READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN SUNDAY

Rabash. Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah. 3 (1986)

LESSON MATERIAL

Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah

Article No. 3, 1986

In The Zohar (Lech Lecha, item 1), Rabbi Aba explains why Abraham was rewarded with the Creator telling him Lech Lecha [Go forth] more than all his contemporaries. It writes, “Rabbi Aba started and said, ‘Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness.’ ‘Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted’ means how hard are the hearts of the wicked. They see the trails and ways of Torah and do not look at them. Their hearts are hard since they do not return to their Master in repentance. This is why they are called, ‘Stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness,’ meaning far from the Torah, and hence far from righteousness.”

Rabbi Hizkiya said, “They are far from the Creator. And because they are far from the Creator they are called stubborn-hearted.” The meaning of the verse is “far from righteousness.” Why? It is because they do not wish to approach the Creator, for they are stubborn-hearted. And because of it, they are far from righteousness.

Because they are far from righteousness, they are far from peace, meaning they have no peace, as it is written, “‘There is no peace,’ said the Lord to the wicked.” What is the reason? It is because they are far from righteousness, hence they have no peace.

We should understand why when Rabbi Aba says that being far from righteousness means that they are far from the Torah, and therefore far from righteousness. On the one hand, he says that righteousness is called Torah, and then he says that by moving away from the Torah they move away from righteousness. This implies that the Torah is the reason for righteousness, but we do not see any connection between Torah and righteousness.

We see that the nations of the world have no Torah, as our sages said, “He says His words to Jacob,” and still they give Tzedakah [righteousness/almsgiving].” Does giving Tzedakah require believing in the Creator and keeping the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], and only then can one give Tzedakah? Rather, he says that they are far from Tzedakah because they are far from the Torah.

He also said that because they are far from the Torah, they are far from Tzedakah. This implies that the Torah is the reason by which we can keep Tzedakah. That is, the most important thing for us is to achieve Tzedakah. How can we achieve such a high degree? Through the Torah.

Thus, we should understand the greatness and importance of Tzedakah, which means that the Torah is a lower degree than Tzedakah because through the Torah we can achieve Tzedakah. We need to understand this.

Also, it is difficult to understand the words of Rabbi Hizkiya in what he adds to the words of Rabbi Aba and says, “Who are the stubborn-hearted? Those who do not want to approach the Creator. And because they do not want to approach the Creator they are far from Tzedakah.” How can we understand this? Does this mean that through approaching the Creator they will be rewarded with a higher degree, which is Tzedakah?

We should also understand why Rabbi Hizkiya says, “Since they are far from Tzedakah, they are far from peace.” This is even more perplexing because once he has clarified for us the importance of Tzedakah, meaning in Rabbi Aba’s view, Tzedakah is more important than Torah, and in Rabbi Hizkiya’s view, Tzedakah is greater than approaching the Creator. Now he comes and says that if they do not have the degree of Tzedakah, they cannot achieve the degree of peace.

Thus, we should understand what is the degree of peace. It is implied that after all the work he will achieve the degree of peace. That is, the first degree is either Torah or approaching the Creator, the second is Tzedakah, and the third is peace. This requires clarification.

We find that Tzedakah is called “faith,” as it is written about Abraham, “And he believed in the Lord, and He regarded it for him as righteousness.” Thus, because faith is regarded as Tzedakah, we can already know the importance of Tzedakah. It is not as it seems literally. Rather, Tzedakah implies faith.

What is faith? It is regarded as Tzedakah? We see that one who gives Tzedakah [almsgiving] to the poor does not expect the poor to repay him in some way for the almsgiving he has given him. It is especially so with concealed almsgiving; he certainly does not plan to receive anything in return. Therefore, Tzedakah means that he is doing something without any reward.

But since the faith we should take upon ourselves must be without anything in return, it means that we must believe in the greatness of the Creator, which holy Zohar calls, “For He is great and ruling.” He is to have no thought that he is taking upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven and by this he will receive from Him some reward. Rather, he is working entirely in order to bestow. This is why faith is called Tzedakah, to interpret for us the form that the faith we are taking on ourselves should have.

However, we must pay attention to how we achieve such faith, which is in order to bestow. Our nature is only to receive and not to bestow. Therefore, what can one do in order to achieve bestowal? He is telling us that it is done precisely through the Torah, as our sages said (Kidushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”

In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 11) he says, “However, we find and see in the words of the sages of the Talmud that they have made the path of Torah easier for us more than the sages of the Mishnah. This is because they said, ‘One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot, even Lo Lishma, and from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma.’ That is, the light in it reforms him. Thus, they have provided us with a new means instead of the penance presented in the above-mentioned Mishnah, Avot: the ‘Light in the Torah.’ It bears sufficient power to reform one and bring him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.”

