YESOD: TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
Baal HaSulam. A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
Morning Lesson April 24, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Baal HaSulam. A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar (“Now you can understand the rigorousness of engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.”)
Reader: (00:21) “Now you can understand…”
R. (01:32) If there are questions asked but I’m asking for the questions to be close to the text.
1. S. (01:45) Why does it become worse as he said, if he does not aim for the benefit of the Creator?
R. What do you mean?
S. He doesn’t come to equivalence of form.
R.The will to receive constantly grows unless we aim it towards the intention to bestow and we have no one else to bestow upon except for the Creator because from him we receive, so we basically only need to go back to him in our bestowal, so it turns out that we are not an equivalence of form with him.
S. It seems that engaging in Torah and Mitzvot if he doesn’t aim for the Creator it causes him damage.
R. Of course damage, it is called receiving for himself, if not toward the Creator then toward himself and then he is separate from the Creator, in increasing distance from the Creator and in this distance he causes the distance from the Creator and he falls into greater and greater darkness.
S. Does our study let us say of the wisdom of Kabbalah that isn’t in order to bestow is it worse than not studying the wisdom of Kabbalah?
R. No, because from Lo Lishma, from not for her sake, we come to Lishma that is already different. If I’m starting the wisdom of Kabbalah I can from the very beginning have the intention to bestow. Of course maybe only after a few years, I begin to attain the intention to bestow, so I shouldn’t start studying? No. I know that these are the phases that I need to go through and only in this way do I achieve correction similarity with a Creator.
S. So to summarize, what does he mean that if the intention isn’t for the benefit of the Creator, so not only will his will to receive be inverted but the will to receive will become more than he has from his own nature?
R. I am learning something that teaches me and directs me to that eventually I come to bestow contentment upon the Creator the way he bestows upon me. Then we come to adhesion, the Creator and I, that is the purpose of the learning of the study. In the meantime I am in phases where I do not understand what is the intention, what is it directed towards who is the Creator, I don’t know anything, I begin to learn. Just like a newborn baby, what does it know about our lives? Nothing. We provide it with everything we nurture it, raise it until it begins to absorb something and learn and change ,it is the exact same way, by the same stages, the exact same stages except in spirituality, so we go through our changes in spirituality.
S. So when from Lo Lishma does he come to Lishma?
R. When? It depends on the person, on their soul, on several elements that are not written on your ID card when you are born.
S. But in what conditions is the state from Lo Lishma to Lishma or that his egoistic nature will only become worse, what is this and what is that?
R. It doesn’t happen quite this way, it happens according to the direction from above. There is a plan for everyone and everyone follows the plan. No person who was born understands where he is, why he does what he does, why he was born with such qualities to such a family at such a time and all of those conditions. He grows and some of the souls, their material development brings them to ask what am I, who am I, and then they come to the wisdom of Kabbalah and they have the opportunity to develop further.
S. He writes about a very severe condition here.
R. If he does not take the wisdom of Kabbalah then he evolves onward as a beast in every sense. If he takes the wisdom of Kabbalah and uses it incorrectly then he goes around and around until he is corrected. I like to speak about today and to the point. It is impossible for a person today to develop in all kinds of directions, that there were such places in previous times, because then human development was in every direction. Today it is all closing in and it becomes more and more directed towards the purpose of creation in a more accurate, more precise way. Today you will not find many people in the world who want to start their own religion, belief system, school. Humanity understands already that it has been through that, today is a time for more practical actions in order to discover technologies for man’s correction to adjust him to the world.
2. S. (08:30) How did the hints from the Creator help them and advance towards the goal?
R. A person receives each time some thoughts and desires from above, from his purpose of creation where he should be in the common soul, included there, incorporated there as a dot in the common soul so he receives from there all kinds of discernment in the mind and heart and this is what direction on his path in life. Directs him, meaning brings him back to that point, pushes him to that final point if he tries and goes and finds the right society and connects and walks along with it. Then he succeeds and does it quickly, if not he will walk around and around and around and be confused along the way but in the end he will still make it there. Because everyone gets there, the only question is how many circles he has to go through, it is called life cycles or incarnations and how much he will have to suffer. That eventually he will still learn that there is no choice in life but only to approach the purpose of creation. That is all we have. We are in a system and the system is very solid, built correctly but it gives us the possibility, just like in our physical life, it gives each one, lets us make mistakes and learn from them, either learn and not make mistakes. That is it.
