel?

R. In order to raise the friend from where he fell, you think about how.

31. S. (01:33:14) I wanted to ask in our regular reality there are people who always see their table as empty, they cry about their lacks even if their world appears full and there is also the opposite states. In spirituality when you identify the table as empty, is the table always full actually? Meaning the identification of the empty table is that left line or is the table really getting emptied out and filled?

R. The table is according to how we relate to it, therefore a set table means we have prepared all the vessels and we are ready to receive from the Creator all the abundance He has prepared for us.

S. Are there really states where the table is emptied out and then it gets filled again or is it always full?

R. It is only from our perspective, only from our perspective. The Creator is Good Who Does Good without any boundaries.

32. S. (01:34:25) Life is hard. Why do the Kabbalists need to bring more children into this world?

R. No, according to the Kabbalah we need to have children, educate them, and teach them how to do the Creator’s will correctly.

33. S. (01:35:01) The Creator fills the vessel. When we devote ourselves to Him we see His greatness and when we pray and listen to His answer and we receive His answer gladly in gratitude is that so?

R. No answer.

34. S. (01:35:39) I feel the deficiency, it hurts. Do I need to ask for the deficiency of the friends instead of my own deficiency?

R. Of course, of course, ask for the deficiency of the friends.

35. S. (01:36:15) I think this article brings us to a critical stage where on the one hand, we need to reach a certain place and on the other hand, we can’t be in two states, it’s either here or there. Is it possible that we need to look at it and not in such a way that when the Creator created man He put the soul in him, Neshama from the word ‘to breathe,’ that’s the process of life and he’s leading that process. When a person comes to the right line from his efforts then he can imitate the right line, the wholeness and he succeeds for a time. When he begins to clothe he receives a descent meaning the Creator brings him deficiency as something unreal and the Creator builds the deficiency in him and then he comes to the left line and there is the same, once he has a deficiency he immediately receives the fulfillment and the process works in circles like that. I don’t know if it’s clear?

R. it’s not clear to me, is it clear to anyone?

M. He says a person is not fully in adhesion, he’s seemingly in the right and then the Creator tells him he’s not and gives him a deficiency, then he does the left line and it’s like a game with the Creator. The person tries to build the right line on the left line and he doesn’t really succeed, he needs the help of the Creator.

R. So when does it end?

S. It ends because the amplitude changes. He has a small deficiency or some filling then a greater descent and it continues, the process we go through.

R. Okay, we’ll think about it.