By this we will understand the words of Rabbi Aba, who said that “far from Tzedakah” means that they are moving away from the Torah, hence they are far from Tzedakah. We asked, “Is the Torah the reason for achieving Tzedakah? Is it impossible to give Tzedakah without Torah?” The thing is that Tzedakah refers to faith. It is impossible to achieve real faith before one has equivalence of form with the Creator, meaning that all of one’s actions are only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator.

He says in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar” (item 138): “It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer. Hence, when one feels bad, to the same extent, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him, and the Operator is concealed from him.”

The reason is that before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal he is unfit to receive the delight and pleasure from Him. It follows that he feels bad and therefore cannot be awarded real faith before he has corrected the evil in him, called “receiving in order to receive.”

It follows that through the Torah, which reforms him, meaning that by receiving vessels of bestowal he will be rewarded with faith, which is called Tzedakah, which is “faith because He is great and ruling,” and not that the basis of his faith is in order to receive some reward.

Now we will understand what we asked about the words of Rabbi Hizkiya, where he explains the meaning of “stubborn-hearted.” He explains that because they move away from the Creator, they move away from Tzedakah. We asked, “Can approaching the Creator be a reason that we will have the ability to do Tzedakah? What is the connection between them?” It is written in the Sulam [commentary on The Zohar], “Rabbi Hizkiya does not dispute Rabbi Aba. Rather, he interprets more than him.” We asked, “But Rabbi Hizkiya’s explanation is even more difficult to understand!”

According to what we explained above, Rabbi Hizkiya explains more what it means that they are called “stubborn-hearted,” for which they are far from Tzedakah, since regarding what Rabbi Aba says, that they have moved away from the Torah, they think that they simply need to learn Torah and by this they will be rewarded with Tzedakah, called “faith.” However, Rabbi Aba’s intention is that through Torah they will achieve equivalence of form, called “vessels of bestowal,” since they cannot achieve real faith before they have vessels of bestowal, as it is written in the Sulam (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar”).

This is why Rabbi Hizkiya elaborates more and says more simply that “stubborn-hearted” are those who move away from the Creator. That is, they do not want to approach the Creator because they are stubborn-hearted, therefore they are far from Tzedakah. This is as we said above, that it is impossible to be rewarded with faith, which is Tzedakah, before we are rewarded with nearing the Creator, called equivalence of form, which are vessels of bestowal.

Perhaps that reason why Rabbi Aba does not interpret the same as Rabbi Hizkiya is that Rabbi Aba wants to tell us two things at once, meaning the reason and the advice. The reason why they have no faith is that they have no vessels of bestowal. The advice for this is to engage in Torah, where by the light of Torah they will be awarded equivalence of form, regarded as all their actions being only to bestow. At that time they will be rewarded with Tzedakah, which is real faith.

And concerning Rabbi Hizkiya’s addition that through Tzedakah they will be rewarded with peace, we asked, “If Tzedakah is such a great thing, which refers to faith, then what is peace? It implies that peace is even more important!”

We should interpret that peace is the completion of the work. Before one is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he has no room for faith. Once he has vessels of bestowal and has been rewarded with faith, he obtains the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations. This means that then he feels the delight and pleasure that the Creator has created to do good to His creations. At that time one is rewarded with peace.

But before one has been rewarded with Tzedakah, which is faith, on the basis of vessels of bestowal, he does not have the Kelim to obtain the delight and pleasure, since the good is lacking the correction of not being the bread of shame, for which there was the correction of Tzimtzum Aleph [first restriction]. Only when the creatures have that correction, called “vessels of bestowal,” there will be a place where the light of the Creator (which is to benefit His creations) can be present.

Prior to this he is in strife with the Creator, as he says in the Sulam (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 175): “Peace, too, complained that he was all strife because he cannot engage in Mitzvot [commandments] in order to bestow, but with a mixture of self-pleasing.” By this he is always in strife with the Creator, since he thinks he is a complete righteous and does not feel his faults at all. That is, he does not feel that his entire engagement in Torah and Mitzvot is Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and he is angry at the Creator for not rewarding him as much as a complete righteous should be rewarded.

Thus, we see that before one is rewarded with Tzedakah, which is faith in the Creator on the basis of vessels of bestowal, which brings one to approach the Creator, it is impossible to have peace. It follows that the end of the work, when the goal is achieved, is when we achieve the degree of peace. That peace cannot be achieved before we go through the preliminary stages, which are approaching the Creator, then faith, called Tzedakah, and finally the goal, which is called “peace.”

LESSON

Morning Lesson October 27, 2023

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

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 3, 1986. Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah.

Reading Article: (00:30) “In the Zohar, Rabbi Aba explains….”