3. S. (10:46) Because still we see that the friends that leave or despair and he says it is because of the intention here so there is a practical?
R. They still have not come to the intention, it just before the intention.
S. So what determines the scrutiny?
R. They are not making sufficient effort, the intention is not to bestow contentment upon the Creator it does not happen to them but people who make their calculations in life and each of us does it actually and does it every moment so if they see that it is not worthwhile to invest, that they have a more profitable business to do or they prefer to rest and not do anything. Whatever happens, that is also a calculation, I’m not disqualifying, canceling any calculation. Everyone should do whatever he wants, did you ever see me taking someone, grabbing him trying to convince him not to leave? Do you have such examples?
S. I always ask myself why you don’t do it.
R. Why I don’t do it? Because there is free choice, I cannot. I see on people, on you too, those who are before me on the screen too, I see here too more people who are about to leave or who will leave sooner or later, whenever, but I have to invest myself in every one all the way. Although it is clear to me that such and such people, of course the final word comes from above, but it is pretty much clear to me that they will not survive on the path for now. In the end they will come back but stay in the next life cycle.
S. And there’s nothing you could do to tell the friends to pay attention?
R. How can I take away free choice? I can give what I give in a lesson but I am not pressuring anyone. I do not choose instead of anyone what path to go on, what to do. I do not go into any ten to change things there, I do not put tens together. It is all above me, I only serve from below and what happens afterwards I cannot be sure. I only give the lesson, I give the material, I give help but nothing more than that. It is like parents, they seemingly give to their children in matter and knowledge but they could not do beyond that. I am more limited than they are.
S. So if you cannot prevent someone from leaving what should we say?
R. The group, now you can understand the importance and the power of the group, it can determine a person’s fate, only the group.
S. But a person like you described now he says whatever will be will be and he doesn’t exert enough.
R. So a minute later he will think differently, everyone has such moments. Everyone.
S. And the group can really influence him and change?
R. Even without speaking to him he can influence him.
S. For that to affect him what should he do on his behalf?
R. Here he was speaking about a situation where he cannot do anything, if he could then there would be nothing to talk about. He would still not be in real free choice, he is impelled.
S. How without speaking to a friend you can influence his choice?
R. Our main power is the thought. The thoughts. Thought, speech and action. Thought comes first.
S. Thought about what?
R. That we want to help.
S. So our group has to decide we want this friend to get a strengthening specifically on a specific friend or in general?
R. No, we can pray, what is a prayer? A prayer is focusing our thoughts in one direction on one object. Plus we add the Creator to it so then it is certain that we are doing everything in order to succeed. We might succeed, we might not but we are doing it.
4. S. (16:34) You said that you don’t want to take away from us free choice but signs that can testify to a friend being on a junction, kind of like a fork, a split in the road, how can we notice it, what signs do we have?
R. Only strengthen the ten as much as possible towards the connection between you, no more than that. You will not get any signs usually on anyone but we all have to work on the connection and then instead of your scattering you will connect and rise.
S. Maybe we can, maybe there are external signs, let us say a friend stops calling or if he is distracted during the lesson or he promised and didn’t do something, what are the signs that we should notice immediately?
R. Of course that is why you have to pay attention. You have to take and do some work, maybe start writing articles about Kabbalah about spiritual work, maybe give him some duty and so on, you need to do something. I right away started to write all kinds of books in Russian and it really helped me, not right away but let us say after a year and a half or two, because I saw that there is a lot of material in Hebrew and it is hard to understand it and also explain it in an easy way, like I was receiving from my teacher. So I started doing it and it really helped me, really helps. Except for that I really recommend to each and every one that has some kind of talent, so to teach. Teaching is the most important, that each one will open, maybe through the internet or live a group, 3, 5, or 10, and teach them. That is it. Take an article, something and start teaching it, publishing it, advertising it an teaching it, it is easy to do it today, you can do it through the computer.
5. S. (19:54) When a person feels that he is on a crossroads, can he pray for himself to get strength?
R. Yes of course, yes, yes, he must pray for the Creator to hold him and not let him run away.
6. S. (20:24) Why does Baal HaSulam speak about reasons or qualities with which the person was rewarded with the Creator?
R. So we will know what we have to get to.
7. S. (21:50) Can I determine if I’m getting closer or farther from the society or I can’t do it with my ten?
R. You need to guess, maybe you will decide correctly and maybe not.
Reader (21:09) “The body with his organs are one…”
8. S. (25:20) Will our connection to the rest of the body of humanity come through our thoughts or will it come through writing articles and teaching students, songs, clips?
