The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.

Daily Morning Lesson: August 16, 2025 

Part 1: Recorded lesson - Nov 2, 2021

Baal HaSulam. Shamati 45. Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work

Reader: Hello, in the first part of the lesson we will learn from a lesson with Rav Laitman from 2021 on the article of Shamati number 45, “Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work.”

Reader: Hello, we are opening our lesson with the study of Shamati articles, we’re in article number 45 from Baal HaSulam, “Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work.” You can find the study materials on our site or on the Arvut system, up on the top icon where it says study materials. You can ask questions during the lesson, pertinent questions to the lesson will be aired during the lesson.   

M. Laitman: (00:58) With respect to man, the attitude to the Creator can't be simple. It's always complex, because on the one hand, also with respect to parents, perhaps we can liken it to it. There's both love and fear because on one hand, there's a difference in the degrees and you're under the rule of the upper one, and that's because you're already in the will to receive and it determines your attitude to it. By nature, you depend on it. And this dependency is egoistic. Even if you transition it to a different kind of attitude, you're still dependent, you're not free. And therefore, fear is, there's corporeal fear that you depend on where you came from, you will always be initial and He's first and last. And after this detour that passes through us, it all comes back to Him. And so here we have a dependency, we're under control, such that we can't even describe. It's possible that we attain some of Him, but is it really true? We don't know. It's like a baby who thinks it's independent, but it's completely under the rule of his parents. And here's the question, how can it be dependent on the parents, and yet in a free conscious way  feel that it has free choice, free action, and that he can benefit them just like it says about the Creator, I'm first and I'm last. So the created being too, should essentially reach a state where he says, I'm first and I'm last. Otherwise the adhesion won't be free. It'll be like, like a master and a slave. And so in our work, besides the work, there is also Torah, which means that we receive forces and discernments from the Creator in order to rearrange our attitude correctly towards the Creator, but also we can't learn who the Creator is. We only learn Him according to how he created us. We never attain Him. When we say the Creator, Boreh, come and see, we come to attain the connections between us, the relationship between us. And this is how we can better and better describe who is the upper force that created us. And this is called, by our actions we know you. Through His actions in us, in human society, in everything, we get to know that emotion, that mind, that force that created everything. And so, that gives us some attainment of the Creator, if we can even call it as such, some depiction of the Creator. And so, in our work, there is the matter of Torah that we attain, and also work that we do. And out of both, we ultimately compose our relation to the Creator, and when we do, we, from composing it, we build the image of the Creator. It's not really image, it's the essence of the Creator within us, to the extent that we build ourselves, by adapting ourselves better and better to that unknown force, in some subtle ways that we can adapt ourselves. 

(06:17) So, what do we end up with when we collect and collect and collect, what are we collecting? We are collecting opposites, differences from the Creator, but it's already something that's opposite. And we try to invert it, to arrange it correctly. And from these shatters, we have to regroup them in the right connection. And then we come to what we realize, which is the Creator, His essence, His form, His relation towards us. What He is in and of Himself, that we don't attain. But with respect to us, that's what we can attain, from arranging the relationships between us after the shattering that was prepared for us. And when we correct that shattering, then bit by bit, from various points or details of the correction of the shattering, that's how we come to a state where we acknowledge the essence of the shattering, what was shattered here, how we have to correct it. That is, bring it to correction, to connection, to some connection, some relationship, some dependence that will happen between the pieces, that they will interconnect and complement each other. And this complementation is truly a godly matter. This is where we find godly wisdom, how each and every component is created to the other and why. 

This is the great work that we can sometimes, somewhat grasp through our universe, looking at how big it is and vast and shattered and yet connected and with opposites that are interdependent. And we have to see all of it as a single integrated system, where there is no surplus, no lack of anything, not an atom, not an action that's missing. Everything is orchestrated, even though it seems to us so shattered. When we rearrange our mind and our emotion, when we collect all of that to a system, which is a single desire and a single force that resides in that desire and then we come to the state that precedes the shattering. This is called Him and His name are one. So, that's why our work is is a work that happens in several paths or directions and that's because we're broken. And we ultimately have to reach a state where the light and the Kli are equal, Him and His name are one. He is the light, the upper light, bestowal and love, that resides in His name which is the vessel, the will to receive that was created which receives the quality of the light, the quality of the Creator. And even though it's opposite to it exists in the same direction of work and yearning and connecting as the Creator. These are things that are hard to explain, difficult to explain.