1. S. (22:18) Rabash wants to make us be cautious of something called stubborn hearted, what is this warning?

R. It means those who have a strong desire but not yet corrected. 

2. S. (22:28) I want to ask about peace, the prisons in Israel, there are members of Hamas, and if we could visit in a cell of the prisoners and talk to them about peace and if we could shake their hand and come to an agreement. I would ask to free them and to show everyone Mercy.

R. How naive to think that this would influence them, it is not so sure that it will go in the right direction at all.

S. Isn’t peace easier than making war?

R. You can take all the beautiful words in the human dictionary and do whatever you want with them. I see things as they are and as according to what people are doing, and their actions indicate what they want.

S. You could always talk to him and shake hands with them and move away joyously?

R. For you the main thing is to go after the top and come away happy.

S. The main thing is peace.

R. Okay, so learn how to reach peace. 

3. S. (24:48) How to properly engage in Torah in order to obtain vessels of bestowal for faith?

R. Torah is the upper force, and we have to attract it and direct it or focus it on our nature, and by that, we will change. When we change our vessels, our thoughts, desires, and intentions will all be correctly aimed and then that will also change our vessels, and so we’ll be able to make actions that are called charity and then we’ll reach the purpose.

4. S. (26:24) What is peace, what is the state of peace?

R. What is the state of peace? World peace is the state of the world with respect to the purpose of creation. What state is the world in being closer or farther from the purpose of creation, and in what direction is it moving from here to there? Towards that, that’s what’s called the state of the world.

S. Peace is only possible at the end of correction?

R. Yes. 

5. S. (27:24) Are we talking about peace between a person and the Creator or between the created beings?

R. That’s a question, it becomes clearer on the way because we have to reach peace between the created beings and that is impossible if we don’t achieve peace with the Creator.

6. S. (28:02) According to the article I understand that peace is just a matter of attainment, not something we do, is that right?

R. According to the article, what do you understand from the article?

S. Peace is attainment and not something we do?

R. Peace is spiritual attainment, yes.

S. A Kabbalist can be spiritually in the attainment of peace and in vessels of reception in a state of war?

R. A Kabbalist can be on a level of peace and with it he understands that in order to obtain peace he has to wage war.

S. Meaning, he can be in both states simultaneously?

R. It’s not two states, it’s not two states because one state is the goal, peace, and another state is that to attain peace he has to wage war.

7. S. (29:42) What does it mean to give Tzedakah? 

R. What does it mean to give Tzedakah, charity or Righteousness, it is to carry out the will of the Creator in order to bring Him contentment.

8. S. (30:22) He writes that the advice for this is to engage in Torah since the light in it reforms, to reach equivalence of form. In the ten many of us come to good scrutiny’s, maybe even a good heartfelt feeling, sometimes misunderstandings, but what’s the most important point that the ten now wants to draw the light? What is that action? Where is the concentration of the ten?

R. In connecting between them and in addressing the Creator to attract from Him the light that reforms or say, to bring themselves closer to Him, which is one and the same really.

S. Meaning in every action that the ten begins it must bring the Creator into it?

R. Yes, certainly there’s no action without that.

S. If for the time being there’s no feeling of the Creator what do you recommend for the ten to do?

R. To connect and direct themselves to the Creator until there is a feeling of the Creator between them.

S. How do you ask and how do you bring closer that concept of the Creator into the ten?

R. In that, you get closer to the Creator by the connection between us and as it says, “you have made me,” meaning that by the connection between us, we build qualities that all together we can call them the Creator.

9. S. (32:32) Did I write the correct summary for myself, that Tzedakah, Righteousness is the desire to receive for myself that moves through the prayer to the Creator and we receive MAN for this, then we come to a state of peace and this current state?

R. Yes.

10. S. (33:17) What’s the difference between the degree of Tzedakah and the degree of peace?

R. Again?

S. What’s the difference between the degree of Tzedakah, and the degree of peace?

R. The degree of Tzedakah and the degree of peace, the difference between them is the degree of Tzedakah, or righteousness is in the practice and the degree of peace is the state.

11. S. (34:11) Rabash writes in the article that a person is in this strife with the teacher, how not to be in that?

R. To begin with we are in a quarrel with the Creator because we are opposite to Him in qualities.

S. What do the right actions need to be to come out of this strife?

R. For that, we were given the quarrel and the Torah so that we correct ourselves from oppositeness to the Creator, to resemblance to the Creator and then we will understand who’s the Creator and who’s us, and how do we get to equivalence with Him. 

S. The faith in the Sages, is it immersed in us, or do we acquire it?  How do we feel it?

R. Faith in the Sages is not pre-planted within us, we have to gradually acquire it.

12. S. (35:51) After this article I have a certain confusion, Tzedakah, Tzedakah, what exactly is Tzedakah? Tzedakah, is it where I give something to someone and I’m above and he’s below and I’m giving it to him, so we need to give righteous almsgiving to the Creator? I don’t understand exactly what it is.

