Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 35 “The Fifteenth of Av” 1986 (8.16.2019)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 8 “Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart?” (1984)

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 11 “Concerning Ancestral Merit” (1984)

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4th part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “The Donkey Driver”

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We are unable to perform any action directly related to the Creator. All of them should pass only through the group, in the center of which we will reveal this essence called the Creator.

The Creator does not exist separately, by Himself. Only if I bring the group together, wishing to unite it, and it turns into a single whole—there, within this unity, I begin to discover the Creator for myself. I cannot find Him otherwise.

There is a very clear chain leading to the Creator: love of friends -> awe -> faith -> love for the Creator. Only in this way can we reach Him, otherwise we miss.

The concept of “the Creator” is one, unified, single force, attainable within the unity of the group. If I can direct all my desires and intentions toward unification, I will be able to imagine this single concept, which is the Creator.

Before I can imagine it, the Creator does not exist. There is no Creator without creation. All the work carried out in the group is designed to clarify the concept of the Creator. This does not mean we practice here but reveal the Creator somewhere else.

It is within our work in the group, in concentrating all our efforts on the concept of unity, on uniting the group, all friends, all desires and intentions, evil and good inclinations into one single whole, at the very top of the middle line do we reveal the Creator.

When I become included in a friend, I become imbued with his properties, desires, and goals. But I cannot do it myself, I only make efforts, and the upper light binds us into a system of ten Sefirot, into a spiritual Partzuf, into a vessel of the soul. In this vessel (Kli) we begin to feel all kinds of phenomena. Under the influence of light, we make a restriction, a screen, reflected light, and coupling while striking (Zivug de Hakaa), with the light.

Even if we do not want to connect and act through force, we are already awakening the light. The main thing is that this light does not come to us from above uninvited, pushing us toward each other with a negative force, but that we ourselves ask for its awakening, striving for the center of the group.

With our efforts to unite, we awaken the light that returns to the source, which, acting through the center of the group, attracts us to the center with its centripetal force. We should leave our ego behind, where it is now, and strive with our hearts toward the center of the group.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/19 Writings of Rabash “Love of Friends – 2”

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Question: What is the right approach to failure?

Answer: What must be, will be. What is meant to happen will happen. And we must be ready for everything and understand that life is like this: a white stripe, a black stripe.

Question: So after the black stripe, a white one will definitely come?

Answer: Maybe it will just lightly pass, just touch you, but it will come. And then again, a black one.

Question: Then how will I change? Will I not suffer from this, will I not beat myself up?

Answer: No, we are built in such a way that we only run away from failures. We cannot properly analyze them, understand them, correct something, and prepare for something. We cannot. We only work to escape from them. And this is a completely wrong action and philosophy in general.

If we connect these two states—failure and success—we will make ourselves sovereign over them and will not be weak-willed in times of failure or in times of success.

Question: So I kind of unite black and white?

Answer: Yes.

Question: I do not perceive it as a failure?

Answer: You rise above both states and thus go through them easily. You just need to understand what it means to rise above them.

It means to rise above your life’s striving, to stop chasing success. Understand that right now, today, you are in success already, within it.

It is like physicists say there are all sorts of black holes. So actually, we ourselves are in a black hole. In an astronomical black hole.

Question: And what is beyond it?

Answer: Nothing; and nothing is needed. Relax and understand that you are inside nature. And let it lead you. The main thing is to surrender to nature.

Question: So I throw away the oars? There is a current, I throw away the oars.

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is there a current?

Answer: Even that does not matter to me.

Question: That does not matter? To just let go of everything like that?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is that possible?

Answer: If you believe in a wise, great, eternal, all-powerful nature, then in my opinion, it is the most reasonable decision.

Comment: Yes, this sounds very timely: nothing is in my control.

My Response: And moreover, anything you come up with to go against this on your own only emphasizes the insignificance, limitation, misunderstanding, ignorance, and disagreement with this great nature in which we exist.

Resist nothing. Invent nothing. Try simply to understand what nature itself is, agree with it, cling to it, and you will find the most optimal component of your existence.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/23/25

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What would I gain if I found out what will happen to me in a week, a month, a year, ten or twenty years? I think it is much more interesting to live when you do not know anything. You just don’t know! This is much more interesting; it is exciting.

When you know everything, it is as if you have come to a movie theater to watch a movie, sat in the chair, and suddenly realized that you remember this movie very well; you have already seen it. The whole thrill disappears.

Comment: Meaning, it is better to live the way as you say: tomorrow is tomorrow, whatever will happen, will happen. Everything is in the hands of the upper one. Hence, we should move with this flow.

