The Importance of Preparation in the Study

Welcome to all our friends in the Learning Community - here in the hall and online. We really enjoyed the preparation you took us through today, and that's actually our topic for today's lesson. Let's start off with a clip from Rav.

Clip 1. Importance of Preparation Before the Lesson

"The early Hasidim would stay for one hour and pray so that their hearts would be directed to their Father in Heaven. And the language of direction is the uprightness of the heart, and it is to direct the heart so that it will not be scattered in the lusts and greed of the affairs of this world, but only that it be directed and aligned with its Father in Heaven." (Sefer Peri Tzadik, Parashat Yeshivah - Letter 3)

This is the preparation before studying that must be there, it is more important than the study. Because there can be absolutely zero benefit from studying if a person does not prepare himself before studying [to know] what he wants to receive from the study. He needs to know exactly, when I now open a book, what is inside me, is the will right, is the intention right, do I know what I need, will I feel results from it, and so on. He must direct himself correctly through the group to the Creator. Because all our texts are only to attract the light.

Therefore, from getting out of bed until you arrive here with the preparation here must be very, very serious and deliberate. If you are not successful, first of all pay attention to the preparation before the lesson. I tell you in all seriousness, it is very important to do everything to arrive at the lesson prepared, ready to continue from the light that reforms. Michael Laitman

In order to learn who we are and who He is and how to connect to Him - our heart needs to be soft and united in the same deficiency - that we're missing being close and similar to Him. All these things are above our lives. Rav described a situation where we get up for the morning lesson from sleeping - and then we have a spiritual limb that defines what we come out of the lesson with.

On the way to the lesson I'm filled with all the daily concerns. But I need to prepare myself to increase the influence of the lesson on us. So preparation actual begins from the end of the last lesson - and everything I do until the next one.

What is learning Kabbalah? It's learning about the foundation of life. So we need to take all our thoughts and everything that happens with the people around us - I need to put all that on one thing - and all that comes into contact with the upper light that impacts it.

A book about Kabbalah is about me becoming as perfect and eternal as possible. So I gather all the ups and downs and bring them to the place where change actually takes place - there is no other place. All the good I dream about is here in the lesson. How much can I take from the lesson? The more I prepare myself for it, the more I will receive.

"Accordingly, before studying, each and every one should make an account for himself, what is the purpose of the study, that is, why he is giving effort in Torah. Certainly, one should not give effort without reward. And certainly, when a person studies Torah, he believes that "the owner of your work is faithful, who will pay you the reward of your deeds" (Avot, Chapter 2, 21). And to what reward he is aiming, he should pay attention, so that the reward will always be before his eyes. That is, he must have confidence and faith that God will pay him his wages.

And the wages that he hopes to receive must give him strength to work. That is, wages are fuel, on which his work is based. And certainly, the greater the wages, the more strength he has to work. What is not so, if the wages are not that important, this wages are not worthy and capable of giving him strength to work with dedication. That is, he must understand that the Torah is so important, as it is written, "For it is our life and the length of our days." And certainly, if a person feels this way, that it is truly the Torah of life, each person, according to his feelings, would give his entire life in order to achieve life.

However, in order to feel the life in the Torah, a person needs to prepare himself thoroughly, to prepare his body, so that it is capable of feeling the life in the Torah. Therefore, the Sages said that one must begin with the light of the Torah, and by the light of the Torah, which he will attain while he is still in the light of the Torah, this will bring him to the Torah, because the light in it returns him to the best. Then he will have the ability to learn the Torah, "We are talking about the Torah, which is called the "Torah of Life," because it will already achieve the life in the Torah, because the light in the Torah will provide training for man, so that he will have the ability to feel the life that is in the Torah." (Rabash, What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?

We study what Rabash writes. He writes from such a high place that we can't even understand. It doesn't really matter what topic he's writing about. Through his articles he's bringing us the light. We can read it as wisdom or morality - all kinds of ways. Or we can read it the way he said - to calculate for ourselves the goal of the study.

People do things for a certain benefit. I invested time and energy getting here - look at our friends who spent two hours on the train getting here from up North. so we really need to think what we want to come out of the lesson with. Just by doing this the text sharpens that question. It says the light will purify us - just like we make our vessels kosher to receive the light correctly. To be capable of feeling the light in the Torah - and that we'll truly want to receive the spiritual path it provides.