R. Tzedakah is an action that brings a person closer to the Creator. Look at the part before the end of the article. “Thus, we see that before one is rewarded with Tzedakah which is faith in the Creator on the basis of vessels of bestowal, which brings one to approach the Creator, it is impossible to have peace. Meaning you attain Tzedakah, then you attain peace, two degrees.” How is one rewarded with Tzedakah, he says, “This is faith in the Creator on the basis of the vessels of bestowal.”

S. Meaning that the first stage in the process of to come to faith and then from there we come to faith and from then we will come to the whole, to the peace, that we are talking about now? Is it peace between the created beings or peace between me and the Creator, the creature, and the Creator?

R. It’s simply called peace. There’s no such thing. Well of course there are partial states between the created beings to themselves, between them and the Creator but essentially peace is peace because it’s Shlemut, wholeness.

13. S. (38:04) From the article we learn about the high degree of Tzedakah, the state of the degree of faith. My question is whether we know now in all the acts of Arvut and all the charity that we’re seeing right now, are these expressions of the root, the spiritual root of the spiritual degree that we are aspiring to, is there a connection? Because eventually though it comes in the middle of the war and everything, we’re still working in order to bestow right now, so could you relate to this point?

R. I can’t relate to it because I don’t know what you’re saying and what you want to clarify.

S. At the moment what’s happening with the people, we’re seeing volunteering and we’re seeing charity, we’re seeing work in order to bestow, eventually, that state in which we want to see. The difference right now is that it’s happening in the middle of the war out of sorrow. We have to get to this in a different way, but does this not help us spread our Torah, the wisdom of connection at this period of time?

R. How would you do it?

S. First of all the ground is fertile right now, people are ready, they’re ready to help each other, how; in disseminate. Whether it’s on the Internet or any other way, it just seems like people are now more ready to hear us because we can see that really this is our weapon, the force of bestowal, the force of connection.

R. This is true. I think that now comes a time where we must again awaken ourselves and awaken the people towards such acts of connection, that it will advance us towards each other, which is really the essence of the action.

14. S. (40:41) It’s written that Righteousness is like Abraham to his Creator, and we can get to recognize the importance of Tzedakah since it brings us to faith, so Tzedakah stands against faith? 

R. Faith is measured by the level of Tzedakah.

15. S. (41:26) It is written here that he is giving Tzedakah to the poor, but what is the poor when it comes to people?

R. The poor within the person means that he has no way to complete himself, he doesn’t have strength. 

16. S. (42:04) You just said faith is the measurement of Tzedakah, so what actually is this message of Tzedakah where we talk about faith, we talk about bestowal, we talk about Righteous, but what is the addition, what do we actually do differently in our ten? What is the message that you could give us if we work Tzedakah compared to faith or righteousness or almsgiving and these sorts of things?  With Tzedakah can you give a direction of what we should do differently, what is the word or what does it express, Tzedakah, what can we do with Tzedakah?

R. Tzedakah means that a person is willing to do actions out of his nature towards the Creator.

S. But you also have this faith, you work in faith you do the same?

R. Faith is already more than that when you can give Tzedakah to the friend, meaning you take from your own strength and pass all of your actions onto the friend as if the friend did it, and this is called Tzedakah. So, when one shifts or moves from his strength to the friend’s strength, that is the true clean action of bestowal. That’s why it said, “Tzedakah will save you from death.”

17. S. (44:49) From my impression according to the prayers of my ten for example, we as far as words are concerned, I don’t pray for the whole world many times and also in our daily prayers twice a day, you can hear it from friends, but most of our prayers are for the world Kli, for the unity of the friends, for the Rav is it worthwhile for us to aim our thoughts and desires more for the entire world or it nevertheless concentrate on the prayer for our connection?

R. Essentially, we are aiming ourselves towards connection because it exists above all. Connection and unity is when every one of us wants to lessen himself and connect himself to the rest of the friends and that becomes the main thing for us.

S. From here in this article it turns out that peace is the goal.

R. Correct, peace is the goal of the world, a state of peace is the purpose of humanity’s development and the world’s development.

S. Let’s say the friends say the words of the prayer, how to correctly incorporate his words in his feelings, that’s actually the question?

R. Try to become incorporated in it to internally get closer to him and try to adhere to his intention, and his feelings, and that’s how I feel I’m closer. 

18. S. (47:31) There’s the thought, buy but don’t sell, what is that exactly?

R. Meaning you want to acquire, but not to separate from it. Hold it, keep it, guard it, and nurture it, just don’t separate from it.

19. S. (48:09) If I understood correctly, Tzedakah is a state through the Torah and Mitzvot. If it’s so, then what can we ask for when we come to a state of Tzedakah and how do we pay in order to pray?