What's interesting is each time it comes out anew because the person changes each time. And it's like in mathematics, you you do the same equation each each time but the data in the equation changes, and then sometimes you end up even with a different approach, where you need to solve the same formula with a different approach to what you saw how you solved it before. It all depends on the data that you're working with, especially where our data in our case appears on a different level each time, still, vegetative, animate,  speaking, and so it turns out everything's changing. 

(11:54) And so the Kabbalists advise us, those who already went through this path, to not be overwhelmed by it because we're in it, and it's not that we can look at it from above, it's not it's not the wisdom of the world in that sense, it is godly wisdom. Meaning that we need to somewhat participate in it, somewhat get an impression, understand something, but just enjoy being in it and be grateful to the Creator for this opportunity we've received. And the main thing is this approach that we wish to be included in His wisdom, included in His quality. This is what provides us with new vessels, vessels of bestowal that we're missing, and then we begin to feel, and after we feel we understand what we're going through. And it's not that we understand first and feel later. We first have to feel because the true vessels are the will to receive. And to the extent the will to receive participates in actions in favor and against, and in different shapes and forms, then accordingly it can understand things that it's going through, and how much it's it's connected to that, and then even respond to it in different ways, in favor and against, and thus acquire a new approach above reason, new vessels, vessels of faith. And we'll try to advance this way, in short. Main thing is we need to not long for the goal that much, which is important, but we need to enjoy being part of these actions, like a baby being in its mother's hands. Mother's taking care of everything, don't worry. She's taking care of it. But by giving ourselves to these actions, and as much as we can  becoming included in them, accordingly, we give the Creator the opportunity to enjoy us. And with that, we will feel, me for my beloved, my beloved is for me, through this pleasant reciprocity, this devoted reciprocity. With that, we will feel the work of the Creator, and the work of the Creator is the Creator's work upon us. Meaning, if we think that we're supposed to do the work, then our work is only, as much as we can, to be the right baby in these loyal, caring hands, and we enjoy the Creator taking care of us. 

So, the first concern that we need to have is that we enjoy the Creator's existence, that He's taking care of us, that He's bringing us closer to Him each and every moment, and we want to first relieve ourselves from all concerns, if we have the upper force. And if so, developing the sense of fear is only in how much can I nullify myself towards this upper force, towards the Creator. Do I come to a state with all the problems and troubles in my mind and everything that I've got? Can I still be with all of that, like a baby in its mother's hands? You understand that, the form of that. How much that is faith, devotion, participation.

Question (Brazil 2): (17:09) My question is, we all go through so many different states during the day, and the Creator blesses us with so many different feelings and calculations.

My question is, how can I, even though, you know, not much of a choice, a lot of times with the hands tied down, and I want to thank the Creator, but my ego wants to please the friends. How not to fall into disparity and just elevate? What is most important in these states where you have your hands tied down to please the friends, the more possible, because you know, there is no love to Creator without the friends. 

M. Laitman: Yes, even though I don't understand the question that well, I still have to kind of put it together and answer it. We have to try to first see the end. In the end of this question and answer part, I have to achieve some partial adhesion, somewhat. So,  in my state, I have to reveal the deficiencies, what's preventing me from that, what do I need to achieve that, how do I need to connect positive and negative things so they interconnect, like a plug and an outlet, like something lacking something, and something that goes into it. One thing goes into the other and completes the other. And so, if I try to do that, then I see that there are many questions and problems and all kinds of things that I can't put together. So then how do I do it? By the force of faith, as it says, it's not up to you to finish the job, but you're not free to idle from it. So, as much as I can, I try and to put together all these things that I stumble upon on the path in my mind and heart so that I justify the providence of the Creator in each and every moment, and and along with it I realize that it's not up to you to finish the job. Meaning certainly, you'll be left with some portions, areas that you can't do anything about. What do you do? You keep them. They remain. Let them be. These are things that relate to your participation in the whole global Kli. In each and every individual action we do, there's always a part that does not end, that is that is open, that is not closed. 

And that's because we have to ultimately connect to the whole global Kli, and then who knows what happens? Maybe the 7th and 8th and 9th and 10th millennium will open up other worlds because ultimately we have a connection to Ein Sof, infinity, and so we have to try to do what's up to us and always leave room for the Creator. It says it's not up to you to finish the job, to complete the work. That's a law, that I do the action. I do everything so as to see, this is what I understand, that is what I understand, and ultimately what is it that I understand? That I am incapable, that I want to bring the pluses and minuses together, the opposite forces, and it doesn't work out for me. Never. It's never going to work out. It's like a child that's trying to push a square peg into a round hole. It's not going to work. So I leave that to the Creator. I leave it to the Creator and then, that's how we advance. As it says, it's not up to you to finish the job. Right, not to finish it. Not to worry about that. If I've done everything I'm capable of, what's up to me? It's not a university or a school here where if I don't know something, then I'm thrown out ultimately to a lower class or I'm expelled from school altogether.