My Response: Yes, the best thing is not to know anything and be the boss in your life.

As much as you are the boss, you are the boss, and as much as not, you will start figuring it out; it just does not need to be. I am moving forward according to the rules that the Creator has set up for me in order to come to Him. I am approaching Him precisely within those conditions that He has presented for me. I do not want anything more. I do not want to see more than that, even a tiny bit! I do not want anything else! I want to be exactly so, a devoted follower of the Creator.

This is the most wonderful of anything that can be! This is a great award to a person when he can act this way!

And at the same time, hearing them speak about your future? No way! We must come to the state of bestowal.

Question: What if around the corner of this movement, as you say, of giving oneself to the Creator, suddenly horrible things happen?

Answer: There is no horrible or non-horrible. It all depends on how you relate to it. If you give yourself to it with an open heart and soul, then whatever happens, happens, but this is from the Creator; there is nothing horrible.

Everything in the next moment just becomes simple, clear, soft. Your attitude to the Creator is what makes Him the Creator. That is all. Here also comes the correct connection between you.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/19/25

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Comment: Chow Yun-Fat, a  Hong Kong actor and filmmaker is a millionaire; however, he lives on limited budget, uses public transportation, buys clothes only on sale, saying: “As long as it is comfortable, I do not need anything else.” He has had a small phone for 17 years and just recently replaced it with a smart phone. He says that he does not need wealth for the sake of wealth.

My Response: He was created this way. There are people who like to live precisely such a lifestyle; they feel better this way. It is not overcoming of their egoism, but rather an expression of their nature.

His egoism is balanced. Large egoism exists in a huge number of people eager for everything and ready to sacrifice their lives for the achievement of some egoistic, earthly goal. Here we must show how it is possible to balance these aspirations in order to be happy.

Question: Do you feel even closer to people who are bursting and their ego is raging?

Answer: Yes, such people are closer to me because they are the ones who are people. But he is like: “Here I have green grass, and this is good. Sun, water, and that is it!”

Question: Do you say that you are closer to those millionaires who go and make more and more money and even step over others?

Answer: Yes, they realize the enormous egoism of nature that exists in humanity. For that reason, humanity will come to recognize the evil of egoism. Precisely thanks to these millionaires. They are working correctly for the general law of nature, and we have to be grateful to them. They show all of humanity how quickly we have to burn this egoism; otherwise, nothing will happen.

We have to realize its futility, uselessness, and emptiness. Most importantly, it does not bring us to any good goal. This knowledge and this experience of accumulation of negative results are necessary for us.

Question: Meaning, it is all opposite. People admire this person. However, you are closer to someone who steps over people, makes millions and billions, and that is all. He rages! And he is closer to you?

Answer: Of course. Precisely thanks to them, humanity understands what it has to correct within.

Question: Will it come to this fast?

Answer: Certainly. It will come only through recognition of evil and the nature of egoism when it grows and is gradually more and more recognized by everyone, and through revelation of its corruption on our side.

Question: Only in this way?

Answer: If there is a possibility to do something in a good way, then this is the only choice. And if not, then it will be through suffering. Let’s hope that it will not happen this way.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/15/19

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If you look at all the desires created, a person is just a single point. Everything depends on how much he can connect with the others, whether with individual desires or with a group. If he has a yearning to unite with others, this means he is digging the ground for the foundation of a building. After all, he doesn’t dig into himself; there is nothing to dig there, he is merely a point.

His body remains on the outside and has nothing to do with this; it is an animal body. And the point is the human, the beginning of the soul. The extent to which he can connect with the others is how deep he is digging. He receives desires from them, material, then sees how capable or incapable he is of accepting them, and from the desires he manages to take in, he builds the structure of his soul with the help of the light.

Each of us has no more than a single point. I try to connect with others and discover how opposite I am to connection. But I am willing to endure it, I annul myself in relation to the desires of the friends with whom I want to unite, perceiving them as a mother, as a womb, which is what the group truly is.

I annul myself before it, and then I receive all this material of desire that has joined me. I then unite with this formed place and gain “volume.” But as I do so, I overcome my resistance, and therefore, in annulling myself, I ask for correction. And then comes the surrounding, upper light that returns to the source and actualizes our connection—between me and the group.

This is my first connection with the group on the zero level of Aviut (Aviut Shoresh), in which I feel the light of Nefesh. And now I am called a “spiritual embryo” (Ubar). I have reached my first spiritual degree!