R. I didn’t understand the question.

S. I understand the way he’s asking because Tzedakah comes after Torah and Mitzvot so what remains to ask when you come to a state of Tzedakah, and is there an addition that we can do too?

R. No, no.

20. S. (49:21) Does the division of the Torah depend on the greater faith? To enter the Torah deeper, does it depend on greater faith?

R. Again?

S. To enter the Torah deeper does it depend on greater faith?

R. Yes, according to the magnitude of or the size of faith you can go deeply and profoundly understand the Torah.

21. S. (50:08) At the beginning of the article it’s written how stubborn are the hearts of the wicked as they see the past of the winds in the Torah and they don’t look at them, and they’re hard hearts heavy and strong because they don’t repent to the Creator and that’s why they’re called the stubborn hearted. Who are those who see their way of the Creator and don’t look at them, what’s the meaning of this?

R. Say it again.

S. How stubborn are the hearts of the wicked who see the path?

R. As it’s written literally, they see that it’s right to go that way and still they can’t control their heart. 

22. S. (52:09) It is written, “It is impossible to achieve real faith before one has equivalence of form with the Creator.” How can we help our friends come to this real faith?

R. To help and support them with their efforts to get closer to the Creator.

23. S. (52:54) Three states or degrees we need to reach. Do we need to keep each of the three states in peace?

R. It says three degrees here I understand, but basically, we have to reach true peace. True peace means true perfection or wholeness. Shalom comes from the word Shalmut comes from the word wholeness. Meaning, that’s what we need to achieve, a state where between us and between wholeness, that’s what we need to achieve a state where between us and between us and the Creator there’s no distance. That’s considered true complementarity, true or final adhesion, and complete adhesion.

S. Can I work in peace?

R. I don’t know what you mean but working with peace in your case.

S. To want peace to make peace where there’s dispute?

R. What are you asking then, maybe you’re asking if there can be peace without dispute. I’m not sure exactly what your question is.

S. There are differences in disparities, and wars and my heart always want peace with the Creator, but I want everything to reach peace.

R. There’s peace before dispute and there’s peace after dispute. There’s also such an article. Try to find it and study it.

24. S. (55:44) You said that if I bring my ego to the friend that’s pure bestowal how do I bring this action to him?

R. By showing him what you’re doing.

25. S. (56:23) He asked whether he does Tzedakah with the Creator and can’t engage in Mitzvot in order to bestow. The question is, is the height of faith dependent on the height of strife?

R. Yes, of course.

S. There’s a question about this in the state of faith, can a person suffice and thank him for what he has or does he have to expand the state as much as possible?

R. Typically we want to reach faith as much as we can, each one in his soul.

S. Faith is a state of wholeness but it’s not clear are we supposed to suffice with what we have, or do we need to expand on this state?

R. You always have to worry about expanding the basis of faith, yes.

S. Is that within faith or is that just from corrections?

R. Typically when he falls.

26. S. (57:51) What’s the meaning of the word Yeshut, is this sort of inspiration that gives vitality into his nostrils?

R. We have to see the whole sentence within its context to understand what you’re talking about Yeshut is the lower part of the Sefirot of Bina.

27. S. (58:31) What is the thing that detains us from attaining faith?

R. When a person can’t nullify himself towards the friends and the Creator.

28. S. (58:58) Is there any meaning in asking through prayer from the Creator to move all the wars inwards to the ten in the heart

R. In every way, we have to come to a triumph over ego and connect with the Creator in the connection between us, in the ten, and in the group. That’s our practical work.

S. How to come to this connection without falling into egoism?

R. Only in prayer only in prayer.

S. This is where the question comes, all our external actions push us towards that outcry towards that prayer. Is there something that’s worth wild or meaningful for us to move this all inward?

R. Of course that’s our obligation.

29. S. (01:00:20) Could you explain distancing and nearing in the Torah, and how to integrate in that?

R. By getting closer or farther toward the friends, this is how we demand that the Torah will help us and will influence us and help us get closer between us. Then we discover that we have a common vessel between us in the ten and that vessel is filled with the Creator’s force, with the upper light and then from there, we can work on how we can work with the vessel in a way that we can depict the Creator in it.

30. S. (01:01:40) As students we don’t have that type of faith as described in the text, how does faith in the Rav, the Sages, and the books lead to Tzedakah?

R. That by studying with the great ones and mostly with the group where each of us feels that on the one hand, he needs the friends he needs their support, that they’re holding him in their hands that’s on the one hand. On the other hand, he also feels that he’s willing to hold them and carry them in his hands like a mother holding a baby. Thus we can get closer to this mutual care of the ten, how the ten takes care of everyone and everyone takes care of the ten.