R. Also this and that, in that as much as possible to connect to everybody and spread the knowledge of the Creator in the world, it helps a person advance.
9. S. (25:49) Can the ten help a friend who is not coming to the morning lessons?
R. I cannot say, you need to see in which way you can approach him and still awaken him.
10. S. (26:16) You said that every person should have a group, should it be done emotionally or should you agree with the people in charge of it, or understand about it?
R. You need to consult with the ten and if yes so onward to whoever is above them.
11. S. (27:47) He said something very interesting, the organ in the body are one and they were exchanging thoughts and feelings with each other but after the organ was cut off from the body it does not feel it. So I wanted to ask you, does this thing of the disconnection, previously the souls were connected to the Creator, what happened that it was cut off? Who asked for it to be connected, disconnected?
R. The Creator organized it so they will have work to connect back to him. Because in that way they can attain him, connection with him, expand the connection, be the owners of the connection, understand where they are, to reach an understanding and awareness and attainment on all of reality, because all of reality is the Creator and created beings that connect back to him.
S. In other words once we are connected to him completely and that was not enough?
R. No, it wasn’t enough because they could not attain that connection. To attain that connection you have to hold onto both sides of it, connection and disconnect and anything between those two states.
12. S. (29:26) Is there such a state of complete adhesion or is it always in potential?
R. The final correction, that is complete adhesion.
S. Is it only in potential, the final correction?
R. I do not understand what potential is, in practice the final correction in connection in any possible way.
S. How is there such a complete connection if there is the will to receive that separates?
R. The will to receive is not separating, the intention to receive a separating, if the intention is to bestow that it does not separate.
13. S. (30:13) You said before something very sharp, that you look up at the screen and you see before you people who will leave at some point. The question is what are the signs that you see that a student is about to leave, not that we get it.
R. He has an x on his forehead.
S. I don’t want to make fun of it, can we prevent such a thing that the friend will leave.
R. I do not know if he will leave or not but states of weakness or possibilities to leave, you do see it and you also need to recognize such friends and try to hold them.
S. How do you invest all of your energy in someone you see is about to leave?
R. To me it does not matter whether he leaves or not, even if I was sure if in a while he would leave, I would still invest in him until the last moment. Because this investment does not disappear, it remains in a person and now I have to come back to the same correction in the same path and keep going until the final correction.
14. S. (31:54) Teaching and dissemination, what is their power, can they prevent a friend from leaving, can they change his fate?
R. Whoever disseminates it really strengthens him and he acquires a connection with the other souls that help him and to advanced on the path and then above him on behalf of the Creator there is an attitude from above because he becomes the connection, that from him there is already an exit towards more and more individual souls, that is why it is really worth being as one.
15. S. (32:44) About Baal HaSulam writes what should I do in my life so that my life will be directed for the sake of the ten and for the sake of the whole world, to pray for the entire intention?
R. Participate in the lesson every day, taking care of the group everyday and if you can also engage in teaching or dissemination or both. No more.That covers all.
16. S. (33:33) At that moment when you feel a friend’s weakness, how can we feel it if previously we had physical meetings, so if previously we had physical meetings and we could somehow feel the friends, today it happens online. And it is very easy to show inspiration in physical meetings, you could feel the friend much more.
R. We will learn how to feel the friends through the screen and we will not feel that it is lacking whether I sit next to him or see him alive. That I smell him like animals smell each other, no, we need to learn how we can feel the friends through the screen and it will not be lacking at all. We are worthy of it already and that is how it is going to be onward, the development. We will develop to such states that these screens will be around us, that we will also see that the screen, that in it, I see the friends, how I unite the screen with the screen I see around me, the way I see the world around me, you just do not see that it is a screen, it is a screen.
You see all of humanity and all of the events that are happening, it is all on the screen; this screen comes to you from above, from the Creator. You can build an extra screen that with it you will discover a higher reality, different. This screen depends on you as much as you stand with your will to receive and will also build a screen between us that I won’t even need. The screen that I see you on now, we will go from one screen to the next. We will have the software in us, we’ll have windows that we will be able to go from one degree to the next, from one world to the next. You will see how it is going to be, we will already be in it, for sure. Not this incarnation, so the next one, we will meet again and continue going.