No. Here everyone has a place. Everyone comes to the purpose of creation. The question with regards to what's up to us is just this. How, whatever you're able to do, you have to do. And then what you see that you're incapable of, fine. The Creator finishes it for me. I don't need to be the strongest, the wisest, and more than the Creator. No. The engagement that we were given in this world is so that in each and every degree we will need the upper force and rise up to Him more and more feeling that we're incapable. And this is also what's happening to us in this world with all of the diseases and crises and climate change and so on. It's in order to feel that we need the upper force that's in control of ultimately everything. That's all. No more than that. The moment we feel we understand that's how it is, let him work as it says, and there will be a day when He becomes a king over the whole earth and Him and His name are one. And that's what we need, not just at the end of the road, but also in our work in each and every step. So, I hear that people can't, they don't remember, they don't know. With your mind, what you're incapable of and what you don't remember and all that, with that you want to enter spirituality? That's ignorance. Our mind doesn't even enter the spiritual world, the spiritual dimension.

There is a different reality, different laws, another dimension. Therefore, we just have to do what we're told, and if we can't, then the One who gave us this work in advance knew that we can't do it. So why did He give it to us? So that we ultimately discover that we can't, and we need Him, like a child. He's doing some things, and then he cries to Mommy and says, it's not working out. And that's the desired result. This is what we, as a humanity, all of us, are like a kid, trying to do something with our own mind, and look what's happening. Another mistake, and another trouble, and we try to develop it, and we invest so much and talk seriously about the things that we do in the world, and our plans, and our programs for the future. We're going to build this or that, and do this or that, and in truth we come to a point already where, what can we build, what can we do? What is going to be the result? Same as the past? So, the more we understand how to approach the upper force, that is our success. That's how we will succeed. Okay, we will go through some questions quickly. We haven't read the article yet. 

Question (Almaty 1): (27:22) From your opening words, how does the perception of the corrected system influence one and the whole system, and why is it important for each of us to yearn for the state that is corrected for all of the system? 

M. Laitman: In the shattering, each one is included with everyone else. If, so there's a matter here, if you correct the Ten, then to some extent you're correcting the whole Kli. And that's why, first of all, the group and the connection in the group is important for each and every one of us. By that, we already correct the whole of Adam HaRishon, and to that extent, we already are registered in the final correction. And that's what each and every one does. From the whole Kli that was shattered, now what's becoming revealed is a part of that Kli that can make the action of connection. If our Tens, let's say we have a thousand Tens in the world, let's say, something like that. And how many do we have? How many Tens do we have all over the world? Like 700. Okay, let's say 500, 700, or Tens. Okay, so the Creator sorts out all of this, and with that we're going to advance. If we are advancing, then we are first. Our problem right now, our challenge right now, is how are we going to connect ourselves inside the Tens, with all the troubles, and these troubles are not just our troubles, they're troubles that exist in all of humanity. And still when we connect, we each time achieve a certain connection in Adam HaRishon. And then again, we separate because new Rishimot appear in us, and then we do it again. And we think we're unsuccessful, but it's not that we're unsuccessful. If new states arise from the shattering of separation of something opposite, it's an indication that we've succeeded in the state before. And so we are given new problems. And so each and every time more and more, we have to work on that. And that's basically for the whole of humanity. It's for the whole of humanity.

Question (Unity 3): (30:47) How can we define that part of the work that I need to leave to the Creator and not be stubborn and try to do everything with my forces? Does that come with experience? 

M. Laitman: What kind of work you mean that you don't need to do? If you have to do, as it says, whatever your ability allows you to do, you have to do. But you do what's up to you. And what's up to you is to do something simple that's right in front of you. You have a Ten, organize them in your heart so that they're all connected, so they're all connected. Try to relate to them in such a way that they're standing in your heart. Of course, each one stands there in his own different way, different from the others. And you wish to discover the binding force, the common force between them, the common mind, the common desire, inclination. That's what you wish to renew each time. Not that it's constant all the time. You recognize that these things become corrected, each and every time. And therefore, they go through changes. And that's why each and every moment there’s a start and stop. There's a disconnect, and then you work on connecting. Another disconnect, and you work on connection. Like Baal Shem Tov says, 200 or 400 such disconnects and connections that happen within minutes. That's how it's happening. It's like in our technology. If you're moving forward, you're moving to a higher frequency.