31. S. (01:03:07) I really hope that the question is suitable and in my greatest crisis, I said I have to make peace with the Creator. This matter of the Creator and peace is the highest step, can it actually go the other way around, where he says look for faith, look for Righteousness, look for Tzedakah, can it work oppositely?

R. Yes.

32. S. (01:03:52) Here it talks about Tzedakah being described as faith then it’s described as Torah, but Torah and faith are seemingly different they’re not the same. Is Tzedakah to put faith with the Malchut which makes it Tzedakah where I’m giving something to my will to receive, and that’s how it becomes Tzedakah?

R. No don’t run these games, we will get closer to it, we’ll feel more, and then we’ll better understand what to do about it.

33. S. (01:04:56) Everyone can go on social media to see people going there, quoting things from the Mishnah, and taking articles from all kinds of holy excerpts. Why can’t we go there to take those and to explain to them what it means, it’s not that it’s talking about this world altogether.

R. Mister, you all have management here, some kind of management which takes care of this, there’s some management which takes care of this. Write to them, send them according to what you write and whether you have articles that you want to post onto our networks and all of that, then follow the instructions and good luck. What’s the question?

S. There are many things that we can’t do like explaining the story of Noah. It’s not really that he built an ark, when people grasp this, they understand this. Also, they start to ask themselves even psychologically, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was taught the wrong things, so the question is very simple you answered it, but thank you.

R. Okay, I prefer not philosophizing but doing, all right, so instead of bringing it up as a question here, write. Write short articles about any kind of things that can help people and the more you’re able to bring farther people closer the better, maybe in several languages beyond just Hebrew, try. You really have to dedicate a lot of time and a lot of effort to it, but all those things are very blessed. If you feel how the Creator is willing to go towards you, for you wanting to help Him. Dissemination, and publicizing this is the greatest thing, especially to the whole of Israel in these times we’re going through.

S. The Creator created everything and all the platforms we just need to do.

R. Okay so do, show an example.

34. S. (01:08:14) Rabash writes that Tzedakah a rich man can give a poor person without expecting anything in return. Meaning that through Torah and Tzedakah, a person can bestow to the lower one with pure vessels of reception. If we connect this with faith, the Tzedakah to faith means the person comes to the right fear and then the lower one can bestow to the upper one, is that correct to see it that way?

R. You can try and see whether it works or not.

35. S. (01:09:01) For example in corporeality there are people who are angry if you want to give them something. They even reject it, so how can we relate a matter of Tzedakah with the bread of shame?

R. How to connect the Tzedakah with Hesed?

S. What’s the connection between the bread of shame, let’s say, the bread of shame and Tzedakah and charity?

R. I don’t know how to say that you need some incident that you can use to shorten the explanation and put it into some more concrete form.

S. He is saying that sometimes people reject charity, is that due to the bread of shame?

R. Perhaps this is because they feel shame that if they receive it then they’ll feel shame and they don’t want to feel the shame. Meaning the goal that they attain still doesn’t work, and the sense of shame also comes and overshadows the achievement. 

36. S. (01:11:10) If you could help scrutinize Torah and Mitzvot in the ten, is the attainment of Arvut in the ten? For the time being the black point until the black point of connection with the friends in the ten is not completely established. Faith enables the investigation of the walls of the Kli and later the ten, as they complete the vessel of work advances in work towards faith above reason. That every stage here reveals more coarseness and justifies the Creator more when we discover the force of the one unique and unified, is that the Hasidim? 

R. You could say that. 

S. Can we depict that Tzedakah is like conceding something corporeally, that something a person has the possibility to sacrifice his ego?

R. Tzedakah is working with the vessels of the bestowal.

S. This complete work in awareness?

R. Yes.

S. Where we discover in the first degree and also in the last degree the 125. It works out when we go through the first steps till the end till the 125 degrees, the ten is working in attaining a state called peace with the Creator, is that correct?

R. Yes.

37. S. (01:13:48) About peace with the Creator, the article talks about peace, but we see throughout history that the Creator doesn’t make peace with us. For many people the murders that happened on October the 7th was like the Holocaust. Just like then, just like now, there are people asking about this massacre. They’re asking, where was the Creator if He’s The Good That Does Good, how could He allow for such a thing to happen?

R. That’s always a question. How can the Creator who’s Good That Does Good, who is Mercy and Hesed and He’s all good, and how can He stand these actions of murdering and executions and so forth, even not just soldiers but babies and women and so forth? How can that be? There’s no answer to that, it’s not an answer. It says about that “Go to the Craftsman who made me.” Meaning, that we have to reveal the Creator completely as much as we can and as much as possible and then we’ll understand what He’s doing, what the content of the actions, and the extent to how He shaped or shaped for us the action of Tzedakah of connection and mutual aid opposite our ego. There’s nothing we can do here besides moving forward, advancing, and then we’ll get an answer, that’s for sure. Some people already feel that, and some people are already receiving the answer, but it’s not at the beginning of the path. In the beginning, there are many questions and there’s not much we can do about it. Besides just going forward, advancing, and then succeeding.