Then my egoism in relation to them grows, and I suddenly feel a great heaviness of the heart—the first level (Aviut Alef). On this level, I already had my “living space,” the place where I united with the group as one. But with regard to others, not yet. Now I want to encompass an even larger area through my connection; this will be called “the neighbor” for me. I consider it my mother, my group, and I work to become an inseparable part of it.

And again: study, the reforming light, self-annulment, and so on, until I acquire all this shared desire in addition to what I had, and this entire area becomes mine, level “1,” Ruach.

And so, I continue further. That is, I dig ever deeper into the group, penetrate them, and take their “material,” desire. I have nothing of my own apart from the point and the animal body that desires only material pleasures. With this single black point, I enter spirituality, and the rest of the vessel of my soul is built from others’ material.

Therefore, it is said: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” meaning, connect the others to yourself. This is the fundamental spiritual rule, the main tool (common vessel) for revealing the light within you. That is why all the work takes place in the group and depends on how deeply we manage to dig into it, to annul our animal body that remains behind, to enter the group and acquire its desires, intentions, thoughts, strengths, and the importance of the goal. All of this is there, along with the upper light and the Creator. And it is precisely in the place of penetration into the group that we build the structure of our soul.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/11, Writings of Rabash “What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built?”

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Question: If the Creator is the quality of bestowal, then how can one bring contentment to the quality? Does He need anything from me?

Answer: What the Creator wants me to enjoy. The host desires only one thing—for the guest will delight. But He places a condition: I can only receive pleasure if I become like Him.

After all, we do not want a child to enjoy at a tiny, undeveloped level. We want him to constantly grow, to become more mature and wiser. We surround him with toys that help him develop, not just for him to have fun. We seek additional benefit in children’s activities. The Creator treats us in the same way. He does not want us to remain like small animals.

If I continue receiving for my own sake, I will only feel a short-lived existence, and even within this life, I will never be truly fulfilled. But if I receive pleasure by fulfilling the Creator, even the smallest pleasure I bring Him in His desires that are now connected to mine never disappears and I feel it constantly.

Why do all the pleasures we feel in our life vanish? I want them to stay! Why must they disappear? It is as if we have agreed to this. But why?

Spiritual pleasure is called eternal. Because if you once feel the delight there, it remains and fills you all the time. This is because the pleasure does not cancel the desire. The pleasure exists in one place, and the desire in another.

And then you have no problem, you just keep adding and adding. That is why there is ascent through spiritual degrees.

In this world, everything happens on the same plane, you move from loss to loss until life ends, and that is it.

Let’s hope that we understand this unique opportunity embedded in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the science of how to receive infinite, eternal pleasure, and that we realize it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/10, The Book of The Zohar

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Our sages said (Berachot 59), “Rabbi Elazar said, ‘Since the day of the ruin of the Temple, the gates of prayer have been locked. Although the gates of prayer have been locked, the gates of tears have not been locked’” (Rabash, Article 3, “What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates?”).

We strive to unite. We hold unity days and other events that symbolize what true connection is. Unity with the Creator is attained through unity among the created beings through a common Kli that we correct by uniting with one another.

To do this, it is necessary to correctly arrange all the components so that a person contemplates the conditions for achieving unity with the Creator, and thereby can clearly define those conditions.

As they reflect on these conditions, they begin to examine themselves: Do I feel a need for unity with the Creator? Do I genuinely want to unite with my friends? Am I willing to bow before them and accept them as the greatest of the generation?

Of course, this refers to spiritual connection and not the corporeal connection of the friends. Although Baal HaSulam writes that it can be helpful to externally lower oneself before the friends, we are not yet ready for that, and doing so prematurely may bring artificiality, confusion, and damage to our inner relationships.

Starting from the final goal—adhesion with the Creator—a person unfolds the stages of the path and evaluates the means. Then they see how necessary the goal is to them and whether it leads them to the gate of tears.

The gate of tears means that a person really wants to unite with their friends but is incapable of doing so.

In that case, there is no point in continuing to seek the path toward unity with the Creator because they cannot even fulfill the first condition. Standing at the gates of tears, one must only search for sorrow over the desired goal in order to reach a point where one can truly weep.

This depends entirely on mutual work in the group: how much the person absorbs the spiritual yearning of the environment and recognizes that there is nothing more important than this. One must feel a burning fire inside from not yet having reached the goal and is torn apart by the intensity of the desire and the pain.

Only the environment can bring a person to such a state. Then their outcry will certainly be answered, it will lead to unity with the friends, to one great shared desire in which the upper force is revealed.

Everything depends on that inner necessity, on the yearning, the raising of MAN, the feeling of the deficiency for unity, for the correction of the shattered state. In the end, everything comes down to that.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, Writings of Rabash “What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates?”

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