Question (Florida): (32:44) Also, in your introduction, I heard you say that we have to come to this state like the Creator, who is the first and the last. What does it mean to be the first and the last? 

M. Laitman: Creator, first and last. Well, in a simple way, there's a lot, because in each and every moment, our whole vocabulary changes. First and last, meaning that everything comes from the Creator, and He accompanies us in the solutions that He provides to the problems that He's bringing us, as well as leading us to the outcome. And so, there's no place where we are alone, which might seem to us to be the case. And so, the adhesion with the Creator in each and every moment in life, doesn't matter what happens, that I wish to do everything only to the extent that I can be bonded with Him, with the conditions that He's given me, and it could be very bad conditions for adhesion, where I've got nothing, and I'm confused, emotionally confused, and I feel bad even. Yet, I have to make an effort. And then it turns out, I reach a state where the Creator is first, and the Creator is last, and there's nothing else besides Him. And He transitions me from state A to state B, from the first to the second state. And thus I advance. Meaning, he's first and last means that I try to be in adhesion with him in all the states. 

Question (PT 35): (34:57) A question from a friend in the Ten. In the Creator Himself, we don't attain, but rather only what we manage to attain inside us. It sounds and feels like too little. How can we work with that? How can I give myself as a baby to it? 

M. Laitman: I'll ask you in return. Show me an example in feeling, understanding or attainment that we have here in our world, where we all feel, where we all experience. Show me that we attain anything differently. How? Even our attainment in this world comes from something that we experience in our emotion, and we attain whatever it is that we feel. 

Student: How can I nullify before something that's not yet attained in me? How can I be like a baby towards it? 

M. Laitman: There's no problem. There's no problem. I have a group, and I nullify towards the group because I understand that if we want to achieve some perception higher than myself so a higher perception than myself is a collective perception, a collective perception. Not that I'm this egoistic spike, but rather a group of people who can nullify their ego and connect above their ego through a common mind and a common emotion. They are greater than me. I'm just talking about this in a rational, down-to-earth manner. So why can't we? No, no, the question itself is, it's not, it's unrealistic. Think about it. We're always talking about that. Okay, now we have PT 19. 

Question (PT 19): (37:39) We make effort, and there's something very strange happening with my internet here, but I hope you can hear good.

M. Laitman: No, we don't hear you well. 

Student: Better? 

M. Laitman: Maybe, try. 

Student: There's something not right with the general internet here. You said that the Creator is letting us feel that every single degree, we need to be dependent on Him. What, the Creator doesn't want us to be independent? Why should we be dependent on Him? 

M. Laitman: No, He gives us seemingly independence, but we, above that independence He gives us, we have to be more and more connected to Him. Connected or dependent on Him doesn't mean that we completely nullify. We nullify above these qualities in mind and heart that He develops within us. I become stronger, greater, wiser, more sensitive, more knowledgeable. And so, all these things, I want to arrange them in such a way that I will relate them more to the Creator and direct them to the Creator, so that all my growth is towards the Creator, is for the Creator Himself. And why do I want to understand and feel it and grasp Him more and more? In order to give myself to Him, above what I feel and understand, above the mind and heart. And so, then, I discover Him there. 

Student: In the process, the Creator wants us to be independent altogether, without being dependent on Him? 

M. Laitman: The Creator wants us to be independent, as if without being dependent on Him. Yes, let's say so. That's it? Good. But it's not that you are, you're independent from Him, yYou want to be, to resemble Him, because you have nothing else to take an example for. There's no other force than the Creator. You receive everything from Him, and you take an example from Him. And so, build yourself to be like Him. And then, all in all, you become Adam, man, human. 

Question (Kiev 1): (40:23) In this regard, what does it mean, the Creator finishes it for me? 

M. Laitman: In all the actions we do, the Creator will complete for me. That eventually, I don't decide anything, don't understand anything, and don't feel anything. I receive it all from the Creator, and I come, specifically, through my intellectual and emotional development, in fear and love to such states, that develops myself through these steps. Altogether, I understand the extent in which I have to nullify. But this nullification, I acquire, according to the extent of my understanding, and feeling, and the extent of my attainment. And as much as I understand more, and feel more, and I'm adhered more to the Creator, specifically, according to that, we attain adhesion. Let's do it in such a way. We all were babies, and then children, and then we were youths, we grew. We have families. We have children. And now, we think about our parents. About our mother, let's say. The extent in which she invested in us. So when can I be more adhered to Mother? Where I, let's say now, I'm 75, and I'm reminded of how she cared for me with loyalty and with love, or was I young. Meaning, until we come to such degrees that are similar, somewhat, to being like our parents, we cannot appreciate their work. And certainly, it's the same with the Creator. Only to the extent in which we grow, can we resemble Him. That's it. Maybe you can take such an example. 