38. S. (01:16:40) This action of Tzedakah giving, is always to lower myself before my friends or can I always stay on that same level because it seems to uplift them is more effective than lowering myself?

R. Because your egoism doesn’t resist it. When you raise the friends, you raise yourself along with them. It doesn’t become immediately clear to the person, but in principle, you have to work both in this and that. Meaning both the greatness of the Creator and the lowliness of oneself but in principle, it’s not that critical right now.

S. Is it not the same action?

R. No it’s not.

39. S. (01:17:49) It says that we can ascribe the evil to the Creator in a revealed way, so privately it’s okay?

R. In what way?

S. If we do it privately?

R. What do you mean privately, to ascribe bad to the Creator?

S. Not to do it in a revealed way, but what if I feel it but do not share it inside me and do not do it out in the open?

R. Then you discover precisely the qualities that you have with which you have to work on correcting them.

S. It says that I can’t ascribe evil to the Creator out in the open, and if I feel it and don’t tell anybody about it, is that possible?

R. No it’s an incorrect state because nevertheless inside you’re not corrected. You receive the actions of the Creator who’s The Good Who Does Good, 100% to the good and to the wicked, nevertheless, you are receiving Him not in this way. Meaning you still are in disparity of form with the Creator.

S. If I don’t share it with anybody and I ascribe evil to the Creator, how do I correct it without telling anybody and without showing it to the friends? 

R. As usual through the prayer, through the prayer only through the prayer. That’s what everyone is lacking, men and women, they lack only one thing. To pray as hard as you can to the Creator that He will correct us.

S. I pray as myself as a personal person, or as a ten we pray, or both?

R. Also both.

40. S. (01:19:52) I want to continue what a friend said on our side of Bnei Baruch. After all these cases it’s clear to us that There’s None Else Besides Him, we also know that the Creator doesn’t calculate with the bodies, and we also learn about states where the destructor got permission to destruct. How do we draw mercy so another case like this won’t happen?

R. We shouldn’t worry if it may not happen, of course, it is a very dramatic thing and very difficult on the one hand. On the other hand, you have to understand that it’s not what the Creator wants from us but rather that through the feeling of suffering, the feeling of sorrow, we should feel where we are missing corrections. Corrections are missing only in the connection between us, only in the connection between us, and not in anything else. Meaning we don’t want to have war, connected there will be no war. We don’t want anyone to die God forbid, connect and it won’t happen. The main thing is the connection and closeness between people to one another. These things we need to feel in our heart, in our mind, and throughout our entire soul. There is nothing more to do, only to come closer to one another. In this closeness, we need to reveal our Arvut, mutual guarantee. That we are guarantors to one another. If someone does something wrong it’s not that he is responsible and he is guilty, but rather all of us, all of us are. This works against our ego to such an extent the ego wants to separate us, to put barriers between us. We remain righteous and relaxed as if nothing’s happening. In truth, each and every one must come to a state where he, himself is responsible for this guilt of everything that’s happening in the world.

41. S. (01:23:31) When we try to reach connection in the sense that you mean it, an internal connection, is that an act of bestowal?

R.  Yes.

S. You say we don’t have the vessels to do that, we don’t have the vessels for bestowal?

R. Nevertheless, we agree on having that inclination, that tendency. 

42. S. (01:24:34) I heard you say that suffering came to show us what we need to correct. We see that in the nation of Israel, there’s an awakening. People feel that separation brought this but the connection we also know that brothers during times of trouble. How can the nation of Israel really reach a correction from this state?

R. How can the people of Israel reach such corrections, such connections? Through mutual bestowal, mutual influence. One should help his friend when we open our hearts and invest in one another so that each one will obligate the other to understand that the correction can only be a mutual correction. All of us and relative to the Creator and then we’ll reach a state, such states that will pressure us, will obligate us to reach the perfect connection.

S. Some kind of repentance is needed that will acknowledge it?

R. Everyone, everyone, everyone has to repent.

S. How can we bring the nation closer to that without scaring them? They really have to acknowledge that they have to come closer to the Creator, that there is a Creator, that we have to open our hearts to one another.

R. I think that it has to happen first and foremost through studying Baal HaSulam, Peace in the World, The Peace, and other articles. Additionally, we shouldn’t feel ourselves as righteous, but rather as wicked, the worst kind of all the nations. No other nation was treated by the Creator the way He treated our nation, and look at what’s happening with us, how we behave, and how we appear.