17. S. (36:37) Concerning teaching and dissemination, there might be people for example: I am more suitable for different things that managers, all kinds of executives in the organization, say it’s better for you not to teach but to do something else if this is what the dissemination executives determine. Is it the same benefit or maybe I’m losing something if I’m not teaching nevertheless?
R. No, you gain even more if you listen seriously to the organizers of the organization about what you should do; if they choose and not you. Then all the results will be positive for you, whether you succeed more or less, by that you succeed in all of them because they told you to.
S. Thank you. And short question, regarding a friends leaving which you explained before, is it a matter of someone’s destiny, someone’s fate that he is certain to leave or is there a free choice here?
R. I think that there is freedom of choice to a group to strengthen a person and not let him run away and become a beast again. Of course, it is more convenient for him in the moment of weakness to leave it all and fold, but still it is a shame that he jumps off the train and doesn’t keep going. We need to help him hold on.
18. S. (38:30) Our feeling bad and good feelings, is that also a type of a screen or what?
R. No, no.
19. S. (38:57) Does Rav recommend for women to also start to teaching on the internet?
R. I do not know, I didn’t try it and I do not know but maybe in specific cases, like if the woman is an expert in something and will give us a special course on that, so yeah. But we need to see, it is still, it doesn’t stick that Kabbalah and when a woman teaches Kabbalah, it will not be accepted nicely or correctly. That is why I do not think it is worth it, also women that are before the entrance to the wisdom of Kabbalah, they will not want to study from a woman, the women themselves. They would rather study from a man, it is more, there is more authority in it. That is why I do not think that a women can teach unless it is children or girls, meaning until a certain age, that is how it is.
20. S. (40:27) Men have strengthening on the path by beginning to teach, what means, what equal instruments do women have?
R. Translations, dissemination, working on texts, everything except for passing on the materials in a frontal manner.
21. S. (41:04) During the day when we think about the friends, what exactly should we try to feel their desires, how they feel, what they do, what they feel?
R. I cannot tell you this, you will need to check and get your experience.
Reading (41:52 – 42:52) “None can easily understand the merit…”
22. S. (42:53) Meaning a person who reaches adhesion, he starts knowing through the Dkevut all the thoughts and plans of their Creator towards everyone, toward everyone..
23. S. (43:14) I saw the corruptions I see in friends are my corruptions, the thing is that for example, I see a friend who does not, who is not meticulous in terms of time. Typically I come on time but I see in him that he doesn’t come on time so what does it mean, that this coruption is still in me?
R. The question is still in you but in a more internal way, the disregarding is still there.
S. Now the correction, how do I correct it?
R. Try influencing you and him until you feel that you are completely connecting to him and then internally he doesn’t feel it maybe, and then internally you want to help him to supply forces to strengthen him until you straighten him.
S. So, it is as if I have to clean him up from this iniquity, it is not his, I have to kind of cleanse him from this?
R. Without speaking, it is clear that it is without speaking.
24. S. (44:41) Concerning the previous excerpt, how do I understand the separation, disparity of form like the ax?
R. Just like an ax separates a certain body into two, also the disparity of form, meaning goal, qualities, lack of agreement, it separates between two in corporeality, also in spirituality, that is it. I am sorry we need to start closing things up.
25. S. (45:30) What if pride does not let a person, let the group influence the person?
R. They can beat them up. The pride will go down and then he’ll start listening. You can do whatever you want with a friend, didn’t he sign that you could do everything with him? Otherwise he’ll go to the police, prison, right, to court? Let everybody sign that you can put any kind of pressure on them in order for him to stay in the group. I am half joking here but actually half serious.
26. S. (46:30) In the beginning of this part of the lesson, there is something I didn’t understand. When does a different kind of calculation towards a person begin? When he begins to sink into the ego and needs blows in order to wake him up?
R. I do not understand what you were saying, can you please speak clearly.
S. Asking about the transition from “not for her sake to her sake”, about Lo Lishma to Lishma. When a person becomes worse, if he doesn’t have the right intentions?
R. What is the question, say clearly from the beginning to the end? Who, what, what are you asking about?
S. When is that moment when there is a different calculation toward a person that if he does not add with his labor he sinks deeper into the ego?
R. Well.
S. And he needs blows in order to wake him up because he fell asleep.
R. So what is the question I do not understand?
S. When does the transition happen? When is there a different calculation toward a person, at what moment does it happen?
R. When a person changes his direction of thought so also from above, the attitude has changed towards him and calculation.