Question (ITA 4): (43:23) You said that we come from the shattering. Why, in order to connect, to reach the quality of Adam, we have to connect with the desire to give to everyone. 

M. Laitman: Look, there cannot be correction of the general vessel of Adam, meaning the one big will to receive. It needs to be completely shattered and intermixed completely with the desire to bestow, as the desire to bestow enters into the will to receive under the control of the desire to receive. And then the desire to receive uses the desire to bestow in all kinds of forms for the benefit of reception. And then we start to feel dependent on one another and connected to one another because each wants to benefit from the other. And then we open all kinds of businesses, as it's written, go and earn off of each other.

And from that egotistical connection between us, we begin the corruption, which is actually the first degree of correction. And then we build, throughout the millennia, a human society where everyone battles and kills each other and tries to lie to one another. And then we come to a state in which it's better for us not to kill each other, because when I kill, I don't have who to work with egotistically. So maybe on the contrary, I want them to only be below me. And then I feel that it's not good that they should be below me because they can't work properly and can't give me what I want. They need to be more developed also. So I start to care for the companies, the societies in the world, the nations upon earth to develop and begin, instead of quarreling and killing one another, to start trading with one another, go and profit off of one another. And then a certain intermingling, a mixture takes place more and more between those shattered pieces, from external forms to more and more internal ways. And then international trade begins, and then science, and so on and so forth, until we come to our world, which is actually, according to our intellect, we need to understand that we're not allowed to battle or to kill one another, because we're actually delaying our development. We're not reaching the purpose of creation. If you look at earth, its purpose is for everyone to mix and be codependent as much as possible. And people don't yet understand that. But nevertheless, development happens with us according to the laws of nature and not according to what people decide there in all kinds of committees and organizations there. But we're coming to a state where people will understand that the best incorporation between everyone is where each is like in the form of a family. Actually the right final egoistic form, egoistic, yes, is where we all behave like in a family, where I bring home the money that I earned, and the whole home enjoys from it. And that's how it can be in all of humanity, that we all care this way, or try to care this way. And then from this, we will come to the next degree. Our ego is constantly growing, and we will need to take care of it eventually, but together with the connection between us.

Question (Moscow 1): (48:26) We are praying, we build our prayer that the Creator will connect us, for instance, in the lesson preparation. But nothing, let's say, nothing happens. Is there a way to rise to the degree of the operator, that I will be the operator and then something will change? Is it possible to rise to that level? 

M. Laitman: How can you compel the Creator to connect between you? Think about it. That's the main thing. How can we obligate the Creator to connect between us? He broke us, and we're demanding Him to connect between us. And when we succeed in our demand for Him to connect between us, that's called, my sons have defeated me.

I broke them, and they're asking for me to connect them. That's the whole point. And what happens between the shattering and the connection? That we get to know the Creator every step along the way, as we move from the shattering to the connection, and throughout this whole path, we need to understand who we are, who the Creator is, how we connect, whether we make mistakes or not. We scrutinize these things, and we scrutinize by what we can unite. The force of bestowal is not in us, we don't have it. We turn to Him, we ask, we demand, arrange this for us, please. We want this, we want in order to be connected, in order to bring Him contentment by this, we want to return to the state of Adam HaRishon, where He and His name were one. Where we, with Him, together with you, we were together in complete, final adhesion. And this is how we go through these stages of development, all together. So see how He's arranging for you every moment, the new conditions. New conditions may be more difficult, but for you to... You need to ask Him, just to demand from Him, connect, connect, connect between us. That's what a Ten needs to do. And then the Ten operates on a Ten like that all the time. The upper light is in absolute rest, just like you're on a frying pan, on the stove, on a hot fire. So it all depends on how you flip yourself on that fire. That's how you're preparing yourselves. But the upper light is there, and it's operating on all sides. It all depends on how we want to be connected. And the upper light, the extent to which we're connecting between us, the upper light, accordingly operates, according to how it works. And that's why it all depends on the preparation. 

Student: We can mention in the prayer the names of the friends who came to the preparation, to the preparation? 

M. Laitman: You can do everything that you decide and feel that will help you in a more beneficial appeal to the Creator. Eventually, everything boils down to the prayer and the action of the prayer. 

Reader: We will now continue to the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” I have a recorded lesson from the 9th of August, 2006.