S. Why is this happening?

R. That’s because we’re stiff-necked people. We have to correct ourselves in order to show others our path and for it to become their path later on, there’s little we can do. That’s what we need to do, that’s what we must do. We should also show one another and obligate one another to the path on which we have to advance forward and for each one to feel himself responsible. The only one responsible, the only one responsible in front of the Creator relative to the whole world and he has to pull the entire world to the Creator behind him, that has to happen. This should change inside each and every person, even to the smallest extent, according to the revelation of the soul so that each one of us must pull the world forward, in the direction of the Creator of unity. If that will not happen, we will disappear like dinosaurs. That’s how it is.

43. S. (01:29:29) There’s a feeling that there’s a war on the outside but in the people of Israel, it’s like a ceasefire. A very big package of explosives that was growing and we’re waiting for the war to end outside and then we’ll continue our work. It’s like this endless circle that the hatred is just sitting there and waiting to finish this war and then it’ll keep doing its thing and it accumulated much more. It seems there’s a circle that we can’t come out of.

R Yes.

S. What can we do to come out of this thing?

R. This is the time for us to take care of the people and we have to disseminate material in all kinds of languages and all kinds of forms, shapes from music to writing, to anything, songs and whatever you’re capable of doing. In order to soften our hearts and understand that only the connection and the hearts are the salvation for humanity otherwise this earth is going to be finished, simply finished. 

S. Right now the nation doesn’t care about humanity. They care about 200 hostages and there’s a desire for revenge, and there’s an external war that is uniting everybody. It’s clear that it’ll be over and then we’ll do the internal revenge, right on the left, left on the right. Can they even hear the word connection now, is it something someone can hear?

R. Yes, they’re ready because they have an inner feeling of their current state. Even though they wish to disclose hate to one another, nevertheless you can’t reveal peace unless you also reveal hate, it must happen this way. We are in a good state, we have all the instruments, the tools in our hands. The problem right now is that we’re being passive. We don’t write, we don’t disseminate, that’s the problem, that is the problem. I think that we nevertheless have to be held accountable for what the Creator has given us from above and how we respond to it from below.

44. S. (01:32:54) I’m still here in Israel and I feel strongly about everything that’s happening here and I feel that these bombs are going off in me are bombs of hatred. A few days ago, I felt this massacre, I felt that it was our hatred that was accumulated and was expressed in such a corporeal form, that there is probably no other place for it anymore. I wanted to ask about this big difference between the Creator that created the evil inclination to the evil we are creating. Maybe not in that revealed hatred but disregarding and it’s all accumulating into this big sack of hatred that comes back to us in such a way?

R. What’s the difference here?

S. Which difference between the evil inclination that the Creator created and the evil inclination that we created in relations between us?

R. The Creator created the root of that evil inclination and we’re the ones that inflate it and inflate and inflate and inflate more and more until the whole world itself is going to set on fire.

S. It’s scary because I felt that what happened there was us, and now it’s scary not to love, not to be in a state of love. It just seems horrible.

R. Correct you said it beautifully. When I don’t love the other, I should be terrified because that pushes all of us to self-destruction.

45. S. (01:35:12) Another phenomenon we see in the nation is that people are a lot more united than the leaders. I guess they always get rewarded from separation, but the people are more united, so it is a direct return to the nation and not to the politicians of course. Can that neutralize the hatred and the separation that is between the leaders supposedly, that they continue doing what they’re doing, but the nation’s more united supposedly, what do you think?

R. Yes, the people are more united. Yesterday there was a group that came to visit me, our friends, or my students. Among them was a member of parliament, one of my veteran students, and a few others. I spoke with them, and I heard from them, and I see that we have ways to go out to the people and ways to advance toward peace, wholeness, and closeness. We have to start doing it. I can’t imagine anything more, anything that the Creator can give us that is better than that. This is the time to erupt in love and peace and not to settle accounts, on the contrary, erase all the accounts and advance towards peace in the world. 

46. S. (01:37:23) How can we withstand such a feeling that I’m guilty with all the suffering of the world? I can pray, but?

R. Pray all the time and you’ll see how it changes you. You can say a few words and that’s it you’re done. Open your heart and try inside your heart to feel the Creator and try to have the Creator feel your heart and you’ll see how beneficial it is for the whole world.

47. S. (01:38:08) What’s the message that the nation can receive right now?

R. The people are able to accept the message of connection and love. I think people who know how to do it, who want to do it, people like you who are journalists and are studying with us over 15 years or 20 years maybe, over 20 years. I think that we need to organize right now a wide dissemination campaign, and not to let go and see how ultimately, we are leading, we are pushing the people of Israel towards connection and correction.

S. Is it important to explain that there won’t be peace with anyone till there’s peace between us?

R. Yes, it’s a law of the world, the love of the world. There’s no choice, there’s no other choice, you have to do it.